"This might sound like a weird question," Gunther mumbled into Valois's neck an hour or so later, "but do you have a brother?"

"I was an only child." The reply tickled his lips as they moved over Valois's throat, his tongue tracing the line of a tattoo there. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, you just remind me of someone." With a sigh, he pillowed his cheek on Valois's shoulder. "You remind me of him a lot, and yet... you don't."

Valois laughed softly. "You're right. It is a weird question. Is he cute?"

"Oh, very."

"I hope you fucked him. Please tell me you fucked him, if he's cute and looks like me."

Gunther shook his head. "Wouldn't let me."

"Well then, did he fuck you?"

Gunther could hear the smile in that voice, and he shook his head again. Valois tsked.

"I'm sorely disappointed in my doppelganger, then, if he had you in his bed and didn't take advantage of things either way." Valois tucked one hand under Gunther's chin, raising his face, and the look that he gave Gunther was predatory and... ohhhh shit... fucking hot. "So," he whispered, "which way do you want me to take advantage of things, huh?"

Gunther could feel his cheekbones striping with bright heat. "Uh, I've never... I mean, I--"

Valois's predatory look melted into one of sheer delight. "Ohhh, that's lovely. Just lovely. I get to be your first?"

Fuck! Gunther stared at him, mutely. That wasn't what he'd meant! Well, it was - sort of - but Valois had given him a choice! Now just hold on a minute!

"Um, couldn't you just...?" He made a circular motion with one finger, hoping it indicated his desire for Valois to roll over and let him do the fucking, and for a moment his hopes were realised.

"Sure." Valois sat up and turned over, raising himself up on his hands and knees. His confidence once again surging, Gunther winked and licked his lips, provoking a smirk on that lovely face above him. But the second that Gunther began to follow, he felt a firm hand in the middle of his chest, holding him down with surprising strength.

"Where d'you think you're going?" Valois said softly as he straddled Gunther's legs. "C'mon. Knees up."

Oh god. Was he really going to do this? Slowly, Gunther obeyed, walking his feet apart a little until Valois could settle between his thighs, and then pulling his knees in to his chest, looking away at the wall, unable to watch Valois's intent gaze on him.

"Beautiful."

He shivered, liking that. God, liking it a whole fucking lot. Somehow, that praise melted the edges off his embarrassment. But then...

"Wider now. I want to see all of you."

He couldn't help the small whimper that left his throat, but he did as he was told, hot with shame, his legs shivering, ankles held in a firm grip, pulled further and further apart.

"That's it. Good. You're beautiful, Gunther."

Again, the praise helped, just a little bit, until the next words came, that is.

"Now, look at me."

This time he whined. "Can't!"

"No." Valois's voice was firm. "You won't. Now, do it."

Gunther could no more disobey than he could stop the tide from going out by yelling at it. He stared at Valois, shaken. Why couldn't he resist this man? Here he was, flat on his back, knees pulled up and wide apart, trembling and vulnerable, and yet all he wanted to see was... yes. Yes, there. Oh god, that smile Valois was giving him, all for him.

"You're like the sun," he whispered. "I know I'm going to get burned."

"Nonsense." Valois's smile turned into a cheeky grin. "Suntans are sexy." He poked out his tongue, left it there, and then ducked his head. And, moments later, Gunther almost flew off the bed.

"You're the most adorable idiot," Valois chuckled. "Did you really think I was gonna make you do it?"

Well, what was Gunther supposed to say? Yes? Because yes, he'd honestly thought Valois was going to force the matter and fuck him when he wasn't ready for that yet. Instead, he got the most a-friggin'-mazing rimjob he'd ever had (okay, he hadn't had many, but still) and he was little more than a quivering heap of satisfaction in Valois's bed right about now.

"You really did, didn't you?" Valois said softly. "Fuck, I'm sorry. I like to play hard, and I forget sometimes. I hope I made up for it?"

"Yeah, you did." Gunther's voice was hoarse. Hard not to be, really, from all the moaning and yelping, but hey. "I'm just not used to being pushed, that's all."

There was a short silence, then Valois touched a finger to Gunther's chin, turning his head to look at him. "You were beautiful," he whispered. "You are beautiful. Seriously. I loved watching you give it over to me like that."

Gunther couldn't hold his gaze, looking away with a mutter of, "Not beautiful. Christ, never been--"

"Hush." Oh, there was that damned word again. "I'll be the judge of what I find beautiful, thank you very much. And you were beautiful, riding that edge of fear and shame. God, you were lovely."

"Are you trying to make sure I can't get my head through the door?" It was a lame joke, but it was all Gunther had to try and defuse the moment, because he was pretty sure that the point of all this praise was to make him feel vulnerable inside again.

It was working.

Valois just smiled, folding his hands over each other on Gunther's chest and resting his chin on them, looking up through his lashes. "I want to push you again," he murmured. "I want to tighten your strings and play you until you sing like a nightingale. You'd sing so pretty, I just know it."

"I sing like a frog," Gunther muttered, but his lips twitched even as he said it. "Can't hold a note, I swear."

"You sounded pretty good when I had my tongue up your arse." Valois grinned at the blush that instantly coloured Gunther's cheeks. "Look at that; now, see I love that. I want more of that."

"And what do I get in return?" Gunther asked.

Wait. DO? I meant WOULD!

Slowly, slithering snakelike, Valois moved over him again. This time, when his knees were pushed up and back and open, Gunther let it happen without a word of protest. And when Valois settled between his thighs until he could feel the head of Valois's dick right... oh god, right there... he remained silent, though that sliver of fear lit up his eyes, and he knew that Valois had spotted it.

"That's it," Valois whispered, settling down over Gunther, his body braced and raised just a little on one elbow. "Now, don't look away. Not once. Not ever."

His palm closed around Gunther's dick, and as Gunther's eyes hooded in pleasure, Valois repeated the words. "Don't. Look. Away. Eyes on me."

Gunther inhaled sharply as Valois's hand began to work him, hard and fast. Once again, his eyes started to roll back as he groaned, and once again Valois commanded, "Look at me."

With a supreme effort, Gunther opened his eyes and looked up at Valois. The gaze he received in return was so intense that he could barely meet it, and it seemed to be saying, 'Tell me'. And so, he did: Ohgodsogood!

Valois gave a small, satisfied little smile, nodding slightly. "That's it," he purred. "I want this part of you. You don't hide this from me. Ever."

Gunther whimpered. Something still wasn't quite right; that unsettled feeling chasing him down until he had nowhere to hide. Something was missing. Something was wrong.

"Let go," Valois whispered, and that was what he'd missed.

Permission.

He rode the fear, chasing down the end, his hips trying to catch the rough, wrenching rhythm of Valois's hand. It was difficult enough with his knees pulled back, but he finally caught it, and in that sweet, sweet moment he knew. He knew, and oh god, was this what he got in return?

His ears caught a soft sound above him; an answering song. Valois sank lower, never breaking his intense gaze, until their foreheads were almost touching. Gunther was panting now, his breath rough and hoarse in the quiet of the room. A few minutes ago, he would have been embarrassed as hell about the sound, but now? Valois was drinking it up, and that was all that mattered.

"Don't look away," Valois whispered. "Don't close your eyes. This is your promise. This is mine."

The words barely registered; Gunther was so far gone. One final twist of Valois's hand, and Gunther's lips parted in a silent cry. His body jerked, then arched, twisting slowly as he came. And not once did he close his eyes or look away. He gave it all to Valois, and his reward was not only his pleasure; it was the satisfaction in those beautiful ruby eyes.

Slowly, he sank back against the pillows and mattress, breathing hard. Still, he did not break that gaze, and now he got another reward. A smile, and murmured words of praise that lit something up inside him. And then...

He blinked. What the--?

Finally, the moment and the eye contact were broken, and he looked down, bewildered.

"I didn't move," Valois said softly. "It was all you."

"I thought... I thought it would hurt." Gunther froze, hardly daring to breathe. Surely, if he moved, the pain that he'd expected - the stretch and burn that was Valois's dick buried balls-fucking-deep and slowly softening inside him, oh fucking HELL! - surely that pain would come?!

"Oh god, look at you." Valois said, cradling Gunther's head tenderly. "You were perfect. You wanted it so badly that you went after it yourself. You were more than ready for it."

Gunther swallowed. "Did you, uh..?"

Valois laughed. "I can resist a lot of things, but a gorgeous, squirming guy on the end of my dick? Not a chance. I'm only human. Or so they tell me." He winked.

"Oh." Suddenly Gunther's cheekbones were flaming scarlet again, and Valois moaned softly.

"Fuuuuck. So, ah, you fancy being a rockstar's boyfriend, then? Because I really, really, really want to keep doing that with you, and I am totally going to sulk and pout if you say no."

A slow chill trickled down Gunther's spine. Shit. Moment of truth, then.

"I, uh, I should have told you this before... before we, uh..."

Valois waved a dismissive hand. "I'd figured out the wife and kids before we even fell into bed. Doesn't bother me." He fixed those intense eyes onto Gunther again. "Unless... it bothers you?"

"Kid," Gunther said, automatically. "Just one. And the marriage is over anyway. We're only keeping it together for the sake of our son. And appearances," he added.

"There's a world of bitterness in your mouth," Valois murmured. "Give it here and I'll swallow it for you." He kissed Gunther, slow and soft and deep and tender and Gunther just... forgot where the hell and who the hell he was.