Chapter 13: Obnoxious Little Four-Letter Word

“All right, that’s enough,” he said meekly as Conrad held him and continued to torture his neck with small kisses and flicks of the tongue. “People are staring.”

“And since when do you care?”

“We barely know each other,” Kai protested. “It’s not like you can tell for sure whether I care or not.”

“I’ve heard enough about you. And the night we spent together was enough to confirm every rumor. Your Majesty, you’re insatiable. Lie to me as much as you want. I won’t be dissuaded so easily.”

Kai rolled his eyes and pushed Conrad away, making sure not to use more force than necessary. “And I thought you didn’t like it. Not one bit. I beat you fair and square and forced you into,” he couldn’t believe he was saying cringey stuff like that, “my bed. So how about you go back to hating me like usual, so I can finally ignore you?”

Conrad’s fierce gaze examined him, and a small smile curled the man’s lips. “You saved me from a certain death. It had to be because,” his voice dropped to a whisper, “you still want me in your bed. And I intend to repay this debt in full.”

“All right, just give me a pony or whatever, and we’ll call it even.” Conrad was still distractingly close, and Kai was itching to get away.

“Why are your jokes so cruel? Do you want me to chase you? Hunt you down? Is it part of what makes you satisfied?”

Kai growled low in his throat. “You’re driving me nuts, Conrad! Why can’t you just take my words at face value? And come on, how many times do I have to say that I don’t want to force you into my bed anymore?”

Conrad paused for a moment and stared at him. He nodded shortly. “Then I will just come to your bed willingly.” With that, he pulled at the horse’s reins and turned away from Kai.

Who gazed after him, a million thoughts per minute crowding inside his mind. He had never ever ever read a BL manga or watched a BL show, and now that lack of knowledge put him at a major disadvantage. However, the guys around him had to be more or less tropes found in any creation of the romance type, so he needed to take a shot at it and clear things for himself.

Therefore, Pepin was the loyal servant in love with him. He was beautiful and determined, and that meant that it didn’t matter what Sebastian – who Kai played at the moment – did, he would always love the prince.

Conrad was the fierce and proud captive who was bound to fall in love with the prince. No amount of reasoning mattered, without a doubt. Whatever happened, Kai had to put it down under ‘yaoi logic’. Which was bad because it meant that he had no chance to make Conrad change his mind.

Oh, how tragic. He would be loved by two awesome guys, no matter how terrible his character was, Kai thought to himself and sighed. Still, it didn’t mean that he had to give up. Maybe he could convince Galien to steal Conrad from him. Not Pepin, though.

Pepin was off-limits. Plus, he was the least dangerous. Kai didn’t know much about BL and whatnot, but he was pretty sure that Conrad wanted to give it to him, while Pepin wanted ... well, to be given ‘it’.

But, wait, his mind began to go in circles, hadn’t Pepin said something about anything he did with Conrad, Kai had to do with him, too? What if Pepin, too ... No, no way. His royal behind was in terrible danger if that were true.

Well, he would be careful. No one was going to touch his behind as long as he was on guard.

“This man is rather annoying in his indecisiveness,” Sebastian commented as he browsed through a digital copy of the manga featuring the character he would cosplay later tonight. “What do you think?”

At Milo’s suggestion, he had started reading it on his boyfriend’s laptop. In a nutshell, he would be an actor and perform on a stage. It couldn’t be that difficult.

“Dude, are you trying to get me hooked on BL now? Don’t make me read it, too,” Milo complained.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. It might be corny,” Milo replied, but he blushed and looked away.

“What do you mean?” It surely had nothing to do with food, whatever Milo wanted to say.

“You know. I heard the characters tend to be so extra.”

“Extra?”

“Over the top,” Milo explained and began tapping his foot. He was lying on the bed, but his long legs touched the floor.

“Why are you embarrassed?” Sebastian asked, narrowing his eyes and inspecting the other.

“I’m not,” Milo blurted out.

“You’ve read such things before!” Sebastian exclaimed as the realization dawned on him.

“I was curious, okay?” Milo stood abruptly and ran to the opposite corner of the room.

“The story appears to be quite convoluted, but I don’t see how reading such a thing can be a cause for embarrassment,” Sebastian commented as he browsed through the illustrated pages. “The art on display can be considered charming even.”

“Are you going to laugh at me?” Milo asked quietly. “If I tell you?”

“I don’t see why I would do that.”

Milo moved his weight from one foot to another. He was wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt, and Sebastian couldn’t take his eyes off him. His boyfriend had truly attractive thighs and nice muscular arms. If Sebastian kept staring, there was a chance that he would, as they said in this strange world, jump his bones.

“I’m sure you didn’t get to those parts,” Milo said with a slight huff, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“What parts?” Sebastian began clicking through. Page after page, Prince Sendrian, who he was supposed to impersonate on stage tonight, couldn’t make up his mind about the young man he was in love with. When there wasn’t one thing or another getting in the way, the fictional royal managed to stumble upon his own self, thus delaying a satisfactory resolution.

“Just skip to chapter thirty-seven, and you’ll know what I’m talking about,” Milo mumbled.

Sebastian quirked an eyebrow and did as told. He stared for a moment, scrolled down, and lower, and lower ... He cleared his throat. While the videos he watched late at night left nothing out, he was rightfully impressed by the artful way in which the characters were depicted on the screen in their throes of passion. The words they told each other heightened the arousal, and seeing how the readers must have endured through dozens and dozens of pages of Sendrian’s clumsiness in dealing with matters of the heart, those scenes were all the more satisfying.

His eyes met Milo’s beautiful greens.

“Totally corny, right?”

“I still don’t get what you mean. You’ve watched videos, have you not?”

“You mean, porn? Yeah,” Milo admitted, although he looked away as saying that.

Sebastian had to admit his boyfriend looked quite attractive like that, embarrassed, and with his cheeks on fire.

“So, why would you feel embarrassed by these drawn characters and their complicated love affair?”

Milo looked away and then hanged his head low. “I jerked off to it,” he said quickly. “This manga.”

“Oh.” Sebastian looked at the laptop screen and shifted. The signs of early arousal were starting to inconvenience him. “I can see why. The artist made sure the readers would see everything in detail.”

“But it’s not because of that,” Milo interrupted him. “That I jerked off. Why the hell am I telling you this?” he moaned and covered his face.

“Because we’re boyfriends,” Sebastian said matter-of-factly. From the day before, he had understood the term as being one to describe lovers in this world. He would have argued that they still needed to bed each other to truly be considered that, but they were heading there anyway.

“All right. Don’t laugh.”

“As you can see, I don’t.”

Milo took one deep breath. “I came when they said ‘I love you’ to each other. Isn’t that corny?” he insisted.

Sebastian opened another tab on the browser and searched for the term. “Yes, I suppose it can be considered corny,” he said after a short while.

Milo rubbed the back of his head and snorted. “I think I like watching porn with feels,” he said.

Sebastian rolled out of bed and walked over to Milo. “Well, it may be corny, but there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“It’s not? Don’t tell me you too --”

“No,” Sebastian said abruptly. “I’m not interested in sentimentalism.”

“Oh,” Milo managed to whisper, and the corners of his eyes dropped.

Sebastian kissed him and let his hands wander down the nicely defined arms. He would take much pleasure in discovering that body and all his secrets.

“There is something else,” Milo mumbled and bit his bottom lip.

Sebastian dragged him close and took that delicious lip between his teeth, and sucked it into his mouth.

“What else?” he asked.

Milo blinked, his breath coming in a bit short. “I think I got a hard-on for the main character.”

Sebastian still had the wig and that peculiar outfit on, as he had argued that he needed to be more comfortable in it before climbing on stage tonight. “Ah, I see,” he said with a bit of satisfaction. Although it was just make-believe, he appreciated Milo’s feeling attracted to the character he would impersonate, for the simple fact that there was some resemblance between Prince Sendrian and his actual self and physical appearance.

“I can see why,” he replied. “He is very attractive. I should say that many of his mishaps are easier to be forgiven due to that alone.”

Milo snickered. “I guess. As long as the guy is hot ... yeah. So you’re not mad about it?”

“Why should I be? You’re my boyfriend.”

Something that really made him experience a tingling sensation right in the middle of his chest, which felt both unbearable and enjoyable at the same time. Like a slight frisson of pleasure, it overtook him when he least expected it.

Curse or not, Sebastian couldn’t deny that his attraction toward the beautiful boy in front of him was real and different from any of his feelings nurtured toward his long string of lovers. Not even Conrad’s memory, still fresh in his mind, entangled with a certain degree of dissatisfaction over not having had him enough times to become bored, could rival with it.

“Ah, and that solves it all? You’re not jealous? Not even a tiny bit?” Milo asked and circled Sebastian’s waist with his arms.

“No.”

“I’d be,” Milo admitted. “I mean, porn is one thing, but this --”

“Jealousy is a petty emotion,” Sebastian interrupted him. “And a character created with the sole purpose of determining those looking at him to like him, despite his numerous shortcomings, is bound to cause such reactions.”

Milo sighed. “So I’m a victim of BL magic?” he asked playfully.

“Magic is a strong word. Why do you like this fictional prince? Is it only because he’s handsome?”

Milo moved his head from side to side. “Not only. I shouldn’t like, though. I mean, he’s cold and full of himself --”

“He’s not. He’s just aloof and blind,” Sebastian argued.

That earned him a thoughtful look from the other. “Are we talking about the same character?” Milo looked puzzled. “Because I’m sure I wouldn’t like in real life a guy like that.”

An irksome feeling began to grow inside Sebastian. “Why wouldn’t you? If he were just as handsome.”

“Really, Kai? A guy like that ... come on, even a good guy like you can see it. Sendrian is an arrogant bastard, and, in the real world, he’d be nothing but a heartbreaker. You know, the kind your momma would tell you to stay away from,” Milo added with a small laugh.

Rightfully annoyed, Sebastian caught Milo’s chin and pressed his lips against his mouth. “Then what do you feel when you see me dressed up like him?”