a Lout and a Prince

Part 29

How many times had Cale lied to himself about his own insatiable desires to be with Alberu? To have his whole heart? To hear him say those sugary sweet words and hold him so gently?

To look at him with eyes that burned with that very same love?

Cale still hadn't remembered to breathe. It was hard when an automatic function required actual thought and effort.

Alberu pulled away from the kiss, his smile hopeful and loving. "Will you be mine?"

What a stupid fucking question. What a ridiculous and stupid and soppy question. What an unbelievably dumb question by a dumb bastard who has no idea how impactful his words were. How stupid it was to even ask.

How the hell didn't this lousy bastard not already know?

Cale kissed him. Raw emotion being so much easier to express with his body than words. His entire being centering on just this one stupid piece of shit.

How many stupid nights had Cale spent agonizing over him and longing in his heart just for this? Just for him? Just to hear those ridiculous words? To look into Alberu's eyes and see that he mattered and to know that it was all real.

"Fuck you–" Cale hissed into the kiss, his words coming out with suppressed raw emotion. "You–fuck you–" Alberu kissed his nose and Cale had half a mind to return the favor by punching him in his.

I love you didn't cover everything. It just didn't. It didn't express all of the time that he'd spent utterly and completely drowning in these feelings with his only solace being the company of the man who pushed him under the surface.

Cale had spent his whole life learning to be satisfied with enough. It was enough if his father was happy. It was enough if his step family was safe. It was enough if he'd fooled the world into hating him.

It was enough if he could just hold these overflowing feelings in his heart.

It had never been enough. Not even once. But he'd taught himself to be satisfied with just that.

"You fucking–! Fuck you!" Cale kissed him again and he really wasn't coping well with getting what he wanted because he couldn't even get his lips to form the words he wanted.

Those stupid words that Alberu wanted.

It didn't seem to matter that his lips formed harsh and crass words instead because Alberu was smiling still and holding him close and still looking at him like he was everything.

He wanted to tell Alberu that he was everything.

That the irreplaceable time spent together meant everything to Cale. That Alberu was everything. What made his heart beat happily, what made him smile, what gave him courage, what stole his breath away–

He wanted to say it all but the words got choked up on the way out.

"You piece of shit–no fucking shit–of course you're making me prince consort." Cale glared ferociously into Alberu's eyes with every bit of determination he had. Which was a significant amount. "You stupid–fuck you!"

Alberu chuckled and kissed his forehead. It did something to soften Cale's raised hackles and made him all the more offensive all in one.

"I really love you." Alberu said with an amused chuckle.

"Fuck you." Cale snapped back automatically and earned himself another laugh from Alberu.

"If you keep saying that instead, I'm going to get jealous if you say it to anyone else." Alberu promised, looking as delighted as though Cale had said something sweet and soppy instead.

"You're seriously delusional." Cale clung to him. "And a fucking masochist. And–"

And he was wonderful.

To list all the multifold reasons that being around Alberu just made him happy wouldn't be possible. It was just his mere existence. The stupid bastard that Cale couldn't help but fall for, not once but twice.

A sweet and irresistibly addictive lovable idiot.

"I love you."

Cale choked out the words and glared up at Alberu in defiance, as though daring him to laugh and take his words back. Daring him to mock Cale for his sincerity.

"I really fucking love you."

Alberu kissed him and his fears melted away like sea foam.

"Good." Alberu teased but his eyes were lit with so much happiness, arms tightening around Cale's waist and it was only now that he realized they'd had the slightest tremble to them before.

They were both such idiots.

How did he spend so much of his time worrying and scared when it really was just this simple.

Cale wrapped his arms around Alberu's neck and kissed him playfully on the nose for revenge. "Stupid jerk, I love you."

It felt good to say it. He could understand why Alberu had repeated it so many times. When the emotion overflowed so powerfully the simple words were like a spell that turned the ache in his heart into joy.

Fuck, as if he needed another thing to be addicted to around Alberu.

Alberu ran his fingers along Cale's spine and nuzzled his nose against Cale's.

"What are you going to do if I'm a trash consort?" Cale asked, wanting to see Alberu's brows pinch up with concern.

To his disappointment and joy, Alberu laughed instead. "I wouldn't want you to change a thing. So long as you're happy and mine, I couldn't give a fuck what anyone else thinks."

There really was something gratifying about getting Alberu to curse. Especially when it was in the name of proclaiming his own possessive intent. Cale was more than happy to abide by those conditions.

"What if I do change?" Cale asked, curious to explore the extent of Alberu's thoughts. "What if I create a brand new persona just for this?"

"Happy and mine. That's all I want." Alberu persisted, nipping at Cale's cheek as punishment for teasing him.

...maybe there was something to Alberu's assessment that Cale did what he wanted done to him... that felt pretty good...

Stowing those thoughts away for later, Cale couldn't leave the challenge alone and leaned in closer to see just how many more bite marks he could leave on the crown prince.

After all, now that they were going to make it official, he really needed to let the world see just how possessive Cale could be.

Sometimes love really could be simple. Just needed some basic fucking communication skills. Cale filed that valuable nugget of information away for future use because now that he had Alberu there was absolutely fucking nothing he would accept getting in his way. Especially not something as dumb as that.

And maybe he'd experiment with seeing just how many ways he could tell Alberu how much he loved him and maybe Alberu would reply with just as much adoration and maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that he fell so hard for the crown prince of all people.