"The first part was not difficult," he said against me.
"Was it nice?"I joked, squeezing him a little harder.
He exhaled."Hm, it was adequate."And then he trilled, jostling me slightly so that I had to fight to keep my balance."Nice is an insufficient descriptor, Sashen.You know that."
I grinned, glad he couldn't see the dumb expression on my face or how I was flushing."Yeah, Iwasthere," I said, and then I pulled away, just far enough so that I could look at him."Did you want to talk it out, what happened with Vivith, or did you want to hit things?"
He blinked at me with those pretty eyes.One of his hands drifted downwards, palming the curve of my ass."Is there a third option?"he asked innocently.
Who was voracious now?"That depends.Does the door lock?Because there are some very curious children somewhere on this ship, and I'm not interested in scarring them for life."
He grinned in response and strode over to the door, which did, indeed, lock, and then I showed him exactly what I'd been thinking about doing to him in the training room for days and days.He did eventually walk me through how to throw a punch and, more importantly, how to use my elbows (he described them asanatomically impressive).
We never did talk about what Vivith had said or how they'd upset him, and when we fell into bed that night – his bed again, and he made a whole production of putting the note in a place of honour on his desk and shrugging on the hideous sweater that looked, impossibly, less hideous on him – I didn't wonder once what they had said to Araxis to get him so off balance.I just luxuriated in the heat of his body, the smell of his skin, the feel of him moving against me.I let my need to be held, to be touched gently, to be cherished blot out any questions I should have thought to ask.
Given what a nightmare (ha) it had been trying to get sleep on this ship during the first week, it was a shock how well I slept on the remaining nights on Creche Thiel's ship, tucked against Araxis and cocooned in his nest of pillows and soft blankets.It wasn't just that it was easy to drop off, sated and warm, or that I didn't have a single nightmare by his side: I actually sleptwelland woke each morning feeling – I don't know, nourished and restored.Made new, like each night I spent with him was clearing off a balance I'd been running into the red for the past decade.Like I had a fresh start with him.
I'd never actually slept with anyone before, curled up together all night, and apparently it was something my body had been craving without my mind ever becoming aware that I was chasing that level of closeness.That it was intimacy and tenderness that I needed to feel whole again.
It also helped that we were training a lot and fucking a lot, and he was feeding me well.My body had never been so well-tended.Or the rest of me either, if I was being honest with myself.
I slept deeply and soundly, warm against Araxis, as the days slipped by despite how desperately I wished for them to hold still.Even as our arrival in the Thenat cluster grew closer, hour by hour, and the nights I had left on the ship dwindled down to only two – I knew because I couldn't stop myself from counting down, even when I didn't want to acknowledge pesky things likestardatesorcontractual obligations– falling asleep next to him was as easy as curling up in a sun spot.Or what I imagined that was like, anyway.
I stirred once or twice during the night before my second last day on the ship, feeling the first ghost of anxiety flickering in me as Thenat-6 loomed larger in my subconscious mind.Each time I drifted closer to wakefulness, Araxis's body was drapedovermine, rumblingsoothingly against my back, and each time it was the weight of him, his steady presence, that lulled me back under, that chased away the lingering spectre of my dark future.The third time I woke was to the feeling of his fingers trailing, just barely, across the skin of my abdomen, such a delicate touch that it almost tickled.
My skin prickled with goosebumps, my breath catching in my throat as I blinked to consciousness; my cock was already hard.The warm heat of Araxis's mouth pressed against the base of my neck – the flick of his tongue, the careful scrape of his teeth."You're awake," he murmured.I felt the words more than heard them.His fingertips trailed across my hip bone, leaving trails of fire in their wake.
I didn't even try to stifle the pleased moan that slipped out when he bit down, mouth hot on the skin of my neck as his hips were nested tight against mine."Can I touch you?"he asked, tongue swiping the prickling skin whereI was surehe'd just left teeth marks, scrapes embossed into my skin.Something about that – thinking about the mark he'd left, how it would be clear and visible to anyone who looked today and in the days that followed, that he had claimed me ashisno matter what his creche-mates thought of me – made my body throb; I wanted that, I wantedhim.
"Please," I hissed, and a warm rumble of pleasure vibrated through my back.Araxis's hand plunged down from where he'd been touching my hip bone, and the semblance of gentleness was gone: he reached, insistent, and wrapped his long fingers around my cock.My breath whined out, my body rocking back against his.His grip tightened around my length, palm shifting.
"Hm.You're dry."His thumb found the slit of my cock, and pressed.My body spasmed, sudden, and the sound that escaped me was a heated gasp.
"Yeah, we don't – Hn," his hand continued its certain exploration, fingers now a bit more slick as they traced the underside of my shaft."I can't – not like you –" For all the fooling around we'd done, this was the first time he'd touched me so quickly, that he'd touched me first.
"But you like that," he murmured."It feels good when you're wet?"
Words had, by then, entirely escaped me, and I found myself nodding instead.
Araxis's hand dropped away, and I whined, shifting to roll over and chase after him."Stay," he said, firm.His hand pressed against my shoulder, keeping me in place until I settled, pliant beneath his touch, and he finally let his fingers leave my skin."Who's eager and impatient now, hm?"
He movedbehind me, the light in his cabina muted pinkthat made the small room feel even smaller.I could hardly see the wall in front of me, but it felt as if the rest of my senses had heightened to accommodate that loss: I could feel him move, his hand dropping away from me and settling on his own body; I could hear the shifting of fabric as the blanket moved, and then the soft sound of skin against wet skin.A breathy little gasp hitched in his throat, and then his hand was wrapped around my cock again and deliciously slick, his skin skating over mine, fingers tighter, touchperfect.He had touched himself, I realized dizzily, just for me – just for this.
"Good?"He mouthed the word against my shoulder.I nearly choked on the groan I couldn't tamp down, writhing under his touch; itwasn't just the slick heat, or his hand – tightening and loosening, twisting, pumping, inexperienced but attentive to each hitch of breath and jerk of my hips.It wasallof it: his mouth on me, his voice in my ear, the smell of him, the heat of his body.It was having had this for four days and wantingsomany more.
"Araxis."My voice was hoarse, and his name was sweet in my mouth.
His thumb rubbed against the base of my cockhead."I'm here," he said."I have you."
Those words did it for me, a startling jolt of pleasure tipping me over the edge.I came, release jerking my body forward as his hand kept me pinned.Hismouth found my neck and he bit down as I shuddered, teethbreakingthe skin of my shoulder, a sharp and delicious pain;Araxiscurled against me as I came hard, shaking under his touch.My chest ached, eyelids pressed hard together, and I sucked in a long, shuddering breath."Fuck," I said, as Araxis's hand carefully released my dick.My heart was quivering inside of my chest, trembling like a broken thing.
Behind me, Araxis trilled, amused, and the mattress shifted as he rolled toward the edge.I twisted, squinting at him in the dim light."What?"I asked muzzily, and I knew the grin on my face was massive and stupid.
I could see the outline of his shoulders and the shape of his crest as he sat on the edge of the bed."You always sound so surprised when you come.It's very endearing."
I scoffed, flipping over to face him.I leveraged myself up so that I was sitting in bed, my chest hovering just behind the pale expanse of his shoulders.I reached out and touched the skin just above his hip, smooth and pale; my fingers were dark silhouettes against his skin."Well, you're surprising.You could put me out of a job, you know that?"
He trilled again, amused, but when he spoke next, his voice was lower, softer."I have an excellent instructor," he murmured."And would it be so bad, to be out of a job?Hasit been so bad?"
