Chapter Text
Good Boys
The odd thing about all three of them sharing a body is not the things one would expect. Of course, there’s the occasional commentary where Scratch bluntly tells Alan he ought to just stick a knife between the ribs of whatever poor FBC Agent happened to piss them off. Sometimes Alice has a few choice words of her own to add, but ultimately the three of them live in relative harmony with one another.
Alan is pretty sure this has to do with the extent of the world inside his own mind that they all have to explore. The years in the Dark Place plus his own expansive imagination gives all three of them space to explore without ever being forced to walk in on one another. He’s created far more than enough of a playground to have their fun. Even Scratch gets enough space to do what he needs to do over time. Alan has never found his killing grounds, although Alice has told him they exist. Sometimes Scratch will disappear deeper into his mind, and return a day or two later coated in blood and purring like a housecat. Alan knows what he does, but it hasn’t seemed to hurt the host in any way that matters.
Scratch has been “gone” for a few days when Alice approaches Alan with a suggestion. It has been forever since either of them have had any time to themselves, and Scratch’s sudden disappearance offers them both a chance to be far more intimate than when the dark doppelganger was around. Despite everything, Scratch was still remarkably possessive of Alan. He did not like to share. More often than not their intimate moments were interrupted, either by Scratch lurking in the corner of the room and watching or him joining in at an inopportune point.
It's why, after days of silence from the Herald of Darkness, that they decide to play.
Alan isn’t sure where Alice came up with this, but he’s not at all complaining. He’s always preferred for her to take control, for him to do as he is told. She is absolutely stunning when she radiates power, telling him exactly what to do for him to be considered a “good boy.” There’s something about Alice’s eyes when she rides him, watching him come undone below her, that he absolutely adores.
Its why he doesn’t hesitate when she produces the cuffs and collar. He’s naked and on his knees immediately, hands behind his back as she straps him in. She pulls closed the last clasp of his ankle cuff, lightly grazing her teeth against his ear before she slowly walks around him to admire the image. Her husband, bound before her in a collar, wrist, and ankle cuffs all connected to one another, right where she wants him.
Perfect.
She pulls a chair closer, dropping down into it almost unceremoniously as she runs the ball of her foot up the inside of one of Alan’s thighs.
“You remember how this works right, Alan? You say stop, I stop. You ask me to pull back, I pull back… right?”
“Of course,” he gasps. She flicks her eyes downward, amused at the display of interest already heavy between his legs. He always was so easy to work up, so eager to please even when befuddled with alcohol or mean with his own self-doubt. Even in their worst times, Alan lived up to the moniker one of her friends had given him when they had first started dating – he was very much a wife-man.
She lets him sit for a moment, waiting for him to anticipate what was going to happen, when suddenly the pressure in the room changes. Her foot hesitated where it was, before slowly drifting up between his legs to draw a line around the shape of his cock. Alan’s eyes had closed, and he seemed to be fighting something off in his head. When he opens them a moment later, a possessive glint in his gaze, that she knew exactly who it was who had returned home.
“Aliiice,” Scratch sneers, only half of Alan’s face turning into the monster’s. Scratch always seems to forget that he cannot completely consume Alan anymore, even when he tries to do so and ends up in this split state they are currently in. He doesn’t have the power he used to have, held at bay by Alice and Alan’s own growing confidence. “Aliiice, sweetie, just what do you think you’re doing to him?”
“Oh, you’re curious now?” she asks, the tip of her shoe pressing firmly against his stiff cock and causing both halves of Alan to gasp. “You go away for days without saying a word to either of us, treating yourself without permission and you expect me to do the honour of telling you what you’ve missed? That’s not how this works, Scratch.”
She grinds down the ball of her foot once more before sharply pushing herself to her feet. A hand snakes its way into their long locks, tugging their head back as she looms over them. “You do as you’re told, you understand me?”
“Like fuck I do,” Scratch snarled, his expression softening slightly as Alan pushed for control. Tightening her grip once more in their hair, she let out a soft sigh.
“I knew you’d be a brat. There’s something you have to learn, Scratch, and it’s that we all share in this. You be a good boy, and I promise you we will make you feel good. But if you’re bad, I’ll edge you for hours until you cry. Do you understand?”
She notes the brief flash of panic in Alan’s eyes, almost immediately replaced by the dare in Scratch’s. “You couldn’t if you tried. Your poor little writer-boy will be a blubbering mess, begging for release. And I have no intention of leaving him until you’re done.”
“No?” she asks, scraping her fingernails gently against the back of his skull and noting how he shivers at the contact. “Alan, sweetie… be a good boy and come watch, would you?”
Scratch’s face falls immediately, as if he suddenly remembers that in this place he is not the one in charge. He can, up to a point, meld with Alan as he did on his return to this situation. Ultimately, he is not the one in control. Alan is.
The writer mentally separates the two of them, reforming himself knelt next to Scratch. Their thighs and shoulders are pressed together, simultaneously grounding Scratch and making his heart race. As much as he hates to admit it, he’s more vulnerable now. Alice would never do anything to permanently harm Alan, but Scratch? He wasn’t so sure the courtesy extended to him.
Alice lets go of his hair with a smirk, moving back to her chair and positioning it equally between the two of them.
“Don’t you both look so pretty, all dressed up just for me?” she says, her voice syrupy sweet as she looks them over. Scratch can feel the sweat prickling at his temples, can sense Alan vibrating in anticipation through their touching limbs. Weakly, Scratch tests the cuffs clipped to his ankles and wonders briefly if Alan could have been convinced to make the flimsy looking d-rings ever so slightly loose.
As if sensing the train of thought, the writer breaks a moment and turns his eyes off of his wife to peer at his double.
“Yours are stronger than mine, Scratch,” he states, grinning at him before leaning in to lightly nuzzle at his jaw with his forehead. Scratch can just make out a slight roughness to his breathing as the collar pulls at Alan’s throat, but the writer seems to not mind. “But all you have to do is ask for it to stop, and it will. Alice isn’t cruel.”
“You’re safe with me, Scratch,” Alice agrees, leaning forward in her chair. The air of dominance, of authority she was cloaked with suddenly gone. She gently tilts his chin up, meeting his eyes with a sincere look. “If you want this to stop, it can stop. We’ll go back to it being just me and Alan and you can… watch? Whatever you want to do. But, we’d both like it if you chose to join us.”
His bright blue eyes meet hers, so like Alan’s but so different. She watches for a moment, sees the calculations tick over again and again in his mile-a-minute mind, before suddenly the panic seems to recede. She’s willing to be patient. If they’ve learned anything over the past years of descent and ascent, its that Scratch is at the heart of him scared. He’s scared of being rejected, scared of being forgotten, scared of being abandoned, and scared of being hurt. He has to learn to trust Alice, who is as much a part of him as Alan now. They are together, and they are three-in-one. That means that they all have to give and take equally, and trust has to go every way possible.
They’ve done nothing to hurt him in this time since Bright Falls. If anything, they’ve been welcoming and supportive as they’ve navigated their new existence. Its why when he considers her offer once more and leans against Alan for support, Scratch nods slowly. With a thick swallow and a nervous ragged breath sinks back onto his haunches as he peers up at Alice.
“Ok… yeah… Sure… We can try this.”
“Fantastic,” she replies, leaning back in her chair again. The motion pulls some of the cloak of authority to her, and she lightly cocks her head to one side as she considers the Herald of Darkness on his knees, spread and vulnerable at her feet. “You know from Alan’s memories how this works, yes? Traffic lights?”
“Of course,” he replies some of the defiance coming back in his tone. “I’m not an idiot, I’ve seen what you two freaks do for fun.”
Alan barks out a laugh next to him, shaking his head slightly. For her part, Alice simply cocks her head to one side and looks down at him. The cold look in her eyes does something to Scratch, shooting a line of heat straight through him.
“You will watch your mouth with me, Scratch, or I will be forced to put it to better use.”
He can’t help himself. He really can’t. The statement brings a vicious grin to his lips. Despite the expression on his face, his knees spread a little wider so that his body posture became somewhat more submissive.
“I’d like to see you try,” he replies, prompting Alan to bite his lower lip to stifle his own nervous laughter. Alan’s not a brat. There are times where he can push, but he doesn’t enjoy things the way Scratch seems to. Nevertheless, seeing his double act the way he does sends a thrill through the writer. His anticipation of just what Alice will do in response is something he’s never seen.
There is a moment of silence in the way Alice slowly considers them, her bright blue eyes crackling with some kind of energy. Then, without hesitation, she clacks the heels of her shoes into the tile. The sound is final, and drives away any lingering nervous giggles from Alan as he peers up at her nervously. She only has eyes for Scratch in that moment, and she holds his daring gaze as she reaches to lightly cup Alan’s cheek.
“My love, would you restrain him further please? I’d like for him to have absolutely nowhere else to go.”
Alan’s eyes flutter for a moment, and then another chain secures Scratch to the ground where his cuffs meet. He twists to look at them behind him, a sneer on his face as he turns back to growl something at Alice.
The words die on his lips as he realizes that she is repositioning Alan to face him, the two of them a mirror of one another once again. She runs her fingernails gently over Alan’s chest, catching slightly on one nipple and causing him to gasp. Alan’s cock jumps slightly between his legs as Alice moves behind him, her lips pressed to his shoulder as she hums thoughtfully.
Scratch can’t decide where to look, at Alice or at Alan. His eyes flick between the two of them, watching as Alice slowly starts to draw her nails down Alan’s chest, across his stomach, down his sides… And Alan starts to puff out little breaths, huffing and gasping at the sensations his wife causes him. He can see the desperation building in Scratch’s eyes, putting a little more into the sounds of pleasure that Alice draws out of him. There’s a blush on his copy’s cheeks, deepening and spreading down his neck and chest as he watches Alice’s hand traipse across Alan’s body. Was this what it was like to watch him, he wondered?
“It is,” Alice informs him, her mental tone smug as she presses her lips to a spot on his neck that always drives him wild. Alan lets out a soft moan, trying to tilt his hips so that her wandering hand will go where he needs it to. But Alice isn’t feeling particularly generous, especially after Alan’s nervous defiance in the face of Scratch’s return. She ghosts her hand around where he wants it, instead applying a little more pressure to her nails as they run up his thighs.
Scratch watches, mouth slightly open and pupils slowly widening as if he can’t believe what he sees. All the loops he and Alan had run, all the twisting, turning circles and sometimes violent encounters in the dark hadn’t been like this. Alan had never fully submitted to him in the way he did to Alice, and despite the small thrill of jealously that drew from him he finds it so damn hot.
He watches his writer’s mouth fall open, the pretty little moaning sobs that escape him as Alice teases, promising him contact and then taking it away just as quickly. Scratch is surprised on some level that it’s gentle teasing that has Alan in this shape. Their past interactions had always been quick and violent, forced – usually by himself – and yet Alice’s gentle touch has him whimpering and gasping like a mess.
Intrigue and curiosity crawls through him, wondering briefly what it feels like to be touched like that. To have fingers ghosting over his skin, someone whispering quiet words of praise for his actions.
The thought makes him whimper slightly, the audible sound prompting Alice to flick her gaze once again to Alan’s copy. “Well, well… seems like you’re enjoying yourself now, Scratch… Do you think he’s been good enough for me to get him off?”
“Yes, please. Please,” Scratch says, his voice high pitched and breathy. He’s leaning forward slightly, at the extent of the bindings that Alan gave him before. The still coherent part of Alan’s mind notes his copy’s interest in him, and wonders briefly if this is a sign of compassion in the other creature. That wonder falls away as Alice’s hand closes around his dick, warm and firm as she begins to stroke him in earnest.
To say Alan’s mind goes blank is wrong. It goes laser focused on the sensations he’s feeling. All he can feel is the burning in his gut, the heat in his stomach, Alice’s hot breath on his neck. It’s too much. It’s not enough. He desperately wants more, wants that heat inside him to reach it’s peak and he can feel the rush that follows. But he won’t. He will hold it back, he will wait. He knows that Alice will tell him when, that she will let him fall into that pleasure completely supported. He can wait… he can…
“Do you want to cum Alan?” she whispers in his ear. He lets out a moan, nodding furiously. She chuckles, darkly, and stops moving her hand. Through his displeased moan, he hears her tutting. “You need to use your words…”
“Please, aha… please Alice, let me cum,” he gasps, and Scratch swallows thickly as Alice slowly starts pumping Alan once more. He watches as Alan’s hips twitch, stuttering for a few moments before a guttural groan escapes his mouth. He comes hard, eyes squeezing shut as Alice simply holds him in place, gently continuing to pump his cock until he stops and huffs out a brief request to stop.
Alice raises her cum-coated hand, looking at it in the light briefly before bringing it to Alan’s lips. He opens his mouth, breath trembling, and timidly tastes himself. For a moment she just watches him, holding him upright against her chest before she gently kisses his neck.
“You’re so good for me, Alan. Thank you,” she says, prompting him to look up at her carefully. He nuzzles at her neck, a brief period of clarity hitting his brain. He turns his eyes to Scratch, Alice’s following suit as if they are sharing the same thought. Across from them, Scratch is heaving out panting breaths, and despite himself he is mewling. He’s leaking, red and hot and heavy and desperate for his own release. His slightly glassy eyes flick away from Alan to Alice, a desperation on his face that he cannot quite put into words. He wants to be a part of this, he wants to join… He’s been left on his own for so long and he wants not only the dopamine hit of ejaculation, but also to be held the same way Alice is holding Alan.
Alan recognizes this, the fear of being alone that drives Scratch so much. Turning his head to Alice, he shifts to whisper in her ear.
“Please… let me go, let’s make him feel good…”
Alice hums, nodding softly before undoing his bindings with her clean hand. She turns back to Scratch, considering him a moment longer before raising her hand to his lips and staring at him intently.
“Taste.”
Scratch’s tongue darts out, licking at the taste of Alan’s spend on her fingers and letting out a moan. Alice takes it as non-verbal thanks, and smiles slightly as she draws a cloth into being and cleans the remainder from her hand. Scratch is biddable, he just needs proper preparation. The option of a reward, of being one with them, is something even he cannot turn down. She turns to Alan once more, cupping his cheek before gently grabbing his collar and dragging him closer.
“Do you want to make him feel good, love?” she asks, and Scratch’s eyes flare wide. Alan hits him with a tired, lascivious grin before sinking to his elbows in front of his double.
“I do, so long as he wants to ask nicely.”
A brief burst of static escapes Scratch’s mouth.
Alice just chuckles once more, running her hand through Alan’s hair. “I think that’s the best you’re going to get, my love. Why don’t you help him out.”
It’s hard for Scratch to make sense of what is happening. Alice shifts to envelop him with her arms, her chin on his shoulder and her breathing in his ear as she works slow circles into his skin with her fingertips. Alan is below him, wetting his lips before he sticks his tongue out and flattens it, licking Scratch from the base of his cock to the head and immediately short-circuiting the shadow’s brain. He almost blacks out when Alan closes his lips around his cockhead and sucks, taking him deeply within his mouth and working him thoroughly.
Alan’s had experience of this, Scratch is well aware of that, but it’s one thing to demand it and another for it to be freely given. He cannot quite make out what Alice is saying behind him, but she;s murmuring something that feels encouraging, supportive and warm. Her body is warm against his back, the only evidence of her own arousal a slight hitch in her tone and her stiff nipples pressed against his spine. A part of him wonders if they are being greedy, as she’s in control completely and none of them are getting off, but that falls away with the feather like touch of her hand at his temple. He’s flooded with the understanding that this is for them all, that they all feel how good this is, that this is enough, that he is enough.
They are three, they are one. They are together.
They are enough.
His breathing is short and shallow as he practically pants against Alice’s ear. She lightly bites his earlobe, nails scratching his chest as Alan’s head continues to bob between his legs. Scratch is aware that he is whimpering, half formed sounds falling from his lips. He is shaking, some part of him almost sure that he was drooling, when Alice lightly taps Alan’s shoulder and prompts her husband to pull back.
The sudden cold of the air hits him, making Scratch let out an actual whine as he leans back against Alice. She is murmuring in his ear, one hand across his stomach and pressing down towards his pubic bone and the other stroking at his throat.
“You’re doing so good, Scratch, being so good for us… I’ll let you have what you want, what you need… but you need to tell me something…”
“A… anything, m’ll tell you anything,” he whimpers, turning his face into her neck and lightly mouthing at her throat as if he wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to kiss her or bite her. She forgives him a moment, indulging him by lightly nuzzling him back before she pulls his head back to look at her.
“Beg me for it…”
Her eyes are fire, twin blue orbs of intensity. The sound that escapes Scratch’s mouth is a whine. Alice waits a moment, almost sure that the poor creature’s brain is just utterly trapped in a cage of pleasure and need. Then he swallows thickly and nods.
“Please, please let me come.”
Alice smiles. Plants a kiss on Scratch’s collar bone, and shifts so that she can watch his face.
“Good boy. Come for us.”
Alan’s mouth closes around his cock again, bobs once, twice, and Scratch is already gone. He’s silent, mouth dropped open and squeezed shut as his hips stutter as he falls into the pit of release. Alan swallows, pulling back only when Scratch falls still. His double is almost blank, completely spent as he meets Alan’s gaze with a soft expression. Alan cannot help himself, and lightly presses his lips to Scratch’s.
Scratch rests his forehead against Alan’s, practically boneless even if restrained, and lets out a soft hum. For her part, Alice just runs her hands over her two men, smiling gently as the room shifts. Scratch is no longer bound, and neither man is in any cuffs or collar. Alice shifts the mental space into a bedroom, tucking them both in to bed and smirking immediately as Scratch nuzzles himself as close to Alan as he can. The writer strokes his hair, wrapping himself up around his double before reaching for Alice to join them too.
“I can’t, at least one of us needs to go back out and pretend we’re listening to the meeting,” she replies, pressing a gentle kiss to her husband's head before stroking an almost asleep Scratch’s hair once more.
Alan’s about to protest, she notes, and shakes her head slightly before she takes control of their body once more.
It’s quick, and easy to miss if you aren’t looking for it. Alan’s eyes, unfocused as they had been for the past few minutes while listening to whatever briefing they had determined was too boring to pay attention to, suddenly refocus. Blinking his eyes in the large boardroom, Alice suddenly realizes that Emily is still talking about something. It’s been two minutes since they’ve been gone here, but whatever she is talking about goes mostly over her head. No one seems to have noticed that Alan has not been paying attention. Flicking Alan’s eyes around the room, Alice briefly evaluates each of them, slowly shifting into a slightly more alert seating position.
No one has noticed. She breaths a sigh of relief through Alan’s lungs, relaxing slightly before she meets Saga’s gaze and freezes.
Shit.
It doesn’t take much to know that the Seer knows. It’s in the way her mouth has pressed into a slightly thinner line, a tightness in her jaw.
You can judge… but it’s been thirteen years, Alice thinks, sure that on some level Saga can understand. It takes a moment, and Alice isn’t entirely sure that Saga has heard or understood what she means. Then her face slowly twists, ticking up into a smile that allows Alice relaxes a little. She’s struck suddenly with the realization that Saga wasn’t sure who had stepped into control, and she was waiting to see if it was Scratch up to one of his old tricks. Alice has to admit it would be something the copy would have done – tire Alan and herself out in order to take over and cause havoc. Alice raises an eyebrow and shrugs nonchalantly before offering Saga a gentle smile. Something told her he wouldn’t be doing that any more going forward.