Every First Time Is a Different Experience
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“Someday you’re going to be bigger than owls, you know,” Isaac told Baker as they walked back to the dormitory. “Then you won’t have to be scared of them.”
Baker didn’t listen to him, just sniffed along the ground.
“Yeah, I know,” Isaac said, sighing. “You probably still will be.”
He had not adopted the bravest dog in the capital. But that was okay. Isaac loved him anyway, and owls could be spooky, if looked at in the wrong light. It was pretty clear tonight, though.
Isaac’s proximity spell went off as he got closer to the dormitory, and Baker continued not to notice anything. Considering that the spell was telling him there was a person just lurking there around the corner, and Isaac didn’t hear anything, he smiled. “That’s a strange place for you to skulk, Jacob.”
With an agitated noise, Jacob came into the sphere of Isaac’s light, getting Baker’s attention. Baker came over for scratches behind the ears, thankfully not barking as he sniffed Jacob’s crotch enthusiastically. “Stop ruining my aura of mystery with your stupid magic tricks,” Jacob said, scratching Baker and trying to keep him from getting to deep into anything vital. “I had a whole entrance planned and everything.”
“Sorry,” Isaac told him, joining Baker in front of Jacob. He kissed Jacob on the cheek. “Should I go back over there and let you jump out at me?”
“No, it’s fine, you’ve already ruined it.” Jacob glared at him for a second, before kissing Isaac back. “Hi. I missed you.”
“I missed you too. How are you?”
“I’m okay. Apparently I need to find some sort of charm that stops mages from detecting me.”
“Apparently,” Isaac agreed with a chuckle. “Down, Baker.”
Baker stopped in the act of jumping onto Jacob’s leg to hump him. Jacob crouched, patted his ears. “Just when I was thinking our illicit relationship was going to need to add a third member.”
“Well, it might,” Isaac said. “But he’d be a human too, don’t worry.”
“That’s a relief. Um…” Jacob looked up at Isaac. “Are you any good at climbing?”
“Climbing?” Isaac asked. “Like, trees? I’m okay at it.”
“I meant like, well, walls.”
Isaac looked at him, then he looked at the dormitory. Then he looked farther, at the academy wall. “You’re planning a breakout?”
“I just…” Jacob coloured visibly even in the dim light. “There’s something I want to show you. And I know you don’t get to leave the academy that often. And I know there’s an inherent shadiness to me spiriting you away in the middle of the night, but you’re attracted to my inherent shadiness, so I thought you might like it?”
Isaac was, indeed, attracted to Jacob’s inherent shadiness, and he chuckled. “Do I get to know where we’re going?”
“My place,” Jacob said, quietly.
Isaac split into a grin, nodding. “I’d like that. Hold on.” He headed over to the dormitory door held it open. “Here, Baker.”
With one last sniff at Jacob, Baker came over with a whinge. “Inside,” Isaac told him. “Go upstairs.”
Baker whinged again.
“Peter’s up there, he’ll let you in the room,” Isaac assured him. “I’ll be back later.”
With one last protest, Baker went inside, and Isaac shut the door behind him.
“That dog gives you a lot of lip,” Jacob said, as Isaac rejoined him.
“I believe in letting him express his individuality,” Isaac said. “I need another dog for him to hang out with so he’s not so dependant on me for attention all the time, that’s all.”
“Didn’t you just get him not that long ago?” Jacob asked, gesturing for Isaac to walk with him around the dormitory, towards the wall.
“Yeah,” Isaac said. “What’s your point?”
“Just…you’re already thinking about getting another dog?”
“When I left home my parents had thirty-two dogs,” Isaac said, pushing down the momentary pang when he remembered that it was much less than that now. “Two really isn’t that many to take care of. I don’t understand people who only want one dog.”
“Thirty-two dogs?” Jacob huffed a little. “Well. Now I know why you want to have dozens of boyfriends. You don’t know how to have normal numbers of anything.”
“I guess not. You’re one of them, right?”
“One of what?”
“My dozens of boyfriends.”
Jacob tripped over nothing, and Isaac had to stop him from falling. “Um…” Face flaming, he looked at Isaac. “Yes?”
“Good.” Isaac kissed Jacob as he helped him stand. “Now, show me how you break out of this place.”
“R-right.” Jacob led him to the wall, then down it a few dozen metres, to where a rope dangled down. “Um. I wish I could say there were just some convenient vines or something, but actually when I come in, I just hook this on the wall and climb it.”
“I guess that’s how you’ve avoided getting caught,” Isaac said, tugging on the rope. It seemed pretty firm.
“I guess so. Here.” Jacob took the end of the rope, looped it around Isaac, and started to tie it around his waist.
Isaac grinned at him. “Didn’t know you were into this kind of thing.”
“What? What kind of…”
“Tying me up.”
Jacob looked at Isaac for a second, face flooding again. “No! Wait, no, that’s now what…I just…this way if you fall…”
Isaac laughed, leaning in and nosing Jacob a little. “I know. I appreciate it.”
“Good,” Jacob said, still flustered as his finished tying the knot. “Good.”
“If you ever do want to tie me up, I’m okay with that too,” Isaac added.
“I’m going up ahead of you,” Jacob grumbled, grabbing the rope above Isaac’s head and leaping up, feet on the wall. He walked up, pulling himself up, and Isaac watched him, getting the idea of how he did it. When Jacob was at the top, he waved down at Isaac.
“Okay,” Isaac said, taking hold of the rope. “Didn’t look that hard.”
He put his feet on the wall. And fell back, the rope catching him. It was harder than it looked.
Trying again with a firmer grip, Isaac did better this time, pulling himself up with his hands, mostly just using his feet to steady himself. He definitely wasn’t as graceful as Jacob had been, but he was getting there. He’d been hoping that this was going to be a way for him to get out of the academy whenever he wanted, but it looked like it was going to require Jacob’s help.
Well, Isaac didn’t mind a nighttime excursion with his boyfriend now and again. It was all very romantic. He hoped Jacob had a comfortable bed. There was no way Jacob was leading Isaac to his house and not planning to show him the bed, right? That was just how it worked.
With that happy thought in mind, Isaac took another step, a bigger one than before. And he slipped and fell, tumbling all the way to the ground. “Isaac!”
Isaac wasn’t going to hit the ground. He knew that. He knew that he was tied to a rope and wasn’t going to hit the ground. He was still scared. He still panicked. He still did what he’d been taught to do when he was scared. He reached out for the Pillars.
Isaac knew he wasn’t going to hit the ground, and he didn’t. But he also didn’t snap against the rope, or hit the wall, and it took him a second after he realized that he should have by now to open his eyes, watching the ground just sort of sit there, waiting for him.
His left hand was touching Dark.
The rope had some slack left in it, and carefully, very carefully, Isaac manipulated the Pillar, pulling on the part of it that ran through…him. And he smiled, floating himself farther up into the air, upright. He looked up at Jacob and waved. “I’m okay!”
He was better than okay. He was great. He floated all the way up to the wall, grinning from ear to ear at Jacob’s wide-eyed expression. “I…didn’t know you could do that…” Jacob said.
“Neither did I.” Isaac set his feet on top of the wall, and let go of the Pillar. “I’ve been trying for a while.” Once he’d let it go, Isaac touched the Pillar again, because there was no use in learning it if he couldn’t do it again later. So he hovered a few centimetres above the wall, reaching down and untying the rope from himself. “Here you go.”
“I was…I thought you were going to get hurt,” Jacob said, swallowing as he spooled his rope.
“Sorry to make you worry,” Isaac said, giddy. He waited until Jacob was done and then waved his hand, raising Jacob into the air too. “Where are we going?”
“Whoa, whoa!” Jacob waved his arms around in a circle as if to get his bearings, but Isaac kept him steady. “I can fly too? Oh, wow.”
“Anyone can fly if they believe hard enough,” Isaac said. “And, you know. If a Dark mage is there to help them.”
“You’re a Dark mage now?”
“Well, I had to match your mystery somehow, right?” Isaac grinned, reached out and took Jacob’s hand. “Flying’s faster than walking, right? Tell me where to go.”
“Uh…” Jacob cleared his throat, pointing. “That way. There’s an old church with a belltower that has no bell.”
Isaac nodded, and he moved both of them, over the wall, way above the ground. Isaac didn’t look down, but Jacob did and made a worried noise, justifying Isaac’s refusal to look down. He’d have to next time, to see how far it was. That would probably be soon, since this was Isaac’s way out of the academy from now on.
Not that he wanted to go out all the time with all the dangerous whatever out there. But sometimes without having to be chaperoned would be nice. Just for a change. Besides, the academy wasn’t as safe as advertised, so it wasn’t like the city could be any less safe.
Isaac flew them in the direction that Jacob indicated, changing direction every so often at Jacob’s behest. “It looks really cool from up here,” Jacob said, voice stronger than it had been.
“Yeah,” Isaac agreed. “I wonder what it’s like during the day.”
“You don’t think they’d be throwing rocks at us?”
A fair point, Isaac thought. “They wouldn’t hit us.”
“There are some very sharp-eyed people in this city, and their throwing arms are probably not to be scoffed at. There it is.”
Isaac went where Jacob pointed him, taking them into the top of the belltower, which was partially broken and only had one standing wall with no roof. He set them down carefully, shaking with adrenaline. The academy was so far away. He’d flown—flown—them all the way here. “Oh, wow. I think I’m going to pass my Practical Magic class.”
“Do you think?” Jacob said, stomping on the wooden boards a little as if to remind himself that he was here. He nodded. “Anyway. I live here.”
Isaac looked around. It was open to the air, and very empty but for one small chair and a trapdoor leading down. “In the belltower?”
“Yeah. Well, in the church. The priest who runs it sort of lets a few people without homes stay here. It’s like a little commune. We grow vegetables and stuff.”
“Oh, wow.” That was not at all what Isaac had been expecting for Jacob. “That’s awesome.”
“Yeah.” Jacob took Isaac’s hand, pointed him out east. “This is what I wanted to show you.”
“What…oh.”
The view was…amazing. The city was below, lit up for the night. And above, forever in every direction, was the sky. Glittering with so many stars Isaac actually gasped, the nearly full moon hanging just above them. “Wow…”
Isaac had seen the stars before, plenty of times. They were always clear and numerous at home. But somehow this was different, this was more. Or maybe it just reminded him of home. He wasn’t sure, but he liked it, and he liked having Jacob here with him. So he held Jacob’s hand tight and watched them. “This is amazing.”
“Yeah. I like to come up and watch them at night,” Jacob said, looking up with Isaac. “I sleep up here sometimes in the summer. Lately I’ve been thinking that I wanted to watch them with you.”
Isaac’s heart skipped. “That’s so sweet, Jacob.” Isaac broke away from the stars to kiss Jacob, gently on the mouth. He kept it long, and sweet, and Jacob pulled him in, wrapped his arms around Isaac, kissed him back.
For how long they kissed under the stars Isaac wasn’t sure, but he was sure that it was Jacob’s hands that moved lower first, playing with Isaac’s waistband, only dipping in when Isaac did the same, and then they were slowly taking each other’s clothes off, pants first, then Jacob’s boots, then their shirts. Isaac grinded himself against Jacob’s smallclothes for a second before sliding those down too, and soon they were naked, kissing there on the roof, in the open, too high up to see. Jacob was skinnier undressed than Isaac had expected, and he ran his hands over every starlit centimetre of him.
Isaac looked up at Jacob and Jacob looked down at Isaac, and it was very clear what was about to happen. Isaac took Jacob’s hand, sucked on the fingers for a minute, before giving it back. Jacob slid it down, between Isaac’s legs, finding his hole, penetrating him. Isaac gasped, smiling as he was filled with fingers, keeping his eyes open so he could watch Jacob, framed by stars, his face set.
“Is this good?” Jacob whispered after a minute, and at Isaac’s nod, he pulled his fingers out, took his dick in hand. “I…don’t have anything to…”
“Come up here,” Isaac said, waving him up and opening his mouth. Jacob climbed up Isaac’s body awkwardly, and Isaac too Jacob’s dick in his mouth, sucked lightly on it for a second, just a second, just to get it wet, and then pulled back. “There you go.”
“Th-thanks…” Jacob said, sliding back down. He looked nervous.
“You done this before?” Isaac asked.
Jacob nodded slowly. “Yeah. A few times. I just…”
“Then you know what to do,” Isaac said, taking his hand. “Don’t be nervous.”
Jacob nodded, and he leaned down and kissed Isaac, pressing against his hole as he did. Isaac kissed him back to help his confidence, and Jacob pressed inside. Isaac made a happy sound into Jacob’s mouth, encouraging him to go farther.
Jacob did, slowly making his way in, until he was fully seated. Then he let out a content sigh, smiling down at Isaac for a moment before resuming his kiss.
Isaac moved his hips to encourage him—Jacob needed a lot of encouraging—and Jacob started moving, slowly, in a way that suggested he might pick up speed at first, but it became clear that he didn’t intend to. He had a good rhythm going, and he never let go of Isaac’s hand, and he never stopped kissing Isaac.
Isaac almost didn’t want to call it fucking. They made love under the stars, and for how long he didn’t know. Half the night might have passed that way, Jacob on top of him, between his legs, inside him, the only sounds their breathing, their bodies more than enough heat for both of them in the cool autumn night.
It was almost a disappointment when Isaac felt an orgasm start to build. Almost. It felt like the sunrise coming after a long night of stargazing, and Isaac embraced it, arms around Jacob. “Jacob…” he whispered, breaking the kiss for just a second.
And he came, splattering his belly and Jacob’s, kissing passionately, holding Jacob tight.
Jacob followed him not a moment later, letting out a high pitched sound for Isaac to swallow as he went tense, and filled Isaac up in several spurts.
When they were done, Jacob lay there for a good moment before pulling out, laying beside Isaac, looking up at the stars. “You’re amazing.”
“So are you.”
“I didn’t…” Jacob hesitated. He was still holding Isaac’s hand. “I didn’t bring you here to…”
Isaac smiled. “To what?” he teased.
“To, um, well…deflower you.”
Isaac blinked, replayed that word in his head, and giggled. “You’re a few years late on that one, Jacob.”
“I…” When Isaac looked over, Jacob was blushing. “I know that. But it’s your first time with me. So it counts.”
“Yeah,” Isaac said, snuggling a little closer to him. “It counts. I lost my Jacob virginity.”
“And I lost my Isaac virginity. And I’m glad I did,” Jacob said, smiling. “I really did only bring you here to look at the stars. I swear I didn’t have ulterior motives.”
“I had ulterior motives,” Isaac promised. “But even if we hadn’t done that, I still would have had a good time. This is beautiful,” he said, nodding up at the stars.
“Yeah. Um. Stop me if this is weird.”
“Okay.”
“I love you.”
Isaac held in a laugh, looking over at Jacob, who looked mortified. “Not a whole lot of time for me to stop you in there.”
“I…”’
“I love you too, Jacob,” Isaac said, leaning over and kissing him again. He may not know Jacob as well as he did Peter or some of his other friends, but he knew what love felt like, and that was it here. He loved Jacob too. “And I’m really glad you brought me here to tell me.” Obviously Jacob had had quite a lot of this planned, if not the sex bit.
Jacob shifted uncomfortably, pulling Isaac closer. “Technically you brought me here.”
“I guess.” Isaac laughed a little, looking up at the stars. “Tell me about them.”
“Really?” Jacob asked, looking at Isaac, grip tightening a little. “You want to hear?”
“Sure. You know a lot about them, right?” Isaac smiled, happily using Jacob’s body heat as warmth. “I want to hear. You’re my personal astronomer.”
“Okay,” Jacob whispered, looking up at the sky. He pointed at a star. “That’s the Dragon’s Eye. You can use it to find north wherever you are. You see all those stars around it? They’re Head of the Dragon. The Dragon as a whole moves around throughout the year, and…”
Isaac lay there in Jacob’s arms, watching the stars and listening to Jacob talk about them. After, they slept on the belltower together.
It was a perfect night.
—
How Best to Use a Sword 