Lover
Goss pushed off a rock and swam for the surface, breaking the water with a fling of his head and laughing as the warm afternoon sunshine washed over his cool skin. The day was endless, cloudless, and utterly beautiful.
If only such days came his way more often. Still, given the past week of peace, his only company Tae Min, his only problem the fact he desperately wished Tae Min wanted to kiss him as badly as Goss wanted to kiss him, he couldn't really complain.
He swam lazily toward the ladder that led up to his balcony, climbing it deftly once he reached it and swinging onto the balcony with the ease of familiarity—and stopped short, face going scarlet, as he realized Tae Min was standing there.
That he looked equally disconcerted was of little comfort. "My apologies." Tae Min cleared his throat, eyes very carefully on the ocean and not a completely naked Goss. "I came to tell you a letter has arrived from Lord Tolan."
"Thanks. I'll, uh, be right there," Goss said, and scrambled away to get some clothes.
When he was dressed, he went downstairs and found Tae Min at the bookcase and the letter from Tolan on a salver left on the table by the stairs. He read it over quickly and said, "Looks like I have to return home in two days."
"That's when my brother and sister-in-law are arriving," Tae Min said, slowly shelving a book and turning to face him, though not quite meeting his eyes. "My brother is not best pleased I've been here instead of at the royal palace, but there's not much he can really do to me when I've made fast friends with the future Lord Seabolt and am friendly with his fathers." He winked, finally looking at Goss.
It shouldn't have left Goss so flustered, but he was getting used to Tae Min leaving him so. Hopefully his stupid infatuation would abate soon. He doubted it, but one could hope.
He'd always thought Kerra was his one and only, but his feelings for Kerra felt like something insubstantial compared to how he felt about Tae Min. For all he'd daydreamed of Kerra coming to Seabolt, he'd always held back inviting him, and even when Lord Sealore and Lord Moonrise came along, Kerra never came with them.
After only a week, Tae Min felt like he belonged, like he was meant to be a part of Seabolt Castle, like he had been all along. When they finally left, Tae Min would likely never have cause to return, and that thought hurt so much Goss avoided it as much as possible.
But he couldn't avoid it any longer. Their private retreat was coming to an end. Two days. Elation and misery tangled together. The hells he'd lived through for the past three years would be coming to an end—but so would his time with Tae Min, who'd likely be inundated with more important matters once they returned to the palace.
"Why the long face all of a sudden?" Tae Min asked.
"I—it's stupid. I'll just miss being here, the two of us. This has meant a lot to me." Goss turned away, rubbing the back of his neck, face hot. Had he said too much?
A firm, warm hand caught his and urged him to turn back, whatever Goss might have said was forgotten as met Tae Min's intense, somber eyes.
Tae Min opened his mouth, hesitated.
"What is it?" Goss asked. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No," Tae Min said slowly. "Far from it."
Goss's stomach fluttered. What did that mean?
"It is only…well, I am a busy person. I travel frequently on behalf of Her Eternal Grace. I likely will not be able to settle in one place for many years yet, though my mother has granted me leave to settle where I choose, instead of returning permanently to the empire to serve in her court. And you are going to be quite busy here, and there is eleven years between us…"
Goss couldn't breathe. "Why are you saying all this? If you're trying to tell me you'll be too busy to see me much after we leave, I already knew that."
Smiling faintly, Tae Min said, "I am saying that from the moment we met, you've felt like an old friend, despite all that should keep us apart. But I fear the things we can work with as friends, might be more difficult—even impossible—to handle were we to progress to lovers. Which I would really like to do, and I'm hoping you feel the same, or at least would consider it."
"You—" Goss's mouth opened, closed, repeated, before he finally said to the hells with it, threw his arms around Tae Min's neck, and kissed him despite the fact he had no idea what he was doing.
Thankfully, Tae Min took it in stride, freezing briefly in surprise before sweeping him up and taking the kiss over. He tasted as wonderful as he always smelled, and that beautiful fall of hair was even softer than it had looked.
Goss was moved, lifted, and oh that put them at a matched height, which made the kissing even better.
It was strange at first, especially when Tae Min's tongue swept into his mouth, but Goss matched the moves eagerly, happily. He'd waited so long to be kissed like this, and gods have mercy it had been more than worth the wait.
Tae Min pulled away, making him pout. "Do not tell me I'm your first lover."
"That bad?" Goss swallowed, nerves and shame getting the better of him now the moment was over. "Does that change your mind?"
In reply, Tae Min simply kissed him again, more fervently than ever, fingers sliding into his hair, dislodging the ribbon that had secured it in a loose bun, weaving through the messy strands and holding Goss firmly in place. His other hand slid down Goss's back and pulled him closer, so that he sat on the very edge of the table with Tae Min nestled between his thighs, and gods wasn't that a new and marvelous delight.
Goss shivered and wrapped his arms around Tae Min's waist, kissing ardently, hoping that made up for his lack of experience.
He groaned as Tae Min's fingers scraped the back of his neck, sending shivers down his spine and prickling his skin. That just got him more kisses, more touches—until Tae Min abruptly tore away, and Goss moaned as the look of Tae Min mussed from kissing him made his cock twitch hard. "Come back."
Tae Min gave a strangled laugh. "I think it's time we found a bed. As delightful as it would be to misappropriate every piece of furniture down here, you deserve a better first time than that."
Goss touched his tongue to his top lip. "I'm really not that particular."
"I see someone is going to be a troublesome little imp," Tae Min replied, pulling him off the table and right back into kissing.
It was rapidly becoming Goss's absolute favorite thing to do. "I thought—" he laughed breathlessly right before Tae Min's mouth sealed over his again.
Eventually, Tae Min tore away with a groan. "Come on, before I really do have us down on the floor."
"I concede the floor would be uncomfortable." Smooshing down his nerves, Goss held fast to Tae Min's hand and dragged him upstairs to his bedroom. Sunlight still spilled in through the open balcony doors, turning swaths of the room a brilliant gold. "So is this why you acted so strange when you caught me naked?"
"You will never know just how badly I wanted to lick every drop of water from your skin," Tae Min replied. "My self-control has never been so sorely tested."
Goss laughed delightedly. "You should come swimming with me sometime."
"I don't know how to swim," Tae Min replied. "I live far inland back home, and the bodies of water around us are either not safe or otherwise unsuited for it."
"I'll teach you."
Tae Min shoved him playfully toward the bed. "Right now, I'd rather do other things that require nudity."
Snickering, stubbornly ignoring his sudden shyness, Goss removed his belt and dropped it, then kicked off his slippers and set to work on the rest of his clothes.
He got distracted partway through by the sight of a nude Tae Min, whose skin seemed flawlessly smooth, not a single hair save for those around his cock. There didn't seem to be a single mark on him, not even a shaving scar. He was even more ridiculously beautiful than usual, body bathed in sunlight, that long, long hair spilling all around him—and an impossible to miss hard cock that Goss was afraid to look at and yet helpless against staring at.
Then Tae Min was in his space and getting rid of the rest of his clothes, hands lingering here and there, making Goss shiver and moan. A hot mouth teased the length of his throat, leaving a wet trail that cooled in a sudden breeze. "You're beautiful," Tae Min murmured. "I was entranced from the moment I saw you helping those fishermen."
"Sitting on a dock, covered in fishnet and my own blood?" Goss asked with a laugh as Tae Min pushed him onto the bed. He shivered as Tae Min straddled his thighs and reached out to comb his fingers through that hair. "Your hair is beautiful. I've wanted to see it like this from the moment I saw it."
"As long as you help me comb it out later," Tae Min said, leaning down and kissing the tip of his nose. "And no, not covered in fishnet and blood. Clearly troubled but forgoing your own concerns to help a couple of poor fisherman, even though doing so caused you harm."
"A blood nose and a dizzy spell," Goss said, scoffing. "Any reputable Binder would have done the same."
"I do not think that's true. You clearly have made a life of putting others above yourself."
Goss shrugged awkwardly. "Nothing I've done is remarkable, and I might be a Seabolt, but I grew up a Seacrist. Those who take gain nothing. Those who give gain everything."
"What's the Seabolt motto?" Tae Min shifted to trail that hot mouth along Goss's jaw and down his throat, working slowly, agonizingly, delightfully down his chest.
"I'm not sure how you expect me to remember right now," Goss said breathlessly, squirming for more, for less, groaning as his cock rubbed against Tae Min. The nerves were still there, but it was impossible for them to take control when everything was so wonderful.
Fingers wrapped around his cock, and all ability to think, let alone talk, fled entirely.
"Beautiful," Tae Min murmured. "You live in a country of fools, that I am the first to see this."
"Less staring, more doing," Goss said around another groan, arching and rubbing. He tried to put his own hands to use, skating over Tae Min's skin, loving the way his muscles moved, how soft his skin was, and his hair around them like the finest curtain.
Tae Min chuckled. "Oh, to be twenty again."
Goss yanked him up and kissed him because, despite the divine touches, he still liked the kissing best.
Eventually Tae Min pulled away again, and Goss almost died on the spot as he moved further down and licked a stripe along the length of Goss's cock. Before he could get his breath back, Tae Min swallowed it, sucking firmly, tongue rubbing all over, pulling him in so deep he could feel Tae Min's throat.
Goss moaned his name, one hand tangled in the blankets, the other arm draped over his eyes to buffer the overstimulation. Gods, he would never get the image of Tae Min sucking his cock out of his mind. It was engraved. He was never going to be able to think about anything else.
The sucking increased, Tae Min bobbing as he worked, and Goss could only thrust gracelessly, gasping and panting and coming far too soon. Before he could recover, Tae Min was kissing him again. Goss cradled his head, shuddering to taste himself in Tae Min's mouth. He hadn't known that was a thing, or that he'd like it so much. What would it be like if their roles were reversed? But as much as he wanted to find out, what he really wanted next was to feel Tae Min inside him.
When they finally parted, he asked, "Are you going to fuck me?"
A full body shudder ran through Tae Min, his eyes closing, throat working. Goss was dizzy with the knowledge he was the one having that effect.
"I would very much like to," he finally said.
"Good," Goss said. "There's lubricant in the table there." He nodded at the table on the left side of his bed.
Tae Min snickered and moved away to get it. "Someone knows what he is about. But then, you never seemed the hesitant type to me."
Goss lifted up on his elbows to admire the view of Tae Min going to the table and returning. "Really? Because I've been making as ass of myself about how much I like you."
"I haven't been any better, or do you think I invite myself to spend several days in all my friends' homes?"
"You only seemed to see me as a friend." Goss wrinkled his nose. "Only is a terrible word choice."
"I know what you meant." Tae Min covered him, kissed him, and Goss forgot what they were talking about. "Are you ready?" he murmured when he pulled away the barest bit.
"Yes," Goss said, their lips brushing. "I want to see what the real thing is like."
Tae Min groaned. "I should have known. You're going to be the death of me." He took another quick, sharp kiss then shifted and spread Goss's legs wide before slicking his fingers.
He pushed the tip of the first one in carefully, and Goss groaned in frustration, fingers fumbling at the blankets for a grip. Too bad they'd never managed to get settled properly: he could have clung to the headboard. "More, Tae Min."
"I like when you say my name," Tae Min replied, and pushed the finger further in, twisting and teasing, stretching him gently open before slowly adding a second finger.
Goss gasped and writhed and thrust. He was going to come again, and how embarrassing was that when Tae Min had yet to come once? But he couldn't really focus on the mortification because Tae Min's fingers combined with the heated look on his face consumed his attention. He reached out to tug. "More. I want you."
Tae Min withdrew his fingers and moved in to kiss him, soft and achingly sweet. "You have me."
Before Goss could formulate a reply to that, Tae Min withdrew, slicked his cock, and pressed inside with agonizing slowness. Despite his ministrations, the stretch burned slightly. Goss arched back, head pressing into the bedding, fingers fisting in the blanket. He moaned Tae Min's name, the sound filling the room, and got a hot, messy kiss in reward.
Then Tae Min pulled out and thrust back in harder.
"Yes," Goss said breathlessly. "More of that."
Tae Min's reply was rough-edged and incomprehensible, but his thrusting sped up, hands clamped tightly on Goss's hips. His hair seemed to be everywhere: brushing along Goss's legs, sticking in places with sweat, getting tangled up and trapped as Tae Min fucked him with increasing fervor.
This was so much better than toys and fantasies.
Goss met every thrust as best he could, one hand still clinging to the blankets, the other coming up to cling to Tae Min's sweaty back, tangling in his damp, messy hair. He wanted to come, wanted this moment to last forever, wanted thousands more just like this.
Tae Min kissed him, rough and sweaty and messy, then bit down at the soft skin right beneath his ear, and Goss could hold on no longer. He clung tightly to Tae Min, nails digging in, and stuttered out his name as the climax overtook him. He shuddered and shivered as Tae Min thrust into him a few more times, the movements short and jerky, and moaned into the kiss he got as Tae Min finally came.
After a few minutes, as the air cooled their overheated skin, Tae Min shifted off him and rolled to the side. Goss whimpered slightly at the loss, and the faint ache left behind. He turned over to let the cool air wash over his back and smiled shyly at Tae Min. "Have fun?"
Tae Min laughed. "Well, I don't come when I have a bad time. That's not really my thing."
Goss snickered, but it turned into a yawn as the exertion of swimming followed almost immediately by recent activities washed over him like a warm tide.
"Time for a nap, I think." Tae Min tugged him until Goss was pressed against the length of his side and kissed his brow. "If I had known your bed was this comfortable, I would have seduced my way into it much sooner."
"All you had to do was ask," Goss said sleepily as he drifted off, smiling at the press of another kiss.