In Heaven and Earth (10 page)

It wasn’t until the hatch
closed behind them that it occurred to him that he could just have
taken Vairya to one of the sickbays and found him some
scrubs.

“
How long do
you think it will take them to record their messages?” Vairya
asked, stopping in the tiny square of open floor between the ladder
and the end of the bed.

“
Depends on the
message,” Reuben said, scrambling onto the bed so he could reach
the overhead lockers. “Why?”

“
I was
wondering how long we have got,” Vairya said, and there was an odd
note in his voice, something which would never have belonged in the
rose garden.

“
Depends when
Chanthavy cuts Eskil off,” Reuben said, pulling out a change of
clothes and turning round. “At least an hour.”

“
Not long
enough,” Vairya murmured, looking up at him. He held out his hand.
“Reuben.”

No mock title this time,
and something about the honesty of his name in that soft voice made
Reuben shudder, suddenly aware that he was alone with this man, who
was attractive and infuriating and appealing in a way no one had
been since he was a teenager trying to prove himself to his adult
classmates. Uncertain, he dropped the clothes onto the edge of the
bed and leaned forwards, taking Vairya’s offered hand.
“Yes.”

“
Tomorrow we
die.”

“
Tomorrow we
fight.”

“
No,” Vairya
said, and his hand twitched a little in Reuben’s. “There’s no
coming back from this. We’re just choosing how to die. Tomorrow, it
ends. Everything ends.”

His eyes were wide, and
Reuben could hear the effort he was making to keep his voice
steady. Two hundred years old, and he’d probably never had to
consider his own mortality before. Strange, that this was another
thing Reuben understood better. Carefully, he stepped off the bed
and put his arms around Vairya. “Don’t be afraid.”

He had meant to keep his
embrace loose and comforting, but Vairya seized hold of him
tightly, pressing warm skin and cooler metal against Reuben. “Why
ever not?”

Reuben shrugged but
tightened his hold. “It doesn’t help. Just keep living until our
time runs out.”

Vairya pressed his cheek
against Reuben’s shoulder and let out a rough laugh. “Believe it or
not, that was where I was trying to go with this. I didn’t mean
to—” His voice caught.

He was shaking, and
Reuben ran his hand down his spine, closing his eyes. It had been a
long time since he had comforted anyone or been comforted himself,
and he was caught now between wanting Vairya to conquer his fear,
to be steady in the world again, and wanting to just stay here,
like this, locked in this warmth for as long as they
could.

“
Ssh,” he
murmured, rocking Vairya slightly. “I’ve got you.”

“
Yes,” Vairya
sighed and looked up. There were tears caught on his lashes and
Reuben wondered how that worked. Who had crafted his tear
ducts?

This close, he could see
every tiny imperfection in Vairya’s face, the subtle wear and tear
of a face well lived in, the creases around his eyes, the rough
edge of a chapped lip, the shadows below his eyes. At first sight,
Vairya had looked like a warrior angel, or a legendary prince, art
more than flesh.

Now he looked like a man,
and Reuben’s breath caught a little.

Vairya had kissed him in
the garden, and suddenly he wanted it again now, where it would
count for more. Because Vairya was right, they were about to die,
and suddenly his skin itched with it, and his gut clenched with
need, and Vairya was right there, too sad and perfect for Reuben to
touch with impunity.

“
I didn’t
intend to cry on you,” Vairya said, and his mouth turned up again,
the faintest attempt at a smile. “I had other plans.”

“‘
The best laid
plans—’” Reuben began, but Vairya laid his hand over his mouth,
shushing him.

“
Actually,” he
said firmly, “I intended to spend our last free moments doing
this.”

And he dropped his hand
and kissed Reuben.

Reuben breathed into it,
his whole body surging forwards in relief, and Vairya
gasped.

It was rough, clumsy
even, mouths clashing, his legs trapped against the edge of the
bed, Vairya’s hand trapped between them, knuckles curled against
Reuben’s chest.

And yet his heart rose,
and his body tensed and relaxed, as if he had suddenly taken
flight, and it was all he could do not to pull away and swear
wildly, because this was not how kisses were supposed to be, not
how they had ever been. They weren’t supposed to sing through him
like this, weren’t supposed to make him crush Vairya tighter in his
arms, weren’t supposed to fill his sour, shadowed heart with
sudden, relentless light.

There were poets who had
written of such things. He knew that. He had read them.

But he couldn’t remember
them, not when Vairya was kissing him.

When Vairya pulled away,
Reuben groaned, tugging at his shoulders to pull him
back.

Vairya didn’t move, but
just stared at him, his eyes wide with shock.

“
Reuben,” he
said, breath gusting out. “Reuben.”

Reuben slid his hand up
into Vairya’s hair, cupped his skull, and tried to pull him back.
“More.”

“
Yes,” Vairya
said and fell back against him, pushing at him until they both went
crashing to the bed.

Vairya’s weight on top of
him was so good, and Reuben pulled him closer, rising back into his
kiss as he reached under Vairya’s flimsy tunic to press his palms
against ridges of metal, cables shivering with static, skin. He was
hard, his cock a bar against Reuben’s thigh.

His hands were
tingling, and Vairya shuddered on top of him, his whole body going
tight as he dragged his mouth away. He looked wild, his pupils
blown and his cheeks as bright as roses. “What the fuck
is
this?”

“
Nanites?”
Reuben suggested, drawing in a desperate breath. “Adrenaline.
Impending death.
I don’t
care
.”

Vairya scrambled off him,
back to his feet at the end of the bed. Reuben sat up, waiting for
the urgency to fade now they were no longer touching.

Instead, he found himself
staring, watching every laboured breath Vairya took.

“
Vairya,” he
said, because he didn’t care why this was different, not when it
was the last chance either of them would ever have.
“Vairya.”

Vairya took another
breath, his shoulders rising, and then wet his lips. “Reuben,” he
said, voice huskier than before. “Take your damn clothes
off.”

Reuben smiled, and it
didn’t even feel out of place on his face. Without looking away
from Vairya, he stripped his clothes off, throwing them to the side
of the bed and then propped himself up on his elbows, aware of
every stir of the air against his bare skin.

He wasn’t pretty, never
had been, but he was strong. When he had been famous, people had
called him handsome from time to time, but he had always known that
was more about the fame than the breadth of his shoulders. After
all, the same journalists had called him a treacherous brute a few
years later.

Right now, though,
watching the blush rise in Vairya’s cheeks, he wanted to be seen.
Even more, he wanted to be touched.

“
Just going to
stand there and look?” he demanded.

“
No,” Vairya
murmured and lifted his hands to struggle with the knotted cord
that fastened his tunic over his shoulder. When it broke free, the
whole flimsy garment simply fell off him, catching for a moment on
his risen cock until he shoved it right away and stood exposed to
Reuben’s gaze.

Perhaps, Reuben thought,
transfixed, he had chosen roses to match all the colours of his
skin, white in the curve of his wrist, pink across his cheeks,
blush red as his cock where it stood full against his
belly.

Only the silver plates of
his chest and the metal twists at his hips and down his forearms
did not match.

Vairya followed his gaze
and said, dropping his eyes, “They didn’t have time to finish us. I
function, but skin over those last components was
aesthetic.”

“
Will it hurt
you, if I touch them?”

“
No. There are
no nerves there. They put in enough that I could understand what it
means to be a man, but the Enemy were at the gate.”

Reuben sat up and reached
out, pressing his hands over gleaming metal. “You’re
beautiful.”

Vairya curled his lip.
“In places.”

Reuben kissed him,
pressing his mouth to the soft skin of his navel, to his open palm,
the subtle curve of his throat, his mouth, which softened against
his as he drew Vairya down, skin against skin, need rising through
them again as their legs tangled, and their hips slotted
together.

It was easy to turn,
pressing Vairya down against his pillows, and then to run his hand
down the length of his body, sliding over skin and steel alike
until he closed his hand over Vairya’s cock.

“
Reuben,”
Vairya murmured and reached out himself. His grip was firm, and
Reuben thrust against his hold in relief as he kissed him
again.

He had meant to keep it
gentle, to draw out every damn moment, but Vairya’s hips rose up
hard and fast, his breathing quickening, and his urgency seemed to
infect Reuben, making his heart beat faster and his body shudder in
response.

His kiss went sloppy, and
Vairya grabbed his hair to hold him in place, his hand quickening
on Reuben’s cock as they kissed and thrust and gasped against each
other, sweat gathering until their hands grew clumsy, and all the
while fire was gathering under Reuben’s skin, in his balls, at the
head of his cock as Vairya slid his thumb across the slickness
gathering there.

Reuben groaned, and
Vairya rocked against him faster, shoving against Reuben’s hand as
he scraped his teeth across his lip, and Reuben had to move his
hand, had to drive him into more gasps and shudders, had to make
him writhe and squirm, because he couldn’t stop watching the
pleasure rush across Vairya’s face, couldn’t stop his own hips from
jerking forwards, faster and harder, unstoppable now, as it rose
through him in a rush that made his head spin and his body
convulse.

Dimly, he felt Vairya
shake against him, and then he was the one sprawled across the
sheets as Vairya straddled him, hand jerking on his own cock until
he spilled, his whole body going still.

When he slumped forwards,
Reuben caught him and held him. Where he spread his hand across
Vairya’s back, he could feel the thunder of his pulse, and it made
him shiver and want again.

“
Tell me,”
Vairya breathed against his neck, “that was just a warm
up.”

Reuben kissed the nearest
bit of skin, the place where Vairya’s ear met his jaw. “Took the
edge off, right?”

“
I want
more.”

“
You’ll get
more.” He chuckled a little, self-conscious. “Might even manage to
make it last next time.”

“
Yeah,” Vairya
murmured, his hips shifting. Reuben felt the faint stir of Vairya’s
cock against him, and the answering throb of his own. He wasn’t
going to stir much more than that yet, but Vairya… well, Vairya
didn’t seem to have that particular human limit, because he was
half-hard again already.

Contentedly, Reuben
spread his legs, and Vairya pressed closer with a happy mumble,
erection sliding along the crease of Reuben’s thigh.

“
Do you even
have a refractory period?” Reuben asked, sliding his hand down to
cup Vairya’s arse.

Vairya raised his head
and smirked at him, eyes half-lidded and his whole face slack with
lust. “Sometimes. Complaining?”

“
Not at all,”
Reuben murmured and wrapped his leg over Vairya’s hip. He felt like
he’d melted into the bed, his whole body lax and sated. He could
barely summon the energy to bat his eyelashes at Vairya and simper,
“Do be gentle with me, good sir.”

Vairya snorted laughter
and bit his lip gently, making Reuben shudder happily. “For that,”
Vairya muttered, pushing himself up, “I’m going to take terrible
advantage of you.”

Reuben reached under the
pillow for his lube, tossed it at Vairya, and then folded his arms
behind his head. “Go ahead. Ravage me.”

Vairya’s grin went sharp
and appreciative. “Seriously? How long until the afterglow wears
off, and you start getting cranky again?”

“
Not yet,”
Reuben said, “but I’ll make sure to warn— oh,
that’s
good.”

Vairya lifted his head
from where he had just fastened his mouth over Reuben’s nipple, and
patted him fondly on the cheek. “Just lie back and take it, there’s
a good boy.”

“
You should be
very glad of my afterglow,” Reuben grumbled, but he couldn’t stop
himself from reaching out to touch Vairya’s hair where it stood up
on end.

Vairya laughed and dipped
his head down again. He kissed and stroked his way down Reuben’s
body, mouth and hands wandering in a way that seemed purposeless
until Reuben’s cock filled again, and he began to shiver,
anticipating every touch. Vairya just kept going, slapping Reuben’s
hand away when he tried to reach down to return the favour, and
Reuben simply gave up. Vairya kissed and touched him and sucked his
cock with unrelenting tenderness. He slid his fingers into Reuben,
teased him until he shuddered on the edge of oblivion, and then
pulled right away for just long enough to make Reuben panic. And
then he folded Reuben’s legs back and fucked into him so steadily
that Reuben arched his neck and forgot everything but the rhythm of
his hips, meeting every thrust as he groped for own cock, watching
the shift of muscle under skin and the pulse of pistons as Vairya
rode him, until, at last, Reuben’s toes curled, and his spine
tingled and he came so hard he almost missed Vairya’s own cry and
arch of completion.