Work Text:
The house was relatively quiet, save the soft sounds of a few helper droids working around the main rooms to keep things tidy and clean as always – not like it got messy regularly to begin with.
Zone was seated on the rounded red couch inside the main suite with a book open in his hand in such stillness that he almost looked like a statue carved from shadows. The only sign of life was the slow movement of his eyes as they followed each word analytically, like a professional critic.
The couch was spacious. Every piece of furniture Chalchi chose for her house was nothing but grand and useful. But still - after entering the room silently and barefoot, wearing a loose silk robe – she simply settled herself on his lap, straddling him without ceremony or invitation needed.
His eyes didn’t gaze away from the book as he arched a brow slightly and asked in a dry tone, “Comfortable?”
“Very much,” she replied contently, one hand slipping under the edge of his collar while the other caressed his jaw. “You are warm today.”
The man-creature was aware of how rhetorical her comment was. More than anyone, Chalchi knew, scientifically and from her own physical experience, that Zone could never be warm.
“I am precisely the same temperature as yesterday.”
“I do not think so,” she murmured, pressing a soft kiss on his throat. “You seem warmer.”
Almost out of instinct – a reflex he no longer questioned -, his free hand went to rest on her bare thigh under the robe, thumb caressing the smooth skin. Still, his eyes didn’t lift from the page. “If you say so.”
The empress let silence reign again as she stared at Zone’s face, overanalyzing him as if he were her newest study subject. Her fingers slid up to his cheekbone slowly, taking her time to properly feel the texture of his skin but being careful with her claws.
There was something both physical – having in mind his nature - and emotionally magnetic about him that fascinated Chalchi endlessly, like a bizarre pull she couldn’t do anything but surrender to it.
Interrupting her thoughts, Zone looked up briefly, catching her gaze. “You’re staring.”
“I am observing,” she corrected calmly, letting herself smile faintly.
His eyes went back to the book as he turned a page, “Observing what, exactly?”
Although it seemed he wasn’t giving much attention to her, he noticed the faint smile on her lips. For him, it was a rare event if compared to how often Chalchi smiles at their children (and grandchildren), so he always noticed. And counted each time it happened.
“The architecture of your face,” she explained like it was obvious to anyone. “I have seen perfection manufactured, designed with clear intent. But you,” she paused, tilting her head a little, eyes lowering to his lips. “You are an accident that somehow improved on purpose.”
His eyes flicked back to her, arching a brow as if unsure whether that was a typical weird compliment from Chalchi or if he should be offended for once. “That is an oddly poetic insult.”
“It is a compliment,” she murmured, frowning just slightly because she didn’t understand why her words could be interpreted as an actual insult. “I like looking at you. You are bizarrely handsome.”
He said nothing for a few seconds, then looked back at his book. “I’ve been called worse.”
Chalchi was almost sure that Zone was trying to get a rise out of her.
“It is a compliment,” the tühi repeated more seriously, grabbing his face with both hands firmly so he’d have no option but to look at her again. The moment she had his full attention, she commanded with slight irritation that was more act than true feeling, “Read to me.”
Zone stared at her in silence, showing almost no emotion. But Chalchi could see the faint shift in his posture, the subtle hesitation that meant he was deciding whether to indulge her or simply say no just to be annoying. Either way, as always, he would do as she asked in the end.
Not because she commanded, of course. Never.
But because he wanted to.
Finally, he sighed. Not with irritation, but with that (invisible to most) resigned fondness he reserved only for her. And with just a sigh, Chalchi knew she won.
“What part?”
“Any part, honestly,” it seemed her mood improved significantly just from these two words he said. “I just like your voice when you are not trying to sound superior.”
A low sound escaped him, something close to a dry chuckle, then he turned a few pages back. “That hardly ever happens.”
With that, he began to read.
“Belatedly I loved thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new, belatedly I loved thee. For see, thou wast within and I was without, and I sought thee out there.”
His voice was smooth and steady, with that borderline perfect utterance his arrogance never let people forget. He was a performer, after all, and showing off was part of it.
“Unlovely, I rushed heedlessly among the lovely things thou hast made. Thou wast with me, but I was not with thee. These things kept me far from thee; even though they were not at all unless they were in thee.”
Chalchi listened quietly, now nuzzling her nose into his neck with closed eyes. At some point, her fingers began to wander absently, tracing random lines from his jaw down to his throat. She enjoyed feeling the sound vibrations every word he read caused. But wasn’t really paying attention to the words itself, no. Her focus was on how it felt.
Zone noticed it, of course.
“...Thou didst call and cry aloud, and didst force open my deafness,” he paused and sighed slowly, “You’re not listening.”
“I am listening,” she whispered against his skin, hand going down to his blouse, delicately undoing a few buttons. “To your voice. Have I ever told you how alluring it is?”
Well, Zone was aware. He was told that before. But hearing Chalchi admit it was something else. Everything was something else coming from her, if he dared to be honest enough.
“Not yet.”
“Hmnhm,” she hummed while distancing herself just enough to see what she was doing. Her fingers slowly unbuttoned what was left, and her gaze was focused on her own actions. “...Thou didst gleam and shine, and didst chase away my blindness.”
Surprising Zone internally, Chalchi continued right from where he stopped, like she had memorized the whole book. Much more robotic than Zone was reading, but surprising nonetheless. See, the man didn’t even know the tühi liked philosophy. She never told him. And to remember a whole book so casually?
“Thou didst breathe fragrant odors and I drew in my breath; and now I pant for thee,” her words were as impeccable and lifeless as they could be. She didn’t feel them the same way others did, the way Zone did. She felt them in her own way, however that was.
And Zone wouldn’t deny it has stirred something inside him he couldn’t quite put into words.
In thoughtful silence, he watched her open his blouse fully, still not removing it completely. Her fingers travelled across his torso with a light feather touch.
“I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst,” unbothered yet clearly enjoying herself, she lifted her gaze to his eyes again, “Thou didst touch me, and I burned for thy peace.”
Zone didn’t say anything – he rarely needed to. But his eyes, dark and intense, burned with something different. He set the book aside for the moment, leaving it open right where he stopped. “I didn’t know you liked human philosophy books.”
That earned him a faint snort from Chalchi, the corners of her mouth pulling up to form a slight smirk. “I do not,” she answered, “But you do, and that’s enough reason for me to at least try.”
Zone blinked once. For a moment, his gaze seemed to soften, being replaced by something unusually warmer (if his alien expression allowed it enough). It almost felt unnatural for someone like him, who measured every act because they were learned by study and not really true feeling. This time, though, it was real.
His hand moved up to her face, thumb caressing her lower lip, narrowing his eyes, “... That’s dangerously sentimental,” he murmured lower now. It wasn’t mockery or judgement, just acknowledgement.
“You are sentimental as well,” she leaned in to press a soft kiss against his lips, lingering there for a moment while her eyes were still closed. “In ways you do not even notice it.”
The man held her face in place, his other hand possessively wrapping around her waist in a motion to pull her even closer, “I find that hard to believe.”
And while they kissed once more, the book remained open where it was; the last line of the page being: “...And I burned for thy peace.”