Chapter Text
Dessert is chocolate.
It's their fifth anniversary, and dessert has been chocolate every time, mousse and cheesecake and brûlée, a well-loved tradition, the one day they forget about counting calories and just enjoy. And besides, Adam thinks to himself, chocolate always tastes better when he's licking it out of his boyfriend's mouth.
Sauli grins and lifts the napkin out of his lap to wipe at his lips. "You're making a mess again," he scolds playfully, his eyes shining in the candlelight.
Adam just smirks. "You love it," he replies, and reaches out to take Sauli's hand where it rests on the table.
"Yes. I do," he says, his voice softening with genuine feeling, and Adam catches his breath. Five years. Five years and he still thanks all the powers in the universe every day for bringing him Sauli.
The lava cake is gone, the last delicious taste licked off the spoon, and their server comes to replace the empty plate with a black check presenter. He grabs for it before Sauli can start to protest, and to his surprise, hears no complaint. Instead, Sauli is grinning again, practically glowing, and he's fidgeting in his seat like he can't wait to go.
Adam raises an eyebrow. "I know that look," he says as he slips his credit card into the little slot. "What are you thinking?"
"Mmm, nothing much," Sauli replies coyly. "Just that there might be something waiting for you when we get home. Maybe. Something you'll like."
"Baby, you didn't! Tell me you didn't." They'd said no gifts. There's nothing they need, nothing they want. And besides, it's always more fun to shop together anyway.
The server brings their check back and wishes them a good night, and Sauli gives her his sunniest grin, the one that works on everyone from babies to grandmothers and everyone in between. She walks away with a smile on her face, and Adam could swear she gives Sauli a wink when she thinks Adam isn't looking. He shakes his head. And they call Adam the charming one.
"I couldn't help it," Sauli says then, turning his attention back to Adam. "It was so perfect. So...you.”
"But I didn't get you anything..." Adam says, feeling like the worst boyfriend ever.
Sauli stands and straightens his jacket, then leans down to place a gentle kiss on Adam's lips. "I let you buy me dinner. That's enough."
*
Most of the time, they drive themselves. Adam likes to drive, and he loves his cars, and it's worth the LA traffic just for the freedom, the knowledge that they could take off at any minute in any direction, off the edge of the map where no one would find them. Not that he would. But...he could. He could.
Tonight, though, is special. Adam's grateful for the driver up front and equally grateful for the screen that separates him from the two of them, because the wine is heating its way through his blood and the chocolate is setting off good feelings in his brain and he absolutely cannot keep his hands off of his boyfriend tonight. Sauli grins into Adam's kisses and stretches out under his hands, arching into the touch as Adam's fingers work their way under his jacket and grip at his waist.
He leans over Sauli, pressing him back into the seat, and one hand starts to work its way down, around the curve of Sauli's hip, running teasingly over the hardness between his legs, and Sauli laughs through a moan.
“No time,” he says, a little breathlessly, tilting his head back and baring his neck for Adam to kiss, lick, suck.
Adam groans and bites down gently, feeling Sauli's breath hitch under his teeth. “We'll tell him to drive around the block.” Sauli's hips thrust up as Adam's touch firms, and Adam has to kiss him again, right now, lips and teeth and tongue until they're both gasping for air. “Maybe a lot of blocks.”
Sauli hums happily, and Adam's already feeling for buttons and zippers when Sauli seems to reconsider and shakes his head. “Your surprise, though! I kept it secret so long, Adam, I don't think I can wait any more.”
Adam pulls back and meets Sauli's eyes in the dim light. “You're really excited about this, huh?” he asks, reaching up and stroking his fingers down the side of Sauli's face, watching him shiver at the feeling of soft fingertips over well-manicured stubble.
“You deserve something special,” Sauli says, blushing.
Adam leans in again, soft this time, gentle, kisses that are more like benediction than lust. “I have something special. Right here.”
There's cuddling, then, and quiet, the heat in Adam's blood receding into the background as he settles back into his seat with Sauli tucked comfortably under his arm. He can feel Sauli smiling against his shoulder, and he thinks back over the past few months, looking for a clue, a hint to what Sauli could be planning for him. But there's nothing out of the ordinary, nothing he can identify. Sauli's done a good job. Damn it. Without the distraction of Sauli's lips, Adam's curiosity runs wild, anxious and excited and willing the car to go faster.
They tumble out of the car at the top of the driveway, and when Adam turns around from tipping the driver, Sauli is waiting for him with that grin on his face, the same one that once caught Adam's attention in the middle of a crowded Helsinki nightclub. He reaches out for Adam's hands, and Adam gives them to him.
“Close your eyes,” he says. Adam opens his mouth to protest, but Sauli speaks right over him. “Nope, no whining! You have to do what I say, if you want your surprise.”
“But--”
“No buts. Eyes closed.”
Adam sighs good-naturedly, but finally he obeys, letting Sauli lead him up the walk and through the front door. Sauli tells him to wait for a minute, and Adam does, listening to the jingle of keys and the beeping of the alarm system as Sauli resets it, turning his head this way and that as Sauli turns on the lights.
“Ok. Ready?” Sauli asks, reaching for Adam's hand and pulling him just a few steps deeper into the house.
“As I'll ever be,” Adam says, feeling suddenly, inexplicably nervous.
“Open your eyes.”
At first, the light dazzles him, and Adam spends a moment blinking, waiting for his eyes to focus. Then the brightness fades, and Adam's left staring at a figure on the floor. A man. He's kneeling, naked, with his head bowed and his hands clasped behind his back. His hair is cut in the traditional asymmetrical fashion befitting his station, hanging to his chin on one side and buzzed short and soft on the other. His skin is as pale as Adam's ever seen, as if he's never seen the sun. And when Adam finally gets his feet to move, manages to walk in a circle around the man's unmoving form, he sees the brand clearly visible on his lower back, a simple pattern of intersecting lines that marks him forever as only one thing.
Slave.
“Do you like him?” Sauli's voice comes floating slowly to Adam's ears, as if from very far away. “I had them dye him blond – I know you like that. Shaved and certified clean, too. Only had one master before, didn't even fuck him, just used him to stand around and look pretty. I wanted him to be nice and tight for you.”
Adam can't breathe. He forces his feet to carry him around to face the kneeling form again, and Sauli takes his hand and kisses it sweetly. Adam lets his fingers tighten, holding on to Sauli, using the touch to regain his balance, bring him back to solid ground again. He hasn't had a boy kneeling for him in...since before Sauli, anyway. Years. Years.
He takes a breath. Another. Then... “You bought me a slave.”
“Only a temporary contract. We can take him back and exchange him, if you don't like him. I thought about letting you pick one out for yourself, but then it wouldn't have been a surprise, you know?”
Adam laughs, a too-loud sound that cuts off as quickly as it bubbles up. “Yeah...it's, wow...I'm definitely surprised.”
Sauli comes to stand in front of him then, blocking his view of the slave. The slave who hasn't moved, hasn't reacted once to anything they've said. Adam shoves away the analytical voice in the back of his head (well-trained, must be to keep still like that, wonder how long he's been kneeling. If I left him here all night, would he still be holding that position in the morning?) and meets Sauli's eyes.
“Good surprised or bad surprised?” Sauli asks, worry creeping into his voice.
“I...” Adam doesn't know how to answer that. It's too much, all at once. But he can't let that look stay on Sauli's face, not on their anniversary. Not tonight. “I've just never had a slave before, that's all.”
Sauli opens his mouth to speak again, still looking upset, and Adam could kick himself. It doesn't matter what he's feeling right now – he can deal with that later. Right now, he's taking away all the joy and excitement Sauli's been building up all night, and that's way more important than the tangled mess that's suddenly been stirred up in his own head. He lets go of Sauli's hand and places his fingers over Sauli's lips instead, quieting him. Then he nudges Sauli to the side and steps forward again, boots just inches away from the slave's knees.
“Look at me.” He hardly recognizes his own voice as he speaks the command, lower than usual, stronger...but it feels familiar, too, in a way. An old skill long unused but still there, still lurking in his brain somewhere.
The slave raises his head instantly, looking up at Adam with wide brown eyes. His face is unexpected, in a way, an assortment of parts that shouldn't go together – sharply defined cheekbones, tiny nose turned up just slightly at the end, surprisingly plush lips that part slightly at the first sight of Adam – but somehow, it works. It all works. Adam stares for what feels like a long, long time.
Sauli presses up against his side, kissing his shoulder and asking, “So what do you think?”
Adam doesn't take his eyes away from the slave's face as he answers, his voice almost solemn. “Beautiful. Really, just...he's beautiful.”
“You're happy?”
Adam turns away from the pretty slave boy and takes Sauli up in his arms, kissing him deeply and holding him tight.
“Perfectly, amazingly, wonderfully happy. And it's all your fault,” he says, pulling Sauli's jacket off and letting it pool on the floor.
“Adam...” Sauli groans as Adam works at the buttons of his dress shirt, seeking out the warm skin underneath. “Don't you want to play with your new toy?”
“Tomorrow. Tonight, I want to play with you.”
Adam doesn't stop kissing Sauli all the way to the stairs, his mouth and jaw and neck, wherever his lips happen to land. Sauli is saying something over his shoulder, giving orders to the slave, maybe, but Adam doesn't listen. He knows Sauli loves him, knows his intentions were only for the very best. But this is...this is a lot of things, potentially, but the one thing it is for sure is a complication. A complication that can wait until morning. Right now, it's still their anniversary, if only for another few hours – a night meant for the simple, beautiful familiarity of the two of them in their own bed, when the rest of the world hardly even seems to exist.