For Sinric

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan's room is almost pathologically neat, the bed made and everything in its place.

He stands aside to let Sinric in, the bathroom door standing open to reveal the huge sunken bath inside.

Comments

[thewidewideworld]

The bath makes Sinric marvel. There are bath-houses aplenty in the palace. Even one in the eunuchs quarters but nothing so grand in a private chamber. "You must be a very important man indeed!"

[athelstanthescribe]

He smiles slightly.

"I have a very generous lord. And often - " He closes the door. " - he and I share it."

[thewidewideworld]

"Ah. How fortunate for you, to have a lord who is so giving." He lets the words hang in the air with a mischievous grin.

[athelstanthescribe]

"Yes, indeed." Athelstan grins back. "That's one of the secrets, and I trust you know how to keep them."

[thewidewideworld]

"Oh sweet northman, I am a vault of secrets." He purrs, coming over to Athelstan with a swish of hips. "None shall know it from my lips."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Good." He smiles. "Now understand, tonight we do nothing you don't want to do."

[thewidewideworld]

"And what it is you want to do?" He asks with a smile, running his fingers over Athelstan's tunic.

The servant and lover of a powerful northern earl. A good person to have on side. And breakfast to think about. It's no great sacrifice to indulge his pleasures.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan chuckles, his hands brushing over Sinric's dress in turn.

"You're very lovely, Oriens. I'd like to have you, but again I say, only if you want it."

He really has no interest in a partner passively accepting it, even if no force would be involved.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric smiles and leans in to brush soft lips over Athelstan's cheek. "I'm here, am I not."

He turns them very subtly so he has a clear line to the door. He doesn't think he'll need it - after all, Athelstan is lover to an earl and therefore not adverse to the passions of men but it's always wise to be sure which those who don't know.

"I should tell you then, I am not perhaps what I seem."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Oh?"

He raises his eyebrows, clearly more curious than suspicious or wary.

[thewidewideworld]

He sheds the fur wrap and reaches for the fibula brooches at his shoulders. The dress falls away, billowing around his ankles like a cloud.

Sinric's body is perfectly smooth, his pecs full and rounded like the breasts of a small woman. Between his legs, his member is very small, like a snail without its shell and behind it, nothing but smooth hairless skin and the slightest ridge of a scar.

He stands there in stillness, like Aphrodite in the foam, one brooch still in his hand, the pin out if he must defend himself.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan stays still, taking in the sight of him.

Finally, softly, "Oh, Oriens. Yes, you are a vault of secrets."

He steps forward, hands carefully down by his sides and unthreatening.

[thewidewideworld]

Athelstan's soft proclamation makes him smile as he steps out of the cloth around his ankles, setting the brooch down "The eunuchs of the imperial court can be whatever men desire them to be. Do you still desire me, Athelstan?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"I do", he says honestly. "Very much." And he closes the distance to set his hands lightly on Sinric's sides again. "Do you desire me, truthfully? You've been bought and sold enough, tonight... you should be free to choose."

[thewidewideworld]

He leans in and kisses Athelstan, slow and rich and giving. Partially in lieu of an answer. And partially to hide the soft sheen of tears that gather in his eyes. Few are so thoughtful and kind with him.

"Yes." He whispers softly, molding himself to Athelstan. Sex itself brings him little joy but there is pleasure to be found in touch, in closeness, and Athelstan seems like one willing to take the time to find it.

[athelstanthescribe]

He is, enjoying that almost as much as the act itself, and he'll take trouble with Sinric's pleasure as well.

Athelstan returns the kiss slowly, until it breaks, then turns and leads Sinric silently to the bed.

"Then undress me as you wish."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric smiles and follows, plucking deftly at the laces and ties. He pushes Athelstan's tunic over his head, his undershirt follows it.

With the grace of training, he falls to his knees to remove boots and socks, pulling slowly at the laces of Athelstan's trousers teasingly. He can feel the sweeling heat within as he draws the cloth away.

[athelstanthescribe]

It's there, certainly, and growing under Sinric's hands. As his trousers fall away, Athelstan backs up to lie on the bed, but otherwise lets Sinric take the lead for once in his life.

[thewidewideworld]

This isn't going quite to the path Sinric is accustomed. Men rarely back away when he is on his knees, his lips red as he knows they are.

He stands and follows Athelstan to the bed, a little hesitant. Normally he would mount a man laying on his back like this, ride him to completion but it doesn't feelnas if that is what Athelstan wants.

Instead Sinric lays beside him, cupping his cheek and drawing him into another kiss. Athelstan's kisses are so sweet.

[athelstanthescribe]

What he wants is what Sinric wants, but he knows it must be difficult for Sinric to accept having wishes and choices.

He leans in to the kiss, gently. "Did you want to... use your mouth, or something else?" It's a question, not a suggestion or an order. "I will ask for nothing you don't enjoy."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric opens his mouth to speak before he schools himself. His whore's patter is of no use to him today.

Instead he takes Athelstan's hand and brings it to his breasts, the most sensitive part of him, before reaching between Athelstan's legs to stroke him slowly.

[athelstanthescribe]

If anything, Athelstan is trying, tentatively and without a clear plan, to teach Sinric how to be something other than a whore or slave, by not treating him like one.

He strokes Sinric's breasts tenderly, even as he moves into Sinric's own touch and kisses him again.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric moans softly, breathlessly, and honestly. His nipples harden like glass under the touch, letting the feeling wash over him.

His tiny cock hardens a little too, a useless reflex of pleasure.

His hands move smoothly, confidently on Athelstan. This he knows well enough to do on instinct. A twist of his wrist here, a stroke of his thumb there, varying his speed and tighten without thought.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan groans into his mouth, feeling and appreciating his skill and hardening almost painfully under his hands.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric knows exactly how to draw a man out, or how to bring him to his fall hard and fast. But with Athelstan, he isn't sure which way to go. "Tell me?" He asks softly, between kisses, "Tell me when you are ready."