“Leave me alone!”
 “No.”
 Cosmo stalked away from him, anger in every stride. Frustration spoke out with every twitch of muscle. Pain. Hurt. Everything. Ace followed determinedly. He was most certainly not going to allow his young friend out of his sight. Not now. No way in hell!
 Not after what had happened. Not after witnessing a death that may, or may not, have been preventable.
 Cosmo spun on him, just in his bedroom door. His hand lashed out. Not an attack, a gesture to back off.
 “I said, leave me alone!”
 “No. It wasn’t your fault, Cosmo. There was nothing you could do.”
 Cosmo snarled and spun about, striding away. Ace caught the door before it could shut and possibly lock, the sensors tripping at his intervening hand, springing the door back. Cosmo ignored him, going to sit on his bed, shoulders hunched, a tremble clenching them slightly.
 Ace came alongside a safe distance away, eyes never leaving his friend.
 “There was nothing you could do, Cosmo,” he reiterated softly. The police had said so. Every witness had said so. It wasn’t enough for Cosmo, though. Not enough for a young man who thought he should have done more.
 Fists clenched angrily. “I could have, Ace...”
 “No, Cosmo. Even magicians have limits. You tried. You tried your best.”
 Cosmo sobbed softly, fists tightening more, knuckles white.
 “I could have done more,” he rasped.
 Ace shook his head, kneeling in front of the despairing young man.
 “You did your best, Cosmo. You tried to stop the car. I know you tried your damnedest.” Ace wouldn’t have doubted any less from his young apprentice. Every witness had commented at the strange glow that had enwrapped the out of control vehicle. How it seemed to try to restrain the mad car.
 “She died, Ace. She died...” Cosmo whispered. Hurting.
 She had. A small, ten year old child caught in the crosswalk; struck down by a drunk driver.
 “We aren’t gods, Cosmo. Our magic is not all mighty, neither are we.” It was a sad truth Ace had come to grips with long ago. No. They were not gods, though some people might fear them as such. They had their limits, their breaking points. They were human. No more. No less.
 Cosmo shuddered, on the brink of lashing out, of giving way to his anger, his hurt. Ace gently laid his hand over one clenched fist. Let his fingers drape comfortingly over tight fingers.
 “We’re human, Cosmo. You did your best. It’s all either of us can do,” he let the words go softly, catching the other clenched fist. A soft sob tore through the young man and Cosmo shook his head in vain, red hair falling forward.
 “Not fair, Ace. She was so young,” he sighed. Ace nodded. No it wasn’t fair, but that was life. They knew that. But knowing never made it easier. Never.
 “Yes. She was. But it wasn’t you fault. It was the driver. This is all his fault, not yours. You tried to help. Tried to stop his madness. The fault is not yours! Never was,” Ace went on soothingly, letting his fingers knead gently into tight muscles. Cosmo looked up at him, eyes wide, hurting. His lip trembled slightly, his breathing ragged.
 “I wanted to stop it,” he whispered. “What good is the magic, if you can’t help people with it?”
 “You did help people, Cosmo,” Ace offered. He’d talk long and hard with everyone involved at the scene. The little girl hadn’t been the only one in the crosswalk. “You slowed the car down. You prevented it from plowing into the intersection. More people would have died, Cosmo. You stopped that.”
 Cosmo shook his head.
 “But, she died, Ace.”
 He nodded. “Yes, but there could have been many more deaths, Cosmo. We can only try to help. Try our best. You did.”
 The teen let out a soft sob, head dropping miserably. Ace moved. Rose to the bed and slipped an arm around his partner. Cosmo turned into him, shuddered against him.
 “I love you, Cosmo. And I’m proud of what you did.”
 “Don’t,” Cosmo rasped, anger tingeing his words. “Don’t be proud. She died.”
 “Yes, because of the drunk driver, not you. You saved the other people, the other people in that intersection. You did your best. You used your magic for the right reasons. I am proud of you and I always will be,” he returned without heat, letting his words ring true. Cosmo sobbed and slumped into him.
 “It’s just so unfair, Ace. She was so young,” he whispered. Ace rubbed back the red hair gently. His fingers brushed the fiery locks aside, drifting to a trembling cheek.
 “It is unfair, Cosmo. But, it is not your fault.” Ace ran his finger across pale skin, hooking the quivering chin and bringing Cosmo up to face him.
 “Not your fault.”
 Cosmo stared back, gaze still haunted, but at least he nodded. A shuddering breath left his body.
 “I.... know,” it was a soft whisper. “I was so scared, Ace. It all happened so fast.”
 Ace gave Cosmo a tight hug. “I have no doubt. Are you okay?”
 He had been wanting to ask that question from the moment he had been called to the scene of the accident. The question would have received no honest answer though, not with his apprentice angry and loathing at his self-appointed failure.
 “Hurts, a little,” Cosmo admitted at last. “Burns inside. I’ll be okay.”
 “Here, lay back,” Ace ordered, pulling off the teen’s jacket. Cosmo looked at him briefly, slight annoyance in the gray gaze, but he offered no real arguments, letting the older man ease him back on to the bed.
 “You channeled a lot of power. I’m not surprised it hurt,” Ace spoke softly, tossing the jacket to a nearby chair.
 “Not enough,” Cosmo muttered sullenly.
 “Don’t, Cosmo.” Ace slipped into the bed, sitting beside his prone partner. “You did your best. I know you did. You did extraordinarily well given your training.”
 “Ace, don’t...” Cosmo rasped. “Don’t praise me, please.” It was not petulant, but an honest entreaty. Ace sighed, letting his hand lay on the strong shoulders.
 “Cosmo, I know you don’t think you’ve earned it, but you have. The death is not your fault. Never! I know it hurts, but you can’t let it consume you,” he spoke firmly and gently.
 Cosmo stared at him, blinked and seemed to want to offer some argument. Ace laid his finger across the younger man's lips before he could.
 “No, Cosmo. Not you fault.” Ace kept his finger there till Cosmo let out a sigh, eyes dropping close.
 “How bad does it hurt?”
 A shrug. “Not bad.”
 Huh, right. Ace knew better. He knew the pain that channeling beyond your limits could induce. Knowing hands moved to Cosmo’s stomach, dexterous fingers massaging at the tight muscles. Cosmo tended to suffer from extreme cramping when pushing beyond his limits. It would leave the man a muscle knotted mess. Ace’s own over-casting tended to leave him with a killer migraine. Every magician was different.
 A small grunt met his working hands; slight pain and Cosmo twitched. Knotted mess was right! Muscles spasmed still in his young friend, residual attacks of the magic force. The channeling had left its marks on his body, as the death had left its touches on his soul.
 “Ace,” a slight protest to the treatment.
 “Relax, Cosmo. You need to rest,” he ordered in no uncertain terms, hands never pausing in their work. Cosmo let out a long sigh, throwing one arm across his face. Whether to hide from Ace, or the world, he wasn’t sure. Probably both.
 Ace sighed, letting his hands slip beneath the soft fabric of Cosmo's shirt, fingers moving with great care and skill. God, it was going to take half the night to get Cosmo unwound. Ace wished, not for the first time, that he had been there. To back up his partner. To help, as well as to observe his young apprentice in action. It would have been impressive. He was proud. Even if the child had died, Ace was proud of the attempt. Cosmo had risked himself, without a second thought, to protect the girl. That was what magic was for. He was proud.
 Another gasp of pain, a slight twitch as Cosmo instinctively turned away.
 “Easy, Cosmo. Easy,” Ace murmured, easing his massage slightly, till the spasm past.
 “Hurts,” Cosmo muttered, voice muffled by his shirt sleeve.
 “I don’t doubt,” Ace returned gently. There was a soft sniffle, brutally suppressed. The older man let out a silent sigh. Cosmo couldn’t hold the emotional pain in, shouldn’t hold it in, it would only make things worse.
 He let his touch reassure. Ace knew Cosmo would not want his words at the moment, only his reassuring presence. He offered that with all he had. Cosmo’s pain was his. Every agony his lover suffered was his. It was that way, would always be, even if he wasn’t an empath like his partner. Ace was thankful that Cosmo was tuned into him and him alone. If the teen had felt the child’s death...
 He shivered, forced his hands to keep moving. What would happen when he died? It was a thought that raised its ugly head in moments like this. What would happen? Ace banished the dark apparition. He would not allow his death. He couldn’t. His death was Cosmo’s death. It was a very real fact. One he knew without arrogance. Cosmo loved him as much as he him. Ace knew his world would end if his younger partner should die. Simply end...
 ‘Cut that out!’
  Great, here he was trying to ease Cosmo’s pain and falling to his own dark demons in the process. Ace could only hope Cosmo’s own emotional stress was protecting him from the magician’s darker thoughts, the teen most definitely would not have a shield up, not after channeling that much power. Casting would probably be off for the next several days.
 Another soft sob was stifled, the teen refusing the release, clinging to the pain. It made Ace want to scream, but he could do nothing. Cosmo had to decide. To come to grips on his own terms and in his own time. Ace concentrated on his gentle massage, fingers digging at muscles with infinite care, moving over the tight abdomen, brushing across the thin line of red hair that snaked half way up Cosmo’s stomach. He tried not to pull at the soft down, levering a bit of strength against the tight muscles.
 “Does it get better?”
 Ace took a deep breath at the desperate question.
 “Yes. It does.” Not much of an answer, he knew. “It does get better.”
 Cosmo nodded slightly and the arm drop, slapping weakly on the bed. He looked worn, the events of the day finally catching up and displacing the magic augmented adrenaline rush. Weakly, slender fingers wrapped around Ace wrist, halting the massage.
 Ace looked into the pain filled eyes. Saw the desperate hurt there. The need to be reassured. The fingers tightened on his wrist.
 “It does get better, Cosmo,” he repeated, moving forward to plant a gentle kiss to the young man’s lips. Cosmo grabbed him around the back of the head, held him, kissed him fiercely, almost desperately. Ace did not protest the rough embrace, gave into the fear driven desire. Cosmo released his lips, only briefly, pressing his cheek against his. The skin was cold.
 “It hurts, Ace,” he whispered desperately. Everything. Ace understood.
 “It’ll get better,” Ace promised. A slight tremor ran through the body on the bed. Denial, pain and fear.
 “How?”
 There was no good answer for that one. Everyone dealt with the pain in their own way. It was not a department Ace could offer good advice. He tended to bury his pain, hide it in the shadows of his mind. Not a good way to deal with things. Not a good way at all.
 “I love you, Ace,” the words were almost painfully desperate.
 “I love you, Cosmo.”
 Another spasm wrenched through the young man. Ace was alarmed.
 “What if it was you, Ace?” Cosmo hissed. “What if it was you?”
 The trembling worsened. Ace brought his other hand up, letting it entangle reassuringly in the thick red hair.
 “It wasn’t me, Cosmo. And I have my own magic. Don’t you worry,” Ace said softly in one ear.
 “But, Ace..”
 Ace silenced the protest with a kiss. His best way of wining arguments according to Cosmo. Once again the young man latched on fiercely, almost painfully so, as if trying to claim every inch of him-- consume him.
 He pulled away, not without a slight fight with the hand wrapped about the back of his head. Cosmo let the hand drop to his shoulder, but it stayed there, fingers twitching. The other hand had started to snake under his shirt, also not gentle, fingers catching on the silk.
 “Cosmo,” Ace breathed in gentle rebuke. He understood the reaction. A need for physical assurance in the light of emotional pain. Death had always brought out the same desire in him. A desire to live life, celebrate it and banish the darkness. But this went beyond that. Was corrupted by the anguish that had yet to be released. Cosmo was unhearing of his soft warning, lifting himself up, not without a wince, and pulled Ace against him, seeking another kiss.
 Ace gave in, though it went against his better judgment. Pain. Pain was in that embrace. Hurt, anger, despair, a thousand negative emotions seeking a positive one. Not right. It didn’t feel right.
 “Ace,” Cosmo whispered against his ear. “Take me.”
 Desperate, aching. Not love. Denial. A desperate desire to hide from the world. To hide from the pain. Ace forced Cosmo back, confusion in the young man’s eyes. No, wanting physical reassurance was one thing, this was not that. It was a desire to hide, to forget. He could not allow that, no matter how much Ace wanted to comfort, and he did, achingly so. He could never stand Cosmo to be in pain, even before they had become lovers. Even before he realized himself lost to the young man in his arms, Ace had never tolerated anything that had brought the young man harm. Then or now, but this, this was not right. This was not what their love was about. What their physical passion represented and he would not allow that to be tainted. He could not abuse their love in such a manner.
 “I will not take you, Cosmo,” Ace said softly. “I love you too much. I will not take you. Never. I love you.”
 Cosmo started to protest, hurt shining in his eyes. Fear too. Everything dark.
 “I know you’re hurting, Cosmo. I understand. But you can’t hide from the pain. You have to accept it. You can’t ignore it. You can’t.”
 “But, Ace..”
 “No buts, Cosmo. I will not take you! I love you to much.”
 The fist slammed hard against the bed, shuddering them both.
 “Damn it! I could have saved her!” he screamed, eyes screwing shut against the pain. Several more blows landed harmlessly, draining off the sudden fire. Tears followed, silent in the wake of the rage trembling through an exhausted body.
 Ace leaned down and wrapped his arms around his lover, holding him tenderly.
 “You tried. No one can ask for more,” he whispered.
 Cosmo cried at last. Not unexpected. The best thing actually. Hot tears stained the front of Ace's shirt but Cosmo made no move to deny them, arms weakly embracing him. The young man had to get it out of his system: the hurt, the grief for a life he could not save. Ace sat there, being a solid shoulder to lean on, till the tears were spent and a new peace came to the body he held.
 Ace lost himself in the minutes that passed as Cosmo did no more then breath raggedly against him. He knew the pain his partner felt. Remembered his own first time, when he realized he was not a god, no matter what powers he held. Even now, a decade past, the moment still hurt, just as it would hurt Cosmo for the years to come. But he would not hurt alone. Never alone.
 At last Cosmo stirred, looked up at him, eyes red ringed and wet. The hand wrapped about the back of his neck again, but there was tentative caution in it this time, an active attempt not to hurt. This time it felt right as Ace joined Cosmo in a slow, aching kiss. A slight shudder past through the young man. A pain not quite gone, but no longer so consuming.
 He broke away, the hand still holding gently. The other came up, brushed back the white hairs at his temples, fingers drawing feather light across his skin. Cosmo licked his lips, uncertainty shining in his eyes.
 “Make love with me?” the question was soft, hesitant. Ace bent down and landed a gentle kiss on the trembling lip.
 “Always,” he breathed softly. “Love, Cosmo. That’s what matters. More than the pain. More than anything. Do you understand?”
 A weak nod. “Yes. Sorry.”
 Ace shook his head. “Don’t be. You’re not the first one to try and hide. I’ve done it myself. That kind of denial doesn’t help. Never helps.”
 “Is it.. wrong?” A question of the desire.
 Ace smiled. “No. It’s human nature. We want to celebrate life when faced with death. It’s not wrong, Cosmo. Not at all.”
 That seemed to help as the teen let his finger trace lazily across his jaw. Cosmo was weak from the casting, the events, the anger that was not quite gone but the desire was still there, tempered with the love. And the need. To be reassured, to be comforted.
 “No... rest,” Ace whispered, as the teen tried to rise again. Ace pushed him back with a kiss, keeping his mouth firmly on his partners, letting it go only long enough to pull the red shirt free, deftly catching the headband glasses in the process. Ace was getting good at that.
 The clothes were discarded as he let his hands travel over the still cramped torso. Cosmo let out a soft sigh of pleasure as his hands moved knowingly, kneading gently and unkinking, loosening, tense muscles. The soft sound sent shivers through Ace as he trailed kisses along the pale skin, a gentle pattering of affection, traveling down to the muscular chest. His tongue swirled lazily around one nipple, teasing it up, caressing it as he knew Cosmo liked. Ace was no empath, but he was observant, very observant to everything about his lover. He brushed his teeth over the hard bud, nipping, not so gently. Cosmo sucked in a hard breath and twisted beneath him, not in pain he knew, but rising pleasure.
 “Ace.” Hands sought to reach him. To return the gestures. Ace caught them gently, kissing thin wrists, letting his tongue travel down one arm as he returned the trembling limbs to the soft bed.
 “Rest, Cosmo,” he whispered again in the teen’s ear. His tongue dipped along the groves and valleys there eliciting a shuddering moan. “Let me.”
 A gift. The greatest gift Ace could give. Himself. Cosmo moaned softly, again trying to rise and failing. His body was weak, whether he liked it or not.
 “Let me,” Ace reiterated, coming up to look in his lovers pale gaze. Red hair trickled over his fingers as he ran his hands alongside Cosmo’s narrow face. They entwined in a passionate kiss, Ace feeling Cosmo offering all of himself as their tongues fought lovingly. Ace caught Cosmo’s tongue, sucked it into his own mouth and held it captive, as he was held captive by his love for the young man beneath him. Releasing the teen only because the need to breath was rather important.
 “I love you, Ace,” Cosmo whispered throatily, eyes slited with growing arousal.
 “And I you,” Ace whispered back with another passionate kiss. Cosmo melted against him, accepting his gift and putting up no more struggle as Ace let his hands move. Slowly. Gently. No quick passion would do here. Always his best for his partner, his lover. Long fingers slipped over gently heaving ribs, tracing the lines of developing muscle. Cosmo was not as powerfully built as him, but graceful, lean. Young power in a young body. It mesmerized him. His fingers circle the dark aeroals, the nipples rising again. Cosmo let out a tortured sigh as his fingers brushed them lightly.
 “Unfair, Ace.. want to..” Cosmo’s words died as Ace caught a nipple again, sucking hard. A deep groan erupted from the trembling lips. Ace didn’t let go, sucking harder, fingers grasping the other neglected bud, squeezing. Cosmo arched, chest heaving up.
 “God, Ace... unfair,” Cosmo protested coarsely.
 “Unfair?” Ace chuckled softly laying across the heaving chest beneath, letting his silk shirt drag across the sensitized skin. Cosmo almost glared at him.
 “Unfair,” he rumbled. “Want to make you feel good... not right.”
 Ace smiled, warmed and amazed by his partner. His concern for his well being, even in the face of his own rising desire. Ace nibbled on a lower lip, sucking gently.
 “A gift, Cosmo. Please. A gift for you,” he declared throatily. His fingers brushed through the soft red hair, drawing it away from the beautiful face of his assistant. Everything. He wanted to give Cosmo everything! It was such an overwhelming urge that sometimes Ace could do no more then sit there, amazed by the realization.
 “Please, Cosmo.”
 Cosmo’s eyes dropped shut, then opened, glittering in anticipation.
 “When I’m stronger...”
 The gift would be returned. Anticipation shot through Ace at the prospect. Straight through him, making his own growing erection throb.
 “Yes,” he agreed, delivering a slew of kisses over the pale neck, along one collar bone to the other. It was a task of coordination to remove his own shirt while letting his lips rove across one collar bone, but Ace did it. He did not want to risk accessing his magic, not now while Cosmo had his shields down and his senses in tune to him. The white shirt and black jacket joined the growing pile on the floor.
 He laid his body over his friend gently, encasing him, warming the chilled skin as he suckled at one tit, his hand snaking enticingly down one thigh. His hand rubbed back and forth, then moved up to Cosmo’s own restrained erection, pulling firmly across the growing mound. The teen writhed, thrusting against his palm desperately. Cosmo moaned a drawn out appreciation, one hand still wrapped in his hair the other roving across his back.
 “Ace, no stuff,” Cosmo lamented unhappily.
 “Rest,” Ace returned. “Let me.” It was all that he would say. Ace knew they had none of their supplies here. Cosmo very rarely actually slept in his room anymore, usually to two waking together in Ace’s larger bed. But Ace had been thorough in his research. Had learned of ways to get around pretty much any problem.
 “Ace..”
 “No, Cosmo.” Ace slipped up to stare down at his weak lover. He laid a string of kisses along one cheek.
 “Rest. This is for you. A gift for you,” he whispered seductively.
 Cosmo’s eyes shuddered closed and he let out a low groan.
 “Ace.. love you.”
 “Love you,” Ace returned, capturing those parted lips in another kiss, plunging his tongue in and out of the hot depths; promises for what was to come. His hands were at the teen’s pants, gently pulling them down. He moved with the soft clothe, lips exploring the areas as they were uncovered. Kisses and playful nips flowing all the way to the young man's toes.
 More clothes were tossed onto the pile.
 Ace slithered back up, just far enough to reach his partner’s crotch. He let his hand slid along Cosmo’s inner thigh, finger tips brushing tantalizing over the swollen balls hanging beneath his partner’s heavy arousal. Cosmo spread his legs, a silent plea for his attention, as his breath quickened.
 Ace smiled darkly, index finger rubbing lightly up Cosmo’s length, then back down again, watching as the erection jumped under his fingers, Cosmo letting out a tortured sigh. Ace did it again and again the trembling worsening as the sigh became a guttural purr. The fingers then slipped lower, Ace cupping the balls, massaging them, separating them, then gently slamming them back together as he let his lips brush feather light over the surging cock. Cosmo’s hips raised, attempting to get closer, but he pulled away playfully, tongue tip tickling over the swollen flesh while his fingers still worked with tortures ease over his lovers balls.
 “God, Ace... I’m returning this favor...” Cosmo growled deeply, glaring at him with unrestrained desire. Ace smiled alluringly. Of that, he had no doubt. He would earn that future gift this night. He would make sure of it.
 Ace returned to the pulsing erection, burying his face in the thick, dark red pubic hair cradling the ample organ. He breathed deep his partner’s scent, feeling his arousal skyrocket at the heavy musk. God, Cosmo smelled good. Damn good. Face still buried, Ace turned and let his tongue tease out and drag across Cosmo’s head, licking of the small droplet of precum. Everything about his lover delighted, his smell, his taste.
 His taste....
 Ace paused in his considerations. He had planned to pleasure his distressed lover in another way, but in the here and now... A new idea formed. Something new to him at least, though Cosmo seemed to take great delight in it. And he knew how it made him feel. Oh god, how it made him feel to have those warm lips wrap about him! Just the fleeting memory brought a new heat to him. Cosmo had been more daring in his experimentations, perhaps it was time for the magician to should be as bold.
 Ace lent forward and ran his tongue down the thick length as his hands slid up over the smooth planes of Cosmo’s chest, brushing light against the erect nipples as the teen moaned hotly.
 “Ace.. oh man..” Trembling hands rubbed along his arms as Ace let his tongue tip swirl around the pulsing shaft, twisting around the head in one slow motion. Cosmo whimpered in pleasure, hips arching up. It inspired Ace all the more as he took Cosmo in his mouth, tongue slipping curiously over the lip, exploring with erotic fascination as he suckled the pulsing organ. A shudder rippled through the body beneath his moving hands and Cosmo all but purred as his mouth worked it’s magic. Slowly, carefully, Ace sucked down all the way to the thick base, fighting the slight gag reflex as his tongue caressed wetly the pulsing shaft. The reaction was instantaneous and exhilarating: Cosmo cried out-- a heavy, drawn groan, fingers tightening on his arms.
 “Ace.... wait.. you don’t have to..” he panted.
 No, he didn’t, but he wanted to. For Cosmo. Ace silenced the concern with a long stroke, tongue trailing over the hot length as he retreated to the head and went back down again with the same agonizing pace and attention to detail. He let nothing escape his attention. Not a single vein or ridge as he lathered the entire length. Nothing intelligent came from the trembling lips of his partner, only a hot moan of appreciation.
 It set Ace on fire. Pleasure and arousal rocketed through him. He was making his lover groan. Bringing on every tremor and shiver. Him!
 He sucked again, harder, setting up a pumping rhythm as he moved up and down the shaft. Cosmo bucked into his mouth and he accepted every blow willingly as the first traces of his lovers soon coming climax ran across his tongue. Bitter and sweet and delicious. The taste of him; his heat and hardness; the feel of Cosmo in his mouth, every throb and pulse... Now he understood Cosmo’s obsession. Damn, what had he been missing? Never again. Never!
 The teen was panting now, thrusting into the wet confines of his mouth as Ace sucked hard and fast. His name, he wanted to hear his name rip from his lover’s lips. To feel the power and pleasure of bringing that scream to his ears. Slender fingers clawed at the bed sheets madly. Close, so close. Ace suckled hard and furious.. determined.. excited.
 “Ace!!!!”
 Cosmo came, body arching up with the release, hot and heavy in his mouth. Ace took in all he could, reveling in the aphrodisiac taste, the physical evidence of his ministrations as he devoured the pulsing organ, tremors coursing through the teen’s taunt body with the rapture. Milking the softening erection of every last precocious drop, Ace smiled with carnal satisfaction, before he let it go at last with a last, gentle lick. Trailing small kisses over the heaving chest, Ace brought himself alongside his exhausted lover, his own erection aching against the tight confines of his pants. Bringing pleasure to Cosmo was almost as arousing, as erotic, as being touched by him. Sometimes more so. No matter. A gift, this had been a gift for Cosmo.
 Still panting, Cosmo’s eyes slited open, just enough to see him. He smiled, fingers brushing over Ace’s prominent bulge. He trembled at the caress, his erection throbbing at the contact and protesting its confined state.
 “Not fair..” Cosmo stated roughly, fingers slipping into the hem of his pants.
 “No, Cosmo.” Ace stilled the questing hand. “My gift to you,” he murmured softly, his other hand brushing over one pale cheek.
 Cosmo still smiled seductively, wiggling his hand free of Ace’s restraining grip and slithering it deeper into his pants. Ace couldn’t suppress the soft moan of pleasure if he wanted to as his partner’s hand slipped over his cock, a tight fit in Ace’s snug pants, but enticing all the same.
 “My gift to you,” Cosmo whispered, thumb rubbing over the full head, Ace’s muscles clenching with longing as the slightly callused tips caressed him. The fingers came out and deftly unfastened the black cloth. One handed, the teen did it with such ease, that Ace was faintly amazed.
 “Cosmo,” he whispered in mild protest, brushing the sweat tinged hair from the young man’s face. He knew how aroused he was -achingly so- but this had been a gift for Cosmo, a gift of love and reassurance, Ace did not expect anything in return.
 “You’re weak.”
 Cosmo eyes glittered salaciously up at him.
 “Not that weak,” Cosmo stated with a smug smile as his hand wrapped around his erection, the pants being free enough to allow him the gesture. The other hand wrapped around the back of Ace’s neck, urging him down. Ace went into the kiss, feeling himself be pulled in to his lover’s mouth as the hand moved over him; clutching him, pressing hard and heavy against his aching cock. Oh god, it felt good! To be touched, fondled... loved. The ache grew to a white fire with his rising arousal. No, he hadn’t expected his gift returned this night, but then.. when did Cosmo ever do what he expected.
 “Love you, Ace,” Cosmo whispered around his lips as his tongue traced his mouth. Ace shuddered, muscles trembling as his partner’s hand manipulated him so well.
 “Love you,” Ace returned hoarsely, sending his tongue plunging into those welcoming depths as Cosmo’s hand kept stroking him hard and fast, the rhythm matching their passionate kiss, the two sensations colliding together as Ace felt his own climax coming. His hands entwined madly through the red hair as he thoroughly ravaged his partner’s mouth, breath heavy, body shuddering as the fingers ran down and up, thumb stroking across his head, slick with his own desire. Again and again. Oh god...
 He cried out, climaxing hard and shuddering even as Cosmo kept stroking him, hand slick with his release as the orgasm pulsed trough him. Shivers of pure pleasure rippled through his tense body as he slumped alongside Cosmo, the young man stroking him gently, whispering his love as Ace attempted to figure exactly where Cosmo had just hidden his brain, because he couldn’t catch much of a coherent thought.
 As the euphoria drifted, a feeling of complete contentment took its place as Ace looked over to his lover, Cosmo gazing back through half lidded eyes, a small, precious smile on his lips. Kicking off his pants and dodging the beds new wet spot, Ace gathered Cosmo up beside him, wrapping his arms around the smaller man and cradling him tight to him in the small bed. Cosmo snuggled against him, one arm draped across his chest, fingers drawing lazily over his ribs.
 “Thank you Ace,” he whispered softly, lips brushing against his neck. Ace smiled and delivered a gentle kiss to Cosmo’s cheek, content and complete. Happy, as he hadn’t been for a good part his life. The pain of earlier, of Cosmo’s and his own dark clashes with reality seemed far and away now. Distant in light of this pure joy of holding his partner, friend and lover.
 “No thanks, Cosmo,” he returned softly with another loving kiss. “Never for this. Never for this.”
 Cosmo chuckled and hugged him weakly, muscles lax.
 “Then for listening, for helping. For caring,” he clarified sleepily.
 Ace snagged a blanket and tugged it up over them carefully.
 “I always care. And I’ll always love you, Cosmo,” he murmured as Cosmo let out a small yawn, the days events and their loving finally bringing on much needed sleep. He tucked the blanket securely around them, his hand caressing back the sweat touched red hair. Cosmo gave him one last, lazy smile, eyes near close.
 “Thanks anyways, Ace. Love you,” the words drifted off as Cosmo’s eyes dropped close. Ace tightened his hold, reveling in the warmth of the man he held as a deep sigh brought a complete limpness to the teen’s body. His fingers kept brushing through the soft hair as Ace whispered into an unhearing ear.
 “Love you.”