for Corbie

[st_rummer]

Curnen's bawdy song followed them for a way, but faded from their hearing well before they reached Coby's room. The sign on the door said Tall & Short and after using his key, Coby stood to one side so Corbie could enter first. "Barbie Dream House pink, circa, I don't know, 1990-something." The room was, as he'd hinted, floor to ceiling pink, with only small amounts of cream or gold to keep it from being completely monochrome.

Comments

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"That's okay," Corbie murmured, the response just as lazily playful before she kissed him back, slow and warm. Her fingers came away from the wing one by one, teasing him by drawing out the touch. "So sensitive."

[st_rummer]

"Very. And hard to resist touching too." He had no trouble admitting either of those things. "I was kinked hard to Anael's wings before I had these. And yeah, we've gotten each other off just kissing and petting them." The love came through in the low murmur of his voice, warmth to go with the playfulness in his eyes.

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Well, they're pretty, Corbie almost said, instead latching onto that name. "Anael?"

[st_rummer]

How did you describe Anael to someone, when the only way to really understand was to meet him? Coby had a moment's though how much would Anael love Corbie, and how much fun the three of them could have together. Right, she was waiting for an answer.

"I've got wings, but somebody did that to me. I'm just a guy really. Anael... he's the fucking angel of love. He is... awesome. And lovely. And he would really like you."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie nodded. Much as the sight of Coby with his wings evoked the idea of angels, she had know even in the midst of her initial awe that he was not. She didn't know what exactly would be different if it happened. It was just a feeling in her gut.

And then the rest of it sank in, and suddenly she was smiling and shy. "Can't imagine what a fucking angel would see in me."

[st_rummer]

"Really? I can." Coby propped up on one elbow so he could see her better, one finger of his other hand twirling around a tousled curl. "He love everybody. That's just part of who he is. But the people he likes, they're special. Anael, it means 'joy of God' or 'pleasure of God', something like that. And you," he bumped his nose along hers and kissed her slow and sweet and wanting. "You have plenty of both. Joy and pleasure."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie was not of the opinion that she was anything very special at all, but she was flattered and she smiled into the kiss. "I try for both?" Sudden shyness lifted the words into a question. "It's a hard world, when you don't."

[st_rummer]

"It can be a hard world even when you do. Harder when you're on your own." He shrugged. Anael was better at explaining these things than he was. "He'll see me again. I have faith in that."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"All the more important you do when you're on your own," Corbie murmured. And even though she was probably half talking about herself, she couldn't help reaching out to touch his cheek in sympathy.

[st_rummer]

Coby had been thinking about Corbie when he said it, not himself. He had Curnen, and getting to know her all over again. And he was making friends here. Even Kash, grower of mighty herb and needing to imbibe, hung out with him on the regular in need of chill. It was all good.

He turned his head to kiss her fingers. "You don't have to be on your own. I know it doesn't help with the people you miss, but it's not nothing."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie smiled faintly and took her hand back. "Thank you." She hesitated a moment before adding softer, "I'm trying."

[st_rummer]

"That's all we can do." Coby tucked her closer to him.

"You listened to me going on about Anael." He'd only touched the surface of what made Anael so amazing, but there was only so much talking about a beloved while in bed with someone else. "What about you? Would it help, talking about the special ones you miss?" There had to be some, just from what Coby'd seen of Corbie already. She'd be the type to love quickly and deeply - family, friends, lovers. It was why he was sure Anael would like her so much.

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"Well, there ain't a guy, if that's what you mean," Corbie murmured, her lips quirking in a tiny smile. Not while she was in school, not those boys. Not that a couple of them hadn't tried, and she'd fucked a couple of them, but even so. "Or a girl," she added on, just to be clear. She wasn't into women that way.

[st_rummer]

"That's a shame. Unless you were too head in your books studying magic to bother with guys." Corbie was adorable, not to mention talented and enthusiastic in bed. Coby could see himself growing very fond of her in no time.

"But we all can miss people who aren't groin-buddies. My parents should be a few hours by car..." he propped himself up on an elbow, thought for a moment, and pointed, "That way. If we weren't cut off from them."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie's face softened into an expression of sympathy. "Never knew my parents," she admitted quietly. "No clue if they're dead or not, just by the time I remember anything, it was me and my grandmother. But..." she squirmed. "I miss my teacher. And his brother. And Julian." She bit her lip. If she started listing names, she'd go on for a while yet.

[st_rummer]

Coby kissed her shoulder softly, and stroked a hand over her golden curls. "You don't have to talk about them if it makes it harder. But when it helps to remember and share them with someone else, if it does, I've got shoulders to cry on and wings to cocoon in."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"I..." And that should be the last thing to make someone cry, but Corbie felt tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. She could bear hardship well enough alone, she'd had to, but she hated it Some people were meant to be islands, solitary, contained, cat-like. Corbie was precisely the opposite of that. She rooted herself in others, in belonging to other people even if it was only a little.

Even so, she felt damn stupid crying right now. Just because she knew what she wanted didn't mean asking for it was ever easy.

[st_rummer]

He wouldn't have said if if he hadn't meant it, and when he saw the shimmer in Corbie's eyes, Coby tucked her closer and shifted his wing so they were cocooned snugly. As kinked as he was for Anael's wings, he'd found comfort in their closeness, their ability to shut everything else out, and now he could give that to Corbie. He didn't try to shush her, or tell her everything was okay. He held her and kissed the top of her head, and tried to show she wasn't alone.

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie snuggled close and let herself cry softly, even though she didn't rightly know what she was crying about. It just felt really good to let herself do it and not be alone while she did.

She didn't last very long. "... Thank you," she murmured. "I'm not sure where that came from."

[st_rummer]

Coby gave her a squeeze. "Yeah, I mean it's not like being here any of us have reason to need to let it out eventually, or anything.

"Feeling okay now?"

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"Better," Corbie allowed. "But..." she chewed her lip as she considered how to put this. "I wish it'd stop hurting. But I'm scared that if it does, it'll be 'cause I'll start forgetting."

[st_rummer]

"Nah." Coby shook his head briefly against the pillow. "That's why you remember them with people. It won't hurt as much, but you'll still keep them close."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"My teacher had to be saved from a mugging by tiny hookers," Corbie blurted. It was not her first memory of Felix, but it was the moment that he'd really entered her life.

Also, it was funny.

[st_rummer]

That got a laugh, but only a short one, followed by a sincere, "Well yeah. Tiny hookers are fierce. They have to be."

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"We do," Corbie agreed, like she hadn't just admitted something about herself by saying that.

But before it might have a chance to become a Thing, she just told the story. How Felix and she had met the night before and she'd directed him to a cheaper hotel thinking they'd never see each other again. But then that day he'd gotten his stupid self lost because he could get lost in a teacup. And because he went about dressed like a carny barker in a city where everyone wore neutrals some idiot two-bit gangster by the name of Sunny Pingree decided to try his luck and so there's Felix pinned to a wall when he's got more than enough manage to handle himself and he's half a head taller than all of them. But no, it took the interference of half a dozen tiny women threatening to jack up their prices so high that none of those boys would ever get fucked again if they harmed a hair on Felix's head. And then Corbie'd had to walk him home.

She exaggerated of course. How pathetic Felix had been, how fierce Emily had been--except Emily was actually pretty scary when she wanted to be--and by the time she was finished she was giggling uncontrollably as she remembered the dumbfounded look on Felix's face.