“Mmng, mmh……”
Elijah twisted his waist unconsciously at the chilling ticklishness. The protest he let out was completely sucked into the seamlessly overlapped lips, only crumbling into strange moans that were embarrassing even to his own ears.
The feet that had been obediently placed on Rose’s feet eventually slipped out of position. However, because of Rose’s knee that dug between his spread legs, he could at most only precariously support himself on his tiptoes, unable to fully step on the floor.
The hand that had been wandering over his flat chest went down and gripped his buttocks. The lower body that was pulled into strong arms stuck together completely.
“Haah……”
The heat that filled his lower abdomen without fail ticklishly tingled inside his belly. The paper boat that had been gripped in Elijah’s hand crumpled with a rustle.
“Mmh, mmng……”
His fully erect penis rubbed against Rose’s through their clothes. At the movement of pushing up his waist heavily as if to sweep the shaft, Elijah truly became desperate to release.
Judging by the firm volume that pressed painfully on his lower abdomen, Rose seemed to be in a similar state to himself, yet he couldn’t understand why he alone was so relaxed.
At this rate, it really seemed like he would leak a little, so his body trembled involuntarily. Each time, Rose soothed his waist as if to reassure him and affectionately sucked his lips.
It was strange. This was really strange. It was a natural contact that Rose had habitually done since childhood, yet it felt quite unfamiliar just because his body had grown.
Elijah realized at some point that this act had deviated from its original purpose. This wasn’t exploration for blood-sucking or simple acting spoiled.
He was afraid that if he didn’t do it properly, this strange act would never end. Elijah just obediently stuck out his tongue, and when Rose held his lower lip, he held his upper lip in the opposite manner, barely imitating his kiss.
He felt Rose smile faintly. For some reason, he wanted to at least close his eyes because he was embarrassed, but he couldn’t do that either because he was conscious of the gaze fixed on him the whole time. Rose persistently stared at Elijah as if observing him with lowered eyes.
“Ha, mmph……”
When he thought he could no longer endure it, the entangled lips slowly separated with a wet sound. Gently curved eyes came into full view. Rose gently stroked his cheek.
“You do well even if I only teach you once.”
It was clearly praise that he did well, but Elijah wasn’t very happy. However, he liked looking at Rose’s languid eyes that had melted smoothly because they were pretty.
“Have you learned from someone before?”
Along with kisses that fell briefly making wet sounds at the corners of his mouth, a gentle voice spread. Elijah just quietly caught his breath, not knowing what to answer.
Who on earth would teach such a thing, and what reason would there be to learn it separately?
“Wh-, ……why are you doing this?”
He eventually threw out a fundamental question. It wasn’t that he didn’t know at all what the act just before was, enough to call it ‘this.’ Kissing was a very natural thing between Rose and himself.
However, the contact just before was uncomfortable and unfamiliar to simply call it kissing.
It was too hot and ticklish. It was so sweet that his head was dizzy. It was embarrassing, scary, and precarious like holding a water glass filled precariously as if it would overflow at any moment.
Elijah didn’t know how to define this sensation in one word, so he continued trying to find words to explain his feelings.
“You liked it.”
At that moment, Rose simply defined that ambiguous sensation. He bent his waist and met Elijah’s eyes.
“It felt good, right?”
Could such a complex sensation be summarized in just one word, ‘liked it’?
Elijah recalled the contact from just before. Amid his heart pounding fiercely against his chest, still not settled, between his legs still tingled as if crushed by him.
Of course, it was true that it felt good. Rose always smelled fragrant, his touch was always affectionate, and his breath was sweet. His face was beautiful enough to make his eyes hurt just from looking at it. The soft lips that touched seamlessly were also smooth and sleek.
The first contact made him shrink because it was cold, but he also liked the robust body to which his body temperature easily transferred. He liked the broad shoulders and the arms where he could feel the texture of the muscles, and above all, it was fascinating and good that the body had been molded with himself as nourishment.
……However, when the kiss lengthened, he inevitably became troubled.
It was because an unbearable urge filled up. Whether he knew it or not, Rose rubbed that area well as if he was doing it on purpose.
“Yeah. ……It was good.”
Nevertheless, since Rose’s words weren’t completely wrong, Elijah just nodded and agreed.
“Do you remember when we used to play chess before?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“Since there’s nothing else to do in the forest. I want to spend time feeling good with you if possible.”
“Like killing time……?”
At Elijah’s response, Rose opened his eyes round as if slightly surprised. It was an expression of hearing an unexpectedly commendable answer.
“That’s right, Elijah.”
He smiled and kissed Elijah’s cheeks and lips with smacks.
“It’s already been close to an hour. Time passes well, right?”
There weren’t many amusements that could be done in the forest. Elijah had always been bored since the time he lived alone with Igrit. Chess played with Igrit rarely ended so it was tedious, and if he didn’t even sleep, time flowed slowly as if it had stopped forever.
However, it was different after Rose came. When he was very young, he spent most of the day eating and sleeping, and Elijah found time passed well just quietly looking at his sleeping face.
And when he grew a bit more, they killed time by reading fairy tale books together, and when he grew a bit more, they killed time by playing chess.
The crudely carved chess pieces and chessboard made from wood had long been accumulating dust, left untouched. Rose, who had become a complete young man, seemed to want to spend time in a different way than before.
Eventually, Elijah nodded and completely agreed.
“Yeah, it seems to pass well.”
Just as Rose controlled his feeding to match him, there were times when he also had to match his ways. Right now was such a time. No, in fact, it was too much to say he was unilaterally matching him—the contact with Rose wasn’t unpleasant.
‘It might get even better if I just get used to it a little……’
Somehow his gaze kept being drawn to Rose’s lips. They were lips that sometimes bit painfully, revealing sharp fangs, and other times blew sweet breath into him enough to make his head dizzy. Recalling the moment of that contact, Elijah unconsciously opened his mouth.
“Elijah.”
The slightly parted lower lip was lightly pressed by a fingertip. Elijah, who came to his senses with a start, met Rose’s eyes. A red and graceful smile bloomed on his snow-white face.
“The snow stopped.”
Rose, who smiled closing his eyes smoothly, said softly. Elijah’s eyes, which had been fixed on him, finally turned toward the window. The sleet that had been streaking down the dusty glass had stopped at some point.
“Shall we go float the letter?”
“Uh……, yeah.”
The arms that had been wrapped around Rose’s neck smoothly unwound. The fingertips gripping his shirt collar had grown cold. His head was hazy and his whole body tingled as if he had just emerged from a dream.
However, the urge that filled between his legs with a tingling sensation and the heat still pooling abundantly in his lower abdomen were clearly telling him the boundary between dream and reality.
* * *
It was the tail end of winter when the snow was beginning to melt.
The hand that had been wandering over the sheets searching for the warmth that should be beside him stopped. The small bed that fit perfectly even when Elijah lay alone went beyond the bed if he stretched his arm just a little.
Elijah, who opened his eyes blankly, looked around searching for Rose who wasn’t beside him. It was too quiet today. He couldn’t hear clattering sounds from the kitchen, nor could he hear sounds of making or fixing something outside.
The sound of wind chimes ringing from the terrace, the sound of firewood burning while flicking off dry husks, the sound of the stream flowing and faint bird sounds were all the same, yet just because there were no sounds that should naturally be heard inside this house, he felt a suffocating silence.
“Rose.”
Only Elijah’s voice spread gently in the quiet cabin. In that empty stillness, an ominous premonition momentarily made the center of his chest feel cold.
“……Rose?”
Elijah, who got out of bed, took steps toward the kitchen. Thump, thump, his heart began to beat fiercely.
Rose was sensitive to sounds. Even if he was outside, he would know like a ghost when he woke up and come in. He wasn’t a child who would be this continuously quiet. Where did he go without a word? Could he have gone down to the settlement alone again……
“Ah!”
At that moment, Elijah fell forward with a crash. It felt as if someone had grabbed his ankle. He, who had hit his knees and elbows on the hard wooden floor in an unguarded state, moaned softly and sat up.
“……”
He touched the shackle fastened to his ankle with a feeling as if seeing an illusion. The chain attached to the shackle was connected to the bed frame.
Elijah tried to unfasten it but quickly gave up. The metal restraint had a very small lock on it, so there seemed to be no way to release it other than finding the key or breaking it.
‘Where on earth did this come from?’
The surface of the restraint that looked like new at a glance glinted. Occasionally Rose, who had gone to the settlement, had bought daily necessities or food ingredients, but he had never seen anything like this.
Elijah, who had been examining the chain without any particular sense of crisis, suddenly became anxious.
‘What if the person who fastened this wasn’t Rose?’
What if someone other than them had invaded this forest?
Then where is Rose? Could something have happened to Rose too……?
