There are few good ways to wake up after drinking enough alcohol to invite an early grave in for tea.
Cale was actually in pretty good condition considering. His head hurt and his body was sore but it was a faint sort of feeling, numbed behind exhaustion and the ponderous warmth of a breathing pillow beneath him.
A hand, familiar and warm and wonderful, caressed his cheek and Cale looked up into warm brown eyes so full of tender affection that Cale felt his breath literally being stolen away.
"My head hurts."
He kissed Cale's head gently, sweetly, lovingly.
Cale had so much to say and a lot of complaints to make. A lot of demands. Goals.
But his head hurt and there he was, holding Cale like he was a precious treasure. Hedonism won out.
"My face hurts too."
He chuckled softly, kissing Cale's forehead and lingering there as though he was the happiest man alive just to be allowed that much.
Cale's heart throbbed and he was just too tired to care about any of it.
It really felt simple.
"My lips also hurt."
He smiled and his warm eyes sparkled as he pulled Cale closer, his lips pressing against Cale's in a lovingly chaste kiss that sent tingles from Cale's spine all the way down to the tips of his toes. Cale leaned into it, closing his eyes and following the staccato of his heart.
His whole body ached and yet he never felt better. Moving his lips slowly, inviting his partner to deepen the kiss and humming with delight as his invitation was accepted.
Breathlessly, Cale found the strength to say in between urgent and languid kisses. "My whole body hurts."
Alberu's restraint finally snapped.
In one fluid movement he flipped their positions, pinning Cale to the bed and kissing his beautiful beloved as though his life depended upon it. Fingers lacing with Cale's as he held his hands down against the bed. The muffled mewl from Cale was the sweetest of melodies.
Cale's reddish brown eyes, half-lidded with desire and want and love and–Alberu trailed kisses down Cale's chin, resting his lips against his neck and delighting in the shudder it elicited from Cale.
He should stop here.
He'd always stopped here and he couldn't recklessly move forward on an insane impulse.
Cale's hands squeezed his pleadingly. "It hurts." He insisted, begging ever so sweetly.
'Right. Forgot that I'm already insane.'
Alberu squeezed Cale's hand in return, nipping Cale's sensitive neck and sucking just enough to make him whimper.
What he would give to hear Cale compose a symphony of those sounds just for him.
He released one of Cale's hands, unbuttoning Cale's shirt as patiently as he could manage, massaging the exposed pale skin and listening to Cale's every breathy gasp. Alberu moved from his spot, licking the possessive bruise in apology before he moved lower, nipping at Cale's collar bone as he went.
"Ah–" Cale's voice was ever so slightly higher than normal. Alberu wanted to hear how high it could get. Wanted to hear every delicious sound. Wanted to feel and kiss every inch of his pale skin and cover him with his own marks.
Alberu kissed his way down to Cale's chest, swirling his tongue around a pink nub and earning a breathy "Fuck–" for his trouble. Cale's pliant and beautiful body squirmed just for him and Alberu left a biting hickey on Cale's chest as a reward.
More–he wanted so much more–
"Shit–stop fucking around–"
Alberu smiled against Cale's skin, Cale's impatience matched his own perfectly. He trailed biting kisses back up to Cale's lips, making sure to leave two yellowing bruises along the other side of Cale's neck as he went. His hips rocking gently against Cale's. Between too much cloth they could feel one another's desire.
Alberu placed a delicate kiss on Cale's lips and looked him in the eyes, making his last appeal to sanity. "Are you sure?"
Cale's voice came out as a desperate whimper. "Please."
Had he ever heard Cale even use that word? It was rather characteristic of Cale that he didn't say words like please, he always demanded what he wanted with arrogance and pride.
For Alberu to touch him, he pleaded.
How did he express the emotions that absolutely consumed him with a single word? He couldn't. Not even in the way he stripped Cale of his remaining clothes or the way they rocked against each other needily as Alberu groped his ass.
Cale's needy moan for "More" against his ear. Cale's legs wrapping around his waist. Cale's nails running down his back.
Cale biting him teasingly, on the spot he'd first down so. The first night he professed to holding onto feelings for some stupid prince who he just wanted to bite his stupid face.
Alberu held Cale close, letting out a hiss of emotion.
"He wouldn't be caught dead with trash like me."
"Just leave me anywhere to die. That's where trash belongs~"
"The only person I wanna kiss is whats-his-face."
Cale moaned beneath him, receptive to his every movement. Licking Alberu's fingers obediently. Rolling his hips to press Alberu's slick fingers against his ass, nipping and biting and expressing how much he wanted him with every inch of his body.
'I love him.'
He slid one finger inside, listening to the beautiful way that Cale's breath hitched.
'I love him so much I can't breathe.'
What would have happened if he hadn't gone to rescue Cale that first night? What would have happened if Cale had sat there alone in the dark, believing for all the world that he was nothing but trash that no one could want?
Alberu stole Cale's lips in a desperate kiss. Slipping in a second finger and swallowing Cale's moan.
'I love him.'
There weren't words or actions that could truly give justice to the depth of the emotion and Alberu couldn't think rationally anymore regardless. There was only Cale's writhing body beneath him and his addictive taste and smell and sounds–everything.
Alberu wanted everything.
He removed his fingers impatiently, pressing his cock against Cale's entrance and taking just the moment to admire the sight below him.
Covered in marks Alberu had made, cheeks pink, lips parted, lusty brown eyes framed by fiery red hair. Cale was really beautiful. So much so that he didn't want to show him to anyone. He wanted to keep this gorgeous and precious person locked away where only he could touch him. Caress him. Kiss him.
He wanted everything Cale was and so much more.
Cale's lips trembled with a needy mewl, no longer even a word, but it sounded so much like please to Alberu's blessed ears.
With one smooth movement, he slid inside. Cale's walls hugging his cock and causing him to groan low in his throat. Red hot lines from Cale's nails ran down his back and he kissed Cale ever so gently as his hips reared back, unable to be patient or sane, unable to restrain how badly he wanted this.
How badly he wanted to hear Cale's raw voice cursing and pleading and moaning–Alberu rocked his hips with relentless force. The precise moment that he found the perfect spot marked by a sharp cry of Cale's perfect voice.
"Cale–" Alberu said his name like a prayer, like he was all that he adored and worshiped.
Cale clung to him, body rocked by the force of Alberu's thrusts and voice hoarse. His heart was pounding so loudly that Alberu could hear it.
Alberu's thrusts hit that spot with unerring accuracy, harder and faster and all to elicit the beautiful sounds that Cale made. To feel the pleasure of making love to the man he wanted more than anything else in his whole life.
Alberu lost himself in desire, kissing and sucking Cale's neck greedily to see just how many marks he could make. To taste Cale. To feel Cale's walls squeeze against him as he teased Cale's sensitive neck.
Alberu loved him. Every inch of him. His every reaction. Everything.
Cale squirmed and cried and screamed, cursing up a storm because in the heat of the mind-numbing lust and pleasure he still didn't know who's name to call out.
And behind all of the pleasure, that broke his heart.