Tit for Tat

by JS Harker

  Derek looped his arms around him. “Not what I meant.”

  They kissed, and Derek took the lead in pushing his tongue into Flynn’s mouth. Flynn hummed as he worked at undoing Derek’s pants. They undressed each other and danced over their strewn clothes across the room to the bed. Derek maneuvered them so Flynn lay on the bed first.

  In a way, Derek felt like he saw Flynn for the first time. A few of his blue veins were more obvious against his pale skin, and his grin was more mischievous than ever. His eyes shone even in the dim light. He propped himself on his elbows, stretching out under Derek.

  “Lost your nerve?” Flynn asked.

  “Just looking,” Derek said, and his voice was far more confident than he’d ever known it to be. He loved Flynn. Flynn loved him. The strange parts of him were still very much Flynn. Derek couldn’t picture him any other way, and he didn’t want to. He wanted to spend every moment he could with Flynn.

  Flynn was spending as much time looking him over again. He reached down and ran his hand over Derek’s cock.

  Derek pushed Flynn’s legs apart and moved up. His cock hung down, brushing against Flynn’s until Flynn took them both in hand. Derek nuzzled in for a kiss and only broke apart when the heat building in him threatened to make him come.

  “Wait, hold on,” Derek murmured. He slid his cock out of Flynn’s grasp. “I don’t want this to be fast.”

  “How do you want it?” Flynn arched against him and ran his hand up Derek’s back.

  Derek flicked his tongue over his lip. “Do you have lube? Condoms?”

  “I have oil,” Flynn said.

  “I’ve got a condom in my coat. Hold on.” Derek moved off the bed. He actually had several condoms in his coat pocket, thankfully none of them damaged.

  Flynn took a small bronze bottle out from under his bed. He stretched as he reached for it, and Derek wanted to run his hands all over him. They’d explored each other a few ways, but Derek was always the more passive.

  But he was in an impossible place with an impossible boyfriend. He could have a little courage.

  Derek straddled Flynn’s lap, happy when Flynn drew his knees up for some support. Then he took the bottle of oil and spread some on his hand. It was warm, and when he rubbed it against his hole, the warmth ran up his back. A gasp went through his whole body, and he shut his eyes tight.

  Flynn gently stroked his cheek. “Please, I want to see everything.”

  Derek forced open his eyes again. Lust clouded Flynn’s blue eyes. Both of them moaned when Derek accidentally brushed his hand against Flynn’s cock. After spreading enough oil on himself, Derek rolled the condom over Flynn’s erection.

  Flynn tightened his grip, bucking his hips shallowly before Derek even had a chance to get them in the right place. With a laugh, Derek pushed Flynn down. He took his time working Flynn in.

  Even through a condom, Flynn was cool to the touch, which made sense to Derek after learning his big secret. Derek didn’t mind his cold when Flynn could stretch him and make him feel everything. Like the universe was one long journey to pleasure.

  When Flynn reached to stroke Derek’s cock, Derek spread more oil on his fingers and traced down to work his finger into Flynn’s ass. Flynn stilled for a moment, letting Derek explore. Then he gasped, a fire feeding the lust in his eyes, and he bucked hard into Derek. The position was too hard to keep up, and Derek slid his arm back. Flynn continued thrusting. Derek met him, rode him, and they made an absolute mess out of each other.

  Derek didn’t want Flynn any way but the way he was.

  Unfortunately they couldn’t linger. Derek’s stomach insisted on having a real meal, and Flynn wouldn’t let him have anything from the grand feast set out in the village. Going out to the frozen plain when Derek barely had a chance to come down from his orgasm sucked. The wind cut through his coat and clothes, and shivers wracked his body until they were through the portal.

  “Mortal cold sucks a whole lot less now,” Derek said, though his jaw trembled. He wrapped his arms around his chest, and Flynn put his arm around Derek’s shoulders. The wind wasn’t so bad, but Derek was still ready to get inside to the warm and out of the bright sunlight.

  Sunlight? Derek glanced up. The sky was light blue, as if the sun were new and hadn’t decided what kind of day it wanted to be. But there was definitely a sun above the horizon.

  “What the hell?” Derek asked.

  Flynn looked up. “What?”

  “We went in there maybe an hour after sunset. Did we really spend that long over there?”

  “I told you, our relationship with time is different than yours,” Flynn said.

  Derek frowned, determined to keep walking and not get jealous that Flynn walked on top of snow instead of sinking into it. “Um, yeah. Like you don’t count years.”

  “More than that. Time doesn’t pass the same there. What could be a moment there might be several days here.”

  Maybe they had been gone longer than a night. Derek dug out his phone, distressed to see the battery so low, but it confirmed they’d only crossed over into the next day. “Crap, crap, crap. I’ve got work in three hours.”

  Flynn’s right ear twitched, usually a sign something upset him. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

  Derek grabbed on to Flynn by his jacket and hauled him to a stop. He kissed him madly, infusing as much of his love as he could in their tangle of lips. “I wanted to go,” he whispered as he pressed his forehead against Flynn’s. “Don’t be sorry for it.”

  “All right,” Flynn replied with the same quiet reverence.

  “I love you,” Derek said.

  Flynn kissed him. “I love you too.”

  They started on their way again. Derek mused, “If we hurry, we could grab breakfast before I have to go.”

  “At the chocolate pancake place?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  Flynn took his hand, a broad joyous grin lighting up his face. “Come on, let’s go.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “YOU’RE going out with your human again,” Lulu said as she landed on the ledge below the bathroom mirror.

  Flynn was trying to use the styling gel to hide his ears under his hair, but it was still too short to disguise him well. “He has a name. You could use it.”

  “And accidentally summon him?”

  “Humans don’t work that way, and you know it.”

  Lulu flittered her wings. “Maybe he’s not entirely human, and that’s why you’re so bewitched. Maybe he’s a sorcerer who plans to seduce you and lock you in a cage forever and ever.”

  Flynn rolled his eyes. “He lives in a dormitory.”

  “Secret lair.”

  Flynn shook his head. His hair fell away from what he’d tried to do with it. Maybe he needed to use more gel. “He doesn’t have a secret lair.”

  “Ruin my fun.” Lulu pointed at the toothbrush beside her. “When did you get two of these? Why do you even have two?”

  “That one’s Derek’s.”

  “You’re letting him leave things here?” Lulu pushed Derek’s toothbrush farther along the shelf.

  “It’s common between boyfriends.”

  “If he doesn’t like the taste of your seed, he should stop sucking you off.”

  Flynn sighed and put the toothbrush where it had been on the shelf. “It’s not for after that, but when he wakes up in the morning and has to go to work.”

  Lulu sat down. “It sounds as if you’re attached to him, and yet I don’t think you’ve told him the full truth.”

  “He knows what I am. I took him to the feylands. He met my father,” Flynn replied defensively.

  “But does he know you can’t stay?” Lulu said.

  Flynn had been avoiding thinking about his imminent departure. His job was over in a few more days, and the end of the holiday season was fast approaching. Flynn could manage to stay for another month, at most two, but by the middle of March, summer’s power would pick up, and remaining would strai
n him.

  “He doesn’t.” Lulu shook her head. “You shouldn’t mislead him if you love him like you claim.”

  “It hasn’t come up,” Flynn said.

  “And yet, somehow, a trip to the feylands has,” Lulu replied.

  Flynn glared at her. “You’re a pixie. You don’t know what it’s like to be stuck to a season. To have it dictate everything.”

  “Oh yes. Being three inches tall in worlds made for giants, I would have no idea what a limitation might be like,” Lulu said. “You are making excuses, and the only thing you will do is break both your hearts.”

  “The same thing will happen if I tell him I have to leave!” Flynn said.

  “Then maybe your love is weaker than you claimed.”

  Flynn was about to pick up his toothbrush and see how well that worked as a sword against pixies. Considering it was plastic and she was fast, he didn’t have a chance in battle against her.

  “Flynn?” Derek called out. “You still here?”

  “I’m coming!” Flynn went out through the bedroom, grabbing a sweatshirt Derek had left on a previous visit. He slid into it, the folds of fabric smelling like a combination of their two scents.

  Derek smiled at seeing him. He always did. Flynn never wanted his special smiles to end.

  But Lulu was right. At some point Derek deserved to know the truth about his connection to winter and what it meant. “Ready to go?”

  Flynn took Derek’s hand. “Yes.”

  Riding in the car was still thrilling, but Flynn remembered Derek’s rules. No more than three radio stations inside of ten minutes, try not to overextend the seat belt, and no touching the driver, especially for groping sessions—at least not without permission. Flynn was certain they’d find a way to have sex in the car at some point. Possibly even that night.

  “Are you going to get overly aroused at this movie? Like you did last night when the man came on screen?” Flynn asked.

  Derek slammed on the brakes too hard, sending Flynn forward and locking his seat belt.

  “This one doesn’t count,” Flynn said as he unbuckled and rebuckled.

  “Yeah. Um. Sorry. And I mean, no. This won’t be that kind of movie. They show those in special theaters. This one’s in a regular theater.”

  “Pity.” Flynn sighed. “The sex last night was very good.”

  Derek turned a bright scarlet shade. His cheeks barely dimmed before they reached the theater.

  The inside of the theater was as chaotic as the mall on a busy day. It smelled of humans, popcorn, and sugar. The combined effect was odd, and Flynn kept scrunching his nose. He wasn’t sure he liked it all that much.

  With so much noise and distraction, Derek handled the transaction at the ticket counter and the concession stand while Flynn stood off to the side and drank in the sights. Christmas merchandise had even infected the theater. Paper bags of popcorn sported snowflakes and tiny depictions of bells or mistletoe. Some cashiers said “happy holidays” while the others said “Merry Christmas.”

  There was more than one human holiday at this time of year, wasn’t there? Flynn would have to ask.

  Derek came over with two drinks and a popcorn in his hands. He hesitated on handing one of the drinks to Flynn. “I feel like this might be the worst idea ever.”

  Flynn’s ear twitched. The liquid in the cup was a bright blue and seemed to be made of ice. “What is it?”

  “A slushie.”

  Flynn took the cup, then unwrapped the straw and put it inside. Judging from Derek’s face, he should be on the lookout for some kind of trick. He scowled as he took his first sip.

  The glorious concoction that struck his tongue was sugar and ice, and there was no other way to describe its flavor but the purest blue. Flynn eagerly attacked it, drinking as much down as he possibly could.

  Right until a sudden sharp pain flared through his mind. Flynn stopped and whimpered, putting a hand to his forehead. “What? Ow! Why?”

  “It’s called a brain freeze.” Derek snickered. “I didn’t even think that’d be possible.”

  “It hurts!”

  “It’ll go away in a second.”

  “Will it happen again?”

  Derek smirked. “Only if you drink it that fast.”

  “You bought me a trap,” Flynn said, narrowing his eyes.

  “Maybe.”

  “Well, it’s a delicious one, so I’ll forgive you.” Flynn took a few pieces of popcorn. “Which way to the movie?”

  CUDDLING during the movie was nearly impossible thanks to the seats, but Flynn managed some anyway. The slushie only lasted through something called “trailers.” At the end of the movie, Derek offered to get the slushie refilled. Flynn decided to wait outside for him.

  The night was perfect. Crystal-clear skies with a half moon overhead. A chill in the air promised true winter was coming soon. Flynn relished feeling at ease.

  An odd crawling sensation disrupted his reverie. Flynn rubbed at his arms and glanced around. A figure stood on the sidewalk not far from him. The figure knocked back a hood.

  The man again. Over the last few weeks, he had appeared in the mall but always at a distance. Always watching with a scowl. He was angrier than before, and he walked down the sidewalk toward Flynn with a look of murder in his eyes. If Flynn had come to the theater alone, he’d leave, but he couldn’t abandon Derek.

  “I know what you are,” the man said, only not in English but in the language of home. His words were badly mangled, but it was the dialect of Winter.

  Flynn backed away from him, but the man continued walking toward him. Pinpricks of wrongness stabbed through his skin. He couldn’t shake the disturbed, bad feeling. “What are you talking about?”

  The man strung together curses. “You are Winter born and beloved. I’ve seen you.”

  “I don’t know what makes you think—”

  The man grabbed Flynn. When Flynn went to shove him away, the man pushed a small black skillet against his chest. It stung. Flynn sidestepped, but the man held on to his arm and shoved the skillet against him again.

  Iron. Flynn yanked, trying to get his body free and clear of the man’s attack, but the man held him against the wall and tapped him with the skillet over and over. Though the strikes were light, each blazed fiery pain through Flynn. It stole his breath, his concentration, any sense of peace. He howled and dropped to his knees in an attempt to get away, but the man took hold of his hair and shoved the skillet against his bare skin. It compounded the pain, and Flynn swore he smelled his skin burning.

  The man lifted the skillet, but Flynn felt it close to him. He clawed at the man’s hand, only to get burned more. When he stopped struggling, the man ended his attacks.

  “You will take me home,” the man demanded.

  Not only did the man know what he was, but he wanted to go to the feylands. His ears had small points, almost as round as a human’s but not quite. But he could hold on to iron and wield it. Fey couldn’t do that.

  “What are you?” Flynn asked.

  The response was another press of the iron skillet against Flynn’s skin.

  “I won’t loose a human upon the fey!” Flynn snarled.

  “Human? Human?” The man shoved Flynn against the wall and then grabbed him by the sweatshirt and dragged him upward. “I am one of Winter’s children, lost in the summer sun too long. I cannot find the portal. I cannot make it take me home. But you. Oh, you Winter blessing, will lead me to it and let me through it, or you will find out how much pain this mortal realm can give you.”

  He pressed the skillet against Flynn’s cheek. His skin felt like it was bursting into flames. It would kill him. He’d die far from home because some stranger thought himself one of the fey.

  A stranger who knew the language of Winter, what Flynn was, and his weakness. “Wait!” Flynn pleaded. “Stop. Please!”

  The man pulled back the skillet, but it was in close range still.

  “Too long in the summer sun?” Flynn ask
ed.

  The man tightened his grip on the skillet. “I came to explore long ago and believed I fell in love. I lost my way and became unmindful of the queen’s warnings. My fickle mortal left me and I despaired. I almost forgot what I was, I have been here so long. The press of their reality is so great and harmful among our people. Humans disbelieve in us, and we become the less for it. And less and less over time. Until I had forgotten.

  “But then I saw you and remembered. Winter’s love. Winter’s kiss. Its power. And you will take me home, and I will beg the queen to restore me.”

  “I’m not going to do that,” Flynn said.

  The man snarled. Flynn couldn’t wrench free as he attacked, couldn’t focus and call on Winter to help him, couldn’t do anything but scream.

  Derek wacked the man on the back of the head with the slushie cup. Cold, sugary liquid sprayed over both of them, but the man was distracted enough that Flynn wriggled free. He scrambled away as fast as he could, and Derek stepped between him and the man.

  Glorious, noble, brave Derek—his Derek had come to his rescue. Flynn already felt the winds of winter soothing the burning marks on his skin. He wasn’t alone or abandoned. He wasn’t like the man before him.

  “You don’t know what you’re in bed with,” the man snarled in English. He pointed the skillet at Flynn. “He’s not human.”

  “Ask me if I care,” Derek said.

  “This isn’t some gay slur. He’s a fairy, not human.”

  Derek straightened and dug his phone from his pocket. “I’m calling the police.”

  The man reached for Derek’s arm, and Derek punched him with his other fist. The man staggered, holding a hand to his jaw where Derek’s blow had landed. “You don’t know what you’re protecting.”

  “My fairy boyfriend,” Derek snapped.

  “I don’t mean the—”

  “He is of ice and snow, the cold that comforts the world before a new spring. He is of the Winter fey. Yeah, asshole, I get you aren’t using a slur. Now you understand me. If you touch him one more time, I will dox the shit out of you and hound you until I get your ass arrested for assault.”