Chapter 16 #3
"Careful," Jakob murmured against his lips, but there was something possessive in the way he said it, like he was the one taking care of Hal now.
The bed creaked beneath them, the thin mattress barely softening the wooden slats underneath. But Harald didn't care about comfort. All that mattered was Jakob's solid weight pressing him down, the way their bodies fit together despite the cramped space enclosed on three sides by wooden walls.
"Jakob," Harald gasped between kisses, overwhelmed by how much he wanted this, wanted him.
Wanted to memorize every detail of this moment - the fabric of Jakob's uniform shirt beneath his palms as he worked the buttons free, the familiar scent of hay and earth that clung to his skin when the shirt fell open, the way the candlelight caught the hollow of his throat when they briefly parted for air.
He swore his oath to me, Hal thinks, as he brings his mouth to the hollow of Jakob's collar bone, licking and sucking his way down his sternum and feeling the beat of his heart under his lips.
Me, not the crown. Not the country. Not my father or the throne.
Jakob's oath belongs to him alone, and he'll be damned if he lets any force in the world take that away from him. Not even death.
"...please." Jakob begs, soft and low. His voice is already rough. "Hal, more."
"What do you want, my love?" He asks
"Touch me." Jakob says, staring deeply into Hal's eyes.
"I am." Hal says, but makes short work of Jakob's belt and trouser buttons, bringing them skin to skin with a few, quick tugs.
"Then take me," Jakob breathed, his hands fisting in Hal's shirt. "Like the oath. Make it real." His forehead pressed against Hal's, desperate. "If this is our last night together before..." he lets his voice trail off "… then I want to feel you inside me."
The words send a shiver down Hal's spine. This is Jakob offering himself completely, body and soul. For the first time, their only time together, before war takes him away.
"Have you done it before?" He asks, bending to mouth along the edge of Jakob's cock, just the softness of his lips and his breath. Jakob looks down and gives him a dirty look. "To yourself, I mean." Hal says.
Jakob blushes and nods. "Yeah," he says quietly. "Yeah, I've... yes."
Did you like it? Hal wants to ask, as if the way Jakob was begging for it isn't enough of an answer.
Would I like it? A small voice wonders in the back of his head, flushing hot and cold at the idea of having Jakob inside of him, closer than he'd ever thought possible.
But not tonight. Tonight he has a promise to keep.
Jakob stretched awkwardly, trying to reach under the mattress while lying on his back, his arm disappearing into the narrow space between the bed and the overstuffed mattress. He fumbled around for a moment, his face scrunching in concentration.
"It's... somewhere under here, I have oil" he muttered, half-embarrassed, half-frustrated. "To ease the way..."
Hal couldn't help the quiet laugh that escaped him. Here was Jakob - always so controlled, so prepared for everything - completely undone by a simple bottle of oil hidden in his own bed.
"Here," Hal said, reaching over to help, but Jakob finally emerged triumphant, holding up a small glass bottle with a slightly sheepish grin.
"Not exactly the smooth seduction I was aiming for," Jakob admitted, his cheeks flushed.
"I like you flustered," Hal said softly, leaning down to kiss him again. "I like you real. You're so..." Hal whispered, pressing his mouth to the hollow of Jakob's throat, tasting salt and something uniquely Jakob. "God, you're beautiful."
Jakob's hands found Hal's hair, threading through the golden strands as Hal's lips traveled lower. When Hal's mouth found his nipple, Jakob gasped, his back arching off the narrow bed.
"Hal," he breathed, and there was something desperate in the way he said it, like he was memorizing the shape of the name on his tongue.
Hal took his time, memorizing the sounds, the feelings, what made Jakob tremble and what made his breath hitch. The way the muscles in his belly jumped when Hal's teeth grazed his hipbone.
"I want to remember everything," Jakob whispered against Hal's temple. "Every touch, every..."
His words dissolved into a moan as Hal's hand drifted lower, and suddenly the oil wasn't forgotten anymore, wasn't just sitting on the bed beside them. It was necessary, urgent, the next step in this dance they'd been moving toward for months.
"Ssh." Hal whispered, pressing the tip of his finger to the soft skin of Jakob's hole.
"Relax. Just let me give you this." He could hear Jakob take a shivery breath, almost a gasp as he pushed his finger in and felt Jakob's body clench around it.
He's so tight, and it's so soft and hot and slick inside.
He moved his finger a little, experimentally and Jakob moaned.
He pressed more, opening him up and stretching him, feeling his body's warmth and heartbeat around his finger.
"Good?" He asks. He can hear the movement of Jakob's hair against the pillow as he nods.
"More." Jakob whispers, and it's a command rather than a request. How can he do anything but obey?
The clutch of Jakob's body around his two fingers left him breathless with arousal, and he hadn't touched his own cock yet.
He moved his fingers gently, stretching, turning them, listening to the way Jakob's breath caught, to the whispered moans and whimpers coming from him to know what to repeat, how to press and arch and stretch.
"Hal," Jakob gasped, back arching off the narrow bed. His hands fisted in the sheets, knuckles white with tension. "Hal, please, I need—" His words dissolved into a broken moan as Hal's fingers brushed something inside him that made his whole body shudder.
"Tell me," Hal whispered, pressing kisses to the inside of Jakob's thigh. He could feel Jakob trembling beneath his lips, could taste the salt of his skin. "Tell me what you need, my love."
"You," Jakob managed, reaching down to tangle his fingers in Hal's hair. "Just you. Please, my sweet prince, I need—" His voice broke on another moan as Hal's fingers moved inside him again.
Hal's free hand fumbled with his own trousers, suddenly desperate to feel Jakob against him and around him, to be as close as they could be.
He needed this – needed to mark Jakob as his, needed to be marked in return.
Needed something to remember when the palace walls closed in around him again, when duty and crown threatened to suffocate everything that made him Hal instead of Crown Prince Harald.
The first long, slow press inside stole both their breaths.
Hal moved slowly, reverently, watching Jakob's face for any sign of discomfort.
But Jakob just pulled him closer, legs wrapping around Hal's waist, urging him deeper with whispered pleas that slipped from Swedish to English to Russian as Hal filled him completely.
"Moyo solnitsya," Jakob breathed against Hal's neck, his voice breaking.
"dusha moya..." The Russian flowed from his lips like a prayer, each word punctuated by the rhythm of their bodies.
Hal couldn't understand the words, but he felt their weight, their devotion, in the way Jakob's fingers dug into his shoulders, the way his voice trembled with more than just pleasure.
"Jakob," Hal gasped, overwhelmed by the heat of him, the way Jakob's body welcomed him in, the sacred trust of that moment.
"ya tvoi," Jakob moaned, his back arching as Hal's fingers shifted, finding something inside him that felt so good. "navsegda tvoi..." His words dissolved into breathless Russian whispers, secrets and promises spilling from his lips as Hal moved within him.
Hal pressed his face into Jakob's neck, tasting the salt of his skin, feeling the vibration of those foreign words against his lips.
He didn't need to understand them. The meaning was clear in the way Jakob clung to him, in the desperate edge to his voice, in how his body trembled beneath Hal's as if he was being unmade and remade with every thrust.
Their movements grew more desperate, more primal. Jakob's Russian prayers dissolved into breathless moans as Hal drove deeper, harder, marking him from the inside out. Hal could feel his own release building, but he fought it, wanting this moment to last forever.
"Close," Jakob gasped, his fingers digging into Hal's shoulders. "Please, I need—"
"Jakob," Hal gasped, barely able to form words. "I can't... you feel so..." The words dissolved into a desperate moan as he felt Jakob tightening around him.
Jakob arched beneath him with a broken cry, his body clenching around Hal as his release spilled hot between them.
The sight of him - flushed and desperate, completely undone - pushed Hal over the edge.
He buried himself deep one final time, marking Jakob as thoroughly as any wedding ring might have done, whispering "my love, mine" against his lover's sweat-damp skin.
They lay tangled together afterward, catching their breath, neither willing to break the spell of this moment.
The Shabbat candles flickered, casting dancing shadows across their sweat-damp skin.
Hal could feel Jakob's heart thundering against his palm where it rested on his chest, matching the rapid beat of his own.
"Was it..." Hal's voice cracked, and he had to try again. "Did I make it... feel good for you?"
Jakob looked gobsmacked, and for a moment he couldn't speak at all. "Good?" he finally whispered, like the word wasn't big enough. "Hal, that was..." He pressed their foreheads together, breathing shaky. "It was perfect. I felt you everywhere. In my soul."
Hal traced the curve of Jakob's jaw with trembling fingers. "I can't believe you're..." He broke off, overwhelmed by everything they'd just done - not just the physical joining, but the sacred trust of it.