Page 63 of Xerxes Ascendant
He felt...disconnected. Hollow. Like he was rotting from the inside.
He voiced this to Kyle, just to listen to his thoughtful reply. Hearing Sir’s voice – and the way the vibrations thrummed through him from how tightly he was held against the other man’s chest – was always calming, and while it didn’t have as much impact as usual with the muting effect of what Akira was going through, it feltright.
They talked it through, Kyle asking gentle questions and giving reassurances through small physical touches as he got himself undressed and manoeuvred them both into the small shower-bath. Warm water cascaded over Akira’s back, but this time Kyle didn’t make him move from his hunched position. He just lifted and turned him with those impressive arm muscles of his, praising and kissing and soaping and rinsing Akira all over until his limbs relaxed enough to uncurl.
Shampoo was lathered through his hair while he settled himself on Kyle’s cross-legged lap in the bottom of the tub, neither of them caring about the grime. They were wearing their dog tags, so catching a disease was impossible unless the runes failed – and right now they were glowing as they should, metal glistening against the wetness of their skin.
Kyle brushed his mouth against Akira’s in silent support and then delivered a head massage with firm, strong fingers, soothing away the hurt he’d caused. They murmured thoughts to each other, from reflections on the scene to comments on their encounter with Sinead earlier, and wondered whether their absence had yet been noticed on the levels above.
There was no single thing, but with all the tenderness and warmth andKyle, Akira gradually began to feel more likehimself. They talked about that too, and how the intensity of everything he’d felt and endured, emotionally and physically, had lent itself to a fabulous high...but when it was gone, had left a cavernous emptiness in its wake. It was an odd experience. Akira felt thoroughly drained; broken even, shattered and only now just beginning to pick up the first shards of himself from the floor. Recovered enough to deliver a kiss back to Kyle, his first in return for the many he’d received, Akira chose to plant it on the tip of his man’s nose for the delighted, surprised smile it earned him.
Time passed in a hazy blur. They kissed some more, leisurely rather than heated, and once standing they soaped themselves up again to sluice the filthy porcelain from their skin. They towelled each other dry, taking their time, and wandered back into the other room hand in hand.
Without words, they both made for the bed. Akira fell asleep almost immediately.
Stirring from unconsciousness hours later, feeling deliciously sore, he reached across the still-warm bed for Kyle, only to find him gone.
Panic surged. Akira raised his head and urgently scanned the room.
Dressed modestly in his trousers but no shirt, Kyle stood at the door chatting with one of their guards from outside. The blonde’s posture was relaxed, his face animated, and when Akira concentrated he could just about pick up the pair’s low voices. A conversation about 80s music,of fucking course, and from the teasing humour coming from the both of them, they’d been talking for a while.
As if sensing his intent stare, Kyle glanced over and noticed Akira was awake. He shot him a soft smile, murmured something to the man at the door, and then returned to bed and gathered Akira into his arms.
“I’ve got you,” Sir promised in a low murmur, fingers trailing reassuringly down Akira’s bare back. “Now rest, sweetheart.”
Soothed, he let himself fall back asleep.
The next time Akira awoke was to a delicious, spicy scent. He opened his eyes to find a tray of curry being wafted in front of his face, and followed the arm holding it up to the beaming, pleased face of his boyfriend.
“I asked for complex carbs to better restore your energy levels,” Kyle told him, “but unfortunately our menu options were limited by our Carrion friends not being assed to walk further than the takeaway downstairs.”
How had Akira not realised he was hungry until presented with food? They’d missed dinner, and perhaps even breakfast depending on the time, and stars, Kyle really was excellent at taking care of him when he failed so miserably at it himself.
“Scoot over,” Akira was instructed, and he allowed his boyfriend to join him in bed before helping to dish out the brightly coloured trays of curried chicken, rice, and vegetables. At least, that was what was scrawled on the lids, but Akira highly doubted it was anything of the sort. Not when they were all the way down on Level G, and Lower Xerxes was hardly flush with fresh meat and real plants.
And indeed, it tasted synthesised even under the overwhelmingly pungent sauce, but he couldn’t bring himself to care when it was a meal shared with Kyle and his unending cheerfulness. Akira ate and listened to his chatter and stared with unabashed adoration at the man he was lucky enough to call his, only pretending to be annoyed when Kyle exuberantly flicked his plastic fork in the middle of a story and a splatter of food landed on Akira’s bare chest.
“Let me get it,” Kyle immediately offered, his outstretched tongue already bearing down on him. And he didn’t stop oncehe’d licked up the bright orange sauce, continuing to lather attention on Akira’s skin and making him squirm.
“That’s fucking delicious,” declared Kyle, and then grabbed the offending fork to smear an audacious line down to Akira’s stomach. He raked his teeth over his hip bones, nipping and kissing at each tempting curve.
Akira hissed a protest. “Stop it. You’re going to get mess everywhere.”
Kyle laughed at his grumpiness. “Unlike what you did earlier?”
Akira glanced in alarm at the spot on the floor where they’d been playing, but it was unremarkable. Kyle, who must have cleaned it up while he was sleeping, grinned. “Used my tongue for that too,” he teased, and leaned in for a long kiss.
Spice painted the inside of Akira’s mouth, making it tingle.
“Stay just like that, sweetheart,” his boyfriend murmured, plucking the plastic tray out of Akira’s hands and slithering down the bed towards his feet. Kyle ran his tongue up the inside of his thigh.
He wasn’t planning to...
Oh, but he was.
Eating in bed was already slumming it enough, in Akira’s opinion, especially when there was a perfectly good table and chairs in the room, but eating in bed while using his cock as a fuckingspoonwas messy, disgusting, and...inappropriately enjoyable.
Kyle’s blue eyes twinkled in open satisfaction as he watched Akira from where he’d settled between his spread thighs, licking off the sauce he’d drizzled over his dick and balls.
