Light It Up

[Disclaimer:This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.]

. . .

The twin sized bed encouraged the two boys to huddle even closer to each other. They whispered together long into the night, Sylis eventually falling asleep on the chest of his companion. Eric petted a hair Sylis’s sleeping head as he stared up at the plain white ceiling. The wisps of hair that whispered against his naked chest occasionally brushed a sigh from his lungs. Laying with Sylis reminded him of every moment that he spent laying in the arms of the drugs, his mind floating along with all of the floating strands of light. Eric looked down at his arm and the bracer of light flashed to life as soon as he thought to look for it. The thick chain ran down to the thick band of light collaring Sylis. With gentle fingers Eric petted the band and watched it shimmer beneath his fingers like a physical purr.

The darkest part of the evening in the hospital was never very dark. The lights in the hall automatically flickered on for the periodical orderly shifts. Something about this night was darker than the rest. Light seemed to fail completely, leaving the corners of the room in creeping and pervading shadows. The disturbing glow of his bond seemed even brighter in all of that darkness. It wasn’t their naked skin lying next to each other that made the situation seem risky; part of him thought the light lewd and naked in the room, as if anyone could stumble in and find the connection.

Eventually sleep came to him somewhere in between heavy sighs. He welcomed it and wrapped his arms around Sylis.

Sylis didn’t so much dream as enter a complete and total trance. His body rested even as him mind remained completely aware of everything happening around him. He could feel the fingers in his hair still and the rise and fall of the chest beneath his cheek. Where there skin met, it felt as if there wasn’t a single barrier between their inner selves. The feeling of wholeness ended where the edge of Eric’s boxes dug into Sylis’s stomach and Eric’s pelvis.

The orderlies walked by periodically, too regularly for Sylis to believe that this was any ordinary room. The face in the door that met his own in the morning told him he was correct. They were watching the two of them interact. Sylis closed his eyes and tried to feign sleep as much as possible. Any information about their natural reactions must be hidden. The choice to allow Sylis to infiltrate the hospital wasn’t a capricious one. The council knew exactly what Eric might wittingly or unwittingly give away during his time in captivity. Ultimately, it served them to have a more experienced person on the inside, keeping track of the situation and mediating any data that might be collected.

The pillow of Eric’s body moved in a deep breath before Sylis knew he was awake. “Today you can’t be well.”

“Hmmm?” Eric groaned and stretched. His body felt completely rejuvenated even after the few hours of sleep.

“We can’t let them know how quickly the bond recovers after damage. Yesterday was a fluke caused by shock; today we both have to be weak again. We recover slowly.”

“Will they know that we’re faking?” Eric shut his eyes and rubbed his brows. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so hard to feign illness after all. His head started to throb with the thoughts of the days ahead.

“Not if we stay consistent. We only eat a little today. We would get sick if we ate too much anyway. I’m betting you haven’t eaten in days.”

Eric nodded. “You too?”

“Yeah.” Sylis sighed into the naked skin beneath his lips. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah.” Eric stared up at the white ceiling. “What are we going to do about this?” Eric let his hands stroke up and down Sylis’s shoulders. Just feeling the skin beneath his palms calmed the aching worries building up in his head.

“About what?” Sylis whispered, trying to ignore his own growing aches.

“About us sleeping in the same bed. You told them we are lovers.”

“I know.” Sylis whispered, suddenly wishing that he’d come up with something better. “You can tell them that I lied. That we only slept together once, that you humor me occasionally.”

Eric looked down at Sylis, only to find his features pointing unwaveringly at the wall. “I don’t care if they think I’m gay.”

Sylis couldn’t think of anything to say. There weren’t any more important topics to think about or talk about so they were stuck with the topic of chance. “What do you want to do?”

“Kiss me.”

Immediately Sylis pushed himself up from the warmth beneath him. “What?”

“I need to know if I can do this. No offense. I’ve just never considered with a guy before so I’m just not sure if I can even fake this.”

A slow and wary nod was the most Sylis could manage in response.

“So how do we do this?”

With that Sylis collapsed back down onto the body beneath him and laughed at the ‘umph’ that followed.

“I’m serious.” Eric shoved at Sylis’s shoulders until he was sitting up. “Just kiss me so that I can figure out if I can do it.”

Sylis continued to laugh. “Why don’t you kiss me?”

“Fine. Shut up and stop laughing so I can.” Eric shoved Sylis back onto his ass. Immediately, he pressed into Sylis’s space pulling the other man close as he would have one of the girls that rolled with him. The thought that crossed his mind first was that it wasn’t that different in practice but inside it felt like his first kiss ever. Light stubble grew on Sylis’s jaw and Eric wondered how it would feel when they kissed, or would he feel it at all. He missed the feeling of breasts pressing into him, and pulled Sylis closer in an attempt to feel the familiar warm flesh that preceded his previous kisses. For a moment the positioning was awkward until he let his arms slip more loosely, so that his face no longer crowded so close to Sylis’s

“Jesus, when’s the last time you brushed morning breath.”

Eric couldn’t help but laugh with Sylis, their foreheads came together as the sounds of their happiness broke through the awkward moment that settled around them. He looked up at Sylis, locking eyes even as their foreheads rested together before smoothing the crease of Sylis’s smile. The facial under his thumb prickled, “You could use a shave.”

“So could you.” Sylis whispered.

The first press of lips was just that, a brief dry press that momentarily left Eric’s mind slightly perplexed. Such a simple act never felt so complicated before. The jaw beneath his fingers was clearly masculine there was no doubt that the stubble beneath his fingertips and the defined muscles under the palm of his hand.

The second kiss deserved the title. Their lips met at first just gently, a brush of their noses before Sylis tilted his head and plunged in. Eric’s mind reeled for a moment at the experience and then his mouth opened as his tongue pressed against a man’s for the first time. It was different than kissing a woman. Not better or worse, just different. Whereas the women he’d fooled around with had teased and sunk into the kisses with light groans, their bodies quickly straddling his own or falling beneath his in the bliss of drug induced pleasure, this was crisp and clear in his mind. There was no drug to force the kisses into sloppy panting. This wasn’t hungry and a quick raceway to pleasure. This was a clear and definite quest to discover more. Eric found his hand smoothing down Sylis’s shoulders and over his chest. It was an odd feeling. Not that the skin wasn’t soft but it wasn’t rough either. In short, nothing could have prepared him for the oddity of feeling another man’s body as he kissed him. His hands remained lightly on Sylis’s waist, completely unsure of where to touch him or how to hold him. The hands on his own skin seemed completely normal; one at the nape of his neck and the other resting at the small of his back. The kiss ended much like it began. The two men looked sat face to face, their foreheads rested together; and their hands leisurely and nervously stroked in quick movements over unfamiliar skin.

The only thought in Sylis’s mind was that he could feel the light of the collar around his throat burning brightly. He knew the second that their lips kissed that he was in over his head. Lauren hadn’t lied when she’d warned him against the bond with a Spirit Priest. Everything inside him needed to curl around his bondmate. He was hard and aching and he knew he could cum just kissing Eric.

“Are you okay?” Eric pushed Sylis’s hair back behind his ear.

A deep, long breath was all that Sylis could manage before he nodded behind closed eyes.

“Seriously.” Eric tilted Sylis’s face up and the pained look there made him dive in for a third taste of those lips.

This time there was no hesitance. Hunger and desperation tore at the edges of Eric’s mouth as he pulled Sylis closer and dug his fingers into long, mussed hair. Sylis pushed at Eric before the grip on Eric’s arm suddenly became a pull. The erratic beating of his heart made him pant each time their lips parted for a moment, but each time Eric pulled him back into more. A groan left his chest as his hands pushed at Eric.

“What?” The word was panted out as Eric starred at him with pleasure dazed eyes. One hand still cupped his throat, their bond shone brightly

“No more.”

“Why?”

Another kiss pulled Sylis in, his lips wet and full from the treatment.

“No more. Just hold on a second.” Sylis panted and let his head droop as he focused. This wasn’t a good idea. He couldn’t think when they were this close and this intimate. “

“I’m hard.” The shock was clear in the statement.

“Congratulations.” Sylis shook his head and stood up.

“So are you.”

“You’re very observant.”

Another laugh, Eric pulled him into a light tease of a kiss. Their lips met wetly and briefly.

“No more. I can’t think when we do that and right now we both need to focus on the rest of the day.” Sylis stood up and pulled on his pants.

“Are you gay?” Following the lead of his bond mate, Eric started to pull on his cloths. He watched as Sylis pulled on a shirt.

“Does it matter?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can we just drop the subject for now?” Sylis pulled the shirt over his head and smoothed it down over the top of his jeans.

“I didn’t mean to upset you.” Eric hugged Sylis from behind, his arms circling him as naturally as any motion he’d ever made.

“Why are you being so clingy?” Sylis sighed.

“I don’t know. I just know that holding you feels good and maybe that’s because of the bond. Let’s just chalk it up to a raging case of morning wood.” Eric gave a weak chuckle. “Give me a second to get over the blue balls.”

“Look Eric.” Sylis pulled away from the comfort of the embrace. “I’m gay. Plain and simple.”

“So than we can just keep doing this?” The shirt fell into place easily as he pulled it over his head completely.

“No.” Sylis pushed his hair back after running the brush through it a few times.

Eric pulled the brush from his fingers and tossed it to the bed. “Okay chill the hell out.”

“This is just really intense.” Sylis shook his head. “A case of the blue balls has got us both, I think.”

“So then this works out for several reasons.” Eric laughed softly. “Let’s not think about it too much okay?”

“This is a bad idea.”

“Look the straight gay is offering himself up. Isn’t that like a gay guys wet dream?”

“Fuck you.”

“Not going that far.” The reply was so quick that the comment caught Eric by surprise. They laughed more easily.

The kiss wasn’t forced. It was natural and smooth and became something deep that had Eric pushing up the edges of Sylis’s shirt.

“Look, cool it for now. We have a day to get through and this isn’t what we should be focusing on.”

A soft kiss: A kiss of solace and companionship. Their complete bodies met gently in a lingering caress. It was a promise that neither of them really thought about it as it passed between them.

“Ready for today?”

“Not at all.” Eric laughed and they made their way out of the room to the breakfast hall.

The line of patients for their morning meal didn’t do much to encourage Eric’s appetite. It was the same dull faintly yellow eggs, the watery tasting pancakes and little sausages that were small enough that they needn’t be cut with a knife. There was ‘fresh’ fruit that tasted more like bitter water than like fruit and glasses of orange juice that you could see the sediment settle to the bottom. If you were obedient enough you were offered coffee, but even that was a privilege as was the ability to go out on the closed patio for a cigarette.

There was the odd tingling in Eric’s left hand as Sylis followed him into the line to fill their plates as expected. It wasn’t difficult to pick at the meal and avoid actually eating it. He hadn’t eaten much to begin and while his appetite flared up at the thought of food, nothing about the meal made him consider consuming it. He tried not to think about Sylis but it was impossible to ignore him with their bond shining brightly and the heat practically radiating from his skin.

It wasn’t long before the meal room was cleared and people were filtered off into their individual groups. Sylis and Eric walked side by side to the group therapy session. Eric knew he wasn’t imagining the eyes on him as he and Sylis sat next to each other in the circle.

“We have a new group member today.” The therapist smiled disarmingly, “Would you like to introduce yourself.”

“I’m Simon Josephs.” Sylis smiled his usual charming smile; the one that said that he was the perfect son, the diligent student, and the loyal friend all rolled into one.

Eric took a deep breath. Let the day come.