Chapter 98 Episode 98: Mine II R16

Kael’s POV

I cleared the entire evening and made certain no one would call. The condo stayed quiet while I finished the last details. Soft lights. Simple food that would keep warm. The high-end tech unit I had bought him already sat on the low table with a small note that only carried his name.

I wanted him to forget the forums, the Death God registration, the pointed looks in every corridor, and the constant weight for a few hours. I wanted one clean space where the only thing that mattered was the two of us.

When the door chime sounded I opened it myself. Akira stood in the hallway in ordinary clothes, hair still slightly damp from a shower. He looked tired around the eyes but present and real.

"Come in," I said.

He stepped inside and stopped when he saw the table and the low lights. Surprise crossed his face, followed by something softer and almost cautious.

"You did all this... For me?"

"Of course I did. Come on, sit and eat something. No talks about missions or rankings or anything outside this room for a while."

We sat and ate slowly. He gave the food the same careful attention he always did. I watched him more than I ate. The residual fear from recent weeks still sat under my ribs, but it quieted every time he looked up and met my eyes.

After the plates were set aside I took his hand and led him to the wider couch. The city lights beyond the window made thin lines across the floor. I turned so we faced each other fully.

"I asked you to dinner before. Tonight is different." My voice stayed steady even though my pulse had picked up. "I want you to be my boyfriend. Officially. No more careful half-steps. No more letting the rest of the world decide what we are."

Akira’s breath caught. Emotion moved openly across his face; shock, warmth, then a clear flash of fear. He pulled his hand back a little and looked down at the space between us.

"Kael... the rumors are already heavy. People watch every mission I take. They put my name next to yours on every forum and in every common room. If we make this official it will get worse. They will say I am dragging your reputation down. They will say a D-rank is a liability you should have cut loose."

His voice stayed quiet but the worry in it was solid. I could see the same fear that had followed him since the pairing talk first started. He was still trying to protect me from the cost of standing beside him.

I reached out and took both of his hands so he could not pull further away. I held them firmly enough that he had to look at me.

"I have been the center of attention in this community for most of my career. Their opinions stopped deciding my choices a long time ago. The only attention I care about is the attention that lands on you. I already monitor it. I have already adjusted to it. Nothing about this will be left to chance."

He still looked uncertain. His thumbs moved restlessly against my fingers.

"You say that now. What happens when a council member decides the pairing is a weakness? What happens when someone uses me to get to you?"

"Then I handle it the same way I handle every other threat that comes near you." I kept my voice even and clear. "I have already placed formal notes that block easy questions. I have already made a public claim at the auction house. This is only the next step. I am not asking you into something I have not already prepared to defend."

Akira searched my face for a long moment. I let him look. I did not hide the seriousness or the care or the absolute refusal to step back.

"You really believe everything will stay under control," he said.

"I believe I will keep it under control. There is a difference. I am asking you to trust that difference."

Silence stretched between us. I could see the war in him, the want to say yes fighting the old habit of protecting everyone else first. Love and worry and leftover fear from the gate all moved behind his eyes.

Finally he let out a slow breath. His hands turned in mine and held on instead of resisting.

"Yes," he said. The word came out soft but certain. "I will be your boyfriend Mr Vixar."

The answer landed hard and clean inside my chest. Love and hunger and fierce protectiveness rose together. I no longer had any reason to hold back the claim.

I pulled him in and kissed him.

The first kiss was deep and deliberate. I cupped the back of his head and kept him close while my other hand slid under his shirt and spread across the warm skin of his waist. He made a quiet sound against my mouth and opened for me without hesitation.

I kissed him until his breathing turned uneven. Then I moved to his jaw and the side of his throat, biting lightly enough to mark without breaking skin. His hands gripped my shoulders and then slid up into my hair.

"Kael..."

"I have you." I pulled his shirt off and tossed it aside. "I am done being careful with how much I want you."

I lowered him onto the couch and followed him down. My mouth traced his collarbone and the center of his chest while my hands worked his pants open. He lifted his hips to help me. The trust in the movement made my control thin.

When he was bare under me I sat back long enough to strip my own clothes. His eyes moved over me with open need. I felt the same need roaring under my skin.

I stretched out over him again and kissed him harder. Our cocks pressed together between us. I reached down and wrapped my hand around both of us, stroking slowly at first. Akira’s head tipped back and a broken sound left his throat.

"Feels good," he whispered.

"It gets better."

I kissed my way down his body. I took my time on the places that made him shiver, the soft skin below his navel, the join of hip and thigh, the inner side of his knee. When I finally closed my mouth around his cock he arched with a sharp gasp.

I worked him with tongue and steady suction, one hand pressing his hip down so he could not thrust too hard. The other hand slid lower, slick with oil I had set nearby earlier. I rubbed slow circles against him until the muscle softened, then eased one finger inside.

Akira’s voice cracked on my name. I added a second finger and opened him carefully while I kept sucking him. His thighs trembled on either side of my head. The sounds he made went straight to my own cock.

I took my time. Every time he got close I slowed down or pulled back until the tension eased, then built it again. I wanted him open and desperate and completely sure that he was wanted. The third finger went in with less resistance. He pushed down against my hand and begged in short broken phrases.

When he was stretching easily and his whole body shook with need, I pulled back and wiped my mouth. His eyes were dark and wet at the edges. He looked wrecked already and we had not even gotten to the main part.

I moved up his body and kissed him so he could taste himself on my tongue. My cock dragged heavy against his thigh. The need to be inside him had become a physical ache that drowned out everything else.

"Still yes?" I asked him.

"Yes. Please. Kael, yes."

I settled between his legs and lined myself up. The head of my cock pressed against him. I pushed forward slowly, giving his body time to take me. Tight heat closed around me inch by inch.

Akira’s hands clutched at my back. His breath stuttered with every small advance. I kept going until I was fully buried inside him. The sensation was so intense my vision narrowed for a second.

"Fuck," I muttered, the word torn out of me by sheer pleasure and the long-held tension finally breaking.

I stayed still deep inside him, forehead pressed to his, both of us breathing hard. The claim was complete now, boyfriend, body, the future I had been building toward for months. I held the moment and the man under me, and for the first time in a long while the rest of the world stayed quiet outside the condo walls.

His body adjusted around me in small waves. I kissed the corner of his mouth and the damp skin of his temple. Love and raw hunger and fierce satisfaction moved through me in equal measure.

"I have you," I said again, voice rough. "I am not letting go."

Akira’s arms wrapped tighter around me. His answer was only a shaky nod and the way he held on. It was enough. I stayed buried inside him and let the fact of it settle into both of us before anything else moved.