Of course I’ve missed you.
They have never been anything but wildfires consuming each other within an inferno of searing passion and desire and… love. Love that licked like flames eating away at the soft, vulnerable parts of their relationship. The ash left behind felt so much like the film of bone dust resting upon Cairo’s body as he waited to be awoken. What will they be left with? Nothing but ash and dust upon the wind and a black scar of destruction that scolded its way through their lives, their souls. Their hearts will already be ash.
But for now, Cairo feels it beating, even as it smokes like a torch. Can you see it? He thinks as he holds Zayir’s gaze. Can you feel the heat where our breasts press together? It burns my skin. It hurts Zayir.
For all his vulnerabilities, for all the questions that sit upon his tongue begging to be asked as slaves beg for freedom, so he feels like a god when he sees the way his words turn Zayir boneless. There is power in his voice, in this love. He clings to it, to these moments where he has control over Zayir, for the terrible truth is that Zayir destroys him with every long look, with every touch. Ah, like the tip of his wing now, trailing finger-tip light down his spine. He trembles at the caress. Cairo presses in, needing longing, feeling the way Zayir fits to his body. When they are here, like this, dancing, moving with bodies that know each other, that know the music. It is so easy to believe that they belong. Where, in these moments, Cairo asks, does he end and Zayir begin? It is his foolish hope to think that they are one.
But they are.
And they are not.
Cairo’s gold eyes tumble down and land upon the that boyish smile that gently curves his lover’s lips. It looks at where affection, possessiveness, gentleness and want gleam in the champagne gold that still wets his lips. Cairo’s own mouth still tingles with his words, with the memory of their touch - lips upon the shell of a gold-leaf ear.
Zayir does not answer immediately but their dance is answer enough. It is fighting, it is battle. A part of an endless war that leaves their hearts riddles with bulletholes. Cairo thought he might be weary of the war by now, he is certainly scarred enough, but he is afraid to live without it. He is scared what a truce might mean. He goes to turn, to leave, but Zayir is there to stop him. Zayir moves to go and this time Cairo is not ready. Forever and always they push they pull, they threaten to leave… until Zayir did.
The Prince in White.
A divine and beautiful man. An object upon which Cairo can pin all his hurt, remorse and jealousy.
Zayir left and found a Prince. He leaves again, now. The gilded man pulls himself from their clawing, fighting dance.
You know a look is not enough.
Cairo does know. He knows how Zayir has been trying to get into his bed, failing where all others seem to manage too easily. But the others are not Zayir. They do not drown Cairo in love and fraternity. They will not die upon a sword for him. They will not burn down a city for him when his own wildfire soul putters out. And that is why they do not share a bed, the mere thought is a wild thing within his veins. His nerves spark with the delight, they tremble with the terror. This love is too big, too dangerous.
This time Cairo pursues when Zayir leaves him. This time he cuts through the crowd as he should have when Zayir left to find his Prince. Their war is not over yet, his heart is not injured enough this night. He can still feel it beating weakly in his breast. It is not yet numb enough. It sobs in pain with its want of Zayir.
Cairo catches up with Zayir. His fellow Arete walked too slow. He knows how to escape Cairo, if he wants to. He already managed once. “Then why did you return?” Gods, he plucks another drink from passing tray and drains the crystal glass to numb the sting of such a question. A question filled with demand and a cruel, relentless pursuit of the truth. His aquiline head tilts as he stands, blocking Zayir’s escape like a wild thing, uncatchable, untameable, made for the endless sky.
@Zayir
