Professional Meeting

Johanna pushed back from her desk, stretching her back and her arms above her head. Her ears swiveled unconsciously in the direction of Dane's voice, just faintly coming through the wall from across the hall, where he was wrapping up his morning stream. Her tail wagged once at the quiet reminder that he was close by ... and then her belly growled to remind her why she was taking a break. Time for lunch.

Collecting her phone from the little dock beside her keyboard, the Dalmatian habitually opened a handful of news sites to scan what was going on in town today, and made her way to the door with her nose already buried in an article like usual. Stepping into the hallway, she paused when the bathroom door opened a little ahead of her, to avoid running into whichever of her housemates it was on her way to the stairs.

The figure striding out was tall, thickly muscled, and wearing a jacket of heavy leather sporting a line of spikes down both sleeves and around the hem. Similar spikes adorned the two cuffs on his wrists and the collar around his neck. A red bandanna was tied around his head, and most of his face was hidden inside a bright red leather muzzle (also sporting small spikes). He looked like he'd stepped out of an album cover for a rock band that was popular three decades ago.

She didn't recognize him.

For the span of a breath, their eyes met, and he seemed just as surprised to have been caught as she was to have caught him. Both of their eyes flashed wide, but it was Johanna that found her voice first. " ... DANE!!!" she screamed, and in the same instant did something normally unthinkable to her: threw her phone directly at the intruder's face, like an oddly-shaped shuriken.

It was hard to say whether her aim or his reflexes were the more impressive demonstration, as the larger Dog managed to catch the flying device, undamaged, just before it cracked him between the eyes. But Johanna hadn't waited to see if her first attack had been successful or not, taking full advantage of even that fraction of a second to dart back into her office. An icy pit collected in his stomach as he realized why she had bolted in that specific direction, instead of toward Dane's room ...

She was going for the gun.

"Wuff! Wait! Johanna!" Ares barked, rushing to the door far too late to intercept her. In fact, no sooner was he in the door than he realized the better idea would have been to stay out of direct sight. In her panic, even the significance of him knowing her name was lost on the Dalmatian, as proven by the click of the safety being taken off the shotgun she'd just yanked from the closet.

Dane's door opened, directly behind Ares. Johanna recognized him, even behind the tinted goggles and plastic helmet he wore for his streaming costume. That was probably the only reason she kept the barrel pointed safely at the floor for the extra second he needed to take in the scene in front of him ... and step quickly between her and Ares. "Whoa, whoa! Easy, sis," he begged, likewise holding his hands up in a gesture for her to calm down, "It's just Ares! And me." While she hesitated, Ares pulled the snap on his muzzle and brushed the bandanna off his head, so she could clearly see his face ... and motioned to Gemini to stay back for the moment, as his sister was just coming up the steps to see what all the commotion was about.

Johanna took three short breaths, trembling with indecision, before her wide eyes returned fully to the here and now. " ... Ares," she whispered as her expression collapsed into its usual apathy, and her boyfriend nodded acknowledgment of his name. Johanna's posture relaxed, and she looked down at the gun on her hands like it had eaten the last tub of her favorite ice-cream. "Wuff ... it was a mistake to buy this ... "

"No, I don't think so," Dane chuckled, approaching slowly now that she seemed reasonable again and reaching out cautiously to take the shotgun out of her hands, "Just maybe a mistake to keep it in your office." With the safety engaged again, he gave Ares a quick look over his shoulder. "You okay?"

The big Doberman nodded firmly, likewise stepping forward to offer Johanna's phone back to her. "Sorry for the scare, sweetcakes," he said gently, "Never thought I'd see the day you flat-out chucked this."

Johanna pushed his hand and the phone both aside, pressing her cheek to his chest and putting one arm around him to pull him into a tight hug. The other reached out to catch Dane's shirt, pulling him in close to their sides as well. Both men looked a little surprised, especially when she didn't say a word until after she let them go a minute later, and still ignored her phone. "Take that thing downstairs," she insisted, giving a cold look to the gun safely in her brother's hands.

Dane just nodded, quietly stepping out of the room and catching Gemini's hand to pull her back down to the living-room, where he could explain what had happened. "Ares ... ," Johanna started, but then seemed at a loss for what to say beyond that. She looked more bored than upset at this point, but the way her tail stayed curled tight against the back of her leg said she was very bothered by what had just — almost — happened.

The Doberman put a strong arm around her, pulling her in for a hug in return. "Hey, seriously, I'm sor—"

"Shut up," she cut him off, though she made no effort to back out of the hug, and in fact took two fists full of his jacket. Pressing her cheek against his chest again, she added more softly, "You're not the one who should be apologizing ... "

Ares chuckled, continuing to hold her tight. "Alright, but I'm citing the ‘no harm, no foul' policy on this one. It was a fair enough reaction to a stranger in the house, especially as far out as we are, and especially from you. Heh ... next time I step out for a bathroom break, I'll be sure to take off the mask."

She shook her head against his chest again, and continued to hold him. "I've been a pretty poor girlfriend. I should know what your streaming persona looks like by now. I should have been watching your shows before this. That's a mistake I can fix, starting today." Finally pushing back from him just a bit, Johanna looked up into the taller Dog's eyes, glancing from one to the other like she was trying to watch something swimming between them. "I've been skittish of strangers for a long time, Ares. Especially men. I lived with a constant worry of someone breaking in at my old apartment, before Dane moved back. That's not an excuse, just ... " She trailed off again, struggling to sort out the many lines of thought going through her head.

The Doberman rubbed her ears reassuringly, just glad she had calmed down enough to face him squarely again. "I get it, alright? I'm not holding it against you."

"But I am," Johanna insisted, reaching up to cup one hand against his face. "Even if you hadn't come to the cabin that weekend, or refused to get involved with us, or if I had no feelings of my own for you ... you would still be my best friend's brother, and my brother's best friend. I couldn't face them if something happened to you because of me. I'd be alone again." The Dalmatian pulled him tight against her one more time, then finally pushed him back to arm's length just as Dane was coming back up the stairs to check on them. "I'm making you late, and I need to eat before I clock back in. We'll finish this talk after work. Wear your costume downstairs, please." She finally took her phone from his hand, retreating into the glow of its screen with only a brief caress across Dane's chest to acknowledge him.

Her brother watched her until she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Well, that was ... kind of scarey, not going to lie. You okay, bud?" he patted the Doberman's shoulder. Ares nodded again, flashing a reassuring smile, then snapped his muzzle back on. Both of them then went to start up their respective streams again, and make suitable excuses for the unexpected interlude to their viewers ...

Gemini was waiting with a sandwich and a hug when Johanna reached the kitchen ... which the Dalmatian didn't quite realize until after her girlfriend had both arms wrapped tight around her. "So," the Doberman prompted quietly in her ear, "I hear we had a bit of a scare. Are you okay?"

" ... No," Johanna answered honestly, giving Gemini as comforting a pat on the back as she could muster, "But I'm about back to my usual level of broken, so I suppose I could say ‘yes'." Gemini took a step back to tilt her head with a concerned look, and Johanna sat down at the table to eat, still staring into her screen. "Hmm ... it's been nearly a month since we moved in," Johanna observed quietly, "You and Dane haven't gone on a single date since then, have you?"

Her bestie sat down beside her, tilting her head in the other direction now. "Um ... no. We don't really need to anymore, do we?" she couldn't quite suppress a grin, still tickled every time their new situation in life crossed her mind, "Or I guess you could say every day is a date now. Besides, the budget's tight, right?"

"Hmm," Johanna hummed again, distractedly, while she chewed a bite of sandwich and tapped her phone a few times, "Even so, could you do me a favor tonight?" Gemi blinked and leaned forward in her seat curiously ...

It was a bad precedent to set, but Johanna spent the rest of the afternoon breaking one of her cardinal rules about keeping work and personal life separate: in between what little mandatory typing her day-job required, she kept Ares' stream playing on her phone beside one of the monitors. His persona, the Scarlet Baron, was a supposed aviation enthusiast who favored combat-centric flight simulators and racing games. Johanna was honestly impressed by the statistics he could rattle off about certain vehicles in between each dog-fight, all in a deep growl that made him sound older than he was behind the mask and bandanna.

The name was hardly creative, and the content somewhat niche, but what set the baron apart from other channels of the type was his play-style: using a special mouse with a frankly absurd number of buttons under his thumb, Ares played each match with just one hand. (He actually had two such mice, one for his left and one for his right.) The camera perched on top of his monitor was angled so the audience could clearly see the dumbbell he curled constantly while he played, switching hands after each round. And Johanna noted that his audience regularly took bets with each other on whether a particular challenger could "make him go two-handed". The idea seemed to excite them, though this afternoon they would be disappointed: the Scarlet Baron won each match without having to resort to the aid of the keyboard.

After Ares signed off for the day, Johanna looked through his channel's library. A cursory review proved he actually streamed a pretty broad variety of games, though roughly sixty percent shared the theme of vehicular combat. She queued up several in a playlist, then turned her phone face-down to focus on her work again for what remained of the day, passively adding a handful of cents to his daily ad-revenue, and vowed to make that a regular habit going forward.

He was still in costume, sitting in his usual spot on the love-seat, when Johanna finally came downstairs at the end of her work-day. Dane was sitting next to him (in ordinary, casual clothes), discussing their latest streams, with Gemini leaning against the back of the couch, nearer the stairs, waiting with a bright smile and wagging tail. She was wearing a dark tee-shirt with hunter-orange trim around the sleeves and neck, above shorts in that same blazing orange color. "Hey there, honeypot," she greeted Johanna at the bottom of the stairs, "You sure about this?"

"Yes," the Dalmatian answered firmly, though her eyes remained buried in her screen, "And thank you."

Gemini giggled, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Pretty sure that's my line," she grinned, then skipped around to the door to wait for Dane, who was just getting up from the couch to also give his sister a good-bye kiss.

"Hey," he whispered with his ear still close to her cheek, "We won't be too far off. Call me if—"

"If I do, this is over. All of it," Johanna warned curtly, shocking Dane so much he actually took a step back from her. His sister pulled her nose away from her phone long enough to give him a brief kiss on the lips, then pushed him gently toward the door. "Enjoy yourself. Just don't make Gemi late for work." Dane hesitated a little, still looking a little nervous for her sake, until Gemi took his arm and the couple stepped out for their impromptu date, to last until Gemini had to start her shift.

Johanna closed the door behind them ... and firmly turned the dead-bolt. She stood there, with her forehead resting on the cool wood, and meticulously closed out all the apps on her phone before sliding it into her pocket. Only then did she finally turn around.

Ares was still sitting on the love-seat, watching her from over the backrest, and still in costume. Johanna knit her fingers and stretched her arms above her head, taking care to prevent her tail from curling between her legs. "You really are a fast learner," she remarked casually, like she was complementing the colors of his costume, "Thank you." Strutting over to the love-seat, the female Dalmatian planted herself on the cushion next to her boyfriend, crossed her arms under her breasts, and looked him in the eyes with a curiously blank stare. "So this is the Scarlet Baron. Nice to meet you. Anything I should know before we get this thing started?"

He arched one eyebrow high, beneath the bandana. "There's a few things I think I should know, including what ‘this thing' actually is," he admitted slowly, only partially muffled by the muzzle covering his nose and mouth. It was elastic, though printed to look like leather, so he didn't actually have any trouble talking through it. "I thought we'd talk about what happened in the hall this afternoon. But it looks like you decided to take a step — a big one — in another direction. I'm not entirely sure where you want to go with that, so I'm just going to follow your lead ... but I'll follow it wherever you want it to go, sweetcakes," the muscle-bound Doberman promised, slowly reaching out to rest a hand on her knee.

Johanna looked at it like she wasn't entirely sure what it was doing there. After a hesitant moment, she rested her hand on top of his. "When we first moved in, I promised you I'd take time alone with you, but I haven't. The fact that it's rare for any of us to be alone in this house, outside our respective offices, makes a convenient excuse for it ... " She shook her head slowly, as if denying an accusation he hadn't made. "The truth is, I was waiting for you to ask first ... because it scares me, still. I thought that was okay. I thought it was ‘safe' for me to be scared. I freeze up instead of lashing out, so I'm not a danger to anyone else. I can just take my time and get over it little by little, when you decide you want a night with just me." Johanna lifted her eyes to meet his again, then. "Today proved all of that wrong. I can't afford to be lazy about it after all. It's time to get proactive."

Ares rocked his head thoughtfully. "So you're going the ‘learn to swim by diving into the deep end' route? Can't say I approve of that, sweetcakes. If it was that simple, no one would ever drown." And she was already getting close to her limit, from what he could tell. Dane wasn't in the room. Not only was he not in the room, he wasn't in the house, and well out of reach as a shield for either of them by now. For the first time since Ares-couldn't-imagine-when, Johanna was well and truly alone with a man, and she was painfully aware of it. Her expression was calm enough, blank and bordering on bored, but he could swear that was her pulse he felt through her palm. Her heart was hammering with an anxiety only kept off her face by the sheer number of years she'd spent getting a tight control over it.

Sliding his hand out from under hers, Ares leaned back against the armrest, scooting down until he was practically lying on his back, and opened his arms in a loose invitation from the least threatening position he could imagine. "You've always been smarter than me, though. Heh ... smarter than any of us, really. And no one knows you better than you, no matter how hard we try. So if you think this is what you need, just tell me what I'm supposed to do. I'll do my best to make it work."

Johanna tilted her head as she looked down at him, as if just noticing this oddly dressed man in her house. " ... That's a good start," she commended with a slow nod, but leaned in the opposite direction to rest her own back against the other armrest. "I might panic if you hold me too tight right now," she reminded him, gesturing for him to turn around. Ares obeyed, reversing his direction and carefully leaning his back against her, hoping his weight wasn't more than she could take. He felt heavy to himself, but his girlfriend didn't complain. She just put both arms around his chest from behind, and slowly exhaled against his shoulder. "Whatever you do ... absolutely do not let me run, under any circumstances," Johanna warned, taking a brief look around the room before resting her chin on his shoulder again, "I'm glad I don't know off-hand where he put that thing, but I don't want you giving me the chance to find it. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ares chuckled, resting one of his hands on his own stomach and the other lightly on her crossed arms. She couldn't really bolt from this position, with all his weight on her, but he also couldn't hold her in any real way. Ares figured that must make her feel safe, right now, though he wished he could give her a genuine hug. Instead he forced himself to relax, and settle his full weight as gently as he could. Johanna patted his chest approvingly. "So ... can I ask what you meant by what you said to Dane? About ‘all this' being over if you have to make a call?"

"Give me a minute," Johanna requested quietly, and reminded him, "It's not your fault ... but this is hard for me, Ares." It took her more than a minute, or even two. Her boyfriend-in-disguise could feel her working methodically to force herself to relax, one muscle at a time, starting from her toes and working up to her ears, idly rubbing her fingers up and down the front of his leather jacket in the meantime. "Gods forgotten, I need my brother," she muttered quietly, finally resting her chin on Ares' shoulder with a tired sigh (and careful to avoid the spikes decorating his clothes), "I just cannot feel safe around a man without him. I need to know he'll hear me if I scream." She blamed her Dad, naturally ... but blaming had done nothing to solve the problem, and Johanna was quietly regretting not having taken real steps to address that sooner.

Ares nodded very slowly, an action which rubbed his cheek lightly against hers, and felt her ear twitch at even that subtle motion. "I'm going to choose to believe that says something about how much you trust me, then," he declared softly, "You've been alone with me twice already, and didn't freak out either time."

She made herself nuzzle his cheek. "I know who you are. I do trust you. But this isn't a rational thing," Johanna pointed out softly, "I had to tie you up while brother was out of the cabin. I had to give him a view into our room the night we moved in, until I was exhausted enough to be sure of falling asleep." The Dalmation turned her nose a little, tucking it into the collar of his jacket and breathing in the scent of leather mixed with the warm, slightly salty smell beneath it, which was familiar and uniquely his. Taking a deep breath, she blew out the mounting anxiety, sending it like a small breeze down his chest. "It's not acceptable. I knew that when we started. I knew I'd have to work on it. But being a danger to you is a bridge too far. If that's really the situation we're in ... I cannot stay here. That's what I meant by what I told Dane. If I cannot even manage one stay-at-home date with my boyfriend, without calling him back from his, then ... "

Her heart ached at the thought, just as much as it ached at the idea that she might hurt someone who loved her if she stayed. It hurt like it had when Dane had moved away, seemingly without a thought for her situation. But she knew right now, just like she had that day, that it had to be this way. If at least one of them could escape—

"Shhhh," Ares shushed softly, feeling her tensing up underneath him again, "I don't know what's going on in your head, but I think you're being a little too harsh with yourself right now. Today was scarey. I won't deny it. But it was also kind of reassuring to me." That confession was enough to pull her out of her depressing line of thought, at least. She pulled her nose out of his jacket to tilt her head in surprise. "If someone actually did break in, and you froze up like you do with me, you'd be in real trouble. It's good to know you can take action when it counts." He rubbed his muzzle against hers, and insisted confidently, "You're not a danger to me, Johanna. You just didn't know who you were dealing with this afternoon. Heh ... and I'm glad I could say the same for any stranger that tried to get the jump on you. Forgotten gods help that idiot," the Doberman winked.

Johanna stared at him blankly for a long minute, taking deliberately slow breaths, exhaling each one quietly against his cheek. Eventually she kissed it instead, and moved one of the hands still absently rubbing his chest to unzip his jacket, pulling it open and sliding her hands down his shirt instead. "You're very brave, Ares. Thank you for that." She squirmed under him a little, not to escape but to reach lower, until her hand could comfortably get to his belt and a little below that. Ares shifted his weight, sliding mostly off of her and into the crook between her and the back of the couch, to let her move and breathe more freely while his girlfriend began undoing his belt. "Now, Mr. Scarlet Baron," she sighed, "I'm not going to let you be a stranger in this house anymore. Next time, I will know you. When I see you in the hall, I will know that you're not going to hurt me, and that you are my very brave and gentle boyfriend underneath that mask." She paused just as she got his belt and fly open, briefly giving him a surprisingly annoyed look, as if he'd just asked something so stupid she was a little insulted that she needed to answer it. "But if you startle me again, I'm going to wuff you into the wall. Understood?"

He blinked, momentarily feeling stupid enough to justify her look. " ... Was that supposed to be a threat, or a promise?"

"Whatever," Johanna sighed, shoving her hand (a little roughly) into his boxers and taking a firm grip on his sheath. Ares grimaced beneath the muzzle, and took a grip on the edges of the cushions. "Sorry," the Dalmation quickly let go, sliding her hand lower to fondle his balls rather more gently, "I'm just ... trying to be ... "

Ares patted her hip with an understanding nod. "It's okay, sweetcakes. This just might not be the time to act like something you're not feeling. How about a movie instead?" he chuckled, relaxing his grip on the cushions, "Or just some cuddles. Anything that doesn't leave you scared witless and trying to smile through it."

Rolling his balls across her fingers while the tips teased his taint, Johanna argued quietly, "If we go that route, I'm going to hide in my phone again. The whole point of this evening will be lost."

"As long as you don't make that call to Dane, it's still a step in the right direction," Ares argued gently, "Take the pace you need to, even if it's slower than you'd like. You've got time. I know it won't be easy, but I'm here for the long-haul."

The Dalmatian looking down his body from over his shoulder frowned at that, sliding her fingers up the cleft of his sac and around the rim of his sheath. "If I take that pace, we might both be too old for you to get it up anymore by the time I'm ready." Ares just shrugged at that, and didn't argue any further. Whatever approach she decided on, Johanna needed to be in charge of it. Her boyfriend only needed to play along. So Ares just hummed quiet praise for the work her hand was doing as his bone began to slide out from its shelter. When the whole of the hard, pink shaft had emerged, Johanna slid her hand back up to wrap around it, stroking him idly while her thoughts seemed to be elsewhere.

She nuzzled his cheek, staring down the length of his strong body. The rough and aggressive look of the Scarlet Baron's costume was a stark contrast to the careful, gentle Doberman she was holding ... even if his biceps might bust the sleeves if he dared to flex them to the fullest. Johanna shook that thought from her head, nearly clapping her cheek with Ares'. "Gods forgotten ... I really don't know if I can do this," the Dalmatian muttered in her boyfriend's ear, sliding her fingers up the underside of his shaft as she withdrew her hand from his pants and patted his chiseled abs. "Alright. Make a concession for me, then," she requested quietly, "Play a game, and talk to it like you do in your streams. But take the mask off."

He unsnapped the side of the little faux-leather muzzle before even acknowledging the rest of her request. "Well, that's a relief," the Dalmatian muttered to herself, kissing his cheek softly as the sight of Ares' familiar face immediately eased some of the tension in her own body ... though that fact alone made her pity her boyfriend a bit. He was in for a rough ride while she struggled to overcome herself.

Johanna was mostly quiet for the next hour, watching Ares play a game of racing star ships on the console, talking smack and issuing challenges to the other computer-simulated pilots in the Scarlet Baron's gruff voice. But she managed to leave her phone in her pocket the entire time, occupying her hands with the hems of his clothing and occasionally accepting the controller from him for one of the "bonus tracks" that didn't require combat. Ares squirmed a little further down the love-seat, hooking his knees on the armrest and resting his head on her belly to maintain that close but non-possessive contact while taking the brunt of his weight off of her lungs. Johanna made sure to keep her hands on some part of him, usually rubbing between his ears or across his broad chest, and occasionally clinging to the collar of his jacket when her heart-rate spiked...

Her ears perked up when the handle of the front door jiggled. A moment later, a key turned the dead-bolt, and her tail tried to wag even though it was firmly trapped beneath her legs and her boyfriends' back. Johanna quietly breathed a deep, deep sigh as Dane slipped through the door with a quick greeting, "Hey, you two."

The Doberman in her lap chuckled, feeling her practically deflate underneath him. "Welcome back," Ares answered, starting to sit up, "How was—?!"

Johanna pulled him back down with a firm grip on his jacket, and Ares blinked up at her with a curious look as she hunched forward to look straight down into his eyes. "Don't you move," she insisted quietly, bending her head to gift him with a long, warm, heart-felt kiss on the lips.

Dane, just coming around the side of the loveseat, quirked a brow with a grin. "I wasn't quite sure what kind of situation I'd be coming home to, but this looks downright wholesome."

"It's nothing of the sort," Johanna argued, rubbing Ares' chest and continuing to look down and only at him, though she was addressing Dane. "I'm actually useless without you, brother. He's been very patient, but our date's only just starting really."

With a blink, and then a good-natured smile, Ares rolled his eyes. "Sweetca—"

Johanna caught his chin with two fingers, her thumb on top of his nose, and gently pinched his mouth shut again. "Subs don't argue," the Dalmatian reminded him, to his surprise. Then she pushed him into sitting up, freeing both her hips and her legs, and moved to straddle his thighs with his face pulled into the cleft of her breasts. "I've been a bad girlfriend today, to put it mildly," Johanna declared, kissing the top of his head, "So you're going to be a good boyfriend, and let me make it up to you, right?"

"...Do I actually get a choice in the matter?" her boyfriend chuckled, putting his strong arms around her lower back for the hug he'd been dying to give her for most of an hour now.

"No," Johanna was quick to admit, setting Ares' tail to wagging. Looking back up at Dane, she added, "Would you like to watch? I'll be okay as long as you're in the house, but it's easiest with you right here."

Still not sure exactly what he'd missed while he was gone, Dane leaned over and kissed her cheek...and Ares', for good measure. "Heh...I really don't like to make your life more difficult, if I can help it," he shrugged.

Johanna nodded, and Dane stepped back to take his habitual seat on the couch right across from them. Letting go of Ares' head for a moment, Johanna reached behind herself to unclasp her bra with a practiced pinch through her shirt. Reaching up one sleeve and then the other, she pulled its straps off her shoulders and discarded it behind the love-seat without ever lifting her shirt. "Someday, we'll go on an actual date," she promised, pulling Ares' face back into the cleft of her breasts, now a little wider and smoother without her bra pulling them together, "The kind Gemini takes Dane out for. You deserve that every bit as much as he does. I'm sorry this is all I can manage right now."

Her shirt rippled as Ares snorted in amusement. He didn't doubt her sincerity for a moment, but, "Johanna, you couldn't go on the kind of date Gemi does if your life depended on it. The stress would kill you," he warned sympathetically, kissing her belly as he savored the soft warmth over his eyes.

"I will," she insisted, then shocked him and Dane both by by adding, "Within two years. I won't make you waste more time than that." While their chins were still slack at the hard deadline, she leaned back to pick up the muzzle Ares had tossed onto the coffee table earlier, holding her balance with a fistful of his jacket collar, and gently slit it into place on his face like it was his favorite tie. "Now, would you like to spank me?" she asked quietly as she snapped the strap together below his ear, "That's about the least I deserve after what I put you through today."

Ares's frown was mostly lost behind the mask and bandana and of his costume, but he did slide his hands down cup squarely over the curve of her tush, still hovering above his thighs, and give each of them a soft pat. "I love laying hands on your rump, sweetcakes, but not like that," he shook his head, giving her a light kiss on the nose through the mask.

Johanna returned the affectionate gesture to his cheek, then turned to bend over the armrest of the love-seat. "Thank you, but that's the last thing you get to refuse today. I expect you to be rough with me once I'm done with the prep." Flipping open the lid of Gemini's Little Box o' Kinks, which had been left here after some previous afternoon of fun earlier that week, she came back with one of the long, silky ropes from the kit. Stretching a portion of it out between her hands, Johanna rolled her wrists and made a quick little gesture that seemed to instantly turn it into a very purposeful self-knotting coil just waiting to be tightened.

Dane blinked, and made an appreciative whistle. "Wow, has Gemi been teaching you?" he chuckled. His girlfriend was fond of mixing a little stage-magic with her bondage play, he'd discovered, both for getting into and out of ropes. The extra bit of show added to the fun, he'd had to admit, and it was encouraging to know she could get out of most anything he could tie even if he accidentally pulled the knot tighter than intended.

"Back when we dated," his sister confirmed, sliding to one side of Ares' lap and threading her feet through the loop, then gently pulling the tail just enough to tighten it comfortably around her ankles. The Dalmatian repeated the little trick using the other end of the rope, this time tucking her hands through and using her teeth to pull it snug. Finally, she tucked her knees up tight to her breasts, hooking her bound wrists behind them...and looked at Ares like he ought to know what to do next.

The Doberman smirked behind the mask, turning sideways on his own cushion and rubbing a hand appreciatively up her denim-covered backside. "If you're wanting to wuff, I think you forgot a step," he chuckled, sliding his hand down to hook his fingers into the waistband of her jeans.

Johanna slid her tied hands down far enough to block his wrists with the rope holding them together. "You're being too nice," she warned, tracing her fingers along the seam running between her cheeks as she drew her hands back up behind her knees. "Use the Scarlet Baron's voice, and be aggressive like a fighter ought to. My security blanket's right there," she straightened one finger in Dane's direction, "So I'll be fine. It's time to show off that strength you work so hard to build up."

Her boyfriend blinked, glancing down at the denim, just beginning to show signs of wear around the hems and a bit of fading from years of use. "Don't you like this set?" he asked, sliding his fingers into her hip pockets even as he asked the question.

"Not as much as I like you," the Dalmatian answered firmly, pulling her legs tight to put as much strain on the back of her pants as she could, "Now do as you're told, and no more questions."

With an understanding nod, Ares tightened his grip and pulled. The denim burst right along the seam, separating to reveal the black-and-white striped panties she'd been wearing underneath. Ares' fingers tucked inside the split and, with one more quick jerk, he even managed to tear the waistband in two, completely opening up the backside. More impressive than that, though, was that Johanna's tail wagged once, finally assuring him that she felt safe and comfortable with what he was doing.

He only needed two fingers to ruin the elastic fabric of her panties, then hunched over her folded legs, making her support his weight with her feet on his chest, while his hands rubbed appreciative little circles around her rump. His thumbs tucked up against her vulva, peeking from between her thighs, and could already feel the dampness seeping from them. "Yer a pretty easy co-pilot, huh?" he grinned behind the muzzle, using the low, gruff voice he did for his streams.

Johanna's head tilted with a blank stare. "Co-pilot?" she rocked her head, "I was thinking something more like ‘captured enemy'. But if this is how you treat your co-pilot, I'd really hate to be one of those."

"You bet yer tail ya would," the Scarlet Baron chuckled, giving her rump a soft swat. The corners of Johanna's mouth turned up in a subtle smile as he settled into character. Leaning back from her a little, he unfastened his own pants and tucked his boxers below his sheath and balls. Pressing his not-quite-fully-hard bone between her thighs, he rocked it teasingly against the wet lips of her sex, making just the underside slick with her juices. "Hmm...it's a bit tight with yer thighs closed like this," he mused, sliding his hands up the backs of her legs until he came to her bound wrists.

Johanna just nodded as he pulled her hands out from behind her knees, lifting them over her feet and pushing them down on the armrest above her head. He made room for her to stretch her legs out to the other armrest, then spread her thighs as well as she could with her ankles still tied together, and Ares knelt down in the space between her knees. The muscle-bound Doberman took the front of her shirt in both fists, being careful not to actually catch her breasts in his grip ... and paused for just a second, thinking he recognized this shirt as one she liked to wear often. But Johanna didn't make even a hint of protest, and looked mildly confused by his hesitation, so he grit his teeth and tore the front of the shirt entirely in two.

Dane squirmed a little in his seat on the couch, one arm across his own chest and the opposite hand cupped against his chin as he tried not to call attention to himself by rubbing the growing bulge in his own shorts. He watched with no small amount of envy as Ares took one of Johanna's breasts in his hand, squeezing the soft mound teasingly...and really thought Ares should take that mask back off when he bent down to kiss her other nipple through it. Johanna wasn't complaining, though.

While Ares' eyes were closed and his lips occupied, she did sneak a glance at her brother, and seemed to notice his uncomfortable posture. Rolling his eyes at the subtle frown she made, Dane finally unzipped his shorts, pulling his bone free to relieve the pressure on it, and began idly teasing the tip with his fingers. Johanna's tongue peeked from between her lips to lick around their edges once, before Ares leaned in to kiss the side of her neck. Following her gaze, the Doberman chuckled gruffly, "Does our boyfriend over there need a pounding, too?"

Dane immediately froze with an embarrassed blush, but it was Johanna that answered, "Don't tease him unless you're going to reward him." She kissed Ares' cheek as he nuzzled her neck, and rocked her hips against his bone, still resting idly in the cleft of her labia. "This is our date. He can take you out for one later."

Ares searched her eyes for a moment, his smirk hidden behind the muzzle over his face. Even her dead-pan expression, on her very best day, couldn't hide her one true passion. No one excited her more than her brother...but a man willing to indulge her brother came a close second. Ares leaned down and growled in her ear, "Well he did rescue me today. I should turn my tail up for him in thanks, at least. You can watch."

Johanna sighed with a subtle shiver, and moved her hands from above her head, sliding them down her bared belly to press his bone invitingly into her entrance, and let the slick heat inside speak her thoughts on that. Ares pressed in firmly, and his girlfriend cooed approval. He drew back and thrust in sharply, and the Dalmatian beneath him gasped in delight.

The love-seat began to rock underneath them as Ares set into a rhythm, and Johanna put her tied wrists behind his shoulders, kissing his chin and throat between each thrust. With a chuckle (and failing to close his fly), Dane got up and went to steady the seat with a hand on the backrest and a foot tucked against one of the legs, so it wouldn't wear a hole in the carpet. His free-swinging bone tapped Ares' nose with each thrust, and the Doberman tipped his head back to let it rest lightly against his mask-covered lips. Below them both, Johanna sighed encouragement, running her tongue up Ares' throat and coaxing him to harder thrusts.

She was so wet his knot popped inside her like it was nothing, and Johanna clung tight to him. He could hear the rope around her ankles rubbing his jacket at the small of his back, where she'd moved her legs. With a deep breath, she tightened her walls around him, squeezing the back of his knot with her entrance...

Dane covered his ears, and felt the howl vibrating his bone where it rested on Ares' lips. "Ah! Ah ... sorry ... Johanna," Ares panted when he could pull a breath back again.

But Johanna kept her tunnel sealed tight, forcing every drop of his climax deeper and deeper into her body, and kissed the side of his neck where her face was tucked. "Don't apologize for enjoying me," she muttered in his ear, "If I don't say a word about the condom, it's either my fault or my choice. If you have anything to say after the fact, it should just be ‘thank you'."

Above them, Dane chuckled and rubbed Ares' head. "But I should probably apologize for shoving this in your face," he noted, twitching his bone against Ares' nose.

"If I don't say anything, it's either my fault or my choice," the Doberman paraphrased with a chuckle, teasing Dane a little with his tongue pressed against the inside of the muzzle.

Johanna reached up and unsnapped it for him, pulling the elastic away from his mouth to let him run his broad tongue up her brother's sensitive skin in earnest. Reaching the tip, Ares opened his mouth wider, and Dane rested his hand on the bandana covering the Doberman's head, guiding him down slowly. Ares nose touched the Dalmatian's belly, and Johanna craned her neck up to kiss her brother's balls.

Dane watched as Ares's head began to bob on his bone, finding it amusing to see the usually gruff and aggressive character of the Scarlet Baron in this situation, and chuckled quietly. "Should've worn my costume, too," he remarked, "Then I could say ‘Captain Silver wins again'," referring to the current win/loss ratio between their personas' collaborative streams.

Ares snorted, then choked, then nearly gagged, yanking his face away from Dane's crotch recklessly to cough and belch into the back of the love-seat instead of his boyfriend's hip or girlfriend's face. "Not your finest moment as a lover, brother," Johanna remarked flatly while she patted Ares' back.

A timer went off in the kitchen, announcing the slow-cooker meal Gemini had started that morning was finally ready. Johanna kissed Ares' cheek as his breathing became reliable again. "My feet are falling asleep. I think I pulled the rope too tight," she noted, "Untie me, please, and let's have some dinner. Then you can have your pick of a second round with me or taking revenge on brother."

Dane snickered, but nodded agreement to the plan, and Ares gave them each a kiss before gently pulling out of Johanna and getting to his feet. She shed her ruined clothes as she stood up, deposited them in the kitchen garbage bin without a second thought...and didn't get dressed again until bedtime.