Chapter 33

"On three, we throw them."

"One," Ivan drew his hand back.

Matthew copied the gesture. "Two."

"Three!" Two globs of snot-colored fruit sailed from the balcony and splattered against a faraway tree.

They both squinted at the fruit guts against bark before glancing to one another. Matthew offered, "Best two of out three?"

Ivan knelt and grabbed two more fruits from their rapidly depleting breakfast pile. "Wait. Why not make it interesting? If I hit the tree, and you don't, you have to stay an extra day."

"Where'd that come from?" Matthew shot him a sly smile. "Fine, but if I get it and you don't, you'll have to...wear a dress and dance on the dining table."

"I have to what?" Ivan did a double take. "I wonder about you, Matvey, but I will do it, if you hit the tree and I do not."

"Okay, are you ready?"

"Are you?"

"On three, we throw them."

"One."

"Two."

"Three!" Ivan's fruit went flying, but Matthew dropped his, squealing as a free hand groped a soft spot in his side.

"Wha...hey!" Matthew gave Ivan a good shove as his poor fruit thumped into the dirt below. Ivan's fruit smashed against the tree. "That's so cheating!"

"Ah, but look, my fruit hit the tree, and yours did not!"

"Only because you cheated!"

"You will stay another day, Matvey!"

Matthew wanted to see some dancing in a dress. Alfred would have loved pictures. "Cheater."

"Stay!"

"You cheated."

"You will enjoy it."

Matthew turned his head away to smile.

Sturdy arms wound around his waist to pull him closer.

"If my dad yells at me for coming home later than I said I would, it'll be all your fault. I hope you know that."

"Tell your father to take it to me if there are any problems."

"Don't cry if he throws a bottle of wine at your head."

"Not even tears of joy?"

Matthew twisted to plant his lips onto Ivan's jaw. Ivan smiled and ruffled a hand through his hair. "You like that, Matthew?"

"I like you."

Hopefully that snicker was from Ivan thinking the same thing, instead of poking fun at the cheesiness that bursted from Matthew's face. "So do I. I like that you are here. I like...how you make me feel. I would like other people to feel the same way because of you. Do you understand what I mean?"

Matthew tipped his head and hummed questionably.

"There are two throne chairs, are there not?"

"Ooh, I thought you don't use those."

"I felt no reason to...until I brought you here. You do not judge, or spit on me from my past. Surely, I am not a fool as I thought I once was if I could get such a beautiful creature to run into my arms! I have been thinking a lot lately..."

"Good things?"

"Yes!" Ivan beamed. "Wonderful things. You're wonderful. You offered me so much already, so I tried to imagine what you offer my lands."

Matthew kept his face unfazed as he brushed some lint from Ivan's shirt. "Your lands?"

"Irunya has told you that we are...'filthy rich,' yes?"

"Not in those words, but...yeah, she said that one time there was a lot around here, but now it's..."

They both said at the same time, "Lonely?"

Ivan giggled in delight and squished their cheeks together. "Now, it is not as lonely as before!"

"You're very welcome, mon lapin."

"You are very welcome, Matvey."

"So, what are you thinking?"

"I am not certain yet, I just know I have been thinking a lot, and need to think some more."

Matthew put a hand to the demon's cheek with a smile that sounded in his voice, "Well, maybe we should stop thinking for a little bit. Don't you have things you wanted to do? Fun things..."

"Fun things!" Ivan cheered, and released his hold to crouch down and grab Matthew's legs. Matthew did not get a chance to get some proper pants on, or even scream for that matter, as they dove off of the balcony.

~.~

~BOING~

~.~

"The echoing tunnel-thingy was fun. When that little creature-thing jumped out of that tree and landed on your head? Freaking hilarious. Even watching that guy swallow a bug was great, but this," Matthew shot a hand to a precipice jutting over a huge patch of ground that was apparently soft, according to Ivan, "this is not a part of the definition of fun."

"It is not fun when you are standing here and talking about it." Ivan grabbed his elbow to urge him forward, closer to the edge of the cliff. "Do you think I would take you this far just to get you to jump to your death?"

Matthew dissented the arms guiding him closer to certain doom with a small grunt, shaking his head in pleading, "No! No, no, no-" The ground vanished from the soles of their feet

They plunged to the large patch amongst the hard dirt, the trees, anywhere to splat against. Ivan had nerve to throw his arms around him and smash their lips together.

"You ass-" They hit head-first into a swath of loose sediment. Matthew flailed, hitting the hefty body above his as they sank deeper into whatever material shifted around them, and eventually, their heads emerged, letting hot air into needy lungs. "Oh, my God! Oh, my fucking God!"

"Matthew! You are going to rip my shirt!"

"I don't care about your shirt! We could have died!"

"We could have, if these little grubs didn't catch us!" Ivan plucked one of the squirms writhing against them to drop it in his mouth, "Not only are they nice enough to catch us without snapping our necks, they make a good snack! So soft!"

"What?! No, no!" Matthew threw himself at Ivan, smacking his back, his head, anywhere, screaming, "Get me out of this! Get out!"

"Try one!" Ivan suggested, holding a wriggling worm to Matthew's face.

Matthew latched onto one of Ivan's horns and yanked.

"Ow! Oh, wow, you are not being nice to the little bugs or me!" Ivan wrapped his arms around Matthew and started to wade backwards, toward solid, non-grub infested ground. "They do not stay on your skin. If anything, they do not like touching warm things."

"Well, I don't like touching them, either!" As soon as his bare feet his dirt, and shook off any lingering bugs, Matthew stumbled away from who he thought was his beloved.

"Matvey? Are you all right?"

Matthew reached out, and slowly lowered himself to plant his butt on the ground.

"So...you do not want to do it again?"

"Matthew?"

"Matvey."

Matthew squished his fingertips to his eyes. Something shuffled in the dirt, and Ivan settled beside him and poked his face. "You did not break anything, yes? I know I did not, and you were with me!"

A little giggle broke through, and Ivan stopped yapping. Giggling, then laughter, then fully blown off-his-rocker, Matthew cackled into his hands.

"So you do want to do it again!"

"Ugh!" Matthew shoved Ivan's shoulder, but he just came right back and butted their heads together. "Fuck you!"

"Oh, no, Matthew, I don't think the little bugs would want that."

"Fuck the little bugs."

"I do not think they would want that either."

Matthew started to smack the back of Ivan's head. "I can't believe you did that! What if we broke our legs or something?!"

Apparently the swings were something to that of a lover's caress, and Ivan leaned in, chirping for more, "If we were going to break something, it would be more than our legs! Let us do it again!"

~.~

~BOINGERS~

~.~

A loud bark announced their return back home. The hellhound clacked forward, snuffling and grunting at Matthew's bare legs, and he laughed, kneeling to dish out some good pats. Cujo shook its head and sneezed all over his arm. Matthew blanched, "Ew! Demon dog snot!"

Ivan laughed, "You really need a bath, now, yes?"

Matthew shot him a look that was supposed to be menacing. Cujo grunted, nudging his leg with a wet snout. "Do you even have bathtubs?"

"No. We simply bathe in the pond out back."

"Um, what."

"I will show you."

Matthew muttered under his breath, "Oh, great."

Sure enough, overlooked by Ivan's bedroom balcony, a pond complemented the house, dwarfed by the dark trees dipping their roots into the water. Matthew kept his expression blank as he stared, but noticed Ivan staring at his face, and he asked, "What?"

"I know it is nothing like your 'showers' but it is better than running around with dirt or blood or whatever."

"Y-yeah! Sorry, I just...yeah! All part of the adventure, you know?"

"There is a rush of water that comes from the mountain. We could fly there and wash ourselves."

"How far away is it?"

Ivan glanced around.

"You know what? We should just stay here. No sense in flying, then getting sweaty and dirty on the way back, huh?"

"Yes! That makes sense. My smart Matthew."

Matthew playfully rolled his eyes and elbowed the beast. "I'll need to get my backpack, then."

"Don't worry. I'll get it."

"You don't have to-"

Ivan scaled up the house with a snap of wings and jumped over the balcony railings and into his bedroom.

"I guess you could do that."

Persuading himself it was indeed part of the adventure, and an opportunity to get all that grime off himself, Matthew peeled away his soiled clothes. He dipped a leg into the water, bracing himself for nothing, apparently. The water was warm, like pool water at night after someone secretly urinated in it. Not an image he needed at the moment.

The bedroom doors swung open, and Matthew quickly submerged himself into the pond so he was not hanging out in the open with his bare butt to the world when Ivan came back in a swoop into the dirt. He dropped the bag by the pond bed, smiling down at Matthew almost suspiciously, and started to unwind his scarf from his neck.

"What are you doing?"

"Undressing myself? I do not usually bathe with my clothes on. Silly Matthew!"

Matthew pointedly turned his head away. "Oh, you're coming in, too?"

"Yes? Is that a problem? Did you urinate in the water? Ugh, Natalia does that all the time, and I can't-"

"I didn't freaking pee in the pond!"

"Then everything is good!" Matthew stiffened when a hefty (and naked) body splashed beside his. Ivan dipped his head underwater and gave his wings a great shake, soaking his back, not unlike a bird going to town on its own puddle. He tipped his head, gazing at Matthew with a little smile. "Yes?"

"Oh! I, um..." Matthew gave himself a shake, meaning to look anywhere else, but his eyes glued to the various scores across Ivan's shoulders and chest.

"You're curious, aren't you?"

"And?"

Ivan kept his eyes steady on Matthew's face as he slowly reached over and pressed his fingertips to the wide mark the angels gave to him. It seemed like such a big thing, so long ago. "Usually, when most people see all of this, they proceed to scream...or cry, in Irunya's case."

Yes, there was a bunch of other stuff etched across Ivan's pale skin, but that just made the journey of Matthew's touches more interesting. "Which one do you want me to do?"

"Wha...Matvey!"

Matthew flinched and giggled as their foreheads bumped together. He let his eyes slip close, cooing as he grew warm, "Ooh, watch out for the big, bad, evil demon with all his big, bad, evil scars, or else he'll eat you!"

"No, I won't!"

"Oh, hush," Matthew planted a sloppy peck on Ivan's lips, making him grin like an idiot, "I know you won't."

"Not you, at least."

"Pfft, of course not." Resisting the urge to keep kissing him, Matthew reached for his book bag and started to dig for shampoo and stuff.

"Let me fill that necklace with my blood."

Matthew froze.

"I would never let your body be marred like..." Ivan sighed as he drug a palm up Matthew's back, "but I would tell everyone that you are mine."

"You think that somebody else might steal me from you?"

"Without a doubt."

"Do you think that I would let myself be stolen from you?"

Ivan did not respond. His hand stopped.

"How much do you think I love you?"

"My Inquisitive One. I only hope you love me enough to stay-"

"Do you think I love you as much as you love me?"

Ripples spread across the surface as Ivan thrashed in the pond's hold. "I love you more than I loved anything in my entire life."

Matthew lowered himself back into the water to slowly turn and meet his eyes dead-on. "Then, I will let you fill this with your blood on one condition."

"Anything."

"You will get one, too, and fill it with my blood."

Ivan sputtered with a lame laugh, "Matthew-"

"Do you understand what I'm telling you, Ivan?"

"That you would-"

Matthew put his fingers over Ivan's mouth. "A yes or a no."

"Yes."

"You are mine, as much I am yours."

"Yes."

Matthew moved his hand to clasp Ivan's cheeks and crush their mouths together. Warm palms danced up his back and pulled their wet bodies against one another, clutching tighter and tighter until they knew the heat more than they did precious air. They managed to rip their faces from each other, gasping for breath, but their eyes locked, stilling themselves for a heartbeat as something ravenous fueled their flushed cheeks and hungry gazes.

Screw oxygen; Matthew did not need it as much that moment. Blunt claws sank into his rear, and he let out a delighted cry from being swallowed whole by the realization of how badly he wanted those hands to be all over his body.

"No, no, no, no!" A screeching voice shunned them from somewhere above, like a nun shaming hooligans on a church's front steps, "No! Not in the bathing pond!" Again, they yanked from another too soon, and Matthew blinked at blurry nothingness a few times for reality to come seeping into his brain again. Natalia's snarls came from where it sounded like a second story window, "I need to wash myself in there!"

Matthew blurted, "Y-you mean you're going to urinate in here?"

Ivan scoffed, "Matthew!"

Natalia retorted, "If the feeling hits me, yes! I will!"

"Oh, gross!"

"Do not talk to me about gross! You were just about to-"

While the she-demon flipped her griddle, Matthew unwillingly ripped himself away from a strong, warm-

He tried to let out coherent words, "We better get out of here," while patting around the mud for his bag. "Ugh, where's..." His shoulders slouched. "You forgot the towels, didn't you?"

~.~

~BOING~

~.~

Matthew started to awake with his arm around a very warm, and very naked body. He drew a deep inhale, catching the demon's scent, and sighed happily. The body against his grunted. Something long and wet drug up his face.

Matthew's eyes flew open, and he yelled in disgust when it dawned on him that he was spooning a hellhound, rather than Ivan. At the first sign of consciousness, Cujo leaped to its feet and rumbled with an excited bark, bouncing and pawing at the blankets. Matthew held up a hand for five minutes, but the 'dog' proceeded to slobber over his fingers.

"Ugh! You're disgusting!" Matthew hollered as he threw his beloved blankets from himself.

"Matthew," a croak from the other side of the hellhound's wriggling body, "why are you yelling so early after waking up? You usually do not do that."

"Your damn dog freaking slobbered all over me!"

Ivan let out a lazy giggle, "He is your damned doggy, too. Everything damned here is yours as well as mine."

Matthew gripped Cujo's sides, trying to get it to calm down, and the heathen clamped its mouth shut with a little whine from lack of attention. "Stop," he told it, and gave it a quick stroke to one of its horns. Hopefully that was enough, and Cujo twisted away to go snuffle and drool somewhere else. "Oh, thank...whatever."

Finally, the hellish creature he wanted to spoon wiggled closer and slid an arm over his waist to murmur against his neck, "Matthew...five minutes."

That was more than enough to persuade Matthew to succumb to the blankets again. Ivan nudged the side of his face before their foreheads found one another. "I have demon-dog drool all over me, honey."

"Looks like Matvey and I will need another bath, yes?"

"Hm, five minutes."

Cujo threw back its head and howled.

"Cujo," Matthew growled. "Seriously."

Ivan giggled against his chin.

The 'dog' shambled around the bed, doing who knows what, before stepping on Matthew's leg, then too close to his groin. Matthew jerked as it wedged itself right between him and Ivan, like that was the greatest spot in the world. "Seriously!"

"Aw," Ivan lifted a hand to scrub behind Cujo's horns. "Someone is jealous."

"Ugh, who even let him in, anyway?"

A shrug.

Matthew flopped back to the bed. Cujo snuffled and lapped his cheek. "Ew! Stop it!"

"Now, now, doggy," Ivan coaxed the 'dog' to turn its affections onto him. "Only I'm allowed to do that." More wriggling. This time he scooted off of the bed and made a beckoning motion. "Come here!" It tipped its head, looking stupid. "Come here! Come on, you know how to walk, yes?"

Cujo let out a delighted yipe and lumbered after Ivan. Matthew turned his head toward the idiots with his eyebrows furrowed. Ivan praised, "Yes, that is good. You know how to listen!"

A door opened. Four paws clacked against the floor, after his voice trailing down the hall.

Matthew grumbled, "Oh, no, what are you doing?"

Soon Ivan came dashing into the room again with an excited squeal and dove onto the bed. He shambled into the covers and stilled. There was a muffled yell from a few rooms down. They started to snicker.

"Did you sick Cujo onto Irunya?"

"Yes. Hush!"

"Vanya!" Irunya called from the hall. "Did you let Cujo into my room?"

Matthew pretended to be asleep.

A loud sigh. "All right, fine." To the 'dog,' "Come on, darling, I'm sure you're hungry. Yes, I'm sure you are! Yes, you are!"

"Darling," Matthew whispered once she took the hellhound and herself away. The blankets became alive as they shook with laughter. They grew close again, not exactly kissing as they snickered against one another's lips. "Are we going to go to the Market today? Getting you something nice?"

"Yes...just give me five minutes."

~.~

~BOING~

~.~

A lot more than five minutes later, they took to the stale sky, bathed and completely wearing pants this time, for the both of them. After several glimpses down to the trees running by, which Matthew regretted doing each time, the stomach flipping-sensation gave away to numbness. His fingers locked around Ivan's scarf as his wings pumped at the hot air, probably never to separate from the cloth ever again.

The landing was worse; Ivan decided to deeply plunge toward the closest barren ground, before almost falling forward with his added weight when he finally touched down after gliding/running over the dirt. He hunched over, and Matthew's legs spilled from his arms and made contact the ground with a cry of relief.

"We made it?" Matthew picked up his head, eyes going wonky as he stared after the trees holding their branches up in farewell. "I think...I think you need your flying license revoked."

"Matthew," a clawed hand latched onto his bicep as Ivan panted for something to get into his lungs, "that...is not very nice."

"A drunk dove can fly better than you."

"You should fly on the way back then, yes?"

Matthew scowled. Held for a breath. Then, he melted with a delighted giggle, breaking Ivan's resolve as they pulled into a snug embrace, noses bumping as they tried to smooch one another, but failed not-so miserably. "Let's get going."

"Yes. Please."