Once Alec managed to make up his mind that they would go to his room, once he'd allowed Richard to convince him -- with nothing more than the steadiness of the other man's presence -- that it would be better to take what was offered than to shatter, it didn't take them long to get there. Alec pondered for a moment if he should leave a note outside the door, but then he let himself do what he hadn't before, let himself reach out and the skin of Richard's neck with his fingertips, and all thoughts of courtesy vanished in favor of this.
"Here, Richard, just." The words came too fast to have any real coherence to them, but that didn't matter, since Alec knew where to touch on Richard's body, knew at least how to take off his clothes.
It felt like there should be a spark of some sort the moment when Alec touched him. Like lightning and thunder releasing the tension in the air between them. Instead, there was... something else. Once they could, the touches rained close and warm. His neck, his face, unlacing and tugging off his clothes. His sword-belt cluttered on the floor and the scholar's robe fluttered open, and Richard reached up, cupping the back of Alec's neck, bringing down his face closer until they were both breathless.
"Right here. Right here."
His fingers were hungry for Alec's pale skin - not nearly as much as the long, elegant fingers that traced his own, by the Green God, months! But hungry nevertheless. There may have been new scars (that was for exploring later), but it was so, so beyond doubt Alec.
His lips traced down the graceful throat, then to the side. And then he drew them back, letting his teeth touch the skin right before the curve of the shoulder.
There was a desperation in the moment that didn't allow for anything else, that didn't permit Alec to think about pain or longing or anything other than the press of Richard's body against his. Alec's fingers grabbed Richard's shoulders once he had the man's shirt off, digging in hard enough to drag himself in and push his body against that of the other man.
He had no doubt that they would make it to the bed, but right now Alec needed the range of motion that standing allowed. His hands were too restless to stay in any one place for long, but while they were where they went they clung hard enough that he might be worried about bruising Richard, if that were the sort of thing that Alec was inclined to worry about.
"Richard, don't stop, keep it like that," and Alec wasn't making any sense now, because he knew he didn't have to ask Richard not to stop, but he did it anyway, for the sake of hearing his own voice against the sound of lips on skin and the rising heat in his own ears, a different kind of storm.
That was all the permission that he needed. His teeth didn't break the skin, as he clung back, moving against the gaunt body, but they came close. His fingers pressed down tracks along Alec's back, then curled a little so his blunt, but a little uneven nails dragged back up.
He sucked on the spot of the bite, then back in towards the pale throat again, nipping against the pulse for a moment before leaning back only so he could take off the robe completely, and anything else that was needed to trail his calloused hand around his torso easily. His pupils were wide when he looked up, but his eyes were crinkled a little.
"I can manage that."
And then Richard dipped his head, took a nipple in between his lips - and squeezed. In a way, he was pushing a little, seeking the boundary where Alec might push to stop the pain and take control more completely. In a different way, he was giving what he knew his friend needed - right now, that wasn't tenderness. (That would come later.)
Alec wasn't careful with his own hands, but then he didn't have the physical power that Richard had, didn't possess the means to hurt Richard beyond what Richard would allow. (It was just that in this state it was all too easy for Alec to forget that Richard allowed too much, that he didn't always have his priorities in the right order.)
Still, right now he had no wish to actually hurt Richard so much as the fact that he was wrestling a desire to touch him as much as he could, and Alec's hands were never all that precise in the best of times. The catch of nails on skin as he pulled Richard's shirt off his shoulders was almost unfortunate, therefore, although Alec spent little enough time worrying about it.
Instead he leaned in to press lips against Richard's skin, pulling him towards Alec's bed as they went. He wondered briefly if Richard would trip over the scattered clothing -- which was ridiculous -- and then if he would. He didn't suppose it mattered. One way or another they were going to find themselves horizontal soon.
As the man between them who had killed a lover, Richard would have argued a statement that he allowed too much. He did give a breathy laugh at the tug towards the bed, straightening a bit - for balance - to follow along. No, he didn't trip on the clothes they were shedding, and if Alec did, the swordsman's strong arm would steady him, holding him close, anyway.
Even as he was kicking off his boots.
He was also listening, and watching. He'd be perfectly willing to take charge or let Alec do what he wanted. Whichever he thought Alec would want - this was not the time to fumble or argue about it. (It might end up quick, bruising, and clumsy - for them, but not conflicted.)
Though burying his fingers into the long strands of hair, maybe tightening them a little, that wasn't something he was going to deny himself. (Later, he might pull. Yank. But not yet.)
And as the man who had sought Richard out in part because he'd learned of that fact, Alec was in no place to judge, no place to refuse if he could make Richard lose his temper, if Richard drew his blade on Alec. So far he hadn't showed signs of slipping, and Alec could see little potential advantage to bringing it up again right now.
There was always that part of him that would rather be held than hated, would rather be loved than killed. (Too weak, always too damn cowardly to carry through.)
Still, he needed those arms at his side, and Alec rested his hand on Richard's lower back as they reached the bed. This would require a little maneuvering to keep them both from falling out, so Alec stayed still and pressed at Richard to get him to rotate around before he pulled away to go for something from the locked desk drawer. It was fortunate enough that they hadn't needed to stop by the kitchen for this.
Besides, Richard wasn't treating Alec as fragile, not right now. He was careful in what he did, as in, not crossing lines, not putting up any, either. But he didn't treat him as fragile - as weak.
He did notice the care with which Alec navigated them, and raised his face to murmur (purr) near his ear.
"We could always dump the blankets on the floor. You couldn't possibly be able to stretch comfortably on that bed, anyway."
Not that the words might evoke the mental image of Alec stretched out over him... or under him, or anything, even as his fingers traced the pale, long arms, the slender torso. Warming, and also... not at all willing to stay away. Hungry.
"Why even bother with the blankets?" Alec said, lips catching Richard's ear and dropping a couple of kissing along the line of it.
"Don't you think that you'll do a good enough job cushioning me?"
Now that it's been broached, there was something appealing about the idea of spreading Richard out on the floor, about not having to worry about toppling them both off the small bed.
It wasn't as though the floor would be that much harder than the mattress, anyway.
Perhaps the idea of being 'civilized', of using the furniture that had been laid out for them, would come into play later, but for now Alec just wanted to hold on to Richard and not let go, wanted to press himself along the length of the other man. Whatever way worked with that would make him happy.
Because when was the last time you swept the floor? But he didn't ask that, instead gasping slightly at the warmth of Alec's mouth at his ear, the caress of his breath.
And he laughed, breathlessly, strong arms tightening for a moment a trifle too hard around the other man. Then nodded.
"I'll do an amazing job cushioning you. Among other things."
Simple, absolute confidence. After which he slid down along Alec's front, still pressing close and not letting go, making sure all of the friction was felt, by both of them. Including running his chin, lightly stubbled from the day's length, across sensitive skin down Alec's chest, and abdomen.
"Want me to demonstrate, or shall I turn your knees to butter first so you'll join me?"
As tempting as the thought of satisfaction of on that scale was, Alec knew that he wouldn't be content with Richard's hair and shoulders to touch, knew that he needed them to be so close it would be hard to tell where he ended and Richard began.
Alec didn't need anything to happen before he'd be ready to give himself over, to take everything that he thought Richard was offering (and then some, but that was as much his fault for not really understanding as it was selfishness).
Alec crouched down to join Richard, hands insistent on his shoulders, on his hips, touching and drawing close, teeth nibbling at Richard's neck, too soft to leave a mark but certainly enough to be felt.
Richard surged forward, pressing against Alec, holding him flush against him, pressing his hips between his man's thighs and supporting him from the back to make sure he was balanced. He moaned into the nibbling, and returned the gesture by grazing his teeth lightly oven the shell of Alec's ear.
"I do, but showing me works even better."
And, without warning, he fell back, drawing Alec with him.
"I'll begin, with a demonstration of the cushioning."
Yes, he was going to land easily on his back, with Alec on top of him. Oh, so easy, his arms moving up to hold the familiar shape of his body, without hesitation.
Had Alec had more time, been able to guess more precisely when Richard was going to move, he might have tried to compensate for the fall, and while that would keep him from being quite so surprised to it, he was awkward and ungraceful enough that it would likely have caused more difficult than help.
As it was, there was a moment of falling and then Richard's smooth catch. Alec had the opportunity to feel Richard's body solid underneath his, and he grunted at the comfort of it, pressing himself down and snaking his legs through Richard's.
"I think I could be yet more comfortable here, if you were so inclined."
Hard to imagine, and yet Alec has the strength of experience with Richard to rely on.
Except the words were a total lie, because Richard reached up, calloused fingers tightening in Alec's hair, and pulled his head down, slightly this side of yanking, down for a kiss. A long, hard, breathless kiss. And then he shifted enough to let the other man know just how ready he was for... anything at all.
"Hmm. Inclined? I might be a bit past that point."
He was teasing, and nudging with words, trying to make sure that Alec would stay focused on him, rather than withdraw in his head. Not that he couldn't handle it, if the latter were to happen. But it would be so much better if it just. Stayed good.
"Perhaps you should show me just how far," Alec said, but then he was all squirming limbs and Richard's underpants were still in the way, and Alec was shifting to try to help him get them off.
His teeth catch on Richard's lips as he leans back in, unable to bear the lack of contact even if it turns his movements more to fumbles, even if he can't watch his own hands any more at the moment.
For now Richard was too new and too sorely missed for Alec to think about letting him go, even given everything else that Richard was, that he deserved better than to have Alec to hold him down, in this place of all of them.
Richard gasped, at the sting of teeth, but he didn't stop moving - helping Alec get them rid of the remaining underwear, shifting closer and closer. His body was taking over almost completely, he rose up, slightly, then forced himself back, back flat on the floor. Eyes bright up at Alec.
His hips rose, making him stand, proud and hot up, closer against the paler man's skin.
"Gladly."
One hand gathered the long hair spilling down over his shoulders and face, keeping it out of the way; the other reached around, running fingers down the entire length of Alec's spine, unimpeded by clothes anymore.
Alec's fingers were slippery-cool with the feeling of the oil as he pressed between Richard's legs, as he let himself massage more than seek out, because for all the need in every nerve, Alec couldn't bear to rush this.
"That's not really an answer." Because there are always limits, and even if Alec doesn't know them, even if his own might kick in well before Richard's do, because he knows he's not the only one who has them.
Then again, it's hard to object too strenuously when Richard has him like this, so very controlled and self-assured even though Alec's sprawled out half on top of him, graceless and gangly.
Richard's breath hitched, at the coolness, the pleasure, the familiar lull between eagerness in actions and sharpness in words, even when it was veiled, fogged. It was a different form of play, of challenge, and he can't get enough of it.
The arm which ended in Alec's hair just held him close. Gangly Alec might be, but he wasn't ever quite graceless, not in the way he breathed, not in the way his voice shaped the words he spoke.
The other hand... well. It caressed a buttock, then around the hip, then started stroking lightly along Alec's stomach, inching closer and closer to the erection he could feel against him - but not rushing to it.
"No? Then what is an answer?" Not then what answer should I give you? That was never how they engaged. Each of them did what he thought he needed, or wanted, and they somehow met in the middle. Inside each other, even when they weren't touching at all.
Alec's finger pushed into Richard in a sudden contrast to the gentle ramping up of Richard's touch, not lingering long that way before he shifted to using two instead. He had been thinking they would take this slow, but having touched he couldn't stop doing so, and he wanted to make Richard feel as desperate as Alec suddenly did.
Whatever else had happened with Richard, it didn't seem like it had been nearly three months for him since he'd had Alec, but it had been for Alec, and that was reason enough to want to rush, to want this so much it hurt.
It wasn't enough to make him stop talking, but Richard would have an idea of how much that would take. (Failing to make sense was another matter, but Alec wasn't there yet either.)
Richard hadn't missed Alec so long - not just now, but he didn't need much more than something in the green eyes to remember his own need, after days had turned into more - Richard in prison, Alec, to the best of his knowledge, wandered off to maybe die...
... his own eyes fluttered closed for a moment, and he gave a quick series of gasps as the long finger, then fingers, entered him, knowing and wanting, all at the same time.
(He didn't want Alec to stop talking. Not right now. Maybe another time, or even later, but not now. Richard was mostly certain that this was a freedom his friend... his lover hadn't had for weeks and weeks on end, for all that Alec always said what he wanted. He would take it all.)
Richard did grin a little, as his hand flitted up to teak a nipple, before lowering again, wrapping around Alec's erection and pressing it against his own.
"That we will." Long, slow strokes, fingers tightening just enough for Alec to feel them. Then his wrist twisted, just so. "That we will." And he pulled his other hand down, so he could press into Alec's mouth, certain, steady, eager. (Okay, maybe temporarily stop talking. But only because he was busy doing something else.)
Every touch from Richard's hands to Alec's body sent a sharp pang of desire through Alec, made him want to cry out in pleasure and need, in encouragement and demand. He didn't: words felt so much better in his mouth and he knew that Richard knew what he needed without Alec having to specifically ask for it, without needing to point out what he liked.
There were times that Alec very much enjoyed Richard's ability to read his body.
Alec's tongue pressed against Richard's finger as he scraped his teeth against the edge of him, threatening and promising in equal measure, while his own fingers continued to focus on opening Richard for him. He was certainly ready to be taking, he figured, no matter the patience he made himself exert.
Patience. Patience seemed odd, on Alec, but - at the same time - Richard knew it meant caring. After whatever Alec'd been through here, that meant a lot. But it wasn't the only thing that Alec needed. That? That was to bring all that'd been pent up--
All right, at least some that had been pent up, to an actual head, to lance it and move forward. They'd clear the air another time. They'd be gentle another time. Now? Now Richard moved his hips in the same rhythm as Alec's fingers, but his hand around them slowed further, teasing, but not satisfying. He wanted... he wanted Alec to be the sword, tonight. Unhesitating, once they were in the last steps of this, ready.
He wanted Alec to find peace, between mind and body, a pace that rarely came to him outside bed.
He smirked at him, and replaced his finger with lips, rising up just enough for that. To steal the air from the beautiful lips.
It was hard to imagine not caring about Richard, after everything (and even that wasn't as much for Alec as it was for Richard). Richard's safety mattered to him almost as much as Alec's didn't, even if it was hard to imagine anyone hurting Richard.
Easier here, where some of the people sent shivers up Alec's spine before he even got to the monsters.
Right now he was willing to let go of all of that, to let it be something they would address in the future. He already had his hands full, to speak metaphorically (but also literally).
Alec pulled his own fingers out of Richard and moved to spread the oil across himself before he spread Richard's thighs, nails digging in a little but not so much as he did on other occasions.
He didn't ask if Richard was ready before he started to press in because he had tasted that in the kiss, could see it on his face.
Relaxing his muscles was not an action he was a stranger to, and Richard wasn't late in doing so. He wanted to have Alec sheathed inside him, soon, and deep. Still, the sensation - familiar and still burning the slightest bit - made his eyes flutter closed for a moment. Stretch, and friction, and the slickness of the oil.
He spread his thighs further apart, then closed his calves behind Alec's hips. A palm remained against Alec's abdomen, then slowly slid up, resting against the other man's shoulder.
You've lost weight. The thought finally formed in his mind, and then he let go of it, instead smiling up with the careful breath out...
... and squeezed his inner muscles, a tiny bit, around Alec. There were many ways to make him lose control. Richard intended to try at least some of them, in the coming minutes.
Alec groaned at the sensation, feeling Richard all around him and it was everything he needed and only half of what he wanted. It was difficult for the moment to focus on anything more than the sensation itself, so he didn't try, knowing that Richard would understand, might even appreciate that he'd driven Alec to feeling this so quickly.
Then he recovered, as much as he needed to, still unable to concentrate beyond the facts of what they were doing -- and wasn't that nice, wasn't that the best -- and he started to move, pulling out of Richard just so he could press back in, just so that he could fill him all over again.
So they could both feel that intimacy and Alec wasn't a man to pray, loathed it, but this was proof that he didn't need to.
Intimacy was the word. Richard's back arched at the second thrust, but he smiled, at the rightness of it. In a little bit, he'd not have the presence of mind to do that, or to raise a hand and stroke the delicate features of the man above him, but he could do it now. He could let his eyes feast on the fact that Alec was relaxing, even as got more intent, more focused. Pulled away from what he'd lived through for too long and into this moment, into the two of them. (Those spare moments of peace for him.)
The next time Alec pulled out, Richard shifted his hips enough to meet the thrust in. Not urging for faster (yet), but giving, as well as taking.
His thumb ran down the pulse at the side of Alec's throat, and then over the the angly shoulder. Thinking what manner of marks he could leave on the pale skin, in moments when they are to tightly tangled to stop themselves, and too far gone to want to stop each other. Soon, his own skin prickled with anticipation.
Alec could already feel his thoughts slipping away into awareness of the specifics, the big picture that this was Richard and that that was important still present, but overshadowed by the sensation of Richard around his cock, by his touch against Richard's body. Alec couldn't imagine doing this with someone he didn't trust (didn't love, as much as he admitted that he could love, and that he wanted to love Richard), and that meant he could allow those facts to become background noise, a guarantee that heightened the rest of it.
Alec pulled out, then pressed back in, and his fingers tightened against Richard's hips, not caring for the pain he might cause -- Richard would stop him or allow him, as he wished, and Alec wouldn't truly harm him, not like this -- so much as the closeness that he needed at the moment.
"Tell me how long you think it's been since we did this last," Alec demanded, needy in words as well as in touch, demanding Richard's attention and insistent that he would keep it.
Pain was closeness - with the two of them in particular. Pressure on fresh cuts and bruises, as well as light sprinkling of alcohol where it was needed, and, sometimes, salve. Contrast between prodding and soothing. That was how they had always been, and, somehow, the pain inflicted was never as much as, let alone more, than everything else.
The sting of it, and the pressure and friction of Alec inside him was making Richard want to stop thinking and surrender to it - but surrendering to Alec was never that simple.
"This... this, maybe a few days. Other things, a couple of nights. There were... complications, last night." You were upset wasn't something he was going to say, but the memory of Alec, spilling words about his sister (spilling disappointment), of Alec shaking with memory and pain - it made him focus a little harder on Alec here and now. He gave a smile up, surging up to give a lips-only bite at the side of the paler man's neck. "You saw me angry. You liked seeing me angry."
Alec badly both did and did not want to know why things were complicated the night before, but he didn't feel that Richard would hold it from him if he asked, and for the moment that was part of what would keep from pressing for every detail. The other part came from what this moment was about, and the fact that Alec didn't want to distract Richard from it when they'd gotten so far.
When he ached to close the deal, when his body was moving against Richard's and there was so much of everything to indulge in. It was a good thing that Alec was as selfish as he was, because this way he could still try to have Richard more than he did.
"You'll have to show me, sometime." Because he can imagine that, can imagine Richard's fury and his heart thumps with the ache of it, even as his hips snap forward, pursuing what he had now.
Richard's pleasure-darkened eyes glittered up at Alec, and he smirked.
"You do like it when I'm aggressive. Whatever shape that takes."
And, if there was acquiescence from Alec, he might flip them, quickly, without even letting Alec out of himself. He didn't have to. But, just then, with Alec torn between distraction and complete focus on here and now, he thought it might be... good. To take the choice away from his lover, if only for a little while.
"I'm not certain I can recall all the shapes. Perhaps you should refresh my memory."
An invitation if ever there had been one, and one that Alec was all too eager to extend. He liked having Richard, would carry through with that without any regret, without feeling that he wanted things otherwise, but he was certain that he had already been given an offer, one which he was delighted to accept.
Well, it was a little more awkward in reality than in his head. But only a little, with Richard's arm wrapped around Alec and the other one pushing against the ground and balancing the two of them as he shifted sideways, let Alec's hips weigh on one of his thighs, and then pushed them the rest of the way over. He did let Alec slip out, but only so he could adjust them better. Well, and so he could brush long strands from the paler man's face and kiss him, deeply.
Even while one of his hands lined them up and he sank down on the slicked-up erection once more. The sensation heated up the kiss just that little bit more, and his teeth grazed Alec's lower lip.
Alec's hands balled into fists for a moment, nails fighting to dig into his palms, not because he found the sensation unpleasant but because of the opposite, and because he wanted to be able to enjoy it, at least for a little while.
His response to the kiss was eager, almost desperate, and if Richard had control Alec was losing it, and relishing the sensation of being able to do so, to let go and know that Richard would catch him, would always catch him.
"Good thing that much goes both ways." His voice is a careful contrast to the needs of his body, cool and calm when the rest of him is anything but (and a pleasant change from how that is still true the rest of the time, in a different way).
How could he not? Catch him, raise him up higher, and catch him again, until they were both lighter than the thoughts that filled Alec's head all the time, well, not the heavy ones. The others.
But he hoped he was chasing most thoughts out, right now, Richard did, as he kissed more and moved his hips back and forth, and up and down, over Alec's shaft, his own erection sliding close over the flat stomach. Fast, and deep, his hands planted on each side of Alec's head and his eyes trying to flutter closed... but he kept them on Alec's. On Alec's eyes, on Alec's face, on the generous lips that he both wanted and feared to bruise kissing.
"Both... ways," he gasped. "Around and... around."
Giving everything of himself, to get everything. That was how it had to be, with Richard. And Alec stayed for nothing less.
"To me and back again," Alec corrected, not because it meant anything different the way that Richard said it, or because the phrasing particularly mattered, but because he could, and Alec liked to listen to himself speak almost as much as he liked to hear Richard. He knew that this was just another argument that Richard was going to let Alec win.
Another pseudo-argument that didn't change their relationship, didn't mean anything other than the fact that it amused Alec to have it.
Alec leaned in, closing their gap to kiss Richard, to claim and be claimed, to nip at Richard's lips. This was the only thing that mattered right now, and it mattered so much more than it ever had before. It always felt that way.
Richard was maybe a little too far gone to argue, too, but he would have let Alec win it, anyway. What use did he have for winning most arguments against Alec, anyway?
"To you... Back again."
And then Alec moved, under him, the shift (besides the kiss) changing the angle just enough that Richard stiffened with pleasure, then moved faster, his breaths changing from gasped to cried out, against Alec's lips. His nails dug into the floor, hips stuttering as he tried to hold back just a little longer, to teeter on the edge of exquisite back-and-forth, of complete sharing, before he toppled beyond recovery.
Perhaps as much use as Alec had for winning them, but he still grinned like he'd conquered an obstacle, the words meaning almost as much as the way that Richard's body shifted against him.
Alec could feel how close he was, and he kept pushing Richard through the shift, kept chasing his own pleasure as well. His hips pressed into Richard, too far gone to have any sort of sensible rhythm and too close to the edge to find words for response when the smug smile and the way his hands tightened on Richard's hips said enough.
Richard's body tensed, whipcord tight, and moved with heightened urgency. His eyes didn't stray from the green ones - while, for one thing in his life, he would yield, on the 'which one will let go first' - he wasn't going to lose the battle of losing himself in his own pleasure, rather than giving all he had, as well as receiving.
When he came, it was with a low cry that he bit his lip over, then, with the next thrust, he let go, Alec's name tumbling out as he painted the chest of the man under him in pale, hot lines.
He was beautiful, always that, but even more so in the current moment, when he was so thoroughly Alec's that there couldn't be any doubt, that the call of his name was implicit before it was said.
Alec didn't stop moving to watch him only because he couldn't afford to, because he was so close himself that it was impossible to make himself slow down, to appreciate the moment, and because it was better to make more moments like it anyway. Richard was here, with him, and everything might not be okay, but at the moment it was good, and that was more than he deserved, enough to make his pleasure complete.
Richard stuttered, on top of him, and only stilled for a moment, when sensations overwhelmed him. After that, he took on the fact that Alec wasn't done, and resumed moving, slowly going from reflex, to focusing down on his lover again, to relaxing a little on purpose and enjoying the pressure and friction where he was sensitive.
He could deal with sensitive.
The hyacinth eyes opened, clearer, down at Alec, and he shifted his weight to one hand, so he could touch the pale chest under him with the other. Thumb circling around a nipple, warming the sweaty flesh. He avoided his cooling semen, but the warmth was making the scent deeper and sharper. Something he could still ignore, moving, caressing, to bring Alec over the edge with him - completely.
Alec didn't have much farther to go, and feeling how eager Richard was for him to get there drew him even closer, as if Richard's body alone wouldn't be enough to manage that. Alec kept his hands holding instead of caressing him, but the intent was the same, and if Alec called out Richard's name as he came, that couldn't be a surprise, because he wasn't very good at being quiet generally, and because it was Richard who had brought him to this.
Who was here with him again.
Alec's usually sharp green eyes were unfocused and vague as his pleasure consumed his thoughts, but he'd craved this and wasn't inclined to try to come back down any quicker than he had to.
[ Not that that should be much of a surprise to Richard, or will be. Alec feels needy and desperate to affirm that at least he has this much, even if he needs the distraction more than he has before.
There's too much of this place that's terrible for him to be capable of resisting the part that is good. ]
Most people here are selfish. But there are also more of these showers.
[ Richard nods, rising with him and lacing his fingers with Alec's for a moment, enough to tug him with his excited eyes, brighter than moments ago, towards the communal bathroom. And, there, he gets to disrobing him, quick, skilled. ]
[ Then he runs his fingers, again, over the long, heavy hair, looking up to claim a kiss, and then another. ]
[ Alec is content for right now to let Richard do most of the work. Instead he concentrates on returning the kisses. ]
[ It would be nice for Richard to be undressed, but Alec allows him to keep his clothes on for the moment, focusing on gripping the back of Richard's neck to hold the kiss instead for now. ]
[ Well, that just lets Richard run his hands along exposed skin, comb his fingers, gently, with the rhythm of the kiss, through Alec's hair. Slow, and close, and letting lips and tongues fight their own fight. ]
[ He can feel his breeches starting to chafe, just a little, as he becomes more sensitive... and that only makes him deepen the kiss. His thumb brushes the edge of an ear, then slides further down, again. ]
[ It takes a moment after that, until his first moan into a kiss, before he lowers his hands from the grip they've been using to hold Richard close to him to instead start to work on Richard's clothing. ]
[ It's complicated with Alec's thoughts not fully on the task, but he's working on baring Richard for himself. ]
Week 10, Day 1
Date: 2013-12-10 12:10 am (UTC)From:"Here, Richard, just." The words came too fast to have any real coherence to them, but that didn't matter, since Alec knew where to touch on Richard's body, knew at least how to take off his clothes.
TA DA DA DUM
Date: 2013-12-10 05:50 am (UTC)From:"Right here. Right here."
His fingers were hungry for Alec's pale skin - not nearly as much as the long, elegant fingers that traced his own, by the Green God, months! But hungry nevertheless. There may have been new scars (that was for exploring later), but it was so, so beyond doubt Alec.
His lips traced down the graceful throat, then to the side. And then he drew them back, letting his teeth touch the skin right before the curve of the shoulder.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-10 11:03 am (UTC)From:He had no doubt that they would make it to the bed, but right now Alec needed the range of motion that standing allowed. His hands were too restless to stay in any one place for long, but while they were where they went they clung hard enough that he might be worried about bruising Richard, if that were the sort of thing that Alec was inclined to worry about.
"Richard, don't stop, keep it like that," and Alec wasn't making any sense now, because he knew he didn't have to ask Richard not to stop, but he did it anyway, for the sake of hearing his own voice against the sound of lips on skin and the rising heat in his own ears, a different kind of storm.
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Date: 2013-12-10 11:40 am (UTC)From:He sucked on the spot of the bite, then back in towards the pale throat again, nipping against the pulse for a moment before leaning back only so he could take off the robe completely, and anything else that was needed to trail his calloused hand around his torso easily. His pupils were wide when he looked up, but his eyes were crinkled a little.
"I can manage that."
And then Richard dipped his head, took a nipple in between his lips - and squeezed. In a way, he was pushing a little, seeking the boundary where Alec might push to stop the pain and take control more completely. In a different way, he was giving what he knew his friend needed - right now, that wasn't tenderness. (That would come later.)
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Date: 2013-12-11 02:30 am (UTC)From:Still, right now he had no wish to actually hurt Richard so much as the fact that he was wrestling a desire to touch him as much as he could, and Alec's hands were never all that precise in the best of times. The catch of nails on skin as he pulled Richard's shirt off his shoulders was almost unfortunate, therefore, although Alec spent little enough time worrying about it.
Instead he leaned in to press lips against Richard's skin, pulling him towards Alec's bed as they went. He wondered briefly if Richard would trip over the scattered clothing -- which was ridiculous -- and then if he would. He didn't suppose it mattered. One way or another they were going to find themselves horizontal soon.
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Date: 2013-12-11 03:21 pm (UTC)From:Even as he was kicking off his boots.
He was also listening, and watching. He'd be perfectly willing to take charge or let Alec do what he wanted. Whichever he thought Alec would want - this was not the time to fumble or argue about it. (It might end up quick, bruising, and clumsy - for them, but not conflicted.)
Though burying his fingers into the long strands of hair, maybe tightening them a little, that wasn't something he was going to deny himself. (Later, he might pull. Yank. But not yet.)
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Date: 2013-12-12 04:11 am (UTC)From:There was always that part of him that would rather be held than hated, would rather be loved than killed. (Too weak, always too damn cowardly to carry through.)
Still, he needed those arms at his side, and Alec rested his hand on Richard's lower back as they reached the bed. This would require a little maneuvering to keep them both from falling out, so Alec stayed still and pressed at Richard to get him to rotate around before he pulled away to go for something from the locked desk drawer. It was fortunate enough that they hadn't needed to stop by the kitchen for this.
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Date: 2013-12-16 10:35 pm (UTC)From:Besides, Richard wasn't treating Alec as fragile, not right now. He was careful in what he did, as in, not crossing lines, not putting up any, either. But he didn't treat him as fragile - as weak.
He did notice the care with which Alec navigated them, and raised his face to murmur (purr) near his ear.
"We could always dump the blankets on the floor. You couldn't possibly be able to stretch comfortably on that bed, anyway."
Not that the words might evoke the mental image of Alec stretched out over him... or under him, or anything, even as his fingers traced the pale, long arms, the slender torso. Warming, and also... not at all willing to stay away. Hungry.
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Date: 2013-12-18 11:45 pm (UTC)From:"Don't you think that you'll do a good enough job cushioning me?"
Now that it's been broached, there was something appealing about the idea of spreading Richard out on the floor, about not having to worry about toppling them both off the small bed.
It wasn't as though the floor would be that much harder than the mattress, anyway.
Perhaps the idea of being 'civilized', of using the furniture that had been laid out for them, would come into play later, but for now Alec just wanted to hold on to Richard and not let go, wanted to press himself along the length of the other man. Whatever way worked with that would make him happy.
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Date: 2013-12-19 02:59 pm (UTC)From:And he laughed, breathlessly, strong arms tightening for a moment a trifle too hard around the other man. Then nodded.
"I'll do an amazing job cushioning you. Among other things."
Simple, absolute confidence. After which he slid down along Alec's front, still pressing close and not letting go, making sure all of the friction was felt, by both of them. Including running his chin, lightly stubbled from the day's length, across sensitive skin down Alec's chest, and abdomen.
"Want me to demonstrate, or shall I turn your knees to butter first so you'll join me?"
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Date: 2013-12-22 12:35 am (UTC)From:Alec didn't need anything to happen before he'd be ready to give himself over, to take everything that he thought Richard was offering (and then some, but that was as much his fault for not really understanding as it was selfishness).
Alec crouched down to join Richard, hands insistent on his shoulders, on his hips, touching and drawing close, teeth nibbling at Richard's neck, too soft to leave a mark but certainly enough to be felt.
"Care to guess?"
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Date: 2013-12-23 11:05 am (UTC)From:"I do, but showing me works even better."
And, without warning, he fell back, drawing Alec with him.
"I'll begin, with a demonstration of the cushioning."
Yes, he was going to land easily on his back, with Alec on top of him. Oh, so easy, his arms moving up to hold the familiar shape of his body, without hesitation.
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Date: 2013-12-28 10:08 pm (UTC)From:As it was, there was a moment of falling and then Richard's smooth catch. Alec had the opportunity to feel Richard's body solid underneath his, and he grunted at the comfort of it, pressing himself down and snaking his legs through Richard's.
"I think I could be yet more comfortable here, if you were so inclined."
Hard to imagine, and yet Alec has the strength of experience with Richard to rely on.
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Date: 2013-12-29 01:48 am (UTC)From:Except the words were a total lie, because Richard reached up, calloused fingers tightening in Alec's hair, and pulled his head down, slightly this side of yanking, down for a kiss. A long, hard, breathless kiss. And then he shifted enough to let the other man know just how ready he was for... anything at all.
"Hmm. Inclined? I might be a bit past that point."
He was teasing, and nudging with words, trying to make sure that Alec would stay focused on him, rather than withdraw in his head. Not that he couldn't handle it, if the latter were to happen. But it would be so much better if it just. Stayed good.
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Date: 2013-12-30 05:29 pm (UTC)From:His teeth catch on Richard's lips as he leans back in, unable to bear the lack of contact even if it turns his movements more to fumbles, even if he can't watch his own hands any more at the moment.
For now Richard was too new and too sorely missed for Alec to think about letting him go, even given everything else that Richard was, that he deserved better than to have Alec to hold him down, in this place of all of them.
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Date: 2013-12-30 06:27 pm (UTC)From:His hips rose, making him stand, proud and hot up, closer against the paler man's skin.
"Gladly."
One hand gathered the long hair spilling down over his shoulders and face, keeping it out of the way; the other reached around, running fingers down the entire length of Alec's spine, unimpeded by clothes anymore.
"All the way, Alec. That far."
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Date: 2014-01-02 09:01 pm (UTC)From:"That's not really an answer." Because there are always limits, and even if Alec doesn't know them, even if his own might kick in well before Richard's do, because he knows he's not the only one who has them.
Then again, it's hard to object too strenuously when Richard has him like this, so very controlled and self-assured even though Alec's sprawled out half on top of him, graceless and gangly.
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Date: 2014-01-09 03:03 pm (UTC)From:The arm which ended in Alec's hair just held him close. Gangly Alec might be, but he wasn't ever quite graceless, not in the way he breathed, not in the way his voice shaped the words he spoke.
The other hand... well. It caressed a buttock, then around the hip, then started stroking lightly along Alec's stomach, inching closer and closer to the erection he could feel against him - but not rushing to it.
"No? Then what is an answer?" Not then what answer should I give you? That was never how they engaged. Each of them did what he thought he needed, or wanted, and they somehow met in the middle. Inside each other, even when they weren't touching at all.
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Date: 2014-01-11 04:10 pm (UTC)From:Whatever else had happened with Richard, it didn't seem like it had been nearly three months for him since he'd had Alec, but it had been for Alec, and that was reason enough to want to rush, to want this so much it hurt.
It wasn't enough to make him stop talking, but Richard would have an idea of how much that would take. (Failing to make sense was another matter, but Alec wasn't there yet either.)
"We'll find out when we get there."
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Date: 2014-01-14 01:37 pm (UTC)From:... his own eyes fluttered closed for a moment, and he gave a quick series of gasps as the long finger, then fingers, entered him, knowing and wanting, all at the same time.
(He didn't want Alec to stop talking. Not right now. Maybe another time, or even later, but not now. Richard was mostly certain that this was a freedom his friend... his lover hadn't had for weeks and weeks on end, for all that Alec always said what he wanted. He would take it all.)
Richard did grin a little, as his hand flitted up to teak a nipple, before lowering again, wrapping around Alec's erection and pressing it against his own.
"That we will." Long, slow strokes, fingers tightening just enough for Alec to feel them. Then his wrist twisted, just so. "That we will." And he pulled his other hand down, so he could press into Alec's mouth, certain, steady, eager. (Okay, maybe temporarily stop talking. But only because he was busy doing something else.)
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Date: 2014-01-19 07:48 pm (UTC)From:There were times that Alec very much enjoyed Richard's ability to read his body.
Alec's tongue pressed against Richard's finger as he scraped his teeth against the edge of him, threatening and promising in equal measure, while his own fingers continued to focus on opening Richard for him. He was certainly ready to be taking, he figured, no matter the patience he made himself exert.
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Date: 2014-01-25 04:09 pm (UTC)From:All right, at least some that had been pent up, to an actual head, to lance it and move forward. They'd clear the air another time. They'd be gentle another time. Now? Now Richard moved his hips in the same rhythm as Alec's fingers, but his hand around them slowed further, teasing, but not satisfying. He wanted... he wanted Alec to be the sword, tonight. Unhesitating, once they were in the last steps of this, ready.
He wanted Alec to find peace, between mind and body, a pace that rarely came to him outside bed.
He smirked at him, and replaced his finger with lips, rising up just enough for that. To steal the air from the beautiful lips.
They'd have time to breathe later.
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Date: 2014-01-26 09:01 pm (UTC)From:Easier here, where some of the people sent shivers up Alec's spine before he even got to the monsters.
Right now he was willing to let go of all of that, to let it be something they would address in the future. He already had his hands full, to speak metaphorically (but also literally).
Alec pulled his own fingers out of Richard and moved to spread the oil across himself before he spread Richard's thighs, nails digging in a little but not so much as he did on other occasions.
He didn't ask if Richard was ready before he started to press in because he had tasted that in the kiss, could see it on his face.
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Date: 2014-01-28 01:54 pm (UTC)From:He spread his thighs further apart, then closed his calves behind Alec's hips. A palm remained against Alec's abdomen, then slowly slid up, resting against the other man's shoulder.
You've lost weight. The thought finally formed in his mind, and then he let go of it, instead smiling up with the careful breath out...
... and squeezed his inner muscles, a tiny bit, around Alec. There were many ways to make him lose control. Richard intended to try at least some of them, in the coming minutes.
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Date: 2014-02-01 02:58 pm (UTC)From:Then he recovered, as much as he needed to, still unable to concentrate beyond the facts of what they were doing -- and wasn't that nice, wasn't that the best -- and he started to move, pulling out of Richard just so he could press back in, just so that he could fill him all over again.
So they could both feel that intimacy and Alec wasn't a man to pray, loathed it, but this was proof that he didn't need to.
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Date: 2014-02-02 02:44 pm (UTC)From:The next time Alec pulled out, Richard shifted his hips enough to meet the thrust in. Not urging for faster (yet), but giving, as well as taking.
His thumb ran down the pulse at the side of Alec's throat, and then over the the angly shoulder. Thinking what manner of marks he could leave on the pale skin, in moments when they are to tightly tangled to stop themselves, and too far gone to want to stop each other. Soon, his own skin prickled with anticipation.
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Date: 2014-02-04 01:22 am (UTC)From:Alec pulled out, then pressed back in, and his fingers tightened against Richard's hips, not caring for the pain he might cause -- Richard would stop him or allow him, as he wished, and Alec wouldn't truly harm him, not like this -- so much as the closeness that he needed at the moment.
"Tell me how long you think it's been since we did this last," Alec demanded, needy in words as well as in touch, demanding Richard's attention and insistent that he would keep it.
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Date: 2014-02-10 12:50 pm (UTC)From:The sting of it, and the pressure and friction of Alec inside him was making Richard want to stop thinking and surrender to it - but surrendering to Alec was never that simple.
"This... this, maybe a few days. Other things, a couple of nights. There were... complications, last night." You were upset wasn't something he was going to say, but the memory of Alec, spilling words about his sister (spilling disappointment), of Alec shaking with memory and pain - it made him focus a little harder on Alec here and now. He gave a smile up, surging up to give a lips-only bite at the side of the paler man's neck. "You saw me angry. You liked seeing me angry."
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Date: 2014-02-11 12:08 am (UTC)From:When he ached to close the deal, when his body was moving against Richard's and there was so much of everything to indulge in. It was a good thing that Alec was as selfish as he was, because this way he could still try to have Richard more than he did.
"You'll have to show me, sometime." Because he can imagine that, can imagine Richard's fury and his heart thumps with the ache of it, even as his hips snap forward, pursuing what he had now.
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Date: 2014-02-21 06:17 pm (UTC)From:"You do like it when I'm aggressive. Whatever shape that takes."
And, if there was acquiescence from Alec, he might flip them, quickly, without even letting Alec out of himself. He didn't have to. But, just then, with Alec torn between distraction and complete focus on here and now, he thought it might be... good. To take the choice away from his lover, if only for a little while.
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Date: 2014-02-23 08:10 pm (UTC)From:An invitation if ever there had been one, and one that Alec was all too eager to extend. He liked having Richard, would carry through with that without any regret, without feeling that he wanted things otherwise, but he was certain that he had already been given an offer, one which he was delighted to accept.
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Date: 2014-02-27 02:20 pm (UTC)From:Well, it was a little more awkward in reality than in his head. But only a little, with Richard's arm wrapped around Alec and the other one pushing against the ground and balancing the two of them as he shifted sideways, let Alec's hips weigh on one of his thighs, and then pushed them the rest of the way over. He did let Alec slip out, but only so he could adjust them better. Well, and so he could brush long strands from the paler man's face and kiss him, deeply.
Even while one of his hands lined them up and he sank down on the slicked-up erection once more. The sensation heated up the kiss just that little bit more, and his teeth grazed Alec's lower lip.
"With... great... pleasure."
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Date: 2014-03-01 12:04 am (UTC)From:His response to the kiss was eager, almost desperate, and if Richard had control Alec was losing it, and relishing the sensation of being able to do so, to let go and know that Richard would catch him, would always catch him.
"Good thing that much goes both ways." His voice is a careful contrast to the needs of his body, cool and calm when the rest of him is anything but (and a pleasant change from how that is still true the rest of the time, in a different way).
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Date: 2014-03-03 03:02 pm (UTC)From:But he hoped he was chasing most thoughts out, right now, Richard did, as he kissed more and moved his hips back and forth, and up and down, over Alec's shaft, his own erection sliding close over the flat stomach. Fast, and deep, his hands planted on each side of Alec's head and his eyes trying to flutter closed... but he kept them on Alec's. On Alec's eyes, on Alec's face, on the generous lips that he both wanted and feared to bruise kissing.
"Both... ways," he gasped. "Around and... around."
Giving everything of himself, to get everything. That was how it had to be, with Richard. And Alec stayed for nothing less.
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Date: 2014-03-06 12:18 am (UTC)From:Another pseudo-argument that didn't change their relationship, didn't mean anything other than the fact that it amused Alec to have it.
Alec leaned in, closing their gap to kiss Richard, to claim and be claimed, to nip at Richard's lips. This was the only thing that mattered right now, and it mattered so much more than it ever had before. It always felt that way.
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Date: 2014-03-09 10:45 pm (UTC)From:"To you... Back again."
And then Alec moved, under him, the shift (besides the kiss) changing the angle just enough that Richard stiffened with pleasure, then moved faster, his breaths changing from gasped to cried out, against Alec's lips. His nails dug into the floor, hips stuttering as he tried to hold back just a little longer, to teeter on the edge of exquisite back-and-forth, of complete sharing, before he toppled beyond recovery.
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Date: 2014-03-18 12:45 am (UTC)From:Alec could feel how close he was, and he kept pushing Richard through the shift, kept chasing his own pleasure as well. His hips pressed into Richard, too far gone to have any sort of sensible rhythm and too close to the edge to find words for response when the smug smile and the way his hands tightened on Richard's hips said enough.
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Date: 2014-03-23 06:31 pm (UTC)From:When he came, it was with a low cry that he bit his lip over, then, with the next thrust, he let go, Alec's name tumbling out as he painted the chest of the man under him in pale, hot lines.
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Date: 2014-03-30 06:50 pm (UTC)From:Alec didn't stop moving to watch him only because he couldn't afford to, because he was so close himself that it was impossible to make himself slow down, to appreciate the moment, and because it was better to make more moments like it anyway. Richard was here, with him, and everything might not be okay, but at the moment it was good, and that was more than he deserved, enough to make his pleasure complete.
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Date: 2014-03-31 12:19 pm (UTC)From:He could deal with sensitive.
The hyacinth eyes opened, clearer, down at Alec, and he shifted his weight to one hand, so he could touch the pale chest under him with the other. Thumb circling around a nipple, warming the sweaty flesh. He avoided his cooling semen, but the warmth was making the scent deeper and sharper. Something he could still ignore, moving, caressing, to bring Alec over the edge with him - completely.
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Date: 2014-04-12 12:31 am (UTC)From:Who was here with him again.
Alec's usually sharp green eyes were unfocused and vague as his pleasure consumed his thoughts, but he'd craved this and wasn't inclined to try to come back down any quicker than he had to.
Week 11 Day 7
Date: 2014-03-10 01:48 am (UTC)From:Not particularly.
[ Not that that should be much of a surprise to Richard, or will be. Alec feels needy and desperate to affirm that at least he has this much, even if he needs the distraction more than he has before.
There's too much of this place that's terrible for him to be capable of resisting the part that is good. ]
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Date: 2014-03-15 07:42 pm (UTC)From:[ Slow smirk, at the mental image of getting to the showers naked, no matter who might see. But he doesn't suggest that. ]
Get there now, and see how many people get to line up before the locked door before we're done.
[ Because who'd be counting how many people knock? ]
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Date: 2014-03-30 04:25 pm (UTC)From:[Alec doesn't care about that at all, and he rises to his feet with a languid movement.]
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Date: 2014-03-31 12:10 pm (UTC)From:[ Richard nods, rising with him and lacing his fingers with Alec's for a moment, enough to tug him with his excited eyes, brighter than moments ago, towards the communal bathroom. And, there, he gets to disrobing him, quick, skilled. ]
[ Then he runs his fingers, again, over the long, heavy hair, looking up to claim a kiss, and then another. ]
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Date: 2014-04-08 12:26 am (UTC)From:[ It would be nice for Richard to be undressed, but Alec allows him to keep his clothes on for the moment, focusing on gripping the back of Richard's neck to hold the kiss instead for now. ]
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Date: 2014-04-11 04:08 pm (UTC)From:[ He can feel his breeches starting to chafe, just a little, as he becomes more sensitive... and that only makes him deepen the kiss. His thumb brushes the edge of an ear, then slides further down, again. ]
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Date: 2014-04-12 09:47 pm (UTC)From:[ It's complicated with Alec's thoughts not fully on the task, but he's working on baring Richard for himself. ]