Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The hot tub had taken Essek a while to come around to.

Originally he had called it a waste of space. There were individual tubs in each of their rooms and so the hot tub, modelled off the one designed for all of the Nein, felt unnecessary. However it wasn’t as if it was taking up physical space, and it made Caleb happy. And it wasn’t as if it was Essek casting the Tower. 

He would never admit out loud to Caleb how much he had come to love it.

“Is this seat taken?” Caleb asked flirtatiously. He lounged back against the natural stone wall of the tub, clearly inviting Essek’s gaze.

Essek smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps I can clear some space for you,” he said, the words themselves impassive but his tone anything but. 

Caleb smiled, a moment of giddy delight visible before he straddled Essek’s hips. The water kept him light enough to hold but heavy enough that Essek could feel where their bodies met and the dizzying sensation of being held and pinned by Caleb’s weight. He felt Caleb settle close enough that Essek’s cock would press up against his hole as he hardened and Essek let out a heavy breath.

“Already excited?” Caleb said imperiously from above him, shifting his hips in a way that sent a light shiver through Essek. A taste of what was to come.

Essek huffed, tangling his fingers in Caleb’s hair the way he knew made his head swim, “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Caleb made a sound that Essek often fondly described as a purr before refocusing and placing a gentle kiss on Essek’s forehead, in sharp contrast to where Essek felt him half-hard against his lower stomach, “Maybe I can change your mind. Can I show you something?”

“Of course.”

Caleb leaned forward to whisper “ Xal usstan tsoss dos, uss’chev ?” into Essek’s ear.

‘May I kiss you …’ what ? It was at least close in pronunciation to something recognisable. The connotation of the words themselves however… Essek almost chuckled despite the charged atmosphere between them. Caleb had indeed said ‘beloved one’, but he wasn’t sure if the implication that the actual number ‘one’ itself was the object of his affections was something Caleb had picked up on. He was almost tempted to let it slide, but Caleb’s mischievous smile made him reconsider.

Caleb leaned forward, but Essek put a finger on Caleb’s lips before they made contact with his. “Try again.”

Caleb’s eyes, half lidded as he had leaned towards Essek, shot open. His brow wrinkled in confusion at first, before raising an eyebrow. “Really? Now?”

Essek smiled back, moving his forefinger and replacing it with his thumb to swipe over the moisture of Caleb’s lips. He gave a considering hum as he watched Caleb’s tongue dart out to meet it subconsciously. “You can earn some kisses when you learn to conjugate correctly. Try again,” he said with feigned impassivity. 

This was a game they had played before. It wasn’t as if Essek wasn’t affected; he could feel his cock slowly filling out beneath the water at the challenge that he saw in Caleb’s eyes. Certainly there were more days where they fell into each other's arms without pretence than there were days that they played cat and mouse. But Caleb enjoyed breaking Essek’s focus. And Essek enjoyed having it broken.

Caleb opened his eyes in recognition before Essek saw the corner of his lips twitch up in amusement. He opened his mouth and closed his eyes, sucking on Essek’s thumb and curling his tongue around it while never removing his gaze from Essek’s. He felt Caleb hardening against his stomach. Just as he saw Caleb’s face slackening in relaxation and his eyes begin to droop, focused on nothing but laving attention on Essek’s fingers, he pushed his thumb down slowly until he hooked it against Caleb’s teeth. “Pay attention. Try. Again. I won’t ask you another time.”

Caleb’s eyes fluttered open, and he swallowed tightly around Essek’s thumb before releasing it with a wet pop and the hint of teeth, the promise of something more. “ Usst’chev ,” he said smugly, flushed and breathing deeply. Wrong again. He felt Caleb’s hips start up a slow grind against his as he buried his face in Essek’s neck. 

“Caleb, that’s- cheating,” Essek said, trying to hold his composure in his voice and only partially succeeding. There was hardly any friction for him at this angle but the knowledge that Caleb was seeking his own pleasure against the planes of his hips and stomach made his head spin. 

He could feel Caleb breathing heavily against the wet skin of his neck. “Is it cheating if you like it?” Caleb whispered, running his teeth up to Essek’s jawline and licking a flat stripe where it met his ear, “Is it cheating if there were no rules against it? I’m not kissing you.”

“It’s still unfair,” said Essek, grabbing Caleb’s hips and tilting his head back in a way he distantly suspected undermined his point, “Caleb, you- fuck, ” Caleb pressed his teeth into the hollow underneath his jaw, not a bite but certainly the threat of one, “You know how to conjugate this. You’ve- fuck - you’ve heard me say it. You’re being ridiculous, I can- ah - I can tell.” It was getting difficult to string sentences together, but Essek hadn’t broken yet and Caleb knew it.

“Mhm,” Caleb hummed against his throat, sending vibrations down his spine, “You like me ridiculous, usstan’chev .” 

Wrong again . “You know for a fact that isn’t correct Cal- oh gods ,” he broke off with a cry as Caleb shifted back so that he could take both Essek’s and his own cock in hand between them, stroking them languidly. The slide wasn’t smooth but Essek was already barely hanging onto his composure, and the tight ring of Caleb’s fingers coupled with the evidence of his arousal against Essek’s own caused him to grab the sides of Caleb’s face, breaking his own rule and capturing Caleb’s lips against his own. It was far more of a meeting of lips than a kiss, Essek’s focus almost entirely taken up by the slide of his cock against Caleb’s and the needy moans that escaped Caleb’s mouth as Essek devoured them hungrily. Caleb eventually broke the kiss with a sharp bite to Essek’s lip that made him whine, refocusing instead on pressing open mouthed kisses to Caleb’s stubble that did little to hide his increasingly desperate noises.

All thoughts of maintaining his unruffled persona shattered apart as Caleb spoke a few words of Zemnian and gestured with his free hand, the grind between their cocks becoming smooth and slick as the arcane energy filled Essek’s ears. Once he had finished with the spell he wove his fingers through Essek hair, not enough to hurt but pulling enough that Essek bared his throat to Caleb’s ministrations. He nipped at the junction of jaw and throat, growling possessively as he sucked a bruise under it. Just below where Essek’s high collars would hide, but high enough that there was always the tantalising threat that they wouldn’t.

Essek was breathing heavily now, Caleb’s unhurried movements under the water and his lips against his neck driving him to distraction more than a frantic chase of release would. But he needed to take back what little control he could hold on to. He threaded his fingers through Caleb’s tied-up hair and pulled him off where he was sucking another mark onto Essek’s throat. “Enjoying yourself?” he whispered in a way he knew made Caleb melt, “So keen to misbehave tonight, can’t you control yourself?”

“Are you enjoying yourself? You kissed me first,” Caleb panted through a self-satisfied grin, stopping his hand around them in a delicious frustration against his overworked nerves, “Distracted from your little grammar lesson yet? You gave away my reward so easily, one might think you were desperate” he said, releasing his own cock to focus on Essek’s and rubbing his thumb in smooth circles around the head while gripping the base tightly. Driving Essek to distraction with the sensation, but nowhere near enough to get him off.

“Fuck- ah , gods, Caleb- fuck you,” said Essek, his voice breaking and arms wrapped tight around Caleb’s shoulders, resting his forehead against Caleb’s chest, “You knew this was unfair from the start.”

Caleb laughed and pressed a kiss to the top of Essek’s head, a gesture that usually dripped affection now serving only to drive Essek mad, “You’re too easy to distract. Go on. Ask me to stop, if this is so unfair. I don’t get to hear you beg nearly often enough.”

“You'll have to try a lot harder than that,” Essek barked out through a laugh, undercut by a whine on a particularly delicious but terribly slow upstroke from Caleb, “but by all means, keep- ah, fuck - running your mouth. You know where it will get you- Caleb, gods .” Every second his capacity to maintain any remnant of his aloof persona was slipping out of his grasp, his internal monologue only a litany of more, please, harder, Caleb, faster, Caleb, Caleb, Caleb-

“Hm, maybe. Next time maybe you can use my mouth for better things, hmm?” said Caleb almost nonchalantly, taking the tip of one of Essek’s ears lightly in his mouth to scrape with his teeth. The shivers that went down Essek’s spine went straight to his cock, as Caleb slowly sped up the slick movements of his hand. He had completely abandoned his own release for the time being, hell-bent on tearing Essek’s resolve to pieces.

Essek wished he wasn’t so fucking good at it. His thoughts tangled like string, warring impulses to both take back the control he had started with but also to submit, to let Caleb take him to that place where he existed only to serve and please.

Caleb whispered into his ear, the hot breath and cold water mingling into a burst of sensation, “I think I would look pretty under your desk while you worked with my mouth on your cock. Maybe then I wouldn’t be so unfair to you,” he said, punctuating it with another hard bite just under Essek’s ear.

Oh Light above, that was a glorious image. His beautiful Caleb, lavishing attention upon his cock from beneath Essek’s work desk, looking up through his eyelashes smugly as he licked up his length, saliva dripping from his mouth as he began to swallow him down inch by inch. Caleb’s satisfied hum as he took Essek down to the base, as if there was nowhere he’d rather be. It was laughable to think that Essek could work with the lure of Caleb’s warm, wet mouth like a vice around-

“Caleb- I-”

He was far closer than he should be from just a handjob and dirty talk. Far too close. What had this man done to him, that he could take him apart so quickly-

Caleb stopped moving entirely.

Before he could fully voice any protests, Caleb licked a stripe up the shell of his ear and started up his whispering again, his voice dripping with desire. “Though if the whole point is not to distract you I suppose you’ll have to get me nice and pliable first. Maybe then I’d be happy to just hold your cock in my mouth rather than fight for your attention. Do you want to take me apart? Make me feel so good I want to do nothing more than please you? I know you could.”

Caleb’s hand on his cock was a vice, and with Essek’s hips pinned under Caleb’s he couldn't buck up into its tight heat. The frustration built up into a whine, desperate and debased, as his fantasy shifted. Instead of Caleb’s talented tongue teasing Essek to distraction, now Caleb sat obediently under the desk with his head leaning on Essek’s thigh. Peaceful, content to be nothing more than a warm hole for Essek’s cock. Flushed red from an orgasm that left him so gorgeous, so submissive, all for him. His beautiful and disciplined little toy, ready for Essek to use his mouth to get himself off whenever he wished-

Essek sobbed out a half-hearted complaint, “Gods, Caleb. Move. Touch me.”

“Last time I did that I was in trouble, love. You can hardly blame me for trying to obey. Are you sure?” Caleb asked. Daring Essek to beg.

“You are an asshole,” Essek said petulantly, biting Caleb’s clavicle deeply in a show of frustration. As if he believed that would do anything but turn Caleb on more.

Caleb tilted Essek’s head up and kissed him deeply, equal parts desperate passion and adoration. The contrast only served to turn Essek on more. “Perhaps. But I am an asshole who can make you come if you ask very nicely.”

He was so far gone. If he didn’t finish now he felt as if his body was going to vibrate apart from the frustration of denial.

Essek swallowed his pride. “Gods, just- please . Let me finish.”

Caleb chuckled deep in his chest, the small vibrations making their way down to his hand in a way that made Essek want to scream. He put his mouth to Essek’s neck once more and sucked hard, enough to cause even Essek’s dark skin to immediately bloom in a stormy black. Marking Essek as his. Essek groaned, less from the sensation and more from the lightheaded feeling that came from being claimed by this man who knew exactly how to devastate him, take him apart and put him back together. He whimpered as Caleb started stroking again, rutting against Essek in a filthy grind that gathered speed and whispering in his ear once more.

“Good boy for asking so nicely, ussta’chev .” 

Essek didn’t even have the presence of mind to praise him for finally getting it right. As their grind became frantic Essek felt more than saw Caleb’s slick strokes making the water churn between them, his eyes screwed shut in pleasure. As he was about to tumble over the edge Caleb pressed his thumb against the head of his cock, jerking with shallow strokes while he used his other hand to cup Essek’s balls. As if he was an avalanche, pushed to an unstoppable breaking point and only able to follow gravity, Essek wrapped his arms tightly around Caleb’s torso and moaned into his chest hair to shake apart as he came. Caleb followed shortly after, letting out a rumbling growl deep into Essek’s shoulder and stiffening as he let his head hang limply.

The two panted in near silence- only the soft rippling of water and the laboured breathing of both of them to fill the room. Essek’s head was pleasantly fuzzy, drifting through post-orgasmic bliss as the weight of Caleb on top of him and his solid arms cocooned him in safety. Caleb hummed over his shoulder, pressing a kiss into the delicate skin there; not a heated open-mouthed kiss as before but simply a show of affection and warmth. Essek breathed in deeply, nuzzling into the soft hair of Caleb’s chest and revelling in the comfort of his presence.

“Did you know it all along?” he murmured into Caleb’s chest.

“Hm?”

“The correct way to say ‘beloved one’.”

Caleb laughed, sitting up straighter to give Essek a peck on the cheek but making no move to leave his lap, “Smart ass. The first time, no. I actually didn’t know I was wrong. The rest… I wanted to see how much I could get away with.”

Essek scrunched up his face in mock irritation, though he hardly had it in him to put up a convincing charade. He headbutted Caleb in the chest, leaning into his embrace, “I’m going to get back at you for today.”

He could hear the smirk in Caleb’s voice, “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.” He tapped Essek's shoulders, “Come, let’s go get you cleaned up my love.”

“Mmph. Comfy. In a bit,” Essek said petulantly, snuggling deeper into Caleb’s chest as the warm water lapped at their backs. Caleb gave a long suffering sigh, pulling Essek in even tighter and resting his cheek on the crown of Essek’s head. 

“Five more minutes then.”

Chapter Text

“Essek, dear, can you come here for a moment?” Caleb’s voice broke through the comfortable silence of the study, causing Essek’s ears to twitch reactively.

“Mm?” he replied, marking his place in his book and standing up from the lounge. Most evenings after sunset he and Caleb had taken to solitary study in the library. While Essek had lately spent time in academic journals working on broadening his expertise in other schools of magic, Caleb had committed himself to studying Undercommon after their recent… impromptu lesson.

Essek walked over, hooking his chin over Caleb’s shoulder and resting his hands on broad shoulders. Caleb pointed out two circled words in his textbook with his pencil, “Does anyone… ever get confused by these words?”

Essek couldn’t help the part of him that smirked a little. Ssinssriggin, ssinssrigin . ‘ Lust’ and ‘ love’ , with only one ‘ g ’ in their orthography to differentiate them. It brought back memories of his school days, teenage drow holding in laughs. ‘ You know, there’s only one sound between love and lust ,’ they used to say while waggling eyebrows, while the object of their flirtations rolled their eyes.

But Caleb wasn’t to know how many implications that little letter held.

He brought his mind back to the task at hand and began to explain, “Since you’re only reading the word alone I can see why you would think that, but the surroundings give context when speaking or reading. Such words exist in Common too.”

Caleb leaned back in the chair against Essek, tapping his pencil against his lips as he considered. “Ja , I suppose that makes sense. We have the animal ‘bear’ but you can also be ‘bare’.”

“Precisely.”

Caleb seemed satisfied for a moment, before his brow furrowed even more than before, “If you just said the solitary word though, wouldn’t they sound the same?”

Essek hummed from his resting place on Caleb’s shoulder, leaning over further to snatch the pencil before Caleb started to chew on it without noticing, “That is one of the major ways Undercommon differs from Common in their written style. If you see any double letter in Undercommon you always need to use a verve t’aw . It’s sometimes hard for Common users, because for you double letters can also mean a bista tau .”

“A what? I don’t know Undercommon, dear,” Caleb said through a laugh, and Essek buried his face into Caleb’s neck in embarrassment. One of the things he was learning with the more time he spent with Caleb was how many words from specialised fields he simply didn’t know in Common. He studied Common for many years of course, but it seems advanced linguistic terms didn’t quite make his curriculum. Caleb found it endearing so he couldn’t stay too mortified.

“Um…” he started, extricating himself from Caleb’s neck and standing up to his full height, “I'm not sure what they’re called in Common. ‘Long…consonant’”? 

Caleb tilted his head back all the way to look at Essek, his eyebrows drawn in confusion. “Could you give an example?”

Essek placed a kiss on his forehead and watched Caleb’s eyebrows relax, “You would know it from ‘ ussta’chev ’”, he said, fighting the blush rising to his cheeks as he remembered their hot-tub dalliance. He continued, “They’re in words like ‘lamppost’ and ‘midday’ in Common. Try saying lamppost and then lamb post.”

“Lamppost, lamb post, lamp… I had never noticed that until you said that. You sort of…” Caleb checked to himself, “Hold the ‘p-ness’ in your mouth, ja ?” 

Essek let out a long suffering sigh. “I will not stoop to your level and make the joke, Caleb.”

Caleb laughed and shrugged, “You cannot fault me for trying. So the word for ‘lust’ has that feature but ‘loves’ does not?”

“Correct,” said Essek, “But you also get Common words like… well, ‘common’, for example where there is only one ‘m’ sound.”

Essek saw Caleb mouth a few more examples to himself and cock his head in intrigue. “That is fascinating. And more intuitive than how Common spells things, I have to admit,” said Caleb with a chuckle. They had both had many discussions about the shortcomings of Common when compared to the other languages they knew. It was anyone’s guess how it had become the standard language of magic, and Essek had taken great pride in the impressive spit-take he caused when he referred to Common as ‘three kobolds in a trenchcoat pretending to be a shopkeep’. “I wonder if they are in Zemnian…” Caleb trailed off, deep in thought.

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that one for you,” said Essek lightheartedly. He returned Caleb’s pencil and patted Caleb twice on the shoulders before turning around to return to the lounge and retrieve his book.

Essek heard the sound of Caleb picking up his pencil again and starting to scratch away for a few seconds before speaking up again. “Of course, ja . Just wondering. I suppose the answer there is far less interesting than I was thinking.”

Essek hummed an inquiry as he retrieved his book and moved it to the desk so none of the cats would squash it.

Caleb laughed and turned his chair to face Essek, “I was imagining the possibility of awful romance novels full of misunderstandings, where the foolish foreigner declares their love but just sounds as if they want to be ravished instead. I’m sure it could lead to some… interesting possibilities. To have ‘lust’ just one letter away from a word so often used, surely the poor foreigner would need a tutor to make sure they don’t mistakenly end up in… unfavourable situations.”

Essek turned to face Caleb and leaned against the desk on the other side of the room, folding his arms and smirking at him. Caleb Widogast was many things, but a subtle man was not one of them. He sat with his chair turned to Essek, long legs splayed and leaning back against the table invitingly.

Essek sauntered over to him, watching Caleb's eyes widen as he got within touching distance. He leaned down, bracing himself on the arms of the chair and watched Caleb’s breath catch in his throat and his lips part. He smirked to himself as he purred into Caleb’s ear, “I’m impressed that your knowledge of Undercommon already exceeds that of those who have already written such awful smut, then,” and leaned back outside of Caleb’s range. Caleb was a fool if he thought he could get Essek to break so quickly with just words; he wouldn’t have gotten so far out of his depth in the hot tub if Caleb hadn’t bent the rules in his own favour.

This was Essek’s game now. 

Caleb let out a laboured breath, his cheeks and neck flushed, “It’s already been written? At least I was being tropey intentionally,” he laughed self-consciously.

Essek smirked, “Unfortunately. They make me wish I wasn’t so invested in their linguistic accuracy sometimes. There is one particular writer from Vasselheim who seems almost obsessively fascinated with Undercommon but still makes rudimentary errors like that. I’ve considered sending a letter.”

Despite Caleb’s dishevelment he gave a genuine smile, “I knew there was a reason I loved you. You only allow the highest quality erotica into your collection.”

Essek huffed and rolled his eyes, giving Caleb a good natured smack on the shoulder as he left the room, “You are ridiculous,” he said, secretly preening at the fond expression on Caleb’s face, “Come, finish your chapter quickly. I’ll be starting dinner soon.”

He hid a smug grin as he heard Caleb’s frustrated groan as soon as he thought Essek was out of earshot.

Chapter Text

“Caleb? Where are you?” Essek called, not bothering to knock on the door of Caleb’s cottage before entering. He kicked off his shoes and hung his cloak on a hook by the door, immediately greeted with a fragrance uncharacteristic of Caleb’s home and yet oddly familiar.

He heard Caleb’s voice call, “In the kitchen, dear.” As he wandered closer to the source of both the voice and the smell and entered the threshold of the kitchen he inhaled deeply and smiled. Caleb wore an apron and was kneeling by a cooking fire, using a long wooden skewer to rotate a magically floating piece of meat bound by twine. Steam rose from a pot on the stove whose contents Essek couldn’t see, and on a small tray-table next to where Caleb was crouched there was a sliced deep maroon vegetable that Essek recognised instantly.

“Is that…'' he began, scarcely willing to believe the evidence before his own eyes. Kor’run , here in Rexxentrum. Surely it was too good to be true.

“ Ja ,” said Caleb, fetching his steel cooking tongs to retrieve the roast and set it aside, “There was a whole section in the textbook about food and recipes. Some of them piqued my interest more than others, so I thought I might try one. Though, if I have to read ‘ Vel’bol zhah dosst l’amithurl gotar ?’ one more time I might lose my mind,” he said with a laugh, placing a grilling tray over the coals and one by one transferring the kor’run slices onto it and sprinkling them with some pre-prepared spices. 

Essek chuckled back. Although Caleb’s accent was certainly improving it would never stop being endearing how hard he was trying to learn, “Asking after a favourite food is very important small talk amongst children. And it is a children’s textbook.”

Caleb whipped around and fixed him with a mock-affronted squint and a raised eyebrow, “ Ja , so important you didn’t know your favourite food until Jester asked you?”

Essek rolled his eyes, sitting himself down behind Caleb so he could loop his arms around his stomach without disturbing him too much, “Irrelevant. Are you making kor’rundl ?”

“Mm,” confirmed Caleb, and Essek smiled at the vibrations he could feel through his cheek pressed against Caleb’s back, “Well, close enough. I know mastodon meat is traditional, but I struggled to find it. Will beef be acceptable to your discerning palate?”

He pressed a kiss between Caleb’s shoulder blades, “It’s lovely. Though how did you get kor’run here?”

“Ah well. I have my ways.”

“...did you Teleport to Rosohna to buy vegetables?”

“My strong spells don’t get used these days!” Caleb said petulantly, “What’s the point in being an all powerful wizard when you don’t get to use more than a Disguise Self? It's almost ready anyway,” Caleb said, “Set the table if you would, dearest.”

:

:::

“You did excellently,” Essek commented with a satisfied sigh, wiping his mouth with a napkin, “I didn’t realise how much I missed kor’run . Actually, I should introduce you to yuyo . It’s a purple long vegetable that can grow without sunlight, and it's delicious when you grill it and add spices. The dish I think you’d like is called yuyandl , it’s a lot less spicy than some of the other Dynasty dishes… What is it? Is there something on my face?” he trailed off, noticing Caleb’s eyes narrowing and brows drawing in. The expression reminded him of how he would stare off into the distance when recalling spell sigils.

“Describe it again.”

“Purple long vegetable?” Now it was his turn to be confused for a moment, before his eyebrows raised and he sighed in exasperation. He had genuinely been trying to give a sweet, not-at-all-lewd food recommendation, “Caleb, that’s not- They are a foot long, Caleb. They have bumps .”

Caleb seemed to realise almost simultaneously the implications of his words, as his eyes widened and he raised his hands placatingly, “No, no. I just realised something strange. You said adjectives in a different order.”

Purple long… long purple… Oh yes. Caleb was right. His ears flattened a little, embarrassed to be caught up on such an elementary mistake, “Oh. I am normally better at that. I suppose I got excited.”

“No, no, it’s not a problem, it is just…” Caleb smiled and sighed, “I think I might have been doing some practice sentences wrong. I’ve been speaking Common too long it seems.”

Essek laid his hands on top of Caleb’s, “One of my least favourite things to learn in Common was adjective order. A native speaker cannot quantify why it sounds odd, only that it does. It’s an obvious giveaway if you want to sound fluent.”

“Is there an order in Undercommon? There is in both Common and Zemnian, but in Zemnian it is a little more fluid,” Caleb mused, standing up and beginning to clear their dishes.

“There isn’t, you can order them however you wish,” Essek said, taking both of their wine glasses to join Caleb in the kitchen and perching on the countertop with a towel to dry dishes, “I will add to the long list of my gripes with the absolute monstrosity that is Common.”

“You and me both,” Caleb agreed, turning as the water heated to stand in the cradle of Essek’s dangling legs and circling his waist, “Could you teach me anyway? I should make sure I can talk about long purple things in the correct order.”

Essek groaned, covering Caleb’s face with the drying towel. It had the added benefit that Caleb wouldn’t tease him later about the fondly exasperated smile that tugged at his lips, “You are a nightmare. I will teach you if you get your head out of the gutter.”

Chapter Text

Their legs tangled together as Essek lay against Caleb’s chest, both reading and luxuriating in the other’s presence. A delicate tracing of fingers along cheekbones, an off-handed comment about the pleasant smell of Essek’s hair and a hand pressed solidly against his stomach had a simmering heat gathering in Essek’s groin below the reach of Caleb’s touch. He ached to have Caleb fall apart for him. He hadn't indulged since their night in the hot tub and he desperately craved the warmth of Caleb’s skin against his.

Part of this game was letting the desperation steep. But Caleb had been perfectly comfortable bending their rules to entice Essek. Why should he not indulge in the same?

He took Caleb’s free arm from where it rested against him, bringing it to his lips. He kissed each digit reverently, his palm, his wrist. He felt Caleb’s heartbeat quicken as he dragged the blunt edge of a fang against the sensitive skin there.

He faltered momentarily, feeling Caleb’s other hand rising to pinch the delicate skin at the tip of Essek’s ear between forefinger and thumb. “What has you in such a mood tonight dear?” Caleb asked, his tone rumbling through his chest where it joined Essek’s back.

“Do I need an occasion?” asked Essek, pressing a teasing bite to the meat of Caleb’s palm, “I’m lying on top of a particularly handsome man who I love very much.”

Caleb breathed deeply into Essek’s hair, free of his usual styling products and damp from his bath. Essek had thought it made him look unattractive at first. Caleb told him he thought it made him look exquisite. “I suppose that is as good a reason as any. Would you like to relocate?”

“No, I…I like it here. Though,” Essek turned, sitting on his knees and capturing Caleb’s lips in a kiss, too passionate to be called chaste but not deep enough to satisfy, “I can think of a nicer seat for myself.”

Caleb smiled and raised an eyebrow, “Face or lap, you’ll need to be more specific.”

Essek’s eyes widened and he felt a shiver trace its way down his spine to his slowly filling cock. Part of him wanted to say fuck the plan, fuck the game, fuck Caleb Widogast and his teasing. Essek wanted to push him down to the floor, make Caleb eat him out. Prepare Caleb until he was loose and wet, sliding onto Essek’s cock and riding him until he was filled with his spend. But that wasn’t how the game was played. He was practised in making Caleb beg for it without needing anything more than a few choice words and the warm contact of skin on skin.

He swung his thighs over Caleb’s lap, mirroring their position from so many nights prior and resting his wrists against Caleb’s shoulders. Caleb did his best to hide the intake of breath at the pressure on his crotch. It hadn’t been long enough for Caleb’s cock to catch up with proceedings but Essek knew it would before long. He had more than enough patience to make this frustrating for his lover, and this time he had the position of control.

Caleb placed his hands on Essek’s hips, the carefully neutral expression not nearly enough to conceal the wonder that he was allowed this, even after all this time. “Is this alright?” Caleb asked in a whisper.

Essek put his hands over Caleb’s, placing them firmly against his hips. “Yes,” he said, “But keep them where they are. Nothing below the belt”. 

Caleb only smirked and tilted his head in acquiescence, “By all means, whether I finish by my own hand or yours it is better when it’s you working me up. Gives me some fresh material to work with.”

Essek blushed at that before schooling his expression. He refused to let Caleb’s silver tongue and broad hands win him over so quickly this time. He leaned forward to nip at the skin just under Caleb’s ear, “You’re also welcome to do any ‘working up’ you please, to clarify. But nothing below the belt. And–,” he put a hand over Caleb’s mouth, entirely anticipating the following quip, “no finishing in our pants like assa’rais .”

Essek yelped as Caleb’s eyes crinkled up at the corners and he nodded, licking the palm covering his mouth and laughing as Essek groaned and wiped saliva on Caleb’s shirt. “I’m not sure exactly what you said, but I think you beat me to my own punchline. Am I getting predictable, Thelyss?”

Essek rolled his eyes but planted a sweet kiss on Caleb’s lips nonetheless, punctuating it with a bite in retaliation, “Never predictable. You just have Jester’s sense of humour. I’ll explain it later if you’d like.”

“You should do it now, I need to decide whether to feel insulted or not,” Caleb said, leaning in to press an open-mouthed kiss against the hollow of Essek's throat and trailing kisses up his neck.

Essek cleared his throat, holding onto his focus, “Very literally it means ‘dreamers’, but the implication– are you even listening?” He looked down at Caleb, eyes closed and working his teeth against Essek’s pulse point. Essek felt his cock begin to stir at the sight of Caleb’s single-minded focus.

“Intently, my dear,” Caleb said, not bothering to open his eyes or halt his ministrations. 

“The connotation is of one who is young enough they haven’t mastered trancing yet. Drow aren’t simply - ah, mm - born with the ability to do it, it must be learned. So an ‘ assa’rai’ is someone who is inexperienced, hasn’t - hah, Caleb - mastered an essential skill,” Essek finished as Caleb slowly pressed kisses in a collar against his throat.

“Ah,” Caleb replied, “Young inexperienced lovers?”

Essek carded his fingers through Caleb’s soft hair, “Among other things. It’s just an idiom for being unpracticed.”

He felt the impression of Caleb’s smile against his collarbone. “I’ll take it as an insult then?” he asked cheekily, beginning to trail his fingers down Essek’s clothed hips and outer thighs. Moving slowly and questioningly as he waited to see how literal Essek was going to take ‘below the belt’.

Clearly Caleb still wanted to play the control game. That was fine by Essek. As long as he was prepared to lose.

Essek took a fistful of Caleb’s hair and pulled him backwards, making Caleb tilt upwards and expose his throat. He felt Caleb’s cock twitch at the sudden power shift, breathing hard with his neck exposed like a cornered animal. Caleb’s arms dropped limply to his sides. Essek knew he could resist easily. It spoke volumes of Caleb’s own frustration over the last few weeks that he made no move to. He used his free hand to drag a pointed nail up the sensitive skin of Caleb’s throat, tracing his windpipe leisurely. When he reached the junction of jawline and neck he took Caleb’s face between thumb and fingers, squeezing enough to force him to open his mouth and forced him to stare Essek in the eyes. “You will take it however I say to take it,” Essek crooned sweetly before leaning down to whisper in Caleb’s ear, barely louder than a breath but still distinctly threatening. “Behave.”

Caleb made a valiant effort to contain the punched-out noise that escaped his mouth, held open by Essek’s grip. Essek smirked. “Hands on my waist, dear. Do you still want to continue?” he asked, feeling the full swell of Caleb’s erection pressing against his own.

Caleb’s dazed expression slowly resharpened as he considered the question. “ Ja , I, um. Yes. Behave,” he said, his words slow and his expression pleasantly slack as he tried to bring him back from the edge of giving over to Essek entirely.

“Good boy,” Essek said, diffusing the dominant growl out of his voice and releasing his grip of Caleb’s hair to instead tuck a loose strand gently behind Caleb’s ear. Caleb smiled as a blush rose to his cheeks, leaning forward to rest his head against Essek’s chest while his breathing slowed.

Slowly he felt Caleb move, taking both of Essek’s hands and pressing kisses to the knuckles of each. “You,” Caleb began, punctuating each phrase with a kiss or bite up the length of Essek’s wrist, “are the most intelligent man alive. The most handsome, most beautiful. You are perfect, my love.”

It seems Essek had won for the night. Caleb’s tone shifted from teasing to loving, which Essek knew meant Caleb had been about to lose their game entirely. It boded well for next time that he was this close to snapping.

Essek giggled at the ticklish sensation of Caleb’s eyelashes against the back of his hands. “Flattery will get you nowhere. You know you have plenty of bias in this situation.”

“Hm. Maybe,” Caleb said, releasing Essek’s hands and moving to press chaste kisses to his collarbones once more, “But would I be half as intelligent without such a fantastic teacher?”

“You absolutely would and you know it,” Essek murmured contentedly, resting his hands on Caleb’s shoulders. Caleb hummed, the vibrations travelling through Essek’s chest and spreading through his body. 

“My Undercommon would be even more abhorrent than it already is though.”

Essek laughed again, giving a gentle flick to the side of Caleb’s face who swatted at it blindly. “That would be saying something.”

“I am improving however, under your tutelage,” Caleb sat up straight at that and fixed Essek with a challenging stare, “Will you allow me to demonstrate?”

Essek raised an eyebrow. “If only to sate my curiosity as to what you mean by that.”

“There is an epilogue from my first textbook regarding fluency. The author mentioned the best way to know your level of proficiency in a language is,” Caleb paused, looking upwards seemingly to try and remember the specific phrase he wanted, “to see how well you can fuck with it. Not his words but you get the point.”

Essek tilted his head in curiosity, not quite understanding the principle but willing to go along nonetheless. “So…?”

“Using a word in the wrong way in a way that is obvious enough to be intentional. Have you ever heard a child say ‘scissors’ but make an ‘sk’ sound, just for the fun of it?” said Caleb, now once again leaning into Essek’s chest. 

“Making language into a game, then?”

“Exactly. So…” Essek’s breath came in gasps as Caleb worked his lips over his clothes chest to his jawline, coming to breathe wetly over the lobe of his ear.

“My dear Essek. My naut’ogglin .”

Any remaining sexual tension in the room was immediately shattered as Essek snorted out a laugh. ‘ Not-enemy’ . It was ridiculous, it was poorly constructed, and immediately he realised that Caleb actually had a point. Showing that he could be wrong at Undercommon on purpose meant he understood the principles required to do things right. “Caleb–” he breathed out through laughter.

“My cahallin ,” Caleb continued, peppering kisses over Essek’s cheek as he giggled. 

‘ Raid spoils’ had never sounded so romantic. “Caleb, I am not your booty- ah -” he said with a grin that nearly split his face as he felt Caleb quickly pinch his ass. The look in his eyes said the move was more teasing than overtly sexual, so he let it slide.

“My i’nikeuol .”

Essek blinked in rapid succession as he leaned back out of the range of Caleb’s mouth, and saw a mischievous smile on Caleb’s face. Sand, gem … “ Pearl ? Oh Gods, this is torture,” he said melodramatically, leaning in to capture Caleb’s lips in a passionate kiss.

Caleb melted into Essek’s kiss, finally breaking to whisper, “My ligrrabbuk ,” seductively in Essek’s ear who couldn’t contain his wheezing laughter.

“How…what is that even meant to mean?” Essek asked, “You can’t just smash boyfriend and girlfriend together to make a new word! That is not ‘ partner ’, it is a crime against humanity.” Essek wrapped his arms around Caleb’s neck, pulling him in towards his chest, “You are awful and I will leave right this instant.” With Essek’s cheeks beginning to ache from laughing and his smile stretched wide enough to allow his fangs to become visible, it was hard to imagine any reality where those words held any sincere weight. Caleb mumbled something incomprehensible into Essek’s chest. He released Caleb and realized his mistake immediately when he saw a particular expression on Caleb’s face.

There were a variety of Caleb smiles that Essek had been blessed with the opportunity to categorize over their time together. There was the Nein smile, which had a lot in common with the Jester smile but with slightly less teeth. There was the smile for the cats, which could almost be called less of a smile and more of a softening of the features. Essek was also blessed with the knowledge of a few faces that, as far as he had seen, were specific to him. There was one for when he hadn’t seen Essek in over a week, a softening of his forehead lines and a loosening of jaw tension with a soft smile. There was one in the morning, for when their kisses turned sleep-sweet and unhurried and Caleb looked at him like he had hung the stars.

And there was one for when Caleb was about to be the most annoying man alive and knew he would get away with it.

“Won’t you give me your olartae ?”

Essek immediately barked out a laugh and covered Caleb’s mouth, this time unrelenting to his playful attempts at licking to force it to release him. They both collapsed sideways upon the length of the chaise, tangled in each other as Essek fought through hysterics to keep Caleb from speaking, “Caleb Widogast, you shut your mouth or you will have the whole Dynasty upon you. For crimes against the state and, more importantly, our ears.”

Caleb managed to wrench Essek’s palm away from his mouth with a self satisfied grin, “Then they shouldn’t have named it a tentacle rod if they didn’t want me to make fun of it.”

“Not everyone has your proclivities,” Essek said through giggles, lightly punching Caleb’s shoulder and lying fully on top of him, pillowing his cheek on his folded hands.

Caleb relaxed under the pressure of Essek’s form on top of him, reclining fully and tracing patterns against Essek’s elbows, “They need a foreign language sensitivity consultant.”

“The priests of the Luxon from before the Calamity?” Essek snorted, “I’ll let them know the next chance I get that people decided to make fun of their holy relic a thousand years later.”

“Please do,” Caleb said, pulling Essek tighter as he closed his eyes. 

Chapter Text

A familiar warmth settled over Caleb and made him wrinkle his nose slightly as the Sending took hold. He heard Essek’s voice, close enough that he could imagine it being whispered into his own ear.

“Caleb, I’m in need of some assistance with my garment for today. Come upstairs.”

Caleb took a moment to furrow his brow, Essek’s tone strangely formal for a setting of just the two of them. It gave him pause, but not enough for him to leave his position on the sofa in their living room and certainly not enough to disturb the ginger cat who was dozing in his lap contentedly. “You are a very powerful wizard, my dear,” he replied, “I think you can manage a Mage Hand so I don’t invoke the ire of the cats.” Caleb chuckled to himself at the inadvertent joke.

A shiver rolled over him as the spell was cast once more, the arcane heat contrasting to the icy sharp tone of Essek’s voice.

“Upstairs now, Caleb Widogast. That was not a request.”

Oh. So that was what was happening. Caleb felt his neck and cheeks begin to warm as he gently extricated Minnie from his lap. She gave an irritated rumble as she woke and jumped down to the floor. “Sorry, my friend,” he said softly, “I think I’m in some trouble.”

He reached the foot of the stairs and paused. He could ignore the summons, of course. That was always an option. As much as Essek’s imperious tone made him weak in the knees, the way the two of them played with control made it all the more tempting to try and tip the scales in his favour. Despite his own pent-up arousal, Essek couldn’t be faring much better. If he could push it another week or two, Essek might break before he did.

But it was now three weeks since the last time he had made Essek gasp out his name in ecstasy. Desperation wasn’t quite the right word, but Caleb craved Essek’s strong touch, missed hands roughly fisted in his hair and the delicate spasms of his own throat around Essek’s cock. He could go longer, they both could, but something about the exacting tone in which Caleb’s full name had fallen from Essek’s lips over the Sending told him three things. 

One, that Essek had every intention of continuing this game until Caleb was the one to break. 

Two, that Caleb was about to get punished for every flirtation, every salacious transgression he had made to get Essek to snap from the last three weeks.

Three, following on from two; Caleb was also about to get the most thorough fucking he’d had in months if he listened.

It was hardly a conundrum at that point.

Caleb walked up the stairs, pointedly avoiding examining how much his cock was taking interest at just the insinuation in Essek’s dominant tone. As he rounded the landing of the second floor he was surprised to see Essek’s door closed but his own cracked open. There could be a few reasons that Essek had chosen his room, but the one that sprang to mind was that Caleb had the larger bed. That knowledge did nothing to cool Caleb’s anticipation.

“Come in,” he heard Essek say. Caleb steeled his nerves, swallowed loudly, and schooled his expression. He was going to make Essek work for this.

All of his conviction shattered like paper-thin glass the second he entered the room and laid eyes on Essek.

His lover sat on a stool at Caleb’s desk, one leg crossed over the other. His eyes and lips were adorned in a shimmery gloss, none of his makeup ostentatious enough to be obviously seductive but enough that his cheekbones caught the light of the fireplace and his lips looked more inviting than ever. His shirt was a lacy black material that swept over his shoulders into a feather-weight cape, weighted down at the shoulders by a form-fitting mantle of chain and gemstone that highlighted his lean frame. Sleeves of the same delicate material came down his arms in waves, and tight black trousers ended with tastefully heeled boots.

But what drew his gaze the most was the boned black corset that Essek was holding demurely to his front, unlaced at the back. Black tulle was stretched between each corset bone, tantalising purple skin only partially hidden by the light material.

Oh gods. He was fucked.

“Could you be a dear and lace this up for me?” asked Essek, turning around while holding the front of the corset to himself. Caleb nodded and walked over as if in a trance, swallowing thickly as he took the two ends of ribbon that hung from the lowest eyelet of each side of the corset. Clumsily shaking hands threaded the ribbons through each hole methodically, the hypnotic repetition settling his brain through the stages of hypersensitive arousal, mindful concentration, and finally into a meditative haze as muscle memory took over from his fumbling fingers. His minutes of reverie were occasionally punctuated by tingling across his skin when his fingers came into contact with the lightly muscled planes of Essek’s back, lace and tulle all that was separating him from placing his palms over those expanses. He longed to do so, longed to press lips to the nape of Essek’s neck as his hands threaded ribbon through metal endlessly. But Essek had asked him so sweetly, and the daze and heat and pent up desire made him single minded. 

Caleb folded the ribbon over itself, pinching the end between forefinger and thumb to better thread. Using the other hand, he steadied the corset as he threaded. Fold, push, pull through. Fold, push, pull through. One hole at a time, alternating left and right. Left always on top of the right, just as Essek had tight him many moons ago. Take a moment while the ribbons are loose to make sure they lay flat and symmetrical. Tighten evenly. Repeat. The silk of the ribbons coursed over his fingers like water. The metal of the eyelets were warmed by the proximity to Essek’s bare back. With every motion he felt his conscious mind grow a little more distant, seeming a little less important. He was reduced to a pair of hands, a set of dexterous fingers. Fold, push, pull through. Fold, push, pull through.

And it was done. 

He let out a breath he had not been aware he was holding as the ribbons crossed over in the uppermost eyelets of the corset and his fingers stilled.

“Pull tightly,” Essek whispered to him. Caleb wrapped each ribbon twice around his knuckles and pulled, heart racing as Essek exhaled loudly. “A little tighter. Show me how well you can do it,” Essek breathed out and Caleb complied. Resisting didn’t feel like an attractive choice anymore. Fighting for control didn’t feel like a choice. He tied the ribbons in a final secure knot and dropped his hands to his side.

Essek pivoted around in his seat to face him, his visage a mask of prim and proper impassivity that melted into an astounded endearment when he saw Caleb’s slackened face and glassy eyes. “Oh darling, you’ve come down so quickly. So well behaved now that all the fight had left you, isn’t that right?”

Caleb nodded breathlessly, “I’ll be good now Essek, I’ll be good. I’m sorry.”

“Shh shh, none of that,” Essek cooed, standing to tuck a strand of hair behind Caleb’s hair. Caleb immediately leaned into the contact. “Good boy. You’re mine now, that’s what matters. Essek raked his eyes up and down Caleb’s form appraisingly, muttering almost to himself but so Caleb could still hear, “I had entirely planned to punish you for your teasing these last few weeks. But seeing you now… maybe I shouldn’t have gotten so dressed up. So sweet for me.”

“You’re beautiful.” Caleb blurted it out before the words had the chance to go through the filter that so often halved the raw honesty that threatened to bleed out of him.

“So are you. A work of art. I was wondering… because I have your full attention and you’ve been so captivated in your language studies of late, I was thinking I could give you a more hands-on lesson. Would you like that?” 

Caleb furrowed his brow, trying to shake loose the mist that seemed to wrap his mind in soft blankets. A lesson sounded like far more work than his placid mind wanted to engage in tonight.

Essek cupped his cheeks and pulled Caleb’s forehead down to his own, “Shh, shh. You don’t need to use your head for this one. Just listen and let me make you feel good.” Caleb nodded and swallowed in anticipation.

Essek sat back down on the chair and Caleb barely concealed a pitiful whine at the loss of contact before Essek thankfully reached out to take Caleb’s hands in his, pulling him closer to stand between spread thighs. “Kneel down,” Essek said sweetly and Caleb compiled as quickly as his knees would allow. He looked up at Essek, worship and rapture incarnate.

Essek took Caleb’s chin in one hand, and Caleb’s jaw reflexively slackened. “Our first lesson is about conjugation. You remember that one. I told you about it in the hot tub, where you made me beg so sweetly imagining just this. I thought back then it would be a challenge to get you to behave enough to warm my cock. But you’ll behave so well for me now won’t you, sweet thing?” he said as he pressed a hand to the back of Caleb’s head with a gentle but insistent pressure.

He couldn’t help but nod fiercely, leaning into Essek’s crotch to nuzzle against the cool leather and his growing erection. Looking up at Essek through his lashes he mouthed wetly over the shape of it, luxuriating in the taste of the leather as if it were Essek’s own skin. He could feel Essek’s cock hardening under his lips as he kissed and licked, a thin veneer of innocence that he knew drove Essek mad. Essek tilted his head back and groaned as Caleb saw a dark blush creep up his neck, letting the persona drop for a moment in a way that brought a bone deep satisfaction to Caleb. He pulled away and pressed kisses up Essek’s thigh, heavy and hazy but noticing with a possessive heat the way that the crotch of Essek’s pants was tented and shiny with Caleb’s spit.

As he closed his eyes to lave attention upon the juncture of hip and thigh he felt a fist tangle in his hair, tugging back to Essek’s crotch. His mind emptied, pulled through his auburn locks up through Essek’s nails and delicate fingers. As Essek’s other hand fumbled with the fastenings of his pants, Caleb whimpered with a new, single minded focus. He could please Essek. He could keep his cock warm. He could be good, if that beautiful ache in his scalp would stay and Essek would speak sweet, soft words to him.

As soon as Essek’s cock was free of its confines Caleb surged forward again, the hand in his hair guiding him. Although he wanted so desperately to please Essek, to be a good warm hole for his cock, he couldn’t help but lick the length of it from root to tip, pulling off and letting the trail of saliva coat his cheek as he lowered his head to press a kiss to the underside of the base. A slave to his base impulses, to debase himself and demonstrate his skill to earn his place. The hand in his head pulled him back once more, tilting him to look up at Essek’s face. “Such a little show off. If you do that again without waiting for instruction you’ll be punished, do you understand me young man?”

Caleb shivered and nodded as Essek pressed a palm to his cheek to turn him back. “I know you’re just desperate for my cock, sweet thing. And gods, I can’t deny how good you look all messy like that. Hold my cock in your mouth, perhaps you can earn that later.”

Caleb sighed, resisting the pull in his locks just slightly to feel the burn. No more thinking. No more deciding. He could listen to Essek’s words. Instinct was irrelevant as he sunk even deeper into his submission, forsaking his greed and substituting with the desire to serve. He opened his mouth, leaning back down onto Essek’s cock. Committing the sensation to memory, the addictive tastes and textures and smells of Essek’s arousal rather than surging forward for a race to the finish line. He closed his eyes and rested his head against Essek’s thigh, allowing the heavy weight on his tongue and stretch of his jaw to be the only tethers to his body. He sucked on his cock gently, absently, not enough for true stimulation but enough that he heard Essek gasp above him. The strong grip in his hair turned to soft fingers, running through the waves of red strands and pulling him further and further below the surface of full consciousness as he stilled.

As he laid there, he heard Essek’s voice begin its teasing lilt above him, punctuated by sharp inhales as Caleb shifted unconsciously. He was still able to process the words clearly enough, but it felt as if reading a book through a dusty shop window. “We’ll start with ‘ usstan’ .” Caleb furrowed his brow for a second before he remembered. Right. A lesson . Esssek continued, “You know that one well, Caleb. It means ‘I’ or ‘me’. If I change it to ‘ ussta’ it becomes the possessive. If I wanted to say ‘my love’ or ‘my dear’ I would use ‘ ussta’ . But you know both of those well, too. Have you come across ‘ usst’ ?”

Caleb took a moment, his mind working in a syncopated rhythm. As he filtered through memories of his Undercommon learnings he felt his eyebrows raise in recognition. Fuck. Gods, yes . He would moan Essek’s name if he could, but instead he let out a needy whine around Essek’s cock. Essek echoed the moan above him, the vibrations creating a feedback loop of pleasure for the both of them until Essek was able to regain his composure.

“Oh, you have, haven’t you?” Essek asked, saccharine-sweet as he petted Caleb’s hair, “You see, the possessive case can be a little limiting if you want to speak quickly. It still needs the object of the sentence to follow it. ‘ Usst’ just means ‘mine’, doesn’t it, my clever boy? ‘ Ussta Caleb’, ‘my Caleb’ means that perhaps others might be owned by me, that I would need to specify what is mine. ‘ Usst ’ means you are mine. Singularly mine, my most treasured. An object that belongs to me. Is that what you want to be, Caleb?”

Caleb slid his way even further down Essek’s cock until it was pushing at the opening of his throat, unclenching the fists he did not know were tensed as he progressively relaxed his entire body. Slowly, achingly slow, Essek’s cock breached the ring of his throat and Caleb’s nose met the patch of hair above it. He couldn’t help the wet, involuntary spasms that his throat made around the intrusion, the way his body struggled and let out desperate, struggling chokes and gags. But his mind was far too hazy-sweet-empty-Essek’s to feel anything except an easy, all-consuming gratitude for a purpose this simple .

He felt Essek’s tense and gasp above him at the spasms of his throat and felt a burst of satisfaction, before the sweet crooning resumed. “Good boy. My good boy. One last term, and then we can progress to lesson two. ‘ Usstan’tluvithus ’. You might be able to pick this one apart, if your pretty little head was working right now. But I can see it’s a little busy. ‘ Usstan ’, you already know, is ‘I’ or ‘me’. ‘ Vith ’ you would know from your filthy books. The ending ‘- us ’ makes it past tense. Can you put it together, my sweet thing?

Caleb furrowed his brow slightly and sat up as he tried to parse the foreign word, but soon the fog crept in. Essek was good to him, he would explain it. He didn’t need to think. He let his head loll back to the side as his eyes closed.

Essek hummed and scratched his nails into Caleb’s scalp, voice coming through breathy and affected, “There isn’t a good translation but it is an interesting little title. One who is fucked by me. Graceless, but at least a little more tasteful than simply saying ‘my kept whore’.”

Gods. Caleb nearly lost his balance at that, a sudden swell of arousal and vertigo consuming him at the thought. Essek’s kept whore . It was suddenly not enough to hold Essek in his mouth like this. He wanted to please him, feel Essek shiver around him and fill Caleb’s mouth up with his come. He needed it. He looked upwards plaintively through eyes brimming this tears both from his overworked throat and his arousal. He couldn’t take Essek any deeper but gods how he craved it, to become Essek’s in every sense of the word. To be owned by him, molded by him, to have his every need reconstructed into the shape of Essek’s desires. Spit was pooling in his open jaw, slowly beginning to escape his lips in strings as it dripped to land on his clothed thighs.

Essek looked down at him and smiled, a wondrous mix of mock-pity and condescension woven into the salacious grin. He cupped Caleb’s cheek with one hand and kept the other in Caleb’s hair, “Shh shh. That’s caught your interest hasn’t it? Being kept open and pliant and begging for me. I think if someone saw you like this they could be forgiven for thinking you were ‘ Essek’tluvithus ’. 

‘ Yes ,’ Caleb longed to moan, opening his eyes and keeping contact with Essek’s as he gently massaged the underside of Essek’s cock with his tongue, ‘ I can be that. I want that. Your whore, your pet. Owned, claimed, fucked, possessed by you . Essektlu’vithus. ’ 

Essek clearly knew the effect he was having on Caleb’s composure as he grinned wickedly, his quickened breath and flush perched high on his cheeks giving him away, “Is that what you want to be, dearest?” As Caleb whined in response the smile softened at the edges, Essek’s particular brand of cruel adoration becoming visible. “Good boy, you’ve done so well for me,” he said gently, pressing back on Caleb’s head until he was forced to slide off Essek’s cock with a wet sound. He closed his eyes and rested his head against Essek’s clothed thigh, breathing heavily through thick strings of saliva and letting his jaw hang open as the aching muscles struggled to close it.

Essek carded his fingers through Caleb’s hair as if scratching a cat, idly stroking his length with his other hand. The slide had been made slick by the remnants of Caleb’s spit. After a minute of only Caleb’s ragged breath and the slippery slow sounds of Essek’s hand on himself, Essek whispered, “How do you feel, darling?”. Caleb simply let out an affirmative hum, his jaw now loosened enough to press a gentle kiss to Essek’s knee without more than a deeply satisfying ache that reminded him of his place. The deep black behind his closed eyes reminded him of the night sky in Rosohna, peaceful and safe and grounding. Without the pinpricks of starlight to guide him he was adrift in an endless space, buoyed only by the five points of Essek’s fingertips in his hair. 

“Are you happy to keep going?” Essek asked, his tone gentle now. None of the dominant growl or condescending lilt, only concern and love. Caleb smiled, drunk on the rumbles of Essek’s low voice. He could say here, pressed against Essek’s thigh, happy and content. But the pressure on his confined cock ached for more. He nodded and looked up and Essek through lidded eyes.

Essek cupped his cheek affectionately, before tucking his cock back into his pants. Caleb whined as he stood up, the contact on Essek’s thigh lost. “Over to the bed, my love,” he crooned, bending down to take his hand as Caleb stood on wobbly legs. He must have been down there for longer than he thought. Essek guided him to his bed, a hand possessively on his lower back. It made Caleb feel safe, just as much as it sent a flicker of desire through him to know how completely and utterly he was controlled in this moment.

Caleb sat on the edge of the bed, falling onto his back at a slight push from Essek’s hand on his chest as he was repositioned. Loose-limbed and light-headed, he was hardly able to protest even if he wanted to. The knowledge sent a surge of heat through him; he existed only for Essek’s pleasure now. At any time he could take control back, but until he did Essek could use him how he saw fit. 

“Lesson two then. You asked me once about the words for love and lust, and I struggled to find the word in Common to explain it,” Essek said, undoing the laces of Caleb’s pants and tapping his hips to signal to raise them. He pulled off Caleb’s trousers slowly, watching with a lofty satisfaction as his flushed cock was released to smack against his stomach. Caleb groaned at the drag of fabric over sensitive flesh, but Essek seemed to pay no mind. “Lamppost and lamb post, remember?” he asked coolly, finishing with Caleb’s trousers so his legs were completely bare and raking his nails over his hips and thighs. Caleb panted, breaths coloured with whines and half-formed pleas. “Spread both thighs for me, my darling boy,” Essek continued. Caleb bent his legs and fanned them open, modesty all but lost in his haze. Essek smiled and put a hand on each knee. “So pretty,” he said, the mask dropping for a moment before he put back up his imperious passivity once more. “There's another double sound, ‘both thighs’,” he said, tapping his fingers to punctuate the words. “And if I were to talk about my ‘makeup’, the ‘thinness’ of your waist, the way you want to ‘rip off’ my clothes, those are the same.”

“I’d like to teach you some new Undercommon ones,” Essek continued, pouring a viscous oil onto his hands that Caleb hadn’t noticed him pick up. “First is ‘ vress’ol ’, ‘finger’”,he whispered, massaging a finger against Caleb’s rim. He groaned and tried to buck into it, but as soon as he did Essek pulled away and held Caleb’s hips, working small circles into Caleb’s hip bones with his thumbs. “‘ Qualla ’…I’m sure you’ve heard me say that a few times. That one is ‘please’. ‘ Bel’lain ’ is ‘thank you;, which you would have also heard.” He moved his left hand back down to Caleb’s hole, pressing his finger only feather-light on the sensitive skin there and massaging the oil onto his rim without pressing inside. Essek leaned down close enough to Caleb’s ear that he could feel the heat of his breath.

“I’d love to hear you beg with them.”

“ Qualla , Essek, qualla ,” Caleb begged. He felt stripped raw, sustained only by the desperate white-hot desire to please. The words were getting harder and harder to remember, his usually flawless memory dissolved into the soft fog.

“Again. Softer ‘k’ sound. Round it,” Essek said, his unaffected persona only made more attractive by the disparity between it and the dripping wet knuckles that Essek pressed against the skin of his perineum. “Try again.”

 “Fill me up, gods please. Qualla . I want you, I want you so badly.”

Essek drew in a stuttering breath and bowed his forehead against Caleb’s chest, dragging Caleb’s shirt up under his arms and pressing a kiss to his breastbone. “Gods, what you do to me. Two more words, love, can you do that for me?” Caleb squeezed his eyes shut and nodded, letting out another deep groan as Essek slowly pressed a glistening finger inside him, the movement smooth and unobstructed. Essek panted into his collarbone as if he was the one being fucked and Caleb threaded his fingers through his hair, needing something to ground him against the waves of pleasure coursing through him.

“There are two similar words in Undercommon that I like for you,” Essek murmured, letting the vibrations ripple through Caleb's skin. Not close enough to be called a kiss, but too close not to feel every breath and hum reflected upon him. “‘ Xi’hum’ is a lovely word for you. It means you are my dear pet who will do everything to serve me. It is for a good boy like you who just wants to please, up in that foggy space where only I matter.” Essek pressed the finger in and out, in and out. Steady, like a heartbeat.

Caleb felt like he was being torn apart at the seams, stripped of every part of his existence that wasn’t for Essek’s pleasure. He could be so good for Essek. He let out a strangled shout as Essek began to slowly press a second slick finger inside of him, stretching him out methodically. His fingers were undoubtedly leaving a dripping mess around Caleb’s ass, they way they glided in and out fluidly.

“There is another word though. Do you want to know what it is?”

“Please.”

“Gods, Caleb,” Essek murmured, pressing a smattering of kisses over Caleb’s chest and burying his head in Caleb’s chest hair. The weight of Essek half splayed over him was so warm, so comforting. “What is ‘ bol’ on its own?”

“Thing,” Caleb breathed out, Essek’s insistent fingers making it hard to remember. He could hear the squelching slide of them inside him. In and out. He whined high in this throat as flashes of his lessons came back to him. “A toy,” he whispered through laboured breaths.

“Good boy, good boy,” Essek purred, tracing his blunted nails along Caleb’s chest and scraping delicately over his nipples while the fingers of his other hand began to curl within Caleb, probing. “So clever, even like this.” Caleb felt the warm hum of satisfaction at Essek’s proud words. “Jivvin’bol is similar in some ways. The closest term would be ‘fuck toy’. One that I can do whatever I wish to. One who has no say. Their only purpose is for my amusement and pleasure.” Caleb nearly cried out as Essek pushed a third finger inside of him.

“Is that what you want? You want to be ussta jivvin’bol ?” Essek rasped into his ear and Caleb’s breath hitched as he felt the length of Essek’s cock pressed against his ass, thrusting gently against his cheeks. He must have pushed his pants down while Caleb was distracted. “My pretty, precious thing? Do you want to be kept right here on your bed, nowhere else you’d rather be than servicing me?”

Essek slowed his hand and fell silent, waiting patiently for an answer. 

“Make me yours,” Caleb whispered.

I want this. I want you. I want you to keep going, to keep doing terrible and wonderful things to me. I want you to let go.

Essek pressed a chaste, gentle kiss behind his ear before tightening his grip on Caleb’s cock and growling a deep, predatory purr. “My xi’hum , sweet and soft and wet and empty .” Essek punctuated the final word by pressing his hips even harder against Caleb, drawing a ragged moan from Caleb’s lips.

Essek breathed heavily. “Are you desperate for my cock yet, sweet thing? Desperate for me to make you mine, finish inside you like you’ve been aching for these weeks? I know you must have been touching yourself just like this, imagining me taking you to pieces.”

This… this was the indecency he craved. Essek almost fully clothed while Caleb was entirely bared save for a shirt rucked up to expose him. Shame was for a version of Caleb with the ability to feel anything more than desperation and pure, burning want. Take me take me take me take me-

Essek grinned hungrily.  He wanted to be filled, wanted to be fucked until he couldn’t speak. “Gods, you’re so desperate aren’t you? So beautiful. Can’t even string a sentence together anymore after a few fingers. You’d be begging for my cock if your pretty little head could form the words.” Caleb screwed his eyes shut and nodded adamantly, keeping his hands plastered beside his head. 

Essek’s smile returned and he leaned forward, sucking a bruise into Caleb's neck below his jaw. Overwhelmed sobs ripped from his chest as Essek worked his sensitive skin over and over with his lips and tongue and teeth. “You’re a toy for me to use how I will, Caleb,” Essek said as he sat back up, curling his fingers just shy of his prostate, “For my own pleasure, my own amusement. I could leave you like this or fuck you until I’m satisfied. Mine to use as I please.” Essek pushed his fingers in deep and curled them properly this time and Caleb felt like he was reduced to static and noise, his muscles contracting and loosening and his nerves set alight as Essek worked him open.

The fingers slowed gradually and Caleb looked down, temporarily pulled from his blissed reverie with a need to check Essek’s expression. Instead of any concern he saw only an expression of rapture, Essek watching with a distracted fascination where his fingers disappeared easily into Caleb’s wet, stretched hole. He felt deliciously bared open to Essek’s attention.

“Everyone should know you’re mine.” Essek said it so quietly it seemed almost to himself. Caleb brought his wrist up to muffle the pleading sound he made. He knew Essek never would. He knew how private he wanted to keep this. But that didn’t stop the barrage of images that flooded Caleb’s senses. Left bared and used and wanting just like this, knowing others could look but Essek would never dare let them touch. Others could watch how well he takes Essek’s cock, how well behaved he can be while the depraved symphony of skin on skin filled the room, the slick sounds of Caleb’s greedy hole taking Essek in. His dripping cock bouncing untouched against his stomach. How he would be envied. How he would be desired . He whined at the image, a small pathetic mewl from the back of his throat as he turned his head to the side. He was probably going to drool into the pillow. He couldn’t bring himself to care.

Essek’s ears twitched and he pounced, pulling the other hand that had been holding one of Caleb’s thighs and resting it over Caleb’s throat, placing only the most delicate pressure but with the distinct threat in his eyes that it could be more. Essek leaned over him and met his eyes, his fingers never stopping their scissoring and insistent pressure on Caleb’s prostate.

“You like that, xi’hum ? What if I told you that until that pretty mark on your neck heals you have to display it to the world? So they all know what a little whore you are, how you lay down under me and let me do what I like. And that’s if I give it time to heal at all.”

Caleb tilted his head back as much as he could, giving Essek more skin to bite. Here, in the smoke and safe dark pressure of submission, that was all he wanted. To be owned. To be wanted. To be shown off like a prize, like something worthy of display.

He took one of his hands and pressed Essek’s fingers firmly over where he could feel the ache of his swiftly bruising skin, looking up at Essek with swollen lips and hazy, half-lidded eyes.

“You could,” he whispered. “I’d let you.”

Essek’s eyes opened wide and he leaned down to take his lips in a fierce but brief kiss, sitting back up and slowly withdrawing his fingers. Caleb whined loudly before melting back into the bed in a bone-deep sigh as he felt the head of Essek’s cock tease at his entrance. He felt it slide across his rim, gliding easily with the generous amount of oil Essek had used. Caleb’s cock jumped at the sudden image of how wrecked he was going to look when Essek was done with him, his cock and ass glistening with oil and his stomach painted in streaks of come. Utterly debauched. Messy . Used.

Essek pushed slowly inside him and Caleb’s thoughts ceased to be, replaced by a prayer of more more more fill me fill me

As he fully seated himself within Caleb, Essek leaned forward to rest their foreheads together and lace their fingers together either side of Caleb’s head. Surrounded entirely by him. He could feel the leather of Essek’s pants where they had been hastily shoved down his thighs, feel the hard bones of the corset pressing against his chest. Caleb keened at the first snap of Essek’s hips against his, the next pull out deliciously slow and easy. Essek bit a second mark into the pale column of Caleb’s neck, only pulling off just shy of when Caleb was sure he would draw blood to purr against Caleb’s throat as he licked a stripe upwards.

“ Ussta. Mine,” he heard Essek rumble quietly against his forehead. “It’s time for your final - ah - final lesson. Last through these words and you can choose where I come,” said Essek, his composure beginning to break as he snapped his hips into Caleb. The only sounds Caleb could hear were his lover's whispering voice and Essek’s length thrusting inside him.

“One,” Essek whispered, ‘ ut’silti’ . To capture. To enslave. To collar. When you wear my marks on your skin, dear, I have ut’sillus you.”

Yes. Let him. I belong to him.

“Two; ‘illie’l’ . Where you are now. The soft light haze. Boneless and- and floating. The place we go when we are hurt sometimes, yes, but also a place - fuck, Caleb - where we can be safe. Where we don’t have to think and we can - ah - let go of the self, any shame or inhibition and experience only pleasure and care.” 

Essek said it like a prayer. It felt like one.

“Three,” Essek’s thrusts were getting sloppy now, less coordinated. The precome and lube made the slide so slippery, so easy. Caleb’s own arousal felt buried under a blanket of desire to please.

“‘ Nauyorna’ ,” Essek said, his voice breathy, “Your submission. Your trust in me. The power I have over you. You are mine, Caleb Widogast. All mine.”

“Essek, bitte … I’m close, please. Inside me,” Caleb said through teary eyes.

Essek choked out something between and laugh and a sob, kissing him briefly but fiercely. “Come for me. You’ve been so good.”

Essek finally pressed a warm, oil-slicked palm to his cock and Caleb was gone, hurtling over an edge and falling where he knew Essek would catch him. He felt his own come landing on his chest and in the soft hair on his lower stomach, mixing with sweat and oil. In the haze and vibration and sensitivity he felt Essek’s muscles seize up, clenching against his pelvis and hands as Essek followed Caleb’s orgasm with his own. Caleb could feel the warm heat spilling inside him, Essek’s last couple languid thrusts turning Caleb’s blush even redder with the sticky wetness he could feel against his sensitive rim being pushed in and out.

They laid connected together for a moment, exhausted and sated, relishing the closeness that only skin on skin contact could provide. Essek laid against Caleb’s warm chest, occasionally repositioning his cheek in a way that Caleb knew was him feeling and luxuriating in the soft texture of chest hair.

Eventually he felt Essek wrinkle his nose and sit up, pulling out of Caleb with a noise that only slightly scandalised him out of the heat and fog of sex. Essek murmured a few words of Undercommon to cast Prestidigitation on both of them and fully undressing himself before curling up to Caleb’s side.They laid tangled together for a moment, breathing in the smells of sex and sweat and luxuriating in the closeness. 

The silence was broken as Caleb breathed an amused huff through his nose. “You know,” he began, “I do not even know why I was learning Undercommon. I have magic at my disposal.”

Essek smiled. “Whatever your reasoning is, it was very endearing. Though I may have… facilitated some inappropriate associations now, I fear.”

“Ah well,” Caleb sighed, “I must take some responsibility for that though. You make for a very attractive teacher.”

He felt Essek smile against his chest and hum contentedly. “Perhaps next time you should play language tutor, Professor Widogast? I’m sure there are many things you could teach me,” Essek said teasingly.

Caleb sighed and pulled the blankets up to cover them both, dimming the arcane lights with a flick of his wrists. “Dear, you know I love you very much. But if you ever ask me to dirty talk you in Zemnian I am afraid we will never speak again. It is really just… deeply unsexy. But–” he said, rolling Essek onto his back and hovering over him, “I’m sure I could think of other things to teach you, schatz.”