Meine Liebe Standalone

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Branch

Some Lui-gets-laid stories, mostly Lui/Naoji.

Ink Burns

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

This is a work of fanfiction, produced according to the principles of transformative fair use as put forward in US copyright law, and abiding by the custom and practice of fan-produced work in Japan, where the source texts were created. No author is in any way affiliated with any of the creators of the source texts, nor with the companies who distribute their products, nor any other rights holder, and these stories were not authorized by either the creators or the producers. Ink Burns is a fan site and the material here is freely provided for the enjoyment of fellow fan-community members; there is no commercial infringement.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 US license at the Ink Burns fanfiction archive (http://www.branchandroot.net/archive/).

"Highlights on Black" published on 2007-05-07 20:06:14.

"Spiral of Time" published on 2007-05-07 20:08:15.

"Now Must Everything, Everything Turn" published on 2008-05-07 13:38:27.

"Unpainted" published on 2009-01-14 15:59:20.

Attributions can be made by author's name and a link to the archive.

This ebook edition was published on September 6, 2019 by the Ink Burns fanfiction archive.

Cover illustration is "Blue Morpho Butterfly" by Martin Johnson Heade, public domain (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_Johnson_Heade_-Blue_Morpho_Butterfly_ATC.jpg).

Cover design by Branch.

Highlights on Black

Takes place just after Weider ends. Having made his decision, Naoji has some work getting Ludwig to see what it does and doesn't mean. Drama with Romance, I-3

Lui was out of sorts lately.

Naoji knew he'd get a glacial sniff for putting it that way, but it was true nonetheless. Even tea, almost always guaranteed to make Lui sit down and relax, hadn't called him away from contemplating the gray, drizzling view out the window.

Naoji sighed and set down the teapot with a click and went to stand at the long window beside Lui. They were both quiet for a while, watching the trees droop with wetness and the drops of water trickle erratically down the glass.

"I will go back," Naoji said softly. "I don't know exactly when; I only know that I will. But until then," he turned to face Lui. "Until then, I will go with you."

Lui turned at last, mouth quirking faintly. "You can't make two choices at once."

Trust Lui to put everything in the starkest black-or-white terms he could find. Naoji huffed a little, ruefully. Lui was as bad about that as Orphe, really. "Nor can you act on a decision until its time comes," he returned. He lifted a hand and laid it gently against Lui's chest. "Until I go, I will walk beside you and calm your heart."

Lui wouldn't show startlement if the stars fell from the sky, but Naoji felt a slight catch of breath under his hand. Lui's fingers lifted, closed on his chin. "Will you?"

"Yes." Naoji's lips were already open for Lui as Lui swept him closer and kissed him slowly, possessive and thorough. It was enough to turn Naoji's bones to water, but then... Lui always had been.

And then Lui let him go.

Naoji took a moment to recover his breath before he laughed softly. Lui had a talent for making his points; it would undoubtedly serve him well in diplomacy. "So. Now will you come drink your tea?"

Amusement lightened Lui's eyes and he turned away from the window. "Of course."

Naoji smiled.

End

Spiral of Time

Many years after the series ends, Naoji returns to Kuchen. Drama with Romance, I-3

Lui was waiting for him at the station.

"Is this all you brought?" he asked, casting an eye over the trunks Liechtenstein servants were efficiently strapping to a single trolley.

"There are a few more things that will be shipped later," Naoji murmured, looking around. He remembered the scent of this air; it struck him far more deeply than the clothes or colors or sound of the language. The scent of large, fallen leaves and cool, slow water—he remembered this.

"You travel lightly. Or, should I say, you live lightly."

Naoji turned back to Lui with a smile. He remembered this, too, Lui's fine touch with a sharp phrase, all while looking quite disinterested. "It's a virtue of my people."

Lui paused at the edge of the platform, voluminous coat falling in still folds around him as he studied Naoji. "Are you sure about this?" he asked quietly.

"My family is gone and my land is changing. And it does not wish for my aid while it does so." Naoji knew his smile was sad; how could it be otherwise?

"So?" One of Lui's brows tilted up. "Kuchen is the refuge you have chosen?"

Naoji shook his head at Lui. "We had this out in the letters, Lui. Kuchen is the work I have chosen."

Even more strongly than the air here, he recognized the small easing at the corners of Lui's mouth, the slight settling of those straight shoulders. The familiarity, across so many years, caught at his heart.

He had been right to come back.

Though he was glad not to be a confused and sorrowful boy any longer. It should make dealing with Lui a good deal easier. Naoji's mouth curled a bit as he said, "Tadaima," teasing just a little with his own language.

This was Lui, though. Naoji knew he should have expected it when Lui looked down his nose and returned, in flawless accents, "Okaeri."

Naoji laughed out loud and stepped off the platform at Lui's side.

It was good to be home again.

End

A/N: Tadaima and okaeri (loosely, "I'm home" and "welcome home") are customary phrases for homecoming.

Now Must Everything, Everything Turn

Ludwig and Orpheus argue politics in bed. Perhaps three years post-canon. Porn with Characterization, I-4

Long, cool hands slid up the bare curve of Orphe's back and he sighed. "Bienenstitch was being an absolute idiot today. We need the women to take on all the jobs they can, now."

Lui stroked a hand back down to Orphe's hip. "He's a fool."

Orphe leaned up on an elbow and glared, exasperated. "Why didn't you say anything then? He dangles on your every word."

Lui arched a brow, fingers tracing the line of Orphe's hipbone. "You think I should tell him he's a fool?"

"Yes," Orphe snapped, hooking a leg around Lui's, fingers kneading Lui's shoulder.

"Then you're a fool too. However," Lui continued, calmly, though Orphe's annoyed sound, "talking to you occasionally has some effect. Tell me. Who is the king's heir?"

Orphe eyed his lover sharply. Lui lay back against the sheets, still and unconcerned. Three years ago that would have driven Orphe half mad with frustration.

It still did.

What he had learned was that Lui didn't ask questions without a purpose, though, so Orphe ran a hand slowly down his body and answered. "With the king's brother attainted, I doubt the nobles will see his children take the crown. If the king has no children... it will probably be you."

"Mm." Lui looked up at the ceiling, abstracted and detached even as Orphe's fingers caressed his stomach. "Only the fact that the queen is still alive has kept me from being named already." His eyes focused abruptly on Orphe, who had to catch his breath. "If I was only inheriting Lichtenstein it would matter far less what enemies I made."

Orphe was silent for a long moment. "If you don't speak though," he finally said, quietly, "how will you ever change them? How will you ever make the people who serve you other than fools?"

Lui's thumb stroked over the curve of Orphe's mouth and he smiled, thin and sharp. "I don't need to change them. I only need to know that they are fools and plan accordingly."

Orphe's lips parted, breath coming short as Lui's thumb stroked back over his lower lip in silent demand. "I hate that you think like that," he whispered, wrapping his hand around Lui's cock.

Lui's voice was lighter now, husky as he flexed up into Orphe's grip. "I know you do." Long hands teased over Orphe's body, swift and precise, a fingertip rubbing his entrance softly, a palm stroking slowly between his legs and up, gentle fingers coaxing and pinching his nipples. Orphe held Lui close, mouth moving over his, swallowing Lui's gasps and trading back his own soft moans. It no longer surprised him that Lui brought him to the edge first; he was simply pleased that Lui arched up into Orphe's abruptly tightened grip, arms finally locking around him.

"Orphe..." Lui's eyes closed and Orphe smiled and kissed him gently until he relaxed back against the sheets.

"You know," Orphe murmured, "if you become king..." He smiled down at Lui. "I'll still argue with you."

Lui's stomach trembled under his palm, a laugh that didn't show on Lui's face. Lui reached up, hand curving around the back of Orphe's neck.

"I'm counting on it."

End

A/N: Title from the poem "Faith in Spring" by Ludwig Uhland.

Unpainted

In bed with Ludwig, Naoji considers the effect Ludwig has on him. Porn with Characterization, I-4

Naoji leaned against Lui, hands spread against his chest, under his loosened shirt. The solid heat of Lui's body grounded him on days like this, soft gray days when mist drifted up from the grass and hid the strange shapes of the leaves and reminded him of home. Lui's hand at the small of his back braced him, and Lui's mouth caught his, sure and confident.

Naoji didn't realize how much he had relaxed until Lui plucked loose his hair tie and drew it free, and long fingers slid under the fall of his hair to stroke his neck. That pulled him taut, flushed with sudden awareness.

"Hmm." Lui's mouth curved just a little against his own and his hand cupped Naoji's nape firmly, slowly, caressing.

He gasped at that knowing touch—knowing? Lui couldn't know, could he? He turned his head aside, cheeks warm, breath coming fast and light.

Lui hooked his fingers in the collar of Naoji's shirt and pulled it a little way down his back, and lifted Naoji's hair away from his neck, and bent his head to press an open mouthed kiss to the bared skin.

"Lui...!" Naoji was trembling a little now. A breath of a laugh brushed over his nape and he gasped again.

"So I was right," Lui murmured against his ear. "It always makes you shiver when I touch you here." He trailed two fingers down Naoji's neck and back, and Naoji couldn't help the shiver that followed them. "Now." In a whirl of motion he turned them and laid Naoji back against the bed. "Tell me why that flusters you so." He cupped Naoji's cheek, thumb stroking over the color that was surely there.

Naoji bit his lip, but the weight of Lui's eyes held him and finally he murmured, "It's... That's skin that a courtesan of my country would show."

Lui's brows rose and his fingers caught Naoji's chin, keeping him from looking away. "Is this not something you give freely?"

"It's not that! It's... you make me feel..." Naoji swallowed and closed his eyes against the piercing look in Lui's. "Wanton."

"Hm." Lui's finger traced down his jaw, and his voice was silky as he asked, "And would you rather I not?"

"Please," Naoji whispered. He opened his eyes, and was captivated all over again.

Orphe was so brilliant Naoji felt he needed to shade his eyes just to look at him. Lui drew a curtain around his own brilliance, but nothing could conceal it and the heat of it rose from his every movement.

"Please don't stop."

Lui's eyes gleamed. "Then I won't."

Naoji's breath came short again as Lui drew off the remains of his clothes, and he moaned as long hands moved up the inside of his legs. Lui's thumbs stroked firmly up and down the tendons of his thighs, and Naoji spread his legs wider, panting softly, hands closed tight on the sheets; the way Lui watched him respond to the touch sent a twist of heat through his stomach. Lui held his eyes as he poured a bit of oil into his palm and stroked it over himself, and anticipation tightened Naoji's nerves. He reached out, wordless, asking for his lover's rare mercy.

Lui smiled and came to him, covering Naoji's body with his, taking possession of his mouth again. When one strong hand closed over his nape again, Naoji cried out. Lui kissed down his throat and Naoji tipped his head back, baring himself to Lui's mouth with a soft moan of want.

"My Naoji," Lui murmured against his skin, velvety. It made him shudder.

"Please... Lui..."

"Yes."

Lui's eyes were bright as he looked down at Naoji, leaning over him, hands sliding up his legs to hold him firmly open. When Lui pressed against him, pushed into him, Naoji's moan was open, uncaring whether anyone might hear them. The stretch and slide as Lui entered him, strong and slow, fired his nerves, and the sweet, inexorable sensation of surrendering to Lui undid him and laid him open.

He caught Lui's shoulders, shaken with the heat of Lui's eyes on him, and gasped as Lui thrust slowly. Lui's control, even in this, never failed to build need and desire in him until his gasps turned to pleading moans and his whole body flexed up to meet Lui's, given over utterly to Lui's hands. Those hands held him easily and Lui drove into him deep and thorough until Naoji was trembling on the edge of pleasure.

Lui caught his eyes again, the way he always caught Naoji's soul, and said low and intent, "Wanton in my hands. I like that very much. Show me, my Naoji."

The pure assurance in that deep voice was all it took to spill Naoji over the edge and send him arching up taut, fire racing down every nerve. "Lui!"

Lui caught him close, smiling down at him, pleased and possessive. Lui's eyes half closed and his breath caught as he drove deeper, beautiful and fierce and abandoned over Naoji.

Naoji reached up as Lui settled over him, arms sliding under the silky mane of Lui's hair as he pressed close. "I am yours," he whispered, words he only ever spoke, truth he only ever gave voice to when they were in bed.

Lui practically purred, lifting Naoji's chin and kissing him deep and slow.

Sometimes Naoji wondered whether Lui simply soothed his homesickness or if Lui was becoming his new home. Either way, it was Lui's voice and touch that called him, opened him.

He knew he would never cease to answer.

End