Page 70 of Forget Me Not

Fairy tears, Ray remembered. Some people didn’t believe in them. He might not have, before this.

Calvin was right. Cal would most likely outlive Ray. Weres could live a long time, but fairies seemed to live until they didn’t feel like living anymore.

Ray looked down at his hand, fisted in the bedding, and forced himself to let go.

He was glad Cal wasn’t a were. Fiercely glad and grateful that whatever magic had decided onCallalilyfor Ray had done so. Going on would be easier for Cal the half-fairy than it would be for Cal the wolf. Cal wouldn’t like to think so, might even be insulted, but it was a fact that weres, who could heal from nearly anything, did not recover easily from this one thing. A fairy might. Even a half-fairy.

“Dad,“ Cal said, down the hall in the dark, his face behind his hands or turned to the wall. He pulled in a breath. It made his voice only marginally clearer. “This is too much for after midnight, on a week like this. It’s… it’s too much.”

“Go to bed, kid.”

Calvin’s voice seemed louder, and Ray only noticed and realized why when he had Cal in sight. Ray moved down the hall without a sound, heading toward the shape of a naked half-fairy sitting on the ground and slumped against the wall.

“Yougo to bed,“ Cal told his dad grumpily, then put down his phone before reaching up to wipe his face.

“Callalily.”

Cal jumped, then twisted around to look at Ray. There wasn’t much light, but there was enough for Ray’s eyes to catch the sparkles trailing down Cal’s cheek, the few that must have landed on his arms, his bare knee.

“Oh.” Cal gave his face another quick swipe. “Ray. I didn’t mean to wake you. It’s just…” He seemed to give up and let his hand fall to his lap. “It’s been a long few days. That’s all. Give me a minute and I’ll be…”

Ray bent down to scoop Cal up in a bridal carry and was gratified in how Cal allowed it. Cal threw his arms around Ray’s shoulders and hid his face against Ray’s neck. It was more than easy to carry him back to the bedroom and sit on the side of the bed with Cal in his arms while Cal’s breathing slowly grew steadier, even though Ray couldn’t remember doing it before.

“This is supposed to beyourbreakdown time, not mine,“ Cal commented without lifting his head from Ray’s shoulder. Ray’s arm was underneath his knees. His ass was in Ray’s lap. Cal didn’t seem to mind either of those things.

Ray had not had a breakdown. He was not going to have a breakdown. He was just very tired. “You can take my turn,” he offered, and moved the arm supporting Cal so that he could rub Cal’s back.

Cal coughed, almost a laugh, as if Ray had surprised him, and then sighed, so Ray kept it up. Cal toyed with the hair at the back of Ray’s neck and sighed again. “Sorry.”

Cal’s hair was damp and smelled like shampoo. Ray had slept through him showering but not him talking on the phone. Probably because the rest of Cal still carried traces ofdistress, and the glitter from his tears shimmered wherever they had fallen on the rest of him.

“I find it reassuring that you miss me even though I’m here,” Ray admitted, and rubbed a wider circle on Cal’s back when Cal stiffened. “I don’t like it.” Ray wanted that clear. “But fairies don’t lie and it makes this… make more sense. To the parts of me that are not only instinct.”

“I’d playfully express doubt that there are parts of you that are not solely instinct-driven, but you might take me seriously right now, so I won’t.” Cal pulled Ray’s hair hard despite the soft words. “You don’t like to hurt me, but you like to hurt me.” That didn’t make any more sense to Ray than anything else about this. Cal added, “But I like it too. Maybe even the gentlest of weres is still a bit rough, and you have to be into that, at least a little, to be loved by them.”

Ray was making an effort not to be rough, but he didn’t think that Cal was talking about anything physical. “I’m not always sure what you’re talking about.”

Cal snorted a laugh. “Our minds don’t quite work in the same way. But, with the exception of our first go-round and how you thought my flirtations were purely prurient and not made with the deepest devotion, you always believe me. That’s what matters. To me, that is.”

Cal had incredibly smooth skin; no traces of scars as humans or weres might have. Ray ran the pads of his fingers up to the base of Cal’s wings to explore the thick muscle there. It had somehow never occurred to him that every fairy’s thin, sheer wings would of course require back muscles to help them fly, limited flight though it was.

He traced the area around one wing, then rubbed deeper, hoping to relax Cal. Cal gasped before shivering and pressing back into Ray’s hand.

“Is it sensitive there?” Ray stopped until Cal made an encouraging sound. Ray lightly traced the area again and inhaled rising warmth from Cal’s skin before Cal answered.

“Touches there feel good,” Cal explained. “Sometimesverygood, if you get my meaning. But I don’t think you were intending that right now, so…”

Ray turned his hand to rub his knuckles at the very bottom of Cal’s wing and Cal seized a handful of Ray’s hair, seemed to realized what he’d done and let go, then squirmed. “Oh. Ray Ray, you… you already helped me get off today.”

“Is there a daily limit?” Ray meant to be wry, but he didn’t think Cal was fooled. Cal arched his back and made what was probably as close to a purr as he could make. “Do I touch these in public too? Get you off that way?”

“Fuck.” Cal pulled himself up to whisper that hot beneath Ray’s ear. “No, actually. I mean, you’ve teased me, and some fairies like wingplay, but we’ve never tried to make me comejustby playing with my wings.“ He took a deep breath and shuddered as he let it out. Then he leaned his head back to look at Ray.

Ray studied him in return, although he could see more than Cal could. Cal glittered.The tracks of his tearsglittered. Cal was worrying himself sick and Ray had no reassurances to give him except, “I’m not stuck with you.”

It was inadequate, but it was the truth. A fairy should appreciate that.

“Yeah.” Cal squinted at him. “I’m pretty, you said.” He could have been mocking Ray, but it didn’t feel like it with him in Ray’s arms. Hewasvery pretty, even when sparkly and sad. Ray leaned forward for a kiss, startling Cal in the dark but not enough for Cal to draw back. He parted his lips and made a small, contented sound, then tipped his head to the side to let Ray keep kissing him.

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