14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Tolly

" W hat? Why would I be angry with you?" Leigh said, eyes snapping to Tolly's face after raking down his form the way Tolly had hoped.

Not that his question was fabricated; he really was concerned he might have upset Leigh and wanted to help him forget his worries so they could return to more pleasant endeavors.

"I am making your life more complicated," Tolly said, moving toward him, "when I promised I would not."

"I make my own life complicated. You are not the problem. And Alvin will survive. He thinks you're amazing."

"I sensed only curiosity in him, not fear or opportunism. He loves you greatly."

"Yeah…." Leigh cringed and glanced down as they met in the center of the room. "He always wants to please ‘Daddy,' but most of the time, for a long time, we've been all each other has."

"May I ask, since Alvin is interested in men, and you are as well, did you two ever…?"

"Once," Leigh said. "Just a kiss or two, don't get excited. Felt weird. We're too much like family."

Tolly had gathered as much but it still soothed any foolish notions of jealousy to hear that. He pressed his hands to Leigh's chest and slid them up his shoulders. "I hope it does not feel weird when you kiss me."

"N-no." Leigh shivered, almost like he might pull away, but he relaxed under Tolly's touch. "Not… weird."

Stepping closer into Leigh's body, Tolly wound his hands around his neck. He knew to go slow, to telegraph each motion as he would have wanted in return, but he did so want another kiss. He wanted more than that.

"May we continue now?" he asked.

Doubt splayed across Leigh's features.

"Please. You put something in the bedroom after you collected food for us. You picked up the supplies we need, I think."

Leigh chuckled bashfully. "Caught me."

"Then let us use them." Tolly pulled him closer with a gentle tug at his neck and kissed him boldly. When he felt the hesitant weight of hands at his waist, it urged him to press farther forward.

He knew the underwear he had chosen were tight. He knew the shirt was too small. He wanted to entice Leigh in a new way—in all ways.

Bringing his hands down from Leigh's neck, he reached for the hands at his waist and guided Leigh into the waistband of his underwear.

" Tolly ," Leigh laughed, ceasing the motion of their hands with the smallest resistance. "You are trying really hard to seduce me."

"Yes." Tolly saw no point in denying that. "Is it working?"

Leigh laughed again, voice quivering as he closed his hands around Tolly's, not to push him away, just to touch. "Are you sure you want this? That you want it to be me?"

"I would ask for no replacement if I had all the choices in the world. And I have waited so long for you. I do not wish to wait anymore."

Perhaps it was his honesty, but finally Leigh stopped resisting, and Tolly was able to lead him by the hand into the bedroom. Tolly was in very little clothing. He wanted Leigh to catch up so he could finally see what he looked like.

"May I undress you?" he asked.

"Y-yeah," Leigh said, but there was still uncertainty in his eyes that Tolly hoped was not a prelude to disappointment. He would not allow it to be.

With gentle hands, Tolly felt the contours of muscle and contrasting softness beneath Leigh's shirt like he had that morning. This time, however, he lifted the shirt over Leigh's head, undid the closure of his jeans, and because they were closely fit, hooked his thumbs beneath the waistband of denim and underwear alike to slide both down in tandem.

Slowly, he went, and as he did, he dropped to his knees. Finally, here was Leigh, naked and perfect for all his scars and bruises and dustings of hair. Tolly liked most the hair on his chest that thinned as it traveled down until it was but a line that disappeared into the hair framing his sex.

Leigh was hard, yet as he stepped out of his clothing and Tolly's hands returned to the outside of his thighs in worship, he shuddered.

"Why do you tremble?" Tolly asked. "You are not afraid of me, I hope."

"No." Again Leigh laughed to hide the truth he was unsure how to speak. "I… I think you're too good for me."

"Nonsense," Tolly said as he slid his hands down, then up and inward, caressing between Leigh's legs. "What shall I do for you? This?" He grinned, already leaning forward, lips parting, eager to take Leigh in.

A gasp left him when Tolly descended, then a whimper, then a moan as Tolly's tongue set to work. He had never done this before, but he knew to keep his teeth back. It was easy to get lost in the sensation, especially when Leigh's fingers twisted in his hair.

Familiar hunger stirred in Tolly, but now was not the time to let his true self slip. He had to retain control.

"Wait." Leigh stopped him, pulling his head back with tender insistence.

"Am I doing it poorly?"

"No. Definitely not." His eyes were heavy-lidded as he gazed down. "But I should be the one doing this for you."

"Would you?" Tolly asked in amazement.

He would have been perfectly content catering to Leigh, but Leigh lifted him from the floor, moved him to the bed, and laid him down. As carefully as Tolly had undressed him, now Leigh did the same in turn. Leigh had seen him many times, but he looked at Tolly with newfound wonder tonight. The excitement when he parted Tolly's knees and knelt between them could not be quantified; Tolly whimpered long before his lips landed.

Once they did, it was hot and wet and tight all at once. Tolly was unused to legs in many cases, but he knew he wanted to wrap them around something, any part of Leigh he could to pull him closer. For now, he settled on letting his legs fall open as Leigh gave languid twirls of his tongue. The grip of Leigh's hand at his base, the other sliding along his thigh, enhanced the sensation tenfold.

Tolly wanted to touch Leigh in return and ended up pulling him up for a taste of his lips again. They connected with equal appetite, their sexes sliding past each other hotter and wetter from each other's mouths.

Rutting up into the friction he found, Tolly kissed Leigh deeper, and their tongues trailed down each other's jaws and necks before long. Soon Tolly's hands were moving across Leigh's chest and stomach and thighs—and oh, how good it felt to have him everywhere.

"It's all so wonderful," Tolly gasped, feeling as though his skin was on fire yet somehow happy for it. "Please… may I have you inside me now?"

Leigh growled an enthusiastic affirmative but still asked, "You're sure that's how you want this to go?"

Inside Tolly , he meant, instead of Tolly inside him, since he had expressed he would be happy with either.

"You can better show me what to do that way," Tolly said, eager to learn and to please, but happier still that Leigh wanted to please him as any true partner would.

"Okay," Leigh said, all doubt washed from his face. "Relax. I'll take care of you."

Tolly believed that with all his heart. Still, he did not realize it could feel better than it had been until Leigh's fingers were stretching him with help from the silky liquid he had acquired. Tolly had a good enough understanding of what a condom was and was not bothered by Leigh wanting to use one, customary for new lovers. It also did not diminish the intensity of the sweet burn of Leigh pushing inside him finally, filling him as he had wanted to be filled.

Now, at last, Tolly had something to wrap his legs around as Leigh sank in deep between his thighs.

Leigh spoke little in the minutes that followed, but when he did, it was always asking for assurances that Tolly felt pleasure or offering praises for how good he felt in turn. The build to an end was warm, urgent, and magnificent. Tolly wanted Leigh to go faster, and he read the desire easily, always in synch with him without use of words, changing angles and rhythm to match Tolly's wishes until the crescendo was upon him.

He shuddered from the barest brush of Leigh's fingers and released with a whimper. The pleasure did not dwindle either, because the echo was in Leigh still deep inside him until he too finished with a tensing of his muscles and a tremble of relief.

What a beautiful thing to share with someone, Tolly thought, overjoyed that he had shared it with Leigh, chasing pleasure together until they claimed it.

"Good?" Leigh asked after wiping them clean.

"Better than I ever imagined," Tolly said, smiling adoringly back at him.

"You are not good for my ego." Leigh chuckled like he hardly knew how to react to Tolly sometimes, but he was charmed and that was what mattered.

"I think perhaps your ego could use more strokes on occasion," Tolly said, and giggled when Leigh laughed at the pun he had very much made intentionally. Then he gripped Leigh's face, mesmerized by his features more than his body, though he loved that too, and kissed him, getting close enough to tangle their legs together.

Leigh tensed at initiations of touch, but he did not shy from Tolly or push him away. He sagged against him, and Tolly took advantage to touch everywhere he was allowed.

"Tolly," he asked once they were lying side by side, "when you say you want to stay with me forever…."

"I mean just that. Nothing about our time together or what I have learned of you has changed my mind. You gave me legs. You are everything the stories said you would be."

"What did the stories say?"

"That when a merfolk finds their pact-bearer, that person will be their complement in all things. A friend and lover and partner in one, as you have proven to be."

Leigh was quiet for a time. "You know, if this was a movie, you'd be the Disney prince more than the little mermaid."

Tolly smiled, for he would happily be Leigh's prince. Leigh deserved one, just as Tolly deserved a home. Surely, they could find all they lacked and needed in each other.

The hazy meeting of their gazes ended in a yawn as Leigh's exhaustion caught up to him.

"You are tired," Tolly said, lifting the covers so they could crawl beneath, though he curled close to Leigh again as soon as they settled. "You should sleep."

"It's okay. Not a big fan of sleep lately. Can't seem to shake those dreams."

"Ah yes. May I ask what your nightmares are about?"

"Always the same thing lately," Leigh admitted with a soft sigh. "A monster. It's silly, I know. It's like I'm drowning again, but it's darker, colder, and there's something circling me. Gotta be the scariest thing I've ever seen, only something a dream could make up, or a horror movie."

A sense of dread began to fill Tolly's stomach. "What does the monster look like?"

"Like something that would try to eat you. I never get a good look at it, but it has claws and too many teeth and bloodred skin like a demon. And its eyes… they're the worst part. No feeling, just empty. Awful . It keeps trying to reach for me, and the last thing I want is for that thing to touch me."

There were other parts to the stories, to the old tales of love found and love lost among Tolly's kin. If a pact-bearer were to ever catch a glimpse of the merfolk's true form, they would never love them. Who could, after all, when just as Leigh described, Tolly was nothing but a monster?

"Hey… you okay?" Leigh asked, gentle fingers brushing a tear from Tolly's cheek.

"Yes." Tolly smiled but felt further anguished, knowing that for the first time he was lying. "I simply feel your pain and do not wish for you to feel it anymore."

Starting at a low hum, he began to sing, not to erase Leigh's memories or to control him, he would never do that, but to ease his mind and wipe the dreams away.

"Tolly…."

"Sleep and be at peace. You will not dream of the monster again. You will never see it again. I promise."

Leigh's eyes were heavier already and slowly began to close. "Thank you," he said, and fell into a soothing sleep.