Chapter 21

I closed the small gap between our lips and kissed him, warm and gentle. My heart pounded and my dick ached. I wanted to dive right in with my tongue and pin him to the bed, but I kept it slow and teasing, until he took over and deepened things. His tongue slid over mine and he pressed my lips against my teeth. His erection grew, rubbing against mine through two sets of underwear. I groaned in both pleasure and frustration, longing to feel skin on skin. Arthur clearly wanted the same, as he pried himself off me and reached down to free me from my boxers. I shivered as his hand closed around me and gave me a few quick pumps. Then he pushed his own underwear down and grasped us both together.

I broke the kiss, gasping. "Aw, fuck."

Arthur chuckled. "You like that, Travis?"

"What do you think?" I grabbed the lube. "Use some of this."

Frustratingly, Arthur took his hand off me again, but only long enough to squeeze some lube into his palm. Then he began stroking us with his slickened hand. My eyes rolled up in my head and I lay there, trembling with pleasure as his dick slid against mine, and his hand stroked us, not quite firmly enough to make me come too soon.

"Every night when I'm alone, I think about doing this with you," Arthur whispered. "And other stuff."

"Hell," I groaned, as he tightened his grip a little. "What other stuff?"

"Remember what you did with your finger that time?"

"Uh huh." That wasn't something I would forget in a hurry—the tight heat of him squeezing my finger and me imagining what it would feel like around my dick.

"I think about that. And then—" His breathing hitched, and he loosened his grip again. "You fucking me."

"Jeez." I opened one eye and glanced at his face. His cheeks were flushed, and eyes half-open as he looked down between us, watching our erections sliding through his fist. "You want that now? The first part?"

"Yeah. Wait, though." He let go of himself and tightened his grip around me only. Then he quickened his pace, jerking me rapidly. It didn't take long for me to finish.

I groaned and clenched my fists. "I could have waited."

"But I want all of your attention on me," Arthur murmured.

"It always is." I forced my eyes open. My limbs were boneless and my chest heaving, but I couldn't wait to get my hands on him again. Arthur still lay on his side with his knee propped up. He stroked himself a little while he waited for me. "I like watching you do that."

He laughed a little and stopped touching himself. His laughter continued. He put his hand over his mouth and scrunched his eyes shut.

"Hey, come on. It's okay." I put my hand on his arm. It was so thin, my fingers reached almost all the way around. "It's nothing to get upset about."

"Yeah," he gasped out. He sucked in a breath and a couple of isolated cackles followed. He opened his eyes. "I'm not, uh, upset. I just, um, I, um—" He stopped and concentrated on breathing.

I stroked his arm and gave his bicep a gentle squeeze. "Do you want to stop and just talk for a while?"

"No." He smiled a little. "I'm sorry. I kind of feel like a kid caught doing something wrong."

"Giving yourself a bit of pleasure isn't wrong. It's sexy."

"A lot of the things that happened in my life before now have been about anything to do with sex being wrong. Sometimes it's okay, but other times I remember that, and it makes me think I shouldn't be doing it."

"When it's just you and me, you can do whatever you want. If you want to just do it yourself, it's cool with me. Anything we do with each other isn't wrong, 'cause both of us want it, and I'll always stop if you want me to." I said what I thought might help and wondered where the words came from. I'd never been in this situation, and usually I was hopeless at coming up with the right words at the right time. But it seemed to work with Arthur. He smiled.

"That's why I love you, Travis. You always know the right thing to say when I get all weird and lose myself." He snuggled closer. His softened dick slid against my leg. "I spoiled things, didn't I?"

"You didn't spoil anything. This is good, too." I hugged him tighter. Neither of us moved or spoke for a few minutes as Arthur got himself together again.

"Doesn't this bother you?" he asked eventually.

"What do you mean?"

"Me being, um, me." He pressed his face into my neck and stroked my chest. "You're so good for me. You always say and do the right things, but don't you get fed up that sometimes I get weird and it spoils what we planned to do?"

"No, it doesn't bother me," I said. "I love you for being you. I'm not exactly a normal regular guy either. I spent my life since I got out of the marines popping pills, working every hour so I didn't think too much, not dating, not hanging out with friends because I didn't really have any, just going to see porn movies and planning how I could cleanse the city all by myself. To be honest with you, I think we're a pretty good fit. You don't seem to care about my weirdness, and yours doesn't bother me either. I think that's why it works so well."

Arthur lifted his head and grinned. "You're doing it again."

"What?"

"Saying all the right things." He grasped my hand and drew it down between his legs. I cupped his junk and squeezed gently. Immediately I felt movement. He was over his "weirdness" again and back in the moment.

It didn't take long for Arthur to get fully hard again. I stroked him a little, my hand sliding easily over his flesh which was still slick from the lube. I added more and coated the fingers of my other hand. He lowered his head back to the pillow and closed his eyes.

Gradually, I worked my finger into him while I jerked him off, keeping my grip too slow and loose to make him come too fast. He squirmed and moaned in frustration, limbs trembling and twitching. I added a second finger, gently pressing into his heat and gasping out my own pleasure at the feel of him. My spent dick started to fill again, and I imagined myself above him, pushing it into his body. It might be a long time before that happened. We might even try it one day and he'd decide he didn't want it or like it, but I could still imagine it.

Arthur laughed breathlessly when my erection nudged his raised leg. "You're ready to go again?" He opened his eyes and grinned wickedly, eyes sparkling, all trace of his earlier discomfort gone. "Are you thinking about how it would feel if you put it in me?"

"Fuck," I breathed.

"I'm thinking about that, too." He groaned and closed his eyes again, as I pressed my fingers deeper and brushed his prostate. "When we do it—" Another moan. "I want you to—" He stopped, panting for breath as I jerked him harder. He was almost there. "Come in me!" he cried out, as he shot his load and clenched around my fingers.

"Jesus, Arthur." I took my hands off him and couldn't resist giving myself a quick tug, stroking his fluid onto my flesh. Just as I forced myself to stop, his lashes lifted again.

"Don't stop," he whispered. "Let me watch."

"Kinky." My face warmed a little.

"Go on. It's just me. I want to see how you do it to yourself."

My shaft throbbed in my hand, and I resumed stroking it. Rather than be embarrassed, I only got more turned on with him watching. I watched him watching me, his head tilted down, avidly staring and occasionally licking his lips. Despite having come only a few minutes ago, I didn't think it would take me long to get there again.

When I came, Arthur groaned along with me. Panting, I laughed too. "Shit, that was—" I didn't know what it was. Hot and weird at the same time.

"It was hot," Arthur said. "Now I can think about that, too, when I'm alone tonight. My Travis masturbating."

"Hell." I laughed some more and leaned closer to kiss him. "You could do that for me sometime, too."

He grinned. "I could do that." Slowly, he sat up. "I think I should go soon. I want to stay longer. I'd like to stay the night, but I have to get back. I have a meeting with Dr Marks in the morning, too." He laughed. "Do you think I should talk about what I've been doing?"

"Huh. Maybe not all of it."

"I don't think it would be that believable if I said my boyfriend fucked me with his fingers and I watched him jerk off." He laughed again. "They'd probably keep me locked up for another year."

"Definitely don't tell them." I got up to fetch a towel from the bathroom for a quick clean up. When we were done, we dressed again, and headed out to the cab so I could drive Arthur back to the home. I parked behind the building down a quiet street and took his hand.

"When will I see you again?" he asked.

"When's your meeting tomorrow?"

"Early. Right after breakfast."

"Okay. I could come over later, after I get some sleep. Maybe two o'clock?" I suggested.

"I would love that." He smiled and leaned over to kiss me. "I love you, Travis."

"Love you."

When he got out of the car and walked around the corner of the building, I stayed where I was for a minute, thinking about him. The day had been really good, and I could imagine us together when he got out, able to see each other whenever we wanted. A shiver of excitement ran through me, and I laughed when I caught sight of myself in the rear-view mirror, beaming like a kid at Christmas.

I didn't work so many hours that night. Business was slow, but one of my fares wanted to be taken out of the city a few miles and gave me a generous tip for stopping on the way and waiting ten minutes for him to visit someone before we continued. I made enough money by midnight and headed home.

For once, I slept easily and was well rested and wide awake by eight. I took the opportunity to shop for groceries and another new shirt, and get my sheets and some of my clothes laundered. The rest of the morning crawled by as I waited to go and see Arthur. I went early, but he was already outside sitting on the bench waiting for me.

"Hey!" I walked over, pleased to see a smile on his face. There was always a question as to what mood he would be in when I saw him. Sometimes his meetings with the doctors upset him, but not today.

"Hey, Travis." He got up, glanced around to check for passers-by, and stepped close to give me a quick kiss.

"How did it go today?"

"They found a room for me. I think it's a similar thing to yours. A room in a building somewhere. Grey Street? Do you know where that is?"

"Yeah." A cab driver very quickly learned the name and location of every street. "It's that way." I pointed vaguely in the opposite direction to my place. Grey Street was about as far as you could get from my location and was in a rougher area.

"Oh." His smile slipped, but then he shrugged. "I was hoping I'd be somewhere near you, but at least I'll be out, right?"

"Yeah, that's the most important thing."

"Twenty-four days," Arthur added. "I'm counting them. The meeting with the doc was good, by the way. We talked about what I would do when I get out. There's a food factory that's expanding. They just had a new section built and they're taking on operatives."

"I know the one. It's near where I got my cab from." I nodded.

"I could take a night shift." Arthur smiled. "Then we'd be working at the same time. It would be no good me working during the day and finishing when you start. Night shift pays more, too. I could buy you apple pie and cheese sometime."

"I can't wait." Twenty-four days, I thought. Twenty-four days and I'd have him to myself. I had no doubt there would be challenges and struggles. His issues wouldn't magically go away, but at least he was better than he had been. I was, too. I still took my meds, but I realised that since I left Arkham and subsequently the home, I was better. My depression and anxiety seemed to have taken a step back, and I wouldn't be surprised if having Arthur in my life was responsible for that, the same way he said he was better because of me.