Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Oh, my darling fianceeeeeee! I thought you said you wanted to beat rush hour traffic this morning!”

“I’m coming!” 

Cor called back, rooting through the drawers so he could find a damned shirt.  

The Marshal was so confused, he was convinced that he had brought his shirt into the bathroom with him and then placed it on top of the towel railing along with his trousers and underwear, like he did every morning; once he had finished showering, he went to get changed only to find that his shirt wasn’t there. He was in a little bit of a rush this morning, thanks to Ardyn trapping him under the sheets for morning cuddles, so perhaps he had forgotten to pick one up. Although that did not explain why on Eos he couldn’t find a shirt now! He’d looked in all of his drawers and he couldn’t find a single one that he owned!  

“Ass Hat!” Cor shouted to get Ardyn’s attention. “Have you seen any of my shirts?”

“Have I seen any of your shirts?” Ardyn repeated the question, and just from the pitch and tone, Cor knew that Ardyn was in the room with him. “Darling, I may be your fiance but I am not your maid. You are 24 years of age, you should know by now where your clothes are.”

“I can’t find any!” Cor grumbled, opening his underwear drawer in case he had accidentally put one in there and to no avail. “Why shouldn’t I ask you? You always do the laundry and put it away!” 

“That’s because you are hopeless at ironing and folding clothes, my love.” Ardyn giggled, watching with dreamy eyes at his shirtless fiance who was breaking a sweat, absolutely determined to find an item of clothing that wasn’t there. “However, you are an adult and should be more than capable of locating your own clothing...”   

“They aren’t here!” Cor groaned, glancing at the clock hanging on the wall, very conscious of the time. If they didn’t leave soon he’d be late for work. “They were here before I went in the-” 

That was when the penny dropped. 

Cor snarled, and turned to face his fiance who had his hands placed behind his back, his gaze mindless glancing everywhere around the room that wasn’t him, whistling a happy little tune to himself; basically acting as innocent as the day he was born! 

However, this was Ardyn fucking Lucis Caelum. Cor knew for a fact he wasn’t innocent at all. The dodgy bastard had plenty of time to hide his clothes while he was in the shower!

“Ass Hat.” Cor said coldly, breathing heavily through his annoyance. “Give me back my shirts.” 

“I don’t have your shirts.” Ardyn said innocently. “I’ve already told you I don’t know where they are.”

“Ardyn.” Cor said sternly.

“Cor.” Ardyn replied, now unable to keep his gaze on Cor’s face and was practically drooling as he stared at Cor’s bare chest.  

A small flush appeared on Cor’s cheeks and now he was certain Ardyn was the one behind this. But he didn’t have time to argue here. The Marshal quickly turned back to their wardrobe and drawers and began to raid Ardyn’s side. 

“Then I am stealing one of yours.” Cor told him and to his horror - although he should have expected it - he couldn’t see a single one of Ardyn’s flowy white shirts, blouse thing- whatever he called it! 

Cor grabbed onto the wardrobe tightly, bowed his head in defeat and let out a very heavy sigh. 

“You’ve hidden all of our shirts in your armiger, haven’t you?” 

Cor could practically hear the grin creep across Ardyn’s face. “Good luck getting access to that My Marshal! Not even Somnus or Regis have the power to access my armiger!”

“I hate you so much.” Cor rolled his eyes, snatching his jacket from the end of their bed in an attempt to cover himself up. At least he’d have something to maintain his modesty, even if his jackets no longer closed now because of how toned he had gotten over the past few months…

Oh… that was why Ardyn had done this. He was a real shithead sometimes.  

“You don’t really mean that, do you?” 

Guilt pooled in Cor’s gut at Ardyn’s weak whimper and when he looked into his golden eyes there was genuine hurt behind them. 

Oh crap. 

Despite the fact Ardyn did not deserve to be comforted, and because the Marshal was fully aware he wouldn’t be getting his shirt back either way, he stalked over to Ardyn kissed him on the lips and told him that wasn’t the case and that he did love him very much.  

“I wouldn’t be marrying you if I didn’t love you, would I?” Cor gave him a smile, rubbing his arms to comfort him further. 

Ardyn simply shook his head and let out a very small. “I love you too.”  

Before Cor could suggest they get a wriggle on to get to the Citadel - as Cor knew he had a spare shirt he used for running in his office, it wouldn’t be clean but it would be something at least - he felt his entire body tense up as Ardyn placed his very cold fingertips along his rock hard abs.

“Ass Hat!” Cor gritted his teeth, visibly annoyed. 

Ardyn did not remove his fingers and simply grinned in delight. “But you look so beautiful without your shirt on, my dear. I think you should support this look more often. It is very becoming of you.” 

“Piss off.” Cor spat, playfully shoving Ardyn to the side so he could go down stairs to retrieve his car keys and go to work. 

He loved Ardyn dearly, he loved him more than he had ever loved another person on this planet, but by the gods sometimes he was infuriating to be around. Especially when he teased him like he was currently doing! 

Cor could tell this was going to be a long fucking day.

The moment Cor got into his office he realised what a mistake he had made. 

He thought luck had been on his side since he managed not to meet a single one of the crownsguard on his way in with his bare chest but Cor knew it had run out now. For the Marshal didn’t even have to look in his old crownsguard training bag to know that Ardyn had teleported into his locked office and stolen the shirt, probably before Cor even got into his car. If his wonderful - Cor was using the term very loosely here - fiance had done this then Ardyn had probably already been to the guard training barracks too and stolen all the spare shirts there! Cor knew he shouldn’t have been so hot-headed and just gone into work with Ardyn! 

“You are such an Ass Hat!” Cor growled to himself kicking over the bin by his desk. 

Because now Ardyn had inadvertently forced Cor to do something he swore on Regis’s life he would never do. That was to go down to the glaive barracks and ask very politely if he could borrow one piece of their uniform for the day.  

“Sorry, Reggie, I don’t want to be stared at all day.” Cor said to himself, holding on to his jacket with one hand in an attempt to hide his chest before he left the safety of his office walls.

When he stepped out of the room he immediately regretted it. 

He had been very lucky that he hadn’t passed a soul on his way up here, but now it was the beginning of the morning and the corridors were flooded with the housekeeping staff, guards and glaives alike. 

Cor felt his face turn bright red, and his hands and back go sweaty at the mere thought of someone staring at him. If he was in a training setting with his chest bare for all to see he wouldn’t have a problem! That was a work environment where it got sweaty and hot and he had taken his shirt off many times to cool down and many others around him had done the same. But here, in a random corridor of the Citadel, the home of his king and the family he loved and served, it was unacceptable and so embarrassing! But he didn’t have a choice in the matter. 

Accepting the fact this was going to be a very long brisk walk to the glaive barracks, Cor looked down at the floor and hurried to his destination as fast as he could. 

The poor embarrassed Marshal felt his face get hotter when he heard soft gasps from the people around him and he felt their stares land on him when they realised he was lacking a shirt. He hated being the centre of attention so much, always had done, and unfortunately, it looked as if this attention wouldn’t be going away today. Years of training and building up all these muscles so he could perform his job properly meant he would be hearing these whispers about his body for at least a week! 

When he saw the flash of a camera appear in front of him, Cor’s face turned as deep red as Ardyn’s hair! 

Fuck that was going to be in all the papers tomorrow, wasn’t it?! 

Beside himself with embarrassment, Cor decided to break a few rules and run through the damned corridors as quickly as he could. He was going to butcher Ardyn for this when he got home! Cor hadn’t felt this embarrassed in such a long time! 

When he finally reached the glaive training barracks, for the first time ever did it feel like a fucking blessing! Because he didn’t need to go into the training hall, or go into any of their social rooms so that meant he wouldn’t bump into any glaives at all. 

All Cor had to do was go directly to Captain Hebes’s office and politely ask if he could borrow and wear the Kingsglaive uniform for the day. As much as Cor didn’t respect the man or the glaive for that matter, he was only going to ask his equals permission because he’d feel pretty annoyed if a glaive wore a guards uniform. 

It wasn’t like Cor hated the glaive… besides the point, their main function was to detain his fiance and send him to Angelgard if no one could talk sense into him, Cor just didn’t really see the point in them. The guard could easily protect Regis, Aulea and the new little addition to the royal family whenever they were born, so in his eyes, the glaive wasn't needed… Perhaps that was his pride talking. And Cor had to fucking swallow his pride very quickly and ask Captain Hebes if he could borrow a Kingsglaive shirt. Especially if he didn’t want to get stared at all day. 

He tapped on the office door and went in as soon as he was given the all clear to do so. 

“Marshal Leonis.” Hebes said, somewhat surprised to see him but more likely confused why he was only wearing a jacket over his bare chest. “What do I owe this pleasure?” 

Cor really hated this man but only because of the hatred Hebes held towards him. 

Hebes had been Captain since before Cor became the second-in-command of Mors’s personal guard and had held this strong hatred for him ever since. To begin with it was more jealousy than hatred but when Cor became Marshal Hebes’s hatred turned into loathing. To a degree, Cor could understand that as the rank of Marshal was the highest rank in any military and it was certainly higher than Captain; essentially that made Cor this war veteran's boss.    

“I need to ask you a favour.” Cor said, deciding it would be better for both of them if he got straight to the point so they wouldn’t be in the other's presence for too long. 

Hebes smirked and leaned back in his chair looking very smug. “You’ve never asked anything of me before. I thought ‘Cor the Immortal’ didn’t need to ask favours.” 

Cor chose to ignore that level of mockery coming out of the elder’s mouth. “Whatever, I need to ask if I could borrow a Kingsglaive shirt… for me to wear… please?”

“Where’s your shirt?” Hebes laughed, clearly enjoying how difficult this entire situation was for Cor.

“Ardyn stole them.”  

“And you expect me to simply allow you to wear the glaive uniform when you have undermined myself and my group since you cheated the system and walked through that door at the age of 13? You’re not worthy to bear our sigil, Leonis. Nor are you worthy to hold the rank you currently possess, but who am I to question His Majesty's decision.” 

“You could have just said no.” Cor snapped, not willing to put up with the man’s bullshit today. 

Hebes laughed, it sounded more like a taunt if Cor was honest and it infuriated the Marshal to no end. “I was planning on it! Have a good day, Cor Leonis. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.” 

Cor decided to not even dignify that with a response and left. He couldn’t fucking wait for that man to retire!

“There you are!” Clarus’s voice boomed through the corridor from behind Cor, thankfully Clarus Amicitia was exactly the person Cor needed to see. “You haven’t clocked in yet, Marshal Leonis. Yes, I am maybe being a little anal about this but with our Queen’s current delicate condition I can’t afford any guard or glaive to slack, that includes you!” 

Fuck! 

Cor knew he had forgotten to do something when he rushed towards his office this morning!

All this wedding planning, along with Ardyn’s utter nonsense, was eating away at his last brain cells.

“Yeah, yeah I am sorry!” Cor said quickly as he ran towards Clarus. “I will do that, I swear, but please tell me you have brought a spare shirt to work today? I really need to borrow it!”  

“A shirt? What-” Clarus asked, his face full of confusion and that confusion mounted when he noticed the state of Cor’s uniform - or rather lack of uniform. 

It may currently be the month of May but Cor was getting a little cold now and quite frankly he didn’t need Clarus asking questions. He very quickly relaid to the Shield about what an Ass Hat Ardyn decided to be this morning and how all the spare guard uniforms had suddenly disappeared from the Citadel and of course what a dick Captain Hebes had been towards him. Cor didn’t even hide the fact how annoyed he was at Ardyn at all! His fiance was being such a knob and for the first time ever Cor was willingly complaining to Clarus about him. 

“Oh, that would explain why the laundry rooms have been in a frenzy all morning.” Clarus sighed, holding the bridge of his nose upon hearing all about Ardyn’s latest antics. “Your charming fiance has raided the lost and found pile too.” 

Cor growled, feeling beyond frustrated now and desperate! They only had one month left before their wedding day, Ardyn was going to be damned lucky if he got the day of his dreams at this rate! 

“Okay… Oh! Regis! Regis, must have stolen one of your shirts over the years that I could borrow? This is Regis we are talking about! He must have done that at some point!”

“Look he probably has but if Ardyn has gone out of his way to mess with the grubby and unwashed lost and found pile I wouldn’t put it past him to have raided through Regis’s clothes either.”

“What am I supposed to do then?!” Cor exclaimed!  “I don’t want to work for the rest of the day like this!”   

Clarus shrugged. “Swap with Monica and take over from training? To be honest Cor, I don’t really care what you do, just clock in, alright?”

Cor rolled his eyes. “Ever the helpful one.” 

The only reply he got to his very sarcastic remark was the sound of Clarus’s footsteps as they walked down the corridor and away from him. 

“Now what am I supposed to do!” Cor yelled out into the open space.

Cor wasn’t that annoyed that Clarus didn’t help him with his problem. The poor man had a lot on his plate with organising the council, ensuring security was at its strongest, along with keeping Regis and Aulea’s nerves down about the Queen’s pregnancy. Because of all this extra work, he barely got to spend any time with little Gladio at the moment. Clarus was probably very stressed, a little upset and he didn’t need Ardyn acting like his normal over the top childish self today. No one needed Ardyn like this today.

“I am going to get you back good, Ass Hat.” Cor declared, marching back to the guards barracks so he could at least hide out in his office for the rest of the day. 

If Ardyn felt comfortable with him talking to Somnus, Cor would have gone straight to his future brother-in-law to find out the perfect forum of revenge on his fiance. The Founder King probably carried a list of revenge tactics against his brother around with him in case anyone should need it. But alas, no one needed a blood-scourge bath between those two and Cor would 100% cause that by going out of his way to speak to Somnus.

Why couldn’t the pair just set aside their differences and get on? They really needed to do that as well because Cor was still adamant that Somnus was going to attend their wedding. But with how things were looking that didn’t seem very likely…

Cor shook his head, knowing that getting himself anymore worked up then he already was would not help him think of the best revenge to use against Ardyn-

Wait! 

How did Cor not see this before?! 

He already had the perfect revenge at his disposal! 

A smirk cracked on the Marshal’s face and he couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Oh Ass Hat… you can be so stupid sometimes and I love it!”

“It’s alright my love, only a few months to go now.” Regis smiled, placing a small kiss on his wife’s brow. 

“Yes, but you're not the one carrying him.” Aulea sighed, resting her hand on her slightly swollen belly. 

“HIM?!” Ardyn gasped in pure delight. “You’re going to have a little prince?!” 

“Ah shit.” 

Ardyn just sat there and laughed at his nephew and niece-in-law. They told him they were going to keep it a secret for as long as they could and then when they felt the time was right they were going to announce it to all their nearest and dearest at the same time. Well they had just let the cat out of the bag and Ardyn was the first to know! And as excited as that made him feel he could see the upset on Aulea’s face and knew it was best that he didn’t tease the king and queen about it. 

Well, at least not today anyway…

Ardyn laughed. “Not to worry, my dears, my lips are sealed on the matter.” 

“Make sure they are.” Regis warned him, giving him a cold stare. “You have found out before grandfather and he won’t like that.”  

“Please don’t mention him in my presence.” Ardyn asked, quickly finishing the last gulp of his coffee, feeling his gut turn to molten lava at the mere mention of his brother. 

“Only if you return all the stolen items of clothing, uncle.” Regis bit back. 

“Oh, Clarus told you about the missing guard uniforms, I take it.”

“He didn’t need to.” Aulea stated, sounding more pissed off than Regis did about the situation. “We can’t find Clarus’s old shirt. I like wearing that, it makes me look less plump.”

“Oh sweetheart, you are not plump, you are simply making room for our baby.” Regis told her, giving her hand a sweet kiss.  

Aulea huffed, ignoring Regis’s attempt to make her feel better. “Why have you stolen it?” 

Ardyn shrugged as a devilish grin warped the ancient daemon’s face. “Because my husband-to-be looks very nice without a shirt on. If you will excuse me I am going to see him now.”

Before vanishing to another part of the Citadel he heard a strangled and disgusted sound coming from Regis and an elongated sigh from Aulea. He expected no less from them to be honest, but they were not important at the moment. 

What was very important to Ardyn was getting to see those deliciously wonderful tone abs on his fiance’s body. Stealing Cor’s shirt was certainly one of his brighter ideas. Because it meant he got to feast his eyes on the marvel that was Cor Leonis. Oh how, he loved running his hands down Cor’s muscular chest and touching his beautifully crafted scars he got while fighting for his country. He loved how solid and strong his forearms were. But what Ardyn particularly loved the most was when Cor trained and his abs and muscles glistened with layers of sweat. The thought alone was making him go weak at the knees and making his heart go all a flutter. After 4 years of being together, Ardyn was so happy Cor still had this effect on him. He knew for certain Cor Leonis would continue to make him feel this way until either the man the world dubbed as ‘Immortal’ died or until Ardyn’s immortality ran out. 

Whichever one came first but he was not going to think about that. 

What he was going to do instead was locate the shirtless love of his life. 

“Oh Cor!” Ardyn called out, strolling into the guard training hall without a care in the world. “I’ve come to see-” 

Ardyn came to a complete halt when he saw Cor sitting on the sidelines of the hall, not actually training the guard, mindlessly looking at his phone. Unfortunately, the image of his wonderful fiance was not the thing that made him stop. Oh no, it was the fact that the guards weren’t training! For they were too busy staring at Cor, more importantly at his bare chest! He wasn’t even wearing his jacket anymore! 

Anger erupted in Ardyn’s gut and he couldn’t help but let out a small growl as he watched some of the guards drooling over his Cor! Not only were they drooling, they were staring and whispering about his fiance’s features and Cor wasn’t doing a thing to stop it! He was happily messing around on his phone, pretending that they weren’t there! 

NO! 

Cor was not for them to look at! 

Pure jealousy raced through Ardyn’s blood and to stop this criminal act from continuing he immediately erected a magical wall between Cor and guard so no one could stare at him anymore! Just to make sure they couldn’t see Cor through the wall either, he warped, positioning himself directly in front of his fiance, shielding him from all of the guards - and some of the glaives who had snuck in here to get a look in - thirsty eyes.   

“Oh hey, Ass Hat.” Cor smiled, briefly sparing him a glance once he noticed what was going on around him. 

Ardyn scowled, keeping his eyes on the guard and glaive who had suddenly decided it was in their best interest to proceed with training once more. 

No one but he could look at Cor like that.

No one! 

“There you go.” Ardyn said bitterly, retrieving Cor’s shirt from his armiger and throwing it at Cor. “Have it back.”

“Nah, I’m good. But thanks.”

“What?” Ardyn gasped, snapping his head in Cor’s direction and he did not like the cheeky grin that Cor was currently supporting. 

Cor shrugged, rising to his feet so he could carry on doing his job. “This is your fault. You should have known this would happen.”  

“But-but-” Ardyn stuttered, his jealousy and protectiveness over Cor was going into overdrive. 

Cor had his shirt back! What more did he want?!  

“Maybe this will teach you not to play pranks and be a total arse towards me in the future.” Cor grinned, putting his phone safely back in his pocket. “Put down the wall, I can’t train the guard if that’s there.” 

Ardyn went silent but did as he was asked straight away. 

Despite how jealous he was and how angry he felt that many people were intruding on a marvellous sight that Ardyn thought only he’d get the privilege to really enjoy, Ardyn couldn’t deny he had been a total arse to Cor. He shouldn’t have hidden all his shirts and prevented him from covering up. Perhaps he should have stolen them on his day off? Not on a day that he was meant to be working. This was certainly a good enough payback for him to never attempt anything like this again.

Even though Ardyn understood how in the wrong he was like hell was he leaving the training room now! And if anyone stared at Cor for any longer than what would be considered appropriate they may need a trip to the medical wing. 

And to Ardyn’s joy, his presence and hard stare made every single one of them think twice about staring in the direction Cor was. Even when Cor called them into formation, they all had their eyes fixated on the walls instead of the Marshal. 

Good. Ardyn thought, with his arms folded across his chest and his golden eyes burning with rage. 

Thankfully, the training session only had an hour to go and as soon as everyone was given permission to leave, they fled the room as scared pitiful humans did when they came face to face with a daemon. Just as they should. 

“You are adorable when jealous.” Cor told him, finally putting the shirt on, much to Ardyn’s relief. 

“Would you be jealous if people stared at me like that?” Ardyn muttered, refusing to move from his spot in the corner of the training room, sitting on the floor in protest. 

“Yeah, I would and do when certain lords and ladies stare at you. But I don’t ever create a situation where I will be jealous, Ass Hat.” Cor laughed, grabbing his head to place a small kiss on the top of Ardyn’s wild mess he called hair. “You have done this all yourself.” 

“I won’t do it again.” Ardyn declared, nostrils flaring. 

“Glad to hear it. Come on, we should be going home now.” Cor smiled, outstretching his hand for Ardyn to take. 

Ardyn immediately took his fiance’s hand and once he was on his feet, he collided his lips with Cor’s. He hadn’t kissed Cor’s wonderful lips all day and after seeing all those eyes staring at him… Ardyn needed to do it to calm himself down a little more. 

Cor squeezed his hand and shook his head, knowing the exact reason for that smooch. “I am glad you have learnt a lesson today.” 

“Mmmhmm.” 

“Oh, and before we go, you’ve got to return all those shirts to their rightful place. Including the one, Regis and Aulea stole from Clarus.” 

“I will….” Ardyn moaned, knowing in doing this task he’d have less time to spend with Cor this evening. Actually… while they were on the topic of shirts. “I know you aren’t fond of the glaive, I am surprised though that you didn’t go down there and get a shirt, as I know how uncomfortable you were this morning.” 

“I did.” 

Ardyn arched an eyebrow at him. “Then why weren’t you wearing it earlier?” 

“Look, Ass Hat, I’ll tell you once we have sorted your mess out, okay?” 

And Ardyn held Cor to that. 

Captain Hebes was fucking lucky that Cor purposely waited until they got home to tell him word for word what the man had said to his fiance. One how dare he think for a second he could address Cor in such a disgraceful way. And two, Ardyn wouldn’t be feeling nearly as angry about it if Hebes had just given Cor a bloody shirt! 

Once Cor was asleep Ardyn was going to be making a quick stop to see dear old Captain Hebes…

“I am going to kill Ardyn!” 

Regis shouted, slamming his fist into the desk, while his other hand clenched into a fist, scrunching up the piece of paper in that hand. 

“Be my guest. He probably deserves it anyway.” Somnus said through a yawn. “Is he the reason you called me here at 9 o’clock in the morning?” 

“Yes! Because he has said something awful to Captain Hebes and the man quit this morning! With immediate effect!” 

This was the last thing Regis needed! He was so worried about Aulea and their unborn son he did not need this added pressure of the head of his army leaving now! Aulea needed protecting as did Lucis. All because of his uncle and his tactless words both were fucking vulnerable! How in all of Eos did Ardyn not see what ramifications his words could of had?! What they did have!! Why couldn’t he just keep his stupid mouth shut for once?! 

His eyes began to water in frustration and Regis just wanted this day to be over already! 

“For fuck’s sake Ardyn Lucis Caelum.” Somnus snapped, feeling just as infuriated as his grandson. “Do you know what was said?” 

“No! Hebes refused to tell me!” 

“And there is no chance of getting him back? Not even with a more than generous pay rise?” 

Regis rubbed his temple and shook his head. “I tried that. He won’t come back. Clarus had a word but it hasn’t amounted to anything which is really upsetting me because-.”

Somnus let out a deep sigh, cutting Regis’s sentence short. “There is clearly no point in wasting energy on that. I’ll take over as Captain until we can find a replacement but I can’t go out on the field.”   

“You didn’t let me finish, grandfather.” Regis said, raising his hand up to prevent Somnus from talking further. “I’ve already found a replacement.”

“Already?” Somnus scoffed, more than surprised by that statement. 

Regis nodded. 

“Then why are you so angry?” 

“Because I didn’t want to impose on him but I had no choice. Thankfully he has agreed to take on the job, he doesn’t have as much experience as I would like but then again, most glaives aren't alive beyond five years of service.”  

“Who is it then?” 

Before Regis could answer Clarus walked into the king’s office and fortunately for Regis so he didn’t have to set up a meeting between his grandfather and the new Captain, the man in question was right behind his shield. 

“I can’t tell you how thankful I am to you, Titus, for taking up this position and on such short notice.” Regis said with a smile, standing up to properly greet his new Captain of the Kingsglaive. “Grandfather, meet our new Captain. Titus Drautos, although I do believe you have met before.”

“Of course we have.” Somnus said, also standing up to shake the man’s hand. “Anyone whose life you save, Regis, you insist on adopting. Thank you for taking this on, Drautos. I can’t tell you how grateful we are.”    

“The honour is all mine, Your Majesties.” Drautos said with a small bow of his head.