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Seawatt has plans, and these plans currently involve sending the current Champion (who is steadily becoming his least favourite— and he’s not even the one who’s responsible for this layer being lost to history!) on errands.
Evbo comes back after getting the Crystal Legend’s disc— it takes longer than normal, which obviously means something has gone horribly wrong. Seawatt didn’t know he had it in himself to still be surprised; but hey, here he is.
Seawatt groans, squinting at the purple shards embedded in Evbo’s pale arm. “You seriously couldn’t do a few crystal jumps without turning into a human pincushion?” he asks.
Evbo laughs awkwardly. “Um, there was this one-block squeeze I couldn’t really avoid?” he offers, by way of explanation. “It… I might have rubbed against the crystals a bit too much while trying to get through.”
“You are the stupidest Champion I have ever had the displeasure of meeting,” Seawatt informs him, and it’s almost true. “Lay down. I’m getting them out.”
Evbo blinks. “Lay down?”
Seawatt rolls his eyes and jabs his pointer finger at Evbo’s chest- it glitters in the light, small (but visible, which is good- they seem to be a bit larger than wood splinters; Seawatt is surprised Evbo hadn’t noticed them) crystals stuck into the gaps in the fabric. “It’s not just your arms.”
Evbo frowns, chewing his lip (is he aware he’s doing that? Evbo’s mannerisms are fascinating- no, Seawatt, focus.) absentmindedly as he contemplates something. “Okay, sure,” he says easily, starting to lay backwards onto the slab he was previously sitting on before he hesitates. “Um, thanks.”
Seawatt’s knees are starting to hurt; he’s been kneeling practically at Evbo’s bedside (slabside?) for the past few minutes or so and it’s beginning to feel less and less like a good idea. He shifts to sitting crosslegged and picks up Evbo’s limp arm- the muscles twitch involuntarily at his touch. He can see red aggravation pooling around the amethyst, and they’re all bleeding slightly. God, this is why he fucking hates crystal parkour.
“This is going to hurt,” Seawatt tells him.
“I thought so,” Evbo says. “Could you- could you try to make it fast?”
Seawatt rolls his eyes even though Evbo can’t see it. Well, that’s the only good way to go about it. “Sure, just for you.”
Evbo giggles. “Geez, really? Well, tha- ow!”
Seawatt disinterestedly flicks the bloodied shard onto the ground. “Oops,” he says, letting a grin creep across his face slowly, “Sorry, you were saying?”
“I—” Seawatt yanks another out cheekily. “Owww— hey, quit it!”
“You said to make it fast,” Seawatt drawls, ignoring Evbo’s continued yelps of pain as he picks one after the other out. “Besides, it shuts you up, which is hard enough to do as it is.”
Evbo inhales like he’s about to speak, so Seawatt yanks out a particularly large shard without ceremony and listens to the beautiful way his breath leaves him immediately in a sharp hiss. Evbo moves to sit up, but Seawatt just pins his wrist to the slab.
“Let go,” Evbo sighs. “I’ll do it by myself.”
Seawatt laughs. “Oh, absolutely not,” he scoffs. “You asked me to do this, first of all, and if you do it by yourself you’ll end up making the wounds bigger.” He frowns, pressing the skin around a shard down with two fingers so it wiggles less when he pulls it out. Evbo’s hisses of pain keep him quiet long enough for Seawatt to continue. “Which means there’s more chances for it to hit something important.”
“Fine,” Evbo relents. “I told you to make it fast, though.”
“Fine.” Seawatt parrots, and proceeds to rip out two or three shards at a time until it sounds like Evbo’s learnt his lesson.
“Okay, okay, I get it!” he yelps.
Seawatt spends the next while in silence, occasionally removing the larger shards of amethyst with small yelps of pain from Evbo. He finishes the first arm, and it’s a bit awkward doing the second but there’s less tiny ones in it so it doesn’t matter; he finishes it in less than half the time it took the first.
And then it’s onto Evbo’s stomach. “How did you even manage to do that?” Seawatt snaps at him.
“I kind of freaked and pressed myself against the wall,” he says. “I... don’t think any got into my chest.”
“Thank god,” Seawatt says. He pushes up Evbo’s hoodie and flips up the shirt beneath so he can see; most of the shards are larger. He inspects the hoodie and shirt and finds no small ones— it looks like they’d been caught and had just fallen off while Evbo did parkour. “This isn’t that hard,” he says to himself.
Evbo twitches when Seawatt starts removing the first shard, but Seawatt just assumes it’s because he wasn’t expecting it. He is proven wrong when it keeps happening, and keeps happening; as he moves lower Evbo starts trembling.
The next five minutes are miserable until he snaps. “Stop squirming,” he tells Evbo snippily. “If you actually want me to stop then say something.”
Evbo freezes, face red. “Sorry,” he says.
Seawatt squints at him. Evbo is sweating a bit and his skin is unnaturally flushed. He gets to his feet briefly before he leans over Evbo, who is still laid prone on the slab despite what seems like his best efforts to escape. His breathing is quickened.
…Is he running a fever? Seawatt swings one knee onto the slab so he can lean down more comfortably, pressing the back of his hand against Evbo’s forehead.
“What are you doing?” Evbo asks, voice a bit high and breathy.
“Checking to see if your stupid ass has a fever,” Seawatt replies curtly. “You’re redder than a fucking apple.”
Evbo avoids his gaze. “Oh,” he says. “Um, I- I didn’t- I’ve never had a fever or… been sick before, really, and I ate raw chicken every day for ages, so…” He shrugs. “I don’t think I am?”
“With all due respect,” Seawatt starts, “I have a hard time believing that’s true.”
Evbo squirms uncomfortably under his gaze again. “I, ah—”
Seawatt frowns. If Evbo is actually sick then that’s going to be a pretty big issue. He doesn’t have any brewing stands on him, so he can’t hit him with any potion effects… he could wait out the few days it’d take to-
“Seawatt?” Evbo asks. “You’re, uh, really close.”
Seawatt blinks. He’s shifted a bit in position, back of his hand still pressed to Evbo’s forehead- subconsciously he’d leaned in closer, to the point where the longer strands of his hair are a few centimetres from touching Evbo’s forehead; it’s still a reasonable distance, it’s just…
…Uncharacteristic, is the best way to describe it. Seawatt feels himself take damage emotionally. What is he doing, even? He leans back slightly, a bit disgusted with himself. “Sorry,” he manages to grit out.
Evbo is looking up at him with wide eyes, blinking rapidly. “It’s- it’s fine,” he whispers.
“So,” Seawatt says, a hint annoyed, “You’re not sick because you’re special or something, but I can literally see you sweating even though you’re not warm, and you-”
“Seawatt,” Evbo says, awkwardly, yanking the flipped-up portion of his shirt back down, “Um, I- I don’t know how to-”
“So what are you?” he asks, leaning over Evbo using one of his hands to keep him propped upright.
Evbo seems almost miserable with embarrassment, which happens to be a very good look on him. “You’re not going to like it,” he says awkwardly. “Seriously.”
Seawatt scoffs. “What? It’s not like you’ve got a boner or anything.”
Evbo blinks rapidly and then begins to make a sound like a deflating balloon. “Seawatt,” he says, sounding pained, “I don’t… I don’t have a… I can’t have a- ugh, why is this so hard?”
Seawatt blinks at him. And then he blinks again. “What?”
Evbo makes a face and pulls up his shirt until Seawatt can see the black underclothes covering his chest- is that a binder? Seawatt stares at it and it clicks- holy shit, is he—?
Seawatt narrows his eyes. “…Don’t tell me you’re getting off on this.”
Evbo has the decency to continue to look mortified, as he has for the past 30 seconds. “Uh,” he starts. “In my defence–”
“Shut up,” Seawatt snaps. “I’m thinking.”
Evbo bites his lip and says nothing. Seawatt notes that embarrassment seems to be a good motivator for him to- well, shut up.
So, onto more pressing problems: what the fuck? Seawatt now has two problems he didn’t before: he is in possession of an apparently horny Evbo, and the worst part is that he’s... he’s not interested for any genuine reason, but...
Seawatt tells himself, If it gets me closer to winning then I really don’t mind it, and ignores the memory flickering in his mind of when Evbo humiliated him with that brewing stand parkour and forced him to send him to the arena; it was kind of hot, maybe. Just a little.
Dammit, he shouldn’t have thought of that- heat sparks in his gut and he stiffens. He’s not going to get off to that again, that’s- he can deal with that... never, actually, since the world’s going to end soon. Huh.
“Hold on,” Seawatt tells him. “Don’t move, I’m getting the rest of them out.”
Now that he knows what’s actually going on Seawatt has to admit he finds the squirming more funny than annoying; he purposefully trails his fingers over Evbo’s hip and watches him try his hardest not to shiver. Hey, if Evbo is having such a good time, Seawatt figures he might as well get something in exchange; it’s only fair, or… something.
He works his way up to Evbo’s rib cage, and then teasingly runs a few fingers against his skin; Evbo’s skin is cold, and he gasps at Seawatt’s touch. It’s- well, if he was anyone else, it would almost be cute. Attractive? Seawatt doesn’t know- it’s not like he’s ever been interested in another person before.
Not that he’s interested in Evbo; this is purely because Evbo is useful to him, like a totem held in-hand. He’s just an item to be expended, or so Seawatt reminds himself when Evbo gasps something suspiciously like his name and heat ignites in his cheeks.
“Does it hurt?” Seawatt asks, knowing it doesn’t.
“No,” Evbo tells him, through gritted teeth. “Keep… keep going.”
Seawatt tries to ignore how those words would sound in a context only two steps to the right, and obliges him. Evbo is still twitchy under his fingers.
It takes a bit but he finally gets all- yes, all- of them out; he sits back on his legs and sighs. “Are you less wet now?” he asks brusquely; no need to sugarcoat it. It isn’t a romantic question at all and beating around the bush about it will only make the atmosphere weird.
Evbo sputters. “What?”
Seawatt rolls his eyes. “You know, are you less horny now? Or do you need me to take care of it for you so you don’t keep yourself up for five hours?”
Evbo looks at him with an expression he can’t read, which is a sentence that is deeply unsettling. “You’d do that?” he asks, bewildered. Seawatt scoffs.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” Seawatt points out, “But if you don’t get enough sleep you’re going to trip and get yourself killed.”
“I can sleep,” Evbo tells him. Seawatt watches him squirm under his gaze and isn’t entirely convinced.
“Give me your water bucket,” Seawatt orders him. Evbo does so without complaint. Seawatt sets about washing his hands; they’re a little sticky with Evbo’s blood. He considers removing his shawl and using it as a makeshift bandage but it’s too dirty to not get Evbo actually sick, so that’s out of the question.
He briefly heads outside to pour the dirty water out of the infinite bucket and into the void; it falls so far, so fast. The stars wink coldly at him in the distant sky; he stares into the black abyss for a few moments after the water falls out of view before he realises he’s left Evbo alone in his house for far too long for his liking.
Thankfully, Evbo isn’t up to anything weird; Seawatt might have actually gouged out his eyes if that was the case. Evbo pushes himself up slightly and looks over to him. “Are you sure you’re okay with...?” He trails off. Seawatt understands the question anyway.
“Sure, why not?” It’s just sex. Nothing new.
Evbo takes a breath. “I didn’t think this could get any worse,” he mutters to himself.
Seawatt snorts. “Look, dude, you’re the one who got all hot and bothered because I was treating your wounds.”
“That’s not my fault,” Evbo snaps. “What am I supposed to do when an attractive man is–” He cuts himself off and sharply turns his head away; Seawatt’s heart jumps to his throat for reasons he doesn’t understand. “Nevermind.”
“You think I’m attractive?” he asks, shocked; it comes out sounding more like a giggle than he intended it to. “Wow, Champion, you really do flatter me.”
“Just...” Evbo glances back at him. “...Can you get this over with?”
Seawatt rolls his eyes.
It doesn’t take very much urging to get Evbo to shift into a position that doesn’t make Seawatt want to bash his head into the wall with how awkward it is. Seawatt asks him if it’s his first time and Evbo doesn’t say anything, which obviously means that it is; Seawatt isn’t sure how he feels about that.
“Shouldn’t your first time be with someone you’re actually into?” he points out. Evbo’s face reddens, which could mean nothing. “Geez, didn’t know you needed it that badly.”
“Shut up,” Evbo hisses. He’s not usually this pissy, which means it’s kind of cute. “Just— if you’re going to talk can you at least—”
“No. Take off your own trousers,” Seawatt tells him, rolling his eyes. “What, do I look like I want to do it for you?”
Evbo grumbles, but obliges. “Turn around,” he mumbles.
“I’m about to have sex with you and you don’t want me to watch you strip?” Seawatt asks, incredulous.
Evbo’s face almost seems to glow with how red it’s become. Wow, okay, Seawatt didn’t know he was capable of feeling shame, but it’s not a horrible look on him. “You want to watch?” Evbo asks.
Kind of. “No,” he scoffs. “Just because you find me attractive doesn’t mean I find you attractive.”
Evbo winces and actually looks somewhat hurt, which is both funny and a little bit sad. “I know that,” he says. “Turn around.”
Seawatt turns around.
Evbo isn’t necessarily unattractive, but he doesn’t need to know that about himself; Seawatt doesn’t like it but he does have to admit that between the previous Champion and Evbo he’d... much rather be doing this with Evbo— at least he gets to pretend he’s in control of everything for a little while longer. The power imbalance rests firmly in his favour this time.
Seawatt wouldn’t call it ‘nice,’ but it’s not bad. He doesn’t mind it the way he did before.
“Okay,” Evbo says. “Umm...”
“You can still back out, you know,” Seawatt offers like the gentleman he is.
“...You can look,” Evbo says begrudgingly, and Seawatt does.
His first thought is that this is possibly one of the most beautiful things he’s ever seen, and his second is ‘Why the fuck did it have to be Evbo?’
“So,” Seawatt tells him awkwardly. “You can tell me to stop whenever you want.”
Evbo bites his lip. “I know.”
“Great, so I don’t have to hold your hand any more than I already have,” Seawatt says, moving himself beside Evbo so that his legs won’t feel like they’re about to fall off. He nudges Evbo’s thighs apart with a hand. “Open up.”
Evbo makes a face but obeys. “You haven’t been holding my hand,” he complains. “You’ve just been asking me questions and then making fun of me.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Seawatt says. “Did you expect me to be useful?”
“You’d be more useful if you actually got me off,” Evbo grumbles. Seawatt laughs in surprise.
“Seriously?” he asks. “Wow, okay, you don’t have to beg me for it.”
Oh, he shouldn’t have said that, now he’s thinking of that and— suddenly Evbo’s flustered expression is a lot more enticing, the slight part of his lips as he looks back into Seawatt’s widened eyes...
...No, he has to focus; this means nothing and it never will. He just has to get over it and finger his worst enemy.
Jesus. What a fucking life he leads.
“Just get it over with!” Evbo whines, so Seawatt rolls his eyes and unceremoniously inserts two fingers; Evbo’s hips jerk and his lips part with what might be a moan. Seawatt- Seawatt pretends that he doesn’t feel the heat pooling in his gut. He’s not attracted to Evbo. He isn’t.
He works his fingers in and out; Seawatt very badly wants to go as fast as possible, but he’s worried Evbo won’t be able to handle it– what if he hits something wrong and fucks his ability to walk up?
So, he resigns himself to listening to Evbo weakly whimper at every stroke of his hand and every brush of his fingers against his skin; he has Evbo against a wall so he doesn’t have to hold him up, which leaves Seawatt’s hand free to wander across the expanse of his thighs; his knees are surrounded by old scarring and his legs are clearly fairly muscular, though he doesn’t look it at first glance: there’s a certain solidness that only the Champion could have.
Seawatt realises he’s spent too long feeling up Evbo’s legs and not long enough actually getting the poor guy off, so he awkwardly jabs his thumb against Evbo’s clit and rubs against it. Evbo whimpers loudly, and Seawatt quickly clamps a hand over his mouth.
“What if a fighter hears you?” he hisses. “Are you stupid?” The only person that might hear them is Evbo’s friend- they’re still locked in the basement of that nearby house, but if they do hear, well— it’s certainly not Seawatt’s problem. Maybe he should let them.
Evbo’s hips twitch and he breathes heavily through his nose as he glances at the hand pressed firmly against his mouth. He doesn’t try to say anything; Seawatt narrows his eyes. “You’ll be quiet. Right?”
Evbo jerkily nods. Seawatt releases his mouth and picks up the pace again, this time trying to be a bit rougher. Evbo keeps making stupid little noises with his mouth, though he’s clearly trying to repress them; he presses his own hands to his lips in an attempt to quell them, but Seawatt can still hear the muffled whimpers and moans from proximity. He feels near-smug about it, which isn’t a bad feeling to have, for once. Evbo has begun to clench against his fingers slightly, so Seawatt picks up the pace again.
Evbo briefly pushes Seawatt off him, looking him directly in the eyes; he’s sweating a little bit and his flush has visibly begun to meander down his chest, his hair is dishevelled and his eyes burn. “Seawatt,” he hisses. “Seawatt, I need—”
His heart skips in his chest. “What?”
Evbo shudders with what has to be pleasure and Seawatt feels semi-satisfied. “I need more,” he says, and Seawatt is on him like a noob on steak; with the same hungering lust. Part of him is almost tempted to kiss him; to really seal the deal, but that’s too far and so Seawatt satisfies himself by simply imagining it as he moves closer. Evbo raises his legs slightly to give him better access and he almost laughs at the fact he didn’t need to ask.
“You really want this, don’t you?” he says, bemused. Evbo bares his teeth at him slightly.
“Shut up,” he spits. “Can you- a little bit to the le- ah, Seawatt!” Evbo moans as Seawatt obliges him, and that’s it. Seawatt jackhammers his fingers against the spot until Evbo shudders violently with a whine, and goes limp, which hardly takes five seconds. Fluid gushes out as he climaxes, and Seawatt gives the muscles a moment to stop cutting off the circulation in his fingers before he pulls them out and flicks his hand to dry it a bit.
“So,” Seawatt says. “How was that?”
Evbo seems vaguely annoyed at him, now, for reasons he’s not entirely sure of. “It was fine.”
“Fine?” Seawatt echoes, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t know, you kind of sounded into it at the end there.”
Evbo blushes and glances away. “It... it was good,” he amends.
“Good,” Seawatt says.
Evbo seems to think of something and then groan. “I don’t have a change of clothes,” he laments. Seawatt snorts.
“Oh, yeah, that’s your biggest problem, isn’t it? Not anything else?”
“I hate you,” Evbo informs him. Seawatt laughs.
They spend the next fifteen minutes or so actually cleaning themselves; Evbo returns to being weirdly prudish for a guy who just spent the last while getting fingered out of his mind, but whatever. Seawatt doesn’t bathe but he does clean off his fingers vigorously in Evbo’s water bucket; he still has his own in his inventory but it’s funnier to force Evbo to wait his turn knowing he’s why Seawatt needs to do this at all. He dumps it into the void again and this time he doesn’t watch.
He gives it back to Evbo who is sitting cross-legged on the floor, looking up at the sky like it’s brand-new to him— which Seawatt guesses it is. He... remembers the night sky, but he’s not sure if it’s just from books or if it’s a genuine memory. The thought annoys him, so he stops thinking it.
“Clean yourself up,” he tells Evbo, nudging him with a foot. “We don’t have all night.”
Evbo’s expression goes from awe to vague annoyance. “Fine,” he says. “You could just go to bed yourself.”
Seawatt huffs. “That’s what I’m doing,” he points out. “I just needed to give back your bucket first.”
Evbo looks at him like he doesn’t believe a word he’s saying. Seawatt guesses that’s fair. “Okay,” he says. “Good night.”
Seawatt watches him for a few moments before giving Evbo the privacy he apparently wants so badly. He spends a while taking his bangles off, and his anklet, and his– most everything, except the kohl because he doesn’t have much more and he doesn’t like trying to use his water bucket as a mirror anyway. He’s pretty sure it’s smudged. He wonders what Evbo thinks about it (probably nothing useful) for a moment before he huffs, turning onto his side. He absently runs a hand through his hair, feeling it get snagged every so often.
...Seriously, how is he attractive?
Seawatt falls asleep before Evbo gets back; the next day Evbo doesn’t acknowledge it, and so Seawatt doesn’t either.
Seawatt doesn’t have time to dwell on what any of it means anyway; he has plans.