His coat and bag landed in a heap on the sofa; his tie was abandoned on the floor and he had his shirt half unbuttoned and was tugging it out of his pants to just jerk it over his head when he crossed the threshold to their bedroom and froze.

The bed had been stripped down to just a fitted sheet, plain black, on which were scattered rose petals, blood red and sunshine yellow of course. Black ropes were already attached to the four bedposts. They were the thin, soft ones that Blaine loved so much because of the contrast they made against Kurt's fair skin, and their unattached ends lay innocently on the mattress in just the spots that Kurt's wrists and ankles would rest if he were lying spread-eagled on the big bed. Both nightstands were pushed back against opposite walls and covered with white candles of all shapes and sizes. Their flickering light was the only illumination in the room but there were so many of them that the result was warm and just bright enough and, Kurt couldn't help thinking, would make his bare skin glow beautifully.

It looked like an altar in a misty, kinky pre-Raphaelite painting. And Kurt was the sacrifice.

And there at the foot of the bed was Blaine, the smiling high priest in tight black leather pants and a purple dress shirt. Holding a crop.

The breath fled Kurt's body and the negative pressure it left behind had Kurt grasping dizzyingly for the doorframe. They almost never used the crop. Pain play, when Kurt could give himself up to it, was the most sublime, ecstatic, transcendent sexual experience imaginable. But to get to that point - to find that place of complete surrender - took so much fucking work. Kurt had to be beyond horny. Beyond needy or desperate. He had to be in that place where the mere touch of Blaine's fingers could send him flying. Where he would do absolutely, literally anything to be allowed to come.

Oh.

Blaine said something, but Kurt could only stare at him, stupidly, because there were no more blood cells left in his brain.

Blaine smiled, took a step closer - brought the crop a step closer - and said it again. "Keep going. Take off your clothes."

They fell to the floor. Kurt was naked in seconds, defenseless. Vulnerable. He clasped his hands in the small of his back without being told, leaving every delicate part exposed for Blaine's inspection.

Blaine came closer - Blaine and the crop - close enough to touch but not touching. He stared up at Kurt and his gorgeous eyes were full of love and desire and challenge. He waited, giving Kurt time to decide, and when Kurt's silence stretched on he began to swing the crop against his own leg, just hard enough that the tongue slapped against the leather of his pants with a high, bright snap. It wasn't quite how it would sound on his skin - Kurt knew the exact difference in pitch and resonance contact with flesh would make - and suddenly he was trembling from head to toe.

Finally Blaine reached out with his empty hand and pulled Kurt's head down just a little, into kissing distance. "Don't move," he whispered as he pressed their lips - only their lips - together in a kiss that made Kurt wonder how something so sweet and gentle and reverent could be coming from a man in leather holding a whip. But then he was too lost in the touch of Blaine's skin and the taste of his mouth to think anymore at all.

As they kissed, Blaine's fingers moved from the back of Kurt's neck and skated down his spine, leaving prickles of gooseflesh in their wake. They whispered along the crack of Kurt's ass then dipped unerringly in to touch the base of the plug. He rocked it gently, just enough to make Kurt whimper but not enough to make it impossible to keep still. He pulled back just enough to give Kurt a smug smile. "Good choice," he said.

"As if I ever have a choice with you," Kurt said.

"I love you so fucking much," was Blaine's only reply. He leaned in again and pressed his lips, soft and hot, to Kurt's, and at the same time tugged gently on the plug until it came free, sliding wetly out of Kurt's ass and leaving him empty and grasping.

"You should get on the bed," Blaine said, lips gliding over Kurt's as he spoke.

It should have felt like the biggest choice of all, maybe, walking over to the bed where Blaine was going to tie him down and do God knows what to him with that crop, but really it was the easiest thing in the world. Kurt was already starting to float a little in and around the sound of Blaine's voice, and his desire was singing, rather than screaming, through his body. They were here at the d�nouement, the final approach. He knew how this went, and his ass was already aching for the sting of the crop.

"Not like that. I want you on your back."

Kurt froze halfway on the bed and twisted his head to stare back at Blaine, who simply raised one pointed eyebrow and began to snap the crop against his leg again.

Kurt was trembling harder than ever as he turned around and lay down on top of the scattered rose petals. He arranged his arms and legs near the ropes Blaine had left for him. His cock was practically dancing against his belly, achingly aware of its vulnerability.

Blaine grinned at Kurt like he'd done something wonderful just by lying down. He set the plug carefully on one of the nightstands, moved around the bed and laid the crop on the mattress alongside Kurt's stretched-out torso. Then he stroked both hands up Kurt's legs and back down again. Kurt closed his eyes and lost himself in the feel of Blaine's hands finally firm on his skin. It aroused him and grounded him at the same time and Kurt was almost purring by the time Blaine moved to one side and took Kurt's left foot in his hand.

"Look at me, Kurt."

He opened his eyes to find Blaine staring at him with the excited little boy "can you believe we're doing this?" grin that he tended to lapse into at the most inappropriate times. But Kurt could never resist little-boy Blaine and he grinned back and stretched his arms out even farther, wriggling his fingers and doing his best to look provocative.

"You don't have to hold back any more, okay? You can come whenever you get there." Blaine's fingers began gently massaging the ball of Kurt's foot and down the instep.

"God, thank you," Kurt breathed.

"Don't get too excited. I don't plan on getting you there anytime soon."

But when he was going to come suddenly seemed completely unimportant. After this past week of struggle Kurt found the simple luxury of not needing to fight his body any more overwhelming. He hadn't realized how much tension had been packed into his shoulders, his hips, the tiny muscles of his face, until he was finally free to relax and let it all sink into the bed. He could swear he even felt his balls soften and stretch away from his body - still full and heavy but no longer drawn up in their need.

Blaine set Kurt's foot down on the mattress and carefully wrapped the soft rope around his ankle and tied it off, then he treated Kurt's right foot to the same ritual. By the time both his legs were secure and immobile Kurt was moaning freely, the combination of warm, relaxing touch and tight restraint wreaking havoc on his higher brain functions.

Blaine's fingers traced a line up Kurt's right leg, tipping inward to stroke his thigh, brush his balls and slide along his cock before they drifted out again, over the bumps of ribs, across a peaked nipple, tickling through the sparse hair in Kurt's armpit and up the length of his arm. Kurt expected more massaging but he was surprised by warmth and wetness; Blaine was sucking on his fingers, licking tiny patterns into his skin, one by one, and God, he knew how sensitive Kurt's hand were. He'd made Kurt come once just by sucking his fingers and now he teased Kurt relentlessly with his lips and tongue, only stopping when Kurt's cock was dancing again, pushing into the air in rhythmic throbs.

And after that wrist was wrapped and tied Kurt had to endure it all again, the slow journey of Blaine's fingers back down his body, around the bottom of the bed and up the other side and the tickling, teasing pleasure of Blaine's oral assault on his fingers.

Then both hands were tied and Kurt was finally helpless, exposed, and tingling with need. Blaine finished the last knot and leaned down to kiss him, gentle lips and searing tongue, then he nipped at Kurt's chin, nuzzled his neck, and finally pulled away so that their only contact was Blaine's hand settling in the middle of Kurt's chest.

Kurt opened his eyes then and smiled up at Blaine, his beautiful boyfriend and lover, and Blaine smiled back and picked up the crop that Kurt had almost - almost - forgotten.

"I wish you could see yourself," Blaine whispered. His voice was strained and the desire in it sent a shudder through Kurt's body. "Your skin against the sheet - it's going to be so beautiful when I'm done marking it."

Blaine trailed the tongue of the crop up Kurt's leg from ankle to hip, over his balls and straining cock, back and forth across his chest in a zigzag that somehow managed to brush his nipples on every pass. Kurt's limbs pulled reflexively at the ropes that bound them, trying to protect him from the pain that was coming, but Blaine just kept teasing his thighs, his feet, his defenseless balls. Kurt's body was beyond his control; it moaned and twisted and pushed up into the air to beg for attention. He abandoned himself to sensation and need, so, so grateful to Blaine for the permission he'd been given to simply feel.

And then with no warning at all the crop slapped hard at the inside of Kurt's thigh and he cried out - his legs fought futilely to try to pull together and his back arched high off the mattress. The crop fell again inside the opposite thigh, then again closer to his knee, and then opposite again, then two more up high in his groin, dangerously close to his cock and balls. Then Blaine paused and rested his hand again in the center of Kurt's chest while Kurt fought to control his breath and the fiery pain in his legs.

"That's it, baby," Blaine's voice was soothing and soft. "Just breathe. Let go. This is only the beginning." He stroked the tongue of the crop up and down Kurt's cock, a tease and a threat that curled fear and desire so tightly entwined in Kurt's belly that he couldn't tell one from the other. Then Blaine's restraining hand disappeared and the crop slid upward, over the head of Kurt's cock, past his navel, up his heaving chest to flick dangerously over his left nipple.

"Get ready," was the only warning Blaine gave, "this is going to hurt." The crop began to fly again, smacking against the sensitive nub and tearing loud, abrupt cries from Kurt's throat. This time it was his hands that pulled hard against the restricting ropes to try to protect himself from the pain but it was in vain, of course, he couldn't move and the sting on his abused nipple bloomed into hot fire as the leather snapped over and over against his skin, ringing in his ears with the exact sound he'd anticipated when it had been smacking Blaine's leg.

Tears began to collect behind Kurt's eyelids and spill out from under them down his cheeks and he could hear himself chanting, "Please, please, please," over and over, begging for mercy, but Blaine ignored him completely, letting the crop bounce its way across his chest to smack just as mercilessly at the right nipple. Kurt's cock was rock hard, despite the fiery pain in his chest, and his hips pumped off the bed in time to his pleas - the heat of pain and the heat of desire were getting all confused somehow and Kurt wasn't sure anymore if he was begging for mercy or for more. Then Blaine's free hand wrapped around his cock and that was it. The final piece of the puzzle. The signal Kurt hadn't known he was waiting for. His straining arms dropped heavy to the mattress. His shoulders relaxed; his breathing deepened. The crop made its way back to the left and although Kurt's cries were as loud as ever he knew now that he wanted the pain. He needed it in ways he couldn't even understand. He was floating on it, each stroke making him feel lighter and looser, and Blaine had given him permission so he let himself go, turned himself over to the heat and the need and the sharp spikes of pleasure Blaine's fingers were teasing from the head of his cock. He existed only as pure sensation and he cried out now for more, more, more.

The crop was gone suddenly, although the waves of heat still radiated along Kurt's limbs and the gentle fingers still pulled surges of desire up from his balls and along his aching length. Each exhale was a short, sharp whimper; an audible expression of the sensations overwhelming Kurt's body. He was beyond asking for anything - less or more. He simply existed in whatever form Blaine wanted him to exist at this exact moment.

Then the hand left his body as well and for just a moment Kurt was alone, drifting with no anchor. As beautiful as it was, it was all too much to endure without Blaine there to keep him safe and his cries pitched up into begging but the hand was back almost immediately, warm over his ribs this time. A whisper of "I'm right here baby," tickled his ear and then, without warning, his stinging left nipple was surrounded by a perfect wet heat. Blaine's tongue began soft and soothing but soon picked up speed, flicking the abused flesh with quick flutters that made Kurt's body stiffen and his dick pulse with need. He could feel his balls start to clench, precome dripped onto his belly and Blaine sucked hard and Kurt was going to come, just from this, from Blaine's mouth on his nipple.

Except it was never going to be that easy. At the last possible second Blaine's mouth disappeared and left Kurt hanging, as he'd done all through this godforsaken week, pumping and pushing and keening his frustration through clenched teeth. Blaine's hand settled this time on Kurt's hip and refused to move any closer to his cock, no matter how Kurt twisted and writhed under it.

"Settle down, beautiful," Blaine said, in the exact tone one would use to calm a panicked animal. "You're almost there. Just one more thing I want to do."

Kurt's fingers curled around the ropes that held them fast to the bedposts and his brain began to chant Blaine's words like a mantra. Almost there ... almost there ... almost there. But he lost his train of thought when something soft stroked gently over his balls and he realized it was the leather tongue of the crop.

His eyes flew open for the first time since the pain had begun and he stared pleadingly up at Blaine, who was now somehow naked, although Kurt couldn't remember him taking off his clothes. Blaine's cock stood up between his legs, as hard as Kurt's and his eyes were dark and avid and implacable. He made no move, just let the crop rest there against Kurt's balls.

"No, please, Blaine, God, just let me come. I can't take it. I can't. You have to know I can't."

Blaine's expression didn't change at all. "This was our deal, Kurt. Total obedience."

"I can't!"

Blaine waited, staring deep into Kurt's eyes, while Kurt shook his head and pulled against his restraints and begged in every non-verbal way he could think of. But he didn't speak again. He didn't speak, and they both knew that was all that mattered.

The corners of Blaine's mouth pulled up just a tiny bit and he moved the crop so that the tongue brushed against the left side of Kurt's scrotum. "One here," he said softly, "one here" - he moved the crop to touch the other side of the sac - "and one here." The leather teased near the head of Kurt's cock. "Then I'll suck you until you come so hard you forget your own name. Or you can say no, and I'll untie you and we'll wait until Sunday like I planned."

"This isn't fair!" Kurt wailed. He knew he sounded like a petulant child but he was far too afraid of the crop on his balls to care.

Blaine leaned close to Kurt's face, that little infuriating smile still playing on his lips. "There are lots of reasons that we do this but being fair has never been one of them. Your choice Kurt. As always."

"I can't wait until Sunday. Not now. I can't Blaine." He was begging for mercy, but he knew Blaine wasn't going to offer any.

"Is that your answer?"

Kurt nodded, a rough jerk up and down, and tears filled his eyes, but at the same time his cock spasmed with excitement and he felt more precome drip down onto his belly.

Blaine's shape was blurred by tears but Kurt could see that he was trembling with the force of his own need. Blaine took a deep breath and settled a hand back where it had been at the start, firm on Kurt's leg, and he gazed down at Kurt as if he was the most beautiful thing in the universe.

"Just three, baby. I'll make them fast. Then it's all over, I promise."

Kurt just nodded again, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes

The leather brushed down his cock then lifted away. For an eternal moment everything was silent and still.

Kurt heard the crop swing a split second before his balls erupted in fiery agony and he screamed even as his cock pulsed out another gout of precome and the second stroke fell, opposite the first; his body convulsed against the ropes, and then the third like no pain or pleasure Kurt had ever experienced landed just under the head of his cock and he was dying and he was coming and Blaine's mouth was hot around him as his balls shrieked with the pain of finally, finally releasing after an eternity of denial. Kurt cried and came and came and came until the sound of his own voice started to muffle in his ears and he couldn't feel his hands or feet and still he came, each spasm of ecstasy accompanied by a spike of pain that just seemed to ratchet the pleasure higher. He came until he couldn't breathe anymore, until his muscles twisted and cramped and still his cock pulsed, empty and dry and spent but still twinging with little aftershocks of pleasure.

When it was finally over Kurt lay limp on the bed, unable to move so much as an eyelid. He barely felt the loss of Blaine's warm, wet mouth around his cock, but he turned his head, instinctively seeking contact, when Blaine's voice whispered in his ear.

"Ropes on or off?"

"Off," Kurt said faintly. He was shivering and all he wanted was to be wrapped up in Blaine's arms and held and told that he was wonderful.

Blaine moved quickly, making short work of the knots that bound Kurt to their bedposts. But even free Kurt couldn't bring himself to move. Blaine spread their comforter over him then maneuvered his body for him, pulling his arms down and lifting him to rest on Blaine's chest, wrapped tight in strong, warm arms.

He had no idea how long he lay there, Blaine murmuring beautiful words in his ear between kisses dropped on his head, his temple, and anywhere else Blaine could reach. He didn't know what Blaine said. He didn't need the exact words so much as the tone of them. He could hear approval and love and awe in Blaine's voice and he nestled deeper against his lover's chest and floated in the warmest, safest place imaginable and, when movement was possible again, wrapped an arm around Blaine's waist and held him tight.

Blaine took the arm as a sign and paused his litany of adoration. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to move tomorrow," Kurt's voice felt rough in his throat. "You're going to have to take care of me." He tilted his face up and Blaine smiled and kissed him very, very gently.

"I promise I will. I'll bathe you and massage you and hand feed you if that's what you want."

"I can probably do without the hand feeding," Kurt said. "Wait, but what about you?" Kurt slid his hand down Blaine's body to find his cock soft and damp between his legs.

"I came when you did. There was no way I could have held back. You were the most beautiful, erotic thing I've ever seen in my life. In fact," Blaine shifted a little and his lips twisted into a tiny grimace, "between the two of us we made quite the mess. You're just still too blissed out to notice the wet spots. And the squashed rose petals."

"Well good. That'll give you some time to clean up before I start bitching at you."

Blaine's laugh rumbled under Kurt's ear and his arms tightened. "Bitch away. You earned it tonight."

"Please. I earned bitch rights for the next decade tonight. I can't believe you did that!"

"You loved it. You came harder than you've ever come before, admit it."

Kurt reached up and pulled Blaine's head down to shut him up with a kiss and for a few minutes they lost themselves to the gentle press of lips and teasing brushes of tongues. When they parted he smiled into Blaine's shining, golden eyes.

"I loved it. I came harder than I've ever come before. But let's just make this once in a while, okay? My body can't take that too often."

Blaine smiled back and nuzzled his nose against Kurt's. "Deal."