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Forest, big and infinite. At least he felt it like that; his men seemed to agree. But it wasn't bad, surely a nice change of scenery from the desert lands from where he hailed.
They were making camp close to a big body of water, like an oasis' lake but at least double its size. The sun was setting and everyone was ready to sleep; except maybe the great Horus. It's not that he wasn't tired, there was something out there -his gut told him- and he wanted to find out what it was.
He heard a chuckle, sweet and boyish, it was close. He took his sword and followed the wound to the big body of water.
"Who's there?" He called.
He only got another chuckle in response.
There was a young man by the water. He had ivory skin, boyish features soft and curve; amethyst eyes and hair, with curly honey bangs that framed his face. He was kicking the waters, enjoying himself. His pants were roles up above his knees, his shirt was unbuttoned; he could see that the clothes were of the finest quality, with intricate decoration done by the most talented hands.
"Who are you?" He asked, getting the boy's attention "What is a noble boy like you doing alone in the forest? Don't you know it's dangerous?"
"Not for me" chuckled the boy again. There was a strange, alluring shine to his eyes, he couldn't not get close "You shouldn't get anymore closer than that" he said with a smile "Or they'll come out for you" he looked to a thing in the water.
He looked at the thing, and he could swear it was a horse. There was something bad about the horse's eyes and if wasn't for the ominous comment of the boy he probably wouldn't have noticed it, he hadn't even noticed the horse it the first place.
"And it won't come for you?"
The boy shook his head "They wouldn't dare"
"You seem a little too sure of yourself" he said, still eyeing the water horse "Are you the Lord of this land"
The boy shrugged "You could say that" He didn't comment on that "Who are you anyway?"
"Don't you know?" He asked truly surprised, the boy shook his head "I am Pharaoh of Khemet, but you'll refer to me as Great Horus" the boy didn't seem impressed "You are?"
"You should refer to me as My love" he said a bit too serious, yet his eyes shimmered with mischief "I mean, if your not giving me your name then it's only fair that I don't tell you mine"
Great Horus was both baffled and indignant, how dared this punny lord talk to him like that?
"How da-?"
"You could also call me Beloved" he interrupted "Either My love or Beloved are good options" he nodded absentmindedly, half ignoring the king. Great Horus took a step forward, unhappy, but stopped when he remembered the water horse. "No more steps closer, I can't promise your safety if you do that" he winked, as if he hadn't just threatened Pharaoh. The king frowned "Don't make such a scary face Great Horus, it doesn't look good on you" the lord stood up, pulling his legs out of the water.
The puny lord was almost as tall as him and as he got closer Great Horus was able to actually appreciate his features, he was oddly… gorgeous, astonishingly so. How did I not notice before?
The Lord stood inches away from him, looking slightly up. His heart did a weird ba-dump thing and it made his chest hurt, but it wasn't entirely bad he just felt like he lacked some air.
"You should show me more respect" he said, but there was no bite to it, it was practically meaningless.
"And you should give me your name but here we are" he responded, leaning in closer. Great Horus felt his face grow pleasantly hot "And I'm not really disrespecting you" a bit closer, their lips were almost touching and Great Horus felt a strange yearning. He wanted to press their lips together "Great Horus" said the young lord almost sensually.
"Great Horus!" someone else called, freeing him from his weird astonished state. Both turned to who had arrived.
The body against his was suddenly gone. What? He was suddenly unsure if it had all really happened.
A couple of days later he got his answer.
He was in his tent, working on strategy when he felt a presence next to him. The puny lord was there, peeking on his map. His heart stopped for a moment he didn't expect to see him ever again, believing him to be a creation of his mind.
"You" he said, startled.
Those magnificent lilac eyes looked up to him. He smiled "Great Horus"
Horus' heart did the ba-dump thing again as his face grew hotter, he noticed a rather smug look on the puny Lord's face which was -at least a little bit- irritating.
"How -? What brings you here?"
The boy danced around, checking everything in the tent and ignored Great Horus. The King licked his lips, he was sure what it was the boy wanted, but the mere idea of that…
"You dare ignore Great Horus' question?"
The boy gave him a look, he was certain that the King knew what he wanted. He was sure to get it.
Great Horus wanted to be more angry with the Lord.
"Don't touch anything" he ordered.
The boy continued ignoring him, which didn't surprise the King. In fact, he started poking this and that, picking up and checking this and that other thing out. The King pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation before sighing.
"Don't touch anything… Beloved"
The Lord halted all movement, hovering over what seemed to be a desk with an open notebook. He turned around to be face to face with Great Horus. He was smiling, the faintest of blushes on his cheeks.
"What are you doing here?" Asked again the King, but the Lord didn't answer, he groaned "Beloved"
"Just came to check on you" he shrugged "I still don't know what you're doing here. Tho from what I heard you're quite the conqueror, aren't you?"
"Yes I am," he said proudly.
"You've never lost a fight"
"That's to be expected from a God on earth like me"
The boy chuckled. "And you plan to conquer my little land oh Great Horus?"
"Yes of course," he snorted "Why, you think you can stop me?"
"Well, I can't do nothing, can I?" He shrugged "I would lose all respect if I didn't"
"And what do you plan to do?" He didn't move when the Lord came closer to lean on him.
"Why, will you share your plan with me?" He smiled, Great Horus snorted. He couldn't say he was unamused or displeased by this puny Lord. He blinked his amethyst eyes prettily. "Because if that's the case then maybe I can share my little idea with you" he drew a circle on Horus' chest with his index.
"Are you planning on seducing me?" Oh, he was absolutely amused, alright?
"No, why would you think that?" He said with fake innocence.
Horus put a hand on the boy's waist with the intention of keeping him there; he grabbed his chin with the other to make him look up and he leaned down a bit. Two can play this game. The Lord's smile widened.
"Great Horus surely gets some crazy ideas" He tried to lean in to kiss him, but Great Horus wouldn't let him. He pouted.
"I won't fall for this little game of yours" he smirked.
"I'm playing no game Great Horus. And truly, it is insulting that you think such" he tried to free himself from the King's grasp.
"Insulting is that you believe me a fool"
"I don't believe such thing. Although someone ignorant and jealous might believe that somebody so indescribable handsome can't possibly be equally smart"
"You flatter me" he leaned on the Lord again, but it was the Lord's turn to deny him the much wanted kiss "That silver tongue of yours might work on everyone else but don't expect it to work on a God like me"
"I don't expect it too. You'll find that underestimating people isn't exactly my thing" he rested his arms around the King's neck "Nor is it overestimating" he leaned in for the kiss.
But was stopped by the sound of someone running for the King; who, startled, let him go. The Lord was gone in a blink of an eye. Again.
And it bothered him that that irritated him more than all of the Lord's disrespect.
He found the Lord after the fight had calmer down.
They had ambushed right when he had been busy with the puny Lord. He groaned, his brain going a mile per minute. He scolded himself for the extreme feel of wanting it to be just a coincidence, his logical brain knew better. He had planned it all.
"Come out you puny Lord!" he screamed to the forest, a good distance away from camp "Come out you poor excuse of a Lord!"
He looked around, fuming, and saw the puny Lord sitting on the latest branch of a tree. He was resting his face on his hands, which in turn were on his knees. He seemed unamused but still curious.
"You"
"I don't think I've ever done anything to deserve this disrespect Great Horus" he jumped off the branch and landes elegantly on his feet "What's got you so tense?" He walked to the King, who was scowling "Just because your face is astonishingly pretty it doesn't mean you should make faces like that" he made a mock scowl.
He yelped when the King roughly yanked him by his arm, iron grip on his forearm.
"Don't play fool" he threatened.
"I never play fool. Great Horus." He growled back "Now you'll explain why you're so mad or would you like me to play guess?"
The King huffed, but unhanded him.
"We were ambushed when you had me busy"
"When I?" Squeaked the Lord "Are you insinuating I planned it?"
"It's the logical conclusion yes"
"Well you might want to rethink that because although I am -technically- Lord of this land, my people aren't here"
"That's sounds too nonsensical"
"Believe what you might, but the people who live here don't like me very much" he said before sitting on the floor, legs crossed.
The King sighed but -against what his logic mind said- believed him. He sat beside the Lord.
"And why -pray tell- don't they like you?"
"Because I'm the King of games" he smirked.
"That's nonsense" snorted the King.
The Lord pouted "And why do you think that?"
"Because that title belongs to me"
"What if your subjects lost in purpose because they feared you?"
It was the King's turn to pout "They wouldn't -"
"You have prove?"
"My cousin! He's too prideful to even consider letting me win"
The Lord shrugged "That's only one person though"
"You know what? I'll bring my deck and we'll see who truly is the King of games"
"It's a date then" chirped the Lord standing up "I'll go find you, so be prepared Great Horus"
He didn't wait for an answer. And, in a blink of an eye, he was gone. Again.
It wasn't long when the Lord found the King again. They had moved after the attack, and had has no lore incidents.
"Great Horus!" greeted The Lord, who had apparently been waiting for him in his tent.
He was quite comfortable on the King's bed. The King duly noted that it didn't annoy me as much as it should (in fact, it didn't bother him at all.).
"Beloved" he greeted, feeling his face grow hot "Ready to lose?"
"I should be asking you that" he stood up on the bed, and hopped off of it.
The King shuffled the deck and sat by a table, the Lord followed him.
"What do you want to play?"
"Whatever you want" said the Lord with a playful wink.
The King chuckled "Well then, hope you're ready"
"For you? Always"
They played and, in all honesty, Great Horus had underestimated the Lord more than he thought. Their games stretched for hours, only two rounds and the sun was already starting to set. By the third's end Great Horus had to admit defeat.
He couldn't help but laugh.
"I admit it," said Great Horus "I greatly underestimated you"
"And so did I Great Horus" nodded the Lord "You are very good"
"But you are better, I'm embarrassed of admitting defeat but…" he shook his head and snorted not really mad of losing against this puny Lord.
"You don't seem angry though" noted the Lord.
"Surprisingly, I'm not, I've found this rather… Exciting"
"I'm glad then" he smiled, and Great Horus' heartbeat picked up at the raw honesty in it. "Would you like to play again?"
"Not today, Beloved" the nickname escaped his lips without permission (not that he cared) "It's quite late for games. But perhaps another day." he smiled and it brought color to the Lord's cheeks. "How does that sound?"
"That sounds delightful"
They kept meeting to play almost everyday, the Lord always seemed to appear when Great Horus had free time.
One afternoon, while playing a board game, the Lord asked a strange question.
"If something were to happen to you," he said not looking up from the game "what would happen to your people?"
The question took the King by surprise, so he took a moment to process it.
"If something were to happen to me… That left me unable to continue ruling as Pharaoh?" The Lord nodded "My cousin would take the throne"
The Lord hummed pensive and continued the game.
"What about you?" Asked the King.
"What about me?"
"You are a Lord, are you not?" The Lord shrugged, which the King took as affirmation "But you don't rule your people, do you?"
"What gave you that idea" snorted the Lord.
"You seem to have quite the free time" he got another shrug as response "And you don't seem to worry about any responsibility"
"My grandfather is the one who does all the ruling and he insist I enjoy my time while I can"
"Quite the carefree lifestyle"
"I guess. Anyway I win again"
Great Horus laughed.
Great Horus laid on the grass, the Lord right next to him.
"The men are tired" sighed the King.
"Why?"
"We've been on campaign for almost a decade, they want to go home but I don't wish to stop."
"What is it you want?"
"I want to see the world, I want to discover it and I want to own it."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know. I don't want to stop but if I continue it will only cause me more harm than good"
"What if…"
"What if?"
"What if you continued without your men?"
Great Horus gaped at him "Do you believe me a madman? Suicidal?"
The Lord sat up.
"I-I could go with you" he did not look at the King and the blush on his cheeks made the King's heart flutter. "You… you could come with me, there's yet much world to explore where I come from."
"Aren't you native here?"
The Lord snorted "Are you interested in my proposal?"
"What if I am?"
"Well, if you accept then, maybe, I could… tell you my name." that got the King's attention "I only you give me yours too of course."
Great Horus sat up and -without thinking- placed his hand over the Lord's, who finally looked at him.
"Let us meet here tomorrow and I'll give you my answer." he gently took the Lord's hand and brought it to his lips.
He looked up to find the Lord gaping at him, his face completely red. And it made him feel great.
"Hows does that sound?"
The Lord gulped "A-absolutely delightful."
Great Horus couldn't not smile.
The Lord was already there, waiting for him, barely hiding his excitement.
"Beloved" he greeted.
"Great Horus" grinned the Lord.
He hopped to the King but made no move to touch him. The King reached out and took the Lord's hand.
"So what will it be?"
"Do you think you'll family will like me?"
He could swear that he was momentarily blinded by the Lord's smile, who threw himself at him in a hug.
"So what should I call my Beloved?"
"First things first." Great Horus chuckled and rested his forehead to the Lord's.
"I'm Pharaoh Atem, and you?"
"I'm Yugi. Well then Atem, are you ready?"
"For you? Always."
Yugi laughed and took Atem's face into his hands, dragging him down to smash their lips together. Atem's hands went up to Yugi's nape and he inclined his face slightly to make the kiss more comfortable. And neither couldn't not smile.