When the pool opened to the public at three, Mattleft the lifeguard’s whistle with Joy, a perky blonde who tookengineering classes downtown during the day. Until he saw her duckinto the locker room to change out of her street clothes, Matt hadhalf expected her to call in sick, too. He needed to hire anotherperson, if only so he could concentrate on the paperwork involvedin keeping the pool open. He had timesheets to turn in this week,and invoices to pay, and another stack of pink While You WereOut phone messages waiting on his desk. Since his name hadappeared in the paper, those damn messages seemed to bemultiplying. Next time Vic played the hero, Matt would make sure tostay out of the limelight.
Matt headed into his office, his thoughts selfish.There shouldn’t be a next time. Was this how wives offirefighters felt? Or loved ones of policemen? Or hell, all thosemothers standing by the pool, shouting at their kids to stophorsing around before they got hurt? If Matt had his way, he’d wrapVic in a bubble and protect him from the rest of the world. Vicwould never feel pain, if he could help it. If only Matt could givehim a useful power, something that could save him from allthe others.
As Matt plopped down in the chair behind his desk,his mind turned to condoms. If anyone needed protection duringsex…
Matt shook his head. Condoms weren’t the answer—heknew, they’d used them once, after Vic developed the scary abilityto teleport. Yes, it looked cool in the movies, but there wasnothing cool about some of the places where Vic involuntarilypopped up.
* * * *
It happened their first year together. Matt didn’tremember the position they’d used that gave Vic the unnervingability to just disappear, but it was probably written down in oneof Vic’s small little journals somewhere, or noted in the marginsof his Kama Sutra book. Matt remembered holding his loveragainst him as he moved deep in Vic with a heated urgency thatlingered long after they both got off and fell asleep, limbswrapped around each other. Even that early in their relationship,Matt clung to every moment they had together, sure if he could holdVic tight enough, he’d keep the man safe. If only he could hold himforever.
The next morning Vic stumbled into the kitchen, hisusual morning grumpy bear self. As Matt tried to kiss his cheek, hedisappeared.
Thinking his lover had just drawn the invisibilitycard again, Matt teased, “Where’d you go, cupcake?”
From the bedroom, Vic growled, “Apparently I’m backin bed.”
He barely made it to the kitchen a second time beforehe was gone again. Matt tried to stifle a laugh as his displacedlover knocked on the front door of their apartment. The third time,Vic reached for his coffee mug and found himself on the balconyoutside.
That wasn’t funny.
As Matt let Vic back into the apartment, his voiceshook with anger and fear. “A few more inches to the right and youwould’ve been standing on thin air.” He slammed the balcony doorshut, hard enough to rattle the glass in its frame. “Last Ichecked, you can’t fly.”
“There was that one time—” Vic started. Then hedisappeared.
Matt whirled around, trying to look everywhere atonce. “Vic?” he called out, scared. Anger clouded his mind. So muchfor holding onto him, eh? “Where the hell did you go?”
His lover’s voice whispered in his mind, ::Outsideon the street. This power sucks.::
::Get back in here,:: Matt snapped. ::I’mnot through being mad at you yet.::
::Oh, right,:: Vic answered, sardonic.Downstairs Matt heard the door to their building open on squealinghinges. ::I keep forgetting this is all MY fault.::
When that power wore off, Matt suggested condoms. Heeven bought a box, extra thick to prevent breaking. They used atotal of one. After making love, they cuddled in bed as usual, butthe whole affair seemed stilted to Matt, forced. Even the mentalpowers they shared seemed diminished. But he didn’t voice hisconcern—if it kept Vic from harm, he’d use a condom every singletime they had sex. Hell, he’d use two.
But Vic had other plans. Kissing Matt’s temple, Vicmurmured, “I know you’re scared for me, but this isn’t the answer.It can’t be. I need to feel you when we’re doing it, Matty. Notsome rubber up my ass. I need you.”
Matt didn’t want to admit it, but he knew what Vicmeant. Despite being “ribbed for his pleasure,” the condom deadenedthe sensations he felt during sex. There was something that passedbetween them when they coupled, a free exchange of pleasure andlust and desire that got Matt hotter than he thought possible…maybethe powers enhanced the connection he shared with Vic, expoundedupon their love, until they weren’t just two men fucking, but onebeating, pulsing, living heart seeking completion. Maybe togetherthey were love, a pure emotion embodied in their mostintimate moments, one soul split into two parts and made whole.
Then Vic sighed into his curls. Into Matt’s mind, hewhispered, ::You realize if we block the powers, this ability ofours will fade, too.::
Matt hadn’t thought of that.
Without a word, he extracted himself from Vic’sembrace and climbed out of bed. Grabbing the box of condoms off hisbedside table, he stormed naked from the bedroom. Down the hall,into the kitchen, to the balcony door with its vertical blinds thatheld back the night. He felt Vic’s bemused smirk in his head as heyanked the door open and stepped out onto the small metal balcony,the night air prickling his bare skin into goose bumps. Then hepitched the box of condoms out into the night, throwing it away ashard as he could.
In mid-flight, the box opened and condoms tumbledlike rain into the drainage culvert behind their building. As Mattwatched them fall, Vic’s voice curled into his mind, warming himfrom the inside. ::Get back in here before someone calls thecops.:: When Matt didn’t move, Vic sent him a mental image ofhimself in the bed—on his knees and forearms, his head buried in apillow and legs parted with his ample ass in the air, buttocksspread and inviting. ::Get back in HERE,:: Vic triedagain.
Matt tripped over his own feet in his haste tocomply.
*
