Title: Forever and Ever, Amen.

Author/Artist: Pixieblade
Rating/Pairing: T/58
Warnings: none
Word count: 1,276
Summary: Snippet of life, there's a first time for everything.

The heavy new moon was a dark void in the night sky. Nights like these had always set him on edge. He felt trapped, pinned to this life of hardship and violence, and muted anger. Maybe that's why he had started all this to begin with. No. No, no matter what had happened before he had started this because he wanted it like a dieing man craves water. It had come up on him swiftly, almost dangerously. They'd been fine, just doing the normal routine, drive, fight, eat, sleep, drive some more and then it hit him.

Now he couldn't get enough of it. He was insatiable, a modern day Tantalus whose only sin was wanting too much of the other. But he couldn't stop now. He didn't want to. Never again would he feign ignorance or objectivity. This was a subjective matter after all. Wrapping his hands in the shimmering merlot halo he breathed deeply of the sandalwood and citrus scent of their shampoo.

"Sometimes I think my past is all a dream, something brought on by fever or drink and that this is my only reality."

"Kai…"

"If that's true, no, even if it's all real and I can never escape my nightmares…I…" He breathed deeply again to steady his nerves and buried his fingers and nose in Gojyo's hair. "I believe I was born to love you. Every morning I wake and see you next to me, every night we make love, each time I mark you as mine I feel it again-that I am born again, made fresh. You constantly save me, remind me I'm human, that I'm home."

Hakkai leaned in and gently brushed their lips together, yet even that miniscule contact sent electric sparks straight to Gojyo's toes. It was painful to breathe, or maybe it was just because he'd forgotten how to while Hakkai was speaking-confessing everything into his hair, laying his soul bare for Gojyo and only Gojyo, he knew that now—he'd forever be the only one to see this side of Hakkai. This vulnerable, raw, passion filled side.

His side. His Hakkai.

Gojyo moaned deeply, the sound coming from some unearthly, base place that made Hakkai's toes curl and his stomach flip end over end like a coin kissing the sky. Dark, limpid pools slowly closed, he held his breath for a moment and then those wine colored eyes slipped open and Gojyo's nails where biting into his arms. Hakkai had a sudden, overwhelming fear that he'd said to much as Gojyo levered himself up and flipped Hakkai effortlessly over onto the bed.

"'Kai…" Gojyo trembled faintly in the moonlight as his fingers slipped over smooth skin before continuing. "I'm not afraid of dieing, living always scared me much worse, but now…nothing you or anyone else can say or do will keep me from your side. You…you've been 'home' to me for so long that maybe I forgot to tell you. If this is a dream, I don't wanna wake-up. And if it isn't? If all the crap we've been through is real then I'm fine with that, because it means I have you."

"Gojyo…"

"Hey 'Kai, do me a favor, just for tonight, let me mark you." Hakkai's eyes went wide and then soft-he still had some trepidation of giving up that power-the ability to stop or start when he was comfortable, but this was Gojyo, and Hakkai knew without a doubt that Gojyo would never do anything to hurt him knowingly. If there was anyone on this miserable little planet he'd trust to do this, it was the man leaning over him now.

It was tender, so very tender, that look Gojyo gave him as he nodded his consent. And when Gojyo touched him, feather-light touches that showed him how precious he was in Gojyo's mind, porcelain-like and breakable, but those tentative first touches still burned him like a brand and whispered 'mineminemine' into the night. Letting himself go, he flowed with the wash of words and feelings surrounding him, a piece of driftwood on a vibrant ruby sea-gentle and insistent.

Gojyo's fingers ghosted over his eyelids, across his cheeks and down the bridge of his nose, skipping over his lips, lightly dragging their darkened flesh down until Hakkai nipped at them playfully before sucking them into his mouth. His teeth held them gently, the hard enamel barely denting the soft flesh as his tongue suckled softly at the digits. A throaty mewling sound escaped Gojyo's lips as he watched Hakkai suck them in up to the knuckle and then licked his way back to the tips, the action repeated several times until Gojyo was panting, his head bowed and legs trembling as they straddled Hakkai's waist.

He shifted lower while extracting his fingers and took a shaky breath. "God 'Kai, you keep that up and I'm not gonna last and I really want to make you feel good tonight."

"Gojyo, you've never failed in that department." Hakkai's touch was feathery and warm, blood warm, though he'd never tell his lover that; there was too much blood between them as it was. Besides, he didn't want warm, he wanted scorching, an intense heat that consumed and destroyed and brought forth new life. He wanted to be devoured by Hakkai's heat.

Propping himself up on his forearms he lowered his head until his hair tickled the sensitive skin of Hakkai's chest and throat. Drawing the silken strands down his partner's length he smiled at Hakkai's shudder. Closet freak, he thought warmly. The man had a thousand looks and a thousand kinks: the vines-okay, maybe that was more him; the apron-well, not after the roast duck incident; the kitchen table-the bed breaking was not his fault, no way could he be blamed for that one…okay, so maybe it was more him wanting to experiment, but could anyone really blame him?!

It was Hakkai for God's sake! The man screamed 'tie me up and fuck me through the floor boards' with all that prim and proper shit he insisted on carrying around like a worn security blanket. If even one of his ideas broke that damnable shell of his it was worth being called a perverted cockroach. Well, he could do without cockroach part, but that might be just fine for Hakkai anyways; they say cockroaches can survive anything after all and Merciful Goddess knew the man needed the people he loved to stop dying on him.

People he loved.

Yeah, that had taken him a while to get use to and then they kissed and…well, the rest of it was all kinda a blur, but late at night he'd turn over and gently fondle Hakkai's hair and his skin would burn where they had touched again. Yeah, that had been a night of firsts for them.

First kiss…

First touch…

First whispered confession…

First time…

And yet it had felt like they'd done it a thousand times before…all warm and second nature and right. Just like every night since and every night to come.

"'love you."

"I know." Gentle kisses over his eyes and lips, "…love you too."

And no matter how many times they bit or clawed or bound with vines, those words were a brand on the heart, a demonic pledge and a human oath and they'd die before they broke it. Moving together, sweat the only thing between them they knew it in their bones. A truth they couldn't deny; one they never wanted too.

"Forever and ever."

"Amen."

Fin.