Sören and Mark were on a two-week honeymoon, renting the same beach house where they'd gotten together in Sausalito, California in the summer of 2017. For the first few days of the honeymoon, Sören and Mark had spent a lot of time in bed making passionate love, between walks on the beach and seeing places of interest in town. As the end of their first week on vacation approached, Sören finally got around to checking his e-mail, and found a few e-mails from Dooku from earlier in the week - cat pictures and little reports of what he was up to, links to news stories Sören might find interesting - but Dooku hadn't e-mailed within the last twenty-four hours after consistently e-mailing all week, and now Sören wondered if he felt like he was being ignored.
While Mark was packing to get ready for their day trip, Sören decided to call his best friend and apologize for not replying to e-mails all week, and give any assurance that was needed that just because he was a married man now, didn't mean he wouldn't try to continue to make time for the other most important man in his life. He hit Dooku's number on speed dial, hoping the pause in daily e-mails was just to give Sören a chance to catch up and not because he felt slighted or, worse, that something had happened. Sören's heart pounded as he waited through the rings - the thought that maybe something was wrong tore at him.
Dooku answered after three rings. "Hello, Sören."
"Nico. Hey. Hi." Sören gave a nervous laugh. "I hope I'm not calling at a bad time, but I just now got your e-mails and I am so sorry it's taken me this long -"
"Ah. I see. I had wondered if everything was all right."
"Oh, Nico. That's why I called you - when I saw you'd been e-mailing me every day and then suddenly nothing, I got worried. Everything's OK, já?"
"Yes. I didn't e-mail yesterday because I was a bit busy." Dooku chuckled. "I didn't mean to alarm you."
"Oh OK. Good." Sören breathed a sigh of relief. "And I hope you don't feel ignored."
There was a slight pause, then "I understand you're on your honeymoon and aren't going to be glued to your laptop, Sören."
Sören noticed that wasn't a yes, but it wasn't a no, either, and that bothered him a little. He brushed it off, not wanting to make things awkward - not wanting to treat Dooku like he was some needy guy with no life - and he tried to keep things light. "Jæja, I've been occupied. Lots of, ah, trips to the beach." That wasn't a lie, but Sören had spent just as much time horizontal if not moreso. "Mark and I are heading out in a bit to go for a hike to Alamere Falls."
"Lovely. I've heard there are quite a few beautiful waterfalls in the Bay Area."
"This one is a tidefall. I didn't get to see it last time we were out here, but we're making up for that now. What about you? You were busy yesterday, huh?"
"Yes. I was up later than usual the night before last and slept in for once, then I had to... get caught up with life." Dooku chuckled again. "And yes, everything's fine. The cat is fine, I'm feeling good. I'm about to head out in a bit myself."
Sören couldn't resist. "Hi Feeling Good. Hi About To Head Out In A Bit -"
"As you know, you're a brat."
"I miss you too."
Dooku sighed. "Indeed. One more week?"
"Jæja, we're coming back on the fifth. Maybe once I get back we can take a day trip together, go to Tillamook and Cannon Beach or something. I told you when this started I would still make time for you and I intend on keeping that promise."
"I'd like that, Sören, and thank you." Another pause. "It's good to hear your voice."
"It's good to hear yours, too." A little too good - Sören was feeling horny from the sound of that deep, silky voice. Thinking about Dooku now, with his trim body, the little bit of chest hair he'd seen poking out through shirts. Wanting to see him shirtless. Aching to see him naked, to touch that chest hair, to run his hands all over that furry body... Fuck. Stop. You have to get over him. It had been over a year and of course he wasn't over Dooku at all. As happy as he was to be here in his honeymoon with Mark, he missed his best friend. "So, I'll see you soon, and I'll try to be better about e-mailing you back. I'm really sorry."
"It's all right, Sören. Thank you for calling. I shan't keep you, since I know you're about to go out, and I'll be leaving soon myself."
"OK." All too soon, it was over. "Have fun."
Dooku snorted. "As you know, I hate fun."
"I know." Sören smiled fondly. "Bye, Nico."
"Have a wonderful day, Sören."
Sören sighed again when the call ended. Mark poked his head in the door, raised his eyebrows, and walked in. He just stood there, arms folded.
"That was Professor Dooku," Mark said, a statement of fact.
Sören nodded. "He sent me e-mail all week and I didn't respond -"
"I heard."
"How much did you hear?"
"Enough." Mark tapped his foot and cocked his head to one side, as if to say I'm waiting, but not about waiting to go out.
Sören quickly changed the subject, not wanting to have yet another discussion about his feelings for Nicolae Dooku. "So are you finished packing for our trip?"
"I am. You ready to rock?"
"Let's roll," Sören said. He walked over and gave Mark a hug and a little kiss, then Mark took him by the hand and led him out to the car.
_
They drove out to Bolinas without the need for conversation, listening to the radio, watching the scenery. It was a perfect summer day, with clear blue skies, and temperatures were mild in the Bay Area - just warm enough to be pleasant, not uncomfortably hot. Sören had been looking forward to this trip since they'd made plans to return to Sausalito for their honeymoon and started talking about things they hadn't seen last time, and as they got closer to the parking spot to begin their hike, Sören's heart beat faster, giddy with anticipation.
The hike was eleven miles round trip. Sören and Mark had been going for walks every day since they started living together, but Sören was still a little daunted by the mileage. As they got out of the car and stretched to prepare themselves for the hike, Mark saw that the happiness on Sören's face had been temporarily replaced by concern. Mark put a hand on Sören's shoulder. "Worst case scenario if you cramp up and can't make it, I'll carry you."
"Oh yeah, a seven-foot dude carrying a six-foot dude without breaking a sweat doesn't look conspicuous at all," Sören said.
Mark looked out and up into the sky, like he was looking across space and time. He gave that cryptic little smile that told Sören he was up to something, and Sören raised an eyebrow at him. Mark said nothing, but just patted him like he was indulging a child who had said something ridiculous.
"Just the same, I hope my body doesn't crap out," Sören said, stretching some more. "I'd like to be able to prove to myself I can do this. It's a challenge."
"Yes, Fëanor," Mark said under his breath.
When they'd begun planning to go to Alamere Falls, they'd read that the trail was high-traffic, lots of tourists, since it was such a beautiful location. Mark disliked crowds about as much as Sören did, but they still thought the hike would be worth it. About a mile into the hike, as they took a brief rest stop for Sören's sake, Sören noticed they hadn't seen anyone else on the trail, which Sören found odd for such a gorgeous day in July.
The trail continued to be empty, not a single other hiker, all the way to the beach. When they finally arrived at their destination, the beach was empty. Before Sören could speculate too long, he was distracted by the sight of the waterfall pouring down the cliffs, flowing over the sand into the sea. Sören came from Iceland, a country known for its gorgeous waterfalls, and this was still one of the most magnificent falls he'd ever seen - he'd in fact never seen a tidefall before. It was even more breathtaking in-person than it had been in the pictures. Sören's heart beat faster, a chill going through him that made his hair stand on end, his skin gooseflesh. Tears stung his eyes. He was glad that he'd stayed alive through everything, to be here in this moment, to witness this wonder of nature.
"Holy fucking shit," Sören breathed.
Mark let out a low whistle. "I've been all around the world many times over and this is still one of the prettiest things I've ever laid eyes on. Next to yourself, of course."
Sören's cheeks flushed. He crinkled his nose and bit his lower lip. "You too." Sören glanced Mark up and down, admiring his muscular legs and arms in his T-shirt and shorts, the black mane spilling down his back, the intense silver eyes. Then Sören looked back at the waterfall. After a few minutes of watching it together in silence, the endless roaring cascade, Sören's eyes swept the beach and rested on Mark again. "There's no one else here."
"Nope."
Sören narrowed his eyes and rocked back on his heels. "Did you... do... something? Some spoopy Elf magic shit?"
Mark's laughter rang out. "Spoopy Elf magic shit. Wow, Sören."
"Seriously. I was expecting a crowd, and there's not just not a crowd, but we're all alone at a popular tourist site. Just us. I call shenanigans."
"Well technically..." Mark gave a wicked grin, and zipped open his backpack. "It's not just us out here." He pulled out his rainbow-maned purple stuffed unicorn, Hells, and a Ziploc bag holding his set of KISS action figures. Sören gigglesnorted, delighted that after all these months Mark had finally given in to the silly game Sören liked to play of "liberating" Hells and the KISS action figures, bringing them places and taking photos to send to Mark. He laughed harder as Mark began to arrange Hells and the KISS action figures artfully on a rock with a nice view of the waterfall in the distance.
"It's good you brought them here and didn't make them stay at home. Poor Hells. Poor KISS dolls." Sören put a hand on his hip.
"What can I say, I wanted Hells and the KISS dolls - action figures," Mark quickly corrected himself. "To be able to celebrate with us."
Sören took out his cell phone and began taking pictures of Hells and the KISS dolls with the waterfall in the background, to add to the collection... and possibly the nicest pictures in the collection. Mark posed with them, throwing the horns, and then Sören got in a picture too.
After that Sören took some candids of Mark, and selfies of himself at the waterfall, wanting to have a memento. He decided to e-mail a couple of the selfies to Dooku. When he looked up, Mark was giving him that same I'm waiting pose after Sören had finished his phone call with Dooku, before they'd left on their trip.
"What?" Sören asked.
"You just sent pics to Professor Dooku."
"And?"
"Sören, when are you going to tell him how you feel?"
"Like, never?" Sören rubbed his beard and then his curls, feeling sheepish, face on fire. He tucked his phone back in his pocket. "We're married now."
"And we have an open relationship. Or we did. You haven't seen Sharon and Frankie in awhile, but I know you're not suddenly monogamous."
Sharon and Frankie had been guests at the wedding, but Sören had slept with them exactly once this year, back in January. They were still friends - Sören and Sharon exchanged e-mails from time to time - but Sören knew without having an official conversation about it being over, that it was over. Their lives were too different, and they had drifted apart.
"No," Sören admitted, "I'm not monogamous now. And truth be told, I really, really miss eating pussy."
"And Karen went back to the UK, so you missed your chance with that."
Sören shrugged. "It wasn't the right time or place for me to get involved with Karen. And it's not ever going to be the right time or place for me to say something to Nico. I don't think he's gay - surely he would have said something before now if he was - and I don't want to fuck up my friendship making things weird by telling him 'oh by the way, I have it bad for you and want to jump your bones.'"
"There's probably a more tactful way of saying that -"
"OK, but that's without getting into the fact that I'm married, I'm poly, a lot of people don't like sharing. So even if he's gay, which I highly doubt, he might still reject me because he doesn't want to be 'the other man'."
"You don't know that."
Sören looked away, over at the waterfall. Water rushing down and down and down into the sea, inexorable, like his feelings.
Mark went on. "Sören... you should just tell him. Even if you think he's not gay and not interested - and I don't agree but I'm not going to argue with you about it - I think he'd be flattered, not offended. I think your friendship with him is strong enough to survive a confession of feelings if it's not mutual. But you might be surprised. He might be interested. He might be willing to take a chance with sharing you."
Sören looked down at the sand. "You're not ever going to let this go, are you?"
"No, because I love you and have your best interests at heart, and it hurts to see how this eats you up inside."
Sören really didn't want to have this discussion anymore, especially not here, not now, not wanting to mar the memory of this place with an argument. Sören needed to get Mark's mind off of it - and so he resorted to what he knew would do the trick every time. Sören took his shirt off, then stepped out of his Doc Martens, peeled off his socks, and got out of his shorts. Looking around the beach again to make absolutely sure there was nobody else around, Sören took off his boxer-briefs too. Before Mark could ask what he was doing, Sören marched up to the waterfall.
The cold shock of the water made Sören gasp, but then something like an inner switch - perhaps Feanor's fire - went on and his body adjusted, the coolness refreshing rather than unpleasant. A moment later Mark was there behind him, putting his hands on Sören's shoulders and spinning him around. Mark was naked now too.
Not just naked, but fully unglamoured. Hair down to his thighs, and revealing the pointy tips of his ears. His glasses were off and his eyes flashed like labradorite. He glowed softly, the light from him radiating outward and making the water glow and sparkle. Once again Sören felt that frisson through him, gooseflesh for reasons other than the cold water. No matter how many times he'd seen Mark unglamoured by now, it was still awe-inspiring every time. Maglor was a living work of art.
Mark's strong arms wrapped around him, holding him tight, and Mark pulled him into a deep, fierce kiss. Sören kissed Mark back hungrily, wanting Mark to feel his love, his passion - that even when they didn't see eye to eye, they were still bound heart to heart, soul to soul. Sören's nipples were already hard from the cold water, and now feeling Mark's body against his made his cock harden up as well. Mark was hard too, and as their tongues played their cocks rubbed together, teasing.
They continued grinding against each other, hands sliding over each other's bodies - Sören's hands trembled at the feel of Mark's wiry, sculpted frame, the strength and power in him. He thrilled to Mark's touch, caressing everywhere Mark had learned he was sensitive - Sören's nipples, stomach, thighs, his spine. Mark's hands possessively grabbed Sören's ass, bringing him closer, squeezing and rubbing Sören's ass as he rubbed against Sören harder.
The feel of Mark's cock on his - the erotic sight of cock on cock, precum making streamers between them - made Sören's balls tighten, already close to orgasm. They kept rubbing, kissing, touching, building the pleasure and tension deeper, higher, a slow, sensual climb to the edge. At last they were trembling, gasping between feverish kisses, thrusting against each other, teasing their way closer and closer, until they couldn't hold back, eyes locked.
"Come with me," Mark whispered.
Sören threw back his head and cried out, an appropriately primal noise for the wild beauty of this place, the untamed waterfall rushing over them, pounding its way to the sea. The slow build to climax made the orgasm long and sweet, contractions so intense it almost hurt, intensified as Mark came too, moaning, their mingled cum flowing over their cocks.
The sound of Mark's moans and the sight of their cum combining, bathing their cocks, made Sören hard again not long after his orgasm ebbed away. Mark saw Sören's cock rise back to life and laughed. "You're insatiable."
"Takk." Sören grinned.
Mark pulled him out of the waterfall and led him out to the sand. Mark looked out at the sea - Sören wondered if he was keeping his eyes out for a Silmaril, but that didn't make sense since they'd already reclaimed that one - and then Mark turned back to Sören and said, "We should be safe for awhile before high tide comes in."
"You know that just by looking?"
Mark made jazz hands. "It's one of those spoopy Elf things."
Sören laughed, grabbed Mark, and kissed him. Mark pushed Sören down into the sand and they settled into a sixty-nine, sucking each other like they were starving for it, passion ignited by the beauty of this place, sharing the wonder, intimate in their witness of something so powerful.
Sören's head bobbed madly, his mouth making a lewd suctioning sound as he slurped at the first few inches of Mark's long, thick cock, his hand rubbing the bottom of the shaft. Sören's other hand played with Mark's balls, gently rubbing, and after awhile his fingers strayed to rub the sensitive place between balls and ass, and then he worked a finger into Mark, finding that magic button inside him, moving his finger in and out in time with his mouth sliding up and down Mark's gorgeous cock. Mark moaned with his mouth full, louder and louder, whimpering a little as Sören's finger banged away.
When Sören felt Mark's balls tightening, he stopped sucking and dove down, pushing his tongue into Mark's passage and lapping furiously, making Mark howl around the cock in his mouth. A moment later Mark was eating him too, tongue lashing away, driving Sören mad with lust and sensation. Sören shook his head to really get it, until Mark was rocking his hips, fucking himself on Sören's tongue.
Mark slapped Sören's ass and Sören got back to work on Mark's cock, using two fingers inside him. Mark's mouth got Sören's cock closer, and when Sören felt himself right there, he started to make urgent noises around Mark's cock, letting him know he was about to come. Mark groaned and slapped Sören's ass again, and Sören whined around Mark's cock as he climaxed. A few seconds later Mark shot in his mouth, and Sören hummed with pleasure as he swallowed it down, loving the sweetness.
They sat up and kissed, savoring the lingering notes of each other, their taste combined, and then they held each other, rocking together, watching the sea.
"I love you, husband," Mark said.
"I love you, husband." Sören kissed him again, feeling a surge of fierce joy, the happiest he'd ever been.
"Remember that." Mark stroked Sören's face and looked into his eyes. "It's an oath, and you know I take my oaths seriously. If I nag you, I'm not trying to hurt you or push you away. I'm trying to help you. I just want you to be happy." Mark sighed. "You and Ñolo both."
Sören decided not to answer that. And as much as he wanted to just rest here with his husband, his thoughts once again turned to Dooku. It seemed odd that after a few days of telling Sören the little details of what he'd been up to, Dooku hadn't mentioned why he was up late the night before last, what he was getting "caught up" with. It was a little thing, probably nothing serious or important, and Sören brushed away the twinge of concern. He snuggled into Mark's chest...
...and then Mark leapt up, scooped Sören up off the ground, and carried him over to where Hells and the KISS dolls waited on a rock some meters away. Before Sören knew what was happening, the high tide rolled out to the waterfall - Mark had gotten them away just in time.
"Shall we head back?" Mark asked.
"Sure." Then Sören looked down at his clothes in the sand. He was still soaked from the waterfall, and he wasn't keen on putting his wet feet into socks and hiking back like that.
Mark seemed to know what Sören was thinking. He opened his backpack again and handed Sören a towel. "Here, I thought it was a good idea to bring a towel along."
Sören grinned. "You're one hoopy frood."
Mark grinned back. "You're pretty hoopy yourself."