Chapter 2

‎The Past

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‎As Cassian sat there, still coming down from the high of the orgasm, bound and exposed, the present blurred into fragments of the past. The pressure of Orion's hand on his cock began again, more painful than the last, stroking slowly, deliberately, pulled at those old threads, forcing him to remember. It started with the chaos of that gang war, years ago, when he was still building his empire after taking over from his mother due to her poor health. He was twenty three then, a ruthless force known as Mammon, carving out territory in the city's underbelly with fists, knives and bullets. The air had smelled heavily of gunpowder and blood that night, the streets littered with the bodies of rivals and innocents alike.

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‎He had been scouting an abandoned warehouse, his men scattered around the perimeter, when the explosion ripped through the building. Debris flew everywhere, chunks of concrete and metal raining down like judgment. Cassian ducked behind a rusted car, his heart pounding, but he heard cries, high-pitched, desperate, cutting through the smoke. Two little boys, no more than four years old, huddled in the car trunk, their faces streaked with dirt and tears. One had dark hair matted with blood from a gash on his forehead; the other clung to him, eyes wide with terror. They were filthy, their clothes torn rags, skin stained with dried blood.

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‎Something twisted in Cassian's chest as he approached them. He wasn't a man known for mercy, but in that moment, he saw himself, alone, abandoned, surviving on the streets as a kid, after his mother left for days on some operation....not that he blamed her. "Come on," he growled, scooping them up without thinking. The one with the gash, Orion, he later named, went limp in his arms, too shocked to fight. The other, later named Azriel, kicked and screamed, tiny fists pounding against Cassian's chest. "Lemme! Lemme!" the boy yelled, his voice raw.

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‎Cassian ignored it, carrying them through the chaos to his car. Bullets whizzed past, but he was focused, adrenaline surging. He bundled them into the back seat, slamming the door and speeding away from the war zone. The drive to his estate was a fast one, sirens in the distance, the boys' sobs echoing in the confined space. Orion had quieted, staring at Cassian with those unblinking eyes, while Azriel kept thrashing, refusing to settle.

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‎Back at the estate, the place was a fortress like another world with all the decay outside, high walls, marble floors, and rooms with endless doors. Cassian carried them inside, kicking the door shut behind him. "Stay still," he ordered, but Azriel wriggled like a wild animal. Orion just watched, silent and watchful, as if already a new fate couldn't be worse than the one he already had.

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‎In the bathroom, Cassian set them down on the cold tile. He turned on the shower, the steam filling the room. "You're safe now," he said, his voice gruff, but they didn't respond. He stripped their ragged clothes off, revealing their small, bruised bodies. Dirt and blood smeared their skin, and Cassian felt a strange protectiveness stir as he wiped them down with a warm cloth first, gentle despite his nature. Orion's eyes followed his every move, while Azriel fought him, batting at his hands. "No! Don't touch!" Azriel cried, but Cassian held him firm, cleaning the grime from his face, his neck, down to his tiny limbs.

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‎As the water ran over them, Cassian stripped off his own shirt, soaked in sweat and blood from the night, and stepped in to hold them under the spray. He washed them carefully, his large hands moving over their bodies, soap lathering their skin, rinsing away the filth. Orion leaned into it, his small body pressing against Cassian's leg, seeking warmth. Azriel resisted at first, but exhaustion won out, and he eventually went still, letting Cassian scrub the dirt from his hair.

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‎That night, after they were clean and dressed in oversized singlets from Cassian's drawer, the boys refused to sleep alone. Cassian had set up a room for them, but when he tried to leave, Azriel grabbed his hand with surprising strength. "Don't go," he whispered, his voice small but insistent. Orion echoed it, wrapping his arms around Cassian's leg, burying his face in the fabric of his pants.

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‎At first, Cassian thought it was just fear. He sat on the edge of the bed, letting them cling to him. "It's okay," he said, stroking their hair. But as the nights passed, their attachment grew. They followed him everywhere, shadowing his steps like lost pups. During the day, he'd teach them basic things, how to tie shoes, how to eat properly, but at night, they'd crawl into his bed, their small bodies pressing against him for comfort.

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‎One night, some years after he picked the boys. The boys were ten, innocent in age but already shaped by the violence they'd seen. Cassian woke to find Orion's hand on his chest, fingers tracing the scars from old fights. Azriel was curled up against his side, his breath warm on Cassian's neck. "Stay," Orion murmured, his voice a whisper in the dark. Cassian tried to pull away, but they held on, their bodies wriggling closer.

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‎What started as innocent clinging turned into something more as the years blurred in his memory. In those early nights, their touches became exploratory, innocent at first but charged with the intensity Cassian had already begun to instill in them. By the time they were older, around twelve, the dynamic had shifted. They'd sneak into his bed after nightmares, and Cassian, weakened by his own loneliness, let them. He even stopped spending time in his bed but one particular night, when they were seventeen, stands out in his mind now, Orion's hand slipping under the covers, brushing against Cassian's thigh, hesitant but bold.

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‎Even then, Cassian could feel it but was too weak from the sleeping pills he usually took. Orion's fingers found their way to Cassian's hardening length, stroking through the fabric of his boxers. "We need this," Orion whispered, his voice steady even at that age. Azriel watched, then joined in, his small hands exploring Cassian's chest, pinching and prodding with a curiosity that mirrored Cassian's own lessons of dominance. Cassian groaned, his body responding despite the taboo.

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‎Now, in the present, as Orion stroked harshly again his hardening and leaking cock, Cassian gasped, the memories flooding back, making his body tense. Azriel licked Cassian's nipple before taking it into his mouth and began sucking on it alternating between the right and the left while stroking his own cock.

‎Cassian threw his head back enjoying the pleasure that followed. Orion leaned down to press kisses to Cassian's cock in his hand before engulfing the tip with his mouth and pulling out making Cassian groan and buck his hip. Orion muttered entranced “do you know how long I've thought about this? After the last time you fucked us after our birthday before you set us free.” Orion swallowed all of Cassian's cock and began bobbing his head up and down till it hit the back of his throat. Orion moan around the cock sending vibrations through Cassian. Ater a while, Azriel's mouth replaced Orion's mouth. Azriel put Orion's hand in his hair, Orion understood this and took over the pace, using Azriel's head to bob down on Cassian's leaking cock fast and hard. The older man's breath quickened and he groaned, bucking his hip till he released all at once. He came hard, down Azriel's throat and ropes of cum spilling out when the boy raised his head and  Orion scooping them up with his fingers, the past and present colliding in a haze.