Now and Again and Forver
Title: Now and Again and Forver
Author: hunters_retreat
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Rating: R
Summary: The hunt flowed through his blood and there was nothing but the search for green eyes and sun-kissed skin.
Author's Note: Written for the salt_burn_porn challenge and cleitos prompt of "a scent and a sound" and therefore unbeta'ed. Hope you enjoy it!
Now and Again and Forever
Jared laughed as he ran through the woods, branches and thickets snatching at his skin as if they could slow him down. He couldn’t be caught today, couldn’t be stilled or held when the wind was at his back and the ground was sure under his feet.
Laughter filled the air around him, deep and warm like the embrace of the clover fields on a midsummer’s day. It fed his speed and urgency and Jared ran through the wall of willows, weeping for their mates. On other days, Jared would take his time to mourn with them for a moment, finding his own mother who had lost her will to move and had grown roots in her grief. Today was not any other day though. The hunt flowed through his blood and there was nothing but the search for green eyes and sun-kissed skin.
It wasn’t their first chase, but in all these years, Jared had never caught his prey, nor had he been caught himself. Though Jared’s speed and strength made him more than a match for his rival, the other fae had the use of glamour and an uncanny ability to silence the woods themselves to hide his secrets.
The earth beneath his feet turned from soft grass to cool rocks, the sounds of water overtook his ears, but Jared continued on with the same fever. He didn’t slow down or hesitate to throw himself over the edge of the water but dove with the sure knowledge that came from practiced movements.
Jensen had led him down this path before. Jared didn’t plan on letting him escape this time though.
The water was cool and refreshing from the heat of the chase and Jared swam to the water’s edge before sticking his head above water. The mermaids played at the other end of the falls and tried to entice him back to them but Jared hadn’t been able to see anything but jade green since the day he’d met Jensen.
As he rose from the water, Jared heard the soft laughter again, his brothers and sisters following along singing the silly rhyme his mother had whispered at his birth. “A scent and a sound, wrapped round and round, and never a foot closer you’ll get, till he twines you and wines you and neverminds you, and then you’ll end up his pet.”
It was meant to mock him but Jared had long ago learned to ignore it like the buzzing fly. His mother had been gifted with visions, but in the end she had been visited by madness and no one could tell prophecy from fantasy by the time of his birth. The hunt had driven her mad, they whispered, but Oberon had been keen on her visage and it seemed the same desire ran through his son. Jensen had taunted Jared for years, staking a claim but never allowing Jared to catch him. This year Jared was done with it.
Jensen was his, should be his, and he cared not that the son of the Fae-King had sworn to never allow another to take him in hunt. If he had not wanted Jared to follow then he should have anointed his eyes to another.
Jared stilled suddenly, a sound catching his attention. It was like the faint tinkering of bells and the rustle of the maypole ribbons. Jared followed swiftly but with more care. It had been three days since he’d given chase to his beloved and he would not falter at the end for carelessness. He had been denied his catch too many times but he was ready this year.
The walls of the forest closed in around him, leading to the high rock face that was surrounded by dense trees. It was a quiet, secluded place that few traveled to. The fae liked open spaces but as Jared stepped into the clearing he smiled at the sight of Jensen with his back to the trees, staring up at the insurmountable height before him.
“Are you done giving chase already?” Jared announced his presence in the circle.
Jensen’s body froze for a moment before he turned to face Jared. “If you are tired already, I suggest you find a less lofty ambition for I am far from done with the chase.”
“It would seem you’ve run out of room to run.”
“Have I?” Jensen asked, the corners of his lips turned up in a growing smile. “If you think me done in, would you sit with me then, and drink a toast to our fondness of the chase?”
Jared watched the fae for a moment, cautious now that he had his prey. Jensen sat in the tall grass and Jared joined him, allowing the small feel of triumph to grow in his heart. “It has been a merry chase, has it not?”
Jensen’s smile was demur and Jared was caught with the sight of it. The pure beauty of the Fae-Prince and the exhilaration of having finally won his place at his side made his breath catch for a moment as Jensen undid the ribbons that tied his flask to his belt. When Jensen handed it to him Jared drank deeply, the taste of honeyed dandelion wine coating his tongue and spreading warmth through his body.
Jensen took the flask and raised it to full lips. “I had begun to fear you would never reach the end of your journey.”
“Which journey is that?’ Jared asked. He was certain Jensen was no longer talking of the hunt. He was wary of where Jensen’s words would take them next because the Fae-Prince was known for his tricks but Jensen couldn’t leave the clearing unless Jared let him and he had no intentions of ever letting the fae leave his sight.
Jensen smiled as he took another drink and handed the small flask to Jared. Jared shared the wine and watched as Jensen kept his eyes down, his fingers tracing the strong veins in Jared’s forearm. “Not all fae would take to the chase again after they had been denied so many times.”
“I would hunt another if they held any interest in my eye, but how could they, Oberon-son?”
Jensen’s smile grew again but his fingers never left Jared’s arm, moving to his wrist and tracing the lines of Jared’s palm. “I must admit I have discouraged others in their pursuit of you. You have yet to catch your prey, but I have never intended to end here with any other.”
“You said you would never be caught by any,” Jared teased. Jensen didn’t look towards him then, but the way his smile crooked higher at one side gave him the mischievous glint that reminded Jared of just how often his beloved had roamed the wilds with Puck. The trickster was the Fae-Prince’s protector and friend and Jared had cursed Puck more than once for his training when Jensen evaded him.
“A claim I stand beside,” Jensen said as he looked up.
“Yet, here we are.”
“And it is I who have bound you.”
“What?” Jared looked down at his wrist. He had stopped paying attention to the feel of Jensen’s fingers on his skin as he played with the ribbon of the flask, but the ribbons were gone, transformed by the Fae-Prince into bonds of ivy for fidelity, affection, and wedded love. Jared pulled away, stumbling up to his feet as he watched calla lilies and dahlia spring up around the circle’s edge. Delphinium and forget-me-nots, lilac and mint filled the clearing even as Jared tried to deny the way the ivy tightened on his wrist. “No, I caught you.”
“Did you?” Jensen asked. He stood and walked the circle, leaving Jared confused and uncertain. “I suppose the bond I wove on your wrist means nothing then.”
The dismissal was as surprising as it was heart wrenching. Jared would never deny Jensen’s claim, not in truth, but he had been so sure he would catch Jensen. In all the years he had been led on this hunt, Jensen had never once been the pursuer.
“You wanted to catch me?’ He asked, turning in circles to look at the towering fern trees. Fern that declared sincerity and fascination and confidence; that promised shelter and spoke of magic. He felt Jensen’s hand upon his back and allowed himself to be turned as Jensen pressed a bouquet of flowers into his hands. Magnificent beauty, dignity, playfulness and forever. True love and hope, memories, humility and confidence and first love mixed with virtue and warmth and protection. All promises the Fae-Prince was making to him.
“You were young and brash and I wanted to move mountains into your path to watch you climb them,” Jensen said softly. “You were full of yourself and the hunt under your skin and I had to bide my time until you were ready to be mine, ready to remember who I am and not just feel the coursing of your blood at the end of the chase. I could never be caught, Jared, I am the Fae-Prince and not to be had by any other, but I was always going to catch you.”
Jared shivered at the idea as Jensen’s fingers slid across his throat. Jared felt it then, no longer distracted by the beauty of Jensen’s eyes; the magic as Jensen marked him.
Jared dropped the bouquet and Jensen’s eyes widened as he stepped back. Jared knew he’d taken the gesture as a rejection but Jared closed his eyes, concentrating on the flowers at his feet. He wasn’t a prince, but he was strong and young and he needed to show Jensen that he understood now.
Morning glory weaved through the bouquet, promising affection and Jared’s undying love. He pushed at the bouquet until it was a soft pillow and then continued it out until it was a large oval shape. Jensen watched with wide eyes as Jared lay down on the grassy bower, surrounded by the promise of their union.
“Jared?” His voice was uncertain but he knelt beside Jared, hands reaching towards him.
“Would you have me, Fae-Prince, in a bower of grass and flowers with the ferns as witness?”
The uncertainty left Oberon-son then and when he smiled it was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds after months of winter storms. “I take your submission as my due,” the Fae-Prince said as he knelt between Jared’s legs. He planted his hands on either side of Jared’s head and their lips were a breath away. “I take your life as mine to protect. I take your will as mine to direct. And I take your love in exchange for my own. Will you give me your love, Willow-son?”
“All of it, my love, my life, my everything, Oberon-son.”
Jensen pressed their lips together in a chaste kiss that made Jared’s breath catch. He felt the ivy crawling over his throat and the way his other wrist was covered in the growing vines. They would remain so long as Jensen lived, marking Jared as the Fae-Prince’s consort. They would never wither away, but would remain young and glorious like their creator.
When Jensen pulled back, his eyes were dark with want. The next kiss was passion and lust and Jared opened to his beloved. Jensen’s tongue slid between Jared’s lips and he pulled until the ivy at his wrist was grown long enough to allow him to touch Jensen, to pull his body closer.
“Would you stop my ivy now, Jared?” Jensen asked with heavy laughter.
“I would touch you,” Jared confessed. “I would worship every inch of your skin if you would allow it.”
Jensen sat back, watching Jared for a moment before he smiled again. “But I cannot deny myself the sight of you covered in my vines.” As he spoke, the ivy pulled his arms back down to the ground and he was caught in the mercy of the Fae-Prince.
“You are so very beautiful, Jared,” Jensen said, running a hand over Jared’s thigh as he spoke. The trail of his fingers made Jared moan and Jensen’s mischievous smile replaced his earlier grin. “I think I will make this place sacred for us, Jared,” Jensen confessed and Jared couldn’t help the widening of his eyes. “No one would be able to cross this circle without feeling this moment, without knowing what it is to love another so completely, to be loved by another, and to be wanted so much.”
It was in his power to do so, to leave an ageless imprint of their bonding, and Jared shivered at the thought of it.
“Do I affect you so much already?” Jensen asked.
“Yes,” Jared admitted breathlessly.
“Good,” Jensen leaned in again and this time he savaged Jared’s mouth as his hands began to roam over Jared’s skin. It was maddening as he tried to reciprocate the touch, but Jensen refused to release the ivy on his wrists and it tied him to the soil in ways he’d never known. He was a creature of the earth though and the feel of being bound to it - even superficially with Jensen’s ivy - called the nature of his being. He felt grounded there, with Jensen as both roots to hold him in place and sun to nourish and warm and worship.
His body stilled and he took a deep breath, catching the scent of the Fae-Prince; loam and wild grass and royal angrec. Jensen felt the moment of his surrender, Jared was sure, because the fae pulled back and when Jared looked up, there was such wonder in his eyes that Jared had to smile.
“Beloved,” Jensen whispered softly. He kissed a trail down Jared’s neck and chest before his hands pulled at the simple cloth at his waist. As much as Jared wanted to return the gesture, he didn’t struggle against his ivy binding.
When Jensen leaned down and began leaving tiny bite marks across his hips and stomach, Jared couldn’t hold back the moans and he felt the clearing echoing with his pleasure. Jensen teased his way down Jared’s thighs and then he licked around the crown of his cock, watching Jared as he did.
The sight of the Fae-Prince was enough to set loose another series of moans that were chased by his beloved’s laughter. He took pity on Jared though and gripped the base of his cock as he stretched his lips around his girth and swallowed him down.
Jared bucked up into the warmth of Jensen’s mouth and his lover opened, taking him in as his tongue ran the underside of his cock. “Please,” Jared begged though he knew not what he was begging for.
Jensen teased and licked and then he opened Jared’s body with his tongue and fingers. When he pressed into Jared it was a revelation; a sapling breaking through the winter’s frost to reach the first sun of the new year. They moaned as one, breathed as one, and from now on they lived as one.
“My beautiful Willow-son,” the Fae-Prince chanted against his temple.
Jared turned his head and caught Jensen’s lips in a kiss, feeling the circle around them growing and remembering, flowers springing to life and tangling together to echo, forever, the moment of completion between Oberon-son and his chosen.
Jared’s world turned white for a moment as his seed spilled between them, as Jensen spilled inside him, and when he could see straight again, it was to Jensen’s waiting smile.
“The woods are singing,” Jared said quietly, in awe as butterflies pirouetted over them and the flowering trees released their blossoms to twist and turn in a dance with the monarchs and swallowtails and painted ladies.
“Yes, they are Jensen-mate.”
Jared’s heart soared with the name Jensen gave him and he lowered his eyes demurely. Jensen laughed softly, brushing his fingers over Jared’s cheek. “The woods will sing for ages with the memory of our chase, as your mother foretold.”
Jared’s eyes turned up in surprise and Jensen smiled. “It was a merry chase, Jared, and I am no less in awe that you allowed me to capture you, than you seem to be of having been captured.”
Jared let out a shaky breath. “Am I to be your pet then?” He knew it was so much more than that and his smile said so to his mate.
“Pampered like one, perhaps, but you are so much more, Willow-son and Jensen-mate. You are my everything and I will care for you for all time.”
Jared pulled him closer, hands no longer bound by ivy by encircled forever by his lover’s claim. “I will submit to your care, Oberon-son, but you are mine to care for also. I will keep you safe and loved for as long as the sun circles our fair skies and the tides rush out to meet her sister-moon.”
He pulled his beloved to him then and though their coupling had sealed them together, binding soul to soul and life to love, passion flared between them again. As the Fae-Prince smiled against his skin, Jared knew it would be a long time before they would leave the circle and celebrate their love with their kindred.
“Will you take me again, Oberon-son?”
Jensen chuckled dark and honeyed against Jared’s lips. “That I will, Jensen-mate, now and again and forever.”