Chapter One Hundred and Twelve - Bittersweet

Author's note; Act of lovemaking below.

Alexandria, Henry and a few others who happened to be in Thirteen Levels of Purgatory, gathered around her ringing phone.  She placed it on speaker so all would be able to hear when the call connected.

"Yeah?" The voice was slightly languid and breathless.

"Owen?  Where are you?" Alexandria demanded.  "Where did you go?"

"Hmmm... um..." the boy sounded a little distracted.  "I sent you a text."

"I'm safe, leave without me?"  Alexandria repeated back the words in the text.  "That sort of text... for all I know it could have been sent by kidnappers!"

The boy laughed lightly.  "You know.. they wouldn't pay..." rustling noises came through from the other end of the phone.  "I... Er... shhh wait a sec!"

"Are you.. are you with someone?" Alexandria demanded.  A small groan came through the receiver and those listening found themselves reddening at the implication of the tone.

"Hanging up!" Owen's voice cracked as he followed through with his decision, leaving them staring at the phone.

David nudged Henry in the ribs.  "Looks like our leader scored!"  He said with a lewd expression.  Henry falsely chuckled as he glanced over at a pale faced Alexandria.

"Ah, he wasn't the only one," Janey mused, pointing over to a cursing Seven Chances as he shouted about whatever was on the screen of his phone.

Not only had Jordan been ditched, but the bastard had nicked his car as well!  He hadn't even clocked when Adam had filched the keys from his coat pocket!  He had to phone his sister and hope to hitch a ride with her and her boyfriend.  He really was not happy and vowed to pay the man back!

****

Said man fell upon the hotel bed, his skin coated in a light sheen as he panted softly.  Owen curled into his arm, equally tired, but laughing softly.  Their lovemaking had been fast, hard and just a little violent, wearing both men out, despite their youth.  Adam dragged the duvet over their naked bodies as the pleasure warming them began to slowly drift away, leaving them feeling lazy and relaxed and simply enjoying the company of the other.

"I'm sorry," Adam murmured, weaving his finger's gently through Owen's hair.

"What for?" Owen asked, drowsily.

"I judged you before I knew you," Adam replied.

"Hmm," Owen said non-committedly.  "Doesn't matter.  I judged you too."  He chuckled.  "I thought I hated you.  I was very confused when I met you."

"How so?"  Adam asked.  He had felt nothing but joy when peering into the pale blue eyes of his lover in this life.

"It was like I was suddenly various people all at once," Owen tried to explain, but couldn't entirely find the right words to use.  "I was Owen, who hated you and all the men that loved you and the men that never got the chance to know you.  I didn't know what to think anymore."

"That was why you fled from me?" Adam asked, recalling the pain he had felt in that moment. Owen nodded.

"Sorry," he whispered.

"It's alright," Adam replied holding him close for a few minutes.  For all his awakenings, his first thought had always been upon the person now in his arms, so while there had been some confusion as his past effected his present, he had never felt as overwhelmed as Owen described his awakening to be.  "Were.. were there many lives without me?"

Owen nodded, but remained silent for a while.  "Yes.  Short, bitter lives.  Like scenes from plays where I was a small actor.  I read my lines and followed the script, pretending that the pain did not hurt and the suffering was not real.  I couldn't even truly enjoy the brief happy moments as I knew they would never last.  That I would exit, stage left, before being forced to take on a new role.  No rest, no time to breath.  And then I met you and it was as if all the hard times no longer mattered.  But... there was always the lingering fear that you would be snatched away instead.  Only, I left you first."

"I hated the world for that, hated Yang, hated everything," Adam felt tears form in his eyes.  "Being forced to live without you, only holding onto the hope that Yang was speaking the truth and that I would be able to find you again!  Who knew that I would come close to losing you again in the next life and it was to yourself and whatever was controlling you!"

Owen frowned.  Of all his memories, the time when he was both Kyan and Cornelius was the most vague, as if they were not so firmly imprinted upon his soul.  Of course, that changed somewhat when he met Matthew, Aidan's reincarnation and his memories only grew stronger with each meeting.  He felt suddenly breathless, all of unpleasantness he had felt from his past rising in his chest.  He raised his head, before stroking Adam's jawline to make him look at him.  Their lips met, their mouths meshed with force and their tongues began to battle.  They expressed all of the pain, the anguish and the darkness that had consumed them as well as the love, the passion and need they felt for each other.  They only paused their volatile kiss when desperate to draw oxygen into their lungs.  Saliva dripped from the corners of their mouths as they parted.

Their gazes remained locked for several minutes as they listened to their racing pulses, before Owen nestled further into Adam's embrace, both feeling a little lighter and a little calmer.  As their hearts began to slow, Owen splayed his hand over Adam's defined chest, before lightly pinching the brown peak adorning the hard flesh.  Adam glanced at him questioningly.  Owen's lips fell into a pout.  "How is it that you always seem to gain bodies so muscular!"  He poked his chest unkindly.  Adam grabbed his finger and placed it in his mouth suckling on it, causing him to groan.

"Not always," Adam denied eventually pulling the smaller boy closer to him.  "Yu Long was less so and Law..."

"Law was still a child," Owen sneered slightly, for he had no doubt that if things had not been so against the twins in that life, they too would have become wonderful examples of masculinity.  "And Yu Long may not have been so broad and built, but you still had lines that I could have only dreamed about!"

"Ah, you didn't need to dream about them," Adam growled, nuzzling Owen's face with his own and nudging his head to gain access to the soft lobe of his ear.  "They were yours to do with as you please to begin with."  Owen shivered as Adam nibbled lightly, his arms swinging about the man's neck.  "As your soft, amazing body is mine to with as I please."

His calloused hands began to wander over Owen's back and waist, pleased as always with what they felt.  As always, his lover's sensitive skin reacted to his touches, his tongue and the heat of his body.  Owen moaned openly, unable to deny him as he was turned to lie upon his back, his legs parted and the tender hidden place probed with hot, steel like flesh.  He bit his lip, he was fairly sore having lost his virginity less than 30 minutes past.  Adam sensed his discomfort, they had entangled in a much more brutal way than was usual for their first times in their past lives, so eager had they been to finally join once more after such a lengthy time.

He gently kissed Owen upon the mouth, suckling the plump lower lip before trailing kisses down his neck and marking the smooth skin.  His tongue lapped over the marks, saliva coating them and creating a trail to his small, pink peaks.  Adam teased each one gently with the tip of his tongue, placing a tender kiss as they hardened before continuing his oral exploration.  He paid a fair bit of attention to the navel piercing, swirling around the cold metal, Owen could only writhe under his ministrations.  Finally he reached the harden maleness framed with dark blond and after licking his lips for a moment, took it into his mouth.

Owen cried out instantly as Adam applied the perfect vacuum with his warm wet cavity.  Lips and tongue moved along the length, nearly swallowing him whole before sliding to the tip to tease and taste the bitter fluid leaking from it.  Adam took him deep once more before slowly releasing him.  Owen panted, his body not yet sated, but suddenly unwilling to remain passive.  Taking the opportunity to move now that Adam did not have his member at his mercy, he tugged Adam up on to the bed, before curving around so that he could touch Adam in similar fashion.  The duvet cover was tossed to the floor.

He gently rolled the used condom off of Adam, freeing him, before reciprocating with mouth and tongue.  He tasted a mixture of salt and rubber, feeling flushed as he thought where this had recently been buried, his scent still lingering.  Adam returned to teasing Owen, lapping along the head, before catching his breath as Owen's moan reverberated over his own length.  Their intimate act drowned them in pleasure as they struggled to focus on bringing the other to the highest peak.  Owen gave in first, releasing Adam from his aching jaw as he arched into the other, his seed spilling down his lover's throat.  Adam was close too, so grabbed Owen's hand with his own and wrapping them around his cock.  He pumped just three times before succumbing, coating Owen's navel in his release.

After lightly wiping their bodies down, they curled up in the bed and let sleep take them.