Obscurity
Title: Obscurity
Rating: Pretty heavy, **** or even ***** if you’re shy, but more for atmosphere than content.
Pairing: None other than Jack and Ennis =)
Summary: Modern day AU! AU.
Every relationship needs to push the boundaries once in a while…
Warnings: Sensory deprivation, general kinkiness, mild BDSM (especially domination,) mild feminisation and a few hints at very interested neighbours. Please know that everything featured is in the context of a) a loving relationship and b) two adults who are both 110% consenting to, and enjoying, what they are exploring together.
Disclaimer: Jack and Ennis are the fabulous creation of Annie Proulx. They don’t belong to me and I’m writing purely for fun, no money involved.
Feedback: I worship at the altar of feedback!
Notes: Well, I know the warnings might make this sound a bit unappetising for a lot of people, but just to reassure anyone who is in two minds about reading this, although the ideas are graphic and maybe a little scary, the way it’s written shouldn’t be. (And you can yell at me if it is!) It is moodier than my previous story “Temptations New ” to some extent, though truth be told it really didn’t turn out as well as I wanted it to…Hope you enjoy it anyway =)
“Paper thin thing,
Protected by the naked eye…
Kneeling like a supplicant.”
Massive Attack- Butterfly Caught.
“Even silence speaks.”
Hausa proverb.
Obscurity.
Part 1: Before.
It got dark in there sometimes. Not dark like it got out in the streets at night, when there were orange halogen lights every few paces and you could weave in and out of the shadows at your leisure; no, this was proper darkness, pitched so high he could almost breathe it. Every so often, when something grew between them that did not want to listen to reason, they went there together. Jack would buzz for days in excited anticipation, although he was always a little afraid at first. Ennis wasn’t.
*
Jack knew as soon as he got home. Lights out, rooms empty, Ennis absent but there anyway, and that feeling, that trickling heat in his stomach that said, Well, time’s up, and then travelled down further. He’d known it was coming for weeks now. Standing in the living room and watching the moonlight dancing fluidly across the wooden floor, Jack understood once again that he lived for these moments with sharp clarity, though he had never admitted that to anybody- not even the one person who needed to know. No matter. Sometimes they spoke without words, and that was when Ennis learnt all his secrets.
Part 2: During.
Breathing. Ennis was near him; he knew, he could pick up the scent of his skin, warm and tangible, his love. Jack was two senses down and flying: no sight, no touch- hands cuffed behind his back right from the start, yes sir- but he had sound, taste, smell. Three out of five ain’t bad, cowboy.
Jack didn’t care that he couldn’t reach out and feel Ennis manually; the emotional equivalent had a good tug to it, like feel instead of just feel, champagne over tap water, ocean over lake. His breaths were unsteady, but Ennis’ were matching and with that he felt power, the right kind of power, a sort of honeyed influence that flowed into his veins unstoppably, and sang: You’ve got what he needs, over and over like a lullaby. His eyelashes fluttered like errant butterflies beneath their material shutter when he felt something: no substance, just a closeness, the air around him setting off with sparks and colour even in this darkness, and then-. Soft on his lip, the tip of one finger. Jack dared his seeking tongue from behind his teeth and licked, tasted salt and sweet and Ennis; sweat, sugar, skin: nice trio, but he waited on a knife-edge for more and it didn’t come.
“Tease,” he whispered, got no reaction except for a sharp bite to his nipple, making him hiss in pain and anticipation. Ennis played the game his way or no way; Jack would just have to bow down and take it because, after all, he was the one that was chained to their bedroom chair, damn all the luck. He smiled because he liked it that way, and frowned because Ennis- You think I’m playin’ around here, Jack? - didn’t like the smile right now, not yet. Jack was nothing if not willing to do as he was told by then; there was something in that obedience which was habitual, sent a kick of acid-need straight to his groin and fed his mind with pieces of glittery trust.
He was so far gone. The map home was in Ennis’ hands, but then, it always had been.
*
“You know something, Jack?”
He shook his head. Sweat ran down his forehead and into his eye, stinging, making his already-pounding heart beat audibly; Ennis heard, and put his hand on Jack’s bare chest, leaned over to his ear and whispered, Easy now. Jack squirmed under his touch like a bright flower turning towards the sun, but there was no light to be had yet in this room.
“No,” Jack shivered, “Tell me...”
He could feel Ennis nodding, and in his mind he thought: How close is he? Close enough to touch, for sure, but that wasn’t one of his options right now. The quiet stretched out over a purple eternity, but the warm waves of heat coming from the body opposite - or maybe to the side; it was hard to even tell- soothed him, so that he could wait without struggling. The words, when they were finally spoken, seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once.
“You’re real pretty.”
Didn’t expect that. Deep breath. In, hold it; out, relax, but it was fucking impossible when he was hot like that, and words failed him, though his lips parted to speak silence. Ennis waited.
“Y-you- I’m not-” he stuttered, insufficient, didn’t even know what he was trying to say. Ennis’ cool hand was in his lap, about two inches from where he wanted it, and Jack flushed strawberry-pink at the thought of him realising how much blood those words had coaxed to his crotch. Blessed be the darkness, hiding his flaming face.
“Sure you are,” Ennis told him firmly, “A man’s got no right being so damned pretty, really.”
Jack bowed his head, his mind centred on the pleasing rough tug of Ennis’ voice, the sweat on his hands slicking the metal cuffs around his wrists until they were slippery.
“Don’t know- what you mean,” Jack choked.
“Reckon you do, J…”
Jack whimpered; he only got called that when Ennis was in a particular mood that neither of them was well acquainted with. Last time he’d heard that nickname, Jack had been too embarrassed to look their neighbours in the eye for a better part of a week; no way they hadn’t heard him hollering through the thin walls.
He shook his head, listening carefully as a snapping noise started nearby him -perhaps cellophane packaging, but surely it couldn’t be-, and then there was a low-resonating popping sound that he couldn’t place in anything that was familiar to him. Something soft and smooth dragged over his bottom lip, and the unmistakeable scent of cosmetics, powdery and sweet, stretched up to greet him. Ennis’s hand was rock steady. Jack envied him, always so cool and self-assured whilst he trembled like a newborn colt, limbs melted like oil, eyes squeezed tight shut against the blindfold. No one had ever called him pretty before, least of all Ennis; he didn’t usually rely on words to say things, let Jack know what was on his mind by the stance in his hips and the cocky glances in his direction instead, but it seemed he’d had a change of heart. He moved onto Jack’s upper lip, painting around the Cupid’s bow carefully.
Jack didn’t want to like it. His body- fucking traitor- pushed up with every nerve and sinew for Ennis’ touch, and even for the cool creaminess being slicked over the lush swell of his lips, but his mind spewed out its own hissing revenge, and he jerked his head away. The trembling of his own muscles reminded him of a tree caught in the autumn weather, sadly letting its leaves fall into a panoply of golden ambers and lush rubies before drifting away altogether, but safe in the knowledge that, come spring, they would be back.
“I-I don’t think I can-” he said uncertainly, wished Ennis had gagged him, seeing as he couldn’t get a word out anyway. He heard Ennis sigh: not angry, just thoughtful.
“You trust me, J? Trust me to take care of you, right?”
“Know I do, Ennis,” Jack said, low in his throat. With each breath he took, the handcuffs clicked together in a rough symphony of need, urged by the harsh shaking of his hands.
“Then hush,” Ennis said simply, and just like that, Jack surrendered to himself, the mental chains falling away where the physical ones did not.
*
The hair that had curled with damp sweat was brushed gently from his face by sympathetic hands, and he made a keening noise in his throat, not caring how it sounded. He could only guess what he must look like by now, sweat writhing out of his pores drop by drop and sliding slowly down his body until he could feel it soaking into the waistband of his pants, pupils dilated to try and see even a hint of blonde-hair-brown-eyes-best-body-in-the-world through the cloth that was knotted around his eyes, chest rising and falling unevenly and covered with tiny bite marks from the last few minutes, Ennis taunting him the way he did best.
“Christ, boy, you’ve got no idea what you do t’ me, do you?”
He didn’t have time to answer before they collided in a hot rush, Ennis astride his lap, and Jack thought he would die if he didn’t get to touch him soon, the pads of his fingertips tingling desperately for him. His lips crushed ruby smears onto Ennis’, the taste of the lipstick getting in the way of the taste of each other but Christ, he would have died for this, and nothing else mattered, the slow urgent rock of his whole body as he struggled closer to Ennis shifting the chair, forcing it with brute determination whilst Ennis feasted on the straining sinew of muscles writhing beneath the sleek line of back, until he heard Stop, wait we’re gonna fall and he made himself pause, the chair pivoting wildly for a few moments. Rough hands scrabbled at his wrists, and then the handcuffs were undone, hit the floor with a shrill jangle as Jack used the firm solidity of Ennis’ shoulder to push the blindfold up, a hand snatching it off of him fully and then knotting in his hair as they kissed aggressively, little sparkle in those blue eyes as the man sitting delicately on his lap wriggled out of his t-shirt.
Jack didn’t know what he had expected once the restraints came off, but he had definitely not imagined Ennis dropping to his knees on the floor and looking at him with lust-glazed, pleading eyes, pulling Jack’s pants down and finding no underwear beneath, swallowing him in one go. He pushed his hips forward towards the edge of the seat and got an answering moan, his own body frozen, hand spanned across his temples where the blood thrummed with his pulse, Ennis almost hidden completely by the darkness, save for the sliver of light pushing its way through the drawn curtains. Jack put both hands in those golden curls he so adored and tugged; God only knew he always tried not to, but he was too far gone to control it, the need overwhelming him, and as soon as Ennis did the thing he loved, slicking just the tip with his tongue, he was pulling him up, off, to his feet, manoeuvring him to the bed, where they fell down in a heap, twisted desperately around each other. Jack helped Ennis to shed his clothes like dead skin, and then they were both naked, skin touching on every part of their bodies and Jack, so impatient by that point, couldn’t wait another second, fumbled for what they needed and thrust it hastily towards anticipating hands.
When he felt the soft brush of a fingertip against him, he shook his head silently.
“But, Jack-” Ennis grated out, voice rough with sex.
“Now,” Jack said, and the tone was as strong as the metal that had bound his wrists. Lithely, he moved over Ennis to straddle him, rolling him over onto his back in the process, and relishing the sharp moan and needy thrust he got just from that. He pushed his hands onto Ennis’ chest, putting the strength of his body behind it to stop him sitting up, and smiled with his crimson lips at the quick glance those dark eyes made to the muscles in his biceps.
“Jack, you’re not ready without-” Ennis tried again, but the only response he got was a strong hand coming down to rub him slick with lube, then intense heat poised over him, blue eyes pinning him to the bed as if their will alone could make him do as Jack pleased. It seemed that they could, because he didn’t move until Jack slid down on him slowly, teasing him, taking forever now, the desperate rush to reach each other from the past few minutes diluted into a slow burn, Jack pushing into it with a low moan.
“Ennis…” His hips slid up to meet Jack automatically, his hands reaching to hold the hard line of his hips, soft skin under his hands like butter. Too much for me, he thought, but his boy didn’t seem to agree because he was sitting proudly in his lap now, holding him in silky muscles, head tipped back so that his throat was silvered by the slim slice of moonlight adorning the blackness of the room like Christmas decorations, painting shadows over the wall- their shadow, frozen in ecstasy. Their bodies moved in synchrony and Ennis was sitting up, reaching for Jack desperately, kissing him whilst one arm wrapped strong around his lower back to guide him, their tongues mingling slowly, the taste so familiar but new somehow, new because this was new, wasn’t something they did often, maybe three times before and this the fourth. He tipped Jack backwards, layering kisses all over the downy flesh of his neck and chest, fingers stroking the coarse hair running down from his navel whilst he felt him shudder, gasping, the base of his spine where Ennis’ hands held him pooled with sweat.
“Oh God, baby,” Jack panted, legs wrapping tighter around his waist as he put his palms down flat on the bed, muscles straining as he held himself up with just the grip of trembling fingers around his waist for support, pushing against the angle that felt best. Ennis’ sight was blacking out as if the blindfold had been put on him, but he couldn’t help but flush at how loud they were being. He wished he could be like Jack sometimes, wild and abandoned when it got like this, focused only on their pleasure as they drifted into obscurity together.
“Jack- the neighbours-” he stuttered; why did he care?
“Fuck-the n-neighbours…’s not my fault they don’t g-get laid anymore…Probably the-highlight of their-day, listenin’ to…us,” Jack gritted out violently, punctuating the words with thrusts that made Ennis’ chest tighten, his lungs crushed to make space for the bliss that was eating him up inside. His mouth kept speaking without the input of his mind, even though all he wanted to do was be quiet.
“Yeah- but it’s…3am and-” he choked, hips rolling with Jack’s rhythm, strong now.
“Shouldn’t ‘a kept me…waiting…then,” Jack told him between heavy breaths, the air denying both of them. “Now shut up and…do me…”
Look who’s giving the orders now.
Ennis did as he was told, Jack gripping him inside as a reward, tighter than he thought possible, his thoughts starting to unwind in reams of bright colour as he wondered how Jack could hold this position for so long. His own muscles were shaking uselessly, and he figured Jack would be in the same state, but although his arms were trembling, he did not falter, Ennis still transfixed by their shadow on the wall and looking down to see the slick cock jutting up at him because of the angle they were in. He stroked with his eyes and then his fingertips, Jack rough and clenching, flexing and bent back like a bow, shoulder blades arched down to take the impact and maintain his stance as best he could. Ennis sensed Jack’s fall just a second before it happened, pulled him flush against his chest with a soft cry that the other man echoed, louder, and as soon as he touched the tender region just beneath the tip of his cock, Jack sobbed his name and came hotly, the light exploding behind his eyes like fireworks, the way Ennis watched and whispered That’s it, darling, c’mon in his ear pushing a blush up onto his cheeks. Somewhere in that elative space in time, he felt Ennis warm and shuddering inside him, spilling shyly as he panted.
He put his forehead down to Jack’s chest like a supplicant.
Part 3- After.
When he felt Jack get heavy and limp in his arms, he kissed his forehead and lay him down, unrolled the duvet from beneath him and smoothed it over his supine body, watching as he rolled onto his side slowly. Once he had settled, Ennis fetched a washcloth from the bathroom, shivering in the cold that was infiltrating the house silently. He had left the heating on for their play, knowing Jack would be naked for much of it, but it had gone on for longer than usual, and now the air was cool and stiff as he made his way back to the bedroom. He softened his footfalls as he approached the bed, but Jack looked at him sleepily, smiled and sat up, the duvet slipping from his skin with a soft rustle and embracing his lap instead whilst Ennis wiped the streaks of cerise from his face gently. Jack reached for the cloth.
“No. Let me,” Ennis said, soft but commanding, and Jack’s eyelashes lowered as he gripped Ennis’ hand slowly to his face, holding it there- but the other man did not need encouraging, stroking his knuckles over smooth-shaven skin and the hard line of Jack’s jaw. His other hand swept the cloth gently over the more stubborn smudges, but he left a vague stain of red on those full lips for the memories the next morning. Leaning in, he pressed a kiss into the hollow of Jack’s neck, turning his head to rest his ear against the steady beat of heart, so much like the tick of time, counting Jack away, but not from him.
When they were finally in bed together, Jack curled around him, cat-like, arms wrapped across Ennis’ back whilst they kissed lingeringly, wanting to sleep but not for the moment to end.
“Has it really been four years since we met, Jack?” Ennis breathed against his throat.
He felt Jack nod against his sweat-damp hair, holding him tighter as he closed his eyes, soft asleep like silver in his arms.