Socks for an Otter

by Posy Roberts

  “And did he?”

  Louis nodded. “The next day, after I delivered the tent. I went back to my place to wash your blankets and gather all your things that were still strewn around my house. As I gathered everything up, I told him just enough details that he took me seriously.”

  “What convinced him?”

  “The engraving on the inside of your ring. Your middle name.”

  “That would do it!” Sebastian laughed. “I refuse to let anyone know my middle name. I hate it.”

  “Elliot? Why?”

  “I have three first names. It’s ridiculous.”

  Louis smiled. “I don’t think so. What’s ridiculous is what your father did to you, and I let him know it. I shamed him, repeated the words he said to you before he kicked you out. That sobered him. And then I asked him why he cut you off.”

  “Because I’m lazy, and if I don’t learn what want really is, I’ll never appreciate anything.”

  Louis nodded. “Almost word for word. Fucking scary shit. I told him as much. What had he done to parent you? Not much of anything, just hired other people to do it. And then he expected you to know how to fly.”

  Sebastian thumbed over the blanket he’d laid down to serve as a rug and whispered, “I’m pathetic, I know it.”

  “Hey, look at me.”

  Sebastian did, and he saw such warmth in Louis’s eyes, warmth like he’d never seen in his entire life.

  “You are not pathetic. You’re strong and resourceful. You’re passionate and persistent. You amaze me. Leah, my best friend, is trying to convince me I’m in love with you.”

  Sebastian’s breath caught. “Are you?” he croaked out.

  “I don’t know. Maybe? I’ve never gone to such lengths to let someone know I care about them. I’ve never fed a whole community to woo someone before.” Louis chuckled as tears formed. “Maybe I am. I know I like you a hell of a lot and I want to get to know you better. And I want to spend more time with you. I’m sure of those things. One hundred percent. Hell, over the last few days, my brain kept supplying me with poetic lines describing how I feel about you.”

  “So maybe it is love, then.”

  Louis nodded and reached out to squeeze Sebastian’s ankle. He stared, and Sebastian preened under the attention, pulling up his pant legs to show his socks off. “Otters for my otter.”

  “I missed you today. A lot.”

  “I’ve missed you every day.”

  “Same.” Sebastian’s vision went wavy as he crawled across his tent and into Louis’s lap, straddling him, hugging him, and breathing in the scent of his perfectly spicy moisturizer. “But I won’t accept the wolf socks. Those are yours. You need to wear those.”

  Louis chuckled in his ear and pulled him even closer. “As long as you promise to never delete my number.”

  Sebastian pulled back, incredulous. “That’s all you want? That’s it?”

  “Oh hell no. I want everything from you. I just don’t want to scare you off.”

  Sebastian fought back the grin threatening to give away his faked cool. He had worries standing in the way yet, and it was about time to voice them. “I’m afraid I won’t live up to your expectations.”

  “I don’t—” A finger to Louis’s lips stopped him.

  “Let me finish, Louis.”

  A nod. A breath.

  “I want to live up to my full potential, and that’s something I never really thought about until losing everything. When I first tried to get jobs, no one would hire me because I was a twenty-three-year-old with no work experience that translated. Like, what good does judging a Little Miss New York pageant do?”

  Louis snorted. “You judged a—”

  “Don’t condemn me. My mother couldn’t make it that year and I stepped into her formidable platforms.”

  Louis pinched his lips, but it was clear he was laughing.

  Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Blanche is the first person to see I have skills. Not stuff I can easily put on a résumé, but she promised she’d help me with that.”

  “Blanche is good people.”

  “She is. And if I work hard enough and scrimp and save, I can probably go to college. That’s a ways off, but it’s a possibility. She told me there are even scholarships and grants I’m eligible for because of my circumstances.”

  “Your father should be paying for your college.”

  “Not gonna happen.”

  “We’ll see . . .”

  “You think?”

  Louis nodded and took up a steady rhythm on Sebastian’s back, palms smooth and firm. “I don’t know how I’m managing to control my body with you in my lap like this, but I like that we’re talking. It makes me think we have a future together.”

  “I like it too. Looking forward rather than back. And the together part, I think I like that most.”

  “Mmm. Me too. And rather than being resigned to being invisible, you’re looking for ways to be seen.”

  Sebastian pressed a soft kiss to Louis’s plush mouth. “I don’t like being invisible.”

  Louis shook his head, nose brushing against Sebastian’s. “Neither do I. If it helps any, you weren’t even invisible the night I bumped into you. I just wasn’t watching where I was going.”

  “I know. I was extra prickly that day.”

  “As much as you try to hide, Sebastian, you always light up the room. You’re supposed to be the centerpiece. I want you at the center of my world.”

  “Oh, Louis.” Sebastian couldn’t hold back the tears or the way he pulled Louis against him and kissed him deep. He didn’t even want to hold back the thrusting of his hips, the way his body chased Louis’s length. He just wanted to be in contact. Full contact.

  Louis moaned and panted into their kiss. “I want to kiss you, touch you, taste you.”

  “Then do it,” Sebastian urged. He crawled across his tent and unzipped his sleeping bag so it would cover both of them. He crooked a finger when Louis hesitated.

  “Here? But . . . People are just outside, and you haven’t eaten. I brought you some of your favorites.”

  “I have my favorite right here.” Sebastian held out a hand until Lewis gave in and stalked to him, taking a few moments to breathe him in.

  “You smell amazing.”

  “Yeah? Blanche lets me indulge. I thought you had a fantastic bathroom, but hers is to die for.”

  “I don’t like thinking of you soaking in her tub.”

  “She only has a shower, and today I used all sixteen jets.”

  “Oh. She wins. But I have an amazing tub.”

  “Mmm.” Sebastian arched his back, tilting his head in invitation, and Louis took it, kissing and biting and licking the sensitive skin.

  “God, I fucking missed you.” Louis cupped his face and stared deep into Sebastian’s soul. So deep that he knew Louis saw all of him.

  “Show me how much.”

  Louis bit his lip, looking pained. “I can’t,” he whined. “What I want to do to you requires a condom, lube, time to slowly open you up for me.”

  “I may have . . . indulged a little at Blanche’s today, so I’m ready to go.”

  Louis gave him a light smack on the bottom and moved in for a smiling kiss. “And do you have the rest?”

  Sebastian dragged his teeth over his bottom lip and nodded. He grabbed a small tin that used to hold mints and pushed it Louis’s way. Then he unbuttoned his pants and shoved them down along with his underwear.

  “What’s the best way to do this?” Louis asked.

  “Keep as many clothes on as possible. Conserve body heat.” Sebastian flipped to all fours.

  “No,” Louis whispered. “I don’t want my first time inside you to be like this. I want to see your face.”

  “Okay.” Sebastian flipped back and untied the laces on his boots.

  “But then you’ll be cold.”

  “You’ll keep me warm, Louis. Skin to skin.”

  “I’ll dress you after, I promise.” Louis took over
, tugging the boots off, massaging the arches of his feet, pulling his pants off all the way. “Do the boots fit? And do you like the wool socks?”

  Sebastian laughed. “Can we do this clothes review after?”

  Louis nodded and came in for a kiss, pulling the sleeping bag back over the both of them to keep in the body warmth they were about to create.

  “We’re doing this in a bed next time,” Louis whispered as he stroked over Sebastian’s hole, spreading cold lube around and . . . in.

  Sebastian gasped. “Just . . . play there a little bit. I’m cold, so I’m tense. And yes, let’s do it in your glorious bed next time.”

  “Oh geez. Do that again. Squeeze.”

  Sebastian did, and then Louis withdrew, adding a second finger.

  “This is so much better than I expected it would be.”

  “Same here.” Sebastian ground down on his fingers, spread his legs, and curled his spine. “More. You. Your cock. I want your cock.”

  Louis suited up in seconds and was pressing the cold tip of his cock to Sebastian’s hot hole. The temp difference wouldn’t last long, but Sebastian welcomed it. And as Louis slid in deeper, Sebastian wrapped his legs around Louis’s hips, pulled him in for a kiss, and didn’t hold back.

  He moaned. He thrust. He begged for Louis to fuck him harder. And when Louis stroked him to completion, still fucking into Sebastian as he chased his own orgasm, Sebastian saw his world change for the better right before his very eyes.

  It could only go up from here.

  27

  Protective Wolf

  Louis collapsed in a spent, sated pile of limbs beside Sebastian, who looked fucked out of his mind.

  “You good?” he asked.

  Sebastian nodded, a goofy grin on his face. “Can an orgasm make you high?”

  Louis snorted. “I think so. That one sure did.”

  “Will you stay?” Sebastian sounded so unsure, scared even.

  Louis turned and rested his head on Sebastian’s sturdy shoulder. “Sure. If that’s okay.”

  “I’d like you to see how I’ve lived. Up close and personal. I mean . . . if we have a chance at a future together, I need you to know how hard this part is. The hard ground, hard no matter how many cushions I lay down. And the temp’s dropping so much tonight, you’ll get a real taste.”

  Louis pressed a kiss to his mouth and stroked over his beard. “Anything. I’ll do anything for you.”

  Sebastian let out a contented sigh and ran his fingers back and forth over the top of Louis’s butt cheeks, toying with his crack every so often.

  “Oh shit. I need to set my alarm pretty early. I have a hearing at the Capitol, so I’ll need to go home first to grab a suit and tie and all that.”

  “You can go if you need to.”

  Louis set his phone down, alarm set. “No. I’m staying here. But if you wake up and I’m gone, I don’t want you freaking out that I walked out on you.”

  Sebastian squirmed and smiled so wide, he looked about to giggle.

  There was a rustle of fabric, then a low, “Louis? It’s Marvin.”

  “Yeah?” He sat up but didn’t open the tent door, not wanting to let the heat escape.

  “I can take the food cart back with me.”

  “Would you? That would be a great help. I’m sleeping here with Sebastian tonight.”

  Marvin chuckled low and knowing. “See, Bash, I told you he was a keeper.”

  Sebastian sat up. “You sure did, and you were right.”

  Louis popped a kiss on Sebastian’s mouth, then said, “Marvin, I’ll text you tomorrow as soon as I’m free.”

  As Sebastian got back into his pants and they got resettled in the dark tent, they spoke about their days apart, what they’d done at work, and made plans to make supper together at Louis’s place tomorrow night. Eggplant parmesan.

  “And why don’t you come live with me?” Louis blurted when he was sure Sebastian was asleep.

  “Not yet,” Sebastian croaked. “Give me more time to prove I can make it on my own. I need that.”

  “As much time as you need. I just . . . I don’t want you here. I want you living someplace safe where I won’t worry about you freezing to death or getting sick and not being able to fight it off because your body is working triple time to stay warm and never bothers fighting off the virus.”

  “You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you?”

  Tears brimmed. “I lost Mati and our baby, and as far as we knew, they were both healthy. Until they weren’t. And we lived in a nice house and drove a safe car and ate healthy food.” And a million other advantages.

  “You can’t remove all the what-ifs, Louis. No matter what you do.”

  Louis brushed the side of the tent as he caught his breath, swallowing away the thick knot that had formed. “This doesn’t have to be one of the what-ifs. You can live in a place where your health and safety aren’t at risk every day.”

  Sebastian leaned in for a kiss, and it lingered. It soothed Louis, and his breaths evened out. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. I get my first paycheck soon. I’ll know a lot more after that. Deal?”

  Louis held on to Sebastian for dear life. “Deal.”

  “One more thing,” Sebastian whispered.

  “Yeah? What’s that?”

  “I made the right decision.”

  “Huh?”

  “I made the right decision, coming to DC.”

  Louis nodded against his neck. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  Louis didn’t want to leave in the morning. He wanted to lie in the tent with Sebastian snoring on his chest until the fabric lit up with the sun. Even if he’d woken several times because of the hard, cold ground, Sebastian’s body heat and warm breaths and soft sounds had made sleeping here worth it.

  But if he had any chance of getting home to shower and get into a suit to be presentable for this hearing, he had to get up now.

  He eased out from under Sebastian and then the sleeping bag. Cold air hit him like a fucking firehose in a protest line, but he resisted the urge to crawl back in.

  Sebastian palmed the space Louis just vacated and nuzzled into it. Thankfully, he remained asleep.

  Louis made quick work of getting into as many layers as fast as he could, and as he slipped his hands in his pocket to retrieve his leather gloves, his fingers landed on yarn.

  “That’s right. I forgot to give him these last night.” He held out the mittens . . . slittens he’d knitted while angsting away these last few days, putting all his worry and care of Sebastian into his stitches.

  He glanced around the tent and was surprised to see a row of his notes lined up neatly atop a box. Like a place of pride. He grabbed one and flipped to the backside where there was still a little white space on the card. The pen he carried everywhere was easily found, but his words wouldn’t come.

  This felt so personal, and because of the design he’d stitched into the wristband, it seemed, well, it seemed stupid. Presumptuous.

  “Who the fuck cares? He knows I’m crazy for him, and maybe he’s crazy for me too. Only one way to find out.”

  My otter,

  I made these for you. They won’t be the warmest, but maybe you can put them under one of your big, burly pair. That way you’ll always have a pair of slutty mittens with you. And a reminder of me.

  Your wolf,

  Louis

  He set the mittens and note in a place Sebastian wouldn’t miss, right next to his phone, and slipped out into the early morning light.

  Sebastian woke up glowing. And it wasn’t just because the tent was bright yellow and the sun was shining. He actually felt like he could float to work.

  He took a few minutes sorting through the stuff in his backpack, leaving a lot of the special stuff behind. He’d lock up with his padlock now that he had it before leaving, something he never thought he’d miss as much as he had. Everything would be fine.

  Besides, he needed space. He’d been using Blanche’s toiletri
es. She’d been kind enough to offer, but he had stuff of his own.

  But as he dug in the bag, he discovered a treasure trove of the products he’d used at Louis’s house that he loved. All his other stuff was in there, but so much more. The beard balm, the moisturizer, the shampoo that actually got his hair clean without stripping it.

  Louis really, really cared about him.

  Everything was chilled and some may have even been frozen, but Blanche would let him keep it at her place.

  He emptied the rest of the bag and only put what he’d need for today: the toiletries, his journal, his favorite pen, his phone charger, and just in case—because it was habit by this point—an extra pair of socks. The ones with the otters.

  As he turned to leave, he noticed a new note and a pair of mittens next to his phone. He read the note, then picked up the mittens. The slittens. He laughed. And he cried. Louis knitted these for him. For him!

  A wolf scene was worked into the wristband of one, a just-before-twilight blue that faded to navy the closer to the fingers they got. On the other was a little blue otter lazing on his back. The fingerless gloves fit perfectly as he slipped them on, and they weren’t bulky. Yet still they were warm once he tucked his bare hands into the mittens. Wool. They had to be wool.

  Sebastian emerged from his tent with so much hope that he looked around the little encampment and smiled. It was colder than a witch’s tit today, but as he locked up and left, he wasn’t even bothered by that.

  Oscar was being questioned before the House Financial Services Committee about consumer protections and fraud, in particular predatory lending practices that were destroying the middle and lower class. Louis sat at his side and assisted him whenever needed.

  At times that meant he searched for documentation to have it ready before Oscar needed it, and at other times Louis answered questions. They’d been working this way for five years now, and they had a great symbiosis.

  This wasn’t a hearing, per se, but because of the sensitive nature of some of the questions, they’d been led to the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. The last time Louis had been in the SCIF was the day Mati and their baby died.