Fic: Unconditional Promise (Cobweb/Ithiel, Terzian/Ithiel)
Title: Unconditional Promise
Author: youcantseeus
Pairings: Cobweb/Ithiel, Terzian/Ithiel
Word Count: ~1000
Rating: R
Warnings: None
Summary: They have always asked too much of Ithiel.
Author’s Notes: Originally written for Ponclast's Babe.
Unconditional Promise
I.
Cobweb has taken to dressing entirely in black since Terzian died. Ithiel supposes that he wishes to look like a widow. He sometimes wears a jeweled veil that makes it look as if he is crying diamonds.
II.
Cobweb and Ithiel have always danced around one another. When Terzian was alive and was so often gone to war, it was easy for Ithiel to fill his shoes, to become Terzian for a little while. To protect, to guard, to possess everything Terzian had. It was always only temporary; Ithiel understood this. Cobweb was the most magnificent of Terzian’s many beautiful possessions.
“Do you think he minds?” Ithiel had asked Cobweb once, when they were in bed together.
“Of course not,” Cobweb had answered. “Terzian understands that I am har. He appreciates discretion, however.”
It wasn’t a command but it might as well have been.
III.
Cobweb is lounging near the summer house, once again clothed entirely in black. Ithiel is some distance away, discussing Galhea’s waste management system with Swift and watching Cobweb out of the corner of his eye. Cobweb seems almost posed, his hand draped artfully over a bench, his head tilted to the side, his eyes closed in a melancholy expression. Early snowflakes melt in his obsidian hair.
“My hostling is being dramatic again,” Swift says when he notices.
“He greives for your father,” Ithiel replies.
Swift’s face goes cold and hard the way it always does when somehar brings up Terzian.
Cobweb opens his brilliant green eyes and fixes his gaze on Ithiel. Ithiel knows that it won’t be long before he is in Cobweb’s bed and the feeling makes him shiver.
IV.
Terzian and Cobweb were opposites in so many ways, but they were both powerful, so powerful, that they made Ithiel feel like he was caught between two elemental forces. Terzian was hot, searing, fire, burning everyhar around him to ashes. Cobweb is slow, devouring earth. Cobweb is quick sand.
Flames burn out quickly.
V.
At Natalia, Forever almost seems the place it was when Terzian was alive. There are pine needles and other greenery hanging from every bough. There is seasonal sheh; everyhar gets quite drunk. There is Cobweb, dressed in green for the first time in months.
At some point during the night, Cobweb leads Ithiel away from the party. Cobweb’s lips are warm and achingly slow on Ithiel’s own.
“Will this be the first time for you?” Ithiel asks, breathless. “I mean, the first time since his death?”
“Yes,” Cobweb says, looking out the wide windows into the stars. Terzian burned out so quickly, died so young. But Cobweb is durable; Cobweb will last forever. “Some of the Gelaming have tried to interest me and I have taken great pleasure in crushing their advances.”
It is good to know that somehar still takes pleasure in crushing the Gelaming.
VI.
“I’ve been with Cobweb while you were away,” Ithiel had blurted out to Terzian once. He never understood what possessed him to tell Terzian this while they were sitting in Terzian’s office bent over battle plans and maps featuring little Varrish soldiers outlined in blue.
Terzian had put down his pen. That was all. “I hope he didn’t hurt you,” he said with a smirk.
Ithiel had blushed. “Of course not.”
“Stand.”
Ithiel obeyed.
Terzian stepped around his heavy mahogany desk to stand very close. He slowly unzipped Ithiel’s trousers, his eyes never leaving Ithiel’s. He slipped two fingers inside Ithiel’s soume-lam which was already humiliatingly wet and slick for him.
“I trust you,” Terzian had said.
What he really meant was that he wasn’t threatened by Ithiel.
VII.
Cobweb’s soume-lam is hot and devouring. Cobweb’s eyes during aruna are like portals into another universe. Why had Terzian never appreciated this? Could Cal possibly be better?
VIII.
“I don’t know if I’ll be back,” Terzian had said, pulling on leather gloves and avoiding Ithiel’s eyes. Ithiel knew that he believed he wouldn’t be back, that he had no real chance of defeating the Gelaming. “Teach Swift what he needs to know. He’s so young. Look after Cobweb.”
All this was said in the same bland voice Terzian used to discuss troop movements. Did Terzian ever really love his family? Was he just going through the motions?
Ithiel made promises.
IX.
Cobweb’s body is stretched out against the bed, long and tragic, his alabaster skin shining in the moonlight. Ithiel is feeling optimistic for the first time in months. Cobweb is delicious enough to lift anyhar’s mood.
“Are you happy?” he asks, because despite Cobweb’s dramatic looks, he suspects that Cobweb is happy.
Cobweb sighs and Ithiel has to suppress a smile.
“You have to make me one promise,” Cobweb says. His arm is thrown over his face, hiding his eyes. “Unconditionally.”
“Okay,” Ithiel says, now cautious.
“I can never love anyhar else,” Cobweb says. “Not after Terzian.”
All the breath leaves Ithiel’s body. He takes Cobweb in his arms. “I don’t mean to hurt you,” Ithiel says, but he does want to hurt Cobweb just a little because Cobweb is hurting him. “But I’m not sure if Terzian ever loved you.”
“He didn’t,” Cobweb says. “That’s why I can’t love anyhar else. I can’t be chesna.”
“Okay,” Ithiel says, trying for a light tone.
“No,” he looks at Ithiel. “I’m serious. You have to promise me that you’ll never ask me to love you. Because it’s not to be, Ithiel.”
Ithiel feels the loss of something. He isn’t in love with Cobweb, not in a chesna way, but there was the potential of for something more between them. Cobweb has just crushed that future.
Cobweb reaches up to touch Ithiel’s face, fondly. “Terzian and I have always asked too much of you,” he says, gently.
“Yes,” Ithiel says.
“And you’ve always given whatever we asked.”
“Yes.”
Cobweb waits. Ithiel kisses him. “I promise,” Ithiel says.