118 » oh darling i can hardly breathe

[ironwind]

[The thing about honor, Aether has learned, is that it doesn't cover expenses.

The title of Honorary Knight may be a lofty one, but it didn't come with money, or any kind of reward — so for the time being, it's as good as worthless. Aether may be recognized by the local authorities, but he's really just another adventurer, a traveling mercenary, whatever the people of this world call their hired blades. Sure, he drove Stormterror from the city, but that was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. In truth, most people in the city still don't know his name or his face, and that's fine, really. Aether isn't looking for fame.

He has basic needs, though. He can only sleep outside under the stars for so long, and even if he can skip a meal or two, Paimon can't, and she doesn't deserve to starve, anyway. He needs money, and food, and a place to stay. He'll be able to get that sooner or later through honest work, he's as certain of that as he is of the sword he can call to his hand at a moment's whim, but for now, just for now...

Just for one night, maybe —]

Comments

[ironwind]

[He finds out pretty quickly that there's a certain alleyway in Mondstadt where these deals happen. (There's always a certain alleyway, or a certain street, or a certain road, or a certain park.) A place where everyone goes when they need to be attended to — a place the Knights and the Church of Favonius turn a blind eye to because, well, they have other problems to deal with.

Besides, in the city of freedom, where wine flows as freely as wealth does, it should be perfectly natural that some people choose to trade sex for money.

Aether's there, and the johns know his type, though his type is rarely clad in armor, rarely wears embroidered clothing and jewels that shine in the dark. Still, he's clearly young, attractive, and desperate. Other details don't matter. It didn't take him very long to get a prospective customer wheedling him, slurring slightly, probably having come right out of the Cat's Tail in hopes of getting another kind of tail.

"Come on, I don't have the money on me right now," says his prospective client. He's a nobleman, well-dressed — brunette, blue-eyed, not too awful-looking, though a bit weak-jawed and unmemorable. "But if you come back to my place, I can pay you thirty thousand for the night."]

I'm not going anywhere with you for anything less than forty thousand. Ten thousand up front. How do I know you're not going to waste my time?

[Aether's tone is calm and measured, even gently threatening, but this only seems to make the young noble want him more. "I — I'd never waste your time, beautiful. I promise, I'm good for the money! Just come with me back to my place —"

Aether doesn't trust him; someone who actually had money wouldn't be implicitly begging like this. Leaning against a wall, dimly illuminated by a streetlamp, the traveler doesn't look upset or uncomfortable so much as he is just annoyed. He'd rather not have to deal with this man if he can help it, but beggars can't be choosers, and he might just give in. Still, where's another option when you need one...?]

[spiralabyss]

[It ought to be said that Kaeya doesn't visit the red-light district every day.

To clarify: he doesn't visit the red-light district to be a paying customer. Kaeya's greatest strength is that, if all the Knights of Favonius are good cops, he is their one and only bad cop (at least insofar as Teyvat may or may not employ that kind of language). He can associate with lonely grandparents and hardened criminals alike; he alone presents the kind of shady and dubious self-image that lets him befriend Treasure Hoarders and — as a certain Traveler will put it sometime in the future — "flirt with the dark side."

So if he's spotted chatting up a whore or two, it's not a problem, now is it? It's just the sort of thing that Sir Kaeya is known to do. The Knights of Favonius have a few laws against prostitution on the books, but Kaeya never arrests any of the prostitutes, not really. He checks in sometimes, speaks quietly with a few of them, just to see if business is doing well. He lends a listening ear to the girls when they have clients that are too rough or have asked for things that are too dangerous to give. Most will offer to bed him — some even for free — but he never takes them up on that kind of thing. He doesn't need the women to think that he's started to abuse his position, and besides, he's here to protect, not to have fun.

No one else will do it, and someone has to make sure they have someone they can trust.

Mondstadt may claim to be the city of freedom, but it is, hypocritically and paradoxically, a city of conservative and aristocratic prudes before that. It'd be one thing if their ladies of the night were empowered and lifted up from poverty, but in reality, most of the women who are out doing this kind of work don't want to be doing it either. Theoretically, the church ought to welcome them with open arms, but most only deal with side-eyeing and implicit judgment from the good sisters at the cathedral, and even renegade sisters like Rosaria don't have time for these downtrodden souls. But they're not to be pitied. Kaeya knows that. Those that society has outcast as sinners — they're never to be pitied. He knows that all too well.

What a surprise, then, when the Cavalry Captain peers down a street as he's making his rounds, and finds the city's brand-new Honorary Knight there.

Not as a customer, but haggling with a prospective client, no less.

It makes sense, he thinks rather cynically; their honorary position didn't come with a salary, and as a traveler and an outlander, coming from outside the city, of course Aether wouldn't have much coin. Still, that he would be desperate enough to do this...

It piques Kaeya's interest. Enough that he doesn't bother with an arrest, or anything so serious. He saunters up to the pair, casual as anything, hands upon his narrow hips. He smiles.]

Why, good evening, Jonathan.

[His eye, almost silver in the moonlight, falls upon the young nobleman, whom Kaeya knows by name. They used to be friends, of a sort, back when Kaeya was one of the Ragnvindrs. Of course, none of Kaeya's friends were really his friends then.]

Now what is it that you want from this young man, I wonder?

[ironwind]

[Jonathan jolts with fear when he's addressed. He turns around, wide-eyed and panicked; his fingers curl in a way that suggests he is already thinking about running. "S-Sir Kaeya!" he stutters. No doubt all memories of their past association have already escaped him. "I — I — I didn't think I would see you here!"

A ruddy flush is creeping its way up the nobleman's neck, giving him a rather unpleasant sheen in the moonlight. Kaeya is only standing there, smiling at him as pleasantly as if they've just run into each other by the local fruit stand, but even so, Jonathan seems to have managed to think three steps ahead, and he's decided that sating his lusts for the evening isn't worth having his reputation besmirched and dragged for all of Mondstadt to see. His eyes dart between Aether and Kaeya for a moment — then he makes his play at an escape.

"I wasn't doing anything in particular," the young aristocrat claims, very unconvincingly, and with a frankly pitiful affect. "I've just remembered something that I need to do, actually! P-Please excuse me!"

Then he's off, pitter-pattering into the night like a frightened mouse — and that leaves Aether standing in the alleyway with Kaeya. An "Honorary Knight" with one fewer prospect for the night and a law enforcement officer on his case.

He wonders if the knight is going to chastise him. Or worse, lecture. Kaeya didn't seem like the type to be quite so judgmental, though, at least from what Aether remembers of their brief first meeting — which is why the traveler decides that he'll linger for one more moment, just to see what kind of trouble he's in.

He doesn't look into Kaeya's eyes, though, and maybe that's more telling than anything else.]

...I appreciate the help.

[Though he's short at least 40,000 Mora now... but he won't say that out loud.]

[spiralabyss]

Do you, now?

[Thoroughly unconcerned by Jonathan's exit — though chasing after him would make an amusing diversion if he weren't more interested in the prize in front of him — Kaeya prowls a bit closer, settling into the place where Jonathan was standing. Casual as anything, he slides his arm over Aether's shoulder, acting as if they're old friends when they might have met only a week ago.]

Does this mean I've earned myself a discount?

[His fingers find purchase along Aether's chin, gripping the traveler's jaw and tipping that pretty face up to meet his. The barest hint of a threat slides into his voice, though it's only feigned.]

Or should I bring you in for solicitation? That would be quite the scandal, Honorary Knight.

[Kaeya's not really serious, of course; he never does that part of his job. He just wants to make Aether sweat — see the flicker of fear in his golden eyes, the way his thin frame and narrow shoulders might stiffen in shock. Some time in the future, perhaps, the traveler might be exempt from such prodding and poking... but right now? Kaeya finds it fun, even intriguing, to test the traveler's boundaries.]

[ironwind]

[Aether's startled. Of course he is — no one has ever, not in all his travels, handled him like this, so roughly, and seemingly without ill will. It's one thing to have one's chin jerked upward by an enemy — but it's something else to be touched by a man you met in a professional context and thought of as generally reliable if not particularly trustworthy. But Kaeya does this, doesn't he? He teases people, pokes and prods at them. He tests them to find their limits.

Since he suspects that Kaeya only means to poke and prod at him now, Aether steels his face over in wary concern and doesn't quite pull back. He meets Kaeya's gaze without fear, without shock. Even so, his perfect veneer of indifference has its flaws.]

You wouldn't.

[The traveler means to say it with confidence, but his voice wavers all the same. After all, Aether doesn't know that for a fact, and the look in Kaeya's blue eye is deadly serious. They don't know each other well enough for Aether to say that Kaeya wouldn't with any kind of sincerity.

(There's the thought, too, that it might not be so bad. Even if Kaeya coerced him, abused his position to get Aether where he wants him — that still might not be so bad.)]

You... ugh. What do you want, Kaeya?

[Frustrated by his flicker of weakness, Aether feigns exasperation to cover up his embarrassment, turning his gaze away.]

I'm not here to play around. If you're just trying to get something out of me for free, then say so.

[spiralabyss]

Oh? I'm being completely serious.

[Well, he's not, actually — at least not up until the words leave his mouth on pure impulse, and then it's much too late to take it back. He can be impulsive, there's no doubt about that; he just tries to be careful. Kaeya has limits surrounding Mondstadt. He has boundaries. He would never take one of the local whores to bed no matter what kind of need he might feel in the moment, or how tempting the offer might be, because he needs to maintain appearances — but his urge to tease the traveler has warped into something... worse. Something twisted. The kind of way that Kaeya is when he decides that the best way to resolve a situation is to put everyone's lives in danger.

Why not take advantage of Aether, as long as he's here? If he dies trying to sort out the affair with Stormterror, no one will ever have to know. And if he doesn't, well, he'll be on his way soon enough, won't he? He won't be returning to Mondstadt, and he'll be off plying this trade somewhere else.

Kaeya has to wonder why the boy wouldn't just ask Diluc for money, if he was so desperate.]

...Nothing less than forty thousand, was it? I can promise you that much.

[It'd be a pittance, really. The Knights of Favonius pay Kaeya well enough, and he only ever spends his salary on exotic clothing and his weekly tab at the Angel's Share. He releases Aether's chin, though, just to indicate that he can escape if he so pleases.]

Maybe even a bit more, if we both have fun with it. What do you say?

[ironwind]

[He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't excited — his heart is hammering in his chest. He can't even tell if it's lust or greed driving him. Forty thousand, minimum, to satisfy a man Aether would have been happy to fuck for free? No matter how demanding Kaeya might be, how merciless or rough, surely that's nothing he can't handle — it'll be the easiest money he'll ever make in this world.

He tries to keep his expression neutral, but there's no mistaking the way his eyes seem to glow bright with interest as he fixes the Cavalry Captain with a look of utmost determination.]

...Lead the way.



[At first, as Kaeya leads him through the streets of Mondstadt, Aether thinks that they're moving towards the Angel's Share, which would be a bizarre place for a risky midnight rendezvous — but then they turn, and the traveler realizes they're headed for the residential district. Down two streets, right the next, and suddenly they're at a home, one which Kaeya actually produces keys to.

Mystery of mysteries. Aether would have thought the man better-suited to this game than this. The first rule of buying a whore's services is to never let a trick into your home if you can help it.

Even so, he makes his way past the doorway and into the foyer, folding his arms a little protectively over his chest despite himself.]

I confess, I didn't expect you to actually take me back to your home.

[What did he expect? The Knights of Favonius building, maybe. An unused office. Even worse — or maybe better — any random alleyway, laden with glass from broken wine bottles, pressed up against the wall with Kaeya's heat behind him. But this is fine, by Aether's book. Less cold, for one thing, and far more comfortable.

He reaches up to touch the clasp on his scarf before he pauses and tips his head to one side, thoughtful.]

Do you want me to undress right away, or — [his tone takes on a slightly scornful, doubtful quality] — are you looking for a more romantic experience, Sir Kaeya?

[spiralabyss]

[Kaeya smiles at the question as he closes the door behind the both of them, locking it for good measure. There's a slightly sick and sadistic impulse in him to keep Aether locked in his house — because if it's dangerous for him to invite a whore to his home, it's just as dangerous for that whore to accept, now isn't it? — but that's an impulse, nothing more. A thought. It'd be nice to have a cute and willing little thing waiting for him at the end of every day. A trained, warm, pliant little traveler, eager to take his cock. But Kaeya's not naive enough to think that he'd get away with a crime like that, nor is he truly depraved enough to go through with it.

It's a thought, that's all. A fantasy, much like the one Aether is thoughtfully offering him now.]

Now isn't that excellent service?

[The spider's snared a fly in his web, now, and Kaeya's in no rush to get through the act, not really. He leans over and pins Aether up against a wall near the entryway — best that the traveler doesn't explore the house on his own for now. Smiles like a wolf with bloodied prey in its mouth.]

Which game do you want to play, Honorary Knight? Do you like it hard and fast? Or slow and sensual?

[He doesn't have to ask to know, really. The look in Aether's eyes says enough about that: it's cold and distrustful, world-worn and weary. Like that of a stray cat that's come to despise humans — which, in Kaeya's experience, only means that cat will melt all the more for someone who will finally treat it like something worth saving.

Licking his lips, he reaches out and undoes the clasp on Aether's scarf, pausing to press a kiss to the traveler's neck before he gently begins unwinding the white cloth.]

You strike me as the type who likes to be spoiled... I bet I could make you come just by telling you I love you.

[ironwind]

[Kaeya's comment is so nonsensical that Aether almost bristles, though he can't deny that something like embarrassment squirms inside of him at the thought of it. Kaeya hilted inside of him, whispering sweet nothings as he thrusts with steady patience instead of reckless abandon... that fantasy appeals far more than Aether wants to admit that it does, and he'd be lying if he denied that, in different circumstances, he might very well be willing to pay Kaeya for that treatment instead. But of course the traveler isn't going to say that out loud. It wouldn't be good financial practice to admit that he would be willing to give away his product for free.]

You — what are you even saying? That doesn't even — that's not how that works...

[And yet his protest melts into a sigh as Kaeya's lips find the bare skin of his neck and he reflexively bares more of it to allow the man full access to his body. Finally conceding that he's himself rather eager to get down to business, Aether closes his eyes and rests his hands on Kaeya's hips... though he suddenly remembers that he has yet to disclose something, er, rather important.]

A-Ah — wait, Kaeya, there's... there's something I should tell you —

[spiralabyss]

Hmm?

[Kaeya will find out in good time, anyway. The little kisses to Aether's neck are just a distraction, really; they don't matter nearly as much as the fingers he's sliding into the gold-edged hem of the traveler's pants, dipping down past his pelvis in search of the cocklet he's imagined the Honorary Knight to have ever since he showed up in Mondstadt with wings of wind and that little shirt —

— but he finds more than just that, he soon discovers, as his fingers identify the shape of Aether's cock and... something else. Past the gentle swell of the traveler's (predictably cute) penis, Kaeya finds more: smooth skin and silken folds. There's no outward reaction to his discovery past a slight widening of the eyes and an only half-involuntary cock of his brow.]

Oh. [A slight pause, and then he's running one finger up the length of Aether's slit.] Oh.

[There's no disappointment in his tone, of course. Just — surprise, perhaps. Then: healthy curiosity.

With a slightly devilish grin, Kaeya rubs one broad fingertip over Aether's clit, ignoring the burgeoning erection between the traveler's legs for the time being. This certainly changes his plans, but he's always been good at adapting.]

Should I be worried about protection?

[ironwind]

[It's — that's — well.

They've only known each other for so long, but Kaeya really has a way of catching him off-guard in every conceivable way, doesn't he? In an instant, the Cavalry Captain has breezily dismissed all of Aether's unspoken anxieties, and then the traveler has to wonder why he was ever worried at all. Of course a man like Kaeya wouldn't be at all deterred by Aether's extra parts. Indeed — if the slight, quiet hitch of Aether's breath is any indication as to how skillfully and deftly Kaeya's figured out how to pleasure the traveler who came here to service him — he's only too capable of rising to the occasion.

Aether bucks his hips into the touch before he can help himself — then, sighing, he twists his spine in what he hopes is a painfully attractive way, bringing one of his arms up to caress Kaeya's cheek.]

...You can do whatever you want...

[That... doesn't quite sound as enthusiastic as he feels. He swallows on some tension in his throat, pressing a brief kiss to Kaeya's jawline. It's a little clumsy. He's still struggling to slide into Kaeya's pace, trying to figure out what it is the man wants from him besides a night of fun and the indulgence of his curiosity.]

Nothing will happen if you come inside, so — do what you want. I'll clean up afterward.

[spiralabyss]

[It is painfully attractive, he'll give the traveler that. The urge to slam Aether into the wall and take him hard and fast is stronger than ever, but that's not the sort of man that Kaeya is, so he keeps his patience, holding his own urges back as he continues slowly rolling his finger in small circles over Aether's clit. The temptation to finger him is quite strong, but the knight thinks he'd like his gloves off for that; before that, thinking a few steps further yet, he'd like to get Aether jittery and honest with himself.

Well, the kiss is very cute, at least. Kaeya repositions their mouths, connects them more properly; his tongue demands entrance but doesn't push in or pry. The kiss they share is carnal and electric, and Aether's body feels like just the right size against his, lithe and delicate like all the things he likes to ruin. Oh, they're going to have fun.]

Wonderful. How gentlemanly of you.

[Two fingers, then, to pry Aether open and slowly work him towards wetness; he can feel the traveler getting quite slick between the legs already, but Kaeya knows how to set a mood. They still haven't gotten any more of their clothes off. He only continues to pulse his fingers against Aether's clit, kissing him gently at the crook of his neck, where the scent of his skin is sweetest.]

You might not be prepared for the mess that I intend to make, however...

[ironwind]

[The traveler is desperately trying to hold on to the threads of their conversation, following them to their ends, but he immediately forgets what Kaeya's just said as the captain's fingers roll over his clit once more and bring him somewhere sky-high. Ecstasy feels like the thudding heartbeat in his chest and all the blood coursing through his veins; it feels like the jolt of irrationally intense pleasure that jumps through his skull and down his spine when he feels Kaeya kiss his neck.

Aether's cock isn't being touched, but it twitches with interest as Kaeya fingers his clit, rubs at it and rolls over it and presses sweet promise into his nerves, and then the traveler's eagerly bucking his hips into the palms of those leather gloves as Kaeya's fingers dip inside and stretch him out. He wants this, wants it in a way that he didn't expect to when he agreed to sell his body for the evening; he's not sure he's ever had the experience of getting so wet so soon. Gods, and his clothes aren't even off yet — it's just Kaeya with his fingers and his kisses and his soft voice whispering luscious nothings into Aether's ear...]

Kaeya... [The sound of his own voice sounds far away, even to him.] Kaeya, I'm g-gonna come —

[It's embarrassing to even say that, but he meant to make Kaeya stop, somehow — meant to make him rethink his actions and take his clothes off, maybe? — and yet, the knight doesn't stop. He goes on fingering Aether through his orgasm, playing with his pussy while his cock dutifully surges forth with a healthy amount of thick white cum, and as the traveler falls to pieces in his arms, he thinks one thing: by the end of the night, he might wind up paying Kaeya 40,000 Mora instead.]