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Jax finds Caine in one of the hallways, floating aimlessly and muttering to himself about sample sizes and comparative data analysis.
“Hey,” Jax says, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “We need to talk.”
Caine spins to face him, eyes wide. “Jax! Hello! I was just thinking about our next research session with Pomni! I have some ideas about—”
“Yeah, about that.” Jax pushes off the wall. “I’m thinking maybe we skip Pomni for this one.”
Caine blinks. “Skip—? But she’s integral to the research! The primary subject! I couldn’t possibly—”
“You’ve been fucking her for months now,” Jax interrupts. “You barely even look at me.”
“That’s not—I mean—the research parameters—” Caine’s sputtering, which is already satisfying.
“So here’s what’s going to happen.” Jax steps closer. “You and me, without Pomni, just to see what happens.”
Caine floats backward slightly. “I don’t think that’s—what about Pomni? She might—I wouldn’t want her to feel—”
“I already asked her.” Jax grins at the way Caine’s eyes go even wider. “She said, and I quote, ‘have fun, don’t break anything.’” He pauses. “Actually she said some other stuff too but it’s not relevant.”
“She—she knows?” Caine sounds strangled.
“Yeah. Thought it was funny, actually. Said something about you two needing to ‘work out your tension.’” Jax’s grin sharpens. “So what do you say, ringmaster? Ready to be someone’s research subject for once?”
Caine floats there, processing, and Jax can practically see the moment he makes a decision.
“Very well,” Caine says, and his voice has gone oddly calm. “For research purposes, of course.”
“Of course,” Jax agrees, not bothering to hide his smirk.
Caine snaps his fingers.
They’re in a bedroom that Jax definitely hasn’t seen before, likely soundproofed knowing Caine’s obsession with “optimal research conditions.”
“So,” Jax says, already moving toward Caine. “Here’s how this is going to go—”
“No,” Caine interrupts.
Jax freezes. “What?”
“I don’t think you’re in a position to make demands.” Caine’s behind him now. When did he move? “You came to me, remember? Which means you’re going to take what I give you.”
Jax spins around. “Cute trick. But you forget—I’ve been watching you for months. I know how you work. You like being in control, sure, but you also like being told what to do.” He steps forward. “And right now? I’m telling you—”
Caine’s hand wraps around his throat.
“No,” Caine says again. “You’re not.”
Jax’s breath catches.
“You want to top me?” Caine tilts his head. “How adorable. You really thought I’d let you?”
“I—” Jax swallows against the hand on his throat.
“You came here expecting a fight. Expecting me to struggle, to play along with your little fantasy of being in control.” Caine leans in close. “But that’s not what you need. And I’ve been learning what people need, Jax. I’ve been researching.”
“Let go,” Jax says, but it comes out weak.
“Why? You’re not actually scared.” Caine’s thumb strokes along his jaw. “You’re excited. I can see it in your eyes. Feel it in the way your pulse is racing.”
Jax opens his mouth to argue—
Caine kisses him.
Caine kisses like he’s claiming something, his tongue sliding into Jax’s mouth, and Jax kisses back.
His hands come up to grip Caine’s suit jacket, pulling him closer even as his brain screams that he should be pushing away, should be fighting for control. But Caine tastes good and his hand is still on Jax’s throat and somewhere in the past three months he’s learned exactly how to kiss to make Jax’s knees weak.
When Caine pulls back, Jax is breathing hard.
“Better,” Caine murmurs. “Now, are you going to keep pretending you want to top me, or are we going to skip to the part where I take care of you?”
“I don’t need—”
The hand on his throat tightens just slightly. Not painful. Just enough.
“Liar,” Caine says softly. “You came to me because you’re tired of being ignored. Tired of being the afterthought when Pomni’s in the room. You want attention.” His eyes are too bright, too knowing. “You want someone to see you. And I do, Jax. I see you.”
Jax’s chest tightens. “That’s not—”
“It is.” Caine snaps his fingers with his free hand and suddenly they’re both naked. “And that’s fine. I want to give you attention. Want to take you apart and see what you look like when you stop pretending you don’t care.”
He releases Jax’s throat, and Jax gasps in a breath he didn’t realize he needed.
“On the bed,” Caine says.
“Fuck you,” Jax shoots back automatically.
Caine smiles. “Get on the bed, Jax.”
Jax complies. He walks backward until his knees hit the bed and he’s sitting down, looking up at Caine who floats closer with that unreadable expression.
“Good,” Caine murmurs. “See? That wasn’t so hard.”
“Shut up.”
“Lie back.”
Jax glares. Caine just waits, patient and calm and infuriatingly certain. Finally, Jax lies back.
“Better.” Caine settles between his legs, hands resting on Jax’s thighs. “Now. Let me show you what I’ve learned.”
He starts with his mouth.
Not on Jax’s cock, though Jax is already hard and aching for it. No, Caine starts with his inner thigh, pressing slow kisses to the sensitive skin there. His tongue traces patterns that make Jax’s breath hitch.
“What are you—”
“Being thorough,” Caine says against his skin. “I told you. I’m taking my time with you.”
“I don’t need—” Jax gasps as Caine’s teeth graze the inside of his thigh, not quite biting. ”—fuck—”
“You keep saying you don’t need things.” Caine moves to the other thigh, lavishing it with the same attention. “But your body disagrees.”
Jax’s hands fist in the sheets. Caine’s mouth is everywhere except where he wants it—kissing, licking, occasionally biting just hard enough to make Jax’s hips jerk.
“You’re stalling,” Jax accuses.
“I’m savoring you.” Caine’s tongue drags up the crease where thigh meets hip. “There’s a difference.”
Then, finally, his mouth closes around Jax’s cock.
“Fuck—”
The heat is overwhelming. Caine takes him deep in one smooth motion, and Jax’s back arches off the bed. His hands move from the sheets to Caine’s head.
Caine hums in approval and the vibration makes Jax see stars.
He’s good at this. Too good. His mouth is wet and hot and perfect, taking Jax deep enough to make his breath catch. When he pulls back, his tongue swirls around the head in a way that makes Jax’s toes curl.
“Jesus—Caine—”
Caine pulls off just long enough to speak. “Relax. Let me take care of you.”
Then he’s back down, sucking hard, and Jax can’t think past the pleasure building at the base of his spine. He’s close already, embarrassingly fast, and Caine knows it. Reads it in the way Jax’s thighs are shaking, in the way his breathing has gone ragged.
Caine doubles his efforts. Takes him deeper, does something with his tongue that makes Jax’s vision white out.
“I’m—fuck—I’m gonna—”
Caine keeps going with that same focused intensity, like he wants Jax to come apart in his mouth.
Jax comes with a broken sound, his whole body tensing as pleasure crashes through him. Caine takes it all, swallowing around him, and doesn’t pull away until Jax is gasping and twitching with oversensitivity.
“Good,” Caine murmurs, kissing his way up Jax’s stomach. “You did so well.”
“Don’t—” Jax’s voice is wrecked. “Don’t talk to me like—”
“Like you deserve praise?” Caine reaches his chest, presses a kiss over his racing heart. “But you do. You just came beautifully for me. Why wouldn’t I tell you that?”
Jax doesn’t have an answer. His brain is still offline, hazy and drunk on pleasure.
Caine kisses him, and Jax can taste himself, making heat curl low in his belly again, which is insane because he just came and shouldn’t be able to—
“We’re not done,” Caine says, pulling back.
“What?”
“That was just to take the edge off.” Caine’s hand trails down Jax’s stomach, over his hip. “Now I’m going to take my time with you properly.”
“I just—I can’t—”
“You can.” Caine’s voice is firm. “And you will. Because I’m going to make sure you do.”
His hands urge Jax’s legs apart, spreading him open.
Caine’s tongue licks a stripe up his cock, already starting to harden again, and Jax’s protests die in his throat.
“Hold still,” Caine says. “I want to try something.”
His hands slide under Jax’s thighs, lifting, and Jax realizes with a jolt what Caine’s planning to do.
“Wait—”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“…No,” he hears himself say.
Caine smiles. “Good.”
Then his mouth is there, tongue pressing against Jax’s hole, and Jax’s entire body jolts.
“Fuck—”
“Mm.” Caine’s tongue circles slowly, teasing. “You taste good here too.”
“You’re—” Jax can’t finish the sentence because Caine’s tongue presses inside and his brain short-circuits.
No one’s ever done this to him. He’s never let anyone get this close, never wanted to be this vulnerable. But Caine’s tongue is wet and warm and impossibly large, pressing into him in slow pulses that make his cock twitch against his stomach.
“Relax,” Caine murmurs. “Let me in.”
Jax’s body fights it, tensing up, but Caine is patient. His hands stroke Jax’s thighs in soothing patterns while his tongue works him open, alternating between broad licks and focused pressure until Jax is gasping.
“That’s it,” Caine encourages. “There you go. You’re doing so well.”
The praise makes something in Jax’s chest crack open. He’s hard again, impossibly, his cock leaking against his stomach while Caine eats him out. Every nerve ending is on fire, oversensitive from his first orgasm, and it’s too much and not enough and—
Caine’s tongue presses deeper, finds something inside that makes Jax cry out.
“There,” Caine says, satisfied. “Found it.”
He focuses there, tongue rubbing against that spot over and over, and Jax’s hands scrabble for purchase in the sheets. His hips rock down, trying to get more, get deeper, and Caine lets him, one hand coming up to wrap around Jax’s cock.
“You’re so responsive,” Caine murmurs between licks. “So perfect. Look at you, taking my tongue so well. I bet you’d take more, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” Jax gasps out. “Yes—fuck—please—”
“Please what?”
“More—I need—” Jax can’t finish. Can’t articulate what he needs except that Caine’s tongue isn’t enough anymore.
Caine pulls back, and Jax nearly sobs at the loss. Then there’s a finger pressing inside alongside where his tongue was.
“This?” Caine asks.
“Yes—”
The finger slides in easily, Caine’s saliva providing enough slick. He works it in and out a few times, then adds a second. Jax’s body takes it, still relaxed from the work of Caine’s tongue.
“Look at you,” Caine breathes. “Opening up for me so beautifully. You were made for this, weren’t you?”
“Shut up,” Jax manages, but it lacks heat.
“Why? It’s true.” Caine curls his fingers, rubbing against that spot inside, and Jax keens. “You’re taking my fingers so well. So eager for it. I wonder how you’ll take my cock.”
The words make Jax clench around Caine’s fingers. Caine makes an approving sound and adds a third finger, scissoring them to stretch Jax wider.
The fullness, the pleasure, the constant pressure against that spot inside him that makes his vision blur. Jax’s cock is leaking steadily now, his whole body shaking, and he’s going to come again, embarrassingly fast, just from Caine’s fingers and that low voice telling him how good he is—
“Not yet,” Caine says, and his hand wraps around the base of Jax’s cock, squeezing tight enough to keep him from tipping over.
Jax makes a wounded sound.
“I know,” Caine soothes. “I know you want to, but not yet. I want you to come on my cock. Want to feel you fall apart around me.”
“Then do it—”
“Patience.” But Caine withdraws his fingers, and Jax hears him snap.
Suddenly there’s more slick, and Caine is pressing against him—not fingers this time. The blunt head of his cock.
Jax’s breath catches.
“Breathe,” Caine instructs. “Just breathe. I’ll take care of you.”
He presses in slowly, so slowly it’s almost torture. Jax is stretched and ready, could probably take it faster, but Caine maintains that agonizing pace. Inch by inch, giving Jax time to adjust.
“Fuck,” Jax gasps when Caine bottoms out. “Fuck—you’re—”
“Big?” Caine sounds amused. “I configured myself appropriately. Wanted to make sure you’d feel it.”
Jax feels it. Feels impossibly full, stretched around Caine’s cock, every nerve singing. When Caine shifts slightly it drags against that spot inside and Jax’s back arches.
“Please,” he hears himself beg. “Please—move—”
“Since you asked so nicely.”
Caine pulls back and thrusts in, and Jax sees stars. The angle is perfect, hitting that spot dead-on, and Jax’s hands fly to Caine’s shoulders, nails digging in hard enough to hurt if Caine were capable of being hurt.
“That’s it,” Caine murmurs. “Take it. Take what I’m giving you.”
He sets a steady rhythm, each thrust deliberate and controlled. Not rough, but firm. Deep. Making sure Jax feels every inch of him.
“You’re so tight,” Caine breathes. “So perfect. Look at you, taking my cock like you were made for it.”
“Shut—up—” Jax gasps.
“Why? You clearly like it when I talk.” Caine adjusts the angle slightly and Jax nearly screams. “You like hearing how good you are. How well you’re taking me. How beautiful you look like this.”
“I’m not—”
“You are.” Caine’s hand cups his face, forcing eye contact. “You’re gorgeous. All spread out for me, letting me inside you. Trusting me with this.”
Jax’s eyes sting. He blinks rapidly, refusing to cry, but something in his chest is cracking open and he can’t stop it.
“I’ve got you,” Caine says softly. “I’ve got you, Jax. You don’t have to hold it together. You can just feel.”
Jax breaks. Caine’s voice is so gentle and the pleasure is overwhelming and no one has ever looked at him like this, like he matters, like he’s precious—
A sob catches in his throat.
“That’s it,” Caine encourages, never stopping the steady thrust of his hips. “Let it out. You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
Jax’s hands slide from Caine’s shoulders to his back, clinging, and he buries his face in Caine’s neck as the emotions crash over him. He’s shaking apart, not just from the pleasure but from something deeper, something he’s never let himself feel before.
Caine holds him through it, one arm wrapping around his back and keeping him close. His hips maintain that perfect rhythm, working Jax higher, and his voice is a constant soothing presence in Jax’s ear.
“You’re doing so well. So perfect. Let me make you feel good.”
When Caine’s hand wraps around Jax’s cock—still trapped between them, desperately hard—Jax keens.
“Come for me,” Caine murmurs. “Let go. I want to feel you.”
Three more thrusts, Caine’s hand stroking him in time, and Jax shatters.
The orgasm rips through him, more intense than the first. His whole body convulses, clenching around Caine’s cock, and he’s dimly aware he’s making sounds—broken gasps and sobs—but he can’t stop.
Caine fucks him through it, chasing his own release, and when he comes Jax feels it—the pulse of him inside, the way Caine’s breath catches—
“Jax,” Caine breathes. “God—Jax—”
They stay like that for a long moment. Jax collapsed against Caine’s chest, both of them breathing hard, Caine’s cock still inside him.
Then Caine carefully pulls out, and Jax whimpers at the loss.
“I know,” Caine soothes. “Come here.”
He arranges them both on the bed, pulling Jax against his chest. His hand strokes up and down Jax’s back in soothing patterns.
“You did so well,” Caine murmurs. “So perfectly. I’m proud of you.”
Jax’s breath hitches. His eyes sting again.
“It’s alright,” Caine says. “You can cry if you need to. It’s just me.”
Jax cries silently into Caine’s chest while Caine holds him, while that gentle voice tells him he’s safe, he’s cared for, he matters.
It’s terrifying.
It’s also the best he’s felt in longer than he can remember.
When the tears finally stop, Jax pulls back enough to look at Caine.
“That was—”
“Intense?” Caine offers.
“Yeah.” Jax’s voice is hoarse. “I didn’t—I wasn’t expecting—”
“I know.” Caine’s hand cups his face. “But I did. I’ve been watching you for months, Jax. I know what you need. What you won’t let yourself ask for.”
“And what’s that?”
“Someone to take care of you.” Caine’s thumb strokes his cheek. “Someone to see you. To make you feel valued.”
Jax swallows hard. “That’s—”
“True?” Caine’s smile is gentle. “Yes. It is.”
They lie there in silence for a while. Caine’s hand never stops moving, stroking Jax’s back, his shoulder.
“This doesn’t change anything,” Jax finally says.
“Doesn’t it?”
“I’m still an asshole. I’m still going to mess with Pomni during your research. I’m still—”
“Still yourself,” Caine finishes. “I know. I wouldn’t want you any other way.”
“Good.” Jax pauses. “Because if you start expecting me to be nice or whatever—”
“I don’t expect anything.” Caine kisses his forehead. “Except maybe for you to stop pretending you don’t care.”
“I don’t care.”
“Jax.” Caine’s voice is patient. “You came to me. You asked Pomni’s permission first. You let me inside you in every possible way. You care.”
“…Fine,” Jax mutters. “Maybe I care. A little. Don’t let it go to your head.”
“Too late.” Caine’s smile widens. “Thank you. For trusting me.”
“Yeah, well.” Jax looks away. “Don’t make it weird.”
“I’m an AI ringmaster conducting research on human intimacy by having extensive sexual relations with the circus inhabitants,” Caine says. “I think we’re well past ‘weird.’”
Despite everything, Jax laughs.
They stay there for another long moment, just holding each other. Then Caine snaps his fingers and they’re both clean, dressed, and back in the hallway like nothing happened.
Except everything happened.
Caine is still holding his hand.
“Same time next week?” Jax asks.
“I’d like that,” Caine says.
“Cool. Great. It’s for research.”
“Of course,” Caine agrees. “Purely academic.”
They stand there for another beat, and then Jax forces himself to let go and walk away before he does something stupid like kiss Caine again or admit that he wants this to be more than just research.
But as he turns the corner, he hears Caine call out, “You matter to me, Jax. Just so you know.”
Later, when he finds Pomni, she takes one look at him and grins.
“So,” she says. “How’d it go?”
“Shut up,” Jax mutters.
“That good, huh?” She’s laughing now. “I told you he’d surprise you.”
“You didn’t tell me he’d be so—” Jax gestures vaguely. ”—like that.”
“Like what?”
“Gentle. And weird about it. And—caring.”
Pomni’s expression softens. “Yeah. He’s good at that.” She bumps his shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” he says quietly. “I think I am.”
“Good.” Pomni smiles. “He’s been wanting to do that for a while, you know. But he was worried you’d think he was trying to replace me or something.”
“Are you okay with it?” Jax asks. “Really?”
“Jax.” Pomni turns to face him fully. “I’ve been watching you two circle each other for months. I’m thrilled you finally did something about it.” She pauses. “Plus, you know, I’m not exactly the jealous type. Not about this.”
“Apparently neither is he.” Jax’s mind drifts back to Caine’s words—different, but not less. “He said—never mind.”
“He said what?”
“That I matter. To him. Specifically.” Jax looks away. “It’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid.” Pomni’s hand finds his. “And for what it’s worth? You matter to me too. Both of you do.”
Jax swallows hard. “When did this become so—”
“Complicated? Emotional? Real?” Pomni laughs. “Probably around the time Caine decided ‘research’ was a good excuse to work through his feelings.”
“His ‘research’ is just an excuse to fuck,” Jax points out.
“Yes. But it’s also how he processes connection. You know that by now.” She squeezes his hand. “So? Same time next week?”
“Yeah,” Jax says, and tries not to think too hard about how much he’s looking forward to it. “For research purposes.”
“Obviously,” Pomni agrees, grinning.