After The Storm

The storeroom is almost entirely full of shelves crammed with all the equipment and supplies an agriboat could ever need: sprouts and pots and crates and slabs of growing medium and gardening tools, plus a couple iffy-looking bags of chemical stuff that probably shouldn't get anywhere near anyone's dick. As romantic locations go, this would be just about near the very bottom of Rich's list, but there's a clear space on the deck in the dim light that neatly fits the mattress, and right now that's definitely good enough. Liam drops his bag next to it and helps Rich get everything situated, then flops back onto the unfolded mattress with a satisfied sigh, stretching luxuriously and settling back on his elbows, watching Basil and Rich with eager anticipation.

"Two beautiful boys all to myself, I just don't know what I want to do with you first," he says smugly, rubbing his thighs together, tossing his blue curls. "Why don't you kiss a little, gimme a show? Put me in the mood."

Rich laughs softly, flustered as always at Liam's wicked compliments, and turns to Basil. "How about it, baby boy?" he grins, holding his arms out. "We better keep him interested."

Basil smiles back, presses himself into Rich's arms and kisses Rich like he didn't actually know they were joking: he kisses Rich with a shocking, devouring intensity, hands against his chest and then sliding up to wrap around his neck again, holding him close. Rich groans low in his chest, feeling the press of Basil's hard dick rocking against his thigh. Basil moans back at him when Rich pulls Basil's hips in close, letting him grind; he licks and sucks and bites at Rich's mouth with a desperation that makes Rich's head spin and his heart race. It feels like Rich has been half-hard through most of breakfast, and with this kind of attention it takes no time at all for Rich's dick to finish filling out, pulsing hot and heavy and more than ready to be free of his jeans.

"Fuck, baby boy," he gasps, "you're so good, feel so good—" and Basil makes a gasping, urgent little noise and grinds his dick right up against the tight ache of Rich's erection, graceless and clumsy but all the hotter for it. Rich is abruptly really done with putting on any kind of show. It's time for the real thing, already. Basil gives a startled yelp as Rich picks him bodily up, then a breathless laugh when Rich goes down onto his knees on the futon, setting Basil carefully down next to Liam.

"Hi, Liam," Basil says, flushed and giddy, reaching out to give Liam's shoulder a playful little shove. "How's the show going? You into this yet?"

"I could stand to watch you enjoy yourself this much all night long, sweetheart," Liam murmurs, low and wicked, and presses a quick kiss to Basil's bare knuckles. "You should definitely get your mouth on Rich's ears at some point, though."

Rich's face warms with embarrassment, and he glares at Liam, then threateningly at Basil. "I'll take your shirt off if you do, get my hands on your chest," he warns Basil. "See how long you can deal with that."

"Ooh, also good," Liam says, completely undaunted. "Absolutely, you both should strip! I have to see this now."

"Liam," says Basil. "Oh my god!"

"So do you like getting your nipples played with, Basil?" Liam goes on, who obviously doesn't care in the slightest about anyone's embarrassment, because he's probably never experienced the emotion in his life. "You should get some piercings, it definitely enhances the experience."

"Oh my god," Basil says again, and dazedly rubs at his own chest, like he's thinking about it. "Wow, that's—I don't know, I just. Fuck, Liam..."

"I never get tired of hearing that," Liam purrs. He pushes himself to sit up and strips his shirt off in one fast, practiced movement. Basil's eyes go very wide at the sight of the faintly-gleaming silver studs; his mouth snaps shut and that rosy-brown flush spreads from his face down the sides of his neck.

"Fuh," he says. "Uh, I. Ha?! Ha, uh, wow! Fuck!"

"Yeah, accurate," Rich agrees, and pulls his own shirt off in solidarity before sliding a hand up Basil's. He's not actually going to take the guy's shirt off without a sign from him that it's okay, but he sure can get him thinking about it, brushing a thumb back and forth over one nipple. Basil gives a high, shaky sigh, and Rich thinks he's just leaning into the touch for a second before Basil's lips brush the edge of his jaw and then close gently over one earlobe, teeth tugging so cautiously Rich can only barely feel them scraping his skin.

"Fuck," Rich hisses, shivering. His piercings finished healing up while he was piloting and then sleeping for two days, and now his ears don't ache at all. He can't tell if they're actually more sensitive than they were before, but either way, that feels really damn good.

He rolls Basil's nipple under his thumb, fumbling at the fastening of his own jeans with his other hand to free his dick before it strangles. He can hear a rustle of fabric underneath all the heavy breathing, can feel both of Basil's hands occupied with clutching at Rich's shirt, and he's not surprised when he glances over and catches a glimpse of Liam with a hand shoved under the waistline of his gorgeous lily pad wrap, lip pinned in his teeth and eyes gleaming in the low lights. He throws Rich a bright, brief smile when he sees him looking, takes his hand back—licks a streak of precome off his fingers, oh wow—and holds a finger up to his lips before pushing himself quietly up onto his knees and easing around behind Basil.

Basil yelps directly into Rich's ear when Liam wraps an arm around his waist, but then moans a second later, shuddering. Rich can feel one of Liam's delicate hands threaded between them, working Basil over steadily through the front folds of his black wrap, fisting his dick through the soft, loose fabric. Basil keeps on moaning, too: filthy, beautiful little noises interspersed with hungry, clumsy kisses against the side of Rich's neck and more nips at his ear.

Rich groans at Basil's mouth on his ear, groans again in relief as he finally manages to get his own jeans open and his dick free. With that pressure relieved, it's a lot easier to focus on the next task at hand, which in this case is tugging Basil's shirt up for better access to his chest. With that out of the way it's easy to spread his hands out, squeeze the lean curve of Basil's ribs in the palms of his hands and hold him steady as he shivers. Basil and Liam both seem to enjoy it when Rich reminds them of their relative sizes, and it feels great to have Basil pinned between his hands, totally caged in and thrilled to be there.

"God, fuck, Rich," Basil gasps, and grabs up big fistfuls of Rich's hair, his gloved hand slightly gentler than the bare one. Rich laughs, growls a little when his hair gets pulled hard enough to feel bad, then hums approval when Basil tries to pet him even more clumsily, while scattering sloppy kisses across the side of his face. This kid is so cute, Rich can barely stand it—he trades an incredulous grin with Liam over Basil's shoulder.

Playing with Liam is great, and playing with Basil is great, and having Basil pinned between them, twitching into Liam's hand on his dick and Rich's hands on his chest, whimpering soft and hot into Rich's neck, is fantastic. It isn't until Basil starts to get more restless, movements going jerky and frantic, that Rich remembers he should probably make this more interesting than a straightforward rush to the finish line.

"Baby boy needs a break," he says, and pulls his hands away from Basil's chest. "Come on, Liam, we can't let him come this early in the game."

"Rich," says Liam, half startled, half chiding. "Don't be mean."

"Nuh, I can," Basil says, stubborn to a fault and swaying in place without Rich to hold him up. "I totally, it's not mean, I can handle it. It's good—I'm, I'm good."

"You sure are," Rich agrees. "I bet you can outlast us both."

"Damn right," Basil says, jaw setting.

"Oh," says Liam, and then, eyebrows rising, "...oh. Well alright then." He gives Basil's dick one last squeeze and then pulls away as well, planting a gentle kiss on the back of Basil's shoulder. "If edging is what you so desire, then sweetheart, I can edge you until your dick falls off. But if we can't play with you any more right this minute, I think it's time to let Rich know how much we like him." He quirks a brow at Rich over Basil's shoulder as Rich's breath catches in his throat.

God, Rich isn't gonna get used to that being a thing. They like him, two gorgeous guys like him, this isn't just convenient 'because I'm horny and you won't stab me' trade-off sex, this is, like…'because we wanna play with you, because we really like you' sex.

"...And what he'd be missing out on if he somehow fried his brain," Liam adds, and Rich just nods dazedly. Then he catches up and narrows his eyes at Liam.

"Come on, man, we've been over this, I wasn't gonna and anyway I'm really sorry, okay?" he grumbles. "And also, if you want me not fried, you should call this off entirely, because the both of you together are totally going to cook my brain, and I'm gonna be happy about it."

"Yes, but this will be metaphorical and spectacular," Liam says sternly, "instead of literal, horrifying and tragic." He softens a second later at whatever he sees in Rich's expression, shakes his head and sighs. "I know, I know. I'm just—not good at being scared, but I'm good at being angry." He smiles at Rich, edges forward around Basil and lays a hand on Rich's bare side. "I'm also easily distracted," he goes on, lower, intent on Rich's face. "So how about you give me something new to focus on?"

"Oh, well, uh," Rich says, way more affected by the hand on his skin than he should be, "yeah, that definitely sounds okay." He leans down to kiss Liam, fitting his hands carefully around the guy's slim hips, and Liam lets himself be kissed before resting a hand on Rich's chest and pushing steadily, guiding him over onto his back and grinning down at him. Rich feels, abruptly, like a minnow that just got cornered by a very small, pretty pike.

"Basil, sweetie," Liam says, not taking his eyes off Rich's face, his burning cheeks and wide eyes. "Do you want to help me with him, or would you rather sit out for a second?"

"Or he could play with you," Rich points out breathlessly. "Fuck, man, c'mon, isn't it unfair to gang up on a guy? Think Family Fleet had some, some lessons on—"

"This isn't ganging up, this is sharing," Liam says authoritatively. Rich is about to argue with that when Basil apparently makes up his mind and a slim, gentle hand touches Rich's hip and slides over and down, fingertips stroking gently along the straining length of his dick through his underwear. Rich gives a startled, needy, embarrassing moan, instead.

"Plus," says Basil, sounding pleased with himself, "you're big enough it takes two to keep you occupied." He's gone and taken his shirt off the rest of the way while Rich was distracted, and his freckled shoulders are visibly flushed.

"That," Rich says, and briefly forgets how to speak as Liam doubles down to suck gently under his jaw. "Hhnnh. 'S not how, that's not, a thing."

"It definitely is," Liam says, very seriously. "That's science, babe. Who here is the sex science expert, again?"

"You," Rich manages to choke out, "are a botanical, fffuck, botanical geneticist, I, oh, Basil holy shit!"

Basil has hooked his underwear down over the shaft of Rich's dick and applied his mouth enthusiastically to the head. Rich squirms, making uncertain little noises of pleasure and confusion, because it doesn't feel like he's supposed to be just lying there and taking it, not with the way Liam's crouched over him, watching his face gleefully. It feels like he's conceding a point. But Basil's got his dick in a remarkably authoritative grip and is licking and kissing at the head, getting it all slick, teasing the slit with his tongue, and Rich can't quite bring himself to protest further.

"Have you been practicing?" Rich demands. "How? Fff—where, with—baby, fuck!"

"Watched some videos," Basil says, pulling off, and Rich can hear him smirking. He says, "I'm gonna practice right now."

"Fuck," Rich says again, and arches up desperately when Basil goes back to work, peeling Rich's jeans and underwear steadily down his thighs. Basil's not gagging himself anymore, not just trying to shove Rich's length down his throat and expecting that to work. He's being delicate, methodical. Petting the fingertips of his bare hand up and down Rich's shaft while he works over the head, getting him sensitive and squirming, then going hard for just long enough that it's almost too much, then backing off again and leaving Rich frantic for more.

"I want to see those videos," Liam says, above the embarrassing noise of Rich whimpering breathlessly.

"You were in a couple of 'em," Basil says.

Liam makes a noise of utter delight. He's got Rich's face in both hands, teasing his thumbs along the shells of Rich's ears, sometimes twisting or pulling on his earrings, every now and then ducking down to nip on one or the other, and Rich feels increasingly strung out by all the attention, overwhelmed and desperate. He needs more, but isn't at all sure of what or from who: he just wants more, more of anything, more of all of this.

"Please," he manages to get out. "Please, I, I need—baby please c'mon—I wanna, want more, please?"

"Holy shit," Basil murmurs, and then, "Yeah, yeah, anything—Liam, you got any lube?"

Liam scoffs, offended, and moves his arm like he's pointing somewhere. Rich closes his eyes and drags in shaky breaths, burning all over, and then Liam's kissing him tenderly, and Rich grabs him and holds him and kisses him back like he's a lifeline.

Basil comes back after a second. "So this is flavored, apparently," he says.

"All lube is flavored, technically!" Liam says brightly. "That lube is just flavored not-gross."

Basil makes a doubtful noise, and then there's a licking noise. "Huh," he says, sounding surprised. "Damn. Okay, then."

Rich has to ask. "What's the flavor?" he asks.

"...I have no idea," Basil says, and passes something forward. Rich is presented with a tube. Curiously, he squeezes a drop onto a fingertip and tries it.

"Okay, what the fuck," he says. "What is that?"

"Piña colada," Liam says.

"Is that how you pronounce that?" Basil asks.

"What even is it?" Rich demands.

"It's the least gross flavor of lube I have ever found," Liam says. "Twenty questions is over for now, Basil, please put lube on Rich's dick before I have to come down there and do it myself."

"That's not a very effective threat," Basil says, but slicks a whole lot of piña colada lube up and down Rich's dick, which distracts Rich entirely. He doesn't care anymore how the lube tastes, he just wants more touching.

"Fuck," he gasps, hips rolling up into Basil's hand, "please, man."

"Okay," Basil says, breathless and slightly squeaky, "you got it." He wraps his bare hand around Rich's dick and strokes, firm and good if not quite fast enough, and puts his mouth back on the head, sucking and licking. Liam starts working on Rich's ears again, little nibbles and flicks of tongue and the occasional breath over wet skin, and Rich makes an incoherent noise as his brain shuts down completely.

He writhes, hips bucking, trying to make Basil go faster, give him more already, and it takes way too long to remember how to say, "Faster? Please?"

Basil lifts his head to say, "Oh, yeah?" like that's a surprise, but he does finally speed up his hand.

"Not a fan of edging as applied to you, hmm?" Liam murmurs in Rich's ear, and nuzzles it so he gasps. Rich can't manage talking at this point, but it seems to be a rhetorical question—and anyway, it's not like Liam's one to talk, he's been completely shameless about going after what he wants. Vengefully, Rich gets his hand up between Liam's legs and rubs his thumb along the stiff line of Liam's dick where it's straining up against the front of his wrap, pulling the satiny fabric tight. Liam gives a hitching little moan and shoves his own hand down there too, pawing clumsily at the folds of his sarong until the whole length of fabric falls down around his hips, and his bare dick presses warm and silky against Rich's palm.

"Hah," Rich says triumphantly, and then just holds on, because Basil's doing some amazing work right now and it's overwhelming. Liam giggles and leans down and kisses him, wet and filthy, and that's it for Rich's stamina. He comes apart moaning into Liam's mouth and arching desperately up into Basil's grip, and Basil works him through it fast and steady and relentless, wringing him dry.

Finally, Rich has to whimper and twitch his hips away, dick gone too sensitive for even the softest stroke of fingertips. He pushes Liam gently aside and tries to breathe: Liam makes a disappointed little moan, hips still working to keep his dick pressed against Rich's hand.

"Basil," Rich manages, still panting for breath, and pushes Liam at him. "Good—good work, fuckin'—amazing work, shit, I need, nnh, need a sec', god. Get Liam now."

"Got it," Basil says, sounding breathless but game. "Got him. C'mere."

"No, I, hey," Liam says, "I'm fine, if you want—if you don't—oh!"

Rich can't not look, for all that he feels totally, completely, comprehensively sated. He rolls onto his side to see Liam flat on his back, looking startled and delighted, and Basil, Rich's come still streaked across one dark-flushed cheek, working his way methodically down Liam's much more reasonably-sized dick. He's also pawing Liam's beautiful wrap determinedly away from the area of action, which is great, because it'd be a shame to get spit and come and piña colada all over such a nice sarong.

"Wait," Rich realizes. "Wait, um. Condoms?"

"Oh, I, fffuck, I'm okay," Liam gasps. "Had my check-up, I'm clean, we're all—Basil sweetheart normally you'd, you'd want fuck, to check, before—this, yes, please, god!"

Basil makes a muffled, agreeable noise and keeps going, to very loud and enthusiastic approval from Liam. Rich laughs, then goes ahead and gets his own pants and underwear all the way off. He folds them and drops them with his shirt, then flops over, shifting enough to reach out and pet Basil's springy curls, most of which are completely free of his ponytail now, falling down in a loose cloud around his face. Feeling intensely warm and tender, Rich cards his fingers through the soft, fluffy tousle, working it entirely free of the hair tie, then drops the tie to the side of the mattress and trails his hand softly up and down the long speckled stretch of Basil's spine.

"God, you're so good at that, baby boy," he says, "just look at you go, that's amazing, you're so hot," and his voice comes out soft and low and fond. Basil shivers under his hand, and his hands flex on Liam's thighs, pulling them further apart. Liam makes a beautiful, greedy noise and reaches down to bury his fingers in the curling fall of Basil's hair, grabbing up big handfuls and pulling. Basil shivers at this, too, giving an enthusiastic moan around Liam's length and starting to bob his head up and down, tensing back against Liam's hold on him and then giving in.

Feeling wicked, Rich gets more of the piña colada lube, slicks up his hand, and works it up under Basil's wrap from behind, where it's all rucked up and stretched open around his thighs. Basil twitches all over when Rich traces his fingers along the underside of Basil's dick, and Liam yelps "Teeth, hon!"

"Sorry!" Basil gasps, pulling off fast. "Sorry, I, sss'ry, ahh," and his hips stutter up, pressing his dripping-wet dick back and forth against Rich's fingertips a few times before Basil goes tense all over, forcing himself to stillness.

"Okay, I'm good," Basil says, and his voice has gone deep and hoarse, and it feels like the sexiest thing that's happened so far. "I'm good, c'mon, Rich."

"You got it, baby boy," Rich says, and gets his whole hand around Basil's dick, squeezing gently. He can feel it hot and pulsing against his palm, leaking steadily, Basil's just that ready to go off, but he doesn't. Hips only barely squirming, Basil bends back over and starts mouthing at Liam again, working his way back down.

"Shit, Basil," Rich says, admiringly. "Look at you." Basil shudders at the praise, hips jerking a few times, then he settles himself down again and keeps going. Rich traces slow, delicate circles over the head of Basil's dick, spreading lube and precome, circling one way for awhile and then the other to feel Basil twitch and jerk and hold himself still each time. It's incredibly hot to watch him fight his own obvious desperation for more, and win. Rich is torn between pushing him harder, giving him enough to tip him over the edge, and just seeing how long he can hold on like this.

"Nnnot that this isn't, ha, incredibly, fuck, fun to watch, but," Liam gets out, and shudders, losing the thread of the sentence, nails dragging at the mattress. "Ahh, babe he wasn't joking, you have a gift. God." He takes a shivery breath, tightens his grip on Basil's hair, and Basil makes a sharp, muffled noise in response, hips shivering and then jerking still again. Liam goes "Aww," shaky and fond, and pets him with fingers that tremble slightly.

"This is fun to watch, but…?" Rich prompts, amused. "Focus, man."

"I'm pretty fucking f—hhhfocused, actually!" Liam says, voice cracking on the word, "—I just, wanted to check, if Basil was okay, fuck, if he needs to get off I can wait, that's all, I'm ah! I'm fine!"

"You're fine, huh?" Rich says thoughtfully. He gives Basil's dick a nice firm pump, to get his attention, and grins at the resultant high moan. "Nah, you're fine too, aren't you, baby boy?"

Basil makes a breathless affirmative noise around Liam's dick.

"So," Rich goes on, using his spare hand to palm at his own dick, which is doing its best to rejoin the party as soon as possible, "since everyone's doing great, maybe you should knock that off, Basil, so we can get Liam ready for the next event." He adds, helpfully: "My dick is the event."

Liam gives an extremely undignified breathless chortle, and then a heartfelt moan as Basil pushes himself up, breathing hard, licking flushed lips. "I mean if he gets me off first—" Liam says, slides a hand down, strokes himself once or twice and then groans and pulls his hand away again, glancing around. "Or, I mean, I'll do it, I just—where'd the lube go, don't worry about it, gimme a second."

"Oh, no," Rich says, putting a hand on Liam's wrist, "we can't make you do all that work yourself." He smiles innocently. "Besides, this is obviously an edging party. You wouldn't want to be left out, would you? You just lie back and relax and we'll get you ready ourselves. On our own time."

"Rich Merrill, you awful tease," Liam grumbles, and flops back on the mattress. "You boys are lucky you're so cute. Alright, fine, you win! But if you make me wait too long I'm going to be really cranky about it, and you haven't seen mean Liam yet." He gives Rich a glare that would be a lot more convincing if he wasn't spread out naked on the mattress, transparently eager to be played with: dark-eyed and breathing fast, damp curls of hair sticking to his flushed face, dick wet and hard and ruddy against his stomach.

Rich grins at him, seeing no reason to pretend repentance. "Don't worry, we'll keep you too distracted to get cranky. Hey Basil, you wanna finger him?"

"Oh," says Basil, disbelieving and reverent, and glances up at Liam's face like he's waiting for Liam to shoot him down. "Is that—okay?"

"I'd tell you if it wasn't," Liam says. He looks delighted all over again, despite his complaining a second ago. "You can't tell me you haven't watched some videos about this, too. Especially if you've found anything I've filmed with friends."

"Oh, uh—yeah," Basil says, "yeah, I did," sounding less than confident, and shoots Rich a sidelong, worried glance. Rich nods reassurance—he'll help if needed. "Okay, yeah, I got this," Basil says determinedly, and scrambles up to shove his wrap the rest of the way off his hips, ball it up and throw it off to the side. Then he drops onto the mattress again, looking around helplessly until Rich hands him the lube.

"Chill, man," Rich says, gently patting his shoulder. "It's not hard, and you're good with your hands anyway, you learn quick—you'll be great."

"You'll be especially great if you help me rebel against our giant, bossy overlord," Liam says, but not like he means it, and he's already shifting around on the mattress, getting his legs open wider. "Well, if I'm not going to get to come yet, I demand to be held in Rich's lap and have my hair played with."

"I'm the bossy one, huh?" Rich says, but obligingly sits up and gets ahold of Liam. He wraps his hands around the guy's narrow waist, enjoying the hell out of the way this makes him shudder and moan, then hauls him over and settles him down in a sprawl between Rich's legs, his shoulders against Rich's stomach.

"How's that?" Rich asks, and curls one of his arms around Liam's chest, holding him firmly, letting him feel the full extent of Rich's weight and strength.

"Good," Liam says faintly. He's breathing hard and rough and both his hands come up to cling at Rich's forearm, but not at all like he minds. Rich grins, flexes his arm as hard as he can and enjoys the shuddering little gasp that provokes from Liam as he realizes how thoroughly he's pinned—then tousles Liam's hair into a wild blue tangle, clamping his arm down nice and tight when Liam yowls like an angry cat and tries to thrash.

"Oh my god," Basil says, looking equal parts amused and alarmed. "You're so gonna pay for that, man."

"What?" Rich laughs, finishing up Liam's hair. It looks like an exploded float-tube now, it's hilarious. Liam has gone limp in his arms, hanging his full weight on Rich's grip. "He wanted his hair played with! I'm cooperating!"

"Rich, honey," says Liam, reaches up to give Rich's cheek a soft pat. He's smiling when Rich glances down at him, but his tone is silky-smooth and very precise. "Please remember this moment. Commit this to memory, the day you made the terrible mistake of fucking up my hair: just because I'm a fantastic master of orgasms does not mean I have to hand them out to rude boys who don't play nice."

Basil gives a squeaky little oh shit giggle.

"I didn't fuck your hair up that much," Rich protests, "and here, I'm fixing it!" He pulls Liam's curls back off his forehead and strokes them, achieving an only slightly tamer fluffy mess. "Anyway, come on, Basil, do it, don't keep him waiting!" Not that Rich is unnerved or anything about the look Liam's giving him, but a distraction does seem in order.

Basil glances at Liam, apprehensive and questioning, and scoots forward. Liam stops staring intensely up at Rich's face to give Basil a fond, encouraging smile instead.

"Don't worry, hon," he says. "I'm just teasing, he's not in that much trouble. And you're not in trouble at all, you told him it was a bad idea. C'mere, let's do this!"

"Right," Basil says, licking his lips, and reaches hesitantly between Liam's bent, spread legs, one slick finger ready. "So I just—?"

"Yeah, man, you're not gonna hurt him," Rich says. Basil flicks him a brief, nervous look and goes back to staring at Liam.

"It's as simple as it sounds, getting started," Liam says, soothing, and wriggles down in Rich's lap, a sinuous full-body twist. "Literally, babe, just stick a finger in there. Two of 'em, if you want, I have definitely done this before."

"I just don't wanna mess it up," Basil mumbles, and Rich can't actually see what he does at this angle, but Liam hums and smiles, and Basil's shoulders lose some of their tension as he smiles shyly back.

"I always say two, and everybody starts with one," Liam sighs. "Because you don't want to hurt me, because you're—mm, sweet boys. Somewhere deep down." He shoots a look at Rich, half-smiling, eyes glinting. "But you're not going to break me, so how about another one, hon?"

"Right, yeah," Basil says, and his arm shifts, and Liam makes a pleased noise.

"You need directions, babe?" Rich asks.

"No, I, um," Basil says distractedly, eyes on his hand, or possibly Liam's dick, it's hard to tell. "Like this?" he asks Liam. "Or is this better?"

"Oh!" Liam says. "You did research! An advanced student. If you want to get me off, the second one will work very nicely, but since apparently that's not the goal here, you might as well keep it simple."

Basil nods seriously and applies himself to the task at hand. Rich stares at the shift and flex of the muscles in his organic arm, the way his prosthetic one steadily bears his weight as he leans on it, and then blinks and looks down as Liam relaxes back against him with a long, pleased sigh.

"You know," he says, rolling his head back against Rich's ribs to look up at him, "if you want to start getting yourself back on my good side, you can play with my hair. Play with nicely," he adds sternly when Rich grins at him, "as in stroke and pet!"

"You're no fun," Rich tells him, obeying anyway.

"I'm lots of fun," Liam corrects, "but only good, sweet boys get to find out. Mm, yes, like that."

Rich combs through Liam's curls, fluffing and petting them as ordered while Liam makes pleased hums and sighs of pleasure. His hair is so soft and nicely scented, so it's really enjoyable to mess with, but eventually Rich's dick gets the better of him, and he starts playing with Liam's nipples instead, pinching and twisting at the piercings. After all, the point is to get him ready for Rich's dick, and Rich wants him writhing and desperate on it. May as well get started on that now.

Liam lets him play around for all of five minutes before he lets out a shuddering moan and says "Three or four, Basil, now, please," strained and breathy.

"Oh!" says Basil. "Okay, so just—"

"Being careful is good and I don't want to set a bad precedent but now please," Liam says, all in one fast breath. Rich grins and trails his fingernails around and around, catching on the piercings in sharp little tugs that make Liam jerk all over, and Liam groans and squirms, pressing back against Rich's dick in a way that absolutely has to be intentional.

Rich's hips jerk forward, grinding into the movement until Rich forces himself still again. All this edging stuff has gone on more than long enough, he thinks. Basil can carry on by himself, he's good at it. Rich is gonna get Liam on his dick and count himself good to go.

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"So what do you think?" he asks Liam after a few more minutes. "Basil about done down there? Can you take me yet?"

"Oh, I don't know," says Liam, with a thoughtful, noncommittal tone that absolutely belies the way his hips keep twitching and shuddering as he works himself against Basil's fingers. "I mean Basil's being such a good, thorough boy, taking his, hah, taking his time with me, doing it right, dragging everything out like this. Making sure I'm really, really ready for your dick." He shifts some more, definitely intentionally grinding back on Rich, and gives a beautiful, breathless moan at whatever Basil is doing. "Who knows how long I'll have to wait? It could be, mm, could be a good, a good long time..."

Rich groans through his teeth, grabbing Liam to try to keep him still. "C'mon, man, shit, you're fine, you can go now," he gasps, and he means it to come out firm and authoritative but it mostly just sounds pleading. "Nnf—come on, I'm ready! You're ready! Let's go!"

"But Rich, this is an edging party, you said it yourself!" Liam says, with vengeful glee, and somehow manages to find the wiggle room in Rich's grip to grind on him anyway. "I don't quite think we've gotten you all the way into the spirit of the thing just yet. I think you could stand to wait a little longer. Don't you?"

"No," Rich says, in an attempt at a growl that's completely betrayed by the frustrated, desperate wobble of his voice. "No, I'm, that's not, no? I'm ready now, we can go now."

"Actually," says Liam, like the thought just occurred to him, and looks back down to where Basil is still dutifully, intently working his fingers in and out. "Maybe somebody who hasn't gotten off yet should be the one helping me out. Basil, sweetie, why don't you fuck me? Rich can watch, I'm sure that'll be almost as good."

"It will fucking not!" Rich yelps, and then stares down at Basil, who looks shocked and thrilled. Basil hasn't gotten a chance to fuck Liam yet, and he should if they both want to, but…Liam promised.

"Come on, man," he says to Liam as persuasively as he can. "You like my dick, right? It's always been good to you, it likes you a lot—you don't even know Basil's dick yet! You might not get along!"

"Hey," Basil says, sounding annoyed. He'll get over it. Rich is dying, here. Liam just snorts and glances up at Rich, raising his eyebrows.

"I may or may not like your dick," he says archly. "I don't remember! Maybe if I'm given a chance to reacquaint myself with it, it'll all come back to me."

"Okay, yes, good!" Rich says hastily. "Reacquaintance! Sounds great, let's go!" He reaches out and grabs for the lube. Liam kneels up and pulls free of Basil's fingers with a soft sighing moan that has Rich's dick throbbing, then wriggles free of Rich's grasp entirely. Liam turns himself around on the mattress and shows himself off to Rich, pretty little hands playing over his flushed nipples, his dripping dick, and grins brightly.

"Show me what you got for me, sweetheart," he tells Rich.

"Yeah, here," Rich says eagerly, and grabs for Liam's hips—only for his heart to sink as Liam pushes his hands away.

"Getting ahead of yourself, aren't you?" Liam purrs, and there's an edge to his smile that's dangerously close to smug. "Maybe I wasn't clear. I want to watch you touch yourself, before I let you fuck me. Show that big, beautiful dick off for me, sweetheart. Really make me want it."

Rich swallows. "'Kay, cool, you got it," he says uncertainly, and gives himself a few slow, delicious strokes to finish smoothing on the lube. "Check it out, very exciting."

"I'll say," Liam says, and settles back on his heels, watching with obvious pleasure. Basil has frozen in the middle of wiping his hand off on the mattress, staring from Rich to Liam and back again; Liam glances over at him, smirks, then authoritatively guides him down to lay his head on Liam's thigh, so he can get one hand to pinch at Basil's chest, and bury his other hand in Basil's hair. Apparently satisfied with the breathless, surrendering way Basil squirms against his hands, Liam looks back up at Rich and gives him a regal nod.

"Go on," he says, sweet and challenging. "I'll tell you when I'm sufficiently convinced."

Rich breathes out hard and closes his eyes, gathering his control. He's not going to admit it, but he might really be regretting messing with Liam's hair right now; this is a high price to pay for a little mischief.

It seems like having already come once should mean the need isn't as strong this time around, but that's never how it works. Rich strokes slow and steady, reminding himself that Liam's focused on his dick, not on how flushed and stupid Rich probably looks right now, not on whatever dumb expression is on his face. Liam told him to touch himself, Liam wants to look at him, look at his dick, look at him working himself up harder and more hungry for him. His dick's so hard it aches, and that's what Liam wants from him, Rich can show him how ready he is, how much Rich wants him. God, he hopes Liam can see how much he wants him, already.

"Fucking gorgeous," Liam sighs after some endless stretch of time. Rich lets out a trembling huff of a breath and opens his eyes to look at Liam with mute desperation. He's been trying to hold back, to keep himself from going faster or squeezing harder, knowing he can't get himself off yet—but he wants to so bad, he's going crazy.

"Yeah," Basil agrees, and hums, moaning softly, as Liam plays a cruel, delicate touch across his chest. "Ahh, fuck, hha." His eyes are so dark they look black in the dim light, flickering over Rich's body like he can't get enough. "Fuck," he says again, and his hips shudder up against nothing.

"I think I'm remembering some good times," Liam says, and strokes a hand over Basil's hair one last time before coaxing him up from his sprawl against Liam's chest and up onto his knees, swaying dazedly. Liam smiles at him fondly, and then looks back to Rich and licks his lips.

"So," he says. "...Do you really want me, babe?"

"Yes!" Rich gasps, fist clenching around himself, so close to the edge he could cry. "Please, god, please, I just—I want, I need you, please? I-if you want—?" His face is even hotter than it would normally be at this point of sex, to be begging in front of Basil, but screw it. If Basil's gonna make fun of him for this, Rich will deal with that later. Right now he needs anything he can get from Liam, as soon as he can get it.

"Oh," says Basil again, instead of laughing at him, and his hand twitches like he's about to touch himself before he forces it back down with a sobbing little noise. "Oh, wow, Liam."

"Mmhm," says Liam, and even if he still sounds so wickedly smug, Rich doesn't have the brain-cells to care anymore: Liam is sliding forward between his knees, leaning up to kiss him, dick glancing against Rich's in a flash of too-fast, warm, silky pressure. "I should really make you keep going," he sighs, soft against Rich's mouth. "But you just had to go and be so fucking irresistible, didn't you, hon? You beg so nicely. Come here."

Rich moans gratefully, swipes his slick hand across the mattress to clean it off a little, and grabs Liam by the hips, lifting him into Rich's lap. Maybe Rich isn't sure how he managed to be irresistible, but he's not asking questions right now. He holds Liam over his dick and waits for him to get his legs sorted out and help guide it in.

"Wait—" Liam gets out, breathless and half-laughing. "Around—turn me—" Rich sets him down, picks him up again facing out, "—Yeah, there, good boy." He arches back against Rich's chest, apparently just enjoying being held there, and then gets his legs under him and effectively destroys the rest of Rich's brain by sinking halfway onto his dick in one sharp, decisive movement. The noise he makes harmonizes with Rich's startled moan: a high, shuddering sound, almost pained, thighs tensing against Rich's, spine bowing taut and gorgeous.

"Fuck," Rich says, nearly growling it, and his hands tighten on Liam's hips with the effort of not just dragging him all the way down. He can't do that, it might hurt him, Rich has gotta just breathe and let Liam take this at his own speed.

His own speed is apparently slamming down the rest of the way the instant he's got his breath back. Liam lets out a sharp cry at the impact and then slumps, shuddering all over, making a thin little whining noise in the back of his throat.

"Fuck," he whispers, and his hands find Rich's hands, his wrists, clinging tightly. "Hnn. Th-hha. Fucking...oh, god…"

"You okay?" Rich asks, alarmed enough that his head clears: he tenses, ready to pull him right off again. "Shit, Liam, I don't care how hard you like it, death by dick is seriously unsexy. Don't, don't—nnh, rupture anything, fuck!"

"Oh, a safety lecture, that's fucking rich, coming from you!" Liam says, high and breathless, and makes a valiant attempt to shift on Rich's dick, already trying to move. "Don't rupture anything, like you weren't—nnf! so fucking irresponsible with yourself, and you had me so worried while you were out, I didn't—fuck, why are we still talking, get a move on already!"

Rich huffs at him. "Okay, first of all, you're the one who's talking," he points out, and has to moan as he lifts Liam and lets him slide down again, hot and slick and perfect. Fuck, at least the momentary jolt of fear for Liam pulled Rich back from the edge a little. He probably won't last long anyway, but at least he's not going to come the second Liam really starts moving. "And secondly," he adds, breathless and triumphant, "you wanna talk about what's fucking rich? You're what's fucking Rich."

Liam makes a catty, offended noise and reaches around behind his back to smack Rich on the side, which does nothing to stop Rich from laughing giddily at his own stupid joke.

"I will literally spank you, you awful boy," Liam says, and then makes a strangled-thin noise as Rich lifts him up and sinks him back down again, changing the angle this time, aiming for his prostate and apparently nailing it. "I'm—you're so, Rich—hhnh, god, that doesn't hurt, but everything else is ah, starting to, okay?! Fine, you got me, I'm tired of waiting, so can you just—fuck me already!"

"Yeah," Rich gasps, "I can do that." He picks up speed, moving Liam on his dick like the guy's weightless, which he basically is, hot and tight and moaning and perfect. If he had the breath, he'd point out that Liam has some nerve complaining about how long everything's taken when it's all his fault for dragging everything out this long, but words aren't happening right now, just heat and need and surging pleasure.

Basil picks himself up and edges forward towards them, cautious, eyes fixed on Liam's face—when he gets close enough, he catches Liam by his narrow shoulders and kisses him. Liam leans wholeheartedly into it, making a series of wonderfully wet, filthy noises as he writhes between Basil's mouth and Rich's dick.

"Get him," Rich tells Basil, "Grab—play with his dick, get'm off, hff, c'mon—"

Basil makes a shaky, desperate noise and reaches his bare hand out between them, getting ahold of Liam's dick—Liam wails, shuddering like he's going to come apart, and squirms frantically on Rich until Rich clamps his hands down on Liam's hips, holding him steady.

"Okay," Rich says, panting for breath, "Okay, we're gonna—okay." He bounces Liam on his dick as smooth and steady as he can, fast but not jerky or frantic, and Basil does what sounds like a damn good job of coordinating with Rich's rhythm, from the way Liam starts to cry out, louder and more urgent by the second. Basil gives a cracked, incredulous little giggle, like he can't believe how hot this is, and Rich finds himself laughing too. God, it feels so good, Liam clenching tight on him, slick and hot and greedy, taking every inch of him and screaming for more.

He knows he has to hold out for Liam's sake, but it's not easy keeping control. Fortunately, Basil is bringing Liam along as fast as possible, so it's only a few more minutes before Liam goes stiff and shaking against Rich and even tighter around his dick, muscles rippling with orgasm. It drags Rich over the edge with a huff, hands tightening on Liam's hips as the pleasure crashes through him.

When Rich starts to drift back to awareness he's curled forward over Liam, soft blue curls fluttering against his lips as he pants, Basil's gloved hand rubbing gently at the back of his neck. Rich straightens up slowly, loosens his grip with painstaking care and then lifts Liam off of him, hissing as his dick slides out with a distinctly unsexy noise. Liam barely reacts as Rich and Basil shift around to lay him out on the mattress, but he moans and shivers back to life when Rich brushes a cautious touch over his narrow hips, the marks where his fingers dug in.

"You okay?" Rich asks, worried now. "Shit, that's totally gonna bruise. I'm so sorry, man, I should've been more careful."

"Nngf," Liam mumbles, wet and shaky, and shudders, reaching down to trace his fingers over the marks. "Hha, no, 's good. 'S hot. Wear my wrap lower, shhhha. Show'm off. Fuck."

"You're crazy," Basil says, half-laughing and amazed. "God, Liam."

Rich has to agree. Liam looks completely fucked out, slim chest heaving, sweaty and flushed and shivering, pressing a thumb into the places Rich gripped him like the ache doesn't even bother him. Then again Rich is starting to get the idea that Liam's a lot more resilient than he looks. He'll probably be popping right back up in the next ten minutes, going for another round with that hungry look in his eyes. For right now, though, he looks absolutely fucked stupid, and it's incredibly cute.

"...Clean me up?" Liam mumbles, and flops himself down the mattress to lay his head on Basil's leg. "Nnf, fuck. Good, hnh. Good boys."

"You got it," Rich says, smiling helplessly, and grabs the wipes from where Basil dropped them. He attends carefully to Liam, tentative and cautious as he works between Liam's legs, afraid to embarrass him. But Liam's probably never experienced embarrassment in his life, and he just murmurs approvingly at Rich as he lounges back all sated and sleepy-eyed and content, while Basil kneels beside him and pets his hair. Rich finishes with more confidence, then gets another wipe and cleans himself up. Then he curls down onto the mattress next to Liam and kisses him, his whole body gone heavy and slow with post-orgasmic contentment.

"Good," Liam murmurs again, and shifts around to drape himself over both of them as securely as he can, nuzzling up against Rich's ear, Basil's thigh, sighing contentedly. "Good job, boys, you did ssso good. Mmm..." And then, still very obviously dazed, "Oh, Basil—honey, here, lemme...you need, let me…sorry, I forgot, I should've—"

"Liam, just chill for a minute," Rich tells him. "You're allowed to enjoy the afterglow, for fuck's sake."

"But Basil needs—"

"Basil's fine for another five minutes, right?" Rich says.

"Yeah," Basil says softly, stroking Liam's hair, "I'm okay, really, it's okay, it's—fine."

Liam subsides with another sigh.

Rich gives Basil a speculative once-over. He definitely looks like he could use some attention, breathing hard and shifting restlessly as he kneels beside them, but he's not even trying to do anything about how close Liam's face has gotten to the flushed and dripping shaft of his waiting dick. He's either being stubborn as hell about outlasting both of them, or he's genuinely enjoying having to wait. Which is a pretty enticing thought, and one Rich might have to follow up on at length.

Basil's eyes widen under Rich's thoughtful gaze and he shifts, hips twitching self-conscious and shy as Rich smiles slowly at him.

"So I think," Rich says, "Basil is looking kinda relaxed about all this. I think maybe he doesn't want to get off enough yet, and we should play with him until he's ready."

"Oh, fuck," Basil says in a breathless half-moan.

"Oh, yeah?" Liam asks, tone still wandering and hazy, and he rolls over and pushes himself to sit upright in a graceless lurch. "That do it for you, hon?"

"Um," Basil says. "Ah, hahaha, uh. Mmh—!"

Liam sucks on one of his nipples for a moment or two, pulls off again with a teasing little lick and then rests his forehead against Basil's chest, trailing his fingers up along Basil's twitching thigh. "You're so sweet," he sighs. "I could play with you all day…"

"We could tease you until you scream for it, baby boy," Rich murmurs, letting his voice get low and rough, and feels good when Basil lets out a shuddering whimper. "Spend hours working you over, how's that sound? You're so fucking hot when you can't even remember how to ask for more."

Basil goes, "God," sharply, like a sob. Rich grins and reaches an arm out, past Liam's hip, and gets his fingertips on the warm, heavy length of Basil's dick. He can feel how long Basil's been waiting, how worked up he is, in the way his thigh trembles against Rich's wrist and his dick drips precome onto Rich's fingertips, the delicate skin drawn tight over a pounding pulse. The cracked, needy little moan Basil lets out at the glancing touch is definitely another clue, too.

"But you're fine, huh?" he asks, and strokes up and down as light as he possibly can, tracing out little swirls of slickness, and Basil goes rigidly still.

"Y-yeah," he forces out. "Yeah, I'm, I can—I can do it, I'm good."

"You're beautiful," Liam says, "you're doing so beautifully, hon, holy shit. Look at you."

Basil gives another cracked little moan, shivering all over, hips shoving against Rich's fingers—then goes still again, panting with the effort. It's a hell of a trick, however he's managing it—Rich would be about ready to lose his damn mind, at this point. Good thing Rich himself has just gone two rounds and probably couldn't get it up for a third at knifepoint, without a decent snack and some amount of nap.

God, a nap sounds nice. Maybe Rich shouldn't have suggested more edging. Maybe he should have suggested blowing Basil in thirty seconds or less and then going back to sleep.

Well, it's probably too late for that, since Liam is into it too. He's propped himself up against Basil's side, and is determinedly working on his chest, biting and sucking at nipples that are already flushed dark and tender-looking—and pausing now and then to kiss his way up along Basil's neck, before getting back to business. Basil's twitching and squirming between them, shoving his dick in tiny, helpless little back-and-forth spasms against Rich's fingers. Rich yawns half-stifled into the mattress, and closes his fingers gently around Basil's shaft for the world's all-time laziest handjob.

God, this is a great view, though. Liam's working Basil up with hazy determination, Basil's restless and surrendering in turns, both of them fantastically cute and intent on one another. Rich watches, enjoying how they look together, enjoying the way they sound—Liam's starting to hum, quietly, every so often. Not entirely like he's only encouraging Basil, but like he's—yeah, he is, he's definitely enjoying himself again, the hand that's not braced on Basil's thigh is playing between Liam's own legs, stroking himself back erect like he didn't just come so hard he couldn't talk just five minutes back.

Curiously, Rich takes his hand off Basil's dick and runs his palm over Liam's butt, squeezing experimentally—Liam shoves back against him with a high, enthusiastic moan.

"You're ready for another round already?" Rich asks, incredulous.

"Hnnhfuck yes fuck!" Liam goes, and when Rich twists his hand and presses a finger against his entrance, it slips in smooth and easy, still gorgeously wet inside with lube and Rich's own come. Liam lets his forehead rest against Basil's chest and curses, breathlessly, and works his hips back against Rich's hand, trying for more. Rich manages to snag the lube without having to get up, then goes and gives the little maniac two fingers and lets him fuck himself on them at his own pace, impressed and kind of intimidated.

"Well, baby boy, you're gonna get to fuck Liam after all," Rich says. "That's nice."

Basil gives a squeaky, breathless little giggle, then says "Yay!" probably nowhere near as ironically as he'd have liked to, which makes Liam and Rich also start laughing. Liam's letting out hiccups of laughter between moans, still rocking on Rich's hand, and it's an incredible combination of cute and hot.

"I dunno, though," Rich says when they've settled down again, "you think you're ready yet, Basil? I'd hate to like, cut the foreplay short when you're not really into things yet—"

"I'm into it, fuck!" Basil almost yelps.

"Everybody's into it, okay!" Liam says, half-laughing, and moans, arching his hips to get Rich's fingers rubbing past his prostate. "For somebody who can't stand w-waiting, you're such a—hha, such a tease. Fuck. Ahh, that's nice. Come on, c'mere, gimme your dick, babe."

Basil gives a shuddery little moan. "Y-yeah? Uh. Yeah, okay, wow."

"Oh, wait," Liam says abruptly, and leans up as Basil falters, eyes widening in concern. "...Kiss me, first."

Rich teases at Liam's prostate some more while Basil kisses him, and Liam moans and squirms. It's sexy as hell, and if Rich wasn't already wrung out, he's sure his dick would be into it too—as is, he gets to lounge around and watch Basil stroke his fingers through Liam's messy blue curls, and pet a big, freckled hand down his back, then wrap his arms around Liam's thin shoulders, holding him while Liam gasps and rocks his hips into the fingers inside him.

"Okay off, out, let's go," he gasps finally, and jerks forward, like he's trying to get free of the touch. Rich gives his prostate one more firm, steady rub, bracing him with a hand on his ass, and is encouraged when Liam shudders, letting out a sharp, shameless whimper and then a breathless growl, slapping back at him without much fervor.

"Probably easier," Liam manages, and gets himself rearranged, flopping down on his back and taking deep, shaky breaths. "Better if you—here, like this, Basil, here." He arches his spine luxuriously, shudders up and down his whole body and then relaxes again, grinning expectantly. "...Here," he repeats, softer, and reaches for Basil. "Let's take care of that before you hurt yourself, hon."

"I'm not—I'm fine," Basil says breathlessly, but he just about falls over himself getting between Liam's legs. "Okay, okay," he pants, and Rich presses the lube into his hand in amusement. "Right," Basil says, and slicks up, and cautiously nudges forward into Liam.

Rich lazily snags a wipe for his fingers and then just lounges there watching as Basil gets in bit by bit, so tense with the effort of holding back that he's trembling faintly. It's adorable, and shouldn't be so sexy but somehow is. Probably because it's Basil.

Liam looks absolutely enchanted too, between gasps and groans. He keeps murmuring little fragments of reassurance, so good and just like that, babe, and it seems to be taking some of the anxious tension out of Basil's shoulders, even if it's also making his hips give little hopeful jerks every couple of seconds.

"Okay," says Liam a minute later, and hooks both slim legs around Basil's waist, settling himself down as far as he can go on Basil's dick with an experienced little wiggle. "Give it to me, hon—don't wait for me, I'll—hnn, wanna see you come, okay? Don't even worry about me, you just—hha, ah, yeah, just like that, fuck yes…"

Basil grabs him with both hands, following orders, thrusting hard with a sobbing edge of relief on every breath—falters, gloved hand twitching away from Liam's side, like he's not sure if he's allowed to touch with it or not. Liam has his head thrown back in bliss, so Rich shakes his head and sighs.

"Don't be an idiot," he says gently, stretching out an arm to grab Basil's prosthetic hand and nudge it back to Liam's hip. "You need both hands on him like this."

"But," Basil mumbles, and Rich feels his hard, gloved fingers flex under Rich's own hand. "I don't wanna—gross anybody out, or—" he shuts his mouth again, shifts his hips and shudders again, distracted from embarrassment. Rich isn't surprised he's getting sidetracked: after waiting this long, finally getting some solid contact on his dick must be an incredible relief.

"You're not grossing anyone out, man," Rich says, "your hand feels fine. Plus, you designed it yourself, that's amazing. Do you have any idea how fucking hot that is? Liam, did you know he designed it?"

"Mmh?" Liam goes, coming back from wherever he was in his head and blinking his big, pretty grey eyes up at them. "Huh? What?" and then, when Rich nods down at Basil's hand, "—Oh! God, yes, it's gorgeous, wouldn't change a thing—except the part where you can't stick it into any body cavities without gloves on, that seems like it would be a challenge."

"Right," Basil says, with a rough huff, but the tension is easing out of his shoulders. "Because I do so much sticking my fingers into people's—into—people."

"Exactly," says Liam, with dignity. "Seems inconvenient, ah—nnh, that, hha, that, right there, that's just how you wanna do it, hon, there's a, an angle, if—oh…" and he's gone again, breathing hard and rocking into the jerky thrusts of Basil's hips, moaning hopefully.

Rich snorts quietly and levers himself up out of his comfortable laze to sit next to Liam. "Let go," he says, patting one of Liam's knees, and after a minute Liam cautiously unhooks his ankles from behind Basil's back. Rich grabs his legs and pulls them up, holding them bent above his chest and raising his ass to a better angle.

"There," he says, nodding to Basil. "Go for it—nice and smooth, man."

"That, hhah," Liam says, and it sounds like he's trying to be vaguely aggrieved, except for the way his hands grope out a second later to grip at the mattress so hard they shake. "I, hhhn, oh, yeah—" and then, breathless to Basil, with a wicked little glance up at Rich, "—you're not a tease, are you babe, you're gonna get me there, and you're not e-even gonna be ah, ah, aha, make me, mmm." He loses track of that sentence as Basil picks up the pace, moving faster and smoother now, breathing in long gasps in the same rhythm as his hips. He's got his eyes squeezed shut, like he's thinking about hoverboarding or Family Fleet or whatever people think about when they're trying not to come. His nose is all wrinkled up with concentration and he's so flushed it's drowned out all his freckles, it's the cutest thing.

"So goddamn cute," Liam murmurs, and Rich glances down to see Liam watching Basil's face too, that strange, intense softness in his eyes as Basil fucks him. "Come on, you waited long enough, you don't h-have to wait anymore, Basil mm." He arches again, groans, finishes, "Fuck me, come on!" and rocks against Rich's grip on his legs hard, frustrated urgency breaking through the tender patience.

Basil lets out a whimpering moan and loses the smoothness, slamming into Liam rough and frantic. "I don't," he gasps, "know 'f, I c'n—'m trying!"

"You're fine, man," Rich says. "If you come I'll get him off a couple seconds later, just chill."

"A couple of—" Liam growls, and pinches one of Rich's legs, making Rich jerk and huff, then goes back to clinging to the mattress. "Ah— He's, he's right though, Basil, sweetie, you can just—just come for me, hon, just let go, I wanna see you fffeel good, ah, fuck, you boys are so good to me—" he moans at Basil's next thrust, arches his hips and keeps moaning, shaking with every thrust, chest heaving and head thrown back.

Basil moans back like he's anguished, bites his lip hard and spares his bare hand to wrap around Liam's dick and rub his thumb under the head, still pumping into him fast and fierce. It's adorable, and Rich would help his cause if his hands weren't occupied already. Liam seems to appreciate it, anyway, if his noisy, wordless response is any indication.

It's a valiant effort, but Basil's been waiting a long, long time, and he only manages for another minute or two before his hips stutter and a long, breathless moan comes out of him, sweet and trembling and gorgeous. Liam hums, pleased, arching into it as Basil gives a last few jolting thrusts and then...collects himself and keeps going, breathing hard and fast, eyes squeezed shut.

"Oh," says Liam, and shudders back on the mattress, eyelids fluttering, concern knitting his brows but helplessly distracted by the pleasure. "Ah, hha, babe, you don't have to—you can nnh, oh, fuck, don't h-hurt yourself, hon..."

"'M fine," Basil gasps, sounding strained.

"Holy shit, man," Rich says, eyebrows rising. "We're impressed already, damn. Liam's right, don't make yourself sore or anything, that's not fun for anybody."

Basil's face screws up in frustration and disappointment, hips still jerking and shuddering aimlessly against Liam's, and Liam sighs, arches up against him one last time before he wriggles free of Rich's grasp and then scoots himself up off Basil's dick.

"Stop, hon, it's alright, you did great," he says.

"But you're, you didn't, I couldn't—" Basil reaches after him, still upset.

"You did fine," Liam says, and takes his jaw firmly. "C'mere, kiss me, touch me, get me there, you can still—ahh, still can—yes, like that—"

Basil kisses him ferociously, then gets his hand down between Basil's legs, pumping his sweet little dick hard and fast.

"Please, I—fingers, can someone, I want please more, just, just a little more—" Liam begs, and Basil falters, looking down at his two hands, only one of which can get messy and is already occupied with Liam's dick. He looks pleadingly up at Rich, beautiful and lost, and Rich feels his heart do something sharp and totally unauthorized.

"Yeah, I got this, baby, it's okay," Rich says, and leans in to kiss Basil himself, soft and reassuring, before grabbing Liam by the ribs to shift him around to a more convenient spot on the mattress. Liam drops his legs wide and arches his hips hopefully and Rich slides a couple fingers into him, snugs them up against the right spot, and folds down to get his mouth on that beautiful little dick. Liam gives a really satisfying whine and shudders, and Rich hums in smug satisfaction. Basil scrambles over to keep kissing him, pinching and tugging at his nipple studs with the hard fingers of his gloved hand, and Liam moans happily.

It doesn't take all that long of both of them working him over before Liam start letting out sharp, incoherent frantic pleas, hips rocking fast and wild into Rich's mouth, one hand threaded eagerly through Basil's wild curls. Rich keeps his fingers going and slides down to swallow around the head of Liam's dick a couple times, working the head over with the back of his throat, and Liam moans against Basil's lips and then gives a gorgeous series of sharp cries, louder and louder as he writhes up into Rich's grip on his hips, screaming as he falls apart. Rich sucks him through it, swallows his come, and doesn't even mind the taste as he licks Liam clean afterwards. Nothing about this is shameful or dirty or wrong; everything is so good, every part of this has been so good.

Liam grabs at both of them afterward, pulls them both down and wraps as much of himself as he can around them. It's not very much because he doesn't have as much limb as he needs, so Rich helps out by wrapping an arm over Basil and pulling him in close, both of them sprawled along either side of Liam, trying not to crush him.

"I'm sorry I came too soon," Basil says, low-voiced and embarrassed. "Next time I'll do better, I swear."

"Oh, hon, you were fantastic," Liam says, sounding absolutely, utterly sated. "If you'd taken any longer I might have started to wonder what I was doing wrong..." He kisses each of them, nuzzles against Rich's neck and then relaxes back with a sigh. "...Rich, you still need to go to Medical. In, in a bit. Mm."

Rich gives a long, irritated sigh and shakes his head. "I'm fine, man, but if it'll get you to relax, then okay, sure. You can take me there." As long as Liam comes with him, it'll go fine, it'll be okay. Rich won't have anything to be afraid of.

Liam makes a dissatisfied little noise and headbutts Rich's jaw. "Pff, if it'll get me to relax," he grumbles darkly. "You haven't seen me uptight yet! Swear to god, I will make you take care of yourself and, and not die of stupid, preventable—"

"Can we have a different argument now?" Rich asks plaintively. "I already said yes!"

"We were worried, is all," Basil says quietly. His hand goes and traces softly over Rich's arm, then up over his shoulder to cup the side of his jaw. "We were really worried about you, Rich. We, um. We care about you a lot."

Rich doesn't have the first clue how he's supposed to react. Are people supposed to say stuff like that right out loud to your face? It doesn't seem fair. He makes a grumbling, inarticulate noise of confusion and annoyance and presses his heating face into the mattress while he tries to deal.

"I get it," he says, not lifting his head enough to look at anyone. "I know you guys were worried, cuz you…like me, I know, you've got my back. It's…cool."

"No," Basil says, sounding frustrated, and Rich's head jerks up, his heart doing a stupid, panicky explosion thing in his chest, before Basil goes on, "This isn't like a mutual defense Sympatico thing, we're not just—we care about you, okay? We're friends. I'm your friend, Rich. Okay?"

"Oh," Rich says, and his voice comes out all squashed and pathetic. He takes a breath and it shakes, badly, and he has to close his eyes and just...think about something else for a minute, because bursting into tears because he's too touched to handle it would be completely humiliating.

He knew they were friends already, kind of, even though he keeps on having trouble believing it, but he thought—they were mad at him, he scared them, some part of him was waiting for them to go 'Actually, your fucked-up mess of a personality is way too much trouble, even if the sex is all right,' and bail on him. And instead he gets to lie here and hold them and hear Basil claim Rich as his friend, like that's something he wants, something that's important to him.

"Okay," he says roughly. "Yeah, friends. Cool. I—me too, I like you guys too." He manages to look up to meet Liam's eyes, and Basil's, before he has to look away again.

"Aw, hon," Liam says gently, and leans up on his elbows to kiss Rich's jaw. "You're so sweet, Rich, you're such a good guy, c'mere."

Rich finds himself pulled down into a number of dizzyingly soft, thorough kisses, getting traded back and forth between Liam and Basil both, until his breathing gets rough and embarrassingly ragged all over again and his heart's gone tight in his chest. He doesn't know what to do with anything he's feeling but hang on—so he does, until Basil sees something in Rich's face that makes the guy go "Aww," warmly, and let him go so he can hide his face again. Basil moves around to lie against Rich's back, though, and pets his fingers through Rich's hair while Rich pulls himself back together, and it's…a lot. It's a lot more than Rich ever thought he'd have. It's nice.

"You guys mean a lot to me," he finally hazards saying, and if his voice is still kinda torn up, then—so what. If Basil can be brave Rich can, too. "If there's—if you ever need help, though, like, if you ever do need someone watching your back. I want, uh. I wanna be there for you, okay?"

"We don't—" Basil starts, and Rich holds a hand up sharply.

"I know you don't, now, I know you feel safe, man, you're fine, I get that," he says, impatient, and shifts onto his back so he can see them both at once. "But if you ever do. You've got me now, and I'll watch out for you. Anything you need, any trouble you get into, you call me. Okay?"

"No," Liam says fiercely. "No, Rich, that's not okay. You're not a fucking soldier, no matter what your mod was for and how you've been used for it. You're a free citizen, you're your own man, and you deserve to be protected and cared for just as much as anyone else. And we're going to."

"Yeah, what he said," Basil says, sounding just as unhappy. "The Sympatico messed you up so bad, man. I'm not about to ask you to get hurt even more just because you expect to, just because you think that's what you're for. If either of us get in trouble, we'll handle it, like adults. Not like a bunch of—of antisocial, crazy assholes with knives who think it's fine to carve each other up and keep each other miserable. That isn't the kind of world we have to live in. That isn't the kind of world you have to live in, anymore, we keep telling you!"

Rich cringes back against the mattress, totally bewildered. "I'm sorry," he offers. "I didn't mean to say you guys were like—I know this isn't like the Sympatico, that you're not like that, I'm trying to be better, I'm sorry—"

"No, hey, sweetheart," Liam says, and rolls over to hug him. "Hey, Rich, it's okay, we're not—that's not what we're mad at, we're not mad at you—"

"Shit," Basil says, and reaches out to pet his hair. "I'm sorry," he says. "Didn't mean to yell. I just hate that you think all you're good for is being kicked around some more, okay? You deserve so much more than that."

Rich nods tentatively, even though he's still confused. It's completely bizarre to hear them say all this stuff, and weirder that they both seem to believe it. Rich is a soldier mod, whether he likes it or not; he's huge, he's tough, he can take the kind of punishment that kills anyone else, he can be used for things that no one else can accomplish. If that's what he was made for, why shouldn't it be what he's used for?

But it sounds nice, to be told that maybe he's been wrong, all this time. It feels so good to be told, 'Nobody needs you to be what you were designed for. You don't have to fight and hurt and be hurt anymore, or endure the kind of work that would break anyone else. You can be just as free and safe as any other citizen.'

It's true, too, that here on the Reliant no one needs his protection like Trimmer did. But off the Reliant, when they get sent out to other ships, there are plenty of assholes around, as Burton proved. And Liam might be furious enough to go for any asshole like that he meets, but fury won't protect him from weapons, or even someone who knows how to fight. If Rich hadn't been there on the Arcadia...

Basil would've called Security in sooner.

Rich blinks up at the ceiling, remembering that. If Rich hadn't stopped him, Basil would've made that call, and it would've been fine, because it was actually okay when that happened a few minutes later. Security didn't club anybody, they helped, and listened to Rich and the others, and it was fine.

And Basil and Liam acted like Rich's reaction was the weird one. And Mitch and Angie were both upset about Rich's fear of Security, acted like it was anything but reasonable. Like outside toxic dumps like the Sympatico, people are used to Security being safe and actually protecting people, just like they're used to always having enough to eat, or never being attacked by their crewmates. And with the new Admiral Clearwater's initiative to actually address where the Fleet has failed, the Sympatico's dysfunctional crew has been redistributed to places they've got a chance to learn better. Her unrepentantly violent citizens expelled, her abusive Security complement retrained, the blood scrubbed off her decks and even her corrupt code finally repaired.

What happened to Rich was wrong. And bit by bit, it's being made right. And maybe he won't have to go through anything like it ever again.

Even the Sympatico herself told him, "Rest."

"...Huh," he says, shoulders unknotting slowly as he thinks it all through. "Cool."

Liam laughs. "Yes, 'cool', well noted," he says, and kisses Rich again. When he lets go, Basil nuzzles Rich's jaw for a kiss of his own. Then Liam shifts over until he can drape himself across Rich's chest.

"Ah, you make such an excellent mattress," Liam declares, sounding smug.

"Oh, well, at least I'm still good for something," Rich says, aiming for a dry, teasing tone and apparently completely missing, because Basil snorts at him and Liam flicks Rich in the chin, then kisses the same spot.

"That's quite enough of that," Liam says, snuggling down on him comfortably. "You're a handsome and sweet and intelligent young man, an incredibly skilled technician, and I've heard you're impressive on a hoverboard, which I really have got to see as soon as I possibly can."

Rich's face heats to boiling, but before he can ask who told Liam about the hoverboarding thing, Liam's going on thoughtfully, "And I guess you're not bad in bed."

Basil collapses into giggles against Rich's side.

"Not bad?" Rich demands, indignant now. "Excuse me? Who's the guy who was going around with a giant plug just so he could take my dick? Who's the guy who dragged me off in the middle of storm docking specifically to take my dick?"

Basil's giggling turns into a strangled sound. "He what?!"

"I did say you weren't bad, sweetheart," Liam says cheerfully. "Maybe with a few more repeat performances, we'll train you up to halfway decent." He gives a showy, arching stretch, and a pointed grind of his soft dick against Rich's stomach, and purrs wickedly: "Who knows how good you could get, with enough practice."

Rich finds himself laughing along with Basil, even as his tired dick gives a faint little throb of interest.

"Alright, alright," he smiles. "Feel free to help me with my technique any time you want, man."

"Mm, good boy. I'll hold you to that," Liam says, and drops his chin back onto Rich's chest. "For now we can...work on cuddling..." He gives a sweet, sleepy sigh, already drifting off.

Rich gives Basil a look of helpless wonder, because that's so cute he can barely stand it. Basil smiles back, tentatively shifting as if to rest his head on Rich's other shoulder, and Rich wraps that arm around him and tugs him in close.

It's a strange place to feel so safe and happy, a dim and crowded little storeroom that smells of dirt and chemicals and a lot of sex and, faintly, piña colada lube. But in the last month, so much of Rich's life has been strange, and so much of that strangeness has been wonderful. Right now, he has two amazing guys in his arms, soft and sleepy and trusting. He has friends, now, and a job he really likes, and a boat that's a pleasure to crew, and sometimes there are even blackberries.

Outside, the storm is still raging, but in here he's warm, and safe, and at peace. So he doesn't question the sense of absolute contentment flooding through him now. Rich just closes his eyes and breathes easy.