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“Then how would you have known? I didn’t even know it was happening.”

“Still, I should be taking better care of you.” Itori laid his hand down on Will’s chest, right where, beneath his wet shirt, the pearl laid.

“It’s okay, we’ll–” the words cut off. Will wanted to make a comment about the future. About how he’d be more careful with what he was sharing with Itori.

But… what future? Itori had been as drained as much as the spring had. In a few more days, there might be nothing left of it. Of him.

“What’re we going to do?” Will asked. “We–I can’t give you energy fast enough.”

“I know,” Itori said. His hands roved up Will’s neck to cup his face. “It is okay, Willowtree. Sometimes that is the way. Flowers wilt and trees fall. New life comes from bones and decay. We all give back our bodies eventually.”

“But not yet!” He cried. “It’s too soon,” Will gasped, leaning forward for a kiss. “We’ve only just–it’s not enough.”

“I know,” Itori said against his lips. “I know. So just be here with me. Let me love you for as long as I can.”

Will swallowed hard and nodded. When Itori’s hands found the hem of his shirt next, he leaned back to help.

They made quick work of peeling off all of Will's wet clothes. It was good to get out of their sticking, heavy presence. When he was pulled back into Itori’s lap, warmth surrounded him.

Itori touched the pearl. Their eyes met, and Will felt himself tip into desperation. The truth was that they were out of time. They couldn’t get Itori out of this spring, and Will couldn’t stop the desiccation.

His hands found the ridges and bumps of Itori’s scales. He touched them, traced them, trying to memorize them. When they kissed, it tasted of sweet oranges, and Will knew that after this, however it ended, he’d never be able to eat the fruit again.

“Itori, I-I need–” he groaned as Itori kissed the corner of his mouth, then down his throat. The burn of desire was pushing up through him, tangling with the ache in his chest. Itori was still here, in front of him, but Will touched him now like a wound where the nerves had gone all funny. Like a scar he’d always have.

“Tell me,” Itori’s voice sank, and the sibilant edges made Will shiver. “Tell me what you need.”

“I-I need to be close, I–” Will was already on Itori’s lap, he couldn’t actually get closer, but the urge for more was all-encompassing.

“I am right here,” Itori said, smoothing hands down his back, claws making trails on Will’s delicate skin.

“I know, I know,” Will grappled for the words, for how to explain the feeling that possessed him now. “I just–I want more.”

Everything, he wanted everything. He wanted days and weeks and years. Impossible things.

Itori’s hands kept soothing. “More?”

“Please,” Will begged.

Itori’s cock had already pushed out of the slit, and when Itori shifted him back a little, Will could see its pale shape against the dark. Itori reached for it, tilting his cock up and baring the rest of the slit from which it had emerged.

“I have an idea. Will you try with me?” Itori asked.

Will wasn’t sure exactly what he was asking, but he nodded anyway. “Yes.”

Anything. Anything.

With his other hand, Itori reached for Will cock.

Will watched, frozen. Itori guided Will’s cock closer, twinning their bodies more snugly together. Itori tilted Will’s cock toward that slit.

“Oh,” Will said, voice small.

Itori looked up. “Is this okay? It is something my people do. To be closer.”

“Not the bond?” Will asked, just to be sure.

“No. That… you would have to let me inside you for the bond to work. This way, I can hold back. It will not–it should not do that.” There was a strange pause at the end.