Page 73 of Speak in Fever
"You realize what this means," Percy says slowly, stopping to look at him directly. "If we're not actively denying it, if we're letting people speculate..."
"It means we can be ourselves," Rath finishes quietly, the words carrying all the hope and longing he's been holding back. "Within reason. It means I don't have to pretend I don't care about you more than anyone else on the team. It means you don't have to act like I'm just another player to you."
The silence stretches between them, and Rath can feel his heart hammering against his ribs. This is it—the moment that will either change everything or confirm that he's been naive about what they could have together.
"We'd have to be careful," Percy says, and Rath feels something tight in his chest start to loosen. "Set boundariesabout what we're comfortable with people seeing versus what we want to keep private."
"Of course," Rath agrees quickly, relief making his voice stronger. "More careful than we've been."
Percy stops pacing entirely now, fixing Rath with that intense captain stare that usually makes him want to either run away or do something stupid. Tonight, it makes him want to close the distance between them and kiss Percy until they both forget why they were worried about anything.
"You're sure about this?" Percy asks.
"I'm sure."
Rath stands and crosses to him in two quick strides, reaching up to frame Percy's face with both hands. He needs to touch him, needs to make this real and tangible and theirs.
This kiss feels different from all the others—not stolen or hidden or shadowed by anxiety, but open and honest and completely theirs. Rath melts against Percy's chest, making a soft sound when Percy's hands find his waist and pull him closer.
They kiss again, slower this time, and Rath savors the freedom of it. When Percy's hands slip under the hem of his shirt, finding warm skin, Rath arches into the touch with a quiet gasp that makes Percy's breath hitch against his mouth.
"Bedroom?" Rath asks against Percy's ear, the single word carrying all the want and need that's been building in him since the moment he saw Percy.
Percy nods, taking Rath's hand and leading him down the hallway. Rath follows, his heart racing with anticipation and the heady realization that they don't have to be careful anymore, don't have to worry about being too loud or leaving marks or any of the hundred small ways they've been protecting their secret.
As soon as Percy's bedroom door closes behind them, he turns in his arms, pressing Rath back against the wood with a kiss that's all heat and intention. Rath’s hands find the hem ofPercy's shirt and start working it upward, desperate to feel more skin, to have nothing between them but honesty and love and the freedom to show it.
“I want to make you feel so good, sweetheart,” Percy says and it sends a shiver down Rath's spine.
Percy carefully guides him to the bed. He softly, slowly takes his time. He lifts Rath's sweater from his body and then sits back on his heels to look at him. His hair is all messed up, ruffled and soft from where Rath has tangled his fingers in it. There's a slight pink flush to his cheeks and a dilation to his pupils. He's hard in his boxers but seems content for now to just... leave it be, and focus entirely on Rath. He drags his fingertips down his chest.
“Jesus, Rath,” Percy says. “So beautiful.”
Percy leaves a trail down Rath's taut stomach, drags his hand downwards and then back up towards his nipple and circles it with his fingers. He shifts his body so that he's hovering above Rath and leans down to kiss him again.
Percy kisses him with the same firmness as before, his tongue searching and hips rocking against Rath's.
“Tell me what you want. I want to make you feel so good,” Percy says between kisses. What Rath wants is for Percy to just never stop. He wants to feel Percy's lips on his skin, kissing trails of fire there forever.
“I–” Rath moans. “Fuck, I–”
The thing is. The. Thing. Is. Well, the thing is that there is something Rath wants. Something he's been... curious about but hasn't known how to voice, how to ask for it. He wants to give himself, every single inch of his body, to Percy.
“You’re overthinking,” Percy says, with a soft kiss to his forehead. “Don’t think. Just tell me. What do you want?”
Rath swallows. “I want–” His eyes flick up towards Percy, and he sees Percy looking back at him with steady, beautiful eyes. “I want you to fuck me,” he says. It comes out in a rush, breathlessand slurred and Rath almost winces because not once has he ever brought it up until now.
“Fuck,” Percy says, pink lips falling open in surprise. Something flickers across his face and he pauses, fingers stilling over the waistband of Rath's pants where he's been slowly dragging his fingertips. His eyes are very dark. “Are you sure?”
Rath nods again, and then says, “Just... go slow?”
Percy kisses him on the forehead, a tiny ghost of his lips on Rath's skin. “Of course. Tell me if you want to stop or anything, it's–”
Rath cuts him off with a kiss. “Please.”
Percy smiles in response and nods. “Okay.” He kisses Rath again, and there's something different about it now, something somehow both harder and easier, as though the simple act of telling Percy a thing that he wants has shifted something between them again in the best possible way. He wonders if things will ever stop shifting, if there will ever be a time where he feels like this is them: settled and done. He hopes there isn't. He hopes he and Percy never stop surprising each other, that they're always moving, always growing together with intertwined roots.
Percy kisses him, drags his fingers back along Rath's chest. He kisses his way down his navel and the trail of hair there, then brings his fingers to the buttons of his jeans, where he's hard and aching.
