Page 41 of The Sixth Spring

It gave him a better look at the dark gap of space between their bodies. The slit was already profusely leaking, dripping down Itori’s scales, leaving a slick sheen. Itori’s cock was starting to slide out, pale and wet.

Feeling bold from the adrenaline and desire, Will reached for it.

His cock was hot and slick, the precome like oil the way it covered everything. Will marveled at how slippery it was when he wrapped his hand around it to coax it farther out.

Itori made that low, hissing sound, and the hairs on the back of Will’s neck stood up. His hand tightened on Will, starting a slow stroke.

Will gasped, lips brushing the scaled texture of Itori’s chest. It was impossible to forget that Itori wasn’t human. He was so different everywhere.

And for some reason, Will liked that. Burning heat was driving pleasure through him. Nothing with Itori was predictable or normal. There were no rules, no expectations here. He wouldn’t have to worry about gossip after, about a man regretting what he did with Will after the fact, and telling the whole town. What was allowed here was whatever they decided, together.

The freedom and careful touching unraveled Will quickly. He kept up stroking Itori until he couldn’t concentrate on the movement anymore with the way pleasure was moving through him. Itori took over without a word.

He pulled Will closer in his lap, wrapped his big hand around the two of them and stroked them in tandem to finish the job. Will moaned and quivered in his arms as he came, the feel of Itori warm, all around him.

In the sweaty and softer aftermath, Itori coaxed his head back and then bowed to kiss him. The touch lingered, then came with a second kiss, and a third.

Will’s eyes fluttered shut. He was stuffed full of cotton, body loose and easy. The sparks inside him felt permanent, like even later when he walked home alone in the dark, he might still be carrying them.

When Itori eventually pulled away, Will opened his eyes. Itori leaned back in for another kiss.

“This is nice,” Itori said when they parted. “I see why this is a human custom.”

“I’m glad it wasn’t bad,” Will said.

Itori brought his messy hand up to his mouth and began to lick it clean.

“Is that… part of the exchange?” Will asked. He had to know.

A rumbling sound came from Itori as he finished and then dipped his hand into the water to rinse it. “Some. Fluids are easy tethers. I also enjoy the taste of you.”

A full body shiver went down Will’s spine. He was so used to the way everyone spoke around things here, that Itori’s bluntness continued to catch him off guard.

“Cold?” Itori asked. His warm arms came back around Will.

“No,” Will said, tucking himself into Itori’s chest. “It’s just, humans don’t talk like you do. You’re so direct.”

A hand found its way to Will’s hair, carding through it and down to the nap of his neck. “Humans are not direct? I do not understand.”

Of course he didn’t. Human interaction included so much unspoken nuance and so many unwritten rules. Will had spent most of his life tripping over things he didn’t know.

“Stuff like this. Sex. We don’t really talk about it,” Will said.

“Should I talk less?” Itori asked.

Will nuzzled against his throat, arms squeezing around him as Itori held him in return. “No. Don’t. I like that you’re straightforward. I like–”

His throat closed around the rest of the sentence. I like you. I like who you make me into. He was braver with Itori than he’d been in the whole rest of his life combined.

“I like that you’re not like anyone else I’ve ever met,” Will settled on. “You have all those teeth and claws, but you don’t try and like… prove that you’re strong.”

“Prove that I am strong?”

Will sighed. “Humans, they… I mean I guess a lot of it is men. They have to always be proving they’re strong. It’s–like my dad. All my life he made sure I knew what men weren’t. We didn’t cry or ask for help or have any weakness of any kind. He would hit me when I would come home upset that the guys at school were messing with me. It was always like man up and if you weren’t such a bitch, they wouldn’t fuck with you. He was always telling me to solve the problems with my fists. And like, the worst part was that it worked. When you hit back, they stop, because now you’re suddenly more a man and–”

Will paused. He realized suddenly why he’d never been able to actually imagine himself with another man. Why it had always been a dream within a dream.

His life had shown him that interactions with other men would always be a fight. It would always be a strong man competition, and if you weren’t the winner, you were the loser.