Part III – Tailgate
by Raven
o, what's on the agenda for after dinner?" Walter asked
it as he was pouring a cup of coffee for himself. He held
out the pot, and Alex nodded with a smile of thanks. Fox
shook his head, clearing his throat slightly.
"Actually, I think a spanking is." Alex jumped back, as hot coffee narrowly missed his groin. Walter had startled at the words, not expecting the quiet evening at home to take a disciplinary turn.
"Did it get you?" Walter was mopping at the hot liquid with paper towels but spared a worried glance for his lover. Alex reached for more, assisting with the clean-up.
"No, missed completely. I'm fine, Walter."
"Sorry about that." Walter's apology was followed by Fox's.
"I think it was my fault, Walter. Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
"No harm done. But I am concerned. Who's getting spanked and why?" Walter and Alex were still standing, and Fox chewed his bottom lip for just a moment, before answering quietly.
"I am. As for why...well, I can show you easier." He motioned his lovers outside and once in the garage, pointed to the back of the van.
"Not you, too?" Alex wasn't mad, was only teasing. He'd figured Fox would have to add his own, if only to keep the balance right. Fox couldn't stand it when only two of the three of them were involved in something.
Walter, having reached the same conclusion as Alex, wasn't mad either. He just hoped this would be the end of this. The van was starting to look silly.
They came around the back of the van, and Fox watched as Alex's face grew more sober, and Walter looked concerned.
While Walter and Alex's bumper stickers had been a bit provocative, Fox's was flat-out obvious. The words could be inflammatory, and Alex knew that it might be enough to get their tires slashed at a mall, in some places. Catching their now serious mood, Fox spoke.
"I know. It's not the same, not like yours. But I have a really good explanation." Fox's voice was gently pleading, just a touch, and Walter put an arm around the slender shoulders.
"It's okay, Fox. Let's go inside and talk about it, alright?"
Fox nodded, allowing himself to be led back into the kitchen. Alex took a sip of his coffee, mind already trying to figure out how to deal with this.
"Why don't you explain, Fox." Walter added more sugar to his slightly cooled coffee, face neutral. Inside, he was thinking as hard and fast as Alex.
"Since you guys did your bumper sticker, I've been looking around, trying to find something that would speak my piece, you know? It's been special, looking at the bumper and knowing what each of you meant. I wanted that, too. So I was looking around the other day, and I saw this one. Well, the first half, anyway. It-it struck a chord, you can imagine, you both know my past. But after I got angry, I sort of finished the sentence in my head." Fox paused, taking a sip of his tea, then continuing. Alex had reached out to hold one hand, and Walter's arm was resting on the back of his chair.
"I saw that the shop did custom bumper stickers, and I had them modify it. The last part of that is all me, and that's the part that makes it about us, and about what I get from you guys. It's not the sex, it has nothing to do with that. It's the love. I was alone a long time, longer than any of you. Walter, you were married, and Alex...well, you were an alley cat..."
"Alley Rat." The soft correction was accompanied by a supportive smile, and Fox squeezed Alex's hand in gratitude.
"Of course. You were an alley Rat, but the point is, however tenuous and temporary, you made that human connection. I didn't. I can count on one hand the number of times I made love to another person before you guys. I couldn't, I just...I wanted to, I hurt for that, to know a touch besides my own. But I couldn't, couldn't let them get close, couldn't let them hurt me, couldn't let myself love them. Because then, I couldn't let them down. Couldn't disappoint them. Or lose them."
Walter wasn't looking at Fox, he and Alex both afraid to even breathe. While Fox had no problems communicating his wants and needs, could easily share his love and affection with his husbands, the man still had great difficulty sharing his pain. Fox hardly ever discussed this part of himself, rarely admitted to anything from his past.
"I was lonely, so damn lonely, but I was even more afraid. And so I turned to myself, the only safe comfort, the only acceptable outlet. Then this green-eyed brat walked into my life, refusing to stay away no matter how many times I pushed, and this ex-Marine that could take any punch I threw, and still hold me and keep me exactly where he wanted me."
Alex and Walter met his eyes now, seeing the suspicious sparkle of tears in the bright hazel. There was a sweet curve to the full mouth as Fox continued.
"I might have stood a chance with one of you alone. But the two of you together? We all know no force on Earth or any other planet can stand up to that. But knowing me, knowing my past, you still didn't see that I had been saving others from me. You told me I'd been saving myself for you. And I'm beginning to believe you were right."
"C'mere." Walter's voice was a thick murmur, and he scooted back his chair, all but dragging Fox and, by virtue of their linked hands, Alex into his lap. The three of them held for a long time, saying nothing, Walter and Alex simply holding Fox until the faint trembles stopped.
Fox lifted his head, easing back a little. Alex got a cool damp cloth and tenderly bathed Fox's face, pressing a kiss to each eyelid as he did so, then the cheeks, then the forehead and chin. He paused for only a moment, then kissed the tip of the long nose, drawing the expected scowl and grumble.
"You don't have any room to talk about noses, snub-boy." The quiet chuckle lightened the mood a bit, and Fox met their eyes calmly.
"Anyway, that's what I was thinking, that's what the sticker's about. It was only after I got it home and put it on, that I realized nobody but us would get it. That's when I saw it the way the rest of the world would, but then it was too late. I meant it when I said it was different, I see that, honestly. I'll go have it professionally taken off tomorrow."
"Like hell." It was short, carved in stone, and came from Alex and Walter at the same time, a gruff warning that he'd better not even think about it.
"Now I'm getting growled at in stereo? I knew there was a reason this three-way marriage thing was rare." Fox was grinning at his lovers, but he was relieved, too.
"Fox William Mulder, I've never used anything on you but my hand, but so help me, you have that taken off and I'll take a hairbrush to you." Alex, having recovered first, now leaned close, muttering the threat directly into the soft skin of Fox's throat.
"And I'll hold you down while he does it." Walter's voice was a stern rumble against the other side, and a tremble went through Fox that was only partly emotion.
"But it could be..."
Walter put a finger in front of the lips, not actually touching them, but indicating clearly that he was not to finish that sentence.
"Fox, we'll deal with it. The bumper sticker stays."
Fox nodded, relieved again that his lovers couldn't be bullied or intimidated into making him hide who and what he really was.
"Okay. It stays. Um, guys? Am I...am I getting spanked?"
Walter and Alex looked at each other with a sigh. In a way, it had been a deliberate flaunting of the rules, but his reasons were too much. While they silently debated, Fox continued with a grin.
"And if so, will it be self-serve, like Alex's was?"
"No, no, I don't think that's right, not for you. Not for this." Walter's eyes held a suspicious twinkle, and he winked at Alex, unseen by Fox.
Relieved, Alex played along, a slight nod the only sign that the message had been received.
"I think Alex and I should both spank you. And I don't think it should be a token punishment, Fox."
Fox swallowed hard, not having expected this, but if they both thought it was warranted, he'd accept it willingly.
"What-whatever you think. I trust you."
"We know that, Fox." With a kiss, Walter began undoing Fox's pants, Alex helping. When they were unfastened, Walter eased Fox over, gently turning him face down. Alex scooted Fox's pants and underwear down, baring the slim bottom.
"Ready, Fox?" Walter's voice was quiet, and Fox took a deep breath, nodding.
Walter's hand came down on his left hindcheek. It was a soft pop, not even hard enough to pinken the skin. Alex's graceful hand found the right side with a similar tap.
"No, Fox, a token punishment is all wrong. What you need is a nice, long, erotic spanking from both of us. A reward, not a punishment."
Chuffing out his relief and amusement at being had, Fox relaxed across the broad thighs.
"And this is why I trust you guys."
He yelped as Alex leaned forward, mischievously nipping at the tempting flesh.
"And that's why I don't trust you too much." Fox put back a hand to rub, but Alex stopped him.
"Let me." The warmth of a tongue soothed the slight sting from the love bite, and Fox sighed again.
"Alright, Alex, enough. We promised him a spanking, and a spanking he's going to get. You can kiss it and make it all better after we're done."
With a final quick brush of his lips to Fox's rear, Alex sat back, raising his hand again. Twin slaps, both gentle and loving, drew a quiet moan from Fox, and Walter could feel the growing hardness against his leg.
Grinning, he continued the erotic assault, thinking that Fox's sticker was having it's point proven.
" Real Men Don't Need Porn; Just Another Real Man. "
THE END.
