Title:
Second Nature
Author: freeradical9
E-mail:
freeradical9 (at) gmail (.) com
Webpage: http://freeradical9.livejournal.com
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Hazel (sort-of) / Hakkai
Warnings: Major spoilers for recent (early
2009) Zero-Sum chapters. Snark, dub-con,
explicit M/M.
Summary: Hakkai is discreet.
Author's Notes: Written for xcerpted
for the valentine_smut 2009 fic exchange. Many thanks to avierra for beta comments and suggestions.
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It was absolutely no surprise that Bishop
Hazel Grosse was staying in the presidential suite of the best hotel in town.
Hakkai surveyed the lavish room with some
distaste. On any other day, the
paintings and the rich-toned antique furniture might have been highly pleasing
his aesthetic sense. Today, however, any
interest he might have had in the sumptuous decor was killed by the presence of
the room's current occupant. All that
remained was annoyance at himself, for coming here against his better judgment.
Earlier, he had found Hazel's bodyguard
Gat waiting for him in the hallway outside of his own inn room. To say that the visit was unexpected would
have been a massive understatement. The
last he knew, the bishop and his servant were supposed to have been headed
east.
Hazel's not well, Gat had
said.
It hadn't been difficult for the chi-healer to follow that statement to
the logical conclusion. Still, he found
it hard to believe that Hazel would ever seek aid from any of the non-human
members of the Sanzo-ikkou.
Did he actually ask to see me?
Gat's face had been impassive as he
studied Hakkai with his heavy-lidded yellow eyes. No.
And yet, here he was, walking across the
mirror-bright parquet floor towards the ornate four-poster bed at the center of
the room. The figure occupying it was
stripped down to shirtsleeves and tucked in beneath the fine silk sheets. A single glance was enough to see that Gat
had been right to seek some kind of help.
Hazel was clearly feverish. He
clutched at the coverlet and tossed fitfully, droplets of sweat beaded on his
pale skin.
Hakkai sensed Gat looming over his
shoulder, and said without turning around, "Please arrange to have a basin
of water brought up, and also a pot of tea."
He could almost hear the puzzled frown in
the man's voice. "Hazel doesn't
like tea."
Now Hakkai did turn to look at him. "Perhaps you are unaware that chi-healing requires focus and
energy. A drink seems a small
recompense."
Gat met his eyes, and then gravely
inclined his head. "I'll see to
it." He paused, then added,
"Don't start anything until I get back."
The door clicked closed behind Hazel's
servant. Hakkai took the opportunity to
get Jeep settled on the window sill. He
propped the sash open with enough clearance for the little dragon to go for help
if this was some kind of double-cross.
…Although truthfully Gat didn't seem the type.
With an unhappy sigh and returned to the
edge of Hazel's bed.
Hakkai loathed Hazel with an intensity surprising even to himself. He did
not want to do this, should
have told Gat no from the very beginning.
Now his stubborn pride wouldn't let him back down.
The sooner he got this over with, the
better. It would be the most efficient
use of time to assess Hazel's illness during the interval that Gat was
gone. He could wait until the bodyguard
had returned before making any overt attempt at healing. Hakkai summoned his chi. In the absence of any
visible injury, he leaned forward and touched his fingertips lightly to Hazel's
chest.
A surge of unexpected energy woke in
response to that faint contact. Taken
off-guard, Hakkai got a fleeting impression of conflict and chi that was wildly out of balance--just
before Hazel's hand shot out and wrapped around his throat.
Hakkai had known that the bishop was fast,
but the strength and speed behind this attack were almost superhuman. The healer's hands flew to Hazel's wrist, as
the ungloved fingers threatened to crush his windpipe.
"Who," Hazel grated,
his blue eyes as cold as ice, "dares to wake me?"
Hakkai made an inarticulate noise in
response. He saw Hazel tilt his head
slightly, a gleam of recognition lighting his expression. "Why," he said softly, "I do
declare. It's Mister Spectacles. Don't y'all have anything better to do then
break into innocent people's rooms in the middle of the day?"
You're not innocent, and I was invited, Hakkai thought indignantly,
even as his fingers slid down along the priest's forearm towards the cluster of
nerves along the outside of the elbow.
With relish he dug his fingers in to force Hazel to loosen his hold.
Hazel did.
As Hakkai stepped back out of immediate reach, the priest cradled his
numb arm to his chest. Hazel glared
daggers at him from his odd, crouched-over position on the bed. "I," he said, with visible effort,
"am feelin' a mite poorly, and am not in the
mood for dealin' with trespassers. I'm goin' to have
to ask Gat to escort you to the door."
"There's no need," Hakkai
replied coolly, raising a hand to touch the finger imprints on his throat. "Clearly, my visit has left you
disturbed." Even
more so than usual. "I
can find my own way out."
Hakkai had thought he was standing a safe
distance away, otherwise he never would have turned
his back. Strong hands closed over his
shoulders from behind. The room wrenched
disorienting, and Hakkai found himself lying on the blue silk coverlet with his
wrists pinned together and Hazel straddling his hips. The slight man was heavier than he
looked.
"Now, now. I wasn't
finished." Hazel's pale forelock
was nearly brushing against Hakkai's face, and his blue eyes glittered
menacingly. "Perhaps I should kill
you for your insolence."
For a long moment, all Hakkai could do was
stare up at the human priest. This was
more than just the effects of fever and delirium. Hazel's expression and the words and the tone
of voice were all wrong.
"How'd you
get in here, I wonder. It's really quite
intriguin' that you managed to get by that great
oaf. He's usually the most steadfast of
guardians." The last words were
dripping with contempt, they were an insult rather
than a compliment. The blue eyes
suddenly sharpened. "...Or can it
be that the coward went and got himself a sacrifice to take his
place?"
Hakkai wished now that he had heeded Gat's
advice to wait. Fighting back alarm at
Hazel's words, he said carefully, "I think perhaps there's been a
misunderstanding."
Hazel gave a low, malicious chuckle, a
noise that didn't sound like himself at all. "You have no idea. How very unfortunate for you. Although…" Hazel rolled his hips against
Hakkai's, and to the healer's shock and disgust, he felt the other man growing
hard from the close contact. "I
don't get out much, so this might just be your lucky day."
Hakkai drew in a deep breath to say
something--anything at all. Then the air
fled his lungs in a stunned rush, as the silver haired man dipped his head down
the last few inches and nuzzled into the bruised flesh beneath Hakkai's
jaw. Hakkai twitched involuntarily at
being touched in such a vulnerable spot.
The twitch became a full-fledged recoil a
moment later, as the fastenings on his collar loosened, and a warm wetness
brushed over his skin. "Ha… ah!"
He thought he heard Hazel purr from
somewhere in the vicinity of his collarbone.
"Mmm. Tastes good. You don't look like much, and I'm still not
convinced that you have anythin' to offer, but seein's how you're here and all, I might as well take what
you've got."
A surge of anger welled up at the offhand
statement. Hakkai wasn't about to just
let this… entity do as it pleased. Hazel
had allowed himself to become carelessly off-balance. Hakkai gained some leverage and without
hesitation he flipped them over on the wide bed so that their positions were
now reversed.
Long-lashed blue eyes blinked up at him,
looking momentarily dazed. Then sense
flooded back into the slack expression.
"Mister Spectacles," Hazel said in a scandalized tone,
"If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were takin'
advantage of the situation."
Hakkai looked at him in disbelief. You've
got to be kidding me….
The return to clarity didn't last. Hazel's right hand wrenched free of
restraint, and he made another grab for Hakkai's throat. This time the move was anticipated and
harmlessly deflected. However, Hazel
immediately countered by catching up a huge fistful of dark hair.
Hakkai caught his breath--not because of
the brutal grip on his hair, but because Hazel's hand was now curled
distressingly close to the edge of his left ear. He said sharply, "Don't."
"Oh?" The blue-eyed gaze tracked to the source of
concern, as if noticing the silver bands of Hakkai's limiters for the very
first time. The fist in his hair twisted
abruptly, wrenching his head back. The
pain of it wasn't quite enough to mask the pinch at the rim of his ear, as a
well-manicured fingernail caught under one of Hakkai's limiters, and sent it
skittering across the floor. He had
time for a sharp "Ah!" of dismay as the small silver band vanished
beneath a heavy teakwood bureau.
A shudder went through Hakkai, as his
masked youkai nature clawed its way a little closer to the surface. His
skin crawled as one-third of the vines of his youkai mark slithered into place
beneath his clothes.
It was like emerging from a pool of
water. Abruptly his senses sharpened,
picking up the noise from the traffic on the street outside, slight shifts in
temperature in the room's still air.
With his heightened awareness, he also became intimately aware of
Hazel's presence underneath him. His
scent was soap and cologne, with the faintest hint of earthiness. And beneath it was something dark, something
wild. Intrigued, before he thought to
stop himself, he brought his nose in close to Hazel's forearm and inhaled.
Hazel was regarding him with
interest. "Well I never. There really is more to you than meets the
eye, isn't there, little worm?" He
used his grip on Hakkai's hair to tilt his head to the side, and blue eyes
settled visibly on the remaining two ear cuffs perched on the rim of a now
faintly pointed ear. "Seems a shame
to hide the rest, doesn't it?"
Hakkai intercepted the reach of his other
hand. "No."
Silver eyebrows rose. The muscles of Hazel's forearm bunched
beneath Hakkai's fingertips.
"No?"
Hakkai's grip dug in warningly. With one limiter gone, he could sense his own
augmented strength, and thought it might be a fair match for whatever was
mostly-possessing Hazel. "No,"
he repeated firmly.
"Pity." The words were
spoken in an offhand tone, but there was an ugly note behind them. "I do feel the need to mention, I don't
take well to rejection." He
shifted, grinding up against Hakkai.
The action provoked a heady and wholly
unexpected surge of heat. It was deeply
ironic, that a person who could consume enough alcohol to flatten a small
elephant without being visibly impaired had his principles and inhibitions
evaporate in the absence of one flimsy piece of metal. Suddenly, allowing Hazel to have his way
didn't seem like such a bad idea, after all.
Hakkai had become distracted. The room lurched abruptly, and the healer
gave a startled exclamation as he landed on his back hanging part-way over the
edge of the bed. Hazel was settled on top of him again, and he leered
triumphantly as he felt the first stirrings of Hakkai's response. "Well, well, well."
As he clutched at Hazel's shoulders for
balance, Hakkai's upside-down view of the room showed him Jeep perched
anxiously by the open window. Rescue was
there if he wanted it, all he had to do was give the signal. He wasn't beaten yet, either. If Hakkai put some effort into it, he was
certain he could best Hazel, or at the very least stall him until Gat came back
with the tea. As if sensing his
thoughts, Hazel grinned sharply and moved against him, applying pressure and
friction. Hakkai was forced to amend his
list of choices with a third--to relent, and allow Hazel the release that he
wanted.
The bishop clearly intended to top. Hakkai closed his eyes against the giddy
flood of pleasure from where their clothed bodies rubbed against each other,
and he briefly considered fighting him for it.
However, Gat really would return soon.
Hazel might not care, but Hakkai would just as soon not have the big man
walk in on anything. Hakkai had enough
silver left on his ear to choose practicality.
He dropped his hands to Hazel's thighs and canted his body upwards into
Hazel's dry thrusts.
The effect on Hazel was immediate. The breath left his lungs in a shuddering
rush, eyes narrowing in an almost bestial blaze of lust. He caught at Hakkai's shoulder roughly, and
the healer offered no resistance as he was rolled over onto his stomach. Hands fumbled belatedly at Hakkai's belt,
accompanied by heated cursing. Hakkai
gathered his knees under him and shifted to help, but was too late as he heard
fabric split.
Annoyed, he reached back and sank
longer-than-normal fingernails warningly into Hazel's leg. "You owe me a replacement pair of
pants."
A rude snort answered the comment. "I couldn't care less." The superior tone was ruined by the
undercurrent of need in the breathless words.
Hakkai felt the shift of air on bared skin a moment before Hazel's hand
cupped his ass.
"Looks tight," the priest
murmured in anticipation. "Let's
just see." Hakkai felt a moist
fingertip wriggle against him, and forced back a moan as it slid in. "Oh, this should be good." The probing pressure vanished, and part of
Hazel's weight settled against his back.
Without any more preparation than that, Hazel lined himself
up and then mounted in one long, deep stroke.
"Nnnnnhh…" Hazel wasn't wide, but he was long, and oh… he must have had lots of past experience
because he had the angle just right.
Pleasure coursed through Hakkai as that curved hardness pressed against
his prostate, coaxing his body into an involuntary arch. His own erection quickened against the
remains of his pants, and he braced himself on one elbow long enough to work
his zipper open. Hazel paid absolutely
no attention to Hakkai's cock. Instead
a hand snaked around his waist, holding him steady even as the other guided
Hakkai's knees farther apart, opening him up.
Hakkai submitted without protest to the
manhandling, reaping the benefits as the pleasure of penetration
intensified. Hazel began to ride him in
earnest, and he found himself pushing back helplessly into the deep, full
thrusts. Hazel was growling now, low in
his chest, and Hakkai felt an answering noise start in his own throat. Some dark part of him took a perverse
pleasure in how easy it was for both of them to become lost in blind lust. Ah yes,
we are so very similar, aren't we?
"Mmm… Haah… More."
Hazel's breath fanned wet heat against his ear. Hakkai consciously tightened his abdominal
muscles, bearing down, and Hazel gave a bitten-off groan. His rhythm began to falter, but it was just as
well since Hakkai himself was very close.
He leaned back, taking as much of Hazel as he could, stroking
himself as he felt his orgasm build and crest.
As if sensing it, Hazel clutched at him and buried himself, his cock
pulsing in erotic completion and releasing a deep flood of heat. The sensation of it tipped Hakkai over the edge
into climax, and he spent himself onto the costly bedding with a full-throated
moan.
It took a moment to come down from the
intensity of it, and longer still to recover rational thought. As he reassessed the situation, he realized
Hazel's body had turned into a dead weight draped over him. Hakkai carefully shifted, easing out from
under the priest and lowering him down onto the bed.
"Nightmare," Hazel mumbled, as
he subsided into sleep.
Hakkai let out a deep breath, staring down
at the man. He didn't know which shocked
him more--that he'd just had sex with Hazel, or that it had been really good.
Hazel's slumber appeared to be
natural. Just to be cautious, Hakkai
touched a clinical hand to Hazel's forehead.
The priest's skin was already cooling, and Hakkai came to the startling
realization that he had never been physically ill. The fever was caused entirely by whatever was
inside of Hazel that was trying to break free.
A touch of chi allowed him to look deeper.
The alien life force that shared Hazel's body was entangled with his
spirit so completely that it was difficult to tell where one left off and the
other began. It was feeding off Hazel's
life energy like a great, disembodied parasite.
Hakkai found it fascinating, and also utterly repulsive. Not unlike the man himself.
He also realized that there was absolutely
nothing he could do about it. It would
take someone with a delicate touch and a great deal of past experience to sever
that link without causing damage. The
sexual release had somehow served to bring Hazel's chi back into balance.
Hakkai couldn't do anything further without disturbing the intricate
network.
He straightened, and directed a miffed
comment over his shoulder. "A
warning would have been nice."
Gat stood just inside the doorway, taking
in the rumpled bedclothes, the clothing ripped and in disarray. He immediately dropped to one knee, bowing
his head and pressing his fist to the floor.
"I'm sorry. This wasn't what
I intended."
Pulling the tails of his shirt over
himself and gathering up the shreds of his dignity, Hakkai rose from the
bed. He crossed to the teakwood bureau
and retrieved the missing piece of his limiter, setting it firmly back in
place. As the evidence of his youkai
mark vanished, he said, "He doesn't need a healer, he needs an
exorcist."
A faintly defeated look came over Gat's
craggy face. "I've already
tried."
Gat made no move to stop him as Hakkai
removed his ruined khakis and donned a pair of Hazel's jeans from the
bureau. Perhaps the bodyguard's silence
was out of deference for the blow to Hakkai's self-respect. The healer could have told him it was nothing
new. Hakkai lacked self-respect most of
the time. Covering for the fact was
second nature.
There was nothing more that he could do
here. Hakkai retrieved a subdued Jeep
from the windowsill and walked silently to the door. From behind him, Gat spoke up. "Neither of them will remember any of
this."
As Hakkai let himself out, he thought it
might be nice to be so lucky.
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