Chapter Ten #2
We float there for a moment, catching our breath, his bioluminescence still pulsing in gentle waves. He looks dazed, soft in a way I haven't seen before. When a strand of dark hair falls across his face, I push it back gently, and he leans into the touch.
"That was..." he starts, then stops, colors shifting to gold mixed with that pale green of embarrassment.
"Amazing? Incredible? Worth doing again as soon as possible?"
A laugh escapes him—bright and unexpected. "Intense."
"Good intense?"
"Very good intense." He looks down at my obvious arousal. "But you're—"
"Will be fine. Promise." I kiss him once more, soft and quick. "Come on, we actually do need to work or the whole section will die."
We return to the zhik'ra, but everything's different now.
Charged. I try to focus on cutting away dead growth, but I keep getting distracted by watching Vel'aan work.
The way his body moves through the water with perfect grace.
The way his bioluminescence hasn't quite returned to normal, little sparks of purple-gold flickering across his skin whenever our eyes meet.
"You're not concentrating," he says after I cut the wrong piece for the third time.
"Can you blame me? I can still feel you in my hand."
His colors flare bright. "Alex."
"What? It's true." I swim closer, not touching but close enough to feel the cool emanating from his skin. "And tonight, when you're thinking about this, touching yourself, I'll feel it, won't I? Through that connection."
"You can't know that."
"I think that spark goes both ways. I think last night when I was coming for the third time, you felt it. That's why you couldn't sleep."
His silence is admission enough.
We work for another two hours, though 'work' is generous.
It's more like attempting to work while hyperaware of each other.
Every time we surface together, we end up closer than necessary.
When I get tangled in a particularly stubborn cluster, he helps free me, his hands lingering on my arms. When he can't reach a tangled section, I dive down to handle it, very aware of how he watches me surface.
"This is ridiculous," he finally says, floating beside me as the sun reaches its peak. "We're accomplishing nothing."
"We cleared that whole section," I protest.
"That should have taken an hour. It took three."
"Well, whose fault is that?" I grin. "You're the one who keeps lighting up every time I look at you."
"You're the one who keeps..." He gestures vaguely at my body. "Being distracting."
"Being distracting?"
"Swimming around half-naked. Wet. With your..." Another gesture, this time at my chest.
"My chest?"
"It has hair. It's very... human."
I laugh, delighted. "You like my chest hair?"
His colors shift to purple. "It's different. Intriguing."
"Just my chest hair?"
His gaze drops lower, following the trail down my abs. "No."
The heat in his voice makes me groan. "Okay, we need to actually focus or I'm going to have to take care of myself right here."
"That would be... inadvisable." But his colors pulse with interest.
"Rain check for tonight?"
"Rain check?"
"Human expression. Means we'll come back to it later." I force myself to swim toward a new section. "Come on, let's at least try to be productive."
We manage another hour of actual work, though the tension never dissipates.
It's like there's an invisible thread between us, pulling tighter with each passing moment.
When other farmers pass by in the distance, we wave normally, but I can see Vel'aan's colors shifting—nervous green mixed with residual purple, like he's wondering if they can tell what we did.
By late afternoon, we're both exhausted from the work and the constant state of arousal. The sun hangs low, painting everything gold, and I realize we've been out here for nearly eight hours.
"We should stop," Vel'aan says, pulling himself onto the platform. Water streams down his body, and I watch a droplet trace the line of his spine. "The heat will be gone soon."
I join him on the platform, careful to leave space between us despite every instinct screaming to touch him again. "Same time tomorrow?"
"You still want to help?" He sounds genuinely surprised.
"Vel'aan, I would do the kelp farming forever if it means spending time with you."
His bioluminescence does that beautiful gold spiral that means he's happy. "It's zhik'ra, not kelp."
"I literally do not care what it's called."
We sit there for a moment, legs dangling in the water, shoulders not quite touching. The easy silence feels comfortable, weighted with promise rather than awkwardness.
"Tonight," he says suddenly, then stops.
"Tonight?"
"You mentioned... watching." His colors shift to purple despite the embarrassment green trying to dominate. "Is that something humans do?"
My cock twitches with interest. "Sometimes. When they trust each other. When they want to share that vulnerability."
"I want to see," he says quietly, not looking at me. "Want to see what you do when you think of me."
"Fuck." I have to close my eyes and breathe for a moment. "You can't just say things like that when we're in public."
"Why not?"
"Because now I'm going to be hard for the entire swim back."
A small smile plays at his lips. "Good."
"Oh, you're going to be trouble, aren't you?" I stand, offering him a hand up. "My place or yours tonight?"
He takes my hand, and that spark pulses between us—stronger now, like it's been fed by our earlier activities. "Mine."
He squeezes my hand before letting go. "After dark. When the bioluminescence is brightest."
"Vel'aan," I say as he turns to leave. He looks back, questioning. "Wear something easy to remove."
His whole body lights up in purple-gold before he dives into the water and disappears.
I stand there for a long moment, watching the ripples he left behind, thinking about tonight. About watching and being watched. About this connection growing between us that feels like more than just chemistry.
The swim back to Tevra's place is going to be uncomfortable, but I don't care. Tonight, I get to show Vel'aan exactly what he does to me. Get to watch him discover his own desires.
The anticipation alone might kill me, but what a way to go.