Rub-a-Dub-Dub (Two Guys in a Tub)

Note: Takes place between You Are the Moon That Pulls Me Through the Night and The Rousing Effects of Coffee.

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Zain had brought it out after dinner and set it on the coffee table in front of Seb. It was covered in pink wrapping paper with red doodles of hearts being pierced by arrows. A black ribbon tied around it held the tag in place on top. LUSH, the tag read, and SEXY FUN TIMES over another heart. Seb took one look and said, “But I didn’t get you anything!”

“You made dinner,” Zain said. “Also, this is a gift for both of us, and also also, your birthday is in four days, so consider this your pre-birthday present, and finally also, quit arguing and open it because I’m really excited to use it.” He was practically bouncing.

Holding back a smile, Seb had leaned forward on the couch to pick apart the ribbon and wrapping paper carefully—until Zain was groaning with impatience—and then opened the box inside.

He recognized two of the products: the Sex Bomb Bath Bomb and a log of pink Fun, a kind of moldable solid bubble bath. The other two weren’t familiar. Turning over the tag, he saw the heart-shaped one was called Tender is the Night Massage Bar, and the black square was… he blinked. “You Snap the Whip Body Butter?”

“Hey, I didn’t name it,” Zain had said, smirking. “Though that is maybe why I picked this particular gift set. So, which ones do you want to use tonight?”

“You said it’s a gift for both of us.”

“It is.” Zain rocked forward on his toes. “I’ll be joining you in using them, but you get to pick when and in what order.”

After sniffing each, Seb had settled on taking a bath using the Sex Bomb, with Fun bubbles.

*

The bubbles had nearly all dissipated now, leaving behind magenta water that sloshed over the sides of the tub every time Seb moved. Which was often, because he couldn’t stop himself from thrusting up into Zain’s fist when Zain had been stroking every inch of him from clavicle to thighs since they sank into the bath together.

“Please,” he panted, his eyes closed and head back on Zain’s shoulder, feet trying to get purchase on the slippery porcelain to create more leverage, skin impossibly hot under the cooling water. “S’il te plaît, may I come?”

“No,” Zain said, tightening his hold both with the forearm across Seb’s chest and lower down, making Seb whimper and arch and more water splash everywhere. He kissed Seb’s damp cheek. “You didn’t call me ‘sir,’ my boy.”

“Sir, sir, please, sir?”

Zain chuckled darkly at his desperation and… let go.

“Nooooo,” Seb moaned, grabbing for his wrist to try forcing his hand back under the water, feeling the orgasm sliding away.

“Shhh,” Zain said. He wrapped both arms over Seb’s rib cage and held him as he rode the edge with such a look of sweet torment and ecstasy on his face, it made Zain think, He’s so, so gorgeous, and I did that. He belongs to me. Pride filled him.

Then Seb’s wiggling against his own hardness made him gasp.

Seb heard it. He started to wiggle with a purpose.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Zain said, sitting up more to get away from the friction. “We still have that massage bar to use.”

Breathlessly, Seb asked, “Thought you said I get to pick when to use it?”

“You do,” said Zain, “but we’re not fucking until it’s been used. Up to you if that’s tonight or next week.”

“Evil,” Seb said, twisting to look at him. “You know I can’t go that long, you salaud.”

Zain grinned. “Maybe you can. I’ve kinda been thinking about doing this for longer periods.”

Oops. He hadn’t meant to say that now, when Seb was so turned on and willing that he might agree without even considering if he really wanted it.

Then again, it also got much easier for him to talk about sex at all when he was aroused. Zain watched his reaction carefully. At first he simply blinked. Then he flushed darker and broke eye contact before he asked, “How long?”

“Days, maybe weeks?” Zain said, trying to sound offhand instead of uncertain. Doms were not supposed to be uncertain.

His hesitancy was echoed in Seb’s face. “I don’t know if I can… um, go that long. Without. I mean, would it be totally no orgasms or anything?”

“Habibi, if you don’t want to, it’s fine.”

“No, I–it’s a, a nice idea,” Seb stammered. “I’m just not sure if I can.”

Zain kissed his mouth, soft and brief, reassuring both of them. Then he pulled back an inch and slowly asked, “What if it’s not a hundred percent denial? What if it’s just being under my control? Having to get my permission to come for a longer period, and I’d let you do it sometimes but you wouldn’t know when I might say yes or I might say no?”

Seb’s pupils went wide as he listened, like he was mesmerized with lust. “Um. Yeah, that could… work. If maybe we start with a couple of days?”

Smiling, Zain said, “How about it ends after a couple of days no matter what, but we also give you a way to back out earlier if you want, with no hard feelings?”

“Wouldn’t I just safeword?” Seb asked, looking confused.

Zain shook his head. “But what if you wanted to stop a particular edging session because your blood sugar is going low, but don’t want to stop the whole thing after that? I think we need something clearer to mean it’s the end of the…” He waved a hand, dripping water over the edge of the tub. “Experiment.”

“Oh,” Seb said, easing back against him. “Yeah, that would be good. What would I say?”

Inspiration struck Zain like a bolt from the blue, the way all his best ideas came. He jostled Seb away from him again as he stood up and stepped out onto the bathmat. He didn’t even bother grabbing a towel to dry off, just made for the bedroom.

Slightly put-out at being left alone so suddenly, Seb called after him, “Zain, you’re getting water everywhere.” Not that it mattered much if he did, he realized. Half the tiled floor was already soaked. It made him a little sad, thinking of the waste of a good bath bomb. He really needed to stop using them when he and Zain bathed together.

A moment later, Zain returned. Something shiny glinted in his hand. It swung back and forth so Seb couldn’t get a clear look until Zain sat down on the edge of the tub and held it up. It was his dog tags on their ball chain necklace.

“What if when you’re wearing these, you have to get my permission?” Zain asked. “That way, if you want to stop, you can just take them off, and I don’t even need to be around to hear a safeword, you just gotta tell me as soon after as possible.” He smirked, and it had a dangerous edge. “Plus, I like the idea of my name on you, marking you as my property.”

Seb swallowed. He liked that idea quite a lot too, he found. Through his dry mouth, he said, “D’accord.”

“Put them on,” said Zain, offering them.

The chain lay across his palm, bright and waiting for Seb to take it. But he shook his head.

“I want you to do it. I can take them off, but only you can put them on me,” he said. Then, remembering this was kind of the start of a scene, he added, “Um, I mean, if that’s okay?”

Zain’s smile was warm and understanding. He didn’t ask why Seb wanted it that way.

Of course not, Seb thought. He knows.

“Yeah,” Zain said, and he took the chain in both hands and, with great reverence, lowered it over Seb’s head, letting go only when it rested on his shoulders. It felt extraordinarily heavy. “Mm,” he said, flipping the dog tags over so the writing faced out. “Nice. Who do you belong to, my boy?”

Seb looked down at them hanging against his breastbone just over the water. “You, sir,” he breathed, and it had never felt more right and true.

“Yes,” Zain agreed. “Oh, and that gives me another idea. Unless people will overhear you, I want you to call me ‘sir’ all the time you’re wearing them, as a reminder that you’re mine.”

“Okay,” said Seb, floating on the sensation of the cool metal against his wet skin.

Zain said, “Okay, sir,” and his voice was stern and dominant and got Seb’s full focus in an instant. He replayed Zain’s request in his head while his heart stuttered and his cock twitched from hearing that tone.

Then he smiled as he took his life into his hands. “I thought we just said I’d be calling you that.”

“Why, you little–” Zain started indignantly, reaching for him, but Seb leaned back just far enough that he risked falling head-first into the bath, so he stopped and crossed his arms instead. “Do you want to come tonight or not, my boy?”

“Not, sir,” he said, the ‘sir’ coming automatically this time. He shook his head and made droplets fling off his hair, biting his lip to hold back a smile.

Zain grinned in return. “Well maybe I’ll make you, since you decided to get cheeky. Move over.” He put one foot into the water.

“No, sir,” Seb said, pulling the plug to let the tub start draining. Before Zain could reach for him again, he asked, “You said I could pick when we use the massage bar, right, sir?”

“So I did,” Zain said. “Alright. But I’m calling the shots for the rest of the night, and for the next two days, unless you take this off.” He flicked the chain of the dog tags.

“Yes, sir,” Seb agreed, already thinking there was no way he would remove them before the time was up. Taking Zain’s outstretched hand, he let himself be helped out of the tub. And he didn’t even squirm as Zain tenderly dried him off and led him to bed.