Second Place - Action/Adventure

A week had passed since Therac's auspicious arrival. Beck grinned at the writhing throng of sweaty bodies. More bodies meant more money, which meant a shorter visit from Therac. He almost didn't mind the money he was forking over each night. With each dollar paid, Beck was beginning to feel a little bit more like himself.

In the middle of the mass of bodies, he saw a tuft of Angel's black and blue streaked hair poking out from the bodies surrounding him. Another quick look around and he saw Chestnut canoodling with Blondie over by the bar. Aside from a few dances with Angel and a drink here and there with Blondie and Chestnut, Beck hadn't played much with his boys. It was time to rectify that, Beck thought. His gaze cut back and forth between Angel and Blondie and Chestnut. Hmm. A threesome might not be so bad, but he'd spent enough time with the two at the bar. And, there was something pulling him to Angel. Something he didn't quite understand or feel particularly comfortable with. He knew Angel was a wizard�a powerful one at that. And, he'd always been attracted to beautiful, powerful things. Maybe that was all this was? Some sort of magnetic attraction? It was time to get to know Angel a little better.

"Feeling better, Beck?" Severus asked as he sidled up beside him.

Beck took a long draw of his drink and crunched a few ice cubes. "I'll be better when Therac is gone, but I'm feeling more myself, I think." Beck stared down at Harry hungrily. "Christ, he's such a fucking little whore," Beck murmured as he grabbed his quickly hardening prick. He didn't feel Severus stiffen beside him. "Make sure the back corner of the bar is free, Severus, I think I might really get to know our boy. He's practically begging for it. And you always say that they get what's coming to them, don't you, Sev?"

Severus made a non-committal noise in the back of his throat, which Beck took as agreement. He laughed heartily and clapped Severus on the back. Severus shook his hand away and turned menacingly towards him. Beck held up his hands in mock surrender before turning and making his way down to the floor.

Severus watched Harry dance and felt the stirrings of arousal. Bollocks. Harry was going to be the death of him. He'd tried desperately to maintain some level of control over the past week, but it had been an utter failure. Harry had stolen kisses from him, flirted with him shamelessly, and Severus had not dissuaded him. He couldn't bring himself to do so. He had delighted in the attention and was loathe to lose it. He felt perilously close to the edge, however, and was sure that one more wicked kiss from Harry or one more thought of worshipping that beautiful body would tip him over. He was falling. Quickly.

Harry was dancing and it felt wonderful. The last week had been wonderful. He finally felt like things might, just might start going his way. Severus had been more . . . cordial towards him. Playful, even. For him, anyway. And those kisses . . . holy fuck, the man knew how to kiss. Harry smiled as he felt Severus's familiar presence in his mind.

*Beck is on his way, Potter. He's planning on drinks. I think he might get a little rough, so be careful.*

*I understand. If I get lucky, we might all get to go home tonight. My place or yours?*

Severus sidestepped the chat-up. *Don't press your luck. That isn't the way Striker usually operates. He likes to play with his boys for a bit longer before the grand seduction scene, so I'm not sure what's set him off. Of course, you're involved�that means anything could happen.*

Harry laughed. *Why Severus, was that a backhanded compliment?*

*Just be careful,* Severus warned again with a growl.

Harry winked and turned, baring the snake still delicately coiled at the base of his spine. He felt a wash of arousal hit him�Severus's arousal. Maybe things would work out. Maybe Harry would actually have his happily ever after.

He kept dancing, pretending not to know what was coming. Thinking about Severus helped, but the thought of Beck pawing at him still unnerved him. There was absolutely nothing about Beck that was subtle. Or gentle. Seconds later, Harry was roughly pulled from behind and drawn against a larger body. Beck had the caveman routine down pat. Harry rolled his eyes while at the same time fought to keep his breathing even. Telling himself that he was in control and that he was calling the shots didn't make him feel like he was, though.

"So tense," Beck purred in Harry's ear, delighting in how Harry shivered under his touch. "You need to loosen up," he said as he pulled Harry closer, grinding himself into his backside.

"Beck," Harry ground out, as he scrambled to avoid loosing his balance. He twisted around as their hips moved in tandem. Mustering the most seductive smile he could, Harry said, "You've got me, what are you going to do with me, love?"

Beck chuckled. "I'm sure I can think of a few things, but for now, I think I want you to dance with me the way you dance with all of those other pretty little boys, hmm?" he said while twisting one of Harry's nipples painfully.

Harry cried out in genuine pain and surprise, but masked it with a gentle arch of his back and a twisted smile on his face. "You like it rough, I see," Harry panted.

"Just a little. You seem to like it too, Angel."

Harry smiled ruefully. "Maybe I just like you?"

Beck stared at Harry for a few moments. He could feel himself losing control already. Well, fuck that. It wasn't going to happen. He kept one hand at the small of Angel's back, preventing him from squirming away, while he leaned down and attacked him with a bruising kiss. He felt a rush of power as he swallowed the kid's surprised squeaks. His other hand snaked up and clamped around Angel's neck. There was no way he was going to let this kid control him. Beck wasn't stupid. He knew the kid was playing up to him. The kid's trust fund had probably dried up and he'd set his mark on Beck. Frankly, he didn't care. Not as long as he got what he wanted out of the deal. "Don't try and play me, Angel," he whispered menacingly in Harry's ear as he squeezed Harry's neck threateningly. "This only works one way and not the way you're trying to play it. Understand?"

Harry could only nod as Beck squeezed again. Harry made a slight choking sound.

"I've been watching you, you know. I know you're just a cheap little whore. But, for some reason, I like you. Now, dance," Beck said before withdrawing his hand. He roughly turned Harry around and settled in behind him again, his arousal jabbing Harry's ass with all the finesse of a billy club as they rocked together in time to the techno trash blaring through the club.

Harry felt out of sorts. He hadn't expected that, and it showed.

*Are you all right, Potter? What's going on down there?*

*Nothing. He surprised me. I've got it under control,* Harry thought back while wincing as he swallowed. Harry knew he didn't have anything under control, but he had to get through this. He'd already cocked up this same scenario before. The last thing he needed was Severus or Draco thinking he couldn't handle himself. That he'd lost his edge. He refused to let anyone think he was weak. Scared. Ashamed. He shook his head and tried to get back into the bass line reverberating through the club.

Beck moaned low in his throat. Harry thought he might be sick. Beck's words started replaying in his mind. Then, Beck's hands started roaming everywhere, pawing him like a dog. Harry shivered. Beck chucked and said something Harry didn't catch. The music seemed overly loud and the heat cloying. He tried to pull away slightly. Beck growled and pulled him closer. Beck was getting annoyed. Harry realized he had to make Beck believe that he wanted this. Wanted him. Harry knew, though, that if Beck's hands wandered too far south, they'd find nothing of consequence. That wouldn't do. He couldn't feign arousal. Harry had to do something.

At that moment, he looked up and saw Severus standing where he always stood as he surveyed his tiny kingdom. Their gazes locked. Severus's dark, blazing stare bore straight through Harry and took his breath away. Harry heard Beck chuckle at his gasp. The oaf had assumed that his adolescent fumbling had finally aroused Harry. But, it wasn't Beck's doing at all.

Transfixed, Harry returned the stare. A fleeting image of Severus's hands drawing through Harry's hair in a gentle caress while those coal-black eyes bore into him made him shudder. He knew, then, what he would have to do to get through this. He conjured more images. He fantasized about Snape leaning in and kissing him like he had last week. He felt Snape trailing his fingers down his face again. Snape nibbling the shell of his ear, tonguing the side of his neck. He shivered and threw his head back. He was vaguely aware of Beck whispering course platitudes in his ear, but it didn't matter. Only Snape mattered. Only Harry mattered.

*What the fuck are you doing Potter?*

*Please,* Harry could only whisper in response.

*No. NO! Stop this now. Find another way. Draco. Use Draco. I'm sure he won't mind.*

*No. Not him. I can't. Please. Please do this. It's not like we haven't done things before, or you haven't watched. This is harmless. Just a few thoughts, a few images, just a fantasy. What's the problem? Please.*

When Severus still showed no sign of relenting, Harry blurted, *It's for the assignment. It's just the assignment. I won't be able to do this without it. Please, Severus. I need to feel like I'm not . . . just, please.*

Severus shivered as he watched Harry writhe in Striker's loathsome embrace. Harry's eyes were alight with desire, but his body seemed stiff and afraid. Severus could tell Beck was unhappy. With the Therac problem, Severus didn't want to risk pulling Harry and sending Draco out there. Besides, �what was the hurt?' his traitorous mind whispered. �It's just a fantasy,' it said. Severus growled out loud this time, his hands turning white from clenching the rail as he struggled against the inevitable. He knew he would give in. He knew it. Potter, Harry, was simply too much to resist. He wanted to give in. *You had better hope you're ready for this, Potter.*

Harry licked his lips. *You have no idea,* he thought back.

And, so it began. Their dance. The hands holding Harry cruelly weren't fat and stubby fingered. Instead, they became elegant hands with tapered fingers. Efficient hands gifted with an economy of touch that wrought an over-wealth of pleasure as they stroked. Harry groaned. *Can you feel that?* he asked Severus as they stayed locked in their heated stare, *Can you see your hands dancing up and down my body? I can feel you everywhere.* Harry gasped as the feel of Severus's arousal flooded him.

Severus hesitated for only a second. Deciding that he was in for a knut as he was a galleon, he licked his lips and flung himself from the cliff. *You'd like that wouldn't you, Potter? My hands, my mouth, my body claiming you, taking you,* Severus said, his gaze never breaking.

"Holy fucking Christ," Harry said aloud as Severus sent an image of him shoving Harry against a wall and capturing his mouth in a series of heated kisses. Harry repaid in kind with images of kneeling before Severus, taking him in his mouth tip to root and sucking for all he was worth. He felt and saw Severus go weak in the knees.

Beck was thrilled with Harry's response. The kid was finally relaxing. He was practically melting in his arms. So beautifully responsive. Such a fucking slut. Beck thought he might shoot his load right there. "That's right, Angel," Beck whispered into Harry's ear as he clamped one of his meaty hands around Harry's prick.

"Mother fucker!" Harry roared as Severus sent him an image of his lubricant slicked hand clasped around his prick and moving painfully, teasingly slow. Harry was panting now, but his gaze never left Severus's.

Beck wasn't the only person who noticed Harry's response. Draco stopped talking mid sentence when he heard Harry through the amulet link. He whipped his head around and began wildly searching for Harry. He stiffened as he spied Beck's over enthusiastic groping.

"Friend of yours?"

"What?" Draco said, grudgingly returning his attention to Brian Metts.

Metts inclined his head towards Beck and Harry. "The black-haired kid. Is he a friend of yours?"

"No," Draco lied smoothly.

"Huh. I only ask because you sure seem interested in what's going on over there. You've seemed friendly enough before. I've seen the way you two look at each other."

Draco hesitated before responding. This could go very, very well or very, very poorly, depending on how Draco responded. He half hoped that Severus might offer some words of wisdom, but he was either not listening at the moment or was otherwise occupied. Draco decided on his course of action as he threw a spurious look back at Beck and Harry and snorted in disgust. "I just can't believe that outrageous display out there. I mean, Beck is practically fucking him on the floor. Bad form, really," Draco said with a sniff.

"So, it's Beck you like then," Metts drawled, his eyes alight with intense curiosity.

Draco threw back another vodka double, contemplating how best to turn this around. Quickly. He looked Metts up and down and licked his lips. Oh, the lengths he would go for Merlin and Country�at least he actually wanted to shag this one. "I think someone's a little jealous. You've been awfully interested in Beck yourself. I've seen the two you dance, have drinks. What is it, Brian? Can't stand the competition?"

Metts scoffed and opened his mouth to protest, but was silenced by Draco's seductive chuckle and the way his body slithered up to meet his.

Draco leaned in close to whisper in Metts's ear and nipped delicately at the shell. "The question you have to ask yourself, Brian, is why would you want that disgusting excuse for a man, when you could have me?" Draco sat back and reveled in Metts's surprised, but equally lustful gaze.

"I think," Metts began, "that question warrants further investigation. A bit of private investigation."

"Of course," Draco said as he stood and tugged at Metts's hand, forcing himself not to look back at Harry as they quickly made their way out of the club.

The heat between Harry and Severus continued to build. The images they sent each other became increasingly explicit as they battled for dominance. Harry, prone on his stomach with Severus pounding into him. Severus, on the bed spread eagle and blindfolded while Harry licked every inch of him. In the shower with Severus clutching Harry's wrists high above his head as they thrust their soap slicked bodies against each other. Severus, pulling Harry roughly to him and claiming him with bites along his neck, his fangs extending slowly.

The images flew faster, became hotter, more erratic until there was nothing but a blur of imagined and real emotions swirling around both of them. Harry felt dizzy as the hand on his prick rubbed more insistently, forcing him to react.

Beck couldn't believe what they were doing. Angel was rubbing against him, circling that tight little ass against him, begging him to shoot his load. Beck responded in kind by roughly, fervently rubbing his hand against Angel's prick. Fucking Christ this kid was hot. He made Beck feel as though he was seared straight through. He felt himself losing control. He had to have Angel. Beck didn't care that the pulse of Angel's magic was so heavy and cloying that it almost made him feel nauseated. But, right now all he cared about was coming and soiling his little Angel.

"Come for me Angel. Come like the dirty little slut you are," Beck shouted in Harry's ear as he bit the lobe hard.

Harry was lost in the wave of feelings from Severus, in the colors and the sounds. Beck's command fell deafly, but Severus heard it loud and clear.

With a surge of possessiveness that would later seem unfathomable, Severus screamed *No!* through their bond, *You will not come for him. You will only come for me. Only for me, Harry. Only me!*

Harry, still panting, his eyes glazed and unseeing, nodded. He was so close. So close. Beck was saying something�he couldn't hear. Didn't want to hear. All he could see, all he could feel, was Severus sliding in and out of him, torturing him with soft kisses and hard thrusts. All he could feel was Severus's hand curling around him and moving up and down, his thumb pressing against his slit, while he bit along Harry's neck. And then�and then there were the words. *Come for me Harry,* whispered so seductively but with the knife's edge of a command. *Come for me now.*

The pressure that had been steadily building exploded as he screamed *Severus* in his mind. Out loud, a shower of expletives tumbled out of his mouth as Beck ground into his ass, shooting his load as well. All around them, people continued to dance. The music continued to pulse. Life continued. Not that Harry noticed�he felt like the world had stopped. He was floating, awash in a dizzying array of sounds and images and feelings. As he came down, he slumped bonelessly into the body behind him who, Harry just realized, was chuckling and leading him from the dance floor to a booth in a far dark corner.

*Potter, keep your wits about you!* Severus admonished, helping clear away a bit of the haze.

"Let's have a drink, Angel," Beck said as he maneuvered Harry into the booth, holding him close as he took in Harry's flushed and sweaty skin.

Harry, for his part, still felt slightly hazy and subdued and didn't complain when Beck held a drink to his mouth and beckoned for him to toss his head back and swallow. What ever it was burned the back of his throat as it trickled down into his stomach. "That's it, Angel," he heard Beck say in a coarse whisper. "Have some more," he said again as he practically poured the drink down Harry's throat.

*Potter. Potter! Pay attention you idiot! What the fuck is wrong with you?* The biting reality of what he'd just done, what they had just done, was unwelcome. Severus didn't lose control. Not like that. But, right now he didn't have time to dwell on it. He had to keep Harry safe. *Pull yourself together for fuck's sake!* he screamed.

Harry could feel Severus's trepidation, his anxiety. That, coupled with his words, was enough to shake the last vestiges of orgasm-induced haze from him. He shook his head and pushed the drink away. "No more," he mumbled, already feeling the effects of whatever Beck was making him drink.

"Angel's finally returned, I see," Beck said with a leer as he put the mostly empty glass on the table. He clamped a hand at the back of Harry's head and another on his chin, forcing Harry's face upward. "You were fucking amazing out there. I knew you were a slut but holy shit, I didn't think you were so hard up for it you'd do that."

Harry swallowed thickly as shame blossomed deep within him. Beck knew how to play him, that was for sure. But, he was not going to let Beck win this. He was not. He would turn the tables. This was his weapon�not Beck's. He licked his lips and pulled Beck's face to him, capturing his lips in a heated kiss. Surprised, Beck made a muffled sound in the back of his throat before surrendering and moving his hands to Harry's back. After a few moments, Harry broke the kiss with a not-so-tender nip to Beck's bottom lip. "Can't you see what you do to me, Beck? What you make me do? You drive me crazy. I know you want me." Harry leaned forward and nibbled on the shell of Beck's ear. Beck moaned in response. "There's so much heat between us. I want you to take me. You know you want to," Harry whispered as seductively as he could, while inside he felt disgusting.

"Yes," Beck whispered as he clutched at Harry feverishly.

"That's right," Harry whispered as he maneuvered himself into a straddling position. Harry started thinking that he might just get this done tonight. "Relax, love. You're so tense," Harry cooed as his shuffled his hands up and down Beck's sides, nearly laughing at the irony of situation. He felt Beck relax, felt him begin to give in. "That's right, love. You want me, I know you do," he murmured.

Beck groaned in response, tightening his hold on Harry.

"Is there someplace else we can go? Someplace more private?" Harry asked.

Beck moaned again and started savagely gumming Harry's neck.

Harry wrinkled his nose in disgust while at the same time cooing as if delighted by Beck's manhandling. "That's right. Give in. Take me. Take your Angel home."

Beck felt himself giving in to the haze of Angel's magic. It was a like a soft cotton blanket and a siren's call neatly bound together in one undeniable package. He was so close to giving in, to taking him. . . to losing himself. His hand throbbed, the ring squeezing his finger slightly. He'd never felt so out of control before. He was just about to give in, when he heard a crash of breaking glass from the bar. He stiffened and abruptly pushed Harry back.

Harry was startled by the crazed look in Beck's eye. "Beck?" Harry called out feebly.

Beck's hands tightened on Harry's shoulders, nearly making him cry out in pain. "What the fuck are you?" Beck asked.

"What?" Harry asked, breaking Beck's concentration.

Beck sprung away, practically leaping from the booth. "I've�I've got to go, he said as he sprinted out of the club.

Harry sat there, completely perplexed. "Fuck!" he screamed, as he realized that whatever had happened meant that this sodding assignment wasn't done.

"Debriefing in two hours," Severus said tersely through the amulet link.

Harry nodded morosely and stumbled to his feet, intent on washing the smell and feel of Beck from him before the meeting.

So caught up in the turmoil of the evening, Harry never noticed the malicious eyes in the far back corner of the second floor following his every move. He never heard the gasp of pleasure as Harry let himself get lost in the throes of passion on the dance floor. After nights and nights of nothing but artificial passion from his little dark-haired prize, Therac had finally seen a glimmer of what he was waiting for. Tonight, that bumbling oaf Striker had been able to pull the first genuine emotion out of his prize that Therac had seen here. Oh, how he ached to take him. But, it wasn't time yet. No, his dark haired prize wasn't yet dripping in the anguish and pain that Therac knew he possessed. Until he felt that, Therac would continue to wait. It was worth it.



Artificial Life - Chapter 7

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