Goodbye My Alpha (BxB)

Chapter 25, Part 1: Petrichor

"Tully! Tully? Tully!" Are you okay? Are you in pain anywhere?"

Tully awoke to the sound of Juno calling out his name. A fleeting sense of unreality and disorientation engulfed him but soon enough his disarrayed thoughts were collected. Frowning briefly, he sluggishly willed his hand to reach out and remove the oxygen mask from his face.

"Are you hurting? Is it uncomfortable anywhere?" Juno urgently repeated, looking ready to storm out of the room and grab the nearest doctor. He had interpreted Tully's frown as him being in pain. He clenched his fist tightly as though doing so would squash the restlessness that was unravelling inside him like a ball of yarn.

Tully endeavoured to open his mouth to respond but his throat was perched and his brain was moving painfully slowly.

Juno quickly got onto his feet and headed towards a small alcove-like kitchenette at the farthest corner of the room.  Before long he had returned to Tully's bedside with a water bottle and a glass. Reaching for the remote control, he pressed the button to slowly reel the hospital bed into a half seating position. He leaned over and wrapped his arm around Tully while using his other hand to slowly help him sip the water.

He observed as a hint of clarity gradually settled onto Tully's face, a satisfied sigh exhaled from his parted lips after finishing the glass of water. Juno took the glass from him and returned it to the bedside table. Perceiving Tully's gaze, he lowered his eyes.

"I-I'm okay". Tully smiled reassuringly at Juno. "Just a little tired, that's all."

Juno looked somewhat unconvinced. Afterall, nothing about Tully's current appearance alluded to the fact that he was 'okay'. He could feel that Tully's body temperature remained slightly feverish. His light brown skin was adorned with a touch of pallidness. There were even fine beads of sweat still on his forehead but his hands were icy.

"Wait a moment, I'll get Doctor Dion to give you a check up." As Juno got up, his hand was immediately held.  This minor unassuming gesture made him halt his steps. He turned to look at Tully and found that his head was lowered so far down into his chest that all that remained visible was a mess of cascading fluffy brown curls.

Juno continued to silently and patiently wait for Tully to speak but nothing was said. Only the grip on his hand grew ever so slightly tighter. When he was almost certain that Tully wouldn't speak, he finally heard him whisper out.

"I-I've spend most of my life w-waiting. Patiently waiting to move up the donor list. Patiently waiting for a matching heart donor. Patiently waiting to start living a normal life".

Tully didn't know why he had held onto Juno, but that doesn't matter. In this moment for whatever reason, the intricate feelings that he had carefully hidden out of fear and cowardice were brewing inside him like a storm. Today had been a long strange day, and waking up in this hospital room reminded him of old times. Then suddenly he felt that he didn't fight so hard and endured for so long only to live the rest of his life like a coward.

"I'm done being patient. Juno, I don't want to wait anymore. Waiting is so tiring. So hopeless...". 

Tully's words drifted as he looked outside. It had begun raining at some point, and the sound of the rain seemed to be infinitely amplified by the surrounding trees. The air was permeated with a subtle scent. Then a thought crossed Tully's mind. 'Ah, so this is what it was. Petrichor. This was so similar to Juno's scent. The scent of rain and earth. It was wonderfully familiar'. He retracted his gaze from the unfamiliar forest scenery outside and opened his mouth to speak.

"I honestly think I'm going crazy. N-no. Actually I've slowly been going crazy ever since the day I met you. I've been convincing myself that everything is fine as it is but..."

Tully paused, inhaled and felt the breath circulating around his body give him a boost of resolve.

"I l-like you, Juno. I've liked you ever since the very first time I saw you in that crowded canteen...and everyday afterwards I seem to like you more and more. It's crazy and it's scary because everything seems to be out of control yet when I'm with you, my heart feels like it's fermenting in a jar of pure elation. I like you so much that I d-don't really know what to do..."

The room fell silent. Only the pitter-pattering sound of the rain falling hard against the window could be heard.  The determination from moments prior seemed to vanish within the prolonged silence. Tully knew now that he had bared his heart out, spoken his truest feelings, the words could no longer be unheard. The feelings he had carefully sheltered and hidden were now out in the open and at Juno's mercy. All he could do now is wait for Juno's response. His head slowly lowered, too fearful of seeing a possible expression of rejection on Juno's face.

Tully suddenly felt his lowered chin gently grasped within a large, warm calloused hand. Unavoidably his eyes met Juno's. And instinctively he endeavoured to avoid this piercingly dark, unfathomable gaze. His eyes had begun to mist over and this fact made him feel so stupid and embarassed. But his chin was firmly grasped by the other boy. As their gazes collided Tully instantly felt that the air in the room had been sucked out. He was breathless and only Juno's darkening eyes were his salvation.

A tentative kiss fell onto Tully's forehead and his body trembled. Juno nervously observed Tully's expression as it changed from shock to shyness. From the way his eyelashes quivered to how a hint of redness spread from the tips of his ears, down his neck and all the way to the collarbones that peaked just above the loose fitting hospital gown. 

Unable to resist, Juno gently placed another light kiss on Tully's trembling eyelids, then the root of his earlobe, followed by the tip of his nose.

When their lips finally met, it was so light that Tully wondered if a raindrop from outside had somehow landed on his lips.
Itchy yet tantalising, devoid of the connotations of lust or desire, this kiss simply conveyed the sense of awe and appreciation Juno held towards Tully.

A warm breath approached his lips once more, and Tully felt Juno's tongue licking at his lower lip before taking it and lightly biting it between his teeth as though asking for permission to enter. A gasp escaped from his mouth and his lips naturally parted allowing Juno's tongue to deftly enter, capturing and intertwining his tongue frantically as though every corner of his warm, wet mouth was new terrain that he needed to conquer.

Tully had never felt such a sensation, it was as though this kiss tickled his very soul. The world around him dissolved as he melted further into the sensation and thinking became meaningless. All that mattered was the boy infront of him and the emotions he conveyed to him through this intimate exchange. Joy, relief, happiness, desire, lust, longing, possessiveness. These feelings and countless others poured out of Juno like unspoken poetry.