This Strange World Needs a Kicking!

Author’s note: And now we get to the point when Kai experiences new trials and tribulations characteristic to a BL world, while Sebastian is fighting new feelings… But I’ll let you enjoy the new chapter! Thank you for reading!

BlowPopJ – … and I hope you’ll love this one even more!

Jrankcold – that’s much appreciated!

curiousaudrey – Yeah, it was totally a team effort when Kai and Pepin got the tear! And Kai loves a good team (not saying anything more, he-he). As for Sebastian… oh, he’s falling so deep… I totally get it that you feel for Milo, who doesn’t? I love him so much for how good a person he is. But who is he falling in love with? 😉

Chapter Ten – BL Hell, What Do You Have Against Me?

Sebastian grabbed Milo’s wrist to stop him from doing that thing. No wonder the other had spilled his seed so quickly. Having a hand move over his manhood like that was bound to make him mad with desire. Before, he had enjoyed only the act itself, and touching usually involved other parts of his body. How could such a simple crude method feel so overwhelming?

“It’s too much,” he whispered.

Milo kissed him and ignored his protests while his hand did its thing. Surely enough, it didn’t take him long to follow Milo’s example from earlier. He was panting hard, his release still overpowering. Watching the white droplets that had landed on Milo’s lean thigh wasn’t helping, either.

He let out a slight sound that sounded weak in his ears as Milo rushed one hand through his hair, pushing back the mop that always hanged over his eyes.

“I can see better,” he said in surprise.

Milo chuckled. “Now that’s a useful side effect.” He embraced Sebastian and kissed him some more, without the clumsiness from before. As already guessed, it took little for the youth to become well learned in the art of kissing, and Sebastian had a great appreciation for that.

He was, annoyingly so, in a state of a daze as Milo pulled him out and handed him a towel to dry himself. Usually, Pepin handled such mundane tasks as his thoughts had focused entirely on the good of the people of Ifigia. But, here, he didn’t have to do that, and the absence of that burden he had grown with was strange and gave room to a type of awkwardness he had never experienced before. Just as Pepin’s absence, his trustworthy manservant who was always at his beck and call.

“Hey, did I break you?” Milo joked and waved a hand in front of his eyes.

Lost in thought, he had ended up standing there, water dripping from his hair.

“Let me.” Milo took the towel from his hands and began rubbing it against his head.

His weren’t Pepin’s gentle hands trained from a young age to offer nothing but perfect service. Sebastian grimaced when, a few times, his hair felt like it was about to be pulled from its roots.

That changed when Milo began wiping his body. Again, the green eyes were turning thoughtful and foggy while the boy’s hands moved slowly.

Milo let out a small laugh. “It’s still so strange to think that a few days ago I was, I mean, we were…”

“Don’t talk.” Sebastian placed one hand over Milo’s mouth. Words like those provoked something inside him, something he wasn’t ready to acknowledge or even take the time to understand. “Where is the food?”

It wasn’t like him to lack manners, and he usually would have waited patiently until the host offered nourishment, but, in this case, dire times called for a different approach. At the pit of his stomach, an emptiness opened, while his chest was too full. Anything was better than enduring that sensation.

“Hungry, huh? But I’m, too,” Milo admitted and grabbed his hand.

“Are we going to run through the house completely naked?” Sebastian asked.

“Why not? I told you. My parents won’t be back until Sunday evening.”

At the same time, having a late lunch while naked sounded both decadent and enticing. Sebastian couldn’t help but follow Milo’s example and ran along to keep up with the other’s large steps as they rushed out of the bathroom.

***

“Is he still alive?” were the first words leaving Kai’s mouth the moment he set foot back into the royal chamber.

The old physician was bent over his patient, busy placing a cold compress on his forehead. “Your Majesty!” He turned and stared at Kai and Pepin in disbelief. “Back so soon? Did you -”

“Yeah, of course,” Kai replied. “We wouldn’t be here otherwise. Here’s the dragon tear.” He handed the vial to the flabbergasted doctor. “Now get that remedy done and fix him.” He pointed at Conrad in what he hoped looked enough like a royal gesture.

Unsure of how many times he could slip in and out of character without raising suspicion, he had decided to try impersonating Prince Sebastian as often as possible, especially when there was a small audience so that he could test his acting skills.

The physician cautiously took the vial from his hands and rushed to the table on which he had laid the tools of his trade. He kept muttering something under his breath while combining the ingredients.

Kai walked to the bed and stared at Conrad. “What do you think?” he asked Pepin in a whisper. “He’s paler than when we left him, right?”

“He’ll live,” Pepin assured him. “Your Majesty, is it true? That I’m your favorite servant?”

Ah, because of what he had said when they were in the cave, fighting the dragon. Or trying to reason with her. “You’re practically my only servant,” Kai whispered back. Now that the danger concerning Conrad was almost averted, he needed to be careful not to give Pepin false hopes.

“That’s not true,” Pepin retorted. “The entire castle is at your feet.”

“And yet, you’re the only guy I trust to go hunting dragon tears with,” Kai pointed out.

Pepin smiled, pleased with that. Then he stared into Kai’s eyes. “You’ll take me again, right?”

Kai pondered for a moment. Well, Prince Sebastian must be in his shoes right now, flunking tests and whatnot. And just like anyone their age, Pepin wanted adventure and fun, not to be locked in the kitchen all the time. “Of course,” he said brightly. They were the main characters in this story, so it wasn’t like anything could really happen to them. Pepin was safe, he convinced himself. “Although, you’ll have to learn how to use a sword.”

“Really?” Pepin’s eyes shone. “I’ll do my best, Sire.”

“Stop it with ‘sire’ and all that. We’re practically the same age, and we’re not strangers.”

He kept looking worriedly at Conrad. His complexion was like wax now, and Kai began to chew on his nails. How long did the court’s physician need to make that remedy?

A light touch on his arm pulled him out of his thoughts. Pepin offered a timid smile. “This night was great.”

It was true that they had had to ride through the night to get back to the castle. The dawn was not yet breaking.

“I guess.” He gave a sheepish smile of his own.

“Conrad will get well,” Pepin said with conviction. “And just so you know, Sebastian, I’m no longer upset that you love him. As long as I can become a knight, too,” he added quickly.

“A knight? Aren’t you a bit ambitious? I just said you’d be allowed to carry a sword, not lead us into battle.”

Pepin’s smile broadened. “I can convince you to let me do anything.”

“Hm. Don’t be so sure.”

“After tonight, I am.”

Maybe, just maybe, it hadn’t been that great an idea to take Pepin along for the ride. Now, the guy wanted to be a knight and yield a sword. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but Kai didn’t want his manservant to put himself in harm’s way without knowing how to fend for himself. “Just for the record,” he said from the corner of his mouth, “I’ll keep a close eye on you. I don’t want you to trip and fall into a sword, poke your eyes out by accident, or who knows what else.”

To his surprise, Pepin started laughing. It was a quiet, gentle laugh, but it sounded so pleasant that Kai found himself leaning toward its source.

“I’ll be careful,” Pepin promised.

“You better be. As mom used to say whenever I skipped school to go swimming, ‘if you dare to come back drowned, I’ll kill you myself’.” Ah, shit. The moment the words flew from his mouth, he knew he had done it. “I mean, it’s what I heard a minstrel singing once. Weird song, if you’re asking me. It’s not about my mom. Just a mom. A random one.”

“All right,” Pepin said. “I’ll be a knight,” he added dreamily.

Phew. Good thing Pepin only cared about dreaming wide-eyed of his new career choice. He needed to be extra careful from now on.

“It is ready, Sire,” the physician announced.

“All right,” Kai said. “Now, please do what you have to. It’s a sure thing, right? ‘Cause I’m not sure I can get another dragon tear anytime soon.”

“It is,” the old man confirmed.

He moved over to the bed and began applying a poultice all over the cut on Conrad’s abdomen. Both Kai and Pepin strained their necks to check on his moves. The physician saw about his work and then pulled the blanket over Conrad’s body.

“Now, his own body will have to do the rest.”

“Then, you are free to go,” Kai decided.

That appeared to surprise the old man. “Don’t you want me to watch over him until he wakes up?”

“If anything changes, I’ll just send Pepin for you. It’s not like there’s anything else for you to do, right?”

“That’s true,” the physician admitted in a hesitant tone.

“Go rest. I suppose you’re not a party animal given your age, and you need your sleep, right?”

“Thank you, Sire.” The old man bowed. “I will come back in the morning to check on the patient.”

“Not much time left until then. Just get your sleep. Pepin has his ways to wake up anyone from his deepest slumber, I’m sure. Right?” He turned toward the servant.

“Of course,” came the immediate reply.

The physician retreated with murmured thanks after packing his medical utensils.

Kai observed Conrad. His pallor was slowly receding, and his breath was even now. “Excellent job, Pepin. We did it. High five,” he said and put up one hand.

Pepin gave him a quizzical look. What, high fives were not a thing in this world? Kai grabbed Pepin’s arm and brought their palms together. “Like this,” he said airily like it was the most natural thing for a prince and his manservant to do.

He ignored the other’s confused stare and looked around. “Hmm, now where am I going to sleep?”

***

In the end, they had decided that sitting at the table all naked wasn’t convenient, so they had donned some flimsy garments. Milo lent him some of his own, and while Sebastian enjoyed the soft feel of the fabric on his skin, he was once more reminded of the difference in size between them. At least, Milo’s family had, apparently, a good supply of sleepers for guests, and he didn’t have to suffer in that regard, as well.

After a day in school and enjoying themselves under the shower, they were both clearly famished. Sebastian watched Milo as he used something he recalled as being a microwave oven to heat food.

When the steaming plate was placed in front of him, his belly let out a shameless growl.

“Sorry,” he said, reminding himself over and over again that he needed to talk as informal as he could.

“No problem,” Milo replied cheerfully. “Dig in. And we can study after.”

Study. Of course. They weren’t there to do the things they had done in the shower. It was quite shameful that he needed to be reminded of the main quest. Clearly, Milo’s beauty was bewitching.

Troubled by that realization, he barely tasted the food, just bringing the fork to his mouth and chewing each bite.

“What’s wrong?” Milo asked.

“Nothing.”

“It can’t be nothing. You kept asking about food, and now you don’t look like you’re enjoying it.”

Sebastian looked at his plate. Everything looked delicious. But his mind was, indeed, bothered, and he couldn’t share his worries with the one who must be playing an essential role in the curse that had snared him.

“How do you make money?” he asked.

“More than what you do at your part-time?”

“Yes.” He had yet to figure out what the part-time job he supposedly had entailed.

“I don’t know. It can be many things. But shouldn’t you be more interested in graduating?”

“I should do both. Mrs… I mean, my mother is worried.”

Milo put his fork down, his entire attention trained on him. “Let’s go job hunting this Saturday. Maybe we find something that pays better.”

“Can you make money fighting?” He was about to add ‘monsters’, but he knew as much now that it wasn’t a good idea to treat this world like his own.

“Fighting?” Milo grinned. “Kai, I love you, man, but you can’t fight for shit.”

Love. The word that people in this world liked throwing around like candy for the poor on royal birthdays.

“I’m positive I can. Is there an arena or something similar where I can test my skills?”

Milo watched him some more, apparently curious about something, but then he snapped his fingers. “I know! You can be a cosplayer!”

“A what?”

“Come on. You’re doing it anyway. And it’s what you like the most. Of course, we’ll need a bit of an investment first, but I can give you money from my stash.”

“I cannot take money from you,” Sebastian protested. “It would defeat the purpose of earning it myself.”

Milo waved. “Dude, that’s just like an awesome idea! And you know what they say. You gotta spend money to make money. Let’s see what cosplay events are at this time of the year.”

They left their meals half-eaten and rushed to Milo’s bedroom. Kai was immediately impressed by the gadgetry present. Indeed, his boyfriend was no commoner.

Milo opened his laptop – Sebastian secretly wished he had one of those – and stretched on the bed. “Come here, let’s hunt together.”

Hunting had a completely different meaning in this world. Of course, there was still the hunting of animals, but it looked like it wasn’t enough to know how to use a bow to qualify for that.

“Look here,” Milo pointed at the screen. “The Pit houses a cosplay event tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow is Friday. We are expected at the funeral of Edible Insanity,” Sebastian said. “I mean, not their funeral, they’re just the musicians.”

Milo laughed. “We’ll do them both. Plus, I think Beatrice can help us with something.”

“With what?”

“Makeup!” Milo said brightly. “I won’t dare go through my mom’s stash because she’d kill me. But I bet B and her friends know all about how to put makeup on. We just need to find a wig and an outfit. What would you like to cosplay as?”

While Milo was talking, Sebastian was typing quickly on his phone, getting himself acquainted with the world of cosplay. He stopped as he saw a picture that looked uncannily familiar. “This,” he said and showed Milo the phone.

“Hmm.” Milo rubbed his chin in thought. “The guys cosplaying this character are usually taller, and, you know, better built.”

“I see. But do they have the composure they require?” Sebastian stood and held his head high. “I shall address the court now.” Without hesitating, he began giving the speech he had held the last time holding court.

Milo watched him wide-eyed. “So cool, man. It’s like you’re an actor. Okay, I’m sold. Now let’s find an outfit and a long-haired wig. Ah, by the way, you know that’s a character from a BL show, right?”

“BL?”

Milo rolled his eyes. “Boys’ Love. You know, the kind that girls are crazy about.”

Sebastian looked at his phone. In one second, his screen filled with incredible images. His eyes grew wide. “Marvelous,” he whispered.

Milo snickered. “Your sister Tani knows all about that. You should ask her.”

“She’s too young.”

“I suppose she’s only watching and reading those rated accordingly,” Milo said. “With emphasis on ‘I suppose’,” he added. “I don’t dare to assume too much when it comes to your sister. She knows more about BL than you and I combined, for sure.”

“Then I’ll seek her advice.”

Milo turned toward the laptop. “I found the wig, but now, about the outfit… I think that we could ensure your success if we picked something, um, sexier.”

Sebastian plopped on the bed and stared at the screen. How could people think that those skimpy outfits were worthy of a prince?

“This one,” Milo pointed at a particular set of garments.

The trousers were all right, pretty much looking like the ones he usually wore while riding. But the upper part consisted of nothing else but leather straps crossed over the chest.

“I would be half-naked,” he protested.

“Yeah, but you would look so sexy,” Milo said with a snicker.

“Is it important to look sexy?”

“When you cosplay a BL character? You bet. But, on a second thought, I don’t think I’m ready to let the world ogle you,” Milo added. “Maybe we should look at something else.”

“No. My success is more important.” Sebastian pressed the ‘add to cart’ button with new satisfaction. He had quickly realized that using the terrific online shops required money he didn’t possess. Now, it was Milo’s money, and he would give it back, but it still felt good.

“You know that you’ll have to pay for this,” Milo commented in a playful tone.

“Of course. I’ll pay you back.”

“I wasn’t talking about that. You’ll have to cosplay for me,” Milo added in a soft voice, brushing his lips across Sebastian’s cheek.

“Naturally. You’ll have to see if the costume fits me.”

“I have a feeling it will.”

Sebastian turned to look at Milo. They were so close and moved at the same time. It was like magic. Their lips fit together like halves of an apple, and their small tryst turned soon into a battle of sorts, each one wanting more of the other.

His weakness had always been an inconvenience. His advisors had tried to consolate him by speaking of a natural shortcoming that was bound to be accepted in exchange for the prince’s perfection in all other ways. Sebastian had to admit, something that had always made him feel ashamed, that he enjoyed letting his senses prey to pleasure, each time he was accompanied at bedtime by a magnificent male.

And each morning, he would feel disappointment in himself for proving weak and lacking will to dominate that part of him.

Everything was so different now. The pleasure was heightened, even if all he and Milo did was kiss. The disappointment hadn’t yet raised its ugly head, and somehow, Sebastian knew with inexplicable surety that it would never come, not when it concerned this beautiful young man.

Maybe it was all part of the curse bent on claiming his soul, and right now, while his lips were crushed with both shameless want and shy desire, he couldn’t care less if that happened.

Milo rolled him on his back and climbed on top of him. Sebastian wrapped one leg around Milo’s, enjoying the other’s strength.

“We should study,” Milo said breathlessly.

Sebastian ran his fingers through Milo’s hair, drawing a small hiss. “It can wait. Give me your mouth. I’m dying without it.”

And that had to be the closest thing to a confession the famous and ruthless prince of Ifigia had ever said in his entire life.

***

“We’re crowding Conrad,” Kai said, although that wasn’t the issue. The royal bed had the size of three standard beds, if not more. “And since when are you sleeping with me?”

“Since we fight dragons together,” came Pepin’s petulant reply.

Kai had a hunch that he wasn’t supposed to sleep all that naked either, but after a look at the dubious nightgown he was supposed to wear to bed, he had decided that it would be manlier of him to bite the bullet and opt for going for a shuteye in the buff.

He grimaced and pretended to be uncomfortable but didn’t struggle much as he didn’t want to wake up Conrad, who was still recuperating. On the other hand, Pepin had no trouble crowding him and ignoring the large part of the bed that remained unoccupied.

The only good part in that predicament was that Pepin, at least, wasn’t naked. He wore the cutest pink gown Kai had ever seen – not that he had seen many – adorned with tiny flowers at the collar and the cuffs. It covered him head to toes, and it was long-sleeved, so at least they had that. Tani would love to have one of her own.