Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Garin tried not to stare.

He tried to look at anything else.

At the beautiful bioluminescence arcing over their heads, at his boots crunching over the gravel-y dirt of the cave floor, at his dirty fingernails, at their six and twelve in case any more of those horrible creatures were about.

Anything.

Anything but how the green light drew out the green of curiosity swirling over Sazahk's high cheekbones, or how it reflected in his dark eyes. Anything but the way Sazahk's hips swayed as he walked, the way his fingers tapped excitedly, or how his plush lips parted on a delighted gasp every time he came to a fungus polyp that looked ever so slightly different from the last.

More to the point, Garin tried to resist the urgent yearning those sights filled him with.

He didn't understand it.

He was attracted to Sazahk, sure. He'd been attracted to him from the moment he saw him ambling down the street, obsessed with his colorful test tubes. But the attraction had been more of a passing observation. It wasn't something that overwhelmed him as they set out together into the Dead Zone. Garin had looked appreciatively at his traveling companion a time or two, but he hadn't pined.

Things had gotten a little dicier when they'd started sharing a bed. Garin knew his treacherous sleeping self crept closer to Sazahk in the night. He kept being woken up by Sazahk tactfully disengaging himself. And his morning wood had been more insistent than appropriate. But still, Garin's urges had all remained perfectly under control.

So, what the hell was happening now?

Garin tugged at his collar as his throat beaded with sweat. The cavern had been getting steadily hotter, despite the occasional cool breeze. His skin prickled with the heat and an uncomfortable sensitivity.

"Garin?"

Garin's eyes dragged from Sazahk's pouting lips to his dark eyes and furrowed brow. "Yeah?"

Sazahk tilted his head and stood slowly, somehow more interested in Garin than the bright orange sponge at his feet. "Are you alright?"

Garin nodded jerkily. "Fine."

"You're sweating." Sazahk left the funny-colored fungus and approached him. His intense focus diverted from their fascinating surroundings and pinned all on Garin made Garin's lower belly swoop.

He stepped back. "It's hot."

"It's not, actually, it's quite cold, and considering your higher body temperature, it should feel even colder to you." Sazahk continued his advance, lime green and a stripe of orange tracing up his throat. "Your body shouldn't have any need to discharge excess heat."

"It…" Garin forced his feet to stop retreating and pushed away the defensive argument that it was stifling. It wasn't stifling. He knew that. He was burning up from the inside in a way that didn't feel entirely natural and hiding that from his companion was foolish and dangerous. "It feels hot to me."

"Fascinating." Sazahk closed the distance between them and grabbed Garin's wrist, tugging him down to the ground with him. "Sit. Let me take a few measurements."

Garin bit back a groan at the feel of Sazahk's cool fingers, which both soothed his overheated skin and sent excited sparks up his arm. He sat hard on the ground, his feet flat and his knees bent up to hide the problem developing in his groin.

"Open." Sazahk held a thermometer in front of Garin's lips, and Garin obediently opened his mouth for Sazahk to slip it under his tongue. "Temperature first, obviously, but I want your core and surface temperature." He pulled a mishmash of tools from his bag, as well as his lantern, and arranged the tools all within the circle of the lantern's light. Then he plucked out a device small enough to fit between his thumb and forefinger and pressed it to Garin's temple. After a few seconds, the thing beeped and Sazahk hummed. "Elevated. Both of them, but particularly your skin."

Sazahk peered into Garin's face, sending his headlamp beam into Garin's eyes, and Garin winced and looked away.

"Sorry." Sazahk pulled his headlamp off, leaving his pale hair mussed, but he didn't bother fixing it. He shined the light onto Garin's face again, but at an angle that didn't blind him. "Your skin is flushed, which explains the higher temperature. Your throat, cheeks, and ears especially. Do they itch?"

Garin shook his head. "No, they feel fine. Just hot."

"And your pupils are dilated, but we are in a dark place, so that's not entirely unexpected." Sazahk flashed the light into both Garin's eyes. "Still, it's noteworthy."

Garin dug his fingers into the dirt at his sides and tried to ignore Sazahk's proximity and the slightly chemical tang that suffused his clean scent and made Garin want to bury his nose in the qesh's neck and inhale him.

"Your heart rate is higher than expected as well."

Garin's breath caught when Sazahk suddenly pressed two fingers to his pulse point. He wanted to fall into the other man's touch so badly his mouth watered. "Sazahk."

"I wish I'd taken baseline measurements of your vitals before we started out." Sazahk bit his lower lip. "Your breathing seems heavier. Your body is definitely in distress."

Garin's mind was in severe distress, but his body was better described as desperate. He ground his teeth together and willed the sensations in his lower belly away, but they fought him like they'd never before.

"When did this start?" Sazahk's dark eyes were worried and Garin's stomach curdled with guilt. The things he wanted… They were all wrong. It wasn't okay to think this way about the man as he fussed over him. And it wasn't okay to keep it a secret. But the thought of admitting to the desire eating away at Garin's mind nauseated him.

He had to tell Sazahk what he was feeling. But the flushed skin, the dilated pupils, the increased heart rate…it didn't take a genius to diagnose Garin, and Sazahk was more than a genius.

"Was it after you inhaled those spores?" Sazahk swabbed a bead of sweat from Garin's temple and carefully bundled the swab away for later analysis. "Was the onset immediate? Delayed? Gradual?"

Garin licked his dry lips and thought back. He'd been so concerned with the shame and embarrassment of his feelings it hadn't occurred to him until they'd grown extreme that they might have an external cause. "Delayed. Gradual."

God, Garin wanted him. Needed him. Needed to be touched by him.

Garin gritted his teeth and shook his head. "It's getting worse."

Cool hands cradled Garin's jaw and tilted his face up. Sazahk held his gaze, red and brown licking across his cheeks. Red meant fear. Garin had pieced that much together. But he'd never seen brown on Sazahk's skin before. Sazahk brushed his thumbs over Garin's sweat damp skin. "Are you in pain?"

Garin's cock strained to fully erect, rubbing against the zipper of his pants and throbbing with need. Garin grimaced. "A little. Not much." Not yet.

"You don't have a rash, your breathing isn't impaired, and your heart rate is high, but not concerning." Sazahk's eyes flickered across Garin's face. "In any other circumstances, I'd hypothesize simple heightened arousal."

When Garin didn't reply, understanding crept into Sazahk's expression and Garin wished he could crawl back up the chute he'd rappelled down and hide in that dark, narrow passage forever. "Sazahk."

"Oh." Sazahk yanked his hands away and scrambled back. "Is that…" Sazahk swallowed as his eyes darted up and down Garin's curled posture. "Is that how you would characterize your current sensations?"

Garin wrapped one arm around his knees and covered his face with his hand. "Yes." Please, please, please touch me . Garin's balls ached as he locked the words behind his teeth, refusing to give in.

A long pause stretched between them before Sazahk spoke in a careful voice. "In the interest of gathering more evidence in support of this hypothesis,"—Sazahk touched Garin's knee lightly— "may I?"

Hand still over his face, heart pounding, Garin nodded.

Sazahk coaxed Garin's knees apart and Garin let his thighs fall wide, displaying the hard ridge of his erection pushing against the front of his pants. The act of exposing himself, even clothed, forced a needy sound from the back of Garin's throat.

"Oh." Sazahk's palm disappeared from Garin's knee.

"I'm sorry." Garin dropped his hand from his face and gouged furrows in the dirt with his fingers. "I'm don't know what's happening."

"You don't have to be sorry." Sazahk shuffled closer again, and it took every bit of Garin's willpower not to lean into him. "You've nothing to apologize for. You're suffering under the effects of an unknown biological agent. It's not your fault."

Garin pressed his lips together and nodded, emotion welling up in his chest at Sazahk's serious, determined expression.

"I'm going to help you." Sazahk brushed Garin's sweaty hair from his forehead. "We're going to solve this. You're going to be okay."

Garin nodded. He had no idea what Sazahk had in mind, but when the Qeshian species state had faced a new threat, they'd called Sazahk out of exile to help them with it. Well, Garin was certainly facing a new threat now and if anyone could help him, it was Sazahk.

He'd never felt so out of control, and it shook him to his core.

"Drink some water. You're sweating out all your fluids." Sazahk pressed an open canteen to Garin's lips and despite water being a precious resource, Garin gulped down two swallows. "Good."

Garin watched Sazahk twist the cap onto the bottle and tuck it into its proper place in Garin's pack. His long fingers danced across the canvas bag and colors rippled across the surface of his skin: red, brown, gray, and, of course, green. His near constant light green but also a deeper forest green, which was always accompanied with a touch of gray.

"Alright, let's lay out what we know and all possible courses of actions." Sazahk swiveled to face Garin directly and sat on his heels. "You are experiencing extreme, involuntary arousal, correct?"

Garin closed his knees again and nodded.

"The arousal did not begin until after we'd entered this cavern. I am not suffering any of the same symptoms. However, although qesh and human physiology have many similarities, we have many differences as well. So, it's possible that I've been exposed to the same substance currently triggering this reaction in you and have merely metabolized the substance differently."

Garin followed the swaying motion of Sazahk's long braid as he wobbled his head back and forth as he spoke and imagined the strands slipping through his fingers.

"That said, I think we both agree that the most likely trigger was your inhalation of the spores from the fungus that cushioned your fall."

Garin forced himself to focus on the words being formed by Sazahk's lips instead of how those lips might feel against his own.

"Unfortunately, that means pumping your stomach is unlikely to be effective." Sazahk tapped his fingers against those plush lips and Garin wanted to wrap his tongue around the long digits and suck. "We have probably missed any window there might have been to prevent this reaction, so our only course of action is to treat the symptoms."

"I have a medkit in my bag." Garin muscled his mind into focusing, but it took so much effort it left him panting. "It has medications."

Sazahk raised a skeptical eyebrow, but dragged Garin's pack closer and opened it. "For decreasing libido?"

Garin shook his head. "Heart rate."

"We can use that if we have to, but like I said, your heart rate isn't concerningly high yet. I don't want to introduce more chemicals into your system when we don't even know what this one is." Sazahk pulled Garin's medkit out, unzipped it, and flicked his eyes over the various bottles. "If your level of arousal becomes dangerous to you, then a combination of these drugs should inhibit the worst of the response. I only worry what else they might cause."

Garin knew Sazahk was right and normally "caution" was his watchword, but the terrible need in his core made him want to tear his hair out.

"It's possible the feeling will pass on its own, given time, as you metabolize the chemical."

A choked sob clawed up Garin's throat at the thought of staying like this, his cock aching and his body burning and over-sensitized.

"But I don't want you to suffer." Sazahk grabbed Garin's knees and squeezed, ducking his head to catch Garin's eye. "There may be other options. Tell me more about what you're currently experiencing."

Garin focused on Sazahk's dark eyes, framed by his even darker lashes. "Like what?" Throbbing loins, blood pounding in his ears, panting, all the run-of-the-mill horny basics. But his body was acting like it had been teased for two hours by an enthusiastic and willing partner instead of climbing around in a cave with a disinterested scientist who didn't like to be touched.

"Is the arousal an amorphous collection of physiological phenomena or is there a psychological component to it as well?"

"Psychological?" Garin felt like an idiot. Not enough of his blood flowed to his thinking head. It took all his willpower not to throw himself at Sazahk's feet and beg him for relief, as though he were dying. He felt like he was dying.

"Do you feel urges to take specific actions, for example?" Sazahk stared into Garin's face with such an innocent interest Garin felt like the most lecherous cretin in existence. He wanted to lie, but he couldn't. He didn't lie, he just didn't, and he especially didn't hide information from teammates.

He closed his eyes. "Yes."

"Are these actions out of character for you or are they behaviors you might reasonably engage in under more standard amorous circumstances?" God bless Sazahk and his professional, judgment-free voice.

"Standard." Garin had imagined all these things in the liminal space between sleeping and waking, when his mind escaped the strict confines he put on it. He'd thought of touching Sazahk's lips, of undoing his braid, of taking those long fingers between his teeth and teasing them with his tongue like he might tease another part of Sazahk's body that he imagined to be just as long and elegant. Garin growled and buried his own hands in his hair and pulled. "Fuck, this is torture."

Sazahk tapped his thumbs on Garin's knees. "Is having physical pain inflicted upon you a regular and desired component of your sex life?"

"What?" Garin frowned. "No."

"Then don't do it." Sazahk untangled Garin's fingers from his hair and pulled his hands down. "Because you're not experiencing a desire to do anything you wouldn't normally do, I don't believe the spore is inciting a self-destructive act. In this case, following your instincts may be the wisest strategy. Achieving orgasm and ejaculating may ease the symptoms by taking advantage of the refractory phase of the basic male sexual arousal cycle."

It took a few moments for Sazahk's words to sink in and when they did, Garin's stomach did a peculiar flip flop of excitement and panic. "Are you saying I should give in?"

"Yes." Sazahk nodded simply. "Finding sexual satisfaction isn't inherently dangerous. It's the obvious potential solution and there's no reason not to attempt it."

No reason except that the part of Garin's mind still capable of rational thought balked at the idea of masturbating with Sazahk near enough to hear—or god forbid, see—him and it balked harder at them separating enough to give him any privacy in a dangerous cave system with an unknown animal species creeping about.

"I recognize that this is deeply uncomfortable for you both physically and mentally and that you would likely prefer to bring yourself to orgasm with as much privacy as is reasonable, given the circumstances." Sazahk licked his lips with every shade of green cascading over his cheekbones. "But because this is the first and only documented incident of human exposure to the spores of the fruiting body of the fungus-like mycelium organism we have discovered, I would like to register my interest in participating."

Garin's mind blanked.

Had Sazahk just…

"You want to get me off?"

"If you're amenable, yes." Sazahk's green darkened. "I understand it's a significant request."

Garin couldn't move, paralyzed between elation at the thought of Sazahk's hands on him and horror at the elation. He wanted it so badly, but he'd wanted Sazahk for a while now and Sazahk didn't know that. Was it worse that he wanted Sazahk even when not under the influence of an aphrodisiac fungus? Would that change Sazahk's comfort level? Did it amount to Garin taking advantage?

No. No, Sazahk had asked him. Garin hadn't asked Sazahk. Garin hadn't dosed himself on purpose. He hadn't asked for lust that made him want to rip his own skin off.

"You can, of course, refuse, Garin, and I would never dream of holding that against you. You are under no obligation to indulge my scientific curiosity in this way." Sazahk slid his hands off Garin's knees. "You are more than within your rights to say no."

"Yes." Garin caught Sazahk's hands. "Yes, you can…participate."

Garin's fingers shook, and he quickly pulled them back, but his whole body trembled with anticipation. He didn't even know where to begin. With his arousal raging around inside of him and Sazahk—clever, innocent, sober Sazahk—kneeling in front of him, he felt as unsure of himself as his first time.

Sazahk's face brightened with a flood of green. "Thank you, Garin." He put his hands on Garin's knees again and Garin bit back a whimper. "I admit to a fascination with your circumstances, but I will endeavor to relieve as much of your suffering as I can."

Garin clenched his jaw, holding himself still as his whole body quivered. He wished he didn't want this so much. "Please, Sazahk, just"— touch me —"make it stop."

"I will." Sazahk parted Garin's knees again and Garin anchored his hands in the dirt at his side. "I will figure this out, Garin."

Without warning, Sazahk palmed Garin through his pants and Garin threw back his head and moaned. His voice echoed through the caves, but he couldn't hear it over the rushing in his ears as painfully potent pleasure spiraled up his spine.

"We'll have to discuss your baseline sexual responsiveness at a later date." Sazahk crawled between Garin's spread thighs and used the better angle to rub up and down Garin's length. "As well as your standard level of vocality."

Garin flushed and bit down hard on his lower lip to hold back the next moan fighting up his throat.

"Don't." Sazahk cupped Garin's jaw and used his thumb to free Garin's lower lip from his teeth. "Don't stifle yourself. Increased copulatory vocalizations can aid in achieving orgasm." Sazahk pushed Garin onto his back. "And I need to hear you."

That punched a groan from Garin's throat. He knew Sazahk didn't mean it erotically. He knew Sazahk wasn't getting turned on by Garin's moans ringing out around them. But the thought still made his head spin.

"I need to know what you're feeling." Sazahk undid Garin's weapons holster and belt and pulled down his zipper. "What you like, what's working, what's not."

"Everything's working, Sazahk." Garin screwed his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to see Sazahk kneeling between his thighs and drown in the guilt of having put him there. "Anything, I—oh fuck."

Sazahk yanked Garin's pants and underwear down to his knees and wrapped his hand around Garin's burning length.

"Fuck, Sazahk, that—ohhh." Garin lost his words in a long, drawn-out moan, his hips twitching up to meet Sazahk's pulls. The skin-to-skin contact, and Sazahk's cool hand smearing the hot pre-cum bubbling at Garin's tip to slick his way, made stars dance before Garin's eyes.

"Good, that's good, keep that up, don't fight it," Sazahk husked, the clinical composure in his voice strained, and Garin's balls pulled up at the crack in the qesh's armor.

Oh god, Sazahk, poor Sazahk, the man couldn't stand a simple touch and here he was jacking Garin's cock

"I'm sorry," Garin bit out, covering his face with his hands even as he thrust his hips up into the tight circle of Sazahk's fist. "I'm so sorry."

"Garin, no." Sazahk's rhythm on Garin's length slowed and gentled but continued as Sazahk's free hand pulled Garin's hands away from his face. "Don't be sorry. Your behavior has been above reproach and your involuntary reaction to a toxin is not something you bear responsibility for."

"But you're…" Garin cringed. Deep green swirled around Sazahk's eyes and Garin struggled to meet them.

"Helping you." Sazahk grasped Garin's sack and squeezed. "At my own request."

That's right. Garin loosed another strangled cry as Sazahk rolled his balls and thumbed his slit. Sazahk had wanted this. For science, of course, but he'd wanted it all the same.

"Can I see more of you?" Sazahk tugged on the hem of Garin's shirt, and at Garin's nod, pulled it up and over Garin's head. "Your flush is extensive." Sazahk trailed cooling fingers down Garin's throat and across his pecs. "And your nipples are erect, as expected."

Garin choked as Sazahk rolled his small nub between thumb and forefinger.

"Do you find that pleasurable?" Sazahk pinched harder and Garin arched into his touch. "I'll take that as an affirmative."

Garin writhed as Sazahk teased his nipple into painful hardness. "Oh god, Sazahk, please."

Sazahk suddenly bent forward and sucked the angry red bud into his mouth.

"Oh, shit, don't stop." Garin locked his hands to the ground before they flew to Sazahk's head or hips, desperate for mooring. "Don't stop."

Sazahk made a noise that sounded enough like an eager groan to seize Garin's lower belly, and assaulted Garin's nipple with his tongue as he stroked Garin's cock faster. He teased and flicked his tongue over that bundle of nerves before nipping gently.

Garin whimpered and twisted as the sharp edge of hypersensitivity drove his arousal higher. "Sazahk, I can't, please."

When Sazahk lifted his mouth from Garin's body, he gasped for air, his breaths puffing over Garin's wet skin. "Garin." Sazahk caught his breath. "Taste is an important observational sense." He trailed his lips down the center of Garin's chest to his abs, then lower to the V of his hips. "Can I…?"

The request hit Garin like a rifle round to the vest, but he answered immediately. "Yes."

Sazahk made a tiny, excited sound and nuzzled Garin's navel with his nose before pulling away. "Thank you. I just need to take a sample before additional contamination."

Garin jerked when the soft, cotton head of a swab swirled over the head of his cock, gathering the pre-cum trickling from his slit.

Sazahk wrapped the swab and set it aside, then locked his hands around Garin's hips and his eyes with his. "Again, I'll need baseline measurements of your pre-ejaculate look, smell, and taste at a later date, but we can discuss that in the future after we've dealt with your current predicament."

Without additional preamble, Sazahk ducked between Garin's thighs and lapped at the head of Garin's cock.

"Sazahk!" Garin's hips thrust instinctually and Sazahk pinned them back down to the ground. "Shit, sorry?—"

"Don't apologize, Garin. Moan," Sazahk ordered, then enveloped Garin's cockhead in his hot mouth and Garin obeyed, releasing a reverberating cry. Sazahk made an approving sound around his mouthful, before sucking more of Garin down his throat.

"Sazahk, Sazahk, Sazahk," Garin helplessly chanted the man's name as bliss coursed through his veins, lighting him up from the inside and soothing the raging need.

He'd had blowjobs before, from plenty of pretty men with clever mouths eager to please, but there wasn't a goddamn person in the galaxy as clever as Sazahk. Sazahk took him apart like a puzzle box, analyzing each piece, and fitting him back together like no one ever had. He found the extra sensitive spot below the vein on the underside of Garin's cock, and he discovered the twist of the tongue that made Garin keen. He identified the exact amounts of pressure to make Garin shake and teeth to keep Garin on the edge.

All the qesh's brilliance bent toward discovering Garin's body like it was something worth knowing made emotion sting Garin's eyes. He wanted to touch. He wanted to hold and caress. He wanted Sazahk in his arms and under his hands. Sazahk dragged him under the surface of indescribable ecstasy, but Garin drowned alone.

Sazahk worked him relentlessly, driving Garin into incoherency, with his throat squeezing his cock and a hand playing with his balls.

After inestimable ages, Sazahk pulled off with a final hard suck and spoke with a roughened voice. "Are you close?"

Garin sobbed when he realized the answer. "No."

Fear, barely kept at bay since Garin's urges escaped his control, rose up.

What if he couldn't come?

What if he never reached the peak so visible, but so tantalizingly out of reach?

What if this agonizing need only grew worse and worse until his heart gave out?

"It's alright, Garin, it's alright." Sazahk's hands encircled Garin's cheeks. Garin opened his eyes to Sazahk's face hovering over his, brown reaching through the green of his skin like branches through leaves. "There's no cause for alarm yet. We've only just started and while your heart rate is elevated, it's still within safe parameters and we have a couple hours yet before priapism-caused damage becomes a concern."

"I can't do this for a couple hours," Garin managed in a broken voice, his chest heaving and sweat pouring down his temples and into his hair.

"It won't come to that." Sazahk's grip on Garin's jaw firmed as his brow furrowed in determination. "Can I strip you?"

Garin nodded despite the potential danger of their current surroundings. He'd long passed the point of being worried about being caught with his pants down, and he'd let Sazahk do anything to him anywhere if it had any chance of helping.

Sazahk disappeared from over Garin's face, unlaced Garin's boots and pulled them off his feet, then yanked his pants and the rest of his clothes off, leaving Garin bare on his back in the dirt.

But Garin didn't have time to feel the shame of it because Sazahk slipped between his legs again and mouthed his balls, punching a groan from his chest. He licked and sucked, ran his hands up and down Garin's thighs, and made Garin's eyes roll back. Then he lifted his head. "Have you ever been penetrated anally?"

Garin's eyes shot wide, and the fiery burn of embarrassment rushed up his face as his hole clenched. "What?" He pushed himself up to his elbows. "Sazahk, you can't be serious."

"All human male orgasms involve muscular contractions around the prostate gland even if they are not brought about by direct prostate stimulation," Sazahk said with the same tone he might state any fact, but while looking into Garin's face over Garin's flushed cock. "The addition of a prostate massage to penile stimulation might be potent enough to bring you relief."

Garin's hole clenched again, and he cringed and chewed on his lip. Finger him. Sazahk wanted to finger him and every nerve in Garin's body wanted to let him, but goddammit, how much farther would this poison force him to go?

"We can find another way, Garin, if this is too much for you." Sazahk soothed a palm up and down Garin's flank and Garin felt silly being cooed to like an animal or a virgin. "I'll figure this out."

"No," Garin shook his head. "You can—It's not too much for me. I've done it before."

"Alright." Sazahk rose to his knees and retrieved the jar of petroleum jelly from Garin's medkit. "I know this is difficult given your current level of distress but try to relax."

Relax? Garin let out a delirious laugh. How the hell could he relax with Sazahk swiping a dollop of lubricant onto one of his long fingers and reaching down between Garin's thighs where?—

Garin dropped his head back and keened as Sazahk pressed a single digit past the ring of Garin's muscle. "Oh god, Sazahk, fuck." Garin's arms collapsed out from under him, and his back hit the ground again.

"Perfect, Garin, that's right. Well done." Sazahk bent over him and planted a hand in the dirt beside Garin's head, watching his face and whispering praises as he worked his finger in and out. "You're taking it well. Keep moaning, you're going to be alright."

Garin didn't have a choice, moans spilling from his lips and falling all over each other as Sazahk wasted no time in stroking firmly over his prostate. Garin had been fingered before, though it wasn't his usual role. He'd had a couple men spice up a blowjob with a finger up his ass, and he'd been stretched a time or two on the occasions he'd played catcher, but again, inevitably, none of it compared to Sazahk.

Sazahk manipulated Garin's body like he'd written the goddamn manual for it. He pumped his finger in and out of Garin's hole, studying Garin's face and cataloging every reaction as he brushed against that spot inside him and teased his tight rim with his thumb. When Garin forced his eyes open, he fell into Sazahk's gaze, and his cock twitched and drooled across his stomach.

He'd never been looked at like that.

No one in his life had ever gazed at him with the concentration Sazahk focused on him and Garin's throat closed up.

"Sazahk." Garin reached for the man's cheek, then caught himself and snapped his hand back down. Don't touch. He couldn't touch.

Sazahk's eyes flashed to Garin's hand, digging into the dirt, and pink, purple, gray, and black spiraled briefly through the green. He gritted his teeth, then crooked his finger against Garin's prostate, scooped up a handful of jelly with his free hand and grabbed Garin's cock.

"Sazahk!" Garin's hips arched off the ground as fresh sensations flooded his body. "Sazahk, Sazahk, please, yes, fuck, please, please."

"You beg," Sazahk panted, licking his lips. "It never occurred to me that you might be the type to beg in bed, but I suppose this is perhaps an extenuating circumstance and not a usual feature of your sexual activities."

"It—It—" Garin whimpered as Sazahk tapped out a chaotic rhythm against his prostate. "It's not, but you—fuck—Sazahk, you—" He whimpered again and shook his head, unable to get the words through his own net of guilt and insecurity.

"We can discuss it later. Judging by your muscular contractions and the changing pitch of your vocality, you're approaching orgasm." Sazahk increased his pace and Garin's hips thrust and rocked to chase the sensations. "Are you close, Garin?"

"Yes." Garin nodded frantically, that edge he'd feared he'd never reach rushing toward him. "Yes, but—" he fingers flexed and clenched "—I need…Sazahk, please, I'm sorry, please."

Sazahk's eyes darted to Garin's hands and he let out a little growl. Brown and purple burst across his temples and he released Garin's cock just long enough to grab Garin's hand and bring it to the side of his own face. "Don't be sorry, Garin. Touch me. If that's what you need, then touch me."

A broken sob ripped from Garin's throat as he finally—finally, finally—tangled his fingers in Sazahk's soft, pale hair. "Thank you, thank you, Sazahk, god, thank you." He wrapped his legs around Sazahk's narrow waist and lifted his hips to meet the thrusts of Sazahk's finger still pistoning in and out of him.

"Garin," Sazahk bit off a whimper of his own as he tipped forward into Garin's grip. Garin held Sazahk's face in both hands, pushing his fingers through his hair and unraveling his braid until his silvery locks spilled out and framed his gorgeous face spiraling with all the colors of a forest as he gazed down at Garin with those fathomless eyes.

"Sazahk, I—I'm so close," Garin gasped into the space between their mouths. Sazahk's parted lips hovered inches above Garin's, so close Garin could almost taste him.

"I know." Sazahk's eyes roamed over Garin's face and Garin whimpered when they caught on his mouth. He'd close that distance if they were lovers. If this was real. If Sazahk wanted this.

"Oh fuck, right there." Garin arched, and the pressure pulled taut at the base of his spine as Sazahk's thumb dug in just below the vein under his cock.

"I know," Sazahk said again, his hair falling like a sheet around them as he bent closer to Garin's body and fingered him faster. "Let go, Garin. You're alright. You're going to be alright. Let go."

The pressure in Garin's hips snapped, and he threw back his head with a cry. His release swept through him, shaking his whole body.

"There you go, Garin. Well done. Well done," Sazahk murmured to him as he worked Garin through his orgasm, pumping his finger through his clenching hole and milking his cock for every drop of cum. Stars danced before Garin's eyes and bolts of electricity zapped through him. He moaned and writhed until finally his body shook itself into stillness and his moans turned to whimpers.

"Sazahk." Garin stroked Sazahk's hair with shuddering hands and curled inward, tugging Sazahk closer to him. "Holy shit."

Sazahk quirked a smile and slipped his finger from Garin's loose hole. "You look significantly less distressed than when we began. And I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that you've begun to soften, so we can rule out concerns over priapism."

"I'm not concerned." Garin's energy level plummeted and his eyelids drooped.

"Good." Sazahk wiped his cum-covered hand on his own pants and peeled Garin's palm from his cheek. Garin dropped his arms with a sleepy curl of guilt. Don't touch. "I need a sample of your ejaculate."

"That shouldn't be hard." Garin couldn't move. His eyelids felt as heavy as the packs he'd humped for miles during PT and his body felt just like it did after a forty-mile march through rough terrain.

Sazahk climbed out from between Garin's thighs and rustled around beside him. In a moment, a swab swiped up a glob of cum from above Garin's belly button. The next moment, a soft cloth cleared away the rest of the mess. And in the third moment, Sazahk shoved against his shoulder.

Garin groaned and shied away from the pushing. "What are you doing?"

"Roll over, Garin. Go to sleep."

Garin wrinkled his nose and rolled in the direction Sazahk pushed him, right into the familiar texture and warmth of the sleeping bag. He groaned in relief and burrowed into the fabric.

"There you go. Sleep it off."

"Sazahk." Garin reached out blindly as the darkness of an unnatural exhaustion descended on him.

"I'm right here. I'll keep watch, don't worry." Soft fingers tangled with Garin's and tucked Garin's hand back into the warmth of the blankets. "Your body needs to recover from its ordeal. Go to sleep, Garin."

Garin couldn't have disobeyed if he'd tried.