Sans Raiment

Who knew I'd pick this up again? Inspiration and fandom highs come and go. I pushed out a few smaller things on LJ, but I'm coming back to this for a bit. I can post some LJ smut here if anyone would like. Anyway, I have recently caught a raging cold and have spent the previous day sleeping and drinking water. My head feels like shit from all the sinus pressure. If soem thinsg seem of fin this chapter, chalk it up to me not writing this story for awhile and the cold kicking my ass and making thinking a difficult process. Now, without further ado...

Chapter 9

The warm, wet feel of a tongue sliding across his neck woke Cliff before the sun had risen. It took his groggy brain a moment to realize that Albel was leaning against his back, holding onto his arm tightly, nipping and licking down the column of his neck to his shoulder blade. The man shivered, the fog clearing from his mind.

“Good morning, baby.” He said, turning over to face the Elicoorian.

Albel settled against him, dark eyes searching his face. The intense stare unnerved Cliff, but soon enough the captain’s eyelids drooped and he reached a hand out to run down the man’s cheek. “You’re in my bed.”

“I am.”

“I like it.”

“Me too.” When Albel lapsed into silence, he added, “I wouldn’t mind waking up like this more often.”

The young man narrowed his eyes slightly. “After the mission?”

The man nodded with a yawn. “After the mission. I’ll come back here and you and I can settle into a nice home, I’ll get a job and put up a white picket fence in the yard, then in a few years you can pop out some kids and—” The feel of cold, sharp talons against his throat stopped the rest of the jibe on his tongue. He cleared his throat and said in a more serious voice, “I’ll come back and you and I can go back to Woltar’s mansion and start whatever life you want. No more running off to space.”

Albel slowly retracted his claws. He let his fingers trail down the Klausian’s arm, then ghost over his bare hip. Cliff shivered under his touch, but the man grinned.

“You leave soon.” The captain said solemnly, watching his claws dance along the blonde’s skin.

Cliff nodded. “In another hour or so.”

“There’s still time…” The young man drawled, shifting onto his back and yanking the blanket off of them.

The cold air made Cliff shiver and his skin prick with sensation, but he quickly forgot about the chilliness of the room when he looked down at Albel, legs spread invitingly, a welcoming expression on his face. The Elicoorian’s soft flesh would warm him up just as well as a blanket. The man grinned, laughing to himself, then leaned down and kissed his lover.

“A going away present? How did I get so lucky?” He whispered in the captain’s ear before moving his mouth down to kiss him.

Cliff settled between Albel’s legs, pressing their groins together. He heard the young man hiss in pleasure as his stiffening cock brushed against Albel’s slowly awakening erection. Moments later, a slender hand snaked down between them and slim fingers wrapped around the man’s shaft, giving an experimental pump before starting a slow rhythm. Cliff leaned his head back and let out a deep moan.

As the Klausian kneeled between his legs, Albel watched raptly as ecstasy played across his features. Every stroke down the man’s cock caused Cliff to tense or shudder or gasp enthusiastically. He had missed playing with the man, driving him mad with desire and then finally, when Cliff was frustrated and his body begging for release, he would give the man exactly what he wanted. He had power over Cliff and they both knew and loved it.

A hand on his wrist stopped the movement of Albel’s hand. He looked up at Cliff questioningly as the man pushed his hand away.

“I want to feel you.” The Klausian said. “I want to be inside you.”

The young man pulled his hand away and leaned further back into his pillows. “Then get inside of me.”

Cliff immediately shifted, lifting the captain’s legs around his waist and then pressed his body flush against the skinny Elicoorian. He kissed Albel’s throat, nipping and sucking at the flesh as he used a hand to guide himself into the young man’s body. Albel tensed when the tip of his cock pushed its way inside. His passage was still slick from the oil he had used last night and Cliff’s own semen, but the man’s girth always made Albel jump. It reminded him of how small he was compared to the Klausian, how easily the man could hurt him if he ever chose to. But Cliff never did.

Albel wrapped his arms around his lover’s back, pulling him closer. Never, even at his most frustrated, had Cliff ever hurt him. Certainly, they growled and bit and occasionally smacked one another, but Cliff had never left large, black bruises on his body, he had never thrown the captain down and abused him to vent his anger. It was an odd thing to be grateful for, something he knew every person was entitled to, but Albel felt especially grateful to his lover who had always had gentle dealings with him. When they were romantically involved at any rate…he still remembered Cliff breaking his bones when they squared off at the mines.

The body on top of him moved, thrusting into him and hitting that spot that made his toes curl. Albel sunk his nails into the man’s back and moaned. Cliff looked down at him and touched their lips together. He continued to move, slowly pushing in, then pulling out before pushing in with more force. Beneath him, the captain shuddered and groaned, body welcoming him and opening to accept all of him. The Elicoorian clung to him, limbs wrapped around him, trapping him, keeping him close, and Cliff loved the feel of his lover wanting him, needing him. He thrust harder and faster, causing the headboard to slam against the wall each time he thrust into Albel’s body.

The man started panting heavily, feeling his climax approaching, desperately trying to make the pleasure last longer. He began mumbling incoherently into his lover’s hair, swearing and praising the captain’s body at the same time. Albel leaned up, nipped Cliff’s ear playfully, then panted something into his ear.

Cliff’s body went rigid and he spurted, spilling his hot seed deep inside the Elicoorian’s body. He felt Albel continue to rock against him, finishing a moment later and coating their bellies. When the young man finally unfolded his limbs and released him, Cliff pulled away slightly so that he could better look at him. His eyes were wide, shocked, and his mind desperately tumbled over itself.

Albel lay in the folds of the pillows, grinning softly up at the man. There was a faint stain of red on his cheeks.

The corner of Cliff’s mouth lifted in a smile. The shocked expression slowly left this face and he sank back down, resting his body against his lover.

“Albel,” He whispered, kissing the side of the captain’s neck, “Baby…”

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Leaving Elicoor that day was the hardest act of will Cliff had performed in a long while. Albel had walked him to where he had left his craft, staring angrily at the ground. He had tried to reassure the young man that he would be back shortly and that they would be able to start their relationship anew very soon. Albel had merely stared at him, frowning. It occurred to Cliff that he had probably heard such things before, which reminded him about Vox.

“You’re still going to tell me the rest of the story, aren’t you? About you and Vox?”

The young man had nodded, his frown deepening at the thought of the late Duke. Cliff reached out and pulled the Elicoorian into an embrace. Albel was rigid in his arms, neither receptive or condemning.

“I won’t be like him. I promise.”

“We’ll see. People break their promises.”

“I don’t.” Cliff said, tightening his grip on the captain until Albel made a soft noise of discomfort. “I don’t make promises unless I think I can keep them. This time, I’m sure I can keep my promise.”

Albel pulled away and looked at the man, searching his eyes. “For your sake, I hope so. Otherwise, the next time I see you, I’ll gut you.”

“I consider myself warned.” He kissed Albel.

Albel stared back at him impassively. When he finally released the captain, a weight of lead had settled in Cliff’s stomach. He hated leaving Albel now. He had considered abandoning Maria’s mission, but he knew that she needed him and if he had, Albel would taunt him relentlessly about it. Even if abandoning the mission meant staying on Elicoor, it also meant breaking a promise and Albel would not let him live that down. Besides, Albel respected his loyalty to Quark; he likely felt that it was a loyalty similar to his own loyalty to Airyglyph’s army.

Cliff took a step towards the ship. “I’ll contact you right away.”

“I’ll answer whenever I feel like it. And I’ll write whenever I feel like it too.”

The man chuckled softly. “Yeah, I expected as much.”

“Goodbye, Cliff.”

“It’s not goodbye. I’ll be back.”

The swordsman snorted. “Not goodbye, hmm? Then what is it?”

The man thought. “It’s ‘Later’. I’ll be back later.”

“The absurdity and stupidity of that statement makes me want to hurt you.” Albel scoffed. He looked at Cliff, his scowl turning into a frown once more. “Later.”

Cliff nodded. “Later.”

He stepped into the ship and sat at the pilot seat. As he began flicking switches and typing in coordinates and commands, he continually glanced at the ship hatch, hoping that perhaps Albel would change his mind and come with him on the journey to Rossary. The hatch remained shut. With a sigh, Cliff began the takeoff initiation. He flicked on a screen and watched as Albel walked away from the site, glancing back only once before he disappeared beyond the crest of a hill.

His heart sank. Cliff forced himself to leave the planet, though every instinct he had told him that he should stay with Albel and forsake whatever mission Maria had. It was strange, the way his thoughts had turned. As he made his way through space towards the planet where the rest of the crew was waiting, Cliff found himself thinking of the past relationships he had had and all their consequent endings. He had never before in his life been so ensnared and infatuated with someone as he was with Albel. He could not explain why. When he had first met the skinny brat, he had wanted to pummel the captain into the ground. Sometimes he even fantasized about killing Albel.

Something had changed between them though. When that change occurred was easy to place; seeing him dangling by chains in a torture chamber stirred a great amount of pity in Cliff and perhaps because he felt such remorse for the captain, he was able to see beyond the young man’s prickly exterior. And look where it had taken him. All the way to Albel’s bed.

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

No few surprised looks were thrown his way when he landed on the primary planet in the Rossary constellation. Everyone had assumed that he had left for good. Cliff shook his head at them, angry at their assumptions. Even Maria seemed surprised to see him. When he walked into her room, her eyes lit up with shock. She looked him over, noting the man’s haggard appearance, but not making comment.

“We leave tomorrow.” She told him matter-of-factly. Then she turned away and dismissed him without another word.

He nodded at her back, scowling slightly. Sometimes her attitude bothered him. He had spent the last three days traveling to come and help her and he didn’t get so much as a hello. Cliff could understand her harboring a small bit of resentment against him for leaving and not helping with preparations, but he was in no mood to put up with it. The last three days had been hell for him and his mind was full.

Mirage was much easier to deal with. When she saw him, her face brightened with a smile.

“Good to see you again.”

“You thought that I’d deserted too?”

She laughed. “Not at all. I know you better than that. But some of us were speculating about the attractions on Elicoor and whether or not they would keep you longer than you had anticipated.”

He snorted in agitation. “Nice to know Maria thinks so highly of me.”

“She does, but she also knows that you’re a man getting ready to settle down. She doesn’t blame you. Nor do I.”

When Cliff looked up, Mirage had moved to a cabinet in the medical station and was methodically placing things in jars. Her face seemed placid, but he could see in her eyes and the soft frown on her lips that she was troubled. He guessed what was bothering her.

“It’s over after this. Elicoor will be my home from then on.”

She flinched. “So you and Albel have come to an agreement?”

The man nodded. “Once this is over, I’ll go back there and we’ll settle.”

“It’s funny,” Mirage said, ceasing in her packing, “I never pictured either of you as the settling type.”

Cliff could only shrug. “Neither did I, but things change. People change you.”

When Mirage turned to look at him, she did not try to conceal the worry in her eyes. “And that’s what you want?”

“Look,” he sighed, “I know none of you really like Albel all that much, but he’s my lover. Somehow, we just get each other. He is what I want.”

“And the game you say he’s been playing with you, what of that? Has he told you the rest of the story?”

Cliff frowned. “No. Not yet. He doesn’t want me around him when he tells me the rest. I don’t know why. Maybe he doesn’t want me to try to comfort him or maybe he wants me to have some space to vent. I’m not sure.”

Mirage could offer no help. She had never understood the Elicoorian herself, and if Cliff, who knew more about Albel then anyone else alive, did not know, then her thoughts on the matter would be useless. Instead of attempting to comfort him, she went back to packing supplies.

After a tense silence, the man spoke again. “It’s not all hopeless. He gave me something to hang onto.”

The strange, giddy lilt in his voice prompted Mirage to look back at Cliff. “What did he say?”

He shot a toothy grin her way. “You can only imagine…”

END