Beast stared at him for several seconds, gently brushing his fingers along Laurent’s jaw, but then smiled so wide it pulled on the scarred skin on the half of his face that had been burned worse, making his expression adorably crooked and roguish. Even his eyes were smiling, a brilliant blue softened by the faint lines around them. Laurent had never seen Beast so happy.
“Well, there’s no reason to be coy with a lover. It’s good to communicate,” Beast said in the end before rolling them over, only to press a kiss to Laurent’s temple.
Laurent gasped, suddenly trapped under Beast’s impressive weight. It was glorious to lie naked under a man. Under Beast. Everything they’d done yesterday was like a dream full of surprises and exciting, obscene things Laurent never even imagined. Yet when Beast made them come to life, all at once they seemed the fulfilment of all Laurent’s desires and hopes.
And if they were to communicate, he might as well say what he thought. “I like to be under you.” Laurent wrapped his arms around Beast’s neck and pulled him down for a kiss.
Beast’s breath caught, and he cradled Laurent’s head in the crook of his elbow, making him feel almost impossibly safe from any and all harm. “And I like you under me.”
Laurent angled his face to kiss Beast’s neck. The scars weren’t the prettiest of sights, but there was something extremely intimate about being allowed to touch them that Laurent wanted to cherish Beast’s body all the more. Even the most gruesome one—the hole and twisted flesh that remained of Beast’s left ear—did not disgust Laurent in any way. He simply felt bad that Beast had had to go through so much suffering and had not even managed to save his mother.
“I’m afraid I have to go pee though. Or is that too forward?”
Beast broke into laughter and gave Laurent a brief hug before releasing him. “No. Go on and then come back to me before I’m bored of waiting.”
Laurent rolled out of bed with as much dignity as he could muster, since he knew he was being shamelessly ogled. He stretched in front of the window to prolong the moment.
“I am already getting used to this. You might need to cut me off if you want to get rid of me,” Beast said, laughing.
Laurent walked to the door backwards, so that he could watch Beast for a bit longer. Stretched out and smiling, his wonderful lover was a sight Laurent would gladly have etched to the back of his eyelids. “It would leave me wounded,” he said in the end and wouldn’t let Beast answer, walking out. But the moment he closed the door and spun around to rush for the bathroom, he faced Knight, who stood at the end of the corridor, staring at him with a smirk.
Laurent stilled, feeling needles of embarrassment prickling at his skin.
“Hello. I was wondering if I shouldn’t come back later. Lucky me you two are done,” Knight said.
Laurent took half a breath to assess the situation and fled back into the bedroom, pressing his back against the door and staring at Beast, still trying to process what just happened.
Beast frowned. “What’s wrong?” he asked, rolling off the bed and approaching him in quick strides.
Laurent hid his face in his hands with a groan. Back in more innocent times he used to not be much bothered by another man seeing him naked, but his opinions on the matter changed since he found out he was not an aberration and many more men shared his proclivities. “Knight is here,” he said flatly.
Beast shut his eyes and took a deep breath. “Do you want to talk to him or stay here?”
Laurent rubbed his face, all too aware that the paint around his eyes was an utter mess. “It’s fine. I just need my pants.” He gave himself two more seconds to gather his thoughts, and then picked up his clothes and dressed. Beast in turn seemed to not care about Knight seeing his nakedness.
“Won’t you…?”
Beast growled. “If he thinks it’s fine to listen to me having sex in my own house, then he can deal with seeing my dick. Come,” he said, offering Laurent his hand.
“But I don’t want him to see it,” Laurent whispered and wrapped his arms around Beast’s waist. The man was so big it was giving him shivers.
Beast grinned. “We’re like brothers. He’s seen me naked a million times. No reason to be jealous.”
Laurent sighed deeply, but grabbed Beast’s hand in the end and followed him into the corridor. Knight waved at them from the sofa, grinning like a madman. He wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m glad to see you two have made up.”
“You could have left a note, you dirty spy,” Beast said, pulling Laurent closer and embracing him with one arm.