I'm on my second drink but I've had a few before

[vacabdication]

[ The bar doesn’t have a name. Not officially, anyway; what it has is a big neon sign sculpted into a peacock sweeping over the doors and doormen (he insists on doormen, “bouncers” is so crass) who admit people based on a list of requirements that changes nightly, because it’s amusing to keep people on their toes. Pagan calls it the nest, because peacock, and because despite the neon lights, the thumping music and the permanent fog of smoke in the air it’s his place and that makes it cozy. Yuma calls it “that fucking hole”, but Yuma still can’t be dissuaded from calling him Gang unless they’re literally doing a deal at the time, so he tries not to worry too much about what she says. It hardly matters what she says, anyway. She thinks he hung the moon, and it’s about the only bar she can be in without people assuming she’s a teen prostitute, so Pagan knows no matter how she teases him she likes being there.

What he likes less is the fact that currently, she’s winning. The young woman sitting in Pagan’s lap is very attentive and very pretty and currently shifting against him in a way that he suspects she thinks is subtle, but she’s not even close to as pretty as the woman who is currently stealing sips from Yuma’s glass. He wonders if she’d stop if he told her just how recently Yuma got back from vanishing with a different very pretty young woman and that he’s damn sure she didn’t pause to brush her teeth, but that would probably be cheating. So instead he smiles at Yuma, who cuts him a sly grin, points to the girl in his lap, and mouths her too.

He has to hand it to her, she certainly doesn’t lack ambition. And she did introduce him to those twins the other night, so he’ll take his loss with good grace.

The idea of throwing the bet becomes even more appealing when he looks up for one of the staff and his eyes land on... someone else. It’s a man, a few years older than Pagan, probably, Asian but definitely not Chinese. His thick, dark hair is wavy and he’s got only one of his sleeves rolled up, for some reason, and his dark eyes are scanning the bar like he’s looking for something.

Pagan decides that something is going to be him. He doesn’t even wait to ponder why he wants that when the man is, quite clearly, a man. There’s something magnetic about him, and he needs to know why.

He unwraps a hundred from a roll of bills, presses in into the hand of the girl on his lap and tells her to get herself a bottle of something before standing up and very nearly dumping her on the floor. He’s across the room in a few long strides, and he can hear Yuma noticing and laughing in the background, but fuck it. The mystery man is even more interesting close up, and Pagan crowds up into his personal space. ]

Drink?

Comments

[vaaris]

[ that's good. pagan crowds closer, into his space, and --

ah.

wait, shit.

it's unfortunate that ajay has to break the kiss so that he can catch the younger man's hand, but some things deserve a proper warning. and he gets the sense that it wouldn't exactly be wise to surprise a man like pagan with what ajay keeps tucked under his layers, so. he lets go of the other man's wrist, then holds his own hand up in a brief placating gesture. and then he shrugs out of the jacket on his own, letting the fabric fall away to expose the khukri he keeps strapped against his side. ]

Not for you. [ his tone is light, but it seems like something worth saying when pagan has made more than one joke tonight about having him offed for being a threat. and he goes to work picking the straps free -- it'd be easier to just slide the knife out of its holster, but he's making a point to be as unthreatening as possible. ] Promise.

[vacabdication]

[ It's a good thing Ajay explains, because that is a rollercoaster. First Ajay moves Pagan's hand away, which is almost crushing considering the level of horniness he's currently experiencing, and then he takes the jacket off on his own to expose a fucking sword strapped to his side, which is - what is he paying those doormen for? And, by the way, a very good argument for taking the opportunity to feel someone up before dragging them off behind two locked doors, because jesus christ. You don't get that kind of surprise from a girl in a minidress, that's for sure. ]

That's almost a shame. Nobody's ever come at me with quite such a big knife before.

[ He's trying for amused. It's a good effort; Yuma would hear the edge of uncertainty in his voice, but he's worked hard to ensure that nobody who isn't close to him hears fear or doubt when he speaks. ]

[vaaris]

[ that gets a little laugh, but. ajay has spent more than enough time in pagan's company to be able to pick up on the little nuances in his voice; pagan's always been honest with him, willing to let ajay learn the little inflections as if he's being taught another language -- what means doubt, what means pleasure, what means grief, what means joy. and that's why he responds to that note in pagan's voice almost as if on instinct, dipping closer and stealing another kiss off his mouth, slow and sweet and lingering.

hopefully enough to reassure him when he gets rid of the rest of it. whatever brought him here stripped away the most obvious of his weapons, but that leaves him pretty far from unarmed. there are throwing knives secured at both of his ankles, and slipped up one of his sleeves to rest against his forearm. two bundles of C4 shoved into his jacket, but he digs them out just so he can make a public inventory. and there's no point in getting out all the ammo separately and making a mess of it, but he does tug that particular belt of pouches off to join the rest, jingling it so that pagan can get the idea of what's there. ]

That's all of it. [ stacked up into a neat pile on the floor beside the bed. ]

But you're welcome to check, if you want. [ taking pains to make sure it sounds like an honest invitation and a flirt. ]

[vacabdication]

Who are you?

[ Ajay kissed him, slow and sweet and soft as if they're lovers and not a pair of strangers after a fuck with very little preamble, like he can hear the worry. That feeling that Ajay sees right through him is back, and it should worry him that a man who is a complete stranger to him seems to know him as well as his closest companion, but - he doesn't want to let it. It feels good, and he doesn't want to poison it.

He really is going to get himself killed one day. He shakes his head. ]

Never mind. A frisking, is it? To go with the interrogation?

[ It is... not a good frisking. He puts his hands on Ajay's broad shoulders, kneads there before he lets his hands slide down. It was easy enough to see with the jacket on that he was nicely built, but under the fabric of the shirt he wears Pagan can feel muscle over his chest and abdomen, feels something building inside himself at mapping it out by touch. Ajay seems content to let him play at this, so he lifts the older man's arms above his head, strips the t-shirt off him, and gets back to work. Hands over the firm muscle of his thighs in his jeans, and then, almost haltingly, one cupped over his crotch. He pauses a moment, just like that, his hand doing absolutely nothing but resting there before he lifts his eyes back to Ajay's and squeezes. ]

[vaaris]

[ well. if pagan was going to have him killed for being armed to the teeth, ajay is pretty sure that would have been the moment. so he counts it as a good thing that the younger man seems more mystified than alarmed; ajay is pretty confident in his ability to get out of a place like this in one piece, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a shame to have things interrupted so soon.

but. that makes him laugh again, tickled by another one of those inside jokes. ] The king figuring out what to do with the guy who stormed his castle. I've heard that's pretty popular.

[ and he's pretty sure pagan doesn't need to frisk him to put his mind at ease -- nah, this feels like another one of those forays into uncharted territory. and that's why ajay is more than willing to submit to it, leaning back with his weight propped on one arm to give those curious hands more access. opening himself up in a silent sort of invitation for the way that pagan maps him out under his touch, calm and trusting. willing to lose the shirt, willing to let pagan have free reign when it comes to this sort of curious exploration.

and there's that boldness again, so familiar that ajay can't bite back his grin. he's half-hard already -- blame it on the intoxicating mix of old and new, familiar and unexpected -- and that squeeze is enough to get a low groan out of him, hips trying to lift up instinctively into the other man's touch.

still, he can't resist: ] I know what you're thinking. Promise, that isn't another giant knife.

[vacabdication]

[ Listen, he knows it doesn't take a whole lot of artfulness to make a dick touch feel good, but he still gets a little burst of pride from that reaction, his own dick starting to thicken at the feel of Ajay half-hard through his jeans - is there such thing as a sympathy boner? - but then he says that and Pagan throws back his head and laughs. This strange, strange man. ]

Is that the kind of line that drives all the boys crazy in Kyrat? That secret little place that delivers up handsome men strapped to the teeth into my waiting arms?

[vaaris]

[ okay, listen. the first boy from kyrat that springs readily to mind is sabal, and the idea of trying a line like that on him is enough to force ajay to bite back a laugh behind his teeth. but he covers for it by letting himself be tempted in to the way pagan throws his head back, dipping in to press a slow line of open-mouthed kisses up the line of the younger man's throat. ]

Wouldn't know. Haven't spent my time practicing my lines on the natives. [ and he catches pagan's earlobe in his teeth, gives it a playful little tug. ] Guess you'll have to go there and find out.

[vacabdication]

[ Those kisses over his throat are wonderful, the softness of Ajay's mouth only stoking the want in him, and the bite to his ear? Delightful. But then Ajay adds that, and Pagan hums, mock-unimpressed, and starts unbuttoning his own shirt since Ajay seems perfectly content to let him take the lead on just about everything, here. ]

Now why would I ever go there when I have you right here, hmm?

[vaaris]

[ well. he's more than happy to let pagan take the lead, but that doesn't mean ajay can't pitch in and help once it's started. at least, that's the line of thinking he applies when he reaches up to press pagan's shirt off his shoulders once he's gotten the buttons undone, stroking an appreciative touch down over the other man's chest. it's even leaner than he remembers -- an edge that probably comes as a natural result of not spending all your time cooped up behind palace walls.

time to see what is familiar, then. which is why he seizes on a nipple with his fingers, giving it a playful little tweak. ]

[vacabdication]

[ Ajay tweaks his nipple, and the sizzle of pleasure it sends through him is something of a shock. He sucks air and find himself arching into the touch, which... well, if things go to plan there are going to be a lot of new experiences tonight, so he's going to have to get himself under fucking control.

Except he won't, will he? He's getting that feeling. Ajay is so strange. He'd been so disinterested at first, and then recognized the name and called himself an admirer but now? Now he's so damn casual about things, seeing right through Pagan in a way that makes all the posturing he usually does feel like the cellophane wrapper on a packet of cigarettes. Easily disregarded, even simpler to tear away.

The though of it is exciting, but it's not exactly comfortable. It spurs him into action, and his hands go to the fastenings of Ajay's jeans, fumbling at the button and yanking decisively at the zipper like that makes up for it. ]

Let's see if you were telling the truth about that knife.

[vaaris]

[ there it is. and it's such a good reaction that ajay finds himself struggling against the urge to turn and throw pagan down to the mattress behind them, to spend hours chasing up all the responses he knows so well. but... he also remembers pagan's firm insistence about being someone batting for the other team (ha), and if there's a chance that was anything less than a big fat lie, he doesn't want to push it.

besides, pagan's hands are on the fastenings of his jeans before ajay can even plot out a next move, and the eagerness there is enough to make him breathe out another little laugh. ]

Careful. [ teasing, leaning in again to plant kisses along the line of the younger man's jaw. ] I'd hate to cut you.

[vacabdication]

I'm tougher than I look.

[ He says it wryly, not bothering to lift his head and instead looking up at Ajay through the shadow of his lashes, nudging at him with one knee to encourage him to lift his hips up so Pagan can tug his clothing down, and then...

well, then there's a dick, and Pagan's mouth goes a little dry and his cock gets a little harder and his hands become a lot less certain. He takes a breath, the tip of his tongue darting over his lips in a flicker before he sits back just little. ]

Show me. Show me what you like.

[ It's as good a start as any, right? ]

[vaaris]

[ there is no way in fuck ajay would ever be stupid enough to say this out loud, but that?

is cute.

and the temptation to push pagan down on the mattress and use his body as the one for demonstration is stronger than ever, but. this echoes back to one of their first times together, when he laid himself back onto pagan's bed and told him to watch. it's a good memory, but also all ajay really needs to know he'll have a captive audience, so.

he settles back a little further, spreading his thighs further apart without jostling pagan off his lap. and the touch that trails down towards his dick is slow -- he skates it over his chest first, then his stomach, then one of the little divots of his hips; dragging it out the way that pagan likes to do, watching ajay with that bright-eyed interest that says he'd like very much to know what happens once ajay's patience gets eroded away entirely. and when he finally touches his dick, it's that same teasing brush of fingertips at first, skating up the thick vein along the underside of his dick, teasing over the slit at its head. but that's all he can resist before he wraps a hand around himself with a low moan, eyes falling half-shut and head tipping back as that first warm wave of pleasure slides over him. ]

Pagan. [ it's a low and husky thing, spoken before he's hardly even aware of it. because by now? his body knows exactly who it is that gives him pleasure, the only person he thinks to ask for. ]

[vacabdication]

Oh, fuck.

That's quite the show, and Pagan is transfixed by the sight of Ajay running that slow hand over his body, the way it looks like he's teasing himself. His eyes follow, his lip unthinkingly caught between his teeth, and holy shit. Listen, he knows how to make a girl come, but he's never heard his name sound like that before, low and masculine and still dripping with sex.

The fact that Ajay's eyes are half-closed makes it easier, somehow. It strips away a little of that feeling that Ajay can see everything Pagan tries to hide from the world. And that makes it easier for him to send a hand down a similar path, his thumb running along the side of Ajay's throat to coast over his chest, fingertips stopping to play at his nipple, down over the tight muscle of his stomach (and okay, maybe Pagan should start doing situps because whip-thin and sharp-edged has been working for him so far but ripped is fucking hot) until his hand gets to where Ajay's hand is moving over his cock. Ajay's hand is big and warm and scarred, but there's enough room for Pagan to trace a fingertip in tight little circles over the head, staring before he drops his head to plant a kiss at the side of Ajay's throat. ]

[vaaris]

[ the warm slide of pagan's hand down his body is enough to make him purr, arching up into that touch in that same instinctive way he responds to all the others. there's a difference between the way that his pagan touches him -- self-assured and purposeful, as if ajay is an instrument he's already spent ages learning how to play -- but it doesn't take away from how good this feels. if anything, he's charmed all over again by it; it's a strange sort of role reversal, finding himself the one with what feels like a limitless ocean of affection and watching pagan fumbling to define them, but he doesn't mind. it makes him feel oddly protective, aching to show that there's nothing that pagan can give him that ajay wouldn't gladly take.

he hums a low sound as pagan's fingers find the head of his dick, trying to arch into that touch as much as he can with pagan's weight in his lap. the way he strokes himself is slow and almost lazy, indulging in the pleasure but not wanting to be lost to it. not yet. ]

So when do I get to show you -- [ pausing to place an open-mouthed kiss to pagan's neck, mirroring him. ] -- what I think you'd like?

[vacabdication]

[ Pagan has just worked up the courage to try and put his hand in Ajay's place when Ajay hits him with that, and god. He shivers at the kiss, and even more at the offer. Well, Ajay's already seen right through everything else about Pagan, so this promises to be quite the experience. And he'd like to say that, to let Ajay that even if he hasn't quite made it to the punchline he's starting to be in on the joke, but what comes out is - ]

Oh, fuck. Now.

[vaaris]

[ the eagerness there makes him laugh, a breathless sound that gets lost in the way he leans up almost immediately to catch pagan's mouth in another kiss. and it's an easy thing to wrap his arms around the other man's thighs and stand up with him held there, taking a second to kick his own jeans the rest of the way off before he turns and finally spills pagan out across the mattress the way he's been longing to.

and then there's only a second that ajay steals to admire him before he crawls up over him, knees on either side of pagan's hips, leaning down for another kiss. this one is hot, greedy, wanting -- he lets every bit of his own desire pour over into it, trying to communicate through it the way pagan always seems to know how to do with him. ]

[vacabdication]

[ Pagan yelps when Ajay lifts him, totally unprepared, but he's laughing by the time his back hits the bed - and then there isn't really room to be shocked or amused or anything but turned on, because Ajay crawls up his body like a tiger and kisses him.

It's incredible. Everything he'd thought before about kissing a man being the same as kissing a woman except for the stubble? Completely out the window. This kiss is forceful, if you can apply that word when all the force seems to be not about taking but giving. If feels hungry, feels demanding in a way that Pagan can't help but open to, his arms curling around Ajay's shoulders as another of those wanting sound escapes him. It's good, it's so good, and his hips roll up where Ajay's positioned over them with absolutely no input from his brain. ]

[vaaris]

[ god, it's good. his body responds to pagan exactly as it always has, but discovering that pagan responds to him, too? just as greedily, just as eagerly? it makes heat flood up from the pit of his belly and into every inch of him, boiling his blood and making his thoughts cloud over. it's impossible to do anything but try and get more --

so he slides his way slowly down, kissing a trail down pagan's body that mimics what he'd done to himself. along his jaw, down his throat, pausing at the plane of his chest so that he can tease both his nipples into hard little peaks with his tongue and his teeth. and then he keeps going -- a tender kiss over the place where he can feel pagan's heart beating, and then a lazy line of kisses down over his stomach. stopping there because he needs a second to undo pagan's belt and slacks, nibbling around the rim of his bellybutton and flashing a playful little grin up at him as he does it.

then he's tugging the other man's pants down over his hips, smoothing his palms over pagan's thighs and sighing out an appreciative little sound. ]

Pretty sure you've heard this before. [ with an open-mouthed kiss pressed to his belly, followed by an affectionate little nuzzle. ] But you're gorgeous.

[vacabdication]

[ This is not what he's used to. Having someone kiss a path down his body isn't totally foreign, but this feeling, the feeling that Ajay has complete and utter control over him? It's new and strange and incredible. Ajay drags teeth over his nipples and Pagan jerks as if it's a little electric shock, one hand burying in Ajay's hair and the other scrabbling at the bedsheets. Then there's a kiss so sweet, so tender that he forgets how to pull air into his lungs - and it's back to that slow path, teasing the inches of his skin into life as Ajay works his trousers away.

But then Ajay says that, and kisses his belly so tenderly and it feels like he's slicing Pagan open and planting it directly on his heart, and he laughs to cover how sweetly it aches. ]

I'm young and rich. Does wonders for the complexion.

[ But the hand he has in Ajay's hair slips down to cradle the side of his face, his thumb stroking softly there. It hurts, don't stop.]

[vaaris]

[ it's a deflection, and that's why ajay doesn't bother responding to it with anything more than a little mm. there's a part of him that would like very much to tell pagan exactly what he means -- that he's not just beautiful because of this, the way he looks spread out beneath him, but because of all the lovely places on the inside he's peeled back to let ajay see. this pagan is missing most of the scars that ajay knows so well, the deep pits of grief that have only just been stitched back together, and something in ajay aches to think that he can't protect him.

what would he do? warn him away from kyrat? even if he thinks there was a part of pagan that would be inclined to listen, the thought of never being able to have him is something that aches too much to stand. ]

Humble, too. [ a deflection of his own, voice tight with an emotion that he works purposefully to muddle. thinking about that isn't important, and luckily, ajay has always been great at compartmentalizing. instead, he turns his attention back to pagan's skin, nuzzling into one of the hollows of his hips before he finally reaches up one hand to wrap his fingers around the younger man's cock. strokes him slow, grazes the pressure of his teeth over one of the jutting bones of pagan's hips. ]

[vacabdication]

[ Ajay's teeth graze over his hip as his fingers wrap around his cock, and Pagan's head falls back against the bed with a hitching sigh. It's good, so good. His hand is big and warm, and even like this Pagan can feel calluses on it - from all those weapons? It's more obviously a man's hand than Pagan's own, and right now that doesn't matter at -

no. A lie. Right now, that's exactly what Pagan wants. ]

Why would I be humble? For all my flaws, I managed to lure you up here. That's - haa - something to be proud of.

[vaaris]

[ that... actually sounds so much like something pagan would say that it goes straight to ajay's heart, triggers another fierce stab of affection. one that he expresses with another slow kiss to pagan's stomach, fingers sliding up the length of the other man's dick and thumb going to tease the head --

which is when he feels it. a little nub of metal, almost startling to touch when all he's expecting is hot skin. ajay pulls his head up for a moment, squints at the piercing on the younger man's cock, and... it doesn't take too long for the pieces to slot into place. ]

Oh. [ amused all over again. ] You must be Prince Albert.

[vacabdication]

[ Pagan feels it when Ajay finds it. It's subtler than a full ring - about the only subtle thing he has - a half ring inside so all that shows is a ball of silver under the head and another one peeking out at the bottom of the slit - but it's still taken Ajay longer to discover it than it takes most people, and Pagan props himself up on his elbows to look down at Ajay and grin. ]

You've heard of him? You can touch it. If you're... curious. It feels good when you do.

[ Which is Pagan for please touch it, really. ]

[vaaris]

Someone might've mentioned him.

[ and now that he has an invitation? it's impossible to resist. he shifts himself so that he's a little more comfortable lying on his belly, giving pagan's dick another slow stroke before he gives into the urge to touch. it's a gentle thing, tracing the shape of that little silver stud with one fingertip and then slipping lower to repeat the motion with the other one. it's cooler than the fever-hot skin of pagan's dick, smooth and solid... and he can't resist giving it a gentle little tug. ]