After the End Ch. 11

When we'd each verbally consented, I moved to the next checkpoint.

"Any limits to discuss?" This was never one to skip either, whether or not anyone had any, which on this occasion we didn't.

"So Vik," I started. "You said it's been three days. When was the last time you denied yourself?"

"This morning."

"I want you to show us exactly what you did. And tell us what you imagined. As completely as you can remember."

"God...yes," Avery emphasized immediately.

"Yes," Vik echoed, already sinking into the ethereal realm of submission. He carefully removed his clothing and lay down on his back, while I put out all the lights except Vik's aromatic candle. Then I pulled Avery to sit between my legs, both of us facing our now-naked Christmas present.

"I did...what you told me to do a couple of months ago," Vik said. He raised his arms and secured them under his head, then he bent his knees and spread his legs wide. "Lie like this and replay everything that had happened before I even touched myself."

His cock was rapidly filling out under our gaze. So was mine, with him voluntarily assuming that deliciously exposed position. His voice was gentle but heated through with burgeoning desire, and some of that heat was visible on his cheeks, even through his almond-toned skin.

"I thought about...the session with the feathers." More blood surged visibly into his cock. "I think about it a lot, because it was...absolutely excruciating, but the hottest fucking thing you've ever done with me."

Damn. I didn't disagree at all, and I knew Avery's fantasies returned to it often too. It was going to be torture for him to listen to Vik relive it, then watch Vik deny himself, and not get to come either. I planned on making that experience as visceral as possible.

I slowly slid my partner's t-shirt up his torso and over his head, forcing him to lift his arms for me. I knew he was always afraid I might take advantage and tickle him, since that one time, but I refrained. Sometimes suspense was more effective than action.

Vik started narrating, not missing any details -- how I'd stripped him and bound him to the frame in much that same position, all his most sensitive areas completely unprotected and none of him able to move. How I'd blindfolded him, and how Avery and I had each wielded a single stiff feather on his hyper-aroused skin. How we'd tickled him wickedly, teased him unbearably, goaded him into embarrassing begging, and cruelly withheld his orgasm while Avery splashed semen onto his helplessly frustrated genitals.

I used the length of the story to build my own holiday bonfire of lust in the temple of Avery's beautifully responsive body. It was easy to do, as excited as he was about Vik's willing sacrifice, and about exploiting Vik's submission in general. But I never got tired of the simple pleasures: stroking his smooth muscles, toying with his nipples, dipping a hand into his pants to rub his shaft. He gasped and moaned whenever I did something new, which made me just as hard as he was by the time Vik reached the end.

Between his spread thighs, Vik's untouched cock was straining and dripping pre-come. My fingers itched to tease it, but even more, I wanted to see him do it.

"Tell us how you feel," I instructed. Watching sex was great entertainment, but you could never actually know what another person was experiencing without commentary.

"God..." he breathed, arms still locked behind his head, the single candle gleaming on his stretched flesh. "I was already throbbing this morning, since I'd done this twice before, but it's worse now. Especially with both of you staring at me." His hips thrust minutely.

Avery spasmed against my hand in his pants, and I decided it was a good time to strip him the rest of the way. Soon he was clad in nothing but the leather necklace I'd given him. Which in my opinion was his very best look. I resettled him in front of me but didn't do anything else, because Vik hadn't moved.

"Go on, Vik." I prompted. "What happened next?"

"I..." His face heated again, and his hands gripped each other more tightly. "Sorry. I didn't realize how difficult it would be. To show you...things I chose to do to myself. It's a lot more personal than just letting you do things to me."

"Yes, it is," I agreed from over Avery's shoulder. "Which is a major turn-on for us."

I waited, but Vik remained motionless, his breathing tense and shallow.

"Wasn't that the whole point of your self-torment?" I pressed. "For us to enjoy?"

He nodded without looking in our direction.

"So right now, you don't have to make any decisions. And you don't have to worry about what decisions you made in the past, or what we're going to do with the information. I'm making the decisions, and I gave you a command. You can close your eyes, if that helps, but your only responsibility is to obey. Unless you want to safe-word out of this scene."

I watched in fascination while he fought the battle in his mind. I hadn't needed to push him since our very first session, not even during the feather torture he'd just described.

"You'll -- you'll be pleased with me?" he asked finally in a voice as naked as he was. "If I show you?"

"Very much."

He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and shut himself in darkness. Then one hand moved from behind his head while the rest of him stayed in place.

"I really wanted...to stroke myself," he said, barely above a whisper. "But I made myself wait, the way you both like to." His fingers closed around one nipple and squeezed, which made his cock jump.

He stayed at his hardened nipple, stimulating it gently while his needy shaft twitched. Damn, that was possibly even hotter than when Avery or I teased him. I copied his motions on Avery, who moaned again but kept his gaze locked on Vik's chest.

"What were you thinking about, Vik?" I reminded him.

He answered in the same naked near-whisper. "I thought about tonight...coming over and telling you what I'd done...how excited Avery would be..." His voice hitched as his fingers switched to the other engorged nub. "The things you might do to me...how badly you would tease me..." Another agonized hesitation and more strokes across his own areola. "I never imagined you'd make me do it myself, but of course you did, because that's even worse..."

When Vik had thoroughly played with each nipple, his hand dipped downward, but he only grasped his balls, which made my own shaft start throbbing. I didn't touch it, though. I reached for Avery's sack and started massaging it the way Vik was doing.

Avery tried to arch into my hand. "Julian, fuck -- you're really not going to let me come?"

"I'm really not," I confirmed.

He groaned with satisfying frustration. "Only you could make the longest night of the year even longer."

I kept rolling his testicles in my palm. "You know you've taken many orgasms from him. I think you can handle giving up one."

"How come it's never your turn to be tortured?" he complained.

"I'm perfectly willing to entertain requests. But not when we're in the middle of Vik's reenactment."

Vik's hand at last made contact with his engorged shaft, but only lightly -- flattened fingers softly stroking from base to tip.

"Oh my god," he breathed. His head was tilted back on his left arm, and his muscles were taut with the effort of controlling his own touch.

I repeated the teasing strokes on Avery, who tensed up in turn and moaned some more. My other arm held him in place against my body.

Vik resumed narrating obediently, his eyes still shut, his voice tight with restrained passion. "I thought about Avery doing this to me, when you tied me up the first time. Taking me to the edge, then going so soft and light, where I could keep from coming, but just barely."

God, I seriously needed to be in someone's ass or mouth, but I waited anyway. Avery didn't realize that sometimes I was torturing myself while I tortured him.

Vik finally gripped his cock with a sigh of relief and started stroking in earnest. Avery moaned with equal relish when I gave him the same direct pleasure. But just when they were both bucking rhythmically, Vik let out a strangled gasp and took his hand away. Avery's response to the loss of stimulation was somewhat more vocal.

"I can't fucking believe you did this to yourself, Vik," he exclaimed. "Three times, and now again. Julian's killing me, and this is the first time I've been denied in weeks."

"I'm...more sensitive than I was this morning," our doctor confessed. "I don't know if I can finish."

"We want to see the whole show," I told him, calm but firm. "Take a minute if you need to."

I made Avery wait without contact too, while Vik recovered some measure of composure. After a handful of slow breaths, he moved one finger to the puddle of pre-come that had collected on his stomach, then he gently rubbed it onto the extra-sensitive spot just below his slit.

The profanely erotic image seared itself into my brain permanently: Vik on his back, limbs spread wide, arching desperately while his own fingertip frustrated his throbbing cock.

Since Avery's pre-come had been lathered over his shaft, I made him wet my finger in his mouth to add lubrication. He shuddered when I touched his frenulum, and his hands clenched my arm while I imitated the soft strokes.

Vik forced out some unsteady words. "The last thing I did was this, and I remembered how Julian teased me this way when he was fucking me, while Avery was tied up."

Avery barely endured through the sentence before bursting out, "Julian, oh my god, I can't!"

I stopped and hugged him against my body with both arms instead. "So hot, babe," I murmured behind his ear.

He made a tiny sound and nuzzled his head against mine, then Vik tore his own hand away. He lay breathing hard for a moment, until he returned his limbs to a normal position and opened his eyes.

"That's all," he said, keeping his gaze on the far wall.

"Will you come here, so I can kiss you?" It wasn't exactly a request, but if he needed space, I wanted him to be able to say so. And I didn't want to let go of Avery yet, who I'd also just put through an intense ordeal.

Vik sat up and moved to my side, more shy and vulnerable than I'd yet seen him -- still physically on edge, his whole body yearning for the release he'd chosen to forfeit; and still stripped bare emotionally, after the very revealing display of what he'd originally done in the privacy of his own mind and bedroom.

I spared him an arm and kissed him with slow, soothing affection until he started to relax. "The session is over," I told him, "and you were wonderful. Thank you, for that amazing gift. We're both extremely pleased."

"You're welcome," he said quietly, still self-conscious but seeming less adrift. "But surely you'll be more pleased once you've gotten off. What can I do?"

This part always felt a little tricky to me. "I'd love to have your mouth. But not if you would...mind."

"Of course I wouldn't mind." He met my gaze finally, gentle but sincere. "It's what feels right, Julian. I would do it for you every day, and not feel at all misused. Avery too."

I wasn't sure how to reply to that, or what to do about the unexpected nervous stirring in my gut. I just nodded and started undressing. Then I lay on my back, so Avery could lie with me and could also watch.

Vik gave my aching cock much-needed lavish attention, while Avery added his own spicy garnish. He was comically torn, caught in a cycle of fascination, frustration, arousal, and deprivation. When he couldn't stand the sight of Vik's mouth on my tool anymore, he buried his face against my chest, but apparently he didn't like missing the action either. Soon he was watching again and groaning about the injustice of me being "so stupidly hot."

Vik let me enjoy him until I was thoroughly satisfied before finishing me off. Afterward, I drew him up to lie against my other side and pulled the blanket over the three of us.

We lay together for a while, just resting in each other's company and trading caresses. With Avery's thick waves nestled against one shoulder and Vik's cropped head at the other, I was surely the most spoiled man in Fort Laurel tonight.

Eventually I pressed a kiss into Avery's hair and murmured, "How you doing, babe?"

His voice sounded drowsy. "You got me like perma-horny, but this is nice. Being here with both of you."

"It is," Vik agreed, his arm entwined with Avery's on my torso. "Nicest holiday I've had in a while."

I let my thoughts circulate for a few minutes in the low candlelight, debating the facts and the variables and whether this was the right time to intervene. In the end I decided it was.

"So Vik," I opened. "Hypothetically, if someone were to be interested in setting you up with a guy who might be a good match...what would you be looking for in a relationship? We've talked about it some over the past few months, but I'm not sure I have a complete picture."

Avery answered instead, less sleepy now. "Since when do you set people up?"

"Didn't I say this was hypothetical?"

"You're the one asking, so it's obviously you."

"Well if it is me, it's because I know a great person who deserves to be happier than he currently is." I gave Vik a quick squeeze with the arm folded across his back. "So hush and let him answer."

"Fine, but I will be making fun of you later," Avery warned, his affectionate banter bringing a smile to my lips. Silly boy.

Vik finally got a chance to speak. "That's very kind of you, Julian, but I can't imagine who you know that I don't already know."

"Would you trust me to worry about that?" I asked.

He let out a full breath. "Of course. I guess, ideally, I would be looking for something...stable. Caring, supportive, secure..." He spoke slowly, pausing at intervals to consider. "Someone who understands my medical role's demands on my time and emotions, who doesn't need a lot of attention. Simple, I guess: I wouldn't need a lot of attention either. I'd just like someone to kiss me when I get home, and hold me after a hard day, and take control of our sex life so I could relax and feel useful."

He took another breath, still thoughtful. "I don't need to be one hundred percent exclusive with anyone, but I would like to be...primary. Like with Darius, in Houston. He sometimes included other people and saw other people, but always with my knowledge and consent. And he always took care of me before anyone else. Of course, I would do likewise."

Vik was quiet again for a moment. "Maybe that's too much to ask. No one wants a partner who doesn't offer anything except sexual submission, permissive boundaries, and a low overall time commitment. Most people don't even want the submission. They don't see how I can be invested in the relationship, if I don't want to initiate."

I held him a little tighter. As much as I had a reputation for taking no interest in romance, it pained me to know that someone I cared about went without fulfillment of such basic human desires.

"I don't think it's too much at all," I told him gently. "And that's not nearly all you have to offer." It was quiet for another couple of breaths. "Can I ask -- is there anyone you've already been with, who you think could have the kind of relationship you want?"

He thought about it, then shook his head against my shoulder. "No...I'm not very quick to break things off. I feel like I tried, and I don't know what else would change."

"Ok." I moved to my next question. "Obviously you like me and Avery, but so I can get a better idea of what qualities you're interested in -- would you tell me who else in the community you're attracted to, and roughly why? Including any exes?"

"Geez, Julian," Avery cut in. "Why don't you just ask to read his diary?"

"If he kept one, that would certainly be helpful," I replied, amused.

"It's alright, Avery," Vik said. "Given what you both already know about me, I don't mind sharing."

He shifted back to take up a little more space on the bed and listed a number of men, some of whom he'd been with and some he hadn't. I was analyzing for patterns and underlying meaning, but I was also listening for a specific name, and I didn't hear it.

"Doesn't only have to be men who you know sleep with men," I clarified, hoping I wasn't betraying my objective. Due to the circumstances, I couldn't be any more direct. "You liked Avery before you knew he was a possibility, and now here you are. So don't limit yourself."

"Ok..." Vik pondered. "I've always secretly been into Gavin Andreassen. He's got brains and brawn, plus that Scandinavian stoicism. Seems like someone who knows how to handle control. If he weren't married and straight, I'd have asked him out ahead of a lot of guys. Reminds me of you, Julian, actually."

Bingo. Exactly what I hoped. I only prayed Avery would hold his tongue. Gavin didn't want his true sexual orientation, or the fact that he and his wife had opened their relationship years ago, disclosed to anyone outside his few close friends and trusted partners. Avery knew that, but the intimate conversation might have put him off guard.

Thankfully, he kept his wits. "He reminds me of Julian too," was all he said, a remark only I could tell had a double meaning.

"Anyone else?" I asked without further comment.

Vik added a couple of other straight-appearing men to the list, but I had what I needed.

"Final question," I said. "This is completely your call, but in the hypothetical event that I knew someone who may meet your specifications, would you give me permission to speak to him? I would only need to share the broad outlines of your preferences, to confirm whether that would be a match for him. I can promise the information would be in safe hands. Hypothetically."

"Let me ask you a question first," Vik replied from the pillow next to me. "If I agree, what would you estimate are the odds that this hypothetical match would result in a real one?"

I calculated in my head. "Seventy percent."

"Wouldn't make sense to turn down a chance like that, so yes. You can talk to him. And...thank you."

"Good." I studied him for a moment. "Hopefully I haven't implied a judgment that your life is incomplete as it is. I just know you're looking for more than Avery and I can provide. And...call it holiday sentimentalism, but I wish you as much joy as we have together."

"Same," Avery put in, reaching across me to squeeze Vik's shoulder.

"I understand," Vik said. "And I appreciate it very much."

We got ourselves properly installed under the covers. Vik volunteered to leave his candle burning, in observance of tradition. I gave Avery the middle again, and both of them fell contentedly unconscious in short order. I lay awake longer, reflecting on all the holidays I'd spent alone or with cheap company, anger blazing inside like my personal yule log. I never could have imagined that in the space of a few years, I'd be passing the solstice not only with the love of my life, but also with gifts and erotic games and a friend who meant a lot to both of us.

Next thing I knew, Avery was climbing on top of me. "Merry Christmas," he murmured. Beyond the muted glow of the candle, the shutters showed the first grey of dawn -- the beginning of the half-year of waxing daylight. Even though days wouldn't be noticeably longer until mid-January and winter was barely underway, our survival situation never seemed quite as dark when things literally were not as dark.

"Merry Christmas," I returned, cuddling him close. I'd never been that physically affectionate in the past, but I bestowed Avery with as many lavish caresses as he desired. An amount that varied depending on the day, or the hour, but was typically substantial.

"I have a present to give Vik, unless it will bother you," he said, his chest vibrating against me.