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The Apprentice is not practiced at sitting still. They’re used to being able to move as they will. They dance and jitter and sway. They begin a task and one room and have carried it through three by the time they finish. Not one place in their home, regardless of how comfortable the seating, has seen them sitting for longer than an hour. Their bed only gets used as much as it does because Asra cuddles them too tightly for them to roll out during the night.
But Muriel asked.
He came to them with the prettiest blush pinking his cheeks. He met their gaze and said—
“You know how to use ropes.” Not like a question at all, but the Apprentice reads him well enough to know it’s supposed to be one.
“Yes. I practice my ties on you, Nadia, and occasionally Julian. Though Nadia uses them more as fashion statements.”
“I want to do that.”
“Do you need rope? I have plenty, and I’ll give you the cotton. It’s well used so it’s very soft. I have a few books—”
“I want to do it to you.” Muriel flushes, knowing how that sounds only after it comes out of his mouth. “I want you to show me.”
“Alright. I’ll meet you at yours later with the supplies.”
—he wanted to tie them up. Not in so many words, but clearly all the same. He wants them to teach him, and so the Apprentice is doing that just now.
They lean back into Muriel’s chest as his hands work soft cotton rope around their legs in gentle loops. His hands are too big to work quickly, but he is sure. There isn’t hesitation so much as meticulousness. The Apprentice watches as he tugs the length of the olive rope through and through until their left ankle is bound to their left thigh. They smile down at his work.
“Now slip a finger under the rope to check the tightness.”
Muriel hums, a rumble that they feel all through their body since his chest is pressed along their back. He slips a pinky finger under the edge of the rope to test it. His finger pulls it taught, but not enough to cut off circulation. The Apprentice mumbles a sweet, happy sound. He’s doing so good, and the ease in his body is one which the Apprentice almost never gets to see. They glance over their shoulder at him. His hair is drooping into his face, a curtain to hide his expression. The Apprentice brings a hand up to brush it back behind his ear, Muriel reddens, and without anything in the way they follow the color as it travels down, down, down. They laugh, and Muriel shares in their smile.
Muriel’s hands are quicker by the barest inch as he repeats the tie on the Apprentice’s right leg. The Apprentice is resting entirely in his lap, legs slightly spread and lifted. They flex against the ties, but their calves are well secured to their thighs. The extra rope lies against their abdomen, trailing between their legs to pool on the bed between Muriel’s.
“Are you alright?” Muriel says.
When the Apprentice looks up at him, Muriel looks uncomfortable.
“Yes. Are you?”
“Yes,” he says, and they can hear the but. They wait. “You made a sound.”
“Oh. When was that?”
“You… moved. And made a sound.” Muriel slips his fingers underneath the ropes that connect his ties to the pelvic harness that the Apprentice tied around themself to demonstrate basic knots. He strokes over their skin there. The Apprentice sighs at the sensation of the soft ropes and Muriel’s rough calluses. Muriel runs his fingers higher, and the Apprentice can’t help squirming. They shift more fully into Muriel’s lap, grinding down slightly.
Muriel jolts underneath them. His fingers tense, and the Apprentice feels suddenly off. They glance down at Muriel’s hands tangled into their ropes. The ropes dig slightly into the fat along their legs and their waist, but not noticeably. The knots situated beside their hip bones are clenched tight in his hands, and the Apprentice realizes that Muriel is lifting them.
They’re bombarded with the thought of Muriel fucking them like this. The memory of his cock inside them or between their thighs juxtaposed with the sensation of being lifted by the ropes along their waist, pelvis, and legs is intoxicating. Their head lolls against Muriel’s chest to look at him.
“Muriel, what…?”
The Apprentice realizes at once that Muriel has lifted them from his lap because he’s embarrassed. His face is pinched and he won’t meet their eyes. Lifting the Apprentice is as close as he could get to stepping back from them without dumping them onto the floor. They feel small in his hold. His big hands keeping them supported with no effort. The Apprentice brings their hands up, running from his hands to his forearms to his biceps. The muscle is stark but not bulging and straining. There is no tremor, even. The Apprentice shudders a soft breath.
“You like this,” they say. Muriel darts his eyes to their face and away again. The Apprentice smiles. “We could enjoy it more? Hm?”
“You mean…”
“Let me down.”
Muriel carefully does as asked. The Apprentice angles themself to press against the start of Muriel’s erection under his pants. Muriel huffs through his teeth above them. The Apprentice doesn’t take their eyes off him as they use their little leverage to rock down. Muriel hardens more under them, and the Apprentice grins.
“Do you want to?”
“Could we, stay like this?”
“Turn me around?”
Muriel kisses them once they are facing him. The Apprentice can’t help their noise of delight as they kiss back.