"What's that look on your face, sweetheart?" Bodhi asked when he came out of the bathroom and spotted his boyfriend sitting on his bed. Bodhi was wearing just a towel, his dark hair curling over his eyes, and normally that got a grin and maybe a hint of blush on Ridoc's dark skin, but today it wasn't necessary.
Ridoc's grin was somehow already even wider than usual, the face of a man who was getting away with something even if Bodhi didn't know what it was yet. The last time he'd seen that look on Ridoc's face, Cat had been about to become the victim of a 'fart rune' that Ridoc had somehow convinced Garrick to teach him. Seeing it in the bedroom was... exciting. Exciting and just a little worrying.
"This is my I-went-shopping-today face." Well that explained precisely nothing. Except that it was store-bought mischief instead of homemade.
"Did you get a new outfit to show me?" Bodhi guessed. The last lace number Ridoc had surprised him with ended up torn nearly in half, and so it was a pretty safe guess that Ridoc would want to try that again.
Ridoc bounced on the bed. "I did, actually, but that's not what I wanted to show you tonight."
"Are you going to make me guess?" he laughed, sitting on the bed.
"No, just... I hadn't really planned for the logistics."
"Logistics." Bodhi blinked. "Do you want to start with context, my Riddle, and go from there?"
That got Ridoc to nod, and he scooted closer to his boyfriend. "Okay so I had breakfast with my Squad this morning and somehow we ended up talking about what cocks taste like, and you'd think I'd know by now but Sawyer asked me if different cocks taste different and I completely blanked on any cock but yours."
"I'll take that as a compliment." Bodhi was already laughing.
"It's been a while," Ridoc agreed. "And yours is definitely the best. But Sawyer didn't want to volunteer for me to test and Aaric suddenly had to be somewhere else and I don't think I know any of the fliers well enough to ask them yet, so I came back upstairs to see if I could taste myself."
"You... wait, what?"
"I'm not as flexible as Violet but I'm pretty flexible, okay? I figured it was worth a shot. So I spent a couple minutes thinking about your ass last night while I-"
Bodhi decided to cut him off. "So did it work?"
"It did, just barely!"
"And what do you taste like?"
"Skin."
Bodhi laughed hard enough that he'd have fallen over if he wasn't already sitting down. "I don't know what I expected-" he choked out.
"At which point I realized you also taste like skin."
"I would be worried if I didn't," Bodhi wheezed.
"But then I remembered I was late for class, so I went to class and answered Sawyer's question, and told him how I figured it out, and he turned so red I thought his freckles would burn off."
"All of that is hilarious, and I love you, and I love your stories, but none of it explains what you went shopping for today."
"It does though, because when I said I tasted like skin, Maren said of course I did, the question is really about what fluids taste like-"
"-Maron?-"
"Cat's friend, she's another flier."
"Right, of course the fliers were there now."
"Because we were in class, yeah. And apparently fluids taste like what you've eaten recently, if you've had certain foods? Which I didn't know, and Violet said something I didn't catch about a margarita, and then Cat was lecturing about how In Cordyn~ we have stores for that sort of thing~, it's more civilized~" He'd pitched his voice up when he started doing his impression of Cat and Bodhi nearly choked again laughing as Ridoc did the hand gestures Cat was constantly making, his hands on his hips by the end of the sentence.
"So the Squad and I- well Sawyer and Aaric and Sloane and I, and then Maren talked Cat into coming with us- had to go down to the store in town just to prove her wrong, because I was sure I'd seen something cotton candy flavored or something last time I was there. Rhi had to go be in charge about something and I told her I'd bring her a present, and Vi had to go 'imbue something' which sounds like a euphemism but it's Vi so probably not."
"No, definitely not a euphemism."
"Which makes me wonder if you can... anyway, nevermind. We get into town and somehow Cat had never been into this shop, or like anything off the main street, and she actually looked really excited? Which, wow, didn't want to think about her sex life any more than she and Violet already make us think about Xaden's sex life, but I was looking around for that cotton candy, and I found it, but I also found a bunch of other flavors. And frankly they sounded delicious? They had a lot of good ones."
"So you bought... flavors?"
"Yep!" Ridoc brought out the little box of tiny glass vials. "Flavored lubricant, so we don't just have to use that boring oil you keep in your nightstand. Since I couldn't decide, I got a set of different ones to try. The lady that runs the shop called it a tasting flight. Vanilla bean, cinnamon bun, blueberry muffin, salted caramel, and chocolate mint chip."
Bodhi tried to focus on what Ridoc was actually saying now. "And it's safe? You're not... I trust you, but cinnamon's not really something I want mixing in my... fluids. Or on my cock, for that matter. It's an irritant."
"It's not really cinnamon. It's infused somehow? But she swore up and down it's safe to eat and to fuck."
"All the same, I think it's only fair that you do the initial testing." Bodhi turned, letting the towel stay where it was, and gently pushed Ridoc down on the bed. "Except you're wearing far too many clothes for that. Stop it."
"Well the present was for you, it seemed rude to assume..." Ridoc started, trailing off as Bodhi started unlacing and then pulling off his leathers. "Okay, not arguing."
"You'd better not argue, I outrank you."
"Man, don't tell Dain, he'd be upset about that."
Bodhi paused, resting his forehead against Ridoc's stomach. "Please, please, I've told you to stop mentioning Dain when we're flirting."
"I'm sorry! I forgot. Well, I didn't forget, I just didn't remember."
"It's fine. Just. Say something sexy, and we can move on, okay?" Bodhi had reached the lower half of Ridoc's legs, which was always the least sexy part of stripping someone, and tugging Ridoc's leathers over his socked feet wasn't exactly helping restore the mood.
"Something sexy, okay, no pressure," Ridoc murmured. He shimmied down so his face was beneath Bodhi's and put his hands on either side of his boyfriend's face. "You are the most beautiful man on the continent, and I cannot believe that I get to be in your bed, what an enormous honor that is. To go along with your enormous, beautiful cock."
"That works." Bodhi leaned down to kiss him. "So what am I meant to do with these, lover?" He sat up and reached for the little box.
"You just use it like any boring lubricant, but it's tasty," Ridoc shrugged out of his shirt, the motion inviting Bodhi's eyes to rake down his body. It made Ridoc squirm when Bodhi clearly appreciated him, and so Bodhi took every opportunity he had to do it.
Bodhi uncorked the first vial, turning it against his finger for a moment and then slowly drawing it up Ridoc's half-hard cock toward the tip. He moved so that he was able to lay between Ridoc's legs and then licked up the same line, his tongue bring Ridoc to full attention.
Bodhi pushed himself up on one elbow, his face thoughtful.
"Well?" Ridoc asked after a moment. "Are you evaluating the vintage or something?"
"Ah yes, it's a delightful vintage from 631, a very good year if I do say so myself."
"Not my vintage," Ridoc giggled. "I already know what I taste like, remember?"
"You already taste a little salty, so I think the nuance of the salted caramel might be lost on me," Bodhi grinned. "I guess I need to try another flavor."
Vanilla was too plain, blueberry muffin was too sweet, and cinnamon bun was "hard to enjoy in this context," which made Ridoc curious but not curious enough to interrupt.
"I think this one's the winner," Bodhi announced as he licked the chocolate mint chip sample off Ridoc's now-straining cock.
"Oh thank Zihnal, I don't know how much longer I can hold out," Ridoc admitted.
Bodhi grinned at that. "Maybe tomorrow I'll go by that shop myself and get something to help with that problem."
"I don't really think it's a problem..."
"I have been thinking about putting a ring on it," Bodhi said lightly. "How do you feel about a cock ring?"