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 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.

[shannonteverius]

Shannon ran his fingers through those fiery tresses and nodded. "A powerful wizard, unwilling to bend to anyone but me." The power in that thought was intoxicating.

[harrowgate]

Felix bent his head toward Shannon's hand, letting the touch soften him. Who else but Shannon could he trust to catch him when he did bend? "You can use these tonight," he suggested, soft and steady. "All of this."

[shannonteverius]

"Even the ring?"

[harrowgate]

"Especially the ring," Felix confirmed. He leaned nearer, speaking softly close to Shannon's ear, "And perhaps one night soon, you'll want to try it, too."

[shannonteverius]

Perhaps. Shannon wanted to see it on Felix first.

"Good," he said. "Because I want to see how much you like it. But first, I would like you to do two things for me."

[harrowgate]

Felix bent his head to kiss Shannon's neck, nuzzling beneath his silky blond hair. One hand rested lightly on Shannon's thigh, only partly for support. "Tell me, and I'll give it my very best."

[shannonteverius]

Shannon was sure Felix would, but that didn't mean his demands would be easy. He tilted his head to allow his lover better access and said, "Show me something in that box that you would like to use on me."

[harrowgate]

Felix inhaled softly, and pressed a lingering kiss behind Shannon's ear. This was an easy choice to make, because he had already seen the very thing in the box while drawing things out earlier. His hand closed around it as soon as he reached in, and he turned back to Shannon with a small, slim, conical-shaped object in his palm.

The plug was only a few inches long, gently tapered to no more than an inch in diameter, and made of supple dark gray silicone. It had a ring at the base, and a tiny switch accessible from the base as well. "I know you've been wary of trying this sort of play, but this is small and soft, and it won't hurt. It seems there's a little vibrator in there, as well. I would... dearly love to slip this inside you, and take you in my mouth, if you would let me."

[shannonteverius]

Shannon should have known this would be Felix's answer. In a way it was reassuring, since it was a familiar desire of Felix's, but his lover was right. Shannon was still wary of it.

The plug looked small as it rested so innocently in Felix's palm. Shannon picked it up, for a closer look. He trusted Felix not to hurt him. He could give him this, couldn't he?

He placed the plug back into Felix's hand. "If you're very good, that can be your reward."

[harrowgate]

Felix closed his hand around the plug, concealing it from view. Perhaps he was a little predictable, but he couldn't imagine trying to restrain Shannon in any way, and he knew his lover didn't respond well to teasing and torture. Pleasure overwhelming was what Felix wanted for him, to share the things that he himself felt, the pleasures that Shannon gave to him.

He ignored the rest of the box and toys, bending close to Shannon again. His mouth ghosted past his lover's jaw and cheek, and rested butterfly-light at the corner of his lips. "I'm very good at being good," Felix promised in a low whisper. "Aren't I, sir?"

[shannonteverius]

"We shall see." Shannon turned his head into Felix, allowing him the barest breath of a kiss, but nothing more. "You're forgetting the second thing I want you to do for me."

[harrowgate]

"I haven't forgotten," Felix promised, still close, and now sliding one hand up Shannon's thigh. "You simply haven't told me what it is yet."

[shannonteverius]

"I want you to take off your clothes."

[harrowgate]

"You ask for the loveliest things," Felix sighed, and kissed Shannon's throat delicately before he pulled away. He flowed up to his feet, and glanced at Shannon over his shoulder, with a secretive smile.

"Right here in the living room, darling? This place is having an effect on you," he purred, undoing the buttons on his shirt. He wasted no time, didn't tease, but unbuttoned and unfastened and untucked everything he was wearing before turning to face Shannon, a beautiful rumpled mess. Then, he simply slid out of it all, abandoning shirt and trousers and underthings in a heap on the floor, until he was gloriously naked in the fireplace's flickering light.