They stood in Richard’s room together. It wasn’t uncommon of an event; normally most of their interactions took place in the privacy of Richard’s room. If they were ever out in the open, where anyone could overhear them, their conversations would always become more arrested and would be filled with coded words to cover their tracks. Nor would they be this physically close, even if Richard was supporting him as they walked where people could see them.

What made this particular instance unique was that it was Richard’s room, as in the one that he owned in his own home. The decor was of his choosing, his collected knicks knacks were haphazardly placed about on shelves around the sizable room. The pillows that rested upon his bed, the wardrobe that hid many of his clothes. All of it was his. The meeting place was far more intimate than ever before, and while Richard had a very reasonable and proper excuse for one Dr John Larius to enter his bedchambers, this liaison was intimate as well.

Richard was already so close to John, and his steady hands raised themselves slowly to the doctor’s face, seemingly bringing them even closer. Maybe he was treating the good doctor like a skittish animal, but it was all a silent understanding, ‘You have time to speak, time to stop me’. A protest from John never came, as Richard’s fingers brushed the outer edges of John’s mask. John’s eyes closed as Richard gently removed it from his face, and Richard felt his own face distort into a small smile as John reopened his eyes and faced him bare.

His face was fully reconstructed, a sight that was rarer when they were both stuck on the island, but now happened far more frequently. There was still a significant discolouration; his nose, lips, and entire lower jaw was dark and purplish with bruises, but all of it was there once again.

One hand deposited John's mask on the bedside table by Richard’s own things, as the other went to John’s jaw, and soon enough Richard’s mouth followed as he kissed his good doctor by the bed. Ever so wobbly, John stumbled a little as Richard pushed closer, but Richard caught him with a hand about his waist as he led the kiss.

It was addicting. A warm body close against him, alive and pliant, gloved hands reaching up to tangle in the hair Richard had been purposefully growing out just for this. It was John that opened his mouth first, allowing their kiss to grow even deeper as Richard was fed the taste of John’s particular rot.

Something caught in Richard’s chest. A hunger that was not particularly sexual, but still surging, as the microorganisms of Ptengoli within him recognised the taste. Richard didn’t try to stomp the overwhelming feeling down into the lower recesses of his mind, he only directed the familiar hunger back towards devouring John in a far more conventional way. The redirection did lead to Richard almost pouncing on the man that he already had wrapped in his arms, and although John did squeak at the sudden movement, Richard was still in enough control to brace their descent onto his sheets and pillows.

They lightly bounced on the mattress as Richard’s arm took the brunt of the force he had produced, both of them disengaging from their kiss to catch their breath and adjust. Richard couldn’t help gently chuckling as he stared upon John’s flustered face, feeling his heart skip a beat, metaphorically, as he felt his emotions for the man surge. It felt so good to have him in his own bed, in his arms, free from the overwhelming doom that had haunted them both for so long on the island.

“If you had mentioned moving to the bed, I would have gone willingly,” John says only slightly indignantly, in the space between their mouths, and Richard can’t help his love bubbling up as a chuckle as he retorts back, “Are you sure?”

John lightly baps him on the shoulder for it, and Richard continues to smile and snicker as he disengages with John enough to support moving him closer to the headboard. Supported with his pillows against the harder surface, Richard now has John sitting up, looking down at him as he half kneels on his own bed, hovering over the doctor.

He kisses him only lightly as he works on removing layers, focus split as he maneuvers buttons and fabric out of the way while trying to keep John distracted. It’s a successful endeavor, as Richard feels the surprised hitch in John’s breathing in the kiss as his hand touches John’s bare chest. Richard pulls away from his mouth to make John focus on his hand instead then, trailing down exposed skin as Richard settles further back along his legs. Richard makes eye contact with John as he lays near his crotch, and only pulls his eyes away from the other man when working on a particularly hard button that requires more of his attention. John’s breathing gets only deeper and harder as Richard spends more time looking up at him from his crotch. Soon enough Richard has unfastened it all, and his hands are all over John as he helps him remove all his layers, leaving him naked under Richard’s piercing gaze.

John looks like a marvel, like a painting of scenery that told a story rather than just being a pretty picture. The mottling of bruise-like discolouration in patches across his skin draws Richard’s eyes, and then his exploring hands. The scars that lined the planes of his body, and the knotting of them at his hip that Richard gently presses into with a hand, as he scoots himself lower along John’s body. Richard knows how injuries like his scars persisted in their pain, knew exactly how they warped and buckled in situations exactly like this. He could feel a similar twinge in his own mirroring, tangled mess of scar tissue, as he settled down by John’s legs on his belly.

Still keeping eye contact, Richard slowly pushed apart John’s legs to place his head in between his thighs. Richard kissed along the inside of one as he got closer and closer to the apex of his legs, breathing in the intimate scent of John’s arousal and his existence as Damay's beloved disciple as he got closer.

“Wait,” John pipes up, almost hurriedly weaving a gloved hand into Richard’s hair to stop him, “You’re not going to actually… Richard, that can’t be healthy.” Richard only cocks his head for a moment, resting against the flesh of John’s thighs as he continued to gently hold him in his hands.

Yes, Richard could smell him. It was the same kind of rot that activated such a raw and primal hunger in him. He could also see what John was worried about; the slick that clung to his innermost thighs, glistening from his hole, clinging to his cock. If it were coming out of any other human being he would also be greatly concerned. But this was John, this active decay had always been a part of him, since Richard had known him. And Richard knew that this was not the worst of the rot that rippled throughout him, nor the worst it had ever been before.

Richard kissed John’s thigh again, and gently massaged the flesh under his hands. “I don’t know if I or Damay ever told you, but on one of those nights where he was investigating me as a potential sacrifice, I did pounce towards him. And while I didn’t exactly get a mouthful of him then, I did out of curiosity, taste the residue of him that he had left on my hand. You can see that I've survived the ordeal, love.”

There was a moment of bated breath as Richard waited for John’s response to his confession. It was clear, whatever was between John’s legs was not going to be any more damaging than ingesting the concentrated version from the source, like he had already done. But it was not really Richard’s health that was truly the topic of the hesitation, it was John’s comfort about Richard being so close, and Richard was waiting for John’s answer to the real question hanging between them in the air.

The gloved hand in Richard’s hair moved, petting through his blond locks for a moment before trailing down to curl under Richard’s jaw. Richard’s eyes returned to making eye contact with John, who looked a little sheepish. Squirming under the undivided attention, John spoke very softly, “You… You can, just, um… No fingers, nothing inside, please.”

Richard couldn’t stop the wolfish grin creeping onto his face as he got permission, renewed with vigor to show John a good time with his mouth, as he returned to his path of kissing down his thighs and back to his groin. Richard had the wherewithal to not immediately jump towards the main event, but it was certainly a task in self control as he nuzzled into the place where leg joined pelvis, and licked the slick that had collected in the crevice.

John’s gloved hand returned to gripping his hair, and Richard finally took him in his mouth, with a moan vibrating through him as the taste of blood and suspended rot in slick filled his mouth completely. Richard could feel the stuttered breathing of the man above him, and John’s clipped moans filtering out of his mouth, as he bucked and squirmed into Richard’s pressing tongue under his cock.

It satiated Richard in a way that could not have been done otherwise. Except in those moments where fellow humans became prey, to the all encompassing and demanding hunger that drove Richard to bite and tear into human meat. The push and pull now, of muscle and movement under Richard’s hands, as John reacted and Richard tried to keep him still. The taste filling his mouth, as his stomach quieted and a pleasant fog filled his brain. And most of all, the feeling of it; as slick trickled down both his chin and gullet, as he had a continuous mouthful of it, and worked his jaw to stimulate John’s cock in his mouth. In this almost primal existence worshiping John, it was all enough to make him ignore how his own leg twitched poorly in his current position. Especially when he had a whole meal in front of him to devour.

Though of course, it certainly did satiate Richard in the more conventional arousal way as well. He could feel his own cock filling out as he haphazardly rocked into the mattress below him, pressing into his still fastened pants as the weight and movement of John in this position pushed him down.

John’s moans then turned breathier, as he tried desperately to keep himself quiet, his thighs clenching around the mass of Richard involuntarily. At some point, both of his gloved hands had ended up in Richard’s hair, either to just hold him or keep himself steady, but John’s bucking became more focused.

Richard could both feel it and hear it, the sound of John’s vocal chords entwining with his laborious breathing in higher pitches, and how John’s now-humping of his mouth slowly pushed him lower and lower down his groin. It was clear that he was chasing the high of an orgasm and Richard was not going to stop him, but even in his own affected state with the cloud of arousal and satisfaction, Richard kept his tongue from going any lower than the base of John’s cock.

A whine comes from John above him then, and Richard looks back up at him. At the eye contact, John’s hips stutter and another whine comes from the back of his throat. It’s a frustrating, pleading sound, and Richard swirls his tongue around his cock in response, hoping that his doctor only needed slightly more stimulation before reaching his peak.

The gloved hands in his hair grip him tightly, and John’s mouth moves without sound before his vocal chords seem to catch up with him, “You can - oh god please Richard, your tongue please - You can use your tongue inside, please,” John pleads with him.

Richard answers his plea immediately, allowing his mouth to fall further down, teeth gently scraping against the very soft flesh of John’s cock, as his tongue follows the edges around John’s hole. More whines and moans escape John as Richard presses further, using his strong nose under John’s cock to replace the all encompassing stimulation, as he buries his mouth into his folds and his tongue into his hole.

John’s movements get faster and harder as Richard fucks him with his tongue. His bucking almost crushing Richard as he gasps around him, catching desperate breaths before burying himself deeper and playing with John’s hole in time with the movement of his hips. John’s moans continue to rise in pitch and pace despite trying to keep himself quiet, and his gloved hands grip onto Richard tighter than ever, before his hips stutter completely, his grip lessens, and his breath comes in aborted movements.

Richard’s tongue gets coated in even more slick, and he gets one more swallow of John before the man relaxes his thighs. Richard gently disengages with his hole, as John above him stutters more breaths into his lungs. He can’t help nosing at John’s cock, teasingly licking at him before getting an over-sensitive buck out of the man, and truly pulling away from his position between his legs.

Richard’s own body now aches from it, truly. He’s no longer a flexible young man, and the scarring at his hip now makes it known as he stretches away from John to give him some space. John’s sweat slicked skin cools in the colder air, but Richard is dimly reminded that he barely removed his own clothes, as it sticks to him in places and his own cock feels greatly trapped in his pants.

It’s with a gentle heave of his own that he falls onto his back, by John’s side. The pain at his hip spreads within him, now that he is in a more relaxed position, and he can’t help the grimace as he feels his muscles contract in response to the pain. His cock softens slightly at the spread of it, but Richard doesn’t necessarily feel slighted that his flesh is betraying him before his own finish. He certainly feels satisfied enough, as he grabs some of his own sheets to wipe away the mess John left on his face.

John is there when he’s done, holding out Richard’s inhaler of Nitrous Oxide in his gloved hand, for him to take. Wordlessly Richard does, taking a hit of the gas so that his pain can subside. Then John’s mouth follows, as the doctor mutters about taking care of himself and saying thanks into Richard’s lips. His gloved hands wander about Richard’s form, undoing buttons and fastenings, until finally Richard’s own chest is exposed and John snakes an arm around him, snuggling into his side, skin to skin in post orgasmic bliss.