V: The V in Vulnerable

by Snyder, J. M.

  In reply, Vic worked his way down Matt’s body. His shadowy presence seemed to etch itself in the sudsy residue as droplets of water coursed over Matt’s taut skin. Guiding Matt’s hands with his thoughts, Vic used them to take Matt’s cock between his palms. This time, Matt’s words weren’t so quiet—in the bedroom, Vic heard his lover gasp over the beating rush of running water. “God, yes.”

  Warm, soapy, slick, Matt’s hands worked his dick stiff, Vic only partially in control. In the other room Vic groaned into his pillow and shifted on the bed, pressing his thudding erection into the mattress. He pulled back his thoughts, letting Matt masturbate as he savored the sensations flooding his lover. “God!” Matt cried, pounding a fist against the slippery tiled wall as he came in a rush. ::Good morning to you, too.::

  The psychic morning tryst proved just the thing to drop Vic into a deeper sleep. He didn’t wake when Matt slipped into the darkened bedroom to kiss him goodbye. And he didn’t rouse himself every thirty minutes to glare at the clock, feeling more tired than he had before he went to bed. Instead he slept soundly, not stirring when Sadie jumped into bed with him to curl up on Matt’s side. At some point he even began to dream.

  It began as more of a memory—he and Matt in the bathroom the night before, turning his weekly shaving ritual into extended foreplay. This time, however, while Matty was seated on the edge of the tub, Vic caught him by the scruff of the neck and pushed him forcefully into the shaving cream covering Vic’s balls. As if the white foam were whipped cream, Matt began to lick Vic clean, nuzzling into his crotch with sudden hunger. In the dream, Vic thought nothing wrong with that—he held Matt tighter, pulling him close, and thrust his hips toward his lover’s willing mouth. Matty took one of Vic’s tender balls between his lips and nibbled gently as Vic’s cock smeared pre-cum along his cheek. Though Vic slept, his body hummed with pleasure at the too-real fervor building in him. He moaned and turned in the sheets, fitful, aroused.

  Then Matt turned his head and caught Vic’s hard length between his lips.

  As if he were snacking on a corncob, Matt nibbled his way down Vic’s shaft to the spongy tip. With his lips rolled down over his teeth, he bit at the overly sensitive knob. Vic fucked into him, hand clenched tight in Matt’s hair as his slumbering body mimicked the action—hands fisted in the blankets, Vic thrust his hips up from the mattress, seeking release. Dimly he felt a hot mouth close over his cockhead and a soft, damp tongue curl down his length. One word escaped him, mere breath shaped into his lover’s name. “Matt.”

  Part of him knew this was a dream, but his body responded all the same. Vic’s growing libido drew him from slumber, awakening his consciousness much as Matt’s actions awakened his lust. But the more Vic became aware of his surroundings, the more the dream felt real. He was lying in bed and wasn’t standing in the bathroom, true, but his fingers dug into firm flesh and something hot and wet sucked his dick.

  Lazily, he reached out with his mind to connect to Matt’s. ::Are you just running late today or did you call in sick to stay home with me?::

  No response.

  In fact, Vic didn’t sense his lover nearby at all. Yet someone’s mouth continued to suck him off, and even as he wondered whose it might be, he felt strong fingers curl around his balls. A firm thumb rubbed into the sensitive spot at the base of his dick where his nuts hung, and a gentle forefinger stroked below the velvety skin to brush along the ticklish space leading to his anus. Who…?

  Vic opened one eye and thought he must still be dreaming. He had to be—this wasn’t real. He closed his eye again, rubbed a hand across his forehead, and moaned as his buttocks clenched with pleasure. He thrust up again, deep into a willing throat. His mind told him what he had seen was impossible but his body just wanted release. He was so close…

  Running his hand back over his smooth scalp, Vic gasped and fucked up from the mattress as he stared at the ceiling. Lust roiled through him, igniting his blood, and as long as he didn’t glance down, he could believe he was still asleep. Matty was at work, where he should be, and Vic was still in bed, where he should be, waiting for the alarm to ring. He was still dreaming, and this was turning out to be one hell of an experience, to be sure. When he woke, he’d have to change the sheets because he was going to come any second now. This had to be the most vivid wet dream he’d ever had.

  Then the finger toying beneath his balls slid lower and poked into his ass. With a hungry growl, Vic sat up and stared at the person kneeling between his legs, sucking his cock, fondling his nuts, finger-fucking him. “God!” he cried.

  His own eyes looked back at him as he watched himself go down on his dick.

  Before Vic could think through the implications, he shot his load. His hands clenched the bed sheets as a powerful orgasm ripped through him. The moment his semen rushed out, the other him vanished with a poof! Vic’s juices splattered between his legs. He definitely had to change the sheets.

  But what the hell had that been? Or rather, who?

  Vic touched his now-wilting member—it was coated with saliva, and he could still feel the ghost of a finger wedged deep in his ass. But he was alone in the bed; even Sadie seemed to have disappeared, which was unusual. Normally she would sense when he was waking and bother him for food until he climbed out of bed. He felt sated, his libido waning, and the wetness on his sheets couldn’t be denied. He had gotten off, that much was obvious. But had he really been asleep? Had he seen what he thought he’d seen?

  “God,” he muttered, wiping sweat from his face. “What a fucked up dream.”

  Shaken, he got out of bed and stripped off the top sheet before his cum could seep through to the one under it. Leaving the sheet in a pile on the floor, he trotted to the bathroom. When he clicked on the light, he noticed Sadie cowering at the end of the hall. “Hey, girl,” he said softly. She glanced at him briefly, then fixed her gaze back on the bedroom behind him.

  Though Vic couldn’t read an animal’s thoughts as easily as he could a person’s, he brushed over her mind to see what had her riled. He wasn’t surprised to catch an image of himself lying in bed, legs splayed wide, as he gave into the ministrations of…well, of himself. Sadie had seen what he’d seen—two men in the bed, one sucking off the other. Two Vics. Seeing double had her scared.

  Hoping to soothe her, Vic muttered, “It’s just me now, girl. I don’t know what happened, where he came from or hell, where he went, but he’s gone and it’s just me. But let’s not tell Matty, what do you say?”

  Sadie whimpered as if in agreement. It wasn’t that Vic thought Matt wouldn’t believe him, but he had been getting it on with someone other than his lover. Did it count if the person giving him a blowjob had been himself? That was nothing more than masturbation, right? Vic had never heard of any superhero having the power of self-fellatio but, to be honest, it did have its perks. And it was better than a lot of the crappy abilities he had drawn in the past.

  In the bathroom, he shut the door so the dog wouldn’t pester him like she usually did, but she showed no signs of moving from her spot down the hall any time soon. Clicking on the overhead light, Vic squinted at the brightness as he relieved himself, then ran cold water into the sink to splash onto his face. He still couldn’t shake the odd dream of seeing double. Or was it a memory? Whose spit slicked his dick?

  The water felt invigorating on his tired skin. He shut off the spigot as he stood, head back to savor the droplets cooling on his face. The towel was behind him on the rack, and the moment he thought about reaching for it, a strange sensation washed through him. He felt something in him turn toward the rack, even though his body remained firmly rooted in front of the sink. Still, it was as if his very aura moved, leaving his physical being behind. An unsettling feeling, to say the least.

  Vic made an effort to turn his upper body, if only to prove to himself he could. But when he lifted a hand to stretch behind him for the towel, he found the terrycloth pressed into his palm as if handed to him by a manservant. Vic ope
ned his eyes and, though he expected it this time, the sight of himself standing before him still startled him enough to stumble back against the tub.

  “What the fuck?” he asked, wiping his face furiously. He couldn’t tear his gaze from the other Vic, who looked exactly as he did himself…down to the beads of water dripping off his face. “Who are you?”

  His clone had no answer. He just stared back at Vic, silent, expressionless. Vic moved around him warily, almost expecting the man to turn so they were continually facing each other, but instead he simply stood in place like a robot waiting to be activated. Vic thought back to the incident in bed—he’d wanted oral stimulation and had been gratified by this…this thing. A little while later, he wanted a towel and was handed one by a mirror image of himself. Could he possibly command this in some way?

  Reaching out with his mind, Vic thought, ::Hand me the toothbrush.::

  The other him obliged, plucking Vic’s toothbrush off the sink. ::No, Matty’s,:: Vic corrected. The silent man obeyed, dropping Vic’s toothbrush in favor of Matt’s. He turned, hand extended, offering the toothbrush to Vic.

  Gently Vic’s fingers closed around the toothbrush’s handle, covering the other’s fingers. They felt real enough. But when he tried to pinch the skin, there was a minute pop! and the image vanished.

  Vic was once again alone in the bathroom.

  Moving back into position in front of the sink, Vic stared at his reflection in the mirror and tried to remember what he had thought or done to create the clone in the first place. In bed he’d wanted a sexual partner. Here he had wanted a towel. Gripping the counter with both hands, Vic thought clearly, I want to open the door.

  At first he didn’t know where to look. Then he saw it—a swirling mist on his left side, as if some astral part of him was being drawn off to form something new. He felt the same unnerving sensation again of turning within his skin without moving a muscle. As he watched, the mist coalesced and took form, grew solid, until an exact replica of himself stood beside him in the mirror.

  The other him turned toward the door to complete its command. Vic’s gaze caught the movement in the mirror behind him, the one against which he’d held Matty while they made love the previous evening. In that mirror he saw his back and the reflection in the mirror above the skin. The room seemed magnified for eternity, caught between those two mirrors. He remembered thinking something similar the night before.

  And now he could what, duplicate himself? Create a mirror image that listened to commands and disintegrated when met with any force? A clone?

  Vic kicked out his leg, his foot connecting with the other him’s calf, and the image was gone in an instant. He was really going to have to be careful with this power. The last thing he needed was another big-ass, scary motherfucker freaking out the passengers on his bus. How would he explain that?

  * * * *

  It took Vic longer than usual to get ready to leave the house. For one thing, he couldn’t get a handle on his new power—the moment he thought of something he had to do, his body double appeared to do it for him. When he was getting dressed, he remembered the empty trashcan he’d have to bring in before he left, and the next thing he knew, he caught a glimpse of his retreating back as his clone went to retrieve the can. At least it seemed to replicate his image exactly—in bed he’d been nude, so the double was nude, as well, but now that he had dressed, it wore the same outfit he did himself. Thank God…he’d have a hell of a time explaining to his landlady why he’d fetched the trashcan in the buff.

  Unfortunately, Sadie wanted nothing to do with Vic’s double. She stayed in her corner, keeping a wary eye on Vic as he got himself together, but the moment she saw his doppelganger, a low growl started to build in the back of her throat. If the double got too close to her, she let off a string of raucous barks that would’ve raised the dead. More than once Vic had to hurry to her side to calm her, casually punching his double in the arm or back to make it vanish. Even with extra treats hidden in his pocket to entice her out, he had to practically drag her down the stairs to the car when he was finally ready to leave.

  A glance at his watch showed he was running late—no time to stop at the gym today. He’d have to drop off Sadie at her doggy daycare, then hightail it to the bus depot. As he unlocked the back door to his car for the dog to jump in, he saw a tell-tale shimmer from the corner of his eye and elbowed it away before it could take his likeness. “I’ll handle this,” he muttered to no one in particular. “I don’t need any help, even if it is from myself.”

  Sadie’s daycare was near the gym where Matt worked. Vic was pleased to discover it was more difficult for his double to take form when he was behind the wheel of the car. The one time it tried to manifest in the passenger seat, Vic punched it in the thigh and it disappeared. Still, this would be a handy power to have during rush hour on the interstate, he mused. Nothing like a car full of clones to let one skip ahead to the HOV lane.

  After he dropped Sadie off, Vic cruised past the gym and considered stopping in for just a minute or two. But he knew himself too well—a minute to say hello to his lover would turn into five minutes alone in the locker room, then ten in the showers, then fifteen…no, better to just give Matty a mental hug and get to work. He was running late enough as it was. As he idled at the stoplight a block from the gym, he stretched out with his mind and easily locked into his lover’s consciousness. ::Hey there, sexy.::

  He was surprised when Matt gave a guilty start. ::Vic! I didn’t know you were here.::

  ::I’m not,:: Vic told him. ::Just dropped off the dog and now I’m headed to work. No time to stop today.::

  Matt seemed preoccupied when he answered,::Oh, then I guess I’ll see you tonight?::

  Vic grunted, amused. ::Don’t get upset or nothing.::

  Confusion flickered through Matt’s thoughts. ::What? You said you weren’t stopping.::

  Closing his eyes for a moment, Vic delved deeper into his lover’s mind. He caught a whiff of something surreptitious, but before he could pick it apart to see what it might be, Matt slammed shut that part of his brain as easily as he would a door. As effectively, too—in the years they’d been together, Matt had grown adept at blocking Vic from his mind when he wanted privacy. It didn’t happen often, true, but when it did, Vic always knew Matt had something special planned for the two of them.

  Knocking on the door in Matt’s mind, Vic asked, ::What are you hiding from me today?::

  ::Nothing,:: Matt answered, a little too quickly. Then, sounding wounded, he asked, ::Today? What’s that supposed to mean?::

  Vic switched tactics. ::You busy at work?::

  ::About to go to lunch,:: Matt admitted. Vic felt his lover’s relief at the apparent change in the conversation. ::I have an errand to run, and Roxie’s car is in the shop so she’s coming with…::

  ::Does that errand have anything to do with looking at wedding rings?:: Vic teased.

  Now he had Matty’s full attention. ::Hey! You’re not supposed to be trolling through my thoughts! I blocked you!::

  Vic’s light changed and he eased off the brake. ::How long have we known each other?:: he asked Matt. ::I don’t need to read your mind to know when you’re up to something.::

  ::Yeah, well…:: Matt didn’t have any other reply.

  Vic could sense his lover sulking, so he wrapped his psyche around Matt’s in a mental hug. Warmth seemed to fill him, and he knew Matt felt it, as well—a deep glow that started somewhere in the middle of his chest, then spread like honey through his veins, into his arms and legs, fingers, toes. It felt like a small sun enveloping him, loving and alive, so real it took his breath away. Beneath it, Matty sighed. ::Love you, big guy.::

  ::I love you,:: Vic told him. Then, with a grin, he added, ::Don’t worry. If you buy anything, I’ll try hard to act surprised.::

  ::If I buy anything,:: Matt grumbled. ::See what I get you now!::

  Vic laughed and sped up, widening the distance between them until Matt’s thou
ghts faded like a radio station too far away to pick up clearly. Another block or two and Vic was alone again, the memory of Matt’s soul enmeshed with his still warming him inside.

  * * * *

  When they first talked of marriage, Matt had envisioned searching for a ring with Vic by his side, the two of them finding the perfect ring together. Things didn’t quite work out that way. Matt should have known better, really—Vic hated shopping, all aspects of it. He never looked at a sales ad if he could help it, and refused to spend the evening cuddled together in bed, leafing through jewelry catalogs. His idea of going to the store was walking straight down the aisle to whatever it was he wanted to buy, no stopping to look at anything else. Once he held his intended purchase in hand, he made a bee-line for the register, then out the door. The few times Matt sent Vic to the grocery store on his own, he came home with only those items specifically spelled out on his list. If Matt wrote anything ambiguous, such as something for dinner, Vic simply ignored it. He wasn’t the type to look around while at the store, any store, and he hated when Matt dragged him along to shop.

  For anything. From groceries to clothes, Vic loathed having to buy it all.

  So Matt wasn’t exactly surprised when his enthusiastic attempts to draw Vic into shopping for wedding rings didn’t pan out. Vic listened politely enough, but he couldn’t give Matt his opinion on one ring over the other because he just didn’t have an opinion to give. At one point, when confronted with two completely different ring sets, he shrugged and said, “They look the same to me.”

  Frustrated, Matt had complained, “Vic, you’re lying. They’re nothing alike! This one’s white gold with a diamond cut filigree design, while this one’s platinum with actual diamond chips set into the metal. Look at them, will you? You can’t tell me you don’t like one over the other.”