His Birthday

a/n: Hullo! This is my first story, and I'd love any sort of feedback, especially constructive criticism. I might have some other ideas for these characters, so if anyone likes them, I'd love to hear it. Thanks for reading!

*********************

Morning. February 1st. Cort's birthday.

I slunk from my bed and pulled on my uniform. I listened to the gentle tapping of rain on the roof as I made to brush my teeth and hair, and I tied the latter into a pony at the nape of my neck. My face clean, I smiled at the mirror. Cort. He was so sweet to me, and I knew I was going to be distracted all day by thinking about his after-dinner desert.

I decided to lie in bed and read a book for a short time before I finally left for breakfast.

***

He was one of the many people at whom I enjoyed gazing. I admired the looks of quite a few boys, but of course, there was something different about him. I adored his waddling gait, his long fingernails, almost too long for a boy, and his handsome hands and feet. When he spoke, it was a perfect whirring timbre that would put me instantly at ease. I would relax any time he was near.

We had spoken only a few times until one particularly festive dinner, when a rat crawled over his bare foot. He yelped and grabbed what was nearest to him, my thigh, with his right hand. In his fright, he squeezed tightly and his girlish nails bore into my skin, and throughout my confusion I felt a bizarre sting of pleasure delight both of my legs. I'd never been touched before, however innocently, by a boy, and I thanked God that I had worn my skirt without tights that night.

The other girls and a few boys jumped and screamed in fear while the supervisors rushed about trying to catch the rodent. In the midst of the hurly-burly, Cort had finally noticed that his palm still warmed my bare leg, and he awkwardly stuttered out "Uh, sorry... I kinda... uh...", and he shut up when I grinned. He smiled back and dragged his hand off my leg. We glanced at each other once more and waited for the others to settle down.

***

The next day, after class had ended, I was reading outside under a tree when he plopped down.

"Hello," he said.

"Hi, Cort. What's up?" I said.

"Not much, Gabby." He took off his jacket and languidly stretched before reclining, hints of his body available from underneath his sweater. Damn. "I, uh, apologize for accidentally feeling up your leg last night. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, or anything like that."

I decided to tease him. "I don't think you minded that much."

He barked a laugh and grinned at me. I noted that one of his brown eyes closed more than the other. "Are you implying that I'm the type of deplorable cad who enjoys molesting innocent young women in unspeakable, private areas?"

"I think if you're molesting someone, every body part is considered private."

He closed his eyes and I watched him breathe. He looked as peaceful as the leafy shadows dancing on his skin. I didn't know what we should talk about so I looked away.

"Uh—"

"D'you wanna hang out? I have a ticket for the movie they're playing in the auditorium tomorrow, 'Invasion of the Soulsuckers', and I hear the popcorn is extra-disgusting this time round," he said, and reached into his pocket to proffer the stub.

I was trying to comprehend if he was asking me out, and if he was, why someone so effortlessly attractive would want me. I wasn't a toad, but I didn't think that I had any qualities that could interest anybody. I had friends, but that was it.

'Maybe he doesn't think of it as a date. Maybe he literally just wants to hang out.'

Either way, I loved terrible horror movies, and the absolute worst that could happen would be... nothing happening. "Yea, I'd love to! Especially if that rancid popcorn is involved."

***

So we saw the movie. And then, we saw another. B-movies became a habit of ours, and eventually, we formed a friendship. I would help him with some of his English work, and he'd reward me with a monologue from whatever he was performing in Theatre. "You get a sneak-peek," he'd say.

He was so unexpected. He seemed almost out of place wherever he was, but you could see in his careless gesticulations and easy grin that he was perfectly fit with his body. He was only a few inches taller than me, and I really liked how I could almost look into his eyes. I felt like we were literally on equal ground.

What I really loved about him is that nothing seemed to surprise him. As we became closer, obviously, I opened up a bit about myself. How I sometimes felt kind of lonely. How I was worried if I wasn't smart enough for school. He would nod his head until I finally shut up, and that was it. He just absorbed it.

***

At some point, between the 'Jenny's Haunting' film trilogy and light tutoring, he began touching me. Light, little actions whose consistency belied any trivial intentions. Cort would attack my waist, which he knew was a sensitive spot, and he'd touch my hand longer than needed whenever possible. He'd braid my hair for fun while I was talking to my friends, and I always, always felt his knuckles graze the back of my neck.

Of course, this contact was not without effect. As unaccustomed to the male touch as I was, every graze of his skin would result in me having to peel my underwear off once I returned to my dorm. If he did so much as exhale on me, his breath would lick at my neck the way I imagined his tongue could. To refrain from kissing him was to channel Atlas and support the universe on my shoulders.

Every time we hung out, I would wait for him to build that physical bridge and touch me. He was comfortable with his body in general, though, and I wasn't sure if his touchy-feeliness was just inherent in his interactions with people he was close to. He would rough-house with his buddies all the time, and during his dramatic performances, he wasn't afraid to hold back. I didn't want to read too much into anything, but I couldn't suffuse my wandering imagination.

***

Back then, I had a horrible fear of spiders, and I still do. On one evening, a particularly grim little arachnid had sufficiently terrorised me by frantically crawling up and down the walls until it finally decided to settle on the side of my nightstand. I picked up one of my shoes and made to squash it, but I couldn't do it. I was convinced the bastard would leap at just the right moment and latch onto me, so I sought out the aid of my neighbours. Fabulously, one wasn't in her room and the other declined, so I decided to ask Cort, whose room was only down the hall.

I knocked. "Cort? Please help me!"

After a moment, I knocked again and he opened his door and said "Yes, milady?"

"There's a spider on my nightstand and I need you to get rid of it. I mean, I would myself, but... y'know," I mumbled as he took off his boot and walked down to my room while I closed his door.

When I re-entered, he was looking for the spider. "Where is it?"

"It should be right there on that side...yeah, the one you're looking at. Oh my God, is it not there anymore? Oh my God, oh my God—"

"Shut up, please," he whispered as he searched out the monster. I wildly whipped my head around, looking for whatever vantage point it could have chosen. I tiptoed to Cort's side and we looked together. "Okay, I have no idea where that thing went," he smirked. "I'm sure it won't crawl into your mouth or your underwear drawer or your toilet—"

"Shh! You don't know that! Oh God, what if it's pregnant and it's about to give birth and there'll be a jillion spider babies—AH!" I pointed at the window and Cort threw his boot at it. I had turned and saw the thing on the sill and we screamed at the same time as the boot missed and the spider escaped back into the wild. I shut my window immediately and sat heavily on my bed. "That's enough bug business for me today." I glanced at my clock and said "It's eight fifty-six. You gotta get back to your room before you get reprimanded. Thank you for saving my life, though, I mean, I could've died."

He bowed and sat next to me. "You're very welcome. I expect you to return the favour. Also, four minutes is plenty of time."

I rolled my eyes and quipped, "I'm sure it is."

Cort feigned an aghast expression and said "Are you implying, yet again, something about my intentions in this here room?" I threw a stuffed animal at his face.

"Please hush up," I mocked, but he picked up my pillow and threatened me with it. I shoved a little at his shoulder and he shoved me back, and soon he was walloping me on the head with the pillow. I wrestled it from his hands and tried whacking him in the face, but he grabbed my wrists and held them at my sides. Then, he kissed me.

Wow.

What his lips lacked in substance was made up with style. It was so sudden that it I didn't realise what was happening until he pulled away with a distinct smacking sound. I wondered if I was a terrible kisser or something because I hadn't had any experience really—

And then he did it again. His lips excited me as he dragged his fingers up my arms to grip my neck. I didn't realize my mouth was so sensitive, and I relished in finally being able to attach my hands to his chest. God, I'd never felt anything under my fingers as hot as his beating heart. They curled in his shirt and one of his hands slipped into my hair gripping at the roots. I was burning.

He abruptly pushed me backward. Stupid thoughts like 'Oh my God, we're kissing on my bed' briefly crossed my mind before evaporating into the ether. His chest was pressed up against mine and he ran a hand up my leg. I reveled in the feeling of his weight on top of me, and I grasped the hard muscles of his arm. I loved feeling them tense.

He yanked the pillow from between us, and the scent of Cort's cologne or musk or whatever drifted to my nose, and bizarrely, that turned me on even more. He moaned into my mouth and pleasure that I can only describe as metallic lightning shot down through my chest to my twitching fingers and nether regions. I felt the vibrations of his throat everywhere. I choked up a little myself, and he popped his mouth from my lips to kiss my jaw. I ran my hands down the sides of his ribcage and he shuddered through the sigh on my neck. Good God.

I gripped his sandy hair in my contorted hands as he licked my collarbone. He exhaled hot breath before drawing his tongue across and down to the top of my breast. He sucked and stupidly I half-feared getting a hickey while the other half of me was loving wave after wave of bliss. My back arched due to the will of some ungodly force.

His hips began to roll, and push, and fffuuuuck, I was losing it. He pawed at my left breast and I couldn't stifle the foreign noises leaving my throat. My head lolled toward the clock and I saw that the time was eight fifty-nine. "Cort?" I gasped.

"Mmm?" he groaned into my chest. His tongue was perilously near my nipple.

"I'm so sorry... but the time. I... I just really don't want to get us in shit..." His lips were swollen and he looked dazed as he gazed at the clock. I couldn't believe it had only been three minutes. It felt like an eternity, and I didn't even get the opportunity to reciprocate.

"Uh... yes," he sighed. He sat up and righted himself. We kind of looked at each other for a few seconds, and I couldn't help but feel bashful. Despite that, I was smiling like an idiot. I couldn't stop. He was grinning like a little kid. "I feel that I definitely want to... continue this. I want to keep doing this."

I beamed at him and said "Yes, I agree. I think we should, uhm, talk about this later. Like, tomorrow maybe." Reclining now on the bed, I watched him stand up and comically adjust his pants. I started giggling, and I hated it, but I couldn't help it. "Bye, Cort."

"Bye," he sang. He glanced at me once again and winked as he shut my door. I promptly rolled from the bed and disposed of my underwear.

***

He brought me a daffodil the next day, and we were together from then on.

***

We were perfectly civil around our friends, but we turned into animals in private. I couldn't keep my fingers from crawling up his arms nor my lips from his ears. He would coyly rub my legs underneath the dinner table and I'd bite my lip to stifle a cry. His pale hand would grip my brown wrist as he led me somewhere hidden where we could tease each other.

I had obscene fantasies about Cort. I bit my fingers at thoughts of him gripping my curly hair as I sucked him off, wondering what he'd sound like or if he'd lose all physical control. I wanted him to touch me always, even if it was only my hand, and I'd think about ways of making him happy all the time.

I couldn't believe that I had found someone who fit me so clearly. He was the missing piece, or the glass slipper, the glove, all that crazy metaphorical cliché. I had felt gross and undesirable for such a long time that sometimes, it was difficult to truly enjoy the physical things we did together. It was hard to believe that he thought I was beautiful.

I craved for him to grind his pelvis into my hips, and the first time I felt the desire beneath his khaki fly, I crumbled.

All I wanted was to please him. I'd push him back against a wall to taste his neck. The prize I won was watching the horrific expressions on his face, feeling the tremors of his body and hearing the uncontrollable sighs and hiccups of a man in the grip of pleasure.

***

I put my book back on the nightstand and slipped on my shoes. For a moment, I rested my forehead on the wooden door, and sighed. I was excited, but nervous. We'd never gone so far before.

I exited the room and meandered down the hall. Already, I could smell the delicious breakfast from the dining room below, and I listened to the steady rain pouring down on the roof. It had been a particularly warm winter that year. I turned and saw the staircase, but the door next to it opened. Cort's.

He was about to leave when he saw me. "Hey," he said through his grin. "Guess what day it is?" He beckoned me closer in the dark hall.

"I know, I know." I took his outstretched hand and we kissed. What began innocently simmered to a broil, and as usual with us, burned entirely. He led me past the agape door into his dorm, and shut it behind us with my body.

I was happily trapped between the door and his warm chest. He left not an iota of space between us, and I really enjoyed the suffocation. Immediately, he went to work, using his lips to titillate and please. It was his birthday, so I broke away and supped at the skin behind his ear. Lightly, I raked and pulled at his hair until he exposed his neck for my serving.

I sighed hot breath into his ear and grazed my lips over his Adam's apple. He had one hand on my waist and another on my ass. His sighs were like divine music that resonated with my eardrums at this perfect thrilling frequency, and I would glance up to find his face twisted and his eyes tightly shut. The more I touched him, the tighter he'd clutch my body. I felt his hips buck forward and I sucked harder on his collarbone in response.

One of my hands found the hem of his sweater, and I snuck my palm under. My fingers crawled up his stomach, which I knew from experience was sensitive, and he groaned under the pressure. His hips found mine more insistently, and I tugged the collar of his shirt down as much as I could to expose more of his skin. "Fuck..." he whispered.

He began kissing my lips again as he ground us both into the door with his thrusts. Soon, he dragged me over to the bed, where he promptly lay on top of me and pushed my shirt up over my chest. He had a half moon grin on his pretty teeth as he lifted my bra to expose my breasts to the cold air. I grabbed a hand and sucked hard on his long fingers. He rolled one of my nipples between his teeth, and my hands twitched madly in his hair. Smoothly, he took a long drag off of my breast, and I could feel his cock beneath the layer of his slacks. I remembered again that I was here to pleasure him, and I shoved him onto his back. He looked mildly surprised.

I mounted his waist, trying to slow things down. I really wanted him to enjoy this. 'I guess,' I thought, 'he's gonna get his gift early.'

I caressed his face with my hand while looking into his eyes. The rain outside only punctuated how powerful they were in this dimly lit room, and I kissed his lips sweetly. "Happy Birthday, Cort."

"Thank you."

His hoarse voice made me smile. I kissed one of his ears again, and he breathed out slowly as I moved to his jaw, tracing a line down the column of his throat. I needed more access, so I leaned back and took his sweater off.

I adored the muscles of his arms and chest while he watched me closely. I ran my palms flat from the base of his stomach, upward and outward. His body was a delight. I loved every hair and texture of his skin. He was such a beautiful human being that I wanted to enjoy every single perfect piece as much as possible.

I kissed slowly and wetly down his sternum. I hummed and ran my nose down the top of his sensual stomach, and I smiled into his abdomen. I slid my body down so that the button of his pants was level with my eyes.

With my hand, I lead him to a chair. He continued to observe me. Once again, I kissed and sighed at his stomach and I felt the muscles tense underneath my tongue. I could tell his breathing was getting short and I wanted every minute of it.

I unbuttoned his slacks and pulled them down and off his legs. The tartan pattern of his boxers turned me on, and what really made me press my legs together was the erection barely suppressed beneath them. I shuddered and gripped both of his knees, vaguely wondering how terrible I would be at this.

I ran my tongue up his hairy calf until it met his inner thigh, where I skimmed his receptive skin lightly with my teeth. Cort gripped the armrests as I groped his other leg. Closer and closer I lapped toward his pelvis until I abruptly pulled back, and started up again with his other leg. I made sure to nip at him a little bit. I had a feeling he liked it rough.

I grazed my nails over his lower stomach and hips until his breathing was interrupted by sighs and throaty keens. I drew my attention back to his boxers. I tried to think of what best to do as he held his breath in anticipation.

I blew hot air from my mouth, hoping he could feel it through the thin material. The way he bit his lip alerted me to the fact that yes, he definitely felt it. I panted once more before gently pressing my lips to his sheathed cock. I was soaked as I could feel him still rising, and God, I'd never been so turned on in my life. I was overwhelmed and I hadn't even seen anything.

I used the tip of my tongue to fondle his hard-on beneath the material, effectively soaking it, and he sunk his nails into his own leg. I could feel his thigh muscles tense underneath my fingers. I made sure to drag them up and down his legs as I persisted in knotting my tongue in the fabric. "Mmm..." he cooed.

Spurred, I took my palm and lightly rubbed the whole of it slowly on his shaft. I looked up at him. His chest heaved slightly as he stared into my eyes, and I smiled a little bit at him. I wasn't sure he was comfortable with the eye contact, but I did it anyway as I rubbed my nose and cheek along his penis. I closed my eyes, reveling, kissing. I finally slid my hands underneath the fabric to scrape along the junction of where his cock met his body.

I removed my hands and fingered the tops of his boxers. I still wanted to tease him, so lazily, I grabbed the hem and pulled it downward. I dragged the fabric to the base of his dick, then, up and over.

It sprung to life before me. Proudly, his cock stood, the shaft thick and the head furious and swollen. I couldn't contain the pathetic groan that choked out of me. Some fluid was already filtering out through the tip.