Heirot

Artisuren panted for air as the pressure grew with each finger. It didn't exactly hurt.... It was just insane to imagine that place kept stretching wider to accept him. How wide could it stretch?

"Are you ready?"

Laurius's breath tickled his ear, and he shivered. He didn't feel ready at all. Without Tenara's magic to give him a head start, he hadn't even felt that strange sparking sensation from last time yet. Was the last time a fluke? A chill shivered over him. Maybe this time, the sensation wouldn't shift from pain into terrifying pleasure. Maybe he would just have to grit his teeth and hold on for the ride until the end.

You serviced Kishva, he reassured himself. You know how to handle it. Don't fuck it up.

"I'm ready," he breathed, looking over his shoulder to try to see his partner.

_________________

He nodded, nuzzling her with his nose. "If my sister saw me right now, she might faint," he said. It was rare for him to make jokes, so the delivery was flat, but he still smirked into her hair. "Laurius is fine, but I don't think we should return to the room for a while. The medicine Artisuren brought has some powerful side effects, and it will probably take some time for them to manage it."

He released her so she could stand properly without being squished, and showed her the book he brought. "In case we got bored," he said.

Laurius pressed a kiss to the back of Artisuren's neck and pulled his fingers free. He curled his hand along the man's hip and shifted behind him. He spit into his other palm and massaged it into his skin. He huffed at the feel, still so, so sensitive. Then, he spit on Artisuren. Not exactly the best way, but he worked with what he had. He smoothed his hand up the man's back, beneath his shirt, and long his spine. Then, he shifted his hips forward. The merchant clenched his eyes and pushed forward, easing into the impossible tight place within Artisuren. A soft, pleased curse whispered out of his lips. He pushed deeper, shaking with the effort not to plunge in and feverishly take him. He had been brutal their first time. He'd thought that was what he needed. He didn't want Artisuren to hate him again after this moment. "Ren..." he murmured, shifting in short, soft strokes.

----

Tenara smiled, taking the book from him. "Let's find somewhere quiet. A nice place in the shade." She curled her fingers in his and led him back towards the front of the ship.

Artisuren cried out as Laurius entered him, seizing up around his cock like a vice. "Aah....hng.." He couldn't fully conceal the pain in his voice as his body screamed at the invasion. He sucked in a breath and looked over his shoulder. Laurius's handsome face was clenched with effort. He could see the pleasure and restraint in the man's movements. Oh. He's being gentle, he realized, even if his throbbing bottom couldn't believe it. He focused on his lover, noticed the trembling in his thighs, the hushed curses of frustration as he held himself back. Soft fingers were tickling up Ren's back, around his hip...

"Ren," Laurius murmured, hard as a rock inside him.

He wants me, he realized. Right now, there was no questioning the fact that his master wanted him. Maybe even needed him.

Something inside him twitched with a tickling throb. It took him by surprise, and he nearly choked. "M...as..ter..." he struggled between the man's shallow thrusts. "Fu..uck..." He squirmed against the cushion, trying to reposition his hips without having any idea what he was looking for. Something was there, just out of reach. He needed... something. More contact, more pressure, more him. "Help," he huffed.

Laurius leaned up and forward, changing his angle slightly. He thrust a little deeper, huffing at the tight sensation wrapped around him, equal parts resisting and refusing to let him go. "That's it," he whispered to Artisuren. "Let me have you. Let me have all of you." He was losing his composure. It had been so thin before, but the sound of his voice. Gods... His pace quickened, and Laurius pressed over Artisuren, murmuring praise and apologies in one.

"Ahh!" His back went rigid as a bundle of nerves inside him lit up like a bolt of lightning. "That spot's-! Ah!" His hands scrambled against the cushion, desperately seeking something to hold on to as another burst of sparks went off in his belly. Oh, god. This was different from last time. He kept striking the same place again and again, like a hammer driving home a nail. Ren screamed out, tilting his hips back against each thrust.

Every fiber of restraint Laurius had splintered apart. "This spot?" he asked, his voice hoarse. He grabbed hold of Artisuren's hips and pumped into him in deep, relentless strokes. His thighs slapped against the man, echoing a rhythm of lust to match Artisuren's cries. Laurius spared a hand, reaching up for Artisuren's hair and pulling it so his head arched back towards him and he was helpless against the merciless pace Laurius had built. It felt so good. He was going to come, going to melt. He just wanted Artisuren to be first. To break first. "Come for your master, Ren. Break for me. Scream for me."

Ren gave a strangled cry. If Laurius had been hammering him, then he'd already been slammed as deep as he could go, and now he was being driven out the other side. With each thrust, the lightning arched up deeper through his belly, down his sides, into his legs and feet.

"Come for your master."

He didn't even make it to the next sentence. He screamed, grasping for Laurius's wrists, for something to hold on to while his mind fell apart. He sprayed across the cushion, shaking and trembling.

"Break for me. Scream for me."

The commands were like hands pumping over him, each sending him into fresh convulsions of release.

Laurius lost himself, exhaling short, sharp cries as he bucked into Artisuren, coming so hard his mind whited out. He'd already spent so much before, from the effects of that drug, he could hardly believe his body managed more. He collapsed over Artisuren, his weight pressing the being onto their defiled lounge. He was still thrusting, gentle and slow as he finally, mercifully, began to soften.

"Gods," he murmured into Artisuren's back. "Your voice is exquisite..." He nuzzled into him, a weary wicked grin sprouting on his face. "And now I know right where to aim next time."

He slipped out slowly, falling onto his rear and then his back, lying across the cool wood floor. He heaved air into his lungs to temper his heartbeat.

Artisuren groaned dizzily into the cushion. He was overwhelmed by the sense of Laurius pressing on him from inside and above at once. He felt squeezed and surrounded. He felt desired. "Don't... If you go straight to that next time, you might kill me," he muttered, but there was no bite to the complaint.

He glanced back in confusion as the pressure inside him slid away. He spotted Laurius lying back on the floor, and a pang of disappointment seized him. Just like last time, he'd drawn away instead of staying. But he could have sworn he'd satisfied him...

Then he noticed how heavily he was breathing, and dejection turned to worry. He pushed himself upright and turned to kneel beside him. His body immediately informed him that it was not ready to move yet. A stab went up his back, but he managed to catch his weight instead of falling on Laurius's ribs. He leaned on his right arm for support and touched the pulse at the base of Laurius's neck with the other. The man's heartbeat was like a mad drum beneath his fingertips. Or maybe that was his hand shaking.

"Hey," he croaked. He reached back for the pillow, which was miraculously still clean except the wet spot in the corner where it had been chewed. He slipped a hand under Laurius's neck and raised it onto the pillow. "I'll get water," he murmured to himself, and burst to his feet. His legs and back vetoed that plan and promptly gave out. Ren cursed as he dropped back to the floor with a bruising thump.

Lauirus cracked an eye open at Artisuren’s sudden collapse. He was too tired to understand what the being had hoped to do. He reached up and pulled him down next to him, curling an arm around his neck and shoulders to pin him to his chest. “I’m not dying, I’m resting. Don’t you people rest afterwards? Be still. Just… rest.”

—-

Tenara and Havitharon had shoved two lounges together and were curled close, reading under a deck overhang. The air was warm and the wind cool, and it created the perfect combination to lull Tenara towards a nap. Still, she read on, yawning occasionally.

Eventually though, she closed the book and slipped down so that her head lay in Havitharon’s lap.

“I forgot how much of a jerk Belgot is,” she muttered, referring to the town hero in the book and the man who appeared, at first glance, to be the heroine’s love interest. She rolled so that she could look up at him. “There really isn’t anything to do on this ship but eat, sleep, read, and…” Her nose crinkled with a smirk. “Well, you know.” She took his hand and held it to her chest, tracing lines along his veins and up his forearm. “I guess it’s a little like a vacation, except we have to share it with those two.” She lifted his hand and pressed a featherlight kiss to his palm…

And then she caught herself wondering if he was lying with her, reading with her, being with her in this moment because he thought he had to be. But, then she remembered how shaken he’d seemed earlier. How he’d clung to her and thanked the universe or fate that it had been her death (or near-death) that pulled him into the world and not another’s.

Tenara shivered at the thought of Edan surviving and taking him away to do as he wished. She couldn’t imagine what Elias would do if he got… No. He’d never get close.

“What does Artisuren’s medicine do?” she asked curiously. “Lucky, I suppose, that he had it in his pocket when Laurius brought him here.”

Ren tensed, confused to be held close against another male's chest like this. The way some Ivis would hold a Yurivis. "Resting?" he mumbled. "If we're resting together, why did you withdraw-?" He realized what he was saying and stopped. He really didn't mean it as a complaint... the fact that it sounded like one made his ears burn with embarrassment.

____________________

Havitharon stroked her nose softly. This did feel kind of relaxing, though he didn't want to admit it to her when she was struggling with her traumatic memories.

"Those pills are extremely expensive. They repair damaged flesh to its original form, but they also temporarily light up every nerve in your body. It's like having an orgasm while someone cuts your guts open." He sighed. "Artisuren's Yurivis likes to take her toys apart and put them back together again. She has a reputation for seeking out Ivie with high pain tolerance. She has sent members of her harem to compete for me multiple times." His fingers stopped brushing her nose and clenched. "That is probably why I am so harsh toward him. He is a dark mirror of what I least want to become."

Laurius cracked an eye open again. “Withdraw?” He was tired. Confused. But was Ren asking why he’d pulled out? “That’s what you do after…” Was Artisuren a—no. He had a child where he’s from…

A flash of guilt wiggled in his chest, reminding him he’d taken a living, breathing person away from their life and their family.

And maybe they had different customs… different rituals regarding sex.

“We don’t typically stay in afterwards… on this world,” he murmured, stroking a hand over his back. “It would get uncomfortable for you later, if I did, I think. It doesn’t mean I like you less. Maybe it means I like you more because I care about your comfort. Women are different… I think it might be easier to stay in…” He thought of Tenara and Havitharon. He supposed they’d had a similar conversation. He had the comical image of Tenara awkwardly waiting for Havi to move on with his night.

“Let’s take a little nap. The door’s locked…” Both of them were in rather vulnerable positions with their trousers around their knees and ankles but… Laurius was in no mood to move.

—-

Tenara frowned, taking Havi’s hand and holding it close. Artisuren’s Yurivis tortured him… He carried these things because she tortured him on a whim? And such a fate would have befallen Havi if he’d lost to one of her Ivie? The torture completely blurred the side effects to her. She was trapped imagining that sweet, gentle-looking creature being abused. Then, the idea of Havi enduring…

Her eyes burned at the thought. “You won’t become that,” she said softly. She sat up, crawled into his lap, straddling his hips, and took his face in her hands. “You’re safe. They can’t hurt you anymore. They can’t have you…” Her throat grew tight. “You’re mine, remember?”

Artisuren pondered his words. So it was normal to withdraw. But he was willing to rest with him. Normally, after-sex joining was like an awards ceremony, its duration based on how well you performed. Those few minutes of validation were normally what he lived for. Apparently, he would get no such thing from Laurius. But it was hard to be disappointed when he kept throwing around words like "I like you" and "I care about your comfort". No one had ever spoken to him in such a way. This man kept taking all the rules and turning them upside down.

He set a hand carefully on the man's chest, and let his muscles ease down where he'd pulled him. "You are very warm. You're certain you're not ill?" he muttered into the side of Laurius's pectoral muscle.

______________

Havi blinked at her. He'd never in a million years wanted the protection of a Yurivis, or expected to trust one. He'd thought these instincts inside him were better denied forever than abused. He planned to let them wither away and take pride in the emptiness that remained. Instead, she'd found him.

He leaned his horns into her chest. "Yes. I am yours," he vowed. He leaned back, scooping her on top of him like he was a big mattress. He grinned, content. "Which of us would be beauty, and which the beast?" he teased.

Laurius nodded, beginning to drift off. “I’m better than fine,” he mumbled. “Sleep while you can, Ren. We’ve got a lot of cleaning to do in a bit…” And he was out, snoring lightly into the air.

——

Tenara laughed, resting against him. “Clearly I’m the beast,” she said. “We have similar tempers, and I live in a castle…” Her fingers padded rhythmically against his chest before she leaned up and took his chin gently in her fingers. Her eyes danced with mischief. “That makes you the fair maiden I’ve trapped in my castle to do with as I please.”

Not exactly how the story went, she thought, but who cared. For once, she wasn’t thinking about the ship or the fact Havi might not feel the same as she did. It was clear he cared for her… in the way that he could.

Artisuren stared at his master's sleeping face like he was deciphering a code. His body was still throbbing with the impression of him, still tingling from such a strange climax. The mellow, faintly spiced scent of this man's skin. The feel of hard muscle pillowing his neck. Every sensation he felt at this moment was unfamiliar. He very slowly relaxed the full weight of his head against Laurius's shoulder. Their sweaty skin stuck together slightly.

Try as he might to sleep as instructed, all his head could seem to do was relive what had just happened between them. He closed his eyes and pressed his face into the man's side, replaying compliments of a sort he'd never heard before, let alone heard addressed to him. Was this real? Reality and dream seemed oddly mixed together. Some time later, dream won out, and his breath deepened into sleep.

____________

Havi smirked at her imagination. "Ah, but my dear beast, you don't do as you please at all," he imitated her singsong tone. "It's precisely because you set me free that I came to love you."