CHAPTER ONE:
As twilight fell over the Mage's Quarter in Stormwind City heavy plated footsteps approached a wooden door, two loud knocks echoed this average city sized stone house. "Uh… Coming give me a second!" A voice called out, before a slight flash of purple magic flashed, reflecting off the plate boots of two people knocking outside
The door opened to reveal a tall scruffy looking human mage in lounge wear, his medium length dark brown hair a bit messy, as if he had just been asleep.
His eyes lit up as he saw two Stormwind Guard's staring directly at him, he grabbed his v neck corded shirt and tugged on the cords quickly to cover himself up, as if they didn't see him a few seconds ago when he answered. "Official business in the keep mage. Get dressed and meet us outside the gates before dark." The stern guard ordered the confused mage.
"Oh. Uh yeah. Okay! I'll be there before you know it." He threw both his hands up to give them a thumbs up, watching them turn away he shut his door and blinked towards his bedroom, rummaging through his clothes trying to find something as formal as he could. Mage's who get ordered to the great Stormwind Keep are expected to look their very best… or so everyone keeps telling Attius.
As he wore himself out quickly jumping around the house finally managing to find a embroidered tunic and some formal pants. Attius quickly looked at himself in the mirror and played around with his hair, making it sort of neat and presentable, he rubbed at his beard knowing he had no time to do anything about the level of scruffy he'd let it get too without being late. "Well, here goes nothing." He said before quickly drawing a circle filled with runes around himself on the floor and slapping his hand against the largest looking rune, letting it illuminate the room. The warmth of his hearth and home quickly vanished as a cold wind blew past him as he looked up at the gates of Stormwind Keep.
A pround smirk filled his face as he turned to see the Guards that beckoned him far off in the distance. "They wanted a mage, they should expect to be shown up" he thought to himself as he leaned against the stone wall waiting for them to catch up. "Mhmmm. Mages." The male guard scoffed, walking past Attius.
"Don't mind him. His sister is a mage and …well they don't talk much." The female guard confessed to the mage.
"I'm used to guard's expecting me to set something on fire or turn their friends into sheep" Attius laughed as he followed the guard's inside the keep. "What is this for may I ask? I thought there was a briefing before any mage was summoned." He questioned the guard the friendly guard. "We were told to come get you. You personally and that's all I can say. Truth be told we don't know that much ourselves." She admitted as they walked up the stairs of the keep, slowly making their way into the throne room. Turalyon sat upon the throne with Genn Greymane sitting on the steps.
"Ah, welcome Attius. Thank you for coming on such short notice." Turalyon pierced the mage's eyes with his own. He was intimidating to say the least Attius thought, even if he was just a seatwarmer.
"Yes. Thank you for joining us." Greymane said bluntly before turning to Turalyon "We will continue this talk later." The man barked harshly at the paladin as he walked to Attius "Come with me please."
He pointed to a long hallway, not bothering to check if Attius was even following. "Of course sir." Attius awkwardly said, looking at his escort confused. He quickly followed Greymane through the halls. Not a word was spoken between the two, the keep was oddly cold, Attius thought to himself, as if there was not one fire lit anywhere in the place.
A few minutes had passed, the keep began to feel like a maze, maybe there was a secret protection rune set up to confuse any infiltrators. "Here we are." Greymane's deep voice startled Attius, his gloved hand pulled a key from his belt pouch to unlock it. They made their way into a very luxurious lounge styled room.
Eloquent rugs spread along the floor, as lavish couches sat ontop. "I… I didn't know the keep had rooms like this, I was expecting cold, dark and damp small rooms" Attius looked around in awe.
"What? You think we live like the Horde? Cramped up in small huts?" The greyed man laughed walking over to the table full of scrolls. "I hear you study rune magic. The mages of the Tower pointed me to you for what I'm ...needing."
"I… I do yes, I've been studying with the dwarves and taken trips to Mulgore to learn from the Tauren." Attius bit through his anxiety and tried his best to be professional.
"Good. I'm wanting one of these rooms to be a sort of portal room of sorts, and a viewing room. I want to have a perfect view of Icecrown and a few other hot spots in Azeroth. Whatever has the most magic pull to them I want them in here." The older man demanded of the mage.
"Done." Attius said instantly "I'd have to venture out to a few places to find hot spots, they often change but the potent energy signatures are aways easy to find." He flashed a smile at Greymane, feeling anxious as anything.
Greymane nodded, pulling his thick leather coat off, his broad shoulders stretched his linen undershirt slightly.
His gloves followed after the coat which Attius thought was strange. "I'd like this all to be happening within twenty four hours. I'd like at least two peering eyes out into the world from my rooms. You may set your own form of transportation from here to your house. I can't imagine running back and forth across the city would be that enjoyable" Genn said as he poured himself a glass of wine and sat down on a couch, pulling at his linen shirt, undoing it slightly. His chest hair prominent to Attius's eyes.
"Yes sir. I'll get to that right away." Attius quickly turned around and walked towards the room Genn vaguely pointed at before. He pulled a small piece of coal from his pocket, the same one he had used earlier in the night to draw runic symbols on the wall, the exact same ones he had drawn on his house floor before walking out of the new found portal room. "I've set the house portal up, It's basically a door to and from. I sort of work at unusual hours of the day, is there any time you'd like me not to show up here?" Attius looked around the room, anywhere but Genn as he had never known the big bad Greymane to ever be a person of luxury, or someone who would ever lounge around and relax like he is right now. Maybe it's how he always is but just doesn't show it.
"No. You can come in at any time you like, it'll just be me here. I work strange hours as well. Thank you for serving your kingdom as you are right now. I will accompany you to some locations, to get the lay of the land."
Genn said as he pulled off his boots, got to his feet and headed towards the archway that had a large stone tub inside it. "Oh. Do you mind filling this… for me?" The figure of the fatigued man stood darkened in the archway.
"I don't mind. I'm not a fan of using water and frost" he admitted before biting his lip, astounded at himself for even telling a member of the Keep his personal magic preferences.
He made his way into the room, a few mirrors filled the far left room infant of the tub, a sink and large clothing and towel racks filled the back wall. Attius stood infront of the the tub, putting his hand at the bottom of it. A blue hue filled the stone as the mage's hand slowly raised as it froze the bath til he reached the top. "How hot would you like it?" Attius looked up to Greymane, watching him slowly pull off his socks and belt.
"However you would have yours." Greymane said softly, like he wasn't his usual self as he pulled his linen shirt off revealing his muscular body. Hair covered all over his chest and stomach, his arms weren't shy of hair either. Attius's eyebrows raised as he looked directly at the ice block infront of him and let fire engulf his hands as he melted the ice whole and slowly heated up the water as if the bath was for him. "It's done sir." Attius stood up, shaking his hand slightly.
"I'll see you tomorrow, or … later on if you're awake." He stumbled around with his words. Greymane walked towards the tub, dipping a finger in "That's a good temperature. Thank you Attius. I'll see you next time you come in." He said, as his thumb hooked onto the waistline of his pants, waiting for privacy.
Attius smiled, turned towards the portal room and blinked multiple times before activating the rune portal and teleporting back instantly to his home.
"Oh my fel. Thank god for the Runemasters." Attius said flustered as anything as he blinked into his bed and jumped directly onto of it, burying his face into his pillow, falling asleep quickly.
CHAPTER TWO
Attius awoke to footsteps filling his house on the ground floor, he jumped to attention and bolted down stairs, his arms charged with arcane magic, small runes hovering around his glowing hands. "Oh. I'm terribly sorry sir." He dropped his hands as if he was holding a loaded gun.
"Don't be. You reacted as anyone would if they heard footsteps, I forget how loud wooden floors can be." Genn admitted, as he pushed his weight down into one foot making the floor creek slightly.
"I was coming by to see what my new partner lives like. If you have a dog or not. Things people tend to know when they spend time together." He continued to look around.
"I agree, I saw your quarters so it's only fair. Would you like a drink?" Attius offered to break any tension he thought he could feel.
Genn was fully dressed in his usual heavy leather coat, still looking rugged as he did the night Attius met him. His beard was more than caught up to his normal goatee, the beard trailed down his neck, reaching the tufts of hair that showed through the linen shirt below the coat.
"I am fine, I had something before I came here. The portal works perfectly, I usually get a spinning feeling in my head but not this time."
"Ah! That's because the runes are more attached to the city, it's like the deeprun tram almost but magic" Attius excitedly interrupted Genn without realising
"So that means jumping through your portals would be the best for me. More and more I'm impressed and relieved I got you." Genn gave the mage a smile as he walked around looking up at the stairs past Attius's body "May I?" he stepped up the first two steps awaiting Attius's answer
"Please sir, be my guest" Attius said as he quickly climbed the stairs to get out of Genn's way.
As Genn passed him, he could smell a strong fragrance of cologne and wine. It filled the mage with an odd satisfaction. "I think I've worn that cologne before" Attius blurted out as he saw Genn lock eyes with him before looking off again. "Jeez shut up" the mage thought to himself as he saw Genn look into his bedroom.
"It's bigger than I thought in here, a lot bigger than the other houses? I'll take a wild guess and say it's a perk of being one of the only runemasters around the city?" Genn said lightly even playfully if anyone else were to hear him.
"It has it's perks, plus the bed is comfy. Beats any of the other beds in the city" Attius blinked over to the bed patting it while trying to tidy it up.
"You haven't felt mine, Feels like sleeping on a cloud. It supports my other side as well when he's… out and about" Genn said walking over to the bed and feeling the end of it with his hand for a few seconds "You don't have a big bathtub either, how does someone your height fit in that?" he pointed out to the medium sized tub. Attius wasn't a extremely tall person by any means, he stood at 6 feet tall. A ordinary sized male.
"I make it work, magic helps a lot" Attius blushed at the fact that the Genn Greymane was in his bedroom talking about mundane things. Not giving out orders… yet.
"Per our agreement, you may stay in my quarters if it makes things easier. You can use the bath to see what it's like to fit in a big sized bath and if I'm not around or in it and you feel fatigued you may use my bed to get a good nights sleep." Genn offered "If you aren't allergic to fur that is" he chuckled to himself slightly as he walked out of the room and to the stairs.
"I'll see you around Attius, it's a nice place you have here. Remember my offer." Genn said loudly as he descended the stairs before a small whirl of the portal zapped.
"Oh gods" Attius said as he fell back onto his bed, rubbing his temples trying to progress what situation he landed himself in. Genn Greymane was just in his house and offered his quarters to the mage! Nothing like that happens around this city. Genn is known to be brash and intense but to Attius he was sweet and nice.
The smell of Genn still filled Attius's nose, there was something so sweet yet aggressive about the man that made the mage's head spin. His body warmed up within seconds, as if he had just conjured a fireball.
The fresh memory of Genn's almost naked body flashed as he held his eyes shut, the hair that covered him was unlike Attius had seen before. The way Greymane looked under all his clothes was like a dream.
After a while Attius finally snapped back to reality, thinking about the offer. "I should stay there, theres not much here anyway. Genn's over there so therefore I should be there. I might be able to see him shirtless more often if I'm there." said happily to himself "No! No no it's a business deal I'm helping him out. He just lost the king to some unknown threat hes only being nice because he needs you." Attius tried to reassure himself as he ran around his room packing a medium sized back pack that seemed to fit just about anything he put in it. No matter the size.
Two hours had passed as the mage tidied up his house and grabbed the last bits and pieces he needed, packing them into his back pack as he entered the portal, instantly inside Greymane's quarters. The smell Attius had been trying his best to keep in his mind was everywhere around the room, just more stronger scents this time. The perfumed water that kept Genn's clothes filled the room. Just the enjoyable smells were there, no Genn.
"Sir? It's Attius! I thought about your offer and I'll stay here to get things moving faster." he called out as he walked into the main quarter looking around the eloquent room for Genn.
"In here mage." Genn's voice carried from another room, the bathroom.
Attius blushed as he walked over to the doorway, expecting nothing and everything at the same time. As he approached the doorway he saw Genn relaxing in the bathtub. His chest looking darker than Attius had ever seen. I don't think anyone had seen Greymane this way.
"All that talk of bathtubs in your house made me to just sit down and try to enjoy one but it keeps going cold. Faster than usual" he said with a growl. "Would you mind?" Genn raised his muscular arm out of the water and let it hang over the side.
"I… yeah I can do that. I just…. Need to put my hand in the water with you… is that alright?" Attius said slow as he tried his best not to fumble over his words as he walked over to the tub, standing tall over Greymanes naked wet body.
"Whatever you need to do." Genn said looking directly at Attius then let his eyes wander to the roof before shutting them.
Attius rolled up his sleeve and kneeled down besides the bath. He could not believe that he was doing what he was doing this close to Genn Greymane. His hand hovered over the water before going down.
The feeling of a thick muscular thigh wrapped around Attius's hand, instantly the mage pulled his hand out and apologised, his face red as anything.
"Hah! It's fine. I'm no stranger to being pet. Trust me." Genn said, as the last of his words left his mouth he moved his head looking directly at Attius, giving him a smile
"Sorry. I thought the tub was bigger" he chuckled as he put his hand back into the water and brushed past Genn's outer thigh this time and let his hand glow orange. His hand stayed in the water as steam rose all around the tub
"Ah, that's better. Thank you." Genn gave a sigh of relief "I needed this. I usually take a extremely hot bath before I get to work." he confided as Attius raised his hand from the bottom of the tub and let it brush past Genn's thigh before removing it completely.
"Pleasure to help you sir. I'll leave you to it."
"I'll see you out there Attius. We have a lot of work to do. Please try to relax while we can." Genn said softly "I am well versed in massages if you need." he hummed closing his eyes before sinking into the tub.