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Shere Khan paused as he slipped back into his penthouse apartment, and sniffed cautiously at the air.
A familiar scent came to him, a tantalizing, delicious scent, and, so motivated, Shere Khan padded silently through the rooms of his home, nose fixated on the alluring scent until he was standing in the door to his kitchen to find a black panther standing before the stove, cooking something that was bound to be edible at least, and dressed in, yes, one of Shere Khan's own dress shirts.
Allowing a smirk to make an appearance on his face, he slunk forward, an envelope of silence passing underneath the hiss of a pan on the stove, the soft humming of the panther. He drew closer, paws reaching out as he rose to loom over the panther-
"Back home already, dear?" Bagheera asked.
Shere Khan gave himself a moment to smooth out his tail, which had puffed out to nearly twice its size when Bagheera had spoken, before stepping close behind the panther, and, after a few quiet breaths, draped his arms over the other man's shoulders. When this elicited no protest, he leaned down to settle his head against the back of Bagheera's neck.
"It's been years," Shere Khan muttered, "and I still don't know how you do that."
"I know you," Bagheera said gently, stirring the - whatever on the stove, ignoring how the statement sent a familiar shiver through Shere Khan, a jolt through his chest, one that had, as a child, induced him to all forms of idiocy in the hopes of discovering what, exactly, he wanted from Bagheera.
(You could assume that, decades along down the line, that Shere Khan finally had what he'd wanted from the panther - the answer was, as with most things having to do with Shere Khan, both simpler and more complicated than it first appeared. He had something like what he had wanted from Bagheera, but doubted a lifetime could provide him with anywhere near enough of it.)
"Then I suppose you know what I'm going to say," Shere Khan said in a purr that danced at the edge of being a growl; he grinned at the feeling of the noise vibrating against Bagheera's chest.
"Hello, my darling, love of my life, it's a pleasure to see you, everyone I spoke to today was insufferable, how was your day?"
Shere Khan bared his teeth briefly against Bagheera's back. "Absolutely incorrect. I wanted to know if you missed me."
"…Missed you? While you were at work?"
"Yes."
"At the headquarters of the multinational company you run with an iron fist?"
"…Yes," Shere Khan muttered, vaguely aware the direction in which this conversation was going and not liking it one bit.
"By which you mean, just downstairs?"
"It takes nearly five minutes to get from my office to the penthouse," Shere Khan grumbled into Bagheera's neck.
"…Yes, dear. I missed you terribly. Can't you tell how I've been wasting away from loneliness?" Bagheera waggled his hips, presumably to show off the degradation of his health in Shere Khan's absence, but instead accomplished little more than pressing his backside nearly flush with Shere Khan's front.
Suddenly curious of something, Shere Khan dragged his hands away from Bagheera's shoulders to settle on his waist. "I can't say you've lost as much as even a kilogram since I've been gone," he mused, just to play along as he splayed out his paws and felt Bagheera shift in his loose grip - not pulling away nor drawing closer, but instead drawing attention to his sudden awareness that Shere Khan now knew for certain Bagheera had been in their kitchen cooking dinner in one of Shere Khan's shirts…and nothing else.
"Well, despite your frequent absences driving me near to distraction," Bagheera hummed, stirring something in a pot, as if he were quite unmoved by the fact he was nearly naked and all but pressed up against Shere Khan, "you keep me well-fed." After a moment, he added, "Did you eat lunch today?"
"Perhaps I was too distracted by the thoughts of my panther pining away alone up here to eat," he purred, shifting a small, but significant amount, feeling the slight catch in Bagheera's stance as the beginnings of Shere Khan's arousal pressed against him.
"Well, lucky I'm making that curry Baloo's mother always used to make-"
"I'm ravenous," Shere Khan snarled into Bagheera's ear, "but that stew won't be nearly enough." After a moment, he added, "Turn off that stove. I don't want you - distracted by worrying it might burn."
"Mister Khan, are you propositioning me?" Bagheera asked, a teasing lilt to his voice.
"I think you rather well knew what it would do to me, finding you like this," Shere Khan murmured, letting his breath waft along the side of Bagheera's head, "which makes me suspect this was a - calculated move on your part, seducing me in my own kitchen."
Bagheera reached out with one hand to turn off the stove - a click as the heat died. And the other hand drifted down, behind him, reaching back to-
Shere Khan's breath caught, except Bagheera's hand pushed Shere Khan a handspan back, tangled briefly with his belt, pulling it free of its loops, tugging just enough to loosen it from its bindings before drifting down to tug at his fly-
But only to pull it down, and drift away, leaving Shere Khan…
Well, one-third out of his pants, a handspan away from Bagheera, who was wearing nothing other than that shirt.
Shere Khan loosed one hand from Bagheera's side to pull his belt entirely free, unbutton his boxers, and free a more than incipient erection.
The other hand he reached forward to grab Bagheera's paw, squeezing the pads gently as he stepped back in so he was flush with Bagheera, sighing at the brush of sensitive flesh against the curve of Bagheera's rump.
And unless Bagheera had been substantially more prepared for this moment than Shere Khan expected (and wouldn't that be a thought - him stretching and lubing himself up before setting this up this snare?), it would be unwise to escalate matters in a particular way. But when Shere Khan crouched slightly, guiding his erection down along the seam of Bagheera's ass to press against the space between his legs, Bagheera spread them just enough that a determined, horny tiger could slide into that gap.
Bagheera purred, letting his head lean back against Shere Khan's chest as he rocked gently against Bagheera, relishing the plush pressure against the length of his penis, the slight sigh from Bagheera every time a deep thrust caused Shere Khan to brush against his balls. It was not, in truth, a strenuous sort of lovemaking - far more like an amuse-bouche than a full meal - but there was promise to it, hands entangled, Shere Khan's other hand settling on Bagheera's hip, and the panther-
"None of that," Shere Khan murmured as Bagheera's hand moved to catch his own arousal.
"I don't suppose you intend to suggest you could bring me to orgasm through your fantastic skill at dry-humping," Bagheera replied, drily, and if Shere Khan were in a different mood, he might rise to the bait, the implied challenge.
"I might," he allowed, at least for the show of it, his pride, such as it was, when it came to this panther (his panther). "But I supposed I could get you a little worked up, a little desperate, perhaps enough to beg-"
"And then drag me off to the bedroom?" Bagheera asked, voice light, but…a little breathy. Events had led to slightly more manhandling than was their habit in the past, and neither of them had been found wanting, in such circumstances.
But Shere Khan had other plans, tonight.
"That sounds like much too far to go, when I've a perfectly accommodating panther already - in hand."
"Not, hm, in hand, exactly, which is precisely the problem," Bagheera replied, twisting his head around to lick Shere Khan's nose, a chaste kiss to show there were no hard feelings. "There are, hm, substitutes on hand for some of the more…essential tools for a more serious endeavor." And Shere Khan's dismay at the suggestion must have been plain on his face (or Bagheera just knew him), because Bagheera chuckled. "Well, I don't know what to tell you. Your choices are for me to go fetch the lube from our bedroom, or use whichever of the substitutes in our kitchen you find least objectionable."
"No," Shere Khan growled, grip tightening both on Bagheera's paw and hip, rocking rather more forcibly into the gap between his legs than he'd been. "You'll stay here. I will be - right back, and then I will ravish you so thoroughly you forget how to speak."
"Ah-" Bagheera gasped as Shere Khan pulled free, stepped away, leaving Bagheera looking - slightly debauched (except he'd started the process, flouncing about the way he was), almost reluctant to leave him, except for the promise of what they could do once he'd returned.
So he was quick, except for the moment he paused in their bedroom, considering disrobing himself.
And then he shook the thought free, stalking back toward the kitchen. The whole moment had been inspired by Bagheera unexpectedly half-clothed in their kitchen, the contrast between him and Shere Khan. Undressing himself, changing the dynamic, could upend the entire experience.
It inspired him to hurry, at least, until he drew back into the door and took a moment. Bagheera was standing a little loose, arms crossed, tail waving slowly behind him, teasing at but never quite revealing Bagheera's rump.
Grinning, Shere Khan edged closer-
"Took you long enough," Bagheera drawled, tail flicking teasingly - something which would have once threatened to snap Shere Khan's tenuous grip on his self-control. But he was older, mellower, now, and knew down to his bones that the teasing, the flirtatious mockery, was an invitation, part of the game.
So because he knew his part, he growled, stalking closer to Bagheera, until he was almost close enough to touch, breath ghosting along Bagheera's fur. "Be careful, Bagheera - one might conclude from that comment you were…anticipating what I'm about to do to you."
He was rewarded by a full-body shiver - not a sound from Bagheera, but his tail swept involuntarily across Shere Khan's ankle, which, for all there was no inherent eroticism in such a gesture, still brought Shere Khan's flagging erection back to attention.
But as much as he'd like to ravage the man before him, it was certain he would enjoy himself more taking his time with it.
He gripped one globe of Bagheera's ass, kneading the flesh as he flicked open the tube he'd retrieved from their bedroom - rewarded with Bagheera's ears rising to attention at the 'click' of the cap disengaging.
"You want this," he purred. "You're anticipating it. Aching for it."
"You know me," Bagheera murmured, voice soft, but - tight. Controlled. "Never wanted anything more than to have Shere Khan's full attention."
Shere Khan let a smile drift across his face. "Ah. My full attention. Some might consider that a…dangerous desire."
"An old saying comes to mind," Bagheera retorted. "Something about…riding a tiger?"
And Shere Khan, who'd always been good at multitasking, took that as an invitation to make use of the fruits of his efforts, sliding a slick finger along the cleft of Bagheera's ass. He was rewarded with a huff - breathy, barely a hitch, but to a man who knew Bagheera as well as Shere Khan did as good as a full-throated moan.
"Is that a particular…ambition of yours?" he pressed, both in word and in taking the measure of Bagheera's readiness. Not tense, but neither readied, meaning it would take some work to ready him to take Shere Khan comfortably.
Work Shere Khan was more than happy to engage in.
"Oh yes," Bagheera purred. "It's something I think about - quite often."
"Oh?" And Shere Khan rewarded the flattery with some preliminary probing, the gentle press of a finger inside of Bagheera as he slid closer, so they were close to flush again, only now the promise of more than a loose rutting making the touch more electrifying.
"Almost…constantly."
"Liar," Shere Khan growled into Bagheera's ear, pushing a single finger in with - well, not force, nothing near enough to hurt, but a little less gentle than he might otherwise. "Flatterer."
Bagheera sighed, leaning back against Shere Khan's chest. "You've found me out," he purred, turning his head up just enough he could flick his tongue against Shere Khan's chin. "Now what will you do about it?"
"A dangerous question," Shere Khan allowed, reaching one arm around to hold Bagheera firmly against his chest, while he circled his finger, pressing it further in, knowing that somewhere in there he'd press-
Bagheera gasped - quiet, nothing so indecorous as a moan (it took a fantastic amount of work to draw such noises out of his panther, work Shere Khan could quite enjoy if he was in the mood to, but he had other aims, tonight), and Shere Khan took that as encouragement to nip at his ear, which twitched away from the bite even as Bagheera chuckled.
"Maybe we should have eaten first," he suggested, "if you're so hungry."
"Insatiable, darling," Shere Khan snarled. "But not for anything so pedestrian as flesh." He nipped harder at Bagheera's ear as he eased the tip of another finger along the rim of Bagheera's entrance.
"Some might argue intercourse is - as pedestrian a desire as anything else," Bagheera teased, twisting to catch Shere Khan's mouth in a brief, but proper kiss, though he had to rise up briefly on his toes to reach. "Birds do it. Bees do it. Baloo does it."
Shere Khan didn't rise to the bait, instead responding, "I'm not talking about simple desire. I am speaking of the need to consume every moment I can with you, to bask in the warmth of your regard, to swallow every moan I might wring out of you."
"Ah," Bagheera murmured. "Poetry."
Shere Khan growled playfully while he did something not so playful, a press and stretch of two fingers, paying a little more attention to his movements, enough he earned a lash of Bagheera's tail, snapping across the side of Shere Khan's leg.
"Did you like that?"
"The poetry?" Bagheera teased. "Fair to middling."
"There was a time you wouldn't dare contradict me, for fear of losing my affections."
"Hm. Do you miss it?"
Shere Khan let out a sigh, shifting his head to rest his chin on Bagheera's shoulder. "I no longer need the fawning affections of a cub to boost my ego. And I…prefer you being confident in my affection for you. Enough you aren't afraid to show a little bite to me."
"Mm," Bagheera hummed, pushing back against Shere Khan's touch, a silent sign of his own need, and Shere Khan bared his teeth in an anticipatory grin.
"Ready, dear?"
"For you? Always," Bagheera murmured, the shameless flatterer, the absolute flirt, and Shere Khan spared the necessary few moments to slather a penis whose interest had not flagged almost since he'd returned to the kitchen with lube, and then shifted, paused.
"Is something wrong?"
"The positioning is slightly more natural in bed," Shere Khan mused. "Out here, I'm taller than you."
"I would think you're always taller than me," Bagheera said mildly, which in another mood would have earned a snarky reply from Shere Khan, but instead he shifted his grip to Bagheera's hips to lift him, and it didn't take much, really, to find the right angle to press his cock against Bagheera and finally slide in. Just a touch, at first, to test the waters, to ensure Bagheera's promise of readiness was correct, but when the motion earned a pleased sigh from the panther, Shere Khan pushed in further (more correctly, pulled Bagheera closer to him). Whatever the buildup, he always found himself lost a little in the task of hilting himself in his panther - taking the few moments, or minute, to push in fully, to rest for a second fully inside him, legs entangled, the brush of furred balls against each other as they breathed, the twitch of Bagheera's tail, raised and swiping absentmindedly around Shere Khan.
And then he pulled out to thrust back in, frowning as the motion didn't elicit quite the reaction he was expecting.
"Shere Khan?"
"Just - give me a moment," Shere Khan muttered. "The angles are all wrong, here."
"This isn't rocket science, dear-"
"It's much more important," Shere Khan insisted. And it took a little bit of experimenting, a few shifts and exploratory thrusts, Bagheera chuckling at him for treating this endeavor with all the seriousness it deserved, before he got it right, and Bagheera let out a sharp little gasp and rose just a little higher on his toes.
"Rocket science doesn't make you feel like that, does it?" Shere Khan purred smugly into Bagheera's ear as he took advantage of his grip on the panther's hips to repeat the motion, earning a quick, shuddering breath before pulling back.
"N - no, I'll happily agree there is a vast difference between rocket science and a tiger's cock. Less accessible to the common man, for one."
"You know, I recall at times fucking you speechless," Shere Khan said as he angled his cock back into Bagheera, now feeling confident enough with his positioning to reach the angle that made Bagheera respond with a breath - a quick inhale instead of a clever reply. "No mean feat, I've been told."
And it was a little fun to take advantage, to distract Bagheera with his next few thrusts, so he couldn't work up the focus to answer.
But he didn't love this creature for being able to silence him, so he let up after a bit, keeping up a more gentle, less directed rocking into him so he could nose at Bagheera's cheek until the panther got the hint and turned to kiss him, a brief tangle of tongues and a cheeky bite from Bagheera.
Shere Khan wasn't quite of the mood to even play at being annoyed by it, instead rewarding Bagheera, shifting one hand away from his hips to cup his balls, stroking them with the pads of his fingers - he was as pinned in place by Shere Khan as he had been a moment before, just in a more pleasant manner.
"You know," Bagheera breathed out, "there's something to be said about a panther's penis, as well."
"Goodness, darling, are you asking me for something?" Shere Khan teased, nipping at Bagheera's ear - or trying to, as he seemed to have brought his preternatural awareness of Shere Khan's location to this particular game, twitching it out of the way at the last moment.
"Oh no, I was just commenting on the numerous health benefits of putting one's hands on a panther's penis every now and again."
"Every now and again," Shere Khan grumbled into his ear. "If I recall, someone made a very impassioned plea regarding blowjobs last night, and I believe I rose to the occasion quite admirably." He squeezed, just enough to feel the tension in Bagheera's balls, before spreading out his hand to envelop them completely. It made the thrusts of his hips a little awkward, until he reluctantly released his grip on Bagheera's other hip to wrap an arm around his chest.
And it was the work of a moment to lift Bagheera fully off the ground, suspending him by two - ah, three - points, and begin to rock into him in earnest. His technique may have suffered a bit, but Bagheera's breathless sighs, his inability to respond to Shere Khan's quip, proving he was managing quite well - not as practiced as he was at other positions, but he was hearing no complaints (and was secure that out of all the animals in the world, Bagheera was one of…two, maybe three, who wouldn't hesitate to lodge a complaint, if one were warranted).
"Ah - Shere-" Bagheera's voice broke off with a strangled gasp before he tensed in an oh-so familiar way, clenching around Shere Khan's penis as he spilled…well, on the kitchen floor, as well as the hand cupping his balls.
The pressure on Shere Khan was - delicious, inspiring a wilder, less calculated thrust, as he sought to take advantage of the rhythmic clenching around him to take more of his own pleasure than Bagheera's, no longer able to resist the urge to indulge.
He buried his face against the crook of Bagheera's shoulder and began moving in earnest while his panther shuddered and sighed in his grip, letting out a snarl that made Bagheera laugh breathlessly, as he knew from long experience it was a sound with no heat or anger in it, just the sign Shere Khan was close, oh so close…
For all a snarl heralded it, Shere Khan came silently, his grip on Bagheera tightening as his cock pulsed, spilling forth as he slowed the motion of his hips, stilling as the moment of release eased away from them both.
Shere Khan's face was still pressed against Bagheera's fur, and he was still holding him up off the floor.
The floor was - a bit of a mess, as were the two of them.
Reluctantly, Shere Khan bent slightly to return Bagheera to his own feet, and more reluctantly, pulled free of their entanglement.
Bagheera turned, offering Shere Khan a wan smile, one that steadied as he stepped up and licked his nose, grinning when he stepped back.
"One wonders what inspired all this," Shere Khan said.
Bagheera stretched a little - there was no worry Shere Khan had done any damage to him, but from experience Shere Khan knew even the most thorough preparation left one a little sore, muscles a little out of sorts. "I thought I'd do something nice for our anniversary."
"Our-" Shere Khan frowned, carefully running through his catalogue of important dates. "We got married in June. You insisted it was tradition, and talked my grandmother into agreeing. And we started seeing each other in February - the week after Valentine's Day, so you could demand the entire month as some sort of offering to your ego. And since it took two months to charm you into bed-"
Bagheera rolled his eyes and kissed Shere Khan into silence. He was smiling, though, when he pulled back. "The anniversary of the first time you spoke to me - the second time around, as it was."
Ah. The rekindling of a relationship that had dissolved almost entirely because of Shere Khan, a thought that inspired a familiar tangle of shame and loss, regret at years lost to his own…difficulties.
He banished the thought with a silent snarl. His time with Bagheera was too precious to waste on regrets and would-have-beens; the panther was here with him now.
And Shere Khan made a decision. "We're going to bed," he announced.
"You said you were starving," Bagheera pointed out. "Also, the floor-"
"I was starved for you," Shere Khan said, as haughtily as he could manage, less than five minutes after an orgasm, "and I would like to hold you. The food will keep. We can clean ourselves up and go to bed."
Bagheera's smile softened, and he took Shere Khan's hand in between his before stepping away from the stove, leading Shere Khan as if this had been his own idea (and who knew? maybe this entire evening had been an elaborate scheme of Bagheera's own making. If it were true, Shere Khan saw no shame in being ensnared by it).
"Alright," he said agreeably. "I can live with that."