by SA Payne
Ichi frowned a little. There was a touch too much stress placed on the fact that the fear was when
it was Ichi doing the touching. "But not when say, Will or Amanda touches you?"
"No."
"Are you afraid I'll hurt you? I promise you Rye, I'll do everything I can to never hurt you. I'm not like the other man was, before."
Rye shook his head as much as he could while keeping it tightly pressed to Ichi's chest. "I know. I know you wou...wouldn't hurt me. I'm not afraid of be...being hurt. Even before, I wa...wa...was
never afraid, just si..si...si...sickened."
Which was a statement that simply broke Ichi's heart. "Tell me what you're afraid of Rye, and I'll do anything I can to fix it."
"I'm af...af...af..afrai...afraid of you." The words came out and he squinted his eyes shut, frustrated and desperate to get things right.
"Of me? Why?" It was like being punched in the stomach and Ichi wasn't sure how to process the knowledge that Rye was fearful of him.
"No! No... I... damn it." Rye sighed and the hand on his shoulder moved higher to slide across his hair. It made him shiver a little but he felt his tension easing a little at the only touch that always made him feel better.
"It's okay."
"No, it's not! I'm af...afraid for you, n...not of, for."
"For me?" That made little sense but fear didn't have to be rational. "Why?
"I d..don't know. Just, I feel si..sick thinking if you tou..touch me, something bad will ha..happen to you."
"Nothing bad is going to happen to me." Ichi soothed and the steady slid of his hand across the thick, soft hair was comforting. "Did something bad happen to another lover of yours?" His heart skipped a little at almost counting himself as one of Rye's lovers.
"I do..don't kn..know." Rye leaned his head into the slow motions of the hand in his hair. "I ke...keep dreaming about blood. Seeing yo..you in a pool of blood."
"Is that what woke you up so badly last night?" Last night had been rough, Rye had been
screaming and incoherent. Even once the lights had gone on he'd sat wide eyed and frightened,
unable to shake off whatever dream images had so terrorized him.
Rye just shook his head. "Last night, was maggots."
"Maggots?"
"I ha...had a wound and it itched. So I we...went to see and the wo..wound opened and in..inside was a long wo...wo...worm. White, flat but n..not, tipped li..like a spear. I pulled it out and it
wa..was soft. But another worked it's wa..way to the top of the wound from in..in..inside. I kept
pulling them out and then there wa..was other wounds and more wo..worms and they we..were
eating me from inside ou..out."
Ichi stilled and didn't think telling Rye that there was actually a maggot that did that would help him sleep any. "That was a doozy of a dream."
"It felt re..real."
"Well, it was just a dream and I promise you, nothing bad is going to happen to me if we touch.
We're on a very small, very secure station. The only person who comes and goes normally is
Jos Harvick with his ship so it's not like anyone can even happen by here. They made us out of
the way for a reason." He sighed and pushed his thoughts about Gorpahn worm life cycles from
his mind. "We're on a very secure station."
Rye lay silent and still as he let Ichi's words settle into the stillness of the night. He understood, logically, that what he said was true but it would take touching and being touched to prove his
fears wrong. When he was certain he was up to the task, he slid his arms out and draped them against Ichi. "I'm sleeping like th..this." He sighed.
Ichi had assumed he'd lay awake as he always did when Rye was in the bed beside him. It was
different this time, this time there was none of the heavy weight of touch and not touching, this
time Ichi was bone weary and the warmth of the body along his own was soul deep comforting.
He was asleep before he had the time to worry about not sleeping.
He awoke nearly twenty minutes before his alarm was due to go off. Only he was rested, warm
and safely tucked in someone's arms. In his bleary half sleep he couldn't figure out who was
holding him, Andrew was a cuddler but Andrew was gone, Ichi had grown too old for his tastes.
When it all returned his breath caught. His mother was dead, Rye was letting him in and the
safe, warm feeling was because the legs wrapped around his own were a pair belonging to a
certain redhead.
His slight start of surprise jostled Rye where he was wrapped around Ichi's back. He muttered in
his sleep and nuzzled against Ichi's hair before the strong arms pulled Ichi tighter to him. It made Ichi feel rather like a full sized stuffed animal but it left him feeling warm and happy. Too happy to get out of a warm, snuggly, bed twenty minutes before he had to. He sighed and took one of
Rye's hands in his own and figured it wouldn't do any harm to just lay there and enjoy the
moment.
Part Eleven:
He awoke nearly twenty minutes before his alarm was due to go off. Only he was rested, warm
and safely tucked in someone's arms. In his bleary half sleep he couldn't figure out who was
holding him, Andrew was a cuddler but Andrew was gone, Ichi had grown too old for his tastes.
When it all returned his breath caught. His mother was dead, Rye was letting him in and the
safe, warm feeling was because the legs wrapped around his own were a pair belonging to a
certain redhead.
His slight start of surprise jostled Rye where he was wrapped around Ichi's back. He muttered in
his sleep and nuzzled against Ichi's hair before the strong arms pulled Ichi tighter to him. It made
Ichi feel rather like a full sized stuffed animal but it left him feeling warm and happy. Too happy to get out of a warm, snuggly, bed twenty minutes before he had to. He sighed and took one of
Rye's hands in his own and figured it wouldn't do any harm to just lay there and enjoy the
moment.
The next he knew, he was hazily waking up. The angle he was sleeping at blocked the view of
the clock but he could tell by how rested he was, how slowly he was waking up and just an
internal sense that it was late. Ichi startled upright a little, or rather he tried to but hands caught his shoulders and pulled him back down.
Ichi blinked in sleepy half awake uncertainty and found his head again pillowed on Rye's
shoulder. The scent of the red head was everywhere but it was the feel of those arms around
him, of the soft breath tickling the top of his head, that made him blush. A hand stroked over his
cloth covered shoulder and Ichi's eyes focused across Rye's chest and caught on the sparkle of
the gold nipple ring.
"What time is it?" He asked around a yawn.
"Late." Rye whispered back and dared to stroke a hand across the sleepy body again.
"The alarm?"
"I tu...turned it off."
"What?" He tried to sit up and instead, somehow, Rye managed to get them turned. Ichi found himself on his side with Rye wrapped around him again. "Oh," he sighed and involuntarily
wiggled a little to get tighter to the other body. "Why?"
"We bo...both slept too we..well to get up." Rye sighed and reminded his fluttery brain that the station was very secure and nothing bad was going to happen to Ichi.
"What time is it?"
"Late."
"But, what time?"
Rye shrugged. "Don't kn...know."
"The clocks right there, don't wanna get up to see. Just look for me?"
"Can't."
"Hmm?" He pushed himself out of the warm arms to glance at the clock, he'd overslept nearly
three hours. "Really late, Mother would find this unforgivable. Lazing in b
ed instead of working, especially on the morning after her death." He flopped back down and let Rye gather him close
again.
"She's de..dead, she doesn't get to dis...dis...disapprove."
"True." He nodded at the logic and words that should have felt insensitive but oddly comforted.
Ichi yawned again and something rattled in his sleepy mind. "What do you mean can't?"
"Can't." Rye shrugged. "Can't remem...remember how."
Ichi squirmed and wiggled until he was turned to look up at Rye and saw no embarrassment at
the confession. "I'm sorry."
"For?"
That was a good question. "For not knowing?"
Rye grinned and leaned forward. He pressed a kiss to the crinkled up forehead. "You're
adorable." He whispered and felt himself pulling Ichi closer so the man couldn't see the raw
vulnerability the confession exposed in him. He hated it, some things he couldn't force out of his
head with all his will and other things, like his most recent comment, just blurted out.
Ichi felt his face grow hot and he wanted to protest. Only, as he opened his mouth, what came
out wasn't a protest. "We'll teach you." The arms tightened around him. "Isn't right, being around so many researchers and not re-learning." It was inconceivable that Rye hadn't known how to
read before he'd been taken and made into a pet.
Rye hadn't given it any thought. "If you wa...want to." But if Ichi felt it was important, he'd do his best to learn.
"I do, but first, got to get to work." He sighed and reluctantly pulled from Rye's arms. The room felt cold and the other side of the bed empty without that warmth near him. "Oatmeal today?" He asked as he slowly started his day.
Rye just nodded and sat up to watch Ichi scratch and yawn and shake off sleep. Getting a few
extra hours of sound sleep had the brunette more awake than normal but it was still amusing to
watch him stumble around. Rye was never like that, when he was awake, he was awake,
instantly.
"Ichi, Ichi, what are you doing?" He asked his reflection which didn't provide any answers.
"Moron." He just shook his head and got the water going in the shower. As he stripped off his clothes he caught a hint of Rye on them and it made him shiver. "Idiot."
The water did a lot to shake off the last of the night's cobwebs and he shook his head to clear it
of improper thoughts and random water drops both. He slid his hand across the dispenser and
caught the shampoo. For all the hassle, nothing could beat a real water shower. The lather was
thick and dropped in foamy chunks down to his shoulders.
Which meant that when a blast of cooler air hit his back his eyes were squinted shut and Ichi
couldn't see to shut the shower stall door. The latch had been loose lately and he'd kept
forgetting to ask Mark to fix it. He shivered and groped behind him to get it shut by feel. His hand slid along warm flesh and the door shut on it's own.
"What?" But his fingers slid across a strong side and Ichi knew. "Rye?"
Rye was silent, frightened just the smallest bit but excited. The need to see Ichi undressed had
been consuming, the desire to touch him even stronger. He'd been lucky, so far, and never been
caught but every morning Rye snuck into the bathroom and lurked there, listening. Ichi would
sigh in contended pleasure when the water would hit him and than the tiny, hitching sobs of
desire would drift out among the sounds of the water. Rye couldn't start his day without that, he'd sit near the floor and listen, touching himself in time as Ichi sought his own pleasure. He always
finished first, touch was so much stronger now, harder to stop or back down and Rye would find
himself leaning against the bathroom wall, trying not to moan or pant, focused on the stifled
sounds from the shower.
It was a better way to wake up than coffee and while empty, was at least better than nothing. Rye
would sit and listen to Ichi finish and than linger longer to watch how the shorter man hurried to
wash off afterwards. As if soap could remove the fact that for a few moments he'd been human
with human wants and needs. Each morning, Rye promised himself he would wait and when Ichi
came out of the shower he'd be bold enough to repeat what he'd done to Ichi that night on the
sofa. Each morning as Ichi grew closer to finishing his shower, Rye would quietly leave. He'd
rather be lonely and horny than risk angering Ichi and being driven away.
Today was different. Today Rye couldn't stand to hear those quiet, muffled sounds or to find his
own solitary release. He'd waited just long enough for Ichi to hit the water and had planned to
surprise him in the act but Ichi surprised him. Instead, today, Ichi went right to washing and Rye
stepped naked into the tiny shower and found Ichi soapy.
Ichi wasn't as toned as Rye found his own body to be but the smaller man had nice tone to his
arms and chest and his legs were sleek and long. He'd known that Ichi met Will a couple of time
a week to play Hold Ball and he'd watched the friends once. Only the sight of Ichi, sweaty,
panting, being competitive, had left him in a dire state and he hadn't risked watching one of their matches again. He was really worried that if he did he'd drag Ichi back home just to toss him into
bed.
It didn't matter that the muscles along Ichi's stomach weren't sharply defined or most of his body
for that matter. He was lean and lovely to look at and Rye drank in the sight of so much of the
haunting golden skin. The hand groped out behind him and Rye let the probing fingers slide past
his waist.
"Rye?" Ichi tried to remove his hand to wipe at the suds that had slipped down to his eyes but Rye caught his hand.
"I can't." Rye whispered barely louder than the water.
Ichi ducked his head under the spray. "Can't?" He was afraid to open his eyes, afraid to turn around and find his mind was being a touch too vivid this morning.
"I can't st...stand it." He whispered again, knowing he wasn't making any sense but so hard from just looking at Ichi naked that he was ready to beg for release. He stepped forward and stood just
a hairs breath from touching Ichi. The tip of his cock just barely brushed across the side if Ichi's hip and he trembled.
It was ironic, the first morning in a long time Ichi had found himself not hard in the morning and
Rye managed to make him almost trembling with aching need with only a few whispered words.
He felt more than heard Rye move closer but it was only for that single, sharp contact. Suddenly,
Ichi found he couldn't stand it anymore either. He didn't care what Rye did, didn't care that he
couldn't touch the other man yet, he needed something.
Ichi stepped those last inches back and pressed his back full along Rye's chest. He kept his eyes
shut. "Please." He whispered.
It was enough, Rye reached out and pulled Ichi impossibly tighter against him. It was a repeat of
how he'd pinned Ichi in the kitchen and he attacked the shorter man's neck just as ruthlessly. He
needed both arms to hold Ichi still, the instant his mouth fell to the slender neck Ichi was
squirming. One of his mindless writhing motions twisted Ichi so his ass pressed fully against
Rye's hips and it poured burning desire across both men.
"Oh!" Ichi cried out at the delicious feel of bareness against bareness and pressed back against Rye mindlessly. He stumbled a little and braced his hands against the shower walls. "Please, oh, please." He sighed.
Rye managed to reach a hand over and the shampoo was slick on his fingers. He wanted more,
wanted eve
rything that Ichi seemed to be offering but it was too much, too soon. The soap made
them slippery and Rye slid himself along Ichi's body, teasing them both. Each time the slow
thrusts he allowed himself against the golden flesh slid across Ichi's entrance or lower to tease
between his legs, Ichi bucked and moaned.
It was too much. Rye closed his eyes and still he saw the way Ichi's hands clawed at the walls
and the drip of steamy water from the dark tips of his wet hair. Silently, he lost control and pulled Ichi's hips tight to his own and spilled himself against the roundness of Ichi's ass.
"Oh, oh, Ichi." He sighed, trembling, into the ear he'd been nibbling on.
Something far more scalding than merely hot water spilled against Ichi's flesh and he shivered.
Part of him was brokenly disappointed at not having been taken but part of him was grateful.
When, and it was a when now not an if, when they actually became lovers, Ichi didn't want it to
be over the kitchen counter or in the shower. He wanted to be able to watch those eyes and
spend hours, days, falling apart into trembling pieces.
Rye's sighing breath of his name tickled his ear and made him arch backwards. He was
lightheaded, which made sense since all of his blood seemed to have rushed to his groin and
again Ichi found his flesh a foreign place to be. Whenever Rye touched him, he felt sensual, felt
sexy, felt like need.
There was only a moment's pause between the scalding touch of Rye's shuddering release
before one hand on Ichi's waist moved. He braced himself, expecting it to move lower and was
surprised when those teasing fingers ghosted across his stomach. The touch was fluttering, and
made Ichi writhe under it.
"Oh!" He gasped surprised when he arched back and found hardness instead of softness. "Oh, god."
Rye chuckled lightly. "Not done wi..with you yet." He whispered. "I ne..need you so much." He let his hands slid across the chest but Ichi nearly arched from his grasp when he slid the tips of his
fingers across one nipple.
It was too much, the delicious length tormenting him with promises not yet fulfilled, the mouth on
his neck that nipped and suckled, the hands across his body making his skin shiver and it was all
too much. Ichi was as surprised by his reaction to the gentle touch to his nipples as Rye was,