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

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan tips his head to look past Ragnar at Sinric.

"Yes. You... added something very particular."

[thewidewideworld]

He leans in to kiss them each lazily. "It was an honour to watch you both. You are truly beautiful. Love makes you both shine."

He smiles richly and lazily. "I believe you said something about a bath?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Yes, I heard the word as well," Ragnar says, smiling a bit woozily. He doesn't feel like getting up yet -- he is barely out of Athelstan, as it is, and still savouring aftershocks -- but he will, of course, to give Sinric what he wants.

If he wants a bath, Ragnar will stand for that as he would for his peak of pleasure.

Love makes you both shine, though. That sentence kindles a feeling of deep happiness -- active happiness, positive happiness, the kind he talked about with Athelstan the other day.

[athelstanthescribe]

"A bath there shall be", Athelstan murmurs. "But perhaps in just a little while."

His arm slips around Sinric, without moving away from Ragnar.

[thewidewideworld]

He snuggles close, an arm across them. "I would draw it myself if I knew how. Perhaps, when you're ready you can teach me. For next time." Because he has no fear that there will be a next time. Their company is too good not to enjoy again.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar reaches out to touch Sinric's cheek.

"Next time I shall ask for the chance to pleasure you," he murmurs.

His arm goes around Sinric as well, meeting Athelstan's hand and entwining their fingers.

[athelstanthescribe]

"It would only be fair", Athelstan agrees with a faint smile.

[thewidewideworld]

He presses a finger to Ragnar's lips, following it with a kiss. "Next time I may say yes. Or perhaps beg to be allowed to pleasure you." He licks his lips, glancing down. "That little taste has left me hungry for more.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"We might even do that to each other, leaving Athelstan to slip into whoever has his hole most readily available," Ragnar suggests.

No, they have never done that with Ragnar at the receiving end. And for all he knows Athelstan's desires and preferences, they likely never will. And yes, it is the one thing deemed most anathema for a Viking man -- to claim that another has allowed it is a matter for libel suits that might even end in holmgang. But still, should Athelstan ever want it or suggest it, Ragnar would open himself without hesitation.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan blinks, because the thought that Ragnar might allow that has never occurred to him, let alone enough boldness to ask for it.

"Really...?"

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric raises an elegant eyebrow. "You've never yet given yourself over?" He ask Ragnar, curious but not at all judging. "beautiful Athelstan took me with such skill and care. I have no doubt you will find the experience wonderful."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"My lovely and beloved Athelstan," Ragnar says, "likes me inside him far too much for this to ever have come up; and as Viking men are very touchy on that subject, he probably never thought to ask. But mainly it is, I think, because he'd never even let me out if there was a way to keep me inside."

He grins, leaning in to kiss Athelstan deeply.

"As I love being within him, to be fair. But I'm curious, of course I am, and would try everything at least once."

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan laughs against his lips.

"I never thought you'd want it that way."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric laughs warmly and sprawls back in the bed. "It's my personal belief that everything should be tried twice. Just in case I got it wrong the first time. Why would the Gods have made us to feel pleasure as well as pain if they didn't want us to."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"The gods are very sneaky sometimes," Ragnar says, smiling. He cranes his neck to kiss first Athelstan, then Sinric.

"And I don't know if I want it that way; I never tried. And as it's so very clear how well we fit the way we've been fitting ourselves to each other for the last four years or so..."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Then when the time is right", Athelstan says with love, "we'll try it."

[thewidewideworld]

"Not every pleasure suits everyone but its always good to find out."

He chuckles softly. "And if you do not fit as well that way, I'm sure Athelstan can always find a willing partner should he wish to dance in dominance." It's clear from his tone he's offering himself up in that role.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"He is good at it?" Ragnar says.

He smiles at them both.

"I do hope you'll manage to come back regularly, Oriens."

Telling him now, before he's even told Athelstan, is not a good idea by Ragnat's book. He rarely hesitates to act on bad ideas, but this might be damaging -- and if anything, he can't afford to scare Sinric out of his crucial role for them. No Athelstan without Sinric's tales!

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan nods his agreement.

"It was a door somewhere in the city that brought you here tonight?"

[thewidewideworld]

He looks Ragnar in the eye with all seriousness. "In pleasure, Athelstan surpassed every man who has ever entered me." And of those, there have been many.

He leans back to sprawl, a lazy hand resting on Athelstan's thigh. "There is an old door, all but forgotten that leads to the outer walls of the palace. I sneak through there to watch the dawn over the Golden Horn. It was that door that lead me here."

He kisses the curve of Athelstan's neck as he reaches for Ragnar. "I hope it will do so often."

{ooc: to bed with me. Good evening, wonderful people.}

[athelstanthescribe]

"I don't believe those men put any effort into pleasing you", Athelstan says, almost angry with those nameless and absent men. "Only themselves."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"If you can find it again, then you can come back to us here," Ragnar says. "I very much hope you do."

And not just many years in his future, Ragnar's past, to a tavern in a busy Viking trading town.

"Athelstan is considerate, and he cares," he then says. "So he makes sure those around him are happy and safe, and never sees to his own safety or pleasure first. In battle, he must be kept from thinking about others too much, or he would be in danger. The gods gave me a great, ruthless gift in throwing him in my path, and letting me love him, and win his love."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric soothes Athelstan's bristling with a kiss and a nuzzle. "I am the Emperor's pleasure. They have no reason to put any effort into me." Some days that bothers him but not often.

Ragnar's offer of welcome warms him and he kisses the Earl gratefully.

[athelstanthescribe]

"When you do come back here", Athelstan says with a smile, "this room will be open to you whenever you want it."

But he won't be possessive.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar returns Sinric's kiss; it is almost painful to see how little he is valued where he is, if people give him neither pleasure nor welcome.

"Here, you can escape the people who treat you badly, there in Miklagard," he says.