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In the Imperial Palace, the nobles were celebrating the defeat of the Norscan invaders and the protection of Nordland from them. It happens a lot, but it's a great excuse for getting drunk and gallivanting around.
Almost everyone was there except Emperor Karl Franz I. Holswig-Schliestein and the Magister Patriarch Balthasar Gelt, but everyone was too busy to notice it.
They were in the Emperor's bedchamber having a much more quaint celebration. Just drinking some wine between them, well mostly just Karl due to Gelt's mask, making it hard for him to drink without taking it off.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you from the celebration, but you know why you are here, right?" Karl said as he held his goblet, his grey eyes giving a grave look. Gelt smirked under his mask. He frankly didn't enjoy the party anyway, and this job could give him more power or resources for his studies. "Don't worry, your Majesty, if it's about guarding Nordland from Norsca again, don't worry; I already have a couple of my pupils down there."
Karl downed his wine quickly and took a deep breath. "No, it's not that, but thank you though. What I need is for you is to go to Nuln and help the Gunnery School since your formulations on gunpowder have caught their interest." "Really, I thought Nuln didn't need Altdorf's help with their work," Gelt sarcastically said, because he knows people need his genius work.
Karl simply sighed and poured another glass for himself. "Yes, I was a bit surprised too, but Emmanuelle was demanding you to give her or the Gunnery School your work on gunpowder now."
"Emmanuelle, huh? I guess she told you when you were doing one of your "private meetings" with her," Gelt said with venom in his mouth. Gelt knew the rumors about Karl's little affairs with women; frankly, he didn't care, but it was still a bit interesting to see Sigmar's heir sleeping around with any woman that caught his eye, even though he's married with kids. It would be hilarious if he cared about imperial drama.
He didn't care about it all, not one bit. He didn't care that they saw the twinkle in Karl's grey eyes when he was actually happy, his feelings being more open, his body, and it- it being legal and not a sign of Slaanesh's corruption, only punishable by death. No, he didn't care at all.
Karl's cheeks turn a deep red while pouring more wine for himself. He tried keeping his promiscuity in check, but sometimes it just got away from him.
Regaining his composure He quickly stated, "No Balthasar, we just had a normal conversation; nothing else happened, and those rumors are all from our rivals anyway. Now you'll go to Nuln and give your formulations to them in a couple of days, and that's final. It would be good if you start preparing for your trip now," he said as he finished the rest of the wine, ready to pour another one, but the bottle was taken from him.
"Your majesty, if I may inject, don't you have a meeting with the elector counts tomorrow? You don't want to be made a massive fool of yourself while being hungover."
Karl wanted to punch the smirk under Gelt's mask right now. "Don't worry, they usually give me a headache already, and they make fools of themselves more than I can ever be while drunk," he said as he tried grabbing the wine from Gelt's hand, but he missed and lost his footing. Which led to him almost hitting his head on the drawer, only to be saved by Gelt.
"Careful. You almost hurt yourself," Gelt said as he helped Karl get up.
Karl was a bit shocked; his reflexes are usually better than this. Maybe he is getting a bit tipsy, but he knew he heard worried in Gelt's voice even through that mask of his.
"You're right I'll stop; I'll call Ludwig to get you, and you can enjoy the party or something," Karl said as he took his helmet off, revealing his dark blonde hair. "If it's not a problem, can you call Philip in Balthasar?"
Gelt was glad he was wearing a mask because he was sure his cheeks were as red as the roses in jade colleges. By the Comet, why does Karl have to be so pretty?
It's like the gods were punishing him for his hubris with Chamon by making him fall in love with his Emperor, or Theoderic Gausser somehow managed to curse him in revenge.
His heart has always belonged to the lore of metal ever since he was a child, but somehow after working with him for a couple of years, it's now sharing a place with these stupid feelings he has for Karl.
At first he couldn't stand him. A boy who was born with everything he could have, from a line of Emperors. Never needing to face hardship in his life. Always a people pleaser who wants everyone to like him.
Meeting him in person though changed his opinion.
It started as small talks during meetings and battles. Usually about their work, but sometimes they tell each other about their personal lives.
Mostly Karl's since Gelt wouldn't reveal that much of his life before arriving here. It's too personal.
So Karl told him how he wished Kurt and Ludwig wouldn't be so protective of him, Having to help his dad with his duties due to his dad's condition, his love of animals, and a old dream of just living in the family estate with his wife and children
Gelt couldn't help but to like him. Especially how Karl would sometimes go on tangents about animals. It made him enduring to him.
Then he decided to let Karl borrow some of his books. It was mostly old novels; he didn't read that much due to his studies. Karl liked telling him about the stories when he was returning them back to him.
He was sure that later on Karl would borrow books he already owned or read. Just so they could talk to each other more, but that was probably just a pipe dream for him. Like all the other dreams he has about his lord.
Trying to get rid of these feelings have been a hard task for him, because simply ignoring Karl would be impossible since they live in the same city and work together to control parts of the Empire. That and pissing Karl off will destroy his reputation and creditably.
His mind was filled with thoughts of how to fix this problem later, when he accidentally blurted out something stupid: "Why don't you show your hair often? I mean, you're handsome; you'll probably get more eyes on you."
Realizing what he just said, his mind started to scream because of how badly he screwed up. Seeing Karl's face turn into a scowl made those regrettable words even worse.
In the Empire, Reiklander men have a very common stereotype because of their fashion and looks.
How they were womanly and effeminate. How they probably please 'real' men to get their power. It annoyed Karl at best, or creeped him out, and made him uncomfortable. It's one of the reasons he only wears his armor for public appearances.
"Well, then maybe you wouldn't mind if I see your face, since you care so much about my appearance." The venomous tone in Karl's voice told Gelt he couldn't get out of this one just by talking.
Gelt simply sighed as he gently took off his mask to satisfy Karl's request. His face has always been a sore spot since the explosion. He remembered panicking when he saw his deformities after the pain had subsided a bit. Locking and barricading the lab's door so no one can come in to see it.
Having to treat his injuries with just his alchemy by himself was a challenge. It still doesn't look right after all he did. The mask and robes were a decent solution for now.
The rumors didn't help either. Mostly of the ones saying it was chaos mutation he was covering up. A deal with Tzeentch gone wrong. Thinking that's why he managed to climb up the ranks of the colleges so fast.
Those fools, he worked for his position. Studying day and night, going days without sleep, skipping meals, and experimenting with anything he could get his hands on. While the others were gallivanting around the college.
It would be hard after all this time to let someone see his face, but if it would keep him being in the Emperor's favor, let it be.
Karl was a bit shocked. Balthasar had brown, curly hair and tannish skin. Gelt being a foreigner was probably a given due to his dialect being something else when it wasn't trying to sound like a Empire noble, but that wasn't the most noticeable part to him.
Huge bits of Balthasar's face that should have been scarred from the explosion are just pure gold now, with his right eye just slightly cloudy. Gelt's eyes were always visible through the mask but Karl never noticed them until now. It was probably due to the dark eyeliner around his eyes that made the shadows of the mask even darker he thought.
"There, you're happy now. We can leave and pretend this never happened, okay." Gelt snapped as he tried leaving the room, thinking of getting a bottle of wine to try to forget this disaster of a night.
"Hey, wait," Karl gently said as he grabbed Gelt's hand. "I don't mind it at all; you look good. I mean, I've seen nobles with much more horrible faces than yours, and they haven't been in an explosion. Also the eyeliner look's nice" Gelt smiled at those words.
"The "eyeliner" is for sun protection, You're fine too, my lord; I know that those people can't even do half the stuff you do. The Empire would be in ruins in a week, and they would be dead by a single arrow fired by a goblin," he said as he let his fingers comb through Karl's hair.
"Thank you; you don't know how this means to me," was all Karl uttered as his grey eyes started to shine a bit.
They were closer together now, their lips almost touching. Gelt gently lifted Karl's chin. "You know, I don't think you ever gave me a proper reward for stopping the civil war that Gausser tried starting. I think I deserve something after all; I technically saved the Empire from civil war, and he still wants my head."
Karl laughed softly and said in a seductive tone, "So what do you want then? Gausser can't kill you legally, but I can give you anything you want." The shine in Karl's eyes showed what they both knew and wanted.
"Well, I guess this could be a good start," Gelt then kissed Karl.
It started gentle at first, but it soon became rougher as Karl leaned more into it. Almost toppling Gelt over as he let his hands explore his body. Gelt could taste the wine that Karl had drunk a while ago.
"I didn't know you wanted this badly," Gelt said as he broke the kiss to gasp for breath, his heart beating faster than ever before.
Ever since Karl was a child, he was taught that loving another man was a sin against Sigmar, with the punishment for it was to be burned at the stake, but he still had those feelings anyway.
He kept them down so he wouldn't get taken away to be cured or worse. His family line always had a sickness, enough that you can be dragged to a institution. Like, what happened to... It is better for him to forget about her for his own health.
So he tried praying to Rhya every day so she could get rid of these feelings and fix him, but it never happened.
It got better as he matured into adulthood, though his old habit of gallivanting around bars made him flirt with a couple of men by accident, but he managed to excuse that due to him being drunk.
Even managed to get married and have children, which he loves and cares a lot about them but his relationship with his wife has always been complicated at best. Having Luitpold at a young age was hard for the both of them.
So when those feelings came back, Having affairs with Emmanuelle and random women would keep them down, like medicine for a sick patient. It was just a problem he had to deal with one way or another.
Though now, if this affair got out, everything he and Gelt did for the Empire would be destroyed. The Emperor and the Patriarch of Colleges of Magic are servants for the forces of chaos.
He could feel the smoke from the pyre they would tie him too, smoke suffocating him as the fire started burning his skin, with screams of disdain and cheers for the sinner execution.
Those were some of the worst nightmares he had, but now he didn't care one bit anymore; he wanted more of this. He could be selfish for just once.
"You have no idea how much I wanted something like this," feeling his body becoming hotter every second he started to remove his garments.
Gelt felt his face turning red and his member hardening by seeing Karl's body. Athletic build and was covered in scars from the many battles he fought, most of them around his shaven chest.
"Okay" was all Gelt could say as he undressed himself, revealing more of his golden scars with little bits of metal sticking out. Karl's heart skipped a beat for a couple of seconds. He just smiled and threw himself at Gelt to continue their kissing until they fell onto his bed.
Gelt decided to break the kiss to gently nip Karl's neck, but only below the scar around his neck to hide any accidental bruises. Karl moaned while gently tugging on Gelt's hair. Letting his finger run through his curls. "G-Gelt" he moaned.
Gelt was a bit surprised by how sensitive Karl was; already he was squirming and moaning after just a couple of bites. His brave, noble, and respectful leader is now a quivering hot mess under him. Gods it felt amazing.
Karl felt his heart beating every second as he got hotter, and feeling Gelt's hard member rubbing against his felt amazing. He wanted more of this
"I want to go further with you." Gelt paused for a second to realize what he wanted him to do. "You're sure, my liege I mean-". He was quickly cut off. "Yes, I want it," Karl moaned.
Gelt complied with his Emperor's wishes and grabbed a bottle of oil from the nightstand and rubbed it on his member. He took a deep breath as he slowly inserted it inside Karl's hole.
Hearing his yelps made Gelt already regret this, "You okay? I can stop if you wa-," "No, it's fine. I just, it's my first time doing something like this."
Grabbing Karl's hips to make it a bit easier as he started thrusting gently, but hearing Karl's pleas and pants made him want to go even faster.
"Yes, Gelt, oh Sigmar, yes." He cried out as he clung to Gelt's body, leaving scratch marks all over his skin. Never wanting to let go. Each thrust made Karl's nerves fill with pleasure, and he wanted more of it. "Please more harder please".
Gelt didn't want to hurt him by accident. They couldn't explain it to the doctors, but Karl's moans and cries for more made him not care anymore.
They were both in pleasure, never wanting this to end, not caring about anything else in this world. Damp flesh coming together as the room was filled with cries from the both of them.
They didn't know who came first, but when they were done, they laid on the bed, gasping for air. Quivering in relief, Karl slumped on Gelt's shoulder. Nuzzling his neck as they embrace each other.
"I can call Philip later and reschedule the elector meeting so we can rest for the morning." "Mmm, that sounds nice," Gelt said as he ran his fingers through Karl's locks of hair.
Later, as the sun rose, Karl feel asleep in Gelt's arms, huddling for warmth. "I love you," Gelt mumbled under his breath as the sun's rays from the peak of the curtains shined on his face. Knowing Karl wouldn't hear those words so they could continue their regular lives.
"Love you too," Karl mumbled in his sleep as he clung closer to Gelt never letting go. Balthasar just blushed and smiled at those words as he went back to sleep too. They will figure it out tomorrow but now everything is alright.