Disclaimer- I own nothing. But I'd like to own Xanth...& I wish I lived on the Edge.
Warning- SLASH. Quite intense. Don't like? Don't read it's that simple.
A/N- This is a one-shot albeit a long one. I ADORE Xanth because I love his character & I think that he & Rook are obviously for each other in the books. Please review & let me know. Thankyou :)
It was midnight and the entirety of Lake Landing was swathed in an impenetrable darkness and hints of a pale grey mist that threatened to make one fall over the edge of the landing and into the unseen lake around it.
But Xanth knew where he was going.
He knew exactly how to get there from living at Lake Landing for almost two years before he had fled back to Orbix Xaxis and been named a traitor.
So much had happened since then he thought to himself as he hurried along.
Rook's sky pirate ship raid to save Cowlquape, Madga forcing him to realise where his loyalties lay, the sky cage descent into the terrible ravine of the rock demons, the arduous journey to the Freeglades….and his judgement.
How his heart had stilled from relief when he had been allowed to remain in the Freeglades.
How the blood had flushed to his cheeks when one whom he had thought to be his friend had smiled at him, causing his heart to make up for it's stillness in beating so fast.
That's exactly where he was headed.
To spill his secret.
To tell of his desire.
He couldn't keep it buried inside any longer and so had asked to be met at the edge of Lake Landing at Midnight. As he turned a corner, Lake Landing spanned out before him, the inky lake shining like a pool of black diamonds and the Librarian Knight's tower invisible against the moonless sky.
Keeping to the shadows, he slipped along, the fetch and miss of his breath barely audible though his heartbeat was roaring in his ears like an angry logworm.
He rounded the corner and froze. There was already someone standing on the edge of the launching jetty, their unruly curls visible from the back and their arm reaching back and forth to skim stones across the still waters of the lake.
"Here already! Earth and Sky…I wasn't expecting…I-I…"
Xanth shook his head and pulled himself together.
Certain things could be left unsaid no longer and he strode out onto the jetty more confidently than he felt.
At the slight sound of footsteps, the silhouette turned and, as Xanth got closer, he could see it was smiling.
"Xanth. It's three minutes after Midnight."
"It is, Rook. But I daresay you'll forgive me?"
Rook shook his head, still smiling and sat down on the jetty, his legs over the edge and hanging just above the reflective water.
"So," he began, raising his eyebrows inquisitorially as he did so.
"So," answered Xanth, a note of jauntiness hiding how he truly felt.
"You asked me to meet you here without telling me why. You said it was important. What is it Xanth?" Rook asked, his face shifting into a look of slight concern.
Xanth looked out over the lake leaving the answer to Rook's question well alone for the time being. He turned at last to Rook and merely looked at him for a few moments.
Three years had been good to Rook. At seventeen when he and Xanth had finally made it to the Freeglades and defeated the Goblin Nations army he was already good-looking in an unusual way.
His hair had grown longer and brushed the base of his neck in untidy curls around his face although the most of it was tied away at the back with a fading piece of black velveteen and a few stray waves fell over his forehead and into his sapphire eyes. His long lashes fanned across his cheekbones whenever he blinked and contrasted with his fair skin. All his training as a Librarian Knight and duty as a Freeglade Lancer had left him with an attractive muscle definition all over his six stride high frame and Xanth kicked himself inwardly for staring just a little too long.
Rook watched his friend looking at him vacantly and took advantage of Xanth's silence to look him over. Despite his hard work as a Librarian Knight on the Ratbird, Xanth was still fairly slight in his structure. Almost six strides high and with unusually elegant and willowy limbs and digits for a male, he looked fragile thought Rook with a tiny smile. In truth it was Xanth's quiet manner, his hidden vulnerability and unusual looks that attracted Rook to him and Rook swallowed hard, trying not to think of his friend like that.
It was true to say he'd felt like this for almost two years now and, whenever he got the chance, he found himself staring helplessly at his friends unnaturally pale skin, the creamy pallor only broken by Xanth's full pink lips and his stormy violet eyes ringed round with wild lashes that were as black as the heart of Riverrise. He had allowed his usual stubble to grow and his hair was, like his lashes, impossibly black but where Rook's was curly and untameable, Xanth's was sleek and fell around his face and the base of his neck with a casual elegance that nobody else's could ever have achieved.
In actual fact, Rook thought Xanth very beautiful and whenever any other being commented on this, he found his chest boiling in jealousy and possessiveness.
The night was, despite the strange mist, fairly warm and the breeze carried a strong scent of woodjasmine and burning lullabee logs. Rook had taken off his usual Lancer uniform and had instead chosen to wear his old flightsuit, merely for the comforting warmth and familiar shape of the tilder leather which had moulded around his body over the years. Xanth, in contrast had dispensed with his own flightsuit and preferred to wear his white, ruffled cuff shirt that he had left open at the top and untucked over a pair of tight black pants. His black low-heeled tilder leather boots had completed his outfit and, though it had to be said he looked like a Sky pirate Captain of old, he felt comfortable.
"Rook?"
Rook shook his head, his waves of dark hair hitting him in the eyes as he looked down and managed a half-laugh.
"I have to say-"
"-Xanth I have a secret of my own if I'm truthful," breathed Rook, his heart hammering wildly against his chest like a butting hammelhorn.
"Who first. You…or me?"
Rook rubbed his face in his hands, his head swimming. Xanth would abandon him for sure when he admitted how he felt. Then he'd have lost one of his best friends…was it worth it?
"Xanth…I-I don't want to be your friend any longer."
Xanth's face dropped, his wild violet eyes becoming quite round and his lips parting only for a moment,
"Oh," he whispered feeling quite dejected.
"But not because I don't like you! Of course not! In fact…the opposite-"
"-Rook. What are you saying?" Xanth murmured, his words barely audible and a sharp pain searing through his chest with every word he spoke.
"I think…no. I know. Xanth-"
"-Rook-"
"I-I'm in love with you!" cried Rook and let his head fall into his hands, his cheeks burning with humiliation.
Xanth sat perfectly still. His head was whirling like a young woodtroll's wooden spinning top. He cleared his throat quietly but before he could reply, Rook was speaking, his voice thick with suppressed tears and self-hate.
"I should have said nothing. By Earth and Sky I should have said nothing of it, now I lose my best friend as well as my self-worth! I should have never had these feelings but I can't help it Xanth I really honestly can't!" Rook's tears burst forth and rolled down his cheeks in simultaneous scalding streaks of salt that glinted in the moonlight.
Seeing Rook so utterly stricken cut Xanth deeper than he thought. He had to speak. He had to say something to Rook.
"Rook…I-I'm in love with you. That's what I had to tell you. I love you."
Rook's mouth fell open as his tears rolled off the end of his long straight nose. He looked Xanth straight in the eye and noticed he'd moved closer. He could see every impossibly long lash around Xanth's stormy violet eyes- eyes that almost seemed to contain a Great Storm within them- and he breathed out shakily.
"I'm sorry…" Xanth sighed, his own head now in his hands, the sharp, sleek locks of his raven hair falling messily over his long fingers. Rook moved closer and tentatively stretched out a hand toward Xanth's, his fingers extending out and curling slowly over Xanth's gently.
Xanth looked up and was shocked to see Rook closer than ever. The middle of his iris glittered and Xanth's heart lurched- it couldn't be true. It was too perfect. Too real…
Slowly, Xanth lifted his head so he and Rook were nose to nose, their hands still on top of one another on the jetty and both their hearts pounding so loudly each was sure the other could hear it.
"Rook..," whispered Xanth, his breathing paining him and his lips warm with Rook's equally uneasy breathing.
"Xanth...,"
Rook couldn't bear it any longer. It was too perfect, too real, too amazing to miss the chance.
Suddenly, he tilted his head to the side and gently met Xanth's lips with his own.
Xanth couldn't believe what he was feeling. Still surprised, he closed his eyes, feeling his lashes entangle with Rook's as he kissed him and cursing himself for not admitting his adoration sooner.
Rook broke away, his temples thumping and his lips tingling with the soft touch of Xanth's. The kiss had been barely a few seconds long yet it was all Xanth needed as reassurance.
He moved forward again, his hands on Rook's shoulders this time and kissed Rook back. He didn't need to think or do or say. It didn't matter, he thought dimly as he felt Rook's chest closer to his and one of Rook's hands wind itself into his hair, the other on the back of his neck, pulling him in as if the touch alone was not enough.
Rook's chest was on fire, Xanth's lips were so soft and, with his neck held gently, Rook was in control of the kiss. He moved his hand from Xanth's hair to his thigh and gently brushed the soft material there.
Xanth sighed, his lips parting slightly against Rook's and running his hands down Rook's chest slowly enjoying feeling him shiver.
When Xanth's mouth had parted slightly, Rook had seen an opportunity to deepen the kiss and, unsure of himself and how to do it, he slid his tongue swiftly into Xanth's mouth and over his bottom lip.
Xanth's inner thighs were still trembling from Rook's touch when he had felt the other boy's tongue gently invade his mouth and brush his bottom lip. The sensation was unmatchable and so intense thought Xanth as he ran his long fingers right between Rook's legs gently.
Rook gasped and Xanth, half smiling, darted his tongue into Rook's mouth, entangling it with his own and making tiny lazy circles over Rook's lower lip as he felt Rook's breathing quicken considerably.
Passion overtook the situation and Rook lay back, pulling Xanth over on top of him and gently teasing his lower lip by sucking it lightly. Feeling Xanth's searing skin against his own drove Rook wild and, without warning, he cleverly shifted so Xanth was beneath him.
Xanth was in seventh heaven. Rook was lay atop of him, his hands all over his flesh and his lips crashing passionately against Xanth's, their tongues in a zealous frenzy of lust-induced fervour.
Rook broke away quite abruptly and gazed down into Xanth's desire-drugged eyes that were still as turbulent and tempestuous as ever. Without a murmur, he moved his mouth to Xanth's porcelain-skinned neck and began softly kissing the pale skin, occasionally nipping at the flesh with his teeth and feeling Xanth squirm beneath him.
Xanth's long fingers had found the toggles at the front of Rook's flightsuit whilst Rook had been teasing his neck. His hands worked quickly and their deft expertise was rewarded when the suit peeled open and Xanth saw Rook's upper body for the first time.
He was slimmer than Xanth had thought and his abdominal muscles were particularly defined. His chest was smooth and Xanth could just make out Rook's breastbone.
Rook moved against Xanth and smiled. He wasn't as shy as it seemed after all. Slowly, Rook watched Xanth peel off the entire upper half of his flightsuit so that his upper body was now naked and reflected palely in the black lake.
Slowly, Rook reached down and, with every ounce of self control he had remaining, unbuttoned Xanth's shirt, slipping it off and pushing it to the side.
Xanth was slender though not without his own attractively developed muscles that rippled gently as he breathed in and out. A fine covering of dark hair covered Xanth's chest and he blushed a little as Rook failed to control his urges and ran his hands right down Xanth's upper body.
Xanth arched into Rook, needing the feel of his skin and was rewarded when Rook began kissing him again. Xanth was further surprised when he found his pants were undone and slipped down to his knees showing his undergarments.
"Earth and Sky…," whispered Rook, his lips swollen and rosy as he regarded the blushing boy beneath him quietly, his whole body aching with need.
"Earth and Sky aren't watching us now Rook…," whispered Xanth, and as a cheeky smile spread over his features and Rook gave in to his desires and tore off what little clothing they both had on, Earth and Sky watched silently as two pale figures savoured one another through a rapturous night.
Afternoon was already dying when Xanth awoke, his hips sore and his head in bliss. He smiled at his reflection in the mirror and gently touched the round purple shadow left on his neck from Rook's talented mouth.
He pulled on last night's pants and boots and a black ruffled poet's shirt before he ran down the wooden staircase of the New Bloodoak Tavern where he lived permanently now. He dropped gracefully from the last stair and came face to face with Madga, Deadbolt Vulpoon, Felix, Lob Stummus, the Professor of Darkness and Gristle, his slaughterer friend.
"Where were you going last night young 'un?" asked Deadbolt Vulpoon gruffly, his eyes twinkling over his tangled beard.
"A walk. Couldn't sleep even for the love of Earth and Sky," answered Xanth, a smile pricking the corners of his lips as he sat beside Rook and felt an all-too familiar hand brush the inside of his thigh.
They looked at one another and, to the surprise and confusement of everyone else there, they burst out laughing.
Things would be different now secrets had been told and both of them knew it would be neither Earth nor Sky that stopped them sleeping through the nights from now on.