Breakdown - 23. 22 Thorn in the Side

Mark held tightly to Aziel’s hand. He looked up with wonder and affection at the powerful lawyer that was his boyfriend. His fingers squeezed around Aziel’s, and Aziel’s squeezed back. In that moment, on the street under the sodium lights, it was perfection. Aziel smiled down on him, and they moved out of the crowd towards the valet parking.

“Aziel, this is perfect,” Mark said softly. He leaned against the man’s shoulder, sighing softly. His soft brown hair whisked about his head in the soft breeze of evening. “I was starting to feel like you were never around.”

“I was starting to feel like I was never around,” Aziel grunted. He passed the valet his ticket and they waited as the youth went to retrieve the car. “Work has kept me pretty busy these last couple of days.”

Busy it was. Seven big hits in less than three months. Of course, four of them were technically the same hit, but Aziel counted each person’s death as a separate situation. He had to plan for their demise all the same as he planned for the other ones. Three by poison (Chloroform that had been a fun experiment) and the other four by the ugly muzzle of his custom sniper rifle.

Tat, tat, tat, tat, four seconds, four tumbled bodies. Four heartbeats snuffed out before Aziel’s beat once. He remembered how it had been a very grey day, the sky uniform and depressing. He remembered the smell of the gunpowder and the slight kick of his rifle. Aziel never felt more at home then when he was looking at job well done, the shells of his gun clattering onto the small mat he was lying on.

The only good thing about getting so many jobs so close together was that his bank account (well, all twelve of them, in four different countries) were swollen with his earnings. Some quick transfers, wires, and he would be home free. He didn’t have to work for quite a while now, which suited his new plan perfectly.

He had a wayward experiment to finish.

He came back down to earth when Mark poked him in the stomach, just above the navel. He looked down at the little brunette boy with the dark eyes and the smiling mouth. He found himself smiling despite his usual reserve. He ran his hand through Mark’s hair. He had never considered sharing his life with someone. It had always seemed like it would be such a disaster. But here he was, gazing down into the soft brown eyes that he had lied into so many times without flinching.

It was for his own good.

“I love you,” Aziel said. It was unusual for him to say it without provocation.

Mark practically beamed as he looked up at him, throwing his arms around the taller man’s waist. The valet drove the car around to the door, and Aziel and Mark parted. The valet gave them a curious, snotty look over and then handed back the keys. Aziel glared at him and the valet quickly retreated. Mark was happily oblivious to all of it, climbing into the leather seat of the Porsche.

They drove home to Mark’s chatter about the play they had gone to see. He commented on the lighting, the acting, and the dancing; everything like he knew what he was talking about. Aziel found most of his comments amusing. A layman in the costume of a critic. He glanced over at Mark at a red light. The boy was talking in an animated fashion, his hands waving expressively even though Aziel was mostly missing it with his driving.

When they got home, Mark pressed Aziel into the wall. He looked up at him, his eyes shining in the light of the single lamp that had been left on in the penthouse. Aziel leaned against the wall and looked down on him, brushing some of his bangs out of his eyes.

“What do you have on your mind, hmm?” Aziel asked.

“You’ve been gone so much,” Mark whispered, curling his fingers in the other’s silk shirt. “I’ve been lonely.”

“Do you want me to get you a puppy?” Aziel teased.

Mark pouted, his bottom lip sticking out. Aziel laughed and leaned down to kiss him. Mark accepted the kiss and then pulled Aziel more firmly against him. He clung to him, wanting to feel every part of him, taut and strong, over him.

Aziel wrapped his arms around Mark, knowing what he wanted. Knowing he wanted to be close, and that he wanted Aziel to be tender. Tonight, Aziel thought as he picked Mark up off the floor, he would take his time. Be methodical. Bring everything that made Aziel into the perfect assassin and use it to be the perfect lover. He purred softly at the thought.

This gentleness… this was what Mark brought out of him.

Balanced by the violence that his experiments did. For Aziel could never bring himself to hurt Mark like that. The thought literally froze his heart.

Aziel took Mark to the bedroom. Their kiss never broke; a shared warmth that spread from one and pooled in the other. Mark’s arms looped around the assassin’s neck, embracing the deadly lover as if he were the last broken piece of flotsam in a sea of darkness. Aziel’s fingers were gentle where he explored his lover. He laid him on the bed, his head softly sinking into the feather pillow. Their mouths parted and Mark bit his lower lip, nearly whimpering.

Slowly, Aziel’s fingers moved over Mark’s body. He undid each button, kissing the flesh that was revealed. His fingers stroked along his smooth skin, raising gooseflesh with their touch and stiffening nipples in their grasp. Slowly, Aziel’s tongue lapped around the hardened nub of flesh. Mark’s fingers dug through Aziel’s hair, combing through the long strands. Aziel shifted down the bed as he laid the sides of Mark’s shirt down on the bed. He licked around the boy’s navel, his warm hand stroking his chest. Slowly, he undid Mark’s belt buckle and drew open his fly.

“Aziel, Aziel… God…” Mark gasped, twisting a little underneath of him. He was already so eager, so excited. Aziel slid onto the bed, looking down at the inch or so of boxer-brief that was sticking out from his loosened pants. Lightly, he brushed his fingers over the clothed bulge that waited impatiently for his attention.

”You’re beautiful, Mark,” Aziel whispered.

Mark’s cheeks coloured, a soft dusting of red. His eyes were half-lidded and filled with want. His mouth was half open, gasping at the air. Aziel could see the red marks in his lips where he had bit himself.

“I would never let anything happen to you,” the assassin whispered, thinking of how Mark had looked innocent and naïve, in the sight of his sniper rifle.

Mark reached down and clasped his hand over Aziel’s. He smiled at him, spreading his legs a little as he did so. “I want… I want to feel you.”

Aziel’s smile became almost wolfish, and he peeled back Mark’s pants. Mark shifted his hips and allowed Aziel to remove both his pants and his briefs in one fell swoop. Nude now, save for the leaves of his shirt peeled back from his chest and a tie haphazardly strewn by his face, Mark’s shaft jutted into the air over his stomach. Aziel’s warm hand cupped it, and then wrapped around it. Aziel’s dark hair tickled Mark’s stomach as he leaned down over top of him. Lightly, he touched his lips to the tip, leaving a soft wet kiss.

Mark threw his head back and moaned. He cried out loudly when Aziel’s lips parted and he drew his member into his mouth. Aziel carefully sucked on the tip, letting his tongue run over every part of him, exploring him as if this was the first time instead of the thousandth. Drawing his long, deadly fingers over Mark’s length, he drew sweet gasps and moans from Mark’s bitten lips.

He kept him suspended in pleasure as long as he could. Teasing just enough to keep him on the edge of his climax but refusing to let him tip over. Mark’s body had broken out into a misty sweat, beads of it running down the backs of his thighs. His legs trembled and his hair was plastered to his forehead. He was beautiful, Aziel noted as he looked up at him from between his legs. Beautiful and they hadn’t even started fucking yet.

Mark’s body abruptly curled up, his toes flexing and his thighs hardening. His body wanted to go everywhere at once, but Aziel kept him firmly rooted underneath of him. He arched and cried out, grasping at the sheets and Aziel’s hair, whichever was closer. He spent himself deeply into his mouth, letting Aziel’s soft swallows work him through the last of his pleasure. Aziel’s mouth parted from his member with a soft smack. He looked up at Mark’s flushed features with adoration.

The kisses up his body tickled him, and Mark laughed softly as he ran his hands through Aziel’s hair. He looked up into the ice-blue eyes of his lover.

“I want you naked against me,” Mark whispered.

“Then undress me,” Aziel said. “I don’t want to be caught doing all the work.”

Mark laughed huskily, almost without sound. His hands went to his clothing, slowly unwrapping him. Aziel shifted his shoulders, letting Mark feel the play of his muscles as he removed his shirt. He tossed it into a pile on the floor. He removed his pants and lay nude against Mark, who pressed up against him.

“Are you going to take me?”

“Eventually,” Aziel said, his member straining between their bodies. He inspected Mark’s body, every drop of cooling sweat and every awry hair on his head. He kissed his salty neck, flicking his tongue against his flesh. Mark gripped him under the arms, his fingernails digging into Aziel’s shoulder blades. He spread himself eagerly, hoping that Aziel was going to take him like this. His trembling thighs squeezed his lover’s hips.

Softly, Aziel moved against him as if to take him, but instead let his member slip against Mark’s. Already, Mark’s was regaining full staff. Aziel found Mark’s lips and kissed him deeply. He could still taste Mark’s bitterness on his tongue, and knew that Mark would taste himself on him. The taste seemed to arouse him further, making him moan softly and dig his nails deeper into Aziel’s back.

I want you…

Mark couldn’t have screamed it louder if he had given it breath instead of the twine of his body. Aziel read his movements, knowing him more intimately than he knew himself.

“I want to watch your face while I take you,” Aziel breathed over his lips. Mark nodded, releasing Aziel’s shoulders. The red crescents that he had dug in Aziel’s back stung, but it only fuelled Aziel’s desire. Aziel leaned back and sat on his ankles, his legs slightly spread. Mark took in Aziel’s sleek, toned body and his jutted erection.

“I love that I can do that to you,” Mark whispered. He reached into the nightstand and grasped a small tube of lubricant. He rubbed some onto his hands, and then rubbed it over Aziel’s shaft lovingly.

Aziel smiled down at him, purring softly in pleasure. What Mark did to him had saved his life. Did he know that? No, probably not.

Aziel pulled Mark’s legs over his hips. He shifted forward, grasping his legs just above the knee. Mark braced himself up on his elbows, looking down the meeting of their bodies. Shifting, Aziel put the tip against him and looked at Mark’s face. Mark didn’t look up, he just smiled.

“Put it in me,” he whispered.

Aziel nodded once, and shifted forward. He met a little resistance, and he stopped. He waited for Mark to relax, and then shifted forward. He felt Mark part around him, hot and tight. Aziel hissed a breath between his teeth as he moved into him. Mark closed his eyes tightly, biting his lip. It always hurt at first, but he never wanted Aziel to stop. His body tingled with pleasure, the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck standing on end. Aziel slipped into him tenderly, pulling Mark forward even as he pushed towards him.

Mark flopped back, his head on the pillow. He grasped the bedding, feeling the hard shaft of flesh move inside of him. His rear raised, braced on Aziel’s thighs, he felt every move his lover made.

“God, fuck me Aziel, please,” Mark begged. He saw stars behind his eyelids. Everything Aziel did made his nerves sing.

Aziel would keep his promise of being tender to him tonight. He wanted them to enjoy this, share their bodies and savour being one. Their sweat would mix and soak into the bedspread; their moans would twine in their air. Mark’s fingers would dig into Aziel’s forearms as he leaned over him, altering the angle of his thrust. Everything was perfect here, together with his love.

Aziel’s eyes squeezed tightly shut as he came upon his climax. Mark was already spent underneath of him, shuddering in the smoldering remains of his lust. Aziel released into him, his seed painting Mark’s insides hotly. Aziel’s toned body collapsed against Mark, and Mark took him into a loving embrace, pressing shaky kisses to his neck.

They loved.