You’ve never had anyone to leave behind before. The realization was a moment of perfect joy and heartbreak.
“Rodney.” David leaned forward until he could rest his hand on Rodney’s arm. “Is there anything I can do?” He smoothed his fingers over Rodney’s skin. No one had ever touched Rodney so intimately before, and it made him tremble slightly.
“I have a few personal belongings hidden in a cubby on the roof. They’re not much, but they’re important to me. I’d like someone to have them. Or do something with them. Or… something.” Rodney trailed off lamely, biting at his lip.
“Of course.” David agreed, his expression shuttered and self-protecting. Rodney couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “What about… I mean, what do you….” David stopped, sighed, and tried again. “What do you want to do? Tonight, I mean?”
There were so many answers to that. Rodney wanted to eat ice cream at noon in Central Park. He wanted to ride the subway like everyone else and sit in the front row of a Broadway play. He wanted to play a pickup game of basketball and go dancing at a club downtown. Rodney snorted. “It might be easier to say what I don’t want to do.”
David nodded as though he really understood and picked up his beer again. “Pick one thing. Just one thing. We’ll do it. I promise.” He pointed at Rodney with the bottle before taking another drink.
“I want to have sex with you.”
David spit beer in a fine spray out into the room.
“I take that as a ‘no’,” Rodney said, trying not to let his disappointment show.
David wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and set the bottle of beer down again. “Are you serious? Because it’s not that I don’t want to—it’s that I don’t know how.” David gestured toward Rodney in general with a little uncertain movement of his hand.
“Really?” Rodney beamed at him. “I don’t know how either.”
“No, wait, I know how,” David said with emphasis. He ran a hand distractedly through his hair as he thought about how to phrase his next sentence. “I just don’t know how with—you know. You.”
“Oh.” Rodney fell silent again.
“Not that I don’t want to try.” David offered hesitantly.
“Okay.” Rodney caught himself drumming his fingertips on the arm of the chair and willed them to stop.
David stood up. Cutting a glance in Rodney’s direction, he leaned over and swung aside the end of the coffee table, making room for himself at Rodney’s feet. Suddenly breathless with expectation, Rodney sank down slightly in the overstuffed chair, unconsciously spreading his thighs farther apart. He gave a little shuddering sigh when David placed a hand on each knee as he eased himself to the floor. With a quick smile up at him, David reached forward and placed his palm around the shaft of Rodney’s cock.
Rodney’s cock leapt forward to meet him, the tip flaring out into a hood as it strained upward. David rocked back on his heels a moment, his eyes opening wide. “Wow,” he breathed, never taking his gaze off of Rodney’s dick. “Does it always do this?”
“Only when I think about you,” Rodney confessed.
David shot him a startled look that quickly shifted into something else. His lids dropped half-closed as he gave Rodney a little smile. “Okay, that’s pretty hot,” he admitted, slowly moving his hand up and down.
It felt so good. Rodney closed his eyes and just experienced the moment. The warmth of David’s hand suddenly withdrew, and Rodney snapped his eyelids open again.
“Hang on a sec.” David was rummaging in the drawer of the coffee table. “This will help.” He opened a small, clear bottle and poured a viscous substance into his hand. “Lube,” he explained. “There’s, um, quite a lot of you here. I can only take care of so much.”
If he’d thought the sensation of David’s hand on his cock was amazing before, it was nothing compared to the way it felt when David wrapped his slick palm around Rodney’s shaft and began to slide it up and down again. Rodney could feel the blood surging into his cock, bringing it to full hardness as it darkened in color and the veins stood out on the sides. “Fuck, yeah,” David breathed, nostrils flaring, and Rodney realized that he was aroused as well. David was turned on by jacking him, and Rodney had never experienced anything so perfect in his life.
Until David closed his mouth over the end of Rodney’s cock. That was the most perfect sensation in the universe. Rodney felt the end of his cock swell in response to the enveloping warm heat, and David made a little choking sound as he steadied it with his hand. Rodney started to pull back, afraid of hurting David, but to his amazement, David mouthed him eagerly, trying to take as much of him in as possible. He pumped his hand up and down the shaft, a subvocal moan vibrating around Rodney’s cock, even as the sound of it reached Rodney’s ears. David leaned forward on his knees, breathing hard through his nostrils, his cheeks hollowed out as he applied suction. Rodney watched his every movement with fascination, thighs clenching when David let the end of Rodney’s cock slip out of his mouth with a small moist plop. David rubbed his lips over the tip, licking it and wetting it with his saliva, sitting back to catch his breath as he pumped the shaft even faster.
“God, you’re so beautiful, you know that?” David murmured, concentrating on the movement of his hand on Rodney’s cock. “So fucking amazing.” He leaned down to take Rodney in again, working his lips over the end of Rodney’s cockhead and using the base of his tongue to stroke its underside vigorously. Rodney could feel the tension mounting in his body. He’d read of roller coasters and the way the cars would climb on the tracks ever higher, their occupants in breathless anticipation of the freefall to come. That was how he felt, yet each time he thought he was approaching the summit, David would pull off him breathlessly, changing tactics and administering a new sensation with his mouth and fingers until he’d recovered enough to suck Rodney down again.
When David took one of Rodney’s balls in his mouth, Rodney inadvertently flapped half-open wings, causing him to lift out of the chair. The action caused several books to fall over as his wingtip brushed the shelves, and the tall reading lamp beside the chair bobbled dangerously.
Embarrassment flamed through Rodney when David went red-faced with laughter.
“No, no.” David gripped him by the knees when Rodney started to stand. “It’s just that no one’s ever tried to fly when I sucked them off before.” His smile was so engaging that Rodney realized his amusement was a result of pleasure, and not at Rodney’s expense.
He picked up where he left off with gusto, surrounding Rodney’s cock with mouth and hands once more, striking a pace and rhythm that made Rodney want to cry out yes, yes, and he was surprised when he realized he was growling those words. “Now,” he said urgently, and David pulled off abruptly, still working his slick hand briskly up and over the end.
The orgasm Rodney had experienced before was nothing compared to the one he had now at David’s hands. His hips bucked uncontrollably twice as the orgasm roared through him. David’s hand didn’t slow; he continued to work Rodney’s cock as the warm fluid spurted out over his fingers. Rodney threw his head back in the chair and rode out the sensations, his wings in full extension and shuddering as his cock continued to pulse and throb. His right wing knocked the lamp back against the wall, only to have it slip sideways and lean crazily along the arm of the couch. His left wing swept the shelf beside the chair, raining books into a pile on the floor.
Finally, he placed a hand over David’s, slowing him down and marveling at the contrast between the colors of their skins. He admired, too, the fine dark hair along David’s arms and backs of his hands. Rodney had never realized before just how much hair humans had; it seemed like a wondrous extravagance to him. David rested his cheek against Rodney’s thigh. He looked as blown as though it had been he who had just come, and Rodney was filled with a smug satisfaction that he’d reduced David to this state. His lips were swollen and wet with saliva, and it was imperative that Rodney kiss him right now.
Carefully keeping his claws in check, he grabbed David by his shirt and pulled him up. David came up off his knees willingly, leaning into Rodney’s chest and opening his mouth as their lips met. Rodney felt a surge of some unfamiliar emotion at the contact; he couldn’t get enough of David. He shifted his grip to take hold of David’s head, holding him steady as he eagerly pushed and thrust with his tongue. The warm slide and movement of tongue and lips was addictive and heady; Rodney already wanted more. A solitary book, precariously balanced on the shelf, dropped to the floor with a thud.
David broke off the kiss to laugh breathlessly at Rodney. “Damn.” A rueful expression crept over his face. “I wish now I’d started with something else. I’ve been thinking all day about what it would be like to have you fuck me.”
“And this is a problem because?” Rodney’s tail sneaked up behind David’s shoulder to caress his cheek, causing David to jerk briefly at the contact before he realized what it was.
David’s eyelids half-closed at the touch of the tail tip, and his expression became sleepy and seductive. He tilted his head slightly as Rodney’s tail tip curled up alongside his ear. He appeared to be enjoying the contact very much. “Well, there’s this little problem known as recovery time.”
“What’s that?” Rodney asked in all seriousness.
David looked down at Rodney’s cock, nestled in between them. Rodney looked down as well; his cock was as hard as ever and, as they watched, made an undulating movement toward David.
“Never mind.” David’s voice was filled with awe and anticipation. He pushed himself up to his feet. “Bedroom’s this way.” He moved off without waiting to see if Rodney was following.
“Where are you going?”
The voice behind him made Rodney turn abruptly; he only just missed knocking over the floor lamp with his wings. David stood in the center of the room, the gray half-light of early dawn defusing through the skylight above. He was naked, save for the cross he wore around his neck. His cock jutted half-erect out from a patch of black hair. He rubbed one eye sleepily as he looked at Rodney with accusation, his hair messy and disheveled.
He was utterly gorgeous.
Rodney glanced up at the skylight. The darkness was lifting; the light in the sky was getting stronger. It had been his intention to be on the roof when the first streaks of dawn broke over the skyline of the city. He looked back at David. “I was leaving before the sun came up,” he said gently.
“Without a word? Just like that?” David was obviously pissed now.
“I’m sorry. I just—” Rodney broke off to indicate the surrounding apartment. “Well, no one knows what happens to gargoyles when they die. The presumption, however, is that we turn to dust. I didn’t want you to wake to find that.”
“You thought I’d rather wake to find that I’d missed you altogether, huh? Is that it? You didn’t think I’d want to say goodbye? Not after last night? You didn’t think I wanted to be there? When you—you know. Died.” David’s last words were somewhat strangled.
Rodney sighed. “I didn’t want you to have to haul out the vacuum cleaner on my behalf.” He watched as David stared stony-faced back at him. “Okay, I wanted to be on the roof when it happened, all right?”
He didn’t add that he wanted to fly one more time, that he wanted to lift his wings and soar upward into the sky, because what he really wanted to do was cling to David’s body for the remainder of the night, holding on to the one thing that made him feel alive.
“Right,” David said tightly. “I’ll meet you on the roof.”
Rodney squeezed out of the open skylight, noting that it wasn’t any easier than it had been the night before and definitely not what he’d pictured in his daydreams. Well, nothing was that simple, right? He flew slowly up toward the roof, landing with reluctance on the familiar surface. Maybe it would be better for both of them if he just flew off into the rising sun. The temptation to give into to the impulse was strong, but he decided against it. David deserved better than that.
Who are you kidding? You just want David to be with you when it happens.
He crossed over to his stash of treasures, crouching to remove the panel and extract them from their hiding place. Not much of a legacy to leave behind, when he considered it. He thought of the conversation that he and David held in bed the night before. David had told him of his plans for the future—plans to restore old buildings to their former glory and preserve the past instead of tearing them down to make way for the new. He heard the regret in David’s voice that he hadn’t discovered the flaw in Rodney’s base in time to do something about it; that couldn’t be changed now. At least he could give his things to someone who would understand what they’d meant to him.
He was holding them in his hands when David came onto the roof, dressed in a white cotton shirt over his jeans. He’d left his shirt untucked, sleeves rolled up to the elbow; bare ankles peeked out over the tops of his shoes. The early morning breeze caught the edges of the shirt and gave Rodney a tantalizing glimpse of David’s abdomen beneath the cloth; he knew exactly what that skin felt and tasted like now. David looked absolutely delicious, and Rodney felt a surge of satisfaction that he knew just how delicious David really was.
David crossed over to his side and halted uncertainly.
“Here.” Rodney held out his things. “Your Sherlock Holmes book. The rest of my stuff as well. Just a few odds and ends. Junk, really. It’s all I have, though.”
David took the items as though they were precious valuables and sat down cross-legged on the rooftop to examine them. He formed a little pile in front of him and motioned for Rodney to join him.
Rodney crouched down on his haunches and watched as David examined his belongings, turning them over with his beautiful hands. Rodney knew exactly what those hands were capable of doing, and he smiled in remembrance.
“Tell me about them,” David demanded. Rodney picked up each item, one at a time, and related its story, ever conscious of the lightening of the sky around them.
David picked up the copy of A Tale of Two Cities. It fell open to a marked page. David began to read aloud. “‘The night comes on dark. He moves more; he is beginning to revive, and to speak intelligibly; he thinks they are still together; he asks him, by his name, what he has in his hand. O pity us, kind Heaven, and help us! Look out, look out, and see if we are pursued’.” He looked up sharply when he’d finished, obviously struggling with a myriad of emotions. He set the book down and unfolded the bookmark. “You kept my note,” he said incredulously.
Rodney merely shrugged. David looked up at the sky, his mouth tightening, before he went back to his catalog of items again.
When he got to the crystal pendant, David frowned. He took the necklace from Rodney’s hand, turning it over carefully. “Where’d you say you found this?”
Rodney told him of the glitter that caught his eye on an evening so cold it took even Rodney’s breath away, beckoning him to come down from the sky and fish it out from the storm drain.
“Rodney,” David said slowly. “If I’m not mistaken, this is a very valuable diamond necklace that was reported stolen a few months ago.”
“It’s yours now.” Rodney drew a nonsensical pattern with one claw in the fine gravel dusting the rooftop. It was of no importance to him anymore.
David just gaped at him. Rodney smiled at his expression and, feeling the need to speak while he still could, plunged into a stilted confession. “It’s been a good life, you know? I got better than I expected. Better than I deserved. I want to thank you for that.”
David’s face folded in on itself, as though he’d received a physical blow. “Look, Rodney. Who’s to say what will happen next to you, right? It might not be as bad as you think.”
Rodney smiled indulgently at David. “At least let me say goodbye.”
“No.” David frowned. He dropped the necklace abruptly. “No,” he repeated. “Damn it, Rodney, this can’t be goodbye!”
David’s denial
was amusing, comforting, and painful all at the same time. “But it is,” Rodney said gently. The sun was a thin, red sliver in the sky now; the clouds picked up its light and began to reflect it in great bands of color that washed across the sky.
He’d never truly watched the sun rise before. It was beautiful. He felt a touch on his arm, and he looked down to see David’s hand gripping his bicep. He smiled at David as the first beams of light crested over the building skyline and caressed his face.
He could feel the change coming over him, the nauseating twist inside his body, as though something were melting and withering away his strength. He couldn’t look at David anymore; he didn’t want his last thoughts to be filled with the sorrow on David’s face. He lifted his wings involuntarily, as if to fly away from what was happening to him, only to have them shudder and crumble into dust. He’d suspected all along that this was what would happen to him, but it broke his heart just the same.
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