Chapter Text
Corvus didn’t know what to make of Tamsy Caines once upon a time.
Intuition, a muscle in the back of your mind between your eyes, told him that danger, lies, and chaos came in the form of the young omega.
Arkha Corvus had a reputation for being forward-thinking, level-headed, and intelligent, which came with the expectation of good decision-making. Which was mostly true, he built that reputation for a reason.
It doesn't mean that he was immune to bad choices; he was human, with vices and all.
A problem was that Corvus wasn’t self-aware enough to admit that a small part of the enigma came from the fact that Arkha was thinking with his knot. Aside from the suspicion, the innate knowledge that there was something off about Tamsy, he was attracted to them, physically, which he could live with. That was standard, acceptable, as the blonde was objectively attractive.
What does it say about Corvus that he was attracted to Tamsy personality-wise? Even in his brain, it sounded strange, cartoonishly moronic, and Corvus thinks he is strange to like the omega. They considered how formally nice Tamsy was, that thinly hid a haughty disposition. Still, whatever Tamsy was hiding, Arkha could tell they were spoiled.
It didn’t help that Tamsy was very familiar, very social with the group. He could smell the cleverness and guile on them; their smile held a sharpness, their eyes flickered with a secret, a hidden amusement. There was something he knew that he deeply enjoyed keeping from the rest of them.
It was a liability, he knew that, letting them into the ranks; it was better to keep your enemies close and in view.
He wondered when or how Tamsy found out that Arkha was attracted to him. The member of team Eager suddenly grew close, touching him, subtly rubbing pheromones on him, a gentle flirting from a very bullish person. He wasn’t going to ask them. Tamsy was clear in his attentions; it was a threat.
I know you like me, and I might like you if you do something for me.
Quiet, deadly.
Like a snake in tall grass, he was waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
It was truly Corvus’s fault for being so vulnerable.
Perhaps that is why Tamsy exploited it and why Corvus liked them so much.
A worrying idea.
-
The door swings open, and Tamsy enters.
Arkha knew it was him without looking up; aside from pheromones, the flagrant behaviour was all him. Entering his office so promptly means he was asking for paid time off, and a glance up, he could see long, full hair down; oh, he is going to be gone for a while.
“Tamsy,” Corvus acknowledged, looking up to face the door, sitting more upright, his tone was deceptively light even as anticipation overwhelmed him, danger and trill meet.
He wasn’t even going to imagine what this could mean about him. Not yet, at least.
“Boss,” Tamsy replied, his tone had an intonation he couldn’t quite hide, an accent he wasn’t privy to. Corvus always meant to pry but usually got sidetracked. Either way, there was something melodic about it, granted, if he thought of anything in relation to Tamsy, he would find beauty in it.
“Is there something I can help you with?” Corvus asked with practised ease.
Tamsy hissed his teeth, hand covering his chest to appear wounded by his words, “I am hurt, boss, you make it sound like I only come around when I want something from you.”
That would be an apt descriptor of their relationship. Tamsy is coming near once an opportunity arises; to take time off, a bonus, or something else he doesn’t deserve.
Corvus' eyes met Tamsy’s, “What are you here for?” He asked politely enough, even as the room seemed to shrink around them.
Tamsy walked closer, his fingers pushing his hair from his vision of the scared side of his face, “Paid time off,”
This song and dance.
“Again?”
Tamsy didn't even have the nerve to look offended or embarrassed. He smiled, that unflappable smile as he waltzed closer, “Is there a problem?”
Yes. He was the problem at 5’11. The problem was Tamsy, that this, the cleaners' organiser business, was a business, and paying for Tamsy going off was noble. Unfortunately noble doesn’t pay bills, put food, medical supplies, car gas, inventory, pay for staff, maintenance and repairs when Tamsy is god knows where doing god knows what. Every time Tamsy goes off with that smile on his face, he feels a pit in his stomach that he is enabling some bad behaviour. Scarier than anything, Semiu was going to give him shit for this.
Corvus raised a brow, “Why now?”
Tamsy smiled politely, “Private,”
“Private?” Corvus parroted as the thought, ‘Oh-oh, excuse me? I apologise that I don’t employ you to do everything but work, my mistake.’
Tamsy nodded, his voice had a tone of laughter in it as he said, “Familial.”
Tamsy didn’t have a family to Corvus’ knowledge, even as he knows about Tamsy. Perhaps Tamsy found the secret sauce to grow a family; if that is so, Corvus needs to ask for details, as he would also like to make an extended family from scratch.
“I see, I hope it isn’t a tragedy,” Corvus said, humouring Tamsy.
The blonde grinned, “Oh, on the contrary, a reunion of sorts.”
Corvus couldn’t hide the upturn of his brow.
Tamsy sighed with silky ease. He sat in his lap, the office chair seemed to sink under the weight change. Corvus subconsciously held Tamsy’s waist as he was straddling over the boss's pelvis. “This is inappropriate,” Arkha breathed.
Tamsy chuckled, hands placed on his coat, “Oh please- I know what is in-app-ro-pri-ate,” he sounded the word out mockingly, like this was all a game to him.
Corvus' face was serene despite how left-field this situation is; he was frozen to his core at this progression of events. Yes, Corvus concluded that is exactly why he couldn’t lift Tamsy off, who seemed to be birdboned with how light he was. He couldn’t move because he was shocked. Why else did they stay in place?
“Tamsy-” he warned. Tamsy didn’t move, realistically, he couldn’t as Arkha was holding him in place.
Corvus hoped the door would knock; perhaps that would give a reason to move, put the battery in his back to stop before he got further out of hand. This moment calcified in his head, he remembers how the moment seemed to humidify as he grappled with how close they were. It was all Corvus’ misgivings, weakness, and why he was in this situation.
The silence hardened his awareness of the silence; it thickened the tension as Arkha had to acknowledge that right now, he was hard. On the knife’s edge of temptation, embracing and overcoming, sin and salvation sat on opposite and similar sides.
“I always see you staring,” Tamsy spoke, his tone deceptively gentle, “Your eyes follow me everywhere,”
Corvus didn’t speak, as Tamsy flung his head back and laughed, the accent was thicker now, unfamiliar even to him, “I am flattered,”
Whatever happened next, Corvus would blame it on the pheromones.
Tamsy’s hips collided with the desk as it groaned and pushed back under the force. Arhka found thill, “You are enjoying this.” The blonde had a trying look on his face, barely bracing himself on his upperarms as he stared up at Arkha.
A grunt escaped Tamsy, his face pinched as Arkha slacked. In truth, he didn't mean to so violently lay Tamsy on the table; he swore he had a better angle. He did the gentlemanly thing: “I am sorry, are you hurt?”
Tamsy nodded, “As you said, I am enjoying myself,” shifting the weight off the hipbone.
Corvus sighed, “Let me see if you are hurt.”
Without protest, Tamsy lifted his shirt and lowered the waist of his pants. There was a slight reddened skin; however, there were no signs of bruising or anything serious. There goes a piece of the moral burden of being erect.
His brain froze, his back eye widened in shock, when Tamsy’s leg ended up on his shoulder. Was he that painfully easy to read? “This is unexpected,” Tamsy said plainly.
Corvus looked down at Tamsy, “Are you trying to seduce me?” he asked, heart racing.
“You did most of the work, boss.”
Corvus didn’t answer; his wide eyes narrowed.
“I am wet,” Tamsy said flippantly.
Reclining further onto the desk, guiding Corvus’ hand south towards the heat, under his clothes and underwear right between his legs, he had scars there too, Corvus computed. Sure enough, right as his words, Tamsy was wet on the outer part of his labia, was slimy, and then he reached his finger in, only pausing when Tamsy gave a vocal reaction.
He held eye contact with Tamsy as he reached back up to smell and taste his fingers, heady and heavy, like mead. Tamsy smelled of his namesake, frankincense, and something dark and luxurious. The texture was beyond words, something in between okra and water, a sensible part of his brain knew likely that it tasted like any normal body fluids, but Corvus wasn’t one to dim his sun. Between the cocktails of hormones and pheromones, it was the greatest thing the boss of the cleaner’s have ever tasted.
Corvus composer slipped, Tamsy’s eyes were on him, as their lips crashed together, if it was genuine emotions, at least mutual insanity. The kiss wasn’t chaste or loving, but it was intimate; despite being fully clothed, he never felt so naked and exposed. It was feral, full of teeth on Tamsy’s side, who he had to hold back as he was on the edge of the table. Tamsy didn’t know how to kiss, but he did what was natural to him, some sort of cruelty. Corvus groaned, and Tamsy receded, clearly noting his own intensity.
The kiss ended when Tamsy reached for his hard cock, the sensation caused him to pull away. Refusing to acknowledge the fact that he was so hard he was aching, Corvus busied himself to take off Tamsy’s pants. The omega seemed to appreciate how little preamble it took to get the man inside his drawers as he shimmied out of them in lightning speed.
Tamsy was lying on the table, back against the cool wood, breathing in anticipation, hooking his arm under the pale man’s knees and drawing his pelvis closer, feet over his back, he didn’t realise that at some point Tamsy took off his coat.
At that moment, Corvus couldn’t tell you anything about Tamsy’s private parts visually, as soon as it was free, he bent over it, mouth on it.
Tamsy’s face scrunched up as he felt Arkha’s tongue on his clit, the rough texture of his tongue shocking the apex of his vagina and all corresponding nerves. Tamsy’s nails gripped the edge of the table as he started to moan.
Corvus was relentless. Maybe he was at the start of his own runt, it has to be, this isn’t his usual behaviour, this isn’t him. He moved in a steady, greedy rhythm. It didn’t take long for Tamsy’s thighs to quake, and his moans were more guttural and gaspy. Corvus held Tamsy securely as his thighs quaked and instinctively tried to close around the source of arousal.
“Ah-god,” Tamsy whines, as he grinds himself onto Corvus’ tongue, knowing he was close, even as the dull pain of Corvus’ sloppily dropping him onto the desk couldn’t break his gratification as heat and slick seems to pool into a tight knot in his gut.
Tamsy clenches around nothing, his cunt, a biological response to sexual stimuli, dragging his toenails down Corvus’s vest back. Arkha strangely found himself leaning his head on Tamsy’s thigh, relishing the feel of their skin on his, burns across their body, leaving them decorated with vulnerable pink flesh.
Lively is a word for it; despite everything, he is alive.
They took easy, uncomplicated pleasure from each other, even as Tamsy bit him, he continued to runt into him. Arkha thought sex was remarkably unromantic, biological wasn't romantic, it was necessary bureaucratic, pleasure was an incentive to get through the tedium that would be dry intimacy.
“You think if I died, you think the kids would remember me?” Tamsy asked morbidly.
His eyes were down, he was running his nimble fingers across the centre of Corvus’s palm, almost lovingly; he must be tired, slipping. Worryingly gentle when exhausted, almost suffocating.
There were quite gentle moments like this. When Tamsy gave birth, and everything was delicate, half alive, they had two feeble kids, they were covered in their own blood and sweat, unbecoming appearance; Tamsy himself wasn't far stronger than the twins; they lay so close to death, he weakly spoke, “I don't want to be like my parents.”
Arkha knew nothing about Tamsy’s family, his past.
Not enough to give him a satisfying answer, the baby wailed alive, piercing the silence.
Babies are ugly, and Arkha had to admit to himself, even though he would never say it out loud, that it's uncouth.
They were wriggling masses 2 little homunculi, half him and Tamsy, that wasn't good or kind to the world. The little boy was newborn, unlike his sister, who writhed, healthy, a fighter; he could almost taste the stubbornness radiating from her even as she looked like a big toe.
He grew fond of her fast.
The boy lay in Tamsy's neck, eyes dry, quiet aside, annoyed mean little grunts he makes, non-existent brows scrunched up. A strange child, Tamsy's scared fingers found his hair, petting him, soothing him, even as he was pale as the moon, injured mortally so.
Tamsy was a loving person, intentionally meddling, cruel and oddly giving. It makes sense, love was a thing made of a person's soul and nature, so it makes sense for Tamsy, who was many things, all at once, to have a capricious sort of love.
That's why it perplexed him that Tamsy wanted more children; they didn't have to have more, the ground was scarce and barren, so an abundance of children was reckless, even a moral failing.
Still, that considers that Tamsy has scarcity as a mindset as the wretchedly dead ground would cultivate, Tamsy likes his kids simply, knew he would want more, and can care for more, so more the merrier.
Corvus felt Tamsy smooth down his eyebrow. He looked at his face deeply, then, squinting, Tamsy asked untrusting and guarded, “Do you want to bond with me or are you doing it because I told you to?”
Arkha knows better, he really does. “I have good enough sense to know I shouldn't want to,” he said plainly, “But I want to,”
Tamsy cracked a smile, a wide smirk as he scoffs, “So you like me despite better judgement is that what you are saying?”
Despite instinct, morals and basic sense, Arkha was indulgent; he embraced a family, a life, and a relationship with Tamsy eagerly, risking everything, even if the only way to salvage this was to kill him.
Tamsy’s life was as fleeting as any life; he knew it was all weightless speculation. He could have left Tamsy to die in childbirth, but he didn't.
The thought rang in his mind, You think if I died, you think the kids would remember me? No, they won't, and there would be little to remember you by. What do any of our coworkers know of us?
“Arkha,” Tamsy started gravely, “You have to mark me - I am not going to lose you,”
Tamsy said it like a threat, making his conditions known; perhaps they would kill him if he didn’t accept, would be too ashamed to live with the rejection.
Arkha shouldn’t have found something so worrying about that thought; he almost wondered if he was losing his mind.
“I very much want to, I promise,” Corvus said.
Tamsy leaned on the pillow, eyes narrowing, “So why don't you get on with it?”
Corvus chuckled, “And would that be especially special, you said it yourself earlier that you want it done properly, more intimately?”
Tamsy leaned in and kissed him, Arkha gripped his head, biting into his neck. The blonde hissed in pain as he gripped Arkha’s sleeping shirt.
-
Now, in the Corvus-Caines household, there was one rule without question or debate: no pets. Not even the concept of a living animal or insect, which was a rule the twins and the younger constantly pushed against.
Well, it all culminated with the second son, the blond boy Akra, who started feeding the cat indoors, so it became an indoor cat and was named Tuesday because he started getting familiar with it on a Tuesday when there was a rare day of rain. Suddenly the 3 of them had a cat, and with the sneakiness of children raised by paranormally observant parents.
Akra, to his credit, loved that damn puss a lot, even though he was a clumsy handler at best. It was, in truth, Degli and Kizah's cat, since he fed, hid, and cleaned up the animal's waste, Kizah managed the impossible task of bathing it, grooming it and sewed and knitted sweaters, bed, boots and a tail warmer for the cat.
In truth, the whole operation was only working under the technicality that their usually observant parents had a distraction for the 3rd and alleged last time they were having kids. Tamsy revealed he was pregnant 6 month ago, it wasn't dramatic, Kizah gave their belly a suspicious look over and asked tentatively. Degli took the news with trepidation, but Kizah nearly shot off the wall when it was discovered to be a baby girl.
She always wanted a sister and at 10 when the awaited baby in their father Tamsy was a boy she cried onto her brother’s shoulder her hair puffs pressed into his face as he consoled her.
Now this baby girl was about to be born, and Tamsy looked tired but nothing compared to the melon sized baby that was Akra. Now Tamsy retired from this work as a cleaner, and took his place as the master of the household.
Now it became very dangerous to have a cat around. Degli won't say his father would kill the cat but they won't not say it.
Fortune shined down on them that he was dealing with a newborn. Muyal, the youngest.
Upon meeting the newborn the 3 older kids just stared at the newborn cradled in Arkha's arms. Akra was in Tamsy's lap, despite previously having miserable postpartum experiences for the two previous deliveries, Bleeding out on the first one and then managing to birth Akra who at delivery was a hefty 13 pound, little Muyal came fast.
Kizah cooed over her sister, the baby was adorable, swaddled in a blanket her face took after Arkha's features and complexion even hair color having full head ringlets of inky black hair to her ears. Her lashes fanned over her face and lips laid in a flat pout as she slept.
Degli's twin, whispered in his ear, "We definitely aren't going to be the favourite child,".
That got a laugh out of Degli. "I guess,"
Staring at their glowing baby sister.
-
What is the saying, your life long but you’re careless with it.
Yeah that was what Kizah felt when she saw their father Tamsy standing over Muyal swaddled in her crib was Tuesday the cat stretched over the sleeping baby staring up at Tamsy unblinking.
Kizah heart hammered hard in her chest, if it was Arkha they could reasonably get it out safely, but…the teen really wonder if Tamsy would hurt the cat.
She doesn’t like where that speculation might lead.
“Kizah,” Tamsy breathes turning to his daughter with a frozen expression as if he couldn’t believe he lived to 40 and a cat was in hospital house in his baby’s crib. Tamsy held up the cat by the nape holding it like a dingy cloth, the poor tabby was limp, it’s cantankerous nature passified by the aura of menace that Tamsy emits.
The blue haired girl was scared they were gonna drop kick the cat or something.
The girl scrabbled to get the cat that shrieked as he was pulled into their arm protectively. “I am sorry daddy - I will put it out,”
Tamsy narrowed his eyes at them, before he could speak Degli strolled in likely hearing the commotion, from the angle he was he just saw Kizah with Tuesday in his arms, “Oh you found them, I can’t believe it got out of my room when I wasn’t looking,”
It only took a step and seeing Tamsy then Kizah’s fallen face for the boy’s face to go white.
“So all of you were hiding this cat,” Tamsy comments, crossing his arms, the twins said nothing knowing that they were gonna get an earful eventually.
“Akra!” Tamsy called out, they heard his footsteps coming since that boy walks heavy. His head popped out, and entered, he was smart enough to know that this was an interrogation, but naive enough to fully trust Tamsy as their parent.
“I won’t get mad if you tell me the truth,” Tamsy said smoothly, “Your siblings already said their side so I will know if you are lying,”.
Degli and Kizah tried to emote to Akra that it was bait but from the boy nodded he started singing like a canary. Every bit of business about that cat was spilt.
Tamsy’s face didn’t change the whole time, deceptively warm and neutral luring sentence of damning information from the boy.
-
“That was very-very dangerous thing you 3 attempted,” Arkha said, he bowed his head trying to not laugh.
The 3 kids sat around the couch looking glum. Lucky they missed the lecture, since Tamsy got mad locked himself in the bedroom and told them to clean the house top to bottom for the evening.
The didn’t feel too appreciative of their father’s bout of humour.
He sat across them, “The cat is in the headquarters, we are lucky that Semiu is fond of cats”
Degli raised their brow, as Tamsy expressly stated that the cat must be gone, just as good as dead. “Won’t dad be mad?”
Corvus didn’t seem scared compared to the shit-shooting terror that Tamsy could manifested in their children. Oddly enough, Degli and Kizah are very aware that their blonde parent loved them unconditionally, it wasn’t a sudden realisation just a steady consistent affection, however at a certain age about 12, the twins both didn’t see them above murder.
Corvus rubbed Akra’s head, the boy was his name-sake, Tamsy thought he was doing a great favour naming him after Arkha, but the head of the Cleaners wasn’t fond of namesakes, so they did a derivative name, it was simple irony that the boy looked the least like Arkha.
The boys flax-coloured curls bounced with enthusiasm he lacked, his hands wrinkled from wiping down his room. “Unlike the 3 of you I am not beholden to Tamsy’s whims.”
Kizah huffed leaning back into the cough clearly not believing him.
Corvus looked on, thought for a moment. “The 3 of you need something to do,” Arkha said quellingly, “All you lot do is terrorise Tamsy. He gave me quite the earful, about how you were making clothes for a cat, had it in his baby’s kids.”
Kizah folded into herself, laughing. Her long twisted navy hair was flying into her face. Of course, that would be his problem, “Daddy-” She started trying to swallow her laugh. “Please, he plans to work us out the whole day tomorrow, I want to go out with my friends.”
She started whining.
Degli leaned back with a heavy sigh. “Kizah, you ain't getting that, you know that right?”
She whipped her head to him, “But,”
He shook his head, “Let’s be serious now,”
Arkha shook his head, “You need to respect the rules of the house, I need to respect my mate and his rules of the house, the two of you need something to do.”