Chapter Text
"Do you think there's something wrong with me?"
Alex sighed heavily, laying down the copy of The Notebook she was making him read, sensing he would need to focus as she dropped a conversational landmine for him to step on.
"What makes you think that?" He asked warily, flicking his head to watch her frown unhappily as she flopped down the worn Silence of the Lambs he'd swapped with her in their little book exchange. She tugged the blanket up around herself a little higher as Alex shifted slightly next to her in the bed, turning to give her his full attention.
"Cause of what I like... in bed."
His mouth dropped open as she shyly cast her gaze away, a slight blush crossing her cheeks. He hadn't expected this. When she'd asked if he thought there was something wrong with her, he'd assumed she was suffering with some kind of body insecurity, assuming the 4 pounds she'd gained recently were weighing on her mind, and he'd began preparing reassurances that she was beautiful and perfect just as she was. He realised he'd been silent for too long when she flicked her gaze to him sharply, glaring at him.
"So you do? Think there's something wrong with me?" She snapped, and his brain finally began working again, shaking his head immediately, reaching over the covers to grasp her hand lightly.
"Of course not! I just... what is it you mean, Norma?" He ventured nervously, treading carefully as she frowned down at the corner of her book, playing with the peeling plastic coating there.
She took a deep, steeling breath.
"I've been punished by men my whole life." Alex swallowed a gasp at her words, not wanting to interrupt her, even as he tensed at where she was going. "Almost all of them have been too rough with me. They've... hurt me, dominated me, taken control of me in every way..." She trailed off, her voice cracking slightly, and he squeezed her hand, knowing his palm was going clammy with hearing her words, feeling the pain in her voice. "And I hated it," she said firmly, nodding resolutely. "So, why do I like it when you do it?"
This time he did gasp. His hand slid from hers and he pushed himself to sit up fully against the headboard, rubbing his fingertips into his temple before he scrubbed his hand through his hair, taking in what she had said. Aware she was watching him, he forced a neutral expression onto his face, turning to face her.
"Is that how you see it? The things that we do?" He asked quietly, his expression pinched, carrying on before she could answer. "You think I'm too rough with you? I hurt you? You think I'm punishing you?" His voice almost cracked on the last sentence and she tutted, flinging the bed covers back and clambering across his lap, taking his tortured face in her hands, making him look at her.
"You're hearing but you're not listening, Alex," she said firmly, settling her weight across his thighs, tipping his head back to stare deeply into his eyes. "I like it, you idiot. I don't think you're too rough. You're exactly rough enough. I ask you for it, don't I? I." She kissed his forehead. "Like." She kissed his cheek. "It." She kissed his lips briefly.
She was telling the truth. Really, in the grand scheme of roughness she had endured throughout her life, nothing her and Alex did came close to being truly painful. She liked the slight, sharp sting of his hand slapping down on his ass, she liked the dull ache that settled low in her stomach when his fingertips tugged at her nipple, or when he bit down on her shoulder as she came. She relished the faint imprints of fingerprints on her hips the next day, or the prickly pink rug burn his stubble left on her thighs, or the slight burn between her legs when he obliged her breathless requests of "harder" and slammed into her with enough force to take her breath away.
"If you like it, what's the problem, honey?" He said, his voice tight and one glance between them told her his mind had strayed to exactly where hers had, their conversation having the same effect on him it was having on her. She pressed her lips into a tight line to keep from smirking.
"I just... isn't that fucked up? Do you think I'm... sick or something?" She shrugged, raking her nails lightly down the sparse sprinkling of hair across his chest, caught off guard as he clutched her close and flipped them easily, splaying her out on the mattress, laying himself on top of her. She squealed with shock and delight as he pressed her down, her thighs automatically opening, letting him nestle between them.
"There's nothing wrong with you, Norma. Nothing," he said firmly, and she licked her lips up at him. "You shouldn't be ashamed of anything you want, anything you like."
She nodded instinctively, her hands sliding along his biceps, clutching lightly onto his shoulder blades like she was checking for wings.
"You want comfort or you want my honest opinion?" He asked, leaning down to kiss sweetly along her jaw.
"Mm... Honest opinion." She let out a pleased sigh as he licked at the side of her throat. "Both," she added and he smiled against her skin.
"I think you like... submitting to me because-" He took a deep breath, pausing, tensing as he worried his choice of words was going to offend her. She said nothing and he relaxed slightly, kissing her ear lobe, groaning slightly as she tilted her hips up to meet his growing erection. "Because you know you're safe with me. Because you know that even if it seems like I'm in control, it's all you, baby." She gasped, letting out a soft moan as his hand slid under her silky camisole top, palming her breast gently, sweeping his thumb over her nipple. "Even when I'm in charge, you and I both know who's really calling the shots. Nothing happens to you that you don't want. Ever. Not with me."
"Mmmm... Yes," she breathed out, and he wasn't sure if she was agreeing or merely responding in pleasure as he touched her.
"I think you're empowered. I think you're taking back something that's been taken from you. And that doesn't make you weak, or fucked up, or broken. It makes you strong. I don't think it's a punishment, Norma. I think it's a reward-"
He was cut off by her hands shoving roughly at his pajama pants, forcing them down so fast her thumbnails scratched his ass, making him hiss.
"Inside me. Now."
He didn't waste a moment before obliging her request, sliding her tiny, loose-fitting pajama shorts to the side and plunging into her in one smooth thrust.
They were still for a second, Alex pushing up to look down at her, his mouth hanging open, watching her face contort in pleasure as she relaxed to take him in. Her thighs raised up around his hips, locking around him, giving him a squeeze to start moving.
She panted as he rocked against her slowly, gently, building her up gradually. She panted, and when she let out a soft little whine, he pulled back further, slamming back into her and grinding his hips deep.
"Fuck!" She squeaked and he grinned.
"You could, ya know?" She panted out, her thighs beginning to tremble around his waist as she lifted them higher, already losing control.
"Could what?" He ground out, sliding one hand under her arched back, the other cupping the back of her neck, holding her close.
"Punish me. If you wanted."
He groaned at her words. He had no desire to hurt Norma, not without her pleasure as his first priority. He never saw anything he did to her as any kind of penance or retribution for anything she had done. That wasn't his style.
"What would I punish you for?"
She half giggled, half moaned, tightening around him and they both gasped.
"Whatever you wanted. If I did something to piss you off," she said breathlessly,
"You never piss me off," he shot back immediately, groaning as she grabbed a handful of his hair, forcing his head back, her other hand digging her nails into his shoulder.
"Liar," she muttered, grinning as his movements faltered, hissing sharply at the sting in his scalp as she gripped his hair.
"Ok fine. You ever piss me off bad enough, I'll punish you. That what you wanted to hear?"
She could barely nod, her brow furrowing as she concentrated.
Her moans increased in volume, her eyes squeezing closed.
"Put your hand around my throat," she commanded and he did as she asked, sliding his fingers around her neck, holding her firmly without exerting pressure. He wouldn't choke her - Not fully. They'd researched it, experimented, tried it and it had been Alex who had called it off, using the safe word they'd discussed half-jokingly once, grinding out the word "red" as he panicked over her breathlessness. It didn't stop her liking the feeling of his hand there though, even loosely circling, happy to never push for more now she knew he didn't like it. "Tell me you're gonna burn me to the ground," she moaned out, and he grinned. If he'd known how much she'd enjoyed his threat to her in his office so long ago, he would have bent her over his desk and taken her right there and then.
He increased the pace of his hips slightly, listening intently to her growing moans, one hand bracing himself on the pillow next to her head, the other still gripping her neck as he leaned in close to whisper in her ear.
"Be careful, Ms. Bates. Or I'll burn you to the fucking ground. And you'll love every second of it."
She tensed under him, arching and crying out frantically as she came, moaning his name and half-formed curses. She clamped down around him and he slowed slightly, keeping his thrusts more shallow with a modicum of self control as he followed her over the edge, Norma scratching her nails down his back, making him groan and snap his hips forward harder than he meant to, coming deep inside her. She yelped softly as he skewered her to the bed roughly, her hands grasping at the sheets, and he pulled back immediately.
"Sorry, sorry, baby," he whispered into her hair, slipping out of her, making a mess of their sheets and her silky pajama shorts, her thighs wrapping around him to stop him pulling away from her.
"It's ok," she said between gulping breaths, every third breath a quiet, barely audible sound of satisfied pleasure. "That was so good," she breathed out exhaustedly, and he rolled to the side, taking her with him, grinning against her shoulder. He always liked how vocal she was about how he made her feel, never bothering to pretend he made her feel anything other than euphoric, but he never tired of hearing it.
"Yeah, it was," he assured her softly, hearing her breath out a soft chuckle against his neck.
"I meant it, ya know? You could... punish me." She whispered, both shivering slightly at the fresh arousal laced through her voice.
"Ok, noted, honey." Privately, Alex couldn't imagine any scenario where she could piss him off bad enough for him to want to punish her, but he nodded all the same, almost certain he would never be mad enough to administer any kind of punishment to his wife.