30 Nights

Author: Lauand
Beta: Bookofnicodemus (Sex Slave #6)
Theme: #15 – Telling you the Truth
Rating: PG for this chapter.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: The cards are up and the game is revealed.
Author Notes: Thank you very much to Books (you, sexy thing) for the beta-ing.



30 NIGHTS
Fifth Night - Cards On The Table


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Today had been a rather long and stressful day by Sanctuary standards. Milo had had no time to prepare any strategy nor go to the city and buy a dozen or more trays. He even pondered the possibility of skipping his daily (or more accurately, nightly) visit to the Temple of Virgo, but in the end he decided against it. He not only thought that it was important to show his perseverance and interest to the mistrustful Knight of Virgo, but he also enjoyed greatly the short conversations and puns exchanges between them. Shaka was not only pretty. He was fun. Who would have thought.

The atmosphere he sensed when he entered the foreign shrine was different, though. Something was out of place. The usual calm and peace that normally pervaded the place had been turned into an odd sensation of quiet tension. Like a perfectly immobile rubber band just about to snap. He was suddenly glad he hadn’t brought any tray with him this time.

“I know about the bet.”

Yeah, definitely glad.

Milo walked with his accustomed sure pace towards the cold voice that had just spoken. Shaka’s tone showed no irritation, no anger, no feeling at all. It was a good thing that Milo didn’t show any uncertainty either.

“Hmm…” the Knight of Scorpio wondered aloud when he finally reached his colleague, sitting as always in the lotus position, “has that sissy lapdog of yours told you about it?”

“Define sissy,” the mystic calmly replied. “Because well, I’m not sure what you are making reference to, being all of us so macho and all…”

Outright sarcasm. Shaka had to be indeed annoyed if he was being so direct in his retorts.

“Well, not all of us… but I definitely am.”

“Yes, I’m impressed,” Shaka declared. “Now that I’ve confessed my absolute admiration towards you and your virility, would you kindly remove yourself from my Temple? Thank you very much in advance.”

Wow. Virgo was clearly pissed if he was allowing himself to sound so caustic. The neutral tone could have been deceivingly inexpressive, but the aggressive words gave away the feelings of irritation behind that cold mask.

Letting his lips curve slightly in a little smug smile, Milo ignored the clear dismissal and got near the sitting Knight. At every stride, he could feel Shaka’s cosmos expanding in a silent warning. Noticing how the Knight of Scorpio blatantly ignored the danger, Shaka felt forced to talk aloud.

“Don’t think that because I keep my eyes closed I’m blind, Milo of Scorpio.”

Milo’s grin grew a bit wider.

“Then, can you see it Virgo? Your cosmos reacts to my presence…” he kept getting closer and closer, and lowering one knee to the floor, he brought his face to Shaka’s, posing his cheek millimetres away from Virgo’s, whispering directly in his ear, ignoring the impending explosion of Shaka’s cosmos and his utter banishment from the place to get his words to caress the inner shell of the blond’s ear as he softly talked, “it’s getting hotter and hotter, burning… ready to explode at my touch.”

Shaka didn’t deign to reply. He knew perfectly well that Milo wasn’t stupid and was aware that the heat of his cosmos was a sign of warning, not of excitation. So he just kept himself quiet and motionless, waiting for Scorpio to get the hint and go away or expel him himself if he finally crossed the limit and tried to touch him.

Being that close, Milo could sense the other man in every way possible. Every hair of his blond mane, the heat that his body emitted, the smell of his skin… For a fleeting moment, he felt like kissing him. But even reckless and boldly confrontational as his nature was, he knew he was treading a very dangerous line here, and that step would certainly bring his downfall. So he comforted himself with inhaling deeply and finally backing away. Shaka smelled clean.

Thanking Buddha for the passive nature of his adepts, Milo stood up and with a playful wink, he turned his back on the impavid blond Knight and walked out of the Temple of Virgo.