Xi moved closer, resting his palm against Leander’s chest.“You were always our heart,” he whispered.“I don’t know what it was like when Finn betrayed you.Not really.He talked about how much he regretted hurting you, but Finn was never the special one.Youwere.”
Leander’s heart pounded, and heat simmered in his belly, but he had no words.He’d never been good with words.As the river flowed past them, Leander stared at Xi, struggling to put the pieces of his shattered world back together.The light dimmed in Xi’s eyes, shadowed by his insecurities and doubt, and Leander lunged forward, sliding a hand behind Xi’s neck and pulling him in for a bruising kiss.
Leander surprised himself.However, now that he had decided, he plowed ahead.His other hand found the small of Xi’s back and pulled their bodies closer.Leander’s cock hardened as Xi undulated against him.Xi arched his back, breaking the kiss.
“Are you sure?”Xi asked.
“You started this,” Leander said, suddenly unsure.Was he ruining their relationship?
“I’ve been in love with you since I was thirteen.By the way, that makes you the idiot for not noticing.”
“Asshole,” Leander said, but he pulled Xi toward shore.Xi grabbed his robe from a rock and led them to a patch of grass with roots set deep into the soil.“I...Creek,” Leander whispered.The old name slipped out.It felt more respectful considering that Creek had said their love had roots all the way back in those days before they had lost each other, even if it didn’t flower back then.
Xi’s smile turned soft, and he tossed his robe aside before pressing himself to Leander’s body, allowing the heat to gather between them.
Leander’s heart thumped so fast that he feared having a heart attack, but it would be a wonderful way to go.He ghosted hands over Xi’s damp skin, sliding his fingers over muscles.Heat gathered in his gut, and his cock was harder than it had been in years.Lust had become an obstacle to overcome with a few quick strokes, so this bone-deep need, this urge to climb all over Xi, surprised him.
When Leander moved to kiss Xi, he half-feared rejection.Instead, Xi’s mouth met his with an answering hunger—no hesitation, no tentative touches, just two bodies moving as if this were destiny.Heat spread through Leander’s chest, and he tightened his hold around Xi’s waist, reveling in the softness of his lips.
There was desperation in it, too, a sense that if Leander moved wrong, something fragile would shatter.When Leander didn’t deepen their kiss, Xi bit at Leander’s lower lip, teasing and then letting up when Leander gasped.The world shrank to just the two of them and the earthiness of the river bank and the crisp sharpness of wet rocks and the heat of the sun filtering through the leaves.Xi ran his fingers through Leander’s hair, then slipped his hand down to Leander’s jawline, thumb tracing the stubble while Leander followed the curve of Xi’s spine.
Leander lost himself in the moment.Thoughts came slowly, and time was anchored only through the drumming of his heart.When the need for air finally forced them apart, Leander gasped, his entire body trembling.
Xi broke into laughter, the sound low and a little hoarse, and then he pulled Leander to the ground.The river and the sky and the entire fucking insane world had shrunk to just this moment.
Leander’s hands slid beneath Xi’s strange underwear, brushing the hot, hard cock hidden underneath.But then he froze, not sure how far Xi wanted to take this–not sure how far he wanted to take this.Leander pressed his forehead to Xi’s and whispered, “I don’t know what the fuck we’re doing.”
Xi laughed.“Neither do I.”His fingers trailed up Leander’s inner thigh before pulling at the waist of his pants.“But I’m willing to figure it out.Are you?”Xi’s hand paused at the waistband, and Xi looked into Leander’s eyes.This close, Leander could see the flecks of gold in his eyes–the uneven pigment of his iris, the patience and deep well of emotion.He’d never been able to read people well, but at some point, Xi had slipped close enough that Leander understood him.
It was terrifying.
“Yes,” Leander whispered.Before he could second guess his decision, Xi stripped him of his pants and gave him a wicked grin before leaning over him, pinning Leander to the damp ground.For once, the awareness of the plants under him was a distant thing, muted by the heat gathering between them.
Leander pulled the tie on the side of Xi’s underwear, appreciating the simplicity of the traditional garment.No elastic.No fly or jock cup, just one little pull and the fabric fell away.Leander was a fan.And now he could reach his goal.He ran his hand up the pulsing hardness of Xi’s cock, feeling powerful as his touch made Xi suck air through his teeth and arch his back.
Xi gazed down at him, one hand braced on the ground and the other resting on Leander’s chest.“You are fucking perfect.”The way he said it—his voice strangled—Leander could almost believe him.Xi leaned close and kissed him again.The world seemed to tilt dangerously, as if he had been unplugged from gravity and the only thing holding him steady was Xi’s weight holding him to Earth.
After a time, Xi pulled Leander’s underwear down, and Leander kicked it free, determined to find traditional underwear with those easy-pull strings.Xi kissed him in a desperate collision of lips and lust and need.Tongues met, retreated, advanced, battled, and smothered any complaint he might have made.He hadn’t thought a kiss could shatter him, but Xi’s lips were everywhere—teasing, nipping, soothing, demanding.Whenever he tried to breathe, Xi was there, capturing his breath, his laughter, his small gasps of pleasure and disbelief.Every protest or hesitation dissolved under the relentless onslaught.
Then Xi was gone, and Leander gasped for air like a fish stranded on land.Before he could complain about being abandoned, Xi bent down and licked a stripe up Leander’s cock.Leander dug his heels into the grass and thrust up into the air, but Xi pinned him, firm hands on his hips.
Leander was sweating and straining against those infuriating hands that trapped him as Xi kissed his inner thigh before trailing a string of kisses over his stomach and up to his nipple.Each kiss was a brand, and the heat sank into Leander, marking him—changing him forever.
Leander straddled him, wrapping his hand around both shafts and pressing their heat together .Leander’s breath stuttered at the sensation.
Xi’s grip was callused and sure as he stroked them both.Leander tried to bite back the groan that rose in his throat, but the sound escaped anyway, mingling with the rhythmic slap of flesh and the bubbling whisper of water flowing over smooth stones.Xi buried his face in the crook of Leander’s neck, and nibbled his collarbone before sucking a bruise to the surface.It was hard and hungry and painful.
“Stop it,” Leander grumbled.
“Sir, yes, sir,” Xi said with a laugh.He kissed the too-warm skin before he started thrusting slowly.Electricity danced through Leander’s body until he trembled, unable to control his own reaction.Leander dug his fingers into Xi’s back, pulling him down so their bodies pressed close.Still, Xi kept up his same tortuous slow pace, their cocks trapped in that firm hand as he tormented them both.
Lust stained every part of Leander until he slipped free of time and existed only for the pleasure that slowly built until it was near intolerable.Xi’s hand worked them with unerring precision, each motion unraveling a thread inside Leander’s body.He wanted to speak, to make a joke or at least plead for mercy, but he couldn’t find the language.Desire rose like a powerful tide.He’d always seen himself as a tree—staid and calm and enduring in the face of drought and hardship, but he burned like the forest fire that destroyed the tree.He tried to anchor himself with the smell of the river and the discomfort of the grass beneath him, but Xi’s touch swept away even that sensation.
“I need...I...”Leander struggled to form coherent thoughts, but maybe Xi could read his mind because he sped up, driving Leander into the grass with every thrust.The green scent mingled with their own heavy musk, and Leander’s eyes closed as he threw his head back in ecstasy.
Xi shouted, and the sound tipped Leander over an edge into his own orgasm.Pleasure filled him until he felt overstretched and his whole body throbbed before it all released in a tsunami of pleasure that washed away the world.Leander froze, locked in place as he floated on the aftershocks.
“Holy fuck,” Xi whispered.
