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The beginning and the first try
Phainon was always curious what Mydei’s hands would feel like. Ever since they started dating, they’ve held hands but Mydei was always wearing those gauntlets of his.
‘Are they soft? His gauntlets protected them when he’s fighting so they should be right? But what if it’s rough from him constantly performing mainentance on them? What if there are scars? Maybe that why he wore them in the first place?’ Phainon questioned in his mind as he paced back and forth at their meeting spot.
“Oi. What are you pacing about for?” Mydei’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
Phainon looked at his boyfriend who stood there, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. He was dressed in his normal attire as if prepared for any invasion coming their way as usual while Phainon never even wore his shoulder guards and cape nor brought his sword with him.
At that moment, an idea came to Phainon. He would just have to somehow get Mydei to remove his gauntlets!
“We’re just going to grab some food. Did you really need to wear your gauntlets to eat?” Phainon teased.
“HKS. You’re going to regret not being prepared if Okhema is suddenly under attack.” Mydei huffed.
“Castorice is on duty and Aglaea would take care of the matter before it happens. You can relax, you know…” The white haired man sighed.
Mydei just rolled his eyes, not bothering to give the man standing in front of him a response before walking away. Phainon shook his head before giving chase to his boyfriend and taking the blonde haired man’s hand in his. He should have know saying something like that would not convince his partner to remove his gauntlets.
Second try
The Garden of Life was filled with varying chimeras running about. Once in a while, Phainon loves to play with them and give them treats for contantly helping out Okhema. It was clear that maybe spending time with them would make a nice date.
‘Maybe I can get Mydei to remove his gauntlets as well. After all, it can’t be that comfortable for the chimeras to be petted and picked up by them.’ Phainon thought as he held Mydei’s hand and led the way to the Garden.
Once they arrived, the chimeras all ran to greet Phainon, nudging their heads against his legs and happily awooing at him. Chuckling, Phainon knelt down and started petting them. He then stood up and lead them to a corner of the garden. Mydei followed him with a neutral look on his face but his eyes were filled with affection at the scene.
The moment Phainon sat down crosslegged, a grey and white chimera with a long and short horn, white fluff around it’s neck and blue eyes that matches Phainon and an orange and light orange chimera with red eyes, brown fluff around it’s neck and a red marking by it’s right eye both climbed into Phainon’s lap with their front paws against his chest. Mydei internally cooed at the sight. The white haired man happily patted the two before looking over at his boyfriend and patting the ground next to him. The blonde haired man sighed before taking a seat next to his partner.
Phainon picked up the grey and white chimera and placed it in the prince’s lap. The chimera stared at Mydei with it’s big blue innocent eyes and it’s head tilted to the side.
“Cute right? You should probably remove your gauntlets before you pet them though. You wouldn’t want to hurt it.” Phainon suggested with a sly smile while petting the other chimera that was still in his own lap.
Ignoring his boyfriend’s words, Mydei starts to gently petting and lightly scratching the back of the chimera’s head. The chimera purred at the motion before resting in the blonde haired man’s lap. Phainon just stared in shock.
“H-How did you…” Phainon tried asking.
“I come by from time to time and Hyacine relayed what they’re saying to me. I learnt how to pet them with my gauntlets on.” Mydei smugly explained.
Phainon groaned, realising that his plan failed before shrugging and the two turned their attention to the other chimeras vying for their attention.
Third try
The training grounds was filled with tension. Everyone watched in rapt attention and awe as the two men on the field exchange blows against each other. From the way that they were sparring, it was as if they were in an intricate dance, weaving around and blocking blows with an odd sense of grace and precision.
Phainon panted, sword clenched tightly in his hands as he and Mydei jumped apart to catch some breath, ‘There has to be a way to get Mydei to lower his guard so that I can try to pry at least a gauntlet off him.’
“What’s the matter Deliverer? Don’t tell me that is all you got.” Mydei taunted with a smirk.
Suddenly, a reckless idea popped into Phainon’s mind and he smirked back, “Hah. As if.”
Phainon raised his sword to the side of his head, the tip pointing towards Mydei as he adjusted his body stance. Pushing off on his back leg, the white haired man flew towards the blonde haired prince as if he was going to stab him. Mydei prepared to dodge but at the last moment, Phainon released his sword handle, sending it flying which caught Mydei by surprise.
Taking advantage of the situation, the sun tattooed man grabbed onto Mydei’s right gauntlet with both hands and tried to pry it off. However, the tattooed prince immediately realised what Phainon is trying to do once he felt the pull. He grabbed the man by his jacket as he dodged the fast flying sword and shoved him into the ground, hard. The impact caused the ground to crack and Phainon lost his grip as saliver flew out of his mouth. Mydei’s eyes flew wide open at the sight and quickly let go of the jacket, checking on a slightly delirious Phainon.
“HKS! Are you alright!?” The prince asked.
“I’m fine. Thought we’re only lightly sparring today.” Phainon joked.
“You caught me off guard and I used more strength than I should’ve. Let’s go get you bandaged.” Mydei scolded before pulling Phainon up from the ground, letting the white haired man lean on him and the two left the training arena.
Success!
As the couple arrived at the medic area, Mydei set his boyfriend on the bed and searched for ointment while Phainon took off his tops so that he’s half naked. Mydei’s heart ached at the bruises on his lover’s body as he walked over with the bottle of ointment in his hands.
“Don’t tell me that you’re going to rub that on me with your gauntlets on.” Phainon joked.
Mydei hmphed as he sat next to the white haired man and passed him the ointment before asking, “... Why have you been trying to get me to remove my gauntlets?”
“So… you’ve noticed I take it?” Phainon asked, as he opened up the container.
“I realised what you’re up to ever since we went to visit the chimeras.” Mydei said as he raised an eyebrow before adding, “If you really wanted me to remove them, you could have just asked.”
Silence fell over the two as Phainon stared at him as if he never considered the option, his hands stopping from rubbing the ointment in his bruised areas.
“C-Could you remove your gauntlets for me please?” Phianon asked, turning to face his boyfriend with excitement in his eyes, his bruises all but forgotten.
Mydei huffed with a smile before proceeding to undo the mechanism that holds the gauntlets tightly in place onto the black safety glove with nail guards and a dorsal plating around his forearms. He then proceeded to remove them and his gloves, revealing his red tattoos ending at the back of his hands and unscarred smooth looking skin.
“Can I…” Phainon was about to ask before Mydei held out his hands to the white haired man, as if reading his mind and giving permission.
Taking the chance, he closed the ointment container and placed it to the side before taking Mydei’s hands in his own. Despite the smooth looking surface, Phainon could feel the roughness thanks to the years that Mydei spent fighting on the battlegrounds even with those gauntlets.
“If you want, I’ll stop wearing them when we go on dates.” Mydei suggested as his boyfriend continued rubbing his fingers in his hand in fascination.
“NO!” Phainon exclaimed, shocking the blonde haired prince, before trying to explain, “Well… I-I mean… It kind of feels special that only I get to see and feel your hands like this… I want to… keep this private…”
“I have to remove them when we use the public baths for our challenges.” Mydei chuckled, making his partner blush.
Phainon pouted before whining, “... We can just use our private baths instead or continue wearing our clothes for our challenges… At the very least… you can only remove them when we use the Chrysos Heirs’s baths.”
“Fine, I’ll only remove them in private or only amongst our friends.” Mydei sighed in loving exasperation, giving in to his lover’s pouting face.
Phainon smiled and the prince swore that he could see a metaphorical tail wagging behind his cute white haired boyfriend. Phainon’s hands tightly held in his, the two happily looked forward to future moments where they would hold hands in private like this.