Chapter Text
“You look utterly divine in handcuffs, my love,” I told him, rapturous at the sight of those wonderful wrists of his, so graceful in the cuffs that secured his to the headboard. They were not law enforcement grade, and they were not a dangerous experimental prototype. On the contrary, they were actually the sort designed with the bedroom in mind, “I’ve always thought they suited you.”
“‘Course you did.” Juno quipped dryly, though his bright cheeks and heavy breathing gave him away.
“Whatever do you mean by that, my goddess?” I asked, one hand trailing from his capable, broad hands over the handcuffs that adorned his wrists, while the other stroked slowly over his desperately hard cock.
He whined inarticulately at the touch and the way he looked up at me, mercy , those eyes alone were enough to keep me honest these days. “‘Cause you’ve got a filthy goddamn mind, Nureyev,” he accused correctly, with no sharpness to it, as my mouth traveled down his body, “F-figures you’d have gotten the — oh! — l-lying thief in handcuffs and been distracted by thinking how pretty he is!”
I tutted, kissing his hip, “Only when the thief in question was you, my sweet,” I assured him, “And you can hardly blame me when you looked just so,” I licked the crease of his thigh, “ So very pretty.”
“Who-who would have thought we’d wind up like this?” Juno asked breathlessly before dissolving into a moan as I licked a stripe up his length. I looked up at him and considered what he’d said. It was rather an unlikely series of events that had brought us from that first case with the collar to this; from the thief Fauna Lovejoy in handcuffs making my head spin with a kiss as she stole the collar from my pocket, to the new-minted private eye Juno Steel in handcuffs in our bed. And of course, there were the handcuffs in between that had forced us to be honest with each other. It was such poetic irony that Marlena Verdrücken had no idea what a huge favor she had done us.
“Peter, please ,” Juno was looking down at me, pupils blown and no doubt wishing I would stop teasing him, “Please, babe.”
I smiled. ‘Babe ’. It had taken a few weeks, but as Juno and I relaxed into each other’s company, little endearments like that one had grown common. In bed at first, but gradually permeating normal conversation as well. I never tired of them. I loved them. I loved him . I had not said so yet, but I was more sure of it every day. Every time we made love, every time we laughed, every time we made headway in a case. I fell a little more in love with Juno Steel every hour, every minute it seemed.
Normally, I would have teased him until he was near the verge of breaking, but suddenly that didn’t hold nearly as much appeal as giving him pleasure, pure and simple. I took him into my mouth to the root and he sighed. I relished the heat and musk of him, the weight of him on my tongue. I twisted my tongue around the head just the way he liked and took him deep and tight and moaned around him. He writhed so beautifully beneath me and it didn’t take long before he was close. I could tell from his breathing and his expression, the way his hands tugged against the restraint of the cuffs longing to bury his fingers in my hair. It was marvelous to discover that I was getting to know him so well that these signs were familiar.
He moaned out my name as he came, the salty bitterness of him flooding my mouth. I drank him down like ambrosia. When he squirmed with oversensitivity, I lifted my mouth from him and crawled up the bed to release him from the cuffs. I set them aside and rubbed his strong lined palms, his short dextrous fingers, his scarred knuckles, massaging the bloodflow back into them, “Mmmm, Peter…” he murmured in the foggy post-coital voice that I perhaps liked best of all.
“Yes, my love?” I kissed his palm.
“Will you hold me?” My heart swelled with affection in my chest. I did not hesitate to wrap him up in my arms, stroking his back soothingly.
“You did so well for me, my Juno,” I pressed kisses into his hair. I was deeply sated myself from the three orgasms that Juno had wrung out of me before we had even thought to take out the handcuffs, “You never cease to impress me.” Juno hummed contentedly against my chest and we both melted into the comfort and satisfaction of our shared afterglow.
Until it was disrupted by the beeping of both of our comms in unison. Juno’s eyes met mine with a spark of fond humor; both of our comms going off at the same time lately meant one thing. I grabbed my comms and answered the call, “Yes, Rita?”
“Mistah Ransom!” the exuberant voice of our secretary greeted. I had learned quickly not to keep my comms too close to my ear or keep the volume setting too high, “Where’s Mistah Steel!?”
“Right here, Rita.” Juno said, not bothering to lift his head from my shoulder.
“You two sound awfully cozy but not for long!” Juno and I exchanged a glance at that vaguely threatening statement. Rita went on, “I just got off the comms with Charmeuse Bombyx! ” her voice slid even higher into a starstruck squeal on the name, “Ya know, the super famous, suuuuper fabulous lady whose missing son you found after he got mixed up with that whole ‘Fashion To Die For’ show with the Kanagawas?”
“It seems to ring a bell, yes.” I said, and Juno rolled his eyes at me. It was hard to believe I had ever found investigating dull, when as it turned out all I had needed was the right partner at my side.
“Yeah, yeah, we know who you mean, Rita,” he said, “What did she want?”
“ Well , I was just getting to that if you two chatterboxes would quit interrupting so much!” I barely stifled a snort at that, but Rita went on undeterred, “Tonight is the super fancy Obleka Gala she throws every year, where all the who’s-whos do all their who-who-ing and what-have-you whatever it is that who’s-whos do-do, I mean do ,” Juno snickered against my skin, as Rita rambled on excitedly, “And it is just the swankiest, sparkliest night of the year and only the swankiest, sparkliest people get invited to go and it’s all so pretty! Only Madame Bombyx got this spoooky letter just now and she’s real worried that someone is gonna try and mess up her big night and anyways since she was real impressed with how you brought Mistah Luna back to life—”
“Luna wasn’t actually dead, Rita,” Juno pointed out, “He was kidnapped.”
“That don’t matter, Mistah Steel!” Rita gave a frustrated squeal, “Do you even realize what this means ?”
“With Madame Bombyx's deep pockets, we may turn a pretty profit this month?” I asked airily, unable to resist winding the charmingly excitable woman up a bit.
She growled furiously, “ NO , Mistah Ransom, well, YES , Mistah Ransom, but that don’t matter! What matters is you just got invited to the sparkliest, swankiest, sensational-est party this side of Jupiter and you boys gotta get outta bed right now ,” Juno and I stiffened slightly at her awareness of our present position, though, to be honest, it was rather a safe guess as to where to find us these days, “And put on the prettiest, sparkliest, swankiest, most beautiful-est dresses you got and get your mystery-solvin' butts to the one and only Obleka Gala!”
"Our butts don't solve mysteries, Rita," Juno pointed out, "That's just silly."
“Oh, Rita,” I said, rolling my eyes at Juno and pretending like I had only just gleaned Rita's meaning, “Now you’re speaking my language, darling. What do you say, Detective Steel,” I arched an eyebrow, “How about putting on your swankiest, sparkliest dancing shoes for me?”
A flicker of something sad crossed Juno’s features, and I knew he was thinking of his brother. I squeezed him to me and it gave way to a sweet, sad smile, “Yeah,” he said, “Okay, tell her we’ll be there, Rita.”
“I’m on it, boss!” The comms beeped as the call ended.
“Are you sure you want to, love?” I asked gently, caressing his cheek. I knew dancing could be a tender spot for my lady.
“Yeah,” Juno leaned into my touch and kissed the inside of my wrist. He chuckled, “Ben always told me I should dance more and he’d be pissed if I blew off an invite to the Obleka Gala.”
“It is rather exclusive,” I said, sitting up, “And I hear it’s both swanky and sparkly.”
“Well, in that case,” Juno climbed out of the bed and I watched his back and ass appreciatively as he walked towards our closet, “We’d better find something suitably sparkly to wear.”
“Quite right, detective,” I agreed, strolling after him and draping myself across his back, arms slung around his shoulders, adding dubiously, “Though nothing on Mars could possibly shine as bright as you.”
He snorted and kissed my arm, “You’re a fool.” he said as he began rifling through our combined wardrobe. I love you , his tone said without using the words for it. I didn’t need to ask, I didn’t need to force it. I trusted him to say it when he was ready to, or to never say it but to continue showing me in a million other dazzling ways.
For now, we would do our job and we would sparkle and we would dance.