The person who suggested this story is Lover of Sorrow from over on fanfiction.net.
Featherbrain
"IhateyouIhateyouIhateyou!" Joey wailed, stumbling slightly over some tree roots. Luckily, he regained his footing and continued running, letting out a startled shriek as an arrow whistled past his head. He forced back the tears trying to blind him, not wanting his swimming vision to ultimately lead to his demise.
He couldn't really tell who he was yelling at, though. He hated his father for getting his mother pregnant and making him such a
freak. He hated his mother for abandoning him as a child and stealing away his half-sister, leaving him to try and cope alone. He hated the villagers for driving him out, away from the only home he'd ever known, to live as a scavenger in the forest. And he hated the hunters that still strove to kill him despite the fact that he'd stayed away from the village and was actively fleeing all of the people he ever came across.
It was safe to say, though, that at this point, he hated
everyone that kept trying to hurt him!
"
Aha!" Joey yelped as an arrow flew almost-true, piercing his little wing and making him stumble and fall to the ground in shock. Turning his head, he whimpered as he saw his golden-brown feathers becoming sticky with blood. "Ooowww…!" He struggled to his feet, however, and tried to continue on, but his pain and the tears finally blurring his vision had made him careless.
He let out another shriek as he felt something clamp around his right calf and yank painfully, making him tumble to the ground again. He tried to get to his feet again, figuring it was only a thorny vine, but another tug had him collapsing to the ground and writhing in pain. Turning, he let out a sob and reached down to brush his fingers over the bear trap, testing the springs to see if he could get loose.
He couldn't. The springs were too tight, he was suffering from too much shock, and his body just couldn't handle anymore. Against his will, his body shut down, first closing out the pain, then darkening his vision. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was a pair of sharp blue eyes, and he quivered as he wondered if he'd be allowed to wake up just so the villagers could torture him, or if he'd be blessed with the ease of a quick death.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Seto jerked awake as he heard an ear-piercing shriek, nearly launching himself from his perch. Once he was awake, however, he was immediately alert; the animals knew better than to disturb him during his few hours of rest between rounds, so it must have been something new to this area of the forest, or the creatures he was supposed to be protecting were in trouble. He couldn't allow anyone to get hurt. It was part of his job as a Guardian!
Hearing another scream, he rushed toward it, leaping from branch to branch as he tried to figure out what sort of creature made that noise. It couldn't be a deer, but it wasn't a bear, either, because bears' voices were much deeper. A bird of some sort? But it wasn't screechy like a bird—
Coming to a sharp stop, he rested a hand against the trunk of the tree he had stopped in and leaned over a little to see what creature had so badly needed his help. "What the hell-?"
The creature appeared, for all intents and purposes, human. However, after a few more moments of scrutiny, he realized that it wasn't a human—at least, not completely. The little golden wings sprouting from his back despite his large stature proved the creature wasn't a cherub, and upon closer inspection, brown feathers seemed to mix in with his hair in tasteful decoration. Its mane of hair was thick and long, falling just past its shoulders and hiding the face from view, so he wasn't
quite sure if the creature was conscious or not, but when he saw the arrow piercing the little wing, he realized that, despite any misgivings he might have, the creature was in
his part of the forest, and it looked like it wasn't leaving soon.
Seto heard the dogs and hunters coming; he had only a few scant moments to help the poor little creature before it was at their mercy, so he immediately leapt to the ground. He grabbed the bear trap and snapped its jaws apart, then gathered the limp body in his arms, muttering curses at the difficulty the wings gave him for a few precious seconds. Eventually, though, he had the poor thing securely in his arms, and he quickly leapt back into the trees.
Turning to look down, he hissed in disgust as at least a dozen hunting dogs let out throaty bays and surrounded the broken trap, sniffing to find the scent again. Why did those humans need a
dozen dogs to track and kill the creature in his arms?
Seto let out an angry rumble that startled the dogs and made them whine and look around in confusion, even as the men came closer. Once he was sure the dogs were properly frightened, he growled,
"Get… out!" The hounds whined and whimpered, tails curling up under their bellies, but didn't leave; they were too loyal to their humans to just run away.
The brunet snarled angrily.
"I SAID GET OUT!" Yelping in terror at the loud, angry roar, the dogs fled, utterly confusing the humans, but the humans really couldn't hunt anything without them.
Seto grumbled to himself and settled more comfortably on the branch, taking a moment to settle his rescue across his lap, then tilted the blond's head back so he could examine his face. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the smooth, tear-stained face, framed attractively by the messy golden locks.
He smoothed some of the blond hair from the boy's face, letting his gaze drift down to his clothes. They were ratty and holy, and hung from his slender frame as if he'd been stouter, but had lost much of that weight. Testing the integrity of the cloth, the brunet squeaked as what was left of the shirt ripped, then looked down at the strip in his hand in shock. …He sincerely hoped the blond wasn't attached to his shirt.
Seeing that the ends of the blond's fingers were also stained red, Seto frowned and delicately lifted the damaged hand. He raised an eyebrow as he saw what looked like sharp talons extending from the tips of the blond's fingers, the blood surrounding the sharp appendages dried and crusted. Oddly enough, the blond still appeared to have fingernails, though they came to more of a point than any human's nails naturally should. Curious as to how the talons functioned, the brunet ran his finger over the one on the blond's index finger.
He squeaked again as the talon slid out from under his finger, back into the blond's flesh.
The smaller boy groaned quietly, whimpering in pain as the talons slid back into their hiding places, then fell limp again, sweat dampening his brow from the pain he was in despite unconsciousness. "Nngh…"
Seto blinked, then reached out to wipe the sweat away carefully. "What exactly
are you? A gifted or cursed human? A bastard child of mixed species? Ah—I see. That's it, isn't it? If the gods had cursed you, they'd have been merciful in changing you completely; you must be the bastard child of a mixed species to look so strange."
He frowned as he was reminded of the blond's other injuries; his leg was soaking the brunet's robes, and while one of the blond's wings was tucked gracefully against his back, the other was askew, the arrow piercing it still glistening with blood.
"…How are you so odd looking and yet still so beautiful?" Seto asked quietly, frowning, as he ran his thumb over the boy's bottom lip. "…Do you have destructive powers I don't know of yet? Poor little child…"
So he wasn't exactly sure how old this creature was; however, he knew that his age would be a drop in the bucket compared to his own seven hundred and forty-eight.
Well, he might as well keep the blond around until he knew whether he was evil or not. If he was evil, he'd kill the creature himself. And if he wasn't evil, well… Seto had always been a sucker for blonds. He could keep the little blond around until he grew tired of him.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Joey hissed as he felt something yank on his feathers and reached back to clamp his hands over the back of his head. "Nngh! Those are attached t' my
head!"
"Ah. My apologies."
"Yeah, ya better apologi—
aii!" The blond yelped and shrank away from the voice, suddenly aware that he was awake after being caught by hunters. He looked around wildly for instruments of torture; he was baffled when he didn't find them.
Instead, he found himself in a rich-colored room, decorated with gold and sapphires. The wood of the bed frame, cabinets, tables, and chairs were a deep, rich cherry, and the carpet covering the floor was a mixture of dark crimson and indigo-blue, swirling so attractively that he almost wanted to get down on his knees and kiss it.
Then he remembered the voice, and he turned sharply, talons already forcing their ways through his skin and out his fingertips defensively. His breath stilled for one heartbeat—two—when his eyes landed on the speaker. He looked up at the brunet and bit his bottom lip, heart already sinking to his toes.
The man was tall—imposingly so—his sharp eyes seeming to add to his commanding aura. His body was made of hard muscle, making Joey stop even
hoping of winning a fight and escaping—and he knew that because the man was only covered by a small white tall that left little to the imagination. Not to mention the black lines decorating his body from his shoulders and down his arms—
"Oh,
gods!" Joey pointed at him in horror. "You—You're the—the—"
"A demigod and Guardian of this land, yes," the brunet finished.
Joey forced himself not to swoon at the deep voice; he was lucky the demigod hadn't just killed him for trespassing. "I-I—I'll get outta your hair then," he stated quickly, turning to slide off the bed. He only got one step, however, before he collapsed with a howl of pain as fire shot up through his leg. "Ouch!"
"…You were injured, if you'll remember," the demigod reminded him, frowning, then walked over to lift him easily. "I was worried you'd lost too much blood, but silk is surprisingly tricky; it only
looked like you'd lost too much. In any case, that's one set of robes ruined."
"…'m sorry…" the blond whispered, frowning, as he looked down at his tightly bandaged calf. "…I… I don't have any money to replace 'em…"
The brunet snorted. "Please. I'm a demigod. I don't
need you to replace them. Now, I've deduced that you're some sort of human hybrid; tell me what your other half is." He prodded the younger boy's healthy wing to make his point. "How old are you, anyway? –You've gotten blood all over the bed!"
Joey cringed and looked down at his hands, forcing his talons to disappear into his skin again as he noticed the finger-shaped smears of red across the golden covers. "I-I'm sorry." He grimaced and tucked his fists beneath his chin. "…I-it's my bad luck, sir. It follows me everywhere. That's why the villagers banished me; it's 'cause I'm half griffin."
"Don't call me 'sir.' I've never been traditional and I have no interest in starting now." The man snorted in contempt. "My name is Seto. Use it when you address me."
The blond looked down at his lap and sighed as tears formed in his eyes. "…I'm sorry…"
"…Griffins don't carry bad luck. Where the fuck did your village get its information?" Seto asked after a moment, scowling. "Griffins mate for life. Surely your griffin parent could have protected you."
Joey flinched. "…No. He had sex with my ma and left. 'nd when I was old enough t' take care of myself… she and my step-dad abandoned me, took my sister with 'em."
"Oh." The brunet took a moment to pull his metaphorical foot out of his mouth. "…If it makes you feel better, the other griffins probably killed your father for his dishonorable actions."
The younger boy looked up at him in shock. "…How is
that s'posed t' make me
feel better!" he wailed, then covered his face and began to cry; at least before, he'd been able to pretend that maybe his father
did want him, but couldn't take him because he'd been born mostly human. Now he didn't even have
that far-fetched dream to delude himself.
Seto frowned and lifted his hands helplessly. "I didn't mean to… You don't have to… to
cry. Look, just… calm down, and stop crying…"
Joey huffed and shoved him away. "No! At least I could
pretend someone wanted me, but now ya
ruined it—" He cut himself off, stunned, when the demigod stumbled backward, but the towel covering him preferred to stay underneath him where it had gotten stuck, leaving the brunet bared to his gaze.
Erm… Well, Seto was a natural brunet…
"…I'm so sorry!" the blond exclaimed, covering his cheeks, then hurriedly dragged himself to the other side of the bed and managed to get his good foot on the ground. Crying could wait; right now, he had to escape before the demigod smote him. Or, at least, that was the plan, had the brunet not used his demigod powers to appear in front of him and shove him back onto the bed. "Agh!"
Seto scowled. "Nudity is a perfectly natural state of being, despite what humans believe. I'm not ashamed of myself, and I don't care who sees me."
Joey bit his bottom lip and averted his eyes. "…I can sure see that…"
"Of course you can; you have eyes, don't you? As a matter of fact—" The brunet paused, taking in the younger boy's flushed cheeks and the way he kept his eyes down submissively. "…You're attracted to me."
The blond sputtered helplessly. "
No, I—"
"You're giving off the same pheromones that a bitch in heat does." Seto frowned when he recognized the scents of shame and humiliation mingling with, and then overpowering, the scent of arousal. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. You're not the first person to be attracted to me, and you probably won't be the last."
Joey dug his teeth into his bottom lip again, forcing the tears trying to surface back. "…I… I should go now…" he mumbled quietly, sliding his good foot back onto the ground, and was grateful when the brunet stepped back to allow him room. He just wanted to leave with all of the dignity he had left.
Or, that would have been the plan, had his injured leg not immediately given out the moment he put weight on it.
He gasped quietly as the brunet caught him, blushing as the strong arms wrapped around his waist. "Oh!" He lifted his hands and rested them on the demigod's biceps, shivering a little as he felt them flex beneath his fingers. "…I…"
Seto hummed thoughtfully as he ran his fingers up the blond's back. "…Hmm. Even as attracted to me as you are, you still deny feelings. It makes me wonder… why?"
Joey bit his bottom lip and jerked his head to the side. "…People called me 'featherbrain' 'cause I can't handle people touchin' my wings 'r my hair. 'nd that didn't change when I was old enough t' have sex." He ducked his head a little. "…'nd people always like grabbin' my hair 'r yankin' on my wings when they touch me. They think it's sexy or somethin'."
"Hmm." The brunet hummed thoughtfully even as he slid one of his hands up. "So you're saying you don't like… this?"
"Wha-? Haaaa—
aaaaa…!" The blond jerked his head back in surprise, body quaking as he felt the demigod's finger tip rub the base of his uninjured wing lightly. "Aaaahhhh…! Aaaaahhhh!"
Seto smirked as he watched the hybrid's eyes widen unseeingly. "Does that hurt?"
"
Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" Joey's good leg buckled, the only thing keeping him from falling the brunet's strong arms, and his wings shook as he continued to rub. "Oh-! Oh!"
"My, don't you sound just
erotic." The demigod smirked wickedly as the blond wiggled, unable to escape, then gently carried him back to the bed and leaned him back to sit on the edge. "So if I move my hand… here?"
The blond let out a helpless wail as Seto's hand wrapped around the base of his good wing and rubbed it slowly, hand twisting in a way that made his blood boil in a manner he'd never felt before. "
Seto!"
Seto smirked as the younger boy let out another wail as he came, then fell limp in his arms, sobbing. "That didn't feel too bad, did it?"
Joey could only continue to sob, somehow feeling violated despite having enjoyed the warm touch. "How-! It's s'posed t' hurt! I'm s'posed t' cry and beg for mercy—How did ya make it feel good!"
"…You've…
never had someone bring you to climax like that?" The brunet frowned. "And you've… never made yourself climax like that?"
The younger boy's sobs quieted into little hiccups. "…Is that why it hurts when people grab 'em? It's just like bein' kicked in the balls, but it's my back?"
Seto nodded. "Yes. I noticed they're too small for you to use them, and since they're extremely sensitive to the point of pain, it was the only thing that made sense. …You don't know much about your own body, do you?"
The blond mewed helplessly. "It's not like I had anyone to teach me-!"
"True, true." The demigod tilted his head thoughtfully, then smiled. "I have an idea. Why don't I help you figure out what your body can handle?"
Joey sniffled and wiped one of his eyes. "…I dunno…"
"If you don't like something, I'll stop immediately," Seto offered, idly petting the blond's thigh. "I only want to make you feel good, after all the trouble I went through to save you."
"…Oh." The blond blushed and bit his bottom lip, then nodded shyly. "…I guess I wouldn't mind, if… if ya really insist, and… and I
do owe ya for savin' my life, so… so as long as ya don't… ya know… break me t' pieces," he mumbled, blushing a little more at the thought of what the brunet might do to him.
The demigod purred. "Then perhaps you'd like to learn a little more right… now?"
Joey turned his gaze away meekly. "…Um… I sorta wanna get clean a little bit first." He glanced down at his ratty, stained pants, cheeks growing rosier.
Seto seemed disappointed by this at first, but after a moment, his lips quirked into another smirk. "Please, then, allow me to help you…"
"O-oh, ya don't hafta—" The blond paused when he saw the older man's dark gaze on him. "…
Oh! You
wanna help me!"
The brunet sighed. "I have the feeling that this is going to be very trying for my patience. …But I'll manage, somehow."
