Chapter Twenty-Three – I Am Icarus
Bastien dropping onto the bed by his side startled him from his nap. It wasn't like him to fall asleep so quickly in an unfamiliar place, but his confusion lasted briefly. First, his eyes met a naked chest, and Bastien's beautiful nipples tickled his recent memory just right. Without a second thought, Lawrence leaned forward and caught one with his lips. The laugh that followed, just as the caress through his hair, confirmed that he wouldn't have much time to dedicate to thinking once their dance began.
Rational, sensible thinking at least.
"I am quite disappointed. I thought I'd find you ready as a mast pole."
"Wait till I roll on my back, and you are free to check my pole."
"Crude," Bastien commented and let out a soft moan as Lawrence moved from one nipple to the other.
Lawrence didn't fulfil his own promise. Instead, he climbed on top of Bastien – a very naked, enticing Bastien – and started kissing him. That was one thing he wouldn't get enough of anytime soon. Even if his own youth allowed him such radical thoughts.
"I believe I can feel it," Bastien commented. He wrapped his legs around Lawrence, pushing his crotch upward.
Lawrence wanted to see Bastien. His eyes, lips, lean abdomen, cock, and balls. So, he pushed himself up and took in the object of his affection. This was a man many others wanted. But he was here with Lawrence, of all people.
It seemed a tad incongruous.
And having such a thought went against his earlier promise to himself that he should forego rational thinking for one night.
"What do you see?" Bastien asked, his eyes trained on Lawrence's face with their dangerous allure.
"A bit of an odd question, but I'll try to answer nonetheless. I see," Lawrence started in a playful voice, "a naked young man trying to prove himself capable."
"Really?" Bastien raised one foot and placed it on top of Lawrence's crotch, torturing his erection through the fabric of his pants. "Prove himself capable of what?"
"Taking it," Lawrence said with a grin.
"Hmm. That's hardly clear enough to count. I'm afraid you will have to be more specific."
"All right. I must warn you, however. I'm better at showing than telling."
Bastien gasped for show as Lawrence flipped him on his belly and bit the back of his neck.
"You have a thing for biting," he remarked.
"Marking is the word you're looking for," Lawrence corrected him. "Having such perfect unblemished skin should be punished."
"Why?"
"Because I say so."
This time, Bastien burst into laughter. "You are, surprisingly so, quite full of yourself."
"As you also will be soon."
"Oh, I see. You have a juvenile sense of humor."
"But you like it."
"Of course. I wouldn't do this if I didn't." Bastien hiked his lovely ass upward and pressed it against Lawrence's crotch. "Enlighten me. Why are you still dressed?"
"An oversight on my part," Lawrence replied, striving to sound as pompous as his unusual bed partner.
"And now that you know the error of your ways, why aren't you self-correcting?"
"All in due time, beautiful."
Bastien looked at him over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed. "Do not use your usual lines on me. I'm not one of your women."
"You make it sound as if I indulge in having a personal harem."
"Don't you?"
"You are grossly overestimating my ability to get women in bed with me."
"Whatever you're doing, it's working on me," Bastien said pointedly.
Lawrence pushed one hand through Bastien's hair and bunched it into a fist. It pleased him to make a mess out of the Sun King's perceived perfection. His rough action was followed quickly by an outraged moan that encouraged him to be even rougher. He pulled Bastien's head back and cupped his chin with his other hand. Then he kissed him hard.
"I like your technique. It most likely belongs to a different era, when Neanderthals roamed the Earth, but I am willing to keep an open mind."
"Should we put your sarcasm to the test by examining the state of your nether regions?" Lawrence suggested.
Bastien's skin was all goosebumps, and his eyes shone. If he wanted to get through to the Sun King, he needed to shake whatever beliefs the young man nurtured regarding their night together.
No protests came as Lawrence maneuvered Bastien into an all-fours position. His test was more than conclusive. Bastien's cock stood to attention, and a bead of precum had gathered in its tiny eye. Lawrence brushed his fingers over it, marveling at how slick the head became. It made him hungry for a taste.
But he needed to progress to better things if he didn't want to lose momentum. He could tell that Bastien was watching his every move and judging his performance. It was a difficult task to fight a ghost, but more than that, Lawrence believed that Bastien's preconceptions about who they both were would be harder to overcome.
"Have you been with a lot of men?"
Bastien's frown was legendary when he glared at him over his shoulder. "Just the one," he said, without mentioning his name. "Unlike you, Casanova."
"Again, you are overestimating my sex life."
"Have you been with a lot of women?"
Lawrence stopped for a moment. "Define 'a lot'."
Bastien huffed and looked away. "Philanderer," he accused.
Lawrence caught his throat gently and pulled him back to kiss him. "I had yet to meet you. There's no use being jealous, Bastien."
"Watch it, Sir Galahad. Pledge yourself to me, and I might not want to let you go."
"What if I want to belong to you?"
Bastien wrapped one hand around the back of Lawrence's head, proving, once more, that he was no delicate flower. Their eyes met, even if they both had to crane their necks in an uncomfortable position to look at each other.
"You're playing with fire, Lawrence," Bastien warned him.
"I am Icarus. My entire history can be summarized as such: the one who flew too close to the sun."
"You will not get hurt," Bastien promised. His eyes seemed sincere. Lawrence could lose himself in them forever.
"That might not be up to you. Getting hurt is unavoidable."
"Are you perhaps a Stoic?"
"I wouldn't know, but I doubt a Stoic would so fervently seek pleasure the way I'm seeking it now with you."
He kissed Bastien while his hands worked quickly. Not much was needed for him to become naked and put a condom on. To avoid all complications, he always used protection during sex, but now he wished he had opted for fucking Bastien without it.
They didn't know each other that well. Lawrence rubbed slowly against Bastien's enticing crack. Since the lord of the house had provided him with a good lubricant option in the shape of a nice-smelling lotion, he enjoyed the process.
Sitting back on his heels, he took his time to admire the one part of Bastien he was about to wreck. A sense of satisfaction derived from running this short evaluation. He'd put his mark on this beautiful man; it would be the trace of his teeth on his skin, the shape of his cock inside him, even if only temporarily.
Slowly, he wrapped his hands around Bastien's waist. It fit so perfectly under his fingers, while his enticing ass presented itself like a lewd sacrifice.
"You are taking your time," Bastien said, his voice muffled by the pillow he was squeezing and pressing his face against. "You are either having second thoughts--"
"No second thoughts. I stopped to admire you for a second. Don't hold it against me."
Again, Bastien's eyes, dark with anticipated pleasure, searched his face. "Some might say this is a humiliating position for a man to find himself in."
"I am not one of them."
"What if I want to humiliate myself in front of you?"
"I can't stop you. But to feel humiliated, you'd have to elicit a correspondent reaction. You will not get it out of me. Consider yourself warned."
Bastien turned his eyes away. "You have a way with words. No wonder women fall for you so easily."
"You're cute when you're jealous, especially of imagined rivals."
Bastien huffed, showing his annoyance. "You can't even say how many women you took to bed. I'm not irrational."
"Are you done teasing me?"
He watched as Bastien's shoulders shook with laughter. That was more like it. Placing a firm hand between his partner's shoulder blades and pressing him down, he advanced.
The squeeze on his cock was wonderful. No amount of preparation or lubricant would make the entrance wide enough to avoid labored pushing. If there was one thing Lawrence knew well enough, it had to be the mechanics of sex.
Bastien whimpered to signal his distress.
"I know," Lawrence said gently, "I'll go slowly."
"You're good at this," Bastien whispered. "This part is usually a lot more difficult."
Had Lukas been a rash, inconsiderate lover? Lawrence frowned and shook his head briefly. His promise not to let ghosts join them was easy to break.
"Feel free to complain and cuss at me if you want," Lawrence said.
"I can't. It feels good. I'd be a hypocrite."
A hypocrite was too strong a word, but Bastien was lying a little about the feeling good part. Beads of sweat gathered on his back, and Lawrence traced an invisible line on his spine, making him shiver.
He used his hands to handle Bastien. In the past, his female partners had expressed their delight at his big manhood, but now it worked to his disadvantage. Earlier thoughts of wanting to mark his Helios, wreck him even, belonged to a brute. He wished no harm to Bastien. He only wished him pleasure.
With slow moves, he pulled Bastien to him, caressing his throat and turning his head to kiss him. As he reached between his legs, he pushed in a little more and caught Bastien's gasp with his mouth.
"This is a good moment to invoke deity," Bastien breathed out. "Bear, you're incredible."
"You might have trouble sitting after we're done."
"I'll love it. It will remind me of this."
"Of me fucking you?"
"Yes, of you fucking me for the first time. And of this," Bastien added, kissing Lawrence back. "And of this." He wrapped one hand in Lawrence's hair and pulled hard. "But it is up to you to make it unforgettable."
Bastien could be a mind reader, for all he knew. Lawrence wrapped his arms tightly around Bastien and let his hands roam, playing with Bastien's cock, which seemed to regain some of its lost strength now that things were progressing.
A deep breath, and it was enough. His cock was completely inside Bastien's body, reveling in the heat and the squeeze. It was his turn to invoke a deity, it seemed.
"Does it feel good?" Bastien asked in a soft, eager whisper.
"You'd have to fuck yourself to know it. You are perfect."
"Praise me more," came the demand.
Lawrence did. Thinking of all the ways he wanted to shower Bastien in praise took the edge off. He feared that for all his preparation, he'd be too fast, bringing disappointment.
Bastien egged him on, encouraging him to say more, so he obliged. Their soft whispers mingled, creating a new melody, their bodies the instruments they played on.
Lawrence could tell his pleasure was soaring. If the rhythm of Bastien's moans was any indication, he wasn't alone in it. His hand moved over his partner's erection, enjoying its solidity and how, with each complete cycle, it seemed to get even thicker and harder.
They became incoherent from one point onward. Bastien sought Lawrence's lips and gave them a sloppy kiss. If their finish wasn't perfect, no one would know but them. And for them, it was perfect.
Bastien could be quite vocal, which surprised him. Lawrence grunted his pleasure and bit hard on Bastien's shoulder as he came, while showered in sweet curses that doubled as praises.
Reaching ground happened gently. Lawrence didn't remove his cock from Bastien's ass as they came to lie on one side together.
He admired Bastien's nape, sweaty and flushed. On his shoulder and the side of his neck, the sight of teeth marks glared at him accusingly.
Too bad he didn't have it in him to feel remorse. Still, he gently licked Bastien's neck to show that at least he could apologize.
"Do you always fuck like this?" Bastien asked.
He was becoming accustomed to Bastien's selective use of curse words. "Not always."
"What a diplomatic answer. I will needle you for more. How so?"
Lawrence held Bastien tightly. His cock was starting to show signs of going down, but it was too comfortable to stay like this. "Do you want me to tell you what a great lay you are? I thought my string of expletives from earlier covered it pretty neatly."
"You blame me of teasing you, but you're not bad at it yourself. Come on, Bear, give me more. Can't you tell how thirsty I am for compliments?"
"You shouldn't be. The world adores you."
"Ha! That is hardly the case. I don't know the whole world, and the whole world doesn't know me."
"True." Lawrence brushed one hand over Bastien's chest. "It was different. Good different. I haven't fucked a man before."
"Was it good enough to do it again?"
"Do you want to go again right now?"
"No." Bastien snickered. "You were right to warn me about my ass feeling it. I meant at a later date."
"As long as you keep your legs open for business," Lawrence joked.
Bastien gasped in outrage. "I can't believe what a brute you are."
"You shouldn't be so surprised. I used you thoroughly."
"I like to believe I used you as well."
Lawrence inhaled the smell of Bastien's hair. Knowing that he had to drag himself across the courtyard and into his small, likely frigid room held little appeal. He wouldn't ask Bastien to keep him there tonight. Even if tomorrow were Sunday, that didn't mean that the students could do whatever they wanted. Now that he'd had a taste of Bastien, he didn't want Herr Becker to bring things to a halt, even recommend his expulsion.
Because, of course, that would throw a spanner into his investigation, too, something he needed to remind himself of as soon as his brain started functioning again.
"Would you like to take a bath with me?"
"I've imposed on you too much."
"Bear, stop teasing me. If giving me the fuck of my life is called that, we need to rewrite the dictionary."
"The more I stay with you, the less inclined I am to go," Lawrence confessed.
"So don't go."
If only it were that simple. Lawrence caressed Bastien's arm slowly. "If I dare to do what I want, we will be found out, and it will be over. Ancient Greece is also the birthplace of exile."
"What?"
"Sorry. I remembered something the Rector told me the one time he summoned me to his office. I believe it was a not so well veiled threat regarding my precarious position at Veridien."
"I wouldn't let you go."
"It wouldn't be up to you," Lawrence reminded Bastien.
I'm sure I'll miss you the moment I walk out the door. He caught himself before he ended up saying too much.
"I do have some influence," Bastien reminded him.
"They will be delighted to prove you otherwise."
Bastien sighed. "You are, unfortunately for me, the voice of reason. But I still want you in my bathtub."
"Is that a particular obsession?"
"It may become. I want to spoil you."
"You spoiled me enough with this." Lawrence dug his fingers into Bastien's hip.
A short guttural laugh followed. "Enough to wean you off womenfolk?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Lawrence suggested, not because it would be unfathomable for that to happen, but because he believed he was getting the hang of the game. Bastien needed the challenge.
And he needed to keep a good head on his shoulders if he didn't want to end up with his wings melting in the sun.
TBC