After the End Ch. 10

On the last word, I felt something unfamiliar stroke up the center of my abdomen. The sudden contact when I couldn't see or respond confused my brain's interpretation. It was soft, but not like a finger. Lighter, narrower, with a defined edge.

I felt the same sensation go downwards -- flexible but firm, and barely a brushstroke. Finally it came to me -- that was a feather! A stiff feather like from a large bird's wingtip. Oh my god -- they were going to use feathers on me while I was like this?!

On one hand, it was possibly a relief that no one's fingers were going to be digging in to my most ticklish joints and making me laugh until I couldn't breathe. On the other hand, based solely on what the feather felt like on my abs, which were not very sensitive, I was sure it was perfectly capable of intolerable stimulation to my nervous system.

A second feather stroked slowly up my torso, closer to my right side, while the original stayed at the groove running south from my sternum. I shivered. It was incredible how much I felt just from those two tiny points of contact. No doubt my skin was already on high alert due to my situation, but the feathers themselves were simply wicked weapons. I had to force myself not to hold my breath, dreading the imminent moment when they would work their way either up or down to where they could really do some damage.

My captors made me wait, of course. No point wasting a high card when you could win the trick with a low one. The feathers played softly in the center of my body, sometimes straying to my more ticklish sides, sometimes feinting toward a bigger target like my nipples or belly button. I couldn't believe I was already laughing -- almost more in anticipation than because of what I was feeling. Without being able to see, it was impossible to frame or scale sensation, so everything seemed worse than it might otherwise have been.

The feather on the right started stroking horizontally along my flank, from the front to where my side curved into the mattress, just above my hip. That was really starting to tickle, especially the way I was elongated. When the blindfold had gone on, Avery had still been sitting on my right, so I guessed it was him, but there was no way to know. The other feather moved to mirror the strokes on my left side.

Both feathers gradually climbed my body -- across the soft stretch of my flanks and up the ladder of my ribs. God, I was giggling embarrassingly and my arms were pulling on the ropes, and barely anything had happened. It didn't take more than barely anything for me, when it came to tickling. Of course, pulling did absolutely nothing to help me. My armpits stayed just as helplessly exposed.

"You ready for this, Vik?" Avery's voice tantalized from above. His feather, or the one I thought was his, hovered just below my hollow. The other one did the same on the left.

"No," I squeaked. The feathers threatening two of my most ticklish spots were also managing to send pulses of need through my cock, almost as if they were stroking me there too. It was certainly much more rigid than it should be, when nothing had touched it. I tried to stop my hips from wriggling, but there was no way to keep my shaft from self-lubricating for sex it wouldn't get to have.

"Hmm, I don't think that's correct," Avery replied. The feathers swirled without going any higher. "Your cock looks like it's very, very ready. And your arms all stretched out like that -- they're definitely asking for these feathers."

"That's not my fault," I gasped as he brushed the base of my pit. "I can't -- move --!"

The feathers teased in on both sides. I struggled in my bonds but got nowhere. It wasn't as bad as having fingers jabbing and wriggling there, but it was still way fucking more than I could tolerate without losing it.

"It is your fault," he said, implacable. "You let Julian tie you up like that. What else did you think was going to happen?"

I wasn't sure his logic was sound, but I also couldn't be sure that mine was, with two feathers gently brushing the sensitive valleys beneath my arms.

"Avery, oh my god, please..." was my well-reasoned reply.

He stroked his feather slowly up and down my very ticklish armpit, while I laughed involuntarily. "Please what?"

"Please, don't --" I begged through the explosion of sensation.

Both feathers fluttered relentlessly through my hollows. "Please don't what?"

"Please...not...there...!" I heaved from my spasming diaphragm.

More tiny bird-wing barbs brushed my too-exposed nerves. Suddenly, they stopped -- first the right, then the left.

"Tell me exactly what you want, and maybe I'll give it to you," Avery said.

I gulped a few breaths in the respite, then I writhed a bit. It was embarrassing to admit out loud, but if Avery wanted to hear it, I wasn't going to refuse.

"Please...stop ticking me...under my arms...with the feathers."

A brief brush in the place I'd named. "Why?"

I squirmed again, wishing earnestly for any contact on my cock, even if it wouldn't get me off. Which tonight, it certainly wouldn't.

"Because it tickles so badly, and I can't stand it!"

"Wrong answer," was the amused response. The feathers resumed painting the interior of my shoulders. "You can stand it, because you have to stand it." Several more agonizing strokes. "And I don't believe for a second that you actually want me to stop, because look at your cock."

I couldn't see my cock, obviously, but I could feel it, and it was throbbing. It really wasn't fair that this was turning me on so fucking much. Or that with my legs bound and pulled wide, I couldn't remotely hide it.

All that happened was tickling and laughter and frustration for the next however long it was. I had no ability to track time, when every moment was infinitely excruciating. But eventually something changed: one feather brushed my right nipple.

I cried out, probably a lot louder than was warranted. I'd balanced on the fulcrum of erotic suspense for so long, it was shocking to receive directly sexual stimulation.

Both feathers focused on my nipples, which were nearly as hard and needy as my cock. "Oh my god," I moaned, now in rapture. It felt three times as good as any touch under normal circumstances.

"Julian, can I...stroke myself? While I play with him?" Avery's voice asked.

"Sure, if you want to," Julian replied.

I heard clothing shifting, then the brush-strokes against my nipples resumed. "Fuck, that's hot," Avery commented -- to Julian, it seemed.

"Yes, it is," he agreed, and I didn't think he just meant me.

The petite bristles were even softer than a fingertip and left me craving more. But no matter how I tried to arch into the contact, the sensation stayed just as light. And the phantom brushes I couldn't quite feel on my cock were just as maddening.

I tightened my arms and legs as if I could protect my chest, but in the end I just lay there, spread like a starfish, and let them tease my nubs for as long as they wanted, while my cock throbbed against empty air.

"Avery --" I begged when I didn't think I could endure any more. "Please..." Through the overwhelm of need, I figured that he would want to hear details. "Please touch my cock; I've been hard for so long and I can't do anything about it; it's so frustrating--" My hips thrust once uselessly.

"You know you can't come," he told me in impish tones. "You really asking me to tease your cock with this feather?"

"Just -- touch me -- please!" I was aware I was making a total fool out of myself, but I was desperate. At least I couldn't see them looking at me.

"Mmm mmm," Avery disagreed. "Say it."

God! I was too fucking strung out to handle this. I moaned incoherently while the gentle stimulation at my nipples drove me slowly insane.

"Please tease my cock with the feather!" I yelled finally.

Avery laughed, and it was stupid how arousing it was to have my frustration mocked. "That's more like it."

As soon as I comprehended what it felt like to have a bird's wingtip stroke my cock, though, it was clear I'd accomplished nothing. The effect was way too light, with no possibility of ever firming up. The regiment of tiny barbs managed to hit every single nerve ending while providing absolutely no satisfaction. Both my lovers were there, one brushing the edges of my glans, the other sliding up my shaft. My cock was soon throbbing more intensely than ever.

"Avery, please...please..." I groaned, having no idea what to beg for anymore.

"Please what, Vik?"

"I can't stand that...I want to come so badly..."

"Really?" Avery was still mocking me. "You're making that mistake again?"

I didn't remember what he was talking about. Nothing was real anymore except my body and the ways they were exploiting it.

"You're going to stand it," he informed me, low and provocative, "because I want you to stand it. And because you can't stop me."

Oh, the sweet agony of that truth. I couldn't stop him. And I didn't want to be able to stop him.

Some infinite amount of time later, a feather brushed the defenseless crease where my right thigh joined my torso, and I jumped. The other one followed, tracing the crease on my left side. God, god, I'd never been sure which was worse, my groin or my armpits, but I knew now. It was my groin. There was no way I was going to make it.

I tried to hold it in; tried not to fall to pieces with uncontrollable laughter. Tried to pretend it wasn't the most unbearably ticklish sensation I'd ever experienced.

Failed completely. Laughed until my heaving chest was silent; strained against my ropes until I knew I'd be sore tomorrow. Tingled and itched across the top of my thighs where the feathers crawled incessantly.

"Avery!" I shouted, even though distantly I knew Julian was tickling me too. But I couldn't think of anything else to say. There were no words that could persuade him, except the safe word, which I had no intention of using.

Just when I thought my situation couldn't possibly get worse, one feather stroked the very tip of my cock, right at the frenulum, the most sensitive place on my body. I emitted a truly embarrassing wordless cry, but I couldn't help it. I was blind, immobilized, and absolutely desperate. Being touched there sent a million joules of pleasure and need through my system.

The other feather dipped into the wide-open gorge between my right testicle and the top of my leg. It was incredibly ticklish as well as arousing, and between the two of them, I was pretty sure I was going to short circuit.

"Oh my god -- please -- please!" I begged. I couldn't protect myself, and I couldn't increase the stimulation, and it was fucking unbearably frustrating.

Suddenly everything stopped, and I sensed motion above my legs. Then Avery was groaning, sounding nearly as desperate but a lot more gratified than I was. "Julian, fuck," he exclaimed, and I wished I could see what was going on.

There was a wet popping sound, then Julian's voice. "Keep teasing him until you come," he encouraged.

One feather resumed tormenting me, dancing over my balls, my inner thighs, and my excessively full cock. Meanwhile Avery was moaning rhythmically, and dimly my brain suggested that he was being sucked off. The idea that feathering me was bringing him to orgasm escalated my need to extreme.

I cried his name while his moans grew fevered, until he was climaxing and spurting semen onto my spread-apart groin. Every drop seared me with unrelieved thirst. But there was absolutely nothing I could do to quench it.

At some point I realized the feather wasn't even there anymore; I was just writhing with the sheer overwhelm of it all. Then a warm, solid presence moved into the space above me. I strained upward as if I could reach it, but I lay powerless while the other body covered mine.

A mouth kissed me. Avery's. I kissed him back frantically, like that could satisfy the craving in my cock, in my soul. I wished I could cling my whole being to him, to save me from this endless ocean of yearning.

One of his hands was stroking my face. "You're ok," he murmured. "You were so good. You were perfect. I came so hard."

I tried to calm my ragged breathing; tried to take refuge in his approval. I was so far out to sea, it was difficult to find any landmarks.

He kissed me again, deeply. "Julian's gonna untie you now, ok?"

I wanted to cry, wanted to plead, but I just nodded. If he chose for it to be over, then it was over.

He pulled the blindfold off. My vision was blurry from the compression against my eyelids. He managed to nestle himself against my side while Julian started loosening my bonds.

I blinked blearily, sure that even though the torment had stopped, I was losing something incalculably valuable. But it wasn't my place to complain, only to obey. I nuzzled my head against Avery the best I could and waited to be free.

Julian went in the same order that he had tied me: left arm, left leg, right leg, right arm. Avery shifted as the unbinding progressed, so he could keep lying with me while Julian retracted lengths of rope through the loops he had created. I breathed through the turmoil inside and did my best to ride it out, but the waves didn't seem to be calming. The storm was evolving, feeding off my dissatisfaction, the emotions morphing like harmless cumulus clouds into billowing thunderheads.

By the time my right arm was free, I was on the verge of tears and feeling more ashamed than I had at any point during the evening.

"Hey, Vik -- what's wrong?" Avery asked, tender concern replacing his earlier mocking.

I hid my face against his neck and held on to him. "Nothing," I tried to say. "I'm fine."

"No you aren't," he countered. He moved back a little and held my jaw so he could see me. "I'm really sorry -- I didn't mean to upset you. I thought...it was good for you too."

Julian settled behind him, also watching me with concern in his sharp blue eyes.

"It was," I said miserably. "I didn't -- I'm sorry." I was ruining his night. I was failing utterly to hold up my end of the arrangement.

"It's ok. There's nothing to be sorry for." He stroked my arm. "Did I go too far? It was...really a lot, I know."

I shook my head. "No, I -- I wanted you to have that." I did, even though it was tearing me apart now. "I agreed to it. I'll be fine."

Julian was the one who answered. "Vik, we love playing with you, but this relationship only works if we each provide honest feedback. It's ok for you to feel however you feel. Can you please tell us, so we know how to support you? No one wants to cause you actual distress."

I stared at Avery's chest and struggled with myself. I felt so guilty burdening them, but Julian was probably right. He couldn't safely orchestrate our encounters if he didn't have enough information.

My voice barely rose above a whisper. "It's just...these sessions, the intense denial -- you strip me totally raw, which is an amazing high, but...it exposes a lot of emotions, and I can't just switch them off. It -- it isn't easy, afterward." I forced in a lungful. "But I'm not your boyfriend, and I promised I would be low maintenance. So I can...handle it on my own. It's part of the bargain."

"I'm sure you can," Julian said. "But I don't know that you should have to." He paused as if considering. "You've done this with us, what, five times now? Plus once with Avery? And you've never asked for anything, so I'd call that pretty low maintenance."

I was still lying inside the frame with Avery. He caressed my shoulder soothingly while his partner studied me.

"Would you let me extend the session?" Julian asked after a moment. "I haven't come yet. I'd like to give you satisfaction before I do."

"You don't have to do that," I told him, even though the alternative was going home and drowning in emptiness, too sad to bring myself off.

"No, I don't. But it's for me to choose, and for you to accept. Is it not?"

I took a slow inhale. He had me there. "Yes."

"So will you give me control for a while longer?"

I met his gaze and was relieved to see desire rather than pity. "Alright."

What he chose was...beautiful. And perfect. Because of course it would be. He moved the frame off the bed and had me sit with Avery like when my hands had been bound behind my back. There were no ropes this time, but Avery trapped my arms between us and held me tight against his chest. I closed my eyes and relaxed with ineffable gratitude into that secure space where I didn't have to make decisions.

They teased me gently, exquisitely, with hands and mouth and feathers, flooding me with my favorite kinds of pleasure. Erotic deprivation was very exciting, but this luxurious erotic indulgence, and knowing that at last I wouldn't have to stop midstream, was paradise. After everything they'd done to me tonight, it wasn't long before the currents of passion started to overcome me. I was still required to wait for Julian's permission before I came, even that decision mercifully taken from me.

He made me hover on the brink -- god, that was sometimes the best part, the final few seconds of swirling rapids right before the precipice -- and then I was plunging down the waterfall of my climax, crashing into a pool of gratification with thunderous force.

I let Avery buoy me for a while, let the refreshing spray of the waterfall bathe me after so many weeks of drought. I vaguely heard Julian finish himself off, his seed splashing me where Avery's had. I didn't open my eyes.

At some point, Julian wiped me clean. Then Avery was pulling my arms from behind my back and shifting positions so I was more beside him than between his legs, but still securely in his embrace. Julian joined us, his arm encompassing me as well as his partner.

"Thank you," I whispered to both of them and to the universe. For a while, I could completely forget my loneliness, the suffering I witnessed daily, the ruination of the planet. We could be here, connected and whole, in a peace we carved from the chaos. A gift we could give each other over and over.

"It was our pleasure," Julian answered. After another few quiet moments, he said, "Avery and I will have to discuss it, but how would you feel about staying the night, next time you come over?"

The image filled me with a warm glow. "I would love to."

"That would possibly give us the best of both worlds: you could experience denial in the evening, not have to be alone afterwards, and get an orgasm with us in the morning."

"That sounds amazing, Julian. If it wouldn't...be an imposition."

"It wouldn't be for me. You'd spent enough time in our bed that I'd be comfortable with you sleeping here." He stroked me reassuringly. "You want to weigh in, Avery?"

"Yeah," Avery affirmed, giving me a brief, affectionate squeeze. "I think it would be nice. And it would be hot to have you here all night, horny and waiting to be allowed to come."

That part hadn't occurred to me, but a faint stirring in the region of my genitals confirmed that it would be hot.

I stayed for another few minutes, then I disentangled myself. "I should be going; I'm on at six in the morning. But I really appreciated this. All of it. You two are good friends."

I risked lifting my gaze to their faces, but it was easier than I had feared. No matter how intense our sessions, they never made me feel embarrassed except during our games, to enhance arousal. I could be completely naked with them, in every sense, without it being used against me. That was possibly the most valuable aspect of this whole arrangement.

When I was dressed, I kissed them each goodnight, then I walked back to my own quarters. It was surreal how much had happened since I made this journey earlier, given that the only evidence was the slight rotation of the stars. The wood smoke, the fire pits, the fallen leaves -- everything just as it had been before, when I'd been so nervous.