Felix

[shannonteverius]

Darkness was encroaching as Shannon and Felix made their way back home from dinner at the dome. The meal had been something of an adventure, which was becoming the norm here in this strange land. Shannon kept close to Felix as they walked. He would feel better once they were inside the house they were staying in for the time being. He hesitated to call the place home. Home was London, but as long as Felix was with him he could live anywhere he had to.

As they neared the building he noticed a box on their doorstep. He stopped walking, unsure if it was safe to move closer to it.

"What is that?" he asked, gesturing to the mysterious package.

Comments

[harrowgate]

Felix frowned, unconsciously touching a hand to Shannon's shoulder, though he didn't have to hold the other man back. During the entire time they had been in this strange otherworld together, nothing truly dangerous had happened to them. Even the spirits in the forest that conspired to keep them apart hadn't tried to harm either of them. Nevertheless, Felix did not trust this place, and he didn't trust its surprises.

With a gesture, he summoned enough light to see the box more clearly. "I don't know, but our names are printed on it," Felix observed. Oddly, he recalled seeing Prometheus near the beach the other day, and how he'd spoken of finding strange things coughed up by the sea. Was this something similar, in compensation for Felix's refusal to venture close to the water? "I don't think it's dangerous, darling."

[shannonteverius]

Shannon was skeptical, but he ventured closer. The box looked innocent enough, but who knew what was inside? He reached out tentatively and flicked the lid with a finger. It fell back far enough to see inside with the help of Felix's lights.

"Oh!" Nothing inside the box was moving on it own accord, but a could of things in there looked like they could bite.

[harrowgate]

Felix kept close at Shannon's side, just in case he was wrong and it was dangerous. As soon as he caught a glimpse of the box's contents, however, he recognized this gift for what it was. "Darling, let's take this inside," he suggested quickly. Shannon would not want to expose this to the world. "We'll light the hearth and have a look."

[shannonteverius]

Felix was right. Shannon gave him a nod and went to open the door. Felix could carry the box. Even though the objects inside were technically ordinary, he was still eying them dubiously.

"Do you recognize what's in there?" he asked as they entered.

[harrowgate]

“I have a fair idea,” Felix hummed under his breath. How and why, though? While he wouldn’t put it past Robin to find this funny, the puck would most certainly want the credit for such a gift, and wouldn’t leave it anonymously. Felix glanced with an arched brow after Shannon, but he picked up the box by the edges and brought it inside.

The cottage was quiet and clean, but not quite homelike. The windows were closed and covered with something that might pass for curtains in a university dormitory, and the furniture was sturdy and comfortable if not quite to Felix’s taste. However, he did love the stone hearth in the middle of the living area, broad and heavy and unapologetic as it was. It lit up immediately with a warm orangey fire as he walked in and the door closed out the chilly night behind him. Felix’s magic worked so much more easily, here.

“Yes,” he answered as he placed the box near the sofa before the fire, then got out of his coat and gloves. “Or at least, I’ve a good idea. But, Shannon, if you don’t like it and you like how I know, do remember that I didn’t put this here, all right?”

They had come so far in their relationship, but still, Felix could never quite shake the feeling that he might be blamed for a past that he couldn’t help, and couldn’t change.

[shannonteverius]

Shannon hung up his own coat before answering. It was difficult to promise that he would not be affected by Felix's knowledge. There was much Felix knew because of his past that Shannon preferred to leave a mystery, but he wouldn't blame Felix for it.

He moved to his lover's side and caressed his arm. "I know you didn't. And I know you wouldn't do anything I didn't like." He took Felix's hand and led him back toward the sofa. He was nervous, but he hid it well. "Show me something new, Felix."

[harrowgate]

Just before he sat, Felix bent and touched a kiss to Shannon's golden hair on the top of his head. He was unaccountably nervous, himself, about this lesson that he'd not planned to give, but Shannon showed every sign of trusting him. Felix settled in on the sofa and opened the box fully to see what awaited them.

The package was arranged sensibly, with smaller toys laid out at the top, and the promise of larger implements beneath. They were most assuredly all erotiques of one kind of another, with a pair of toothy little nipple clamps that Shannon had noticed before perched right on top. Felix decided to save those for the moment. Instead, he laid three rings on his hand to give Shannon a good look at them, two of silicone and one a simple leather strap with adjustable snaps. "These," Felix began, hesitant at first until he found the words, "are... clearly too small for a wrist and too large for a finger. What do you suppose they are for?"

[shannonteverius]

Shannon took a moment to consider the question. "Oh," he gasped, his pale skin gaining a faint trace of color with the realization. He reached out to touch one of the silicone rings, noting it's rubbery texture and, more importantly, it's flexibility. "What would be the purpose of wearing something so...constricting?"

[harrowgate]

Felix put the ring in Shannon's hand so he could test it. "The pressure makes climax impossible for the wearer," he explained, words carefully chosen to avoid vulgarity that would put Shannon off. "Nor is it possible for his interest to... flag. That means his partner has absolute control over his climax, and the release can be..."

His lashes fluttered for a moment, and Felix's precise language slipped a touch. "Overwhelming."

[shannonteverius]

Shannon was intrigued, particularly by Felix's reaction to the item. If the thought alone could provoke such an expression, he could only imagine what the ring's application would do. "I think I'd like to see this in practice," he said.

[harrowgate]

Felix smiled at that. "Then why don't you keep it for now. You see, there's more to it, on this side. It's made to hold... ah, yes. One of these."

The next item out of the box was a small plastic case that held a little object that looked like a silver-colored bullet. "This is a vibrator. That part of the ring is made to hold this. It makes the sensation... even more intense. Almost torturous," Felix added, as a caution, "especially if it goes on for too long."

[shannonteverius]

Shannon took the case and examined its contents more closely. The bullet was small, and he could see where it belonged in the ring. He opened the case and found a small button on the vibrator's side. Pressing the nub, he felt the vibration in his palm. It wasn't shocking by any means, but when he imagined it against a more sensitive part of his anatomy he understood Felix's warning. He clicked the button again and the vibration stopped. "I think I'll hold on to this one as well," he said.

[harrowgate]

Felix didn't hide his pleased smile. He liked the idea of Shannon experimenting with those toys with him. Watching Shannon's elegant fingers slide over the silicone and the metal, seeing him touch and learn things Felix had once never dared to dream about, was already arousing. He thought he could watch Shannon play with that bullet all night long.

The next items in the gift box, however, he wasn't as sure about. "This is what you saw at first," he began, taking out the nipple clamps he'd seen before , small and silver with a delicate chain strung between them. "They clamp onto your partner's nipples. They're meant to stay, and they're meant to hurt," Felix said, quietly. "I admit, I prefer a short application, or the pain becomes distracting. Here. I'll show you."

Gently, he took one of Shannon's hands, and let him watch as Felix opened one of the clamps, and closed it on the tender skin between Shannon's thumb and first finger. The tight pinch was immediate, and Felix kept Shannon's hand in his so he could remove it quickly if it was too much.

[shannonteverius]

Shannon hissed through his teeth. He did not like these. "Off," he ordered. He rubbed the offended skin once it was free.

It wasn't the first time the topic had come up, but he just couldn't understand the appeal of pain. "Why?" he asked, trying to encompass all the questions he wanted to ask, but not knowing how to word them.

[harrowgate]

Felix tucked the clamps back in the box, privately relieved. He had never adequately been able to explain why, and wasn't sure he could now.

"Some derive pleasure from it, for reasons of their own, or for no reason at all. Some people are... wired that way. I can't explain them any more than I can explain why some men want to sleep with women." Felix smiled, faintly, for he didn't want this conversation to be so serious that both of them lost any sense of fun. He did want to use these toys later tonight.

"For me... I can't say that I enjoy it," he admitted. "But a certain kind of pain, inflicted by someone who knows how... it provokes a physical response. It's... something I learned to associate with... " Felix searched for the right word, and came up with an inadequate, "... reward."

[shannonteverius]

Shannon didn't care about other people. He wasn't sleeping with them. What mattered was Felix's reaction to pain.

Learned to... Clearly there were more details from Felix's past that Shannon would rather not know, but he couldn't shy away from them. He'd promised Felix that he would listen, always.

"Does that mean it is something you look for?" he asked.

[harrowgate]

"No," said Felix quietly, not realizing his gaze had slid away from Shannon's face, drifting down to his lap. "I don't like pain. I don't want it." At times, he had used it as a catharsis, in the past when he needed some way out of his own mind. But that wasn't the same as what Shannon was asking him.

"The problem is that I can't always say no to it. I wasn't allowed to refuse, so I... I can't be trusted when pain is involved."

[shannonteverius]

A weight lifted off of Shannon's shoulder's at those words. He almost became dizzy with relief. He still didn't understand a desire for pain, and he didn't think he ever would. He'd been so worried that Felix would want it, and he wouldn't be able to give it to him.

Shannon reached out taking his lover's face in both hands and pulling him forward to kiss him deeply. When their lips finally parted he said, "I will happily say no for you."

[harrowgate]

For the first few seconds after Shannon reached for him, Felix's body was as rigid as iron, locked up with remembered shame and anticipated scorn. The heat of Shannon's mouth and the touch of his elegant hand on Felix's skin warmed that all away. His muscles unlocked and he leaned in to Shannon, arms circling loosely around his waist as he sighed into the reassuring sweetness of his lover's passion for him.

It was impossible to say thank you. Those words were inadequate to the responsibility Shannon took on for him, to the relief and embarrassing gratitude Felix felt that he could actually trust someone who took him to bed. Felix rested his brow against Shannon's, silent, letting the soft calm of his breathing and their closeness speak what he could not say.

"Are you quite sure you want to see the rest of the box?" he asked after a long moment.

[shannonteverius]

"Yes." Now that the topic of pain had been dealt with, Shannon was much more confident in his ability to handle whatever else the box may reveal. His earlier wariness was gone.

[harrowgate]

Felix wanted to surrender himself in Shannon's arms immediately, but he knew he had a rare chance to share more with his lover. He had Shannon's attention and his open mind, and Felix could show him things that he couldn't before. And, when he next reached into the box, his hand closed around something he immediately knew he wanted to share.

The black leather cuffs were beautiful and soft, lined with fluffy sheep's wool, linked with a strong, bright silver chain. The chain was removable with clips small enough that the wearer of the cuffs would never be able to reach them. Felix lifted one of the unfastened cuffs and brushed the leather against Shannon's cheek so he could feel it. "I don't enjoy pain, but I do enjoy being bound."

[shannonteverius]

Shannon smiled. "I do remember tying you to a chair once," he said. He remembered that night vividly. The red lines of rope crossing Felix's skin was a sight he would never forget. "You did seem to enjoy it."

[harrowgate]

"You were good at it," said Felix in a quiet voice, remembering that night from his own perspective. Not just the feel of the rope on his skin, but the realization that Shannon was giving him something, when up until then their bedroom exercises had largely been focused on Shannon's limits. He remembered those first stirrings of the connection he couldn't then name.

"I think there are more of these in there, for ankles as well. These rings are on every cuff, and they can each be connected to the other, depending on how you want your partner positioned."

[shannonteverius]

"You mean I can have the great Felix Harrowgate bound and at my mercy any way I want him?" Shannon asked, his eyes sparkling with possibilities. Bondage was a bedroom activity that he had been very happy to discover.

[harrowgate]

Felix loved when Shannon looked at him that way. It made him feel like he was the only person in the world Shannon cared to look at. He tipped his head just so, to make sure his hair shimmered in the firelight. "'The great'?" he asked, temptingly.