Chapter Text
The raw rising heat is apparent a block and a half away. Waves of hot air that wash down the street, subtle enough Kurama is sure no human can pick up on the change in temperature. The realization that the epicenter appears to be at the corner where his apartment is located concerns him slightly. Sensing Hiei’s spirit energy confirms his suspicions, Kurama hurries his pace.
It’s been awhile since the little demon had visited last. That fact alone makes Kurama’s heart beat with a nervous excitement he hadn’t felt since he was a teenager. The truth is, he missed the way things had been when Hiei was bonded to this realm by his punitive agreement with the spirit world. Those days were behind them both. Older now, they have made different choices from one another.
After the warring between the Three Kings, Kurama had chosen his life as the human Shuichi. A nine to five at his stepfather’s finance firm, a simple apartment in Tokyo, and lunch with his dear mother every Sunday afternoon neatly summarized his days as he slowly neared the expiration of his human body. To some his life may look depressing, but he made his choice.
Hiei chose to stay in Makai. It was not all that unexpected as Hiei had never felt at home in Ningenkai. At the time, Kurama had hoped, foolishly, that his offer of nothing but companionship would be enough to make Hiei stay in the human realm with him, as partners. But the pull from wilds of the demon realm and the prospect of serving as the right hand of one of the infamous kings was too great; Kurama was not enough.
Visits between the two have dwindled, but never ceased. It’s not the same as it was when they were young. Quietly, only late at night when he can’t sleep, Kurama fears growing up made them into other people.
An unfamiliar tremor shakes his hand as turns the key in the lock. Stepping into his modest dwelling, Kurama finds the heat inside to be oppressive, as if the hotness itself was squeezing the breathable air out of the room. He sets his keys aside at the door and slips out of his patent leather dress shoes. Surveying his surroundings carefully, nothing appears out of place besides a half finished glass of water sitting on the kitchen countertop.
A chaotic energy surges from the bedroom upstairs. The untamed nature of the youkai stirs Kurama in such a way he feels his demon soul purr. It’s an odd sensation having, more or less, left his demon roots behind. Caring for a few plants smuggled out of Makai, imprisoned in pots on his balcony, was the extent to which he flexed his spiritual power these days. He feels the push and pull of his own youki hotly answering the call from upstairs in the tingle running over his skin.
Moving deeper into the house, he licks his lips subconsciously. The air is heavily scented and his reaction to the aroma is primal. The heavy material of the suit his mother bought him when he graduated, clings to him as he begins to sweat. It feels uncomfortable and the desire to tear the offending material away from his skin crosses his mind like an intrusive thought.
Ignoring his more base desires, he follows the scent up the stairs. Carefully, fighting to remain in control of himself, Kurama unbuttons his suit jacket and rids himself of the garment. He lets the jacket fall from his shoulders to drape on the stairs. There will be time to put it away later. If he is correct in his assumption, Hiei needs him now.
A dim light glows through the crack at the bottom of the bedroom door. He can hear a faint frustrated rustling from inside. Gently he pushes open the door and he feels Hiei’s youki swirling with unrest. “Hiei?”
The room is a disaster. Articles of dirty clothing liter the floor, thrown around with abandon. Treasures and keepsakes moved from their carefully chosen homes to lay haphazardly in strange locations. Clearly, Hiei was in a state when he arrived. The musty smell of fire hangs heavy and the temperature inside is sweltering. Cautiously, Kurama steps over a stack of books that had toppled to the ground in whatever chaos preceded and moves to hover over the bedside. Hiei, laying naked in a nest of Kurama’s possessions, rolls over pushing the towel Kurama used this morning out of his face. “Kurama?” he groans, his tired eyes trying to focus on the redhead.
The demon has never been this vulnerable in his presence, possibly anyone's presence. Kurama reaches out his long fingers, brushing them over Hiei’s flushed round cheek. “You’re warm. You have a fever…” he mentions passively.
Drinking in the sight of Hiei’s hypnotic form, he lays the back of his hand across Hiei’s brow causing a desperate sigh to escape the demon. As unusual as a fever for a fire demon would be, Hiei nods in quiet agreement that his temperature is elevated.
“I am sick?” Hiei questions, fighting to stay present. The poor thing must have been in agony for a while. Kurama can understand why he thinks he is sick. Pulling his hand away, Kurama reaches up to loosen his tie. The room feels like it is getting smaller and the air grows thick in his throat.
“Not sick…” Kurama comments as he continues to ease open the buttons to gain some relief.“You’re in heat.
𓃦
Hours ago when the first of his symptoms arose, he decided to seek out the one person in the world that would know what to do, Kurama. His relationship with the fox was, is still, many things. It was a rivalry, a friendship, a partnership… and at brief times, the possibly something more tried to bubbled to the surface.
Slipping through the hole in the barrier between worlds, Hiei headed for the fox’s dwelling deep in the city. But Kurama was not home. Hiei assumed he was playing human at his infuriatingly stupid job, helping greedy people hoard their treasures. He had to admit the task was fitting for the fox.
In a rare state of delirium, he seeks out every item that reminds him of the fox. For reasons beyond his immediate comprehension when he found the laundry he lost himself to the pleasant floral smell that still clung to the other man’s clothes. The scent was like a drug that drove him farther from logic with each indulgent whiff.
Now, his body ached and sweat as he writhed in beneath the soft caress of Kurama’s hand on his forehead. He had not experienced a hunger like this before. A need stirred in him that had never in his entire existence been louder than a whisper. Now it roared so loud it felt like it would break him. “Help me,” he begged, so unlike himself.
Kurama nods, staring down at him with captivating green eyes. “Of course…” he says, but there is a hesitation in his tone. The damned fox tended to think too much.
Barely able to string a single thought together with his body burning from the inside out, Hiei opens his mouth to speak, but the words don’t form like they should. “Kurama,” he urges pathetically. He wants Kurama to make these feelings go away.
The fox’s pupils swell as his eyes rake across Hiei’s body once more. “I wish we could have talked about this before,” Kurama admits, carefully repositioning some of the soiled clothes to sit down alongside him.
“I didn’t know,” Hiei informs his friend.
It’s the truth. While intense biorhythms were not uncommon in the demon realm, Hiei’s particular genetic makeup was an anomaly. He knew nothing of his father’s lineage and the Koorime did not experience such things in their isolation.
Swinging his feet up onto the bed to rest on his side. Kurama leans over Hiei’s naked body, petting his black hair, damp with sweat, back from his face.
“It’s okay,” Kurama coos, voice like cool clear glaciers drip. Hiei closes his eyes and relaxes into the repetitive touch. The fox’s long fingernails delicately scrape against his scalp. “It will end on its own given time,” Kurama assures him, proving once again, he is not one to push against an unspoken boundary.
Flickering his gaze up to observe the fox’s careful expression, the tension he feels between them rears its head once again. Kurama was right, they should have talked about this before now, long before. Some mistakes are not worth analyzing.
“But if I… If we fan the flames, it will burn out faster,” Hiei inquires with purpose.
“Yes. Sexual intimacy is known to dissipate a heat.”.
“I can’t wait it out,” Hiei pants in desperation. “I need you.”.
𓁺
Hiei is a mess unlike Kurama has ever seen. The smaller demon could barely keep his eyes focused on Kurama long enough for Kurama to see if he understood what he was asking for.
Their relationship had an intimacy that was hard to define, even with their more recent separation of realms. They were more than simply allies or even friends, they were partners. But early on Hiei rebuffed his physical advances. Since then, he had resigned himself to enjoying Hiei’s company in other ways. In seconds, years of Kurama dutifully dismissing his own desires were obliterated away by that one simple statement, “I need you.”
“I am here,” Kurama tones sweetly in Hiei’s ear before he shifts up to sit on his knees to face his partner. Pulling the tangled sheet away, he drinks in the small man’s form from his chapped lips to the dark body hair that makes a line from his navel to soft curly bush around the base of his already erect cock. His fantasies can’t compare to the delight that is Hiei, pliant and aroused, begging for his touch. He will help Hiei, much to his own enjoyment.
Shaking his shirt from his shoulders, he tosses the garment to Hiei. As he expects the demon catches it in air to smother his face with it, rabid for the scent clinging to the fabric. The fire demon inhales deeply with a feral growl not unlike a in season Youko.
Kurama was unsure of all the intricacies of Hiei's current predicament; all the fire demons he knew of from his past didn’t have heats. The only possible explanation he could think of, at the moment, was that Hiei's biorhythm must have come from his mother’s side. Of course the Koorime had no use for heats in their modern world. But there were stories— old stories. Hushes myths that circulated around camp fires across Makai of Koorime that existed, before the time of isolation, who would become enraptured by a lustful state and chased after humans and demons alike. Maybe Hiei was experiencing the same.
With Hiei distracted by his shirt, he moves his hands down across Hiei’s body, parting his knees with a gentle nudge. Ghosting his hand down the inside of Hiei’s thigh, his fingers itching to touch his entrance, dripping with the evidence of the intensity of this heat. Kurama’s breath hitches involuntary when his finger gingerly touches the warm wetness for the first time. For a moment he thinks he can’t possibly hold back and take his time.
Visions of taking Hiei and ravishing him without mercy flood his mind and fuel his arousal. But on second thought, that is not what he desires at all. Hiei has trusted him with his body, taking his time is exactly what he wants to do.
Gently edging his fingers around Hiei’s entrance, Kurama teases before finally easing one finger inside. Hiei whines as his legs fall open even more. He mumbles something into the shirt he is still clutching over his face. It’s intensely cute. “I can’t hear you when you hide your face like that,” Kurama says as he leans forward, pulling the offending item away.
Hiei hiccups in momentary surprise. “…not enough,” Hiei rasps, face adorably flush as he begs.
Kurama can’t help but oblige with a sinful smirk. He eases two more fingers in, one at a time, pushing and pulling until the muscle gives to his pressure. His own cock strains in his slacks but he ignores it, enjoying quiet pleasure making his partner whine with greedy lust. Hiei rocks back on to his fingers, panting and moaning louder as he curls his fingers to brush against that sweet spot inside. Hiei grasps at the sensation, to Kurama’s delight. “More!”
“So demanding,” Kurama snickers as he removes his hand. He keeps his eyes trained on Hiei, watching closely how Hiei’s expression isolates from a complete blissfully slack to a scrunched up pained one as he rides the ebb and flow of sensations. Hiei’s hole pulses at the lack of stimulus, slick drips for the opening.
He is aware there are ways to aid Hiei without involving his own anatomy. In this very room he has toys and even plants that he could use to help Hiei find unbelievable relief. Its the cold vein of selfishness that stops him from reaching for these alternatives. His desire to take and gain pleasure for himself makes him consider that he is not who Hiei needs right now.
“Fox,” Hiei growls, cutting into his train of thought. “Why did you stop?”
A soft smile breaks across his face at the utter confusion he sees in Hiei’s grimace. “I am considering how we should continue,” he answers honestly.
“Stop overthinking,” Hiei orders with his particular brand of curtness.
He wishes it was that simple. But Hiei is the only one he has. The only friend that truly knows him. Hiei snaps him from his internal musings with a huff of irritation. Reaching down between his legs, Hiei begins to fondle himself in frustration.
Kurama watches him as he works open the fly of his own pants without thought. He touches and teases himself with the lightest brush of his fingertips in the process. When he frees his cock, he realizes he is shaking with anticipation.
Comically, Hiei’s hand stills and his eyes widen at the sight of Kurama’s engorged member. “It’s large,” the smaller demon notes.
“It’s average,” Kurama corrects him. “But thank you.” His body is in proportion but so is Hiei’s. With that in mind, he is quite a bit larger than his partner. “Now roll over.”
Hiei whines as he waits for Kurama to line himself up. In his impatience he begins to rut against the bed. “Be still,” Kurama warns him, placing a hand on the small of his back. “I planned to take my time with you. But all this whining will cause me to take without mercy if you’re not careful.”
𓃥
Every part of his body desires touch and Kurama chooses now of all times to toy with him. On some level, Hiei wants to believe Kurama knows that he would also choose him regardless of some wild heat. Then again, how would he. Hiei is guarded with all his thoughts, especially those about Kurama.
He tries to push up off the bed, growling at Kurama for his insolence, but the hand resting on his back urges him back down into the mattress. The fox looms over him with a dark grin, “Be still…”
Hiei’s body shivers underneath Kurama’s. Skin caresses skin as Kurama begins to grind his hips against Hiei’s heated body. The sensation, sheerly intimate, is delicate yet overwhelming. He wishes he could touch Kurama’s body, memorizing every detail of his anatomy just in case this is the last and only time he will have the chance to feel his friend so close.
Suddenly, he becomes acutely aware of the head of Kurama’s member slipping over his entrance, over and over again, as his own cock presses into the mattress. It’s too much and not enough. His entrance contracts around nothing as he comes against the bed, shamefully moaning as his body seizes with pleasure.
“You’re incredibly sensitive,” Kurama notes as he is overcome by his climax, mind going blank.
When he regains some semblance of himself, he notices Kurama’s naked, straddling his legs and rubbing lazy circles into his back, “Welcome back,” he teases.
Hiei can feel the Fox’s heavy cock resting between his cheeks and his own member hardening again. “Hn—“ he tries to grunt indifferently but a cunning roll of Kurama’s rips a moans of his throat. Kurama continues rutting against the slick in a matter that alludes to the penetration he desires.
Kurama is a tease, Hiei reminds himself. He would like the fox to hurry up and take him but Kurama is too guarded for that kind of behavior. Years ago he was less so and more open when it was just them. It is possible the fox no longer desires him and he is doing this for Hiei because of their history. It’s an irritating idea. Before Hiei can give any more thought to the matter, he feels Kurama’s breath tickle the back of his neck.
It’s a seemingly innocuous gesture but Hiei knows better. It is no secret how Youko mate, marking their partners with a bite to the neck. “It’s affecting you too,” he pants, turning his head to look over his shoulder.
“Yes…” Kurama groans against Hiei’s back. He licks at Hiei’s nape. “Your heat seems to have triggered something inside of me too.”
In the haze of his heat, Hiei gets lost in the idea of Kurama— or Youko— claiming him so openly, biting his neck so hard it bleeds. “Kurama—“
“I can’t hold back any longer,” Kurama cuts him off, the tip pressing urgently at his opening.
Hiei cants his hips. “Then don’t. Put it in.” Willing his muscles to relax, Hiei exhales with the ache of being penetrated for the first time. It hurts mildly, the feeling of pressure against the walls of his cavity is foreign. He clutches the bedsheets as he manages the conflicting sensations. Once seated fully inside, Kurama’s hand strokes soothing patterns down the side of his ribs to his hip, “Tell me when I can move.”
Hiei slowly inhales, “Move.”
𓁺
Cursing under his breath, Kurama watches Hiei fist the sheet as he comes again. The demon sobs as the orgasm rips through him stronger than the times before. Regrettably, Kurama’s human body is somewhat inexperienced and altogether too sensitive. He won’t last much longer despite Hiei’s likely ability to continue.
His sweat drips from his collar bone onto his lover's back as rolls his hips one last time. “Hiei…” he moans as he loses control and releases his load inside the quivering fire demon, “…I love you.” He doesn’t say the last part. He can’t bring himself to be so vulnerable. A part of him tells himself it’s his own nature responding to the heat that is conjuring these feelings but he knows that is one of the many lies he tells himself about Hiei.
As he collapses, body tingling with satisfaction, to Hiei’s side. He can see a new clarity in Hiei’s eyes. “Are you okay?” Kurama asks, fearing that Hiei, no longer influenced by his biological need, will regret their act.
After a long, tense moment, Hiei nods. “Thank you, Fox,”he mutters rolling onto his back to sit up.
As Hiei moves to get up, Kurama's heart sinks a little. A part of him hoped Hiei would lie with him in this post coital moment. “You should bathe,” he advises, pragmatically, instead of voicing anything hard truths mulling inside him. “Wash the scent of your heat off.” With a curt nod, Hiei hops down from the bed and leaves the room without a word.
By the time Hiei returns from the bathroom, Kurama is dressed in a pair of sweats from high school and has changed the sheets. As he picks up the room; he notices when Hiei’s gaze darts toward the window. “The room needed to air out,” he explains, hoping Hiei will not see the open window as an invitation to leave.
“Hn,” Hiei grunts in acknowledgment like his old self. He looks tired and distant all of a sudden.
“Hiei,” Kurama sighs ready to give Hiei an out for the emotional baggage that might come with fucking your best friend. “We can forget about his if you like. You were in heat and I helped you. That’s it.”
Hiei stares at him with piercing eyes. The gaze feels punishing. “Don’t talk to me like I am one of you human admirers,” he scolds.
Kurama brows knits in confusion, “Human admirers?”
“Yes. I am not some coworker with a crush.“
“No, you’re not,” Kurama affirms as he throws the last remnants of Hiei’s nest into the laundry basket.
Hiei takes his seat in his normal spot by the window, seemingly satisfied with Kurama’s understanding of the situation. He wants to press him for more but he doesn’t. The risk of breaking a relationship that he cherishes with all his heart is too much.
Instead he pries into the cause of Hiei’s heat, “Do you know what triggered your biorhythm?”
“No,” he grunts. Kurama knows there is more Hiei can say on the matter as long as he is patient. “I turned a hundred yesterday.”
“Oh?” Kurama had no idea it was Hiei’s birthday. However, birthdays are not traditionally celebrated the same way in Makai as they are in Ningenkai. Still, his lack of awareness points to the distance that has grown between them.
“It is the age in which the Koorime can accept a pregnancy if they so desire,” he elaborates.
“I see,” Kurama lets his intrigue show through his voice. “You’re all grown up,” he jokes lightly.
“I suppose,” his eyes fall to the ground. “If it happens again?”
Kurama stops tidying up the room as the question falls heavy between them. “I am happy to help,” Kurama answers truthfully but artfully ambiguous.
“And if it doesn’t? Are you still happy to help?”
“Yes,” he blurts out without his usual care. His heart leaps out of his chest the instant the word is freed from his consciousness, fearing he sounds too eager.
“Good to know,” Hiei rises and an instant is out of the window. Like that he is gone.