technicallyhellbound | for @convincingsmile - Nobody's dying today (probably)

for @convincingsmile - Nobody's dying today (probably)

Edwin knew as soon as he fell through the mirror that something was wrong, and not just a little bit wrong, but the kind of wrong that made the whole world tilt on its axis a little.

It wasn't a misdirected portal, not like the case that had ultimately led them to Crystal, not like many other failures of concentration when traversing mirror portals before, it was something else, and he couldn't place what it was. All he knew was that he'd simply passed through the mirror in question and had landed, hard on the floor on the other side of the room, hard enough that he actually skidded a couple of feet and that couldn't be right because that actually hurt, and hurt in the way he hadn't felt in... well, decades.

It was enough to tumble him against the far wall just from his own momentum, impacting hard enough to knock the breath out of his lungs, and that was definitely wrong, because he shouldn't have had breath or lungs. He could see, even through pain-hazed vision that the poltergeist he'd been baiting had, indeed, gotten caught in the trap he himself had leapt over when aiming for the mirror.

That was, however, the last thing he saw before the half-rotted-through loft floor gave way beneath his sudden and unexpected weight, sending him falling, flailing, scraped to ribbons on the broken slats, to the ground below, and he was reasonably sure he'd actually heard something snap on impact, ribs, if the sudden radiating pain was anything to go by, though his shoulder wasn't in good shape either, and that was an entirely different kind of pain, just layering on top of the feeling of the ragged scratches from the wood, and it occurred to him, dimly, that he'd forgotten how much he hated the feeling of blood on his skin.

It had been different in Hell, the pain, the sensations in general, all of it, it had been horrible, yes, but it was so much more visceral now, and even as his vision began to go hazy again, head swimming, his last thoughts were trying to remember how he'd somehow gotten separated from Charles, who had been barely a step behind him when he'd rounded the corner into the loft pursued by the poltergeist now trapped securely above him.

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Edwin had swayed forward reflexively into that kiss, returning it after a moment, because of course Charles was already a step ahead of him and it would take him a beat or two to catch up.

It was also why he just rested his brow against Charles' when he broke the kiss to speak, humming an acknowledgement before lifting his head, cradling Charles' face, thumb tracing the arch of his cheekbone, tone gone fully serious as he replied, "Charles. I've no intention of stopping at just kissing. And then, to make sure he was actually being clear, he added, "That's merely a starting point. We've still got time."

"Do we, Edwin?" Charles asked. It wasn't about the touches, the kisses, the... everything. Suddenly it all dawned on him. That they had time, yes, but not as much as he thought. Not how he thought. But the touch on his face was good, grounding. It made him remember the most precious thing about having alive bodies. He tilted his head to brush his lips against Edwin's hand, holding his palm to his mouth for a moment. "But yeah, that's aces, a starting point," he said, as his lips slowly pulled into a smile. Then he moved in, tilting his head to kiss Edwin again, deeper but slower this time. He was still nervous, he was still feeling unsettled for some reason, but Edwin was there, and he was warm and alive and Charles was waiting for this for so long... he wanted to enjoy it. They got all kinds of stuff with Crystal too.

"Time enough for this, I should hope." He replied to that question, but then Charles' lips were against his palm and that was enough to dissolve any further words, just swallowing hard and reflexive. He'd forgotten -or maybe hadn't known- just how sensitive hands could actually be.

Then Charles was kissing him again and something in him unwound, just relaxing into it, the hand at Charles' cheek sliding around to scratch gently at the nape of his neck, hesitating only briefly before sliding up into his hair, scratching gently against his scalp in turn, reveling in the feeling of those curls against his fingers.

Charles felt it, the warmth pooling in his stomach and chest, in a more intense and alive way than when he was a ghost. Something primal was in that warmth, something that filled him with such a nostalgic feeling that he almost cried.

"Edwin," he whispered the boy's name against his lips, feeling his fingers in his hair. It was like his whole body was made only for Edwin to touch, only to experience Edwin with it. "Love," Charles said, sliding his arms around the boy's waist, his fingers seeking contact with his skin under his shirt. The movement wasn't exactly impatient but more direct, more... demanding.

The endearment was enough to make his breath catch a little, unless it was the kiss, a reminder that he did actually have to breathe now when he didn't usually, or hadn't needed to before when they did this kind of thing.

The warmth of Charles' hands against his skin only deepened that indrawn breath, releasing again with a quiet, "Oh. Right." A flicker of a smile then, turning his head to nudge against Charles' once again, "Going to have to get that off on purpose." Judging by his tone, the half-hidden amusement in it, there was a good chance that he'd already been trying to just will the garment away as they usually could.

Charles chuckled softly at Edwin's remark. He would have done the same if he weren't too preoccupied to feel as much of Edwin as he could. For a moment, he just held him, just relishing in this silly motion of having to take clothes off... for real, then his hand went for Edwin's shirt, tapping the buttons with his fingertip.

"Can I?" he asked in a low tone, suddenly excited to be able to be the one taking Edwin's clothes off him. "Wanna unwrap you like a present, yeah?" he added, leaning in to nuzzle Edwin's cheek.

That smile just spread, "Yes, please." The hand that wasn't still threaded through Charles' hair dipped to slide his fingers up under the hem of Charles' shirt in turn, tugging gently at the hem of it, "Yours too, though. I'd... well, I'd quite like to see the whole of you."

He didn't think he would ever get tired of looking at Charles, but there was something more to it, now, something he couldn't place any more than he could pin down the warm anticipation starting to coil in the pit of his stomach, familiar as ever, but different in a way he couldn't quantify.

Charles was so occupied with touching and kissing Edwin that he almost jumped when he felt his hand under his shirt.

"Blimey," he whispered, mostly to himself. The electric shock he got only to feel Edwin's hand against his naked skin was... exciting. It was much better than he anticipated. And that was good news and... bad news. Charles already felt the shiver in his movements about wanting more and wanting all of Edwin. What would happen when he got to undress him...? "I mean, yeah," Charles stuttered as he was trying not to tear off the buttons of Edwin's shirt just yet, failing only the last one before he pushed the shirt off his shoulders. And all that skin revealing himself to him was like walking into an all-you-can-eat restaurant. Charles's mouth was already on the softest, most alluring parts before he realized he should make good on his promise too and take off his shirt.

Edwin would have reminded him, soon enough, but being looked at like that was enough to have his heartbeat kicking up a little, not in a panic he way it always had when he knew someone recognized some weak point in him, but just as an extension of the anticipation he was already feeling.

He knew it was ridiculous, that he couldn't actually feel the weight of Charles' gaze, but it still felt a little as if he could, and it was intense in a way he hadn't expected. Charles breaking the look only to skin out of his own shirt was a well-needed reprieve, and he swayed forward a little once Charles was bared to the waist as well, hand settling against that soft arch between his hip and his ribs once more, touch light, not-quite hesitant, but at the same time not entirely sure how much pressure would be too much, and more than that, still half-startled by the warmth of Charles' skin, wanting to just bask in it.

Charles actually choked on his breath when Edwin's hand settled on him. As if his gaze wouldn't have been enough. Only a shadow of his old life's insecurities crossed him, about his body and his bruises... the color of his skin, but that all faded. As if Edwin had magically erased them.

"Edwin, love, you... You're so..." Charles struggled with the words as he pulled Edwin close to him, so close that their chests were pressing against each other. And oh, that was something. Charles slotted their hips together without even meaning to; he was just enjoying the sensation of Edwin's skin against his; feeling his heartbeat against his. And so Charles could not find words, so he put his lips to do the next best thing and pressed them against Edwin's neck.

Edwin had known already that he liked having Charles at his throat, but as with everything at the moment the feeling was so much more pronounced, and already feeling the warmth of Charles along his front in one solid line from chest to hips had been enough to have his breathing going shaky, but the damp-hot-perfect press of Charles' mouth against his throat his his eyes going unfocused, fingers curling just a little more closely where they sat as if he might somehow be able to pull Charles impossibly closer.

The noise that escaped him had been meant as an acknowledgement, even an agreement, but it came out half-strangled and breathless, head angling to the side both to give Charles more room to work and to pull his skin taut, something that just increased that already almost-too-much feeling.

Edwin had taste, Charles realized as he was making sure that he kissed and abused all that offered, asking of his throat. He had a taste of earth, and something sweet, barely there, but Charles knew it was Edwin. A shiver of pleasure ran down his spine at the noises he made, subconsciously making his hips grind against him. Charles only pulled away because he needed to breathe, and he needed to breathe a lot, as his heartbeat was picking up, and his body was getting hotter.

"Ed..." Charles started but once again his words died in his throat because Edwin's skin turned pink and red where he put his lips on him. A clear sign of their living bodies and Charles wasn't sure why, but he had never felt more turned on. "Look at that, eh," he whispered.

He just made a curious little noise in the back of his throat at that almost-question in the nickname, blinking slowly and lifting his head at the awe in Charles' voice at the not-actually-question, brow furrowing before noting just where Charles was looking, a small smile tilting into place, "Can't see it myself, Charles."

He did, however, lift a hand to run his fingers against the warmed skin, a somehow electric shiver jolting down his spine at the tenderness of it, not quite like pressing on a bruise, but something similar, and infinitely more thrilling, it was a sensation that had his hips twitching forward against Charles' the same way Charles' had done not long before, "Oh, oh I see."

Alright, if the marks on Edwin's neck were a turn-on, his pale fingers brushing over them was something Charles would never forget in his life, or when he died again... He had to swallow the saliva from his mouth at the sight, especially when he felt Edwin's reaction against his hips.

"Wouldn't have thought you could get any hotter, mate," Charles mumbled, reaching up to brush the marks with his fingers too. Then, he moved, lifting Edwin up in his arms to turn them around and carry him to the bed. "Like I dun think I'll ever not be hard after this," he huffed a laugh as he laid Edwin on the bed, immediately crawling between his legs.

Watching Charles swallow that close was enough to have Edwin flushing all over again, starting at the hollow of his throat and the tips of his ears, and he couldn't help the surprised little noise that slipped free as Charles' fingers joined his own, though it was followed by something half-startled and not-quite indignant as Charles just hoisted him so easily, though that dissolved into a laugh a moment later at the comment, "Yes, well, that's a mutual problem."

He hadn't fully realized it until Charles had laid him out, but he was, most definitely more than half hard, it was one of those sensations that was familiar and new all at once, and he wasn't fully sure how to process it, especially when Charles just prowled up into the splay of his legs like that, a visual that prompted a garbled 'oh good lord', because that was definitely enough to have blood rushing south and suddenly.

Charles couldn't help to follow up Edwin's laugh with his. He felt his hot breath on his cheek and that itself was also a rush.

"Edwin Payne, walking about with a boner," Charles chuckled, rubbing their hips together. "Now that's a sight, innit," he breathed, leaning in to kiss him again. His heart was beating so fast and so wild, Charles had never thought it ever could done that. It was for Edwin, every beat if his still living heart, was for him.

"Gonna take off your pants, mate, yeah?" Charles mumbled between kisses, reaching down between them to do just that.

Edwin had been about to object that he'd hardly walked anywhere, but the praise that immediately followed that initial statement had that flush spreading further and he could only nod at the actual request, managing a quiet, "Yes, please do." As if he had to use the movement to free the words from where they'd lodged in his throat.

The tenting of his pants was much more obvious with trousers out of the way and only shorts remaining, cock straining against the softer fabric, and Edwin could only marvel at the fact that he was reasonably sure he'd never been this hard in his life or his death, and any time he'd come close it had also been inspired by Charles, so that stood to reason.

The knee he'd cracked on a gravestone earlier hadn't bled at all, only the smallest patch of friction burn from his pants, but it was definitely bruised, mottled purple, darkest at the initial point of impact, but radiating out in an uneven corona from there.

It didn't actually seem to be bothering Edwin much, given as how he bent that knee to draw that foot up to brace himself, lifting his hips to make it easier for Charles to skin him out of his pants completely. He propped himself up on his elbows once the garment was gone, looking Charles over again, "Yours too, darling."

Charles shivered at the name, feeling dread and warmth battling in his limbs about it. He loved it. His fingers were clumsier than he expected as he fumbled with Edwin's trousers, pulling them off. The sigh of more skin, more warmth against him was once again something that made his breath come shorter.

At the movement of Edwin's leg, he spotted the bruised knee. It looked... bad, but alive. Charles let out a breath before leaning in, pressing a kiss in the inner side of Edwin's knee, near the bruise. Kisses made everything better after all. And oh, the skin was so soft and warm there, Charles couldn't help following a trail up Edwin's inner thigh to his underwear.

"Right, yeah, trousers," Charles breathed, eying the tent between Edwin's legs with hungry eyes and parted lips. It was an effort to pull away and get to his own trousers, dragging them off without any grace. Throwing them aside, he went back between Edwin's legs as if he couldn't live outside from that space.

His eyes dipped partway closed at that gentle kiss, watching Charles through his lashes as he just continued that line of them, leg slowly relaxing as he did, making a quiet, half-swallowed sound at the sensation.

He took the bare moments that Charles spent shedding his own pants to catch his breath, only to have it leave him again in a contented sigh when Charles returned, shifting his weight so that he could run the backs of his fingers along the arch of Charles' cheek again, "How did I get so lucky?" It was a half-breathless, gently-murmured question, and it was entirely possible that he hadn't actually meant to ask it aloud, but it was definitely something he'd thought to himself more than once.

Charles was ready to move into another set of kisses when he heard that low praise. His cheeks blushed and he actually could feel them do that. His face was hot and red. And his chest was so full he could cry. Whenever Edwin praised him, no matter how, it was just special.

"Keep asking that myself too, love," he whispered in a huff of laughter. He almost died without anyone giving a damn, and then comes this ghost, to literally bring life into a small part of his life, and into the rest of his afterlife. Luck, yeah. Fate, maybe.

Tilting his head, he kissed the inside of Edwin's wrist, loving the warmth of it. Loving the way life was flowing under his skin. Then Charles reached down to stroke Edwin's thighs, grabbing them to guide them around his waist, just to have a feel of what was about to come. He rolled his hips against Edwin, letting go of a shaky breath.

"Lemme prepare you, yeah? Open you up for me," he breathed, and just the thought of that made his hardness twitch.

A soft, half-startled 'oh' escaped him at the press of Charles' lips against his wrist. He'd already liked the sensation as it was, but having it right there against warm skin, feeling it against that pulse point, that was something else again, and it was enough to set something hot and liquid settling in the pit of his stomach again.

"Yes, yes please." It came out a little more unsteady and a little more breathless than Edwin had been aiming for, but the way he hitched his knees higher against Charles' sides, heels digging into the back of his thighs for a moment -as if to prove he could keep Charles penned in if he wanted to- was enough to indicate that it was excitement rather than nerves.

Charles nodded, his lips parted with kisses he wanted to give, with praises he wanted to utter, but all he could do was breathe. If it was up to him he could have rubbed himself against Edwin until he came, and it wouldn't even take long... He still needed to take a few moments, just grinding against the other before he could pull away, to get the lube where he put it. And a pack of condoms.

"Yeah so I got these too," Charles started as he returned to Edwin. His voice was raspy, thick from arousal. "If you think it'd better with, uh, protection," he added, holding the pack in one hand, while his other hand sneaked up Edwin's thigh, fingers sliding under the leg of his underwear to tease. Charles personally wouldn't want to wear rubber, they probably had no diseases but it could get messier than when they were ghosts so... he wanted to give Edwin the option.

Edwin's legs tightened against Charles again at that easy rocking of his hips, his own tilting up to meet the movement halfway, making another quiet, wholly pleased sound as he did, it was just this side of perfect, and he almost wanted to just keep going like that, but he wasn't sure they'd have time to recover and actually couple as they both wanted to if they both ground to completion first.

His brow creased a little at the offer, visibly weighing the pros and cons of each option, something that wasn't as easy to do or as quickly calculated as it would have been at any other time, finally just concluding: "Without, I think. More familiar that way, yes?" Another easy smile, "And besides, gives us an excuse for another shower before all this is over."

"God, I love you, mate," Charles huffed a laugh, thinking about the shower. Yes, oh... that would be brills. So he put the pack down and turned his attention to Edwin's underwear. Charles took his time pulling it off, letting his gaze roam at the fully nude sight of Edwin. His skin was fascinating, so pale but not as pale as in death. It was something Charles wanted to explore, inch by inch, he wanted to know all its warmth and the sounds Edwin would make when he kissed certain parts. His gaze lingered on pink nipples before turning to the boy's hardness.

Charles licked his lips.

"Gonna make this good for you," he said hungrily, and took the lube bottle, while he nudged Edwin's thighs apart, moving between them again. Before he did anything, however, he leaned in to take a lick at the boy's cock, unable to restrain himself anymore.

"It's you, Charles, there's no way it won't be good." The answer was easy as anything, and while that kind of perception, being seen usually set him on edge, it was different when it was Charles, and he wasn't even going to try and figure out what that meant or what caused it, he was just going to appreciate it for what it was.

That line of thought was effectively halted by the hot, slick swipe of Charles' tongue, the sensation enough to have his eyes going unfocused again and more than enough to make his cock twitch, bobbing heavily. He did finally manage to dislodge his voice again, sounding just a little strained, "This will be over far too soon if you continue doing that." As with the kiss to his wrist, it was a sensation he already knew he enjoyed, but it was so much more visceral when alive, so much more than it usually was and even just that first lick had been bordering on too much.

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