by Aratare, X.
I feel that you would like that too, Casillus chuckled.
I would. After last night, I think I would do just about anything to be with you. Even get in the water.
Oh, Gabriel, the things you say. The Mer chuckled again sensually.
Gabriel’s fingers undid the button on his shorts and unzipped them. His cock, plump and pink, popped out of his pants like a flower bursting from the earth. I was wondering how far our bond could go.
How so?
I can feel the water around your body. I can even feel it slide between your fingers and toes. So I was wondering how much can you feel when I touch myself? Gabriel stroked his cock.
Casillus let out a gasp and his cock immediately hardened. Gabriel!
Ah, so it DOES work! Gabriel felt almost giddy with power.
Yes, it works so very well. Let me show you the same, my naughty Gabriel. Casillus suddenly gripped his own cock and drew his thumb over the head of his penis, spreading the slit open further.
Gabriel’s hips arched up off of the bed at the sudden rush of unexpected pleasure. Precum gushed out of his own cock and coated the tip of his penis. That - that - oh, God, that was good. What else can we do?
Anything, Gabriel. Whatever your imagination can conjure up.
Gabriel smoothed his fingers over the head of his cock and then brought his fingers up to his lips. They were wet with glistening precum. After a moment’s hesitation, Gabriel licked his precum off of his fingers. The salty, musky taste coated his tongue. Can you taste this? Taste me?
Casillus moaned and responded, Oh, yes, I can taste you.
Gabriel shimmied out of his shorts and then leaned over and fished out a tube of lubricant from his bag. He lay back on the bed and popped open the tube. He was about to squeeze some lubricant into his hand when Casillus spoke.
What are you doing, Gabriel? Casillus sounded amused.
Um, well … I want to … God, trying to say this makes me feel tongue-tied even though I’m not using my tongue! I’m going to … finger myself.
And you think you need this chemical substance to do that? Casillus sounded incredulous and a little disgusted.
It makes me slick. Gabriel’s cheeks were nuclear red now.
You think you need this substance to make you slick? Casillus asked.
Don’t the Mers use anything to ease the way? For men, I mean?
There is no need. It is naturally occurring, the Mer said.
Naturally occurring? You mean men get slick when they’re aroused? Gabriel blinked.
You should touch yourself and find out, Casillus suggested. The Mer’s arousal poured over the bond at the thought of Gabriel fingering himself.
Gabriel stared at the lubricant before he set it to the side. He didn’t know if it would be cool or gross to find that his body created a lubricant. I’d be prepared for Casillus whenever we want to be together. Gabriel’s cock jerked with eagerness. All right. Let’s do this.
He spread his legs and slowly let his right hand drift between his thighs. He felt Casillus concentrating intently across their bond, wanting to feel everything with him. That had him biting his lower lip in pleasure. He ran his fingers over his furry balls, rolling them, loving the sensation of Casillus’ heartbeat rising in arousal as his did. His cock lengthened even more and a drop of precum splashed on his stomach.
Gabriel touched the sensitive skin behind his balls. He found himself breathing more heavily. Through the bond, Gabriel felt the Mer’s feet twitch and his hands flex at his sides in anticipation. Wanting to please his audience, Gabriel lightly dragged his fingertips back until he reached the base of his crack. Would there be slickness there? Did he want it to be there? His fingers drifted up the crack and touched the tight swirl of muscle ringing his anus. He traced the exterior of it.
I don’t feel anything wet, he said to Casillus.
Inside, my love. Push up inside and you will feel it, Casillus said.
Gabriel’s brain stuttered at the endearment. With humans such an endearment might have no real meaning, but that was not the case with Mers. It was not the case specifically here. “My love” literally meant he was Casillus’ love.
Oh, okay, was all he manged to get out as his emotions swirled.
He gently pushed his pointer finger up into his opening and something wet and slick oozed out. Gabriel jerked his hand away as if he had been bitten. He started laughing nearly hysterically and quickly covered his mouth with one hand so as not to have Corey running into his bedroom, concerned he had totally lost it.
Gabriel?
It’s okay, Casillus. I just … I don’t know. The gills. The webbed fingers. Those things I expected, but … self-lubrication? Um, no, never, not even in my wildest dreams. Gabriel was laughing again.
It is very handy, Casillus said, but he was chuckling too.
I can believe it. Gabriel swallowed his laughter. Now let me do this. I’m trying to be sexy here.
You ARE sexy. You do not need to try, Casillus assured him.
Gabriel touched his opening again and coated his finger with the wetness there. He drew his hand back up and opened his eyes, seeing his room instead of the sea. The liquid on his fingers was clear and had a gel-like consistency. He sniffed it. It didn’t smell of anything.
It is natural, Gabriel. Far better than that chemical mixture you would have used on your sweet passage. Casillus actually gave a little shudder at the thought of using the lubricant.
Right. Natural. Okay, I can do this.
Gabriel shut his eyes again and immediately the sea reappeared in front of him. He actually let out a sigh of pleasure and relaxed more fully against the mattress and pillow. He was shocked at how eager he was to see the blue vastness, at how much better he felt with the water all around him. Or at least with the view of the sea all around him.
Gabriel drew his feet up until their soles were flush with the bed. This would allow him far more access to his ass. One of his hands ventured between his thighs again, and his fingers began circling his anus while his other hand gripped his cock. The familiar heat began to build in his groin. Just the thought of fingering himself was enough to get him incredibly aroused. With Casillus as his witness, the muscles in his stomach were jumping in anticipation.
He circled his hole with his fingers. More of the liquid leaked out and made his fingers slide much more easily over the surface of his tight pink pucker. He felt Casillus tense, wanting those fingers inside. Gabriel would oblige him. He started to push one finger inside. He did it slowly. As he did, he realized that in a way he wasn’t just pushing up into himself, but into Casillus, too. His finger popped through the tight ring of muscle. Gabriel was expecting to feel the faintest burning sensation, like what he had experienced in the past, but there was none. Instead, his passage throbbed and more of the liquid gushed out around his finger.
Your body is reacting to your arousal—our arousal, I mean, Casillus breathed. The Mer was half curled up into a ball.
So weird, but … Gabriel thrust his finger inside of him up to the knuckle. He felt a tingling pleasure that raced along his passage and trilled deep inside of him. He drew his finger out and then thrust it inside again. The tingling increased, making Gabriel’s toes curl against the mattress.
Yes, Gabriel, just like that. Touch yourself. Touch me, Casillus murmured huskily.
Gabriel pushed two fingers inside of himself. The liquid inside of him eased the way for the increased width easily. He scissored his fingers inside of himself, dragging the pads of them along the soft, slick passage. His other hand started to stroke his cock. Long, steady strokes with a twist of the wrist at the end. He felt tremors run through Casillus’ body as the Mer’s body began to twitch in time to his strokes.
Gabriel moved from two to three fingers. His lips parted as he pushed them as far up inside of him as they could go, then he found his prostate and rubbed his fingers over it again and again. Casillus arched in response. Gabriel’s cock twitched in his hand and mo
re precum leaked out.
Gabriel thrust his cock up into the shaft he had made with his hand then let his hips fall, impaling himself on his fingers. Sweat broke out across his body. A sheen of perspiration covered his bare chest. His nipples hardened. Every movement he made caused pleasure to race through him. His ass burned with the need for more, but his fingers were all he had.
Not for long, Gabriel. I will be inside of you … oh, so soon! So very soon! Casillus breathed. The Mer was nearly lost in arousal.
Gabriel’s hips stuttered at the thought of having Casillus’ huge cock inside of him. That was what he needed. That was what he wanted. And in the water there would be no pesky gravity to hold him down. Gabriel’s cock jerked. The skin was pulled taut as blood seemed to have filled his organ to the bursting point.
He drove his fingers inside of himself mercilessly. Casillus begged for him to do it harder and faster. He complied. The tingling in his ass spread out to fill every part of him. It danced up the shaft of his cock, and just as it hit the head his balls drew up tight to his body. Gabriel arched. The muscles in his passage clamped down on his fingers as he felt the heat of his release fill him. He felt his cum rise up the length of his cock before finally gushing out onto his chest and stomach.
Casillus came at the same time. His hips shot forward and the sea in front of him became clouded with his semen. Just as Gabriel’s body sagged back against the mattress, tiny after-tremors running through his frame, Casillus curled forward and hung suspended in the water. Curious fish nibbled at his toes and swam through his long, lush hair.
My love, rest, Casillus said as Gabriel struggled not to nod off so he could stay in the sea with the Mer.
I don’t want to leave you especially when you call me that, Gabriel confessed. His view of the sea was starting to haze out. Sleep was tugging at him.
You are not leaving me, my love. We are together. We are one, the Mer replied.
Gabriel remembered the terrible dream he had had, the one that had separated him from Casillus before, but he sensed he would not sleep deeply enough for it to return.
You keep calling me “my love.” Casillus … do you … no, it is too soon—
Too soon to love you? The Mer’s answering chuckle was sleepy. For some, a hundred years is not time enough to feel love, but for others it takes but one moment.
One moment?
Yes, Gabriel, did I not tell you from the moment we met that I would never leave you? Casillus asked.
Yes, but I thought it was just a figure of speech, Gabriel confessed.
But now you know the truth. For me, I loved you in a moment, that first moment, the Mer answered. Now you must rest.
Don’t you want me to … Say it back? Confess it too? Make some sort of statement? Those were all of the possibilities that rose up in Gabriel’s mind but did not come out. Or perhaps all of them did.
I want you to rest, and when your moment comes, you will tell me, Casillus assured him.
As Gabriel drifted off into sleep, he thought to himself, I already know, Casillus. I think you do, too. I loved you before I ever met you. You’re my someone amazing.
4
THE TEMPLE
Gabriel woke to Corey shaking his right foot. He jerked into consciousness to see his own personal Cupid grinning down at him. He then realized that he was naked, his cock lay quiescent against his belly and he was covered in drying cum.
“I see that you had a good ‘nap.’ ” Corey made air quotes as he said “nap.”
Gabriel flushed to the roots of his hair and jerked a sheet over himself. “Oh, Corey, I’m sorry! I thought I would wake up before you came in and—ah, clean myself up.”
You are most presentable, Casillus’ voice whispered through his mind.
Not for Corey!
Perhaps not, Casillus chuckled.
Corey shook his head with that huge grin on his face. “You were sleeping like a baby. I almost didn’t wake you, but, ah …” Corey’s face actually scrunched up and an unusual expression of anger crossed his normally cheery features. “Johnson sort of insisted on it.”
“It’s okay, Corey. I knew he wasn’t going to let me get out of it.” Gabriel quickly pulled on his shorts and scrubbed the cum off of his stomach with the sheet. He would have to launder the sheets later so his grandmother wouldn’t have to.
Corey was still frowning. “I don’t like Johnson.”
“You not liking someone? Is the world about to end?” Gabriel asked jokingly, though he stilled his movements to hear Corey’s impressions. His best friend was normally so forgiving of other people’s foibles. If Corey really didn’t like Johnson that would really mean something, and it would confirm the bad vibes that Gabriel was getting from him.
“I don’t know.” Corey’s forehead furrowed. “I’ve been trying to figure it out, but something about him just isn’t right. But then I feel bad about thinking that, because Grandma G likes him so much.”
Gabriel nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I’m not real fond of him either.”
“Well, maybe he’ll grow on us,” Corey said, scrubbing the back of his neck.
Not likely, Gabriel thought while he said out loud, “Maybe.”
“I’ll let you get into the shower,” Corey said. He turned to leave, but then he looked back over his shoulder at Gabriel with an impish smile. “So were you thinking of this mystery man while you were ‘napping’?”
Gabriel gave his friend a sly smile. “I was more than thinking of him, Corey.”
You are teasing Corey mercilessly, Casillus said as he luxuriantly stretched in the water, still loose-limbed from his orgasm.
I know. But he loves it.
“How could you be more than thinking—was he here?” Corey’s eyes were darting all over the room. He actually ducked down to look under the bed as if Casillus could be hiding under it.
“That is something you will learn today after we go to the settlement.” Gabriel stood up and patted Corey’s back while his best friend continued to look around the room, convinced someone was in there besides the two of them.
“But—but—” Corey sputtered.
“Later, Corey, later,” Gabriel tossed over his shoulder. “Oh, could you make sure to get us a ton of water for today?”
“Sure, no problem!” Corey answered brightly.
“You’re the best, Corey.”
He truly is, Casillus murmured.
Gabriel got into the shower and spent as much time as he could under the spray. Casillus hummed happily as they both luxuriated in the hot water. Gabriel’s hands drifted over the gills that had appeared on his sides. They fluttered. Gabriel looked down at them as water droplets fell from his eyelashes.
They are a part of you, Casillus murmured.
I know, but they still feel separate. Like my body is a mystery to me, but it’s not a bad thing. I suppose I’ll either get used to all the changes or be in a constant state of wonder. I don’t know which. Gabriel smiled.
Suddenly someone knocked on the bathroom door and Gabriel froze, but then he took a deep breath. There was no need to worry. No one would simply walk in on him, and even if they did, they would see the shower curtain and nothing more. But Gabriel still found himself crossing his arms protectively over his sides.
“Who is it?” he called out.
“Just me!” Corey called back. “I wanted to let you know, water baby, that Johnson left for the settlement. He’ll meet us there.”
A slight trill of unease ran through Gabriel at the thought of the settlement, or maybe it was just the thought of having to meet Johnson on his home turf that did it. But his arms dropped from his sides as he realized that Johnson was gone from the house. “Okay, I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Take your time. It’s hot as Hell out there. I’m getting us a van-load of water,” Corey said before Gabriel heard his footsteps drift off down the hall and to the stairs.
Gabriel leaned back against the cool tile wall. He didn’t w
ant to go to the settlement. He wanted to go directly to Casillus, but he knew that couldn’t happen. I need to just get this over with. Like a band aid. Rip it off and be done. Then I can get to Casillus sooner.
I will be with you the whole time, the Mer said.
Gabriel mentally embraced Casillus. He thought of the words the Mer had spoken to him about love. Casillus …
Gabriel, you need not say what you are not ready to say. The Mer knew, of course, exactly what was on his mind.
That’s just it. My feelings ... Water ran over Gabriel’s face and made the world blur. I’ve never been so happy. I’ve never felt so complete. I know what this is. It’s what I’ve been looking for my entire life.
But you are still afraid, Casillus said softly, knowingly. You believe if you say those words to me, even though they are already in your heart, that your fear will grow.
I am afraid and I don’t know why! Gabriel answered and lowered his head. More water ran down his cheeks like tears.
You fear you will lose me, the Mer said.
Gabriel’s head jerked up. It was so simple. That was exactly what he feared. The Mer understood it already. Yes, that’s it. You already mean so much to me. I can’t imagine how much more you will mean tomorrow or the day after that or the day after that. My heart … Casillus ...
I will never leave you, Gabriel, Casillus said with such quiet certainty.
My parents didn’t want to leave me either. They thought they would be with me for a long, long time. The image of tentacles flashed through Gabriel’s mind but he blinked it away, hoping that the Mer wouldn’t see the monster in his mind. But they left.
I could tell you that nothing will happen to me, but that is a guess, a hope, the Mer said. To love is to risk losing, Gabriel. That is part of why you have kept your heart so closed for so long, is it not?
Yeah, I guess it is. Gabriel smoothed his hair away from his forehead. I just wish I had the power to keep you safe. Always.
