Author's note:
This is the sixth part of an original erotic novel set in a dystopian future about one hundred years from now. It is a fantasy about the progression of a romantic relationship, with a focus on fully-developed characters, emotional connection, and sizzling sex. Some elements explored are newly-discovered bisexuality, the complexities of trust, experiments in sexual power play, and healing from loss.
There are seven chapters in the main story, and I have plans to continue it further. Feel free to drop in on specific sections based on your mood or interest, but the dramatic tension is strongest if you start at the beginning.
The creative process has been slower than expected, and life has not been cooperative with my efforts to finish. I will get the final chapter edited and posted as soon as I can. These characters are very important to me, and I want to do my best by them and by you. I appreciate your patience and encouragement.
Thank you to each person who has sent feedback on my posted work! I am new to writing fiction, so I appreciate hearing your reactions and perspectives. It truly does help me create the best stories that I can for readers to enjoy.
Tags for this chapter include: #bisexual male, #romance, #gay romance, #first time, #teasing, #submission, #friends, #future, #dystopian, #novel
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Avery:
I swiped the back of my wrist across my sweaty brow and surveyed the day's progress. Once completed, these ditches and storage ponds would hopefully drain floodwaters before they drowned our crops and keep them handy for when the skies dried up. There was no way to predict what a growing season would bring: heavy tropical rainstorms that dropped several feet of rain within days, or weeks of unbroken heat that shriveled the plants and cracked the ground. Once in a while, the world's weather simply watered the fields and provided light to the leaves, without destroying anything. Those were the years when no one starved.
It was only late April, but between the lofty angle of the sun in this southern latitude and the humid air wrapping my skin like an extra layer of clothing that could never be shed, afternoons were already too hot. I'd stripped off my shirt for a day of digging trenches and carrying buckets of earth, and I was streaked with as much dirt as sweat. I leaned on my shovel, biceps burning, the muscles in my back feeling solid as plate armor. I may not be ripped like Julian, but thanks to projects like this, I cut a decent figure.
The sun's orange globe was finally sinking below the tree line to the west. Shadows lengthened as workers gathered for the trek back to our fort.
"Make sure all the tools get locked up," I called. Shaped metal was too valuable to leave laying around at night. "Reina, Derek, check the far ditches."
The two I'd named headed to where we'd started that morning, while I took my shovel to the storage shed and supervised the gathering of equipment. When everything was accounted for, we walked home through the forest in the fading light, stopping at the stream to wash the worst of the soil from arms and faces.
"How's it going out there?" Julian asked when I reported in at the command center.
"About sixty percent finished," I estimated. "Needs ten or twelve more clear days. There are thunderheads on the horizon and the wind's kicked up, but those storms usually pass by morning."
He nodded in acknowledgement. "You need Gavin tomorrow?" he asked, referring to our community's lead engineer, who'd done most of the design work. It didn't bother me anymore that Julian had slept with Gavin a few times before we got together. Back then, even I had thought I was straight.
"Yeah, just for a while. There's a rocky section that isn't in his diagram."
"Ok, leave the order on the board." Julian checked the clock above the bookcases stocked with old encyclopedias and homesteading guides. "It was quiet here, so I should be free for the night as soon as the last guards check in. How about you?"
"Free as well," I replied, suddenly less weary. We were usually so busy, it was rare to get an entire evening together.
He met my gaze and his expression softened slightly. It probably wouldn't have been perceptible to someone who didn't know him as well as I did; he was unfailingly professional with me when we were working. But the subtle warmth surrounding his azure irises was as good as a smile from him.
I don't have the same mastery of my features; I couldn't keep a smile from curving my lips. Aside from being a brilliant commander, devoted boyfriend, and dead sexy, Julian was simply my favorite person. I loved being around him even if we weren't doing anything. Although I certainly looked forward to stripping off his clothes and getting my hands on all that sculpted muscle.
He glanced away before his smile could escape onto his face. By some miracle, I was his favorite person too. I still didn't understand it, but over the past couple of months, I'd gotten a little better at believing it.
"There they are," he said, nodding to the two guards stowing their rifles in the armory by the main door. "Debrief with me? Then I can go with you to dinner."
I nodded and we went to hear their reports - short and without incident, thankfully. After a quick meal in the main hall and what passed for a shower in the communal washroom, we headed to our quarters in one of the newly-built wooden residences. The single room was barely furnished, but it was dry, wind-proof, and had an actual door: a vast step up from the tent we'd lived in before.
Once inside, we shared our customary embrace and kiss. Julian stood six feet tall, so I had to reach a couple inches up to his mouth. He could defend himself more skillfully than anyone I'd ever met, as lethal with a knife or his own bones as he was with a gun, even an unloaded one. I'd seen him knock out enemies with a single strike to the temple or diaphragm. Still, we'd both lost too many friends and capable fighters for me not to be relieved every night when he came home alive.
One kiss turned into several, then more. Julian didn't let go, and I didn't want to either. I slid my hands inside his faded t-shirt and pressed against the taut strength layering his back, while he buried fingers in my still-wet hair to cup the base of my skull.
When I finally paused to bare his boldly-inked torso and my own unremarkable one, he pulled me down to the bed. We spent a lot of time here, and not just because it was the only place to sit besides the bench against the wall. I kissed him some more, until he unexpectedly disengaged his mouth. A familiar blend of hunger and fondness lit his eyes as he combed through my unruly waves again and studied my face.
"I thought we might try something different tonight," he said after a moment.
I perked up. Julian's ideas for things to try in bed were pretty infallibly amazing. "Like what?"
"Isn't there something we haven't done, that you want to do?"
I considered the question. There were probably lots of new activities I'd enjoy, but I usually only discovered that after he tested them on me. I tried to remember if I'd mentioned anything specific...
Suddenly I realized we'd had this conversation before, except the other way around: it was how I'd asked Julian to fuck me for the first time. I stared at him in surprise. He hadn't let anyone near his ass since he was raped fourteen years ago.
"Are you saying...you want...?" I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence, in case I was wrong.
