Work Text:
Chise was taken aback.
“You… you want me to what?”
“It’s what you wanted isn’t it? I could sense something was on your mind, and since you were being so stubborn about keeping it from me, I figured it had to be something important.”
How could he have possibly known what she’d been thinking about? Had he talked to Ruth? He was being awfully direct for someone with less experience with emotion than her...
“I can tell you all the specific details later,” he chuckled, walking towards her as the confusion on her face melted into embarrassment, “but now, my Robin,” Elias scooped Chise into his arms in one swift and expert motion, “I believe it’s time I satisfy your desires.”
Chise grew beet red and began to flail a bit in Elias’ arms.
“I’m- I- w-wait you can’t just- ahh!”
He laid her on their spacious mattress and Chise immediately scrambled to sit up, continuing her feeble attempts to hide her embarrassment through protest. After a few moments she trailed off and ceased her anxious jabber. It was true, she knew there was no denying it- she wanted to be sexually intimate with Elias. She had thought about it in the back of her mind for weeks. But even though she felt like she wanted it, she didn’t know if she was really ready. She wasn’t entirely sure a creature like him would even be capable of such a thing- their coupling may well be a physical impossibility. Chise wondered if he had ever engaged in such things before. She certainly hadn’t. And before meeting and getting to know Elias, she had never particularly wanted to. She would touch herself sometimes, but it was never really satisfying, and she doubted she would ever grow to like a person enough to be so willingly vulnerable around them. Well, she had technically been right, the being before her wasn’t a person at all and never had been.
“...Elias...” Chise smiled shyly and held her arms out towards him.
Elias leaned down and immediately began nuzzling her neck with his bony snout as he embraced her. Chise buried her nose in the collar of his shirt, savoring his warm and comforting scent.
“Oh, Elias...” she mewled into his neck as she let her lips part slightly over his lightly-scaled, plum-colored skin. As her warm breath escaped her mouth she felt Elias shiver. Knowing she caused it made her head spin a little. Before she knew it, she felt Elias' long tongue slide around her neck and the shivers were repaid to her. She muffled a moan as she planted another kiss on his neck, her hands nervously moving to unfasten the buttons on his shirt. As if he'd been waiting for permission Elias began to lift Chise's blouse over her head before she even reached the fourth button.
"Chise..." he crooned into her ear as she frantically worked to undo the remaining buttons. She could feel his massive hands fondling her breasts through her bra. "...Chise..."
"Chise..."
"Chise..."
"Oh, Elias..." she whispered.
"Chise? Are you awake Chise?"
She sat up in a bolt, drenched in sweat, alarmed to find Elias staring down at her looking very concerned. "Are you alright? You seem agitated, and sweaty. Are you running a fever??"
Chise shooed his hands away as he attempted to scoop her out of bed. "No, no, I don't have a fever. I just... had a strange dream, that's all. I'm fine, really."
Elias did not seem convinced. "I’ve never known a human to sweat so much just from a strange dream. Are you sure nothing's wrong?"
Chise gave a nervous smile. "I'm okay, honest."
Elias raised his hand to his chin and let out a deep 'Hmmm' as he sat on the edge of the bed beside Chise. "And you're sure the nightmare didn't trouble your mind at all? If you are fearful or sad, I want you to be able to rely on me and be honest with me. Even if I am just a dark creature never intended to understand such things..."
The nervousness in Chise subsided. She was instead incredibly moved by his openness. He had come such a long way since they first met years ago, and even though he still slipped up on occasion she was overall very proud of what a good mate Elias had become. He still had issues with jealousy and selfishness, but he continued to show a desire and will to improve his behaviors and become a good husband to his young apprentice. Chise leaned over and hugged Elias around his midsection, her arms barely making a complete circle because of his sheer size in relation to her. His mouth hung open a little bit and he looked startled, not repulsed, but clearly not expecting the physical contact.
"It means a lot that you are being so honest. But you must trust that I will be honest with you too. I know I sometimes try to take the weight of it all on myself, but you should learn that you mustn't question me so much when I tell you I'm okay." She smiled up at him. "Besides, my dream wasn't sad or scary. For once, I dreamt something... nice." She unconsciously hugged him a little tighter.
Elias nuzzled Chise's cheek and she blushed a little deeper than usual as it reminded her of how her racy dream began. She was a little upset she was awoken before it went further... She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and tried to remove the thought from her head. 'Shame on you Chise! He's sitting right here! Have some decency! At least wait til he's gone to think about such things...' Chise secretly hated that these naughty thoughts were now sabotaging her innocent intimacy with Elias.
"I'm glad you dreamt of something nice. Was I in this strange dream of yours?"
Chise felt herself grow a shade paler. "Uh, what?"
Elias laughed in that quick, deep way of his. "Is it an impolite thing to ask? Perhaps I shouldn't pry into the sanctity of somnolence."
Chise sat there, cheeks blazing, trying to think of what to say. Her mind was drawing a blank and she felt her anxiety level shoot through the roof. The only thing replaying in her mind were excerpts from the dream.
"Chise?" Elias looked down at her and noticed she had gotten all red and sweaty again. He wanted to believe there was nothing wrong, but she had been doing this a lot lately- staring off into space and blushing like mad. He couldn't figure it out. If she was truly being honest with him and she wasn't ill, then what ever could be the matter?
"Chise, what are you thinking about that makes you all red and sweaty?"
Her hands flew up as she buried her face in them to hide herself.
Elias continued. "I want to respect your privacy and I am... quite awkward when I must be so direct but... I'm worried about you. I can't help it..." He trailed off and Chise continued to sit silently next to him, unsure what to do.
"Chise," Elias began, "now might be as good a time as ever to reveal something to you that I have been keeping to myself too long."
Chise looked up at him, slightly less red than before but still visibly embarrassed to be having this conversation.
"Many times over the years I have inquired to you on the mystery that is human emotion. I have asked you many times to explain what feelings mean and how to know when you are experiencing them. I confess, even though my human-teacher is the best of them all, I have even sometimes done outside research of my own on certain emotions I struggled with grasping, or that I simply wanted to know more about. I've learned a lot, thanks in no small part to you."
Chise leaned into Elias and he stroked her hair with a gloved hand.
"Chise..." Elias swallowed hard and looked down at his human-teacher and mage apprentice, the only being on the planet he felt so strongly about. "I... I love you, Chise. I think I might be... 'in-love' with you..."
Chise looked up at Elias, cheeks still glowing. "You... love me?"
"Yes, I believe so." Elias fidgeted with his collar idly, looking away momentarily.
"Do... do you know that being 'in-love' is different, more... romantic, than regular love?" Chise asked.
Elias sighed and looked around nervously. "I... am aware of that fact."
"What if I told you my strange dream was romantic? Would you still want to know if you were in it?" Chise's heart was beating a mile a minute. What if he'd be disgusted with her? What if he has just misunderstood his own emotions and doesn't understand all the things human couples can do?
Elias' head pivoted around like lightening to look at Chise. He scooped her into his huge embrace and sat her on his lap. "Hmm. I would be very upset and uncomfortable if it was anyone BUT me in such a dream... I suppose I am still a bit selfish when it comes to my apprentice."
Chise buried her face in his white shirt, taking in his musky scent just as she had in her dream. "Of course it was you, Elias. It's always been you..." She picked up his large hand and interlaced her fingers with his.
"Really, Chise? You... dream about me? Romantically?" His voice sounded almost excited, bright and innocent, like a child's.
She laughed. "Yes. I admit, I have a few times, actually. It's very embarrassing, which is why I blush and get all sweaty."
Elias cocked his head to the side and looked at her quizzically. "I have trouble understanding this emotion, 'embarrassing'. Can you explain to me why intimacy is embarrassing for humans when it is something they require?"
Chise smiled up at him but she sighed. "It's hard to explain. All forms of human intimacy are not created equal. Friends and family and lovers do very different things, but there is also some overlap, so it can be kind of complicated. For example, you can hug your friend and you can hug your lover, and both are the same expression of intimacy and love, though the type and intensity of emotion behind it can vary by relationship. However," Chise paused to rearrange herself more comfortably on Elias' lap, "if you were to try to... bed your friend as you might do your lover..." she chuckled. "well, that might be considered a serious breach of boundaries!"
"So, all relationships have boundaries?" he asked.
"Yes. They are an important part of how human socialization works. Disregarding boundaries is how relationships fall apart. Both people have to agree to all that happens."
"Hmmm. That is good information to ruminate on." Elias raised his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "So, Chise... what are OUR boundaries? Are we allowed to talk about them? You mentioned that only lovers share beds, but we shared a bed long before I told you I felt 'in-love' with you..."
At this Chise began to feel the old blush creep back over her. How could she answer this? Where would this conversation lead...?
"Er, well," Chise struggled with where to begin with this, "like I mentioned, every relationship is different. Some friends do share beds sometimes but..." she exhaled sharply, "when I said you wouldn't 'bed' your friend what I really meant was, uh," she wiped her forehead with her sleeve, "you know, not just uh, sleeping next to each other but... you know..."
"Engaging in the rituals of procreation?" he asked flatly.
Chise blinked and stared for a few moments. "I uh, I guess you could call it that. It isn't always just used for propagating the species, though."
"I am aware. Human mating rituals are very interesting. I've looked into them a few times since we’ve met."
Chise brushed her hair behind her ear and wondered how deeply his research had gone, and how much of what he'd learned made sense to him. But as much as Elias didn't understand about being human and as much as Chise didn't understand what it was like to be a shapeshifting creature of uncertain origins, she still felt more affection for him than anyone else, in spite of them being from different worlds. This was how she knew that she and Elias were right for one another; despite all their many differences they still loved and relied on each other in a way that felt almost second-nature to Chise. She suspected Elias had similar feelings. She knew he was happy to have someone around for companionship, regardless of his introverted tendencies. The Silver Lady was always there, too, of course, but one didn't have to know her long to realize she had a very... selective vocabulary. The former banshee seemed to have taken a sort of vow of silence upon becoming the brounie of what was now the Ainsworth cottage.
"Chise?" Elias asked, snapping her from her train of thought.
"Yes Elias?"
"I still don't understand why mating rituals are embarrassing. Does it vary by human, how these sorts of things are viewed?" He tilted his head in a curious way which Chise always found very endearing. It eased her nerves a little.
"Oh Elias, why must you ask me these things!" She re-positioned herself to look at him and she smiled. "Truthfully, sometimes I don't even know the answers myself. I may be a human but there's a lot I'm still figuring out too. I think you're correct, though, that it's different with every person. Personally, I think it makes me nervous because..." Here Chise paused. She swallowed hard and wanted the conversation to be over, but she knew it was better not to leave things unsaid when possible. "...because I've, uh, never really done anything like that before. I guess I just worry that... if you were to discover the kinds of things I'm sometimes curious about you would... I dunno... find it repulsive or unbecoming? That you might feel disappointed in me... I just don't want to let you down. But it's because, I, I really love you too. Sometimes when humans have very strong feelings, it becomes difficult to ignore certain thoughts and impulses, and a human's automatic reaction to intimacy is often blushing. I just don't want you to think I'm terrible for thinking romantically about you without your permission."
Elias was silent for a few moments, moments Chise spent feeling her mouth grow dryer and dryer. Finally, he spoke.
"Chise," he grasped her hands in his and squeezed them gently. "I would never be disgusted with you. Sometimes I experience disappointment, but it's not because you have ever failed me; it is normal to make mistakes, you told me once it is part of growing. You're growing Chise, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, I'm ashamed of myself, because I feel as though I can never live up to the privilege of your affection. I love you, Chise, and it makes me very happy to hear you return those words, even when I think that I might not deserve them..."
"Elias..." Chise was silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts, and feeling an almost maternal feeling she often felt when Elias revealed his insecurities. "Elias, I don't want you to feel as though you don't deserve me. Would that not be an insult to me, considering how long I've stayed by your side?" She smiled up at him.
Elias stared, mouth slightly agape.
Chise continued. "I've freely chosen to be here. You may have brought me here to rescue me and see if you could keep a sleigh beggy alive, but since then things have changed. I no longer need rescuing, you no longer need to wonder about your experiment, and I'd venture a guess that at this point we'd both give up more for each other than for ourselves. Elias, if you are giving your love freely, it is not selfish. And if I am reciprocating it, it's because I want to, not out of obligation. Because I think I am in-love with you too." Chise hadn't expected that last part. It sort of just... slipped out, and it came effortlessly.
"Truly, Chise?" Elias held her closer.
"Truly, Elias." Chise tried to tighten her hug on him but couldn't make it much stronger.
Elias stretched out on the bed, propping up his head with his arm as Chise laid out beside him. He looked at her and his red pupils curved. She smiled back at him.
After a moment she blushed again and asked quietly, "Elias... does your species... have any mating rituals?"
His pupils expanded, and it took a moment for him to answer. "To be honest? I'm the only one of my kind to my knowledge. I don't know how I came to be or where I originated. I am... endowed in such a way that it would be possible, but I've never had any sort of desire for such things, until..."
Chise felt her heart catch in her throat. "Until?"
Elias leaned down and pressed the front of his skull to Chise's mouth. As she parted her lips to gently kiss his fangs he opened his jaw just far enough to stick the end of his purplish tongue in her mouth. She was taken by surprise. It was something he'd never done before, but something she had daydreamed about. After the initial shock passed she began to suck on it, and found that the more she did, the more of his tongue was suddenly in her mouth. It tickled the back of her throat and she could feel the hot blush on her face spreading again to her whole body. This was actually happening.
Elias pulled away and stroked the side of her face with a gloved hand. "Do you want to have me, Chise?"
She couldn't speak, but nodded emphatically as her fingers moved towards the buttons on his shirt, just as they had in her dream not even an hour ago. Her shaky hands felt cumbersome, making the simple task much more formidable. She had worked her way down to the final five buttons when Elias suddenly grabbed the shirt above the closed buttons and pulled. The tiny, pearlescent buttons flew through the air, and Chise looked up at Elias with surprise.
“I was going as quickly as I could, you know!” exclaimed Chise with a half-chuckle.
“I apologize, I got a bit impatient. I will have to ask Silky to sew them back on…”
He seemed genuinely concerned that he’d caused a fuss, and Chise wanted to assure him it was alright. “I don’t think she’ll mind. Besides, I thought it was kind of funny.”
“You didn’t laugh,” he stated matter-of-factly.
“I was too surprised to laugh when it happened, but I’m smiling now, aren’t I?”
Looking at Chise, Elias could indeed see that she was smiling. It made him happy. “I guess I just couldn’t wait to hold you against my bare skin…”
Chise’s eyes grew wide and she blushed deeper. “Elias…” She was slightly embarrassed to hear him talk like that, but it was also deeply romantic. She wanted to touch him skin-to-skin too.
She leaned into him with her cheek against his chest. She could hear his thunderous heartbeat; steady and comforting. She closed her eyes for a moment to focus on the sound.
After a few moments Chise felt him rest his head on top of hers. She hugged him tighter and they laid in silence on the bed, holding each other there on the large mattress for a long time.
It was during this time that Chise realized that wanting to be physical with Elias wasn’t marring the innocence of their intimacy at all, but was, instead, a natural evolution of their bond. She looked up at him.
“Elias?” she asked.
“Hmm?” he sounded, without moving his head off hers. Chise could feel the vibration of his voice in his throat. He sounded almost sleepy.
“Elias… I’m scared.” It felt as though a weight had been lifted off her chest. She sighed.
He sat up immediately. “Hmm? You’re scared? Of what, whom? What’s the matter?” His eyes scanned her from head to toe over and over, looking for any signs of what might be the matter.
Chise sat up and embraced him. “It’s not like that… I mean these feelings I’m experiencing about you… I think they’re as new to me as they are to you. I don’t know what to do or how to feel sometimes. I’m scared of being more intimate, but I want to.”
“Chise…” Elias stared down at her, mouth slightly agape. He held her close after pulling her into another embrace. “Chise, I indeed feel the same. But I think there is no reason to be scared. Do you know why?”
Chise looked up at him. “Tell me why.” She wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Because we have each other. We’re not alone anymore, Chise…” he pulled her closer trying his best to hold her as tightly as he could without hurting her, “We’re not alone. So we’ll figure it out.”
Tears were streaming silently from Chise’s eyes as she remained in Elias’ strong embrace, her chin resting on his shoulder and their arms wrapped around one another.
When he felt the wetness on his shoulder Elias pulled away to look at her. She giggled, wiping tears from her eyes.
“You’re right. I love you, Elias.”
Elias suddenly felt something he’d never felt before. It was so strong it caught him off guard. It made his entire body tingle and made him feel warm and secure; he felt very happy. It was similar to feelings he’d had about Chise before, but this time was different.
“I love you too, Chise.” He lifted her chin up so she was looking at him. “I’ve never been more certain about an emotion. I love you dearly.”
Chise smiled and could feel tears starting to sting the corners of her eyes again. She blinked hard, willing them to go away. Even happy tears weren’t what she wanted right now. She widened her smile. “I’m proud of you, Elias. I suppose we are growing faster together.”
“It would certainly seem that way. Though you caught on to the mage’s craft rather quickly; with the occasional exception of the most delicate preparations, you can usually make and deliver medicines on your own, and you’re getting better at realizing your magical limits and not exceeding them with each passing ritual. I’m the one who should be proud.” He leaned back against the high piles of pillows which were still there from the night before, when he’d slept sitting up. Chise crawled into his lap.
“You’ve taught me about more than just magic, Elias.” Chise took his hand in hers. “It’s true you’re the one who was learning about human emotions from me, but there were emotions I had either never felt myself or had never expected to feel again that I’ve only gotten to feel by being with you…” She removed his glove and kissed the top of his hand, then moved slowly from finger to finger, finishing with a kiss in the center of his palm. She placed his anointed hand against her cheek and held it there. “And I look forward to all the feelings you’ve yet to give me…”
Elias was silent. His bony jaw trembled as if he began to say something several times, but nothing ever came. He ran his thumb across Chise’s lips and her tongue playfully darted out just enough to graze the pad of his thumb. He did it again but paused over her pink lips and watched wordlessly as she nibbled his finger and stared up into his glowing red eyes, unblinking but blushing. He let his thumb slide into her mouth and she sucked it gently for a few moments before he drew it back. A dainty saliva string stretched between his thumb and her mouth until it snapped when Elias’ tongue slithered from his own mouth to taste the moisture on his finger.
At this Chise seized him by the shoulders, pulling him to her level. She began to leave little kisses all over his skull-head, focusing near the front of his mouth. “Stick out the end of your tongue for me,” she instructed in a whisper. He did, and as if it were already second-nature to her, Chise began to suck on the end of Elias’ tongue once more. His pupils widened but quickly softened to contented slits. When Chise drew back to take a breath, Elias said “Wait.”
“What is it? Do you want to stop?” Chise looked a little discouraged, though she tried to hide it.
“No, it’s not that. It’s just…” He looked away for a moment. “It’s just… wouldn’t you prefer if I put my glamour on? Before we do anything else?”
Chise was surprised, though secretly relieved he wasn’t upset with her ministrations. “Why do you think I’d prefer that? You know I’m not afraid of you, Elias.”
“I know that, but surely you’d prefer to be intimate with something that at least looks more like your own species, right?”
Chise placed her hands on either side of his skull face and drew him closer. “Elias,” she began, closing her eyes and smiling, “I love you just as you normally are. When you really love someone, it doesn’t matter if they’re different. I’m just as attracted to you in this form as any other. In fact, I would say out of all your forms I’ve seen, the glamour is my least favorite.” She giggled.
Elias was shocked. If Chise hadn’t still been holding his face, his jaw may well have been drooping. “Is it a poor glamour?” he asked, still not believing she could desire a monster.
Chise chuckled. “No, not really. I just prefer the real you, that’s all. Every night I sleep next to you, horns and all, and that’s how I love you. Lying face down with your hands tucked under your pillow and head resting on top.” She laughed.
Elias thought her laugh sounded so beautiful. It made him mad to think about the people who had contributed to the silence of that laughter over the years. Her eyes lit up when she talked about how he slept. That meant she watched him, fondly. She paid attention to him. She cared.
Elias felt a small, wet drip hit his chest and he looked up at the ceiling, thinking it was a leak.
“Elias! Are you crying?!” cried Chise, staring at him in disbelief.
Elias touched a finger to his face and was shocked to indeed feel wetness under his eye. “I… I think perhaps I am…”
Chise reached up to touch his face. Both sides were wet, but one more than the other. “I don’t see what else it could be… you’ve never done this before, right?”
“Never… I didn’t think it was possible…” Elias was still dumbfounded. He’d had no idea that when he came in here this morning to check on Chise that he’d end up having such an emotional time. All these firsts were nearly overwhelming.
Chise could tell Elias was reeling. She was quite surprised herself. Elias had always believed it was simply impossible for him to cry. Even in great pain it hadn’t happened. His body ‘wasn’t designed to have outward expression’, as he’d said to Chise once when she was trying to explain the connection between emotions and the ways human beings convey them. It now seemed, however, that as he discovered new emotions inside himself, Elias was also making other new discoveries about his body.
“What were you thinking about when it happened? Was it because I said I loved you without your glamour?” asked Chise after giving Elias some time to process things.
“Sort of,” he said, leaning back into the pillows, still not entirely convinced the ceiling wasn’t leaking, “I was thinking that I love the sound of your laughter, and then I realized that if you knew one of my favorite sleeping positions, it meant you paid attention to my habits and the things I like. Your eyes even lit up when you talked about how I sleep. And at first, I thought you were kidding about loving me in all my forms, but when I watched you talk about one of my insignificant habits with such zeal, I knew that you were being completely genuine. I realized then that you loved me wholly. Even with the knowledge that there are parts of me I’ve buried deep, parts which I’ve never shown to any creature, you would venture there without a map.”
Chise threw her arms around his neck, stretching herself out over him. “Oh, Elias, you’re going to make me cry now!” she said, hiding her face in the crook of his neck and holding back the stinging tears once more. She wasn’t normally a big crier herself, but this day must have been the exception for everyone.
Chise stayed in their embrace for a while before rolling off to the side to look at Elias.
“What?” He titled his head.
“I just wanted to see your face,” Chise said, her perpetual blush darkening slightly. She gave a shy smile.
Elias laughed. “I must admit, I enjoy seeing your face as well.” He pulled her closer to him and began absentmindedly toying with the small dome-like buttons at the nape of her neck on the back of her nightgown. Chise closed her eyes.
Despite her feeling of serenity, what she saw when she closed her eyes were visions of darkness; flashes of red breaking vases and tearing the curtains. A dark bedroom and it walks up behind you and you sense it’s placed a hand at the back of your neck…
Chise’s eyes shot open. Elias had closed his, but his hand was still diligently fidgeting with the buttons of her gown. She calmed herself again. Why should she pay mind to visions of anxiety? She had but one life to live, and she’d rather spend it here- making medicine and keeping an eye on the local spirits. She could always travel, as long as this was the place she got to come home to… to his house. The very monster who saved her from desperation, and ended up saving her from herself in a way as well…
“Undo them,” she said quietly.
“Hmm?” Elias opened one eye, “Say again?”
“I… want you to open the buttons.” She looked away, too embarrassed to meet his gaze.
Wordlessly, Elias deftly pulled the tiny satin loops over the light blue buttons, unfastening them. He withdrew his hand, eyes transfixed on Chise as she quickly lifted the nightgown up over her head before tossing it on the end of the bed.
“Kinda reminds you of the first day you had me around, doesn’t it?” She displayed a tiny smile and bashfully pulled the covers over her bare breasts.
“It feels different now,” he noted, “Before I was just taking care of you. But this time when I see you like that, after everything you’ve told me and all the things I’ve felt, it’s as though I were looking at a fine painting.”
Chise blushed. Elias noticed for the first time how cute it was that humans could have full-body blush. He chuckled. “You’re so pink!”
“What?? Pink?” Chise’s cheeks turned positively red. “If I’m pink it’s your fault!”
“Sorry, sorry. I’m just kidding. I like your human blush. It helps me read your emotions!”
Chise scooched closer to him and chuckled, “Oh, it does, does it? Then tell me, what am I feeling right now?” She pressed herself against him, letting her hands travel to the waistband of his trousers where her fingers fussed about sheepishly. It was her feeble attempt at a tease. She had never done this stuff before, and if it had been with anyone else she’d have died of embarrassment and anxiety by now. But she knew Elias was just as foreign to this territory as she was, and it eased her self-consciousness tremendously.
Elias froze at the sudden feeling of her slender fingers poking about his waistband. He felt paralyzed. He supposed this meant that she really wanted him to… It was so absurd! Why should clothes be such a big deal? Yet even so Elias could not shake the feeling that he was wrong for letting it get this far. ‘Maybe she is confused about what she thinks she wants?’ he thought to himself nervously. ‘A good human like her shouldn’t be too intimate with an abomination.’ ‘What if I hurt her by accident? What if I hurt her? I could… hurt Chise…’
“Elias?” asked Chise, “Are… are you alright?” She stopped toying with the waistband.
Elias looked at Chise. She had disappointment and fear in her eyes, but not the kind of fear Elias was usually wary of in others. It seemed his hesitation had disheartened her. This face was so different from the faces she’d made earlier, when she told Elias she loved him. Her expressions seemed, to him, quite genuine, and after knowing her for so long he was fairly confident he’d pass a quiz on her expressions, in the bizarre scenario that one should actually be devised. The only hurt Elias was doing Chise was denying her love.
“I’m fine, Chise,” Elias finally said, stroking her hair, “I just had to think about some… insecurities I was having.”
“I feel pretty insecure too,” she confessed. She kissed Elias on the chest near his collar bone. “I hope we can figure out how to do this since we’re total rookies…” She smiled nervously.
“Oh… That’s right. You can’t help me with this one, huh?” He laughed.
Chise giggled, “Well, I mean, I wouldn’t say that…” She laughed again and winked.
“Well then, what do you know about these rituals? Am I to take off my pants, or you?”
“Uh-erm. I… don’t think that really matters…and that’s not really what I meant…”
Elias looked away awkwardly.
Chise smiled and reached down to undo the fly and top button on his pants. “Think you can take them the rest of the way off?” Before she brought her hands back up to her chest she let them dance along Elias’ dark abdomen.
Elias could feel his skin crawl, in the absolute best of ways. He quickly slid his slacks down over his feet and tossed them onto a nearby chair. He nestled closer to Chise, whose skin was unusually warm. She was still very flushed, and Elias supposed she was still nervous. That was okay, though, he thought, because he was still nervous himself. At least, he was pretty sure he was.
“Chise, it’s okay if you’re not ready for this.” He didn’t want her to think he found her undesirable, but he wanted to make sure this was what she really wanted.
“No, I want to have this between us. I think I’m just embarrassed because it’s my first time.” She looked away and quickly looked back, trying hard to be brave and face these emotions like an adult.
“I’ve never done anything like this before either,” said Elias as he stroked her hair slowly, “we’ll have to communicate with each other if we want to be successful, I think.”
“Maybe we should have held a meeting first,” said Chise flatly.
Elias tilted his head. “I… can’t tell if you’re being serious or not…”
“I was joking,” said Chise, sporting a look of wry amusement, “I think a meeting might be a little awkward…”
“You might be right,” said Elias. He rubbed his neck absentmindedly and looked away. Chise could tell he felt a little embarrassed at not getting the joke.
“Do you feel silly for not knowing I was kidding?” Chise asked after a moment.
He met her gaze again, having recovered from his gaffe. “Yes, to be honest I did.”
“Did it feel the least bit unpleasant or insecure?” she asked. She shifted from her position in the bed next to him and sat herself in his lap. She wrapped the covers around her legs to keep them warm.
“Y… yes. What are you getting at, Chise?” Elias unconsciously leaned in a little closer to Chise, interested to know where she was going with these questions.
“Well, that’s kind of how I felt earlier. That’s embarrassment.”
Elias tilted his head back and his jaw opened a little wider. “Ahhh. So it is!” He looked away from Chise and brought his right hand to his chin in thought. Chise smiled. She found his mannerisms so endearing. “So, then, if I am understanding it correctly, embarrassment is… a fear of messing something up, or misunderstanding it, and being judged for it by another?”
“That sounds about right, it’s a fear of vulnerability I guess,” said Chise.
“Well, Chise,” Elias took her hand in his own much larger one, “you should know you needn’t be afraid of judgment from me.”
Once more Chise’s blush deepened a shade. “I, I know that… I mean, as a fact I understand that but… there’s something inside me that makes me worry regardless. It’s not that you’ve ever given me reason to distrust you, it’s just… maybe I don’t trust myself, I don’t know…” She looked away.
Elias tilted his head to one side in confusion. He could tell Chise was in need of some kind of reassurance, but he was unsure that he could provide it. He didn’t quite understand what she meant about not trusting herself, but he felt as though asking her to elaborate would be rude, or at the very least, painful for her. Instead, he simply wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
“That’s okay, Chise, we’ll have plenty of time going forward to figure it out. And I will try to help you in any way I can.”
She smiled, returning his embrace. She opened her mouth to say something but decided the moment should remain silent instead. She swung her legs around and carefully positioned one on each side of Elias’ sturdy waist. She could just barely touch her feet together behind his back, and in this position she once again realized how large he was in comparison to her. Chise scooched forward on his lap and nestled into his warm chest, and she could hear his heartbeat. Her hands found his own free one, the one not resting securely on her shoulder, and held it near her own heart. She closed her eyes and relished his scent as she drew it in, slowly, in long breaths.
Though he didn’t show it, Elias was excited by her intimacy. It must have meant that she truly cared for him. Still, he continued to have trouble understanding emotions completely, and he was afraid of putting all the burden on Chise of having to teach him, which he had learned previously was ‘rude’. Ever since it had been revealed that he had a problem with coming off rude to humans, Elias had been afraid of putting Chise off. This left him in the uncomfortable position of feeling paralyzed when it came to whether he should demand more information from his human-teacher or try to figure things out for himself.
Not wanting to disturb her peaceful state, Elias relaxed into the pillows behind him. Her head was right beneath his snout, and he could smell her hair. He leaned in to get a better sniff. He tried to be subtle about it, but Chise could sense his snout hovering over her, and she could feel his breath faintly. She smiled into his bare chest, where her face was still nestled.
“Every part of you is precious to me,” Elias began, looking down at the beautiful young woman in his lap with admiration, “I just want you to know that.” He stroked the side of her face and their gazes met. Their eyes stayed locked on each other for a few intense moments before Chise practically crawled up Elias to kiss his boney face. Chise loved kissing Elias because she thought his face felt like warm suede. Whenever her lips brushed against it, it sent chills up her spine. It sunk in for her just how much she truly did love this strange and wonderful creature before her.
Elias, meanwhile, was feeling flustered, though he didn’t know what to call it. Having Chise, completely nude, maneuver herself close enough to cover his face in small, intense kisses felt at once amazing and stressful. The intimacy caused new, odd sensations and thoughts to wrack his body. Of course, Elias was overjoyed that Chise clearly felt affectionate towards him, and he had no trouble being physically affectionate in return. However, Elias remained insecure at the prospect of being Chise’s main emotional support.
“What’s the matter?” Chise asked. “You seem… distant all of a sudden.”
“It’s nothing,” he lied, then immediately reconsidered. “Well, not really nothing, but not something I think I should bother you with…”
“It sounds like you want to tell me something.” Chise sat back in his lap and looked up at him, waiting to hear more.
“As much as I hate to say it, I shouldn’t be your main source of emotional support. I’m still not good enough at recognizing emotions for that.”
“You shouldn’t use that as an excuse to distance yourself from me. You know I’ve got friends now; remember back when you’d get jealous of every one of them?” she teased.
“Can you really get enough support from them, though? I was under the impression that one’s significant other is the main source of validation to a human.”
“I think that’s an outdated and kind of dangerous notion… Dependency is not love, remember?”
Elias thought for a moment. He remembered how a few years back they had had an important series of discussions on trying not to be too dependent on each other. It had been difficult at first, since their traumas had made them rather reliant on one another from the start. They had both gotten better about it over the years, though truthfully there were still problems that vexed Elias. He had learned not to act jealous when Chise made new friends, but the trouble was that he still had a hard time feeling particularly connected to anyone other than Chise. She was all he had, his student, best friend, and wife. It was an unusual relationship to say the least, though being mostly despised by both man and fae offered limited opportunities for Elias to find friendship of his own. He could talk to Lindel or Angelica, but they’d mostly just call him an idiot. He appreciated Chise’s more gentle approach… most creatures didn’t seem to think he was worth gentleness.
“Yes,” he finally replied, “so, tell me, Chise, how shall I find more friends?”
Chise was caught off guard by the question. “Uh, well, there are, uh, a lot of different ways to meet people… you just have to keep moving about in the world until you meet someone you like, I guess.”
“But Chise,” Elias opened his jaw a bit and leaned forward, tightening his arms around her, “you are the only person I have ever liked, that I can remember…”
Chise sighed. She wanted to comfort him, but had a simultaneous urge to remind him that he was his own worst enemy when it came to how he interacted with others. “Don’t confuse liking someone with loving someone, Elias. You like Silky and Simon and Titania. You love me. It’s okay to start slow; you don’t need to have so many friends you become unable to spend time with them all, or so many loves that you can’t decide who you want to sleep under your roof. But, Elias,” Chise placed a hand on the side of his long face, “remember that you don’t always give others the benefits of the doubt that you’ve given me, and that might relate to your lack of close acquaintances.” She planted a small kiss between his eyes.
Elias thought about this last statement for a moment. Benefit of the doubt? What did she mean by that? Surely, he treated her just as he treated anyone else… Well, maybe he had more patience with her, but that was only because she was his student and he was just trying to be a good teacher. Although, he did shield her feelings despite being generally dismissive of others’, but that was only because she had a difficult past and sometimes feelings brought her pain… Why did he care about her pain? He was responsible for her, it was his duty to prevent her from being in pain, but where did his motives shift? He knew he loved Chise now, but he was still confused as to how they got to this point, from protecting her out of duty to protecting her out of affection. It was a distinction he hadn’t noticed before. Elias had thought learning about human emotions from the source would yield a better understanding of the subject, but instead it only served to stir up more questions than it answered.
Chise could read the confusion on his bleached face. She emitted a tiny laugh. “It’s okay, Elias, it takes a long time to master this stuff. I’m still learning with you.”
“I am dumbfounded at the hidden complexities of even the simplest of these lessons. I am a generally intelligent being, Chise, befuddlement does not become me.”
She laughed again. “Aw, human feelings make the ancient creature uncomfortable!”
“Oh, tease me, will you?” He gave a hearty chuckle and tipped Chise from his lap onto her back beneath him. “That’s fine; I know what makes you uncomfortable as well…”
Pinkness had returned once again to Chise’s face as she stared up at Elias in surprise. She could feel her heartbeat in her throat. Her mouth suddenly felt dry. It was a nervousness like fear, but she was also excited to finally be so close to him. For a moment she was too uncertain to proceed, feeling both frozen by anxiety and urged on by an eagerness to better understand her partner’s body. Looking up at him she noticed he still wore his veil, its golden cords dangling beneath his head. She reached up and grasped them, pulling him down to her level.
She kissed his bony snout. “Touch me,” she whispered.
Elias was glad to be instructed, for he still didn’t feel he had the hang of this all just yet. It seemed to him that things were moving at once too fast and yet, somehow, not fast enough. Being close to Chise made him happy, so it’s not as if he had any reluctance in continuing, though there was the nagging feeling that he would do something wrong and ruin their first mating ritual. He tried not to show it, but he was very concerned about letting her down. Chise had reminded him many times that he shouldn’t worry about disappointing her- that she wasn’t frightened of him and that she wouldn’t condemn him for an honest mistake. But despite his logic assuring him that the most likely scenario meant he needn’t worry, the unsettling feeling remained in him, underscoring his desire to be closer to the one he adored. Looking down at her, he wasn’t quite sure where he should begin. He felt it would be distasteful to grope her breasts straight away, but he didn’t want to seem too reluctant either in fear she might think he didn’t find her desirable. He decided that the best solution would be to simply touch her all over as that would communicate his unbiased love of all her physical assets and naturally lend itself to a further increase in intimacy.
He started by cradling her cheek gently in his palm. She turned her face into it and planted a kiss there. Elias stroked her hair slowly, his thumb brushing her cheek. His hand wandered to her chest, where he squeezed her tiny breast effortlessly. Chise cried out in the quietest voice, and Elias paused.
“D-don’t stop…” she almost whispered.
He leaned in closer to her. “Are you okay? Does it hurt?”
She wasn’t sure how, but Chise felt she could read the genuine concern on his bony face. “I’m fine,” she smiled up at him, trying to be reassuring. “It felt good. I enjoyed it, so please don’t stop, okay?”
Elias felt the surge of an unfamiliar feeling. It was both intoxicating and terrifying, and though he still felt what he understood to be nervousness, he didn’t hesitate to resume groping his human bride. ‘If she truly likes it as she says,’ thought Elias, who had no reason to believe otherwise, ‘then I will do whatever brings her pleasure.’
His hand enveloped her breast once again, squeezing just hard enough so his claws wouldn’t break skin, then letting up for a moment before squeezing again. He absentmindedly stroked her erect nipple with his thumb and noticed it caused Chise to arch her back and clamp her hand over her mouth. He suddenly had a devilish idea.
“Chise… I’m going to use my tongue… is that okay?” he asked, feeling his large heart beat a little faster.
“Yes!” was all Chise managed to squeak out from between the fingers still clamped over her mouth.
Elias realized he was practically drooling and swallowed hard before opening his mouth enough for his serpentine tongue to find its way to its destination. His tongue was long enough that it could wrap around her small breast and the tip could still tease her sensitive peak. Chise squirmed beneath his touch and mewled from beneath her hand. Elias’ tongue slid back into his mouth and he removed Chise’s hand from over her mouth.
“I don’t know why, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to hear your noises.” Elias was confused, for he could not think of a logical reason as to why he might desire such a thing. But like an instinct, he knew it was something he desperately wanted.
Chise was slightly taken aback. “But… what if we’re heard?”
“There are ways to prevent that, so don’t worry,” said Elias. He chanted a short incantation and made a sweeping gesture with a pointing finger from one side of the room to the other, and a shroud of cloudy darkness settled in all four corners of the room.
“What was that?” asked Chise.
“A simple silencing spell. We won’t be heard as long as we remain in this room. Provided the spell isn’t lifted, of course.”
“I’m kind of surprised I haven’t seen you use this spell before,” said Chise, still laying on her back looking up at him with her bright, green eyes.
“I have used it a few times since I met you… usually when I don’t want to be disturbed in my study. But it only works on enclosed spaces, not people. And if you try to cast it outside you can deafen an entire city to you if you’re not careful, so it only has specific uses.” After a moment, Elias, in a sudden fit of confidence, slid Chise to the edge of the mattress. She let out a small yelp of surprise and Elias kneeled before her on the dark hardwood floor. “Now then,” he began, easily gripping a clawed hand around each of her thighs, “shall I continue my exploration?”
Chise blushed deeper. ‘He must like this so far,’ she thought suddenly. She had to admit that she liked it too. But she didn’t want to admit it out loud. Feeling more anxious by the second, all she could do was nod her head very quickly, signifying her consent.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, running his hands up and down her hips and thighs.
She shivered. Never before had he touched her like this- so gentle, yet somehow deliberate. Chise felt the strangest mix of anticipation and dread, and she tried to remind herself the dread was mostly just anxiety. She was frustrated that even around the person with which she felt the most secure her mind still reacted this way. She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, closing her eyes and relishing the feeling of his bare hands on her body.
She was so soft, so smooth. Though he reminded himself that he had permission, Elias could not shrug the feeling that this was somehow illicit, and he felt guilty- an emotion quite contrary to the love which he wanted to express. ‘If I continue to let this feeling have such a hold on me, it will affect my performance of this ritual,’ he thought to himself, ‘and that would disappoint Chise…’ Elias didn’t know what her expectations were- what any human’s expectations were- when it came to this. Come to think of it, he wasn’t even sure what his own expectations of this were. And it was Chise’s first time, too. Although he knew that milestones, like many other things in life, only meant as much as one willed them to, he felt as though there really was a lot riding on the success of this interaction; it could set a precedent.
Choosing not to let his baseless fears ruin this special occasion, he resolved to march forward in this confidently. He reassured himself that if he did something wrong, Chise would say something about it. After all, they had already agreed that communication was key in these situations. She seemed to respond well to his slow, deliberate movements. He didn’t want to move too fast and overwhelm her, but as he had already been stroking her hips and thighs with his large hands for a few minutes he decided it was time for a bold gesture.
“Chise?” asked Elias, noticing for the first time that her eyes were closed.
“Hmm?” Chise’s eyes fluttered open slowly, “What is it?”
“Do I have your permission to touch you?” he asked, stroking the inside of her thighs with his thumbs.
Chise smiled. “I already said that you do. You don’t really have to keep asking unless I’ve told you to stop.”
“Yes but, I… want to touch you deeper.” He cleared his throat and hoped she understood what he meant.
Chise was initially confused by the statement but after thinking about it for a moment she blushed, believing she’d figured it out. “Ah…hmm.”
“What?” asked Elias, nervous he’d missed something.
“N-nothing. I just… I was thinking about how I never thought I’d let anyone touch me there.” Chise stared at the ceiling, willing the memories of her former misery to dissipate. After a moment she sat up half-way to see Elias’ head between her legs, staring up at her, the nervousness palpable even on his bony visage. Chise smiled down at him. “Of course, that was before I met you.”
He crept up next to her and gently turned her head towards him while maintaining a grip on her chin as his tongue parted her lips. He had lost count of how many times this had happened now, and he was beginning to reach that place once again where his tongue moved with a will of its own inside Chise’s hot little mouth and his head began to swim.
Chise could barely stand these kisses where Elias used his tongue. They felt like sex themselves, or at least Chise felt like they did. Feeling his large, muscular tongue roll around inside her mouth made her far more excited than she had ever been before. It was when he let her suck on it that she really felt hot, though. Her whole body felt tingly in a way she didn’t know was possible.
As Elias pulled away for breath, Chise guided the index finger of the hand that had been holding her chin into her mouth, suckling on it playfully. Elias looked momentarily perplexed but decided to roll with it, caressing her jaw line with his thumb. With his free hand he cupped one of her breasts and gently squeezed it, causing her to exhale hot breath in a small gasp against the finger in her mouth. Chise swirled her tongue around his finger a couple more times and then slowly withdrew it from her mouth, guiding Elias’ hand further and further south.
Chise could practically see on his bony face the moment he realized what she was doing. She slowly lead his hand all around her pubic mound before gently guiding his index finger between her slick folds. “Ohh… see how wet it is already?” Chise pushed Elias’ finger into her deeper, “Th-that means you’re doing a good job…” She let her head relax and it lolled back onto the bed, tiny moans escaping her mouth as she slowly let go of his hand, leaving him to carry on unassisted.
Elias was silent. It was a combination of awe and anxiety. He wanted to kiss her, show her how glad it made him that she felt good, yet all he could bring himself to do was to continue fingering her slowly, eliciting those small moans he suddenly seemed to need like air. So this was what a human female’s sexual anatomy was really like. The scientist in him found it fascinating, and part of him wished he could just examine her all over out of curiosity. However, his mind never got far into wondering about logic and study, as her cries always brought him back into the moment. Her insides gripped his finger rather snuggly, and he was a bit confused as to how anything larger could ever fit there. He was fairly certain it required more than a finger for the ritual to be complete, but if that were the case, he suddenly found himself worrying how this was going to proceed. The one thing he would not do was hurt Chise, ritual or no ritual. If completing the human mating ritual would hurt Chise, then Elias simply would not do it.
Chise noticed his regular pace had slowed to a pause. She sat halfway up and could tell by the distant stare that he was lost in thought. “Hey,” she called, sitting the rest of the way up and waving a hand in front of his face, “what’s the matter? I was just about to show you something.”
Elias snapped back to reality. “Sorry. I was just… worried about hurting you inside, since you’re so tiny…” Elias sounded like a child who’d been caught doing something forbidden. “Is that a valid concern?”
Chise smiled. “It’s a reasonable concern for two people who are new to this sort of thing, I think,” she began, “But a woman is equipped to stretch out more than you might think, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Fascinating…” Elias rubbed her lower abdomen with a large plum hand, brushing the coarse hair on her outer labia with his thumb.
Chise blushed. “Stick your thumb in between those folds near the top, and you’ll feel a little nub in there,” she instructed, laying back again so that he had easy access.
Elias did as he was told and located the small lump of nerves rather quickly. “This thing?” he asked, pinching it between his thumb and index fingers.
Chise cried out loudly and Elias let go in shock as she began to involuntarily roll her hips. “Ooohh…ah, ah…g-geez, yes.” Still panting a little from the surprise, she added, “W-watch how you touch that thing. That’s the spot you’re gonna touch to make it crazy for me. If you touch me there when it’s time for us to become one, I should have little problem accommodating you. At least that’s what my school physiology text books said, though I guess it would depend on how much bigger you are than a human male.”
Elias was still rather flabbergasted at how strongly Chise reacted to having the small bump pinched. When he saw her hips writhe and her back arch it gave rise to a completely new sensation in him. It felt almost like he was drugged or put under a spell. He could feel some kind of animalistic frenzy building deep in the recesses of his complex brain. After taking a deep breath he finally said, “I don’t know how much bigger I am than a human.” He stood. “Do you want to see?”
Chise swallowed hard. She could feel the blood rushing to her head. She closed her eyes for a moment, and then, blushing, sat up and nodded. She could already see a partial outline of it through the fabric of his under-shorts and she had never been so eager and so nervous in her life. This was her husband, she loved him and knew there was nothing to be embarrassed about, yet still it felt as if there was something important about seeing it for the first time. Somehow, she felt self-conscious that she would ruin the entire evening if she didn’t play it cool enough. What if she laughed out of nervousness and he thought she was rejecting him? Or if she was too anxious to process words and could only stare rudely? Chise hadn’t felt this much social pressure since she first arrived in England. Apparently, it turns out all you need to bring back old anxieties are some intimate firsts. Taking a deep breath, she gripped the sides of the elastic waistband and began to slowly pull downwards.
Elias had noticed a frightful change in his anatomy since he began touching Chise, and it seemed to be especially pronounced after she writhed in bliss at his unintentionally intense touch. As if his worries regarding their copulation were not sufficiently severe, he realized that the size of his manhood had actually increased to nearly twice what it was usually. He had read that this was standard in human sexual practices but was never certain it was something he would experience himself. He hoped it wouldn’t frighten her.
It was only a matter of a few tense seconds between the moment Chise began to pull down the under-shorts and the moment he sprang free from them. Chise’s face turned completely pink as she stared in a combination of awe and reverence. He was certainly bigger than an average human, at least Chise was pretty sure he was. She had never really seen anyone else naked before, until now, but she could understand his anxiety at not being able to fit inside her. As much as she loved him, she did have to admit that to a virgin such as herself it looked quite formidable. It was about eight inches long from trunk to tip with a roughly two-inch circumference. Aside from its purple color, his anatomy was surprisingly similar to a human male. He didn’t appear to have testicles, at least not externally. The member was darker at the base, matching Elias’ plum skin tone, and became gradually more of a lilac color near the slightly flared and subtly pointed tip. The whole thing was covered by a thin, practically translucent membrane, scattered with delicate, tiny purple veins. Chise had the odd thought that it was actually quite beautiful for an organ which could be considered lewd and strange. It almost reminded her of some exotic flower. She wasn’t sure how that revelation made her feel, and she realized with a start that she had been staring at Elias silently for an extended period.
“I-I’m sorry for staring!” Chise stammered, trying desperately to save face, “I’m just so… overwhelmed, you know? I had to take everything in and I think your body is really beautiful…” She felt beyond awkward saying such things, but she had already embarrassed herself several times today; there was no need to be shy or dishonest at this point.
“Beautiful?” asked Elias, looking down at himself, “I don’t know about that.” He had never seen himself look quite this way before, and it was going to take some getting used to.
“Remember how you said you felt when you looked at me earlier?” asked Chise.
“Yes, of course,” answered Elias, “I compared you to a work of art. I’ve only recently learned to appreciate beauty in an aesthetic sense, but you are beautiful not only in your looks but in who you are and how you treat others… If that makes sense.” He looked away towards the floor and Chise knew he felt insecure discussing how she brought out his humanity, probably because he was afraid of saying the wrong thing.
“That’s right. What you said makes perfect sense. So just understand that I feel similarly towards you.” Chise smiled.
“I am very lucky to have you for a wife,” he said, leaning in to brush her cheek with his muzzle. “You always know how to put me at ease…” He stroked her hair and Chise closed her eyes.
After a moment she said, “I could say the same of you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and began to pull him over top of her. Looking up at Elias, she continued, “You’re my dearest friend, after all.” She watched his mouth open slightly and she hoped she wouldn’t regret what she had just said. Chise knew Elias wanted, even needed, to hear her articulate her fondness for him frequently, but she also knew it could potentially add fuel to his possessive tendencies, so she didn’t do it as often as she once did. However, in this moment Chise felt sure that she wanted him to know how deeply he mattered to her. She could tell he needed the reassurance- not because his praise of her was some manipulative effort to gain praise for himself, but because Chise had recognized by now his regular tendency to get clingy and sweet when he felt insecure. Dealing with insecurity on their own was something both Elias and Chise still hadn’t totally mastered, but Chise saw no harm in reassuring her awkward, inhuman groom when she felt he genuinely needed it. She smiled up at him again, closing her eyes momentarily and tilting her head.
Elias was pleasantly surprised to hear Chise refer to him as her “dearest friend”. Even though he knew Chise required freedom to go and do as she pleased, he still liked to be reminded that he was the one she would continue to choose to come home to at the end of the day. He still struggled with feeling envious of her various friends, especially with still so few of his own, but he was glad that the person he loved most could finally surround herself with people that made her smile. Yet still, Elias was unsure of how to tame what he had learned was a form of ‘fear’- the small voice inside that sometimes made him feel that he was a failure, and that Chise deserved to be married to someone better. This same voice would creep out of the back of his mind and try to convince him that someday Chise would leave him and it was inevitable. He knew by now not to pay mind to such thoughts, but the fear still dwelled deep within him, and he was quite reticent about it.
Elias pinned Chise’s arms over her head with one massive hand. He bent down and began to lick the side of Chise’s neck as he gently groped her breast. She purred beneath his touch. He felt suddenly as if he wanted to devour her- not in a literal sense this time. This was a different sort of hunger, something strange and unknown to Elias. He felt as though he wanted to fuse with her, to possess her- no, not quite, something else… something that felt natural, instinctual, though he knew not into what he was heading. His tongue slithered back into his mouth and he whispered into Chise’s ear, “I’m afraid of what I might do if you were ever to leave me…”
His deep voice was cold as shaved ice and it sent a chill down Chise’s spine. When he would talk like this was when he would sometimes lose control of his form. She was disappointed he had seemingly given in to his jealous insecurities again.
Chise frowned a bit. “Elias, do you understand that saying that can make me feel responsible for your actions?”
He drew back from her, saying “That’s not how I intended it.” The concern was obvious in his tone.
Chise unpinned her arm and brushed the side of his face. “I had figured as much, but we’ve talked before about your jealousy. I was just thinking I could praise you without it going to your head and here we are.” She laughed a little and hoped he wouldn’t be too disheartened by her mild rebuke. Still, she knew she needed to set boundaries with Elias or he might never understand ethical behavior.
“Perhaps I would be able to survive without you,” he began slowly, “but I imagine it would be a fairly miserable existence.”
“I hope it goes without saying that I’m not planning on leaving you and if I were I would let you know.” Chise let her arm fall beside her head on the bed and she continued, “And I’m sure if I were to leave or something were to happen to me, you would be miserable for a while. But you would heal from it in time. I would want you to.” She smiled.
“I… feel like I should be prepared for such a thing, but… I don’t want to think about it.” Elias nuzzled the side of her face tenderly.
The gesture brought forth a burst of sympathy for her monster, filling Chise with more affection than she was willing to admit to herself. “I understand, Elias. Would you say you feel worried?”
He stroked her hair. “Yes. It would seem that love is a form of anxiety.”
“It has definitely felt that way for me too sometimes,” laughed Chise.
Her laughter caused Elias’ jaw to drop in his odd skeletal smile and there followed a rather intense period of nearly fifteen seconds where the red flame of Elias’ eyes and the deep green of Chise’s were fixed on one another.
“Chise,” Elias began, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have to rely on you so much.”
“You’re probably right,” started Chise, chuckling a bit, “But I appreciate your humility. Though, in agreeing to be with you, I’ve kinda signed up for this.” She laughed again. “Besides, it’s not as if you never teach me anything yourself.”
He nuzzled her cheek. “I only ever teach you what little I know of magic. In that regard, you may be my apprentice, but truly you are the being of superior general knowledge. I still can’t understand how to work on insecurities when talking about them is seen as manipulative…”
Chise sighed. “It’s all about timing, Elias. If you come to me with genuine concern and say you need reassurance or need to talk something out, that’s one thing. But if you wait until we’re already in the process of engaging with the insecurity, it can make it seem like you only want to address it when it’s a problem for you.”
“Then… my concern needn’t be situational?” asked Elias, trying to get a thorough understanding so he wouldn’t slip up again. Chise nodded. He hated the thought of disappointing her. “Wouldn’t it feel odd to discuss such intimate things out of context?”
“I think conversations about emotions might always be a little awkward for creatures like you and I, Elias,” laughed Chise.
Elias returned the laughter. “I suppose that’s true. At least together, we can work on it.”
“Yes,” Chise smiled up at him. After a moment she asked, “What are your emotions telling you now?”
The magus gazed down at his perfect bride. He loved seeing her smile at him. He recalled how complacent and quick to anger she had been when they’d first met- and knowing what he knew now, he could understand why she couldn’t smile back then. But now…
“I’m thinking that I treasure your smile, your happiness,” he began, holding her head in his hand and stroking her cheek with his thumb. “It fills me with some variation of love…”
“What does it make you want to do?” Chise shyly broke her gaze after the bold query had left her lips.
Elias gently held her chin and tilted her head up to meet his intense red eyes once again. “I… want to be close to you…” Chise could feel the ghost of his hot breath on her face as he spoke, and she shivered.
Elias stroked her upper arm and laughed. “I love this reaction; what is this? Your skin almost feels like mine now.”
“G-goosebumps…” Chise stammered. She suddenly felt slightly embarrassed.
“What a funny word,” Elias mused out loud. “Do all humans have these ‘goose bumps’?”
“I…I think so,” replied Chise, “but I’d be more comfortable telling you more about them sometime when I’m not naked…”
Elias grew silent and still as a statue. Chise could tell she’d embarrassed him. “Sorry, Elias…” she offered.
After a moment he laughed, taking her by surprise. “It’s alright. I sometimes get carried away with my curiosity over such things…” He paused, leaning down closer to her so that only a couple inches separated them, “But just tell me one thing,” he demanded in a deep whisper, “are the goosebumps an indicator of pleasure?”
Chise blushed. She was sure she had been blushing to some degree nearly non-stop through this whole ordeal. “Well,” she began slowly, gathering herself into eloquence, “they can be… I think these ones were… your hot breath felt pleasant on my neck.”
Elias cocked his head in interest. “My, so humans can find even breathing erotic…”
Chise smiled and thought to herself with fond amusement how naïve he really was. Sometimes he actually made her feel worldly, and she need only hang out with Alice for an afternoon to realize how laughable THAT was. Chise took Elias’ hand and, in a quiet voice, said “I needn’t explain. Let me show you.”
Elias leaned in closer to her and Chise wound her arm around his neck. As she pulled him closer he dropped to his knees in front of the bed and she crept to the edge in response. She leaned down and placed several kisses on his suede-soft skull, making her way toward the softly scaled skin where his thick neck joined his large, bony head. His skin twitched a bit, and Chise knew it was because of the gentle suggestion of her lips against the barely-touched area. Though Elias lacked visible ears, he usually seemed to hear anything nearby him, and he could not only feel but hear Chise’s quick breaths as she continued to kiss and caress him. Chise realized, with appropriate embarrassment, that it was rather obvious that she’d been enjoying nuzzling around on Elias’ neck. Truthfully, she enjoyed being able to take in his scent, which was comforting to her in a way she couldn’t describe. But now Chise had something else on her mind, and she willed herself to withdraw.
“What’s the matter?” asked Elias, noticing her sudden stop.
“I want you to… put your tongue inside me.” Chise’s face burned. “Please Elias.”
When she said ‘please’ it put Elias into a mode of not questioning things. He did as he was told and positioned himself with his head between her legs once again. He carrefully parted Chise’s labia with his serpentine tongue and gently rubbed the nub from before, being careful not to put too much pressure on it- he just wanted to be a tease.
Chise cried out and moaned Elias’ name, “Yes, that felt so nice… Oh Elias! Go deeper please…”
Elias found he liked being told what to do by Chise quite a bit. Not only did it take the guesswork out of intimacy but it made him feel good to fulfil her desires. He squirmed his prehensile tongue into her vagina slowly, pausing after every inch to hear her moan and feel her insides squeeze around his tongue. So far, Elias’ felt that his favorite part of this was how his bride tasted. The feeling in combination with the sweet, irony flavour proved enough to make his impossibly large member stand fairly erect.
The experience was dizzying for them both.
Chise felt almost invisible as she laid on the large bed, isolated with her emotions and the intense feelings she was receiving as Elias’ tongue pushed deeper and deeper into her. It was almost an out-of-body experience. Chise knew Elias was there with her, but she could only focus on the wave after wave of shuddering pleasure she felt pulsing between her legs. Elias’ voice brought her out of her stupor-
“Chithe?” Elias mumbled, a good portion of his tongue still inside her.
“Hm? S-sorry, Elias… It just feels so good, I guess I kind of spaced-out a bit. You can pull it out slowly if you like…” Chise offered meekly.
Elias withdrew his tongue slowly, savoring Chise’s taste once it was entirely in his mouth again. “Chise, I quite enjoyed that. I think I would like to taste you every day.”
“I don’t know about every day,” chuckled Chise, “but a few times a month at least, I think.”
Elias stood and embraced Chise, wrapping his arms around her and letting her taste what was left of herself on his tongue. Just then Chise felt something brush against her leg, and when she realized what it was she could feel her blush brightening,
“What’s with that face?” asked Elias, noticing the blush and the nervous expression Chise was suddenly sporting.
“I just noticed how…uhm…” Chise struggled to find the right words. Even after all the progress she’d made today with intimacy, she was still shy, through and through. “Your uh…” Chise pointed to Elias’ crotch.
Elias looked down. “Oh my! So it is!” he exclaimed. “It’s your fault, you know,” he teased.
“M-my fault? I’ve never even seen one of those things before today!”
“Well, my dear, no one else can make it do this, so I think you’re at least partially responsible!”
Chise laughed. “Okay, okay. But in all seriousness, if you think that you’re going to fit inside me you better start stretching me out…”
Elias snickered. “As you wish.” He reached his large hands down between her legs and slowly slid two fingers inside her.
“Mmmhm,” Chise buried her head into Elias’ broad chest. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt him move his fingers in and out of her, first with two fingers, then a bit faster and with three.
“You’re so beautiful, my Chise,” Elias crooned as he fingered her, feeling the blood continue to rush to his member. He could feel a low pulsing sensation and it only urged him on.
“Elias, oh, stop, stop! I want you inside me!” Chise squirmed her hips against Elias’ chest.
“You do? Already? Are you sure?”
“Yes! Please do it Elias. Please, I’m begging you, Sir!”
To hear her beg was all the permission he needed. He laid down on the bed and instructed her to climb on top of him so that he could see her- he was afraid that if he were on top he may squash her or make her feel unloved because there’d be no eye contact. Staring at someone’s chest didn’t seem very romantic to him.
Chise loved it when Elias positioned her atop him. She straddled him as best she could and rubbed her wet slit all over his throbbing cock. “Feel how ready I am for you, Elias?”
Elias grabbed Chise by the hips and pushed her back and forth on top of him, putting him at a full erection. “Get ready, Robin,” he whispered gruffly to her as he positioned her over the pre-cum soaked tip of his member. He slid the head into her slowly and was alarmed at the tightness. “Are you okay, my little human?” he asked.
Chise’s eyes rolled back a bit and her mouth dripped a dainty string of drool from the corner. It felt amazing! She wasn’t frightened anymore. If only the first inch felt this good, then Chise couldn’t wait to have all of Elias’ huge cock inside her! “Oh yes! Yes, Elias, it feels amazing. Please keep going!!” She flopped down on Elias’ chest and began moving her hips slowly, working the tip in and out.
Elias slowly put some pressure against Chise’s pubic mound and gently popped in another two inches. He meant only one more, but she was so wet he slid in deeper than he’d intended.
“Ah, Chise, yes, you’re so tight and wet, I love it! Your sexual biology is most fascinating to me.”
“Oh Elias, please finish me! Let’s become one, I know you feel it too!” Chise genuinely hoped he did, for she definitely didn’t feel like explaining the sensation now.
“I feel ready to burst, my dear. I wish I could be rough with you, but I won’t.” Elias looked away in what Chise figured must be guilt.
“No, Elias, right now I want you to shove the rest of yourself into me and have your way with me.” She trembled as she said the words, perhaps knowing it was rash.
Without any further clarification, Elias slammed himself inside Chise’s tight little cunt, causing her to cry out, not slowing down as he began to piston himself in and out of her. She squealed and screamed, crying out his name but he could barely hear her in his sexual frenzy. He reached up and began rubbing her clit and this pushed her over the edge.
“Oh my god, Elias, I’m going to come!”
Elias could only squeeze her closer as he panted and grunted, emptying himself inside her and leaving a sticky mess everywhere.
Chise held him tightly. “I… suppose we ought to take a bath now,” she giggled between breaths.
“That mightn’t be a bad idea,” he replied, as he began to lick her thighs clean of his love.
Chise laughed. “That tickles! I meant an actual bath, Elias!”
Elias stopped mid-lick and looked up at her, “Oh,” he began as he stood and scooped Chise into his arms, “I suppose that makes sense.” He leaned in close and whispered into her ear, “But the other way is so appealing to me.” He licked her cheek playfully.
“You can lick me whenever we’re alone,” laughed Chise, “but right now what I want most is to wash up and fall asleep in your arms.”
“I can arrange that,” replied Elias as he nuzzled her cheek and carried her into the bathroom. He looked into her small green eyes and felt overwhelmed with a feeling he could only describe as “Love”, that mysterious thing he thought he might’ve never understood without her.
Chise beamed and threw her arms around his sturdy neck, kissing his collarbone. How lucky she was to be adored by such a creature; even in her imperfection, he could only see the beauty in her. She knew that with Elias by her side she could tackle almost any hardship she might encounter, for only love can bring such strength.