"Afternoon, everyone. Seems you're all, ah, bouncing back nicely. So if you're feeling up to it, perhaps we should discuss heading back to Andromeda's Crevice."

"We juscht schpent a month there. No! Fuck no! I vote that we juscht record in the schtudio."

"I for one side with Charles on this," Nathan countered. "It's the only place to get the sound we need. And I'm not letting that fucking nightmare be all for nothing. We're gonna keep the album we record this time, because we're gonna do it right."

"We goings in de big sub, ja?" Skwisgaar asked.

"Yes," Charles confirmed. "After all its reworking, you won't even realize you're underwater if you stay in the wide open areas."

"And I for one believe the only way to harness the blackness that found us there is to be reminded of it in a safe, moderated environment." Nathan bared his teeth. "Let's do this. I'm ready to go."

Descent set for Monday morning reinstated anxiety in Skwisgaar. At least this time it would be relatively comfortable, and Toki would be coming. Skwisgaar doubted it would take them an entire three months to record the album, if all went well. So he hoped, anyway. Pressure from Crystal Mountain aside, he didn't want to spend his entire summer in darkness.

Without instruction when he and Toki entered his room, Skwisgaar undressed. His clothes took his worries with him, and a gentle squeeze of his ass pushed his mood in the other direction entirely. "Takes it easy for a bit. Go lays down."

Soft fur brought Skwisgaar right back to the morning, before he'd managed to ride out a neglected erection. Toki jacked off on the bed beside him, but still denied the Swede any sort of contact. Laying on his stomach with his gaze on the younger man, the sweet taste of cum and sweat touched the tip of his tongue again.

Toki pulled Skwisgaar's empty luggage from his closet. Before the Swede could inquire, Toki opened the bottom drawer of his dresser, transferred a pile of grey jeans into the suitcase, then stalled when he found other pants squished in behind. "How comes you never wear these?"

"I gets into de habit of grabbing whatevers I see forst, I guess."

"Hm." Toki tossed them in. "I gets tired of seeings you in the same kinds of thing, all the time. You going to starts wearing different stuff."

"Ja, Mästare." The swelling between Skwisgaar's legs worsened, even more so when shifting added a pinch. Certain Toki could tell when he looked over, the blond obscured the bottom half of his face behind the bunched up blanket.

"You gots to have more restraint than thats," Toki remarked. Digging around in the top drawer produced the largest butt plug Skwisgaar owned. "Ass up, hore."

The Swede's cock twitched as Toki moved behind him. Going rock hard so suddenly made his head spin; he grinned with his face pressed into the blanket as Toki infiltrated his body with impersonal fingers. Surely, the man could feel him tremble beneath the hand rested on his lower back. How incredibly lucky would Skwisgaar be, if his balls didn't fill with blood as Toki returned to his previous focus? Silicone tested the physical limits of the blond's muscle and forced him to swallow a deep moan.

"There. Keeps your hands where I can see them, now."

"Ja, Mästare." Lowering himself back to the bed required diligence. Trapped between Skwisgaar's abdomen and the bed, it took every ounce of restraint for him not to hump with abandon and get rid of this. Skwisgaar took a deep breath instead, found a position where the plug didn't angle so tormentingly, and rested his head on folded arms. "Tack."

"Onlies a slut as bigs as you would gets this horny over something so small. It isn'ts about sex, all the time." The hint of a smile undermined Toki's admonishment. "So calms down."

Skwisgaar attempted to remove himself from the primitivity of his body by concentrating on Toki packing his clothes. Such an inoccuous act shouldn't make it worse, but how else was Skwisgaar supposed to react to his Master making such basic choices for him? His hammering heart reverberated throughout his entirety, though eventually sunk into prickles at its most concentrated spot.

"Aw, looks at that," Toki said later when he inspected the damage. "I wouldn'ts want to wreck such a nice shades of blue."

A hopeful string of precum left a wet spot on Skwisgaar's lower abdomen. Sitting up on the edge of his bed, with the plug's flanged base pressing against his entrance, his toes curled as Toki gave his aching balls a gentle squeeze.

"Put these on." Toki set a white tee shirt and dark pair of sweatpants beside him. "We's gonna go to my room. I wants to show you something."

Desperate reemergence of his erection forced Skwisgaar to obscure it behind his hands. He walked funnily enough, in attempt to keep the plug from potentially slipping. Luckily, other than a single klokateer, they didn't meet anyone.

"Sits on the bed." Toki dug about in his closet. Rather than pack his own things, as Skwisgaar assumed he would do, a small lockbox came out. "Hands me the key, from the bedside drawer."

Skwisgaar noticed it in the corner whenever need for lube gave him reason to rifle through Toki's things. He folded his fingers patiently over his lap as the Norwegian cracked the box, then his head tilted by its own accord as he studied the contents within. Toki never mentioned his use of toys when alone, although the younger man took his advice about acquiring some butt plugs. Before Skwisgaar could formulate that image, Toki's rummaging ended and he set the box aside.

Forlornly, Skwisgaar took what he held out. "Dis am—"

"You've gots two days left of freedoms. I mights let you cum befores I lock you up, dependings on how I feel." The clear, polycarbonate material glinted in the light, wavering to the tune of Skwisgaar's trembling fingers. Was Toki trying to torture him, right now? "The only reason I's waiting is because I don'ts want anyone to sees it through your pants when we goings onto the Dethsub."

Charles mentioned their submersion would be a highly publicized event. Not only did the world eagerly await their next release, but none of Dethklok's members had been seen in public since their Seoul show. Toki admitted not long after Skwisgaar's return that he'd started following the media's perception of them out of boredom. Not much changed. The majority of opinions still pinned them as a couple, though some believed constant media attention had broken them up. Toki found it funny, how obsessively some people read into their every interaction for hint about what happened behind Mordhaus' guarded doors. The silhouette of a chastity device under Skwisgaar's jeans would keep them all preoccupied for a long, long while.

A hand formed a fist in Skwisgaar's hair. The thrum of electricity in his nerves intensified, doubly so as a mouth touched his ear. "Though I wouldn'ts mind letting them know that you couldn't sleeps with anyone else even if you wanteds to, because only I gots the key to your cage."

Cheat? That couldn't be further from Skwisgaar's mind, right now. He hissed lightly as Toki twisted his grasp, then stabilized against the Norwegian's thigh.

"Nots like you allowed to cum, anyway." Despite that, Toki slipped his other hand down Skwisgaar's pants. A contented groan resonated down the Swede's ear canal as the younger man carefully stroked his throbbing cock. "Lays down on your back, head ats the end of the bed."

While Toki stood and pulled his shirt off, Skwisgaar adjusted his pants. Keeping them on made it difficult for his erection, comically tenting at the crotch. A command to leave it folded Skwisgaar's hands over his stomach instead. The Norwegian's jeans hit the floor and drew the Swede's attention immediately to the mirrored affliction. His own twitched in response.

Never knowing entirely what might be in store for him activated Skwisgaar's imagination. He arched his back in attempt to gain more pressure from the butt plug when Toki gauged him from the bedside. After a couple automatic strokes to himself, the mattress gave a short protest as Toki straddled Skwisgaar about his waist and inched closer. "You aren'ts getting off yet, so don'ts even bother thinking about it."

"Ja, Mästare."

"God gutt. Now sucks me off."

From this angle, Skwisgaar noticed more than ever just how muscular Toki's thighs were. They tensed and shifted beneath his hands in time with the Swede's ministrations. His abdomen reacted similarly, causing Skwisgaar to wish his mouth could be in two places at once. He loved how the younger man's body contoured, not to mention how his external strength reflected that which he became personally familiar with. Toki emanated nothing but power, with just the perfect degree of violence to keep Skwisgaar satiated yet unafraid of his capabilities. Knees that broke bone dug into the bed either side of his ribcage, and hands that directed the best beatings Toki ever doled out slithered back into his hair.

Precum mentally prepared Skwisgaar, but Toki yanked his head back. A smirk came from above, for the resultant popping sound. "Puts your head back down."

Skwisgaar closed his eyes when the first spurt landed on his cheek. A line across his lips drew his tongue out on impulse. With a final sigh from the Norwegian, Skwisgaar tested a glance to see if he should expect anymore.

"There not's much better looking than you with a face full of cum," Toki said. Swinging off, he leveraged his weight into a flat palm against Skwisgaar's still-concealed and aching core. "Clean youself up, hore."

Just as Toki promised, the Swede's balls took the brunt of his unspent arousal. He wallowed in discomfort back in his own room for the evening, feeling empty thanks to the plug's removal, yet otherwise complacent. Seated on the edge of the bed with his guitar in his lap, pride expanded his chest over ignoring the concupiscence left to him. He didn't need his Master to monitor him continuously until his caging day, nor did Toki give anything beyond reminder when he left. Skwisgaar's obligation toward obedience kept him in check; what kind of slave compromised its place for something so paltry?

Before he could forget—not to mention as a distraction—Skwisgaar set his instrument aside and laid back with his phone. Since he had no idea how long they'd be out of contact with the rest of the world, he needed to bid his goodbyes where they were due. He kept in mind the time difference, to Sweden.

"Hallo, this ams Tyr."

"Hej, ams Skwisgaar."

"Thoughts that mights be you number, on my calls display," the other man chuckled. True to his landline, the call slightly crackled. "How ams you doing?"

"Goods. I just thoughts I would call befores we heads down into de Dethsub."

"Ams pretty exciting, ja? Ams you ready for it?"

Skwisgaar filled Tyr in on the preparations necessary to stimulate the prospective album (lightening the details of his previous bout in a submarine), then segued their conversation into the parts of his daily life suitable for sharing. Tyr in turn shared his; not much exciting happened, beyond a mildly disastrous roadtrip up to Umeå to celebrate his grandson's first birthday.

The winding down of their chat caused Skwisgaar mild disquiet. Besides his ex-stepfather, the idea of calling his mother too came up. Was he ready for that yet? She'd respected him enough to leave him alone, as promised, but did that really mean anything? What if she just forgot about him? "Tyr?"

"Ja."

"I wants to ask you somet'ing, but I wills understand if you don'ts want to talk about it. Ams dat okay?"

"What ams it?"

"Ams about my moms." Silence on the other end could go either way. "She showeds up here nots that long ago, I guess befores de last time we talks. She wanteds her and I to tries and get along, all dat craps. Has she evers gotten into contacks wit' you likes dat?"

"Hm. I woulds have to say ja. Not since we gots divorced, but we's had that kind of backs and forth since we were onlies kids."

Tyr and Serveta were only a few years apart in age, so Skwisgaar easily assumed that hailing from the same small town meant they knew each other right from their youth. However, no one ever told Skwisgaar before how deep that ran. "Whats you mean?"

"Backs in school, I wanteds to date her. Asked your grandfather's permission and everythings. She. . .well, you know what she am like. She was interesteds in the idea, ja, but onlies until it meant she coulds only be with me. She moveds away to Stockholm fors a bit after we graduate, dids the whole pageant thing, and we trieds again when she comes back home. Sames deal, though. Then we dateds again in the mid-80's and brokes up because I didn'ts think she was beings faithful. Then we cames together again here recentlies and just whens I thought she mights be done that. . .ja. But we hasn'ts talked since, and I can'ts do it anymores with her. Is too stressfuls. Sometimes, evens though I know is not right, I blames her for the fact that I nevers got to have kids of my own. I spents all that time waiting for her, foolishlies holding onto the dream that we coulds have a family. I thoughts I could fix her by beings enough.

"I'm sorry, Skwisgaar. I shouldn'ts talk about your mother that way. As your son, you shouldn'ts hear things like that about her."

"Is okay. Dat ams how I's always known her in my life. She wasn'ts much of a mom wit' me. All I really evers got to know about her was how she funskin as a woman. I don'ts feel much likes her son, so is weird to me when she comes around." Skwisgaar glanced at the door when it opened, then smiled fleetingly at Toki. "I hates what she do to you, you know. It wasn'ts fair. We all hads a good t'ing going, but de black hole inside her what can nevers get enough ruin everyt'ing."

"I still loves her, in a way. I ams a fool for puttings her on such a pedestal. She cans be a delightful womans, but sometime the bad things outweigh the goods, unfortunately. Evens though I am happy where I ams now, the family whats we had still gots a piece of me. Is why I likes it when you call, Skwisgaar. I stills consider you my son, evens if circumstance takes that away from us."

"I miss dats a lot sometime. It. . .means a lot to hear."

When Skwisgaar eventually ended the call, he laid with his phone facedown on his chest. Fingers running gently through his hair were the only things keeping him from curling up into a ball while his nervous system digested overpowering sadness.

"Who was thats?"

"Tyr, the man my moms married, before."

"You never tolds me she got married."

"He ams de one she say was my dads. Turned out he was onlies her husband—my stepsdad—but. . ." Skwisgaar shrugged. "I wish he was my dads. He coulds be. I don'ts know for shore, since he nevers did de DNA test and he dateds my mom arounds de time she gots pregnant wit' me. Buts. . .I knows better than to dreams for somet'ing like dat."

"Woulds you ever ask him to takes the test?"

"I don'ts think so. We talks anyway, evens though my mom fucks us up, and I. . ." What if they wound up not related, and that reinforced for Tyr the freedom to wash his hands of the Skwigelf name? Illogical as it was, considering Tyr as a person, Skwisgaar got let down far too frequently by the adults in his life not to subscribe to the belief.

Toki brought Skwisgaar's head into his lap. His brown strands nearly reached the Swede's nose; imagining the tickle, Skwisgaar scratched at it. "It takes more than bloods to be a dad, anyway. Looks at mine. I mights has come from him, but he didn'ts deserve me. To haves a son, you gots to act like a father. Is the conclusions I comes to abouts that whole thing."

"Does you ever wish t'ing was differents?"

"I used to. Nots much of a point now. I forgaves him for whats he did. I used to hates the person he makes me to be, but is not so bads anymore. I's made peace with that, evens if it still make me mad sometimes when I think about it."

"Whenevers I t'ink abouts it, I mights as well be twelve again. My moms brought a lot of mens home when I was youngers, but I cans appreskate now dat she nevers married none of thems. If she dids to me den what she dids wit' Tyr a couples year ago, it woulds has ruineds me completely." A random tightness in Skwisgaar's throat came into existence as Baldur's goofy, wall-eyed face passed through his mind. Where did a pet fit into all this? Did his brain only attempt to summon anything that could possibly make him sad, so that this stress could force an exit?

Toki pressing a kiss to each his eyelids didn't help. "You aren'ts damaged goods, Skwis. I know how hards it is to sees that, after the world you grows up in skews how you looks at youself. You ands me—the whole band, actuallies—is here because we weres failed at some point. Your mom can'ts find happiness, and her pursuits for it takes yours in the process. She can'ts look past herself, and maybes that isn'ts really her fault but that don'ts mean you shoulds think less of yourself for it. You ares your own person now. You shouldn'ts let her have so much control over you."

"Is just once in a whiles, when I gots to t'ink about it." Skwisgaar turned his face into Toki's abdomen. "I don'ts want to be's her son no mores. I maybes don't have a choice dat she gaves birth to me, but I ams tired of slowly turnings into her."

"One of the biggest reasons why I respects you so much is because you aren'ts, anymore."

"I guess nots, huh?" Imposed chastity set Skwisgaar on the opposite end of the spectrum, in regards to his previous licentiousness. "I owes dat to you."

"Gives yourself some credits too. I couldn'ts has done anything likes this on my own."

Skwisgaar nuzzled his nose between Toki's abdominals. "Tack, anyway."