[Fic] Lilies, Leaves and Weeds Chapter 6

[deegeeak]

A few months later Matthew is in his office, waiting for his appointment to show up. The note his secretary, the fearsome Mrs Shields had made had only said, 'Mr Prime Minister wishes to speak with you at the earliest chance.' While nothing is actually said, there is only a few reasons his boss would want to speak with him as soon as possible, and well...Matthew is well aware of his rather unique status on the world's stage even without his Prime Minister making a fuss over it.

He is one of 2 neighbors to the world's largest super-power - and his brother's biggest trading partner. He is the French child, given to the British, and raised by the world's desperate children. As it turns out, the reason for his Prime Minister's visit today is not to express concern for his trading practices, or how he chooses to practice diplomacy.

Instead, his Prime Minister wants to know what he's going to do about the invitation sent to him by the Republican Pleasure House of France, the House that so recently marked him as having attained mastery status within its hallowed halls.

The invitation isn't that surprising to him. Usually a master of that House is expected to exhibit at least once for his or her peers - more so when that master has collared, as a show of respect, not only to the House, but also to the collared Sub. It was explained to him that this was believed to create a sort of reassurance that the Sub in question accepted the collar, and allow the Dom to prove his worth to his Sub before an audience of his peers; showing them that he had found the perfect match and was grateful for it.

Gilbert was persona non grata within Francis's House - the Prussian house of which he had once been the head was long since dissolved with his Kingdom - and that combined with the abuse issues… The French House had quietly made it known they did not like, trust, or want much of anything to do with him.

If Matthew refused, his mentor would want to know why - and would be hurt, perhaps even furious at the reason. If he consented, he risked being ostracized from the house, possibly even stripped depending on how vicious the current house Master was feeling that day.

Not for the first time his Prime Minister was likely wishing Matthew had done anything but collar Gilbert. Still, Matthew didn't regret a moment. The current attitude of Francis's House was mostly due to the humans who made it up. Given enough time, he felt confident that most would forget the current dislike of Gilbert and come to accept him completely. It was just a matter of time, but unfortunately the invitation could not be put off for that long.

"I'm not required to," he finally says when his Prime Minister stops for a breath. "It's a courtesy, but not something I'm required to do."

He gets an eye roll in response. "Do you want to insult them?" the man asks him. "Don't forget my wife trained there - and while you may have a long term view of this, I realize that insulting them will have a poor result in the short term, especially with the current House Master."

The current House Master is a hardliner, devoted to Francis, and very toppy. Matthew hasn't met her, and if not for his collaring Prussia, he probably never would. By choice, in all honesty. He's heard the woman in charge is very strict and old fashioned to a point. He doesn't like the house politics she plays with other Houses, but then that's why she's where she's at.

(Yes, it's for Francis's benefit, and he's glad somebody else is looking out for him, but seriously? It wasn't all that recently that Sub's got rights to match that of a Dom, not to mention Switches. She sort of seems like the type who'd prefer the whole Civil Rights movement to have never happened.)

"She'd have to prove I was doing something extraordinarily endangering to my collared Sub for her to push for a House trial. Given her very vocal outcry of hate for Gilbert I doubt she'd do it." Matthew frowned at the thought.

The collar around the other man's neck gleams briefly as he shakes his head. Matthew likes the man, likes his wife and likes how she likes to see her husband at his best. Matthew's enjoyed her company since he met her during the elections, and truthfully, if anyone's a trophy, it's her and not her husband. All gleaming brown curls, and wicked eyes set in a figure to kill for. She's got eyes only for her husband, whose devotion to her is even greater than his devotion to Matthew. Matthew likes the fact that they clearly adore each other. It makes him feel happy that even at the heart of politics, there's such a thing as a love match.

"She would if she thinks she can make a point." He looks out the window and then back at Matthew. "They've never undone the rule about Subs being removed from their Dom's care, remember?"

Matthew does - the rule came about during the French Revolution when it was discovered that many of the reviled aristocratic Subs were in fact all but living dolls, unable to truly function for themselves without direction from their Dom. Many had been so damaged that in the end their deaths had been a mercy, freeing them from the horrific reality of their lives. The first known case had been the young bride of some unremarkable count. She'd been English, an English Rose, married off to a second son in order to bring her family much needed funds. She had been married to her husband only a few months, but had been so broken that she'd been unable to even eat or drink without his direction. She'd starved to death as England, and Arthur, fought to have her returned to them. It was then they'd realized what was going on with the subs and why they died before trial or punishment.

It had been a horrific discovery and one that had threatened to destroy the leaders of the French Revolution. In order to keep an all out war from breaking out among the European Houses, an agreement regarding Subs came about. If a Dom was cited by his or her house - and all the executed Doms were during that period - their Sub was returned to the house from which they came to be protected, and helped with in-house. If a Sub did not have a house, or was untrained - then that Sub was returned to the Dom's house to be protected by the House Master until such time as they could be allowed to rejoin society. The general belief was that the House Master or Mistress was considered to be the most objective person involved, above everything including corruption. Not always true he knew, but mostly so and even in cases where the House Master had been corrupt, the inner politics often disposed of them sooner then later.

Out of all the subs returned to a house during that time, Matthew couldn't remember a single one who'd ever left the care of their House again. Francis himself had eventually left the safety of his house's inner circle to take his place on the world's stage.

The Order of Service, the old Prussian House, had been dissolved by the German government after the first world war, but in an oversight that Matthew wasn't completely sure hadn't been deliberate on the part of the Reich, the members of the Prussian House were not taken into the German House unless they asked for it. Evidently there had been bad blood between the two Germanic houses; tradition had stated that the head of the unified Germany was a Master of both the National Germanic House and the Order of Service – and the head of the Reich had been denied entry to the Order of Service – the Prussian House. In return when Prussia and Germany combined to form one nation, it had been the National Germanic House that had been kept as the sole House.

Gilbert had not asked to join the National House, leaving him without a house to protect him, perhaps deliberately, perhaps not. As Ludwig had the protection of the National Germanic House, Ivan had gotten Gilbert instead, who had not had any sort of protection to lean on. To the best of Matthew's knowledge, Ivan had never taken Gilbert into his own house either, which left Gilbert without any sort of protection besides that which Matthew could give him. He had no House to interfere with a pushy dom or harassment or even protection from discrimination. And normally such a lack was usually the punishment given to the worst criminals. Even the poorest child in a third world country had the protection of a House, be it their own National House or that of a Colonizing nation's.*

If Matthew was cited by the Republican House of France, the current House Master, Sorcha Madilene, could remove Gilbert without anyone else being able to stop her. The process for getting a House Collared Sub back was horrific and long - not to mention borderline abusive to the Sub in question. It wasn't something he thought he could put Gilbert through.

So.

He couldn't put Gilbert through a House Trial. That would be giving Sorcha Madilene what she wanted on a golden platter - the chance to punish Gilbert however she wanted. She could declare him unsuitable and force a House Collar on him so as to keep him under her thumb.

On the other hand he was worried what might happen if he did agree to this. Gilbert was still mostly loathed by the French – pleasure House and Government, even if they were starting to warm up to him by proxy via his brother. There was no telling what sort of mess they might be walking into, especially with the vengeful Madilene involved.

"I think," he began, "I might have an idea." There might be a way to get through this gracefully, without winding up with Gilbert or anyone else in too much pain. He'd have to play it sly and careful though.

His Prime Minister lifted an eyebrow at him. "Oh really?"

All his carefully laid plans were now shot to pieces, but then, what battle plan lasted past the first engagement? He had a few phone calls to make.

It was late in the afternoon when his phone rang. The tasteful but brief clip of true music rang out in the airy sunlit studio, prompting the blond bent over a painting to look up for the first time in nearly three hours. He debated not answering, but the number of people who knew his private line was small, and if they were calling him during his precious days not hard at work, then he ought to hear them out at least.

He glanced down at the screen, which read 'M. Williams'. Francis smiled to himself, feeling warm with simple pleasure. Matthew rarely called, or emailed him, preferring the more elegant hand written letters when it came to personal communication. Non-personal communication of course was something else entirely, and as such, Matthew had two entries for his two numbers. One as Matthew and the other as Canada.

"Hallo," he greeted cheerfully. A call with his Matthew was always cherished, no matter the reason.

"Hello Francis." Matthew's voice sounded a bit tired, perhaps he'd been working too hard again. Francis forced down the feeling that Gilbert ought to be helping Matthew with that, instead of helping his brother. It hadn’t been too long since Gilbert became a bit more than just Prussia to him again. Jealously was not becoming of him. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No, no you are not. All is well?"

A sigh came over the phone. "I wish I could say it was." Francis lifted an eyebrow at that. Matthew's people were a generally upbeat group, rarely admitting weakness even to those considered family. As the Representative of Canada, Matthew was normally just as hard to pin down emotionally.

"Something I can help with perhaps?" He offered, while leaning back against the comfortable sofa he'd never let Arthur see. (Comfortable in this case was horrifically ugly, paint stained, and worn in several places. It was, despite its visual failures, welcoming to his tired bones, and softer then tanned leather to the touch. He kept it as a reminder that appearances could be very deceiving.)

He heard a shuffling of papers over the phone. So Matthew was still at the office, curious. "Sorcha Madeleine."

Ah.

Darling Sorcha was very anti-German (and by proxy, anti-Prussian), and incredibly devoted to the return of the Republican Pleasure House of France to the head of the world's Pleasure Houses. She was the sort of Dom he’d once liked. She had the inner strength to bring another Dom to their knees, but still had that elegant aloofness at all times that so characterized his house. He had no doubt that she would be infuriated over Matthew choosing to collar Gilbert, but wasn't sure what she'd be more furious over – Gilbert being collared by a member of her house, or that Matthew and Gilbert were attempting to court him. "She is interfering?"

"No! I mean," Matthew paused, "not yet?"

"Not yet?"

"I haven't accepted or declined the invitation to exhibit yet." Francis understood suddenly where this was going - he would be asked to intervene on Matthew and Gilbert's behalf with Sorcha. "I don't want to give her the chance to get any sort of control over Gil.”

“I see.” Matthew had never asked him for a favor like this before. Even when he took his training within Francis’s house, he’d not asked for anything; had in fact not told Francis he was going to be training there until it was done. Surely he could give Matthew this, this little thing.

“I’m going to ask Angus to hold a House Collar for Gilbert,” Matthew blurted out. Francis choked on a breath.

“Wha-” he demanded. “I do not understand…”

“I’m going to exhibit, but with conditions.” Matthew began. “I want it made well known that Gilbert has choices in case she tries anything afterward.”

Francis parroted back slowly, “Conditions? Choices?”

“If Gilbert has a House Collar with the Imperial British House under the care of Angus, she can’t take him,” Matthew said. “I can’t let her get her hands on him. And Gilbert's never been taken into any of the Germanic houses after..well, after; not even the National Germanic House.”

“You said conditions.”

“I wanted to ask for your help in preparing Gil for this.”

Three days later Francis had still not given Matthew an answer. If he agreed, he would be preparing Gilbert before the exhibit, helping Matthew during it, and acting as a third party for them both. The audience would have to go through him. It would be all but agreeing to actually have sex with them again, something that he wants desperately and fears in equal measure.

On one hand it makes him nervous. He is still afraid of Gilbert, for all that he once loved the man desperately. He still might, but those feelings are a raw tangle inside him. And Matthew, oh what he could feel for his once child-nation if he allowed himself. Gilbert broke his heart, broke his spirit - broke him for a while. Matthew had been the one of the ones to help to put him back together, but they'd drifted apart over the years. The Quebec Crisis hadn't helped.

On the other hand, it makes him excited. Seeing Gilbert submit to Matthew is a lovely thing. It has a level of relaxed aggression that few seem capable of handling. Prussia with his head flung back in defiance, Matthew biting down on his neck, both of their eyes fixed on him...Oh yes, he remembered what it was like watching them all too well. It had quickly become a favored memory for him. He'd gotten reports of how Matthew was firm and confident in training, how he could coax a nervous Sub into any situation with only the sound of his voice. Francis knows personally, given his history with Gilbert and that one night they all spent together, that their play time is a physical, nearly violent thing. Two titans coming together in a fury of sex and passion, until Matthew comes out on top, bending Gilbert to his will. He doesn’t like being physically dominated anymore, especially not by another nation, but watching it, Francis finds, can be terribly exciting.

It’s like standing on a cliff. He can go forward, and do his best to trust them, trust himself, with this…

…Or he can stay where he is. Terrified of moving forward, touched only by the men and women of his house, never touching another nation sexually.

Four more days later he’s made his choice.

He’s going to move forward, terrified and shaking, but he’s going to move forwards. He still wants this, whatever it is, and he'll take it.

“Here.”

Gilbert glowers at the rough Scottish accent but accepts the offering of cold beer nonetheless. “He’s fussing.”

Angus laughs at him, “That he is.”

“He thinks I’ll let that woman touch me if she tries anything.” Gilbert was less than thrilled when Matthew dropped him off at a very distant house in Nova Scotia and then proceeded to vanish, leaving him with a visiting Scotland. “Just let her try,” he continued. “She won’t like it. I've forgotten more tricks then she knows.”

Angus shrugged at him with his beer. “Or you can accept the help being offered and not have to break some woman’s neck to make a point.” Gilbert grunts in response. The Scottish nation just grinned at him, green eyes bright with laughter.

“The way I see it,” the Scot says slowly as he drank, “is you think I don’t see what you’re trying to do here.”

Gilbert grunts again into his beer. The beer’s actually quite good despite it not being a good proper German brew. Matthew left him here to work out his issues with Angus Kirkland. The thought of being taken into a House that wasn't his own was a bit upsetting, and he wasn't sure he'd be all that welcomed in the Scottish branch, after well...everything. Angus Kirkland had always been fond of Francis, going back to the days of Rome.

“I know you think they're too good for you."

Gilbert chokes on his beer.

Angus, damn his eyes, just stares at him evenly until he gets his breath back. “The way I see it,” he continues, “is that you can accept what has happened and accept what will happen. Because, Teutonic Order, Matthew's decided you're both his now and he'll fight to keep the two of you.”

Gilbert winced at the unsubtle reminder of his history. “And if I choose otherwise?”

The other nation simply shrugged at him. “Then you choose a hard path. The lad's giving you a chance at redemption.” Angus glanced at his beer. “I suggest you take it.”

“He's too good,” Gilbert said softly. “He's too good for someone like me, and I don't want to ever let him go, but at the same time if he finds out what I've done...”

“The past is the past. We all have to forgive not just each other, but ourselves.” Here, Angus paused to refill both of their drinks. “How else do you think I've kept from killing Arthur?”

There were things Gilbert did not want Matthew to know. Things like what he'd done as a Knight, before he was a Nation. He didn't want to wake up one day to find out that Matthew, having discovered his war stained past, had left him. He wasn't scared of Francis finding out his sordid past – after all Francis had been there for a lot of it, from the time he was a mere Order to when he became a landed Nation. What he feared was Francis deciding they – he – wasn't worth the risk.

“You've no protection like this Gilbert,” Angus had kept talking while he'd been thinking. “If for nothing else, take the protection freely offered.”

“If Matthew hadn't come to you, would you have still done this?”

The Scottish Nation was silent for a while. “Aye,” he said slowly. “It's not right how your own family leaves you alone like this. Family is family, ye ken?”

He looked down. “I don't want to be marked. I'm who I am,” Gilbert finished. “I can't let it go.”

Angus shook his head. “Now you’re just looking for excuses lad. Taking the mark doesn’t mean you. have to change, it’s just an extra precaution.” He clapped Gilbert on the shoulder, “Let’s go call Matthew and tell him he has one less thing to fuss over.”