"What in Hades are you doing?" Ares, naked body glowing in the moonlight, stood over Joxer, his hands on his hips. Which, Joxer noticed, framed a still impressive, if flagging, erection.
He took a deep breath to get his heart started. Never get a god angry at you, Joxer. It doesn't do wonders for your life expectancy. Then again, neither does...doing whatever it was he was doing. "I thought you wanted to...you know. So, I got ready." He indicated his position on his hands and knees.
"You call that getting ready? I show up, tell you that for reasons I do not understand, I've decided to honor you with my touch tonight, and you just...grovel? Is this how you normally make love to gods?" Tiny sparks glowed from Ares's eyes, enough to remind Joxer of just *who* his father was, as if he wasn't terrified enough. Although, even that terror wasn't enough to quell his desire. Ares was magnificent. There was no other word for it. Joxer preferred the ladies, and longed for Gabrielle, but he knew a fine male figure when he saw it, and Ares...was a god.
"I have never made love to...made love *to*?" Joxer blinked. He couldn't mean...that was impossible. "I've barely slept with mortals, and then mostly with whores. Whores don't care. I figured..."
"You figured *wrong*. But...you're frightened." Ares's face softened at those words. The sparks faded from his eyes. He knelt down beside Joxer, and touched his shoulder with a hand gentler than anything Joxer had ever felt before. "I don't understand. Are you afraid I'll hurt you?"
"That's what you do, isn't it?" Joxer could not believe his daring. You're the god of war. And I'm just a...worm. Something to use. Just get it over with." His voice was steady.
Ares shook his head. "That is what I am, but not who I am. When I use force, it's with someone who can fight, someone who will be aroused by the battle. Someone like..."
"Someone like Xena." His voice sounded bitter even to him. "I'm nothing like Xena. Or your brother."
"I know." Ares smiled. It made his face beautiful. "I think that's one of the reasons I'm here. I don't want to fight. I don't want to take. I want... you." He stroked Joxer's hair. "I want...right now, I want to kiss you. May I?"
"You're asking?"
"Yes. And you can say no."
"Yeah, but I won't last long if I do."
"Joxer...I promise you. I swear to you. If you tell me no, I will leave you and never disturb you again. And if you tell me yes, I promise that you will feel only pleasure." He took a deep breath, and then another. "Joxer. Please."
Xena and Gabrielle called him a fool. So did Hercules and Iolaus. Even Autolycus did. Maybe they were right, and they'd certainly tell him he was being one now, if he survived this night and told them. But he looked into Ares's dark eyes and his softened face, picked out by the full moon, and he decided to trust the least trustworthy god of them all. "Yes."
Moments later, he found himself cradled in Ares's arms, their faces fingertips apart. He waited for Ares to do more, to move, but he remain still, expectant. "It's all up to you, mortal. All of it."
Joxer shivered at the emotion in Ares's rich voice, and at his words. He nodded and leaned forward to touch Ares's lips with his own. They were warm, and soft, and responded to him immediately. Joxer wrapped his arms around him, and pulled his muscular body close, allowing himself to enjoy the feel of chest hair rubbing on his own body, the feel of another man's beard harsh/soft on his face. God or no god, that's what Ares was. A man. And this man needed to be held, needed to touched with something other than awe or fear. This man needed to be made love to.
Joxer moved his hands down Ares's back, stroking the long muscles. Ares stopped kissing and purred into Joxer's neck at that. Encouraged, Joxer laid him down supine on the forest floor, petting and touching him, using his knowledge of his own body's needs and desires to slowly pleasure Ares with his hands, making his way to the proud penis standing in a nest of black curls. He wanted to touch it, his own responding to the sight, but he held off until Ares was a mass of goo. Then, and only then, he engulfed it in his mouth.
Oh, gods. It had been far too long since he'd held a man there, since he'd felt a smooth, soft length on his tongue, filling him with a sweet musky taste. He just held it for a moment, allowing himself to enjoy it.
"Zeus, Joxer. Yes. Thank you. Yes....please."
Those words drove him further. He steeled himself and took Ares as deep as he could, until it reached the top of his throat. There was still more to go, but Joxer knew his own gag reflex was too strong. No matter. The gods had given him hands, and he used them. Both of them. Between them and his own intuition with suction, tongue and teeth, and Ares's own needs, and despite godlike effort on Ares's part, they soon both reached completion, Joxer finding release as sweet semen filled his mouth - sweet enough to remind him that however needy, this was not a mere man.
When Ares finished, Joxer stopped sucking and rolled away, moving to lie next to him. "Thank you, Ares. It was amazing." He kissed him, wondering if he'd ever get the chance again.
"You're not leaving, are you?"
"...aren't you? I mean, we're done, right?"
"No. What we did was wonderful. You are very talented. And very sweet. But we aren't finished." There were those eyes again. Joxer never realized how warm they could be.
"What do you want?"
"I want you to make love to me, Joxer. I want you to *take* me." Ares levered himself up on his elbow. "That's what I want. That's what I wanted when I came to you. You. Inside me. Please. Would you do that for me?" He asked that like it was a favor.
Joxer's body responded before his head could, rising up to meet the challenge. There was no way he could refuse, even if he wanted to. Instead, he leaned forward and took Ares's mouth again, rolling them over until Joxer lay on top, their erections meeting and Ares writhing beneath him. He wiggled down Ares's body until he was kneeling between his thighs, kissing and licking along the way.
At a nudge from Joxer, Ares obediently...obediently!...raised his knees and spread thighs impossibly far. He moaned as Joxer took advantage of this display and explored everything revealed to him, exploring with his fingers and his mouth. "Please, Joxer."
Joxer understood, and began to work his fingers inside Ares, stretching and preparing him as gently as possible, as Ares pushed himself impatiently on Joxer's hand. With perfect faith, Joxer reached out his hand and touched a jar that had not existed there moments earlier. Inside it, as he knew he would, he found a sweet smelling oil. He removed his hand from inside Ares and scooped up some of it. It was already warm, so Joxer began immediately to spread it inside Ares and on himself, coating both as well as possible. Ares was no longer speaking coherently, just moaning and moving.
Finally, he placed himself just so, and, his hands braced on either side of Ares's body, he pushed. He tried to be gentle, but Ares was *hungry* and demanded more in the only way he could, with his body, so Joxer had no choice. He rammed into him, deep into his perfect male, so male, body, and then almost out again, moving as slowly as he dared, as slowly as he could stand.. He kept that up for a long time, until he had no choice but to move quickly, and then faster and faster as his pleasure grew, and as he tried to give pleasure to his partner, until finally first Ares and then Joxer let go again.
This time, exhausted, Joxer pulled out and dropped down. Once again Ares gathered him in his arms and held him close, as the forest floor became a bed, and the trees above them became a rich brocaded tent, and a fine woolen blanket draped over their naked bodies, the residual from their lovemaking magicked away by the same force.
"This is nice...." Joxer rolled sleepily in Ares's arms.
"I want it to be nice." There was wonder in Ares's voice. "I want it to be nice. I want you to be comfortable, to be happy. As happy as you made me. Please, Joxer."
That word again. It sounded so odd from him. "I'm not going anywhere. Ares."
This time the smile did more than make him beautiful. It made him godlike in an entirely new way. "Good."
"But..."
"But what?" Ares's voice was soft and sleepy.
"But..." Joxer cursed himself for a fool, knowing that if he did not ask his question, he would lie awake all night wondering. "Why?"
"Why?"
"Why this? Why me? Why...that way? Why?"
"Tartarus take you!" His voice was not soft anymore. It was hard and angry, and Joxer moved as far away as the bed would allow him. "Why can't you mortals let things *be*? Why can't you just *accept* it? Why..." He stopped. "Oh, gods, I frightened you again. I...I did not mean to. I just have this temper. I'm not going to hurt you. Come back." He held open his arms. Joxer knew he was being foolish again, but it had felt so good before, and feeling good was not something that happened to him. He went back and let Ares enfold him.
"It's...I have to know. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault." Ares kissed his forehead gently. "I was...you were right before, and I didn't want to tell you."
"I was right? About what?" Joxer was never right. That was an axiom.
"I was looking for a fast coupling. All I wanted was a warm body that wasn't too unwilling. You were the closest one, and you weren't hard on the eyes. And I thought I'd hit gold when you didn't yell for Xena or try to use that sword of yours, or anything. You just took off your clothes and got into position. I could have scratched my itch, gotten dressed and gone away and you wouldn't have said a word."
Joxer nodded against Ares' chest. "I was too scared to say anything. Which is strange because normally fear makes me talk and talk and talk and...I'll be quiet now."
"It's all right." He kissed Joxer's lips. "I think I know how to keep you relaxed. But...yes. I could feel the fear. I could taste it. You were scared of me. You still are." Joxer shook his head. "Yes, you are. I just hope I can change that." What did he mean by that? "Thing was, you were scared of *me*, but not of what I was going to do. You were just...resigned to it. I was going to *rape* you, man, and you didn't seem to care."
"I didn't care. You'd do it, it would hurt and then you'd go away. And if I was quiet and didn't fight, you wouldn't hurt me any other way."
"Oh, gods. You've been raped before. Who? Who did that?"
"Who didn't? I guess...it was Jett, first. We slept in the same bed growing up. It was just...easier to roll over for him. Safer. It's only my body. And then, when I left home...had to earn money some way." He shrugged. "Customers liked it when I just...let them."
"That's what did it, that's what got me to change my mind. It's *not* just your body, Joxer. It's your soul. I'm the God of War. My job is to make people *fight*, to make them *not* just take what happens to them. That's part of being human. I saw that. And I couldn't break you more. Even more. I wanted you to make love to me, I wanted you to be the one taking. Only you didn't. You gave. I have never felt such pleasure, Joxer. Not from anyone. I have never had someone like you before, and I will keep you with me as long as you allow."
"Me? I have a choice?" This wasn't possible. This was too good to be true. He could be free if he wanted?
"You will always have a choice, Joxer. You can be my lover or you can go on alone. It's up to you."
"Me? But...you're...you can just take."
"I'm tired of taking. I want...I want the greatest gift you can give me, but only if you want to give it. Please...stay with me. Stay by my side and be my lover."
"I...I don't know. I don't know." Joxer's mind was cloudy with fear and sex and something new and sweet that he couldn't quite name. "I can't think."
"Shhh. It's all right. You don't need to say. If you want...I'll go to Olympus now, and not bother you."
"No. Stay. Stay here. With me. I know that much. I want you here."
Ares nodded and gathered Joxer even closer to him. Soon, the tent filled with the sound of a god snoring, while the mortal in his arms lay awake, his head awhirl just like his universe.
Outside the tent, Aphrodite smiled. Joxer would be good for him. She just knew it.
The End
Copyright 2001 Debra Fran Baker and NightRoads Associates