Title: What I See

Author: SOrion

Fandom: Hercules – The Legendary Journeys

Pairing: Iolaus/Hercules

Disclaimer: Not mine. I'm just playing with them, and they've survived worse ;-P

Rating: NC17

Word count: 3000+

Beta: fireun & prettyhairs Thank you -

AN: This is a birthday present for my sister that she will hopefully enjoy

It starts out as a parody, but should be slashy (and hopefully sensual), soon after...

It was the 18th of October. Not that either of our heroes knew that, them being ancient Greeks and not Romans, but that is neither here nor there. The fact remained that they did, however, know what that day meant.

"You know what day today is?" Iolaus said one morning while stowing away some leftover food, after a night of camping outside next to his best friend.

"A nice one," Hercules smiled.

And indeed it was. Sunny, blue sky, fresh air, cheerful birds chirping... Well, you get the picture. Usually, it would have been the perfect day to start out beautifully and end in devastation and death or something... But Hercules wasn't really the person to look at a day in that manner.

"It's Lady Beatrice's birthday." Iolaus smirked, like he often did, when he believed to have one up on his friend. This time, he did.

Hercules' smile turned painful and he squeezed his eyes shut. "Oh, Gods..."

"Oh, yes. And you promised to pay a visit. And, oh, look! We're really close to her home..." He chuckled evilly.

"Oh, Gods," Hercules repeated, unable to utter anything else. "I think I'm coming down with something."

Iolaus' eyes glinted. "Not if she has anything to say about it..."

"Oh,Gods!" He turned towards his friend and assumed a very, very stern stance. "I'm not going. The woman is insane!"

Iolaus crossed his arms. "So she likes men. What's wrong about that?"

"Together! Men together! Which I wouldn't care about one bit, if I weren't one of her targets!" He pointed a finger at Iolaus. "And so are you, if I might remind you."

"Well, thanks a lot!" His hands went to his hips. "I'm not that unpleasing to the eye, you know."

"Not what I meant."

But Iolaus refused to stop, now that he had a good reason to continue. "And I have quite the list of females who would confirm that. So, okay, maybe you've got a notch or two on your bedpost, too," he admitted, "which really only proves Lady Beatrice's point, if you ask me..."

"Stop it!"

Iolaus froze in mid-rant, which looked pretty ridiculous, what with his hands and face still in action, but Hercules didn't notice, because he was busy with his own facial gymnastics, conveying something akin to complete disbelief.

"Listen to yourself!" Hercules demanded.

Iolaus replayed in his head what he had just said. "Yes...?"

Hercules' next salvo of incredulous expressions was interrupted by a convenient shriek from the village, conveniently located nearby.

And our heroes did what heroes do in such a situation and... No! They didn't run away to make out behind the next tree, dammit! Sit back down, right now!

They heroically charged to the rescue.

Well, they charged into the village, really, where they encountered three very evil, ugly and smelly looking men, who were growling in character.

It wasn't much of a rescue, however, because three convenient (if admittedly a bit out of left field) things happened to the very evil, ugly and smelly looking dudes:

The first spontaneously combusted, the second got eaten by some dinosaur-lizard thing, and before the third could start screaming like a three year old pig in a tutu, an ominous shadow appeared that turned out to be a one ton ACMETM weight which crushed him flat.

Our heroes stood there kind of dumb founded, staring at the remains of their adversaries, as soon as the dust had settled a bit.

It was very lucky that none of those unfortunate events had struck Iolaus, because it would have been a very Iolaus thing to do... you know... to get splattered by an ACMETM weight. And you have to admit that it was convenient...

"Huh. That was convenient," said Hercules. (See. Told you.)

Iolaus' eye wandered between the bloody spot, the pile of ashes and the prominently-placed-in-the-middle weight. He tried to say something, but nothing came to his mind that would have come close to expressing as much as his "attempt to process failed" face.

Slowly, the dust disappeared completely and two pairs of eyes widened, considerably.

There, right on the ACMETM weight was a big, pink, satiny, birthday-present-like bow with Lady Beatrice's sign on the knot. (I will not describe that sign in-depth. Just trust me when I tell you that it was very crude, very obvious and very... ahem... phallic.)

"Ohhh... Uh..." Hercules grabbed Iolaus' shoulder. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Iolaus nodded, nervously. While he didn't mind the lady quite as much as Hercules did, this was going too far... He eyed the weight, once more, and the both of them ran (or stumbled, really) out of the village and into the next forest.

Neither of them noticed that they had run towards Lady Beatrice's fortress, instead of away from it... but they were a little too busy gasping for breath to remember that tiny detail.

They stood back to back and looked around the clearing they had ended up in, as if maybe one or all of the threats were still after them.

Hercules swallowed hard and relaxed a bit, when the quiet remained uninterrupted. "I hate running away."

Iolaus threw up his hands. "Exactly what were we running from, anyway? From not being blown up by... nothing? From not being crushed by weights that appear out of thin air?" He turned to face his friend. "Where the hell did all of that come from?"

Hercules' expression turned sour. "Birthday present...?"

Iolaus tilted his head and looked at Hercules as if he were a particular dense brand of idiot. "It's her birthday. She's supposed to be getting presents, not giving them."

Hercules nodded and shrugged at the same time. "Shedoes have the capability, though..."

Iolaus huffed and had to concede. Rumours had it that Lady Beatrice's sister had come by a magical board with letters on it that could make their every whim become real...

Iolaus shuddered... There was really no telling what else they could be doing with such a thing. What about now? How could he be sure that whatever it was he was doing and thinking, right at this moment, wasn't all just the doing of some magic letter board?

He blinked when a thought came to his mind, suddenly, as if someone had turned on a switch... "Right... Hercules?"

"Yeah?" Hercules turned back around from where he had been staring into the woods.

"You know... You never said, earlier, what it was that repulsed you oh-so very much about... well... me."

Oh, Gods. He had really hoped that Iolaus had forgotten about that dangerous train of thought... "I never said you repulsed me," he answered, incredulously but truthfully.

"I'm sure."

Something in Hercules ran cold at the resignation in Iolaus' voice. He had a suspicion that it might have been his heart.

"Then why do you act like Beatrice and her stupid sister wanted you to perform unspeakable things on a goat or something?"

Despite Iolaus' serious tone, that image made Hercules laugh a little. "You're not a goat, Iolaus..."

Iolaus wasn't in the mood for amusement, and his arms were already on their way to cross in front of his chest, when Hercules stepped forward and stopped them with a firm grip on both wrists.

"You're not a goat," Hercules repeated, his voice serious, now, too. And for a brief moment he wondered, where the courage to voice what he was about to say suddenly came from, after all these years.

"You're the golden hunter. Who wouldn't be flattered at the thought of being considered fitting for someone as fine as you?"

Hercules could feel Iolaus' pulse speed up under his finger tips, and his friend's chest rose and fell, rapidly.

"Not funny," Iolaus forced out of his throat.

"No..."

Iolaus' breathing stopped for several seconds and then he gasped for breath. "Oh, Gods. You're serious."

Hercules drew him closer.

"You can't be s..."

The words turned into a deep sigh, a soft hum, the most beautiful meeting of lips.

Hercules' hands wandered from the wrists to the hunter's hands and their fingers entwined. He pulled his friend closer, still, until he was pressed up against his chest, their arms trapped between them.

Even though their lips had hardly opened, yet, the merging of thunder and fire made the blood in their veins sear and pulsate, like it had never happened to either of them, before.

Trembling, Hercules broke the kiss, stopping a mere hair's breath away from the inviting lips that at every other time held an imp's quirk, but were now only following his in enchantment.

"Serious..." he breathed.

Iolaus moved his lips over Hercules' without really kissing him. "Felt like you were, at any rate..."

Ah... and there it was again, the twinkle in Iolaus' eyes and the quirk of the lips that Hercules couldn't help but answer with one of his own.

Hercules felt another rush of affection break free, and his expression softened. "You are my best friend, my family... You're everything to me."

Iolaus swallowed and nodded almost imperceptibly. "Yeah... Same here."

Hercules' lips formed some words without making any sound, but it looked like 'come' or maybe 'come on'...

Whatever it was, Iolaus answered the call and their lips joined, again; and this time, their tongues met in a sensual dance that made them both feel dizzy.

Their hands parted and Iolaus' found their way to his friend's sides, while Hercules' cupped the beloved face in front of him, tilting it slightly to delve deeper into the sweet mouth.

When Iolaus pushed the tan leather and cloth out of the way to roam over the strong chest and back, Hercules gasped and kissed and nibbled along Iolaus' neck.

The fabrics fell to the ground, and Hercules more or less ripped away what kept him from returning the same pleasure to Iolaus. He went back to the neck and rushed out in a breathy voice: "You don't know for how long I wanted to do this..." He didn't know he was going to say that, until after he had done it. But it was true, painfully true.

Iolaus pulled Hercules back into a quick kiss and smirked. "I would say something about the big hero being afraid, but that would be a bit hypocritical, don't you think?"

Hercules didn't smile back – much to Iolaus' surprise – but looked into his eyes, seriously. "Would it?" he asked, sounding almost insecure.

Iolaus shook his head in disbelief and lifted a hand to caress his friend's lips. "You know, for a half-god, your self-esteem is crap," he said, smiling tenderly. Then he sighed... "Years and years and years," he admitted slowly. "I don't even remember how many." He shrugged, helplessly. "It's just... always been there."

Hercules heard the words through a haze and looked at the partially undressed body in wonder, watching it glow golden from the sunlight that broke through the leaves. "You're so beautiful," he said, laughing at his good fortune. "I can't believe..."

But Iolaus didn't let him finish; he grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him into a passionate kiss that he didn't intend to stop any time soon...

The world tipped to one side, and before they knew it, they lay on the ground, embracing each other.

Iolaus rolled them both around, until he could lie between the strong legs, holding on for dear life, swallowing the twin moans that escaped their throats, as their groins finally collided.

Hercules gasped, again and threw back his head. "Io... Iolaus!" He grabbed Iolaus' ass to pull him closer, create more friction... to spark his fire, like his friend always did. His hands wormed themselves under the snug leather, and he smiled into to kiss at the immediate gasp that followed his actions.

Iolaus' clever hands started undoing Hercules' pants, not all that easy a task, in the heat of the moment, as the hunter had to discover.

After his hand had slipped for the third time, he laughed and broke the kiss for long enough to look at what he was doing. "That's it. You should start wearing a toga."

Hercules chuckled, put his hands behind his head and watched Iolaus work. When he was finally lying naked in front of him, he searched his eyes.

Iolaus grinned. "You're not going to grow shy on me, now, are you?" He practically feasted on the view that presented itself to him. "Nothing to be shy about, that's for sure..."

Hercules reached for Iolaus' pants, and together they ripped them off as fast as humanly and half-godly possible.

Hercules parted his legs once more and welcomed the wonderful weight to join him. His arms wound around the now naked body, his hands threaded through the golden locks and they kissed slowly and with a steadily burning passion.

When Iolaus started to move, Hercules met his thrusts. The meshing of their bodies surpassed any other sexual experience they had ever made. From the fighting side by side for decades, they knew the other's body almost as well as their own and now used that knowledge in a different kind of dance, entirely.

Adrenalin flooded them, excitement drove them, and soon their movements became frantic; gasps and moans cut through the silence in the forest.

Hercules felt Iolaus caress his chest and tease his nipples, and he rushed towards the blissfully blinding abyss... "No..." he gasped. "Not... not like this." His hands stilled the hips between his legs and Iolaus lifted his head from where he was sucking his neck, his eyes unfocussed and almost black.

"Wha...?" was all he could utter.

"Want you. Want all of you."

Iolaus kissed him, the glistening lips too inviting to resist, and gave his mind time to catch up with what his friend asked of him.

Hercules spread his legs wider, hooked them around Iolaus' waist and made that mouthed request, again. 'Come on, come on...'

"Herc..." Iolaus all but whimpered, before he devoured his lips, again. But when Hercules not so subtly manoeuvred his hips downwards, his eyes shot open. "Whoa, wait, wait, wait... Need... uh..." He frantically looked around for something, anything...

Hercules couldn't possibly have cared any less about whether he got fucked with or without lubricant, as long as he got fucked... "Don't care. It's okay... Just..." Then he saw Iolaus stare at something he had picked up.

It turned out to be a red flask with a gold top and a gold letter on the side... ϐ

Iolaus looked from Hercules to the flask and back. "I... don't think I care enough about her possibly watching, for us to stop... Do you?"

Hercules never moved his eyes from Iolaus' and unscrewed the top with one hand. "Not one bit."

Iolaus tipped the flask over his fingers, moved the hand between Hercules' legs and lower... and without preamble pushed two fingers deep inside.

Hercules' eyes went wide and his chest heaved, his face showing nothing but complete bliss.

Iolaus moved his fingers in and out twice, before Hercules started moving with him.

"Enough, enough. Just... Please, Iolaus. Come on..."

Iolaus chuckled throatily and used the rest of the oil to coat himself. "Couldn't have waited much longer, anyway..."

He steadied his pulsing flesh with one hand, quickly bit a nipple and then in one fluid motion pushed in.

Both yelled in pleasure, pain, pleasure, pleasure, pleasure... and Iolaus stilled for several seconds to let Hercules adjust and keep himself from coming within a blink of an eye. He trembled from the effort and squeezed his eyes shut.

Hercules lifted his head and lightly kissed Iolaus' lips, and when Iolaus opened his eyes, they swam in each other's gaze for a small eternity, marvelling at how they fit, how they had always belonged, how they finally were together.

Hercules ended the kiss, his tongue flickering out, once more to graze its counterpart. "Love me," he said, hoarsely.

Iolaus pulled out and pushed back and shivered at the silky tight perfection. "Love you." He crushed his lips to Hercules' and quickly established a rhythm, accompanied by their almost desperate moans.

They moaned and gasped in quick succession, mostly unable to decide whether kissing or breathing was more important.

Iolaus reached between their bodies to pump Hercules in time with his thrusts, when he felt himself getting close.

And only a few strokes later, Hercules pulsated in Iolaus' hand, let his head fall back and yelled in his completion, the other man only moments behind.

He pulled his friend closer. His best friend, his family, his lover... lover... and caressed the trembling body, enjoying the softening member still inside him.

Iolaus lazily kissed along the chest and neck and a shudder of aftershock ran through his body. He slipped free and Hercules grunted at the sudden loss. "Sorry, big guy."

Hercules just shook his head and smiled.

"You okay?" Iolaus asked and lifted his head to look at the face below him.

Hercules' smile widened into a grin and he cradled Iolaus' cheek. "Mhmm..." He stretched luxuriously. "Gonna have to return the favour, sometime soon, though..."

Iolaus chuckled. "Looking forward to it." Then he gave into the urge and kissed Hercules, again.

Neither of them felt inclined to stop, for a long time.

Half a lifetime later, Iolaus gave one last nip and his eyes wandered to the abandoned flask, lying next to them.

Hercules teased his flanks, running up and down with curious fingers. "Are you still worrying about the two crazy sisters watching us?"

Iolaus' lips twitched for a moment then he turned serious, again. "No... I mean, not really." He rolled he flask back and forth with a finger. "What if... if they made us do this? What if it's not real?"

"I love you. And no force in the universe could stop me from saying it, anymore."

Iolaus didn't seem convinced. "Could it... make you say it?"

Hercules nodded, contemplative; but before Iolaus could feel the hurt of that gesture, he said: "It probably could. But it would still be true. Always."

With that, Iolaus' smile returned and lit up his entire face. After only a moment, however, he cleared his throat, bit his lip and nodded. "Uh... yeah."

Hercules snorted. "You don't fool me, buddy."

Iolaus smirked. "Guess not." He gave him another kiss and said: "I love you too, my friend."

The smile, the love and the companionship they shared in that moment... would be with them until the end of their time. Together.

They never thought about either my sister or me, again.

But they needn't have worried... I only write what I see...

END

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