It started so subtly, that Gil
didn’t really notice at first. Sound would warble or fade in and out on him,
causing him to pause and concentrate on whomever was
speaking. It would always fix itself in seconds. Those seconds grew longer so
that he was forced to pay attention to it on the flight back from
Taking off from La Guardia had
brought the pressure back until it there had been almost no sound getting
through whatsoever. He had to rely completely on lip reading and knew that he
was talking too loud, even as he explained the problem to Nicky. A frightened
look had surfaced on the slave’s face, but Gil had assured him that it would be
temporary until they landed in
Unfortunately, on the decent into McCarran Int’l, agony exploded in the right side of his head and he knew that an eardrum had burst. Nick paled when Gil cried out in pain and his hand came away bloody from his ear, but remained calm. He pulled off his t-shirt and held it up to Gil’s ear, putting pressure, even though the blood wasn’t that much, in Gil’s opinion.
A flight attendant came over immediately on landing and asked if they needed an ambulance but Gil answered, “Just a quick exit and a cab to the hospital. It’s my eardrum, it’s burst from the pressure. Nothing life threatening, just…painful.”
So a way was made for them, luggage promised to follow, and they were escorted swiftly through security to the taxi stand outside. Thankfully, it only took minutes to get to the hospital from there and he was seen within an hour. He’d had to lean on Nicky through much of the walking, thanks to his balance being completely off.
The doctor confirmed his diagnosis, adding to it with, “There isn’t anything we can do except treat the sinusitis with massive doses of antibiotics and let the drum heal. Honestly, I can’t even see the inner ear, there infection is so bad.”
“How could he not know that he was sick?” Nick asked, shifting closer to Gil.
The doctor smiled and answered, “Symptoms can be slight, increased nasal congestion, stuffy head, balance problems, but not all at once and not enough to raise an alarm. It often gets dismissed as an increase in allergy suffering. So. For the next few days, you are to remain off your feet and get plenty of rest. I’ve prescribed ibuprofen for the pain as well. You can pick up both prescriptions at the pharmacy on the way out. Call me if you have any problems.”
Nick answered, “We will.”
Giving his slave an amused look, Gil shook hands with the doctor and said, “Thank you.”
It didn’t take long to get his medicine and call for another cab. Once they were home, luggage waiting at the front door, Nick steered him straight into the bedroom and ordered, “Get undressed and lie down. I’m going to get you some juice and toast to take the medicine with. Don’t move.”
Still amused by Nick’s bossiness coming out for only the second time ever, Gil meekly did as he was told. Climbing under the covers, he had to admit that being horizontal for the first time in almost twenty-four hours was more than a relief. As was the comfort of being in his own bed, no matter how nice the pensione suite had been.
Nick returned shortly with juice and toast, sitting calmly by the bed until it had all been consumed, then getting a glass of water for Gil to take his pills with. That taken care of, Nick announced with a smile, “I called Catherine and she said that she knows you’re faking, but things are under control so don’t worry about coming back until you’re ready. She’ll also call Mr. Eckley and tell him that you’re sick.”
“I should find out…” Gil began, only to have Nick press fingers to his lips.
“Master, please, let me take care of you? You don’t know how scared I was when I saw that blood,” Nick said, brushing other hand over the top of Gil’s head. “Just rest and relax and heal, please?”
And of course Gil couldn’t say no to that, so he just sighed and nodded. The caress of Nick’s fingers through his hair was soothing enough that he drifted into sleep without really realizing it.
* * * *
It was almost a week later that Nick drove Gil to the doctor’s office for a check-up and the official okay to return to work. Despite the plentiful distractions that Nick provided, Gil was more than anxious to get back. The vacation was one thing, but being sick was entirely another. Enforced inactivity was one of the things that he hated most.
The wait in the waiting room was interminably long, but finally he was in his doctor’s exam room and being seen by someone he considered both a friend and his doctor, Phillip Whorley. The man had been Gil’s doctor for over a decade and knew his body probably better than Gil did.
“So you went and ignored the warning signs again and instead of coming to me with a stuffy nose, decided to burst an eardrum,” Phillip observed with a grin.
Snorting, Gil replied, “I certainly didn’t plan it.”
“No, of course not,” Phillip agreed. “But next time, just come in before it escalates, would you?”
Gil sighed and nodded and the exam proceeded quickly and thoroughly, as all of Phillip’s exams went. Nick sat off to the side, watching silently, and by the time everything was done, he was yawning. Phillip had taken advantage of the situation to sneak in an entire physical, to which Gil had submitted with ill grace and a glare, but he’d submitted nonetheless. Administration would probably faint dead away to get his physical results early instead of having to hound him for months after the due date.
“I want to schedule you for some X-Rays,” Phillip said, motioning for Gil to get dressed.
Frowning, Gil questioned, “Why is that?”
There was a brief hesitation before the doctor answered, “I don’t like the way your ear looks.”
“What about it?” Gil demanded sharply.
“I think you might have Otosclerosis, like your mother.”
A simple sentence that rocked Gil to the core.
* * * *
Nick waited anxiously in bed for his Master, but figured that it was going to be a long wait, possibly even a futile one. After the doctor had finished talking to them about setting up appointments with specialists and going in for x-rays, Gil had become ominously quiet. Nick hadn’t tried to talk to him on the drive home, giving the other man the space he needed to work through what was clearly a serious blow. He hadn’t been sure what the condition was and hadn’t felt brave enough to ask at the time. Once they’d gotten home, though, Gil had disappeared into his study and Nick had taken the extra laptop into the living room to do some research.
Now, four hours later, Nick knew that his Master was facing the very real possibility of losing his hearing permanently. He hadn’t even known that Gil’s mother had suffered from the same affliction. It had occurred to him during his research, that he really didn’t know anything about his Master’s history. It was an oversight he wanted to correct, but wasn’t sure how to do so without offending the man’s inordinate sense of privacy.
Nick sighed and turned over again, trying to get comfortable in a bed that was far too big without his lover. He wasn’t sure how their life would be affected if Gil went deaf, though losing his job or being kept strictly to administrative duties were both possibilities. He was pretty sure that Gil wouldn’t be allowed into the field without being able to hear, since so much of the job relied on a CSI’s senses and interpretation of what they came across at a crime scene.
The bed dipped and Gil spooned up naked behind him before Nick could even twist around to face him. Settling up flush against him, fitting together in every way, Gil’s lips pressed to Nick’s shoulder. One of his arms slid over Nick’s waist, as he murmured, “Sorry, Nicky. I just, I needed some time to think about the whole thing.”
Nick laced their fingers together and answered, “S’ok, I understand. Are you all right now?”
“Not really,” Gil admitted in a shaky voice. Putting his forehead against Nick’s back, he continued softly, “The one thing I’ve counted on my whole life was being able to use all of my senses. I never thought I took them for granted, especially not my hearing, but I did, and now...”
Bringing his Master’s hand up, Nick kissed the palm and told him, “We’ll get through this, Master, no matter what happens. And, I did some research too. There’s a surgery now that can take care of the problem in many cases. Depending on what the specialist says, I think you should try it. It can’t hurt and it could fix the problem entirely.”
Gil sighed. “I want to just ignore it, hope that it’ll take care of itself.”
Nick hated to hear the other man so vulnerable and defeated and turned so that he could wrap his arms around Gil. Holding him tight, Nick soothed, “It’s going to be okay, Master, you’re going to be fine.”
Warm lips touched his chest, kissing gently over the broad expanse, and Gil replied softly, “I believe it, when you say it like that.”
Shifting restlessly under the kisses, Nick said simply, “That’s because it’s true.”
“Promise?” Gil asked, pale eyes looking up at him.
Nick cupped his face and answered, “Promise.”
A soft noise escaped Gil just before he straddled Nick and took his mouth in a hard, desperate kiss, plundering it with a need that literally took Nick’s breath away. He moaned into it, his hands holding tight to Gil’s hips as the other man knelt upright to sit on him. There was a strange look on the other’s face that Nick couldn’t place, something he hadn’t seen before, and it went beyond hunger and desire. Or, maybe not beyond it, but a...yearning...for a different kind of hunger and desire, perhaps.
“Master?” Nick asked uncertainly.
Gil laced their fingers together again and closed his eyes, rocking gently on Nick’s hardening cock, not answering right away. Nick brought both sets of hands to his mouth, kissing knuckles and the backs of his Master’s hands in turn, not sure what was going on. His body flushed with need, remembering the other time it had found purchase in this man’s body, his cock leaking and smearing against Gil’s ass and thighs.
Shivering visibly, Gil finally groaned, “Need you, Nicky, need you so much. Please...”
Nick’s breath hitched at the chest-deep plea, his hips thrusting up instinctively. He was just aware enough that when Gil rose to his knees and centered himself over Nick’s cock, he was able to pull the unprepared man forward by way of their joined hands. “Master, no, you aren’t ready, I need to stretch you, like before.”
Haunted blue eyes finally opened to meet his and Gil whispered, “Don’t want to be ready, just want you, need you Nicky, need you to...”
The words died off, but Nick somehow knew exactly what his Master needed. His heart suddenly sped up double-pace at the realization and he bit his lip sharply to keep himself in check. Rolling them so that Gil lay beneath him, legs spreading wide in blatant invitation, Nick pulled his hands free to rest on and give himself leverage. Head swimming with what he was about to do, breath harsh and fast in his ears, Nick pushed his cock inside his Master’s body forcefully only to stop at the first cry.
Tears of pain gathered at the corners of Gil’s eyes but he was smiling and ordered lovingly, “Do it Nicky, Claim me, make me yours.”
Groaning in mingled lust and love, Nick shoved himself the rest of the way in, burying himself balls deep in a short, fast drive. Gil cried out loudly, head arching back, exposing his throat in the basest of fashions. Setting up a slow, steady fucking, Nick bent in close to suck and bite at the enticing curve of skin. He rode the willing, pliant body beneath him with a steadily increasing pace, moving harder and grinding in deeper the more his lover gasped and panted, rendered mute by pure sensation.
He rolled them again, thrilling to the startled gasp it provoked from Gil, and licked his lips, commanding harshly, “Ride me slow.”
Gil shuddered violently, gooseflesh breaking out all over, and did as he was told, fucking himself slowly on Nick’s aching cock. Nick watched the sweat form and slide through the thatch of silvery chest hair, the muscles beneath flexing as Gil arched back, resting his hands on Nick’s thighs to support himself. His eyes were closed again, face tight with desire. His cock bobbed and quivered as he rode Nick’s shaft, hard and leaking, echoing the one inside him. The feel of Gil around him was equally as incredible, tighter than before, almost too much pressure even as the inner muscles slowly loosened to let him in deeper and deeper.
It was a heady sight, one that Nick would never get used to, and power flushed through him that it was his doing to bring his Master such pleasure, to be the only one to fill a need that had existed for who knew how long. Without letting himself think about it, Nick slapped Gil hard on the ass, the sound cracking through the room.
“Nicky!” Gil exclaimed, eyes snapping open, dilated and hazy with lust.
That single look was enough to prompt him to more and Nick spanked his lover in hard, even blows, alternating hands to warm up both cheeks. A strangled, desperate noise escaped Gil and he bit his lip hard enough to break the skin, adding blood to the myriad body fluids. It was then Nick realized that the other man wasn’t going to come without permission, the entire encounter in his hands and control. The knowledge alone was enough to almost push him over the edge, but he held back, wanting to draw it out.
Bringing his legs up, planting his heels firmly against the mattress, Nick thrust up hard when Gil pushed down, adding to the force. Gil moaned, moving faster and harder, the friction squeezing Nick’s cock almost to the point of pain and he knew he was too close to last much longer. Pulling Gil down onto his chest and wrapping his arms tight around his lover, Nick rolled them once more and stayed burrowed close. There was barely enough leverage to do more than hump into the tight hole and he gasped, “Come Master, come with me!” just as he couldn’t hold back any more.
Lunging a final time inside, Nick spilled deep and copiously into his lover, biting down on the strong column of Gil’s neck as he did so. The world grayed out more than a little as he came. Nick retained just enough of his senses to feel the splatter of hot semen between them and to hear the rough, low cry of release from his Master, who was pressed up tight against him. Panting, heart thundering against his ribcage, Nick collapsed onto Gil’s chest while his cock continued to spit come in Gil’s hole.
He had no idea how long they lay like that, but when his wits returned fully, the sweat was dry and his ass was chilled from the lowered temperature in the room. Sighing in deep contentment, Nick pushed up on his elbows to find Gil out like a light. With a soft, fond chuckle, Nick slowly inched out of the other man’s body, reluctantly still to leave the hot recesses of his lover’s flesh.
Examining his lax genitals in the dim bedroom lighting, Nick was relieved to find no blood from the unexpected Claiming. His mind tried to shied away from the word, but that was exactly what had happened. Guilt tried to worm its way in, thoughts that he’d taken advantage of his Master’s emotional state intruding, but he banished them as best he could, at least until they could talk about what had happened.
Nick climbed carefully out of bed and padded silently to the bathroom, wetting a washcloth with warm water to clean himself off with. He brought it back to the bed, taking a little longer than usual to clean Gil because he didn’t want to wake the other man. Once that was done, Nick tossed the dirty cloth into the bathroom and climbed just as carefully back into bed. Settling in his usual position around his Master, Nick sighed deeply and closed his eyes.
He smiled when Gil murmured in his sleep and tossed a possessive arm over Nick’s shoulder.
* * * *
Gil couldn’t remember the last
time he’d woken so sated and so sore at the same time. His ass was positively killing
him, especially with sleep having obliterated the leftover endorphin rush of
sex to combat the pain, but he felt better than he had since before they’d left
They’d only been together for a few months and yet Nick knew him better than anyone else alive. Lady Heather had been right, saying that he didn’t want anyone to know him, especially not the heart or depth of him. It had always seemed a weak, shameful place to him, growing more so over the years as he conversely wanted someone to force their way into his heart to know him, and not being able to stand the thought of someone getting so far into him.
Nick sighed in his sleep, shifting a bit and then huffed, falling back into dreaming. Glancing at the clock, he saw that they were long overdue to go into work and knew that he was in no condition to go anyhow. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. There was too much going on in his head for him to put the job first as he was usually able to do. He’d left it with Catherine that if the doctor said he was all right to go in, he and Nick would be there, so at least she wouldn’t be worried. After Nick, she was really the only other person alive who truly understood him, though even with her, that failed on occasion.
Thinking of Catherine, of course, brought Sara to mind and he sighed, knowing that his comfortable mood had been ruined. He was still sure that he should have been able to see that she was so far gone, that he could have done something to stop her from going out of control. The one time he and Catherine had talked about her since his return had been short and clipped, with a simple, “She’s fine and we’re all adjusting.” Which told him exactly nothing, but he wasn’t about to push Catherine on the subject.
Nick mumbled something in his sleep, sounding distressed, as if he sensed the change in mood. Maybe he did. He was so attuned to Gil that it certainly wasn't beyond the realm of possibility. Gil smiled fondly at the young man and kissed the top of his head, lightly running his hand over the broad, firm back.
“Master?” Nick murmured through a yawn.
Gil smiled. “The one and only, Nicky. How are you feeling?”
Rubbing at his eyes, Nick blinked owlishly at him and half-grinned. “I should be asking you that.”
“Sore as hell, but really damn good,” Gil replied succinctly, tweaking Nick’s nose. “Why don’t you get the bath ready for me and put in some oils?”
Nick captured his lips in a slow, deep kiss first, then agreed demurely, “Yes, Master.”
Watching his slave scamper off the bed and stride easily to the bathroom, Gil grinned fully and thought, There are much worse things than Nick discovering his more dominant side.
Gil was glad that Nick seemed okay with what they’d done, not having been at his most rational when he’d requested it. They would talk about it in the tub so he could make sure everything was all right, but he was pretty sure things were fine. Nick was submissive by nature, but the inner strength that he’d shown all along had told Gil there was more hiding deep inside. It probably wouldn’t come out on its own, but it was definitely there.
Groaning as he rolled into a sitting position, Gil thought, Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to bring it out, and slowly pushed onto his feet to join his slave in a healing bath.