CHAPTER 134: CHAPTER 134: PLAYFUL DECREE

"I’m a god, Elias." Victor’s mouth curved, the faintest glint of amusement flickering through crimson eyes. "Did you really think I’d obey the same distances mortals do?"

Elias blinked up at him, the words dragging his mind back into focus, back to the truth he had known for months but had shoved aside in the chaos. "Right. Right," he muttered, voice rough, breath catching against Victor’s collar. His lips twitched faintly, enough to betray the edges of his humor. "Forgive me for forgetting my boyfriend bends space when he’s in the mood for dramatics."

Victor’s grin deepened, wicked and warm all at once. "Dramatics? You were shaking apart. I arrived."

Elias huffed, the sound thin but threaded with a laugh he didn’t mean to give. "You make it sound like you just walked in from the garden."

Victor’s thumb traced the edge of his jaw, steadying him with that same infuriating calm. "I told you, Elias. You call, and I come."

Elias rolled his eyes, though his chest eased, the panic unraveling by slow degrees under the weight of Victor’s certainty.

"You did. Thank you. I was..." Elias’s voice faltered, shame tugging at the edges of it.

"Losing your mind?" Victor finished for him, quiet but blunt, as if sparing him the effort of naming it. His thumb swept once more across Elias’s jaw, his crimson gaze steady. "You are not the only one. The moment I felt it, I was already tearing the world apart to get here."

Elias let out a ragged breath that might’ve been a laugh. "That sounds unhealthy."

Victor leaned in, brushing their foreheads together, his voice velvet-dark. "It sounds like devotion."

Elias groaned softly, the corner of his mouth twitching despite the weight still pressing down on him. "You’re impossible."

"Let’s get you comfortable and find out what your lovely family is trying to do."

Elias closed his eyes briefly, the words settling heavy against his skin. Comfortable. Family. Both felt like contradictions, like worlds that couldn’t coexist in the same sentence. His head tipped a little into Victor’s, forehead brushing against his as if it cost less effort than holding himself upright.

"You make it sound so simple," he muttered, voice low. "Like comfort is something I can just... pick up off the floor."

Victor’s hand pressed firmer against his spine, anchoring him. "Mhm... maybe something I give you." His tone was quiet, but the steel beneath it left no room for argument. "And tonight let’s calm you down; I’ve already left the article with Samael and Connor. They can be useful after all my work at the company."

Elias’s mouth twitched at that, though it wasn’t quite a smile. "Useful," he echoed, the word dry but weak at the edges. His chest still felt tight, the aftertaste of panic clinging like smoke he couldn’t cough out. "Meanwhile I’m here, spiraling, while you drop articles in the laps of boardroom wolves like it’s a quarterly report."

Victor tilted his head, his crimson gaze unflinching. "Yes. Because that’s all it is to them. Work. Numbers. They will strip it bare, track it to its source, and gut whoever thought to write your name in it." His thumb pressed lightly against the back of Elias’s neck where the bond pulsed, coaxing him back to steady breaths. "You don’t need to spiral. I’ve already set the knives in motion."

The words should have sounded brutal, but to Elias they wrapped like armor. For a moment, he wanted to believe it, wanted to surrender the weight of it all into Victor’s hands and let him be the storm he always promised to be. But the thoughts pressed in again, bitter and restless: ’what if every page I ever wrote was only tolerated because they allowed it? What if my PhD was another leash they fastened around me?’

His lips parted, then shut again, a hollow ache curling in his throat.

Victor noticed anyway. His hand moved up, cupping Elias’s jaw, tilting it until their eyes met. "Breathe." It was a command, velvet-dark and absolute.

Elias obeyed before he realized he had, lungs dragging in air that tasted like Victor’s pheromones, heavy, grounding, and threaded with the kind of certainty Elias couldn’t muster for himself. His shoulders eased fraction by fraction, though his hands still trembled faintly against Victor’s shirt.

"...You make it sound like everything is already solved," Elias whispered finally, his tone somewhere between bitter and yearning.

Victor’s mouth curved, dangerous and warm. "No. I make it sound like you’re not solving it alone."

Elias’s chest tightened again, but this time the sting behind his eyes wasn’t panic, it was relief, sharp and unfamiliar. He turned his face slightly, pressing his temple against Victor’s jaw, hiding the rawness of it as best he could. "...Then don’t let go yet."

Victor’s arm tightened, unyielding, but his voice dipped lighter, sly with intention. "Don’t let go yet? You think I could? You’d have to pry me off with a crowbar."

Elias gave a half-huff against his throat, muffled, but it carried the edges of reluctant amusement. "Terrifying image."

"Mhm." Victor’s lips brushed his temple, not quite a kiss, more like the promise of one. "Good deterrent. Keeps you from doubting that I’ll still be here in the morning."

Elias’s fingers flexed against his shirt, loosening but not letting go. "You make it sound like I’m unreasonable."

Victor leaned back just enough to catch his eyes, crimson gleaming sharp and warm all at once. "I’d like it if you were." His thumb skimmed along Elias’s cheek, the gesture softened with deliberate indulgence. "Tonight, though, you’re going to be selfish in a different way. You’re going to let me drag you to bed, put something real in your stomach, and not think about Adler or your charming father until dawn. That’s my decree."

Elias snorted, weak but genuine this time. "Decree. You make comfort sound like a state policy."

Victor grinned, wicked and playful, the storm in him curving to humor. "It is. One you’ll follow, or else."

"Or else?" Elias asked, dryly.

"Or else," Victor leaned closer, mouth grazing the corner of his jaw, "I’ll keep kissing you until you forget what panic even is."

Elias let out a short laugh despite himself, shaking his head. "Unfair."

"Effective." Victor’s grin sharpened, but his voice softened again as he kissed him slowly, unhurriedly, like anchoring him to something steadier than fear.

When they parted, Elias’s shoulders had eased another fraction, and the tremor in his hands dulled to almost nothing. His chest rose more evenly, the ache inside him muted under the press of warmth.

Victor stroked once more along his jaw before straightening, still keeping a hand at his back. "Tomorrow we’ll go through every line of that paper together. Tonight, you breathe, you eat, and you sleep. That’s all."

Elias closed his eyes briefly, his head tipping against Victor’s shoulder with something between surrender and relief. "...Bossy."

Victor chuckled low, guiding him toward the door. "Playful. There’s a difference."