escordvi | closed ⚡🪶 and forevermore, i'll be chasing the storm we had.

[It's alright. She is a woman who knows what she wants, and she has no problem taking it, and she savours that little shudder she gets out of him.

Her lips travel from his jaw down to his neck, and further still to his collarbone, leaving little marks of red on the way. Closer, her fingers inch still, teasing him, but no matter how close she gets, it's never close enough.

Lower, lower she descends, her breath running hot along his skin, and as her palms find his hips, she glances up at him to watch from where she now rests on his stomach.

A dangerous game, he is playing.]

[His breathing deepens and muscles tense as he feels her descending down, and there is definitely something waking up right now.

It's certainly becoming harder to resist not doing more, but then again—this is exactly what he wants. And really, would she even stop if he did wake up properly? So there's just the movement of his arm shifting, his fingers threading and digging up her neck and through her hair.]

Awake now, are we?

[She chuckles, making sure to let that laugh skim over him.

And really, this became less about waking him up and more about wanting to please him, and as her mouth makes that final descent over him, she will certainly do that as she savours his taste.

Granted, it is a good way to wake anyone up, and by the time they finish, she climbs back up over him, her fingers wiping at her lips as she settles right at his side again, as if she hadn't moved at all in the first place. Her lids are heavy, eyes honeyed and sweet as she stares at him and combs back his hair.]

... Good morning.

[Certainly a more favored method, and when she returns to him he just looks at her with pleased grin, eyes on her glistening lips before he's pulling her closer to him.]

Hmmm, morning.

[And then his lips take hers—slowly. So that his tongue can run over her lips before he speaks against them.]

...Though now I feel I should return the favor.

[She takes that kiss that she had been waiting for, keening into it with a soft moan. Her hips even give a small wiggle against his to tease... Gods, she would love nothing more than for him to return the favour, and she is tempted, but...]

Perhaps later.

[Has she gone completely mad? Yes, perhaps... though completely, madly in love with him that all she wants to do is lie here at his side and look at him. Admire how the sun cascades over his face, his hair, his body as it's sheened in that afterglow of his.]

[A low hum and quiet laugh as his hand drifts down to her hip, pressing her more against him as his teeth graze and nip at her lips.]

Sure?

[There is such a sly, devious tone in his voice, his eyes gleaming down with that mischievous smirk as his hand travels further inward...]

[He is a dangerous, dangerous man and if she is not careful, she will be nothing more than a little bird caught between the wolf's teeth. Literally, as she sighs when his tug at her lip. And though her legs part in silent invitation and pure instinct, reacting to his touch without so much as a single thought, she pulls back from him—only far enough that she can stare into his eyes.]

I am.

[Her voice is a touch husky, but no less soft as she continues to thread her fingers through his soft, ashen brown hair.]

... Just let me be with you for a while, Cidolfus.

[There's a slight widening of his eyes before they soften and the smirk turns into a more tender smile, his hand moving so that it wraps around to her back instead, hugging her.]

Now how can I refuse that.

You can't. I already know.

[She grins at him before leaning in for a sweet, soft, lingering kiss.]

The morning looks good on you is all.

Mm, does it now?

[An amused hum as he returns the kiss.]

Doesn't look bad on you, either.

[Of course he had always known that, often waking before her to stare at her and always wishing she could stay like how he found her.]

I'm well aware.

[And she's staying right now, right here in his arms, and she doesn't intend to move for as long as he will let her remain.]

You know...

[She starts slowly, her eyes growing warm and fond as they flit across his face.]

There is something different about you.

[He cants his head slightly, curious.]

In what way?

[He knows he's changed since he left... Different environments and having everything turned on its head will do that to a person. But now he's curious what exactly it is she's noticed.]

[That is exactly what she has noticed, but that much had become apparent as she looked upon him this morning, before she even woke him up. Or perhaps even before, but it was not so clear as it is now.

She's silent for a while, her fingers running over the creases at the corner of his eyes.]

...That place... It changed you.

[He watches her carefully, leaning a little into her touch.]

How so?

[She knows what he's doing... and for once, she doesn't completely mind it. She won't chide him for it, and instead, her eyes continue to remain on him, as if transfixed. Her cheeks flush, or maybe they were already flushed, and her lips part with a silent sigh.]

Your smile is easier.

[Her thumb runs along his lips.]

Your eyes are softer.

[And it comes with such ease that she wonders what it was about that place that made him that way. Or what it was about Waloed that didn't. There's a slight pang of jealousy that aches in her chest, but it does nothing to deter her, nor does she chase it away. If anything, she thinks she has every right to be a little envious...]

[There's a slight surprise in his eyes, but then his lips quirk up a bit into an amused smile.]

Not a bad thing, I hope.

Terrible.

[There's a glint in her eyes and a quirk to her lip, a laugh that masks that saddened envy.]

You are the most insufferable man I know now. Too confident, too handsome...

[Ahh, his poor ego! She'll soften that blow with a kiss.]

[A laugh as he nips her lips.]

You say all that, but I think you quite like it.

[Her laugh is a low sound in the back of her throat, and she shoves herself closer against him when she feels his teeth catch her lip. Yes, she definitely has a type.]

Perhaps I do. It's not as there is a way for me to escape now, is there?

[She teases him with a nip right back before her eyes soften again, that glint in them dimming.]

I meant... that you smile more often now when you hadn't before.

[And it becomes more and more obvious with each day that she spends with him. Of course, she won't give herself any credit, thinking that it all has to do with this world, with his little hideaway before coming...]

You are more... relaxed. Even now...

[Just another chuckle, because no. There is no escaping. Not anymore.

But then it's his turn to turn a little somber at her words, staring at her for a moment before his hand rises to brush his fingertips against her skin and hair in a soft caress.]

Perhaps that's true... But even there I wasn't so relaxed.

[A light brush of his nose against hers.]

Not like this.

[Surely it was that place that had changed him so much from what she last remembers him as? No longer does he look out so far into the distance, no longer does he carry that weight in his shoulders... He has spent the last five months cracking jokes with her, pressing every one of her buttons and revelling in it, getting under her skin at the worst of times, and yet... still finds a way to make her fall in love with him.

Her eyes open, and they pool with fondness, and a touch of self-consciousness.]

What do you mean?

[A light smile as lightly brushes his lips against hers.]

Well, when you have a sizeable bounty on your head and trying to change an entire social system...

[A more wry grin as he continues that light touch.]

It was more freeing to be able to move as I wanted, but that didn't mean I didn't have other worries and other things on my mind. And even here, while I don't have to worry about any of that...

[He pulls back now a little more so she can see him more fully, and him her.]

This is the first time in a very long time since I felt more at peace.

[A soft smile.]

Happy.

[Of course he had his genuine moments of joy with others, especially when around his daughter, Mid. How could he not? She made it easy for him to smile and forget his worries. But that's also why he feels the same towards Benedikta—because she has such a special, important place in his heart.

Like with other people, there is always those special people that tug them in different ways than others might. It's a different kind of happiness, a different sense of peace. One that only very few can give him, and Benedikta is one of them.]

[Happy...

The word rings like a clear bell in her head, echoing those earlier sentiments of her own as she fell asleep in his arms and then woke up in them. To know that he had been feeling it too, almost like it was such a foreign thing for both of them.

Except he wears it so much more easily than she does. It fits him like a glove.

So much more so that she has a harder time believing what he's saying...]

... Right now?

[It's another brief moment of selfishness. Another moment of self-doubt when she needs his smile to reassure her what she thinks might not be true.

Yes, she has noticed the shift, she can feel it in the way that his arms hold her tighter than ever to him, but she needs to be certain that what she sees isn't there simply because it's what she wants to find.]

Edited 2024-02-02 07:15 (UTC)

Yes.

[As if sensing her uncertainty, he leans in and presses his lips firmly against hers.]

Especially right now.

[There's also some sadness—that will always linger because of why he's happy. Happy to finally have cleared these misunderstandings, taking these steps towards a better future. But it won't overshadow that happiness he feels that she brings him.

Why, many may ask.

Why, when he knows how she can be, what they've went through.

But that's just how it is, isn't it?

Emotions, and especially love, can never be rationally explained. It just is. And that's how he is right now.]

[She breathes in, lungs trembling, when he kisses her, as if that answer was the very air she needed to breathe, and they are finally filled.

And yet, there is a sadness that lingers on both ends behind the light smile.

For her, it is that she can only now so clearly see how hollow her life had been. How empty his absence had made her feel. Now that her heart has allowed itself to fill with something besides burning hatred and contempt for everything and everyone around her, it makes that past feel so bleak in comparison.

She hates herself for it.

And the only thing that she hates herself more for than that in this moment is that she was not there to see that initial shift. To be the one to make him smile like this before they had to go and break each other down.

She kisses him again anyway, so devastatingly tender, this one laced with something of an apology.]

I'm a little jealous, you know...

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