A/N: For those of you following the Scion verse, here is an anon prompt - a one-shot that shows more of the way Sebastian suffers in his duty to protect Kurt, and that Kurt understands because he wants Sebastian, too. Well, someone has a thing for unrequited love. Warnings for nudity, loose interpretation of religious themes, talk of demons. AU with supernatural elements.
Kurt snickered, smothering the sound by shoving his face into his pillow.
Then he giggled, muffled by the polyester fiber-fill, but loud enough to be noticed.
He crossed his legs at the ankles and squeezed tight, trying desperately to stay still, but it was torture. Simply torture.
Some of it he could ignore. Parts of it even felt good. Too good. He thanked God that he was laying on his stomach or else it would be embarrassingly obvious just how good it felt. But the lower Sebastian got on his back, the closer to his spine and his hips, the more ticklish it became.
Sebastian painted a swirl that dipped over Kurt's hip bone and that did it. Kurt scooted out of reach, destroying an entire row of runes.
"Kurt," Sebastian whined, reaching for the already pitch black washcloth by his knee. "I need you to lie still, or I'm going to have to do the whole thing over again.
Kurt blushed. That actually didn't sound like a bad thing.
"I'm sorry," Kurt said, repositioning himself on the bed, curling his arms beneath his pillow and hugging it tight. "I'm just really ticklish right there."
Sebastian knew. He knew all of Kurt's ticklish spots. He knew the ones that made him hum from pleasure, and the ones that made him giddy, and the ones that seemed to relax him the most. For days since they drove closer and closer to the coast, Sebastian had felt the presence of a new threat following them; a threat that could be evaded by cloaking the Scion in a spell written in runes – runes that Sebastian spent every night painstakingly painting onto Kurt's body with specially prepared plant dyes.
It took at least three hours to complete, and was the epitome of a labor of love; but it also felt like a punishment.
Kurt.
The Scion.
The Chosen One.
But most of all, his Kurt. His gorgeous Kurt, spread out naked on the bed they shared.
They traveled like boyfriends.
They lived like lovers.
Sebastian would give his life for Kurt, and not just because he made vows to do so; but Sebastian would never, ever be able to touch him. Not the way he wanted to. Not the way he fantasized about.
Sebastian sighed, smiling at the flush of red that covered Kurt's entire pale body.
Seeing that blush on Kurt's skin filled Sebastian with hope. Without a single word spoken between them, that rise of color made Sebastian believe that inside this boy, this savior, whose destiny required him to remain pure, was the soul of man who wanted him – heart and soul and flesh and blood wanted him.
Sebastian looked down the length of Kurt's body – his strong back, his muscular legs, his perfect ass…
Sebastian ran his tongue over dry lips.
Kurt peeked over his shoulder, suddenly shy as his gaze locked with Sebastian's intense green eyes staring down at him.
"Are you going to finish?" Kurt asked, his voice soft, struggling to hide his own need for the shirtless boy hovering over him.
It took a moment for Sebastian to realize that Kurt had spoken to him.
"Y-yes," Sebastian stammered, returning back to his pot of dye and his brush. "Yes, of course, Scion."
Kurt frowned. He didn't like Sebastian calling him Scion, but Kurt understood why.
He did it when he needed to be grounded. He did it when he needed to remind himself of his duty above all – above himself, above his personal feelings…
…above love.
Sebastian finished down Kurt's back in silence, his hand shaking slightly as he painted runes over Kurt's ass and down the backs of his legs; Kurt biting back a moan at the delicious sensation it created, trying not to make this more difficult on Sebastian than it needed to be – especially in light of what was coming next.
Sebastian drew the last rune, the one that locked the spell, on the soles of Kurt's feet. He sat back on his calves and looked down at his work, allowing it a moment to dry. He couldn't see the rise and fall of Kurt's back any more and Sebastian knew that he held his breath.
Sebastian knew because he held his breath, too.
Sebastian swallowed hard to give himself courage.
"Turn over, Scion?"
Kurt lifted himself up onto his hands and knees, taking longer than necessary to flip onto his back to give himself as much time as possible to stop the rapid racing of his heart.
Sebastian kept his eyes focused on his knees out of respect, his fingernails digging crescent moons into the skin of his thighs as he waited for Kurt to settle down on the bed.
Sebastian's eyes flicked to Kurt's face as Kurt looked up at Sebastian, and their gazes met, innocence and heat colliding in their combined stares.
Kurt was the first to roll his eyes and laugh, trying to ease the awkwardness.
"You know this is ridiculous," Kurt said, giggling again as Sebastian began a pattern over his collar bone. The spell written on his back didn't continue to his front. Instead, Sebastian drew the secret symbols of the angels, covering every inch of Kurt's skin, saving the symbols of the archangels to protect his core organs and his heart. He also decorated Kurt's face with these signs, but he saved that for last, since he felt it was a sin to cover Kurt's beautiful face. Sebastian knew these symbols by heart, and didn't need to concentrate as hard to recreate them, so Kurt would talk to him and tell him stories and jokes, trying to lift the veil of tension that surrounded them during these sessions.
"What's ridiculous about it?" Sebastian asked, curling a symbol around Kurt's pec, avoiding the sensitive skin surrounding his nipple. "It's important to keep you safe."
"Well, I should get the chance to do it to you."
Sebastian cursed himself quietly when his already suffering cock took interest, and he allowed himself to slip and imagine Kurt straddling his naked body, painting symbols of protection on his chest.
"But, the demons aren't looking for me," Sebastian explained condescendingly.
"They'd kill you if they found you anyway," Kurt said sadly. "It wouldn't matter."
Sebastian's hand stuttered and he paused with his brush poised above Kurt's heart.
"You look like me," Kurt continued, his voice thick with remorse, "we spend all of our time together so you carry my scent…"
Sebastian shifted over Kurt's body, letting the brush fall again and continue its work.
"That makes me the perfect decoy." Sebastian plastered a smile on his face that he hoped would fool Kurt into thinking this was all a part of some masterfully calculated plan.
"You're not a decoy," Kurt said quietly but with a force of emotion so great it almost shattered Sebastian's resolve to pieces.
It would be so easy to take Kurt, to make love to him, to end this for Kurt right now. Then they could be together.
Sebastian wasn't a sympathetic person; he never was. Responsibility, duty, loyalty – to what? The priesthood? The human race? That kind of devotion didn't exist in him for anyone except Kurt. It was for Kurt. It had always been all for him.
Sebastian made a shitty priest, but he'd make one hell of a husband.
Let the priests find a new Scion.
Who cared if it took another thousand years?
Who cared if there wasn't another Scion left?
Sebastian and Kurt could stand hand in hand and watch the end of the world together.
Then Kurt's soul would ascend to the heavens and Sebastian would burn in hell for all eternity because he had soiled the chosen champion and destroyed the only chance of salvation for the world.
Sebastian glanced into Kurt's face and saw his intelligent, perceptive blue eyes watching him. Sebastian was sure that Kurt had gained the ability to read minds, or at least emotions, somewhere along the way. Not that he would need that ability around Sebastian.
Sebastian was an open book; always had been where Kurt was concerned.
Sebastian smiled again, and this time it was softer, more genuine.
"If you want to paint the runes on me, you can, Scion," Sebastian said. "I'll teach you."
Kurt nodded and closed his eyes, tipping his head up and away while Sebastian quickly painted a long, swirling symbol down the length of Kurt's cock. Sebastian knew this one bothered Kurt the most, so he learned to finish it in seconds.
"I'd like that," Kurt said, releasing a shuddering breath through his lips when Sebastian was done. "But I'll put the runes on your chest, and the angelic signs on your back."
Sebastian squinted at Kurt in confusion, but Kurt beamed up at him with unrestrained joy over his brilliant idea.
"Why?" Sebastian asked, carefully moving down to Kurt's knees.
"This way when we lie down in bed together and you wrap your arms around me the demons won't know where you end and I begin. Then I can keep you safe."
Sebastian bit his tongue hard to keep the tears in his eyes from falling onto Kurt's skin and ruining his work.
He didn't need to soil Kurt in order to be condemned to hell.
He was already there.