Fic: Our Love Like Religion (Adam/Marius, In Arcadia, 4k)
Birthday fic for the lovely looovely Linndechir!
Our Love Like Religion
Adam stepped out of the master bathroom in Marius' house, dressed in loose sweatpants and a worn t-shirt while idly rubbing a towel against his wet hair. He padded barefoot across the dark wooden floor of Marius' bedroom and let his feet lead him towards the study. Adam could use the guest bathroom, of course, but Marius had insisted. You are not a guest here, Adam, he had said at breakfast one morning and informed him that there was a cleared a shelf for Adam's toiletries. The study is empty and the laptop closed so Adam quickly walks past his own room down the corridor and the second guestroom, only guestroom now since Adam had his own, and down the stairs.
The kitchen is predictably empty, the dining room too but it was not until he found the large sitting room at the front of the house just as empty that Adam felt his shoulders tense and his hand go to the gun tucked into the waistband of his sweatpants. A quick glance through the large windows facing the street revealed that the two security guards placed at the gate were still there and Adam relaxes minutely.
In the end, he found Marius in the den; a room Marius spent very little time in since he didn't watch tv. It's an unspoken agreement that the den was Adam's space: it's his training equipment taking up half the room and it's his empty beer bottle and dvd cases on the coffee table. It's also several degrees colder in this room than the rest of the house, thanks to the thermostat on the wall. The sofa is sinfully comfortable, especially compared to the sleek and modern but uncomfortable one in the sitting room. It's impossible to sit on it with anything resembling a good posture but Marius somehow manages not to slouch completely. Dressed in grey trousers, a dark blue shirt with the top buttons undone and no shoes, he was as casual as he would go.
He was reading, not on his tablet or a news paper as he frequently did, but an actual book. Fiction of any kind in any medium was something that, had Marius apparently at some point of his life decided, did not count as conductive to his life and goals. Marius would not let his mind wander from this world even for a moment. So he read tedious books on political science and dry recounts of war politics that made Adam snore halfway through the first page. The book cases in the house were full of books, most of them new and never to be read. A fine veneer ruined ever so slightly by the growing collection of spy novels and thrillers that had started with the two or three books Adam had left behind after his first stay there.
"Sit with me." Marius said without looking up. He patted the space beside him on the sofa before slinging his arm across the back rest. A year or even just a few months ago, Adam might have hesitated before sitting down right next to Marius. But now he didn't twice before he put his gun down within easy reach on the table and dropping down on the sofa, close enough to feel their thighs press together with Marius arm around him. It was intimate is a different way to sitting by his feet and Adam had without really thinking about it, inched closer from his usual place within touching distance to this. Marius thankfully never batted an eyelid at Adam's slow encroach into his personal space.
Adam reached up to see if his hair had dried enough that he could lean in against Marius' arm without staining his shirt but immediately brushed against Marius' hand that had gotten there first. He let his hand fall back to his side and leaned into the touch, his fingers trailing along the shape of Adam's skull. He relaxed into the sofa and the light pressure of Marius' fingers, closed his eyes and drew slow, steady breaths. For a while there were no sounds but the slow rasp of paper and the very distant sounds of the city outside. They were so close that Adam could feel how Marius' ribcage expanded with each measured breath.
He couldn’t be sure of how much time has passed when he feels Marius move beside him. The fingers in his hair stilled and the arm behind his head tensed up for a moment when Marius leaned forward. There was a dull thump of Marius' book hitting the coffee table before he sank back into the sofa and his fingers returned to run across Adam's scalp.
There was more pressure to his touch now, more purpose to his movements. The fingers travelled slowly from his temple, along the ridge behind his ear and pressed down deliberately at the soft, meaty part of his neck, just behind his jaw. His body reacted immediately; his head pressed back against Marius' arm as his torso arched forward and choked off moan wrung itself from Adam's throat. His right hand came up to grab fervently for Marius', leading his hand along the line of his jaw and finally to his lips. A small voice in the back of his head screamed at him for taking such liberties but it was quickly quieted by Marius' middle and index fingers pressed into his mouth. They slipped out a moment later, slick and wet against his bottom lip.
Marius' twisted and put his left hand on Adam's elbow, pulling as the arm around his shoulders pushed forward. He went with the gentle pull of Marius' hands without resistance and ended up straddling Marius' thighs, looming slightly over him. Marius looked extremely pleased with himself as he gazed up at Adam, eyes soft and mouth slightly open. Even though he was sank deep into the cushions with Adam's considerable bulk above him and one of Adam's hand balanced on his chest with the other braced on the back rest behind him, Marius’s shoulders were relaxed.
"I'm too heavy for this." Adam mumbled into Marius' temple, trying to put as little weight on the man beneath him as possible and not lose his balance on the plush cushions. Marius didn't seem to agree and kept his light grip on Adam's arms, a gentle pressure holding him in place.
"Sir?" Their faces were close together and Adam felt every one of Marius' breaths ghost across his cheek. He slid the hand resting on Marius' chest up and along his collar bone and throat, curving along his jaw. Marius' closed his eyes and leaned into his hand.
"Call me Marius, please." he asked, as if Adam would ever deny him.
"Marius." Adam said and brushed his thumb along the pronounced line of Marius' cheekbone.
"Again."
"Marius."
Two sets of long, clever fingers slipped under the hem of his shirt and stroked across the skin of Adam's lower torso and sides with slow, exploring movements. Adam could feel Marius' eyes on him as he hummed in content and arched into the touch. It wasn't the watchful, alert gaze Marius sometimes directed at Adam, when they were perhaps toeing a line neither of them had been ready to cross at the time, but one of tentative hope.
Adam reached forward to tug at the collar of Marius' shirt, undoing another two buttons and slipped his hand inside. It wasn't much, just the flat of his palm against Marius' chest with his finger tips just touching the collarbone, but the skin was warm and soft and the small hitch in Marius' breath made heat curl low in his stomach. Marius' hands wandered further up, brushing against his nipples as if by accident, even though Marius' small smirk at Adam's gasp revealed that it definitely was not, and then moved to his back, pressing him closer. Adam moved with him and scrambled for a moment with his hand over Marius' shoulder before pressing his thumb against the pulse on his neck and curling his fingers around the back.
He rolled his hips once, shallow and testing. The way Marius shuddered and bent his neck to brush his lips against the inside of Adam's wrist encouraged him to try again. It felt easy like this; with Marius' hands pushing his shirt up and his hands moving soothingly across his back; with the easy friction from Adam's rolling hips that never felt like it needed a faster pace or more force. It was sweet pleasure with tiny sparks of electricity dancing along his limbs and all too easy to get lost in.
"There was a time when I did not trust myself or you to touch like this." Marius spoke, his lips brushing against Adam's newly shaved jaw.
"What changed?" Adam asked when he managed to drag his mind from the daze.
"I think we both did, to an extent. I didn't trust you to tell me no when you needed it and I didn't trust myself to not misuse my power. "
"And now?"
"I read in my study more often these days because I know the sitting room makes you anxious, I arrange food and drinks and hotels with your preferences in mind as well as my own. You've taken your own space in my house." He pulled one hand from Adam's back and gestured to the room at large.
"You've settled. You're not as angry any more. From what I know of your past, I want to say that you've never been stronger than you are now; mentally or physically." He brought both his hands skimming lightly along Adam's sides to settle on his thighs, spread open in front of him with his straining prick pressing against the fabric of his sweatpants.
"Careful, Mr Thorne, one might think you only want me for my body." The quip came easy but his voice teetered on the edge of breaking. Marius confidence in him and the absolute certainty in his voice was almost overwhelming.
"Well, it's certainly a point in your favour." Marius laughed, a low vibration against Adam's hand on his neck. He gazed up on Adam with a look that sent waves of warmth through Adam's body; smouldering heat and a softness around the eyes that he reserved for Adam alone. Before he could second guess himself, Adam leaned in and pressed their mouths together, feeling a small rush of air across his lips when Marius exhaled sharply. His pulse skips just once beneath Adam's fingers.
Adam had though often about Marius lips, how they would feel against his and how they might feel against his bared neck. They were soft just as he had imagined them, no raw skin from biting and no rasp from chapped skin. He moved with the same confidence he did everything, pressing back against Adam and naturally taking control over the kiss. Their mouths press together, half open with no teeth or tongue.
Marius hands were under his shirt again, nudging Adam's arms until he raised them to let Marius pull it over his head. He'd barely let the shirt fall from his hands before he returned to running his hands over Adam's torso and pulled him in for another kiss by his neck. His finger stroked along Adam's jaw as they kissed, a whisper of touch along the hinge and across his cheekbone. Adam panted open-mouthed against Marius' lips and felt Marius lick into his mouth, wet tongue sliding against his own just once before he pulled back. Marius' fingers strayed from his cheek to rest against his lips and Adam readily opened his mouth to draw them in, his tongue pressing against delicate joints and soft, fleshy pads.
Marius ran his other hand down Adam's neck and chest, briefly pausing to feel his pounding pulse and his throat working. He slid his hand down his abdomen and into his sweats to take him in hand. Matching the pace Adam had set with his hips before, Marius worked his cock with long, slow movements until his hand was slick with pre-come. Whatever composure Marius held onto even then, were nowhere to be seen in his eyes as he watched Adam's face. Blown pupils made his green eyes dark and there was an almost fervent sheen to them as they took in Adam's every reaction.
Just as he pulled his fingers out of Adam's mouth, leaving a small trail of saliva running down his chin, Marius pressed his index finger just below the head of Adam's cock. With no fingers stopping the sound, Adam threw his head back and moaned. It was a loud almost-shout, crackling against the inside of his throat.
With his eyes closed he simply leaned back and let Marius work his cock, letting shallow breaths and moans fall freely from his lips. Marius' free hand stroked along his sides. His fingers were still wet with saliva and left cold trails in their wake. The insistent, building heat spreading from his gut and all through his limbs, made Adam face forward again and reach down to the button of Marius' trousers. Marius stopped him by firmly moving his hands to rest on Marius' shoulders instead.
"Marius-"
"No, please. Let me take care of you." Marius eyes and the determined twist of his mouth stopped Adam from saying "You always take care of me". Instead he buried his face in Marius' neck, nose bumping against his Adam's apple and breathing harshly into his skin. At this hour, Marius' cologne was fading but there were still traces of rich sandalwood. He groaned and thrust his hips when Marius sped up his hand. The ring of his thumb and index finger is tight around the head, making him shudder and moan with each pass.
He surged upwards and pressed a sloppy kiss to Marius' mouth, thrusting his tongue between his lips. It took a moment for Marius to respond, wrapped up in Adam's pleasure as he was, but he eagerly opened his mouth and angled his head to deepen the kiss. The flowing heat grows in Adam's abdomen and in the end all he can do is pant ragged breaths against Marius' cheek and cant his hips desperately into Marius hand again and again. Marius stroked through the hair at his temple and he spoke gently.
"My Adam." And Adam thought he might come from just that; Marius deep voice in his ear, lips and teeth grazing the shell of his ear each time Adam pushed himself into his fist.
"Fuck."
"You're doing so well, Adam. Just let go."
He spilled with Marius' name tumbling from his lips and hot streaks of come spilling into his hand. Slumped against Marius's shoulder, he sank into the feeling of Marius petting his hair and whisper praise into his ear. For a while he simply let his eyes stay closed, his body trembling and white spots dancing across his eyelids as he breathed into warm skin. Distantly, he felt Marius clean him off with his own t-shirt before tucking him back into his sweatpants.
Adam could feel Marius erection press against him and with a wobbly motion, wincing at the now sore muscles in his things, he hitched himself backwards and up to give himself room work a hand between them. But once again Marius steadied him with one hand on his shoulder and the other swiftly pushing Adam's hand away from his fly.
"There is no need."
"Marius, I should-"
"You should do nothing." Marius said, his tone crisp and no-nonsense as he helped Adam off his lap and they both stood up. "Although I want to ask that we move to the bedroom. And maybe later, I would very much enjoy it if you fucked me."
Adam blinked.
"That is, if you-" Marius regarded him, clearly waiting for a verbal confirmation much as if they were discussing the next day's schedule.
"Yes," Adam rasped out. "Yes." Marius nodded and headed for the door. Adam snatched up his gun from the table and followed.
At the stairs, Adam took the first few steps in a stride, ending up just a step behind Marius and ran his hands along his shirt clad back. The fabric was soft and slightly rumbled beneath his fingers and he ran his hands along Marius' spine, up between his shoulder blades and then down again to rest just above the lining of his trousers. Grasping the already loosened fabric, he untucked the shirt and slid his hands along the soft, warm skin across Marius' back and waist. Marius kept walking but Adam could feel the muscles under his hands twitch and hear Marius' breath quicken all the same.
Marius stopped when they entered the bedroom and turned to Adam, offering him his right hand, palm down. Adam blinked slowly but then the low light from the a reading lamp in the corner caught the matte silver of a cufflink and he stepped closer. The familiarity of removing Marius' cufflinks was almost disorienting together with the newness of their situation. He knew those hands; the lines across the broad palms, the slender fingers and every delicate turn of bone and vein at those wrists. And yet his fingers strayed more than a little to hungrily touch offered skin. Marius' open-mouthed breaths against his hair told him that he wasn't exactly complaining about the attention to his hands.
Adam moved from the cuffs up to the remaining buttons of the shirt, his hands trailing up Marius' arms and between the open folds of his shirt. The shirt parted easily and Adam braved himself to move on to Marius' trousers.
Something like shame burnt in the back of his throat. It was weak but still there; taunting echoes of a life before Marius where he had shied away from himself. His therapist – his therapist for God's sake. His past self laughs even at the thought of something so stupid – had talked about how this might happen, especially in new situations that "challenged the norms of his upbringing". It felt like the pinprick of a needle just below his breastbone, hurt threatening to spread through his veins. He tamped down on the feeling quickly. He wasn't going to hurt Marius. That thought was an anchor of absolute truth. So his past self and all his misgivings could go fuck himself for all that he cared.
If Marius took notice of his inner struggle, he did nothing but wait it out, his breath ghosting across Adam's skin and his body was warm and relaxed against his. He smiled a small smile when Adam could meet his eyes again and turned around to let Adam take his shirt off. But instead, Adam guided Marius forward, crowding him up against the wall with his back to Adam's chest. He moved slow but determined, his broad shoulders and bulky frame doing more work holding Marius in place than actual force. Marius braced himself with his left, his fingers spread wide against the wall and leaned his face into the crook of his right.
"There's a bed right there." Marius said, his voice muffled against his arm.
"Don't need it." Adam's voice sounded a little raw to his ears and he was sure he was more affected by their current position than Marius was. Except Marius definitely groaned appreciatively when Adam slid the shirt off one shoulder to nip at the revealed skin. The open cuffs of Marius' shirt were slipping down, revealing a good part of his forearm, and Adam slid his hand from Marius' neck, along his arm to fit his fingers in between Marius' against the wall. His other hand moved under the open shirt, feeling the muscles at Marius's side and abdomen twitch.
He dragged his nose along the line of his neck and slid his hand down to Marius' trousers. He undid the button and zipper one-handed and slipped his hand inside, pressing the palm of his hand against the damp fabric of Marius' underwear. Marius hissed and bucked forward against his hand. He would love nothing more than to rut lazily against Marius' backside as he fisted him through his pants but it was still too soon for that. The way Marius' canted his hips into his hand and clenched his fingers together with Adam's against the wall was almost as satisfactory though. He breathed open-mouthed against the flushed skin of Marius' neck, kissing along the protruding upper vertebrae.
When the shallow pants started verging on moans and Marius' hips stuttered in their movements, Adam slipped his hand into the briefs and set a steady pace with his fist. He felt the fingers around his clench harder once and felt how Marius' frame shudder and expand when he took a deep, unsteady breath. He grunted out a "fuck" when he came and it sent a small thrill along Adam's spine to hear it.
Slowly Marius extracted his fingers from Adam's and straightened, only wincing a little at the feeling of his underwear sticking to his skin.
"Bathroom," He said, turning to Adam and kissing him on the cheek in an oddly sweet move.
Adam ran a towel under warm water and handed it to Marius before cleaning his hands. Marius, predictably, had no problem stripping down and prance about naked, foregoing his bathrobe. Not that Adam had any complaints and he quickly stopped Marius in his tracks on his way to the walk-in closet on the other side of the bedroom. Silk pyjamas might offer nice possibilities at some point in the future, Adam thought, but not that night. He wanted nothing more than to curl up around Marius under his no doubt annoyingly thick blankets, feel warm skin against his and not move until morning.
"You're not going to be cold, Marius." He muttered into his ear and Marius laughed.
"No, I suppose not."
He did wind his body tightly around Marius when they made it into bed, breathing deeply into skin that smelled intoxicatingly like sex, sweat and the now faintest traces of cologne. Adam lay there for a minute, listening to Marius' fall asleep and wondered why it didn't feel like tectonic plates had moved beneath his feet after what had happened. But the intimacy had been there for years, nurtured by trust and time spent together. His mind had slipped into easy contentment with the final niggling of unease in their relationship out of the way. He knew that Marius would want to talk, he always did, about their new dynamic and urge Adam to book an appointment with his therapist. Not in the morning though because Adam had plans for them when they woke up that didn't involve any talking at all.
