Thawing Off

Short Story (Approx. 3600)

Bradd leaned against the shelf as if he owned it, fingers lightly playing with one of feathers sticking out of the vase. Long fingers, both deft and steady when he bothered to work.

Cerci could tell he was watching out of the corner of his eye. Watching her as she measured out the hage nuts and ground them. Watching as she laid out fickle thorns and carefully cut their heads off, letting their dangerous innards smear across the waxy leaf before putting the entire leaf into the pot.

The pot itself was no bigger than a bowl, with larger sides and a long handle. Its top had long ago broken, but Witch Ales kept everything. So Cerci dumped the ground hage nuts and a half cup of water and hung the pot over the fire on a high rung so that it would warm but not simmer.

Only then did she finally turn to Bradd, who had ceased pretending to not pay attention. His brown hair had fallen partially into his face and his eyes darted back up to her eyes, as if he’d been staring at something else when she’d been bent over.

“You could help,” said Cerci.

He smirked and shrugged. “But you have a steadier hand. I would probably spill something into the fire and smoke us out. Or worse.”

She narrowed her eyes at the lie. He never tried to pull this when Witch Ales was around. But then, she had once caused his dick to sprout warts that popped and pussed and left him in agony for over a month. Cerci didn’t have that ability yet—though not from the lack of sneaking peeks at Ales’ books.

“I can’t believe you’re so lazy,” she snapped, wishing she had a better attack than words.

Bradd only shrugged before moving to the fire. There he sat cross legged before it as if warming his hands, despite the fact that spring had crept up early this year and the room wasn’t nearly as cold as it’d been the past few months.

Cerci almost opened her mouth to tell him to get out and let her work, then shut her mouth, realizing that was exactly what Bradd wanted. “Oh, good,” she said instead, “you can watch the pots. The one closest to the bottom needs to be lifted in a few minutes or else it will overflow and freeze the fire.” She moved back behind the workbench and pulled out a new pot.

“That’s quite all right,” said Bradd. “I prefer watching you move them.”

Cerci stared at the side of his face, feeling her own flush with anger. She’d made more than half of Ales’ list by herself already. There was no way she’d have time to make the rest if he didn’t help.

“It’s either that or you can chop the sheep seeds. We need enough for a batch of shift potions.” She pointed to where the seeds were bagged up on another table.

He shrugged again and leaned back, flinging his head back to remove the hair from his eyes. “I’d rather not do either.”

Cerci put her hands upon her hips. “You do realize that both of us will be getting into trouble if this list isn’t finished when she gets back. She might very well sent warts to your dick again, you know.” She crossed her fingers briefly that the half-hearted threat would work.

Bradd let out a short laugh. “Would that upset you? You did seem quite morose when you were treating me for it last time.”

Cerci stiffened at Bradd’s assumption, then put her hands upon her hips. “I felt bad that you were in pain, but trust me, I won’t next time.”

He turned toward her now. “I know. You’ll enjoy rubbing me down to make the warts go away faster.”

“What?” Cerci felt her cheeks flush again, this time from both anger and embarrassment. “I did not enjoy doing that! And I can assure you I won’t ever be doing it again.”

She pulled open the bag of sheep seeds, frowning at the stench they gave off. Then she spread them and lifted her knife to begin cutting, very conscious of Bradd still watching her.

Very conscious, as well, of her own neck getting hot. She hadn’t enjoyed his injury, seeing or touching it, but she had found herself staring at the muscles of his abdomen and had found plenty of reasons to touch his chest while helping him.

The scent of the first cuts to the seeds hit her hard and she cringed back, lifting one hand to cover her nose and mouth. She was shaking off that first nasty breath when she realized that she was smelling more than fresh sheep seed.

“Damn it!” She dropped the knife and rushed back to the fire. The pot was bubbling over and as she lifted it by the long handle some spilled out. Not enough to ruin the fire or the enchantment on it though. Cerci breathed a half-sigh of relief and spun around, meaning to put the pot down on a pad.

She yelped when she saw Bradd standing behind her and tried to stop the pot, but it sloshed out and spilled over his pants. He howled and jumped away, but Cerci could already see how stiff his pants had become, how quickly the half-finished potion had seeped in.

She put the pot down and grabbed a towel to push against the spot. “Sorry! Sorry! You should get your pants off before more of it gets to skin.”

“You wanted my cock that bad, eh?” said Bradd, but he clenched his teeth down on the words.

Cerci pulled the towel back, glancing at the ice crystals there. “Fine, don’t take your pants off. I hope you’re frozen.” She tossed the towel at him. It bounced off his middle and dropped to the ground to soak up more of the spill.

“I think it already did.” Bradd undid his buttons with difficulty, as they seemed to have become frozen to the cloth. He ended up ripping them off to push his pants down. Underneath, his penis had indeed gone blue, looking stiff without the size to it.

Cerci motioned to the fire and held down a snicker. “You could always warm it back up.”

Bradd stepped out of his pants and put the towel back to his groin. “How about you warm it back up since you’re the one that froze it in the first place.”

“You wouldn’t like me touching you there.”

Bradd managed another smirk, despite his obvious pain as he rubbed at himself. “Trust me. You could milk me as hard as you can and I’d still not feel it right now.”

Cerci crossed her arms and let the snicker out this time. “Maybe not, but half your penis might break off if I twist just right.”

He looked shocked for a moment and his hands stopped rubbing so violently. “You think so?”

“It is made to freeze things straight through,” she said.

“But you were only half done,” he protested.

“Not really,” she lied. “It only needed to sit for another hour or so to let the froth disappear and it would have been ready.”

She had the satisfaction of watching his face pale. Bradd pulled back the towel and gingerly checked his penis, no doubt looking for cracks in the ice. Cerci didn’t bother holding back her smile as she watched him slowly become more and more concerned.

“Maybe I should help,” she said. She reached out as if to take his cock in her hand as she continued, “I’ll just—”

“No!” Bradd swung his body away from her, hands on his piece for extra protection.

“What?” she said. “Two seconds ago you wanted me all over you.”

“I still do,” he said. “Just . . . not like that.”

She shrugged and brushed her hair back. “Maybe you should wrap it and start getting up a sweat to see if that helps.”

“A sweat, huh?” murmured Bradd.

Cerci had started to turn back to see whether he might actually help her finish preparing Witch Ales’ list when a searing cold shot through her chest. She shrieked and ripped down on her shirt. Realizing that pulling it away from her body wasn’t helping, she then yanked the shirt off up over her head.

Strips of ice, almost like claw marks, ran across her chest. Both nipples were frozen stiff and the tops of her breasts seemed to have gotten the worst of it as the liquid had dripped downwards.

“Nice,” said Bradd.

She glared at him, noting that his eyes lingered on her front for a long moment before he even noticed her expression.

“What?” he said, when he’d finally looked up. He dropped the pot back on the workbench and proffered the towel.

She snatched it out of his hand and gingerly dabbed at her chest. At least her spill on him had been a legitimate accident. And now they were going to have to clean everything up and redo the entire potion. Well—she would have to at least.

“Careful. I wouldn’t want you all upset because you popped your nipples off.”

“Then warm them for me!” she snapped before thinking, her mind too angry at him.

Instantly, Bradd had his fingers tracing down her chest, his frozen cock pressing against her leg, almost as if he’d been waiting for just this moment. “Certainly.”

She gasped and started to pull away, then stopped when his fingers splayed across her stomach where she could actually feel them. They were like hers, slightly rough from constant work, but not cracked or dried. And gentle, so gentle.

His breath was hot on her neck, making her chest feel even colder, her nipples even stiffer. He kissed her neck slowly, with an open mouth. Cerci leaned into him, enjoying the moment before pausing to look at him.

“You were just waiting for an invitation, weren’t you?” she asked.

He pulled back slightly and smirked. “Maybe.”

“Definitely.”

Bradd shrugged and turned her slowly. “I know a way to break that enchantment.” He let his mouth drift over her cheek and hover by her lips.

“That wouldn’t do a thing once the potion gained its full power.”

“But it didn’t. Just because I wasn’t helping doesn’t mean I wasn’t watching. You still had to add three more burnt icicles and let it simmer again before it got anywhere near the potency to do anything permanent.”

So he’d really been paying attention. Cerci gaped at him, then lifted her arms across her chest.

“So,” Bradd continued, “I know a perfect way to remove what enchantment there is.” He tugged at her arms, bringing them off her chest and moving one of her hands to his frozen penis. Then he leaned over and kissed down her chest, moving over one of her nipples with his tongue.

She frowned down at him, wishing she could actually feel anything, but the ice numbed her nerves. There at least. Everywhere else he touched, his fingers crawling up her sides and over her shoulders, sent chills through her body.

“You going to do more than hold it?” asked Bradd.

Cerci blinked at him. “It’s not as if you can feel anything.”

“Yet,” he agreed. “How about now?” He sucked hard on her nipple again. The ice dripped down her breast, leaving her open to his ministrations.

As her nipple unfroze, a sharp sting of pleasure traveled down her body, warming her vagina. She gasped and grabbed at Bradd’s hair. He chuckled, vibrated her nipple, fingers massaging the underside of her breast.

Then he bit her. The ice above her nipple cracked and fell off, shattering upon the ground.

Bradd wrapped her lower hand in his and squeezed her palm over his cock. Their hands became slick from the melting ice as he guided them up and down his still limp penis. Slowly, the ice dripped away, spilling between their fingers.

Her nipple normal again, but still standing to attention, Cerci made a soft sound as Bradd pulled away. But he didn’t go far. His tongue trailed the ice across her chest, melting it with his breath.

At her opposite nipple he tore his teeth into the ice, biting down so hard Cerci could feel it. She tugged at his hair and murmured for him to be careful, eyes going beyond him to all the work Ales had left.

Then shards stripped off Bradd’s penis, clattering to the floor. He stopped his hand and pulled away slightly and examined the spot, poking at a red line going down the length of it.

Cerci laughed. “Did it cut you?”

He shook his head. “Not really, didn’t even break the skin,” he said as he looked up and gave her a lustful grin. “Nothing that would hold me back.”

He stroked his cock a few times, then knelt, took her hips and pulled her closer. Cerci wrapped her fingers back into his hair as he kissed her stomach. He moved slowly, lingering over each kiss, sending tendrils of excitement through her insides that made her shiver.

“Cerci,” he whispered in a voice low from desire. “Cerci, I’m not warm enough yet.” She felt him tug on her skirt, pulling it down slow enough she could have easily stopped him. It slipped over her butt. His fingers grazed her skin, then gripped her harshly and he buried his face into her stomach again.

His fingers stroked down the back of her thighs, the front of her thighs, until they swept between them. Bradd touched her outsides once, then spread her and found her nub and began to rub furiously.

Cerci staggered as the pleasure pulsed into her, gripping Bradd’s shoulders for support when she almost toppled. He caught her, pausing in his movements to pull her down to the rug slightly away from the fire still burning merrily under its enchantment.

There he pushed her down further until he leaned overtop of her body, his cock pressing against her lifted thigh. It dripped down her skin, but the liquid was whitish, not water, the ice long gone as he’d hardened completely.

Cerci ran her hands down his chest, this time not having to fake a reason to touch him as she’d done when he was in pain. She lingered over his abdomen, feeling the muscle, before finally closing her fist around his penis. She squeezed and yanked. Bradd fell atop of her, his face buried in her chest.

With much less gentle motions, Cerci jerked him, hearing him groan into her breast. She pulled fiercer and faster, two fingers lifting to massaged his balls as he panted. He lifted his head and started to suck upon her nipples again, but his movements were constantly interrupted as he gasped and shifted.

With a laugh, Cerci stopped completely. Then she took Bradd’s head and forced him up to her, pushing his lips upon hers. He kissed her desperately, tongue just as skilled at pleasing her mouth as it had been on her nipples.

Then she lifted her butt slightly and guided his cock into her, soaking the tip of his head as he entered. She reached further and took his balls, feeling them lift under her fingers. Bradd grabbed her hips and pulled her up, slamming all the way into her.

Cerci gasped and arched her back. Bradd mumbled something at her, but his panting was too severe to make any sense of it. So she didn’t try. She wrapped her legs about his middle as he pulled out, and then lifted up to meet him as he thrust back down.

As he pushed into her again and again, she closed her eyes and tried to keep up. His mouth never stopped, finding her lips again, kissing her, but leaving again to trail down her cheek to lick her ear.

Then he grunted and was back covering her mouth, kissing her deeply, his hand lost in her hair, keeping her from throwing her head back every time he slammed further and further into her.

“I thought . . .” said Bradd in between thrusts, “you . . . wanted me. But I . . . couldn’t tell . . . for sure.” He gave a throaty laugh and rolled his eyes in the back of his head as she tensed the muscles inside her vagina. “Now . . . I know.”

She remembered what he meant. When he’d been hurt and she’d offered to help, she’d done so as a way to touch him. She remembered the way he had hissed in pain as she dabbed at his penis. The way she had leaned against his warm stomach casually, letting her hair fall to tickled him, her face mere inches from his skin. When she would put a hand to his chest as if only for leverage when she stood.

Too embarrassed to say it outright, thinking he would mock her. Which . . . he would have and did now.

She slapped him against the side of the head, but not hard enough to truly hurt. “Don’t make fun of me.”

Bradd laughed again, pausing to reposition his legs, hitching her up further. His next thrust went even deeper and Cerci moaned and reached up to pull his head back down to her chest. They moved together, sweat now slick on their skin, the ice long gone.

Cerci felt herself contracting inside and wrapped herself even tighter about Bradd’s body, clinging to him in desperation as pulses pounded through her. Soft mewing noises escaped her lips, punctuated by every thrust. In response, he moved faster, sliding through her wetness so easily, so deeply.

When he came after her, Bradd gave a loud shout and dug his fingers hard into her thighs. His muscles gave spasm after spasm until he shivered and collapsed on top of her, spent and satisfied.

She ran her fingers through his hair, pulling it from the sweat on his brow. He relaxed as she stroked him, his hands drifting off her thighs where Cerci was pretty sure he’d left bruises.

“I don’t make fun of you,” he said suddenly.

Cerci stopped her hand and stared at the ceiling. “Oh? It sounds as if you do.”

He vibrated against her and it took Cerci a moment to realize he was laughing again, silently into one of her breasts. She started to hit him upside the head a second time, but he rolled off her, his penis popping out of her vagina as he caught her hand. He turned her hand over and kissed it once.

“I’m not.” Then he shifted against her, pulling her closer by her stomach before kissing her shoulder. “I just tease. Because I like you.”

“Hmm,” she said. “Either way we’ve just spilled out one of the potions which will have to be remade from scratch on top of the other ones I’d yet to get to. Ales will be furious to find out we’ve been screwing around rather than working.”

“You worry too much,” Bradd muttered into her ear.

She started to protest, then a thought occurred to her. Instead, she settled back against him, enjoying his warmth. “You’re right. I do. I’ll just tell Witch Ales what happened and I’m sure she’ll give us more time to finish the potions.” She closed her eyes as Bradd stilled behind her. She felt his mouth kiss upwards to her ear, licking it gently. “You want to go again?” she whispered.

This time, Bradd straightened. “You don’t really think she would just up and forgive you for messing that potion up, do you? She’s just going to want to see it cleaned up and a new one made.”

“It’ll be fine. We’ll just tell her that we became frozen and had to work it off.”

Bradd leaned down and kissed her again, but in a preoccupied manner. When she settled further into the rug and curled towards the fire, he pushed up. She could feel his eyes boring into her, knew he was trying to tell if she was faking. She gave a contented sigh and let her breathing steady.

That did it. Bradd stood and she heard the distinct sound of him pulling his pants back on and a curse when the buttons didn’t work properly.

“You’re crazy, Cerci. She’s liable to make warts sprout all over my body this time if we don’t get things in order before she gets back.” He added in a mutter, “And after this, I’d rather be able to use my dick for the next month.”

The pot tapped upon the workstation and she heard him begin to cut the sheep seeds she’d left. A part of her tensed, thinking she should get up and help him. But it was a small part. The majority of her sank further into the rug, perfectly content to have him finish the last of the list.

“Get up and help, Cerci.”

She wanted to laugh at how similar his voice sounded to her own just a short while ago. Maybe next time she’d work with him a bit better, but she deserved a rest after doing most of the work.

Waving a hand languidly in the air before letting it drop limply, Cerci mumbled under her breath, but loud enough she knew Bradd could hear, “If you’re actually going to bother, you should make an extra pot of a half-potent freezing potion so we can do this again some time.”

The End