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Charles bursts back into the office, he can scarcely believe what he's just learnt... The post had come while he was out on a walk, and he'd spotted a note on the desk from a nearby bookseller. An interesting grimoire had just come in and it could be his as per the usual payment arrangement.
Edwin had called out from the other room that he was busy with... What had he said? Preparation. Probably for some spellwork. Charles had thought to save Edwin the trip.
Well, when he'd arrived at the shop with some trinkets to trade he'd gotten a nasty shock. The old lech had looked him up and down, said 'you'll do' and tried to get frisky! He didn't think the agency was so hard up they had to start offering sexual favours just to get new books…
Charles is shaken up when he returns to the office, nearly bumping into Edwin as he steps through the mirror. Edwin gives a guilty start, his face stark white.
"Charles, where on Earth have you been?"
Charles furrows his brows as he waves the letter in his hand. "Mate, what the bloody hell have you been doing to get your books?! I know they're valuable but are they worth that?"
"Worth what?" Edwin spits. He worries his knuckles as he keeps his gaze on anything but Charles.
"Come on, mate. Don't play dumb. That pervy old geezer tried it on with me! The letter says 'the usual arrangement'!" He waves it in Edwin's face again, and Edwin swats it away.
"Well if you must know," Edwin begins, raising his chin defensively. "I was the one who initiated the arrangement. I sent out letters to booksellers, put up notes in phone boxes…" he stammers to a halt, eyes flicking up to Charles warily.
Charles' protective instinct is boiling and bubbling up inside him. "Why didn't you tell me about this? It's not safe, you know."
"Why are you getting so angry?" Edwin huffs.
That shuts Charles up in an instant. His mind flashes with the image of the old geezer pinning Edwin against a wall and roughly pushing his legs apart. He shakes his head to dispel the awful thought. "Well it's- it's- it's not safe," he finishes lamely.
Edwin flushes, head ducked in embarrassment.
"Charles, I... Your concern is touching, but I do not offer myself in this way solely due to the importance of the volumes. I..." his voice drops to a whisper, "enjoy it."
Charles' jaw drops. "You don't have to prostitute yourself just to get some, Edwin!" He's aware he's almost shouting, tone incredulous, but he can't seem to get himself under control. "You're a good looking bloke, mate, if you want sex I'm sure any number of blokes would be happy to help you out!"
Edwin glances up at him, brows furrowed. "I do not want sex with 'any number of blokes', Charles," he says, tone oddly bitter.
"Then why are you having it?" Charles cries.
"Because," Edwin says, very quietly, "the person I want to have it with does not want to have it with me."
Charles frowns, deep in thought for a moment. "... Who?"
Edwin narrows his gaze, almost as if Charles had offended him. "Charles," Edwin begins, warningly. "I cannot imagine you would be so cruel as to play at ignorance, so I can only assume you are having a temporary lapse in either memory or sanity. I am, of course, referring to you."
Charles cocks his head to the side. "You what, mate? Me ?"
It's Edwin's turn to look incredulous. "Yes, Charles! Do correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not believe I have been particularly subtle about my desires!"
Charles starts with a strong, "Well-!" that fizzles into a flushed face. "It's not like I can read your mind!"
"I told you!"
"No..." Charles frowns, a crease in his brows. "Wait... How was I supposed to know that's what you meant!"
"Charles, really?!"
Edwin takes a deep breath, visibly pulling himself together. Then he stalks toward Charles with a frankly alarming predatory glint in his eye.
"Allow me to elucidate, then. I love you, I'm in love with you. Despite our lack of corporeality, I desire you carnally. I want to be with you, Charles Rowland, in every possible way. There. Was that clear enough?"
Obviously Charles kisses him. There's no version of this where he doesn't devour him in a kiss.
He holds Edwin tight, like he should have in Hell- like he would have, if they'd not been running. Hands in Edwin's hair, on his back, running up and down as he kisses Edwin as deep as their bodies would let him.
Edwin freezes at first, as he always does, then sighs, relaxing into the kiss.
And then slowly, with devastating deliberateness, he begins to reciprocate.
Charles sighs a soft breath of relief. He feels a kind of pressure leave his shoulders as a new one settles deep inside him. His heart beats as fast as a rabbit. He clutches Edwin's shirt, holding him close as Edwin's hands slowly slide towards the button on Charles' trousers.
He moans as he feels the way Edwin's tongue slides against his- he hadn't known he could make a sound like that.
Edwin gets his hand on the button of Charles' trousers, and it's like Charles has got a fist stuck in his throat. He pulls back, watching as a trail of saliva connects their lips, feeling that fist twist inside of him. "I-" He's panting and his unbeating heart is pounding so loud in his head he can't hear his own thoughts. "I love you too!"
Edwin's eyes flutter shut for a moment and then he smiles, the special smile that mostly only Charles gets to see, eyes crinkling and cheeks dimpling and teeth showing.
"Thank you," he says, and his voice is so fond it's almost reverent. "And do you... want me?" he asks, toying with the button of Charles' trousers.
"Please," Charles groans, and surges forward to kiss him again.
Edwin takes a sharp breath as his hand pops the button on Charles' trousers. He slides his hand down, cupping Charles over his briefs.
Charles swears he can feel heat. He doesn't mean to thrust his hips forward, but he does. He moves over Edwin, tilting his head back and trying to get their bodies as close as possible. He feels something poke at his thigh and a fuzzy heat rumbles through him as every thought outside of Edwin melts away.
He groans at the sensation of Edwin's hand, biting down to tug at Edwin's bottom lip.
Edwin whimpers, and then flushes. He's not a blushing virgin, not anymore, but this is Charles, his Charles, and he's desperate to be good for him.
Everywhere they touch is warm, like friction, like static electricity buzzing between them.
He rubs at Charles, feels him harden in his hand. His own cock throbs in his drawers, and he can't help but grind forward against Charles' lean thigh.
"How do you…" Charles gasps, swallows. "What d'you want to do?"
"Everything," Edwin whispers, and Charles shudders as he inches his hand lower, petting Charles over his briefs as they grow damp with desire.
Charles moans, though it almost sounds like a petulant child. He kisses over Edwin's cheek, working his lips to Edwin's ear. "What's your favourite way to be fucked?" His face is flushed hot against Edwin, but the groan he gets in response has his prick twitching.
Edwin rolls his hips, a needy breath blown into Charles' curls. "You wish to fuck me?"
"If that's how you want me."
"I want to see you," Edwin admits.
He leans back against the desk, suppressing a slightly hysterical laugh as he remembers how he'd done this before for other men, a thin shell of bravado covering his quivering fear and desire.
Charles' eyes are dark with hunger.
Edwin moves to withdraw his hand from Charles' trousers but Charles makes a noise of protest and presses forward. His hands land on Edwin's slim hips before moving between them, scrabbling with the many buttons that fasten Edwin's breeches.
Edwin laughs breathlessly, he leans up to kiss Charles even as he distracts him with dexterous fingers.
Each popped button has Edwin's heart pounding harder. A quiet gasp as Charles undoes them one by one.
"Mate, you can see all of me," Charles mumbles in his ear as he takes Edwin's lobe between his lips.
His breath hitches in Edwin's ear as he presses forward, lifting Edwin onto the desk. His hands pushing Edwin's breeches down to get him in his palm.
Edwin's hand spasms against Charles' cock, gripping him and arching his back as that heat between them grows impossibly. "Oh, Charles," he moans, tugging at the elastic of Charles' briefs. "May I see you? Please?"
"So polite, aren't you?" Charles teases between kisses. Reluctantly, he straightens up, separating just enough to shove his braces off his shoulders and his trousers and pants down his hips.
As a sort of afterthought, feeling kind of foolish with just his cock out, he pulls his shirt off over his head.
Edwin looks like a dream, leaning back on the desk, propped up on one elbow. His hair's mussed, his eyes hooded, lips parted, breeches open and oh god he's got one hand down his drawers. He's looking at Charles, his gaze crawling over every inch of exposed skin.
Charles feels hot and cold and fizzy all over, like he just might float away or explode.
Charles' mouth falls open, a needy look on his face as his brows turn upwards. "Holy fuck," he breathes, his forgotten cock throbbing and leaking on his thigh. "Edwin..."
"Yes?" he teases, his chest stuttering a breath as he works his hand over himself. Charles was so beautiful, Charles was his.
"You..." His face was flushed a bright red that crept down his throat and over his shoulders, his gold necklace standing out bright. "God, I want you."
"Then have me." Edwin's lips part as heat thrums through him. He felt it alive just under his skin, growing with each stroke of his cock. "Show me what I've been missing, Charles."
Charles all but falls forward, pushing and pawing Edwin's clothes aside. Fortunately, Edwin had been alone and relaxed in the office, so was down to just his shirtsleeves. Charles didn't think he could deal with a bowtie and vest right now.
He hauls Edwin's breeches and drawers down, sliding Edwin across the desk a little, but they won't go any further than Edwin's knees. Charles makes a frustrated noise, lifts Edwin's legs and slips them over his shoulders.
Edwin yelps, startled by the manhandling... and helplessly aroused.
Charles had intended to spread Edwin's thighs wide and settle them around his own hips, but with the unmistakable evidence of Edwin's arousal staring him in the face, he lets himself get a bit sidetracked.
"Oh fuck," Charles whines, looking down at Edwin. There's a heavy presence in the air between them as their hearts beat as one. His own cock slides against Edwin's as he leans down to bite at the collar of Edwin's top. He'd fully intended to just express himself and move back up to his throat, but when a pulse of pleasure rocks through him, he gives a tug with his mouth and groans as the top button goes flying. "Sorry," he breathes, his hands gripping Edwin's thighs.
"Don't be," Edwin breathes back as he reaches to fumble with his top, tugging the buttons to spread his shirt open over his bare chest.
"Nothing underneath?" Charles asks, his own needy want throbbing where he was slowly grinding against Edwin's groin.
"I was going to pick the book up myself," he whispers, reaching his hands up to cradle Charles' face. "Do you wish I had my undershirt?"
"You must be mad," Charles mumbles as he presses his lips to Edwin's, nearly bending the poor ghost in half.
Edwin groans, arching into the kiss, and Charles takes the unspoken invitation to lick and suck his way down Edwin's neck, bite along his collarbones and smear open-mouthed kisses to his chest.
One of Edwin's hands shifts to clutch at Charles' curls, and they both moan in harmony.
The thought of anyone else doing this to him, anyone else getting to see Edwin like this, shivers through him and he can't wait any longer.
It takes some limb-wrangling, but finally Charles is in his rightful place, snug between Edwin's thighs. He cups Edwin's balls, reaches under them with gently questing fingertips.
"Do you need," he starts, but Edwin cuts him off with a sharp shake of his head.
"Like I said," Edwin gasps out. "I was going to pick the book up myself."
Jealousy wars with arousal at the thought of Edwin preparing himself, fingering himself open so a stranger can fuck him. Arousal wins.
He presses a curious finger lower despite himself, and his cock twitches against Edwin's when he feels the gape of his hole. "Fuck..." His mind was blank, but when Edwin moans, he finds himself.
"Take me, Charles," Edwin begs. "Take me for yourself. Make everyone pale in comparison."
Charles groans low as he shifts, gripping his cock and lining it up with Edwin's hole. He can feel the flesh wanting, but he stills, kissing up Edwin's throat to whisper, "Will it hurt you?"
"I don't care," Edwin moans, rolling his hips down to urge Charles inside himself. "Charles, I need you."
"The things you say, mate..." Charles kisses Edwin's throat, sucking at the flesh as he presses his teeth down gently. He pulls back, standing straight as he admires Edwin from his vantage. "But I care... Would my spit help?" he wonders.
"Yes," Edwin exhales, grinding his hips, trying to work the tip of Charles' cock inside his impatient self.
Charles shifts back and angles himself as best he can to gather his spit in his mouth, parting his lips and letting the drool drip down onto his cock. It's a short moment but it feels like forever. "There, how's that?" He pushes his hips forward, and they let out a collective breath as Charles' cock fills Edwin's need.
Charles isn't the biggest Edwin's taken in his brief foray into whoring, and the slide still isn't entirely smooth, but Edwin could not care less. He clenches around Charles, coaxing him further inside.
"Perfect," he breathes, and flashes Charles a grin.
Charles whines, expression almost pained, as he inches achingly slow into Edwin's tight heat.
"Fuck, fuck Edwin. You... this..." he gives up on words then, panting and moaning. If Edwin notices him drooling on his cock he doesn't seem to mind.
He forgets to be self-conscious, all his attention on the places where they touch and the tingling pressure building within him.
"Just like that," Edwin murmurs, digging his heels into Charles' back, drawing him in, not letting him pull out entirely, only drag out a little and rock deep.
He feels mindless with pleasure, luxurious with it. His spectral skin feels like it should be glowing with the joy of having his love like this at last.
Edwin feels Charles shudder between his legs, and he arches his back on the desk, grinding his shoulders down against the wood. "You feel better than I'd imagined," he gasps.
"You imagined this?" Charles asks so much softer than he should have. The way his voice sounds is like music to Edwin's ears. He rolls his hips with Charles' thrusts, his cock slapping against his tummy as they go faster and deeper. "How's this?" he asks as he gives a rough thrust that has Edwin's vision turning to snow for a moment.
He exists in static for that moment, and as it clears all he sees is Charles still blissfully drooling atop him. "I can feel you..." His voice is strangled, cut off.
His hands shake as he reaches for his stomach, his face twisting like he was in pain.
"Edwin?" Charles asks, concern laced in his tone. "Are you-?"
"It feels so good, keep going, Charles. Please." He bites at his lower lip, pressing his hand down on his navel as Charles gives another deep thrust. His eyes widen as a ringing takes over his ears- Charles' cock presses against his hand through him. Just barely, he could feel it. "Oh god," Edwin whines as tears spark in his eyes. The heat wells inside of him and he doesn't even tighten around Charles on purpose, but he feels the way Charles' hips stutter and his fingers claw at his thighs.
"I love you," Charles sobs out quietly, his hips rocking into Edwin at an uneven pace that has pleasure raining down on him. "I love you, Edwin," he repeats, leaning in to kiss him once more.
Their lips slide together like they'd always meant to be, their noses tilting against each other as Charles kisses Edwin with fervor. His tongue licking inside him hungrily and filling his body.
There's a whimper as Edwin kisses back, his mind nearly too fuzzy to keep up. He's not even sure which of them whimpered. "Cum inside me," he begs, throwing his head back a bit just so Charles would part from him for a moment.
"Use me, Charles, I'm yours, mark me as yours," Edwin babbles. He's shivering, as if his energy is trying to escape the boundaries of his ghostly body. Tears fall from his eyes, rendering his pleasure glittering.
He can't feel the desk underneath him. There is only the slick slide of skin against skin, of Charles inside him. It is a pleasure so intense it aches, throbbing through him.
Charles presses a kiss to the hollow of Edwin's throat, sets his teeth to the curve of his shoulder and groans. His hips buck, his balls draw tight. He scrambles to get a hand on Edwin's cock before he tips over the edge, desperate to prove he's better than those blokes who only see his Edwin as a trophy, or as currency.
Edwin gasps as his entire body tenses, and then he's spilling over Charles' hand and his own stomach. He clutches Charles' face, begging wordlessly as they meet each other's eyes. "Charles," he whimpers, his face flushed and tears pouring.
Charles pants as he rests his forehead against Edwin's, working them both through their climaxes. The wet sounds growing over their breath until Edwin's shaking in Charles' hold, thumping his heels against Charles' back.
"That was-" Edwin begins as he tries to sit up, only for Charles' legs to give out under him. "Good lord!" He rushes to the sad heap of Charles' side, pulling him into his arms as he cringes at the way he feels his hole leaking. "Are you alright, Charles?"
"Uh-huh," he nods against Edwin's chest, taking heavy breaths and clutching at his unbuttoned shirt. "Sorry, I-" He shakes his head again before quiet sobs begin to wrack his body.
"Oh, Charles," Edwin breathes, keeping a tight hold of him as he pets his back, his hair. "Oh, Charles, I've got you... I've got you."
They sit like that for a long while, Edwin holding Charles as he sobs. Several times the sobbing turns to sniffles only to roll into a wail all over again. They've got the rest of forever together and yet Edwin swears that this must be forever- having Charles in his arms.
When Charles' sobs turn into a heavy breath, he finally starts to pull away from Edwin. "Suppose we should get dressed now, shouldn't we?" he jokes, though it almost sounds hollow.
"Charles," Edwin whispers, as delicate as he can be. "Tell me, please. What's wrong?"
"Nothing at all," Charles says, and Edwin reaches forward to hold his face tenderly in his hand.
"Let me in, Charles. I'd like to help you. Tell me the source of your melancholy."
He shakes his head as a genuine smile stretches across his face. "I just love you so fucking much." And then he surges forward to engulf Edwin in a hug. "You should let me clean you up," he whispers.
It is one thing to be thoroughly fucked by the boy he is in love with, quite another to be so tenderly held, cared for and cherished.
Edwin feels the last vestiges of fear melt away. This is his. He is allowed to have this. Charles loves him!
True to his word, Charles cleans him up, kisses every bruise and bite mark he left, and helps Edwin dress. When they are both put together again, seated side by side on the settee, Charles takes his hand and turns to him.
"Here," Charles says, a small smirk quirking his lips. He hands Edwin a book. Edwin stares at it blankly.
"I think you've well and truly earned it, mate."
Edwin's eyes narrow and he shoves the book back at Charles. But he does it gently, careful not to damage his incredibly valuable new treasure. Or the book.
"You, Charles Rowland, are lucky I love you," he says.
"Reckon I am, at that," Charles says, grinning fondly.