Page 101 of Fire & Ice

“I’m working on that,” Leander agreed, moving Tripp’s legs out of the way and getting up off of the couch. “Give me twenty minutes and I’ll be back with you. Watch yourReal Housewives.”

“I’m livingReal Housewivesnow,” Tripp replied gleefully, predictably reaching up to pinch Leander as he passed. “Got me a sexy sugar daddy to spank my ass and everything.”

“He must be a very tolerant man,” Leander deadpanned as he headed for the kitchen and his junk drawer.

Twenty minutes later had him returning to Tripp’s side with a clipboard stolen from one of the ambulances and two matching, hand-written lists clipped to it. He passed one over to Tripp and asked, “What do you think?”

Squinting and bringing the paper close to his nose in order to read Leander’s writing, Tripp’s face scrunched in confusion as he processed. “Romantic kink negotiation?” he asked. “What—why?”

“Why not?” Leander quipped. “We both admit to feeling out of sorts in this department. This exercise will at least give us a starting point, a basis for communication and to build on. I also thought that we could use the stoplight system. If one of us initiates affection that the other isn’t interested in at the moment, ‘yellow’ could help them to relay that. Just like in the bedroom, it’s not personal, it’s simply a boundary. Boundaries are healthy.”

Tripp stared blankly down at the paper for a moment and then looked up. “Lee, this is actually kinda brilliant. You know what? You’re awesome. Alright, let’s do this.”

Surprised, Leander just sat there and blinked. “I anticipated more cajoling would be needed. I had planned to offer you that blow job I owe you in exchange for your enthusiastic participation.”

The laugh he got in reply was whole-hearted and bright. “I’ll show you ‘enthusiastic’,” Tripp said with a grin, stretching up to wrap a hand around the back of Leander’s head and draw him in for a kiss. Just before their lips met, he paused, so close Leander could feel Tripp’s breath on his face.

“Color?”

“Green,” Leander replied with a smile, and Tripp finished closing the space between them, kissing him soft and thorough, with far more tongue, energy, and enthusiasm than his healthcare team would likely approve of being used. Too bad, because they’re not the ones living with Tripp day in and day out, not the ones who have to decide when it’s safer to just let him have something he wants. And on that note, honestly, Leander did see Tripp’s point. After all the man has been through, heshouldbe able to set his own limits.

Moreso, Leander should trust him to do so.

When they were done kissing—and one did lead to another—Leander managed to wrangle a very soft and affectionate Tripp back into filling out his list. There was some kind of irony to doing so while sporadically trading even more kisses and gentle touches, but he and Tripp have never been what anyone would calltypical,anyway.

In the end, their lists were surprisingly (or perhaps not, considering) compatible, and whether the activity actually changed anything between them or not, Leander didn’t care. Hefeltmore comfortable moving forward with Tripp, like they were once again on level footing, the same way they were after filling out their kink lists. It’s possible that this was a somewhat useless exercise in practice, but Leander couldn’t be sorry for utilizing the communication tools that worked for him (and Tripp) in the past.

Not to mention, seeing Tripp dive in so readily was a turn-on. Realizing that Tripp would likely do just aboutanysilly thing Leander proposed if he thought it meant something to him reminded Leander of why he wassoattracted to Tripp in the first place. Once their pens were down, Tripp barely had the chance to flippantly remind him of his promise before Leander was knocking Tripp’s good leg down off of the couch and crawling between them.

While he didn’t end up caving to Tripp’s pleas to fuck his mouth, hedidgive him a pretty stellar orgasm, if Leander does say so himself. Good enough that Tripp succumbed almost immediately to the hormones and residual pain medication floating around in his system, passing out cold for nearly three hours straight, right there on the couch.

Hard as a rock, Leander cleaned Tripp up and then took his ass directly to the shower. He finished himself off bystroking his cock to the memory of Tripp in there with him—on his knees, at his feet—and had not one fleeting regret about it.

The rest of their third week home unraveled in the same way, with Leander pacifying Tripp by blowing or jerking him off nearly anytime he asked, but nothing more, and no reciprocation. However much Tripp may have enjoyed what he was getting, it quickly became clear to Leander that those acts weren’t doing anything to quell Tripp’s desire for the “real thing.”

…Which brings them totoday,and Tripp’s continued, relentless attempts to bait Leander and drag him down into the depths of depravity alongside him, whether it’s in Tripp’s own best interests or not. Oh, what Leander wouldn’t give for that parade of visitors to start back up again, to provide him with an excuse for not letting Tripp goad him into what would inevitably be verysatisfyingbut very dangerous sex.

Oh, how the tables have turned.

The truth is, he’ssoweak for Tripp.God,Leander loves him so much, wants to be near him and all over him in a way he’s never experienced before and is only growing stronger. Even when Tripp is doing his best to saw away at the last string connecting him to sanity, Leander craves him. Ever since he cracked the door by blowing him on the couch, Leander knew he’d cave eventually.

It was only a matter of time.

Well, we behaved for a while,Leander thinks, sighing internally and deciding that if he’s going to give in, he’d better do it right.

“Give me twenty minutes,” Leander tells Tripp for the second time this week, patting his shoulder and exiting to the bedroom without another solitary word. The look of sheerexcitement mixed with surprise on Tripp’s face iswhollyworth whatever fallout this questionable decision may bring, so much so that Leander wonders why, exactly, he’s waited so long to relent.

Fear, probably. But Leander knows that hecannavigate this safely and enjoyably for the both of them, of course he can. He’s an experienced Dom, practiced in restraining various people in all manner of incapacitation. How many countless scenes has he guided himself and others through safely in the past? No one haseverleft his care with injuries Leander didn’t intentionally put there. No one has ever—to his knowledge—felt unsafeorunsatisfied in his hands.

And it’simportantto his and Tripp’s developing relationship that Leander remember that fact. That henotlose confidence in himself or his abilities now. Tripp’s deepest needs have not changed, despite his physical condition, and Leandercanmake this work. It was easy to become lost in caring for Tripp like acaretaker,enough that Leander might have accidentally forgotten how vital it is that he remain Tripp’s Dom, too—his partner inallthings, not just the ones that currently have the loudest presence.

That spiraling thought sparks another, and Leander suddenly knows exactly what he’s going to do. Equally important, he knowswherehe’s going to do it.

The playroom bed has always been symbolic of the boundaries he and Tripp have set between them, the ones they’re rightfully breaking down now, and it’s time to finish that off in a meaningful way. He and Tripp have had sex in the playroom, Tripp’s submitted to him there. They’ve slowly but surely let that dynamic creep out into the rest of the apartment and even to the world, but never into Leander’s—their—bedroom.

In that bedroom, they’ve slept platonically. They’ve been romantic and sweet, kissing until they fell asleep and holding each other all night long. Theyhaven’tbridged both worlds, not yet, and Leander thinks that it’s about time he brought the pieces together.

Before setting the scene, Leander retreats to the bathroom. There, he showers, shaves, and cleans himself up. There’s a bottle of lube that’s made itself a home next to the shampoo and body wash, untouched since Tripp’s accident. Leander picks it up to consider and shrugs, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to prep himself ahead of time. The bathroom fills with misty steam, fogging the mirrors and the door handles as Leander’s shower drags on, but beneath the hot spray, he’s oblivious.

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