There are celebrations tonight marking the end of a nearly five-year war between the nation of his birth and a nearby aggressor. A war that continued for almost three years longer than necessary because the opposing monarch, a man named John Walker, refused to issue a ceasefire once negotiations for peace began.
Now, Bucky realizes he's not inclined to think well of the foreign king. Thanks to the war Bucky knows the names of many people who didn't survive; he has an arm made of metal, powered by magic, and heavy as hell after losing his own in the war. He knows what it is to be inside a war camp and hear his compatriots tortured and killed.
War is terrible.
But there are are circumstances, he tells himself, that are beyond the pale here.
All of them surround the young prince.
He's of age, Prince Samuel, but only barely. He has one more heat to survive before he's to be actually wed to Walker, which... well. Bucky wouldn't be pleased with it even if he hadn't noticed Walker's hand on the young prince's thigh throughout the dinner, and how the latter drank only a sparkling tonic and water instead of wine, and barely touched his food, occasionally drawing up short and looking vaguely ill as Walker's arm moved and the king's smile grew more lascivious.
Or if he hadn't overhead King Walker tell one of his own courtiers that he'd refused to honor a ceasefire until the prince was delivered to his bed, age be damned.
"The younger, the better," Walker had said, laughing and toasting with his own countrymen.
Now. Does Bucky think he can put a stop to any of this? No. He's not Their Majesties the King and Queen, or a courtier in his own right. He's barely a landowner. He was a soldier in the king's army who lost an arm (and did some things he'd rather not discuss, heroic or otherwise) and now he's a guard in the palace who owns his parents' tiny farm and charges the current occupants of that land a bottle of wine and a small wheel of cheese per year in rent. He's not expected to have an opinion on or possess any control over the politicking of kings and queens.
Which begs the question of why he's gone to seek out the prince in the hedge maze at all.
He could tell himself that it's to ensure the prince's safety, something which he is honor and oath bound to do. Except the prince is as safe as possible for the next three months. Other than inappropriate touching at a banquet table, Walker won't have unfettered access to Prince Samuel until the latter is sent to him.
It's not as though he could kidnap the Prince and take him somewhere else. There's nowhere else to go, really, and Bucky has had enough brushes with execution for one lifetime. Besides Walker would start the war again in a heartbeat.
But. The Prince should know. That someone else has seen this. That his people care for him.
It's a flimsy excuse to track the Prince down when he obviously wishes to be alone, even in his head, but Bucky thinks of his sister and how he'd done everything he could to prepare her for the possible violence of an interested alpha before she was married off while he was away. He's worried that no one has spoken the Prince thusly. That he's marrying for the well-being of his people with no consideration or preparation for his own.
No omega's first time should be with a man like Walker. At the very least one should know what they're getting into with him.
So Bucky tracks the Prince through the hedge maze. Finds him in the shade of a small shrine, gazing into the middle distance. He bows, keeps his eyes on the grass. "Your Majesty."
How is he going to even start this conversation? 'I noticed Walker touching you at dinner'? Inappropriate beyond the general inappropriateness of the topic. But then Bucky looks up and the Prince seems incredibly focused on him, in a way which feels... odd.
Except Bucky, in full regalia, followed him into the hedge maze and addressed him.
So. Okay. Maybe not that odd?
Still, he feels slightly unnerved by the weight of the young prince's gaze. "You did not eat very much at the dinner. Are you well?"
The truth is that Sam has lived half a walking nightmare for years now. The youngest of three children, he is not in line for the throne, and always knew he duty was to marry well. An omega is bargain like that, and he is lucky that by virtue of his birth, he will be kept in comfort no matter what.
Still... he is 15 when John Walker delivers an ultimatum to Sam's parents. He will agree to a ceasefire if Sam is given to him then and there. The request was refused staunchly for three years, despite how the war was bleeding both their people as well as royal coffers, bringing misery and near ruin to the country. Sam shudders to think of it all. The engagement was inevitable. It would have happened sooner had anyone heeded Sam - he would have gladly done it three years ago to save his country. He's still glad to do it today.
That doesn't make it any easier, wenn Walker touches him and tells him how Sam will do his duty in their marital bed. Sam despises the man and his touch. But he loves his people.
When Bucky addresses him, Sam startled, although his recovery is quick. He knows how to act befitting of his position, even on a night like this. When the country celebrates and Sam mourns, privately and quietly.
"Sergeant Barnes," he greets, tone warm. The man is a war veteran, and Sam has personally lobbied for as many of them as possible to receive positions of honor in the royal guard, or attractive pensions. Sam remembers seeing the man before the war, participating in a tournament. Bucky is older now, more haunted. Sam is touched that Bucky would follow him into the maze to check on him. "I'm well, but you have my gratitude for the concern. I hope you've been able to enjoy the banquet. I know it must be a lot to adjust to your new post."
"I... am afraid that the new uniform is the greatest adjustment," he says, hoping to diffuse some of his nerves in even considering this conversation. "Nor have I ever been terribly enchanted with the guests of our feast." Hm. Bucky presses his lips together and keeps his hands at his sides.
He probably could have found a better way to say that but. Again. Not a courtier.
"Your Majesty," he starts, paused, pushes on while clasping his hands behind his back, "I find myself growing concerned for your well-being. Specifically at the hands of your betrothed. I worry that you will be hurt and unhappy in that marriage. I realize this is not my place. That I have neither appropriate standing nor right to speak of this matter in the first place. But I..." He shakes his head, breathes. "My sister is as you are, and was married off by our relatives while I was away. She is happy, but. We spoke often of what to expect.
If there are others who would be better positioned to discuss this with you, I will gladly step aside. I..." Alright. Officially, Bucky has said too much. The Prince is still looking right at him. "And if you feel my behavior has been inappropriate I will resign my post."
Sam looks surprised at first, and perhaps there is a brief flicker of shame before something softer and fonder settles on his features. He looks beyond his years then, looks like he might be king already, wise and caring beyond what he should be at his age.
"Your concern honours me, Sergeant, and you've proven tenfold why I'm glad to have lobbied for your appointment. You've served our country, given so much, and you'd rather risk more than be silent. I would rather be surrounded by people who dare cross a line in protocol to speak their mind, than bow to rules and stand idly by. So you do not need to fear repercussion. Inwould never wish for you to hold your tongue, or dace punishment for being good hearted. Please, be at ease. Especially when it's just me you're speaking to."
Sam glances down then, before focusing on the little shrine for a moment. Allows silence to settle while he lights one of the candles always placed upon it. In the dark of the evening, the small flame warms his features.
"I know what awaits me. He has demanded my hand in marriage for three years. It pains me to admit we could have ended the war a long time ago. My parents refused his demand as long as they could. Longer than I wished them to."
And it was people like Bucky who paid the price for Sam being spared it. He looks back to Bucky, makes sure to keep his features warm. Swallows the sadness. He looks regal. And lonely.
"I've known I would be hurt and unhappy for three years. I've made my peace with that."
It's absolutely out of line for him to speak like that of the monarch he is to wed. Alas...
"You were a child. You should have the opportunity to... be with someone you at least like instead of this." He gestures back toward the palace and the festivities, clearly angry and frustrated for Sam. "I understand it is your role, as Prince. That you love your people. That you would do anything for us. But. As the object of Walker's obsession." He takes another breath. "Is there anyone... that you can spend some time with? Before you have to go to him?"
Is Bucky suggesting that the Prince sleep with a friend? Perhaps. It's the same advice he gave his sister. That her virginity was hers to do with as she pleased. That spending time in the arms of a friend, even if they were in no position to marry her, was worth more than an alpha's obsession with purity in a marriage bed.
Sam blinks in clear surprise, glad he cannot visibly blush. Remembers, vividly, Bucky sword fighting, pushing sweaty hair out of his face. Sam's smile is bashful, but rueful all the same.
"My brother offered to take me to a whore house. He meant well." A gesture back towards the palace. "The very privileged problem of my station is that there is nobody I wouldn't be taking advantage of and placing in danger. Anyone I would trust with this is technically a member of my staff, and they might not wish to say no to me, while knowing they'd be risking their necks. Those who aren't staff would risk catastrophic political incidents we cannot afford to handle. I must not be that selfish."
He looks at the ground, bites his bottom lip for a second. And cannot quite help but wonder...
"Were you volunteering, Sergeant? Is that why you're here?"
Now it's Bucky's turn to blush; however his skin is nowhere near as deep as Sam's and thus it blooms across his nose and cheeks vividly.
"I came out of concern, I swear it." He would not like the Prince to believe he came out here in order to convince him of... something. But.
But.
"I am not part of your staff," he says very slowly. There's this feeling of being on some sort of precipice. In the back of his mind he hears the laughter of a witch he knows.
He is a guard, and the guardsmen are wholly a different beast than the Prince's personal staff.
It's still... not unfathomable exactly. Just. Difficult? "I would volunteer. Were a volunteer required."
Honestly he'd imagined some nobleman's son might be the Prince's first. Not. Him. He's a disaster.
Sam steps closer then, enough that it would be easy to reach out and touch. Close enough to pick up the rich, sweet scent of a young, unmated omega. Close enough that he can whisper.
Close enough that if anyone saw them, they would be accused of something closer still.
"You're offering to commit treason, Sergeant Barnes. I know you're smart enough not to risk life and limb out of lust. And I hope this is not how you think to serve your duty to your country or its crown. That leaves a kindness. An awful risk to take for one. If we were suspected, much less caught, i would be shamed and in trouble, but your peril would be the noose."
He reaches out then. Shy, tentative. Fingers curling in the sash that serves as a belt on Bucky's regalia. He looks so good in it.
"You would have to swear it is kindness, and not love. Because I could not bear to lead you on when I will be sent to King Walker within a few months. And you could not take your time with it."
"This isn't about lust," Bucky promises. Does he love the Prince? Is he capable of loving anyone? A question for the ages. Not for the Prince however, not a this moment.
He doesn't want to drag the young man into his own miasma of despair in regards to whom he might live the rest of his life alongside.
Even if he wasn't the Prince.
This is a dangerous idea.
He's rarely not turned on by a dangerous idea: see, being the occasional bedmate of the witch, Natasha.
A deep breath. The Prince is standing very close. He smells so sweet. "How fast?" He reaches out and touches the side of Sam's face.
Tipping off the edge of that precipice. Falling into the unknown of the dark.
Sam's eyes are wide when Bucky touches him. Cannot believe this is happening. Cannot believe he's going to do this. It excites and frightens him and s strangely.. it comforts him too. Like no matter what Walker will do, Sam will have a memory of someone just wanting to be good for him.
Perhaps its naive of him to believe that's what's happening. Perhaps he should assume this is just another alpha wanting to take advantage. But he doesn't think that, and refuses to be driven by fear. So he steps closer still. Into Bucky's arms. Fits his body against Bucky's and tilts his face up a little in offering.
"Perhaps half an hour at the most. Likely much less. They're distracted by the celebrations but it will be noticed I'm missing sooner rather than later." He swallows. There will be little time to waste on undressing, on long conversation. Sam doesn't know if it will hurt - assumes so. Nervous, and unsure, but no less daring for it. "Are you sure? I will not be offended if you flee."
Another swallow. The hand at Sam's face caresses his cheek.
He doesn't answer in words immediately. Instead he leans in and kisses the Prince. Gentle at first but full of heat. Nibbling at his lower lip. Using his hand to keep him in place.
As close as Sam is to him, right now, he'll be able to tell that Bucky's body is getting into the idea of things. Without turning to look, he reaches with his metal arm and pulls free a tie that allows the privacy curtain to fall into the doorway of the shrine.
For prayers. Obviously.
There's a bench, also; Bucky sits, encouraging Sam into his lap before finally breaking the kiss. "How much of this do you need to be free of?" The clothes, he means.
One: Sam is very responsive. Clearly doesn't know what he's doing, but enthusiastic and quick on the uptake.
Two: Sam makes noise. It's not performative, not the practices noise one makes on purpose for a partner. These sounds just fall from him. Little gasps and whimpers. Louder whines and mewls. Perish the thought what will happen when they get going properly. "Most of it. The tunic unclasps, you can leave it hanging open."
And as he speaks he reaches down, palms Bucky's cock without hesitation or shame, theough the softness of his breeches. Bites his kiss swollen lower lip.
"It may. If we had more time..." Bucky breathes through the regret, shakes his head. "I would do everything I could to ensure it wouldn't hurt." But time is not on their side at all.
He kisses Sam again, instead of finishing that thought. Allows him to feel his growing erection. Encourages it by rolling his hips upward as he begins feeling for clasps and ties to free at least the bottom half of the Prince's body. Helping him out of his breeches, resettling Sam in his lap, and feeling to see if he can tell how wet Sam is, with his metal hand. The other hand stays at his face while Bucky continues kissing the prince.
The wetter the Prince becomes, the less chance of Bucky hurting him.
"I will not knot you." They do not have that kind of time by any stretch of the imagination. "But I will chase your pleasure."
His breath hitches as cool metal ghosts over his entrance, then probes. And if he was getting somewhat aroused before, just on the basis of the kiss and the intent and tr he knowledge of what was to come, this is what gets him going. Sam looks a little embarrassed by it, by how the sensation of cool metal feeling his rim makes him get wet.
He puts his hands on Bucky's shoulders for balance, keeps his thighs open over the man's lap and grinds against his erection.
"There was a time I dreamed of this" he admits, panting with rising pleasure. "I was quite taken with you after seeing you at a tournament. Perhaps it will please you to know...," he pushes himself down a little, wet hole welcoming a metal knuckle inside greedily, "that I spent that tournament fantasizing you'd win my hand once i was of age." Sam chuckles. He's grown out of such fancies of course, and there is no tournament in which a prince can be won by anyone, much less a commoner, no matter that he is a decorated war veteran. Still. Bucky was his first crush, and when Sam experienced his first heat, he might have thought of blue eyes and stubble between his thighs. He grew out of those fancies, knowing he would marry not for love or passion. The irony isn't lost on him now that after all that he ends up desperately giving his first time to the very man he fancied himself mating with just on account of how striking he was at that tournament.
Childish fancies aren't supposed to turn into adult bad ideas.
Sam kisses Bucky's cheek, his brow. Benediction. Forgiveness for any discomfort Sam understands will be part of this no matter how careful Bucky is. "Tell me how to make this good for you, please."
And that request is sad, because Sam is asking for guidance for this fast and desperate tryst, yes, but he knows what he learns here tonight will be what he takes into his marital bed in a few months.
Bucky blushes again. The tournament Sam speaks of feels like it was so long ago, an entire lifetime past. It's sad perhaps, or maybe not, the way his life can be carved out into distinct events. Before the war, and after.
Before tonight, and after that as well?
Seems likely.
Sam kisses him, offers forgiveness for how it may hurt. The magic in his arm tells him just how wet the prince has become, and he introduces another finger to that sweet hole.
"Breathe," he tells Sam. "And when you feel too full? Squeeze, as tight and as strong as you can." He moves his fingers together and then individually, trying to prepare Sam as best he can. "I will like it; but more to the point, you can milk a knot that way. Help it end faster, hm?"
"Oh," Sam sighs, head falling to Bucky's shoulder for a moment as he's fingered open. Rocks his hips a little. Shy and tentative, but decidedly not meet and scared. He very clearly enjoys Bucky's actions.
"Like this? Can you feel it?"
He squeezes a little, just to try, gasping at his it makes those metal fingers catch in his rim beautifully.
"What else?"
Wants to know. Wants to learn. Wants to make this good enough for Bucky to be worth the risk. Wants to learn how to make it more bearable for himself in the future, too.
"Harder," Bucky instructs, and when Sam does he slowly spreads his fingers apart. "Just like that, keep it up." Reaches for that spot inside and rubs against it a little. The noise Sam makes in response drives his cock to jump against Sam's lap as Bucky covers Sam's mouth with his free hand.
"Breathe. Relax." Sliding his fingers out and wiping the slick on his own cock before he coaxes Sam to arrange himself further forward, so that he can enter him again. He kisses Sam through the intrusion, swallows every sweet and plaintive sound Sam makes into his mouth. "Squeeze again. As hard as you can, then breathe out and relax." Which will allow Bucky to get even deeper. "Shit, baby, you feel amazing."
If Bucky wishes to take a few things home from this encounter for lonely nights, perhaps it is this: the way Sam moans when Bucky instructs him, praises him. The way his eyes darken when Bucky covers his mouth. The way his cock twitches when Bucky breaks all protocol and royal decency by calling the prince "baby". And then of course there is the way in which Sam does as told, following Bucky's pointers oh so well. Tight like a vice and whimpering at the pain of the stretch, yet also so visibly eager for more. The way he clutches at Bucky, fights gravity and yet finds pleasure in the way he sinks down on Bucky's cock, the way his body opens to him, sweet and eager and oh so very greedy.
Slick leaks out from Sam's stretched rim. If they had more time, Bucky could surely investigate if Sam could cum just like this. As it stands, Sam feels dizzy with arousal.
"Sergeant Barnes," he whines. And then, needy: "James..."
"I know, I know," because it is so much. Sam is tight and wet and amazing and Bucky wishes more than anything that they had more time.
It's not even over and he wants to do it again.
Bucky gives him another kiss, then covers his mouth again, preemptively. Shifts his hips upwards and sets his metal hand at Sam's waist to keep him in place. "Squueze when I come up, sweetheart."
Bucky was truly wise to cover Sam's mouth, because the prince does as told. Feels Bucky push up and into him, squeezes tight around him, and then feels something inside of him go off like fireworks. He cries out, loud and only just barely contained by Bucky's hand.
He rocks himself almost involuntarily, once, twice, and then hit streaks of cum shoot up against Bucky's stomach and chest as Sam shudders and fall apart in his arms. Entirely untouched, barely fucked. Oh so sensitive to the pleasure Bucky gives him, hole fluttering around Bucky's cock as Sam clutches the man close, whimpering and rocking his hips down on him in small, unsteady motions.
Bucky shushes him with soft laughter, keeps his hands where they are. Part of him thinks perhaps he should stop, now that the Prince has found his pleasure; the rest of him is wholly unwilling to do so.
"Keep squeezing, baby. Alternate with your breathing, that's it." Sam exhales, Bucky thrusts upward. "You've done so well, I'm so proud of you."
Sam wouldn't stand for it even if Bucky tried. Learns, here, that sex doesn't end if only person gets off. Will learn from Walker, eventually, that not everyone cares to honour that simple principle.
"You are?" He asks, and sounds as if Bucky just hung the moon for him, completely soft and wrecked and awed. Presses his lips to Bucky's ear, quietly requests: "will you come.inside me, sir?"
Bucky groans. That should not be as hot as it is, having the prince use an honorific he has not earned to sweeten the request, but here they are. Bucky has to breathe through his body's desire to pop a knot right then and there, safety be damned.
"How could I not?" He holds Sam in place and sets a brutal rhythm, kissing him the entire time. "Squeeze as much as you can, whenever you can."
It's almost better to be able to focus on this without his own cock interested, Sam thinks - right before his body makes a valiant effort. Over sensitive and not having gotten used to having his needs stoked like this, he can feel his cock fill with blood again a few hard thrusts in, lost to the amazing feeling of it, the sound of skin slapping against slick skin, the sound of his own needy whimpers. He knows tipping Bucky over will see himself follow a second time, and so kisses him, hot and eager, and does as he learned to encourage pleasure, squeezing firm - and holding. Greedy, as if he doesn't want to let Bucky go. As if he wants him to stay inside so badly.
If only.
Instead; he begs oh so sweetly: "I need you," he whimpers. "Please, please, please... make sure I won't ever forget how you feel, how you fit. Please, sir."
Those words are like lightning against Bucky's spine, causing him to thrust even harder, deeper, feeling his cock drag against Sam's clenching hole. He's got both hands at Sam's waist, now, holding "You feel so good," he tells the prince, as his hips begin to stutter in their rhythm. A few more thrusts and Bucky groans, getting as deep into Sam as he can once his orgasm overtakes him. "I would knot you if I could. Fill you up. Hold you down."
He feels the prince paint his chest with cum again and grins, even though he doesn't pull out immediately. Keeps Sam from being able to pull away. He wants Sam to have him for as long as possible.
Sam feels a pleasant shiver down his spine. Not just an orgasm, but something deeply primal in him feels so very pleased by those words. He keeps rolling his hips a little, rubbing against the knot. Disappointed he can't be made to take it, given how intimidating it feels. Instead he gets to enjoy the feeling of slick and cum inside of him.
His heart is beating hard and fast in his chest. He loves the feeling of Bucky's large hands in his waist, of sitting on his cock.
"I wish you could," Sam murmurs, breath heavy. "I want you know I'd let you do anything to me. Anything at all."
And a kiss. Sweet and gentle even as slick and cum lead out of Sam's hole and onto Bucky's knot. And he tries not to look saddened, but he knows he needs to ruin the moment. Can never just be a young man, always has to be the prince."
"You need to let me go now, James. I'm sorry, but we can't be caught indecent."
It feels rotten to say. But they both know it needs saying.
"I know," he replies, and let's go of Sam's waist. Kisses him briefly again, touches his cheek. Slightly bittersweet, all told. "You should leave first. I'll stay here until the party has died down; I'm not on shift, anyway."
No one will be looking for him, is the point; someone will eventually look for Sam.
Sam is hasty but not careless in getting his clothes back onto himself, making sure he looks pristine and not like he just gave his first time away to a palace guard in a wild and fast fuck in the hedge maze.
Someone on the edge of the maze is calling his name. Sam takes a breath, then hesitates. Takes Bucky's face in hand and kisses him again, sweet and gentle as a promise they both know neither of them can keep.
"Thank you, Sergeant Barnes. I won't forget this, not ever."
And he leaves with one final, longing glance over his shoulder. Wishes he could stay. Wishes he could invite James to his bed again, to learn more, to give more, to feel more. Wishes he could revisit fantasies of marrying for love and affection. And then he's gone, calling out to whoever is looking for him. Stops being Sam, the young man who needed a kind touch, and is once again Prince Samuel, who will marry a man he feels disgust for in order to secure peace for his people.
Bucky doesn't look away until Sam has left the relative safety of the shrine; he puts his clothes back in order, slowly, not bothering to wipe away Sam's spend from his chest, instead lazily rubbing it into his own skin before it becomes absorbed in the material of his dress uniform.
Seems unlikely anyone else would be able to smell it... or identify what they're smelling.
He opens the privacy screen to allow the shrine to air out a bit as he sits, staring at the candle on the altar.
His metal hand still smells like Sam.
Eventually he rises to his feet and makes his way out of the maze. Walks, as he has nowhere to be in the morning nor any reason to rush, through the palace grounds, the surrounding city. Past the farm he grew up in and into the woods.
It's deep in the pre dawn night when he arrives at the witch's door. He's exhausted, and unhappy, and frightened. He needs advice.
"I've done something incredibly foolish," he tells her as she lets him into the cottage.
"You've fallen in love with the impossible. You haven't abandoned your post," she replies. "The first is merely unfortunate. The latter would be foolish."
Sam grows more morose in the coming days. He keeps it hidden well, nothing short of the picture perfect pleasant young prince. But those who look closely see the way his face falls when he believes himself unobserved. How his gaze wanders far away. How his smile doesn't quite touch his eyes.
Walker spends three more says at the palace with a possessive hand permanently on Sam's waist, whispering things into his ear nobody else is privy to that make Sam look stony and empty.
He thinks of Bucky's lips more than his cock. Thinks of sweet kindness and comfort more than arousal. Sam cannot talk to anyone about this. Not even his beloved sister - he could get Bucky killed, and cannot risk that. So he just tries to endure. Sits silently while Walker haggles for the terms of their marriage. The dowry - because he refuses to pay a bride price instead. The mating ceremony. Behind closed doors, he insists on a contractual obligation for children within the first year.
The light in Sam's eyes dims.
He takes comfort in the fact that whenever he looks around, Bucky just seems to be there. Standing guard. A constant, stable presence. Sam wants to lean on him. Wants to kiss him. Wants to let Bucky ruin him. Still feels him. Doesn't think he could ever stop feeling the ghost of his touch.
Walker returns to his own borders eventually and the entire palace staff breathes a sigh of relief. The kitchen produces more of Sam's favourites in an attempt to bring the young prince some cheer even when he barely touches his food. Princess Sarah's handmaidens whisper at the princess' anger over the future her brother is being sold into.
Eventually it is decided that for the remaining three months, a bodyguard will be appointed to Sam - someone to be by his side permanently and ensure the prince is safe and sound until he is turned over to Walker, who insists that Sam cannot bring his own staff to the palace. Sam sits idly by while the palace steward interviews guards in order to appoint one of them as his permanent companion and protector for the next three months.
Not before making a ruckus, however. About how it's clear what's happening here, that Walker has used the war and the suffering of the nation's people to browbeat the Prince into this arrangement. That he cannot be much of a honorable sort; the poorest of omegas are allowed a friend or a servant or a guard, at the very least, to attend to them should they require travel to marry. For their own safety if nothing else.
"If someone goes with Prince Samuel, to ensure his safety to the border, what will King Walker do? Send him back home?" He asks more than one captain, who tend to nod and agree with him.
Getting in trouble is a fake idea when you do not respect the authority in question to begin with.
But. Bucky interviews. He doesn't look at the Prince as he does so, keeping his eyes on the Steward. Explaining how perhaps the Prince would do well to meet with the people on his own before he's sent away. How he would start at the Eastern Forests and go from there. A tour of the smaller villages and farms.
So that the people understand what's happened, here. The cost of the war for everyone.
"What will you do after?" The Steward inquires. He's heard of this man already. "Once the prince has become Walker's King? Will you return here, to the palace guards?"
"Travel," Bucky says casually. "See the kingdoms. I'm good with languages."
Walker said no staff. A guard is not the Prince's staff to begin with; one who has resigned from that post? Even less so. The Crown can deny being aware of what Bucky implies while doing their level best to support him in it.
The Steward nods. "Provide to me an intinerary. We shall see if it is of interest to His Majesty."
Sam remains silent during the interview as he has during most. He's not fully bored or disinterested, just lost in his own part. Trusting the steward to have his best interest at heart - frankly Sam's only there for the interviews because he doesn't want the guards to think he's scorning their honest efforts and presence. Sam appreciates them. Wishes he could hire and take them all with him in three months.
In the meantime, Bucky is the one who catches Sam's attention most, for two reasons. One, of course, is their tryst in the hedge maze. Sam can't quite help but sneak a glance or two at the alpha. Wonders if Bucky has been thinking of it, too, and finds comfort that as always, Bucky is close by. A comfort in presence if in nothing else due to circumstance.
Two, are the implications of his words. A tour - get him out of the palace for some time. Sam isn't a fool - he knows that meeting the people so shortly before he will be forced to leave them in order to secure their prosperity can only have one intention. And then there are Bucky's own... travel plans.
Sam makes eye contact with the Steward. Just once, very briefly. No words are exchanged.
Bucky is appointed as Sam's bodyguard a day later, and informed that the prince intends to ride out that day. He is to accompany him - alone, isn't said, but is the perfectly natural expectation of a body guard. Bucky has more than proven himself in the war, and therefore will be trusted with Sam's safety fully.
Good thing Bucky was more or less banking on this.
He meets Sam at the stables, more than aware of the eyes on them. People who care about their Prince and wish to see him thrive. People who know of Bucky's own history in the war.
Greets the Prince with a bow and a lopsided smile. Rides at his side until they are beyond the palace gates. "The witch asked me to bring you to her." Seems a better opening than 'I can't stop thinking of the way you sound when you are overtaken'. Even if both are equally true.
Alphas have heightened senses. Makes them good warriors. Makes them good protectors and caretakers too. So surely, Bucky cannot miss the fact that Sam's heart beats hard and fast from the moment his eyes land on Bucky. Outwardly calm and collected, a bit distant and aloof in the way that all members of the royal family have to carry themselves - a facade the entire palace knows not to mind - they know how warm and kind their royal family is. But inwardly, Sam feels like that foolish child again who saw a beautiful, rugged man compete in a tournament and couldn't get him out of his mind for weeks after. He'd always assumed it was just any normal first infatuation. Perhaps he was wrong - perhaps this is just Bucky, through and through.
One look, and Sam feels those hands on his waist again. Can almost recall exactly how Bucky felt inside of him.
The conversation sobers him, but his heart keeps giving his nerves away. Still - caution. Sam lets his horse, Redwing, set a comfortable pace and frowns towards Bucky. "Have you taken this appointment as my personal guard in order to bring me before her?" Slightly incredulous. And perhaps a little disappointed. Sam doesn't know if the witch can be trusted - or what she would want with him. Only knows that that sentence makes alarm bells shrill inside his head.
"I took this appointment to be around you," Bucky clarifies, "because I care about you and I'm told I've fallen in love with the impossible." He lets that sit for a moment before he continues, "I realize that was not part of the agreement we came to, and I did not develop these feelings as a way of ensnaring you in one more plot. They just... are.
This can be whatever you need it to be. I can be merely your bodyguard, or I can be more than that. But the choice will remain yours. I will protect you, either way."
Bucky says it so casually, as if it doesn't rock Sam's entire world. He glances over, stunned into silence for a while. Bucky loves him. Bucky has fallen in love with him?
"How?" he asks, after a while. Not denying the possibility. Not rejecting the notion. Just needing to understand. "We've only met the once. You've only had me the once..."
Which means whatever Bucky's feeling isn't a temporary scent bond, either, and that's almost scary. Because if it was a day after their tryst, Sam could believe that Bucky is merely experiencing a strong reaction to Sam's scent. It's... not the case, quite obviously so. And that means Sam needs to understand this dedication, this willingness to have as much or as little of Sam as he can, risks be damned.
Bucky breathes through the myriad of feelings rolling around in his chest. It's a fair question. He just hates it.
"I didn't think I was capable. So I wasn't prepared for this to happen. But I can't stop thinking about you. I worry when you don't smile. I can smell you across a crowded room and tell if you're happy or not just from that. I can't stop thinking about you. About the way you sounded that night. Worrying about you and what's going to happen to you."
Sam's breath hitches a little at the magnitude of it, the sincerity. And he wishes right then that circumstances were different. If he weren't promised, there would be a chance of a secret affair eventually becoming something he could legitimize. With a few years of dedicated work, Bucky could be raised in status to be worthy of the youngest prince's hand. Except there are so few scenarios in which Sam's hand remains without a ring on it for long enough. If it were not Walker, then Sam would still have to entertain thoughts of a political match before long, to secure prosperity.
This is more dire. He's securing a very fragile peace.
"I don't know if I can ever give you what your heart desires," he admits, and sounds genuinely pained. Because he's young, and Bucky is the first man who has ever touched Sam. And Sam doesn't know if he'd allowed that to be the case if not for his own looming fate. He doesn't know if the yearning in him is just because of that, either, or something more earnest. "But perhaps it would please you to know I don't enjoy my fingers the way I enjoyed you."
A small flick of his gaze, almost shy despite the blunt honesty.
"If you can accept that it can never be more than a tryst, and it will never go beyond that... then perhaps... perhaps you would like to continue my education. To teach me how to satisfy an alpha."
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no subject
Date: 2022-12-24 02:15 pm (UTC)There are celebrations tonight marking the end of a nearly five-year war between the nation of his birth and a nearby aggressor. A war that continued for almost three years longer than necessary because the opposing monarch, a man named John Walker, refused to issue a ceasefire once negotiations for peace began.
Now, Bucky realizes he's not inclined to think well of the foreign king. Thanks to the war Bucky knows the names of many people who didn't survive; he has an arm made of metal, powered by magic, and heavy as hell after losing his own in the war. He knows what it is to be inside a war camp and hear his compatriots tortured and killed.
War is terrible.
But there are are circumstances, he tells himself, that are beyond the pale here.
All of them surround the young prince.
He's of age, Prince Samuel, but only barely. He has one more heat to survive before he's to be actually wed to Walker, which... well. Bucky wouldn't be pleased with it even if he hadn't noticed Walker's hand on the young prince's thigh throughout the dinner, and how the latter drank only a sparkling tonic and water instead of wine, and barely touched his food, occasionally drawing up short and looking vaguely ill as Walker's arm moved and the king's smile grew more lascivious.
Or if he hadn't overhead King Walker tell one of his own courtiers that he'd refused to honor a ceasefire until the prince was delivered to his bed, age be damned.
"The younger, the better," Walker had said, laughing and toasting with his own countrymen.
Now. Does Bucky think he can put a stop to any of this? No. He's not Their Majesties the King and Queen, or a courtier in his own right. He's barely a landowner. He was a soldier in the king's army who lost an arm (and did some things he'd rather not discuss, heroic or otherwise) and now he's a guard in the palace who owns his parents' tiny farm and charges the current occupants of that land a bottle of wine and a small wheel of cheese per year in rent. He's not expected to have an opinion on or possess any control over the politicking of kings and queens.
Which begs the question of why he's gone to seek out the prince in the hedge maze at all.
He could tell himself that it's to ensure the prince's safety, something which he is honor and oath bound to do. Except the prince is as safe as possible for the next three months. Other than inappropriate touching at a banquet table, Walker won't have unfettered access to Prince Samuel until the latter is sent to him.
It's not as though he could kidnap the Prince and take him somewhere else. There's nowhere else to go, really, and Bucky has had enough brushes with execution for one lifetime. Besides Walker would start the war again in a heartbeat.
But. The Prince should know. That someone else has seen this. That his people care for him.
It's a flimsy excuse to track the Prince down when he obviously wishes to be alone, even in his head, but Bucky thinks of his sister and how he'd done everything he could to prepare her for the possible violence of an interested alpha before she was married off while he was away. He's worried that no one has spoken the Prince thusly. That he's marrying for the well-being of his people with no consideration or preparation for his own.
No omega's first time should be with a man like Walker. At the very least one should know what they're getting into with him.
So Bucky tracks the Prince through the hedge maze. Finds him in the shade of a small shrine, gazing into the middle distance. He bows, keeps his eyes on the grass. "Your Majesty."
How is he going to even start this conversation? 'I noticed Walker touching you at dinner'? Inappropriate beyond the general inappropriateness of the topic. But then Bucky looks up and the Prince seems incredibly focused on him, in a way which feels... odd.
Except Bucky, in full regalia, followed him into the hedge maze and addressed him.
So. Okay. Maybe not that odd?
Still, he feels slightly unnerved by the weight of the young prince's gaze. "You did not eat very much at the dinner. Are you well?"
no subject
Date: 2022-12-24 05:02 pm (UTC)Still... he is 15 when John Walker delivers an ultimatum to Sam's parents. He will agree to a ceasefire if Sam is given to him then and there. The request was refused staunchly for three years, despite how the war was bleeding both their people as well as royal coffers, bringing misery and near ruin to the country. Sam shudders to think of it all. The engagement was inevitable. It would have happened sooner had anyone heeded Sam - he would have gladly done it three years ago to save his country. He's still glad to do it today.
That doesn't make it any easier, wenn Walker touches him and tells him how Sam will do his duty in their marital bed. Sam despises the man and his touch. But he loves his people.
When Bucky addresses him, Sam startled, although his recovery is quick. He knows how to act befitting of his position, even on a night like this. When the country celebrates and Sam mourns, privately and quietly.
"Sergeant Barnes," he greets, tone warm. The man is a war veteran, and Sam has personally lobbied for as many of them as possible to receive positions of honor in the royal guard, or attractive pensions. Sam remembers seeing the man before the war, participating in a tournament. Bucky is older now, more haunted. Sam is touched that Bucky would follow him into the maze to check on him. "I'm well, but you have my gratitude for the concern. I hope you've been able to enjoy the banquet. I know it must be a lot to adjust to your new post."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-24 07:32 pm (UTC)He probably could have found a better way to say that but. Again. Not a courtier.
"Your Majesty," he starts, paused, pushes on while clasping his hands behind his back, "I find myself growing concerned for your well-being. Specifically at the hands of your betrothed. I worry that you will be hurt and unhappy in that marriage. I realize this is not my place. That I have neither appropriate standing nor right to speak of this matter in the first place. But I..." He shakes his head, breathes. "My sister is as you are, and was married off by our relatives while I was away. She is happy, but. We spoke often of what to expect.
If there are others who would be better positioned to discuss this with you, I will gladly step aside. I..." Alright. Officially, Bucky has said too much. The Prince is still looking right at him. "And if you feel my behavior has been inappropriate I will resign my post."
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Date: 2022-12-24 08:36 pm (UTC)"Your concern honours me, Sergeant, and you've proven tenfold why I'm glad to have lobbied for your appointment. You've served our country, given so much, and you'd rather risk more than be silent. I would rather be surrounded by people who dare cross a line in protocol to speak their mind, than bow to rules and stand idly by. So you do not need to fear repercussion. Inwould never wish for you to hold your tongue, or dace punishment for being good hearted. Please, be at ease. Especially when it's just me you're speaking to."
Sam glances down then, before focusing on the little shrine for a moment. Allows silence to settle while he lights one of the candles always placed upon it. In the dark of the evening, the small flame warms his features.
"I know what awaits me. He has demanded my hand in marriage for three years. It pains me to admit we could have ended the war a long time ago. My parents refused his demand as long as they could. Longer than I wished them to."
And it was people like Bucky who paid the price for Sam being spared it. He looks back to Bucky, makes sure to keep his features warm. Swallows the sadness. He looks regal. And lonely.
"I've known I would be hurt and unhappy for three years. I've made my peace with that."
It's absolutely out of line for him to speak like that of the monarch he is to wed. Alas...
no subject
Date: 2022-12-24 09:30 pm (UTC)Is Bucky suggesting that the Prince sleep with a friend? Perhaps. It's the same advice he gave his sister. That her virginity was hers to do with as she pleased. That spending time in the arms of a friend, even if they were in no position to marry her, was worth more than an alpha's obsession with purity in a marriage bed.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-24 09:54 pm (UTC)"My brother offered to take me to a whore house. He meant well." A gesture back towards the palace. "The very privileged problem of my station is that there is nobody I wouldn't be taking advantage of and placing in danger. Anyone I would trust with this is technically a member of my staff, and they might not wish to say no to me, while knowing they'd be risking their necks. Those who aren't staff would risk catastrophic political incidents we cannot afford to handle. I must not be that selfish."
He looks at the ground, bites his bottom lip for a second. And cannot quite help but wonder...
"Were you volunteering, Sergeant? Is that why you're here?"
no subject
Date: 2022-12-24 11:44 pm (UTC)"I came out of concern, I swear it." He would not like the Prince to believe he came out here in order to convince him of... something. But.
But.
"I am not part of your staff," he says very slowly. There's this feeling of being on some sort of precipice. In the back of his mind he hears the laughter of a witch he knows.
He is a guard, and the guardsmen are wholly a different beast than the Prince's personal staff.
It's still... not unfathomable exactly. Just. Difficult? "I would volunteer. Were a volunteer required."
Honestly he'd imagined some nobleman's son might be the Prince's first. Not. Him. He's a disaster.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-24 11:56 pm (UTC)Close enough that if anyone saw them, they would be accused of something closer still.
"You're offering to commit treason, Sergeant Barnes. I know you're smart enough not to risk life and limb out of lust. And I hope this is not how you think to serve your duty to your country or its crown. That leaves a kindness. An awful risk to take for one. If we were suspected, much less caught, i would be shamed and in trouble, but your peril would be the noose."
He reaches out then. Shy, tentative. Fingers curling in the sash that serves as a belt on Bucky's regalia. He looks so good in it.
"You would have to swear it is kindness, and not love. Because I could not bear to lead you on when I will be sent to King Walker within a few months. And you could not take your time with it."
He swallows.
"With me. It would have to be fast."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-25 01:02 am (UTC)He doesn't want to drag the young man into his own miasma of despair in regards to whom he might live the rest of his life alongside.
Even if he wasn't the Prince.
This is a dangerous idea.
He's rarely not turned on by a dangerous idea: see, being the occasional bedmate of the witch, Natasha.
A deep breath. The Prince is standing very close. He smells so sweet. "How fast?" He reaches out and touches the side of Sam's face.
Tipping off the edge of that precipice. Falling into the unknown of the dark.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-25 01:20 am (UTC)Perhaps its naive of him to believe that's what's happening. Perhaps he should assume this is just another alpha wanting to take advantage. But he doesn't think that, and refuses to be driven by fear. So he steps closer still. Into Bucky's arms. Fits his body against Bucky's and tilts his face up a little in offering.
"Perhaps half an hour at the most. Likely much less. They're distracted by the celebrations but it will be noticed I'm missing sooner rather than later." He swallows. There will be little time to waste on undressing, on long conversation. Sam doesn't know if it will hurt - assumes so. Nervous, and unsure, but no less daring for it. "Are you sure? I will not be offended if you flee."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-25 02:49 am (UTC)He doesn't answer in words immediately. Instead he leans in and kisses the Prince. Gentle at first but full of heat. Nibbling at his lower lip. Using his hand to keep him in place.
As close as Sam is to him, right now, he'll be able to tell that Bucky's body is getting into the idea of things. Without turning to look, he reaches with his metal arm and pulls free a tie that allows the privacy curtain to fall into the doorway of the shrine.
For prayers. Obviously.
There's a bench, also; Bucky sits, encouraging Sam into his lap before finally breaking the kiss. "How much of this do you need to be free of?" The clothes, he means.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-25 02:55 am (UTC)One: Sam is very responsive. Clearly doesn't know what he's doing, but enthusiastic and quick on the uptake.
Two: Sam makes noise. It's not performative, not the practices noise one makes on purpose for a partner. These sounds just fall from him. Little gasps and whimpers. Louder whines and mewls. Perish the thought what will happen when they get going properly. "Most of it. The tunic unclasps, you can leave it hanging open."
And as he speaks he reaches down, palms Bucky's cock without hesitation or shame, theough the softness of his breeches. Bites his kiss swollen lower lip.
"I've been told it hurts."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-25 03:41 am (UTC)He kisses Sam again, instead of finishing that thought. Allows him to feel his growing erection. Encourages it by rolling his hips upward as he begins feeling for clasps and ties to free at least the bottom half of the Prince's body. Helping him out of his breeches, resettling Sam in his lap, and feeling to see if he can tell how wet Sam is, with his metal hand. The other hand stays at his face while Bucky continues kissing the prince.
The wetter the Prince becomes, the less chance of Bucky hurting him.
"I will not knot you." They do not have that kind of time by any stretch of the imagination. "But I will chase your pleasure."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-26 10:28 pm (UTC)He puts his hands on Bucky's shoulders for balance, keeps his thighs open over the man's lap and grinds against his erection.
"There was a time I dreamed of this" he admits, panting with rising pleasure. "I was quite taken with you after seeing you at a tournament. Perhaps it will please you to know...," he pushes himself down a little, wet hole welcoming a metal knuckle inside greedily, "that I spent that tournament fantasizing you'd win my hand once i was of age." Sam chuckles. He's grown out of such fancies of course, and there is no tournament in which a prince can be won by anyone, much less a commoner, no matter that he is a decorated war veteran. Still. Bucky was his first crush, and when Sam experienced his first heat, he might have thought of blue eyes and stubble between his thighs. He grew out of those fancies, knowing he would marry not for love or passion. The irony isn't lost on him now that after all that he ends up desperately giving his first time to the very man he fancied himself mating with just on account of how striking he was at that tournament.
Childish fancies aren't supposed to turn into adult bad ideas.
Sam kisses Bucky's cheek, his brow. Benediction. Forgiveness for any discomfort Sam understands will be part of this no matter how careful Bucky is. "Tell me how to make this good for you, please."
And that request is sad, because Sam is asking for guidance for this fast and desperate tryst, yes, but he knows what he learns here tonight will be what he takes into his marital bed in a few months.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-26 11:54 pm (UTC)Before tonight, and after that as well?
Seems likely.
Sam kisses him, offers forgiveness for how it may hurt. The magic in his arm tells him just how wet the prince has become, and he introduces another finger to that sweet hole.
"Breathe," he tells Sam. "And when you feel too full? Squeeze, as tight and as strong as you can." He moves his fingers together and then individually, trying to prepare Sam as best he can. "I will like it; but more to the point, you can milk a knot that way. Help it end faster, hm?"
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 12:05 am (UTC)"Like this? Can you feel it?"
He squeezes a little, just to try, gasping at his it makes those metal fingers catch in his rim beautifully.
"What else?"
Wants to know. Wants to learn. Wants to make this good enough for Bucky to be worth the risk. Wants to learn how to make it more bearable for himself in the future, too.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 12:31 am (UTC)"Breathe. Relax." Sliding his fingers out and wiping the slick on his own cock before he coaxes Sam to arrange himself further forward, so that he can enter him again. He kisses Sam through the intrusion, swallows every sweet and plaintive sound Sam makes into his mouth. "Squeeze again. As hard as you can, then breathe out and relax." Which will allow Bucky to get even deeper. "Shit, baby, you feel amazing."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 12:54 am (UTC)Slick leaks out from Sam's stretched rim. If they had more time, Bucky could surely investigate if Sam could cum just like this. As it stands, Sam feels dizzy with arousal.
"Sergeant Barnes," he whines. And then, needy: "James..."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 03:48 am (UTC)It's not even over and he wants to do it again.
Bucky gives him another kiss, then covers his mouth again, preemptively. Shifts his hips upwards and sets his metal hand at Sam's waist to keep him in place. "Squueze when I come up, sweetheart."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 03:57 am (UTC)He rocks himself almost involuntarily, once, twice, and then hit streaks of cum shoot up against Bucky's stomach and chest as Sam shudders and fall apart in his arms. Entirely untouched, barely fucked. Oh so sensitive to the pleasure Bucky gives him, hole fluttering around Bucky's cock as Sam clutches the man close, whimpering and rocking his hips down on him in small, unsteady motions.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 05:41 am (UTC)"Keep squeezing, baby. Alternate with your breathing, that's it." Sam exhales, Bucky thrusts upward. "You've done so well, I'm so proud of you."
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Date: 2022-12-27 05:51 am (UTC)"You are?" He asks, and sounds as if Bucky just hung the moon for him, completely soft and wrecked and awed. Presses his lips to Bucky's ear, quietly requests: "will you come.inside me, sir?"
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 06:09 am (UTC)"How could I not?" He holds Sam in place and sets a brutal rhythm, kissing him the entire time. "Squeeze as much as you can, whenever you can."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 06:17 am (UTC)If only.
Instead; he begs oh so sweetly: "I need you," he whimpers. "Please, please, please... make sure I won't ever forget how you feel, how you fit. Please, sir."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 07:06 am (UTC)He feels the prince paint his chest with cum again and grins, even though he doesn't pull out immediately. Keeps Sam from being able to pull away. He wants Sam to have him for as long as possible.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 07:24 am (UTC)His heart is beating hard and fast in his chest. He loves the feeling of Bucky's large hands in his waist, of sitting on his cock.
"I wish you could," Sam murmurs, breath heavy. "I want you know I'd let you do anything to me. Anything at all."
And a kiss. Sweet and gentle even as slick and cum lead out of Sam's hole and onto Bucky's knot. And he tries not to look saddened, but he knows he needs to ruin the moment. Can never just be a young man, always has to be the prince."
"You need to let me go now, James. I'm sorry, but we can't be caught indecent."
It feels rotten to say. But they both know it needs saying.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 07:45 pm (UTC)No one will be looking for him, is the point; someone will eventually look for Sam.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 09:10 pm (UTC)Sam is hasty but not careless in getting his clothes back onto himself, making sure he looks pristine and not like he just gave his first time away to a palace guard in a wild and fast fuck in the hedge maze.
Someone on the edge of the maze is calling his name. Sam takes a breath, then hesitates. Takes Bucky's face in hand and kisses him again, sweet and gentle as a promise they both know neither of them can keep.
"Thank you, Sergeant Barnes. I won't forget this, not ever."
And he leaves with one final, longing glance over his shoulder. Wishes he could stay. Wishes he could invite James to his bed again, to learn more, to give more, to feel more. Wishes he could revisit fantasies of marrying for love and affection. And then he's gone, calling out to whoever is looking for him. Stops being Sam, the young man who needed a kind touch, and is once again Prince Samuel, who will marry a man he feels disgust for in order to secure peace for his people.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 09:21 pm (UTC)Seems unlikely anyone else would be able to smell it... or identify what they're smelling.
He opens the privacy screen to allow the shrine to air out a bit as he sits, staring at the candle on the altar.
His metal hand still smells like Sam.
Eventually he rises to his feet and makes his way out of the maze. Walks, as he has nowhere to be in the morning nor any reason to rush, through the palace grounds, the surrounding city. Past the farm he grew up in and into the woods.
It's deep in the pre dawn night when he arrives at the witch's door. He's exhausted, and unhappy, and frightened. He needs advice.
"I've done something incredibly foolish," he tells her as she lets him into the cottage.
"You've fallen in love with the impossible. You haven't abandoned your post," she replies. "The first is merely unfortunate. The latter would be foolish."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-27 10:45 pm (UTC)Walker spends three more says at the palace with a possessive hand permanently on Sam's waist, whispering things into his ear nobody else is privy to that make Sam look stony and empty.
He thinks of Bucky's lips more than his cock. Thinks of sweet kindness and comfort more than arousal. Sam cannot talk to anyone about this. Not even his beloved sister - he could get Bucky killed, and cannot risk that. So he just tries to endure. Sits silently while Walker haggles
for the terms of their marriage. The dowry - because he refuses to pay a bride price instead. The mating ceremony. Behind closed doors, he insists on a contractual obligation for children within the first year.
The light in Sam's eyes dims.
He takes comfort in the fact that whenever he looks around, Bucky just seems to be there. Standing guard. A constant, stable presence. Sam wants to lean on him. Wants to kiss him. Wants to let Bucky ruin him. Still feels him. Doesn't think he could ever stop feeling the ghost of his touch.
Walker returns to his own borders eventually and the entire palace staff breathes a sigh of relief. The kitchen produces more of Sam's favourites in an attempt to bring the young prince some cheer even when he barely touches his food. Princess Sarah's handmaidens whisper at the princess' anger over the future her brother is being sold into.
Eventually it is decided that for the remaining three months, a bodyguard will be appointed to Sam - someone to be by his side permanently and ensure the prince is safe and sound until he is turned over to Walker, who insists that Sam cannot bring his own staff to the palace. Sam sits idly by while the palace steward interviews guards in order to appoint one of them as his permanent companion and protector for the next three months.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-29 03:12 am (UTC)Not before making a ruckus, however. About how it's clear what's happening here, that Walker has used the war and the suffering of the nation's people to browbeat the Prince into this arrangement. That he cannot be much of a honorable sort; the poorest of omegas are allowed a friend or a servant or a guard, at the very least, to attend to them should they require travel to marry. For their own safety if nothing else.
"If someone goes with Prince Samuel, to ensure his safety to the border, what will King Walker do? Send him back home?" He asks more than one captain, who tend to nod and agree with him.
Getting in trouble is a fake idea when you do not respect the authority in question to begin with.
But. Bucky interviews. He doesn't look at the Prince as he does so, keeping his eyes on the Steward. Explaining how perhaps the Prince would do well to meet with the people on his own before he's sent away. How he would start at the Eastern Forests and go from there. A tour of the smaller villages and farms.
So that the people understand what's happened, here. The cost of the war for everyone.
"What will you do after?" The Steward inquires. He's heard of this man already. "Once the prince has become Walker's King? Will you return here, to the palace guards?"
"Travel," Bucky says casually. "See the kingdoms. I'm good with languages."
Walker said no staff. A guard is not the Prince's staff to begin with; one who has resigned from that post? Even less so. The Crown can deny being aware of what Bucky implies while doing their level best to support him in it.
The Steward nods. "Provide to me an intinerary. We shall see if it is of interest to His Majesty."
no subject
Date: 2022-12-29 04:18 am (UTC)In the meantime, Bucky is the one who catches Sam's attention most, for two reasons. One, of course, is their tryst in the hedge maze. Sam can't quite help but sneak a glance or two at the alpha. Wonders if Bucky has been thinking of it, too, and finds comfort that as always, Bucky is close by. A comfort in presence if in nothing else due to circumstance.
Two, are the implications of his words. A tour - get him out of the palace for some time. Sam isn't a fool - he knows that meeting the people so shortly before he will be forced to leave them in order to secure their prosperity can only have one intention. And then there are Bucky's own... travel plans.
Sam makes eye contact with the Steward. Just once, very briefly. No words are exchanged.
Bucky is appointed as Sam's bodyguard a day later, and informed that the prince intends to ride out that day. He is to accompany him - alone, isn't said, but is the perfectly natural expectation of a body guard. Bucky has more than proven himself in the war, and therefore will be trusted with Sam's safety fully.
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Date: 2022-12-29 04:56 am (UTC)He meets Sam at the stables, more than aware of the eyes on them. People who care about their Prince and wish to see him thrive. People who know of Bucky's own history in the war.
Greets the Prince with a bow and a lopsided smile. Rides at his side until they are beyond the palace gates. "The witch asked me to bring you to her." Seems a better opening than 'I can't stop thinking of the way you sound when you are overtaken'. Even if both are equally true.
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Date: 2022-12-29 05:29 am (UTC)One look, and Sam feels those hands on his waist again. Can almost recall exactly how Bucky felt inside of him.
The conversation sobers him, but his heart keeps giving his nerves away. Still - caution. Sam lets his horse, Redwing, set a comfortable pace and frowns towards Bucky. "Have you taken this appointment as my personal guard in order to bring me before her?" Slightly incredulous. And perhaps a little disappointed. Sam doesn't know if the witch can be trusted - or what she would want with him. Only knows that that sentence makes alarm bells shrill inside his head.
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Date: 2022-12-29 04:42 pm (UTC)This can be whatever you need it to be. I can be merely your bodyguard, or I can be more than that. But the choice will remain yours. I will protect you, either way."
no subject
Date: 2023-01-01 05:22 am (UTC)Bucky says it so casually, as if it doesn't rock Sam's entire world. He glances over, stunned into silence for a while. Bucky loves him. Bucky has fallen in love with him?
"How?" he asks, after a while. Not denying the possibility. Not rejecting the notion. Just needing to understand. "We've only met the once. You've only had me the once..."
Which means whatever Bucky's feeling isn't a temporary scent bond, either, and that's almost scary. Because if it was a day after their tryst, Sam could believe that Bucky is merely experiencing a strong reaction to Sam's scent. It's... not the case, quite obviously so. And that means Sam needs to understand this dedication, this willingness to have as much or as little of Sam as he can, risks be damned.
no subject
Date: 2023-01-01 02:06 pm (UTC)"I didn't think I was capable. So I wasn't prepared for this to happen. But I can't stop thinking about you. I worry when you don't smile. I can smell you across a crowded room and tell if you're happy or not just from that. I can't stop thinking about you. About the way you sounded that night. Worrying about you and what's going to happen to you."
no subject
Date: 2023-01-03 07:21 am (UTC)This is more dire. He's securing a very fragile peace.
"I don't know if I can ever give you what your heart desires," he admits, and sounds genuinely pained. Because he's young, and Bucky is the first man who has ever touched Sam. And Sam doesn't know if he'd allowed that to be the case if not for his own looming fate. He doesn't know if the yearning in him is just because of that, either, or something more earnest. "But perhaps it would please you to know I don't enjoy my fingers the way I enjoyed you."
A small flick of his gaze, almost shy despite the blunt honesty.
"If you can accept that it can never be more than a tryst, and it will never go beyond that... then perhaps... perhaps you would like to continue my education. To teach me how to satisfy an alpha."