Chapter Text
The sun stood high as Seth sat on the steps of his small hut, alone in the heart of the desert. He stared up at the cloudless sky with half-lidded eyes, one hand absently stroking the swollen curve of his midsection. The heat shimmered before him, making the horizon waver, and he sighed deeply, feeling the weight of both the sun and the life within him.
He closed his eyes and sighed, then looked down at his stomach. “It seems your father’s late again, little one.” The little one responded with a soft kick, as if agreeing with their mother. The red-haired god smiled, a warmth spreading through him that no sun could replicate. “I can’t wait to meet you,” he whispered, feeling another gentle kick against his hand. “Such a kind, gentle one.”
Then, without warning, a sharp jab struck straight into his ribs, making him hiss in surprise. “I take that back,” he muttered, chuckling despite the discomfort. “You are far from gentle.”
A sudden gust of wind swept across the desert, lifting grains of sand into the air. Seth turned toward the sky, already knowing the cause. A familiar figure appeared in the distance, swooping down, faster with every heartbeat. The child immediately began pressing their little fists against Seth’s womb, restless and excited. “Oh, calm down, will you?” Seth chided, a grin spreading across his face.
The figure landed before him, dust swirling around his feet. “Uncle –” a bright voice called out.
“You’re late,” Seth cut in, eyebrow raised, arms crossed over his midsection.
Horus lowered his gaze, his wings folding gracefully behind him. “I apologise, uncle. I was… occupied.” His voice carried an edge of regret, the glimmer in his eyes revealing that he was truly sorry to have kept them waiting.
Seth sighed. “It’s fine. You know how it feels, waiting for your arrival. Now tend to your child. They’ve been quite eager to see you.”
Horus’s eyes lit up at the mention of their unborn offspring. He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Seth, pressing his face to the rounded swell of his belly. “Oh? Have they?” he murmured, his voice softening as he felt the little kicks resonating under his fingers.
The baby kicked again, more insistently. Horus looked up at him, his expression a blend of joy and curiosity. “How much longer do you think it will be?”
Seth considered it for a moment, his brow furrowing in thought. “A month or two, perhaps. I was not there for Nephthys during her final months, so I can’t be certain.”
Horus pressed a gentle kiss to Seth’s belly, a radiant smile lighting up his face. “That’s not too long! I can hardly wait!” He rose slowly, brushing his lips against Seth’s, capturing that moment of connection.
Seth hummed in response, heart swelling with warmth and affection. Horus kissed him again, his lips lingering before trailing over Seth’s cheeks, softened and rounded by pregnancy. He followed the smooth line of Seth's neck, kissing the delicate skin there. Seth gasped, the sensation sending delightful shivers down his spine. “Inside, you bird-brain! Carry me inside!”
With a quiet laugh, the falcon king lifted him easily, capturing his lips once more as he carried him into the hut. It wasn’t large – certainly nothing like the grand palaces Seth once knew – but he had never complained. In truth, he didn’t hate it.
Perhaps the only thing he disliked was how lonely it could be.
He didn’t understand it. Once, Seth had endured long stretches of solitude at war without a second thought. But now – now that this absurdly handsome, painfully kind nephew had entered his life – he knew he would rather die than watch him leave.
The mouths were still conjoined when Seth was laid on the bed, softly. He broke the kiss to lean back on the cushions. “You know, you really should come more prepared for these visits,” Seth teased lightly, watching as Horus set about making them comfortable. “Maybe bring some water or food next time?”
“Or a cool breeze,” Horus added playfully. “But I must admit, your state has me a tad distracted.” He flashed a mischievous smile.
Seth chuckled, shaking his head. “You should be careful. Flash those charming smiles around too much, and I might find it unbearable to let you leave again.”
“Is that a threat?” Horus asked, mock seriousness written all over his face.
“Perhaps,” Seth replied, mirroring his expression with a sly grin. “But a loving one.”
“Then I shall reassure you,” Horus proclaimed, leaning closer, his breath warm against Seth’s skin. “I won’t be going anywhere far from here. Wherever I am, I will always return to you.”
Seth smiled. “Good. I like the sound of that.”
He wrapped his arms around the other boy and dragged him down with him for a not-so-innocent kiss. His hands moved from Horus’ neck to the hook of the neckpiece around his nape, undoing it and dropping it off the bed with a clatter.
Horus undid the knot which held Seth’s clothes at his chest, stripping the simple garment off him. He broke the kiss and pushed up to look down at the gorgeous red-headed god under him, whom he had the fortune to call his lover and mother of his child, and soon… never mind. He did not realise that he had been staring into space for more than half a minute now, lost in the sea of Seth's ruby eyes.
Seth snapped a finger in front of him, bringing him back. “Horus! Oi! What is it?”
“Huh?” Horus questioned, dreamily, still trying to pull his thoughts together.
“You were distracted.” Seth raised his eyebrows. “What has you so lost?”
“Oh no, my heart,” Horus chuckled, burying his face in Seth’s chest, feeling the warmth radiate from him. “I was not distracted in the slightest. I was simply mesmerised by your beauty.”
The older god blushed, an adorable shade of crimson dusting his cheeks. “Were you now?”
“Yes, uncle, sooth!” Horus declared with exaggerated enthusiasm, lifting his head just enough to meet Seth’s playful glare.
Seth sighed, a smile tugging at his lips. “Oh, don’t call me that when we are like this, Horus.” He sighed dramatically, feigning frustration while he ran a hand through Horus' hair, fingers tangling softly in the dark locks. “It’s quite ‘distracting’.”
Horus smiled, kissing him on his left breast, which was slightly swollen with milk for the arriving babe.
“Distracted by my charm? I think that’s a compliment. I’ll take it.”
“Well, flattery will get you everywhere.” Seth grinned. He shifted a bit, searching for a more comfortable position--at least as comfortable as his belly would let him.
Horus looked up to meet his eyes. “Do you deem it alright for the child if we are together like this?”
Seth nodded, holding his gaze. “Yes, my wild wind.”
Horus’ eyes lit up as he continued to pay attention to his lover’s chest. Seth had refrained him from sucking on his tits because they were sore, and even the slightest movement caused pain and also because he wasn’t inclined towards the sensation of having his milk sucked out. Yes, he knew he would have to provide for his child, and he would gladly do so, but Horus…it was weird. Maybe, he would indulge him some other time.
Horus didn’t push it. He kissed, bit and sucked on the surrounding milky expanse of his skin, tainting numerous places red and purple. His lips were a soft, worshipful brand against the heated skin of Seth’s chest.
The latter’s hand came up, fingers threading through the dark, unruly locks of his lover’s hair, anchoring himself to this tender point of contact.
A low, contented hum vibrated from Horus into his skin. “So beautiful, my heart,” he murmured, the words lost against Seth’s sternum.
His mouth began a slow, deliberate journey south. He kissed the tight, rounded swell of Seth’s belly, a reverent press of his lips to the place where their child stirred. His hands, large and sun-darkened, spread wide over the curve, cradling the precious weight. Seth sighed, a sound of pure relief and burgeoning need, his back arching just slightly off the linen-draped pallet.
“Horus…”
“Shhh,” Horus whispered, his breath fanning across the taut skin. “Let me.”
His hands slid lower, massaging the swell of Seth’s hips, the thick muscles of his thighs, which bore the new, heavy grace of his form. His mouth followed, leaving a damp, cooling trail, melting Seth’s initial playful laughter away into soft, hitching breaths. He nuzzled the juncture of thigh and torso, his breath hot against the thatch of crimson curls. Seth’s legs fell open instinctively.
“Yes?” Horus asked, his voice a gravelly whisper against Seth’s inner thigh.
A moan, breathy and thin, was his only answer. Seth nodded, his head pushing back into the cushions, his eyes closed.
Horus needed no more. He shifted, settling between Seth’s thighs, his broad shoulders pushing them wider. His nose nudged through coarse curls, inhaling the musk of his lover. He placed a single, open-mouthed kiss to the very base of Seth’s shaft, which lay heavy and full against his belly.
Seth jolted. “Haaah…”
Then, Horus’s tongue found its true goal. A long, flat, devastatingly slow lick from perineum to the tight, furled entrance beneath. Seth cried out, his body bowing off the bed. The sensation was electric, blinding in its intensity. Horus did it again, and again, until it was almost torturous to the older god.
Seth was dissolving. The soreness of his chest, the constant low ache in his back, the sheer physical weight of the last seven months -- all of it was being licked away, replaced by a gathering, molten heat in his core. His moans were continuous now, punctuated by the gasp of Horus’s name.
“Now… Horus, please… put it inside…”
Horus rose over him and reached for the vial of scented oil beside their bed, coating himself with slick, deliberate strokes, his eyes never leaving Seth’s face. He guided himself, the broad head of his arousal nudging insistently against the loosened, wet entrance his mouth had prepared.
He pushed in with a slow, inexorable sinking. Seth’s breath caught, his eyes flying open to meet Horus’s. The stretch was immense, breathtaking, but there was no burn, only a profound, filling fullness that seemed to reach the very heart of him. Horus seated himself fully, hilting with a deep groan that seemed torn from his soul. They were joined, chest to belly, the hard curve of Seth’s pregnancy pressed between them.
“Seth…” Horus breathed out. They had done this more times than either can remember, and yet that same pleasure as their first time was accompanied with each intercourse.
He began to move. His hips rolled in a deep, familiar rhythm, a slow tide pushing in and receding. The angle was perfect, each measured stroke grinding against that secret, swollen place deep inside Seth that made stars burst behind his eyelids.
Seth clutched at Horus’s back, his nails scraping lightly over sweat-slicked muscle. The world narrowed to the slick, hot friction of their joining, to the press of Horus’s body against his swollen middle, to the low, deep pulse of pleasure building in his core, safe and contained within the cradle of his own bones.
“You…you feel so good, my heart.” Horus choked out, his rhythm faltering for a moment as his own peak clawed at him.
It was too much. The tenderness, the depth, shattered Seth’s control. His release took him silently at first, a great, tensing wave that locked his body rigid. Then a raw, broken cry was ripped from his throat as pleasure, bright and searing, flooded his veins, pulsing through him in time with the frantic clenching of his body around Horus.
The sensation pulled Horus over the edge immediately after. With a guttural roar, he buried himself as low inside as he could go, his hips stuttering in short, deep pulses as he spent himself. He collapsed forward, careful to rest his weight on his forearms beside Seth’s head, their panting breaths mingling in the hushed air.
After a long moment, Horus nuzzled into Seth’s sweat-damp neck. “Did you enjoy that?”
Seth’s hand came up, trembling, to cup his cheek. He was still floating. “When have I not?” he breathed.
Horus’ heterochromatic eyes were locked with his scarlet ones. Well, ‘heterochromatic’ would be wrong for one of his eyes was a bright cyan, so beautiful and alluring that Seth could spend a day just looking at him, and the other…was a void…It was dark and colourless, but if it had been the colour it once was, it would have been enough to light up Seth’s entire world. It stung him every time he looked at it. Oh, how he wished he could go back in time and stop himself from being possessed by rage and blinding his own nephew. He had loved those eyes, and he had destroyed them, and still, Horus never blamed him even once for the misfortune. What had he ever done to deserve such a sweetheart of a man?
“I hope you don’t have to leave tonight,” Seth spoke up, his voice barely above a whisper.
Horus opened his mouth to say something, then stopped and turned away guiltily.
“…You do.”
“I am so sorry, uncle, but Mother demands my presence this evening.” He answered quietly, his gaze falling to the floor, as though the very ground could swallow him whole.
“I understand…you are the king…it is expected.” Seth moved from underneath the bigger man and rolled to his side, the space between them now sprawling like a canyon.
Horus looked at him remorsefully, his heart aching. “Uncle, I –”
“I don’t want to hear it, Horus.” Seth’s voice had suddenly become shaky, as if he was forcing himself not to cry, the tremor betraying the volcano of emotion bubbling just beneath the surface.
Horus was taken aback by that. “Uncle?” He touched his shoulder gently, his fingers trembling slightly. “Are you crying?”
Seth jolted upright and turned to face him, tears glistening in his eyes. “What else am I supposed to think?” he demanded, voice trembling despite himself. “You leave without explanation. You go quiet when you touch me. You look at me like your mind is somewhere else entirely.”
His hands clenched in the sheets. “If you no longer want me, Horus, then say it. If this child has become a burden --” his voice broke, just for a second, “--or if you’ve decided I am no longer enough for a king, then at least grant me the dignity of honesty.”
Horus froze.
“Seth,” he said urgently, stepping closer, “none of that is true.”
“Then what is it?” Seth snapped, tears finally spilling over. “Because I am not blind. And I am not foolish enough to believe this distance means nothing.”
Horus sighed deeply, pulling Seth into a hug, wrapping him in warmth and reassurance. Finally, the tears began to roll down Seth’s cheeks gently, his body shaking slightly as he tried to hold himself together. “You will discover everything in due time, my heart. I wish to keep it a secret only for a few weeks more, but I promise, it has nothing to do with me finding someone better; you are carrying my child. I would sooner tear out my own wings than seek another.”
He lifted Seth’s face towards him, his thumb brushing against the tear-streaked skin, then pressed his lips softly against Seth's in a tender kiss, one that spoke volumes of his desire and devotion. “Don’t worry your head with these thoughts, uncle. You are the only one for me, for now and eternity.”
Seth searched Horus’ face, looking for signs of truth, and while he felt a flicker of relief, the uncertainty lingered. “I just… I can’t help it! These hormones are driving me mad! It’s like I’m on a rollercoaster of emotions one moment, and the next, I’m ready to throw myself off a cliff!” He chuckled through his tears, trying to find humour in his plight.
Horus offered a gentle smile, brushing a strand of hair from Seth’s forehead. “You are beautiful when you’re angry, you know that?”
“Oh please,” Seth rolled his eyes but couldn’t suppress a smile. “Beautiful doesn’t quite capture the chaos I feel inside right now.”
“Chaos can give birth to beauty, my beloved,” Horus replied, heart-warmingly, his eyes glimmering with affection. “You are going through a lot, and I wish I could ease your burdens.”
“Then don’t hide from me, Horus,” Seth urged softly, his eyes locked onto his nephew’s. “Share with me what’s troubling you."
Horus sighed. “Soon, I promise. Just a little longer."
Seth huffed, resting his forehead against Horus’s chest. “You make it very difficult to stay angry with you.”
“One of my many talents, uncle.”
“And yet,” Seth added dryly, “you also make it remarkably easy to get angry at you.”
They both laughed at that.
Horus looked out of the window. Night was fast approaching. As much as he did not want to leave his beloved, he had a mission.
Okay, maybe an hour longer won’t matter.