"Here." Morgan patted the space to the right of him on the couch. "I promise you won't get majos cooties."
Hunter ducked his head, and piled Morgan's plate up with food.
"Can we talk about what happened?" Harlequin asked. "I'm a bit sketchy on the details, but if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine."
"Morgan saved us all," Caleb said.
Morgan expected Hunter to protest or mutter something about magic, but instead he said, "He fucking did." Then he gave Morgan a huge plate of food, looked him in the eye and said, "It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen."
Morgan's breath stuttered, and he almost dropped Leeds' finest Indian cuisine all over the floor. Hunter steadied his plate for him.
Harlequin cleared his throat.
"I wish I'd seen it," Darius said.
"It was awesome," Caleb said. "But seriously, no, you did not want to be there."
"You were the awesome one," said Morgan. "If you hadn't grounded me the whole place would be one great fireworks show right now, with us in the middle of it."
"I'm sure Hunter would have done it if I hadn't," Caleb said. "Police training, right?"
Hunter muttered something non-committal and sat down next to Morgan. His thigh was very warm against Morgan's thigh, even through layers of denim. Morgan could smell his aftershave, woody with a hint of citrus. He shovelled a forkful of vegetable pakora into his mouth to keep his mind off it. It was delicious, as if every taste bud had sprung to life. He let the others' conversation fade into the background and focused on eating.
"It's all right," Caleb told Hunter, when Morgan paused for breath half way through his plateful. "Using magic takes energy. He needs this."
"Stop talking about me like I'm not here," Morgan grumbled.
"We weren't entirely sure you were," Caleb said.
Now he'd taken the edge off a bit, Morgan slowed down and ate the rest of his meal at a steadier pace. When he'd done, Hunter gave him seconds, and he ate that too. Finally he refused thirds, let Hunter take his empty plate and leaned back in the sofa, comfortably full, lips tingling from the spices. It was heavenly.
Caleb's voice drifted into his consciousness again. "So basically. My lover sold me for a shot of magic Viagra."
"I still don't know what you saw in him," Darius said. "You can do so much better, darling."
"Yes, you can," said Harlequin.
"He was very eager to please," Caleb said. "He didn't seem to have any trouble getting it up when I was fucking his wife."
"His wife thinks he chose you over her," Morgan said.
"Is that what they were fighting about?" Caleb said. "I couldn't hear. Dave said she was on her period."
"He's such a wanker," said Morgan.
"It's not exactly a good advert for polyamory," Hunter pointed out.
"Don't blame polyamory," said Harlequin. "Any relationship is only as good as the people in it."
"Thank you," Caleb said, with a little bow in Harlequin's direction. "Besides, Damian, I think you'll find yours and Morgan's relationship was nearly as much of a clusterfuck. Would you blame monogamy? I mean, I presume you were monogamous, Morgan's kind of old fashioned that way."
"Actually, I blame myself," Hunter said.
Morgan looked at him, startled, but Hunter didn't quite meet his eye. He was suddenly very busy stacking plates and sealing up leftovers instead.
"At least you two have a healthy relationship," Morgan said to Darius and Harlequin, at least partly to take some of the attention off Hunter.
"It's all about boundaries, darling," said Darius. "Knowing which ones you can cross, which ones are fundamental. Which ones are up for negotiation."
He looked at Caleb when he said that.
Hunter said, "I'll just go and, um," and got up to take the plates and things into the kitchen.
"I'll help," said Morgan, quickly.
He followed Hunter with a tray full of crockery, which he deposited on the draining board.
"You should rest," Hunter said.
"I'm fine. Besides. Something was going on back there and I'm not sure what it was."
"Glad it's not just me."
"It's been a very strange night."
Morgan leaned back against the kitchen counter and watched Hunter load the dishwasher. He was very efficient about it. When he'd done that he carefully stacked the leftovers in the fridge.
"So," he said, once everything was tidied away. "I should probably go."
Morgan realised he'd zoned out again, watching Hunter. He hadn't helped with the dishes at all, he's just been staring. Still, Hunter didn't seem to mind.
"Well, um, thanks. For everything."
"It's nothing. So. Right."
Morgan opened the kitchen door to let Hunter through. He felt unaccountably sad.
They didn't get any further than the living room, though. Caleb was curled up in Harlequin's arms, but not in a romantic way, as Morgan had half-expected. He was crying. Harlequin was comforting him, while Darius knelt in front of him, a worried frown on his face.
"What happened?" Morgan asked.
"I'll get some tea," said Hunter.
Morgan sat next to Caleb and took his hand. Caleb hung on with a surprisingly strong grip, sobs stuttering to a close. "G-god, I'm s-such a mess."
"You've been through a very traumatic incident," said Harlequin. "A bit of psychological distress is to be expected."
"You're safe now," Morgan said. "You're home. Nothing's going to hurt you here."
"One minute I was going through the trapdoor, next thing I know Hunter's slapping me in the face and I was hooked up to that thing. If you hadn't–"
"We did," Morgan said, firmly. "That's all that matters."
Darius asked, "What did they do to him?"
"Bates had a machine that distils esper from peoples' blood. He must have got majos to make things out of it for him."
"Including Essence?" Harlequin asked.
"Yes."
Caleb sniffed. "So that's why you couldn't trace the Essence. If he was making it, and he's not majos, you wouldn't have recognised it."
Harlequin frowned. Morgan let Caleb's misapprehension go unchallenged, and continued the story. "He used sex parties to find punters and victims. All sorts of sex parties. He blackmailed or bribed people into that basement."
"Then there's more than two victims?" said Harlequin.
"Probably. If anyone survived the machine I suppose he shut them up one way or another."
"Oh God," Caleb whimpered.
"Come on, sweetie," said Darius. "Let's get you all tucked up in bed."
"He asked we'd stay the night," Harlequin said to Morgan. "Is that all right? He's scared of sleeping alone."
"Of course."
Hunter returned with a tray of tea, and Caleb took one with a grateful shadow of his usual smile.
Morgan stroked Caleb's hair back from his face. "You should get some rest." His cheeks were flushed from crying and there were dark smudges under his eyes, a mix of eyeliner and exhaustion. Caleb nodded.
"Do you need blankets or anything?" Morgan asked.
"Bed's plenty big enough for three," said Caleb and took a sip of tea.
"We'll be fine," said Harlequin.
The three of them went off to Caleb's room, leaving Hunter and Morgan alone with four cups of tea and a suddenly quiet living room.
"Right," said Hunter, eventually. "Definitely time to go. You need your rest, too."
Morgan saw him to the door. The pile of letters from Caleb's mother was a little taller. He'd have to ask him about that soon. When he'd recovered a bit.
Instead of opening the door, Morgan paused with his hand on the handle, looked at Hunter and said, "For what it's worth, it's not only your fault. You were right, I shouldn't have lied to you."
"It must have been difficult."
"It was. It always is."
"What you did today, it was… I had no idea what magic even was. In the right hand
s. What you did was so brave and selfless. I keep thinking about you standing there with that ball of fucking lightning in your hand. You were so bloody beautiful."
Morgan was a barely-balanced blend of magic, impulse and intuition, his control run ragged and thin, and thinking wasn't his strong point at that moment. Should he keep his dignity, gracefully accept the compliment and show Hunter out?
Whether he should or not, he didn't. He got up really close to Hunter, close enough to take a deep breath of his aftershave. And then, when Hunter didn't move away, Morgan hugged him. The next thing he knew, he was being pressed into the door while Hunter kissed him insensible.
"I'm sorry," Hunter gasped out, pressing his lips to Morgan's temple. "I was such an arse and I don't deserve you, but, please, could we give it another chance?
Morgan's brain wasn't working quite right. This was not how he'd expected this weirdest of all days to end. "Just to be clear. Are you offering me a job or a fuck?"
Hunter pulled back just far enough that Morgan could see his expression. He was grinning. "How about both? And, maybe, if you want, more than a fuck. I don't want to rush you. I can wait, if you're not–"
"Yes. No waiting. Please, no waiting." Hunter groaned and squeezed Morgan's arse. A shot of lust ran up Morgan's spine and his magic surged. Shit. "Wait."
"What?"
"Just a minute. Not wait-wait, just, give me a moment, okay? One moment."
He fled to his room and shut the door.
His spell book was waiting for him on the bed where he'd left it. He quickly flicked it open and put his hand on the picture of the dragon.
The air above the book shimmered and glittered into Aiyeda. She shuffled onto the bed and regarded Morgan sideways out of one golden, slitted eye. "You've been busy, Guapo."
"It's been a bit of a night. Look, I need you to be very, very good, okay?"
The golden, slitted eye narrowed.
"Please, Aiyeda. I need you to hide in the wardrobe."
"What?" The word came out with a little puff of smoke.
"There's things I need, want, I mean, well, probably both, anyway, the thing is Hunter doesn't exactly know how this whole majos thing works, especially," he flicked his finger from himself to Aiyeda and back again, "this, and I don't want to freak him out."
"I understand. It is perfectly simple, yes? Make him go away."
"I don't want him to go away. I want him to be here. As in," he pointed at the bed, "here."
Aiyeda wrinkled up her snout. "You want to do the kissy kissy thing?"
"I really, really do. But he's not ready to meet you yet. Please, Aiyeda. I need you, I've got so much magic and sometimes when I–"
"Yes, yes, I know. I remember what happened when you were watching that movie with the naked men in it. It was all very messy."
"That was a long time ago."
"And yet, here we are again. Very well. I will do as you ask. Under certain conditions. First, there will be a pillow in there. A nice fluffy one."
Morgan quickly took the fluffiest pillow off the bed and put it in the bottom of the wardrobe, shoving a pile of shoes into the corner.
Aiyeda watched him, clearly unimpressed. "I want cartoons in there."
"I can't. The iPad's out of battery."
"Ah well. No kissy kissy for Morgan."
"I know! There's an anime festival at the cinema next week. I'll take you."
Aiyeda's jaw dropped. "At the cartoon theatre?"
"Yes. If you're good. You'll have to be quiet, not like when we went to see Frozen and I had to charm the woman in front of us before she'd believe you were just a very realistic stuffed toy."
"She'd have been cool."
"Not the point. Do we have a deal?"
Hunter's voice came from the hall. "Morgan, are you okay?"
Morgan looked at Aiyeda with the most pleading expression he could muster.
"Very well," said Aiyeda, shuffling her way off to the wardrobe. "But please don't make too much noise. I shall be trying to sleep."
"That's a great idea. Good. Sleep well." Morgan shut the door the second the little dragon had hopped inside, and called out, "Okay! Ready."
The door opened and Hunter took a tentative step inside. "All right?"
"Yes. Just had to tidy up a bit. You know. Embarrassing stuff. Underwear and… Stuff."
Relief washed the uncertainty off Hunter's face. "Is that all? You shouldn't have worried. It's actually a relief to know you're not a hundred percent tidy and organised at all times."
"Well. You know. Ninety nine per cent."
Hunter chuckled. His eyes flicked to the bed and Morgan's followed. He moved quickly, scooping the magic book up and popping it back on the shelf. Fortunately Hunter didn't comment; he just put his arms around Morgan and kissed him. His mouth was warm and the enthusiastic side of gentle. Morgan kissed him back and tumbled them both onto the bed. Hunter slid his hand up the back of Morgan's tee-shirt; his hand was cool - or perhaps Morgan was just hot, it was hard to tell when he'd been using magic - and he touched all the places Morgan liked best. The base of his spine. The tips of his shoulder blades. The sensitive, mostly-ticklish, soft spot at his waist. Then he gripped Morgan's hipbone, rather possessively, and Morgan let out a happy yelp.
"I missed you so much," Hunter said, between ravishing kisses to Morgan's neck.
Morgan pressed his thigh meaningfully against Hunter's hard on, which was threatening to break free of his jeans of its own accord, it was so eager. "I can tell."
"Not just sex." Hunter kissed his mouth. "All of you."
"But, including the sex."
"Yes, okay, I also missed the sex."
"God." Morgan deftly unbuttoned Hunter's fly. "Me too."
"And I only had you once."
"Twice. I sucked you off in the office, remember?"
"I barely knew you then."
"Oh, I see. So it didn't count."
"Of course it counted, I–"
"Shh. I'm teasing."
Hunter's body relaxed into Morgan's. He sifted his fingers through Morgan's hair. It might have felt quite innocent, if it weren't for the way their hips were grinding together in a firm, rhythmic manner. Like a heartbeat.
Hunter's eyes drifted closed, and his head tipped back. Morgan nuzzled and licked at his throat, enjoying the way it made Hunter's fingers grip tighter at his hip. He kissed Hunter's Adam's apple as he swallowed, brushed his thumbs over the dip between his collar bones. Hunter's skin tasted of salt and the alcohol-tang of aftershave, and he smelled of magic. Morgan's magic.
"I need you naked," Hunter said.
There was a sneeze from the wardrobe.
Morgan quickly got to his knees and ripped his shirt off, and Hunter gave him a long, appreciative look. But then his eyes flicked to the wardrobe. A puzzled frown pulled his brows together.
"Fuck me," said Morgan, ignoring the frown and the wardrobe as best he could. "Please?"
Hunter may have been one of the most observant people Morgan had ever met, but he was also human with keen sexual interests. He said, "God, love, yes, yes, lube, we need lube," and had Morgan out of his jeans, socks and underwear in seconds while Morgan stuttered at him.
"In the d-drawer by the bed."
Hunter retrieved the lube and Morgan snatched it from him. "Take your clothes off." He flipped the cap.
"You want to do me?" Hunter sounded surprised - but not in any way disapproving.
Morgan had intended to prepare himself while Hunter undressed, because it was a sexy thing to do and anyway, things were likely to be pretty tense down there what with one thing and another. But the idea of Hunter spread out on the bed underneath him, those muscular thighs tight over Morgan's hips as he sank into him… "You switch?" Morgan's voice came out a bit high and strangled.
"Sometimes." Hunter's smile was lopsided and very, very naughty.
"And is this one of those times?" Morgan tried to sound casual, but judging by the flare of arousal in Hunter'
s eyes, he wasn't very successful.
"It might well be," said Hunter, and pulled his shirt off.
Morgan licked his lips and flicked the cap off the lube.
Hunter kicked off his jeans and underwear, and Morgan shuffled between his legs. He kissed Hunter's belly, his hipbone. He ran his tongue delicately over Hunter's cock, following the big vein that ridged the shaft. He tasted the fluid beading at the tip and his tongue tingled, part from magic and part from pleasure.
Hunter's fingers nestled into his hair again, and Morgan turned his attention to Hunter's balls, licking and nuzzling at them. Hunter rocked his hips back a bit and Morgan ran his finger down to Hunter's hole, just a kiss of his fingertips that brought a gasp out of Hunter and a twitch to Morgan's cock.
The hairs stood up on the back of Morgan's arms, a tiny crackle of magic. He squeezed a dollop of lube onto this fingers and spread it about, another dollop and pushed it in. Hunter cried out and his hands tightened in Morgan's hair. Morgan waited until Hunter released his grip, and then he started properly to explore. He found the place that made Hunter gasp and whimper and jerk his hips to get more; he emptied half the tube of lube, ignoring Hunter's protestations that he was absolutely ready and Morgan needed to fuck him right now. And finally, Morgan slicked his cock, lined himself up and, so slowly it brought beads of sweat to his temples, he slid inside.
He held himself up, just barely, hands planted either side of Hunter's head and his elbows locked to keep him there. To feel that heat, Hunter's body holding him tight and safe. There was a look in Hunter's eyes that took Morgan's breath away. Fierce with need but vulnerable. Like this was a step he was afraid to take. But wanted to. Not the sex. More than sex.
Morgan took a deep breath, and brushed the hair out of Hunter's eyes. He kissed him, just a gentle touch of lips, and said, "I love you."
Hunter pulled him down, wrapping his arms and legs around him. Morgan's cock slipped out but it didn't matter. Hunter held him so tight, so safe, and said, "This is so fucking scary."
"I know," said Morgan. "Me too."
"I want to be with you. All the time."
There might have been another noise from the wardrobe, but this time Hunter didn't seem to notice. He was kissing Morgan's face, all over, like an excited Labrador, and said, "I'm glad you said it first, I'm such a fucking coward," and Morgan laughed and then Hunter said, "I love you, I love your magic, I am so very, very fucked."
Hunter and Morgan: Gatecrasher Page 23