Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

He bit down on the heel of his own left palm, hoping that it would calm his nerves even the smallest amount.
It was unlikely, but he was still going to try.
He couldn’t bite through the gloves, so he couldn’t break skin.
He just needed the reminder that he was real and that the world existed.

Yeah.
He could do this.
He hated that his nerves were on fire before every show.
He hated the way the stage lights made him feel.
He hated the way—
Fuck, who was he kidding?
He loved performing for a live audience.
His band mates were already starting to hype him up, his boyfriend was late though.
Maybe because he hadn’t gotten his good luck wishes, that’s why he was nervous as hell.
Whatever.
His guitars sat on the stage.
He waited for his cue.
The lights in the arena went dark, and he heard his drummer scream. 

“KING-SLAY-ER!”

The audience responded.

“GOD-SLAY-ER!”

He resisted the temptation to bury his face in his hands.
He hated that they chanted this shit before he came out on stage.
He didn’t even come up with it, the damned keyboardist did.

“GET THE FUCK OUT HERE, MYDEI!”

He took a deep breath and did his best to look casually excited as he made his way to his place on stage.
He settled his guitar comfortably around himself and began the first song of their new set with the screaming guitar intro that he had suggested.
The crowd was respectfully silent as soon as he started, and only when the cymbals crashed and the lights flared to life did the audience cheer, because the show was truly beginning.

Turn my heart into a picture frame,
Turn my soul into glass.
Tell me that you would be
Something greater than my past.
Gather my tears,
I know you oh so love
Just how they taste.
Turn my heart into a picture frame,
Help me make this all make sense.

The song was something that he found written in the back of an old pamphlet.
It was incomplete, but he figured he would finish it anyway.
The person who wrote it seemed like they were in pain, and Mydei knew how to make his guitar sing tragic songs with such gentle sincerity that people really did seem to cling to that ‘Godslayer’ nickname that he had been given.

[[
Hold my head up as the world spins!
Hold my hair back as my throat burns!
Comfort me as the poison they fed me
Burns on the way out!
(Out, out
Out out)
On the way out!
(Out, out)
On the way out!
]]

He always recalled his days in high school when he was fed so much fucking bullshit by the adults around him and his peers when he sang this song.
It was simultaneously a song about being loved while wanting to be thrown away.
It was one of the very few serious songs on their new album…
Yeah, there was a love song in there too, but this one was different from the rest because it was filled with something truly intangible.

Turn my heart into a picture frame.
Tell me how it's supposed to make sense.
Turn my soul into its glass pane.
Let the world see my whole past.
Tear into the dirt for me.
As my throat burns,
And you hold fast.

Everything that he had gone through when his parents got divorced, when his best friend died far too young, when all that shit went down back then– 
It all bubbled up when he sang this piece.
It was a song written by a kid who finally found someone who could possibly make them like themselves.
A task previously believed impossible.

Turn my heart into something more.
Let the glass fall to the floor.
Let me break just a little more.
And when the bruises start to form
Pick the parts up if you dare
(Dare, dare
Dare, dare)
If you dare!
(D-d-d-d-d-dare)

He tried to not dwell on the consequences that the younger Mydei had faced for being in such a state, but he also knew that the more he allowed himself to be reminded of the pain, the better his performance became.
He picked some random fucker in the crowd to stare down as he called out the dares.
He knew that his boyfriend was the only person who even tried to even understand what he had gone through until now.
Whenever he got to the parts that hurt most, he would start nodding and his band mates would always step in to cover his ass in the event he got too caught up in the emotions to play properly.
It only happened twice in all the time that they’ve been doing this, but the signal existed for a reason.

Let your blood stain the shards,
As you try to fix me.
Let your blood fill the cracks.
Hold me close or put me back.
Carry the weight of me if you dare.
(Dare, dare
Dare, dare)
If you dare!
(D-d-d-d-d-dare)

[[Chorus]]

He was nodding along with the bass line, begging for a drum solo before his guitar resumed crying.
Tears in the shapes of music notes falling to the floor and flowing into the ears of the audience as he played the chords and sang words that belonged to a broken child.

Broken!
(Shattered)
Misspoken!
(Battered)
Etude pouring from your face!
(From your
F-face, F-face
Face, face, 
From your face)
As you-

[[Chorus]]

He really, really hoped his boyfriend would be here soon...
His boyfriend made everything about his life easier.
That’s what he thought, anyway.

If you dare!
(Dare, dare)
If you dare!
(D-d-d-d-d-dare)
Break me apart!

[[Chorus]]

The song slowed to a crawl, the notes petering out and the cymbals fading into nothing before the last words were spoken intimately into the microphone without accompaniment.
He closed his eyes and slowly opened them as he spoke.

{On the way}

The pause was too important to forget.
In the crowd he saw eyes that captivated him.
Brilliant blue- so blue that the man could have been blind.*
The breathless, shuddering way he said the last word of the song was–
It was for that man– For those eyes.

{Out.}

There was thunderous applause and Mydei had to find a way to peel his eyes off that man in the crowd.
What row–
What seat–
How would he be able to find that man after the show?
He was so fucked.
He played it off like it was nothing. He had to.
He grabbed the microphone and spoke, trying to scan the crowd, but his eyes ended up locked with brilliantly clear blue.

“When the sky burns, and the tide turns– just remember that–”

The audience knew their cue.

“WE! WILL! AL-WAYS! FIND! YOU!”

Mydei noticed that the man didn’t join in the chant, instead his lips seemed to part slightly, as if noticing that Mydei was staging directly at him.
He thought he could see the man blush from here.

Mydei was so, so fucked. He had a boyfriend. But he was pretty sure he had just fallen in love, because it wasn’t anywhere near the same feeling as when his boyfriend was around.
Mydei had to calm the fuck down.
He closed his eyes and focused on the intro to their next song, this one, thankfully, the vocals were done by their bassist.

Her golden bass matched her golden hair that fell elegantly to her shoulders in soft curls. She also almost exclusively wore really funky clothes. Today’s ensemble was some really odd number that included insects adorning the white leather jacket that she had designed. Apparently, it was the ‘final form’ of the jacket, and she was incredibly pleased with herself over how it turned out.
The song she was the lead vocalist for was called BE[FORE YOU WERE] MY QUEEN, and told the story of a woman whose girlfriend left her high and dry but ended up being a washed up hack of a musician. It was autobiographical, or so she said. Aglaea seemed far too young for the story to make sense on an autobiographical level. Mydei refused to pry.

He only had to join in on parts of the chorus on that one, but only if he wanted to.
Today was one of those days, it seemed.

[[
Because you’re my favourite
Old hack–
Crazy bitch!
Drama hungry–
Rockstar Queen!
]]

He couldn’t help but smile as he shared the chorus with his band mates.
It was a silly fucking song.
She made sure that the bass line was a dirty as hell joke, and on the single CD release, there’s a version with the bass enhanced specifically for said dirty joke.⸄

The song that followed that one was the only one with the violin, a role taken by their keyboardist.
It was actually about a video game from back in the day when people had to sit in the same room as each other to play co-op called “Hello Halo”.
Very little of the song required the violin, but Hysilins really wanted to add it for the concert versions for the hell of it.
The violin otherwise only existed on the acoustic version of the song.
This one made him cackle while they were writing it.
It was a game that was fundamental to how they all knew each other, so the fact that they all got to have fun with it  

[[
We got locked and loaded
We’d select the mode and
Holy shit–
That shrimp exploded!
]]

The chorus was where the song started being written, their drummer, tiny as she was, was the one who woke them up while on tour and screamed about the stupid hook.
He truly, truly admired his friends… and the fact that they all were terrible at first-person shooters really made it better.

This is an ode to Tim
We all really loved him
He put up with a lot
Probably way too much
But that’s just how it is
Tim was really cool

He couldn’t help but find those eyes in the audience again… 

{He helped me get so close to you}

[[Chorus]]

The song petered out with a solid hum from the bass, and Mydei had to remember to breathe.
He also needed to remember to drink some of the damn water that they had for him on stage.

Their next song was probably his favourite of the set because it was absolute garbage.
They don’t even remember who came up with the idea or where the concept popped up from, but it made them all cackle so hard that it was difficult to breathe for a few hours.

He always smiled during this song.

But the introduction was really silly, too, because their drummer had a silly little puppet that would show up and try to steal the drumsticks from her.
It was always brilliant.
It started slowly with simple chords, but always, always landed well.
And the crowd always, ALWAYS played their part right perfectly.

You asked me for my name
Okay
You asked me for my birthday
Uh, hmm
Yeah, you asked me for my birthday
My birthday

The song was completely absurd.
It was about a carnival game, “(Whack-A-Mole!)”, and it was just– no one understood what exactly the song was for.
Some fans tried to find a deeper meaning in it, but there really wasn’t one.
It was just a garbage, shit-post of a song.
It was written for the dumb lines that the aforementioned mole talks about ‘hatching from an egg, like any other mole’.
It was absolute nonsense.
And they were a punk band.

How a fashion designer, violin prodigy, nursing student, confused raccoon woman, and Mydei got together to form a punk band of all things was anyone’s guess.
Mostly it came down to Aglaea’s dirty fucking mouth that matched her horny mindset and Hyacine's parent's basement being able to handle a bunch of weird kids failing to play FPS games well beyond the time they should be sleeping. 

The crowd was always encouraged to join in on the last line of this song in particular.
It’s what the album was named for, after all. The whole band, and the audience, as one voice, shouted the last line.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, DAVE!”

No one– not a single fucking one of them had ever met a guy named Dave.

That was the beauty of it all.

After that song was over, Mydei whipped the microphone off the stand and sat on the edge of the stage.
It was time for his end-of-show piece.
He didn’t personally play guitar for this one, he only sang for it.
It was an entirely unconventional song, even for them.
Only the bass drum was used, only the high notes on the keyboard, the bass was quiet, and the guitar was sparse.

Run down the clock
Turn down the lights
When you turn around
Know that I’ve left town

You still haunt my memories
The times we had still there
And when the sky fell on me
The world said fair is fair

When we laid you to rest
I was told you did your best
But my heart it can’t believe
That you’d ever leave me

So you need to fucking let me go
You need to leave me, please
My heart can’t take it all
Your words– the worst disease.

It sounded like a serious song, and to an extent it was.
But when it picked up, it tended to fuck with people’s expectations.
The song was dedicated to the friend who had died so long ago.
And now… Mydei was going to dedicate it to his current boyfriend because holy shit those beautiful eyes grabbed his attention again.
He winked and licked his lips at the thought of tasting the man those eyes belonged to.
The man subtly pointed at himself, tilting his head slightly.

“Oh yeah, you beautiful thing.”

Mydei said the inside words out loud.
He covered his ass by hopping back onstage and playing the energetic fool.
The heat he felt from blushing was covered by the heat of the stage lights and excitement of the performance.
The biggest problem, he realized, was how fucking horny the second half of the song was.
How could he not crave the guy who made him fucking–

Come on, and let me fight you–
Let me hunt you down.
Come on, let’s battle–
Let me pin you to the ground.

We have a score to settle.
We have a score to settle!
You’ve got more bark than bite!
Let this lion eat you up tonight!

He ran his free hand down his torso for the line he just sang, eyes locked again on the beauty.
He growled into the microphone, which made Hysilins, of all people, stumble over the next few measures.
He ignored it and they all played it off.

We have a score to settle.
Let me test your mettle!
Come on puppy, try me!
Let’s get down and dirty!

Except he couldn’t finish the song properly.
Those last two lines refused to leave his mouth.
He adlibed replacements that fit the meter and rhyme scheme, but he couldn’t– not when he was about to drown in the level of chaos in his heart over this man who he may never see again.
The rest of the song was a blur.
When they finished, they did their bows and goodbyes and when he left the stage he felt like his heart was going to combust.
He barely registered his band mates trying to talk to him, and he vaguely recognized his boyfriend’s voice.
The man’s presence caught him off guard.
He blinked a few times, trying to fully recollect 'why had I started dating this guy.'
He pried off the bracelet the man had given him, and undid the earrings, too. “We’re done.”
He handed the man the accessories and didn't say anything else. He didn’t register the guy’s response, all he wanted was to find the guy who he saw in the crowd.
There was a hand on his shoulder, he turned and registered it as his hopefully-ex-boyfriend who grabbed him.
Mydei threw the man to the ground. “I said that we are done.” He snarled at the man. “I’ll send your shit to your house. Don’t fucking call me.”
He didn’t linger, instead taking off running out to where the attendees were filtering out of the venue.
He was breathing hard, and he barely registered the screaming fans who saw him and tried to mob him, but he ducked away, ignoring them⭑ and turning to head into the stadium seats.
Hopefully– hopefully, the man would stay behind long enough for Mydei to catch him.

“Middle… bottom… center…” Mydei muttered what he could recall in terms of where the man had been seated, scaling the stairs quickly.

He made it to the general area that he thought he saw the guy.
He saw white hair retreating down the steps towards the exit.
When the person with the white hair turned to speak excitedly with a friend, Mydei saw those eyes.
He sprinted, risking slipping and falling down the cement stairs to catch up to him.
Mydei reached out and grabbed at the man’s arm. “Wait!” Breathless from running, he held onto the man’s arm. “Wait, please.” He hunched over to catch his breath, gasping for air.

The guy jumped when his arm was grabbed, and turned when Mydei spoke.
Time seemed to slow.
Those crystal clear blue eyes looked at him and the voice that accompanied them was unlike any other Mydei had ever heard. Beautiful. “Excuse me who–” the moment of recognition was palpable, and the guy’s friends seemed to understand that something of really, really clandestine importance was happening if the lead guitarist and singer for the band they just saw on stage was out of breath with his hand like a vise on their friend’s arm. “O–oh.” The man stuttered. 

“Please–” Mydei straightened. “If nothing else, I need to know your name.”

The man turned lobster-red, and was unable to get a word out.
One of his friends said something that didn’t register to Mydei’s ears and pushed the guy closer to Mydei, which caused the two to collide before they seemed to just ditch him.

He smells amazing.
He caved to his desire and clutched at the man’s chest. “Fucking hell, this is so unfair.” He whispered against what were clearly well-toned muscles. “How does someone like you even exist?”

He heard –and felt– the guy breathing heavily now. “Wh-what’s going on now?”

Mydei gripped the man’s shirt and looked him in the eye.
“You–” softly freckled, as if he spent a lot of time outside.
Lips the colour of soft roses.
Mydei’s next words were not the ones he wanted to say.
He didn’t know exactly what he wanted to say, actually, but it most certainly wasn’t what he actually said.
“Marry me.”
Mydei was still catching his breath, his brain still in a fog, and when his brain caught up to what he had said he let go of the guy and stepped backwards, tripping on the concrete stairs.

The man caught him before he could fall. 

They just stood there, Mydei being held by the beautiful man he literally dumped his boyfriend for.
He didn’t know anything about this guy.
No idea if he was straight or gay or whatever.
No idea if he was single.
He had no clue other than that the man was truly the first person to make him feel this way.

“Phainon.” The guy said.

“Phai-”

“My name.” The gorgeous man named Phainon said, face still flushed red with the clear absurdity of the interaction.

“Phainon.” Mydei tasted the name.
Even his name iss beautiful.
“I’m Mydei.” He introduced himself, it being a concert where he was the main act didn’t seem to register.

“So I’ve been told.” Phainon laughed awkwardly. “So, uh..” He looked to the side, completely uncertain of what to do next.

Mydei swallowed hard. “I– s– sorry.” He bowed his head, mortified at having asked a stranger to marry him. “That’s not what I wanted to say or ask.”

Phainon put his hands in his own pockets and bit his lip. “I’m flattered?” He was avoiding Mydei’s gaze. “People don’t usually start with that, so I figured as much.”

Mydei looked up at him. “Would you give me a chance? I-i-if you’re single that is! I– I don’t even know if you’re into guys, oh my fucking– Nikador, I–” Mydei was rambling.
He hadn’t ever been so tongue-tied by a person’s existence before, so he was completely out of his depth with this situation.
He buried his face in his hands.
He was sure he was also burning red in embarrassment.

“I’m–” Mydei heard Phainon start, but then heard a girl’s voice come from behind the guy. 

“Hey, loverboy, you good?”

Phainon seemed to freeze in place at being called ‘loverboy’. “Cy, y-y-you can–” He stuttered, slowly turning towards his friend.

Mydei saw that she had pink hair and eyes that almost matched Phainon’s. Are they related?

“If you want to stay behind, you can. We’re in town for a bit longer, so you don’t have to rush on our account. We did sorta drag you here, so–”

Her accent was the same as Phainon’s.
She was visiting from out of town?
Phainon had been dragged to the concert?
Mydei was gleaning something from this.
“You don’t have t–” Mydei started but Phainon interrupted him.

“Yeah, I’ll catch up with you guys later, I guess I won a backstage pass or something, but they forgot… or… something…”
Not the worst cover Phainon could have come up with, to be fair.

“Yeah! His seat was picked for the mystery lottery VIP pass, and they forgot to let him know ahead of time!”
Mydei was saved by the devil– the band’s resident raccoon woman stumbled into the conversation like a drunk, man-eating space tuna.
“Mydei remembered about it and decided to hunt’ya down, I guess!”

Mydei probably owed the woman a giant meal as thanks for this.

“Oh, that makes sense~!” The pink-haired girl gave Phainon a small side-hug and gave a quick goodbye.

While that exchange happened, the raccoon whispered in Mydei’s ear, smiling politely as she did so.
“You owe me big time for keeping your ex from destroying the place AND for saving your ass right now.”

“My who?” Mydei looked at the raccoon woman, tilting his head.

“Seriously?” She hissed through her teeth. “*****”

The name didn’t even register in Mydei’s brain.

Mydei looked at her. “Yeah, no. I don’t know who that is.”
He shook his head slowly before registering that the raccoon was staring at him like he had gone nuts, and Phainon seemed confused by the words that had come out of both of them.

“Really? *****?”

“I see your mouth moving but I’m not hearing a name. So no, no fucking clue.” He shook his head slowly.

“*** hair, ***, *** eyes? Wears a lot of ****? *****??”

“Yeah, no. Nothing. Lots of nothing.”

The raccoon buried her face in her hand, “Mydei, I swear.” 

“Stelle, I seriously have no idea who you’re talking about.”
He felt his hand get squeezed lightly.
He looked down at it and followed the hand holding his up to the face of the person who it belonged to.
“Because I love Phainon.”
He pointed at Phainon.

“Fine. Whatever.”
Stelle threw her hands in the air.
“You need to pack your shit. If you don’t get to the bus in the next forty-five, you gotta find your own way to the restaurant.”

“So, yeah, uh...” Mydei looked at Phainon as Stelle ran away. “Wanna… wanna grab dinner somewhere? I’ll pay.”

“I know a really good place, but I don’t know if it’s–”

“It doesn’t matter where, I’ll eat almost anything and I’ll cover it.”
Mydei needed to spend more time with him.
He’d even follow the man to a fucking shady basement that homed a cagey as fuck diner that was clearly a mob front if it meant spending more time with him.
“Anything. Absolutely anything.”

Phainon leaned in close– so incredibly close to Mydei that his breath burned Mydei’s ear and whispered, “you don’t have to pay the bill if it’s my house.”

“Okay, let’s go get my guitar and my gear–” Mydei dragged Phainon down the stairs, the heat was beginning to coil in his chest again.
He heard the musical laughter of the man behind him.

Mydei brought Phainon backstage so he could grab his shit.
Guitars, his microphone⸙, and his bag.
He never really brought much with him.
Everything else was on the bus.
He double-checked to make sure his phone was in his bag, and after slinging the bag over his shoulder, he slung the guitar case that had a strap across his back, and the hard case was in his hand.
“Okay, I’m good to go!” He was all nerves.
All rapid-fire, burning, terrified nerves.
Mydei had never felt this way about another person before.
Mydei unlocked his phone and sent his crew a quick message. 

‘Sorry, something came up very, very last minute.’
‘No shit.’ Hysilins.
‘(◕◡ ⚟) ~~✿’ Aglaea. ‘Good luck‘n, fuckin’im, Lion.’
‘I hate you sometimes.’ Mydei responded to the absurd message from the woman.

He muted his phone and put it in his bag again.

“Here, let me carry that for you,” Phainon grabbed the hard case and was apparently not taking comments on his behaviour right now.
“I hope you don’t mind riding in a boring hatchback.”

Phainon walked at Mydei’s side, if it wasn’t for his shoes, Mydei was certain that Phainon would be taller than him.
He really… He didn’t know many people taller than himself.
Oh, he wanted to know if the man was taller.

“I’m fine with that, I don’t like the bus much.”
That was an honest truth.
He had to share a tour bus with four absurd women.
An unknown number of which preferred to date women, so he knew the true horrors of the woman’s life cycle… and by that he meant how often they fucked and got off.
They made any gay guy he’d ever known look like a damn chaste angel– including himself.
Then again… he still hadn’t actually really been in a relationship that went much deeper than surface-level stuff.
What a fucking punk he was.
They painted him as this weird sex-god or something, but he never wanted that image.
Aglaea was the horny one.
The raccoon would probably get high and start an orgy in the bus if he said he wasn’t gonna be there tonight.
Oh Nikador, was he going to spend the night?
Would Phainon offer?
He was calmly panicking, now in the parking garage and following this incredibly hot man to his red, —huh? Interesting— hatchback.

Phainon popped the trunk and opened the side door to put down one of the seats in the back so he could safely store the hard case.
He helped Mydei with the other one, and when he went to open the passenger side door for Mydei, he paused.
“So, um…”
He looked at the ground.
He sounded like he was also unravelling over the encounter.
“M– may I?”
He reached out to Mydei’s face. 

Mydei bit his lip, “may you–?”

Phainon touched Mydei’s cheek, he brushed his thumb over Mydei’s lips. 

Mydei’s breath shook as he exhaled.
He nodded right before Phainon pushed him back against the car, warm, soft lips crashing into his own almost chaotically.
The hunger was so evident in the way Mydei felt like he was being devoured.
Mydei’s hands found themselves in the soft snow drifts of Phainon’s hair.

A hand touched Mydei’s waist, he gasped lightly.
He closed his eyes. “Fucking hell.”

“I think food would come first, maybe,” the door behind him clicked open. “Let’s go have some dinner, yeah?”

Mydei would have complained, but the way Phainon basically manhandled him gently into the seat of his car was oddly delicious.
Phainon’s hand lingered a fraction too long as he buckled Mydei in as if he didn’t know how.
The man smelled amazing.
He leaned his head back against the seat and stretched his legs forward slightly.
He didn’t know what to do with his hands, so he ended up fiddling with the braided section of his hair with his right hand.

Before Phainon turned the car on, he gave a warning that made Mydei look at him like the man could raise the dead.
“I warn you, my taste in music isn’t what people would consider ‘normal’, so if you hate it, there are other CDs in the center console.”

“What kind of music would be so damn weird?”

Phainon turned on the car after sheepishly responding, “speedcore.” 

Mydei turned to look at Phainon. “Oh fucking hell, no way.” The song picked up mid-track, and it hit Mydei like water at the beach. “Nei-Ko𝛽 is such a FUCKING underrated–”

His eyes were closed so he didn’t notice Phainon reach for him to apparently pull him into another kiss.
This one left them both gasping for air.

“What was that for?” Mydei was pretty sure that he had died because he knew that he didn’t deserve the kiss he had just gotten.

“I have never, in my whole life, met anyone who knows –or cares– about this genre. Let along you knowing the name of the artist behind this song–”

“It was an event-exclusive disk, too. From back in the day, wasn’t it?” Mydei felt dizzy in the best possible way.

Phainon put his car in drive and Mydei paid the parking fare.
They spoke about different music on the way to Phainon’s place.
There was a lot of gesticulating instead of being able to fully describe technical details of the songs they enjoyed. 

When they got to Phainon’s place, he parked in a normal garage that was attached to the building.
It’s been too long since I’ve been in a normal fucking suburban house.

“Should we bring the guitars in?” Phainon asked, mid-laugh.

“Oh, yeah. Probably.” He and Mydei retrieved the two cases before Phainon fiddled with his house keys.

“Are you okay with cats?” Phainon asked.

“You’re seriously asking if I mind cats?”

“I mean, I realized I should have mentioned something first. Some people are just weird about a guy like me having cats.”

“It’d only be weird if it was, like, a fucking tiger.”

Phainon’s eyes went wide and he laughed to himself over something before he opened the door, and Mydei was immediately greeted by two sets of eyes that were attached to three sets of ears.
The cats made little chirping noises and sniffed Mydei’s shoes before rubbing up against him within seconds.
“They’re all girls– and even though they look different, they’re triplets.”

Mydei was immediately compelled to get to the cats’ level to properly introduce himself, offering the back of his hand for them to sniff.
The all-white cat without eyes rubbed up against his hand first, chirping excitedly as she did so.
Her sisters immediately joined in.
“How do you live knowing you don’t have enough hands to pet all three of them at once?”
He was scratching long-haired calico under the chin, enjoying the purr he achieved from the action.
The third cat hopped up on his lap and immediately got comfortable.
“Er–” Mydei was regretting his choice to squat down instead of kneel.

“Tribbie!” Phainon set the hard case down and grabbed the sleek, grey tabby from Mydei’s lap, achieving a disgruntled noise as the cat went long in an attempt to stay on Mydei’s lap.
Mydei couldn’t hold back a laugh, startling the blind cat, causing her to jump hilariously, but the long-haired cat whapped her on the head before rubbing up against her sister.
“Hey. Trianne, knock it off.” Phainon lightly nudged the calico with his foot, attempting, in an entirely futile gesture, to chastise the cat for bonking her sister on the head.

“They’re very friendly,” Mydei was graced with the white cat flopping on the ground at his feet, showing him her tummy. “Will she eat my hand if I pet her?”

“Triannon? No. She’s a softie.”

Mydei let the girl smell his hand before whispering that he was going to pet her, and he was delighted that she stretched out at the touch.
“So soft.”
He dug his fingers into the fur, suddenly very happy with Aglaea’s insistence on immaculate manicures, because the cat named Triannon just melted at being scratched with his slightly pointed nails, the red and gold polish was cute against the white fur.
He apparently got super absorbed in the cats, because Phainon eventually returned –when did he leave?– he handed Mydei an unopened bottle of water.

“They really like you,” Trianne rubbed against Phainon’s leg. “They’re usually more shy.”

Mydei let out a soundless laugh. “Yeah, I’m just–” He stood up, taking care to not step on Triannon.
“I’ve always been good with animals. There are only a handful that have ever really not liked me.”
When he looked at Phainon again, he noticed that he was now wearing glasses.
Red frames. Fuck, he’s so hot. Glasses are just unfair.
“You look good in red.” Mydei slapped his hands over his own mouth.
I did not mean to say that out loud. Shit. 

Phainon scratched the back of his own head, “really? Everyone seems to tell me that they clash with my vibe.”

“You have a shocking amount of red things, actually.”
Including me.
He looked at the sweater the man had changed into– or was he wearing a coat earlier over it?
It was a cute dark mulberry, it made his eyes sparkle brighter somehow.
He noticed he was wearing a choker, and that there was what looked like a sun poking out from underneath it.
It barely showed against his pale, freckled skin, but he hadn’t seen it in the parking garage.
He didn’t linger on it– maybe he’d get to see it better later–

“If you want to take off your shoes, I have extra slippers. My sister brought me, like, eight pairs for some reason from back home.”

Sister. “Only if you don’t mind.”

“I wouldn’t offer otherwise.” He nodded in the direction of what appeared to be a hand-woven basket filled with what were clearly hand-made slippers inside.
Mydei was immediately drawn to a pair that was– “Are these chimera-themed?”

“Yeah.” Phainon laughed again. There’s also a seat if you need,” he motioned at the bench by the door. 

Mydei nodded. “Thank you.”

Phainon lightly brushed the back of two knuckles against Mydei’s cheek. “Yeah.” Crystal-clear blue eyes, through gorgeous white eyelashes, looked at Mydei’s lips before looking back at Mydei’s eyes.

That kiss was less feverish.
Gentle and needy in a soft way.
It left Mydei far more breathless than the previous ones.
He wanted more.
He wanted so, so much more.
“I should get these boots off.”
As great as it was to wear leather, barely-over-the-knee platform boots, they were also a bitch to unlace⭒.
He sat on the bench and began the excruciating process of loosening the laces and undoing the buckles that kept certain sections of the lacing clean.

“That looks… fun.” Phainon was clearly trying to not laugh at the sight of Mydei wrestling with his shoes. “Want help?”

Mydei laughed, focused on the one, almost to the ankle in the first round of loosening the laces. “If you want, you can.”

Phainon knelt and began helping with Mydei’s other shoe.
It was an oddly intimate thing.
Peaceful and intimate in an oddly domestic way. 
“My sister said that you had tattoos, I know that’s a weird and random thing to bring up, but I noticed the ones on your face and neck.”
He kept his eyes on the laces, his hands worked shockingly quickly when it came to untying them.

“Yeah. They’re part of my heritage. Coming of age ceremony and all that kind of stuff.” He was able to slide the boot off now, Phainon was done at the same time. “You’ve got ink too…”

“Mine isn’t anything as cool as heritage, it just covers a scar.”

“Ah.” Mydei bit his lip. “I didn’t mean to–”

“Nah, it’s fine. It happened a long time ago. Farming accident. It didn’t kill me, so it isn’t a traumatic thing.”

“Farming?”

“Grew up on a farm.” He wiggled Mydei’s boots off, carefully setting them aside. “Hard work, but it wasn’t all bad. A pitchfork to the neck wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened.”

“HOLY FUCK WHAT?”

Phainon stared at Mydei for a full few seconds and then laughed.
“Trust me, it sounds way worse than it was. See, I just got lucky after being unlucky enough to be kicked by a goat who chose that moment to be the world’s biggest asshole, slipped and my sister laughed and knocked the pitchfork over on accident. It was a comedy of errors, really.” He handed Mydei the pair of slippers he had seemingly noticed Mydei eyeing, orange with cream and fluffy red on them. “They suit you, you can keep them you know.” 

Mydei didn’t know how to respond.
If I left them here, I'd have a reason to come back, wouldn’t I?
“Thank you,” he nodded and slipped them on.

“Your socks are painfully cute, you know that, right?” Phainon stood and offered a hand to help Mydei stand up.
He was strong and had a good center-of-gravity.
Hot.
Phainon didn’t need to mention the light pink socks with little paw prints on them, but he did.
Phainon was taller than him. He had to look up at the man.
Oh. That’s. Yeah, I need this man to ruin me.

Mydei hadn’t actually really been attracted to anyone sexually before⸈, so this was new.
This was incredibly new.
He wanted Phainon to consume and unmake him.

“I can take your jacket, too, if you’d like.”

Mydei immediately shirked the leather off of himself and he heard Phainon’s breath shake.
He was suddenly very aware of what he was wearing; a shirt he had torn the sleeves off of ages ago, a golden upper-arm bangle on his right bicep, leather gloves, and even if they were permanent features of his skin, he still wore red tattoos that trailed down his arms like branded flames. 

“O-oh.” Phainon turned on his heel and moved to put the jacket on one of the really nice, wooden hangers.
“Cyrene was absolutely not kidding about those tattoos, was she?” He heard Phainon whisper quietly to himself.
“Yeah, your tattoos are really pretty, you know that?”

Mydei rubbed his arm. “I’m so used to them that I forget they’re there sometimes. It’s a lot to just kind of–”

“Do they really cover your whole body?”

Mydei’s eyes snapped back up to Phainon’s, he opened his mouth slightly not knowing how to respond to that– they did go all over.
I would happily show this man.
Really only his doctor and the person who did the tattoos saw the extent of them^🜚.
“They do. It’s a rite-of-passage sort of thing. It’s complicated, because it’s tied to weird, old traditions and religious stuff that turned into heritage as the religion died out. Not a lot of people from my culture really go through it anymore.”

“I’m gonna take a guess,” Phainon crossed his arms, closed his eyes and tapped a finger to his lips for a few beats. “The nomadic tribe of Kremnos,” he opened an eye and pointed a finger at Mydei, who was shocked that the man guessed right.

“How did you–”

“I’m a historian of sorts.” Phainon smiled. “And if what Cyrene said is true, I’m older than you by only a few months.”

 “A twenty-nine-year-old ‘historian of sorts’?”

“Thirty.”

“So your birthday was–”

“Is.”

“Oh.” Mydei registered the implication. “Well, happy birthday.”

“They brought me to the concert to see one of the opening acts, but then I just–” Phainon looked to the side. “When you looked at me I thought I imagined it. Like, there’s this band my sister’s crazy about, she only kind of mentioned that they had a single male member and that he was cute and had tattoos but fuck–” he laughed like he couldn’t believe what he was saying. “She said ‘cute’ not ‘rip your heart out and kill you with his eyes’. So, like, the fact that you confirmed that you looked at me and made your band choke was just–”

A mortified laugh ripped itself from Mydei’s lungs. “Oh Nikador, it was that obvious?”

Phainon laughed in response.
“Yes. Yes it was. It’s a song so light on instrumentals that it made it painfully obvious.” He held a hand near his face as he laughed. “I’ve never had a guy do anything like that for me– not ever.”
Mydei was enraptured by that laugh, the mortification died a little. “I tried to get them to hang behind just a little longer, but they didn’t believe me when I explained that I had a feeling that I needed to.”

“I’m so glad you did.”

“I’m so glad I didn’t imagine it.”

“I’m sorry for the first thing out of my damn face was asking for you to marry me, I don’t even know where that came from.”

Phainon stepped closer, laughing softly, “to be honest, I almost said yes on impulse.” He brushed some stray hair behind Mydei’s ear. “I really, truly, almost said yes.”

Mydei’s eyes went wide. “Wh–”

This kiss was filled with pure, unfiltered lust.
Mydei was overwhelmed by the sensation of someone tasting him for the first time.
He couldn’t hold back the sounds that bubbled up from beneath his skin, he barely registered the whine that Phainon’s tongue pulled out of him.
As soon as they broke for air, they immediately moved to steal what was briefly gained.
Mydei was digging his fingers into the warm wool of Phainon’s sweater.

Phainon pressed Mydei against the wall and began kissing down Mydei’s jaw, a knee between Mydei’s legs.
Mydei’s hands still clutched onto Phainon’s sweater and as soon as teeth nipped at his collar bone, Mydei pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth and whined.
Oh, fuck me, please say you want to fuck me. I’ll show you all the tattoos just please– holy fuck your mouth is so warm. “Hah— Fff–”

“I know–” Phainon spoke between his own heavy breaths and presses of lips and soft bites to Mydei’s neck and collarbone, “–that I offered– you dinner, but– I think—” Hot hands slipped under the hem of Mydei’s shirt. “–I think that might– have to wait–”

Mydei nodded, the words refused to leave his throat, but fuck. Yes please. The words rang in his head.
He nodded again and again.
He needed to make that very, very clear.
Phainon, catching Mydei entirely off-guard, picked him up with ease.
He held Mydei like a bride, and Mydei yelped at the sudden change in position and being lifted further than two inches off of the ground by another human intentionally.
He instinctively wrapped his arms around Phainon’s neck and buried his face just under Phainon’s jaw.
He would not be beating a single one of those ‘Mydei is a cat’ allegations any time soon.
He felt Phainon smile and was on the verge of giggling at how he was being so easily carried down the hall and to what was a rather spacious bedroom where he was set down on the bed and immediately caged in, lips pressing against Phainon’s as hands pulled at the bottom hem of the old t-shirt.
Mydei sat up to allow it to be taken off.

“Holy fuck–” Phainon’s eyes drank in the tattoos, his fingers traced them with a soft, yet firm touch that left Mydei breathing harder. “You must work out a lot–” 

“I do,” Mydei swallowed hard.

“I see why you would need to wear a shirt everywhere with this–” Phainon’s lips started to trace the tattoos, his thumbs carefully tracing the ones that angled down his inner hips, “–godlike form of yours.”

Mydei felt embarrassed at that notion, turning his head and biting his knuckle. “That’s pushing it.”

“No,” Phainon decided to also kiss along those lines on his pelvic bone. “You are better than godlike– you’re real.”

“Y—” Mydei clicked his tongue, embarrassed completely by the insinuation. “HKS!”
He shoved Phainon’s face away, pulling that sweater off of the white-haired beauty, revealing a truly garish t-shirt of this own that beheld a cartoon something that said something in horridly misspelled ancient Kremnoan on a weird not-quite-mustard yellow that Mydei just blinked a few times trying to register the image he was seeing.
“What– the fuck– is going on with your shirt?” He shook his head in disbelief before scrabbling to tear the offending garment off of Phainon.

“What? What’s wrong with it? It’s cute!”

“It’s–” Mydei made a face. “It’s borderline offensive. Like what the hell? I don’t even want to know what it’s supposed to say because that’s so misspelled that it puts my childhood scribbles to shame!”

Phainon looked down at it. “Really?”

“Yeah. It's, like, really bad.” Mydei grabbed for it again, successfully yanking it halfway off of the other man. It got stuck on his shoulders.
Holy–
“You’re fucking stacked.” He ran his palm over Phainon’s abs, “that explains how you could lift me.”
He leaned forward to grab and lick at those muscles.

Phainon made a very undignified noise at Mydei’s touch.
He pulled his shirt off the rest of the way.
His hands curled behind Mydei’s ears and under his chin, “I’m up here,” tilting his head upwards so their eyes locked.

“And I’m down here, so what’s your point?” Mydei smiled and then wrapped his arms around Phainon’s waist, gloved hands pressing against his back.
He’s so warm, this is nice. I could hug him for hours, goddamn.

“They go down your back too, then?” With how Mydei was seated and arms around the standing Phainon’s waist, Phainon could easily see his back, and the red that was there as well.

“You may be the first who gets to see all of them since they were done.” 

“Wh–” Phainon’s brain seemed to look like it was calculating that statement. “When did you have them done?”

“I was seventeen.” Go ahead, laugh. I fucking dare you. Mydei wasn’t ‘saving himself’ or anything, he just didn’t– 

“Well, kinda-sorta same. I– there are scars that I don’t show people because I get really self-conscious about it.”

“Scars aren’t bad things, though.” Mydei’s response came without hesitation. “Proving that you lived through something isn’t a bad thing.”
He had his own scars that he bore.
Physical and mental alike.
“Like this,” Mydei let go of Phainon and removed the glove on his right hand, the scars from the original bite mark were still there from many, many years ago.
“This one reminds me that I’m alive.”

“What happened to cause a scar like that?”

“My friend died.”
Mydei flopped backwards on the bed, all the tension gone from the moment.
“The first song from the set was for him. I found part of it written on the back of the little booklet-thing they handed out at his funeral.”
He traced the bite mark with his left hand.
“My friend is the one who bit me. I don’t remember the actual details of what happened, all I know is that he was in a lot of pain and that the bite was right before he died.” 

“Yeah, mine’s nowhere near that romantic.”

“Romantic? What on earth is romantic about my dying friend nearly biting my hand off?”

“Well,” Phainon grabbed Mydei’s hand and traced the scar gently with his thumb, “for one thing, it’s like your friend wanted to force you to remember them forever.”
Phainon kissed the marks before he licked at it.
It was such a damned lewd display that the tension was crawling back easily.
“Just thinking about someone else having left their mark on you–” He lightly bit down on the scar himself, eyes locked with Mydei’s.
A shiver ran down Mydei’s spine.
He is going to break me.
“I don’t know why, but it makes me crazy jealous.”

Mydei felt like his heart was almost reaching minimum bpm for speedcore, he was positive.
“Then you would have to mark me in your own way, surely.”
He tilted his head to the side, a coy smile on his lips, and slid a finger from his free hand under the choker Phainon wore, pulling him closer.
“You've already gotten farther than anyone but him, so what kind of mark do you want to leave on me?”

Phainon’s eyes became disks at that insinuation, his hands fell to the bed again before one moved to Mydei’s hips. “I–”

Mydei pulled Phainon closer still, whispering in his ear, “not even he got to know where those tattoos went, but I'm happy to show you,” before biting at his earlobe.
He gasped lightly and smiled when he felt Phainon work to undo his belt, the red and black studs on black leather got stuck on the loops of the black denim jeans.
The belt finally relented and was discarded on the floor before Phainon removed his own as well.

Mydei was taking this time to taste Phainon's neck, savoring the soft skin, the heat of his pulse, the shaking of his breathing– Mydei loved it all.
Not a single guy he had dated before was anything even remotely close to this overwhelmingly addictive.
The buttons of his fly were undone and he hummed into the crook of Phainon’s neck.
He avoided zippers. He didn't like zippers on his pants. Too many risks on stage.

There was trepidation as Phainon slowly pulled back to lean his forehead against Mydei’s. “Is this really okay?”

Mydei stared him in the eye. “I will say that it has crossed my mind, quite frequently in the time since I laid eyes on you, how badly I would be absolutely willing to be wrecked by you.”
He leveled his voice and narrowed his eyes. “I have not once in my life, until I saw your eyes, ever considered such things.”

The fractured breath as Phainon exhaled while his hands slipped under the waistband of black jeans, his hands trembling as he worked the pants off of Mydei’s hips, accidentally displacing Mydei’s underwear at the same time.

Mydei was trying to remember to breathe.
He put his hands on Phainon’s arms, biting his lip, watching Phainon’s hands.

“Are you–”

“Dontstop!” Mydei snapped the words out, forcing himself to put his hands back on the bed, he lifted his hips to prove a point. “Please, don’t stop.”

Phainon fixed his grip to not accidentally take off Mydei’s underwear, and carefully resumed the removal of those black jeans.
They landed with a soft🗦thwuhd🗧 on the ground, and Phainon traced the red on Mydei’s legs.
He knelt on the ground and pulled off Mydei’s socks, too, he was kissing the tattoos, rubbing at Mydei’s calves.
“So tense…” he whispered his concern before he pressed his tongue against the wider streaks of red on Mydei’s thighs.

Mydei’s arousal was now impossible to hide, but he really didn’t want to hide it.
Not from this man in front of him who seemed to be worshiping his body so thoroughly.
The black boxers did little to hide the situation.
His breathing was heavy as we melted under Phainon’s hot touch, he couldn’t bite back the sounds of want that escaped him.

“Truly–” Phainon woke so quietly. “Only a god could have a body like yours.” He kissed upwards to the soft inner joint of Mydei’s hip, hand slipping under the fabric and brushing against hot, rigid flesh, another gasp escaping Mydei’s throat. “So do these lines connect?” His voice dripped with hunger.

“Y-yeah.” Mydei nodded. “And then some.” He dropped down to his elbows after his hands shook too much from eagerness. “I think you’d find the pattern interes–”

Phainon cut him off with a lick to the wet spot of the fabric which caused Mydei to fall back the rest of the way.
His fingers greedily began to pull down the boxers, discarding them quickly.
“Oh, holy fuck.”
He traced his fingers along red, teasingly playing along the intricate design as it danced along Mydei’s pelvis and down his full length.
“This must have hurt so much to get done.”

“It w–asn–n’t so ba–ad~” Mydei thought his heart was going to stage a jailbreak when he felt Phainon not just lick him, but take him in his mouth without hesitation. “Fu~aaaa~”

Phainon placed his hands on the inside of Mydei’s thighs, gently massaging the muscles but also spreading them apart, allowing him better access to what lay between them.
When Phainon hummed, Mydei’s leg jumped, foot finding the edge of the bed.
The position change allowed Phainon access to more of Mydei’s skin, he put that foot over his shoulder and continued, slowly acclimating himself to take all of Mydei in his mouth.

Mydei’s eyes fluttered shut, his breathing was uneven and he didn’t know what to do with his hands, so he clawed at the bedspread beneath him.
He felt Phainon’s nose touch his perineum, and his head spun.
How did Phainon have the whole fucking thing in his throat?
His mind went blank when Phainon started moving his tongue and head, fingers pressing into his thighs, hips and abdomen– greedily taking all he could.
Mydei could barely breathe from the treatment Phainon was dishing out.
His pace was varied, and he changed up what he did, never doing the same thing for too long at a time. “F~” He could feel Phainon smile around him. “Fuck~”

When Phainon pulled off he saw the man lick his lips, when he stood to reach for something in the bedside table, Mydei noticed that Phainon’s pants had dropped down past his hips.
Lace.
Lace clung to Phainon’s skin.
Phainon pushed his own pants the rest of the way off and looked at Mydei.
Lace.
Mydei’s brain spun.
Phanion returned to kneeling between Mydei’s legs, he didn't give ample enough an opportunity to let the blonde take in the sight of what existed behind the veil of lace before he moved.
“May I–” Phainon asked, his breath hot against Mydei’s thigh.

“You are allowed to do almost anything you want just no, like, really weird shit.”

“Here, flip over,” Phainon’s playful tone was countered by the almost forceful way he bullied Mydei to flip onto his stomach.
The hum as he traced the dancing red flames with his warm hands sent shivers down Mydei’s spine, making his dick twitch.
Phainon’s hands grabbed onto his hips and hoisted him higher, clearly so that Mydei could put his knees on the bed, which he did without hesitation, and then he felt Phainon's lips press against the backs of his thighs.

Mydei’s head dipped low, such a soft, warm touch was absolutely wrecking him and the man had only given him a partial blowjob and soft kisses.
At this rate, he was gonna cum just from having his body covered in kisses.
He was biting back the desire to demand more attention be paid to either his dick or his ass– he didn’t care which.
He wanted to take whatever Phainon had to give him.

A soft bite to his ass made him whine. “Indulge me in this dumb train of thought, if you would,” Phainon licked along one of the red flames.

“Hnn?” Mydei’s bowed head turned to look as best as he could at the man behind him.

Phainon spoke in a sheepish whisper before biting at his ass cheek again. “Say you’re my birthday cake.”

Mydei froze completely before burying his face in the bed, kicking his feet slightly at the guy.
He raised himself up on his elbows and looked back again.
“Fine, birthday boy. Eat as much fucking cake as you want.”
He was embarrassed by the absurdity of the words, but it was funny how oddly intimate it was.
“I’ll sing for you if you want,” what a cruel thing to even say.
Tradition dictates singing comes before eating the cake.

“Not gonna lie, if you can keep singing while I eat you out or have my fingers or dick inside you that would be the hottest thing in the world.” The heat of Phainon’s laughter felt delicious against Mydei’s skin.

Mydei shivered. “I can sure as fuck try.” He knew that singing would also probably help him relax his muscles so he didn’t get hurt.
He was subjected to his friend’s porn more than enough to know that he needed to relax the tension in his body to allow himself to be fucked right. “Any requests?”

Phainon snorted and Mydei could feel white hair shake side-to-side. “No, just nothing that would kill the mood I guess.”

“‘Friday’ it is.” Mydei responded with far too much gusto for being the one who offered to sing while getting fucked into oblivion.⸗

Phainon bit down much harder this time. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

Mydei was about to retort but he was cut off by the sensation of Phainon blowing on his asshole before clearly licking it.
He choked at even that touch.
His eyes closed halfway, he decided that yes, it would be good to at least hum.
He started a battle hymn that was dear to his people^※, the tune came unbidden, and flowed naturally as Phainon proceeded to eat him out as he had promised.
He stumbled some, gasping at the intrusion of what he was sure were fingers,  but the tune that had been part of him since the day he was born helped him focus on the pleasure of what Phainon was doing to him.

“Holy fuck you’re so—” Phainon leaned over Mydei and kissed the center of his back, causing Mydei to whine from something he didn’t understand.
Phainon seemed pleased with himself and kissed that spot again, achieving a similar response. “Well well, you have a weak spot, don’t you?”

Mydei groaned in pleasure when he felt another finger join the first, he smiled against the blanket before resuming the song from where he thought he left off.
He wasn’t prepared for Phainon targeting his prostate, and when it was probed, Mydei’s voice broke mid word, into a moan of pleasure.
Phainon must have recognized the reaction for what it was because he seemed to eagerly seek more of it, slowing as Mydei was hovering at the edge of release.
He added a third finger, Mydei hummed with delight at the stretch and fullness, going back to his song to ease any tension that could potentially break Phainon’s fingers.
Phainon added a fourth and that nearly broke Mydei’s brain, but he continued his method of relaxing his lower half, intent of being fucked silly, and if it took four fingers, it took four fingers.

He whined when the fingers were pulled out, but focused on the sound of what he assumed to be Phainon covering himself in lube of some kind before he felt a hot something press up against his now-loosened hole.
“I’m going to go slow, if it’s too much, let me know.”

Mydei nodded, “Yup. Can do.” The words were more difficult than singing.

He focused on the sensation of Phainon pressing himself inside, the man’s cock was hot and thick inside him.
He wished he would have had a chance to see ahead of time what it looked like, but he would find out.
Phainon stopped his progress but was clearly not all the way inside of him yet.

“H–huh?”

“I actually liked the singing, it’s devastatingly delicious to hear your voice break when I make you feel good.”

“HKS.” Mydei spat the insult out and returned to his singing.
His breath caught whenever Phainon pushed too far too fast.
When he felt Phainon’s hips against his own, he moaned in delight.
This felt so perfect and right.
To be under Phainon was everything.

“You’re so fucking tight– It’s so good–” Phainon panted against Mydei’s neck. 

Mydei hummed in delightful satisfaction, tongue firmly against the roof of his mouth, face firmly against the bed.

Phainon’s hands were on his hips, allowing himself to pull out slightly before pressing himself back in, causing Mydei to whine.
He rolled his hips, making a pleased sound himself before pulling most of the way out and slowly pushing his way back in.

Mydei’s song was now the one formed naturally as his throat, lungs, and mouth all worked to express the sensations that he was being subjected to.
When Phainon moved quickly, his own dick hit his abdomen, causing additional pleasure to tear out of his lungs. “I– I’m–”

Phainon seemed to understand, but instead of easing up, he wrapped a hand under Mydei and grabbed Mydei’s heavy, impossibly hard cock and began to stroke it along with his thrusts.
He pressed his body against Mydei’s, his lips near the blonde’s ear, his thumb circled the tip.
“Cum for me, Mydei.”
His voice was low, demanding, and so close to his ear, and followed by a quick nip to the cartilage that unravelled Mydei completely.

Phainon stroked him through the orgasm, continuing to seek his own as his pace only increased, Mydei’s near-scream and moans spurring him quickly towards his release. “Where–”

Mydei reached back and grabbed onto Phainon the best he could in this situation.
If you pull out I might kill you.
He pulled the man close, not allowing him to pull out, which apparently riled him up even more.

Phainon’s grip on Mydei’s hips was bruising and his pace was relentless, and he slammed himself deep inside, rolling his hips as he spilled deeply within the blonde.
He was panting, and he didn’t dare pull out until he felt his cock stop pulsing.
As soon as he pulled out, Mydei collapsed, and Phainon fell onto the bed next to him.

Both men were breathing hard and struggling to form words.
Mydei reached out first and ran his thumb along Phainon’s lips. “I–” he swallowed, “I know this is an odd time to ask, but–” he took a deep breath, “would you consider being my boyfriend?”

Phainon’s eyes went wide before we laughed and rolled onto his back.
The sound was the most beautiful thing Mydei had ever heard.
Phainon seemingly had to wipe away tears from how hard he was laughing, he turned on his side to face Mydei again, moving to run a hand through blonde and red hair.
“I’m pretty sure I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let you go.”

Mydei smiled and closed his eyes, one of his legs now dangling off the side of the bed. “I feel the same way, you know.”

Phainon leaned over to press a kiss to Mydei’s lips, soft and chaste. “I can still make us dinner, if you’d like.”

“I think we should fucking shower first.” Mydei replied seriously.

Phainon tried to maintain a straight face but couldn’t, snorting at the serious look on Mydei’s face.
“That’s valid.”
He stood and bent down to grab something off the floor, which he used to lightly clean Mydei’s ass, making him jolt in surprise.
“Bath’s this way, I’ll carry you if you need.” 

Mydei saw the shit-eating grin on Phainon’s face and he made the distinguished effort to stand up.
He made it to the door before he felt his legs wobble perhaps a bit too much to make it down the hall.
“Fine, I’ll take the help.”
He had no idea why he wanted to be stubborn, because he liked that Phainon could easily manhandle him.
He let himself be carried again, this time to a very nice bathroom. “No shower?” He looked at the other man incredulously.

Phainon set him down on the edge of the bathtub and shrugged.
“I prefer baths, and showers are a bitch to maintain.”
He filled the tub up part of the way with relatively hot water and soap, and began gently washing Mydei’s sweat-covered body.

Mydei had no idea how good this would feel, being treated to an intimate type of after-care from the person you just met was decently unheard of, if his band mates were to be believed⸁.
He groaned at the release of extra tension that was probably leftover from the concert, and he was on the verge of purring when Phainon started to massage his hands and feet, completely unprompted when they heard a phone go off.
A generic ringtone, It could have belonged to either of their phones.
They looked at each other and Phainon laughed. “Guess someone’s looking for one of us, yeah? Probably want to make sure one or both of us didn’t die or something.”

Mydei softly agreed. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Phainon grabbed a towel for Mydei and pointed him in the direction of the entryway where his belongings were, saying he was going to clean himself up before doing anything else.

Mydei padded down the hallway in the chimera-themed slippers while wrapped waist-down in a pale blue towel to look for his phone.
He found that the cats had taken up residence near his boots, the blind one chirping loudly upon his arrival as if asking for praise that ‘they guarded the thing’ in the way that cats are wont to do.
He let the girls sniff him again before thanking them for their kindness and petting each one.
In turn. He grabbed his phone out of his bag and saw that he did have three missed calls.
He unlocked his phone and saw a picture of himself with some platinum blonde guy he didn’t recognize.
He immediately went to his gallery and found a handful of photos of the guy and himself.
His eye twitched.
Who the fuck is–

“You owe me big time for keeping your ex from destroying the place AND for saving your ass right now.” Stelle had said.

Mydei almost dropped his phone.
My… My ex-boyfriend?
Oh shit.
I literally broke up with the guy just to–
He mass-selected all relevant photos and trashed them. He took a picture of Phainon’s cats protecting his boots and set that as his wallpaper and lock screen.
That other guy didn’t even have a name that registered in Mydei’s brain anymore.

He sent the photo to the band’s chat.
“Tribbie, Triannon, and Trianne, Phainon’s kids.” He typed the explanation and hit ‘send’.

“Oooh, they’re so cute!” Hyacine, their drummer, was the first to respond. 
Mydei noticed the time. 2AM. Well damn.
“Our lion had kittens that fast? That’s a world record!” Stelle was the next to respond. He could hear her cackling from across the city.
“Don’t let them get fur in the laces.” That was Aglaea’s only comment? Strange.

He scrolled upwards through the conversation he had missed, parts of it contained speculation about the mystery guy who Mydei ran away for, what to do with **** now that Mydei was finally done with the cheating scumbag.
He was cheating on me? Well then. Less reason for me to give a fuck.
There were some blurry pictures of Phainon from before and after Stelle interacted with him, and it showed that Phainon was definitely wearing that mulberry sweater underneath a black and white wool coat.
They were talking about the choker, too, and Stelle had relayed every embarrassing thing that Mydei had said and done in her presence before she left.
Well then.

“Stelle, I seriously have no idea who you’re talking about, because I love Phainon.

The memory of those words and the sincere desire he had had to just be within Phainon’s orbit whatever it took was indescribable.
He looked at the missed calls.
Two from someone whose name he didn’t recognize, and one from his mother. Three voicemails.

“First Message:” “Mydei, baby, I know you said you want to break up bu–” “Message deleted. Next Message:” “Mydei, I swear on your father’s fucking grave that I will end you if you–” “Message deleted. Next message:” “I heard from your band that you finally dropped that piece of filth. He tried calling me about it, whining and bitching about how he was going to come after me or some bullshit. Don’t worry about me though, you know nothing in this world can touch me if I don’t want it to. I hope your new… fiancé … is treating you right. When Stelle said that’s how you first asked him out, I laughed because it’s exactly what your father did when he saw me for the first time. I say follow that instinct. May Nikador’s blessings guide you.” “End of messages.”

Mydei hung up the phone after pressing the *save message* key. It would send a backup to his computer, a feature he was so happy for. It was the only reason he had his father’s voice saved, after all.

He probably should have not deleted the threatening voicemail.

But he saw that there was a swarm of unread messages from the similarly unfamiliar name, and he recorded all of it before sending it to his mother. He didn’t even read any of it. He didn’t care what it said.
He then sent his mother the photo of Phainon’s cats and his boots. “I seem to have become the adopted mother of three spoiled-rotten girls.”
She responded with a heart to his message and replied, “You deserve a man who can treat you as nicely as he can spoil three cats.”
He reacted with a heart as well. “I’ll follow your advice, because you’re always right.”
“I know that already, dear.”

He laughed and felt the presence of Phainon behind him, who draped something soft around his shoulders before leaning in to kiss his cheek. “What would you like to eat? I’ve got a lot of options–”

Mydei felt like melting on the spot.
He felt like this was his home, like he had lived here for years.
This was the first time he had felt that way since before his parents divorced.
He hummed, smiling, completely intent as he leaned into Phainon’s touch.
“Apparently the band told my mom that I ran off with a handsome knight.”
Mydei laughed softly before looking over his shoulder at him, smiling even before he saw how flushed Phainon’s face was at being called a knight.

“If I’m a knight, then you’re a prince.”
He said defiantly before looking away, a smile on his own lips.
“I found some clothes that might fit you, but I'm also sure your hips are much wider than mine, and the only shirts I have that I know would fit you are… awful, so it’s just an oversized sweater if you don’t mind that…”

“The mulberry one was big on you.” Mydei’s mouth said the words before his brain caught up.

“Mulberry?” Phainon tilted his head to the side. Puppy. He looks like a puppy. 

“Y-yeah. The one you were wearing earlier.” He had never, ever asked for another person’s clothes before. “It was soft, and it looked big on you.”

Phainon nearly doubled over laughing. “Yeah, I’ll grab it for you. You’re so cute, holy shit.” He grabbed Mydei’s hand and led him to where he had set the other clothes.
A pair of clean lounge pants in a deep red with black stripes.
So much red.
He was shocked at how much the man seemed to love the colour.
He slipped the pants on, they were a little snug, but that was fine.
He’d dealt with far more constricting clothes, so this wasn't a problem.
He noticed that the blanket that had been wrapped around his shoulders was emblazoned with the old royal seal of Kremnos.
Is Kremnos his area of focus?
He took a better look around, there were photos of trips all over Amphoreus, relics and books littered the shelves, and a fancy display case held scale models of lost technology from the Age of Chrysea, including what looked to be parts of the soul forge that was theorized to be inside of the great fortress of Kremnos and—
Mydei reached out but didn’t touch the glass, as that would be some form of sacrelige.

“It’s really neat, actually. I had someone from the Xianzhou Luofu create those for me based on schematics I found a few years ago in some ruins that were hinted at in a scroll found in a Janus Maze.”
Phainon handed Mydei the sweater.
“What exactly has your attention?”

“The–” Mydei gratefully accepted the sweater and pulled it on, it was warm and smelled like Phainon.
I really like this feeling.
He turned back to the case, “How would you have found the schematics for these?”

“‘The Lion’s Maw’?” Phainon asked, opening the case. “I was baffled by the name, myself. The schematics didn’t specify the metal that they were supposed to be ma–”

“Gold.”
Mydei said without hesitation, the miniature versions were fully articulated.
“Whoever made these did an exquisite job, so close to correct.”

Phainon looked at him with awe. “Wait– you’ve seen them⁉”

Mydei nodded.
“Sacred treasures stay with the people, they don’t get left in ruins.”
Mydei pulled out his phone and scrolled through his phone, pulling up a picture of a much younger Mydei trying to hold up a single gauntlet but being way too small to succeed.
“They stay with their family line.”
He showed Phainon the photo but he was met by a look of absolute awe.

“No fucking way.” He grabbed Mydei’s phone and held it close to his face. “Wait–” He saw the gears working behind the endless blue skies. “You’re related to the royal line?” 

“Is that…” Mydei took his phone back. “Is that weird?” He suddenly felt oddly insecure about that part of his world. “I don’t think it’s that important, personally. It just means that people currently respect my mother and respected my father more than others of our people when he was alive. I don’t know much about it myself, honestly. My dad knew more than my mom, but they divorced because my mom couldn’t keep travelling and wanted to keep me in the same school system for at least a few years, because I had just made friends for the first time– playing video games in Hyacine’s basement was part of how we all started hanging out.” He laughed at the memory. “‘Hello Halo’ is actually really, truly about how we had fun playing that game as kids. We all suuuuucked at it, but since it was a two-player co-op, we would switch when we got frustrated.”

Phainon laughed at the story, wiping tears from his eyes. “I wish I had stupid shit like that, I only have stories about things like goats refusing to come down off the roof that there was no way for them to have gotten up there!”

Mydei laughed now. “Wait, goats?”

Phainon nodded. “Yeah, we had, like, ten of them for some unholy reason. They are nothing but chaos.” He gently returned the slightly-inaccurate Lion’s Maw model to their special display. “How about I make you some food while I regale you with the stupid antics of goats and how many times I got kicked so hard I thought my legs would break.” He motioned to the kitchen with his thumb and a bright smile.

Mydei’s stomach decided it was a good time to prove he hadn’t eaten in entirely too long. “Yeah, I think food would be a good idea.” 

“You good with honeycakes?”

“They’re only my second-favourite food of all time!”

Phainon beamed. “Perfect~!”