“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Do I have to?”
Severo chuckled. “No.”
“I’m better… I just suddenly felt like I’d been dropped on my head, and that everything I thought about my life was a lie. Because to be honest, I had convinced myself that there could be no other possible reason for me being left at that orphanage. That I was simply not wanted. It allowed me to not think or care about them. Why care about people who didn’t even want me?”
“And now you know…you were half right.”
Seri laughed. “Right…only half.”
Seri sat up, looking down at him. “Thank you…for being by my side.”
Severo smiled. “Thank you for being by mine.”
“Copycat.” The Nymph rolled his eyes playfully, the effect was slightly ruined by his red nose and eyes.
“No, no. Now, see here, sir, you are confusing me with Skya.”
Seri giggled, cupping Severo’s face he leaned down and kissed him. Severo wrapped his arms loosely around the Nymph’s waist, but the man didn’t give him a chance to deepen it as he pulled away to rub his nose against his. “You cried with me again, didn’t you, my big old softy.”
Severo stuck his bottom lip out. “Don’t be mean to me, I’m sensitive. At least,” he smiled. “When it comes to things that hurt you.”
The man kissed him again.
Seri deepened the kiss.When he slowly broke away, sitting back on the man’s lap, he stared down into Severo’s kind yet watery dark hazel eyes. The emotions the man had felt with him as he comforted him were clearly still there. Severo…felt so much with him. Cared so much.
His heart started to speed up. “Severo…” he rasped softly.
“Yes?” Severo asked, smiling up at him, looking so content just to hold him, to gaze at him like this, as if nothing more was needed. And it really wasn’t… The Dweller had shown him with every action, every touch, that Severo didn’t need, and would never demand, more. Seri was enough, just as he was… Even if ‘as he was’…was a bit broken.
He sniffled, cursing inwardly when a tear broke free.
“What’s wrong?” Severo frowned and reached up, brushing it away.
“Nothing.” Seri let out a watery laugh. “Nothing at all. It’s perfect. And I…” Another tear slipped down his face.
“Yes?” Severo sat up, frown deepening in concern, his arms moving more firmly around him.
He took a shuddered breath and said, “I want to try.”
“Try?” The Dweller’s face pinched in confusion.
“I want to try to have sex.”
“We do have sex?” the man said, sounding even more confused.
Seri chuckled. “Severo, I want you to top me… Maybe in this position, as I don't think I can handle you actually getting on top of me. But…I want to try.” He sniffled, and was about to mention Preston…but found himself holding the words back.
Preston wasn’t there… Preston had no place in his life. No place besides his past…and definitely not in his bed. What he wanted wasn’t about that bastard. This was about love, safety, comfort. It was about the warmth he felt for the man who currently had his arms wrapped around him. Their sex life was about them, not Preston.
The want he had…was not about proving he could do something. It was about sharing a part of himself with the man he loved.
“You give me so much. You don’t demand anything from me. You make me feel like I’m enough, just the way I am.”
“You are enough,” Severo whispered, bottom lip wobbling.
“I know,” Seri beamed. He chuckled softly and wiped the tear that appeared off the man’s face. “But this right now…feels right. Maybe I’m wrong, and I won’t be able to…but I still want to try. And I know that if in the end I can't, that it will be fine.”
