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Mydei still doesn't know how he ended up here. In his embrace, of all places.
Not when he knows that the name engraved upon his tenth thoracic vertebrae doesn't belong to the man currently pressing him into the floor.
Really, he should have known better. Should have had the restraint to stop from indulging in his desires when nothing good could come of it.
But when it comes to the Deliverer, all his good sense seems to fly straight out the window.
It was sunny the day they first met.
Mydei hadn’t intended to transfer to Okhema University at first, but he’d wanted to get out of his hometown, feeling stifled by his father’s expectations of him and not wanting to see his mother’s beautiful, kind face wreathed in sadness as she was made to bear the sight of her beloved son, beaten down and closed off from the weight of her chosen partner’s words.
By all accounts and purposes they should have been a happy family, and they had all the trappings of one. But Eurypon had never quite gotten over the fact that the name of Mydei’s soulmate, when it shimmered into existence on his barely milk-weaned body, belonged to a man and worse, to a foreigner, of all people.
For that, Mydei bore the brunt of his anger, and his disapproval. But unlike Eurypon, Mydei held his soulmate’s name close to his chest. The thought of someone somewhere out in the vast world belonging to him warmed him on cold nights where he was sent to bed without dinner for not performing up to his father’s standards.
After all, not everyone had a soulmate, nor a namemark etched on their body. There were plenty of those who remained nameless, and still found happiness with or without a partner. His parents were proof of that (if only their relationship with each other was concerned, and he was taken out of the equation).
But everyone knew that those who bore namemarks were meant for each other, and it was rumoured that were they to meet their soulmate, they would be irresistibly drawn to one another, an inevitable collision between a lodestone and a magnet.
To resist the pull of your soulmate was said to be akin to defying fate itself.
While Mydei had plenty of defiance within him, he reserved all of it for his father. He’d rather hoped that he didn’t need to rebel against the ties that bound him to his destined soulmate as well.
That is, until he met the Deliverer.
“Watch out!” was all the warning Mydei had got before he caught sight of a stray ball being thrown in his direction.
Luckily, despite how weary he was from his travels, Mydei’s reflexes were quick as always. It didn’t take much effort to catch the ball in one hand, and he spun around to catch the sight of a distant figure jogging towards him.
The afternoon sun’s glare made it difficult to see clearly, and Mydei frowned, squinting as he held a palm out to shield himself from the sun, although it was soon rendered unnecessary as a man stepped into view in the next moment and blotted out the sun entirely.
The man was taller than he was by a mere inch or two, but something about his presence made him seem larger than life. Perhaps it was the sunny smile plastered on his face, or the features so fine they could have been carved from marble, or the way his sparkling blue eyes gleamed with good humour, crinkling at the edges. His entire being exuded boyish charm so dazzling that Mydei thought it was no wonder he was capable of eclipsing the sun.
“...didn’t mean to hit you, I’m so sorry!” Huh. Even his voice was bright and full-bodied, and it resonated with Mydei in ways he couldn’t comprehend, as if he were a tuning fork that had been struck with force enough to send vibrations coursing through his body.
Could it, could he be—? No, surely not. What were the odds that the first foreigner he’d run into at his new university would be his soulmate? Surely even fate wouldn’t play such a prank on him.
“It’s fine, I caught it.”
“Ahaha. Funny. I see you’re not just a pretty face, I mean not that that’s the only thing interesting about you—” Mydei stared the stranger down incredulously, watching as his face flitted between a multitude of expressions, his cheerful visage giving way to panic, before dipping momentarily into despair and landing somewhere around embarrassment. His fair cheeks flushed pink, made all the more stark framed against the backdrop of his fluffy, silver-white hair.
It was ridiculous, really. That between the two of them Mydei was the one getting called pretty when there was nothing feminine about the way he was built. No one in Kremnos would ever make the mistake of calling the son of an infamous mixed martial artist (who had trained under him his whole life and was built in his image) pretty.
It made Mydei’s ears burn to hear it, a strange heat warming his chest. Certainly, this man must be delusional if he thought someone such as Mydei could be prettier than himself.
“Hmph. Speak for yourself, pretty boy.” Raising an eyebrow in challenge, Mydei feigned indifference as he crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t miss the stranger’s eyes flicking downward for a moment too long to be accidental, before they returned to his face. Tch. So he was a pervert too, on top of being loose-lipped. Well, Mydei supposed that even someone as perfect-looking as this stranger must have their faults too.
“You think I’m pretty?” His blue eyes lit up, perking up so quickly that Mydei wouldn’t have guessed he had just been red-faced with shame just a couple minutes ago. Such mercurial moods… one might be given to think he was some kind of puppy who just needed a little praise for his tail to begin wagging again. As if he didn’t get this from half the campus. Mydei didn’t understand why some throwaway comment he made would have such a drastic impact on the man. Perhaps he was just the dramatic sort.
Judging by the way he looked, Mydei imagined he was the sort of guy that had men, women, or really any gender orientation fawning over him at every juncture. Lean with a broad stature, the jersey he wore made it clear he was some kind of athlete. Basketball, maybe? Mydei confessed he wasn’t that familiar with sports other than mixed martial arts, considering where Eurypon’s priorities had laid, but the white-haired man looked to have the build for it.
“Khaslana! If you want to flirt, go do it in your own time, and stop holding our ball hostage. We still have practice, you know.” Someone shouted from the basketball court—the man’s teammate, most likely. Mydei ignored the twinge of disappointment in his stomach from the realisation that his initial assessment had been proven to be correct.
Of course, the first person he met at university wouldn’t—couldn’t—be his soulmate. Right. He should have known better than to get his hopes up like this.
“Yeah, Deliverer, get your ass back here.”
“I—I’m sorry, I have to go.” Oh. That was definitely a puppy dog look he was now giving Mydei, complete with pout and all. “Will you at least give me your name and your number? Let me take you out to dinner. Please? As an apology for nearly hitting you with the ball.”
“You don’t have to get me anything. Apology accepted. I’ll see you around, Deliverer. Maybe aim better next time.” Somehow, he couldn’t quite bring himself to call the man Khaslana, despite knowing it was his name.
Selfishly, Mydei thought it didn’t suit him. It definitely didn’t have to do with the fact that he’d harboured hope, however small, that this man would turn out to be his soulmate.
He’d turned tail and left then, trying to ignore the pathetic bleating in the background as the Deliverer tried to spout out other reasons as to why Mydei should let him buy him dinner. None of those reasons would be the right one, anyway. After leaving his homeland and his father’s dreams for him behind, Mydei couldn’t afford to start something he couldn’t finish yet again.
Another liability wasn't on the cards for him. Not when he was only just learning to let things go.
“At least tell me your name!” The desperation in the Deliverer’s voice made Mydei pause in his steps, hesitating.
“It’s Mydeimos. But people call me Mydei.” He offered reluctantly.
Surely this bit of information was harmless enough to share. After all, what were the chances they would even run into each other again? Their campus was large enough to house thousands of people, he’d probably forget about Mydei by tomorrow if he made it a habit of flirting with every passerby that came along.
If only he’d bothered to turn back, or he might have seen the way the other man’s eyes sparkled, lips twisting into a wide smile as if he’d heard the best news in his life.
Several hours later found Mydei coming out of a shower after unpacking and cleaning his side of the room, only to realise that he was no longer the sole occupant in his dorm room. As he stepped out of the bathroom, he was greeted by an all too familiar face, a pair of brilliant blue eyes widening at the sight of him.
“Wow, that body of yours is absurd,” slipped out from between the Deliverer’s lips before he stopped short in his tracks.
Mydei scowled. He knew his body was in good shape, considering his years-long training in mixed martial arts, not to mention his daily gym routine, but he had a feeling that that had not been what the Deliverer meant. “Pervert.”
“I swear to Kephale I’m not stalking you!” The words tumbled out of the basketballer’s mouth so rapidly that Mydei wondered absently if that was a learned skill. He really was different to Mydei, who ruminated on all of his words, measuring and testing them against his tongue before he would even consider expelling them from his mouth. What was it like, to be able to speak so freely, even at the expense of making themselves come across like a fool? Liberating, he supposed.
“Unless… you want me to?” He continued when the object of his admiration remained silent, red flushing his cheeks even as he couldn’t help but let his eyes rake greedily down Mydei’s exposed body, uncovered except for the towel wrapped loosely around his waist.
“Ahaha I mean… I’m just kidding.” Finally seeming to sense that Mydei’s silence stemmed from incredulity rather than assent, the silver-haired (but decidedly not silver-tongued) man hastily backtracked, physically taking a step back as if to appear less of a threat in comparison to his rather forward words.
Mydei sighed, interrupting him before he could spiral or make yet another ridiculous remark. “Deliverer. What are you doing here?”
“Oh! This is my room. Seems like we’re roommates! What a coincidence, huh?” Hm. Coincidences. Too many in one day, that was for sure. “So about that dinner? We should commemorate the fact that we’re now living together!”
Mydei raised a brow. Who knew that he would be so persistent. “Still no.”
The other man grimaced, but he recovered quickly. “That’s okay, I still have the rest of the year to convince you!”
“Do as you wish.” He undid his towel for the purposes of towelling off his damp hair, only to hear an unintelligible sound coming from the vicinity of his roommate. “Is there a problem?”
“You’re just—are you getting naked right now ?” Oh. Mydei had failed to consider that other cultures might not be as comfortable with nudity as the Kremnoans were. Well, you learn something new every day.
“My apologies. I did not expect that Okhemans would have… more prudish sensibilities. I didn’t mean to offend.”
“Hey—! I’m not a prude, and I’m not even Okheman… hah. Forget it.” The basketballer sounded hoarser than he did a few moments ago, and Mydei turned to stare at him, almost expecting him to continue. When it appeared that he wouldn’t, the Kremnoan headed back into the bathroom, taking his hairdryer with him.
Gazing at himself in the mirror, Mydei tried his best to ignore the way his traitorous heart had sped up at hearing the change in his roommate’s voice. God, if the Deliverer was a fool, then so was he for letting a stranger he barely knew affect him as much as he did when he wasn’t even Mydei’s soulmate.
What a fucking mess, and he still had the rest of the term to get through.
Months passed, and they never did grab that dinner. Not that it stopped the Deliverer from trying. Recently, his attempts had become more convoluted, sneaking in a request for dinner as a passing comment as if hoping that Mydei wouldn’t notice and might say yes, if only by accident.
As if Mydei could ever be unaware of him.
Despite his best efforts, his roommate had presence enough to fill the room and then some. It was to be expected, though, considering he was one of the most popular people around, not only for his ability on the basketball courts, but also his warm personality. He wasn’t the most naturally cheerful of people, Mydei had realised by now, but it didn’t matter. He was the sort of person to always give it his all, who would make the best of any situation, and it went a long way in making others feel comfortable around him, including Mydei, however reluctant he had been to begin with.
But there was just something about the man that put him at ease. The way he looked out for Mydei as if he couldn’t take care of himself was… not terrible. It wasn’t as if he needed it, but it didn’t change the fact that no one had ever gone out of their way to ensure his comfort. For one, he hadn’t needed to introduce Mydei to the people in his life that mattered, but he did and that meant something to Mydei.
And what did it say about Mydei that he couldn’t help but feel the urge to take care of the fair-haired man in return? The other man was always so eager to take care of everyone else that he often neglected his own needs, not that he seemed to notice. But Mydei did. Which meant that more often than not, when Mydei got up in the morning and prepared his protein smoothie—always pomegranate flavoured protein powder with calcium fortified goat’s milk—it was all too easy to reach for another bottle to do the same for his roommate.
It meant that when he whipped up meals for himself, it became a habit for him to make an extra portion for his roommate, be it lunch or dinner, leaving the plate out with a food cover if he wasn’t around. His plates would always be returned in a similar state: scraped empty, with the other man making smiley faces out of rice or peas and drawing thumbs ups in ketchup like some child, whilst Mydei would have to pretend it didn’t make the corners of his lips turn up to see it.
And if a niggling voice at the back of his head told him it was too much, that it was wrong of him to do so much for a man he had no business coveting when by virtue of the name on his back Mydei belonged to someone else, he ignored it. After all, he never spent time outside in a date-like setting with his roommate, and most of the times they hung out outside their shared room they did so in a group setting.
The only times they spent with each other outside of class stemmed from their shared love for sports, which saw Mydei hitting the gym almost every day, except when he was having a day of rest for better recovery. As a competitive basketballer, the Deliverer did the same, and over time they’d ended up syncing up their gym sessions out of convenience, since it made it easier to spot each other when they realised that they lifted within similar weight ranges, if not the same. They even sparred every now and again, once the Deliverer found out about Mydei’s background in mixed martial arts. Never one to back down from a challenge, Mydei had taken him on every time he asked to grapple.
It wasn’t as if they’d ever kissed or done anything of that nature, even if they had come close once. And he’d been careful since, making sure that he kept a respectable distance from the basketballer before either of them did anything they regretted.
For Mydei had noticed something about the Deliverer. He bore a name on his body too, in a different location, branded in gold just like Mydei’s own. It peeked out sometimes, when the man would raise an arm, and his jersey would slip up just enough to reveal the edge of a gilded letter, curved gently above his hip. Sometimes, too, his basketball shorts—white edged in a vibrant blue—would catch on a surface, slipping down just enough for his hip to jut out and reveal a little more of his namemark.
It must be some kind of cruel irony then, that while Mydei hadn’t ever seen their name spelled out in full, that he’d seen enough to catch that the name started with an M too, just like his own. He hated that every time he caught sight of it, it felt as if his heart was folding in on itself. It made him feel weak, pathetic, as if he were truly the things that Eurypon used to call him.
Mydei was in too deep by this point to pretend that there was nothing between them, to pretend that he didn’t want his roommate with a ferocity that he’d never known he possessed, but that his father had always wanted him to have (too bad it was for a vocation Mydei had never wanted in the slightest, no matter his natural talent for it). Funny how these things worked.
God, but he was in a foul mood today. Eurypon had called him out of the blue after they’d had little to no contact ever since he’d arrived in Okhema, threatening to cut him off completely if he chose not to return permanently to Kremnos at the end of the term. As if Eurypon hadn't all but cut him off already. Mydei hadn’t touched anything of his father’s money since he’d made up his mind to leave, and he’d gotten by with the trust fund that his mother had set up for him with the money she had inherited from her family as well as the odd jobs he worked.
He hated the fact that even after everything, Eurypon still expected him to go along with his wishes, if only to feed his own ego. There was nothing Mydei could say that would get through to him, to convince Eurypon that he was never going to be a professional fighter. But Mydei thought he’d also made it clear by now that he had no desire to play the dutiful son when Eurypon couldn’t do his part as a dad either.
Unlike Gorgo, Eurypon had never taken the time to know him beyond what he represented as a son, or he’d realise that all Mydei had ever wanted to do was to open a library. He could never understand that while Mydei enjoyed sparring, he cared far more about people. Mydei would bet the man didn’t even know that his son was pursuing a degree in History at present. The Deliverer, on the other hand, always made it a point to ask about his studies, as if he actually cared to learn Mydei, to see him for who he was.
If only Eurypon hadn’t threatened to withhold access to his mother…
“Mydei? Hey, I’m back—”
The words had barely left the silver-haired man’s mouth when he was unceremoniously interrupted.
“Deliverer. Let’s spar.” Mydei spoke the words without preamble, before his roommate had even gotten the chance to put his bag down.
“Mydei? Are you feeling okay?” Said roommate’s blue eyes creased, pupils shining with concern as he approached Mydei cautiously where he was sprawled in a heap upon his bed.
“I’m fine. Come on, let’s go.” Technically he wasn’t lying. He wasn’t fine, not by a long shot, but he would be fine later. A fight would help him work through his emotions. They usually did.
He was just about to get up from his bed when he felt his bed sinking with an added weight.
Scowling, he turned to glare at his roommate. “Clothes.”
The Deliverer clicked his tongue, unrepentant as his too-observant eyes continued scrutinising every pore on Mydei’s face as if he could deduce an answer from the lines of his face alone. Tch, like that was even possible.
“I showered before I got back. Unless you’d rather I take my clothes off before I get on your bed?” He wagged his eyebrows suggestively, knowing his words would only rile Mydei up. Which it did, because Mydei was nothing if not predictable.
“ Haikas . You know I don’t like outside clothes on the bed.”
“Yeah okay, okay. But I think there’s something more serious bothering you. Was it your mom? Or…” He paused to stare at Mydei again, and Mydei fought the urge to look away from the Deliverer’s gaze, even as it felt like he was being stripped down to the core of who he was. “Your dad?”
Mydei couldn’t help but flinch. It was ridiculous, that a man so far away still held so much power over him, that even the mere mention of him made Mydei balk, and he said as much to his overly nosy roommate as he shared the contents of his phone call, condensed down to its barest bones. “Pathetic, isn’t it? That he still manages to invoke fear in me.”
“There is nothing pathetic about you, Mydeimos. Like no offense, but your dad is kind of an asshole. Using your mom against you… I mean, what kind of dad does that to their kid? Mydei, if you want a new dad, I’m just saying. You could call me daddy instead.”
“Haikas! What is wrong with you?” Mydei felt heat flooding his cheeks at his roommate’s insinuations, his anger dissipating in favour of letting the complex feelings he bore for the other man surface. God, but it was ridiculous how the silver-haired man was able to defuse a situation like this so easily, somehow reassuring him while throwing him off-kilter all at once.
“I’m just saying, I could be your daddy if you wanted me to be. I could take care of you.” What was the Deliverer even saying?
“You—! I’m the one who takes care of you! You can’t even take care of yourself!” He lunged at the infuriating man, who wasn’t looking chastened enough for his liking. “Fight me.”
“What, here?” Phainon’s eyes widened even as his body reacted before he could even think, sending his knee into Mydei’s abdomen as he flipped their positions on the bed until Mydei was the one on his back.
“We’re going to get a noise complaint at this rate,” the Deliverer barely got out before he took an elbow to the face.
“You should’ve thought of that before you decided to run your mouth.” Recoiling from the impact, the basketballer was unceremoniously dislodged from where he’d pinned Mydei down, a feral grin flashing on the Kremnoan’s face at his momentary victory. That was, until the other man moved just as swiftly to block him. Hooking a leg into the back of Mydei’s knee, the white-haired man barely managed to cling onto the strawberry blonde with enough willpower that it sent them both tumbling down to the ground, their positions reversed once more.
Mydei braced himself for the impact as his head knocked backwards, expecting that his skull was about to connect with the ground. Except the hard hit he expected never came. Opening the eyes he’d closed on instinct, Mydei’s vision was filled with the sight of his roommate hovering mere centimetres above him, the veins on his forearm bulging out where it connected to his hand.
Said hand lay beneath Mydei’s head, cushioning his fall.
Perhaps it was the way the other man’s first instinct was to protect Mydei from harm even though Mydei didn’t need it. Or perhaps it was the way he glowed like the first light of dawn, framed by the warm halo of the setting sun’s rays, his silvery lashes fluttering like pixie dust against his cheeks to set off vivid blue eyes so reminiscent of summer skies. Or perhaps it was even the way the other man’s face was so close to his that Mydei could feel the man’s breath puffing against his lips, leaving them tingling with anticipation.
All Mydei knew was that he had never ached to kiss anyone as badly as he did in that very moment.
Something must have shown in his face, because the next thing he knew, the Deliverer had leaned in closer, their lips a hairsbreadth apart. “Mydei, please. May I? Can I—?”
The tone of his voice was urgent, desperate, in a way that Mydei had never imagined anyone could ever feel for him. It brought to mind thoughts of a kicked puppy, and yet he must’ve lost his fucking head because he said, “Yes,” before the other man even got the chance to finish his sentence, not even bothering to hide his own eagerness.
Their lips slotted together like a long-awaited union, falling into place as if they were two ends that were always meant to meet, one way or another. It was explosive, just like everything else between them, their competitive natures rearing their head as the Deliverer licked at his lips like an overheated puppy, begging, or more accurately, demanding entrance into his mouth as he pawed possessively at the muscular mounds of Mydei’s chest, plucking dexterously at the pink nubs that had been teased out of the red tank top he was wearing so that Mydei would arch his back and open for him.
Mydei groaned into the Deliverer’s mouth, fingers curling viciously into the hair at the nape of his neck as he tugged the man upward. The silver-haired man’s mouth fell open as they separated, spit stringing between their lips as Mydei observed the dilation in the Deliverer’s eyes with satisfaction before surging back and up to connect their lips once more with a snarl.
The kiss was half-wild, nary any tenderness to be found, and if Mydei felt like he was vibrating out of his skin he could only blame it on the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Liquid heat dispersed beneath the surface of his skin as the smooth fabric of the Deliverer’s shirt rubbed against his chafing nipples, the other man’s hands trailing a path of destruction down his body, want clouding Mydei’s mind like never before.
Deft, callused fingers kneaded at the striations in his quads, tracing each indented line before digging deep into his skin, tearing a moan from Mydei’s mouth. The Deliverer swept his tongue into every crevice of Mydei’s mouth, as if determined to map every path that would result in his pleasure, making his head spin even as Mydei gave as good as he got, taking gratification from the grunts and ragged gasps dragged out of his roommate in return.
He could feel the imprint of the Deliverer’s dick pressed against him, hot and throbbing to the beat of his own heart, dampened at the tip where the Deliverer ground it against Mydei’s core as if he couldn’t help himself. Fingers skirted at the edges of Mydei’s shorts, which had ridden up nearly to his hip, before they dipped inward. Fuck. His cunt was dripping wet, twitching where the Deliverer’s thumb had brushed across the sensitive hood of his clit.
“Fuck, Mydei.” The Deliverer’s voice cracked as he traced the seam of Mydei’s lower lips reverently, as if he couldn’t believe what he was being presented with. “You-you’re not wearing any underwear.”
“It’s better for your vaginal microbiome,” he tried to explain, although judging by the groan that the Deliverer let out, it didn’t appear to be the answer he was expecting. “Deliverer… why are you getting bigger?”
The basketballer tucked his face into Mydei’s neck as if he were embarrassed. “I don’t know,” came a muffled voice where it was pressed against his throat, teeth scraping the soft skin at the join between his neck and his shoulder. Mydei rolled his eyes. What was the point in acting bashful when it did nothing to stop him from shamelessly slipping a finger into Mydei at the same time?
Not that his body was any less shameless. His lips parted easily for the Deliverer’s finger, and if Mydei didn’t know better he’d think it was too eager in welcoming the intrusion. It didn’t take long for his body to adjust to the addition of a second finger, sucking it in more greedily than it should, considering that the man atop him wasn’t even his soulmate.
HKS. The thought was a sobering one, and Mydei was nearly startled out of the moment, fighting past the haze of pleasure to wonder what the fuck he was doing with the Deliverer, on their shared bedroom floor no less.
The name engraved upon his tenth thoracic vertebrae doesn't belong to the man currently pressing him into the floor, he knows that all too well. There isn’t a future for them, and he isn’t the sort to do this with someone who he doesn’t want a future with, but surely… for just one night, he can be allowed to indulge in a fantasy, one that doesn’t spell the end for them before it even begins? If he gets to have this—to have the Deliverer—once… perhaps Mydei will finally be able to let this go instead of forever wondering what they could be if fate hadn’t already inked their stories into their skin.
The sensation of fingertips curling inside him sends a choked gasp from his lips, and Mydei’s hand comes up to grab a muscled bicep, his other hand curling round the choker that wraps around the Deliverer’s neck. As the other man inserts another finger into him, however, Mydei’s fingers go lax on his choker, awash in new sensation as the man’s fingertips brushes purposefully against his pleasure centre. He can feel his walls clenching down as if they want nothing more than to keep the Deliverer’s fingers in place, except the man pulls out only seconds later.
A sound of protest leaves Mydei’s lips before he can stop himself. He watches as the Deliverer’s lips quirk upward, vibrant blue eyes somehow becoming brighter as his face lights up with a shit-eating grin. “Relax, Mydeimos. I’ll give you what you want in a sec.”
Mydei scowls, his face burning with the implication that out of the both of them, he’s the one who is more desperate for this. “ Haikas . Don’t act like you don’t want the same.”
“Oh my dear Mydei, but of course I do.” The Deliverer smiles beatifically down at him as he reaches for the hem of his t-shirt, pulling it over his head. “In case you need reminding, I’ve never stopped wanting you from the very moment we met. I just never thought I’d see the day you wanted me back just as badly as I want you.”
Mydei’s heart skips a beat at the Deliverer’s words, white noise rushing through his ears as he watches his roommate take his trousers off in a daze while he follows suit, stripping out of his thin tank top and wriggling out of his soiled shorts.
But he still can’t help the way his eyes stray to the line of the Deliverer’s hip, both wanting and not wanting to know the name branded above his iliac crest. Perhaps seeing another name on his roommate’s body will finally purge him of this sick desire, and he’ll finally be able to give up hope on a future between them.
And then he sees the name. His name.
Mydeimos is written on the Deliverer’s body in cursive gold. What in the heavens is going on?
“Y’know, it would be nice if you’d call me by my name while we—” his roommate’s face pinkens prettily, suddenly bashful as if what they’ve been doing is as chaste as holding hands. “Make love.”
“Khaslana.” Mydei tests the word on his tongue. It is the first time he’s ever called his roommate by this name, but he’s starting to wonder if he may have gotten things all wrong.
The other man bursts into laughter. “Just because my teammates call me by my last name doesn’t mean you have to. It’s not as if you don’t know what my name is. Right?” His laughter trails off as Mydei blinks at him and slowly comes to the realisation that between the both of them… it turns out he may be the bigger fool after all.
“Wait, do you seriously not know what my name is? It’s Phainon.” At Mydei’s silence, Phainon lets out an incredulous huff of laughter. “Kephale. I can’t believe it. This whole time, you’ve had my name on your body, and you didn’t even know it?”
Suddenly he gets a gleam in his eyes. “Wait. Does that mean I made you fall for me with my charm alone? You liked me even though you didn’t even know we were soulmates? Ah, Mydei. My Dei. You know, even when I first laid eyes on you, I knew you were the one for me. Even before I heard your name, I knew.”
“Shut up, Phainon . You talk too much.” Mydei interrupts, trying to ignore how it feels as if a swarm of butterflies has been released into his chest. He feels overwhelmed, the knowledge that he is allowed to stay with the silver-haired man he’s grown to love hitting him like a ton of bricks.
He can barely believe that he won’t have to give this up. That Phainon is his to keep.
“Wait. You weren’t going to hit it and quit it, were you?” Phainon asks, a horrified expression coming upon his face, and Mydei grimaces. Does he have to make it sound so callous, as if Mydei was trying to make use of him? (It isn’t entirely off the mark, but still.)
Sensing that Phainon was about to go into one of his overthinking spirals, Mydei takes advantage of the opening to wrap his arms around the other man’s neck, pulling him down until their bodies are flush against each other’s.
“Instead of talking, why don’t you put your dick to good use and fuck me?” He whispers into Phainon’s ear, voice husky with desire, bucking his hips in invitation as his opening slides against Phainon’s cock, just enough for the head of his dick to catch on Mydei’s entrance.
“Kephale. You’re killing me.” The words leave Phainon’s lips in a near-whine as he grinds messily against Mydei, practically humping the man.
“Be a good boy, Deliverer, and deliver your cock inside me. Now.” Mydei hisses, biting down harshly on the lobe of Phainon’s ear. The other man lets out a shuddery breath, cock twitching against Mydei’s folds, and in the next breath he has folded Mydei’s legs up, throwing his ankles up onto his shoulders as he sheathes himself entirely into Mydei’s walls.
The slide in is smoother than Mydei had expected, but he still feels stretched like nothing else, filled to the brim and surrounded on all edges by Phainon’s overwhelming presence. But where before he felt as if he could be burned if he were to fly too close to the sun, now the heat is a balm on his senses, sharpening his desire as he’s speared open.
Phainon is like a warm blanket that fucks, his powerful arms flexing as he withdraws a couple inches only to slam back into Mydei with force, chanting his name like a prayer. He pierces into Mydei’s guts as if he’s trying to forge a path into the Kremnoan that entirely belongs to him, and Mydei shudders at the thought, at the knowledge that he is Phainon’s as much as Phainon is his .
“I still can’t believe you wanted to fight me, wearing that flimsy excuse for shorts, and nothing else . Did you want everyone else to see you, Mydei? See how wet you are for me? I bet you would have liked it if I fucked you right there, at the gym, in front of everyone, so that everyone knows that you’re mine.”
Mydei can’t help the way his walls flutter around Phainon’s cock as the filthy words fall from his mouth. He’s never thought of himself as an exhibitionist, but he isn’t able to stop from reacting to the possessive nature of Phainon’s words.
“Kephale. You really do want it.” Phainon’s voice is full of wonder, his palm gripping Mydei’s waist so tight that the Kremnoan hopes it’ll bruise in the shape of his fingers.
“HKS. What I want is you , Phainon of Aedes Elysiae. No one else.” He bites out before breaking off on a moan, and Phainon connects their lips messily, plundering his mouth in a frenzy, losing all of the finesse from earlier.
He buries himself into Mydei’s depths again and again, his thumb alternating between flicking ruthlessly at Mydei’s clit and circling it gently until all Mydei feels is a tingling, electrifying sensation inside him, sparks raining down his spine as Phainon bears down on him, pushing his legs down until he’s bent in half, his ankles by his ears. The new angle makes it easier for Phainon to reach deeper inside him, until the tip of his cock is ramming against the soft spongy surface of Mydei’s cervix.
The way Phainon slams against the entrance of his womb is almost intolerable, pain intermixing with pleasure as Mydei clamps down on his cock uncontrollably from the stimulation. He bucks his hips from how oversensitive it feels, nearly dislodging Phainon from within him. But then Phainon leans over him and laces their fingers tightly together, sealing their mouths once more and keeping Mydei in place as he slows his movements. This time he fucks into Mydei purposefully, unhurriedly, sucking red marks into the skin of his tattoos as if he wants to paint Mydei with the same brushstrokes, as an artist would.
If Mydei had been sensitive before, he is even more so now. Phainon’s methodic, deliberate strokes only makes Mydei hyper aware of each microscopic movement inside him and how good it feels, how close he is to toppling over the edge of desire. When Phainon’s wandering hands skirt down his waist to press against the small bump at his abdomen through which his cock can be felt, Mydei nearly chokes, an unintelligible sound escaping his throat as he clenches down hard.
But he isn’t ready to come yet, not like this.
“Phainon, I need you.” He breathes. “Come inside me. Breed me, so everyone knows that I’m yours.”
The noise that escapes Phainon’s mouth is practically inhuman, and he picks up speed, chasing his pleasure as he tries to heed Mydei’s command, tears streaming from his eyes as he mouths hungrily at Mydei’s shoulder all the while.
His thumb grinds against Mydei’s clit as he jerks forward, letting out a cry as he pushes past the entrance of Mydei’s womb to deposit his seed deep inside Mydei, spilling hot heat directly into his womb. Mydei gasps at the sensation, convulsing helplessly as his orgasm is pulled from him without warning, nails digging into Phainon’s back as he comes harder than he remembers ever having come before.
His senses crash back into him seconds later, and he shifts to get comfortable, moving his legs down to the floor from where they had been manoeuvred before, only to still as he realises that Phainon is still hard inside him. Ignoring the streaks of white that have begun to trickle down his thighs, he presses a foot against Phainon’s chest, knocking him down onto the floor before he straddles the man once more.
A triumphant smirk emerges on his face as he sinks down on the other man’s cock, taking him down to the root easily now that he is relaxed after his orgasm.
“Fuck, Mydei. You’re so beautiful. You feel so good around me.” Phainon babbles, his face flushed as the rings of blue in his eyes are nearly swallowed up by the ochre hue of his pupils. Mydei tugs roughly at the choker round his neck, pulling him up into a messy kiss as Phainon plants his heels into the ground so he can rock up into his roommate, broad palms digging into his waist as he slams the man down to receive him like a man possessed, uncharacteristically brutish in the way he manhandles Mydei.
Yet the Kremnoan can’t find it in himself to mind, not when it feels so mind-numbingly good to take all that Phainon is willing to give him.
“Let’s move in together.” Phainon murmurs against his mouth, lips brushing sloppily against his spit-slick ones.
“HKS. Did you forget we already live together?” Mydei asks, wondering how fucked out the man must be to have forgotten that fact.
“No, I mean.” He pauses, grinding deep into Mydei, a hand cradling the small of his back before it travels up his spine to trace the shape of a name etched permanently on his tenth thoracic vertebrae. It elicits a moan from the strawberry blonde, who bites his neck as a reminder to continue.
“Next year, and the year after. And the one after that till forever. The term’s ending soon, isn’t it? Let’s live together, Mydei. Just you and me. Stay with me, please?”
His pleas send shivers down Mydei’s spine, the open yearning in his voice making him clench around Phainon, inadvertently pleased by how keenly Phainon wants to keep him by his side.
“Be a good boy and fuck me properly, and maybe I’ll think about it.” Mydei challenges, watching as the competitive gleam he knows and loves so well reappears in Phainon’s eyes.
“Fine. If that’s what you want, I’ll give it all to you. I’ll fuck you so hard you won’t be able to walk tomorrow.” Phainon’s voice has dropped an entire octave, eyes blown wide as he looks at Mydei as if he wants to devour him whole. As if he could.
Mydei cocks his head at him, leaning back with a smug grin. “I’d like to see you try.”
And try he does. Phainon makes good on his promise, letting Mydei ride out his orgasm on the floor before eating him out and relocating them to a bed. He fucks Mydei on his knees, pressing on his tenth thoracic vertebrae with one hand as he holds his wrists tight in another, pulling him upright onto his cock. They fuck on the dresser in front of the mirror, and then again against the wall with Mydei’s legs wrapped around Phainon’s waist. Mydei can hardly remember how many times he’s come, feeling as if he is a nerve ending scraped raw, and yet he doesn’t want to stop either.
By the time they are finished, the sun has gone down, and the night sky is rife with stars.
“Mydei, you’ll let me take you out to dinner right?” Phainon asks as he lies curled up against Mydei on Phainon’s bed, the only clean surface they have yet to sully.
“No—” He huffs as Phainon puffs up in protest before he can finish, not even noticing how Mydei has a food delivery app up on his phone. “It’s far too late. We’ll have to order takeout.”
“Oh.” The white-haired man is visibly relieved, and Mydei thinks, not for the first time, how alike he is to a puppy, perking up so easily when it comes to him.
“I’ll move in with you.” He finally tells Phainon to put him out of his misery.
“You will?!”
“Yes. Now be quiet and let me get some shut-eye before the food gets here.”
“Mydei… did I tell you how much I liked you?”
“Haikas. I like you too.”