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-Ebon
*insert your choice of any reasonable disclaimer*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
note: Anyone want to find out
what is brought into the open next?
Then read on my friends, read
on! I should probably mention that
this gets more than a bit lemony.
^_^ Have fun!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rowen shifted nervously
under the scrutiny. He could feel
Sage's eyes peering into him, digging deep.
What did Sage want to
hear? That he wanted Ryo to take him in
nothing less than a
blazing fire of unbridled passion? That
he *didn't* want that?
(Dear god, he was starting to quote Mia's romance
novels! He
cringed.) Sage's lack of outward emotion
was becoming very
disturbing. He didn't think he could brave
looking into those pale
eyes fixed on him with such determined concentration.
"Tell me what you want,
Touma," Sage intoned quietly. "It's
your choice."
The hand slipped from
his cheek, trailing down over his shoulder
before clasping his hand, twining slender fingers
with his own.
"*My* choice?" Rowen
asked apprehensively, trying to pull
away but unable to free himself from the grasp
Sage tightened on
his hand. He'd been caught off his guard
- something he hated.
"What choice am I making?" His mind seethed
with a jumble of
confused thoughts - another thing he hated.
He wasn't at all certain
what his most intimate of companions wanted to
know. "Am I
choosing between you and Ryo...? Always
you, Seiji. Always."
He heard Sage chuckle
and frowned in consternation. Halo was
doing it again - laughing at something *he* wasn't
in on, at his
baffled expression. It was immensely annoying.
Rowen yanked his
hand loose with a second attempt and pulled his
knees tight against
his chest, back turned on his partner.
What was so damn funny?!
He let his blue-glass
gaze wander over the details of the room.
Each and every piece spoke of Sage in some way.
Understated,
old-world elegance...almost Spartan in the scarcity
of decoration.
Yet he found evidence of himself amidst the near
perfection. A
pencil laying on the nightstand, worried almost
to death by
toothmarks. The small scattering of Star
Wars and Mercedes
Lackey paperbacks - all on the verge of falling
apart from numerous
readings - laying on the desk, dresser, and various
other surfaces.
In his own room, he knew where to find such small
evidences of
Sage's influence. He bit at his lip and
wondered if he were about to
end up in some stupid argument for no reason
he could name as
Sage was suddenly so quiet behind him.
He felt the bed shift.
The strong arms of his
swordsman wrapped securely around him
then, the buttons down the front of Sage's soft,
cream colored shirt
pressing against his bare back and a knee raised
to either side of
him. Sage nuzzled into his neck, laying
dozens of kisses over the
warm skin. "I never doubted that, you brat,"
he spoke gently into
Rowen's ear.
Rowen wormed around in
the encircling arms to look at the
blond warrior. Sage's expressive lips hinted
at a smile and his eyes
were mischievous. He was up to something.
A lush plot, some
luxurious machination, was even now being devised
in that clever
mind of his. Rowen of Strata didn't know
if he should be frightened
or eagerly awaiting whatever came of it.
"That's not what I was referring to, though."
Rowen cocked his head
to one side in wary askance. "But-"
The quicksilver touch of Sage's lips to his silenced
him.
With a huff, Rowen glared
at Sage. Reaching out, he tucked the
lock of honey-blond hair that obscured Sage's
right eye willfully
behind his ear, daring it to fall forward with
a raised brow. Rowen
crossed his arms tightly across his chest and
grouched, "I hate it
when you do this." He glanced away for
a brief second then, fixing
narrowed eyes on the divine, tear-shaped face,
asked, "What
*were* you referring to?"
Sage snapped the waistband
of the boxers against Rowen's flat
stomach and smiled in a suggestive way that had
Rowen's
temperature taking an upward turn. Again,
the archer thought.
Before he could consider further, Sage was easing
him back on the
bed, urging his legs apart with an insistent
hand.
Poised between the long,
ivory-skinned limbs, Sage hovered
over Rowen for a moment, just watching him as
he went from
brooding little boy to surly, greedy kitten in
a matter of seconds. It
never took much with the archer, whom he'd found
to be
delightfully wanton. Sage descended, as
if to kiss, but held back
when Rowen lifted to meet him. The length
of his blond hair just
barely touched the flesh almost as fair as his
own.
"No. Let *me*,"
Sage chastised with a small frown, nothing
more than a tightening of his lips. Rowen's
slow blink and
expectant pout assured him that he'd been given
control. He moved
in again, tasting those sulking lips for only
a brief moment then
sliding lower. A fit of boyish giggles
and an enticing wiggle was
won when Sage tickled the sensitive spots behind
of Rowen's
knees, which lifted upward to squeeze the fingers
away from their
wicked deed. As his tongue ran a fiendishly
winding path over
Rowen's smooth skin, his hands lazily fondled
their way up the
archer's inner thighs.
Soft exhalations of pleasure
rang in his ears. He had no doubt;
Rowen was his. Smirking, Sage tugged lightly
on the silver ring
that shone brightly at Rowen's navel with his
straight, white teeth.
The slender, athletic body arched up in sympathy
to the rousing
tactic. Such a unrestricted sensualist,
his lover. He wouldn't have
it any other way.
He remembered how Rowen
had woken one morning a few
months ago to find himself pierced after a drunken
night of revelry
with his friend Kimiko... The small, indigo
kanji tattooed on his
lower back was another reminder of that night
the archer couldn't
recall. Sage took the ring into his mouth
and alternated between
sucking and laving the sensitized flesh.
Beneath him, Rowen bounced
and squeaked, unable to decide if
it tickled or excited but knowing he *really*
liked it when Sage did
this. His fingers clawed into the quilt
then released before digging
in again in quick spasms as he wriggled under
the assault. The
faded erection Ryo had created earlier was now
back with a
vengeance as a hand slid under the green silk,
the touch light and
tormenting. His eyelids drooped low and
he whimpered.
Then, Sage paused.
Drawing himself back,
the warrior ran his silver-blue eyes over
the archer's form. In the late morning
sunlight he seemed almost
fragile, his body reedlike, but Sage knew well
the innate strength
that resided in the whipcord muscles. He
let a slow, hungry curve
spread over his mouth.
Both of his hands rushed
in and grabbed a handful of green silk,
yanking the material from Rowen's hips.
Holding the boxers
thoughtfully in a hand for a moment, he tossed
them aside with an
air of negligence. They weren't needed
right now. He surveyed the
revealed flesh that he understood in exceedingly
intimate detail, the
arousal he could feel without touching...even
when touching was so
much better. He reminded himself he wasn't
after a quick piece of
ass, though. Not yet, anyway...
Sage purposely ignored
Rowen's awakened member, instead
toying with the silver hoop again, flicking it
with his nimble fingers.
"I need to thank Kimi for this. It really
is lovely." He tugged on it
hard, making Rowen hiss in pain. "I'm sorry,"
Sage murmured. As
he moved between the raised knees to love the
hurt away, his shirt
brushed against Rowen's sex, eliciting a sharp
intake of air.
"Sage..." the archer
complained when the blond continued to
entertain himself with the piercing. He
shifted his hips, hoping to
gain stimulation more intense than the soft sweep
of cloth. One
hand tangled into the lustrous golden hair that
veiled Sage's features
and his own middle like a swath of antique satin.
Sage batted the
hand away then leaned heavily on him, arms
crossed indolently over the sleek belly, stilling
Rowen's movement.
"Do you want something?" he inquired, already
knowing the
answer. When he received Rowen's growl
in reply, he continued,
"Wait. Let me guess." Halo
dropped open-mouthed kisses across
the vulnerable, rose-petal soft skin low on his
stomach, slowly,
steadily shifting lower.
Nibbling at the tender
flesh where thigh joined into abdomen,
Sage turned his head a little to nose the wispy
blue curls. "Is this
what you want?" He gently bathed the shadowed
shape of Rowen's
balls with his tongue. Breathy exclamations
accompanied a twisting
of hips as Rowen attempted to coax the hot mouth
to where he
really wanted it.
Sage looked up and saw
Rowen watching him with passion
clouded eyes, his lips parted and sexy.
"No? Maybe this is what
you want?" he asked before flicking his tongue
over the rigid sex,
mouthing around the base. He almost laughed
aloud when Rowen
protested the teasing.
"Dammit! Ah!
Sage! ...mmm...nnnh... What are you - oh! -
damn you!"
"Or maybe-" Sage paused
again, long enough to wet his fingers,
"-you want this?" He reached down and carefully
pressed inside the
tight, grasping heat of Rowen's body with first
one and then a
second digit.
Rowen rocked back on
the fingers as they slowly began to work
in deeper and then slip almost completely out
of him. He was
panting when Sage's other hand closed firmly
around him, pumping
in the same maddeningly slow rhythm. Again,
Sage's voice spoke
to him as he moaned and writhed on the bed.
"Do you want him to
do this to you?"
"Uhn...who?...mmm-"
"Ryo. Do you want Ryo to do this?"
"Sage...ahh..."
"Answer me," Sage persisted, increasing the speed of his hands.
"Ah! Mmm..."
"Touma! Do you
want Ryo to fuck you?" He grinned devilishly
as the pale, willowy body tightened and bucked
under his
ministrations.
"Nnngh!"
"Answer me."
Rowen gripped the patterned
quilt with white knuckled hands,
groaned out what Sage wanted to hear, "Yeeesssss!"
"What do you want?" Sage
taunted. "Tell me, Rowen. What is
it that you want?"
"Oh god...Sage...uhn..."
He was so close now! Just a little bit
more and he would topple over the edge...
"Say it."
The firm grip on him
loosened and the fingers that had been
pounding into him fell to a sluggish pace.
"Dammit, Sage!"
"Just say it, Rowen."
Rowen mewled against
this agonizing treatment. "I-I...mmm...I
want-"
"Yes?"
"I want Ryo to fuck me!"
Rowen gasped as Sage squeezed him
hard before taking both his hands away completely,
leaving him
empty and pulsing with unfulfilled passion.
Sage sat up on his knees,
smirking as deep blue eyes narrowed,
stabbed into him, and smoldered with unmistakable
frustration.
"That's all I wanted to know," he told his blue-haired
lover. He
dropped a loud slap of his palm against one of
the white hips, and
with smug satisfaction ordered, "Get dressed."
The tall, slim body in
sophisticated clothing slipped off the bed
and was out of the room. Rowen, filled
with exasperated disbelief,
lay still until he heard the door shut, after
which he promptly curled
his fingers into tight fists and slammed them
down on the mattress
as hard as he could. No way was he going
to finish this himself!
Not after blondie's little show - no matter had
bad he wanted it.
"SAGE, YOU GOD DAMNED BASTARD!"
Even through the door,
he could hear the laughter that was
Halo's reply. "Shit," he muttered in furious
aggravation and tried
not to think about how easy it would be to reach
a hand down...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shaking her head when
Rowen's burst of profanity floated into
her room, Mia chuckled. She wondered what
Sage had done this
time. Then, turning back to the work at
hand, Mia grabbed up the
thick stack of paper and stuffed them back into
the manila folder,
unable to take any more of the torture some of
her students called
completed assignments. Not all of them
were horrible pieces of
rehashed drivel but those that were made her
head ache like a real
never mind.
With a resigned sigh,
Mia pulled free the pencil she'd shoved
through the sloppy twist she'd made of her hair
to hold it out of the
way. The long locks of cinnamon brown fell
into place, hanging a
good reach below her shoulders.
Luckily, it was Saturday.
She still had tomorrow to try reading
the rest of the stack. Looking at the glowing
red numbers on her
alarm clock, Mia grimaced when she realized she'd
only been
working for a little over an hour. Well,
that last paper made it seem
horribly longer, she reasoned. She deserved
a break after that one.
Just where in hell had that student gotten his
information? The
back of a cereal box?
It had taken her mind
off the morning's little drama, though.
Now, time distanced her just enough from the
revelation to look at
it from a different perspective. Try as
she might, she really couldn't
deny it. Dais and Yuli *were* kinda cute
together... Mia sighed, a
calm, sad smile graced her pink lips. When
was it *her* turn to be
gushy and sugary-sweet with someone? Damn
you, Ryo, she
thought in continuation of her long-running silent
litany.
Leaving her desk behind,
Mia stepped into the hall and grinned
when she found Sage picking up the clothing that
still lay flung
across the floor. "Don't forget the trail
goes *all* the way down to
the front door, Seiji," she reminded him, adding
an innocent flutter
of lashes. She hurried around him, heading
for the bathroom,
before he could come at her with more than a
snort of disapproval.
To her great annoyance,
she found the door locked. Rather than
head downstairs to the other bathroom, Mia knocked.
"Yeah?" came Ryo's muffled voice. He sounded a bit distracted.
She stared at the door
in surprise. "Are you *still* in there???
My god, Ryo, what are you doing that takes so
long?"
The door opened wide
enough for Ryo to pop his head out.
With a sullen face - not an unusual sight - he
answered, "Um,
nothing...well, no, that's not right. The
wall kinda had an accident
and I'm trying to fix it."
"Again? What happened?"
Mia asked, hoping she sounded
concerned rather than condescending. He
really didn't need her
patronizing him. Obviously something had
occurred that set off
Ryo's exaggerated sense of self-blame. Walls
didn't have 'accidents'
without help. "Let me in, please?"
"I sorta hit it," he
told her sheepishly, moving back so Mia could
slip into the room with him. Uncomfortable,
his gaze shot around
the bathroom, alighting finally on the half-patched
hole. He didn't
look at her.
I'm going to explain.
I'll tell her all of it, Ryo affirmed
silently.
Except what Rowen said before leaving...
He was still worrying
over the void those words left inside him.
Yes, maybe he did
belong with Mia (never mind that he was too chicken
to go for her)
but he still wanted the tall archer, more than
he'd ever imagined
now that he'd actually touched that pliant body.
As he stared at the
damage his fist had caused, he realized fixing
the wall was far more
inviting than the thought of telling Mia the
reason it had happened.
He was going to tell
her, dammit. He *was*. Telling her that
he'd almost fucked Rowen on the floor where she
was standing was
still easier than telling her that he wanted
her in that same position -
badly enough that it left him heartbroken to
know that he didn't
have the courage to do anything about it.
And he *had* to tell
someone about the escapade before he ended up
in a depression
over the situation. He rubbed at the back
of his neck and waited
for her to start, feeling like a hormonal teenager.
Mia blinked. Then
she frowned. The damage wasn't the worst
she'd seen any of the guys cause and Ryo knew
what he was doing
with the repair (as he'd done it many times before).
She looked at
him, a white smear of plaster across his tan
cheek matching the
smears over his t-shirt and faded blue jeans.
Whatever had
happened, it had him heading toward a melancholy
she hadn't seen
him suffer in a long time. "Why?"
Ryo coughed a little
and closed the door. Sage was still in the
hall and the blond really didn't need to hear
this from *him*. That
was Rowen's job, if anyone were to tell him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Laying the clothes he
had already gathered near his bedroom
door, Sage then moved back to the puddled silk
of cobalt blue. He
lifted the shirt and held it up in the light.
It was damp in places, he
noted, one corner of his mouth twitching upward.
Ryo had
probably tripped over it on his way back to finish
his shower earlier
that morning.
The day was not at all
going as he had envisioned upon waking
but maybe - just maybe - something might come
of it. He was
decidedly curious to know what had gone on between
his love and
Ryo but he knew better than to ask Rowen.
The archer would have
absolutely refused to go into any detail.
After everything that they
had done together - some of it especially kinky
- Rowen was still
entirely too self-conscious to verbalize, although
anyone given the
chance to be with him would think otherwise.
He watched the bathroom
door close behind Mia and seriously
considered pressing his ear to the wood.
Some elaboration would
likely tell him just how agreeable Ryo might
be to his scheme.
Maybe Ryo would be more forthcoming with Mia
about the
specifics of the event?
"No," Sage determined
quietly, "I want Rowen to tell me." He
smirked and began silently adjusting his ideas
to accomplish this. If
Ryo was serious about his attraction to Rowen,
Sage knew he
could make things happen. Now, he just
needed Mia to get out of
the way for a bit so he and Wildfire could talk...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You should have seen
it when Kayura lost it and used that staff
to whack them both over the head! They
were out for days!" Dais
exclaimed with a flashing smile. "I can't
remember when we ever
got more done ridding the Nether Realm of nuisances.
I really
think Cale and Sekhmet need to get out more -
or at least be
knocked out more often."
Cye laughed and reached
for the battered old teapot to refill his
cup. He was finding that, as they talked,
he was liking Dais more
and more. Softly spoken, steady in nature,
a forgiving sense of
humor... A very good match, indeed, for
the loudmouthed spaz
they called Yuli.
They fell silent as Mia
strode purposefully into the kitchen. It
was like she almost didn't notice anyone else
was in the room, until
she stopped beside the table. She contemplated
Cye for a long
while then quietly informed him, "We need to
talk."
"Of course." He
pulled out the chair next to him and nodded for
her to sit.
"Not here. Somewhere
alone," Mia replied, shooting a quick
glance at Dais and Yuli from the corner of her
eye.
Cye stood and gestured
for Mia to lead the way. She swept past
him, snagging his arm to drag him along behind
her. He protested a
little - only to have Mia press faster through
the kitchen, nearly
pulling him from his already stumbling feet.
They were quickly out
the sliding glass door and onto the back deck,
soon vanished from
sight.
With them gone, Dais
looked at Yuli and asked, "What do you
suppose that was about?"
Yuli pursed his lips
then frowned. "I'm thinking that Rowen
really *did* walk in on Ryo...and Mia just found
out the juicy
details."
"Oh dear. Have
you come to the conclusion that *I'm* right
about Ryo and Mia yet?"
"Uh huh. Guess
I *was* wrong there," he conceded. Then,
absently running a thumb along his jaw, "I wonder
how far Ryo got
with Rowen?" He reached for the steaming
cup of hot tea sitting
on the table before him and lifted it to his
lips.
"Obviously farther than Mia's gotten with Ryo!" Dais snickered.
Yuli snorted into his
teacup, dribbling a wet mess down the
front of his shirt.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
END PART FOUR
