[Fic] Guardian - 3/8 (EXO)
Title: Guardian
Pairing: Kai/Suho
Rating: NC-17 overall
Genre: master/slave!AU, pseudo-historical, fantasy, smut
Warnings: issues of sexual consent, references to past sexual assault, violence, kidnapping, slaves having no ability to say no especially at first, and did I mention issues of consent inherent to master/slave dynamics?
Summary: They spoke of him as though he were nothing more than a treasure found by the roadside. He bowed to his new master because it was polite, and because he knew of nothing else he could do. See warnings.
***
Chapter One * Chapter Two * Chapter Three * Chapter Four * Chapter Five * Chapter Six * Chapter Seven * Chapter Eight
***
The duties that Suho expected to perform were not few, but those were done under Kai’s sometimes passive inspection, and done nonetheless. Having Kai at top form was what he expected, even if rising from his bed with the sun wasn’t what Kai enjoyed. He’d served the morning meal to a tousle-headed Kai with sleepy eyes and downturned mouth more than once. Most mornings, if he was honest. Though the only difference between how Kai greeting the morning, and how Sehun did, was their stations in life. Sehun might have seemed gloomy but he had little choice in the matter.
Still, Suho heard a pitiful little cough from the bed the third time he had been in and out of the tent. It was later even than the latest time Kai had risen.
“Suho.”
The whisper, more of a croak, had Suho putting down the clothes he carried and rushing to the side of the bed.
“Are you all right?” he asked, frowning as he took in Kai’s flushed cheeks.
“Throat hurts,” Kai breathed. And then he took a long, wet inhale through his nose.
Ah. Not even masters were above getting sick.
“I’ll go see if Sehun has medicine, and tea, and hot soup,” Suho said. And he put his hand out, pausing as Kai blinked up at him. “May I?”
When Kai nodded, Suho pressed his palm against Kai’s forehead, against his cheek and neck. And Kai sighed, leaning into the cooler touch. He was warm, but not overly. He’d seen a man rage with fever that even the water couldn’t cure. All he could do was see to Kai’s comfort, and hope he would mend.
“I’ll be back soon,” Suho promised him.
“Is he still not up?” Sehun joked, when Suho came back into the work tent.
“He’s not feeling well. Too warm, pain in his throat.”
Sehun frowned immediately. “Ah. I know what he was willing to drink the last time.”
“Does it happen often?” Suho demanded, trailing after Sehun. “Was he all right?”
“He lived, if that is what you’re asking. It took a couple of days, but he felt better.”
“But the throat can be dangerous.” And it made Suho’s breath catch to think of it. When the body fought itself, there were so many things that could go wrong.
Kai had gotten himself up and dressed by the time he and Sehun returned, and Kai ate at the table. Still, Suho watched as Kai winced and drank so gingerly. Fever could cause collapse, or worse. And he bit his tongue, even as he helped Kai to tie on his high boots for riding.
“Are you sure you feel up to it?” And he got no response but a grunt. “I prepared water for you.”
All he could do was hand it over and sit with worried eyes as Kai left. His rational mind knew Kai would be fine. Kai would not fall off of his horse and die, such a fragile thing. That life was delicate, it was true, and he knew from his love of reading a half a dozen ways that he could sicken a man or even kill one. When he had been angry, afraid, in pain, disgusted, he wondered if he had thought of it. How to do so little, which would change his life so greatly. One life.
It would have meant being tied to Kai’s father instead, if Suho was not caught, or his own death. But even in the very worst of it, he had wanted to live. His time with Kai had not changed his mind on that.
And he wanted Kai to live.
Kai wasn’t company like Sehun was, wasn’t easy as Sehun was, but he had become an important part of Suho’s life. Even as he knelt for Kai, he learned more of himself. They were things he could not have learned surrounded by the temple pools and the agony of the donors. He wouldn’t thank Kai for taking him as a slave, but he wasn’t blind the fact that he had possibilities. Things he could accomplish, pleasures he could discover. He knew at least some of those would be with Kai.
Kai looked haggard but not wrecked when he strode in late that afternoon. He took the tea from Suho’s offering hands with a grateful glance, settling at the table with a long sigh. Suho didn’t wait for the request, ducking out of the tent to fetch broth he had been babying most of the day, and a bowl of softened fruits, and bits of toasted bread.
Kai whimpered when Suho put it front of him, reaching for the spoon. And Suho took it as thanks, sitting nearer than he did normally as Kai ate. It wasn’t purely in case Kai needed anything, trying to watch without seeming like he was watching. He didn’t really succeed, Kai looking up at him at least once as though questioning his almost-hovering. Still, it allowed him to pounce the second Kai made to get up from the table. Most days, Kai enjoyed cool cloths but Suho had warm water prepared for when Kai stepped out of his riding boots, out of the loose pants and long-sleeved shirt and tunic. Suho had freedom to touch how he wanted then, smoothing the warm cloth over Kai’s skin as quickly as possible so that he could be dried, dressed in clean clothes, free of the dust of travel.
“You should rest,” Suho said, as Kai shrugged into a clean shirt. “There’s nothing else more important tonight than you resting.”
“Is that right,” Kai asked, looking between his ledgers and his bed.
“That is right,” Suho said, and put all of his conviction behind it until Kai was huffing out a laugh.
“If you are the master tonight,” Kai said. “I’ll rest.”
It pleased him, humming as he pulled back Kai’s covers and made the bed look as inviting as possible.
“I’ll be quiet so you can sleep. I’ll wake you for more soup later,” Suho said.
Kai grunted, covering himself, and, worryingly, shivering a bit as he got comfortable. Suho breathed with him, waiting. It took a few minutes longer than usual, but Kai slid into obvious sleep and Suho let out a long breath.
“He’s sleeping,” Suho whispered to Sehun, when he went to fetch more water. It wasn’t as though Kai would hear. There was porridge ready for when Kai woke from his rest, and Suho already planned to wash the clothes Kai had been wearing, and keep the tent as restful as possible. At least it was not winter, when Suho had to worry about Kai in the cold air as well. But Kai rose an hour after, reliving himself and eating the porridge Suho brought. He spent an hour at his ledgers, leaning heavily on one palm as he scratched at the figures in the book. Suho held his tongue when he wanted most to chase Kai back into his bed. Still, that time came earlier than even Suho expected with Kai raising like he was coming up out of a dozen feet of water.
“I will rest,” Kai said, and Suho nodded, taking the ledger to its shelf and readying Kai’s bed again how he liked it. With the blankets turned and water nearby if Kai required it, Kai groaned as he stretched out and let Suho cover him. There were no requests for Suho to touch him, and Suho had not much expected there to be.
“I can turn down the light, or I can read a while from the book you gave me,” Suho said. “Sometimes it is nice to hear a voice before you rest.”
Kai closed his eyes for a long moment before he nodded.
“You can read a while. What kind of book is it?”
Suho almost laughed that Kai wasn’t sure what book he’d given his slave. But it had still been given, and Suho placed himself next to Kai’s bed with the book and its worn leather binding.
“It tells of travels over mountains with deep snow, higher than the top of your head,” Suho said, and Kai grimaced, shivering at the thought. Perhaps hearing of cold would bring down his fever.
So Suho read, glancing up every so often to see Kai’s eyes open or blinking slowly. He read of trees that seemed to reach the sky and boulders the size of tents, and deer so fleet they leaped the heads of horses. He read until Kai was resting, his eyes closed, breathing even. If he distracted Kai from his misery, he was glad. His bones seemed to creak as he rose, and he smiled, daring to move an errant lock of hair back into place.
Suho passed his hand gently over Kai’s hair. “I pray your dreams are untroubled,” he whispered.
He turned to shutter the lights and find his own rest.
***
In the dark, Kai’s eyes opened, feeling the gentle touch and Suho’s words.
***
He was still in pain, still tired, when he left his tent the next morning. Suho still watched him like a mother bird whose chick was going to run off and Kai almost felt good that he’d escaped without being tied into the bed. Though he wished he could return to it. But there was too much to do, and he kept himself on that path, grabbing Sehun’s elbow and hauling him with him as Kai walked toward where his horses were kept.
“What did you need? Suho brought you your breakfast. Do you feel worse? What’s-“
“I wanted to thank you for telling Suho how to make me feel better yesterday,” Kai interrupted him, knowing Sehun would have kept rattling on.
“Telling Suho what? I gave him the medicine I knew you wouldn’t spit back at him, but he did everything else.”
“What?”
And Sehun actually stopped, pulling his arm out of Kai’s grip.
“He’s your slave, Kai. He sees what you want every day. He came to me worried about you, got your medicine, prepared your meals. He sat watch over broth and porridge for you, and I don’t even know what else when I was busy. Why would I have to tell him what you needed?”
Kai opened his mouth, but the explanation he had didn’t come.
“That’s what I thought,” Sehun sighed. “Now I have to get back because I have work to do. He didn’t want to see you in pain. You’re doing well with him.”
He gaped after Sehun, who did his best to look unaffected as he walked away. He’d just been praised by his closest friend, a slave, about the slave of his tent. A man who, without Kai knowing, had seemed to know him better than Kai thought. He did not know what kind of thanks he could give to Suho, but it made the time spend quicker when he turned his mind to it.
***
What was Kai’s was also his father’s, and that included slaves. With Kai recovered, Suho’s days were even more full. Every single thing that Kai owned was packed, the tent taken down, stowed on several wagons. Suho did not have the luxury, the right, to sit a horse throughout the move of almost six hours, but he got to sit on the back of one of the wagons and watch as others rode. Sehun sat with him, pointing out people, laughing with him as they watched children play. Kai rode back to check on them every so often, and Suho made sure the cloth covering his head was pulled up the whole time.
“You don’t have to mock me,” Suho muttered, when Sehun made to adjust his own cloth for the fifth time in as many minutes.
“He would’t be angry with me,” Sehun agreed, but he still kept laughing when Suho elbowed him. They had food, fruit and bread and cheese, packed for themselves and for Kai. At least it kept the move from being unbearable. Though the packing had been hard, the setting up again seemed endless. Every available slave worked hard throughout all the nearly-erected tents to clean bedding, repair battered tent panels, mend floor covers. Suho was perplexed when he found a coin in the roll of his bedding not unlike what Kai had given him before. He did not know where Kai kept his coins, so he set up a small clay pot on the shelf where Kai’s combs, his books were kept. Three more coins joined it, from the pages of Suho’s book, from a corner of his cleaning cloths. He wondered that he had cleaned so poorly to find coins scattered like that, and how Kai had lost them.
But the work did not end. It was a time for everything neglected to be renewed so that the new camp would be ready for when the seasons would change - and they would not be caught unaware. Suho’s thighs burned from lifting and squatting, his fingers sore from pricking himself with needles and squeezing water from cloth. It was not the first day he had seen Kai’s father, an imposing man just shorter than Kai himself. His face was harder, rougher with age. Suho took his cue from Sehun, bowing and keeping his head down.
“Get back to work,” they were told.
And the pain on his side had his eyes tearing, the sound swallowed only through long experience of muffling himself. Sehun was not so lucky, the grunt passing his surprised lips and a second following it as the stick Kai’s father held touched his back again.
They had never stopped working, except to defer to his presence. They were not a horse that would be urged by a whip. Suho could see the tremble in Sehun’s hands as they finished gathering pots they had scoured with sand.
“What was that?” Suho whispered when they had entered the tent, a hand to his aching ribs.
“I don’t know,” Sehun said. “He has never done that before.”
Within an hour the dark marks were bruising. And by nightfall, they each wore several marks more. Sehun had been hit on a mark from before, and he had fallen to his knees in the tent because of the pain of it.
“We will be done after today,” Suho whispered against the top of Sehun’s head. “Perhaps it is only a test.”
The dinner bell rang, startling both of them. He did not try to wipe the tears from Sehun’s face, though he wanted to. He wanted to draw Sehun a warm bath full of herbs and oils to relax him.
It was his own mistake. He took Kai his food, ate quickly while trying not to breathe too deeply. When he made to rise to fetch Kai water, a bowl he had set too near a ledge spun and clanged. Suho’s head jerked to the side, just in time to see Kai startle.
“What was that?”
“A bowl. I did not mean to.”
Kai stood, coming closer to see what had happened.
“You should be more careful.”
If Kai began to beat him like that as well-
He could not stop the sound from his throat as he cringed as Kai reached for him. But the touch did not come, and after a moment, he dared look to where Kai was standing beside him.
“I have only struck you once to punish you. Why are you acting like that? Stand here.”
Suho stood, overcorrected, and in steadying him Kai did the one thing Suho had not wanted him to as Kai pressed against one of the bruises.
The cry of pain was muffled against one of Suho’s hands, but Kai had not missed it.
“Were you injured during the cleaning? Let me see.” Suho did not try to fight him, letting Kai lift his tunic and bracing himself. “Fuck. What happened?”
“Sehun…” Suho began, and squeaked as Kai’s finger touched skin that was tender.
“Sehun did this?” Kai asked, incredulous.
“No! No. Sehun is hurt as well.”
Kai said something, quick and low under his breath and left Suho standing there, only to return a minute later with Sehun at his heels. In the glow of the candles, the bursts of bruising across Sehun’s back were so visible. Sehun had taken more than Suho had.
“Both of you, right now. Tell me what happened. You did not get hit by a rock slide.”
Suho looked to Sehun, but Sehun was looking at Kai.
“It was your father. He has something new, a stick of some kind. It makes a sound against the skin, and marks like these.”
“He used it to urge us,” Suho added.
“It looks like he used it to damn near break your ribs,” Kai said. “It must hurt to move, breathe.”
Sehun’s chin was set as he nodded.
“I will not let this pass,” Kai said. “He has gone too far. Stay here.”
Suho saw the anger in Kai’s face as he let go of Sehun’s shoulder. When Suho thought of the hard face of Kai’s father, he ran, blocking Kai’s exit.
“Wait. Kai! Please, wait,” Suho said, grasping Kai’s shirt and holding when Kai tried to make him release it. “If you go to him in anger, will he listen? Or will he with reason?”
“He cannot do this to slaves of his own tent, or mine,” Kai said. “You cannot see your own back, but it is little better than Sehun’s-“
“Then make him see reason,” Suho pleaded. “I have known men like that. If you go in anger, he might see you as a petulant boy and close his ears. Please.”
“He speaks truth,” Sehun said from beside them. “Your father would be more determined.”
Where Suho found his courage he did not know. He was already in pain, and what Kai could do to him beyond that he did not know. But it was for himself, and Sehun, and the other slaves he fought.
But Kai grasped his wrist, holding Suho against him.
“You are right that anger is not the way. Sehun, stay here. We’ll be back soon.”
Pulled by his wrist, Suho followed Kai out into the dark, their way guided by tents lit from within and Kai’s knowledge of the camp. Without waiting for approval, Kai pulled Suho with him into the tent he was taking them towards.
“Father,” Kai said, bowing, and Suho bowed hastily with him, kneeling and staying down even after he felt Kai lift.
“What brings you to my tent?”
Suho tried to keep his breathing steady as Kai squeezed his arm.
“I noticed some of the slaves in pain this evening, beyond what they should have been for their work. They look as though they’ve been beaten. My slave, I discovered bruises when I stripped him tonight. Sehun bears them as well. They were working for you.”
“Yes,” Kai’s father said, putting aside his goblet of wine. “They did a good job getting the tents set up and cleaned.”
“Then why is he so bruised?”
“I got a new stick at the market. The seller said it would cause slaves to work faster. It has some kind of snap at the end, so I tested it. They did seem to jump when it touched them.”
As one of Kai’s hands pulled Suho’s face into his side, with the other Kai stripped down Suho’s tunic, exposing the bruises.
“Yes, they did jump. Look at how big these bruises are, how deep. His whole side is purple, and Sehun looks worse. The other slaves I cannot say.”
“I see.”
The sound of the words was hard, as though the criticism was too much. Suho bit the insides of his cheeks, because it was Kai’s battle to fight. Where Kai would give him leave to speak, his father surely would not. Suho inhaled as Kai ran his hand down Suho’s side, and he muffled the cry of pain against Kai’s shirt as Kai pressed one of the wounds.
“With his ribs bruised, he is slow. As hard as that must have hit him, I imagine it could crack ribs easily. I know he is a new slave, but he is eager to work, and Sehun has never shown himself to slack. They will not be able to work as hard tomorrow because of it.”
His father hummed. “Perhaps they will work harder under the threat, but without the touch of it.”
Suho felt Kai exhale. “I think so. I wanted to bring it to you, Father, for your advice.”
“You did say you liked his unmarred skin,” Kai’s father said and walked to them. Suho nearly bit his lip bloody as fingers palpitated one of the spreading bruises. “I see it may be too harsh to use day to day. Good for punishment in situations, perhaps. You were right to bring it to my attention. You will lead these tents well one day.”
“Thank you, Father. I’ll take my leave, now.”
Suho rose from his knees and backed away as Kai turned, and then followed Kai quickly. He walked just behind Kai’s elbow as they returned to Kai’s tents. Suho’s breath came quick, hardly daring to believe that it had worked. But he saw Kai’s reaction reflected through Sehun’s immediate smile.
“He agreed?” Sehun asked.
“He did,” Kai said. “Suho played his part well. His idea was good. If my father had become defensive… He thinks it a danger, as though the slaves will rule us, if we become too concerned of their wellbeing. But injured, you could not work.”
Sehun visibly relaxed. “I have been beaten for misdeeds, but never like this.”
“Yes, this was punishment when you had done nothing to deserve it. If he touches you with it again, tell me,” Kai told both of them. “Otherwise this matter is through. Sehun, you can go.”
Sehun nodded, bowed, and left them, and Kai looked to Suho, who immediately lowered his head. He knew Kai would be well within his rights to punish him for speaking to him as he had, for daring to hold him back. Perhaps the beating he had already taken would suffice in Kai’s mind.
“You have logic in that head of yours,” Kai said, sounding more amused than angry.
“I did not mean to disrespect you.”
Suho nearly shivered at the fingers that slid along his cheek. Not soft, but not rough either, and they tipped his head up so that Kai could see him.
“But do you regret grabbing me, instructing me?”
The alternative was so much worse.
“No, master.”
“Good. You should not.” And at Kai’s words, Suho’s eyes opened. “My father respected that I came to speak with him. Perhaps you do not know him as well as I do, but I could see that. That I came to him, as you said, with reason - that I fought. He respected that. The other slaves should thank you. You have my thanks as well.”
The unnameable emotions inside of him were difficult. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to move to rid himself of the lingering anxiety, or press harder into Kai’s hand for comfort. Which of those he deserved, that was something else. And there was still more he had to ask.
“Can I go to Sehun? It will not take long, but he should have something put on his back to help him heal.”
“Yes. It’s good that he has someone to look after him. When you return… You should heal another day from those bruises. But I would not mind the use of your mouth.”
Suho swallowed, nodded. In a way he was grateful. If he didn’t move too much, the bruises did not pain him. Kai’s weight on his back would undoubtedly have been painful, but the pleasure would have been welcome.
That there was pleasure at all had become somewhat less of a surprise. Being a slave, he’d thought to have little. But he’d seen the anger in Kai’s face when he’d seen the marks on Suho’s skin, on Sehun’s, and the way Kai had stopped to listen to him. Of course, Kai was protecting his property, and Suho’s health was directly related to his worth. But it was not just that. He’d seen anger at the way a tool was broken or an animal hurt. That was not the anger in Kai, as he’d touched Sehun’s or Suho’s side.
It was anger for a human. Not a possession, a person. A person Kai felt responsible for - both him and Sehun, even if Kai didn’t own Sehun. But there was something between Kai and Sehun, something very close to friendship. They’d known each other far longer than they’d known Suho, had almost grown up together from what Suho knew. And Sehun had pleaded on Suho’s behalf, for Kai to listen. He felt almost as though he belonged there, which was such a strange feeling after all that had happened.
The corner of the supplies tent that Sehun called his own was still lit when Suho entered, and he smiled as Sehun looked up in surprise.
“How are you feeling?”
“Hurts,” Sehun said. “I drank some tea, hoping it would help me relax. I found ointment.”
“I’ll put it on for you, if you’ll lie down and relax,” Suho offered.
“He let you come to me?”
“Yes. I asked him to let me. I think he was worried about you as well.”
Sehun made a sound, not necessarily agreement as he spread himself face down on his pallet.
“It is good you can question him. He needs someone like that. But I was worried he would be angry.”
“Yes, for me grabbing and nearly shouting at him,” Suho laughed. “You told me once he was a not a man who would beat me if I asked him a question. I have taken more liberties than those, and he still listens.”
“He hasn’t yet been hardened by life,” Sehun said, sighing as the cool ointment was spread on his skin. “I hope he never is. He wants to show his father he is strong. It’s hard to show weakness.”
Suho hummed, gently smoothing his hand down Sehun’s back. “Concern for a friend or a slave is not weakness. As long as he has us beside him, though…?”
“Yes. Thank you for… For coming to me.”
Suho stared at the pattern of bruises and felt anger and sadness mingle. Sometimes everyone needed someone to look after them, to comfort them. He wondered where Sehun’s mother was, if he had ever known her. But it was not the time to ask. Instead, he spread his hand over Sehun’s warm one. “I do not know what I would have done if you had not been here to guide me. Even in these hard times. To have someone to look to has made many of my days much less terrible than they might have been.”
“You keep Kai busy.”
“Oh, is that all you’re happy for?” Suho joked.
Sehun merely sighed his agreement, and Suho was glad. It meant he was finally relaxing. Suho stroked Sehun’s hair, letting his mind fall to images of peace and soothing. In moments, he heard the deep and even breathing of sleep begin. He covered Sehun with the thin blanket, blowing out the lamp, before making his way back to Kai’s tent.
And back to Kai, who was already half undressed and waiting to be washed. Suho winced. He had forgotten that Kai had been out riding, in the heat all day.
“How is he?”
“Resting now,” Suho said. “His back will be multicolored in a few days, but the pain will fade.”
“Is this ointment for your wounds?” Suho had not even responded before Kai was taking it from him, wrinkling his nose as he sniffed at it. “Some places are hard to reach. Turn.”
Suho drew a fortifying breath, lifting his tunic and bracing himself as Kai spread the thick ointment along injured flesh. He could have trembled, not for pain or for cold, but remembering how Kai had smoothed the ointment on his face after burning it in the sun. It was a touch of care, and it was still not one he had expected.
“Thank you for looking after him,” Kai said as he soothed Suho’s side. “Even without order, you cared for him.”
So many words of thanks that Suho did not know what to do with. He knew Kai had not meant care as in emotions, but physical care. The first couldn’t be ordered. He thought even Kai knew that.
“He works hard for your father and for you, cares for you, and has taught me many things. The slave you see in front of you would not be standing here as I am, if not for Sehun.”
It gave him only heartache to refer to himself as a slave, but it was heartache he could endure in that moment, for Sehun.
“Then you’ve both done well,” Kai said. “That’s the last.”
Suho took the ointment from Kai’s hands, the words of thanks he had trapped in his throat as he retrieved the water he’d had prepared since before all of the commotion. In it, he dipped the cloth he used to help Kai wash after long days.
“A man is lucky to have those around him who can share his burdens,” Kai said. “Do you find your wisdom through your books?”
Suho shook his head as he cleansed Kai’s body. “Though life, and seeing the misery of others. Books are useful, though. Expanding thought.”
“Perhaps some night you can read to me again from your book,” Kai said.
Suho did not disagree, and kept wiping the dust from Kai’s skin. It was so routine, they did not have to speak of what to do. Feeling refreshed helped Kai to sleep, which also meant Suho slept easier as well. But when they were nearly finished, instead of touches that were absent any intention, he stroked and lingered as he steadied Kai’s hip. He had never done that, intentionally tried to feel Kai harden beneath the cleaning cloth, but he wanted to, for Kai, especially that night. He heard Kai’s hums of approval, and it encouraged him. He let the cloth slide back into the water and picked up a dry cloth to smooth over Kai’s skin. By the time he had finished, Kai’s fingers had begun to run through Suho’s hair, and all he had to do was follow Kai to his bed, and take to his knees.
***
The bruises felt worse when Suho woke up, and his sleep had not been easy, trying to stay on his uninjured side or stomach and trying not to stretch. He crept out of the tent, leaving Kai still sleeping and unaware, and found Sehun in much the same condition, hunched and unwilling to move. Suho held up the ointment and saw the relief in Sehun’s face. The ointment would cool the skin, if not take away the deep pain.
“Sehun,” Suho said, anguished for the deep purple bruises, round as a plum and scattered. Where Sehun had been hit twice, it looked almost black, the two bruises melded and spiraling out. They sat together, and he spread the ointment for Sehun as gently as he knew how.
“Did you sleep as poorly as I did?” Sehun asked.
“If you mean, did I jerk awake every time I put pressure on a wound, yes,” Suho said, and heard Sehun’s quiet huff of laughter. “Surely it won’t get worse.”
“It depends on what we have to do today,” Sehun said, his voice grave. “Did you apply ointment? I felt bad because I didn’t tend to you last night, when you made your way to me.”
“Kai applied it last night,” Suho said, and turned after giving Sehun the pot of ointment. He sighed in relief as Sehun’s fingers smoothed on the thickened liquid. “He did his best to be gentle. I was…grateful he made the effort.”
“You are not just a beast of burden or a body to use to him,” Sehun said. “You shouldn’t be surprised by that.”
“I’m not, not truly. I just don’t want to lose my appreciation for it, I guess,” Suho mused.
The morning breakfast bell rang, the one thing sure to wake Kai, and Suho hissed he stood, putting his hand on one of Sehun’s un-bruised shoulders.
“Do your duties tax you much today?”
“There is carrying to be done,” Sehun said, shrugging, before he pulled his tunic back on over his head. “It will hurt, but I’ll have to stand it.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
The bell rang again, and Suho sighed “I’ll go fetch food for Kai. Maybe we can help each other somehow.”
As a slave of Kai’s tents, not his father’s, it was possible he was not subject to what Sehun was meant to do that day. It depended on Kai, what Kai said he needed to do.
“Everything is so different,” Suho said, and even the horizon proclaimed it. “I feel like the only reason I am not jumping out of my skin is because the tent is so much the same. I am not used to this much change.”
“This will feel comfortable to you soon, too,” Sehun said, and stepped up beside him to get food for himself as well. “You’ll get used to the moving around. What waits in your tent, the things you take, those are home.”
Those were home. He smiled at Sehun, and hurried back to the end where Kai was already waiting at the low table.
“You’ll work here, in the tent today,” Kai said, making clear of it as Suho knelt feet away to eat his own meal.
“All right,” Suho agreed, having no urge to argue.
“Did Sehun speak of what he was to do today?”
“Carrying?”
“Ah, the stores,” Kai said. “That’s good.”
Suho wondered how exactly that was good, but he didn’t linger long on it, eating quickly as was his habit so that he was ready to take both their dishes back out immediately after. It let him get ready for the day, ready to straighten up or do whatever Kai had planned. What he didn’t expect as he wiped off the table after Kai had left was Sehun ducking into the tent, frowning.
“Kai told me to come here,” Sehun said, mystified.
“He didn’t say why?”
“Not a word.”
But they didn’t wait in confusion long as Kai and a man Suho knew to be one of the horse masters entered with a large trunk between them. Suho shared a glance with Sehun, and Kai flipped open the trunk after he’d dismissed the man. Inside was a tangle of leather, reins, bridles, stirrups, and who knew what else.
“Needs polishing, and straightening,” Kai said, taking out a couple of pots of what Suho assumed had to be leather oil from his waist pouch and putting them on the pile. “Stay in here, both of you, and finish it all. Do a good job. You need more, you let him know and his men will get this and bring you another trunk.”
It was an order, Kai standing at an angle as he gave it, and Suho twisted his hands together, trying not to smile, trying not to tear up when he realized what Kai had done. It was a job that needed doing, yes, but it was a job invented to keep them from having to move, to hurt themselves further.
“We’ll do well,” Sehun promised, and Suho could only squeak in agreement.
Kai nodded and ducked out, leaving them in what felt like a mountain vault of silence. Suho didn’t even know what to say as he knelt, reaching for one of the jangling bridles and stroking the dusty leather. When he looked over, Sehun had a smile curling his lips. They were not beasts of burden, not either of them.
***
The bruises, as did most all bruises, healed. They turned starbursts of purple, red, yellow, green, tender still but less each day for how deep they had been. Suho breathed easier, slept easier, and his work increased as well since Kai had no more reason to see him protected. He could do anything, including please Kai in every way. The first time Kai had taken him after the move had been a relief, knowing it was not something that had changed despite them being in a new place. He spilled himself before Kai did, and listened to Kai’s moans as he took his pleasure, and it soothed him more than he could say.
Though he still wondered at Kai at times, frowning to see a coin in the basin he used to wash Kai. He knew it had not washed free of Kai’s body. But he shrugged and put it in the jar near Kai’s combs with the others. He intended to inspect Kai’s waist pouch for holes. Kai could be losing his coin in all manner of places where Suho could not find them. But being in a new location made the days seem longer, even if he helped Sehun most of the day.
The times Kai returned to his tent varied, a few times even after the sun had lowered beyond the horizon. Those were the days hardest to wait, poised with his book by a light with nothing left to straighten or clean with the light of day gone. He rose to the sound of horses, the sound of boots, letting out a breath as the tent flap was opened and Kai ducked in. He had food ready, a cold meal with hot tea, to ease Kai’s stomach, and it was very welcome by the way that Kai sat and immediately began to eat.
“Was the ride easy?” Suho wondered, speaking aloud before he realized it, and Kai nodded.
“Easy, but long. The trade for the horses went smoothly. When I tired on the journey back, it helped knowing I’d have food waiting for me and someone to welcome me.”
Kai’s eyes were lazy, amused, and Suho felt his cheeks heat and cursed himself.
“Sit here. Tell me about your day,” Kai said.
He had done so before, sitting close, closer some days when Kai raised his eyebrows and waited until Suho did as he asked and moved almost to the table itself. It was as though Kai could not stand to be in the silence after a long day, asking Suho to fill it even if all Suho had tales of were chasing mice from the storage and scouring pots. He much preferred when Kai was finished eating, when he would talk, gesturing with his hands as he spoke of the rides, the rivers he’d crossed, the daring trades. He made Suho laugh, even when Suho realized he was not there to relax in his master’s presence.
But a cold meal and Suho’s rambles were all that Kai required, or so Suho thought. But when Kai indicated he should ready himself - to fetch the oil and prepare for Kai’s cock, Kai followed him, his cock half hard as he lowered himself onto Suho’s pallet.
“I want your mouth more,” Kai decided, and Suho complied, abandoning the oil and smoothing his hands on Kai’s thighs as he mouthed at Kai’s cock.
Suho knew to lift his head as Kai tried to thrust into his mouth.
“I rode home as fast as I could for this.”
The hands in his hair were soothing, much more so than the jerky motions of Kai’s hips. And he sucked and stroked for all he was worth, hoping to finish so that Kai could relax. But as much as he tried, Kai wasn’t getting much harder. And Kai’s little sounds trailed off to a deep, nasal breath.
Suho let Kai’s cock slid from his lips as he stared at Kai’s slack face.
“Master? Kai?” he murmured.
There was no response, just deep and even breathing. His lips twitched, at least until he realized Kai was on his pallet and not on his own bed, and on top of Suho’s blanket besides. There was little chance of him rousing Kai - he’d only get an angry man - so the only other option was to let him sleep. Suho rose and retrieved a blanket from Kai’s bed and his favorite of his pillows, carefully lifting Kai’s head to place it. With the blanket covering Kai, he found another, older blanket and wrapped himself in it, leaning on the trunk he stored his own belongings in. It was uncomfortable and awkward, but still he slowly fell asleep.
***
Suho woke with a start, a hand curving around ankle bringing him awake.
“You’re still here,” Kai said, as though Suho would have been anywhere else in the middle of the night.
“Master?”
Hours had passed, maybe two, maybe more, but Suho could see when Kai sat up.
“Suho.”
Just his name had him moving, letting Kai rub at his back and sides. With a sharp inhale he reached for the oil when he realized Kai was hard and wanting. He would not fall back asleep that time, and Suho nearly shivered as he readied himself.
“Yes,” Kai crooned at him as Suho smoothed the oil on him, turning onto his side when Kai pressed and giving when Kai pulled him back. He was slick, and Kai nudged against him, pressing until Suho’s body took him, until he could slide deep. He felt half asleep, lying on his side, like it was a dream being woken in the middle of the night for Kai to lie behind him and take him on his pallet. And yet, still his body stiffened and filled as though Kai taking him was enough. He hadn’t found his own pleasure in days, Kai too busy, too tired to ask him to kneel, using only his mouth. And he’d been too exhausted himself to bother.
Kai’s hand brushed over his chest, his skin rasping at Suho’s nipples and nearly making him gasp. Kai’s hips barely paused except to adjust, his breathing harsh in Suho’s ear.
“Suho.” What came next was a series of whimpers just below his ear that had Suho gripping his own cock. Kai moaned but he so rarely let himself show more need than that. The press of Kai’s head against his, his name on soft moans, had his hand stuttering. And yet still, he ejaculated on a low cry as Kai pressed his lips by Suho’s ear, pleasure rushing over him by surprise.
Kai’s voice was rough, “Suho,” and so was his hand pulling Suho tighter back against him. Suho listened and moaned as Kai panted and strained, and on a sound of almost surprise, spilled in him.
“Suho,” Kai breathed, and Suho nearly answered him until several moments later it happened again. “Suho. Suho.”
He remembered what Kai had said. Kai had pushed himself to get home, not for pleasure. Pleasure from him. Pressed against Suho’s back, Kai’s arm still around his ribs, Kai fell asleep breathing into his neck.
Suho nearly did the same, lulled by Kai’s warmth, by the lingering pleasure. But he untangled himself, covering Kai, and tried to sleep again, throbbing, remembering Kai against him.
He woke just minutes after Kai, light filling the tent. And Kai was frowning as he stared at how Suho was resting against his trunk.
“Since I stole your bed, you should have taken mine.”
“I couldn’t have,” he said, appalled even by the idea of it. It was true that when he knew Kai would be gone for several hours, he had stretched on Kai’s bed and imagined resting on something that decadent for a whole night. He’d been on it sitting next to Kai as he read, but it was different than relaxing on it. Sehun would have laughed at him. And it wasn’t as though his pallet was too uncomfortable. He’d gotten used to sleeping on barely cushioned stone, so having padding on softer ground was easy to become accustomed to.
“You should have Sehun help find you another layer of padding,” Kai said, rolling his shoulder around. “I could feel every bump in the earth.”
“I don’t need it,” Suho said quickly, standing as Kai stood. “He shouldn’t have to go through that trouble for me.”
“Did I say it was for you?” Kai asked, bumping Suho’s shoulder with his own. “What if I end up sleeping there again?”
The way Kai laughed, it seemed his little hiccup of laughter hadn’t been as well hidden as he thought.
***
“Suho.”
Sometimes Suho looked up in the middle of the day from whatever task he was at - mending Kai’s pants, brushing dust from furs - hearing Kai call his name. It was embarrassing at first, because he went out, circled the tent, stared as though Kai was just out of sight and hiding around a corner. Sometimes Kai sounded amused, saying Suho’s name on half a laugh. Sometimes Suho heard his name said as Kai had done against Suho’s neck when he had taken Suho in the middle of the night. Suho did not get up to look for Kai at those whispers, furiously pressing the needle through cloth to keep from remembering. Kai who invaded his dreams with touches, soft, caring. Not just the ones where he tended Suho’s wounds, but stroked along Suho’s neck, or cupped his wrist as Suho talked with him.
It startled him some nights when Kai would lean forward across his table and ask Suho’s opinion. Sometimes it was of as little importance as what fruit Suho preferred, and others like what he thought of the price of fruit, of where they would move. He seemed genuinely interested in Suho’s answers, too, even when he pointed out flaws in what Suho said. Sometimes he could tell he was pleased by how Suho answered, if what Suho said was something Kai agreed with. Kai got very involved in what he spoke of some nights, drawing out his ledgers and pointing to how things had been before their last move, how many horses he planned to part with. All of it Suho listened to and absorbed, in case it was something Kai would ask him about later.
The night sounds in the new camp were so much the same, even if they were in the shelter of a different mountain to the north, plains surrounding them. It was different, wells that were closer, and a pond near to Kai’s tent that Kai had directed his tent be set up by. He did not own it, but his status would keep anyone from wandering to it. Kai’s tent, the supply tent where Sehun slept, the tent of Kai’s father, those were the closest. The horses were beyond that, near to a stream of their own. It was a good ground, fertile, grasses long from the summer and more temperate air. It would be good, Kai said, for a month or two, perhaps more. If the snow threatened, they would move further south so that the horses could eat. It was a traveling city all its own, and when he walked in the market or in the rows of tents, Suho marveled at how it had been broken down and put back together.
“Let’s make use of the pool,” Kai said, before Suho could gather the washbasin he used to help Kai clean. There was no coin in it that night, though he’d found one on Kai’s dinner table. There had been no holes in Kai’s pouch when he had checked. “We were lucky to set up so near to it. It should make your washing easier.”
No more hauling buckets from the wells. Though he suspected ease was not Kai’s main concern with as eagerly as Kai stripped to wade into the still water. It went to Kai’s waist, clear and stream-fed with lush grasses growing along the sides. It had a simple, welcoming feeling, and Suho thanked the water for its kindness, letting his own clothes drop before Kai could reprimand him for being slow to follow. He had a cloth, the basin, and still his skin shivered at the coolness of the water. But it felt very much like home.
***
Kai would have plunged into the water and swam, dunking himself with abandon had he been alone. He could see himself doing that after a long ride, clothes and all, and imagined the dismay on Suho’s face at it. Though all Suho would do was get the clothes wet and wash them anyway so he wasn’t sure what the problem would be. Suho was so prim wading out with his basin, and Kai laughed at the obvious shock as the cold water rose up Suho’s thighs.
“Surely you are more used to the water than I am,” Kai said, lifting his hand through the water and flinging droplets at Suho.
“It has been some time,” was all Suho said, and ducked his head when he realized Kai was still laughing at him. Still, he did as he always had, smoothing cloth against Kai’s skin and that night as well, rubbing soothing creams through Kai’s hair and waiting until Kai bent so that he could pour the cool water over him. It felt good, Suho’s fingers massaging his scalp, rubbing against his skin. Better than the water itself, almost, with the lingering heat of the day. As Kai ducked into the water, cleansed himself, he rose to see Suho pouring water over his own head, water streaming down his face and neck and chest.
“We will hardly know ourselves, we’ll be so clean,” Kai teased.
“That’s true. I had not realized how much I had missed this,” Suho said, cupping his hand so that water filled it.
“Were your temple pools not colder than this in the shadows?” Kai wondered, noting how Suho’s skin had pebbled.
“Our pools were stone, and into some of them heated water flowed in the winter. But in the summer it was like this. We could wade in the largest of them, cool ourselves and rest and heal.”
“Heal your bodies.”
Suho seemed to hesitate. “Yes. That is where I went always, after.“
Yes, after. Sometimes the thought of hands on Suho’s body, hurting him, made him tense on his long rides until his horse could even tell his anger.
“Because your patrons had hurt you or because you felt you needed to be clean?”
“Mostly the first,” Suho admitted. “But the second helped.”
“Would you have gone there if I had been your patron?”
Suho shook his head. “Maybe to wash. But you don’t hurt me.”
It was a distinction, and one that Kai would take.
“You have more happy memories of the pools than you do of sad ones, though.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me of one?”
Suho paused, his face thoughtful. “It was a birthday in summer. We were all gathered. And it was a good year, we were able to grow food that year so that everyone had enough. We had meat that night, and we hadn’t for a couple of weeks before. Everyone ended up soaking wet, and full, and we just sat and talked and relaxed. Not even the heat could touch us then.”
A smile had moved over Suho’s face. It was unguarded, happy, and it changed his face. Kai inhaled, and found his throat tighter than he realized. Almost every night he had Suho. Almost every night he felt Suho come beneath him, or enjoyed as Suho pleasured him. But he had never truly seen Suho’s face. And he had never had Suho in any other way. It seemed a shame almost. It had been a long time since he had shared a kiss with someone, or pressed someone back on his bed or even trusted them enough to let them slide between his thighs and take. But Suho who smiled at the water and protected Kai even from sickness - his guardian. He could want that with him. Suho would not speak of it, not share it among the servants as long as Kai asked. There was a trust there, that he’d never had with a slave besides Sehun. Not nearly as personal as that. Once he’d been afraid that Suho would run.
“Suho, look at me.”
Suho’s eyes raised immediately. More at the sound of Kai’s voice, Kai thought, than at the order. But there was something calm, something wise and steady in those eyes. And Suho’s lips, sliding down from their smile, lightly parted.
His arm shot out, pulling Suho forward the foot that separated them. The bowl in Suho’s hands fell to the water, and Suho’s hands grasped for a moment at Kai’s arm, his side, to steady himself. At least, he steadied himself until he knew what he was doing in touching his master without permission. But all Kai cared about was that Suho’s face was close, rivulets of water streaming down from his wet hair.
“I’m sorry,” Suho breathed, thinking that Kai was angry with him.
And Suho stiffened as Kai kissed him, his lips cool and still. Kai kissed him again, urging him to meet him. And again. And again. Kai’s tongue slid between Suho’s lips, and the touch of it had Suho moving, hands raising again to steady himself on Kai’s sides. He gave to Kai’s kisses, letting his neck relax into Kai’s hand and bracing himself against his body. The sounds from Suho’s throat were musical, tiny hums as Kai’s teeth grazed his lip, or a sigh as Kai kissed him again. The way Suho met his kiss, the first tentative touches of his tongue, and the way he went bold as Kai teased him, inflamed him. That he could make Suho forget himself made his fingers curl in power. Had they had oil, he would have taken Suho right there in the water.
He was gasping, shuddered, as he pulled his mouth away and stared at Suho’s swollen lips. Kiss-bruised and parted, hot to the touch, they begged to be kissed again.
“Had you been kissed before?” Kai asked.
Suho’s head shook back and forth.
“Fuck,” Kai commented. And he grabbed Suho’s arm. “Come with me.”
“The bowl,” Suho blurted, as Kai pulled him from the water. And as they passed, “The towels!”
There was no time for bowls, or towels. That would keep. He wanted Suho in his tent, in his bed.
“Where is the oil?” Kai asked. He was still dripping, and Suho left his side to grab the little flask of oil. And Kai took it from Suho’s startled hands. Normally, he left that to Suho. Not that night. “On your back, on the bed. Hurry.”
Suho was not fully hard, but he was aroused, and Kai bit his own lip to keep from just spilling over Suho’s body. His skin was nearly flawless, cast in shadows and so bright against the dark fabric and furs. And he was apprehensive, not knowing what Kai wanted. He had never ordered Suho so. But Suho knew, when Kai knelt between his legs, and his hips lifted to give Kai access to slide slick fingers inside him. His thighs widened and Kai saw the mark there, a water droplet marked dark into the flesh of Suho’s thigh. His fingers brushed it, and Suho shuddered. He would ask of it another time. But not that night.
He watched Suho’s fists tighten in the furs as he nudged their hips together and as Suho’s body allowed, slid deep. He took several shallow thrusts, trying to remind his body that he was in control. His breath huffed out of him as he stared at the flush staining Suho’s chest. He would have everything. Everything. He tugged at Suho’s knees and urged them up around him. And in the same breath he lowered himself, so that he could tease Suho’s mouth with his.
“Touch me,” Kai breathed, and felt more of his control coil away from him as Suho’s hand met his neck, the other sliding onto his back.
That. Just that. Suho’s legs touching him, urging him. Suho’s fingers stroking him and tangled in his hair. Suho’s lips parting for every kiss, and Suho’s moans and the way he tightened around Kai with every breath. Suho responded to every movement, every play of his fingers and stroke of his cock. As Kai’s hips slipped hard against him, he moaned into Kai’s mouth and gasped for air as their lips rubbed together. He wanted to see Suho come for him, but Suho’s body seduced the last bits of control from him. And he thrust, and came with his lips slipping down Suho’s neck. He breathed with his eyes closed, body throbbing and finally his again. He could feel the rapid rise and fall of Suho’s chest beneath him, and the relaxing of his legs.
Suho was stunning. Face flushed and lips parted, his chest lifting as their bodies separated. It seemed Suho’s whole body tensed, anticipating rising and cleaning up, as though Kai were finished with him. Kai had almost gotten all that he wanted. But Suho had wanted, proof of that full and bared to his eyes. Suho, who had not even touched himself as Kai took him. It seemed to beg reward. And if Suho had not been kissed, then it was equally possible - no, even probable - that he had never had the pleasure of another’s mouth. What Suho did for him, he had never experienced. Not after that night.
Kai’s hands spread Suho’s thighs and he folded himself. He could not see Suho’s face, but he heard his gasp, as Kai’s lips slid around him. Flesh that had begun to soften, stiffening for his mouth and fingers. Kai moaned his approval, and Suho echoed him, a sound of surprise, as though it was wrested without his knowledge. And Kai sucked, and teased, and tasted.
“Oh. Kai,” Suho gasped.
And only moments later, Suho began to come for him. Kai didn’t think that Suho even knew what he had said. The times he had said Kai’s name before had been in desperation to get Kai’s attention, or in reference to him as his owner. The first pulse he took in his mouth, and he kept stroking, letting the rest fall on Suho’s stomach. He smiled as he watched Suho gasp for breath, swallow, and let his head fall to the side as he panted. He was almost glistening in the light and Kai eased up until he was hovering over Suho. He cleared his throat, a grin pulling at his face as Suho startled and stared up at him.
And the strangest thing happened. Suho began to smile back at him. In fact, he would’ve fully had Kai allowed it. But he was too busy kissing Suho, urging him to find the taste of his own come in Kai’s mouth. Suho cupped his neck as they kissed, and Kai could not have minded. Suho could have touched him anywhere, right then.
Suho’s mouth was wet and red when he left it, but Suho did not protest or try to hold him.
“I think we need to get cleaned up again,” Kai said, and tugged Suho to his feet. They washed quickly, retrieving the bowl and the towels. As Kai climbed into his bed, Suho turned down the lamp and for a moment almost seemed to glow in the residual light. The bed felt almost cool and empty as Kai turned his face into his pillow. The soft sounds of Suho straightening up lulled him to sleep.
***
After Kai was audibly asleep, Suho sank onto his pallet and stretched out. He stared at the wall of the tent for a long time, touching the tenderness of his lips, the places on his neck and jaw where Kai had kissed or sucked. He had never felt anything like that, never known sex could be anything like that. When Kai took him, when any other man had taken him, it had seemed a means to an end. That night, with Kai’s lips dragging against his, and his hands on Kai’s body, it had felt more like a mating. Desperate and raw, more real than anything he’d ever experienced.
And that Kai had touched him, that Kai had touched him with his mouth, made it all the more surreal.
He must have pleased Kai very much, for Kai to have done that.
But remembering Kai’s mouth on his, Kai’s body pressing him back into the bed, he wondered if it would ever be the same if they went back to the way it had been.
***
Pairing: Kai/Suho
Rating: NC-17 overall
Genre: master/slave!AU, pseudo-historical, fantasy, smut
Warnings: issues of sexual consent, references to past sexual assault, violence, kidnapping, slaves having no ability to say no especially at first, and did I mention issues of consent inherent to master/slave dynamics?
Summary: They spoke of him as though he were nothing more than a treasure found by the roadside. He bowed to his new master because it was polite, and because he knew of nothing else he could do. See warnings.
***
Chapter One * Chapter Two * Chapter Three * Chapter Four * Chapter Five * Chapter Six * Chapter Seven * Chapter Eight
***
The duties that Suho expected to perform were not few, but those were done under Kai’s sometimes passive inspection, and done nonetheless. Having Kai at top form was what he expected, even if rising from his bed with the sun wasn’t what Kai enjoyed. He’d served the morning meal to a tousle-headed Kai with sleepy eyes and downturned mouth more than once. Most mornings, if he was honest. Though the only difference between how Kai greeting the morning, and how Sehun did, was their stations in life. Sehun might have seemed gloomy but he had little choice in the matter.
Still, Suho heard a pitiful little cough from the bed the third time he had been in and out of the tent. It was later even than the latest time Kai had risen.
“Suho.”
The whisper, more of a croak, had Suho putting down the clothes he carried and rushing to the side of the bed.
“Are you all right?” he asked, frowning as he took in Kai’s flushed cheeks.
“Throat hurts,” Kai breathed. And then he took a long, wet inhale through his nose.
Ah. Not even masters were above getting sick.
“I’ll go see if Sehun has medicine, and tea, and hot soup,” Suho said. And he put his hand out, pausing as Kai blinked up at him. “May I?”
When Kai nodded, Suho pressed his palm against Kai’s forehead, against his cheek and neck. And Kai sighed, leaning into the cooler touch. He was warm, but not overly. He’d seen a man rage with fever that even the water couldn’t cure. All he could do was see to Kai’s comfort, and hope he would mend.
“I’ll be back soon,” Suho promised him.
“Is he still not up?” Sehun joked, when Suho came back into the work tent.
“He’s not feeling well. Too warm, pain in his throat.”
Sehun frowned immediately. “Ah. I know what he was willing to drink the last time.”
“Does it happen often?” Suho demanded, trailing after Sehun. “Was he all right?”
“He lived, if that is what you’re asking. It took a couple of days, but he felt better.”
“But the throat can be dangerous.” And it made Suho’s breath catch to think of it. When the body fought itself, there were so many things that could go wrong.
Kai had gotten himself up and dressed by the time he and Sehun returned, and Kai ate at the table. Still, Suho watched as Kai winced and drank so gingerly. Fever could cause collapse, or worse. And he bit his tongue, even as he helped Kai to tie on his high boots for riding.
“Are you sure you feel up to it?” And he got no response but a grunt. “I prepared water for you.”
All he could do was hand it over and sit with worried eyes as Kai left. His rational mind knew Kai would be fine. Kai would not fall off of his horse and die, such a fragile thing. That life was delicate, it was true, and he knew from his love of reading a half a dozen ways that he could sicken a man or even kill one. When he had been angry, afraid, in pain, disgusted, he wondered if he had thought of it. How to do so little, which would change his life so greatly. One life.
It would have meant being tied to Kai’s father instead, if Suho was not caught, or his own death. But even in the very worst of it, he had wanted to live. His time with Kai had not changed his mind on that.
And he wanted Kai to live.
Kai wasn’t company like Sehun was, wasn’t easy as Sehun was, but he had become an important part of Suho’s life. Even as he knelt for Kai, he learned more of himself. They were things he could not have learned surrounded by the temple pools and the agony of the donors. He wouldn’t thank Kai for taking him as a slave, but he wasn’t blind the fact that he had possibilities. Things he could accomplish, pleasures he could discover. He knew at least some of those would be with Kai.
Kai looked haggard but not wrecked when he strode in late that afternoon. He took the tea from Suho’s offering hands with a grateful glance, settling at the table with a long sigh. Suho didn’t wait for the request, ducking out of the tent to fetch broth he had been babying most of the day, and a bowl of softened fruits, and bits of toasted bread.
Kai whimpered when Suho put it front of him, reaching for the spoon. And Suho took it as thanks, sitting nearer than he did normally as Kai ate. It wasn’t purely in case Kai needed anything, trying to watch without seeming like he was watching. He didn’t really succeed, Kai looking up at him at least once as though questioning his almost-hovering. Still, it allowed him to pounce the second Kai made to get up from the table. Most days, Kai enjoyed cool cloths but Suho had warm water prepared for when Kai stepped out of his riding boots, out of the loose pants and long-sleeved shirt and tunic. Suho had freedom to touch how he wanted then, smoothing the warm cloth over Kai’s skin as quickly as possible so that he could be dried, dressed in clean clothes, free of the dust of travel.
“You should rest,” Suho said, as Kai shrugged into a clean shirt. “There’s nothing else more important tonight than you resting.”
“Is that right,” Kai asked, looking between his ledgers and his bed.
“That is right,” Suho said, and put all of his conviction behind it until Kai was huffing out a laugh.
“If you are the master tonight,” Kai said. “I’ll rest.”
It pleased him, humming as he pulled back Kai’s covers and made the bed look as inviting as possible.
“I’ll be quiet so you can sleep. I’ll wake you for more soup later,” Suho said.
Kai grunted, covering himself, and, worryingly, shivering a bit as he got comfortable. Suho breathed with him, waiting. It took a few minutes longer than usual, but Kai slid into obvious sleep and Suho let out a long breath.
“He’s sleeping,” Suho whispered to Sehun, when he went to fetch more water. It wasn’t as though Kai would hear. There was porridge ready for when Kai woke from his rest, and Suho already planned to wash the clothes Kai had been wearing, and keep the tent as restful as possible. At least it was not winter, when Suho had to worry about Kai in the cold air as well. But Kai rose an hour after, reliving himself and eating the porridge Suho brought. He spent an hour at his ledgers, leaning heavily on one palm as he scratched at the figures in the book. Suho held his tongue when he wanted most to chase Kai back into his bed. Still, that time came earlier than even Suho expected with Kai raising like he was coming up out of a dozen feet of water.
“I will rest,” Kai said, and Suho nodded, taking the ledger to its shelf and readying Kai’s bed again how he liked it. With the blankets turned and water nearby if Kai required it, Kai groaned as he stretched out and let Suho cover him. There were no requests for Suho to touch him, and Suho had not much expected there to be.
“I can turn down the light, or I can read a while from the book you gave me,” Suho said. “Sometimes it is nice to hear a voice before you rest.”
Kai closed his eyes for a long moment before he nodded.
“You can read a while. What kind of book is it?”
Suho almost laughed that Kai wasn’t sure what book he’d given his slave. But it had still been given, and Suho placed himself next to Kai’s bed with the book and its worn leather binding.
“It tells of travels over mountains with deep snow, higher than the top of your head,” Suho said, and Kai grimaced, shivering at the thought. Perhaps hearing of cold would bring down his fever.
So Suho read, glancing up every so often to see Kai’s eyes open or blinking slowly. He read of trees that seemed to reach the sky and boulders the size of tents, and deer so fleet they leaped the heads of horses. He read until Kai was resting, his eyes closed, breathing even. If he distracted Kai from his misery, he was glad. His bones seemed to creak as he rose, and he smiled, daring to move an errant lock of hair back into place.
Suho passed his hand gently over Kai’s hair. “I pray your dreams are untroubled,” he whispered.
He turned to shutter the lights and find his own rest.
***
In the dark, Kai’s eyes opened, feeling the gentle touch and Suho’s words.
***
He was still in pain, still tired, when he left his tent the next morning. Suho still watched him like a mother bird whose chick was going to run off and Kai almost felt good that he’d escaped without being tied into the bed. Though he wished he could return to it. But there was too much to do, and he kept himself on that path, grabbing Sehun’s elbow and hauling him with him as Kai walked toward where his horses were kept.
“What did you need? Suho brought you your breakfast. Do you feel worse? What’s-“
“I wanted to thank you for telling Suho how to make me feel better yesterday,” Kai interrupted him, knowing Sehun would have kept rattling on.
“Telling Suho what? I gave him the medicine I knew you wouldn’t spit back at him, but he did everything else.”
“What?”
And Sehun actually stopped, pulling his arm out of Kai’s grip.
“He’s your slave, Kai. He sees what you want every day. He came to me worried about you, got your medicine, prepared your meals. He sat watch over broth and porridge for you, and I don’t even know what else when I was busy. Why would I have to tell him what you needed?”
Kai opened his mouth, but the explanation he had didn’t come.
“That’s what I thought,” Sehun sighed. “Now I have to get back because I have work to do. He didn’t want to see you in pain. You’re doing well with him.”
He gaped after Sehun, who did his best to look unaffected as he walked away. He’d just been praised by his closest friend, a slave, about the slave of his tent. A man who, without Kai knowing, had seemed to know him better than Kai thought. He did not know what kind of thanks he could give to Suho, but it made the time spend quicker when he turned his mind to it.
***
What was Kai’s was also his father’s, and that included slaves. With Kai recovered, Suho’s days were even more full. Every single thing that Kai owned was packed, the tent taken down, stowed on several wagons. Suho did not have the luxury, the right, to sit a horse throughout the move of almost six hours, but he got to sit on the back of one of the wagons and watch as others rode. Sehun sat with him, pointing out people, laughing with him as they watched children play. Kai rode back to check on them every so often, and Suho made sure the cloth covering his head was pulled up the whole time.
“You don’t have to mock me,” Suho muttered, when Sehun made to adjust his own cloth for the fifth time in as many minutes.
“He would’t be angry with me,” Sehun agreed, but he still kept laughing when Suho elbowed him. They had food, fruit and bread and cheese, packed for themselves and for Kai. At least it kept the move from being unbearable. Though the packing had been hard, the setting up again seemed endless. Every available slave worked hard throughout all the nearly-erected tents to clean bedding, repair battered tent panels, mend floor covers. Suho was perplexed when he found a coin in the roll of his bedding not unlike what Kai had given him before. He did not know where Kai kept his coins, so he set up a small clay pot on the shelf where Kai’s combs, his books were kept. Three more coins joined it, from the pages of Suho’s book, from a corner of his cleaning cloths. He wondered that he had cleaned so poorly to find coins scattered like that, and how Kai had lost them.
But the work did not end. It was a time for everything neglected to be renewed so that the new camp would be ready for when the seasons would change - and they would not be caught unaware. Suho’s thighs burned from lifting and squatting, his fingers sore from pricking himself with needles and squeezing water from cloth. It was not the first day he had seen Kai’s father, an imposing man just shorter than Kai himself. His face was harder, rougher with age. Suho took his cue from Sehun, bowing and keeping his head down.
“Get back to work,” they were told.
And the pain on his side had his eyes tearing, the sound swallowed only through long experience of muffling himself. Sehun was not so lucky, the grunt passing his surprised lips and a second following it as the stick Kai’s father held touched his back again.
They had never stopped working, except to defer to his presence. They were not a horse that would be urged by a whip. Suho could see the tremble in Sehun’s hands as they finished gathering pots they had scoured with sand.
“What was that?” Suho whispered when they had entered the tent, a hand to his aching ribs.
“I don’t know,” Sehun said. “He has never done that before.”
Within an hour the dark marks were bruising. And by nightfall, they each wore several marks more. Sehun had been hit on a mark from before, and he had fallen to his knees in the tent because of the pain of it.
“We will be done after today,” Suho whispered against the top of Sehun’s head. “Perhaps it is only a test.”
The dinner bell rang, startling both of them. He did not try to wipe the tears from Sehun’s face, though he wanted to. He wanted to draw Sehun a warm bath full of herbs and oils to relax him.
It was his own mistake. He took Kai his food, ate quickly while trying not to breathe too deeply. When he made to rise to fetch Kai water, a bowl he had set too near a ledge spun and clanged. Suho’s head jerked to the side, just in time to see Kai startle.
“What was that?”
“A bowl. I did not mean to.”
Kai stood, coming closer to see what had happened.
“You should be more careful.”
If Kai began to beat him like that as well-
He could not stop the sound from his throat as he cringed as Kai reached for him. But the touch did not come, and after a moment, he dared look to where Kai was standing beside him.
“I have only struck you once to punish you. Why are you acting like that? Stand here.”
Suho stood, overcorrected, and in steadying him Kai did the one thing Suho had not wanted him to as Kai pressed against one of the bruises.
The cry of pain was muffled against one of Suho’s hands, but Kai had not missed it.
“Were you injured during the cleaning? Let me see.” Suho did not try to fight him, letting Kai lift his tunic and bracing himself. “Fuck. What happened?”
“Sehun…” Suho began, and squeaked as Kai’s finger touched skin that was tender.
“Sehun did this?” Kai asked, incredulous.
“No! No. Sehun is hurt as well.”
Kai said something, quick and low under his breath and left Suho standing there, only to return a minute later with Sehun at his heels. In the glow of the candles, the bursts of bruising across Sehun’s back were so visible. Sehun had taken more than Suho had.
“Both of you, right now. Tell me what happened. You did not get hit by a rock slide.”
Suho looked to Sehun, but Sehun was looking at Kai.
“It was your father. He has something new, a stick of some kind. It makes a sound against the skin, and marks like these.”
“He used it to urge us,” Suho added.
“It looks like he used it to damn near break your ribs,” Kai said. “It must hurt to move, breathe.”
Sehun’s chin was set as he nodded.
“I will not let this pass,” Kai said. “He has gone too far. Stay here.”
Suho saw the anger in Kai’s face as he let go of Sehun’s shoulder. When Suho thought of the hard face of Kai’s father, he ran, blocking Kai’s exit.
“Wait. Kai! Please, wait,” Suho said, grasping Kai’s shirt and holding when Kai tried to make him release it. “If you go to him in anger, will he listen? Or will he with reason?”
“He cannot do this to slaves of his own tent, or mine,” Kai said. “You cannot see your own back, but it is little better than Sehun’s-“
“Then make him see reason,” Suho pleaded. “I have known men like that. If you go in anger, he might see you as a petulant boy and close his ears. Please.”
“He speaks truth,” Sehun said from beside them. “Your father would be more determined.”
Where Suho found his courage he did not know. He was already in pain, and what Kai could do to him beyond that he did not know. But it was for himself, and Sehun, and the other slaves he fought.
But Kai grasped his wrist, holding Suho against him.
“You are right that anger is not the way. Sehun, stay here. We’ll be back soon.”
Pulled by his wrist, Suho followed Kai out into the dark, their way guided by tents lit from within and Kai’s knowledge of the camp. Without waiting for approval, Kai pulled Suho with him into the tent he was taking them towards.
“Father,” Kai said, bowing, and Suho bowed hastily with him, kneeling and staying down even after he felt Kai lift.
“What brings you to my tent?”
Suho tried to keep his breathing steady as Kai squeezed his arm.
“I noticed some of the slaves in pain this evening, beyond what they should have been for their work. They look as though they’ve been beaten. My slave, I discovered bruises when I stripped him tonight. Sehun bears them as well. They were working for you.”
“Yes,” Kai’s father said, putting aside his goblet of wine. “They did a good job getting the tents set up and cleaned.”
“Then why is he so bruised?”
“I got a new stick at the market. The seller said it would cause slaves to work faster. It has some kind of snap at the end, so I tested it. They did seem to jump when it touched them.”
As one of Kai’s hands pulled Suho’s face into his side, with the other Kai stripped down Suho’s tunic, exposing the bruises.
“Yes, they did jump. Look at how big these bruises are, how deep. His whole side is purple, and Sehun looks worse. The other slaves I cannot say.”
“I see.”
The sound of the words was hard, as though the criticism was too much. Suho bit the insides of his cheeks, because it was Kai’s battle to fight. Where Kai would give him leave to speak, his father surely would not. Suho inhaled as Kai ran his hand down Suho’s side, and he muffled the cry of pain against Kai’s shirt as Kai pressed one of the wounds.
“With his ribs bruised, he is slow. As hard as that must have hit him, I imagine it could crack ribs easily. I know he is a new slave, but he is eager to work, and Sehun has never shown himself to slack. They will not be able to work as hard tomorrow because of it.”
His father hummed. “Perhaps they will work harder under the threat, but without the touch of it.”
Suho felt Kai exhale. “I think so. I wanted to bring it to you, Father, for your advice.”
“You did say you liked his unmarred skin,” Kai’s father said and walked to them. Suho nearly bit his lip bloody as fingers palpitated one of the spreading bruises. “I see it may be too harsh to use day to day. Good for punishment in situations, perhaps. You were right to bring it to my attention. You will lead these tents well one day.”
“Thank you, Father. I’ll take my leave, now.”
Suho rose from his knees and backed away as Kai turned, and then followed Kai quickly. He walked just behind Kai’s elbow as they returned to Kai’s tents. Suho’s breath came quick, hardly daring to believe that it had worked. But he saw Kai’s reaction reflected through Sehun’s immediate smile.
“He agreed?” Sehun asked.
“He did,” Kai said. “Suho played his part well. His idea was good. If my father had become defensive… He thinks it a danger, as though the slaves will rule us, if we become too concerned of their wellbeing. But injured, you could not work.”
Sehun visibly relaxed. “I have been beaten for misdeeds, but never like this.”
“Yes, this was punishment when you had done nothing to deserve it. If he touches you with it again, tell me,” Kai told both of them. “Otherwise this matter is through. Sehun, you can go.”
Sehun nodded, bowed, and left them, and Kai looked to Suho, who immediately lowered his head. He knew Kai would be well within his rights to punish him for speaking to him as he had, for daring to hold him back. Perhaps the beating he had already taken would suffice in Kai’s mind.
“You have logic in that head of yours,” Kai said, sounding more amused than angry.
“I did not mean to disrespect you.”
Suho nearly shivered at the fingers that slid along his cheek. Not soft, but not rough either, and they tipped his head up so that Kai could see him.
“But do you regret grabbing me, instructing me?”
The alternative was so much worse.
“No, master.”
“Good. You should not.” And at Kai’s words, Suho’s eyes opened. “My father respected that I came to speak with him. Perhaps you do not know him as well as I do, but I could see that. That I came to him, as you said, with reason - that I fought. He respected that. The other slaves should thank you. You have my thanks as well.”
The unnameable emotions inside of him were difficult. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to move to rid himself of the lingering anxiety, or press harder into Kai’s hand for comfort. Which of those he deserved, that was something else. And there was still more he had to ask.
“Can I go to Sehun? It will not take long, but he should have something put on his back to help him heal.”
“Yes. It’s good that he has someone to look after him. When you return… You should heal another day from those bruises. But I would not mind the use of your mouth.”
Suho swallowed, nodded. In a way he was grateful. If he didn’t move too much, the bruises did not pain him. Kai’s weight on his back would undoubtedly have been painful, but the pleasure would have been welcome.
That there was pleasure at all had become somewhat less of a surprise. Being a slave, he’d thought to have little. But he’d seen the anger in Kai’s face when he’d seen the marks on Suho’s skin, on Sehun’s, and the way Kai had stopped to listen to him. Of course, Kai was protecting his property, and Suho’s health was directly related to his worth. But it was not just that. He’d seen anger at the way a tool was broken or an animal hurt. That was not the anger in Kai, as he’d touched Sehun’s or Suho’s side.
It was anger for a human. Not a possession, a person. A person Kai felt responsible for - both him and Sehun, even if Kai didn’t own Sehun. But there was something between Kai and Sehun, something very close to friendship. They’d known each other far longer than they’d known Suho, had almost grown up together from what Suho knew. And Sehun had pleaded on Suho’s behalf, for Kai to listen. He felt almost as though he belonged there, which was such a strange feeling after all that had happened.
The corner of the supplies tent that Sehun called his own was still lit when Suho entered, and he smiled as Sehun looked up in surprise.
“How are you feeling?”
“Hurts,” Sehun said. “I drank some tea, hoping it would help me relax. I found ointment.”
“I’ll put it on for you, if you’ll lie down and relax,” Suho offered.
“He let you come to me?”
“Yes. I asked him to let me. I think he was worried about you as well.”
Sehun made a sound, not necessarily agreement as he spread himself face down on his pallet.
“It is good you can question him. He needs someone like that. But I was worried he would be angry.”
“Yes, for me grabbing and nearly shouting at him,” Suho laughed. “You told me once he was a not a man who would beat me if I asked him a question. I have taken more liberties than those, and he still listens.”
“He hasn’t yet been hardened by life,” Sehun said, sighing as the cool ointment was spread on his skin. “I hope he never is. He wants to show his father he is strong. It’s hard to show weakness.”
Suho hummed, gently smoothing his hand down Sehun’s back. “Concern for a friend or a slave is not weakness. As long as he has us beside him, though…?”
“Yes. Thank you for… For coming to me.”
Suho stared at the pattern of bruises and felt anger and sadness mingle. Sometimes everyone needed someone to look after them, to comfort them. He wondered where Sehun’s mother was, if he had ever known her. But it was not the time to ask. Instead, he spread his hand over Sehun’s warm one. “I do not know what I would have done if you had not been here to guide me. Even in these hard times. To have someone to look to has made many of my days much less terrible than they might have been.”
“You keep Kai busy.”
“Oh, is that all you’re happy for?” Suho joked.
Sehun merely sighed his agreement, and Suho was glad. It meant he was finally relaxing. Suho stroked Sehun’s hair, letting his mind fall to images of peace and soothing. In moments, he heard the deep and even breathing of sleep begin. He covered Sehun with the thin blanket, blowing out the lamp, before making his way back to Kai’s tent.
And back to Kai, who was already half undressed and waiting to be washed. Suho winced. He had forgotten that Kai had been out riding, in the heat all day.
“How is he?”
“Resting now,” Suho said. “His back will be multicolored in a few days, but the pain will fade.”
“Is this ointment for your wounds?” Suho had not even responded before Kai was taking it from him, wrinkling his nose as he sniffed at it. “Some places are hard to reach. Turn.”
Suho drew a fortifying breath, lifting his tunic and bracing himself as Kai spread the thick ointment along injured flesh. He could have trembled, not for pain or for cold, but remembering how Kai had smoothed the ointment on his face after burning it in the sun. It was a touch of care, and it was still not one he had expected.
“Thank you for looking after him,” Kai said as he soothed Suho’s side. “Even without order, you cared for him.”
So many words of thanks that Suho did not know what to do with. He knew Kai had not meant care as in emotions, but physical care. The first couldn’t be ordered. He thought even Kai knew that.
“He works hard for your father and for you, cares for you, and has taught me many things. The slave you see in front of you would not be standing here as I am, if not for Sehun.”
It gave him only heartache to refer to himself as a slave, but it was heartache he could endure in that moment, for Sehun.
“Then you’ve both done well,” Kai said. “That’s the last.”
Suho took the ointment from Kai’s hands, the words of thanks he had trapped in his throat as he retrieved the water he’d had prepared since before all of the commotion. In it, he dipped the cloth he used to help Kai wash after long days.
“A man is lucky to have those around him who can share his burdens,” Kai said. “Do you find your wisdom through your books?”
Suho shook his head as he cleansed Kai’s body. “Though life, and seeing the misery of others. Books are useful, though. Expanding thought.”
“Perhaps some night you can read to me again from your book,” Kai said.
Suho did not disagree, and kept wiping the dust from Kai’s skin. It was so routine, they did not have to speak of what to do. Feeling refreshed helped Kai to sleep, which also meant Suho slept easier as well. But when they were nearly finished, instead of touches that were absent any intention, he stroked and lingered as he steadied Kai’s hip. He had never done that, intentionally tried to feel Kai harden beneath the cleaning cloth, but he wanted to, for Kai, especially that night. He heard Kai’s hums of approval, and it encouraged him. He let the cloth slide back into the water and picked up a dry cloth to smooth over Kai’s skin. By the time he had finished, Kai’s fingers had begun to run through Suho’s hair, and all he had to do was follow Kai to his bed, and take to his knees.
***
The bruises felt worse when Suho woke up, and his sleep had not been easy, trying to stay on his uninjured side or stomach and trying not to stretch. He crept out of the tent, leaving Kai still sleeping and unaware, and found Sehun in much the same condition, hunched and unwilling to move. Suho held up the ointment and saw the relief in Sehun’s face. The ointment would cool the skin, if not take away the deep pain.
“Sehun,” Suho said, anguished for the deep purple bruises, round as a plum and scattered. Where Sehun had been hit twice, it looked almost black, the two bruises melded and spiraling out. They sat together, and he spread the ointment for Sehun as gently as he knew how.
“Did you sleep as poorly as I did?” Sehun asked.
“If you mean, did I jerk awake every time I put pressure on a wound, yes,” Suho said, and heard Sehun’s quiet huff of laughter. “Surely it won’t get worse.”
“It depends on what we have to do today,” Sehun said, his voice grave. “Did you apply ointment? I felt bad because I didn’t tend to you last night, when you made your way to me.”
“Kai applied it last night,” Suho said, and turned after giving Sehun the pot of ointment. He sighed in relief as Sehun’s fingers smoothed on the thickened liquid. “He did his best to be gentle. I was…grateful he made the effort.”
“You are not just a beast of burden or a body to use to him,” Sehun said. “You shouldn’t be surprised by that.”
“I’m not, not truly. I just don’t want to lose my appreciation for it, I guess,” Suho mused.
The morning breakfast bell rang, the one thing sure to wake Kai, and Suho hissed he stood, putting his hand on one of Sehun’s un-bruised shoulders.
“Do your duties tax you much today?”
“There is carrying to be done,” Sehun said, shrugging, before he pulled his tunic back on over his head. “It will hurt, but I’ll have to stand it.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
The bell rang again, and Suho sighed “I’ll go fetch food for Kai. Maybe we can help each other somehow.”
As a slave of Kai’s tents, not his father’s, it was possible he was not subject to what Sehun was meant to do that day. It depended on Kai, what Kai said he needed to do.
“Everything is so different,” Suho said, and even the horizon proclaimed it. “I feel like the only reason I am not jumping out of my skin is because the tent is so much the same. I am not used to this much change.”
“This will feel comfortable to you soon, too,” Sehun said, and stepped up beside him to get food for himself as well. “You’ll get used to the moving around. What waits in your tent, the things you take, those are home.”
Those were home. He smiled at Sehun, and hurried back to the end where Kai was already waiting at the low table.
“You’ll work here, in the tent today,” Kai said, making clear of it as Suho knelt feet away to eat his own meal.
“All right,” Suho agreed, having no urge to argue.
“Did Sehun speak of what he was to do today?”
“Carrying?”
“Ah, the stores,” Kai said. “That’s good.”
Suho wondered how exactly that was good, but he didn’t linger long on it, eating quickly as was his habit so that he was ready to take both their dishes back out immediately after. It let him get ready for the day, ready to straighten up or do whatever Kai had planned. What he didn’t expect as he wiped off the table after Kai had left was Sehun ducking into the tent, frowning.
“Kai told me to come here,” Sehun said, mystified.
“He didn’t say why?”
“Not a word.”
But they didn’t wait in confusion long as Kai and a man Suho knew to be one of the horse masters entered with a large trunk between them. Suho shared a glance with Sehun, and Kai flipped open the trunk after he’d dismissed the man. Inside was a tangle of leather, reins, bridles, stirrups, and who knew what else.
“Needs polishing, and straightening,” Kai said, taking out a couple of pots of what Suho assumed had to be leather oil from his waist pouch and putting them on the pile. “Stay in here, both of you, and finish it all. Do a good job. You need more, you let him know and his men will get this and bring you another trunk.”
It was an order, Kai standing at an angle as he gave it, and Suho twisted his hands together, trying not to smile, trying not to tear up when he realized what Kai had done. It was a job that needed doing, yes, but it was a job invented to keep them from having to move, to hurt themselves further.
“We’ll do well,” Sehun promised, and Suho could only squeak in agreement.
Kai nodded and ducked out, leaving them in what felt like a mountain vault of silence. Suho didn’t even know what to say as he knelt, reaching for one of the jangling bridles and stroking the dusty leather. When he looked over, Sehun had a smile curling his lips. They were not beasts of burden, not either of them.
***
The bruises, as did most all bruises, healed. They turned starbursts of purple, red, yellow, green, tender still but less each day for how deep they had been. Suho breathed easier, slept easier, and his work increased as well since Kai had no more reason to see him protected. He could do anything, including please Kai in every way. The first time Kai had taken him after the move had been a relief, knowing it was not something that had changed despite them being in a new place. He spilled himself before Kai did, and listened to Kai’s moans as he took his pleasure, and it soothed him more than he could say.
Though he still wondered at Kai at times, frowning to see a coin in the basin he used to wash Kai. He knew it had not washed free of Kai’s body. But he shrugged and put it in the jar near Kai’s combs with the others. He intended to inspect Kai’s waist pouch for holes. Kai could be losing his coin in all manner of places where Suho could not find them. But being in a new location made the days seem longer, even if he helped Sehun most of the day.
The times Kai returned to his tent varied, a few times even after the sun had lowered beyond the horizon. Those were the days hardest to wait, poised with his book by a light with nothing left to straighten or clean with the light of day gone. He rose to the sound of horses, the sound of boots, letting out a breath as the tent flap was opened and Kai ducked in. He had food ready, a cold meal with hot tea, to ease Kai’s stomach, and it was very welcome by the way that Kai sat and immediately began to eat.
“Was the ride easy?” Suho wondered, speaking aloud before he realized it, and Kai nodded.
“Easy, but long. The trade for the horses went smoothly. When I tired on the journey back, it helped knowing I’d have food waiting for me and someone to welcome me.”
Kai’s eyes were lazy, amused, and Suho felt his cheeks heat and cursed himself.
“Sit here. Tell me about your day,” Kai said.
He had done so before, sitting close, closer some days when Kai raised his eyebrows and waited until Suho did as he asked and moved almost to the table itself. It was as though Kai could not stand to be in the silence after a long day, asking Suho to fill it even if all Suho had tales of were chasing mice from the storage and scouring pots. He much preferred when Kai was finished eating, when he would talk, gesturing with his hands as he spoke of the rides, the rivers he’d crossed, the daring trades. He made Suho laugh, even when Suho realized he was not there to relax in his master’s presence.
But a cold meal and Suho’s rambles were all that Kai required, or so Suho thought. But when Kai indicated he should ready himself - to fetch the oil and prepare for Kai’s cock, Kai followed him, his cock half hard as he lowered himself onto Suho’s pallet.
“I want your mouth more,” Kai decided, and Suho complied, abandoning the oil and smoothing his hands on Kai’s thighs as he mouthed at Kai’s cock.
Suho knew to lift his head as Kai tried to thrust into his mouth.
“I rode home as fast as I could for this.”
The hands in his hair were soothing, much more so than the jerky motions of Kai’s hips. And he sucked and stroked for all he was worth, hoping to finish so that Kai could relax. But as much as he tried, Kai wasn’t getting much harder. And Kai’s little sounds trailed off to a deep, nasal breath.
Suho let Kai’s cock slid from his lips as he stared at Kai’s slack face.
“Master? Kai?” he murmured.
There was no response, just deep and even breathing. His lips twitched, at least until he realized Kai was on his pallet and not on his own bed, and on top of Suho’s blanket besides. There was little chance of him rousing Kai - he’d only get an angry man - so the only other option was to let him sleep. Suho rose and retrieved a blanket from Kai’s bed and his favorite of his pillows, carefully lifting Kai’s head to place it. With the blanket covering Kai, he found another, older blanket and wrapped himself in it, leaning on the trunk he stored his own belongings in. It was uncomfortable and awkward, but still he slowly fell asleep.
***
Suho woke with a start, a hand curving around ankle bringing him awake.
“You’re still here,” Kai said, as though Suho would have been anywhere else in the middle of the night.
“Master?”
Hours had passed, maybe two, maybe more, but Suho could see when Kai sat up.
“Suho.”
Just his name had him moving, letting Kai rub at his back and sides. With a sharp inhale he reached for the oil when he realized Kai was hard and wanting. He would not fall back asleep that time, and Suho nearly shivered as he readied himself.
“Yes,” Kai crooned at him as Suho smoothed the oil on him, turning onto his side when Kai pressed and giving when Kai pulled him back. He was slick, and Kai nudged against him, pressing until Suho’s body took him, until he could slide deep. He felt half asleep, lying on his side, like it was a dream being woken in the middle of the night for Kai to lie behind him and take him on his pallet. And yet, still his body stiffened and filled as though Kai taking him was enough. He hadn’t found his own pleasure in days, Kai too busy, too tired to ask him to kneel, using only his mouth. And he’d been too exhausted himself to bother.
Kai’s hand brushed over his chest, his skin rasping at Suho’s nipples and nearly making him gasp. Kai’s hips barely paused except to adjust, his breathing harsh in Suho’s ear.
“Suho.” What came next was a series of whimpers just below his ear that had Suho gripping his own cock. Kai moaned but he so rarely let himself show more need than that. The press of Kai’s head against his, his name on soft moans, had his hand stuttering. And yet still, he ejaculated on a low cry as Kai pressed his lips by Suho’s ear, pleasure rushing over him by surprise.
Kai’s voice was rough, “Suho,” and so was his hand pulling Suho tighter back against him. Suho listened and moaned as Kai panted and strained, and on a sound of almost surprise, spilled in him.
“Suho,” Kai breathed, and Suho nearly answered him until several moments later it happened again. “Suho. Suho.”
He remembered what Kai had said. Kai had pushed himself to get home, not for pleasure. Pleasure from him. Pressed against Suho’s back, Kai’s arm still around his ribs, Kai fell asleep breathing into his neck.
Suho nearly did the same, lulled by Kai’s warmth, by the lingering pleasure. But he untangled himself, covering Kai, and tried to sleep again, throbbing, remembering Kai against him.
He woke just minutes after Kai, light filling the tent. And Kai was frowning as he stared at how Suho was resting against his trunk.
“Since I stole your bed, you should have taken mine.”
“I couldn’t have,” he said, appalled even by the idea of it. It was true that when he knew Kai would be gone for several hours, he had stretched on Kai’s bed and imagined resting on something that decadent for a whole night. He’d been on it sitting next to Kai as he read, but it was different than relaxing on it. Sehun would have laughed at him. And it wasn’t as though his pallet was too uncomfortable. He’d gotten used to sleeping on barely cushioned stone, so having padding on softer ground was easy to become accustomed to.
“You should have Sehun help find you another layer of padding,” Kai said, rolling his shoulder around. “I could feel every bump in the earth.”
“I don’t need it,” Suho said quickly, standing as Kai stood. “He shouldn’t have to go through that trouble for me.”
“Did I say it was for you?” Kai asked, bumping Suho’s shoulder with his own. “What if I end up sleeping there again?”
The way Kai laughed, it seemed his little hiccup of laughter hadn’t been as well hidden as he thought.
***
“Suho.”
Sometimes Suho looked up in the middle of the day from whatever task he was at - mending Kai’s pants, brushing dust from furs - hearing Kai call his name. It was embarrassing at first, because he went out, circled the tent, stared as though Kai was just out of sight and hiding around a corner. Sometimes Kai sounded amused, saying Suho’s name on half a laugh. Sometimes Suho heard his name said as Kai had done against Suho’s neck when he had taken Suho in the middle of the night. Suho did not get up to look for Kai at those whispers, furiously pressing the needle through cloth to keep from remembering. Kai who invaded his dreams with touches, soft, caring. Not just the ones where he tended Suho’s wounds, but stroked along Suho’s neck, or cupped his wrist as Suho talked with him.
It startled him some nights when Kai would lean forward across his table and ask Suho’s opinion. Sometimes it was of as little importance as what fruit Suho preferred, and others like what he thought of the price of fruit, of where they would move. He seemed genuinely interested in Suho’s answers, too, even when he pointed out flaws in what Suho said. Sometimes he could tell he was pleased by how Suho answered, if what Suho said was something Kai agreed with. Kai got very involved in what he spoke of some nights, drawing out his ledgers and pointing to how things had been before their last move, how many horses he planned to part with. All of it Suho listened to and absorbed, in case it was something Kai would ask him about later.
The night sounds in the new camp were so much the same, even if they were in the shelter of a different mountain to the north, plains surrounding them. It was different, wells that were closer, and a pond near to Kai’s tent that Kai had directed his tent be set up by. He did not own it, but his status would keep anyone from wandering to it. Kai’s tent, the supply tent where Sehun slept, the tent of Kai’s father, those were the closest. The horses were beyond that, near to a stream of their own. It was a good ground, fertile, grasses long from the summer and more temperate air. It would be good, Kai said, for a month or two, perhaps more. If the snow threatened, they would move further south so that the horses could eat. It was a traveling city all its own, and when he walked in the market or in the rows of tents, Suho marveled at how it had been broken down and put back together.
“Let’s make use of the pool,” Kai said, before Suho could gather the washbasin he used to help Kai clean. There was no coin in it that night, though he’d found one on Kai’s dinner table. There had been no holes in Kai’s pouch when he had checked. “We were lucky to set up so near to it. It should make your washing easier.”
No more hauling buckets from the wells. Though he suspected ease was not Kai’s main concern with as eagerly as Kai stripped to wade into the still water. It went to Kai’s waist, clear and stream-fed with lush grasses growing along the sides. It had a simple, welcoming feeling, and Suho thanked the water for its kindness, letting his own clothes drop before Kai could reprimand him for being slow to follow. He had a cloth, the basin, and still his skin shivered at the coolness of the water. But it felt very much like home.
***
Kai would have plunged into the water and swam, dunking himself with abandon had he been alone. He could see himself doing that after a long ride, clothes and all, and imagined the dismay on Suho’s face at it. Though all Suho would do was get the clothes wet and wash them anyway so he wasn’t sure what the problem would be. Suho was so prim wading out with his basin, and Kai laughed at the obvious shock as the cold water rose up Suho’s thighs.
“Surely you are more used to the water than I am,” Kai said, lifting his hand through the water and flinging droplets at Suho.
“It has been some time,” was all Suho said, and ducked his head when he realized Kai was still laughing at him. Still, he did as he always had, smoothing cloth against Kai’s skin and that night as well, rubbing soothing creams through Kai’s hair and waiting until Kai bent so that he could pour the cool water over him. It felt good, Suho’s fingers massaging his scalp, rubbing against his skin. Better than the water itself, almost, with the lingering heat of the day. As Kai ducked into the water, cleansed himself, he rose to see Suho pouring water over his own head, water streaming down his face and neck and chest.
“We will hardly know ourselves, we’ll be so clean,” Kai teased.
“That’s true. I had not realized how much I had missed this,” Suho said, cupping his hand so that water filled it.
“Were your temple pools not colder than this in the shadows?” Kai wondered, noting how Suho’s skin had pebbled.
“Our pools were stone, and into some of them heated water flowed in the winter. But in the summer it was like this. We could wade in the largest of them, cool ourselves and rest and heal.”
“Heal your bodies.”
Suho seemed to hesitate. “Yes. That is where I went always, after.“
Yes, after. Sometimes the thought of hands on Suho’s body, hurting him, made him tense on his long rides until his horse could even tell his anger.
“Because your patrons had hurt you or because you felt you needed to be clean?”
“Mostly the first,” Suho admitted. “But the second helped.”
“Would you have gone there if I had been your patron?”
Suho shook his head. “Maybe to wash. But you don’t hurt me.”
It was a distinction, and one that Kai would take.
“You have more happy memories of the pools than you do of sad ones, though.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me of one?”
Suho paused, his face thoughtful. “It was a birthday in summer. We were all gathered. And it was a good year, we were able to grow food that year so that everyone had enough. We had meat that night, and we hadn’t for a couple of weeks before. Everyone ended up soaking wet, and full, and we just sat and talked and relaxed. Not even the heat could touch us then.”
A smile had moved over Suho’s face. It was unguarded, happy, and it changed his face. Kai inhaled, and found his throat tighter than he realized. Almost every night he had Suho. Almost every night he felt Suho come beneath him, or enjoyed as Suho pleasured him. But he had never truly seen Suho’s face. And he had never had Suho in any other way. It seemed a shame almost. It had been a long time since he had shared a kiss with someone, or pressed someone back on his bed or even trusted them enough to let them slide between his thighs and take. But Suho who smiled at the water and protected Kai even from sickness - his guardian. He could want that with him. Suho would not speak of it, not share it among the servants as long as Kai asked. There was a trust there, that he’d never had with a slave besides Sehun. Not nearly as personal as that. Once he’d been afraid that Suho would run.
“Suho, look at me.”
Suho’s eyes raised immediately. More at the sound of Kai’s voice, Kai thought, than at the order. But there was something calm, something wise and steady in those eyes. And Suho’s lips, sliding down from their smile, lightly parted.
His arm shot out, pulling Suho forward the foot that separated them. The bowl in Suho’s hands fell to the water, and Suho’s hands grasped for a moment at Kai’s arm, his side, to steady himself. At least, he steadied himself until he knew what he was doing in touching his master without permission. But all Kai cared about was that Suho’s face was close, rivulets of water streaming down from his wet hair.
“I’m sorry,” Suho breathed, thinking that Kai was angry with him.
And Suho stiffened as Kai kissed him, his lips cool and still. Kai kissed him again, urging him to meet him. And again. And again. Kai’s tongue slid between Suho’s lips, and the touch of it had Suho moving, hands raising again to steady himself on Kai’s sides. He gave to Kai’s kisses, letting his neck relax into Kai’s hand and bracing himself against his body. The sounds from Suho’s throat were musical, tiny hums as Kai’s teeth grazed his lip, or a sigh as Kai kissed him again. The way Suho met his kiss, the first tentative touches of his tongue, and the way he went bold as Kai teased him, inflamed him. That he could make Suho forget himself made his fingers curl in power. Had they had oil, he would have taken Suho right there in the water.
He was gasping, shuddered, as he pulled his mouth away and stared at Suho’s swollen lips. Kiss-bruised and parted, hot to the touch, they begged to be kissed again.
“Had you been kissed before?” Kai asked.
Suho’s head shook back and forth.
“Fuck,” Kai commented. And he grabbed Suho’s arm. “Come with me.”
“The bowl,” Suho blurted, as Kai pulled him from the water. And as they passed, “The towels!”
There was no time for bowls, or towels. That would keep. He wanted Suho in his tent, in his bed.
“Where is the oil?” Kai asked. He was still dripping, and Suho left his side to grab the little flask of oil. And Kai took it from Suho’s startled hands. Normally, he left that to Suho. Not that night. “On your back, on the bed. Hurry.”
Suho was not fully hard, but he was aroused, and Kai bit his own lip to keep from just spilling over Suho’s body. His skin was nearly flawless, cast in shadows and so bright against the dark fabric and furs. And he was apprehensive, not knowing what Kai wanted. He had never ordered Suho so. But Suho knew, when Kai knelt between his legs, and his hips lifted to give Kai access to slide slick fingers inside him. His thighs widened and Kai saw the mark there, a water droplet marked dark into the flesh of Suho’s thigh. His fingers brushed it, and Suho shuddered. He would ask of it another time. But not that night.
He watched Suho’s fists tighten in the furs as he nudged their hips together and as Suho’s body allowed, slid deep. He took several shallow thrusts, trying to remind his body that he was in control. His breath huffed out of him as he stared at the flush staining Suho’s chest. He would have everything. Everything. He tugged at Suho’s knees and urged them up around him. And in the same breath he lowered himself, so that he could tease Suho’s mouth with his.
“Touch me,” Kai breathed, and felt more of his control coil away from him as Suho’s hand met his neck, the other sliding onto his back.
That. Just that. Suho’s legs touching him, urging him. Suho’s fingers stroking him and tangled in his hair. Suho’s lips parting for every kiss, and Suho’s moans and the way he tightened around Kai with every breath. Suho responded to every movement, every play of his fingers and stroke of his cock. As Kai’s hips slipped hard against him, he moaned into Kai’s mouth and gasped for air as their lips rubbed together. He wanted to see Suho come for him, but Suho’s body seduced the last bits of control from him. And he thrust, and came with his lips slipping down Suho’s neck. He breathed with his eyes closed, body throbbing and finally his again. He could feel the rapid rise and fall of Suho’s chest beneath him, and the relaxing of his legs.
Suho was stunning. Face flushed and lips parted, his chest lifting as their bodies separated. It seemed Suho’s whole body tensed, anticipating rising and cleaning up, as though Kai were finished with him. Kai had almost gotten all that he wanted. But Suho had wanted, proof of that full and bared to his eyes. Suho, who had not even touched himself as Kai took him. It seemed to beg reward. And if Suho had not been kissed, then it was equally possible - no, even probable - that he had never had the pleasure of another’s mouth. What Suho did for him, he had never experienced. Not after that night.
Kai’s hands spread Suho’s thighs and he folded himself. He could not see Suho’s face, but he heard his gasp, as Kai’s lips slid around him. Flesh that had begun to soften, stiffening for his mouth and fingers. Kai moaned his approval, and Suho echoed him, a sound of surprise, as though it was wrested without his knowledge. And Kai sucked, and teased, and tasted.
“Oh. Kai,” Suho gasped.
And only moments later, Suho began to come for him. Kai didn’t think that Suho even knew what he had said. The times he had said Kai’s name before had been in desperation to get Kai’s attention, or in reference to him as his owner. The first pulse he took in his mouth, and he kept stroking, letting the rest fall on Suho’s stomach. He smiled as he watched Suho gasp for breath, swallow, and let his head fall to the side as he panted. He was almost glistening in the light and Kai eased up until he was hovering over Suho. He cleared his throat, a grin pulling at his face as Suho startled and stared up at him.
And the strangest thing happened. Suho began to smile back at him. In fact, he would’ve fully had Kai allowed it. But he was too busy kissing Suho, urging him to find the taste of his own come in Kai’s mouth. Suho cupped his neck as they kissed, and Kai could not have minded. Suho could have touched him anywhere, right then.
Suho’s mouth was wet and red when he left it, but Suho did not protest or try to hold him.
“I think we need to get cleaned up again,” Kai said, and tugged Suho to his feet. They washed quickly, retrieving the bowl and the towels. As Kai climbed into his bed, Suho turned down the lamp and for a moment almost seemed to glow in the residual light. The bed felt almost cool and empty as Kai turned his face into his pillow. The soft sounds of Suho straightening up lulled him to sleep.
***
After Kai was audibly asleep, Suho sank onto his pallet and stretched out. He stared at the wall of the tent for a long time, touching the tenderness of his lips, the places on his neck and jaw where Kai had kissed or sucked. He had never felt anything like that, never known sex could be anything like that. When Kai took him, when any other man had taken him, it had seemed a means to an end. That night, with Kai’s lips dragging against his, and his hands on Kai’s body, it had felt more like a mating. Desperate and raw, more real than anything he’d ever experienced.
And that Kai had touched him, that Kai had touched him with his mouth, made it all the more surreal.
He must have pleased Kai very much, for Kai to have done that.
But remembering Kai’s mouth on his, Kai’s body pressing him back into the bed, he wondered if it would ever be the same if they went back to the way it had been.
***