“Can he go yet?”

River was a thorn in Bo’s side and he knew it, but he didn’t want Zeph sticking around here a minute longer than he had to. He’d found his way to the stairs by the locker room before security stopped him, and he’d had to wait until Bo happened to pass by before he could flag him down.

Bo had taken him down to the fluorescent-lit hallway under the place where the locker rooms were, and where River wasn’t sure he’d ever been more out of place. Luckily he’d chosen skinny jeans, Converse, and a clingy t-shirt today, not wanting to deal with a worked-up crowd if someone decided to play amateur hour fag-bashing in the parking lot.

“After he gets out of this medical, yes.” Bo was leaning against the wall on the other side of the door, his arms tightly folded.

River nodded slowly. He wanted to ask how long that would be, but he didn’t want to push. He had no idea how well Bo had known the other guy, or if he was upset purely for Zeph’s sake, or what the repercussions of this would be on their careers.

This couldn’t be a common occurrence, because nobody down here seemed to know what to do. The other fighters must have found out, because when they passed River to head up to the cage, both of them and their trainers looked… well, not jazzed like everyone else had when they emerged onto the surface to step into the octagonal cage.

He was flying in the dark, his sole focus Zeph.

“I guess there’s no drug tests or whatever…”

“They might do them anyway,” Bo muttered. He looked like he was half in another universe, staring past River. “Procedure.”

River winced and nodded. “Yeah.” He hoped not, because he had no idea how long that took.

Just as he was losing the battle to resist asking how long Bo thought it would be, the door rattled.

It was Zeph, his eyes landing first on Bo, then River. His shoulders slumped with—relief? River hoped that was it. “I’m clear to leave.”

Bo eyed Zeph, then squeezed his shoulders and patted his cheek in the manly, encouraging kind of way River had never quite mastered. “Take a couple cheat days. Call me when you’re ready to come back to the gym. I’ll kick your ass if you sneak in tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir,” Zeph chuckled, but the noise was hollow. He leaned in for a back-clapping half-hug.

Bo followed up, “River, you taking him home?” When River nodded, he offered him a small smile and nod. “Good. Thanks.”

“Thanks,” Zeph echoed to River, his gaze finally turning to him. God, he was a mess. It wasn’t hard to tell, especially if you knew him even a little.

River didn’t address anything yet, though. Had to get him home first, at least, and probably wait until tomorrow. Zeph being Zeph, he’d need at least a day to get his head around this. “Of course. C’mon, let’s take a ride in my car for a change.”

With Zeph doing the Vegas trip driving, he hadn’t gotten to show off his sexy little red Mazda to his new lover before. Hopefully it would keep his mind off all this shit for a few minutes, at least.

It did, at least, give Zeph a minute as he admired it and questioned River on the specs. Typical boy. River resisted the urge to smile as he made Zephyr Google the answers to his questions.

Then, he went quieter again.

Of course Zeph felt bad about himself—if he blamed himself for unrelated deaths, having even a small hand in Rhino’s death had to be wrecking him from the inside out. And he looked lost, because he probably didn’t even have the emotional tools to figure out how he felt about it.

River took Zeph’s hand and played with his fingers while he drove, asking him whether he had normal groceries in the house. It took Zeph a few moments to realize he was teasing him about his training diet, but when he did manage to answer, it sounded like he did.

Good. That was one less thing to worry about.

When they pulled up to Zeph’s apartment, River took a visitor parking spot so he could walk Zeph to the door and get him settled into his apartment.

This time, it was Zeph who reached for his hand first. They walked, hand-in-hand, to the elevator, then up to the apartment door.

When Zeph was inside, River kept his shoes on as Zeph started to take his jacket off, then realized he didn’t have one on and just patted his front.

“If you’d rather be alone today, I’ll leave, but otherwise I want to stay,” River told Zeph.

Zeph reached for his hand again and shook his head. “Stay. If you want.”

“Of course.” River kicked off his shoes and pulled Zeph against him by looping his arms around his waist. He leaned into him and scratched his back as they swayed together.

Zeph managed a smile at him, then pulled him toward his bedroom. “Want a glass of water or anything?”

“Nah.” River eyed him. “You could probably use one, though.”

“I’ll be fine.” Zeph’s voice still sounded strange, like it wasn’t quite coming from that big spirit of his.

God. River wanted to broach the subject, but it was still way too close. What he needed right now was escape. So he kept his lips zipped as they headed for Zeph’s room and stripped off for bed.

“You’re incredibly sexy in, uh…” Zeph gestured toward him vaguely, his brows pinching.

River’s lips quirked. “In nothing?”

“That too. I meant, uh, whatever you’d call normal… I mean, typical… boy clothes?” Zeph’s voice rose slightly as he eyed River cautiously.

River snorted with amusement. He’d heard a lot worse, and from people he didn’t love.

Love.

He didn’t dwell on the word. He loved a lot of people, after all.

“Sure, you can call them that,” River agreed. “I know. Wearing girly things isn’t to be sexier, even though I’m hot as fuck in them,” he winked.

Zeph nodded and murmured, “Yeah, you are.”

River winked. “It’s because it feels more me that day.”

“So is it, uh, a trans thing?” Zeph flopped onto the bed and offered an arm.

Oh. He wants to do this conversation now? I suppose it’s a good way of distracting him…

River followed Zeph to the bed and flopped down onto the outstretched arm, letting Zeph pull him in against him. “Not strictly. I mean, technically I am. I’m not cis. If people ask, I say I’m nonbinary. But I’m also a guy. I’m okay with my body, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he teased Zeph, drawing his fingers along his ribs one at a time.

“It was a concern,” Zeph admitted with a low chuckle.

“Man doesn’t… strictly fit me, but it fits better than woman does, even though I like drag, and I like wearing dresses and makeup, and I like kayaking and sexy fast cars, and… bad Chinese food,” River shrugged helplessly, trying to get his sentence under control. “I mean, it doesn’t have anything to do with what I wear, or what I like to do.”

“Yeah.” Zeph propped his cheek on his fist, his elbow on the pillow as he listened.

River furrowed his brow, trying to figure out how to condense what he wanted to say. “I’m neither, but I’m okay with people assuming I’m a man, or a drag queen, or whatever the fuck they wanna say.”

“When did you know? That you were trans, or… nonbinary… or whatever you want to call it? That you’re you?”

River cupped Zeph’s cheek and rubbed his thumb along his jaw to show his appreciation for Zeph trying to echo his words. “God, for sure? Since I was a teen, I guess. As a kid, I played with pretty much every toy, I wanted to wear anything, I… pushed boundaries, I guess. I didn’t give a fuck if nobody else was like me.”

“Much like now,” Zeph teased, his dark eyes fond.

River couldn’t look away from that sweet and—dare he think it?—adoring gaze. “Yeah,” he murmured. “And as a teen, it got worse. It got harder, because I didn’t know if I did like my body, or anything. But I eventually kinda realized it wasn’t that I didn’t like my body, or being a man, it was just that that was the option everyone else wanted for me.”

“So you were trying to resist what everyone else told you to do,” Zeph surmised with a quiet nod. “Doesn’t sound at all like you.”

River snorted with laughter and smacked Zeph’s chest. “Shut up.”

“You shut up,” Zeph retorted, rolling over on top of him and tickling his sides.

Caught by surprise, River yelped, then squealed and slapped at Zeph’s hands. “Nonono, it’s too—Jesus!” He dissolved in laughter, too weak to even wrestle Zeph off him. “Y-you asshole!”

“I can be,” Zeph agreed, laughing richly as his fingers found the sensitive spots along his ribs and sides. He didn’t give River a moment to breathe.

“Ohhhh my god,” River giggled, gasping for breath as tears pricked his eyes and he squirmed, arching off the bed. “I hate you.”

“Bet you don’t.”

“Fucker. Argh!” Zeph had pinched both nipples at once, sending a quick wave of pain crashing through River. It was immediately followed by the intense heat of realizing Zeph’s body was pressed up against his.

More importantly, Zeph’s cock was nestled against his, half-hard and swelling. But at least he wasn’t tickling him anymore. He let go and brushed his hands down River’s chest, flicking the nipples again with his index fingers.

River gasped, trying to catch his breath as heat thrilled through his nerves. “Kinky bastard. You like seeing me all helpless?”

“And squirming under me,” Zeph murmured, winking. Then he frowned slightly, his touch more… reverent. He looked like he never wanted to let go of River, just in case.

No wonder. River nudged Zeph, then grabbed his shoulders to push him over onto his side.

He rolled their bodies over until he was on top, running his hands from Zeph’s hips up to his shoulders.

River knew what made Zeph tick. He knew what a big heart he kept hidden under that gruff exterior, and how playful he was, too. He knew Zeph’s not-so-strange hot buttons—religion and family. He knew how fucking fiercely loyal he was, and how blindly he’d protect anyone he felt he could help.

It was time for Zeph to let River take care of him for the moment. If comfort was what Zeph needed, River could give him that.

“God, you’re sexy,” River whispered to break both their trains of thought. “I’m going to suck on that big, hot cock of yours and then ride it like there’s no tomorrow.”

Zeph’s mouth opened, and River bit back a smile of satisfaction. That was something else he knew about him: how easy it was to turn him on with a few well-chosen dirty words. “Fuck, yes. Do it.”

River grinned. “Is our no-condom agreement still…?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I didn’t… with anyone else. You?”

River shook his head. The asshole hadn’t had the courtesy to get out of his head after turning him down, so, no. There hadn’t been anyone else. He doubted there would be for a while. The sex with Zeph was too fucking good to replace.

Zeph raised his brows, then smirked. “Huh. I see.”

“Shut up,” River grumbled. He was not actually admitting that to Zeph. He scooted down the bed instead, grinding their dicks together for a moment before he kissed along his chest and stomach.

He didn’t waste time wrapping his lips around the head of his favorite cock, swiping his tongue along and around it.

“Fuck,” Zeph hissed, wrapping his hand around the back of River’s head but not pushing. He was too polite for that… until River teased it out of him.

River swallowed the throbbing shaft, pushing all the way to the back of his throat. God, he was glad his gag reflex was long since gone. He loved having a man’s cock filling his mouth and throat, and Zeph tasted goddamn divine. He could happily suck his dick all day.

Especially when Zeph made those sounds of need, his breathing hitching and hips pushing up into Zeph now and then. Like he needed to move, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

I’ve got you.

River wrapped his hand around the base of his shaft and pulled his hand up with his lips, squeezing tightly as he bobbed his head.

Zeph’s eyes were closed, his mouth open. “River,” he gasped. “Fuck, you’re good.”

River desperately wanted to kiss those sexy lips. He moaned in response, lapping at the head before pulling his head back. He stroked Zeph a few times, then leaned over to grab lube. “Don’t want you coming before I even get on you.”

“N-No,” Zeph agreed with a breathy laugh, his hands rising to River’s body. Every time he looked at him, it was like he couldn’t help but touch.

River slid two fingers inside himself, even if he was pretty sure spit and determination could do the job. He grinned as Zeph’s hands wandered down to his thighs, then up to his chest and shoulders again. The whole time, Zeph couldn’t stop watching his fingers between his thighs.

“You like to watch,” River teased.

Zeph’s cheeks flushed and he snorted, but he didn’t defend himself. “Not my fault you’re the hottest thing… ever.”

“No colorful analogy?”

“Since, I don’t know, sliced bread? Give me a break. My brain’s short-circuiting,” Zeph groaned. He was holding his cock now, sliding it between River’s cheeks, bumping it against his hand.

River suppressed a gasp at how much he wanted it. Once his fingers were loose, he grabbed a tissue and wiped the lube off them, humming under his breath. “Do I let you sit up and kiss me, or not?”

Zeph was already pressing into him, stretching him open and sliding inside in a single motion. The upward jerk of his hips made River gasp and sit down hard on him.

“Fuck!” River breathed out, his head spinning.

“Shh. S’okay,” Zeph breathed, his hand rising to cup River’s cheek. “You good?”

River turned his head to kiss Zeph’s palm and nodded as the sparks of pain and disorientation faded, the heat building deep in his stomach again.

There it was: his prostate being rubbed with every gentle thrust, his cock throbbing in response. The nerves along his body lit up as Zeph started pushing up into him. Fuck, his nipples were sensitive, and even his cheek… every brush of Zeph’s palm against his skin made him twitch with pleasure.

“I’m supposed to be doing the work,” he complained after a moment.

Zeph chuckled. “By all means.”

River shifted so he could brace himself better on his knees, then cupped Zeph’s cheeks in both of his and leaned down far enough to kiss him hard, just once.

“Mmmph.” Zeph pushed himself up to prop himself against the headboard, pulling River’s hips along with him to keep their bodies locked together.

On second thought, River wouldn’t complain about his every gasp and moan being swallowed by those beautiful lips.

And did Zeph ever ravish his lips with sucking, sweet kisses at first, then harder, needier, open-mouthed, hungry kisses…

He pushed himself up and down hard, leaning back to catch his breath and bracing himself on Zeph’s knee as his head rolled back.

Zeph leaned in to lick his throat instead and he whimpered, his whole body tightening for a moment.

“Fuck, you’re turned on,” Zeph whispered, his hand lightly curling around River’s shaft. It was so fucking sensitive he squirmed at first, but within a few strokes, River was back in his rhythm.

His pleasure was in Zeph’s hands as he squeezed tight around him, pushing as hard and fast as he could.

And he couldn’t stop smiling. He loved sex with Zeph. It was fucking fun, even when it was hot and fast with no time for shared chuckles over their memories or their clumsiness or weird-ass ideas like whipped cream.

Zeph moved with him, half-dazed and staring up at him like he was the center of his world.

Oh, yeah. That was the other thing he loved about sex with Zeph: the way Zeph never seemed to be thinking of anyone, or even anything else but him.

Zeph tightened his grip around River’s dick and he caught his breath as his body tensed. His nails dug into Zeph’s shoulders as he lost his rhythm for a second, then redoubled his efforts.

Fuck, he needed every inch of that hot dick in him when he came, needed Zeph’s taste on his lips…

“Yes!” River whimpered, rolling his head back. Fuck, he was so close he didn’t even have time to think twice. He just slammed his hips down a few more times, then clenched tight around Zeph as he came, painting both their stomachs in a sticky, passionate mess. “Yeah, fucking yes, Zeph… fuck, you fill me up,” he moaned, slumping against Zeph.

Zeph’s arm was right there around his waist, holding him against his body. But the way Zeph’s hips stuttered, pushing up into him, he could tell he was so fucking close.

“Come, too, baby,” River whispered against his neck as Zeph wrung every last drop from him.

Zeph grabbed his hips and pushed up into him a few more times, his breathing quickly becoming low growls of need.

“Fill me up. Show me I’m yours,” River whispered, pressing kisses against the salty sweetness of his neck. “I can feel you getting there. Fucking show me how much you need me.”

“I… yes!” Zeph growled, crushing their bodies together as his hips slammed up into River, erratic but deep.

Wet and sticky inside and out, River gave a satisfied grin, pushing away from Zeph enough to watch the pleasure bleed into contentment on his face. “Oh, God, yeah,” River whispered. “That’s hot.”

Zeph wrapped his arms around his waist as he softened and slid free. “You’re a fucking sex god. Or demon. Something.”

“I’m a greedy little fucker for your cock,” River agreed easily, winking when Zeph gave him a startled look. “What?”

Zeph breathed out a quick laugh. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the things you say.”

“Good,” River winked, pulling himself off Zeph and grabbing tissues. When they were clean enough to roll under the covers together, they did.

Zeph was out like a light within minutes. River lay awake for a few more minutes to listen to his even, steady breathing before he let himself drift off, too.

I hope he’ll be okay.