Percival nearly closes his eyes as Essek's hands slide over his face in an affectionate caress. He never imagined that he would be worthy of the look his husband gives him now, fond and tender. And the question he asks earns a soft breath of a laugh when Percy exhales, because he could ask the very same thing.
Once upon a time, he'd been too young to seriously think of marriage or even consider a future beyond his own interests. His older siblings would surely inherit, and he would be left to his own devices to serve as he would. When his family and his future were brutally ripped away, Percival de Rolo almost ceased to exist entirely. He became someone and something else for the sake of clawing back even a shred of his inheritance. For the sake of avenging those cruelly taken. Even in lifting a shadow from his home, Percival saw no future here. No place for him, twice-cursed and broken.
And he could never imagine someone loving him, or deserving to be loved. He could never have imagined having children, a family, after losing so much. Nor could he ever have dreamed of a marriage like this, with a partner who is shrewd and intelligent and fierce, proud and calculating, supportive and determined and accepting. Percival fell in love with Essek's mind, and very swiftly the rest of him.
He leans down to kiss his husband, trying to express the tenderness otherwise caught as a lump in his throat. His fingers brush back Essek's pale hair and when they part he initiates another kiss almost immediately. They have both done things they are ashamed of, but neither has looked away.
"You have given me everything," he whispers. "Everything I could not believe I deserved. And more."
His thumb strokes against Essek's sharp cheekbone.
"I have been drowning for so long I forgot what breaking the surface felt like. I thought floating just beneath was the best I could achieve. No longer, with you."
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Once upon a time, he'd been too young to seriously think of marriage or even consider a future beyond his own interests. His older siblings would surely inherit, and he would be left to his own devices to serve as he would. When his family and his future were brutally ripped away, Percival de Rolo almost ceased to exist entirely. He became someone and something else for the sake of clawing back even a shred of his inheritance. For the sake of avenging those cruelly taken. Even in lifting a shadow from his home, Percival saw no future here. No place for him, twice-cursed and broken.
And he could never imagine someone loving him, or deserving to be loved. He could never have imagined having children, a family, after losing so much. Nor could he ever have dreamed of a marriage like this, with a partner who is shrewd and intelligent and fierce, proud and calculating, supportive and determined and accepting. Percival fell in love with Essek's mind, and very swiftly the rest of him.
He leans down to kiss his husband, trying to express the tenderness otherwise caught as a lump in his throat. His fingers brush back Essek's pale hair and when they part he initiates another kiss almost immediately. They have both done things they are ashamed of, but neither has looked away.
"You have given me everything," he whispers. "Everything I could not believe I deserved. And more."
His thumb strokes against Essek's sharp cheekbone.
"I have been drowning for so long I forgot what breaking the surface felt like. I thought floating just beneath was the best I could achieve. No longer, with you."