Presence

Date?!

I stared at Kenji, mouth open.

"Are you serious?"

"Well, why not?" he asked, sitting down again. "Your ghost isn't going anywhere, so rather than sitting around twiddling our thumbs, waiting for Pinky, let's go out and do something."

I looked at him in silence.

"If it's the 'date' part you're worried about, we don't have to call it that," he said softly.

I looked down at my feet, scraping my shoes against the ground.

"...okay."

Kenji stood, abruptly.

"Okay as in 'okay, let's go out on a date', or as in 'okay, we won't call it a date'...?"

"Let's go out..." I cleared my throat. "...on a date."

I glanced up at Kenji. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Okay!" he said brightly, and I felt myself beginning to grin as well.

"So, what did you have in mind?"

"Huh..." he said thoughtfully. "I hadn't thought that far ahead."

I gave an amused snort as he frowned, trying to think of something.

"I guess, first of all, we could go have lunch."

"Okay. You pick a place."

We walked a few blocks, finally settling on a small place where we ordered grilled sandwiches. We sat in a corner and enjoyed our food while making quiet small talk.

"We haven't really spent any time like this, just you and me, before," Kenji said, smiling at me. "It's nice."

"Yeah," I agreed. I looked up, meeting his eyes. The look in them made my heart flutter.

"Can I ask you something?" I said, finishing the last of my sandwich.

"Shoot."

"How come you're not seeing anyone?"

Kenji raised his eyebrows.

"I always figured you'd be dating someone by now, but Matt and Jeff said you haven't been seeing anyone at all. I'm just curious," I shrugged.

"Well..." he leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table, and looked me deeply in the eyes. "Why move on when you know something's worth waiting for? It's kinda pointless... don't you think?"

I couldn't stop myself from blushing.

"I guess..." I said, turning my head away. He laughed quietly.

After lunch we went for a walk, showing each other our favorite stores. I took Kenji to the place where I buy most of my clothes. He bought himself a black leather jacket, in which he looked good enough to eat. After we left the store Kenji showed me an awesome used bookstore called "Alex's Dungeon", that specialized in sci-fi, horror, fantasy and graphic novels. I could have browsed in there for hours. I was happy to find a short story collection by Poppy Z. Brite that I hadn't read yet.

When they saw me, the two guys that worked there started whispering to each other. As I walked to the register to pay for the book, one of them cleared his throat.

"Hey... you're Ash Lucas, right?"

"Yeah...?" I said, surprised.

"I knew it!" he whispered to the other guy. "I saw you at that exhibition a while back. I love your work. I'm Alex, I own the store."

"I'm John," the other guy introduced himself.

"It's a great store," I said, shaking their hands. "I'll definitely be coming here again."

"Awesome," Alex said, then glanced at the book I had placed on the counter. "Listen, how about a trade: I'll let you have that book free of charge if you'll sign this."

He rolled out a poster from Grave Dirt, of a woman in a Victorian mourning dress, holding her dead lover in her arms. Next to them is his opened grave, a shovel sticking out of it. One of my best designs.

"You've got a deal," I said. Alex fished out a black marker from a drawer and handed it to me. I signed the poster, shook his hand again, then me and Kenji left.

"It feels really glamorous, going out with a celebrity," Kenji smirked, nudging my shoulder.

"Shut up!" I laughed.

We walked around for another hour, then we went back to Kenji's place to drop off our stuff and change clothes, as we were going to dinner and then to the club later. I rummaged through my bag, looking for something to wear. I hadn't really paid attention to what clothes I'd shoved in there when I packed the bag. I was in luck: I had a nice, black shirt and my best pair of jeans. Not too shabby. I ran my fingers through my hair and went out into the living room.

Once I got a look at Kenji I felt my heart beat a little faster. He had on a midnight blue long sleeved t-shirt that clung to his body, black jeans and boots. His new leather jacket was slung over his arm. He smiled when he saw me and stood looking at me in silence.

"You look great," he said after a minute.

"So do you."

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

I grabbed my wallet and jacket and we left. We had decided to forgo the usual place this time, and had instead decided on a small Italian place. I had mushroom tagliatelle and Kenji had the carbonara. For dessert we shared a piece of chocolate cake and had espresso.

I was really enjoying myself. I was surprised at how easy it was, being out on a real date with Kenji like this. Not once had I hesitated or questioned if I was really ready for something like this. I had thought I would be a nervous wreck, but I wasn't. I was remarkably at calm.

After dinner we went to the club. We sat down by the bar, and ordered a couple of beers. We sat talking, when someone next to me drawled:

"Well, look who's here!"

I turned my head and made a face when I saw it was Benny, the guy from the night Ryan attacked me, standing there with an ugly smirk on his face.

You sure have lousy timing. Asshole.

I tried ignoring him but he placed himself between me and Kenji and put his arm around my shoulders.

"What do you want?" I growled, squirming away from his arm.

"Nothing," he said, leaning in towards me. "Just thought you might be interested in finishing what you started that time."

"Thanks, but no thanks," I said, giving him a stiff smile. He snorted and shook his head, then turned to Kenji.

"Hey, buddy, I wouldn't waste my time on this one if I were you. Worst fucking tease I ever met in my life. You'll wind up with nothing but blue balls for your trouble."

Kenji tilted his head a little and looked curiously at Benny. Then, suddenly he laughed.

"Oh, man! You're in such deep shit!"

Benny frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"Even as we speak, your girlfriend is going through your computer. She's already found several interesting photos of you and a guy in a Darth Vader helmet." He grinned. "I must say that's a very creative use of a plastic lightsaber."

I let out a short laugh. Benny paled.

"How did you know...?"

"If I were you, I'd be more worried about what she's going to... oh, wait. She's calling your cell right now."

"I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but..."

Benny silenced as his cell phone started ringing. He took one shocked look at Kenji, then walked away to take the call. Walking towards the exit, we heard him yell: "No, honey, please!", then he rushed out of the club.

"I wonder what she said to him."

"She threatened to torch his collection of sports memorabilia."

I laughed so hard my eyes watered. Kenji just smiled softly at me. When we had finished our beers he nodded towards the dance floor.

"Would you like to dance?"

"Yeah."

He took my hand and led me out on the dance floor. The song playing was a club mix of some sort, but Kenji just put his arms around my waist, pulled me close, and we started slowly swaying to ourselves, ignoring the music.

Closing my eyes, I pressed myself a little closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. His hands lightly caressed my back and I could feel him nuzzling against the side of my head. I smiled to myself when I realized that he was smelling my hair.

"Ash?" he whispered into my ear.

"Hmm?"

"I know I was stupid to ask you out that time... I knew deep down that you weren't ready to start seeing anyone, but I lo... liked you too much to stop myself, and I only ended up hurting myself and making things uncomfortable between us. I was wrong then, to do that..." He pulled back a little to look into my eyes. "...but I don't think I'm wrong in asking you now if you're ready to give me a chance?"

I looked at him, that gorgeous man who was gazing at me, his beautiful brown eyes glowing, his lips slightly parted. I ran my index finger over his bottom lip, then leaned over and kissed him, softly pressing my lips against his. As we kissed, one of his hands caressed the back of my neck, and the other softly glided down my waist to come to rest on my hip. Even those innocent touches was enough to make me shudder.

I parted my lips and his tongue slipped inside my mouth and met mine. They glided and twisted together as our mouths pressed harder against each other. He broke this kiss and pressed his lips against the side of my neck, then lightly scraped his teeth against my skin.

"Kenji..." I breathed, holding back a groan, as I pulled away to look at him. "I can't promise that I'll never hesitate... that I'll always feel as unafraid as I do right now... but I want you to know that I trust you... and I'm going to try."

He smiled at me, looking so happy it made me smile, too. He nodded.

"Okay," he said softly.

"So..."

"So?"

I pressed closer against him again, and kissed the spot beneath his ear as I whispered:

"So let's go back your place."

We rode the cab in silence. When we arrived, Kenji unlocked the door and held it open for me. I went inside, and as I was taking off my shoes Kenji's arms snaked around my waist from behind. He kissed the side of my neck as his hands slid up underneath my shirt. They caressed the skin on my belly before moving higher, up on my chest. I gasped slightly when they brushed over my nipples.

Tilting my head to give him better access to my neck, I reached back with one arm and ran my fingers through his hair. I moaned when he sucked on my neck and brushed my nipples again. He moved his hands out from under my shirt and ran them up over my sides, then started unbuttoning my shirt. He slipped it off my shoulders and let it fall to the floor.

Reaching around my waist again, he opened the fly to my jeans and pulled them down. I stepped out of them, kicking them aside, then stepped on my socks to pull them off. Grabbing my hips, Kenji pressed his body against me. I could feel his hardness through his jeans and moaned as his hand started rubbing mine through my underwear.

His hands on my hips, he walked me into the bedroom, then turned me around and pushed me down to sit on the bed. Wide eyed, I stared as he began undressing for me, first shrugging off his jacket and then pulling his shirt over his head. He took off his boots, then unbuttoned the fly to his jeans and pulled them down. He stepped out of them, then removed his socks.

He approached me where I was sitting on the edge of the bed. I put my arms around his waist and pulled him in to stand between my legs. I leaned my forehead against his stomach, then kissed the smooth, golden skin. I planted little kisses all around his belly button, brushing the skin with my tongue.

Kenji pulled me up and kissed me hard. We fell backwards onto the bed, Kenji on top of me. Kissing furiously, our hands explored each other's bodies. He abandoned my lips and moved his mouth to the side of my neck and I moaned as I felt little licks, kisses and bites on my skin.

I ran my hands over his back, tracing his spine with my fingers down to the small of his back, then slipped my hands inside his underwear, cupping his ass and squeezing. His breath was warm against my neck as he made a little pleasured noise.

His mouth moved further down; he traced my collarbone with his soft lips, then scooted down a little bit to fasten them around my left nipple. He did wicked things to it with the tip of his tongue, at the same time slipping his hand in between our bodies and inside my underwear, to finally close it around my erection.

"Ah!" I gasped as he started slowly stroking me. His hand felt so good, so good...

"Kenji..." I panted. "I want to see you. Let me see you..."

"I want to see you, too," he whispered. He rolled off me onto his back. Lying on my side, I propped myself up on me elbow and watched as he hooked his thumbs in his underwear and pulled them down. I couldn't help licking my lips as his rigid shaft was revealed. It twitched a little as I reached out and ran my finger along its length.

It's perfect... so hot... so hard.

I sat up. Kneeling on the bed, I stared into his eyes as I pulled down my own underwear and wriggled out of them. Kenji's eyes glowed as he looked at me.

"You're beautiful..." he whispered.

I smiled softly.

"So are you."

Straddling him, I leaned down and kissed him, then began kissing my way down his chest. I briefly teased his nipples with my teeth and tongue, then kept moving further down. I stroked his thighs with my hands, parting his legs so that I could kneel between them. Leaning down, I kissed the base of his cock, then trailed my lips up over the shaft. Taking it in my hand, I wrapped my lips around the head, taking it in my mouth, sucking gently.

"Oh, god..." Kenji groaned.

I ran my tongue over the head, pushing the tip against the slit, then I pushed my lips further down the shaft and, sucking a little harder, I started bobbing my head.

"Nnh!"

I could hear Kenji moaning, and I could feel him running his fingers through my hair as I moved my mouth on his cock. Looking up, I saw him watching me, biting his lower lip. I let his sex slip from my mouth.

"I want you," I whispered, licking my wet lips. "I want you inside me."

"Come here," he breathed.

I crawled up the bed. He gently pushed me down to lie on my stomach and spread my legs. Reaching into the drawer on his nightstand he retrieved lube and a condom. He smoothed his hands down over my back, down to my ass. I moaned with anticipation, closing my eyes when I felt him spreading my cheeks... and when I felt his tongue licking the sensitive skin around my opening, I grabbed a pillow and pressed my face into it to stifle my groans.

Thrills of pleasure raced through my body as his tongue teased my entrance, pushing and swirling around the rim. When it slipped inside I pushed the pillow away, moaning loudly and grabbing fistfuls of sheet. Then he removed his tongue.

"No...oooaah!" My protest to the loss of his tongue became a moan of pleasure as he quickly replaced it with a lubed finger. I squirmed and panted as he stretched me, adding another finger, scissoring them inside me. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore, and I begged shamelessly for him to take me.

"Please...! Please, I need you! Fuck me!"

He rolled me over onto my back. I watched as he rolled the condom down over his cock, whimpering in anticipation as he lowered himself onto me. He positioned himself at my entrance. Caressing my cheek with one hand, he looked into my eyes as he pushed, and when the head popped inside, he leaned down and gently kissed me. It was such a tender gesture, I felt a lump forming in my throat.

He slid into me very slowly, sucking and kissing my neck and shoulder, until he was completely inside me. Then he stilled, letting my body adjust. I looked up and met his eyes, and the look in them took my breath away.

Then he started moving.

No one had ever made love to me the way Kenji did that night. No one had ever made my body feel so alive with pleasure. And I'll say this: Kenji may have psychic gifts, but I'm convinced that even if he hadn't, he would still have instinctively known how to make me feel that good. Just as I instinctively knew how to make him feel good. We were completely in sync.

He moved slowly at first, with long, sliding strokes. I grabbed onto his shoulders, wrapping my legs around his waist.

"Unh!" I moaned when he shifted his angle and found my prostate. Nuzzling his lips against my neck, he started thrusting harder and harder until he was pounding into me. I pushed my hips up to meet his thrusts, and dug my fingers hard into his back. I could hear him moaning my name, over and over:

"Ash...aaah! Ash...!"

Sweat broke out on our skin. Our moans filled the room. Heat was building fast inside my body. I whimpered, holding on to him for dear life, biting down on his shoulder. My body trembled... and for the first time ever, I came without having touched my cock.

I screamed and thrashed in his arms, orgasming so violently I almost passed out. I was only vaguely aware of Kenji coming as well, groaning as he held me tight against his body.

We lay still for a while in a panting, sweaty, trembling pile. I couldn't move, couldn't speak. All I could do was think:

Oh, my god... Oh, my god...

Kenji recovered first; he carefully pulled out of me, and went to the bathroom to dispose of the condom. I could hear the shower turning on, then Kenji returned.

"Come on. Let's wash off," he smiled, holding out his hand to me. My legs were still shaky, and he had to help me up, causing us both to laugh. We went to the bathroom and stepped in the shower, washing away our sweat and my release from our bodies, then we dried off and returned to the bed, snuggling up against each other, sharing slow kisses until we finally drifted off to sleep.

* * * * * *

The sound of a phone disturbed my sleep, followed by Kenji's voice. Yawning, I rubbed my fingers against my eyes, then glanced at Kenji, sitting up in bed talking to someone on the phone. He sounded about as exhausted as I felt.

"...yeah, I would really appreciate it. Okay. All right, we'll see you later."

He ended the call, flopped down on the bed with a deep groan. When he noticed that I was awake, he smiled and pulled me into his arms, kissing me deeply.

"Hi," he whispered against my lips.

"Hi," I smiled, stroking his hair.

"That was Pinky on the phone. She came back a day early, and she said she'd see us later."

"Oh..."

I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. I wouldn't have minded staying in bed with Kenji all day long. Kenji laughed softly and nibbled on my earlobe.

"You know... she didn't exactly specify how

much

later. She just said not before lunch... so that means we have some time."

Laughing, I shoved him down, and crawled on top of him, straddling his lap. I could already feel him growing. Smiling wickedly, I wriggled my hips, grinding into him. Still smiling, he made a pleasured little noise deep in his throat, then retaliated by leaning up and bite my nipple when I leaned over to the nightstand to get lube and a condom, making me yelp.

"Jerk!" I giggled. He looked awfully smug. "Fine," I said. "If you're not gonna behave..." I rolled my hips, feeling his cock grow even harder, "...then I might as well just

sit

here..." I rolled my hips again, "...until you do."

"Cruel," he half laughed, half moaned. I rolled my hips again, feeling his cock slide against my crack.

"Are you gonna behave...?" I asked. He nodded eagerly.

"Promise...?"

"I promise!" There was a hint of desperation in his voice. Deciding to stop teasing him (and I couldn't wait any longer either), I scooted back, releasing his cock. Tearing open the condom wrapper, I rolled it down his shaft. Taking some lube in my hands, I smoothed it over his dick, then reached back and lubed up myself. I moved into position, placing him at my hole, then sank down, moaning and throwing my head back.

When I had him completely inside me I was still for a minute, eyes closed, savoring the wonderful feeling. Then I started moving, rising and pushing down, slowly at first, then more forcefully. Kenji held his hand at my hips, helping me move, and thrusting up into me every time I descended.

I needed more. I moved faster, riding him as hard as I could, tightening my channel around his cock.

"God...!" Kenji panted, "You're so amazing... feels so good....!"

I was so close. When I suddenly felt Kenji's hand on my cock I went over the edge and spurt my seed all over him. He pulled me down and pressed me to his chest, my come squishing between us, and thrust up hard into me one more time as he came, filling the condom.