remember to glower as he leaned in for another kiss.
And somehow this one was even more amazing than the last one, and every feeling that Benji had been trying his best to force down since they’d come here rose up in him like the rush of floodwaters and he was helpless against them. And when the gentle kiss was done and Benji was left staring at Calarian, for the first time he saw something entirely unexpected.
Not Calarian the annoying elfling who’d been obsessed with his stupid Houses and Humans ever since they were kids growing up together in the collective. Not Calarian who’d swaggered into the Swamp of Death with a wink and a grin that time, and turned out to be an enthusiastic partner in the dirty alchemist. And not even Calarian who’d just raced him into Lars’s bedroom, both of them trying to elbow the other one out of the way. There must have been sorcery in that gentle little kiss, because suddenly it wasn’t just Benji’s dick that was swelling, it was his heart.
Oh no.
He loved Calarian. How the hell had that happened?
“I am having very complicated feelings right now,” he announced, and puckered his brow into a comfortingly familiar scowl.
Calarian jerked his chin in a nod, and blinked rapidly. “Same. Wow.”
“What? You can’t be having feelings. We don’t have feelings. We just fuck.” Except, that wasn’t entirely true, was it? It probably hadn’t been true for a while.
Calarian shrugged helplessly. “I can’t help it.”
Lars’s broad forehead creased in confusion. “Wait. Are you telling me you’ve never kissed?”
Benji rolled his eyes. “Of course not. We’ve done everything else, but this—” He reached out and ran a thumb over Calarian’s plump lower lip. “—is new.”
Calarian gave him a soft smile and Benji was once again overcome by an unexpected surge of fondness. He didn’t hate it. He tried to, but he didn’t.
Lars rolled his eyes at them both in a way that was either insulting or hot, Benji couldn’t quite decide which, and said, “Are you sure you’ve done everything? I mean, I might know a trick or two.”
He kicked off his boots, shucked his suspenders down his shoulders and dropped his lederhosen. Then he peeled his shirt off, leaving him naked, and Benji was left staring at acres of smooth chest that rippled with hidden muscle every time Lars moved, tree-trunk thighs, and a gloriously thick cock. Benji didn’t believe in gods, but he wondered if just this once, he might need to make an exception, because Lars was certainly some kind of minor deity.
At the sight of all that hot cowherd, right there within reach, Benji forgot all about any feelings he might have been having except the ones currently surging to his dick, and with a grin he threw himself at Lars, wrapping his legs around his waist and clinging to him. “Come on then,” he said, waggling his eyebrows, “show us what you’ve got.”
“Well," Benji said an hour later, wiping spunk out of his hair, "that escalated quickly."
Calarian made some sort of incoherent gargle from where he was laying sprawled on the other side of Lars. “I think you broke him,” Benji added. “What was that, anyway?”
Lars was propped on his elbows in the middle of the bed, and he didn’t even appear slightly out of breath which was just rude, considering Benji’s limbs were now made of jelly and he had serious doubts about his ability to stand anytime in the next, oh, week.
Lars looked between the pair of them with a smug grin. “Oh, that? It’s called the lonely goatherd.”
Benji snorted. “That’s a stupid name. Why is it called that?”
Lars grinned harder, and Benji suspected that if his smile got any wider the top of his head might actually fall off. “I’m not actually sure. I just know you’re doing it right if your partner makes that yodelling noise.”
“Odeleyeeeoo,” Calarian slurred, and Benji was once again surprised by a surge of affection for him.
Oh, right. Feelings. That was a thing they had now. Benji blinked at the ceiling while he tried to adjust to the concept of having an emotional attachment. It was going to take some doing.
If this were any normal day and he and Calarian had just fucked, they’d be out of bed and dressed by now, but Lars showed no inclination to get out of bed, instead wrapping a meaty arm around each of them and holding them close while he sighed happily. It was weird, but nice, and