Lovers in Madness

It was earlier than they needed to get up, though later than they would have been allowed to sleep in on a school/work day, but Sabbath had a damned good idea what, precisely, had gone on in her son\'s bedroom the night before and she also had the idea that it would be a bad thing if Kieran\'s parents found out about it before he could tell them. A vampire\'s senses were acute. And while there was nothing she could do about the telepathy, she could help rid them of the smell of blood and sex. Dwyn didn\'t lock or enchant his door because Sabbath almost never barged into his room, but today she opened it and strode in, not at all surprised to find them curled up and still carnally entwined beneath the thick blankets she\'d put on his bed for winter. Grasping the bedcovers at the bottom, she gave them a good YANK and sang cheerfully, \"Good morning, boys! Up and at \'em!\"

Kieran really, -really- wanted to curl in on himself and pretend that Sabbath\'s voice was part of a cruel nightmare. His subconscious mind obediently shuffled her voice into a dream, and the nekojin curled into Dwyn with a tiny whimper, desperately not wanting to leave that warm cocoon. He was ensconced in his own world and ignoring anything he didn\'t want to exist there.

Dwyn, however, was awake like a shot, bolting upright and out of Kieran\'s arms (from surprise, he immediately returned once he realized what was happening) and glaring at his mother even as his cheeks flushed just slightly. \"MOM!\"

That jarred Kieran into wakefulness and he started, his head snapping to the side to regard Sabbath. His sleepy look of puzzlement quickly changed to embarrasment as a dark red stain spread over his cheeks. ~Well, at least she looks like she\'s about to laugh at us rather than yell, so that\'s a plus,~ a part of his brain cheerily told him.

Sabbath folded her arms and grinned at them. \"Bathtime, boys. Get up.\"

Dwyn groaned. \"Mooooooooooom!\"

\"Dwyn, I think we\'re -stuck- together,\" Kieran said dryly. \"I think we\'ll survive... er... cleaning up some,\" he finished, ears folding back.

Sabbath\'s eyes narrowed. \"Do you REALLY want Kieran\'s father to be able to smell blood and sex all over you? I\'ve run a nice, hot, pungently scented bath. You can share the tub for all I care, but you\'re taking a bath. Now, SCOOT.\" She smacked her son on the ass, turned on her heel, and strode out of the room.

Dwyn meeped at the smack and wiggled until he could safely extricate himself from Kieran.

Kieran delicately untwined himself from Dwyn, albeit reluctantly, and sat up. \"I guess that means your mom\'s okay with it,\" he said brightly, taking that as a good sign for the day. Realistically, he figured that his parents would most likely tolerate it if they didn\'t like it, but he wasn\'t sure. He glanced back at Dwyn and a smile broke across his face. It didn\'t MATTER what anyone else thought. He was young, in love, and the world was his for the taking. And with Dwyn at his side, ANYTHING was possible.

Dwyn was scraping Kieran\'s semen off of his stomach and looking oddly happy to be doing it, examining the caked whiteness under his nails. \"Yeah, well,\" he said, flushing slightly. \"I mean.... she\'s had ME, so it\'s not like she\'s a stranger to sex, right? I mean, the whole virgin pregnancy thing just doesn\'t work these days.\" He slid off the bed slowly, testing his balance and finding that only his perceptions and emotions had been knocked out of whack by their activities. \"You okay?\"

Kieran laughed softly and bounced to his feet, feeling more energized than ever. All that excess energy was leaking over, sparkling in the air palpably as he smiled sweetly, eyes dancing. \"I am better than okay,\" he purred. \"I have you.\" He held out a hand to Dwyn.

Dwyn took it and pressed the backs of Kieran\'s knuckles to his lips. \"That you do,\" he said matter-of-factly. \"And, now that I think about it, that hot bath does sound good. And assuming the curtain is drawn, promising.\"

Kieran laughed, stepping closer to Dwyn and winding arms around him. He stretched up onto his tip-toes and kissed Dwyn lightly, pressing against him. \"I think I\'ll make it a point to draw the curtain, then,\" he smiled.

Dwyn smiled and kissed him back passionately, then settled back on his heels. \"Okay then. Let\'s go... we can take a while, so my mom can wash your clothes. Since they\'ll smell too,\" he explained. \"Unless you brought a spare set.\"

Kieran shook his head regretfully. \"Nope. Maybe I could borrow something of yours. You\'re not... that much bigger than me,\" he said wistfully. It really kind of sucked being the size of a ten year old.

Dwyn kissed him. \"Of course you can. You\'ll look adorably small swamped in my clothing. That, and mom still has some stuff I outgrew before I wore it out. I think she always meant to give it to a starving orphan or something, but starving orphans aren\'t starving for long around here.\"

Kieran laughed softly and nuzzled into Dwyn, nibbling on his collarbone. \"Nothing like the universal joy of boyfriend clothes,\" he murmured contentedly. He purred happily, tail swaying lazily behind him.

Dwyn smirked and nodded. \"Nothing like,\" he agreed dryly, taking Kieran\'s wrists and pulling him toward the waiting tub. It was a large brass deal, easily big enough for both of them, an old-fashioned clawfoot that steamed and smelled absolutely heavenly. Something pungent and earthy, while at the same time spicy. Something Kieran had probably smelled on Sabbath now and again. Something that seemed to relax him and energize him all at once.

Kieran\'s nose twitched and his tail flicked up like a furry periscope. He tugged Dwyn toward it, peering into it and licking his lips. He liked water pretty well, as long as it wasn\'t too cold. And he really liked being clean. \"C\'mon. Let\'s get slippery.\" He tried to say it with a straight face, but he had to giggle.

Dwyn giggled too and climbed in, slipping on the slick bottom and falling with a yelp and a splash. He caught himself on the rim of the rub and raised his head above the water, laughing. \"S\'nice,\" he purred, shivering as his skin acclimated to the heat. \"Come on, join me?\"

Kieran nodded and stepped over the rim gracefully, keeping his footing in the water and sinking down with a pleased purr as the water surged up his skin. \"Umi no ashi...\" he murmured lightly, sinking into the water, hair sinking around him.

Dwyn tilted his head, watching Kieran\'s hair float and spread with the water. It was pretty. Then again, Kieran was pretty enough to make him drool rather consistantly now that his thoughts took a sexual vein toward him. He sank into the water up to his eyes and let out a breath through his nose, reveling in the comfortable warmth.

Kieran stretched felinely, tail swishing through the water, fur a sloppy weight. He did look a bit funny when wet, and he absolutely HATED getting the insides of his ears wet. His ears folded back then to protect themselves in advance. He sat up and rubbed a hand over his belly lightly, purring. He did like a good belly rub, even if he did it himself.

Dwyn ducked all the way under the water and shook his head as his hair moved back and forth in slow motion, a golden-brown cloud until he popped back up, still breathing easily, as though he hadn\'t even held his breath. He reached for a thick slab of tallow soap with ground herbs worked into it and began to rub his body down from neck to toe.


(some time later...)


Sabbath gave the ceiling a long-suffering look and shook a spoon at them. \"You two will have to tone it down today,\" she warned them. \"break the news to your families GENTLY.\"

Kieran smiled sheepishly up at Sabbath and nuzzled into Dwyn\'s side. \"As much as it pains me to let go, I\'ve got to agree. While my family\'s pretty good at accepting stange things... they still freak sometimes. \'Specially \'tousan. He\'s way too high strung.\"

Sabbath smiled warmly at them. \"I\'ve got porridge cooking. Dwyn, show Kieran where the brown sugar and milk are and then you boys can sit down. Hopefully we\'ll manage a quiet breakfast before my house is overrun.\"
Kieran tried not to giggle as he stuck close to Dwyn, taking note of the sugar\'s location and seating himself next to Dwyn. He surreptitiously slid the chair over enough that he could rest his head on Dwyn\'s shoulder, purring softly.

Sabbath didn\'t seem to care about their proximity, except to smile in an \"Awwww, kawai!\" way at them almost constantly. Her cat, Mikoto, leaped into her lap and settled down, purring as he kneaded his silken black feet on her legs and she rather quickly ate her porridge. Dwyn ate voraciously. Not only was he a growing boy, but he\'d expended a lot of energy on Kieran in the past couple of days.... energy well-spent.

Kieran ate enough to satisfy Sabbath, having long since learned that saying \'no\' did him a great little of good. He was actually hungry for once, too; maybe it had been all that... exertion. He almost giggled as he thought of it as \'exertion\' and tried to clear his mind and eat his over-sugared porridge, but Dwyn was so close and there was really no reason NOT to think about him. Abous how lovely last night, this morning had been. About... well, okay, maybe there WAS a reason, he conceded, shifting in his seat with the slightest hint of an embarrassed smile.

Across the table, Sabbath giggled, and Dwyn\'s hand slid down and over Kieran\'s thigh. He continued to eat rapidly, as though nothing was happening, even as his hand slid between Kieran\'s legs.

Kieran kept a remarkably straight face as he slid one leg up over the corner of the chair, reminding himself not to purr. He only flushed the slightest bit, and it was hard to see; however, his tail was quite anxiously twitching in the air behind him, a dead giveaway to his mnetal state.

Sabbath just ignored them. Let them play - they were young and had the energy to do so. She knew very well how it was to play when you were young. She\'d had Dwyn when she was nineteen. Dwyn, meanwhile, massaged Kieran\'s groin slowly and methodically as he ate seconds and then thirds.

Kieran slowed noticeably from then on, having one interesting time trying to concentrate enough to keep eating. It was a delicious torment and he was quickly rock hard under Dwyn\'s hand, struggling to keep from pushing into that hand. Even if Sabbath knew, as she undoubtably did, there was no reason to make it blatantly obvious. And if he started whimpering like he wanted to, well, that would be a bit of a hint.

There was a skittering sound above their heads and Dywn\'s hand went still as both he and Sabbath looked sharply upward. It was the only sound though, and Sabbath folded her napkin and pushed her chair back. \"I\'m going down to the shop,\" she said quietly.

Kieran\'s eyes were as firmly fixed upward as Dwyn\'s, and he frowned thoughtfully. He relaxed after a moment, though his ears were still swiveled upward as he glanced back at Dwyn. It had most likely been a squirrel or something equally harmless.

Dwyn was stiff, golden eyes fixed on the way that led to the stairwell as Sabbath rounded the corner. He didn\'t eat anymore and though he didn\'t have a neko\'s ears, his own seemed oddly perked. His fingers scraped slowly across the tabletop.

\"Dwyn?\" Kieran asked softly, resting his hand atop Dwyn\'s. The look on the other\'s face wasn\'t half as frightened as it was... hopeful? Now what could to that to Dwyn? He was thinking about it quite intently.

Dwyn looked like a cat eyeing a mouse, ready to attack at the slightest provocation. For a long while, though, there was no sound. He didn\'t relax. He knew this routine already, far too well.

Kieran frowned and pushed his spoon further back onto the table as he leaned back, murmuring a spell to himself lightly until every sound in the shop was as amplified as though he were smack in the middle of the dwonstairs, neko ears twitching.

He could hear Sabbath moving around downstairs. Her steps were slow, with long pauses in between. He heard the door swing open and the chimes sing. He heard Sabbath gasp and then metal rang against metal and Dwyn was up and headed for the stairs like a shot.

Kieran was close behind him, almost tripping over him as he slipped down the stairs silently. Something wasn\'t right here. He couldn\'t say it was -wrong-... just... hypertense?

The clang and scrape of blades, ringing off of one another in amazingly quick succession, was audible to normal hearing when they were at the top of the stairs and Sabbath\'s low grunts when they were halfway down. The scene they burst in upon was.... odd, to say the least. Sabbath, looking very out-of-place in a warriors stance with a floor-length skirt, held twin knives and was struggling to hold off a taller, slender but brutally muscled man with short-cropped, frost-white hair and only a single remaining gold eye. He knocked her back, his strength, skill, and speed rather obviously superior to hers, and she let out a coughing yell as she threw herself at him again. For a blinding moment, silver flashed in just about every concievable direction.

Kieran\'s mouth dropped open. He\'d only ever seen metal move that fast when his fathers were sparring with each other, which, while one hell of a display, was nothing like this. This reminded him of a street-fight in all its ferocity and wildness. There were two reasons that he did\'t try and help Sabbath with a cast spell. One, she wasn\'t casting herself; had she been in dire straits, he suspected she\'d rely on her magic and to hell with the knives. Two, the little voice of memory was whispering in a pale copy of Dwyn\'s voice. ~I get them from my father.~

His foot caught her and threw her back. She slammed into a supporting pillar with an audible crack and slumped to the floor, gasping and holding her side. Dwyn took that opportunity to fly the rest of the way down the stairs and pounce the male. \"DAD!\"

Kieran tried not to stare, knowing it wasn\'t polite, as he scurried to Sabbath\'s side, hoping she wasn\'t permanently damaged. He was a bit distracted as he offered her a hand up, wide black eyes locked onto the Dwyn\'s father. Now what the other boy had said about him made sense... was obvious. That man was a hunter if he\'d ever seen one, predatory to the bone and beyond.

Sabbath flashed him a grim smile as she hauled herself up, patting his shoulder and taking a few deep, pained breaths. \"I\'m okay, baby,\" she reassured him. \"This old woman\'s got meanness in her that ain\'t even ingrown yet...\"

Meanwhile, the man didn\'t drop his knives but he DID catch his son in midair and spin him in a circle as Dwyn clung to him with all four limbs and made excited sounds against his chest.

Kieran didn\'t doubt that at -all- and just nodded slightly, watching Dwyn and his father with a slight smile. It was cute to see his lover (thinking of Dwyn like that -still- sent a shiver down his spine, not that he minded much at all) latched onto someone and squeaking like a four-year-old who\'d inhaled helium.

The man set Dwyn down and eyed him through his single remaining orb, which exactly matched Dwyn\'s in color. And to be honest, they were built the same, and had similar facial features. Of course, this person\'s face was bisected by three long scars. He looked at Dwyn appraisingly, then said almost accusingly, \"You are taller.\"

\"Yeah, well, he hit a growth spurt some time within the last two years,\" Sabbath said caustically, rolling her shoulders and folding her arms across her chest to glare. \"How considerate of you to show up just in time for breakfast.\"

Kieran decided to watch and not say a word. It wasn\'t his business and what\'s more, he didn\'t really want to get into it. Only the twinge of anger he felt at the very idea that anyone could leave Dwyn for two years made him want to speak, but he wisely suppressed that urge, choosing to instead stand beside Sabbath (as inching over to Dwyn would be fun, but potentially dangerous) and chew on his lip.

Sabbath seemed to share Kieran\'s irritation that Dwyn\'s father was away so much, but she was swiftly burying it under a mask of courtesy as Dwyn pulled away, babbling a mile a minute. \"Where have you BEEN? Did you ever get to Gashmen like you said you wanted do? How\'s everybody on the Scimitar? How long are you staying? OH....\" He seized the man\'s bandaged wrist... the man wore bandages in the same places Dwyn did... and dragged him toward Kieran. \"Dad, this is Kieran. Kieran, this is my dad.\"

\"Better known to his terrified victims as Farfarello,\" Sabbath supplied. \"Better known to his family as Jay O\'Connaillain.\"

Farf shot Sabbath a half-reproachful, half curious look, then turned that liquid gold eye on Kieran.

Kieran managed a slight smile, overwhelmed by the rate at which Dwyn was speaking, the sarcasm that was rolling off Sabbath, and that highly unnerving gaze. He dipped his head graciously. If he hadn\'t been afraid of Dwyn, he wasn\'t going to be afraid of his father. It might have been a stuid decision, but Kieran was the type who usually learned the hard way due to sheer optimism. \"Hello,\" he said softly, curiosity glinting in the boy\'s obsidian eyes.

Farfarello eyed him for a long moment, then glanced at Sabbath. Sabbath made a sound of pure exasperation, seized Kieran\'s hand, seized Dwyn\'s hand, and smacked them into interlocking. \"Should I spell it out for you?\" she demanded. \"Your son found a mate.\"

\"I somewhat gathered that when you spoke of him as though he was family,\" Farfarello told her just as dryly.

Kieran\'s cheeks darkened but he held up remarkably well under Sabbath\'s unique brand of pressure. He couldn\'t really do much but smile in a vaguely apologetic (and somewhat lovestruck) way, saueezing Dwyn\'s hand lightly. Some strange part of him hoped that he\'d be liked by this wild, primal man.

Farfarello tilted his head, then eyed Dwyn again. Whatever he was thinking, he kept it to himself, hidden behind an almost hungry smirk. Sabbath took control of the situation immediately, shooeing all of them back upstairs to finish breakfast and informing Farfarello that he\'d have to eat with them. To which he shrugged and seemed neither opposed nor inclined, but merely aquiescent.

Kieran let himself be herded, accustomed by now to Sabbath\'s tendency to command anyone within hearing range of her commands and a few outside if she felt she needed to, and trained to obedience. By the time he was done dissapearing the porridge, he had spaced out slightly, dark eyes unfocusing as they stared at something that wasn\'t real.

Farfarello sat down and rather laconically answered most of Dwyn\'s excited questions. Which proved interesting, despite itself. He had been adventuring, after all, and had a lot of tales of his travels and struggles and the crew of a ship called the Scimitar.

Large black cat ears twitched back and forth between Dwyn and Farfarello as Kieran absorbed what the other two were saying. He repressed the childish urge to ak stupid questions and let his eyes forget about working, giving him a glazed look as he listened intently.

Dwyn was animated and flushed, obviously thrilled at his other parent\'s presence and seeming to mostly miss the looks Farfarello and Sabbath exchanged over the table. Mostly cool ones, with slightly narrowed eyes or the quirk of lips in a smirk. What, exactly, they were telling each other by such behavior was a mystery, but breakfast was quickly polished off and Sabbath hauled the dishes off to clean them so she\'d have enough to entertain with later.

Kieran liked seeing Dwyn lit up like that and couldn\'t help but smile. It was so obvious that the boy adored and worshipped his father. He wasn\'t too curious about what Farfarello and Sabbath were telling each other in the mysteriously universal language of Parent; he got enough of that from his fathers. And considering that Daddy usually used telepathy if he needed to communicate with Yuka privately, he didn\'t think he had a snowball\'s chance in hell of figuring out just what they meant. Instead, he watched Dwyn with a slight smile, tail swaying.

\"Kieran, come help me with the dishes, would ya?\" Sabbath summoned him, elbow-deep in sudsey water, distracting Kieran from watching Dwyn has he hadn\'t ceased to do since that morning. it was rather obvious to anyone who looked how Kieran couldn\'t take his eyes off her son, and Sabbath, with her Weave-attuned senses, could practically see the silver chord humming strong between them. None the less, she didn\'t want Kieran to feel neglected. She had no problem with Dwyn\'s choice of mate, so she\'d done the only logical thing.... accepted Kieran as her son in advance.

Kieran wouldn\'t mind at all. There were times that simple labor could be satisfying, and he prowled over to Sabbath\'s side, not knowing why he made it a point to walk gracefully and with perfect silence. Rolling up Dwyn\'s far-oversized (on Kieran\' tiny body, anyway) sleeves, he wished for a moment that he had one of \'tousan\'s cloth strips to tie around the tunic, but such luxuries were far away. He got over it quickly and set to helping Sabbath, humming idly as he stared blindly at the dish in his hands. It was heavy, but that was about all his mind was processing except for the sound of Dwyn\'s voice.

Dwyn\'s voice quickly dropped low as chairs scraped and he and his father got up and moved toward the crackling fireplace. Now Farfarello seemed to open up... his low, accented, lyrical and hypnotically musical voice was heard, just barely, as often as Dwyn\'s. Sabbath smiled at Kieran - always willing to help out, and so ADORABLE in her son\'s too-big clothing.

Kieran beamed up at her. \"So I get to call you mum, right?\" he inquired impishly, making sure the cup he was holding was spotless before rinsing it off. His tail twitched sporadically.

\"Well, as long as you keep helping with chores, I suppose there\'s no reason why not,\" she told him evenly. \"Especially since you practically LIVE in my house.\" She patted his head and scrubbed the large pot she\'d cooked the porridge in.