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Alexios was not exactly sure how he had gotten himself into this mess. Perhaps it had started at that Athenian symposium. He was wine-drunk, reminiscing about his childhood of horseback lessons with his father -- stepfather? It didn’t really matter, he supposed -- when he would wrangle testy Spartan warhorses into submission only to be bucked onto the lush summer grass a moment later after he let his guard down. Alexios’ eyes were caught, mid-story, on a flash of silver-blond hair, and a pair of wine-reddened lips. Alkibiades.
“You’re a city boy!” Alexios had announced, suddenly, grasping said politician by the wrist.
“Why, I suppose you could say that. But generally I prefer a more refined term. ‘Enlightened citizen,’ perhaps, or ‘Athena’s chosen,’ even.” Alkibiades removed the offending hand from him and kissed Alexios’ fingertips lightly, “What brings the question to mind, darling?”
Alexios could feel his eyes begin to burn with tears. To imagine, his poor Allie trapped inside these city walls all his life, blind to the pleasure of spring winds blowing through your hair, the feel of a horse between your thighs, with nothing but you and the empty trail for miles. He cupped Alkibiades’ cheek in his palm, “I will right this wrong for you, my love. In the morning, we’re leaving the city. You’re finally going to learn to ride a horse!”
Alkibiades’ eyes glinted with a mysterious emotion that Alexios was far too wasted to parse. Before he could ponder on it any further, his lover had procured grapes from a passing tray and was trying to feed them to him by hand. All other thoughts besides nipping at Allie’s fingers were lost to the ether at that point.
And now, it was morning. Alexios had awoken with a pulsing hangover to a young boy announcing that the stallions he had rented for a day’s ride were awaiting him outside the city gates, as was his companion.
He arrived at the Northeastern gates to find Alkibiades already astride a handsome dapple grey, hunched over the saddle in the way that so many beginning riders do, afraid of losing their balance. His himaton had been traded for a chiton, pale blue and embroidered with bronze patterns along the edges. Even without his trademark purple garb, the man stood out. Though with that posture, he looked far less regal than usual. If only Alexios had thought to hire a sculptor, this moment could be memorialized forever, and used as a pin should Alkibiades’ ego ever balloon too large.
Alexios snickered at the thought, and made his way towards his lover. “Beautiful morning, isn’t it, Allie?”
“Yeesh, not so loud, Lexy! Can’t you tell I have a hangover?”
“A hangover? On a beautiful morning like this? For shame!” Alexios teased, gracefully ignoring his own alcohol-induced headache. He swung up into his saddle. His horse stamped the ground, offended at the new weight settled on its back.
“If you’re quite finished, let’s get going shall we?”
“So grouchy this morning… We can’t leave yet. First, we must fix your posture.”
Alkibiades had the grace to blush and unfurl his spine. Then, of course, his mount felt the need to snort and shake itself, sending him fumbling for the saddle’s pommel once again.
“Let go of the saddle, Allie. I know it feels safe, but grabbing on like that only makes you more unstable,” Alexios coached, kneeing his stallion up to Alkibiades’ side. “Force your heels down. Like this, see? That’s what will steady you. Good. Now, put your shoulders back.”
Alkibiades nodded and followed the instruction. He arched his back so his chest puffed out like a male pigeon making a mating display.
“Not quite, love,” Alexios chuckled. He reached out, running his knuckles down his lover’s back. Alkibiades shivered. “Like this, your spine is curved; you can’t support yourself. Here, look.” Alexios pressed his palm against Alkibiades’ belly, pushing against the hardened muscles. “In riding, your control comes from your core. If you sit like this,” Alexios shoved at Alkibiades’ shoulders, mimicking the arched position from earlier, “like some two-obol hetera peddling her wares, you lose all your strength. Instead…” Again, a push to Allie’s belly, “Pull this in, straighten your back. Feel the difference?”
Alkibiades blinked dreamily, lost in the daze of his lover’s touch. “Hmmm? Oh, yes, I see now. But maybe you could… show me again? Just to reinforce the lesson.”
Alexios rolled his eyes. “I think you’ll survive. Come on, we should get going before the sun rises too high and the heat catches up to us. Just squeeze with your calves and cluck. Your horse will know what it means.”
The stallions began to move down the path at a rolling gait, and Alexios noticed Alkibiades’ eyes trained on the way it made his hips sway. He stretched up in the saddle to snatch an apple from a low hanging branch, letting the muscles in his back and arms flex and ripple in the dappled sunlight. “See something you like?” he rumbled, looking back at his lover conspiratorially.
“Mmm, yes… Something I could really bite into, I think,” Alkibiades began to lick his lips, but the effect was somewhat ruined when his horse jerked its head down to a clump of nearby grass, pulling him down with it.
Alexios laughed and sat back in his saddle. He tucked the apple away in his saddle bag for later. “Sit back up, flex your core, and then pull the reins. He’ll get the idea. There you go. Good boy. Now let’s get going again.”
When Alkibiades joined Alexios’ side, the mercenary noticed something he never thought he’d see on the unflappable Athenian. A blush.
“Oh, you like being called a good boy, do you, Allie?”
“The term seems unfitting, Alexios, for I am not a boy. You of all people should know, I’m all man.”
“Mmm, of course. Forget I said anything.” Not that Alexios would.
Alexios should have been the one to notice the snake. He should have seen the way his horse’s ears flagged, its flared nostrils, the quiet, distressed whinny. He should have seen the snake, flung a dagger through its skull and let that be the end of things. But no, he was sitting back and watching Alkibiades attempt a trot down the quiet, forest path. And he watched the snake as it slithered out of the underbrush and bared its deadly fangs with a venomous hiss.
The dapple grey reared on its back hooves and took off at a gallop, bucking and snorting, trying its hardest to dislodge the rider on its back and get as far away from danger as possible. Alexios swore and took after it, praying to Poseidon that Alkibiades would find the strength to hold on, or at least land on his ass rather than his head.
However, when the mercenary finally caught up to the spooked stallion, he did not find a terrified and wailing politician as he had expected. Alkibiades was sitting straight in the saddle, legs locked tight to the beast’s sides. He turned the horse’s head, forcing it into a sharp turn that cut its momentum, grinding its flight down to a halt. In a final attempt at protest, the stallion hopped up into the air, kicking out its back legs. Alkibiades swatted the thing across its rump and pulled it into another circle.
“Now, now,” he cooed, “I’ll be having none of that sort of behavior. I know you’re trained better than to take advantage of a new rider just because of a little snake, right?”
Alexios’ jaw hung open in shock. He tried to speak, to protest, but the words just wouldn’t come.
Finally, Alkibiades looked over at him. “Lexy, you’ll catch flies if you leave your mouth open like that. Or at least make me think that you’re begging to have it stuffed.”
“You… you… you can ride?!”
“Perhaps you’re just a very, very good teacher.”
“I spent all morning sweating under the gods-damned sun, teaching you something you already knew. I could have been sleeping off my hangover! Malaka!”
Alkibiades waved him away. “It was a chance to spend some quality time together for once!”
Alexios glowered.
“You just looked so cute last night! How was I supposed to turn you down?”
Alexios crossed his arms.
“Maybe I just wanted to have your hands on me? No?”
Alexios kicked his horse’s sides, aiming the stallion straight at Alkibiades’ mount, deadly glare still plastered in place.
The Athenian shrieked and tore off at a gallop, leaving the well-worn path behind for the safety of the trees.
Alexios caught up with Alkibiades at the edge of a dried out riverbed. The Athenian’s mount had balked at the jump, and the seconds it took for Alkibiades to wheel it around and make another attempt, Alexios had caught up with him. He charged, leaping out of his saddle at the last moment and onto the back of Alkibiades’ mount. With one hand, he snatched the reins from his lover, and wrapped the other tight around the man’s waist.
“Caught you,” he breathed the words into Alkibiades’ ear, dragging his stubble up the man’s neck in a way guaranteed to make him shudder.
Alkibiades breathed out a shaky sigh, leaning back into the mercenary’s touch. “So you have… Whatever shall you do with me?”
“The way I see it, you need a lesson. You should know better than to lie to me by now. I don’t like being played. Even if it’s by beautiful Athenian politicians like you. Especially then.” Alexios wheeled the dapple grey around, guiding it to a small clearing in the woods he’d noticed a short way back. Alkibiades squirmed and Alexios tightened his grip. “Oh, no you don’t. Where I come from, brats get the punishment they deserve. You know I’ll always give you what you deserve, don’t you?”
Alkibiades whimpered.
When Alexios instructed Alkibiades to hobble the horses, the Athenian did not raise so much as one perfectly manicured finger in protest. He came back from his task with a cheeky grin on his face and a sway in his hips, clearly satisfied that his good behavior made up for the little stunt he pulled earlier. “So, what now, Alexios? Still insistent on punishing me?”
Alexios snatched the man by his wrist and yanked him closer, down onto the ground and over his lap, his pale, perfect ass presented in the air. “I’m not a liar, unlike some brats I know.” The sound of a smack reverberated through the air. Alkibiades’ left cheek glowed a soft and rosy pink.
“Hey!” The Athenian wiggled in Alexios’ firm grip, testing his restraints, “You weren’t serious about this, Lexy, were you? It was just a little joke… You can take a cock up the ass, but not a little-” Smack.
“You’d think by now that you’d know when to stop talking, but there’s only one thing that ever shuts you up, hmmm?”
“Ah! You know I can think of at least four things off the top of my head that I-” Smack.
“Oh, I see now. You’re just a little cock hungry slut who needed some attention. Too embarrassed to ask, is that it? Is the proud Athenian too ashamed to admit just how hard he wants it?”
“Me? Ashamed of sex? Ahh… I think you’re becoming delusional, love. Sad to see it in one so young and viri-” Smack.
“Don’t try to deny it. You set this whole thing up just so I would bend you over my knee and make you scream for me. Or did you think I would bind your wrists behind your back and fuck you blind? Is that what my little slut was dreaming of?” Alexios let his hand fall onto the same cheek, now a flaming, angry shade of red. He could feel Alkibiades’ erection grinding into his thigh, hard and wanting.
“G-Gods… Alexios, please… Just fuck me already!”
“I don’t think you understand. There’s only one way you get out of this before I’ve had my fill. You say your watchword. You can still remember how to say it, can’t you? Is my perfect little monster able to do that much?”
“Mmmm… yes.”
“What’s your word, then? Tell me.”
“Red, Alexios.”
“Very good boy.” Alkibiades shuddered again at the words, whining and grinding his hips into the mercenary’s thigh.
Alexios placed another well-aimed smack across his cheek. Alkibiades let out an indignant squeal, jerking his head up to glare at Alexios.
“My poor little whore… So used to getting spoiled, he doesn’t know how to deal with not getting exactly what he wants.” The misthios bent his head, pressing conciliatory kisses down the knobs of Alkibiades’ spine. He ran his tongue down the red slap marks on his lover’s backside. Alkibiades shuddered at the sensation, and the gentle breeze that worked to cool his spit-slicked and fevered skin. He let out a shaking whimper, relaxing back into Alexios’ lap, soothed by the gentle attention.
Without warning, Alexios sank his teeth into the meat of Alkibiades’ ass, a deep and throbbing pain after the sting left by his hand. Alkibiades jerked and shouted, toes digging for purchase against the sandy ground, struggling away from Alexios even as his cock drooled and throbbed against the man’s thigh.
“It just isn’t going to be that easy, Alli. No, I think after what you did, you need a more serious punishment.” Alexios wrenched Alkibiades’ arms behind his back and dragged him up into a kneeling position.
“Hah… this position does seem a bit more promising, Lexy, but I’ll need my arms back if you want a really good fuck out of me, don’t you think?”
“I think it’s funny you still think you know what’s going on here. If you knew what was good for you, you’d shut up and take it like a good little slut.” Alexios pulled Alkibiades over to a tree, and shoved him back onto his knees against the base of its trunk.
“Now, arms up. Good.” Alexios grabbed something Alkibiades couldn’t see, but he did recognize the feeling of smooth rope around his wrists. Alexios must have grabbed one of the horse’s extra lead lines, and was using it to tie him against the tree like a kidnapped maiden in some melodramatic tragedy play.
Alexios drew in close to Alkibiades, checking the bindings at his wrists to be sure they weren’t too tight. The Athenian could smell the sweat of his skin, feel the tickle of his hair as it brushed his cheek. But he could not reach out and touch his misthios. He was utterly trapped and helpless. The feeling sent a shudder of anticipation up his spine.
Alexios pulled away from his work, leaving him face to face with his lover. Alkibiades stretched forward as much as he could, looking for a kiss, but the misthios stayed just out of his reach, laughing as he struggled against his bonds.
“You’ll take what I give you, and be happy about it, understood?”
When Alkibiades nodded, Alexios pressed a kiss against his throat, scratching the delicate skin with his stubble. He continued down to the fastening of Alkibiades’ chiton, unpinning the fabric and letting it fall in a puddle around the man’s knees. The Athenian squirmed helplessly as the cool air washed over him, nipples pebbling at the unexpected sensation.
Alexios took one into his mouth, sending ripples of electric sensation through Alkibiades’ body.
The Athenian groaned, “You’re cruel to tease me this way… By all the Gods, Lexy, touch me. Take me into your mouth, fuck yourself on my cock, anything, just touch me, please! I can’t wait anymore!”
Alexios opened his mouth as if to scold his impatient, spoiled little brat, and tell him to mind his manners. Instead, he just grinned. The look was feral, like Alkibiades was nothing but a tasty morsel of prey that had fallen even farther into his trap.
“Your wish is my command.” The mercenary sank to his knees, pressed his hands against the Athenian’s hips, and took the man’s cock down his throat like it was divine ambrosia.
Alkibiades sighed in pleasure, letting his eyelids flutter closed as he basked in the warm, wet sensation. “Ah… yes, my darling misthios… More, please...” His hips began to curl forwards, unbidden, seeking to press ever deeper into Alexios’ mouth.
The mercenary’s forearm stiffened against Alkibiades’ belly, angry disapproval filling his gaze as he looked up at his lover. Even down on his knees, the misthios was still in charge here, no doubt about it. A thrill shuddered down Alkibiades’ spine at the thought and he tried again to buck into that wet heat. Again, that arm stopped him, solid and immovable. He was entirely at Alexios’ mercy.
The misthios snarled around the cock in his mouth, shoving at Alkibiades’ hips again.
“Hah… sorry, Lexy. I understand. I’ll be good for you now, I promise…”
Alexios hummed in approval, and moved his other hand up to massage at Alkibiades’ balls, a small reward for the man’s penitence.
Alkibiades lost himself in the waves of sensation crashing through his body, every time his lover swirled his tongue or greedily gulped him down his throat. It was all too soon before Alkibiades felt his hips stutter and he whimpered, pulsing, ready to tip over the edge into ecstasy.
“Lexy, I’m so close! Keep going, keep going, please, pl--”
Alexios pulled off with a loud pop, the sound seeming to hang in the air, taunting Alkibiades.
“Wha…? Why’d you stop…?” The Athenian bucked against the air uselessly, searching for Alexios’ plush lips and clever tongue.
“Hmm? Oh, I just needed a break. Mouth was sore.” Alexios raised one eyebrow at his lover, as if daring him to complain. “If you can be patient, I’ll start again, I assure you.”
“Nnn… ah, of course… everyone needs a break, I suppose, I… gods, I was so close, though.”
“I’m sure you’ll survive.” Alexios descended again, wrapping his lips around Alkibiades and sinking down until he reached the blonde curls at his pelvis. Any remaining thoughts fled the Athenian’s head and he reveled in the perfect feeling building in his gut.
Soon he reached the peak again, his dick pulsing in desperation to finally cum.
“Yes, yes, Lexy, just like that, right there, right theeeeere… there? Um, L-Lexy.”
The misthios blinked up at Alkibiades again, a smile curling around the corners of his conspicuously empty mouth. “What is it?”
“You… you stopped again.”
“Ah, so I did.”
“W… Why?” The question came out as a sort of cracked sob.
“Would you believe me if I said I was tired again?”
“You… you… you’re punishing me still, aren’t you? Oh, gods, I said I was sorry… Is this to be my fate, then?!”
“What a smart little pet,” Alexios cooed with a sneer. “I said I would give you everything you deserve, and believe me, you’ve earned this.” He licked a stripe up Alkibiades’ length and the Athenian sobbed. It felt so good, so right against his oversensitized, pulsing cock but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“Please… Please…” Alkibiades didn’t have the strength to say anything more, his mind melted into nothing more than just the need to cum.
“I must say… You make a convincing argument, statesman.” Alexios opened his lips and slowly, slowly drew closer to his prize. He let the cock rest against his lips for a moment before easing it inside, ever so slowly. Alkibiades whimpered and tried to move, only for Alexios to bring up his arm again, pinning the man in place like a butterfly under a lepidopterist’s pin.
Alexios brought his lover to the brink three more times, just like that. And just like that, he pulled away to begin again, letting the orgasm roll from Alkibiades’ reach like Sisyphus’ boulder from the damned king’s grasping fingertips.
“Please… Please…” Alkibiades’ voice was nothing more than a broken whisper. “Misthios… I’ll do anything, please just don’t torture me like this anymore…”
“Color?”
“Green, Lexy, but please…”
“In that case…” The mercenary rose up to his full height, towering above Alkibiades. He reached beneath the skirt of his chiton and pulled his leaking prick from the confines of his smalls. “I believe you’ve earned a little treat. Something to distract you, hmm?”
“Yes, gods, please!” Alkibiades lunged for Alexios’ cock, only to be yanked back by the lead line around his wrists. Even in this he was trapped, awaiting his lover’s whim. His dick twitched.
“Hush now, Alli. Open wide…” Alexios grabbed the base of his prick and tapped it against the pink bow of Alkibiades’ lips until that soft mouth fell open. He fed his cock inside one slow inch at a time until his balls rested against the Athenian’s smooth chin. Alkibiades tried to suck at the length, but Alexios grabbed his head and shoved it back against the trunk of the tree, holding him still.
“No, Allie. You don’t get to take this at your own pace. You lost that right a long time ago. Snap if you need to stop, otherwise shut up and take it like a good bitch.” With that, Alexios began to thrust into his lover’s mouth, hands gripped tight in his hair to keep him still and pliant in his hold.
Alkibiades was always such a perfect little fuck toy, trussed up like this. So different from his usual scheming and posturing. Of course, that was amazing in its own way. The Athenian thought of every contingency, every possible way to please his lover, single minded in his goal to light their very nerves aflame. But when you stripped all that away, he was just a needy little thing, begging to be spoiled. Alexios loved nothing more than dangling his desires in front of his face and making him work for them. When he was nice, he even gave Alkibiades what he wanted in the end. The Athenian loved it either way.
Gods, and he took cock like he was made for it, choking down Alexios’ length until he could press his thumb against his lover’s throat and feel the bump of his own cockhead under the skin. Alexios was close, he could feel the pull in the pit of his stomach.
Alexios pulled his cock free and watched Alkibiades cough and choke down lungfuls of fresh air, blue-green eyes watering. Delicious.
“Beg for my cum.” His tone remained calm, neutral, as if he were asking for an extra dish of olives at the dinner table.
“Please… Please, Lexy, cum down my throat. I want to taste you so badly… Please, I’ll be so, so good for you!”
Alexios smirked. “No.”
Alkibiades’ face fell as he watched his misthios grab himself in hand and jerk himself once, twice and then cum in hot, white stripes, letting them land against the Athenian’s cheeks and chin, his lips and even across his forehead.
Alexios patted him gently on the cheek and wiped his now sticky hand in his lover’s blond curls. “You haven’t earned it.”
Alkibiades whimpered, a sound more high and needy than Alexios had ever heard him make. “Can I… Can I lick it off myself? I just want a taste.”
Alexios took a moment, considering. A splash of seed dripped off Alkibiades’ nose onto his lips. His darling boy didn’t even dare to wet his lips and lap it off.
Alexios sighed, as if making some big concession, “Go ahead, then. So greedy…” He helped his lover, scooping up globs of semen and pushing them into Alkibiades’ mouth. The Athenian sucked at his fingers, desperate for the taste.
Alexios knelt down beside his lover, then, and his thigh brushed ever so slightly against Alkibiades’ still-hard prick. Alkibiades moaned, high and pitchy, but he held himself still, waiting for permission before he even thought about trying to get off again.
“Good boy…” Alexios murmured, stroking his hand across his lover’s cheek, “Finally learning some patience, are we? But I think you can do a little better than humping my leg like a street mutt, don’t you?” He sank down again, kissing his way across Alkibiades’ bared chest and belly, towards the angry red length of his prick.
“Hah… Thank you. Thank you, thank you…” He was babbling, but he didn’t even care. His balls ached and his body felt like it had been set aflame by the desire coursing through him.
“Take what you’ve earned, Allie.” Alexios growled. He took his lover into his mouth one final time, placing his arms on either side of Alkibiades’ hips and letting him finally, finally thrust forward.
Alkibiades chased that sweet release for all he was worth, slamming himself into Alexios’ waiting mouth. He cried out as he came, grinding his pelvis against his lover’s face. The orgasm roared through him, wave after wave. It seemed to last forever, the rush of sensation and the reassuring tightness of Alexios’ mouth as the mercenary drank down every last drop he had to give.
When it was over, Alkibiades’ slumped forward in his bonds, too tired to keep himself up any longer. Alexios rose and slashed the rope with the dagger from his belt. Alkibiades fell into his waiting arms, not even pretending that he could hold himself up at this point.
Alexios chuckled, bringing them both slowly down to sit on the lush grass of the forest floor, Alkibiades cradled in his lap. He kissed his lover’s blonde hair gently.
“You were amazing, Alli. My perfect little monster. Did you have fun?”
The Athenian nodded, rubbing his face into Alexios’ shoulder like a sleepy kitten. “I always have fun with you, misthios… Now, I think I’d like a nap. Watch for any wandering assassins, would you? I am a very important man, you know.”
“The most important man in the world, I should think. Now, rest. You know I will always, always watch over you.”
“Ah… But I do love you, Alexios.”
“I love you too, Alkibiades.”