A Demon Knight's Tale
By Silk

"What in bloody hell are you watching?" Uh oh, Curt thought, turning away from the TV to glance at Brian. Brian sounded like he'd gone one too many rounds with Mandy. That was enough to give anyone a headache.

"Some movie, man. About a king and this other guy, I think his name is Lance, for Christ's sake, fighting over some chick."

The frown that marred Brian's otherwise handsome features disappeared slowly as his interest was caught by the action on screen. "You mean King Arthur and Lancelot?"

"You know 'em?" Curt asked brightly.

The frown returned. "Don't you know *any* history besides your own, Curt?"

"Hey, man, I can't remember what I had for breakfast. You think I'm gonna remember some medieval shit about knights and round tables?"

Now it was Curt's turn to frown. "And why the fuck are the tables round anyway?"

"There's a symbolic meaning to all of this, Curt, that seems to be lost on your American brain."

"Hey, you leave my American brain outta this, man. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not dumb."

"I never said you were, Curt. Now slide over so I can sit down."

"You want to watch this with me?" Curt exclaimed, his dark eyebrows disappearing into his hair.

"I'm hiding out from Mandy," Brian admitted, grasping the remote. He turned up the volume slightly before putting the remote down on the other side of the couch.

"Why? What'd you do?"

"It's not something I *did*, Curt. It's something I *didn't* do."

"Like?"

Brian sighed in frustration. "She's been chasing me for four days now. She wants to...you know."

Curt looked thoughtful, his expressive gray eyes growing soft and contemplative as they focused on Brian's face. Which was suddenly a lot closer than it had been a moment ago.

"Well...she *is* your wife," Curt said in his distinctively husky growl.

Brian's fingers played restlessly with the remote next to him, but his light blue gaze was fixed on Curt. "Yeah. She is."

Curt shifted his body into a more comfortable position. Suddenly his pants felt snug in one particular place. While arousal was usually a pleasant condition for him, in this case, it presented more complications than he was ready to deal with.

"Hey, I'm missing the movie. You're the expert. Why don't you try explaining this shit to me?" Curt wasn't surprised to find himself chattering. Lately it was a natural reaction when he was around Brian. He wouldn't mind if it didn't make him sound so fucking girly.

Brian sighed again, but this time, it wasn't because of Mandy. It was because of Curt. He was incredibly attracted to Curt, but Curt was sending him mixed signals. "It's not that hard," Brian began to explain. *Hard*. Brian willed his erection to go down, but when you were a hammer, it was pretty difficult not to treat everything like a nail.

"That's King Arthur." Brian pointed to the stately looking gentleman on the screen.

"Uh huh." Curt's mouth went dry. Brian was staring straight ahead, not a sign that he knew what he was doing to him, but his right hand was creeping into Curt's lap.

"That's Lancelot." Brian indicated a much younger man standing next to a beautiful blonde woman. "He's a knight."

"Right," Curt said huskily, not daring to actually look at Brian. If he did, Brian might stop what he was doing, and he didn't think he could stand that. Brian's hand seemed to be moving all of its own volition, its touch more of a caress than a stroke.

"Who's the blonde?"

"Guinevere," Brian answered absently. He didn't know why Curt was allowing this, but he couldn't bear it if he made him stop.

"She's pretty."

"Yeah."

"So what's their deal?"

"They're both in love with her."

"Wow. A triangle, huh?"

Brian nodded silently.

"Um...Bri?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe it's me, but it seems like they're more interested in *each other* than *her*."

Brian blinked and turned startled eyes on Curt, his hand frozen in place between them. It was all Curt could do not to squirm anxiously to feel his hand on him again.

"You think so?"

Curt gazed at Brian, his gray eyes astonishingly clear. "Yeah, I do. I think Arthur's in love with *Lancelot*, not Guinevere."

"Really? What makes you say that, Curt?"

"The way he's looking at him," Curt replied, his tongue flicking out to moisten his lips.

"How is he looking at him, Curt?" Brian's eyes suddenly dropped to Curt's mouth, and the temperature in the room increased by several degrees.

"Like he wants to..." Curt's gray eyes darkened as he stared intently at Brian's fat bottom lip. "...kiss him."

"What if he did?" Brian asked, unable to prevent a throb of anticipation from coloring his voice.

"Then he'd know how Lancelot really feels about him."

"How does he feel?" Brian whispered.

Curt shook his head, provoking a long strand of dirty blond hair to fall across his cheek. Brian reached out and tucked it behind Curt's ear. But when he was done, he didn't remove his hand. Instead his hand slowly drifted down the side of Curt's face, his fingertips lightly abrading his skin. "I think...he has to kiss him...to find out."

Brian's face drifted closer, and Curt's lips parted slightly. Oh, God, Curt's brain registered faintly, he's going to do it. He's going to call my bluff and then...then what am I going to do? What am I going to say?

Their mouths met, and Curt's eyes slid shut. His own response to Brian's kiss shocked him. It was every bit as intense as the younger man himself, but underneath the obvious desire...there was something else. Something tender and fragile that longed to lodge itself deep inside Curt and never
come out again.

When Curt reluctantly started to break away, Brian went after him, his mouth seeking and devouring. Suddenly Curt fell back, his head hitting the arm of the couch with a soft thump. Brian followed him, his slender frame arching along the more noticeably hardened lines of Curt's body. "Are you all right?" he breathed against Curt's mouth.

"I don't know. How does the movie end?"

"Unhappily, I'm afraid."

"Arthur never tells Lancelot that he loves him?"

Brian shivered. He felt like he was on the verge of discovering something strange and elemental about himself. "No," he whispered.

The light in Curt's eyes faded. Suddenly Curt couldn't bear to be in such close proximity to Brian. He pushed Brian off him and swung his legs around to sit there, hunched over, his hands kneading his thighs. When Brian tried to touch Curt's shoulder, the older man visibly flinched. "Don't."

Brian felt something inside of him clench painfully. "We could rewrite history, Curt."

Curt glanced at him, his eyes now dark and unfathomable. "Not while Guinevere's still in the picture."

"Then I'll have no one."

"Then you'll have *me*."

Brian wrapped his arms around Curt and buried his face against his neck. "I never asked to be the fucking king, you know."

"And I never asked to be your knight in shining armor."

"But you are," Brian murmured, his lips vibrating against Curt's skin.

For long moments, they stayed that way without moving, seemingly content to savor the feel of each other. Then Curt spoke. "I think Arthur owes Lancelot..."

Like they were pulled from the very depths of his soul, the words that eluded Brian earlier spilled from his lips. "I love you."

"I know, man. I just wondered when you were going to tell me."

Brian sank his fingers into Curt's tousled blond hair and held him fast. "It's your duty to save me."

"All you had to do was ask."

The kiss that sealed their fate did not go unwitnessed. But for once, reality did not intrude when two lovers were meant to be together.

Mandy closed the door quietly and left unnoticed, a single tear tracing its way down her cheek. She had never cared for fairy tales. One person's happy ending was another person's downfall.

End