Page 50 of Noble Charms

Hm. Ego warranted, Aria nearly admitted—before he drowned the thought with wine. More wine. Extra wine. He wasn't going to think about Noble's long night, and his dedicated mouth. Wine. More wine, and also Noble's muscular arms, outstanding stamina, and big, soft, hot hands. No. Wine.

Aria was going insane.

He and Noble both reached for the same cashew, and Aria snagged it first. “You say my story has no color, but coming to completion is the whole point of sex. Nothing about that is kinky.” He was saying it more for himself than anything else.

“You speak true.” Noble stroked his bearded chin, square nails combing through the black, wiry hair as he pondered. “The most recent non-standard foray I’ve enjoyed—that I may employ again, as soon as I'm able—involved a mirror.”

Aria breathed out a wry, familiar snort, and he realized his error too late. Noble gave him an eagle-eyed look, seeking explanation for that all-too-familiar sound. Aria threw a hand up. “I suppose I've had enough wine to talk about it. Ellor liked that too. Liked to see himself. He'd a mirror mounted above the fireplace in his bedroom. Long, narrow. Tilted ever-so. He could see what happened while he did it, in almost any position.”

Noble tsked. “Oh, Aria. No.” Aria blinked a few times, confused, and Noble said, “I don't want to watch me. I'll have placed a mirror in front of her, while I'm behind, or below, holding her there, giving her nowhere else to look. A mirror where she watches herself while I make her come.”

Aria felt the blush rise to his cheeks again. “Right. Makes sense.” That was different.

Noble hummed, looking across the bar curiously, taking in the thinning crowd like they may have answers to his internal thoughts. “Then again, is that my kink? Where's the line? If she didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't, either. It's like a kink-with-stipulations. I’ll make you look at yourself while I touch you, but only if you’re into that? Surely there’s something else I can name.”

“Indeed,” Aria said, voice catching. He cleared his throat and reached for his near-empty glass of wine. He wanted to move on from all this. His blush would turn to fever if he didn't rid himself of it soon.

“Ah, I know,” said Noble, snapping his fingers. “Libraries!"

Aria choked on the one final sip of wine. Noble, concerned, leaned over to stroke a hand down his back. Aria coughed out, “I'm fine. Wrong pipe. Sorry.” When he caught his breath, he placed the wine glass back onto the polished wood bar top, and coughed into a hand. “I should probably stop drinking for the night.”

Noble nodded in understanding and looked at his watch. “It's late anyway. Shall we?”

He stood up and offered a hand for Aria to take, which he did, masking his trembling with a feigned, drunken grin. But he wasn't drunk.

He also liked fucking in libraries. It was perhaps his most fervent fantasy.

As he and Noble walked back home, the late-night chill wrapping around them both, Aria tried to control his wandering thoughts. Noble smiled down at him, unknowing, and Aria gave him a weak grin in reply.

Times like this, Aria had to wonder about their pairing. Elysium played tricks with the mortals living below, because why would he and Noble have a shared list of sexual wants? A man unattracted to men, a man singularly attracted to them, and together they walked hand-in-hand. As friends.

Only friends.

“What is it?” Noble asked. “You're acting odd. Well, more odd than usual.”

Aria opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. He and Noble were friends. Who else would he share this story with? He finally said, “I've had library sex.”

Noble froze, mid-step, stopped one block from the townhome, on the chilly, damp corner of Fifth and Wilshire. Autumn wind made his short curls bounce around his wide, disbelieving eyes. “You have not.”

Aria laughed and tried to play it off. “I have. I lost my virginity in a library, specifically.”

Noble's mouth dropped. Then he barked a laugh, swept his big, warm hands around Aria's middle, and pulled him into a hug. He said, against Aria's hair, “You scoundrel. And you weren’t going to tell me?” He wasn't laughing, but Aria could feel his smile against his scalp.

“Of course not, you deviant,” Aria mumbled, trying to push himself free of Noble's arms. “Don't get too worked up.”

Noble pressed a kiss to Aria's cheek before he let him go, and resumed their trek back home. They weren't holding hands this time. After a moment, Noble spoke again. “How was it? That first time?”

Aria rolled his eyes and trotted to keep up with Noble's long-legged strides. “Terrible. He wasn't good, and I had never done it before. But.”

“But?”

“We didn't get caught, at least.”

Noble's laughter followed them home.

But the truth was that Aria still thought of that first time, on occasion, especially at night. Nights like this one.

Noble retired to his room up the stairs, and Aria climbed into his own bed on the second floor. As he rested there, smelling vaguely of Noble's cologne and the cigar smoke of the bar, Aria grew warm. He tried to fight it for a minute, but gave in with a sigh.