An excellent question! Personally, I think of their AUs being in Kostya’s time (1800s) rather than Garupe’s (1600s), maybe because I’m more familiar with Kostya’s source material than I am with Garupe’s! Silence was such a boring movie. Brilliant acting but I attempted to watch it on like 10 separate occasions but couldn’t get through it without going on my phone 🤣

And I’d love to talk about it!

It’s a cold morning when Levin is alerted to the fact that there’s a trespasser on his land. His workers are alarmed but Kostya is calm and goes to investigate, finding that the mowers are correct. There’s a thin, neglected-looking man sleeping amongst the hay bales, clearly completely exhausted.

With the help of his labourers, Kostya carries the man into his home and makes up the couch for him to rest upon, calling out a doctor immediately to check him. The man is dehydrated and malnourished and has a fever developing so must be monitored closely, something which Kostya is a little nervous to do but this man needs help and he isn’t one to turn a needy person away.

It isn’t until that night that the man wakes up, murmuring about mercy and death. Kostya is quick to his side and offers him some water, helping him drink it by holding his neck and pressing the glass to his lips. The man coughs and Kostya holds him, rubbing his back and telling him that he’s safe now. It’s then that the man opens his eyes and then holds his hands together as though he’s praying, bowing his head and muttering something in Portuguese.

He thinks that Kostya is an angel; a beautiful and caring angel sent to him by his god to save him. Kostya shies away from the compliments and presumes the man is delusional with illness but even the next morning, he insists that Kostya is an angel.

He tells Kostya that his name is Fransisco Garupe and he was a priest but he was exiled from his church after trying to stand up for peasants when the head priest would not. Garupe has a good heart, Kostya can tell. They’re similar men, quiet and good.

Their courtship begins quickly but subtly with Garupe trying to show his gratitude for Kostya’s kindness but he’s definitely flirting and Kostya is definitely welcoming it.

But one of Kostya’s labourers blabs about the strange man now living with his master and word gets around to the aristocrats about it and Kostya & his family face scandal! But like Garupe, Kostya will risk exile from his lineage if it means defending someone who needs it. 

A continuation of this!

The bathtub has quickly become Garupe’s favourite place to be—second favourite place, he corrects himself; Kostya’s arms are first.

The warm water is like heaven on his aching body. The chill of the Russian winter affects the Portuguese-born priest more than he allows dear Kostya to know, though the wealthy alpha has done everything in his power and budget to make their home as perfect as can be for their family. Every room has a roaring fireplace, the pantry is well-stocked with an array of comforting foods and the blankets and furs upon their beds are nothing but the thickest and finest in the country.

Truly, Kostya spoils him.

The omega sighs and sinks further beneath the warm, soapy water until only his head and the curve of his heavily pregnant belly can be seen. Steam slowly fills the room and relaxes all of his senses with its honey and camomile scent, one said to be good for both mother and pup during the late stages of a difficult pregnancy.

“How are you, my darling?” Kostya appears in the doorway, his voice hushed since their five year old daughter has just been settled into sleep.

“Mmm,” Garupe says, rubbing his hands over the curve of his baby bump. “So soothed. As is he.”

“For once,” Kostya adds with a laugh as he comes to kneel down beside the oval-shaped tub, his hand hesitating on the side. The omega can see the admiration shining in his mate’s beautiful green eyes but his touch remains elusive as always when they aren’t in bed together.

“My love,” Garupe takes his hand. “You do not have to ask for my permission to touch me. How many times must I tell you? I am yours.”

“You may be mine, as you say, but I could never treat you as such.” But the alpha’s hand, with a little more encouragement, settles atop his mate’s pregnant belly, smoothing his rough touch against the soft, stretched skin. “You are a jewel, Francisco. Precious, a gift, something to be treasured.”

“Always so serious, Kostya. You’ve put your claim mark upon me, filled me with your pups, married me. And yet you hesitate to touch?”

“I…don’t want to do anything that would bring you discomfort.”

“You could never, Kostya. My love. My soulmate.”

The omega can’t help but gather tears in his soft eyes as he sees the expression of his alpha change from one of hesitation to one of understanding. He brushes strands of his golden-red hair from his face and leans over the side of the bath, allowing his hand to dip beneath the water in search of the omega’s most intimate region.

“Perhaps I should do more of what you wish,” the alpha says.

“Yes, touch me,” Garupe’s back arches when his mate finds his cock and begins caressing it, though mindful that their sleeping daughter is only in the next room. “Ohhhh.”

“So beautiful, Francisco,” Kostya moves his free hand to Garupe’s neck, touching his claim mark. “And all mine.”

Thank you so much for your kind words! I totally agree with you about this ship. I love it so much and I really enjoyed writing this!

Kostya wakes to the gentle and beautiful feeling of his mate’s sleepy breaths upon his cold skin, warming him on the inside and on the outside. It’s the middle of winter in Russia but Kostya’s wealth means that their quaint bedchambers in their countryside home is toasty warm; a fire is roaring in the fireplace at the foot of their bed and layers of plush furs cover him and his sleeping omega, keeping them warm against the awful chills of the morning blizzard.

And after a week-long heat, Fransisco deserves every comfort that Kostya can offer him.

The pain, discomfort and need that comes with an omega’s heat had subsided yesterday eve but Kostya’s instincts told him to knot Fransisco one more time just to be sure that his mate would be free of the suffering and be filled with another of the alpha’s children. Remnants of their previous night linger on the bedsheets and on Fransisco’s skin in the form of love-bites; a canvas for his alpha’s affections.

Beside Kostya in the comfort of their warm bed, Fransisco stirs. He sighs and snuggles into Kostya’s side, pressing his clothed form as close as he can to his mate’s body. Kostya can’t help but smile as he takes in the form of his waking omega, feeling blessed by the priest’s presence in his life and the beautiful journey that they’ve been on together.

“Good morning,” Kostya whispers, smoothing his hand through Fransisco’s wavy, dark hair. The omega hums as she smiles, blinking awake in the candlelight of their bedchambers, subconsciously reaching to adjust the askew cross upon the silver chain around his neck.

“Dobroye utro,” Fransisco replies, speaking in the Russian that he’s been studying since moving here. Hearing his native language in Fransisco’s deep, honeyed voice makes Kostya’s heart jump.

“How are you feeling?” Kostya presses the back of his hand against the omega’s forehead. “Any pain? What about nausea? Is your heat—?”

“Kostya,” Fransisco sighs, smiling. He takes Kostya’s cheek into his palm, rubbing over his prominent cheekbone. “I’m fine. I’m happy.”

Even without trying to sense it through their bond, Kostya can see the difference in his mate since they first met. Fransisco’s belly is filled with hot meals and good wine now, allowing him to get to a healthy weight instead of being just skin and bone. His hair is fuller, his cheeks blush brighter, and he sleeps with a smile on his face; Kostya falls a little more in love with the omega every day.

“I’m glad, I’m so glad, Fransisco. My darling. That was an incredible week,” Kostya shuffles onto his side and takes his mate into his arms, admiring just how well they slot together.

“It was,” the priest says. “I wonder if we’ve created another life.”

“It’s too soon to tell, my love.”

“I know. But would you—?”

“I want as many children as you are willing to bear for us,” Kostya kisses Fransisco’s forehead, making the omega purr. “If the Heavens bless us with a dozen children then I will cherish each of them equally.”

“Oh, Kostya. I love you,” Fransisco says quietly. Kostya gives his mate a kiss in return, wishing he could stay in this peaceful moment forever.

But the sounds of quick, little footsteps thumping down the corridor disrupt the married pair from their kissing. The door flings open and a little dark-haired girl dressed in a long-sleeved purple nightgown and matching slippers leaps onto the bed with a big smile on her face.

“Mama!” Four year old Evelina clambers upon the soft furs up to Fransisco, having been without him for the best part of a week whilst he’s suffered through his heat. Luckily, Kostya’s close friends have been able to care for Evelina in their absence.

“Little one,” Fransisco abandons his hug with Kostya to welcome his daughter into his arms, nestling her under the covers with him and kissing her head. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I miss you too, Mama. A lot! But I drew you lots and lots of pictures!”

“That’s so good, Eva,” Kostya says, still wary of his omega’s possible delicate state. “Mama will look at them once we’ve made breakfast, alright? Why don’t you go and get dressed? We’ll meet you at the table, hm?”

“Okay, Papa.”

“My printsessa,” Kostya praises, but then turns to his mate once their daughter has gone again. “And my korol. My king, my one.”

23- : “You’re too weak to make a nest.” Omega Garupe/Alpha Kostya

Fransisco has lost count of the days that this cold has consumed him. He believes this to be the fifth day but he can’t be entirely sure; his head throbs with the light of the morning sun so he’s tried his very best to stay out of its way.

The sickly omega refrains himself from cursing as he drags himself out of bed and wraps himself in Kostya’s house-robe, sniffing at its lapel to comfort himself with his alpha’s scent, one that smells like the earth and of his special, imported bath oils. Garupe sighs, wishing that his mate was here to comfort him instead of working in the fields with his labourers—

“моя любовь,” Levin says softly, entering their bedchambers to find his mate attempting to arrange his pillows and duvets. “My love. Don’t strain yourself.”

“Kostya,” Garupe coughs after speaking, feeling his fever rising. “I thought you were working.”

“I was, but something told me to come home to you, Fransisco. My omega. Come now, you’re too weak to make a nest,“ Levin takes hold of Garupe’s hands and halts his efforts to put together a decent nest, and the omega doesn’t have the strength to argue.

“I feel so ill, Kostya,” Garupe whines, allowing himself to be guided back into the comfort of his bed. “Could it be...”

“Not your heat, dear one. No. Your scent is very much the same as it always is. The physician said that it’s a strain of omegan flu, remember?” The alpha sits down on the side of the bed and gently brushes Garupe’s dark hair from his face, resting his rough palm upon his sharp, elegant cheekbone. “Rest, Fransisco, my love. For me.”

The omega priest nods slowly whilst leaning into Kostya’s loving touch, allowing his mate to sing softly to him as he drifts off into sleep.

“Kostya?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you going to stay with me?”

Levin doesn’t answer but instead climbs into bed beside his sleepy mate and cuddles him from behind, nuzzling past his waves of uncombed dark hair to kiss the nape of his neck where his claim mark sits.

Long mornings in bed, bathing each other, eating meals together that are made from ingredients that they’ve grown in their vegetable patches, sunset kisses in Kostya’s fields of gold, sins that are hidden beneath bedsheets, playing chess together, sins that are not-so hidden and could get garupe exiled from his faith if they were to be found but god has given him this mortal body and brought this incredible, beautiful man into his life so pleasures of the flesh are expected of him, aren’t they?

Just two soft boys who want to do everything they can to care for their lover and make sure that he’s the happiest that he can be.