Page 32 of The Secret Shape of Worship
Devon stared at Mina, eyes tracking down to his mouth. Mina stepped forward, closing the space between them to almost nothing. Devon’s breath washed hot and irregular over Mina’s face. He pressed a hand to the side of Devon’s cheek, flushed under his fingers.
“It’s ok,” Mina said. “You can let go. I’ve got you.”
Slowly, the tension in Devon’s shoulders start to unknot. His eyes grew heavier and his breath steady.
“We’ve both been denying ourselves our whole lives,” Mina said, his voice breathy, barely above a whisper. “We’ve been bowing to a god neither of us has seen. Never felt. Never really believed in.”
Devon stiffened, readying a defense at the back of his throat.
“Don’t. You and I are on a journey. There’s no going back. Only forward. I may be further along than you, but I can show you the way. I can show you the true meaning of worship.”
With that, Mina closed the remaining centimeters between them, pressing his open mouth onto Devon’s. Before Mina could pry his tongue between the other boy’s lips, he felt Devon’s mouth open with a trembling sigh that filled Mina’s like awarm breath of night air. Devon pulled away slightly, sucking on Mina’s lower lip before throwing both of his hands around his shoulders and pulling their bodies together. Devon kissed Mina deep and hard, pitiful, hungry sounds accompanying every thrust of his tongue as his hands pulled and squeezed over every millimeter of Mina’s bare body, sliding over the oiled surfaces like his life depended on finding the perfect handhold to bear him up. Devon was resurrecting himself, climbing out of the dark tomb of his repressed desires, desperate not to fall back in. Desperate for this moment to be real. Terrified that it wasn’t. Mina could sense and feel and taste it all.
Devon’s hands slid down the slope of Mina’s back, cresting the soft hills of his backside over hisshendyt.Devon’s moans became prayers that quaked through his body, spread through his consciousness like a raging fever.
Please don’t be a dream; please don’t leave me to face this alone,flooded Mina’s mind.
Real,Mina pushed back.Real, real, real. God is here, in this place, and we are worshipping together.
You?“Mina…” Devon moaned into the boy-god’s mouth.
Us,Mina answered.
“I want…I want…”
“Yes.” Mina pulled himself away, a wet sound filling the room. “You want. And you’ll have.”
Devon shuddered, hands on Mina’s thighs, clinging to hope. Desperate, aching hope.
“But first,” Mina said. “This godawful uniform…” he grinned, “just doesn’t fit the vibe of this place.” He reached up, with a hand on each side of Devon’s open collar, and pulled with all of his strength, ripping the shirt down the middle and exposing Devon’s chest and stomach. The other boy gasped, immediately throwing his hands up over his body.
His classmate was darkly tanned but only minimally toned, despite his thick arms. His chest was full and his middle soft. Mina reached forward and pulled Devon’s arms down.
“I’m not as hot as you. Not even close.”
Slowly, Mina reached up, gripping Devon by the throat and pulling him close.
“Do not say that.”
“Wha…” Devon choked. “I just meant…”
Mina squeezed. “I’ve learned a lot in my time here, Devon. And this was the first thing I learned. Your body is a temple. Every time you speak that way about it, you remove a stone. Only so many stones can be removed before the whole thing comes down.”
“But just look at you. And look at me. You’re gorgeous. I’m...”
Mina’s heart ached as his mind flooded with Devon’s own hatred of himself. How uncomfortable he felt in his own skin. Mina reached out to Devon’s wrist and took it in his hand, thumbing the smoothness of it. There was a reason the temple had called out to Devon. Some scars sit under the skin. Mina and Devon had been standing at the edge of the same precipice, hating themselves, neither noticing the other. Mina’s eyes burned.
“You are flawless, Devon. Your body is a gift. And I’ll teach you how to treat it the way it deserves to be treated.”
Mina pulled Devon to the edge of the room by the fire, where the large, floor-length oval of polished silver stood on its easel. Mina stood between Devon and the mirror, blocking his view, as he slowly began to remove the rest of Devon’s clothes. Mina could feel Devon stealing glances over Mina’s shoulder to see his backside. Could feel him lusting after the flesh of Mina’s back and thighs that glistened in the firelight.
When Devon was finally fully naked, Mina stepped aside, giving him a full and unobstructed view of his own body.
Devon shuddered and immediately wrapped one arm across his stomach and the other covering his genitals. “Yeah, I don’t like this at all. Nope. I’d rather look at you. Can we go back to the original situation, please?”
Mina walked casually to the fireplace mantle, pulled the flail from where he’d placed it earlier, and stepped behind Devon. And then he struck, hard but not too hard, across Devon’s round, tan bottom.
“Ow, Jesus!” squealed Devon, spinning around and grabbing his ass. “What was that for?”
