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The tundra felt colder than Bad thought possible as he blinked awake, sitting on a square-ish platform of wooden planks. Whoever did this wasn't cruel enough to leave him sleeping in the snow, at least.
What happened?
The last thing that came to mind was how he reached the coordinates sent out by the Federation, he saw someone come around the corner of the forest he was in, and then...?
Blank.
Nada. Nothing.
Just like all the blinding white terrain around him. It almost hurt to stare at too long, so he sighed, then stretched upward, looking around to find anything else of - Oh!
A green lump was on the wood plank floor next to him.
“Etoiles?”
The other lump on the wooden platform groaned at being called out to. Someone clearly didn't like his beauty sleep being interrupted.
Yep. Nobody else would make a moaning gargle noise like that.
Definitely Etoiles.
Bad stood up, shaking off the snow that had lightly begun to build on him.
He took stock of the world around him one more time, now with the advantage of standing.
This was definitely a snowy tundra, almost nothing stretched out before him except the white plains, and no ocean was in sight at all. A few spruce trees dotted the landscape, and he swore he could pick up the scent of the small white rabbits that inhabited the biome.
Where in the world was he?
Why?
“Badboy, are you not wearing your backpack for a reason?”
Huh?
BBH turned back to look down at Etoiles, who was now sitting up.
He reached for his backpack, of course it was -
Ah.
“Wait, where’s my backpack?”
He spun around. Maybe he just misplaced it when he passed out in the middle of this tundra somehow, right? Right??
“I have one.” Etoiles was holding a green bag out, now standing up and brushing snow off himself.
“Oh great, you can just set one of your waystones down!” This is so easy, why was he even -
“It is not my backpack.” He held it out for Bad to take, “There were only a few stacks of avocado toast and, uh, glass bottles of water inside.”
“Ah..." Bad made a sad little squeak nonetheless, and took the bag.
Rummaging through, Etoiles was right. Just avocado toast and water.
How was he going to get word to the others they’d need to watch out for Dapper and Pomme?
The demon paused, processing the thought for a moment that stretched out for an eternity.
Right.
Dapper and Pomme.
His missing kids.
Gone for four days now.
The ones that were missing.
Right.
The thoughts turned bitter when he mentally went down the path of considering what he would even send to the others if he could.
Hey guys, I’m stuck in the tundra! Can you please look for my missing children while yours are missing too? K thx bye owo
He gave a hollow laugh. It really was just him and Etoiles out here, wasn't it?
Etoiles was looking around in different directions, presumably making some sort of plan on which way to travel.
It struck Bad as odd he wasn't using any techniques to determine the cardinal directions. Did he not know any?
Awesome.
Him and a guy who loves the wilderness, but had little to no survivalist skills.
This was going to be fantastic.
“We are so muffin’d.”
“We can start walking?”
“Sure. Why not.”
The air felt frozen, unendingly lifeless with no breeze, and the overcast sky had no sun.
Snow fell in a light drizzle.
It made Bad’s hair stand on end.
The weather of this island didn't just do that.
And while they weren’t exactly starving, BBH just wanted something else to eat besides avocado toast. He hadn't felt this ravenous for a food craving in years.
He stayed decently close to Etoiles as they continued along. Sure, he could handle himself and hold his own if it came down to it, but in a situation like this where their defense was iron grade at best, and it was only the two of them? Better to stack the odds in Bad’s own favor.
Plus, seeing the way Etoiles’s muscles flexed as he swung an axe to cut down every new tree they saw was doing things to his brain. A little light of happiness in an otherwise miserable situation.
He pursed his somewhat now dry lips. Man, what he wouldn't give to get his hands on those arms, like c’mon. Not to mention how his back looked, flexing like -
Bad blinked.
Something moved from the corner of his eye.
He stood still, inching his face into turning ever so slowly.
A bear.
Bears have meat. And fur.
Meat... is a non-avocado toast food.
Fur can be used as insulation in cold environments.
Not that the BadBoyHalo was ever too heavily affected by temperatures, but who was he to deny the comfort of having a new fur to cuddle up on.
And a nice meat pie... Eh, he didn't have bread did he? A nice chunk of meat sounded delicious at this point.
Anything that wasn't more avocado toast.
“Badboy?” Etoiles’s voice cut through the air like a knife through a sheet of paper.
Bad held his finger up to his lips, slowly pointing in the direction of the animal.
Etoiles’s eyes narrowed. He silently nodded as he looked to the beast, then nodded back at BBH.
The demon’s voice was just over a whisper, “I’m gonna attack it from the back. You follow up while it's injured. We can take it out.”
Etoiles made a noise of approval. He could listen to orders well.
He usually quite enjoyed it.
Bad equipped his sword, there were no eggs around to worry about sweeping edge.
Etoiles held onto his axe. Why waste the energy on changing equipment?
The bear didn't stand a chance.
The creature fell in a matter of seconds against two inhuman men.
With it dead, Bad began his work on preparing the hide and meat. He’d be busy for a while.
Though he did manage to convince Etoiles to go search for more trees while he worked. Good thing tree felling also had a borderline guarantee for a few apples with it.
His thoughts stuck on the concept of meat and apple stew as he worked, almost giving him the feeling of hunger pangs.
The sun was lowering by the time he finished, neatly storing the contents in the single backpack.
Etoiles had reappeared around the same time, carrying an inventory of apples, sticks, and logs.
Which was when the sky started to snow in full force.
Because some cosmic deity out there just truly loathed the man known as BadBoyHalo.
Why wouldn’t they.
Their restarted trek continued in a similar fashion to before, except this time with much more urgency so as to not let Etoiles freeze to death.
The terrain started having small hills to walk alongside as they hurried. Things really were changing! No more monotony of the plains!
The snow started coming down heavier.
And heavier.
And, fudge it, he was pulling Etoiles into a cave with him.
Three days. Three days they’d been inside. Three days of constant, unending, heavy, heavy snow.
The fire was warm in the cave, and Bad’s head felt cloudier than before.
Something was off.
He swallowed down the last piece of apple that he'd finished roasting over the fire, then rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Something had an overbearing smell, like the smell of the air when rain poured.
And, jeez, when did the fire make the room feel so hot?
Bad’s fingers worked at his own jacket’s zipper, pulling the thing off to set behind him. Whatever it took to make himself feel a little cooler.
“Badboy?” Etoiles was here. Right. His voice came from just over Bad’s shoulder.
Better to humor him, “Hm?”
Bad looked back to see Etoiles fidgeting around right where he expected. He was knelt down beside where Bad sat in front of the fire, and looked torn between trying to keep hovering around, or going ahead and burying his face in Bad’s neck.
Oddball. No reason to not torture him though. “Whatcha doing there?”
“I was, ah, trying to see if you were injured.”
“We’ve been locked in a cave together for three days.”
“You never know what danger is where you cannot see!”
“Okay Mr. Protective.” The omega snorted, sliding over and nuzzling his face into Etoiles. If he wasn't going to just hand over the cuddles he clearly desperately wanted to give Bad, might as well take them, right?
“Ah.” Etoiles fell over like a leaf on a particularly weak branch as Bad began his attack, following him down to lay on top of him.
He was so good at this. Cuddles fudging acquired.
Etoiles was going to be scent marked like no tomorrow, with Bad rubbing his cheek across the other’s scent gland. Nobody else would even think to stake a claim on him.
...
Bad stopped his scenting.
And slowly sat back up.
Etoiles was beneath him.
Bad was sitting on his lap.
On Etoiles.
Etoiles was covered in a dark flush, his eyes wide open beneath the mask as he stared up at the other.
Bad’s face felt scorching in return, but what part of him didn't feel overheated currently? His fist gripped into the fabric of his pants. Was he panting? He was panting, wasn't he?
A pause of silence that felt like it stretched a million years passed as they stared at each other, marked by the labored breathing between the two. Bad looked down, Etoiles faced upward.
Etoiles’s eyes stayed blown wide as he stared, his gaze was squarely locked on the omega in his lap. “I thought you took suppressants.”
Oh.
Oh.
Suppressants.
Suppressants for heat.
Heat.
Was he in heat?
No...
No?
Bad broke the mutual staredown, moving to look at his hands sluggishly.
...
Right. Heat.
Heat. The thing almost every omega goes through every six months.
The thing he'd been taking carefully managed suppressants daily for almost a decade to avoid.
The same suppressants that were in his bag before he blacked out and was dragged to this stupid biome. Three days ago.
Those suppressants.
His head was spinning, he scrambled off of Etoiles’s lap, hitting the cold stone floor below.
“I do,” His panting wasn't stopping, though whether it was from distress or from his heat was debatable, “I do take suppressants.”
Bad pushed himself up to sit his back against the cave’s cold wall, thank god he took his jacket off. He needed something to try and cool his body temperature.
Etoiles watched him as he moved, frozen in his own regard.
The other’s wide-eyed gaze didn't look anything similar to the way he’d seen other alphas stare. This wasn't the gaze of a predator following prey.
It was more like the look of a deer in headlights.
The tension in the cave felt as thick as the pile of snow outside.
Etoiles was having a hell of a time.
First he has an omega scent the hell out of him, while sitting on his lap no less!
Then he figures out that said omega was, of course, in heat. After which he flung himself away like Etoiles burned him.
Because God forbid anyone like him out of their own volition.
Now here he is, frustratingly tense with bubbling electricity and laying on his side, staring at this same omega, who looks like he’s terrified Etoiles was going to jump his bones at any moment.
What is it with people and just assuming the absolute worst of him?
He takes a deep sigh, and pushes himself up to sit stiffly cross legged across the cave from the other man.
Might as well try to make an offer to smooth this situation out.
“I’ll go find another cave, so you can handle this on your own.”
Bad blinked back at him.
He sniffled, and then wiped at his eyes.
“Why would you do that?” He sniffled again, borderline sounding like he was ready to cry, “I need you.”
Need?
Etoiles’s brain flatlined. Badboy needed him.
He needed Etoiles for helping him through his heat.
And by god if Etoiles didn't love helping people - helping BadBoyHalo no less! - at every chance he got.
If Etoiles wasn't awkwardly trying to hide how turned on he was, he would probably be a little more pissed Bad was using his whining voice to ask. He knew full well how weak Etoiles could be to his begging. Or any requests in general.
Etoiles shuffled his cross legged position.
Ugh.
Fuck it.
Might as well indulge.
He let out a pained sigh, and awkwardly stood up, walking over to the other.
“You spent eight hours constructing a nest out of the furs you worked so hard on.” Etoiles was leaning over already, scooping up BBH bridal style, “Let's do this in that instead of the floor.”
Bad nodded lightly, with his eyes screwed shut, and nose scrunched. He was having a hell of sensory overload, feeling like the world was spinning the moment he was lifted from ths floor. He did, at least, finally realize after burying his nose into Etoiles’s neck, that the overpowering scent of rain had been his friend the whole time.
He squeaked when he felt his back set into the pile of soft furs. Etoiles was right, it did feel much more comfortable to lay on than rock.
His chest felt warm thinking about them both using his hard work to its fullest extent as well. He was getting such a good grade in nest building. Though, what part of him didn't feel like it was on fire right now?
God, he didn’t want to think about the amount of sweat drenching his current outfit.
That train of thought quickly died once he noticed Etoiles hovering over him, however.
“Why’re you,” Bad’s voice was hoarse, with words tangling on his tongue. Speech had become a much more labored process without him realizing, “What’s making you stop?”
“You're positive you want me - er, you want to have me spend a heat with you?” Etoiles’s words stuttered with the mid-sentence change.
Looks like Bad wasn't the only one having a hard time in the language department. He could fix this though. Using his specialty communication skill: Directness.
“Etoiles.” Bad reached an arm up, and hooked his fingers into the other’s shirt collar, before pulling him down to his face, “I need you, and I need you to knot me, and I need you to do it so well I won't be able to stand afterward.”
Etoiles was pulled down further, and then Bad was pressing a chaste kiss to his lips.
“Please?”
Next thing Bad knew, his tanktop was being peeled off and thrown to the side.
To keep up, Bad’s own nimble fingers began desperately undoing his belt, before he almost short circuited at feeling the same warm hands of the man overtop of him land lightly on his hips. The thumb rubbing circles into the divet certainly stopped all of his thought processes for a moment.
The belt buckle came undone, despite BBH’s shaking hands making the metal clatter together, finally yanking the rest of the belt open and apart, along with the button closures to his pants.
Thank god and the federation and whatever else might be watching over them at the moment.
Etoiles didn't waste time getting to work on the pants, pressing two fingers against Bad’s lower back to make the omega raise his hips and finally pull them off.
Bad shuddered at the cool air finally hitting his lower body, briefly mourning his poor pants that were probably ruined with the amount of sweat and other miscellaneous bodily fluids coating them.
His mourning was cut short by a hand thumbing at the waistband of his boxers.
He looked upward at Etoiles, now in total reverse from their positions from before.
And made a loud whine, “Oh - C’mon. It is so not fair you get to look like that.”
Bad had been so focused on himself stripping that he’d completely missed Etoiles doing the same, sitting in nothing but his boxers, and boy did Etoiles have a body that looked great to gnaw on right now.
Or to have pounding him into the floor very soon.
BBH raised his hips again, letting the wayward hands do what they'd like.
Which they did, pulling his waist down to meet Etoiles’s own crotch, drawing a shuddered breath from each party as Bad ground down on him.
And, well, if the feeling of what he’d just ground down on was any indication of how thoroughly debauched he was about to be, he really was not going to be able to stand after this.
Good.
Bad wiggled in the grip, incidentally perhaps grinding just a little bit once more, before breathing out a, “let go,” then squirming his way into sitting in a half-upright position as he was let go.
He paused to look down at his own hip, staring at the darkening fingerprints, then ghosting his own over them, before hooking his thumb onto the waistband of his last remaining clothing.
Etoiles, on the other hand, was now fidgeting as he did his best to keep his hands to himself, sitting back to watch the omega in front of him strip fully.
As the demon slowly, painfully did his striptease, all Etoiles could focus on was his bare neck.
How it might look much better if it had a necklace of marks adorning it.
Particularly if a bonding mark was on his scent gland.
What the fuck was he talking about?
He couldn't - Claiming someone without preparation was a terrible idea on all fronts.
Etoiles huffed, focusing back in on the now fully naked omega in front of him. Bad’s imp-like whip of a tail was fully free, lazily thumping against the furs behind him, watching with his pupils blown wide.
It’d be so easy to go ahead and dance his fingers over those hips again, pull them up to his own waist, and bury himself in those thighs.
He held himself back. If Bad wanted to give a show here, it’d be better to sit back and enjoy.
The cave’s air felt heavier from the sarsaparilla-scented pheromones of BBH, and all Etoiles could do was watch him work himself open with soft noises falling from his lips.
Bad bit down on his empty hand after a particular wrist movement, stopping the full fledged moan that almost broke out.
Etoiles had a bone to pick with it, why cover up those cute noises?
He opened his mouth to speak his mind, but the words died on his lips when Bad had pulled his fingers out, and gave a look to Etoiles.
“Are you going to sit and watch the whole time?”
That was all it took for him to be kicking off his boxers in a heartbeat, then sliding over to push the other down and hover over him.
A low whine could be heard throughout the cave, before finally, in the most pathetic little whimper in the world, Bad managed to get out, “Please just do it already.”
And who was Etoiles to say no to that? He snapped his hips forward with a loud groan.
They were both now lit up with adrenaline. Bad, on his part, stopped breathing. The mix of a euphoric dopamine high from the omega part of his brain being ecstatic at finally having the feeling of an alpha inside of him, with the physical reality of this being the farthest he’d ever been stretched as Etoiles was slowly pushing himself in until he was fully sheathed, was creating a concoction in his mind that was beginning to be hard to control.
“You are crying?” Etoiles sounded concerned. He slowed his movement to a halt in his worry, something that had Bad’s brain screaming he fudged something up for an alpha to stop like this.
“I’m - ah.” Bad wiped at his eyes. He was crying. Great. Crying during sex. Things could not be going better, “Just, uh, just give me a second to bottom out. I’ve, um..." He was, really, too old for this. Far too old. “I’ve never had anyone besides Foolish accompany me in a heat before, and, well, Foolish is..."
“He does not seem the type to put much effort in...” Etoiles solemnly agreed. He was wrong, of course, but those details were better to be sorted on another day, “Do you want to stop?”
“NO.” Came out as a yell from Bad. A yell which caused Etoiles to wince, knocking the air out of his poor little Bébou once more as he reflexively held the omega down.
They both were on edge. And not even the fun kind. Awesome.
“I, ah, I... Just slow the pace. At least for now. The point is I’ve never, uh, taken a knot before. It's more than I’ve handled.” His nails dug into the fur surrounding him.
“I can - I can distract you? If you do not focus on it, it will not hurt!” Etoiles’s expression had shifted into his little kicked puppy look he loved making.
But still. “How would you distract me?”
“Like this.” Etoiles was leaning over him, suddenly very, very close to a particular little location on his neck.
“Etoi - ah.”
BadBoyHalo was going to die and this was how. He was going to melt into a puddle. His whole body was relaxing. All from a frenchman paying a little too much attention to his scent gland.
There would definitely be a... well, not a mark mark, Etoiles wasn't biting him or claiming him, thank god, but a regular, super normal, mark left there.
Bad managed to move his free hand up to his mouth. Biting his tongue could only last so long - and by god he was going to be loud if he didn't.
He bit down, fully stopping the moan that would've bubbled up the moment Etoiles began moving again. His body was relaxed, letting movements slide with ease. His toes curled as he ground down, biting down on his hand to prevent himself from crying out when the next thrust hit a certain sensitive spot.
“Badboy,” Etoiles had lifted his face to murmur in Bad’s ear, “why are you silencing yourself? I would like to hear you.”
He moved his hand out of his mouth, readying to reply, when another sharp thrust hit the same spot, cutting the demon’s words to replace with a moan.
Now Etoiles was just teasing him. Snapping his hips into thrusts on the same over-sensitive spot every time Bad tried to get a word out, feeling like lightning shooting up through his spine, while also borderline nipping at his scent gland, letting his canines graze across the top layer of flesh, but never biting down.
Between the physical overstimulation, and the air taking on Etoiles’s heavy scent of rain, it was not an understatement to say Bad was starting to see stars.
Tears and what could only be described as squeaks - Bad would deny as much, swearing up and down he did not do such a thing as squeak - fell from him like a waterfall, as each hit to his prostate pushed him more over the edge, before finally, finally, he found his release. His hips were pulled to be flush against the other, cock fully sheathed inside, and Bad felt more full than he had ever been before in his life, with his own climax smearing between the two.
Blissed out was an understatement, he continued rolling his hips for a few moments longer. This was almost everything his heat-addled brain wanted. Almost.
Is it any wonder then, after Etoiles’s pace had entirely halted, his face lifting from being buried into Bad’s neck, with his own scent gland now very exposed, that Bad was moving his hand up to ghost his thumb over it.
The last thing his instincts were crying out for.
And it was so readily available.
Etoiles leaned into the gesture. He always did like obeying like that. Bad was nosing his way up into that spot between his shoulder and neck. Etoiles happily moved into the other as he felt teeth press against him, briefly thinking that it hadn't occurred to him Bébou of all people felt that way, but eh there's worse people to be bonded to, and Oh.
That's what it feels like to be claimed.
Etoiles made a sound somewhere between a cry and a moan. It was his turn to have the mental equivalent of steel wool pulled over his brain.
He tasted like the sharp tang of metal, before Bad lifted his jaw, following with an obscene lick to the alpha’s neck, and laying back down onto the furs.
Etoiles hovered over him, now panting in his own right, before blearily mumbling out, “Do you want me to you? Too?”
Between the tear stained, dilated, half lidded eyes, and his chest rising and falling in quick succession, his voice came out as gravel filled as his mind felt, “Please.”
The amount of sensations hit his body like a truck.
It was like he’d been seeing with a mesh over his face beforehand. A shiver ran up his spine, melting at everything happening.
Bad made a little noise of surprise as he was scooped up, and set upright, hands splaying onto a chest beneath him to keep steady.
“Ah?” He blinked slowly down at Etoiles.
“It is more comfortable like this, for me and for you,” He almost looked smug as he stared up at Bad, “or we can cuddle, it is up to you.”
Bad’s response was to flop down to Etoiles’s side for the suggested cuddles, the knot no longer binding them, letting him move off as he pleased.
Unsurprising, but true: the colloquial theory that spending a heat with a mate and taking a knot makes it much more bearable. And gives moments of clarity mid-heat after doing so. Great. He’d have to, unfortunately, remember this.
His face scrunched up at the realization he was theoretically planning a next heat to spend with his mate.
He had a mate.
Speaking of said mate.
“What is the matter?”
“Nothing.” Bad blurted out with little hesitation.
“Okay, well, nothing isn't the matter, something is the matter, you are doing the face you do when something is the matter.” Etoilee sniped back.
Bad huffed. Classic Etoiles. “We’re mates now.”
“I did bite you and you did bite me.”
“It means we are mated.”
“Is that a problem?”
“I don't know, is it a problem?”
“Okay. You do not want to answer. Is it something I did?”
Bad paused, “Ehhh..."
“It is something I did. And you will not tell me.”
“Well-”
“Is it because you hate me?”
Etoiles could feel the fullbody eyeroll the demon did before his verbal response.
“Yes, I detest you so much that I let you both knot and claim me. I only let my worst enemies do that,” The demon settled into cuddling into the other’s arm, allowing his eyelids to droop.
He didn't want to think about the fact he was now permanently bonded to someone any longer.
“Badboy, you are..." Etoiles looked down at the man on his arm, feeling the even breaths against him, “Asleep.”
He pulled one of the... many bear furs from their arctic slaughter currently being used as a nest, and threw it over the two of them. It was cold in a frozen cave, afterall.
He was happy to drift off cuddled into the other, the warm sassafras smell of Bébou, a little less heat-ridden, felt like a hug as his vision darkened.
Bad woke to an empty nest.
He was still wrapped tightly in the furs, his nest staying strong as a well built fortification of comfort, so he was definitely warm.
Warmth was about the opposite of what he needed during a heat of all things.
Bad threw the covers off, sitting up, not noticing until then just how much sweat was covering him, either.
His stomach hurt. Not only was he alone, he was just mated, and his mate decided to ditch him. He couldn't even keep a mate around, much less find his kids.
This was just like all those horror stories he knew, there was a reason he avoided being mated for so long.
First an omega goes into heat with some alpha they thought they knew well, usually an accident but not always. After that the alpha marks the omega, and then the omega wakes up the next morning with a missing alpha, and then either half their possessions missing, or a kidney gone.
He figured he should just be glad he still had his organs and that neither of them had anything with them beyond avocado toast and iron tools.
And what was Foolish going to say? He loved needling Bad for how he refused to have an alpha, and if the other omega found out, he’d never hear the end of it. He could almost hear the voice in the back of his mind saying BadBoyHalo I didn't take you as the kind of omega who gets around this much.
That was the other thing too, now everyone else on the island was going to see him as weak and easy.
How was he going to face Baghera, Tina, Forever, or literally anyone else?
And his heart still hurt.
“Badboy, you are crying again.”
The demon jumped like a cat being surprised.
Etoiles was halfway between the cave entrance and the nest, wearing pants again.
“Where were you?” BBH’s voice came out hoarse.
“I was, uh, getting snow to boil into water.” The other man held up the water bottle from the backpack, “You should have some. Dehydration hurts.”
Fudge. He couldn't hold that against Etoiles. Dehydration does hurt.
“...Yeah. Sure. Hand it over.” Bad held his own hand out, taking the water from the other to knock back.
Either the bottle did not hold much water, or he was thirstier than he thought. He didn’t even stop to breathe before he was finished with the drink.
“See? Now you will feel better.” Etoiles sat down next to the omega, a little smile dancing across his face.
Which is why he was caught off guard when lips crashed into his, and he was the one being pressed into the furs this time.
Etoiles was left breathless as he yanked his pants back off, tossing them to the side, while his new mate was grinding against him and leaving little room to talk.
Sure, he would talk about what he’d just found outside the cave, but could he right now?
Nah.
All of those thoughts got shoved to the side when Bad finally broke the kiss, fat tears sliding out and hitting Etoiles’s chest in droves.
Oh he fucked up. He fucked up big time.
Etoiles winced as another drop hit his chest, “What's the matter?”
“I thought you left me.” BBH’s pouting face covered in tears shouldn't have been as cute as it was.
Still. Important matters first. Like the assumption Etoiles would just leave his mate? “How much of a piece of shit am I for you to assume I would leave someone in the middle of heat?”
“I woke up to an empty nest and no indication you’d be coming back.”
“Am I not here now?” The implication stung.
Bad wiped at his eyes, “I’m happy you’re back.”
Oh. Ohhhhh.
Tears of happiness. Alright.
Etoiles reached up with a crooked finger, and pulled his chin downward to capture him in another kiss.
He had some ideas for how the rest of the day could go.
Etoiles watched the lithe form above him continue to rock backward, riding him with a tired rhythm. Etoiles’s hand simply moved onto the other’s leg, petting gently in time with the other’s panting and rocking.
It was hard not to admit Bad looked beautiful like this, his lips puffy from biting, now stuck slightly parted in an almost pout while panting, the claiming mark on his his collar, his fluffy dark hair bouncing around him like a halo, the soft hips and thighs constantly working to roll against the person beneath him, the amount of marks decorating said hips and thighs, and, of course, the cute little wince he had a habit of making when Etoiles pinched his thigh as a signal for his knot.
In retribution, BBH rolled his hips back, causing both to cry out, before a knot joined them together, and BBH was leaning forward to lay on the alpha’s chest beneath him.
“Are you tired?” Etoiles’s hand slid onto his lower back, rubbing a circle in the divet. He’d picked up the habit over the course of the last few days, seeming to be a quick way to subdue the other.
“Nngh.” Bad was nuzzling his face into Etoiles’s neck. His body felt like gelatine, and having a grounding force was necessary.
“Is that a yes or a no?” The dark hair of the demon tickled at Etoiles’s nose, “Do you need - ah.”
A fullbody shiver ran through him at the feeling of Bad nipping at his neck. Etoiles would be putty in his hands within minutes if he kept going.
Which is why he unfortunately had to be stopped.
“Badboy.” Etoiles reached over, pushing him up by the shoulders, “What are you doing?”
BBH looked akin to a cat that caught the canary, in the same tune of how he was borderline being held up like a particularly naughty feline.
“Well, uh, you know with my heat and all, I was just... Y’know.” There aren't many excuses for something done on a whim.
“Your heat?” Etoiles tilted his head to the side.
“My heat.” Bad nodded.
“Do you mean the heat that ended this morning?” Etoiles sounded a little bit too smug.
“No it didn't.”
“Your scent is back to what it was before the cave. You smelled like this when we were walking in the snow.”
“No it isn't.”
“Badboy.”
“Yes?” He plastered a smile on.
“You are lying again.”
“No I’m not.” BadBoyHalo did enjoy lying.
“Why are you lying?” Etoiles did enjoy calling him on his lies just as much.
The demon huffed, rolling his eyes, “Well. You marked me.”
“I did.”
“So now you have to deal with me.”
“I like dealing with you.”
“And how much I can enjoy... uh... intimacy at times.”
“Do you think I would be here now if I did not enjoy it?”
“Basically, I’m your problem.”
“And I am yours.” The smile could be heard in Etoiles’s voice, “You marked me too.”
“You are such a little ragamuffin,” Bad rolled off his lap, having long since finished being knotted, and flopped down at the alpha's side. “But if you enjoy it, why’d you stop me?”
“I am tired after having constant sex for five days -”
“Language.”
Etoiles’s nigh instantaneous scathing pointed look of a reply could really only be interpreted along the lines of I was knotted inside you less than fifteen minutes ago.
Bad pouted back, “Hey! Continue.”
“And I wanted to talk to you. It is hard to have a discussion when I am moaning. Or for you to think clearly when folded in half.”
“Mmhmm.” Bad watched as Etoiles moved over and grabbed through the pile of clothes next to him, then pulling his pants on after he sat up.
It was sad to watch his most comfortable pillow go, but the amount of claw marks and scratches covering his beautifully muscular back made a certain kind of satisfaction run through BBH. No one else got to experience this. Just him.
“I found something a few days ago, in the morning, it's why I left your side like that, but we got... uh, too busy to talk after I found it.” Busy learning the limits of a demon’s flexibility against a wall, but still.
“Oh?” Now he was interested.
Etoiles walked off to the mouth of the cave, where the shared backpack and piled up extra materials had sat.
Bad hadn't even noticed the second bag added. Etoiles was picking it up and bringing it over to the nest.
Something was off about it.
The backpack was set down in front of him. Bad’s nose twitched at its smell. His hair felt like it was standing on end.
“Are you okay?” Etoiles broke the silence in the room, his eyebrows now knit together and raised, “Is something not right?”
By all means, the backpack Bad stared down at was just a regular backpack, same as the other one.
It wasn't the look that set him into fear, it was the smell. Aggressively clean smelling. Like it was rubbed over with a sanitizer.
Only one source on the island had the same awful smell. The thought made his stomach twist.
“Badboy?” Etoiles tried again, with a waver in his voice.
“Yes,” Bad finally replied, blinking and shaking his head, looking to the other, “Yes - Sorry, it's just, the smell is, uh, it’s - Wait, have you opened this yet?”
Etoiles shook his head, now sitting down next to the other, staring at the bag with a mix of curiosity and confusion.
“Oh.” Bad turned back to it.
“What does it smell like?”
“Let’s just open it.”
All that sat inside was a cake, followed by a signed book.
Bad reached in, pulling the book out, ignoring the cake for now. It didn't take him much time to run through the single page of words.
The mark on his shoulder felt like it was hot as fire, his face burning with the same intensity.
“Badboy?” Etoiles’s face still had that same concern. The same friendly kindness as he always had written across his expression.
The warm, almost fond, glint in his eye was like Etoiles was taking a knife and twisting it into Bad’s chest.
“Just - It’s -” How could he have been so stupid. The other backpack smelled the same. He didn't think about it. He should have seen it coming. How did he not see it coming. “You should just read this.”
The book was shoved into Etoiles’s hands, with him looking between the demon’s miserable listless expression and the pages for a moment, before he slowly read through it.
Congratulations!
As the first successful participants in the mate matching program, started by the Federation with a goal to improve the islander quality of life experience for unmated residents, we hope you will enjoy your life on the island to a much greater extent! A cake is included with this letter for you to celebrate with.
Enjoy the island!