Welcome to Charming, where swirling petticoats, the language of flowers, and old-fashioned duels are only the beginning of what is lying underneath…
After a magical attempt on her life in 1877, Queen Victoria launched a crusade against magic that, while tidied up by the Ministry of Magic, saw the Wizarding community exiled to Hogsmeade, previously little more than a crossroad near the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the years that have passed since, Hogsmeade has suffered plagues, fires, and Victorian hypocrisy but is still standing firm.
Thethe year is now 1895. It’s time to join us and immerse yourself in scandal and drama interlaced with magic both light and dark.
Complete a thread started and set every month for twelve consecutive months. Each thread must have at least ten posts, and at least three must be your own.
Did You Know?
Did you know? Jewelry of jet was the haute jewelry of the Victorian era. — Fallin
The seduction that evening had left Victor seeing stars, so that he had needed a few minutes stretched out naked on the bed before he felt composed enough to even think of other subjects, much less bring them up eloquently. Perhaps he ought to have started with the news, given that he'd written Leo and arranged this meeting specifically to share it, but what was the rush? They had all night together, unless Leo decided to leave early. There was no sense in ruining the mood — and when Victor hadn't had too much to drink, he was thoughtful about these sorts of things. Now was probably the time... although he might also forego it for a few minutes to see if he could entice Leo to a bath.
No, it was probably best to get on with it. Any more dallying risked being taken for avoiding the subject, which would do Victor no favors.
"I'm glad you were free tonight," Victor said, rolling over and propping himself up on his elbows. He walked his fingertips over Leo's bare chest. "I had something to tell you and I wanted to do it in person." He paused a second, then added with a smile, "That, and I missed you."
It was always so easy to forget the outside world when he was with Victor. Any work stress or family drama could leave his mind for a while, to be dealt with when he was infinitely more relaxed and content with life.
"Same here," Leonid said, lightly drawing circles over the hand that was walking fingertips over his chest. "I missed you, too," Leonid said as he returned the smile. "Now what is it that you wanted to tell me?" As he spoke, he lifted Victors hand from his chest to his lips as he waited to hear what Victor wanted to say.
Leo raised Victor's hand to his lips and nerves crinkled through his stomach. This wouldn't be entirely unexpected news, because Victor had told Leo that he was planning to marry soon before they'd even been on a proper first name basis. His courtship of Miss Dempsey also hadn't been a secret from the world, although in their interludes together neither of them had brought it up. Still, if he was paying attention to society news he likely would have heard that Victor was courting Miss Dempsey, and of course he would have known the logical conclusion. The engagement itself wasn't what they needed to discuss, though; it was everything that followed it. What did Victor's engagement mean for the two of them? They hadn't ever explored that.
"I'm engaged," he announced. "Miss Christabel Dempsey. I proposed this morning and she accepted." A beat, then he added in a conciliatory tone, "I wanted you to hear from me before it's in the paper."
"I kind of deduced that might be the topic of conversation that you wanted to bring up," Leonid said, unable to stop a sigh from escaping as he continued to play with Victor's fingers. The main thing he was surprised by was that Victor had proposed to the lady only that morning. Promised a lifetime of commitment to a woman in the morning and in his bed that night. Leonid was aware his amusement was inappropriate but he'd had some time to sort out his feelings about this.
"I had heard you were courting her so figured this time would come soon enough," Leonid said. "You told me you were planning to court which I knew logically meant eventual marriage - so my answer back then is still the same if it is for you."
He ought to be used to Leo saying nice things about him, but it still made his stomach tingle any time he did. Victor wanted that too, despite his trepidation about what it might become, down the road. He hadn't expected to enjoy kissing Christabel as much as he had, and he thought that might lead to problems later on down the line — but he wasn't going to end things now over what might become a problem later. They could cross those bridges when (and if) they came to them.
Victor nudged a little closer to Leo and laid his head down on the other man's stomach, craving more contact as he looked up at him. "Yeah, I don't plan to cut and run yet," he teased with a smile. "It'll change things logistically — might have to cut back on nights like these, at least for a while — but we've got some time to figure that out. It doesn't change the way I feel." Though should it? Maybe. The fact that Leo hadn't kicked him out of bed meant he was willing to accept Victor baggage and all, but they'd never talked about Christabel before. She wasn't an ogre he was chained to, which was the stereotype for men who married and then had affairs; would that matter, in the scheme of things? Would Leo be disappointed if he learned that Victor actually rather liked her?
Leo smiled as Victor nudged a little closer and put his head on his stomach. It was the perfect position to play with and stroke Victors hair. "Yet," he couldn't help but catch with a sigh when the other man spoke. He nodded in agreement as the other man spoke about how they would have to cut back on nights together.
"I suppose I will. If I find a woman I like well enough to not mind having around all the time." He did hope Victor actually at least liked his new fiance. "You will be the first to know if I ever have suspicions that I might want to end up at the alter."
To hear Leo talking about it from the same sort of perspective Victor had approached the matter with was something of a relief. Victor still wasn't eager to go through all the gory details of his relationship with Miss Dempsey, so to speak, but it did boost his confidence that if details about it did come out later, maybe Leo wouldn't feel entirely betrayed. He was planning to marry, too; he was looking for someone he liked. That meant he probably assumed the same of Victor, didn't it? Or at least he wouldn't be utterly shocked to discover that was the case. Victor ran the fingertips of one hand up Leo's arm absently as he turned the matter over in his mind.
"I wouldn't mind if you married," he said, then flushed slightly. "Well, obviously. That would make me quite a hypocrite, wouldn't it? But — you know what I mean." He'd felt the need to clarify, but now he wondered if by doing so he'd pushed things too far in the opposite direction. Did it sound like he was eager for Leo to start courting someone now? He hadn't meant to imply that he wanted his lover to find a wife, and now he worried he'd made it sound as though he didn't care much about this relationship — as though he thought it ought to be secondary for both of them.
"But I do like having your attention all to myself," he blurted out, shifting so that he could prop himself up a little higher and trying to regain some dignity. "I didn't mean to imply I wouldn't mind, you know, of course I would — notice, and care, I just wouldn't be — offended, or anything."
Leonid rose his eyebrow as Victor spoke. Well, he should hope so. Wouldn't be quite fair for Victor to mind when it was what he was currently doing. He kind of figured that Victor was just trying to assure him that he needn't worry about him if the shoe were on the other foot or something. Not that it was anywhere close to happening.
He chuckled as Victor said he liked having his attention to himself. "I think I know what you are getting at. You would do for me as I am currently doing for you," Leonid said as he allowed his fingers to trace down the side of Victors shoulders.
Was that what he was getting at? With all of his tongue-tripping, he wasn't even sure what he'd been trying to say any more. He would do for Leo what Leo was doing for him — what was that, exactly? Not making a fuss? Biting back whatever he really wanted to say in order to not rock the boat too much? Hopefully that wasn't the case, but Victor felt suddenly rather anxious that it might have been.
But there wasn't much to do about it, was there? He'd already proposed — he had always been going to propose, no matter how Leo felt about things. So rather than ask, he nodded mechanically. "Yeah. Something like that."
"We'll probably have the wedding soon," he blurted out. "We haven't discussed specifics, or anything, but I don't imagine she'd want to wait."
"Makes sense," Leonid said with a nod as he continued to explore the others skin with his fingertips. He thought on how things had been for his twin when she had gotten married. Or rather, what complains Xena had and the things she had said about other debutantes engagements and such.
"It will have to be less than six months. According to my sister, more than that and people begin to talk," Leonid said as he pressed a couple of kisses to Victors shoulder. "Am I invited?" They were publicly known to be good friends so he supposed he would be.
Even the word talk was enough to make Victor grimace, despite the kisses over his shoulder. There was always talk about Beatrice (if anyone even deigned to think of her at all, that was — the only thing worse than being talked about was not being talked about). He had long since determined that he would not be the cause of even one additional headache of behalf of his long-suffering mother.
"Well, we don't want that. It'll probably be before Christmas," he speculated. The date was ultimately up to her, as were all of the preparations surrounding the wedding itself. "Of course you're invited. As long as you want to come," he added, with a quick frown at the prospect that Leo might be more comfortable elsewhere. He wanted him there... didn't he? Victor thought so, but it occurred to him that he could not actually picture Leonid and Miss Dempsey meeting — either with dread or hope or any other emotion. He simply couldn't picture it at all.
Leo nodded in agreement to Victors speculation. He smiled as Victor said that he was invited. "I will be there," Leonid said, artfully avoiding having to mention at all anything about wanting to actually come or not. He wasn't sure how he was going to feel actually seeing the whole thing take place. What he did know was that he would want to be there for Victor. "We can figure out what works as things fall into place." That seemed the best way to go about to him, at least.
Victor nodded, pleased by Leo's response. "We'll figure it out," he agreed. "We'll just have to be a little flexible. Fortunately — " he began with a wolfish grin, as he moved one of his hands down to caress Leo's cock. "— we're both pretty good at being flexible — wouldn't you agree?"
