Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
Miles
"This was a great idea," I said as I spread the blanket, placing the basket on the edge so it wouldn't blow away.
We were at the very edge of the Silent Creek Park, the part that butted up against the Silent Creek River.
Whoever had named these places couldn't have been very creative, and I wondered if Raiden could change the name, at least for the park.
It wouldn't hurt to ask. Or maybe I could wait until Cam was in charge…
Trees lined the earth, their roots reaching into the river and creating the perfect little hollows between them for us to sit, have a picnic, or hide away from the world for a while,
"Right? It's been a while since we shifted, and since the weather is rain-free today, I figured why not," Mateo said as he pulled his shirt over his head, then stepped out of his pants and underwear, completely unashamed of his nakedness.
"You going to shift?"
"Yeah, give me a minute," I said as I set the cooler on the other side, making sure the blanket was well-pinned.
Mateo shifted into his owl form, and I picked up his clothes, moving them to the blanket so they wouldn't get dirty.
"Ready?" I asked Duckie, and he nodded, then undressed and quickly shifted. I followed suit, leaving my clothes in a pile with theirs, and Mateo hooted at me from the branch he'd perched on.
I'm going to swim for a bit. Why don't you fly with Mateo? I'll join you once I'm done, Duckie suggested, and I chirped in agreement before taking off.
Mateo hooted, leaping into the air before I could get to him, and I raced after him, chasing him through the air as he flew higher and higher before diving straight down.
I stopped short as he plunged into the water, then came up again, his wings dripping as he tried and failed to maintain his speed.
I knocked into him, then kept flying as he tried to chase after me, but his wings were too weighted down to match my speed, and he fell behind as I made a wide circle around the park, eyeing the houses nearby.
Got you! Mateo said in my mind as he knocked into me, sending me off-course as I tried to catch myself.
Flapping my wings as I turned around, I raced after him as he dived, then made a few spirals, zig-zags and anything he could think of to lose me. But I'd grown up playing this game with him, and I kept pace, avoiding the trees as he flew between the branches, determined to make me lose.
Just when I thought I might lose after all, a green, brown, and white blur smacked into Mateo, sending him flying into a tree.
Holy shit! Mateo exclaimed through the bond as Duckie squawked in satisfaction. I flew over to him, landed beside him, and nuzzled into his side as Mateo extricated himself from the tree and joined us. Hey, no fair. I didn't know you were playing, Duckie.
Start again? I suggested, and Mateo nodded as Duckie squawked again.
Every man for himself, Mateo decided, and the last one flying wins.
Sounds good.
We took off, and for the next hour, we knocked each other out of the sky again and again, and it was the most carefree I'd felt in ages. I'd forgotten how much fun it could be to shift and let loose. We needed to do this more often.
After we'd tired ourselves out, we shifted back and got dressed, then ate the lunch we'd packed as Mateo gave us a replay of the game as if we hadn't been right there with him, making everything sound far more dramatic than it'd been, as was his talent.
"Help me clean this up," I said once we were done eating, and together we gathered up the paper plates, plastic bags, and the empty Coke cans, putting everything back into the basket to dispose of later.
"Do you want to swim some more?" Mateo asked Duckie, and he hummed thoughtfully before shaking his head.
"I think I'm done for today, but I'd like to come back again sometime. It was weird, not shifting for so long. While I don't miss spending all my time as a duck, I do enjoy swimming, and flying. I'd like to do it more often."
"Yeah, I feel the same. Maybe we should make this a weekly thing," Mateo suggested.
"I like that idea. We don't have to do the picnic each time. We can go eat somewhere after," I said.
"Yeah, that's perfect."
Duckie smiled, excited by the prospect of shifting more often. I should've thought about that. It couldn't have been easy to go from being a duck all of the time to being a human.
Mateo
I'd always enjoyed flying around with Miles, and adding Duckie to our old game had made it more exciting.
Chasing them through the air had been fun, and I wondered if we could turn this into a larger-scale game and get all the other flying supes in our clan to join.
We could split into teams and make it all official. I'd have to bring it up sometime.
"Okay, I was thinking we should fly a bit more. You know, digest all that food. And then we can—"
The sky broke open out of nowhere, cutting me off and leaving us wide-eyed and soaked in an instant.
"What the hell, Raiden?" I shouted at the sky, making Miles chuckle as he and Duckie hurried to gather up our stuff. Miles stuffed the now-muddy blanket into the basket, and I did not look forward to washing that thing.
We ran through the trees as the rain kept pouring, and I breathed in the scent of wet soil and rainstorms. I'd always loved the rain in Mistvale, and even now I wanted to stop to soak it all in, despite the fact that I was annoyed it'd cut our hangout short.
We could've played for a few more hours if it hadn't been for the rain. Maybe the rain wouldn't be as dramatic once Cam was in charge, but I didn't have much confidence in him. After all, Cam could be just as—if not more—theatrical as his father.
We'd parked our car outside the gates, and Miles stuffed everything in the trunk as soon as I unlocked the car, then climbed into the backseat as Duckie called shotgun.
He loved doing that, so of course Miles never called it himself, sucker that he was.
I, on the other hand, loved competing with Duckie when Miles drove.
"We'll have to clean the car later," I said with a frown as I glanced down at the muddy footwell, and Miles sighed in commiseration.
The drive home was slow, the rain pounding against the windshield, in no mood to abate, and I glanced at Miles through the rearview mirror, one brow raised in concern.
"Yeah, I'm texting Micah," he said as Duckie turned to look at him in confusion, and I jumped into a refresher course of the whole 'Raiden's emotions affect the weather' thing.
Miles's phone buzzed, and he chuckled.
"Micah says Raiden is having trouble deciding what to take with him, mainly from his hoard."
I shook my head, laughing at the comedy of it all. How could a thousands of years old dragon be so… dramatic?
Duckie
At home, we quickly went upstairs to change into dry clothes, and as I pulled my shirt and pants off, my eyes were drawn to Miles, who was doing the same in front of his closet.
Abandoning my fresh clothes, I walked over to him, grabbing his hips and pulling him into a kiss as my palms moved over his rain-slick back. His skin was cool, but his lips were quickly heating up as we kissed.
Miles moaned into the kiss, and I slid my leg between his, humming when he started rubbing himself against my thigh. I could feel how hard he was, and I wanted to make him come.
Sliding a hand down his back, I slid it under the waistband of his underwear, squeezing his ass and making him rock harder into me.
I slid a finger between his cheeks, rubbing over his hole as I licked into his mouth, tangling my tongue with his.
Pulling my hand out of his underwear, I moved to his front, caressing his cock through the material of his underwear before moving the waistband lower and freeing his hard cock.
I wrapped my hand around his length, and he groaned as I moved my hand over him.
"You wanna—oh shit!" The door slammed shut as we jerked apart, sharing a wide-eyed glance.
"Was that…?" Miles looked at the door in question as I nodded quickly, and he groaned, covering his face with his hands. "Damn it. He'll never let us live this down."
"Probably not," I agreed, and Miles sighed from the very depths of his soul.
"Should we go downstairs?" he asked as he quickly tucked himself back in, and I nodded. The mood was gone now, and we couldn't keep going.
We changed into fresh clothes, then made our way downstairs, finding Mateo sprawled on the couch in front of the TV. He glanced up as we came in, raising a brow at us, his brown eyes twinkling with mischief.
"That was fast," he teased, and Miles scowled at him.
"Shut up."
"Seriously, though. You didn't have to stop on my account. It was bound to happen at some point."
Miles sighed as he threw himself into the armchair, and I bit back a smile as I settled on his lap. He made a surprised sound, then wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close.
Mateo smiled as he glanced between us. "You don't have to be embarrassed, okay? It's not like I haven't seen both of you in your birthday suit before."
"We both know it's different," Miles argued, and Mateo shrugged.
"I didn't exactly linger, dude. Didn't see all that much, I promise."
Miles nodded, and I turned on his lap to pat his shoulder. "We'll make sure to lock the door next time."
Miles's cheeks turned pink as he nodded, and Mateo chuckled. I shot him a stern look, and he winked at me before turning his attention back to the TV.
"Since our picnic was cut short, do you want to continue hanging out? Or do you two want to…" He trailed off suggestively, and Miles growled under his breath, prompting a smirk from me.
"Let's hang out."
We settled on playing board games, and since I'd been practicing, I was much better at them now. We played a few of them, including Scrabble, Chutes and Ladders, and my personal favorite—though I didn't think it classified as a board game, exactly—Pictionary.
We played for hours, and while Miles won Scrabble every single time, Chutes and Ladders turned out to be my game, while Mateo ruled at Pictionary. Since it was just the three of us, we decided that we'd take turns drawing, and whoever of the other two guessed first would get the point.
Dinnertime rolled around before we knew it, and we decided to order in so we could keep playing. With Chinese food on the way, we kept going, making fun of each others' drawings when we couldn't guess the correct answer.
We took a break when the food arrived, settling on the dining table to eat since the coffee table was stacked with the games. As we ate, I glanced around the table at these two men who'd become so important to me in such a short time.
Destiny was such a crazy thing. I'd gone from having nothing to having everything in a matter of weeks, all because someone noticed I wasn't a common duck and sent me to Mistvale. How many coincidences had it taken to lead me to Miles and Mateo?
It didn't matter now, did it? I was here now, and they were all mine.
"I love you," I blurted out, feeling the need to remind them what they meant to me.
Mateo smiled, warm and teasing. "I love you too, Duckie."
"As do I," Miles added with a soft look on his face, then leaned over to kiss my lips. I kissed him back, keeping it chaste since we were in the middle of dinner.
"What brought that on?" Mateo asked, and I shrugged.
"Just wanted to say it."
"Well, I'm always happy to hear it," he said with a grin, and I smiled.
"I'll make sure to say it often, then."
Every day, for the rest of our lives.