Chapter Text
Nothing good ever comes from the phrase ‘I had an idea’, especially when it comes from one Light of the Kshahrewar and one General Mahamatra, first thing in the morning after the pair had spent the night together.
When the two of them get together and have ideas, it usually involves Alhaitham carrying home a very drunk Kaveh while Tighnari does the best to wrangle his husband away from climbing the tallest structure nearby — or, more recently, someone getting tied up and fucked stupid, though Alhaitham himself hasn't been involved in any of those misadventures.
Given the looks on their faces, and the rope-marks he can see peeking out from under Kaveh’s sleeves, Alhaitham is willing to bet that may be about to change.
It's far too early for this.
“Good for you both,” Alhaitham says, lifting his mug to take a mouthful of coffee, trying not to make a face at the flavor.
No matter how hard he tries, he can never get it right the way Kaveh does, so whenever Kaveh sleeps over at Cyno and Tighnari’s, he has to suffer through his own terrible coffee in the morning, or face the consequences of going to work without the caffeine making people more bearable.
“You’re not going to ask what it is?” Kaveh asks, and Alhaitham doesn’t even have to look up from his book to know his boyfriend is pouting.
“The odds of myself ending up involved in whatever this idea is go up exponentially if I ask, and I have a meeting with Lesser Lord Kusanali in an hour.”
“Don’t be such a killjoy, Alhaitham. It’s not like I came up with it on my own, anyway. Cyno helped, too.”
“That is not the compelling argument you think it is,” Alhaitham deadpans, finally looking up at his two lovers. “The two of you looked like you got mauled, by the way.”
It’s not an understatement, and Kaveh’s cheeks immediately turn bright red — matching the blooming bruises Alhaitham can see dotting his skin through the gaps in his shirt.
Cyno doesn’t look much better, to the degree that he’d opted to wear something other than his uniform today, hiding most of his hickies so only a few peek out from beneath his shirt collar.
“We…may have gotten a little carried away,” Kaveh says sheepishly, while Cyno looks utterly unrepentant.
“It’s not my fault he looks so pretty when he cries,” he says with a shrug. “It’s not like you have any better luck when it comes to resisting him.”
Well.
He’s not exactly wrong.
None of them are particularly good at resisting Kaveh, especially when brought to the point of tears.
So instead, he opts to go back to his book and his coffee, and do his best to continue waking up before he needs to leave for the day — something that becomes increasingly difficult as he realises the pair of them aren’t going to go away until he asks.
“What was this brilliant idea of yours, then?” he asks with a sigh, bookmarking his page and putting the book down.
“So you know how it’s Tighnari’s birthday this weekend?” Kaveh begins.
“I do,” Alhaitham says. “I believe there were plans for us all to go out for lunch to celebrate. I trust neither of you have forgotten our reservations for that afternoon, considering how far in advance we had to book.”
“Of course I haven’t forgotten, what do you take me for?” Kaveh says, hands on his hips. “Anyway, we were thinking about more than just taking him out to lunch. It’s his first birthday since we started this whole…thing between the four of us, it should be special!”
Personally, Alhaitham doesn’t quite understand why it should be more special than any other birthday they’ve celebrated, but this is one department in which he has to acknowledge that Kaveh might be slightly more knowledgeable.
“What did you have in mind, then?” he asks.
“We want to give him a special gift from the three of us,” Cyno explains. “Well, specifically, the two of us want to give him you as a gift.”
Alhaitham blinks.
“…Me?” he frowns. “I don’t follow, and I’m sure that’s not just a result of me having not been given the chance to finish my morning coffee.”
“We want to give him you, the way he gave you Cyno,” Kaveh says, and it takes a moment for Alhaitham to understand what his boyfriend is getting at.
He immediately feels his face heat.
“I…see,” he says, mind suddenly flooded with images of himself, dressed and bound and ready to be used, the way Cyno had been for him.
It’s a heady thought.
Cyno slides into one of the free seats at the table, while Kaveh makes his way to the stove to pour himself a cup of coffee — only to make a face upon tasting it, pouring the entire pot down the drain.
“How can you be so good at so many things and still be so terrible and brewing a pot of coffee?” he asks. “One of the most powerful people in the country, and you can’t even make a drinkable cup.”
“It tasted fine to me,” Alhaitham lies, and the look Kaveh gives him tells him that he knows it too.
“What am I going to do with you?” he asks, shaking his head. “Put that cup of poison down, I’ll make a new pot while the two of you talk.”
He waves his hand in their general direction, before pulling out one of the many bags of coffee beans they own, pouring them into a grinder and beginning to crush them.
Quickly, the smell of ground coffee beans begins to fill the small kitchen and dining area.
Alhaitham watches him work for a moment, before turning to Cyno.
“So explain this plan of yours.”
“Right. So, you enjoyed bottoming for Tighnari the first time we all slept together,” Cyno says — a statement of fact, not a question, but Alhaitham nods all the same. “And you seem to enjoy being submissive for him as well.”
Again, Alhaitham nods, while Kaveh snorts — not even having the decency to look apologetic when Alhaitham glares at him.
“What?” Kaveh asks. “It’s a bit of an understatement, that’s all. Saying you seemed to enjoy subbing is like saying a fish seems to enjoy water or I seem to enjoy breathing.”
“Yes, thank you for your input,” Alhaitham says, rolling his eyes. “Unnecessary as it is. You know, you’re not exactly endearing me to your cause here.”
“Moving along,” Cyno interjects, probably sensing things starting to devolve into their usual bickering, drawing Alhaitham’s attention back to him. “I may have been pretty out of it at the time, but I also remember how you reacted when Tighnari mentioned you being tied up instead of me. I also know that he’s been wanting to follow through on that suggestion ever since. I think he’s been waiting for you to bring it up, the same way he did with Kaveh.”
“He’s not the first dom I’ve had, but he’s definitely the best by a long shot,” Kaveh says, making a face. “You could certainly do a lot worse when it comes to your first.”
“I wouldn’t want to do it for anyone else,” Alhaitham says, perhaps a little too quickly, and Cyno quirks a brow.
“Not even one of us?” he asks, staring right at Alhaitham while he tries to find something to reply with.
He hadn’t even considered letting one of them try what he wants to do with Tighnari.
Didn’t even know that was an option.
Is it an option?
“Yeah, we’ll be coming back to that later,” Kaveh says, looking between Cyno and Alhaitham. “Definitely coming back to that later.”
“Agreed,” Cyno says, still looking at Alhaitham, though his expression is more smug now. “But for now, this is about you and Tighnari. What do you think? Are you willing to let us dress you and tie you up for my husband, like a good submissive?”
It’s…strange, how this sort of talk has become perfectly normal breakfast conversation.
Stranger still, that Alhaitham doesn’t really mind.
He opens his mouth to reply, but then pauses, taking a moment to consider it — to really consider it.
Is he willing? Does he want that — want to be dressed and bound the way Cyno had been for him?
He’s fantasized several times about letting Tighnari fully have control over him like that, but there’s a difference between fantasy and reality.
“Will the two of you be there?” he asks.
“Do you want us to be?” Cyno tilts his head to the side, a lock of white hair falling into his face, and Alhaitham fights the urge to reach over the table to tuck it behind his ear.
When did he get so sentimental for someone who wasn’t Kaveh?
…probably sometime between falling into bed with his boyfriend and two best friends, and being trusted to take care of Cyno after finally being allowed to fuck him.
“I…” Alhaitham pauses for a moment. If he’s going to do this — which it’s looking increasingly likely he will, given the way he can already feel himself growing hard at the thought — how does he want to do it?
Having Kaveh there, and Cyno too, would be a safety net, and he knows he can trust either of them to intervene if things start to go wrong.
If it was anyone else, he might be grateful for that net — but this is Tighnari, the person that Alhaitham has trusted with his body three times now, and with his friendship for several years.
If he can’t trust Tighnari to do this right, then would he even want to do this at all?
There’s a thrill to being watched, and to being the one watching, but does he want that this time?
Can he get into the right headspace to enjoy it, if he’s being watched?
“If you think Tighnari would be amenable, I think I would like for it to be the two of us,” he decides.
Cyno nods.
“He will be,” he says. “And if it’s just the two of you, then neither of you will be distracted trying to also account for Kaveh and I. Believe me when I say that having Tighnari’s full attention is…truly something.”
Alhaitham swallows, throat suddenly dry.
Yes, he can imagine it would be.
“I don’t want to be tied up,” he adds.
“Is it ropes in general you don’t want, or do you not wish to be bound at all?” Cyno asks.
“If it’s just ropes you’re not interested in, there are definitely other options,” Kaveh says from his spot by the stove. “Cuffs, for instance. Like the ones we wore the last time we were all together.”
Yes, Alhaitham remembers those cuffs well. Red and purple, chained together and leaving Cyno at his mercy.
Softer than ropes — more gentle for a first time, and less intimidating.
That’s not to say he doesn’t want to try being tied up ever...just that he doesn’t want it this time.
“Cuffs would be acceptable,” he decides. “If you have any spare sets.”
“We can work with that,” Cyno says.
“So, you’ll do it?” Kaveh asks, placing a fresh cup of coffee down in front of Alhaitham and Cyno each and sitting down in his usual seat. “You’re allowed to say no, if you don’t want to. This is about you as much as it is him. Say the word, and we’ll drop it, and wait until you’re ready, even if you decide you’re never going to be ready. I know you don’t usually have a problem saying no to people, but this isn’t the usual situation,” he says, suddenly a lot more serious.
Alhaitham believes him.
Just as he’d known when Tighnari had first asked if Alhaitham trusted him, or when he’d been offered his nickname, he knows that if he says no, they’ll move on. They’ll come up with another surprise for Tighnari, maybe one involving just the three of them.
Nothing would change, just because Alhaitham couldn’t take this step.
But…a part of him feels sore at the thought of the three of them together, without him. He knows it’s easier for them, who have been doing this for years. He’s joined late, even if he’s been in a relationship with Kaveh for almost as long. Compared to them, he’s still so new at sex, and even newer at desiring it.
There are words for the way he feels, though he’s never felt comfortable using them — he’s never really felt the need for labels in the first place. Words to describe the way that attraction comes only after a bond has been formed, and the way that for the longest time, Kaveh had been the only person he’d ever even thought of in a sexual or romantic way.
But Tighnari and Cyno have slipped so easily into that category alongside Kaveh, and Alhaitham has always been a curious kind of person.
He has a need to know things, including what might happen if this relationship becomes…more.
If he says no to this, nothing will change.
But he wants things to change.
And the thought of being left at the mercy and discretion of his more dominant lover, a gift wrapped just for him…
Oh, he wants that.
“I’ll do it,” he says, ignoring the way both Kaveh and Cyno look incredibly pleased by his response. “What do you need me to do?”
As it turns out, he needs to do very little.
He is almost entirely left out of their planning, save for Kaveh taking a few measurements of his body and Cyno drilling him on the sorts of fabrics he felt comfortable in.
Every time he asks if there was more he could do, he is brushed off and told to ‘trust the process’ — and if it had been anyone else saying that, he would have pushed to know more, but not them.
Instead he lets them have their schemes, content that they’ll let him know what he needs to when he needs to.
Besides, Nahida has him running ragged, and he’s still trying to find himself a replacement, holding out hope that if he can find one, he might finally be allowed to quit and go back to just being the Scribe.
The day of Tighnari’s birthday quickly arrives, and Alhaitham is grateful for the reprieve it offers him from his duties. He’d taken the whole day off — which Nahida had graciously allowed, even going as far as to send Alhaitham home the day before with a gift basket of strange odds-and-ends.
Lunch is pleasant, the food excellent and the company better, and all-too-quickly he finds himself standing to leave, Cyno and Kaveh by his side while Tighnari looks at them, brow raised.
“It’s my birthday, and yet you’re all going home together without me?”
“Only for a little while,” Cyno says. “Give us a couple of hours, then you can come join us. We’ll have a surprise waiting for you.”
“Oh?” Tighnari asks, but Cyno shakes his head and laughs.
“We’re not telling what it is, so don’t bother trying to make us,” he says, pressing a quick kiss to his husband’s lips.
“Telling you would ruin the surprise,” Kaveh agrees, leaning down for his own kiss, surprising Alhaitham.
The pair must notice his surprise, because it’s Kaveh who explains why he’d done something that — from what Alhaitham could tell — was…perhaps not a risky public display of affection, but certainly unusual, especially since none of them had been open about their current relationship.
“There’s no one around this time of day,” he says with a shrug. “It’s safe enough, don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried,” Alhaitham says. “Just…surprised.”
“If you don’t want us to, we can stop,” Tighnari offers, but Alhaitham shakes his head.
“I’ve never been one to particularly care about reputation,” he says. “Don’t stop on my account.”
Then — more impulsive than he’s ever been — he steps up to press his own kiss onto Tighnari’s lips, before turning around and heading over to the counter to pay for their lunch.
Not before seeing the pleasantly startled look on his lover’s face at his actions, however, followed by the quiet sniggers of their other two companions as Tighnari stands there resembling some kind of furry fish.
And if he can’t quite manage to keep the stupidly happy smile off his face, then at least the woman behind the counter has the decency not to comment.
Alhaitham pauses outside of the home he shares with Kaveh, falling behind as Kaveh unlocks the door and leads Cyno inside by the hand he hadn’t stopped holding since the restaurant.
He feels suddenly nervous — he has no idea what’s happening next, has put his trust entirely in his lovers, and while he’s certain he will enjoy it…
His heart still beats too-quick in his chest.
He hovers on the doorstep, suddenly unable to take a step forward and cross the threshold.
He knows that Tighnari will make it good for him, but what if he isn’t good enough?
He’s never done this before, not on this side.
What if—
It’s Kaveh — his Kaveh, who knows him better than anyone else in the world, regardless of how long it took him to learn — who notices his hesitance, who turns around and reaches a hand out towards him.
And it’s Cyno — his Cyno, their Cyno — who offers his other hand, a soft smile on his face.
“Come on, let’s get you pretty,” he says, and it’s with a small smile of his own that Alhaitham takes the offered hands and allows himself to be pulled inside.
Allows himself to be pulled towards the bathroom, despite knowing he’d had a shower just that morning and hardly needed another.
He’s the gift being given tonight — he is to be the centerpiece of someone else’s scheme and he doesn’t mind because it’s them.
“Strip,” Kaveh instructs, and Alhaitham raises an eyebrow. “Don’t give me that look, we’re in charge this time. You wouldn’t have the first idea about how to do this on your own and you know it.”
Alhaitham shrugs, “Fair point. I leave myself in your care then.”
And in their care, he is left.
He strips with little fanfare, watched by appreciative gazes nonetheless, and then there are hands on him — guiding him to sit in the tub while it fills, warm and fragrant with the scent of the oil Cyno adds.
It takes him a while to place the scent, but when he does, he looks up to see a pleased-looking Cyno.
“Lotuses?” he asks, and Cyno nods.
“Not nilotpala lotuses, since the flowers are hard to find, but I did manage to get this from a travelling saleswoman from Liyue. Tighnari is almost as fond of the lotuses that grow in Chenyu Vale, so when I saw this oil...”
“Lotus-scented oil for our Lotus,” Kaveh finishes, leaning down to kiss Alhaitham’s cheek. “Now, close your eyes so we can wash your hair.”
Alhaitham doesn’t remember the last time someone else had bathed him — he’s done it for Kaveh before, when he’d been too hungover to help or after they’d had sex, but this is different, he thinks.
It’s softer, and…
He doesn’t hate it.
He closes his eyes as instructed, as water is poured over his head and shampoo gently rubbed into his hair.
“Is there a reason I’m not allowed to use my own shampoo?” he asks, when he realises the scent is not the subtle one he normally uses.
The shampoo Kaveh uses smells sweet, pairing nicely with the oil in the water, though he can’t place the exact scent.
“Because all of your hair products smell boring,” Kaveh tells him cheerfully, “and we want you to be perfect for Tighnari. Now, shush and let us work.”
Alhaitham shushes, and Kaveh makes a pleased noise.
Staying shushed, however, becomes slightly more difficult when Cyno speaks.
“Good boy,” he says, and Alhaitham shudders. “So obedient.”
The words themselves are teasing, but the way he says it is anything but — and Alhaitham may be more used to hearing them from another, he still feels that familiar rush of heat.
Neither Kaveh nor Cyno comment on his reaction, and so he chooses not to either, content to instead let them do as they please.
Lets gentle hands clean him — cupping water to rinse his hair without getting in his closed eyes, washing his skin with a soft cloth and lightly scented soap.
They work in silence, but it’s a pleasant silence. The water is warm, and in turn, so is he.
Cyno and Kaveh fall into a rhythm, working together in a way that speaks of experience — have they done this for Tighnari perhaps? — and Alhaitham focuses on their movements, letting them be a distraction to both his nerves and his growing hardness.
It’s pleasant in its own way — nothing sexual, but sensual, and while he isn’t exactly sure why they’re doing this, he can allow himself to exist in the moment and not worry about a reason that doesn’t really matter in the end.
He focuses only on the sensations, grounding himself in their touch, until they finally deem him clean.
He blinks when he opens his eyes, everything too bright after so long with them closed, reaching for a towel before having his hand slapped away.
“I’m not even allowed to dry myself?”
“Nope,” Kaveh says, taking the towel for himself.
“I am more than capable,” Alhaitham begins, but both Kaveh and Cyno shake their heads.
“Don’t care,” Kaveh sing-songs, throwing the towel over Alhaitham’s head and starting to dry his hair.
“We’re taking care of you, remember?” Cyno says.
“But why?” Alhaitham asks, voice somewhat muffled by the towel.
“Because we want to,” comes Cyno’s reply, along with an agreeing sound from Kaveh. “You’re our gift to Tighnari, but this is important for you, too. So we want to make it special, for your first time.”
“Our first times with Tighnari were…less planned,” Kaveh says with a fond laugh. “I think I fell into bed with him after a night of drinking far too much wine, and somehow stumbled into his closet full of toys trying to find the bathroom when I woke up in the middle of the night. I already knew what sort of things he and Cyno got up to, but that was my first time seeing it. I’d subbed for other people before, so I wasn’t exactly new to it all, so the next time we had sex, I asked if he’d dom for me. He said yes, and the rest was history.”
“Unlike you, both Kaveh and I had experience with this kind of sex when we met Tighnari,” Cyno adds, starting to towel Alhaitham dry while Kaveh works on his hair. “Though I’d only had one time subbing before Tighnari and I started dating, and it really wasn’t much to write home about. We were both young and inexperienced, and she ended up deciding she preferred to be submissive anyway so we never bothered trying again.”
The confessions feel like a gift, two of the three people he cares about the most sharing a part of their history that Alhaitham knows he isn’t owed.
It makes his heart beat faster in his chest, a happy warmth spreading through him.
He doesn’t know what to say, and so he says nothing — and it’s clear they don’t expect him to reply, continuing to gently towel him dry in that same companionable silence.
The sensation of the makeup brush on his skin is strange but not unpleasant, as Kaveh begins his process of making Alhaitham a presentable gift for their shared lover.
Kaveh and Cyno seem content to talk to each other, only pausing to tell him to close his eyes or purse his lips, turning his head this way and that as needed — discussing colours and whether or not they’ve used enough kohl to line his eyes.
He follows very little of it, and since he isn’t expected to have an opinion in any of this, he allows himself to drift — losing himself in the sensations of strange powders and soft brushes on his skin.
The voices of his lovers become a background hum, their hands gently positioning him as needed, brushing his hair from his face and stroking his cheek.
The room — his room, because Kaveh had insisted that he and Tighnari use Kaveh’s room for the actual scene, since Alhaitham’s bed ‘might as well be made of wood with no mattress’ and thus is inappropriate — smells of Kaveh’s perfume and the sweet scent of cosmetics, and the sun streams in the window, hitting his back.
Everything is warm.
Comfortable.
He’s not thinking about work, or anything really.
He’s just...warm.
It’s a familiar warmth, he dimly realises, though the situation couldn’t be further from the previous experiences he has had.
But even without the post-sex haze, he finds he likes it.
Being taken care of, without having to be present for it.
He lets his eyes drift shut, simply enjoying the feeling of weightlessness
It takes him a while to realize Cyno and Kaveh are talking about him, voices soft and soothing.
“Oh, I didn’t expect this,” Kaveh says, reaching out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind Alhaitham’s ear. Alhaitham finds himself leaning into the touch without realizing, and the soft chuckle Kaveh lets out sends a shot of heat through him.
“Who knew this is all it would take?” Cyno asks, and Alhaitham feels the bed dip beside him, before a body is pressed against his. “We haven’t even touched him yet.”
Warm breath tickles Alhaitham’s ear, but still he doesn’t open his eyes — opting to just lean more towards Cyno instead.
He doesn’t understand what Cyno means — aren’t they touching him now?
“He’s so sweet like this,” Kaveh says. “So soft.”
“Quiet, too,” Cyno laughs softly.
Logically, some part of Alhaitham knows they’re making fun of him — nothing about him is sweet or soft, after all, he knows he has more sharp edges than softness — but the rest of him doesn’t mind at all.
He feels soft, and sweet.
Cherished.
A kiss is pressed to the skin of his throat — Cyno’s, he’s sure — and he shudders.
“Do you think we can keep him here, until Nari arrives?” Kaveh asks, and again — Alhaitham doesn’t understand what he means.
But, for once...
He doesn’t care to know.
It doesn’t matter what they’re talking about — or who they’re talking about — he’s simply enjoying the warmth of skin on his, on the softness of the brushes, or the ticklish sensation of the powders.
“It kind of makes me want to mess him up, just a little,” Cyno says, breath hot on Alhaitham’s neck, sending gooseflesh across his skin.
“At least let me finish making him pretty,” Kaveh says, pouting — Alhaitham is certain of this, even though he can’t see it.
“I suppose I can be patient,” Cyno laughs. “Come on, my sweet Lotus. Can you open your eyes for us, so we can do your mascara?”
Alhaitham opens his mouth to reply, but his words seem so far away, and he can barely conjure the energy — or the will — to nod.
“Come on, precious boy,” Kaveh croons, and oh, Alhaitham has never heard him speak like that, especially not to him. “Open your eyes, like a good boy.”
“You can be good for us, right?”
He...yes, he can be good.
For them.
So they keep talking to him like that, keep calling him good.
It takes so much effort, but he manages to open his eyes — blinking slowly as Kaveh’s face slowly comes into focus.
“Oh, you’re so far gone,” Kaveh says, a hint of laughter in his voice. “But you look so pretty like this. I don’t even need any foundation or blush for you, you’re so pale and your cheeks are the prettiest shade of pink.”
Alhaitham’s face warms at that, and he makes a noise that sounds a cross between embarrassed and pleased and nothing like any sound he has ever made before.
“Oh, he’s perfect,” Cyno says, hooking his chin over Alhaitham’s shoulder. “I can’t believe we’re his first. He was made for this.”
“A pretty little submissive flower,” Kaveh agrees. “Though he can be a mean dom when he wants to be, especially now that you two have given him practice.”
“As I said, he’s perfect.”
“I’m going to put on the mascara now,” Kaveh tells Alhaitham. “Don’t blink unless I tell you to, okay?”
Alhaitham manages the smallest of nods, just to see the pleased way Kaveh smiles at him.
“Good boy.”
“The best.”
The mascara wand is strange, but Alhaitham is a good boy, so he stays still — blinking when he’s told, and staying still when he isn’t.
Cyno is a comforting weight over his back, warm and grounding, hands rubbing circles into his skin until he can feel himself melting into the touch.
“Smells nice,” he manages to murmur, and both his companions pause.
“What smells nice, precious?” Kaveh asks.
“Cyno,” he replies, his voice so soft, little more than a whisper.
He doesn’t think he could speak any louder if he wanted to — everything sounds so soft and quiet, and a part of him thinks he might shatter if he uses more than the quietest of whispers.
“Oh, sweetheart,” Cyno says. “You’re really gone, aren’t you?”
“He looks like a doll,” Kaveh says. “He’d do anything we asked him to, wouldn’t you, pretty Lotus?”
There are no words for how it feels to have Kaveh use the name Tighnari chose for him — no words for the rush of heat and desperation that rushes through him, for the sudden aching between his legs and the clenching in his stomach.
He keens, a noise far too debauched for someone who hasn’t even been touched.
Oh, how he wants them to touch him.
What he would do for a kiss in this moment.
He doesn’t know if he’s said something, or if Kaveh knows him just that well — that he can read Alhaitham like this, in this place he’s never been before, existing so completely in the world and outside of his head, this warm place that is so similar to the place he’d been after Tighnari but not quite — because no sooner than he’s had the thought, Kaveh leans forward and presses the lightest of kisses to his lips.
Once, twice, then three times — butterfly light, almost not there, teasing but sweet and not enough.
He wants more, leaning forward to try to coax his lover back, but he is held in place by Cyno, a hand turning his face so his other lover can kiss him as well — deeper this time, pushing his lips apart and licking into his mouth, swallowing the groan he can’t keep contained.
He whines when Cyno pulls away, a strand of spit connecting them for a moment before it snaps, and Alhaitham feels strangely bereft.
“We can’t get you too worked up,” Kaveh laughs. “Otherwise, how are you going to have fun with Tighnari?”
Alhaitham blinks for a moment, before Kaveh’s words actually have any meaning.
That’s right.
This...this isn’t about him.
It’s Tighnari’s birthday, and he is a present for their shared lover — something to be taken, to be bound and fucked until Tighnari has had his fill.
Something to be used, for someone else’s pleasure.
The heat down below is suddenly a fire, and his eyes fall shut as he whimpers, turning to bury his face in Cyno’s hair.
A hand comes up to run through his hair, gently carding through it, and the touch is soothing.
“Oh, did you forget, precious?” Kaveh teases, “A couple of kisses, and the brightest mind in all of Sumeru is suddenly mush? If I’d known this was all it took, I would have done this years ago.”
“What would the rest of the Akademiya say if they knew this was all it takes to make their mighty Scribe turn into an obedient little puppy?” Cyno adds, and Alhaitham makes a distressed noise at that, somewhere low in his throat. “Shhh,” Cyno soothes, “don’t worry. No one else will ever see you like this. This is for the three of us, and no one else. If anyone else knew we had such a precious little submissive, they’d try to steal you away from us.”
Alhaitham curves himself further into Cyno at that, his body twisting as his hands come up to grasp at Cyno’s clothes without even thinking.
“No,” he tells them, and he feels more than hears Cyno’s chuckle.
“You’re right,” Kaveh says. “Stealing isn’t allowed. You belong to us.”
And Kaveh is right, Alhaitham does belong to them.
He belonged to Kaveh first, and now he belongs to Cyno and Tighnari.
He is kept by them, just like he wanted.
“That’s better,” Cyno says, gently coaxing Alhaitham back into his previous position. “Come on, we’re nearly finished.”
“Just the lipstick left,” Kaveh says, sounding pleased. “Then we can get you dressed.”
Kaveh refuses to let Alhaitham see what shade the lipstick he’d chosen was, and while that not knowing would bother him normally, he’d sunk so far into that warm and trusting place that he allows his lover to gently paint his lips without complaint.
It feels strange, a weight and texture he’s not used to, but when he sees the way Kaveh looks at him, he suddenly doesn’t mind.
Kaveh looks like he wants to devour him.
“Oh, that’s perfect,” he says. “That colour looks terrible on me, but you? Perfection.”
Alhaitham lets the praise wash over him, warming him from the inside out.
“Now let’s get you into the pretty clothes we picked out for you,” Kaveh tells him. “Can you stand on your own, or do you need help?”
It takes a moment for Alhaitham to figure out that he’s asked a question, one that he’s expected to answer, and then a moment longer for him to figure out how to reply.
He’s...he’s not sure he could stand, not like this. He’s too disconnected from his body in all the ways that are required for him to do anything more than just sit there, leaning against Cyno.
But he isn’t sure how to say it.
Words are too far away right now, so instead, he just looks up at Kaveh and hopes he understands what Alhaitham can’t figure out how to say.
“I don’t think he can do much of anything on his own right now,” Cyno chuckles. “I think our sweet Lotus is going to need some help.”
Cyno pulls away from Alhaitham, the warmth at his side suddenly turning cold, and a low whine comes from his chest — not quite distressed, but on the edge of it — that only settles when his hands are gently held by his two lovers.
“Okay, little lovely love,” Kaveh says. “Let’s stand in three, two...one, up we go-”
Alhaitham lets himself be pulled to his feet by the strong hands in his, though he sways a little when he’s standing.
But before he can stumble, Cyno is at his side once more, an arm around his waist.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall,” Cyno says, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek and running his fingers in comforting circles on his skin, and Alhaitham’s eyes fall shut in contentment.
He leans into Cyno, trusting in the other’s strength to keep him upright, and lets Kaveh do as he will.
Warm fingers touch his ankle, gently urging him to lift his foot, and soft fabric is slipped over his skin — one leg and then the other, as Kaveh carefully slides the underwear up the length of him until they’re settled over his hips.
They’re loose, far looser than anything he’s ever worn before, and the fabric is softer than any of his normal underclothes.
“Soft,” he murmurs — though missing most of the actual word, until it sounds more like a sigh.
Not so soft, however, that he doesn’t feel it against the hardness of his cock, which is suddenly held down against his stomach, and he makes a sound that’s almost wounded.
Sensitive.
“Halfway there, sweet boy,” Kaveh tells him, kissing him on the tip of his nose.
His arms are slid through thin straps, the fabric floaty and loose, though just as soft as the underwear, closing over his chest while leaving most of his stomach bare.
He can hear Kaveh step back, can hear the sound of appreciation he makes, and he manages to open his eyes so he can see the expression on his lover’s face.
The heat in Kaveh’s eyes is nearly enough to make him come, if he had been given permission to.
“Gorgeous,” Kaveh says, clearly pleased. “Would you like to see, pretty Lotus?”
He stands aside, and that’s when Alhaitham realises that, somewhere along the line, Kaveh had hung a full-length mirror from the back of his door.
And then he catches sight of himself.
“Oh,” he says softly.
Is that...him?
He looks...soft.
He distantly remembers that when Cyno had been dressed up for him, it had been in gold and leather, leaving him looking like the warrior he is while still looking like a wet dream come to life.
At no point during that encounter had Alhaitham doubted that he was only able to do the things he’d done because it had been allowed, constantly aware of the coiled muscle under him and the strength of his lover’s body.
But Kaveh has made him look the opposite.
And somehow, despite how tall and broad he knows he is, he looks...
Pretty.
Soft.
The teddy and matching panties are a soft forest green, with a bodice made of intricate lace in patterns of twisting vines, with sheer fabric cascading down from the fitted chest and splitting in the middle, creating a veil of two panels framing his pale stomach. The hems are embroidered with pale pink and white flowers, soft and delicate roses and daisies.
The panties are tight around his waist, but loose where they sit over his thighs — more like small shorts than the traditional lingerie he has seen.
It should look ridiculous on him, but when paired with the expertly applied make-up and the silvery clips that pin his bangs off his face, he finds his sharp edges have been softened into something almost...feminine, but not quite.
A flush colours his cheeks, making him look like a blushing maiden on her wedding night.
Which, in a way...
Isn’t entirely inaccurate.
He looks...
Perfect.
He looks like a gift, wrapped in lace, as he should.
Cyno comes up behind him, standing on his tiptoes so he can rest his chin on Alhaitham’s shoulder, one arm wrapped around his stomach and the other coming up to tug at the band of the teddy, pulling it and letting it snap back into place over his chest, a pleased expression on his face as he plays.
“I befriended a designer when I was in Fontaine a couple of weeks ago, and got her to do a rush order for me,” Kaveh says proudly. “She was even kind enough to trade me for some extra design work for her shop, so I didn’t have to pay her regular prices.”
“Yes, yes, you got a good deal,” Cyno says, in a tone that indicates he has heard this before.
“But, it’s missing one last thing.”
“You can’t put him in heels, Kaveh,” Cyno says. “He’ll fall over.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Kaveh assures him. “I’ll put those on once we’re there. No, I was thinking something a little more...personal. A little treat for us, and for Tighnari.”
Alhaitham watches as Kaveh takes a tube of lipstick, and expertly puts it on himself — pursing his lips to evenly spread the colour.
If it’s the same colour he’d put on Alhaitham, Alhaitham is sure it must look striking.
He isn’t expecting, however, Kaveh to come right up to him, and kiss him on the cheek — hard enough that it must leave a mark.
“There,” Kaveh says proudly. “Now, your turn, Cyno.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Cyno says, and Alhaitham barely manages to stay upright when Cyno steps away from him, taking the lipstick from Kaveh and applying it to his own lips.
Alhaitham greedily watches, comparing the way the red looks different on each of them, holding still as Cyno kisses him on his other cheek, presumably leaving another mark.
“There, one from each of us,” Kaveh says. “Just a little reminder to our lovely fourth that he’s sharing our Lotus, even if we’re not there too.”
“If it’s a reminder, then...” Cyno trails off, kneeling down in front of Alhaitham, his hands on either side of Alhaitham’s hips. “One more, for luck?”
Then he’s leaning forward, and Alhaitham holds perfectly still as Cyno kisses the bare skin below his belly button, just above the hem of the panties, leaving a bright red mark behind.
Rocking back on his heels, Cyno looks up at Alhaitham through his bangs, gaze heated.
“Much better.”
“Hmmm,” Kaveh muses. “But now it’s uneven.”
Wide-eyed, Alhaitham watches as Kaveh kneels beside Cyno, reaching into the panties and tugging out his cock. He hisses at the sensation — he’s been untouched for so long, but it isn’t until now that it hits him how much it aches, and how close he is.
Kaveh keeps his eyes on Alhaitham’s as he holds his cock against his stomach, and presses a kiss to the underside of it, and Alhaitham nearly cries.
Only the thought of how disappointed Kaveh might be if he smeared the makeup keeps him from letting his tears overflow.
“Now he’s perfect,” Kaveh says smugly, tucking Alhaitham’s marked cock back into the panties. “Which means it’s time to call Tighnari over.”
Alhaitham can’t help the way his cock jerks at the thought, nor the high-pitched whimper he makes in anticipation.
“Soon, my lovely Lotus,” Cyno soothes, his words echoing in Alhaitham’s head.
Soon.
---
Alhaitham waits.
Kaveh's bed is soft where he has been asked to sit, kneeling at the foot of it with a pale green blanket beneath him.
The blanket is new, and matches his lingerie, and he curls his fingers into the plush fibers, using them to ground himself.
He has been left alone, and he hovers somewhere between the warmth of subspace and the burning of his nerves.
Will Tighnari like him?
He won't do Kaveh and Cyno the disservice of saying they have not been successful in their endeavors to make him presentable, but he worries about himself.
Worries that he won't be enough, that he'll ruin it somehow.
He startles when the door opens, head snapping up, but it's only Kaveh, a soft smile on his face.
“How is it that you can face down a corrupt government without a problem, but when it comes to these scenes, you get all tied in knots?” he asks fondly. “Tighnari is on his way, he'll be here soon.”
Kaveh climbs on the bed behind him, bracketing him between warm thighs. Alhaitham leans backwards, resting his head on Kaveh's shoulder and closing his eyes.
He takes a deep breath, drawing strength from the comforting scent of his boyfriend. Arms come up to gently wrap around his waist, and he melts into the warm touch and offered comfort.
“Better?” Kaveh asks, and Alhaitham hums in confirmation. “Want to tell me what you're worried about?”
“Not really,” Alhaitham replies, before realizing it's not a question he can answer ‘no’ to.
Kaveh wants a proper answer.
“I'm worried I'll disappoint him,” he finally confesses, drawing courage from the fact that he isn't looking at Kaveh.
“You won't,” Kaveh says confidently. “You're overthinking it. You and Tighnari work well together, you already know that. He's an excellent dom, and we've proven you can be an excellent sub when you want to be. You just have to trust him, and he'll take care of everything. You couldn't disappoint him if you tried.”
Alhaitham doesn’t say anything, but Kaveh seems to take it for the agreement it mostly is.
“Now, just relax,” Kaveh tells him. “Let’s get you all soft again, shall we?”
The arms around him pull back, until it’s just fingers, barely brushing his sides. Fingers that trail up and under the babydoll he wears, until it’s skin against skin.
Alhaitham shivers.
“There you go,” Kaveh keeps his voice soft, rhythmic. “Just focus on my voice and my hands, okay? Just like that. You’re such a good boy, aren’t you?”
Alhaitham sinks into Kaveh’s words, trying to concentrate on only his touch and the sound of his voice.
It’s easy, honestly.
Though he’d never say so, he could listen to Kaveh for hours — has even, on occasion, snuck into the guest lectures Kaveh was giving just to help himself wind down after a difficult meeting.
By the time a knock comes at the door, Alhaitham is calm and boneless against Kaveh, all prior thoughts of nerves gone.
He’s not quite in that soft, careless, place — he knows that he needs to be more aware when the handover happens, needs to be cognizant so he can answer any questions directed at him — but he feels warm and at ease, Kaveh having successfully worked his magic.
“Sit up straight,” Kaveh whispers to him, and Alhaitham obeys, positioning himself with his knees under him and his hands resting in his lap, back straight.
Presenting himself.
The handle slowly twists, before the door is pushed open and Tighnari steps in, Cyno behind him and covering his eyes.
“Am I allowed to see now?” Tighnari asks, a slight tinge of a whine in his voice that sends a thrill down Alhaitham’s spine. “I’ve been waiting for hours.”
Tighnari sounds impatient, all because of him — because there’s no way Tighnari hasn’t figured out what this is, or at least he has some idea.
He’s too smart not to.
Over Tighnari’s shoulder, he can see the way Cyno’s eyes glitter with amusement at his husband’s theatrics.
Kaveh hooks his chin over Alhaitham’s shoulder.
“Ready?” he asks, voice so soft that there’s no way the other two could hear, and Alhaitham nods. “Good boy.” A kiss is pressed to his cheek, and then— “Okay, let him see.”
Cyno’s hands drop, and Alhaitham swears he stops breathing at the same time Tighnari does — those beautiful eyes fixed completely on him, widening slightly as if he wants to make sure he can take in as much of Alhaitham as possible.
Tighnari’s gaze rakes its way up and down his body, and Alhaitham cannot suppress the full-body shiver it causes, as if his eyes have a physical weight to them, running across his skin like fingertips.
“Oh,” Tighnari breathes. “Don’t you look beautiful, my lovely lotus?”
He sounds breathless already, his tone reverent.
Alhaitham whines.
“You two really outdid yourselves,” Tighnari continues, talking to the others without taking his eyes off of Alhaitham. His tail twitches behind him, before it starts to drift from side to side, a sign of anticipation that Alhaitham knows well.
“I know,” Kaveh preens. “Isn’t he perfect?”
“Absolutely perfect,” Tighnari agrees, sending a shot of warmth right to Alhaitham’s cock, which is rapidly regaining interest in the proceedings.
“I think we owe Chiori a bottle of the best wine for this one,” Cyno adds. “Especially since this isn’t all we commissioned from her.”
Finally, Tighnari’s gaze is pulled from Alhaitham, and he finds a part of him mourning the loss, even as the rest of him feels a sense of almost relief.
It’s a heady sensation, having all that attention on him and him alone.
Cyno steps neatly past Tighnari, headed for Kaveh’s dresser. He opens the top drawer and pulls out a wooden box, roughly the size and shape of a shoebox, if a bit too thin to actually fit a pair of shoes and far too pretty.
The wood is dark and lacquered, and Cyno holds it with a reverence that Alhaitham doesn’t understand — though he’s sure he will soon.
He hands it to Tighnari.
“Technically, this is for both of you,” he explains, looking back at Alhaitham with a smug look on his face.
It’s the same smug look he’s had each time they’ve played together, as though he knows something Alhaitham doesn’t, and can’t wait for him to find out.
Tighnari’s eyes widen as he opens the box, a slow smile forming on his lips.
“Oh my,” he says, looking up at Alhaitham before looking back down at the contents of the box. “I take it back, now you have truly outdone yourselves. Do you want to see what it is, my lotus?”
Alhaitham can barely nod, but somehow he manages.
What could possibly be in the box that could cause such a reaction.
But it all makes sense when Tighnari steps forward — until Alhaitham could reach out and touch him, if he wanted, if he wasn’t focused on being a good boy, with his hands in his lap — and turns the box to reveal its contents.
There, resting on pitch black silk, is a set of cuffs and a collar.
His set of cuffs.
His collar.
Because they couldn’t be for anyone else — not with the way the green of the leather is dyed the same dark bluish-green shade he has always adored, not with the way he can see the leaves and lotuses embroidered in black, and certainly not when the simple charm hanging from the ring at the front of the collar is shaped like a golden nilotpala lotus.
He stares at them, entranced, before wordlessly looking up at Cyno.
“I think he likes them,” Cyno says, smiling. “Do you want to put them on, pretty boy?”
Alhaitham nods so quickly he could have given himself whiplash.
Oh, how he wants to put them on.
Wants them put on him.
Wants to know what that weight would feel like on his wrists, around his throat.
Wants to know how it feels to be owned.
When he’d said he’d be okay with cuffs, he had assumed he would simply borrow a pair. He could never have dreamed that his lovers may get him his own.
“I think we should all put them on him,” Tighnari says, voice soft.
He takes out one of the cuffs, handing it to Kaveh, and then passing the other to Cyno. Kaveh pulls away from Alhaitham, sliding around until he’s sitting at Alhaitham’s right side.
He reaches for his wrist, pausing as his fingers brush sensitive skin.
“Is this okay?” he asks Alhaitham.
“Yes,” Alhaitham manages to whisper, his voice little more than an exhale.
His hand is lifted and placed in Kaveh’s lap, as his boyfriend carefully unbuckles the cuff, before slipping it around his wrist and fastening it shut.
The leather is butter soft, lined with plush fabric, the dark green and gold of it a stark contrast against his own pale skin.
It feels right.
The sense of rightness only grows when Cyno slips beside him, his eyes wordlessly asking for permission before eagerly taking Alhaitham’s hand when he’s given permission.
The second cuff closes around his wrists, a comfortable weight that leaves him almost giddy, and his hands are gently drawn to rest on his lap once more, the gold clasps on either cuff clicking into place as they are clipped together.
He is bound, and he cannot help but stare at his wrists, at the way the darkness of the cuffs perfectly compliments the fabric of the lingerie he had been given.
Then, silently, he looks up at Tighnari.
He wants to ask, but he cannot find the words, cannot bring himself to speak, to ruin this perfect moment.
But it’s okay, because Tighnari knows him in the way only the people in this room do.
Tighnari takes the collar from the box — which he hands to Cyno, presumably to put away — and steps forward until he is right in front of Alhaitham.
Close enough to touch, to kiss.
Close enough to collar.
“So good for me,” Tighnari whispers, seemingly just to see the way Alhaitham’s cock twitches and his breath hitches. “I’m going to collar you now, my pretty lotus. So everyone can see that you belong to me. That you belong to us.”
He leans forward and—
Oh.
It fits perfectly.
Expert fingers close the clasp around his throat, tight enough that he is oh so aware of it, but not so tight that it borders on uncomfortable. It has a weight to it that he must be imagining, because there’s no way something so small could be so heavy, could be so...
Present.
Tighnari traces his fingers along the collar, lingering on the lotus charm, a pleased smile on his face.
“There you are,” he says, looking up at Alhaitham. “Our pretty lotus. Only ours, only we get to see you like this.”
The sound Alhaitham makes is a cross between an aborted moan and a whine.
Yes.
Theirs.
Only for them to see.
And when Tighnari leans in for a kiss, Alhaitham eagerly meets him halfway.
He doesn’t even notice Cyno and Kaveh pulling away, doesn’t notice they’re even gone until he hears the door click shut.
When Tighnari pulls away, the expression on his face is downright predatory.
“I’m going to enjoy seeing how many times I can make you come.”
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