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Branches cradle Jun when he awakes, stretched out underneath the blue sky.
A soft breeze whispers across his skin, and he reaches down to try and scratch his leg when he realises his arms are immobilised. The branches wind around his wrists and ankles, rough bark thankfully not close to breaking skin, and leaves tickle his sides where they form a rudimentary bed. When Jun tries to turn his head, not recognising where he is, he finds that he cannot.
Then he realises with a jolt that he's naked, splayed out as though on display so anyone passing by will be able to see him like this. With a hiss he cannot hear, Jun tries to press his legs together so his extremities are covered, but he remains pinned even though his thighs are unrestrained by branches.
No amount of struggling makes the binds yield, even if they don't appear very thick. Jun kicks out, but the bark does not so much as scratch him.
At least he seems to be somewhere safe — the soft rustling of leaves is all he can hear, the air mostly warm and no other living creatures nearby. Jun might have time to regain some strength before trying to escape again.
But then he hears voices, two of them even if he only identifies one pair of footsteps. As they near, he tries to at least look to his side to see who they are. His eyes strain until they focus on the two approaching figures, and Jun feels his stomach drop.
"Your Highness, for all the delicious things you have eaten in your life, I promise you will not taste anything more delectable." Ibara's footsteps do not crease the grass as he walks, every movement so fluid it seems for a moment that he has more joints than the average person. Parts of him shimmer oddly in the sunlight, as though not purely skin. "You didn't even know this part of the wide world existed, let alone the delicacies that it holds. Allow me to introduce you to the best of them."
The mere sight of Hiyori makes Jun's body react, but mercifully the other man doesn't seem to have noticed. Hiyori is completely naked, his lines and curves made all the more picturesque without being hidden by clothes. He walks without shame, hips swaying with every elegant step. "The gall of you to call me unaware, Serpent, when everything I have eaten has made me so happy! I don't think anyone happy can be truly ignorant."
Ibara smiles, the point of a fang peeking out from behind a thin lip. "Quite the misunderstanding. I acknowledge that your experiences must outnumber mine, and what brings you joy does the same to me as well. I only wish to increase that joy tenfold, if you would allow me the privilege."
"I'll need a lot of convincing if you wish to enlighten me, which you very likely won't be able to do. What is it that you have led me all the way here to see?"
Then Ibara locks eyes with Jun, and the odd gleam in his eyes causes him to stiffen. Ibara leans towards Hiyori, the ends of his hair brushing his bare shoulder for a split second, before he makes his leisurely way towards Jun. "This."
Hiyori's eyes widen, but there seems to be no recognition in his expression. As a matter of fact, Ibara does not seem to know it is Jun on the altar either. "Just one bite of this," Ibara continues, "will allow you to discern between good and evil. If you say that ignorance and joy are incompatible, more knowledge will surely make you happier still."
Jun suddenly grows cold, and he realises he doesn't want to see how Hiyori reacts. But he does nonetheless, pursing his lips in an elegant moue. "Ah, I was specifically warned against eating this. I am not very hungry anyhow, and any fruit I can find in other parts of the garden must be more delicious than this one."
"You are not hungry, Your Highness, but I bet you are not full. And this little treat will be so nourishing you will never want for anything afterwards — I've tasted of it, that is why you have never seen me eat before." In a bout of audacity that would typically have Jun glaring, Ibara takes Hiyori's hand and tugs him forward, his smile pointed and obviously still hungry.
A hand, cool and smooth, rests on Jun's navel. "Smooth skin, firm flesh, sweet juice — it has everything one could want in a good piece of fruit. Eat it fresh from the vine, Your Highness, I swear you have never had anything like it."
Ibara does not stop touching Jun, stroking from his lower belly up to his stomach, before his sharp-nailed hand splays out right over his chest. For some reason, Jun cannot hear his own heartbeat. "Though I do not doubt that you can find something just as satisfying for your own, you may be just as satisfied if you disprove my claim. Only one bite will make that possible."
Something has changed in Hiyori's expression, and his tongue darts out to lick his lips. His chest rises and falls softly, eyes never leaving Jun's prone form. And though Jun has no idea where he is, or why Ibara is touching him this way, stoking a fire in his stomach that seems to rise to his throat with every idle stroke, he cannot shake the feeling that something horrible will happen should Hiyori listen to Ibara. Don't, Jun wants to tell him, but he cannot move his mouth. If not to save me, then to save yourself.
But soft fingers wrap around Jun's wrist, and Hiyori's eyes are glazed over when he stares down impassively at him. He tugs once, very gently, and the branches give. Hiyori's thumb strokes the inside of Jun's wrist, drawing a curved line where his pulse should be. The smooth slope of his throat bobs as he swallows.
The hand lifts from Jun's chest as Ibara sidles towards Hiyori, wrapping his arms around his waist. Where Jun would normally feel his blood run hot at the sight of the intimate display, though, now he finds no heated jealousy inside of him. Ibara leans in close, rising on tiptoes so he can brush his lips against Hiyori's ear. His fangs graze Hiyori's pristine skin, hands sliding to stroke down his soft hips. With how Hiyori's eyes flutter shut and his lips part, breath puffing warmly against Jun's skin, he can only imagine what Ibara is telling him.
Ibara grabs the back of Hiyori's thigh, his fingertips digging in so deeply that they crease the tender flesh. Jun's indignation is almost enough to break him free when Hiyori opens his mouth and sinks his teeth into his wrist.
The pain makes him white out. A silent scream wracks through Jun, resonating through his empty chest cavity with nowhere else to go. It ripples through him in waves, the agony, promising to never end as long as Hiyori is latched on. He can feel something running down his wrist, hot and sticky, and the sharp, rigid press of Hiyori's teeth disappears as he chases the liquid with his tongue instead. The sky blurs before Jun's vision.
When he finally regains some semblance of sensibility, he hears Ibara whisper, "is it good?"
Hiyori sighs, the sound almost like a moan. "It is the best thing I have ever tasted."
"I hoped you would think so, Your Highness." With the breathy, ragged undertones in Ibara's voice, one would think that he was involved in the meal. He rocks his hips against Hiyori's, eyes dark and lidded behind his spectacles, and the vines wrapped around him to hide his extremities sway gently. "You can eat as much as you want, even if you leave nothing left."
The juice coating Hiyori's lips causes them to glitter, and he licks Jun's wrist again. A soft, loamy haze has surrounded all of Jun, making the others' voices sound quieter, the paradise around him less saturated. But he can feel Hiyori's tongue all the same, laving the torn skin with greedy, sticky kisses as his sole anchor to consciousness. For there is nothing more Jun can do, can feel here but to be consumed as the hungry sees fit.
"I cannot hoard this all to myself," Hiyori says dreamily. "There will be none for you, Serpent, but the rest of it for someone I will always share my treasures with."
Though his name was not said, Nagisa emerges from behind the trees. Every part of him is bone white, white as the ribs that jut out from his unclothed chest, his right side missing one. Hiyori shakes Ibara loose to drift to his husband (for even here, his thoughts drifting out of his head with every throb of pain, Jun knows who Hiyori was made for, or of). "My love! I was offered something simply divine, you must try something."
"Oh?" Nagisa's hand wraps around Hiyori's waist, pulling him flush against his side, and their curves fit together so perfectly it seems as though they were once one person. "You said as much about the berries we tasted a few days ago, and the blossoms a few days before that. You must be most adept at finding delicacies."
"Yes, and this one is even more delicious still." Hiyori cups Nagisa's chin, slides his fingers into his mouth with an airy laugh. Perhaps Nagisa must taste some of the juice not yet evaporated on Hiyori's hand, for his eyes grow round and knowing then. "Look, I left plenty for you."
Ibara says nothing, only smiles his knife-edged smile while he looks down at Jun. When his tongue darts out from between his lips, just as Hiyori's did, it is forked. If there is anything left of Jun, perhaps he is planning on eating the leftovers.
Nagisa steps towards the altar, touching the wound on Jun's wrist. His fingers, perfectly smooth but firm, probe and squeeze until Jun can feel it bleed again. "I will have my fill, then, if you are not opposed."
"I will repeat what I told His Highness, and swear on my heart that you may have as much as you want." Ibara slides one hand under Jun's jaw, his nails pricking his skin, and tugs it back. His thumb brushes Jun's lips but never breaches into his dry mouth, where he can taste nothing at all.
Silken hair brushes Jun's chest as Nagisa lowers his head to bite down on his throat.
The breath stutters out of Jun's lungs, the sheer ache and pressure against his windpipe causing him to feel as though he is choking. As Nagisa's teeth sink deeper and deeper, surely enough to kill him, it seems as though he was never breathing at all. And perhaps that truly is the case, for though his chest does not rise nor fall and he still cannot feel his heartbeat, Jun is still alive.
With a heavy, trembling exhale, Nagisa chews, then swallows, and presses his fingers against the newly formed swell of his neck, as though following the path of his saccharine bite. Nectar spills from Jun's open throat, trickling down to his sternum and lower still, yet Nagisa does not stop. Every bite he takes is bigger than the next, rushed and desperate compared to Hiyori's languid tasting, as though fearing Jun will wither before Nagisa is full.
When it all finally, painfully ends, the reprieve of cool air against Jun's rent flesh is stranger than the ruthless bites were. Nagisa draws back with the evidence of his satisfaction swelling against his throat, his movements sluggish as though drunk on the sweetness that he drained from Jun.
With a satisfied little exhale, Ibara surges forward to twine around Nagisa, casually wrapping a hand around Hiyori's wrist to tug him closer as well. "See?" He says, his voice more sombre than expected. "I told you it would taste better beyond your wildest imagination. And now that you have eaten something so delicious and nourishing, you will know only the greatest joy."
"I know no greater joy than spending every day with my Nagisa," Hiyori scoffs, "so we shall see about that."
"You trusted me once, Your Highness, Your Excellency; I humbly request that you trust me once again." Ibara leans in to face one of them, then the other, close enough that he must surely be able to scent the remnants of their meal. "Until we meet again, though I expect by then you will be perfectly content."
Ibara does not offer Jun another glance as he walks away, though he presses his lips to Nagisa's then Hiyori's in stilted attempts at kisses. So Jun is left to combat the darkness creeping at the edges of his vision, of the searing sensation that has spread from his wrist and throat to every part of him. All he can do is watch as Hiyori and Nagisa flutter away from the altar, licking their fingers clean, then pluck leaves from nearby bushes to cover themselves with.
He knows nothing, can do nothing about that, but still Jun pleads for them to stop. They were doomed the moment they allowed themselves to grow near him, let alone eat of him. Jun had no part in their actions, yet he knows this is all his fault.
Hiyori drapes vines around Nagisa's lower hips. They bask in each others' presence for a while, fingers entwined with leaves, when Nagisa suddenly glances into the distance. Jun fights against whatever is binding him, the hollow of his throat gaping open to scream where his mouth cannot —
Fresh fruit and powdered sugar flood Jun's senses as he sits up. His lovers look over from where they're crowded around the hotel suite's fancy marble dining table, four plates of food crowded on top. "Finally!" Hiyori says. "Of course you'll wake up for food, I thought you'd sleep until midday."
"Little wonder why." Nagisa crouches down slightly to observe the photos Hiyori must be taking, his hair a tangled mess down his back. "You were hardly awake when we bathed last night, I quite felt like I was carrying a rag doll in and out of the shower."
Jun clears his throat, finding it still hoarse. "What time is it?"
"Ten in the morning, though we don't have to check out in another five hours." Ibara crosses the suite to press a mug of water into Jun's hands. But when Jun huddles deeper into his blanket, too worn out to even lift the mug, he purses his lips and tips the water into his mouth instead. "No more idle chattering or yelling over video games today, I think, or your vocal cords will be out of commission for the rest of the week."
"And I wonder whose fault that is," Jun mutters between sips.
Ibara huffs. "As if you haven't wreaked plenty of damage of your own." As he says this, he runs his fingers over the bite marks on his thighs, visible despite his shorts. Ibara is the only one out of the four of them who's dressed, so Jun can feel his cheeks flush as he surveys the other two's naked forms. He recognises the shape of his teeth along Hiyori's collarbone, the bruises he must have left on Nagisa's forearms as he clutched onto him. Most of the bite marks he left on Ibara must have been hidden by his clothes.
Nagisa picks up one of the plates and carries it towards the bed. "Come on, you'll need some breakfast if you want to gain the energy to join us."
Jun is about to protest, but he really feels melted against the sheets. Nagisa sits on the side of the bed and spears a piece of fluffy souffle pancake, topped with whipped cream and tiny slices of strawberry. Warm all over, Jun lets himself be fed, letting out an incoherent noise when Nagisa leans close to lick away a drop of whipped cream at the corner of his mouth. The food goes down easily, light and sweet with a hint of freshness.
As he's fed another forkful, Hiyori approaches with a plate of his own. "It was such fine weather that I found a branch of my favourite souffle pancake cafe nearby, so we simply had to get some for breakfast. Ibara hemmed and hawed over it, of course, but he stopped complaining after he tried some of the pancakes for himself."
"They're very novel; I can see why Hiyori speaks of them so highly when I hear that pancakes are typically easy to cook at home." Nagisa tilts his head when Hiyori leans in to steal the next bite off his fork with a cheerful hum.
"I could eat these with every meal if I was allowed," Hiyori sighs. "Try some of these, too."
It takes a lot of willpower for Jun not to point out the bits of strawberry juice stuck to the corner of Hiyori's mouth. Instead, he sits up a little straighter in bed and asks, "what kind of pancake is that?"
"It's a limited edition autumn flavour, so of course I had to order it!" Hiyori lowers the plate to show three pancakes, one of them half-eaten, partially covered with slices of honey-drizzled apple and dusted with cinnamon. "Here, I'll cut the apples into smaller slices for you, or you'll look silly trying to take such big bites."
Each wedge glossy with bloodred skin and snowy flesh, somehow Jun doesn't have the appetite for the apples, even though his stomach growls. "I'll pass."
Hiyori pouts. "But Jun, you probably won't get another chance to try this! And I was so nice to fetch you breakfast in bed, too, how rude — "
"Perhaps Jun would prefer the strawberry pancakes?" Nagisa suggests mildly. "They do include his favourite fruit, after all."
"That would be nice." Jun scrunches up his face at the indignant, honey-sticky kiss that Hiyori plants on his cheek. He follows it with a gentle bite, like a punishment for refusing his dessert. "Thank you, Nagi."
"I suppose it's alright if you'd rather have Nagisa feed you." Hiyori kisses him again, this time on the jaw, then turns around. "Viper, you ought to appreciate these, then!"
Surprisingly, Ibara doesn't reply with some obnoxiously corporate non-statement — under Nagisa's instruction, Jun suspects. "I'll only have the apples, please, and a very small amount of the other kinds of pancake. And don't try to feed them to me."
"Of course you only want the best parts. More for me, I suppose."
While Jun drinks from the mug that Ibara left on the nightstand, Nagisa uses the same fork he fed Jun with to eat some of the pancakes himself. "Are you feeling more awake now?" He asks in between bites.
"Still kind of feel like I was used as a chew toy, but I'll live."
"'Feels like I was used as a chew toy', says the person who bit me the most last night." Ibara yanks his shirt up, and Jun chokes on the next bite of food at the sight of his teeth marks all over the other's waist and shoulders. "Good thing it's no longer summer, or I would be sweltering with the effort of covering all this."
Nagisa slips the last pieces of strawberry into Jun's mouth before approaching Ibara. "He was careful not to bite you anywhere visible, and you quite enjoyed it, did you not?"
Ibara nods grudgingly, shooting a glare when Jun lets a snicker slip out. "Eat your pancakes."
"Ran out."
"We have two more plates — we really could've shared one, but His Highness insisted on ordering enough to feed a small village." Ibara snatches a plate, this one drizzled with chocolate syrup, and marches towards the bed.
The overwhelming sweetness chases away the last of Jun's aches, and he sticks an arm out the sheets to grab the fork himself. A shock of cool air grazes the inside of his wrist. Jun ignores it.
Once he's eaten, Ibara tugs the sheets off him and helps him out of bed. un's still weak-limbed and groggy, but at least he no longer feels like he has a gaping void in place of a stomach. He sits down in between Nagisa and Hiyori, turning away from the reflection when it shows his bruised, soft-eyed state. His neck twinges when he moves his head.
Hiyori holds out a plate, his lips glistening with maple syrup. Jun resists the urge to kiss them clean. "Come on, have more pancakes. I can even feed them to you, if you liked Nagisa doing that so much."
"You're feeling generous today."
"Only because it would be gluttonous if I ate too much!" Hiyori replies, sticking his nose in the air. "On the other hand, you'll probably hit the gym and burn off all the calories you've gained in an hour." At least he doesn't try to feed Jun any apples again, simply holding out a forkful of plain pancake until Jun leans forward to eat.
He chokes on the sweetness at the brush of a hand against the nape of his neck. Nagisa's fingers slide to Jun's front to stroke his Adam's apple, at the red bite mark that will take a pound of concealer to hide. "Truth be told, I was quite concerned when you were still asleep long after the rest of us had woken up." Nagisa traces the curved indentations the teeth left. "But you rested well, I hope?"
It's not uncommon for Jun to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep after their nights together, usually too worn out to think of anything else. But last night felt different somehow, his bruises aching more than usual even if they weren't any rougher than usual, and waking up felt like he was doused in a bucket of cold water.
After another beat of silence, Ibara says, "perhaps His Highness was hogging the blankets a little too much."
"Excuse me, Jun was very comfortable in our bed! I think he had nightmares."
"I don't remember getting into bed, let alone what I was dreaming about." Jun leans back when Nagisa tugs, letting himself relax against his lover's torso. "It doesn't matter, anyway. Pass the pancakes."
Hiyori preens, cutting off another piece. "I knew you'd come to appreciate them."
Sunlight shines into the room from a tiny crack in the curtains, leaves blurring from outside the window. The room will start to feel claustrophobic in a while, once Hiyori's talked enough to take up all the air in here, and Jun is acutely aware that he's eating most of the remaining food. Still, as Ibara "casually" places a hand on his shoulder and Hiyori chases the next sugary bite with a kiss, all he can think about is that he doesn't have to go hungry while the others feast.