duke_of_illusions | Advanced Flogging

It's an early evening, back in the club. Barma has sent Al on his own, to make friends, to try something new.

Dodo is a breath away.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

al_truism

He relaxes somewhat with the touches, the sound of his voice.

From:

duke_of_illusions

Gerard scoops him up, bridal style, and walks him out to the club- where Barma has arrived to collect him to go back to the hotel.

From:

al_truism

Al cuddles into him, though he's hiding the mess this made of his face. When he does catch sight of Barma, he reaches out for him, even if his throat is too raw to try to talk.

From:

duke_of_illusions

Barma scoops him up with a small croon, and both of them get him to the bathroom to start cleaning him up.

From:

al_truism

He's a mess, drenched and sticky and sugary, still reeling and remembered to breathe. Everything hurts.

From:

duke_of_illusions

"Al."

Barma takes his chin, says his name slowly, testing his awareness.

From:

al_truism

"Ru," he whispers back, a bit raspy from all the coughing, and smiles for him.

From:

duke_of_illusions

"How do you feel, sweetheart?"

Resting their foreheads together.

"Ready for bed?"

From:

al_truism

"Sticky. Hurts."

But he's smiling.

"Yes, please." This is going to be a hard crash.

From:

duke_of_illusions

He murmurs a thank you or two to Gerard, then scoops him up and lifts him away.

Homeward.

From:

al_truism

Al touches Gerard's arm, giving him a smile. He's okay.

He's still shivering with the aftershocks, all the way home. That had been intense.

From:

duke_of_illusions

Barma puts him right into the bath when they get home, running the warm water up slowly around him, keeping his hands on him, stripping him off from the bottom of the tub before his things can get too sodden.

From:

al_truism

Al melts under the attention, leaning into him and calming down completely. Barma is always a complete comfort to him.

From:

duke_of_illusions

"Hello."

He tells him again, when Al is smiling and still, and the water is turned off. They're left in the quiet.

"Mind blown, hm?"

From:

al_truism

"Do you know what he did?" Al murmurs. There's a lovely dark bruise flowering on his shoulder.

From:

duke_of_illusions

"Tell me."

Which means 'yes,' but he wants to hear Al talk about it.

From:

al_truism

"Flogging, first- and then he hit me." Al shivers. "With his fist, I think- he said he was hitting me as hard as he could."

Al leans against him. "The- waterboarding was new. We've never done that. He used my hair to hold my head back and I think I started choking."

From:

duke_of_illusions

"Poor baby. He said you may have swallowed a mouthful or two by mistake."

Kissing him, concerned.

From:

al_truism

"I don't know if I breathed it-" he probably didn't. Or if he did there wasn't enough to hurt him. "I don't think so... but he turned me upside down. I think he used soda next."