Chapter Text
Seth
They did eventually get cleaned up and try the cookies, which turned out quite good. Horus was highly pleased that Seth enjoyed them and even asked for more.
This of course led to more kissing and Seth insisting they move out of the kitchen, which led to Horus asking, very seriously, which room Seth would like to go to.
Seth gave it some thought and decided on his own bedroom: he didn’t want to try Horus’ yet. Bringing Horus into his room was… significant, as he was letting Horus even deeper into what little privacy he had, but not something Seth couldn’t work through at a later date. They’d already fucked in the kitchen, after all, and Horus knew most of Seth’s secrets: Seth wasn’t sure what else there was to hide.
Horus was happy to oblige.
They spent much of the day together, with Horus cancelling his meetings and Seth discovering just how much thousands of years of being pent up was difficult for both of them. It was fun, exhilarating, and more than he’d expected when he’d gone for it in the kitchen.
Eventually, Seth fell asleep, too tired to keep going, and Horus stayed behind him, close but not pushy, spooned up against him, his arms wrapped around Seth’s middle. It was comfortable and warm, and Seth tried not to think about what it meant that he wanted Horus there, behind him, making sure he wasn’t alone.
Reminding him that it wasn’t bad to be here. To be happy here. That he was welcome.
Seth woke up at one point to gaze at the curtains of his bedroom. The room was dark: Horus had turned off the light at one point. Seth still felt tired.
His phone had buzzed, quietly, where it sat on the nightstand, since Seth had forgotten to turn it off. He’d ignored it during his time with Horus, but he’d rested seemingly long enough for the noise to wake him in the silence.
Seth reached out to pick the phone up, and saw he had a message from an unknown number.
[Unknown]: Hey! This is Bastet, wanted to check in
Seth stared at it, wondering if he was imagining things.
[Unknown]: Mom said I could get a break from the sun boat, and I planned to spend some time in the city. Wanna hang?
Seth clutched the phone and felt his breath shudder. It seemed like it really was her. He wondered who’d given her his number.
But when she didn’t keep sending messages, he wasn’t sure what else to say. Should he ignore her? She wasn’t like one of his immediate family members, or Horus. She was…
Seth didn’t know, really. Bastet had been a companion during his time on the sun boat. Perhaps not exactly a friend, but one of the closest things he had to one. She watched over him, to a degree. But she could be antagonistic and testy, just like everyone else. She was dangerous, and Seth never forgot it. He didn’t precisely trust her, either. She was Ra’s daughter, after all, and Ra had caused all sorts of trouble for Egypt, and was keeping him prisoner on the sun boat.
And he wasn’t sure he wanted to see Bastet. He wasn’t sure why she wanted to see him, either. He imagined she’d be glad she didn’t have to watch out for him anymore. The last time they’d talked, he’d rejected an offer of food from her: something she’d brought from the human world recently.
She’d laughed and said he needed to lighten up.
And then he’d left for his probation. It felt like lifetimes ago.
Horus nuzzled Seth’s neck before asking, “Something wrong?”
Seth’s face burned a little. It had been thousands of years since he’d been in bed with someone, like a couple, and with everything they’d done, he hadn’t fully processed it yet.
But Horus had asked a question, so Seth swallowed and said, “Bastet texted me. She wants to meet.”
Horus paused what he was doing. His arms were still wrapped around Seth’s midsection, and he stayed tucked up against Seth’s side. “Did she say when? Or why?”
“She’s going to be in town,” Seth said, gazing at his phone without quite seeing it.
“…Do you want to see her?” Horus asked.
Seth put his phone back and then breathed in deeply. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t have to see her if you don’t want to,” Horus continued, squeezing Seth a little. “You can just say no to her.”
“Do you think I shouldn’t see her?” Seth asked, wondering if Horus could take the decision out of his hands.
“I think you should do what you’d like to do,” Horus said, unhelpfully. “I’m not going to make the choice for you, either way.”
Seth thought that over a bit. It didn’t help him much, though he was glad Horus wasn’t running amok over his life any more than he already had. “Do you know her well? She used to leave the sun boat to come to visit the living sometimes.”
“We aren’t close,” Horus said. “But I have worked with her on occasion. I also used to ask her for information about how you were doing, but she was very close-mouthed about it.”
Seth frowned. “You wanted intel on me?”
“I was worried,” Horus insisted. He didn’t sound all that ashamed. “I just wanted information that would tell me about your well-being. That was all. Bastet never said anything, other than that you were alive and fighting enemies for Ra.”
Seth supposed he might have to be grateful to Bastet for staying quiet about him. Though he wasn’t sure what secrets she could share, anyway. She’d seen him in numerous states of disarray over the years. At worst, it would be a way to get his enemies to mock him. And Horus wasn’t the type of person to do that.
“And what if she’d told you anything?” Seth asked. “What if she told you about some of the times I struggled? The times I was injured? The times she and the other gods beat me in combat?” A never-ending stream of humiliations. He’d earned it, so he had to accept it. That didn’t mean he liked it.
“I’d have been angry,” Horus said, leaning his head against Seth’s. Seth could feel his muscular torso. “I would say I’d have pushed harder for your freedom, but I already pushed as hard as I could.”
“You don’t even know everything that happened to me,” Seth said, smiling softly in the dark, where he knew Horus couldn’t see him. It was still nice to hear. Even if he’d just jumped like an idiot into this physicality, he liked hearing that.
“I’ve heard stories about the sun boat,” Horus said. “Bastet isn’t the only god outside you who’s worked there. And I did hear some things about you, though I didn’t know how much was exaggeration.”
Seth almost didn’t want to know. He assumed it was all exaggeration.
Horus sighed and continued, “But I took whatever I could find. I just… wanted to know.” He leaned his head against the back of Seth’s head. “I wanted…” He breathed in deeply, tickling the softer skin of Seth’s neck. “I wanted…” His voice was full of pain and longing. Though his body was also demonstrating itself in other ways…
Seth felt Horus’ cock nudge inside of him again, and grunted. He pushed back on it, pulling Horus deeper and encouraging Horus to thrust faster. The bed creaked around them and Seth clutched at the bedsheets, knowing they were making a mess. He didn’t want Horus to be distressed over the things they’d missed out on. He didn’t want to focus on the regret.
He had too much as it was. And he hated that he’d been such a big part of Horus’ regrets. His pain. If Seth could give anything back to Horus… he wanted to do this.
And it was easier to fall into climax than focus on the messy nature of his former companions. He felt his release wrap around him, turn him into a tight cord, and then snap him in two, making him gasp and moan in pleasure.
The bedsheet before him was a mess, and he pulled back from it a little. He was too tired to clean properly.
Horus stayed inside of him, in a way that was almost uncomfortable. But Seth re-ordered his body structure to make it less irritating. Eventually, he relaxed against Horus, letting his mind drift on a sea of soft pleasure.
“I didn’t mean to focus so much on me,” Horus said as he pressed forward to kiss Seth’s neck. “You just… drive me crazy whenever I’m near you.”
Seth chuckled. “You sound so young.” He knew Horus wasn’t young, but still. He made it seem like everything was so simple: just being together, and ignoring thousands of years of pain.
“This is all so new,” Horus said, and Seth could hear the smile in his voice. “Being with you like this… I’ve dreamed of it. But the reality is entirely new.”
It was new for them both. Seth remembered gentler days he’d had with Nephthys, where they’d both explored each other, though they often had duties to attend to eventually, or Anubis to distract them. He remembered how they withdrew from each other: Seth first, and later Nephthys.
He wondered if that would happen with Horus. If Seth’s paranoia would shove him away eventually. It made Seth afraid: he didn’t think he’d fear losing this so much. And he barely had it!
“If you want to go meet her,” Horus said, calling Seth back from his dark thoughts, “we can set up a meeting. Mother doesn’t like Ra’s daughters much, but she’s gotten on better with Maat in recent centuries.”
And Seth knew that Isis knew that Bastet wasn’t Seth’s ally. Ra’s children couldn’t be trusted, even Maat, who was somewhat apart from the rest. Even Shu fit right alongside his sisters, mostly keeping silent so he could hide any plans he had. He was still a deadly spearman, and when he and Tefnut sparred, Seth knew that, were one of them less skilled, someone would be dead. And Shu could pull the air away from an enemy, strangling them to death.
Seth supposed he was curious about what Bastet wanted. Why she’d think visiting him would be a good idea. And he knew Bastet had a way of needling her way to what she wanted. It was always better to confront her head on than avoid her.
“I’ll go,” Seth said. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but he was a god of war: he confronted his problems head-on. “I’ll see her.”
The meeting was arranged for about a week later at an outdoor café. Seth and Horus walked up to see Bastet sitting in a corner table, watching people pass her by. She grinned and waved at the pair as they approached.
It was sunny, but the table was under an umbrella for shade. Bastet didn’t wear her headdress, just like the other gods: her short, dark brown hair looked neat and almost shiny, and her golden eyes sparkled. She wore a long white blouse and fine golden pants, and leaned back heavily on the chair. A gold and black cat necklace hung around her neck.
Seth and Horus walked over and sat with her, and the waiter arrived to take their drink order.
Bastet grinned bright sharp white teeth at Horus. “So, it’s been a while since we talked. Babysitting duty, is it?”
Seth had spent thousands of years learning to listen to and ignore Bastet’s barbs, and he found that, even being back amongst other people, many of whom somehow cared for him, he still had his armor. So he ignored it.
“Seth is not a child,” Horus said, his expression hard as he gazed back at Bastet. “But I do have to ensure he sticks to his probation.”
Bastet raised an eyebrow at Seth. “And you’re into that?” She was niggling at him, like she used.
“I manage,” Seth said, letting his hand rest around his cup of water. Even here, he could smell cigarette smoke and car fumes. He’d slowly adjusted to it, but he wondered if he’d ever get over how awful it all was. Even Horus’ home occasionally smelled of the different chemicals humans kept around, now that Seth knew what to look for. Though Horus kept fewer artificial scents since Seth pointed out they made his nose itch. “What is it you want, Bastet?”
Bastet made a sad sound and began, “And I came all this way to see you! How rude!”
Seth gave her an unimpressed look. “Trying to imitate Sekhmet will win you no favors.” He was just glad she hadn’t bothered him. Yet, anyway.
Bastet snorted at that and sat up a little straighter. “As if! I really just wanted to check on you, see how you’re settling back in. We all took bets for how long it’d take you to come back.” Her grin widened. “You’ve made a lot of people unhappy.”
Seth imagined that was inevitable. The gambling pool on the sun boat was a strange thing, with immortals betting on who could do the most kills, who would be injured, who would manage to attack in this or that way, what would attack them… It was a lot of immortals with too much time on their hands, basically.
And of course they didn’t believe he could stick it out in virtual freedom. He was the god of evil and chaos, after all.
“Though mostly people just miss having you around,” Bastet continued, surprising him. “You brought a lot of life to the place.”
“Sorry you’re all missing out on easy entertainment,” Seth said, drily. He knew they got a lot of laughter out of his failings.
She waved him off dismissively. “It’s not just that you were funny! You were impressive, too. People thought you had a lot of gumption, pushing as hard as you did, even against the gravitational force of the boat, Apep, and Osiris… A lot of people have noticed things just seem so dull without you there.”
It wasn’t quite what he’d expected, and he wasn’t sure how to react to it.
“Heck,” Bastet continued, “a lot of us miss you, you know? Shesmu’s had no one to tease and he gets more annoyed in combat these days, or to test his culinary skills against, because he used to try to find things you’d eat. And Tefnut and Shu have talked about making more trips to the humans, to see all their descendants. They never really did that before you showed up.”
Seth’s eyes widened. “But they… didn’t like me.” They were always threatening. They made sure he remembered all the terrible things he'd done during his reign. There were a number of gods on the sun boat whose temples he'd destroyed.
Bastet snorted. “Who do you think made sure the servants went down to look after you when you were injured? Yeah, Tefnut and Shu weren’t exactly like you and your siblings when it came to family, but they still tried to make sure you were okay. And Shesmu is proud of his cooking: he likes providing for people.”
Seth didn’t remember that at all. He’d tried to keep to himself apart from the others as much as possible. Nut had certainly never mentioned it.
“And Mehen always liked your sand creations,” Bastet continued. “He used to rate them with Ra, and he liked your creativity.”
Seth was getting a very weird impression of people he thought he knew somewhat well, as distant allies and sometimes enemies. It reminded him uncomfortably of what he’d thought of Osiris.
And how he’d made the same mistake, apparently. Though he wasn’t sure what he could have done differently if he’d known there were some semi-positives to his stay on the sun boat. He would still have been wary of everyone. His grandparents, Shesmu, Mehen, Bastet… everyone was dangerous, and they’d found ways to ensure he knew that.
But I never really talked that deeply to any of them, he though. Like with Nephthys, before Osiris died. Or even afterward. And if I had talked to them…
Well, he had his time back among the living to show for it. He got messages from his parents somewhat regularly, as well as messages and calls from his son and ex-wife. And here he was with Horus, warm at his side.
Horus’ right hand rested on the chair armrest very close to Seth’s left arm.
Seth wondered if he’d ever learn the lesson properly.
“I didn’t know,” Seth finally said. “I thought people generally disliked me.”
Bastet snorted and said, “Well when you were new, maybe. But you proved yourself time and again.”
Seth couldn’t say he remembered any of that with fondness. His time on the sun boat had been full of danger at every turn. He’d nearly died many a time. And whenever he’d been injured, it had taken some time to heal. Worrying over what Osiris was doing to Anubis, and what Osiris might do the next time they’d run into each other nearly drove him mad, until he started to accept it was an unavoidable part of his life. He’d just beat the other god and return the next day to do it again. And perhaps again and again until eternity, or he figured out how to dissolve himself permanently.
“But you seem happier here,” Bastet said, gazing at him thoughtfully. “You don’t have that bleak look you always had.”
Seth frowned, not sure what she was talking about.
“Whatever you’re doing,” Bastet said, “Keep doing it. It seems to be doing well for you.” She sounded encouraging and oddly genuine.
Seth thought of his family up here. His time at the dojo. His chats online with different martial arts instructors. The books he was reading, many of which were just for fun, after thousands of years of passing the time with sleep or combat. All the art he could explore.
He thought of Horus, and their long nights together. How Horus reminded him how fervent his devotion was. What it was like to be wanted.
“I plan to,” Seth said, quietly. He gazed up at Bastet’s firm look. A look that used to make him worry about what she had up her sleeve, like the times she’d left him to defend himself against great numbers, even if she’d insisted she had no choice at the time. And he still didn’t know if she was going to do something with this. Maybe she’d report back to Ra, talking about how Seth and Horus were too friendly. And Ra could talk to Maat and Maat would talk to Isis and then—
“Seth?” Horus asked, sounding worried.
Seth looked at Horus, who was gazing at him with those beautiful blue eyes. And Seth found calm there. Support. Horus’ right hand rested on Seth’s hand now.
“Are you all right?” Horus asked.
“I’m fine,” Seth said. He looked back at Bastet, who was looking between them in confusion.
Seth and Horus hadn’t fully discussed what to make of their relationship in public. But Seth had said they should probably keep things quiet for a time. Everyone knew Seth was on probation under Horus’ watch, and it would do neither of them any favors to have the relationship made public.
But in his distraction, he’d forgotten. Or Horus had. Or both. Though Horus was the one who was meant to see ahead and be careful.
Horus nodded and pulled his hand back, though his expression was still worried.
Seth felt a bit worried, too, as he gazed back at Bastet. He was glad that he wasn’t entirely unwanted on the sun boat, much as he couldn’t understand it, but he valued what he was building with Horus and among the humans more. Horus had spent only a fraction of the time Seth knew him being an enemy. Seth spent thousands of years on the sun boat learning to survive.
“I appreciate the information,” Seth said. “But I don’t intend to return any time soon. Is that what you were planning to ask me?”
Bastet scoffed and said, “Never! Though if you were doing worse, maybe. But I think you’re okay.”
Seth wondered what she expected him to do about it.
“So what have you been up to, otherwise,” Bastet asked, reaching out to rotate her glass of water. “What’s keeping you so good here?”
Seth faked a smile, and didn’t look at Horus as he started talking in an abridged version of what he’d seen during his probation. After everything he’d learned about Hathor and Ra in his absence, he knew he didn’t need to tell Bastet everything. Especially because she’d just repeat it to everyone on the sun boat.
Bastet seemed content to listen, only interrupting infrequently.
Horus calmed a little, but Seth could still feel him there, ready to move.
Seth marveled at that: having someone on his side this way.
It made him want to grin, and he had to force himself not to do it too much. They’d already given too much away.