Hero lay curled around Hawk, both of them wide awake as they talked softly in the dark. Two rounds in and Hero still wanted more, but Hawk insisted this wasn’t the place for an all-nighter. However, both times, Hawk had indeed spoken in different languages, the second time around making Hero scream as he was bent backwards and gripping the sheets for dear life while Hawk told him how incredible he was in Mandarin. Afterwards, Hero had lain under Hawk, spent and twitching, his eyes unfocused and breath shallow. Hawk smiled and kissed his neck, holding him tightly.
Hero now looked deep into Hawk’s strange blue and amber eyes, his hand on Hawk’s cheek. “I missed you,” he said. “All of you.”
“I missed you, too, my Hero,” Hawk said, brushing some of Hero’s hair from his eyes. “And not just your screams.” He grinned as they both giggled softly. His expression sobered as his eyes roamed Hero’s face. “But my body still scares you, doesn’t it?”
“No,” Hero shook his head. “Not like it did, anyway.” His hand slid from Hawk’s face, down his neck and to his chest before he wrapped his arm around him, kissing Hawk’s pec. “This body is yours, not his,” he whispered. “I tell myself that over and over every day. It doesn't always work, especially when we were fighting really bad. Even then, I knew you wouldn’t hit me or hurt me. Hell, you never even insulted me or anything like that. But I was still on edge, waiting for the Blood King to take over. I think that’s how I knew you were still you, because you weren’t being abusive, just mean.”
“That doesn’t make any of it okay, love.”
“I know that. I suppose a great deal of my anger came from my fear of that monster.” He buried his face in Hawk’s chest, clutching his back as Hawk gently stroked his hair. “I never want to see him again,” he said. “What he did…to me, to you…”
“I promised, I’m going to destroy him,” Hawk said. “Obliterate him from existence. I’ve got nothing to do with the Blood King anymore. When you took me into my memories, you didn’t just show me what he did to you, but also the creature I once was. I was being confronted with my past, with who I used to be and it sickened me beyond all reason. I was so lost in that persona, so delirious with power and bloodlust, that was all I knew. I was a demon in every way possible. I enjoyed it at the time, what demon or Devil King wouldn’t? But having found you, having seen who I really am, who I was always meant to be…” He breathed in, savoring the smell of Hero’s shampoo, sweat, and sex. “I’m split from that beast. Maybe not physically yet, but I am. My soul is free of him, and my core doesn’t run on his desires anymore. Especially not since the eclipse.”
“You still have that dark demon energy within you, though.”
“So do you,” Hawk pointed out. “But it’s not nearly as strong as the positive demon energy we have. That energy continues to grow and is infinitely stronger and more powerful than the dark. It makes me wonder just how weak the Blood King really is as that’s the main source of his power.”
“If he is, then you can kill him easily, right?”
Hawk sighed. “In theory.”
Hero was silent a moment, his waves calm yet still jagged around the edges in some areas. Hawk hadn’t fooled himself into believing all was perfect with them, but those edges still caused him pain. How long would they be there, he wondered. They had smoothed out somewhat since the night before, but like Hero had said, it was unrealistic to believe everything would be fixed in a week.
“Do you think Toji is right?” Hero finally asked. “That when the two of you finally split completely, you’ll die?”
Hawk hesitated, not sure how to answer without making Hero worry even more about him. “There’s still too many unanswered questions and too many open-ended theories,” he said. “He may have told us what he believes could happen, not what actually will happen. I refuse to accept that we’ve gone through all of this together just for me to die in the end. That would be the cruelest prank to ever play on anyone if that happened.”
“If you die, I die.”
Hawk gently rolled Hero over on his back, kissing him gently, his lips moving slowly as their tongues slipped back and forth across each other. “I refuse to die,” he said, his voice ragged. “Not until I know for sure I’ve won you back completely.”
Hero’s arms snaked around his neck as he kissed Hawk back, no hesitation or fear in his movements as his knee came up against Hawk’s thigh. “Keep doing what you’re doing,” he breathed as he gently bit and tugged at Hawk’s bottom lip, “and you’ll get there in no time.”
Hawk grinned and held Hero’s chin in one hand. “I’m trying to behave here, Hero Leon.”
Hero turned his head slightly on the pillow, one arm going around to clutch the back of it, his teeth gripping his bottom lip. “Why?”
Hawk shivered as Hero’s other hand trailed from his neck down his torso and around his thigh, gripping his ass cheek before sliding his nails back up. Hawk was hard before those diabolical fingers made their way back into his hair.
“You, sir, are a sin,” Hawk grinned, his fangs flashing in the moonlight.
“Give in to it, then,” Hero teased, his tongue flicking across his canine as he exposed his neck. “Sink your teeth into me while you fuck me blind. Let me drink from you and make you scream my name.”
“Hero…” Hawk moaned, leaning down and licking his throat. “We really shouldn’t.” As he said this, his fingers dipped into Hero’s well of heat.
Hero’s fingers tightened in Hawk’s hair. “I made you fuck a doll for weeks,” he said. “Let me make it up to you. Please, baby…I want more of you.”
“How’s the barrier?”
Hero grinned and nipped at Hawk’s shoulder. “Hasn’t fallen for a moment.”
“Good.”
They were bloody, sweaty, shaking, and sore before the sun rose and Toji knocked on their door to summon them for breakfast.
-*-
“Do you guys have any big plans for this morning?” June asked when everyone had settled into their waffles, hash browns, and fried eggs.
“I’m taking Toji to the university with me,” Charles said. “There’s some information we need for this new research project we’re working on and what he believes we need may be found there.”
“That should be fun,” June nodded. “Plus, it’ll give Toji a taste of what a major university campus feels like if he ever feels like pursuing higher educational goals.”
Toji looked at Hawk and batted his lashes. “Oh, Papa, could I? It’s only the most prestigious college in the state and I have a better chance at being recruited into the social elite, just like Auntie Persephone!”
“Eat me, imp.”
Hero nearly choked on his coffee.
June rubbed Hero’s back and handed him a napkin. “Speaking of your sister, have you told her you’re in town?”
“No,” Hero said. “I’d very much like to avoid her, thank you.”
“That’s going to be a bit difficult, son,” Charles said, scratching the side of his neck. “She’s coming to dinner on Friday.”
“Seriously?” Hero exclaimed, letting his head fall into his hand with a groan. “We don’t have to be here for that, do we?”
“Hero Leon,” June said in a tone of warning. “She’s still your sister.”
“She’s an elitist, judgmental bitch, Mother!”
Charles looked at June sideways. “He has a point, June,” he muttered. “She hasn’t made things easy on us the last several years.”
June sighed loudly. “I get it, okay, I do. But it would be nice if we could have a meal together as a family. We haven’t done that in a long time and it’s something I would like to see happen at least once more before I die. Can you do that for me, Hero?”
Hero rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “For the love of god, Mom…”
Hawk covered his grin with his coffee mug. Apparently she had used this line many times with varying degrees of success.
“One meal, Hero, that’s all I’m asking for. One meal where we all sit and eat together and pretend we like each other.”
“More like we pretend to like her.”
“Same damn thing,” June said.
Hero looked up at Hawk who shrugged. “May as well,” he said. “We can’t exactly avoid her forever.”
Hero narrowed his eyes at him. “Didn’t you tell her to her face that you could keep her away from me if I said that’s what I wanted?”
“Sort of, yeah,” Hawk admitted. “Unless she starts treating you better, in which case, it wouldn’t hurt to give her a chance to fix things.”
Hero would have argued but given recent events, and with how hard they both were working on repairing their own relationship damage, he had to concede and nodded. He looked to his parents. “If she starts anything, we’re leaving.”
“I’m making meatloaf for dinner that night,” June said nonchalantly.
Hero inhaled deeply and his fingers curled into a light fist. “Madam, bribery will not work on me when the harpy is known to be involved.”
“It might work on me, though,” Toji said, pouring himself a second glass of orange juice.
“Do you know what the punishment is for treachery?” Hero asked him.
Toji bowed low to June. “My deepest apologies, but my loyalties cannot, indeed, be swayed.”
Hawk rolled his eyes and finished off his coffee.
June sighed. “Fine, I can accept that. I know how she is, Hero, but please try and keep things civil.”
“Don’t put it all on me, she’s the one that starts it most of the time.”
Hawk put his hand on Hero’s knee and shot him a sideways glance. His anger was building a dark cloud of miasma in their link and Hawk was worried if Hero didn’t calm down, it would leak out the same way it had when Persephone had antagonized him back at the apartment.
Hero immediately calmed himself and the cloud dissipated, replaced with annoyance that he couldn’t get that one small bit of energy manipulation under control. If Hawk could do it, why couldn’t he?
We’ll work on it when we get home, promise.
That alone helped to calm Hero even more and he took Hawk’s fingers into his. A thought occurred to him just then and he glanced at Hawk who shook his head, the corners of his eyes turned down behind a curtain of blood-red hair.
Your shield was up. Plus, we were fighting so much, the miasma didn’t really need to grow. He squeezed Hero’s hand. Don’t worry about it, love. Like I said, we’ll work on it.
“Well, all that aside,” Charles said brightly, smiling at the couple. “What are your plans for the day?”
“We’re gonna play tourist, actually,” Hawk said. “Hero told me about a few places we can go downtown; a couple of museums and an aquarium were mentioned, I think.”
Hero picked up his phone and tapped the screen, illuminating the time and sharing it with Hawk. He smiled at his parents, and kissed his mom on the cheek. “We need to get washed up and get going before it gets too crowded. Thanks for breakfast, Mom.”
Hawk looked over at Toji. “Behave yourself,” he said.
Toji saluted him and shoved another hefty forkful of food into his mouth.
“Sorry,” Hero whispered as they made their way up the stairs. “I didn’t mean to—”
Hawk shook his head, sighing softly in his throat. “Like I said, we were fighting. The physical expulsion of the inner turmoil prevented the miasma from growing.” The way he said it made Hero slow his step, stopping them both just outside the bedroom door.
“Hawk, wait,” Hero said. He turned Hawk and pushed him gently up against the closed door, grabbing him by the back of the neck, kissing him hard on the mouth, his lips sliding smoothly along with Hawk’s, their tongues dancing gently in and out as Hawk held Hero to him by his hips.
When Hero finally pulled away, breathless and flushed, Hawk gazed down at him, a new wave of hunger flashing in his eyes.
“Should I know what that was about?” he asked, his voice unsteady. Hero didn’t usually kiss him like that, not anymore.
“You were getting moody,” Hero said with a small grin. “I figured that might help a bit.”
Hawk nodded, his eyes fixed to Hero’s. “It did,” he said.
“Should I do more of that in the future?”
“As long as you’re prepared to deal with the consequences.”
“What consequences? WHOA!”
Hawk flung Hero over his shoulder and stomped down the hall to the large bathroom at the end, both of them laughing. It had been a long time since Hero had been pinned up against a shower wall, Hawk’s hands folded over his as the hot, steaming water rained down on their naked bodies. He hoped it wouldn’t be another two months or so before it happened again.
-*-
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