castalie | New TS Fic

Why yes, you read right - I'm posting a new Jim/Blair story. No, you're not reading someone else's journal, this is really mine :-)

So this is another story written after one of the prompts I've received some time ago, this one being 'Jim confesses a kink' - so, the fic is more about Blair pestering Jim to admit what his favourite kink is but it's the same thing and there is kink revelation, anyway *g*

Title: Curiosity Killed the Cat. Or So they Say.
Pairing: Jim/Blair [The Sentinel]
Rating: PG-13 on-screen but talk about NC-17 things, including spanking. It's only talk though, just - they talk about many things...
Story Notes: Written for

andeincascade, thanks for the lovely prompt :-)
Word Count: 2700+

Thanks go to

starwatcher307 for the wonderful beta - as always *hugs*

7.30 AM

"Spanking!" Blair's fork turned in mid-air, pointing in Jim's direction. He had a triumphant smirk on his face.

Jim raised an eyebrow; Blair's outburst had come out of nowhere and sounded quite loud in the quiet of the morning. It surprised him; his lover was a lot of things, but a happy early-riser he was not, and this burst of excitement so early in the day was quite out of the ordinary. It piqued Jim's curiosity; whatever could put that gleam of mischief in Blair's eyes had to be interesting.

He swallowed his mouthful of coffee and then carefully put the cup back on the table. "Excuse me?"

"Spanking," Blair repeated. "Your number one kink, remember? Has to be spanking, man."

"Is that so?" Jim said, amused. So they were back to that question, were they? He should have known Blair wouldn't just let go. His thirst for knowledge didn't pertain only to scholastic matters. He leaned against the back of the chair, arms crossed over his chest, waiting for the rest.

"Sure is." Blair squirmed a little, obviously trying to make himself a bit more comfortable on his seat, which, Jim thought with a smile, might not be an easy feat considering their activities the previous night. "Each time you spank me, you're hard as a rock and I bet you could come just from smacking my ass."

"Because you couldn't?" Jim couldn't stop the incredulity in his voice.

"We're not talking about me," came Blair's quick answer. "Concentrate."

"Right." Jim rolled his eyes. "Sorry."

"Think about it."

"Oh I am, believe me." And he was. What a gorgeous picture it made, too.

"I guess it would stand to reason." Blair's expression firmly proclaimed, 'Listen-to-me-I'm-trying-to-teach-you-something'. "I mean, with your senses, I can only imagine how good it must feel. The sharp sound of your hand slapping my ass, the feel of your hand slapping my ass, the skin on skin sensation." He licked his lips and squirmed a little more, but this time Jim would bet it wasn't from discomfort. "The whimpers I make, the heat coming from my cheeks, and when I move my hips to meet your hand..." Blair's voice trailed off.

The description was turning Jim on too - and it didn't help that Blair's scent was changing as arousal hit him - but he wasn't planning on losing control of the conversation. He was determined to play it cool. "Do I need to leave you and your fantasy alone, Chief?"

"You're a riot, Ellison." But Blair's look of amused and smug satisfaction belied the stern tone. He knew Jim well enough to know that his little speech wasn't leaving his lover indifferent. "Oh," he suddenly snapped his fingers, "and the color! Let's not forget the color... you so get off seeing my ass turn pink, don't you?"

"I always thought it was a color that suited you." Jim couldn't help but smile at the thought.

"Flatterer! Come on, man. Just admit it, you love spanking me."

"Never thought of denying it, babe." Jim stood up and pushed his chair back, starting to clear the table. They had to get moving or they'd be late to the preccinct. Blair followed him to the kitchen, his own hands full. They had a well-oiled domestic routine, similar to a well-rehearsed dance; they didn't even think of the steps, they just did them naturally.

"So, is that it?" Blair asked again, hips against the counter once he'd deposited everything in the sink. Jim would remind him later whose turn it was to do the dishes. He was looking up expectantly.

"Is that what?"

"Jim!" Blair glared at him. "Is that your favourite kink?"

"Nope." Jim dried his hands on a towel and stepped toward Blair, pelvis pressing against Blair's body. His hips immobile, he just stayed there, letting Blair's heat and scent fill him. It was always the best way to start the day. Well, that and have sex, of course.

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" Blair sighed, tilting his head up a bit so that he could keep his eyes riveted to Jim's. One of his hands came up to rest on Jim's hip. Casually, comfortably. Almost absent-mindedly, Jim was sure, and he loved that.

"Don't think so."

Blair pinched his partner's hip. "You are such a dick, Ellison!"

Jim smirked. "Guess so." He planted a swift kiss on Blair's lips and then turned around, leaving the kitchen.

"Oh hey, wait!" Blair called, following after him. "Is that a clue?"

Jim's laugh was the only answer he offered.

10.18 AM

"So, I was thinking," Blair said as the doors of the elevator opened, letting the sounds of everyday life at the station surround them. Jim readjusted his hearing. It was noisier than it had been when they'd arrived earlier that morning, but it was a noise he enjoyed; it sounded a bit like home to him.

Jim put his hand on the small of Blair's back and pushed him gently. "Coming from your mouth, those are scary words, Chief."

Blair gave him an amused smile. "I thought it was 'trust me'?"

"I do have a long list, yeah," Jim admitted easily, leading his lover to a corner of the hall where no one could hear them. He just knew he was in for a new kinky quiz, and discretion was undoubtedly the better part of valor.

"So, as I was saying," Blair continued, trusting Jim to be on the lookout, "I was thinking. And I'm thinking that maybe your favourite kink is when I forbid you to come?"

Jim crossed his arms in front of his chest, a favorite position of his when he was going to be lectured by Professor Sandburg. He needed to look tough in those cases. "Oh, I'm impatient to hear that one."

"I bet you are, you perv," Blair mocked. "But okay, your favourite kink should be the one that makes you come the hardest, right?"

"Possibly."

"And so when I forbid you to come," Blair lowered his voice, which made Jim smile, "when I forbid you to come and when I tease you and blow you and stroke you," his voice was turning sultry, "and when I finger-fuck you but I make it clear that you're not allowed to come until I say so, the torture is so good that it makes you fly, right?"

Jim wanted nothing more than to pin Blair to the wall and kiss that wicked mouth senseless - that and other things that would definitely put them in jail for indecent exposure. But he just nodded, his own voice a little rough. "When you're right, you're right."

"And when I finally decide that you were good enough, that you can let go, then oh man," Blair took a deep breath, a very sexy smile on his face, "you get that look on your face and your whole body just... I don't know, it's so taut and hard but at the same time it's like it's becoming boneless in my hands and you come so hard I could drown in it."

Jim came back to earth quite violently with that last description. He snorted. "Thanks for that wonderful image, Sandburg!"

Blair was the picture of innocence. "You're welcome."

Jim shook his head, took Blair by the nape of the neck and pushed him gently toward the entrance of the bullpen. He hoped this was the end of it. He wasn't sure he wanted to feel aroused all day long, not with the busy schedule he had ahead of him.

01.45 PM

"What about when you come in my hair, then?"

"God, Chief!" Jim almost swallowed wrong, and it was all he could do not to spit his mouthful of water all over Blair. He dried his mouth with his hand and straightened up, leaning a hip against the fountain.

"Sorry, Jim." But the tone of Blair's voice wasn't exactly convincing.

Jim glared at him. "So, what about when I come in your hair?"

"Would that be the mysterious favorite kink?" Blair asked, his tone seeming to imply that talking about sex in the middle of the station was nothing if not natural - a routine, even. "When you grab me by the hair and you push me down on my knees and make me suck you like a whore and right before you come you tug my face away and you wrap a strand of hair around your cock and then you come in it?"

"Chief, you're seriously asking for it!"

"What?"

Oh yeah, Blair could pull off 'innocent look' like nobody's business. But Jim wasn't fooled. "If you make me hard right before a meeting with the Chief and his buddies, I swear I'm gonna take it out on your ass later!"

"You're so touchy, Jim."

Jim growled and then turned around, heading to the conference room. "You're driving me crazy."

Blair hurried after him, matching his pace to Jim's, their arms brushing against each other's.

"No, I'm just trying to find my answer, is all. You didn't want to tell me, fine. I'm investigating now. You should be proud. So. What about-"

Jim stopped and pointed a finger in front of Blair's face. "One more word and you won't be able to sit tomorrow."

"Geez. Maybe your favourite kink is to boss me around; you sure love to do that. Makes you hot, uh, Jim?"

Jim loomed over him, trying to look threatening. "One more word, Sandburg. Just one."

The little shit all but batted his eyelashes at him. "Promises, promises."

3.29 PM

"Oh, I know!"

Jim managed not to groan. Here they were again. He stopped typing his report and turned his chair so that he was facing Blair.

"You're just not going to leave me in peace, today, are you, Chief?"

"You mean you're just now realizing this?" Blair sounded almost sorry for Jim. "Some detective you are."

"God, I should have stuck to the 'one week' thing and kicked your ass after that. Life would be good for me now. So peaceful. Quiet."

Blair kicked Jim's shin with his foot, though he did it discreetly - for which Jim was grateful. He didn't want Simon to threaten to separate them again. That had been embarrasing. Another little kick brought his attention back to the bane of his existence. "So? You're not curious about what I'm thinking now?"

"Yes, Blair, please, do tell." In the army you were taught to retreat when there was no other solution.

Blair leaned forward, and made sure to speak sentinel soft. "Outdoors sex. Fucking me against a wall. Or me blowing you in your truck. You jerking me off in my office."

Jim leaned forward too, taking advantage of the fact that few detectives were around them at the moment. "I have to say you're very thorough in your guessing, Sandburg. But that's still not it. Though it reminds me that it's been some time since I bent you over the hood of Sweetheart and fucked you senseless. It's overdue."

Blair's eyes lit at the suggestion and winked at him. "See? We're getting somewhere."

"Me in you, hopefully," Jim said, his look predatory.

"Who's driving who crazy, now?"

7.07 PM

"So maybe it's not a sexual kink, per se."

Jim laughed; he couldn't believe they were still at it. Blair was like a dog with a bone. He gave a quick glance at his lover, careful to keep his eyes on the road. "You're like a pit-bull, Sandburg, you know that?"

"What I do know is the meaning of 'pot calling the kettle black'. Do you?"

Jim shook his head. "God, you're infuriating."

Even without looking at him, Jim could hear the shit-eating grin Blair sent his way. "Part of my charm, I'd say."

Jim chuckled. He brought a hand to Blair's thigh, squeezing. "Yeah, you would."

"So, don't you want to hear my new guess?"

"Oh, I'm dying to know."

"Riight. But okay. It's the whole possessive thing." And didn't Blair sound so very proud of himself.

"Care to develop a little?" Jim slowed down and parked the truck, happy to be almost home. Today had been a busy day... and if he had to be honest with himself, he was grateful for the endless distraction of Blair and his pestering. It had taken his mind off a lot of things. Which he was pretty sure was one of Blair's goals.

"Oh, I will. It's in the way you like to put your hand at the small of my back and lead me where you want to. Or when you sit beside me even though there's room elsewhere, or when you kinda loom just behind my shoulders with that look on your face. Yeah, as if I didn't see you, Ellison. Or know you." There was a grin in Blair's voice; he was warming up to his subject. He was enjoying himself, that much was clear to Jim. "And when you're very bold, it's in the way you put your arms around my shoulders when you think someone is sniffing around me. Like you're marking your territory. That and the biting. Man, you're so into it!"

Jim could have wasted his breath trying to deny everything, but it truly would have been just that - a waste of breath. And time. So he tried another tactic. "Getting off on the caveman routine, aren't we?"

"Well, we certainly are," Blair answered easily, a hand brushing Jim's leg. "Or else I'd have slugged you one a long time ago, man."

"Tough guy," Jim said, bringing Blair's hand to his lips and kissing the palm.

"You know it."

9.12 PM

They had dinner and, apart from one more guess - could it be dirty talk, then, Jim? - Blair left the interrogation behind him. Instead, he concentrated on the case at hand, helping Jim with some insights, then asked for some help concerning a student of his; the kid seemed to be having some trouble that might be related to his association with a bad crowd. They exchanged ideas and suggestions before naturally moving on to lighter topics.

It was also very natural that they found themselves together on the couch; Jim watching a game on the TV while Blair read one of his heavy books, lying on the couch with his head cushioned on Jim's thigh.

The drone of the TV gently filled the loft; quiet enough that it didn't disturb Blair - though, as he kept telling Jim, when he was reading he never really registered the sounds coming from the TV - but still loud enough for anyone to follow the running commentary on the game, sentinel ears or not.

Jim was sipping a beer with one hand while the other almost absentmindedly stroked Blair's stomach, fingers caressing the warm skin under Blair's shirt in a soothing motion.

It was a cozy, domestic scene, far from the hardship and darkness of the job, far from everything that looked like the world outside the walls of the loft. This moment was close to perfection for Jim.

As if reading his mind, Blair suddenly stopped reading his book. Jim ignored the screen to observe his lover, a little smile tugging at his lips. He wondered whether Blair would finally get it. For a genius, the man was sometimes a bit dense.

He watched as Blair put the book face down on his chest before casting a serious look around him. He turned his head toward the TV, then observed Jim's hand resting on his stomach. He craned his head to stare at Jim. Then he looked at himself again, cuddled against Jim. Finally he turned his attention back on his lover, sharp and focused before his eyes softened.

He didn't say anything; just smiled. Then, almost in slow motion he sat up, put his book on the coffee table, and turned to face Jim before he stradded his lap. Still without a word, he bent his head and gave Jim a lingering kiss, taking his time exploring Jim's mouth as Jim did the same.

Jim's arms wrapped themselves around Blair's waist and held him tight. When they drew apart, Blair was looking at Jim with such an open, happy look in his eyes that it made Jim want to bury himself in Blair and never come out.

He almost purred as Blair nuzzled his throat. "You big doofus, Jim."

Jim laughed. So Blair had finally found his answer. "Took you long enough, Darwin."

Fin