Under Professor Bel’s instructions, the rangers helped get the students to the parking area and the waiting bus within two days. After seeing the students off and waving to the retreating bus, Bel glanced over his shoulder. Faunus’s golden eyes stared out of the forest, watching the tiger’s every move.
With a shake of his head, Bel said, “I need to make a few calls to the University, to make sure they have all my equipment coming and finish the debriefing.”
Faunus rumbled in assent; he did not move from his spot even as Bel strode around the dirt field where a single ranger’s jeep remained. The forest rangers had left Bel the keys, just in case.
Not that Faunus would let him leave.
Bel held up his phone, moving the device around to find the spot with the strongest signal. Finally, he grunted and pressed the call button. While he spoke with the University and reassured everyone on the list that the forest was as safe as any forest could be, Faunus rumbled. Bel glanced at the forest god and saw his golden eyes turned to the skies.
Frowning, Bel followed the god’s gaze and grimaced.
“I’m going to have to call you another time. It’s about to start storming,” Bel said into the phone. Before the person on the other end could respond, Bel ended the call. He hurried over to Faunus and the giant elk nudged into his chest.
“Get on. We are going to my sanctuary,” Faunus said, his tone broking no argument.
“You realize I am going to want to shower and have a few modern amenities regularly? I can’t just live in your sanctuary, it is quite literally a dead zone for radios,” Bel said even as he climbed up onto Faunus’s back. The forest god snorted and shook his horned head, causing Bel to duck and press into the elk’s back.
“Hey! Watch the antlers!” Bel hissed, his ears flattening and tail curling tight against the god’s back.
Faunus snorted and started off, walking at first through the trees. “I will… make it possible…”
“Make what possible?” Bel asked as he ducked again when Faunus angled his antlers away from some branches.
“This,” Faunus murmured, glancing back at Bel, causing the professor to duck again. “For us. For you.”
Bel flushed at the words and nodded, rubbing his cheek into Faunus’s dark neck fur. “How? I guess I don’t understand how you can keep the forest pristine while fitting my technology in it…”
Faunus snorted and picked up his pace, hopping over a stream. “I will make it work.”
With a sigh, Bel carefully straightened and glanced around the forest, watching the fauna and flora pass them as the god threaded between the trees. “I… believe you.”
Because you could have just kept me there. Locked me in your sanctuary, Bel thought as he stroked his fingers over the golden fur. None the wiser... and I probably wouldn’t have cared.
When the waterfall and pool came into view, Faunus stopped at the edge of the pool. Bel slid off his back and the god shifted, shaking his fur out until he stood on two legs. Towering above the professor, Faunus rested a hand on Bel’s orange-red hair. The god smiled and stroked the strands, running his fingers over the tiger’s round black-tipped ears. Bel huffed, but leaned into the touch.
“Come,” Faunus said, stepping down into the pool. He turned fully for Bel and opened his arms, inviting the professor. Bel smiled and closed the distance, wrapping his arms around the god’s neck. Faunus encompassed Bel in his arms, pulling him off the ground, before turning and striding towards the waterfall.
Once again, Faunus used his huge, wide horns to block the water and only a few droplets even touched Bel. The professor had a feeling there was a bit of magic behind that, but as of yet, he hadn’t gotten any further in his magic-to-science research.
As a man of science, it was his duty to understand what Faunus - and the others - classified as magic.
Faunus set Bel down on the edge of the inner pool and ruffled the tiger’s hair, before passing him. His hooves chimed and echoed in the cavern sanctuary. Turning his horned head up towards the starlit opening in the ceiling, Faunus flicked his wrist. A green-tinted film spread over the natural hole just as the first drops of rain broke from the clouds.
Bel hesitated for only a moment. Faunus glanced over his shoulder, then held out a hand towards the tiger. With a huff and a shake of his head, Bel stepped forward and took the god’s hand.
“Try not to wear my back out,” Bel teased with a smile, “I’m old, ya know.”
Faunus’s chuckle rumbled in the space as he tugged Bel to him. “Old? No… matured… experienced… seasoned… yes. But not old.”
“Okay, sure, I don’t compare in years to your ancient butt, but you are an immortal godly being and I, oh poor me,” Bel teased with a hand on his forehead, leaning into Faunus, “I am but a mere mortal forced to grow old and decrepit, wilting like a flower… and you’ll stay the same. Perfect and huge and virile.”
Faunus let out a snort and shook his head, leaning down to nuzzle into Bel’s hair. “Not if I have a say in it…”
“I’m sorry?” Bel asked, raising an eyebrow and staring up at the god, who smiled and kissed the professor. Faunus did not answer and turned, settling on the mossy bed among the trees.
Bel hurried over to join him and put his hands on his hips, frowning. “Oh, no. You are not going silent on me, oh wise and mysterious god of the forest. What did you mean?”
Faunus reached up and took Bel’s hands, gently pulling them from the tiger’s hips. He kissed and nuzzled the fingers, humming deep in his chest. When he took a finger into his mouth, Bel groaned and tried to pull back, just to keep his head clear.
But Faunus wasn’t having it. He smiled around the finger and sucked in a second, wrapping his tongue around the appendages and sucking on the flesh.
“F-faunus,” Bel groaned, sliding a foot back with all the will in his body. Swallowing hard, the tiger tugged free and took several steps back. Bel took in several breaths and put his hands on his back, stretching and opening his lungs. “Hooo boy. Alright. Alright, alright, alright…”
Bel leveled a frown at Faunus and crossed his arms over his chest, in his best impersonation of one of his peers. “Faunus, I would not be here with you if I didn’t love you - somehow even though I’ve basically known you for like three days wow that sounds super sketchy and crazy-”
Faunus rumbled, frowning, as he sat back against a tree and watched Bel as the professor began to pace, completely losing his imposing impersonation. Bel ran his hands through his hair as he thought out loud.
“It’s crazy, right, that I’d just throw away my life to be with you?” Bel continued, tilting his head this way and that, rubbing at his stubble, and wishing he had asked for alcohol in the care package. “I mean, I wasn’t planning on getting my doctorate anyway, so that’s no loss, and I don’t have a house or anything, just an apartment that by all accounts costs too much for how little space I have. No loss there, we have the whole forest and the cabin back at camp for anything that shouldn’t be in the elements…”
“You are talking in circles,” Faunus rumbled, turning his eyes up to the hole in the cavern ceiling. The rumble of thunder threatening a powerful storm filled the space for a brief moment.
“Are you unhappy with your decision?” Faunus asked, his golden eyes meeting Bel’s.
The professor stilled and thought on those words. He rubbed at his chin, twisted his jaw, pushed back his shoulders, and stared up at the ceiling. Finally, Bel turned on his heel and stared Faunus down.
“Am I unhappy with my decision? Do I regret saying yes to you, to worshipping your absolutely glorious cock?” Bel asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. Though his cheeks heated up, he lifted his chin and said, “No. I don’t regret it. I am not unhappy with it.”
Faunus let out a breath, a slow smile spreading his perfect lips. With a shake of his head, Bel strode back to the moss bed and knelt before the god. The tiger grasped Faunus’s hand in both of his and squeezed, meeting that smoldering, golden gaze.
“At least I don’t think I am,” Bel admitted honestly, “I have a lot to think through and make sure I’m not completely giving up my life before you. I want to keep helping and teaching kids. I want to show them that this place isn’t dangerous, just needs respect and understanding.”
Bel brought the god’s hand to his lips and kissed the knuckles. He settled between the god’s legs and scooted close. “I want… I want them to understand you.”
Rumbling in pleasure, Faunus cupped Bel’s cheek in his free hand and pressed their foreheads together. “I am pleased you are so wise.”
With a little laugh, Bel squeezed Faunus’s fingers briefly. “So… what did you mean before? About me not wilting if you had a say in it?”
“Just… that you and I will be together for a long time,” Faunus murmured, “because you are my mate. You will share the same long life I enjoy… because our souls are bound. You are mine and I am yours.”
Wide eyes stared up at Faunus and the tiger’s mouth fell open. It took several moments of swallowing and flexing his jaw before Bel could form words.
“What…?” Bel croaked, trying to process that information. “That’s… that’s a helluva bomb to just drop…”
“Bomb?” Faunus asked, tilting his head and blinking slowly. “I do not understand. Did I destroy something?”
Bel shook his head, smiling stupidly. “Nevermind. Don’t worry about it.”
He pushed his forehead into the light fur of Faunus’s chest, breathing slowly as his mind raced. A thought occurred to him then and he straightened, nearly hitting Faunus’s chin with the quick movement.
“Wait a damn minute,” Bel hissed, his ears flattening, “am I stuck as a middle-aged out-of-shape raccoon-eyed miser?!”
Faunus stared at him for a brief moment before he let out a full-bellied laugh. With a shake of his head, Faunus patted Bel’s head.
“The magic will be slow,” Faunus explained, “but your body will eventually become your prime, your body’s ideal. Once your body stabilizes, you will be as strong as I with my same weaknesses.”
“Weaknesses… like fire?”
The god shook his head with a smile. “Fire… is dangerous, yes… but not a weakness. It is a cleansing, necessary thing when not out of control…”
“Then what? I need to know so I can be careful,” Bel pressed.
“Yes, you do need to know…” Faunus murmured, stroking Bel’s hair. “Abnormal. Abominations. Creatures that should not exist in nature.”
“Like… the two people who left with my students,” Bel said, frowning.
The god nodded slowly. “Yes. They are… unnatural. Their sire more so. Corrupted. Rotting. Infected.”
Bel shivered and rubbed his forearms, suddenly cold. Faunus tugged Bel close, holding him against his broad chest.
“You need not worry,” Faunus continued, “their sire has never come here. Has no reason to. You are safe here. The forest already recognizes your right to be here.”
Bel smiled and rubbed his cheek into the downy fur. “Really? Are you sure we don’t need to… reinforce that right?”
Faunus chuckled and kissed Bel’s scalp, right next to one of his ears. “Oh? And how do you propose we do this?”
“Well, it involves me naked…” Bel murmured, his cheeks flaring, but he forged on, “on top of you...riding your cock…”
With a pleased rumble, Faunus trailed his hands down Bel’s back. He gently began to tug at the professor’s clothing. “That can be arranged…”
Laughing, Bel fell back as his god peeled his clothing from his skin. Faunus smiled and fell upon him, pressing their lips together - again and again.
~~End of Bel and Faunus~~
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