The Red Nights

Matteo woke up in shock without controlling himself completely he jumped out from the bed and fell loudly on the floor. His heart was beating hard in his c.h.e.s.t, he could feel his T-shirt soaked with sweat sticking to his skin. His sight started running anxiously around the room looking for the girl whom he saw in his dream.

The door of his room suddenly open and Andre entered while seeming worried. He saw Matteo sitting next to his bed, his eyes wide open were looking at Andre as if he was trying to figure out who he was. " Are you okay? ", when he came closer he noticed that his 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 help himself standing up.

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

" A nightmare " Andre completed, with a sympathising smile he patted his shoulder and said, " 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 so close for Matteo to consider him as a friend, Andre politely let go of his hand while seeming a little embarrassed, [ for a mere roommate to be so familiar it may be too much ] he thought.

" Well... it seems like you some time alone so I will leave you alone and go prepare breakfast," he said while putting a step back " so see you later " then he slowly walked out of the room leaving there Matteo 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, " he said before he sat on the sofa and while looking at the two pancakes with appetite.

" Neither do I " Andre shouted from the kitchen, " I just decided to give 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 ".

Matteo couldn't help but smile as he once told the same thing to himself " for such a city to exist it is very miraculous " he once thought. " It's all thanks to the very quick reaction of Lina and Jamal, they were the first to realize that things may take a very bad turn and so they were first to take action, in a very smart they eliminated the first vague of criminality 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, after listening to Matteo's explanations it seemed like he had some questions to ask, " by the way I always wanted to know... what the hell happened for the things to turn- " before he could finish he held his head with his two and fell down as an unsupportable headache abruptly appeared making 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, his knees retracted to his c.h.e.s.t, he was holding his head with his eyes closed while clenching his teeth, he was clearly in pain.

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

•••

Lina opened her eyes after she noticed that the one who should be laying next to her was missing, she sat up on that bed which was smaller than hers and 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 with two glasses of orange juice and two cups of milk tea.

" That's why I love spending the night here," she said when Jamal put the small table on her t.h.i.g.hs before he went take his place on the bed. Lina looked at the plate 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 can abuse them s.e.x.u.a.lly 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, then I went to train Natasha, Carla and the other kids so that I could finish earlier and I came back as quickly as I could to cook a fabulous breakfast for my lovely wife and she dares call me a s.e.x.u.a.l offender... ", he sighed and acted the disappointment " I never saw someone so ungrateful ".

" So silly of me, such a bad girl deserves a very very hard punishment, doesn't she? " she slowly replied while playing sensually with her tongue.

Jamal couldn't resist putting his tongue in her mouth while on a very passionate kiss. Lina, a minute later, pushed him she smirked, " you s.e.x addict 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 reclaim some s.e.x. You didn't even want to take time to eat your dinner ".

Lina started to c.a.r.e.s.s delicately Jamal's n.a.k.e.d c.h.e.s.t 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 satisfy me s.e.x.u.a.l whenever I come home after I worked my a.s.s to bring the money to the family? How does it feel for you, who used to treat women as objects to relieve your urges of s.e.x, to be the dominated who has to get undressed whenever I commend because I'm the one who pays the bills here? ".

Jamal laughed " firstly I have never been that kind of man, remember you are the one I gave my v.i.r.g.i.n.i.t.y to, secondly 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 " you know you don't have to respond 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," she said with a small and voice.

" 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 away, " I know you have been working hard yesterday so... here a small reward " he took a small bottle in the first compartment of his bedside table half-full of honey and he poured some on the crepes.

Lina gasped surprised when she saw the honey, she couldn't hold herself anymore, she rolled a crepe and stuffed it in her mouth. She m.o.a.n.e.d while savouring the sweet taste of the honey, she hasn't eaten any since so long that she almost forgot its taste. " How? I thought there wasn't in the whole city and I don't remember mention of it in the goods you have brought from the other city you have conquered " she finally could ask.

Jamal chuckled " I knew you would like it, I would have wanted to keep it secret to make you a surprise for another day but you would have already started to hear about it since the news would be 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, " yesterday when I was on my way to the lab 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 he said he'll be fine and he gave this bottle to thank me for my collaboration ".

" That's great news " Lina exclaimed, " that means that we can observe the same phenomenon in the other cities, too. We have to send a group to go check 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 of Lina the girlfriend to Lina the mayor without noticing Jamal put a finger on her lips and said " we will see about this matter later now let's just enjoy the moment, what do you think? "

" You're right " she replied, she kissed him and said, " let me finish my meal and I will show you who is dominating who ".

Jamal took the small table and put it away on his bedside table and said " why don't you show me now " while taking Lina above him. The woman smiled and at the moment she was about to ride him they hear someone knocking on the door of the apartment.

" Who is this? " Lina asked.

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

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

" I need your help," he said with a weak voice as it seemed that the weight of Andre's body was then too unbearable.

Without thinking too much 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 he was still breathing he turned his attention to Matteo and he didn't have to ask any questions since the expression on his face was enough to tell what exactly he was thinking.

Matteo fell on his a.s.s on the floor as it seemed that his legs couldn't support him anymore. After glancing at Jamal's face he shook his head and admitted " I don't know either what happened " while still trying to catch his breath.

" 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 just lost consciousness after he got a sudden headache " Matteo replied too tired to comment Lina's tendency to joke even in bad situations.

" A sudden headache? " Jamal repeated.

" Yes, we were talking normally nothing was wrong and then he wanted to ask me something but he abruptly grabbed his head, he fell down and the instant after he lost consciousness I panicked I didn't know what to do besides borrowing a car and bring him here hoping that you could do something," he said in a very fast way.

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

" Is that the only thing that caught your attention? He transported this guy with a car... all the way with a car and he managed to look as if he just ran a marathon, " Lina commented, she looked at Matteo with fake disappointment " how can a hot of your age being so less athletic, what's wrong? you don't know how to do some physical exercises? Do you want to arrange a day with Jamal where he will train you to become stronger? ".

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

" I'm not a doctor to treat so cases but don't worry if he is just unconsciousness after 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? "

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

Still, his head facing the floor, the boy brought his knees closer to his c.h.e.s.t 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 your dream, " Jamal and Lina said at the same time.