They came over to kiss his forehead.
“You don’t ever have to apologize for being a mess,” Molun said. Then he frowned. “Wait, I’m not sure that came out right.”
Perian laughed softly, the soft swell of affection welling up inside him.
“Don’t ever hesitate to come to us if you need us,” Arvus articulated what Molun had actually meant, and Perian nodded, grateful once again that he had friends as good as these.
Brannal carried him across the hallway and straight through to the bedroom, where he carefully laid Perian in bed. He then stripped out of his own clothing and climbed in after him, cuddling up behind him in Perian’s favorite position so that they were tucked right up next to one another. Brannal trailed a hand up and down Perian’s side, which made him shiver.
“How are you feeling?” Brannal asked.
And Perian, who up to that point would have said that he still felt a little bit weird and sex was the last thing on his mind, felt the first stirring of something that was definite interest and wasn’t horrible.
“Better the more of that you do,” Perian said.
He could hear the smile in Brannal’s voice. “What? This?”
And the fingers strayed further, trailing up to Perian’s shoulder and then teasing their way down again, tickling over Perian’s hip this time and then down to his thigh.
Perian hummed a happy noise. Brannal’s hands continued to move along his skin, an almost-too-light-to-be-felt tickle thatswept up and down his sides, then across his chest, rubbing lightly over his nipples. The fingers traced a path back to his shoulder, then around a bicep. Dipping again, they followed the line of his hipbone but then moved to the soft skin at the crease of the back of his thigh rather than anywhere more… central.
By the time Brannaldidfinally wrap his hands around Perian’s cock, he was hard and aching and thinking only about the desire that flowed between them.
Brannal knew just how to tease Perian, to let him feel the beautiful, healthy, lovely desire that was always there between them. He could feel how hard Brannal was behind him, pressed up against his ass, but he wasn’t doing much about it, seeming to be content while he concentrated on stroking Perian, making him shiver and moan.
“You’re so good at this,” Perian told him breathlessly.
Brannal huffed a laugh. “It’s one of my very favorite things to do.”
“You have a lot of skill at it,” Perian said, feeling almost drunk on the desire. “If you ever need a recommendation, I can definitely give a very high one.”
Brannal laughed in earnest, and Perian could feel his chest shake against Perian’s skin.
“Why would I want a recommendation when I can be doing this with you?”
Perian grinned. “Yes, please. We’re the best.”
Brannal pressed a kiss to the back of his head. “The very best.”
Perian thrust into the other man’s hand. “I can’t imagine doing this with anyone else,” he confessed.
Perian felt the other man freeze against him for a moment, and then he gave a particularly clever twist with his hand, and Perian bucked up into him.
“Me, neither,” Brannal told him. “I love doing this with you.”
He stroked Perian’s cock again, rocking slowly against him now, filling them both with pleasure, pushing them higher and higher until Perian spilled over his fist, and with a few more thrusts, Brannal was coming against his ass. The buzz of energy that filled him was soothing, since it was happy and sated, the exact right kind of desire.
“Thank you,” Perian told him earnestly. “You always take care of me. You’re the best.”
Brannal pressed a kiss to his neck. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Perian said, and he’d never meant anything more.
Perian’s wrist was almost healed the next morning; it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had seemed when he’d been such a mess yesterday, but Brannal insisted that he have another tonic and that they cover it in salve and wrap it again. He also asked Perian not to train this morning.
“Give it a little more time,” he requested.
Perian sighed but nodded. It was the smart thing to do, and he knew it. He went to the training yard anyway, to sit and watch, because there were still plenty of pretty things to look at, and who didn’t like that?
