Soul Mate Service - Chapter 26: Chapter 26

THADDEUS
There wasn't much in this world that I was sure of. But right now, I could confidently say that at least two things were undeniably true.
First of all, libraries were – without a doubt – the single least exhilarating place known to man. I mean, who the fuck would willingly choose to sit in one place for hours and read boring ass words printed on a page? It made absolutely zero damn sense.
And secondly, despite my newfound hatred for a place that made me feel like I'd get a one-way ticket to a strike if I so much as farted too loud, I would willingly rot in this hellhole for all of eternity if it meant I got to witness that look on Bug's face for every second of it.
The rest of the week had passed us by with the swiftness of a high-speed AirLift, and before we knew it, we found ourselves closing in on the second to last day left in our four-week grace period. As the nights wore on, onslaughts of unspoken anxiety and anticipation increasingly trampled their way across either side of our bond, only to be momentarily quieted by an extended make-out session or an embrace so tight that we both thought we might burst.
But today, with the threat of such a giant burden hovering over our necks like the gleaming blade of a guillotine, I could tell that Aria's stress levels were reaching a breaking point that even my expertly skilled lips and hands were unable to touch.
... Hence why I currently found myself tucked into the small space left in the bean bag that Aria had claimed, bored out of my damn mind as I watched him gobble up page after page of useless nonsense, also known as 'The Good Member's Guide to Society History.'
"Thad!" Aria scolded, swatting gently at my lower thigh since that was as far as his adorable little arms could reach. "Books are for reading, not footstools!"
For a good moment there, my mind lurched into that same, instinctive offensive mode that it was so used to assuming whenever I was ordered to do anything that held even the slightest chance of inconveniencing me. But somehow, this time, my brain made the executive decision that adding to Aria's rickety pile of anxiety-inducing thoughts was much more important than resting my poor, poor feet.
So, instead of rolling my eyes and scoffing out a curse as I would usually do in a situation like this, I just groaned, obediently lowering my heels from the place they were – very comfortably – resting atop a comically tall pile of Bug's accumulation of books.
Aria shot me an amused look from the corner of his eye, thin brow raising lopsidedly as he tucked his hair behind his ear to get a better look at my spiritless form.
"You could pick out a book of your own to read with me, if you want." He suggested innocently.
I scoffed in response, raising a brow right back at the tiny creature as I re-adjusted myself on the shared bean bag. Stretching an arm out behind his back, I caged him into my side in a claiming gesture. "Nah, I'm straight. It's much more entertaining watching you live up to your full, nerd potential."
The stifled giggle that bubbled from Aria's lips caught me off guard, and my brow raised even higher with a suspicious sense of mirth.
"The hell you laughing at, Bug?!" Shooting him a playful scowl, I used my free hand to poke accusatorily at his stomach, a fizzle of joy and unleashed desire settling in my stomach when he curled over, fighting off my assault with a ticklish burst of laughter. "Something funny?!"
"Y-y-yes!" Aria gurgled out a choppy response from behind the hand that he had slapped over his mouth, fighting with every breath to keep his sounds to a minimum in the quiet library.
Deciding that I more than liked the sight of him, adorably flustered and pink-cheeked as he fell victim to my dastardly deeds, I decided to kick the teasing up a notch, pushing my luck to discover just how far I could push it.
"Oh, yeah?" I mumbled, unceremoniously sticking my entire face into the crook of his slim neck to nibble on the creamy skin there. If I was lucky, I'd end up leaving more than a few marks, like little satellite planets floating around the main bite that still resided there. "What did I do that's got you busting a gut then, you little dweeb?"
Aria giggled maniacally, squishing my face between his chin and shoulder as he tried, and failed, to resist my invasion of his personal space. It took a moderate reigning in of my lips and teeth and a few seconds of allowing his amusement to settle before he was able to respond with a halfway coherent sentence.
"It was just really funny because..." He paused, looking up at me through long, luscious lashes that cushioned themselves against the apples of his cheeks with every blink. It was a good thing I was already sitting, seeing how my knees began to feel more jelly-like with every passing moment that I remained in his presence. "Technically, you're really not that straight."
My eyes widened and wandered, finding a blank wall to stare at while my brain stuttered, trying its best to process the truth behind his statement.
To be honest, I hadn't even thought about the fact that what we had been doing – how I had been feeling about Bug – over the past few weeks was anything but completely normal, a budding affair between two people who were attracted to one another, sex assigned at birth a non-sequitur.
But now that it was put right in front of my face... Fuck, man. Bug was right.
Judging by the way I was not only willing, but also more than aroused by the idea of fucking Aria into the mattress only a few days prior... I guess I really wasn't as straight as I once thought myself to be.
Huh.
Thaddeus Axton, possible homosexual.
Who would've fuckin' thought?
"Your fault." Grumbling, I used the blunt edges of my teeth to bite down, punishing Aria for seducing me so damn effectively. The little yip he released in response made me grin. "Maybe if you weren't so fuckin' sweet and pretty, I might've stood a chance at resisting."
"I–I'm not pretty!"
"My dick disagrees." I shrugged nonchalantly, trying my best to mask my delight at how my words made Aria's entire body light up in flames, a rush of blood flooding his entire face.
"Thad, we're in public!" He scolded nervously, and I rolled my eyes at his ridiculous stickling for being proper.
"You really think I give a fuck? If they wanna eavesdrop and hear about my dick too, who am I to stop 'em?" I countered with a smug scuff, turning my head so that my temple rested on his shoulder now, absentmindedly skimming the open pages of the boring ass book he was so engrossed in. "And I mean, it is a very, very nice dick. Deserves to be both known and celebrated."
Somehow, Aria's face got even brighter at that, like someone was shining a red lightbulb from directly beneath his skin.
"I–I–It's..." He gulped, stuttering. But before he could finish the thought, he suddenly mashed his pointer finger into the book he was reading, squashing it against the page with a squeak. "Did you know that during World War Five, the smoke clouds from the bombs blocked out the sun so completely that to this day, less than one percent of light rays are able to get through to the surface!?" He rambled, clearly desperate to change the subject.
Closing my eyes and burying my temple deeper into the dip of his shoulder, I replied with the first thing that came to mind.
"You obviously need better nerd books, because that doesn't make any fucking sense."
Aria's shocked gasp made my eyes crack back open, glancing up at him from my slumped position.
"All of these books are Elder approved, meaning that they have been thoroughly reviewed and deemed one hundred percent accurate!"
"Oh, okay then, my bad. The Elders obviously need better nerd books, because that doesn't make any fucking sense."
"Thad!"
"Whaaat?"
"You can't make jokes about stuff like that! All it takes is one person mistaking your words, telling The Elders, and trying you for treason!" He whisper-shouted, sharp tendrils of fear flashing across his irises as he gazed down at me.
"Aria, I'm not joking." I frowned, tearing my temple from his shoulder and sitting back up to my full height. "Literally everyone in the Construction Unit is taught how The Society makes its electricity, and that's from the solar panels that are situated on the surface, right outside of the decommissioned surface access hatches. If there wasn't an adequate amount of sunlight getting through the cloud layer, we would never have enough electricity to run a compound of this size." I finished, watching as Aria's brow furrowed, staring at the pages of his book like they had just grown a second head.
"B-but it says it right here! The air on The Surface remains toxic as long as the cloud layer remains. So if what you said is true, and the clouds really are cleared and the sun is out there, why on earth would The Elders still be keeping us down here?!"
I hummed, thinking hard for any semblance of an answer to that question, only to come up empty-brained.
Dammit, I hated having to think this hard.
"Fuck if I know." I rubbed the bridge of my nose with a thumb and forefinger, sighing. "Either I fell asleep during Construction Unit training and dreamed all that shit up, or a certain group of decrepit old hags is trying to pull one over on us."
The new-onset sound of heavy breathing pulled me back to Aria, book held in a white-knuckled grip as he stared unblinkingly at the floor before him. The fact that I wasn't getting torn a new asshole for my snide remark about The Elders was a surprise, and only cemented my assumption that Bug was about to spiral into an intractable episode of full-blown shock at any moment.
"But that c-can't be true! The Elders would never lie to us like that, they only ever have our very best interests at heart!" Brown waves flew over his shoulder as he turned his head toward me, a silent plea lining his watery lashes. "... Right?" The last word could barely even be considered a whisper, more like a barely-there afterthought that had never been meant to slip past his lips.
The expression of absolute horror that accompanied it, mixed with the tinge of metal that scourged the air made something in my soul snap, and before I knew it, I was tugging the petite man into my arms, tucking his face into the safe confines of my neck as I held him like the world was collapsing around us.
"Hey, hey, hey," I started, shifting my hand to slip underneath the veil of his hair to rub the nape of his neck. He visibly relaxed at the touch, breaths slowing by a fraction, and I made a mental note to remember that newfound strategy for later. "Listen, let's be real," I chuckled, trying to make the boggy air around us a little more lighthearted, "I bet I did just fall asleep in Construction Unit training and hallucinated it all. I mean, I was never the best Instructional Unit student either."
This library retreat was supposed to be a reprieve from all of the crazy Elder bullshit we were currently facing, a moment for Bug to nerd out and escape into the pages of all of the books he adored so much. But right now, with him cowered against me and questioning the nature of our literal existence, it was quickly beginning to feel like a failure of massive proportions.
Aria's response was nothing but a quiet whine, but it was obvious that my tactics were at least working a little bit when I felt both of his slender hands curl into the top of my jumpsuit, seeking purchase there. Desperate, I decided that my best bet was to keep on rambling.
"Hey, Free Period is over soon anyway, so how about we head back home? I can even make some of those sugar cookies you like, you know, the ones with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top!" I encouraged, trying to inject excitement into my voice despite the fact that seeing him like this was seriously fucking with my psyche.
Bug sniffled, nodding against my chest, and I gave myself a mental fist bump. "They're called snickerdoodles," He corrected me at once, pulling back a few inches to wipe at his eyes with the back of his hand. "And the last time you tried to make them, you nearly burnt down the entire kitchen in the process." He finished, pushing out a watery giggle through his tears at the memory.
"Bug, that's rude!" I feigned disbelief, giving him an open-mouthed look of disapproval. "I put my blood, sweat, and tears into making those for you, the least you could have done was try them!"
Another giggle left me with a mile-wide grin that I couldn't have contained even if I tried. "Maybe some people don't want a mouthful of charcoal!" He rebutted, leaning forward to pat my chest with mock pity.
Seeing more of Bug's sassy side over the past few weeks – no matter how small it may be – was a refreshing change from the normally skittish being I had initially made him out to be. Bantering with my little minx had easily become one of my favorite things to do, especially since it usually ended with me pressing him up against the nearest surface and ravaging his lips until his knees gave out.
... Just like I was about to do right now.
There was a flurry of motion and limbs, and then Aria was beneath me, pressed into the bean bag as I hovered over him with a decidedly mischievous, lopsided grin.
"Tough luck for 'some people.' All I know is that I want a mouthful of you."
My eyes flashed with dangerous intent, and then I was on him.
Diving straight for my bite mark at the crook of his neck, I let my tongue and lips loose on the spot, reveling in the way Aria immediately arched into my touch.
Fuck, he tasted delicious, especially there, where our scents mingled and entangled to the point where no one would ever be able to doubt my claim on him.
A mindless haze bubbled up around me as my canines unsheathed, scraping and searching. I wanted to bite him again. No, I needed to bite him again.
... Why the fuck was I so obsessed with biting him again?!
"Thad, we're in public!" Aria rasped, repeating the same words from earlier through a sultry moan, released in warm puffs of air just beside my ear.
I grumbled deep in my throat, pulling back only enough to give him a famously droll, 'do really I look like I give a fuck?'look, before diving right back down to claim my treasure.
However, to my most profound horror, delicate hands gripping either side of my jaw halted my rabid descent, and brown eyes locked onto mine, intent and imploring.
"If we only have one more day, I want to spend it in your arms." He began, a bittersweet smile pulling at the corners of full lips that I craved to devour. "But not here. Please, Thad. Take me home."
And just like that, I was a goner.
Like a robot whose code was set only to respond only to the will of Aria, my body instantly moved to obey. I snatched Aria up from the bean bag in one, smooth gesture, secured his body in a princess hold, and stormed straight out of that boring, decrepit ass library, leaving all of those stupid, stupid books in our dust.