TW: SMuT. blood mentioned

Title: ~Instead Of Revenge~

The rain had turned into a light mist by the time Rythian reached the coastline. Fog had moved into Sips Co., blanketing the entire compound. It was good cover for Rythian, allowing him to find a well concealed perch on the roof of the sorting facility.

He waited there, looking for some trace of Sips. He quite liked the man and didn’t want him to get in his way. But Rythian did not see Sips anywhere in the compound, even after an hour. And after an hour, Sjin returned to the sorting facility.

Rythian dropped on him at the doorway, katar drawn. Sjin reacted much more quickly than he had expected, cursing as he was tackled. He pulled his mining laser and fired point blank into Rythian’s chest plate  While no damage was done, the blast knocked the air out of Rythian’s lungs. Still, Rythian continued on, grabbing the katar by its blade. He struck Sjin in the side of the head with the pommel, knocking him unconscious.

Touching his chest gingerly, Rythian stumbled to his feet. He hauled Sjin’s limp body up and draped him over his shoulder. He then made his way across the sea to a forgotten shack he had prepared just for this.

.~'~.~'

Rythian moved to Sjin’s side as soon as he stirred. He crouched to his right, drawing a long knife. This was not the night to use his katar; it was too efficient, too clean  a kill. Sjin squinted at him. “Rythian?” he muttered. He yanked at the ropes that bound his hands above his head. The architect spotted his nano armor in the far corner of the room, with Rythian’s gem armor piled beside it.

“Hello, Sjin,” Rythian straddled Sjin’s waist. He  pulled open Sjin’s spacesuit just enough to show the top of his chest. Rythian handled the long knife with delicate precision. Carefully, he rested the blade just below Sjin’s collarbone.

“What are you doing?” Sjin lifted his chin, swallowing nervously. “Rythian?” he repeated when the man did not immediately answer.

“You need to pay for what you’ve done.” Rythian drew the blade lightly across Sjin’s chest, opening a narrow wound. His captive hissed as blood quickly welled up in the gash.

“What?” Sjin struggled. “You aren’t really still upset about the old world, are you?” Rythian ignored him, moving the knife an inch lower. Sjin collected himself just in time to gain another cut. This time he gasped breathily, a suggestive, calculated sound. Another, deeper cut made Sjin arch his back and moan. All the while, Sjin kept his eyes fixed on the mage. Rythian paused and furrowed his brow, dissatisfied with his reactions. He had wanted to hear him scream.

“Lot like foreplay, isn’t it?” Sjin’s voice was rough with poorly masked pain. Still, his words had the desired effect. Rythian immediately pulled back.

“I don’t-” Rythian briefly struggled for words. He understood exactly what Sjin was trying to do, but he still found himself unable to cut into Sjin’s skin again. “I don’t know what you think you’re going to gain from trying to convince me to stop.” Rythian wiped the blade clean on his trousers. “The more time you spend like this, the longer you’re going to be alive.”

“I’d rather that you didn’t kill me at all,” Sjin replied. “But don’t you think there’s better ways that we could pass the time?” he shifted his hips underneath Rythian, a sly smile turning his lips.

Rythian sheathed his knife and threaded his fingers through Sjin’s hair. He yanked Sjin’s head back. “Why are you acting like this?” Rythian’s thumb strayed onto Sjin’s adams apple, fingers curling around his neck.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t mostly self preservation,” Sjin rolled his straining shoulders. “I suppose objectively, I’d think that you and what you have set up here is a bit hot. But I’m a little too busy fearing for my life to really get into that.” He chewed his lip for a moment and was suddenly serious. “Rythian listen,  I would do anything here to save my own life. Anything you asked, just please,” he trailed off. “Please don’t.”

“‘Hot?’” Rythian muttered incredulously. He found himself stuck on the most trivial part of Sjin’s explanation. “You don’t even know what I look like.”

“N-not entirely,” Sjin tested the water, beginning to feel himself slipping out of danger. “You could show me,” he proposed hesitantly.

The mage raised his eyebrows. “Alright,” he assented much more readily than Sjin had expected. Rythian reached behind his head, tugging at the knot that held his mask in place. A whole swath of black fabric came loose, the mask falling around Rythian’s throat. The mage shook off the mask and slid forward to better show his face.

He inclined his head, a few strands of hair falling into his eyes. Though his face was in shadow, an array of pale scars stood out against his tanned jaw. Sjin openly stared. A few of the marks carried up onto Rythian’s cheeks, but most never reached higher than his jawline.

The most disfiguring was a scar that passed through Rythian’s lips, not far from the right edge of his mouth. It caused the corner of his lips to droop, rendering all of the mage’s expressions lopsided. Rythian sat up again, pushing his hair out of his face. The light revealed older scars, now only shallow dents in his flesh. “There,” Rythian said flatly. “I’m sure you understand why no one calls me ‘hot,’” he chewed the word beyond what his own accent would usually prescribe. “Now, I think I have something for you to do.”

Sjin laughed, still pulling a bit at his restraints. “I wasn’t exactly talking about looks earlier, but since you’re fishing around for compliments, I do think you’re pretty goddamn attractive.” The architect was certain that he saw Rythian flush.

“I wasn’t trying to-” Rythian protested, voice skipping an octave higher. He sighed and gave up, rubbing his tired eyes.

Still grinning, Sjin relaxed. They had been friends once, making it easy enough to coax the mage back into peaceable comradery. He was now almost certain that he was safe from Rythian’s darker temperament, but he wanted to be sure. “Are you going to fuck me?” he murmured. Rythian froze, startled by his bluntness. “I could, you know…get you started, if you’re not that into me,” Sjin offered, delighted to again throw the mage off guard.

“What? No! I-” Rythian paused, flustered. “I don’t need you to-” he drew his lips back contemptuously, “‘get me started.’”

“So you’re interested,” Sjin let himself smile again. “Do you just not know where to start?” he teased.

Rythian reached up to free Sjin. “I could start by shutting you up,” he grumbled. He took Sjin’s face in his hands and did his best to kiss him senseless, nipping at his lips. Sjin flexed his arms, trying to shake the numbness from them. He pushed his fingers through Rythian’s hair and twisted.

Rythian grunted and broke away from Sjin’s mouth. He seized Sjin’s wrists and pinned his hands against the floor. The mage pressed his lips against the soft skin just beneath Sjin’s ear, then trailed kisses down his throat. He bit Sjin’s collarbone, earning himself a short curse. Rythian chuckled.

The mage hurriedly stripped off his shirt and removed his bracers.  He paused to watch, bemused, as Sjin struggled with his spacesuit. Rythian took pity on him after a moment and seized the collar of the suit, pulling it off Sjin’s shoulders.

Sjin kissed Rythian’s chest, his lips light on the bruises left by his mining laser’s blast.  He undid Rythian’s fly quickly, rubbing the heel of his palm against Rythian’s cock. Then he bent down and touched his lips to hot flesh. Rythian gasped as Sjin slipped his mouth around him. “Christ,” he muttered to himself, weaving his hands through Sjin’s hair.

He leaned back against the low wall of the shack. Sjin pressed himself farther, slick throat taking more than Rythian had imagined he could. The architect pulled off, breathing hard. He pumped Rythian quickly with his hand while he caught his breath, before going down on him again.

A moment later, Rythian seized his shoulder and made him to pull off. Sjin sat back on his heels, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Rythian pushed him onto his floor and dragged Sjin’s spacesuit down his hips. He wrapped his hand around Sjin’s cock. “Fuck,” Sjin groaned as Rythian touched him. He settled against the floor, eyes fixed on the mage as he parted his thighs.

Rythian leaned down, lips just above Sjin’s cock. He flicked out his tongue, carefully making several slick trails down Sjin’s cock. “I did more than that for you,” Sjin was quick to complain. Rythian ignored him, sucking his own fingers into his mouth. He slowly worked a single finger inside the architect, layering wet kisses up and down the length of his cock. “I can take a lot more, you know,” Sjin gripped Rythian’s shoulder. He winced as a second finger was added without the gentleness of the first. A third finger quickly followed. “You don’t have take it personally,” Sjin hissed, his voice strained.

“I thought you said you could take more,” Rythian twisted his fingers with a grin. Sjin yelped as he brushed a particularly sensitive spot..The mage rubbed the area lightly, before settling on moving his fingers in and out of him.

“I c-can,” Sjin replied. His voice caught in his throat as Rythian slid his fingertips deeper. “Really, I can,” he insisted.

“Let’s see then.” Rythian removed his fingers and rolled the man onto his hands and knees. He gripped  Sjin’s hips and pressed the head of his cock against his ass. He pushed inside Sjin, burying himself in him with a single thrust.

Sjin lurched forward and clenched his fists. He moaned loudly, before breaking into a low stream of curses. Rythian barely gave him time to adjust, quickly sliding out. He pressed back inside him again, starting a rough but steady pace. “Fucking good,” Sjin groaned, lifting himself to meet Rythian’s thrusts.

The architect turned his head to the side. His cheek rubbed against the floor in time with the man’s thrusts. Rythian leaned forward, bracing himself with a hand on Sjin’s shoulder. He moved faster, his breathing growing ragged. Sjin touched himself, gasping at Rythian’s every movement. “Shit,” he heard Rythian hiss before breaking into a moan. The mage came, pushing Sjin into the floor. Sjin worked himself, desperate to follow. He came shortly after, still feeling the heat of Rythian behind him.

Rythian rolled onto the floor, sighing softly. The shack seemed almost cold without Sjin’s body against him. Beside him the architect turned onto his back as well. “Sjin?” Rythian finally asked.

“Yeah?” Sjin was slow to reply. He pushed his hair off of his forehead.

“I know that you’ve been working with Lalna. Do you think you could get me into his castle?” The mage scooped up his mask from the floor.

Sjin twisted his mouth, contemplating the forcefield. “Yeah,” he finally replied. “I could do that.”

“Do it, and I’ll let you off, unless I hear that you’ve been messing around with nukes again,” Rythian sat up, pulling up his trousers.

“Sure,” Sjin stood, quickly making himself decent. He caught Rythian’s arm as he attempted to slip out the door. The architect pulled him into a kiss, before pressing his lips to his ear. “Now, don’t think you need to threaten me next time you want to fuck,” he whispered to him. Sjin pressed a small kiss to Rythian’s lips and bade him a cheerful good night.