Relax

The hotsprings were devoid of other patrons this late at night and the front counter clerk was too busy trying to stay awake to pay attention to the two guests that were here, so when Estelle ducked into Yumanju's female changing room, it was all too easy for Yuri to sneak in after her unnoticed.

Except by Estelle, of course, who quickly turned on him with a look of both shock and reprimand.

"Yuri, you do know this is the girl's room."

Yuri just smirked and grabbed the bottom of his tank top with crossed arms. "I know," he replied simply, and started to pull, but he was only able to get the garment up to his ribs before his girlfriend squeaked like it was her first time seeing his bare chest (it wasn't) and firmly grasped both his wrists to stop him.

"W-what are you doing?!"

Yuri quirked a brow at her. "Oh come on, it's not like you haven't seen it all before." There was even a faded but still barely visible day-old bite mark on his thigh to prove it, so Estelle really didn't have any right to be scandalized, but she went pink in the face anyway. "The bath is reserved for just us. Do you really want us to talk through a partition the whole time?"

Yuri certainly didn't want to have to bathe separately when nobody else was around and apparently Estelle wasn't any more fond of the idea than he was, because her eyes shone with sparks of agreement and interest that she failed to smother. "It's against the rules," she protested, but he could hear her caving. "You could get in trouble."

"Then let me get in trouble." Taking advantage of their entangled arms, Yuri yanked her in, closing the distance until he was gazing straight into her wide eyes and Estelle's breath was mingling with his, brushing fast and warm over the skin of his lips. "I'm not leaving unless you can tell me you don't want me here."

He was just daring her to turn him down and Estelle may have been the stubbornest person he'd ever met but she also obviously desired this just as much as he did, so eventually she sighed in defeat and released his hands. Yuri grinned as he finally pulled the top up and over his head and once it was off, he glanced towards Estelle and grinned even wider to find that, despite her pout, she was already done unbuttoning her dress.

Several minutes later, they were in the spring together, towels discarded on the poolside as Yuri sat down next to Estelle. He and the princess didn't touch at first, their hands at their own sides, their hips separated by a few inches of water, and Yuri was all too conscious of that somewhat awkward distance but attempted to ignore it in favor of focusing on the heat seeping through him all the way down to his bones.

His concentration broke when Estelle reached over to dig her thumb into his shoulder.

"I think it's time for a massage," Estelle explained before he even had the chance to ask, and when her other hand prodded the space between his arm and the rock wall as if seeking access to his back, Yuri happily shifted to bare it entirely towards her. Careful fingers pulled his hair aside to press knuckles into nape and the pleasant jolt that was sent racing down Yuri's spine tingled like sparks of magic. The swordsman sighed almost unconsciously and sunk a tad lower into the water as knots unraveled, as tension he hadn't even known was there seemed to evaporate with the steam.

After a while of talented hands moving steadily from neck to shoulders to upper back, Yuri murmured, only half surprised by the tremendous effect her touch had on him, "You're pretty good at this."

Estelle pushed against his spine one last time and then pulled away, slipping around to Yuri's front. Water lapped at her chest as she beamed. "I'm glad. You looked like you needed to relax a little."

Yuri rolled his shoulders, appreciating the lack of stiffness in them, and gave Estelle a quick once over. Making a decision, he bent forward just slightly, holding back a grin.

"I think you need to relax a bit, too."

He launched at her before she had the chance to react, arms shooting through water and wrapping around her waist to pull a startled, splashing princess into Yuri's lap. Estelle shrieked in surprise and slapped his shoulder hard enough to sting.

"Don't do that so suddenly!" She started squirming, but her efforts were only halfhearted and his arms were locked tight around her as skin glided comfortably over skin, and soon enough, she dropped the indignation and let herself unwind. Estelle crumpled limply into Yuri's chest like some sort of wet, slippery blanket, her whole form shaking with poorly concealed laughter, and when her hand found his beneath the water, Yuri entwined their fingers out of habit, his other arm still curled loosely around her middle.

"…The water's wonderful," Estelle whispered once her giggles died down, turning in his hold to meet his gaze. Her green eyes were sparkling; her entire being was glowing, really, with moonlight shining ethereally over her skin and gleaming in the drops of water that trailed down pale skin and supple flesh, past her neck to where her breasts were just barely concealed beneath the surface of the milky water. The mere sight had affection washing over Yuri in waves.

"Yeah," Yuri finally breathed, shifting against her, tilting his head until his mouth hovered over hers. "Amazing."

He wasn't talking about the water.

And if the way Estelle smiled knowingly and then planted her lips upon his was any indication, neither was she.