Under the stars

If you read the previous chapter feel free to skip this summary of events for those who are pure of mind:

After Eliza leaves, Callan enters The Angel's Tear with Adrian, who is still unconscious. He chooses one of the fancier rooms, enchanted to resemble a forest at night before beginning to channel the power of the Golden Phoenix into Adrian, by placing his hand on his forehead. While unconscious, Adrian dreams that he has transformed back into a mermaid and is swimming happily along the seafloor before he gets bored and decides to venture into the deep. After swimming for a while, he notices a strange structure that somewhat resembles a castle in the distance, but cannot get any closer.

He keeps on trying when suddenly the water disappears and he feels himself falling into a dark nothingness, suddenly weighed down by his previous weightless body, and his consciousness returns.

Adrian awakens breathless and frightened on the unfamiliar bed with Callan next to him. After returning to his senses, Adrian questions him about what happened when he was unconscious. Callan tells him how long he was unconscious and then comforts him before ultimately deciding that since Adrian is now fine, he'll sleep on the couch.

Feeling enamored by the heat, Adrian has other ideas.... hence the 3,000 words of smutty XXX.

And at the end of the act, Adrian swears "he could've sworn he saw two almond-shaped gemstones colored violet staring down at him, but that was only for a second before Callan's eyes returned to the shade of familiar shade of dark grey that he was slowly growing to love."

l

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The chapter begins here:

~~~

As it was their first times, neither of them had much stamina and their appetites were quickly satiated. After they tossled a few more times, Callan went to take a shower while the bath was filling up with warm and soapy water for Adrian. As there was only one bathroom, Adrian had simply lain on the bed, closing his eyes and harnessing the power of the surrounding water mana to help calm down the raging fire Callan had spread throughout his body. The mana buzzed happily and hungrily, eager to consume such rabid flames, which made Adrian chuckle softly.

'Mana was truly the most honest thing in the world.' He contemplated. After all, it always showed exactly what it was thinking, if those little shiny orbs of light were even capable of thought.

Later when Callan emerged from the shower, all clean and polished, he walked over to Adrian and picked him up, much to the other boy's vexation. Adrian insisted that he was fine to walk on his own, but Callan didn't listen to him and scooped him up with ease like he weighed only as much as a mere grain of sand.

As a mermaid, Adrian was well aware that his body held strong healing properties for physical wounds but as his were more a result of stretching and muscle aches, it did very little and when Callan picked him up and he felt the strain of his lower back, he instantly became thankful as he wrapped his arms around his neck and held on.

He was already unclothed so Callan simply lowered him into the large bathtub before quickly exiting the bathroom and Adrian let out a long sigh of relief. The feeling of water rippling against his skin again was incomparable and although the bathtub was big enough that he could fit comfortably even in his mermaid form, he didn't dare to change back.

His hands moved to massage his waist and legs. His inner thighs were littered with a trail of hickies that were slowly healing although Adrian guessed that there were many more scattered across his body. Callan was really fond of kissing, wasn't he? He thought cheerfully as he too enjoyed it very much.

He twiddled his toes under the water's soapy surface before reaching down to touch them in fascination. He did this every time he bathed as a human, investigating them with his fingers as if trying to uncover their mystery. After all, human feet just looked so weird and were so pointless. They had no purpose other than for grip and even the grip they provided was depressingly poor, especially when compared to that of other land animals or beastkin who when transformed, could have talons or claws.

They were so uselessly weak that people even had to wear shoes over them!

In comparison his tailfin was much better, Adrian mused smugly as he recalled the first time his parents had allowed him to swim alone in the ocean. Verrnea was a coastal territory and likewise, the Oreanus manor was fittingly situated next to a private beach, which had been a saving grace when he was younger and sometimes had trouble maintaining his human form.

However, he'd never been allowed to swim alone when without his parent's supervision or Damien's companionship until he was twelve years old which meant that previously, while fun it made swimming feel incredibly constrictive. Mermaids swam incredibly fast and although the length of the beach took an hour to walk, he could swim it in just two minutes.

However, as he grew older those two minutes gradually dwindled down to less than one. He'd spent so many years swimming in the same small area that he'd already memorized the entire beach's layout and as a result became bored. Instead of swimming he'd spent hours most of his time there floundering around the shallows or lying on gold-kissed sandy shores staring listlessly out at the giant expanse of water outstretched before his eyes and listening to the calls of seabirds.

According to his parents, this kind of laziness wasn't at all healthy for a young mermaid.

So they'd conceded and Adrian was finally granted permission to go explore the ocean, although he had to promise to stay in the deep, avoid humans and run if he came across any sentient sea creatures or monsters. He also had to remain within half an hour's swimming distance of their private beach at all times, and couldn't stay out for longer than three hours at a time.

But back then he'd been too ecstatic to ever even consider disagreeing with their conditions and indeed, he had followed them perfectly for a grand total of about a month.

Because on the 32nd day of his freedom, he'd broken the agreement and it had allowed him to witness the horrifying monstrosity that humans called swimming. Prior to this, he'd never properly seen humans swim before. When he was younger, his father had accompanied him out into the shallows but he couldn't recall those times very well due to his young age.

And as Adrian became older and faster, his father preferred to take the boat out to keep him company in the deeper water. As for Damien... well, he couldn't swim, and neither did he seem to have any intention of learning to, despite Adrian's nagging.

He preferred to linger and lounge in the shallows where he could rest both of his feet firmly against the ground beneath them, or ride the boat.

Needless to say, Adrian soon understood why Damien had always adamantly refused his pleas.

On that day Adrian had been very relaxed and swam over to his newly discovered favorite resting spot in the ocean to close his eyes and simply feel the water and the mana around him. The water mana was especially concentrated and pure in that spot and it made him feel very calm and soothed.

But the main reason why he loved that spot, in particular, was because there was a rock in the center of the most condensed mana that had a slight incline upwards and made for a perfect backrest and bed.

That day, he'd been lazily lying upon it with the intention of taking a fat nap when the water had become disturbed and a dark shadow loomed on the surface above him.

At first, Adrian simply ignored it. He'd become used to the occasional disturbances of boats as they passed above, and he was cloaked by the murky blue water that stretched far above him. Even if they tried, unless they used a detection device, they wouldn't notice his presence and even if they did, they would probably just misidentify him as some kind of big fish.

But the boat's movement halted and despite being located in the middle of nowhere, they cast down their anchor. It had fallen just beside Adrian's rock and half-scared him to death and very nearly smashed it into smithereens. He debated swimming away but he felt rather annoyed but also curious, so he decided to remain.

... well that turned out to be a bad idea.

Not long after the boat stopped, did the water's surface become disrupted once more and Adrian watched in horror as humans onboard the vessel threw themselves overboard, scarily clad as they plunged into the ocean.

At first, he panicked, thinking that they were drowning. Their pale limbs thrashed messily breaking the water's surface as their bodies bopped up and down and their useless feet pushed down and out like they were trying to stand.

He debated saving them as he really couldn't bear to watch them die even if they were foolish but he knew doing so when they were still conscious would reveal his identity so he cautiously lurked in the depths as he waited for them to pass out.

But that never happened, or rather they seemed to frolic and splash around like they were having fun and the vibrations of the sound waves of laughter and screams of joy invaded his ears.

It was then that he realized that they weren't drowning but swimming.

After coming to this realization, young Adrian immediately started to feel queasy. To call that weird octopusish thrashing swimming was pure blasphemy! Even a one-legged crab scuttling along the seafloor would be more eloquent than that! Adrian despaired silently before his eyes began to burn from the sight. He raced back to shore and ran on his petty human legs back to the manor and sought the comfort of Damien's hug.

Pearly translucent tears flooded down Adrian's cheeks as he lamented the fact the other had legs instead of a beautiful tail.

After that first traumatic incident, it had taken Adrian several years to come to terms with what humans meant when they referred to swimming...

Back in the bathtub, Adrian shifted his attention away from his toes and past recollections as his mind wandered back to what had just taken place in the bedroom.

The majority of the residents in the Gaiwarth Kingdom were very open when it came to sex and sexuality. Although it was a human kingdom, a large portion of its residents were beastkin who had the tendency to engage in same-sex relationships moreso than humans and over time their influence had trickled over to the humans.

Marriage wasn't very popular either as it tended to be very expensive as it could only be processed by the High Church and as a result, was expensive and a tad arduous. Because most commoners either couldn't or didn't want to spend that much, committed partners got matching tattoos or tattooed the other's name on their bodies as this was far cheaper.

This tattooing tradition had been passed to the humans by beastkin again as when in love, the majority of species would develop a colorful mark on their body although the conditions for it appearing were conditional between species. As a mermaid, Adrian was pretty certain that he could develop one too, although he didn't quite know how either and neither had he received his inheritance as he had yet to turn eighteen.

But as of the present, he didn't really see Callan in a romantic way much less love him. Although he had taken his first time, Adrian had never really placed much importance on that anyway for he hadn't really thought that much into it and now that it had happened, nothing had really changed except for the fact that he'd been opened up to a new world of feelings and sensations.

If possible, in the future he would love to experience it again! The passionate heat and pleasure... he clenched his legs together... it had been truly an amazing experience. But they needed to talk about it now and Adrian needed to make his feelings clear to the other. After all, he couldn't bear to mislead him as he'd read enough novels to know that doing so would only inflict unimaginable pain upon the other and likewise, he would hate it if anyone ever did it to him.

He reluctantly exited the bath and wrapped himself in a bathrobe, the milky white of the towel making the tender red of his freshly bathed skin all the more prominent. He was debating putting back on his clothes but it would be uncomfortable sleeping in them and he hadn't brought any pajamas.

Plus, Callan had already seen everything worth hiding, Adrian thought with slightly flushed cheeks.

There was no need to dry his hair as mermaid hair dried really fast and no sooner had he exited the water, were his golden locks back and bouncing behind his back.

When he opened the bathroom door, he was pleasantly surprised to see that Callan had remade the bed and replaced the previous sheets. It was kind of messy and the sheets weren't tucked in, but it was the thought that counted, right?

"Was the bath warm enough?" Callan asked.

His freshly washed grey hair had a messy charm to it, Adrian noted.

"It was perfect." He smiled back, "Thank you for making the bed."

Callan finished placing the last pillow in its place, "It was nothing." He muttered before he asked, slightly hesitantly, "How does your body feel?"

The cream-colored bathrobe was wrapped tightly around his body, yet the pale slightly flushed skin dotted with some marks, drew the grey eyes of Callan and held them there tightly.

Grey...not purple, grey. Adrian reaffirmed himself for the hundredth time that before had just been his own mind playing tricks on him.

Now he chuckled dryly at the fact that he knew what that particular gaze meant, "Let's sit on the bed first."

He wandered over the to left side, opposite Callan, and lay back on the bed. Before he'd been too enraptured in everything that he'd never noticed how beautiful the stars above were, even if fake. It was only now since everything was over that he could appreciate how tranquil and serene the room truly was.

Callan followed his lead and lay down next to him, also transfixing his gaze on the ceiling. The bed was large and although they were lying close together, they weren't touching.

And just like that a few moments of silence passed, filled only with the sounds of the forest and their slowed breathing.

Then Adrian, having formulated what he wanted to say, drew a deep breath in before he broke the quietness with a soft whisper, "It felt amazing, and I don't feel sore either." He admitted honestly, "But I think it's too soon to determine whether or not I have feelings for you."

He spoke the last part with a slight tad of trepidation, as he wasn't sure how Callan would react. What if he got mad and claimed that Adrian played him? Although he didn't think Callan was that kind of person, he couldn't deny that he felt a bit apprehensive. This was his first time having to say something like this, after all.

Callan's grey eyes briefly flickered towards Adrian, studying his expression. The other boy's eyes were half-closed and his long eyelashes were drooped downwards, covering whatever expression he held inside of them. He looked so peaceful that it was alluring, that it would be a crime to disturb him.

Gazing at Adrian, made Callan inadvertently desire to feel the same, yet it was impossible as inside of his chest a strange, unsettled feeling began to set in. Something just didn't feel right. He was more than satisfied with today and he was ecstatic to hear that Adrian liked it too. Maybe it was owed to the fact that Callan was used to rejecting not being rejected that it caused a strange, unsettled feeling to soak into his chest.

"That's good because I feel the same way." He replied, speaking to both himself and Adrian, before his already husky voice deepened and the grey swirling in his eyes darkened, "But I think I liked it too much to just be normal friends."

The peace was broken as a frown surfaced on Adrian's smooth forehead as he shifted to face Callan, "What do mean?" He asked him, confusion written all over his face.

"Well, I want to do things with you that normal friends don't. You know, like we did earlier..." Callan's smirk hid the tumultuous emotions inside of him, that he knew shouldn't be there.

Hesistation, doubt, unease, and lust....none of these should belong to a prince, and yet they did.

Adrian blushed a deep red at Callan's flirty tone.

"Can we really be friends if we keep doing that?" He asked, although in his heart he already had decided on his answer.

"Of course," Callan's husky voice tickled his ears, "Haven't you heard of friends with benefits?"

Adrian hadn't but he could pretty much guess its meaning.

"Okay, but we've got to add some rules to the roommate agreement." Adrian insisted happily. The best outcome had been achieved, he was sure of it!

"We have also got to get rid of rules 1 and 3." Callan added with a teasingly tone, although he was also completely serious about wanting them gone.

"No, keep number 1!" Adrian protested.

Callan pretended to pout, his grey eyes gaze full of disappointment which made Adrian unable to stifle his laughter, and as a result of seeing the other boy's smile and hearing his pretty laugh, Callan also joined in. Together, they laughed until their sides ached at the humor of it all.

"Okay fine, we'll discuss it in the morning." Adrian conceded as he yawned sleepily. Today had been one heck of a day and it was fair to say that he was exhausted. Blinking back his tiredness, he continued in a strict tone that left no room for rebuttal, "But no more talk about sleeping on the couch. There's plenty of room for both of us here."

Adrian wasn't a messy sleeper and he refused to believe that someone who held an air of refinement and charm like Callan could be the same kind of person that hogs all the blankets and kicks their poor bedmate out onto the freezing cold floor.

Callan was more than happy with that and the two of them crawled under the covers, keeping a decent distance separate as they had more than enough of each other's bodies earlier. Yet in such close proximity, Adrian could still feel Callan's heat and likewise, Callan felt the other's natural coolness, making it very comfortable for the both of them.

"Goodnight Callan." Adrian whispered, softly.

Callan chuckled before he too replied back, "Goodnight Adrian."

Beside the bed was a remote with several intriguing buttons for different functions but having already had his fun, Callan simply pressed the one to darken the room. As the few candles lining the walls were snuffed out, thin tendrils of smoke slowly twirled their way up to the starry sky above. In the heavy darkness, the stars were all the more brilliant as they glowed and the colourful hues of nebulas rippled throughout the expanse of space crafting a truly breathtaking sight.

Although unfortunately, its beauty was left unappreciated as the two sleeping beneath it had already closed their eyes.

And as their heads sank slowly into the fluffy embrace of satin pillows, they surrendered themselves to sleep and neither stirred until the morning sun had already ascended into the teal blue sky, outside of the forest room forever encased in the night.

Neither was aware of how strange their encounter had been. The distance that should've naturally come between two strangers had been bridged in the span of hours, to create a feeling that perhaps in some corner of the galaxy or in a world long past, they had known each other before. As it was the kind of closeness that couldn't have been made in a day, and the very nature of it served to question the passage of time itself.