Nicodemus put his gaze back on his feet. “Oh.” Bel did not sound excited. “I am needy, I know. I shouldn’t have pushed you. You don’t have to—”
He didn’t hear Bel move, but Bel’s stockinged feet were suddenly before him and then Bel’s hand was beneath his chin, urging Nicodemus to look up. When he did, Bel bent down to kiss him.
Bel trailed a hand through Nicodemus’ hair and smiled when he pulled away and Nicodemus blinked at him in stunned wonder. “I just need rest first, lamb. That’s all. This is not the Realm.”
Nicodemus belatedly remembered that. “Oh. Yes.”
Bel kissed him again, just as softly as before, but this time, he pulled away sooner. He put a hand to Nicodemus’ cheek and frowned, probably for the feel of a fever. “You need rest too, I think. You slept on, undisturbed, when I brought you in here. So.” He stood up straight and waved vaguely toward the door. “When you want me, call or come get me.”
“You won’t be here?” Nicodemus asked without thinking. He hadn’t thought Bel would also only stay for what was required and then want to leave.
“Nicodemus.” Bel said his name as though Nicodemus had done something egregious by staring at him, wide-eyed. “Most would not sleep easy next to me after learning what you have—or afterseeingwhat you have.”
Nicodemus adjusted his glasses to better study Bel’s mask. That Bel had bothered with the mask in this moment was vexing. Nicodemus was tired and he was hot and if Bel wanted to sleep, then he wanted Bel to sleep here.
“Bel,” he confided carefully, whispering this new truth, “I am a peculiari now.”
Bel blinked and reared back. Then a laugh burst from him. “So you are. And a powerful one at that.” He tipped his head to one side. “Asterion peculiari do not fear monsters?”
“Well, not this one.” Nicodemus could not speak for any others, if they existed. “And… I have never had a lover. Not of the kind to sleep with me. I would like to try that, if you would also.”
“I have never been a lover. Not of that kind,” Bel confided back. His decision apparently made, he inclined his head again and began to undress.
Nicodemus somehow had failed to consider the clothing in their sleeping arrangement. But then, he had many other things on his mind. Bel, apparently, did not worry over propriety or nightshirts, which should not have been a surprise. He placed his pants and everything else on the pile on the chair, then quirked an eyebrow at Nicodemus before removing his shirt.
Bel, when not in the Realm, was paler in some places than others. He was broad in the shoulders and about the middle, like prizefighters were, and had a few marks and scars that anyone might have had, if perhaps a bit more than most. He had some hair on his chest and some lower, and a cock to make Nicodemus sigh.
“Much better,” Nicodemus told him happily when Bel paused to look askance at this. “I liked your other cock, you know I did, but I think I prefer this one. This one I could take every day.”
Bel’s face did several things Nicodemus could not interpret, although a grin won out, eventually. “I’ve never had anyone compare the two.” His grin fell away. “Is every day the plan?”
Nicodemus huffed, then reached out. Bel was warm, and he came closer with no more prompting—not even going back to close the door. He slid the hem of the nightshirt through his fingers.
“You look overheated,” he observed, smile returning when Nicodemus immediately raised his arms to be free of the thing. Nicodemus meant to shove his trousers off as well, but then Bel skated a touch over several of the sore spots and scrapes on Nicodemus’ torso, making him shiver. “But you’re still a pretty sight.” He rested his thumb on Nicodemus’ bottom lip.
Then he stepped around Nicodemus to get onto the bed, leaving Nicodemus to stare after him in want and confusion.
It was not a wide bed, though it was long, with the head of the bed and one side against the walls. Nicodemus gawked at the sight of Bel stealing a pillow and making himself comfortable on top of the bedding, before catching Bel’s knowing look and hastily pulling off his trousers and leaving them on the floor.
He laid down, then had to sit up to remove his glasses and set them next to the empty cup of water. Then he flopped down again, this time on his side. He could feel Bel’s heat all down his back. It should have been annoying with Nicodemus so hot already. It was, in fact, but mostly he liked it.
“Did you want to get under the blankets?” Bel asked.
Nicodemus shook his head, then sucked in a breath before rolling over to face him. “No,” he answered aloud, attention catching on Bel’s thigh—which had also been lazily bandaged—and then Bel’s cock again. He dragged his gaze up to Bel’s chest, then to his face.
Bel looked amused.
“Ishould have bandaged you,” Nicodemus told him sternly, then laid a hand on Bel’s arm to warn him before he scooted closer so he could rest his cheek on Bel’s chest.
Bel got his arm around Nicodemus to touch the back of his neck. “You’re burning up.”
“Hmm.” Nicodemus moved, resting his chin on Bel’s sternum, then moved again so he could rub his cheek on the hair on Bel’s chest. He bent a knee to partially cover one of Bel’s legs with his own. He felt prickly all over. But then Bel’s stomach tightened when Nicodemus traced the line of hair below his navel and Nicodemus forgot about it.
“Are you trying to help me sleep?” Bel wondered lightly. “Or is it time and this is a more subtle hint than I expected?”
“Sorry.” Nicodemus laid his hand over Bel’s hip and inhaled deeply. “You smell nice.” That wasn’t what he’d meant to say. “I’ve never done this before, slept like this. I’m tired but….”
Bel took Nicodemus’ hand and pulled it up to his chest. Nicodemus scratched through the hair there, then took another deep breath. His cock stirred. “Sorry,” he murmured again, since Bel would feel it. He was more surprised he hadn’t been hard since he’d woken up to the sight of Bel in his room, but he was likely still feeling his exertions from before. Bel had made him come twice, once spilling so much that he had thought it wouldn’t end. His body was somewhere between exhausted and increasingly aroused.
