by Kit Fortier
Eric slipped out of bed. He put on the robe that Ben wore, completely aware of the smell now wrapped around him. As he backed out of the room, he took in the outline of the gentle giant sleeping soundly before he closed the door.
The young man padded out to the living room. As quietly as he could, Eric turned the armchair that Ben used to face out the window. The whole of Vegas at night spread out before him. He sat down, trying to rein in his racing thoughts. The wolf knew something was up. Somehow, Eric knew the wolf agreed with the deepest levels of Eric’s emotional landscape. But his mind was actively not having it.
“I couldn’t sleep either,” a bassy voice said. It wasn’t the bass that Eric had grown fond of, but that of the elder version of Ben.
Eric saw the older man’s reflection. He was standing in the doorway, also in a robe.
The younger man heard the senior Hughes grunt. Moments later, the big man set another armchair down next to Eric and sat down in it.
“I’m lucky my husband is a heavy sleeper.”
“You guys just got married, right?”
“Yes.”
“Were you… engaged long?”
The big guy laughed. “No. It was a couple days long. And we only got married a few days ago.”
“You, uh… move quick.”
“No doubt.”
Eric breathed in the scent from the bathrobe.
“I only just got my son back, Eric.”
“B told me.”
“B, huh?”
“Yeah.”
The elder Hughes sighed. “Because I’d been gone for most of his life, I’m surprised, and grateful, that he still wants me around.”
Eric nodded.
“I owe you an apology. It’s not much of an excuse to want to protect my son—”
“That’s better than a lot of people get,” Eric whispered.
They sat in silence for a few moments.
“I don’t know what happened in your life that brought you so low, Eric. But my son wants to be there for you, and Fox and I do too. If you’ll let us, we’ll help you. Will you let us?”
Eric closed his eyes. These strange requests—Let us help you, we can heal you, let me love you (he could hear Ben say—even though he hadn’t said it)... They filled him with hope that he couldn’t even imagine he’d ever have. But he was so used to life letting him down.
He could take a chance. He had nothing to lose.
“Sure, Mr. Hughes.”
“It’s actually Foster-Hughes,” the older man said, “but call me Jake, please.”
Eric nodded. “Okay. Jake.”
More silence. This wasn’t uncomfortable at all.
“Hey buddy,” Jake said. “I’m pretty sure somebody misses you.”
Arms slid over his shoulders, and the scent of the ocean flooded his senses.
“Hey Dad,” Ben said from behind Eric.
“Hey big guy.”
“Can I have Eric back?”
“I didn’t take him, son. I think he’s yours if you want him, though.”
Eric smiled.
“I’m going to take you now, E,” Ben murmured in Eric’s ear. Eric nodded. Ben came around the other side of the chair Eric was sitting in. He wore his boxer briefs, but nothing else. Ben lifted Eric with ease, cradling him.
“Good night, you guys,” Jake said with a small smile. Eric knew Ben was making a production of his defiant affection—but it made him grin anyway.
“Night, Dad.”
“Good night, Jake.”
Ben walked to his room with Eric in his arms. He opened the door quickly, somehow managing to keep Eric aloft. After closing the door behind him, Ben set Eric down and turned him around.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Ben said.
“Neither could I,” Eric returned.
Ben removed Eric’s bathrobe, leaving him bare before the taller man. And less than a moment later, they were bare before each other.
“If you’re not in bed when I get back from the bathroom, I’m going to carry you in myself.”
“Sounds like a promise,” Eric said, smiling softly.
Ben disappeared into the bathroom. Eric turned and faced the expansive mattress before him. To be safe and wanted were quiet, heartfelt things he had wished for with all his being for the longest time. Wanted, not to be used, to be callously discarded.
Wanted, like someone who one could not breathe without.
A warmth blossomed across Eric’s back and lips pressed softly at his neck. Eric was lifted up as Ben shuffled across the bed on his knees, carrying the smaller man.
Ben laid Eric down with the mattress at his back. The inevitable deep dip of the larger man at his side displaced the smaller man momentarily. But tonight, Eric wanted something different. He crawled over Ben, stretching his body over the bigger man. Nestling his face against Ben’s chest, Eric breathed in the man who wanted him, and who he wanted in return.
Ben draped a protective arm over Eric’s back.
“You alright, Eric?”
Eric sighed. “Better than. Good night, B.”
“Sleep tight, E.”
Finally, Eric could breathe.
*** Jake
“It was okay for us to leave the boys at the room, right?”
“Papa bear, it’s fine. They’re fine.”
“You should have seen Ben last night, Foxy.”
“I bet he was in fine form.”
“They call each other ‘E’ and ‘B’. They have pet names!”
“Oh no, Papa Bear! That’s so… awful?”
“Jerk.”
“You love it.”
“I know they’ve done it already.”
“Done what?”
“You’re being silly.”
“No, you’re being silly, and a little naïve.”
“I can’t help it. He’s my—”
“Son, yes, I’m well aware.”
“He’s moving too fast!”
“Pot, dot-dot-dot, kettle.”
“You’d think he went all caveman, the way he picked Eric up.”
“Gosh, I don’t know where he’d get that from.”
“Are you being ironic, Foxy?”
“No, I’m being sarcastic. Help me roll out these rocks.”
Fox spent the past few minutes using alchemy to shift large rocks together near a large yucca. Jake raised them one at a time, while Fox sheared them down into spheres. While the boulders were smaller, they were still as tall as Jake was. Jake rolled five boulders in a line, like a gigantic prehistoric version of Newton’s Cradle. The early morning light of the desert was a beautiful mix of pinks and yellows and light oranges and blue.
“Is that enough?” Jake asked.
“Yep. Let’s get this started.”
Both men focused their vision until they saw the sparks within the boulders and the yucca. They were vast, golden, luminescent networks connected and interconnected within and all over each massive rock. Fox raised a hand to the boulder furthest from the yucca. Jake watched as he drained that boulder of its spark, absorbing it into his own. Jake then pointed his hand at the next in line. Jake saw a glowing thread link between Fox and the next boulder in line. A flow of light poured from Fox’s hand through the thread and into the boulder, which glowed a little brighter from within.
“That worked,” Jake said. “The second boulder is a little brighter.”
“And warmer,” Fox said, touching it. Jake watched as Fox touched the first stone—the one he drained. It crumbled like a brittle charcoal briquette at his touch.
“Okay. Let’s see what happens to the yucca.”
Fox moved away from the boulder, so he could get a good view of the rocks and the tree. Jake focused, and watched as light flowed from the boulder nearest the yucca into his husband’s hand. Fox aimed at the yucca and let the light flow into the gnarly, healthy tree.
Jake didn’t have to change his focus to see the effect more spark had on the spiny tree. Flowers bloomed on it
, its spines a little greener.
“It looks like it worked,” Jake said when Fox stopped him from turning.
“Keep watching,” Fox said.
Jake focused, watching the light from the yucca fade back to its original glow. The overflow of energy drifting off of it and dispersing into the air like dandelion seeds on the wind.
“Shit,” Jake said.
“It may not be a bad thing,” Fox said.
“How so?”
“It could be that everything has a limit for spark,” Fox offered. “I’m going to try draining a little bit from one of the rocks, then drain all of the last one. If we’re lucky, it would be like filling a half-filled cup with another filled cup’s water.”
Jake nodded, watching Fox in his experiment. The first boulder’s light dimmed a bit more than the last one next to it. Fox pulled all the glow out of the other remaining rock, pouring everything back into the one Fox first touched.
What Fox predicted happened. The one that was half-alive, as it were, was made fully bright, its excess sloughing off and dispersing.
It was the last boulder standing amidst the brittle rubble of the other four.
“So, what does this mean for Eric?” Jake asked.
“It means we can likely knock the lycanthropy out of him by recharging his spark.”
“Can we use any old thing to do that?”
Fox considered the question. “If all the spark is, is energy, then I think we have a chance. I mean, we supercharged the yucca, so it should work on a human, right?”
Jake nodded. “I kinda wish we had another altered beast to try it on.”
“I’m sure there are some in Vegas, but I don’t know that I want to go looking for them.”
“True.”
“Let’s go back and get the boys,” Fox said, his voice hopeful.
*** Ben
A wonderful friction ground Ben into opening his eyes. His dreams in the past few moments had been way beyond the limits of erotic. He was pinned to the bed. Warmth brushed against him. Wet kisses were planted across his chest, his neck, over his eyes, his lips. But what he saw when his eyes opened made him wonder if he had been dreaming at all.
Eric had slept on top of him the whole night, barely moving a muscle. His breath tickled Ben at first as it rustled his chest hair slightly, but he got used to it. Aside from breathing, Eric never moved. Had he gotten up this time, Ben would have known.
Now, Eric was staring at him, eyes blown, his pale neck straining as he drove his slick hardness next to and over Ben’s. Eric had been having his way with the man beneath him, and Ben couldn’t find it in himself to complain. Ben slid the rough pads of hands over the smooth, pale skin of Eric’s back, holding onto him for dear life.
Eric dug into Ben’s hard chest, rooting around at one side of his breast until he found what he was looking for. Teeth sank into the skin of his nipple, followed by gentle licks, a bit of suction, and it made Ben whimper weakly into Eric’s hair.
Multiple sensations overwhelmed Ben, assailing his mind from many fronts. The slick burn at his groin, the sharp pleasure at the edges of his chest, the fingernails scraping through his matted, sweat-soaked chest hair, the suppleness of Eric’s skin, the taste of Eric’s mouth on his own. Eric never stopped grinding, never stopped touching. Heat. Heat between them. From them. Because of them.
“Want you in me,” Eric groaned. Ben nodded furiously. He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a condom that sat next to the alarm clock, along with the lube.
Eric snatched the condom away from Ben. After a tearing sound, Eric’s nimble fingers rolled the protective sheath on over Ben’s straining length. Those fingers slathered a generous amount of lube over his aching hardness. Ben worried the man on top of him had no preparation—but the man on top of him didn’t seem to mind.
Eric slid Ben’s dick between the cheeks of his fuzzy ass, making Ben a little cross-eyed with heat and pleasure. But the real moment wouldn’t hit Ben until Eric mounted Ben’s hardness, enveloping the big man inch by torturously slow but pleasurable inch.
Ben heard Eric’s whispered moans—want it all of it inside me now please yes. In return, Ben whispered back—it’s yours take it so good so warm fuck. When Eric had finally bottomed out, he attacked Ben’s mouth as if it was his last meal, almost sucking Ben’s tongue out of his head.
Then Eric began to grind.
Eric’s dick ground against Ben’s abs, running over his treasure trail, leaving wet slickness in its wake. Ben took hold of Eric’s hard, straining length. He timed his caress and grip with Eric’s command over his own rigid, pulsing length inside him.
Eric moaned long at Ben’s touch. Ben took to licking at Eric’s corded neck while he pleasured the man with his hands—one at a time, or sometimes both. Ben saw the ride was almost at an end when Eric’s chest and neck turned bright pink. Ben listened to Eric's breath hitch as the little guy undulated on the big man inside him.
Then he cried out. It was almost like a howl.
A series of wet splashes hit Ben in the chest as Eric came apart in his hands. Ben ran his thumb over Eric’s crown and watched him shiver and jerk, clearly sensitive from the post climactic high. He stared his man in the face as he cleaned Eric's taste from his hand. Not a single drop escaped Ben's notice. Eric never stopped riding Ben, though. He thrust himself onto Ben, almost hammering himself, until Ben cried out and pulled Eric to him, panting over his shoulder.
The haze slowly released both men. They smiled at each other, licking at sweat as it fell from their brows, feeling Eric’s release between them as he rubbed it into Ben’s chest.
“Want you so bad, Ben.”
“I’m here, Eric. If you want me, I’m yours.”
Eric’s eyes met with Ben’s. He could see Eric’s eyes light up. He pulled off of Ben and hugged him close.
“Can I be yours?”
The question ripped at Ben’s heart. But he knew the answer days ago.
“You already are.”
Ben and Eric showered up together, playfully tussling and kissing under the water. That gave way to a round of stimulation. Ben’s long fingers dug deep into Eric’s ass. The sounds of the little guy's desperate cries of pleasure were intoxicating. Ben dragged Eric to the edge over and over. He was drunk on Eric's whines and pleas. Soon, he tumbled off the precipice of completion as Ben took him as far into his mouth as he could go. The taste of Eric was heady, and he had never sucked anyone off before. Eric demanded access to Ben’s mouth after that. The feel of tongues slicked with essence, Eric's flavor, made Ben hard all over again.
But Ben would save that for later. The two cleaned each other off without (much) interruption. They laughed as they walked out of the shower, Ben’s arms over Eric’s shoulders, his chin on Eric’s head. Considering he was a good foot taller than Eric, it made for a comical image.
They barely had time to put towels around their waists when a knock came at the door.
“Son? When you guys can, come into the living room, okay?”
Dad. Ben could have laughed.
“You got it,” Ben called out.
He dressed quickly, forgoing underwear for time’s sake. Eric had dried off and slipped into the new clothes Fox bought him. He had no underwear to spare, which made Ben groan when he thought of it.
“What?” Eric asked, the unawareness on his face.
“Commando,” Ben said. “It’s hot.”
Eric laughed. “You’re a goof,” he said, tugging Ben’s shorts down to reveal his lack of an undergarment.
“If I pop a woody in front of my dads, it’s your fault,” Ben teased.
“I could say the same, big guy. Let’s see what your Dad wants.”
Ben took Eric’s hand and lead him down the hall to the living room. Dad was stretched out on the sofa, the back of his head propped up on Fox’s chest. Fox was fingering his Dad’s mouth when Ben cleared his throat.
The elder Hughes laughed. “Hey boys, how are things?
”
The question was ripe with unspoken, alternative meaning. Ben could hear it in his head. You guys been at it again? Were you safe? How long have you been at it? I’m sure I heard howling in your bedroom—did you really bang him first thing in the morning? But to his credit, Dad said none of those things, choosing instead to smile.
Didn’t mean that Ben wouldn’t poke the bear.
“We had fun this morning,” he said, taking the loveseat across from the sofa his dads lay upon. Ben pulled Eric down onto his lap, waiting until Eric was resting against him comfortably.
“How so?”
“Window stuff. Bed stuff. Shower stuff,” Ben said nonchalantly.
Ben’s father sighed. He saw the telltale creep of red lighting up his Dad's ears. “That’s… good, guys. Always good to keep clean.”
Fox snickered into his husband’s ear, winking at Ben and Eric. He spoke up. “Window stuff sounds fun. We should do that later—Ow! What? He said it, not me! Don’t look at me like that.” Fox kissed his husband on the forehead. “First, some good news. We tried out some things in the desert. I think we can help Eric’s condition.”
Ben smiled at Eric, who touched his face and smiled back.
“Okay, that’s the good news. What’s the bad?”
“Why do you have to be a downer, big guy?” Fox asked with a slight grin. “The clinic called me. Eric’s good to go. So are you.”
Ben beamed. Dad’s eyes widened at that.
“I uh—” the elder Hughes stammer-started. “Just remember guys, safe is where it’s at until you want to take things further.”
Fox snorted. “You sound like such a Dad right now, papa bear.”
“Because that’s what I am!” Dad cried.
“I know. And I love you for it.”
The gooey smile on his father’s face would have made him nauseated on any other day. But, today started off with his Eric giving him pleasure—and it’s all he could think of for tonight.
But there was still the rest of the day to get through first.
“I’d like to take you guys out to the desert at first light,” Fox said. As deep as we’ll go, it’s not like we’ll have any interruptions, but it’s best to be safe, and to have light. It’s also cooler, so no heat exhaustion or anything.”