Lilliputian

With that recognition came the compulsion to act on it.

Ryder placed a hand on one of Ace's thighs. Raised his upper lip in a semblance of a smile that was more the precursor to a territorial growl he just barely prevented himself from letting escape. But he didn't remove his touch, not when Ace's eyes flew open, nor when his arms flailed out windmill style as he bolted upright into a sitting position.

"Ryder," Ace whispered, like he was about to share a conspiratorial secret, "your hand, dude, it's, uh, it's on my leg."

"That a problem?"

"Problem? What problem? Nope, it's not a problem. Not at all. How could it ever be a problem?" Swallowing hard, Ace continued, "I mean, maybe it's a problem? Possibly? I can't be expected to think straight right now with your hand so close to my dick, much less answer questions?"

A slide of his hand, then Ryder was cupping Ace's crotch. Ace's desire was thick in the air, cloying, yet there was just the slightest of corresponding bumps under Ryder's palm as proof. "And now?"

"Descendant of Lilliput?" Ace answered, voice faint and weak.

"And I already told you that what you have is more than enough to satisfy someone somewhere," Ryder said.

Fuck, but he wanted to get his mouth on Ace. Now.

He reached for Ace's fly. Had the button unfastened, and was just about to start pulling the zipper down, when Ace grabbed hold to his wrist with a firm grip, stopping him.

"Why are you even interested?" Ace blurted, eyes big and wild. They promised that he would beat a hasty retreat out of Ryder's life without a backwards glance if whatever answer Ryder provided wasn't the right one.

"Does it really matter?"

"Just kind of a lot."

"Because that someone I was talking about, Ace, that someone is me." Ryder sat back. Took his hand off Ace. "But you're not ready for this yet, are you."

A sad, embarrassed smile spread across Ace's face. "Not exactly."

Maybe not ever remained unspoken between them.

In that moment, Ryder would've given anything to have been a part of Ace's formative years. To have been a combative force to challenge all the self-esteem issues that had been allowed to run rampant and build themselves up unchecked.

Unable to rein it in, Ryder sighed, long and hard. "Will you—I have something else that I'd like to try instead. Will you let me?"

Although his expression was wary, Ace still nodded.

So Ryder went and dug out from the back of his closet the gift George had given to him as a joke several months ago, just before their cross country move from New York to Idaho, when he'd first found out about Ryder's plans to open Wolf's Den and what it was that Ryder would be selling there. The gift looked the same as it had the day George handed it over to Ryder. New, unopened. And not because Ryder never planned to use it, but because he knew any pleasure he got from it would be from its use on someone else rather than on himself.

It had remained in his closet strictly because there hadn't been anyone in a good long while that Ryder had wanted to unravel and take apart. No one that he'd wanted to watch come undone. Not until Ace, that was.

After making two quick stops, one in the kitchen to dispose of the box in the trash and the other by the side of the couch closest to where Ace sat to plug George's gift into a wall socket, Ryder crouched down on the floor in front of Ace. He nudged Ace's long legs all the way apart, then moved forward into the room he'd created for himself before Ace could change his mind and snap them shut.

"What's that?" Ace asked, looking at what Ryder held. His pulse was accelerated, but his scent carried no traces of fear, only keen interest.

"Hitachi wand." Clicking the button into the downward position, Ryder turned the wand on to the lowest setting. Giving Ace no warning, he pressed the wide head to the spot he'd palmed earlier. Right on top of the bump that was still no bigger now than it had been then.

Hips immediately jerking upwards, fingers scrabbling at the soft, smooth fabric of the couch, Ace moaned low in his throat.

With Ace fixated on the vibrations traveling through his crotch, Ryder inhaled a deep gulp of air. His canines elongated just the slightest bit as the scent of precome filled his nostrils.

Ryder needed more.

He switched the wand to the highest setting. Watched Ace grind against it nonstop, listened to the helpless noises which fell from between those pale, pink lips. And was pleased when he saw the healthy patch of wetness darken Ace's jeans. He had to forcibly stop himself from rubbing his face all over Ace's lap, from sucking Ace's come out of the soiled denim.

They'd get there one day. They'd reach the point where Ryder was allowed to enjoy everything there was about Ace. The sounds he made, the taste of him, the sight. But right now? Right now was too soon. Ace's mental drawbacks were too much of a tangible roadblock between them.

"Oh, my God," Ace said long after Ryder had turned the hitachi wand off, once he was finally coherent. "That was awesome." He met Ryder's gaze, a silly grin on his face. "And now we're going downstairs so you can sell me one. Yep, that's what we're going to do. Right now. Or, y'know, in just a minute. Yeah, whenever my legs start working again is good."

"So, here's the thing, I have the actual dick of a five year old," Ace came right out with after bursting through the door of Wolf's Den. It had been three days since Ryder last saw him, since the night in his loft, but they had talked on the phone in the time they'd been apart from one another as well as had exchanged frequent texts. No matter where their conversations took them, from favorite My Little Pony (Ace's question because Yeah, dude, Bronies, we're a thing, don't judge) to preferred super power (Ace, again) to goals and aspirations (Ryder), they hadn't yet broached this subject. "Well, actually, it's probably more the size of a three year old's, but let's just average it out for the sake of my manhood, okay, and say four."

A sound of choked surprise came from the back room. Then the lady, a friend of George's, who'd been in there perusing through the collars and chains came rushing out, her face an interesting shade of puce.

"Camille?" Ace squawked.

"No," she said, not stopping as she skirted around him to reach the exit.

"But—"

"No." She was already outside when she added, "I am just going to pretend that I did not see you in here tonight. Or hear anything that you just said."

And then only Ryder and Ace remained.

Ryder huffed out a snort of laughter. "Know her?"

"Yeah, only since, like, birth. That was Walker's mom. My mom's best friend. What was she doing back there?" Ace craned his head to get a look into the back room.

From the expression on his face, Ryder figured he must've caught a pretty explanatory glimpse of the female mannequin situated just inside the room's entrance, mostly out of sight from the main floor. The one that was decked out in a leather bustier, thigh high fishnets, black boots and elbow length gloves with cut-outs for the fingers. There was a blue and black mini bullwhip looped around her wrist.

She was George's pride and joy. He'd dressed her himself. Which was an experience Ryder was still trying to forget. George's glee as he'd laced her up had been disturbing, to say the least. So was the way he ogled her every single time he dropped by to see Ryder.

It wouldn't have surprised Ryder to find out George's plan with Camille was to eventually make her over in the image of the mannequin.

"Please don't tell me, please don't ever tell me," Ace pleaded. "There is just so much potential here, though. I feel like I can use this against Walker to my benefit somehow, but I also just can't bring myself to do it. So. much. wasted. potential." As if he could wipe away the embarrassment from his skin, Ace swiped a hand across the back of his neck. "That really just happened, huh?"

"Apparently."

"Well, at least it wasn't my mom I ran into, right?"

Yeah, but that was only because she'd come in the day before. On the arm of the Mayor. Ryder had known the woman who'd given birth to Ace soon as he'd set eyes on her. Ace looked just like her, from the color of his eyes on down to his infectious grin. But Ryder was going to keep the info of yesterday's visitors to himself. Since Ace had made the right choice and all by deciding to not traumatize his best friend. The elder Testas purchase of a double sided, fuchsia dildo would remain their secret for now. "Small favors."

"Thank God." Ace's head bobbed up and down in rigorous agreement.

Ryder shook his own in amusement. "Flip the sign to closed and lock that door."

"What? Closing already? Kinda early, isn't it?" Despite the questions, Ace did as Ryder requested.

"Perk of owning your own business."

Since their last encounter, Ryder had spent a lot of time, too much, thinking about all the things he wanted to do to Ace. Now was as good a time as any to get started far as he was concerned. He rounded the counter, then headed to the last aisle of the shop, stopping about halfway down, well away from the door and all windows.

Curious, Ace followed.

Ryder removed a small box from the wall, then turned towards Ace, holding it out between them for Ace's inspection. "Willing to let me try this on you?"

The way Ace's eyes lit up, it was obvious that he was. But there was also hesitance there, a clear reluctance. Although Ryder had been hoping for full skin-on-skin contact this time, he was willing to compromise if Ace was. For the moment.

"But you have to lose the jeans."

"Oh, uh, I don't think I can, I mean, it's not that I don't want to, but, yeah, y'know, it's just—"

"You'll lose the jeans, but keep your underwear." And Ace's willingness to comply was a heavy scent which let Ryder know he was going to get what he wanted before Ace even nodded his assent. "Go ahead and get undressed."

"How is it, again, that we're going to do this in a way that lets me keep my underwear on?" The question was muffled by the shirt which covered Ace's face as he yanked it off over his head.

"You'll keep them, but you're also going to let me in them long enough to do what I need."

"O-kay, then." Ace unfastened his pants and let them them drop to the floor. He kicked them, along with the shoes he'd toed off, to the side with an enthusiasm that was clumsy, made him come off as too eager, rather than sexy. It was endearing. Clothed only in white socks and white boxer briefs, he stood there, waiting. "Now what?"

Not even trying to hide his appreciation, Ryder looked Ace up and down. Miles and miles of milky white skin that was marred only by the dark trail of hair which began at Ace's navel and ended somewhere beneath the Hanes waistband of his boxer briefs and also by the occasional mole. A veritable blank canvas that just begged to be adorned and decorated.

One day, Ryder would mark all that up with bites and hickeys. One day...

But, for now, "Get on your hands and knees."

Once Ace was in position, face down, ass up, Ryder sat next to him. He ran his hand over first one cheek, then the other, drawn in by their pert tightness. When he heard Ace's sharp, sucked in gulp of air, Ryder smiled.

He opened the box and laid out its contents on the floor. The prostate massager he'd chosen was a knock off of the aneros but one which provided just as good results and at a cheaper price. Plus, it also came with a little tube of lubricant that Ryder now used to very generously prepare the hard piece of curved plastic for immediate use.

Ace's head was turned to the side and he peered back at Ryder. "Always wanted to try one of those."

"Now you will." One hand holding the slicked up massager, Ryder used the other to slide down the underwear Ace wore just enough to see all that was revealed between his spread open cheeks. He also caught a tempting hint of tight, wrinkled balls. "This all new to you? Or do you play with yourself sometimes? Use your fingers to open yourself up? Fuck yourself on them?"

"S-s-sometimes I do," Ace admitted in a stutter as Ryder fed the toy to his greedy, hungry hole.

"One day you're going to do it in front of me. You're going to give me a show, do all the things to yourself that you like, that make you come. Then I'm going to do all of them to you. And more." With a gentle push, Ryder made sure the massager was firmly inserted, then tugged the boxer briefs back up and into place. "Okay?"

"Yeah." The answer was breathy, given as Ace humped at the air, chasing after the immediate pleasure given by the clenching of his ass and the pressure it caused to his prostate.

"Goddamn, you're—" Beautiful? Gorgeous? Stunning? They were true, all three of them, but none conveyed what Ryder was truly thinking, so he said nothing at all. Instead, he placed a hand on the back of Ace's neck and pushed, forced Ace off his hands and down to his forearms, his face buried in between them, one flushed cheek pressed flat to the cool tiles of the store's floor. "I can make it better, Ace. Let me, let me make it better."

"Oh, my God, all right, okay, you had me at the first better."

Back to the ground, body stretched out behind Ace, Ryder placed his head between Ace's bent knees. He urged Ace down with a firm grip, guided that little white covered bump straight to his face.

Nosing around Ace's crotch, Ryder inhaled. And, christ, the smell, the smell. Clean and strong. Undiluted. Pure Ace.

Ryder wrapped his lips around the outline of Ace's dick. It wasn't even a mouthful. Less than. But more than enough.

The sweet little whimpers and sighs Ace so freely gave up. The way he worked his hips, rocking desperately into the warm wetness that Ryder provided, against Ryder's insistent tongue. It was almost more than Ryder could handle.

There was no way he wasn't getting his taste this time.

Sucking hard, Ryder used a palm to press the prostate massager deep into Ace, held it there, against that sensitive gland. Held Ace in place, too, with his other hand flat on Ace's lower back, granted no reprieve, even as Ace so thoroughly broke apart above him. Ace bucked, humped Ryder's face, squeezed Ryder's ears tight between his quivering thighs.

"Ry-Ryder," Ace moaned. "I-I'm—" He broke off on a long, deep groan.

Right through the cotton boxer briefs, Ryder nursed Ace through his orgasm. Swallowed every single drop that Ace gave up to him. Savored all of it. And wanted more.

"And that's another thing. I would appreciate it if you stopped calling me pony. I am a Lady and I wish to be addressed as such. So you may call me Miss. Or Rarity. Or Miss Rarity."

Ryder and Ace were spread out side-by-side across the bed which took up the whole far corner of Ryder's loft, Ace with his head laid on Ryder's chest. They were watching an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. With Ace quoting all the lines. From memory.

They'd started out with Revenge of the Sith. Then had made a left turn from George Lucas's imagination at some point and ended up in the land of Equestria.

Ace's imitations were accurate, his intonations correct. His timing was so perfect, it was ridiculous.

Unable to hold it in, Ryder laughed.

"What?" Ace asked, eyes fastened to the screen of the tv in front of them. He was focused on the white pony with the purple hair who had made it known to her canine captors that she was not whining, only complaining, and then proceeded to give them a very annoying, and effective, demonstration of whining to highlight the difference. "Don't laugh. Seriously. This is Rarity's defining moment here, the moment it became clear to everyone that she is so much more than just a stuck up shit. Rarity is the HBIC."

"Yeah, well, she still ain't no Rainbow Dash," Ryder replied.

Ace flipped over to his stomach so he could stare up at Ryder. His mouth opened, closed, opened again, but didn't make any sounds. Until he finally forced out a shocked, "Dude, you do know your ponies."

Only because Ryder had Googled them a few weeks back and watched videos on YouTube. It wasn't his proudest moment so he had no plans on confessing. It had happened the night Ace texted to ask who his favorite pony was and Ryder's answer of Artax had elicited a response of :-/ from Ace followed by Ur going with a neverending story? Srlsy?

Ryder loved the book and still to this day considered the movie to be a classic even though it had already been ancient and outdated by the time he'd seen it as a child. So, yeah, he'd gone with A Neverending Story because of Artax who hadn't deserved to die. Besides, to Ryder, a pony was a pony was a pony.

"Of course your taste would suck," Ace complained with a grimace. "Rainbow Dash is—"

"Loyal." With a wink, Ryder explained, "That's her element. Loyalty."

Loyal.

Loyalty.

The two words reverberated through Ryder's brain, bringing him to the single most important realization of his life. Funny that it arrived so quietly, with My Little Ponies playing in the background and with Ace gawping at him. There was no boom, no bang.

Things had been progressing nicely between them. They had spent long nights talking about any and everything. And, sometimes, talking about nothing at all, just enjoying each other's company. There had also been further explorations of Ace's reactions to toys and more blowjobs through his underwear, Ryder always giving because touching Ace, tasting Ace, that's what got Ryder off and it never failed to get him off hard.

And it all led up to the inevitable conclusion Ryder had just reached: he had bonded to Ace. Ace, who still had yet to even let Ryder see all of him because their few short weeks together, with Ryder continuously building Ace up, each and every second, paled in comparison to the lifetime Ace had spent suffering misconceptions that he was somehow less of a man than the next guy.

Ryder grabbed the remote off the bed next to Ace and flicked the tv off. Tossed it down to the floor where it landed on top of the clothes they'd discarded earlier that now littered the floor in piles.

"Yeah, still watching that," Ace immediately protested.

"I want to suck you," Ryder said.

"Buuut I like your idea better." Already stripped down to just his boxer briefs, Ace fell down flat on his back next to Ryder, hands clasped behind his head and a stupid grin on his face. "Don't let me stop you."

"No, Ace, I want to suck you."

The smile faded from Ace's face in slow increments as understanding set in. It was immediately replaced with his ever present insecurity.

"You can say no," Ryder said, "you know that, I won't push you, so tell me if you're not ready, but you should also know by now that I'm not going anywhere."

Which was the truth. It was in Ryder's nature to remain by Ace's side, to be loyal, it was part of who Ryder was, his heritage. Loyalty. But Ace didn't know any of that because he didn't know what Ryder was. At least not yet.

It all came down to one simple truth: The only way Ryder would ever leave now was if Ace pushed him away.

Even then, Ryder would still be there, as just as a friend, a confidant, as whatever Ace needed, always available and around. Werewolves didn't bond to other werewolves easily, unless they were family, never mind bonding to humans at all. So that meant the bond that had formed and attached Ryder to Ace was solid. With an unshakable foundation.

"Ryder, I—"