by Quil Carter
That stung a bit… not because I missed the food but rather because… I had killed the man who had been able to do so much. If he had just been left to do what he wanted to do, instead of making killing machines for Silas, he could have fed the entire greywastes.
Which King Silas would have never let him do…
I pushed down my feelings for Perish. They were too confusing, a snare of coloured wires I knew I would have to sort through one day but not today. Maybe one day when I felt comfortable enough to talk to Reaver about it. Like Greyson had said, just go to the basics. The basics were: Perish was dead, Reaver and I were alive, and I wanted him to wake up to everything nice. A bath ready, and food, and drugs, and candy.
I crawled back down the hatch, food in tow. I even grabbed some weeder buds. If I had some downtime I might make him some fresh quils too. I was the perfect boyfriend. I hoped he would appreciate all of this, but I guess I didn’t have anything better to do. Anyway I had done my job saving our butts, now I could just be me without any guilt. I had earned my stripes when it came to my new boyfriend.
I played homemaker for the next several hours, I wasn’t sure how many. Reaver’s Coca Cola clock had run out of batteries. I placed two new fresh ones I had swiped from Perish’s but I still didn’t know the time. I eventually radioed Sadii for a time check and correctly made his old battered clock work. I had a cuckoo clock at home I could always bring, but the thought of what Reaver would do to me if I hung up a cuckoo clock in his home gave me the chills.
Still though… I had a lot of good quality things in my home that would really make his basement look nice…
I could smell the rat roast in the oven while I tried to polish Reaver’s collection of skulls. Most of the creatures I couldn’t identify, only some were human. He had gathered about a dozen of them; they sat grinning at me from behind his TV. I’d been a bit put off by them at first but now they were starting to grow on me. I’d have to ask Reaver if they had any names.
I wondered if Perish’s would be added there.
I got stupidly excited when Reaver made the first signs of waking up. It was morning now, we had gotten back the evening two nights ago so he’d had a night, then a day and another night of sleep. I hadn’t slept that much and I really missed him. He had gotten up a few times to pee and drink during this time, but I had been asleep. I just spotted the empty water glasses.
I tiptoed over to the doorway and held my breath as I watched him stir, then I scurried out and started to prepare the hot water for his bath. I peeked in and saw him sitting up in bed, scratching his head.
“Good morning, handsome!” I bounced up and down.
He stared at me for a second. “You’re chipper.”
“I’m excited that you’re awake!”
He grunted and got up. I stepped out of the way. “I already got a bath ready for you, and I got opiates out for after, and food, and I got food in the oven and I cleaned and I–”
Reaver grunted again and walked into the bathroom. “Stay out of my cocaine.”
I opened my mouth in protest. “I’m not on coke, I’m excited you’re awake.”
The door closed and I heard him ‘shhhh’ me. I knew I probably had too much energy for him right now, so I let him be. I started cutting peaches for him and bananas, and I mashed the potatoes with butter and left them to warm. I took out the rat roast to settle. Then last but not least I made him some coffee. Everything was perfect!
He was in the bathroom for almost an hour. By that time I had our plates warming in the oven and the fruit all cut and dusted with sweetener.
Reaver ventured out only wearing a pair of jeans. His dark hair was damp and stuck to his face and there were still water droplets running down his chest. His wounds were cleanly bandaged which I guess is why he took so long in the bathroom.
I had to admit, he looked rather hot; the bruise on the side of his face made him look very distinguished.
“Smells great, how long have I been gone for?” Reaver grabbed the hot plate, not even flinching at the heat, and sat down on the couch. He immediately started digging in.
“All of the rest of the night, yesterday and now it’s afternoon. I’ve been awake on and off since morning.”
Reaver smirked, his mouth full of meat. “You sure you didn’t get into my coke?”
“No.” I shuffled next to him so our sides were touching. “I just wanted everything to be perfect when you woke up.”
He swallowed and took a drink of his coffee. “You even got the drugs out, eh?”
“I really haven’t done any though. I thought we could together, you know, since it’s been awhile since you were on them.” It had been a week since he had last taken any drugs I think, and almost as long for me too. If you didn’t count the couple of lines I did with Greyson and Leo.
Reaver put down the coffee cup. I was surprised to see it was empty already. I swear he had drunk the whole cup in two swallows. “Sounds like something I could do. I’m going to have quiet today; I’m not going outside unless the house catches on fire.” His eyes flickered around the living room. For the first time since he had disappeared I saw Reaver in them. The vacant, dead look was gone; his eyes had flecks of light in them again. The zombie he had become had died during his day and a half slumber, and now my boyfriend had emerged. I hadn’t seen him in a long time.
I didn’t smother him though; I had learned in our time together that he needed his space and I didn’t want to make him cross with me. I finished my plate and just watched him eat his food, generously throwing bits of meat to the forever begging Biff. That cat definitely wasn’t going to lose weight living with us.
He finished and I took his plate for him. When I came back he had the tray on his lap and was holding his sniffer. His drying hair was falling over his face, and his bare chest was dry now but still held many bruises and the wrapped wounds. I sat beside him and we passed the tray to one another, then set it on the side table and we laid back on the couch.
I gave a shiver as I started to get the drip in the back of my throat; after a few minutes it started to hit me. I looked over at Reaver. He had his head tilted back and his eyes closed, it was obviously hitting him. I slipped my hand into his.
He opened one eye and cocked an eyebrow at me. “Okay, come here.” He turned so he was facing me and moved himself back so he was lying against the arm of the couch. My heart jumped and I shuffled over and lay up against his chest.
He put his arms around me. “Good high?” I asked. His bare chest was cold. He was like a little refrigerator. I bet he would come in handy during the hotter months.
“Mmhm,” Reaver said. “This is just what I needed, thanks, Killi Cat.”
I smiled and took in a deep breath. I loved it when he called me that, my own little nickname. “You’re so nice when you’ve slept.”
He tensed up a bit but for several minutes he didn’t say anything.
“I shouldn’t have let myself become weak,” he said finally. “I will be better next time. I will protect you better.”
That was surprising… I was expecting a mumbled apology and it never being mentioned again. “Not sleeping for eight days isn’t a sign of weakness,” I said slowly. “On the contrary. I don’t know anyone that could walk and talk and function on even three.”
I felt Reaver shake his head. “I lost control of myself, of you and the situation. I’ll do better, I’m sorry.”
I felt his hand lift mine. “Did I break it?”
“No, just sprained it a bit.” I wince as he squeezed it, I guess to make sure I was telling the truth. “Don’t feel badly. I know you weren’t yourself.”
“I said some very awful things to you.” Reaver frowned, he was still testing out my wrist. I tried to hold back the owes. “I am angry at myself for that. I thought I had better control over my state. I’m your boyfriend, it should’ve never happened.”
Poor Reaver. No one had control over themselves after days and days of no sleep. I ne
ver realized how hard he was on himself.
He had so many other things he could work on, surviving eight days of being awake while keeping your mind intact should really be low on the list. Well, it’s better than him just not caring I guess.
“I forgive you for everything.” I wiggled myself up his chest until I slid off onto the space between Reaver and the back of the couch. I put my arm over his chest and rested my head on his arm. “We’re safe now. That’s all that matters.”
My boyfriend was quiet again. “You’re forgiving, empathetic…” he said. “You only see the best in people, even ones that have hurt you. I’ve never once seen you hurt another living thing, you nurture them –”
Another pause.
“– you cut his fucking head off?”
My heart dropped to my stomach. It became a boulder in my gut which grew with every breath. I think Reaver must have seen what was coming, because as I started to cry he put his arms around me. The embrace made me feel better, which made me cry harder. I felt his hand on my head.
When my tears had been reduced to sniffs and whimpers, Reaver patted me on the head and stroked back my hair. “It’s nice to hear you cry,” he chuckled.
I gave him a withering glare through my teary eyes. “Why?”
Reaver’s smile had a weighted sadness on it. “With how you… killed him, and the cold-blooded way you did it. I was worried you might be turning into–”
“It was not cold-blooded,” I snapped.
Reaver’s smile disappeared; he looked at me a bit taken aback.
“I… I didn’t do it because I hated him. I didn’t do it because you wanted him dead… I… I wanted…” I held back the tears, but they were trickling down my cheeks again. I saw Perish’s sad face in my head, I saw how he looked up at me with nothing but love and sadness in his eyes.
Reaver was free, I was free, but I couldn’t…
“I couldn’t leave him,” I said, my voice shaking. “I couldn’t leave him alone. It would destroy him, everything that Nero did, everything that happened to him. If I just abandoned him… I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do that to him.”
So I killed him.
Perish’s hand had reached up and grabbed my cheek. I felt the pressure of the blood spray onto me. I’d just kept cutting, cutting until his hand dropped. Then he’d rolled off me. I’d stood… pulled his head up by his hair… and I just cut the rest of it off.
His suffering was over now.
Reaver held me again, though I didn’t cry. My mouth was open in a soundless scream that I refused to give a voice to, filling my ears with the sound of my own rushing blood. I tried to keep it together but eventually it overcame me. I put my face against Reaver’s chest and tried to stifle my cries.
“Look at you,” he said softly. “You cut off someone’s head and you still manage to make it a noble act – you’re like a little angel of mercy, huh?”
I wiped my eyes. “And you’re what? The demon of indifference?”
Reaver gave out a small laugh; I’d missed his laugh so much. “We would make a good team, wouldn’t we?”
I nodded then I smiled as I felt his lips press against my eyebrow. I shifted myself a bit and kissed him on the lips.
“You’re my little tiny hero.” Reaver smirked at me.
“I’m not that tiny, I’m five foot seven. I’m maybe three inches shorter than you.”
“I’m six foot, that’s like half a foot almost.” Reaver shifted and I thought he was trying to get up, but he only pushed my shoulders up. “Stay. Straighten your legs like you’re doing a push up.” He gave me a mock inquisitive look. “You have done a push up before, right?”
“Very funny,” I said, even though I hadn’t, but I had seen them in movies. I straightened my legs so the only thing that was holding my upper half up was his hands on my shoulders.
I almost lost my balance when I felt his sockless feet on my upper legs. “Keep stiff,” he said as he pushed my lower half up with his feet. He extended his arms and lifted my body up into the air, then clasped his hands into mine. I locked my arms.
I laughed; it felt like I was floating. He pushed my upper half up into the air, until both our arms were fully extended, and then slowly extended his feet. I stayed as rigid as I could.
“I could coil my limbs and fling you up into the air like a spring. What do you weigh? I think the cat weighs more than you.” Reaver pushed back my upper half; I leaned backwards until I was kneeling on his feet. I had to hold my arms out to steady myself.
“We should be travelling acrobats,” I said with a grin. I slowly moved my body, trying to make myself able to stand on the bottoms of his feet. “We can travel from block to block, make up an act.”
I slowly raised myself, and, after a few shaky moments, I did it. I stood on Reaver’s outstretched legs, my feet resting on the bottoms of his, my hands using the ceiling to steady myself. I gave a holler of success.
Reaver lowered his legs, and before I could worry about how I was going to get down he moved again, making me lose my balance. I fell into his arms laughing. I was too far down his body to kiss his lips, so I kissed his stomach instead.
Reaver flinched as I kissed him. I glanced up and smirked, then kissed him again. He didn’t recoil. I studied his face, trying to find a shred of annoyance, but he was just watching me.
“Go on,” he said slyly.
The drugs… it must have been the drugs hitting him. I loved being touched when I was on them, especially scratched since they seemed to make you itchy. I had Reaver in a very unique moment.
I kissed his stomach again. As he exhaled I felt a slight shudder; this filled me with adrenaline. I moved my mouth over for the next kiss.
This time I kissed his left nipple. In an act that surprised myself, I put my mouth over it and sucked on it for a moment until it stiffened under my tongue. I then moved myself up him further, kissing his collar bone and then his neck.
As soon as I felt him grab my backside, my mind exploded. My head went hot, my lips continuing to kiss his neck. As he squeezed my backside and pulled me closer, I opened my mouth and sucked on the nape.
I moved up from his neck to his mouth, and as our lips found one another, I felt his hands slide down the back of my pants. Skin against skin, he started rubbing and squeezing my backside. My groin started to tense and tingle, and as he opened his mouth and found his tongue with mine, I fully hardened.
I steadied myself with one hand, my other lightly scratching his chest. I was straddling him now. Only a small margin of space separated his hands from my stiff member. He was still rubbing and gripping my backside; the both of us kissing more deeply than we ever had before.
My heart was going crazy for him; I wondered if it was that that was encouraging him to keep going. He knew how much I loved him, and wanted him.
My dick throbbed. I wanted him to touch it, he was so close. If I leaned into him more I could rub it against his groin.
I ran my fingernails down his stomach, until I got to the bandage. As I rubbed my tongue against his, I undid the button of his jeans and pulled down his fly. I sucked on his tongue and slipped my hands down his pants.
I groaned as I felt him for the first time. He was stiff and rigid too; excitement ran through me like electricity. We were going to have sex, I knew it. I felt the excitement flicker with fear and anticipation. I started to rub the hard area and as I felt its shape I pulled it out and glanced down as Reaver sucked on my lip.
It was thick and long with a defined, perfectly shaped head, slightly pink with the blood rushing under its thin skin. Behind it, dark pubes that ran into a treasure trail up to his stomach.
I brushed my hand over it and started to play with it.
Reaver groaned and tried to kiss me again. I let him but I kept watching his dick. I wanted his pants off, I wanted to see all of him. My god, I wanted him badly.
“Take them off,” I whispered before kissing him again. I lightly tugged on the head of
his dick. It was the only part of him that was warm to the touch.
“Mmm, patience,” he purred. I felt his hot breath against my ear. His hands moved from my backside to my upper legs, only inches away from my dick. I flushed as he ran his hands back and forth between my thighs. He was teasing me like crazy.
I pressed my lips hard against his, and in response to that he pulled my pants down. I pushed my hips down onto his groin. I could feel his warm, hard member against mine. He moaned quietly. I pressed us together and took a shaky breath.
I could see Reaver looking down at my dick; it was the first time he had really seen it. He reached down and as he did I lifted myself up and pushed my hips forward so he could see it better. Gently he traced his hands over it and started running his pointer and middle finger over the top. I immediately relaxed under his touch, it felt good.
My dick wasn’t nearly as big as his, but it was thick like his at least. I hoped he liked what he saw.
I realized I was worrying about what he thought more than I was enjoying his touch. I looked down as he put his hand completely over the tip, pulling my foreskin back, before he started stroking it rhythmically.
I almost had to back away from him as the pleasure overwhelmed me; I was afraid I would cum with just a few strokes. I didn’t though, but with his hard dick still laying between my legs it wouldn’t take long.
And it didn’t. It was only a minute or so before I leaned down on him again. He stopped and put his hand further back and started gently massaging my balls. I wondered if he knew I was close just from my heartbeat. I took his lips into mine again, both of us breathing heavily.
A shiver went through me as he moved his hands further back towards my hole. I spread my legs further apart to give him some room. I closed my eyes and took in a sharp breath as he started rubbing his finger against the tight opening.
