La-Bastille

Verse Sept - Mischievous liaisons

Verse Sept – Mischievous liaisons

In my years out on the field, I never once saw color. The air was gray, the waters were black, and the earth was soiled. Why is that with just one touch, from you, I see everything in color. As if death has found a way for its own life to be restored. In your eyes, I see the truth of all that is good and evil.

I don’t think anybody has ever measured the full extent of love, nor how much emotion our hearts can hold. And so, Cid McKinley, I ask you only one thing—will you give me your hands, my love? They’re the only things I wanna hold. Because with the joining of our hands...and so will our hearts.

—Dominic Reinhardt, Soldier, American citizen, USO Show, Camp Show 1947

Young love.

Can there be anything more beautiful.

Can there be anything more beautiful than the sight of a young couple in love...holding hands...kissing with passion...and just loving one another?

Why yes.

Why yes there is.

There’s a kind of love more beautiful than that.

It is the kind of love that transcends youth, and time.

Old love.

It is the most beautiful of all.

Is there anything more beautiful than the sight of an old couple, aged, and yet holding one another so close...kissing the wrinkled lines on each other’s faces...smiling in the memories of their youth, with their hearts tired and worn, but still devoted to a love that never dies.

So yes, indeed, there is something more beautiful than young love. Old love. A love that is timeless. A love that stands strong. One that transcends time. The one that never let go.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

With his parents’ blessing, Cid ventures to La Bastille with Tinky in tow. They go up a hundred floors to where Dominic is waiting at the officer station.

The boy is getting filled with anticipation and joy. A flare of emotions so new to him that he can’t help but feel giddy for something he doesn’t have a name for.

Cid goes through the normal routine of climbing ladders and entering ventilation shafts. An effort that he doesn’t give mind to doing, for he knows that the person waiting for him on the other side is well worth the tiresome exhaustion.

He sneaks out undetected like always, cameras panning and scanning but returning with no red light or message of warning. Tinkerton is bleep-bopping by his side, projecting complaints in 3D how it’s a bad idea to date a man whose hormonal readings the robot didn’t like.

‘Mr. Reinhardt is a horny man I tell you! Keep away from horny man. Keep away from horny man. Keep away from horny man! Keep away!’

“Don’t be like that, Tinky. He’s a good man. And besides, how bad is horny anyway?” he rests one hand on hip and assumes a demanding stance. “Dictionary. Search horny. Now.”

‘Err, err, it’s best you don’t know.’

“You tell me to keep away, but you don’t tell me what it is.”

‘Oh, ho ho trust me. You’ll find out soon enough. And when that happens, I’ll revel in the words I told you so. LOL.’

“Ssuuure.” Cid drawls, mocking the automaton in a jokey manner.

Like a habit he has gotten used to, Cid pulls clothes dangling from a balcony. “Tinky, remind me to return the clothes later, alright?” he says to the wily robot, to which Tinkerton responds with a conniving bleep-bop of assurance. “I’m serious. We’re only borrowing.”

Cid wears what he can get his hands on, not understanding how to work the clothes with their interesting shapes and sizes.

“This feels odd,” he observes. “It’s tight around the body but frilly at the bottom. Do I look okay to you?”

‘You look like a ho ho HO ho.’

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

‘Err, err, nothing. I’m malfunctioning.’

Cid smoothes the fringed layer over his knees. “Now, I wonder where Dominic is. He’s not in the officer station like he promised. Can you spot him?”

Luckily, Cid doesn’t have to look far. Dom is doing his rounds nearby, uniformed from head to toe, looking like a dapper chap with his chest puffed out and his brooding demeanor sensual, smoldering and hot. Dominic is not your run-of-the-mill good-looking guy. He’s uniquely handsome in his own way, brusque in a lot of ways, and always has an air of understated pride which makes him the perfect soldier. He always looks aware, but also relaxed.

He chances upon the little one. And with the friendly wave of a hand and a holler the two are reunited. Their warm smiles of anticipation rekindle the burning passion that neither one of them are aware of. Soon they will know the meaning behind these smiles. Soon they will know that fate smiles upon their reunion. For it is the start of Time’s mischievous liaison.

Dom’s at a loss for words at the enigmatic choice of clothes Cid has managed to pull off. He closes the distance between them with purposeful strides. “You made it.”

“How can I not?” the boy replies, his smile nothing but genuine. “Where do you plan to take me?”

The soldier can’t help but smirk. He smiles wolfishly, big and wide. The boy tilts his head a little, a small V of question between his brows, not understanding the man’s reaction.

If only Cid comprehends the nuances of language, and how his words can be interpreted in so many ways. Then he’ll know why the good officer pulls a loaded smile or a wistful glance whenever he speaks with such veiled innocence.

Dom unloads a heavy sigh. “I’ll be taking you in public...where a lot of people can watch.” He bites his lower lip as his cheekbones inflate with mischief at the hidden meaning behind his own words.

“Sounds exciting.” Cid beams, unaware of the innuendo, feeling pride as he, Dominic and Tinky board the walkalator.

The boy perches Tinkerton in his arms, breathing-in the overwhelming panorama of La Bastille as they travel the service walkalator. He can’t help but admire the futuristic landscape, and how flying cars weave and intersect in the skylines without so much as missing a beat. He’s not from around here, but he feels like he’s part of La Bastille all along. It’s not easy to belong, but it’s not difficult to blend in either.

Dominic can’t remember the last time he took someone out on a date. He’s hardly had any practice in age-old courtship. All he ever relied on when it comes to dating is his charm, dumb wit, and seductive hands. However, none of these things can help him now. For the boy standing before him is an innocent child. One who’s proving to be incorruptible, even when faced with the most corrupted acts.

Cid may be of legal age, but his s****l maturity lags behind. Thus, a mischievous wink, or a sly touch of hand from the patrolling officer are but kind gestures to the young lad. Cid is yet to understand that a man’s touch means more, especially coming from someone older and more mature. But for now he’s innocent. He need not know what a man’s touch is capable of. Especially Dom’s.

It’s a bright and pleasant day in La Bastille like it always is. The only thing that is unpleasant are the snooty teenagers who can easily spot things that are out of place.

“You transient...you don’t belong here,” says one girl who's holding a Cadmium 2089, a jellyfish-looking pet automaton made of prized ceramic crystal, molded to look like a tripod, hovering in the air thanks to its anti-gravity modification. “And your robot...it’s ugly.”

“Hey hey, manners, kid!” Dom retorts in defense, noticing how the young girl’s words put a dent on Cid’s liveliness and enthusiasm. The boy’s smile has faded, and it’s something Dominic doesn’t like seeing. “You apologize to him right now!”

The girl scoffs, flips her hair and raises an eyebrow. “You’re just a dirty old cop. And he’s just a fag. The gods will rain hell upon your souls and tear both of you from limb to limb. I need not apologize to such hellish damnation. Ugh!”

Dominic flares up. “Why you little—”

Tinkerton projects a hologram in response. It doesn’t like getting ridiculed. More so his master. And so it projects an image screaming f**k YOU!

“Oh My God!” shrieks the girl in disgust. “That’s the sickest and most vile thing ever! Get away from me! Just get away!” Tinkerton starts squirting motor oil into the hair of the snooty brat to make her go away. And that she does as she glides down the walkalator with haste, her Cadmium 2089 hovering aimlessly in the air behind her, offering no consolation.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Cid frowns at Tinkerton, the boy’s body visibly deflating. “She was just telling the truth. Indeed I’m transient...and a fag, aren’t I?”

“Hey, hey...forget what she said.” Dom consoles the boy by pulling him closer by the shoulders, closer to his comfort and caress. “How do you even know what fag means?”

Cid shrugs. “I don’t need to know what it means. I just know that it’s a bad thing. I just...I just know when a word is bad when people say it with hatred. Good words you say with a smile. Bad words you say with a frown.”

Dominic’s heart pulls tight in his chest. He feels for the boy. Last he felt this way was with Freya, his little sister. He was always so protective of her. However, this time it’s different. He feels more than just wanting to serve and protect. He feels a compelling need to look after the young man, and it’s almost uncharacteristic of him—a sense of purpose, the need to really care for someone.

“Cheer up.” Dom clasps Cid’s chin to make the boy look up. “I’ll take you to see Grand Avenue & Central. We’ll ride the sky tram to get there. There’s food and shopping in those places. So, forget about that girl. She ain’t worth your tears.”

“I’m not crying.” Cid wipes a lone tear then smiles. Dom chuckles at the boy’s attempt to disguise his stubbornness. “Why are you laughing?”

Dom breaks into a smile. “Nothing. I’m just happy.”

“What’s making you happy?”

“You.”

“Oh.”

Tinkerton bleep-bops, stubbing its way to wedge between the feet of the two who pay him no attention.

‘Mr. Reinhardt’s vitals, spiking. Hormones elevating. Heart racing. Desire intensifying. MASTER! I WILL TELL YOU THIS ONE LAST TIME! Warning! Keep away from horny man. Keep away from horny man. Keep away from horny man! Keep awayyy!’

“Your robot really doesn’t like me huh?”

Cid chortles. “He’s just playing. Besides, what I don’t know can’t hurt me, right? Or am I being too naïve?” he exhales a long sigh. “Well...I don’t think I want to know what horny means. And even if you are, sir, I don’t think you’re capable of hurting me with your horny.” He shakes a finger and taps Dom’s nose in the most adorable manner, making the man wrinkle his nose.

“Hurt you? Nah, I don’t think I can.” Dom smiles, though behind the smile hides the memory of their last encounter with the Atticus, and the incident of their first meeting before that.

Internally, he bristles. There’s still more to Cid he doesn’t know about. He knows that sooner or later he needs to uncover the mystery behind the golden boy. His abilities, whether engineered or god-given, are a threat to La Bastille’s security. Dom may be safeguarding the boy because he fancies him, but he also has a duty to uphold. And that responsibility is something he hasn’t forgotten. He needs to know more.

They soon reach the end of the service walkalator, after which they hook a wide left near the canyon overlooking the Academy to make their way to the boarding platforms of the sky tram.

The two share wistful smiles and meaningful glances as they stand in comfortable silence, in a sea of random people, each with their own purpose for taking the sky tram—either to get to work, to dock at a platform where another tram waits, or to simply sight-see and pass the time. “Dominic, are you sure it’s okay you tag along a transient like me?” the boy asks, concerned about Dom’s disposition.

“You’re not a transient.” Dom rights the boy’s words. “You have every right to belong here, just like the rest. Just follow my lead. I’ll teach you everything there is to know to becoming one of us.”

A floating display prompts the arrival of the sky tram, boosting Cid’s excitement and in effect reinvigorates Dominic’s anticipation in sharing some quality time with his young, hot date. Dom has ridden the sky tram more times than he can count. But the experience feels like the first time as he shares it with his little one.

Old things, when experienced with someone special, feels like the first time. The steel snake curves its way down to fit into position, its mechanical doors slide open to service its many passengers.

On top of each open doorway is a wide-lensed oval camera, with a red dot moving from side to side, like an eye that is watching, almost predatory at first glance. It hangs at an angle that can take in the expanse of the entire docking platform. “Cid, move back, turn and face me.” Dom whispers conspiratorially.

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“You don’t have a pass. I don’t wanna risk it.” The boy backs and turns. “Place your feet over mine, and then wrap your arms around my waist.”

Cid does what he’s told. Their bodies make contact and almost immediately warmth begins to spread. Such a comforting warmth that Cid isn’t expecting. He has never been this close with anyone. He smells the heat of Dominic’s body. It’s both masculine and alluring. A scent that gives him a tingly feeling he cannot explain. So tactile that it touches the skin.

Dom quietly shivers, feeling the starting embers of a fire that is being ignited in every little part of his body, enveloping every little space. The boy leans his face into Dominic’s torso, pressing their bodies that much closer as he slowly lifts his knees to place his feet over Dominic’s. Every inch of his young, innocent body is completely submitting to mold in perfect alignment against the much bigger man. His body is becoming keen of the sensation, a feeling that his young mind is yet to understand.

Dom steadies his breathing as he looks up to get his retinas scanned by the cameras, holding Cid’s head down, hiding the boy in his jacket as they both step inside one foot at a time. Once inside, the man slowly eases the boy away from his hot body, already missing the contact. “You okay kid?”

Cid exhales. “Yes, but isn’t what we did called cheating?”

“How is that cheating?” Dom quirks an eyebrow.

The tram starts to move, the unexpected force nudging the boy back into the soldier’s warm body which makes him giggle. “It’s cheating because I always get stuff for free around here.”

Dom grins. “It’s not cheating when you do it with me.”

Cid ponders. “Oh I see it now. Now I understand why the girl called you a dirty cop.”

“Heh, why’s that? What makes me a dirty cop?”

“You do some bad things...” Cid smiles. “...to make others feel good about themselves.”

“Well...” Dom drags a smile and surreptitiously rubs their bodies together. “...I’m a dirty, dirty cop then.”

“Indeed you are.” Cid tries for a wink. “So, how long am I riding this?”

“Oh...you can ride it as long as you want.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“Yeah, me too.”

During the ride, people gather to hop onto their stops, leaving vacant seats for those who are standing. Dominic looks around. Most of the settees are still occupied, except for one. And so he leads the boy to sit with him on the one available spot.

“You may have to sit on my lap. It’s a long ride.” Dom says. “I hope you don’t mind us sharing.”

Cid shakes his head. “No, no, not at all,” he replies quickly with a warm smile. “You’re the boss.”

Dom swallows his beating heart, sits down, and gestures on his open lap. Cid gives it no mind and allows the man to grab his waist to sit him down. The boy settles himself, snug and tight. Dom can feel the boy’s shapely butt and the spreading of his pale thighs. Cid exhales a breathy moan. What it means, Dominic doesn’t know. But he can tell that the boy is visibly more relaxed sitting down than standing up.

The boy’s weight is glorious, and the pressure that goes with the feeling is hard to ignore. Whatever sensation Dom’s trying to suppress is now out of control. His growing arousal filling the space between them, and it’s causing him the most delicious form of discomfort. He clears his throat and connects his hands around the boy’s stomach, his nose secretly pressing lightly into the boy’s hair for a quick sniff or two. “Dom, tell me what I’m seeing.” Cid gestures to the architecture he sees through the glassed windows. “I want you to tell me everything.”

“Right...” Dominic straightens up a bit. “...let me fill you up. I mean, s**t, what I mean is let me fill you in.” He shakes his head to clear the buzzing, and then proceeds to describe La Bastille’s skylines starting from the floating theme park in the sky, to the floors dividing the stations, to the skyscrapers that have gone way up beyond the clouds.

He gives the boy a timeline of events, starting from what he can remember as a child to where they are now, including the Academy, which oversees La Bastille’s education, governance, and its state of affairs.

Dom can notice the way Cid looks up to the Academy, like it’s a beacon of light and hope. “Wow. So that is where people go to study.” Cid wonders, admiring the Academy amidst the pronounced cityscape. “So the Academy is responsible for all this beauty.”

Bunch of smart-ass pricks if you ask me, is Dominic’s thought.

“What do kids do aside from study?” Cid asks, turning slightly to direct the question closer to Dominic’s face. “Or is it all about studying?”

“Nah...” Dom answers, uninterested. “...more often they laze, party, trying to find themselves...and what they wanna do with their lives…and have lots of s*x,” the last part is whispered so that Cid wouldn’t hear.

“What’s that?”

“Oh...nothing.”

There is so much to see just sitting in the sky tram. The boy can’t sit still, with the warmth of his palms braced on Dominic’s knees. The kid puts pressure not just with his hands, but also in his movement as he marvels at the many sights he sees.

His hips move and gyrate like a mini-earthquake.

His supple thighs clamber, and his long legs tighten like a vine.

All these put together makes every inch of Dominic’s body burn with delight.

The pressure of having the boy seated on his lap is starting to subside as horny starts to build. It is hard not to take advantage of the boy’s innocence. His exposed neck. His purity. His naïveté.

Dom sniffs through the boy’s hair, caressing his nape with the brushing of the lips. Everything is a subtle movement. Everything is disguised in secret. Everything masked by the slyness of his skilled hands.

Dom’s hands traverse the boy’s torso going up, his stubble resting on the boy’s back, causing an unexpected warmth to spread all over the boy’s body.

Cid shifts on Dominic’s lap and says, “Your skin is funny.”

The man’s eyes are half-opened, half-closed. “Hm? Why?”

Cid pokes Dominic’s cheek. “You’re becoming red. Oh, now you’re completely red. Are you hot?”

Dominic trembles. The temperature around him suddenly feels like a hundred degrees.

He can feel the boy’s hips moving, shifting around and it's not a good feeling.

“Dom...”

“Yeah?”

Cid turns to face forward and straddle him. “Move your gun away...” he reaches down, pressing his palm between Dominic’s legs which makes the man gasp. “...it's poking me.” the boy's sweet breath, a film of warm moisture on Dom’s face as he continues to grab the concealed weapon.

“I’m sorry, I’ll take care of it,” Dominic whispers, out of breath, his body completely still as the boy’s hand still grabs on the hump between his legs. “You can let go now.”

“Okay...”

Their faces are so close to each other. It’s like time has stopped. And they’re the only ones boarding the train, not giving a care as to the number of people watching them.

“Cid...”

“Yes?”

“I think it’s best if you face the other way.”

“Oh, right...of course.” Cid throws his legs back into seating position, with his back slouched against Dominic’s chest, snug and warm and comfy.

Sitting on Dom’s lap facing forward, with his legs dangling on either side, Cid glances thoughtfully at a couple whose hands are joined together, the glint of gold around their ring fingers. The couple smiles at Cid, and he gladly returns the polite gesture.

Cid watches every little scenery with blissful ignorance. All the while shifting unknowingly on Dominic’s lap, unaware of the strange sensation he’s causing the man who’s biting his lower lip to stay quiet. The boy’s attention is trained on the couple sitting across from them. The man pulls the woman by the waist, and the woman leans her head onto the man’s shoulder.

The feeling of something warm lurches inside Cid’s chest, and he doesn’t have a name for it. The couple catch Cid looking at them and they look back smiling. Cid smiles at the couple as he shifts, gliding his hips upwards, dangerously close to Dominic’s hot groin.

Cid presses his palms over Dom’s knees and hikes up, jiggling and shimmying with friction, and it makes Dom swallow hard at the feeling of his bulge warming up again and fighting space against the supple backside of the boy who just can’t-stop-rolling.

Dom can feel a surge in his underbelly, and it betrays him as the thing between his legs steadily grows and lifts, straining and in pain as it gets smashed under Cid’s weight.

Cid can feel the hard lump but doesn’t give mind to it anymore, dismissing it as Dominic’s sidearm or emergency pistol not wanting to be kept holstered where it should. And so, with resistance, he grinds it down with his pelvis and bum, making Dominic hiss painfully a string of profanities.

Cid turns at the waist. “You okay?”

“Yeah...” Dom looks pained.

“Thanks for taking me.”

Shit! “No problem.”

Cid rolls his hips and Dom can feel his erection getting harder as a reaction. “Dominic, can we do this again tomorrow?”

A lady reading something on her tablet overhears. Her eyes are pinned to what she’s reading, but her eyes become significantly wider as she observes the unmistakable intimacy between the soldier and the kid.

“Sure. I’ll be more than happy to take you again tomorrow.”

“Thanks Do-do.”

Dom chuckles. “Do-do?”

“Yes. Do-do. My name for you.”

“That’s really what you’re calling me now?”

“Hmm-mmm.”

“Heh, okay.”

Wanting to test the waters again and prove his enticement, Dom glides his nose on Cid’s shoulder. He traces his nose up the side of the boy’s neck, breathing through the fabric, which makes Cid’s body tense up.

Neither says anything. Both are still. Without words, both can feel the comfort the other one brings. It’s a soothing feeling that both seem to have no problems with.

Cid relaxes and doesn’t react with resistance as Dom carefully plants his nose onto the planes of his right shoulder. Cid’s body wilts at the caress of Dominic’s Phoenician nose, breathing his skin through the melting fabric. Without thinking what it can mean, Cid lets out a whimper and a moan through his breath, which Dom is able to recognize. The boy’s reaction makes the man smile, his lips spreading onto Cid’s back, quietly reveling at the thought that the boy is showing no misgivings, no resistance...just pure bodily surrender.

Cid can feel the man’s smile on his back, and in response his body sags against the length of Dom’s strong and hot one. He cannot explain it, but he feels safe in Dominic’s arms, but at the same time fearful as well. His inexperience reminds him that what the man is doing is hardly a friendly gesture. His touch, his caress...they mean more. Absolutely more.

“Do-do...”

“Yeah?”

“Your breath is warm.”

“Do you like it?” Dom asks, and Cid whispers that he does.

They take their sweet time, engrossed in each other’s bodies.

No one really gives mind to a patrolling officer in La Bastille. Their jobs are already hard enough, so the people give them leeway to do whatever they want. Nobody really cares for their affairs, even if it’s an affair of the s****l kind.

The two stay in the sky tram to complete two revolutions. By the end of their second run, Cid feels like he has seen enough sky and clouds. And so he taps on a half-asleep Dominic so they can get off the next stop, to where Grand Avenue and Central are waiting. A voice spills through the speakers, reminding passengers of the approaching location. Cid leaps off Dom’s lap to ask, “Are you okay?”

Dominic scrunches his brows to awaken and huffs to say, “Yeah, I just need a minute.”

“Why? Are you ill?”

“No. It’s just...it’s just hard.”

Cid blinks. “Why? What’s so hard?”

“I can’t stand just yet. Just give me a minute.”

“You’re funny. Here,” Cid extends his hand for Dom to take.

He takes Cid’s hand and realizes how the boy’s perfectly fits with his. Their hands fit in a way he hasn’t noticed before. He feels like they are meant to hold each other, caress one another, meant to be together. And between two people, holding hands, one will always fall for the other first, sometimes both at the same time. However, right this moment, not knowing if Cid feels the same way, Dominic can sense that he’s about to fall, and he’s about to fall really hard. And it’s both a lovely...and a scary feeling.

Cid, with the joining of our hands...and so will our hearts.

Err, yeah, I know the Verse is quite short (=-_-) Lol. Honestly, it’s difficult to get back into writing something that has been on hiatus for over a month. I apologize. At least I’m trying. Lol. Hopefully I’ll be able to get my s**t together. Comments are welcome. Please tell me if my s**t reads like s**t. Lol. I need you to slap me with some harsh critique cos I’ve been in a funk lately. I’m typing this on Word and I already have drafts for the next ten or so chapters. But for some reason I’m writing this story so freaking slow. Ugh. I hate to say this but uh, I think I’m experiencing Writer’s Block. Eek! Lol. It doesn’t happen to me often, but when it does, what I do is take a breather and just chill like a cucumber. If I decide to chill, please don’t chop me into a salad. Hmm, I’ll try to write another Verse. Maybe that’ll kill the funk.