“I will never tell anyone. I miss the way everyone is together on the Other Side, but when you’re with me like this, I forget it all.” Shadow kissed Gray’s temple, and Gray shifted to lay more of his weight on the comfortably hot body that was strange, inhuman, and yet so familiar.
Shadow was his. Had he already been with Gray in the womb as well?
Chapter 17
Something changed between Shadow and Gray after the reconnaissance trip, and it wasn’t only because sleeping in the same bed became the norm once they returned home. There was a tangible charge in the air every time their eyes locked, and for whatever reason, Gray was no longer adverse to them spending time together.
And time was something they had a lot of. After reviewing all the information gathered, the third of May seemed like the best time to strike. The owner of the Pigeon Heart would be away, and in the absence of their boss, the staff would be a tiny bit less efficient. But while Shadow was the kind of weapon nobody expected, Gray decided they shouldn’t leave anything to chance.
Every day, they practiced working as a two-man team. No longer was Gray making Shadow stay behind and just be there for the sake of the arm. He was now eager to find better ways of working together.
Shadow didn’t mind any of it, since exercising meant hours of time Gray dedicated exclusively to him, and a lot of it was spent wrestling, because Gray claimed Shadow’s moves needed refinement. Whatever that meant, he appreciated the opportunity to touch Gray’s half-naked body, even if it left him tense and hard. He’d gotten used to constantly walking the edge of arousal.
In terms of tactics, Gray and the other club members decided the heist would be safest if Gray got into the vicinity of the Pigeon Heart covered by Shadow’s invisible form. It had worked extraordinarily well back on the train, so they both took their time rehearsing the process and even testing the results on their unsuspecting friends. To minimize the risk of Shadow having issues with re-entering his flesh, Gray purchased special heated blankets, which they used to wrap the body in order to keep it from cooling. Though even that wouldn’t help if he strayed too far. Thankfully, Shadow could sense it if the thread connecting him to the physical form was becoming too thin.
They were a good team, as proven by the number of times Gray wanted to ‘fist bump’ and ‘high-five’ Shadow. With almost three weeks remaining to the planned break-in, they had more than enough time to oil their shared cogs.
Now that Shadow’s sheer presence was no longer rejected, even parting from Gray for an hour or two wasn’t as painful and fraught with distress. In that time Shadow would go hunting around the premises, or chat to Elliot about the Other Side.
Shadow tuned in to his new life, and memories of the world on the Other Side became increasingly blurry. Life itself was a completely different state there. It contained no events, no friends or enemies, just continuous contentment and safety. On paper, that sounded perfect, yet the longer Shadow was around humans, the more he appreciated the ups and downs. Everything was more intense. Even having to hunt for each meal somehow made it taste so much sweeter.
Shadow had once even spotted Baal’s reflection in the corner of his eye, but he panicked that his creator might want to take him back, so he fled the corridor.
In the face of so much attention and kindness, Shadow stopped looking for ways to fill Gray with his physical body. With time, his need became more bearable, and he didn’t want to anger his human with requests he didn’t want to grant. Gray might have taken Shadow’s cock between his lips that one time but seemed regretful about it, and Shadow couldn’t stand seeing Gray unhappy. If his body was to never experience that intense physical satisfaction again, then so be it, because every night he was allowed to fall asleep with Gray in his arms, their limbs entangled, and their hair mixing on the pillow, resembling the yin-yang symbol on Gray’s chest.
Gray had finally told Shadow that both him and his brother got one to represent being each other’s perfect companions. All at once, Shadow had wanted to get it inked, but just having the symbol wouldn’t carry meaning if Gray didn’t acknowledge it.
Most of the club members warmed up to him too. Maybe they weren’t the best of friends, but they no longer chased him away when he approached, which in his book constituted progress. Laurent still preferred to be away from him, which was apparently due to a bad experience with Baal, but Gray’s own father, Rev, was the worst. It seemed like he considered Shadow’s mere presence, or his connection with Gray, a travesty that he couldn’t bear. And so he never was quiet, always finding new ways to show Shadow his place.