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The clicks of the staff hitting the smooth floor of the palace echoed harshly in the darkness. The shuffle of his clothes was deafening to Moses' ears. The stale summer air blew slowly into the hall.
"Rameses?" Moses' voice rebounded off the walls into the empty space.
He looked to the statue of Anubis where his brother usually brooded, when he used to ponder guiltily whenever the Pharaoh reprimanded Rameses.
"Rameses?" He repeated softly.
"Oh. Let me guess." He paused to sip at what remained in his wine goblet. "You want me to... let your people go." He gestured his hand in a dismissive manner.
"I hoped I would find you here." Moses admitted quietly.
"Get out!" Rameses flung the cup towards him, shattering on the floor.
This was not going to end well. "Rameses, we must bring this to an end." His brother remained stonily silent.
"Rameses, please, talk to me." Rameses could have been carved from the same marble of the statue. "We could always talk here.”
Moses sighed and turned to take in the rest of the chamber.
"This place. So many memories."
A lifetime ago.
"I remember the time you switched the heads of the gods of the temple of Ra."
A giggling 12 year old with lopsided grin and a wig to match, watching as his older brother nearly toppled from the makeshift ladder, burdened with a head from one of the many temple statues.
The ladder, a repurposed tool basket, trembled violently with the added weight of the bust, and Rameses shrieked as he began to topple forward.
"If I recall correctly, you were there switching heads right along with me." Rameses called out grudgingly, leaning into the moonbeam to illuminate his expression.
God, he really hadn't changed. Moses' heart beat rapidly in his chest.
Rameses landed with a thump, his fall cushioned rather than the harsh unforgiving floor of the temple. He opened his eyes to see his brother wheezing underneath him, Moses smirking up at him when he met his eyes. "I've got you."
"No, it was you. I didn't do that." He had merely watched, hadn't he?
Rameses smiled and pushed up, struggling back to his feet with his prize. He held out a hand for Moses to help him amble to his feet. For being winded, Moses was racing around mere moments later, finding a sturdier crate to use.
Rameses hopped down from his perch to approach Moses. "Oh, yes, you did. You put the hippo on the crocodile, and the crocodile-"
Ramses grinned up at Moses as he finished placing the head on the last statue. Seeing his brother smile made his chest tighten with happiness and his heart skip as if he had run the length of the nile.
"- on the falcon." Moses remembered with a mischievous sensation of glee. "Yes!"
The two boys hid behind the farthest pillar as the priest entered his place of worship. Their view was completely unimpeded as the priest began to panic, clutching at his robes as the large man huffed and bounced on his way to the palace. The two boys collapsed, rolling on the ground as peals of laughter followed the running priest.
"The priest thought it was a horrible omen and fasted for two months. Father was furious. You were always getting me into trouble." Ramses growled, hands twining in the flaps of his headdress.
A loud, clipped voice sharply raining down on Rameses' bowed head. The sound of furious pacing echoing behind the ocean of reprimands that Father was unleashing on Moses' brother. At first Moses was afraid to come out of his hiding place behind the door.
"But then-" Rameses conceded, chuckling fondly. "You were always there to…”
As Moses heard the tell-tale sniffs of Rameses slowly breaking his mask of calm indifference, Moses ran out to take his hand, standing before the Pharaoh and gasping out the story of the dare to switch the heads. His hand shook as he finished his tale, but when his fingers were squeezed by the hand he was holding, Moses looked to see Rameses smiling softly, tears drying on his face. Moses would give all he ever could to keep a smile on his brother's face.
“...get me out of trouble again."
Moses looked deep into his brother's eyes, seeing remnants of the same memory fading away. The warmth and fondness remained, and his chest ached at all the words he could not say, all the feelings he still felt that he could not tell.
Oh God, what had he done to have been put in such a place to feel this yearning and never let it be known?
Rameses gripped Moses by the shoulder, a familiar habit of the two brothers. The heat of his hand no longer seemed to burn, but to tingle like a thousand pinpricks of light.
Was he no longer Rameses' brother? Did it finally pardon these feelings?
"Why can't things be the way they were before?"
Oh Rameses, Moses thought, because before was the torment of stares without words, the feeling of sharing a bed without touching and sharing their hearts without closing their eyes. The feeling of Moses being whole and torn apart at the same time, close and distant at the same moment.
Torment and heaven at the same time.
Moses lay his hand on Rameses' and closed his eyes, heaving a sigh.
A moment passed, and the fingers underneath moved, brushing along until their fingers intertwined, gripping too harshly but not nearly hard enough.
His eyes flew open, only to see Rameses a breath away, his gaze flicking back and forth to stare into Moses' eyes.
He hardly dared to breathe.
Rameses smiled softly. Moses had to drag his eyes from his lips to stare into his eyes once more.
Rameses lifted his hand, gripping Moses by the nape of his neck, rubbing slow, soothing circles into his skin. Moses' eyes fluttered shut as the fingers roamed, sliding over skin and finally, ages passing, resting on his cheek.
When he opened his eyes, Rameses leaned in and whispered, "Tell me I'm wrong."
Moses had never been more glad to stay silent.
Soft, plush lips brushed his own, and his eyes rolled shut once more, lost in the sensation of the pull and drag of Rameses' mouth.
The Pharaoh's hand tilted his head, and the kiss quickly deepened, tongue brushing across Moses' lips and dipping further to swipe along his own.
He gasped and Rameses groaned and clutched fiercely to Moses as they stumbled back. The staff clattered to the ground with a resounding slap as the two men finally fell against the carving of Anubis.
Moses’ hands were everywhere. He couldn’t settle them in any one place, not with so much soft, warm skin to touch. To feel Rameses beneath his searching fingers was familiar and foreign to him all at once. He’d forgotten the sensation of walking about in nothing but a shendyt, soaking up the sun, feeling the cool breeze of winter nights on his skin, enjoying the silk sheets of his bedchambers.
Rameses seemed to be struggling with all the layers Moses now wore, swearing softly under his breath as he searched through the folds for an opening. Moses laughed gently and took pity, sliding off his robe and stripping down to one layer of soft cloth, modestly covering him from Pharaoh’s eyes.
Rameses hummed happily into the next kiss, gripping Moses by his ass pulling himself closer to him, grinding Moses against the statue. Moses groaned as Rameses shifted a thigh between his legs, and Moses couldn’t help slowly thrusting his hips when Rameses began nipping across his jaw and down his throat. He paused to suck a large bruise into the soft throat, pulling another moan from the Hebrew beneath him.
When Moses gripped Rameses by the back and ass, Rameses gripped Moses’ hair in one fist and slid the other hand underneath his only garment, stroking his hard length slowly and firmly. His grip on Moses’ hair became one of support as his head suddenly lolled backward, Moses moaning and breaking away from another kiss to gasp out, “Rameses”.
His grip tightened, ripping more sounds from Moses’ throat as his hips bucked uncontrollably.
“R- Ram..” Moses couldn’t catch his breath, the urge of climax rushing forward, higher than he’d ever felt before. He clutched at Pharaoh’s shoulders fiercely, nails clawing into muscle.
Rameses groaned appreciatively, hand moving more quickly, and bit down on the sensitive part of Moses’ neck. “Come for me, Prince. You know not how long I have waited.”
With a shudder, Moses came, shooting over Pharaoh’s hand and his own cover. He struggled to catch his breath, knees finally giving out. He would be on the floor if Rameses had not caught him fast, holding him against the broad chest until he regained his footing.
As he moved, he felt Rameses’ hardness against his middle and looked into his eyes with lids half-closed. He wrapped his arms around the proud neck, the headdress falling to the side without a care.
As he kissed Pharaoh, Rameses wrapped his arms under Moses for support and hefted him up.
Moses had forgotten how strong Rameses had been, fighting, training, and running for sport and fun. His legs wrapped instinctively around Pharaoh’s waist, locking his ankles together to help support his weight.
“Gods, I’ve wanted this.” Rameses admitted as he settled Moses against the wall, rocking his hips forward with the new leverage the angle provided.
Moses moaned, his oversensitive cock rubbing through the layers of clothing with every luxurious thrust of Pharaoh’s hips. “Yes, oh yes…”
Rameses gasped as he sped up, grip tightening on Moses' hips and moaning as he neared completion.
"Yes, Rameses. My light, my dark, my Morning and Evening Star... come for me." Moses suckled Pharaoh's ear lobe and raked his nails down the ruler's back, angry red marks left behind in streaks.
Rameses' hips stuttered helplessly as his vision whited out. He crowded Moses against the statue to hold them both upright until his knees began to work again. The two men concentrated on catching their breath, nuzzling into warm, damp skin and kissing wherever their lips landed.
Rameses' thighs held Moses up, his legs still wrapped around the other's waist. When Moses finally caught his breath, he wrapped his arms around his lover's shoulders, moving to put his feet down. When Rameses began to shuffle back, Moses hung on, tightening his grip until the older man stopped trying to escape.
"Rameses." He refused to look up, to meet Moses' eyes.
"I can't..." The Egyptian breathed into the Hebrew's shoulder. " I can't do this."
Moses' heart plunged into his stomach as his blood ran cold. "What do you mean?"
"This... this thing between us. It... I can't..."
Moses' mouth moved wordlessly as he stepped back, his hands falling to his sides. Had he destroyed the one chance he had come for? The one opportunity to take the chance he had been too cowardly to take years ago? "You asked me if you were wrong. You weren't. I've felt that way since our youth. If you regret this now, tell me. You will never have to lay eyes on me again." His tears finally spilled, falling down his cheeks. "But if... if you can find it in your heart to try, just to tr-" His voice cracked and he turned, swiping at his eyes.
He never expected arms to circle around his waist, tugging him tightly to the warm body behind him.
"Wait, wait, wait, just... wait..." Rameses said, sounding winded as his chest rose and fell rapidly.
Moses waited and waited, barely breathing.
"I should have been more clear. Please forgive me for that. Please turn around, I wish to see your face."
He turned, wiping his face. Pharaoh held his hand and pulled it to lay against his face. "I shouldn't have paused. I didn't realize your feelings matched mine fully." Moses felt his stomach flutter as Rameses' fingers massaged his knuckles. "When I said I can't do this, all I could imagine was when you ran, all that time ago, when you had guilt and anger and sorrow in your heart, when you left me with a broken heart, thinking I'd just lost my brother, then thinking I'd lost the one closest to my heart. You had left, left me..." His face contorted with devastation.
"Oh, Rameses..." His hand moved to stroke Rameses' face.
"Oh, and when you say my name like that..." Rameses sighed, smiling and pulling Moses in with his captured hand. "I thought you would leave me again. After all this, after this campaign on your God's behalf... I don't think I can handle losing you again." He gazed down at the younger, Rameses waiting for his reply with bated breath.
"Rameses, after all these years of thinking I'd never see you again, I was hoping that this would be the chance, the one opportunity to finally reach you, to finally confess..." Rameses looked utterly shocked. "I love you, beyond words and beyond time. I've loved you since childhood, before I realized that we were not related by blood. When I did find out, my mind was too clouded by anything other than betrayal to think of us. But once I laid eyes on you again, I couldn't breathe for how much I felt it."
"Oh gods, say that again." Pharaoh's hands carded through Moses' hair.
"I love you."
"Yes."
"You love me." A statement asked as a question.
"Gods, do I love you." He pulled Moses to kiss him firmly, then less firmly, pecking at his lips and resting their foreheads together.
Moses chuckled. "Then I believe we both finally have reason to breath easily again."
Rameses laughed. Moses reveled in the sound, missing it after all these years. "What will happen now that this has occurred?"
"Will you let them go?"
"Yes."
"Then Aaron will lead them to their promised land."
"But what about you? What about your promised land?"
"I've found mine. Here. With you."
Rameses looked deliriously blissful, his hands tightening their grips in his hair.
"Then I think we can take this conversation upstairs, don't you?"
Rameses pulled him in for another kiss.
Moses' heart soared as Rameses led the way to the Pharaoh's chambers, Moses' feet following him on the route he knew by heart, even after all these years. "Come on, then. Come morning, the Morning and Evening star will be too tired to move, let alone talk."
"Oh, gods, don't make promises you can't keep." Rameses groaned as they reached the heavy doors. Moses grinned and grabbed his lover around the neck, craning up to nip at his ear.
"I don't intend to." Moses said with a smile as the door slid shut.