Amunet groaned first, Thi Lan a half second after, and Grey felt both of them shift against him at once. The sounds were soft and cute, but Grey had a feeling that they were about to be very much not that very soon.
Grey shut his eyes.
"Lord, take the wheel," he mumbled. "I was not here. I was not here. I repeat, I was not here."
It seemed the angel lady was having an effect on him. Who knew, maybe prayer would work. There had to be a reason why the gods of this world kept gaping his asshole like this.
The two slowly regained their bearings. He could hear it happening, so maybe he wasn’t as focused on his prayer as he should have been. That would certainly explain why the gods were not listening to him and sending him halfway across the world.
He felt the breathing change, the rhythm shift. Then came the hair sliding from across his chest and the very much still pointed nipples gliding against his skin.
Grey forgot all about prayer again. They were almost doing this on purpose to torture him for sure. The fact his eyes were closed only made the sensations all the more heavy and obvious.
Thi Lan made a small confused noise, groaning through the sleep in her eyes and then freezing at the distinct breeze passing through places that shouldn’t have been in the open right now.
Both women went absolutely still at the same moment.
Nobody moved for three full seconds.
Grey kept his eyes closed, mumbling away in prayer.
"Hey, angel lady, I don’t think this is working right now."
"You only have yourself to blame. Your heart is not pure." She finally decided to reply at the worst possible time.
But maybe she was right, because all Grey could think about was how pressed against them they were right now. His "prayer" had become a garbled mess of syllables he couldn’t make sense of.
He knew what they were hesitating about right about now. Staying attached to him protected them for the most part, but it also meant pressing their naked bodies against a man.
Getting up meant completely exposing themselves for a time, no matter how brief.
"Keep them closed." Amunet’s voice came out low and flat. Grey could practically hear a growl at the back of her throat.
"No promises." Grey couldn’t help but quip. It wasn’t his fault; his brain was slower than his tongue. He was convinced they existed in two separate planes.
"Keep. Them. Closed." The danger in Amunet’s voice made him shiver. There was definitely something about her strength that had changed after that wild baptism.
Something cold went past his face, and two bodies moved at once. A door banged somewhere in the back.
Grey waited a beat. Then he peeked one eye open, confirmed the room was empty, and looked down at his own crotch. He almost seemed annoyed by the pitching tent.
"I’m going to clear this damned game if it’s the last thing I do," he said. "My balls are aching."
He stood, brushed the ice shards off his skirt, and sighed. Why was this his life now?
They came back faster than he expected.
Amunet arrived wrapped in shadows; it rippled amorphously, shifting and changing with the air. Thi Lan came out behind her in that same traditional dress and/or robe she always wore, deep green with flowers embroidered up the length of it.
Grey genuinely didn’t know whether it was a dress or a robe. He’d worn one as a skirt for two days and still wasn’t sure. It probably had a fancy Vietnamese name he didn’t know.
He clapped his palms together.
"So!"
Neither of them said anything.
"First of all, congratulations, really. You two did well, great, fantastic, even. Real perfect showing. I’m talking the sort of dreams, the kind that expunges nightmares and brings a smile to a man’s—I mean a person’s face.
"The performance was tight and straight down the line, but it really knew how to curve and be soft when necessary. 10 out of 10, ladies. Real 10 out of 10."
Grey definitely wasn’t talking about them surviving a near-death experience.
Thi Lan’s eyes narrowed to slits.
"How much did you see?"
"Huh. Not sure what you’re talking about," Grey blinked innocently.
"How much." Thi Lan repeated.
"See, I feel like the better question—" Grey scratched his jaw, looking her up and down with real contemplation in his eyes. "—is how much did I feel?"
Thi Lan’s eyes bulged.
Frost cracked out across the floor from where she stood and a wind kicked up around her right palm, whipping tight and fast enough that the flowers on her sleeve began to stiffen.
Grey watched it with real interest. It was much denser than anything she’d shown against the aliens and himself, for that matter. The improvement was obvious.
Then Thi Lan closed her eyes and exhaled, and the wind died in her hand.
"Thank you," she said. "For saving us."
"Why, you’re welcome," Grey said with a grin, then he looked toward Amunet with expectation in his eyes.
Amunet stared back at him from inside her shadows.
"Between feeling my ass up before and copping a feel this time," she said, "I’d say you’ve collected all the thanks you’re owed. Fuck off."
"Wow," Grey said sarcastically. "Real grateful McGee over here."
"I’m already being generous," she said through gritted teeth. "Do you know how to be anything other than a pervert?"
Grey let his shoulders drop. He looked at the floor for a moment, and when he looked back up, guilt seemed written all over his face.
"That’s fair," he said sadly. "I’ve been thinking about it, and you’re right. I do owe you an apology."
Amunet’s eyebrows lifted.
"I’ve been more of an ass to you than I should have been, especially after, well... You know. At the very least, you’re right. A woman’s body is her temple, and since I’ve benefitted so much from yours, I should at least forgive you and say that I was wrong—"
"...Grey—" Amunet took a step forward. This was too much; she was a bit angry, but she wasn’t unreasonable. She understood the situation; she was just giving Grey a hard time.
"—about your chest," Grey finished.
Amunet froze.
"It’s not completely flat. Not at all. There’s definitely something there. And I’d know, because they were pressed right up against me for a while. So soft, so malleable, such perfect little ripe peaches, and I’ve got to tell you," Grey brought a hand to his heart, "they felt fantastic."
A rapier came out of the shadows.
Amunet was already moving in a blur across the room.