Sweet Clematis

by R. Cooper

  “You’ve been having sex with someone else?” Clematis froze as he tried to think of who it might be. Tarō came to mind, but Flor had hinted Tarō wasn’t into casual.

  “You, Clematis.” Flor peeped at him, then sighed fondly. “I had sex with you, genius. I am currently only having sex with you.” He watched Clematis digest that and then raised his eyebrows when Clematis didn’t seem to know what to do. Flor sighed again, disappointed this time, before straightening up and putting his shoulders back. It was what he did when rallying his strength to keep going. “Today, on the grass… I was kind of a jerk to your friend Sasha.”

  “Once I went out to get you some donuts, you were much better,” Clematis assured him.

  Flor immediately smiled. “That was so sweet of you to get those for me.”

  Clematis hadn’t done it for the praise, but it felt nice now. He shivered. “I didn’t mind. I liked knowing you were happy.”

  “I liked feeding you pieces of the cruller,” Flor answered, husky-voiced, then opened his eyes wide and shook his head. “Okay, no. Focus. Today, on the grass, I realized some things. Uncomfortable things, but not bad things. With Sasha, you were very… relaxed.” Flor gripped his bottle but didn’t drink from it. “You fed him.” He made a horrified noise, then coughed and finally gulped down some cream soda. “I mean, when you talked about keeping—being kept—you’ve really never thought about it? You’ve read all those stories that David has read. Or most of them, anyway. All the old poems humans wrote about fairies falling in love with beautiful humans and taking them away to bowers filled with garlands and all that. A lot of it is bullshit, to be honest, but a lot of it is also true. Look at David and Tulip. Look at my parents. Once my mom saw her happiness in my dad, she did not hesitate. Then he turned around and met her and… boom! Lightning! Fireworks! Heart eyes and yearning and potential joy for a lifetime. You really never thought about it? Happily ever afters come from fairy tales. You never wanted that, or… some version of that?”

  Clematis had lost his flip-flops somewhere outside the donut shop, but they wouldn’t have given him a way to hide it when he curled his toes anyway. He turned his head to stare at some sort of hanging ivy.

  “All those stories are very clear on how that happens.” He closed his eyes and saw so many sparkles it was like the golden haze at the edges of a dream. “The fairies know immediately.” He clenched his hand into a fist and opened his eyes and avoided the glitter next to him. “It’s what Hyacinth told me about his Walter. I’m sure you felt it too, with David.”

  Flor seemed taken aback by that. “I…. David and I have known each other since we were five. I don’t actually remember meeting him. But….” Flor paused, then sucked in a fortifying breath. He firmed his voice. “But I was there when he met Tulip—when Tulip met David—and yeah. Yes. I’ve seen that happen to a fairy. It’s real.”

  He abruptly pulled his legs up underneath him and put on his most determined expression. “It’s real. But it’s not everything. Plenty of humans fall in love without it. They make friends or get to know someone, and then they fall in love anyway. They date.” He gestured with his bottle. “Even weres say a mate is mostly the ideal at first. That finding your mate just means finding a person who could be a lot to you. You can be happy with someone else never meeting your mate. I think that applies to fairies too.”

  Flor was intensely serious and waiting for an answer.

  “I suppose.” Clematis had some of the coffee Flor had bought for him without tasting it. “If you’ve already met your mate, or your happiness, it would be difficult to move on. But I think you will someday.”

  “You said that today too.” Flor was quiet. “But what if… what if David isn’t my happiness and never was?” He breathed in and out quickly after he said it, but then his breathing slowed and steadied. He nodded firmly. “What if you’re right? I can’t remember ever feeling that way. No lightning strike. No moment of realization and terror and joy. No sudden desire to spirit him away or desperate hope for him to speak to me. He’s always been there, but I’ve never felt that. Maybe I’m not meant to. Maybe I should look for a different sort of happiness.”

  Clematis frowned. “I don’t think just because David might not be your treasure, or mate, that you won’t ever have one. I don’t think that’s how it works. Wolves have lost a mate but found another. Or they do in romance novels.” He put his iced coffee on the ground and ran his hands through his hair. A second later he got up to take the bottle to the kitchen. “You’ll find true love, Flor. You’re deserving of it.” The cool kitchen floor tiles were calming, but he still stood there for a moment with his wings fluttering and the setting sunlight on his shoulders.

  “I’m not talking about true love,” Flor insisted. “I’m talking about getting to know someone and realizing that you might be catching feelings. Today, I—Clematis,” he began in a stilted tone, then inhaled sharply when Clematis turned around. “Fuck, you’re beautiful. Evening sunlight looks good on you, although I always thought, even when I didn’t like to think it, that moonlight suited you best.”

  People had said that before, usually when taking his picture or drawing him. Clematis smiled anyway. “I’ve always thought you were beautiful in the sun.”

  Flor made a face. “I’m fairy-cute, Clem.”

  “I’ve always thought you were beautiful,” Clematis repeated, then lowered his head to look at Flor through his eyelashes. “Would you like to fuck me?”

  “Are you seducing me and asking me?” Flor demanded incredulously, a hint of a rasp in his voice.

  “I thought it would help.” Clematis slowly brought his head back up, higher than before. It left his throat bare, the kind of thing that would appeal to a were. But Flor had enjoyed kissing his neck last night, and Clematis liked submitting, especially to someone who put flowers in his hair and smiled easily and kissed him for no reason.

  “Help?” Flor raised both his eyebrows but got up from the couch. “Do you think I don’t actually want you?”

  Slightly thrown by the question, Clematis shrugged. “I believe you desire me. Last night was proof of that.”

  “But you think you, what, have to seduce me into having sex with you again?” Flor shook his head. “Dude.”

  Clematis studied him, then licked his lips. “You’ve known me for years, and we haven’t done this before. And I still don’t understand why you chose last night. You said you thought about it sometimes. But last night I wasn’t doing anything to get your attention.”

  “Ah,” Flor replied, pained. He stopped to scratch the back of his neck. “Yeah, so, you’re beautiful. By the aesthetic standards of many humans, you are beautiful. You’ve always been that way. But it was like art, you know? I acknowledged your beauty, but it wasn’t for me. Not at first. I like people. Quirks and soft spots and dumb habits. I like kindness and dorks and when people laugh so hard they snort, and I never got to see those things about you before. These past few months… I keep thinking I’m finally seeing all of you, the real you, and then I find more and—you were highlighting your bills,” Flor said helplessly. “You’ve got paperclips in your textbooks and you walk those dogs. Fuck. And then you were just sitting there after telling me you desire me as if I knew that—I did not know that, not really. You were a nerd and you were beautiful, and… and I’ve wanted you for a lot longer than a few months.” Flor closed his eyes. “I was very surprised to realize that. About the time when you and David—I was very surprised. Does that help?”

  “I’m a nerd?” Clematis asked. Everything else was too much to think about.

  Flor opened his eyes. “You’re such a fucking nerd. I want to find that highlighter and write Nerd on your hand. Other things too, and not just on your hand. Ink lasts longer than a hickey on fairy skin.”

  “Yes.” Tremors carried through the word, through Clematis too, spilling out in shocky bursts of glitter and quivering wings. “So you will?”

  “Leave the lily in your hair,
” Flor directed hotly as he came forward, only to stop in place a foot from him. “Do you want that? Want it like last night, I mean? We don’t have to, but I am not sure I can completely stop bossing you around.”

  “I like it when you’re bossy,” Clematis reminded him. “Even when it has nothing to do with how you’re going to fuck me.”

  “Ah,” Flor said again, with feeling. “But do you want this to be like last night?” he pressed. “What do you want?”

  “You.” Clematis reached up to lightly touch the lily and make sure it was in place. “You aren’t Flor if you aren’t a little bossy.”

  “I feel like I should be insulted, but I just don’t care,” Flor muttered, then stepped in closer to put his hands on Clematis’s bare thighs. “These shorts,” he complained, breath slipping down over Clematis’s collarbones. He pushed forward, backing Clematis against the counter, but his hands stayed on Clematis’s legs, fingers brushing the denim. “Nobody should wear this kind of jean shorts.” Flor kissed Clematis’s chin and then his mouth, leaving Clematis to whimper when he stopped. “You didn’t even button them all the way.”

  “You’re going to fuck me,” Clematis realized aloud and put his head up to let Flor mutter about fashion in between sucking little bruising kisses into his neck.

  “God, yeah,” Flor agreed, gripping Clematis’s thighs tighter and pressing their bodies together. “These shorts are awful, you huge, giant nerd.” He scraped his teeth over skin hot and damp from his mouth and sucked a hickey there, high on Clematis’s throat. “You look so good in them. I hate it.”

  “I can take them off,” Clematis suggested, panting at the ceiling. He rested his hands on Flor’s waist, then slid them slowly up Flor’s back.

  Flor shimmied in closer to him with a rough, eager grunt. “Take them off and burn them. You were meant to be naked. You should always be naked.” He pushed his fingers under the denim, then sighed regretfully. He slowed his kisses, leaning up to get Clematis’s mouth again. He bit softly at his bottom lip and then hummed as he kissed it. “You’re so sweet.”

  “Please, Flor.” Clematis shivered all over from that kiss but it wasn’t enough. His blood was singing.

  Flor reached up to cup his face, then to urge his head down for several short, gentle kisses. He was breathing hard, but he was careful as he brushed Clematis’s hair from his eyes. “You’ve waited a long time?”

  Clematis nodded.

  “Hmm.” Flor tried to purse his lips thoughtfully but ended up smiling. “I think you should definitely get in my bed, then,” he announced and hooked a hand in Clematis’s waistband. He stopped to adjust himself through his pink shorts, then gave Clematis another kiss before tugging him forward. “The jean shorts stay at the door,” he warned. “I can’t be held responsible for them if you wear those things in my bed.” He softened that with another kiss. “I really hate how good you look in them,” he added. “I’ve never wanted to actually rip someone’s clothes off before.”

  “Take them. I don’t care. I always want to take your clothes off,” Clematis admitted, and Flor laughed merrily before leaning back against the doorjamb and pulling Clematis in for another long kiss.

  He tangled his hands in Clematis’s hair and sighed into it. “Touch me, okay? I want you to. Wherever you want.” He laughed again, but breathlessly, when Clematis immediately grabbed his ass. “You like that?” he teased before dragging his teeth over Clematis’s skin until it was sensitive and throbbing. “I could ride you later. But the jeans have to go first.”

  He left their mouths close, though he looked down as Clematis popped the last few buttons on the fly and shoved his shorts from his hips. The shorts were tight and Clematis exhaled in relief when they were off.

  “Good. Thank you.” Flor kissed his nose, a tender, surprising little peck, then trailed his hands down over Clematis’s shoulders to his chest and his sides. “Now get in my bed so I can fuck you. Was that too bossy?” he worried a moment later, with Clematis on fire.

  Clematis almost dropped to his knees. He shook his head firmly. “It means you want me.”

  “Want you?” Flor inched his head back. “I’ve been hard since you first asked me to fuck you. I wanted to touch you in front of your Sasha because I’m not as nice as you think I am. Get on the damn bed before I lose my mind and ride you anyway.”

  “Yes,” Clematis agreed dumbly. Yes, to anything. It cracked through him, making it hard to breathe. “Whatever you want.”

  Flor narrowed his eyes but somehow looked soft instead of fierce. “It’s whatever you want, sweetheart. Now get on the bed however you best like to be fucked.” He stayed with Clematis, hands on him until Clematis stepped into the bedroom and fell onto the bed. The mountain of comforters slid to the side, almost falling to the floor.

  Something tickled Clematis’s throat, and he realized it was a laugh as he turned himself around on surprisingly luxurious cotton sheets.

  “Egyptian cotton. High thread count. They were marked down.” Flor climbed on his hands and knees above him. His grin was wicked. “You like that, don’t you? It turns you on to know I bought them on sale.”

  “Just kiss me. Please,” Clematis panted, and Flor slid down over him to obey. He fit himself between Clematis’s legs and dug his hands into his sides as he rocked down into him. He’d taken his shorts off while Clematis had been struggling with the slippery sheets.

  “Look at you, sweetheart,” Flor told him breathlessly. “You’re with me for this, every step.” He rose up while still moving his hips, slowly dragging their cocks together. “I want to spoil you,” he said seriously, almost unhappily. “I bet people always want to spoil you.”

  “No,” Clematis choked out, cracking again someplace inside. He closed his eyes and shoved it down, and then Flor’s mouth was on his, kissing him deeply.

  “Buttercup,” Flor whispered, like he had last night. “Ropevine.”

  “Tie me up when you ride me,” Clematis answered, asking or promising, whatever worked, whatever ropevine meant.

  Flor went absolutely still, then whispered, “Yes. Fuck, yes,” and kissed him until he was moaning. It was hot and dry between them, friction rough and good. Clematis didn’t stop him, but eventually Flor pulled away again. “Lube,” he growled, mad about it, or about having to get up to get it.

  He didn’t go far. He banged around in a nightstand for a second, then reached under the bed and came back up with a tube.

  “Under the bed?” Clematis couldn’t help but ask.

  Flor huffed. “We can’t all be as organized as you.”

  “It’s because I’m a nerd.” Clematis had a feeling he was smiling, as if his cheeks were aching. But he couldn’t seem to care. Anyway, Flor didn’t.

  “My nerd.” Flor huffed again, flushed down to his shoulders. He stopped to stare at Clematis spread out on his back on the bed. “Flower’s still there,” he remarked absently, eyes huge. He swallowed audibly. “I want to spoil you, but is it all right if I just fuck you?”

  “Like a fairy?” Clematis demanded, empty and impatient.

  “Yes,” Flor agreed forcefully. Fairies were only delicate to humans. “I need to be inside you, like, right now. It’s suddenly really fucking urgent that I—”

  “Yes, Flor.” Clematis dropped his head to the mattress and bent his knees.

  Flor was between them in seconds, dropping kisses along Clematis’s inner thighs, spilling some of the lubricant as he warmed it in his hands. “You’re waiting for me so prettily,” he praised and rested one slick hand on Clematis’s stomach. He made a circle with his thumb, over and over, soothing and steady.

  Clematis parted his lips, not quite gasping. Flor opened him up smoothly, patient and watchful, his eyes burning as they darted from Clematis’s face to his ass. He wet his lower lip and smiled when Clematis started to shift and arch his back. “Good?”

  Clematis blinked at him for the question, then spoke in a rasping voice. “Flor.”

  “I am
trying to be extra careful and good for you.” Flor was too breathless to be snippy. He fucked Clematis with his fingers, not gently but not hard, leaving itching need behind that he wouldn’t fill.

  Clematis realized he was grasping the sheets and that Flor was watching. Everything he did, everything on his face. “I want you.” He did his best to pout seductively, but it came out as a whine.

  Flor stopped and kissed Clematis’s cock where it lay against his stomach. “Okay, sweetheart. Okay. You ready? Say yes or no or wait, please.”

  Clematis nodded firmly. “Yes.”

  Flor’s grin set Clematis on fire down to his toes. “Okay.” He withdrew his fingers and lined his cock up with an excited, tense hitch to his breathing. Clematis could feel that too. He closed his eyes as Flor pushed in, a stretch and the throb of a pulse, and then Flor kissing his chest until he opened his eyes again.

  Flor looked strained but satisfied. “You’re so fucking good, Clem.” He swept his hands down to Clematis’s thighs, but he didn’t move until Clematis dipped his fingertips down his shoulder blades, curved his other hand to the back of Flor’s head.

  Clematis groaned for the snap of his hips and took it, flaring bright inside for clumsy kisses at his throat and Flor’s steady rhythm. Flor dragged Clematis’s legs up, and laughed, tired but joyful, at the sounds Clematis didn’t bite back.

  “Louder, sweetheart,” he whispered just beneath Clematis’s ear. “It feels so good. Do you even know what you look like? What you sound like?” His mouth was hot. Clematis carded his fingers through Flor’s hair and whined at him until his thrusts were that much harder. “Going to want this every day,” Flor told him, pausing only long enough to shove a pillow under Clematis’s hips. “Want you every day. Understand?”

  “Please.” Clematis turned his head, avoiding Flor’s mouth and then following it.