#carverse

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They were only a few seconds into the city when he started looking through the crowd, and even his master Lord Braginsky caught the frenzied look on his face. The Club nobleman placed a hand on Toris’s shoulder as if to calm him. The long-haired man stilled under the heavyweight, but his eyes continued to look through the mass of people that came in and out of the grand capital city of Spades. Heracles said he would meet him here in his letters. Toris fingered the end of his sleeve, anxiety worming its way in. Maybe the man had ditched him?

“Why are you so anxious?” his master said in his deep voice, squinting at his servant. Toris quickly started to think of an excuse but decided to just tell the truth. Lord Braginsky would just know if he was lying anyway.

“I’m waiting for someone.” When his master raised an eyebrow, he elaborated. “It’s, um, someone I know well. He said he would meet me here.”

Still looking a bit confused, the lord just shrugged. It wasn’t his business what his servant was up to. Releasing Toris from his grip, he walked ahead, his two other servants scrambling to get to him and carrying their luggage. The tall man followed painfully slowly behind Eduard, mouth dry. It was midday, he should have been there.

Lord Braginsky started to rattle things off. “When we get there, we, of course, have to pay our respects to Queen Arthur and that immortal Jack, and maybe Alfred if he can convince his Queen to let him attend.” His servants didn't reply, too busy trying to keep all of the lord’s stuff in place. Why he didn’t just stick with his noble family when they entered the city was beyond them, though Toris understood the appeal of sightseeing without the lord’s dramatic sisters following him around. But why did they have to bring the man’s stuff, their arms complained? “Oh look, that was the shop I was talking about! Let’s stop there real quick.” The Lord scattered off, distracted like a little boy, going towards an imposing shop draped in blue and green, spades displayed on the window along with swords and weapons of all types. Eduard and Ravis collapsed in front of the shop as Lord Braginsky rushed inside, leaning against the wall and trying to catch their breath.

Lithuania joined them a few seconds later, carefully putting down the suitcase he had been holding, a sinking feeling in his gut. He leaned against the wall close to the end of the shop, near an alleyway. He had just a few seconds to take in this fact when a hand jumped out and grabbed his arm, dragging him into the alleyway as he squeaked, going too fast to put up a fight.

He stopped moving, too dizzy to see who owned the hand he felt on his arm, mind going into panic mode, oh Clubs was he being robbed?! He shot a blast of magic towards the figure, and whoever it was released him and collapsed on the floor as Toris stood there with shaking legs. The smoke cleared, and then Toris’s eyes widened as he saw who it was. “H-Heracles?”

“The one and only,” the dark-haired man said, clutching his torso and groaning a bit on the ground, He wasn’t too badly hurt, thank Spades. The Club raced towards him, hands shaking as he knelt onto the ground and grabbed Heracle’s face.

“Oh my Clubs, I’m so sorry,” he breathed, looking the man up and down, feeling relieved that he wasn’t being robbed, but horrible for hurting the man he was looking for. “Are you okay?!”

“Don’t worry sweetheart, I’m fine,” he smiled, though still wincing at the pain. He leaned into Toris’s hand, closing his eyes and enjoying the feeling of the other being close to him after 4 months. Taking a breath and quietly healing the impact with his own magic as Toris pulled away, he joked, “I didn’t know you were so powerful, to be honest. May Spades have mercy on whoever tries to mug you.” The joke landed flatly, but the Club still chuckled a bit, sitting down next to him on the wall, leaning on his shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re here,” he said quietly, and Heracles put his hand over the Club’s and squeezed a bit.

“Of course I’m here. Where else would I be?” Heracles scooted closer to the man, the pain already fading away. Spades, it had been so long since they could just...sit. Sit and talk. Letters were great, sure, but it was the tickle of Toris’s hair on his nose or the way his eyes lit up when he smiled that made Heracles feel alive. He wished that Ivan nobleman didn't have to travel so much. Or even live in Clubs. But hey, he kissed Toris a bit on his cheek, making him blush fire red, at least they were together now.

“Why weren’t you in the town’s square? When I came in?” Toris asked, pulling away a bit to look at his partner in the eyes.

“I wanted to talk to you alone. Ivan practically had you attached to him like glue,” Heracles said, a little irritated, but smoothing it away. “I wanted to surprise you, and well, you know how that turned out.” He gestured to his frazzled shirt that was still smoking from the blast.

Toris winced again. “Sorry. I thought you were a robber.”

“I bet. For a man who tries to sink into the background, you’re quite a tough cookie.” He leaned into Toris again and nuzzled his ears, drawing a gasp from the man and another bright red face.

“W-well, I, um, I-”

“No wonder Ivan has you as his bodyguard,” he said, feeling satisfaction at the other man’s cute flustered face.

“I am not his bodyguard and you know it,” he huffed, putting a strand of hair behind his ear. He should really put it in a ponytail like Heracles did. “And its Lord Braginsky, not Ivan.”

“Everyone at the castle calls him Ivan in private, even if he’s in line to be the next King of Clubs.” At the mention of the castle, Heracles groaned and said, “God, you wouldn’t believe how hyper King Alfred was when he heard Ivan was coming, go fetch me this and go fetch me that. No one thinks about leaving the librarian in peace. Why would King Alfred even need a book on hair combing techniques in the first place?”

“You’re just grumpy because you finally have to do your job instead of napping in the Magical Arts section,” Toris teased, and Heracles feigned offense.

“Excuse you, I am always the pinnacle of diligence. Except for Mondays. It’s not my fault no one ever wants to go to the library.”

“Maybe we can go there together when I get to the castle?” It sounded innocent, but the man beside him looked shocked.

“What? Me and you, alone in a huge room where no one could see, why sir that’s just indecent,” he said haughtily, and the Club snorted in laughter.

“Not like that. Just, you, know…” He trailed off.

Heracles suddenly looked at him intensely, leaning in a bit and waiting. “Just what?”

Breathless, Toris replied, “Just me and you. You know. Together.”

“Hm,” he leaned in closer, their lips almost touching, before pulling out and breaking the tension by saying, “Doesn’t sound all that different from what I said.”

“Clubs, you’re impossible,” Toris lightly hit him on the shoulder, face flustered again as the Spade laughed.

“Don’t worry,” Heracles put his arm around Toris’s shoulders, “We’ll have tons of time to sit around together. You’re going to be here for a few months, I can think of a few things to do in that time,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

The Club just snorted and pushed him away. “That’s right, you promised me you’d take me to the beach.”

“And I will, whenever you’re free. Just stop by my library,” he gave a breathtaking smile, and this time Toris was the one that squeezed his hand.

“I’d like that. Lord Braginsky will be busy for a while, so I guess I could slip away.” then there was silence between them, as they soaked in each other’s presence, the time they spent apart dwindling away. They had been together for little over a year, and he was always so busy traveling, moments like this were as valuable as the largest dragon hoards.  

“Did you miss me?” Toris said quietly. He still couldn’t believe he managed to find Heracles, that he managed to convince him to fall in love with the bumbling servant that hanged out in the library. He could have had anyone, really. He traveled so much, he was rarely in the capital. Could this really work between them?

Heracles sat there looking at him for a few moments, before cradling the Club’s face with both hands and touching their foreheads together, before smiling blissfully.

“Toris, you were the only one I thought of the whole time.” He lightly kissed his lips, before pulling out and looking into his green eyes.

The Club’s heart almost seemed to jump out of his chest, beating fast as he soaked in the remains of the kiss. They stood there in their silence again, leaning against an alley wall in the middle of the Spades’ capital city. They could have stayed like that forever if they hadn’t heard a door slam and Ivan’s cheery deep voice commanding his servants to follow him. The sound of footsteps followed, and Toris broke from their moment of bliss, shooting up and brushing himself off, once again brushing his hair behind his ears.

“I’m sorry, I have to go-” he fumbled, the Spade standing up as well. He silently watched as the Club tried to make himself decent, hands in his pockets. “Lord Braginsky needs me and I have to-”

He was interrupted by the press of another kiss from Heracles, leaving him more breathless as he pulled away with a smirk. “I’ll see you at the castle, okay love?”

Toris nodded wordlessly, putting his hands in his pockets and waiting around for a few heartbeats like he was waiting for himself to say something to the long-haired man in front of him. After those heartbeats, he started walking out of the alley, peering back and giving one last wave, received with a smile, before leaving the alley.

His heart sank as he saw the lord jabber on about weapons and the two new swords he bought that he would inevitably have to carry. He slipped back into the group by jogging up to them a bit, the mood from the alley still lingering on his face, but apparently, it wasn’t enough to grant more than a passing look from his master. They followed the streets, the swords that the lord bought now in Toris’s arms, having been given to him by a grumpy Ravis. They approached the spot where they would meet up with the rest of the Lord's family as was shouted at Lady Natalya’s driver, and finally put all the luggage on the ground.

Eduard pushed up his glasses as he examined the spaced-out man beside him, saying to Toris, “Are you okay?”

The Club blinked. “Um, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

Raising an eyebrow, Eduard replied, “Really? You sure?”

“Yup. Never been finer in my life.”

“That wouldn’t have anything to do with the meeting with the royal Spade librarian in that alley, would it?”

Toris’s face became red with embarrassment when he realized that Eduard must have been watching them, and he staggered back a bit, managing to say a resounding, “Uh, well, um-”

“Don’t worry,” the blond sighed, waving the air in an indifferent gesture. “You’re lucky I kept Ravis occupied and reassured him that you didn’t in fact die. You two looked pretty occupied by what I could see.”

“It’s not like that at all!” he rushed, now doubly embarrassed. “We were just talking, and…”

“And yeah, you owe me one. Though you have to tell me how that little romance happened.”

He paused a little before he replied, “Okay, you’re right, I owe you one. Thank you.” He smiled a bit at the blond, patting him on the back lightly.

“How about you buy me something when we get to the castle? I remember that the toast they serve near the kitchen is to die for.”

“Pft, only you would consider using a favor to buy toast.” Nonetheless, he smiled his agreement, and he gave a sigh of relief that the scenario had turned out well. He didn’t even think about how Ravis or Eduard must have felt when he disappeared, he thought guiltily.