IT'S YOUR DESTINY!!!

[nopunchline]

Who: Anyone, everyone? Aoba and Declan to start.
What: Destiny
When: After the House of Wolves, before The Taken King.
Where: Earth, The Last City, The Tower and beyond.
Warnings: Could be sorta zombie stuff (Hive), could be xenophilia? I dunno. Gen warnings, yo.

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Earth. 700 years into the future, humanity is all but gone, huddled in a massive city in the mountains, surrounded by gargantuan walls and living in the shadow of the slumbering, perhaps dead, body of The Traveler. The massive being of benevolence and light that came to Earth bearing gifts of knowledge that would bring about the longest Golden Age in Terran history, hovering in geostationary orbit over The Last City of men, protecting what is left from The Darkness beyond with the remains of it's Light.

For those on Earth it is a well-known story. With The Traveler's dying breath it created Ghosts, fragments of living Light that in turn resurrected men and women across the galaxy, bringing to bear the Guardians, warriors to fight the Darkness. Earth and all the nearby planets are populated by humans, the Awoken, Exos and a variety of species of ever more distant origins, some less generous than others. The Guardians make their headquarters in a colossal spire at the edge of The Last City. There, in the Tower, the Vanguard and other factions of humanity work together to hold the line and fight the Darkness and every other threat to the known universe. The little understood Guardians rarely venture beyond the Tower, preferring the company of their brothers and sisters in arms, but all look to the Tower as a beacon of hope.

There is danger and adventure to be had; the likelihood of death and the possibility of rebirth. The future is uncertain, but all who walk in the Light know the Darkness is coming, and the wise life to the fullest.

[ Destiny Wiki ]

Comments

[nopunchline]

He didn't need the push, not really. He'd already intended to get his clothes off somehow, he just needed to tell Aoba so the man could either assist or move for a moment. With Declan already wanting his clothes off, the little barely there press of Scrap resulted in those always gentle, strong hands reaching up, gripping the sides of his t-shirt, and tearing the thing right in half with a loud rip.

"Wh--?" Declan made some small sound of distress, looking back and forth between both hands at the shredded fabric - he liked that shirt - before shaking it free and standing to sweep his pants off, kicking them away from his ankles. He wanted skin on skin more than he wanted the shirt, and didn't think about the consequences of his nudity for a second. Not until the pants were off, at least, and he coughed, covering himself with a little strained laugh of horror, cupping himself down as his eyes cast to the side.

He was not acting himself, he thought, closing his eyes tightly and breathing out slowly as he stood there, mildly paralyzed and feeling extraordinarily exposed for someone that had, until Aoba came into his life, been something of a naturalist.

[nopunchline]

"Just a feeling. It's one of the most dangerous places in the system, but I'm most at peace there. I love the Reef, and I'm always very happy there. Nothing seems better. But there are times when I go out of my way to get assigned to the Moon, and just stay there for weeks," the Titan answered, sucking crumbs off of his thumb.

"I like going out into the middle of an empty mesa and making camp far away from everything. I don't even bring my ship. Just my gear and something to lay on, and I stay there in the silence staring up into the darkness of space. There's nothing on the moon, no atmosphere, so it's clear all the way up and out. When you lay on a tall place, it's like you're just out there in space, closing in around you and opening up at the same time. The 'nothing' of it all is comforting...but I don't know why. Any other time being alone makes me feel a bit miserable, really."

[scrappyblue]

It sounded a bit like being in the hammocks had been, Aoba thought. Looking out that great braced window and feeling like space was everywhere. Except Declan was removing the window…and thankfully had an entire moon at his back.

“It kind of sounds to me like it’s…maybe like meditation for you,” he hazarded after some thought. “A way for you to just get way from everything, pretty literally.”

He offered a smile then, tapping his headphones. Conveniently, they still fit around his neck even with all the Hunter gear on, tucked neatly inside the hood. They were such a permanent part of him that he had yet to leave them behind even on these excursions.

“My music is like that for me, sometimes. When I put on my headphones and turn them up, the rest of the world just goes away. Doesn’t mean I want it to go away for good, but sometimes you just need that feeling for a while.”

[scrappyblue]

Did he really just- Watching Declan do nothing less than tear his shirt in half was simultaneously one of the most surprising and most arousing things Desire had ever witnessed. Goosebumps pricked up his skin at the sudden rush that he felt, and for that matter, his prick got all the more ‘up’ as well. It was frankly unfair how much he suddenly wanted those gentle-strong hands to be doing all number of things to him, given his understanding of how many of them Declan simply wouldn’t. It was almost thankfully that Desire was given reason to laugh just shortly after. This statuesque giant of a man, a supposed wrecker called Decker that Aoba had yet to see express anything more than frustration, a Titan with achievements and awards that went on for pages upon pages…was embarrassed by his boner? “I’ve got one too, you know,” Desire reminded him, standing with his legs slightly apart and a brief ‘tada’ gesture of his hands towards his own erection, flushed with arousal and all but straining the Guardian’s direction.

[nopunchline]

He nodded, giving it a little more thought as he turned and thumbed through a case of hard files and datapad documents.

"I usually go when everything just gets to be too much. Too loud, too angry, too lonely. Too anything. I go out and get away from everything and just remind myself how enormous everything is and how small I am, even when I feel too big. I wanted to take you to my favorite spot..." He huffed a sigh, pulling his helmet back on and shaking his head.

"I hope there's time before you go. We even have to cut Venus a little sorter than planned just so we can meet with the Sovs and Xur. Can't keep royalty waiting."

[nopunchline]

"Yes, I am very aware, thank you," Declan coughed softly, eyes skyward as he did an odd little tap-dance on the spot, feet flopping softly against the metal flooring as he tried to amp himself up again, get out of the headspace screaming for him to remember his manners.

"I'm sorry. I've never...I've been nude around others in the showers and things at the barracks, changing in the field. It's not the same when you're...you know..." He jerked his chin downward, indicating his arousal.

"Or intending to do something that requires nudity. I'm...not accustomed to this. Just because I know of things doesn't mean I've done them. In this life, anyways. I'm nervous," the Titan groused and fretted, Trying to push himself down but only succeeding in a more insistent erection.

"I've tried very hard not to think about things too much. I mean...some things I thought about anyways but I thought too much fantasizing was as bad as my advances and betraying my promise not to pressure you. Now I can't stop thinking about things. It's dizzying." Honesty overload.

[scrappyblue]

“We’ll make the time,” Aoba answered, letting his friend see his smile before he took the cue to put on his helmet, too. It was Aoba’s least favorite part of the ensemble by far. Remarkably it fit in such a way that he neither felt too smothered or like he couldn’t see well, but their helmets hid their faces, and that he wasn’t too keen on. “Maybe royalty can’t wait, but I can. If everything you show me before I go doesn’t include your favorite place, that’ll bother me.”

[nopunchline]

"If you keep waiting just because I don't get to show you around, I'll keep coming up with things to show you so you stay," Declan chuckled softly, head turning away in a trademark gesture that accompanied one of his shy smiles. Even with the helmet, some things could be seen in their own ways.

"Let's head out. The research post is a bust. It was just a shot in the dark, anyways," the large man sighed, waving Ren and Ghost over, the latter disappearing the way it did when returning to being part of Declan.

"I'll ride through where the sulfur flats are so you can see before we leave. It's on the way back around through the canyon route. Afterwards, it's back to the stars and straight on until the Reef. I've got some more assignments out that way. A meeting with the Queen costs."

[scrappyblue]

And he was talking to the wrong Aoba to really parse it, too. “Right, right, born-again virgin,” Desire acknowledged vaguely, idly moving a hand to touch himself now that no part of Declan was anymore. It was slow and deliberate, and certainly he meant it to be provocative. One hand boredly on his hip, the other wrapped around his dick, he dragged his fingers up and down the blood-flushed flesh rather than leave it so woefully neglected. Slowly, though. Drawing it out was kind of a pleasant torment. He didn’t want to get off alone, just being watched of all things, but he was too horny to just stand there. “Maybe you should just sit down on that bench in there and let me show you something they’re good for.”

[scrappyblue]

Well. At least the helmet hid Aoba’s surge of a blush. That was unexpectedly convenient.

“Aa,” he gave his little sound of acknowledgement as he bent to pick up Ren the old-fashioned way, having no such means to carry the Allmate as a part of him. (And as of yet still devoid of awareness that a long time ago that had been the only way he’d carried him.) “Ready to take more pictures, Ren?”

“I have taken several hundred thus far and still have the storage space for a hundred times more,” came the ready agreement.

[nopunchline]

A huffed sigh, one hand balling in a trembling fist, the other still covering himself, albeit only as a formality.

"I'm not a child...I know I'm not as quick as some people, or as educated, but I think for myself. I'm not afraid of doing things...I'm just afraid of failing at them. I don't want to humiliate myself with you when you're the only person I want to impress," the Titan explained, backing up towards the shower again, glancing at the interior then back to Aoba.

"I know things I want to do. I know I want to feel you against me. I know I want to put my hands on your body, and my mouth. I want a lot of things. I just don't know if they're right, or if I'll just seem stupid to you. You're...you're very intimidating like this, alright?"

[nopunchline]

"Are you liking the upgrades?" Declan asked conversationally. He was always easily inclusive of Ren, treating him like a person as deserving of respect as any living biological being. He had a lot of experience with artificial life.

"Let's get a picture together on the cliff over the center before we go. The sun always looks amazing reflected on the water past the ruins. Like emeralds and amber. We can take our helmets off long enough for that. I think it'll look extraordinary with your hair this color," he reached out, cupping a hand against the side of Aoba's helmet with a nod before turning to lead the way.

[scrappyblue]

Well, Desire hadn’t been about to judge, but damn. He liked what he was hearing. Mostly the parts about what Declan wanted to do to him. The ideas already being there meant that Desire only had to get him to act on them, instead of give him some ideas to start from in the first place. “Big guy, you are talking to totally the wrong side of me if you want to know what’s ‘wrong’ or ‘stupid’. The other side’s the one that does that kind of over-thinking, which is why I’m up front right now. The thing that I do is go after what I want.” He flicked a hand in a dismissive gesture. The free one. The one he wasn’t touching himself with. Damn, they’d been having such a good make-out, why were they talking right now? The things an id had to do. “I don’t want you to impress me. I want you.”

[nopunchline]

"I want you, too," Declan replied, looking somewhat surprised at the admission before his expression hardened with a bit more conviction.

"I don't understand any of this. I don't...I don't know if you'll be angry with me tomorrow or not. But I want to spend as much time with you as I can before you're gone. And this...these are memories I want..." As much an admission to himself as Aoba, both hands fists then, forcing himself to move his hand away from his in all honesty painful erection. Lavender. His dick was lavender.

"Could...I touch you, instead?" he asked, face hot as he gestured vaguely between the two of them. I don't like touching myself." He'd learned that hard fact recently.

[scrappyblue]

Wait, no, he had a helmet on to hide his blush and now Declan wanted him to remove it again? Maybe the walk would be long enough to get his cheeks to cool down again. And maybe Desire could stop giving him those pointed ‘looks’, too. “They are incredibly beneficial,” was Ren’s initial response as the two men walked and he was carried along. After a bit of reconsideration, he adjusted his answer. “I like them very much. With Ghost’s assistance, I am functioning as if I existed in this state from my beginning, though I remain aware of my vast improvement.” “H-Hey, I did the best with what I could,” Aoba threw in, half using the jibe to distract himself. “I know, Aoba. And I am not ungrateful. The advances of technology in this era we are in do not discredit what you had to work with in our time. I would not exist without you.”

[scrappyblue]

“That’s what I’ve been trying to get you to do,” Desire could not but point out, despite his gaze having abandoned Declan’s face in favor of staring at what the Guardian had finally revealed. Honestly, the color only made sense after seeing his lavender-shaded blushes before. More importantly, goddamn. Jackpot. Now if he could just find the right combination to get less talking and more doing. Taking the initiative just scared the Guardian backwards a few steps, while waiting for him to show any had decidedly mixed results. As delicious as the torment of being so aroused without progression was, Desire was really a whole lot more interested in actually getting off. He was getting cold again, too, without the warmth of Guardian to counteract water-chilled skin. With something of a sigh, since Declan had balked twice so far at getting all the way to where Desire had been trying to herd him, the aspect half gave up and went for a new tactic: he sidled past the Titan, himself, hitting the controls to start filling the glassy enclosure with the encompassing heat of steam. He was actually starting to shiver, could you believe it?

[nopunchline]

It was a walk and a bit of a climb that Declan had to help with because Aoba didn't know how to use the jets in the suit, so he had plenty of time to recover. Provided he didn't lose it when Declan princess carried him for a bit of the steep climb, levitating up skillfully.

"Don't take it poorly, Aoba. You're using technology on him that's centuries ahead of your time. Anything is a vast improvement, even if you had him outfitted with the finest money could buy back then," he reassured his friend, giving Aoba's shoulder a squeeze before reaching to rub one of Ren's ears gently.

"I'm glad you get to go home with something to ease both of your lives," the Titan remarked, gesturing for them to follow around a stone arch overgrown with flowering vines. Pushing past opened out into a truly incredible view, a vast expanse of gem-like water and jungle shores stretching out before them with volcanoes in an amber mist on the horizon.

"I dedicate this view to my friends," the big man rumbled softly, gesturing out at the landscape.

[nopunchline]

"I didn't know you wanted me to touch you like that," Declan protested under his breath. Hard to say that he'd wanted to put hands on Aoba's cock, since it shocked himself. Worse, he wanted to put his mouth on the man's arousal and he had no idea what inspired that level of obscene.

When the water came on and Desire didn't immediately step into the steam and spray, Declan turned and reached out, cupping one of his massive hands on the back of the other man's neck before sliding slowly down his spine.

"Don't...don't turn around...not yet. Just give me a minute..." he pleaded gently, stepping in behind Aoba and leaning to press lips to the back of his neck, after delicately brushing his hair to the side. The Titan was still oblivious to any feeling in his friend's hair, so it wasn't taken advantage of (not that it would have been) when seeking to warm Aoba and taste skin without being faced with full frontal nudity just yet. He needed to work himself up, but at least it was more proactive than previous instances.

[scrappyblue]

He totally lost it. It was almost a mercy, though, that half of his embarrassment was just from the indignity of it all. Look, he understood that carrying gear on their backs made piggybacks out of the question, but come on…! And he totally wasn’t going to acknowledge Desire’s wondering if Declan might not have chosen this path on purpose.

The view at the top was definitely awe-inspiring, though. It was hard for Aoba to say if it was more so than any of the vistas on Earth, given the crowded cityscape that had been all he’d known for most of his life, but that didn’t mean he dismissed it to any degree. He set Ren down and the Allmate trotted off a ways, undoubtedly capturing a new photo of the scenery with every glance around that he took.

“You know,” Aoba began, still at the Guardian’s side, “as different as everything looks, sometimes it doesn’t really feel like an alien planet to me. It could just be a side of Earth that I’ve never seen before and I wouldn’t know any better, since I never really saw anything but crowded buildings back home.”

[nopunchline]

"When you are home again...you should take your Granny and go see things as they are. Enjoy life with her for a time. Life then, in your time, is fleeting, and the world is special. I want to see you again...but don't come back until you know your life there is more complete. You have people there that love you, that you love..." He sighed, reaching up and tugging his helmet off, shaking out his soft white hair.

"I'm not going anywhere...but they might."

[scrappyblue]

Desire wanted to grumble that he’d told Declan as much already and was about to call into question how chaste these ‘compromises’ were going to end up being if something so simple had him shocked, despite his claims of already knowing where he wanted to put his hands and mouth. Two things stopped him. One of them was Reason. The other was a hand in his hair. With every strand a sensitive nerve, it was a suddenly overwhelming amount of sensation, even despite being gentler than Desire himself could have asked for. A low groan caught in his throat even before he was tilting his head forward, exposing even more of his nape to Declan’s lips. Goosebumps prickled his skin, but this time neither they nor his shivering was the fault of a neglected chill. It silenced Reason just as much, but the undercurrent from him was more subconscious, anyway. The reminder that Declan was intelligent and poetic, but rarely made assumptions. Things Desire thought were simple and obvious were not necessarily so. So somewhere at the tail end of that groan, he managed, “I want you do to everything to me. The only limits here are yours.”

[scrappyblue]

Declan’s words gave Aoba more of a chill than they probably meant to. Not because of the implied mortality of everyone else he knew, though that was certainly a part of it, but…because he had to question himself again. If he was being irrational, if he wasn’t seriously weighing every single factor involved, if he was just—just momentarily infatuated, then…. Ren trotted back around, prompting Aoba to push back his hood and carefully pull off his helmet. There was less shaking on his part, and instead more careful finger-combing as his hair all spilled out of the confines and he directed it gently over his back. “…You’re a much wiser man than me, Declan,” he sighed quietly, cheeks well cooled from feeling small and stupid. It was all his own fault, though. None of it was Declan’s.

[nopunchline]

"I won't do everything to you. I wish I could make you understand," Declan murmured, taking a step closer in so his chest just barely brushed Aoba's back. His skin prickled and there was a tightness between his shoulders, feeling his bare nipples brush flesh. It was utterly riveting, yet he still managed to continue kissing and nuzzling along the side of the other man's neck, hands drifting.

He kept a palm high, holding Aoba's hair out of the way and keeping him still with a light grip, while the other hand curled around, running up and down the flat expanse of belly. Eventually he steeled himself enough to close the distance between them, his arousal sandwiched against Aoba's buttocks, his roaming hand splayed against the space just above the other man's groin. He trembled, and there was no way Desire couldn't feel it.

"I don't have any limits, though. Anything you would have me do to you, you do to me. Show me the things you want and...if there comes a time when we have an accord and all of you is willing to accept my affections, I would be pleased to lavish you with every attention you desire. For now...I'll do my best to please you within my self-imposed restrictions."

[nopunchline]

"Not really. It wasn't until recently that I understood loss. You haven't even gone yet and already I am keenly aware of the void that will be left behind in your absence," Declan mused, looking at the other man a moment before gazing out at the water and the jungle outcrops on the white stone slabs dotting the shores.

"I am only speaking from the experience I know I'm going to endure; cherish the people in your life, and life fully. I will...survive your distance, Aoba. Because I will do everything in my power to make it so you can come back. But I can't help your life back home. I cannot make guarantees about that place, so all I can do is practice patience."

[scrappyblue]

“Damn it, big guy,” Desire sighed, frustrated enough to breathe the words, but unable to hold anything close to a grudge when he was finally getting touched more. He leaned his weight back against the Guardian with a flush in his cheeks and his erection achingly swollen, squirming at the feel of things being so close but also so slow. This beating around the bush had gone on long enough. Declan didn’t make assumptions, needed things stated plainly for him? Fine. Reason needed to get over himself. “I’m trying to make you understand. I wouldn’t be here if part of me refused you.” He slipped his own hands back, each one finding the outside of a marble-white thigh to grip, securing himself in place all the more. It was less about emphasis, though, and more just about putting his hands somewhere they could hold on to.