Halcyon
He realised that he wanted Rue to fuck him years before his transformation, with his knees sinking in grime—stained yellow from waste. His lips soaked, ears dripping with piss, cheek pressed to the crusting porcelain. Halcyon was deranged, and just minutes before had tasted the fists of his bullies, salty tears lingering at the back of his throat.
And yet, the moment Rue had waltzed into his life, his mind had shifted from the pathetic whimpers of prey to one that felt almost insane. A blush spun across his cheeks, unfurling like summer rain. It was those thoughts that haunted him, and would continue to linger in the recesses of his mind—the worst of fantasies.
On his knees in that very same bathroom, Rue's cock slapped across his cheek like a dirty whore. His lips stretched into a smirk, eyes filled with stars. The flushed oozing pink head like bitter, creamy balm on his lips. He'd open his mouth and clean him all up, lap the buttery, velvet eye of that musky, sweaty thick flesh. And he'd gulp the slimy, wet globes of it all down and thank him, because Halcyon was filthy, and Rue was oh so good.
That had been the beginning of his transformation from artemis to ares.
Halcyon had been the runt of his litter, the tiniest of his brothers, and the softest. Born with floppy ears and a bunny tail, he was the weakest of prey from the very beginning of his life. Where his brothers could transform into wolves, Halcyon remained a bunny for most of his prepubescent life.
And that was what his family had deemed him to be—weak, puny and a Beta with Omega characteristics. It was an insult that they threw his way for most of his life: Omega, omega, omega. Omega Halcyon who'd be a breeding tool, plugged full of cum and left to swell thick and heavy with six to eight pups, chained to the bed and used.
Halcyon was merely a bunny in a family of wolves.
His fathers did not care for him, for it was in an artemis' nature to throw out their weakest and kill it for a greater chance of survival. While his brothers were educated at a private high school, one filled with aliens of the elite and people of their calibre. Halcyon had been thrown into a public high school.
Astro High was mid-tier and open for all; it was filled with aliens who did not know of his name or his species. His parents had declared that it would be a place for him to grow, that the grungy halls filled with variety would give him the space to transform.
Perhaps, they didn't want his head clouded with notions of royalty and money. And maybe they wanted him to be with the ordinary so that he'd grow up humble and grateful. For Valentino and Altair that had been their father's true intention—an attempt to quell their pride and ease their detest for the lower class.
But for Halcyon?
His Alpha parents wanted him out of their face, hidden from the rest of the world. Truly, it was their version of throwing him out into the streets. They didn't care that he was bullied for his weakness, scorn showing in their eyes when he greeted them—once a month for dinner with scraped knees and bruises on his hips.
Halcyon knew that they wanted him crushed, wanted him gone. And until he could transform into more than just a mere little bunny, he would be nothing. The fact that he was curled up on the bathroom floor with his bunny ears weak against his hair was proof that he would always be a weakling.
But that was before he'd met Rue.
He'd heard of him in the halls. The smartest in the cohort. A skinny legend with hair that dwarfed his gaunt face. He was short, and he was pale. He was the sort of nerd who should be bullied for his looks when most worshipped muscles and height. The sort of guy that hunkered in the shadows and shook like a twig.
But it was in that same bathroom, with his hair dripping with water, where he'd first seen Rue. Rue who'd exuded Alpha, a beacon of strange rebellion, a rumour in the wind. Rue who'd strode in looking just as prey-like as Halcyon was and yet his Alpha was immediatelyon his knees. It was earth-shattering, the way he carried himself like a top dog, like god.
It was like something animals knew the moment they looked at one another. And it made something inside him burst, warm wet and drooling with heat. The goons had stared, outraged, holding on to their need to seem better.
And Rue with gum in his mouth, fingers digging into his jeans had turned, and seemed to consider Halcyon's existence. His eyes were meandering over the scene, slow, lazy and drifting from his bullies to Halcyon's face. For a moment his heart pounded, gaze shifted away not wanting to look.
Would Rue ignore it all like the rest of the cohort?
"What the fuck?" Rue'd spat, gum rattling into the bin, tongue to the side of his cheeks. And he looked now, eyes darting up to the little alien. Rue was skinny, bones sticking out, his face was prettier than he knew it to be. But there was a softness in the jagged edges—the swell of lips plusher than most, lashes that were longer, eyes lidded with a single deep line.
But his pupils were nothing like Halcyon had ever seen in his life. There was something about the sharpness of each orb, the heat of them that drenched all in a poisonous freeze. Pale like death, sometimes shivering silver, and always like the golden curve of the moon.
He had Artemis in his eyes, and they were lemon drops, honey gold, gentle sunrise, hanging moon—yellow.
Like his moon.
One of the thugs had puffed his chest out and shifted to stand before him with a grunt. "What the fuck do you want?" Knuckles were cracked as if in warning, but it was interesting that he knew Rue's name, and his voice quivered just a little when he spat the word. The plume of smoke spitting through his yellowing teeth puddled in the air with weakness. "Rue."
"Beating up the bunny?" Rue had asked, a brow raised. He'd nudged a chin towards Halcyon and in answer, a strange dizziness had burned through Halcyon starting from the base of his tail. It hurtled through him like everything, like more, heat swimming up to his cheeks.
And his eyes were travelling up legs that seemed mile long, the dip from wider hips to a skinnier abdomen, candy-pink at the dips of his elbows, milky everywhere else. A sharp collarbone on a lily-white neck, the gentle curve of his rounder jaw. Plump cheeks on high bone structure, like whipped condensed cream. Soft, dark hair, loose and lightly tangled—gossamer and silk, caramel and burnt sugar, like midnight, like dark.
And his eyes.
"Get the fuck out of here," his assailant had clapped back with a snarl.
"You've got a lot of time on your hands, don't you?" Rue'd pursed his lips together. And Halcyon knew now that Rue was here to save him, was here to help. "Failing everything and yet here you are, wasting your fucking time. Pushing all your fucking problems on someone else. Y'know what gets you in trouble in life the most? Bullying."
"Mind your own business," one of the bullies had laughed, bubbled over Rue, growing huge and towering high.
It'd been Halcyon's fault for staring at the bully wrong, had stumbled and fallen, then cowered. That was enough for the bully to see it as a reason to attack him, to take out his anger on his softer flesh. And Rue seemed to be on the same destined path, which had panic sparking in Halcyon's chest.
As much as Halcyon enjoyed seeing someone stand up for him, it disturbed him that it was…Rue. Rue seemed so strong, and yet his heart screamed that he could be weak. This had something in Halcyon convulsing, a burn in his bones that rippled like change. It tingled through his skin, a rustle of gooseflesh that reminded him of fur, of feathers, of scales, like thorns against petals.
"Can't," Rue had mused, clucked his tongue, didn't know the torment that Halcyon now faced. "Because it's better to nip this shit in the bud early before you ruin your future for good."
"Do you think I care?" The alien had sneered, lips stretching. The rest of the goons jeered, middle finger flashing, grins smacked across their cheeks. "You're just a puny little shit. Do you think you can control me? You think just because you're at the top of the cohort—"
"Got it all recorded and ready," Rue had revealed his wrist, a screen flooding up, a playback running. "Take a step closer and I'll send this." He hissed, snarl ripping free. The bullies froze, grins stuck on their ugly faces. "Front page of the news. All of your name, every fucking school you've gone to. Your parents' name. Their jobs. Your fucking address. I'll do it, sell it for cheap to news outlets. Got nothing to lose, I'm already in hell."
Halcyon twitched, eyes wide at the image of him, head dunked in the bowl gasping with peach bruises on his knees. It wasn't what he'd want his parents to see, not if it meant a home of disappointment. But it did send a jolt of warmth through him, latched into his heart, it was the beginning of his fantasies for Rue.
But the video seemed to have its intended effect, for the others were stumbling, and that had his eyes widening in surprise.
Rue continued, fingers tapping. His eyes were on the largest of his bullies, an alien with the ability to turn into green goo. "You're an heir for some fancy business, aren't you? What do you think will happen if this gets up when you're in that position?" Rue had smiled, lips stretching. "Think your parents will lose their jobs?"
"I'll fuck you up," his bully had snarled. "You want to join Hal here?"
"Join him?" Rue had snorted, a laugh bubbling free. "You should be begging; you should be on your fucking knees. Motherfuckers." there was something about Rue that ballooned, rolled like waves in the air. A press of torment that burned, and hissed, something that smelled like nothing and yet made him want to get low and cower at his feet. "You should be afraid."
The moon in Rue's eyes had seemed to eclipse, grown wider, shining, rippling. Something in him continued undulating, radiating. Rage was a common sight for Halcyon, burned in the faces of his family, his bullies, and the people he disappointed. But on Rue it was godly.
It was beautiful.
The alien had paused, eyes shifting, shaking. Their bodies were listening, knees shaking to drop to the ground. Halcyon knew they felt it just as he did. But idiocy clouded their minds, and that had the lead bully rushing towards Rue fingers reaching, poison spilling. And for a moment heat had seared through Halcyon a rush of horror, his lips pulling open. The alien roared.
"Fucker!"