sorserer | ( office hours & overflow )

They don’t let you buy on your own here, according to your designation. But we did find drinks. One way or another.

[ he’s not in any particular hurry to reach what is beginning to feel like an inevitable conclusion. it wouldn’t be hard, telling him about that night. it’ll just go places stephen had already expected tonight was going to go.

so yeah, he’s just gonna let hakkyuu meander a little if he wants details. he’s still terrifically relaxed. ]

Our designation.

[He looks down into the glass, his lips drawing up at the corners slightly.]

So we find loopholes and cause people trouble, that about the shape of it? Was I bad influence on you or something? Tried to get you to up the ante every round? Or were you too straight-laced to play along and left it all up to me to get shit done?

[ a little huff of laughter escapes him, because it’s a very funny proposition that hakkyuu could be a bad influence on him. at the very least they bring equal amounts of terror to the table - despite stephen’s best efforts at gentility, at the end of the day they’re both too hedonistic, too sharp around the edges, too much for most. he hadn’t been mistaken, that first night they’d met; they had each looked at each other and seen something they recognized. ]

You’re thinking too far ahead.

[ gently amused. in that tone, he might well be one of the instructors at the temple in kamar-taj, issuing guidance. he’s never been a good teacher, though, never mind a particularly good adult. ]

We went out for drinks. You invited me home.

[ he idly skims the flat of his hand over his thigh again absently to smooth out the bespoke fabric, rests his arm back on the armrest. then he turns sideways to look at hakkyuu again, looks him over for a second, lifts his gaze back up to hakkyuu’s. head tilted again, just so, in skeptical askance. ]

I can keep going.

[A brow arches slowly at the correction, curious enough about the idea that he's skipped over something significant that he turns further in his seat, trying to get a more direct eyeline on Stephen without actually getting up from where he's sat.

It's not that Hakkyuu at this age is clueless about sex, not by a long shot, not after sharing space with Vrenille and debriefing about each encounter with his clients. It's just that sex has nothing to do with Hakkyuu. Stephan, sex, and Hakkyuu are just don't overlap in the Venn diagram, not in the mindset he's in. So he is curious--what did he and Stephen get up to.]

Go on. We what? We ate? Talked? Drank more? Got real wild and slept?

[ oh. wow. it’s really gonna be like this, huh.

there’s no wrong way to answer this question, either. if hakkyuu flees, good for him; that meticulous sense of self-preservation possessed by his older self had its roots somewhere. if he doesn’t, well.

he bites the inside of his cheek briefly to suppress the urge to laugh. he rests his chin on the backs of his knuckles again, riveted, then thinks back. temperate evening, three hours of drinks, the old condo towers. ]

I kissed you first.

[When Stephen is done with all his micro movements and says that, Hakkyuu's expression drops with a single, surprised blink, like it really is the last thing in the world he'd expected to hear.

And then, pretty involuntarily, he laughs. First, a single noise, then a rolling chuckle as he shakes his head and lowers his eyes to the glass.]

That's hilarious, doc.

[He drains the rest of the drink because he really, truly, cannot picture him on the receiving end of a kiss from this man. Or he doesn't want to picture it. Same difference.]

[ stephen reaches up to take the glass from his hand. when he turns his wrist, like a good sleight of hand trick, the glass disappears. ]

You don’t believe me?

[Ugh. Mesmers. Hakkyuu can't help but roll his eyes and then sit back to his head hits the corner of the back of the chair.]

It's not--[His jaw tightens just a fraction, willing himself not to imagine what Stephen's suggesting just in the service of dismissing it.] That's not really what I do. So no, can't say I do.

Not now, perhaps. But eventually.

[ and then, in wry reassurance: ]

If it’s any consolation, you seem to enjoy it.

[Something prickles up Hakkyuu's spine, part excitement, part warning, and the way it shakes out is that the tension that had been present in his form earlier on the other side of the room starts to creep back in.

The alcohol has definitely worn away at the edges of his better judgement--if his teenage self has better judgement--and even with the best of intentions, when someone says 'don't think about a pink elephant' that pachyderm strolls right on through.

So there it is, an image in his mind that springs up out of nowhere--a dark hallway, hands grasping at collars and the front of clothes, the taste of scotch, tongues and teeth, the smell of Stephen's skin and--

His stomach muscles tighten, his breathing already a heavier through his nose as he tries to banish that thought away as quickly as it flashed, fully formed, through his mind and makes the back of his neck feel hot.

And he doesn't have a comeback this time. Perhaps the only time he's been lost for words with Stephen and finds himself frozen in place, torn between bolting and wanting, in spite of everything, to hear more.]

[ stephen clocks immediately the flash of recognition in hakkyuu’s eyes. it’s followed by a delicious flush of heat that flares up in his neck, a splash of color readily visible in the low warm light of the hotel suite.

there’s still a chance the kid will run. there’s also a chance stephen might make his own life harder, chasing this slight noxious high to the end of the line when the friend he knows runs hot and cold with him to begin with. but stephen’s never been accused of making good decisions in the spur of the moment, at least not consistently; and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t already a little hard already, maybe from the second hakkyuu walked in the room, different but familiar all the same.

so, yeah, maybe not a good guy. he shifts just so in the armchair to lean in closer, head at that same tilt. his voice at that same register, a touch softer, oh so level-headed. ]

Think you’d enjoy it now?

[It's mortifying how just with Stephen moving in closer in that slow, deliberate way with his voice pitched low and private like that is enough for the blood to rush fully to his face, pool at the base of his spine, and flood right into his crotch all in a single terrifying second. It's perhaps not so unbearably sudden for a more experienced Hakkyuu, but these are the moments with Stephen that get the sparks lighting up, the moments before contract, the tempting and teasing, though if he took this particular approach with Hakkyuu normally he'd laugh and tell him to try harder because that line is truly awful.

But for Hakkyuu in this moment it feels like some kind of threat no matter how gebtly it's offered.

His eyes flick down to Stephen's mouth before he can stop himself, then quickly back up again with that same skittish energy on display before, except this time he feels locked in place.

The way he swallows feels loud, though it's probably because it feels difficult to do and his with his heart thumping at a million miles a second it makes every other little reaction in his body feel exceptionally on display and amplified.]

I don't think you should.

[It's a panicked blurting, not a real answer to the question at all and still very much about Stephen.]

You're-- I mean, that's... That's not-- I'm not--

[If Hakkyuu could be a fly on the wall for this absolute scene he'd be groaning long and hard at his teenage self and all this excessive, unnecessary sputtering; the duality of being desperate for the experience and terrified of the prospect. As a teenager, Hakkyuu would hang on ever whispered word about sucking and taking cock that Vrenille ever shared with him and yet leapt from even the slightest hint that Vrenille may have wanted to try something like that with him, the two of them getting hot and bothered on the tales, and Hakkyuu always being the one to turn away at that particular game of chicken.

It had been a long, long journey for Hakkyuu to come beyond his fear of his own pleasure, and Stephen's soft, faux-consideration isn't going to magic it away, that's for sure.]

I wouldn't be good at... Anything like that. For you. You-- you wouldn't like it.

[God, is it good or bad for Stephen's ego to seen so hot that he's actually scared a kid horny with it?]

[ honestly, if older hakkyuu gives him shit about that line later he’ll needle back just as well. hakkyuu, after all, could teach a masterclass on the direct approach - it’s just that stephen’s no slouch either. the difference is in technique, timing, the ways in which they read and play off tension.

there’s something grinning and wolfish in the back of stephen’s head that goes utterly unreflected in his expression. he doesn’t move, still that picture of unflappable calm, which only hakkyuu his contemporary would know is just arrogance, stephen’s life and choices all clean, self-assured lines or at least the impeccable impression of them. he’s definitely not a guy who needs an ego boost. not now or ever. ]

Funny. You usually are. And I usually do.

[ he rubs his thumb over the bridge of his scarred knuckles in apparent thought. ]

You want me to tell you how it tends to go? [ he winks. ] I usually make people sit down for storytime.

I'm already sitting.

[Not where Stephen would probably like him to be, but that part flies right past Hakkyuu's head in favour or thinking he's caught Stephen in another obvious technicality that a smart doctor guy should already know. Ha! See? Take that, Strange!

An older Hakkyuu wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry at himself, but since he doesn't cry it'd probably be the former.

But this version of Hakkyuu looks pleased with himself. It's fake teenage bravado, though he'll take whatever feels like a lifeline without realising Stephen has a hold of the other end of the rope.]

[ stephen has to bite back another laugh. it’s not fish in a barrel, it’s not -

he takes a second, does in fact let out another huff. and then he spreads his knees just so, pats his thigh invitingly. ]

Here.

[ no further instruction. well, actually - a slight hard curve to his smile. ]

It’s comfortable.

[Hackles rising slightly, Hakkyuu sets Stephen with a glare that doesn't really work on a blushing face.

And the way his eyes glance down at Stephen's crotch as he moves is super subtle. Barely noticeable. Twice as subtle if you count how he sits upright more, like he's trying to gain some kind of height on the wizard somehow.]

There is no way in hell I'm sitting in your lap. Absolutely no damn way. Never gonna happen.

[... contemporary Hakkyuu will never live this shit down.]

[ yeah, okay, stephen huffs out another laugh, he can’t help it. it’s not the most unkind sound of which he’s capable. ]

It already has. Dozens of times.

[ that’s not even an exaggeration, unfortunately. there have been whole days they’ve spent apart, whole afternoons spent fucking other people that ended in still-wild nights. you run out of things to do in this town if you don’t like who you’re with. ]

Might be worth getting used to sooner rather than later.

[Stephen has a nice lap. Nice, long legs and taut thighs--it gives a good vantage point to look down at him, drape arms down over shoulders, grumble about time slipping away, find his pulse with his mouth, share a drink. It's a good spot to sit, Hakkyuu just doesn't know it yet.

And in fairness, if Stephen patted his lap like that with older Hakkyuu he'd very likely tell him to go fuck himself, but there are many variations on the offer that Hakkyuu would take him up on.

Here and now though it sounds like a lie, like Stephen is just saying what he does, or doesn't, want to hear. And yet something in Hakkyuu's gut tells him that's not the case.]

Yeah... Well. I'm not doing it now. So guess your lap's just gonna stay cold, huh?

[And to prove the point, he slides off the arm of the chair to walk out in front of Stephen instead, arms crossed as if he's managed to win some kind of addition ground by putting himself directly in front of Stephen rather than in close sidelong proximity.]

I don't think there's a "how it usually goes" and you're just out here being... real gross.

[ stephen looks him up and down, brows raised: the color high in his neck, the faux imperiousness of the folded arms. his eyes drop down last, with no apparent scruples, to hakkyuu’s crotch. it’s not a long glance; he’s looking archly next at hakkyuu’s expression. ]

I’m not that good at spinning a yarn, kid. But I do have an excellent memory.

[ he rests his chin back on his hand. his other hand comes down over his thigh again--

this time to adjust himself, with visible care, in his trousers. they’re excellently woven. and the shadow of his cock is just visible there, thick under the wool. ]

It’s alright to want to know.

[Such a small gesture with so many large implications, in more ways than one. It's almost more obscene that he can only see an impression of Stephen's want through his slacks, outlines that appear and fade through the fabric. And at the same time he can imagine the weight and taste of him over Hakkyuu's tongue, a very particular kind of mental flash that feels like an impossible memory.

And it is fully unfair hot attractive Stephen looks there--straight-backed and completely at ease with teasing his own offerings in those fine clothes and all too laid back air.

Normally, Hakkyuu would take it as an absolute challenge to make a thorough mess of him, torment and work Stephen up, test that impressive restraint, see how long he could hold up the veneer of being nonplussed, and make an complete wreck of that lovely suit. And he wouldn't even offer to pay the dry-cleaning.

Here, he feels like he's looking at a lazy wolf that is going to move when it gets hungry enough.

The other humiliating thing is how watching Stephen like this already has Hakkyuu rock solid in his pants. The joys of being a teenager where even an breeze can create a hard-on. Stephen hasn't even done anything.]

So c'mon, share this excellent memory of yours then. Let's hear it!

[Sure, it's meant to show he's not scared of anything, though what it's likely going to do in reality is come back to bite him when Stephen's wolf opens its maw.]

[ the trousers of his suit are a subtle dark grey. easier to see his cock, at certain angles, in part because stephen doesn’t bother with boxers and in part because it’s - nothing to sneeze at, even half-hard. he firms his palm over it just once, lets it twitch alluringly under the pressure, and then he’s stretching back out in the armchair. storytime indeed. ]

You spent the whole night making sure I was watching your mouth.

[ in the past, of course. he’s not watching hakkyuu’s mouth now. he’s watching his eyes instead, the unfamiliar warm hue of them, so unlike their usual crystalline cold. ]

You’d been getting other men to buy us drinks. [ and then, conversationally, which in itself is a tease: ] It was a good play. I started thinking about how much of a waste it would’ve been, if any one of them got to fuck you instead of me.

[There's an art to eye movement that, standing here, Hakkyuu hasn't mastered yet. To him, looking back and forth quickly feels subtly for the way the time feels to him--the more quickly he can move his eyes from between Stephen's legs and his
crotch, the less time he's spending staring directly at a particular spot and therefore be seen watching. It doesn't quite clock yet that the more his eyes move, the more noticeable they are. He hasn't learnt how to stare without being noticed yet, or how to stare to be intentionally noticed.

It doesn't feel like a story about him. It's about someone else. Stephen and someone else. Someone who can apparently charm drinks out of guys and have a mouth worth thinking about all night. To Hakkyuu, that all sounds like Vrenille, not him.

But Stephen keeps saying 'you' as speaks and stares right at Hakkyuu, and as Stephen is spinning this story he can't look away, which means by the time Stephen reaches that end point the widening of Hakkyuu's eyes is impossible to miss, just like the rising redness in his cheeks.

Stephen can probably even see the full bob of Hakkyuu's throat as he swallows once more.]

That... doesn't sound like something I'd do.

To me it seemed like something you’d done a million times. [ he flicks a hand out dismissively. ] Which was fine. First day’s always a little surreal for newcomers, I wasn’t looking for anything in particular.

[ there’s probably more detail stephen can fill in, in a less charged moment. hakkyuu had his attention from the moment they’d both left the processing center; the curiosity had kicked in shortly thereafter, beside him at a bar counter, in parentheses around entirely too easy conversation. in the beginning stephen had considered the value of looking for allies - and now, even with the normal iteration of hakkyuu itching for an excuse to jump down his throat, he knows he got more than he expected.

but those details aren’t so relevant right now, not when there’s a boy almost shaking a mere couple of feet in front of him, drowning in his clothes, barely treading water in his imagination. stephen, slow to anything wider than smirks to begin with, has to fight the urge to bare his teeth. ]

You’re very impressive out there. You’d touch them, make a little fun ... five seconds where some asshole feels like the most interesting thing in the room. And then you’d come back to me. [ he shrugs. ] Because, even then, you knew I was better.

[That last remark brings Hakkyuu up with a sort of full-body blink of confusion.

Stephen has a presence that is commanding even when he's barely doing anything at all, just talking, just being in a space it feels like. If he wanted to, Hakkyuu already has the feeling he could stand there in complete silence and demand all the attention. Hell, he could be in the room ignoring Hakkyuu and he'd still be like a beacon.

So on the one hand he can believe it--that of everyone in a room, Hakkyuu would opt to keep coming back to Stephen. What he can't work out, even while Stephen is telling him this, is why Stephen was interested in him. It's not self-deprecating either, it really is simply that there are too many holes with missing information that don't make sense.]

But it'd be so you'd watch, right?

[He cocks his head to the side, hands pushing deeply into the front pouch of the hoodie, down over the telling signs that this is all uncomfortably arousing despite, or because of, how nervous Stephen makes him.]

There are easier ways to get drinks. That would have been... for you. So you'd see that and not want to feel left out or like someone else might get something you'd want.

[He purses his lips, biting on the insides of them for a second to try and stop a follow-up question but his impulse is too strong.]

And... that worked, didn't it?

[ by now the events of that first night have replayed themselves a dozen times, with only slight variations. there are some nights he watches hakkyuu wind people up for hours, a series of entertaining displays to be viewed contemplatively over the top of tumblrs. and just like that first night, it hardly matters. the men are passing scenery. now, just like then, if stephen’s in the room they both know how they’d prefer to spend their nights. ]

Obviously.

[ it’s a confession without a hint of shame. we like what we like when we see it. you don’t need photographic memory for so incisive a conclusion as that. ]

You’re charming. And ... [ there it is, that smirk again. ] You don’t get much taller.

[ local man thinks he’s funny. ]

You invited me home. I wanted to split you in half.

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