Before the Flight

by Talya Firedancer


Sun-glimmer beaded at the seam of his eyelids like luminosity strung on a wire. Tsubaki shifted in protest, tension gathering in joints and sinew and unfurled in a long, tendon-groaning stretch. The sheets whispered against his skin and pooled low over his hips, warm with the heat of his body and the light refracted hotter through the wide windows beside the bed. He curled a hand before his eyes to protect them from further violation, drawing up sheet with the other until it was tucked safely beneath his chin.

"Come on, sleepy," a voice rumbled from across the room, rousing Tsubaki's conscious interest at last.

Thick-slurred, Tsubaki attempted speech. "'S early."

"You've gotten up earlier for an eight a.m. class," Eric responded with merciless cheer. The bed dipped with settling weight, then hands were stripping the sheet from his torso. Musky cedar scent invaded his space, making his head turn blindly for the source as Tsubaki caught at the strong hands rendering him bare and defenseless to sunlight and the outside world.

Eric's voice was rubbed velvet in his ear. "We have an eight-thirty plane to catch, lover." Lips grazed the outside rim and Tsubaki squirmed with ticklish glee. He was pinned in place by Eric's unbreakable grip on his wrists and a strategically-placed knee.

"Incentive," Tsubaki entreated. He offered his face up, eyes still closed as if prolonging an especially good dream.

A chuckle was Eric's first response, then a warm mouth closed over his, hungrily feeding him tongue and the flavor of mint-fresh mouthwash. Tsubaki imbibed, teasing Eric further in, fisting a hand at his nape. Satisfaction settled in his belly as Eric leaned in, pressing him deeper into the mattress and releasing his wrists in favor of a hand on each naked hip.

"You've already eaten," Tsubaki accused when Eric separated their mouths at last, giving him heavy-lidded eyes from the edge of kissing distance.

"We could have eaten together if someone" – Eric's hand dented Tsubaki's hip, tracked upward over his ribs – "hadn't been lazy and stayed late abed." He settled himself until only the knot of sheet and the rasp of button-fly separated their groins.

Tsubaki grunted. "It's not that late," he contradicted, eyes automatically drifting for the bedside clock. It was more plea for intimacy and less protestation as he twined a leg over Eric's, writhing up into the pain-pleasure of his denim-clad body. "Oh, shit."

"You see?" Eric sat up, slung across Tsubaki's hips. A grin broke over his face as Tsubaki pummeled ineffectually at his thighs, urgency registering at last along with the fact that he was nude and they were due to step out the door any second. "I'm getting the impression that you don't actually want to meet my family."

"Don't be stupid," Tsubaki murmured, hooking his hands at Eric's nape. "It's just that this is the last moment we're going to have when we're truly alone until we get back, right?"

Eric dipped his head, kissed Tsubaki with unhurried urgency. "Yeah, I think so."

"So…" Tsubaki gave a suggestive squirm.

"Babe…we have to be out the door in twenty minutes."

"Damn you."



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