The Grand Tour. [Christian/Johnny/Adrian]
Apr. 14th, 2005 01:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
palacechristianAfter only just recovering from this . . .
Christian stood back with arms folded and grinning, watching as Johnny and Adrian went from one display cabinet to the next in the Throne room. It was mid-afternoon so they weren't about to be interrupted by a tour group, they only came up in the mornings. The two of them could take their time looking at the displays set around the walls which made the room more of a museum than an actual working hub of monarchy.
It wouldn't hold Adrian's interest for long, he'd already expressed his primary preference, that being for a tour of downstairs, but Christian figured they'd start at the top and work down, Johnny not having seen much of this stuff either.
The two of them were giggling and pointing into a glass case, the one containing the crowns, Christian knew. He strolled across to join them. "No." he said, peering between them. "I've never had to put it on."
Johnny leaned into him, smiling. "It looks heavy," he said. "I'll bet it's uncomfortable."
"Yeah, but it's cool!" Adrian was already dashing over to the next cabinet.
"High speed tourism at its leggy best." Christian laughed, wrapping an arm around his lover. "C'mon. Let's go see what he's chortling at now and then we can run through the offices and stuff ‘fore we go downstairs. Least that way he won't get lost over the next couple of weeks and I can pick him up some bracelets so he can get around himself."
Johnny snickered and nodded. They strolled after Adrian, who was staring down at an orb and scepter so crusted with gems that it was hard to see where the monarch would hold onto either of them, at least without developing blisters.
"Wow," exclaimed Adrian, "check those out!" He then added, with typical adolescent tactlessness, "I'll bet you could pay off the debts of like a thousand people with what those things are worth!"
Christian took no offense. "Yeah, you could. More than that probably. But my father considers those and all the other stuff in here," he gestured with his arm "to belong to the people, their heritage, so they're pretty much priceless. 'sides, you do something like that for people, pay off their Debt and you don't get gratitude, you get resentment." He smiled to take any possible sting out of the words. "Ready to go?" he went on. "We'll go into my office and get you some Palace bracelets, then downstairs."
Adrian exclaimed, "I get bracelets?! Cool!" and scampered off after Johnny and Christian, beaming like a searchlight and completely ignoring the political undertones of the conversation.
They had a quick look around the private quarters, more so Adrian could find his way over here for food, if Christian was any judge of appetite he'd need to, and then they headed back out along the hall to the offices.
Christian pushed open the outer office door and they went inside. He'd expected Marcus to be there, but he wasn't, only Lucius was sitting at his desk. "Afternoon, Lucius." he greeted. "This is Adrian, he's a friend of ours and he'll be staying for a couple of weeks. We got any bracelets in here?"
Lucius shook his head. "Master Adrian.” he greeted. “Master . . . Johnny. There are some in His Majesty's office, Your Highness." he said.
"Good enough." Christian didn't wait for anything more from the supercilious little man who was obviously itching to call Johnny ‘John’ or ‘Jonathan’ or anything but. He guided Adrian and Johnny around his desk and in through the solid oak door, expecting to find the office empty and surprised when it wasn't. "Oops, sorry." he apologized. "I didn't think you were here. Need a set of bracelets if you have spares? For Adrian." He nodded.
Marton got to his feet, putting down the papers he'd been reading, his jacket off and his feet up on the couch. "Pleasure to meet you." he smiled, offering his hand.
Adrian stopped dead in the doorway and stared for a moment, his eyes gone huge and round. Then he remembered himself and said, "Good morning, your Majesty," and managed a passable bow. Then he blew it before he even straightened back up by glancing over at Johnny and whispering, just a tad too loudly, "Wow, he's gorgeous too!"
Johnny, who'd just said, "Hi, Marton," cringed just a bit and turned bright red. He elbowed Adrian, managing to be fairly discreet about it, but it didn't really help.
Marton flushed red and gave Christian a wry, sidelong smile, but his manners never faltered and he smiled at Johnny too. "Afternoon Johnny. Thank you, Adrian. Bracelets, huh? Some in the cabinet behind you, I believe."
Christian turned and pulled open the top drawer, rummaging around until he found a set. "Thanks." he grinned. "We'll get out of your hair. See you at dinner?"
Marton nodded and Christian ushered them back out into the hallway, making no attempt to hide his amusement. "Glad you approve." he told Adrian as he fitted the bracelets to his wrists. "How about we try and track down the rest of my siblings before we head downstairs? You can give them all a rating."
Adrian held his arms out while Christian put his bracelets on and gave him a cheeky grin. "If they all look like you and the king, no problem!" Then he gave Christian a sly smile and asked, "So, does that mean you've finally decided to admit that you're gorgeous? Or is this more of a misery-loves-company kind of thing?"
"I inferred nothing of the sort." Christian wasn't about to get into that again and it was with relief that he looked up and spotted his sister wandering down the hall toward them. "Anna." he called.
Anna turned, smiling as she saw Christian. "Hey." She walked toward him, frowning a little as she noticed he wasn't alone. "Hello." She held her hand out. "Who are you two?"
"Anna, this is Johnny and his friend Adrian." Christian introduced them both. "My sister Anna, who has titles and such." he finished the intro. "But seeing as I can never remember my own, the odds of my getting hers right are marginal. So let's stick with Princess Anna, for the next five seconds at least." He grinned and let Johnny's hand go as his lover stepped forward to shake.
Johnny took her hand and shook, bowing slightly over it. "Your highness. It's good to meet you finally."
"Johnny? So you're the one who's finally caught Christian?" Anna smiled sweetly up at her brother. "I'm sorry but we have a no return policy. You're stuck with him now, can't trade him in on a better model."
Johnny grinned at her and slid an arm around Christian's waist, leaning into him fondly. "That's fine. I'm his as long as he wants to keep me."
Adrian rolled his eyes and held out his hand. "Hi, your Highness, I'm Adrian. They're like that all the time -- you can feel your teeth rotting after a while, but we put up with it 'cause they really can't help it." He shot Johnny a wink and then smiled at Anna.
"Oh, bite me, curly." Christian shot off, using his free hand to ruffle Adrian's hair. "We are not!"
Anna shook Adrian's hand. "Well, I guess I'll have to grin and bear it. Speaking of bears, I hear there's some new ones here at Palace." She looked from Christian to Johnny and back again. "But I might be mistaken. So, what's with the Royal Tour?"
"Adrian's staying for a couple of weeks." Christian told her, ignoring the wisecrack about the bears while wondering where she got her intel. "Kind of like a vocational thing as well as friends catching up. So I'm showing him around and then we're heading downstairs." He flashed a grin. "Where his true interest lies. Is Craig in his office do you know?"
"Yeah, I think he is. Talked to him this morning. He's on one of his cases, so he should be there all day." Anna turned back to Johnny and Adrian. "Hope to see you around then, Adrian. And glad I've finally met you, Johnny." She shook their hands, than pulled Christian down to her. "Have you heard anymore about Sin and Orli?"
"Nope. Haven't seen either of them. We can talk after dinner, yeah? We're coming over." He patted Anna's shoulder as she moved away and then crossed the hall to his original destination, Craig's office. Once again, the outer office was empty, so he knocked this time on the office door. "Craig? You decent?"
"Yeah but quite obviously the decency level in the room will plummet when you walk in." Craig opened the door, taking in the three in front of him. "Well, this is different. New entourage there, Chris?"
"Yeah. It's so hard to find good help these days, I had to settle for these two." He gave Craig a soft punch on the arm. "Wanted you to meet Johnny." he pointed. "And Adrian. Gentlemen, this is my brother Craig. Craig, this is Johnny and his friend Adrian. Adrian is visiting with us for a while." Christian was deliberately leaving formality and titles out of it, there was little need for them in private and he was sure Johnny would 'clue' Adrian in about other situations.
"Your Highness," Johnny said, bowing once more. Adrian was just staring up at Craig, so Johnny elbowed him to get his attention back to the material plane.
"Umm, sorry! Good morning, your Highness," Adrian said and bowed. Then he looked up at Craig again and said, "Okay, wow, he's pretty. I mean, Anna's pretty but she has this dangerous aura, like a really beautiful spider or something, you know? You're really pretty too," he assured Craig, "but sweet, and you have gorgeous eyes. I'll bet you're a really nice guy. Christian's still the best looking, but it's like picking the best cookie, you know? They're all great." He gave the two princes present a last look over and then nodded to himself, as though satisfied with a job completed.
Christian bought a hand to his blushing face. "I should've kept my mouth shut. I should've kept my mouth shut . . ." He dropped his hand and gave the open-mouthed Craig an apologetic look. "Adrian's giving out ratings on royalty." he explained.
"Yeah, so I'm getting. Um...thank you. Adrian. For that." Craig suddenly didn't know how to handle this. "So, where are you all off to next? Going to the fun side of Palace I'd imagine." He smiled at them, belatedly reaching out to shake their hands.
Adrian nodded enthusiastically and clasped his hand. "Right! I want to be a libertine when I'm old enough so we're going to look around and maybe talk to some of the guys if we run into someone who's free." Then he asked, "What do you do? I mean, besides being a prince and all? Do you have a regular job or is there just a lot of... prince stuff?"
While Adrian babbled, Johnny buried his face in Christian's shoulder and whispered, "If there are any deep holes nearby, feel free to drop me in."
"Get in line." Christian whispered back. "I'll break your fall."
Craig's eyes widened slightly at Adrian's....'enthusiasm'. "Well, I'm a lawyer. For the Family. Mostly in a criminal way. Chris is really the only one who has 'Prince stuff' to do."
"Yeah, I do all the hard stuff while this guy sits around and sharpens his . . . pencil." Christian joked. "Time we shot off, I reckon." he went on. "We're doing the full tour so better get a move on."
Adrian trailed out after Christian and Johnny, looking back over his shoulder. He waved and called, "See you at dinner!" then trotted up the corridor to catch up. "He's a lawyer? Is he working the slavery trials? Does he know Robert? I wonder if we'll see him in court? He's really cute -- is he attached? Where are we going next?" He kept going all the way to the lift. Johnny and Christian just exchanged eyerolls.
Christian pushed the button for Public; they'd start at the bottom and work their way up instead. While they waited, he answered Adrian's questions, figuring to save his voice. He'd need it. "Yes. Yes. No. Probably. Maybe. Yes. Far, far away."
Christian stood back with arms folded and grinning, watching as Johnny and Adrian went from one display cabinet to the next in the Throne room. It was mid-afternoon so they weren't about to be interrupted by a tour group, they only came up in the mornings. The two of them could take their time looking at the displays set around the walls which made the room more of a museum than an actual working hub of monarchy.
It wouldn't hold Adrian's interest for long, he'd already expressed his primary preference, that being for a tour of downstairs, but Christian figured they'd start at the top and work down, Johnny not having seen much of this stuff either.
The two of them were giggling and pointing into a glass case, the one containing the crowns, Christian knew. He strolled across to join them. "No." he said, peering between them. "I've never had to put it on."
Johnny leaned into him, smiling. "It looks heavy," he said. "I'll bet it's uncomfortable."
"Yeah, but it's cool!" Adrian was already dashing over to the next cabinet.
"High speed tourism at its leggy best." Christian laughed, wrapping an arm around his lover. "C'mon. Let's go see what he's chortling at now and then we can run through the offices and stuff ‘fore we go downstairs. Least that way he won't get lost over the next couple of weeks and I can pick him up some bracelets so he can get around himself."
Johnny snickered and nodded. They strolled after Adrian, who was staring down at an orb and scepter so crusted with gems that it was hard to see where the monarch would hold onto either of them, at least without developing blisters.
"Wow," exclaimed Adrian, "check those out!" He then added, with typical adolescent tactlessness, "I'll bet you could pay off the debts of like a thousand people with what those things are worth!"
Christian took no offense. "Yeah, you could. More than that probably. But my father considers those and all the other stuff in here," he gestured with his arm "to belong to the people, their heritage, so they're pretty much priceless. 'sides, you do something like that for people, pay off their Debt and you don't get gratitude, you get resentment." He smiled to take any possible sting out of the words. "Ready to go?" he went on. "We'll go into my office and get you some Palace bracelets, then downstairs."
Adrian exclaimed, "I get bracelets?! Cool!" and scampered off after Johnny and Christian, beaming like a searchlight and completely ignoring the political undertones of the conversation.
They had a quick look around the private quarters, more so Adrian could find his way over here for food, if Christian was any judge of appetite he'd need to, and then they headed back out along the hall to the offices.
Christian pushed open the outer office door and they went inside. He'd expected Marcus to be there, but he wasn't, only Lucius was sitting at his desk. "Afternoon, Lucius." he greeted. "This is Adrian, he's a friend of ours and he'll be staying for a couple of weeks. We got any bracelets in here?"
Lucius shook his head. "Master Adrian.” he greeted. “Master . . . Johnny. There are some in His Majesty's office, Your Highness." he said.
"Good enough." Christian didn't wait for anything more from the supercilious little man who was obviously itching to call Johnny ‘John’ or ‘Jonathan’ or anything but. He guided Adrian and Johnny around his desk and in through the solid oak door, expecting to find the office empty and surprised when it wasn't. "Oops, sorry." he apologized. "I didn't think you were here. Need a set of bracelets if you have spares? For Adrian." He nodded.
Marton got to his feet, putting down the papers he'd been reading, his jacket off and his feet up on the couch. "Pleasure to meet you." he smiled, offering his hand.
Adrian stopped dead in the doorway and stared for a moment, his eyes gone huge and round. Then he remembered himself and said, "Good morning, your Majesty," and managed a passable bow. Then he blew it before he even straightened back up by glancing over at Johnny and whispering, just a tad too loudly, "Wow, he's gorgeous too!"
Johnny, who'd just said, "Hi, Marton," cringed just a bit and turned bright red. He elbowed Adrian, managing to be fairly discreet about it, but it didn't really help.
Marton flushed red and gave Christian a wry, sidelong smile, but his manners never faltered and he smiled at Johnny too. "Afternoon Johnny. Thank you, Adrian. Bracelets, huh? Some in the cabinet behind you, I believe."
Christian turned and pulled open the top drawer, rummaging around until he found a set. "Thanks." he grinned. "We'll get out of your hair. See you at dinner?"
Marton nodded and Christian ushered them back out into the hallway, making no attempt to hide his amusement. "Glad you approve." he told Adrian as he fitted the bracelets to his wrists. "How about we try and track down the rest of my siblings before we head downstairs? You can give them all a rating."
Adrian held his arms out while Christian put his bracelets on and gave him a cheeky grin. "If they all look like you and the king, no problem!" Then he gave Christian a sly smile and asked, "So, does that mean you've finally decided to admit that you're gorgeous? Or is this more of a misery-loves-company kind of thing?"
"I inferred nothing of the sort." Christian wasn't about to get into that again and it was with relief that he looked up and spotted his sister wandering down the hall toward them. "Anna." he called.
Anna turned, smiling as she saw Christian. "Hey." She walked toward him, frowning a little as she noticed he wasn't alone. "Hello." She held her hand out. "Who are you two?"
"Anna, this is Johnny and his friend Adrian." Christian introduced them both. "My sister Anna, who has titles and such." he finished the intro. "But seeing as I can never remember my own, the odds of my getting hers right are marginal. So let's stick with Princess Anna, for the next five seconds at least." He grinned and let Johnny's hand go as his lover stepped forward to shake.
Johnny took her hand and shook, bowing slightly over it. "Your highness. It's good to meet you finally."
"Johnny? So you're the one who's finally caught Christian?" Anna smiled sweetly up at her brother. "I'm sorry but we have a no return policy. You're stuck with him now, can't trade him in on a better model."
Johnny grinned at her and slid an arm around Christian's waist, leaning into him fondly. "That's fine. I'm his as long as he wants to keep me."
Adrian rolled his eyes and held out his hand. "Hi, your Highness, I'm Adrian. They're like that all the time -- you can feel your teeth rotting after a while, but we put up with it 'cause they really can't help it." He shot Johnny a wink and then smiled at Anna.
"Oh, bite me, curly." Christian shot off, using his free hand to ruffle Adrian's hair. "We are not!"
Anna shook Adrian's hand. "Well, I guess I'll have to grin and bear it. Speaking of bears, I hear there's some new ones here at Palace." She looked from Christian to Johnny and back again. "But I might be mistaken. So, what's with the Royal Tour?"
"Adrian's staying for a couple of weeks." Christian told her, ignoring the wisecrack about the bears while wondering where she got her intel. "Kind of like a vocational thing as well as friends catching up. So I'm showing him around and then we're heading downstairs." He flashed a grin. "Where his true interest lies. Is Craig in his office do you know?"
"Yeah, I think he is. Talked to him this morning. He's on one of his cases, so he should be there all day." Anna turned back to Johnny and Adrian. "Hope to see you around then, Adrian. And glad I've finally met you, Johnny." She shook their hands, than pulled Christian down to her. "Have you heard anymore about Sin and Orli?"
"Nope. Haven't seen either of them. We can talk after dinner, yeah? We're coming over." He patted Anna's shoulder as she moved away and then crossed the hall to his original destination, Craig's office. Once again, the outer office was empty, so he knocked this time on the office door. "Craig? You decent?"
"Yeah but quite obviously the decency level in the room will plummet when you walk in." Craig opened the door, taking in the three in front of him. "Well, this is different. New entourage there, Chris?"
"Yeah. It's so hard to find good help these days, I had to settle for these two." He gave Craig a soft punch on the arm. "Wanted you to meet Johnny." he pointed. "And Adrian. Gentlemen, this is my brother Craig. Craig, this is Johnny and his friend Adrian. Adrian is visiting with us for a while." Christian was deliberately leaving formality and titles out of it, there was little need for them in private and he was sure Johnny would 'clue' Adrian in about other situations.
"Your Highness," Johnny said, bowing once more. Adrian was just staring up at Craig, so Johnny elbowed him to get his attention back to the material plane.
"Umm, sorry! Good morning, your Highness," Adrian said and bowed. Then he looked up at Craig again and said, "Okay, wow, he's pretty. I mean, Anna's pretty but she has this dangerous aura, like a really beautiful spider or something, you know? You're really pretty too," he assured Craig, "but sweet, and you have gorgeous eyes. I'll bet you're a really nice guy. Christian's still the best looking, but it's like picking the best cookie, you know? They're all great." He gave the two princes present a last look over and then nodded to himself, as though satisfied with a job completed.
Christian bought a hand to his blushing face. "I should've kept my mouth shut. I should've kept my mouth shut . . ." He dropped his hand and gave the open-mouthed Craig an apologetic look. "Adrian's giving out ratings on royalty." he explained.
"Yeah, so I'm getting. Um...thank you. Adrian. For that." Craig suddenly didn't know how to handle this. "So, where are you all off to next? Going to the fun side of Palace I'd imagine." He smiled at them, belatedly reaching out to shake their hands.
Adrian nodded enthusiastically and clasped his hand. "Right! I want to be a libertine when I'm old enough so we're going to look around and maybe talk to some of the guys if we run into someone who's free." Then he asked, "What do you do? I mean, besides being a prince and all? Do you have a regular job or is there just a lot of... prince stuff?"
While Adrian babbled, Johnny buried his face in Christian's shoulder and whispered, "If there are any deep holes nearby, feel free to drop me in."
"Get in line." Christian whispered back. "I'll break your fall."
Craig's eyes widened slightly at Adrian's....'enthusiasm'. "Well, I'm a lawyer. For the Family. Mostly in a criminal way. Chris is really the only one who has 'Prince stuff' to do."
"Yeah, I do all the hard stuff while this guy sits around and sharpens his . . . pencil." Christian joked. "Time we shot off, I reckon." he went on. "We're doing the full tour so better get a move on."
Adrian trailed out after Christian and Johnny, looking back over his shoulder. He waved and called, "See you at dinner!" then trotted up the corridor to catch up. "He's a lawyer? Is he working the slavery trials? Does he know Robert? I wonder if we'll see him in court? He's really cute -- is he attached? Where are we going next?" He kept going all the way to the lift. Johnny and Christian just exchanged eyerolls.
Christian pushed the button for Public; they'd start at the bottom and work their way up instead. While they waited, he answered Adrian's questions, figuring to save his voice. He'd need it. "Yes. Yes. No. Probably. Maybe. Yes. Far, far away."
