Nico sat on a fencepost at the end of the farmland that had been left to him after his father’s untimely death no more than a year and a half ago. He did not want to look back on that time, but when everything in the farm reminded him of the family he’d lost, it was difficult at times and almost impossible at others.

Mournful notes drifted from the wooden flute that Nico held to his lips. Behind him, much of the farmland that had lain fallow since the last winter—the last time that he had had help with the management of the farm.

The song Nico played was a lilting and grieving one. It was difficult not to grieve. The solitude of being a lone farm boy on a property much too big for one man to handle, much less a boy just on the cusp of becoming one, was almost crushing.

Nico was at a loss for what to do. He hadn’t known where to go or whom to talk to for the longest time. “Bianca,” he whispered, to no one in particular. The notes from his flute fell silent. “I wish you were here,” he said.

Nico’s mother had died when he was young, and his father had been supportive since then. Only, his father had gone out on a hunting trip, but had never returned with the friends that had accompanied him.

Nico suspected the story was dire and gruesome. No one had dared speak it in front of him. He supposed they thought he was young—much too young for all the losses that he had already endured in his short life.

The loss of his father had been hard on Nico and his sister, Bianca, but they had managed. They had finished the harvest, just the two of them, working as an efficient team. They had built up a stockpile that lasted them—him—the winter. Only, in their haste to gather food, they had neglected to attend to their other needs.

Without firewood, and with little medicine to go around, it had only been a matter of time before one of them fell ill. It was only Nico’s misfortune that it had been Bianca that took sick. All the effort that he put into keeping her alive was wasted when he left to find medicine.

Nico had succeeded. He had found what he needed, only too late. Bianca had asked him not to go, but in desperation, he had insisted. When he had returned no more than half an hour later, Bianca was as cold as ice. The fire in the hearth had died, and with it, so had the life in Bianca’s eyes.

The memories were painful, and they tugged at the strings of Nico’s heart. He placed his lips upon his flute again and played the one lament that he knew. As the lilting tunes floated through the still spring air, tears began to fall from the sides of his eyes.

---------

The day’s work had been hard—much harder than Nico had ever anticipated. It certainly didn’t help that melancholy hung about his shoulders like a leaden weight. Truth be told, he was more than ready to lay in bed and sleep the night, as well as his sorrows, away.

However, Nico knew better than to go to sleep on an empty stomach. His days—now, more than ever—started earlier and ended later. It was farcical to not face them with a good dinner and a hearty breakfast in his belly.

Nico nearly jumped out of his chair, so startled that he dropped the piece of bread he’d been swirling around in his stew into the bowl. There was a loud slopping sound and a splash as some of his dinner spilled over onto the wooden table. There had been a soft knocking at his door—well past sundown.

Warily and not without arm, though Nico doubted the efficacy of the heavy wooden stick he carried, he went to his doorway and opened it a crack. Much to his surprise, what he saw wasn’t a group of soldiers come to collect taxes. What he saw wasn’t even unpleasant. It was exactly the opposite, in truth.

A young man, that Nico supposed was about his age, just on the cusp of manhood, stood in front of his door. The blond of mop hair that framed a beautiful boyish face swayed from side to side as the stranger shivered in the cold night air. He was bare but for the scratchy woollen blanket draped around his shoulders that covered the rest of his frame.

Nico blinked thrice, for a moment. He was wary of this creature. He had heard stories of the fey, after all. Yet still, the blue eyes that blinked back at him were filled with such innocence and pleading that he couldn’t help but invite the young man into his home.

“Come in,” said Nico impulsively. “There is a fire burning in my hearth, and food in my kitchen, but I’m afraid there’s not much more that I can do for you.”

“Please,” said the young man, hope glittering in his blue eyes. His voice was raspy, in stark contrast to the stillness of the night. Nico took a good look and saw dirt smudged on that pretty face—leaves tangled in that golden hair. “Anything, even very little, in a homestead is better than spending another night in the cold.”

Nico led the stranger into his home, toward the hearth that crackled merrily. Like a moth drawn to a lamplight, the other young man curled up next to the fire, arms outstretched to the warmth.

There was a desperation, a sadness, about the stranger that Nico somehow managed to find kinship in. As apprehensive as he was, he was somewhat pleased at the way that the corners of the stranger’s lips quirked up in a pretty smile as he scooted closer to the burning hearth.

Nico watched his unexpected guest for a moment, a smile playing on the corners of his lips as he did. He wondered what strange twist of fate had brought such a beautiful creature to the doorstep of his home, and though the thought crossed his mind, he knew the fey to be far more mean-spirited and fickle than the young man he had invited in.

Nico shook his head free of his silent contemplation. He sought out a bowl to feed his guest. But when he returned a few moments later to ladle stew from the cauldron above the hearth into the bowl, he noticed that his guest had already fallen asleep.

Truth be told, Nico had half-expected the stranger to be asleep when he returned. He had seen how bedraggled and weary the other young man had seemed. And yet, actually bearing witness to the tender rise and fall of the stranger’s chest in even breaths, Nico had to admit that the sight was endearing.

Nico had always struggled with his desires for other boys. Though no one condemned him for it, though no one said it was wrong, he knew it was different and feared it. The stranger, though, threw his carefully built walls into disarray. He wanted nothing more than to run his fingers through those golden strands of hair, to press his lips against soft skin—to wake to blue eyes staring at him in the first light of dawn.

Nico blinked his daydreams away, shunting them into the corner of his mind that he hid all such things in. He filled the bowl with stew and set it down, gently, in front of the fireplace where the stranger could see it and eat it.

Nico jumped, startled, when he heard a soft “Thank you,” as though it were spoken from right beside him. He looked at the stranger, whose half-lidded blue eyes were trained right on his own. “Might I ask for your name?” said the stranger, voice soft and lulling in front of the crackling hearth. “The least that I could do is remember you for your kindness,” he said.

Nico made his way over to his guest and knelt beside the stranger. “My name is Nico,” he said, softly. The strange young man looked up at him for a moment, blinking. “Might I ask after yours?” he said, when he realized that there was no reply forthcoming.

“I was called Will, once,” said the stranger almost dreamily. His golden hair fell around his head in waves as he slowly sat up. He scooted over to the fireplace—to the bowl of stew. He removed the wooden spoon from it, and licked the utensil clean.

Will raised the bowl to his lips and hungrily, with the desperation of a man that hadn’t eaten in weeks, guzzled down whatever was inside of it. The chunks of meat did not seem to bother him in the slightest.

As Will raised his arms higher and higher, the thick sheet that clung to him slid away, revealing him in all his naked glory.

Nico gasped at the sight, both heavily aroused by the presence of an attractive, rather naked young man in his home, and shocked at what else accompanied that nudity. All over Will’s body, especially upon the curves of his shoulders where there should have been freckles were small jewels; each gemstone was as brilliantly blue as the clearest summer skies.

The realization hit Nico like a sack of bricks. He had invited one of the fey into his home. “Y-you!” he stammered, finger pointed accusingly at the bare young man sat in front of his fireplace, “You’re a Kaster!”

Nico had heard the stories of how Kaster lay lounging in the sun, their jewels out and sparkling for anyone to take. The only danger was that should a single hair of the person taking jewels touch their skin, they would be taken to the Kaster’s underground home.

Nico couldn’t help but wonder, as he stared in abject terror and want at Will’s body, if it was much too late for him. He wondered, even, if being taken by this beautiful creature was that bad of a fate compared to what he already lived.

“I am,” said Will, softly. Will turned to face Nico. It became clear to the farm boy that the jewels were not only clustered around Will’s shoulders, but that they were all over his body, too. There was a patch of them gathered around the cleft of Will’s chest, and a smattering trail of small glittering stones that led down to the heavy manhood that was only just hidden by the woollen sheet that had fallen from Will’s shoulders.

“I did not come to harm you,” said Will. “No Kaster ever comes to harm people. We are different from what the stories say we are,” he said.

There was a sad look in Will’s eyes, and as much as Nico was drawn to it like a moth to a flame, he backed away when Will approached him. “My people are misunderstood,” Will lamented, “Our mission is one of compassion. We do not come to take away. We come to the lonely to offer them a home.”

Nico looked down and saw that Will’s hands were trembling. He raised his eyes and saw that though Will had undergone a transformation, even though the glamour of grime had lifted from his body, the weariness had remained. “What about the priests?” Nico breathed, reluctant to take the quivering hand that was extended in his direction.

“They who worship a god that either does not exist or does not care?” said Will, shaking his head sadly from side to side. “They will never admit to it, but their vows of celibacy swear them to a life of loneliness. They fear the company of others, even as they desire it.” Will looked off into the distance. “That is why we are drawn to them.”

Nico tried to crawl away from Will as the Kaster reached for him, but his legs simply refused to work. Slender fingers splayed across his chest, and the sadness in Will’s blue eyes seemed to grow heavier.

“I can feel the grief in your heart, Nico,” said Will. “How long will you hold on to this place, knowing that you can’t take care of it on your own?”

The tears stung Nico’s eyes, but he shook his head. He knew he couldn’t take care of the farm, but it was all that he had left. He couldn’t leave it behind. “You will always be reminded by this place of the family that you lost.”

Will smiled, though the turning of his lips was filled with neither mirth nor happiness, only a sad sympathy. “I’m offering you something that might not ever come to you again,” said Will. “I offer you a home with me, where you will never have to be lonely again.”

Nico averted his gaze, the tears stinging in his eyes but refusing to fall. “I don’t know,” he whispered. He felt like the very breath had been stolen from his lungs. It was a difficult choice to make, a tempting one to jump to. Nico knew better than to rush headlong into whatever it was that was in front of him. “I need to think on this,” he said.

“I will stay until morning,” said Will, stretching his arms over his head as he yawned. Nico watched, tense, as weariness seemed to descend over Will. The glittering gems on his shoulder and on his front began to lose their lustre. Will curled up on the blanket, naked as a babe. “You will have to make your choice then.”

---------

Breakfast the next day was a sullen affair for both Nico and his fey guest. Nico sat across from Will at the table, though the Kaster was better clothed this time. The woollen blanket that had been wrapped around Will when he had first arrived was once again draped around his shoulders.

Nico still hadn’t made up his mind. He was uncertain. His stomach was turning with the maelstrom of emotions that raged within him.

Nico was leaning toward one of his choices, but he knew, as well, that Will would leave once they were finished breaking bread. He didn’t think he had enough time. He chewed on his bread and cheese in thoughtful silence, but as the minutes ticked by he became more and more nervous about what he was potentially about to give up.

A life at the farm, constantly reminded of the people that he had lost, or a life with Will, saved from a lonely existence. Nico genuinely could not decide which was better.

“It is now or never, Nico,” said Will. The Kaster reached across the table, his palm opened upward to the ceiling. Nico knew what Will wanted him to do. He could see the pleading in those glittering blue eyes. But could he really leave behind what remained of the life he’d lived so far? “This might be your only chance,” said Will.

With a heavy heart, Nico looked at Will. The words didn’t come easily. Nor did they come loudly. “I know,” he said, shoulders slumping forward. “I know,” he said again, though this time the words were as a whisper in the wind.

Nico reached out tentatively, the tips of his fingers tingling as they approached Will’s open palm. He could almost feel the glamour just flowing out of the stranger that sat in front of him. He stopped. He snatched back his hand. He looked at Will for a moment, then said, “How can I trust you?” He took a deep breath. “How can I know you won’t eat me the moment that I come into your home?”

“Because,” said Will, as though that single word were enough to drive away all of Nico’s uncertainties. The scary thing was that it almost did just that.

“That’s not enough,” said Nico, as he settled back down in his chair. Nico knew that neither Bianca nor his father would have blamed him if he had chosen either path that lay ahead of him. They had always supported him, though they had also always reminded him that choices like these were never to be considered hastily.

Fast as lightning, Will lunged from his chair to kneel upon the table. Nico jumped where he sat, startled. Their faces were so close together, but a mere hairsbreadth apart. “Because I could never find it in my heart to hurt you,” said Will. “Because we are bound. Because of this.”

Nico’s eyes fluttered shut, his heart beating a hundred miles a minute, as Will leaned forward. They were so close now. He could feel their breaths mingling and ghosting over the tingling skin of his lips. They connected, and it was as though a missing piece of a puzzle he had not known to be incomplete fell into place.

Nico shivered, hand instinctively reaching up to touch the side of Will’s face, as a shiver of peace and hope surged through him. “What was that?” he asked, panting. His dark eyes searched Will’s cerulean ones as they pulled apart. He looked down at himself, half-expecting his spirit to be where his body had been. Only, he was still alive. “I have never felt so…”

Nico gestured to the empty air, at a loss for words. “Whole?” said Will, a hopeful look in his glittering eyes.

“Whole,” repeated Nico, almost in awe of what had just transpired between him and the Kaster that had somehow found its way into his life.

Nico looked up into those blue eyes again, suddenly filled with an intense longing to feel that way once more. “Okay,” he said, on impulse. Some small part of him rebelled against it, but the desire to be whole drowned the dissenting voice out. “Okay,” he said again, this time with a stronger voice. “I will go with you,” he said.

Gently, Nico lay his fingers atop Will’s.

The world lurched. Nico squeezed his eyes shut against the nausea that threatened to remove his breakfast from his stomach. The world then spun.

The vertigo seemed endless until all of a sudden, it finally stopped. Truly, what had felt like an eternity to Nico had been but a moment of real time. Nico braced himself against Will, eyes still closed, half-expecting the fires of hell to be licking at his feet when he opened them again.

The gentle touch on his shoulders, and the warm comforting hand on his hip, suggested otherwise. Nico forced his eyes open a crack as he looked around what he supposed would be his new home. He nearly broke into hysterical weeping at the sight that greeted him.

Will’s home was far from grand. It looked like a large cavern hewn from the stone that surrounded it. The ceiling and the walls were lit by crystals that glowed softly with arcane light. As empty as the chamber might have seemed, there was something about the place that felt like home to Nico.

Nico had to admit that while he had lived his entire life on his father’s farm, it had not felt like home to him since Bianca had passed on.

Gently, Will guided Nico to a chair that was hewn from stone. It was surprisingly soft and actually comfortable to sit upon. Nico, despite himself, leaned back to enjoy the seat. He wiped away the tears that had gathered on the corners of his eyes, and though he wanted to look around, his sight was drawn to Will.

The Kaster was standing in front of Nico, fingers nervously playing along the hem of the blanket that was wrapped around his shoulders. Will was looking at Nico with a somewhat bashful expression, his lips tinged with a slight shade of pink.

“I must admit,” said Will, as the pink crept further up his face and even stained the blue of the gemstones that clung to his skin. “There is one more thing that I did not tell you about. One more thing to make this arrangement of ours final.”

Will took a single step forward, his face reddening even further. “I-if you would have me” Will stammered. He looked at Nico with hopeful, truly anxious eyes. “I would mate you so that we will never have to be apart from this day until the last.”

All the joy and peace that Nico had felt thus far came to a grinding halt. He looked at Will, eyes wide with apprehension. “M-mate me?” he stammered. “D-do you mean?”

Will averted his gaze. The blue of his gemstones swirled with an even deeper shade of pink. He nodded, just as Nico felt something cold and clammy drop into the pit of his stomach.

Nico stood from his chair and took a step away from Will. “Do not get me wrong, Will,” said Nico, his eyes darting about the subterranean home, “but I had hoped to come to know you at first before I decided what it is that is between us.”

Will shook his head, a smattering of tears in his eyes. “No, no,” said Will, voice strained. There was something akin to fear in his stance. He walked up to Nico and looked into those dark and beautiful eyes. “Nico,” he said, softly, “you and I are meant to be together.”

“I am sorry, Will,” said Nico. He shook his head, bitter laughter bubbling up from his throat. “I do not believe in such things.” Nico paused, heart skipping a beat at the crestfallen look in Will’s eyes. “Call it fate, call it destiny. It makes no difference to me. I call it wishful thinking.”

Will opened his mouth to say something, but Nico stopped him. “No, Will,” said Nico. The hurt on Will’s face was a bit too much. “My sister said the same thing to me. We were supposed to be together until we got old. And then, she left me too.”

Will reached across the distance between himself and Nico. He took Nico’s hands in his left. He folded his right over them. “No,” said Will, his voice solemn even as it quivered with tears. “This is true. This is real. We are meant to be together. You and I are halves of the same whole. We are soul-mates, Nico.”

“How am I to know that?” said Nico, wrenching his hands from between Will’s despite the calmness that the contact had brought him.

“The kiss,” said Will. “The kiss. I felt the same way. It’s the only explanation.”

Nico shook his head. “Why is it that you are so convinced that you and I are supposed to be together?” he said, when he saw the conviction in Will’s eyes. “Fate?” he asked, incredulous. “That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard.”

“I thought we were supposed to be able to choose our own paths? Is that not the point of free will?” Nico demanded. “Am I supposed to accept that regardless of what I had chosen, regardless of what path I had chosen to tread, I would have come to be here with you in the end? As the supposed half of some other ethereal soul?”

Nico did not know where all of this was coming from, but truth be told, he was afraid. “If this was always supposed to happen, how meaningful was the choice I made to leave behind everything that I held dear, Will?” he demanded.

“Did I even really have a choice?” Nico asked, his voice trembling. “How real is anything that’s ‘meant to be,’ Will?” he said. The tears began to fall down the sides of his cheeks. “How real is anything if—if it was going to happen whatever you did?”

Nico felt himself grow weak. He sagged forward, stumbling over his own two feet. Luckily, Will was there to catch him. The instant those strong, warm arms wrapped around him, he felt an odd sense of peace, and a longing to be whole once again.

“I…” Nico choked back a sob as he buried his face in the crook of Will’s shoulder. “There are emotions in my heart for you, Will, that I have never felt so strongly before,” Nico admitted. “But I am terrified that they are all but an illusion, feelings forced on me by fate and not because there is any meaningful connection between you and I.”

“But there is,” said Will, a thread of desperation in his voice. “There is something meaningful between us. It will take time to grow, to blossom into something, but that does not mean it is not there.”

Nico looked up at the Kaster’s glittering blue eyes. “You will have to forgive me,” he said, sniffling, as he pushed away from Will’s chest. “I do not believe you. I cannot.”

“We do not have to do this today. Nor even tonight,” said Will, with a heavy sigh. “I cannot return you to the surface, but I can give you until the next full moon to decide whether or not you wish to stay. Whether or not what we have is real.”

Nico saw a flash of pain in Will’s eyes, but he needed the time. He knew he did. “Thank you,” he whispered.

----------

The first two days Nico spent in Will’s hope passed with very little fuss. There was always food on the table, hot and delicious. Nico knew better than to ask where it came from, since he never actually saw Will cooking. Regardless, all of it was royal fare in comparison to the humble peasant food that Nico had always had in his old home.

Will proved to be fantastic company, talking animatedly about many things despite the stinging hurt of rejection that Nico perpetually saw in his eyes. Nico felt as though he could spend hours just listening to Will talk about the people and the places that he had visited.

Nico had to admit, life in Will’s home was much less dull than he had imagined underground life to be. He supposed it had been rather unfair for him to think that just because he was away from the surface, that life would be rather boring.

It wasn’t until the third day that Nico noticed something rather odd on the ceiling of the cave. It was a series of concentric circles lined with arcane characters. As he glanced at it over the day, he realized that it changed colours to match the sky’s journey through the sky.

On the fourth day, after dinner, Nico took a blanket from the room that Will had been so kind to create for him. He lay the blanket down on the floor underneath the sigil and he watched it change first from blue like Will’s eyes, to reddish-orange, and then, unexpectedly, to starry black.

Will watched him from just in the corner of his vision, but Nico didn’t dare ask why it was that a Kaster needed to know anything about the passage of time on the surface.

On the fifth night, as Nico lay under the sigil, watching its colours shift and ripple, Will walked over to him. “May I?” said Will, gesturing to the empty space on the blanket beside Nico.

One of the things that Nico had come to learn was that Will, like many Kaster, was not particularly fond of clothes. Though in the beginning Nico had to quell quite a few of his erections in private, he was beginning to get used to seeing Will’s well-shaped body on full display.

Slowly, and not without reluctance, Nico nodded his assent. Will smiled at him, genuine gratitude crinkling the corners of his eyes. “Thank you,” said the Kaster.

Naked as a newborn child, Will lay down beside Nico. He made no move to bring the two of them together. Nico was thankful for it, since he was still rather confused about everything. The only thing that Will dared do was entangle their fingers—something that Nico felt was good enough.

Will raised his free hand to the ceiling and waved it. Motes of silvery-blue magic drifted up from his fingers to the arcane symbol. Once they touched the stone, the sigil shimmered and rippled, turning into a circular slice of the night sky set into the ceiling.

Nico gasped at the beauty of what he saw. The stars were all different from what he had known his whole life. No constellations remained. No Plow. No Bull. No Hunter. It was a strange sight, but nevertheless, it was beautiful.

The moon was out and it took but a glance for Nico to realize that he had less than two weeks until it turned full. Until the day that Will had set for him to make final his decision.

Nico did not know when, exactly, it was that he had fallen asleep, but as he stirred, he felt warm sunlight playing upon his face. He cracked open his eyes and saw that what had been a circular window into the night sky when he had drifted to sleep, was now a window into the day. The sun shone brightly upon him, and under his head, the gems on Will’s chest sparkled merrily in the light.

Nico stared at the gemstones for a few minutes, pondering the situation that he had found himself in. Gingerly, he traced the surface of the largest with his index finger. “I could grow accustomed to this,” he thought to himself, before settling his head back down on Will’s chest. Before he knew it, he had drifted off again.

---------

It was all too soon when the day came that Nico had to decide, with finality, what he was to do with his life. He understood that Will had been generous with him, giving him until the full moon to decide. This time, though, unlike the first meal he’d shared with Will, he and the Kaster sat across from each other with the night sky keeping watch over them.

Overhead, the mystical aperture into the heavens rippled with the darkness of night. The first of the stars were beginning to come out from their hiding.

Nico looked at Will for a while and watched as the strange creature, whom he had come to call friend over the last two weeks, slowly chewed his food. There had been a great change in Will’s demeanour in the week leading up to this day. It looked, to Nico, like Will was falling deeper and deeper into despair.

The sapphires that clung to Will’s skin, normally so merry in their sparkling that they made Nico smile, had inexorably lost their lustre. Even Will’s eyes had dulled, growing gaunt and sunken as dark circles began to form around them.

Nico tapped his spoon against the rough stone of the table. Whatever metal the spoon was made of was not something in ready abundance on the surface. It was resonant. It was loud. It rang in the pregnant silence between himself and the Kaster before him.

At first, Nico had thought that the physical change was simply Will manifesting despondence at the prospect of him not staying, but it was becoming readily apparent to Nico that something else was happening. Something far more worrying than he had the knowledge to understand.

Will’s eyes flicked toward the ceiling for the hundredth time that night since starting dinner. It was like he was half-expecting the divine hand of some god—any god—to come down and smite him. “There is something you are not telling me,” said Nico, breaking the silence that had settled between them.

Will slowly lowered his eyes to look at Nico. Nico felt something stir within as Will bit the lower left side of his lips—thinking. “Yes,” said Will. His words were slow and halting. “But I do not wish to tell you. No. I don’t. I do not want to unduly influence the choice that you so badly wanted to be free.”

The brief sympathy that Nico had felt earlier instantly evaporated. “What is that supposed to mean?” he demanded as he rose to his feet. “Do you honestly think that the piteous look on your face whenever you set your eyes upon me does not unduly influence the choice that I want to make?” said Nico, slamming his fist on the table.

Over the last two weeks, Nico’s heart had grown rather fond of Will. He could not face the thought of leaving, but the accusation that had just been practically hurled at his face was enough to prompt an outburst.

Will looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he shook his head and steepled his fingers in front of his lips. He was going to remain quiet.

Nico stomped around the side of the table to stand next to Will. The nude Kaster turned on his chair to face him. “If I told you that I have made my choice, would you finally speak?” said Nico, the hard look in his eyes slipped almost immediately when he saw the silent pleading in Will’s eyes.

Will nodded, but said nothing more. Nico sighed and looked back up at the sky that he was likely never going to see in person again. “That is what it will take?” he said, quietly. Will nodded again. Nico leaned down, eyes level with Will’s. Then, he took a step forward and pressed their lips together.

The serenity that Nico had experienced earlier washed over him. This time, though, it was more like a mellow undertone compared to the rushing passion that swept through his being. He would have opened his eyes had he remained in control of his body, but he couldn’t. His heart beat fast in his chest, his stomach fluttering with what felt like millions of butterflies milling about.

Nico felt a stirring in his loins, one unlike any he had ever felt before. He had had erections because of Will’s naked body before, but now, he could almost see Will’s bare soul, and the passion he felt from that was almost overwhelming.

Nico felt himself fall back, but before he could hit the floor, he was caught. He opened his eyes, slowly. The sight that greeted him took away his breath. “I was never a Kaster,” said Will, glowing softly now with a calming radiance.

Rippling golden light danced across Will’s skin, and the sapphires that clung to him had turned into little galaxies in their own right, sparkling and twinkling with what seemed to be myriad stars. It was truly awe-inspiring to behold. “Kaster do not exist,” said Will. “They are a myth made by man from what little glimpses they saw of my people.”

“I was dying, Nico,” said Will, gently brushing aside a stray lock of dark hair that had fallen across Nico’s cheek. “When you didn’t want to mate me, it was like half of my soul had been ripped away.”

Tears gathered in the corners of Nico’s eyes. They stung. “You could not have known, and you were right. The choice was something that you were supposed to make freely, so I didn’t tell you.” Will lowered Nico to the ground, where the woollen blanket was waiting for them. Only this time, it wasn’t scratchy at all.

“You were right about many things. I thought about a lot of them while we waited for the full moon.” Will smiled sadly at Nico. “You were right. The whole idea of soul-mates. It is ridiculous. If you don’t mind, when all this is over, I would like to get to know you better.”

“Good and bad?” said Nico, forcing a chuckle as Will’s fingers found their way between his.

“Good and bad,” said Will, pressing their lips again together. “But there are other things we must worry about first,” said Will, his teeth twinkling like miniature suns as he grinned broadly at the young man that would soon become his mate. “There is mating to be done,” he said, leaning down to nibble on the lobe of Nico’s ear.

The small gesture had exactly the effect that Will wanted. Nico’s back arched off of the ground as his lips parted in a loud moan. “That’s it,” Will cooed, gently, “I promise you, love, I’ll make this worth your while.”

“P-please,” Nico panted, a burning fire stoked within him. He had never felt this way before. He had always fantasized about getting his cock sucked and plunging it into a tight hole, but this time he wanted a cock inside of him.

Will rubbed his thumb over the red that had blossomed on Nico’s cheek. Will smiled and drew his thumb over Nico’s lips. He was pleasantly surprised when Nico started suckling on it. He allowed it for a few moments, biting back a groan. “Best get those clothes off of you, then,” he said with a chuckle. “I did not know you would be so eager.”

Nico could only groan in response to the gentle jab.

Will wasted no time, methodically peeling off layer after layer of cloth from his lover. When he was done, he could only smile as he beheld Nico’s full naked glory, and the formidable manhood that rose stiffly from between lovely legs. “You are precious,” said Will, raining kisses down on Nico’s sides. “Every inch of you,” he said.

A small, satisfied smile twisted the corners of Nico’s lips, one that slipped away all too soon in a gasp as Will breathed on his turgid cock. A lick up and down the quivering shaft was enough to make Nico’s toes curl. A kiss on the head enough to make him moan.

There was no time for words. No need for them. Not while the two of them were naked before each other, ready to be mated—made whole. Will clambered over Nico’s body and lowered himself onto his lover. He pressed every inch of their bare skin together, their cocks sliding against each other, slick with pre-come.

Will pressed kisses to Nico’s exposed neck, raining them down along the curve of Nico’s jaw. It did not take very long for the two of them to start rutting against each other, moaning as their mutual arousal grew and grew.

Nico’s fingers found their way to Will’s back, fingernails digging into skin and dragging against glittering stones. “Fuck.” Nico whimpered. The heat inside him had grown like a raging inferno. “I need you in me,” he hissed at Will.

Will closed his eyes, mustering the animalistic lust that reared its head at that moment. He slipped his hands underneath Nico’s knees and pulled them up, exposing the pink, twitching hole hidden by Nico’s pert cheeks.

Will lined up the head of his cock with Nico’s entrance and pushed. Nico squirmed as the pressure built inexorably. He was being breached, and despite the burning pain of the intrusion, the desire to get mated was much stronger.

“Ah!” Nico shouted, when the head of Will’s cock popped into his hole. It burned, being stretched around a manhood that was formidable in its own right.

Nico looked down over his chest and his taut stomach. His cock was stiff, dribbling pre-come all over his belly. Between his raised legs, he could see Will’s cock. It was so long. So big. He couldn’t imagine how it would fit inside of him, but he wanted it to.

Nico took a deep breath, and Will felt the tight grip of Nico’s entrance loosen. He pushed in, slowly, wincing at the groan of pain that Nico let out.

Pinning Nico’s legs under his weight, Will took Nico’s hands and placed them on his shoulders. They squeezed him, viciously, knuckles turning white from the tightness of the grip. He didn’t care. He wanted to make this as pleasant for Nico as possible. It certainly helped that Nico’s tightness was incredibly pleasurable for him, too.

Gently, Will pressed harder. His cock slipped into Nico, aided by the copious amounts of pre-come that he was making. Inch by inch, Will buried himself in his lover. He felt blood trickle down his shoulder blades at the same time that he felt Nico tense underneath him.

Nico’s eyes fluttered open. Something had just happened. He couldn’t quite explain it. It was electric. He felt like he had just been struck by lightning and he wanted to feel it again and again.

Nico bucked his hips against Will’s incessant pushing. With a low, possessive growl, Will slammed his hips home. This time, the head of his cock rubbed against Nico’s prostate the whole way through the thrust, and Nico screamed from the pleasure.

“Y-you like that?” Will stammered through gritted teeth. He was riding the edge already, and he had just bottomed out his cock in Nico.

The brunet underneath him nodded vehemently. “Please,” Nico begged. “More,” he rasped. Will leaned in and locked their lips together as he drew his hips back and slammed his cock back into Nico.

The two of them moaned in unison, the stars sparkling in the mystical window high above them. Will rolled his hips, eliciting another moan from Nico’s lips.

They moved together, Will thrusting, Nico bucking. Will panted from the effort of not only fucking Nico, but also holding back his orgasm.

When they had settled into a good rhythm, Will thrusting forward, Nico bucking back, Will reached down and wrapped his fingers around Nico’s cock. He stroked the rigid member in time with the slow, passionate fucking.

“I-I cannot…” Nico panted, in between rough kisses. His lips were bruised from all Will’s nipping. “F-fuck!”

Nico’s entire body tensed. Will felt the member in his fingers pulse and swell. Nico’s hole spasmed around his own cock, sending him over the edge at the exact same time that Nico’s come began to spill. Spurt after spurt coated Nico’s chest with hot white seed, even as he was filled to the brim by Will’s.

The two young men collapsed against each other, thoroughly satisfied. “That was…” Nico groaned. “That was amazing,” he whispered.

“Do not fall asleep yet, my love,” said Will, stroking the side of Nico’s face. “Mating goes both ways. I would love to feel you inside me.”

Already, Nico was hard again.