Relax

Relax

Cielo lightly stepped down the hall leading to his room. Yes, the times were dire, but hey, he had just saved the day! And it was good to be free again, able to leave his bed and walk around however he wanted, and go pilfer the food supplies at all hours of the day or night. Especially night, when no one could catch him in the act. At this hour, no one was awake except the night shift guys and... Cielo frowned at the light filtering feebly from under the strategy room's door. After the Solids' invasion, it never closed as well as it did before. Regardless, who would want to be in that dirty, trashed room at holy crap at night? Only someone a bit, well, touched in the head would want to...

"Yeah, I should've known," Cielo said with a grin after he opened the door and peered inside.

Gale spared him a short glance from the other side of the room, then returned to staring at the wall. "What do you want, Cielo."

Hands behind his back, Cielo made his way to him, and stared at the wall, trying to see what was so interesting about its dullness. Gale had covered what he could reach of the wall under the best functioning lights in scribbles and symbols that were oddly... pretty. For nonsense lines and curves carved into the metal, that is. "Cool," Cielo said, nodding. Then, after a minute, he cocked his head to the side. "... but what is it?"

"Strategy", Gale answered blankly, slowly scratching the pointy piece of broken metal in his hand with his nail. Then, as Cielo looked on with one eyebrow raised, he dug his makeshift-carving tool into the paint to add three lines and a curvy scratch to the wall. He stepped back to look at his work in silence, losing himself in his thoughts for long minutes, but he had trouble focusing now. He could almost feel Cielo's gaze bombarding him with question marks, like a needle incessantly pricking the side of his face, and he wondered why Cielo was not just asking already. It's not like he was ever shy to speak up, usually. Finally, he cracked, and voiced his question out loud. "Why are you here."

Cielo flashed him a grin that could stun a woman at 50 paces. "Your eyes went green for a minute."

Unfortunately for Cielo, Gale remained unfazed. Mostly. He blinked, vaguely hoping the colour would go away, though he was not quite sure why. They had enough problems already, he figured. "You came here in the middle of the night to tell me that?"

Chuckling, Cielo stepped to Gale's side and raised a finger. "Nope, came here to scold you for stayin' up all night, young man."

Gale looked at Cielo like he had just sprouted a new head. As ever, Cielo's humour crashed against the brick wall of Gale's mind. "I am older than you."

"How would you... Ah nevermind," Cielo said with a snort. "No gettin' into this with yah. So, strategizing for...?"

"Tomorrow. And beyond." Gale rubbed the bridge of his nose. What time was it anyway? He should not forget he had to get up and go tomorrow, but...

"What? Still?!" Cielo looked at Gale incredulously. "Didn't you already explain the whole decoy and bomb thing to us a few hours ago? Didn't you and Serph say it was foolproof?"

"I did," Gale said, still a bit stunned from Cielo shouting in his ear. The man was expressive enough for three people. "Still."

Cielo waited, looking at Gale's profile partially hidden in the shadow of his hood, but Gale had gone back to his thoughts. Then, when nothing came, he spoke again. "Still what?"

"Hm?" Gale turned towards Cielo as if he had forgotten he was there. "Still what what?"

"Still... what? Aren't you gonna finish that thought?"

"... I had nothing more to say."

Cielo sighed heavily. "Y'know, you won't be able to plan our whole lives tonight." He patted Gale's shoulder, once. Even through his glove, he felt Gale's warmth. "Go to bed, man. Lay down, relax; we'll come out on top of this. What're we gonna do if you fall asleep on us, huh?"

Gale had turned back to his precious wall. "This is relaxing."

"Naw man, that is WORK," Cielo countered, grabbing Gale's arm to drag him away. "What you need is SLEEP."

Gale easily stood his ground against Cielo, feet firmly set on the dirty, sticky floor. He could pull all he wanted, Gale wasn't going anywhere. "I am not done. I had a train of thought and I do not want to lose it."

"Yeah well note it down and go to sleep!" Cielo said, still pulling fruitlessly.

"Yes. That would be what I am doing."

Blinking, Cielo swirled around and looked at the wall again. Oh... OH. "I... wow." He grinned at Gale. "Aren't you afraid of running out of brain space one day?"

Both men drew in a breath, Gale to explain it was impossible, and Cielo to tell Gale to not answer that question, but when they saw the other about to talk, they let it drop as one man, as if they had understood in one look. Or perhaps Cielo had understood to not waste his breath, and Gale had just sighed.

"But seriously..."

The reply came swift and short. "Not now."

"Aw come on!" Cielo grinned, his hand slipping from Gale's shoulder to his hand. "I've found out a great trick to relax while you guys left me all alone here," he said, giving Gale a hurt puppy look that flew a thousand feet over the man's head. "I can show you," he added with a grin, dizzying Gale with the quick change of expressions.

"If it involves the throwing of small animals at people's face, I do not want to know."

Laughter resonated in the room, Cielo's only of course, startling the guard nodding off at the other end of the hall. "No kitty throwing, I promise. C'mon now. You'll sleep like a log after. I always did, anyway."

"I. am. not. done." Gale repeated with a lot more patience than he thought he still had in him. Cielo had this way of draining his energy just by being Cielo.

"Then will you come when you're 'done'?"

Gale took a deep breath. If it got rid of Cielo before he lost his idea... "Fine. I will."

"You promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

Cielo flashed him that grin again. "Good. I'm gonna be waiting. Don't you dare try to get away." Then, finally, mercifully, he left, leaving Gale alone with his metal pick, his wall, and his more and more troubled mind.

********************

It took a few minutes for Cielo's door to open after Gale had knocked on it, twice. He had even begun to turn to walk away when the door slid open with a soft hiss and Cielo appeared in the doorway, wearing only his shorts and rubbing his face. "You were asleep."

"No I wasn't," Cielo countered, oblivious to the pillow marks on his face. "C'mon in." And he padded back inside the darkness of his room, leaving the door wide open.

Gale walked in carefully, since he could barely see where he was going. The room was warm, and smelled vaguely of Cielo and the rain. Everything smelled like the rain, vaguely cold, ashy and bitter. He blinked against the light when Cielo turned on a small lamp by his bed, then walked closer as Cielo beckoned to him.

With a small grin, Cielo rolled onto his bed to lay on his back. "Make yourself at home, man. Don't look so stiff."

That sounded a little odd, to make himself comfortable just as he'd have to leave after humouring Cielo to go sleep, but Gale sat down on the corner of Cielo's bed and began to remove his shoes. "I am comfortable..." Once he was done, he looked at Cielo who had sat up and was rolling his shoulders.

With that same grin as earlier, with a touch more... mischieviousness, he supposed it was, Cielo reached out to tug on Gale's sleeve. "C'mon man, get closer. It's a hands-on demonstration."

Gale followed the pull, an eyebrow raised. Hands on what, exactly? "Let me guess. You intend to bludgeon me into unconsciousness, or something of that nature."

Cielo snorted and chuckled, patting Gale's powerful thigh. "Yeah right. I do that, you'll eat me tomorrow for breakfast. Naw, it's something that feels loads better," he said, inching his hand closer to Gale's crotch.

Before he reached his goal, however, Gale grabbed his hand and held it at bay. "What are you doing?"

Cielo blinked as he looked up at Gale's face, a bit confused. "Huh... showin' you what I'm talkin' about? I won't hurt you, man..." Seeing that Gale was obviously not convinced, he sighed heavily. "All right, when you guys locked me up I got rather bored and restless and I found while scratchin' myself that touching that," he pointed at Gale's groin, "feels really really great and it helps me fall asleep. So... can I continue? Please?"

"I do not comprehend the link between touching my body anywhere and sleep."

"Lemme finish and it'll all become clear, then," Cielo said, smiling in a way he hoped was reassuring for Gale. It must have been, because after a minute of pondering Cielo's words, Gale carefully let go of Cielo's hand. Happy to have Gale's trust in this matter, for now, Cielo returned to his task, trying to wedge his hand between Gale's toned stomach and his tight underpants, but that was no easy feat, and even if he managed, he wouldn't have room to move his hand afterwards. "Might be easier if you take this off," he offered, poking Gale's codpiece with a finger, looking up at him.

It took a moment, but Gale rose to his knees on the bed and removed the offending piece of armour. At worst this'd only waste some of his time, but Cielo looked damned serious about the whole thing, and Gale's curiosity had been piqued. He sat back down on the bed and let Cielo settle between his legs, even spreading them for him.

Crossing his feet behind Gale, Cielo settled comfortably, face to face with him, his legs around Gale's hips, and slipped his hand inside Gale's shorts again for Take 2. He caressed Gale with his fingertips, trying to do to him what worked on himself to make his cock harden like his did before it felt really great.

After a few minutes, Gale shifted on the bed slightly, and his half-hard cock rubbed against Cielo's hand. "So?" he asked. It was starting to feel nice, a soft, pleasant buzz, but from Cielo's words he had expected something more... more.

Cielo snorted. "Give it time man, it's gettin' there... is it feeling any good at all?" Gale nodded, and Cielo smiled, slowly stroking Gale to full hardness. "Good. ... do you mind if I look?"

Gale answered by pushing his shorts down himself, exposing his cock and Cielo's hand. He looked down curiously, and the sight, combined with the air of the room against his heated skin made him draw in a breath. The warmth in his groin was still growing steadily, this strange feeling of pleasure and need growing by the minute.

On the other hand, Cielo was feeling a bit... diminished... by looking at Gale, he wasn't sure why. He had felt the man in his hand and suspected he was bigger than him, but now he had a visual confirmation of it. "Dammit," he swore softly, almost hypnotized by the sight of his fist wrapped around Gale, stroking him up and down.

"What?" Gale asked, before he stifled a moan threatening to escape his lips when Cielo's finger brushed against the head of his cock.

"Nothin'," Cielo answered, grinning. If Gale was starting to make the same little sounds as him when he stroked himself, he had to be enjoying this too, he figured. So he continued, watching Gale's brows furrow slowly as he lowered his head, lips slightly parted as he began to breathe in soft pants.

"What... oh..." Gale clutched his shirt with one hand as a shiver slid up his spine, like an invisible hand caressing him.

Chuckling, Cielo brushed one of his braids back, then leaned closer to look at Gale's half-closed eyes. "Stop thinkin' and just feel, man..."

And feel, Gale did. It was rather troubling, this onslaught of sensations, a dull ache yet at the same time a delicious heat that kept growing deep in his groin, making his toes curl. In any case, it was emptying his mind of worries quite nicely; his thoughts were slipping away from him like sand between his fingers, leaving nothing behind but a mess of sensations his brain couldn't make heads or tails of and the insistent thought that even if the entire Junkyard came crashing down on him he didn't want Cielo to stop.

Meanwhile, Cielo was watching Gale, mesmerized. Did he look like that when he pleasured himself? Did his cheek flush like Gale's did? Did he pant like that, the moist tip of his tongue just barely teasing his bottom lip? He reached up and pushed Gale's hood off his head to see him better, and Gale suddenly looked at him, their gazes locking together. Cielo had never seen Gale looking at anyone, or anything quite like that, eyelids heavy and his irises a bright, magnificent green, and the sight nearly took his breath away. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," he moaned breathlessly, his hand sliding down to cup Gale's cheek while the other squeezed Gale's cock, then stroked him faster.

As if from Cielo's urging, Gale shuddered and came right there, biting down on his scream as he semen splashed, hot and sticky, on Cielo's hand. He slowly leaned back against the wall, riding the last tremors of his orgasm while Cielo gently milked every last drop out of him, and let got of his bunched up shirt.

Cielo smiled and let him go, looking at his soiled hand. For a moment, he had the urge to taste it, to see if it tasted anything like he imagined Gale would.

"That... that seems rather unhygenic," Gale managed to pant out as he looked at the mess he had made on Cielo's hand.

With a soft chuckle, Cielo grabbed a rag hanging on the foot of his bed and cleaned his hand. "But it feels great, doesn't it?" He delicately cleaned Gale's crotch, like it was fragile, taking his time. He wanted to keep on touching Gale for as long as he could, though he wasn't sure why. Of course, though, he couldn't clean him all night, so he threw the rag aside, but he leaned against Gale, ear pressed to his chest. He could hear Gale's heart, thumping away in his chest, a regular, reassuring rhythm, very different from the rhythm of his own heart pounding in his ears when he turned into Dyaus and dove into battle to feed his cursed hunger.

He did feel hunger now, but a completely different one. Still resting comfortably against Gale, he slipped a hand in his shorts to stroke his painfully hard cock, spreading the sticky moisture he found on the head all over his cock. He had to bite his lips to not make an sound: every touch sent sparks of pure fire up his spine. He had never felt it so intently before, and he briefly wondered if Gale had anything to do with it before that thought too was flushed from his head. He should probably slow down to not come so fast, but he absolutely could not stop himself, the need too great, the ache eating at him from the inside, and when two strong arms embraced him, he completely lost it and came all over his stomach, muffling his shout against Gale's chest.

After a few minutes of silence, saved for Cielo's laboured breathing, Gale spoke up softly. "Are you all right?"

Cielo looked at him, eyes half closed and grinning a bit goofily. "Never been better."

Gale acknowledged with a nod, then dipped a finger in a thick string of come on Cielo's stomach and looked at the strange substance with great attention, rubbing it between index and thumb, then spreading his fingers, watching it stretch in a string and break.

Chuckling, Cielo reached up to take Gale's hand in his, then brought it down to stick Gale's index in his mouth and suckled on it, cleaning it with his tongue. Gale's hand froze, and Cielo thought for a second he might have gone too far, but then Gale slipped his thumb past Cielo's lips, so Cielo greedily sucked on it too, until Gale pulled his hand back, fingers wet but clean.

Without a word, Gale took the discarded rag and cleaned Cielo's stomach, then his cock, weighting it in his hand and squeezing a little, which made Cielo jerk a bit. "Odd," Gale concluded, "yet apparently inoffensive."

"Are you talkin' about my dick that way?" Cielo asked, feigning offence, forgetting that Gale would not get the subtlety.

"Forgive me. I meant this act you just did."

Cielo sighed and rolled his head back against the arm supporting him. "Yeah, it's pretty weird, and messy, but I think the feelin' and the sleep afterwards are worth the clean-up job. Speaking of sleep..." He settled against Gale with a grin and closed his eyes. The man was warm against him, and one of the few he could trust in this world descending into madness. "Sleep here?"

"You bed seems narrow for two grown men." Nonetheless, he held Cielo tighter.

Cielo snorted at that. "I think we'll live through squeezin' against the other now."

Gale lay Cielo down on the mattress, then stepped over him and off the bed. For a minute, Cielo thought Gale was going to leave, as the man picked his shorts up and put them back on, but then he turned around and pulled the sheets off the bed to slip in. "Do you often sleep on top of the covers?"

Cielo actually giggled and slipped under the covers, pressing against the wall to leave room for Gale. "Naw, comfier in here. C'mon."

Gale lay down on his side, his back to Cielo, then turned the small lamp off and laid his head down without a word, feeling strangely, and pleasantly, drained. And when he felt Cielo's arm snake around his torso, he stroked it gently, briefly smiling in the darkness.