Bailey collapsed against Nate's chest heavily enough to push a surprised breath of laughter from him. He gathered him close, charmed beyond belief by the way his little breaths puffed across his neck, how his hair was sticking up in all kinds of directions, and how his cock was still flushed and swollen. Utterly unable to help himself, he lifted a hand from Bailey's back and stroked a knuckle over the hot skin.

That got him a little spasm and dismayed gasp.

"Nate," Bailey complained in the same tone he used when calling him daddy.

He hummed and laid his hand across Bailey's thigh to stroke his thumb soothingly over the fine hairs and soft skin. He had a tattoo there, geometric and curving. Nate traced over it a few times.

"What's this?" he asked after a while.

Bailey hummed, then spoke without lifting his head so that his lips brushed the side of Nate's neck with each word. "The golden ratio." Then, before Nate could ask, he huffed and said, "It's a design thing."

"Oh." It had looked vaguely mathematical to Nate, but he had never been very good at either math or art, so he would not know. His fingers trailed up Bailey's side to the bouquet spilling down his bicep. There were no colors in his tattoos, just bold and delicate lines with lovely shading. Bailey hummed as he continued to explore. Once in a while, he'd provide a little context for the one that Nate was stroking over.

"That one is because I like jellyfish," he said when Nate traced the delicate tendrils on his forearm. "They are so squishy but so stingy."

Nate snorted and poked a lemon on Bailey's wrist. "Because you like lemons?"

"Mhm," Bailey pulled his face out of Nate's neck and laid his head on his shoulder so he could look down. "Do you like them?"

"Lemons? They're alright. I'm not one of those people who just eats them, though." Nate scrunched up his nose at the thought, "Are you?"

When Bailey giggled, he squirmed closer to Nate's chest and pressed his smile into the skin below his collarbone. If Nate felt any more fond of him, he might do something dramatic, like try to chain him to his bed and never let him do anything besides soft and giggling into Nate's chest. Or maybe sobbing with pleasure against his chest. That would be good, too.

"Neither am I," Bailey said once his giggles died down. Coming down from a scene like this, he acted surprisingly similar to when he was high. "But I meant, do you like my tattoos?"

"Yes," Nate said because that was a fact. He thought they were sexy as hell, just as seemingly random and scattered but actually meaningful and lovely as Bailey himself. "I think they are sexy."

"You don't have any," Bailey pointed out.

"Never could decide what to get. What about this one?" Nate poked Bailey in the side over the most recent dragon tattoo.

"Ah," Bailey jerked away from the poke and glared at him. It was probably good to get some space between them. Nate was growing tacky where his ass was leaking lube, and Bailey was still a mess all around. And it was hotter than hell in this room, he suddenly realized. They really should get up and shower.

Bailey sat up and lifted an arm to give them both a better view of the dragon. It curved down his side, climbing over a tumble of rocks towards a very small figure that Nate had never noticed by one of its claws. The figure was brandishing a sword.

"St. George and the Dragon," Bailey said, letting his arm fall. There were still red marks from the cuffs pressing against his skin. "It's a Christian legend—good vs evil, Christians vs pagans, blah, blah. But I always used to think of the dragon as anything I felt was undefeatable when I was little. I guess for me, it just symbolizes that I can overcome stuff."

Nate looked at the tiny little sword.

There were a lot of things he could ask, but he settled on, "Did you enjoy the scene?"

Bailey smiled and slid back down onto the pillows. "Yeah. I wish I could just exist between your legs while you played video games, like, all the time. That was so..." A few beats of silence stretched out, measured by the thud of Nate's heart and the whir of the box fan. Then Bailey said, "My throat hurts, though."

His voice was a little rough. More than a little. He sounded like he had just smoked a pack of cigarettes in an hour. Nate winced.

"Would something warm or cool to drink help?" he asked. "And the steam from a shower should be good, too."

He started to apologize for hurting Bailey and then remembered that he wanted that kind of thing. Apologizing after the fact felt a little like cheapening that want, emphasizing that Nate was uncomfortable with it or felt bad about it when, in fact, he really was not.

He hated to see Bailey in pain now, swallowing and grimacing at how that felt, but in the moment, he had loved dragging little noises and twitches out of him. Watching as tears spilled down his cheeks because he could do nothing about it except trust that Nate was going to eventually let him breathe. And, oh, how he trusted Nate. That ball had never dropped from his hand, so there was no need to apologize. Nate was not sorry and was not looking for validation that what he had done was okay. He already knew it was.

So, instead of apologizing, he said, "Thanks for letting me do that to you."

Bailey blinked slowly at him, lazy like a lizard warming itself in the sun. He was talking and moving around, but the flush had yet to recede from his chest, and clumsiness still loosened his movements. He smiled just as slow and lazy.

"You're welcome, daddy."

Nate flushed.

"It's kind of weird feeling this fucked out with my asshole intact, though."

He shook his head and patted Bailey one more time on the thigh before crawling over him to get off the bed. It had gotten dark at some point while he was playing games, so opening Bailey's door felt like peering into a dark abyss. He loathed to pop their little bubble of light and comfort, but it had also grown uncomfortably hot in the room with only the box fan to cool off the heat they generated with all that activity.

"Stay right there, darling," he threw over his shoulder before padding down the hallway toward the green glow of the oven and microwave lights in the kitchen. He hadn't bothered to put boxers or anything on because he knew Bailey kept all the curtains in the house drawn shut over the windows. The cool stream from the air conditioner chilled the sweat on his back and chest. As soon as they were done with the shower, he would have to shuffle Bailey out here to cool him off.

He flicked on the kitchen light, then frowned. Bailey had never answered if he wanted something hot or cold to soothe his throat. Nate figured he could start with a glass of cold water. He grabbed one for himself, too, and then made his way back to the bedroom.

Bailey still lay on the bed, but he had curled up with his arms wrapped around his torso and legs drawn up. In his hurry to set the glasses down and get over to him, Nate nearly spilled the water everywhere and almost tripped over his own two feet. He took a deep breath and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Everything okay?"

Bailey hummed, but the sound trembled. He was shivering.

"Bailey?" Nate laid a hand on his foot, feeling a twinge of real concern.

"Just cold," Bailey told him with a smile. His eyes were clear when they met Nate's, which was a relief. The skin of his calf was warm when Nate rubbed it with his palm. And he was coated in just as much sweat as Nate. Maybe he did not like how the cooler air from the rest of the house chilled him.

"Happens sometimes," Bailey assured him, laying a hand over Nate's. His fingers were cold. "It's alright. It's just my body freaking out a little, but I promise I'm fine."

Nate held his eyes for a couple of seconds. He had no clue what he was looking for, but Bailey looked pretty sure of himself, so he decided to trust him. He stood and held out both of his hands.

"No need for you to stay cold," he said. "Come on. Up. Let's get you into the shower."

Bailey held his arms out and provided exactly zero help as Nate hauled him from bed. He grunted when he ended up with an armful of dead weight, then rolled his eyes at Bailey's grin. He had a moment of indecision where he weighed the need to get Bailey to drink something against how badly he was trembling against Nate's chest. Then, he began helping Bailey toward the bathroom.

"I'm going to set you down," he said, plopping Bailey onto the toilet seat. "Just stay right there while I go get some warm tea for you to drink."

"It's cold," Bailey pouted, wrapping his arms around himself again. Nate snorted and turned the shower on to warm up. The pipes shrieked as he stepped out of the bathroom and plodded back toward the kitchen. As he passed Bailey's bedroom, he swiped his phone off the dresser and did a quick search about subs feeling cold after a scene. Apparently, it was nothing to lose his mind about as long as he provided proper aftercare.

The microwave beeped, and he tried to shove his phone in his pocket before remembering he was still butt naked. He laughed softly at himself as he grabbed a tea bag and dunked it in the hot water. Not wanting to leave Bailey alone in case he toppled off the toilet or any other things that Nate was sure might go wrong without his supervision, he hurried back to the bathroom.

But Bailey was precisely where he'd left him. That sent a curl of satisfaction from his sternum down to his toes and made him frown at himself. It was easy to lean into liking how obedient Bailey was during a scene, to imagine all the other things he could do with him, like drag him around by his hair or force him to take compliments without making a sarcastic comment. He really shouldn't be having thoughts of what else he could tell Bailey to do just to see if he would do it while they were outside of play.

"Are you okay?" Bailey asked. Nate realized he was just standing in the doorway, holding the tea.

"Yeah," he breathed, setting the mug down on the corner of the counter beside Bailey with a clink. "You should have a little bit before we clean up. I didn't make it too hot to drink."

Bailey pursed his lips. "If you say so." He picked up the mug and wrapped the teabag string around one of his trembling fingers. "You enjoyed the scene, right? Like, it wasn't too much or too long or...anything?" He trailed off uncertainly toward the end.

"No, Jesus." Nate stuck his hand under the water to test the temperature. "I really enjoyed it. I guess, I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that I like this. I mean, I literally just strapped a fucking cock ring on you and used you like you were a dildo, but fuck..." he ran a hand over his face. "Were you okay with that? We've never expressly talked about topping or bottoming being off-limits during a scene, but..."

"Nate," Bailey interrupted. "I loved it. I would have licked the floor for you after you let me cockwarm you for however long that was." He cleared his throat and winced, then sipped the tea. "I want you to treat me like a sex toy. I don't...I don't know how to explain why that feels good to my brain, but it does. That was perfect."

Nate was still seeing the vision of Bailey on his hands and knees, licking the floor with his ass up in the air. He was glad Bailey always seemed to enjoy the little unexpected plans he made for their scenes just to throw him off. Now that he'd heard Bailey say so several times after their play, he was beginning to relax into the relief that he could do whatever he wanted within their limits.

He ran a hand over his face, smearing the sweat on his forehead and upper lip around. It was disgustingly hot, with the shower billowing out steam. Watching Bailey drink hot tea made him want to crawl into the freezer. He turned the water down a little. Even if Bailey's body thought it was cold, he didn't need to take a shower that was more than reasonably warm. All this steam was unnecessary.

"You...uh...you weren't bothered by me being on your cock while you were playing games, right?" Bailey asked, eyes trained on the tea. "That wasn't too much to ask?"

"Nah," Nate said. "We should do it again sometime."

Bailey peeked up at him. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Nate smiled. "Now, let's take this shower before I get heat stroke. Come on."