Chapter Text
"I like the way you say my name."
"You do?", Eivor asked a bit surprised.
"Yes." Hytham chuckled. "Always so distrusting in the beginning but now..."
Hytham stood up from his desk, parchment in hand to sort into his cabinet and walked over to where Eivor leaned against it.
"Now what?" Eivor inquired. He hadn't even noticed how the way he'd said Hytham's name had seemed to change over time. Maybe he had started to think of him as his own friend, too?
"You're always so worried about my wellbeing. Even before you trusted me."
Hytham's voice turned into a whisper that made Eivor's stomach tingle in a well-known fashion he hadn't felt since he was a youth. How could he have missed this? But this time around, it hadn't hit him like Mjölnir straight in the chest with it's force but crept up on him - slowly but steadily until he had finally noticed it just this moment. How long had it been there and grown right under his skin?
"You're Sigurd's friend and an ally. Of course I care about what happens to you."
"Is that all I am to you?"
Hytham's pale blue eyes bore into his own as if he was trying to look into Eivor's soul and for a moment, Eivor almost he had been caught. They were standing so close he could hear how even standing still, Hytham's breath still was going much too heavy. Eivor's eyes kept darting down to Hytham's lips seemingly on their own.
"What am I to you, Eivor Wolf-Kissed?"
Eivor's body acted on it's own accord and moved closed to Hytham until their noses almost touched. The parchment fell to the floor - completely forgotten - when Eivor put his hands next to Hytham's head against the cabinet.
"I don't know..." He softly admitted. "But I think I'd like to find out."
Their kiss started out chaste and so unlike Eivor and neither was satisfied with it, seeing as Hytham took hold of the back of Eivor's head and pulled him much closer with a disgruntled noise, crashing their mouth together. Their teeth clacked for a moment and the kiss was a bit too wet for Eivor's liking but he enjoyed Hytham's amateurish attempt anyway. It still made heat pool in his belly and his fingertips tingle when he put them on Hytham's cheeks to guide his head into a better position to deepen their kiss.
Eivor hadn't expected such a forceful move from the shorter man. Hytham had always seemed so reserved and cool-headed when they had talked in the bureau - especially in comparison to Eivor himself. But then he thought of Hytham's involvement in his fight against Kjötvi and how an impulsive reaction had cost Hytham his health. There was still a rash young man hidden behind all the composure and duty.
Eivor had never been a big fan of kissing but now he could kind of see the appeal, even with Hytham being as unpracticed a kisser as he seemed to be. Something about the other man made his heart hammer against his rips as if it was trying to break out and Eivor was sure that with as closely pressed together as the two of them were Hytham could even feel it in his own chest.
Hytham pulled back to catch his breath and Eivor wasted no time kissing a trail down his neck and then up again towards his ear. Hytham's breath hitched, followed by a loud moan echoing through the empty bureau.
Smirking, Eivor nibbled on Hytham's ear which made Hytham angle his head and grab Eivor's shoulders to keep him exactly there. Hytham seemed to be enjoying himself judging by the whimper that escaped him when Eivor gently bit his earlobe. Eivor wanted to take him right here on a desk on top of his papers and ruin him for anyone else's touch.
"Let me have you, Hytham."
Another whimper.
"Yes."
Hytham seemed to marvel at the ease with which Eivor picked him up and carried him over to the desk he'd worked at earlier. His legs came up around Eivor's waist and one of his hands went from Eivor's shoulders to his bulging upper arm and squeezed it appreciatively before he kissed him again as soon as he was set down. Eivor happily kissed back and it took him a few moments to make sense of Hytham's outfit to pull his breeches down enough for his hand to reach inside and squeeze.
"Okay. I didn't expect to see this." Sigurd's voice suddenly interrupted.
Eivor hadn't even heard the door open and Hytham hadn't apparently either judging by his shocked face.
"Sigurd," Hytham mumbled as if Eivor hadn't already noticed him.
Eivor slowly pulled his hand back out of Hytham's breeches and turned around to face his brother. This wasn't the first time Sigurd had walked in on him in a compromising position and Hytham was far from the worst one to be caught with. At least this time around Sigurd liked his bed partner.
"What is it?" He replied as if nothing awkward had just happened. and thankfully Sigurd played along.
"We were waiting for you at the docks," His brother explained. "It's not like you to show up late so I came looking for you."
Internally, Eivor cursed his rotten luck. Couldn't Sigurd have shown up half an hour later?
"Well, now you've found me," He grumbled. "I'll be out in a second."
Sigurd looked between the two of them a few times, nodded and then headed back outside.
Eivor reluctantly stepped back from the table but Hytham caught his arm.
"Stay safe out there."
Hytham looked at him with a fondness Eivor was not used to seeing in someone outside of his family and he didn't quite know what to do with it.
"I'll be fine."
Hytham's hand went down to his hand to pull him closer again to kiss him and Eivor lost himself in it.
"Brother, we're going to go without you!" Sigurd's voice called out, muffled through the thick wooden door.
"He's lying," Hytham whispered as if he too was afraid of breaking what had just blossomed between them.
"I know," Eivor chuckled. As if his brother would ever set sail without him firmly by his side. "I'll see you in a few weeks then," He said much more confidently than he felt.
Hytham smiled.
"I'm looking forward to it, vikingr."
Eivor allowed himself one last kiss before joining Sigurd outside the bureau.