Author's notes: As always: (1) I don't care what the devs say, Alisaie is absolutely not 16. By 6.0, she'd be about 23. (2) In a world where no one is explicitly gay or trans, that means anyone can be. Therefore, Alisaie and G'raha are T4T.

- - -

7.0 - SHARLYAN

G'raha was losing his mind.

Both because he badly missed his partners, Savvel and Alisaie, who had set sail for Tulliyolal two weeks and five days ago (the longest they'd been apart since making their arrangement 'official'), and because it was the longest he'd been celibate in... well...

Ever.

Savvel and Alisaie called him in the evenings - calls which often devolved immediately into surreptitious linkpearl sex, which had initially had served to scratch the itch of his longing for... intimate company. Unfortunately, the past few days, their regular calls were only aggravating G'raha's state of sexual frustration, to the point that he felt as if he were about to climb out of his skin.

And while his partners had promised to pop back to Sharlyan for a visit as soon as they were able to attune to a local aetheryte, he knew that they'd have more pressing business to attend to for a while. Meaning that it could be another two weeks before he actually got to see them again.

But how was he supposed to last that long? His desperation was such that he was starting to act like a horny lunatic - witness the fact that he was currently pacing agitatedly in his room at the Annex while stark naked and muttering to himself as he waited for their call.

Finally, finally, his linkpearl chimed.

"Good evening, Raha," Alisaie said cheerfully as soon as he'd answered.

"I want your cock inside me right now," G'raha interrupted, his hand already between his legs as he threw himself onto the bed.

Savvel chuckled. "It's like that, is it?"

"It's like that," G'raha said firmly.

"Well then," Alisaie said, smile audible in her voice. "Who am I to argue?"

- - -

Hearing Alisaie's (admittedly wonderfully filthy) descriptions of what she wanted to do to him and not being able to actually touch her was... awful. G'raha tried to push the feelings away and focus on his desire, but the more his pleasure built, the more his dissatisfaction increased. When he finally climaxed, something inside him snapped, and he found himself sobbing into the blankets.

"Raha, love," Savvel said urgently. "Talk to us. What's wrong?"

G'raha mumbled a disclaimer, and Alisaie snorted in disgust. "Just because I can't personally smack you doesn't mean I can't call Ojika and tell him to do it for me."

G'raha laughed. "Don't do that. I'm naked."

"He'd consider it another administrative duty and you know it. Now talk, or I really will call him."
G'raha knew when he was beaten. "I... I miss you," he choked out. "And I'm-- I feel like I'm losing my mind? These calls are the high point of my day, but they're also not enough anymore. I need someone to touch me, and I want it to be you, but it can't be."

"Oh Raha..." Alsaie's voice softened. "Have you... gone to the library?" (Alisaie's term for cruising, which was fair, given that he was in Sharlyan.)

G'raha sighed heavily. "No? Not for that, at least."

Savvel made a concerned noise. "Do you need us to give you permission again?"

Alisaie spoke before G'raha could answer. "You know, I think he needs us to make him do it."

"Hmm. I think you may be right," Savvel replied seriously.

"Of course I'm right!" Alisaie shot back.

"Now wait a minute--" G'raha protested, not liking the direction things were going.

Alisaie ran right over him. "You've got two days, Raha. I demand that you get someone's dick in you by then, or we're not having linkpearl sex until you do."

G'raha buried his face in his hands. "Savvel, surely you can't--"

"Sorry, Raha. I'm with Alisaie on this one." Savvel said, sounding ruefully sympathetic. "I know this is the pot calling the kettle black, but sometimes you need us to step in and save you from yourself."

"That's not true," G'raha shot back hotly.

"It is and you know it."

Gods dammit. "Fine," he grumbled. "It is."

"Glad to hear you're willing to be sensible," Alisaie said dryly. "Now go get a cock in you. That's an order."

- - -

G'raha spent the next day delaying the inevitable by handling Baldesion business that he could have delegated to Ojika, only to find himself panicking as he was getting ready for bed. What if he wasn't able to find a willing partner tomorrow? He hadn't had to cruise the library for a hook-up in... well, either a few years or more than a century, depending on how you counted it. What if he'd lost the knack?

He fell asleep fretting about it and had uneasy dreams all night.

In the morning, he decided that the best course of action was to tackle it right away. So after a perfunctory breakfast, he informed Ojika he'd be stepping out and headed to the library.

This early in the morning, there were plenty of tables free in the study area.

G'raha dropped his bag at a free table, then went to the anthropology section to grab a book on Mi'quote mating customs, which he left facing the chair across from him - the usual signal to those in the know that he was looking for a casual encounter. Then he pulled a notebook out of his bag and started compiling notes for a report that he'd been putting off.

Or at least, he tried to. His nerves made it difficult to focus on what he was doing.

It had been years since he'd picked anyone up at the library - since before the Crystal Tower expedition. Was he even using the correct signal? What if they'd changed since his time at the Studium?

Motion caught his eye, and the hint of a familiar face--

He looked up from his writing as a tall, shockingly handsome Highlander man passed by, his arms loaded down with books. There was a moment of accidental eye contact, then--

No. It couldn't be...

...but by the shock of recognition on his face, it seemed that it was.

Arnkell Ironfist - the teaching assistant G'raha had fucked on a near-daily basis during his second year at the Studium. That is, until Arnkell had gotten stuck teaching one of G'raha's classes halfway through the semester - at which point he'd abruptly dissolved their arrangement and... never spoken to G'raha again.

G'raha went dry-mouthed at the sight of Arnkell, who was somehow even hotter than he'd remembered. For one, he was tall, even for a Highlander, with tawny brown skin, piercing hazel eyes, and a lean, wiry build. His long black hair, neatly braided, was now streaked with premature grey at the temples, making him look sexily distinguished.
They stared at each other for a long moment before Arnkell swallowed hard and set his books on the next table. His gaze flicked to the book across from G'raha as he slowly took a seat. Since Arnkell didn't seem inclined to actually approach, G'raha shrugged unhappily at him and went back to his notes.

He was pathetically grateful for the interruption a few minutes later when a Hyur man of indeterminate extraction dropped into the seat across from him. "Looking for some research assistance?" the stranger asked with a significant glance down at the book.

Arnkell was very deliberately Not Looking At Him.

The stranger, meanwhile, was good-looking enough. Tall, stocky, and fair, with saturnine features and the effortless arrogance of a Studium professor. (His face was vaguely familiar, now that G'raha considered it... Antiquities? Archaeology?)

"Yes, I could use some assistance." G'raha said decisively, closing his notebook and tucking it in his bag.

The professor's lips curved into a sly smile.

- - -

They went to the washroom, into the far stall. The professor (he didn't offer his name and G'raha didn't care enough to ask) immediately pinned him against the wall and kissed him aggressively until G'raha's head was spinning.
He whimpered when the professor broke the kiss, took his hand, and placed it on the ridge of his erection. "You're desperate for this cock. aren't you?" he breathed into G'raha's ear.

He whimpered again and nodded.

"That's a good boy," the professor murmured, face already flushed with arousal as he stepped back and started to unbutton his pants. "Show me how much you want it, then. Kneel for me."

G'raha's breath caught with excitement as he went to his knees. He kept his eyes on the professor's face as the other man opened his pants and freed his erection, and...

His dick was... fine. Average, with no real distinguishing characteristics - certainly nothing that would inspire poetry. But it was here, attached to a real flesh-and-blood person, and right now that was all that mattered.

G'raha pulled him into his mouth and started to suck him quietly, and the professor's eyes slid blissfully closed. "I want you to touch yourself."
Goodness. Alisaie and Savvel were never this bossy.

...alright, that was a lie - they were bossy, but only about things that they already knew G'raha wanted.

Still, G'raha was enjoying finally having a cock in his mouth, even if he'd have preferred it in one of his other holes, and he was far from mad about the idea of jerking off while he blew the hot, bossy professor. So he pulled away long enough to unbutton his pants and slip a hand into his drawers.

The professor took hold hold of G'raha's face, his gaze intense as he looked down. Guessing what he was after, G'raha opened his mouth wide, and the other man pulled his head into position so that he could thrust into his mouth. As the head of his cock slid past G'rahas lips, the noise he made was so reminiscent of Savvel that G'raha couldn't help but moan around the other man's cock.

"That's it." The professor fisted his hands in G'raha's hair. "Now how much of me can you take?"

He wasn't so large that it was a challenge for G'raha to relax his throat and breathe through his nose.

"I'm going to fuck that pretty little mouth of yours," the professor groaned as he started to do just that.

G'raha stroked himself, aroused by the professor's obvious enjoyment, and happily enjoyed having his face fucked until finally, the other man made a strangled little noise, shoved G'raha's mouth right against the root of his cock, and came.

A moment later, he withdrew unceremoniously and tucked himself back in. "My thanks," he said before... just...

Leaving?!

G'raha just stared, not quite comprehending what was happening until the other man was already gone.

Finally, he furiously put himself back together - which took some doing, the professor had completely ruined his hair - and stomped back out to his table, intending to give the boor a piece of his mind.

Unfortunately, both the professor and Arnkell were long gone.

G'raha growled in frustration and left.

- - -

He was still fuming about it when Savvel and Alisaie called that evening.

"So. Get a cock in you yet?" Alisaie asked, clearly expecting the answer to be no.

"Yes," G'raha answered testily.

"Oh no," Savvel said, sounding as if they were trying not to laugh. "What happened?"

"Well it started out promising," G'raha said darkly before telling them about what had happened with Professor Selfish. (He decided not to mention running into Arnkell.)

Alisaie was predictably furious on G'raha's behalf. "If we were anywhere near an aetheryte, I'd come give that guy a piece of my mind."

"I know." G'raha couldn't help but smile as he pictured her doing exactly that. "Thank you."

"I hope you're not going to let this put you off trying again?" Savvel asked delicately.

G'raha thought wistfully of Arnkell, and wished fervently that it had been him he'd been with. Arnkell would never have left him so unsatisfied. "Yes-- I mean. No. I'll try again tomorrow."

"Well, then. Gold star," Alisaie purred, her tone distinctly amorous.

G'raha's state of sexual frustration ratcheted up another notch. However, as badly as he ached to have a cock inside of him, he didn't feel like settling for his partners' imaginary cocks. "Look. Tonight, can we just... I mean. I know bottoming isn't..."

"Tell us what you want, Raha," Savvel said patiently. "And we'll talk about it if it's a problem."

"I want to hear one of you to stuff a cock in the other. I don't care who, or which hole."

Alisaie made an interested noise. "I don't fancy bottoming in a bed that's moving, but what if we took turns fucking each other's mouths?"
"Sounds perfect," G'raha and Savvel said in unison.

- - -

Jerking off while listening to his partners took the edge off in the moment. However, that night G'raha dreamed that it had been him they'd been fucking, and he woke up even more desperate than ever. He grit his teeth and got himself off as efficiently as possible, which at least afforded him a little relief, before throwing himself out of bed to start his day, promising himself that he'd definitely take a break around lunch to go to the library and make another attempt at finding a partner who could satisfy his desperate lust.

He was surprised when his linkpearl chimed with a call from Ojika just as he was sitting at his desk.

"There's someone here to see you," the Lalafell administrator said. "Says he's an old friend. Should I have him make an appointment for later?"
G'raha blinked. "No," he said slowly. "Tell him I'll be right out."

Arnkell was waiting for him in the lobby of the Annex. "I wanted to apologize for yesterday," he began hurriedly as soon as he saw G'raha. "And..." he paused awkwardly and glanced at Ojika. "And for... before that too, really."

Taken aback by this unexpected turn of events, G'raha was surprised to hear himself say, "I haven't had any breakfast yet. Would you like to join me at the Last Stand?"

Arnkell smiled happily. "That sounds wonderful."

It was a lovely day, so they walked instead of taking an aetheryte.

"I've had a lot of time to regret how I ended things," Arnkell said ruefully. "And aside from apologizing, I figure you deserve to at least know that the way things ended mostly wasn't you. I mean, during that course I took over... I definitely panicked, and I am sorry about that. But then, after it ended, I got... Well. I don't know what else to call it other than the opportunity of a lifetime. A fellowship I'd only found out about a day before the application deadline, applied for, and forgotten about. I was completely unprepared when I actually won it, and ended up boarding a ship for Eorzea three days after the end of the term.

"I thought about writing while I was away, but somehow I never managed it. And by the time I returned to Sharlyan, you'd apparently just left for Eorzea yourself. So I figured that was that."

G'raha repressed an annoyed sigh, reminding himself that he also could have written and had chosen not to. "Well. I'm glad to know that it wasn't anything I'd done, at least. And I'm happy that things seem to have worked out well for you. You're teaching at the Studium these days, I take it?"

"I am," Arnkell confirmed.

There was a break in the conversation as they arrived at the Last Stand and went about finding a table.

"What about you?" Arnkell asked awkwardly after they'd placed their orders. "How have you been?"

G'raha blinked, unsure of how to even begin answering the question. "Honestly, so much has happened to me since our time at the Studium that I don't think you'd believe me even if I knew how to explain it."

Arnkell grinned. "I don't know about that. I heard that you've taken up with the Savior of the Star, so I can only imagine what trouble they've gotten you into along the way." He paused, and his expression darkened. "Not that I should make light of that, I suppose. I was in Garlemald when the Final Days began. I can't imagine what it must have been like for you, being on the front lines and all."

G'raha grimaced. "It hasn't... there have been challenges, but. I can't say I regret them." He smiled shyly and held up his left hand to show off the ring he still wasn't used to wearing. "Savvel, Alisaie, and I..." he trailed off, unsure of how to finish the sentence.

"I'm very happy for you," Arnkell said with genuine delight.

G'raha shrugged in embarrassment. "How about you? Still single?"

Arnkell shrugged. "I'm too married my work to want a relationship, to be honest," he said easily. "My parents were both professors at the Studium before they retired from teaching and moved into pure research. And while they're brilliant academics, they were terrible partners to each other, and terrible parents, to be frank.

"So I've been quite happy sticking to short-term liaisons, especially as there are a number of people I've formed... uh. Understandings with over the years, similar to... to what we-- Well. You know." He broke off with an expressive grimace as their food arrived.
It smelled too delicious to resist. G'raha made a happy noise a the perfectly flaky crust of his egg-and-cheese pie, and Arnkell looked similarly pleased with his omelette.

"You know," G'raha ventured after a minute of awkward silence, hoping that he'd interpreted Arnkell's hesitation correctly. "Savvel, Alisaie, and I... we're. Uh. Romantically attached, but... it's not... exclusive? Savvel is the Warrior of Light, and Alisaie... well. Neither Savvel nor I could compete with a mission she'd truly set her heart on. So while.... circumstances--" Gods, what an underwhelming euphemism for his time on the First and the following chaos of the Final Days! "Have prevented me from looking elsewhere for quite a while, most recently I've found myself stuck in Sharlyan while the two of them gallivant off to the New World with Krile. And it's been... lonely."

Arnkell arched an eyebrow and smiled. "How long have they been gone?"

G'raha groaned. "Three weeks today, but it honestly feels like they've been gone three years."

"Sounds tough," Arnkell replied with wry sympathy.

G'raha wrinkled his nose and had another bite of pie. "Not nearly as tough as adventuring. I'm just doing too much paperwork and feeling horny about my partners being gone."

Arnkell's eyes twinkled. "Like I said. Sounds tough."

G'raha laughed.

There was a long pause. Then. "Listen," Arnkell said guiltily. "After how I ran out on you, I'll understand if the answer is--"

"Yes," G'raha said eagerly, not waiting for him to blunder his way to the end of the question.

Arnkell looked stymied.

G'raha snorted. "You're going to ask if I'd like to renew our understanding while we're both in Sharlyan, right? The answer is yes." He leaned forward and lowered his voice. "You don't know how desperate I've been to get someone's cock inside me, and yours would more than fit the bill."

Arnkell smiled slowly. "So that other guy..."

"Ugh." G'raha sat back and rolled his eyes with remembered indignation.

"Oh," Arnkell said, surprised. "So you didn't."

"No, I did," G'raha replied disgustedly. "Or rather, he did."

Arnkell grinned and took a long sip of his tea. "Well. I've got a meeting in twenty minutes with a student of mine, but perhaps we could meet at the library afterward?"

G'raha's mouth went suddenly dry. "That sounds perfect."

When they were finished, Arnkell paid the bill. "I owe you," he insisted when G'raha tried to pay his share, then leaned down to kiss G'raha's cheek. "See you soon," he murmured in G'raha's ear.

- - -

G'raha went straight to the library and picked out a book on Turali culture, which he took to the same table he'd had the previous day. His throbbing need made it nearly impossible to focus on the contents, but he eventually managed it, and slowly the ache between his legs faded.

Only to return with a vengeance the moment he caught sight of Arnkell.

The tall Hyur was smiling as he approached. "I had my assistant book us a private study room," he said softly, grinning when G'raha slammed his book shut and stood so fast that he almost knocked over his chair.

The room was tiny - just large enough for a sturdy table and four chairs, and entirely bare of decoration. Arnkell pinned him against the wall by the door as soon as it was closed, but unlike the professor it was clear that he was thinking about G'raha's pleasure as much as his own.
He pressed one of his strong thighs between G'raha's legs for him to grind against as they kissed, Arnkell's kisses slow and methodical, as if he expected to write a scholarly treatise about G'raha's mouth later. And it was so familiar, so nice, and so safe that G'raha felt like he was catching fire.

"Please," he moaned, clutching desperately at Arnkell's (pleasingly firm) biceps. "Please fuck me. I need you inside me right now."

Arnkell chuckled and nipped at G'raha's jaw. "That can be arranged," he murmured before stepping back.

G'raha hurriedly shucked his clothes, then sat on the edge of the table with his legs spread, watching Arnkell with undisguised impatience as he stripped far more slowly, first taking off his long scholar's coat, then his shirt, revealing a smooth expanse of well-muscled chest with only a hint of softness around the middle.

The long, thick ridge of Arnkell's cock was clearly visible through his cream-colored pants. Arnkell watched G'raha with raptor intensity as he removed his pants with teasing slowness, revealing legs that were still just as toned as G'raha remembered them. When he finally removed his drawers, sliding them down over his hips to puddle on the floor, his cock immediately bobbed free, and G'raha couldn't help but gasp at the sight of it.

It was nearly the length of G'raha's forearm from elbow to wrist, and correspondingly girthy, and G'raha knew from past experience that it would stretch him to his limit. He couldn't wait to have it inside him.

Arnkell's upper chest was already flushed as he leaned over G'raha, placing his hands on the table on either side of his thighs, and... Gods he was massive. Savvel was tall, certainly, but Arnkell was a giant - six fulms, fours ilms, and more than a full fulm taller than G'raha himself.

"How do you want me to take you?" Arnkell asked softly, clearly very eager to please - another pleasing point of dissimilarity from the professor. "Over the table? Against the wall?"

G'raha licked his lips. "Over the table sounds wonderful, but..." he glanced down at Arnkell's enormous length, which was resting heavily on his knee. "It's been three weeks, and neither of my partners are as... ah. Large as you are."

"Not many people are," Arnkell replied, smiling as he captured G'raha's lips in a soft kiss. "I can go slow and we can change positions if it's too uncomfortable?"

"Yes," G'raha replied eagerly.

Arnkell stepped back so that G'raha could lie on his stomach on the table with his legs hanging over the side. G'raha lifted his tail out of the way, expecting Arnkell to thrust into him immediately, but the other man surprised him by going to his knees instead.

"Wh-what--" G'raha gasped, shocked at the sensation of Arnkell's nose nuzzling his dick.

"Shush." Arnkell spread G'raha's legs wider with his enormous hands. "You said it's been a while, and I want you to enjoy yourself."

G'raha had to clasp his hands tightly over his mouth to keep from making noise as Arnkell started lapping at him with his tongue. The tall scholar remembered exactly how G'raha liked it, and shortly had him writhing in pleasure.

"Please," G'raha whimpered. "Please. Please just put it in, I'm so close."

Arnkell groaned, stood, and positioned the head of his enormous cock at G'raha's entrance. "Tell me when to stop," he murmured as he slowly thrust into him, and...

Gods he was so much to take.

G'raha really didn't want him to stop, but when he made a small involuntary noise of discomfort, Arnkell did anyway.

"You okay?"

G'raha nodded. "Keep going. Just... go slowly."

Arnkell made a soft noise of acknowledgement and resumed pushing forward, the stretch as G'raha was forced to accommodate his girth both uncomfortable and glorious. He stopped to let G'raha breathe after he'd taken what felt like several more fulms. "A little more than halfway," Arnkell said.

"I want all of you," G'raha said impatiently, ignoring the small voice that insisted his cock would never fit by reminding it that it had - lots of times. And he needed this, Gods did he need this.

G'raha whimpered in frustration when Arnkell pulled nearly entirely out before reversing course to fill and fill and fill him.
"Yes," G'raha exhaled. "Yes... gods, yes..."

This was what he'd been craving. He'd gotten so used to being stuffed full of Savvel and Alisaie's cocks - either as they fucked both of his lower holes, or fucked him from both ends. He hadn't realized that that feeling of fullness was what he'd been craving so desperately until this moment, as Arnkell's huge cock filled him so completely.

Arnkell leaned over him, braced his weight on his elbows as he covered G'raha with his enormous bulk, and kissed the back of his neck. "You feel so good."

G'raha shivered. "Is it all the way in?"

"Not quite." Arnkell slid out an ilm, then back in the same length, and the stretch was nearly all pleasure now.

"Give it to me," G'raha demanded.

Arnkell stood, took hold of G'raha's hips and withdrew entirely, making G'raha gasp at the sudden shocking emptiness. And then he fucked back in, pushing forward in one smooth thrust until he had buried himself completely. G'raha was almost choking in his effort not to cry out in ecstasy, and then Arnkell gave one final little push, and G'raha couldn't help himself.

He clutched the table top in a death grip, opened his mouth in a silent scream, and came.

"Gods," Arnkell groaned. "You weren't kidding about how badly you needed this."

"N-no," G'raha slurred.

"We've got the room for another twenty minutes. I'll take my time, and we'll see if I can't get you to come again."

Arnkell patiently held himself to a maddeningly slow pace as he fucked G'raha with long, even strokes. And despite that G'raha almost never came from penetration alone, the dizzying pleasure of Arnkell's massive cock as it stretched and dragged against him was so incredible that touching himself would have been too much to bear.

He was close by the time that Arnkell started to lose the rhythm of his thrusts. "Gods," he gasped, his hands tightening convulsively on G'raha's hips. "Sorry, I-I can't..."

"Do it," G'raha gasped, pushing back to meet Arnkell's thrusts. "Come inside me."

Arnkell choked back a moan of pleasure as he thrust hard into G'raha a handful more times and came. The warm rush of his spend and the feeling of Arnkell's massive cock pulsing inside him finally pushed G'raha over the edge once more, and he convulsed with delicious agony as he came so hard he saw stars.

When it was over, Arnkell leaned forward, once more bracing his weight on his elbows. His breath was warm against the back of G'raha's neck as they both trembled and panted through the aftershocks. "This is nice," Arnkell said softly. Then, tentatively, as though he wasn't sure it would be welcome. "I missed this."

G'raha chuckled. "Me too."

Arnkell laughed quietly and withdrew. The feeling of cold air, was shocking, as was the warm dribble of Arkell's spend leaking out of him, and couldn't help but jump when a cloth was pressed against him. "I came prepared."

G'raha winced, realizing that he was starting to be rather sore, and murmured a healing cantrip as the larger man cleaned him up. "Thank you."

"I made the mess," Arnkell pointed out with good humor. "Only fair I should clean it up."

- - -

They left holding hands, and walked to sit on a bench under a nearby tree.

"How long are you in Sharlyan?" G'raha asked shyly.

"Until the end of the semester, so... A little less than a month."

G'raha took a deep breath. "You said that you've had other... ah... understandings, but. If... I'd like..."

Arnkell smiled and squeezed his hand. "I do have someone I'm seeing at the moment, but... what we have is very different, and this... you, I mean. It was... incredible."

G'raha blushed. "So, you're saying we could..."

"I think I can help you rectify your tragic state of cock starvation," Arnkell teased, laughing when G'raha's blush deepened. "The only caveat being that my schedule is rather full, and I don't want to neglect my other partner."

"I don't have any other partners, but..." G'raha sighed as he thought of the amount of work waiting for him back at the Annex. "My schedule is rather full as well. The Students keep me very busy."

Arnkell smiled ruefully. "I can imagine." He reached into his pocket for a notebook, scribbled a linkpearl code onto a corner of a page, and tore it off to give to G'raha. "I can have my assistant talk to your assistant about finding us some time? I don't think I can promise every day, but... I want to make the most of the time we have while we're both here."

G'raha beamed and tucked the paper safely into his pocket. "That sounds wonderful."

Arnkell leaned down to kiss his cheek. "I'm... really glad we got to do this."

"Me too." G'raha looked up, and the uncertainty he saw in the other man's eyes gave him the courage to be vulnerable. "Don't take this the wrong way, but... I like you a lot."

"Me too," Arnkell said softly. He hesitated before continuing guiltily. "I never reached out because I was too worried about our difference in status, but now... Well. If anything, the balance has tipped rather in your favor, and... I mean. Once this is over..."

G'raha was smiling so widely that his face hurt. "I'd like to be friends, too, if that's what you're asking."

"It is," Arnkell said, relieved. "And this time I'll stay in touch. I promise."

- - -

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