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“What do we need to do to make the bond?” Will asked.

Itori drew him in closer, a thumb stroking his cheek. “Let me take you to the tree first. It will be most comfortable there.”

Itori turned and started toward the tree line. Will paused only a moment to look back. At a distance he could see the store. The floodlight at the back was on, a spot of warmth in the cool, dark night. It was comforting in its familiarity.

But no part of him wanted to go to it. He was alive, for what felt like the first time in his whole life. The water wasn’t yet his home, but there was a comfort to the way it wrapped around him. The gentle way it held him. He was safe here, in the dark with the monster. Safer than he’d ever been on dry land.

So Will turned and followed Itori’s wake into the trees.

###

“Once we open the tether to access the energy, I cannot stop it,” Itori said as he laid Will down in the bowl of the tree. Will was still dripping wet from the water, but with Itori over him, all he felt was his radiating warmth.

“I don’t want you to stop it,” Will said. He reached a hand up to cup Itori’s cheek, rubbing his thumb across the scales just as Itori had done to him a dozen times before. He watched Itori’s eyes flutter shut.

The moon was now just over Itori’s right shoulder, peeking through the leaves and moss. It cast a glow around the edges of Itori’s body, giving his scales an otherworldly sheen.

He was so beautiful.

“I want to ask you again if you are sure,” Itori said. “But I do not want you to change your mind.”

Will smiled at Itori, closed mouth and so full of tenderness for this man that he felt like he was leaking it everywhere. “I’m not changing my mind. The way you feel for me, I feel for you. This… this is right.”

Itori leaned down and kissed him once, twice. He did it so gently that Will’s eyes burned.

Then Itori’s hand came to lay itself down on the center of Will’s chest. It spanned most of him. Like this, Itori might feel his heart pounding.

“I will not be able to stop once it has started, but I can go slower. You will tell me what you need.”

It wasn’t a question. “I will,” Will answered anyway.

They kissed again. This time Will felt a shift. An energy that sparked from Itori’s mouth to his own. It was like touching a door handle after shuffling across the carpet.

“Will I also taste like oranges when this is done?” Will asked as he licked his lips.

Itori tilted his head. “I do not know. Maybe? It would be a shame though to change your flavor.”

Will remembered Itori saying he’d tasted like the sea. “Do you really think I’ll change?”

Itori lowered his weight down, pressing them chest to chest with only the hard presence of the pearl between them. He nuzzled Will’s cheek with his own, a rumble stirring up in his chest. “Creation energy,” Itori said slowly, pressing the words into Will’s ear, “as I understand, makes anything possible. You have to hold what you want in your mind, so that the energy knows what to make. If you want something to change, ask it. When you feel the energy come, hold on to everything you want to keep, and I will do the same. The land will decide what we need.”

That sounded abstract. How would he hold on to what he wanted?

But Will didn’t voice the question, he didn’t want Itori to backtrack. “Okay,” he said instead.

Itori kissed him again, his clawed hands starting to drift down Will’s bare body. The sparks stirred up again, jumping to follow Itori’s touches.

When his hand got to Will’s waist, Will widened his legs to give Itori room. He was already hard just from being under him.

Itori wasted no time. His claws trailed down between Will’s legs and gently touched him there, at his rim. Will felt his whole body jerk, but didn’t know whether it was excitement or the anticipation of the unknown.

At first, Itori was just touching. He moved the soft pad of his finger over the most private part of Will, getting him acquainted to the sensation.

Will needed it. He’d never touched himself there, let alone had someone else do it. Every brush of his finger felt strange and alarming. He wanted this, but his body wasn’t sure about the methodology.

Itori kissed him softly, and that helped. It pulled his focus between the two points, and he swallowed down oranges as he felt himself relax.

The next time the finger swirled over his sensitive rim, his hips bucked in the beginnings of interest.