Chapter 40
K allen had never had much chance to eat out in his own hometown, except for very special occasions like his parents’ anniversary, they’d dined at home or at relatives’ and friends’ homes. But as much as he’d missed of the teenage experience, he’d still had two older brothers living it full on. It’d been Mikey who’d found the little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that served the best falafel pitta sandwiches he’d ever eaten.
It turned out to be an excellent choice to share with someone whose fingers you wanted to lick.
And lick he had, catching Levy’s wrist the moment his boyfriend had tried to do it himself and bringing it to his own mouth across the rickety hotel room table. Not looking away from Levy’s wide eyes as he sucked each of his fingers into his mouth, pressing with his tongue and humming his pleasure. The sauce was delicious, and the flush across his lover’s cheeks even more so.
Two months had felt like aeons, but they disappeared between them like water flowing through his fingers. He didn’t just have Levy back, but he had him for real.
Kallen let go of his pinky and twisted his hand to lick across his palm instead. He could feel Levy trembling, but he still didn’t move.
Levy’s throat moved as he swallowed, a perfect machine, strong and vulnerable at once. “You are shining,” he said, and for a moment Kallen couldn’t process. Then he got it and laughed.
“Yeah?” It made perfect sense, he felt bright and easy and confident . He stood up, not letting go and not pulling, but Levy was already following him as he sidestepped the table and walked backwards towards the bed. He did let go to pull his t-shirt over his head, and came out to Levy’s hungry gaze on his body.
He tilted his head to the side, smiling his invitation, and started undoing his belt, and before he knew it, Levy had stepped up to him and pushed his hand away to take over.
Kallen laughed again and went for his clothes, tutting at him when he resisted lifting his arms for a moment. It was enough to make Levy give way, and then they were on the bed, bouncing a little. Kallen’s boxers already on the floor, leaving him completely bare, but this time it was so obvious that was to his advantage . Levy’s hand landed on his belly, clumsy with need and he took advantage of a moment of distraction to twist their bodies until the alpha was under him, legs still trapped in his jeans, his own underwear unjustly in the way.
“Hey,” he told him, smiling widely, and got an answering smile, still half- shocked, but there.
“Hey,” Levy said back.
“You gonna stay?” Kallen asked him.
And the words weren’t particularly clear, but Levy licked his lips and nodded, eyes bright and eager. So it was easy to dive in and take his mouth, deep and still full of the familiar flavours Kallen had shared with him.
Levy opened up to him, gasping, and his hands reached out for Kallen’s shoulders. Kallen wanted nothing more than to devour him, drink him to the very last drop, made him squirm and scream until he forgot about his guilt and his fear and he gave Kallen everything he had.
Whatever he’d been holding back all his time for fear of hurting him .
Because Kallen had been wounded, he’d spent years fighting a battle with himself he couldn’t win. But one thing he was not, and had never been, was weak .
He wanted Levy’s strength and his passion, just as much as his tenderness and care.
And Levy had said yes.
He broke the kiss, both of them panting, but couldn’t stop, bending down to nuzzle at Levy’s chest, licking up until he could suck his earlobe into his mouth and bite at it, earning himself a very definite hip thrust and a burst of scent that had him groaning. He scraped his teeth down the long line of Levy’s neck on his way down and felt him shudder with it, hands tightening on Kallen’s shoulders as if he wanted to drag him back.
But he kept his promise, not doing more than holding on as Kallen kept moving downwards, scraping at his collarbones instead at the same time he found his nipples and pinched them. Levy’s next gasp had half a broken scream in it, and when Kallen glanced up, he saw his lover’s eyes were scrunched shut. It wasn’t enough, he wanted that scream.
He kept going, kissing and biting, licking and sucking every inch of skin he came across. Until he reached Levy’s groin, still covered. For this, he was careful, getting his hand inside to cup the iron hot length, already leaking, and pulling the cloth down with his other hand. Levy’s hips lifted to follow his movement, and a few yanks was all it took to get him naked at last.
He paused then, enjoying his prize, and looked up to find Levy watching him propped on his elbows. Kallen smiled at him, then bent down and took him inside, sucking from the moment the head touched his palate and not stopping as he went deeper and deeper. The flavour of him burst on his tongue, rich and a little bitter, like all true things were.
Levy was shuddering constantly by then, tensing up to try and stay in place like he’d promised. And Kallen dug his own fingers into his hips, silently promising him that he could let go here. With him.
Because he was more than strong enough to hold him.
And it didn’t matter if the alpha believed him quite yet, because his elbows gave on him anyway under the onslaught, the impact making his cock push a little too hard against the back of Kallen’s throat. Kallen took it greedily, the pain along with the pleasure, sucking everything he could from him. Breathing through his nose had him half-dizzy already, but he couldn’t bear to pull away now. Not when he was so close already, Levy’s whimpers taking a rhythmic quality right on time with Kallen’s own movements.
It broke like a wave crashing into a seawall, its full strength unleashed without mercy. There could be no mercy, not when surrender was this absolute.
Levy’s voice rose, shrill and desperate and ecstatic and Kallen closed his eyes and drank, Levy’s body trembling under his hands as it went through him and somehow getting swept up on it himself, his own cock spurting against the bedding. He didn’t let go of Levy’s hips, fingers digging in as if they were the only thing anchoring him to earth. Not until there was a wet mess under his own belly and his muscles gave up on him, collapsing until his face was buried on his lover’s belly, still heaving and damp with sweat.
He’d come to when Levy had tugged him away from the wet spot and up the bed to curl under the covers with him. Firm but gentle until Kallen was burrowed into his arms, snuffling on his throat, his own arm secure around his alpha’s waist.
FROM THE VERY BEGINNING , he’d enjoyed sleeping together almost as much as the sex. He’d assumed it was because he was touch-deprived, but now that he was back home, he got plenty of physical contact, both from his parents and his friends, new and old.
But he still didn’t want to let go of Levy, even though his bladder was screaming at him for it. He sighed, resigned, and made to roll away, and yelped when the limbs entangled with his own tightened all of a sudden.
Levy was squinting at him when he looked at his face.
Kallen couldn’t hold back a smile. “Toilet,” he whispered.
Levy subsided with a grunt, allowing him to go, and that was almost as good as him holding on, and just as necessary.
IT WASN’T UNTIL THEY woke up the next time that it crossed Kallen’s mind that he hadn’t told his parents he was going anywhere. He checked the clock and realised it was close to dinner time already.
“Fuck,” he mumbled and leaned over the side of the bed to search his trousers for his phone.
Levy was peering at him from the bed, still holding the empty bottle of water Kallen had passed him to drink. “What happened?”
“My parents,” Kallen explained. “They’d expect me for dinner.”
“Can I meet them?” Levy asked at once, and Kallen nearly dropped his phone. He’d already sent the message saying he wasn’t coming home tonight and suddenly he couldn’t even think of where to put it down.
“Wh— You want to?”
Levy nodded, then grimaced, glancing down at himself and shaking his head. “Not right this minute, but yeah.”
“I mean, you met my mum already,” Kallen pointed out, turning around to hang his trousers over the back of a chair.
The pressure of Levy’s body enveloping him from behind made him freeze. “It’s okay if it’s too soon,” his boyfriend told him gently.
Kallen swallowed, then relaxed into him. It wasn’t like he wasn’t sure, and his mum would be happy, he knew that. He put his own hand over Levy’s on his chest, holding it to his heart. “Maybe I need a minute.”
“Have a thousand,” he was told. He could feel the smile on his neck, and then there was a kiss there as well.
All in all, they had a very late dinner, at least as far as food was concerned.
LEVY ONLY HAD ONE MORE full day in the city, and while Kallen would have happily spent it in bed with him, he couldn’t quite resist his request to be shown around town.
They took some of the hotel’s maps for tourists and went downstairs for breakfast, talking about the different neighbourhoods and their advantages.
It all felt rather unreal to Kallen, Levy had only been in Terali for twenty-four hours, and he hadn’t heard back about the job, but he was behaving like it was a done deal anyway.
Like Kallen was enough reason to go through with it.
“But really, you’d want to be close to your parents, right?” Levy asked.
And Kallen gaped at him.
“I...”
Levy smiled, a little sheepish. “I’m putting the cart before the horse?” he guessed. “Sorry, you don’t— Obviously you don’t have to move in with me. But I thought... Well, we worked well, together, right?”
And Kallen was already on his feet and grabbing his face to kiss him right in front of the full restaurant. They got an applause, and he sat back down instead of dragging Levy back upstairs.
“Is that a yes?” Levy asked after letting him finish his orange juice.
Kallen bit his lip, forcing himself to think it through. “Not yet.”
He was a little worried, but Levy grinned at him. “No rush.”
That seemed to be the motto for the day. Kallen drove them to the river bisecting the city and left the car in one of the underground garages so they could walk from there. They followed the river, stopping to look at handcrafts and discussing what they’d have for lunch amongst the many enticing smells coming from the food carts and restaurants they passed.
When Levy offered a hand, Kallen reached out and took it, feeling a bit silly. He was nearly twenty years old and he’d had sex with more men that he could count, but holding hands with his boyfriend in public was making his heart race.
He held on anyway, letting Levy’s voice wash over him and huddling close when they passed a big group. He didn’t step away again, and Levy, who always saw him too clearly, let go of his hand and put his arm around Kallen’s back instead, bringing him in. It was a little awkward to walk like that, but after all, they had nowhere to be, did they?
They ended up having lunch on a terrace from which they could see across the water.
“We don’t really need to stick to the diet anymore,” Kallen observed when the waiter had left.
Levy looked surprised. “Huh. Hadn’t thought of that. But I mean...” He shrugged a little. “I didn’t really, did I? You have the discipline of a saint or something.”
"I don’t really like the crappy stuff,” Kallen explained. “I never did, even as a kid I preferred eating fruit to candy.”
“Ugh, you realise that makes you very hateable, right?” Levy asked, softening the question with his smile.
Kallen rolled his eyes at him. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of pie I have eaten to keep Merle happy, though. At least you enjoy it.”
“Good point,” his boyfriend agreed. “But you do love pasta, don’t even front.”
“I like your lasagna,” he allowed.
Levy laughed, pleased but with a glint in his eye that promised a dirty joke. Kallen nearly snapped at the waitress, a fellow omega, when she came back with their drinks—tonic water for Levy, plain for Kallen. “And chips.”
“Especially yours,” Kallen shot back. Not his best, admittedly.
But Levy took it literally. “You joke, but you haven’t actually tried my home made chips, right?”
“Um, no.”
“My bad, I had this flatmate who was so fucking good at his diet that he made me want to do better with mine. But he’s over it now, so I’ll make you some chips for your birthday, yeah? Do you actually like any kind of cake?”
Kallen paused to think. Other than what he’d eaten to please his hostess, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had any baked goods. “I like waffles, with fruit and cream.”
It was what he’d used to have when they went on holiday, he suddenly remembered, glancing out towards the water with a smile.
Levy nodded. “Waffles and chips, sounds like a plan.”
“What did you do for your birthday?” he thought to ask. He’d assumed it’d just been the family visit, so he’d asked about them, but now he wondered if there had been more to it.
His boyfriend’s face lit up at once. “Oh, we went to Kazobo, that restaurant everyone in the team was raving about?” Kallen didn’t remember, but Levy didn’t need any encouragement. “Now I’m thinking about that steak, and man, it was good enough to make me cry. And then we got different dishes to share, and the pork ribs? Ah, man, I’m sorry I didn’t think to take you when we were in Jiro.”
“What did you have for dessert?” Kallen asked, since he wasn’t particularly sorry to have missed it, and that was enough to keep Levy going until their steaks arrived, sizzling.
DRIVING LEVY TO THE airport early the next day felt obvious. Kallen had rolled his eyes at his suggestion that he could just take public transport, and Levy had gone silent with a little smile. It wasn’t like Kallen had anything else to do on a Monday, the lure classes were on Tuesdays and the regular meetings on Thursdays. And even if he’d had either of them, he’d have cancelled for this.
He let Levy choose the radio station, smiling to himself at the pop hits. It was early enough that neither of them had much to say, but it didn’t matter. The motorway wasn’t too busy and he could spare the attention to look at him.
Most of the time, Levy was already looking back, rumpled and still half-asleep despite the takeaway coffee cup he was sipping from.
Fuck, Kallen was going to miss him. He hadn’t had enough time on his own to think about Levy’s invitation to move in with him yet, but he could imagine it already. It would be a new place altogether, and it would be theirs instead of Levy’s. Kallen would be paying half the bills and half the rent and whatever else was there. He was pretty sure he had to be able to afford it for a while with the savings he had from the White Cats.
Just thinking of the team punctured the fantasy, making him tense. Dammit, that’s what he had to do first , wasn’t it? There were barely two weeks until the year ended.
Mr Evans had warned him the process wouldn’t be quick, though he’d promised to try and put pressure to get McKinley put away as soon as possible.
“You okay?” Levy asked from next to him.
“Yeah,” Kallen said at once. Then shook his head and corrected himself, “Just remembered about the team. And...” He went quiet. “Court. Like, I have to wait for it all to go through. Feels heavy, all the waiting, kinda wanna slam the door on their faces like you did.”
“Are you sure you can’t?”
The question surprised him enough to make him take a second to think it through. “I don’t know. Mr Evans said to wait, but that was because he thought the team might get on my side just to get away from McKinley’s fall. Only...”
He left it there, not wanting to ask, but Levy didn’t leave him hanging. “He doesn’t know them.”
Kallen risked a glance at his face. “No, so you don’t think...”
“Sorry, but no,” Levy said, hand landing on his thigh to massage a muscle that was way too tense. “I’m a glass half full kind of guy, but the White Cats have spilled the water and cracked the glass.”
Kallen held his breath and released it slowly. He was driving, the last thing he needed was to get worked up about something that didn’t even matter right now.
If even Levy couldn’t see it, it was probably as much as a loss cause as it’d felt from the beginning. “Yeah. You’re right, I know you are. I just... It feels so final,” he found himself saying. It was shitty timing, but it didn’t feel like he could put it off any longer, not now that he’d thought of it. “Like, I’m definitely doing it before next season!”
Levy hummed his agreement, not reacting to Kallen’s anxiety at all. It would have been fair enough for him to, really, considering Kallen’s contract was fundamentally incompatible with their relationship being real.
“I know it’s not the right way forward for me. But like, I’m not sure about the lure thing yet. I mean, so far, it’s been good, but... How do I know that I’m actually good if I’m making it up as I go?”
“I know what you mean,” Levy said. “When the goals were literal, it was much easier to know if you were doing the right thing, wasn’t it?” He sounded a little wistful about it. “But you said your students were happy, right?”
Students. Kallen resisted the urge to object. He swallowed. “Yeah, they seem to be getting it. Analisa wanted to get it faster , but well, I can’t blame her.”
“Not everyone can be a super omega,” Levy whispered, brushing a kiss against his cheek.
Kallen’s followed him when he withdrew, smiling a little.
“I’ll do the budget when I get home,” he decided, focusing back on the road ahead.
He wanted to ask Mr Evans about quitting, too, but he could give himself a little break, figure out where his parachute was before he jumped off the bridge.
HE WAS DETERMINED NOT to be clingy all the way to Departures, where they’d have to separate, and then Levy turned around and looked at him. It was only a look, except for how clear it all was in his eyes: the brightness of his love, and the wrinkles as he squinted like he was holding back tears. So, when he opened his arms, Kallen stepped right into him, arms going around his waist and face finding its rightful place on the side of Levy’s throat. His boyfriend held him back as tight as he could probably manage, likely enough to bruise his ribs if Kallen hadn’t been wearing a thick winter coat.
Kallen’s chest was compressed enough that it was a little hard to breathe, but he didn’t give a fuck. He didn’t want to let go and he could manage with less air if he had to.
“After this, I’m not letting you out of my sight,” Levy mumbled into his hair.
He laughed a little. It was a very alpha thing to say, and it sounded incongruous coming from Levy of all people.
“Okay, you can go to the toilet on your own,” Levy joked.
“Fuck you,” Kallen told him, though now that he was well, he didn’t care that much about those few days where Levy had had to help him with his basic ablutions. He sighed and loosened his grip. He wanted Levy to stay, but he didn’t want him to miss his flight. For a moment, it was his boyfriend who clung to him.
Kallen cupped his cheek and tilted his face down to brush their lips together, and Levy softened, lips parting to let Kallen lick into his mouth, hands trying to sneak under the sides of his coat and failing.
By the time they parted, Kallen was smiling a little. He also kind of wanted to cry, but he wasn’t going to. This wasn’t a goodbye, and if he’d managed for two months, he could most definitely manage for two weeks.
“Text me as soon as you get there,” he ordered.
Levy nodded, trying his best to smile, then gave him a military salute. “Of course.”