Giving In

The water ran over his body as he stood under the shower. Over the years, he had become accustomed to the taste of the so called stuff, but not enough to forgo his anti-bac supplements every week. The white hair washed over his face as he leaned against the walls. He rolled his neck languidly as the warm water soothed his muscles. He had pushed himself extra hard this morning in his workout.

His entire team, such as they were, had managed to get themselves injured while he was unharmed. He cursed. He felt guilty. He felt responsible. If he had been on the roof, could he have done something? Could he have stopped the newbie from pushing herself past her limits? Would it have been any different? And the rest? The troll had collapsed shortly after she arrived at his place. That excuse for a samurai was dripping over the carpet when she had finally arrived. And the elf... Something inside him swelled up and anger surged as he drew back a fist and punched the wall. The tile shattered.

"Shit!" He cursed.

He hadn't quite meant to do that. There was something about the damned elf, something that he could quite put his finger on. Kellen shook his head, pushing it to the back of his mind as he flexed his knuckles. The water ran red where it ran over the torn skin. Kellen cursed again as he turned off the water stepping from the shower. He grabbed a towel one handed and tried to put it around himself but of course, failed miserably. The white cloth was decorated with droplets of red clinging to the fibers as he fixed it in place. He wadded up some tissue paper and held it to the injured hand. He padded out over the pale carpet and into one of the bedrooms, his bedroom. He caught a smell as he entered the room. A fresh woodland scent, but something deeper, earthier. He shook himself and the smell was gone. He pulled out the first aid box and searched through it for bandages.

"Fuck!"

He ran his uninjured hand through his hair. They'd used all the bandages when treating and patching up that waste of space. And then the doorbell rang. Kellen cursed again. Just what he needed. He pulled a gun from the coat stand by the door where he hung his rig. He quietly stepped up to the door and peeked through the spyhole. A familiar face appeared, distorted in the fish-eyed glass. He sighed and pulled open the door.

"Morning!" Kellen saluted, bringing the gun up to his forehead in a mock military gesture as he moved aside to let the other man enter.

He waited for the elf to move past him although it seemed to take an age. He could feel Tantrik's eyes crawl across him. He cursed himself internally. He should have known better than to answer the door in a towel. He ushered the elf inside as he returned his gun to its holster.

"What happened?" asked Tantrik, looking at the blood drops decorating the towel.

"Had a bit of a disagreement with a wall." Kellen answered flexing his injured hand, not wanting to get into it.

"Gimme."

Tantrik held out his hands to take the tissue covered hand in his. Kellen just looked at him not moving to give the elf anything.

"Look, Kell..." Tantrik started. "You might as well give it to me. Five minutes and it'll be fixed as opposed to five days. Your choice."

Kellen still made no move for another second or two before grudgingly giving his hand to the elf. Tantrik pulled him over to the couch and sat down, expecting Kellen to do the same. He did. Kellen watched as Tantrik closed his eyes and started muttering something under his breath. The back of Kellen's hand started to prickle as the tiny hairs stood up. Tantriks thumb was rubbing over his skin in small, soothing gestures. There was something unnatural about the whole magic thing. Well, the feeling must have been fairly mutual looking at the look on Tantrik's face. He'd seen the shaman healing the others and with everyone barring Pink it was simple. But now, there was intense concentration and beadings of sweat on his brow. Kellen tried to pull back his hand, to spare the elf the pain but it wasn't happening. Tantrik's grip was firm even as the thumb kept moving back and forth.

After what seemed like a scarily long time, Kellen saw Tantrik's emerald eyes blink as he came back to reality. He lifted his hand off the injured skin and it was healed, undamaged skin, slightly pinkish but whole. Kellen flexed the hand but there was no discomfort, no pain, not even stiffness. Maybe he could get used to this whole magic thing.

"So..." Tantrik asked. "How is it?"

"Great..." Kellen couldn't seem to take his focus off the hand.

"Anything else you want me to take care of while you're here? Want me to have a talk to the wall and tell him not to be picking on you any more?" Tantrik joked.

"No.. It's..." Kellen stopped and looked up, realising that the elf was teasing him. "That's not funny!"

Tantrik's eyes held a twinkle of mischief in them. "I don't know. I thought it was funny!"

Kellen glared and Tantrik put up his hands in capitulation.

"Okay, okay. Dropping the subject..."

Tantrik settled back on the couch, making himself comfortable. He tucked one leg under him. Again, Kellen became very aware of the elfs eyes on him. Kellen blushed and got to his feet, slightly nervous and not knowing why.

"You... Wanna beer?" Kellen hopped from one foot to another as he spoke.

"Sure." Tantrik smiled.

This was a side of him that the elf hadn't seen before. It was rather amusing to see the samurai nervous. His eyes wandered down to the knot. It would be so easy to just summon a spirit and pull the towel away... Tantrik dismissed the thought. He knew better than to force someone to do what they didn't want or weren't ready for.

"I'll just go throw something on and be right back." Kellen's voice seemed relieved.

Tantrik waited until Kellen was just out of the room before saying "Don't bother on my account!"

Kellen's head poked back in a second later and Tantrik cursed internally. He'd forgotten that the blasted samurai had amplified hearing. Oh well, what the fuck... It wasn't like he'd turn down the opportunity to see him naked again. Hell, that was part of the reason he was here. For some reason he couldn't get the samurai out of his head. The jealous feeling when he was talking to Alison, brushing something off her shoulder, looking in on her while she slept... It just made his fists clench. He wanted to shout and yell and declare Kellen as his to the entire world. And therein was the problem. Kellen wasn't his. Kellen was so far away from being his that it was in another timezone. Or was it? The samurai still stood in the doorway, a single eyebrow raised at his house guest.

"What?" Asked the elf. "It's your house! Dress how you want... Although that little white number... Fantastic!"

Kellen's jaw dropped and he spluttered trying to say something but decided against it and retreated into the kitchen.

Tantrik sighed in relief. 'Well, I'm not dead yet. That's gotta be something, right?'

Kellen walked back into the living room with two open bottles of beer in his hand. He had changed from the towel into a loose fitting pair of trousers that rode low on his hips. Tantrik could just make out the lines of muscle running over his muscled thighs and disappearing under the loose waistband. His tongue flicked out across his lower lip as he watched the crinkle of the muscles on Kellen's stomach as he sat.

"Um... Tan...?" Kellen started, holding out a beer to his new friend.

"Mmmyes?" Tantrik had to force his eyes back up to look at the samurai.

"I'm not ... Well... I don't... I'm straight!" Kellen spluttered, not quite able to look at Tantrik.

Tantrik blinked as he took in the words.

"Well... It's just that you've been looking at me like I'm desert since you came in." Kellen picked at the bottle label with his thumb. "I didn't want to give you the wrong idea."

Tantrik's jaw dropped. "But that night..."

"What night?" Kellen's brow furrowed.

"The one where I ran into you in the bar... The one where we ended up in bed together..."

"Oh!" Kellen looked down further as the label started to peel off. "That night!"

"Yes! That night! Why the fuck were you in a gay bar?!" Tantrik sloshed some of the beer over the lip of the bottle as he gestured emphatically.

"A gay bar?" Kellen looked shocked.

"Um yeah..." Tantrik was puzzled.

"It was a gay bar?" Kellen stood, walking around the room as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah! What made you think it was anything else? Was it the men dancing with each other? The guys trying to crawl into each other skins through their mouths? The seventeen men trying to get into your pants?" Tantrik's voice rose as he finished his exclamation.

"I was a little drunk at the time and I... Seventeen?" Kellen cut off his explanation to focus on the important issue.

"Yeah. Seventeen. I counted, alright?" It was Tantrik's turn to blush.

"You counted?" Kellen's eyes went wide.

Tantrik's own fingernail started picking at the label of the bottle. "Yeah." He sighed. "Look, I tend to notice how many people hit on the guy that I plan to bring home for the night while I'm still talking to him."

"Seventeen?" Kellen couldn't seem to drop the question.

"Yeah alright! Why are you so surprised?" Tantrik asked.

"Well... um... I never get hit on by that many girls when I'm out!" Kellen blushed and looked down, his white hair covering his face.

Tantrik smirked. "Maybe you should consider changing teams then!"

Kellen took a second to realise what Tantrik was saying. "But... I'm... No!"

Tantrik smirked again. "I'm just kidding!"

Kellen was quiet for a few minutes, trying to figure things out in his head. He remembered that night, well most of that night. The later hours were a bit of a blank. He remembered being on a bar crawl and he remembered everyone laughing at him when he had suggested the next bar. He could't figure out why. It had lots of bikes parked outside so it had to be a tough enough spot, right. Then he thought... He hadn't actually seen any bikes, just bikers... When he'd gone inside it was actually quite nice. Nice decor. He'd been surprised. And all the guys that were offering to buy him drinks. And then he'd looked around to find his friends but couldn't see them. But there had been this very nice elf. Didn't usually bother with the metahuman freaks but this one was nice. They'd talked for a while and then they'd...

"I kissed you!" Kellen's face was white as he looked over at Tantrik. "Oh shit! I kissed you!"

Tantrik smiled but said nothing.

"And then we ended up in bed together. It was morning and I had a rotten hangover." Kellen rubbed his forehead, trying to regain the rest of the memory. "I don't remember anything between the kiss and the waking up." He gulped. "Um... Did we?"

Tantrik shrugged. "No idea! I can't remember either. I know there was a drinking game after we got back to the room but thats it."

Kellen ran stared down at the bottle in his hands and shaking his head, put it to one side. He hadn't thought of the possibilities. He'd just assumed that he'd fallen asleep, passed out was probably a closer term. It hadn't really bothered him that he hadn't been wearing anything, well a little but nothing that he was going to admit to on the morning in question. He'd slipped from the bed and started dressing as soon as he could but must have woken the elf. He'd tried to put the whole thing behind him but when the elf showed up at the meeting, it had all come flooding back.

As Kellen was lost in thought, Tantrik had moved up beside him. His hand rested on the samurai's slumped shoulder. It wasn't shrugged off.

"Look, Kell, it's not that big a deal. So you kissed me, so what?" Tantrik's voice was quiet, reassuring.

Kellen looked up. "It is a big deal, Tan. Imagine doing something that goes against everything you thought you knew about yourself." Kellen's voice was tinged with desperation. "Imagine that for a second."

Tantrik nodded his head as he spoke, still gentle. "Okay, I get you... But answer me one question, Kell, alright?"

Kellen nodded.

"Did you enjoy the kiss?" Tantrik asked, looking the samurai in the eyes.

Kellen started to say something and then stopped, looking away again. He mumbled something that Tan couldn't quite pick up.

"Kell, the answer ain't any good if I can't hear it!" Tantrik persisted.

"I don't know... I can't remember!" Kellen's voice was only slightly higher in volume.

Tantrik laughed lightly, earning a glare from Kellen who then turned and went back to the couch, slumping down on it.

"Easy, Kell! I'm not laughing at you, rather at the situation. You're worried about a kiss and you can't even remember if it was good or not?" Tantrik smirked.

Kellen nodded, trying to hold the hurt look on his face but when put like that. It was a little ridiculous.

"Okay, okay! So it is a bit funny." Kellen admitted, the corners of his mouth turning up a fraction.

Tantrik moved back to the couch to sit beside the samurai. He bit the corner of his lip as he thought.

"What if I can offer you a way to figure out if you liked it or not?" Tantrik asked, slightly nervous.

Kellen's eyebrow arched. "I didn't know there were memory spells that could do that."

"That wasn't quite what I was thinking of." Tantrik admitted.

"Then, what?" Kellen was puzzled now.

"You trust me, right?" Tantrik asked, hoping the answer was yes.

"Sure..." Kellen was slow to say it but he did trust the elf.

Tantrik looked up at him. "Then let me do this. You'll have your answer hopefully at the end of it."

Kellen didn't know what to say. He didn't know what the elf was planning. Wasn't magic harder on people with metal? Would it go horribly wrong? He wasn't sure he wanted anyone poking around in his mind. But he did trust Tantrik so he simply nodded.

"Close your eyes." Tantrik said.

Kellen closed his eyes, apprehension making him tense. He heard the elf shifting on the couch and waited. For seconds nothing happened and then soft lips kissed his own, softly, gently. It was just like rose petals pressed against him, not really moving. A kiss and then another and another. All soft. All innocent. And then a flick of tongue over his lower lip. He could feel the other mouth opening slightly with each kiss now. He was about to say something, his own lips parting but then the kiss deepened and he could feel Tantrik's tongue rub against his own. He felt a hand run through his hair holding him close as each kiss grew deeper than the preceding one. Kellen had still not made a move. He could taste the faintness of beer from the other mouth. For a second he forgot everything and in that second he kissed back. He tasted the other person, deeply, kissing back instead of being kissed. His own hands went to the back of Tantrik's head holding him there. His own hair was released and he felt hands running down his arms, his torso. He felt himself start to harden and stir in the loose pants and moaned slightly.

Tantrik pulled back a little, gasping for air. He looked into the blue eyes and smiled. It took him a second or two to find the words but eventually he broke the silence.

"So... How was that?"

Kellen looked at him, his own cheeks flushed as he panted. "That was... alright."

"Alright? Only alright?" Tantrik looked aghast.

Kellen grinned. "Yeah... But if ya put some practice in it might be better!"

Tantrik practically threw himself at Kellen, knocking him backwards. The samurai laughed for a brief second before Tantrik was kissing him again. Tantrik moved his hands over the other man's body, touching, caressing. Kellen was moaning again. Tantrik smiled around the kiss, shifting slightly to a move comfortable angle as he lay on top of the samurai. And that was when he noticed it. The hard shape trapped against his thigh. Kellen tried to shift but Tantrik followed, rubbing against it.

Kellen groaned as Tantrik started to rub against him. Tantrik pulled back, no longer kissing Kellen. Kellen had nothing else to focus on. His entire attention was on the leg brushing against his shaft and the warm body on top of him. He moaned. It had been far too long for him. Far too long. He hadn't done anything since Starr had left him. And that was, what? Five months. He tried to fight the feeling but it was useless. He arched against the contact and in one shuddering moment, lost control.

He buried his face in Tantrik's long auburn hair, not wanting to look the other man in the eye.

"Um... sorry!" Kellen murmured. "It's been a while... I didn't mean to..."

Tantrik grinned, looking down at Kellen. "S'okay... Second time's always longer anyway!"

"Second..." Kellen blinked.

Tantrik pouted. "You do want a second time, don't you?"

Kellen's mouth opened and closed. He could hardly deny that he had enjoyed it. The evidence was all over his pants. But again? He wondered.

"This doesn't make me gay, you know!" Kellen said, slightly serious.

Tantrik smirked.

"I'm still straight... just with one exception." Kellen said as he leaned in and kissed Tantrik soundly.

"I can live with that..." Tantrik murmured in between kisses. "...as long as I'm the exception!"

"Just one thing..." Kellen smiled nervously as he spoke. "Take it slow?"

Tantrik brushed the side of his face with his hand. "As slow as you like, Kell. There's no rush!"

Kellen smiled as he kissed Tantrik again. He would have to move shortly but for now, he didn't want to move a muscle. He was happy. Happier than he had been in a long time and he didn't want to do anything to make that feeling go away... Even if it meant spending eternity here on the couch. Just as long as Tantrik was there with him.

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