*CHAPTER 67:

Where's the limit?


It couldn't be.

It simply could not.

Yet it had happened.

Jay had never been truly in love before, no one had ever make him feel this weird. He had no way to contrast this recent discovery he'd made, but something deep down told him that nothing else could explain what he was experiencing. This anxious longing, the perturbing sensation that he should be somewhere else, laughing to Cole and Lloyd's jokes, learning cool things from Zane and Nya, hugging Kai —kissing Kai!

For Vishnu's sake! How much did he suddenly want to kiss the guy!

Suddenly?

No, these feelings hadn't sprouted in a day. Looking back in time, Jay had started having this desire a long time ago, disguised under a fire that he couldn't quite understand, but now he did. He was… in love.

Jay rolled in bed, hands darting up and messing his hair once more as he bit back a groan. Sun would rise soon. He hadn't slept at all that night —how could he after discovering such truth about himself?

What was he going to do now? How was he going to keep living without letting it show that he had fallen in love with someone of his same gender? The people at the market hadn't seemed happy at the idea suggested by that seller. What about his parents? Jay had never kept anything a secret from them, Ed and Edna would find it out at some point and then… what would happen then?

His eyes moved to the couple sleeping peacefully on the other bed. Jay's parents had never been the violent or volatile type, actually, they had always been more the spoiling gems.

But… Kai's experience with his own family still troubled Jay. Even if the young prince knew his father didn't see him as anything more than a pawn, he never imagined the man could commit such cruelties towards his own blood.

What if Jay didn't really know his parents' limits either? They had never talked about this —and given what most of the people in this city seemed to think about gay people... the prospect didn't appear thriving.

Would Ed and Edna yell at him? Hit him? Kick Jay out of the house? He honestly didn't care if he lost the roof over his head, but Jay couldn't bear the thought of bringing such pain and shame to his parents, to a sweet couple that had always looked after him so he could grow up into a healthy, good boy.

Could he still be considered a good boy after this? He'd deviated from Mother Nature's path! And yet... Jay couldn't bring himself to give up what his heart felt; that wasn't really an option at the moment, not with how much time he had needed to figure out he'd been falling for the Maharaja all this time.

Was it really okay to feel like this towards another man? Kai and the others so seemed to believe, and they actually displayed it in a marvelous way, very few times had Jay seen a more united family, but those memories weren't enough to put him at ease. No matter how well he remembered Zane's words about 'love never being wrong', the blond wasn't there to give any face-to-face advice to Jay as per these emotions cooking inside of his body, neither was Cole to provide one of those bear-like loving hugs that stole not only Jay's breath away but also his problems, if even for a minute.

Jay turned over, shielding himself from the weak rays of light that seeped into the shack from the small window. He reached a hand up to his chest, grasping the small charm that hung from his neck —a gesture that he'd been unconsciously repeating a lot during the last days. He squeezed the golden cage hard, the metal leaving a fleeting mark in his palms and fingers. Holding onto Lloyd's harmony ball was the only thing that somewhat made Jay feel like his friends were still there with him.

••••••••••••

"Good morning, honeybee," Ed greeted his spouse with a peck on the cheek.

"Good morning, sweetie," the woman responded, repeating the action and brushing a hand over the stubble growing all over his jaw.

The old couple stood up, lazily stretching their bodies and folding the blanket aside to let the straw bed air out after the night. Edna peeped over her son's shoulder and giggled.

"Still sleeping," she mouthed to her husband. Ed smiled at her and waved at the woman to let the kid sleep for a little longer while they started the day.

Like many other mornings when Jay slept in, Ed went out to fill two buckets of water from the ridiculous stream they had for a river a little less than a mile away from their house, while Edna tended to some cleaning duties or any possible early customers. Ed would sometimes stop and chat with the neighbors to share news or food. Whenever he made it back home, Edna would be happily waiting for him to get started on breakfast.

Ed kissed her wife again. "Sorry, I found Tolphee on the way back, you know how chatty he gets."

Edna chuckled. "As if you would ever turn down a chance to talk with anyone."

"You're probably right too." Ed smiled back with a faint blush, moving further into the house to dry his sweaty face. "He said he'll be bringing us some bread later…" Ed would have continued relaying the details of his encounter to the woman hunched over the small cauldron, but his eyes came to rest on the dormant boy in the room. "He's still sleeping?"

Edna looked up from her task and nodded. "You know I don't like to bother him, he's so adorable like this, it reminds me of when he was a baby."

A smile appeared on Ed's lips, he completely agreed with his wife. "Yeah, but that was a long time ago, and now this 'baby' has to wake up and get to work."

Ed kneeled by Jay's nest and softly nudged the boy's shoulder, Jay remained deep in his slumber.

"Up, up, son. It's a bright new day," Ed chanted at Jay's back and the boy gave a grunt in response, he rolled onto his back, eyebrows tightly furrowed and eyelids trembling as he looked up into his father's face with evident irritation. "Good morning, dear."

A rumble came out of Jay, who turned his face away with a scowl.

"Come on, son, breakfast is almost ready." Ed ruffled Jay's hair after placing a kiss atop the orange mop and standing on his feet again. Jay sat up slowly, he looked grumpier than usual, maybe Ed had interrupted one of his astounding dreams.

The man approached his wife and helped her serving three bowls of steaming rice while their child stretched and sleep faded away from his auburn eyelashes. As an inborn chatterbox, Ed quickly started to ramble about how delicious his wife's cooking looked like. Edna blushed with an amused smile at his compliments, then suddenly, the pretty grin was erased from her face as she looked past her husband.

"Jay?" She muttered.

Ed turned around barely in time to see his son, trying to get up from the straw nest, only to fall back down and bump his head against the wall.

The couple rushed to him. "Jay! Jay, honey, are you alright?" Edna worried as she helped the boy away from the wall, Jay hissed and reached a hand up to his head. Edna did the same, placing her palm all over Jay's forehead. "Oh, dear, you're burning!"

••••••••••••

Kai moaned low, not out of lack of pleasure, he was just trying to not get caught. Having Lloyd's lips wrapped around his cock didn't help, but that was the point; what made this more exciting was the possibility that anyone could knock on the studio door and interrupt them at any moment.

Lloyd wanted this to be over as soon as possible yet at the same time he wanted to tease Kai until he begged for more. The young boy's sexual awakening seemed to find the best companion in Kai's recently increased libido.

They weren't new to this type of game, but more often than not, Kai and his spouses would stop before things got too far. It would be hellaciously compromising for any member of the royal family to be caught red-handed —or dick-handed for that matter. That morning however Kai had gone through a large sum of paperwork, his mind was about to explode from all those numbers he'd examined with Zane and counselor Wu. Lloyd just happened to pass by the studio when he was alone, relaxing for a bit before his next appointment. One thing led to the other and now the once shy green bean was helping his husband release some of the stress he'd gathered out of his job.

"Uuuh… Shit… Ungh!"

Through blond lashes, Lloyd watched his lover's features scrunch up with sexual agony. Kai's muscles tightened as he gradually thrust his hips forward, moving in synch with Lloyd, the other boy knew what that meant.

"Lloyd… I'm gonna cum," Kai announced.

Moving his lips until only the mushroom crown was in his mouth, Lloyd sucked hard on the tip while quickly stroking the shaft and humming along with Kai's noises. The monarch gasped, grabbing at Lloyd's hair as he shivered and bit back a moan. Lloyd felt his core heating up at the feel of Kai's cum sliding down his throat, it always boosted his confidence to send Kai into the dizzy state that followed an orgasm.

Lloyd retreated, Kai's breath was heavy as he came down from his high. The Maharaja finally looked back down towards his companion and smiled, a mix of amusement and exhaustion in his smirk.

"Fuck… You're amazing, babe."

Lloyd giggled with an innocent blush spread through his cheeks. He rose up from his knees and tucked Kai's dick inside the clothes again. Holding onto the desk with one hand, Kai used his free limb to bring Lloyd closer. The smaller boy leaned into his body, nuzzling the hot skin of the Maharaja's neck.

"Thank you, I really needed this."

"My pleasure," Lloyd whispered.

Their noses bumped, mouths teasing each other for a moment before lips were finally being pressed together.

"Do you want me to do the same for you?" Kai's lips vibrated against Lloyd's as the monarch's hand made a beeline for his crotch and palmed his hard-on.

Lloyd trembled, shaky breath escaping him and brushing across Kai's face. "Someone… could walk in on us." The longer they remained like this, the higher the risk they got caught; after all, Kai was still on working hours.

"Not if we're fast enough," encouraged Kai. "And you already know how good I am with my mouth…" To prove his point, Kai captured Lloyd's earlobe with his teeth and licked the burr.

The other boy's vision blurred with excitement, pushing himself against his husband while considering their options. The decision was taken from him though, for someone knocked on the door, ruling any fun time out of the equation.

Zane lingered on the threshold, gaze looking down at some folders in his hands. "I have found the- Oh! Hello, sunshine." He blinked with pleased surprise upon finding Lloyd in the studio. Zane then retraced his steps and stuck his head over the doorway, shouting into the corridor, "Cole, wait, he's right here!"

While Zane waited for their friend, Lloyd and Kai withdrew from each other. The royal spouse brushed anxious fingers through straw hair, trying to convey his typical casual look, then realized he had way more incriminating evidence in his pants.

A coy giggle coming out of Kai.

"Don't laugh!" Lloyd slapped his arm, scowling his husband with a hush.

"You better not turn around yet," the other chuckled.

Lloyd grunted, but he recognized a piece of valuable advice in Kai's words too. He sat on the desktop, hands resting a bit too stiff on his lap and facing away from the door while Kai covered his mouth to stop another chortle. Out of the corner of his eye, Lloyd saw Cole entering the room next to Zane.

"Hey, I was looking for you, greenie!"

Lloyd turned a bit more, just enough to be able to look at the boy sideways, hoping his posture didn't look too awkward.

"What for?" He asked.

"I've found a bird's nest in the garden. Thought you might want to see the chicks."

"Oh," Lloyd murmured. His chest warmed up at Cole knowing how excited he got over little animals... but his friend really had to pick that right moment to be an adorable pain in the ass!

"What's up?" Cole asked when Lloyd didn't immediately jump towards the exit.

"Uh… nothing."

Lloyd heard Kai stifling a laugh. Cole came closer, surrounding the desk and putting a hand on Lloyd's shoulder.

"Are you okay, greenie?"

"Y-yeah, I…" Lloyd fidgeted, shoving his hands deeper between his thighs and trying to hide his blushing face from Cole. He caught Kai smirking and Lloyd wanted to strangle the king all of a sudden.

"Wait… What the heck were you guys doing?" Cole exclaimed, the subtle amusement in his voice let Lloyd know that the boy had probably found them out.

The Maharaja grinned at Cole. "What do you think Lloyd and I could be doing all alone in a room?"

"Kai!" Lloyd shrieked, feeling his whole face boiling.

"It's fine, babe." The Maharaja leaned in to place a kiss on Lloyd's lips. "They were going to figure it out anyway," he laughed.

Cole stared at them both, mouth agape and eyes wide open. "You two are so…" He faltered under Kai's cocky gaze, then eventually decided on a word to finish his sentence. "Naughty!"

Without an ounce of shyness, Kai took a step forward towards Cole, grabbed his neck, and pulled him down for an intense liplock that took the noiret by surprise.

"Don't play innocent when we did just the same the other day."

Lloyd gawked at the two boys, and funny enough, Cole's face was starting to grow a deeper shade of red too. The former soldier grunted, rubbing a hand over his face while Kai cackled, having won the battle once again.

"You guys are incorrigible." Zane sighed with an amenable smile. "I hope at least you didn't ruin any important papers," he said glancing at the various sheets still laying on the desk surface.

"Nah, we were very careful," Kai replied. "Oh, by the way, are these the reports?" He asked, pointing at the folders in Zane's grasp.

"Yes, the scribe just finished the official copy."

"Ah," Kai let his head fall back for an instant. "I guess that means 'time to work' again, doesn't it?"

"If you want to be ahead of everything, I'm afraid the answer is affirmative, my dear."

Kai sighed once more, but he didn't seem as bothered as other times when the royal business impeded him to spend time with his family.

A kiss was pressed to Lloyd's cheek, and then another on Cole's. "Guess I'll see you later, guys." Kai winked at them. "And maybe we can be naughty all together…" He murmured with a sultry voice.

Kissing Zane goodbye, Lloyd and Cole exited the room. Lloyd walked determined to the stairs, eager to get to the garden and see those, surely, adorable little birds. He stopped short when noticing his companion wasn't following him. Cole stood by the studio entrance, the door almost closed, but the gap was still enough for him to watch the two guys that remained on the inside.

Lloyd went back to his friend and observed Cole's features with closer attention. The bushy eyebrows were furrowed with a melancholy unusual for the boy, his eyes seemed to determinedly study what was in front of them while his cheek muscles tightened with unease.

"Cole?"

The boy seemed to come back to Earth when Lloyd's hand brushed his bicep. They just looked at each other in silence for a moment before Cole fully closed the door.

"Sorry… I got lost in my own thoughts. Let's go."

Cole's face went back to normal, no evident sadness in his dark eyes either and no furrowed brows anymore, but Lloyd couldn't shake the previous image of his friend off his mind. He didn't say anything though. These days, all of them were a bit strange, trying to fall into their former routine again.

It was odd, Lloyd thought, how their previous habits, once so fulfilling and cheery, didn't seem to be enough anymore.