His assurance to the man that it certainly took a level of fitness to so frequently love a vampire was met with that ready chuckle falling from Sebastian's lips. That warm simper so dancing upon his own as Sebastian moved to draw him all the closer, Dorian wrapping his arms more readily about his lover as the vampire moved to run one hand across the bicep of his arm, squeezing the muscle softly, almost as if admiring that toned physique. Dorian remaining assured a truly large portion of that muscle was entirely thanks to the vampire himself and those frequent exercises they so partook of between the sheets. The Monarch entirely determined to keep up with his lover in every sense, Dorian content to believe he had never been quite so fit in all his life as he had become in that year he had spent at Sebastian's side and yet he would surely have it no other way. His lovers comment about that crumpet stirred that soft sound of amusement from his own throat now. He hardly knew in any sense just what this 'crumpet' was and yet he'd rather come to enjoy the phrase all the same, this notion that he was delicious met with that wholly lazy, satisfied smile. In all his life he had never quite desired to be referred to as 'delicious' in any sense and yet when it came to his vampiric lover the Monarch strove to be just that. Dorian rather content in the knowledge of just how glorious he so apparently tasted to that man resting within his arms even if he hardly knew just how or why he was as such.

His arms remained encircled about his lover, that utter need for closeness demanding nothing less in the wake off all the had done, his fingers tracing idle patterns upon the vampires shoulder as he so commented on the venom his lover so often indulged him with. Dorian assured that his own affinity so replicated those altogether glorious sensations Sebastian had introduced him too for the first time in this very room. His boyfriend hardly seeming convinced that their talents might so align, Dorian wholly oblivious to those concerns Sebastian had taken up over the idea that those couplings with him must surely be exhausting if this were the case. The Monarch so offering some reassurance all the same if only through that assertion he himself had surely cheated in this. After all, he had hardly used but a touch of his own affinity as Sebastian did with that venom during the most pivotal moment or indeed once or twice before. Dorian so purposefully having all but overwhelmed his lover with that sensation in an effort to so purely exhaust him as he had never quite been able to do before. The very nature off his lover's species so equipping the man with a decidedly short recovery time Dorian was often unable to best. The Fae content to assure his consort he rather adored that venom all the same. Dorian so often responding to merely a touch of the man's fangs in those teasing moments! The simple anticipation of it utterly delightful to him. Ah, but how he had come to near crave those bites that near constantly marked his frame in one place or another! Dorian so relishing everything his lover was capable off. The Fae uttering just that sentiment now.

That eye roll he was met with so brought that simper to his features once more, Sebastian so often eternally determined to give praise without receiving it in turn. Dorian, perhaps, equally determined to continue to press it upon him if only to assure the vampire knew of his own importance to the Monarch but each and every day. Sebastian, after all, was one of the very first beings in all his life to so care for him because he desired too. Not because he was required too. It was, perhaps, but a veritable downside to his own upbringing and position in life that those whom surrounded him did so because it was their job to attend to his needs, to tell him those things he wanted to hear and spend time in his company. Sebastian did all those things so purely because he wanted too, because he loved him and how very much that meant! Perhaps more than his words might ever be able to convey. The mere presence of the man within his arms far more meaningful then surely he might ever realise. Dorian wholly determined to assure he so understood the importance of his very existence and indeed how entirely thankful the Monarch was for but every moment they had together. Sebastian so often uninclined to acknowledge what Dorian knew to be true off him and the very man his lover was. Dorian so taking it upon himself to remind Sebastian, every now and then, off just how much he truly meant. The Monarch assured he all but orbited around his Consort. Sebastian his very world. The vampire, for once, seeming to accept even that small praise with but a bob off his head- contenting Dorian entirely for that evening before the memory of that gift suddenly stirred within his thoughts.

That groan of displeasure he was rewarded with as he rose from the bed saw his own eyes roll in a wholly teasing fashion. Dorian crossing the room to crouch beside his overnight bag and fish from within it that small leather-bound book that had been shipped along with that fan mail. He returned eagerly to that bed and his previous position nestled against the warmth off his lover's frame, that look of inquisitiveness upon Sebastian's features readily seeing the man open that little book to display the pictures nestled within. The vampire so eternally seeming surprised to discover photographs of him existed in any sense. Dorian assured he might never understand why the man continued to be surprised by them when he so surely saw those thousands of cameras pointed in their direction on a near daily basis whenever they had stepped outside those palace walls within Italy. Surely Sebastian knew of just how many men, women, girls and boys alike surely had those photographs off him stuck to their bedroom walls to but fantasize over! His lover so often seeming to fail to recognize his own popularity among the people and just how many people surely had a photograph off him now. Dorian wholly convinced he need show the vampire that magazine he had within his own desk at home, one sent by Matteo, the French Fae having discovered the teenage girl magazine just outside of Rome. That magazine so having come with a full-sized pull-out poster of Sebastian on one side and himself on the other printed upon that bright pink background and so surrounded with those love hearts. Dorian assured they jointly adorned the bedrooms of a rather endless amount of fans around the world.

Dorian moved then to gently open that book, allowing Sebastian to see those photographs that were far more intimate then those any being within this world surely owned of them, those pictures that were surely just for themselves to look upon so captured in those candid moments by the young Fae woman whom had discovered a passion for photography after having spent all her life within his own palace. Sebastian's assurance that they need send a gift and a letter of some sort was met with that ready grin of amusement at but this quirk of sorts the vampire possessed. His need to thank others entirely endearing to the Monarch as Dorian softly nodded his agreement. After all, in this he entirely agreed. The girl had done a truly remarkable job. These photos some of the most glorious ever taken off them if only for the manner in which they so captured those moments in time that were not staged or posed for or set up in any sense. They captured the simple emotion that existed in all its beauty and glory. They captured the truth of things and indeed, Dorian was rather taken with that 'truth' of Sebastian and himself that decorated these glossy pages. It showed the, truly, for how they were, rather than whom the palace so often made them appear to be to the world at large.

He flipped easily through those pages, settling upon that one of them upon the balcony, Sebastian's arms wrapped about him in the wake of that state dinner, that simple moment of affection and contentment was so entirely peaceful, a smile touching his lips even now as Sebastian's hand reached out to brush across that picture in a manner almost affectionate. The vampire assured such a picture might be his most favoured within that book as Dorian moved to that next picture of the vampire himself so dressed now in his casual clothing and bent over that piano with a look of supreme concentration upon his features and so blissfully unaware of that camera that had captured the moment with Bernard. Dorian assured he quite adored the look of his lover when he concentrated before he flipped to that next page. This photo alone perhaps one of the most striking within that book, this one captured within black and white, affording the entire photograph a different feel from those others. Sebastian and himself but the only being within that picture so truly in focus and yet it was that very focus that so highlighted the truth of that picture in turn. Even Dorian himself had perhaps not realised the utter purity of the emotion upon his own features in that single stolen moment in which his gaze had come to rest upon his lover but several feet away. Sebastian himself so blissfully unaware of just how Dorian looked at him. That, perhaps, so adding all the more emotion to that photograph. The utter affection and devotion and love upon the Monarch's features in that moment utterly undeniable.

"I think this might be my favourite."

He uttered but softly, those words holding a certain thickness to them all the same. Dorian unable to wholly prevent the emotion that laced them nor that tightness within his chest he was left with at the sight off it. How glorious a picture it was! That moment of silence shared between them now surely highlighting just that before Dorian so moved to play off those feelings, uttering those words of amusement now. After all, they both knew just what that picture meant. It hardly need be said. That simple, silent appreciation of its perfection so saying it all. Dorian content to tease at his lover now, Sebastian so readily seizing upon it as that grin upon his features widened all the more, that chuckle humming from within his chest before his lips pressed to the vampires cheek in affection. His features softening readily at those returned words.

"I love you too."

How wholly delightful those words were to say! Dorian grinning softly once more as Sebastian rolled onto his side, resting his head against his shoulder to look up at that photobook before those far quieter words seemed to reach him, his silver gaze glancing down at the man resting upon him now. That warmth seeming to flutter within his chest at just those idle words.

"I'm glad you did too, I'd be lost without you."

It was so truly rare for either man to speak openly of those affections they so often displayed through action or simple care alone and yet there was a time, Dorian was sure, in which such things need be offered in turn. The Monarch reaching then to pull that blanket up and over them both before settling back down against his lover once more with Sebastian's head returned to his shoulder and that book held before them. Dorian content to turn to that next page and the next, flipping through that book of memories shared now within the very room in which it had all begun that year ago.

Dorian sure he would not have changed any of it, not for the world.

Dorian Aragona