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English
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Part 1 of Hatshipping
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Published:
2019-04-27
Completed:
2020-01-19
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38,901
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30/30
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Hatshipping Vol. I

Chapter 30: Principleshipping, The Sequel

Notes:

Ship: Principleshipping (Duke Devlin/Ryuuji Otogi x Mahad)

This ended up being just over 9,000 words long with 4,080 of those words being of the smutty variety (per request). Obviously, I just kinda let this run its own course and when I got to the serious smut I let them do what they wanted and they wanted to… well, you’ll see.

I guess we’re ending this with a BANG (LOL)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Destined to Be

The sunlight pouring onto his face stained the backs of his eyelids a dusky orange. He breathed deeply and basked in the warmth. When his chest expanded so greatly, a twinge of pain spasmed in his abdomen. He coughed in response, and it only wracked his body and made it that much more uncomfortable. 

“Mahad!”

Hot, gentle hands cupped his face.

When his eyes languidly blinked open, all he saw was warm gold and glittering green. “Ryuuji.” His tongue felt heavy and dry, like he had eaten a mouthful of sand.

“Let me --” and one hot hand was pressed right where the pain was.

His arm felt so heavy and liquid, But he managed to wrap his fingers around a delicate, smooth wrist. “No. Don’t waste magic on something so trivial.”

Ryuuji scoffed hotly, and Mahad felt his own lips twitch into a small smile. 

“I have much more magic than you could ever hope to have, and I have seen you use spells for smaller ailments,” Ryuuji huffed.

“How I use my magic is my own business,” Mahad replied, eyes falling heavily shut again.

“And mine is mine, as well!” And another hand joined the first one.

“I enjoy being human. Let me feel pain like one, too,” was Mahad’s murmured response.

“Must you be so difficult?” Ryuuji growled.

“I suppose I must.”

Ryuuji’s hands softened, brushing up the skin of Mahad’s chest to cup his cheeks again. “I don’t relish seeing you in pain.” Mahad felt Ryuuji’s sigh rush against his skin. “But I shall respect your wishes.”

“Mm, you have my gratitude,” Mahad breathed. “Your warmth brings me comfort, Ryuuji. Lie closer?”

“Of course.” And his overwhelming aura of magic and heat was settling gently against Mahad on his uninjured side. His cheek settled on Mahad’s chest. Mahad lifted an arm to wrap it loosely about the Djinn curling into him. Hair, soft like silk and so long, brushed against his skin. He could feel Ryuuji’s breath hitch. He was long and lean, thin but firm and flexible. “Anything you wish, Mahad,” he whispered. His breath fanned Mahad’s skin. It jolted through his nerves, hot as lightning but cold as ice, and Mahad felt his flesh prickle with goosebumps. 

Mahad chuckled, languidly twined his finger into those endless black strands. “It sounds as though you mean to pamper me like a prince.”

Lips, soft and warm and smooth, puckered against his skin. “I’d worship you if you would only let me. I’d build great halls in your honor, monuments that would never fall. I’d carve your name into every mountain for all to see.” Perhaps from others, these would simply be words of flattery, but from a being like Ryuuji… he most certainly could do all these things with but a snap of his fingers.

“I don’t deserve these things,” Mahad whispered. “I am but a simple man, a priest devoted to king and country. There are greater men to dedicate these things to.”

“No, Mahad,” Ryuuji said, suddenly sitting up, and Mahad opened his eyes slowly to watch how those green eyes burned so passionately. “There are no men greater than you.” He shook his head slower. “Not in my eyes.” He leaned down, his hair spilling down and curtaining them and brushing along Mahad’s skin sensuously. His palm laid over Mahad’s chest, where, inside, his heart thrummed against his ribs. “No man has a heart purer, kinder than yours. I’d sooner find a four-headed snake than meet a living creature as loyal and selfless as you.”

Mahad reached up to cup that glowing cheek. “You could conjure a four-headed snake from mist easily.”

“Accept my damn compliments, you oaf!”

Mahad laughed softly, his thumb skimming over regal cheekbones. “So be it. Your words warm my heart and fill me with happiness.” His heart stuttered in his chest when the Djinn nuzzled into his palm. “The fact that you regard me so highly is utterly wondrous and humbling.” He smiled, slow and syrupy with exhaustion, blood loss, and affection. “Does this please you?”

Fine, shapely lips pursed. “I suppose.”

Mahad’s thumb traced their soft edges, and his eyes followed helplessly. “In all the world, there is no creature as resplendent as you, Ryuuji,” he whispered when Ryuuji kissed his thumb. “Tell me, where are we?”

“An inn near the state house,” Ryuuji replied, eyes closing, and he leaned even further into Mahad’s touch.

“And not the state house itself? I believe several of my belongings reside in the room the governor provided for us.”

Ryuuji’s eyes narrowed, fierce. “I have my suspicions of that place; I have reason to believe the men who accosted us are from the state house. I would not return you there in this state.”

“Understandable,” Mahad replied. 

“And I summoned your belongings here,” Ryuuji added. 

“Of course,” came Mahad’s murmur, and his hand slid back to Ryuuji’s neck, and those silky strands were so easily tangled in his fingers. “I have a question for you, one I am sure will stir your ire, but I must know the answer…” 

“Anything,” Ryuuji whispered

“Do you remain at my side because of duty, because of perceived debt to me for freeing you?” He studied deeply those vivid green irises, but they were an ageless well of secrets.

“No.” Ryuuji was entirely emphatic, the golden glow of his skin intensifying. “I remain here with you because I can imagine no where else to be but by your side.”

“I presume then that if I ask to once again drink of your kisses, you will allow it not out of obligation to me but because you wish to taste my lips in return?” Mahad croaked.

“Oh, most definitely, I wish it,” Ryuuji breathed. “I’ve wished it for so long.”

A breathy laugh, “Let us partake,” and Ryuuji was leaning down to join their lips. Mahad’s fingers trembled in Ryuuji’s hair, against his cheek, as their kisses melted between them and bled into their skin like sunshine. Ryuuji was warm and sweet and tender. His long fingers cupped Mahad’s jaw before sliding down to caress the side and back of his neck. 

“Tell me, Ryuuji, how long you’ve yearned to kiss me,” Mahad asked low, his husky voice unrecognizable to even himself.

“When I returned with you to the royal palace, and you provided a bed for me because you would have felt guilty otherwise. I knew then you were truly cut from a different cloth than my previous masters,” Ryuuji readily supplied. 

“You thought me silly, didn’t you?” Mahad said, chuckling, lips trembling at the corner of Ryuuji’s.

“Perhaps.” Ryuuji’s voice was thick with humor. “But I knew you considerate, kind, and honorable.” He nipped at Mahad’s upper lip. “Though that was when I knew I wanted to kiss you, I didn’t come to be completely besotted by you until you made your first wish.” He kissed the bridge of Mahad’s nose. “Strong.” His lips. “Noble.” But his eyes were wide open and staring into Mahad’s own. “So caring and devoted. As I found, the perfect concoction to bring me to my knees.”

Mahad’s hand tightened in that abyssal hair, and Ryuuji closed his eyes and whimpered against Mahad’s lips. Mahad kissed him, slow and tender but burning. When he’d kissed Ryuuji breathless, he pulled the Djinn up so he could have the room to pant and speak.

“I knew you to be the most beautiful man I’d ever see when I first laid eyes upon you,” Mahad admitted. “Though at the time you were most dangerous to me, unassuming but deadly as an adder. And then I came to know your heart, the warmth stifled by those before me.” Mahad’s eyes softened, repentant. “I was selfish, Ryuuji.”

“Never,” Ryuuji croaked back.

“No, I was, utterly. I hesitated to make my final wish because I feared losing you. I wanted your presence near me, and I couldn’t bear to send you back to that accursed urn, and I was certain you would leave if I set you free. Forgive me.”

“I cannot forgive if you have done no wrong,” Ryuuji insisted. “You foolish man.”

“When I was sure I would meet my end, I knew I couldn’t let you remain imprisoned, enslaved for eternity.”

“I adore you.” The whisper was rough but soft as the breeze.

“Then grant me this wish…” Mahad replied. 

“Yes, anything.”

“I grow weary again. Rest here with me. Lay in this bed with me and let me feel your warmth as I sleep.”

“Of course. You need not say more.”

They shared one last kiss before they settled back down. Ryuuji was in his arms, and he smelled so sweetly of lotus and pomegranates, and the scent lulled Mahad back to the warm abyss of sleep.


His next time waking up, sometime in the evening, occurred much more easily and with far less pain. 

His mouth was still arid as the desert, and he rolled his tongue uncomfortable as he slowly awakened. Gentle hands, Ryuuji’s hands, slowly tugged him until he was sitting up, and then the rim of a clay cup brushed his lips. He lifted his own hands up to grasp the cup and Ryuuji’s hand and smiled thankfully to the Djinn that eyed him so carefully.

“Much better,” he hummed after a few healthy gulps.

Ryuuji set the cup aside. He slowly stood. “Your robe was torn and drenched in blood.” He lifted up clean linen. “I fixed it.” Though they both knew it was a simple task for him to magic it better. 

Mahad swung his legs over the bed. Beneath the sheet falling from his body, he was just in his undergarments. “Are you so determined to wait on me hand and foot?”

“When you are injured, yes. I thought I had healed all of it earlier, but it appears as though I was wrong. And now you demand that I resist my urge to repair it,” Ryuuji replied, rather testily.

“I am fine,” Mahad replied softly, gesturing to his body, where not even a scar was left behind.

“The pain earlier--”

“My frail human mind, I’m sure.” Mahad stood, easily, steadily. “Human bodies cannot possibly be used to a wound instantaneously healing. I’m certain my subconscious was slow on the uptake.”

“If you say so.”

Mahad craned his neck down to brush a kiss to the Djinn’s pouting lips. “I am grateful for the concern, Ryuuji.”

Mahad accepted the robe from his hands and dressed.

Those verdant eyes stayed locked on him all the while, and he felt heat rush to his cheeks.

Ryuuji hummed, toned arms crossing. “If it weren’t for how I perceived your state, I may have been inclined to grope you as you slept.”

Mahad sputtered.

One of those slender, golden hands waved dismissively. “Banish such embarrassment. I assure you, we both would have enjoyed ourselves immensely.”

Mahad’s tongue was in a tangled web in his mouth. Instead of looking into those sparkling, sultry green eyes, he focused on tying the sash to his robe.

A chuckle, purring and hungry thrummed on the air, and then that silky voice -- all hot and breathy -- was simpering right into his ear from behind. “When I say I want to worship you, I mean in the absolute best of ways.”

Mahad whirled, but Ryuuji was already gone, instead a hot wave rolling over his back again. Ryuuji pressed right into him, warm and firm and lithe and making the blood in Mahad’s veins boil hot. Those hands rested just briefly on his sides and slithered over his ribs and crept up his pectoral muscles. A gentle flash of teeth on the cartilage of his ear, and he heard the hiss of Ryuuji’s breath. These sensual touches left a burning trail, and the sensation sunk down into his very bones. He trembled where he stood. It’d been so long since he’d been touched like this…

“I want to pleasure you until my touch is carved into your soul...” he gently, desirously clawed down Mahad’s chest, “... like my palms are impressed upon it, so only my hands could fit,” Ryuuji whispered, a tangle of tongue and teeth and lips at Mahad’s earlobe. 

Mahad panted, turned his head just enough to brush his cheek against Ryuuji’s. That inky black hair floated about them as if suspended in a pond. “It’s already so,” Mahad croaked, his own hands closing over the ones enticing him. 

Ryuuji moaned, a soft, broken sound, and leaned his cheek more firmly against Mahad’s. They watched together as Ryuuji’s hands -- with Mahad’s laid atop them -- hungrily inched across his heaving chest. “It’s already so,” Ryuuji echoed, one hand peregrinating down. “Yes,” it was a growling moan, pushed out between clenched jaws as he palmed where Mahad was swelling with desire. “I cannot help but feel your body was made for me to touch it.” Mahad couldn’t help how he spasmed, how his head fell back against Ryuuji’s flowing hair and firm shoulder. Heat rushed under his skin, and he felt sweat bead beneath his robe. He panted so hotly he wondered if he would dry out his lungs and they would shrivel up and he would suffocate in this inferno.

Ryuuji’s breath was just as hot in his ear, and that second wily hand slid up, and with perfect precision, his fingers rolled over Mahad’s nipple through his robe. A groan punched through Mahad, made him jolt, and it left his quivering lips without any chance of it being restrained.

“Or maybe, all those eons ago when I came to be, my hands were created for this, ” Ryuuji hissed, as his hands assailed Mahad’s senses in tandem. “Created for you , my beloved Mahad.”

Mahad’s head bowed to the side, his neck tight with tension as Ryuuji was quick to press his lips to the bared skin, and the cry that tore from Mahad rattled them both to the bones. 

This was too much -- too much, too fast , and that pressure was building, like electricity in the air before a supercell storm, before that first bolt of lightning split the sky asunder like divine fury and snapped the tension and brought down the pounding rain. 

And Ryuuji was touching him faster, firmer , fingers gripping and sliding over fabric that concealed hot flesh.

Mahad was sure he was saying something. Perhaps he was saying Ryuuji’s name. Perhaps he was beginning him to stop. Perhaps he was begging him for more, more, more . But in the fevered delirium, he couldn’t tell down from up, much less what sounds he made. 

But he could feel when Ryuuji’s hand crept away, towards his armpit. He whimpered at the loss, but then that hot hand was slithering into the short sleeve of his robe and up to the bare skin. The pad of Ryuuji’s thumb brushed over his bare nipple and then it was pressing in firm circles directly on it. Pinching, rubbing, and Mahad’s bones were melting inside his body and pouring out through his mouth and from his wildly bucking hips. He was nuzzling roughly into Ryuuji’s smooth cheek and panting against his skin in hitching, moaning breaths as the storm broke and left devastation in its wake. His hands were clenching over Ryuuji’s, holding them to his body as the thunder crashed through his limbs.

“Oh yes, give it to me,” Ryuuji was hissing. “Mine eyes have never seen a sight so glorious.”

The tension faded, and left Mahad standing there, trembling and on the verge of falling to his knees.

“Ry-Ryuuji,” he gasped against the other’s neck.

The other hummed, eyes half-lidded, and he continued to gently play with Mahad’s oversensitive body. “Delectable.” He was warm at Mahad’s back wrapped around him like this, and Mahad let his weight slump back against the Djinn.

Mahad reached back, trembling fingers tangling in hair and brushing Ryuuji’s jaw to turn him for a kiss. His whisper against Ryuuji’s lips came out brokenly, “Please --”

A loud banging at the door interrupted him.

They both jolted, startled, and Mahad stumbled out of Ryuuji’s grasp. He nearly crumpled, his knees wobbling, but he gripped the back of a chair so hard his knuckles turned white. 

The banging at the door started again. 

“One moment!” Ryuuji called, perfectly composed as if he hadn’t just turned Mahad into a debauched mess. His hot hand petted down Mahad’s back soothingly, lower each stroke.

“Ryuuji!” Mahad tried to hiss, but it came out as a croak when Ryuuji’s mischievous hand gripped salaciously at the flesh of his buttocks. 

“You’re in no state to greet guests,” Ryuuji purred. “I’ll attend to the door.”

Mahad could only glare halfheartedly as Ryuuji’s levitation ceased, his hair settling, his feet touching the door. He sauntered to the door. It creaked open.

From the silhouette looming outside came the glinting flash of metal. 

Mahad gasped, but Ryuuji caught the attacker’s wrist and with the slightest twitch, hurled the man directly into their room. He landed in a loud, disheveled heap, and when Ryuuji snapped his fingers, an unseen force wrenched the man onto his knees and viciously yanked his arms behind his back. The man cried in pain, his face a rictus of agony. 

Mahad could feel Ryuuji’s power, overwhelming and awesome, swell through the air. 

Mahad moved to turn, to completely face the assailant, but when he noticed that evidence of their… activities was staining the front of his robes, he remained in his awkward position and moved and refolded the linen until all was hidden. Cheeks aflame, he finally pivoted. Ryuuji was levitating, hovering parallel to the ground as if he was lounging on thin air, his chin on his knuckles and staring blankly into his prisoner’s pained eyes. 

“I’ll have you know that you interrupted some very important business,” Ryuuji drawled, and Mahad pressed a hand to his burning face. “And since I am not fond of my business being interrupted, I suppose mercy is not at the forefront of my mind,” Ryuuji continued, slender fingers thrumming rhythmically on his elegant jaw. “In other words, tell me what reasons you have for accosting me and my…” he paused, dark eyebrows lifting up. “... companion.”

The man’s face twisted into a snarl, and he spat on Ryuuji’s cheek.

Unimpressed, Ryuuji wiped the saliva away, and his eyes narrowed. The man cried in agony, and Mahad stepped forward, hand raised. But the screaming faded into sniffling whimpers.

“You’d do well not to test me, mortal,” Ryuuji said lowly, and the building vibrated on its foundation at the otherworldly power behind his voice. “You and your companions nearly killed the man I hold most dear, and now I hold your life in my grip.” Mahad could sense it, how Ryuuji’s magic was coiled around the attacker like a giant fist. “It would be no feat to end you where you are now.” The magic tensed threateningly, and the man in its grip yelped. “Tell me what I need to know, or suffer the consequences. Who sent you, worm?”

“The governor!” the man cried, tears trailing down his face. “The governor!”

Mahad and Ryuuji simultaneously froze.

“And he wanted me, did he not?” Ryuuji hissed.

“H-He wanted us to kill your master, and he would have your urn for himself!” The man was sobbing now.

Ryuuji hummed, but his stoic face was wrought with anger beneath. “You are dismissed, scum.” He waved his hand, and the air around the man shimmered like heat, and then he was gone.

“Where did you send him?” Mahad asked after blinking deliriously as the spot where the assailant had been but seconds before.

Ryuuji rolled a shoulder. “The middle of the Arabian desert.”

“Ryuuji!” Mahad gasped, horrified. 

“He clearly had the gall to face a renowned magician of your caliber; What do you think he is capable of doing to those weaker than him? Those who are helpless? I could smell the blood staining his filthy hands,” Ryuuji replied, now vertical and sinking back to the floor. “It was a choking miasma, I assure you.”

Mahad frowned grimly. “I suppose you’re right.”

“At any rate, we now know the identity of the man hunting us. My intuition proved correct -- the state house is a den of snakes,” he spat.

Mahad nodded, grave. “We shall go and confront that scheming governor.” He shifted, and his cheeks immediately set fire to themselves. “I… must make myself presentable first.”

Ryuuji hummed. Those green eyes scanned him up and down slowly, thoroughly. “You seem immaculate to me.”

Mahad scoffed hotly. “I shall not walk amongst the decent public with such a filthy mess clinging to me.”

Mahad barely had to blink before Ryuuji was kneeling before him and slithering up to grasp his clothed thighs and staring at him in such a sultry, predatory manner. “ I can clean you of it,” he breathed, and his pink tongue swiped lewdly over his shapely lips. 

“The things that spill from your tongue,” Mahad gasped, but his voice was deep and breathy. Truly, Ryuuji looked far too appealing, all eager and hungry like this, and he had thought himself a man of stronger constitution, but the hands kneading at his inner thighs were threatening to undo him a second time. It’d been so long that he’d experienced such pleasure, and Ryuuji was offering in spades. 

“Let me taste you,” Ryuuji said, low and seductive. Dark, tender promises of ecstasy lurked in those jewel-like green eyes. “I want every part of you and this is no exception.”

Mahad lowered his shaking hand and threaded it through that dark hair. It slipped and slid between his fingers so fluidly. Ryuuji instantly interpreted that as an invitation and leaned forward to nuzzle below Mahad’s navel. He gasped, eyes snapping back up to Mahad’s face when the hand in his hair tightened and dragged him back gently but firmly.

“The next we experience pleasure, it will be together,” Mahad said, and he tried to be firm but his breath was still catching in his throat. “I’ve never desired more than to be so close to you, in any capacity, but we haven’t the time to do this. We have business to attend to at the state house, and, after what has occurred, we will expedite our plans to return home.” 

Those sensuous lips pursed, and Ryuuji slowly stood, elegant, and his eyes stared deeply into Mahad’s own. “Always so dutiful,” he sighed, but he leaned up, and suddenly he was hovering again, his hair drifting about them, perfectly on level with Mahad. His arms twined around Mahad’s neck, and he pressed their foreheads together. “Though I suppose it is one of the reasons you are so dear to me.”

Mahad brushed his nose across Ryuuji’s own and allowed the Djinn to steal one last kiss before he stepped back from the embrace. 

“Grant me but a moment and we will be off for the state house.”


It was indeed a short walk to the state house. Several more armed goons accosted them along the way, but Mahad’s and Ryuuji’s combined magical abilities easily kept them at bay. They strode right through the door and into the courtyard. Luckily for them, the governor himself was ambling about that evening, a trail of guests following behind him. 

His head snapped over, and he had the gall to smirk . Ryuuji bit down on a snarl, but rage still crackled in his veins. 

“Ah, Priest Mahad, I was concerned. You did not return at the expected time last night. The whole house was in a panic.”

“Governor Ercoles, duplicity does not befit you,” Mahad replied. “Or perhaps it befits you in its entirety.”

“I know not to what you refer, my friend,” Erocoles jibed, and his entourage laughed alongside him. 

“I refer to your underhanded plot to murder me in cold blood to possess he who is not for possession,” Mahad called, stern, staff raised to point at the governor, and Ryuuji could only imagine a righteous god casting judgment on wretched mortals. 

The governor’s face darkened, but then he was smirking again. But Ryuuji could sense it, the malice and greed lurking beneath the affable mask. 

“That’s a hefty accusation to blatantly toss around,” Erocoles replied, chin tipping up, affronted and daring.

“It was said so by one who dared to accost my companion and me as we rested,” Mahad declared, his voice deep and thunderous and echoing in the courtyard. “You wished me dead so Ryuuji would be returned to his prison! In the wake of my demise, you would release him and demand of him three wishes to fulfill whatever dark desires fill the thoughts of a depraved man like you!”

The mask cracked and fell away and revealed the face of the depraved man of which Mahad spoke. He gnashed his teeth like a hyena, hissed like an adder. “It would be a better use of it. I would not keep it as a pet as you do!”

Mahad’s lips curled into a snarl. “ He is no man’s pet, least of all any man’s property!”

“Do you even hear the words coming from your mouth, fool?” Erocoles spat. “Going on and on about this idiocy when the Djinn is bound to you! Do you think such a creature would hang about such a witless mortal of its own volition?!”

Ryuuji could only laugh, but Mahad ignored him.

“Open your eyes, Erocoles. No longer is he bound by his curse; his golden shackles are gone! When your hired goons cut me a mortal wound, I used my last wish to grant Ryuuji his freedom,” Mahad replied. 

Erocoles wildly stared at Ryuuji, scanned his arms, which were bare of any restraints just as Mahad had said. 

Ryuuji spread his arms widely, his golden glow intensifying as he lifted from the ground. His hair and robes billowed about him. 

“It is true. I have been liberated, and while Mahad may no longer be my master, it is he who holds my undying loyalty. You are a vile, greedy man, and even if your schemes had come to pass, every wish that spilled forth from your lips I would twist into your worst nightmare. It is only by Mahad’s benevolence that I do not smite you where you stand, unworthy cur.”

Erocoles’s horrible visage only frothed hotter with rage. “You idiotic magician!” He threw an arm out. “Seize them!” he cried to the guards who had gathered at the commotion.

The guards hesitated, if only for the moment; however, they had to take but a step forward before they were frozen once again.

Ryuuji felt his magic crackle in his veins. It had been so long since he felt his power in its entirety course through him, and he had forgotten the feeling of invincibility . At the twitch of his fingers, he could rend them asunder as if they were but puffs of cotton. Instead, they were all thrown back against the walls of the courtyard.

He pointed at that wretched man who trembled in his sandals. Thick, sparking clouds of smoke roiled about him. His eyes glowed an eerie green in the dim of the closing dusk. 

“You shall never know again the pleasure of a lover’s touch, for if your machinations had fruited, I’d never of mine. You shall never indulge in your wealth again, for it was your greed that motivated your murderous intentions. You shall never know the satisfaction of realizing your endeavors, for mine nearly crumbled before my eyes because of you. Nothing you can say, do, or conjure will negate these things. With these words, I curse thee!” he bellowed, and the words boomed like thunder or a volcano erupting. 

Erocoles fell to his knees in the sand of the courtyard, and then he collapsed face-first into the ground. People rushed to him, but Ryuuji was no longer paying attention; he was touching his magician’s arm.

“Let us take our leave of this place,” he begged quietly.

Mahad, eyes wide, had barely nodded before darkness swallowed them.


Just as quickly, they were washed in moonlight. The ocean hissed and roared as it lapped at the beach sand. A gentle, cool, briny breeze blew and brushed softly against Mahad’s face. He wildly looked about.

Yes, they were now on some unknown beach, where the sand was stained a most breathtaking silver by the moonlight, and where the calm sea glittered and gleamed like onyx. The long, feathery fronds of the palms susurrated so sweetly, like the whispers of a tender lover. It was a nighttime paradise, serene and beautiful.

“Where are we?” Mahad asked, whispering as though his voice would shatter this image and it would fall away into the void.

“A deserted island,” Ryuuji said back, just as quietly, but he stepped close, a blazing aura of warmth in the cool of this seaside night. Mahad shivered at the difference. “I’m sure we are the first men to step upon it in a very long time, if ever.”

Mahad turned his head to look at his companion, and his breath caught in his throat. Ryuuji was always beautiful, but he seemed most resplendent at night, when his glow was not masked by the sun, when he looked like some mirage in the moonlight. Mahad gingerly touched his smooth cheek with his knuckles, as if the Djinn would crumble away to dust with one wrong touch.

“And why here?” Mahad whispered.

Ryuuji smiled softly and gripped that hand in his own, so tender and soft despite his overwhelming power. He nuzzled his cheek into the back of Mahad’s hand and then pressed a soft kiss to it. “We’ll return to Khemet, I promise you. But even there lurks the possibility of interruption.” He sighed, “I want you for myself for one night, and then your king and country can borrow you for a while.”

Mahad smiled softly, and he traced with his eyes the facing that was staring back at him so adoringly. “Borrow me?”

“I won’t let them have you forever,” Ryuuji replied, childishly petulant, but his eyes were molten with affection. 

Mahad’s heart stuttered and melted in his chest, and he gripped the elegant chin between forefinger and thumb. Thoughts and feelings and words swirled within him, and he lowly gave them voice. “All of who I am is yours. Mahad the Magician, Mahad the Priest, Mahad the Man. No matter what I am doing or who I am…” His breath shuddered between them. “... my heart belongs to you, Ryuuji.”

And then Ryuuji’s hands were cupping his cheeks so warmly and slowly bringing them closer, and then his hot lips were upon Mahad and Mahad could only tremble and return the kiss. Softly mouthing, that was all it was, but it felt like everything -- Ryuuji felt like everything, like the ocean sighing and the stars twinkling and the sands of Khemet blowing in the wind and the lotuses blooming in their ponds. He was the feeling biting into ripe fruit and savoring crisp water on the tongue, and he was the sound of thunder when the rainy season flooded the Nile fat and fertile. He was the scent of pomegranate blossoms and the taste of honey on one’s lips. He was the heat of the sun and the warmth of a gentle touch and the coolness of a summer night. He was the shadows beneath the cypress trees and the glow of a single candle in the dark. 

He was the light that pierced the emptiness of Mahad’s lonely heart.

They parted, but Ryuuji remained close, so close, they tasted each other when they breathed. “Mahad,” he whispered, his voice as raw as his expression, “from the moment you opened that urn I was free.” He brought one of Mahad’s hands to his chest. Mahad could feel it, that heart pounding beneath flesh and bone just like his own. Mahad’s eyes widened. “At your side, I was never a bound, cursed creature.” His words fluttered against Mahad’s lips. “I was blessed. I am blessed.” His fingers tangled into Mahad’s long hair, and his own tresses drifted about them like golden black threads. “I never realized that I made a wish, but it was granted all the same when I met you, my beloved Mahad.”

"I love you," Mahad whispered back, and the waves and the palms whispered with him. 

And they were kissing again, and they were pressed so tight together, holding one another so close, that perhaps if there were no fabric separating them they would have bled together. It was a slow, swaying dance, but a spark was lit, and it smoldered in the kindling until a flame sprang up, licking at their feet and their faces and within their hearts. Empassioned, Mahad wrapped tight one arm about Ryuuji’s slender waist and the other cupped his face and twisted into his hair to grip fervently at those inky black tresses. 

Mahad ,” Ryuuji whimpered when Mahad tugged his head back. That jaw, the slender, defined neck, Mahad tasted it all, and he moaned against that smooth skin at the flavor on his tongue. Heady and sensual and electrifying , like ambrosia. Ryuuji had the most lovely clavicles, and Mahad admired them with hot, hungry kisses, his thumb hooking into the neckline of Ryuuji’s clothing to bare more of his marvelous flesh.

Mahad panted, turn his head to press his face to Ryuuji’s neck as his heart pounded and his vision swam and his fingertips trembled. 

“Never had I felt such yearning as I do for you,” he whispered hoarsely.

“Yearn no longer,” Ryuuji murmured, just as breathless, and suddenly they were falling back, and where Mahad had been expecting them to land onto the beach sand, instead laid a soft blanket. 

But looking up, there was still the starry night sky and the brilliant silver moon and Ryuuji’s vivid green eyes. 

A soft smile was on his swollen lips, his hands braced next to Mahad’s head, until he sat back, kneeling between Mahad’s knees, and Mahad sat up, too, leaning on his elbows. Ryuuji’s red robes began to sag down, drawing down his shoulders of seemingly their own volition, sashes untying and material parting to reveal golden skin and tones muscles. The material slipped down, down, pooling at his trim waist a moment before it continued, sliding and slithering away from bunched thighs and slim hips, until Ryuuji was bare before him. 

All smooth and glossy and glowing, black hair poured over that beautiful flesh like a waterfall. There, with those verdant eyes, greener than any emerald, it was more than obvious that Ryuuji was closer to god than man. And his divine hand, slender and beautiful but still masculine and long, was gripping Mahad’s and guiding it to the aureate skin of his muscled chest and flattening it there. Ryuuji was warm and firm, sensual, a more stirring sight and sensation than Mahad had even ever conjured in his most erotic dreams. 

“Yearn no longer,” Ryuuji repeated, voice husky and just as dark as his eyes. 

Those beautiful black lashes of his fluttered down, hiding that green from view, as Mahad’s trembling hand slid down, along the firm pectoral and gently-defined abdominals, because Ryuuji was lean but strong, like a leopard. The heat of Ryuuji’s body bled into his palm and fingers as they traced, spread wide but soft. And then he was pushing his hand back up, a slightly different path, cupping and moulding against each part of Ryuuji he touched. Dipping and curling over that alluring collarbone, over the swell of a shoulder that fit just so perfectly under the curve of his palm. 

His other hand tentatively touched one of the knees between his own, and when he glanced at Ryuuji’s face, half-lidded green eyes stared back. Heat spiked through his gut, and, lips trembling, he touched higher, palm dragging along that firm thigh. Muscles and tendons tensed, anticipating, beneath his fingers, until he was cupping one hip. The bone fit perfectly in his grip. 

Yes, he could agree. Their bodies were made for touching each other. 

His other hand slipped down Ryuuji’s chest again to slide around and caress up his spine, under that silky hair to the back of his neck, and Ryuuji leaned in. But Mahad’s lips touched his chin again, down, under it, Ryuuji’s head tipping back as Mahad kissed down his neck. Ryuuji’s panting breaths were just loud enough to be heard over the hissing of the ocean as Mahad mouthed the length of his sternum. He moaned, deep but airy, when Mahad’s tongue caressed his nipple. 

Mahad could only breath hotly against his skin, could only relish the feel of Ryuuji beneath his hands, lips, and tongue. He closed his eyes and sucked gently, and Ryuuji arched, a strained sound pulled from his throat. Mahad’s veins throbbed, his whole body trembled. Hands were in Mahad’s hair, threading and tangling gently, and then one was on his shoulder, pushing him back onto the blanket, Ryuuji following.

Ryuuji’s hair dripped down, sliding over his shoulders and from around his face. Darker than night, the locks swayed in the oceanic breeze. That sight above him… Mahad was mesmerized. Ryuuji rubbed sensually up and down Mahad’s chest, and Mahad’s breathing picked up from the sensation alone. “As much as I would love to dirty this particular piece of clothing for a third time…” Ryuuji began, voice seductive and cheeks flushed with desire, “I am going to disrobe you.”

Mahad nodded, touching Ryuuji’s cheek. “Please do.”

“I could simply magic your clothes right from your body,” Ryuuji murmured, sitting back just the slightest to undo the sash keeping Mahad’s robes to his body, “... but it is a long-held fantasy of mine to slowly peel them away from you.”

“And mine yours, though you denied me the pleasure,” Mahad croaked back, watching those hands delicately smooth the sash away from his body. 

“Next time,” Ryuuji breathed, unraveling the linen folded around Mahad’s form. “Next time, you may strip me at your leisure, my beloved.”

It took but a flash of Mahad’s bare chest for Ryuuji to touch him directly. He pushed his hands outward, toward the ribs, linen wrinkling and folding over his wrists. The slow petting had Mahad arching where he lay, hands falling to grip at the blanket beneath them. 

“You like being touched,” Ryuuji noted, nearly a moan. “And I adore touching you. What a pair we make.” It wasn’t long before Mahad’s linen robes were splayed about at his sides, baring him to the chill of the oceanic night. But Ryuuji was a warm aura above him, washing him in heat, making his cheeks hot and his breaths hotter. “I can tell how long you had denied yourself the touch of another, my dearest,” Ryuuji whispered, one finger trailing along Mahad’s inner thigh and watching it tremble beneath the touch.

“I had not the time for pleasure,” Mahad groaned. His hips bucked that finger traced along the edges of his thin undergarments, simple ones folded about his groin, a choice of comfort. 

“Oh, you did,” Ryuuji purred. “I am not blind, nor am I an idiot. There were plenty of moments for you to rut, hot and fast like an animal with all those willing people around you.” He leaned down, a smirk on his lips but tender affection in his eyes. “I am not the only one who has taken notice of you, Mahad.” Mahad shivered when Ryuuji kissed his chin, when that hair slithered over him and set his nerves alight. “But still you starved yourself,” he whispered, hot, kissing down Mahad’s neck. “Because simple rutting would not, could not sate you, could it?” His heat was everywhere, his hands sliding and caressing and melting Mahad wherever they touched, his lips tender but ravenous as they mouthed down his heaving chest to his abdomen. 

“It was never a desire of yours to simply orgasm ,” Ryuuji continued, tongue flicking momentarily against the hot skin of Mahad’s navel, his hands kneading at the thighs flexing around him. “It is intimacy you have always yearned for.” He nibbled at the edge of Mahad’s loincloth, first with his swollen lips and then with his pearly teeth. “When you bring yourself to completion, it’s to thoughts of your lover’s hand entwined with yours as you climax, isn’t it?”

Mahad gasped hotly, delirious eyes taking in the night and the Djinn between his eyes, where golden skin was so close to his own and black hair was spilling so alluringly over his sensitive thighs. “Yes,” he choked out. “Yes, Ryuuji.” It was all true, how he wished to share his soul with his partner and not just his body. How he wished to hold close a lover and stare into eyes that were staring back , kisses that threatened to consume and desire that ran so much deeper than flesh and blood. 

And here Ryuuji was, granting him a fourth wish. 

And those clever fingers were twisting into the linen and gently pulling it away until Mahad was just as naked as Ryuuji on this deserted beach. 

They both shivered, and Ryuuji’s hands smoothed along thighs and hips and waist. “You are a vision, my dearest one.” Those eyes were hot and liquid and they painted Mahad with desire. "An oasis, a mirage." He crawled back up, swaying shoulders like a predatory cat, looking as exotic as one there in the moonlight. His lips hovered, warm and damp over Mahad's own, and Mahad reached up to cup that beautiful face and kissed his lips. Ryuuji pressed back, all slow and tender and consuming, and he whispered, broken and raw, "I want to taste you. Please, I beg of you, do not deny me this request a second time."

"T-Take of me what you want," Mahad breathed back, "if I can the same of you."

"You've made yourself a deal, Mahad," Ryuuji purred, and he was sinking back down, sliding skin and hair and the occasional fluttering of lips. Mahad breathed tightly, stared up momentarily at the night sky before his fingers tangled in abyssal black silk. 

And then Ryuuji's breath fanned where Mahad was most sensitive, and then it was his lips, his tongue, and Mahad choked, thighs shaking beneath golden, kneading hands. Mahad watched that pink tongue, watched those green eyes flutter shut as if in ecstasy before they were open but half-lidded and searing into his very soul. Then shapely lips parted, and Ryuuji was consuming him. Slow, as if Mahad were something to be savored, like fine wine or raw honey. 

Mahad couldn't help his cry, his broken sob of pleasure, as Ryuuji worshiped him so intently, so… so

" Ryuuji ," he gasped, voice thick and choppy with heaving breaths. Ryuuji's hands squeezed affectionately, eyes blinked slowly as he took all of Mahad in and retracted all of him out, this steady, intense rhythm, like the waves crashing on the shore so near them. Mahad's fast breaths parched his lips, but he could only stare down at the man so attentive between his thighs, could only knead his shaking fingers through that silky hair. 

Everything in him was shuddering and sweltering. The sweat on his body gleamed in the moonlight and in Ryuuji's resplendent glow. Those divine hands tugged at his hips, clutched at buttocks, lifted him to those stretched lips, and Mahad whimpered, rolling his hips as Ryuuji obviously wanted. 

It was heartrendingly intimate, the slow pace, the way Ryuuji never once wavered from his eyes, how he held Mahad close, his hair sliding across Mahad's skin with each bob of his head. 

And Ryuuji was pulling off to lap at him with that wet tongue again, and Mahad wanted to cry with relief and with protest. 

"I want to drink you dry," Ryuuji rasped wetly, lips pressed still to Mahad's flesh, "but we'll save that for another time."

And he was crawling back up, but Mahad grabbed his shoulder and the back of his neck to whirl them, to press Ryuuji to the blanket and taste himself on those honey-sweet lips. 

They both gasped, arching, where they were pressed together wet and hot, eager and desirous. 

Mahad took the time to sample the delights of Ryuuji's body, though each kiss and lick was feverish and fervent. "Surely," he moaned, swiping his tongue once again on Ryuuji's nipple, "this is a dream." He pressed his cheek to the heaving abdominals, breathed in the heat of Ryuuji's skin. "Surely, for how could I capture the heart of a creature so divine?" He murmured, sinking lower, where Ryuuji's thighs eagerly parted for him. 

Ryuuji's hands petted his face and stroked through his hair. "I think much the same," he replied, strained. 

Mahad moaned softly, pressed his lips to Ryuuji's swollen flesh, kissed him as thoroughly as he had been kissed. Throaty and lustful, his own name rang in his ears. Mahad panted and lapped. The taste was heady and dizzying and arousing. He eagerly took Ryuuji in, savored that first bit and sucked thoroughly. He looked up as Ryuuji cried with pleasure and fisted the hair in his hands. 

Lips parted, eyes wet with pleasure, brows furrowed with ecstasy. 

He took more, more, heavy and hot on his writhing tongue. Ryuuji mewled, body tensing and arching. He continued that slow pace Ryuuji had set just moments before. Mahad’s eyes fluttered closed as arousal washed up on his insides. 

"L-Look at me," Ryuuji gasped, and Mahad could only obey. 

Thumbs traced under his eyes and over his cheekbones, and he gulped greedily at the flesh in his mouth. Ryuuji's lips stretched wider on another gut-wrenchingly wanton cry, " Yes! "

Mahad's stomach quivered, and he lowered a hand to stoke the sizzling arousal in his gut. 

"No," Ryuuji reprimanded, mewling, pulling Mahad off of him. 

Mahad dangled there, lips aching and swollen, but he obediently removed his hand from himself.

"When we come, we shall do it as one," Ryuuji panted, pupils blown wide.

They were both sitting up now, breathless and gleaming in the moonlight. Ryuuji leaned forward, and they kissed slowly. Ryuuji's hand traveled down from Mahad's hair, along his spine, then further, where his fingers slid so sensuous, teasing and seductive, parting and tracing.

"I want to pleasure you… here," he whispered, rubbing gently, solicitously. 

"I--" Mahad shuddered, but he shook his head the slightest. “You need not put forth the exertion --”

Fingers firm at his chin cut him off, and Ryuuji’s eyes glittered. “You silly man,” he purred. “It is not a chore, and you needn’t take every responsibility onto your shoulders.” He chuckled, smile sultry and fond. “Would you think it so toilsome to do the same for me?”

“No,” Mahad breathed.

“Then fret not.” The words were a warm breeze against Mahad’s lips. “Unless you truly do not desire it,” Ryuuji added, one black eyebrow arching. 

“I want it,” Mahad assured. “I want you inside me, Ryuuji.”

Ryuuji grunted, nearly mewled, “Those words on your lips -- if I did not know any better, I might have thought that I had died and ascended to paradise.” He nudged at Mahad’s shoulder. “Lay back for me, Mahad.”

Heart pounding, fluttering like a trapped bird, Mahad did as was asked of him. Ryuuji settled between his parted knees, and when those golden fingers touched his thighs, Mahad felt them tremble. The blanket beneath them felt soft beneath Mahad’s eagerly clenching hands, and he arched up, huffing softly, when he felted oiled fingers -- magicked that way, he had no doubt -- trace along him. 

“Mm,” he grunted, feeling one, gentle, press in. 

“By the sands of Arabia,” Ryuuji murmured, tongue swiping across his lips, and then he was leaning down for a kiss. Mahad panted against his lips, draped an arm over his shoulder. The scent of the oil, olives and lavender, blossomed between them. A second finger was swift to join the first. 

Mahad’s head thrashed to the side. It was uncomfortable, but it was good , the way Ryuuji’s slender fingers worked into and against him, so tender but so intense. Hot kisses trailed down his neck, the flick of a tongue at his collarbone. 

“Mahad.” The whisper was fervent, like a curse or a prayer, and the ocean echoed it. “Oh, Mahad.”

Three, and Mahad keened lowly through clenched teeth, thighs gripping at Ryuuji, who was swift to press a hand to his knee and pin his legs open again. 

“We will get there, my beloved,” Ryuuji moaned, touching all the right places and making Mahad’s vision swim, but Mahad held him close, pressed his face to his temple as it built, as his whole body bucked and shook. “Just a little longer.”

“Ry-Ryuuji,” he groaned, long and low. “ Please , my love. I ache,” he gasped into his lover’s ear, “I ache for you.”

“You’ll have me.” And he pulled back, Mahad’s arm falling from his shoulders, and his hand retreated and Mahad stared into those mesmerizing green eyes as Ryuuji touched himself, and then they were adjusting, aligning, and then Ryuuji was inside him, hot and slick and tight, and Mahad’s mouth fell open. One hand clawed at the blanket above his head, the other dropped to clutch Ryuuji’s firm glute to press him deeper

“Yes, I want you,” Mahad gasped, voice impassioned and lewd. “I want all of you.”

Ryuuji panted, one hand on Mahad’s hip and the other propping himself up. His elbow wobbled dangerously, and he feared it would give out on him. Mahad gave him no pause, no reprieve as he drew him the closest they’d ever been. 

Mahad was something that not even his most vivid dreams could manufacture, spread out before him, around him, hot and wanting . Head thrown back but eyes cracked to deliriously watch his every move. All of his muscles straining beautifully beneath his skin. His hair a disheveled halo about his head. 

“Mahad,” Ryuuji whimpered, and, so, so very aroused , couldn’t control how his hips stuttered a moment, and the hand on his ass tightened and Mahad moaned. 

And then they were rocking together, fluid, intense, slow, and Ryuuji’s hair trailed across Mahad’s flushed skin with each thrust. 

“Yes, yes, yes, yes ,” someone was keening, but neither was sure who. They only knew that the other was outlined with night and that the pleasure was enough to burn them even in the cool sea breeze. Mahad was bucking and tugging at Ryuuji; Ryuuji was rolling into him, like the sea crashing against the shore or the moon pulling the tides. Ryuuji’s head kicked back, and he groaned, rippling, lost for that moment, before a strong on his ribs pulled him down and lips were on his, and it mattered even less who was moaning what when they were sharing all the tender sounds between them. 

They were pressed so completely together, their edges blurred, and somewhere they had grabbed one another’s hand and they were entwined and grasping tightly just like the rest of their body. The pace built, like waves frothing in a coming storm, until they were in a frenzy, mewling and gasping and groaning, so hungry for each other but never getting enough, enough , never enough, more, more more . Passion unleashed, burning over dry brush and leaving nothing behind but ashes, ashes that would nourish and allow it all to grow anew. One set of hands was so tightly clenched together, but the other for each was roaming their writhing, gleaming lover.

Names were garbled but heard all the same, cried to the ocean and the stars and the moon.

They’d ended up with Mahad practically bent in half, legs slung over Ryuuji’s arms, his weight resting on Ryuuji’s quivering, heaving thighs and on his own shoulders planted firmly against the blanket. They were crying, physically and emotionally overwhelmed, but it was so sweet , so good , the heat that was building and making them quake until they thought that they would be shaking like this forever. 

Ryuuji’s hand clenched around Mahad’s, those green eyes -- the ones that haunted his thoughts awake and asleep alike -- stared into him, delving through his heart and his soul. Ryuuji’s gaze was so intense it was difficult to meet, but Mahad did anyway, cried that name as the tension broke and washed over him white and hot and gold and green .

Ryuuji was glowing brighter, burning , his hips pumping wildly, with wanton abandon, and his shout of Mahad’s name seemed to make even the sky rumble. 

The pleasure was intense, made them mewl as they writhed against one another as if they were on fire. Soon they were panting and trembling in the aftermath, hands weak but still gripping. 

And they slumped together, sweaty and exhausted and satisfied , for now, at least, while their hearts and breaths slowed. There they were, on a beach far from any other sentient being, under the light of the stars and the moon as the waves and palms serenaded them, but they could only see each other, the breathless, tender smiles, could only hear each other, the fading gasps and moaning sighs.

Ryuuji raised their entwine hands -- rather unsteadily, they both noted with airy chuckles -- and brushed a searing kiss to Mahad’s knuckles. 

“I don’t yet want to return you to Khemet,” Ryuuji said, hoarse and hitching. 

“Then don’t,” Mahad rasped. “We have till dawn, my love.” He chuckled, eyes falling closed. “And there is no rule that says we cannot do this there, too.”

Ryuuji pouted. “But here, you are all mine, and no one else’s. There, you have duties to attend to and expectations to meet.”

Mahad scoffed. “I doubt any of that will stop you from molesting me as I try to work.”

“My dear, I don’t believe it’s defined as ‘molestation’ if it’s consensual.”

Mahad opened his eyes just to roll them.

“You shouldn’t bother with denying it,” Ryuuji continued smugly. “I can already tell that I am irresistible to you.”

“Hmph, as if you are not the same way with me. I have a feeling that if I so much as suggested that I wanted you to please me with your mouth all day and night, you would do it without question.”

“Now that is a very good idea, one I plan to implement in the near future,” Ryuuji purred, nuzzling Mahad’s cheek. “I could spend eternity with my mouth on you.”

Mahad swatted him -- rather ineffectively, with how languid and warm he was. “You lewd creature.”

You brought the subject to hand, magician!”

But Mahad only hummed and pressed their foreheads together. Conversation faded, and they basked.

And all that could be heard was the whispering of the sea and the hiss of wind in the palms

Notes:

Yeah, they wanted to take their time and I let them. Hope it didn’t feel too dragged out for you guys ^-^’

SO, here we are, at the end of the book. *tears up* But it’s not the end of our misadventures in shipping, my friends. *blows nose obnoxiously*

Be on the lookout for Volume II! I should at least be posting the preface chapter soon.

See ya later!

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