The Morning After the Night Before
For Sparky—the morning after the first night together
"Illya, are you awake?"
"Uh, I am now. Stop poking me. What's wrong?"
"Illya, we need to talk."
"Napoleon, it is too late for that, I fear. Surely a bit more sleep won't make any difference—"
"Illya, I'm serious. We need to talk."
"Very well, Napoleon. Since I suspect I will get very little sleep until we do, speak. What shall we talk about?"
"Are you serious?"
"No, I'm exhausted and just a little sore. I think next time we do this, we need to invest in a more conventional lubricant."
"That's what we need to talk about."
"Lubricant?"
"Now you are just purposefully being naive."
"Napoleon, last night we had sex—"
"Made love."
"There's a difference?"
"A big difference in my book. Having sex is just a mindless act; what we did and what we have, it's far from mindless."
"Illuminate me."
"We shared something very special last night. I refuse to believe it was just because we were convenient for each other. Illya, I truly experienced something like I've never experienced before and I'm not speaking of the sex."
"No, I could tell you've done your share of experimenting. You have a very polished style."
"Illya, I've never made love to a man the way I made love to you last night... I've never wanted to."
"I'm flattered."
"Is that all?"
"Napoleon, surely you know that unless I wanted what happened last night to have occurred, it wouldn't have."
"You... wanted it."
"Very much so. I never thought you were interested, though. You always seemed so intent upon the female of the species."
"Illya, haven't you ever preferred one thing, but do something else instead because it was more acceptable or more practical?"
"Or legal. What we did last night isn't legal in most states. Back home, it is enough to put you in front of a firing squad."
"I don't care..."
"I know."
"And I don't want to have to lose this because some small-minded idiot thinks it's wrong."
"What about Waverly?"
"He doesn't care as long as we are discreet and keep it off his doorstep. What I want to know is how you feel about it?"
"I have a say?"
"Very much so. If what we did last night meant nothing to you, then tell me now and we will just chalk it up to too much wine and not enough common sense."
"What we did last night meant the world to me, Napoleon. There's no one I can trust, whom I want to trust like you. To share what we have, it is a moment of great vulnerability. I let you see a part of me very few others have seen and certainly no one else that I have desired so..."
"I love kissing you."
"I'm glad, but you don't have to stop."
"Aren't you tired?"
"Not as tired as I'm going to be in another half an hour, I suspect. Is there anymore gun oil left?"
"A bit."
"Next time, a more... ah... conventional lubricant."
"And the time after that and the time after that..."