This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. This work contains mature themes, including violence and sexually explicit content, and may not be suitable for all audiences. It is only intended for readers 18 years and older. Reader discretion advised. 

After dinner, Alexei sat down with Kalvis and Felix to play a round of cards. Felix, the more skilled player of the two, dealt while explaining the rules. The game itself was simple enough, but the real skill was in knowing when to hold back and when to meld, exposing parts of your hand. Give too much information to your opponent, and they might not make as many mistakes in the future, costing you the game. 

An hour passed quickly, and it wasn’t until he noticed both his opponents look up and over his shoulder, that Alexei felt an unfamiliar chill in the air. He looked to the open patio door, seeing nothing but curtains still billowing in the warm, evening breeze. 

“Daniel,” Felix said abruptly, standing up as his cards fell out of his hand and cascaded onto the table. “You’re awake.”

Alexei could hear the soft patter of bare feet moving towards him from behind, but kept his gaze fixed in the opposite direction. Was that chill weaving through the room coming from him?

“Get out.”

Daniel’s voice was low and gravely, as if he’d stumbled out into the living room immediately after waking. Alexei wondered what he looked like up close without the disguise of his Butler #4 persona or the slick professionalism of his Merciful uniform. Would he appear more relaxed in his own home? From the tone of his voice, he didn’t appear to be in an amiable mood.  

Kalvis got to his feet, stepping in front of Felix with an unamused expression. “Hey, don’t be a shithead. We’re here because you fucked up. Don’t forget that. You wanna be mad at someone, be mad at yourself.”

“I said get out.”

Alexei felt the strange sensation in the room swell as Daniel repeated the words once more with vitriol. The unseen icy tendrils brushed against him, and for a moment he swore they felt like hands, fumbling blindly in the dark for some lost, forgotten thing. He almost felt compelled to reach out and grab hold of one, even though he could not see them. 

Felix went to speak, but Kalvis cut him off with a gentle shake of his head. “No, don’t even waste your breath. He’s not in the mood to listen. Let’s go.”

Felix reached down and squeezed Alexei’s shoulder, sending over a bit of gentle guiding along with his touch. Alexei had never received guiding before, much less from an S-Class guide, but the warm feeling that entered him carried with it the same sentiment as any hug he’d received from Cora, so he knew exactly what it meant. He smiled up at his new friend and silently mouthed his thanks. 

”Alexei,” Kalvis said, looking down to where Alexei still sat on the couch, “You’ve got our numbers. Don’t hesitate to call or text if you need us.” 

Alexei nodded, holding up the Center-issued device that Felix had kindly added their numbers to earlier. “Yeah. Thanks, man. I will.”

At that, Alexei swore the room dropped another ten degrees, and he finally turned his head just in time to see Kalvis jerk Daniel to the side and whisper a few choice words into his ear before exiting the penthouse, his arm wrapped protectively around Felix’s waist. 

As the penthouse door slammed shut, Alexei turned his eyes back to the table, surveying the cards still scattered from a game hastily ended. He counted his breaths, each rise and fall of his chest now moving on manual. 

“You’re here,” Daniel said softly from behind him. 

His voice sounded so youthful– or at least the curiosity within his tone caused it to sound that way. It had been less than a week since they’d last spoken, and yet it felt to Alexei like they were meeting for the first time. The uptight, polished tone of Butler #4 was nowhere to be found, and in its place was something far more concerning, naive desperation. 

Alexei leaned back against the couch and pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing his eyes. “You act as if I had any choice in the matter. I’m stuck here just like the rest of you.”

Daniel appeared opposite him, the cards on the table fluttering in the wind produced by his swift and sudden movement. 

“You should have come sooner.”

Alexei resisted the urge to flip the coffee table and lay into him right then and there. Why would anyone want to come here? If it wasn’t a crime to hide your status, he suspected the Center would have half as many guides and espers, maybe less.

“I didn’t know.”

It wasn’t an outright lie, but then again, he’d chosen the cheapest at-home test kit and avoided every raid and doctor for a decade, so maybe somewhere deep down he’d always known the truth. 

“You didn’t test properly.”

Daniel’s voice wavered as he started to pace back and forth, and he pulled his lips into a tight line of frustration. Alexei rolled his eyes internally– irritated, but unwilling to draw out any more of the man’s erratic behavior.

“If your plan for the evening is simply to scold me for not doing my duty diligently enough, then I fear I’ve become quite tired and will have to retire.”

The pacing stopped and the icy chill returned once more to Alexei’s chest and neck. He wasn’t proud to admit that he was growing curious about Daniel’s powers, but now was certainly not the time to ask for a show-n-tell. As Kalvis had said, he would have plenty of time to “play with his own esper” later. That is, if he could figure out a way to endure his presence. 

“You must have healed dozens if not hundreds of people in that time,” Daniel said, appearing right beside Alexei and causing him to flinch. “You say you never noticed, which means it never hurt, and yet when I ask, you deny me.”

It had been a long, long time since Alexei had been forced to entertain a conversation with someone so presumptuous and he was sorely out of practice. Maybe it was the slight embarrassment he still felt from flinching, but he felt the need to sharpen his tone.

“If I’ve ever guided anyone unknowingly,” he said, narrowing his eyes, “it was certainly not through the means you were initially suggesting. I don’t know who you think I am, but I lived a very simple life before coming here, Daniel. A life considerably smaller, and less eventful than yours, if you can believe it.”

Daniel looked at him quizzically, “So you’ve never had sex with anyone?”

"I didn’t say that.”

“If you have then why–” Alexei held up his hand and cut him off.

“If you continue to beg me for sex I will grow to hate you. We’re meant to be partners for a long, long time, are we not?”

"Well, yes, but…” 

“Well nothing,” Alexei continued, staring daggers into Daniel’s watery, grey eyes. He hoped his fear and uncertainty didn't show on his face, but the intensity with which his gaze was met was just as chilling as the unseen, icy tendrils still pressed against his chest. “You either agree to my terms or you spend the rest of our time together with a guide who hates you. Is that what you want? For me to loathe you?”

“Do you wish Kalvis was your esper?”

At that, Alexei was truly taken aback. How could that possibly be what Daniel was concerned about? Hadn’t Kalvis and Felix been married for years? If he was going to worry about someone “stealing his guide,” shouldn’t he worry about one of the other Merciful who remained unmatched? After the first impression Daniel made, Alexei was almost certain at least one of them would seem like a better option.

“What are you, jealous?” Alexei asked, trying to keep the judgment out of his voice, but failing. “He’s married and perfectly matched already. No, I do not want Kalvis as my esper. I don’t even want an esper at all.”

This time, it was Daniel who flinched. 

“But you were so friendly with him. He put his number in your phone.”

Alexei nearly started shouting, “As did Felix! Oh my god, Daniel. Really? I’d have your number in my phone by now if you hadn’t acted like an absolute terror the first time we met? Don’t you think you owe me an apology for that? You come out here and pout like I’ve wronged you in some way, when in reality, I’m the one who has been wronged.”

Daniel moved to sit on the edge of the coffee table, their knees almost touching. The chill in the room had lessened, and Alexei felt the warm air from the patio rush across his cheek for the first time in the better part of an hour. 

“I’m sorry,” Daniel said softly. 

“Are you?” Alexei countered, “I don’t know if I believe that. You know, there’s a lot of occupations where you come into contact with liars, and right up there at the top of the list is priest. Half confessions, altered confessions, fake confessions, I’ve heard them all. I have a trained ear for liars. I don’t think you’re sorry, Daniel. I don’t think you want true absolution. I think you just want to hear me say that I forgive you.”

For the first time that evening, Daniel appeared reminiscent to Butler #4. He looked up with an unsettling slowness, and the thin mask began to splinter as his true nature began to emerge from between the cracks. This time, though, Alexei was quite certain that what hid behind the veneer of sadness was a growing, possessive appetite, rather than the abject horror he'd witnessed before. He knew wouldn’t be able to put off guiding Daniel for very long. They would have to train and work together. Not only that, a gate could open at any time. Hell, it could even happen tonight if they were unlucky. 

“Please,” Daniel begged, falling to his knees at Alexei’s feet. “I’ll do what you want, just guide me. The other night, as I lay there, all the blood flowing out of me, I could feel your guiding flowing into me, as well. I’ve never felt anything like it. I can’t go on without it. So, whatever you ask for, I’ll do it, just lay your hand on me and guide me again.”

Daniel let his head fall into Alexei’s lap.

“You say you’ll do whatever I ask,” Alexei said sternly, “but you’re already making this more sexual than it needs to be. Move your face to my knee, stop burying it in my crotch.”

Daniel complied wordlessly, sitting back on his heels just enough to rest his cheek against Alexei’s right knee. 

“I don’t really know what I’m doing,” Alexei admitted, reaching down to card a hand through Daniel’s hair. “So you’ll have to tell me if this is helpful to you.”

He tried to focus on guiding– whatever that meant. He still hadn’t received any formal training. When Alexei was a child, his mother used to brush his hair as he watched television on the living room floor. She’d use her fingers to separate and massage out any tangles, then press her thumbs into the base of his skull to release the tension she knew he carried there. His mother wasn’t a guide, but what else could that have possibly been but her attempts at passing on her love and healing through touch? 

Alexei mirrored her movements, running his fingers through Daniel’s sleep-tangled hair until he no longer met any resistance. He then moved on to his temple, massaging it gently with his thumb as his other fingers kneaded softly against the side of the esper's head. Even without proper training, Alexei could feel it now– the warm, almost tingling sensation of guiding as it traveled out his fingertips and into the man sighing deeply against his knee.   

“Don’t stop. Please, Alexei, don’t stop.”

The color began to return to Daniel’s face, and the bags that had hung beneath his eyes like two shadowy crescent moons, began to fade. Up close, he was quite beautiful. Alexei found himself taking note of his long eyelashes, and sleek features as he continued to stroke his head. They continued this way for a few moments, until Alexei could no longer ignore the familiar, hard appendage that now pressed against his leg.

“Are you?” Alexei asked, already regretting his question. 

“I can’t help it. Please, I’m sorry. Just don’t stop.”

Alexei stilled his hand. The few peaceful moments he’d spent guiding Daniel had only served to remind him of just how exhausted he truly was. He couldn’t allow himself to get caught up in this esper’s unchecked need. It was just a simple bodily reaction, nothing more. It didn’t require any of his personal attention, of that he was certain. Daniel was a grown man, he could sort it out himself when he was on his own. 

“If I continue guiding you, you have to make me a promise.”

“Yes, anything.”

“Until I tell you it’s okay, which may never happen, you are not allowed to finish in my presence. Do you understand? That’s for you to take care of in your own personal time.”

Daniel opened his eyes, but did not lift his head, staring up at Alexei with a languid, contented expression. 

“Yes.”

“Alright,” Alexei said, running his hand once more through Daniel’s hair, “then move your hips away from my shin and hold it.”