Exploration
Noah sat with his legs folded beside him, one foot dangling over the edge of the bed, the rumpled blanket concealing most of his lower body. He was looking at the strange marks running down the skin of Zsien's back; long, black marks that originated from somewhere high on the back of his neck, reaching down his shoulders and arms and following the spine's every dip and knob. There were lines that – to Noah's forest trained senses – looked much like the claw marks of some animal, trailing along the ribs and he curled his fingers around the blanket not to reach out and touch them. It was fascinating, he reflected, the intricate patterns that could be found in the marks, and he was slowly coming to realize he was loosing most of his fear of them.
Zsien was slumbering in lazy content, lying on his stomach with his silver head comfortably pillowed on his strong arms and his large body took up most of the bed space, especially since he was currently stretched out in the middle of the bed. He had been quite energetic this night, although Noah didn't complain. Well, not much, though he would probably be feeling one or two muscles in the morning.
Zsien took a deep, slow breath that made his chest expand and his back heave, and Noah watched the marks ripple as muscles stretched and bunched. "Hmmm," Zsien murmured with that deep, velvet voice that never failed to make a slight shiver run down Noah's spine. "Your thoughts wander, Noah."
Noah's eyebrows drew slightly in curious puzzlement. How Zsien always seemed to know when Noah was deep in thought never ceased to amaze him, it was unnerving at times how easily the man could read him. "I'm just thinking…" he said noncommittally, shrugging even though Zsien couldn't see the gesture.
"Well, stop it." Zsien turned his head slightly to give him a sleep-fuzzed look over his muscled shoulder. "You're only going to give yourself a headache, running in circles in that head of yours." Then he put his head back down on his arms.
Noah dismissed the comment with a slight pulling of his mouth. He knew he thought too much at times, coming up with conclusions and decisions after too long time that he could have reached just as easily – and faster – just listening more to his instincts. But that was just how he was. He had spent so much of his life alone that thoughts often were the only company. And instincts only came naturally to him when he was immersed in the arts of the forest.
"Noah," grumbled Zsien in means of warning, but it didn't hold much of a threat.
"You can't stop my thoughts, Zsien," he said to his defense. "They're just there."
"Sure I can," came the very confident and cocky answer. "I know quite a few things that will empty your head. Rather efficiently, I might add." He chuckled deeply and his body vibrated with the sound.
Noah decided not to take the bait; he was just a little bit worried he wouldn't get any sleep this night if he did. He went back to studying the marks instead; curiosity making him finally put a hand on Zsien's back. The nearly golden skin was warm, smooth over the rippling muscles, and he felt Zsien's surprise at the sudden touch.
"What are you doing?" Zsien wondered and slitted his eyes open, his voice held something more than just attention, almost like… wariness.
"I'm just curious. Wondering how you got these." He moved his palm slowly down Zsien's back, trailing a fingertip along the edge of the mark following the long muscle next to the spine.
"I already told you that." His eyebrows were drawn in concern, worried perhaps that Noah would push and prod him to tell him more. Noah wouldn't, he knew Zsien didn't like to speak of his former life.
"I know what they did to you," he said quietly, still not quite sure if it really was anger with the priests of Zsien's past that he felt or not. Afraid to explore it, because if it was, it would mean he actually cared for the man on a much deeper level than he dared to admit. He wasn't prepared to care for another in that way. "I'm just wondering how they came to look so…" he searched for a word, "…alive. Sentient, almost."
Zsien snorted softly. "That's because they are sentient, Noah. In a way."
Yes, they were. The marks were designed to keep Zsien alive and well, as much as keep him snared in his mortal host body. They also kept him from tapping into and using his magical abilities, making him frustrated and furious at times, and sometimes even feeling useless and helpless. Those were the times when he would vanish from the cabin and Noah's presence. He could be gone for days on end with nothing more than his horse as company.
"How come one vanished?" Noah asked and his hand drifted to the now empty spot below the lowest rib on Zsien's left side. The muscles twitched just a little as if he was ticklish just there. Noah smoothed the tip of a finger over the skin that had once been marked much like the rest of Zsien's body.
Zsien shrugged slightly. "Not sure. Seems an odd way to punish me, though."
Noah put his palm flat to his side when the muscles twitched again, a more comfortable pressure. "Perhaps it wasn't a punishment," he said quietly. He felt confident to say out loud now what he had thought so many times before; Zsien was satisfied and relaxed at the moment and if Noah could see his eyes he was certain they'd be blue.
"What do you mean?" Zsien asked when Noah was quiet for what he considered too long a moment. He didn't lift his head but the one eye that Noah could see was trained on him.
Noah shrugged. "Perhaps it was a reward. You did something you were supposed to, or learned something that you didn't know before and they thought you'd be rewarded for your progress."
Zsien was quiet for a long moment, perhaps contemplating what Noah had said, then he burst out into laughter. "Sure, Noah," he said with a voice dripping with sarcasm and disdain once he stopped laughing. "A reward for a job well done." He lifted his head then and gave him a dark glare with amber eyes. "No," he growled, "these men don't give rewards. They take what they want and care not for whom they destroy on the way to their goal."
Noah's eyes narrowed and he removed his hand. "And you were different from them, I take it?" he retorted, not caring to hide his own anger. Zsien acted as if he was the only one wronged in this whole matter. "You never destroyed anyone; never put anyone's life in ashes in your search for more power?"
Zsien gave him a feral smile from over his shoulder. "Of course I did," he admitted readily in a dark voice. "But I always gave them a chance to surrender to me, before I did."
Noah snorted. "As if anyone in their right mind would."
The smile turned smoldering now. "You did, Noah," he practically purred.
Noah stiffened where he sat. Dear goddess. He had. He had surrendered to Zsien, he realized. He averted his eyes and tried not to let the other man see his distaste with his own weakness.
Zsien just snorted and put his head back down on his arms again, closing his eyes as if he was going back to sleep. After a few minutes his breathing had slowed to the rhythm of the sleeping and Noah dared to look at him.
He had surrendered to Zsien, and how could he not? Zsien was very persuasive when he put his mind to it. But Noah had fought him, he amended. He had resisted for as long as he could, before giving the man anything more than a friendly word. But he had surrendered in the end. All hells. He was certain no one in Zsien's world had ever given in to him, persuasive or not. He was certain the people there had rather taken their own lives before letting Zsien rule them.
"There was this young girl," Zsien said quietly and broke into Noah's thoughts. "She fought me much like you did, for the longest time. But I guess being an immortal has its benefits, time does not scare me as it did her. She eventually decided a lifetime fighting my wooing was rather foolish, when instead she could benefit from being my lover."
Noah listened in silence. He realized how little he actually knew about the man Zsien had been before he came here. Sure, he knew he had been on a world wide quest for power and riches – probably world domination if he'd had his way – but that was just one side of him, after all. Noah didn't know how Zsien had behaved when in privacy. He knew nothing of his dreams or hopes or fears. Well, he knew the violent parts, what Zsien had bragged and boasted about, but that wasn't what he truly wanted to know. Still, sometimes, like now, he got to see a little bit of that other half, a scene from a clearly treasured memory. Perhaps that was how he would have been if someone had cared for him from the start?
"What was her name?" he asked quietly.
"Hmm?" Zsien appeared to be somewhere else entirely.
"The girl?"
Zsien was quiet for a while. Then he said, "I don't remember. It was so long ago. I was still young."
Noah pretended not to hear the confusion and – sadness? – in his voice. "Young?" he asked teasingly.
"Yes, Noah. I was young. Still am, in fact." He gave him a glance, his eyes somewhere between grey and blue.
Noah tsk-ed. Which earned him a glare, although a non-threatening one.
"Yes, I'm still young," Zsien stated firmly. "My kind never grows old unless we want to."
"Good for you," Noah said indulgently.
Zsien snorted and shut his eyes again, grumbling under his breath, no doubt calling Noah a few names. He shifted his large body to a more comfortable position and the sheet with which he had concealed the lower part of his body – the blanket was much too warm for him, especially after such a physical act as they had engaged in before – slipped down and Noah's eyes were drawn to the mark lower on his spine.
It was not quite like the other marks. While they were long and graceful, trailing along every muscle and bone, this was curled around itself in the dip at the base of Zsien's spine. Noah tried to decide where it began and where it ended, but it wound around its own lines so many times and seemed to never stop.
He bit his lower lip and put a careful, curious finger to the mark, in the center where there was a bare spot just large enough. Zsien jerked as if he had been hit rather than touched and his breath hitched in his throat.
Noah pulled his hand back. "What?" he asked concerned.
"You shouldn't touch that, Noah," Zsien said and it sounded very much like a warning.
"Why? Does it hurt?"
"No." He sounded amused at the idea. "That is a center, that's all."
Noah's eyebrows drew in confusion. "Center?"
Zsien sighed. "Yes. A place where a lot of magic was rooted before they made the other marks." He was quiet for a moment and when he spoke again his voice was deep and dark with resentment. "If I could eliminate that mark, the rest of them would vanish as well."
"And you'd be free," Noah concluded slowly.
"Yes."
Noah looked at the mark again but didn't touch it. If he was right with his theory about the already vanished mark and the rewards, then perhaps that circling one would disappear someday as well. Zsien would leave then, he knew. "What would you do then?" he asked anyway.
"Why? Afraid you'd be left behind?" Zsien replied with just a little bit of arrogance in his voice, as if he knew yet again what Noah was thinking.
"No, glad to be left alone, in peace," Noah retorted, unwilling to let the other man know how much both his question and attitude hurt him.
Zsien smiled satisfied and shifted again. Noah looked at the mark. He felt anger rise in him, justified, he thought it to be. He had been left behind so many times in his life and he refused to be so again. He'd leave first this time, if he could help it.
Don't touch, Zsien had said. Noah was annoyed enough to ignore that. He curled his fingers into a fist and pressed a sharp knuckle into the middle of the mark. Zsien gasped and stiffened and then jerked his head up with a snarl.
"I told you not to do that!" he snapped at Noah.
He calmly met the anger, confident Zsien wouldn't hurt him. Well, not much anyway. Noah was rather curious at the reaction he had caused. Not pain, he was sure. But it had a startling effect. A center, where magic was rooted. Sensitive, no doubt. He wondered what the reaction would be to a much more tender touch.
Zsien's eyes narrowed and he watched Noah with suspicion. "What are you up to?"
When Noah wetted his lips Zsien looked almost anxious, his mouth opening as if he was about to say something, but he didn't have the chance before Noah dipped his head and licked with the tip if his tongue right over the mark.
The reaction this time was much like the first, albeit with a loud, throaty groan and a full body shiver.
Noah glanced up with a smile playing over his lips. An unexpected discovery but a pleasant one, that he could make the large man shudder with such a touch. He did it again and this time Zsien's head dropped back down on the pillows.
"You shouldn't do that," he said with a husky voice.
"Why not?" Noah asked, amused at how quickly the man had become seemingly boneless.
"It will only earn you another romp." His voice was a bit steadier now and he gave Noah a fiery look.
"Hmm," Noah said as if he had finally understood the point. But he couldn't help himself to flutter his fingers over the mark anyway. Zsien growled deep in his throat but made no attempt to stop him.
Emboldened, Noah leaned down again and put his lips to it, steadying Zsien's hips with his hands when they bucked. He was breathing rapidly now, his face turned into the pillow and his hands fisted in the bed sheets. Noah continued to lick and kiss and nibble just to get his own back for Zsien's arrogant remark about leaving him, a small revenge, but still. Though it seemed not to be a punishment to the other man, not at all. But Noah was enjoying his sudden gain of power, preparing to make it as long drawn and excruciatingly pleasurable as possible.
"Noah…" Zsien panted. "Stop." His hips bucked again when Noah twirled the tip of his tongue along the circling lines to end up in the sensitive center. Zsien's skin had a smooth texture, the small soft hairs tickled Noah's tongue and goose bumps rose in its wet path. Zsien tasted of salt and earth and sweat, as well as a faint tang of the energies that ran through his body. A heady mixture of all that made up his being.
Noah took pity on him for a moment and looked up. "Why? Don't you like it?" he asked teasingly.
Dark eyes slitted open and that told him all he needed to know. "There's more."
"More?"
"More centers," Zsien husked. "I want you to lick them all." He bared his teeth in a sly grin and let Noah see the challenge.
Noah gave him a look across the expanse of strong muscles and bone. "Will you tell me where they are?" he asked, and the confident reply seemed to surprise Zsien. "Or should I find out for myself?" Noah was not one to turn down a challenge, at least not when he thought he had a chance of winning.
Zsien's grin widened. "Why don't you start looking and I'll just let you know when you're getting close."
"Fine." Noah didn't wait for a reply; he dipped his head again and licked his way from the very base of Zsien's spine and across the mark. He didn't stop there, even when an intense shudder ran through the large body under him and a groan slipped from Zsien's lips, the sound tingling down his spine to his groin, making blood rush down to stir his flesh. He wondered briefly how many centers there could be and just where he'd be looking, but the reactions he was getting were far too pleasing to ignore.
He made his way up along the spine, the blanket slipping off him as he absently straddled Zsien's hips to be more comfortable and to have better access for his ministrations. He trailed kisses and wet licks up the long muscles, following the markings down ribs and shoulders with his fingers to get as much response out of Zsien as possible. He wasn't disappointed.
Zsien was panting already before Noah left the circling mark and although his breathing calmed and steadied somewhat during the slow journey upwards, he couldn't hold back the groans and gasps when Noah found an unmarked and yet sensitive spot. Delicious torture. And trying of his willpower. But he was determined to make Noah find all the centers he could, before he would give in to the mounting urge to take him.
Noah stopped for a moment to gather the thick silver white hair and get it out of the way. He smiled when Zsien pressed his firm buttocks up against Noah's groin, feeling the erection that was awakening there for sure, and he pressed down against him in turn, rubbing a little to push Zsien just a little bit further towards his climax.
Zsien growled impatiently at him and gave him a threatening look with his dark eyes.
Noah didn't wait to hear what he would say to the delay, he admitted to being just as eager to find the centers as Zsien was. He nuzzled his nose into the hair at the nape of his neck and breathed in the scent of him. A bit different from the taste of his skin, more of wind and sea and snow, but familiar and reliable just the same. This was Zsien's body's taste and scent. Noah wondered idly what his essence would taste like, but knew he wasn't quite ready to find out just yet.
When he lifted his head to move on, Zsien's groan made him pause and he looked more closely at the marks running up the back of his neck. The one closest to his hairline seemed a bit different than the one at the base of his spine, but it wasn't straight like the others either. Noah put his tongue to it to see what would happen and Zsien pulled in a sharp breath.
"Seems I found another one," Noah murmured and pressed his lips to it.
"Yesss," Zsien husked, undulating against him, rubbing his front against the sheets and his firm buttocks against Noah's groin alternatively.
Noah had to stop for a moment to breathe when a thrill ran through him. Zsien noticed of course and made an effort to make Noah falter in his search. He rubbed his back against Noah's chest, his skin sleek with the first slight sheen of lust and sweat. Noah lowered down closer, enjoying the friction to his own skin and his erection the movement caused.
"Hmmm," Zsien husked. "Giving up already?"
Noah opened his eyes and raised his body off him. "No, just letting you feel me, letting you know what you could have." He refused to seem the weaker of the two.
Zsien purred deeply. "Oh, I'll have it. Don't worry. I'll take you good and hard soon, my little sweet one."
Noah frowned. "I'm not little." Why did ‘little' bother him when ‘sweet' seemed not to? And that was the first endearment he had ever heard from the other man. He hid his bafflement by kneading the muscles in neck and shoulders, but it still made him feel oddly warm inside. Dared he believe it? His rushing and suddenly chaotic thoughts were interrupted by a deep, velvet voice.
"Compared to me, you are."
"Bastard," Noah muffled the word against Zsien's neck and the warm breath made the man inhale deeply as he squirmed into the bed.
"Yes, that's it," Zsien groaned when Noah nibbled the mark on his neck. But he seemed impatient with Noah's slow progress and after enduring the torture of a moist, warm tongue and maddeningly tender kisses; he threw his arm up and around Noah's shoulders as he in one swift move turned onto his back under him.
Noah was suddenly face to face with a smugly grinning Zsien and he pulled back as far as he could with the strong arm around his neck.
"There are centers on my front as well."
"I'm sure there are." Noah held his gaze for as long as he could, answering the challenges he was becoming used to seeing there. He knew there would always be a struggle for power between them, who would be alpha male, but Noah had already realized he would never be it. He didn't care.
He dipped his head and swirled the tip of his tongue in the hollow between Zsien's collarbones. The large body under him shuddered even though there wasn't a mark there. A sensitive spot that was all Zsien, then. He would remember.
He slipped his hands down the chiseled chest, down long flanks and back up again as he nibbled both collarbones in turn. He fluttered his fingertips in the vulnerable pits under Zsien's arms and earned a growl. Noah glanced up for a moment from the long, smooth dip between the pectoral muscles and saw a center high up on the inside of Zsien's arm, close to where his fingers were tormenting the delicate skin. With a smile he leaned in and pressed his mouth to it instead, making the arm fall down and back against the pillows.
Zsien was panting, his body trembling and rigid under Noah and he was beginning to feel the edges of his control fraying. The young man was far too focused on his task and would soon find every center on his body, Zsien realized. His restraint would not last that long. Not without some distraction.
Noah felt Zsien's hands suddenly reach up and around his neck, grasping the muscles gently but firmly and kneading their way down to his shoulders. He knew it was meant to distract him, but wouldn't let the other man do so. He was too set on finding the centers to be diverted now, if there was one place and one time he could for at least a moment be the one in charge, it would be now. But then the hands swept down his back along his spine, smoothing over his hips and were suddenly squeezing his buttocks and it was all he could do not to cry out loud.
"Hmmm," Zsien murmured in his ear. "Seems I'm not the only one enjoying this." He pressed encouragingly against the small of Noah's back to make him lower down over him. Breath hitched in Noah's throat as their erections touched and Zsien nuzzled his nose in Noah's ear. "Yes, you like this too," he breathed.
He rolled his hips and rubbed their groins together, eliciting a groan from deep in his throat and a gasp from Noah. He pulled Noah closer so that their cocks were pressed together between their hard bellies, both weeping now and twitching at the contact of heat against heat.
Noah tried to catch his breath and had almost managed it when Zsien stabbed his tongue in his ear, mimicking the rolling of his hips. He shuddered and his grip tightened around Zsien's shoulders. The strength left his legs and arms all of a sudden and he let himself lie on top of the other man. It was not uncomfortable, warmth spreading from Zsien into Noah and the sweat-slicked skin against his made the friction so much more bearable, easing his fear for coming too soon. Zsien had that power over him.
"Feel me?" Zsien husked and Noah tried to nod, but the effort was currently too much. Yes, he could feel him; his arousal was like a thick, pulsing entity next to Noah's slender length, and his own swelled even more in sympathy.
"I cannot wait for you long, Noah. I need to have you."
Noah blinked and lifted his head to look at him. Zsien was asking him? The fire in his eyes seared into Noah and there was no doubt he'd be taken soon, whether he wanted it or not. He preferred to give himself rather than be taken.
"Have me, then."
Dark eyes narrowed to darker slits at his soft utterance and he felt the body stiffen under him. Zsien was swift and agile in the best of situations, even more so now when his every nerve was flooded with lust and need. In one fluid move Noah found himself rolled over and trapped under Zsien, staring up at him, surrounded by a curtain of silvery hair with the red streaks in Zsien's bangs running like a rivulet of blood into Noah's own hair. He spread his legs to let Zsien lie between them more comfortably.
Zsien rolled his hips a few more times, smiling as Noah threw his head back with a gasp. "Yes, I'll have you, my little sweet one. Long and good."
Noah moaned at the words, they sounded so much like a promise and he knew Zsien would keep it. "Please," he whispered.
Zsien snaked an arm over the edge of the bed and took the little jar with grease to place it within reach. He dipped his fingers and within moments Noah felt them circling slowly around the entrance to his body. He willingly tilted his hips up to allow easier access and Zsien murmured appreciatively at the gesture. A finger slid inside with a gentle but firm movement, holding still for a moment when Noah's body clenched down around it. Zsien coaxed the muscles to admit him and then slid the digit deeper inside.
"So good, Noah," Zsien murmured in his ear as he twisted the finger around and then added a second one. "I cannot wait longer."
Neither could he. "Please. Do it now."
Zsien knelt between his legs and slicked his length thoroughly before he hooked his arm under a knee and lifted the other leg over his shoulder. Noah closed his eyes as he felt the first nudge against his opening and tried to relax and keep breathing when the pressure became more insistent.
"Yes, Noah. Relax for me. Uhnn…" Zsien leaned forward into him and the head of his cock slipped past the ring of muscles.
Noah whimpered. Not so much with pain as with the pure feeling of pleasure that rushed through him. He felt full to the limit already, and still he knew there was more of Zsien yet to fill him. He panted to pull air into his lungs and then it all fled in a gust when Zsien made his final slide into him.
They held there for a long moment. Breathing. Feeling. Joined as close as two persons can be. Noah lifted trembling hands to grasp Zsien's arms and opened his eyes to look at him. Zsien met his gaze but Noah didn't get the chance to read the emotions before he made a first thrust into him. Then it was all sensation.
"Feel me?" Zsien asked with a hoarse whisper. "I feel you. You're so tight, Noah. So good around me." He kept his thrusts long and deep, making Noah breathe in time and his grip on his arms tighten at each forward movement.
Noah couldn't answer, not in words; his coherency had fled when the other man began to move. He felt the restrained power in the hips rocking into him and the weight of the body over him and reveled in the feeling of total surrender. He could surrender like this to Zsien, because he knew he would be cared for. He wanted it. He wanted it all.
Noah angled his hips to take him in deeper and Zsien released his legs to lean in further, bracing his weight on his hands on either side of Noah. His thrusts grew stronger with each turn and Noah raised his knees against his chest, locking his ankles around Zsien's waist to keep him as close as possible. He cried out loud at the first touch to his core and Zsien smiled and kept hitting it.
There was no question. Noah knew he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer with so much power swirling around him, inside him. Zsien squeezed a hand between them and curled firm fingers around his weeping length. Noah dug his fingernails into Zsien's shoulders and threw his head back with a cry when he came.
Zsien stilled for the moment it took for Noah to calm his breath and then raised his hand to his mouth to taste the white on his skin. "Good," he murmured and Noah shuddered. Then he gasped when Zsien began to surge into him with urgent moves.
He clung on while the other man took his pleasure and was more than a little surprised when his lips were covered by a warm, moist mouth. He tasted his own flavors on the other's lips. Zsien kissed him as deep as he took him, his tongue sliding in between his lips in time with his thrusts and Noah met it eagerly with his own tongue. He sucked it into his mouth and the taste of Zsien was a spicy sweet one.
Then Zsien's body stiffened for an instant before he drove himself as far inside as he could possibly reach. Noah felt his body fill with molten heat as Zsien emptied his essence inside him and he sealed his mouth to the other's to swallow the husky groan when he came.
Zsien's hips jerked with the last few spurts and he nibbled lazily at Noah's lower lip. His breath was slowing to normal and the rushing of blood in his ears was subsiding. "Hmmm," he murmured. "That was good." He raised his head a bit and looked down at Noah from behind thick, dark lashes. "I like the feel of you."
Noah blinked up at him and couldn't help that he blushed slightly. He quickly turned his face away when Zsien smiled smugly, and felt the length of him still inside when Zsien circled his hips teasingly. He let out a held breath and blinked slowly. How could surrender feel so good?
"My little sweet one," said Zsien softly and took the opportunity to nibble and lick at Noah's exposed throat. "Did I make you feel good?" he asked with his lips vibrating along his skin.
"How can you ask that?" Noah wondered, the answer was obvious.
"Because I like to hear you say it, Noah. Tell me."
Noah met his eyes. This was one of the many things Zsien needed to hear to feel he was still wanted, Noah realized. A confirmation that he was appreciated, perhaps even loved. "Yes, you make me feel good, Zsien," Noah said, holding his gaze, watching as it changed from dark to green to blue within a few heartbeats.
Zsien smiled lazily and then slowly withdrew from his body. There was a feeling of emptiness then and Noah let his fingers drag through the silver strands of hair that trailed over him when Zsien lifted off the bed to fetch a washrag. He watched the wide, muscled back of the other man as he cleaned himself and then his chiseled arms and chest when he returned. Zsien cleaned his skin of the evidence of their coupling and leaned in for a teasing, brushing kiss when his hand slid lower to clean between Noah's legs.
Zsien didn't bother to return the washrag to the bucket, dropping it on the floor as he slipped in under the blankets. He stretched with a deep, contented sigh and Noah carefully, almost hesitantly wriggled to get closer to him. Zsien either didn't care to acknowledge Noah's uncertainty, or didn't notice. He could be nonchalant that way sometimes, when he had had his own desires satisfied.
Noah didn't care to let him know he really was uncertain. The endearment Zsien had used, the way he'd said Noah's name. The way he had kissed him. They had never kissed before. Not like this, never for pleasure, only for the brief acknowledgement of the other or as a means of distraction. It all made Noah uncertain of Zsien's intentions, afraid of the future. He didn't dare hope.
But Noah was surprised when Zsien slipped his arm under his shoulders and pulled him close, tucking his dark auburn head under his chin, and surprise turned into affection when warm breath wafted through his hair. It was easy then to slip a tentative arm across Zsien's wide chest and turn his face just a little into the large shoulder so he could smell his scent; musky salty sweet.
"You didn't surrender to me, Noah," Zsien whispered so quietly Noah wasn't sure he had spoken. He lay still and quiet for fear of breaking the other man's courage to say what needed to be said. He felt it like a thrill in the air. "You never have. You gave yourself to me." The arm around him pulled him closer and he was held firmly against the wide chest. "My little sweet one. You're a gift to me. One I cannot be without in this world, or I will fail."
"I won't let you," Noah promised and raised his head from Zsien's shoulder to meet his eyes. They were grey.
This was a new side of Zsien, he realized. Perhaps the gentle, caring one he'd hoped to see but never thought he would. This was the one that used the endearment because it was true. The one that said his name like it was the answer to all the riddles in the world. The one that kissed him as if to breathe in his soul.
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