Work Text:
‘Do you want this?’
I perceived the meaning of his question as if from far away, through layers of euphoria each of his touches awakened in me. The answer was crystal clear.
‘Yes,’ I whispered. Then more decisively: ‘Yes.’
Arcturus pressed a kiss to my thigh. I breathed in as the powerful muscles of his back shifted. When I breathed out again, a hint of an eager tone made its way into the sound.
I was full of desire, I was overflowing with it. I returned my gaze back to Arcturus. His face was, as usual, free of strong emotional expression; neutral, Rephaite. Even so, his eyelids appeared heavy and his gaze, which rested on my naked body, was imbued with emotion. His burning eyes mirrored the same desire I felt.
When we looked at each other, a shiver ran down my spine. As if it had spurred him into action, he leaned down, kissed my cleavage and propped himself up on his left hand right next to me on the bed. His right hand slid slowly down my knee, across my inner thigh, all the way between my legs.
I couldn’t help the wanton flinch of my body at the first wet touch of his fingers. I exhaled with surprise and heard him exhale, too, short of breath. The golden cord tensed. Arcturus waited until I laid back into the pillows, and then he began stimulating the most sensitive part of my body with careful movements of his fingers.
He was gentle and dextrous. Heat spread across my body and I felt only delight, the whole universe had shrunk until his fingers between my legs were the only thing left, and so was his Rephaite skin, sticking to my body, his breath on my breast. Arcturus changed up the rhythm of his circling fingers, my breathing quickened and I tilted my head back. Then he changed the tempo as well and I gasped helplessly. Without much thought, I ran my hand through his coarse hair and tugged, not too harshly, but he moaned quietly nevertheless.
Before I managed to get too carried away, he pulled himself back up to give me a soft kiss and brought his hand away. Before I began to ask what happened, he petted my thigh with his dry left hand and started undressing his trousers.
With my breath held, lost in the misty haze of arousal, I watched him. His belt was already unbuckled by me but it took a minute before he rid himself of the rest of his clothing and threw it across the edge of the bed. Right as the purpose of our short physical detachment was fulfilled, he returned his full attention to me and brought me closer to him by the hips. His right hand was still sticky from touching me.
‘Loosen up, Paige.’ he said gently.
I didn’t even realise I was as tense as a Whisperer’s fiddle. I willed all of my muscles to relax and breathed out.
In the meantime, Arcturus let go of my right side in favour of using his hand to line himself up with me. I was dizzy with expectation. He finally moved a bit forward and hundreds of tiny fireworks flickered behind my eyelids. Arcturus exhaled with pleased relief and the golden cord sent a tidal wave of his own arousal into me. It was thick like honey and dense like an autumn fog. I was certain he felt mine, too, because while I choked on a moan under the powerful surge of his emotions carried to me through the golden cord, he gripped my hip and forced his eyes shut, careful not to move before I was ready. Our ethereal link multiplied every loving touch.
I couldn’t believe this was real. Sheol II fell apart in ashes and I was in a safe house, embracing a Rephaite to which I felt such tenderness I refused to deny it any longer. I yearned to spend a night with him like never before. I felt like my core was blooming with feelings for him, flowers flourished at every corner of my dreamscape and my dreamscape was aflame, burning with fire Arcturus had always ignited in it.
I was pulled out of my inner musings by the first shallow thrust of Arcturus’ hips. My voice got stuck in a silent cry, my hips moved towards him as if to meet him halfway. Arcturus looked into my eyes and uttered, to my immense pleasure with a touch of strain to his voice: ‘Is that okay, Paige?’ I nodded and raised my hand in a wordless request for him to lean down to me. He didn’t need to be told twice. He brought my legs around his hips and I crossed them behind his back. He leant down and kissed my lips. One kiss became two, and before long we were urgently kissing again, lips, saliva, brief touches of tongues. Arcturus set a regular pace, deep but unbelievably gentle. He listened to my breath and adjusted according to what brought me the most bliss. I breathed heavily into his collarbone and drew unclear shapes with my fingers across his neck and his back, present enough to mind his scars, Nashira’s eternal signature on his body.
I shivered every time our hips met, I panted and moaned. If kissing him felt like touching the æther, accepting his body inside mine felt like becoming an inseparable part of it. His movement was intentional and confident. He knew what he was doing. Rephaim must not be so different from humans in some respects. It’s just that they have whole centuries of experience to their lives. That thought made me become a little insecure. I was making love with a being that knows more about intimacy than I do, more than any mortal does. My thoughts flew over to Arcturus’ past lovers, but I immediately repelled them. This is about the two of us.
I ached to cause him physical pleasure as well, not to just accept it from him. With some effort I tried to better harmonise our movements, to bring my body forward towards his. The intended effect became immediately apparent in his eyes which shone even brighter in the dim light. And then I clenched my inner muscles around him. He rewarded me with a deep guttural sound and an unintentional stronger thrust. Every reaction I managed to wring out of him only fuelled me further. With every resound of his voice something in me sparked.
When he brought both of his calloused hands to my hips and put more vigour into his steady movement, it seemed that Arcturus’ carefully measured self-control had slowly started abandoning him. I had nothing to complain about, my delight was mounting with every thrust. His name slipped out of my lips and he caught it right away with his own in an ardent kiss. He kissed my lips, the corners of my mouth, my chin, neck, and the dip of my throat. I got tingles on my shoulders and back, the tension in me started to build up. Every kiss of his lips, every caress of his hand, they were all piling onto the hot rubbing of our bodies. I was taut as a string. His hand found my breast and he circled my nipple with his thumb. At the same time, he planted a kiss on a particularly sensitive part of my neck and I was helpless against my body’s reaction to such a rush of blissful feelings. I inhaled loudly and stepped onto the very peak of my pleasure, I lost control over my voice and my hips were rising in irregular spasms, like a message in morse code. I saw white.
When I jumped back down, I was out of breath and felt light like cotton wool. An easy smile spread across my face between exhausted breaths. It only took a few seconds to recover. When I focused my eyes I saw Arcturus studying me with a curious gaze. His eyes were still burning with a bright flame and I immediately realised he only stopped to give me a moment to come back to myself. In the time I spent doing just that, he slipped out of my body and only his hand was touching me, still casually resting on my breast. I covered his hand with mine, intertwined our fingers, and without any warning I shot up into a sitting position and instantly joined our lips. Arcturus gasped in surprise and started kissing me back at once.
I was still a little shaky but I brought my hand down across his stomach muscles with clear intent and took him into my hand. His whole body twitched and he said, almost inaudibly and right into my lips: ‘You needn’t return the favour immediately.’ Still his body sung the song of eager longing. ‘But I want to, Arcturus. I want you.’ He didn’t reply but he gently held the back of my skull in his hand and pressed his lips back to mine. I began to move my clenched hand across his skin. It was the first time I ever did that, it must’ve been awkward and clumsy, but it seemed that he was so close to ecstasy that any touch served its purpose. He soon started to softly thrust against my hand and his voice once again pushed through his rapid breathing. His chest resonated with a heady moan and he whispered something in Gloss. I quickened my pace and Arcturus first tensed all the way up in my arms, drove his hips forward a few times, and then he relaxed with a heavy exhale and buried his head in my shoulder. ‘Paige…’ he addressed me, out of breath.
For a single quiet, carefree moment, we took rest in a mutual embrace. It was as if the time had stopped. His skin was warming me at all points of touch between our bodies. My instinct was screaming at me that if he were a human, he would have a life-threatening fever. But he wasn’t and it was as though his body heat protected me from the night chill whose presence in the room I slowly began to notice. We were given this shared moment and neither of us saw into the future to tell when we’ll be torn apart again. I was sure Nashira was already plotting to take revenge on me, to catch me like a butterfly in a net. I hugged him tightly and hoped for it to last as long as possible.