Title: Black Ink

Author: Eleanor K.

Fandom: Demon Diary

Pairing: Raenef V/Eclipse

Rating: NC-17

Spoilers: Through volume 7

For Sffan, who provided the following line as a starting point:
"My lord, could you let go?"

..___..

Five years is a long time. It never used to be. A decade was something that happened while the previous Lord Raenef was mastering a new incantation; a century slid by like melting snow.

Eclipse sits on the edge of the boy's bed and realizes it's time to stop thinking of him as 'the boy.' He's twenty years old, a man in human terms, if still terribly young for a demon lord. He has grown into his gangly limbs and grown out his hair so it stretches in waves across the pillow.

He's learned almost everything Eclipse can teach him. He doesn't need to be watched over in the night anymore.

Eclipse watches anyway. Like so much else, it's become habit. Like cooking real food because the boy, when he first came here, could take no nourishment from conjurations that might taste and smell like roast chicken or freshly baked bread, but were really only magical energies taking their form.

He cut up carrots and thought about the great wars, about slicing through living flesh, about the blood and the screams, and about the fierce joy he had taken in performing his duty. And the thought came, Master Raenef would never order me to do such a thing. He couldn't tell whether he felt regret or relief for that, but he was glad his lord didn't know what he had done.

He cooked and he cleaned, since he was making a mess with only his two hands and a small kitchen knife and it seemed foolish to use magic to clean up, and he filled their days with books and lessons.

Once Lord Raenef's memory came back, he was eager to learn and as good a student as Eclipse had ever taught. He swallowed the library whole--once Eclipse had determined there were no more sentient books in it--and talked nonstop at dinner about magical theory, the mating habits of spiders, the jungles and deserts to the south and how they might visit them some day.

These past few days Raenef has been reading history, and Eclipse supposes that's why he's here tonight, as he has not been in weeks. There are some quite detailed accounts of the Hangma Wars in those books, many of them with illustrations.

He touches the boy's--his master's hair and sighs. Things always change. Odd, then, that the past five millennia seem so much the same and the past five years so very different. Painted in brighter colors, or perhaps only highlighted by the possibility of destruction--his own or his master's.

Trust, devotion; these are things no demon has any business feeling, and yet. And still. Here he is, watching his master sleep, hoping that when the boy gets a little further in his reading, he won't be too horrified by what his servant has done.

He stands to go and finds himself yanked back down by a tight grip on his hair. He sits again, smiling just a little. Not the first time it's happened, but the first time in three years. He turns to see about working himself loose--and meets his master's open eyes.

Clear blue, startlingly awake and conscious. Eclipse swallows. He feels a change coming.

"My lord, could you let go?" he asks.

"Did I tell you what I read today, Eclipse?"

"No, you did not."

"The histories are interesting, but they don't explain much."

"What do you wish to have explained?"

"I don't understand why the demon lords hated humans so much. I understand they hated us because we killed them, but we started it."

"I suppose it is in the nature of demons."

"Demon lords. Demons follow the orders of their masters."

"That does not exonerate them." Eclipse pauses. "Us," he says. "It does not exonerate us."

The boy lies back against the pillow, tugging Eclipse's hair so must move closer.

"I decided it's okay that you're my servant instead of just my friend. That way no one can make you do stuff like that again."

Eclipse can't meet his eyes when he says it, but he does say it. "I...did not protest at the time, my lord."

"Would you enjoy it now?"

Eclipse shakes his head wordlessly, glad beyond telling that it's true.

"Then it's good you don't have to. Right?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Eclipse?"

"My lord?"

Another gentle tug on his hair. "Stay with me tonight."

It's almost a question. Almost, but not quite. If it's not a question, then it must be an order. Eclipse folds his legs up onto the bed and lets his breath sigh out as he lies down. If it's an order, then he's not required to explain why this is a bad idea--and that's a relief, because right now he can't remember.

Raenef curls up behind him, arm over his waist, chest against his back, thighs against his. He radiates warmth.

Eclipse didn't even know he was cold until now.

Raenef's hand is still wrapped in his hair, clutching tight, moon-pale against midnight black. Gold hair spills over Eclipse's shoulder, mixing with his own, smelling faintly of roses.

"My lord... What...?"

"I don't know, Eclipse." Raenef sounds as young as his years. "I'm sorry. I should know what I'm doing...but... Do I have to? Do I have to know tonight?"

This is when Eclipse should say yes, tell him all the reasons why they shouldn't-- Why they should stop here. All the reasons he can't think of right now.

"No," he says, and takes Raenef's hand. "We can talk in the morning."

A shift of the body behind him, a light kiss on the back of his neck. "Thank you."

Maybe he can't think of the reasons because there aren't any.

***

Raenef wakes up with black hair draped over his chest, silky and thick enough to keep him warm even though Eclipse has stolen all the blankets. He smiles at his friend--always his friend when he thinks of him, never his servant. It is surreal to think of Eclipse serving anyone. Oh yes, he *says* "my lord" and "master," but he doesn't mean it.

Well. He does mean it. Raenef knows that. But he's awfully used to Eclipse telling him what to do. It was a shock when Eclipse just curled up beside him last night without arguing.

Eclipse's head moves a little on his chest, a sleepy sound coming from slightly parted lips. Raenef lifts a wisp of dark hair off Eclipse's face and touches his mouth. It's smooth, warm and damp from his breath.

Long-nailed fingers close around his wrist, and Eclipse's eyes snap open. He stares at Raenef for a few long seconds before releasing him.

"Apologies, my lord. I do not take well to sudden wakings."

"I... I hope you'll get used to it," Raenef says hesitantly. "Waking up with me."

He's probably imagining the palest dawn touch of pink on Eclipse's cheeks.

Eclipse smiles at him, the softness in his eyes warming his words. "I have found over the years that it is possible to grow accustomed to almost anything. No matter how...unexpected."

Still no protest, no sign of hesitancy, and that gives Raenef the courage to kiss him. It's sweet, yielding on Eclipse's part, almost delirious on his own. His tongue touches Eclipse's lips and licks along the seam until they part. He hears Eclipse moan, a faint yearning sound, breathed into his mouth as their tongues meet for the first time.

He pulls back to see Eclipse's face. Dark eyes closed, tongue sweeping across his bottom lip.

"I would never command you to do this," Raenef whispers.

"It is your right to command me in all things." Eclipse doesn't open his eyes as he speaks.

"Then I command you to tell me if I ever tell you to do something you don't want to do." He thinks that's the first real order he's ever given Eclipse, and it feels...not as wrong as he expected it to feel.

Eclipse opens his eyes. "I will certainly do so, should that unlikely occasion ever arise, my lord."

"Okay. Good."

Raenef stops and chews on his lip, unsure what should come next. He's put so much thought into this--almost a solid year of thought, since he found those engravings stuffed out of the way on a top shelf and realized that girls weren't his only option and maybe what he wanted *wasn't* some kind of unnatural perversion--not for a demon lord anyway; he still wants to ask Chris about what humans do, but Chris got all twitchy and red in the face last time he brought the subject up, so that has to wait and anyway, maybe it doesn't matter--

He stops thinking because Eclipse is kissing him. Slow, wet, thorough, hands slipping into his hair to cup his skull, long nails scratching lightly on his scalp. Raenef puts his arms around him and holds on tight. Eclipse rolls toward him, pushing him onto his back, and the cloak he still wears tangles around them both.

Eclipse leaves his mouth slowly, lingering for small nibbles and licks along his bottom lip until it's slick and swollen. He stares up into dark eyes.

All he can think of to say is, "Um..."

Eclipse smiles at him and rises from the bed. This time when Raenef catches his hair to stop him, he pulls it gently free.

"Wait," Raenef says, feeling suddenly desperate.

"I have duties to attend to," Eclipse says. "And we have time, my lord. All the time there is."

"I don't need time."

"It unwise to rush into--"

"Then I want to be unwise! Come back here." He bites his lip. "I don't want to order you to...you know. But I do want it."

Eclipse studies him, faint frown pulling his eyebrows together. "You are sure? A day or two more--"

"And I might die of frustration," he says, shifting towards the edge of the bed.

Eclipse sits beside him. "You are very young," he says.

"I'll always be young to you."

"Maybe so."

He sits up, and Eclipse kisses him lightly.

"I don't need a few more days, really. I promise."

***

*Perhaps I am the one who needs to wait.*

It's on the tip of Eclipse's tongue, but he doesn't say it.

Instead he kisses his master again, feeling how the body in his arms sways towards him. A slim hand between his legs makes him gasp and break away.

"I'm not a child anymore," Raenef says. "Do you want me to prove it?"

Eclipse nods, lets Raenef push him back onto the bed, shivers at the feel of hands undoing his pants.

His lord is blushing hard as he pulls Eclipse's pants down and his own nightshirt up, kneeling across his body, straddling his waist. They both gasp at the touch of skin on skin, and Eclipse can't wait any longer.

He takes them both in his hand, hidden by the white cotton of the nightshirt, and pumps. Slowly at first, faster as Raenef's hips jerk toward him, Raenef's cock hard and twitching in his hand, fluid leaking down to slick his fingers.

His hand moves more easily, more quickly, and he can't look away from Raenef's face. Eyes screwed shut, bottom lip caught between his teeth, flushed and panting. Eclipse doesn't expect him to last, and he doesn't. The surprise is that Eclipse comes so soon as well, feeling sticky heat on his hand, hearing his master's low groan.

It blinds him for a second, more intense than he'd thought something so simple could be. It's a minute or so before he can collect himself enough to breathe evenly and get his eyes open.

Raenef is stroking his hair, looking concerned. Still sitting atop him, nightshirt billowing out around him, looking absurdly young...except for his eyes.

"Are you okay?" his master asks him.

Eclipse smiles. "I am as well as I can remember being. And you?"

Raenef leans down and hugs him fiercely. "I'm perfect. Everything's perfect." A low growl from Raenef's stomach ruins the dramatic effect. "Perfect and hungry," he amends.

"I should prepare breakfast," Eclipse says, though he's not sure he can bring himself to move yet.

Raenef is out of bed in a moment, grinning and throwing on his clothes from yesterday.

"Breakfast in bed? I'll probably burn stuff, but you won't be mad, right?"

"I will not be mad."

"Because--" Raenef falters. "Because you love me?"

"Because I love you."

Raenef's joy is almost blinding. He shines with it.

Eclipse watches him hurry to the door and pause, turning back.

"I love you too, you know."

His smile feels too large for his face, too open, too happy, and far too young.

"I know."

-------
..end..