Cassidy didn't even try to cover up his growl of frustration. "What do you mean-"

He leaned back, only a little, and turned his head back to Nicholas to snap, not really expecting Nicholas to have leaned forward at the exact same moment.

Their noses bumped up against one another, holding them there for less than a second, but it was all Cassidy needed to feel everything. His lips were on Nicholas's cold cheek and he could feel the vampire's own parted against his jaw, a breath dying against his skin as Nicholas's lost whatever it had been he was about to say. Nicholas's ridiculous hair was in his eyes, so he couldn't see the other boy, but he could feel his cold skin, hear his small gasp of surprise, smell whatever musky scent it was he wore and even taste the other boy on his mouth. He could never describe what it was Nicholas tasted like, but he could never say he didn't enjoy it.

With a jolt, both boys jerked away from one another, wide-eyed and uncertain. Cassidy's heart was pumping faster than ever and he could feel his cheeks burning shamelessly. He could feel Nicholas's cheek on his lips and in turn Nicholas's breath on the side of his mouth. Just the tiniest fraction of their lips touching for not even a second, and yet Cassidy felt like he would never forget it.

He just couldn't get enough air, he was panting like he had run a mile. All he had done was brush up against Nicholas. It was really no big deal. It really shouldn't be a big deal. And yet it somehow was.

Nicholas wasn't moving either, just leaning back on his arms, his smug grin gone replaced with a look of confusion and shock, his lips just parted in a way Cassidy thought altogether very unneeded for the moment.

All he needed was a distraction; to escape this awkward moment and get back to…for the life of him he couldn't remember what they were doing. Every thought in his head was driven towards Nicholas and how good he looked, mouth slack, eyes wide, hair in disarray with his body stretched back like that. It was far too much and yet he couldn't get away.

Finally Nicholas swallowed, seeming to pull himself slightly together before the corners of his mouth turned up in what was supposed to be an easy grin but was just far too tense. "So," he paused, openly collecting his thoughts and not meeting Cassidy's eye directly, "the holy and chaste Hunters do have a sex drive after all."

Cassidy gasped in appalled shock at Nicholas's boldness and felt his eyes burn.

He wasn't about to cry. That was utterly ridiculous and completely un-Hunter-like. He was a professional, he had seen death and stared it right in the eye. He had fought almost every night of his life since he was twelve and had landed himself in the Hunter's infirmary more than once overnight and never once did he cry. It just wouldn't make any sense at all for him to start now of all times.

He wanted to say something, wanted to snap back a witty retort but he couldn't think of anything. Cassidy could barely think at all, it was all just a massive pool of shame and humiliation, burning his throat and pushing against the backs of his eyes.

Five seconds.

Cassidy decided that was probably all the time it would take for him to get off the bed, stride across the room and be out the door and rid of Nicholas. In five seconds this could all just be an awkward and awful memory to be repressed and forgotten.

For the second time that night, he tore his eyes away from Nicholas.

"I'm done." The ice in his voice surprised even himself.

"What?"

"I said I'm done. Finish the damn thing yourself."

He rose to his feet, only to be thrown off balance a second later as Nicholas grabbed the back of his jacket. Cassidy wasn't ready for the sudden move and the backs of his knees hit the bed, buckling under the pressure and pulling him down backwards on top of the vampire.

Nicholas made a hiss of protest and elbowed Cassidy off of him. "Don't touch me!" He snapped.

Cassidy shot him an incredulous glare. "You grabbed me!"

Nicholas rolled his eyes and scoffed as if that was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. He brushed off his jacket haughtily, like there were some sort of Hunter germs tarnishing it.

Cassidy's face was burning, his heart racing and his thoughts even more jumbled than before. "What?" He demanded.

"What, what?" Nicholas ran a hand through his hair carelessly, but he wouldn't look at Cassidy.

"Why did you pull me back?" His voice seemed to lose momentum, slowing down and dying off with each word. He felt ridiculous. Like he was a little kid all over again, dealing with a girl who kept pushing him down on the swings but then wouldn't stop looking at him from across the playground.

But there were some major flaws in his analogy. Nicholas was not a little girl; he was a very grown, very male vampire. And there was nothing innocent about wherever this was heading. It wasn't little kids blushing and sitting together at lunch. Truth be told he wasn't sure where it was heading, or exactly what it was, but images were flooding through his mind, lacing through with old fantasies and new feelings.

Nicholas's eyes flickered back to him, uncertainly, almost shyly and Cassidy felt his mouth go dry. The other boy's eyes were wide and, even if only for a split second, Cassidy could imagine that he was as innocent as he seemed at that moment. He looked….submissive. It wasn't the intended effect, Cassidy knew, but he had a feeling, coming mainly from his groin area, that if he jumped Nicholas right now, he could have him.

The thought made him tremble outwardly, as much as he tried to stop himself.

Nicholas's eyes went even wider and the faintest brush of pink highlighted his cheekbones before he turned away again.

Cassidy took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He leaned his head against the headboard and grabbed the smooth wood with one hand, just to steady himself. "I've never seen a vampire blush before."

There was a pause.

"I've never seen a Hunter who needed to get laid so bad before."

Again Cassidy was struck silent by Nicholas's bravado. He opened his eyes hesitantly and met Nicholas's head on.

It seemed like an hour they sat like that, but maybe it was only a minute. Neither of them blinked, just staring the other down, neither willing to move.

Finally Cassidy shifted, pulling both hands behind his head and stretching his legs out across the bed. Nicholas looked away debating before turning back and slowly, as if he were approaching an animal that was about to strike, he inched closer to Cassidy until they were side by side, faces hardly an inch apart.

And then Nicholas was leaning closer and Cassidy's heart was pounding far too loud in his ears. The vampire's lips brushed his cheek in a gesture that was so sickeningly sweet for the moment that it was nothing short of filthily erotic.

Nicholas pulled back far too soon, all contact lost and Cassidy's skin burning where his lips had been a moment before. And then they're staring at each other again, both chest heaving and hands shaking with excitement and uncertainty.

They shouldn't. They couldn't. It was against the law. It was against nature itself.

The facts and taboos passed unspoken between them and it seemed to only increase the tension in the air. It only fanned the flames and made the entire situation so much more tantalizing, giving them so much more reason why they had to.

Cassidy released the headboard and instead rested a hand experimentally on Nicholas's hip. Nicholas raised an eyebrow and some of the tension in his face eased, if only a little. There was a smirk back on his face and he parted his lips, fangs reflecting dangerously in the florescent light, before running the tip of his tongue delicately along his top lip. He drug out the motion antagonizing, openly taunting Cassidy as he licked the taste of Hunter off of his lips.

Cassidy ground his teeth together in an effort to suppress whatever undignified noise was rumbling in his throat and threatening to spill over. This was too much.

Without quite meaning to he squeezed Nicholas's hip, eliciting an interesting gasp from the other's mouth.

Steady. His heart was driving into overtime and it was becoming a battle to breathe normally. For the first time it hit him hard just how much of a virgin he was. For the first time it seemed like an awful thing. He didn't know what to do. Didn't know how to act or how to deal with Nicholas and he wanted to. He really wanted to.

God, was Nicholas gorgeous. He was all sharp angles and smooth skin, his eyes bright and his hair was a soft gold in the lamplight, falling gracefully across his face. Cassidy swallowed hard, keeping his eyes on Nicholas's as he tried to subtly lift his leg and hide how aroused he was quickly becoming.

Nicholas broke their eye contact, shaking his head and laughing openly, his fangs flashing. Still smiling he gripped Cassidy's knee, silently calling him out. Cassidy flushed so hard it was almost painful, still trying to hold his leg in place even as Nicholas fought him.

His eyes dropped and his grip on Nicholas's hips loosened.

Nicholas scoffed once. "You're such a woman."

Cassidy scowled, turning back to snap at Nicholas but then the vampire was shifting. His long fingers were wrapping around Cassidy's shoulders, digging into his muscle. He threw his leg across Cassidy and settled down right in his lap, straddling him.

The hunter threw his head back, slamming it against the headboard and letting a hiss slid through his teeth as Nicholas's own growing erection brushed against his through their jeans. Nicholas shuddered; his eyes closing and his mouth curving in a silent gasp that almost sent Cassidy over the edge.

With a nerve he didn't know he had, he held on and didn't completely give in. Slowly and shakily Nicholas settled into him, both of them trying keep as quiet as possible and forcing down gasps and whimpers from the subtlest of movements. Finally Nicholas paused, his pallid face brushed with the lightest of red, his eyes huge and stared at Cassidy.

It was silent except for the low hum of the lamp, the muffled sounds of the city below and Cassidy's sporadic breathing. Cassidy felt like he should say something, anything, like Nicholas was waiting for something, but for the life of him he had no idea what it was and wanted to tell him to just get the fuck on with it, whatever it was.

He swallowed a lump, determined to say something to end the tensest silence of his life. "You're beautiful."

No, no he couldn't have possibly just said that. That was just…wrong. He couldn't have possibly just told a male vampire that he was beautiful.

Humiliation burned on every inch of his body. Hadn't he always been the one to say 'don't go in without a plan'? Never, ever, ever open your mouth without a plan of what you are going say. His heart thumped so hard he felt it in his throat, gagging him.

He couldn't look Nicholas in the eye, or at least he wouldn't have been able to, had he not already been looking right at him. As it was, he found he couldn't look away even through the loss of his dignity.

He waited for it, for the laugh and quip that would probably scar him for the rest of his life, but it didn't come. Nicholas just stared at him, lips parted just slightly in shock before leaning in a little closer, their noses almost touching.

Once, twice, three times Nicholas opened his mouth but no sound came out. Finally he closed it for a long moment, collecting himself before it all flew out in a rush "I've never seen anything hotter than you fighting."

Now Cassidy really knew that hadn't just happened.

There was no way to keep the shock from his face. His jaw dropped and his eyebrows disappeared in his hair. "What?"

Nicholas broke their eye contact, instead moving in to brush his nose so lightly across Cassidy's cheek that it tickled. "The way you move, like a cat, all swiftly and fluidly, all muscle and balance. Your eyes narrow, and you breathe a lot through your mouth, and your hair sticks to your face with sweat…" the words were tumbling out of Nicholas's mouth faster and faster, his hands beginning to shake as he steadily worked himself into a frenzy. "And you're all power when you go for a kill, steady handed and sure of yourself. You make it look like you don't expect it to be difficult, like you're never impressed."

The Hunter's mouth was dry, devoid of all moisture as his rapid breath wasn't allowing for it. He could feel Nicholas's excitement growing against him and could feel the twitching of the vampire's hips as the other boy was holding back the urge to grind into him. His thoughts were everywhere, fleeting and seemingly unimportant, but Cassidy tried to remain in control of his brain, to keep it functioning even through the severe blood loss it was rapidly experiencing.

"You, ah, you watch me?"

Nicholas's fingers dug into his shoulders. "Yes," he hissed, dragging out the consonant in Cassidy's ear.

"You think about me?"

"Yes."

Cassidy couldn't decide whether to be flattered, excited, frightened or disturbed, so he opted for being all four at once.

"What, what do you think?" It was a dangerous question, but one he couldn't have possibly not asked had he tried.

He felt cold lips on his ear, gently pulling and tasting. "I wonder if you make the same face when you come as you do when you lunge for a kill." Cassidy dug his fingers into Nicholas's hips and Nicholas drug a thumb across Cassidy's cheek. "I think about where else you might have those freckles. I wonder if you have that same unimpressed expression after sex that you do after a battle. And," he tugged on Cassidy's ear gently, running his tongue along the lobe, "I think that if you fuck anything like you fight, then it would be worth it to find out."

Cassidy threw his head back against the headboard with a thud, biting his lip to keep from making any noise. No one had ever spoken to him in any way remotely close to that and it took all of his will to not come right then and there. 'Sex', 'come', 'fuck', Cassidy was dying to hear Nicholas say of those words again, whispered like that against his ear, no matter what the context.

"…What else?" He was overwhelmed with the sheer feeling of everything, the heat despite his partner's cool skin. Almost every part of him was touching Nicholas, their faces pressed cheek to cheek as Nicholas worked on his ear, his chest rising and falling against the vampire's motionless torso, their groins pressed dangerously close together. All he could think at the moment was there was far too much clothing between them.

Nicholas leaned back so they could look each other in the eye again. "I wonder what you look like without your glasses on."