PLACEBO

Feedback:   
Category:   Langly/Byers slash
Rating:     NC-17 for m/m relationship 
Disclaimer: not mine, etc 
Spoilers:   Nope
Archive:    Unusual suspects, Basement, Ephemeral, Gossamer:  
anywhere else just ask
Summary:    It's all in the mind

Note:       The report referred to in the story is genuine

"PLACEBO:  (LATIN) "I shall please": 1st person sing. future 
indic of PLACERE "to please":  (1)  A pill, medicine or 
procdure, to be prescribed more for the psychological benefit 
of the patient of being given a prescription, than for any 
physiological effect.  (2)  A substance with no physiological 
effect used as a control in testing new drugs.  (O.E.D.)"



Around 2 am

Byers drifted back to consciousness with a sigh, unwilling to 
release his hold on that delicious semi-waking condition where 
he was totally relaxed, only just aware of where he was.  But 
something had wakened him  . . something was missing.  There 
was an empty space, a void, a lack of warmth which should have 
been beside him.

He slid his hand sideways and found only empty space.  The 
covers were thrown partly back, which accounted for the cold 
draft which must have wakened him.  Ringo was gone . . . but 
only just gone, because the mattress beside him still held a 
trace of the warmth of his lover's body.  Byers sighed 
sleepily.  Must've got up to take a leak . . . stay awake till 
he gets back . . . I'll teach him to get up and leave me in the 
cold . . .

A few minutes later, impatient, he rolled over and squinted at 
the alarm clock.  2 am . . . suppose he's okay . . . better go 
see. . .

Heaving himself out of bed, he fumbled his way into his 
bathrobe and stumbled, still half asleep, down the corridor to 
the bathroom.  The light was on, the door slightly open.  
Something stopped him calling out.  

He pushed the door open cautiously. Langly was there, bent 
nearly double over the sink, one hand rubbing his forehead.

"Ree?  Are you okay?"

Langly jumped about a foot in the air, and something fell from 
his other hand into the sink.  He whirled round.  "Oh, shit . . 
. Jeez, John!  Whaddya want to sneak up on me like that for!"

"I came to see if you were okay . . . what're you doing?"

"Nuthin, nuthin"  . . . was he *blushing*?  He took a step 
forward, preventing Byers from seeing into in the basin.  "I'm 
okay, I'll be back in a sec, okay?  Just go back to bed."

Byers' curiousity, and his concern, was now at full pitch.  
"Ree . . . I know by now if you're hiding something.  What is 
it?  Are you sick?  What's wrong with your head?"

"Fer gossake, what's a guy to do to get some privacy round 
here?  Just leave it out, willya?"  He saw Byers' hurt 
expression and stopped short.  "Look, I'm not sick, okay?  Just 
. . . don't.  Please."

Byers stared at him, even more concerned now.  "No, Ringo.  Why 
can't you tell me what it is?  I thought we trusted each 
other."

Langly looked away.  God, he *was* blushing.  Softly, now.  
"Please, Ree.  Tell me."

Langly's eyes were tracking round the room, as if looking for a 
way out.  Finally he fixed on an immensely interesting patch of 
floor, and muttered reluctantly, "Promise you won't laugh."  

Amid his surprise, Byers felt a spurt of relief.  At least he 
*wasn't* sick. "Okay, I promise."

"Well . . ."  Langly turned away and picked a small plastic pot 
out of the basin.  "It's this."

"What is it?"

"Well . . . did you see, a few weeks ago, that report from a 
study they did in England on . . uh  . . "

"What?"

"It was . . .  "  His voice dropped to a mumble.  

"WHAT?"

"It was . . . a hair restoring lotion."

Temporarily surprised into silence, Byers could only stare at 
his lover in mingled exasperation and affection.  He struggled 
not to laugh in sheer relief, staring at his friend in 
consternation. He had rarely seen Langly so vulnerable, like an 
embarrassed little boy.  Langly took his silence for inquiry 
and rushed to explain further.

"I found this report in the online edition of the London Times 
 . . there's this biotech company in Cambridge, England, they 
did this study, a double blind test, half the guys used this 
experimental stuff and the other half used a placebo, and they 
found that only 20% of the guys using the new stuff showed any 
improvement, but 40% of the guys using the placebo . . . and it 
was just a moisturiser you can buy across the counter in any 
pharmacy in England . . . and it only cost five dollars . . . I 
figured, what the hell, it was worth trying, so I got Ali in 
England to send me some . ." he broke off, flushing even 
deeper.

Byers picked up the pot, a plain white plastic jar with blue 
lettering, examining the list of ingredients curiously.  
"Ringo, this is just a dry skin lotion, nothing unusual in it 
at all.  There's no way this can help your hair."

Langly nodded.  "I know . . . the report said as much.  They 
figured it was all in the mind.  These guys thought it would 
help, so it did.  Purely psychosomatic." He shrugged.  "Pretty 
dumb, yeah?"

Byers stepped forward and put his hands on Langly's shoulders, 
squeezing gently and looking deep into his eyes.  He searched 
for the words to express the feelings threatening to burst his 
chest.  "Ree, I'm sorry . . . I didn't think you cared so much 
about how you look."

Langly looked away.  He spoke softly, almost whispering.  "I 
care about how I look to *you*.  You always say how much you 
like the way my hair looks."

"Oh, god, Ree . . . you're always beautiful to me, don't you 
realise that? Whatever you look like, I'll always want you.  
Love you."  He ran a strand of the blonde hair through his 
fingers.  "Yes, I love your hair . . . but it doesn't matter, 
can't you understand?  I love *you*."

Langly shrugged.  "Well anyway, it's not your problem, is it?" 
 He turned away, looking bleakly at his reflection in the 
mirror.  "You don't have to wake up and look in the mirror each 
day and see your best feature gradually disappearing."

Byers reached out for him, wrapping his arms round Langly from 
behind and laying his head on Langly's shoulder, searching for 
the words to reassure his lover.  How could he explain to Ringo 
how little this really meant in terms of the depth of his love 
for him, when it was clearly a matter which hurt his lover 
deeply.  Not for the world could he hurt Ringo by making light 
of this.  

He straightened up, reaching for the container again.  "Why 
don't you let me help."

"Huh.  How?"

"Come back to bed . . . and let me do whatever you have to do 
with this stuff."

"Shit . . . look, don't patronise me John . . ." but he trailed 
off as Byers grasped him firmly by the hand and pulled him back 
down the corridor to the bedroom, figuring that Langly wouldn't 
protest too loudly in case they woke Frohike, who would never 
rest until he found out what he had been doing.

Back in their room, Byers made Langly sit down on the side of 
the bed and moved round to kneel on the bed behind him.  "Now, 
what am I supposed to do?  Just massage it in?"

"Yeah . . ."

"Okay, here goes"  and he began to massage Langly's thinning 
hairline gently with the cream, his fingertips moving in small 
slow circles.  "This okay?"

Langly sighed and relaxed, tipping his head back to rest on 
Byers' shoulder.  "Mmmm, yeah . . .".  His eyes drifted shut 
and his breathing deepened. 

Byers continued the gentle massage, watching Langly relax more 
and more under his attentions and feeling his weight gradually 
increase against him.  He was warm against Byers, solid and 
warm, and the skin contact, the warmth and the familiar scent 
of his body and his hair started Byers' thoughts, and his 
instincts, moving on a very familiar course. The warmth of 
Langly's body was contagious, spreading through Byers' stomach 
and down, down, starting a pulse beating in his groin, getting 
into his blood . . . he was beginning to get hard . . . 

Byers moved back slightly and turned his head to look at the 
younger man, who appeared to be nearly asleep.  Byers smiled to 
see this view of his lover, and dropped a quick kiss on the top 
of his head.  He was rewarded with a twitch of Langly's mouth, 
so he did it again.  And again.  Oh yes, Ringo, you know what's 
gonna happen  . .

"Ree, how long you been using this?"

Langly sighed.  "'bout a month."

"Mmm . . . well Ree  . . . sorry, but I don't think it's doing 
anything for ya. "

"Yeah, I know  . ."

"I was wondering - um - if we couldn't find a better use for 
this stuff here . . ."

He took some more of the lotion on his fingertips and stroked 
them slowly down Langly's temples, around his ears, fanning out 
down his throat.  Kissing down the same track, breathing warm 
on Langly's neck.  The skin was smooth and silky under his 
fingers with the moisture from the lotion.  One hand sliding 
over Langly's shoulder, running his fingers lightly down the 
breastbone.  Langly took a deep breath and let it out in a soft 
laugh.  "Okay, buster, I think I see where you're goin' with 
this . . ."

Byers slid both arms round the younger man, pulling him tight 
against him, letting his hardening erection press into Langly's 
back.  "You want it?"

Langly leaned back harder, trapping and squeezing Byers' cock 
between their bodies.  "And if I said no . . .?"

Byers nuzzled on Langly's shoulder for a while, then shifted 
back a little, pulling Langly back with him onto the bed.  "Lie 
down."

The blonde man flopped on his back on the bed and Byers moved 
to kneel astride his thighs, leaning forward and running his 
hands over the smooth chest. Langly began to breathe hard, 
deeper, and reached for Byers's shoulders;  the older man 
laughed and pushed his hands away, pushing them back down to 
the bed.  "Lie still, relax, let me do this."

He took some more lotion and began to massage Langly's body 
slowly, working his hands gradually downwards, stroking his 
fingers along the line of the ribs, kneading the firm muscles 
of his lover's abdomen, sliding up again to tease the nipples 
before moving purposefully down again.  Langly groaned softly, 
shivering uncontrollably and shutting his eyes tightly, totally 
absorbed in the sensations his lover's touch was sending 
through him.

Down, down to the groin, teasing round the base of Langly's 
cock which was now straining upwards stiffly, moisture 
trickling down from the tip.  Byers didn't touch the cock 
itself, running his fingers slowly round the base, tickling 
lightly before moving away, down again, rhythmically massaging 
Langly's firm thigh muscles till they relaxed and his legs 
moved apart; then leaning forward and licking the sensitive 
inner thigh. Langly groaned out loud,  "John, oh, Johnny, 
Johnny . . ."

The dark haired man sat back and looked down at his lover, who 
was panting and quivering with need.  "Hmm . . . well, that 
stuff hasn't done anything to help your hair, but it sure has 
stimulated growth down *here*"

He grinned and leaned forward, only now taking Langly's cock in 
his hand and stroking firmly again and again from the base to 
the tip.  Langly cried out and thrust upwards convulsively. 
Byers squeezed firmly at the base and Langly subsided with a 
groan, panting.  

He opened his eyes to see Byers leaning over him, looking 
intently at him.  The older man moved off him and pulled at him 
gently.  "Turn over."

Langly shivered in anticipation;  he knew what was coming next. 
 He rolled over on his stomach, catching his breath as his 
stiff cock was crushed against the firm mattress.  He turned 
his head to one side on the pillow so he could watch Byers out 
of the corner of his eye.  

Byers straddled Langly's thighs once more and took more lotion 
on his hands, leaning forward to massage down Langly's back.
Repeating the actions he had performed on the younger man's 
chest, he worked his way down the firm muscles of Langly's 
back, allowing himself to become more excited now, tracing each 
side of the slim hips and then over the beautiful rounded twin 
curves of his ass.  Langly spread his legs apart and Byers slid 
his fingers down towards his lover's most sensitive spot;  
Langly was so sensitive there he could come just from Byers 
touching him around his entrance.  He took some more lotion and 
traced his fingers down;  his fingers teased back and forward 
over the sensitive opening, light as a feather.  Langly was 
making little whimpering sounds, sobbing into the pillow and 
jerking his hips up to get more of his lover's touch.  Byers 
slid one finger just inside and out again;  Langly flinched 
uncontrollably and arched his back, letting out a tiny gasp.  
"John, now . . ."

Byers knew what he wanted and slid his body forward so that he 
was lying with his whole weight on top of Langly, his stiff 
cock rubbing against Langly's asshole.  Langly shuddered in 
ecstasy as Byers began to rock gently, his cock massaging and 
teasing his lover's most sensitive point.   He  writhed and 
pushed himself back against his lover, as Byers leaned forward 
and nibbled the back of his neck and shoulders, alternately 
licking and rubbing his beard against the heated skin.  Byers 
was so hot himself he was ready to come without needing to be 
inside Langly.  The sensation was building inside him, stronger 
and stronger, a volcano getting ready to blow, and he rocked 
harder and harder, feeling Langly bucking up against his 
thrusts till his body erupted in shattering orgasm against 
Langly.  He slid off to one side as he heard Langly, too, cry 
out in ecstasy as his own orgasm overtook him, pumping into the 
bed beneath him.

Semiconscious, he was vaguely aware of being rolled over on his 
back and Langly wrapping him in his arms.  Sticky and sated, 
they held each other sleepily as the sensations gradually ebbed 
from their bodies, leaving them totally relaxed.  Byers slid 
his arms round the slim muscular waist, running one hand 
possessively over his lover's ass.  He chuckled drowsily into 
Langly's neck.  "You know, Ree, you were wrong."

"Whassat?"

"You were wrong  . . your hair's not your best feature."

"Mmm--hm?"

"Nah . . . it's your ass.  Definitely your ass . . ."

"Ow!"

"Go back to sleep, Ree."


END

Wow, that was FUN!