theoldguardkinkmeme (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
theoldguardkinkmeme) wrote2021-03-07 01:19 pm
theoldguardkinkmeme) wrote2021-03-07 01:19 pm
Fills Post #2
This is where your fills go!
Fills can but don't need to be anonymous.
Start a new comment for each fill. Don't use threaded comments for new fills. Threaded comments are for fills that take up more than one comment field, or for feedback/squee/praise.
In your fill, please mention the prompt you are responding to, and provide a link to your prompt in the body of the text.
Please use a header with your character(s)/pairing and a title and/or keyword or short phrase. (For example: "Just you and me: Andy/Quynh, Make-up sex" or "Between a Rock and A Hard Place: Nicky/Joe/Booker, first time DP").
Please also comment with a link to your fill in the prompt post, under the prompt you are responding to. Your comment header should include the word "Fill" or "Filled", so that those checking out the thread can find your fic/art more easily (For example: "FILL: Re: Any/Quynh, Make-up sex").
If you end up cleaning up your fill and posting it elsewhere (AO3, your personal journal), feel free to link the posted fic/art here as well.
Fills can but don't need to be anonymous.
Start a new comment for each fill. Don't use threaded comments for new fills. Threaded comments are for fills that take up more than one comment field, or for feedback/squee/praise.
In your fill, please mention the prompt you are responding to, and provide a link to your prompt in the body of the text.
Please use a header with your character(s)/pairing and a title and/or keyword or short phrase. (For example: "Just you and me: Andy/Quynh, Make-up sex" or "Between a Rock and A Hard Place: Nicky/Joe/Booker, first time DP").
Please also comment with a link to your fill in the prompt post, under the prompt you are responding to. Your comment header should include the word "Fill" or "Filled", so that those checking out the thread can find your fic/art more easily (For example: "FILL: Re: Any/Quynh, Make-up sex").
If you end up cleaning up your fill and posting it elsewhere (AO3, your personal journal), feel free to link the posted fic/art here as well.
Fills on Pinboard: For a list of filled prompts on Pinboard, go here.
2/? Joe/Nicky royalty AU. My concubine? You mean my top advisor.
(Anonymous) 2021-02-22 12:57 pm (UTC)(link)"Of the new recruits?"
Yusuf nods and waits patiently for Nicolo's reply; he knows Nicolo likes to consider his words carefully before speaking.
"Ahmed is too easily distracted, he must be trained out of that trait if he is to remain with the guard. Galib has again proven himself to be observant, and unlike Ahmed, he is able to keep his focus."
Yusuf huffs out a laugh.
"I don't know, I thought he was going to swallow his tongue when you spread your legs for me."
Nicolo looks away, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yes, well," he mutters. "We can allow for that, I think.”
Yusuf is instantly contrite.
“I am sorry, my friend. I did not mean to cause you any discomfort.”
He steps closer, placing a hand on Nicolo’s forearm.
“Forgive me?”
Nicolo’s lips twitch in a smile.
“There is nothing to forgive. This façade was my idea, remember?”
Yes, Yusuf thinks, but it is I who seems to be getting the better side of this bargain.
For almost a year they have kept up the pretence that Nicolo merely serves as a distraction from the rigours of Kingship. More than a year since Yusuf had come to realise that his half-brother, Jafar, is plotting to take his throne.
The head of his mother's personal guard, Andromache, was the one to tell him about Nicolo, a former priest turned hermit, who had come to her aid several years ago when she was set upon by bandits. He had helped fight off her attackers and had then seen to her wounds and provided shelter until she was well enough to travel. Grateful for his timely assistance and intrigued by the soft spoken, but deadly stranger, she had come to form a close friendship with him.
Who better than a stranger, Andromache put forward, if you don’t know who to trust within your own walls?
Between them they had hatched a plan to have Nicolo act as Yusuf’s eyes and ears. With his barely clothed body anointed with fragrant oils, Nicolo certainly turned heads, but it was an effective way of hiding in plain sight. People assumed that he was no more than a vapid bed warmer. Certainly, the normally suspicious Jafar had dismissed him on sight.
But, as Yusuf soon discovers, Nicolo has an incredibly perceptive mind and a near uncanny ability to read people. Initially just engaged to listen and observe, when Nicolo starts to offer some of his insights and suggestions, Yusuf realises the man has a gift for military strategy.
He insists on making Nicolo his chief military advisor, albeit in secret. He certainly doesn’t trust the current head of the military, since tradition dictates that his half-brother has that role.
Of course, he has the authority to veto his brother’s commands, but he prefers not to do so directly. He doesn’t want it to look like he is disregarding his brother’s advice and acting as a dictator. Instead, Yusuf out manoeuvres him, leaving Jafar no choice but to back down or make a direct challenge for the throne. Since Jafar doesn’t, he clearly isn’t yet ready to play his hand.
“Yusuf?”
It takes Yusuf a moment to realise that Nicolo has been speaking.
“Sorry, I missed what you said. Tell me again?”
Nicolo’s forehead furrows in concern.
“You’re tired.”
“No-” Yusuf starts to deny it, but one look at Nicolo’s expression tells him he isn’t going to get away with that. “Well, yes, perhaps a little.”
“Jafar?”
“He wants to take our forces into the Western hills.”
Nicolo makes a noise of angry disgust.
“What? He wants to throw out our treaty with the tribes? When they would be our allies against those who would invade from the Western shores.”
“That is what I told him, but he insists that the mines in the hills were ours in the time of our grandfather and they should be ours again, and there are those who will agree with him.”
“And do you agree with him?”
Yusuf gives him a weary smile and Nicolo deflates.
“No, of course you don’t. I’m sorry, my friend. I shouldn’t doubt you. When did Jafar tell you this?”
Yusuf feels warmed by Nicolo’s protective tone. He knows the other man dislikes hearing that he has been alone with his brother. It is virtually impossible for Nicolo to be with him twenty-four hours a day, but that doesn’t stop Nicolo from trying.
“Last night, when I was bathing.”
“He dared to speak with you when you were in your bath!” Nicolo exclaims, indignant on Yusuf’s behalf.
“He is my brother.”
“Half-brother,” Nicolo corrects. “And I am yet to see any sign that he is related to you.”
Yusuf has to grin at that. For while it is certainly true that he and Jafar could not be more different in character, Jafar looks enough like him that they could be mistaken for twins.
Nicolo snorts at the ridiculousness of his own statement, and both men descend into very unstatesmanlike giggling.
“Perhaps he engaged the services of a Djinn,” says Yusuf, between laughter. “To conjure himself a face to match my own.”
“If such creatures existed, I wouldn’t put it past him,” says Nicolo.
Their amusement recedes as they return to the problem in hand. Namely, Jafar’s desire to take back the territory currently held by the tribesmen who inhabit the hills to the West.
“My grandfather gave them that land to secure a peace, and to ensure that those who travel through the hills to reach the ports on the Western shores can do so without fear of attack.”
“I know,” says Nicolo, gravely.
“They are few in number, but they know that land, to engage them in a fight is pure folly.”
Yusuf knows the reasons why his grandfather had been willing to give up the mines. He had grown weary of losing men to the constant skirmishes, and the tribesmen had become adept at ambushing the caravans when they tried to transport goods to the ports. The tribes had a former claim to the territory, and they argued that the mining activity was spoiling their water supplies.
“We need to find out who supports Jafar in this. Unless you already know?”
Yusuf shakes his head.
“I cannot be certain, not without proof. But he is too confident this time. I fear he is close to making his play, and I do not know who to trust.”
Nicolo takes Yusuf’s hand and places it on his own chest, over his heart.
“Trust me. For I am loyal to you even unto death. I will discover the names of all those who would choose to stand by him in this foolhardy venture. He will not succeed.”
Yusuf’s mouth is dry, he can feel the warmth of Nicolo’s skin through the flimsy garment.
“Thank you. I... I do not know what I would do without you,” he admits.
“Entertain Jafar while you bathe, apparently,” says Nicolo. His dry comment is punctuated by a determined scowl. “He will not do that again.”
Yusuf wants to ask how Nicolo plans to stop him, but is rather afraid of what the answer will be.
Re: 2/? Joe/Nicky royalty AU. My concubine? You mean my top advisor.
(Anonymous) 2021-02-22 07:04 pm (UTC)(link)Re: 2/? Joe/Nicky royalty AU. My concubine? You mean my top advisor.
(Anonymous) 2021-02-22 07:08 pm (UTC)(link)