[closed]

[altusimperius]

WHO: Benedict and Loki
WHAT: a best friend party between best friends
WHEN: during the quarantine
WHERE: Bene's room
NOTES: warning for dubcon and pretty much what one can expect to accompany a scene with Loki

When he first heard the announcement of the quarantine, Benedict didn't know how to react. But his view from the tower window has shown him a nervous populace, people pacing and shouting and gesturing loudly, and he can't help but wonder what he's gotten himself into by willingly returning to the Gallows. For the first time since arriving here, he's actually glad to not be getting out much.

He's sitting by the window now, at his writing desk, fighting the deep unease that's been creeping over him ever since his return. He never anything would be, but this seems... bigger than himself.

Comments

[hwaaaitsme]

Loki, unlike Benedict, was furious to hear about the quarantine. He might not've been, had he been far and away from the gallows when it had come down upon them, but he'd been tricked inside just before it fell. So, with little to occupy himself apart from being trapped in a distasteful building, he had taken to doing odd jobs.

This particular foray into the towers was, however, not a task assigned to him. No, he'd decided to undertake this one without mentioning it to anyone else.

How he managed to find his way into Benedict's room was anyone's guess, really, he had not taken the door and he had not used the window, but one moment the room was largely empty and the next had him stepping from the shadows. One hand went out, throwing up a short spell to silence the space around them and, at once, it seemed a knife had spawned between his fingers. The other caught the traitorous Bene by the nape of his neck, fingers twisted cruelly in his hair, and yanked his head back, exposing his throat.

Having him seated was a treat, it meant he couldn't hardly scramble away and Loki was permitted to tower above him.

"How comfortable you look right now, my old friend," Loki sneers and with a sharp, sudden thrust slams his knife down, clear through Bene's hand, and pins the appendage to the desk. "Let me change that."

[altusimperius]

None of these things were expected in any way, which makes all of them happening simultaneously all the more alarming. The sound Bene makes when wrenched back is nothing short of a shriek of surprise, punctuated then by the shock of pain in his hand.
His answer is an inarticulate "AWUGGH?" accompanied by the somewhat predictable tears (you try getting your hair pulled that hard and not tearing up)((and stabbed)).

[hwaaaitsme]

Loki lets his noise of general protest resound around the room (well, the space he has allowed sound at least) for a moment before he comes around Bene's side and rests his hip against the pathetic little desk they've afforded him. His hold on the young man's hair barely shifts, but he does move his hand so that Bene's face is facing him at all times. His other hand leaves the knife but, frankly, it's embedded deeply enough in the wood that it would take an act of considerable leverage to dislodge it.

He is eminently unconcerned with Bene freeing himself.

"A fair point," Loki drawls sounding mostly bored. "Counterpoint:--" And here his viciousness returns in full force as he glares at Benedict. "--You fucking ran and left me to be slaughtered in your absence. You cowardly little rat--is this the thanks I get for offering you freedom?"

[altusimperius]

On the one hand, Benedict has felt more pain in the last few weeks than he ever has in his whole life, and has had multiple people try to kill him, so he's getting used to it. On the other hand, one never really gets used to being pinned to a desk with a blade, and at first his only response is to whimper in horror.
On the other other hand, his magebane rations have been cut without anyone realizing it but those doing it. He unthinkingly claws his free hand, and the knife wrenches from the hurt one and clatters to the ground as he tugs it out. "
You weren't slaughtered," he whines, shivering as he clutches the gushing extremity to his chest, "damnit! There was a Templar! If he'd caught me it'd have been curtains for both of us!"

[hwaaaitsme]

"Do you think I cannot kill a single templar you simpering twit? Between the two of us, even incompetent as you are, we would have had him," Loki snaps and yanks the boy's hair again as he leans forward and crowds his space. He lingers a moment then releases him with a disgusted wave of his hand. He turns away, rising gracefully from the desk and falling into a predatory pace toward the bare-bones bed in the room.

"We were by the harbor. We could have disposed of the body and been on our way to commandeer another boat, but you ran?"

In Benedict's defense, Loki is largely angry about being abandoned. His own argument fluctuates heavily between the implication that he could have been killed and that he is competent enough to avoid being killed. He is unmoved by the hypocrisy in it.

"I shall do you no further favors, Artemaeus," Loki says and points an accusatory finger at Benedict. "Not even the kindness of a letter. Gods' know it would condemn me just to speak with you in public--you are utterly thankless."

[altusimperius]

"What, and have more after us?" Bene demands, "because we'd certainly make it out of the harbor and back to Tevinter-- across the Marches, across Nevarra-- without anyone noticing, withou--ahhh-!" He's cut off in a hiss when his hair is wrenched again, and he curls protectively over the injury, otherwise immobilized by the pain in his head.
Face screwed up in anguish, he doesn't speak again until after Loki has released him, and he slumps forward on the desk, dark eyes leveled at the other mage.
"Wait," he protests, desperation warring with anger, "don't. Wait." In most ways, he'd rather be done with Loki here and now, never see him again, never risk this again. But two factors stay him: the first being that losing such an important ally, out of so few, would be devastating, and the second being...
...well, there's always been that little jump in his heart at the sight of the younger Asgard. Perhaps that knowledge isn't informing Benedict's actions now, but a moderate part of him would be genuinely sorry to see him gone for good.

[hwaaaitsme]

Loki stares at him and, with a frustrated huff, drags his hand back through his long dark hair. He draws himself up and the look he levels on Benedict is hard and suspicious.

"What?" He asks sharply. He is still angry but, as far as Loki is concerned, he has evened the score between them. Running his blade through the boy's hand is repayment enough and, despite his penchant for holding grudges, he has exacted his pound of flesh.

[altusimperius]

Sensing that some of the tension has dissipated, Bene gathers himself and rises from the desk, trying not to look at his hand as he wraps his sleeve tightly around it. It's all he can do to repress the bile and faintness at seeing his own blood; he has to be strong, has to get through this and come out on top. Or at least... not as far down as he's been since arriving in Kirkwall.

"I'll make it up to you," he says, his eyes hard and serious despite the plying words. "I'm getting out of here, with or without your help. ...but I'd prefer it with." Against all intentions or expectations, he finds himself blushing. Ducking his head, he looks at the floor and abruptly wonders what's wrong with him.

[hwaaaitsme]

Loki is rarely taken aback but, then again, he is rarely surprised. He hasn't misjudged Benedict Artemaeus, that is certain, the boy is a coward...but he is also not an idiot. That he has decided not to burn their bridge shows some measure of cleverness and Loki tilts his head as he approaches. He looks ill as he clutches his hand, but he makes some effort to sound alluring, tempting even if that flush on his cheeks is any indication.

Loki, for the life of him, cannot recall if Bene has enough skill and guile to fake that.

"An open-ended offer? Well that is a truly impressive apology," Loki muses and considers him. At the moment, Bene has little to offer him...but Bene is not simply himself, not if he escapes, he is all the potential he has and what might be wrung from his household as well. "I do so love it when people owe me unspecified debts...fine, I shall refrain from disowning you."

With little preamble, Loki holds out his hand and stares at Bene. He will not take the hand he's stabbed, but if he gives it over, he will repair it and they can dispense with this sniveling and grimacing.

[altusimperius]

Bene hadn't intended to seduce anyone, not really, but even he can't avoid the thought. He looks up at Loki, warily, and extends his injured hand. It shakes as he holds it out, dripping blood onto the floor, and he goes a little paler for looking at it, trying with all his might to remain steely and dignified when all he wants to do is curl up and cry.

[hwaaaitsme]

Loki takes his hand and rolls his eyes; he is not exceptionally gentle about it, but the magic comes quickly enough. The wash of it runs over Benedict's hand and the mild wound, ragged only for where it had jarred when Loki drove the blade into the desk, heals with some speed. It closes up but remains covered in wet blood. Loki doesn't bother dispatching with that.

"There, you have survived," Loki announces but does not release his hand, instead he pulls the boy closer and stares down at him. In truth he is trying to get the measure of him, to see if he's clever enough to be either of value or danger to Loki's plans...but all that glances across his face is that blush.

Benedict has always been somewhat enamored of him...it is possible he is playing a part...but unlikely.

"Now, what best to demand as recompense, I wonder?"

[altusimperius]

The blood continues to upset Benedict, but at least once the wound is closed, he can relax from the pain. And then... tense again, when he's pulled closer, and his face reddens slightly more. It occurs to him that he hasn't experienced this sort of... what is it, closeness? Anticipation? in a long time, and it's strangely humanizing. He finds he's been longing for it.
Though he doesn't speak, he doesn't pull away either, instead staring into Loki's eyes with a boyish eagerness not all that dissimilar from their last encounter, with the difference of about a decade's age and a newly insurmountable circumstance.

Why is this so welcome? Benedict's hand is still bloody from being stabbed, yet he relishes how firmly it's held by the same culprit.

[hwaaaitsme]

"No suggestions?" Loki asks with a low hum of interest. Bene is dumbstruck...else he is in shock, it is truly hard to tell. His eyes are eager and bright, alive in a way they had not been when he had been desperately begging Loki to help free him...and if that isn't an interesting change, Loki isn't certain what would constitute one.

"You are either very bold or very hopeful, aren't you?"

Or he is a coward, that is a possibility but not one that Loki wants to discourage in the moment.

He takes Benedict by the chin with his free hand and tilts his head back, then to either side as he looks him over. He is surrendering and not simply because he wants Loki to aid him. No, he could have spun this, twisted some words and invented a fiction, a price to be charged or paid. He had left that line of the ledger blank and handed it, gleefully, to Loki of Asgard.

They had known one another well enough that he could guess where this would go.

"Very well," Loki says after a moment and leans close enough to Bene that his mouth is practically grazing the other man's. He does not kiss him but it is a very near thing. "Kneel."

[altusimperius]

A coward, perhaps, or a young man just beginning to learn the game he's only observed through his youth. Very much his mother's son, Benedict knows what people want, at their core... at least this is what he tells himself, to permit his own wanting of it.

Funny, how after spending so much time fighting tooth and nail for the dignity and respect to which he feels he's entitled, that this is what convinces Bene to relent. He offers some mild resistance to having his head turned, if only to keep his eyes locked on Loki's, fear and desire and playful challenge all communicated in one look. He's played this way before, with the other stupid rich boys back in Minrathous, all of them drunk and high out of their minds and pretending it was practice for their wives. None of them were really an achievement. He ran circles around them.

And now a circle is run around him, as he leans slightly forward for the kiss and is not permitted one. Eyelids fluttering slightly in surprise, possibly even affront, Benedict stares at him for a long moment and then carefully lowers to his knees.

[hwaaaitsme]

Loki does not release him as he kneels, not exactly--his fingers shift from Bene's chin to his cheek and then card into the young man's dark hair. His fingertips drum lightly against Bene's scalp before flattening down against the side of his skull. Loki's expression is imperious but there is a definite thread of want winding through it.

It would be a strange new expression to Bene, he imagines, and he makes no effort to disguise it.

He doesn't know how experienced Bene is, he has not followed the rumors of him well enough to have that information, so he does not presume to order the boy to actually take matters in hand. No, he will unlace his own trousers and leave them agape for Bene to suss out.

"Tell me, Benedict, have you ever imagined this? Us? Or is this wholly unexpected?"

[altusimperius]

A small sound of dismay is the only answer Bene gives at first, the side of his head smarting from where Loki holds his hair. But after he's done wincing, he looks back up at him and, noticing how the blood from his hand has stained all the way down Loki's robe, he gives a smile that's almost mischievous.

"Perhaps," he says, and, taking the invitation, curls his fingers around the waiting member to give it a little squeeze. "Perhaps more than once." He begins to massage it gently with his thumb, watching Loki's face in his own crafty version of youthful fascination.
He's below him, it's true. But it's possible some vulnerabilities have shifted.

[hwaaaitsme]

Loki would scowl about the blood but it's hard to be bothered by such things when someone currently has their hand wrapped neatly around his cock. Bene teases, probably more due to Loki's unforgiving treatment of his hair than any inclination to draw this out, and Loki lets out a contented sort of hum as he watches his face.

"Tell me, how did you imagine this would go? Surely this is a surprise," Loki points out. His hand in Bene's hair loosens, becomes more forgiving, whenever the boy before him manages to touch him well, or refrains from idle massaging. If he's good about it, Loki will probably let him go altogether.

Probably.

[altusimperius]

"I didn't imagine it," Bene says in a low purr, relaxing some alongside the grip on his hair. He shifts forward, beginning to use his tongue, but only on a surface level: each time it seems like he might go a little further, and take Loki all the way into his mouth, he pulls back and leaves a moment for the sharp cold of the drafty room.
"The knife was a surprise," he adds, looking all the way up at Loki's face, his own having been overtaken by a calculating expression. He was scared, and in pain, but he was given an in, and Benedict isn't a fool. He'll see how far this can go, how much he can get out of it.

And maybe feel good for once, in the meantime.

[hwaaaitsme]

Bene, unsurprisingly, takes the small amount of leniency that Loki has granted him and runs a mile with it. His teasing is a serious irritant but, in physical terms, Loki hardly minds it. He has been into denial for far too long for such a thing to truly drive him mad, but Bene doesn't know that, and Bene's goal is to try and reclaim some of the power in this arrangement. It is unfortunate that he lacks any leverage whatsoever.

"Really?" Loki drawls, an affect of frustration on his face as Benedict pulls away for the third time, drawing his tongue and mouth away from the task at hand. Loki's hand finally tightens in his hair, then, and tilts his head back to get a good look at him. "That should have been the only part that wasn't a surprise."

It's an insult, not very well veiled, but it is also said as Loki pulls him forward and claims his mouth with his cock. A mixed message if you will. Loki lets out a sigh of relief that is half performative and half earnest. He doesn't fuck his way into the boy's mouth to choking, that is a very specific act reserved for someone who enjoys it, but he is not shy about the movement, either.

[altusimperius]

Things are taken somewhat out of Bene's control when the grip on his hair is tightened, and when he's pushed against his target, but he can't deny that it does something for him. He's silent for now, busy only with the task at hand, finding that even the opportunity to express this much within his social taboo is enough. Baby steps. Someday, maybe he'll tell his mother how he acts with other men.
Maybe not.
In the meantime, there's this.