Ray sat back and admired his latest knot. It wasn't as fancy as one of Ben's rabbit-goes-down-the-hole-chased-by-a-dog-swinging-a- squirrel-over-his-head knots, but it would work. Ray kept laughing under his breath like that Hanna Barbara cartoon dog, Muttley. He was from The Great Race, right? No, Wacky Races. Catch That Pigeon? And other stuff. Anyway, that wheezy snickering always had sounded more evil.
It scraped at Ray's hot, raw throat a bit, but the medicine Ben had forced on him had coated and soothed a little bit. His mouth and throat still felt like a nuclear reactor and tasted like roadkill with a fake cherry flavor on top. //If that's what cherries really tasted like, nobody'd ever eat 'em. Ever.// Ray felt bad about putting Ben off, but right now he didn't want to live with his own body, especially his mouth, let alone inflict it on anybody else. He kept expecting Ben's hand to melt off every time they made contact.
It hadn't stopped Ray from being horny, just from wanting anyone to touch him.
Taking care of him had knocked Frase right out, giving him a cute and exhausted Mountie sacked out in long johns on his couch. Maybe the person who *gave* the Nyquil was the one it made sleepy, because Ray felt like a wired version of the Energizer bunny. He'd started his little project out of being completely awake and totally bored. His head hurt too much to listen to music, his eyes jiggled too much to read, and he'd already spent way too much time parked in front of the TV for the last three days.
//What 'til you see what I've been up to, Fraser Ben-Ben buddy cara mia. Hey, Tish, that's French. No, wait, Italian. Romance languages. From Rome, from Latin... Wait, "cara mia" is female. "Caro mio"? Damn, you're heavy, Ben.//
Ray made another knot and cut more string.
******************************************************
Something was wrong. Ben woke up to see Ray's glittering pale eyes looking down at him. Right now they seemed to be an acid yellow-green, and they--
Oh, dear.
Fraser tried to move, but something bound his limbs to his body. He looked down and saw that he had been tied up with a multitude of white strings, crisscrossing everywhere. Every struggling movement tightened the plethora of knots further. //How did I sleep through this?//
Ben looked at Ray, who crouched near him. He saw no signs of sneezing or coughing. He couldn't vouch for whether Ray still had a stuffy head. But the part about Nyquil providing a good night's rest apparently hadn't applied at all. Instead, eyes wide and gleaming, hair spiking out more than usual, fevered body nearly thrumming with barely suppressed energy, Ray looked as if he'd ingested cocaine.
To be fair, Ray had warned Ben when he'd suggested the medicine, saying that he'd taken it once but never again because it "did stuff" to him. Further questioning had prompted Ray to say that it had heightened his illness-induced insomnia, the exact opposite of what it should do. //And yet something had told me that he held something back, hadn't told the whole truth.// Ben had applied his copious powers of persuasion, made more effective by Ray's illness and fatigue. //I thought you were exaggerating. I'm sorry, Ray.
//I wonder if this sort of behavior is part of the "stuff" Nyquil does to him. If so, medical science would do well to study him. No, medical science would have to wait until I'm finished with him, and that would be some time to come. I always suspected I was selfish at heart.//
"Ray?"
Ray smiled. "I liked the white string against the red long johns. Very Christmas-like."
"It's October."
"Christmas season starts earlier every year, ya know? But red woolen Mounties all tied up with string is always one of my favorite things."
"What do you intend to do with me?" Ben knew where he hoped this would go. Selfishness again. Ray was far too ill and fevered for that.
Ray's smile had a wicked edge. "Well, I shouldn't open Christmas presents 'til Christmas."
Ben unconsciously started to struggle harder and had to stop himself. "That's more than two months away."
Ray ran a long-fingered hand through his sweat-damp hair. "Mmm. Didn't think about it that far. I'm gonna get an orange juice pop and get back to you." Ray wandered off to the kitchen. "I'm starting to like the stinging pain they give me in my throat. That might be a bad thing; I dunno," he called once he arrived.
At least Ray was keeping himself hydrated. He hadn't been eating much, so he needed nutrients as well. Cajoling him to eat just reduced him to a sullen three-year-old. A cute, sullen three-year- old, but a whining brat nonetheless. Thus, Ben had made the orange juice popsicles.
Diefenbaker sat near the couch. Ben scowled at him. "Some watch wolf you are."
Dief's look said, "You told me to watch Ray. Ray is fine."
"Technicalities will not excuse this. And this isn't funny."
"If you say so," Dief answered with a lupine smirk.
"I do, and I'll deal with you later."
"Dief was real helpful, Ben. He found the string."
"Oh, did he now?" Ben asked. Diefenbaker disappeared into the bedroom. "I'll remember that."
Ray took a long lick off the side of his pop, making Ben squirm. "He suggested the knots too."
"I sincerely doubt that, Ray."
"What, he can't talk to me too? Why not? Why not? He talks to you all the time."
"No reason at all."
"Good." Ray sat next to the couch. "Mmmm. All this string, all of these knots, make me wanna. *Do*. Stuff."
Ben twitched. //That look... I do not want to know what kind of "stuff" he'd like to do to me. I am not that masochistic. I do not-- Oh, yes, I do.// "What would you like to do, Ray?"
Ray simply smiled mischievously and continued to devour his popsicle with slow, thorough strokes of his tongue. The sight almost gave Ben the strength to snap his bonds so he could grab Ray and do his own kind of "stuff." Unfortunately, "almost" didn't count.
"Ray?"
"It's rude to interrupt a guy while he's eating. I'm thinking here."
"Of course." Dire thoughts that Ray had used illness as a ruse to get him into this position to torture him surfaced in Ben's mind. However, any dire thoughts took a distant second place to rampant lust.
Ray carefully licked the stick clean, then walked back to the kitchen to dispose of it. //Torture. Usually he puts the sticks anywhere he pleases. He's taunting me...//
When Ray returned, he stood near the couch and looked down while murmuring, "String, string, string.... Hmmm."
The temptation to say something really rude became ever more irresistible, but Ben knew that Ray wanted him to lose control that way. He refused to break so easily. "Have you decided yet?"
"'Bout what?"
Ben started to recite the administration manual in his head to stay calm. //It is the duty of all members who are peace officers, subject to the orders of the commissioner, to perform those duties that are assigned to them as peace officers...// "You mentioned a desire to do 'stuff' to me. When I asked what that would entail, you said you needed time to think about it. I'm merely asking if you've made any plans yet."
"String and stuff. Right." Ray sat on his heels next to the couch. "I dunno about yer Inuit girls, but here a lot of 'em play string games as kids. I think it's called cat's cradle, or one of 'em is called cat's cradle. Oh, doesn't matter." Ray gathered random crisscrossing strings on Ben's right arm and started to twist them with his fingers. As they moved, the strings rubbed and constricted, making Ben squirm. "Doing that is some big girl secret, so I never really learned. The patterns they made were interesting, though."
"I'm sure." Ben's voice had descended nearly an octave and thickened.
Ray's fingers clenched and relaxed, making the strings tighten and loosen, over and over again in a sweet torture. "Y'know, those long johns are so anti-sexy they're sexy."
That was a truly promising direction. //Please let this mean he's done tormenting me.// "I aim to please."
"I like that in a man." Ray rubbed his head against Ben's bare neck and crooned to himself. With his fever heat, it felt like being branded. With the state Ben was in, being branded felt damned good. The kisses that followed should have seared the imprint of Ray's lips into Ben's skin.
Ben purred under the assault even as he instinctively struggled against his bonds in his need to grab Ray and accelerate matters with more contact. Burning kisses and Ray's attempts at cat's cradle had made him greedy. Alas, the string continued to hold. He had been quite expertly trussed up.
Perhaps Diefenbaker really had suggested the knots.
However, Ben's motions to free himself, combined with Ray's fingers clamping and unclamping the strings, created an enticing, sensitizing friction. So Ben continued to struggle. Even if he couldn't get loose, his efforts produced one utterly worthwhile effect.
Ray tore himself away. "I can't do this. I don't want ya to get sick too."
Inordinately proud that he'd swallowed a whimper before it crossed his lips, Ben desperately tried to think of a reply that would get Ray back. A few days earlier he'd told Ray that he never got sick, and that had been a tactical mistake of epic proportions. His partner--volatile at the best of times, worn down to a shorter fuse by illness--had exploded in raspy-throated anger and resentment at life's unfairness. A severe coughing fit had followed.
Ben made an attempt. "Ray, I've been with you for days without any ill effect."
"'Ill effect.' Cute. But I can't take the risk." But Ray still watched Ben with an obvious hunger. "Damn, I want you bad, though. If you could just see yerself right now..." Ray's hand slid down the thin cotton over his stomach before descending under the waistband of his sweatpants.
"You wouldn't dare."
Ray's hand started to stroke. His sweatpants hid little of the motion. "Do you have any idea how horny I am?"
Ben bit his lip at the way every stroke ended in a twist of Ray's thumb... "Yes!"
"Really?"
"I would say so, yes," Ben said through gritted teeth.
"You feel the same way?"
"Beyond a doubt."
Ray looked mournful and stopped stroking. "No one should have to feel like this without any hope of getting some."
"I agree, and it is in your power to help the both of us."
Ray had the sharpest smile on his face... "Ya don't say."
//There will be a reckoning later, Ray. I will pay you back in kind.// "Will you?"
"Hmm." Ben could actually see Ray's train of thought derail and jump to a different track. "There is somethin' worse than horniness, though. Insomnia. I haven't really slept in days, ya know?"
//Does he want me to beg? I'll be there soon at this rate.// "Ray?"
Ray meandered back to the couch. Good. Then he climbed on top of Ben and draped himself on top of the bound Mountie like a hot blanket. Very good. But he didn't move at all after that. Bad, very bad.
//Oh, God.// Ben knew he would die if he didn't come, but Ray didn't seem to be cooperating. Ben tried to gently rock Ray off, but not only did Ray cling like a barnacle, he didn't move at all, refusing to contribute any friction that might provide some relief.
Ray propped his chin on his fists and regarded Ben with an utterly innocent look. "Tell me a bedtime story?"
"You hate my stories," Ben gasped.
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do. You always tell me to cut them short or not tell them at all."
"I think one would put me to sleep."
"My stories put you to sleep?" Ben asked, now offended as well as frustrated.
"Isn't that what a bedtime story's supposed to do?"
Ben just couldn't stand it any longer. "I know something that might put you to sleep afterward."
"Yeah? Well, sharing is caring."
"Sex. Right here, right now, with me."
Ray's smile lit up his whole face. "Ya think so?"
"Yes!"
"See, this is great. Communication." Ray undid Ben's top button. "Makes things so much easier for the both of us when ya tell me what ya want."
It was getting harder and harder to think. "And you will do what I say I want?"
"Within reason, yeah."
//Reason has nothing to do with you.// "Unbutton me," Ben panted. Ray sat up to straddle him, undid one more button, then stopped. "Ray!"
"All the way?"
"Yes!"
"You didn't say."
Ben had a sudden nightmare of Ray also asking him to preface every request with "Simon says." //I cannot torture and kill him.// "Unbutton me all the way."
Ray did so, slowly, lingering over each one. Moving the strings aside, but not off, added time to the procedure, but Ben was certain it shouldn't really take that much longer. Ray still toyed with him. The sight and feel of those hot, agile fingers twisting atop his chest drove him insane. String rubbing against skin bared by the unbuttoning left him feeling like he would explode at any second. He was already thrusting his hips up against any part of Ray he could reach.
Ray stopped at the last few buttons. "Tell me what ya want," he whispered, his deepened, rasping voice made even huskier with lust.
"Free me."
"More specific than that."
Word choice was important here; Ray wanted to see that he remembered his lessons... "Free my cock, Ray. Please."
Ray's grin blinded. "Such a good boy... And I love that 'please' too."
Ben's dripping cock burst out of its confinement with enthusiasm. Ray's fingers played with the strings around it, but he finally shook his head, muttering, "Don' wanna take the chance of hurting ya..." //Thank God.//
But then Ray unsteadily climbed off the couch. "Ray!"
"Patience. Proper preparation, guy." Ray pulled his T-shirt and sweatpants off and kicked them aside. He wore absolutely nothing beneath them. Normally, stripping him meant removing three or more layers of clothing. Then he climbed back up--rubbing his bare skin against all the string, and thus Ben as well, as much as he could and moaning.
It made Ben wonder if Ray had fantasized about something like this for some time but hadn't found the courage to try until medicine had left him intoxicated and out of his mind.
The sight of Ray's cock, hard and dripping, made Ben's mouth water. "You want this?" Ray asked.
"Yes."
Eyes blue-green and dazed with lust, Ray looked at Ben with a melting, intense gaze as he moved forward. Those eyes closed but didn't release Ben from their spell as Ben's tongue flicked out to tease the head of Ray's cock. Medicine and illness had changed his partner's scent to something stinging hot, sweet and faintly sour, with an alcoholic undertone. It transformed the taste of him similarly. But Ben's head wasn't at a good enough angle for anything more than what Ray apparently found to be tormenting licks at the cockhead and underside. Ben smiled sweetly at the thought of Ray getting a sample of his suffering.
"Trying to tell me I'm neglecting something important, right?" Ray gasped. "I get it. I suck at waiting too." Ray shifted to dig into the couch and came up dizzily triumphant, condoms and a tube of lubricant clutched in his hand. "Wow. Yer eyes just went real bright." He popped the cap off the tube and grinned.
Ray kissed Ben's chin, studiously avoiding his mouth, before moving back. Ben almost came when Ray started to slip the condom on him, but a hand clamped at the base of his cock stopped him. He couldn't prevent a whimper from escaping him.
"It's okay. We'll be there soon," Ray crooned before making a small sound of distress at his difficulty in slicking his fingers up when he only had one hand available.
Ben saw an opportunity. "You could untie me, Ray, and I would help."
"Nope. I'm the self-reliant type, and I am *so* ready for this."
Ray pressed down on the tube with his arm, pinning it against Ben's leg, without loosening his grip on Ben's cock. Once he had his fingers slicked, he thrust them up inside and prepared himself in hard, thorough strokes. Eyes closed, lost, he writhed, whimpered, and bucked. The sight nearly burnt out Ben's remaining brain cells, just as the fist convulsing on his cock nearly pulled him over...
But then Ray was *there*, and Ben thrust up into tight, fever heat as he was freed from his partner's hand. While Ray rode him, he tried to control himself, blunt the force his hips wanted to use, but lust took over. He'd been kept on the edge too long, and Ray felt so good... Moaning, he thrust over and over until he went off in a flare of light. Through a haze of satisfaction he heard Ray shout his name and felt a wave of heat hit him before his partner slumped down to lie next to him, spent.
"So good. Love you," Ray murmured before falling asleep. Ben followed.
******************************************************
When Ben woke up, he felt wonderful but thick-headed at the same time. Sticky too. And he was still tied up. Diefenbaker smirked as he watched Ben struggle with the string and the still surprisingly heavy sleeping Ray draped on his side.
"Diefenbaker. Dief!" Ben's voice came out huskier than he was used to, and his throat hurt a little. "Look at me when I talk to you. Good. I have a knife on the end table. Bring it over here."
Diefenbaker barked and walked to the table. Then he kept on going right past it and ambled into the bedroom. He didn't come out.
"You wait until I get myself free. Then there will be a reckoning." //Really, Benton. He can't hear you.//
Ben turned his head to look at his partner. //I took advantage of his medicine-fueled insanity to assuage my depraved lust.// Ray mumbled and rubbed his hair against Ben's neck. //And I don't feel anywhere near as guilty as I should.// Ray slept deeply with a sweet smile on his face, and his body felt cooler. It seemed that the fever had broken. Ben's urge to snuggle ended in defeat as the string still had his arms tied to his sides.
The itch in Ben's hot throat drove him crazy and started a coughing fit that shook his whole body and woke Ray up. "You just coughed," Ray said, sounding better. Then he looked down at Ben and muttered, "Oh, man, I really did do all that stuff..."
"Impossible. I can't have--"
"Trust someone with experience. That was a cough. Yer sick and not in that usual fun way of yers. Oh, shit."
"What?"
"I'm sorry. I made you sick, gave you mine, after all. Hope yer a better patient than I am."
Oh, dear.
**********************THE END***********************
NOTE: Inspired by Te's attempt to bring me out of a trauma:
Daddy793: