After the Rising: The Vaille Brothers Saga
Volume Four - Eye of the Storm
Chapter Five

by Talya Firedancer


Rukawa's family lived in one of the squat, blocky buildings on the same ring as the Carrack building, not to far from where Cedric and his brothers lived. Humphrey had to circle the block a few times to find a parking spot, because the street was mixed residential and commercial use and most of the available spots were filled at that time of day.

"You sure this is okay?" Cedric asked, for about the twelfth time. He was a trespasser on the threshold, looking up at the ash-dark building blocks of the condo complex.

Fingers closed around his and Rukawa gave him a solemn look.

"Right," Cedric agreed, flashing back to what he'd already been told. Stop asking if it was okay, because with Rukawa it was. There were no boundaries.

Still, he rather thought this resurgence of hesitancy was due more to himself than any lingering guilt because the thought of meeting any member of Rukawa's family was intimidating. "I-Is anyone home?"

Rukawa got them through the outer chamber into the long hall within, bending a glance on Cedric as he opened the door. "My mother, maybe." Humphrey loomed behind them as they got through building security. The big man sniffed as if to indicate the measures were below his standards.

Oh. That was definitely the trigger. His anxiety had just tripled. Cedric's next question froze on his tongue. Does she know? What her son had become. What Cedric had made him. Orion was bound to have stepped in and made certain facts known, but when they were still undergoing tests and Dr. Franco was promising further analyses, that couldn't be enough information. And what little of it there was, might be cold comfort.

"Th-They don't mind if you stay with me?" he ventured, instead of trying to externalize any of that. Rukawa would catch the rough edges of it and try to soothe him. There was no soothing what he couldn't prepare for.

"I'm pretty independent," Rukawa told him, and kept a grip on Cedric's hand as he punched for the elevator button.

That didn't quite answer his question, but he was willing to let it drop. For now.

Humphrey shifted from foot to foot the entire brief time they were in the elevator, and for the first time as Cedric sized up his bodyguard he realized the man was nervous. He wondered if it was the elevator itself, the confined nature of the lift, or the fact that it probably was a security risk in and of itself. Trapped in a box with no exits, dangling from metal tracks and a steel cord.

Cedric had never before thought of an elevator as an extraordinary threat. It was a fact of life, something he used at home at least twice a day. Now thanks to Humphrey he was probably going to go through everyday items and extrapolate the potential for danger in all of them.

The doors slid open on the eighth level with a polite "ping" and they emerged. Humphrey waved the two boys back with one big hand and exited first, clearing the hallway then gesturing for them to join him.

Outside the elevator the hallway was dark and cramped, its plaster walls painted a dense shade of green that, combined with dim lighting and no windows, rendered the place claustrophobic. Aside from the fact that they had entered an enclosed place Cedric could see no immediate reason for Humphrey's heightened alert. Maybe it wasn't so much that as the fact that Cedric was more aware of Humphrey's vigilance now that they were out of school and he could observe his patrolling demeanor.

"Eight oh-six," Rukawa told him, and Humphrey replied with a nod, taking the left-hand corridor.

Rukawa let them into 806 with an old-fashioned key and opened the door wide enough for himself to step inside, toeing his shoes off in an entryway that was barely large enough for the door to open unimpeded. He held the door open for Cedric, who followed suit and padded past Rukawa into a narrow apartment hallway with eggshell-white walls and bare floorboards of older wood with honey-colored finish. Humphrey was last, stooping to clear the doorway and standing there a moment in his shoes. Rukawa made a rocking motion with his free hand as if to say, 'get on with it.'

"Your shoes, please, Humphrey," Cedric said for him. "It's disrespectful to wear them inside."

Humphrey struggled with it for a moment, the need to comply with a host's set of rules warring with whatever priorities he had to keep his shoes on as a bodyguard. After reaching a conclusion heralded by the smoothing of his knotted brow, he bent and loosened his shoelaces then slipped both boots off by toeing each heel.

"Welcome," Rukawa said, and he and Humphrey had to do some shuffling in the close space to allow Rukawa to close the door, then precede Cedric and the bodyguard up the hallway. He called out, lifting his voice above his typical low monotone, "I'm home."

The hallway was lined with closed screen doors made up of thin wooden slats covered with white paper. Shoji, Cedric identified them. The Rukawa family must have had the place specially outfitted, because in most Western apartment buildings the doorways would either be empty or made of solid wood, left hanging open. From one of the right-hand doors, a lilting feminine voice returned, "Okaeri nasai."

Welcome home. Cedric's eyes fluttered and he tried to remember the last time he'd heard that at his own place. His brother Gabriel typically worked until all hours, varying from day to day. His brother Roman modeled, and even though it wasn't every day he was usually out until five or later due to his various activities. Cedric was used to being the first one home.

Therefore, it was only logical that there was no one there when he arrived to welcome him.

Rukawa slid aside the second screen and stood at the border of a wide, sparkling white kitchen with black and white checked linoleum. "Some visitors are with me," he said, and gestured for Cedric and Humphrey to follow.

Cedric stopped in the doorway and took it all in for a moment. His own kitchen was grand and he loved it, but this was obviously the domain of a person with perhaps less money but an abiding love for the essentials and that something extra, a homey touch that made his throat tighten for no particular reason. The layout was the simple 'L' shape common to most kitchens, with the main cooking area in the longer half of the room and a dining area in the shorter part of the room. The countertops and cabinets wrapped around and bracketed most of the available space in the cooking area, surrounding a kitchen island that had a rack of copper pots suspended above it. The countertops were covered in glazed tile the color of pale yellow lemons, and the cabinets were in wood with white finish. The curtains in the window and the sliding glass door off to the left were long, fluttering lace that inscribed geometric patterns as they caught the faint breeze that came in through open windows.

A woman turned from the kitchen island, brushing wisps of hair away from a fine-boned oval face with high cheekbones. Her eyes were deep-set but with that Asiatic tilt, and her smile was immediate and friendly.

"Okaasan, this is my friend from school, Cedric," Rukawa said, giving her a stiff bow and remaining at Cedric's side. "This is his bodyguard, Humphrey."

Cedric bobbed forward in a quick, nervous bow; he knew the principle but he'd also read somewhere that the Japanese thought that Westerners had never possessed the capability to perform a proper bow. His desire to match etiquette overruled his fear that he'd mess up somehow. This woman with such watchful kind eyes would not take offense. "Cedric Vaille," he added, as if that would mean anything to her.

"Kumiko Rukawa," the woman greeted them, clasping her hands together before her and returning the bow. "I'm pleased to meet you." Indeed, her dark eyes turned up and twinkled. She was a small, neat woman of about Roman's height -- which meant she was a little shorter than her son -- and she had dark hair rolled on the back of her neck, a mass of it that could have been waist-length if left undone.

After that conversational opener, Rukawa seemed inclined to leave them to it, standing there in the kitchen with his feet planted and hips kilted, his dark hair shading his eyes as he gazed off to a point unknown.

"Umm..." Cedric cast about him for the careless conversational skills of his brother. Roman could start a conversation and keep it rolling through all kinds of territory.

"Are you staying for dinner?" Mrs. Rukawa inquired. She favored him with another smile, flashing white and even teeth. There was a mischievous tilt to her head that suggested she was aware of the awkwardness her conversationally-impaired son had dropped them into, but saw no need to let it get in the way of getting to know one another.

With something that simple, Cedric was able to relax. "Er...I don't think we're able..." He trailed off, because it was probably premature disclosure to admit that his brother Gabriel was adept at scorching water and the other, Roman simply couldn't be let in the kitchen unless he was consuming the food.

With a nod, she reached for a towel draped over the sink and dried her hands on it, turning her questioning gaze on her son.

Rukawa waved one hand at his mother in a 'come here' gesture and she nodded.

"Please, have a seat," Mrs. Rukawa told them, indicating the table and chairs in the dining area beyond them and passing into the hallway on Rukawa's heels. "I'll be back to offer drinks in a moment."

Humphrey took up a station beside the open sliding glass door as if not trusting the fragile mesh screen to provide a sufficient barrier for anything seeking entry to the kitchen.

The shoji door to the kitchen slid shut, leaving Cedric in the kitchen with his bodyguard. He was independent, he'd said, but did that signify? He still had to let his parents know his intentions, and they would be within their rights to say no. Cedric tried to imagine his own parents in a similar situation today, but he couldn't remember enough of them to draw the parallels.

As the silence lengthened and Cedric climbed onto a barstool beside the pale yellow tiled countertop, he wondered if Rukawa's parents really had been told. His mother Kumiko didn't seem to be acting any different, though of course he had no basis for comparison. Rather, she wasn't acting the way Cedric would expect someone to behave after being told without conclusive proof that their son was now inhabited by a demonic power. He kicked his legs and waited and wondered, and tried to decide what he'd do if events conspired to deprive him of Rukawa's presence again.

It was a warm flattering blush all through Cedric that Rukawa seemed to have been affected enough to go to these lengths, asking for permission to stay.

Even from the other room, Cedric could still hear his friend's pulse. He was still there with him, and so it was okay. This kind of distance was nothing. He wondered what he'd do if Mrs. Rukawa said no; or worse, his brother. It would be better from a security standpoint, he was sure, if Rukawa stayed with them. He supposed that was why Humphrey was making no movement to gainsay their plan. The Rukawa family would be in greater danger, potentially, if Rukawa remained here.

Anyone associated with them bore that risk now. Roy, Damon, even Kieran, a teenaged assistant Cedric hadn't known until a few days ago -- all because Professor Vaille was the best demonology and linguistics expert on the Eastern seaboard, if not in the world.

The kitchen door's screen slid aside again and Rukawa returned, setting down a compact traveling case in the hallway and re-entering the kitchen. Mrs. Rukawa was behind him, unsmiling but serene.

"Would the three of you like some iced tea, or juice?" she offered. Her gaze fell on Cedric and softened. "You should be having milk."

Cedric was confused. "I eat balanced meals," he countered, leaning his elbows on the kitchen counter. "I like iced tea."

"That's fine," she said, all indulgence, and collected Rukawa's drink order from his silent gaze. "Humphrey?"

Humphrey waved off her offer, bowing his head and cracking a smile.

The fact that Mrs. Rukawa had accepted her son's leave-taking so calmly made Cedric wonder even more. Did she really know what was going on? He couldn't let it lie, as once again he was impressed with the fact that he was a trespasser here, making off with something that didn't belong to him.

"Mrs. Rukawa, did someone from Orion come by, or call, to explain...?" He trailed off, his throat closing again. ...About Rukawa? She was too nice.

The woman turned from the fridge with a pitcher of dark iced tea in her hands. "From Orion? Oh, yes. Someone came by the other evening, to explain to us why Akito wouldn't be coming home that evening." She poured the tea into three glasses, passing one over the counter to him and handing the other to her son.

"So you know that he, he--" The words stuck. How could he tell Rukawa's mother what he'd done? He was probably skirting the line of confidentiality again, not knowing how much the parents had been told. Surely parents got full disclosure if their son happened to be initiated into demonic powers? He didn't even know whether she knew about the Nephilim.

"My son is different," Kumiko filled in the blank, her dark gaze calm and steady on his. "That much I could tell simply by looking him in the eyes once he'd returned. I know he's changed, but he is still my son. He is alive."

Cedric took the tall, cold glass between his palms and focused on the moisture forming on its surface.

"And," she said, surprising him by mirroring his pose across the counter from him, leaning against the tile and catching his eyes with her own, "I think I know why he will stay that way."

Cedric couldn't look away, and the rise of a sudden lump prevented him from speaking.

She flashed her teeth at him again, and somehow included Rukawa in her glance now. "You boys take all the time that you need. Promise that you will."

He couldn't verbalize more than a squeak, but he managed a nod.

***

"You must make, what, twenty, thirty a year? Not including Orion contracts. So tell me, Gabriel, why are you still driving this claptrap piece of junk around the streets?"

Gabriel ran his glasses up his nose with one finger and returned his right hand to the gear shift, flicking a glance at Shemyahza from the corner of his eye that promised doom or at least a loss of privileges if he continued for long in that vein. For the insult, he shifted gears and let the clutch out too fast, grinning as the ancient electric car jerked forward in fits and starts and Shemyahza was thrown against his crash harness.

"That's none of your business and it still works, doesn't it?" Gabriel returned, sharp.

Shemyazha bared teeth at him in a lazy snarl. "Admit it, you like the fact that no one else can drive this obsolete heap."

"Keep insulting her," Gabriel said with dignity, "and you'll never get the opportunity to try."

"My, my, I can smell the singed ego from here," Shemyahza teased him. "I'll leave 'her' alone. I've no interest in sleeping on the couch."

Truth be told, Gabriel didn't either, so he was pleased enough to have Shemyahza drop the matter. Then again, from all he knew of demon physiology, Shemyahza didn't need much to inform him of Gabriel's interest; his nose told him everything he might care to know of Gabriel's arousal.

He down-shifted the car and ignored Shemyahza's smirk of amusement as he took the corner into the garage. There was extra security to get in; beyond the normal pass code, they had to present an ident disc. It must have been delivered to Shem during the day, because Gabriel's bodyguard leaned right over his lap and made a long arm to present the disc to the machine.

"That's new," Gabriel said, keeping his voice neutral. Shemyahza's arm was almost, not quite brushing his groin.

"Find your parking space," Shemyahza urged him, straightening in his seat. The whipcord of his hair slithered against Gabriel's chest in passing.

"Uh, okay." The car jolted forward again, shuddering into motion as though it were on its last tires.

Inside the underground garage of the Carrack building, there were two unmarked black vans parked in the visitor's area. Gabriel steered his car into its parking space and his hand was on the door handle when Shemyahza leaned into him again, one hand curling against his nape and the other branding across his thigh.

"You in a hurry?" Shemyahza inquired of him, breath stroking Gabriel's cheek.

Gabriel huffed, caught between turning his face away and opening the door fast enough to tumble out through the door. He was stuck between answering yes, and revealing himself, or saying no and being ridiculed for such shameful dishonesty.

He must have waited too long to answer, because Shemyahza's laugh tickled his cheek. "Relax, it wasn't a trick question."

He was in limbo. He had made the tentative overtures and Shemyahza had accepted. He didn't want to take it back, exactly, but he was worried. Of what was vaguer issue. Of change, perhaps, but so much had already changed. He turned his head to say something, he didn't know what -- anything -- and Shemyahza was there. He didn't even have to close his eyes.

Warm breath poured over his lip before a mouth closed over his softly, capturing Gabriel's lower lip. Now he let his eyes fall shut the better to concentrate on the sensation, and found himself cupped into the sway of the kiss with one of Shemyahza's hands threading through his hair and cradling his jaw. It was soft and entirely unexpected and Gabriel was half-hard before Shem pulled away. Jungle eyes gazed back at him through half-lowered lids and Gabriel was leaning in again before he knew it...

That was when the rap came on the window.

Gabriel jerked in his seat, straightening and pulling from Shemyahza, his hand closing hard on the door handle. Shemyahza cursed something low and fluent that Gabriel translated automatically, blushing as the import sank in.

"Excuse me sirs...oh!" The voice penetrated the closed window.

Shemyahza cracked his door open and left the car in a swirl of silvery-suede trench coat. "Yes?" he demanded, in a thundering growl.

Gabriel followed suit and left the car, shutting the driver side door and leaning up against it to watch Shemyahza deliver the dressing-down.

The man who'd interrupted them shrank back from Shemyahza's dire expression. He was suited up in the dark full coverall with Orion's logo blazed across the chest. "I was going to...er, sorry." He motioned as if to scurry off, tail slunk between his legs.

"Get on with it," Shemyahza ordered him, passing a hand over his tied-back hair.

"The upgrades to the upper floor and overall building security are complete," the man told him, shifting from foot to foot as if unsure whether to salute, stand at attention, or flee. "We're still working on retro-fitting the building."

"Thanks for your status update," Shemyahza acknowledged, inclining his head. There was irony there etched in impatience and Gabriel could no longer contain his grin as the man turned and fled the moment Shem waved his hand.

"The life of a bodyguard?" Gabriel offered as they strode for the elevator. Shem kept up with his long strides with no problem.

"Yes, I am still your bodyguard," Shemyahza muttered, and took his arm as if to hustle him along. There was more comfort there than anything, and urgency transmitted by touch.

"Not in an elevator," Gabriel said aloud as the metal doors parted for them.

Shemyahza's grin was upon him like the hands that stroked up his side as they boarded. The Nephilim crowded him against the far wall, hovering over him. His dark face was oriented on Gabriel, only Gabriel, all hungry elegance and an intensity that shut out anything else. What could Gabriel do but respond to that? Still Shemyahza waited, eyes roaming over his features, nostrils flaring to catch the scent of him, but not touching. That was still Gabriel's choice.

Despite the knowledge that there were only a few floors to traverse, Gabriel slid an arm around the demon that had descended on him, one hand pressing flat to the small of Shemyahza's back, the other resting low on his hip. He reached up with his mouth, and they locked together with such force Gabriel all but felt their teeth grate. There was a rightness to the fit of their lips that ran clear through him as Shemyahza opened him up to deepen the kiss.

No more waiting, the thought rose to the top of what was left of his conscious mind. Shemyahza had paused for him at each step and though it had only been a few days, his body thrilled to the necessity of this. Shemyahza was barely touching him, big hands planted to either side of Gabriel's head, the only points of contact their lips and Gabriel's hands on him and yet the connection between them was a live wire coursing through his entire body. He was this ready, and...

The elevator reached the top floor, heralded by the quiet yet intrusive chime. Shemyahza's tongue was touching his and Gabriel moaned a protest as they broke their clinch.

"Soon," Shemyahza promised, slanting another heavy-lidded look over his shoulder as he moved to clear the elevator. One hand went up to the hilt behind his head as he moved, and he worked his sword free of its hiding place in his coat.

It startled Gabriel as he pulled the great sword loose, then understanding dawned as Shemyahza stripped his coat off with one hand, taking up a station beside the door and quirking his brows expectantly. This time they would get undressed. Gabriel unlocked his door and dropped his briefcase inside the foyer as he toed his shoes off, all hasty urgency as he couldn't recall how long it had been since he'd been this impatient.

His eyes met Shemyahza as he turned, almost hesitant in self-consciousness, choked with desire. Gabriel's hands went to his tie then dropped to his sides. Shemyahza's full mouth turned up in a slow smile.

"Bedroom?" the Nephilim's rich voice curled around him and all Gabriel could do was nod in response. Shemyahza kept a grip on his sword but hooked his free arm around Gabriel, drawing him into the sway of his walk as they made their way up the hallway.

Gabriel's blood was boiling. He thought it had to be, for him to hear it so thunderous in his ears. He glanced up to the strong aquiline profile, the proud but not beaky nose, generous lips, high cheekbones of the man -- close enough to man -- beside him. Part of him had known from the moment their incorporeal eyes had met and it had taken this long to give in. It was a good choice, he recognized with the suddenness of aligning an esoteric piece of translation. Whether there had been much say in the matter was moot, but as Shemyahza's arm tightened around him Gabriel knew this was the touch of his equal. He wasn't yielding so much as he was agreeing.

This time their passage to the bedroom was a great deal less troubled, more consensual. Gabriel paused beside his patterned dressing screen as Shemyahza set his sword against the bed-stand, propping it in a way so as not to scuff the floor. Then he turned, hands on his hips, wearing that same sleeveless crimson vest as the day he'd discovered Gabriel and form-fitting black pants.

"You're not going to retreat behind that screen and deny me the pleasure of undressing you?" Shemyahza questioned him, and Gabriel shook his head, mute. He was frozen in place as Shemyahza approached him, his feet whispering over floorboards. Long well-shaped fingers unknotted his tie, tossing it to hang over the screen. Silver eyes were on him, asking, as Shemyahza paused at the first button of his dress shirt.

"Oh, please," Gabriel replied to that silent question, his voice unclutching. He had to close his eyes against the intensity of Shemyahza as those fingers moved down, shirt brushing his abruptly sensitized skin in brief tugs as the buttons were slipped free of fabric moorings. Cool fingers brushed against his ribs and his eyes shocked open to Shemyahza's intent gaze. Shemyahza pressed his palms against Gabriel's bare sides, eyes moving over his skin like his touch. Gabriel murmured something wordless, an entreaty, and moved his head for a kiss.

Shemyahza satisfied his plea, catching him with lips open and going from there. Hands pressed against Gabriel's skin with more urgency now, fingers fanning out over his ribs and thumbs stroking down his sides, one hand stroking down the muscle of his back and pulling him taut to Shemyahza's body. The kiss deepened, caught speed and Gabriel was laid bare as never before. At one point he was sure of moaning into Shemyahza's mouth, overwhelmed by the agile tongue that moved between them and taught him how to stroke, how to press and elicit a lovely thrill that traveled through him to his toes. He was this ready and didn't even have his shirt off.

With unhurried movements, Shemyahza broke the kiss and tongued his way down from Gabriel's ear to the join of his neck, setting his teeth there but not biting. Gabriel clutched at Shemyahza's vest then had to hold his arms out as Shem stripped his jacket and shirt off one arm, then the other. Both went the way of the tie, slung over the painted dressing screen. Now Shem's hands roamed, stroking over the expanse of Gabriel's pale torso, a dark thumb dwelling over his nipple and making him jerk.

"Please," Gabriel said as Shemyahza breathed into the hollow of his throat. It seemed to be the only word he could produce. Well, besides... "Shemyahza, please." He wanted. His hands found the weight of Shemyahza's braided hair and passed down the length of it, seeking the ties at its base. A hazy thought surfaced, the concept of all that loose dark hair over his body once they finally reached the bed. He wanted that too. He pulled off the ties and ran his hands through the wealth of hair, loosening it from its complicated braid. The rest would unravel as they continued.

Shemyahza nipped at his throat, seeming not to hear him as strong hands stroked up and down his torso, then roamed around him to the ridges of muscle that ran along his spine, caressing downward and dipping under the top of his slacks. Gabriel tilted his head with a gasp, allowing access, hoping only that he didn't leave too much of a mark but then he'd simply button his dress shirt to the top-most button.

Gabriel found his hands and with fumbling fingers he located Shemyahza's vest, undoing the catches down the front and baring an expanse of smooth cinnamon-skinned muscle for the touch. Shemyahza made a noise low in his throat as Gabriel's hands moved on him at last.

Bed, came the muzzy thought as Gabriel's knees weakened when Shemyahza unsnapped the front of his dress slacks. An arm went around him, steadying him.

"Let's get you to bed," Shemyahza whispered into his neck, a raw thread of sound.

Gabriel pulled back enough to see the glimmer of Shemyahza's eyes, the unrestrained desire there. They maneuvered for the bed, a mere few steps, without allowing too much space between their bodies. Shem did disentangle long enough to rid himself of his crimson vest, dropping it across the nightstand and returning the attention of his hands to Gabriel's body, palming his abdomen with a sure touch.

Sprawling on his side, Gabriel watched Shemyahza kneel on the spread and run his eyes over him like the certainty of his stroking fingers. It was calculating, assessing where to begin and do the most damage. Or rather, the most good. His breath caught as Shemyahza returned to his pants, opening them up. Gabriel had to rock his hips to allow access, rolling onto his back and leaning on his elbows to allow Shem to strip his pants off. The demon paused at his ankles, folding the pants and chucking them off the bed in the direction of a nearby chair. They missed, but Gabriel didn't care about that. Shemyahza had an ankle in each hand and he was sending a smoldering gaze up the length of his body that hinted he'd lick and nibble his way up to Gabriel's mouth.

Now Gabriel was quite certain he was hard, though Shemyahza hadn't even touched there yet. His erection strained against his y-front briefs and he returned Shem gaze for gaze, fascinated, almost afraid of the moment Shem would rid himself of his pants, too, and bare that monster barely concealed by his black bikini underwear.

Shemyahza leaned in and planted a mouth against his knee, eyes still on him. "You like this, Gabriel?" There was the same banked heat coming through in his voice, rendering it gravelly, that seared him when their eyes met.

Gabriel wondered what the full brunt of his desire would be, unfettered, and he shivered. Shemyahza gripped his thigh with his other hand and hitched up further, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to his other thigh, traveling upward. "Yes," Gabriel hissed, sound leaving him in a slow leak.

"What do you want, Gabriel?"

The question barely registered in his brain as his head went back and the chain of kisses continued, wet mouth and a hint of tongue squirming against his skin and making its way up his leg, tracking over his hip-bone and dwelling there. What did he want? He never, well, lately his sex life had all been rather pre-determined. Roman came and pretty much let him know what he wanted, usually finishing with Gabriel inside of him and then they went their separate ways. Shemyahza's fingers were stroking gently but insistently over his other hip and teeth marked his lower belly as those jungle eyes captured him again.

Gabriel huffed, trying to marshal his thoughts. Just...keep...doing what you're doing, he grasped at the words, turned them over in his head, and thought 'how pedestrian.' "I want you," he managed, and tried to find his breath as Shemyahza settled with arms pinning his hips down, weight over his groin giving him pressure but keeping him still. Hot breath stirred against the skin of his belly, already sensitized from the damp tracks Shemyahza had trailed mapped across it.

"Want me, how?" the husky growl prompted, and Shemyahza's tongue painted over his belly again, finding his bellybutton and inscribing a slow, tortuous circle.

"Want..." Thought failed him again. If it had been close enough Gabriel would have banged his head against the headboard; as it was, he was squirming into the soft nest of pillows. He reached his hands out, sinking fingers into sleek thick hair, but Shemyahza had him firmly pinned and he had no real leverage to guide the Nephilim where he wanted. He wanted what he'd always given before. "I want you to suck me, then..." That was where he stuck again. Did he really want that the first time?

Slung over his hips, Shemyahza kissed his belly again and turned his eerie silver eyes on Gabriel. "I want to claim you," he informed him in no uncertain terms, and a wide smile stretched his lips, already kiss-swollen from roaming over Gabriel's skin. "Can you handle that?"

He was being asked, and perhaps that was what made the difference to his indecisive mind. "I...yes," he said, breathless. The writhe of Shemyahza's tongue made another lap around his bellybutton. "I don't know. I, uhh, let's try?" He might regret it when he really saw him but right now with Shemyahza slung over his groin and his mouth on him he couldn't think, he just wanted.

Gabriel wanted the kisses again, he wanted Shem's mouth heavy against his own, he wanted and God fingers were stretching down his briefs as Shemyahza trundled back on the bed, positioning himself between Gabriel's thighs and smoothing one hand down from hip to knee as if petting him, reassuring him. He gasped in relief as his cock sprang free of his briefs and was taken in hand at once, a sure grip stroking him up and down. He slitted his eyes only to watch Shemyahza watching him, and it was overwhelming, the look, the weight of him, the steady motion of his hand and without breaking eye contact Shemyahza bent to take the head of Gabriel's cock in his mouth. Mouth and tongue slid down over him and Gabriel's breath stuttered, he was caught in that silvery gaze and the sight of the wide-lipped mouth stretching over him.

"Yes...yes...please, Shem," Gabriel moaned, pinned and unable to move no matter how he heaved to push his hips up into the perfect constriction of wet lips sliding down over him, suckling. He had to close his eyes against the pressure of that gaze. A hint of teeth grazed him and his cock was swallowed up in tight heat, taken into Shemyahza's throat until lips stretched tight against the base of him, a nose nuzzling against the fine platinum hairs at his groin. Gabriel shouted and Shemyahza bobbed back and forth, controlling the agonizing-slow slide of his cock from base to tip. A tongue dragged the length of his erection and languished against the head, lapping up the drops that oozed and strung from the slit to Shemyahza's mouth.

Gabriel whimpered, pushing against Shem's secure grip again, fingers thrusting through Shemyahza's hair with no real purchase. Shem chuckled at him and kissed the tip of his cock, sucked it into his mouth and dragged another whimper out of him, made love to it with his tongue before stretching his lips down over and taking his erection down his throat again. Gabriel howled, his hips slamming up against Shem's iron-hard grip going nowhere. Again Shemyahza controlled the pace and speed, drawing orgasm ever closer to the surface as his strokes sped up. Gabriel was crying out and writhing when Shemyahza pulled off him, lips smacking.

"Don't stop," Gabriel begged, lying there panting.

"Where would my satisfaction be in that?" Shemyahza wanted to know, his voice husky and fucked-out. In a few lithe elegant movements he crawled the length of Gabriel's body to kneel over him on hands and knees, hair slithering over one shoulder to caress Gabriel like a living thing.

Gabriel reached up both hands and pulled his face in, reeling him close to taste. Their lips pressed and fit together. He caught at Shemyahza's bottom lip, licking himself off the demon's dusky skin, and their mouths meshed for a thorough exploration. Shemyahza lowered himself until his lower body rested on Gabriel's, and there it was their pulses met.

I could die kissing you, Gabriel wanted to groan, lacing fingers through Shemyahza's sleek heavy hair, stroking his tongue back as Shemyahza's tongue penetrated him again. He was rougher this time, his mouth sucking and tongue plunging as if re-enacting fellatio here between their lips and teeth and tongues. The swell of Shemyahza's erection was driving a rhythm against Gabriel's inner thigh. "I want to..." he began as their mouths broke free, and Shemyahza kissed the corner of his mouth. He wanted to see it now, a hunger running through him as deep and total as his earlier apprehension.

Shemyahza rolled off him with a knowing smirk, tossing a handful of hair behind him. One dark hand traveled down his bare torso and rested at his waistband.

Gabriel reached out and closed his fingers over Shem's, peeling his hand away in favor of doing it himself, unsnapping the first button. He shifted into a better position, unzipping then encountering frustration when there was no way of peeling those tight pants down spare hipbones.

"One moment," Shemyahza said, polite as anything, rolling onto his back and working his pants down over his flat smoothly-muscled belly and hollowed out hipbones. The pants disappeared somewhere over the edge of the bed and it was Gabriel's turn to drape himself over Shemyahza, pushing him back onto the spread and exploring his body with curious, avid hands.

He was muscled everywhere there wasn't sinew or bone, but it wasn't bulk. It was all smooth and near-hairless as Gabriel but for sparse black hairs that were scattered over his forearms, a trail that started below his navel and disappeared into his briefs, and a light dusting over his upper thighs. Shem lounged against the pillows as Gabriel stroked over his tight pectoral muscles, touching his mouth to each of the plum-dark nipples that were already peaked before his tongue lapped there. A broad hand cupped the back of his head, sifting through his hair with a stroking touch, but did not guide him, just settled there.

Gabriel groaned as he moved his mouth on down the ladder of Shemyahza's abdomen, muscles lax under his tongue but each clearly delineated. Shemyahza loosed a quiet breath as Gabriel drew further down, and the muscles jumped beneath his touch. The fingers against the back of his neck were branding him now, hot but still settled there waiting. He passed over the flat coin of a bellybutton that didn't possess enough of a well to dip into, but he circled it with his tongue anyhow and was treated to a pleased moan that rumbled through Shemyahza's diaphragm and sparked through him like a shock.

Now he was there, and he gathered his legs and knelt between Shemyahza's parted thighs, surveying the heaviness of an erection barely contained by the scrap of silk briefs stretched to their limit. He palmed it first, eliciting another groan from Shemyahza as he touched him through the briefs, stroking his thumb against the underside, reaching the tip and the patch of wetness there that soaked through the fabric. He hooked his fingers over the briefs and dragged them down, surprised all over by the slap of the cock as it sprang free and smacked against Shemyahza's belly and hip.

"Dear heavens," Gabriel said faintly, his hands still tangled in Shemyahza's briefs. It was huge, jutting up from a normally-proportioned base and thickening along the length of it, heaviest at its widest girth about two-thirds up then narrowing to a round, bulbous tip sheathed in sparse foreskin. Without realizing it Gabriel licked his lips and Shemyahza reached down, taking the sides of his briefs in his hands and jerking, tearing the fabric and pulling the destroyed underwear out of the way.

"You like what you see?" Shemyahza prompted in that low, gravelly voice that promised if Gabriel didn't do something soon, Shem would roll him and follow up on all he'd told him he would do earlier.

Gabriel shuddered as he took Shem's heavy erection in both hands, somewhere between petting him and reverently stroking. As he found a rhythm, pushing himself against the bedclothes in sympathy, Shemyahza's cock thickened in his grip. "Oh my god." There was no way he'd ever be able to suck down Shemyahza the way the Nephilim had done to him with such casual facility. He was simply too big. Gabriel slid further down on the bed and took the head of Shemyahza's cock between his lips, glancing up and another shudder going through him as Shem's eyes pierced to the core of him. This was perhaps more intimate than even taking Shemyahza into his body, with their eyes locked and the round heavy head of Shem's erection in his mouth. He was breathing heavily through his nose even before he tried going further, the bulbous tip pressing against the back of his throat and long sure fingers stroking through his hair, not so much urging as comforting.

He lost himself in the taste of him, stretching mouth and jaw to accommodate as much as he could. He stroked with lips and all of his mouth that he could fit around Shemyahza's length, curling his throat around him and valiantly trying to force past the gag reflex but he had no practice with that sort of thing and drew back, sputtering and coughing. One hand cupped his jaw.

"Don't force yourself," Shemyahza ordered him, smoky voice surrounding him. "There's no need to rush."

Gabriel shivered at the prospect of becoming practiced enough to take his time with the huge tool he stroked and rolled between his palms, opening his throat enough to take more and more and...no. He simply couldn't imagine it was possible.

Shemyahza nudged him with a knee and Gabriel bent his head again. Shemyahza tugged at his hair and he looked up, distracted from his intentions. He'd barely started to lick his way down the length again.

"Let's move on, shall we?" Shemyahza suggested, pleasantly enough but there was a razor's edge of desire there. "Do you want to, Gabriel?"

Again, Shemyahza laid the balance of their sex neatly in his hands. Gabriel contemplated the weight of Shem's erection again, the length and breadth of it, and sucked in a shaky breath. Fingers stroked along his cheekbone and he met Shemyahza's steady, questioning gaze. There was a question there, yes, but also the unwavering resolve to follow through with whatever decision Gabriel made here and now.

I want to claim you. Shemyahza's words rippled back through him and Gabriel came to his decision, planting a kiss on the head of Shemyahza's heavy cock, tongue flicking out again to taste the burst of bitter salt-musk that gathered there.

"I want to try," he said, straightening and touching himself as he held Shemyahza in his other hand, and saw the moment Shem's crimson pupils dilated.

He was pounced and toppled to the spread, then, Shemyahza all over him with hands roaming and stroking and a knee nudging his legs apart. He turned his head and Shemyahza was there, kissing him. His mouth was tender and rough all at once, and one hand wedged between them and fisted around Gabriel's erection, pumping on him until Gabriel was thrusting against him crying out, teeth closing on Shem's lip to silence himself. 'Don't' and 'stop' got tangled up in his head until he wasn't sure whether he wanted Shemyahza to stop or to keep going, unceasing. The swollen length of Shemyahza's cock rubbed against him and painted his hip with a rope of sticky pre-come.

"Lube," Shemyahza said, pulling away from him as Gabriel neared orgasm for the second time, white noise bracketing the world and starbursts wheeling over his vision of the cream-colored ceiling.

It took a moment for the words to sink in with any import. Gabriel looked up into Shemyahza's handsome face, panting, digging his fingers into broad shoulders. "Please don't...oh." Sex, they were going for full penetration this time, not just hand-jobs. Though he was perfectly happy with the hand-jobs, writhing against Shemyahza with more intensity than he'd thought possible from the simple touch of hands, long stroking elegant dark fingers. "Oh. Top drawer, the bed-stand near your sword."

The warm length of Shemyahza atop him was replaced with emptiness, Gabriel's skin cooling in the brief instant while Shem twisted and stretched to rummage in the indicated drawer. He came back with a brand-new, unused tube which was a relief for some reason.

"Still okay?" Shemyahza knelt by his thighs, urged Gabriel with one hand to spread his legs as he moved between them, moving one to bend up and away.

The thrill of apprehension moved him again, not just for the known intimidation factor of Shemyahza's largesse, but for this new territory of opening his body up where no one had gone before. "I, I've never," Gabriel faltered, and caught Shemyahza's understanding gaze.

"I know," Shemyahza replied, and kissed the inside of his knee. To his credit, he didn't try to hand out futile promises like 'it won't hurt.' "I'll be careful. If it gets to be too much, tell me 'talmerkkjya' and I'll ease off."

Talmerkkjya, slow down, but not stop. He could force his mind around translation of the word stop, too, if it came to that. He was interrupted from parsing realization of Shemyahza's particular native dialect - he spoke English like a born speaker, it was a subtle shock -- with the touch of Shemyahza's finger, slick and cool, tracing a line past his balls. His other hand pushed Gabriel's leg higher, baring him for easier access. Gabriel tried to hitch himself up against the pillows, the better to see what was going on down there, and fell back with a gasp as Shemyahza's finger dabbled around the pucker and pushed in, parting flesh until buried to the knuckle.

He could take that much but it was a surprise. He flailed and Shemyahza was there, warm flank leaning against him, wrapping an arm around his bent leg to keep his leg cocked up. He tilted his head to press a kiss against Gabriel's knee, lips dwelling on his skin until Gabriel met his eyes, panting.

"Okay?" Shemyahza prompted him, and Gabriel nodded tensely. Part of him wanted Shem to get on with it, to get this over with, and the rest wanted to back out and escape while he still had a chance. Sprawled as he was half on Gabriel, half between his spread legs, the length of his erection was out of sight and somehow more intimidating for all that.

Shemyahza reached down and took him in hand, stroking Gabriel's wilting erection and pressing his buried finger, seeking.

"Ah...ooh," Gabriel moaned, his interest recaptured. He arched into it as Shemyahza kept a firm hand on his cock, guiding it, and thrust his finger in and out. He did that for a while, until Gabriel had forgotten his nerves and lay there lolling about in pleasure again. Then the finger slithered free and his erection went untended. The gloppy noise gave him warning before the fingers returned, two of them this time, and he hissed as they went in but their passage was eased by the wealth of lube and Shemyahza's hand, returning to jack him off again.

He wasn't quite sure how he felt about those two fingers. It didn't hurt, exactly, but it wasn't a comfortable sensation for sure. They pressed up into him and he lifted his hips, trying to escape. The fingers delved in again and Gabriel yelped.

"There," Shemyahza murmured with satisfaction, and Gabriel moaned.

"There, oh gods, that feels so..." He trailed off, babbling a bit about Shem's hand and it was suddenly too much. He twisted his hips clear off the bed, one braced foot giving him leverage, then Shem leaned harder on him and spread his leg up and over, lying on him and stroking his cock faster, the two long fingers slithering in and pressing on his prostate and slithering back out, speeding up to match the rhythm of his other hand. "Shem! Shem, please!"

The wicked grin was aimed the length of Gabriel's naked body. "Please what, Gabriel? As much as I enjoy seeing articulation fail you, I think you're going to have to tell me what you want."

Gabriel gaped at him, speechless. He didn't have much in his lexicon right now beyond Shem, please, more, harder, faster, and perhaps if he could be pressed, let me come. "Uh..."

Shemyahza turned his head to nuzzle at Gabriel's knee again, then bent and kissed over the tip of Gabriel's cock, parting his lips to mouth at it, tonguing it in a wet, open kiss. "What do you want?" His fingers thrust into Gabriel's ass again, hitting the prostate and making Gabriel grunt and try futilely to arch his hips up again. Shemyahza had him well-pinned.

"Your..." Gabriel tried to focus. No, not that. "More...please, I want..."

"What do you want?" Shemyahza prompted a third time, planting a teasing kiss against Gabriel's thigh and rubbing his big hand over Gabriel's tensed belly, avoiding his erection this time.

Gabriel found his voice. "Another finger," he managed, reaching out for Shemyahza and finding his hair, tangling his hand into it. Two fingers weren't so bad, after all, and while he felt...full...down there he wondered if another would be all right, so long as his prostate was involved. He was riveted by the way Shem's face gravitated into his touch, those full lips pressing against his palm, then the Nephilim returned his focus to Gabriel's nethers.

More lube was applied and Gabriel's head snapped back with the burn of entry, those three fingers pushing his expectations. "Frigg, Jesu, and Eros," he choked, mixing his pantheon in the worst way.

Shem grasped his cock again and pumped, easing his fingers in and in. He didn't stop until they were buried to the knuckle. Gabriel was suspended in incredulity, hardly able to countenance the thought of taking on the fullness of the length he'd stroked in his two hands as two fingers made his eyes smart.

"I can't," he gasped, and Shemyahza ignored him because he hadn't said it yet, Gabriel hadn't told him to slow down. "No, no, no!" He thrashed and Shemyahza was bending his head, taking him into his mouth again and drawing his length all the way down, swallowing him and making Gabriel's eyes roll back in his head.

Somewhere, Gabriel was still smarting around the invasion of three fingers but somehow that faded in importance as the tide rose up in him again as Shemyahza's agile lips and tongue pulled on him. He looked down into the intensity of silver eyes and there it was, glittering large between them: the unsaid reason he would do it, he would let Shemyahza push three fingers and more into him, he'd roll over and cooperate when Shemyahza moved to claim him. Shemyahza's lips stretched down on him and Gabriel's breath left him in a groan and those fingers pushed into him again, stretching and painful and hitting that spot anyhow. He writhed, and Shem hummed, and the world fragmented around him.

He came back to himself with an abrupt jerk and glared at the demon regarding him between his thighs, long fingers gripping tight to the base of his cock, empty feeling letting him know the three fingers that had been buried in him had vacated. Shemyahza's other hand had tugged Gabriel's tightening balls gently but implacably away from his body.

"Shemyahza!" he burst out, and clenched his legs around the Nephilim's upper torso.

A smile crinkled Shem's full lips. "You want to try it?" he asked pointedly, tugging on Gabriel's balls then slipping lower again to push two fingers into him.

"I want...ugh" -- he paused to test the ability to roll his hips against those seeking fingers -- "ahh, I don't know, I want...more."

Shemyahza gave him room to move, kneeling over him with the mass of his dark green hair pooling on Gabriel's stomach. Gabriel bent his knees and planted his feet on the mattress, the better to push back against invasive fingers as they fucked him and pressed against his prostate with each downstroke. He was still moving his hips as Shemyahza pulled his fingers out, cupping both of Gabriel's ass-cheeks in his broad hands, spreading him. The movement stilled Gabriel and he held his breath, but Shem only kissed his stomach.

"You'd better roll over," Shemyahza told him, kissing higher on his stomach then inscribing another deliberate lick around his navel. "It'll be easier that way. Get on your knees and brace yourself on your arms."

Gabriel complied, the flutter of apprehension sweeping through him again like nausea. Were they really going to...? Hands were on his hips now, steadying, stroking, and Gabriel braced himself on folded arms and raised his ass, exhaling tension as something pressed against him there, the tip of Shem's cock stroking against his crack. It was a light touch first, then firmer, the bulbous head rubbing up against him along with the touch of Shem's fingers against one cheek. Shemyahza held it there for a moment and Gabriel panted, lifting his head up to look over his shoulder. Shem's silver eyes were focused inward now and he was biting down on his lip, one hand steady on Gabriel's hip, the other jacking his erection up against Gabriel's exposed ass.

"Shemyahza," Gabriel rasped, wanting him to understand this time without having to beg for it again.

The squelch of the lubricant bottle answered him, and then the sloppy sound of a hand fisting flesh as Shemyahza spread it all over the length of his erection. Gabriel tensed reflexively as something hot and wet touched his lower back just above the crease of his rear, then moaned encouragement as Shemyahza kissed him there, his tongue dabbling in the dip at the base of his tailbone and venturing lower.

"Yes, oh gods, Shem..." He trailed off as Shemyahza's fingers touched him again, two fingers slipping in and spreading him open. The bed moved under them as Shemyahza shifted, aligning himself and grasping at Gabriel's hip, steadying him, and blunt heat pressed against him back there.

Gabriel let his head sink back onto his arms as Shemyahza fed the tip of his cock into him and he was okay, they were okay, he felt it pop inside and he groaned, widening his stance a little.

"It's in," Shemyahza told him, his voice deeper, primal with satisfaction.

"Just...the head," Gabriel panted, holding himself still as Shemyahza's fingers dug into his hip. He groaned again as his lover moved, pushing his slick thickness further in, rocking his own hips in short sharp movements from one side to the other to widen him, stretching Gabriel around him as he kept up the steady pressure. "No...oh sweet Frigg...stop!" Both of Shemyahza's hands bit into his hips as the frantic cry was ignored and the length of it continued its burning slide into his body, dragging against his prostate and making him cry out and want to writhe, but the pain that accompanied it made him freeze up.

"Stop, oh god, don't," Gabriel moaned into his pillow and bit the corner, acutely conscious of every centimeter of that length and girth shoving its way inside of him.

Shemyahza stopped, his fingers flexing on Gabriel's hips hard enough to mark him.

"Are you...?" Gabriel lifted his head, awkwardly trying to get a good look over his shoulder without jostling the heaviness of the erection lodged inside of him. It was....full, and thick, and it was so crucially different from three fingers, he wanted to push against it but didn't quite dare. It almost, but not quite, felt good.

"Almost," Shemyahza gritted, and the dragging husk of his voice was fighting for control and losing. "You're so tight." He held himself still for a long moment, then bent over Gabriel's back until the sweep of hair touched his flanks. His hands unclenched and grasped at Gabriel's hips again, keeping him in place, pulling him in, then he rocked his hips from side to side and Gabriel was groaning, begging, fucking pleading and he wasn't sure again whether it was for him to stop or for him to never stop doing that so long as something happened.

The last length of Shemyahza's erection slid inside him and Gabriel sucked in a startled breath. He thought he'd been full before. He was throbbing, replete to bursting, and Shemyahza was groaning too and staying right where he was and the thought wormed through Gabriel's head that if either of them moved they would die.

They stayed like that, immobile for more heartbeats than Gabriel could keep track. Behind him Shem's belly nudged his buttocks and Gabriel panted, almost but not quite daring to shove himself back on his impalement. He was huge, Shemyahza filled up the whole world, he was skewered, totally overwhelmed, harpooned. Shem pressed against him and Gabriel released a little noise, not quite a whimper or a gasp but somewhere between the two.

"Gabriel," the name was ripped out of Shemyahza like a groan, and he pulled back and the length of him went with him then he was pushing it back in, thrusting inside of him and triggering a rippling sensation of pain/pleasure along with the heavy drag of his cock.

"It hurts," Gabriel gasped, but he wasn't sure if that was more because of the pain at this point or the exquisite fullness, the sweet slide of pressure against that particular spot within.

Shemyahza responded by doing it again, pulling free of the tight clutch of Gabriel's body and sinking deep again, pressing against him and inside him and making him cry out. Shem's hands spread over his lower back, smoothed over his sweaty skin, then held him in place as he pushed into him in short rocking thrusts, eliciting a moan with each one.

Gabriel was on fire, every nerve leading back to the core of him. He braced himself and struggled up onto his elbows, biting down on the pillow again to stop a scream as Shemyahza pulled out in one long motion until only the head of his hard cock was still contained within Gabriel.

"Gabriel..." This time his name was a slow, reverent exhalation. There was an inquiry there.

First he had to find the breath, then Gabriel groped for the words. Shemyahza was inside him, just the head now, leaving a long empty feeling behind him. He put one of the words in his limited lexicon to good use. "More. Shemyahza, more!"

With a satisfied grunt Shemyahza gripped his hips tightly, working back into him in a continuous slide until he was pressed against Gabriel's buttocks again. They both groaned this time, the sensation rippling through Gabriel's body and now he felt good enough to push back against the bigger body behind him.

"More?" Shemyahza echoed, sounding about as limited in vocabulary as Gabriel right now.

Gabriel gritted his teeth. "Do it," he agreed, pushing back again to encourage Shemyahza to move. When he was holding still it was almost too much to bear now but the motion, the deep stroking inside of him, was intense and went clear through him and made everything all right.

Shemyahza pulled back again, his cock sliding out of Gabriel and making Gabriel bite down on his pillow again as it left him, centimeter by centimeter. His hands flexed on Gabriel's skin and he pushed in again, and there was no pause this time. He worked his cock in and out of Gabriel in long, deep strokes, pushing until they were connected all the way, then withdrawing until only the tip remained only to thrust back into him in a continuous feed. His hips thrust and Gabriel pushed back, and Shemyahza let loose a drawn-out, thunderous groan.

"Gabriel," he uttered, and pushed into him again.

Gabriel pushed himself up onto his hands now, the better to brace himself. He thrust back against the long strokes that fucked into him, split him open, and the pain had dissolved into undiluted pleasure with each deep thrust of Shemyahza's erection. He was huge inside of him, stroking over Gabriel's prostate as he wallowed in him.

"Yes," Gabriel said, and arched his hips, thudding back against the slap of flesh that met him. "Yes, gods, Shem...please..." His brain was too fucked-out to manage anything more than those entreaties.

Shem pounded into him and slumped over his back, still thrusting, the curtain of his hair spreading out over Gabriel's skin. His strokes slowed, lazy circles of his hips pushing him deep, withdrawing, thrusting in again and smacking his balls against Gabriel's bottom. He worked his way all the way in again and held himself there, pulsing in tiny rocking motions then holding himself motionless again.

He spread himself out over Gabriel's back, one arm going around Gabriel's midsection and pressing a hand flat against his stomach; the other encircling his chest. Both arms pulled Gabriel tight against him and then Shemyahza was moving -- this time to sit back on his haunches, his arms keeping Gabriel with him. That shifted his cock impossibly deeper inside of Gabriel, spreading him wider, open to everything.

"Nn...N-no," he moaned, and Shemyahza had him spread over his lap, split over the erection that was so deep in him he could taste him. The arm over his chest moved, a hand cupping Gabriel's jaw, slanting his head to the side and Shemyahza's dark head bent, angling in for a kiss over Gabriel's shoulder.

Their tongues touched and Shemyahza hitched his hips.

Gabriel was about ready to explode without even being touched.

"I want to see you," Shemyahza decided, pushing Gabriel onto his hands and knees again, slipping free and leaving Gabriel vacant as a blown eggshell.

"Nn," Gabriel responded, and he was pliable as Shemyahza's hands were on him, turning him over.

Shemyahza took the pillow that Gabriel had been gnawing on and stuffed it under the small of his back, lifting Gabriel up. Then he encouraged Gabriel to jack-knife his legs up and one broad dark hand was on his knee, keeping him open as he guided the head of his cock below Gabriel's drawn-tight balls. The smooth round head of his cock pushed there and slipped inside with less resistance this time, getting several centimeters before Shemyahza had to work to keep going.

"Ah, gods," Gabriel cried, and he knew what Shem meant about seeing him because he could watch everything now, he saw the length disappear into him until his angle for viewing wasn't good anymore but still he was treated to the overwhelming sight of Shem looming over him, his lovely dark face intent and brow creased as he fed his cock into Gabriel and kept a steady hand on his knee, providing support. He sank all the way in and the concentration lines smoothed from his face; he bent over Gabriel and gave him a sharp pleased grin, beginning to roll his hips again.

"Uh...uhn...nng..." Gabriel wasn't shy about letting a continuous stream of sound leave him with each thrust. He struggled valiantly to meet Shemyahza halfway but he was so close to the edge now that his motor coordination was really quite bad. He grasped his own cock and stroked himself off, crying out as he spurted over his fingers and belly and still his hand moved. He groaned as Shemyahza's thrusts slowed, the deep dragging strokes that made his body twitch response even though he'd already blown his load. The Nephilim's eyes flashed and his hips snapped forward a few more times, jamming Gabriel's legs even higher, then he slumped over him, bracing himself over Gabriel's stomach with the wavering strength of his arms.

His hair curtained over Gabriel's stomach and harsh breathing stirred over his skin.

Gabriel let his head fall back. They stayed like that for a long moment, breathing in counterpoint. When Shemyahza stirred at last, Gabriel burbled a wordless protest.

"I have to move or you'll regret it later," Shemyahza said, finding words at last. His voice was even more ragged than before, deep and husky and well-satisfied.

As he slid free Gabriel was unable to suppress the pained cry. "I'm already regretting it," he said, as he lowered his legs while Shemyahza rolled off to the side.

Shemyahza gave him a fleeting grin, white teeth pearly against his cinnamon-dark skin, then he was climbing off the far side of the bed, flashing a good look at his still-engorged cock.

"Unf." Gabriel went as far as tucking himself onto his side to try and avoid making the wet spot any bigger than he had to, and became boneless. His eyes fogged shut and it was an unmeasurable interval later when a gentle touch to his backside made him murmur a protest, half-waking.

"Settle down," Shemyahza told him, and a warm terrycloth towel swiped over his buttocks. Shemyahza parted them with a gentle hand as Gabriel muttered a drowsy disclaimer, something about not having to do anything. "I'd be a very poor partner if I didn't take care of you now. After fucking you so thoroughly."

No, he hadn't imagined that note of satisfaction.

Shemyahza went away with the towel after wiping Gabriel clean, then came back and got him moving enough to peel down the comforter and get him in bed proper. Gabriel positioned himself on his other side, so that he could face Shem even though he was somewhat embarrassed. Already this old and it was as if he'd had sex for the very first time.

"That was wonderful," Shemyahza informed him in no uncertain terms, settling on his side to face Gabriel. His fingers traced over the shape of Gabriel's cheekbone.

"You were," Gabriel returned, ducking his head. He was still embarrassed, now by Shemyahza's forthright eyes more than what they had just done. He winced as he shifted his legs to accommodate the knee that nudged against him, interposing a leg to tangle their limbs together. He was already sore and he could only imagine how it would be later.

Shem stretched forward to kiss him again and Gabriel leaned into it though his eyelids were growing heavy again. Their lips meshed and Shemyahza captured his lower lip between careful teeth. They parted, and Shemyahza nuzzled into the crook of his neck, setting his teeth there and sucking.

"Don't," Gabriel began, but it was a faint protest.

And futile. By the time Shemyahza drew back from his neck, that part of Gabriel was throbbing too, the sting of teeth imprint making themselves known.

Gabriel sighed and let Shemyahza lace their fingers together as he relaxed onto his pillow again. His gaze sharpened as he looked over Shemyahza's shoulder at the glass wall of his bedroom and the terrace beyond. "The view's still there," he said aloud, "but what is keeping us safe?"

Shemyahza craned his neck to look. "Oh," he said, then dropped back into his place and favored Gabriel with a lazy, satiated smile. "Portable Wall technology. It's an experimental project, but test runs have proved successful so far."

Now that he mentioned it, Gabriel could see the faint ripple of distortion where the techno-magic of the Wall bent light, but did not stop it completely. "All right," he said agreeably, settling back into Shemyahza's arms.

"Rest," Shemyahza's voice came to him, faraway and dreamy, and Gabriel's body agreed with the injunction. "Food and work can come later."

He'd never known such contentment, was Gabriel's last conscious thought as he slipped into an entirely fulfilling sleep. He was complete.



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