17 Mar 2001
Pairings: Treize, Zechs and Wufei puddle!
Warnings: lemon, lemon and lemon -- and angst, o' course. ^__^ Not owned by us. ^_^
On Wednesay of that week, Zechs sent a message down to Wufei that he was to help Treize prepare for the party. He told the Chinese man that he still intended to let Treize circulate, so he should look the best he possibly could. As he wrote it though, he secretly doubted he could follow through with a sale, unless it was what Treize really wanted.
So it was that at 8pm on Wednesday evening, Wufei was sitting on his bed, waiting for Treize to finish getting dressed so that he could critique the ensemble.
He was dressing in the bathroom to save himself at least some frustration, and when he finally stepped out, it was carefully.
"Well? How bad is it?"
He was dressed head to toe in black -- from the form-fitting black pants and boots, up to the black silk poet's shirt.
"It's good - if you're looking to attract a certain type of man. I can guarantee there will be lots of goth types there, and the sophisticates, of course. You'd fit in well with them. They like pets with lots of refinement." /And if there's a God in heaven, the Master will come back to the house *alone* tonight.../
Treize shook his head as he moved to put on his collar. The splash of blue that matched his eyes would make a nice contrast. "Then I should have dressed in trash and hoped no-one likes me."
Wufei stretched, luxuriating not only in the free time he had, but in the idea of Treize going to some other house. Of course, there was that annoying little part of him that actualy thought it would *miss* the man. Shaking his head, he looked back at Treize. "You shouldn't say that. There could be a really terrific guy there that you have instant chemistry with, you know? And the Master's looking out for you. He wouldn't let anyone bad take you. So I say go and flirt your damndest -who knows *who'll* you'll end up with."
The last two days had run so well -- no hitches during 'training' no further problems... But then again, Zechs had been going easy on him and he knew it. /Still.../ "I won't leave, Wufei -- if he does sell me there, I've got a razor in my pocket, just in case." He winked half-heartedly, patting pockets that were very obviously empty, trying to lighten at least his own mood. "I just... can't imagine leaving."
Wufei was silent for a moment, realizing that a part of him was actually *sad* and not knowing in the least why that would be so. "I don't know why it would be hard for you. You'd be going to a place that has just as good an environment - the Master will insist on that. And what's more the man himself will probably not ask you to do things you don't want to do."
He got up and adjusted the back of Treize's collar, looking at the man in the mirror as he talked. "Really, Treize - when you think of it, you don't like bondage in the least. You can only be submissive to a point and then you want things equal. But that's what the master finds exciting. A change would really do you both good because he can be with boys who get off on what he does and you can find someone who doesn't threaten your... style."
Treize's expression looked stormy and unhappy. "I don't want someone who'll just *let* me do what I want to do. I want a master who'll argue with me and win often, or I want my freedom. It's here with the Master, Wufei, or nothing for me." He looked seriously at Wufei's reflection. /You hate me so, and I only want you to like me.../ "If I'm sold tonight, the first thing I'm doing is slitting my wrists."
Alarm mixed with anger in Wufei's expression. "Well, thank you for telling me. I'll be sure the Master knows that you'll need to be put on a suicide watch, then." He walked away, back towards Treize. "You would do that, wouldn't you? With no regard about it would do to *his* reputation and him already doing more for you than a hundred other masters would." He turned angrily on the older man. "What is your problem, Treize? He's offering you a good home, non-abusive, with a man who won't do things that make you uncomfortable, like he does. And how do you take this? You act as if he's selling you back to the bastards you came from! What part of this isn't getting through to that brilliant legal mind of yours?!"
"It isn't getting through to the part of me that wants to stay here because I..." /No, don't say it, Khushrenada./ "I'd miss him terribly. This is a good home, non-abusive, and I'm learning to adjust to how he likes things -- I simply don't want to go elsewhere." /Stubborn to the end, yes./ "He may as well be selling me back to those men -- I won't be able to trust whoever it is. I trust the Master and can relax easily around him now, but if he does sell me, then that trust was broken, and if I misplaced my trust in him, then who could I place it in? So it doesn't matter." He lifted a hand to scrub it over his face. "I'm probably not making sense. What I mean is... that this is the first place I haven't felt like just an object. And if he sells me, then I'll know that's all I really was to him and that that feeling of *right* I had when I was with the Master was just a lie."
"Slaves don't have feelings of "right" when they're with their owners, Treize. If you imagined things like that then it's obvious you were wanting a lot more than you had any right to want."
Wufei crossed his arms in front of him, a scowl on his face. "What right do *you* have - a new, *still* untrained slave, to say those kinds of things anyway? Did you think he'd fall in love with you?"
There - it was out. That dreadfully troublesome word that managed to haunt Wufei day and night. He turned away abruptly. "He doesn't do that, you know. That's just not the sort of man he is. I've tried for 8 years... it just doesn't happen with him. So you can forget about it, all right?"
"Maybe he just doesn't know what love is," Treize murmured. "There *is* something..." He let his hands rest on the dresser as he dropped his head forward. /Gott./ "I'm rather sure I've fallen for him. So it's here or freedom for me, and no-where else."
Those words. "I'm rather sure I've fallen for him..." It was as if a knife had struck Wufei - slashed at his belly - and now he was bleeding and vulnerable. How could he possibly compete with this? He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror - short, slim, dark - and then looked at Treize. He was a beautiful man, much like the Master in many ways. He was tall and elegantly trim, with a natural grace and a commanding presence. There was no competition at all.
"I see. And just what did you expect to come of this feeling of yours?"
"I don't know," Treize whispered, voice sounding raw for a moment. "Stability. I'd hoped... that he'd return the feelings. He'd started, but now this damnded party... He wants to get rid of me. I can't blame him, when he... he has you already, and I've bee nothing but trouble, while you're perfect for him..." Treize swallowed, eyes closing as he let a tear drop onto the dresser. "I'm such a fool."
"Then we're both fools," Wufei said quietly. "We're rivals for something that doesn't exist."
The intercom buzzed. "The car is waiting," a smooth voice said.
Silence for a moment from Treize, then he lifted his head, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "Well. It seems so, Wufei. Good-bye." Turning from the dresser, Treize looked at Wufei for a moment, made to walk past him, and grabbed a quick hug from the younger slave. What held him just then was the same terrible feeling he'd gotten before, when he was being passed onto another bastard master. /I don't want to go.../ "Bye."
That almost did him in - the feeling of those arms around him - reminding Wufei of the time he had woken up next to Treize and the kisses and touches turned to something more fiery. As the tall man left the room, Wufei had to work at reminding himself that this was what he'd been wanting so badly.
Zechs was waiting in the car, dressed in sleek black trousers and a loose, deep red shirt of polished cotton. "Good evening, Treize," he said smoothly. "You look very elegant."
"Thank you, Master," Treize murmured, voice strangely subdued, at least for him. /Why are you doing this, Zechs?/ "As do you."
They pulled away smoothly from the house and began the drive. Zechs looked over his companion. "Parties can be intimidating for some who aren't used to such things. You're going to be groped and felt-up quite a bit, there's nothing I can do about it. But there will also be many, many people who are going to be interested in getting it all."
Sapphire eyes lifted, looking like those of a man condemmed as they peered into azure. "And what can you do about that?"
"They don't get a thing until we talk about them and I approve." The back of his hand came up and grazed Treize's cheek. "But I *do* want you going in it with an open mind. There will be many lovely men, and you might find youself attracted to one or more of them. Don't hesitate to follow what you think is right."
"I'm attached to you, Master," Treize ekked out quietly, before letting his gaze drift out to look out the window. /Why am I even bothering --he's so damnded sure he's doing me a favor by selling me.../ The house was rapidly dissapearing, and he noted that he hadn't had a chance to say good-bye to Duo. /Perhaps I'll be able to come back and get my things.../But they weren't even his, really -- they were Zechs, and the man would probably use them on whatever slave he got to replace him. /All that pampering was just becuase I was new to him -- now that I'm eating out of his hand, he's sick of me already./ "Gott, I don't want to leave, Master..."
/I don't want you to go! It's tearing me apart to do this... but it's probably best for you... make you happier, even if you don't know it yet.../
"You're attached to me only because I was the first one who treated you well. But I can't stress enough that there are *several* owners who treat their pets well. And several of *those* men don't enjoy bondage at all. You could be assured that you'd never be tied down..." /Dear God, I wanted you... I wanted you to love it as much as I do... too much to hope.../
"Fine. Whatever. You're just going to sell me anyway," he spat out, facing the window nearly completely. "Stop trying to convince me I want to leave you, because I *don't*."
/It's killing me, bit by bit... but I have to give him the chance. He doesn't know anything about where we're going, what the owners will be like... doesn't know that he will no doubt have his pic of a dozen beautiful men.../ "Why do you refuse to admit that what I like to do in bed and what you like to do are too different to be compatible?" asked Zechs quietly.
"Well, it's been compatible for the past couple of days, hasn't it?" he asked bitterly. /I'm still just a fuck-toy... what about the conversations? Just touching... Ah, it hurts.../ "I'd thought there was more than... than just the sex, Zechs. Wufei thinks the same thing, too -- so *both* of us must be wrong about you, if that is all there is to it. We're just *things* to satisfy your overactive dick and nothing more, is that what you're trying to convince yourself of?" His voice seemed to bounce off the window and he sounded so terribly bitter in his own ears... /I don't have any right, do I?/
Oh, it hurt so badly! The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Treize, or Wufei, for that matter. But Treize's accusations felt like knives in his belly and he turned away from the source. It was too painful to look at him. "I care very much for my pets," he whispered at the window. "I always have..." Then he stopped talking altogether.
"Then don't make me leave," Treize whispered, not sure even if he'd been heard by the other man as he fell into his own sullen silence, heart aching to every breath he drew.
Shortly, they arrived at the mansion where the 'party' was, and a servant opened Zechs's door for him.
"Good evening, Mr. Marquise," the servant mumured.
"Merrick," Zechs said and nodded his head briefly. "Come, Treize." He started off towards the steps to the front entrance.
Best to at least act well -- so as not to make Zechs look terrible -- no matter how much he just wanted to refuse to get out of the car. "Yes, Master," he murmured quietly, as he walked beside Zechs up the stairs.
From the entrance, a tall man, older than Treize, with a very noble-looking moustache and slick black hair, came towards Zechs. "Hello, old chap! It's been a while since you've come to one of these parties, Zechs!"
"Yes, well," Zechs murmured shaking the man's hand. "Must keep in touch now, musn't we? But I've had a bit on these past couple of months and... it's eaten into my leisure time." He smiled cooly and put a hand on Treize's shoulder. "I don't believe you've seen my newest acquisition. Benedikt, this is Treize, Treize, this is our host this evening, Benedikt."
"Hello, Treize," the man smiled, offering his hand, which was laguidly accepted by Treize, and shaken.
"Hello, it's a pleasure to met you," he uttered, forcing a smile of his face.
"So, are you the new slave that's got Zechs here so enraptured?" Benedikt winked at Zechs.
"I doubt it," Treize replied, letting go of the host's hand. "That would probably be Wufei. But thank you for the compliment."
Zechs felt his cheeks go scarlet. /So he plans to humiliate me... I was so hoping he wouldn't.../ "Wufei stayed at home tonight," Zechs told the dark-haired man. "You know how he feels about these events."
"Uh, yes, I'm aware he doesn't like them," Benedikt smiled at Zechs. "Treize here doesn't seem so enthused about it either -- some pets just aren't party pets."
"No, you're right - and I certainly know how to pick those types, don't I?" He gave his host a weak, if self-depricating smile. "Well, it's through this way? I'm sure I'll run into you later - thank you, Benedikt." Without taking his eyes of the room they could see just past the doorway, Zechs murmured, "Let's go in, Treize."
"I want to go back home," Treize murmured in turn, even as he walked forward, keeping pace with Zechs. "I don't want to be here..."
The room beyond the main doors was somewhere between shocking and fascinating.
It was filled with people, talking, drinking and dancing, a swirl of colours, personalities and voices.
But that struck Treize was the slaves in the room -- so many of them! And nearly all of them were servicing someone in some way. And from the corner of his eyes, he watched a young boy, screaming, being takein towards a door by four other men...
Treize shifted closer to Zechs.
Just ahead of them, a older man sat in an armchair engaged in a rather listless conversation with another owner near his age. The first man had hold of a leash, the leather handstrap around his wrist, and two long chains going out from it. At the end of the chains, on the floor, were two young men, stunningly beautiful, who were staring at Zechs and Treize as they entered. They were staring, and writhing against the floor, looking as if they were about to fling themselves at Zechs' feet and spread their legs.
Zechs acted as if he didn't see them.
Someone waved to them across the room and Zechs led the way across the floor. Sex was everywhere. There were boys being screwed as they were held on laps, men getting blow jobs while watching slaves fuck each other on the tops of tables. Other boys or young men were being passed around circles of men, each doing whatever he wanted when his turn came.
At last they came to the person who'd waved them over. Through the noise of loud music and the moans of sex, Treize was introduced. Zechs leaned in close and murmured, "This is Max. He's a very good friend of mine and the best owner I know, save Quatre. He's let his harem dwindle down -given his older pets their freedom - and is looking for one special pet to keep. He wrote to me last week expressing interest in you and wondering if there were any chance he might acquire you."
It was difficult but Zechs turned and looked in Treize's eyes. "He might be the perfect one for you, Treize. He's not at all into domination - not really - just likes being top." Ducking his head, Zechs continued,"He's a brilliant man, Profesor of European History at Cambridge, their youngest Don. I'd like you to try to get to know him..." With that, Zechs slipped into the crowd, and vanished.
"So, Treize - can you tell me what nationality your name comes from?" Max had wandered over and was looking down at Treize with large brown eyes the color of melted chocolate.
Treize looked lost from the moment, wishing Zechs hadn't left him there...
The man before him was tall, taller than Zechs, and just as well built with a beautiful face set with strong features. Those large eyes had natural lashes that fluttered down over them when Max blinked, making Treize wonder for a moment how a man who looked so good could *be* a top.
"Alsace Lorraine, sir," he murmured. "My mother was born there. My last name is Khushrenda." /I should... try, at least./
Max gave him a warm smile that lit up his face. Running his hands through wayward, shoulder length hair he leaned in to avoid having to shout over the music. "Then you know something of the slavic states, I'm guessing? I received my undergraduate degree in slavic studies."
"I hope I know something," Treize smiled very faintly, looking up at the man. "I'm a count back home... or was." So far Max was... alright. Nothing spectacular, but at least he wasn't horrid.
The tall man looked genuinely impressed. "A... a *Count*? And yet you're..." He looked around the party, his mouth open in disbelief. "Listen, I can't hear myself think - would you mind if we went someplace quieter? There are some smaller rooms back there."
"That's fine with me," Treize murmured. THe pounding music and raucous moaning *was* starting to grate his nerves, thinking about it... "Yes, we should -- lead on."
They headed to a part of the house where the men were in groups of anywhere from 2 to 9 or 10. They seemed to disappear into the various rooms that lined the wide hallway and as Max led the way further, it got increasingly quieter. He chose the second to the last door on the right and check first to make sure it was empty before holding the door open for Treize. "At least it's quiet back here," he said smiling, as he followed him into the room.
"Very quiet," Treize murmured as he looked around breifly. The room was simple, furnished in understated elegance. A dresser and large bed made of light-coloured wood, a table that bore the weight of a few liquor bottles, an unopened box of condoms, and a fresh tube of lubricant.
Accustomed to sitting down on the bed, Treize did so, finding himself doomed to look *up* to Max no matter what.
Max smiled again and sat down beside him. "So... you don't get on well with Zechs, then?"
Treize gave a slight smile. /Cutting to the chase, are we?/ "I get on very well with the Master," he murmured. "But there are differences that he considers irreconsilable, that I don't -- I've only been with him a little while... I just haven't had a chance to adjust completely to him. Zechs is the first master I've had who's fed me and given me clothes to wear along with most of my dignity again."
A frown of concern crossed Max's handsome features. "Was it very bad, then? Where you were before?"
"Very bad," he murmured, sitting back a little, with on hand a bit behind him for support. "I was the lawyer who put away a master called 'Howard'. I apparently gained the hatred of some of his friends and was kidnapped and passed around for a very long time before Zechs got me."
Max stared at him for a moment and then stood, crossing to the liquor bottles. "Can I get you some cognac? You seem the cognac sort?" He didn't wait for an answer, just started pouring. "I knew Howard. One of the biggest bastards this community's ever known." He held out the glass for Treize to take. "He actually killed a boy that belonged to my mentor."
"Gott, I'd beleive it -- his dossier was three meters long," Treize murmured as he took the glass. A moment to swirl the warm-coloured liquid, and then he took a deep sip. "You made a good guess about the cognac."
"Have you asked Zechs for your freedom?" Max said, taking a sip as well.
"I tried to run once, and found myself 'jolted' back to reality," he murmured, swirling the drink slowly. "Doesn't matter. I can't handle crowds anymore -- being a lawyer is out -- my political career is over... Why bother asking for it? The only thing I have is my daughter and I know she's being well cared for..."
"So, you're just staying with Zechs because he treats you well." It was more of a statement than a question and Max nodded his head, as if in understanding. "I consider Zechs a very dear friend, but I have to say, his idea of what's erotic and mine are very different."
"I'm rather starting to become used to the bondage," Treize uttered with a little smile that curled the corners of his lips. /You thought I'd be a pet swayed by you not agreeing with my Master, and yet, here it is, I'm devoted to him, and you don't know what card to play./ "Some of it's good, some of it reminds me too much of being tied down for a beating than I'd like."
"I honestly can't begin to understand why someone would do that to you," Max said softly. "Although, I suppose it was their idea of 'punishment' or some such thing." He was quiet for a moment and then looked up at Treize. "*I* think you're beautiful, and I think Zechs is daft for even considering letting you go, although he did tell me he was doing this because he wanted you to be happier. But what do you think, Treize? Are you at all interested in the possibility of coming home with me...?"
"I don't know yet," Treize answered truthfully, quietly, as he looked back at Max. "I trouble Zechs -- I challenge him for control without even knowing I do it. I'm sure I'd do the same to you." His gaze turned away as he took a long drink of the cognac. "Therein lies the crux of my failures, I think."
Max leaned over towards Treize, a rather impish smile on his dark features. "Not at all, dear fellow, not at all. It's that challenge that makes things interesting. One never knows who'll end up on top... it's all a delicious battle of give and take. At any moment the Master could end up as the slave..." He reached out one finger and slowly tucked a stray lock of hair away from Treize's eyes.
Sapphire looked up at chocolate, enjoying the touch, but when gazes connected... there was no urge to throw himself at the man's feet, like he from looking at Zechs. No... spark. /Keep trying... this is your best prospect for the night, since he's so obviously going to sell you.../"Are you sure? If that's true, why even be a Master?"
Max laughed softly and shrugged, sitting back a little. "Well, there are lots of different reasons - one for every Master, I'd suspect. But for me... I don't know. There's a kind of... *generosity* that one can indulge in when pets are owned. It's a good feeling to give a man exactly what he wants. Of course, I'll admit, in my younger days I still had a bit of a thing for pretty little boys who cried during sex, but luckily I outgrew that quickly." He made a wry face. "Sometimes I think I've outgrown being a Master, too..."
One of Max's fingers traced lightly down Treize's and he spoke again. "I don't want to keep more than one now. I let all of the ones I had go, and I've been... looking for one, special person..." Looking up, he seemed to search Treize's eyes for something. "You're so different, Treize. Different from all those vacuously pretty things getting screwed out there. There are always plenty of those who'll fall at your feet should you want them to, but men such as yourself are very rare indeed... I'm sure that's why Zechs went to the trouble he did to buy you - another reason I was surprised he's considering selling you at all."
"I'm troublesome," Treize murmured, turning his hand palm up to catch the other man's hand in his. "I've driven Wufei into fits of jealously, challenged his authority at every turn, it seems... We've had near knock-down shouting matches over my challenging him. The last one was from... when he decided he was sick of me, I suppose. He was inside me, and then had Wufei add something, and... I don't know. I was screaming against the gag becuase it hurt too much." He sighed quietly. "I suppose I'm rather over-sensative during sex becuase of my other masters. It broke down from there -- Wufei was angry at me, I'd dissapointed Zechs..." The man shook his head slowly. "We spent hours in bed after that, just holding, kissing and doing it slowly. I'm rather a sap for a slow time, but it seems the master was just doing it to calm me down."
The first flicker of doubt went through Max when he heard those words, "I'm rather a sap for a slow time..." But he pushed the thought away and brought Treize's hand up to kiss it. "You just need to get past what those idiots did to you," he said softly, bringing his other hand up to trace the lines of Treize's face. "So elegant... but so intense... I don't think you really know yet what you want, Treize... you're not quite sure what gives you the most pleasure..."
A slight lean forward and Max's mouth was on Treize's, probing softly at first, tongue teasing around the edge of his lips while warm fingertips stroked Treize's cheek.
Nice, just the tender touching there, the light kiss that deepened as Treize let his lips part. Heat began to stir, slowly, in his groin at the feel of mouth against mouth, moving slowly. The cognac glass he held was set, with a bit of a stretch, on the counter before Treize returned his full attention to what was becoming a nice kiss. /Maybe... Maybe I can do this./
Max's breathing was deepening and his hands began exploring Treize's body - one caressing down the broad back, the other buried in silky hair as the kiss went on and on. Breaking free of it at last, the slaver gave a tug on Treize's hair, bending his neck back just a bit to tease and lick at the delicate throat. A soft growl proceeded a series of small nips to the tender skin and Max squirmed a bit where he sat.
"Ah, mmm..." Soft sighs, and Treize shifted a little to releive his tightly restrained erection. Moving closer to wind his arms around the man's neck, through that shoulder-length dark hair that felt... thick. Not soft and silken, not the sensuous waterfall of hair he was accoustomed to touching -- both Wufei and Zechs had that.
Fingers tightened in Treize's hair and the nips at his throat grew a bit harder. After a particularly deep growl, Max tore himself away from the other man's throat and cupped both hands in back of Treize's head, staring into the vivid blue eyes with a look of sheer hunger. He leaned forward and barely placed his lips on Treize's, still staring. "Let the games begin," he whispered, and then dropped both hands onto Treize's shoulders and pushed him roughly down onto the bed, kneeling over him, eyes glowing with excitement as he held Treize firmly down and took a long, rough kiss.
Panic, just as deep as the seering kiss, set in. /*Games*?!/ Still... It burnt his heart ot press forward, hoping the man was simply undersexed... The kiss was returned as best as he could manage, and he broke it when he couldn't breath anymore. "I can see what your tastes are," he gasped out, trying to make it seem like an amused observation.
With one movement, Max ripped open Treize's shirt, the buttons tearing off as he did so, and forced it down around his elbows, effectively immobilizing his arms. "Come on, then," he purred, kissing and nipping at the side of Treize's neck. "You *will* be a worthy adversary, won't you?" Tiny bites spread along Treize's shoulders. "You're not just going to lie there and take it, are you?"
It *felt* pleasurable, but...
So wrong.
"Nein," Treize gritted out, lifting his arms as best he could, tightening the muscles in his stomach before he brought his legs up, knees sharply jarring the backside of the man atop him. "Nein!" Just one knee this time, coming up quickly to catch Max in the groin.
Having been raped more times than he liked to remember, playing it as a game wasn't appealing to him at all.
Max rolled off the bed with a howl of pain. "Damn you!" he cursed from the floor. "What are you trying to *do*, you bastard! I thought you weren't into pain!" The slaver's eyes were full of anger and disbelief as he walked slowly towards the bed where Treize still lay. "Maybe you just need to be taught some manners," Max growled, and reached out to grab a hold of Treize's arms.
The speed with which Treize rolled off of the bed was stunning, for a man of his leaness, with a body that shouldn't have recovered so much strength so fast.
But put it down to Duo's hearty cooking, because Treize only snarled something thickly in Russian at the man, cursing him for being a liar, before the door was flung open and he was gone, running for all he was worth down the hall, partly torn shirt fluttering behind him.
"Zechs?!" There was nothing to do but call out, hope the man found him, or that he found his master.
Max watched him go, crouching against the side of the doorframe, a look of bitterness warring with the pain on his face. "That one's been ruined. Good luck farming out a psychotic, Zechs old man."
End of Chapter 18
(:./kumiko/velvet18)
