Hero Wanted - 13. Chapter Thirteen

“Checkmate!”

Winning for the third time in a row, Ryan clapped his hands and smiled to himself for beating Chris at his own game, a literal game that involved strategically placing his miniature at the right position on the board game to win the most points.

“This isn’t damn chess,” Chris grunted.

Ryan looked at Chris who was frowning, but by the slight crinkles on the outer corners of his eyes, Ryan knew that Chris was having fun. And Ryan was having fun as well, never realizing that board games could be so entertaining. Also, the memories of playing board games with his mother as a child when she was not stressed from work or sleeping made him smile from the happier times he had with her when life felt simpler and safer.

It was close to three in the morning and they managed to play three different board games, which included the board game on the coffee table that had the miniatures and the fantasy theme. The board games were so creative and entertaining that Ryan thought about purchasing the ones that he just played for himself since they could also be played solo. And he was curious about the other board games that Chris had as well.

“Well, that was fun,” Ryan said.

“Of course, you thought it was fun. You won all three games after all,” Chris responded.

“Hey, don’t be a sore loser,” Ryan said, playfully punching Chris on the shoulder.

Chris raised an eyebrow at Ryan who quickly retracted his hand away. He then smirked as he took a stack of cards and started reshuffling them.

“So…you play board games often?” Ryan asked, trying to lessen the awkwardness between the two of them.

“Yeah, since I was a teen. Before that I was more into video games, especially ones with powerful graphics, surround sound and the other superficial crap. Then a friend of mine introduced me to board games and I never looked back,” Chris said, placing the stack of cards back on the table.

“I see.”

“However, the unfortunate part is finding people to play with,” Chris confessed, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling.

“Well…does Delilah like playing board games with you?” Ryan asked, curious.

Chris chuckled humorlessly and said, “No, not really. It’s more like she bears through it just because we’re close friends. She’d sooner fight a Colossus by herself than stay up all night to play board games… You seemed to have enjoyed playing with me though.”

Ryan smiled. “I did. We should do it again sometime soon.”

“Yeah… We definitely should,” Chris said as he cocked his head to the side and looked at Ryan with inquiry.

Feeling suddenly warm on the cheeks from Chris’s eyes on him, Ryan asked, “So…what’s my prize?”

“What so you mean?” Chris asked, sitting straight.

“I just won three games in a row, games that I never played before until now. There has to some kind of reward for that kind of feat,” Ryan said, jokingly.

“Well…” Chris leaned forward and clasped the hair behind Ryan’s head and said, “How about this?”

Before Ryan could respond, Chris locked his lips with Ryan’s and he felt an overwhelming eruption of euphoria. The feeling only increased as their lips began moving and the gentleness of the kiss soon turned more passionate. Ryan never felt this sensation before and the two kisses he received from this man before did not prepare him for what he felt right now.

A graze of Chris’s tongue on Ryan’s lips caused him to have goosebumps as Chris’s hold on his hair increased the pleasure that was pulsing through him, through his body, and even through his soul. He could not believe a simple guy like him was kissing the stoic, scary and sexy Christopher Shepherd who deepened the kiss further, causing him to feel so light-headed. It was like he was he falling into another dimension, a dimension that only included him and Chris.

However, how could this be? Ryan only knew this man for about two weeks and he was already losing himself to the man who could defeat a Colossus with just his bare fists. He was so dangerous, so deadly, and that only turned Ryan on even more as they their tongues began swirling together in their mouths and the pull on his scalp increased the pleasure further.

The eventual release of their lips caused Ryan to whimper, wanting desperately to return to that tranquil entrancement that made him feel that everything was right in the world, even if was just for that short moment. Ryan, still dazed, looked at Chris who had his hands holding onto Ryan’s shoulders and was looking down with furrowed eyebrows.

“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked.

With closed eyes, Chris said, “Nothing, it’s just… We shouldn’t be doing this.”

Ryan’s eyes widened as reality came crashing down on top of him. “What…What do you mean?”

Looking up at Ryan, Chris said, “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

Ryan, feeling the event at the nightclub repeating before him, he narrowed his eyes at Chris and said, “What are you talking about?”

Avoiding Ryan’s eyes by looking to the side, Chris said, “I…I just…”

“You’re giving me mixed signals here, Chris. Just tell me what’s wrong? Just talk to me,” Ryan stressed as he placed his hands right on Chris’s arms.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Chris exclaimed as he stood up and walked to the tall windows of the penthouse.

“No, it isn’t,” Ryan clarified as he stood up as well. “Just tell me what the fuck the matter with you, Chris?”

Chris chuckled and staring through the window said, “A lot…and no amount of words can really explain everything that is wrong with me.”

“Well, you can at least try, and who knows, maybe I’ll understand,” Ryan said, crossing his arms.

Chris turned his head slightly to look at Ryan and with a sigh said, “Well, I warned you… it has to do with my nodes.”

“Yeah, your nodes are new prototype technology called nooks, right?” Ryan confirmed.

“For the most part, yes. And because of that, I suffer from delusions... I see people, people I knew from my past and even though I know they are not really the people I once knew, they feel so real, so alive and I lose touch of reality… However, not all my nodes are nooks…one of them is actually fused to my nervous system like an ordinary node, but that’s the only similarity it shares since it is more powerful than any node manufactured from the gold mined in the Philippines.”

“Go on,” Ryan said.

With a hand pressed against the window, Chris continued by saying, “You know about Maria, right?”

Ryan nodded. “I do. She’s the supposed creator of the gold used to manufacture nodes among other things like also being the creator of the three sacred treasures of Japan and liberating early Vietnam with those same treasures.”

“Good, but that’s just the surface of what was Maria’s true impact in history. Ever heard of Yamashita’s gold?”

“A little from history class back in high school,” Ryan said as he sat down on the couch. “He was a Japanese general during World War II who attempted to relocated masses of gold and other treasures to the Philippines, specifically the caves where they were to be hidden.”

“Well, that’s the partial truth. Today’s history class will tell you that the reason the Japanese occupied the Philippines was because it was a strategic location for the United States to counter the Japanese Empire…but there was another reason. You’re right about General Yamashita’s attempt to hide the treasures he accumulated during the Second World War, but the treasures were not taken to Philippines, they came from the Philippines.”

Ryan’s eyebrows furrowed and he said, “I don’t get it.”

“The treasures Yamashita acquired was the same gold that are now used to manufacture nodes, and three specific treasures that he managed to steal was the sacred treasures of Japan… He stole those treasures from Maria herself after she attempted to take them back from Emperor Hirohito who used the treasures to not only prove that he was the descendent of Amaterasu, but also to brainwash the masses into fighting for his cause. That was the main reason why Japan occupied the Philippines, causing the deaths of at least six million Filipinos in the process.”

“Wow…I didn’t know Maria also had an influence on Japan’s role during World War II?” Ryan said.

“Yes, Maria, knowing the treasures she created to give rise to the Japanese nation was being abused, took all three treasures back and hid them in the caves of the Philippines. However, that did not go unnoticed by Hirohito and he sent Yamashita to retrieve them back. And when he and his forces discovered the treasures, they also found Maria who they enslaved and forced her to create more gold-like treasures, the gold that we use now to create nodes that grant Champions their abilities.

“Despite her powers, she submitted to prevent the Philippines form becoming a graveyard, knowing Japan’s insurmountable military strength. She soon became nothing more than a comfort woman, women who were the sex slaves for the Japanese soldiers. However, Maria, with remnants of her former strength, managed to lead a guerilla army, and with other Filipino women leaders they managed to repel the Japanese from the country.”

“Something tells that’s not the end of the story,” Ryan inferred.

Chris smirked slightly. “You’re right, it’s not… Even after they were repelled, Japan was still not willing to surrender and Maria knew that Hirohito would attempt to recapture the three treasures again. So, she did what she thought was best… She used two of the treasures, the sword and the mirror, and released the soul-like energy that kept their structure, causing them to create the devastating explosions that destroyed the city of Hiroshima and the city of Nagasaki a few days later. America took responsibility for it, stating that it was due to the atomic bombs they dropped on the two cities… However, that was not the case at all. Maria was the one who caused both cities to fall and collaborated with the United States to make it happen. However, it was also her that Tokyo is still standing today.”

“Still standing? What do you mean?” Ryan asked.

“Japan was still unwilling to surrender and the United States, also unwilling to give up either, attempted to cause a final explosion at the beating heart of Japan…Tokyo. When Maria discovered this, she used her own body to shield the explosion caused by the last treasure, the jewel, and prevented it from destroying the entire capital city… And it all ended after that. Hirohito, discovering how close Tokyo was to being destroyed, surrendered and the gold that was forcibly created by Maria was secretly hidden by an indigenous tribe that worshipped her.

“And Maria?” Ryan asked.

Turning around and leaning his back against the window, Chris said, “Maria, her sacrifice, turned her entire body into the same structure as the last sacred treasure. Her body became crystallized and turned into the same thing that nodes are modeled after, the jewel…and a fragment of her body is what is on the back of my neck right now.”

It took a few seconds for Ryan to register the fact that Chris was in partial possession of the last sacred treasure of Japan. And not just that, the treasure that he possessed was also part of Maria who turned into the jewel that she prevented from destroying Tokyo and most likely preventing the fall of the rest of the Japanese nation. Ryan knew that Chris was powerful, but was his body really that durable that it could be implanted with the original model of all nodes without causing his body to deteriorate in an instant?

“How…How is that even possible that you...?”

“I know. I asked that same question. Even though mostly everyone can be implanted with nodes, some people are more compatible with them than others. It’s kind of like an organ transplant, with the person’s body accepting the new organ to a certain degree. And since the gold used to the create nodes came from Maria who was supposedly of Filipino origin, the Champions of the Philippines are the people who are most compatible with the nodes, and thus the most powerful. It’s all down to genetics.

“Me however… The node harvested from Maria’s own body gives me powers far beyond most Champions today, and I’m only compatible with the nodes to a small degree, which also shows the immense power the node on the back of my neck possesses… And that’s why I’m so dangerous, Ryan. I can lose control of the rest of my nodes to such a degree that it might cause the node I possess from Maria to malfunction as well and even I don’t know what will happen after that. You don’t want someone so unstable, do you?”

Thinking about it for a while, Ryan then said, “Yes, maybe I don’t…but you haven’t even given what we have a chance yet…whatever that is… And what about that night one week ago when you kissed me? Why did I see a bright light and why did we both pass out after that?” Ryan asked, wanting desperately to know the answers.

“I honestly don’t know, Ryan,” Chris said, shrugging. “The bright light and why we passed out, no clue… But what I do know is that after that happened, I can’t get you off of my mind.”

“So, why resist it?” Ryan asked as he stood up from the couch.

“Didn’t you just hear me? I’m dangerous, Ryan! I can begin hallucinating right now and hurt you on accident… I don’t want that to happen. Not again.”

“What do you mean by that?” Ryan asked, wondering who else Chris hurt.

“I once knew somebody who made me very happy, someone who I felt completed me… But because of my later actions, that person is no longer with us,” Chris explained, looking towards the window again.

“Do you mean Travis?”

Chris quickly turned his head back and faced Ryan with furrowed eyebrows. “How do you know about Travis?”

“I don’t. Not really. But you said his name when you were hallucinating, right before you kissed me,” Ryan explained. “And you mentioned him when you were talking to Delilah back in the recovery center last week…the conversation that I eavesdropped on.”

Chris sighed and then walked to Ryan where he slowly placed a hand on Ryan’s cheek and stroked his thumb along Ryan’s cheekbone. Ryan was very perplexed on what was happening right now as Chris continued to look at him, his eyes moving like he was examining his face.

“I was wrong when I said you’re nothing like him…like Travis.” Chris took his hand and combed his fingers through Ryan’s hair before continuing, “Your blond hair, your soft features…and that strength you hide behind a seemingly shy demeanor… All those things alone make me want to drop all resistance and just take you, Ryan.”

“So…do it,” Ryan said, looking into Chris’s eyes.

“But I can’t. And it’s just not me you have to worry about…it’s my father too.”

“Yeah, I know all about your father,” Ryan said bitterly.

“So, you know that he’s a very dangerous man, way more dangerous than me. At least you know I can pose a threat to you physically, my father, however… All he has to do is speak for a person to end up dead.” Chris leaned forward and embraced Ryan with a firm hug. “I don’t want that to happen to you.”

Ryan smiled a little as he hugged Chris back. “Well, thank you for your concern, Chris, but I’m not a normal person. And my father is also powerful too, being the former President of the United States and the founder of HERO just to give a couple of examples.”

“Yes, and my father is the president of the most powerful and influential corporation in the world and the lead scientist of node technology. Your father is a lizard compared to Christian Shepherd who is a fucking Tyrannosaurus Rex. His power can cause a civil war to break out in a country and he’ll do it without hesitation if it somehow helps humanity in the long run. With that said, making a person like you disappear will be no problem with him. I can’t let that happen.”

“That dangerous, huh?”

“Yes. That dangerous,” Chris affirmed, releasing his embrace from Ryan and resting his hands on Ryan’s shoulders. “My father has very specific plans for me, and those plans don’t involve me falling for another man.”

“Falling for me? Already?” Ryan said, smirking.

Chuckling, Chris said, “I already like you, Ryan. You’re a person I’d like to hang out with again, to get to know you more both friendship-wise and…physically.” Chris bit his lower lip and continued by saying, “But I can’t. I just can’t.”

“So…what? We’re just going to stay away from each other from now on?”

Chris did not respond.

“Well, just say it, Chris. Just say ‘Ryan, I don’t want to see you anymore.’ And I’ll leave. I don’t want to since I like you too, Chris, and leaving will feel like abandoning something special happening right now between us…but if you feel like it’s for the best…then go ahead and say it.”

Chris looked up into Ryan’s eyes and after a moment said, “Ryan…I don’t want to see you anymore.”

Feeling his heart drop, Ryan just nodded and said, “I…I understand.”

Ryan took a step back, but Chris’s hands gripped Ryan’s shoulders tight, stopping Ryan from moving any further. Ryan looked at Chris who looked so troubled, so hurt right then, and he was hurt too. Ryan did not want to cut things off with Chris, even despite all the warnings that Chris said to him. He did not care about the possible dangers right now, just Chris.

After a moment of silence, Chris moved close to Ryan and said, “But before you go, I just…I just want to…”

“You want to what?” Ryan asked as he got lost in Chris’s eyes.

“It’s…It’s better if I just show you.”

Moving his hands to the back of Ryan’s head and grasping onto his hair, Chris leaned his face forward and kissed Ryan on the lips. Ryan knew that this was a bad idea, but all thoughts of resisting quickly evaporated by the heat he felt on his lips, the hot tongue that was quickly entering his mouth and the fire that was burning from the intensity of the kiss itself.

Abandoning everything, Ryan kissed Chris back with the same intensity, and with tongues swirling and hair being pulled, he felt the physical world around him fade away. Chris was the only person that existed right now and he was the only who mattered. Everything was gone except for the hard, smooth body of Christopher Shepherd who Ryan felt through his roaming hands from under Chris’s shirt.

They soon were devouring each other’s mouths and it was nothing that Ryan had done or felt before. He was sinking into a pool full of pleasure and euphoria and he did not want it to end. He even whimpered when the pull on his hair was gone and that sensation from it disappeared. However, Chris’s hands did not leave his body. Instead they slid down the sides of Ryan’s torso before moving his hands under Ryan’s shirt and caressing the hills of Ryan’s muscles that flexed from Chris’s touch which caused Ryan to moan in response.

Things began to change quickly as Chris pulled the bottom hem of Ryan’s shirt upward and in response, Ryan lifted his arms up and his shirt came off. Chris took off his shirt as well and tossed it to the floor. And for a moment, both just admired each other’s bodies, sculpted and crafted by many hours of intense training that would have made even the Greek gods jealous. Chris even more so since he was much wider than Ryan and his muscles…God, his muscles were so defined that they looked like they could only be made by a sculptor prodigy.

“You look amazing,” Ryan said, hands roaming around Chris’s abdominal muscles.

“You’re not bad yourself,” Chris said with half-lidded eyes.

Chris then lowered his body and began nibbling on one of Ryan’s nipples that caused him to throw his head back from the new pleasure he was experiencing. Chris’s tongue lavished at the sensitive skin that made Ryan bite his lower lip and close his eyes as he enjoyed that sensation that spreading throughout his body.

Chris began going down even further, leaving a wet trail from his tongue on Ryan’s heated skin. On his knees, Chris kissed the skin just below Ryan’s navel and when Ryan felt the waistband of his jeans being tugged, he looked down to see an unbelievable sight. The sight of Chris on his knees and kissing his navel as he quickly unbuttoned and unzipped Ryan’s jeans like a hungry man who was desperate for the taste of a real man almost sent Ryan over the edge.

Ryan’s jeans were soon pulled down to his ankles and Chris nuzzled his face on Ryan’s cock that was covered by just his boxer briefs that sent burst of pleasures to go through him. He was so turned on for Chris right now and when the man looked up at Ryan with a silent plead for him to continue in his eyes, Ryan just smiled and nodded.

Pulling down his briefs, Ryan’s hard cock sprung out and tapped Chris on the chin. Ryan quickly stepped out of his jeans and briefs and watched as Chris stared at his cock with fascination in his eyes. And the way he licked his lips, Ryan could tell that Chris liked what he was seeing, a piece of premium meat that he was ready to take in his mouth.

And Chris did just that. With his hands caressing the sides of Ryan’s legs, he wrapped his lips around the head of Ryan’s cock that made Ryan want to melt right then and there. And before he could react, Chris moved his mouth until his lips touched the hilt of Ryan’s cock, causing Ryan to stumble to the side. The surprise of having his cock taken fully by Chris’s mouth startled him a bit, but the pleasure of that wet heat surrounding his tool made him return to that pool of pleasure that he was sinking further down into.

Chris then began moving his head back and forth with the right amount of suction, making Ryan’s legs feel so weak as he grasped Chris’s hair and moved his hips to the rhythm of Chris’s mouth around him. His breathing became heavier as he continued to look at the gorgeous sight of the dangerous and deadly first-ranked cadet of the academy sucking his cock like a madman desperate for any sort of sustenance.

Ryan’s moans became louder as he felt himself so close to the edge that with a few more seconds and he would erupt. But then Chris pulled his head fully back and after few darts of tongue on the slit of Ryan’s cock, he stopped. Trying to regain control of his breathing, he looked at Chris as he kissed his way back to his face where their lips met once again. Ryan could taste the slight touch of saltiness from his precum in Chris’s mouth and that made the kiss even more lustful.

Releasing their lips, Chris said, “Did you like that?”

Ryan just nodded, unable to say any words as his mind was still deep in that pool.

“Good. I’ll finish you up then,” Chris said lustfully before pushing Ryan onto the couch.

With Ryan sitting down, Chris quickly kissed his way back down to Ryan’s cock which he graciously accepted back into his mouth. Ryan rolled his head to the side, his cheek pressing against the couch’s leather fabric as he allowed Chris to consume him, to take him to the bottom of that pool that surrounded his entire body in sinful pleasure.

The motion of Chris’s mouth soon became faster and Ryan’s toes curled from everything he was feeling right now, only intensifying even more as Chris rolled Ryan’s balls with his hands that sent another joyous burst of pleasure to go through his body and mind. Chris’s other hand roamed around Ryan’s abdominal muscles that flexed in response and was coated with sweat from the heat of what Chris was doing to him.

Ryan was getting close again and he warned Chris that he was about to cum, but Chris continued to move his mouth without hesitation. Feeling so close, Ryan’s grabbed a hold of Chris’s hand on his stomach with both hands like it was preventing him from falling to far over the edge.

Then it happened. Ryan came and he came hard. Ryan shut his eyes and yelled out intense pleasures as he shot his load right into Chris’s mouth. The eruption of pleasure caused Ryan’s body to spasm as the sensation went through his body in shockwaves.

With his head pressed against the back of the couch, Ryan tried to regain his breath as his body shook from the best orgasm he ever had in his entire life. The pleasure still pulsed through him as Chris when slowly went up to Ryan, kissing Ryan’s skin as he went.

Ryan managed to open his eyes and he saw Chris’s beautiful face with his cheeks flushed and his lips red from the act of sin he committed on his cock. Chris leaned his face forward and waited for Ryan to make the move which he willfully did. And with their tongues swirling in each other’s mouth, Ryan could taste the sharp tang of his cum and he pressed his lips even closer to Chris’s to take it all in.

Their lips soon unlocked and Chris rasped, “Is it okay if I…?”

Ryan looked down to Chris’s own cock with his hand clasped around that thick piece of flesh and said, “Of course. I want to watch you cum as well.”

Chris smirked before he began pumping his hand, spitting at it a couple of times to gather enough slickness for his hand to move smoothly up and down. Ryan looked in utter fascination as Chris moved his hand from tip to hilt of his cock in fast, even motions and with his head resting on Ryan’s shoulder, Ryan placed his finger through Chris’s hair as he continued to watch the display of a beautiful man taking himself over the edge.

“Uh…I…I’m going to…”

Before Chris could finish his sentence, he moaned deeply and pressed his face into the crook of Ryan’s neck as he came. His load was shot on Ryan’s stomach and chest and he could feel the heat of Chris’s cum on his skin. Chris also shook as his orgasm went through his own body and Ryan just admired the beauty of a man who once looked so stoic and so reserved come apart before his very eyes. It was a masterpiece.

Chris’s body eventually calmed down and he and Ryan lied there on the couch, both spent from the euphoric trip they experienced together. And it ended with Chris swirling around the mess he made on Ryan’s chest with his fingers before taking them into his mouth. And Ryan leaned his face forward with his mouth open and with a smirk, Chris placed his cum-laced fingers into Ryan’s own mouth. He tasted it like it was a treat, and though it tasted differently from his own, it was still lustful to have Chris’s essence in his mouth.

With his breathing finally evening, Chris said, “That was…”

“Amazing,” Ryan completed as he smiled from the haze he was still resurfacing from.

“Yeah…it was.”

“Should we…?” Ryan said, not knowing how to say it.

“Nah, let’s just…sleep,” Chris said, yawning before snapping his fingers.

The lights of the penthouse immediately turned off and Chris kicked off his shorts before he and Ryan moved their bodies so they were fully on the couch. Ryan was lying down on his side with Chris’s back against his front which was another surprise. Never would he have believed that Chris was the type of person that liked to be spooned. However, Ryan did not bring much more thought into it as he felt his eyelids becoming heavy and his mind sinking into the depths of sleep. He wrapped his arms around Chris’s torso and allowed sleep to begin taking him.

Ryan then closed his eyes and soon fell asleep, everything seemingly perfect and safe once again in his life.