by Kit Fortier
This was Jake trying to prove Fox was more than enough. That he was worthy of something more than he could wish for. The reverie broke when Jake gave him a gentle, slightly moist kiss on the cheek before pulling away.
Jake picked up the clothes and started arranging their gear neatly. Fox's backside was toasty warm from the superheated rocks in a pile. The only thing that remained wanting was the actual sleeping arrangements. Fox saw the sleeping bag bundled onto Jake's pack, and the well-used, well-loved blanket under his arm.
He thought of something to try. He held the lantern up in one hand and used the other to focus on his task.
He thought of a giant sponge made of soft soil in the ground. He thought of it as soft to the touch, but firm to rest upon. Using his index, he pointed at the floor, creating a large rectangle in his head.
And then he simply thought of it.
And it appeared.
Jake's whistle brought Fox back into the now. He trotted down the short flight of stairs, admiring Fox's handiwork.
"Not bad," Jake said. "Have you thought of this?" Jake made a motion, as if lifting blinds up.
The mattress rose from the ground on a plateau of hardened earth. A slightly higher, narrower shelf pushed up beneath the head of the sleeping area. It created a pillow of that section of bedding.
"That would probably be better," Fox agreed. "This alchemy thing is going to take some getting used to, for sure," Fox said, his eyes crinkling as his smile took over. Fox reached over and wrapped an arm around Jake's waist, his hand coming to rest on his man's hip. A small huffing laugh popped forward. "It's like we've got the Force or something."
Jake laughed in return. "Or something." Jake draped his arm over Fox's shoulder. They stood there, holding onto each other, basking in the quiet. They stared at the shadows the transmuted sleeping space cast on the shelter's floor.
Fox's face fell. "Jake," he said turning to look at the man, "it doesn't make this any less scary."
Jake nodded in agreement. Fox thought Jake's eyes shone like quicksilver pools in the dim light. "There are parts that are now new to me, too. But I've got you, Fox. I'll teach you."
Jake turned his attention on the "window"--the open space that started waist high and came down from the ceiling just above their heads. He held out his hand. With a motion like he was pushing something down, the stone overhang formed long, flat slats of stone. The slats then dropped down and thudded into the ground. It reminded Fox of teeth, or stalactites. The slats allowed light to pass but not people, quite possibly even small animals.
When the window was secured, Jake pointed his hand at the staircase leading to the bunker. He lifted his hand palm-up, and the staircase rose up out of view. From Fox's point of view, Jake cut off any possibility for accidental pedestrian discovery.
Not that the Tower saw a lot of foot traffic, but it never hurt to be armed against the possibilities.
Fox shook his head. His brain was still trying to catch up with the newfound power they held. He marveled at Jake's mastery of it.
"I don't think we'll have any guests," Jake said. "But it's better to be prepared. We've got enough food and water for a couple days. The shelter's well concealed. I also sealed it against magic and altered beasts. After that madness in circle, you've earned the rest."
Fox sighed in relief.
Jake moved to his pack, placing the clothes and boots on the floor, and freeing up his sleeping bag. Fox spread out the blanket, providing a layer against the spongy dirt for them to sleep on.
He looked for a place to put the lantern. It dawned on him that he needed a hook to hang it from or a shelf for it to sit on to be in any way efficient. Fox did a simple, practical thing. He focused on the wall space at the head of the bed, and alchemically pulled a hook from the wall to hang the lantern on.
"You really do catch on quick," Jake grinned.
Fox shifted over on the bed, giving Jake room to join him. "That was nothing, really. This--" Fox flipped his hands over and back, "this is pretty handy!"
Jake nodded. He produced an antibacterial wipe and a wide, thick, adhesive bandage.
"Let me clean off your shoulder and put a bandage on it. I forgot to clean it when I sutured you up, but we can take care of that now."
Fox nodded and sat down on the bed. He let Jake minister to him and relished in the warm feeling that followed. When he finished, Fox all but fell back on the bed. Jake put the medical supplies away and slid into bed alongside him.
"I will confess to using alchemy to make some things easier for myself. But things like this bed, or this shelter- they'd usually take a lot time, even if you have the materials."
Fox nodded. A thought popped into his head.
"We're gonna feel this when we wake up, aren't we?"
"What? The pain from the circle? The soreness from climbing? The burn from the hickeys on your neck?" Jake asked with a smirk.
Fox popped his hand up to his neck, feeling where Jake marked him, laid claim to him.
"Oh man," Fox laughed. "I'm gonna get you good for that."
Jake snorted. "I know you'll try. Just remember-some things will get you in trouble. Those times, you'll have no say in what happens to you." Jake's words heated Fox, but his body was too tired to react.
"I'll try to remember that," Fox smirked.
"We're resting the whole day, maybe two depending on how we feel, then we'll head down after dark."
Fox nodded sleepily.
"We also have to talk about San Diego. And that circle. And training."
Fox hummed his agreement.
Jake opened up his sleeping bag and draped it over the both of them. Fox turned over and inched into Jake's side. He placed his head in the crook of Jake's arm. His fingers lightly scratched and gently tugged on Jake's soft, thick pelt of hair on his chest. In turn, Jake's hand snaked over his scalp, massaging lightly, scratching softly. Their breathing matched each other.
Neither would know who fell asleep first.
17. Recovery
*** Jake
Daylight filtered through the slats and filled the room with a soft, hazy glow. Jake was curled around Fox with a leg right behind Fox's leg, almost between them. Jake's awareness began to filter in, like dripping water filling a cup. He was aware that someone was rubbing against him hard with his butt.
"Baby," he groaned, "We probably should eat something."
Fox didn't turn around. "I'll let you eat me," he said, emphasizing "me".
Jake laughed heartily. He pawed Fox onto his back and crawled over him, settling his weight on Fox's body. Jake held Fox's head between his hands. He had the look of sleepy sensuality screwed onto his handsome face framed by a short mane of auburn hair. How this man could be hot so early in the morning Jake didn't know-it should have been a sin.
But Jake was always was one for sinning.
Fox finally opened his eyes. Jake blinked softly at the sight of that amazing green.
"Good morning," Jake whispered.
"Mornin'," Fox replied.
"We have to eat," Jake said. "I don't know about you, but I feel like got savaged by a bear--"
Fox snickered. Jake smirked at him.
"Something on your mind, sport?"
Fox bit his lip and shook his head with vigor, as if he was trying to keep something in.
"Shhh, baby, calm down," Jake said. He was well aware that his man was on the verge of starting another marathon round of unspeakable naughtiness.
Jake saw a wicked gleam in his eye. "But da--"
Before Fox could finish the word, Jake shoved his tongue in Fox's mouth. Fox moaned and sucked on it, nipping and licking Jake's lips and mouth. Jake took control. He probed and tasted the delicious fruit of Fox's mouth. It had to be savored, devoured slowly in Jake's mind. Jake kept at it for what seemed like an hour, and Fox eventually stilled.
"You okay, Foxy?"
Fox lay there, a serene grin on his face, staring back at Jake.
"I'm a little so
re," Fox said.
"A little?" Jake lifted an eyebrow.
Fox brought his hands up, massaging Jake's chest slowly, deeply. "A lot."
Jake nodded. "Food will help. Nutrients to help repair damage, feed the brain."
Fox gave a slight smirk. "I was in the Scouts, you know."
Jake laughed.
"That's right. My Eagle Scout," he said. It was a strange kind of warmth and pride he had in the man he loved. Fox had committed to something so consuming and wholesome for years. He earned the achievement and the right to call himself Eagle Scout. In spite of, or perhaps because of crippling abandonment and anxiety issues.
Fox winced as he sat up. He kissed Jake with chaste intent. "Let's eat. Then we can get some talking done."
Jake nodded. He stood up, the sleeping bag sliding to the floor. Fox followed him, his hair a messy mop. Jake smiled and shook his head.
Fox had finished a stretch when he saw Jake smiling at him. "What?"
"Nothing," Jake paused. "You."
Fox raised an eyebrow. "What about me?"
Jake knelt down to dig provisions from his pack. "You are only the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he said, his back to the man he was talking to.
Jake pulled out an MRE--a Meal Ready to Eat--and looked at it. "We'll split one of these. There's like seven thousand calories in one of 'em, so that should do us until later." Jake stood up with the MRE in hand. He almost ran into Fox, who was standing there, staring at him, eyes a touch glassy.
"I know you'll always remind me," Fox said, his voice low but steady, "And you have no idea how grateful I am that you do."
Jake's brows furrowed. "But…?"
Fox shook his head. "No buts. I don't know what I did to deserve you, Jake. I really don't. You were there for me in San Diego, you took on my burdens here…" Fox seemed lost in thought.
Jake took Fox's hands in his and dropped the MRE at the foot of the bed. He sat down, sitting cross legged, and patted the space in front of him, inviting Fox to do the same. When Fox did, Jake took his hands again. The pulse had transformed into a thrum-like holding a live wire.
"Where should we begin?" Jake asked. He wanted Fox to start--the events that brought them together wasn't his doing alone.
Fox took a slight shuddering breath. "You remember where we met, right?" Fox sat down on the bedding, inviting Jake to follow.
Jake nodded as he settled in. "Fault Line Park, San Diego, off Island and Fourteenth."
Fox gasped then laughed slightly. "You remember that well?"
Jake skirted the issue beneath the question. "Having an eidetic memory does help me to cement some things so you never forget," Jake said truthfully.
"I remember you didn't say much," Fox said. "I wasn't complaining. don't think I would have known anything existed outside of that fucker with the hot car and the shit cologne. He was like something from an 80's film. Just… Greasy. I don't even remember his name anymore."
Jake nodded. "I remember he dropped you off at the park."
"More like threw me out of his car and slammed the door. He told me some horrible thing about the bums would have fun with my slutty ass or something."
Jake swore he saw red. He wanted to fly back to San Diego. He wanted to find the dick who laughed at the idea of bums having their way with a wayward, seventeen-year-old kid. He wanted rip his nuts off. He wanted to find the dick who wanted to fuck a seventeen-year-old kid and rip his dick off through his ass. A gentle squeeze on his hands pulled him out of his bloodlust.
"You okay, Jake? He's not here. He doesn't matter."
Jake kissed one of Fox's hands, then the other, then nodded. "Sorry, baby. Please, continue."
"I got scared. It was scary. San Diego was huge compared to where I came from, and I didn't know which way was what or where.
"And there you were. You were walking away-I thought that guy was going to hit you, but I don't think he was watching where he was going, anyway. I looked into that park, and it scared me. I whirled around, and you were there."
Jake nodded, rubbing his thumbs gently over the backs of Fox's hands.
"You showed me where to go. You even went with me. I didn't even apologize to you for taking up your time. And even then, you listened to me.
"Lots of other people would have seen me as some punk kid and blew me off. But I had just gotten away from a guy who probably would have fucked me and literally dump me on the roadside if he had his way, left in the middle of a town I didn't know. You may not have been the only one around, but you were the only one I saw.
"You listened to me. I wasn't out to my Dad yet, and my friends in school didn't know, but you didn't treat me or what I did like it was a mistake."
"You were a scared kid," Jake said. "What good would it do you to have some random guy be a jerk to you after what you told me?"
Fox hiccupped a little laugh. "You've been away from the rest of humanity for seven years," he said. "Plenty of jerks."
Jake nodded with a sigh.
"Seven years," Fox said. "You started your hike shortly after we met?"
"Yes, I did."
Fox blinked. "Why were you at the park?"
*** Fox
Jake let Fox's hands go gently, and they fell into Fox's lap. He reached off the side of the bed and pulled up the MRE.
"Eat. I'll eat and talk, okay?" Jake asked. Fox nodded. Jake tore into the plastic, spilling the contents on the area of blanket beside them. Fox unwrapped the solid plastic spoon that came with the pack. Jake opened up the main meal packet--a manner of creamy pasta thing with chicken and peas.
"I hated these things when was in the military," Jake said. "The meal was too salty or too tart from tomatoes. But they're high calorie for survival. Good news is they can be eaten hot or cold."
Fox nodded, handing Jake the spoon. Jake took a spoonful, but instead of moving to his mouth, he gave the first bite to Fox, feeding it to him. Fox took the mouthful and blushed at Jake while he ate. Jake winked at him.
"Love you."
Fox nodded, as if he was saying it back. Jake took a small bite for himself.
"I had a mentor," Jake began. "Just over ten years ago, I was in college, trying to do the normal thing. Use my benefits, get a degree, start a life for me and Ben. But near the end of my second year, I got visited by a Freed raven. He was in real bad shape.
"He approached me as I was getting to my car in the parking garage. I was ready to call for help when I saw he was bruised and bleeding. He called my name, my full name. He called me by the rank I had when I was in Kuwait. It scared me. I put him in my car and tried to drive him to a hospital.
"The raven-man told me about that night in Kuwait City. He had watched me, but since I hadn't engaged anyone in that gory scene, he said nothing then. But he had followed me. Saw me leave my hotel, then tracked me to my base, Al-Jaber. That was in 2000.
"His former master was searching for alchemists. If they refused to join him, they were slaughtered. At the time, I had no idea what he was talking about.
"A few years had passed when the raven had been sold to a witch. So had the rest of the unkindness of ravens that the wizard owned. But the witch was less honorable than the wizard thought. He ended up getting poisoned to death so she could avoid payment. The witch was crueler. She knew she had a wealth of information at her hands. She began forcing the Corvi to change one by one and torturing them for information that would be useful to her. It would be many months before she came to him.
"She was looking for people Khaled associated with. Another raven let fly that she'd seen me that night and was freed as a reward. She offered him the chance to speak, to tell her what he knew. He held back.
"The witch tore into him. Branded flesh, flayed skin, and broken bones were the price of his insolence. The raven would be forced to half-change. Then they were commanded to change back to a human, incompletely healed, and still in pain. He was nothing but a resource to her, one that she didn't care to lose.
&n
bsp; "He couldn't hold out. He told her about me. While she was cruel and intelligent, she wasn't terribly wise. She'd look up the information her victims gave up right in front of them, as if to see whether they were lying. He watched her look me up. When he saw what he needed to see, where I was, he willed himself to change completely and escape her.
"He warned me to take Ben and flee. She would be coming. It was only a matter of time. Go to San Diego, he said. Find Sully, he said.
"I asked him why. Why would he help me? He said Sully helped him-that an alchemist helped him, and that he was paying the favor forward. That maybe, I'd be able to help someone in need.
"I told him I was gonna get him help. He shook his head, saying that there was no help for him. He wouldn't go back, and he couldn't hide. We were flying down the freeway when he jumped out of my car, right into the path of an oncoming big rig.
"I knew it was going to cause attention. I think he did, too. It forced me to flee. I drove home, packed everything I could, grabbed Ben from Kate's parents and ran."
Jake scraped up the bottom of the bag, giving the last of the noodles to Fox. He put the spoon in his own mouth and cleaned it off. Jake picked up the rest of the MRE bag and crossed to his pack and put the leftovers and the spoon away.
Jake fished out a couple packs of pain relievers from his own first aid kit, along with his canteen.
"Here," Jake handed Fox a packet.
"What is this?"
"Muscle relaxer," Jake said, tearing open his own packet and tossing back the pills inside. He took a solid drink of water and offered it to Fox.
Fox, in turn, did the same, swallowing down the pills, drinking from Jake's canteen. When he finished, Jake took the trash and stored it away in his pack. Fox set the canteen next to the head of the makeshift bed.
Fox watched Jake as he moved, trying to him to keep him from doing… Well, pretty much anything. Not that he minded. Though he had mixed feelings. Jake was reliving nightmares, and all Fox could do is listen helplessly. He was unable to reach into the past and help the man however he could.
It was unseasonably hot at the Tower, but the wind carried a chill with it as it blew softly through the entrance. Fox thought of the bunker, and how they were comfortably cool inside. Even if Fox hadn't known about Jake's seven years on the road, he was certain Jake knew what he was doing.