“I really thought… we’d be okay here.” Johan sounded bereft almost.
Henrik shuffled in closer, wrapping his arms around both Elias and Johan and took a deep breath to centre himself.
“Gods! You two had sex without me.” He scowled up at Johan before pinching Elias on his upper arm.
“More crucially, though, we have made amends, Rik.”
That was a relief, at least, although Henrik was a little bitter that he’d gone weeks without sex only for them to finally do it without him.
“We’ll make it up to you,” Johan said, tilting Henrik’s head up by his chin for a kiss. Most of his annoyance left him at the press of Johan’s soft lips against his own followed by Elias crowding him from behind and nibbling on his ear.
“You better,” he grumbled anyway.
Twenty-Four
Johan
J
ohan’s head was spinning from the events of the day. He’d been nothing short of elated to make amends and reconnect with Elias, but his elation was subdued now.
Elias caught him biting his fingernail and tugged Johan’s hand away from his mouth.
“There will always be something,” Elias said. “Life will always give you reasons to be scared or sad. It will try to break your spirit, Johan, but we have a choice. We get to choose to live, choose to be happy in spite of it all. And we have so much to fight for now,” Elias said.
Johan tugged the elf down onto his lap and pressed his head to Elias’ shoulder, breathing against his soft, perfect skin.
“Tonight, we choose each other. Tonight, we show Rik what he means to us, and if we do it well enough”—Elias smirked—“he’ll hardly remember his own name, let alone have time to fret.”
Elias’ optimism was infectious. Johan knew it often drove Henrik mad, but he could see how they would so easily spiral into misery without it.
Taking Elias’ lead, Johan fetched some water from the barrel outside that collected rainwater. His well of magic now replenished, Elias held his hands over the full pail of water and heated it up a little.
Henrik waited for them on the bed, looking unusually shy and nervous, and the effect somehow left Johan feeling more confident.
He and Elias worked together to peel off all of their clothes, and they showered Henrik’s body with attention as they washed him.
After they were all cleaned, Johan licked, kissed, and bit every sensitive morsel of skin on Henrik’s body until he was panting.
Feeling bolder than usual, Johan manoeuvred Henrik onto all fours. The elf gasped when Johan swiped his tongue over Henrik’s hole, pulling noises from him that rarely spilled from the stoic elf who tried so hard to keep his feelings locked away.
Johan had discovered that he enjoyed doing this a lot. He loved the gasps of pleasure he could pull from Henrik and Elias by using his tongue in such a forbidden place.
“You are so beautiful, Rik. Especially when you let go. I want to paint a portrait of you like this,” Elias said reverently, all the while stroking Henrik’s length with a lightness that Johan imagined was torture.
Johan could see Henrik battling to stay in the moment. Unlike Elias, he never loved being the centre of attention, preferring to be the one making them feel good than to be their sole focus.
Henrik reached out for Elias, tugging him close and devouring his lips as a distraction. They were stunning like this, with their lips fused together.
Johan began to trail kisses along Henrik’s spine until he reached his neck and plucked up the courage to ask, “Would you… would you lie with me… as you do Elias?”
Henrik stiffened for a moment, and Johan worried that it was wrong of him to ask that of him. He was much larger than the elves, and maybe it was odd to want that? He didn’t know, and his stomach flooded with something awful. Something likeshame.
“Like… you mean… What do you mean?”
“It… it… doesn’t matter. Forget I asked.” Johan was surprised he was still hard given the way all the blood in his body rushed to his burning cheeks.
“No. If… if you’re asking me to be inside you, then I want that. But is that what you are asking?”
