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In the days following their adventure in the university archive, the Dead Boy Detectives had been too busy to really experiment any more with the properties of their newest acquisition. Charles wore it under his shirt and found that, unless he was touching Edwin, it took a little concentration to make other things feel tangible. Edwin could do this too, if he was in arms reach of Charles, which he almost always was. Extended separation seemed to dull the effect for both of them, Edwin more quickly than Charles. Edwin hoped for a free day to run some more exact tests on the charm, and also to hopefully kiss Charles (and do other things). It took almost a week and a half for them to find the chance for some privacy on a rainy afternoon. Crystal had called and said “I’m taking a self care day, because I don’t want to go out in this shitty London weather. See you tomorrow, boys.”
(Crystal also knew the boys needed some alone time. The tension between them had, if anything, gotten worse now that they were properly together. What Crystal really needed was a break from all the longing glances and coy smiles.)
Charles and Edwin sat next to each other on their small office sofa, each engrossed in their own tasks, Edwin reading, Charles throwing and catching a ball, but also sneaking glances at each other, each willing the other to make the first move. It seemed foolish to be shy around each other, but this was still so new, this knowledge they now had about each other.
“Charles, I’ve been wondering.”
“Yeah, mate?”
“Was that, what we did… did that… count?”
“Did what count?”
“What we did in the archives, after the lust fairy left. Did that count as… sex?”
“I guess? I’m not exactly an expert, mate. It sure felt like sex.”
“Not an expert? Do you mean you hadn’t…”
“Umm. My girlfriend gave me a blowjob once? And I used my hand to get her off, after. That’s all I’d done before, besides snogging. I don’t think I’m a virgin. So by that logic, neither are you, right? I know that was a little, rushed I guess? Kind of a weird way to lose your virginity? I wanted it to be better than that for you. Romantic like, you know? I guess we both kinda got caught up in the moment, plus you know, fairy magic.”
There was a tiny part of Edwin that was shocked to consider that he’d lost his virginity in a university archive in Illinois under the influence of a fairy that wanted to be called Madonna, but the only really important thing was that it was with Charles, and besides, they were dead. There was little point in standing on ceremony.
“Charles, of course I liked it! Quite an extraordinary amount, really. I just, I was taught sex was one thing, and it wasn’t a thing in which I was ever interested. And at school, well perhaps it was different in your day, but I knew some of the other boys did… things… with each other, even though they taught us it was wrong. But I was certainly never included, and would have been far too terrified if anyone made any such overtures. So I don’t, I don’t really know what sex is, between men.”
“Oh, right. Well, that’s easy enough, I suppose. I think two blokes can do most of what a guy and a girl can do, you know, just without the lady parts. Hand stuff, you remember, I told you what handjobs were.” He had, to Edwin’s horror and titillation. “You figured that one out just fine.” Better than fine, really. Charles had been struggling to think of anything but Edwin’s hand on his dick. “Then there’s mouth stuff, like blowjobs. Same idea as handjob, just with your mouth.” Charles realized what he’d said and blushed furiously, but couldn’t bring himself to back away from his inadvertent suggestion that Edwin blow him. Edwin did his best to keep his expression under control. “And then there’s um, buggery? Fucking. In the… arse. Not that we have to do that! Or any of it, really. I know you got that charm so we could, but it’s not like, required, you know? I still want to be your boyfriend, with or without the sex.”
God, how did this boy exist? “I wasn’t only thinking about… that when I wanted to get the charm. I also got it so you could have spaghetti. If it works for ingestion, which I think it will.” And Charles was so moved by Edwin’s thoughtfulness that he had to kiss him, right then.
The boys tipped backwards on their office couch, Charles on top of Edwin. God, Charles had properly missed snogging. And to be able to feel it again, after so long! Kissing Crystal had been fun, but it couldn’t compare to this, to feeling Edwin’s stubble against his face, to tangle his hands in Edwin’s hair, mussing his severe side part, leaving him beautifully rumpled. To feel the planes and angles of his body as they wriggled into a position comfortable to them both. Charles busied himself with nibbling Edwin’s lips as he worked to get his hands under Edwin’s many layers. Jacket, off. Kissing briefly paused to remove pullover. Bowtie, untied. Collar, removed. Braces down, cuffs off. Shirt, unbuttoned. Unfortunately, Edwin had died well before the age of t-shirts and boxer shorts, and instead Charles was blocked from his goal of Edwin’s skin by the soft knitted suit that Edwin wore under his clothes.
“Charles, it seems…” Edwin was trying to talk and kiss Charles at the same time, chasing his mouth as Charles tossed bits of clothing over his shoulder, where they vanished into the ether. “Seems… very unfair…” Who knew lips could be so sensitive? “That I am the only…” Here he pulled away enough to properly shove Charles upright, on his knees between Edwin’s spread thighs. “Take off your damn shirt, Charles. I will not be the only one of us undressed.”
“Mate, you’re still dressed,” Charles said as he pulled his polo shirt over his head. Edwin started to argue, and Charles realized he was being a bit presumptuous. What if Edwin wasn’t comfortable being naked in front of him? It’s not like he’d done this sort of thing before. “Wait, wait. I didn’t mean it like that. You don’t have to take anything else off, if you don’t want to. I guess I got a little carried away.”
“Charles, it’s fine. It’s very flattering, actually. Tell me what you want?” Edwin asked as he pulled off his undershirt.
The sight of Edwin shirtless was the most erotic thing that Charles had ever seen. He was pale, but surprisingly strong looking, with a nicely defined chest and arms. His nipples were as pink as his lips, his hair was a mess, and his trousers were tented by his hard cock. The sight made Charles dizzy and he blurted out the first thing that came into his head, which happened to be “mate, I really want to put my mouth on you.”
Edwin for his part merely gulped and nodded, unable to find words through the surge of arousal that Charles’ words fired in his belly.
Charles had never sucked a cock before, but he’d be damned if he didn’t give it his best shot. Besides, he thought through the fog of desire, it wasn’t like Edwin had anything to compare him to. He slid to the floor and fumbled Edwin’s complicated flies open on trousers and pants and there was Edwin’s prick, pink and pretty and hard as iron in Charles’ hand. He lowered his mouth to the head, starting with little licks, just getting used to the sensation of warm, spongy flesh against his lips. Somehow the charm around his neck even recreated the feeling of body heat, and the dark musky smell at the crease of Edwin’s thigh. He opened his mouth a bit, mouthing gently at the rigid flesh and doing his best to keep his teeth tucked behind his lips. Brills. Possibly the most brills anything had ever been. He was so turned on he thought there was a fair chance he would come before he could get Edwin off. His own arousal throbbed in his boxers.
Above him, Charles heard Edwin’s head thunk against the arm of the sofa and a strangled groan escaped his mouth. Charles pulled off, saying “Edwin, you gotta let me hear you.” When he lowered his mouth again, his efforts were rewarded with the sound of Edwin’s breathy moans and quiet swears.
Charles bobbed his head, beginning to feel more confident. This was easy, this was glorious. Edwin twitched in his mouth and Charles did his best to take him deeper, back into his throat. He gagged a bit, but managed to keep his rhythm, tracing his tongue in wavy patterns along the underside of Edwin’s cock. Edwin panted and writhed, like it was too much. Charles put his hands on his hips to keep him still, and settled in to enjoy the experience of having a cock in his mouth, the salt and heat and weight of it. But before very long Edwin threaded his fingers into Charles’ curls, tugging gently. “Charles, oh, Charles. I’m, I’m going to-” Charles realized what was about to happen, and the idea that he could, was going to, make Edwin come in his mouth brought a sharp stab of pleasure through his guts.
Edwin moaned his name when he came, spurting against his tongue. Charles was pleased to find that it didn’t taste bad at all, just a slight briny bitterness. He pulled off to swallow and caught one final splash on his lip. Fuck, he’d never been so hard, he thought as he shoved his own hand into his trousers, coming over his own fingers before he even had a chance to free his cock.
He looked up at Edwin, boneless and gorgeous on their sofa, smiling at him with a look of such adoration that Charles thought he could probably go again very soon. “Edwin, mate, I think we’re going to have to get a bed.”
“Only if you promise to not call me ‘mate’ while we’re in it.”
“Eww, gross!” came a small voice from the desk. Edwin and Charles sprang apart, hastily putting their clothing to rights as they turned toward the voice. Sitting on the desk, giving the two boys looks of utter disgust were the dandelion sprites.
“Perverts, that’s what you two are. Going at it like that right in front of us. Isn’t it gross, Kingham?” asked one sprite of the other.
“So gross, Litty. That’s called indecent exposure, in case you didn’t know. It’s a sex crime,” replied the other sprite.
“We weren’t… we didn’t know you were here, right Edwin?” Charles asked, just a touch manically.
“We certainly believed ourselves alone,” said Edwin as he retied his bowtie. He refused to be embarrassed by two rude, murderous sprites. Besides, he could still feel the rush of satisfied well being that had accompanied his orgasm, and was discovering that it’s hard to be properly mad when you’ve just come. “What are you two doing here? You disappeared after Niko died.”
“Ugh, duh. Of course we did, dipshit!”
“Oi,” started Charles, but he was quickly interrupted by the sprite.
“We had to leave, numbnuts, since none of you would do anything.”
“I’m sorry, what did we not do?” asked Edwin. “Niko died saving me, I’ll have you know. I won’t be chastised for her death, which I regret terribly, by the likes of you!”
“Myeh meh meh, that’s you. That’s what you sound like,” said one of the sprites.
Charles realized just how long this argument could go on, and decided to cut to the chase. He clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “So! You were going to tell us why you’re here, right?”
The sprites gave each other assessing looks, then they shrugged. “We need your help,” Litty said.
“And you guys are Niko’s friends, even though you suck at it,” added Kingham. “We need you guys to go to the spirit realm and get Niko. We know right where she is, but we can’t bring her through, for some fucking reason.”
“Absolutely not!” interjected a shrill, Scottish voice. The Night Nurse had made one of her sudden and seemingly random appearances, walking through a door in the office that was only sometimes there. Edwin and Charles exchanged a look, glad that she hadn’t arrived a few minutes earlier. “There’s absolutely no way that anyone here is leaving this plane of existence! Why, the paperwork alone… And of course, Miss Sasaki’s body has already been interred! Where would her spirit even go?”
“Hey, don’t knock being a ghost,” joked Charles.
“She wouldn’t be a ghost, you rude ass bitch! She’s got a body, made out of some good luck charm she had. And anyway, we didn’t ask you,” said Litty.
“Now listen here, you little so-and-so's! As the duly appointed supervisor of this organization, it is my job-”
“Of course we’ll help you get Niko back,” Edwin interjected.
“And I am going to give Crystal a heads up,” said Charles. He poked his head through their mirror to the one in Crystal’s apartment that she called “the designated ghost mirror.” She’d installed it, warning them, “No coming through my bathroom, guys. I’m serious.”
Crystal lived near enough that the argument between the Night Nurse, Edwin, and the dandelion sprites was still going strong when she arrived. Charles was busily packing the bottomless backpack with everything he could think of that might be useful. No matter the Night Nurse’s opinion, Charles knew that they were definitely going to rescue Niko.
“Despite your assurances, I am not inclined to trust the word of two wee murdering sprites! How can I possibly authorize this excursion? And that’s to say nothing of the nature of your mission. You cannot divert Miss Sasaki’s soul from its appointed afterlife! This is exactly the sort of ridiculous decision that I am here to prevent!” Her nostrils flared as she scowled, her mouth a thin line.
“If no one goes to get her, Niko will wander lost in the spirit realm for all eternity! Is that what you want to happen, haggis breath?” yelled a dandelion sprite.
“Look, all of this arguing is perfectly pointless. Charles and I are going to get Niko from the spirit realm, and no one is going to stop us,” Edwin gave the Night Nurse a quelling glance. “And I dare say with Crystal’s help we won’t need to even leave the office.”
“I’ve been doing some reading on traveling between planes of existence. It seemed prudent considering some of the situations in which we have found ourselves recently. Now that we know Niko’s spirit hasn’t moved on, I believe we can create a link to the spirit realm through Crystal’s psychic contact with her ancestors. If Crystal can establish a conduit between wherever she goes when she uses her powers, the dandelion sprites’ knowledge of Niko’s location, and me, then I should be able to open a mirror portal somewhere close to Niko, at least.”
The Night Nurse was mollified, if only slightly, by this plan. The ritual they needed took hours to set up, with the office furniture pushed around to create a ritual space and Charles drawing dozens of intricate runes and sigils to Edwin’s specifications. When it was finished, they had three concentric circles centered on the mirror and Edwin and Charles, with Crystal seated in the inner circle and the dandelion sprites in the first, outer one.
The sprites’ job was to remember, in as much detail as possible, where they’d left Niko in the spirit realm. They were then to psychically broadcast this information to Crystal, who would take it to the psychic space she visited when she talked to her ancestors. Since that space was, at least conceptually, adjacent to the spirit realm, they could then use the ritual space to allow Edwin to search for Niko via mirror portal. It was a complicated, intricate bit of magic with a lot of moving parts, and Charles was proud of Edwin for thinking it up. The Night Nurse stood near the wall and took copious notes that she insisted were absolutely necessary for the paperwork she would need to complete.
“It was very cold, make sure you remember that. I thought I was going to get frostbite on my toes, remember Litty? Cold as shit. And there was an igloo. That’s where Niko is, the igloo. Did I say, being dead made her smell better?”
“Right, right, you two are still hateful little shits, we got it. I think I have a good grasp on where she is. Give me a second, let's see if Edwin’s plan actually works.” Crystal’s eyes whited out as she used her powers to create the conduit.
Seconds later, the mirror in the center circle between the boys began to ripple and shine with a cold, white light. Then the portal turned the pure blue of a cloudless day. The image was empty, ringed by snow and frost that pointed to this being a bit of ice instead of an actual mirror. Edwin always found traveling through other reflective surfaces marginally more difficult. The view shifted as Edwin searched for a surface that would reflect the igloo the sprites had talked about.
“There, that’s it. Guess you guys aren’t completely useless,” said a sprite as the image in the mirror sharpened and focused on an igloo in the featureless sea of white. A light glowed inside the igloo, and Edwin stepped through the mirror. Charles followed him.
They emerged from a sheet of icicles into an icy wasteland. Charles shivered and realized that the charm he was still wearing was continuing to let him feel things, including the bone chilling wind of whatever place this was. He concentrated on manifesting a warmer coat, scarf and gloves, and saw Edwin do the same. Charles felt that this shouldn’t actually work; their clothes were basically projections of their mind. How could they feel as real as the cold? But that was something to ask Edwin about later, when everyone was safely back in the office. The boys made their way toward the lonely igloo.
“Niko!” called Charles as they approached, only for Edwin’s eyes to go wide as he slapped a hand over Charles’ mouth,
“Charles,” he whispered, “be careful! We’re in the spirit realm now, we don’t know who might be listening.”
“Right, right. Sorry, mate.” They’d made it to the igloo, and Charles took up a defensive stance outside, cricket bat in hand as Edwin poked his head in.
Edwin emerged immediately, eyes wide, and mouthed silently at Charles, “Polar bear!” The boys began backing away as quickly and quietly as possible, but to no avail. A loud growl echoed from the igloo and a massive white shape charged out, right at the boys.
Charles grabbed Edwin’s hand and tried to pull him along, only for Edwin to be knocked to the ground by the polar bear. Charles turned and raised his bat, ready to once again defend Edwin, no matter how futile it might be, when he realized that the bear was in no way trying to hurt Edwin. Instead it was licking his face, rather like an over excited puppy.
“Good… bear, that’s a good polar bear,” Edwin managed to gingerly pat the massive animal on its head.
With one more friendly lick, the bear began to shrink and change, until instead of a gigantic maneater, a young woman stood there, bundled in a fur coat. She pushed the fluffy hood back to reveal Niko, who was now apparently a shapeshifter.
“Edwin! Charles! Oh, it’s so good to see you! The sprites said they would go get help, but I wasn’t sure if they actually could. Did they tell you how to find me? Where’s Crystal, is she ok? Are we going home?”
“Yes, the sprites came to us for help, Crystal is fine, and we are indeed here to take you home, or at least our office in London.”
“Ooh, how do we do that?”
Edwin pointed to a rock face covered with icicles. “We’ll mirror travel. It’s harder to do in surfaces that are merely reflective, but by no means impossible. Let’s go, quickly. The spirit realm has many inhabitants, and most of them are dangerous.”
“Too right we are,” came a cracked voice from behind the boys and Niko. The gang turned as one and saw, emerging from the snow a huge scarecrow of a figure, inhumanly tall and skeletal. Its maw was filled with many more teeth than a human mouth could hold, all of them cracked and blackened. Charles caught a noxious scent on the cold wind, rotting meat and ozone. The figure fell to all fours as it approached, a crown of antlers bursting out of its skull to make it resemble a nightmare stag.
Charles stepped forward, raising his cricket bat, but he was knocked out of the way by Niko as she again shifted into polar bear shape. While she was still shorter than the monster that menaced them, she was considerably heavier, and her bulk easily knocked down the boney thing. She clamped her powerful jaws around its jagged head and ripped it from its body.
The boys had retreated to the ice covered wall where Edwin was chanting the incantation to return them to their office. They stepped through, followed by Niko, still in her ursine form, and all three tumbled into the office, which was made much smaller and more crowded by the arrival of an enormous bear. Niko rapidly resumed human form and bounded over to Crystal, who she tackled to the floor and kissed soundly.
“Well, boys, never let it be said that I do not give credit where it is due. That was a well done bit of magic. As to Miss Sasaki, I have quite a number of questions for you,” said the Night Nurse.
“Ah, give her a minute Charlie. Can’t you see she’s busy?” said Charles as he gestured to Niko and Crystal, still passionately kissing on the office floor. The sprites stood nearby, wearing their usual looks of disgust.
The Night Nurse thinned her lips in reproach. “I suppose, in this particular instance, my debriefing can be postponed for, shall we say ten minutes? And do not call me by that ridiculous nickname, Mr. Rowland.” Crystal and Niko did not appear to have heard her, and Charles simply ignored her.
Edwin turned to Charles and took his hand with a smile. “I think the girls are going to be busy for some time. And I believe I promised you spaghetti.”