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The monster extends his hand and the beast accepts it.
There are plenty of things that separate them, make them distant, but so many things bring them closer together. A wry smile in the back of a bar, a friendly wave, a monster baring its smile to a beast.
No one knows Kaeya is just the same as Ajax.
—
“What brings you to Mondstadt…?”
Ajax could tell him the truth and say you, but he doesn’t. He says he has some errands to run and he’ll be out of the Cavalry Captain’s hair soon enough. Liar. He’s a bloodhound that’s caught the scent of something enticing, something that draws him in like a moth to a blazing sun.
Something is wrong with Kaeya Alberich.
Ajax wants his lips on his throat and his hand pulling back that lovely ponytail of his, wrapping his hair around his palm and tugging. Even he doesn’t know what he wants, so badly that he came all this way to meet a stranger who doesn’t even know his name.
—
You can hide from the light,
And still outburn the sun,
Don’t you forget you’re my star
—
Kaeya Alberich has a secret, but luckily, he hides his tainted blood most of the time relatively well.
There’s sometimes an itch in his back to spread his wings, to reveal everything about him he’s worked so hard to keep secret. There are private moments where he’s permitted himself to, in the most hidden places, concealed from every eye, but when he’s got someone watching his every move, that makes it harder.
He’s watching to see him slip up.
Kaeya doesn’t know that yet, but it’s true.
On one foggy evening at the peak of midnight, Kaeya slips away from the barracks of the Knights and heads to Stormterror’s lair, making sure he isn’t followed. The peace of this region hasn’t served him well, because he overlooks the man following him from a distance. Their flirtations have been nothing more than chats at the bar, but Ajax’s internal demands (kneel, kiss, bite, mark) haven’t been leaving him alone when it comes to what he thinks and feels whenever he sees Kaeya Alberich. He wants— he wants—
He can’t describe it well, but it feels like he wants to worship this man. He hopes that in following him, he’ll find the reason why.
And he does.
—
See the world in your eyes,
A sorrow set in your sights,
Like a fine work of art
—
Kaeya goes into the mists of the fog, and out emerges something far taller, dark and imposing, with a split, glowing chest and a long, winding ponytail around his form, and Ajax understands why he’s been so in love with the man all this time. It’s a deep something he could neither ignore nor hide. An abyssal compulsion, drawn to his king like he’s the light of a star.
Behind his head was a halo of weapons; a claymore, a sword, a catalyst, a bow, a polearm, spinning in the most hypnotizing pattern, until Ajax saw the polearm snatched from the ring of weapons and thrown at him with deadly precision. If he was not a second faster, he would be dead, skewered in place by the most gorgeous creature he’d ever seen.
His transformation seems to happen naturally; taller and dangerous, yet he doesn’t seem to match the height of the man in front of him… Ajax feels the thrill of the fight take over him, and immediately, he begins to attack without opening a dialogue first. To his delight, the king in front of him responds, switching out each of his weapons to match his polearm. This is a courtship of monsters; subjugate that which you find beautiful. Pin and bite that which you find glorious.
He can’t beat the taller being, though— even though it’s obvious he’s out of practice from being hidden away for too long. Why are you so shy? Don’t you see how beautiful you are?
Ajax watches as he unfolds those magnificent wings and tries to get away— oh no, no, no. His deep attraction will not go unanswered. You’re here, and you’re answering his call.
Like a bolt of lightning in the opposite direction, he charges the king, sailing with him in an arc across Stormterror’s Lair, and away flies the king’s mask, landing just out of sight.
He’s breathtaking.
Four eyes, one of them gold, two of them positioned like mascara beneath the main eyes. His cheeks are slit, held together by flesh at the corners of his lips while his jagged row of teeth go all the way down his throat.
—
My savior,
God what a beautiful soul.
I don’t believe━you ’re a liar
Night’s falling and darkness is inviting us in.
Let me tear it apart.
—
Ajax grabs his polearm by the neck of it, pointing it at the king’s cheek. Instead of killing him, he nicks his cheek with the very edge.
Mine.
Only someone who could fight and win against the King of the Abyss has the right to court him. A gaggle of abyss mages watch in stunned silence, this ritual.
The king doesn’t let himself stay pinned, and their battle rages into the night, until it draws the attention of the guards and both men have to revert to their ordinary, human forms and disperse.
Kaeya has a thin scratch on his face the next day.
—
Ruler of my heart, ruler of my heart, ruler of my heart.
—
They indulge in one another’s company quietly, across from each other at the bar, engaging in a conversation that the surrounding people will drown out in its silence. Kaeya sips a wine cocktail as deadly as it is potent, yet it doesn’t seem to get him drunk at all. Ajax sticks to firewater.
“Who are you, really?”
“Answers from me, you have to earn.”
“I already earned them,” Ajax says quietly, lowly, “judging by that scratch on your cheek.”
“…” Kaeya stares at him, feeling something bristle and flame inside of him, unusual for someone usually so cool. He finishes his glass, puts mora on the counter, and motions for Ajax to follow him with just a single, crooking finger.
They’re behind the bar when Kaeya pins him to the wall in what almost seems like a threat, but is really just compulsion, pure and simple. The drive of beasts and the attraction it brings is hard for Kaeya to ignore. He was bested once by this scrappy Harbinger, and something inside of him crows to—
— he kisses him.
Ajax immediately grapples with the back of his head to hold him there, purring like a monstrous creature being given a treat. His thumb deliberately brushes against the scratch on his cheek, rubbing against it like he’s proud of it. He bested the King of the Abyss just once, and he has a feeling he will never be able to do it again, but how delightful that it convinces him he’s a worthy mate.
Such unbidden intrusive thoughts, not suiting a man with a decent (not good, decent) head on his shoulders. He decides to follow his internal advice from earlier.
He kneels in front of Kaeya.
He kisses his hand.
He bites it as well, leaving behind a mark.
—
Building up all your walls, becomes a fall with no ground.
(In a single moment breaking down)
I’d go blind and go deaf ‘fore I’d lose you again
Collapsing my world
—
They spar wherever eyes won’t follow them. Whenever the Dragonspine research group descends from the mountain, they decide to play and fight and dance there, with no eyes to watch them but for those monsters hiding in the frost that cower before the King of the Abyss and the one who seems to be entertaining him well.
Weapons clash and ring out and threaten avalanches, and one eventually falls.
Before they can get swept away in it, the King of the Abyss picks up the rowdy ginger monster and darts into the sky by wing, watching the land below get swept away in snow.
It’s funny, if he just let him get swept away, he might be free of a problem.
But that’s not how he feels anymore, nor does Kaeya.
—
My saviour ,
My one, my beautiful soul
Make me your god
I can give you everything
—
It’s a long courtship.
One with Ajax leaving Mondstadt every so often to attend to his duties, but he always comes back. Kaeya’s friends ask him what it’s like with a harbinger breathing down his neck so often, like he’s here on a mission to suss him out.
“I can control him,” Kaeya says. “I’ve got him on a leash.”
He doesn’t.
But he also likes it that way, too.
—
Night’s falling and darkness is inviting us in.
Let me tear it apart.
Ruler of my heart, ruler of my heart, ruler of my heart.
