Given and Denied

 

    Swallowing, Andy fought against the urge to just bolt.  To run from the tent.

    

    "I do what's necessary for Caesar, just as you did."

 

Another small inclination of his eyebrows upwards.  The man gave nothing away, only hints of what might be.   A dangerous smile curled across his pale face.   His hand was still around Andy's neck, the pulse underneath his thumb telling the Frumentarii exactly how frightened his 'Hero of the Mojave' was.

    

    It was intoxicating.  For a small, minor moment Vulpes wondered if this is what imbibing too much liquor might feel like.  His pale eyes moved over Andy's face as his free hand lowered, cupping the man through his leather pants.

    

    "The only difference between you and I in this moment is that one of us is lying.  And it is not me."

    All thoughts seemed to silence the moment he felt the thin hands press against him, and explode seconds later.

    

    "And you can tell all that from just molesting me?  Huh, didn't know that's how it worked in the Legion." He joked weakly, trying desperately to gain the upper hand without resorting to ED-E.  He wasn't sure how much his own violence towards the soldier would be met with violence in return, and the Courier wasn't that much of a thrill seeker to seek out his own death here.

    His next expression was almost casual as his palm pressed against Andy, running up along him before taking a downwards glide.

    

    "No.  Your pulse."

    

    He squeezed, stopping just before it'd become painful.  A warning not to push his luck. 

    

    "Tell your robot to leave my tent."

    Andy could have laughed right then, between the fear and confusion coursing through him he wasn't sure how much more he could take.

    

    This is the weirdest form of torture I think I've ever heard of. 

    

    "Are you joking?  I might not be that bright but I'm well aware he's the only thing keeping you from slitting my throat."

    

    Fuck I should have brought Arcade after all, or hell Veronica. Of course, she would have punched the shit out of him by now.

    "Do I look like a man who is acquainted with joking?" was all he replied.  "Just outside my tent.  Easy to call for." His back itched as some blood began to dry in the heat of the morning. 

    

    "Considering how I have you, you are in no position to refuse." 

    Swallowing back bile, the acrid sting of it making his nose burn.  Finally turning away from Vulpes, he looked towards ED-E.

    

    "Eddie, go float outside the door would ya?"

    

    Please don't let me die.

    

    He wasn't a praying man, but the Courier wanted to believe Lady Luck hadn’t pulled him from the shallow grave, just to abandon him here.  With a beep and a whirr, the bot floated out of the tent, hovering just outside the door flap. 

    

    "We do not kill our allies while they are still of use."

    

    Lucius' voice cracked through the pain he was feeling, something easy to latch onto.  It was short lived when the whip cracked across his exposed back.  He gave the smallest sound of pain as his body arced from the blistering sensation.

    

    "We show our esteemed guests hospitality."

    

    CRACK.

    

    "You need a lesson in that.  After this... show him your hospitality."

    

    CRACK.

 

    The Courier watched the taller man carefully, waiting for the inevitable attack he was sure to follow now that his only protection had left;

Well...I could always pistol whip him with Maria.  The thought would have been a bit humorous if his situation weren’t so dire

    He leaned forward, pressing his lips harshly against the Courier's, grip easing up on the man's apex a bit.  His palm raked upwards again. 

    

    "Do you understand your punishment?"

    

    "Aio."

    

    Lucius leaned forward as though he hadn't heard.   Vulpes' blue eyes shifted over towards the older man. 

    

    "Aio." he repeated.

    

    "You cannot always assume you can go behind your superiors' backs.  Your teams of assassins have been called off.  Five of your men have died by the whip.  Once you are untied, head straight to your tent.  That is where I let him stay." 

    

    "...Gratia."

    

    A nod was given and he felt the rope loosening from his wrists.  He felt exhausted, tired.

    

    He deepened the sudden, harsh kiss, still keeping a hand around Andy's neck. A tongue swiped along the man's lower lip.

    Is this what a heart attack feels like?  He was sure his heart had stopped, just given up being pumped full of terror and died.  Which could explain the hell he just found himself in, he turned his head, gasping as he tried to move away from the soldier.

    

    "Are you ---why're you?" He stared wide eyed at the Frumentarii, angry at his body responding so easily to the touches while his brain screamed.

    Vulpes stopped, squeezing lightly around the man's neck; but far from tight enough to stop any airflow.  The taller man wasn't sure which was worse, the punishment itself, having to taint himself with this profligate; or the fact that his own body was reacting to the terror he'd drunk in earlier--to the feeling of this fabled man's mouth.

    

    He lowered his face to Andy's now exposed neck, lightly suckling along the flesh.  His hand snaked around to the back of the courier's neck, sliding up to cup the back of the man's neck, tangling his fingertips in the messy mop of hair.

    

    He nipped swiftly, harshly afterwards. 

    

    "Hospitality."

    The Courier trailed his eyes skyward, taking in the points of the tent where the poles let the material drift down in an attempt to steady himself.  He wasn't sure which was worse; that what was happening because Vulpes thought he was being 'hospitable' or that he was being forced to accept the hospitality.

    

    Swallowing, he winced at the bite, the skin pinching painfully between the soldier's teeth.

    Not getting a reaction he'd hoped for, Vulpes swirled his tongue around where he'd bitten, an attempt to soothe. His brows knit together as he became mildly confused.  Those not under Caesar's rules were known to be immoral, easy-to-arouse. This was supposed to be a gift, and the Courier, despite what was under his hand, was not reacting as he'd thought.

    

    I am lowering myself to appease my superior. 

    

    Hand finally leaving, it returned to merely pull at Andy's belt, button and fly.  If the man didn't leave satisfied...

    

    He didn't want to think of what he would be subjected to.

    The Courier seemed to come back to himself when he felt his belt being undone, hands hurrying to stop Vulpes.

    

    "Holy shit you need to stop," he begged, chest rising and falling rapidly as he started to border on hyperventilating.

    

    "Why are you doing this?  I get it, some weird...form of Legion hospitality but you hate me.  This makes no sense!"  He tried to make Vulpes understand why this was really creeping him out.

    Vulpes' hands stopped and his head lifted.  He didn't pull them away from being held within Andy's.  He swallowed down some bile of his own.

    

    "I have become a temporary gift." 

    

    He hoped that the statement would get the message across.  He really didn't want to expand upon that further. 

    

    "In hopes to gain forgiveness for my  ...miscalculation." 

 

    "A gift." Andy repeated, still trying to process what was happening.

    

    This is wrong on so many levels.

    

    "So you have to what, become a whore for the Legion now?  I--no, this is just, no.  I forgive you now you can stop okay?"  He carefully let go of Vulpes hands.

    

    I've got the wolf by the ears, and I can neither hold him nor let him go.

    

    "Do you realize how wrong it is, what they're making you do against your own wants?  Yeah, I like men but that doesn't mean I go around fucking them against their will."

    "I am here of my own volition.  It was either this or something far more excruciating."  He replied calmly, coolly.   He moved towards Andy again, figuring that was all he needed to say.  This was a man who was not the best at socializing, despite his amazing infiltration of the Strip.

    

    Deftly, a hand slid down into the leather pants. 

    

    "I hate you.  But I would rather have you under me than the Legate at my back."

    A small gasp as the Legion's hand moved around him and Andy shut his eyes tightly.

    

    "I said I forgive you, can't we just pretend that everything is fine and leave it at that?" He asked again.  Oh god why am I being punished?

    There was something about how Andy felt under the man's hand as he gave a stroke.  The taller man leaned forward, his lips brushing against the Courier's ear as he spoke in that low, purring tone.

    

    "It is not that easy, otherwise I would do it."  His tongue swiped along Andy's earlobe.  The longer Andy was resisting, the more Vulpes stepped up to find his buttons.

    Closing his eyes tightly, he swallowed the soft moan at Frumentarii’s touch while trying to calm his breathing.

    

    "W-why isn't it that easy?" He stuttered, trying to think rationally or barring that, like Vulpes in how to get the man the hell away from him.

    

    I'd almost swear this wasn't his first time with a guy.

    

    "I thought t-the Legion hated Profligates and Dissolute, but you're being forced to act like one."

   "They will be checking in." he replied, giving his ear another swipe before lightly sucking on its lobe.  He understood the point Andy was making. 

    

    "Part of my re-education."  He added. 

    

    "In order to understand the enemy at times you must become the enemy. So that you can use your intimate knowledge against them.  Slip into their homes, take their wives and children.  Become close enough so that you may strike at the right moment.   Even if you must lie with them, you will render unto Caesar your service and loyalty." 

    

    The more Andy discovered about the Legion, the more it confused him.  When something started to make sense, he'd see this.

    

    "Well tell them I was quick and make something up!  You're good at lying, I'm sure you'll think of som--something." He gasped quietly at the sensation of Vulpes' mouth on his ear, tilting his head slightly while trying to get the man to stop; he was giving him better access.

    "H'mmm..."  His thumb ran over the tip of the other man's member, tongue trailing back down to Andy's neck, kissing, biting and sucking.   "If you were to accept this gift, you might actually enjoy it.  The sooner you accept it, the sooner I am allowed to let you leave."

    

    He felt his own arousal increasing as he knew that despite his own position in this situation, he was the one in control.  The Courier was at his mercy.    A dark smile spread across his face against the other man's flesh.  It won't be begging for the release of death, but it will be good enough.   A man of intelligent means, Vulpes was a master of turning things about to work for him.

    Groaning, Andy cursed his body for eagerly enjoying the treatment from the soldier.  "You know what else I like?  Steaks.  Steaks and beer!  That's punishment for you right?" He rambled.  "You hate beer, so let's enjoy one together!"

    

    "Or don't...punishment and all, we can hate one together, or you can and I'll hate the company I'm with.  And...And we'll go to the Gomorrah; you hate sex so that's more punishment!"

    

    Oh god just please stop.

    The smile fell from Vulpes face, and before long, he released Andy before lightly kicking a foot out from underneath the man.  Once he was on his back, Vulpes lowered himself, hovering over the Courier, elbows on either side of him.

    

    His hips rolled forward against Andy, though his eyes were hard, angry.

    

    "You should feel honoured, Courier."  His voice was purring again before he ground once more.  His next breath had been shaky, an indication that he'd enjoyed the friction and pressure.  He lowered his head once more, lips ghosting along Andy's ear; bursts of hot air tickling it. 

    

    "To have a Legion Frumentarii is something not lightly given." 

    I don't think I've ever rebuffed someone this much. The Courier thought, dazed.

    

    "And I am!  Very honoured, but I would be even more honoured if you--" gasping, he closed his eyes again, swallowing against everything jumbling up in his brain.

    

    "I don't want you to," he swallowed again.  "What I mean is, oh god..."

    

    No...nononono

    

    "You're fucking injured!  Please just stop, I don't want someone if they were forced just please."  He looked up at Vulpes above him, breath irregular.

    Vulpes turned his head, looking at the Courier underneath.  He could feel himself pressing against the leather of his clothing and Andy's pants.  "My wounds are not going to deter my ability."  There was a look of confusion, brain trying to work through ways so this task could be completed. 

    

    I am a man who finishes all and any task given to me.

    

    He lowered his head again. 

    

    Perhaps I do not sound enticing enough. 

    

    "I want this. Can you not feel it?"  He breathed, giving a buck forward as a means of showing his compliance.

    "Oh god... No you don't," pressing his head into the dirt floor of the tent he squeezed his eyes shut again, his hips moved up to meet Vulpes.

    

    "Don't you have," he gasped, "A...slave girl or something?  A wife that you'd rather be with?"

    

    Right, I'm trying to garnish remorse from a man who burned a town because he thought sizzling flesh was -beautiful-.  Wonderful.

    "No." he murmured. It was followed by a hint of a moan in the back of his throat.  A hand lowered to Andy's hip, gripping onto it as he pulled the man closer to him.  It was an honest answer, despite a short one. He did not want a wife, nor would sleeping with a slave make this situation better.

    

    The next time he looked at Andy, actual lust was in his normally cold eyes. His chest was starting to heave with irregular breaths. 

    This isn't right, the mantra kept repeating in the fog that was quickly overtaking his brain.

    

    "So that's--that's a no on the beer?" He tried feebly, a ghost of a smile on his lips.  Not nearly the same exuberant man from the day before, the one who walked around the Legion with an air of grandeur about him.

  "That is a no towards the beer and a wife." he replied, hand now attempting to get a hand underneath the black tee-shirt the man customarily wore.  An aroused curiosity was taking over the Frumentarii's normally cool head.

    

    He ground down again, whispering. 

    

    "Permissum mihi sentio vos. Sino mihi venia vos would speciosus in vestri Secuutus." *

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----extremely rough Latin translation from online translator---

*(Let me feel you. Allow me the grace you impose on your Follower.)