MEME: Arranged Marriage AU

[frozenfractals]

We were craving a meme, so after some digging around, we've got something new and different for you guys, with a huge hat-tip to the bakerstreet RP memes comm (original post here). Let's get some of those marriage feels sorted.

Time to get your faux-historical/fantasy novel on. For today's meme, your pup is getting married, whether they want to or not. It's arranged marriages time!

HOW IT WORKS
❧ Post a comment with your character's name and any preferences. This should include whether you're open to full threads or mostly dialogue, Test Drive-style, if you have a preference.
❧ If there's a specific set of circumstances you like best, set the scene.
❧ Or leave your comment blank and let others use RNG to choose the scenario. Feel free to mix and match.
❧ Or even just write drabbles to any (or none) of the prompts.
❧ Please note the prompts below are merely suggestions and you're more than welcome to come up with your own situation.
❧ Have fun!

POSSIBLE REASONS FOR MARRIAGE
1) Station → You come from a royal, noble, or otherwise distinguished family who has chosen a suitable spouse for you.
2) Feud → You are being married to put an end to the bitter enmity between your two families.
3) Economics → Your economic state and/or your station will improve through the union, though one of you may be marrying down.
4) Empire → You and your spouse are merging your businesses and/or property to create something more influential or profitable.
5) Tribute → You have been offered as a gift or appeasement; alternately you're the spoils of war.
6) Bloodline → Carrying on your distinguished family name has fallen to you and the equally well-bred spouse of your family's selection.
7) Disapproval → Your marriage has been arranged to keep you away from the person with whom you truly wish to be.

POSSIBLE SCENARIOS
1) First meeting → This is the very first time you're meeting your future spouse.
2) Courtship → To get to know each other and encourage affection, your family has approved of you going on dates.
3) Engagement party → Be it a huge, formal affair or a small, intimate get together, you're celebrating (or pretending).
4) Wedding day → The big day!
5) Reception → The big party!
6) Wedding night → Every meme needs a smut prompt, right?
7) Honeymoon → Where will you go with your new spouse and what will you do there?

Comments

[du_vallon]

Porthos finds that look very intriguing indeed. He leans back on the bed, propped up by his elbows, and eyes Athos with a look that has a smirk attached, fingers lingering by the rope that leads to the bell. "Should I ring this?" he poses, that smirk only getting bigger. "Or is someone nearby that can tend to my needs?"

[somepoorsoul]

Athos flushes, but he finds he cannot look away. “That depends on what your needs might be.” His voice is a low murmur.

[du_vallon]

"Well, it's been a very long campaign and the people who normally look after me aren't after what I am. They're probably out there thieving and escaping, but I'm choosing to look at this as the way out I've been searching for, for a few years." Porthos sits up a little, sliding his hands over his thighs so he can grasp Athos by the hips. "It's left me a little lonely."

[somepoorsoul]

“That’s very practical,” Athos murmurs without judgement. When was the last time he stood so close to someone when not in the heat of battle? He can feel his heart beating hard, and though he still believes that it is weak of him to give into this temptation, he knows that he is past resisting.

He crushes his mouth to Porthos’, one hand grabbing his arm, his own loneliness pouring into the fierce embrace.

[du_vallon]

Porthos keens, a small and desperate sound before he wraps his hand through Athos' hair to tug him in and bring him crashing down on top of Porthos, breathlessly shifting to give him room to fit. "Not so hard," he reprimands mildly for some of the more bruising force of the kiss. "When's the last time you did this?"

[somepoorsoul]

“Longer than I would like to admit,” Athos answers ruefully, his gaze skittering away for a moment. He has propped himself on one hand, and still half leans over Porthos. By God, he wishes he were not so close to trembling. But the last five years have been hard, the day particularly strange, and the thought of entirely forgoing his carefully crafted control still terrifies him.

[du_vallon]

Porthos cocks his brow upwards as he slides one broad palm between their bodies, slowly catching a handful and squeezing right at Athos' crotch, giving a pleased sound at what he finds. "You know, my friend Charon always said I had the best fingers in the city. Want to find out if he was right?"

[somepoorsoul]

Athos belatedly realizes that he is holding his breath; now he exhales shakily, eyes slipping shut. “I would,” he murmurs with a smirk, and adds, “But do you always talk so much?” before kissing him soundly.

[du_vallon]

He does, but Porthos doesn't have the opportunity to reply, too busy unbuttoning Athos' shirt with those hands as he kisses back as hard as he's getting, wishing that he could kick the door shut. There's so much room in a big house like this, nothing like the cramped quarters of the Court. He's panting by the time he eases away, ripping the last few buttons and watching them scatter on the expensive floor.

"I'm not surprised you're as handsome half-naked as you are with clothes on."

[somepoorsoul]

“I wouldn’t want to disappoint,” Athos murmurs, voice low enough that it’s nearly a growl. He runs the pad of his thumb across Porthos’ rough cheek and the line of jaw, and with great reluctance pushes away to see to the door. A master has no secrets from his servants, not matter how much he might like to pretend otherwise, but he prefers the semblance of privacy, at least.

He closes the door and leans against it, frozen for a moment with chest heaving, eyes fixed on the man sprawled on his bed.

[du_vallon]

Porthos takes advantage of the attention to start stripping clothes off himself until he's in nothing but his braies and is giving Athos a lustful look, filled with intent. "Neither would I. Is everything fit to your liking? Am I to your tastes?"

[somepoorsoul]

Athos manages a faint nod, his lower lip caught briefly between his teeth. His predilections have not always run towards men (though they have, perhaps, more often than he likes to admit), but he thinks a saint might forsake his vows for this man with him, here. Taking a breath to steady himself, he removes his own clothes as he approaches, until they are similarly undressed, and he is standing at the bed again.

[du_vallon]

Porthos sits up a little more to give himself the room to reach forward and tumble Athos onto the bed, straddling overtop him with widened knees. "I doubted you'd ever actually take me to be a spouse," he confesses, "but maybe I can make you feel good, if only for a night. I'm sure I'll become your dirty little secret that you like to ignore soon enough after," he murmurs, stroking his fingers over Athos' cock in delayed, fractious turns.

[somepoorsoul]

He gasps as he is thrown down upon the bed and whines under the touch, any remaining stoicism slipping away from his grasp. Already he cannot quite follow what Porthos is saying, though the low growl in his voice sends needy shivers down his spine. His eyes close and his hips arch, and for now he thinks of nothing but this man’s delicious ministrations.

[du_vallon]

"You like being tossed about," Porthos says with a warm grin on his face, finding out how very much he likes that bit. One hand pins down Athos' shoulders while the other works at bringing him the most pleasure he can manage, breathless with joy as he kisses him again. "I haven't felt like this in ages."

Too much fighting, not enough peace, he thinks.

[somepoorsoul]

Athos makes a breathless sound, a growl - of approval, of need, of agreement. The locket he always wears, that he still wears, has pooled in the hollow of his throat, but for the first time in five years, he has nearly forgotten that he wears it. He grabs at Porthos’ hair, fingers burying in his curls, and struggles gladly against his hold, wanting more, wanting everything, and so, so close.

[du_vallon]

Porthos uses the force of his body to slam Athos' shoulder down into the bed a little harder than before, refusing to give him the ability to eke out from under it. "No, no, you don't get to do that until you've come," he chides mildly, pumping Athos' cock now with little care for gentleness, working him with efficiency and speed.

[somepoorsoul]

And before long he does, squeezing his eyes tightly shut as he spends. Breathless curses fall from lips, and finally, without quite realizing it or meaning to, he speaks a woman’s name.

Anne.

Then he falls silent, still breathing hard, eyes still closed, reality already creeping back in, for all he would wish to push it away.

[du_vallon]

Porthos eases back off of Athos, relinquishing his hold as he widens his eyes at how that is most certainly not his name. "Anne, hm?" he murmurs, cleaning his hand on a nearby towel. "Well, the Cardinal did say you had a history. I suppose she's it?"

[somepoorsoul]

A moment or two passes before Athos can put together the last few moments and understand what Porthos is saying. He turns his face away, eyes tightly closed, feeling a flush color his cheeks that has nothing to do with their exertions. The cardinal, of course his knows the shame of the Comte de la Fere, the thief and murderer he married and put to death. Of course he would send another thief to mock him.

By God, he should have fled after Anne, and to hell with his duty to his king.

He swallows hard, pain rippling under his skin where, moments ago, he felt pleasure. “She was my wife."

[du_vallon]

Porthos reaches out to comb back hair from Athos' forehead carefully, eyeing him with a fond, soft smile. "I don't care about your past," he promises. "Can't, exactly, what with me not sporting a glowing past myself." He leans off of Athos, chin propped up with one hand. "Do you want to talk about her?"

[somepoorsoul]

He shakes his head, and finally opens his eyes to look at Porthos, this man who seems incapable of falsehood or judgment. His hand passes briefly over the locket he wears, and then Athos shifts slightly, so that he is propped up on one hand and facing the other man. He runs his fingers along Porthos’ arm, grateful for the comfort his ‘prize’ has unexpectedly brought, despite his shame, despite knowing that he does not deserve it.

[du_vallon]

Porthos has always enjoyed this part more than any other and despite the ache pestering at him, he can ignore that in order to pay attention to Athos properly. "You don't seem to like to talk much at all," he observes, eyeing him with a softness on his face. "Lucky for us, I like to talk plenty."

[somepoorsoul]

Athos cannot argue with that; he offers a faint, sheepish smile as his own reply. It has been so long since he has lain with anyone – in any sense of the word – and this part leaves him more uncertain than the sex itself. He wishes the earth would swallow him whole just as much as he wishes never to leave. As Porthos so succinctly put it, Athos has never been very good at talking; that is ten times more true in this most intimate of moments.

He swallows, letting his hand slide down Porthos’ broad back. “Not exactly what I expected out of my afternoon,” he notes with a wry twist of his lips.

[du_vallon]

"Not bad, for me," Porthos says with a wicked smirk. "Few hours in and you're already giving me the ropes of what it could be like, here. Better than having the servants show me around, that's for sure," he says, leaning back into the touch of the hand with a happy sigh. "Do you have duties to tend to? Or would you like me to give you an excuse to run away?"