Dimiclaude Week: Day 6 - Askr

[warmskies]

There's a lot to explore in Askr, which is completely unsurprising. It's an entirely new world, literally. That's a good thing, as it turns out, because Claude needs just about that much to distract him from the fact that there are elder versions of himself around the place, and he wants to bug all of them so very damn much.

Claude knows what he's said to his friends with his own mouth, out loud: that the older versions of themselves must have a good reason for avoiding them, for not telling them of the things which may happen in the future. And the thing is, he doesn't even disagree with that. He imagines there really must be a reason that has those different Claudes and Hildas and whatever staying away, and staying quiet. It's just, that's not an argument that does anything to actually stop his curiosity from just churning, like a self contained storm.

Still, for all his curiosity... Claude tries to keep a hold on it. He knows himself, better than anyone in the world, because no one else could be trusted to know him. And he knows that if he doesn't approach this the right way... He may as well have burned a bridge.

Sure, all of them may be "Claude von Riegan", but they are not the same person - not exactly. They are all still individual people, who've all experienced different things. That means that there's still a chance to ruin a relationship with himself. That's not exactly a normal thing most people have to worry about, but this entire situation with Askr isn't normal to begin with.

So Claude distracts himself. It's easy enough to do in a place like this. He gets his nose in everyone else's business, devours the histories and policies of so many other countries in a library that would take him at least three different lifetimes to go through, and, of course, helps Askr defend itself and so many others. Yet if there is one thing that is one of the most active and engaging of all of these, it has to do with the castle in Askr itself.

Castles tend to have secret passages, little hidden nooks and crannies that the average person has no idea about. Finding them, unraveling how they work and where they go... It's like a puzzle. And Claude adores puzzles, especially the more challenging they are.

Askr Castle is not only enormous, which means plenty of ground to cover, but it was practically made to house so many different heroes who would help defend different lands. That means Claude has to be careful when it comes to this puzzle so that no one else realizes just what he's up to, or learns what he learns at least at the exact same time. While he may want to uncover some of the secrets of Askr Castle, that doesn't mean he wants to be careless with them. So he keeps track of people's schedules, their habits, what's going on around him. That's just one more aspect to the puzzle, and something that adds to the excitement of it all.

Befitting such a castle, it's also hard to find traces of what he's looking for, which means it's worth all the effort. A lot of what Claude finds is small time stuff, honestly - small hiding places hidden away where the average cur wouldn't think to look, short cuts or escape passages out of a particular room. That's fine, in its own way. It would be worrying if the truly important stuff could be found by one guy so quickly.

So when he manages to find a proper secret passage one day... Well, how can he resist being pleased? It's the biggest step forward he's ever made before, finding a passage that isn't just a quick escape out of one room, or a short jaunt into another hallway.

Of course, he can't resist delving into it, either. Claude isn't a complete idiot, in this respect. He does some tests on the entrance, pokes about the inside of it, to make sure that he can get out again in case anything happens. There's no problem using a secret passage. It's kind of a big one to get trapped in a secret passage. It's only then that he slips into the secret hallway, closing the entrance behind him so that no one else realizes anything has been disturbed.

Obviously, the passage is dark. That's how most secret passages and rooms tend to be - they're only used when a plan is being put into effect, or desperation is taking a hold. Frankly, if this passage were lit by torches or a trail of candles, Claude would probably be worried. As it is... Right now, he can at least say that it's no more or less suspicious than anywhere else in the castle, which is to say he needs to be keeping an eye on his surroundings at all times anyway. A tiring thing to do, but a necessity, sometimes.

More interestingly, it's not completely dark. Little bits of light occasionally filter their way through as Claude makes his way through the passage. If it weren't as dark as it were, he's sure it'd be harder to pay attention to such things. They're small, tiny openings that only allow a bit of sound or light to filter through. Some of them are so thin and small that they're practically useless. Claude imagines that they're just the signs of another entrance into another room, the change in structure unable to hide itself in terms of air flow and light and sound... but not really anything he can peer through. Others are a little more helpful on that front, although only a little depending on if he can see them well enough at his current height.

Claude would say that one day he'd be tall enough to make use of those minuscule openings.... But, even if he's not been able to properly interrogate and question his older selves, he's at least been able to see them from a distance, and he has no faith in getting any taller than he is now. Ugh.

Most of the rooms he can look into are studies, storage rooms, things like that... at least at the beginning. After a few minutes of careful walking, making sure his steps don't make any sound, the rooms he can peer into start to change. They look like bedrooms from what Claude can catch a glimpse of: the corner of a bedpost, a wardrobe across the room, small and personal little desks for private study or reading. They seem fairly mundane, not too much different than those in the barracks. The only problem is trying to see if they have any real differences at all. Are they made of more expensive materials? Are they for proper guests invited over, instead of just soldiers who've ended up in this place? Maybe it's for servants?

In the mental map he's making of this place, Claude makes a note to go back around to these rooms when he's done exploring the passages themselves. It will take a little bit of figuring out, but he's sure he can find them in more public spaces.

Before he can think any further on that... The sound of heavy breathing, slight grunts, slips through the silence of the secret passage. Claude pauses in place, trying to see through the gloom. That noise... Where is it coming from? It's not coming closer, or going farther, but staying steadily in place. That means, likely, it's not in the passage with him... The chances on that were always high, of course. It's just better to be cautious than not.

Of course, complete caution wouldn't have gotten him in this secret passage in the first place. Claude presses forward, still fascinated by what may lay before him, and interested somewhat in just what could be making that noise. Who could be making that noise.

They're sounds of exertion, certainly, someone who is doing quite a bit of work. Is someone cleaning? Working on some sort of private project? Maybe they're even training. There are all sorts in the Order of Heroes, who thus reside in Askr Castle, and so honestly the possibilities are endless. While he's not been able to get a good look at the rooms, he's seen enough to know that they all seem mostly unused. The same cookie cutter layout and appearance, no personal touches applied to any of them. That's useful to all sorts of people, for all sorts of things.

Of course... There's one thing in particular that people do often as well. One thing Claude isn't considering  until he gets to the right little hole in the wall, and presses his eye up against it just in time to realize that there's the sound of a mattress creaking. Wood gently rocking.

The hole he finds actually manages to be just the perfect height for him, and it's actually pretty decent for peeping, as things turn out. It's open already instead of being closed off, and there's nothing in the way that's blocking his view. From what Claude can tell, it's right above a small self in the wall, just barely hidden by a book that's propped up against another. Perhaps ideally, it would be hidden completely from view with more books.

Claude doesn't really have much time to think deeply on that, on the implications and should-bes. Instead, his breath catches, and he watches himself sink down once more onto Dimitri's cock.

And there's no doubt it's him. Claude knows himself, knows those older versions of himself. He recognizes those archer's arms, the earring that still shines in one ear, even if he can't exactly see the man's face as he tilts it back in pure ecstasy, dark brown curls falling back. It's not styled properly, Claude realizes in a daze, even as his eyes follow the way those muscles tense as he pushes himself up again. Falls down, right onto a cock that seems to knock the breath right out of him, into those hands that envelop his waist.

He's riding Dimitri reverse style, and Claude - he - well, he doesn't know how he feels about that on multiple levels. With how he's riding Dimitri, the position of the bed, where the secret passage's spy hole is positioned... This offers him the best view possible of this older version of himself riding Dimitri, at least from one point of view, with his cock bobbing in the air with every rise and fall of his hips.

Claude has never... Well, he knows he's attractive, sure, or at least he's made sure to believe that in himself. But is it really fine if he's just... watching himself move like this? If he feels a startled flutter in the pit of his stomach seeing those thighs tense and loosen? This is weird. This is probably weird.

What's less weird is that he's... almost disappointed in this view point as well, because his gaze can't help but drift downwards. It's definitely Dimitri. He can recognize that man, even if, well. Even if he's obviously never seen him laid bare quite like this. Sure, there were times in the sauna at school when he occasionally caught wind of those broad shoulders, and the incredibly beautiful muscle that somehow his usual school uniform did not show off well enough... But that was different.

He never saw those thighs tensing up as they rolled his cock up into another man's body, never saw the variety of scars that litter his skin, or how much more full his chest has become so many years later. It looks - how can he even describe it? Besides that he wants to sink his hands into it, do other things that will no doubt be haunting his wet dreams for days to come.

Claude swallows, thick. He doesn't realize how much he swallows until he actually does it, and he can feel how it travels down his throat. Wishes he could feel something else down it instead.

Definitely Dimitri. He can recognize that golden blond hair of his, splayed against the pillows, even from this awkward view. He knows the sound of his panting, and spot the brief dark flash that is his eyepatch when Dimitri tosses his head, buries it against the pillows to muffle the noise he makes. Shit. Just hearing the muffled groan travels straight from the top of his spine down into the pit of his stomach.

He's had wet dreams about Dimitri before, occasionally. Who wouldn't, is his question. The guy has broad shoulders, a charming smile, the kind of honesty one always would hope is turned on them... And he has enough strength that he shatters pure metal in his palms with ease.

Or maybe that last one is just a specific bit of appeal to just him.

"C'mon," a rough voice murmurs, and Claude almost chokes, thinking it's him for a moment. And, well, it is him, just not the "him" that is pressed up against the inside of a secret passage, watching two men having sex. It's the lucky "him" that is having that sex, turning his head to grin breathlessly down at Dimitri. "No need to be quiet, Mitya. You can-" The other Claude rolls his hips as he sinks down again, finally lets loose a long moan that squirms its way hotly into Claude's ear. He swallows again. Can't quite get himself to move away. "You can make make whatever noise you like. I got us all the way to a room like this for a reason, you know."

At the older Claude's waist, he can see Dimitri's hand seem to spasm, twitch, until they have to let go entirely in order to press down into the sheets. He can hear the sharp tear of cloth. "You...." Dimitri groans again, and, shit, shit, why is it getting to him seeing him prop himself up on one elbow? Better look at his face, probably, when this viewpoint has made that hard to do. "You are a scoundrel, Claude."

He's not the Claude that's being spoken to. He knows that. Yet hearing that deep voice roll into his ears, carrying his name with it... Claude bites down on his lip, rubs his thighs together best he can. His pants don't really lend well to it, or making his cock go limp. If anything, that faint friction just encourages it all the more.

He should go. Claude tells himself that he should go, even as his eyes follow the hand of his older self, reaching down to grab one of Dimitri's wrist. This isn't a thing that he should be watching. And yet here he is, trapped in place. "Oh, aren't I, tho," the other Claude purrs, trying to tug Dimitri's hand back to its spot on his waist. He's stopped riding him so enthusiastically, instead just sticking right where he is. No, wait - he's grinding down on Dimitri, lips quirked up in a sly smile. "C'mon, Mitya. Get me a little harder than that. I know you want to. Don't you just want to treat this scoundrel a lesson, fuck me so hard that I can't even think straight-"

Gods, why does he have to say it like that? Claude licks his lips, finds one hand sliding down the front of his torso. To his pants, where a bulge is forming underneath the airy build there. He likes it because it keeps him cool, normally. Right now, all he can do is run hot, hotter, burning up as the heel of his palm grinds down there against his arousal.

This is a problem. This is such a huge, huge problem. But all that's in his head is the mental image of Dimitri pinning him down, off sliding into him - how big is he? Claude has no idea. If there's one infuriating thing about watching this from this particular viewpoint, it's that he can't see just what Dimitri is working with. But if he was thick, long, could go straight to the core of him.... In his head, Dimitri's image blurs, from the charming and bright eyed prince he attended the academy with, to the tall and domineering man with his long hair, that deep gaze.

The pants aren't doing him any good. In the room, Dimitri growls, a low and vicious sound that makes him squirm - both versions of him, the one groaning atop of Dimitri, and the one shoving his other hand into his mouth, fingers pinning down his tongue, forcing silence to happen even as he grinds down inbetween his own legs even harder as he leans forward against the wall. Shit, this is too much, okay, that's it, he's going to leave right now and run away to his room-

Something clicks, and the wall jerks forward.

Claude bites back a yell, which would be embarrassing, only to squeak out a curse, which is kind of worse, honestly. Even as he jolts one foot forward to stop him from going forward any further, the passage open only a little bit, he knows he is, quite succinctly, quite fucked here. And not in the way he was daydreaming about.

The passage hasn't opened up all the way, so most of the room - the bed - is still blocked from his view. But he can hear, or rather distinctly not hear, the sounds that were filling the room before vanish utterly. There's the shift of sheets, and Dimitri's sharp voice going, "Who-!?"

Yeah.... Yeah. Claude can imagine just what kind of embarrassed anger Dimitri is feeling right now, and he grimaces. A part of him is tempted to just make a bolt for it. He could make it, right? If he managed to get the secret passage closed in time.... And even if he didn't, well, his older self and Dimitri would have to untangle themselves first, and Claude is pretty sure he could make it all the way down the passage to at least another exit before they could so much as see a hair of him.

All of those thoughts happen in just a split second, the product of a lifetime of having to run away from all sorts of situations. Fittingly, there's someone else with the same experiences, but who's reached a different conclusion, and he hears his older self actually chuckle. It's still strange to not only hear what he actually sounds like, but to hear his voice be a little bit different... "Relax, Dimitri."

Just like that, Claude knows there's no point in running. Or, well, he supposes he still could, but it would no longer be a choice chosen with the idea of having his identity being hidden. It's crystal clear that his older self already knows it's him who stumbled onto this. If he runs now, it'd just be to avoid an immediate awkward confrontation, or out of politeness so that the two men could at least get themselves dressed. Nothing less than that.

Must have been his voice, Claude reflects with a twist of his mouth as he straightens up. Already he can hear the sound of a body moving properly just on the other side of the secret passage's partially open entrance. The footsteps that follow after are a little harder, admittedly, made soft and silent after years of necessity. Still, they're not impossible to hear for someone listening closely... and so Claude isn't particularly surprised when his older self peers around the fake wall, smile one of faint amusement. Fortunately, he doesn't step completely around, just pokes his head over. Claude knows what his own dick looks like, on two different levels now, but it would be kind of different right in this instance. "Hey," his older self says simply.

Well. He's fucked up. Might as well own up to that. Resisting the urge to tug his shirt down any further over his pants, Claude meets his own eyes with a brief and very strained smile. "Hey," he says back, because, well, what else is he going to do? Can Dimitri hear him? He has to. Well, if they weren't avoiding each other before, Claude suspects they'll be doing that plenty now... "So - first of all, I do want to say that I didn't do this on purpose." He'll get that out of the way first and foremost.

"I know," his older self says, amusement simmering down in exchange for something a little softer, more reassuring. "I don't remember having a particular voyeur kink... And honestly, I knew the risks in choosing a room connected to a secret passage. There was always going to be a chance that someone would accidentally end up peeking in on the fun."

"Wait - you knew there was a secret passage in this room!?" Dimitri's voice interrupts them, absolutely befuddled from the tip to the top.

It draws out a grin on his older self's face, and that self pulls away a little as he looks back into the rest of the room. "Of course I did. You didn't think I would carefully look over whatever room we were going to use for our own fun? I was just thinking that we could use it in case anyone else tried to come in and interrupt us. Of course, I was thinking that with someone coming in through the obvious way... I figured someone peeping would be pretty low risk. But even a low chance is a chance." When his older self glances back at him, it's with something thoughtful swirling behind his eyes. "...You know, there's something I think we should try, if you don't mind it."

Is this version of himself speaking to Claude, or Dimitri? He sort of suspects it's both. Well... It's sure a thing, to be invited into a room with two men, clearly lovers, who are also very naked and at least in some state of arousal. But he's sure that his older self has a reason for doing what he's doing. No matter if they're separate people, they're still a version of Claude von Riegan. And that's a person who can't afford to make stupid mistakes.

Besides... Maybe it's just his stupid dick overriding the logical thoughts in his brain, but he kind of wants to see where this could go as well.

At least both his older self and Dimitri seem to be quite aware of the situation as it is. When he steps out from behind the fake wall, both of them are... So, "presentable" would be a stretch of a description, but they've both covered up as best as could be hoped for in a situation like this. His older self has managed to grab a large scarf that would normally function as a cloth belt. It's not the most covering thing, but, wrapped and draped over his hips, it manages to cover up the absolute necessities.

Dimitri seems to have a bit more luck in that area. He never left the bed, and so he's still sitting there awkwardly as Claude emerges from his hiding spot, with sheets tugged hastily over his bottom half. While he'd sure sounded upset when Claude had made his mistake, that feeling has apparently passed quite quickly. Instead, his hands are just clasped together awkwardly on his lap, where the sheets have been piled up in order to no doubt hide his quite noticeable erection. Claude almost feels kind of bad for him. Dimitri always was the kind of guy who seemed to believe that even so much as talking about sex could have the Goddess frown at you.

Or maybe Seteth would be the one doing the frowning. In which case, Claude can't blame him. Seteth has that effect on a lot of people, just not the ones who had mattered the most to his anti-sex crusades, like Sylvain.

"Hello, ah," Dimitri starts to say, only to pause, the gears in his skull practically visible in the way they dislodge as he stares at two of the exact same person. "Hello, Claude," he manages again, still seeming not exactly steady on the matter. Maybe this is another reason that their older selves haven't gone to see them - the confusion of saying the same name for two different people is awkward enough on its own. Having those two different people be different version of the same person just makes it worse. "I... I hope you did not..." He flounders. "I hope this has not made you think less of me."

"What," Claude says, absolutely bemused, while his older self sighs besides him.

"I can promise he's fine, Dimitri," his older self says, going over to flop down on the bed besides him. Dimitri looks as though his face is going to explode from how red it is. "I asked if he wanted to come in here, and he agreed. Besides, now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure we've had discussions before on how the way you act in bed is perfectly fine..."

Claude wants to know everything about that discussion now. What did they say? How close are they? He got distracted just because of what he was watching, but now that he's here as well, a part of the conversation, can see the two of them just talking... He realizes that he wants to know so much more than just the carnal, the physical. He wants to not only know what they've talked about, and how, but... He wants to experience it himself, too. Himself as he is now. He watches the way that his older self's hand settles atop of Dimitri's, the way their shoulders brush, and...

"Anyway, you may want to recover from your most recent bout of self loathing making you think that everyone views you worse than they do," Claude's older self says, "Because I think thinking of making this a threesome."

Dimitri chokes on his own air supply. Claude just blinks a couple of times, as if to make sure that he really did hear what he thinks he just heard. "Well!" he finally manage to say, his brain running on autopilot and falling back on casual levity because what else is he supposed to say here. "I definitely wasn't expecting that kind of proposal when I invited myself in."

His older self just flashes a grin at him. "Something to keep in mind for future schemes, right?" he says, and winks. Dimitri still seems like his brain has officially stopped working, and as though he's going to keel over any second now. Probably that's why his older self leans in a little closer to him, his other hand going to rest along his forearm and give a gentle squeeze. His voice goes gentle. "Hey. I'm not saying this just to spice things up, or to make light of anything. There's just..." His gaze flicks back to Claude. "Something I want to show him. Something I think you're the best person to demonstrate."

Something that another version of himself would want to show him...? Claude tries to keep from pinching his brow together, at least too hard, as he thinks on those words. What on earth could his older self be thinking? What is it that's so valuable that could come up in this sort of thing?

While Dimitri calms down, his own brow openly furrowed as he considers the suggestion of his lover, the older Claude glances over to his younger self. "Of course, Dimitri's not the only person whose opinion I'm asking in regards to this," he says, using a particular sort of light and calm tone that Claude knows well. He's been trying to master it all this time as well, and gotten pretty good at it. Strange, to hear it echoed back at him, with his own voice. What his own voice sounds like, when he uses that tone. "Is this something you'd want to try?"

Claude has had sexual encounters before. It's not something he feels ashamed of, or regrets, not... exactly. He's always had control during them, after all, and sex feels good. He's just never had any sort of threesome before. He supposes it would be just like regular sex, but with having to keep track of one extra body. And, honestly, more important than that little logistical matter...

He could never have imagined that his first threesome would include an entirely different version of himself in the mix too.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little interested," Claude finally manages, because a lie doesn't seem like it would have much use here. His gaze flicks back to Dimitri, who looks as though he's having a slight break behind that one pretty eye of his. "Although is there a particular reason why this is popping up right now of all times?"

It's starting to become clear to Claude what he must look like to, say, Hubert's eyes. His older self just gives a far too casual smile, not revealing a single little sliver of thought behind it. "Is it such a bad idea to share a really good thing with myself? And trust me - there's a lot of good where Dimitri is concerned." He flashes a quick wink. "And I think you could use a little help yourself in certain areas."

Typical. Obvious his older self could look back into what's his past, and Claude's present, to spot the little tells of arousal. They're probably as obvious as bonfires at midnight to a guy like that. Claude's own smile twitches a little. "Well, I wouldn't want to bother someone too much just because I need some help."

Apparently, those are the magic words, and Claude only realizes it when he sees the particular way his older self's eyes sparkle right as Dimitri snaps out of it. "Help?" he echoes, and, well, crap. He should have realized this would cause something, because it would have earned the attention of his Dimitri, too. "If you need any assistance, then I will do whatever it is that that I possibly can, even in an awkward situation such as this."

That's just like Dimitri... He got walked in on while he was in the middle of sex, and yet he's still worrying over someone else. It makes something curl strangely in his gut - something warmly pleased, while also almost stinging in another way. Somehow, both of those feelings have Claude cock his head, smile on his lips. "Even if my problem is because I have an arousal?" he asks, and well, that's that, huh? That's definitely his answer to being invited into a threesome by his older self from another universe. Claude guesses he's just learning all sorts of new things about himself today.

That's definitely not the answer Dimitri was expecting. He stares for a moment, and Claude almost thinks he can hear some sort of mindless whistling coming out from his ears. Claude's older self just grins, and drapes his arm across one of Dimitri's broad shoulders. "See?" he asks slyly. "I said he was perfectly fine... just like how I think of you in bed is more than perfectly fine. There was sort of a reason why I thought to ask him to join in, Mitya..."

Dimitri makes a noise like he's being strangled, or choking on a small rodent. "Is it truly all right if I-" he starts to say.

Both Claudes cut him off. "I said it was, so it is," they say, almost in perfect unison. It's enough to make both of them stop, and blink. Well, that's a new experience to add onto the list.

At least someone is getting some amusement out of this particular situation. Dimitri pauses as well, only to give a slight smile afterwards. "Well... I suppose if I am told twice, then it may truly be all right in the end."

"I'm pretty sure I've told you something like that more than twice," Claude's older self comments wryly.

Dimitri ignores him, instead winding the sheets in his hands a little bit as he looks over to Claude almost shyly. "So with that said... I do not know how you would like to start this. Or, well, what you would like to do? This was rather - well I cannot say it was a completely spur of the moment decision, how we started- by which I mean myself and Claude, or, well-" Poor guy. The case of two of the same man is tripping him up all over again.

Claude decides to do him a favor, smiling a little bit as he walks over with more confidence than he necessarily feels. "I think I can improvise something pretty quickly," he says, hoping that sounds smooth enough. With his older self there in the room, maybe it won't ever sound as smooth as he'd like.

Speaking of his other self... If he's on one side of the bed, then it only makes sense for Claude to take the other side. It's just as good a bed as all the others in the castle and barracks; Askr really is a prosperous kingdom. Dimitri's body is pretty prosperous too, with how Claude can lean against his other side so easily and smooth one hand over the blanketed area across his lap.... and feel the impressive bulge that's waiting there just underneath the surface.

He pauses again. Tries to consider if this is maybe a case of Dimitri's hands underneath the sheets as well, or maybe his legs folded in a particular way...? Except his older self is grinning like a cat who got loose in a canary sanctuary, and Claude's hand finds Dimitri's legs after going just a little further down.

Oh.

Oh.

Claude is unable to stop his own eyes from widening as he takes in this knowledge, of what it means. It can't be the only reason that his older self is with Dimitri, but, well. It's certainly a good bonus. Now he really wants to yank the sheets off... How is he supposed to show patience when he has a hint of just what he could be allowed to try for himself? And it would be a good opening, too, going down on Dimitri, working him up to a fever pitch...

Before he can really commit to that idea and dig his fingers into the sheets to drag them off, a large hand folds gently around his wrist, and Dimitri pulls him away gently. Incredibly gently, as a matter of fact, like Claude is some sort of priceless vase. "If we are improvising... Then, if I may?" Dimitri asks, before not waiting for an answer. Instead, his other arm slides around Claude's back, moves him as easily as though he were nothing at all. That's expected, obviously, by a guy who can bend metal just with a twitch of his finger. It's just something else entirely to actually feel it, and Claude's heart rate kicks up in his chest.

And then Dimitri kisses him, right along the temple.

It doesn't stop there. Along the side of his face, down to his jaw, right at the curve of his ear and then behind it - Dimitri kisses him as though he's something precious, holy, each kiss soft and lingering. He freezes up, eyes wide for a moment, and doesn't move his hand to go for the sheets when Dimitri lets go of him.

Instead.... Dimitri's hand settles on his other shoulder, feather light, and he hardly needs to pull at all. Claude just sinks against him, looking up into that single blue eye. It's still as gorgeous as it is in a younger face that Claude knows so well. Maybe even more gorgeous right now, with how gently he looks at him. No, more than just gently... Almost nostalgically, adoringly, even he he tilts his head to the side just enough to lean in for a kiss. Claude doesn't think twice about it. He doesn't think at all. He just leans in as well, and his hand goes not for the sheets, for Dimitri's knee as he braces himself against it.

He always figured that - well, he imagined Dimitri was probably bad at kissing, realistically, because Dimitri doesn't look like the kind of guy who practices kissing. Claude may be a hopeful dreamer, but he's also a pretty grounded realist. His hopeful dreams are all in relation to his schemes and plans for the future. Being a considerate realist was how he planned on getting there.

But when he thought of a Dimitri that had learned how to kiss... It'd been like this. Gentle, soft, but so insistent, moving in for more kisses peppered into the longer one. Claude had thought he'd be the one to work Dimitri up. It's turning out to be the opposite, with every shift and suck opening him up more and more until he's left clinging onto Dimitri' like a lifeline. Claude doesn't even know when his hands shift, holding onto the blond's shoulders, or how his cock starts to gently ache inbetween his legs, still confined by his own pants.

Dimitri is apparently quite aware of what he's doing as well. So gently and smoothly that Claude almost doesn't realize what's happened, he moves him right onto his lap, and breaks the kiss. "It must not be comfortable like this," he murmurs, glancing down to the uniform that Claude still has on and has worn fairly regularly. "If you don't mind...?" His hand goes up to the clasp of Claude's cloak, hesitant, a question.

Well, this was probably going to happen at some point or another, obviously. Claude licks his lips, prepared to say absolutely yes, when something on the bed shifts. His other self, someone that still does in fact exists, moves a little further down the bed. "Don't you two worry about it," he says, completely relaxed, or a least doing a very good job of selling the concept. "You two looked like you were having so much fun that it would be a shame to break that up. How about you just relax... and I'll take care of all the little details." Lightly, he reaches out to press his fingertips against Claude's back, right between the shoulder blades, and urges him forward.

If that's how it is... Claude smiles as well. "I think I have the right idea," he says, and follows the motion as he leans forward, arms wrapping around Dimitri neck. It's as simple as breathing to fall back into kissing him again, into picking up right where they left off. No doubt it's just because Dimitri has so much practice with an older version of himself, but, gods... It makes something in Claude ache, that Dimitri knows how to kiss him so well, as if he was made for him.

As the two of them fall back into kissing, his older self gets to work on his clothes just like he said that he would. First goes the cloak, undone, tugged away from where it's kept in place. Claude doesn't pay any attention to where it gets tossed.

His jacket is a little trickier, if only because it's so much longer. The front is fine, the front is easy, even if his older self has to lean a little bit against his back, chest to spine. And... Alright, so maybe it's just Claude being weird, one more odd thing to his existence being apparently weird on its own, but he thinks he doesn't mind it, really. There's a sort of comfort to that gentle and careful weight, the soft roll of his older self's humming as he flicks open buttons and moves his arms enough to help slide his sleeves off. Have my back suddenly means something entirely different, and... he still has to deal with what that means for him in this kind of situation.

Tugging his jacket out from under him is the pain in the ass part, because of the aforementioned ass. Claude has to break his kiss with a grumble just so he can rock forward, freeing it from where it's trapped underneath him, and Dimitri chuckles slightly. "Needy," he says fondly, as though this is even the start of how needy he can get.

"I think we could be doing something better with that mouth of yours instead of talking back at me," Claude quips, grinning and stealing Dimitri for another kiss.

His shirt goes by much the way of his cloak, and his jacket, in that it doesn't take much to get it off of him, and he doesn't care where it gets tossed. The only difference is that as his older self slides it off of his shoulders, Dimitri's hands shift around him to slide over his skin. Up his stomach, skimming along his sides, right over his ribs... Claude shudders a little bit, the way they practically ghost across his body. It's so soft.

"Claude?" Dimitri murmurs, and Claude indeed opens his eyes to look towards his face, but Dimitri isn't looking at him. Instead, he's looking past his shoulder - oh, right, of course.

From behind him, there's a chuckle. "Yeah, I get it," his older self says, and the mattress shifts again. Claude almost doesn't notice it, seated on top of Dimitri as he is, but he does hear the way the sheets drag and relax. That's the only clue he gets before Dimitri moves himself, one hand at Claude's back, the other at his waist, pushing him down against the mattress.

Like this... Almost his entire world is composed of Dimitri, right there atop of him. He can barely see the rest of the room past him, and certainly doesn't care about it. As those hands slide away from his back, leaving a pleasant tingle from the way they linger, Claude resists the urge to squirm. It shouldn't be getting to him the way that it so clearly is. He has experience in bed, of course. He lived a fairly fulfilling sexual life, as much as could be expected under the circumstances he had in Almyra. So what is it? Why is it that Dimitri bracing his hands down against the mattress and smiling at him making his stupid heart twist about like it's trying to perform fancy wyvern tricks?

At least when Dimitri leans down, pressing another sweet kiss to his collar bone, it's a little easier to find the incredibly obvious reason behind the heat in his gut. Claude presses his hand down against the sheets, tangles his fingers in them so that he has something to brace himself against. Dimitri hardly needs the help that comes with him rolling his head back, an offering of his neck. He has plenty of room to explore all on his own, peppering kisses down Claude's chest as though he has all the time in the world. Well, maybe that's something that's true, with where this room is situated.

All Claude wants to do is close his eyes, surrender to the feeling of Dimitri's lips on his skin, the small bursts of pleasure that come with every kiss. Yet before he can do so, something catches his attention. Another figure, watching them languidly.

Right... There's his older self, that broad and patterned scarf still slung over his hips as though it can even come close to hiding the noticeable erection pressing out against it. All that other man does is stay where he is comfortably, propped up by one hand down against the mattress and his eyes focused completely on the two before him. It's a weird feeling, watching himself watch himself, and yet Claude isn't entirely bothered by it. Because it's himself? Because Dimitri's lips keep tugging his brain away from lingering on that? He hasn't the god damn slightest.

All he can really say for certain... is that the way his older self is watching all of this isn't with the bright eyes of someone getting off on the act of watching. Instead, it's a soft gaze, tender. As though he's watching something precious happen for the first time in a long while.

Claude has a lot of questions - he's had a ton of them before he stumbled onto this whole scene, and he only has a million more right now. But now really isn't the time for it, when he's half dressed, and Dimitri only has a bedsheet to protect his decency... And definitely not now when there's a sudden sharp nip to the squishy flesh right along his stomach.

He actually squeaks, his whole body jolting from shock. Just like that, his older self jerks upright and points an accusing finger at Dimitri. "You!" he exclaims, like someone that's just pinned down a troublemaking cat. "I can't believe you!"

Dimitri wiggles down a little further, peering up from beneath his bangs and half hiding along Claude's stomach as though he's more a scolded dog than a fully grown man. "You didn't like it?" he asks Claude. It's almost possible to just see the little drooping dog ears from his head.

"It was fine," Claude says automatically, because it was, and maybe he did sort of like it a little bit. Maybe! He's always liked the rougher stuff just a little more. That's not important right now. What's important is that there's yet another mystery here dangling before his nose. He thinks he can get this one a little bit easier than all the other mysteries that pop up in his life, however. "What did he do?"

His older self huffs, but it's not a sincerely aggravated one. Claude knows well enough to separate play from seriousness, and this is all play. "This terrible guy knows that he can't do anything that makes me squeak most of the time," his older self tells him, poking accusingly at Dimitri's shoulder. "At least, not me like I am now. So he went after you!"

Dimitri is still looking like a poor berated hound, at least for the most part. He can't quite hide the way his mouth is twisting a little in an attempt to not smile. "You make it sound so terrible like that..."

Jeez. What a ridiculous face he's making. Claude grins, his heart doing more stupid little things in his chest. Right now, it feels as light as air, as though it could take his whole body with it. "Oh, so His Princeliness is actually a sadist?" he teases, and watches as that kicked puppy dog look only gets all the worse. "I never would have pegged him for it~."

"You are both terrible," Dimitri says quietly, and then he ducks down again to nip at the exact curve of Claude's hip.

This time, at least, he's sort of expecting it. The sharp ping of sensation rattles through him, but leaves his mouth not in a squeak, but a delighted laugh. "Sadist!" he wheezes. His hands leave the sheets, dare to reach up and rest along Dimitri's body - the curve of his neck, deep in that beautiful blond hair of his. "All you're doing is proving us right, you know." And that's - that's nice. There's that kernel of warmth in his stomach again, making him grin so much it hurts. It's nice to know a little extra something about a person, not because he had to snoop around for it. Just because he's been permitted that privilege, allowed in to see something rarely seen.

Dimitri grumbles something hard to hear against Claude's skin before he glances up at them both again, his whole head having to turn in order to do so with only one eye. "I believe that no matter what I could have said," he counters, "you both would have gladly leapt to teasing me regardless!"

Honestly, he's almost certainly right. Even with the Dimitri that Claude knows, both eyes in place and hair kept carefully short, it's always just so fun to tease him and get a rise out of him. All the moreso when he catches on, grinning at Claude as though their stupid little exchanges really are fun for him, too. There's something reassuring in knowing that's still true no matter how much time has passed, or what universe any of them are from.

There's a time for teasing, however, and a time for other things. Dimitri seems to know that, too. With one more huff, he presses his head down, and his mouth finds Claude's skin once more. His mouth isn't the only thing that gets busy, either. He adjusts the way he's braced against the mattress, going to his elbows instead. For his hands? They go down to do something much more valuable as they begin delicately fiddling with the belt holding up Claude's pants, even while his mouth continues kissing along his stomach and ribs.

"This will take a little bit of time," his older self murmurs, and doesn't say the reason why. Both of them already know what it is well enough, after all - that Dimitri is going so slowly and delicately in order to avoid breaking Claude's belt clean in two.

On one hand, it's just a belt, one of many others with no special materials that went into its creation or a particular pattern that makes it unique. It is just your average leather belt that keeps his pants up where they belong. On the other hand... It's a belt from Garreg Mach, from the Leicester Alliance. A belt from a home he was finally starting to become fond of, even if it meant that he had to hide who he was. One of the remnants he still had on him.

Claude would never have expected a regular partner to care about something as trivial like that. It's just a belt. And yet... this isn't just a regular partner. It's Dimitri, forehead bowed against his stomach and hair slipping against his skin, to the point that Claude can feel how his brow is pinched together in careful concentration.

None of his old partners back in Almyra ever treated him like this. And Claude always figured that was fine, honestly, it wasn't as though he disliked the kinds of things they did with each other. But this is...

One of his legs jerks a little bit, and it hits Claude that his older self has moved. He's just barely visible, in the curve of his back past Dimitri's shoulder and the flash of color that signals the scarf still somehow managing to stay in place around his hips. Not that it does anything to really hide how much ass he's showing, in a position like this... Another jerk, and there's the smooth pop of his boot off of his foot, the heat of confinement gone in an instant. "There we go," his older self says, quite pleased with himself. "And now the other one."

Oh. Right. Claude had never particularly thought that he'd end up in this kind of situation. Even when he'd stepped inside the room at his older self's encouragement, he'd been so caught off guard that he'd had no idea what direction the encounter could go in.

If he'd been really thinking, instead of getting worked up and curious, he probably would have taken his shoes off before he'd even gotten on the bed... But then, that feels like it would have just put things to an awkward hold.

Maybe this was always the best choice: him on his back, his fingers tangled in Dimitri's hair while those lips press down against his skin, and someone else handling all the little and stupid mundane details like getting his shoes off after he's already gotten into bed. His older self already volunteered, so it's fine, right?

Not too long after his other shoe has been removed, hitting the floor with a dull thud after his older self tosses it aside, Dimitri finally manages to undo his belt without breaking it. Not even a dent, although it's not like Claude is actually looking. He's a lot more preoccupied with bracing his elbows against the sheets, arching his back up so that Dimitri can tug the belt from its place. Just like that, it gets put aside with all the other clothes that he's shed so far.

As Claude sinks back down against the sheets, he stares up at Dimitri, just... watches him for a second. The way he breathes out, as though he's finished a balancing act, how his brow smooths over again, shoulders losing all the tension that had gathered him them.

And.... he watches as his older self settles against Dimitri's back, for just a moment. It's not an interaction that lasts long, certainly. All his older self does is settle his hands on Dimitri's shoulders, and press a soft kiss into his hair. "There we go," he murmurs, and Claude can't tell who he's saying it to. The smile he gives afterwards, at least, is a lot more clear with the way that he looks down to Claude, and gives a slight nod.

Well, he has to admit that his older self was right: Dimitri is definitely turning out to be a pretty good damn thing, even before he tugs open Claude's pants and delicately tugs them down past his hips and over the bulge that's been impatiently waiting there all this time.

With Dimitri right there between his legs, getting his pants off seems as though it's going to be quite the troublesome endeavor. Fortunately, he doesn't need to bother with getting them all the way off. All he does is tug them down just enough, until Claude's cock slides out, and a low noise rolls out from his throat. Moments like this make him glad for wearing relatively loose and unconstricting pants, sure, that just isn't anything compared to having his dick out period. The sensation of slightly cooler air coiling around him, feeling Dimitri's hot breath tease at it and make him twitch....

Yeah. It's better.

"Just that?" Claude still has to ask in a murmur, as Dimitri readjusts himself on the bed once again. This is - well, this isn't the exact position he thought they would leap to right off the bat, but he did kind of think that he'd have his pants off way earlier. And that Dimitri is still keeping him just like this...

Dimitri, who smiles up at him, still as soft as anything. Softer than the damn bed, quite frankly. "I do not think you will be saying just that for very long," he says, kicking Claude's heart rate up a notch in eager excitement on what that could mean. There are only so many opportunities in a plain bedroom like this, sure, and even less so with a straight forward guy like Dimitri, and that's fine. Claude... thinks he can be fine with a lot of things that Dimitri would want to go for.

And right now, what he goes for is his dick. Not even a quick suck, which would be a new and novel experience all on its own - Claude is used to being the one to give that kind of action more than receive it. Instead, he just leans down to brush his lips along the entire length of it, a ghost of a touch that equals the way he'd skimmed his hands along Claude's sides before. Then, at the top - a single quick and light little kiss.

It's a tiny little action, preceded by a tiny little gesture, and yet, more than anything else, that's what drives Claude up the wall. He squirms impatiently, teeth digging into his tongue like that will stop the noises he wants to make. "I don't remember blowjobs going like this," he says, trying to be witty and relaxed. He's not sure how much he actually succeeds.

Dimitri's lips linger against his cock, even as that one eye looks up at him from underneath pale eyelashes. "I do not do such crass things," he murmurs, before layering kisses right back down the length of him again, and then a little further into the too soft skin between it and his sack.

With Dimitri going down so low, it's a simple thing to meet the eyes of his older self again, even as Claude fights the urge to squirm at kisses that are way too sweet. His older self is back to being perfectly content as he watches the two of them go at it - or, rather, just Dimitri going at it with gusto, while Claude himself is helpless to every single thing his body is treated to. Just slightly, he can see the movement of the arm farthest from Claude's view, the one most hidden. It doesn't take a genius to realize what the slight and repetitive motion of it means, partnered up with that deep blush across his cheeks.

Claude never took himself for much of a voyeur. Sometimes, the idea of watching other people enjoy themselves just made him feel bitter inside, like he could taste bile on the back of his tongue. It was just a reminder in his eyes that they could find a pleasant partner so easily, without any trouble at all. Him? With him, things like that can't ever be simple. It never was in Almyra.

And yet, not too long ago, he was left almost trapped by the force of his own arousal as he watched the erotic sight of himself bouncing up and down on Dimitri's cock. Now, another version of himself is watching him writhe against the bed while Dimitri lavishes attention on his own arousal.

There's a much more important thing happening right now down below instead of up above in his head. An important thing that's only driving him more and more up the wall, with every kiss that nudges at him and is never completely enough. Claude winds his fingers through those blond strands again, tugging lightly at them. "C'mon," he says, going for something calm, ending up in a whine. "You have to give more more than that, Dimitri-!"

Amusement still glitters in Dimitri's gaze as he glances up to him again. "As you wish," he says, and that's the first dead giveaway that he's going to be a little bit of a bastard. Instead of just swallowing him up whole like Claude feels he deserves at this point... Dimitri just flicks the very tip of his tongue out, catching the head of his cock and sending a shock of too-short pleasure rattling down his spine. It's an absolutely terrible move, in the most pleasurable way, and Claude tugs at his hair all the harder in quiet demand. It doesn't work.

Of course it doesn't work. While he doesn't know the details, he knows Dimitri has been through a lot. His missing eye, and the giant list of scars that are littered all over his body give that much away at a glance. A little hair pulling is probably nothing compared to all of that.

Claude still tries anyway, of course, despite the fact that Dimitri just keeps flicking his tongue along his arousal. Who knew that someone like him could be such a terrible tease in his own right? Not Claude, certainly. He wonders if that was always there, or if it's some of his own influence creeping in. If it's the latter, then he could just about kick himself in the foot. Curse his older self, because he bets he's enjoying the hindsight of 20/20 right now-

Right as his mind is scattered a thousand miles apart, that's when Dimitri drags his tongue all the way up his cock, and wraps his mouth around it with a sharp suck.

It's an absolutely filthy trick. Claude's entire body jolts as though he's been electrocuted, and he tosses his head back, moaning from the pit of his stomach. "Cheater!" he moans, his legs squeezing down around Dimitri's body, knees bumping up into his arms. He hardly notices. It certainly doesn't matter.

For very obvious reasons, Dimitri can't answer him. Not with his words at any rate. He doesn't need them. Claude can feel the way his lips curve around him, that teasing smile, and he can almost imagine that confident and teasing tone mocking him. I thought you were the one who is always going about saying that all is fair when it comes to life, Claude? Well, this and that are two entirely different things.

Not that Dimitri seems to care for such an argument for right now, a fact that Claude is actually grateful for. His attention is focused much more on sinking further down on his arousal, tongue lapping up against it with every centimeter he takes in. It's exactly what he's wanted all this time, and Claude's head tosses to the side, face nudging against the sheets. His braid presses against his cheek, trapped there in the awkward movement. It can stay, for all that Claude cares. There's no room for the thought to care.

Whatever thoughts he had about Dimitri even half an hour ago, well, clearly they were wrong, because he never thought that Dimitri could suck dick like this. It's more than just that he's good, although he is. There's no doubt about that. He knows exactly the right place to grind his tongue against, where to suck roughly and where to tease delicately with the very tip of his tongue.

More important than any of that... is that he's patient. He's slow. There's no rushing to the finish line with Dimitri in charge of this all. He takes his sweet time, unraveling Claude as though he's a food to be savored. Does he taste good? Is that why Dimitri seems to take so much relish?

Yet right as his arousal is at its hardest, and Cllaude thinks he might just tear out chunks of Dimitri's hair, the man finally pulls himself off with a pop. "I think that's enough," he murmurs thoughtfully, turning his head easily with no regard for Claude's grip there so that he can glance at the older version of the man he just sucked off. "Don't you?"

It takes a split second for his older self to snap out of it, but he's grinning back at Dimitri soon enough. "Probably around the right mark," he says, before shifting forward again, lounging against Dimitri's back like he belongs there. Claude is the one who just got his dick sucked, so why does he feel jealous? "What do you think? I know for a fact that had to feel good, but there's another way to do it, too... Feeling good, I mean." Another wink.

Oh. Claude understands what he means perfectly, even before his older self bothers to clarify. All of this was just foreplay, of course. Something to get him all hot and bothered and completely ready for the main event.

Kind of embarrassing, honestly, that he got so caught up in what Dimitri was doing with his mouth that he forgot about something as simple as that.

Probably his older self has already seen through him and knows what's happened... But there's no reason for him to make it obvious, especially when Dimitri might not know. So, pretending that his entire face is anything but flushed, Claude grins up at the two of them. "I was waiting for you to get back on track," he tells Dimitri, which is sort of a lie, sort of not. That he got sort of off track himself doesn't change the fact that he did expect something like this at some point. "But you know, if you're going to want more, you might want to move a little bit."

And these are good pants, besides any sentimental value. Perfect for horseback riding, which he does almost more here in Askr than he was expected to do back in Garreg Mach.

With them so worked up, getting Claude's pants out of the way proves to be something of a trial... because pants are always the most difficult thing to bother with when someone is just trying to get a good bit of sex. Sometimes, they really make him consider just switching to dresses, or skirts, because pants just seem to be way too much of a bother at times. Eventually, however, they slip past his feet, kicked off to join the rest of his clothes in their discarded fate.

Claude's heart kicks up a bit as he glances down at his bare body, which is new. This shouldn't be anything but an old hat trick to him at this point. All he has to do is be as charming and fantastic as he always is....

"Holy shit, your dick is huge," he breathes.

It didn't hit him that Dimitri's dick would be visible right now - or, rather, it was in the back of his mind, but so was the simple knowledge that Dimitri had fussed over having sheets pulled up to his waist for most of this. He'd been more focused on seeing the state of his own body that Dimitri's had simply not been a factor at all. It is very much a factor now, with the sheets having slipped off of Dimitri's waist... Jeez, probably ages ago. Probably around the time Claude was pressed down against the mattress, and Dimitri helped himself to feasting on his arousal.

Kind of a shame that Dimitri got to have all of the fun on that front, honestly. Seeing the enormous cock that's jutting out from between Dimitri's legs, no doubt just as hard as it was when it was pounding up into his older self's body... Claude's mouth waters. He always figured himself to be a decent size, respectable, normal, and that was fine. It wasn't like he was seeking to impress anyone with his dick.

Yet even against a perfectly normal sized cock, Dimitri's is... Well. He'll just say it's good, and that he was definitely robbed out of getting to enjoy it himself.

Something shifts into view, and drags his attention (somewhat unwillingly) away from Dimitri's own erection. That would be one of his hands, pressing up between his legs. Even as much as he's been expecting this, even with how close Dimitri got when he was servicing him, Claude still can't stop the way he shudders when one finger traces along his entrance. "It could be a little more ready," Dimitri murmurs, only for a brown arm to slide over his shoulder in distinct contrast to Dimitri's own pale hair. In its grasp is a simple bottle, and Dimitri blinks at it. "Ah - well. Thank you."

Once the bottle is received, the older Claude just gives a cheeky little thumbs up before sliding back from Dimitri's shoulder, off to do who knows what. Jerk it some more, maybe?

It's kind of irrelevant when Dimitri pours it over some of his fingers, and rubs it inbetween them. "I bet you would complain until my ears fell off if I didn't do this," he comments, lips quirking up in a faintly amused smile. Claude can guess at how he knows this particular bit of knowledge, since Dimitri soon grunts afterwards - no doubt thanks to a sharp elbow or such hitting his kidneys.

"At least I don't have to bother warning you about that," Claude says with a grin, knowing that the reason he didn't have to warn Dimitri is because he was already punished for it. Shifting against the sheets once more, he tries to spread his legs wider in a way that takes perfect advantage of the flexibility he's worked so hard to develop for years now. If he moves his head this way, does his hair tousle enough to be irresistible? He hopes so. If he could just drive Dimitri up the wall too... "But do you really want to waste too much time with that when I'm right here?"

He knows he's not his older self... but it's not bad to want Dimitri to be attracted to him like this too, right? To the body that he has now?

Fortunately, it seems like he doesn't have anything to worry about. Something dark and bright shines in Dimitri's gaze, and he presses his free arm down besides Claude head while his other hand ventures lower. "You are just as infuriating as always," Dimitri murmurs, and his slick finger slides around Claude's stretched open entrance. "Honestly... You hardly know what you are tempting."

Does he? Probably that's true. Probably his older self has already done all sorts of things that would encourage Dimitri to just push him face first against the bed and do all sorts of things Claude can only daydream of. But even if he hardly knows what he's getting into...

In this case, Claude feels that he doesn't particularly mind that too much.

Maybe it's just because of how eager he feels, or maybe how much experience this version of Dimitri has accumulated, but his finger slides into Claude as easily as though there was no issue at all. This is hardly the first time he's ever been fingered - he does it to himself all the time when he feels comfortable enough in the idea that he has the privacy to do it. And yet knowing that it's Dimitri there, that it's Dimitri's finger sliding into him and curling just enough-

A gasp leaps out from his lips as Dimitri presses his finger against just the exact spot inside of him, the thing that makes his vision almost go white for a second while the heels of his feet dig into the sheets. Dimitri makes a small surprised noise all of his own. "Already?" he says, easing his finger away from that sensitive spot. "I thought it would take so much longer..."

"His body is a little more different than mine," his older self comments casually, even as Claude tries not to squirm eagerly back down onto that finger as it slides into him once more. With how it had brushed against his prostate, he's all too aware of just how close or far Dimitri is from it... "The differences probably aren't that huge, comparatively, but for something so small and exact, well... Even a little change makes all the difference, you know." As Claude watches, his older self turns his head and presses his lips into Dimitri's hair. "You might be even bigger for him than you already are for me... I'm just a little jealous, you know."

Claude wonders how much that is true. Wonders if the Claude just above him is jealous like he gets jealous of this person who managed to take that step towards a relationship with someone one that's true and genuine and sweet. Wonders if it's worth any jealousy at all, for him to just have the lover of another version of himself, when he can't even get one of his own.

Dimitri's finger nudges up into him again, after a bit of searching, and Claude stops thinking about much at all.

It doesn't actually take much to stretch Claude out properly in no time at all. Dimitri doesn't have to use any of his other fingers, even. Just the one, and a good bit of lube, seems to be enough to earn some satisfaction as Dimitri pulls back with his head tilted to the side. "This should be good," he murmurs, although it sounds as though he's speaking more to himself than any Claude.

Honestly, it better be good, and, even if it isn't completely, Claude isn't sure he cares too much about that possibility. All he does is roll his hips up impatiently as Dimitri slides his finger out. "Then that means there's no reason to wait," he says breathlessly.

"Needy," Dimitri says mildly, smiling even as he takes that bottle again. This time, it's to slick up his own arousal long before it presses up against Claude's entrance, testing, hesitant.

A part of Claude is impatient about it, sure. Doesn't he deserve a little bit more than that, a little more quickly? And yet, even as he feels his heart pounding in anticipation, something else hits him. "Wait," he tells Dimitri, and earns a blink from that pretty blue eye. "It's easier for both of us if I just roll onto my knees." There's no wiggling in hopes that he hits the right spot, and the arch of his body would make it smoother for Dimitri to push into him. No worries about accidentally getting his spine kicked in by some flailing legs. There are a couple of positives to it, frankly speaking, and it feels as though he should make at least the bare minimum of effort to make this a good experience for Dimitri too.

At least, he thinks he's helping out. Dimitri seems to have a different idea, that blank look of confusion easing up into a soft smile. "That might be so," he agrees, one hand sliding along the back of Claude's thigh, a gentle stroke. A pet, even. "But if you were positioned like that... Then I would not be able to see your face."

Oh. Claude's heart thuds painfully into his chest, hard enough to feel as though it might burst right out. He's not inexperienced in bedroom acts, not by any means, and he has a decent knowledge of different positions under his belt too. On a bed, up against a wall, too busy kissing to untangle for anything else... He's done plenty of stuff like that. A lot of the time, what position he's had sex in has mostly been a matter of just what was most convenient. It's not as though he would ever lie to himself and think anything else of it.

And yet, even with all those encounters... The person he'd been with had never even attempted to lie to him, to say that he wanted Claude on his back just so that he could see his face while they had sex.

It's dizzying, as though he's just been knocked down to the bed instead of having laid there for a good while. There's no time to reflect on it much, to marvel at the experience. While he's still in a daze, Dimitri shifts forward, and slips right inside of him before he has a half second to realize what's going on.

Cunning - Claude has enough brain power in him to acknowledge that before the slight wave of pleasure that washes over him takes with it any coherency. All he bothers to focus on is the way that Dimitri slides in just the tip of him, spreading him out nice and eat without delving in any deeper. Claude moans softly, hips rocking hopefully into the feel of him to no avail. With his cock inside of him - even just the tip - Dimitri's hands are now free to brace themselves against Claude's thighs to anchor him firmly in place.

It's kind of amazing, actually, how vice-like Dimitri's grip is without having to press in hard at all. Truly the control of a man who's had to practice a lot of it considering his strength.

"Easy," Dimitri murmurs, watching him so intently that Claude almost feels pinned. Almost. Not enough to stop his attempts at getting that cock deeper inside of him, even if he can't move hardly at all. "There is no need to rush with this. Doesn't it feel nice, to take our time?" And the thing is, he's not wholly wrong.

Claude always figured he liked sex with those slightly more endowed  for the reason that it filled him up. Certainly that was the best he was going to get out of sex. Yet with Dimitri gently grinding up against his entrance, almost as though he might slip out at any moment... It teases the skin and nerves there in a way he's never gotten to enjoy before, not with another person, at least. It's like a gentle roll against the pleasure that's already built up in his stomach, growing it alongside the ache of his cock.

Honesty, he doesn't even know how to answer Dimitri with that rolling through him. He really does want to go faster, harder, and yet it's so nice to feel that gentle pleasure draping over him. So in the end, he doesn't answer - although that's probably a giveaway all on its own. Instead, he just reaches up, slides his fingers over the firm muscles that are all the moreso with Dimitri oh-so-carefully bracing himself as he rolls his hips into Claude's own.

It's just to brace himself in turn, to give his fingers something more satisfying to dig into besides the sheets even if it leaves him almost entirely relaying on Dimitri with the bed beneath him only a faint afterthought. Claude tells himself that, at any rate.

After all, he couldn't have expected Dimitri's expression to change into something so heart rendingly fond, could he? Or the darker shades with shift through his expression right after...

Claude hardly has a moment to take that little detail in before Dimitri pushes his hands forward, guiding Claude's legs up just a little more before he pushes in right in a single smooth go. It's like being shocked stupid, honestly - is that a regular occurrence with Dimitri's dick? Claude can't even wonder it, gasping and curling his body in tight against Dimitri's own.

A little thing like that doesn't stop Dimitri. It does the opposite. There's a low rumble of a noise deep in Dimitri's chest that rattles right through Claude, and Dimitri pulls out only to slide right back in - again, and again, and again. No more playing, no more teasing. Just the steady push and pull of Dimitri deep inside of him, every grind against his ass as he pushes in enough to rattle Claude's brain. And frankly? There's hardly any need for the grind there when Dimitri is easily large enough that it takes no time at all... before one thrust rams right up against a spot deep inside of himself.

Forget about wiping his brain clean. Claude's brain is fucked straight out of his skull, absent to even his body's own reactions. When he finally comes to, his throat is hoarse and aching, a keen still echoing in it, and his nails have anchored themselves into the skin around Dimitri's shoulders and neck. It's a good thing, too - Dimitri hasn't stopped since he first rolled his hips into him. All Claude can do is gasp and moan, feeling the way his pleasure is tugged at.

Dimitri doesn't say anything on it, doesn't reassure him. He's too preoccupied with just driving straight into Claude, a low noise rumbling in his throat that pulls at a pleasure not remotely physical in Claude.

No wonder he'd heard the sound of the bed rocking back and forth. Now that he's here, feeling it, feeling the way that Dimitri holds him up with every thrust... IT takes up his entire world, leaving nothing else a chance to be noticed. There's the faint brush of fingers against his own, a touch that isn't Dimitri's, and he's only really aware of it up until they stop touching him.

Orgasm teases at him quicker than he thinks it's ever done in his entire life, a rolling heat in him that threatens to carry him off the edge. Claude's toes curl in against his feet, legs straining to wrap around Dimitri's body. "Dimitri," he moans, head bowing forward only to meet Dimitri's own forehead. "It's - I'm almost-"

All Dimitri does is swallow up the low growls in his throat, instead nudging their faces together. "It's fine," he manages to murmur, rhythm slowing down so that he can speak without too much more exertion. "Go on, Claude. Go on."

That's as much kindness as he gets, because Dimitri picks up speed all over again, and, well, that's it, isn't it? Claude can only handle so much strikes grinding up against his entrance, and slamming right up against his prostrate, before his body gives up completely. He comes with the kind of moaning cry the likes of which he hasn't made in probably a million years, shaking as his release splatters all against his tense stomach even as Dimitri just keeps moving.

Claude isn't a completely oblivious idiot, however. As he begins to come back to himself, it doesn't get past him that while he's splattered all over with his own orgasm, there's not nearly the same that could be said for his insides... Well. 

That won't do at all.

Unmooring his nails from Dimitri's skin, Claude smooths his hand out, licks his lips. Dimitri may be starting to slow down himself, but Claude won't let him get away that easy. With a solid grip that will (probably) not leave marks, Claude rolls his hips up back towards Dimitri's again. It makes him shudder a bit, yeah, of course - his body was already sensitive to that grind and tug right there at his entrance. Being so fresh from pleasure, his body sensitive times a hundred.... Well, he won't lie and say it doesn't affect him. How he bites down onto his lip, the harsh shudder that rocks through him, gives away any lie he would try to tell.

But it's worth it, to move, to squeeze down best he can onto Dimitri's still hard cock. In what other way could he watch Dimitri freeze up, or listen to that own moan he's managed to win from those lips?

There's a brief ache of pain at this thighs before it promptly ease up, and Dimitri's forehead slips from his so that the blond can bow his head. That leaves plenty of room for Claude to see his own (if older) face plus how much his older self's eyes are glittering in so much amusement. "Didn't expect that you would have the tables turned on you, did you, Mitya?" his older self teases. "That really is your own fault. Did you really think any version of me would just sit there and take it? Well, besides quite literally.... But, you know, satisfaction comes from more than just the orgasm. And here I thought I'd taught you that well enough..."

"I wasn't," Dimitri manages, before Claude squeezes down on him again stubbornly. The sound Dimitri makes is enough to earn a self satisfied, if shaky, grin on to Claude's lips. "I just wanted to focus on his pleasure..."

Claude's older self presses a kiss down along the back of Dimitri's neck, and Claude can feel his arm brush against one leg. "I know you did," the older Claude says, and the tone in his voice isn't quite teasing anymore. Instead, it's something a lot warmer, the kind of tone Claude has always wanted to hear directed towards himself. "But maybe now you know you can take a break from being the pleaser all the time, and let yourself be taken care of in turn."

Honestly, for as much as he's curious about the interactions between the two, Claude can only really have half of his brain keeping track of the conversation happening. It takes a lot more brainpower to fight through the pleasure that's so intense it may as well be pain, forcing his fucked stupid body to give pumping up onto Dimitri's cock.

What he's doing is clearly having an effect. Dimitri's grip at his thigh shakes just a little bit, the effort of his restrain taking a huge toll, before a snarl finally snaps out of him. His weight bares down on Claude all the harder, pushing his legs back even further, and shit, shit - Claude's mind falls apart just like that under this renewed set of thrusts, until, right as he's gone to pieces in his own skull, he feels a flood of warmth go through him.

Dimitri doesn't pull out right away... Something that Claude supposes he can't even be surprised at anymore. That's all Dimitri's been doing this entire time - surprising him with every little gesture and word.

Instead, all he does is sink down against Claude with what feels like his whole body, grip easing up on his legs until Claude finally put his feet back down against the mattress again. A sigh rustles against his neck, into his hair, and Claude wonders if that will be how this whole... thing ends. With him pinned beneath a sleepy post-orgasm muscular blond he's had a crush on for ages now. It wouldn't be the worst thing, honestly.

But that's not how it goes. Instead, after a minute, Dimitri pushes himself up onto his elbows to better stare down at Claude with pinched brows. "Are you all right?" he asks, as if that wasn't the best sex Claude thinks he's ever had. "I know I was somehow - rough, towards the end."

Jeez. Only Dimitri would be the kind of guy that could have Claude come his brains out, and then apologize for it. Claude grins up at him, and thinks he can see his mirror image do the same over Dimitri's shoulder. "I would say I'm more than fine, actually," he teases, running his hand up along Dimitri's side. For reassurance, or just to take comfort for himself? Claude isn't sure.

At least his older self is a little more certain of things as he leans fully against Dimitri's back, cheek to shoulder. "You know, I think I'm experiencing a case of deja vu here," he says mildly. "Didn't you ask the same thing when we first had sex, and I said almost word for word the exact same?"

Dimitri's cheeks go a brilliant pink. "You were not so young when we first made love!" Dimitri says, and Claude's brain almost stops functioning from those three words alone. Made love. He doesn't think he's ever heard anyone say those kinds of words in regards to having sex before. Fortunately, there's still enough power in his skull to keep listening and comprehending the words Dimitri says after. "I just thought it would be good to... check in. This is still a first time, after all! With us!"

Claude lost his first time a good few years ago, to a guy who probably hated him as much as he was attracted to him. While it had been exciting, getting to have sex, and it had been good... he can't have said it mattered too much, on a sentimental level. It had simply been a thing that had happened, with a guy that was always going to break his heart. Why bother putting too much thought to it?

He tells himself that applies to a certain degree here as well, tries to tell himself that this Dimitri already has his Claude. No matter what he tells himself, however, his heart still aches gently that Dimitri is putting so much care towards any kind of first of his.

His older self almost certainly seems to understand that as well, judging by the way his expression softens. "That's exactly the reason it had to be you," he murmurs, before he straightens up and grins down to Claude. "Although with that said, while I've been more than happy to stay in the background for now..." Another wink. "Do you think I could borrow Dimitri for a while? It's been kind of hard, holding myself back like this..."

Right, of course. Claude can remember how his older self was touching himself, watching Dimitri pleasure him. Well... As much as Claude wants to just lay here, clinging to Dimitri, he has to admit that he was done a favor here. Why not return it?

So he grins, and convinces his hands to slide away off of Dimitri's body. "I think I can let you have him for just a little while," he concedes.

Dimitri doesn't let it rest at just that, because of course he doesn't. Instead, he fusses, and leans over to the side for some blankets that had been shoved off of the bed. Claude hadn't even taken in their existence when he'd first stepped into the room. He sure does now, however, considering that Dimitri wraps him up in them tightly even as Claude's older self impatiently pulls at his shoulders until he's falling back to the other side of the bed.

Honestly... There's not really a lot of advice books out there for when you're watching your older self get fucked by the same man who just fucked you, on the same bed. Claude supposes that, if he really wanted to, he could just get his clothes and leave. He got the good thing that his older self wanted to give him, after all.

Instead, what he does is shift slightly and curl on his side. Dimitri's come is still wet inside of him, and he can feel a bit of it at the inside of his thighs from when he pulled out. A strange sensation, with how he's wrapped up so tightly in so many blankets, watching as his older self pulls Dimitri down with him onto the bed. There's that achingly soft and genuine smile on his older self's face again... One that gets swallowed up greedily by Dimitri's lips as the blond allows himself to be brought in.

Is it weird to be attracted to what his older self is doing? How he looks? Claude suspects that it's kind of weird, by the average estimate, but he can't quite get himself to care. His gaze is trapped as he watches the two kiss, hands that are just a little rougher than his sliding over Dimitri's back along so many scars that one could make an entire book detailing them. It's a little hard to see, at this angle, but Claude thinks that his older self is more than hard enough for what's coming. With how long he's been waiting.... Claude doesn't think that's too much of a surprise.

More of one is looking between legs and see his cock not hanging completely limp between them. Instead, to his absolutely breathless shock, it already seems to be stirring right back into action. All the moreso when his older self shifts, reaching down between them.

He's heard of the occasional person who has a quick rebound, so to speak, but this... Claude would have expected maybe five more minutes or something. Anything besides watching the kiss between them get all the deeper, more passionate. It's the kind of foreplay, of kissing, that he would have read about in books. Seeing it actually happen, with a version that's himself even if it's not him, is...

Having been riding Dimitri earlier, his older self doesn't seem to even think twice about where the bottle of lube has ended up after all this time. All he does is wait for Dimitri to be just hard enough... before he shifts his whole body and raises his hips, smiling up at Dimitri as he welcomes his cock right back inside of himself.

How easy the two of them join together... It's still sex, of course, that much has never changed. It's just that it feels like so much more between the two of them. With Dimitri's cock smoothly in, his older self reaches up again to wind his arms around his neck, and the two of them kiss once more. It hadn't occurred to Claude to kiss so much during sex. Yet his older self and Dimitri do it so much as Dimitri slowly establishes a rhythm in and out of his - his lover.

That's the only word that can describe it, isn't it?

Jeez... He's not Dimitri, so it's definitely way too soon for him to get hard again. Yet somehow there's still the want to get hard, distant in his body, in the back of his head, and some stirring of discontent that the flesh isn't quite up to par for that just yet. All he can do is watch attentively as his older self rolls his head back, little gasps of pleasure falling from his mouth as Dimitri wastes no time in latching his lips to the exposed flesh of his neck. Their rhythm is still slow, but it's focused, deep, and, more importantly than anything, something that even he can see is well practiced.

Claude had interrupted the two right in the middle of everything. It's no surprise that, even with having to be put on wait for a while, his older self soon comes as well, body curling in against Dimitri's while a gasping moan tears itself out of him. Once more, the two of them sink down against the bed, lost in that post-coital bliss.

That's the end of it, or it normally would be, except that Dimitri shifts after a second. He pulls out of the older Claude, too, turning back to him and reaching over for his blanket-clad body. Well, he's wrapped up neatly enough in the blanket that it's not as though he can stop Dimitri from doing this. Soon enough, he's tugged up along Dimitri's body, cuddled right there up against his side while his older self eagerly slots up against Dimitri's opposite side. It'd be a lie to say it isn't cozy.

"Nice, isn't it?" his older self says, lazy in the way that only comes with being thoroughly fucked.

Claude gets it, quite frankly. "Absolutely," he agrees, letting his head rest against Dimitri's shoulder. "Although color me impressed. I didn't think you could get him going so soon again."

Even without looking up, he can just about feel the heat of Dimitri's blush against the top of his head. "I do not mean to be voracious," he says, tone very nearly bordering on a whine. Poor, poor him. Unfortunately, neither Claude is interested in leaving this particular conversational topic alone.

His older self, especially, looks particularly pleased about it all. "I'm no Linhardt, but I think it's something to do with his Crest," he says conversationally over Dimitri's chest. "You've seen how much impact the Blaiddyd Crest even as just a minor one. My theory is that it affects his libido the same way, ramping up the sex drive so that it can keep going. Well... That's just one idea, anyway, and it may just be his genes." He winks. "Lucky us."

Lucky them indeed, and a grin spreads across Claude's face. "I'll say."

That is about all he can say, however. Even as he's burning with embarrassment, Dimitri shifts his shoulder so that Claude is forced to look up at him and into that serious blue gaze. "That sort of thing is irrelevant!" he says, although how red his face is gives away that it is very relevant and he would in fact like to never talk about it ever again. "Claude, while I am glad that I could give you something so precious, could make you happy in even this minor way, I believe I should say something right now before you recover, and can go on your way! You should confess to, well, myself! The younger version of myself!" he amends awkwardly. "You deserve to have someone who can stay devotedly by your side. I would gladly do so, but... I do not want you to feel despairing of yourself, in any way."

Well. Claude wasn't exactly expecting this kind of after-sex small talk, but he supposes it's not a surprise, either. Before he can do much more than stare, his older self props himself up on one elbow, too, to better look over at him. "He's right, you know," he agrees. "While I definitely wanted you to experience something as good as this... I meant for it to be encouragement as well, too." A wry grin crosses his face. "We may be different, but we're still each other... And I understand that I'm usually cautious in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to something like just handing over my heart. But take it from me, and this whole experience in Dimitri... This is something you can try. Really."

It's exactly as he thought back at the start of all of this... It really is strange to have someone who can read him so easily. And his older self is right, because of course he is on this particular subject. Claude may have high hopes and dreams, but he knows he has to approach them carefully. He won't toss his lot in on only hopes. There has to be some meat behind it.

And he can't lie... There is a lot of meat here. Both in his older self's arguments, and also, like. Dimitri's meat. That would convince many people to do all sorts of things, he's pretty sure.

Yet he can't make it easy on himself, not just yet. "I mean, that's just how this all went for you two," he points out. "The Dimitri I'm a little more familiar with might not jump for this kind of thing, you know."

The view is a little awkward, but it's more than enough for him to see the way that Dimitri just stares at him. "But I love you?" he says, so dumbly sincere and boggled that it makes Claude's heart twist itself into a damn pretzel.

"The other Dimitri probably doesn't," Claude points out, which he feels is a fairly decent point to make. "I mean, he may not even want to love me for a few years, or however old you guys were when you got together."

Dimitri keeps staring at him, in that blank eyed and brow pinched way he seems to have mastered. It's like looking at a dog who had a stick thrown for it and doesn't know where it went. "But I love you," Dimitri tries again, as though that very simple sentence explains everything. "Even when I was young, I could remember adoring you from a distance."

"Isn't he great?" the old Claude says, sounding more than a little sleepy but content, probably kept awake only by the necessary act of his elbow propping him up. Claude gets what he means. It says something about a man who, no matter what other universe is laid out as an option before him, just absolutely cannot comprehend of one where he knows that Claude exists and isn't head over heels for him, even at a distance.

Almost enough to give a guy a little bit of hope that maybe he could have what his older self clearly does, and maybe even a little earlier.

Still, there's no need to rush these sorts of things - or at least not give his older self and this Dimitri the idea that he's rushing things. "I'll think about it," he says, which is true, even if just on the basis that he's basically always thinking about things forever. "At any rate, until then..." He wiggles a little bit inside of his blanket cocoon. "I hope you don't mind if I just stay here a little while with you two." Mostly because, well, a good part of him just wants to go to sleep right here and now, and what better pillow could he ask for then Dimitri's muscles? There's also the fact that, well... He is still sort of vaguely in the realm of hard. It's not enough to really warrant any mentioning, in his book, but it would be still kind of bullshit to say that it has no effect on his decision making process here whatsoever. As long as he ignores it, it'll probably be fine.

...Which is all what he thinks until Dimitri suddenly sits up, Claude left to just lay in blatant confusion against the pillows. "Oh, of course!" he exclaims, as though he's committed some grave faux pas. What that faux pas is soon becomes quite clear as Dimitri reaches for the fold of the blankets he himself crafted around Claude's body. "Please, allow me."

Claude doesn't even have a chance to protest. Just like that, Dimitri is parting the blankets, and ducking down to wrap his lips around his too fucking sensitive cock. Even as his whole body goes electric, fingers scraping against the blankets as he clings to him... Claude doesn't stop him, either, although he probably should.

Not too far away from him, his older self just laughs the laugh of someone who has had to experience this sweet torture himself, and finally gets to enjoy spectating someone else's suffering of it. The bastard.





Dimitri suspects he has gotten quite lost in Askr Castle.

Then again, he also suspects that sort of thing was just a little inevitable. Askr Castle is a vast place, as most homes to royalty tend to be, and he started his entire journey not entirely sure where he was going in the first place. All he was trying to do was find someone, and, well, that mostly ended up as a game of going to one person, finding the vague area Claude had last been seen in, and going from there until he eventually ended up asking another person if they'd seen him.

It was a simple method, honestly, and he had always sort of known that it would probably lead to this outcome at least once or twice. If it were more of an emergency, Dimitri would have gone to far greater and more intelligent lengths, he likes to think, than this.

Then again, if it were an emergency, he supposes that he wouldn't have to do this kind of thing to find Claude in the first place.

Fortunately, it is nothing of the sort. A period of peace and quiet has simply fallen over the kingdom for the day - no invasions, no strange dreams, no one having Death herself chasing after them for whatever reasons. Times like that are to be used for the sensible things, of course, such as taking care of anyone injured from past battles or taking stock of their inventory... But they are also to be enjoyed in the sweet and simple ways that only peace allows.

Dimitri had hoped to use this time to invite Claude along with him for a ride through the countryside on their steeds. Nothing fancy, really, and hopefully nothing that would be a bother to the other man. They're both still students and house leaders of Garreg Mach, so this sort of thing would be fine, right? It's what he hopes, even if a part of him really just wants to be alongside him.

Yet what had started as a simple intent for a simple outing has now become quite the scavenger hunt, and Dimitri is almost not entirely sure where he has ended up in his search for the Golden Deer's house leader. Wherever it is, it's a rather quiet area of Askr Castle, although that's perhaps simply because most others would be out and about doing their own things during a day like this. When he pokes his nose into some of the rooms after a point (after very very carefully knocking, of course), some of them seem to be rather simple bedrooms of a sort. Servant's quarters, maybe? For visiting entourages or merchants or the like? It's hard to say with only a cursory peek into them.

What really matters is that they're all empty with nary a soul in sight to tell him just where in the blazes he is. Dimitri supposes that he could turn back, make his way to the last place he saw a person. Still, his curiosity is rather ensnared. He was certain that one of the others had said Claude had gone this way. Why would Claude go to an area of the castle that was mostly spare rooms? Did he make a wrong turn somewhere?

It's when he pauses to think on all of this that his ears finally catch the sound of something that isn't just his own footsteps. A groan of some sort, perhaps? When Dimitri follows it just a bit, his ears manage to pick up on the sound of... exertion, maybe?

Could someone have gotten a tad ill somehow, and retreated to such private rooms for whatever reason? Pride, embarrassment, convenience - any one of those, and more. It would be terribly remiss of Dimitri to not at least investigate, ask if he could help out in some manner. So of course, what else is he to do?

Dimitri heads towards it.