Giles wandered downstairs, looking for Ethan. It was late Boxing Day evening, and all the festivities were over, at least until New Year's Eve, and they were intending a quiet and cosy evening for two for that night.

Ethan wasn't hard to find; he was tidying up the front room, pausing every few moments to dance fairly enthusiastically to music Giles couldn't hear. The MP3 player Megan had given him was attached to his belt, so that would explain that, but still, it was a fascinating sight. He'd always liked watching Ethan dance, but this way, unable to hear the music, Giles was able to concentrate more on Ethan's movements.

Dancing, he concluded –or at least Ethan's dancing– was a lot like sex.

Spotting Giles as he turned to put a glass on a tray of washing up he was collecting, Ethan grinned. He straightened up and shimmied himself over into Giles' space, until he was dancing right against him, rubbing provocatively. "Ready for bed, dear?" he asked, rather too loudly.

"You seem very... energetic," Giles commented, raising his voice a little so that Ethan would be able to hear him over the MP3 player, but remaining mindful of Megan asleep upstairs. "Am I to assume you're not talking about bed for sleep?"

Ethan pulled the discreet earphones from his ears. "Oh, I'm sure there will be sleep on the cards. Eventually."

"What are you listening to?"

"Pet Shop Boys – one of the CDs Kat and Xander gave me. Megan did something with the computer and now it's all on this thing. The other CDs too. It's a smidgen too modern for your tastes, dearheart." Ethan smirked.

Giles pulled back and raised an eyebrow. "Are you calling me old?"

"Well, this was made after 1977." Ethan chuckled and backed up slightly; there was clear invitation in his eyes

"Someone's asking to be punished." Giles slid his arms around Ethan's waist.

"Are they?" Ethan laughed again. "How very unwise of them." His hand moved to the player on his belt to turn it off... or so Giles thought. But instead Ethan turned the volume up loud enough that even Giles could hear a tinny version of the music and then put the earphones back into place. He turned his back on Giles and began shaking his hips in a very wicked fashion.

"Definitely asking for it," Giles murmured, moving to pull Ethan against him again.

Ethan kept dancing, his arse rubbing against Giles in a way that was clearly going to drive him a little mad if it went on too long. Giles' body was reacting in the predictable fashion, and he tightened his grip on Ethan's hips to just this side of bruising.

"Hello Ripper," Ethan said, purred almost. His larger movements were stopped by Giles' fierce grip, but somehow Giles could still feel the beat of the music pulsing through Ethan's body.

"You're such a brat," Giles all but growled, knowing that Ethan would make out the words even if he couldn't hear them. The bond did have some advantages.

"Clearly someone needs to take me in hand."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Ethan chuckled. "Depends, really."

"Well, you do seem to be begging to be punished." He let just a touch of his magic trickle along his fingertips.

Ethan's head tipped back over Giles' shoulder, and he asked a little breathlessly, "Have I been very wicked?"

"You did call me old."

"Oh yes. That was bad. Quite reprehensible. Clearly the hand I should be taken in should be a firm one."

"Privileges shall have to be taken away," Giles said, reaching down and pulling the MP3 player from Ethan's belt.

As the earphones dropped from Ethan's head he made a petulant noise of complaint. "That was my favourite track!"

"You've a choice to make then." Giles moved so that he was breathing the words directly against Ethan's ear. "It or me."

Ethan rubbed back against him. "Not much of a choice, that."

"Even though I'm old?"

"We're the same age, Rupert. Give or take a year or two." It was said very reasonably, peaceably, but then Ethan spoilt it by adding, "You're just stuck in the past, that's all," with an evil little giggle. Giles threw the player at the sofa and then tightened his grip on Ethan, adding a sharp sting of magic to his touch. Ethan whimpered, just a little. "Now, now, Ripper. Don't want to wake up the dogs, do we?"

"You'll just have to work at being quiet then, won't you?" Giles replied with a tight smile.

"I'm not very good at that," Ethan pointed out, quite truthfully.

"What fun is it asking you to do something that's easy?" He let go with one hand, trailing it, covered in magic, along Ethan's stomach. Ethan tensed, but made only the slightest of noises. "Good," Giles praised, falling even more into what he thought of as the Ripper mindset. "Stay quiet like that, and I won't have to gag you."

Ethan shivered and pushed back again into Giles. "May I talk?" he asked quietly.

"Since you asked so nicely..."

Ethan said, a little louder, "May I move?" He rubbed his arse against Giles again.

Giles sent another burst of magic through him. "No."

There was a muted grunt, and Ethan's hips stilled. "Not even my hands?" he asked.

"What do you need to move your hands for?"

"I could touch things?" Ethan suggested helpfully.

Giles deliberately took some time before answering. "Maybe later." He paused again. "Maybe not." Ethan whined, a distinct noise in the quiet living room. "What did I say about keeping it quiet?" Giles asked, sliding a hand over Ethan's mouth, still keeping up the sparks of magic from his fingers.

Shaking a little in reaction, Ethan tensed further, but then, proving that he indeed had the spirit of the devil in him tonight, Giles felt Ethan's tongue poking wetly out to lick at the palm of his hand; Ethan too channelled magic.

"Brat." The way this was heading, Giles thought it would be prudent if they moved this to a more private room, just in case Megan decided she wanted a midnight snack or something. Accordingly, he dragged Ethan into the study and shut the door behind him. Once there, he leant against the door and let go of Ethan with a shove. "Strip," he ordered.

Clearly aroused by the command, Ethan gave him an intense lustful look before doing what he was told. He undressed slowly and teasingly, but eventually stood in front of Giles naked bar his socks, and very erect.

Giles felt himself grow harder at the sight, but he ignored his own state of arousal for now. First he wanted to focus on Ethan. Accordingly, he pushed off from the door and slowly circled Ethan, only touching him with his eyes.

Ethan shivered. "All present and correct, I hope."

"Everything seems in place." He reached out and ran a finger along the line of Ethan's spine, but not touching him with anything but his magic.

That produced a much more pronounced shiver and a gasp. "Rupert."

"Yes?" Giles circled around him again, and repeated the motion, this time down Ethan's chest.

Ethan stared beseechingly at him, panting a little. "Please?"

"Please what, love?"

Ethan stepped towards him. "I need you."

Giles stepped back, keeping the same distance between them. "Old man that I am?"

"I was only teasing," Ethan said, somewhat pathetically. His eyes were wide, and he seemed to be trying his best to look misunderstood and innocent. He took another step forward.

"I can see I'm going to have to use restraints." As he said it, Giles reached out with his magic and wrapped it around Ethan's wrists and ankles.

Ethan looked down in alarm as the magic hobbled him, waved his now bound arms about for balance, found insufficient of it, and fell back onto his arse with a bump. He glared indignantly up. "Oh, I think that deserves a solid 'ouch'."

Giles gave his best Ripperish smile. "There's always some pain involved in discipline."

Ethan pulled himself up into a sitting position, his knees raised and his arms resting upon them. He gazed at Giles with a calculating expression, then smiled slightly. "So... no touching. Very well." Ethan's grin grew, then Giles felt a strong surge of pleasure move through his loins, causing him to tense and catch his breath.

"A definite brat." Giles circled around Ethan again, trailing magic randomly over his skin. "I may not be able to manipulate patterns like you, but I'm sure I can come up with an appropriate response." To the magic fetters he already had on Ethan, Giles added two more: one around Ethan's neck and the other around his cock.

Ethan seemed to convulse almost. "No!" he protested, his bound hands going to his cock. "You know I hate that. Take it off!"

Giles did nothing except continue his movement around Ethan until he was standing in front of him again. "You think you're in any position to make demands?"

Ethan gave him a pained and almost angry look, writhing and wriggling under the tight magic bands. He seemed to be struggling with something internally too, but then he looked down submissively and muttered, "I'm sorry I suggested you were old. Please take it off."

It was rare that Ethan was that submissive, and it made Giles wonder if alarm bells should have been ringing. He banished the magical cock ring and knelt in front of Ethan so he could meet his eyes. "We don't have to play like this if it's... uncomfortable."

Shifting uneasily, Ethan snorted softly. "I seem to have spoilt things. I do apologise."

"Nothing's spoilt," Giles assured him. "But if you're not in the mood for..." he gestured at the magic that still held Ethan captive, "this, we can find other ways to play."

"I thought I was..." Ethan gave him a wry look. "But it seems I was wrong."

With a thought, Giles banished the fetters back into the ether, then pulled Ethan into his arms. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ethan wrapped his arms round in turn and settled against Giles. "I'm willing to do so in principle, but I'm not sure that I have much to say as I don't know what happened there." He looked up, his expression worried. "I wanted to fight you."

"I hate to break it to you, but that isn't unusual for you in that situation." Giles kept his tone deliberately light. "You always fight me for every inch."

"No, dearheart. I meant really fight you. As in, for dominance."

Giles blinked. "Oh."

"I think Christmas has gone to my head. I'll get over it, I'm sure." Ethan's hand moved restlessly over Giles' chest.

"It's not necessarily a bad thing, you know," Giles mused, slowly turning over the possibilities in his mind. "It could prove to be quite... stimulating."

"I don't want to fight you; that's not fun."

"I don't think we'd ever end up in a knockdown brawl out of it, but a little challenge, that's something different." He grinned at Ethan. "I'm fairly sure that no matter who, ah, comes out on top, so to speak, we'd both enjoy it."

Ethan looked far from convinced. He shifted and wriggled, something close to a pout on his face. "No," he said, facing Giles more or less. "I really don't think that would work at all."

"No?" Giles ran a finger along Ethan's lower lip where it stuck out a little. "Why not?"

"Because," Ethan started, then moved unexpectedly, pushing Giles backwards to the floor before he had a chance to react and moving over him in a straddle. "I'd always win." He grinned wickedly down, and Giles felt his head spin as his arousal levels skyrocketed. Ethan was pattern tweaking again.

Giles arched and writhed as the sensations sparked along his nervous system, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to concentrate enough to flip them over so that Ethan was lying below him. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," he said and called his own magic up.

Ethan began to struggle hard, but he was grinning wolfishly, so clearly that was part of the game. Giles found himself grinning back just as wolfishly as he slid his magic over Ethan's skin. He met every surge of sexual arousal that Ethan sent through him with a surge of his magic in turn.

Ethan's struggles just so happened to be causing him to almost constantly rub his erection up against Giles, and Giles found that he too was grinding his hips, resenting his clothes. Both of them were breathing very heavily, gasping and growling. Ethan almost managed to roll them over again at one point when Giles was momentarily distracted by a surge of almost unbearable sensation, but Ethan wasn't quite strong enough.

Giles retaliated by wrapping his magic around Ethan's cock once again. At the same time he leant down and devoured Ethan's mouth.

'Bastard!' Ethan yelled, and it took Giles a moment to realise that the word was only in his head. He then felt Ethan shaking under him... laughing? Then all the struggling and writhing stopped, like the calm in the centre of a storm.

Giles felt a tight band of restrictive sensation circling the base of his own cock.

He pulled back enough to look down at Ethan, who was wearing a very smug smile. "Nice move," Giles complimented, understanding that Ethan had linked their individual patterns of arousal as he had done once before. "But do you really think you can hold out longer than I?"

He actually saw the recognition flicker over Ethan's face, the moment when Ethan realised that, by making sure each felt what the other felt, Ethan had ensured his own defeat. Because one thing they both knew Giles had an awful lot more of than Ethan was willpower. "Bugger."

"Shall we play this out or do you want to concede now?" Giles asked, running a hand full of magic down Ethan's chest, enjoying the ghost sensation on his own chest.

Ethan took a shuddering breath. "If I concede, do we both get the exquisite pleasure of your cock in our arse?"

"Our arse?" Giles grinned. "Is that like the royal arse?" Before Ethan could answer, Giles leant over and breathed against Ethan's ear, shivering himself at the sensation, "I'm going to fuck you right through the floor whether you concede or not. Concession just gets you fucked all the sooner."

He felt Ethan's charged response to that promise in his own body, but managed to hold back the gasp that Ethan released. "I concede," Ethan said raggedly. "You win."

"I always do," Giles said with probably more smugness and conceit than was necessary, but besting Ethan always made him feel like that. He sat up enough to deal with the fastenings on his trousers.

Ethan reached forward and stroked his own cock, moving his thumb wetly over the spot that Giles was most sensitive in. Giles swallowed his gasp in reaction to that and tightened the magic binding on Ethan's cock, the sudden pain giving him a better level of control.

"I want you on your hands and knees."

Ethan's head had tipped back as the magical cock-ring tightened, the veins and tendons of his neck in taut relief. He looked now as if he was considering disobeying, but then suddenly he rolled over and lifted himself up as he'd been told. Much as he wanted to just admire the sight in front of him, Giles didn't want to give Ethan a chance to get up to more mischief. Best to keep his attention focused and to that end, Giles quickly pushed his way into Ethan, only magic easing the way.

And as he did, of course, he felt himself being entered. Ethan, presumably, also felt himself penetrating and penetrated simultaneously. It made it difficult to know when or how to move, although somehow they seemed to be working it out. "Ripper," Ethan moaned. "Oh, please."

It was, Giles thought before he lost himself totally in the movement and sensations, something like participating in an orgy, but with the intimacy of it being only Ethan and him. The best of both worlds. By the end, it was impossible to say who was moaning, who was writhing, who was thrusting hard, who was coming... and coming... and coming...

The next thing Giles was aware of was a distant scratching sound pulling him back to consciousness. He groaned and opened his eyes, rolling over onto his back.

Something barked. And something much closer moaned.

Giles' brain provided the identity of both, but the thought of actually moving more than he had was not a happy one, not quite yet. Waving a hand in the direction of the scratching sound, he muttered the necessary Latin to unlatch the door.

He heard the two dogs come scampering across the floor, then a wet nose was poked into his face. From beside him, Ethan, who was lying on his stomach, muttered something that sounded a bit like, "Gerrrofff."

Reaching up, Giles grabbed onto Gwydion's shoulder, bracing himself against the animal to pull himself into a sitting position. "Still alive, love?" Giles asked, looking down at Ethan.

"Are there bloody annoying mutts in the afterlife?" he grumbled, rolling over. The cuddle he was giving Skunk belied the fierceness of his words.

"Having never been dead, I don't know. Ask Buffy. She's the one who's visited it." There were advantages, he decided as he leant against Gwydion, to having a large dog.

"I imagine some of the nastier Hell dimensions have dogs, don't you?" Ethan chuckled; he sounded somewhat hoarse. "Where's your pitchfork, imp?" he asked Skunk. At least, Giles hoped he was asking Skunk.

Skunk responded with her usual enthusiasm, wriggling happily and licking Ethan's face. "Well, she's made it this far," Ethan said casually. "That's thirty-six hours or so longer than the last one."

Reacting to the fear and ghost of old pain hidden under those words, Giles shifted enough to be able to reach out and brush the back of a hand gently against Ethan's cheek.

"I'm all right, dear," Ethan said, turning to smile softly at Giles. "I have a good feeling about Skunk, and anyway, Kat gave me a good idea for both dogs."

"What's that?"

"Raid my husband's bank account and have charms made for their collars. My pattern magic but imbued within metal."

"A sort of portable ward against cars?" Giles thought that over. "Quite a clever solution. You could probably even market that."

"Well, it would hardly be failsafe. Wouldn't want angry dog owners pounding on our door. But for our two, it would certainly provide some reassurance." Ethan rolled to his side, still holding Skunk, and shuffled closer to Giles, who was still sitting up.

Giles slid his hand into Ethan's hair, petting him a bit like he was one of the dogs. "Anything I can do to help with that let me know."

"You're funding it," Ethan said with a chuckle. "I used up every favour owed to me to get your pen. Although, I suppose I could offer to enchant things as barter."

"Charge it to the Council; we'll call it a prototype test for possible future equipment for working animals."

"Oh, I do adore being married to the Council head." Ethan's eyes were closed, and he was grinning. "Rupert?"

"Yes, love?"

"I remember the bed being a lot softer than this. Warmer too."

"That would probably be because you're lying on the study floor, not our bed."

"Oh. Shame I've forgotten how to move then." He yawned and snuggled closer still.

Giles chuckled. "Ethan."

"Hmm?"

"You can't sleep on the study floor."

"Oh, I do think you'll find I can." He kissed the side of Giles' closest buttock.

"Can you also explain to Megan why when she finds you here tomorrow morning? Naked?"

"You could hang a sign of the door," Ethan suggested sleepily. "Tell her not to enter on pain of education."

"As if that would keep her out." Giles pulled on Ethan's arm, starting to haul him up. "Come on."

Very reluctantly, Ethan slowly got to his feet. He leant heavily on Giles. "Christmas is over," he said a little glumly.

"Yes." Giles turned his head to kiss his temple. "For this year. There'll be another next year."

Ethan took a little more of his own weight and stroked Giles' face. "I don't really have the words for how good it's been, but you know, don't you?"

"I do know." He turned to be able to pull Ethan into a more proper embrace. "I know because it's been that way for me as well."

Ethan lay his head down on Giles' shoulder while the dogs snuffled around their feet. "Whatever comes next, we've had this. No one can take this from us."