#Varis zos Galvus x Regula van Hydrus

[herohikara-wol]

FFXIV Write 2k23 - Day 17 (Late)

Pick Your Own (Rumor Mill) - Modern Day College AU

“I need to move out of the dorms by tomorrow, what am I supposed to do?” Hero’s clothes were half packed and mostly on his bed, but Zenos still found amusement in watching his roommate pace about the room, weaving around their suitcases and boxes as he did. “What do you mean figure it out? Why can’t I just go to Thavnair with you?” Another pause as he clearly listened to his mother’s reply- of course it was his mother. Tetsu wouldn’t have been nearly as blunt about things. Zenos had heard from both of them over the course of the semester. “Did you have to sell my apartment then, the deadline for requesting to stay on campus was last week! Why couldn’t this have waited until next moon?”

Hero only knew that because of Asahi. Zenos resumed packing now that Hero was in the bargaining stages of his fight with his parents’ choices. Asahi had permission to remain in the dorms until next semester due to trouble in his family. The trouble being his parents attempting to force him into an arranged marriage to keep him from dating another man. They couldn’t marry him off if he wasn’t there to sign the contracts, it had worked for his elder sister. She was going on five years of burning any mail she got from their parents and had been the one to advise him to remain away from home as long as possible.

“Yes, okay, I’ll figure it out. Fine. Goodbye.” Hero hung up only to fling himself onto the pile of freshly laundered clothes and poorly folded sheets on his bed. “I’m fucked.”

“You just need a place to stay during winter break, yes?” Zenos looked carefully over at his roommate, weighing the options in his mind.

“Yes, and apparently their current employer doesn’t have space for an extra person. They sold my apartment because they’re planning to put down roots in Thavnair for at least three years and the apartment lease says they can’t sublet it and someone needs to be occupying it at all times to minimize risk of things like pipes freezing and whatnot.” He grabbed his pillow and put it over his face to scream into it for a few moments before throwing it back at the wall. “I’m fucking homeless. Fantastic.”

“My family has room.” That wasn’t exactly a lie, just not the whole truth. The Garlean Royal family palace most certainly could accommodate Hero. Hell, it could accommodate their entire dorm floor without too much trouble. However, in the time Zenos had known Hero he’d been pleasant. Friendly, willing to allow the prince his privacy, and hadn’t asked about his parents, his position as crown prince, or even indicated he cared about any of it. He made Zenos feel normal to be around, the closest thing he’d had to a friend all his life. Friends helped their friends when they were in need, right?

“Shouldn’t you ask your dads first or something? I don’t want to impose and basically take up your family’s guest room without them having some kind of warning. That’d be pretty rude, right? Like, I know you’re rich but still, there’s a limit.” Of course, it helped that Hero regularly forgot he was royalty.

“Would you do the same for me if you had the means?” The viera pouted a little, like he’d been backed into a corner. “Exactly. Hero, I insist. Finish packing, I’m calling my travel agent to get you booked for my flight back to Garlemald tonight.”

“Fine, but only because I can’t afford to stay in a hotel for a whole month.” He grumbled but he couldn’t exactly turn Zenos down.

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“Announcing crown prince Zenos yae Galvus, and his guest, one Magpie Hikara.” Hero flinched when they announced his childhood name instead of the one he’d chosen for himself as an adult. Technically it was still his legal name, but Hero Shadeseer was his chosen name and it meant far more to him.

Zenos noticed the flinch and frowned at the steward, “Hero Shadeseer. Viera pick their own names upon reaching adulthood, he just hasn’t had the time to fill out the paperwork for it yet.”

“My apologies, my prince. Would you like me to have someone bring the paperwork to him?”

“I haven’t settled on it yet. I’m only twenty-four summers, many viera wait until they’ve finished college and started to get established in their careers to finalize their adult names.” He didn’t want Zenos to spend the whole month speaking for him, even if he appreciated someone advocating for him.

“Very well then, I will at least make sure the preference is noted to avoid the staff making cultural faux pas from here on.” The elezen left, making notes on a clipboard as he walked, leaving Zenos and Hero standing in the hall before the Emperor and his husband.

His ears drooped on instinct as the Emperor’s stern face and gold eyes seemed to look right through him, but his husband gave a warm smile and reached out to take his hand. “We’d heard Zenos made friends in college through the grapevine, but didn’t expect to meet one so soon! How was your flight, the servants took your bags already, yes? Come on, the dining room is this way. I know damn well you two didn’t get a proper meal in and you’re probably both tired from the trip. It’s, what, almost ten at night? A good meal and some sleep will do you both good.”

“Thank you sir? Your highness?” He looked up to Zenos for any indication of what to say or how to act, but Zenos was just boredly walking past him and following Varis to the dining room.

“Regula is fine, I promise. You know, for the son of a pair of high profile bodyguards, you’re rather awkward around royalty.” Hero inhaled sharply and let it out in a soft groan. Of course they already did a background check. Probably did it the moment he and Zenos were assigned to the same room.

“My parents did try to raise me with continuing the family business in mind, but I wasn’t cut out for the level of paranoia that comes with being a proper bodyguard. I was little more than a playmate for hire for some of the children of their clients. It got me a decent education, but I moved so much as a kid I didn’t really latch on to any one specific culture. I spent the longest in Ishgard but it isn’t exactly home either.”

“That’s why we chose you out of all the other potentials, we were hoping you’d give him the normalcy he craved. Zenos could have gone to school here and been treated like a proper prince the whole time, or at least gotten a private room off campus. He chose to live in the dorms like any other student.”

Hero wondered if they knew Zenos and him had spent the first two weeks bickering, fighting, and almost at each other’s throats until they realized they shared several hobbies and interests. Zenos had been a stuck up prick the first few weeks of the semester and Hero liked causing problems on purpose. Eventually he introduced Zenos to one of his old childhood playmates, Asahi, who was also going to school to get the fuck away from his high profile ambassador parents. The two hit it off and things started to fall into a comfortable pattern for the three of them.

“It was an adjustment, but Zenos is a pretty quiet person. I had to prod him into joining a club or two that weren’t sports clubs, but all in all I’ve grown kinda fond of him? He’s a good guy.” When he’s not being stand-offish because he’s run out of social battery, or when he’s not your opponent in anything where he’s suddenly a bloodthirsty competitive asshole. Hero had regrets about introducing Zenos to handheld console gaming, and more regrets about introducing him to fighting games.

“All the same, thank you for helping him. He’ll likely never say it, but that’s probably why he invited you to stay with us.” Hero hadn’t considered that he’d done anything Zenos would want to thank him for. He spent the whole night realizing that the invitation was Zenos feeling grateful for Hero’s friendship and company. The problem was figuring out how to keep it from coloring their current relationship, because the idea of having a friend so thankful for Hero just being himself that he’d go out of his way like this to help him in need was- he didn’t have a word for it.

So he rolled over in his plush comfy two sizes too big for a single person bed with ten times the pillows any normal person would need, and tried to fall asleep. Zenos was royalty here so they couldn’t just walk around the city like they could wander campus, so tomorrow he’d find a way to pull Zenos aside after breakfast and maybe plan something they could do to make the month pass by quicker. If only to keep him from being buried under royal duties and obligations, to give him a taste of normalcy in his own home.

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 It felt strange being woken by a servant, to be guided to the bath and see it drawn and already warm for him. Stranger still to have someone bring him his clothes freshly pressed, to do his hair for him, and guide him down the winding stairs to the dining room for breakfast with the family. He felt out of place before the massive regal Varis and the mildly detached Regula. Varis was reading the paper, every so often glancing up at the Viera before him and frowning. Regula was tapping away at his tomephone, humming softly to himself between asking Varis questions about the day’s plans. It felt cold and awkward and uncomfortable.

 Zenos’ absence didn’t help.

When the prince finally joined them and pulled up his chair, Varis flipped through the paper again, folded it in half, and slid it over the table to his son. “You may want to plan around the paparazzi for the rest of your break. I don’t doubt you’re used to the way news spreads in the Empire, but I doubt your guest is prepared.”

Zenos frowned and looked at the paper before scoffing and sliding it to Hero wordlessly.

In brilliant color were three separate photos. One of Zenos taking off his coat, one of his draping the coat over Hero’s shoulders, and one of Zenos holding open the door of the royal car while Hero got into the back seat. “Fuck.” The headline was about the prince bringing home a girlfriend from college. Fair enough, it was dark out and snowing when they got out of the airport and Hero was notably androgynous. Still, it invoked a primal fear response in him. “We aren’t- I’m not- How do I correct them?”

Regula paused and gave Hero a sympathetic look, “you don’t, sadly. It’s gossip right now, are you two sure you’re not dating? Obviously we wouldn’t judge, Zenos is allowed to see whoever makes him happy.”

Zenos shook his head slightly before reaching for the jam to coat his toast in it. “We are roommates, as I told you. Hero’s helped me out of my comfort zone and dragged me into a few more social situations than I would have gotten into on my own, but we aren’t courting.”

Hero’s eyes darted between Zenos and Regula, then Zenos and Varis, and it didn’t go unnoticed. “Hero?”

Zenos wasn’t fast enough to silence him, “I’d never flirt with him behind Asahi’s back.” He heard Zenos inhale sharply beside him, but continued anyway. “Asahi’s room is attached to ours by the half-bath. They’ve been seeing each other since around midterms. I’m just his roommate I swear.”

“Useless.” Hero knew that tone of suffering in Zenos’ voice, “yes I am courting the son of the Doman Ambassadors. I didn’t think he’d be my type, but he surprised me, and we started out studying together. He helps me with my humanities courses, and I’ve been helping him with calculus. He listens to me in a way I’m not used to, it isn’t about my station with him. If he just wanted upwards mobility he wouldn’t be half as- I suppose- open with me about things.”

Hero hummed a bit, “I promise you, he’s being honest. I’m a bad liar but I’m really good at sniffing out lies. Asahi is head over heels for Zenos and they make such a cute couple. I’d never dream of breaking them up. Twelve fuck me, if he sees this article he’s going to be so upset…”

Varis finally relaxed his shoulders and sighed, “I see. Thank you both for being honest with us, Hero, I’ll make sure I assign someone to help you navigate how to handle the news and media crews that might try to bully things out of you since you clearly have no training for dealing with it. Zenos, if you’d like to give your boyfriend a warning that the rumor mill is spinning around you bringing a friend home from college? I suggest you do it before the news cycle starts spinning things out of control. Don’t worry too much boys, we’ll handle it. Just lay low for a few days until it peters out, alright?”

“Of course, Father. I suppose I’ll take Hero on a tour of the Palace Grounds today then, and we’ll plan to tour the city when you’ve handled the paparazzi.” Zenos’ plate was full of meats, breads and sweets. Compared to Hero’s own plate of mostly fruits, cheeses, and some meat and bread. Breakfast was a rather large affair for the family, or maybe this was just how royalty lived?

Either way he carefully handed the paper back over to Regula so the older man could hand it off to his husband. All he could do now was pray the rest of his trip went smoothly after this small hiccup.

[castorre]

The Last Missive (Varis x Regula)

“Dearest Varis, 

it has been some time since my last contact, and for that I pray forgiveness. Much and more has happened in recent days, but I have formed an alliance of sorts with the Warrior of Light. And soon, we shall make our move upon the last Eikon of the accursed Warring Triad. Yet another false god shall be smote from the land. And I pray you recognize that I do it not only because it is such my duty as Legatus, but, more so, that your ideals and dreams shall always be mine own.

I have an inkling in my heart, dearest of friends, that perhaps there is an event on the horizon which I may not overcome. A gnawing dread, so to speak. Yet, I know not fear, as I have lived solely to aid you. Knowing the dreams we shared when we were but boys has come true fills my heart with pride. So, if I do come to my end here, in the hellscape that is Azys Lla, let it be known unto you, Varis zos Galvus, that I have always been happy and fulfilled most when I was with you. 

Perhaps I knew that from a young age, when father first brought me to attend an audience with your grandsire. Seeing you then, how much I wished to be your friend - to end mine lonely existence. And that much you allowed me. How much more open we were as children, so much more caring. But for me, your touch has never changed. And I thank you for that mine dearest, mine love, mine partner unto the end of time. 

If I do so perish, pray do not grieve, for I have gone unto ash as mine father and his father did: fighting for that which they loved. Whether it is country, family or love, know that I die holding only you in my heart, as it has ever been and as it shall ever be so.

In aeternum te amabo, Regula van Hydrus”

The communication cut out, having been sent automatedly when the VIth Legion Legatus’ lifesigns vanished from readings. 

[herohikara-wol]

FFXIV Write 2k23 - Day 23

Suit - Emperor AU, Regula x Varis, Trans!Varis HC, tw: dysphoria mention

Regula smiled softly at the florist, this was his third visit this week and she was clearly dying for good gossip. Regula, legatus of the VIth and only son of one of the older families of Garlemald, buying flowers and wine for an unknown beau was certainly gossip. “At least tell me her name, van Hydrus.”

“Half the city would know by Darkday. No thank you.” He chuckled softly, “just my usual please ma’am.”

“Fine, but I am dying to know what kind of woman deserves Heliotropes, Honeysuckle, and Yarrow.” She huffed a bit and finished the arrangement. “There you go. One bouquet of longing and everlasting devotion. I can’t wait for the day you get to upgrade it to a bouquet of passion.” She gave him a wicked grin as he paid.

“That day might be soon, with luck, I’ll be able to propose to my love publically at the Winter Ball.”

“Oh! How exciting! I’ll make sure to watch the news after the ball for the story, unless you come tell me in person.” She giggled and waved him out of the shop as he carried the bouquet out, putting his cloak over it to protect it from the snow while he got into his car.

They’d been forbidden from being open about their relationship after Varis’ transition. He was meant to be a prince, the pregnancy that had kept Varis hidden in the palace supposedly ill with the same thing that’d taken his father had to be disguised. Solus directly blamed Regula for Varis’ condition and tried to turn the pair against each other. It hadn’t worked, it never would have worked. Varis and Zenos only survived the dysphoria because Regula was there to keep his husband from leaping off the top of a tower. Regula would always stand beside Varis, no matter what.

Solus had given them one gift when he gave the throne to a random Eorzean adventurer.

He gave them the chance to make their secret relationship public. Varis was still hesitant, worried over how the Senate and other noble families would judge him, but Regula was beyond caring. They could whisper until their lips went blue, he wasn’t letting fear of discovery drive a wedge between them anymore.

Hells, Hero was openly gay and by a quirk of his biology, able to bear children as well. He couldn’t imagine the young viera trying to keep them apart the way his predecessor had. So he’d started to drop hints, giving Varis flowers, buying him his favorite vintages of wine, giving him nice practical things like armor polish and a new quill with his name on the cover of the case in gold lettering.

The ball was next week, and he’d be damned if he missed the chance to finally have the family that was stolen from him by the bloody ghost haunting the palace. Zenos was his son, Varis was his perfect wonderful husband, and he would throw everything away if it meant he could be part of their lives properly from here on out. He pulled his car up to the tailor and parked, taking a deep breath and moving the flowers towards the warmth of the sunlight. One last chore, and then he could go home to his love.