"Hey, you there!"
The reporter's shoulders jerked greatly at the shout from the end of the corridor. He had already been tense, causing his hands to be drenched in sweat. The recorder he was trying to peek at slipped from his fingertips and was sucked into the hole.
"...!"
The following dull sound suggested it had fallen to the floor. The shocked reporter threw himself flat on the ground and pushed his fingers into the door gap. However, the gap was too narrow, and white uniforms were swarming from the direction where the shout had come.
Damn it, he muttered briefly and jumped up from his position. Abandoning the recorder for now, he turned the corner and ran desperately for his life. Having been caught loitering in front of the door, if they accused him of attempting to leak confidential information, he'd be trapped. The reporter pulled his coat over his head and deliberately headed toward where his colleagues would be.
It was to confuse his pursuers, but the situation that unfolded before his eyes the next moment rendered his plan useless.
"Stop right there. If you flee, we'll suppress you with force."
Security personnel boasting sturdy builds were lined up horizontally at the branching paths. Even his colleagues who had come with him were already bound by them. There had been no signs of struggle or resistance, so he had no idea when they had been captured.
The reporter couldn't escape and stopped in place. Without time to think, he slowly raised both hands above his head. Judging by the bent batons in the members' hands, the warning about using force didn't seem to be an empty threat.
"I was just about to leave."
"Face the wall. Hands behind your back."
As soon as he approached the wall with a sideways gait at the cold instruction, the members who had chased him rushed over and twisted both his hands behind his back.
"Aaah! G-gently—!"
"You are under arrest for unauthorized intrusion and security violation."
"Is this the last one?"
"We should search more thoroughly."
The leaders of the two groups who had met while clearing out outsiders sighed as they looked down at the subdued reporter.
"It'll be troublesome if league information leaks from day one. Check all belongings thoroughly, and confiscate any film or recorders."
"Yes, understood."
"Where is the Commander?"
"He said he was going down to the basement first. We just arrived too, so we don't really know where he is..."
"He went to the basement? Did he notice the reporters had come this far?"
Leonardo, who had been listening to their voices from not far away, felt strength enter his lips.
He kept his eyelids lowered while staring at the recorder that had fallen to the floor. The red light blinking seemed exactly like a warning light signaling danger.
His tense fingertips climbed up Hugo's well-shaped waist. He stroked the well-positioned oblique muscles while alerting him to the outside situation.
"Mm, mmm..."
However, the man's tongue, which had licked up wetly from his jaw, blocked Leonardo's lips. The hand gripping his entire neck and lower jaw tilted his head back. At that irresistible external force, Leonardo's gaze fell away from the blinking device.
Instead, he faced the blue deep sea in the dimly glowing eyes. Waves crashed bleakly. Like the vast ocean that had swallowed a lighthouse's beam.
He bit his lips gently so it wouldn't hurt and murmured.
"It's fine."
It seemed to mean ignore it and focus. Unlike his gentle tone.
"...Ngh."
Around then, the tightly closed golden eyes trembled.
Unbecoming of a fire mage, beads of sweat formed on his forehead. The problem was that he had spread his legs just slightly to support his body as it swayed under the man's pushing.
The thick thigh that had somehow entered took its place and pressed deliberately or instinctively. Because of this, he had already lost his center, and felt like he might lose his reason too. He didn't want his situation below the waist to be discovered so soon. But he couldn't bring himself to push him away either.
The rising heat penetrated his mind, writhing and melting even his brain. Honestly, this wasn't in the plan.
He was happy about the reunion, and knowing that you felt the same as me. He had simply been faithful to his instincts, but...
"Search for the remaining ones first. When you're done, transport them to the nearby branch. I'll examine the collected items and report to the Commander."
"Yes, understood. Ah, just in case, wouldn't it be good to check the interiors once each? If you give the order, I'll check."
"Just handle the basement. I'll instruct another team for upstairs."
Meanwhile, the outside situation he had wanted to ignore kept penetrating his nerves. Being hidden in darkness made his senses frighteningly sharp. Even when presences flickered in front of the door, his heart had pounded, but now that he could hear the conversation clearly, the beating became even more intense. It seemed like the interiors they mentioned checking were inside the numerous doors.
Whether he knew this or not, the man's smooth tip that was ravaging his lips skillfully stole his consciousness. He fixed his nape with one hand and deliberately rubbed their noses together nakedly.
Each time, Leonardo felt sharp thrills in his nose bridge and between his brows. Whatever he was imagining, his inner thighs also convulsed. Hugo, who couldn't be unaware of this, stirred inside his mouth persistently. He also slowly rubbed his lower body.
Leonardo, whose breathing had quickened, stretched his neck with a heated face. Saliva stretched from his wet lips, and as he turned his head, his held breath burst out.
"Hah. Here, is this okay?"
He couldn't bring himself to define the act. Hugo, who had buried his lips on his arbitrarily turned cheek, asked back with a moist voice.
"What is?"
Pop. It was maddening how he rubbed enough to make his skin burn while pretending ignorance. Though he pretended to be calm, Leonardo was well aware of the eyes anxious with thirst.
The rookie who was the talk of having nearly ruined the opening ceremony was in a scandalous relationship with the Council's Commander? And in one corner of the arena at that? It was front-page material.
But His Grace seemed to consider coveting this moment more important than anything else. Hugo stole the messy saliva spread on Leonardo's reddened lips with his own. He traced each turbulent mark he had carved with his tongue. The act of biting the lower lip, stretching it long, then sucking it audibly seemed almost like someone determined to be caught.
Leonardo looked at his partner drowsily, then furrowed his brows.
"You're, ngh... quite reckless today."
The blue eyes responding to him curved halfway.
"So, do you dislike it?"
"...No."
Hugo's leaked laughter flowed between their teeth. Leonardo caressed His Grace's relaxed lips and one cheek with his hot palm. Even with eyes adjusted to darkness, there were limits to savoring his handsome appearance.
Things like how his muscle mass seemed larger than before, or wanting to know in detail what expressions his partner was making. He regretted not being able to see clearly the upright and refreshing features like a master calligrapher's writing. However, he was also relieved that his shabby appearance wasn't reflected before his dazzling figure.
But did he not care if they were caught? For someone who was a duke of a nation, he had no caution. He couldn't be unaware of how frightening scandals could be.
Regardless, wherever the man's nose tip brushed left strange marks. His already glistening skin was no longer his own. Since he had no specially prepared gift today, completely entrusting himself to be consumed at will was the second misfortune.
Hugo, who had been absorbed, gave a brief respite and murmured.
"...In case you might disappear from before me again."
Each time his voice grew hoarse, his lips touched. At first hearing, he couldn't understand immediately. But realizing that the anguish he enumerated afterward was a dedication poem offered to him who had mentioned recklessness earlier.
"I carefully sent various things to you, but there was no contact at all. I was always where your eyes could reach, but you were hiding where I couldn't find you."
Leonardo couldn't answer.
The man's finger that had been caressing his swollen lips suddenly pushed between his teeth. It violated the tongue hidden behind his canines, teasing it.
"Your nature is wicked. Very."
"...."
"How delighted you must have been, leaving just a note and going."
Having said only that much, he again pushed his breath into the path his hand had made.
Even his tongue, resembling its owner, was large and heavy, filling his mouth completely and stirring it as if teasing. Setting aside being breathless, Leonardo's eyelids slightly parted at the unexpected remark.
However, when the obscene sound of sucking skin rang out, he worried their private conversation might leak through the door gap. He pressed his lips and tongue close so no space would form between the mucous membranes. All he could do was match his body's rhythm while responding to the dangerous man's complaints.
Even so, with his palm he slowly rubbed from the man's pubic bone to his spine. The touch that had pushed through the flowing cloak and climbed up passed over his wing-like latissimus dorsi. When he patted his broad back a couple of times, the responding man's tongue went deeper.
It was a moment when his behavior, which had seemed somewhat hurried today, became vaguely understandable. At the Commander's words that seemed to have missed him more than expected, Leonardo felt the ship fragment floating in one corner of his chest sway greatly upon meeting a tsunami.
"Ngh..."
He half-opened his eyes and gently grasped his overwhelming shoulder with one arm. Though Hugo had noticed the sign early, he didn't stop. Rather, he fully embraced his supple waist with his palm and gently caressed his spine with raised fingertips. Leonardo tilted his head and pressed one shoulder under his ear.
His fine eyebrows flinched. The reaction was quite cute and stimulating, but Hugo, who had followed to the end savoring it, asked with seething eyes.
"Don't you have anything to say to me?"
Occasionally, the touch that applied pressure groped sensitive places like pressing switches. Leonardo, who had been trying to appear composed, moved his hand behind his back. His startled heart firmly grasped the cunning man's wrist. Meanwhile, Hugo's fingers, which had been playing near his belt, crossed the line and burrowed into his clothes.
After fidgeting with the hollow in the center of his waist, he slightly touched the tailbone inside his pants. For a moment, his disrupted breathing tickled Hugo's ear.
"What, ah..."
Leonardo, who had been about to retort, let out a regretful sigh. His Grace's breath that had flowed along his jawline settled on his sternocleidomastoid muscle. His graceful eyebrows contorted, and his head, about to collapse, bent to the opposite side.
Pop, pop. Each time the clear lip sounds bit and held onto his nape, the lithe body leaning against the door slid down smoothly. The destination of his weakened legs was his opponent's oppressive thigh. Leonardo squeezed his eyes shut. He resented his swelling front that went against his will.
Meanwhile, sticky trajectories were drawn around the black collar. Hugo, who had been setting his teeth on the tender skin, grasped Leonardo's firm thigh with one hand. He lifted it as is and wrapped one leg around his waist.
Just then, the bell announcing midnight rang throughout the entire arena.
Dong—
Leonardo wrapped his arms around Hugo's neck to support his body swaying from dizziness. He clung desperately.
Around then, Hugo separated his lips from the Adam's apple he had been sucking. The shamelessly roaming touch also paused briefly.
This was because Leonardo, who had been breathing heavily enough for his upper body to heave, had lightly rested his forehead on his shoulder. Hot heat could be felt from the crown of his head. Blue eyes stared blankly at the reddened nape.
Golden hair wet with sweat stuck strand by strand. It was a scene beyond stimulating to erotic.
The bell rang exactly twelve times. During that time, neither of them said anything.
As the massive resonance vibrating through the hot interior was ending, Leonardo's labored breathing subsided.
He, who had buried his face, half-raised his head. Hugo's deep eyes narrowed.
The beauty, excited with arousal, looked as if entranced and whispered.
"Happy... birthday, Your Grace."