By Your Side (At any price) Chapter 3
Rating: NC-17
Summary: When Gau breaks a pattern, will he bite off more than he can chew?
Warning: Sex. Further warning, not very sexy sex.
Note: No, this isn't the end of the story. Really, it's just the beginning.

"Don't turn around."

The stubborn part of Gau immediately wonders just what will happen if he does; if he turns around and looks Raikou right in the eyes. Demands... something, anything. Some sort of recognition of just who he is, some acknowledgement that Raikou isn't pretending he is someone else. One of his random men (or women, does he take female lovers as well?) from the club or wherever it was he picks them up.

He is tempted. And Raikou must feel it, perhaps a twitch in his muscles, perhaps a slight turn of his head that doesn't get anywhere at all before he halts it. However it is that his partner is tipped off, Gau finds a hand slipping off his arm, moving up to catch at his jaw, holding just tight enough for him to feel pressure, not quite enough to hurt.

"Gau, if you want to back out of this, you can. But if you look at me, I can't do it. So please don't."

And all of the fight goes out of the younger teen, just like that. Because Raikou's voice is warm, at first, struggles to find the same cool tone the original words held. This isn't easy for Raikou, isn't what Raikou wants with him or what he would choose with him... he is staying because Gau asked. He is taking this because Gau offered.

"It's all right," Gau replies, far more calmly than he feels. There is a slight tremble through his form, as he leans back against Raikou a little, the contact oddly soothing even now. In fact, when he speaks again, his voice comes out even stronger, firm and steady.

"I just want to be whatever you need, tonight. Honestly, anything at all, just... tell me what you need me to do."

"I need you to... stop talking."

He knows Raikou doesn't mean the words the way they sound, it's obvious. That little catch in his voice, that pause... they say more than the words themselves, mean more. Raikou needs him to be quiet, for the same reason that he needs him not to look. Gau knows. Gau understands. Gau created this whole situation, didn't he?

He closes his eyes, gives a little nod, and the hand on his chin is there just long enough to feel it, and then drifts away, drifts down his body, slowly. The touch there surprises Gau, the gentleness of it, the way Raikou's fingers slip over his smooth skin, brushing so lightly. Down the center of his chest, over his belly, then the hand stops... and Gau can feel a shiver go through the man behind him as the light touch nears more intimate places.. and trips away, upward again.

Is it that hard for Raikou to touch him there? Is it that taboo, as partners, that wrong? Gau wants to ask, but Raikou needs him to be quiet, and this is all about what Raikou needs. Only about what Raikou needs, about Gau somehow giving Raikou this thing that he needs so that he can stay. So that he doesn't have to go get it elsewhere.

Another pass, over the same territory, though the fingers brush against a nipple and skitter away this time, hastily. The chest against Gau's back feels warmer... as if there's a flush on the man's skin... but surely Gau is imagining, isn't he? Surely... no, Raikou isn't blushing over him.

Maybe not. But there's a definite flush to Gau's skin now, spreading across his entire body, as those light touches make another movement downwards, through the tiny bit of hair that is attempting to create a trail toward Gau's groin, spreading and thickening as it reaches it. But Raikou's fingers halt, tangled in the tuft of hair at the base of Gau's soft member, not quite touching the flesh itself.

The younger teen bites his lip in frustration, draws in a slow calming breath. All Raikou is doing is making him more nervous, working him up more. It's not appealing, not arousing, this teasing, because it's not teasing so much as hesitation... and Gau doesn't know how he knows that, but he does know it.

Still, he is silent. He gives Raikou a little longer, waits less-than-patiently while Raikou makes another pass, slips his hand away this time to brush over Gau's thigh, to move outward over his hip, to rest itself there for a moment, the fingers fluttering, nervous.

Then, when the hand doesn't begin to move again, Gau takes matters in his own hands. Figuratively, not literally, because literally he's still letting his arms dangle at his sides, letting Raikou have full control and not turning around, not speaking, not moving. Doing what he's been asked.

Until he shifts his hips back, just a little, just enough to bring his butt in contact with what the movement confirms is a completely soft cock. He frowns, gives a little shift, causing friction between their bodies.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure you have to be hard for this to happen. So if you're not getting anything out of touching me that way, stop doing it."

His voice comes out flat, dry. Not the sort of voice he uses for grocery lists or facts about their work with the Wakachi or... anything else, really. It's far less excited than that.

Silence follows the words, and then... breath against his ear, coming out in a little puff that is almost a laugh. There's a fond note to Raikou's voice as he speaks, something far more personable (and personal) than anything that has passed his lips in the last few moments. "Step forward and get up on the bed for me then, on your knees. And... tell me if I go too far."

Stop saying that. Stop qualifying. Stop trying to change my mind. I've already decided.

But Gau doesn't say any of those things. Instead, he simply waits for Raikou's hands to fall away from him, and steps forward, places himself on Raikou's pristine bed (the sheets smell so nice and clean, because Gau just washed them, just made the bed so carefully this morning...) on his hands and knees, his breath going a little shaky as he realizes just how vulnerable the position makes him feel.

No one should be looking at him like this, not just nude but bent forward like this, his limp dick hanging down between his legs, his butt in the air, his thighs shaking, just slightly. No one should be seeing him this way, and yet he can feel his partner's eyes on him, can feel something almost... measuring in that gaze.

And then there's a dip to the bed, and a familiar sword-calloused hand, resting just in the middle of his back. And all the tension flows out of him, with just that touch, the nervousness seeping away finally, all the worry over what is going to happen here just... flowing away. Because now, that touch is firm and sure, not hesitant.

Raikou, despite what he said earlier, has only now made up his mind.

This belief is confirmed for Gau as the heat of Raikou's skin moves closer, as the man bends over his body, one hand appearing on the bed beside Gau's own arm. If Gau had been the one trying to pretend his partner was someone else, it would have been shattered, because the tattoo around the forearm is distinctive, definitely.

But Gau is not trying to pretend any such thing, thankfully. In fact, what Gau wants to do is shift his hand over to rest on top of the one next to it, to clasp his fingers around Raikou's reassuringly.

He doesn't do it. Because it's not his to do, not until Raikou tells him so. This isn't about him. He reminds himself of that again, firmly, and is as still as he can manage, waiting.

He doesn't have to wait long at all. In fact, the next movement comes so quickly and so harshly that he cries out; the bite against his neck isn't the worst pain he's ever felt in his life, by a long shot, but it's sudden and it's Raikou and he doesn't know how to feel about it, at all. There's no blood, but then a second later the man's other hand is wrapping around his hip again... and the nails that sink in do indeed wind up with blood beneath them. The slight wetness against his skin is worse than the pain itself, Gau thinks, because it's proof that...

Yes, Raikou will do him harm.

Gau shudders, but he's careful this time to be quiet, not to voice his surprise or the slight sliver of fear working its way through him.

The harsh touches continue for a long moment, more bites and scratches across his pale smooth skin, drawing little gasps from him. There's no pleasure at all in it for Gau, but... the stiffening of the member bumping against his rear end tells him that isn't the same for Raikou, that in fact, it's pleasurable for the other man.

That's what I'm here for, to take care of you.

So he simply bears with it, clenches his fingers into the sheets and waits for Raikou to move on, wondering idly if his partner has decided to only take pleasure in him this way, if maybe the samurai will rub against his backside and maul him until he finds his completion.

He knows better than to believe it is true, but it's a tempting little fantasy. In fact, he lets himself get lost in it, while Raikou's hand begins to move over his body, scraping nails over his front now as well, the same areas he'd touched so hesitantly earlier now being marked without pause.

It's surreal, how no words pass between them, how no explanation is offered up. Raikou is always hesitant with facts about his own life, is never open or honest with Gau about his past... in fact, the teen is pretty sure that most of what he knows is lies. On the other hand, Raikou is always open about teaching Gau things, about explaining his actions, his strategies, his methods... for anything but this. In this, he is silent, taking without offering anything, without explaining anything.

He still doesn't touch Gau's cock. Not once. And the younger teen's member remains flaccid against his thigh, waiting for a touch that doesn't come, for a pleasure that isn't offered. In fact, it remains so long after Raikou's touch becomes more intimate, after slickened fingers begin to probe in places that Gau has never been touched before, at all.

He doesn't know what to think about that; though he knew what he was offering when he offered it, somehow he hadn't expected this... blankness, in himself. How he isn't the slightest bit aroused, despite the fact that... he'd known that his feelings for Raikou bordered on what might be called a crush.

Thankfully, despite the earlier roughness, Raikou is being careful not to cause any harm, using plenty of lube and taking the time to work him open with fingers first. Gau has never done this before, no, but he's read enough to know that if not done carefully, it could cause a lot of damage, and while he's willing to have that happen, if Raikou needs it... he's glad too that Raikou doesn't need it.

By the time Raikou is actually entering him, he's almost used to the feeling: almost. He holds himself as still as he can, tries to ignore the bruising pressure of the grip on his hips, and reminds himself to breathe, both hands twisting the sheets between his fingers.

He does not cry out. In fact, the act is oddly quiet, nothing but the noise of skin slapping against skin, rough panting. Not the sort of sex people complain about hearing their neighbors having, not the sort of vicious scream-filled encounter that Gau himself has imagined Raikou's affairs as being.

When Gau comes, finally, it's a weak spurt of fluid that splatters against his belly, drips slightly onto the bed, from a member that never truly got fully hard. It's only afterward that he realizes how extremely sensitive the orgasm has made him, and then the scream comes, as Raikou continues to smash against his hyper-sensitized prostate and he's downright twitching and jerking with the pressure, the simulation.

And just like that, everything stops. A hand presses into the middle of Gau's back, gentle but firm, and the length that's been working him open and filling him up slips out. There's a slick slide against his cheeks, and then more thrusting, friction against his backside as Raikou simply humps himself to completion, sprays thickly over Gau's skin.

And honestly, all Gau can think is thank the gods and eww pretty much simultaneously.

Silence follows, for a long moment, Raikou leaned over him on the bed, bodies still close, practically stuck together with the stickiness between them. Gau is still, starting to regain his composure, nearly able to catch his breath now that it's over...

And then, still silently, Raikou moves away.

"NO!"

It's the first protest he's made, this whole time, isn't it? Surely it's not selfish of him to hold Raikou to his part of the bargain, to make Raikou stay with him. Just stay, that's all he's asking, and Gau doesn't realize that there are tears in his eyes or that he's panicking until a warm hand reaches down, brushes fingers through his dark curls.

"Getting a rag to clean you off, Gau. You don't want to sleep like that."

Of course, of course. Raikou is taking care of him now, as he promised. It's going to be just fine, and he'll get to sleep in Raikou's bed (he's always wanted that, hasn't he?) and then he can wake up in the morning and make breakfast and everything will go back to normal.

The optimism of youth tells him this must be so.

And a few moments later, cleaned off and wrapped up in Raikou's arms, warm blankets against his bare skin and pink hair drifting across his cheek, he believes it with every beat of his heart as he drifts off to sleep.