(no subject)
“Tell you, whatever the hell this is, it’s bloody heavy …” Bodie’s voice echoed from the bottom of the stairs and Charlie cackled, tossing a stray dry bit of twig at him. The little plant in their bedroom was dead. He was a plant killer. Nothing survived for long around Cori. He’d condemned the plant to a fortnight of agony and then it had died. Poor plant.
“Just put it over there,” he said and almost walked into Bodie as he staggered with the huge wooden box. “Don’t drop it!” arms out, the box wobbled and together they managed to set it on the carpet with a minimum of broken toes or possibly broken antique wood. “That was my granny’s you know.”
“Then your granny was six foot nine with logs for arms,” Bodie grumbled, rubbing his fingers, trying to get more feeling back into them. Charlie took one of them and sucked on it for a bit. That seemed to get feeling into the wrong parts, however, and he had to swat Bodie away to avoid being grabbed and wrestled to the bed.
“NO!” he stood on the other side of the box, grinning and holding up a finger. “Don’t you dare. You promised. Be serious for a bit.”
Bodie nodded solemnly. With his eyes crossed.
“I’m going to hurt you.”
“Wouldn’t.”
“Would.”
Bodie pouted.
“Won’t work. You promised.” Charlie grinned and went to his knees. The box was dark cherry wood, and even though it was ages (probably quite literally) old, it still shined like new. The polished finish caught the light. He ran his hand over the golden catches and they flicked open for him. “Gimme a hand?”
“Offered you two and you said you’d hurt me,” Bodie grinned and rocked back on his heels.
“Boooooooooodie …”
“Mm?”
“Pwease?”
“And cawwots?”
“Oh, sod off.”
Unable to completely hide the grin, Charlie shoved the lid off of the box and leant back. The box unpacked itself. He could see Bodie’s feet step back a little as the little table seemed to pop out of nowhere. It built, one part at a time, until it stood waist high.
“Bloody hell.”
“What?”
“No wonder it was heavy. Could have done me back in with that!”
Charlie made a tutting noise and stood back up, lifting the lid and sliding it under the bed. He could use that later on but it didn’t make much sense to leave it where they’d trip over it. That went for the altar, too, however, and so Charlie slid it back a few steps until it was against the wall.
“Not … too much in the way is it?” he asked hopefully. If Bodie said it was unsightly then it went. And so did the rest of the afternoons plans. Like putting everything on the altar and trying to explain to Bodie why he was cluttering up one side of their bedroom.
“Doesn’t matter to me, love.” Bodie’s hands slid down his arms and back up, settling on his shoulders, assessing the table. “If a bit of furniture makes you happy …”
“It’s not exactly furniture,” Charlie explained, leaning back against Bodie’s chest and grinning at him, evidently very pleased by the fact that he hadn’t hated it instantly. “If I use the word ‘altar’ will you freak out on me?”
“Maybe. Depends on what you’re praying to,” Bodie’s eyebrows furrowed. Charlie had never mentioned being religious. Bodie believed solely in himself and liked it that way. The idea that his fiancé could hold some deity in higher regard than him obviously bothered him.
“I’m not praying to anything. Let … here, let me explain.” Charlie pushed them back a few steps and they landed with a little bounce on the bed. They talked a lot, in the dark where they couldn’t see, where all they had were words and warm arms. It wasn’t dark right now but he hoped that the formula would work the same.
Bodie was at least paying attention to him, blue eyes trained on his face. That encouraged him a little bit. “Okay … my magic. I’m born with it. It’s natural. It’s not something that you can learn, it’s not a talent some people have. It’s in all of us. Sometimes it skips a generation, but we’ve never been exactly sure why.” Bodie nodded. That much he’d been told before.
“Now … there’s technically two types of magic. Well … I say technically loosely, you understand because it’s like one lollypop that comes in two different flavours.” A cheeky look passed over Bodie’s face but Charlie slapped his arse and he coughed, clearing it. But his eyes were crinkled with mirth. “Prat.”
“Can I try the lolly?” Bodie was as innocent as you like, batting eyelashes and keeping his face impassive like a pro.
“If you’re a very good boy I might let you have a little lick,” Charlie purred and he trailed his tongue along Bodie’s jaw line, tickling the little spot just below his ear that made him shiver. And gave Charlie total silence. “If you behave, mind. If you don’t, you won’t even get to see it. Understand?”
“Yes, Charlie,” the reply was instant and a little eager but it was obvious Bodie was trying. To understand this, to be good. He had promised that morning that he’d listen. He’d also said, ‘But I can’t promise I’ll get it, dragonsweet, you know that right?’ and Charlie had nodded. But he hoped, with all his heart, that maybe one day everything would fit.
“So … right. There’s the kind of magic I do every day, the summoning things across the rooms and the keeping your dinner warm,” that got him a little kiss on the temple, “And the instant curses and whatnot I need to deal with dragons … the average stuff. Of course, the average stuff goes a long way.”
Bodie nodded again. “I follow.”
“But there’s a slightly different kind. Our entire world is magic. And I literally mean that. You’ve heard of power points and woods being cursed or enchanted … you know?”
“Yeah … wait, so … lemme get this right.” Bodie held up a hand. “There’s some magic in everything and it’s different from what’s in you?”
Charlie beamed. “Almost right. It’s not exactly different, it just works differently. In our world there’s spells, books of them, that’ve been passed down from generation to generation. Every one of these spells we use draws on outside magic - -”
“I get it,” Bodie’s face lit up, like someone had flicked a switch. “Sometimes for the big spells you need more magic than you have and you …” he waved a hand indistinctly. “Borrow it?”
“I could kiss you,” Charlie grinned.
“What’s stopping you?” Bodie asked smugly.
Charlie rolled him onto his back and slid on top of him to sit on his hips. It was one of their favourite positions, this. With Bodie on his back, Charlie had complete control. He’d often wait in the bedroom, lubed up, and Bodie would lay down for him just so Charlie could ride his cock, long and hard and groaning. Because of that, it made them comfortable. It was familiar.
“Because if I kiss you, I might not stop.”
“No objections here.”
“I didn’t think there would be.” Charlie gently stroked his cheek, across the damp mark that he’d left with his tongue. “You’re taking this much better than I expected you to, you know?”
“Well, it all makes sense so far. You still haven’t told me what you were praying to.” Bodie grinned and ducked the swipe that came sailing for the side of his head.
“Every time I do a big spell, one that requires chanting and the whole bit,” he ploughed on regardless of Bodie’s snickering, “I have to cast a circle and when I cast a circle, I start borrowing magic. So at the beginning, before I do the spell, I do an offering. Like … berries and bread and wine - -”
“I like the wine.”
“- - things like that, to offer a thanks for what I had to take.”
Bodie frowned. “But … there isn’t anyone there to say tavery, we appreciate it, is there? I mean … if you don’t pray to anyone …”
Charlie smiled, “That’s where it starts to get a bit complicated again. See, we believe in what we call the Goddess or the Great Lady and her God. Now before you think it, it’s not like being Catholic or whatever it is in your world. They don’t have a face and they were never physical beings and we don’t believe that they rule over us or cast our fate or anything.”
Bodie looked mildly relieved. “What do you believe then?”
“The Goddess is in everything. The trees and the sea and the grass and the animals … she is the earth. Is it … Mother Nature, you call it?”
Bodie nodded.
“See? Just a different name for the same thing. She gives life and she provides us with the magic that we need to borrow.”
“So what does the God or whatever you call him do?”
“He takes life away.”
Bodie was getting steadily more dubious and Charlie could tell so he waved a hand. “Please don’t judge it, just listen to me, try to understand it a little. We don’t believe in deities, but we do use the God and the Goddess as representations. The Goddess gives life in the spring. The God takes it away in the autumn.”
That seemed to go down better. “So when you do these … ritual things … you just say thanks to nature for lending you the stuff you need? You’re not … getting down on your knees and saying Amen … you’re just …” there went that hand again.
“Saying, ‘Cheers, I appreciate it.’”
“Yeh.” Bodie blinked. “Oh. Well. That’s not so bad then.”
“See?” Charlie rocked a little. Happy. That Bodie was making an obvious effort to try to understand what he must see as something very odd and alien to him.
“Saw a couple of things in Africa,” Bodie offered in an offhand manner. “White paint, dancing around a fire with snakes and stuff.” He squinted. “None of that, right?”
“Hell no. Voodoo? I think not, babe.”
“Good. ‘s fine then.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeh.”
“Will you maybe … stay for a few of them? I mean, you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. I’d only ever ask you to light some candles and stuff but …”
“Do I get to drink the Sacred Wine?”
Charlie cracked up. “Yes.”
Bodie grinned. “Right then.”
Charlie leant down and kissed Bodie very softly on the forehead. “I love you, Bodie. Very, very much.”
Hands came around his waist, arms holding him. “Love you too, Charlie. Even if you do run around in the buff muttering to the plants.”
That resulted in possibly the most vicious tickle fest they’d ever had.
“Just put it over there,” he said and almost walked into Bodie as he staggered with the huge wooden box. “Don’t drop it!” arms out, the box wobbled and together they managed to set it on the carpet with a minimum of broken toes or possibly broken antique wood. “That was my granny’s you know.”
“Then your granny was six foot nine with logs for arms,” Bodie grumbled, rubbing his fingers, trying to get more feeling back into them. Charlie took one of them and sucked on it for a bit. That seemed to get feeling into the wrong parts, however, and he had to swat Bodie away to avoid being grabbed and wrestled to the bed.
“NO!” he stood on the other side of the box, grinning and holding up a finger. “Don’t you dare. You promised. Be serious for a bit.”
Bodie nodded solemnly. With his eyes crossed.
“I’m going to hurt you.”
“Wouldn’t.”
“Would.”
Bodie pouted.
“Won’t work. You promised.” Charlie grinned and went to his knees. The box was dark cherry wood, and even though it was ages (probably quite literally) old, it still shined like new. The polished finish caught the light. He ran his hand over the golden catches and they flicked open for him. “Gimme a hand?”
“Offered you two and you said you’d hurt me,” Bodie grinned and rocked back on his heels.
“Boooooooooodie …”
“Mm?”
“Pwease?”
“And cawwots?”
“Oh, sod off.”
Unable to completely hide the grin, Charlie shoved the lid off of the box and leant back. The box unpacked itself. He could see Bodie’s feet step back a little as the little table seemed to pop out of nowhere. It built, one part at a time, until it stood waist high.
“Bloody hell.”
“What?”
“No wonder it was heavy. Could have done me back in with that!”
Charlie made a tutting noise and stood back up, lifting the lid and sliding it under the bed. He could use that later on but it didn’t make much sense to leave it where they’d trip over it. That went for the altar, too, however, and so Charlie slid it back a few steps until it was against the wall.
“Not … too much in the way is it?” he asked hopefully. If Bodie said it was unsightly then it went. And so did the rest of the afternoons plans. Like putting everything on the altar and trying to explain to Bodie why he was cluttering up one side of their bedroom.
“Doesn’t matter to me, love.” Bodie’s hands slid down his arms and back up, settling on his shoulders, assessing the table. “If a bit of furniture makes you happy …”
“It’s not exactly furniture,” Charlie explained, leaning back against Bodie’s chest and grinning at him, evidently very pleased by the fact that he hadn’t hated it instantly. “If I use the word ‘altar’ will you freak out on me?”
“Maybe. Depends on what you’re praying to,” Bodie’s eyebrows furrowed. Charlie had never mentioned being religious. Bodie believed solely in himself and liked it that way. The idea that his fiancé could hold some deity in higher regard than him obviously bothered him.
“I’m not praying to anything. Let … here, let me explain.” Charlie pushed them back a few steps and they landed with a little bounce on the bed. They talked a lot, in the dark where they couldn’t see, where all they had were words and warm arms. It wasn’t dark right now but he hoped that the formula would work the same.
Bodie was at least paying attention to him, blue eyes trained on his face. That encouraged him a little bit. “Okay … my magic. I’m born with it. It’s natural. It’s not something that you can learn, it’s not a talent some people have. It’s in all of us. Sometimes it skips a generation, but we’ve never been exactly sure why.” Bodie nodded. That much he’d been told before.
“Now … there’s technically two types of magic. Well … I say technically loosely, you understand because it’s like one lollypop that comes in two different flavours.” A cheeky look passed over Bodie’s face but Charlie slapped his arse and he coughed, clearing it. But his eyes were crinkled with mirth. “Prat.”
“Can I try the lolly?” Bodie was as innocent as you like, batting eyelashes and keeping his face impassive like a pro.
“If you’re a very good boy I might let you have a little lick,” Charlie purred and he trailed his tongue along Bodie’s jaw line, tickling the little spot just below his ear that made him shiver. And gave Charlie total silence. “If you behave, mind. If you don’t, you won’t even get to see it. Understand?”
“Yes, Charlie,” the reply was instant and a little eager but it was obvious Bodie was trying. To understand this, to be good. He had promised that morning that he’d listen. He’d also said, ‘But I can’t promise I’ll get it, dragonsweet, you know that right?’ and Charlie had nodded. But he hoped, with all his heart, that maybe one day everything would fit.
“So … right. There’s the kind of magic I do every day, the summoning things across the rooms and the keeping your dinner warm,” that got him a little kiss on the temple, “And the instant curses and whatnot I need to deal with dragons … the average stuff. Of course, the average stuff goes a long way.”
Bodie nodded again. “I follow.”
“But there’s a slightly different kind. Our entire world is magic. And I literally mean that. You’ve heard of power points and woods being cursed or enchanted … you know?”
“Yeah … wait, so … lemme get this right.” Bodie held up a hand. “There’s some magic in everything and it’s different from what’s in you?”
Charlie beamed. “Almost right. It’s not exactly different, it just works differently. In our world there’s spells, books of them, that’ve been passed down from generation to generation. Every one of these spells we use draws on outside magic - -”
“I get it,” Bodie’s face lit up, like someone had flicked a switch. “Sometimes for the big spells you need more magic than you have and you …” he waved a hand indistinctly. “Borrow it?”
“I could kiss you,” Charlie grinned.
“What’s stopping you?” Bodie asked smugly.
Charlie rolled him onto his back and slid on top of him to sit on his hips. It was one of their favourite positions, this. With Bodie on his back, Charlie had complete control. He’d often wait in the bedroom, lubed up, and Bodie would lay down for him just so Charlie could ride his cock, long and hard and groaning. Because of that, it made them comfortable. It was familiar.
“Because if I kiss you, I might not stop.”
“No objections here.”
“I didn’t think there would be.” Charlie gently stroked his cheek, across the damp mark that he’d left with his tongue. “You’re taking this much better than I expected you to, you know?”
“Well, it all makes sense so far. You still haven’t told me what you were praying to.” Bodie grinned and ducked the swipe that came sailing for the side of his head.
“Every time I do a big spell, one that requires chanting and the whole bit,” he ploughed on regardless of Bodie’s snickering, “I have to cast a circle and when I cast a circle, I start borrowing magic. So at the beginning, before I do the spell, I do an offering. Like … berries and bread and wine - -”
“I like the wine.”
“- - things like that, to offer a thanks for what I had to take.”
Bodie frowned. “But … there isn’t anyone there to say tavery, we appreciate it, is there? I mean … if you don’t pray to anyone …”
Charlie smiled, “That’s where it starts to get a bit complicated again. See, we believe in what we call the Goddess or the Great Lady and her God. Now before you think it, it’s not like being Catholic or whatever it is in your world. They don’t have a face and they were never physical beings and we don’t believe that they rule over us or cast our fate or anything.”
Bodie looked mildly relieved. “What do you believe then?”
“The Goddess is in everything. The trees and the sea and the grass and the animals … she is the earth. Is it … Mother Nature, you call it?”
Bodie nodded.
“See? Just a different name for the same thing. She gives life and she provides us with the magic that we need to borrow.”
“So what does the God or whatever you call him do?”
“He takes life away.”
Bodie was getting steadily more dubious and Charlie could tell so he waved a hand. “Please don’t judge it, just listen to me, try to understand it a little. We don’t believe in deities, but we do use the God and the Goddess as representations. The Goddess gives life in the spring. The God takes it away in the autumn.”
That seemed to go down better. “So when you do these … ritual things … you just say thanks to nature for lending you the stuff you need? You’re not … getting down on your knees and saying Amen … you’re just …” there went that hand again.
“Saying, ‘Cheers, I appreciate it.’”
“Yeh.” Bodie blinked. “Oh. Well. That’s not so bad then.”
“See?” Charlie rocked a little. Happy. That Bodie was making an obvious effort to try to understand what he must see as something very odd and alien to him.
“Saw a couple of things in Africa,” Bodie offered in an offhand manner. “White paint, dancing around a fire with snakes and stuff.” He squinted. “None of that, right?”
“Hell no. Voodoo? I think not, babe.”
“Good. ‘s fine then.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeh.”
“Will you maybe … stay for a few of them? I mean, you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. I’d only ever ask you to light some candles and stuff but …”
“Do I get to drink the Sacred Wine?”
Charlie cracked up. “Yes.”
Bodie grinned. “Right then.”
Charlie leant down and kissed Bodie very softly on the forehead. “I love you, Bodie. Very, very much.”
Hands came around his waist, arms holding him. “Love you too, Charlie. Even if you do run around in the buff muttering to the plants.”
That resulted in possibly the most vicious tickle fest they’d ever had.