Archive of Our Own ^beta

It starts like this:

“I know Thistle wasn't really feeding you,” Laios says one evening, “But did you ever- Have you been- Do you think- hm.”

Kabru, standing outside the study door, freezes.

He can admit -- quietly, privately, to himself and sometimes to Rin -- that he was wrong about Laios. Laios doesn’t do everything for some greedy ulterior motive, he’s not some sort of evil mastermind; no, he’s just chronically awkward, with a lack of social skills that’d make -- that has made -- even Kuro seem like a paragon of awareness. His motives all boil down to being so obsessed with monsters that, if Kabru hadn’t both met Laios' sister and witnessed him defeat the demon of the dungeons, Kabru would suspect that Laios was created by some sinister higher power purely to haunt Kabru’s nightmares and call his morality system into question. So, it’s not uncommon that he’d be asking someone -- assumedly Falin, though Kabru supposes that Thistle didn’t feed the original Golden Country’s residents very well either -- about their weird, possibly traumatic experiences. That’s normal. What’s not normal is that Laios doesn’t ever stop.

Laios had, once, asked Kabru if he could remember exactly what the beast that burst through the front wall of his home and grabbed his mother looked like, and then later ended his apology for asking with “And Marcille explained it to me so I won’t ask again… but when you’re finally ready to talk about it, let me know, because documenting the differences between monsters that spawn in different regions is actually really important! They shouldn’t have any biodiversity, they're all just made of mana and willpower, but did you know that Zon was telling me the other day that he saw a basilisk that rattled when he was exploring to the south, and-”

Anyway. The point is that Laios doesn’t know when to stop, doesn’t understand reasonable interactional rules, and possibly doesn’t even feel shame. It doesn’t make sense for him to cut himself off three times, and that’s why Kabru stays hovering outside the barely open door instead of entering to interrupt this bizarre conversation and hand Laios the correspondence that’s just arrived from the West.

There’s a questioning noise, half a hum and half a chirp, before Falin asks, “What is it? My memories of being with the dragon are a bit… spotty, but I’ll answer your question if I can.”

“I know, I know, It’s just- weird.”

In the past few months, Kabru has learned that Laios does have a boundary to what even he can view as “normal”; unfortunately, many of the boundaries he creates are far beyond what most other humans are comfortable with. For him to recognize that something he wants to ask his sister, who’s nearly as strange as him, is weird? It sets Kabru’s teeth on edge.

“Okay,” Laios says, sounding like he’s steeling himself. Kabru’s fingers tense unconsciously, wrinkling the parchment in his hands. “When you were fighting Shuro’s friends, you mostly slashed or stomped on them and then you just threw their bodies to the ground. You weren’t hunting, you were just trying to get rid of us.”

“Mhm!” Falin hums affirmatively, like this is a normal thing to be discussing.

“So, obviously, I know you didn’t there, and I bet it would’ve been difficult with your human-sized head and mouth, even though your teeth were so cool and sharp and-”

“Laios, you’re getting off-topic,” Falin interrupts, instead of letting whatever bizarre question Laios wants to ask fade from memory as he gets distracted, because she’s a Touden and they’re both like that. “What did you want to ask?”

“Just- well- I wondered,” Laios takes a deep breath and rushes out the rest, “Did you ever eat a human?”

Kabru feels every muscle in his body lock in shock as Laios continues, “I just wondered, since Marcille and Chilchuck wouldn’t even let me eat a mermaid, but it was different for you because you were a monster, and-”

And Laios goes on, talking about the differences or lack thereof between demihumans, monsters, humans, and base livestock, but Kabru isn’t listening. Kabru is hearing it’s different because you were a monster over and over in his head; Kabru is remembering that Laios was briefly a monster too; Kabru is recalling that, to save the world, Laios had to eat the Winged Lion. The Winged Lion that was in his body.

Dungeons and fucking dragons.

Falin either hasn’t followed the same trail of logic or just doesn’t care, because she says, “No, I was mostly following Thistle’s orders, you know? Protect the Castle Town, find Delgal, stay close. And, besides,” Falin clicks her tongue, and Kabru can picture her tilting her head in that distinctly avian way she has as she considers. “You’re right about the size of my head. I would’ve had to cut up a human to eat it. I could barely manage the presence of mind to gather berries, much less to properly prepare meat. Why do you ask?”

“No reason!” Laios says, voice pitched up an octave.

Before, Kabru had thought that he’d never meet someone as bad at lying and discernment as Laios was; now, unfortunately, he’s met Falin and knows that they’re shared Touden traits. Falin makes the hum-chirp noise again and says, “I’ll let you know if I get any memories from the dragon, before. We know she ate humans.”

“Haha, well!” Laios says, sounding so far from casual that it’s painful to listen to, “You don’t really have to! I was just wondering, for no reason, so it’s fine if you don’t remember! I mean, why would it matter if you did remember how human flesh tasted? What would anyone even do with that information?”

I can’t believe I agreed to put up with this all the time, Kabru thinks, but in the end he did agree, so he decides to put all of them out of their misery. He knocks on the door and quickly pushes it open, talking before he's even all the way in the room. “You know, if I had never met Fleki before, I’d think she was trying to distract us by going on for five paragraphs about a type of tree that she misses.”

“Oh, what tree?” Laios asks, questions of cannibalism forgotten.

Kabru allows the siblings to waste nearly two hours trying to decipher Fleki’s letter and plan on how they’ll acquire a leaf to send back to her before redirecting them to the actual work of running the Golden Country. He succeeds in making sure that Laios and Falin don’t revive their former conversation, but the topic sticks in Kabru’s mind, following him from the study and down to dinner, all the way until he’s lying in his bed.

He presses the heels of his hands into his eyes and resolves to just pretend it doesn’t matter until he truly forgets about it. After all, what’s the worst that could come of some bizarre Touden conversation?

Kabru’s eyes snap open.

Above him, the vague shape of the carved stonework typical of the Golden Castle. Below him, a flat, solid piece of wood. He’s stripped to his smallclothes and unrestrained but his body feels heavy, his head fuzzier than coming out of sleep can account for. He doesn’t remember moving from his comfortable bedroom to wherever here is. Kabru takes a deep breath and blinks hard, twice, to clear his vision.

It helps; some of the blurry colors around him solidify into a tapestry that he recognizes from the Castle’s dining room.

Kabru’s nose scrunches as he begins to piece it together. I’m on the table?

It brings him a small bit of comfort to figure out part of the mystery, and it bolsters him to focus more and try to remember what’s happening, which is when he realizes what woke him up in the first place: pressure, warm and wet, around his fingers.

He looks down and-

“Laios?”

“Oh, hey,” Laios says, around Kabru’s index and middle fingers, looking back at Kabru with his eyelids almost sleepily half-lowered. He’s sitting in a chair beside the table, casually leaning his head against his hand, looking much like he does every day except for how his thin lips rest just above Kabru’s final knuckle. “What’s up?”

“You have my fingers in your mouth.”

It’s not a question but Laios hums in the affirmative anyway. The noise vibrates through Kabru’s hand, up his arm, and into his chest, which tightens almost painfully.

“Can I ask what,” Kabru cuts himself off; his voice comes out strained and unsure. He clears his throat and tries again. “Why are my fingers in your mouth?”

Laios’ eyes light up and he starts talking, a characteristically enthusiastic ramble about something bizarre, muffled by Kabru’s fingers. If Kabru focused, he’d probably be able to decipher the speech, but all of Kabru’s attention has been diverted; to the surprisingly rough drag of Laios’ tongue over the pads of his fingers as he speaks, to the sharpness of Laios’ teeth as they catch on the callouses on Kabru’s palm, to the drool Kabru can feel pooling up in Laios’ mouth. When Laios pauses to swallow around the intrusion, Kabru feels something in his gut twist.

It takes him an embarrassing amount of time to realize Laios has stopped talking and is looking at him expectantly, waiting for a reaction or response. Kabru, caught out, tries the first excuse he can think of.

“I can’t understand a word you’re saying.” It’s an exaggeration but Kabru hopes that it’ll get Laios off so Kabru can think for a second.

Laios makes a considering noise, then nods. “Sorry, it’s rude to talk with your mouth full, huh?”

And then he bites.

It happens so quickly that Kabru doesn’t even feel it, can’t even react beyond a short, shocked yelp. One moment Laios was still and the next he’s severed Kabru’s fingers as easily as crunching into a stalk of celery.

He chews a few times -- far fewer than Kabru would expect given fingers, but he knows the sound of snapping bone well enough to recognize that Laios is properly breaking them down. Kabru feels strangely detached as he watches Laios tenderly lick at the stumps he’s left behind, the bright red watered down to pinkness as it mingles with Laios’ saliva. When he’s done Laios lifts a hand to wipe the blood -- Kabru’s blood -- from his chin.

“Did you know that some monsters have hemostatic saliva? They can stop their prey’s bleeding with each bite,” Laios says mildly, like he didn’t just remove the first two fingers of Kabru’s dominant hand. His leg bounces idly as he continues, looking down at Kabru’s hand curiously. “I didn’t really get it at first, I mean wouldn’t a monster want their prey to bleed out? It’s a lot harder to fight when you’re losing blood.”

Kabru knows this; some of his earliest deaths in the dungeon came from underestimating how badly a wound was bleeding, over-extending himself in ways that would’ve been fine if he’d been working at full capacity and not leaking life across the stonework with every breath.

“I figured it out, though,” Laios says as his eyes snap back to Kabru’s. He flips over Kabru’s hand, palm to the ceiling, and presses his mouth to Kabru’s pulsepoint. “I realized meat tastes so much better when its heart is still beating.”

Like it was waiting for a cue, Kabru’s heart jolts into high speed, beating hard enough that Laios must be able to feel it against his lips. Kabru’s panic seems to amuse him and when he smiles, Kabru notices that his canines are much larger, sharper, than he remembers them being. “What-”

“I’m so hungry all the time,” Laios says, voice pitching into the same whine he uses when Senshi tells him that he shouldn’t have another plate of food. “I just wanted a little taste but you’re delicious. You won’t mind if I have some more, will you?”

“Wait,” Kabru objects, not that Laios is paying attention as he begins licking up Kabru’s arm, occasionally nipping before soothing the spots with his tongue. “You can’t- you’ll kill me!”

Laios huffs a laugh and levers himself out of the chair. He climbs onto the table and settles between Kabru’s thighs. “Of course I won't, I just said it’s better when you’re alive. And, besides, I can heal you.”

His left hand begins to glow and Kabru feels the bites Laios left on his arm close up with a tingle. Laios grins triumphantly. “See? I wouldn't let anything happen to you.”

“Anything but eating me.”

Laios pouts. “You said you'd do anything to help me. You're such a good advisor, Kabru, I’d trust you with anything. I trust you with this. You'll help me, won't you?”

Laios pulls a boning knife from his belt and drags it down the center of Kabru’s chest, down to his stomach, and back up again. Kabru's muscles clench at the feel of the cool, sharp metal.

“I-” He stutters along with his heartbeat as Laios starts to push the knife with intent.

“Did you know, there's variation in the taste of human flesh? I haven't figured out why yet, but the further from a monster someone is, the better they taste to me.” The knife, edge now wet with Kabru's blood, stops moving as Laios laughs. “Isn't that funny? After everything I've wanted in life, it's the opposite that makes me happy now. I wonder if it's part of the Lion's curse.”

“Usually I would find this analysis fascinating,” Kabru lies, “But surely we could have it without a knife at my heart.

“Oh, sure! I just wanted to make sure you knew why I chose you. I like humans, Kabru.” Laios takes the knife off and licks it, eyes fluttering shut in delight. “And you're so human.”

“What does that-” Kabru cuts himself off as Laios plunges the knife right above his diaphragm, his scream echoing off the stonework until it's nothing more than a wavering whine.

“It means you're perfect,” Laios says as he cuts into Kabru's chest and swallows it like braised pork belly. “I’ve never had anything so delicious”

“Somehow,” Kabru gasps, breath coming quick and- terrified, definitely, heart-pounding stomach-flipping gut-heating terror, it couldn't be anything else. “I'm less than flattered”

“You should be. You're amazing.” Laios takes another slice of his torso and eats it slowly, savoring every bite. Kabru can't stop himself from watching the bob of his Adam's apple. He licks his lips.

Laios slides a hand under the small of Kabru's back and forces him into an arch, tucking the other under his right knee. His foot hangs inches above the table, supported by Laios’ grip on his bent leg. “You're the best advisor, you'd do anything for me.”

“This isn't what I meant,” Kabru says. It comes out breathy as he tries to forget what other contexts could have Laios holding him like this. He's not very successful.

Laios lowers his mouth to Kabru's thigh, teeth dragging against the soft skin there. When he speaks, it sparks right up to Kabru's thundering heart. “Sorry, but I want it to be; I don't know what I'd do without you, Kabru.”

Laios licks a rough stripe up Kabru's thigh and hums in pleasure. When he bites down, the brush of his lips almost feels like something softer. “You fill me up so well. I’d be happy if I could just keep eating you forever.”

Before Kabru can respond, Laios tears a bloody chunk from his thigh. “It makes me wish I was still Lord of the Dungeon, so I could make you full and eat you whole again, and again, and again.” Laios pauses to lick the wound with a rapturous moan. Kabru shudders. “You’d learn to like it, wouldn't you? For me?”

“I don't know if I could,” Kabru whispers, not I won't or I wouldn't or I’d never.

This is what Laios does to him: turns his nos into maybes, then pushes them right into yes. He got Kabru to eat monsters and to agree to be his advisor in his pro-monster kingdom. He has Kabru shaking and carved up like a duck and still saying I don't know.

Laios drops Kabru's legs and sits up, looking him up and down like he's a feast table. Laios crawls up to lean over Kabru, almost chest to chest.

“I need you, Kabru,” He says, and he must feel how Kabru's heart jumps, how Kabru's body shakes, but he doesn't look away from his eyes. “I need only you.”

Laios cages Kabru in with his hands, not that Kabru could get away anyway. Not that Kabru has even tried. His inhumanly sharp teeth glint as blood -- Kabru's blood -- drips from his mouth and onto Kabru.

“I told you that you’d learn to like it,” Laios whispers. He licks his lips as his eyes dart around Kabru's face before settling on his half-open, gasping mouth. “Kabru, please, let me…”

Laios trails off as their lips touch. The kiss is sticky and metallic with blood, open-mouthed from first contact. Laios kisses like he's dying and Kabru is the only thing that can revive him, like he needs him. Laios cups his head and places a hand on his heart; Laios licks his soft palette and nibbles at his bottom lip; Laios fishes his tongue out, opens his jaw wide, and bites-

And Kabru jolts awake in his bed, sweat-soaked sheets beneath him.

Kabru stares blankly at his ceiling as he takes an appraisal of his body: hand, stomach, thigh all intact; ribs and tongue just where they’re supposed to be. And his cock, tenting out his sleep pants, harder than he’s ever been before.

Dungeons and fucking dragons, Kabru thinks, shutting his eyes again and reaching under the covers to take himself in hand. The weirdness is catching.