il_mostro | IC - INBOX/VOICEMAIL/TEXT/THREATENING LETTER

"You did not, and I demand that you do right now." Hannibal smiled as he pressed a kiss to Huaisang's ear. Then he settled against the side of the tub, listening intently to Huaisang's poem.

"That is a beautiful name, and very fitting." He looked around again. "You could hardly tell at least three other people live here with you. Or at least three people who are here consistently."

"Here consistently," Huaisang agrees, since living with him is stretching the matter a bit much. "Xichen has a room here technically, since I haven't yet given it away, but really he and A-Yao live in the house in the Down where I keep them. It's just myself and Jiang Cheng who live here." Huaisang looks a little sad for a moment, nestling his head against Hannibal's shoulder and pressing closer.

"Ah, pretty one." Hannibal kissed the top of Huaisang's head, before quoting Keats, "O solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap
Of murky buildings; climb with me the steep,—
Nature’s observatory—whence the dell,
Its flowery slopes, its river’s crystal swell,
May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep
’Mongst boughs pavillion’d, where the deer’s swift leap
Startles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell."

He smiled, gently tipping up Huaisang's chin so he could kiss the younger man. "Or in other words ... perhaps you and Jiang Cheng should not be in this house alone, but out and about. Enjoying the fresh air, so to speak."

Huaisang doesn't recognize the poet, and the language itself suddenly becomes strange and harder for him to understand, but he's able to get most of the sense of it.

"That's very pretty," Huaisang says, with a breathy little laugh. "But I have always preferred cozy beds and heated baths over the outdoors. Jiang Cheng and some of my other friends have plenty of experience in the rough outdoors. I prefer a pristine garden."

"Mmm, you are not the only one. You have created yourself an elegant nest here, though." He looks around again, admiring the elegance and sleek style, before he turned towards Huaisang again. "So Jiang Cheng is your Submissive and your friend. You are fortunate indeed. Is he a good friend?"

"Mhm," Huaisang agrees, snuggling. Hannibal is so subtle as he draws information that Huaisang doesn't even notice it's happening, and none of the topics he's touching on are anything Huaisang feels need to be guarded. "He is. He's extremely loyal to his friends and a very devoted lover. I've been very lucky in my friends and lovers in this place." Wiggling slightly, Huaisang turns his head to kiss Hannibal's cheek, including him in the friend and lover category which Huaisang considers himself fortunate to have.

"So sweet, my pretty one." Hannibal murmurs against the delicate shell of Huaisang's ear, giving it a soft kiss of his own. He takes another sip of the wine, and carefully delves further into the conversation.

"Now ... I believe you were telling me before, you were - are - a Sect Leader. Jiang Cheng is also a Sect Leader. Yet you were only lovers here. I would have thought you would have sought out connections of that variety back home. If only to deepen the bond between the two of you."

"Oh, did I?" Huaisang is so content and relaxed, loosened by the wine. But he still notices when the topic shifts to the politics of his home. He doesn't remember telling Hannibal either of those things. Perhaps he did, or perhaps Hannibal was resourceful. There are plenty of loose-lipped cultivators in the city.

Wrinkling his nose, Huaisang sips more at his wine. "Politics are so boring. I have to deal with responsibilities, I can't just go see my friends whenever I want. It's very stupid."

He rests his head on Hannibal's shoulder, looking up at him with puppy eyes. "Are you a Sect Leader?"

Hannibal is a little bit of everything. Mostly though, he is someone who overhears a great deal from others, simply by listening intently. Beyond that, he thought it was important to have a better grasp on whom, precisely, he was taking to bed.

Hannibal clucks his tongue slightly, before a laugh rumbles up from his broad chest. "Gracious, no, never. I have no interest in politics, especially after treating some of them. I am a Doctor, first and foremost. That, I find much more fulfilling than public service."

He gently pushed hair back from Huaisang's lovely face. "I take it that here, you are doing precisely what you wanted to do back home, instead of what you were actually doing back home?"

Huaisang nods confirmation, cheek rubbing against Hannibal's shoulder as he does so. "Yes. Though this place has been traumatic in many ways, it has also been wonderful and freeing. My business, my wardrobe, my home... I've been so fortunate, and it all makes me so very happy."

Smiling joyously, Huaisang watches his lover with a smile. "And the men here are very, very handsome and capable in bed."

"So affectionate." Hannibal murmured, as he leaned in to steal a few kisses against Huaisang's smiling lips. "You are so very charming. I can hardly resist you and your very well phrased compliments."

He tipped his head though, "Pretty one, has this place truly hurt you? Is there someone I need to speak to, on your behalf? I hate to think of you hurt, or used."

"I..." Huaisang hesitates, looking down into the water and chewing on his lip. "You don't need to speak to anyone. I have people protecting me, especially now. Nothing bad has happened recently. There were a few occasions where people were compelled by drugs or spells, but I don't blame them for that. That... those murderers who went on their rampage not long ago, Roman and I were on friendly terms at one point, even though he was once frightening and forceful. It was compulsion and a spell so I don't blame him for that. But his lover, Victor Zsasz? He threatened to scar my face for the crime of having drawn Roman's interest. I've avoided them both ever since."

Reaching for his cup again, Huaisang drains it. "There are my ex-lovers, too. Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen. After we parted ways, I felt wretched, guilty, shameful, unlovable... it took me months to heal. I've finally in the past two months been able to love and be loved without feeling wrong or inadequate."

"Ah yes ... the spree killers." Hannibal said thoughtfully, something flashing crimson in his gaze, before he gave Huaisang one of his best concerned looks. "Darling boy - you should not be playing with types like that. If you ever come across them on the street, make sure you call one of your protectors. They are the kind that hold ... grudges."

A slow nod, and he memorized those two names as well. "How could you ever think you could not be loved? You, who is so faultlessly alluring?"

"Sorry, daddy," Huaisang says, biting his lip and looking apologetic about Hannibal's worry about his choice of 'playmates'. "I'll be careful, I promise. And I will call my protectors. I don't trust those two at all, especially not now."

Flushing at the reassurance, Huaisang hid his face shyly against Hannibal's shoulder, peeking up at him. "I ... I thought... they... they said they loved me, even asked me for the three of us to be married. But I didn't want to be exclusive, especially not here where we're so often forced to... participate in things. I'd agreed to try it for them, but when I asked to be released from that, they dumped me. A week later, they married each other. And that made me feel that they'd never really loved me. If what they had was love, then perhaps I wasn't capable of loving or being loved. I doubted myself, doubted whether I knew anything about love."

"Thank you, my pretty one. I would hate to think of you in the hands of those seriously disturbed individuals." Hannibal kissed Huaisang's forehead gently, before listening quietly. Ah, this probably stemmed from a childhood trauma of being left alone by parental figures. That probably fueled a lifetime of abandonment issues that Huaisang ignored by filling the holes with objects, lovers and ... something else. This man was too clever to be that shallow.

"Oh, my pretty one ... that had nothing to do with you, and everything to do with them feeling insecure in their relationship without you being there as a third anchor. I have seen it many times in my practice - people rushing into commitment to prove that they are committed. I am not saying your former lovers are in trouble -- but I see this pattern repeating itself for them many times in their marriage." He pulled Huaisang up into his lap to be fully enclosed in his arms.

"At any rate, it makes you no less loveable. However, is that something that you want? A full-time partner, a lover?"

Huaisang snuggled into Hannibal's arms, very happy to be held and reassured. He nuzzled at his lover's neck, safe and soothed by his embrace. "Not exclusively, no. Especially not in this place. Back home, maybe. If it's safer, if it makes us both happy. Here, I'm so happy to have the lovers that I do, and I feel very loved by them. Jiang Cheng, Dorian, Dirk, Fenris, you. I couldn't bear to set any of you aside, and I would feel very wary toward anyone who asked that of me. I couldn't bear to give you up, Daddy." Pouting at the thought, Huaisang stuck out his lower lip and gave Hannibal puppy eyes, seeking further affection and reassurance.

"Oh, my precious, lovely one ... you will never have to. I am glad to have you, when I have you. However, we both have loves, and lovers, whom we have had long before we came together." Hannibal smoothed one damp hand through Huiasang's black, silky locks.

He leaned in to kiss that pouty lip, and give it a possessive nip in turn. "On the same thought process -- no one shall tell me I cannot have you eitehr, so. Casual lovers with a touch of 'I will share but I shall not be denied'."

"There's nothing casual about my feelings for you," Huaisang insisted. He shifted in Hannibal's lap, straddling him and rubbing their noses lightly together. "You're my only Daddy, after all. My Tetis. You're special to me. You're not the only one who's special to me, it's true, but that doesn't make this casual."

Hannibal's elegant eyebrows rose as Huaisang put himself into Hannibal's lap, then rubbed their noses together. His smile was faintly amused - well look at his pretty one. Putting in a claim as confidently as Hannibal ever had.

He nuzzled in turn. "Such a sweet, pretty boy you are. Wrapping your slender fingers around my wrist, and holding me in place for your very own." He planted a kiss on the tip of Huaisang's nose. "As you wish it, my darling pretty. You are my Pretty One, I am your Tetis, and we are not at all casual."

He began to feather Huaisang's face with gentle kisses. "I should buy you something beautiful to wear then."

Huaisang nods approvingly as Hannibal accepts his claim, and his eyes close with blissful pleasure at the sweet kiss to his nose. "I have lots of beautiful things to wear, Daddy. But I do like it when you spoil me, and I'd be happy to wear anything that would please you."

Basking in the kisses and affection, Huaisang slid his hands up to Hannibal's neck, clever fingers starting to gently massage at the tendons and the base of his skull. "My daddy. I am so happy to be yours."

"Then I shall have to find something unique as you are, my lovely bird." He nuzzled kisses across Huaisang's soft mouth, murmuring quietly. "Yes, I am yours ... and you are mine."

The muscled shoulders rolled, loosening at Huaisang's ministrations.

Beaming happily at the promises and the kisses, Huaisang returned the soft kisses, though most of his focus remained on the movements of his hands, seeking out tension in Hannibal's neck and coaxing it until it loosened. "If ... if anything ... ever happened, you're the dominant I'd want," he murmured, very quietly, scared to bring about the possibility by saying it. Tempting though it is, he much prefers keeping his own dominant status.

Hannibal closed his eyes in real pleasure, enjoying Huaisang's hands working out knots of tension that he had forgotten was there. He sometimes held himself so still that he ended up with slight pains in his neck that he typically ignored. Huaisang was making him aware of those nerve endings again - and soothing them in the same breath.

Then his eyes popped open at Huaisang's quiet ... confession? He looked at the slighter man, before he smiled. "I would be deeply honored -- and naturally I would accept. I hope that does not come to pass, however, as you are an excellent Dominant."

"I also hope it never comes to pass." Huaisang grins, cheerful again now that he can dismiss the topic. "I like my house and my businesses and my wardrobe and being in charge of everything myself. Including my submissives." Smirking, Huaisang lifts his chin, preening like the little spoiled lord he is. "But you are a fun change of pace. It's nice to be submissive to someone, as a treat."

"Mm, yes, I could see that from the moment you seduced me in my bedroom. You enjoy being in charge of how things ... progress." Hannibal answered, with a hint of humor. "You are quite good at being sexually submissive. I sincerely doubt you are submissive in any other part of your life."

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