Now that I've had dinner and the cake has cooled, I begin mixing up frosting. I went with two layers of round chocolate cake and am going with a vanilla buttercream frosting that has actual flavor, to compliment the cake. After mixing up the frosting, I spread some onto the first layer of cake, then set the second layer on top, before coating the sides and top in a healthy, but not too thick, coating of buttercream that I smooth down.

With the cake frosted, I decorate it with some chocolate frosting designs, then mix up some strawberry buttercream frosting, though not much, and put it into a piping bag and write "Happy Graduation" on it. I'd put "Tanner" on it as well, except the round cake isn't big enough for that. Well, it probably was, but I didn't go with smaller letters. I add some food coloring to more of the vanilla buttercream to make it dark blue, then pipe that onto the cake to make a few balloons, using up all of the colored buttercream to do so.

There's some chocolate and some vanilla buttercream left, though. I sample a little bit of each, even though I already know how it tastes. To be honest, I just want to eat the buttercream. That's the reason there's not any strawberry buttercream left – I already ate what didn't end up on the cake.

I move the cake to the bedroom and put it on the table, then grab the ice cream from my freezer and move it there as well, putting two bowls, spoons, and an ice cream scoop down. I grab some napkins and the pitcher of strawberry lemonade and a pair of glasses, and everything is set.

A few minutes before eight, there's a knock at the door. I open it from behind, looking past it with just my head visible. Tanner's standing on the other side, alone. He's dressed in black jeans and a black shirt left unbuttoned over a dark grey one. He's soaked through from the rain, causing his clothes to cling tightly to him. If I weren't already hard, I'd have gotten up instantly upon seeing him.

"Hey, Nick," he grins. "Figured you'd probably try to run away because of today."

"Nah," I let him in and close the door. "I just didn't want to attend graduation."

Tanner strips off as I return to my room, and he puts his wet clothes in the bathroom before joining me, drying off a little as he does. He sets the towel to the side as he sits on the floor, eyeing the celebration stuff.

"Just because I don't celebrate it," I say. "Doesn't mean you don't. I figured you might have an appetite still."

"I do!" He laughs. "Thanks. Is it chocolate cake?"

"Yeah," I answer. "How'd graduation go?"

"Not bad," he answers as I slice up the cake and serve it. "My parents are a little annoyed I decided to move out here so close to the end of the school year rather than just waiting the few extra weeks, but whatever. The school I went to doesn't let out until next month, and I want this power gone."

"Well, you're an adult," I say. "You came out here as soon as you were eighteen, which was within your rights. Even if you can't turn it off, you're at least learning how to control it a little better."

"Yeah," he snorts. "So how'd your day go? What did you do?"

"Wandered around the ruins, enjoyed nature, fished, hunted, and trained, then returned here," I answer. "Not as exciting as your day."

"These last couple of weeks," he says as we start eating cake and ice cream. "Have taught me how exciting being in the ruins can be, Nick. Just gun training today?"

"What makes you think that?" I ask.

"Well," he says. "You're naked, and don't have any bruises, so I know you didn't train in martial arts."

"Ali knows how to pull her punches so she doesn't hurt me," I heal fast from bruises, too. We've been over that, Tanner. I may not be a Sigil-Bearer, but light bruising doesn't stick around on me for more than a few hours. "We did some sparring while I was out there."

"Ah, okay," he says. "I'm seeing my family off tomorrow afternoon and will spend the day up until then hanging out with them. I'll be wanting to go back to the ruins on Monday, though."

"Plan on staying until you have control over your power?"

"Yeah," he answers. "I haven't told my parents that, but it's really for the better. In the big city, there's always the risk of someone being right in my range. Here, I'm able to move around without too much worry, and it's easier to sneak into the ruins and not have someone follow me. Well, as long as I'm with you."

"Yeah," I nod. "There's just one little catch, Tanner."

"That you're leaving sometime in the next couple of months?" He asks.

"It might be sooner than I expected," I tell him.

"Why?"

I pick up a pen from the table and start spinning it around, and Tanner watches me. While he doesn't know what I'm really doing when I do this, he knows it's me focusing on something, doing some sort of calculation. Eventually, I flip the pen up into the air and catch it.

"There are some plans that are in place," I tell him. "I was originally going to move in with Ian sometime this summer as we got things rolling for the plans. They were supposed to unfold over the next few years. A few things have come up, however, which have set things in motion.

"Once things come to a head," I set the pen down. "I'll be gone from here."

"Moved in with Ian?"

"Yeah."

"I can tell there's something more to it," Tanner says. "Not sure how to say it, or not allowed to say it?"

"You're not authorized to know," I correct. "And while we're being optimistic and saying it's just in the next few months, it may be in the next few weeks if things get accelerated even further."

"What sort of things?"

"It's complicated," I tell him. "And I can't really tell you more than that."

While I could tell him some stuff, it could result in changes that influence things. With the Klen around, it's best to keep things as in control as we can.

"Alright," Tanner says. "So unless I decide to let Ali know my ability and let her help me train it, there would be no point in me staying here much longer after you leave."

"Correct," I confirm. "Though at the rate you're gaining control, you should be fine by the end of summer."

"After you leave," Tanner says. "Can I still contact you for advice, if you're able to get some about my power?"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"No," I answer, and Tanner opens his mouth to ask why. "I won't be available for contact after, and don't ask for more information because I can't give it to you without drawing the attention and annoyance of people I really don't want to annoy."

"Yet you're fine with bothering the Klen?" He asks. "An organization that wants to kill you? You've given me enough information through off-hand comments that I know they want you dead, Nick. And for some reason, you also seem completely unbothered by it."

"That would be because I am unbothered by it," I inform him. "They can try to kill me as much as they want, they'll never succeed."

"You've been lucky with the fights so far," Tanner says. "Ali told me about the guy with the sonic ability. Had he noticed you guys, you'd very likely be dead."

"Everything has happened within acceptable parameters," I say. "And I always pull off miraculous, seemingly impossible survivals. They won't succeed. They can't succeed. It's also probably best if we end this discussion, we're supposed to be celebrating your graduation."

"This is pretty good cake," he says.

"It's store-bought."

"You did something to it, though," he says. "Different from just following the recipe. And I saw the stuff on the counter – you made the frosting yourself."

"I did make the frosting myself," I tell him. "And yeah, I tweaked the recipe a little when following the directions. It's still just store-bought mix, though."

"You and I have two different definitions of 'just store-bought', Nick," Tanner tells me. "And if we're celebrating, there's something I want to do."

"We are," I roll my eyes. "What is it?"

"It involves frosting and your dick," he tells me. "Mind if I go get some?"

"Of which?" I ask. "Because the dick's in your reach already."

Tanner snorts, then stands and heads into my kitchen. He returns after a moment with the bowl of vanilla frosting and tells me to lie down. I do so, and he gets between my legs, then uses his fingers to give my dick a nice, thick coating of the frosting.

Once my dick is nice and coated, Tanner licks the frosting off his fingers and begins licking it up off of my dick as well. The feeling is pretty nice, and I play with my nipples a little as I watch him. Just watching Tanner doing this is making me more aroused, but the feeling of his tongue is great, too.

Though it does feel like there's some sort of slick residue on my dick, which is an interesting feeling. I reach down and play with Tanner's hair with my left hand as he continues to lick my dick, only taking a little bit of the frosting off at a time. A few times, he switches to licking, kissing, and sucking my balls for a minute or two before returning to my dick.

My dick eventually cleaned of frosting, Tanner takes it into his mouth and sinks down all the way, his nose pressed against my crotch.

"Mnh!" I moan, pressing down a little on his head for a moment, and he adds some suction, making it feel even tighter. "Oooh!"

I can feel Tanner's tongue sliding a little when the suction fades, then Tanner lifts his head up so that just the head of my dick is in his mouth, and he pulls back my foreskin so that he can swirl his tongue around the head. Then, he goes all the way back down and begins to repeat the process.

While I have only sucked Ian's dick, and that's only been a few times, Tanner's pretty much always sucked my dick when we've done stuff. The short amount of time we've been doing this has been enough for him to adjust and take my entire dick in his mouth, despite it being a little bigger than average.

Tanner switches to just bobbing up and down on the first few inches of my dick after awhile. When he senses that I'm close to my climax, he pulls off for a moment and pulls back my foreskin. He puts only the head of my dick into his mouth this time, swirling his tongue over and under the head.

I moan a little at the feeling, especially with how close to the edge I am making me more sensitive to this. Tanner brings me to the peak here, and I start blasting cum into his mouth and throat. He sucks a little bit more while squeezing my dick at the base and pulling up a few times, to draw out the last bit of cum still in it.

Satisfied that more isn't coming out, Tanner releases my dick and grabs the lube. I lift up my legs as he slicks up his dick, then he slowly pushes his dick into my ass.

"Mmnh," I moan a little as his dick stretches my ass.

Tanner slowly pushes all the way into my ass, then pulls back, then begins to thrust. He grips my legs as he thrusts, this time moving faster and harder than he usually does. His green eyes are filled with a more primal desire right now, Tanner intent and focused on the act at hand right now. I play with my nipples and dick as I stare into his gaze, though I sometimes reach forward to rub his abs.

"Unh! Unh! Unh!" Tanner starts grunting as he cums in me, thrusting hard with each shot he blasts inside my ass.

After his climax fades, Tanner's thrusts are more smooth, his dick sliding more gently inside of me. He holds my sides as he bends over, and I stroke his abs and chest, rub and lightly pinch his nipples, as we kiss. I slip my tongue into his mouth and wrestle with his.

One of Tanner's hands moves down to my dick, jacking me off a little. He begins to thrust a little more quickly as he jacks me off a bit more, then he releases my dick and straightens up some, holding onto my sides once more.

My ass clenches around his dick as I hit my peak, shooting my cum onto Tanner and myself. Tanner stops thrusting while my ass is clenched, and resumes once I finish. It doesn't take him much longer to finish, and once he does, he pulls out of my ass and snuggles up against me.

"That was a really nice way to celebrate," Tanner tells me. "And if you're up for it, we can do a few more rounds after we eat more cake."

"Yeah," I chuckle. "Let's get some cleanup down first, though."

Tanner and I head into my bathroom and use a wet rag to wipe up the cum and lube, then return to my room. I grab some ice cream to eat with the cake, and I notice Tanner looking at me a few times. The power of empathy isn't needed to know that he's curious about something, but he's not asking me, for whatever reason.

"If you're worried it'll be offensive, don't."

"What?" Tanner gives me a look of absolute confusion.

"You've been giving me curious looks ever since we resumed eating," I tell him. "But you won't ask. Since you know you can ask me just about anything, the only reason I can come up with for why you haven't is that you thought it might offend me."

"Oh," he says. "N-no, it's nothing like that."

"Then…?"

"It's just," he hesitates here. "If you weren't dating Ian, I'd probably be asking you out. Honestly. You're a pretty great guy when you aren't trying to make people dislike you so they leave you alone. You're also pretty sexy, you're talented and active, and just… I dunno. You're pretty likable."

"You have a crush on me."

"Yeah," he holds up his hands. "But I know you're taken and are leaving to go live with your boyfriend soon. I'm gonna miss hanging out with you… even the non-sexual parts."

"I don't view you that way," I tell him.

"I know."

"I only see you as a person who is nice to hang out with," I tell him. "And who is good at sex. I don't have an issue having sex with you since Ian is cool with it, and I don't have an issue hanging out with you or helping you learn self-defense or how to control your power. However, there is zero chance of anything more between us."

"I know."

"I'm sure you also know," I say. "That a certain float-user has developed a crush on a stud such as yourself."

Tanner's cheeks redden. He's bisexual, and I know he's also developing feelings for Ali.

"If you think you need to have sex with me to get my training," I tell him. "Then you can stop that line of thinking. Ali and I are platonic, and I help her with her training."

"I don't think that," Tanner says. "I know you're doing it just to help me out. You've a kind side that causes you to want to help people who need it. That's why you show people how dangerous the ruins are, instead of just yelling or whatever. It makes them less likely to do something stupid in the future. The sex is just really nice, that's all."

"Glad we're clear on that," I say.

"As for Ali," he says, and his cheeks flush a little again. "Yeah, I know she likes me. Right now, I want to focus on dealing with my powers, not any romantic interests. Besides, we barely know each other. I know you more than her due to us hanging out more, and it's not even been a month.

"That's another reason," Tanner adds. "That I wouldn't ask you out right now, even if you were single. What we have is nice as it is, it's just friends-with-benefits. It would be best to take it a step further and make it boyfriends before we know if the feelings are just a quick thing or not."

"Indeed," I say.

"Right now," Tanner says. "Let's just focus on dealing what's before us before adding in more complicated emotional stuff. I'd rather get my power taken care of first. Better to deal with that before getting into a relationship, you know?"

"Yeah," I say. "But it's best to sort out your feelings for her before you leave, okay? That way, you don't have any regrets. I'm sure she'd even be willing to move out of here when you leave, if something does happen. Her odds of romance in this area are pretty slim, you know? Ali's actually already planning on leaving the area this summer."

"Oh," Tanner says. "I guess that makes sense. And yeah, I'll try to figure things out.'

"Cool," I say. "Now, more food, or more pleasure?"