Chapter 34
Matty was fussing, and he knew it. In a few minutes, Claudio would turn up, and they would— well.
They’d have a night together, whatever that ended up meaning.
All day, Matty had been thinking of one more thing that might make the evening better.
Clean towels in the bath, flowers in the kitchen and sitting room.
Freshly washed sheets on the bed, of course, and a bench for whatever Claudio brought.
The last ten days had been full of the expected sorts of chaos. Midsummer Faire had not changed that much, it turned out. Claudio had been on duty during some of it, just as Matty had been out on solstice day itself to help with overseeing the harvests that had finicky requirements.
Someone had to certify that this plant was harvested before the dew was dry solstice morning, or that this one was harvested before the sunlight lit it.
Since, of course, the various materia was grown in dozens of different places, everyone in the Ministry who had the skills to certify got sent off to one place or another.
And Claudio, besides whatever he did with the Penelopes, had been busy with the Council rites.
They had managed two afternoons and evenings at the Faire together.
One to explore the various exhibits and people hawking goods and a concert.
Matty had picked up several canisters for the kitchen, deep, cheerfully red ones suitable for tea and a place to hoard his sugar ration.
They’d spent the other day at the Fairlight pavilion, with prime seats for the bohort finals for the apprentice league.
That, it turned out, had kept Matty thinking.
The bohort play had been top-notch, but the company had been fantastic.
Orion and Claudio were obviously familiar not only with the players and their styles, but with the various tactics being used.
Isembard and Thesan had joined them, with other people coming and going, including Claudio’s son.
And if Hypatia and Cammie weren’t exactly as expert, they were well-informed viewers, asking interesting questions and obviously enjoying the whole thing.
It had been one of the meal breaks that had brought it home.
Hypatia and Orion had gone off to make their proper social nods to a couple of people, and so had a number of others.
Matty and Claudio had been chatting idly when Claudio excused himself for a moment.
Matty had watched him walk ten feet away, the way his body language shifted entirely.
It was as if he’d been spreading out, and suddenly he’d furled himself up, like pulling a cloak or maybe wings around him.
The reason became obvious when he paused, because he was speaking with his mother.
They had a conversation of perhaps three or four minutes, before Council Head Warren got a look at Matty properly.
He saw her react, but he did not know what her expression meant, and he’d not had a chance to ask Claudio since.
It wasn’t a thing to write in the journals.
He wanted to hear Claudio’s voice, feel his magic, if they ever talked about it.
Claudio had come back, putting on a smile that became real and solid again as soon as the play started.
The bohort had led to a conversation over supper— a late supper, the match had run long— and the six of them tossing about half a dozen approaches.
Matty had said something in passing about old habits, and Claudio had fastened on it, like a hunting dog going after prey.
He’d made half a dozen furious notes about things to look up.
By the time they’d come around to Tuesday’s meeting, he’d had the beginnings of an idea.
He’d put it to Matty that morning, by note, enough that Matty could encourage along the idea of a systematic review of procedures.
It was, after all, an expansion of something they’d already done once or twice. This, though, was vastly more ambitious. And— Matty agreed with this— absolutely necessary.
Many of the current procedures had been bodged together at the beginning of the war to deal with changes in staff availability or materia shortages, but now they’d been continued, even when the original reason didn’t apply.
And of course, there was an entire stack of practices that people had been doing for decades that could certainly use a good looking at.
It would take a proper proposal, of course, and likely staffing as well, but the rest of the committee had at least not shouted the idea down outright. That part felt amazing, as if things were beginning to move out of a sluggish torpor. Not that he and Claudio were going to get into that tonight.
Matty had just done one more round of making sure everything was perfect— down to the couple of bottles of cider, in case they wanted them— when Claudio knocked.
It was the light rapping, a patterned rhythm, that somehow didn’t startle Matty.
He opened the door, and Claudio stepped in.
His bag went down as soon as Matty closed the door.
He held out a tin, and then grinned. “Gods, can’t believe it’s finally tonight. ”
“What’s this?” It was a slightly battered tin, from before the war, the sort you put biscuits or perhaps sewing supplies in. Mum kept some of her supplies in one, anyway.
“Honey cakes, courtesy of Thesan. She made a point of getting them to me, and I’m not sure how she did that. I did not tell her anything about my plans.” It seemed to amuse Claudio, and Matty certainly wouldn’t turn down honey cake.
“Who did you tell?” Matty could figure out the answer, though, because Claudio was grinning.
“Orion, at least. Come through, then.” Now he was suddenly shy.
Matty put the tin on the kitchen counter and then followed Claudio.
Who, surprisingly, went straight through the sitting room to the bedroom. “Eager, are you?”
Claudio glanced around, set his bag on the bench Matty had put out, then held out his arms. “Very. We have both been very diligent professionals, with occasional time off for good behaviour and bohort. I have absolutely earned an entire sixteen hours not on call. Gabe even promised he’d fling himself at anything that came up. ”
Matty snorted. “That’s probably how Thesan knew. If Gabe’s the sort who’d mention you’d cleared your diary that thoroughly.”
“Don’t care right now.” There was something wild in Claudio now, not dangerous, exactly. It was, Matty thought, perhaps like a dragon out of legend, twisting in the sky and dancing with a storm. He wanted to reach out a finger and trace the lines of skin and muscle, the hints of magic swirling.
Part of him thought he ought to ask if Claudio was still sure about this.
They’d talked about it in the snatched bits of time they’d had, an hour or three here or there.
Claudio had sworn he wanted to try sex in all the ways they could: hands and mouths and bodies.
But they’d not had time for anything complex, or especially where Claudio’s reactions might take a little to settle out.
Now Claudio reached out a hand, brushing Matty’s cheek. “What are you worried about? Little line, right here.” One finger touched between Matty’s eyebrows. “Do I need to demonstrate to you how I’m eager? Get you ready?”
“I’ve plans about getting you ready.” It came out more plaintive than Matty wanted.
“I want it to be good for you. Better than good.” His voice hitched.
“Both— you should have excellence. But also...” This was the part he’d never put into words, not even to himself, not until whatever this was in Claudio’s mood had cast light through it.
“I want to be the person who gives you that excellence. Who is big enough and bold enough and skilled enough to give you that.”
Claudio’s mouth dropped open for just a second, and then there were lips on Matty’s.
A moment later, a hand slid down his back and pulled him tight against Claudio’s body, where he could definitely feel Claudio’s interest. There was a nip by his ear, then a purring sound.
He hadn’t known Claudio could sound quite like that.
“I want that. Don’t you worry. I’ve a great deal of experience learning physical things.
I know how to tell you to stop if something’s not good.
Show me your excellence.” Then the hand slipped down between them, groping and squeezing. “Let me feel what it means.”
Matty let out a full-throated groan, burying his head against Claudio’s shoulder, nose in his hair, which was all clean pine scents and something Matty couldn’t name despite all his materia knowledge. A moment later, Claudio was getting them moving towards the bed until Matty’s legs touched it.
He sat blindly, his hands moving to begin working on getting Claudio out of his clothes.
He’d had a plan that foolishly had assumed they’d take their time.
None of that, apparently, though they’d need to slow down in a minute.
Now, though, it was all hands and groping and Claudio letting him, until Matty got Claudio’s clothes off and they could focus on Matty’s.
Once Claudio was fully naked in the bed, he put his head up.
“May I do sound charms and cue the warding?” He’d set the warding what, a fortnight ago, teasing that it was probably not the best warded home in Trellech, but certainly in the top score now.
Making sure no sound carried was just practical.
Matty was hoping he could provoke Claudio into being entirely loud, far beyond the whimpers and groans and moans he’d heard so far.