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"You don't believe me?"
He provocatively looked at the man before him, then drew out a revolver, emptied its cylinder, and left a single shot in the chamber.
"Seems like I'll need to get you up to speed on how I do things if our cooperation were to remain amicable."
He pushed the gun into his opponent's hand, spun the cylinder, and pointed the barrel to his own chest, his other hand behind his back, trembling in fear. He may have drawn the goddesses' loving and proctecting gaze, but a gamble was still a gamble. And this one could cost him his life.
Click.
A dismissive smile.
Click.
Eyes, without a single inch of doubt.
Click.
Relieve.
The blue haired man could see it in the other's face: all the subtle ways it changed, despite him evidently trying to hide it.
"Life is a great gamble. And I'll always be the final victor."
"I see."
The bigger man looked down at the revolver in his hand, thorougly inspecting it, as if there was a secret mechanism he was eager to find, just out of his sight.
"What, that's all you have to say, friend? C'mon, I just gave you a show!"
Without looking up from the revolver, he remarked:
"I am *not* you friend. And I certainly don't need you to put on a show for me, nor did I ask for it.
If this is some childish attempt at gaining my trust, I would like to let you know that your schemes are already more than well-know around the universe."
Finally, Ratio looked up at him, the gun still heavy in his right hand. He had read that Avgins were as beautiful as they were deceiving, know for easily fooling those unbeknownst to their tricks.
Altough Ratio was not the one to trust stereotypes such as these without proper reserach first, looking at the other man's eyes, it was not hard to believe what they were saying. Purple and mesmerizing, they seemed to gaze right through him.
"Well, Doctor, with the way you're looking at me, doesn't seem you're as displeased as you say, no? No shame there, though. I already told you you can use me as you wish -,"
the blonde haired man stepped even closer, close enough that he could whisper in the other's ear this time,
"and if that's the way you intend to do so, I will happily comply."
Startled, the Doctor lost his stoic composure, taking a deep swallow. Aventurine still lingered at his ear, and he could feel warm breath brush his skin.
It didn't take long for Ratio to collect himself again. He bend down slighty, mimicking Aventurine's gesture. It seemed almost as if they were intertwined in a crazed dance, when the Doctor murmured menacingly:
"I can still make use of this gun you gave me, you know."
At that, Aventurine let out a quiet whimper.
Then there was silence.
Ratio slowly pulled away, caught off guard again. This was very much unlike him, who usually had no trouble at keeping his calm by thoughtfully analysing a situation. But this, this damned gambler - nothing about him seemed to make sense in any way. He was irrational, foolish even, driven by nothing but sheer luck.
He collected himself once more.
Looking in Aventurine's eyes now, Ratio could see an unwavering steadiness. And not what he was expecting there to be - shame.
Was this, perhaps, all part of his plan? With him nothing but a pawn, a means to an end?
"Two of us can play this game, you know. First your preposturous attempt at gaining my trust, and now this? Who do you take me for?"
He grabbed Aventurine by the collar and pushed him against the wall behind him, at the same time drawing the revolver and holding it under his chin.
"You are so, so pathetic, dear gambler. Whoring yourself out like this just to gain a chance at respect."
The Doctor adjusted the gun, pushing it against Aventurine even more firmly.
"I should really just kill you for even thinking you could wrap me around your dirty little fingers like those other men.
No, maybe you're more deserving of my pity, really. This must be all you've ever know, no? You poor, poor thing. No wonder you're so fucked in the head."
Aventurine looked back at Ratio with the usual sly smile on his face. The blue haired man hated how condescending it was. Like a facade, needed to shelter himself from the weight and the expectations of this cold world, who had never done him any favours.
"Doctor...," Aventurine whispered. His left hand slowly creeped towards Ratio's crotch, lingering there. While still remaining eye contact, he continued:
"Precicesly because this is all I've ever know, it's also what I'm best at. I bet as a scholar, you know even more about this than me. So, don't you want to let yourself fall into my capable hands? I'm sure I can take good care of you..."
"This is ridiculous."
"Well, your body begs to differ." Aventurine said, refering to the growing bulge in Dr. Ratio's pants.
"This is but a mere bodily reaction to the stimulation that your hand offers."
"Then let me offer you even more."
Taking the Doctor by his wrist, he gently put the gun down and laid it on the table next to them. Ratio complied. They exchanged a last glance, then Aventurine leaned in and kissed him.
It was a soft, a tender kiss: something Ratio did not expect from someone like Aventurine.
Nothing more but a slight peck, which he didn't reciprocate. He added another one, and then another one, slowly moving down the Doctor's neck. Despite his best efforts to keep quiet, Veritas couldn't stifle a whimper coming from his mouth.
Chuckling lightly, Aventurine moved up again.
The kisses grew more desperate. Against his intitial discontempt, Veritas was now returning them, grabbing a fistful of blonde hair and pushing him even closer. He tasted like stale cigarettes, like alcohol, but there was also something sweet; a taste he could not pinpoint.
When Aventurine finally withdrew, he reached for Veritas' cheek and cupped it tenderly.
"Please, let me prove to you that I am worthy of your trust."
Not waiting for an answer, Aventurine pushed Ratio towards the bed of the hotel room they were offered for these negotiations. He bend over him, tracing kisses all the way down to his lap. He looked up to the Doctor, as if to seek his approval. But at the sight of the Avgin glancing at him from between his thighs with these eyes, these beautiful, cursed eyes, he shyly turned his head away.
"Doctor, this isn't your first time, is it?"
"N-no, of course not! Stop making improper assumptions without any tangible evidence!"
"Ok, ok, Doc, whatever you say," Aventurine said, laughing.
"No, that's it. I'm leaving. I'm not going to let you make a fool out of me."
Ratio was just about to stand up when he could feel his thighs being squeezed softly.
"Veritas, please," Aventurine spoke, his voice trembling.
"Please."
Surprised by hearing his name, he looked down at the gambler who kneeled before him.
He looked fragile like this.
Abruptly, Ratio pulled up the pitiful sight of a blonde man by his cheeks and threw him on the bed. Hovering over him, he murmured:
"We've barely known each other for an hour, so either you're really fucking desperate, which would better neither my view of you nor the IPC, or you are playing an inticrate little game with me, in which case, as I said, I will not comply. So what are you even trying to achieve by this?"
"I truly am that desperate. I don't care what you think about the IPC, and your opinion of me has already been tainted anyways. So please, let's just get this over with. If you have no interest in forming an alliance with me, at least do me this favor and fuck me."
Ratio wagered his options. He never, ever thought that a person wasn't worth saving, even a gambler like Aventurine, and the way he degraded himself to a mere tool infuriated him. He really didn't want to indulge him any further.
On the other hand, perhaps what he said in a frenzy earlier was true - this was all he had. All he has ever known. Taking from the knowlegde he had about the Avgin's demise and Aventurine's past, it seemed likely that this is what he himself and others saw in him. What he wanted them to see.
The thought of this sparked something like sympathy in Ratio. No, perchance pity was a more fitting word.
Now, for the first time, he took the time to look at the blonde. Really, really look at him.
Aventurines fingers were long and slim and his hands were pinned above his head in a way that made him look lewd and pliable. He was almost inviting Ratio to read every single part of his body like a book, to turn his pages and think about the deeper meaning behind the words engraved into his skin.
His eyes. He already took notice of them earlier; they were a key feature of his after all. But now, he saw them from a different angle.
Where there used to be only mischief, there now was pain, coated with layers upon layers of sugar. They were his greatest blessing; his biggest curse.
Further down, Ratio's eyes were drawn to the mark on Aventurine's neck. A few sweaty strands of hair covered it, but he didn't appear to try and hide it, despite the implications it carried. Slave. Nothing but a slave, now one of the ten stonehearts. He could only imagine what he must have endured to reach this point.
Ratio sighed.
It takes significant amounts of time and effort to heal wounds as grave as the ones Aventurine had, but Ratio knew that maybe - just maybe - he could be able to play a part in this slow, excrutiating progress. But for now, he had to work with the mess of a man sprawled in front of him.
"Ok," he whispered.
Ratio bowed down to Aventurine's neck, softly tracing kisses over his mark. His hands were cupping his small waist.
When he had no kisses left to give, he moved up towards Aventurine's lips. Ratio got so close they were almost touching, but refused Aventurine the solace of letting himself get lost in the other's kiss.
"I want to learn more about you, little Peacock," he breathed against his lips, "Will you let me?"
"Of course I will," Aventurine answered under his breath.
The blonde's hand wandered to the Doctor's cheek, drawing him in and finally closing the last space left between them.
The kisses were soft and loving, just as the first time around. Only that this time, Ratio wasn't indifferent to the person he was sharing this intimate gesture with. Like butterflies their lips touched, beautiful yet without any resemblence of order.
When Ratio tried to introduce his tongue, Aventurine opened up willingly. They were exploring each other's mouths like naughty kids, altough there was little of that childlike innocence left in both of them;
Veritas could feel the heavyness in Aventurine's heart in every single one of their kisses. How many other people must have touched these lips before with love, with lust, with hate? And what was Ratio's caress to him?
The Doctor withdrew, a string of salvia connecting them.
"Aventurine."
"Hm?"
"Aventurine," he said again, savoring every letter. Feeling how the name laid in his mouth.
"Something's the matt- ah," Aventurine ghasped as Ratio started kissing him again, and again, and again, until both their lips were red and bruised.
"You sure aren't acting like someone who threatend to kill me just a few moments ago," the blonde chuckled.
But instead of reacting to this light-hearted provocation, Ratio moved further down stoically, slowly approaching Aventurine's crotch. He then looked up to him, their eyes meeting.
"Is this ok for you? We can stop whenever you want. Please, make sure to tell me if something's the matter."
"No, please, go on, I mean-," Aventurine paused, "-this, I like this. I like how you treat me. I'm sorry it's just- I'm not used to this. It's usually me who has to...you know."
"Then please, let me have the honor to study your every reaction."
The Avgin slighty nodded, upon which Ratio got to work opening the zipper of his pants and pulling them completely down, disregarding them somewhere on the floor.
He then started kissing the insides of Aventurine's thighs tenderly, all the way up to his crotch. He continued his tyrade of kisses, lips pampering his balls, then his cock through the fabric of his underwear.
Finally, Ratio's fingers curled at the hem of the fabric, taking it off too.
The Doctor prompted Aventurine to also take off his shirt, while he took care of the rest of the garments.
Now, laid bare before him, Ratio could admire the other's body fully.
With this, he could do.
Veritas neatly positioned himself between the Avgin's legs again. He moved his head to the shaft of Aventurine's cock, which was already erect and sensitive from the way Ratio had caressed his body earlier.
First, he took only the tip into his mouth.
Reassured by an almost inaudible whimper from above, he kept moving his head in a slow bobbing motion, as far down as he felt still comfortable. He also generously made use of his tongue, which netted him even more desperate sounds and coated his dick in a thick coat of saliva.
As the Doctor's movements got more erratic, Aventurine also started to push his hips upwards, thrusting deeper into Ratio's mouth.
What Aventurine had said seemed to be true: he really did seem inexperienced in this role. His moves were uncoordinated, his hands uncertain. All of this was almost cute, really, considering how agressively he had flirted with him earlier.
Ratio could feel that something in the way Aventurine moved was changing, and as to confirm his suspicions, he was being grabbed by the hair and pushed down almost aggressively. The light and playful tone of the kisses had quickly changed in the face of lust. But Ratio could forgive this. This was not about him - even though there were tears in his eyes and he was awfully close to passing out. If this is what it took to understand the inner workings of the other, it was but a small prize to pay.
And aeons did it feel good.
Finally, thankfully, Aventurine came in big spurts down Ratio's throat, who had no choice but to swallow all of it.
While Aventurine tried to calm down his still shaking body, Ratio removed himself from the rapidly softening cock, took a deep breath and straightened himself up again. Using his arm, he swiped away a streak of come running down his chin.
When he turned his head, his gaze fell on someone who seemed utterly vulnerable. Silent tears fell down his face, his eyes fixed on the ceiling above.
"Are you ok?," the Doctor asked, but was met with silence.
"Aventurine?"
When there was still no answer, he wordlessly inched closer to the other and took him into his arms. Aventurine let it happen.
They stayed like this, warm body on warm body, for a short eternity.
All the while, Ratio's gaze wandered around the room. First he stared up to the ceiling just like Aventurine did, but there was nothing of interest there. He then looked out the window, where the bustling silhoutte of a city illuminated the night. There where faint sounds seeping in through the window, which now weren't drowned out by sharp words or sweet moans anymore.
Being together like this felt so serene. So intimate, despite the fact that the two of them barely knew each other at all. It's like they were in their own little world, seperate from all obligations and expectations that others imposed on them, unperceived.
After they leave this room, what will remain of that world?
When he looked back at Aventurine, he had fallen fast asleep. Streaks of tried tears were adorning his beautiful face.
At least in sleep he looked at peace.
Ratio took a blanket and draped it over the undressed body, lest he froze.
Yes, it will take a lot of time.
But for him, he had all the time in the universe.