Chapter Text
X.
Like the 'room' that Corvo had seen in the Chamber of Commerce, Daud doesn't live with much clutter - just a simple bed, a desk with some notes and books, and a chest at the foot of the bed. They stumble towards the bed, shedding belts and blades and coats until Corvo has Daud knocked over onto his back on the bed; they're grinding urgently against each other even as Daud struggles to kick off his boots.
"My turn on top," he tells Corvo roughly, yanking open Corvo's shirt, hard enough that buttons spin and plink away onto the ground.
"You lost the sparring match," Corvo retorts, though he allows Daud to roll him over onto his back and help with his boots, tossing them into the untidy heap on the ground.
"Details, details," Daud drawls, just as he gets his teeth in under the open collar of Corvo's shirt and bites down, chuckling muffled and deep as Corvo hisses and curls his hand into Daud's short hair, pulling him closer. His blood's singing again with the promise of violence, and as he shoves one thigh between Daud's legs, pressing up, Daud groans and bites harder and fists his hands in Corvo's shirt for a moment before he pulls it off, impatient.
Corvo moans, arching against the bed, already impatient - he tugs pointedly at the hem of Daud's breeches until Daud purrs and presses a few licks against the fresh scar he's left on Corvo's throat, leaning up to look at him - then he frowns and glances sharply to his left. Corvo twists up onto his elbows quickly, following Daud's stare, just in time to see the Outsider settle languidly into the chair at the desk, turned to face them, pale hands folded demurely in his lap, long legs folded. The floor is alive with darkness.
"If you wanted to watch," Daud says roughly, with a sharp grin, "You could've said."
"Daud," Corvo hisses, but Daud ignores him - the Outsider's head tilts a little, expressionless.
"I'm always watching, my Daud."
"You want a show this time?" Daud smirks, and leans up to kiss Corvo when Corvo tries to snap something. The Outsider laughs - that unnatural, echoing rumble of immortal amusement - as Daud thrusts his tongue down Corvo's throat to drag a moan from him. Corvo's heart is hammering in his chest; he feels so hot that he's sure that he's flushed all over - this is so wrong, and yet his hands are clenched over Daud's shoulders, urging him on. The Outsider's undivided attention fans the embers of his lust into something closer to madness.
"Sit up," Daud growls, tugging at his arm, and dazed, Corvo obeys, propping his back up against the headboard, shifting up along the crowded bed.
Daud licks and bites an unhurried path down from his throat, marking him, avoiding his scars, and Corvo makes a strangled, keening sound at the first rasp of teeth against a nipple. He clutches at Daud's bared shoulders, not daring to risk a look at the Outsider, then he yelps as an inexorable force seems to surround his wrists, pinning them high above his head. He twists in confusion, and Daud glances up sharply, only to laugh and lean up, to press a kiss to the black curls of midnight twisted around Corvo's wrists. From the chair, the Outsider makes a small sound - a growl, a moan, almost: the sound is nothing human, and the feel of it thrums through Corvo's frame like the edges of whalesong.
From the looks of it, Daud feels it too - Daud heaves a surprised gasp against Corvo's cheek, then he nips Corvo's ear playfully as he shifts back down, his smirk arrogant and playful as he tugs Corvo's breeches down and off. Fully naked and pinned to the bed like a display, Corvo can't help but blush, fixing his eyes on the pink flick of Daud's tongue as it tastes the hollow of his skin beside his hip rather than try to look at their God.
Daud is a frustrating tease - soon Corvo's snarling and bucking urgently and biting out curses as Daud just takes his time exploring, with long laps of his tongue over Corvo's tightening balls, up under the sensitive undersides of his thighs, further up, to his navel. Corvo's very nearly forgotten that they have an audience: his cock is throbbing painfully against his belly and it hasn't even yet been touched - he jerks angrily at his restraints and calls Daud a gasping string of ugly names that he had learned from the sailors of the steamship to Karnaca. Daud laughs, and retaliates by nipping his hip sharply and making him flinch.
"Daud," the Outsider says, with mild reproach. "Give him what he wants."
"Show'll be over too quick," Daud responds, his voice roughened and thick with lust.
"That's for me to decide, my dear."
Daud shrugs, and Corvo dimly can see the Outsider's point about Daud and his devotion - not once does Daud seem to think to reach down between his own thighs to give himself relief, or even loosen his own breeches. Instead, he licks at Corvo's aching cock - finally - small, kitten licks at first, then long and hungry laps before he finally gathers up thick flesh in his gloved hand, his left, the marked hand, and sucks him down, unhurried as ever. Corvo barely swallows a scream. It's been so long since anyone has done this to him, and none with such confidence: Daud hasn't done this to him before.
He's writhing by the time Daud swallows him to the hilt, staring down between his spread legs as Daud chuckles and bobs his head back up with a wet and obscene sound, the vibration of his purr stirring the tightening coil of Corvo's desires. He fights to stay still, but his hips twitch and jump regardless, and Daud - by the Void - seems unbothered, his hands resting only lightly on Corvo's hips, taking him in again with a swirl of his tongue. It's all for show, Corvo knows, but he can't help but cry out and stifle a sob. It's too much, like this, worse when Daud finally decides to settle for swallowing around him as though looking to devour him; Corvo's throat feels raw and he's close to the brink and-
Another twist of darkness wraps tight around the base of his prick, and Corvo lets out a disbelieving, betrayed gasp of shock. Daud pulls back quickly, concerned, then he looks down with a chuckle and glances over at the Outsider, teeth bared. "Looks like you thought over everything you learned in great detail."
The Outsider allows them another faint smile. "Entertain me."
"Want to join in?" Daud offers, still grinning, his voice a rasp from the abuse he's just put his throat through, "Have a turn?"
Corvo's breath hitches, wide-eyed. Have a turn? The Outsider? He has a brief mental image of the slender, unnaturally beautiful frame pressed between Corvo's legs, or straddling his waist, and has to choke down a gasp. "Daud-"
"I thought you were putting on a show, my dear," the Outsider says mildly, and Daud shrugs again, leaning up to take Corvo's mouth again, feeding the bitter edge of Corvo's own taste to him until he's writhing and squirming again, begging wordlessly with every urgent breath. He gets an ankle up against the small of Daud's back and tugs, and Daud growls, low and hungry, but he glances over to the Outsider for instructions instead of taking what he wants.
Corvo is vaguely aware that he should feel... disgusted, perhaps, or used, but instead, he finds he's as strung to the Outsider's will as Daud is, waiting - anticipation is all the more heady in that it's unexpected. "Please," he manages to gasp hoarsely, and Daud shudders, his breathing deepening; the Outsider uncrosses and crosses his slender legs and rests one perfect cheek against his palm.
"Very well," the Outsider drawls. "Go on, Daud."
"Got a preference?" Daud inquires, and grins wickedly as he flattens his palm against Corvo's aching cock, making him buck for the pressure and whine.
"Entertain me," the Outsider instructs, and the moan's from the both of them, harsh and desperate; Daud fumbles for the elixir he keeps near his bed even as he shoves his own breeches to his knees; shaking fingers spill drops of elixir over Corvo's cock. When the first digits press into him, Daud isn't remotely gentle, but Corvo arches his back and keens for it anyway: he wants, oh, he wants.
"You can bleed me," Corvo says impatiently, pressing the heel of his foot into Daud's back, "Daud-"
"Shut up," Daud hisses, narrow-eyed, and shoves up Corvo's thigh, pressing him wide open, "You'll take what you're given."
He's slow on this day of all days, Void-damn him, Corvo knows Daud is putting on a show but he's still wild from it, tugging at his bonds and cursing Daud between gasps for air; he needs Daud so much, needs to be filled, the pressure stroking within him is far too gentle, far too little. "Mercy," he begs, his voice ruined, when Daud gets to three fingers, still so fucking leisurely, "Mercy, milord, please-"
"Give him what he wants, Daud," the Outsider says, his voice neutral as ever but Daud moans his assent as though punch drunk, slicking himself up and sliding in with a low and bubbling snarl. He jerks with a start when he's barely halfway in, and Corvo blinks at him dumbly for a moment before he realizes that the Outsider must have restrained Daud just as Corvo's own prick is bound, and he chokes out a groan, locking his ankles against Daud's spine, pulling urgently. The slide's smooth, the friction barely enough, and Daud curls against him to kiss him when they're full-joined, his kiss savage where the breach had been gentle.
Corvo growls, squirming and trying to urge Daud on, but Daud doesn't budge, chuckling low and rough against Corvo's ear until the Outsider says, "Move, Daud."
"How d'you want it?"
"Entertain me."
"You heard him," Daud whispers against Corvo's ear, and there's violence in his words, finally, even as Corvo shifts to let Daud drag out a pillow, pressing his heels into the bed to help Daud fit it under his hips. The next thrust is punishing, and Corvo jerks like a plucked string and wails his pleasure.
Daud's shirt is soaked through by the time his thrusts finally start to stutter and slow, exhaustion making his arms shake from where they take his weight on either side of the bed beside Corvo's ribs, and still the Outsider watches, quiet and intent. Corvo's beyond begging now, his breaths in gasping sobs; his whole body aches to the bone, his blood burns within him and he needs more, he needs relief-
It's Daud who begs, to Corvo's dull shock, his voice a scratchy rasp as he looks over to the Outsider. "Please," he gasps, and repeats himself when the Outsider doesn't move, but his third attempt to speak drains into a low and choked sob as he buries himself back into Corvo's body and racks up another thorny pulse of pleasure and pain.
The Outsider uncurls to his feet, stepping over, and Daud freezes, wide-eyed, leaning over eagerly when the Outsider curls hands into his sweat-soaked hair to drag him close for a kiss. He probably releases Daud at the same time - Daud stiffens tight, every muscle locked, and Corvo whimpers and bucks as he feels warmth spread within him, pulling weakly at the bindings on his wrists.
"Don't move yet," the Outsider tells Daud, and leans down to kiss Corvo - his mouth is blessedly cool, and urgent, and the pressure around the base of his cock is gone, yes; Corvo shakes as he comes apart, untouched, hears as though from a distance Daud's hiss as Corvo clenches uncontrollably over his own oversensitised flesh.
Then the Outsider is settling back into the chair, and Corvo yelps as the bindings around his wrist disappear, dropping him back onto the bed in an awkward sprawl. "That was enlightening," the Outsider says finally: the cold bastard's amused. Corvo's too exhausted to think of anything - he just stares at him blankly.
"Glad to be of service," Daud says dryly, in between shallow gasps for breath, "But I note that you didn't seem to want any personal help with anything else."
"Physical release is a mortal matter," the Outsider presses one pale thumb briefly against his lower lip, as he smiles slightly. "But I was entertained."
With that, he's gone, and Daud gingerly pulls out before sagging down on the bed, too tired to do much more than roll onto his side between Corvo and the wall. "Fuck," he mutters indistinctly against the pillow, even as Corvo starts to laugh, jagged and hoarse. "I don't think I can survive another round of that."
"You won't be doing all the work next time... if there's a next time," Corvo reassures him, and adds, lazily, "Old man."
"Fuck you. I'll kick you out of my bed, except I'm too tired to move."
10.0.
"Pharin knew a friend who knew a friend who's a crewmate on a Pandyssian trade ship," Daud explains smugly, and winks at Corvo, who shoots him a murderous glare, his hand clenched on the hilt of his sheathed sword.
"Oh, isn't it darling," Emily coos, "I simply must think of something nice for Pharin in return."
"Yes, mustn't we just," Corvo says darkly, and Daud hopes that Pharin's thought to make himself scarce for the next few days. "Daud, is there some definition of the term 'inappropriate' that you fail to understand?"
"The Empress is my boss, not you," Daud retorts, with a wink at Emily, who laughs. "The crewmate said that it lives just as well on bits of steak as birds, so there won't be a problem about feeding it."
"Until it grows bigger than a man," Corvo mutters, "When it does, I'm going to feed you to it."
"Oh Corvo, be nice," Emily instructs, without taking her eyes off the little monster. "This is so much better than the wolfhound pup that you suggested. Think of all the fun we could have taking this for walks! I'll have to think of a name. Maybe Piero or Anton could contribute."
"Taking it for walks?" Callista says faintly.
"Surely that thing should be confined to a cage," Corvo agrees, alarmed, even as, tired, the plant monster makes a shrill, screeching sound of protest and promptly roots itself in the ground.
"Look, you've upset it," Emily says reprovingly, "And to think I was considering naming it after you, Corvo."
Corvo visibly shudders, even as Daud has to briefly cover his mouth to stifle a laugh. "Ah... I'm certain I could live without the honour, Emily. Why don't you name it after Daud?" he adds, even as the plant monster snaps up an unsuspecting butterfly and gulps it down, little teeth gnashing.
"I don't know," Emily purses her lips. "It doesn't really look like a Daud to me."
"It definitely looks like a Corvo," Daud agrees, with a smirk, and Corvo glares at him pointedly even as he manages, through a careful mix of bribery and cajoling and dire predictions, to convince Emily to have the plant monster confined to a cage for now. Her pleas of "Why can't I bring it to Court?" were piteous indeed, but in this matter Corvo showed a surprising degree of backbone. Pity.
"Court would have been more exciting with a plant monster," Daud tells Corvo later, when Corvo finds him perched precariously high up on the lighthouse in Kingsparrow Island, watching the dying grades of orange and gold as the sun starts to set.
"Don't tempt me," Corvo grunts, and grumbles about some sort of tedious matter over competing claims to some sort of strawberry farm. It seemed that the matter had been trundling along for years.
"I had a good day," Daud tells Corvo instead, just to be malicious, because he had - Emily had been in a magnanimous mood and had insisted that Pharin and Thomas and Daud attend her for tea, after which the rest of the day was spent seeing who could get the plant monster to jump the most for strips of steak. Daud had been winning when he had decided to actually get some work done before the day was over.
Corvo scowls. "You should have run that acquisition by me first. I am Lord Protector."
"Corvo, if I had to run everything remotely entertaining through you first, that little girl will never have any fun."
"This is a highly inappropriate-"
"For her next birthday," Daud adds mildly, "I think we should shake up one of the Navy ships and take her pirate hunting. The Whalers have always wanted to try it anyway."
"Absolutely not!"
"Oh? I told her that you agreed," Daud says blithely, and grins wickedly when Corvo glares at him. "Hold that expression too long and it'll freeze on your face. Relax. She'll come to no harm, and after a few weeks on the sea she'll probably think that Court is more exciting than a life on the waves. Probably."
"Probably?" Corvo growls, but instead of leaving, he stays perched close by Daud, watching as the sun sinks down over the horizon, washing its final splashes of light in cherry hues over the harbour. Stars paint themselves bright in the upturned bowl of the dark sky, and a breath of the first crisp, chilled breeze coming in from the sea washes over them both, tugging at their coats. The weight on Daud's soul seems to lessen, and it leaves wildness in its wake.
Daud uncurls to his feet, outlined against eternity, and pulls Corvo to his. "Race you down to the courtyard, you sad bastard," he offers, and Corvo smirks, leaning over to steal a brief kiss before he's gone, reappearing in a fraction of a second on a windowsill several feet below. Daud laughs, the mark on his left hand burning cold for a heartbeat, and he jumps, leaping out into the midnight sky.