I Reach Through Time and Touch the Other Side

by Sophia Deri-bowen

  Ari laughed into the kiss, finally pulling away and winking. “Hurry up and feed me. I’m curious and hungry, but your bed is so tempting….”

  Kimi gave him a little smack on his hip but went to go fix breakfast for the two of them, just as normal as anything.

  Ari scratched his foot absentmindedly, pushing off with the other as he swung in the hammock, most of his attention on his book. Attention which was quickly diverted when he scratched the same place on his foot and realized his fingers were wet. He looked down and winced.

  One of the blisters he’d gotten from the ill-conceived hiking trip had obviously become infected, the skin around it gone red and puffy and the sore itself now leaking a foul mixture of pus, blood, and clear fluid. “Ew. Really gross.” He prodded the swollen skin around the sore, a big one on the knuckle below his big toe. Dull pain radiated out, and a little more fluid leaked from the rough, angry-looking patch. Better deal with it, he decided, walking carefully inside on the outer edge of the foot, keeping the sore out of the grass until he could get some antibiotic cream on it and bandage it up.

  After their discovery that they could use the room as a conduit as well as a meeting place, Ari and Kimi didn’t spend nearly as much time in the secret room as before. It was cozy and held happy memories, but it was also dark, poorly ventilated, and plain, despite the colorful pillows scattered about. They slept apart if they were busy, or if Kimi was working a night shift, but otherwise, they traded off which bed held them both. And then, occasionally, Ari came home to find Kimi curled up in his bed, fast asleep and unutterably tempting. He was going to throw a dinner party, introduce Kimi to all his friends, just as soon as he stopped wanting to keep the gem of a man solely to himself.

  “I want to meet them! Especially Ryan.”

  Ari made a face at the man lolling across the foot of his bed and playing with his cell phone. Kimi hadn’t meant to exclaim about what an antique it was. Even if it sort of was, even in 2010 terms. “You will. You really will, I promise. I’m just being selfish.”

  Kimi grinned, rolling over onto his stomach and kissing Ari’s knee. “I like you being selfish with me. But have that party soon? I’ll make it worth your while.” He lowered his eyelashes and wriggled his butt flirtatiously, or what he apparently thought of as flirtatiously.

  Ari laughed, leaning over to grab a handful of Kimi’s hair and give it a yank. “All right. Saturday night good for you?”

  “Uh-huh.” Kimi stretched out. “Not doing anything.”

  “Butt. When can I meet your friends?”

  Kimi shrugged. “I’ll have them over sometime. I don’t have that many, really. Not close friends, I mean.”

  “Silly. You’re wonderful, why not?”

  Kimi shrugged again. “Just moved to a new place? Been a little distracted?” He grinned, reaching out to trace a finger along the instep of Ari’s foot, when something caught his eye. “Hey, what did you do to yourself?” He sat up, gently unfolding Ari’s left leg and running one hand over the still-swollen foot, a bright red line now radiating out from under the bandage. “This isn’t good, sweet one.”

  Ari swore, and pulled his foot away, blushing. “It’s nothing. One of those blisters got infected. I thought it was healing!”

  Kimi frowned, resting his hand on the too-warm skin; not rubbing it, not caressing, just touching. “It’s really infected.”

  “I know, I know.” Ari shrugged. “I’ll call my doctor tomorrow, okay? Some antibiotics’ll clear it right up.”

  “When did the infection start?”

  “Dunno. Monday?”

  Kimi blanched. “After you’d been in my apartment. Oh, Ari, what if it’s an infection from my time? Antibiotics might not work… dammit! I should’ve thought of this!”

  “Hey, hey. Relax. I walk around barefoot all the time—could just as easily be from my yard,” Ari soothed, hiding his foot again while Kimi was distracted. He reached for the other man’s hand and twined their fingers together. “Everything’ll be fine.”

  “Sorry. You’re probably right.” Kimi still looked troubled, that muscular body now curled up atop Ari’s bedspread, their hands still clasped together.

  “Well?”

  Ari laughed, meeting Kimi at the door to his apartment and kissing him hello. “Hi, lover. I hope you had a good day too. Your turn for dinner.”

  “Ari….”

  Ari sighed. “I have antibiotics. My foot hurts. Presuming the antibiotics start working, my foot will stop hurting soon. Happy?”

  “No. Well, yes, but still worried,” Kimi admitted, wrapping his arms around Ari’s waist. Their height difference meant that Kimi’s dark head fit perfectly into the hollow of Ari’s shoulder.

  “Well, lucky for you, there’s no need,” Ari soothed. “Now let me sit down, and stop fussing.”

  “No, I won’t.” Kimi led Ari over to the table, settling him there before he started fixing dinner. Something light, with lots of vegetables and vitamins and healthy stuff. “Stop fussing, I mean. I love you, dipshit, so I’m going to worry until you’re all right.”

  Ari laughed at the casual insult mixed with tender words. “I love you too, douche. I’ve made it so far without anyone worrying over me, you know.”

  “Uh-huh. Come to me if it’s not better in a few days. We have better drugs now.” Kimi said, no nonsense in his voice. “And, all right, you’ve made it to twenty-seven without keeling over, but I cannot imagine that no one’s worried over you in all that time.”

  “Not really, actually.” Ari shrugged. “I mean, Mom when I was really tiny, I guess. But I’ve always taken care of myself. And I haven’t exactly led an exciting life.” Until you came along, and thank God for that.

  “Well, now you do, what with being forced out into nature and all that. And you have a boyfriend who loves you.” Kimi walked past the table to grab something from the fridge and paused to kiss the top of Ari’s head. “Get used to change.”

  Ari made a face, but smiled anyway. “You better do the same. I’ll have you exploring the joys of shuffling around the house all day in your jammies yet.”

  When Kimi laughed, he figured the subject was closed. When they tangled with the sheets that night, bodies slick with sweat and Ari on his back, ankles up by his ears, he couldn’t even think of what the subject was.

  It was Saturday, right? Or Sunday? One of the S-days. Ari closed his eyes, and saw calendar pages flip past. One of those page-a-day calendars. It wouldn’t stop long enough for him to see what day it was, so he fell asleep and dreamed that he had locked himself out of his house and so he was walking to Kimi’s, so he could get in by the secret room.

  He woke up and it was dark, and he knew he had a fever. The clock said six fifteen, and he guessed it was still morning. Maybe? He took a pill and looked at his foot. The toes were going bluish, and the whole foot had swollen. Something was leaking through the bandage they’d applied at the doctor’s office.

  Ari drifted off then and dreamed of getting out of bed, going through the secret room, and finding Kimi in his apartment. He woke up in his own bed, not sure what had just happened. He couldn’t quite focus on the clock, but he knew he needed help, that he was worse. “Sorry, love. You were right.” He got up and limped his way into the secret room. Kimi would find him there.

  He woke up in his bed, dreams melding with reality, and he wasn’t sure which was which. He’d dreamed he’d gone to Kimi’s, but he really hadn’t. He was pretty sure. Dreams and reality both hurt, and he wondered if he was dying, or if they’d have to amputate his foot. Maybe both; one then the other. And no one would be able to get to Kimi to tell him. Ari had to tell him he was dying, and apologize.

  He couldn’t put weight on the foot, so he crawled through the hole in the wall, to the room full of pillows where they had first had sex. He grinned, remembering how good it was, how good it always was. Kimi’d have no trouble finding someone after he died.

  The tile floor was so lovely and cool that he
lay down on it, shifting so his foot was pressed against it, and passed out.

  It was nice and soft and warm. That meant bed. And he hadn’t been woken by an alarm, so it was the weekend, which meant he’d slept late and had all day to drink coffee and read. It was getting a little cool to sit in the garden, but his living room was equally cozy. Ari curled up on his side, not wanting to wake up just yet. What was the rush, after all?

  “Ari? You awake in there?” The voice was soft and rough, and he knew it in an instant. Kimi. Good. More reason to not get up. Why isn’t the idiot in bed with me?

  He stretched, rolling over onto his back, and the pain that shot up his leg brought him immediately awake, memories flooding back over him. His foot was infected, something from Kimi’s time, he was dying, he’d lose the leg, he’d come to say goodbye.

  He didn’t mean to scare the other man when he gasped and shot upright, just missing head-butting him hard. “Shit. Shit!”

  “Shh, shh. Ari, be still. It’s all right.” Kimi wrapped him in a huge hug, half-kneeling beside him on the bed now. “You’re all right, or you will be. I found you when I got home, got a doctor to come here, one who wouldn’t ask questions. Got you real medicine.”

  “Hey, I had real medicine before,” Ari said defensively, feeling a little hurt by the unintended dig at his time.

  “Sorry. You know what I mean.” Kimi hugged him harder, just for a moment. “God, you were in bad shape. You’ll be okay. Just rest, lots of rest. Get better and be strong again.”

  “Good. Good. Uh. Thank you.” Ari laughed in between catching his breath and hugging Kimi back. “Oh, honey. It’s okay? Really?”

  Kimi nodded, sitting back and pulling down the covers. Ari’s left foot was completely covered in a kind of boot from his toes up over his ankle. It hurt, distantly, but not badly. “Good as new. It’s in a… thing. Uh, I’m not sure exactly how it works, but it can monitor the infection, adjust the medication, and inject it right into your bloodstream. You’ll have to stay here,” he said apologetically. “For another few days, at least. Then they can put a regular old bandage on it, and you can rest up in your own house. Sorry.”

  “If you can put up with me, I’m happy anywhere,” Ari protested. “You saved my life.”

  Kimi shrugged. “Well, it was sort of my fault. Kind of?” He laughed at the look Ari gave him. “Okay, it wasn’t. But I’m not exactly going to leave you to the wolves, sweetheart.” He pulled the covers up again, and Ari lay back on the pillows—before shooting upright again.

  “Shit! What day is it?”

  “Tuesday. Don’t worry, I called you in sick for the next two weeks,” Kimi assured him. “Relax, will you?”

  “No.” Ari stuck his tongue out, and yelped when Kimi went in for a kiss, biting lightly. “Bastard.”

  “Dear one. Sure you don’t want to sleep for a few more days?” Kimi winked. “Lie down and rest, love. Are you hungry?”

  “Not really. I do have to pee,” Ari admitted. “Can I walk with this thing?”

  “No weight on it,” Kimi said apologetically. “But I’ve got crutches. Be careful, eh? You’ve been out of it for a long time.”

  Ari promised, smiling a little at the mix of overprotection and blaséness that made his lover. Kimi supported him for a few minutes as he stood up, but he managed all right once his head stopped swimming.

  Kimi’s bed felt better than usual when he finally dropped into it again and crawled under the covers, taking care with the weird, futuristic boot. He sighed and closed his eyes, pretty sure he didn’t have the energy even to eat something if he’d been hungry. “You busy?”

  “No, dear one. Need anything?”

  Ari shook his head. “Lie down with me? For a little bit?”

  “Yes. Ask me a hard one next time.” Ari opened one eye to see Kimi grinning, then sliding in beside him, gathering Ari in his arms. “All right?”

  “Mmmhmm.” Ari rolled onto his side, cuddling close, and forced his eyes open to meet Kimi’s. “Hey,” he said softly. “I know we were joking, but you know this isn’t your fault, right? None of it. Just a freak accident.”

  “I know,” Kimi promised him, eyes open and honest, and Ari relaxed. He could stick around just about long enough to feel the kiss brush against his mouth, and then sleep claimed him.

  He ate the next time he woke up, just a little, and fell right back asleep, a pattern that repeated itself over the next two days, with only minor variation in how long he could manage to stay awake. Kimi must have taken off work as well; the other man was always around, usually with tea, or some kind of treat, or a chaste kiss that grew less chaste as the days passed and Ari recovered.

  Three days on, just as he was getting antsy, Kimi managed to get the doctor (Ari was pretty sure he was a physician, anyway) to come and look him over, remove the boot, and declare him on the road to recovery.

  The visit was short, brusque and businesslike. Ari’s foot still rested on Kimi’s lap, where he’d applied a loose bandage to protect it. Ari had been given leave to walk around, as long as he took it easy most of the time, leaning on the crutches if he needed them.

  “Well. I guess you want to get back to your own place.”

  Ari nodded, and swallowed hard. “Will you… will you stay there with me? A bit?” It wasn’t like he needed the help. But he wanted the company, so badly.

  Kimi’s face relaxed, expression lightening as he nodded. “Of course.”

  Ari grinned and swung his legs over the side of the bed before carefully standing, one hand on Kimi’s shoulder more because he could than because he needed the help. “C’mon, love. I’ll give you a proper tour.”

  He found he could walk mostly unaided. He still limped heavily due to the tender foot, but Kimi was there, offering an arm if he needed it. Together they walked through the doorway into the secret room. They’d hardly spent any time at all there since discovering that they could move to past or future without harm. Ari paused, cupping his lover’s chin and kissing him.

  “Mmm. Dunno what that was for, but I hope I keep doing it.”

  Ari laughed, and they kept going, somehow making it through the hole into his closet. “Just happy memories. I don’t know why this happened, or how, or why it happened to me, but I am a damned lucky man.”

  “Know the feeling,” Kimi said softly, following him out into the bedroom. It was in some disarray, first from Ari’s illness, then from Kimi’s quick stops to get fresh underwear, or a change of pajamas. Ari wrinkled his nose at the quilt and sheets in disarray. At least they didn’t reek from when he’d sweated all over them.

  Kimi kissed his temple. “Right, bed. Very important, that.”

  “Wishful thinker,” Ari teased, leaning a little against the other man. “The spirit’s damned willing, but the flesh isn’t up to much more than a chaste cuddle.” But first, he’d show Kimi around a real house. The man would flip when he saw the lawn. He started down the corridor, arm still through his lover’s. He might not be running a marathon anytime soon, but at least he could totter through the house.

  “Then we’ll crawl in together and pretend we’re old men, satisfied with a kiss and a big bed,” Kimi said. They both ignored how his voice caught—who was to say they’d grow old together?

  “You might be content. I’m going to be a dirty, randy old man until the end,” Ari declared. “And we’ve already passed the… well, it’s storage right now, dunno what else it’ll be someday. This is my office,” he said, nodding into the small, square room they stood beside, having made a little circle of the upstairs. “And bathroom, of course.” He’d really struck gold with this one; the bathroom was surprisingly big, and with fixtures straight out of the 1950s, including a clawfoot bathtub.

  Kimi’s eyes widened at the sight of it. “Oh my God, that’s right! You can still take baths!” He laughed, covering his mouth with one hand. “Oops. I’m sorry, just… oh, wow. I’ve seen them in museums and stuff….”

  Ari held up his hand
. “I don’t want to know. I really don’t. But I’ll draw you a bath later.” He grinned shyly. “Something I can give you. Well, one of a few things. Wait’ll you see my garden.”

  Kimi stopped them there, looking very serious. He faced Ari and cupped his face in his hands, thumbs gently stroking Ari’s high cheekbones. “Hey. You’ve given me a lot. So much more than a bath, or some grass to walk on. Don’t ever think otherwise, okay?”

  Ari gave him an odd look. “I don’t. I promise, Kimi.” He leaned in for a soft kiss, tongue prying Kimi’s mouth open. “Love you,” he breathed.

  Kimi nodded, hugging him tightly. “Sorry. Just… I don’t want you to feel like you have to owe me.”

  “I don’t! I promise!” Ari laughed. “Are you allergic to gifts or something?”