A Breath of Innocence

by K. A. Merikan

  Mark had left his coat downstairs, so Griffith was treated to a view of his prince opening the suit jacket in a languid motion. His one eye never even blinked, as if Mark didn’t want to miss a single twitch on Griffith’s face.

  Trapped with the beautiful predator in such a small space, Griffith couldn’t look away either. No matter how many times he’d seen the muscular chest that hasn’t lost its tan shade even so deep into winter, seeing it emerge into view with each unfastened button had Griffith salivating. Tonight, it was more than a pretty picture for him to ogle. Tonight, he would get to touch all of that wonderful flesh and kiss every beauty spot.

  “I’ve never met anyone like you.”

  Mark shut the door with his foot, as if to emphasize that Griff wasn’t going anywhere, but instead of making any demands, he proceeded to unbuckle his belt. The pressure in Griff’s skull skyrocketed, and his entire attention focused on the fly that would soon reveal Mark’s dick to him for the first time.

  “Like what? International Man of Mystery?”

  Griffith chuckled, fidgeting somewhat when his own cock twitched, still hidden away under the complete outfit. But he couldn’t divert his attention when Mark was undressing for him. “You just do things your own way. I mean... you just smashed my aunt’s window because you wanted to have sex with me. I’m still on the fence whether I should be shocked or flattered.”

  “Flattered. You’re messing with my head.” Mark pushed his fingers under his waistband, but then wiggled his eyebrows and shoved his shoes off instead, making the wait unbearable.

  Griffith made a broken sound and almost stepped closer to pull down Mark’s trousers himself. “You are such a tease.”

  “Maybe you should help me out?” Mark pulled down the zipper, and the sound of it descending made all the hairs on Griff’s body stand to attention. Hesitation only took a split second, and then his lips were on Mark’s, his palms rubbing their way down the toned chest, following the trail of dark hair past the navel.

  “You are so perfect,” Griffith whispered, itching to be bare as well, so that he could feel Mark with every bit of his skin.

  Mark’s hands dipped under Griff’s suit jacket, but kisses were a constant presence, as if Mark couldn’t get enough of Griff. “Doing my best to match you.”

  Griffith rolled his hips against Mark’s, driven by an urge he couldn’t suppress. Pressed tightly against the warm body, his face against Mark’s warm neck, he barely remembered what he’d intended to say in the first place. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said but then pulled away and slid down the fabric, revealing first Mark’s hipbones, then a thatch of dark hair, and then—

  His face was hit by a hot flush when Mark’s dick catapulted from under the clothes and bobbed against the tight stomach.

  “You’re so cute when you go all red like that.” Mark kissed the side of Griff’s face and when Griff forgot to keep undressing Mark, he continued himself, pushing the clothes to the floor.

  Griffith felt as if he’d entered another reality. The ventilator buzzed overhead, only adding to the chaotic murmur coming from the depth of the unpenetrated jungle at the back of Griff’s brain. That primitive side of him completely bypassed logic and conscious fears, chanting touch it, touch it, touch it.

  Griffith whimpered when his fingers curled around Mark’s dick. It was so hard and stiff, and yet warm, and pulsing, and so, so alive in his grip that Griffith found himself physically unable to focus on anything else. It felt different to holding his own cock. And it looked way different too. Not just because Griffith’s skin was pink and pale while Mark’s—a light brown color, but because the head was completely bare and shone like a strawberry lollipop that had just been licked.

  Mark hummed in pleasure and put his arms on Griff’s shoulders. “I bet your dick’s as red as your face.” Just hearing him speak like this made a hot shiver go down Griff’s spine. Mark was so confident, so unbothered that he was standing naked in front of Griff. But why wouldn’t he be? He knew how stunning he was.

  Griffith reminded himself that he needed to breathe if he was to live and deepen his connection with Mark, but as he drew in air, he slowly pumped Mark’s length, trying in vain to look both at his face and the bulbous cockhead against his pale fingers. Mark’s pubes were dark too and way bushier than Griff’s, and his balls... Griffith needed to see them in detail.

  “It can be.”

  “Can I see?” Mark whispered and as he pulled on Griff’s ear with his teeth, his hand was already sliding down Griff’s neck, to his chest, then even lower.

  Griffith grabbed on to Mark, stranded on unfamiliar seas with only Mark’s arms and experience to offer him safety. A spark burned his stomach when Mark touched it, as if the intensity of their lust was already creating static. His mind pulsed with heat, torn between the need to be free and touch Mark with his entire body and the sense that revealing himself was inappropriate. He looked up, once again focused on the handsome face next to his. He gently rubbed his fingertip along the strap that held the eyepatch in place. “You’re not completely naked yet.”

  The surprised look on Mark’s face made Griff regret his words for a moment. For the first time since they met it was Mark who stepped back. “I… You don’t want to see that.” Mark stroked the back of Griff’s neck as if he wanted to create distraction, but it was his other hand, the one gently tapping against the dick trapped in Griff’s trousers that succeeded.

  Griffith briefly shut his eyes, rocking against the caress, but the sudden hesitation in someone so confident made his mind linger. “It’s okay. I’m also self-conscious about being naked around someone else.”

  Mark licked his lips, and seeing a man like him so vulnerable had Griffith wishing he could hide with Mark under a duvet and never come out. “I might get surgery to correct this in the future, but it’s the best they could do for now.” He pulled off the eyepatch, revealing scarred, mangled flesh that extended all the way to the side of where his eye had been. Like the surface of the moon crisscrossed with ravines, it was as strange looking as it was fascinating.

  Griffith swallowed, recognizing lines of scars, some of which were elevated and red. But Mark still had lashes on his closed lid, and they were just as long as the ones in his healthy eye. Holding on to his cock at this point seemed a bit inappropriate, but Griffith didn’t let go and loosened his grip instead. The sight brought back the story Mark told him after the Halloween party, and once again he was struck by the cruelty of that attack, this time witnessing what it left behind.

  “I’m sorry someone hurt you.”

  “He got what he deserved in the end, don’t worry. I can put it back on,” he said quickly.

  Griffith wanted to tell Mark to feel at ease around him and just leave it off. The scars were ugly—yes, but they were also a part of Mark’s story, and Griff wanted to be with the most real and honest version of Mark he could. But it then hit him that he didn’t have the right to tell Mark what put him at ease. Maybe he shouldn’t have demanded that he reveal himself in the first place?

  “I like you either way. If you feel better wearing it, put it back on, but don’t feel like you need to hide from me.”

  The shy smile on Mark’s face was what heartbeats were made of, and Griff didn’t even think much before kissing it.

  “You sure? I get it if it’s a turn off.”

  Griffith shook his head and pressed the tip of his nose to Mark’s. “There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just an injury.”

  Mark left the eyepatch on the sink and encased Griff’s cock and balls with his warm hand. “I’m gonna proceed then. Don’t want you overheating.”

  And that made a lot of sense, because the clothes remaining on Griff’s body seemed to be burning off his skin.

  Griffith nodded, squeezing Mark’s cock a bit harder and whimpering when the dark pubes tickled the back of his hand. “Please, proceed,” he said breathlessly.

  “With caution?” Mark laughed. His con
fidence was back. He nipped on Griff’s jaw and went straight for the zipper of Griff’s trousers.

  Griffith half-yelped, half-moaned as he pushed closer and buried his nose in Mark’s hair. Cut short on the sides, and then fluffy at the top of his head, it smelled so damn good Griff could get high on it. “Not too much caution, please,” he whispered into Mark’s ear. He needed Mark to enjoy this, so he couldn’t just set boundaries whenever something scared him, because that way they would never get anywhere..

  Mark pulled Griff close with his arm around Griff’s neck, but he didn’t wait any longer and slid his cool fingers down Griff’s abdomen and straight to his stiff cock.

  When Mark curled his fingers around it, Griff could have sworn his skin started melting. It was as if his entire capacity for experiencing sensation focused in this one place, making it throb for more touch.

  “Oh, God,” he whispered, shooting to his toes and rubbing his chest against Mark’s. Pleasure washed over him in one powerful wave that could soon turn into an eruption coming from deep within, and he knew he couldn’t come just yet. “No... gently, or I’m gonna...”

  He was being touched by a man. By Mark. Only the most handsome guy on the planet. He could chill. He could handle this.

  Mark stopped stroking Griff’s cock, but he didn’t pull away and licked along Griffith’s lips, prompting them to open. Griff’s mind was short-circuiting, coming up with scenarios in which he rubbed his dick against Mark’s, or came all over the dark pubes, leaving Mark sticky with his cum. He shuddered when his imagination presented him with the image of Mark’s cock thrusting between Griffith’s buttocks and then shooting liquid heat all over Griff’s back.

  He was so turned on he was physically unable to stop touching the solid chest and muscular arms in front of him, even though he knew he needed to get naked too. “I just want to feel you. You know what I mean? I’ve never touched anyone like this.”

  Mark pulled Griff closer and squeezed his hand on Griff’s dick, sending him to his toes. “You’ll feel me all over tonight. I’ll make you glad that there’s no one here to listen.”

  The touch made him squirm, pulling on his balls without physically touching them, and he breathlessly pushed on, closing his lips on Mark’s and teasing the rim of that sweet, beautiful mouth, inviting in his agile tongue. The dark stubble set fire to Griffith’s own smooth skin, and the wet touch inside his mouth had him rocking into the tightness of Mark’s fist as his thoughts began to fizz.

  When Mark guided Griff two steps back so that he leaned against the wall, focusing on something else than nimble fingers on his cock was becoming impossible. When Mark’s touch was gone, Griff whimpered, lost and confused as to what was happening. All he knew was that he wanted to keep going, to keep touching, and hugging, and rubbing against him.

  Mark left a chaste kiss on Griff’s lips and then slowly went down, a cocky grin stretching his face.

  Tunnel vision. There was no other name for the absolute focus that overcame Griffith’s mind at that cue. The intense pressure in his groin turned into a dull pulsing that felt both arousing and painful, and he pushed his fingers into Mark’s curly hair, unable to ask for what he desired yet in desperate need to communicate.

  Air was a precious commodity when Mark looked up, completely naked on his knees in front of Griff, who leaned against the wall in his evening clothes, with the bright pink cock obscenely pointing at Mark’s face. It had demands that were way more obvious than Griffith’s.

  Mark glanced up at him for a moment that felt like forever, but then obliged—first licking the length of the underside of Griff’s cock all the way to the slit already dripping precum, then taking all of it in one smooth movement.

  Sparks exploded under Griff’s eyelids when the wet, hot tightness of Mark’s throat swallowed the cockhead, inviting it in with ease. Mark’s soft lips hugged the base of Griff’s dick, and there was no way to stop the inevitable. Griffith came on the spot, arousal overtaking his whole body in a series of shudders.

  Every sensation amplified. From the little radiator forcing heat at his leg, through the cool wall at his back, to the scent of dust in the air combined with Mark’s aroma, every single thing was noticeable. For the briefest of moments he felt as if he were floating through the air, carried on the waves of Mark’s warmth, but the fall was hard as his legs went soft, and he slid down the wall, straight into the welcoming arms of his lover.

  Griffith was at a loss, both insanely happy and confused. He’d just come with another man for the first time. He’d been given a blowjob and hadn’t even lasted a minute. Shame crept in like a lizard climbing up his back to hiss into his ear, and he put his arms around Mark, hugging him tightly. “Sorry. You surprised me.”

  Mark held him tight in his strong arms. “What for? You’re so fucking delicious.”

  Griff still hadn’t yet recovered from his orgasm when Mark licked up the side of his face, like a hungry lion sampling the meat on offer.

  He shuddered like a newborn pony, clinging to Mark’s warmth and hugging him with his legs. “Because... do you want me to do the same to you?” Griffith asked, way more capable of focus now that he’d come.

  “Oh yes, but I can wait a bit longer. How about that bath?” Mark nuzzled his cheek, enclosing Griff in a cocoon of safety made of his own body. “It took me quite a while from my first time to understand a little anticipation makes coming even better.”

  Griffith chuckled nervously but eventually met Mark’s gaze, slowly becoming fully aware that he sat in Mark’s lap, legs spread, cock out, back pressed against the wall. It was so silly and yet so wonderful. “I want to try everything.”

  Mark looked at him as if Griff were the Moon and the stars. “Of course you do.”

  They disassembled the heap of intertwined limbs they’d become to finally get up.

  “Eighteen and horny. I bet I’ll squeeze more spunk out of you tonight.” Mark grinned and pulled off Griff’s tie.

  Griffith swallowed against the warm hands. Being together like this, intimately embraced, felt so illicit and forbidden he wasn’t sure how to proceed, but he smiled at Mark and leaned in, pressing the tip of his tongue between the soft, warm lips. They tasted of cum. Griffith’s own cum, and thinking of Mark so readily accepting it into his body made Griffith salivate for that thick, stiff cock that kept pressing against him all the more.

  “I’m not used to being naked around people. When I started growing up, locker rooms became a minefield.”

  Mark laughed, but he didn’t waste time, undressing Griffith all too quickly. First the suit jacket, then, button after button, the shirt. “I can see why. You’d undress and you wouldn’t be able to keep men’s grubby hands off you.”

  Griffith chuckled and gently punched Mark’s chest. After he’d come, the urgency in his body dimmed somewhat, allowing him to once again think clearly. “I’m afraid it would have been the other way around.”

  “Oh, really?” Mark slid his hands to Griff’s back, then all the way to his ass when he pushed down the trousers and underwear. “You had locker room crushes?”

  Griffith’s eyelids fluttered when his cock and balls were finally released. He wanted to keep it cool, even though the sense that the man he liked was watching him naked was putting him under a lot of stress. “Who doesn’t? Did you? Who was your first crush?”

  Mark scooted down in front of Griff and pulled off his shoes and socks, leaving Griff as naked as Mark was himself. He leaned closer and left a kiss on Griff’s softening cock.

  “Neighbor. But he moved with his family soon after I realized what was going on with me.”

  Griffith swallowed hard and helped Mark up. Their bodies fit together seamlessly, with Mark’s warm cock becoming the focal point of Griff’s attention. This was what he’d dreamed of for so long, this simple closeness that made him feel a rush that wasn’t even entirely sexual.

  “Mine was a boy at school, but then Charlotte disappeared, and my parents took me bac
k home.”

  “Maybe you were meant to wait for me?” Mark gave Griff a sweet kiss while his hands roamed all over Griff’s back. “That’s selfish. I’m sorry.”

  Griffith swallowed, overwhelmed by the storm of emotion those words caused inside him. “But I trust you. You’re so patient, even though I can be so annoyingly indecisive.”

  “I would wait a lifetime for this,” Mark said softly, causing Griff’s heart to rattle.

  Was this really how intense Mark’s feelings for him were, or was he exaggerating, caught up in the moment?

  “You don’t have to wait anymore. I want you.”

  Mark smiled, and when his dick slid over Griff’s stomach, it sent all the butterflies in there flying, but he then pulled Griff into the bathtub and turned on the water.

  Chapter 17 - Griffith

  Mark’s body emerged from the water like a sun-kissed rock that Griffith could safely rest on, without fear of the storm pulling him under again. Seated across his lap, with his shins and feet resting against the side of the bathtub, Griffith took his time exploring the steady ridges of muscle and bone of his lover. The dusting of dark hair was yet more proof that Mark was no longer a boy. The scars on his body, some slightly paler than the dusky skin, told him stories he wanted to know someday, but unwilling to push Mark yet again, he curled up against him, seeking shelter from the gradually cooling water.

  He’d never expected something so profound to happen in this small and somewhat shabby bathroom, but now the yellowish lights of the lamp and the tiles that had seen better days seemed to create the coziest of spaces. Here, he and Mark could remain safe from the world. Just two men who desperately needed to melt together.

  He took his time with Mark’s body, for the first time at ease to touch him, as if crossing the barrier of nakedness had crushed all the fears and embarrassment that had previously paralyzed Griffith’s choices. Being uncovered with Mark felt completely natural now, as did gently playing with Mark’s brown nipples, touching his cock, weighing his balls and pressing soft kisses to the underside of his jaw. Mark lay back, and even though he appeared relaxed on the surface, he also reacted to Griff’s touch so organically—arching, shivering, and uttering soft gasps. Griff sensed the beast underneath Mark’s skin just waiting to come out.