Chapter Text
“Ruth, surely you want to take care of our Chise as much as I do,” Elias said, apropos of nothing, as he strolled in the garden with Ruth.
“More,” countered Ruth without hesitation. His brow furrowed. “What brought this on?”
Elias sighed, steepling his fingers in front of his bony maw. “I need your advice, Ruth. No, more than that; I need your help. Chise has made certain desires known to me, and while I am not unwilling to provide, I am... not experienced in such matters.” When the church grim continued to stare at him, Elias shifted slightly as though embarrassed by the admission: “I mean sex, Ruth.”
Ahh. Now it made sense. “I share her dreams and memories, her feelings. I know what she wants from you.” Ruth was not perturbed by this fact, but Elias still detected a hint of the familiar’s usual disapproval and protective wariness. “But surely you know how sex works with humans? I’d assume you’ve seen more of it than I, in your long life.”
“Humans, beasts, fae,” Elias gestured dismissively. “Yes, I’ve observed copulation in a wide variety of creatures. However, one typically does so with one of their own kind—or at least with similar enough physiology to get by—and I’ve never met another like myself. Do you see my dilemma?”
Ruth considered this. “Are you worried she’ll reject you, or that you’re not compatible?”
“Chise has made it abundantly clear that she neither finds me repulsive nor frightening. I fear this may be to her detriment. My body could be dangerous to hers, if I lose control of myself. And I... don’t even know how I’d react to sex with Chise. Or any sex, with anyone. I have no point of reference.” With his hands folded before him, horned skull bowed, Elias seemed suddenly, startlingly young.
“I have little experience of my own to share,” Ruth pointed out, not unkindly. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking of me. What can I do?”
Elias rested a hand on the Black Dog’s shoulder, a comfortable, companionable gesture, but Ruth could feel the tension in him as he spoke: “Ruth... will you guide me?”
“I’m not a guide dog,” Ruth grumbled warningly. Elias removed his hand.
“No, of course not. I don’t mean in the sense of a trained animal. I mean... as a friend. As the one person who knows Chise better than I do—better than she does herself, even.”
Ruth huffed through his snout, mollified at the magus’ clarification. “Very well. Did you ask Chise what she thought of this idea?”
The skull face couldn’t show much subtlety in expression, but Ruth imagined he looked sheepish just now. “Ah... no, not yet. I thought I should ask you directly, first.”
Ruth did his best to roll his eyes in dog form. “We’d best go speak to her, then. This involves her, after all.”
...
Chise looked from Ruth to Elias and back again, expression blank. Elias would have been sweating in his suit, were he a mortal human man. Ruth simply returned her stare.
“Let me see if I understand this,” Chise said slowly, processing the proposal Elias and Ruth had pitched only moments ago. “Elias, you want to be intimate with me... but only if Ruth... chaperones?”
“I’ll be able to keep you safe,” Ruth pointed out, “and I can let Elias know if he’s hurting you, or doing something you don’t like, even if you aren’t able to say so yourself.”
The glower Chise gave Ruth was akin to the ones he typically gave her when he though she was being especially stupid or reckless. He shrank back slightly. “I can speak for myself. Elias, is this what’s been holding you back? Don’t you trust me?”
“I do!” Elias hastened to assure her. “I just don’t trust... myself.”
Chise’s ire was tempered then as she reached for her husband, drawing his forehead to hers. “I trust you. Doesn’t that count for something?”
Elias sighed and gave her an affectionate, bony nuzzle. “Will you let me try things my way, this once? It will make me worry less knowing Ruth is with us. Just in case.”
Chise looked over at Ruth and held her hand out to him. He took it automatically, twining their fingers together in a reassuring way. “What about you, Ruth? Is this all right by you?”
“I swore to share myself with you, all of me, with all of you,” he said, serene as he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. His easy affection and touch had always felt so natural to Chise, even before the bond. It would no more embarrass her to have him share this experience with her than anything else they shared. He was as much a part of her as her own heart. “You know I would do this, gladly.”
She nodded, smiling warmly at Ruth. It was not always enough to feel his thoughts, though, so she was glad to hear him say it.
Elias clapped his hands together once, startling them both. “Excellent! Well, with that settled, shall we begin?”
Romantic timing was not the magus’ forte. Chise laughed helplessly and shook her head. “I thought you’d never ask.”
...
They retired to the master bedroom, Elias carrying Chise bridal style as Ruth trailed behind them. They had all agreed that Ruth would remain in human form for this activity, and Elias was going to make an effort to maintain his most ‘refined’, humanoid form as well. It seemed safer than experimenting with some of his more bestial shapes right away.
Once Chise was settled on the massive bed, she drew Elias down with her. He carefully positioned himself over her body in such a way that he wasn’t resting much of his weight on her smaller frame. Ruth climbed up on the other side, not wanting to be intrusive.
“I’ve wanted this,” Chise breathed, pressing soft kisses to the hard arcs of Elias’ jaw, “wanted you for so long.”
Elias trembled at her touch and the fire behind her tender words. “What should I do first, my love?”
She showed rather than told him by tugging at his lapels, working his jacket off his broad shoulders. Taking the hint, he leaned back on his knees to remove his clothes. She sat up to watch him, a pleased blush spreading across her face. Then, she squeaked with surprise as warm hands slid beneath the hem of her shirt.
Ruth froze momentarily. “Sorry, I should have asked. I thought you’d like some help.”
Chise relaxed and nodded. “It’s all right. Thank you, Ruth.”
He lifted her shirt over her head and set it aside, then helped her shimmy out of her simple trousers. The soft chemise and panties he left alone, having a hunch that Elias would like to remove that final barrier himself. In fact, as he glanced up at the half-dressed magus, he could see the phosphorescent sparks of his eyes were intent on the scene before him.
“Do you intend to remain clothed?” Elias asked him unexpectedly. Ruth gaped, then turned at Chise’s giggle.
“He has a point,” Chise said, half apologetic, before grinning and tackling her familiar to the bed. They laughed and wrestled, innocent as puppies, until Chise held up her hand with her prize aloft like a striped flag: Ruth’s shirt. He flopped back on the pillows to catch his breath, happily defeated.
Their playful roughhousing had been exciting for Elias as well, to his surprise. A grain of an idea took shape in his mind. “That looked like fun. May I join in?”
Chise brightened at the suggestion and nodded eagerly, reaching for Elias. Instead, however, he scooped her over his shoulder and hustled around to the other side of the bed before tossing her lightly on the soft mattress. She whooped with delight, even as Ruth gave chase and grappled Elias around the waist, toppling them both onto the bed with her. Then, it was a confusing mass of flailing limbs, squirming torsos, and skin sliding against skin against sometimes bone. Somewhere in the confusion, the rest of their clothes managed to escape, leaving them all as naked as glade nymphs. Their chorus of heavy breathing took on a different note as Elias’s penetrating stare pinned Chise to the bed, glowing eyes roving over her nude form as it never had any of the times he’d bathed or dressed her. Ruth felt his own body react in concert with Chise’s, and his face flushed red.
Elias was overcome with affection for his bride and her familiar then, nuzzling them both in his best approximation of a kiss, even darting out his tongue to lick their cheeks. “Adorable,” he rumbled appreciatively, and Chise and Ruth’s blushes deepened. “You’re both so precious to me. I feel... warm and full, having you with me like this.”
“You should touch her,” murmured Ruth, turning his face away as though he were suddenly shy. He hadn’t expected to be on the receiving end of that stare, those touches himself, not directly.
“Oh, I assure you, I will,” purred the magus, smoothing his large hand along Chise’s reddened cheek, throat, chest. Chise gasped, and Ruth bit back a whimper, as Elias cupped and kneaded Chise’s left breast with utmost tenderness and care. Ruth’s hand sought Chise’s and she gripped it tightly. Then, she brought it to her other breast in a silent plea for more. Ruth could do nothing but comply, giving Chise’s breast an experimental squeeze... and moaning at the frisson of sensation that surged through his own body.
The grain of an idea was swiftly gathering layers, becoming a pearl. “Kiss her,” Elias commanded Ruth, softening it with the quiet addition of: “as I cannot.”
Ruth’s eyes met Chise’s, and at her wordless but clear permission, he brought his lips to hers in a soft, almost chaste kiss. His hands rose to frame her face, fingertips fanning along her cheeks and jaw. Even that simple caress left them both gasping as the sensory feedback loop sent their minds spinning.
“Yes,” said Elias, pleased. “I think this will do nicely. Ruth, forgive me for asking this now, but are you all right with taking a more active role in our lovemaking?”
Putting it into words like that gave Ruth some pause, but when he looked at how Chise was gazing at them both with her beautiful green eyes brimming with love, he could scarcely refuse. He could feel it in his very soul: she wanted them. Both of them.
This was not how he’d anticipated being a ‘guide’ for Elias.
“If you want me,” he said, swallowing past the dryness in his throat, “you have me.”