The World Beyond the Mirror - 14. Pleasant Surprises

“Will he live?” Sarah asked the doctor anxiously, and I held my breath as we waited for an answer.

“Well… it’s too early to say for sure, but I think he will. This wound would usually be a death sentence, but he seems to be holding up remarkably well.”

I sighed in relief, touching an unconscious Clyde’s shoulder in a gesture of support, but Sarah let out a sob. I stepped forward to catch her before she collapsed, and she hugged me tightly, crying into my shoulder. Wincing in pain as her touch inflamed my bruises, I hissed softly and she loosened her grip. I relaxed my eyes and glanced at Nate, seeing him in shades of red. When I’d first done this before he fought the governor, I’d thought I was going crazy, but since then I’d realized that somehow I was seeing in infrared. It was still hard to do, but I was getting better at it after having to use it so much. It hurt my eyes to keep up, but I had to if I wanted to see Nate, who was uncomfortable being visible to other people.

He returned my glance with a happy smile, glad that Clyde would be OK, and I helped Sarah leave her and Clyde’s room, sitting down with her on their couch.

“I’m sorry,” she sob-laughed. “I just… don’t know what I’m feeling. I was so terrified for him, and then I thought he was dead, and now…” she wiped her eyes, relaxing her death-grip on my chest, and I smiled.

“Yeah, I’m so glad he’ll be OK,” I said sincerely, letting my back rest against the couch. “I just wish we could kill the governor all over again for what he did to Clyde.”

She nodded, and then looked around the room. “I don’t know where you are, but I know you’re here,” she said to Nate. “Thank you so much for killing that – that evil…” she trailed off, not knowing what words to use, and I smiled, patting the couch next to me for Nate to sit down. I entwined my fingers in his and leaned against him, watching the red of his face deepen as it heated. I hated that I couldn’t make out his facial expressions like this.

“He’s too shy to talk, but I think he’d say it was no problem,” I told her, smiling up at Nate. He hadn’t said much since I’d woken up; he wouldn’t drop his invisibility or speak unless we were alone. He nodded in affirmation, squeezing my hand, and I turned back to Sarah.

“I know we just got here, but I think we need to go,” I told her. Nate seemed like he’d been dying to talk to me for a while now, and I missed actually seeing him.

“No, I can’t send you off without dinner,” she argued, but I smiled.

“I think Clyde could use the care more than us,” I said. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”

She shook her head. “Look at you,” she said, gesturing to all my bruises and my broken arm. “It’s a miracle you’re even on your feet. Stay here for a few nights, at least?”

I shook my head. “Thanks, but I’ll be OK,” I promised, thankful for her concern. My entire body ached, but if Nate was this desperate to leave then he had to have a reason. “We need to slip out before people start realizing what happened, anyway.”

She gave in, realizing I wouldn’t be moved. “Will you come back and visit sometime, at least?” she asked.

I smiled. “Yeah, I’d love to – at least as soon as we’ve dealt with the bastards who started all this in the first place.”

Once I’d said goodbye to the vertical city and all the friends I’d made there, we headed out. Escaping the city was more of a challenge than I’d expected; most of the ground was still mud puddles from the waterfall’s displacement. We were covered in mud by the time we made it to the cover of the trees, but at least the filth didn’t seem to affect Nate’s invisibility. We stopped by the stream when we were far enough from the city, and Nate finally became visible. Letting my eyes tighten to their natural state again, I smiled at him.

“What were you so desperate to say?” I asked teasingly.

He bit his lip, obviously worried. “You’re hurt. We need to get you somewhere comfortable and safe so you can rest, and that wasn’t it. Also, we haven’t had time to do anything we need to, and we wouldn’t have if we’d stayed there.”

“What do we need to do?” I asked playfully, stepping closer to him so he knew I hoped it was sexual.

His eyes trailed down my body, but after a second he tore them away and gave me a sideways look as if afraid I was angry. “We haven’t even gotten that collar off you yet,” he said weakly, holding up the key.

My hand raised involuntarily to the metal band around my neck, and I shuddered as I thought about how used to it I’d become.

“Here,” Nate said, seeing how much I wanted it off. “Tilt your head a little.”

I did, and he fit the key into the lock, his hands feather-light on my bruises.

The lock clicked off, but I forgot the collar as Nate’s gaze lifted slowly to my face. Stepping even closer to him, I wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned in to kiss him, my lips working gently against his.

“Mmm,” he moaned softly, his hands coming to rest on my back, but he noticed my wince as he touched a bruise and broke away. “I’m sorry!” he exclaimed worriedly, but I pulled him back against me and kissed him once more.

When I finally pulled away this time, I was smiling happily at him. “A little bit of pain won’t stop me,” I laughed. “I missed you, and I’ve been patient so far. It’d take a lot more than a bruise to stop me now.”

He still looked worried. “We don’t have time,” he said. “We need to get you to a hospital so they can see if you’re OK.”

I half-smiled, grateful for his concern. “Baby, I can’t go to a hospital,” I said. “Whatever we are, it’s obviously different from everyone else, and they’d find out when they tried to help.”

He shook his head stubbornly. “I don’t care. I’ll lock down the entire building until they make you better.”

Kissing him again, I laughed. “That’s not how hospitals work,” I told him. “They couldn’t do much for me anyway. They’d just tell me to take it easy until I’m all healed up.”

“OK, then that’s what we’ll do,” he decided, looking at me to make sure I was OK with it.

I shrugged. “Sure, but I don’t see what there is to take easy anyway. We were just gonna wash this mud off, find where we left off in that dream together, and then sleep, weren’t we?”

He shook his head vehemently. “I can’t let you sleep on the ground when you’re hurt like this,” he said. “We need to go.”

“I don’t care where I sleep, as long as it’s with you… although a bed does sound nice,” I admitted.

“Good, then let’s go,” he said, leading me along the stream. I followed him until we reached a small pond, the blue sky beautifully reflected in its perfectly flat waters.

“Wow,” I said softly, looking at it.

Nate nodded, agreeing. “This will work perfectly.”

“For what?” I asked, curiously following him as he walked around it.

He smiled at me playfully. “If you want answers, you’re gonna have to make some guesses,” he teased. “Let’s wash off.”

I didn’t argue, looking forward to the cool water on my painful bruises, and we cleaned the worst of the mud off. I was shivering when I got out, and Nate looked up at the sky.

“It’s gonna freeze tonight,” he told me. “We should hurry.”

I left my questions unvoiced, instead following him to the edge of the pond again. He carefully touched a finger to the surface, not disturbing the reflection too much, and then nodded to me.

“Jump in,” he said. “Just be careful, it might be a little drop, like before.”

I didn’t hesitate, trusting him, and I landed on solid ground with all the grace of a two-legged cow. I was just picking myself up as Nate’s invisible form dropped to the ground next to me, and he gave me a hand up. I brushed him off when he tried to make sure I was OK, looking around instead. We seemed to be beside a road somewhere, and judging from the noise we weren’t far from a city.

“Why’d we come here?” I asked.

“Because it’s safer, and we can get you somewhere comfortable to heal up.”

I frowned. “But we don’t have any money.”

“Yes we do,” Nate said, reaching into his shirt and pulling something out.

It glowed faintly in my vision from the heat of his chest, and I thought it was some type of card.

“Is that a credit card?” I asked, disbelieving, and he laughed.

“I don’t know. When Wolf gave it to me, he just said it would get me anything I needed here for a while, and then told me the code for it.”

I laughed. “Then I guess we’ll find out what it is.”

Not much later, we were perfectly clean, sitting on the comfy bed in our new hotel room wearing the new clothes I’d convinced him we needed, and he smiled at me.

“Look at me,” he laughed, trying to find any mud or dirt still on his body. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this clean. I didn’t think waiting for you to heal up would be so… nice!”

I chuckled, taking hold of his hand. “We’re not done yet,” I told him, forcing my weary muscles to work for me as I stood. He was up instantly, steadying me, and I gave him a thankful smile. “C’mon,” I said. “Let’s have a bath.”

He held me back hesitantly. “A bath…?” he asked, unsure. “I don’t think the cold water would be good for you.”

I blinked, confused, but when I realized what he meant I couldn’t help a grin. “It’s not what you’re thinking,” I told him. “You’ll love this.”

I walked into the bathroom again, and he followed dubiously. If he’d only ever bathed in cold streams and ponds, I didn’t blame him.

Starting the tub filling, I looked around the bathroom and quickly found a bottle of some scented hotel bubble bath solution. Usually, I couldn’t care less about something like this, but if it was going to be Nate’s first real bath then I wanted to make it good. Liberally dumping the mix into the bathtub, I grinned at a confused Nate.

“You’ll see,” was all the explanation I gave him, and then I adjusted the temperature of the water, making it as hot as I could stand. Nate was more resistant to temperatures than I was, so he’d be fine with this.

When the water had risen enough, I turned the tap off, and then smiled at Nate in anticipation. “Now we get in,” I said, attempting to pull my shirt over my head. It didn’t work, of course, so just like when I’d taken off my old one and put this one on, Nate had to help. He was careful not to hurt my arm, and I gave him a thankful kiss when it was off.

“Now yours,” I prompted, pulling my shorts and boxers off while he stripped. I stepped into the tub and sunk into the warm water up to my neck, giving Nate time to get in modestly. I glanced over when I realized he wasn’t, and I saw him standing next to the tub with his hands covering his crotch and a blush covering his face, obviously unsure what to do.

“Come on in,” I invited, moving forward to leave a large space behind me for him to sit down. He did, and he looked surprised when he felt how nice it was.

“It’s comfortable,” he agreed, smiling at me. “But also kinda crowded for two. I wish it was a little bigger.”

I grinned, reaching behind me until my hands found his legs. Spreading them apart, I straightened my legs, pushing back off the front of the tub until I was nestled in between a very surprised Nate’s legs.

“This solves the crowded issue, huh?” I teased, and he blushed furiously. He wasn’t moving, afraid that he’d scare me away, so I found his hands and guided them around my chest. He tensed, but it melted away quickly in the heat of the bath, and I relaxed back into him, just enjoying being held.

I sighed contently, and Nate’s hand absently began exploring my chest, gentle enough not to bother my bruises. I glanced back at him and saw his head had tilted back to lean against the back of the tub, his eyes closed, and I smiled, resting my own head on his shoulder.

We relaxed together in the soothing heat of the water for at least half an hour before I realized I’d almost fallen asleep, and I opened my eyes to look at Nate. He was watching me contently, a faint smile on his face, and I returned it as I noticed he wasn’t worried about the contact.

“You were right,” he whispered to me softly. “This is really nice.”

I nodded happily, letting my good hand come to rest on his thigh and beginning to massage it. He jumped a little bit, but I tilted my head back to kiss his cheek, and he allowed it.

“Erin…” he sighed, his arms tightening around me and pulling me back into him. I realized that he was hard at the same time he did, and he froze. I smiled at the pleasant surprise, but he backed himself into the corner of the tub, blushing furiously.

“I’m so sorry!” he said, panicking. “I didn’t realize-”

“Nate,” I interrupted, leaning back against him again without any sexual contact. “Don’t worry, it’s OK,” I told him, massaging his thigh again reassuringly.

“But…” he stuttered.

“You don’t need to be afraid of scaring me away,” I promised him. “I’m sorry I did it for so long, but I won’t disappear on you again, and I want you to see that. I get that you’re wary of even touching me, after how I kept vanishing whenever he looked at me, and I can’t blame you. Now I think about it, it was extremely stupid of me to do; I know you’ve never really interacted with people, so you had no idea what to do in a situation like that. I managed to drill it into your head that you can’t start anything with me, so it’s my responsibility to fix that.”

I gave him a little grin to show I wasn’t talking about any conventional therapy, but he looked confused.

“You want me to press against you like that again, right?” I asked. His blush was all the answer I needed. “Well my plan is to not do that, so that you have to initiate it,” I explained, smiling playfully. “I won’t start anything at all, so that you’ll have to get used to starting things, get it?”

He nodded, but looked nervous. “How will I know if you’re OK with it, though?” He asked, worried. “I don’t want to go too far and have you vanish again…”

“I won’t,” I promised him, smirking. “You’ll know I’m OK with it because I’ll tell you right now; I want anything that you want. Nothing you can do will make me leave.”

He blushed deeper, looking down in embarrassment. “But… I don’t know… anything, really,” he said. “I never learned how… uh… it really happens between two guys.”

I grinned, delighted. “Then I can’t wait to teach you,” I told him. “But first, this. Just know that you can try anything, and you don’t have to go any further than you’re comfortable with.”

I leaned back against him, settling in, and he seemed nervous. “You mean… right now? I can do anything I want?”

I nodded. “Anything, or nothing, if that’s what you feel like.”

He hesitantly leaned forward, kissing my shoulder, and I snuggled back against him happily. His arms encircled my chest again, and I arched forward into his touch as he explored my chest more deliberately. He kissed the back of my neck, his arms tightening reflexively, and then froze as I felt his erection against my back again.

“Mmm,” I moaned, unable to help but wiggle against him slightly to give him more friction. That seemed to make him a little more confident, and he didn’t pull away this time, instead letting his fingers trace over my abs.

He seemed a little lost as to where to go from there, but I stayed still and let him decide. His left hand, still on my chest, brushed over my right nipple and made me moan in pleasure. He began to play with it, finding out what I liked, and his right hand ghosted further down my stomach, making me writhe with need. His hand veered onto my thigh, still afraid to go too far, and I collapsed against him when both his hands stilled, intently aware of how he was sending shivers down my spine with each breath.

“You like this?” he asked, wanting to make sure, and the lust-deepened timbre of his voice went straight to my already-throbbing cock.

“Yes!” I gasped, fighting to keep from taking things into my own hands.

“You’re not gonna vanish, are you?” he checked, his voice sexy when it was playful, and I realized he was teasing me.

“No,” I groaned, my fingers tightening on his thigh in an effort to keep still. “No, no, never again,” I panted.

“Oh,” he responded into my ear, his left arm pulling me closer to him possessively. “So you mean you’re not going to move, not even if I…”

I moaned as his right hand slid around my thigh and gently squeezed my ass, making me arch my back with pleasure.

“Nate!” I gasped, wordlessly begging him, and he tweaked my nipple again.

“If I hadn’t already been in love with you, this would have done it,” he whispered into my ear, his voice husky with desire. I turned my head, desperate for a kiss, and he indulged me by pressing our lips together. I felt his tongue against my closed lips, so I opened them, giving him anything and everything he wanted. His tongue explored its new territory, claiming me as his, and I whimpered with need as he slowly pulled back.

“Please,” I panted, looking into his eyes, and he kissed me again, our mouths working in synch as he pulled me against him, grinding his hard-on into my back. He squeezed my ass again, flicking my nipple at the same time, and I tilted my head back, letting out a moan. He kissed my exposed neck, his hand creeping up from my ass, and I whimpered as he cupped my balls in his hand, gently tugging and kneading them. He hooked his legs under mine, spreading mine further apart and sliding me into his lap, and I moaned again when his cock slipped between my asscheeks, teasing me with desire.

His breathing sped up as he pulled me back against him, trapping his cock between my buttcheeks and his stomach, and my toes curled as he finally wrapped his hand around my length.

I gasped, the flood of pleasure almost driving me over the edge, but he didn’t give us time to cool down, instead putting a hand on my hips and making me gyrate them, rubbing his cock and pumping mine into his hand at the same time.

“Mmm, Erin,” he growled into my ear as I took over gyrating my hips so his hand would be free for other things. His now-free hand began teasing my nipples again, and the sensation mixed with his hand on my cock and his member against my ass brought me to the edge.

“Nate, I’m gonna…!” I gasped, and a moan slipped from between his lips.

I felt my balls tightening, our gasps and whimpers drowning out the sounds of the water sloshing violently around in the tub, and finally I felt Nate pulsing between my cheeks, shooting his load onto my ass and his chest. The feel of it sent me flying past the edge, and Nate pumped my cock faster as I shot spurt after spurt into the water.

When my vision returned, I collapsed back onto Nate, his hands still absently toying with my hypersensitive body.

“That… that was amazing,” he whispered into my ear, his voice raspy, and gently rubbed my nipple.

I nodded in agreement, still trying to find my voice again, and arched my back to make his hands press harder. He gladly obliged, teasing me for a few more minutes, but by then the water was lukewarm. I reluctantly moved forward in the tub, getting off him, and cleaned his cum off my ass. I turned back to him to find his eyes on me, obviously wishing he could see below the surface of the water to what I was doing, and he blushed at being caught staring. I gave him a playful grin and leaned forward, cleaning off his stomach and letting my hands linger a little longer than necessary.

“Now what?” he asked, his face still red with embarrassment.

“We should probably shower off,” I said, shrugging. “Don’t wanna get the bed all soapy.”

He nodded, understanding. “Can we… shower separately?” he asked reluctantly. “I wanna be with you, but the thought of being so exposed…” he was obviously having trouble with it, and I had my own difficulties not kissing him and trying to remove all his problems. For someone who was too shy to even be seen by people he didn’t know, I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t want me to look at him naked just yet.

“Yeah,” I told him, smiling. “No problem. Do you want to go first, or should I?”

“You go first,” he said thankfully. I nodded and stood, laughing softly when he turned his head to give me privacy. I was a little nervous about him seeing me naked, but considering he’d just had my dick in his fist I wasn’t gonna freak out. Oh well. It was nice of him anyway.

I walked into the shower, closing the clear glass door behind me, and turned on the hot water. After a second, all the soap bubbles were gone, so I turned it off again and stepped out, picking up a towel. I couldn’t help shivering as the cold air hit my wet skin, and I wrapped the towel around my waist before leaving the bathroom.

“You can look now,” I called to Nate, closing the door, and took the towel off my waist. I did my best to dry off with one hand, and then slipped on a pair of boxers. After a moment’s deliberation, I put on shorts, too. It was cold out here. Nate walked out soon enough, wearing just his boxers and a blush, and I smiled at him, trying not to be too obvious about ogling him.

“You look cold,” he said, worried about me. “Do you want help putting on a shirt?”

“Yeah, that’d be nice,” I said, hating that I couldn’t do it myself. “Thanks.”

He grabbed my shirt and slipped it over my head, getting my left arm through the sleeves before attempting the broken right one. It took a minute, but eventually we got the second one through.

“Want the sweater, too?” he asked, and I nodded, embarrassed to need this much help.

He pulled the new sweater we’d gotten for me out of the bag and slipped it over my head, helping me get my left arm through the sleeve. We left my broken arm inside the sweater, since it wouldn’t be much use anyway, and I smiled gratefully at him as he tugged at the hem, adjusting it minutely.

He returned the smile, gazing into my eyes, and my heart jumped as he hesitantly leaned in, touching his lips to mine softly. I felt a wave of happiness run through me; he never would have done that before today, so my idea was already working.

“Do you want to go to bed?” he asked quietly, a slight smile on his lips, and I nodded. I pulled the covers back, crawling under them and settling in, and I sighed contentedly as the lights flicked off and I felt Nate snuggle up behind me. His arm tentatively wrapped around me, and I smiled as he got a little more confident, even laying a soft kiss on the back of my neck before the room fell still.

“I love you,” I told him quietly, feeling fully relaxed after the bath we’d had, and his arm tightened around me.

“I love you too,” he replied, and I fell asleep with a smile on my face.