The Dreamtrap - 15. Chapter 15

- XV -

Three months ago

April breeze playfully ran through long black hair of a man who seemed to be rooted to the floor next to the kitchen counter. The breeze did not get discouraged at the lack of reaction from this particular human; it switched to the other one instead. It ran through the second man’s hair, trying to be as sensual and playful as possible, but to its confusion and slight frustration, the second human reacted exactly the same way as the first one did – he ignored it. The breeze uncertainly hung in the air for several more seconds, wondering whether it should strengthen the attack and thus getting the attention it craved, when the first human grimaced impatiently all of a sudden, and reached for the frame of the open window.

The breeze figured that these two were some really fun-less humans, and wisely decided to retreat before the long-haired man slammed the window, thus trapping the breeze inside for good.

“Are you kidding me?” the man with shorter hair asked in a low voice.

“No,” his companion answered gloomily after slamming the window shut.

“So, hold on...” The short-haired man squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds. “So, it is not enough that you are a human lie-detector... It is not enough that you can hear thoughts... Now you also have to get into my dreams?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” the other man said sharply. “It just happened, Rayhe...!”

“How did it happen?” Rayhe asked with tight quietness.

“I woke up,” the long-haired one said gloomily. “Well...” he frowned for a second or two. “At least I thought I did,” he nodded slowly. “Then I saw that the entire wall of the bedroom was gone, so I got up...” He grimaced after seeing Rayhe’s expression. “Please...!” he said in a low voice. “Like you would just plop a pillow over your head and go back to sleep after seeing weird shit like that...!”

“Go on,” Rayhe said evenly.

The long-haired man took a quick breath and closed his green eyes for a few seconds.

“Well,” he continued somewhat patiently. “Then I got up, put my pants on, and went to investigate...” He threw a dark look at Rayhe. “Mind you,” he nodded firmly. “I thought it was real...”

“Go on,” Rayhe said as evenly as before.

“Well,” his companion sighed and leaned onto the counter. “I ended up in someone’s...” he paused. “...your...” he glanced at Rayhe pointedly. “...bedroom... Then I thought it was a lucid dream, since I figured I was asleep. I tried changing something, but it wouldn’t work...” He sighed. “Then, after a couple of minutes, the kid...” He gave Rayhe yet another pointed look. “...waltzed in... You know the rest,” he sighed with a slight, heavy nod. Then he grinned somewhat widely. “I didn’t know you liked Captain Judgment so much,” he said in a low voice, and Rayhe rolled his eyes.

“I only had one poster,” he muttered.

“Two,” his companion said firmly, and Rayhe closed his eyes again for a second or two.

“Goddammit, Desmond...” he muttered.

“Not on purpose!” Desmond said sharply, and Rayhe looked at him with tired, wary eyes. “Plus,” Desmond shrugged. “What’s the big deal? I mean, yeah, I got into your dream, so what? Just a dream...!”

Rayhe slightly narrowed his eyes.

“Oh, yeah?” he asked in a low voice. “Would you like me to visit some of your dreams...? The ones you still won’t talk to me about?”

Desmond blinked at that and looked away for several seconds.

“No,” he muttered finally, and Rayhe nodded. “Gabriel...” Desmond took a deep breath and looked at the other man. “Next time it happens... If it happens...”

“It will,” Gabriel nodded again. “It’s you we are talking about; it will happen again.”

“Well, next time it happens,” Desmond continued with an impatient grimace. “I’ll just stay put, all right? I’ll plop a pillow over my head and go back to sleep...!”

“Fine,” Gabriel sighed and glanced at the clock. “I gotta go to work,” he said and gulped his coffee down.

“Yeah,” Desmond muttered and did the same. “Me too.”

...They walked out of the house, locking the door behind them, and Gabriel put his hand on Desmond’s somewhat rigid shoulder.

“Forget about it,” he said in a low voice. “It seems like this particular ability is going to be much easier to deal with than telepathy. I mean,” he shrugged. “All you would have to do next time it hits you, simply ignore it and stay put.”

“Yeah,” Desmond muttered and his shoulders relaxed.

Gabriel leaned closer to him and placed a light kiss on his mouth, which Desmond returned immediately.

“What do you want for dinner?” Gabriel muttered a minute later, breaking the kiss, which threatened to turn into something bigger.

“The usual,” Desmond answered in a low voice, and Gabriel let out short laughter, which smoothly slid down Desmond’s throat.

“With a couple of helpings as always?” he asked, and Desmond grinned and kissed his mouth again.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “And a hell of a dessert...!”

“Easily arranged,” Gabriel said seriously and pulled away. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Have fun with your numbers,” Desmond nodded again and walked towards his car.

****

The entire day went by rather quickly, since it was almost the end of school year, and there were quite a few tests, quizzes, and assignments Desmond had to take care of, which kept him busy. He briefly considered telling Tess about the new ability that ambushed him last night, but then he shrugged and decided against that, figuring that this particular ability was somewhat annoying, but easily ignored, therefore there was no need of involving Tess.

He stayed at school later than usual because he had to deal with a couple of make-up tests, and had to finish several spreadsheets in the computer. When he finally got out of his office, locking the door behind him, it was almost eight in the evening, and he tutted with annoyance, hating the fact that he had to waste so much time at school, which kept him away from ‘dinner’ that waited for him at the house.

He drove home, musing about the fact that Gabriel and he were together for four years now, and that the spark never lessened, let alone disappeared. Instead, it grew bigger, it seemed. He hemmed when he realized that thinking of Rayhe and upcoming ‘dinner’ made his groin spring to twitching with sweet anticipation life, and stepped harder on the gas pedal.

...He parked the car on the driveway ten minutes later, and climbed out, slamming the door shut. Then he looked around with a puzzled frown. Rayhe’s car was nowhere in sight. Desmond threw a quick glance at the garage, but then shook his head – Gabriel never parked in the garage, not even if there was a wild snowstorm outside.

He looked at the house and frowned deeper. The porch lights were on, but they were the only ones. The house was quiet and dark. Desmond glanced around, growing more worried, and slowly walked towards the front door. He unlocked it, walked inside, put the keys onto the small table next to the door, and flipped on the light switch. Then he frowned yet again – the lights were dead, it seemed. He was about to call out for Gabriel, when suddenly, he knew that he wasn’t alone in the dark house – someone was here, someone who tried to be as unnoticeable as possible.

Desmond’s posture stayed the same – somewhat tired and relaxed – even though every single nerve in his body immediately jumped on high alert. He lazily kicked off his shoes, his mind racing. “Rayhe, what happened to you...?” he thought, walking into the living room, ignoring rapid ‘thuds’ of blood pumping in his temples, perfectly aware of the fact that whoever was in the house was behind him by now. He reached out almost frantically with his mind, determined to get into the head of whoever the hell it was that invaded their house, and to his frustration, he realized that he couldn’t read or hear anything. It felt as if he were trying to bust through a heavy, locked door. He gritted his teeth, recognizing the sensation immediately. That’s what it felt like three weeks ago when Julian blocked his mind from Desmond’s attempts back in that hospital. Of course, Desmond knew that it wasn’t the blond behind him right now; it was simply the same feeling. The intruder knew about Desmond’s ability, it seemed, and he (she?) definitely knew how to pull up a very decent barrier.

Fine, Desmond gritted his teeth silently once more, his posture as relaxed as before, shoulders slightly stooped. The barrier made this somewhat inconvenient, but nothing more than that – Desmond’s skills and reaction were exactly the same as they were four years ago regardless of the fact that he left his previous career behind.

He stopped briefly and reached out for the switch on the side of the tall floor lamp, muttering something about damn lights under his breath in his usual annoyed manner. He immediately knew that whoever was behind him got much closer and was ready to strike. Desmond’s lamp-reaching arm flew up at the straight 90-degree angle, and the back of his wrist made a hard, satisfactory impact. The second his wrist collided with the intruder’s face, Desmond’s other arm zoomed towards the person’s midsection, fingers automatically curling into a fist, while his body turned just a little, so he could bring his angled arm slightly down and throw the intruder into the wall, pressing his forearm against someone’s soft throat and cutting off most of their air supply.

He was about to increase the pressure on that throat when the intruder wheezed:

“Des...!”

Desmond froze for a second.

“Rayhe...?” he said incredulously, and immediately released his unforgiving hold.

Gabriel (it was indeed him) slightly swayed on his feet and coughed rather loudly while holding onto his abused throat. Desmond reached out for the floor lamp for real this time, his hand shaking, and switched it on, making Rayhe wince at the suddenly bright light.

“Rayhe...” Desmond repeated once again. “What...” He shook his head, searching for the right words. “What the hell...?” was the best he managed to come up with, his eyelid twitching violently.

“Wanted to...” Gabriel coughed again. “...to surprise you,” he finished with a sheepish smile, and Desmond’s eyelid twitched harder.

“You did,” he said after a few seconds of stunned silence. “You surprised me so much that I almost broke your damn neck...! What the hell?”

“I figured that you would read me,” Gabriel let go of his throat and straightened up, wincing slightly from dull pain in his ribs where Desmond’s fist landed several minutes ago. “Didn’t you read me?”

Desmond stared at him without blinking.

“Does this...” he gestured towards Rayhe’s throat sharply. “...feel like I read you?” he demanded, his hands shaking worse by now.

“No,” Gabriel sighed, and suddenly, he frowned. “Hold on...” he said slowly. “You couldn’t get into my head?”

“No,” Desmond gritted his teeth. “I couldn’t.”

“Holy hell...” Now Rayhe looked content. “I finally figured out how to do it...! I figured out how to get that damn barrier up to keep you out...!” He looked at Desmond’s expression and coughed again. “Sorry about that,” he nodded.

“Where is your car?” Desmond asked as evenly as he could.

“In the garage,” Gabriel nodded.

“You never park in the garage,” Desmond hated his shaking hands, but he couldn’t get them under control, it seemed.

“Well, yeah,” Gabriel shrugged. “Wanted to make you think I wasn’t here.”

“Goddammit, Rayhe...” Desmond closed his eyes for a few seconds. “Do you have any idea... Fuck...!” He opened his eyes. “You scared the shit out of me...!”

“Why?” Gabriel frowned with genuine confusion. “Even if I were some random jumper, you would be just fine... I mean, after what you just demonstrated...” He shrugged once more. “It’s good to know that your skills are as sharp as ever,” he grinned, and Desmond closed his eyes again, restraining himself from doing him even more bodily harm.

“I didn’t get scared because of some random jumper,” he said slowly. “I got scared when I figured that it was you, and when I realized that I almost killed you, you dipshit!”

“You wouldn’t kill me,” Gabriel said firmly. “Believe me, you wouldn’t kill me...” He stepped away from the wall and wrapped his arm around seething Desmond’s waist. “I am not that easy to dispose of,” he nodded and yanked the other man closer to himself.

Desmond scowled at him, but didn’t say anything, reluctantly leaning into his mate’s touch. Suddenly, Gabriel slightly frowned.

“Hold on,” he said slowly. “You thought I was a random jumper, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Desmond answered stiffly.

“And that turned you on?” Rayhe frowned deeper. “Seriously?”

Desmond gritted his teeth.

“No,” he said almost forcefully. “It did not.”

Gabriel pressed himself harder into Desmond’s hips.

“Des, you are...”

“That’s because I was thinking of you on the way home,” Desmond interrupted him, rolling his eyes.

“Oh...” Now Rayhe sounded content again.

“Dipshit,” Desmond muttered darkly.

“I won’t sneak up on you ever again,” Gabriel promised with a slight nod. “Dinner is ready...” he murmured against Desmond’s lips, and the other man snorted at that.

“Yeah,” he said in a low voice, grinding his hips against Gabriel’s slowly. “I can feel that...”

“Hungry?” Rayhe purred, and Desmond couldn’t help but smile.

“Ravenous,” he said in the same low voice and wrapped both arms around Gabriel’s neck, while letting his tongue to dive into the other man’s mouth.

They started undressing each other in simultaneous hurry, Desmond’s hands shaking still, except now, the reason for that was different. He pulled off Gabriel’s shirt and threw it onto the floor, slightly pulling away from his mate’s mouth.

“Round one is going to be quick and hard, just so you know,” he muttered in uneven voice.

“Uh huh,” was all Gabriel said, yanking him back and latching onto his mouth once again. “Mmm...” he said a few seconds later. “We’ll call this an appetizer...”

“You are so cheesy...” Desmond sighed and shoved him towards the couch.

“Yeah,” Gabriel said into his mouth. “You love it...”

“I love you...” Desmond muttered, and Gabriel blinked at that.

During all four years that they have been together, Desmond never said ‘I love you’ to him, not even once. The closest he ever came to saying this was four years ago, after he said ‘yes’ to Gabriel’s three magical words. Rayhe knew what he meant, and he never pressed this matter any further. He knew how Desmond felt about him without any words; sometimes, he thought that it would be nice to hear that at least once, but he knew Desmond’s personality almost as well as he knew his own, so he never brought up this particular subject.

He wrapped his arms tighter around the other man, pressing his mouth so hard against his that Desmond groaned but never pulled back.

“I love you...” Gabriel whispered after several minutes, and this time, Desmond let out a shaky sigh and muttered:

“Yes...”

That was good enough for Gabriel, and he let Desmond to push him onto the couch without relaxing the tight circle of his arms around him and pulling him along.