When You Live a Double Life, You Risk Missing Things in One of Them
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Daniel stepped back as Ozzy snapped forward to hit him, letting Ozzy miss him by an inch before striking back, aiming low to hide a high strike with his left hand, which Ozzy didn’t realize was weak until he’d caught it and Daniel got him in the stomach.
Ozzy grunted, trying to hold firm and pretending not to be hurt, but leaning forward a little. Daniel moved in for another strike, and in a flash Ozzy’s hands were on his shoulders, and he was kneeing Daniel in the nuts.
“Ow, fuck, fuck you,” Daniel said, all fighting sense gone as he cupped himself, crouching over. “Ow. Ow. You little shit.”
“I think you mean, you little winner,” Ozzy gloated. “You let your guard down.”
Daniel glared at him. “Well I’m glad we can agree you’re little.”
“You know what? Move your hand. I don’t think the lesson really penetrated.”
Panting and trying to work through the pain, Daniel stood straighter, moving his hands. “You wouldn’t knee an unresisting boy in the—oh, fuck you!” Daniel nearly doubled over as Ozzy did it again.
Ozzy danced back, laughing. “No mercy. We take our victories however they come. That’s the assassin code.”
Daniel tried to focus through the pain, keeping Ozzy in his sights. “The boy rules clearly state that kneeing a boy in the nuts when he’s just standing there is a punishable offence.”
“Eh.” Ozzy gave a halfhearted shrug. “When we serve two masters, sometimes we have to choose between them.”
Daniel rolled his eyes and jumped at Ozzy, knocking him to the ground. It was a futile gesture, but it made him feel better, and even though he ended up flat on his back half a minute later with Ozzy smirking down at him, he still felt like he’d made his point. “So, do you give up?”
Daniel sighed. Ozzy always wanted to draw it out. “No.”
“You lost.”
“You cheated.”
“There’s no such thing as cheating. If you’re fighting someone, they could knee you in the balls and then kill you. When that happens, not if, are you going to accuse them of cheating?”
“If I’m fighting someone hand-to-hand without a weapon, I already screwed up,” Daniel muttered.
“That’s not the point.” Ozzy gave Daniel a meaningful look, pressing down harder on his shoulders.
So Daniel sighed with great aplomb, looking aside. “Okay, okay, you win.”
“Ha,” Ozzy said, sitting up. He moved up Daniel’s chest, undoing his pants. “Pay up.”
Daniel rolled his eyes, but opened his mouth, waiting for Ozzy to fish his dick out. When he had, he moved forward, putting it right inside, Daniel’s head flat on the floor. He was already most of the way hard and he got fully there inside Daniel’s mouth, pressing all the way in at once.
Daniel sucked, gently and slowly because Ozzy tended to shoot too fast and he was quietly trying to train him out of that. Ozzy didn’t move for a bit, making Daniel do all the work, but eventually he couldn’t help himself and he started to pull up, to thrust in and out.
It was still over in a really short time, but Daniel counted it as being longer than last time, so that was something. Then Ozzy helped Daniel up, and they headed to the door. “Hey, uh. You know you don’t actually have to suck my dick every time I beat you, right?”
Daniel smiled. He did know that, but of course Ozzy had mentioned it now that he had his prize. Blue balls made for sore losers. “I know that.”
“Okay, I just, you know. I’m an authority figure in your life and I was worried you thought I literally was forcing you to. I wouldn’t do that.”
“I know you wouldn’t.” Daniel kissed his cheek. “If I didn’t want to do it I’d just bite your dick every chance I got.”
Ozzy swallowed. By the door were their shirts, and they both started undressing. Ozzy insisted they wear proper clothes while training at least, since that was what they worked in. “Okay.”
“Also, you’re really not an authority figure in my life.”
“I very much am.”
“That’s a very funny joke though.” Daniel winced a little as he took his pants off.
“Does it…uh, hurt?”
“Course it hurts, nutfuck.” Daniel got out of his pants and started on his shirt.
Ozzy had the decency to look abashed, but just for a second. “Maybe I should take a look? Make sure I didn’t do any serious damage?”
This time Daniel couldn’t stop his eyes from rolling. “Just don’t be too rough.”
Ozzy nodded, got down and started to inspect Daniel’s dick. He was gentle, carefully touching it, noting when Daniel winced. “Yeah, uh. Maybe we’ll get you some ice.”
“No kidding.” Daniel sighed, grabbing his long shirt. “Hey.”
“What?”
“Kiss it better.”
Ozzy blinked up at him, colour slowly rising in his face. Daniel smiled down at him and Ozzy leaned in, gave Daniel a gentle kiss on the balls. Then he got up without a word and got his own long shirt on. They left the room, one of Theodore’s useless rooms that they’d taken all the furniture out of so they could practice in it, and headed upstairs.
Daniel smiled as they walked back to the room, though his balls did really hurt. “So have you ever won a real fight by kicking someone in the balls?”
“I did once, actually,” Ozzy told him. “I was in this house, right? Doing…you know.” He shrugged. “And there was this huge security guard who basically could have turned my head into a rotten apple if he got hold of me. He did some big routine with this whip that I bet he saw at a play once and thought would be intimidating. So I ran up to him and kicked him in the balls like five times and made him cry.”
Daniel couldn’t help but snicker at the image. “Maybe I should get like, some armour to put in my pants or something.”
“Unless you support it right it doesn’t help much. You’d just be giving me a plate of metal to slam into your junk.”
“You’ve thought a lot about this,” Daniel accused.
“Well yeah, I don’t want to get kicked in the balls!”
“I’m going to tell the other guys what you did and they’re going to be on my side.”
“Nah, they like me better than they like you.”
“That seems unlikely,” Daniel disagreed.
They came to the slaves’ room, and Daniel opened the door, heading inside. “It’s definitely true,” Ozzy said. “Hey guys, you like me more than Daniel, right?”
Marcus, Hugh and Simon were sitting together in the middle of the room. Marcus’s arm was around Hugh, and Simon was holding his hand. They all looked upset. “What’s wrong?” Daniel asked, joining them.
Hugh shook his head. “Nothing. I…” He squeezed his eyes shut. “I feel like an asshole.”
“You’re not,” Marcus told him quietly. “You’re not an asshole.”
“Hugh,” Daniel said. He’d been fine when they’d left a few hours ago.
“He called Trevor and Al,” Hugh said, shaking his head. “He called them just after you left. He freed them. They’re gone.”
“Oh,” Daniel said, feeling like he’d been kicked in the heart this time. They’d be long gone by now. He wouldn’t…Daniel would never see them again. They’d been here this morning, part of the room, part of the world. And now they were gone and…Daniel started to stand up. He had to tell Theodore off about this. Did he not realize how much he’d hurt Hugh? How much he’d…
Marcus pulled him back down. ”Stay.”
“What…”
“There’s nothing you can do,” he said quietly. “Just…stay here, with us.”
Daniel opened his mouth to say he could…but what would punishing Theodore right now do? He nodded, settled in. “I’m sorry, Hugh.”
Hugh shook his head again. “I just…I’m happy for them, I really am. But I also wish they were still here. I’m going to miss them. I know you guys will too, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be making this all about me.”
“They were your friends before we were,” Simon said. He sounded like he was thinking about crying.
Hugh nodded, his breath catching. “They were here for me when I…when Denny killed himself. I just feel so selfish wishing they were still here so I could have them nearby. They’re free. I’m happy for them, I really am. I just…”
“It’s okay, Hugh,” Daniel told him, voice barely a whisper. “It’s okay to cry about it.”
Hugh nodded, rapidly, and then tears started to flow down his cheeks, and he buried his face in Marcus’s shirt and cried quietly, letting Marcus hold him there. Ozzy tried to inch away, looking uncertain, but Marcus took his arm and pulled him in closer, making him sit with them. As much as Daniel wanted somewhere to go, someone to fight, something to do, Daniel knew Hugh must be feeling alone and scared, because he’d just been reminded that nothing in his life was his to control. The only useful thing Daniel could do right now was to stay with him, make him less alone. So they all stayed together like that, holding each other together as a group.
And the little slaves’ room felt empty.
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How Best to Use a Sword 