Under the Skin (6 page)

Then again, when he thought of the look of intense desire that crossed Minoru's face whenever the Inoue heir laid eyes on good tech, maybe he had every right to be concerned.

"I apologize,” Minoru said, looking faintly irritated with himself and sounding genuinely remorseful. “It is an intimate thing. I took liberties."

Stiffly, Minoru got up and put away the tools that Padraic had strewn all over the floor. Padraic was alone in a bed that suddenly seemed far too large. He stared up at the ceiling, his fingers lightly touching the plate of his interface. He found himself wondering how it would have felt to let Minoru actually work with it, to have those long, lean fingers touching wiring that touched him more intimately than any human hands could.

Because he didn't want to think about Minoru's intense gaze and maddening touch, he thought about his tech instead. He was surprised where he had ended up.

Padraic realized that he couldn't remember the last person who had ever so clearly seen his tech and his body. The first implants that he had gotten were from a small clinic in the Third Ward, with Arch practically holding his hand. Arch had taken him for a drink afterward, and that was perhaps the most sweetness he had ever gotten from his tech.

There were also men who had frowned and told him to keep his shirt on, for the love of God, and one man who had simply pushed him away and gotten dressed when he had brushed against the plate. He remembered how it felt to be left alone in that hotel room, wondering whether it was worth it, and deciding that even if people always left, his tech was still there.

As a matter of fact, he had gone back to his apartment and started working on an upgrade.

He was slowly coming to realize, however, that having tech and being with someone weren't necessarily mutually exclusive. He turned over to look at Minoru, who was peering between the window blinds at what Padraic guessed was nothing at all.

"Minoru?"

"Yes?"

"I'd... like it if you took more liberties."

Minoru simply looked at Padraic for a moment before reaching for the interface. Padraic stifled a flinch, but Minoru's touch was only considering.

"I'll cap these,” he said quietly. “You deserve my full attention.” When Padraic reached for the soft caps from the tool kit, Minoru brushed his hands away. “Let me."

It was a sort of penetration, a shockingly personal act, and Padraic couldn't stop himself from whimpering.

Minoru finally finished with the plugs, and then he leaned over, cupping Padraic's face with a cool hand and holding him steady for a deep kiss.

Instead of submitting meekly to the kiss, Padraic half-dragged Minoru into bed with him.

"Don't stop kissing me this time,” he admonished, surprised at his own boldness. “Not if Jenner comes in, not if my tech starts to smoke..."

Minoru laughed a little shakily."I'm not sure that I could stop for either,” he admitted, and started kissing Padraic again. At first, Padraic was content to lie receptive under Minoru's touch, but then he was reaching for Minoru imperiously, holding the other man precisely where he wanted him.

Padraic's hand drifted between Minoru's legs, stroking gently until he could feel the other man's cock, already hard, start to strain against his touch. “That's nice,” he muttered, and blushed to the roots of his hair when Minoru laughed at him.

"So very bold,” Minoru said, undoing Padraic's pants. “I hadn't expected it of you after the other day."

"Yeah, well,” Padraic arched his hips up so that Minoru could pull his pants off his body with a smooth, practiced motion. He was completely naked except for his tech, if you could even count that, and Minoru sat back to look at him.

For someone else, the way Minoru's eyes kept returning to the inputs on Padraic's chest might have been unnerving, but the idea of being seen as something wanted, as a piece of tech that was beautiful and important, made him ache.

"Please don't make me wait,” Padraic said softly. He couldn't stop his body from squirming restlessly on the sheets. He knew how it must look, how desperate he must seem, but he wasn't sure that he cared.

Minoru laughed again, unsteadily, and he stretched out by Padraic's side, sliding a heavy hand from just below Padraic's breastbone down to his aching cock. He stroked it gently, and when Padraic writhed up against him, he increased the pressure.

"That's lovely,” Minoru said quietly, and he leaned down to kiss the curve of Padraic's hip. Padraic whimpered past gritted teeth. To his own surprise, he found his hands tangled in Minoru's hair.

The Inoue heir reacted as though Padraic's light touch had been a slap. He shot up and pinned Padraic's wrists to the mattress on either side of his head. Padraic, still lost in his sensual daze, blinked up at eyes that were surely too dark and aggressive.

"No,” Minoru said silkily. “Not unless I tell you."

Padraic swallowed and nodded. He knew that he should protest, or at least point out that no one had explained the rules to him beforehand, but instead he let Minoru drag his hands up to the headboard.

"Hang on,” Minoru instructed him. “Don't let go until I tell you."

"I wouldn't dare,” Padraic murmured. He meant for the words to be at least a little sardonic, but they came out breathless and shaky instead.

Still, all he could do was watch in fascination as Minoru pulled the surgical lubricant from the tool kit. It was stuff that was found in biotechnician's tool box, not the bedroom, and Padraic started blushing all over again.

Minoru quirked an eyebrow at him even as he squeezed some of the liquid into his palm to warm it.

"Don't tell me this is the first you've seen it used it like this."

"No, not at all. Just the first time with someone else instead of..."

"Instead of?"

"Instead of using it on myself,” Padraic said, closing his eyes briefly so that he didn't have to see Minoru's smile.

"That's certainly something I wouldn't mind seeing,” Minoru murmured. He brushed the back of one hand against the length of Padraic's cock, watching it twitch in response. “Did you touch yourself here?"

"Ye-es...” Padraic said, gripping the bars of the headboard and trying not to beg with his hips for a more firm touch.

"But not only there?” Minoru guessed, and Padraic was forced to nod.

"Pretty little technician.” Minoru laughed, wrapping slick fingers firmly around Padraic's cock and stroking. “Did you like thinking about parts fitting together, closing around each other perfectly?"

That was so close to the truth that Padraic groaned out loud before remembering himself and stifling it. Minoru was everything that he had dreamed about when he was sitting alone in his lab, rewiring his own nerves and so aroused that he could cry.

Minoru's voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper, making the hairs on the back of Padraic's neck stand on end.

"And did you do more than just think about parts, Padraic?” he asked softly. “Did you ever find... parts that might fit you?"

His hand was getting rougher, and it felt so good that Padraic might have agreed to anything to make him finish.

"Yes, yes,” Padraic whimpered, but Minoru pulled his hand away, wiping it off with a towel that lay nearby.

"Don't... don't stop...” Padraic panted, but he quieted under Minoru's cool gaze.

"Later, perhaps,” Minoru said mildly. “Your bodyguard is due back soon."

A few days—hell, a few hours ago, Padraic would have mumbled something apologetic and lain back down, trying to get his erection under control. Now, maybe because of having his inputs adjusted, maybe because of something else, Padraic decided that that wasn't going to stand.

"Not for a little bit longer,” Padraic said, kneeling up on the bed and taking Minoru by the shoulders. Minoru looked startled, and before that startled could change to dismay or disapproval, Padraic was kissing him, pushing his tongue between Minoru's lips and refusing to let the Inoue heir move until he had had his fill.

Padraic pulled back, dragging the back of his hand across his sensitive and slightly swollen lips, and found Minoru staring at him.

"I'm sorry,” he said, feeling slightly abashed. “I just... didn't feel like being something that you can kiss without consequences."

Minoru shook his head, and Padraic realized that the other man was staring directly at Padraic's lips.

"It's not a matter of being kissed without consequences,” said Minoru, “it's more trying to decide if the consequences are worth it."

That was all that Minoru said before he pushed Padraic back on the bed, and this time when he kissed him, it was more purposeful and with an edge of violence. Padraic shivered. As close to Padraic as he was, Minoru couldn't have missed it.

Minoru was kissing him hard enough that Padraic felt bruised and breathless. He barely had his breath back when Minoru started attacking his chest with a hungry mouth. The Inoue heir seemed to be paying special attention to the bruises and bites that marred Padraic's torso, making them ache and throb all over again.

Something about Minoru's roughness made Padraic less careful, and he put his fingers into Minoru's hair and tugged—hard.

Minoru's breath caught, and he said something that Padraic's translator couldn't decipher as either a curse or a prayer.

"Pull harder,” Minoru said more clearly, and Padraic put both hands in Minoru's hair and yanked as Minoru braced himself above him. The motion brought Minoru up to a kneeling crouch over Padraic's body. Minoru's hips brushed against Padraic's bare skin, and Padraic realized that Minoru was hard.

The thought of making Minoru so aroused that he squirmed like an unruly puppy made Padraic's breath catch in his throat, and somehow he found words.

"You want me,” he said, using his grasp on Minoru's hair to drag him back up. Their faces were two inches away from each other.

"Gods, yes,” said Minoru intently. “Your body, your tech, all of it..."

"Do it then,” Padraic said, bringing his hips up to meet Minoru's. Even with a layer of cloth between them, the sensation was enough to make him lightheaded, to make his vision swim.

Then he realized that his vision wasn't just swimming because of Minoru. That was all the warning he got before the top lifted off his head and there were small explosions of color behind his eyes.

"Oh, oh fuck, oh God,” he moaned, rolling away from Minoru and clutching his head. One hand slapped against the interface on his chest, but the other was applying as much pressure as it could to his left temple, where he was sure that something was going to come pushing its way through the skin.

When his vision cleared, he was sitting up and he could taste blood in his mouth. Gingerly, he ran his tongue around the inside, wincing when he found the raw spot that he had chewed open.

Minoru was crouched on the bed like a gargoyle, eyes intent, and though he was breathing hard, he was calm.

"Shall I call an ambulance?” he said seriously, and Padraic waved him off.

"No, no, I got it,” Padraic said. Something about trying to talk made another wave of nausea pass over him, and he had to stumble for the bathroom. He made it just in time to vomit with what he felt was inappropriate violence.

Distantly, he was aware of Minoru kneeling next to him, rubbing his back and murmuring in a language that Padraic could no longer say was definitely Japanese or English. The tile of the floor was cool under his hands, and the coolness was so nice that Padraic ended up lying flat on it, willing some of it to enter his own overheated body.

He concentrated on making his body take air in and then force it out. Breathing. He knew how to breathe, and a soft, almost unnoticeable echo made him look up at Minoru with a ghost of amusement.

"You don't have to breathe with me,” he said, his voice a harsh croak in his ears. “I'm not having a baby, you know."

Minoru smiled wanly at him, and Padraic believed for the first time that Minoru was concerned about more than just the technology he was carrying. The thought was soft and warm as wool, and Padraic tried to hold on to it.

He figured that he had lost track of time again because the next thing that he heard was Jenner talking with Minoru.

"You didn't call an ambulance."

"No, he said he didn't need one."

"Oh, so we're taking his word for it..."

"I would rather avoid the hospital if at all possible. Some of the software we put on him—"

"Would get him dropped into a room with barred windows in two heartbeats. Yeah, probably just as well."

Padraic sat back on his heels and stared at the paneled ceiling until his body calmed down. He thought his stomach was empty, which was just as well, and after a long moment, he half-tripped to the tiny bathtub. He managed to lever half his body into the tub and thrust his head under the faucet. After letting the water run icy cold for a full minute, he felt almost human again and pulled away, narrowly missing gouging his scalp on the sharp spout.

"We can't do this,” he said, coming back into the room.

"Oh, come on...” Jenner started, but Padraic kept talking.

"The neural net just can't handle it,” he forced himself to say. “Not like it is, not without some serious repairs. Maybe after I do some more work in Milwaukee,” he offered lamely. “Maybe..."

"Or maybe you'll just do it anyway.” Jenner said cheerfully. “It's still holding information, isn't it?"

Something about his tone made Padraic bristle.

"The way I see it,” Jenner continued, “it works just fine; the only thing that we're really worried about here is migraines and some stomachaches."

"That's not it,” Padraic insisted. Why couldn't they see?. “It's not supposed to do that; that means that something's wrong."

"It's not like you can leave,” Jenner said offhandedly, and that, more than anything else, made Padraic retrieve his shirt and head for the door.

"Where are you going to get plane fare?” Jenner asked with interest.

"I'm going to whore myself outside the hotel door,” Padraic snapped automatically.

"No, please.” Minoru snagged him by the crook of his elbow, and because it was Minoru, he stilled.