Aerial

By Aurelia Evans

Friends are supposed to stick together, but now they can never let go.

Seth and Lars are drawn into the dark world of Arcanium when Seth makes a throwaway wish in front of the circus fortune teller Bell Madoc, who decides that Arcanium needs a little something extra in the ring. The jinni tears Seth and Lars from their lives of university soccer, on-campus parties and bright futures, cursing them to remain in contact at all times.

Now they perform beautiful aerial acts for the circus, but these two otherwise straight men must also adjust to living their lives always touching, sleeping together in the same small bed and never having any privacy.

The curse also alters the way they express and experience desire for others, like conjoined twins Joanne and Jane.

And, to their horror and confusion, each other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
• Release date: Aug 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781784306601

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Aerial

ISBN # 978-1-78430-660-1

©Copyright Aurelia T. Evans 2015

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright July 2015

Edited by Sarah Smeaton

Totally Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Totally Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Totally Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2015 by Totally Bound Publishing, Newland House, The Point, Weaver Road, Lincoln, LN6 3QN

Totally Bound Publishing is a subsidiary of Totally Entwined Group Limited.

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Totally Melting and a Sexometer of 3.

Arcanium

AERIAL

Aurelia T. Evans

Book three in the Arcanium series

Friends are supposed to stick together, but now they can never let go.

Seth and Lars are drawn into the dark world of Arcanium when Seth makes a throwaway wish in front of the circus fortune teller Bell Madoc, who decides that Arcanium needs a little something extra in the ring. The jinni tears Seth and Lars from their lives of university soccer, on-campus parties and bright futures, cursing them to remain in contact at all times.

Now they perform beautiful aerial acts for the circus, but these two otherwise straight men must also adjust to living their lives always touching, sleeping together in the same small bed and never having any privacy.

The curse also alters the way they express and experience desire for others, like conjoined twins Joanne and Jane.

And, to their horror and confusion, each other.

Dedication

For Courtney, with thanks to Amy.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Creature from the Black Lagoon: Universal Studios Inc. and Universal Studios Inc.

Winnebago: Winnebago Industries Inc.

Magic Mike: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and FilmNation Entertainment

Crime and Punishment: Fyodor Dostoyevsky

War and Peace: Leo Tolstoy

AK-47: Mikhail Kalashnikov

Green Lantern: DC Comics

Smurf: Peyo

Don Juan: Tirso de Molina

Twilight Zone: Rod Serling

Jenga: Hasbro, Inc.

The Shawshank Redemption: Castle Rock Entertainment and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

Magic 8-Ball: Mattel, Inc.

Prince Albert: Reynolds American, Inc.

March Madness: NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship

Jedi (Star Wars): George Lucas

Chapter One

Seth’s teammate David, who’d already gone to the circus last week with a few of his friends, had given it a high recommendation. He’d said the Bearded Lady’s tits were amazing.

‘Just ignore all the hair, and the rest of her is a real piece. And you can see the outline of the snake charmer’s nipples and pussy against her leather bikini.’

Those were reasons enough for the rest of the team to visit Arcanium that Saturday night.

Arcanium was connected to the local Ye Olde Faire, which meant they had to go through the whole faire to get to the circus. But since David had said the best stuff happened in the evening, Seth and Lars didn’t mind putting the weird hotties off till then. After all, the faire had an endless number of boobs over corsets on display, plus knife and star throwing and bawdy comedy shows. Nothing wrong with taking their time over turkey legs and a couple of pints.

If Seth remembered his history class right, there probably hadn’t been this much exposed cleavage back in medieval times, but historical accuracy wasn’t that important to him. Especially when the barmaid did that thing that always seemed to short-circuit his brain—leaning over the counter, her elbows close to her sides, smiling, making those flirtatious eyes at him, and framing those beautiful breasts so that they plumped with that intriguing shadow between them. The neckline barely stopped short of her nipples, which just invited his imagination to push her bodice down.

The move worked on him every time, reducing him to a gibbering idiot. But whenever he realized that his tongue wasn’t going to function for conversation, he fortunately had his smile to fall back on, so at least he wouldn’t be alone in his carnal stupidity.

The barmaid licked her lips and blushed, passing him another pint.

On the house, she said.

Lars laughed when Seth handed him the free ale. He put Seth in a headlock and rubbed his head, tousling his blond hair.

You fucking dog, Lars said. "How do you even do that? Aren’t chicks supposed to con drinks out of you?"

And they did too. The exchange of free drinks was definitely weighted in favor of the females on bar nights, but sometimes it managed to swing his way. And Seth was more than willing to share the boozy wealth with good friends, not that Lars needed the help. Lars’ wallet was probably as light as Seth’s after the weekend—all in the pursuit of a good night’s lack of sleep.

We all have our talents. You suck on the field. I score with the ladies. That’s just how it is, Seth said. He took a big gulp of his own ale and grinned when Lars threatened to pour his over Seth’s head.

It’s that damn smile, isn’t it? Lars said. All I have to do is take off my shirt or show them what’s packing, because when you take yours off, they get blinded by your pasty white ass. But I have to wait for soccer season or summer so I don’t freeze my balls off. You can just flash those brilliant whites like a fucking shark year-round, and all the panties come off even in the dead of winter. It’s a sin, a fucking sin, I’m telling you.

What can I say? God loves me more than you.

Seth flashed his signature smile at the barmaid again before he left. Always leave them wanting more.

Sometimes he got phone numbers, but the times he didn’t weren’t a disappointment. He’d remember the image of her tonight, the one that made his tongue heavy and his cock stir, the one that made him warm and prickly across his chest and over his face. Oh yeah, he’d remember—until the next girl.

He’d remember them only a short time, but they were all special, all sweet for their moment. Sometimes he wondered—when he was standing in the shower and stroking off—whether they were thinking of him at the same time. That would make the exchange complete. A brief, blissful memory, hot in their hands, slickened and a little sticky—like the start of summer, when there was nothing but good distractions around him, memories to keep and memories to let go. All that ‘ships passing in the night’ shit. He was twenty-two years old. He could stand to wander, and he enjoyed it when the girls were just as interested in wandering with him.

He liked being nice, but God knew he wasn’t looking to settle down, not yet—not when he and Lars were this close to getting out of college and trying out for the real thing. Sure, Lars was majoring in business and Seth in marketing, so they had their more conventional fallbacks. Buzz about their post-school future had been promising, though, and a person couldn’t settle down when he was traveling all soccer season.

Seth had his whole life to settle. Right now, putting down roots was overrated, no matter how often his aunts and grandmothers asked him whether he had a girlfriend yet. He assumed the shiftlessness would leave him one day, but today was not that day.

His team got it. Lars got it. They couldn’t stop moving. They were briefly confined to a soccer field, but then the horizon was the limit. Seth signed up for marathons with Lars, ran in the ungodly hours of the morning with him. The Earth was a constantly moving body, and Seth liked running with it moving beneath his feet.

Or walking. Seth liked walking, too, and this faire thing seemed to go on forever.

Where’s the circus supposed to be again? Seth asked. He couldn’t figure out cardinal directions to save his life, which was okay until he had to go somewhere without GPS telling him how to get there. Lars was the one with an internal compass.

I think David said it was on the south side, Lars said.

Oh, the south side. That clears everything up.

Fine, on the other side of the fruity arts and crafts tents, moron. He said we couldn’t miss the gates.

David had been right. After the pagan jewelry and melodramatic paintings and costume sellers, the scrolled, wrought iron gate that led into Arcanium seemed just the right amount of dramatic—as though they were walking out of the kids’ section of the park and into the real stuff.

Arcanium sure knew how to draw people in. Right at the entrance—next to a large sign that read Adults Only after 8 p.m. Wayward children will be eaten by clowns—a sword swallower on a wooden platform greeted incoming patrons with the sight of hooks going into his nose and coming out of his mouth.

Fucking sick, Seth said with equal parts disgust and awe.

The sword swallower did not look well. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his hair had receded almost all the way over his head, barely concealed by being shaved close to the scalp. His tan cotton pants hung low on his bony hips. But he grinned at them with the jagged hook point poking out between his teeth. He swept a bow to Seth and Lars as they entered.

Seth put a dollar in the cauldron near the rack of swords and daggers. Then he put in another. Paltry tip for a man risking the integrity of his sinuses, but Seth only had so much cash and would probably want to share some singles with the ladies too. This was just the opener.

Excitement clenched in his abdomen as he and Lars followed the arrow signs to Oddity Row. Given the low-rent nature of the circus, David’s description of Arcanium had probably been built up to impossible standards by now, but Seth couldn’t help it. He couldn’t wait to see the weirdness, especially if some of the freaks were as hot as David had promised. Hot or not, everyone loved a good freak show, right?

Seriously, the Lizard Man? The average person would think he’d be just another guy with bad skin or wearing a poor attempt at a rubber suit. Instead, the Lizard Man—named Bale, according to the placard—totally looked the part, with crocodile teeth dense in his mouth and scales all over his dome head, bare chest, arms and back. Seth assumed it was prosthetics and makeup, made more real under the softer golden light of the lamps, but it was done really well. It must have taken so long to put it on, Seth wouldn’t have been surprised if the poor man slept in full costume.

And when he went all Ozzy on the dead white mice in a jar… Genius. The guy was a genius. Seth was unashamed of buying a Lizard Man key chain from the vendor next to the exhibit tent to guard his car keys. The guy was pretty damn cool.

As they walked on, it felt a bit like a peepshow, with the individual tents and the theatrical lighting. The tip jars overflowed from all the appreciative patrons as they moved from tent to tent for the next bit of salacious or grotesque exhibitionism.

Seth couldn’t stop staring at the Human Torso, a Chinese woman in her thirties who, according to the placard, had been legless and armless since birth. There were nothing but stumps where her limbs should have been, but she was surprisingly mobile, her abbreviated thighs working her ass under the corseted leather leotard as she walked around the platform. She had to wriggle to climb onto the low chair, but she managed to get up and recline, her leg stumps parted by nature.

He was caught between sympathy and fascination watching her get around the tent. He thought he was probably going to feel that way a lot along Oddity Row. But hey, these people had signed up to be here and be stared at, so he wasn’t going to overthink things too much.

Seth wondered if she and the others realized that almost every single guy that passed them probably thought about what it would be like to have sex with her, with a Bearded Lady and definitely with a snake charmer. What it would be like to have something different. It was an idle but powerful curiosity.

The barmaid’s breasts faded to the back of his mind while the oddities took over his mental screen.

Jesus Christ on a cross, Lars said almost under his breath as they stared and panted at the snake charmer.

She was Elizabeth Hurley gorgeous, of course, but there was something else—a quality about her that brought the early summer heat to a boil inside him. Sweat formed on his upper lip and forehead and dripped down his back under his shirt. When Seth tore his eyes away from the sight of the snake charmer’s body being caressed by her serpents of choice, he noticed that Lars was in a similar state, his mouth parted and his lips wet.

He didn’t check, because that would just be weird, but Seth could guess that Lars’ shorts were probably just as tight as his. A guy just couldn’t help it when presented with such a pin-up visual feast as that.

He adjusted himself and nearly groaned out loud, wishing to God that he could touch his erection directly as he watched her dance in the golden light and shadow, her tits and ass exactly as ripe and exposed as described. Little imagination needed, and it was somehow better that way. Nothing his imagination came up with would be better than what was right in front of him, and how often did that happen? There was no doubt why a considerable crowd had formed in front of her tent.

Seth had to convince Lars to leave to visit other oddities on the Row. They could always come back. And cross their fingers that she also had an act during the evening performance. She looked like the kind of woman with an act—probably the kind of act they had all those ‘Adults Only’ signs up for. Seth was surprised that she wasn’t ‘Adults Only’, period, but he wasn’t going to complain.

No one was going to complain, because if Lady Sasha got a woman’s dander up, that woman would probably have to hold her hypocritical tongue when she reached Lord Mikhail. He had his own considerable audience that consisted of mostly women, and the Lord wasn’t any more clothed than the Lady.

Seth could appreciate the strength of the strongman and the discipline needed for his singular craft of lifting heavy things in bodybuilder poses. But Seth was uncomfortable staring too closely at the contours of those muscles, impressive though they were. He was overly conscious of the intensity of the female and male eyes sharing that sight—practically drooling like he and Lars had before the snake charmer. He didn’t resist when Lars gave him the hook and pulled him farther down Oddity Row, thankful for the excuse to move on.

They passed a Tall Man and a Short Man walking together on the Row to show off their disparate sizes in the flesh rather than confined to an oddity tent. The giant was pretty massive, but tall and short men weren’t exactly in the ‘wow’ category, no matter how much like a hard-headed alien the tall man looked.

After seeing them and getting some distance from the snake charmer as they checked out the contortionist—whose body did things that conjured up…images—it occurred to him that these people were cool, but only the Lizard Man was unique and nothing he’d seen before. The rest were kind of standard fare. He guessed expecting the transcendent was asking a bit much from a traveling circus that latched on like a parasite to cheesy Renaissance faires, but David had said it was amazing.

Maybe it got better during the evening performance. Or maybe it would be just a bunch of acrobats doing the same tricks, clowns doing the same pratfalls and trapeze artists doing the same jumps. Seth hoped not or else he was going to be seriously disappointed—jerk-off fodder aside. He’d been promised marvels, but while most of these people were certainly different, ‘marvelous’ wasn’t the descriptor he’d use.

Lars moved on to the Bearded Lady at the next tent, but Seth found himself pausing during his inner grumble in front of a pair of twins facing away from each other on a cushioned ottoman. They were glitzed up in pink satin dresses that showed off their trim figures and an offering of cleavage that couldn’t be called generous but could be called healthy.

The skirts were shorter than the average Renaissance costume, displaying sweet, pale legs marked with a few dark freckles, one twin’s leg mirrored in the other.

If Seth hadn’t been looking for something odd, he might not have even noticed where their lower backs were pressed together. The satin dresses had been expertly sewn to make the connection look natural.

Seth thought they had a girl-best-friend or girl-next-door kind of vibe. They weren’t hot the way that the snake charmer and the contortionist were hot. Twins were hot, of course. Twins were one thing, though. Conjoined twins were another thing entirely.

Seth’s interest was piqued.

He glanced down to read the placard. The conjoined twins were Joanne and Jane. Joanne was supposed to be on the left and Jane on the right, although the placard wished the patrons luck figuring out which was really which, since they regularly switched sides for their own amusement.

Seth could already tell how they differed from each other. He had twin cousins and had learned several of the tricks to tell twins apart. Then again, he didn’t really need to know which was which.

It probably wasn’t easy for the twins to compare to the skilled finesse of the contortionist or the snake charmer. However, Seth had to admit they were a legit marvel to him, even just sitting down and looking pretty as a pair of pink roses. Conjoined twins were usually separated at birth. The shared spinal cord must have made the separation impossible.

How did they go to the bathroom? There didn’t seem to be a good arrangement for that, especially for women. Had they ever had sex? He could think of several dozen men who would probably volunteer for that experiment.

How did they deal, having another person with them all the time, never able to get away, even during their most private, intimate or gross moments? Seth didn’t know whether he’d be able to handle it.

He wished he could ask questions, but he was pretty sure they got enough of the same questions day in and day out, and they were probably display only. He erred on the side of silence.

Still, they’d captured Seth’s eye and his curiosity, from the light shadow of their cleavage to the definition on the lower part of their thighs, their skin’s creamy paleness and their cheery smiles.

Seth knew what his smile did to women, but the twins’ smiles made anyone just want to smile back. It was all part of the job—smile and be happy at the customer. And Seth thought the twins’ smiles didn’t quite reach their eyes. Had to be hard to smile all afternoon without ceasing.

The left twin tried, though, when she smiled at him, and the trying was genuine.

Seth smiled back.

The left twin’s smile became more sincere.

Seth liked that he could help a girl like that have a better day, for a few seconds at least. A man usually wanted to use his powers for good.

Then his smile fell away. The left twin’s smile faltered in confusion.

He looked down at his feet. A cold stab of irrational betrayal hit his stomach when he realized that he’d been naïve. They might not actually be conjoined twins at all.

The way the dresses were sewn hid where the twins were conjoined. A circus of any kind was one part real and one part fake. It was hard to fake contortions or giantism, but the Lizard Man could easily be the product of good makeup, and the twins could be ordinary twins with a special girdle contraption that kept them bound together at the back. Or maybe their clothes just held them together, simple as that.

Seth didn’t know why that annoyed him as much as it did. The circus was under no obligation to disclaim when something was a hoax. The point of a circus was suspension of disbelief, and clearly he’d suspended his when he’d believed that such an innocent smile couldn’t deceive.

He’d just suspended it too high and hit the ground too hard when he’d realized how easily he could be duped. He didn’t know that the twins were fake—that the conjoined part was fake, since there was no denying that the girls themselves were real—but the fact that they might be made the marvel of them less amazing.

When he looked up to smile again at the left twin, it was little more than a grin. It wasn’t her fault that he was disappointed. He was angrier at himself than her. She seemed to realize that their momentary connection had been severed, though. Her otherwise smooth brow showed that she was troubled. But he raised his hand to her in goodbye and backed away through the crowd around the twins to find Lars.

"Hey, compadre. You look like someone just killed Christmas," Lars said, standing in front of the Fat Man, who was watching a television show on a TV smaller than a breadbox as he ate a bucket of popcorn.

I saw the zipper, Seth said.

Okay, you got to give me more than that, Mr. Metaphor.

You know, the way you can tell the Creature from the Black Lagoon is just a man in a rubber costume because of how it moves, and in the really bad B-horrors, you can see the zipper on the monster costumes. For a second, I thought something was real, but now I think they’re more likely well-done fakes, like the Fiji mermaid. Guess I’m just mad that I fell for it.

"So you’re the sucker born in your particular minute, Lars said, messing up Seth’s hair again. Need any other illusions shattered? You know that reality TV isn’t reality, right?"

Fuck you, Seth said, brushing Lars’ hand off his hair. He smoothed it back, although the natural curl would keep it from ever being perfectly straight.

And Jay Z isn’t the leader of the Illuminati. Just saying.

Seth punched Lars in the gut—not hard, but Lars doubled over anyway, still laughing.

You know if you say ‘orange’ really slow, it sounds like ‘gullible’,’ Lars continued, this time running out of reach.

Seth ran after him toward the midway. He leaped onto Lars’ back, making Lars stumble, and wrapped his arm around Lars’ neck in a headlock. Since he and Lars were about the same size, Lars fell to his knees, but he was laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

I’ll consider giving you back your dignity if you buy me something fried, Seth said.

Your face is fried.

Look at you. Everyone gets to see that I’m stronger, faster and better-looking than you.

Get off, homo. I’ll get you your damn jalapeños. Lars coughed and tried to get his laughter under control when Seth released him. Lars had used the real magic word.

You know I don’t like it when you say that, Seth said, as he followed Lars into the line.

I don’t mean it. You know I don’t mean it.

Then why do you say it? I mean, you play just fine with Luis, no locker-room drama, Seth said. So why do you do it?

Because it got you to let go, didn’t it? Lars said. "I notice you’re quick to point out how it should all be okay and rainbows and parades, but God help you if anyone thinks you’re gay, right? Lars gave him a pointed look over invisible glasses. Do we need to have a talk, Seth Brady? You need a little help out of the closet?"

You’re the one who keeps insulting gay people. Maybe you’re the closet case.

No fucking way. Lars pushed the fried jalapeños over the wooden counter