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They had all drunk far more than they should have.
The generous prince kept their goblets full with wine. The three of them could have drank the whole of Italy dry. It was a miracle that they could see straight.
It was just the three of them at dinner. Claudio, Benedick and of course, the Prince Pedro. The prince was in high spirits, which often was the case when in the private company of his most dearest friends. It seemed forever since their last moments of peace, alone together.
Claudio watched as his friend’s face became redder and redder as the night progressed and broke out in spouts of giggles as Benedick struggled to clean the food from his face.
“Did I get it?” Benedick asked in between burps.
“No!” The Prince and Claudio yelled but Benedick remained nonchalant about the muck smearing his lips and cheek.
All three of them were in stitches. On rainy days, it was a moment of joy to look back on. But alas, the candles were beginning to die out and the night was fading into dawn. Benedick, however, was too drunk to stand.
“You take the left arm, I’ll take the right.” The prince as he hooked Benedick’s arm over his shoulders. Claudio stood from his seat beside the Prince’s chair and stumbled around to Benedick’s side, pausing halfway to bend over in a fit of giggles before continuing on his treacherously journey to the other side of the table. Once there he grabbed Benedick’s left side and hauling him up.
“Put me- put me down you animals.” Benedick slurred in his half conscious state. Claudio couldn’t help wondering how the man was even awake as he glanced to the Prince with a grin. Despite Benedick being slightly shorter than the two, he was damn heavy. The pair shuffled out of the feasting tent towards the tents where they slept.
The ground was muddy and uneven beneath their feet and Claudio moved slowly, praying that he didn’t slip as it would lead to all three men in the mud.
They made it to the sleeping quarters with little hiccup, except Benedick making a fuss halfway and demanding another drink. Claudio managed to quiet his mad ravings by promising to bring him another drink once he was in bed.
The Prince’s quarters were closest, when they reached it. The pair took a moment to catch their breath, still holding Benedick upright.
“I can take him the rest of the way my lord.”
The walk and the cold air had sobered Claudio up a margin and he took in the exhausted appearance of his royal master. Benedick’s tent was not far. Claudio could make it with him. As long as the drunk man complied that was.
Pedro shook his head. As always, the prince was a loyal friend above all else, often above seeing his own limits and needs, and took a few more stumbling steps towards Benedick’s tent.
“My- my lord I assure you I can manage. Go get some rest.” Claudio smiled at him and after a moment of consideration, Pedro untangled himself from Benedick and stood back. He took Claudio’s cheek in hand and pressed their foreheads together before taking his leave.
“Goodnight dear Claudio. Get Benedick to bed. And make sure he stays there.”
Pedro bid the two counts goodbye before retiring for the night, still merry from drink and a smile plastered on his lips even in sleep.
Claudio, with Benedick still attached to his hip and shoulder, stood in the torchlit camp for a moment longer. He turned his head to look at Benedick who seemed to have dosed off but perked up as they began to move again.
“Now that the old dog has gone,” Benedick began once again with a burp interrupting his train of thought, “we can go back and drink more.”
“No Benedick. We’ve both had quite enough.”
Claudio stumbled onward. Despite Benedick being conscious enough to blabber on, he was not interested it seemed in helping Claudio move him to his quarters.
“You promised me another drink!”
At this, Benedick started to resist, digging his heels into the mud and scrambling to get his arm free from around Claudio’s shoulders. His attempts to escape were unsuccessful.
Claudio held on tight, panting slightly at the exertion of carrying Benedick, the great lump.
Claudio’s grip tightened on Benedick’s wrist, his arm draped over his shoulders, and on Benedick’s waist. His nails dug into the fabric of his shirt under his white coat.
“What am I gonna do with you?”
Claudio remarked, more to himself than to his companion who huffed and let himself be dragged.
When they finally reached the entrance to Benedick’s tent, the younger man felt relief. They stumbled in slowly, feet shuffling from the mud to trodden grass. Luckily a single candle was lit inside and allowed Claudio to see the outline of the bed.
Once they reached it. Claudio let go of Benedick and be fell ungracefully onto the mattress. Despite the private tents the two counts were granted, the beds were still stuffed with hay and not feathers like the Prince’s bed.
Benedick remained silent but let out a deep sigh. Claudio looked up at him to check what was the matter but found his face and expression unreadable, which was unusual for the man as he was often an open book and one Claudio could often read easily.
Perhaps it was the lack of light that made Benedick’s emotions so shadowed. Claudio gave him a reassuring smile.
“You really are,” Benedick began and Claudio could tell that this was going to be a typical Drunken Benedick ramble that he was in for. And the topic seemed to be him. Oh joy.
“A dear and loyal friend to me.”
Claudio couldn’t help but smirk and the remark. Benedick seemed to be just about drunk enough to be contemplating deeply. Claudio couldn’t wait for the poetry verse.
“I am your best friend aren’t I?”
Claudio then picked up Benedick’s foot, and began to pull off his dirty boots. As he did so, Benedick remained eerily quiet, Claudio had to keep glancing up to see if the man had finally fallen asleep. But no. Benedick kept his eyes locked on him as he peeled off the boots and moved Benedick’s legs under the comforter.
After all that, Claudio felt dizzy, tipsy and ready to return to his own bed, when Benedick grabbed his wrist, tightly.
“I am not fetching you another drink, no matter how much you beg me.”
Benedick didn’t reply and simply tried to sit himself up, which was very difficult in his inebriated state and all he managed was a few shuffles and strained groans. Claudio lowered his hand to Benedick’s to push him back into the bed. It seemed, for a split second, that Benedick was accepting defeat. But Claudio couldn’t have been more wrong in that assumption.
Benedick sat up, almost fully this time, and tried to rip Claudio’s hand off of him. Claudio sighed and tried to push Benedick back down one last time. With surprising strength, Benedick grasped both of Claudio’s wrists and pulled him down with him.
Cackling and hollering as he tried to pull away, Claudio looked down at Benedick’s face, mere inches away from his own, as he struggled to get off of the man. Benedick in his genius had pulled Claudio down on top of him for whatever stupid reason the drunken man decided to.
Benedick was eerily calm despite Claudio’s struggling to get off him and he led Claudio in an iron tight grip.
“Now why did you go and do that?” Claudio laughed breathlessly.
“I’m crushing you.”
Benedick didn’t reply and simply stared up at him. Despite the lack of light, Claudio was close enough to make out his expression, one he often saw directed to the women of the towns they passed through on their war trips. Claudio gulped, confusion swimming around his drunken mind and, tried to climb off the bed once again, to no avail.
Benedick’s hand was on his cheek. Benedick’s lips were on his.
Claudio froze. He didn’t know what to make of the situation he was in. Perhaps Benedick’s drunk mind he’s confused itself and had latched onto the closer person to him to seek out affection from. He didn’t blame the man for being lonely or needing… company. It had been a very long time for them all.
However, it was difficult to think rationally when he was lying on top of his best friend, in his best friend’s bed, while said best friend held him tightly and pressed his lips to his.
Claudio didn’t dare breathe. Or move. Until he felt the wet press of Benedick’s tongue against his lips, prodding him to open his mouth.
If he wasn’t hot and flushed enough as it were, with the wine and having to practically carry Benedick back to his tent, he was now feeling the heat of a blush spread from where his and Benedicks lips connected all the way across his cheeks, down his neck and chest.
With a sudden tug of his hair, Claudio gasped and Benedick seized the moment to slip his tongue into Claudio’s mouth.
He tasted, of course, of wine. And smelt of it too. But he also smelt of, well, Benedick. A sweat musk, the underlying scent of sweat
from the heat of the blazing Italian sun. He smelled sweet, tasted sweeter.
Claudio found himself kissing back. His hands fisted into Benedick’s coat and Benedick’s hand snaked from his wrist to Claudio’s shoulder. It ended as quickly as it started.
Claudio whined and pulled his lips free, trying to remove himself from Benedick’s grasp. Benedick held on and even pinched Claudio’s side, causing Claudio to erupt in giggles.
“Stop, stop.” Claudio felt giddy but reality and logic was creeping up on him like vines on a trees.
“Let me go Benedick. You are drunk. You are crazy!” He jested. Trying and failing once again to put more distance between them.
“Claudio,”
The giggle, the wide smile slid from his face. The dawning realisation that this wasn’t some misunderstanding, some misdirected desire and affection, suddenly hit him. As before, that hadn’t been comprehensible in his mind. But Benedick has said his name. His name. Out loud and clear as day. Claudio couldn’t help but stare at his friend, who still clung to him tightly.
They stared at each other in silence for a moment, before Claudio couldn’t take it any longer.
“I must be crushing you.” He whispered, hoarse and low.
“You are rather heavy.” Benedick remarked and Claudio tried once again to wriggle himself free from the Benedick’s grip. But Benedick protested.
“I jest I jest!” Benedick squeaked. Before falling silent again. Eyes full of affection for the younger man above him. Pinned against him.
Claudio sighed, and bowed his head for a moment, against Benedick’s shoulder. His beard scratched Claudio’s ear and the count couldn’t decide how he felt about the feeling. Benedick moved his head slightly and the brush of his hair sent shivers down Claudio’s spine.
He pulled back sharply and tested his “restraints.” They locked eyes once again.
“Let go of me…”
Claudio whispered. It stung to see the defeated look in his friend’s eyes. And yet Benedick held on.
“We are friends…” Claudio’s voice waved and he gulped, composing himself.
“We are friends.”
Benedick let go and Claudio quickly slipped off of the other man, getting to his feet despite the head rush and feeling far drunker than he had the entire rest of the night.
“Goodnight Benedick.”
Claudio turned to leave, but Benedick reached out and grabbed his wrist again. The count couldn’t help the sigh that released from him as he turned back to the man.
“Just- just stay a moment longer.” Benedick’s eyes and voice was pleading and Claudio was losing. He bit his lip before taking a seat on the bed.
“Benedick-“
“Just a moment longer-“ Benedick whined and reached for Claudio’s other hand to hold.
“You don’t love me.” The words and the even tone of Claudios voice made Benedick stop in his tracks. He stared, mouth open in surprise at the younger man. His surprise morphed into a saddened frown as he opened his mouth to speak. Claudio doubted that he was going to argue, or that if he tried, he would have argument.
Claudio didn’t expect, however, to be pulled back down by the cheek into another kiss. A deeper, slower, passionate kiss.
This was not meant for him. He knew it in his chest and his mind that this was a fleeting moment. He kissed Benedick back, for a fleeting second. And then he pulled away.
Claudio rested their foreheads together. A common sign of affection between the closet soldiers. But this time it was different.
Benedick sighed contentedly.
“You don’t love me.” Claudio whispered. Barely audible to his own ears. And yet there. His words drifted between them and Benedick opened his eyes wide yet again. A pain crosse his eyes that made Claudio almost doubt his understanding of the situation. Almost believe that Benedick’s desire for him was genuine. Almost.
He stood, twisted his hand away and put distance between them.
“Goodnight Benedick.”
“Clau-“
“Goodnight.” Claudio hoped his voice didn’t tremble as much as he felt the rest of his body was. He felt like sticks about to fall over. He turned away, away from Benedick and away from his bed and marched out towards his own.
He wiped the tears, as he lay on his bed, onto the blankets that didn’t make him feel warm.