Page 131 of The Price of Ice

“Fuck off, Kallen,” she told him, but she didn’t sound angry.

THE DISTANCE WAS DIFFICULT, but there was an edge of anticipation to it too. Kallen had already been to his first viewing, a small flat in walking distance of his parents’ home. The good news was that everything was cheaper than in Jiro, which meant Levy’s budget would extend further than he’d anticipated.Theirbudget now, since he’d made it clear he’d accept nothing but them paying an equal amount. The bad news was that having seen pictures of the house in the water, Kallen had found several faults with the flat within minutes. That night when he’d told Levy about it, he’d got interested noises but not particular enthusiasm from him either.

He'd have liked to have Levy there with him, surely finding something positive about the place since he was always pretty good at that. Or even just pointing out how they’d fill it with their own things—where Levy’s cutting boards would go, and admitting it would be hard but theycouldhang his outsized television on the living room wall.

At the same time, the distance was, strangely, also a blessing. Kallen had asked and Levy had said yes, and now Kallen had agreed to living together. They’d lived together before and it’d been good, but of course they’d done that while ignoring a metaphorical herd of elephants in the room. Kallen knew he still had his own issues, and Levy...

Well, he was going to go into heat pretty much the moment Levy got back and he still hadn’t managed to bridge the subject because he was too worried about sending his alpha boyfriend into another panic attack at the suggestion that he fuck Kallen. Not having an alpha for a heat was dangerous but possible. And now that he’d done a little reading, he knew it was technically an alpha’s pheromones that convinced an omega’s body that they were doing their very best to get pregnant, though anal penetration of any kind helped a lot too.

They could do something else.

But it wasn’t what Kallen wanted. Of course, if Levy couldn’t do it... Well, he wouldn’t ask for it. He wanted nothing that wasn’t freely given and mutually enjoyed. It was only that... It would be hard and if he wasn’t going to get it, at least he wanted to know ahead of time. The pill was out, but he could get a dildo.

And if he wanted to know, he had to ask. They had to talk about itsometime, preferably before it exploded in their faces. They could fuck or not, but Kallen neededto know.

He remembered how Levy had taken care of him during the last heat he’d been present for, providing food and breaks, navigating the tensions with the two older alphas seamlessly. He didn’t doubt Levy would take care of him.

But he wasn’t so sure Levy would take care ofhimself.

Kallen didn’t know if Levy hadn’t thought about heat, or he just didn’t want to ruin the happy mood by talking about it. But if he trusted Levy as much as he did, he had to trust him to be able to have difficult conversations, didn’t he?

He was up late again, waiting for Levy to come home after his volunteering, shower and be ready to talk to him while he made himself dinner.

They’d been chatting about food for a while when Kallen saw the clock and decided he’d done enough dilly-dallying.

“So... I need to ask you something.”

Levy seemed impervious to his nerves, eyebrows raised, face relaxed. But he also put down the knife, leaning on his hip against the kitchen counter. “Shoot.”

Kallen kept his eyes on his hands, tapping lightly on the counter now that they were out of work. “Well, you know how I... How you let me blow you and.... do things to you?”

“Yes,” Levy said with a little sigh, openly pleased about it. He was fucking dimpling, too, like a small burst of light in the dimness of Kallen’s bedroom.

Kallen found he was smiling back despite his nerves. He’d been reluctant to let himself remember that one time, afraid to discover he’d made it up. He hadn’t, though, and to see Levy hadn’t only allowed it but that it made him smile like that sent a shiver up his spine. “Well, like, I need to know what things not to do, you know? Like—” He coughed, fighting the words sticking in his throat. “Like fucking.”

He waited, letting the silence build until he thought it would break him. Levy had dropped his gaze and gone very still. His chest was visibly moving from the angle the phone caught him at, but Kallen couldn’t decipher his expression. He wasn’t scrambling off the bed this time, but that could be because there was no bed and all he had to do to get away was hang up. “Levy?”

“Just a minute,” came the answer in a voice too rough by half, but for all he’d asked, he was already shaking himself, hands coming to squeeze at his elbows like nerves taking shape. When he met Kallen’s eyes again, his face was a little dazed, his eyes dark. “It’s just... that’s quite an image, you know?”

“Yeah?” Kallen’s breath hitched, the relief so intense he was nearly ready to give up on the whole thing just not to tempt fate again.

“I like the idea,” Levy admitted, thick and low. And fuck, hedid, didn’t he? Kallen had asked on the phone to be sure he wasn’t using lure and influencing him at all. Not that therewas any risk of him being in a lure state with the way his heart was racing. Levy kept going, so genuinely eager Kallen almost couldn’t bear it. To see his own desire reflected so clearly. “So you’d... Lie me down like you did, and tell me to stay?” The angle of the phone framed his throat as it worked, and Kallen found himself licking his own lips remembering the taste and strength of it. He was so fucking annoyed at himself for not leaving any marks now. “And you’d do whatever you wanted to me, right? Take what you wanted?”

Kallen closed his eyes, inhaling deeply through his nose and digging his fingers into his knee so as not to reach for his dick instead. Not yet, at least. He was dizzy, relief and arousal and gratitude entangled inside him. He’d been thinking of Levy letting him direct the action, but his boyfriend had upped the stakes instead, he’d lie there and trust Kallen to do whatever he wanted. Even something Levy himself was scared to do. “Yeah.”

“Okay then.” He’d let go of himself to grab the phone and bring it closer to his face.

For a moment, Kallen couldn’t seem to draw breath, then he exhaled slowly. His face was burning, but he was also throbbing in his trousers, hard an uncomfortably confined. “Now?”

Levy inhaled sharply, but nodded. “Yeah.”

Kallen nodded back, biting his tongue to ground himself. If he was doing this, then he was going to be in control. That was the deal, that Levy was trusting him to take care of him. “Is it cold over there?”

“Heating’s on, it’s fine,” Levy said immediately, but he didn’t ask for anything, just watched Kallen with parted lips and reddening cheeks. This was crazy, Kallen thought. Anyone who saw them would have thought...

But no one was there except them. There were no rules except the ones they made.

He grabbed some pillows to put at his back, then closed his eyes, letting himself fall in until he found the oasis. His body responded, muscles unclenching and breathing slowing. It didn’t really matter if it worked on anyone else, as long as it worked on him.

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