rivers_bend

I woke up yesterday from a dream that needed to become a fic. tigertrapped agreed. So I wrote it. Set after Sand in the story of Max and Julian.

adult rated for blood!kink and sex. 1,050 words.



The kitchen's hot, steamy, and Julian is hidden in misty shadows. His back is to the doorway, but when Max edges around the table he can see that Julian is chopping onions. There's no sting to them, the tears he expected don’t come, and he wonders if they're onions after all. Maybe the steam is damping down the smell.

'Julian,' he says, and Julian's eyes turn to him while his hands still fly over the chopping board, slice, slice, slice. Max is terrified he's going to cut his finger off.

The back door opens and the steam rushes out into the night leaving everything sharp and clean looking. Adam Carter steps out of the dark. 'Hey kid,' he says, and before Max can reply, Julian spins around and stabs his knife between Adam's ribs.

There's a hiss, like a punctured tyre, or an angry cat, and then blood. Everywhere. Gouts of it, pouring over Julian's hand and wrist, coating Adam's chest, puddling slickly on the floor, redder than anything Max has ever seen. Adam looks hurt, betrayed, but Julian looks gleeful. He turns to Max and licks his lips before pulling the knife out and slamming it in again, lower this time, into Adam's guts.

Max tries to move, to do something to help Adam but he can't get his footing. Looking down, he sees that he's ankle deep in blood, feet sliding in it, and he's filled with rage.

He shouts but doesn't know what he's saying. He doesn't even know who he's angrier at. Adam should never have come here. Now Julian's hands are stained with blood and he'll never get them clean, but Julian, how could Julian do this? Adam might have come to talk. To apologise, to make things right, and now he's bleeding, god, he's dying, oceans of blood pumping out of his wounds, and that look on his face. Begging Max for help. Pleading with Max to do something, to make Julian stop.

Finally Max is by Julian's side, fingers bruising his wrist as he tries to grab the knife. Julian releases his hold, leaving the blade half inside Adam, dripping blood onto the floor, splashing into the lake already there. Julian turns, wraps his bloodstained fist in Max's hair and kisses him, hot probing tongue that tastes of blood and makes Max hard as the steel stuck in Adam's ribs.

The counter is close beside them and Max shoves Julian into it, shoves him away, but he's following him, can't let him go. He's grinding him against the cupboards, using his pelvis as a weapon, stabbing at Julian with sharp thrusts of his hips. There's no shrinking back or cowering away, Julian's matching him, thrust for thrust. Wrapping hands around Max's waist, jerking him forward, bruising them both with his strength.

Max kisses him, can't keep his lips off Julian's mouth, bites him, hard. He draws blood, and it mixes with Adam's that's still everywhere. The combination tastes like wine. Max doesn't want it, tries to spit it out, but Julian's sucking on his tongue, panting, 'Yes.'

Wrenching away, Max tries to catch his breath, remembers Adam, tries to turn and see if there's anything to be done, or if it's too late, but Julian has his jeans open and is slicking blood onto his cock, begging now, 'Fuck me.'

He turns and faces the counter, jeans around his knees, held up only by the angle of his spread legs, arse out, hot, ready. 'Fuck me!' His fist is still on Max's cock and he jerks him forward, painfully, but then Max is fucking into him, blood-hot, hotter, friction like fire, twisting, aching need driving him.

The ache spreads, his thighs and his back strumming with it, not satisfied by the pounding Julian's arse is taking. Somehow Julian turns, still bent at the waist, fucking back onto Max's cock, but his hand is on Max's face and he's feathering cool kisses across his eyebrows, rubbing a thumb on his cheekbone, saying, 'Max… Max?'

Batting Julian's hand away, Max heaves a breath into his chest, realises that the jeans tangled around his legs aren't there, that it's a sheet, and Julian is looking at him, concerned. 'Fuck,' he breathes, and Julian smiles.

'I noticed. Want some help taking care of that?' Julian flexed his thigh, moving it against Max's hard-on.

Dawn. The bedroom at Fowey. Julian. Max took Julian's hands and looked at them. No blood. Nothing. Just that lazy smile and the subtle rocking against Max's cock. 'Fuck,' Max said again.

Julian stilled. 'Max? Are you alright?' He started to pull away, but Max put an arm around his waist, keeping him close, feeling Julian semi-stiff against his hip.

'No more champagne for a while, I think.' The nightmare was fading, and Julian was warm and sleep-soft against him, but he still felt off balance.

'So, can I…?' Julian reached a hand between them, palm folding over the head of Max's cock, squeezing it before sliding down, allowing his fingers to wrap around its length, making Max almost painfully aware of how hard he was. 'Like this?' Julian said. 'Or would you rather fuck me?'

Max groaned. 'Just… ahh…'

'I'd like you to fuck me. You don't even have to move.' Julian reached behind himself to the nightstand and wet his hand with lube, slicking Max, like he'd done in the dream.

'I don't-'

'Shh. Just let me…' With both of them still on their sides, facing each other, Julian lifted his leg around Max's waist. He tilted his hips, fist guiding Max up and in as he slid down maddeningly slowly.

There was no room to thrust, just the tilting of their hips, but it was, god, so tight and Julian was smiling down at him, his cock bumping against Max's stomach as they rocked. Adam didn't matter, Max couldn't even remember why he was thinking about him, and then he wasn't. Just this slow stroking, like fingertips touching him everywhere at once. Julian's leg holding him close, heel nudging between his legs. Julian curling in to kiss him, gasping with every shift of Max's hips.

Julian smelled of sand and the sea. He was yielding heat. There was no tang of blood, no anger, no terror. There was only this.

and yes, it does change tense in the middle.