Six Billion Credit Rent Boy - 5. Chapter 5

“I hope you enjoy your flight. We should be landing on the planet’s surface in about six hours. Is there anything else you need?”

Hani shook his head.

“Have a pleasant trip.” The pod door slid shut, leaving Hani alone in the small space.

When the Marquis had docked at the Vonnegut hub, Hani had hugged Delilah goodbye and taken his still rather meagre bag of possessions with him off the ship. He had needed to consult both a map and a hub-station assistant in order to find out where he needed to go, but he had been pushed in the direction of the Ginsberg transport ship which had been about to rotate back towards the space hub nearest to Glixxa-12. The trip had taken no more than an hour at warp, and in the distant rotation of the blue and green planet, Hani had transferred to an old shuttle craft whose captain had assured him he could drop the boy in the right neighbourhood.

The shuttle had cost him six-dozen credits. It was cheap and slow, because like most of the outer planets, it didn’t have a maintained warp-highway from the nearest hub towards the surface. Hani didn’t mind, and the idea of spending six hours alone in a little pod barely eight feet long and three feet wide was actually sort of relaxing. It seemed to have been a very long time since Hani was actually alone.

Hani shuffled out of his shoes and socks, and after a moment’s hesitation shed the rest of his clothes. He still preferred not to be dressed if he could help it, though he had grown rather attached to the many pairs of brightly coloured little y-fronts which he owned. He unwrapped the hermetically sealed flight blanket and burrowed into the soft fabric, his muscles relaxing and tail uncoiling as he allowed his body to sag, conforming to the shape of the padded mattress below him.

The first time he had dreamt, it had been a complete surprise, and he had awoken thrashing and shouting, with Delilah, worried and confused, standing over him. The shock that the pictures in his head were not real, the sensations he felt were false, and the experiences only imagined had been at once horrifying and relieving. Lately he had looked forwards to his dreams, because in them he had lain in a wonderful room where grass grew instead of carpet, and snuggled against Phelps’s strong but battle-scarred chest. Sometimes in his dreams they talked, sometimes they fucked in slow and sensual abandon, sometimes they simply lay in the near silence of breathing, content in each other’s company.

He wanted to sleep, to delight again in his dreams, but despite his comfort his body wouldn’t let him. He was too tense, his heart beating too fast, because in a few short hours, Phelps would be there. Or rather, hopefully he would be there. Hani had used the registry system on the Vonnegut hub to find out about Phelps. His rank and commendations for the United Federation were listed under his name, along with a permanent address on Glixxa-12. The rooms aboard the Kerouac had looked exactly if someone had lived there full time, and Hani tried not the think about the fact he might get to the planet’s surface and simply find an empty building.

Alone in his pod, the feline boy indulged himself by thinking about how Phelps had looked that night in bed. He had been alone and scared, and hadn’t paid as much attention as he might have done, but he couldn’t shake the heat of the man from his mind. Phelps was broad shouldered and strong, as one might expect from an officer of his rank, and his beauty was not marred by the large dark and slightly reddish scaring which marked much of the right side of his chest, shoulder and abdomen. Hani figured the man must have been rather lucky to be alive after whatever incident had injured him.

Hani bit his lip, imagining Phelps smiling at him as he disrobed from his sleeping gear, his crotch and legs being revealed in the half-light under the sheets. The visualised sight of the man’s erection made him whimper softly in the privacy of his head. His own penis was hardening, and Hani pressed his palm over the tight fabric of his underwear, suddenly embarrassed by his arousal.

Why? His inner voice asked archly. You’re alone, why be embarrassed?

Hani hooked his fingers into the waistband of his underwear and pulled them just low enough down his hips to reveal his twitching, hardening cock and the high, tight bundle of his scrotum. He watched himself with interest. He was not large, but his penis was slim and nicely proportioned, just like the rest of his body, and it was with a sense of guilty excitement that he walked his fingers down his abdomen to wrap around his erection.

The boy hissed between his pointed teeth at the sensation, and with barely a moment’s hesitation he began to slide his hand up and down the throbbing length of muscle. It wasn’t something he had ever done for himself, and Hani panted softly in the semi-darkness, concentrating entirely on his own pleasure. He bit his lip as he groaned, pleasure amplified as his imagination raced to catch up, throwing images flicker-fast through his brain until something stuck.

Phelps, wearing loose trousers and an old jumper, was standing in the doorway of his house, and smiling broadly.

‘You really are just like a cat aren’t you?’ Hani purred at the words inside his skull, flexing for the imaginary fingers which dragged all the way down his spine, sending tingles right through his extremities before pulling gently down the length of his muscular tail. ‘You can try anything you fancy…’

Hani groaned, his grip tightened automatically, and he gasped as his body went tense, the pleasure taking over control of all his muscles. The vision spiked and skewed in a blur of un-named colours as Hani came. He panted softly, trying to slow the race of his heart, and drew patterns over his abdomen distractedly. Whatever else might happen, he knew he had to go and see Phelps, because the idea of never seeing the man again made his heart ache in ways he’d only read about.

*

Hani kept to himself as he and a few other passengers disembarked at Redshine, the nearest town to Phelps’s listed address on Glixxa-12. There had been people waiting to board, and plenty of others there to welcome back their loved ones. Hani had watched a young man drop to his knees on the concrete to hug his little girl, his wife and another smaller child waiting for him to return home, all of them smiling like the world didn’t matter. Hani had been slightly jealous: the joy shining from them had been palpable.

The town directory had helped him, and the android there had been more than happy to sell him a map and load it onto his reading tablet, point him in the direction of the address he wanted, and explain where he could get transport.

“You could hire a shuttle, but most people round here ride.”

Riding, apparently, led to Hani standing next to a waiting rental hover-bike, slightly dented and far from clean. The man who owned the rental shop threw the keys to him and Hani caught them with his tail without thinking about it.

“You ever ridden a hover-bike before?”

Hani looked critically at the machine, then crouched, put the key in the slot, turned it, punched four buttons and stood as the bike rose with him. He swung his leg over, stowing his little bag on the spare seat holding it with his tail. He revved the engine and had the satisfaction of watching the man look startled.

“I’ll be fine.” Hani grinned. He’d memorized the map within the time it had taken to walk here across the town square. “Thanks.”

Glixxa-12, or at least this part of it, was a planet of thick luscious foliage under a beautiful blue sky. The little motor of the hover-bike ran smoothly as Hani headed out of town. He took a main highway, and then turned off onto a smaller lane with a single track in either direction. Wooded land opened up onto fields and farms before more stands of tall green trees. Hani could see why people would choose to live like this. It was extremely different from life in space. After half an hour or so he took another turning which brought him onto a single track where he had to travel slower while the pressurized jets of the bike dealt with the changing level and textures of the road surface. Hani stared at the view, watching a man standing in a field and petting one of the animals. Hani knew it was a horse, and people had once ridden them as transport. As the man mounted up, it became apparent people rode them for pleasure still. When he entered the thick woodland again, Hani knew he was near his destination.

Phelps’s house was the only one down a narrow dirt driveway, rutted with tyre tracks. The man either had a lot of visitors who couldn’t afford hover-transport, or owned a vintage car or two. The house itself was built in the sort of frontier-style popular on the outer planets, but the wooden exterior was cladding around an otherwise modern shell, and the noise of the forest didn’t quiet cover the very slight hum of the generator. Hani powered down the bike and let it settle on the grass in front of the house. He sniffed the air.

Someone was home. The advantage of having senses like Hani’s was that he could tell, from ten feet away, there was one person in the building, and that person’s heartbeat was going incredibly fast. Just as the feline began to worry about the speed, he smelt a red flash of lust and the pulse slowed gently. Phelps was alone, so he was either fucking an android or he’d been jerking off. Either way, Hani didn’t want to simply stand there feeling pathetic. He trotted up the door and knocked, loudly.

“One moment!” Phelps’s voice shouted, and Hani reflected that he was very lucky to have found the man he’d dreamed about at home rather than somewhere out in the black. There was a generalised shuffling from inside the house, and Hani smoothed his clothes unconsciously. He was dragging his short fingernails through his hair when the door opened.

Phelps looked like he had in Hani’s dreams: his short hair was slightly mussed, and he wore a t-shirt and loose fitting trousers, his feet were clean and bare on the polished wooden floor for his hallway. For a long moment, they simply stared at each other.

“You’re here.” Phelps murmured eventually. He stepped closer, his eyes travelling up and down Hani’s slender body. “You’re actually here.”

Hani nodded, his tail flicking back and forth. He had been nervous, but Phelps seemed only full of wonder at his sudden appearance. Phelps swallowed audibly.

“You look different.”

“I do?” Hani glanced down at his body. To him he still looked much the same, though he guessed being slightly older had given his muscles more strength and tautness, since he’d actually used them now. “I suppose so. I had my forth month birthday.”

“Congratulations.” Phelps stepped back, holding the door. “You want to come in?”

“Thank you.” Hani walked into Phelps’s house and dropped his bag on the hall floor. The house looked a lot like Phelps’s rooms on board the Kerouac, clean, well decorated, if sparsely, and calm. There were a few end tables and shelves displaying interesting objects from across the ‘verse. Hani kept his tail very still, not wanting a repeat of the first time he had entered the man’s living space. “I like your planet.”

“Did you see many when you ran away?” Phelps’s voice was low and soft behind him. The hairs on the back of Hani’s neck prickled to have the man standing so close. He didn’t move, tail falling to rest on the floor.

“No, not really.”

“I never thought I’d see you again.” Phelps stepped closer, his breath hot and damp on the back of Hani’s neck. The feline turned his ears back to listen better to the rising rhythm of the other man’s heart. “When they told me you’d gone…”

“Are they angry?”

“Probably.” Phelps didn’t seem too concerned, and as Hani relaxed his shoulders came into contact with Phelps’s broad chest. The double thud of his heart was like a fist against his shoulder blade, and Hani purred as he relaxed into the contact. Phelps didn’t move away.

“Are you annoyed with me?”

“No.” The word was like a whisper, and Hani shivered involuntarily as the man pushed his messy silky hair aside, lips millimetres away from the delicate skin of his neck. Hani could feel his heart begin to pulse, directing blood to the quick thickening of his trapped cock. He shuddered as Phelps’s kiss landed on the back of his neck. “I missed you.”

Hani gulped. He had to be imagining things, because there was no way in the reality of the ‘verse he could be lucky enough to have come half way around the solar system to find the man he had dreamt of had been yearning for him all along.

“I hated letting them take you to the training base.” Phelps’s voice was whisper soft as his lips travelled over Hani’s skin. “I missed something about you from the second you vanished outta sight.” Phelps wrapped strong arms around him, pulling the little feline right back against his hard body. “Please say you’ve missed me too?”

“Yes…” Hani’s words were almost a purr. He was flush with warmth from his companion’s body. “I wondered about you…” He twisted around in Phelps’s arms, and found the burly soldier smiling down at him, his expression soft and his eyes full of joy. “I was curious.”

“Curiosity killed the cat, you know.”

“Huh?” Hani stepped back, his tail thrashed once and something small behind him made an expensive noise against the floor. “Oh no!”

“Don’t worry kid.” Phelps lifted his chin, and it was such a familiar gesture from his time on the Marquis that Hani almost didn’t dare look in his eyes. But Phelps looked more genuine than anyone Hani had ever met. “It’s just an expression.”

“Oh, sorry…”

“Don’t be sorry.” Phelps looked like he wanted to hug him and never let go, but was being held back somehow by good manners. “Do you want a drink or something?”

Hani took his hand and watched their fingers interlace. He smiled softly, Phelps smiled back. Without speaking, Hani followed his nose to lingering scents which hung around Phelps’s bedroom and brought the man down onto the mattress with him. He ran his hands up the inside of Phelps’s t-shirt, purred as the soldier copied his actions and slithered out of his clothes. He snuggled up against his companion and was enveloped solidly in Phelps’s strong arms. Unconsciously, his tail wrapped around them both, binding them together at the thighs.

“That thing still has a mind of its own, huh?” Phelps chuckled gently, and stroked the thick golden fur. “Do people tell you you’re beautiful?”

“Yes.”

“Bet they don’t know how special you are.” Phelps murmured into his hair, and Hani felt the shape of his smile as he spoke. “And you smell so good.”

Hani purred, vibrating against him, until the sound buried both their heartbeats and the soft noises of the wind outside the little house. Phelps simply lay with the boy wrapped up in his arms, pressed into him as close as he could logistically be, and allowed himself to be happy.

Sometime later Hani’s purr died out, and he squirmed, pushed Phelps onto his back with surprising strength and straddled the man’s hips. His cute little blue and white underpants were tented with his rather obvious erection. He placed his hand over the scar that covered Phelps’s chest, and the soldier covered it with his own. Hani smiled.

“Can I stay with you?” His ears flicked forwards, tail swaying, and for a moment he looked almost entirely feline in his eagerness. Phelps reached up, a hand in his fine hair, and they kissed for a long time.

When they broke apart again Phelps smiled broadly, and kissed the boy’s knuckles, rubbing his soft skin with the pad of one thumb. Hani wiggled his hips invitingly.

“Can you keep me?”

Phelps nodded, feeling his heartbeat rising in his chest and his body responding in kind to Hani’s slender and nubile self.

“I was hoping you’d say that.”