Being told what to do had Cassidy’s hackles rising, a feeling in his throat like if he said anything, it’d come out as a growl.
A deep drink of blood tended to have two effects, outside of healing any injuries. The first was sobering — it had always reliably kicked Cassidy out of a high. The second was a period of hightened senses. Colors looked a bit brighter, sounds and scents were more keen. Whatever the pollen was, it wasn’t a drug in the conventional sense, but the increased alertness at least made Cassidy aware that it was still affecting him. Gave him an edge, if only a tiny one, in resisting it. For now.
Who knew how long that would last.
Cassidy summed all of those thoughts up in a muttered swear — “Bollocks” — and kicked his ruined clothes into the heavy brush, where they were just hidden enough. That’d have to do. It wasn’t as if any of this was likely to remain a secret.
He'd been called to help and help he would. Unless Cassidy had any brilliant ideas in his head, Matthew was running off of centuries of doing stupid shit and not getting torched for it.
But for now, so long as Cassidy fell into step with him, things were fine.
"We can ding-dong ditch when we get there. I don't know what they'll be able to tell from his neck alone but if they're worth their salt, they'll heal him. The only good news here is that He Ming seems to be... resistant to death."
At least Matthew's go of it was prettier. "We can hope that'll be enough."
Arguably, a 'good' man would stay with He Ming, make sure he was alright. Matthew was not a good man. He'd left He Ming in a similar state with no additional comforts.
“Sure they’ll fix him up so he can get back to bein’ a sex puppet with the rest of us.”
Cassidy spared one more glance over his shoulder as they left the clearing, taking a mental photograph. There was a chance he’d decide that leaving the evidence behind was a mistake.
“‘Resistant to death...’” he echoed as he turned back. “What — how d’you mean?”
Matt slid an admonishing, hard glance over at Cassidy at the quip, disliking the casual, bitter tone in the face of someone Matt cared about dying, but the indignation was tempered by the shallowly breathing man in his arms and the need to mark where his feet were going.
"You aren't the first one to put him on the edge of death here," he replied stoically, eyes on the path. "There's.."
Now that Matt thought back on it, he hadn't had time to ask He Ming what had happened. The lean man was smooth with his manipulation and it was only the thought of it now that let him see. His feet slowed to a stop and he stared sharply down at He Ming.
"I had meant to ask him," Matthew continued, voice now dark but far away as he vocalized his realizations to loop Cassidy in as well as get them out into the air. "But he distracted me. Used my guilt as an emotional hook - merde."
The swear was more present sounding then the rest. "He's not like the rest of them. I don't know how, mon ami, but he's not wholly human. He's too good." Matt looked over at Cass then, to give a little more context.
Apparently, He Ming and the Healers had dropped in priority.
"You may or may not have noticed that when I talk to people, they generally agree with me. A power of my own, not terribly dissimilar in theory to your Jesse. It's a valuable tool, one I can't control, but use nonetheless - he must have something similar. What were you guys talking about?"
The insinuation that Matt had previously put He Ming in a similar situation earned him a wide-eyed, eyebrow-cocked look in return. That implied... a lot of things. Things which Cassidy was going to just file away for the moment.
That same look on his face was replicated when Matt started describing his ability, and speculating that He Ming had something similar going on. The intensity of Cassidy's gaze shifted from Matt to He Ming. The little bastard had always seemed especially magnetic.
"Well, we was — he was havin' a flirt at me. Talkin' about tryin' new things."
"And I'm guessing that got you.. going?" Matt arched a heavy eyebrow at him with the question. "Your 'new things' include any kind of biting, blood play? Or did he just get your engine going?"
Whatever blame his tone had held while he was hunched over He Ming was gone. There was a leveling to be had and that meant a conversation. If nothing else, he was able to start them forward again.
Revelation or not, He Ming still needed attention.
The words nearly exploded out of him. The pollen's effects were still clawing at the inside of his skull, the blood still making everything bright.
"We were — we were kissin', and I stepped away for two minutes, and there were these bloody pod things that burst open and shot pollen at me face. I wasn't thinkin' about attackin' him before then! But then all I could see was that fuckin' sly little pouty smile of his..."
He looked down at He Ming, and his lip curled. He'd never been this worked up over a bloke. Maybe there was something more to this than the fairy magic.
The explosion of an answer had his other eyebrow lifting to match it's mate and a 'well then' kind of expression that was turned back towards their path. Bursts of emotion weren't unfamiliar to him and he'd learned long ago how to be unfazed by it.
Things you had to learn when you were dealing with Malkavians who often went on tangents for no reason..
..Not that he and his clan were any better.
Moving on, Matt glanced down at He Ming before looking back up, judging where they were and adjusting their course accordingly. Nearly there - they'd be coming into the edges of town soon.
"And shutting him up?" A feeling that Matthew often shared, though his solution for silencing He Ming had everything to do with his cock and repertoire he'd built with the man. "Let us hope the Patrons understand, overlook, if they've seen. I don't know how it works."
"Well, what happened last time?" The last time someone put He Ming in a similar situation. "Presumably, not a hell of a lot."
If Matt was still walking about free. If he couldn't point to any sort of punishment he'd suffered. That implied the fairies hadn't seen, hadn't heard, or didn't care.
Cassidy shot one more silent look over his shoulder, realizing he couldn't count on that last option. Yeah, he was definitely going to go back for the evidence as soon as possible.
"Not a damned thing, and that's what worries me," Matt replied darkly. "Either he's dumb or he's stupid or he's fantastically smart. I can't decide."
It was the blunt truth. Not to say that Matthew wasn't grateful; he very much was since no one enjoyed the consequences of those kind of actions, but it put him in debt with He Ming after a fashion and it was that which he disliked so sharply.
"It's possible he might do the same for you."
Pulling up next to a building, Matt gestured with his head for Cassidy to take the lead. "I can't look around corners at this moment, wanna..?"
The way Cassidy said it, he was mired in his own indecision. He didn't know whether he admired or despised He Ming for being so wily. Probably a bit of both.
"One sec." He brushed past Matt and around the corner of the building, giving it a second before: "Yeah, it's all clear."
"At least he's more then just that," Matt conceded. It might have been a shallow point but if they were going to be manipulated, it might as well be from someone worth the suffering of it.
At Cassidy's word, Matt rounded the corner and glanced back at the taller man.
"Stay here."
It was a good four or five hundred yards between them and the healer's door and Matthew blurred as he tapped into his celerity, traveling half the distance in the space of a half a breath, reaching the door more quickly then the pair of them ever would have.
Ding Dong Ditch was a common practice for 14 year old shitheads and it was a practice Matthew employed now, carefully laying He Ming down on their stoop, knocking, and legging it around the nearest corner. A second later, he was coming up around the back of the building they'd started at.
"C'mon," he hissed softly under his breath. "Time for us to fuck off."
Cassidy was a bit goggle-eyed at the speed with which Matt had executed that move — while it wasn't the first time he'd gotten a glimpse at Matt's celerity, it was the first time he'd gotten a really good view of it. He'd follow if Matt headed off, keeping pace as long as it was possible.
"Now, there's plenty of places to lay low." He started counting them off on his fingers: "Hysterium, our respective rooms in the castle... heard there's a hookah bar I've not been to yet..."
"Legging it is a particular Clan talent of mine," he said darkly, choosing to ignore the best and primary use he'd had for it not too many decades ago and the nickname he'd earned being clean amid the trench of blood he'd caused.
His pace was kept reasonable when with company that couldn't move as quickly as he could, but he looked sidelong at Cassidy as they walked, keeping well within the treeline.
"Secret speakeasy might be the ticket, but there's drugs in my room and that's where I'd like to be. You coming or am I forcibly relocating myself?" Because no, he wasn't just going to 'let him go' after coming to clean up a rather ugly kind of mess. He wasn't going to chance taking any responsibility as the Elder, for this mishap.
“The secret speakeasy that’s not so secret,” Cassidy sneered, by way of agreement. “Plus, paid-for drinks versus free drugs? Castle it is.”
Now that the primary concerns had been taken care of, there was space for the predatory gleam to slip back into his eyes. It was there in the sidelong glance he sent in Matt’s direction before focusing on the path in front of them.
Maybe Matt was only thinking about getting to his stash. Cassidy was thinking back to their previous tumble out in the Wilds, and how the balance of power had come down in one particular direction, and how he’d rather like to try returning the favor.
"Kill enough people and it will be again." It wasn't humor - his mind was too busy, whirling around between his ears in a way that left him not minding what came out of his mouth as they treked over and under branches. He needed a hit, he needed the distraction, and badly so. He could feel his feathers ruffling again with a restlessness he couldn't quite define.
"But good. Saves me the energy otherwise spent on a smile. Speaking of, have you managed to get a hold of any of the mushrooms yet? Considering how poorly we failed at our task last time, I'm thinking of sending one of the humans out to do it. A pretty please and some bullshit about it opening at dusk or something.."
It didn't sound like a joke, and it hit Cassidy's ear oddly in the nanosecond before he remembered, oh right, he had just almost killed someone.
"You hopin' to stop me from some sort of rampage?" That was a joke, or at least was meant to be one. Then he felt the thirst at the back of his throat. He stepped on a twig, and the snap of it stabbed into his ear. "...that's a solid plan. Good thinkin', mate."
The mushrooms — something else to think about for a stretch. "Haven't made a lot of treks out this way. Probably for good bloody reason. We should've stayed in the bar; then this never would've happened."
It was his sister's solution to the problem. Matt could already feel her claws peeking out from the inside corner of his mind, telling him how to solve the problem 'properly'.
He huffed a breath that hinted at amusement at the question, brushing a flexiable branch out of his way and holding it until Cassidy passed.
"Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Bars get boring anyways. And while I've never turned anyone, these things shouldn't be handled alone. Not if we're wanting to keep people safe, hmm?"
"Safety first. That's priority number one." As much as Cassidy might agree, the comment came out glib — the itch to get physical again in some kind of way was starting to drown out everything else. Conversation was just a way to fill time.
These things. What did Matt mean by that? Turning someone? He couldn't — they couldn't turn anyone here, right? Cassidy concluded he must have been talking about the pollen situation.
"And I expect you can handle it — that is, if previous experience is any indication, eh, mate?"
They were making good time with the stretch of Matt's stride that didn't quite reach as far as Cassidy, making the smaller man look more like he was hurrying, while Cassidy got to amble along.
Matt hoped Cassidy was regaining sense of himself, even as a restless nervousness settled under his skin, caused no doubt by the pollen in the air. He, of course, didn't think a thing towards it, to far stuck in his own experience to keep an eye out for something new.
"Previous experience?" he asked up at the man as they came up on the town. They were in the mist of a misunderstanding. "If I've helped clean up another mess and forgotten about it, I might have to accept jokes about my age. Can't have that.
Either way - because it's He Ming, we might be fine. Let's not test that theory on anyone else's neck."
The misunderstanding didn't slip past unnoticed — Cassidy still let it slip past. He had a feeling it would sort itself out. The really important thing was they were both in agreement about going back to Matt's room.
"Let's not."
And because he was feeling significantly amped-up, he had no trouble giving in to the impulse for a more physical public gesture than usual. Mid-stride, Cassidy slowed the half-step necessary to give Matt a solid slap on the ass.
"Anyway, I reckon I've got some favors need returnin'. Eh?"
Matt jumped and scoffed at the swat on his ass, turning to look up at Cassidy like he'd grown a third head, however handsome ahead it might be and scoffed again smirking.
"You're really chomping at the bit today, aren't we? Do you know how lucky you are to successfully get to slap that?" Matt grinned. Cassidy's nature was infectious and Matt's mood was porous at best.
Either way, they were there and Matthew opened the door and walked in, letting Cassidy man it's closing per usual. "If we were anywhere else, it might be weird."
But this place had stock and trade on sex and its effects. He could see what was going on.
Chomping at the bit — "Like a dog after a bone, so to speak. Should've learned from Alien — don't go near anythin' that looks like a giant egg."
Which, Cassidy thought as he shut the door behind him, wasn't to say he didn't feel good. But it was an itchy, too-much-energy sort of good. The sort where if he didn't keep moving, if he tried to repress himself, it could turn just as bad real quick.
"Long as I'm here, though..." So long as Matt was inviting him to... "I might just keep pressin' my luck."
They were face-to-face, now, and Cassidy raised a hand to grasp at Matt's shirt, close to the collar and the line of buttons. Loosely at first, then tighter, pulling as though preparing to snap those buttons off with a tug at any second. Not going through with it yet, but teasing Matt with the possibility.
"Don't think I haven't noticed you wearin' such nice clothes all the time."
"Definitely not," he said, stopping to turn and face his friend as he came forward. There wasn't going to be any polite foreplay here, no social niceties, no 'how's your drink doing', not with the energy between their chests as Matt looked up at Cassidy, one heavy eyebrow arching over a smug smile.
"Man's gotta have his pride," he replied, sending one long, head tilting glance down Cassidy's half dressed form. "Though they don't always have to stay nice."
There was an impulse to say 'ain't' instead of don't. The twang was almost addicting.
"You gonna do something about that?" As he asked, one hand crept around Cassidy's waist and pulled his hips forward.
When he heard the accent threatening to overlay Matt's voice, Cassidy realized he'd been here a hell of a lot longer than he'd been stuck in Texas. It didn't feel that long. Time flies when you're having fun, maybe.
Cassidy's lip curled. Matt had gotten lucky, looking the way he did. Number one reason Cassidy had gotten to know him. He seemed aware of it, too — what was it he'd said while Cass had been lying under him? Someone's got to be the lucky fucker. Cocky bastard.
He tightened his fingers one more time and pulled sharp, snapping off three buttons at once. His other hand raked through Matt's hair from the front, pushing his head back until it reached the angle he was looking for, and then he held it there as he gave the shirt one more pull — only one button gone this time, but he also nearly pulled the shirt tails out of Matt's trousers.
Through a grin, he snapped his teeth in Matt's face... then met his mouth with a kiss, and moved his hands to start undressing Matt more thoroughly.
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A deep drink of blood tended to have two effects, outside of healing any injuries. The first was sobering — it had always reliably kicked Cassidy out of a high. The second was a period of hightened senses. Colors looked a bit brighter, sounds and scents were more keen. Whatever the pollen was, it wasn’t a drug in the conventional sense, but the increased alertness at least made Cassidy aware that it was still affecting him. Gave him an edge, if only a tiny one, in resisting it. For now.
Who knew how long that would last.
Cassidy summed all of those thoughts up in a muttered swear — “Bollocks” — and kicked his ruined clothes into the heavy brush, where they were just hidden enough. That’d have to do. It wasn’t as if any of this was likely to remain a secret.
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But for now, so long as Cassidy fell into step with him, things were fine.
"We can ding-dong ditch when we get there. I don't know what they'll be able to tell from his neck alone but if they're worth their salt, they'll heal him. The only good news here is that He Ming seems to be... resistant to death."
At least Matthew's go of it was prettier. "We can hope that'll be enough."
Arguably, a 'good' man would stay with He Ming, make sure he was alright. Matthew was not a good man. He'd left He Ming in a similar state with no additional comforts.
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Cassidy spared one more glance over his shoulder as they left the clearing, taking a mental photograph. There was a chance he’d decide that leaving the evidence behind was a mistake.
“‘Resistant to death...’” he echoed as he turned back. “What — how d’you mean?”
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"You aren't the first one to put him on the edge of death here," he replied stoically, eyes on the path. "There's.."
Now that Matt thought back on it, he hadn't had time to ask He Ming what had happened. The lean man was smooth with his manipulation and it was only the thought of it now that let him see. His feet slowed to a stop and he stared sharply down at He Ming.
"I had meant to ask him," Matthew continued, voice now dark but far away as he vocalized his realizations to loop Cassidy in as well as get them out into the air. "But he distracted me. Used my guilt as an emotional hook - merde."
The swear was more present sounding then the rest. "He's not like the rest of them. I don't know how, mon ami, but he's not wholly human. He's too good." Matt looked over at Cass then, to give a little more context.
Apparently, He Ming and the Healers had dropped in priority.
"You may or may not have noticed that when I talk to people, they generally agree with me. A power of my own, not terribly dissimilar in theory to your Jesse. It's a valuable tool, one I can't control, but use nonetheless - he must have something similar. What were you guys talking about?"
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That same look on his face was replicated when Matt started describing his ability, and speculating that He Ming had something similar going on. The intensity of Cassidy's gaze shifted from Matt to He Ming. The little bastard had always seemed especially magnetic.
"Well, we was — he was havin' a flirt at me. Talkin' about tryin' new things."
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Whatever blame his tone had held while he was hunched over He Ming was gone. There was a leveling to be had and that meant a conversation. If nothing else, he was able to start them forward again.
Revelation or not, He Ming still needed attention.
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The words nearly exploded out of him. The pollen's effects were still clawing at the inside of his skull, the blood still making everything bright.
"We were — we were kissin', and I stepped away for two minutes, and there were these bloody pod things that burst open and shot pollen at me face. I wasn't thinkin' about attackin' him before then! But then all I could see was that fuckin' sly little pouty smile of his..."
He looked down at He Ming, and his lip curled. He'd never been this worked up over a bloke. Maybe there was something more to this than the fairy magic.
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Things you had to learn when you were dealing with Malkavians who often went on tangents for no reason..
..Not that he and his clan were any better.
Moving on, Matt glanced down at He Ming before looking back up, judging where they were and adjusting their course accordingly. Nearly there - they'd be coming into the edges of town soon.
"And shutting him up?" A feeling that Matthew often shared, though his solution for silencing He Ming had everything to do with his cock and repertoire he'd built with the man. "Let us hope the Patrons understand, overlook, if they've seen. I don't know how it works."
And that bothered him more than anything else.
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If Matt was still walking about free. If he couldn't point to any sort of punishment he'd suffered. That implied the fairies hadn't seen, hadn't heard, or didn't care.
Cassidy shot one more silent look over his shoulder, realizing he couldn't count on that last option. Yeah, he was definitely going to go back for the evidence as soon as possible.
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It was the blunt truth. Not to say that Matthew wasn't grateful; he very much was since no one enjoyed the consequences of those kind of actions, but it put him in debt with He Ming after a fashion and it was that which he disliked so sharply.
"It's possible he might do the same for you."
Pulling up next to a building, Matt gestured with his head for Cassidy to take the lead. "I can't look around corners at this moment, wanna..?"
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The way Cassidy said it, he was mired in his own indecision. He didn't know whether he admired or despised He Ming for being so wily. Probably a bit of both.
"One sec." He brushed past Matt and around the corner of the building, giving it a second before: "Yeah, it's all clear."
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At Cassidy's word, Matt rounded the corner and glanced back at the taller man.
"Stay here."
It was a good four or five hundred yards between them and the healer's door and Matthew blurred as he tapped into his celerity, traveling half the distance in the space of a half a breath, reaching the door more quickly then the pair of them ever would have.
Ding Dong Ditch was a common practice for 14 year old shitheads and it was a practice Matthew employed now, carefully laying He Ming down on their stoop, knocking, and legging it around the nearest corner. A second later, he was coming up around the back of the building they'd started at.
"C'mon," he hissed softly under his breath. "Time for us to fuck off."
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Cassidy was a bit goggle-eyed at the speed with which Matt had executed that move — while it wasn't the first time he'd gotten a glimpse at Matt's celerity, it was the first time he'd gotten a really good view of it. He'd follow if Matt headed off, keeping pace as long as it was possible.
"Now, there's plenty of places to lay low." He started counting them off on his fingers: "Hysterium, our respective rooms in the castle... heard there's a hookah bar I've not been to yet..."
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His pace was kept reasonable when with company that couldn't move as quickly as he could, but he looked sidelong at Cassidy as they walked, keeping well within the treeline.
"Secret speakeasy might be the ticket, but there's drugs in my room and that's where I'd like to be. You coming or am I forcibly relocating myself?" Because no, he wasn't just going to 'let him go' after coming to clean up a rather ugly kind of mess. He wasn't going to chance taking any responsibility as the Elder, for this mishap.
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Now that the primary concerns had been taken care of, there was space for the predatory gleam to slip back into his eyes. It was there in the sidelong glance he sent in Matt’s direction before focusing on the path in front of them.
Maybe Matt was only thinking about getting to his stash. Cassidy was thinking back to their previous tumble out in the Wilds, and how the balance of power had come down in one particular direction, and how he’d rather like to try returning the favor.
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"But good. Saves me the energy otherwise spent on a smile. Speaking of, have you managed to get a hold of any of the mushrooms yet? Considering how poorly we failed at our task last time, I'm thinking of sending one of the humans out to do it. A pretty please and some bullshit about it opening at dusk or something.."
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"You hopin' to stop me from some sort of rampage?" That was a joke, or at least was meant to be one. Then he felt the thirst at the back of his throat. He stepped on a twig, and the snap of it stabbed into his ear. "...that's a solid plan. Good thinkin', mate."
The mushrooms — something else to think about for a stretch. "Haven't made a lot of treks out this way. Probably for good bloody reason. We should've stayed in the bar; then this never would've happened."
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He huffed a breath that hinted at amusement at the question, brushing a flexiable branch out of his way and holding it until Cassidy passed.
"Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Bars get boring anyways. And while I've never turned anyone, these things shouldn't be handled alone. Not if we're wanting to keep people safe, hmm?"
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These things. What did Matt mean by that? Turning someone? He couldn't — they couldn't turn anyone here, right? Cassidy concluded he must have been talking about the pollen situation.
"And I expect you can handle it — that is, if previous experience is any indication, eh, mate?"
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Matt hoped Cassidy was regaining sense of himself, even as a restless nervousness settled under his skin, caused no doubt by the pollen in the air. He, of course, didn't think a thing towards it, to far stuck in his own experience to keep an eye out for something new.
"Previous experience?" he asked up at the man as they came up on the town. They were in the mist of a misunderstanding. "If I've helped clean up another mess and forgotten about it, I might have to accept jokes about my age. Can't have that.
Either way - because it's He Ming, we might be fine. Let's not test that theory on anyone else's neck."
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"Let's not."
And because he was feeling significantly amped-up, he had no trouble giving in to the impulse for a more physical public gesture than usual. Mid-stride, Cassidy slowed the half-step necessary to give Matt a solid slap on the ass.
"Anyway, I reckon I've got some favors need returnin'. Eh?"
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"You're really chomping at the bit today, aren't we? Do you know how lucky you are to successfully get to slap that?" Matt grinned. Cassidy's nature was infectious and Matt's mood was porous at best.
Either way, they were there and Matthew opened the door and walked in, letting Cassidy man it's closing per usual. "If we were anywhere else, it might be weird."
But this place had stock and trade on sex and its effects. He could see what was going on.
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Which, Cassidy thought as he shut the door behind him, wasn't to say he didn't feel good. But it was an itchy, too-much-energy sort of good. The sort where if he didn't keep moving, if he tried to repress himself, it could turn just as bad real quick.
"Long as I'm here, though..." So long as Matt was inviting him to... "I might just keep pressin' my luck."
They were face-to-face, now, and Cassidy raised a hand to grasp at Matt's shirt, close to the collar and the line of buttons. Loosely at first, then tighter, pulling as though preparing to snap those buttons off with a tug at any second. Not going through with it yet, but teasing Matt with the possibility.
"Don't think I haven't noticed you wearin' such nice clothes all the time."
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"Man's gotta have his pride," he replied, sending one long, head tilting glance down Cassidy's half dressed form. "Though they don't always have to stay nice."
There was an impulse to say 'ain't' instead of don't. The twang was almost addicting.
"You gonna do something about that?" As he asked, one hand crept around Cassidy's waist and pulled his hips forward.
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Cassidy's lip curled. Matt had gotten lucky, looking the way he did. Number one reason Cassidy had gotten to know him. He seemed aware of it, too — what was it he'd said while Cass had been lying under him? Someone's got to be the lucky fucker. Cocky bastard.
He tightened his fingers one more time and pulled sharp, snapping off three buttons at once. His other hand raked through Matt's hair from the front, pushing his head back until it reached the angle he was looking for, and then he held it there as he gave the shirt one more pull — only one button gone this time, but he also nearly pulled the shirt tails out of Matt's trousers.
Through a grin, he snapped his teeth in Matt's face... then met his mouth with a kiss, and moved his hands to start undressing Matt more thoroughly.