Finally, A Bit of Privacy

Who: Nic and Dan
Where: The Spooky House, Master Suite
When: Night

After cooking dinner, Nic wasn't entirely sure what to do with his time, especially since night brought on the darkness. He'd wandered into the study, written a journal entry, stole a book and a letter opener, then returned to the bedroom he shared with Dan. He felt safest in private rooms, despite the fact that he'd been forced to deal with more people recently than he would have preferred. When everyone was gathered together as they were, there seemed to be safety in numbers. Now their numbers had been divided, their setting had changed, and Nic was more aware than ever that there were things that went bump in the night. The house seemed to make noises, unexplainable even when he'd looked for the source, and he remained aware of them even while he forced his nose into a book, attempting to read.

Dan had spent some time with Zhen that day, exploring the house. She had a certain fascination for it that was very definitely compelling - though less time spent down in the cellars would have been good, especially considering the size of the rodents down there - after he'd seen the first one he'd been really grateful that Nic wasn't with them - his boyfriend would not have been happy about that. And so it was that a rather dusty Dan made his way back to their purloined room - one of only two double rooms in the house and definitely the biggest, but nobody had seemed to complain about it. His appearance was somewhat eccentric - the dust and cobwebs he was covered in contrasting totally with the rest of his attire - which consisted of a white shirt, black tie and a perfectly tailored, slim-fitting black suit with a blood-red pin stripe to it that looked like it had been just made for him. He'd looked through the other outfits that had apparently been left for him and they were all much of a theme - it wasn't a look that he'd really ever worn before, but it suited him and, to go with the style, had slicked his longish blonde hair back off his face. It had dried back, curling a little at the ends, and was now greyed with dust and cobwebs as he walked into the room.

Nic looked up from his book, eyes softening as he smiled. Beside him, Izzy put her head back down on her paws, accepting Dan into the room with ease. "Where have you been?" he asked with a small laugh, noting the dust in Dan's hair. "I swear you were clean the last time I saw you." The house was old enough that pretty much anywhere could have gotten dust on Dan, though probably not in such mass quantities, and probably not in his hair. Nic wondered if he'd been climbing around in a cabinet or something.

"Zhen and I ended up in the cellars - they're huge," Dan told him reaching up to scrub at his hair, wrinkling his nose. "And dusty - there's loads of spiders down there," he added, not mentioning the rats. He looked down at himself and started brushing at his shoulders. "Well, this was a nice suit..."

"Maybe we'll wake up in the morning and find it clean again," Nic said, grinning. Somehow he doubted the scientists would clean their costumes for them while they slept. And that's what they were: costumes. "If not, you've got more to choose from. Was there anything in the basement besides spiders and dust?" he asked curiously. He'd explored the main floor and the kitchen, but hadn't made it up past the second floor or below the first.

"Well, with this house I'd held out hopes of a wine cellar..." Not that Dan drunk - not anymore, anyhow. Between Nic and Sarah, he'd learned his lesson. He was being a sober bunny from now on. It wasn't like he'd been able to hold it anyhow. "But nothing. Just dirt and darkness - you wouldn't really like it." What with the rats he wasn't mentioning and everything.

"Wonder why it's there, if there's nothing down there," Nic frowned. "If there's food, I wouldn't get it from down there. Sarah and I ran into a rat in the kitchen earlier and... Well, we got rid of it." It had been a disaster that had killed one good pot of noodles, but the rat was out of the house and that was all that mattered. Could rats climbed stairs? He figured they could climb anything. If they'd gotten into the basement, they could get in the house, and if they were in the house, then they could get in his bedroom, and-- Nic promptly clamped down on that thought. "She can effectively cook spaghetti noodles," he said instead.

"Huh?" Dan asked, thinking he'd got lost along the way somewhere there, not knowing how Nic got from a rat in the kitchen to spaghetti. And also - shit. He'd hoped the rats were just in the basement, Nic had talked about how he really, really didn't like them. "You okay?" he asked, concerned.

"Um. Yeah. Made a bit of a fool of myself, standing on the chair and jumping up on the door, but we got it out. Or, rather, Sarah did. I mostly pointed and screamed," Nic cringed. "But she was amused with my antics, and we ruined our first go at dinner, so I think it's okay. I think she'd just glad I didn't bludgeon the thing to death with a broom. A dead rat on the kitchen floor would have made dinner far less appealing." He was trying to take it lightly and not show how concerned he was that the rat would come back. Right now, his brain would only allow one. One was bad enough.

"You're talking to the guy who almost drowned you because something brushed passed his leg in a knee-high stream," Dan reminded him, trying to make light of the entire situation. "So - what do you think of this place? And where you you think they've put everyone else? And - what was so bad they had to split us up? You think it was the wolves? Or something else?" Dan walked over to sit by him, shrugging off the jacket as he did so.

"I think this place is a prop," Nic said, crawling to the edge of the bed to help Dan out of his jacket. "They could put us anywhere, and they chose to put us here? They obviously put some thought into the groupings, cause if you'd been missing when I woke up, I'd have climbed the walls by now looking for you. I don't know what they did with everyone else, but I doubt they put them in a haunted house like this... only because it seems kinda crazy to have several of these sitting around for use. I don't think they had to split us up, but more that... maybe... we never functioned as a group when we were all together. Maybe they want to see how we handle things when there are less of us. When everything's not handed over on silver platters." Nic had had far too much time to think on this, and they were only one day into it.

"What? You mean haunted houses aren't ten a penny?" Dan joked, grinning. "You're probably right though and I think they had to keep us with the people we cared about. I think they'd know what would happen if they didn't - safety or not, we would all have been just out of there, looking for whoever wasn't there. I know I would, anyway."

"It does make me wonder, though. If we got a haunted house, what did they get?" Nic said, brushing some of the dust off Dan. "But, yeah. If you weren't here, there'd be nothing they could do to stop me from looking for you. I'm not sure that's what they want to test us on when they already know the outcome." And if they didn't see that as Nic's instant reaction, then they hadn't been paying attention.

"Is there a sink in here? Or a bathroom - I didn't look around that much, except for the clothes earlier on," Dan admitted. "But I think I definitely need a wash. Maybe they got... You know, I have no idea. A gingerbread cottage in the woods?" he giggled. It sounded about as stupid as a haunted house...

"There's a bathroom," Nic said, nodding towards the adjoining door. "Complete with tub, toilet, and sink. I think we nabbed the master." There was no complaining on that point, as Nic preferred that they have a bit of privacy. The connected bath allowed that far more than the other rooms did, even if he was pretty sure there was at least one more with a queen size bed. It made sense to him to grab one that would fit a couple. If he and Dan had been stuck with two singles, there'd have been some furniture re-arranging to do. "A gingerbread cottage?" Nic said, grinning. "See, I don't know which would worry me more: the haunted house, which is obviously creepy, or the cottage where a witch might just be waiting to fatten me up and throw me in her oven."

Dan laughed at that as he got up and went to investigate the bathroom - depressed as he saw the lack of a shower. Depressed, but not entirely surprised. He stuck his head back into the bedroom. "So - if I use all of my charm and persuasion, you wanna take a bath with me," he asked, giving Nic his best come on look. "I'll distract you from all the things that go bump in the night..."

Knowing about Dan's fear of water and now having had experience with it, Dan wouldn't have had to do much to persuade Nic to join him. Another bath wouldn't hurt him and it would provide him with a clean boyfriend. Still, it was fun to play along. "Depends on your methods of distraction," Nic said, slowly strolling to the bathroom with a smirk on his face. "I'll keep you safe in the bath while you'll keep me safe in the bed?"

Dan was all sorts of good with playing the game. He let his hair flop forward over his face as he looked up at his boyfriend through the blonde strands with his startlingly blue eyes as he bit the side of his lower lip in between his teeth. "I'll keep you safe whatever you want. But what to you want - keeping safe. Or distracting?" he asked, coyly.

"Distracting sounds much more appealing," Nic said, fingers reaching out to unbutton Dan's shirt, starting at the top. As he did so, he looked down into his eyes, his body flushing and warm, tingling in anticipation. His boyfriend was a master at playing coy, at giving him a smoldering look that would always get him pretty much anything he asked for.

Dan stood there, allowing himself to be undressed at Nic's leisure, enjoying the return of privacy, even in this strangest of places. He knew he'd missed it - god, how much had he missed it, but this - this was something else. All in all, he appreciated it so much more for the short absence.

It felt like it'd been weeks since he'd had the chance to be close to Dan, though Nic knew that time passed differently in the experiment than outside it. It had seemed like a long time regardless, and Nic took his time, taking in the view as he slowly exposed Dan's chest. Buttons undone, he ran his hands from Dan's waist up, slowly pushing the shirt off his shoulders. "Should I run us some water?" he asked, teasing for he knew that if they didn't at least start the bath, they might not make it there at all.

"Uhuh," Dan said, his eyes firmly on Nic and although it was meant to be Dan who was doing the distracting, he sounded thoroughly distracted himself. He licked his lips and shrugged the shirt off his shoulders, letting it pool on the floor by his feet. "Yeah. Water."

Fingers sliding into the waistband of Dan's pants, Nic slowly backed towards the tub, dragging Dan along with him. When he got close enough, Nic sat on the ledge and pulled Dan till he was standing just between Nic's bent knees. "I don't think we have any bubbles," Nic informed him, grinning as he kissed Dan's stomach. One hand released Dan's pants just long enough to start the water, but then he was toying with the button, opening it, then drawing down the zipper as he looked up at Dan, lips to his skin.

Dan went with the pull, he always did when it was Nic pulling. "I can live without bubbles," he said, reaching up to bury a hand in Nic's hair, fingers twisting round the short strands. He resisted the urge to pull at Nic's top with his other hand, deciding, instead that he would just wait to see how things would go if he took a back seat on this one - Nic was doing so well with very little encouragement.

It wasn't often that Nic took up the initiative, not always comfortable starting something himself. He was usually content to follow Dan, certain his boyfriend knew what he was doing, while Nic still felt like he was fumbling through things. He wasn't fumbling at the moment though, smoothly sliding Dan's pants down over his hips. As Dan's fingers threaded through his hair, his eyes shut, his hands sliding up Dan's thighs to peel his underwear away from his skin. While Nic always found himself slightly nervous at times like these, there was also the anticipation, his own arousal sign that he was just as pleased with how this was going as Dan was.

Dan smiled as he looked down, watching Nic as he freed him from his clothes, the only noise the rush of the water into the tub, but even that didn't faze Dan right now. He was thoroughly and totally distracted - and not a little turned on by putting himself totally in the hands of this man who seemed today so confident and sure of himself. "You're beautiful," he whispered to him, smiling a little.

Nic flushed at the compliment, not used to receiving it himself. He'd always thought of girls as the beautiful ones, yet he knew he would have placed Dan in that category as well. Smiling playfully up at Dan, he wrapped his hand around his length, stroking him slowly as the water filled the tub behind him. The advantage to tubs of this size was how much water it would hold, as well as both people. They had time, at least by Nic's estimate. It'd been too long for him to rush things.

What Nic considered an advantage, Dan would consider a disadvantage in any other circumstance, but having Nic with him made bathtime bearable - especially when he was doing that. Dan groaned, his eyes closing for a second before reopening so that he could watch Nic, his hand tightening slightly in the man's hair, his other hand moving to rest on his shoulder.

"You'll watch the water?" Nic asked, his voice deep with desire. "Don't let it get too high." He was fairly certain that Dan would watch the water level, though Nic intended to distract him from thinking about it too hard. His grip tightened slightly, adding to the friction as he reached up to unbutton his shirt with his free hand. He'd always been decent at multitasking and now it seemed to pay off.

"Uhuh," Dan managed, though his concentration wasn't on either the water, or what was coming out of Nic's mouth. No, it was on a completely different part of his boyfriend's body altogether, though very much after the fact it filtered through to Dan's brain that there was something about water. nothing like water to get Dan focusing more and his eyes belatedly ticked to the filling bath. He could cope with that. He could cope with anything as long as Nic didn't stop what he was doing.

All Dan had to do was watch the bath. Nic would do it himself, but he planned on being otherwise occupied, and he didn't think Dan would have any objections. Leaving his shirt to fall open at his sides, Nic leaned forward, taking Dan into his mouth. He couldn't help but look up at Dan as he did so, eager to watch Dan as ever. While this was still somewhat new to him, it wasn't quite as much the novelty, though he was sure Dan would disagree. He'd certainly never been turned away.

Novelty or not, Dan would never turn this down, not forty years from now when they were going grey, he wouldn't turn him down. Right there and then he was convinced of the fact as he thrust his hips forward a little and tightened his grip on Nic's hair, pushing him forward a little, encouraging him as he gasped, his eyes meeting his lover's, dark with want and need right now.

The encouragement was far more forward than he was used to with Dan, but Nic found that he didn't mind, as it was encouragement and not force. Nic knew, in his position, he'd be wanting to thrust, wanting far more, and so Nic did his best to give it to him, his lips sliding further down on him as he started up a rhythm. Dan's eyes were smoldering, his gaze as big a turn on as anything else. With his pants a touch too tight, Nic continued, figuring he'd get that taken care of afterwards, perhaps in the bath.

Dan knew that he'd always held back with Nic - and in all honesty, he still was, but he'd been giving a little more each time, easing Nic into everything, slowly introducing what he liked, hinting at things he preferred. They were a long way off yet, but Dan didn't want to scare the poor boy off. And so far, he hadn't done so, so success there then. He let out another small gasp, his free hand slipping under Nic's open shirt to rest on his shoulder, curling his fingers round to dig in a little with his nails.

Nic moaned softly as Dan's nails dug into him, his eyes closing as he took Dan full into his mouth. One hand moved to cup his balls, fingers questing slowly back behind them, teasing lightly. He could tell each little step they took, each time Dan was willing to take things farther, always when Nic was ready to accept them. Eventually, he hoped to be able to take whatever Dan threw at him, but he knew he wasn't quite there yet. He enjoyed doing this though, far more than he'd ever thought he would, especially the part where he could learn what Dan liked. It was so easy to push his buttons from this position, a task he rather enjoyed doing.

Dan eased his legs apart a little further in response to Nic's questing, the corners of his mouth twisting upwards as his boyfriend took the initiative - something Dan was not going to stop him doing. It was such a turn on for him, especially considering not so long ago, Nic had known nothing at all. Being here, now, like this was worlds away from where they'd once been and Dan wondered absently how far he'd take it before he decided enough was enough and concentrated on what was more solid ground for him. Whatever the answer to that was, Dan was going to say and do nothing and find out. Well, nothing that wasn't encouragement, anyway, he amended as a groan escaped his lips.

Nic didn't mind trying new things, especially when it elicited a response from Dan. Having them done on himself might be a different matter, though he'd have to admit he'd come a damn long way from where he started from. It helped that he knew it felt good, even if it made him uncomfortable. Eventually he'd get over it, or so he hoped, and he thought he'd been doing a decent job so far. When Dan spread his legs slightly, Nic took the opportunity to brush his finger over Dan's entrance, adding just a bit of pressure, though not too much. He wasn't sure of the position, wasn't positive Dan could remain standing like this, though his boyfriend had been successful thus far. Nic pulled back, his tongue swirling around the head of Dan's cock before he went back down, eyes up on Dan rather than what he was doing. That was where the show was.

Dan wasn't sure if his legs would hold him, but, while they were, he wasn't going anywhere. Not when there was this. His emotions ran clearly over his face as his breath came in increasingly laboured gasps, his eyes firmly fixed on Nic, on his face, on his mouth - the whole thing, his own mouth slightly agape as he watched, transfixed. "Baby," he murmured, and his eyes flickered off behind him slightly. Fuck. He looked slightly pained as his gaze returned to his lover's face. "The... water," he got out, in between gasps.

With one hand occupied, Nic was glad he had the other one free. While he had to pull off Dan slightly, it didn't take long to reach behind him and turn the water off. He based it on sound, the fact that he no longer heard running water, as there was nothing that would pull him away from Dan at the moment. With water as Dan's fear, he didn't want him worrying about it, and hoped that resuming his efforts would help him forget now that the water was off. Gently, he slid a finger into Dan, careful due to the lack of lube, guiding himself by Dan's reactions. Based on the sound of his lover's voice, he'd say things were going fairly well.

Dan's eyes flickered closed and he moaned with pleasure as his legs wobbled and he threatened to fall for a moment, but he held, his hand tightening very definitely in Nic's hair, his other hand gripping his shoulder as he lent into him more. Surely Nic knew what he was doing to him - he had to. Hopefully, though, that could only be good.

Nic knew what he was doing to him, or he wouldn't be doing it at all. In fact, he'd do more if he could, worked up enough that he wanted some for himself, but that could wait for another time. He wasn't even sure what they could use if he asked for it. So instead he worked Dan towards completion, his finger curling towards him as he hummed slightly around Dan's cock. His free arm wrapped around Dan's waist, holding him close, recognizing that his legs should be weak, if the hand in his hair had anything to do with it.

Dan cried out, his legs giving way as he came and he collapsed forward, relying on Nic to catch him, at the back of his mind knowing that if he didn't, Dan would catapult them back into the bath and for once in his life, he didn't care. It was just all too much, it was enough that he could cry out something that might have passed as his boyfriend's name.

While Nic wasn't prepared to swallow, he wasn't given all that much of a choice, though he had been expecting it. All he could do was go with it, smiling slightly around Dan as he cried out, his arm tightening around his lover as his legs gave out. As gently as he could manage, Nic eased his finger out of Dan to brace the two of them against the tub, determined not to fall in.

Dan slipped down Nic's body, slumping onto his knees on the floor, his hands slipping from his hair and shoulder, arms wrapping around Nic's waist as he knelt up as best he could to capture Nic's lips in a hungry kiss. There was no smoothness there - he was wobbly and all over the place, but he was happy and ginning as he kissed him, his head a warm and fuzzy place.

Nic laughed softly, leaning down to meet Dan's lips as his hands slid up into Dan's hair. The clumsiness was endearing, a sign that Nic had done a rather good job at getting his boyfriend to relax. While he was still wound up, that made the rush that much better, his heart thumping in his chest as he deepened the kiss, reluctant to pull away from the first real touch he'd gotten since they started. "Love you," he mumbled.

"Love you too," Dan managed without any real sign of wanting to pull away from the kiss either. How long had it been? Days, probably - but that felt like forever here and now. Something about Nic seemed to send his libido through the roof - nothing was ever enough. He pulled back though, and blinked. "You're still dressed," he said, with a frown - as though this was news. As though he hadn't made a conscious decision to leave Nic like that for his own pleasure. Oops.

"I am," Nic grinned, attacking Dan's neck with kisses as he pressed his body against him. While he'd gotten his shirt unbuttoned, he remained clothed from the waist down. "Probably should change that, if we're going to have a bath," he said, hands leaving Dan's hair to trail over his body hungrily. Now it was he that was distracted, having a hard time pulling away, despite the waiting water behind him.

Dan's hands slipped down Nic's back to the waistband of his trousers, before sliding round the front to the fastenings. "We should definitely do something about that," he agreed, still on his knees as he worked at undoing them. "Stand up," he insisted, pulling at the material. Standing up wasn't going to be happening for him any time soon, but he could do this.

Nic climbed to his feet with a small smirk, pleased to be getting out of his pants. They'd been fine before, but now that he was aroused, they seemed awfully tight, probably not something he needed to wear out in such a state. Not that he ever wanted to be wandering around with a hard on. His fingers trailed across Dan's jaw, slightly amused with the change in position. He hadn't planned past getting Dan off. Now it was up to Dan to figure out what he wanted.

Dan knelt at Nic's feet as he let the pants fall to the floor. He slid his hands down the outside of Nic's legs, then sat back on his feet and looked up at his boyfriend, again with the coy look, biting his lower lip. "What do you want?" he asked, innocently, wondering if Nic would actually answer that. It wasn't often that Dan really gave him a choice in the matter. This was another step for them, one Dan wondered if Nic was ready to take.

It wasn't often that Nic took the lead, and even less often that Nic actually came out and said what he wanted. Some things would have been easy enough, but others actually took admitting that he actually enjoyed something he still considered a bit taboo. Nic licked his lips, looking down at Dan with a nervous sort of anticipation, his thumb moving to brush across Dan's lips. Were there cameras here? Was someone watching them? Would this get played back? Somehow he doubted the computer in the study was capable of it. "Suck me off?" Nic said, finding it came out as a request, rather than a solid answer. "Maybe that-- that thing with your fingers. If you want." It seemed wrong to ask for something like that, though he knew that was probably due to a lack of confidence on his part. He just remembered Dan being able to make him feel good, so good that he'd been able to ignore the voice that told him it was wrong. Maybe, eventually, that voice would shut up.