“This planet smells funny,” Guy complained.
Hal had to agree it was one of the strangest smells he’d ever come across on a planet—a mix of sweet and musk. It wasn’t a bad smell—it kind of reminded him of …well, of sex. And it was making him just a little bit dizzy. And more than a little bit horny.
“It’s the pollen,” Soranik said. She had a construct scanner in her hand, taking samples of the air. “It’s everywhere. It’s what gives the air the orange tinge. Doesn’t seem to contain anything harmful. It’s just—”
She stumbled and John caught her by the arm. “You all right?”
Soranik nodded. “Yes. I think the pollen is making me dizzy. A minor allergic reaction.”
“Me, too,” Arisia complained. She stopped and sat down on a log, hand to her head.
“Could this reaction be the cause of our missing Lanterns?” Hal asked the doctor. They were on this planet because two rookies went missing while investigating a distress call. The Lanterns sent to find them went missing as well. None of them were responding to any hails. Their rings hadn’t gone to new bearers, though, so there was a good chance they were all still alive.
“Could be,” Soranik said.
“Any sign of them?” John asked. He leaned in close to Soranik to look at the scanner. Hal realized John still had a hold on her arm and Soranik didn’t seem to mind. He raised his eyebrows. Was something going on between them …?
“I’m picking up a very faint reading from the north. I think just over the hill.” Soranik said. “The rings’ power levels must be about gone by now.”
“Well let’s go get them and get out of here,” Hal said.
“Do you need help, Arisia?” Sodam Yat, the new Ion, asked, holding his hand out to the her.
Arisia looked up at him with a huge, adoring smile on her face and took his hand so he could help her up. “Oh, thank you, Sodam,” she said sweetly.
Hal coughed. Them, too?
“Hey, I found a path through the woods,” Kyle called out. He was on the top of the hill, overlooking the thickly forested valley.
Hal studied his friend. He wondered why Kyle had gone back to the original mask. He liked the previous one. It had followed the contours of his face, hiding his identity without hiding his handsome features. He liked the new uniform, though. Liked the way it showed off the muscles of his abdomen and thighs, and accentuated his …
Hal blinked. Where the Hell had that come from? He wiped a hand over his suddenly hot face and glanced down, hoping his raging erection wasn’t visible through the uniform. Because he didn’t really want to have to explain how he’d gotten it.
He looked back up and realized Kyle was staring back at him, a smile on his face. As much as he wanted to, Hal couldn’t tear himself away from that gaze, couldn’t help think about how much he wanted to pull off Kyle’s mask so he could look into those green eyes…
“You going to stand there all day, Jordan?” Guy called out.
Hal startled and looked around. The rest of their group had already trooped past Kyle, heading down the hill into the forest. Arisia and Sodam led the way, hand-in-hand. Soranik and John followed behind them and Guy rushed to catch up to them, walking on the other side of Soranik. That left Hal alone with Kyle.
Hal coughed. “We should …” He pointed after the others.
Kyle nodded. His cheeks were bright red under his mask. “Yeah.”
They walked together into the forest. Ahead of them, Arisia was practically skipping and she’d often lean over to whisper something into Sodam’s ear, which made the young man grin. John and Guy both had and arm looped through Soranik’s and appeared to be regaling Soranik with tales of their adventures. Soranik, for her part, seemed to be enjoying the attention. And Kyle was walking next to him and …Jesus, did he always smell this good?
Hal took a step away from Kyle, afraid of the urges that were coming over him. Like the urge to run his hands over that tight ass. And the urge to lick the pulse-point under Kyle’s jaw. And the urge to drag Kyle into the trees and fuck him hard. He wiped the sweat from his brow. It had to be the pollen. It had made him horny and now it was making him want to jump Kyle. But why Kyle? Why not Soranik or Arisia, which seemed to be the effect it was having on John, Guy and Sodam? He wasn’t gay. He frowned. At least he didn’t think he was...
They came to a creek that had a path of smooth stones laid across it. Sodam swept Arisia up in his arms, making her squeal, and proceeded to carry her across.
John reached the creek first and held out his hand to Soranik. “Can I give you a hand across?” he asked gallantly.
“Hey! I’ll give her a hand,” Guy said, stepping up into John’s face. “I’ve known her longer!”
Okay, this is not going to be good, Hal thought.
But then Soranik stepped between them, her hands on their chests. “Now boys, there’s no reason to argue over me. You can both take me.” She took their hands and led them across the creek.
Hal stared after them. From the tone of her voice, he had a feeling Soranik wasn’t just talking about crossing the stream. Kyle must have picked up on it, too, because the kid’s mouth was hanging open. Which gave him lots of ideas of what Kyle could do with that mouth…
Hal coughed. “Well, let’s go.”
He let Kyle go first and halfway across the creek he finally admitted to himself it was so he could watch Kyle’s butt moving inside his painted-on uniform.
They were nearly to the other side when Hal slipped and fell forward. He managed to throw out a construct railing (Why didn’t any of them think of building a bridge?), but not before grabbing Kyle to catch himself, which made Kyle slip as well. He grabbed onto the railing, but still fell backwards into Hal.
So there they were, standing in a creek, Kyle leaned back against Hal’s chest, Hal’s hands grasping Kyle’s hips. And it was like a dam broke, sending a flood of desire and need through him. He let his hands slide forwards and down a little, and he could feel Kyle’s hard cock. He thrust his own against Kyle’s ass.
Kyle moaned and tipped his head back onto Hal’s shoulder, which gave Hal the perfect opportunity to run his tongue over that pulse-point.
“Hal?” Kyle breathed.
“Yeah?” Hal gave Kyle’s neck another lick and slid his hand lower to cup his balls.
“We’re … in the middle … of a creek,” Kyle panted.
“Right,” Hal mumbled. He reluctantly let go of Kyle and gave him a little nudge forward. They stumbled up on the bank, then Hal grabbed Kyle’s hand and pulled him into the trees.
He found a clearing a ways off the path, filled with the white flowers that seemed to be everywhere. The beams of sunlight were filled with the flecks of pollen. He stopped in the middle of the circle of white and orange and turned to Kyle.
Uniforms disappeared and then they were tearing each other’s clothes off, all the while trying to shove their tongues down each other’s throats.
“I want you,” Kyle moaned when the last piece of clothing was flung off into the flowers.
“Want you, too,” Hal breathed. He created a mattress with his ring and pulled Kyle down onto it. They rolled around for a while, kissing and groping and thrusting, moans and sighs filling the quiet forest. A voice in the back of Hal’s mind observed that he was about to fuck Kyle Rayner and wasn’t that just a bit out of character for Hal Jordan? Hal told the voice to shut the hell up, then pushed Kyle onto his back and rolled on top of him.
“Here they are!”
Hal lifted his head. A whole group of Lanterns were coming through the trees—Guy, John, Soranik … and Isamot? He looked at Kyle, curled up next to him, his head resting on Hal’s shoulder and his arm thrown across Hal’s belly. Oh, boy. They had some explaining to do. He touched Kyle’s face. “Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty. We’ve got company.”
Kyle stirred, but only tightened his grip on Hal. “Don’t wanna get up,” he mumbled into Hal’s chest. Hal was inclined to agree with him, but being stark naked with his new lover wrapped around him wasn’t the most appropriate way to greet their friends. He sat up, pushing Kyle to sit up with him, and put his uniform on, at the same time making the mattress disappear. Kyle sighed and put his uniform on as well.
“Oh my God!” Guy laughed when they reached the clearing. “Was it good for you two?”
“Leave them alone, Guy,” John scolded.
Soranik knelt down next to Hal and Kyle. She had a medical injector in her hand. “How are you feeling?”
Hal snorted. Well shagged was the first answer that popped into his head. “A little fuzzy.”
“Same here,” Kyle said.
“It’s from the pollen,” Soranik said. “They were able to analyze the data I was sending back to Oa and figured out what was happening to us. It affects sexual attraction. It also had an effect on our thought processes, which explains our … irrational behavior.” She held up the injector. “Because of their physiologies, Salaak and Isamot are unaffected by the pollen and could safely bring an antidote. Luckily, it works.”
Hal frowned. “So if we get this antidote, then it … turns off our attraction?”
“Not necessarily. If there were pre-existing feelings, that won’t be affected.” She smiled. “Arisia and Sodam seem to be interested in continuing their relationship. In their case, the pollen only amplified what was already there.”
“Oh.” Hal glanced at Kyle. Kyle glanced back at him, his expression unreadable. Hal wondered what would happen next between them. What if it was just the pollen? What if it wasn’t?
Soranik reached over and gave Hal a spray of the antidote, then she did the same for Kyle. “Salaak, Arisia and Sodam are already on their way back to Oa with the others. Luckily we were only here for a few hours. The other Lanterns are suffering from dehydration and exhaustion.”
“Death by too much sex. What a way to go,” Guy muttered.
The antidote must have started working already, because Hal’s brain was rapidly becoming less fuzzy. He had a sudden clear memory of their walk through the woods. Of Arisia holding Sodam’s hand. Of Soranik and… He looked up at his friends. “So what happened with you three?”
Guy and John stiffened and looked away from each other. Soranik turned an even darker shade of red. “We agreed not to discuss it,” she said cooly.
Isamot cocked his reptilian head. “I still don’t understand why. You seemed very happy when Salaak and I found you. You were…”
“Shut up, Isamot!” Soranik, John and Guy all shouted at the same time.
Hal bit back a laugh. He’d have to have a talk with Isamot later. Of course he wouldn’t want to embarrass John or Soranik, but you could never have too much information to hold over Guy’s head.
Hal pushed himself to his feet. He noticed his civilian clothes were strewn all over the clearing, along with Kyle’s. “Look, you four can go ahead and take off. We need to get dressed first.”
Soranik nodded and stood up. The four left the clearing, Guy throwing another amused grin at them over his shoulder. Hal was certain Guy was already planning on how to make their lives miserable over this. Of course, he could only do that if they regretted what had happened...
Once they were out of sight, Hal turned to Kyle. “You feeling any different?”
“My head’s clearer. But I…” He shrugged and dropped his eyes. “I still want you,” he said, barely above a whisper.
Hal smiled. “Yeah? Me, too.”
Kyle looked up at him, eyes wide. “So it wasn’t just the pollen?”
“Doesn’t seem that way.”
Kyle grinned. “So, uh, before we get dressed, you wanna …?” His uniform faded away.
Hal grinned back and made his uniform disappear, then pulled Kyle back down into the flowers.