Ride or fall

Matteo woke up in shock and without controlling his movements he jumped out from the bed and fell loudly on the floor. His heart was beating hard in his chest, he could feel his T-shirt soaked with sweat sticking to his skin. His sight started running anxiously around the room afraid to see again the girl whom he was in his dream.

The door of his room suddenly open and Andre entered while looking worried. He saw Matteo sitting next to his bed, his eyes wide open while staring at him as if he was trying to figure out who he was.

" Are you okay? "

When he came closer he noticed that boy's hair and clothes were soaked and his face was covered with sweat.

Only when Andre extended his hand towards him to pick him up that Matteo started to calm down. Gradually his mind became clear and sane, he grabbed Andre's arm and leaned on him to stand up.

" Y-yes, I'm okay, thank you... " he managed to articulate, " I just... I just had a- "

" A nightmare " Andre completed, with a sympathizing smile, he patted his shoulder as if the same thing happened to him, " I understand even though I remember nothing, nightmares don't stop haunting my nights ".

Suddenly, he felt that it was not appropriate for him to do that since they were didn't really knew each other, and thus they were not close enough for Matteo to consider him as a friend. Andre politely let go of his hand while looking a little embarrassed.

[ For a mere roommate to act so familiar it may be too much ] he thought while taking one step back.

" Well... it seems like you need some time alone so I will leave you alone and go prepare breakfast," he kept taking some step back until he reached the door, " so see you later, " then he slowly walked out of the room leaving Matteo, there, alone with his thoughts.

Several minutes later Matteo arrived in the living room. He had taken a shower and changed his clothes.

There, he found a plate of pancakes and a cup of tea left for him on the coffee table. [ I think it will be pretty nice living with him ] he thought with a sense of satisfaction.

" I didn't know you could cook, " Matteo went to have a seat on the sofa and while looking at the two pancakes with appetite.

" Neither do I, " Andre shouted from the kitchen so that his roommate could hear him, " I just decided to give it a try and this happened " he sighed, " but man for this city to have so many sustenances like eggs, flour and all that we need or want it's very impressive. I remember Volga told me that while she was fighting in her hometown food was the very precious good and it was this various, just conserved food ".

Matteo couldn't help but smile after he remembered having once made the same remark to himself. " For such a city to even exist it is very miraculous ".

" It's all thanks to the very quick reaction of Lina and Jamal, " it was not in his habit to praise them but before he knew those words came naturally to his mouth, " they were the first to take the threat seriously and realize that things could turn very bad. They didn't wait for anyone but they took action themselves. In a very smart way, they stopped the first wave of criminality rise before it could affect drastically the lives of the citizens and suppressed all the factors which could have led to the fall of the city. We live in an era where almost all the cities are auto sufficient so the challenge was to make the city stay the way it was ".

Andre entered the living room, and after listening to Matteo's explanations it seemed that he had some questions to ask. " By the way, I have always wanted to know... what the hell happened for the things to turn- "

Before he could finish he suddenly held his head with his two hands and fell down while an unsupportable headache abruptly caught him making him incapable to remain on his feet.

" What's wrong? "

Matteo abandoned his succulent breakfast and ran to go check what was going on with his roommate. He found him laying on the floor on his left side, his knees retracted to his chest, he was holding his head with his eyes closed while clenching his teeth, looking clearly in pain.

The boy didn't know what to do in such a situation, the panic started to gradually take him when, the instant after, Andre lost consciousness, probably because he couldn't bear the pain anymore.

•••

Lina opened her eyes after she noticed that the one who should have been lying next to her was missing, she sat up on that bed which was smaller than hers, looked around and soon an illuminating smile appeared on her face when she saw her man coming in with a small wooden table in his hands containing a plate full of crepes, next to it, two glasses of orange juice and two cups of milk tea.

" That's why I love spending the night here," she rejoiced when Jamal put the small table on her thighs before he went take back his place on the bed. Lina stared at the plate with appetite and asked, " when did you get the time to prepare this? Didn't you have a program this morning? Like meeting Natasha and Carla at the post of control where you could abuse them sexually without no one knowing, huh? "

" So I made the effort to wake up earlier than usual to go do my job as protector of the city, before going to train two pupils, Natasha and Carla as well as the other kids so that I could finish earlier and came back as soon as possible to make this fabulous breakfast for my lovely wife and she dares call me a sexual offender... " he sighed while acting disappointed, " I never saw someone so ungrateful ".

" So silly of me, such a bad girl deserves a very very hard punishment, doesn't she? "

She threw at him a thirsty glance while playing sensually with her tongue pushing Jamal to insert his tongue in her mouth as he couldn't resist anymore and like that they started kissing very passionately.

Minutes later, Lina pushed him with a smirk on her face, " you sex maniac, can't you give me time to rest after messing me up all night yesterday ".

Jamal burst out laughing, " you are really too strong considering that you are the one who rushed into my apartment directly after finishing work to throw yourself on my bed. You didn't even want to take time to eat your dinner ".

Lina started to caress delicately Jamal's naked chest still with her constant teasing smile. " And so... how does it feel, for a male Alpha like you, to play the role of the housewife who has to stay here, do the core and satisfy me sexual whenever I would come home after working all day to bring the money at home? How does it feel for you, who used to treat women as objects to relieve your primary desires, to be dominated like this, huh? To get undressed whenever I would commend since I'm the one paying bills here? "

Jamal laughed even louder. " first of all, I have never been that kind of man, remember you are the one I gave my virginity to. Second, I earn more money than you and you don't pay any bills since you're the mayor, and finally, if we take a look at how you were last night I'm clearly the one dominating ".

Lina pouted and pinched him while taking a lower voice, " you know you don't have to respond so seriously to all my jokes, it will be way funnier if you just play along. And for your concern, last night performance doesn't count, I was exhausted from work ".

" The last time I tried to play along with your jokes you made fun of me for one whole week, and... " he paused and turned on the other side opened the first compartment of his bedside table where he took a small bottle, half-filled of honey, " I know you have been working very hard yesterday so... here a small reward, " he poured some of it on the crepes.

Lina gasped surprised when she saw the honey, she couldn't hold herself anymore and quickly rolled a crepe and stuffed it in her mouth. She moaned slightly while savoring that sweet taste while remembering that it had been so long since she had eaten any of it, she realized that she had almost forgotten its taste.

" How? I thought there wasn't in the whole city and I don't remember any mention of it in the goods you have brought from the other cities you have conquered, " she finally could ask after swallowing three crepes.

Jamal chuckled while enjoying the beauty of her face, " I knew you would like it. I wanted to keep it secret a little longer to make you a surprise for another day but you would have already started to hear about it since the news will be soon spread in the whole city ".

" What do you mean? " Lina asked before eating another roll of crepe.

" You may not have noticed but it's a natural honeybee, " he responded while pointing at the bottle, " yesterday, when I was on my way to the laboratory, I discovered a hive. I directly ran to the farm to inform Cid and after checking he confirmed that the bees are coming back, he even found two other hives elsewhere. He promised that he and his students will do their best to take great care of them, he's not a specialist but I guess he'll be fine. And as a reward for my discovery, he gave this bottle ".

" That's great news, " Lina exclaimed, " that means that we can expect to observe the same phenomenon in the other cities, too. We have to send a group to go check that out and if the bees are coming back that also means that we will soon observe the return of other wild animals we have to be careful and- ".

As she switched the hat from Lina the girlfriend to Lina the mayor without noticing it, Jamal put a finger on her lips to stop her, " we will see about this matter later, now let's just enjoy the moment, what do you think? "

" You're right " she moved her face toward him, put her lips against his, and kissed him slightly before she declared, " let me finish my meal and I will show you who is dominating who in this house ".

Jamal grabbed the small table and put it away on his bedside table, " why don't you show me now, " he took Lina by her waist and put her above him, the woman smiled while approaching her head toward him and, at the moment, they were about to give it another round, him they heard someone knocking on the door of the apartment.

" Who is this? " Lina looked annoyed since she didn't being interrupted at such moments.

" Guess we have to go and find out, " Jamal pushed Lina lightly, got off the bed, and picked up his clothes which were left on the floor since earlier when Lina had arrived, and after covering himself, he walked towards the entrance of the apartment.

When he opened the door, he found Matteo panting, out of breath with his face red and his chest covered with sweat, standing in front of, but the most shocking detail was that he was carrying Andre on his back, unconscious.

" I need your help, " the boy said with a weak voice as it seemed that he couldn't bear anymore the weight of Andre's body on him.

Without thinking any further, Jamal took off that burden from Matteo's back and carried the young man to the living room. He laid him on the sofa and made sure he was still breathing before he turned his attention to Matteo and he didn't have to ask any questions since the expression on his face was enough, for the latter, to tell what exactly he was thinking.

Matteo fell on his ass on the floor after he realized that his legs couldn't support him anymore. He glanced at Jamal's face before he shook his head and admitted while still trying to catch his breath, " I don't know what happened to him either ".

" Why the hell is there a dead body on the sofa? " Lina shouted right after she entered the living room and noticed Andre, " Matt' did you kill your roommate? I thought he was a good guy ".

" I didn't kill him, he's still alive he has just lost consciousness after he got a sudden headache, " Matteo replied too tired to comment about Lina's tendency to joke even in bad situations.

" A sudden headache? " Jamal repeated after he glanced at Andre.

" Yes, we were chatting normally, like nothing was wrong, and when he said wanting to ask me something he suddenly grabbed his head before falling down, and the next moment, he collapsed. I panicked and since I didn't know what to do, I did the first thing that came to my mind, I borrowed a car and brought him here, hoping that you could do something ".

" Wait, you were driving? I thought to have told you that even if you know how to drive you are not allowed to do so, " Jamal scolded him.

" Is that the only detail that caught your attention? He transported this guy... all the way here with a car and he still managed to look as if he just ran a marathon, " Lina commented Jamal's reply, she gazed at Matteo with fake disappointment, " how can a hot kid of your age be so less athletic, what's wrong? Don't you do any physical exercises? Do you want to arrange a day with Jamal so that he will train you to become stronger and more resistant? "

" Can't you just focus on the problem for God's sake?! " Matteo shouted, more irritated by their comments on how he was weak physically than the fact that they got distracted from the main purpose of his presence there.

" I'm not a doctor to treat such cases, but don't worry if he is just unconscious after getting a headache he will wake up eventually, " Jamal said to reassure the boy. " But you already knew that well so why did you decide to still bring him to me? "

He looked a little hesitant as if he was getting into an argument with himself, " I told you... I panicked, that's why ".

" You could have just thrown some cold water on his face, but driving him all the way here... that's quite exaggerated don't you think? "

Matteo didn't respond right away so Lina decided to be more insistent, " boy, you have just interrupted something very nice which was about to happen and right now I'm very angry so you better tell us the real reason for your visit otherwise I will do to you something not very nice at all, got it? "

Still, his head facing the floor, the boy brought his knees closer to his chest and said " I... I saw another dream ".

Jamal and Lina simultaneously glanced at each other before Jamal asked for some clearer reply, " what do you mean? "

" I saw another dream, " he repeated with a louder voice before he lifted his head to look at their worried faces.

Though he just repeated the same response, they both understood what he was referring and even without consulting each other, they both agree that this matter was more important than resuming their play from last night.

" Tell us about that dream. Everything " Jamal and Lina said at the same time.