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The journey to the Crossroads feels like an eternity this time, the Ectoplasmic Draught burning a hole in his pocket and his wings feeling strangely heavy. He's going to use it tonight. He has to see Meli, to hold her, and though he's already dead he feels like he'll die if he doesn't.
Being there always feels strange, the pull of the Underworld warring with the almost-fading feeling he gets on the surface. He wants to feel real again, to feel alive, even for just a moment.
Meli has just returned; Master Odysseus had said she'd ventured below this night. He hopes she's brought with her more of that strangely shifting sand, the proof that time can be stopped if only for a fleeting moment. He trusts her, knows she'll be there to see him soon enough, and if he doesn't drink this down now he'll never work up the courage to do it.
Steeling himself, he downs the whole thing in one gulp.
He'd expected the results of Meli's experiment to taste awful, honestly. "Draught that makes you feel alive again" doesn't exactly sound like it'd be delicious, you know? It does burn going down, but the taste almost reminds him of the strongest wine he'd ever tried when he was alive, so fermented it was practically about to summon Lord Dionysus and strangely fruity all the same.
He starts to feel it almost immediately, his limbs becoming solid and his long-dead heart beginning to beat wildly in his chest. Waiting for her is agony and ecstasy in one.
He's always felt a tug toward her in his chest, tried to ignore it, to maintain their friendship even as he falls deeper and deeper. Now, seeing her break out into a smile at the sight of him, his heart aches. It's the most wonderful thing he's ever felt.
She tugs him to her tent by the hand, the warmth from that single point of contact spreading to the bones he almost-but-not-quite has. Icarus can hardly believe she wants this too, wants him.
"You may experience strange sensations but I'll be as gentle as I can," she says, conjuring something made of the same moon-pale magick as her arm. Oh. That's... Icarus shivers. "Please let me know if you start having discomfort of any kind." Her voice washes over him, already sending him into a hazy, blissful state where all that matters is being with her.
"I had thought—Meli, I want to touch you, to make you feel good, too," Icarus says haltingly, staring at the decidedly phallic object that Meli is currently attaching to a simple leather harness with practiced hands.
"You can, of course you can," she reassures him, reaching up to brush his bangs away from his face. She's so small and yet so powerful. She could break him if she wanted to.
He almost wants her to.
"Here, I'll set this aside for now. Undress me?" Meli smiles up at him, eyes so, so warm.
Her dress falls away easily, leaving her bare before him, skin shining in the moonlight. "You're... so lovely that I don't know where to start," he confesses.
"We have time." Meli presses a kiss to his cheek, standing on tiptoes. "I'd really like to get those wings off you, but I don't want to mess anything up. Can you do it yourself for me?"
"Yes, Meli." The not-quite-command settles under his skin, making his body hum. He wants to please her so badly, and if this is how, then he'll do anything.
"Oh," she breathes, staring as he sets his chiton aside next to his wings. "It's so pretty."
Icarus blushes—blushes! He'd forgotten what that felt like! He looks down at it too, awed. It's hard, and that's new, too, something he hasn't felt in—he doesn't even remember how long.
"I think I always thought it was a bit small," he confesses, eyeing it critically. Certainly the phallus Meli had summoned, currently lying tantalizingly on her blankets, is much larger.
"It's perfect." Meli's hand, palm a little dry and so warm, takes hold of him, and Icarus almost falls to his knees from the jolt of pleasure it sends through him. "I'd like to take it sometime, but tonight I want you to feel so good you can't even think, and for that..." Her other hand wanders to the small of his back, then lower. Icarus's spine tingles. "We're going to do it the other way around, okay?"
Anything for her. "Yes."
She strokes him for a little longer, slicking him up with precome, delight in her eyes as he falls apart under her. Just as he's approaching the edge, feeling his foreskin pull back and his balls tighten, stomach swooping like he's about to fall all over again, she pulls back.
"Why'd you stop?" It sounds whiny even to his own ears. He blushes again, this time feeling the blood flow to the tips of his ears and relishing every second.
"Shh, just wait a minute, okay? Can you lie down on your back for me?"
Icarus doesn't even have to think about it. His elbow bumps up against the phallus, cool and smooth, and the thought of it inside him makes his stomach flip.
"Good boy."
He's not even sure if she realizes she's doing it. Meli spends so much time around animals, after all. But the words spark something in him, something that makes his cock twitch and his balls ache with the need to come.
She pulls out a salve from one of the cluttered little shelves scattered around the tent, warming it up in her hands, every moment an eternity. Icarus gasps when the first finger slips inside, slowly slipping deeper and rocking back and forth as Meli looks down at him with affection in her eyes. Her other hand, the magickal one, roams over his body, chill washing over him with every stroke as the warmth inside him builds and builds. It's the only thing that keeps him from coming when she slips a second finger inside and finds a spot inside that makes his whole body melt.
"Feel okay? Anything hurt?"
"Noooo," Icarus slurs out. "Feels—so good, Meli, please, more—"
"We have to get you nice and warmed up before you can take me, all right? You're doing so well, Icarus."
A broken moan escapes him. Her fingers scissor inside him, occasionally bumping up against that spot that makes his body feel as though he's stepped into the blast zone of one of his own bombs, and he aches with every touch.
"I'm ready, please, please," he begs, squirming around three of her fingers.
"I have you," she whispers, reaching across him to pick up the harness, and finally finally her cock stands proud and ready for him.
He embarrasses himself thoroughly by coming the second the head slips inside.
"Oh, fuck," Meli whispers, throwing her head back, and did he—is she—
His body shakes with the aftershocks, sparks filling his vision. The feeling of his heart racing is the best thing in the world.
"I can feel it," she whispers. "This, it's... connected to me. You feel so good around me, Icarus."
Oh. She presses him down to the bed, slipping further inside and groaning as he twitches around her, sparks of overstimulation buzzing through him.
"Oh... I can feel your heart beating for me." She strokes the thin skin of his wrist—when had she taken his hand?
"Only for you," he chokes out, and then he is lost, lost to the pleasure and the aching sweetness of having her inside him and over him and around him.
She rests her head on his chest, still buried inside him, as they both catch their breath. He knows he will have to leave soon enough, but for right now, feeling his heart beat in time with hers is more than enough.