Rogue Sloth

Two Dudes Sitting in a Hot Tub [MxM Search - Slow Burn Preference]

Bump~

Two Dudes Sitting in a Hot Tub [MxM Search - Slow Burn Preference]

Bump. Looking for one or two long term writers.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Through his own excitement, Caspian could see hints that Iris wasn’t as elated about their reunion as he was. It was strange, but she looked almost… nervous to be with him again. The restlessness of her fingers and the quaver in her breath seemed uneasy. He wasn’t sure why that would be. After everything they’d been through, he would have thought she’d be happy they were together again, and she had seemed that way just a few minutes ago. He watched her with a confused frown as she hesitantly joined him on the edge of the bed. He was the one who’d asked her to fill him in on everything that had happened since the day he’d seen her with Ethan, but with the way she was acting now, he was starting to wonder if he was going to like hearing what she had to say.

Still, the touch of her hands against his was a soothing balm against rising nerves. He turned his palms over into hers, reveling in her warmth—further solidifying the fact that she was really there with him again. For a moment, he sat in that relief, and then knitted his brows when Iris began to speak and mentioned a name he hadn’t expected. “Jacob?” He looked up from their intwined hands to her face. Parting his lips, he almost asked her what his guard had to do with anything, but he stopped himself. By the look on Iris’s face, he could tell she wanted to tell him everything, so there was no reason to spring ahead.

Forcing himself to hold onto his questions for now, he let out a sigh and nodded. “Fine… I promise.”

It was difficult to listen without interrupting, but Cas did his best as she began to tell him everything, beginning with the note she’d left for him the day she’d gone missing from the hotel. His throat tightened at the mention of it, old emotions resurfacing as he pictured her handwriting in his mind. Back then, he’d thought she had left him of her own volition, and even though it hadn’t been as painful as believing he’d just watched her die on a screen, it had still hurt. He’d wondered about it ever since, so when she told him Ethan had blackmailed her, his eyes widened slightly in surprise.

The detail slotted a lot of things into place. Now he knew how her ex had gotten ahold of her and why she’d left him so abruptly. It hadn’t been her choice after all—at least, not fully. He felt a mixture of relief and sadness at that. On one hand, it was good to feel certain that he hadn’t done anything to drive her away. But on the other hand… everything about what Ethan had done was despicable.

He was equally surprised to learn the role his security head had played in her disappearance. Even though he’d just promised Iris not to fire Jacob, he felt anger whip through him at the discovery that the other man had known where she was—had helped deliver her to Ethan on a silver platter—and had kept it from him all this time. “He should have told me,” he shook his head, folding his arms stiffly over his chest. “If I’d known, I could have done something to help you, Iris. You didn’t have to go back to him—” Pausing, he took a breath. As frustrated as he was, there was nothing helpful about getting mad at the past. She was here now. That was all that mattered, he reminded himself.

Instead, as her voice broke, and she lowered her head, Cas leaned over to draw her into his arms again, hugging her tightly to his chest. “It’s not your fault,” he murmured. “And even if you disagree with me, I don’t care. I meant it when I said I’m glad you’re here now, so whatever happened before this… It’s behind us.” Closing his eyes, he let out his breath softly and pressed a hand to the back of her head. “I never stopped loving you, even when you disappeared, but do you… still feel the same about me?”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

“I don’t care about that,” Caspian shook his head as he ushered Iris insistently with him to the back of the safe house. Being king over Aspiria was complicated enough by itself. At least with Iris, he was happy. He’d been slaving and sacrificing ever since he’d been crowned after his father, so even though he knew there were going to be repercussions if word got out that he was in love with a rebel from the Scourge, he was willing to put himself through the challenges if it meant he could have her back in his life.

Leading her back to the room that had become his most recent home, he closed the door behind them for privacy and let go of her hand. The space itself was small, like the rest of the bunker, with only a bed and an armchair by way of furniture. It was good enough for a conversation spot though, so he planted himself on the edge of the bed and patted the mattress in gesture for her to join him, raising his brow when she told him she was going to need him to make her a promise.

“Anything,” he said on reflex, still too caught up in the emotions of their reunion to consider what she might be asking of him. As far as he was concerned, Iris could ask him to make her queen tomorrow, and he would do it without a second thought. Admittedly, it wasn’t the best headspace to be in when committing to anything, but he couldn’t help it. He’d spent the last month convinced she was dead. Seeing her in front of him now, alive and well enough to hunt him down all on her own in the capital, all he cared about was making sure he didn’t lose her again.

“I just want to know what happened,” he insisted. “I saw Ethan… in the attic…” He swallowed hard. Even though a month had passed, and Iris clearly wasn’t dead, his throat still got tight when he thought about that live feed, so he shook his head again and breathed: “How are you still here?”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

It felt like a dream. As Iris wrapped her arms around his back and buried her head into his chest, Cas just held her tighter, amazed that she was really there. He still didn’t know how it was possible when he’d watched her die on screen and had been told that she was gone. There were questions in the recesses of his mind that were going to demand an answer eventually, but right now, it was all he could do to keep himself from unraveling completely as he felt the warmth of her living body, the tickle of her hair against his cheek, and the pressure of her hands on his shoulders.

When she began to apologize to him, he shook his head fervently, loosening his grip on her just enough to meet her tear-streaked gaze with his own. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” he murmured, his voice catching slightly in his throat with roiling emotion. He swallowed hard, reining it back as much as he could. “I’m just glad you’re here.”

He could feel the tremor in her arms, so he pulled her back in, resting his chin on her shoulder and squeezing his eyes shut as he whispered, “I love you, Iris.”

For a long moment, they stayed like that. Cas ignored the quiet, confused chatter of the other people around them, all of whom were certainly baffled by the sudden appearance of a girl from the rebellion in the capital and their king’s obvious attachment to her. Raine was silent from her corner, watching the display with tight lips and uncertainty written across her features, while Jacob was prickling under the questioning gazes of the other guards. None of them knew what he’d done, but as the personal head of the king’s security, they had to suspect he had some awareness of this illicit relationship between their monarch and a member of the rebellion.

Cas also felt the eyes on his back, though he was less affected by them. As the initial shock wore off, and he felt the flood of emotions slowly subside, he opened his eyes halfway and threaded his fingers through her hair, thinking to himself. Her return meant a lot of things. Not the least, she’d come back after he had started actively pursuing a courtship with another woman—a woman who was sitting in the same room as them. He felt a faint twinge of guilt for the way he’d reacted in front of Raine, but he couldn’t help it. Iris was the one he loved, and no one else could replace her in his mind. It was uncomfortable to know what that meant for the Suphate princess, but…

“Here. Let’s go back to my room,” he said softly, pulling back again and taking her hand in his. “We have a lot of catching up to do.” With a glance over his shoulder, he flashed an apologetic look at Raine before turning to the guards. “Go back to your posts. Iris is my guest, so I’ll be the one to look after her.”

The security team exchanged a few uncertain looks amongst each other, but none of them were bold enough to challenge their king’s order so, after a brief, collective hesitation, they began to disperse throughout the safe house with only a few mumbled ‘yes, sir’s, and Cas led Iris further inside with a gentle tug to her hand.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

The safe house was awash with confusion as everyone waited for the local guards to deliver their captive to the king. Cas could feel the guards’ questioning eyes on his back, though none of them dared to voice the inquiry that was undoubtedly on all of their minds: Who was Iris, and why was he summoning her to himself when the protocol was to take all rebels to be formally interrogated at the prison? Even Raine, who had been watching the scene from a distance, had fallen quiet as she hovered behind him now, though she didn’t seem to know what to say either.

Rather than explaining the situation to any of them, Caspian just stared at the computer monitor with bated breath, where he could see the entire process as the guards hauled Iris to her feet and dragged her along with them. He was still shaken that she was alive. He’d thought he had watched her die with his own two eyes, and he had no idea how he was seeing her in the capital again after Ethan had taken her away from him. It didn’t make any sense, and his head felt like it was spinning.

“Tell them to be gentler with her,” he frowned at Jacob, also unappreciative of the way the guards were handling Iris on the screen.

The guard pressed his lips together. “Your Majesty, if she’s going to struggle, they need to use force to—”

“I don’t care,” Cas snapped.

Jacob held his insistent gaze for a few silent beats before his eyes flickered to the front door, where everyone in the safe house had turned as they heard the knocking from the guard. “They’re already here,” he said softly, then turned to one of his other men with a tilt of his head at the door. “Let them in.”

“Yes, sir,” the guard nodded

Caspian’s eyes flicked toward the motion briefly before returning to the security head with a scowl. He was starting to notice that when it came to Iris, Jacob wasn’t the quickest at following orders. The other man had practically ignored him just now, openly in front of his subordinates. He wasn’t sure what to think about that. However, he didn’t have time to work it through when the doorknob rattled open, and his breath caught in his throat as he looked up again to see Iris stumble into the room.

She really was alive. His heart felt like it stopped as their eyes met. He couldn’t believe it. For over a month, he’d been slowly relearning how to go on without her, moving on with his new life as king until he could make it through the days without breaking down over her loss. He’d thought he would never see her again, yet here she was in the capital, still breathing.

Thoroughly shocked, it was the sound of her voice that brought Cas back out of his stupor. When she said his name, he took in the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and took a half step forward, feeling the hot sting of tears welling in his eyes. “Iris,” he whispered hers back, almost as if he was afraid the spell would break if he said it too loudly. As soon as the word left his lips, though, he couldn’t help himself any longer. While she was still in the middle of her apology, he broke from his place beside his guards and swept across the room to pull her into a tight embrace.

“I thought I lost you,” he murmured into her neck, his voice breaking without any mind to the other people in the safe house with them. Right now, as far as he was concerned they were the only two people in the world, and he didn’t hold back from tangling one hand into her long hair as he held her against himself. Every part of him was trembling with emotion, and a couple tears rolled freely as he whispered weakly: “I thought you were dead.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Jacob is like 'Fuuuuuuck I'm busted' lmao

On another note, hooray for finally getting the mains back together xD It only took us a whole year

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Two days had passed. Two long, painful days of hiding out in an above-ground bunker while the capital’s security team continued to report back that the missing rebels had yet to be apprehended. Cas spent most of his time in front of the TV, or at least near enough to catch a glimpse of the reports on the news, unhealthily fixated on the things his people were saying about him while he was stuck in the safe house. He hated feeling so helpless, and he wanted to yell back at the reporter on the screen that he would be doing something about the rebels if his guards would just let him out to confront them.

As the hours crawled by, what had started as shock and despair had morphed into anger. The Scourge had taken too much from him. They’d abducted him from the capital, attempted to have him killed multiple times, caused strife between him and his dying father, bombed the home he’d grown up in, and murdered the woman he loved. He was done letting them walk all over him. Aspiria was his kingdom, and the rebels needed to learn to accept him as its ruler or he was going to make them.

On his second day in hiding, he said as much to Jacob, who was glad to see a new fire in the king’s eyes but (wisely) advised him to draft his speech before he returned to face the public eye. Raine offered to help as well, mentioning that her father had hired a professional to train her in the art of diplomacy. Like the security head, she was supportive of a heavy-handed response to the terrorists after her father had nearly lost his life in the attack, and she insisted that she would be able to help him craft a response that would instill confidence in Aspiria’s allies while also sending a clear message to the Scourge that the monarchy would be ending its leniency toward their tantrums.

With time to spare and nothing else to do to kill it, Cas agreed and they sat down at the dining table to pen a draft while the guards on site milled about by the kitchen, occasionally communicating into their comm devices with the rest of the team that was out and about in the city as they attempted to track down the missing rebels. Supposedly the two were still somewhere in the capital, since the border patrol hadn’t found traces that anyone had tried to escape from inside.

While the search dragged on, the guards in the safe house had set up a pair of laptops on the island counter, connected to the security cameras in the immediate vicinity to monitor the area for any unauthorized activity. That afternoon, a few of them were watching the screens idly when the sound of shouting voices suddenly projected from the computer speakers and made nearly everyone in the room jump. It was the first time they’d gotten anything other than general background noise since they’d set up the system, and all the guards who hadn’t been standing beside the counter, Jacob included, circled up to see what was going on.

“Burglar?” one muttered the guess with a glance at the security head, who was staring at the screen with a pinched expression. Crime rates had been low in the capital for the last ten years, and the fact that this had happened so close to the safe house didn’t feel like a coincidence to him.

“What’s going on?” Cas called over from the dining room. He and Raine had heard the commotion too, and he’d slid his chair back to join the group in the kitchen. “Did they find the rebels?”

“We aren’t sure just yet, your majesty,” Jacob responded without looking away from the computer. On one of the cameras, three tiny figures had just come into view. He pressed a hand on the shoulder of the nearest guard. “There, Stevens. Zoom in on camera six.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let me see,” Cas ordered, pushing his way between two of the other men to get a view of the screen. After forty-eight hours of being pent up, he hoped the guards had found the guys they were after. Holding his breath, he watched as the camera that had caught the action was brought to full-screen and zoomed in on three people in a skirmish. He leaned in to get a better look and recognized two uniform that belonged to capital soldiers. They were wrestling to apprehend… a girl?

Wait.

“Iris?” he breathed, his eyes widening as he stared at her familiar face, pinned to the ground beneath a guard. The details were slightly distorted by pixilation, but he recognized her anywhere. He pressed his palms flat against the counter, suddenly dizzy. How the hell was this happening? He’d watched Ethan kill her, and his own team had confirmed she was dead, yet now here she was, alive and kicking in the capital? He didn’t understand how it was possible, but as he listened to the soldier’s voice on the radio, phoning in his capture to Jacob, he whipped around to the security head without a second thought.

“That’s Iris,” he snapped. “Tell him to bring her here.”

Jacob blinked, snapping himself out of his stupor. Like Caspian, he had recognized Iris immediately and had sworn under his breath the moment her face had appeared in any clarity on the screen. Having been in the safe house to make sure his king didn’t leave for the last two days, he hadn’t checked in on her recently, but he was shocked to see her outside of his condo, committing petty theft. It was entirely foolish of her to slip out on her own—especially while every soldier in the vicinity was on high alert for intruders. He didn’t know how she could have been so stupid. And now Caspian knew she was still alive. He winced. This was not going to end well.

“Jacob!” Cas barked when the guard didn’t immediately respond.

“Yes, sir,” he acquiesced reluctantly, bringing his hand up to his ear. He knew the king was going to put the pieces together eventually—he wasn’t stupid—but at the moment, Caspian seemed too fixated on the fact that Iris was still alive to put any thought toward the fact that he had said she was dead and had even claimed to have buried her, himself. There was no hiding his lies now that the truth had come out, and he swallowed hard, not looking forward to what was going to come when the king realized what he’d done.

“I can see you both on the camera now,” he responded to the soldier outside. “Bring her to the safe house. The king would like to speak with her, personally.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

The safe house had a haunted feeling to it.

At least, that’s what Caspian thought when they turned on the lights in the windowless building he had been told to make his home until the rest of the rebels had been caught by capital security. On the south side of the city, it was hidden away near a condominium development and looked on the outside like a mundane storage unit. However, the interior was furnished surprisingly lavishly, dripping in his late father’s taste. The furniture looked just like that of the palace, the walls were decorated with framed photos of the royal family, and the kitchen was fully stocked with enough food to last at least a few months.

There were four bedrooms, providing plenty of space for the king, the visiting princess and their guards, and a TV was set up in the living room to provide them with an outlet to keep up with the world beyond the safe house walls. That was where Cas and Raine set up camp while the guards went about some of their other preparations with the temporary location. Over the news, they saw that Raine’s father, as well as all the other guests in the palace except for five people, had made it out of the attack in one piece. She was relieved beyond words to see that her family was safe, and while they sat on the couch in front of the newscaster on the screen, she eventually fell asleep against his shoulder while he continued to watch the reports flow through, speculating about the military’s competence to deal with the Scourge and about whether or not he was going to hurry the timeline for a marriage to protect the royal bloodline from getting snuffed out.

It was a lot to take in, especially after he’d just been attacked at what should have been a fun, peaceful banquet with Aspiria’s closest allies. Cas didn’t know how long he sat in front of the TV, drenching himself in the weight of his kingdom’s expectations, until the touch of a hand on his shoulder startled him out of his spiraling. At the feeling, he looked up to see Jacob standing behind him with a frown. “You should get some rest, Your Majesty,” the guard suggested gently. “Your bedroom is prepared for you.”

“Rest for what?” Cas muttered, curling his fingers as Raine lifted her cheek from his other arm, roused by the sound of their talking. His fingers had started to prickle from lack of blood flow while she’d been using him as a pillow. “I’m not doing anything to help this whole situation.” He shook his head. “Five people are dead because those rebels came for me… and now I’m hiding from them in an oversized box because I can’t do anything to defend myself.”

“You aren’t at fault for any of this,” Jacob furrowed his brows. “And your job isn’t to defend yourself. It is to lead this kingdom, which you can’t do effectively when there are men loose in the capital who would do anything to see your life end. This is a necessary measure to keep you safe until we can hunt them down and put them behind bars.”

“Right,” Cas sighed, unconvinced.

“Don’t torment yourself over what happened today, Your Majesty,” Jacob rested a hand on his shoulder again. “Our soldiers are working round the clock to find the men behind the attack and bring them to justice. For now, we just need you rested and ready to present yourself strongly when you return to face your people.”

Cas pressed his lips together, his eyes drifting back to the running news piece on the TV. He doubted he was going to get any sleep while he was still so wound up after the bombing, but before he could voice his dissent to Jacob, he stared as the screen suddenly blinked off, and Raine stood from the couch at his side. “He’s right, you know,” she said, extending a gloved hand toward him. “Come on. You need to show those terrorists who’s in charge, and you won’t do that worrying yourself to death in front of the TV.”

Caspian gaped at her, caught off guard by the forceful tone of her voice, while at his back, Jacob smirked. “Fine,” he caved, taking her hand to stand up as well. He still didn’t feel like trying to rest, but the others had a point that watching reruns of the same news updates over and over weren’t helping. Taking a breath, he turned toward the hallway that connected to the bedrooms. “If it’ll make you guys happy, I’ll lay down for a while.”

“It will,” Raine chirped, casting him a wink and a curtsey as she walked past him to be escorted by a female guard to her own room. “Goodnight, Your Majesty.”

“Goodnight, princess,” he said back.

On his way around the sofa, Jacob tapped his arm one more time, leaning over to whisper, “She would make a wonderful queen.”

“Yeah,” Cas shrugged, watching Raine disappear around the corner ahead of him. Logically, he agreed with Jacob. The Suphate princess had all the makings of a leader that his father had encouraged him to look for in a partner, but his head and heart were still fixed on Iris. Even though he had been flirting with the idea of discussing an engagement with Raine and her father just a couple hours earlier, the thought of doing anything with her suddenly felt wrong. He felt a frown etch itself into his features and dropped his gaze to the floor as he headed slowly for the corridor.

He knew he had to let go of her at some point, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not yet. With an attack from the rebels fresh in his mind, he tossed and turned for the rest of the night, haunted by the image of her motionless body on the drone camera when she’d died.