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Chapter twenty-three

Tomorrow

Being with Niko like this was a celebration.

He helped Elliott turn off his constant thoughts, kept him from spiraling.

Pushed the rage, hatred, and pain away to somewhere quieter.

With Niko, he could forget about everything outside for a while.

In joining with the other man, Elliott was able to reach out and touch a joy that he had long since thought dead, forever removed from him.

Niko Estrella had breathed life into him.

With his care, his trust, his intimacy. His love.

Since he’d told Elliott he’d fallen in love with him back on the beaches of Eanan, Elliott hadn’t been able to stop running that moment through his head on repeat.

“I've got you,” he whispered in a promise.

“I know,” Niko said, a smile on his lips. He opened his eyes, looking back at Elliott now, and his smile grew.

With his belt tightened around Niko’s wrists, Elliott helped himself to his lover.

He would take excellent care of him. That Niko trusted him so completely meant everything to him.

That he’d been willing to say aloud what he wanted, what he’d desired, and push past the hangups of fear and self-consciousness that had held him back before made Elliott’s heart feel full.

And he was relieved. They could both simply be their honest selves together. Elliott wasn’t being too much by expressing his own needs.

He’d been pushing it, he knew. Niko was like a feral stray, nervously edging at the boundaries of sustenance gifted—pacing to and fro and back again, debating if it was safe enough to allow himself to indulge in what would feed him.

He could just as easily have been sent running by Elliott’s questions.

But Elliott wanted to reach out, to coax it out of him.

To let him voice and explore those desires and needs between the two of them.

To encourage Niko to become familiar with the joy of submission, to become comfortable with it.

To know submission wasn’t something to be ashamed of, nor embarrassed about. Neither was letting another top you.

He shifted forward until his cock brushed against Niko’s bound hands as the other man rested them atop his waist, then began slowly rutting against them. He could hear his lover’s breathing pick up pace, could see the flush of color all over his skin, the way his brown eyes pleaded.

Elliott rocked his hips slowly, pushing himself against the other man’s hands again and again. He loved doing this to him, loved making him come undone like such a delicious thing.

He trailed his fingers down the muscles of Niko’s strong arms, gently tracing the tattoos there which he loved so much.

When his fingertips glanced Niko’s washboard stomach through the fabric of his tank top, the other man drew in a sharp breath, his chest rising and falling rapidly now.

Two dark, soulful eyes full of myriad depths watched Elliott with desire, with trust, with affection.

Elliott dipped his head and left a trail of long, sensual kisses along his neck.

When loose strands of his hair brushed Niko’s skin, the other man’s muscles tightened. He was ticklish.

Niko’s throat shifted as he swallowed. “Elliott, you… you can be rough with me. I like it.”

He was being surprisingly open—even more than Elliott could have initially hoped for. “You’re doing such a good job,” he cooed. “Telling me everything that you like.”

Don’t treat me like glass , he’d once told Elliott. I want everything you can give.

Elliott met his lips with his own in a deepening, passionate kiss, then another. He nipped at Niko’s bottom lip. His lover gave a soft grunt of pain as he did, his breathing quickening in excitement. His erection pushed urgently back against Elliott’s own, meeting him.

You like it best when it’s rough, don’t you? But you’re sweet, too.

“I’m going to use you,” Elliott breathed, sitting back up and shifting forward again, “for my own pleasure. Because you asked me to.” He took Niko’s wrists by their belt-turned-restraint and pulled his arms up over his head, pinning them back against the headboard and holding them there.

Then he leaned down over Niko, eyeing the other man.

Elliott liked it best this way, liked getting to gaze down at him.

To have his lover beneath him. To make him serve and service him.

It was never something done out of disrespect—in fact, he respected Niko above anyone else alive.

Niko was one of the strongest people he’d ever met—in so many ways.

That the man beneath him, flushed with desire and eager to submit to him in their bed was so strong, so capable, so profoundly resilient made it all the more thrilling for Elliott to dominate him. He salivated at the thought.

Elliott reached down and stroked gently at Niko’s thick, dark hair, his lover’s eyes nowhere but on him, looking for instruction, for guidance.

“The safeword from before still applies. It always will. But for right now, I want you to give my hand three taps if it becomes too much, or you want me to stop. Because you won’t have many opportunities to speak, from here on out. ”

“What do—”

Before Niko could even finish talking, Elliott shifted forward again and lowered himself onto the other man’s face, the wiry stubble of Niko’s five-o-clock shadow scratching his ass and spread thighs.

Elliott reached down with his free hand and gripped his hair in a tight fistful, then wrenched Niko’s head back so his chin and mouth were forced straight up into his opening.

“Eat,” he commanded.

Niko gave a moan of what Elliott surmised sounded like a mixture of shock and pleasure both, tensing beneath him. That his lover enjoyed servicing so much made Elliott giddy, but he tamped down on the urge to show it outwardly, his heart leaping into a sprint of excitement now.

Niko wasted no time, working his tongue along and inside him, eager to please, to obey.

He squirmed and shifted below him, his bound hands flexing into fists.

Elliott ground down on him, his thighs straddling Niko’s head.

He knew the other man must undoubtedly be struggling to breathe and granted him mercy, pulling up briefly before resuming his throne on Niko’s face, hand roughly gripping and pulling at his hair.

Niko drew in sharp, greedy breaths in the seconds granted to him, then gave a muffled groan of pleasure as Elliott shoved the full spread cuisine back into his face again.

His lover’s slick, wet tongue along and within him was exquisite torture that made it hard to keep still.

The exhilaration of it forced a few quiet moans to escape him.

“You’re doing—” He gasped. Steady yourself. Don’t come undone yet. “So well. I hope you’re fucking hungry.”

The last words emerged as a rough growl, as pleasure wracked Elliott’s entire body. His balls gracelessly pressed against Niko’s face, adding to the humiliation of it all. His wanting cock dripped pre-come into the other man’s hair.

Elliott wanted to be ornery. “Do you like it, Niko? Are you enjoying yourself?”

Another low, muffled groan emerged from his lover. Elliott lifted himself again, giving him another moment to catch his breath. “Is this what you wanted?”

“I—”

Elliott was back on him before he could get out another syllable. Niko let out another pleading sound, already back to penetrating him with his hot tongue, like he was starving and Elliott was a holiday feast.

“Use your words,” he taunted, knowing Niko could do anything but. A cocky, self-satisfied smirk crept across Elliott’s lips as another long, sensual, wordless moan vibrated through Niko. “Tell me how much you like it. Or maybe, this time, you'll have to show me instead.”

The thick muscles of Niko’s arms strained and flexed, sweat glistening on them now. His hands drew into tight fists before unclenching, the belt that bound them still held tightly in Elliott’s grip. Yet, not once did the other man tap him in their silent safeword.

Elliott knew he was loving it, loving being used like this.

It nearly left him breathless to think about.

Mixed with the vibrant pleasure of Niko’s tongue relentlessly lapping at him, face buried deep between his spread cheeks, Elliott was rapidly hurtling towards release far too early.

He finally pulled up and climbed off of Niko, releasing his hold on both his pre-come messed hair and wrists.

His lover panted and gasped for air as they both took a moment.

“Elliott… Baby, please.”

“Mmm, what’s that?” Elliott responded, trying to steady his own voice and not sound out of breath, nor give away how close he’d been to losing himself. Niko always did that to him. It was always this way when they were together.

“I need you. I need you, baby. I want to feel you.”

Elliott raked his gaze across Niko. His face was so full of earnest pleading. He wondered if Niko even knew how clearly he wore all his emotions and wants on his sleeve, plain as day.

Niko had once thought he was anywhere near convincing, awkwardly trying to say he hadn’t wanted something like this. It was only out of respect for Niko and the dire, painful seriousness of the situation that Elliott hadn’t outright laughed at the flimsy lie.

Now Niko lay in their shared bed, face flushed from desire and exertion both, hands tied with Elliott’s belt, eyes so openly imploring.

He was fully clothed still, his jeans tented from his own untouched erection, the fabric of them dampened now.

Elliott reached down and gave his cock another few strokes through the fabric, and Niko made a soft sound.

“I’m surprised you didn’t cream yourself,” he taunted.

“I, uh, came close a couple of times, actually.”

“Would you like me to take you apart, Niko? Would you like me to fuck you, like you fantasized?”

“Please, baby. Just… Just fucking unmake me. Please.”