Somebody Else's Space Program
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Chapter Forty Six "Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum..."
Mairyonven and Josgoroth stayed for a few days, just visiting. Envyss was assigned one of the empty offices. "We'll have a room for you shortly -- we just have to clear out some boxes. We'll move a cot in here in the meantime."
Envyss moved around the room, picking up things and inspecting them. He worked around so he was between Ross and the door. Reaching back, he closed the door. "We have to talk."
"Alright." Ross took a seat on the edge of the desk. "I'm listening."
Just a faint smile on Envyss's face. "I remember you. I have been dreaming of you for years." Envyss's hand reached out, touched Ross's cheek. "My father's people allow the new adult to choose his companions for the first time. I asked for you. My father... was not amused."
"I'm not sure I would have agreed to cooperate. I'd be afraid of hurting you."
"Well, then we're going to have a problem."
Ross's breath caught in his throat. "You waited. For me."
"Yes. And I will wait for you, as long as it takes."
"_Why_? Why me? You don't know me. You were less than two years old when we met, and you haven't seen me since. Did you just get into your head to collect a blond first?"
"We went to see puppies that day. But at breakfast, you fed me bits of pastry. I can remember the taste of your fingers, the little bit of salt under the sweet. And I could smell the chemicals in your bloodstream, the pheromones coming off your skin. And you were happy, and I loved your smile, and the gold of your hair, and your voice... and I wanted to make you happy like that so you would smile at me."
Envyss stopped only long enough to gulp breath. "I love you, and I want you, and I have wanted you for twenty years, and I can't even _touch_ you unless you say yes. And I will wait another twenty years if I need to, until you are ready."
Ross had smiled at the mention of the sweets, but the rest of it... disbelief, astonishment, concern... "Twenty years? You're only seventeen."
"_Envyss_ is seventeen."
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Ross didn't want to hurt the kid's feelings, but the idea scared him to death. A couple of the ideas, actually -- that the boy had fastened on him that young, and had kept obsessing, that he had turned down his birthday night to "save himself" for Ross...
The "twenty" bothered him, too, a lot.
"Come on. Let's go get dinner."
The mannerisms were very much the same, not surprising since Mairyonven had them. Envyss would listen to him with the same intensity, near-total attention... the only gap was a security issue, like not sitting with your back to a door.
Envyss ordered as dessert an assortment of pastries. "I'm not familiar with these -- I want to try them out." He cut something flaky into pieces and ate a bit, savoring it. then he took another bit and held it against Ross's lips. Ross, startled, took it into his mouth. Memories, of being fed a sweet by Jheraind... "Did your mother tell you?"
"No. Jheraind did. He wrote about you, everything you did, and long, passionate poems... "
Ross turned a much brighter red than he thought he still could. "You shouldn't have been allowed to read that!"
"Why not?"
"It's an invasion of _my_ privacy, among other things. Not just his. And you're too young."
"I am an adult by the laws of my people. That's old enough." His eyes half closed, was he remembering? "There were some nice sketches of you, too. With clothes on, of course -- you didn't pose for him nude."
"Of course not!"
"Pity." Eyes half lidded, then, softly, in the hruss language, "You are so beautiful. I have dreamed of your hands on me, your mouth... I want to drink of you, breathe you in..."
Ross looked around. No one else was close, but several tables away, there were others of Envyss's people. Ross tried to keep his voice calm, "Let's go." It cracked a bit at the end.
Envyss piled the pastries into a napkin and stood. "Alright."
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"I'm sure we can do better than a cot in my office."
Ross shot a mock-glare over at Envyss. "You've got a lot of assumptions in that head of yours."
"Perhaps." Envyss smiled. "There's a lot about the hruss you still don't understand."
"Alright. We can talk. I'm not promising anything else."
Ross's apartment was not luxurious, but it was comfortably large. "You can stay in the spare bedroom until we find you another place."
"Thank you." Envyss found a spot on a well-cushioned couch. "Come here, sit with me. I promise not to rape you on the couch."
Ross raised his hand, wait a minute... "Would you like something to drink?"
"Tea, please. Hot or cold, whichever is readier to hand."
As Ross busied himself making tea, Envyss found a plate and spread out the pastries, cutting each of them into quarters.
Ross put his own tea onto the table at the far end of the couch, then walked over next to Envyss to hand him his. Envyss took the cup, wrapping his hand around Ross's. Envyss's face came up, eyes almost closed, lips slightly parted, the pose so obviously "please kiss me" that Ross did so without thinking.
The tea was put aside and Envyss put his hand on the back of Ross's neck, holding him in contact. Warmth, and spice, and his own blood singing in his ears, his heart pounding, both hearts pounding.
"You win," Ross gasped hoarsely. His hands reached down, drew Envyss to his feet. A long embrace, too close for a kiss. "Are... _are_ you Jheraind?"
"I don't know. Sometimes I think I am, but..." Envyss nuzzled Ross's neck. "You smell so good."
Ross laughed softly, "I want to see what you taste like."
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Ross, after a number of years, had succumbed to hruss bedroom furnishings: a nest of dozens of huge cushions, fleeces, silks, piled onto a frame taller than Ross's original traditional bed. The lighting was simulated lanterns, soft but steady.
Ross's hands slid up under Envyss's shirt, easing it up over his head. Ross ran his hands through Envyss's hair, freeing it from the tie-back. The dark hair fell forward, framing the young face. Ross's hands cupped Envyss's face, fingers touching cheeks, ears, very lightly, as if too heavy a pressure would break a dream-bubble of illusion.
Envyss's hands worked the buttons on the other man's shirt, trying not to tear them loose. "Lover, you better take the shirt off, before I just rip it off you.
Ross laughed and pulled the younger man to him, just holding him for a long moment. Then he backed up just a little, enough to shed his shirt and trousers. "No, I'm not going to let you sketch me -- not right now, at least."
"No, not right now. I think I'll try a painting, anyway. I should have realized you'd be golden down there as well." Envyss dropped gracefully to one knee. Warm wet mouth, a teasing tongue, and Ross couldn't hold back. Envyss rose, licking his lips to get all of the taste, not wasting any.
Ross pulled Envyss's face to his, kissing him greedily. They tumbled backwards onto the bed.
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"Yes. You are my partner. You have always _been_ my partner. You're just being more hard-headed than usual, this time, admitting it."
"This time?"
"Ross... you have been mine forever. We tend to leap-frog, chasing each other down. But I have records that go back generations."
"Records of what?"
"Births, deaths. Always, one of us dies, and less than a year later, we come back."
"That could be any child born the right time. It doesn't have to be a rebirth."
"Perhaps." Soft kisses, no urgency left. "This was better than I had imagined it. Thank you."
"Hard-headed, eh?"
"Hard something."
Laughter.
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