Chapter Text
Thancred looked around the Bookman’s Stead and sighed. “When is the last time you bothered to tidy up?” Impossible as it seemed, the Elezen had more books stashed around his house. “Have you had a warm meal any time recently?” He sniffed the air, detecting incense and vellum, but not much else.
Urianger continued reading, frowning at the book as though he could force it to reveal its secrets.
The Hyur sighed again, shaking his head. “Keep reading, then, and allow me to make you something." Hard to want to pry the Elezen out of his books when it was all in effort to get them home.
He removed his outer coat and dropped it across the back of the closest chair, then made his way toward what passed for a kitchen in this place. Far from the best, it was still better than the many rough camps he’d been forced to cook at over the years.
Sorting through the limited supplies, Thancred frowned. “I understand the need to return, but you need to spend at least a minimal amount of time caring for yourself.” Nothing was actually rotten, but there were few enough staples and almost nothing fresh. “I wouldn’t have survived my time here alone on this.
“And I certainly couldn’t have done it with the ‘help’ of these bloody pixies,” Thancred shouted, throwing a useless bauble across the room.
Urianger cleared his throat, drawing the Hyur’s attention. He’d risen from his chair, and his long skirts swayed around his legs as he approached. “My humblest apologies that thine entrance went unnoticed.” The Elezen bowed his head briefly, coming to stop just outside the kitchen.
Thancred turned to look at him with a smile. The spicy scent of incense had grown stronger with the Elezen’s proximity, and he found it oddly relaxing. The Hyur didn’t normally care for what Urianger usually burned, but this one was…nice. He decided it was simply nice. “You’ll be completely forgiven so long as you eat with me.”
“’Tis not thy cooking I wish to dine upon.”
Ice filled Thancred’s veins, followed by a burning flush across his skin. His mouth went dry, and he merely stared at the Elezen. How had he never noticed how sensuously tall Urianger was?
Pale yellow eyes squeezed closed, and he lifted a hand to his forehead. “Seemingly I must beg forgiveness once more. Those words were not precisely of mine own choosing.”
Thancred turned away, fighting back against the spinning in his head. “Think nothing of it.” Why was it so hard to think of anything but leaning up into Urianger’s kiss?
He needed to stay focused. He reached for a tuber and a knife, intending to work on preparing them a meal. A meal he could feed to the Elezen, morsel by morsel as soft lips closed over the fork repeatedly.
By the Twelve, he wanted that mouth upon his.
“Have you changed your incense since my last visit?” Thancred asked, attempting to focus. His body tingled and grew lighter, almost as though he were becoming intoxicated. But without the heaviness normally associated with the process.
“’Tis a gift from the pixies.” Urianger made a soft noise – not dissimilar from a moan – and turned in a rustle of skirts. “They said it would open…” His voice dropped off into a full moan.
“From…the pixies?” Thancred panted, bracing against the counter. “And you trusted them?” Sweat beaded his spine, and he had to grit his teeth against a moan of his own.
Heat rushed across him again – searing his nerves – then pooled in his loins. Arousal was instant and intense, taking him by surprise. The suddenness wasn’t what caught him off guard. Twelve knew he’d had his share of flash lusts and hard ons, though not for a while.
Even realizing it had an outside source didn’t shock Thancred that much. Plenty of things on the Source with these types of side effects; why wouldn’t the First have them too?
He drew a deep breath – standing up straight – and glanced over his shoulder at the Elezen. No, what surprised him most was the absolute and undeniable attraction to Urianger. It didn’t feel new or out of place, but familiar and comfortable. As though Thancred had always wanted to be alone and naked with the scholar.
There were several giggles, and Thancred narrowed his eyes. “Bloody pixies. What did you do?”
Urianger braced himself against the wall, back turned and his other hand pressed to his forehead. So long and lean, with his chiton clinging to every line. Three pixies fluttered around him, smiling and laughing. “Isn’t this a fun game we’re playing?”
Thancred clenched his fists, but Urianger spoke. “Prithee explain this game of thine.” The Elezen’s voice was husky and breathy, and it raised hairs all over his body.
Pixie voices chorused together, pealing with laughter and joy as they took turns speaking. “Isn’t it just wonderful?”
“Other mortals seemed to enjoy playing after we helped them.”
“The flower grows everywhere, but it only helps when you smell its smoke.”
“We’ve helped other mortals relax and play too.”
“You two are just our favorite playmates.”
“Absolutely jumpingly cute.”
“We just want to see you play, together.”
Urianger groaned, leaning entirely against the wall. A fine sheen of sweat glistened just below his collar, begging to be kissed away. “By playing, doth thou mean…”
“They’d take off all their clothes and get real close and make just the cutest sounds.” Peals of laughter, and one of them darted toward Thancred. “We think you could enjoy playing with each other.”
Normally, he would be angry. The smoke seemed to dull that reaction, because all he could feel was desire. Lust. Need.
Urianger laughed slightly – a rare enough sound – and dropped his hand from his forehead. “Seen through a pixie’s eyes, such activities would verily appear as games.” He laughed again, but pointedly didn’t turn to face Thancred. “Seems our only solution would be to adjourn for the evening and allow their influence time to leave our senses.”
Thancred took a step closer, licking his lips as he studied every line of the Elezen’s body. Tall and lean and the exact opposite of every woman he’d ever tumbled. Not a conquest to be collected, but a wild and rugged terrain to climb like a handsome mountain. “That’s not our only option.”
Urianger glanced over his shoulder, cheeks flushed and eyes dark with desire. “My friend?”
Heat suffused his face as the Hyur continued to close the gap – step by careful step – and licked his lips again. “Rather than flee and hide, we embrace this moment…and each other." His erection pulsed in his trousers, and Thancred let half a groan escape.
The Elezen’s shoulders tightened as his skin pebbled. “Thancred?” he whispered, voice throaty and full of deep need.
“Why waste this opportunity?” Thancred was close enough to reach out. He ran his hand up Urianger’s arm – across jewelry and chains and desire-roughened skin – and toyed with the edge of the chiton. “Or turn around and tell me that you want me to leave.”
Urianger looked away, and several heartbeats passed. Thancred kept his hand on the Elezen’s shoulder, trembling in response to every shiver that passed through the other man’s body.
When Urianger finally turned, he did nothing to hide the erection outlined by the drape of his skirt. “Stay.”
One single word spoken in that husky tone said far more than any verbose speech.
Thancred grabbed fistfuls of Urianger’s top and pulled him down for a kiss. The Elezen gasped as their lips met, and the Hyur moaned appreciatively. That initial touch sent fire across his skin and shot levin through his nerves. Perfection. An utter shame he’d have never known without the intervention of the pixies. “Where are those little buggers?” he growled after breaking the kiss.
“We seem to be alone,” Urianger gasped, laying his hands on the Hyur’s waist. So large and strong, firm upon Thancred’s body. “However, there are never certainties with our flying friends.” He shivered, before taking a second kiss.
Thancred sighed as he opened his lips to the Elezen’s tentative tongue. Perfectly shy but wonderfully warm, and delightfully strong against his own. He ran a hand through thick gray hair, and held Urianger into the deepening kiss.
He tipped his head as he slowly pressed his tongue further in a quest to explore every surface of Urianger’s mouth. The Elezen tasted amazing. Faintly of herbs and something sweet, and deeply of lust. Untapped desire that had been drawn to the surface from whatever mental prison it was kept in.
Urianger slid hands across the smaller man’s body. One across the back of his hips to pull Thancred closer, and the other up his back to his shoulder. Long arms wrapped tightly around the Hyur, bundling him close and keeping him safe.
“Amazing,” Thancred gasped when they broke the kiss. They remained tightly pressed together, each trembling slightly. Never had he felt so enveloped and loved as he did. The Hyur lamented that he’d never bedded someone taller than himself.
“Pray forgive me,” Urianger whispered, locking his arms tighter and rocking his erection against the shorter man. “Mine time has not been spent on lovers, nor…” He swallowed hard, brushing his lips across Thancred’s. “Thou would be…”
“Same for me,” he responded, running his fingers through Urianger’s hair again. Thancred’s heart raced and his member throbbed. Then he suddenly smiled crookedly and reached up to trace the fringes of the Elezen’s chops. “I can think of no one I would rather be with, though.”