Chapter Text
Jowan skimmed over the same paragraph for possibly the fifth time. It still didn’t make any sense. He found his eyes darting back up, as they had every time this happened.
Alistair. Clad in shiny metal armor, equipped with a long sword and shield. That was what he saw at first glance. It was easy to pick the man out, as his hair shone golden in the sun, gleaming with sweat. Beads of sweat trailed down his face, dripping onto the mail below.
Jowan was enthralled.
It had been three months since he and Alistair had gotten married. Things were finally settling down now; he had been rewarded for his role in saving Ferelden, and with that, had purchased new clothing befitting his new station, and had moved into Alistair’s room in the castle after it had been renovated.
It had taken a while to get used to castle life, and he still learned something new everyday. It was a lot different than what he had though living royally would be like months ago. For one, he actually had to work. Thankfully, Eamon was patient and Alistair had been raised into it, as they taught him how to rule a land.
For another thing, he couldn’t have predicted how wonderful the basics of life in a castle were. Everything was so clean and as fresh as possible. The servants took care of a lot of the work such as cooking, cleaning and laundering. That had taken a while to get used to - in fact, had made him a bit uncomfortable, despite his past fantasies of the easy life, until he had spoken to some of the servants and learned that they much preferred working there than being out on the streets or worse.
Then there was the library. Jowan could spend days in there at a time, and days more looking for more books to add to the collection. Alistair had had to drag him out more than once, stating that without the servants he would starve, or that one of these days he would get lost under all the stacks. Jowan had laughed, but it was close enough to the truth.
Alistair had also said that he would never get to see him. Jowan had blushed and started spending more time with him.
One downside was Lady Isolde. She clearly didn’t like Alistair, and that had extended on to Jowan. Alistair glared at her anytime she looked their way though, so it wasn’t so bad. Jowan quite liked her son, Connor. He was a bright boy who didn’t mind his mother when she told him to stay away from them.
Another thing had been that it was very strange to sleep with another person. Sure, he had slept scrunched in beds with other children in the orphanage, and Lily had slept curled up to him sometimes, but that was different. Sleeping with Alistair felt like something else entirely.
Lily slept with the other mabari, and that had been hard to get used to; he was used to having her close, hearing her breathing (and sometimes snoring) and waking up to her licking his face or digging at the floor. Then there was that when Alistair dreamed, he kicked in his sleep. The first few weeks or so had been really restless for them both, and Jowan was worried that they’d have to sleep separately.
Jowan wasn’t used to being so close to anyone, so when Alistair’s arm brushed his, or he rolled over and their sides touched, Jowan would tense and scoot away. He could tell it bothered the other man, because the air would grow tense. Jowan hadn’t known what to do the first few times it happened, but finally had decided that since he wasn’t getting any sleep anyway, he would try something.
So one night when Alistair had accidentally laid his arm down against Jowan, he hadn’t given the man time to snatch it back. He twisted his own arm around until their hands touched, and entwined his finger’s with the other man’s. The other man had froze and let out a small gasp, before letting out a sigh that made something in Jowan shift.
After that, it had only gotten better, until the night that Alistair had turned onto his side, scooched over and spooned Jowan. It had been weird, at first, but then the warmth had seeped in, and somehow Jowan had just felt safe, and protected somehow, and drifted off to sleep.
However, after a few nights of that, Jowan started having a problem; that is, after noticing a problem of Alistair’s. One night, he had awoken to find something hard poking into his lower back. He had sleepily shifted, trying to figure out what it was, only realizing what it was when the other man let out a sleepy moan.
Jowan’s face had burned at the realization at Alistair has hard up against him, and tried to scoot forward, but Alistair had held tightly onto him. Jowan had given up, but hadn’t slept for the rest of the night, his mind on high gear and body reacting on its own.
Oh, but it hadn’t stopped there. Alistair had eventually noticed the problem, waking one morning to find Jowan tense in his arms. He’d run his hands over his body soothingly, until his fingers had come into contact with the bulge in his braies.
“Is this okay?” He had whispered as he unloosened the ties, and Jowan had only been able to respond with repeated affirmations as the hands had slipped inside and gently but firmly, as all the while Alistair had ground his hips into him. Their moans had mingled until Jowan had jerked and come. After he had stopped shaking from the aftershocks, he had turned in the other man’s hold and reached down to clumsily but eagerly take the other man in hand, pulling and sweeping over the head until the other man had come with a groan.
They had repeated that a few more times sense then, but more and more, Jowan ached for something more. He wanted more of Alistair. He had tried to hint to the other man what he wanted, but the other man always shied away, stating that he didn’t want to hurt him. Jowan, wondering if it was really that painful, had procured some oil for himself and taken to fingering himself at night when Alistair was deep asleep.
It had been strange, at first, feeling more like an intrusion than anything, but the more he practiced, the better it felt, until he could never do it without imagining Alistair inside of him, claiming him.
It was getting to the point where Jowan was always on edge, thinking of the other man at the most inopportune times. It made him cranky and down sometimes, wondering if the other man didn’t want him as much as he wanted Alistair.
“Slow down!”
Jowan was startled out of his hazy thoughts as Connor ran by after the dogs, laughing.
Jowan was sitting on the back steps of the castle with his book, watching the guards training together. It had interested him to learn that Alistair liked training with them. He supposed that Alistair had been truthful months ago when he’d said that he could take care of himself.
He knew that the other man hadn’t liked being cooped up in the castle, and that training was his way of getting out for a while and letting off any frustrations. Jowan liked seeing the other man so happy and relaxed.
He also liked seeing the strength that that he displayed, as his muscled tensed, shifted and moved as he parried or went on the offense. He thought he was closer to being a god than Loghain would have ever gotten.
One group of guards were sparring together, and another were working with the mabari, training them in obedience. Connor had procured Duncan and Lily and was running around with them, throwing a ball.
The atmosphere was bright and happy, and Jowan couldn’t help but smile as he took everything in.
Then Alistair looked over and met his eyes, and Jowan was lost again. Alistair was breathing hard, licking his lips as he wiped sweat off his brow with a towel. Jowan’s eyes traced the movement of those lips, and suddenly desperately wanted to feel that tongue in his mouth.
He moved his eyes back up to Alistair’s to see that they had darkened and narrowed, and that Alistair was watching him intently. Jowan unconsciously found himself licking his own lips, and swallowing at his suddenly dry throat.
Alistair jerked his head away and took a ladle of water offered to him by another guard.
Jowan took a shuddery breath and stood up to leave.
He’d tortured himself enough.
For the rest of the day, there was a tension in the air that kept Jowan even more on edge than usual. Every time he glanced at Alistair, he was looking back. Every time they bumped into each other, a spark would flare in him. Sometimes he thought the other man was doing it on purpose to drive him crazy.
Once, when he’d been walking through the hallway to the library for a break from all the tension, he’d been grabbed from behind, pushed into the wall and kissed within an inch of his life, and as Jowan was recovering, Alistair had disappeared, leaving Jowan hard and wanting. Again.
Alistair would be paying tonight.
That night, he sat down on the chair to brush his hair. He’d only just begun when it was grabbed from his hands, and Alistair took over. Jowan hummed in pleasure. He had his eyes closed, so didn’t see when the brush was set aside, and only felt when Alistair leaned down and sucked on the side of his neck.
He gasped, eyes opening and hands scrabbling for the man’s shoulders. Alistair continued to suck and nip there, before moving up to his ears, one hand tangled in his hair and pulling it slightly. Jowan’s breathing hitched, and he turned his head just enough for the hold to become tighter.
Alistair let go and stepped backwards, pulling Jowan up by the hands and leading him over to the bed. Jowan went willingly, eagerly.
They spent several minutes caressing, touching, undressing each other and licking and nipping their favorite spots, and just when Jowan was starting to get impatient, Alistair moved down his body.
Jowan groaned as Alistair swirled his tongue over the head of his cock.
“Alistair…”
“Hmm?” Alistair teased as he slowly took him in - overpowering warm, wet heat. Jowan forgot to answer.
For what seemed like several minutes, Alistair sucked and licked him, caressing his balls, rubbing his hands up and down his thighs, Jowan writhing more and more as he moaned and felt his peak arriving.
Alistair moaned around his cock, before sucking hard, and Jowan was coming, trying not to arch too much and gag the other man.
He came to a few minutes later, half-lidded eyes opening fully to see Alistair stroking himself off, eyes clenched tightly. Jowan made a noise in the back of his throat, jerking up and taking the other man’s hands away.
“What-?” Alistair protested.
“That’s mine.” Jowan growled, and pounced. Alistair fell back into Jowan’s vacated place, looking startled. Jowan grinned sharply and straddled him.
“Did you think that was going to be it? After all you put me through these last few weeks?” Jowan purred, grinding down onto lover. Alistair’s body automatically jerked up to meet him.
“I don’t-” Alistair started, flushing.
Jowan interrupted him by leaning down to take his lips in a harsh, searing kiss. They both groaned.
Then Jowan put his plan into action. While Alistair was distracted with his mouth, he lifted his hips up, reached back with a hand to find Alistair’s cock, and put it into position. He groaned in anticipation, the sound muffled against Alistair’s mouth.
Then he slowly slid down until the blunt end glided into his body.
“Jowan!” Alistair jerked his head back with a yelp.
“Please,” Jowan whispered, voice taut with tension. “You won’t hurt me.”
Alistair’s hands scrabbled to hold onto his hips as Jowan sunk inch by inch onto his lover’s cock.
“I’ve wanted this for so long. I can’t stop thinking about you, always.” Jowan moaned, throwing his head back as he was finally seated.
“Jowan.” Alistair replied in a tight voice. “How?”
“I…” Jowan hesitated for the first time since they began, a bit embarrassed despite himself. “I’ve been practicing, with my fingers.”
Alistair just stared up at him with wide eyes, until Jowan experimentally moved his hips.
With a growl, Alistair suddenly flipped them over until it was Alistair on top, staring down at him with a look that made Jowan whimper.
“You’ve been doing that in our bed, with me sleeping right next to you?” Alistair twitched his hips, pushing back in from where he’d slipped out a bit, and Jowan had to catch his breath before he could answer.
“Mmhm… Almost every night…” He smirked, and tightened around Alistair’s cock teasingly.
“Oh…” Alistair squeezed his eyes shut. “You tease.”
“Alistair.” Jowan whispered, and waited until his lover met his gaze. “Please?”
“Okay.” Alistair answered in the same tone, and then he was slowly pulling out, and Jowan waited with bated breath until he pushed back in. They both groaned.
After a few breaths, Jowan started moving his hips to meet the other man’s, and they settled into a steady rhythm. Heat coiled between them, as well as a weird feeling almost like static electricity that drew them together, until they were nothing but sweat, friction, moans of need and most of all, love, as they kissed and caressed whatever they could get their hands on.
Alistair reached down to bring him off, and came a moment later himself.
They spent a few minutes catching their breath before languidly touching and kissing each other, before settling into their usual spooning position. Alistair kissed his neck, making him hum in contentment.
“When can we do that again?” Alistair murmured in his ear. Jowan barked out a laugh.
“Just for making me wait so long, how about next week?” He asked teasingly. Alistair groaned, and the sound made Jowan shiver in remembrance.
“How about now?” Alistair pressed into him.
“You’re incorrigible.” Jowan huffed, but didn’t protest.