THADDEUS

As silent acceptance stretched on between us, Aria's sweet breath fanned out over my face. Everything about him drew me in like a moth to a flame, and I didn't even know that I was burying my face deep into his neck, licking furiously at the place where my bite mark was until I felt his arms wrap around my head, delicate fingers tangling into my curls.

And honestly... not even once did the idea of my hair being messed up even cross my mind. In fact, I kinda wanted him to mess me up on the outside, so that maybe my body would finally reflect the way he made my insides feel, too.

After all that fancy talk I'd just spewed out – some words I'd used so damn big, they made my head spin – I easily lost myself to the sensation of re-claiming my mark on Aria, craving the way it soothed some dark part of me that wanted only to destroy any and all things that hurt him.

I only managed to regain active consciousness when I felt his pulse speed up beneath my open-mouthed kisses, his skin growing clammy with worry and our bond crackling with nervous energy. I pulled back pretty much immediately the moment I sensed that, blinking the possessive cloudiness out of my vision.

"What... do we do first?" Aria asked quietly, his soft hands remaining on either side of my neck. Even somebody with a single brain cell could have caught onto the layer of unease that still lingered just beneath the brave face he was trying his very best to put on.

No matter, he had nothing to fear. I would take care of him, Elders be damned.

My poor, sweet Bug...

I couldn't answer Aria truthfully. At least not yet, not until I'd assessed our surroundings. 'Cuz I mean, let's be real, I wouldn't be surprised if those creep ass Elders had glory holes built in this fucked-up room, made specially for them to peep in on us and get off to it.

Fuckin' wrinkly dickheads.

My eyes flickered around everywhere in the dim room, and with my first scan, I found nothing particularly interesting aside from bare walls and the door that didn't have a handle to open it from our side. However, as I shifted my gaze upward, sweeping my gaze across the ceiling, the reality of what I'd hypothesized became disgustingly clear.

I could have missed them in the dim light, which was probably what the Elders wanted all along. But as I squinted, focusing my vision, I was able to make out the outline of five, black circles, every one of them the same size and shape as the cameras that the Construction Unit periodically installed and replaced within the public areas of The Society.

In each corner of the square room, the cameras perched, their lenses fixated directly on us. And the fifth one was situated smack-dab in the middle of the ceiling, no doubt intending to capture the ideal bird's eye view of Aria and I's... relations.

My skin crawled like a million ants were attempting to burrow beneath it.

Even though I'd slept through about ninety-nine percent of the sex and reproduction lecture in Instructional, I still knew enough to know that it was supposed to be a private event, a special moment shared by the two parties that were perfectly matched by the Soul Mate Service. But now, as those cameras surrounded us like vultures, their beady, black eyes trained on us, waiting for scraps of the slaughter, something dark, twisted, and filled with possessive vengeance enveloped me.

No amount of brainwashing and propaganda could ever make me believe that what was happening was right. The Elders, with their insidious grasp on power, had crossed every conceivable line, stretching their authority to unthinkable limits.

So, as stood there on all fours, hovering over the one person I would always protect, fuming enough for smoke to pour from my ears, I made a vow to myself.

I would kill them. I would fucking slaughter them all. And as I bathed in their blood, Aria would finally know the lengths to which would go to to protect him, the armies that I would single-handedly decimate in order to protect him, the depth with which I lo–

"Thad?" Aria snapped me out of my trance for the second time in less than five minutes with a soft hand on my cheek, forcing my face back down enough to look at him and pulling me back from the brink. The moment that my mind garnered enough computing power to understand that it was only him here, and not a horde of my enemies, my inner rage quieted at once, as if sustaining whiplash from the sudden and intense vacillation from hatred to fierce devotion.

Never before did I think I'd crave the sensation of being so powerless against someone's influence. But yeah, Aria just naturally had that effect on me, and now that I no longer tried to fight it, it consumed me.

"Why are you growling at the ceiling? Is something wrong?" He asked timidly, to which I immediately shook my head, angling my larger form higher on top of him so that he – hopefully – wouldn't be able to see the cameras. The last thing he needed was more reasons to be scared, and given his preferences for modesty, I had no doubt that that knowledge would send him spiraling.

"No, no, nothing's wrong. I've got everything under control, okay?" I assured him, even though I didn't believe those words myself. Still, I pressed my palms to either side of his heart-shaped face, using my elbows to keep my weight off of him. "We're gonna be just fine, baby."

That last part, I believed. Because even if the ultimate outline of our lives wasn't up to us to decide, we still had this moment. And even more than that, we still had each other.

I would take care of him through it all. I'd hide his body from those prying, beady cameras, fulfill The Elders' stupid fucking demands, and whisk him far, far away from this place. We'd return to our cozy Housing Pod, where the scent of us enveloped everything, replacing the cold, clinical smell of disinfectant. And there, I could hold him against me for hours, burying my cries of fury against his soft stomach until the fires died down to a somewhat tolerable warmth.

But first, I had to get this done.

"I'm so fucking sorry, Bug," I couldn't stop the words before they poured out of my mouth, holding Aria's gaze with an intensity I didn't know I even possessed. "I'll make it quick, I promise." My fingertips pressed into the sides of his face, a side effect of the frenzy of fear that I still had yet to recover from when I thought we were going to be separated forever. "And then, later, when you're truly ready, I'll..." I paused, gulping down a thick wad of saliva stuck in my quivering throat, "Then, I'll make love to you for real."

Even in the dim light, I didn't miss the way Aria's brown eyes glistened, his bottom lash line filling with moisture. The sight alone punched the air out of my chest, but what he did next made me feel faint.

Turning his head so that more of his face nestled within the cup of my hand, Aria pressed his lips against my palm, all the while maintaining eye contact out of the corner of his vision. A single tear rolled down his cheek and into my hand, and I swear I could feel its every movement as it filled the lines of my palm, moistening them.

"Thank you," He whispered, his soft voice crackling around its fragile edges. "Thank you."

Following his lead, I, too, bowed my head, pressing my lips into his palm, breathing his scent deep into my lungs in a search for something familiar.

"We're okay. We're at home in our bed, warm and safe. It's just me, just us." I whispered, angling myself so that I was all that he could see, blocking out the unfamiliarity of the physical space that we were held prisoner within. "Do you trust me?" Strictly speaking, my final question was a simple one. But somehow, it was also the most difficult string of four words I had ever uttered in my entire life.

And although Aria's reply was just as unembellished, it struck me right in the chest, like a needle injecting his essence directly into my soul.

"I do."

Our bond flared – a glowing, soothing presence at the back of my skull – and like a magnet, its power drew us together, bodies drawn closer until there was hardly any space left between us.

And then, I kissed him.

Just like all of the times I'd claimed his mouth before, our mouths slotted together perfectly, lips searching, tongues swirling, exchanging saliva. He tasted like the juiciest of peaches, and my buds danced along my tongue, desperate for more of it – for more of him.

In some kind of fully instinctual movement, one of my hands slipped down and around the back of his neck. And as my fingers squeezed his nape, the tips of my finger brushing my mark, the soft gasp that Aria released into my mouth made my cock twitch mercilessly, my tip already bubbling over with pearly rivulets of precum, the wetness dousing my pants.

Then, I could smell him.

The slick, oily substance that Aria's body never failed to create in response to my touch was something beyond a mere aphrodisiac. No, that amazing shit was fucking manna, goddamn ambrosia tailored specifically for my nostrils, and I'd be lying if I tried to say that my eyes didn't roll back as I greedily sucked in lungful after lungful of the stuff, each lobe burning with bliss as it was stretched beyond capacity.

We both shifted our position then, my hips settling between his trembling, parted thighs like we'd rehearsed it, and as I felt his short legs wrap loosely around my waist, I couldn't hold back any longer. I had to touch him.

The pants that he wore were airy and flowy with an elastic waistband, making it easy for me to reach down and slide them down just below his round ass cheeks. Still being mostly clothed for this would undoubtedly be kinda awkward to maneuver, but there was no way in hell that I was going to willingly reveal his entire body to those fucking cameras.

Those pervert Elders could go eat a rotten pussy and die before I did that.

Aria's eyes widened by a fraction at my actions, his fingers trembling where they remained wrapped tight around my neck. But I only kissed him through his anxiety as my fingers dragged along the length of his body until they finally found his weeping hole, puckered tight and drooling slick for me.

Fuck, I could – and would – worship that pretty, immaculate hole until the end of time.

"Deep breaths, Bug," I mumbled the instruction against his lips as I used one finger to draw circles around his slippery rim, massaging the tight, ruffled skin there. Would he let me in this time, or would all of this just be a repeat of the last time I tried to finger him? "You're okay, baby, it's just me. Big breaths."

Like the good boy he was, Aria took my suggestions to heart immediately, slowly sucking air in through his mouth before releasing it out of his nose. I smiled down at him, pride beaming across my lips, and after a few of those careful breaths, I finally felt his hole relax by a fraction, the center of it parting just enough for the tip of my middle finger to fit inside.

"That's it..." I breathed, my cock pulsing as the sensation of finally breaching him – even if only a little bit – made that same, possessive part of me rage. Tapping into our bond, I monitored it closely for any signs of pain or discomfort from his end. "You're doing so good, Aria. Yeah, take my finger in nice and slow, just like that."

Aria stared up at me with watery eyes that barely blinked, as if he was afraid that if he looked away, I would disappear into thin air. And as he continued his deep breathing, I gently eased my finger deeper inside of him, savoring each ripple of his tight, moist inner canal until I finally sunk to my second knuckle, which caught on the outside of his rim.

"Deeper breaths." I reinforced, "There's nothing to worry about, I promise. Just relax and let me take care of you."

"Take... care of me?" Aria's voice was so soft that I barely even picked up on it. But the soft innocence of it made me break out in a lopsided grin. This tiny man really didn't know how fucking adorable he was.

Leaning down again, I briefly kissed his pouty lips, deliciously plump and reddened from our earlier, ravenous make-out session. Winking down at him, I replied, "Until you get sick of me." I paused then, immediately rethinking my words, "But wait, please don't ever get sick of me." I rambled, making it very clear that I wasn't by any means giving him permission for our relationship to be some short-time fling.

Honestly, even if he did get sick of me someday, I'd probably resort to stalking. I'm not particularly proud of it, but I was very sure that my obsession with this tiny man wasn't going to end anytime soon – if ever.

Aria giggled under his breath at my fumble of words, and just like that, his hole relaxed around me, accepting my entire finger until it hit the inevitable barrier of my third knuckle.

"Hahh!" Aria's airy moan was everything and more, and as his eyes rolled back into his head, the small of his back arching into my touch as if searching for more, my cock spit out hordes of precum into my pants like a fucking faucet.

"Feel good?" I murmured, snaking my finger around inside of him, searching for a sensitive spot. I could feel his slick dripping its merry way down my wrist now, oily and fragrant, and it took a fuckton of self-restraint to resist the urge to rip my finger out of him and lap at my own hand like a crazed madman.

This is about him. Not me. Him.

Aria's only response to my question was yet another airy mewl, his hole fluttering endlessly around my finger as I dragged it in and out of his wet channel in a steady rhythm. Feeling his soft insides grip and release around my thick digit as I fucked him was glorious, and as I clenched my jaw, molars grinding, I couldn't help but imagine my cock in its place, warm and safe and covered in his juices as we joined together in the most intimate way.

My cock really, really liked that idea, too, judging by the way it leaked endlessly now, my pants pulled taut across my throbbing groin as my thickness grew.

"I'm going to add... a second finger... okay?" I said, words taking much longer to come out now that my breathing was heavier, thick with lust.

Aria only nodded as our lips brushed, the ability to form words obviously lost to his pleasure-filled mind as he twirled his hips on my hand, pressing himself down to meet the harsh flicks of my slick-covered wrist.

Extending my index finger out, I lined the shorter digit up beside my middle finger. And then, waiting for the perfect moment, I slid both digits back inside of him together in one, smooth thrust.

Aria's lips parted, his mouth forming the cutest little 'O' as he clenched around my fingers, his tight rim squeezing me half to death. And fucking dammit, I loved it. He could squeeze the circulation out of my fingers any hour, any minute, any day.

Keeping my gaze locked on his beautiful, blissed-out face, I immediately got to work, picking up the pace, twisting my fingers in a corkscrew motion so that his rim could open up for me again before scissoring them to widen his soft, inexperienced innards. And then, when I hooked my fingers, pressing at the very roof of his channel, Aria spasmed.

He was so gorgeous as he lay there, hanging off the ends of my fingers, looking like the embodiment of life and love and perfection itself. And I made sure to hold him through whatever shock of euphoria had just captured him, using my free hand to rub my thumb across his cheek, kissing his forehead, his nose, and then his lips.

"You like it when I do that?" I whispered, half teasing, half curious.

"Y-yea..." His voice was trembling and oh-so-slight, but somehow still there. I smiled like a damn fool.

"I'll remember that." I vowed as my wrist pulsed, spearing my fingers deep within him over and over and over. Finding his sensitive spot made his rim loosen even more around me, and as I felt the resistance lessen, I knew that he was ready for more. "Three fingers now."

"Nnghhh..." Aria's moan of pleasure was even louder this time as I slid yet another finger in beside the two that he loved so much, tucking them into one another to form a thick base that would hopefully be enough to stretch him out for what was to come. "Thaddd..."

The sound of my name on his luxurious lips nearly made me cream my damn pants.

"What is it? What do you need from me?" He pulsed around my fingers now, his heart was beating so fast and hard that I could feel it in his ass, and with every push into his body, his slick squelched around my hand.

"Need..." He gasped when my fingers curled again, hitting the edge of that spot that made him see stars. "You..."

My wrist movements slowed to a crawl, taken aback by his confidence.

"A-are you sure?" I stuttered, searching every inch of our bond for any hint of doubt. I found none.

And then, everything left my mind when Aria's hand suddenly snaked down between us, his eyes half-lidded and sultry as he dipped below the hem of my pants. Then, I nearly screamed when he wrapped his warm, soft hand around the throbbing, wet shaft of my cock.

I sucked in a sharp breath, water building in my eyes at his touch alone.

Fuck. I really, really, really hoped that I could last long enough to get him off first before I nutted everywhere like a fucking noob.

You can do this, Thad.

"O-okay..." I said the word between shudders, grunting out a moan when Aria's hand began to move, working me out of my pants. Forcing down a premature orgasm, I closed my eyes, squeezing them shut, only to shake, my arms threatening to give out when he rubbed my weeping tip against the wet crease of his ass.

"Please, Thad," He begged, "Do it."

Since when did he get so damn bold?!

Trying my best to keep my cool, to think of something that would keep me from splattering cum all over him and fainting before I even got inside, I slowly slid my three fingers out of his ass, watching his every facial expression as he gasped, clenching around nothing as a feeling of profound emptiness consumed him, strong enough to be easily felt through our bond.

I had to fix it. I had to. I would.

Bringing my three, drenched fingers to his mouth, I pressed them to his lips. "Taste."

Aria parted his lips for me obediently, desire burning in his eyes as he suckled, whining around the intrusion. And then, once he finished cleaning my fingers like the good boy he was, I lifted my arm to my own lips, licking a stripe up my forearm to catch a drizzle of slick that had managed to trickle down it.

"Shit..." I groaned, licking the same spot on my arm over and over again, unwilling to waste a single molecule of the delicious stuff – better than candy, better than Aria's home-cooked meals, better than anything. Hell, I'd sustain myself on his juices alone if I could, and my cock throbbed in agreement as it wept for more.

Yep, just I said, fucking manna.

Once I was double and triple sure that my arm was cleaned off from the best substance known to man, did I swivel my attention back to Aria, who was now squirming beneath me, rubbing the soaked crease of his ass incessantly against my cock, searching for friction.

It didn't take much for the tip of my cock to notch flawlessly against his stretched hole – just the slightest swivel of my hips. But as we slotted together, my cock drawn to his opening like a magnet to its opposite pole, both of us were powerless against our own needs.

I thrust forward at the same time that Aria pressed his hips down, and in an instant, we were bound.

I think I blacked out for a second, to be honest. Because the amount of white-hot pleasure that tore through me, searing each and every nerve and bellowing throughout my entire nervous system like a bolt of lightning to my brain, ought to have been illegal.

Aria cried out until his voice broke, every inch of his body trembling, his blunt nails digging into the space beneath my scapulas as he accepted me into his body without an ounce of resistance. His body instantly molded itself around my cock, his slick walls squeezing, undulating, and milking me already, even though I hadn't started to move yet.

I didn't even know if I even could move. I could only hope that I wouldn't pass out from ecstasy and crush him underneath me after stroke number one.

"Fucking... fuck, Aria!" I couldn't hold back my expletives even if I wanted to. "You're so fucking tight, I can't–"

"Please!" He cut my rambles off at once, tears of pleasure already raining down either side of his temples as he begged, pulling me down toward him so that we could share a brief, yet deliciously messy kiss. "Your cock feels so good," He whined, breathing when our lips parted, breaths mingling. Something in his eyes flickered, something dark and needy. "Use me."

Somehow, those two, little words unleashed whatever monster had been steadily growing inside of me, and the roar that ripped from my chest barely sounded human. But as my vision zeroed in on my mate, blacking out all the rest, I simply obeyed him – wholly unable to do anything else.

I shuddered as I drew out of him, my cock gliding easily through all of his dripping slick and those tight, warm walls that I could easily get lost in forever. However, just as my tip went to pop outside of his body, I pressed forward, sinking right back inside.

Our moans happened at the exact same time, harmoniously reverberating off of the walls of the room. And when I rolled my hips, relishing the wet sound our connecting flesh made when it met, I was thoroughly convinced that there was no better place in the entire world than here.

It was difficult to muster up the strength to pry my eyes open again, but the desire to witness our connection was a strong motivator. So, when I cracked them open, glancing down between our bodies and biting my lip through a particularly intense shock of pleasure that zipped along my spinal cord, I nearly went insane.

I'd never understand how something so big could fit inside of someone so small. But as my cock dragged in and out of his hole – glistening with fresh slick at the base – Aria met me thrust for thrust, his ankles hooked behind my back, pulling me in.

And then, I looked up.

Aria was a vision, a fucking ethereal being as he lay below me, sprawled out and glowing. His wavy hair was splayed out around his face as if pointing toward the main event. And as I stared dumbly, transfixed by the way his cheeks rosied, the way his nipples pebbled, the way his eyes glistened with tears, the way his lips parted in a silent scream... My entire universe pivoted, transforming and molding itself into the shape of only one man.

I used to think that I was the best person in the room. But now, as I gazed down at Aria, his flushed skin, the light smattering of freckles across his nose...

He was everything that I wasn't – selfless, sweet, and unconditionally caring regardless of whether someone deserved it or not. He was soft, gentle, and modest. He was a nerd, a rule-follower, and an exceptional teacher to all of those sticky little rugrats that he loved so much.

My smile was tender, betraying my thoughts. But there was nowhere that I could hide. At least, not from him. And not from myself. Not anymore.

Because it was then that I understood everything.

True beauty lies so much deeper than only the physical. And at that moment, Aria was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

I didn't expect the sob, but the tears came out of nowhere. And as I continued to fuck deep into him, tingles ripping through my cock and groin, I couldn't help but draw him tight against my chest, my thick arms sliding underneath his back until they overlapped, holding him there.

Aria and I's bond tightened, glowing so bright that it almost gave me a headache. And as he moaned with each harsh thrust of my hips, his little cock hard and leaking between our bodies, he cried out his pleasure shamelessly in my ear.

"Deeper!" He sobbed, the sting of his fingernails on my back only intensifying every sensation. "Oh, please!"

Like an automaton whose only purpose was to serve, I fucked him deeper, deeper, harder, until... was that the entrance to his womb that I felt pressing against my cockhead?

There was barely any buildup to our climax. It just fucking happened, tearing through both of us like a hurricane and a tornado and a monsoon all wrapped in one. Aria clung to me – and I to him – as his body quaked, his hole overflowing and drenching my groin with a mixture of his saccharine juices and my cum.

My canines sank into my mark without preamble, refreshing it, letting everyone who ever came in contact with Aria know that he was claimed, that he was mine, and that anyone who crossed me would pay with their lives. Aria only tilted his head to the side while I marked him as mine inside and out – not only letting me have him but also crying for more.

My growl was endless even when I finally retracted my canines from his neck, licking at my beautiful, bloody bite. Our scents were thoroughly mingled now, just as they were always meant to be, and I ground my hips forward, licking his mark over and over.

Then, the base of my cock swelled, giving him more of my cum, locking it deep inside of him, searing his womb with it, knocking him up...

The voice that I heard next was much too deep, much too rough to belong to me. But regardless, I still felt my throat move, Adam's apple bobbing with each word. And more so, I couldn't deny that every single one was true.

"I love you, Aria." I said, unable to stop kissing every inch of his beautiful neck and face. "I love you. I love you. I love you."

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