Chelen City: Chapter Eleven, Part One

 Notes: New Chelen City for you! It's a party and we'll cry if we want to, dammit.

Title: Chelen City: Chapter Eleven, Part One

***

Chapter Eleven, Part One

 

“I’m not comfortable with this.”

“It was literally sewn to fit you perfectly, I don’t believe it’s not comfortable.”

The cutting look Kieron leveled at him was delicious. “I’m not talking about this fucking suit, although—when did you measure me for this?”

“I’ve had your measurements since the first time you interacted with Catie,” Elanus replied. “A physical scan is part of her self-defense mechanisms. You’ve lost almost three pounds since living here, by the way, and how is it possible for you to eat less now that you’re in a place with the cuisine of the entire Federation at your disposal instead of food that’s been shoved at the back of an industrial freezer in the middle of nowhere?”

“I’m talking,” Kieron said after taking a quelling breath, “about using Lizzie to get to the party.”

“It should be meeeeee!” Catie shouted over the house intercom.

“Baby! Ouch!” Elanus slapped his hands over his ears. “Too loud!”

“Meeeeeee!”

“You’re in the middle of changing your skin! We have to leave in five minutes if we’re going to get to Caria’s building in time! Stop complaining!”

“Youuuu should have told meee befooore, I want to gooooo!”

Lizzie, true to her nature, wasn’t saying anything out loud, but Elanus had a feel/impression/sense in his implant’s connection to her that was a mix of guilt and pleasure. Catie, on the other hand, was static and rage.

“Next time we have to fly to a building in the middle of nowhere, we’ll take you, honey,” he promised. “But we can’t go in you as-is, people would get too curious about a ship whose exterior wasn’t consistent.”

“I hate you!”

“Catie!” Kieron snapped before Elanus could. “That’s cruel and beneath you.”

There was a long pause, then—“I don’t caaare,” she snapped in a softer, more hurt voice. “You hate me.”

“We love you very much,” Elanus said, forcing his voice to be patient even as his brain swung from angry to depressed every other second. “But this discussion is over. Ryu will be here with you if you need anythi—”

Her connection to their implants, and the house system, shut down completely. It was the equivalent of a slammed door in their faces.

“For shit’s sake,” Elanus muttered. “Let’s just go.”

“Yeah. Go. Leave me with the teenage sentient ship who’s on some sort of hormonal bender,” Ryu said caustically from where he was sitting, legs crossed as he used one eye to read something in his implant and the other to look judgingly at them. So judgingly.

“We could haul you to a party of rich, powerful assholes, one of whom wants you dead instead,” Kieron offered.

Elanus sighed. “No more arguments tonight, at least not in this house. We’ve got to go.” He pointed a finger at Ryu. “I know you can’t stop her from doing whatever she wants, but I’d like it if you got physical surveillance on her hangar door. If she’s about to go joyriding because she’s in a snit, I want to know about it.”

“Fine.”

Elanus led the way upstairs to Lizzie’s hangar, bypassing Catie’s door without a glance. Kieron, soft-hearted thing that he was, hesitated there. “Should I try to talk to her?”

“The door’s locked,” Elanus pointed out. “And we really are late. We’ll talk to her when we get back.”

“All right.” They headed into Lizzie’s hangar, where there quieter child was sitting with her door open, lights a warm glow inviting them inside.

“Hello, Kee. Hello, Elanus.”

“Hi, sweetheart.” Elanus slid into the pilot’s seat as Kieron paused to pat Lizzie’s bulkhead comfortingly.

“I’m sorry Catie is sad.”

“She’s mad, honey, not sad.”

“No,” Lizzie said as she began her startup protocols, “she’s very sad.”

Yeah, I know she is. “Well, sad or not, she can’t make every little thing into a production without consequences,” Elanus said, then smacked himself on the forehead. “Shit, I sound just like my father.”

“We’ll talk with her when we get back,” Kieron promised as he sat down next to Elanus. “Promise.”

“You still love her, though.”

Was his heart supposed to hurt like this? “Of course we still love her,” Elanus said, keeping his eyes firmly on the opening hangar door so he didn’t do something dumb like start to cry. “We love both of you. You’re our girls.”

“And we understand why she’s upset,” Kieron added. “It’s been a long time since either of you girls has been out of your rooms, and the first chance you get, she’s excluded. But that’s not a question of favoritism or us punishing her or anything like that. It’s a matter of bad timing, that’s all.”

“Okay,” Lizzie said as she began to hover. She eased out of the hangar and up into the sky, high enough that she’d be safely above any other rooftops or tubes, then turned northeast, away from the city.

“We’re three minutes behind schedule,” Elanus said. “You’re gonna have to crank the speed up, hon.”

He felt Lizzie’s pleasure through his implant. “Yes, Elanus,” she said, and then—whew, that was some acceleration.

Kieron shook his head a little bit, a physical cue he used frequently to reflect that he was forcibly letting go and refocusing. He ought to work harder to hide that, before someone used it against him.

Then again, since the only person who knew what it meant was Elanus, maybe not.

“So, why does Caria Jayde own a home outside of Chelen City?”

“Not a home,” Elanus clarified. “A building. A skyscraper that, yes, doubles as her home, but it’s also the seat of her personal manufacturing and business productions.”

“What does she manufacture?”

“Trouble!” Another cutting look. Elanus was going to hit a record in no time. “She’s in pharmaceuticals, mostly related to Regen but also some more specialty items for those of us with Elfshot Disease.”

Kieron turned to face him. “Really?”

“Quite.”

“So she’s got a financial motivation to suppress any potential avenue to cure it, then.”

Elanus shook his head. “So much more of her funds are tied up in Central System contracts for Regen; she wouldn’t miss the miniscule amount of money she makes for Elfshot treatment. Besides, she doesn’t run any of it herself anymore. Caria has been more interested in entertainment and charity for decades now.”

“So she says.”

“True,” Elanus allowed. “That’s one of the things we’ll need to assess while we’re out here.”

“Great.”

Actually… “Are you…”

Kieron shot him a glance. “Armed? Yes.”

“We’re not going to get in there with weapons,” Elanus said. “A firm rule of hers.”

“It’s not a gun.”

“Kieron.”

“Or a knife.”

“Not the point—”

“Or a garrote.”

“You’re deliberately missing the point.”

“How does it feel?” he asked with a bland smile. “And half the clothing Ganians wear have components that would qualify as weaponry under normal circumstances, so don’t worry about my little extras. No one is going to give a shit about me when there are people walking around with knives holding their hair up and on the ends of their fingers.”

“They’re flare, not knives.”

“Eh, nuclear, nucular.”

Truly, there were times when Elanus felt like he’d never understand his lover.

“We’re getting close,” Lizzie announced. “One kilometer and closing.” And yes, there was the big, ostentatiously lit building coming up right in front of them. It was set in the side of a mountain, disguising its silhouette somewhat, but the lights were a dead giveaway as to its edges.

“Follow the parking procedures she’s broadcasting,” Elanus said, and Lizzie began to slow down. “Let’s get this party started.”

Chelen City: Chapter Ten, Part Two

 Notes: Laying out the lies! And some post-coital snuggling, always nice.

Title: Chelen City: Chapter Ten, Part Two

***

Chapter Ten, Part Two

 

“All right, let me get this straight.” They were sitting together in bed, a tray full of half-eaten snacks between them as Elanus explained where he was at with his investigations. He was also mentally weighing the odds of getting an elbow to the face if he swept the tray aside and pounced on Kieron—it had been a while, and they’d had a very trying day, so he figured he could probably manage to convince his lover he was being charmingly spontaneous rather than trying to distract him from the list of woes Elanus had just laid out.

Kieron’s eyes narrowed, and he raised a spoon from the tray in a slightly threatening way. Or, maybe not. “So,” he continued, uninterrupted, “you think the person who tried to kill Ryu and who orchestrated me going to therapy and probably the person who tried to get Ryu to kill you are all the same person.”

“Or lead back to the same person after going through intermediaries, yes.”

“And you’re not sure yet what this person’s motivations are.”

“I’m sure that their motivations are connected with Deysan.” And, very likely, the “rumors” Deysan had let fly about his magnificent AI technology before blasting himself off to Cloverleaf Station. “It’s got to be someone powerful, too. There have been a huge number of attempted incursions on the house security system, mostly digital but occasionally physical. My existing program took care of all of them,” Elanus added when Kieron scowled.

“What did I say about not including me in these plans?”

“You know these plans, though! You know the security system, you helped improve it!”

“I didn’t know it was actively being tested!”

“You didn’t ask!”

Ooh, that glare—it was deadly. Elanus hastened to restart their earlier line of conversation. “Fritz was one of the parties I thought could be behind things, and it never pays to dismiss him, but after the interview, I’m thinking he doesn’t have quite the breadth of interest to be the culprit.” He made a face. “He seems to really be embracing the prurient route. It’s disappointing—the man was one of the best lawyers on the planet.”

“Is his license still active?”

“Let me check.” Elanus activated his implant, sped through connections until he got to the correct governmental institution, dipped into records—“No. Not since last year.”

“That’s recent,” Kieron noted. “Any reasoning in there as to why? Does it correspond to the beginning of his show?”

“No. He’s been doing the show for three years now.”

“Hmm.” Kieron looked pensive. “Maybe someone is blackmailing him.”

“Why blackmail him into not practicing law, though?” Elanus asked. “It’s always nice to have a lawyer in your pocket. I should know, I have twenty-seven of them, and they’re wonderful.”

“Twenty-seven—what the hell do you need twen—no, stop distracting me.” He pointed the spoon at Elanus again. “Go on.”

“The invitation to the party is from Caria Jayde.”

“Deysan’s sponsor.”

“Yes, and a friend of mine for many years.” Former friend now. “She’s been influential in business and pleasure on Gania for well over a hundred of our years, and while Deysan’s ‘slip-up’ as she termed it was enough to set her back, she would never stay out of the limelight forever.”

“And she doesn’t like you because you brought down her protégé.”

“Apparently.”

Kieron sighed. “And of course we can’t tell her exactly what kind of filthy son of a bitch he was, because we can’t let on any information about the girls.”

“Exactly.”

“Great. And the last one is your ex.”

“Restaria is a lot more than that,” Elanus pointed out. “Xe’s a good candidate for the issues surrounding you, and your Traktan friends.” There was another snarl that Elanus needed to untangle. “Since xe’s in a position of power in the government. But every sort of access can be bought for the right price, and both Caria and Fritz have a lot of money.”

“And this is as narrow as you can make the list.”

“It’s as narrow as I dare, honestly. There are half a dozen other individuals I can think of who have the means to carry out at least some of the probes and attacks we’ve weathered, but the motivations don’t line up as well.”

“Huh.” Kieron picked up the invitation Elanus had brought home. “I assume we’re going to this, then.”

“I ought to, at least.”

“What did we just fight about?”

“It’s going to be very boring!” Elanus defended himself. “Forgive me for thinking you’d have more fun here with the girls!”

“I’d rather be making sure you’re keeping your brains inside your skull, thanks very much,” Kieron retorted. “Besides, I’m specifically invited. So I don’t actually need your permission to show up as your plus-one.”

“What would you do there on your own?” Elanus challenged. “Hold a knife to someone’s throat while you interrogate them about me? Kieron, in this society, you can’—”

“I’d do just enough to capture some attention before faking a mild mental breakdown and seeing who came to ‘rescue’ me from myself,” Kieron replied.

Oh.

“Yeah, oh.”

I really need to work on my emotional camouflage. “Yes, please come to the party with me,” Elanus finally said. “But we’re not taking Ryu this time. He can stay here and look after the girls.”

Kieron raised an eyebrow. “You think that’s a good idea?”

“He has no way of knowing how advanced they are, and we can warn them to play dumb,” Elanus assured him. “I’m not going to take a bodyguard to this damn party. Killing someone in a public setting like this would be a huge breach of protocol.”

“Assassination protocol. Such bullshit.”

“Learn to live with it, babe.” Or at least learn the protocols so I don’t get fined when you finally kill someone and it’s in an unsanctioned way. But that admonition could wait for later. “I understand Catie and Lizzie have a symphony ready for us,” he said, more than ready to change the subject. “Shall we go have a listen?”

“Not…” Kieron shoved the snacks aside. “Quite…” He grabbed Elanus by the collar of his robe and pulled his mouth down. “Yet,” he murmured against his lips before sealing them with a kiss.

Oh, yes. Good idea.

Chelen City: Chapter Ten, Part One

 Notes: Happy 4th for those who celebrate it! Have some sexy story on this independence day :)

Title: Chelen City: Chapter Ten, Part One

***

Chapter Ten, Part One

 

 

Elanus would be the last person to describe himself as a sex fiend, but there was something about Kieron that he just couldn’t resist. Maybe he’d had a few too many near-death experiences with the man and it triggered some primal hunger in him, but as soon as they were in their room again, Elanus couldn’t hold back. He grabbed Kieron under the thighs, picked him up, leaned against the wall and kissed him to within an inch of his life.

I saw you fall.

Logically he’d known that Kieron was roped, he’d seen it, he’d fucking felt it, but that knowledge hadn’t penetrated in the moment. All he’d seen was the drop, and the look of fear and surprise on Kieron’s face. He’d seen that, and every thought of his own safety had flown from his mind. All that had mattered was getting to Kieron, following him over, following him down—

Oh, that wasn’t healthy. That sort of devotion was not healthy, and he was going to have to rewrite his will to take into effect what might happen if he and Kieron died at the same time, because it was clear to him that this emotional affliction was a shared one.

And he didn’t fucking care.

Kieron kissed him back, fiercely, holding Elanus’s head still with his hands as he took control of the embrace. “I’m all right,” he whispered before biting Elanus’s lower lip and sucking it into his mouth for a moment. Elanus felt his brain begin to liquify—he loved being bitten, being pulled at and pushed and treated like he was smaller than he actually was. Every person of non-Ganian height he’d ever slept with had expected to be thrown around, held down, encompassed—everyone except Kieron, who gave as good as he got.

“You’re all right too,” Kieron added when he finally let Elanus come up for air, and Elanus shook his head.

“I don’t think so.”

“You are.”

“I’m fucked without you.”

Kieron smiled. “You’re just in love.”

“That’s not love, that’s obsession.”

“No, it really is love.” Kieron stroked Elanus’s temples, kissed the edge of his neatly-trimmed beard. “That’s how we love when we’re in the thick of it. You Ganians are just too removed from love and death and all the other big, scary emotions.”

“We…” Well, perhaps he had a point. But it still wasn’t healthy, wasn’t the sort of attitude that would be respected here. He was supposed to be above stupid things like risking his own death because his lover was in trouble, and yet…

“You can’t leave me.”

“I won’t.”

“No.” Elanus shook his head. “You can’t leave me. It will fuck me up, it will massively fuck me up, I don’t know that I’ll be able to survive it and what would that do to the girls? What would that do everything we’ve built, to our friends, to the people who depend on us?”

“The girls are smart,” Kieron said. “They’d be all right.”

“They—”

“You’re not going to scare me with this,” he interjected, turning Elanus’s head so he could mouth at his ear, pinching the lobe between his teeth until Elanus whined. “Obsession is the language I grew up with.”

“You grew up screwy.”

“Yeah,” Kieron purred. “I know.” He arched his back and rubbed the solid bulge of his cock against Elanus’s stomach. “Doesn’t it make you want to fuck some sense into me?”

It did was the terrible thing. It absolutely, completely did. Elanus growled and threw Kieron down onto the bed, then stripped out of his fancy suit as fast as he could.

“You look so pretty in that,” Kieron commented as he pulled off his own clothes, and Elanus’s mind sort of…blipped. Pretty. Pretty? What else could he wear that would get Kieron to call him pretty?

Wait, why do I want him to call me pretty?

“You’re thinking too hard. Come here.” Kieron reached out and grabbed Elanus’s wrist, pulled him down onto the bed, and flipped him over onto his back. “Here.” He put Elanus’s hands in his hair. “I’m going to suck you off. Feel free to get a good grip.”

“I—you—”

The wet, searing heat of Kieron’s mouth on his cock cut off Elanus’s…whatever he was going to say. He felt dizzy, almost drunk from the whiplash he was going through with his lover, from fearing for his life to fucking his mouth in under ten minutes. Remembering the roof made him feel faintly sick, but then Kieron moaned with triumph as he worked the head of Elanus’s dick down his throat, and…

Elanus fucked him. He couldn’t not fuck him when he had him like this, when every noise Kieron made was a come-on, a come-hither, deliberately designed to drive him insane. Kieron knew exactly what he was doing, the obsession he was encouraging. He liked it, he wanted it, and right now Elanus couldn’t see a reason not to give him everything he wanted.

He came in record time, too worked up to hold back. He kind of hoped Kieron would climb up and straddle his face, but instead he sat back, got his hands under Elanus’s hips, and rolled him over onto his front. “I’m not done with you yet,” he said, spreading Elanus’s thighs apart. “Up.” Elanus dazedly lifted his hips, and Kieron chuckles and patted his ass with one hand. “Good boy.” Then he leaned in and spread his tongue across Elanus’s hole, and Elanus keened.

They didn’t…they’d never…had they? He couldn’t think, couldn’t remember, couldn’t do anything but let Kieron have his way with him, keeping his shaking thighs apart and spearing him with his tongue, licking in and over and around until Elanus was hard again. When Kieron stopped, Elanus actually reached out and grabbed at him. “No, stay, stay…”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Kieron laughed, low and dark. “I’m not going anywhere.” And then he began to press inside of Elanus, and…

It hurt, and it didn’t. It was a rougher slide than he was used to—had Kieron even used lube? Elanus didn’t know, and he honestly didn’t care because it felt like every nerve in his body was alight with pleasure, any pain turned into a glorious reminder that he was alive, that they both were, that they had this. They had it, he had Kieron, he hadn’t ruined everything. Elanus didn’t realize he was saying any of this until Kieron leaned over and kissed the center of his back.

“Yeah, we do,” he said, then pulled almost all the way out before thrusting back in. Elanus grabbed himself to keep from coming on the second stroke. “Good. Hold on.” And then…

He was fucked stupid. Fucked blind and deaf, fucked until his cock leaked over his fingertips and waiting for Kieron to come was painful but he did it because he wanted to wait, he’d already come and he wanted to feel it, wanted to be good, and then finally he was good, he could come, “come for me.”

And he blacked out.

He woke up to Kieron lying by his side, running a gentle hand over his chest. They were both clean, and lying on their backs in the bed. “I’m tempted to be very smug right now,” he said with a smile, “but given that I’ve also passed out with you inside of me, I’ll take the high road.”

“Do you really forgive me?” Elanus asked hoarsely.

The smile faded into a frown. “What is there to forgive?”

“What I said on that show—the things I revealed about you, the, the scrutiny I left you open to—”

Kieron shrugged. “It had to happen sooner or later. I would have preferred later, but it could have been worse. I didn’t…react all that well to it though, and I’m sorry for that.”

Elanus felt like he’d just been given a gift he wasn’t expecting and didn’t deserve. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m the one who—”

“You want to make it up to me?”

“Yes.” Whatever “it” was, as complicated or as simple as Kieron thought of “it,” Elanus wanted that.

“Then give me all the details you’ve been holding back lately,” Kieron said bluntly. “Everything about the people you’re working against, who you suspect of plotting against us, what this interview was really about, all of it. Make me a part of things, not just…another piece on the chessboard.”

Elanus swallowed. He opened his mouth to agree, but what came out instead was, “I play go, not chess.”

“Fine, then not just another stone on the go board.”

He nodded. “All right.” The thought of sharing everything he knew was actually quite…liberating. “All right.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Let’s start with Fritz and work out from there.”