One good thing about Mercury was that, despite his grating personality, he never hogged the blankets.
The aloof act didn't suit him at all. Ever since they were kids, Mercury was the clingy one, the one who wanted the most affection and demanded it constantly. She knew it bothered him when she struck out on her own, keeping his tongue clamped tight between his teeth when she rolled in at 2AM and the other two pretended not to wonder where she had been.
Lately he'd taken to following her when he could. Like most things between them, it became an arms race— how long could she dodge his tail? How subtly could he stalk her? Even then, most days she 'won', since he couldn't go for very long without letting her know how successful he had been. He'd blow his cover to goad her into a reaction, either negative or positive, just as long as she was paying attention to him.
She doubted he did it on purpose, or that he even realized it what with how hard he pretended not to care. And she knew it wasn't at Cinder's request. Cinder never asked for an explanation, never issued orders unless they were imperative.
But if she did, they were required to heed it to the letter. It could sometimes mean life or death.
Emerald was getting bad at listening.
He pressed his forehead against the center of her back, one arm slung possessively over her hips. All pretense at distance vanished when he was most vulnerable, unconscious body acting in a way his waking mind would be horrified to see.
She took his hand and shifted it higher, just under her chest, thumb stroking along his index finger.
The warehouse had been the most stable place they'd slept in a long time. Life was constant motion; staying under the same roof made her skin crawl. And it was so much colder than the other hideaways they'd found over the years, underground networks and motels. Too much space for any kind of heating to be adequate.
In the main room of the warehouse, several dozen secondhand bunks stolen from a hospital supply store were lined up in rows for the night. Sectioned off by sheets of heavy canvas held up by rickety frames, it was a tent city of homeless faunus and White Fang hopefuls.
There were offices for leaders of the White Fang and for Cinder's crew, a mattress on the floor that Mercury propped up against the wall when they had woken up and needed the room to conduct their meetings. More than once they got accused of favoritism, preferential treatment given to a human even here at the heart of the resistance. She ignored them, and the rats confident enough to attempt a hands-on approach found themselves needing the hospital beds for their intended purposes. Her latest scuffle ended with a knife through some guy's stomach. How was she supposed to know he was only fourteen? Fucker was at least six feet tall.
Cinder said it was temporary, like most of their living arrangements. Emerald thought it couldn't be temporary enough and she couldn't wait for the day when they'd be moving on again.
The only thing was, she had no idea when that would be. Or even what their next step was. Ever since the Tukson incident, Cinder hadn't spoken to her at all.
And Cinder was the one who made the rules.
Mercury started moving in his sleep, responding to her touch by giving her hand a squeeze. Shifting closer under the blankets, Mercury mumbled nonsense, lips moving against the back of her neck.
Emerald jabbed her elbow into his side. "Quit it. Merc, you're doing it again."
For a moment he was lucid enough to kiss her and quip, "You love it," before settling back into deep slumber. It wasn't unusual for them to have an entire conversation like that, one party waking up just to respond until another thirty minutes of peace rested between them. They were all light sleepers, the three of them. It came with the territory.
The bed big enough for three, only two of them there. Felt so wrong.
Not to mention Mercury's sleep-wood kept jabbing into her lower back. She was just restless enough that turning around, pinning him down, and riding him til she had worked some of the excess energy off seemed appealing. The privacy that their little office afforded them made it more tempting; they didn't always have this.
But he was still asleep, more or less, and the idea of waking him up just for that held little appeal. Especially since she knew he'd try to lord it over her for at least a week.
Nudging him in the ribs a few more times until he got the hint and let her go, she slipped out of bed and he rolled over onto his other side. Pulling all the blankets around him, he muttered a word of caution to lock the door if she was going out, or the dirty fuckin' rats might sneak in and throttle him in his sleep.
She grunted her agreement, going outside and securing the door after herself. Anyone who really wanted to kill either of them likely wouldn't be dissuaded by something as simple as a deadbolt, but she humored him anyway so he wouldn't whine about it later.
Away from Mercury's body heat, the dead chill of the night hit her full force, little pins and needles into her bare thighs. Most of her clothes, sleepwear included, were meant for something more like Vacuo's persistent humidity. Vale was just too fucking cold.
Her bare feet guided her past the main warehouse floor, the sleeping noises of a half hundred faunus 'soldiers' blending together to be something meaningless, like a creek babbling in the forest. At first she didn't know where she intended to go, but as she glanced up at the sleeping Paladin, its heavy frame still wet with red paint, it hit her that Torchwick might know Cinder's next move by now. Maybe she could shake it out of him.
There was a strip of light underlining the bottom of his office door. Smiling tightly, she padded over and tested the handle, surprised to find the door sliding open without resistance.
The reason why became immediately apparent. When she opened the door, familiar, raw heat emanated out of the small room. Lounging barefoot on the tattered sofa pressed against the far side of the tiny room, Cinder's incurious gold eyes glanced up at Emerald's arrival. Her surprise registered as a faint tweak of one shaped eyebrow. The desk was empty; Roman must have been off running another heist.
She shouldn't have been surprised to see Cinder here, really. She slept on that couch most nights since Tukson fucked up their relationship. Cinder had a project on her lap, stress relief. Ever since they were all children, Cinder had a needle in her hand, weaving in and out. Whether for function, for pleasure, for utility or repair, Cinder was always creating something.
Whenever she wasn't burning something down anyway.
Maybe this was better, Emerald thought. Maybe she should just go straight to the source.
But her mouth remained firmly shut, mind still occupied by a time not too long ago. When they first met, Cinder was thin as a whiplash, just one of the older girls who did the mending, and maybe a little extra work if you slipped her something to trade. She always had something to trade. Always knew your favorite food, your secret wishes. It felt like she could read minds, but Emerald knew it was just the nature of those eyes. Always half open, scanning with absolute certainty, monitoring habits until she knew them as well as you did.
When Emerald turned fourteen, Cinder gifted her a tube of lipstick and a small makeup set, knowing that Emerald always watched her too, wanted to emulate the older girl. When Cinder ripened up like a peach in spring and suddenly everyone else had their eyes on her, Emerald burned under it. Emerald had done it first. Nobody else should think they were the first.
When she was fifteen Cinder plaited her hair with the skill of a weaver, a style similar to the one Emerald had pinned to her bathroom mirror. The older girl kissed her, tasting just like the lipstick Emerald wore. Not the same shade, no, different reds complemented different skin tones. But the same make.
"I'm not mad, you know."
Of course she said that instead of a greeting, not that she needed to. Cinder never got mad, Emerald wasn't sure she ever even raised her voice. Despite the heat of her hands, the flare of her aura, Cinder herself never burned hot. Always flat and cold, metal glittering as it exchanged hands.
"Why not?" Emerald demanded, not buying it. Cinder had to at least be displeased. Why else was she torturing her? Shutting her off? The cold approach was unbearable; Emerald would have preferred a shouting match over the past week of tense silence.
"Because I love you. Sit with me?"
She did. Like when they were kids, her head resting on Cinder's lap while she mended something. Life had been safe, but boring. After ingratiating herself to them, Cinder promised an escape, as long as they did what she told them to do.
They did. Things hadn't changed much in seven years, yet at the same time nothing was ever the same. They lived transient lives, only their connection to each other keeping them afloat.
Every so often Cinder would pause, run a hand down Emerald's shoulder and squeeze her tight, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. Cheekily grabbing her ass once or twice, too, though not with any more promise than a joke.
"What are you doing?" Emerald asked quietly after a while.
"Tailoring your uniforms. The fabric on the store-bought ones are so stiff and uncomfortable, you could bludgeon someone to death with one."
Emerald buried her face further into Cinder's lap. "Uniforms?"
"For the next part. We're going to be keeping as close an eye on the project as we can."
The next part?
Immediately piecing it together, Emerald's eyes widened as she sat up, grabbing Cinder's face to direct her attention away from her needlework. "We're moving soon? Out of this barn?"
"Yes." Her eyes lowered, contemplative. Always thinking two, three steps ahead. "We've already stayed here too long, the White Fang loyal are getting itchy with our presence."
"You can say that again."
Cinder's eyebrows drew closer together, her irritation on a low simmer. "Oh? I wonder if you stabbing that boy earlier this week has anything to do with it."
Pressing the flat of her palms against Cinder's shoulders, Emerald shoved her back against the couch. She went with it, not responding, not willing to cross blades on her level. "What was I supposed to do? Let him walk all over me?"
The accusation was batted away without any effort. "You should have come to me first."
"Why can't you trust me to do anything on my own? I handled it, didn't I?"
"Poorly. How can I trust you if you don't even consult me before taking action? This is just like Tukson all over again." She set aside her needlework, claws threading through Emerald's hair to clutch the back of her head, pulling her in close. She pressed their foreheads together, closing her eyes. Seeking patience. "You need to ask me for what you want, Emerald. You need to talk to me. Without trust we are dead and gone. Do you understand that?"
Emerald swallowed. "Why me and not Mercury?"
They both knew the answer to that one. Mercury was as liable as the knives in her hand. He didn't have a calculating bone in his body.
Cinder's grip tightened, pulling near the roots of her hair with a sudden viciousness. "Answer me."
So much of their life was tied together at too many junctures, the force of command linked intrinsically to the things they would do alone. Head jerked at a harsh angle, Emerald could only gasp. An echo of her earlier frustration with Mercury ached at the contact, making her almost instantly wet. "You are angry," Emerald whispered, burning with chagrin and strained desire. "You are. Stop lying to me. Maybe I'll be honest back."
The same hands that braided her hair were the ones that would wind steel cables around her wrists and neck, would grab and hold and singe in the throes of release. For a tense second Cinder didn't say a damn thing, didn't project anything except a faint tremble. Then those hands captured Emerald by the throat in an instant, all Cinder's cold fury ignited.
"You wronged me."
Still she never raised her voice, but it came out as a snarl regardless of its volume. She squeezed, sitting up, forcing Emerald back. "You hurt me. You almost hurt all of us, blown the whole operation because you couldn't keep your feet still."
Here's where the argument really lay. Cinder hadn't cut her breathing yet, still letting her talk back. "Tukson deserved to die."
"Of course he did. They all do." Cinder eased her grip; immediately Emerald moved closer to sit on her lap, resting her knees on either side of Cinder's hips. "I would have let you go," she murmured, still wounded. "I don't control you." Her palms burned hot on her exposed midriff, stroking the bare flesh. "But you need to think about people other than yourself." It gave Emerald no small amount of pleasure to note Cinder's hands wandered now, caressing her wherever she could reach with the kind of desperation that she wasn't even sure Cinder knew she was projecting. The idea that it had been a struggle for Cinder to shut her out, so vindicating. "And I need recompense."
Cupping her face, Emerald pulled her into a furious kiss to feel that possessiveness again. She wanted it. She wanted it. Cinder had to know she wanted it. She dragged carmine nails down Emerald's back, past the flimsy elastic of her waistband. Grabbed her ass, pulled her apart, found her slit from behind and found it hot and slick. Her fingers thrust inside, groaning Emerald's name. Relief washed through her, finally something to assuage the tension that had been building all night.
But then she stopped, pulling back an inch to study her from half-lidded eyes. Shaking from the effort to keep it from spilling out, Cinder finally pushed Emerald's face away with one hand and turned aside, laughing helplessly.
Emerald slapped her open palms on her chest, shaking her head free to fix Cinder with a glare. "Excuse you! I thought we were going to do the makeup sex now."
"No." Cinder said. She brought her fist to her mouth, pink tongue darting out to clean her fingertips. "None of that. That's what you want. I need something else."
The urge to plead grew overwhelming. She knew if she asked to keep going they would, but her mouth pressed thin and the beg died in her throat, battered down by the force of her own pulse. "Then what… what do you want?" she asked instead, voice hoarse.
That's how she found herself naked, face down on the couch, arms twisted behind her back with a length of silk rope.
"Trust," Cinder said, sitting back down to finish her needlework. She only moved Emerald to make sure her head rested comfortably on her lap again before she continued her sewing.
God, she was cold.
It took an iron personality to wield Dust the way she did, of course, but still it managed to shock and disgruntle Emerald. "This is stupid."
Cinder was preoccupied, several pins clenched between her teeth as she examined the swath of black cloth. Then she took one of them out, dragging it across Emerald's bare back. It scratched, raising the skin but not piercing it, before she jammed it through one of the ropes. Emerald jumped at the sudden movement, expecting a stab of pain, but the pin didn't sink through the fabric deep enough to reach her. As long as she kept still, anyway. "I needed a pin cushion," Cinder teased after her mouth was free, all the pins sprouting from the rope now. "You can leave if you hate it so much, there's nothing on your legs. Or... if you tell me what you want."
There was no way she'd run out of here just to kick on Mercury's door until he let her in. "You know what I want."
"No, I don't. We've been together for a long time, sweetie." Her voice was so soothing, even now, a low timbre that threatened to put her to sleep. After remaining still for so long, Emerald had relaxed into it, zoning out to the repetitive movement of Cinder's arms near her as she sewed, the intimacy of her voice. "I know how you think. Most of what your next actions will be. But I still can't read your mind."
Sighing, Emerald snuggled closer to her. Glad they were talking again, even if Cinder still seemed to be mad at her. "Yeah, but you know the gist of it."
"I don't want the gist." Another pin crawled over her skin. She wished she had been lying on her back instead, so she could feel them on her breasts too. "I want it all." She pressed in; Emerald gasped and tensed, waiting for it. An ounce more pressure would break the skin. "Tell me everything."
(I can't.)
It eased, and a more dull sensation let her know Cinder had fed the needle through another strand of rope. Shit would be so frayed when they were done here, not that Cinder ever had trouble finding new toys to play with. "You need to talk to me."
(I can't.)
"Ask me for what you want."
"I can't!" Heedless of the needles that started to scratch with the movement, Emerald resisted and struggled until she managed to sit up, facing away from Cinder with her head lowered. "I can't. I shouldn't have to. I shouldn't be punished for trying to— I just wanted you to—"
Look at me, look at me, look at me.
Cinder molded against her back, arms wrapped around her. The pins pricked; the tighter she held, the harder they pushed in. There had to be at least a dozen by now. "I need to know you still love me," Emerald said.
"And I need to know I can trust you."
"You've got me naked in an unlocked room, completely helpless. Isn't that enough?"
Cinder didn't respond.
Emerald exhaled, breath shaky as Cinder's teeth found the nape of her neck, a less insistent pain than the tip of the needles, but she knew how sharp they could get. Cinder had left her covered in bite marks from head to toe more than once, especially in colder locales. Forcing her to 'put on a sweater so you don't freeze to death,' she said. Which of course prompted Emerald to walk about with all the marks on display, a dozen imprints of a bloody mouth.
"...Then fuck me," Emerald said, under her breath. Delight coursed through her when Cinder's palms cupped her breasts, thumb pinching down to catch her nipples between the length of an index finger.
A tight grip held the back of her head, forcing her down again. "Ask me." Ignoring the order, Emerald just arched her back, trying to grind back into Cinder's hips to get her message across. One hand on her ass, Cinder stopped her, following up with, "Or I'll untie you and kick you out of the office until you learn."
No, no, no, no.
"I want to get fucked." The words came out slowly, hard-won, mouth muffled by the fabric of the couch cushions. "I want you to…" A question, it has to be a question. "I mean, c-can you please…?"
"Complete sentences."
She snarled in frustration, earning another sharp tug on her hair. Irritated now, she spat, "Can you please just stuff both my holes without being a huge bitch about it?"
She honestly expected to be punished harder for that, but Cinder surprised her by laughing, louder than Emerald could recall hearing her get in a while. "Well," Cinder said, pausing to suck another bruise on to her neck. "That was a question…"
"Good. Now if you're— nnnnn—" Two fingers, at once, sliding across desperately wet folds to find her clit, completely wiping away whatever thoughts she'd been holding. "Oh, god."
If she kept that up too much longer she was going to come. That wasn't what she wanted, but she knew Cinder was trying to teach her a lesson about asking permission. "Stop teasing and get to it."
A long sigh. "This is a step in the right direction, at least." Cinder moved behind her, the change in balance and absence of heat letting Emerald know she had left. There was a clatter on the floor, fabric being moved about. Cinder only had a suitcase to her name, scuffed and red and well-worn from a life lived in the shadows of civilization. Emerald hadn't even realized Cinder had been keeping it in Roman's room instead of theirs.
The unmistakable sound of foil ripping open made her heart race. Wriggling in her spot, Emerald wondered if she could turn around or if Cinder wanted her to stay still, when she realized—again, that was the point. They needed to talk. "Can I watch?"
"Sure." None of them carried anything more valuable than the weapons they'd crafted together. Cinder's few other possessions were carefully folded onto the floor when Emerald turned around to watch her unzip a canvas bag where she carried a few toys, packets of lube and condoms.
The toys were glass, translucent and pink, like bathwater after a fight. Like the porcelain sink in their shared bathroom in the apartment, a year after Cinder and Mercury started dating. A year after they'd left the orphanage, still stuck together by the hips. She'd wobbled in with a broken nose and too many bruises to count, all her pockets lighter. The pair of them, her best friends, were on her like a shot.
"What happened?" Mercury had a more open face back then, willing to let himself care and let the girls drag him around willy nilly. Things were still sort of like that, but he'd reserved himself for only two girls nowadays. Content to be a shadow, quiet in the background until they needed someone beaten down. He always loved that part.
"I got mugged, what the fuck do you think happened."
She snarled at the sting of a cold hand towel on her busted nose, earning her a smart rap of knuckles from Cinder. "Stay still. If you're lucky, this won't hurt too bad." Another hand took her by the chin, and before Emerald could ask what Cinder planned, pure heat flooded through her face. She gasped, holding onto the edge of the bathroom sink til her knuckles went white. It felt like Cinder had shot her up with something illegal, coursing in her blood.
"This is what you get for wandering around the city at asscrack thirty in the morning," Mercury chided, keeping her still with a forearm across her chest. "Cinder's been playing around with aura. Maybe she can fix you up."
Emerald wanted to tell him the reason she was alone was because she couldn't watch her best friend fuck the girl she'd been pining after for years, couldn't stay in the house when seeing her red tipped nails caress his cheek put her in a rage so deep and blank it scared her, like it could swallow her up and she wouldn't even feel a thing. When Cinder retreated, her eyes had come alive, burning liquid gold instead of freshly minted lien. Quaking from head to toe, Emerald's breathing had gone ragged and her clothes were soaked through with sweat.
"Feel better?" Cinder asked with a knowing smile, planting a kiss on her forehead.
It didn't hurt at all, but in place of the pain Emerald felt an electric buzz fill her, more energy than she knew what to do with. It hovered between her ears as meaningless white noise. Heart beating out of control. Instead of answering she grabbed Cinder by the front of her shirt and kissed her open mouth, hands crawling all over her body.
Cinder didn't resist it, pliant against the sharpness of her desire. "Emerald," she said into her mouth. "It's rude to kiss without asking permission." Her teeth pulled at Emerald's lower lip, the sting almost enough to snatch her back to reality.
Mercury kept where he was, watching intently. "What are you feeling?" he wondered, other hand coming up to stroke her face. "That's my girlfriend you've got all over you, Em. Do you even know where you are right now?"
Those words, at last, triggered her into alarm. Shoving Mercury's arm off her and turning around to look at her own reflection. Her pupils were blown up, black and wide as olive pits. "What was that?" she said out loud, touching her reflection. "What was that?"
Behind her, Cinder nuzzled in close, cheek to cheek. Her arms wrapped around Emerald's hips, holding her flush against her body. "Your aura." Cinder was on her thighs now, stroking through the fabric of her shorts. "I felt it. You were inside me."
"Yeah," Mercury said, seeming amused by all this. "It feels pretty great, huh?"
A fat drop of blood slipped out of her nose, splattering on the porcelain. "Didn't fix everything," she said, opening the tap and watching it run down the drain. It transfixed her; she wasn't sure who turned it off and who grasped the back of her neck, holding her and rubbing her down until some of the tension left her, or who helped her out of her clothes and into the shower. They both had known her for so long, it couldn't have been the first time they'd seen her naked, didn't even register as off-kilter until she remembered they were dating each other, not her.
It was Cinder who dried her off, rubbing a white towel over her head until she was fluffed up and messy, kissing her again when she was done. "You're so cute. Mercury wasn't half as cute when I did him." Only half of those words made any sense. "Would you like to feel it again?"
Emerald shook her head quickly, trembling all over now at the retreating heat. Whatever Cinder had filled her with, it left her cold afterwards. It was a low as quick and as intense as the high had been. From the other side of the bathroom, Mercury tossed one of his t-shirts at her; it hit Emerald right in the face, making Cinder laugh and Emerald swear death on him and his descendents. The next thing Emerald knew she was ushered into her room and Cinder was spinning a gold key around one index finger, the doors locked soundly behind them.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Emerald nodded over to Mercury, who had launched himself over to Emerald's bed belly first, flopping on the sheets she'd made this morning. "No boys allowed when the doors are closed, Cin," she reminded her. Where had she gotten a key, though?
"Em, we're not at the dorms. You really don't even know what planet you're on, do you?" Mercury scoffed, lying on his side with his head propped up in one hand. "Not like anyone followed the rules there, anyway. How do you think she and I did anything fun?"
Clutching her own head, Emerald tried to struggle through her thoughts, waiting for the red haze of anger to wash out everything, leave her alone with her own jealousy. "I don't know." Her head pounded. Whatever Cinder had done to her, she still hadn't sobered from it. Had she really kissed her? Was she even awake right now. "I don't know. How?"
"Like this, silly," Cinder said, chasing it with a kiss harder than the first. "If I'd known you still carried a torch for me, I would have invited you in sooner, you know."
Her head swam. "Invited me in?"
She may as well have weighed nothing for how easy it was for Cinder to hoist her up, set her down next to Mercury. "You know," he said, giving her cheek a peck. "In. Can I get a kiss too, or is just Cinder you want?"
Mercury. She hadn't even thought of Mercury that way, not in a long time. So many other people, including him, thought it was going to end up that way. They were always together, always had been. But then Cinder…
But then Cinder squeezed herself into the bed as well. It was too small for three people to lie down, so she had Emerald sitting on her lap, opening up her legs for her hand to stroke her inner thighs. "I could," Emerald murmured, Cinder's lips on her neck. "I could kiss you too."
"Cool." He zipped over at once, grabbing her face to press her against Cinder with the force of his kiss. Thumbs rubbed against her cheeks. "Do you really want to, or are you all fucked up on Cinder's aura still?"
The idea that he'd kiss her before checking in irritated her, but not enough to stop. "Quit being an asshole and do it again." He listened at once; having sex with him wasn't so much of a hassle back then, everything wasn't a competition. Cinder chuckled, opening her up wider for Mercury's fingers to touch her, hesitantly. That was so strange, she was sure he'd go for her tits first if he ever got the chance. She twitched at first, nearly jumping straight off the bed, but Cinder held her still with iron strength until she wasn't throwing a fit at every strange new sensation. No one had ever touched her before, she'd hardly touched herself. She hadn't wanted anyone to until Cinder was there, year after year, just out of her reach until now.
"You're so wet," Cinder said, breath on the shell of her ear. She had taken Mercury by the wrist, guiding him inside her with just one finger, cautiously. "Do you want more than this? Want him inside?"
Emerald didn't get it, about to say he already was. She was just fine with the way his middle finger and index thrust and curled, better than fine as Cinder took care of her clit, careful not to hurt her with the ends of her long nails. "Emerald?" Cinder asked again. How the hell did she expect her to talk when she was on the verge of boiling over?
Her orgasm hit her as just a big a surprise; there was no way she could keep quiet, couldn't even begin to think of being quiet. So Cinder's hand clamped over her mouth, shutting it off until she was still and could breathe, could think.
Mercury ducked his head down to press his face to her chest, sighing happily at the softness. "Aw, my shirt's way too big for you," he said. "Like you're wearing a tent. Circus Emerald. Fun for the whoooole family."
"You're a creep."
Pulling the shirt up over her head, he paused only to kiss Cinder over her shoulder. There was an ease and familiarity to it, unlike each deliberate, careful action they took with her. How long would it take until they were like that with her?
Emerald got squished between them in their desire to reach each other, Mercury's erection stretched tight underneath his pants; she could feel it press against her as Cinder's hands untucked his shirt, stroked over the ridges of his abs. "Th-this is really happening."
"Hell yeah. My turn next, right?" Mercury asked, undoing his fly. Emerald stiffened, not saying anything.
Cinder paused as well. "No," she said, after a moment. "Maybe next time. Now it's you and I."
"Fine with me," he nearly sang, his lips pressing fondly to Emerald's forehead, cheeks, lips, before kissing down her shoulder to her breasts. "Hey, slap me if I bite too hard or something, Em."
She didn't get a chance to, since Cinder had him flat on his back a few moments later. He palmed under her dress, yanking down her underwear and tugging her up to his face in two seconds flat. There was no hesitation at all here; Emerald watched, fascinated by the sight of Cinder's back to her, hips rolling, countless affirmations and instructions murmured under her breath.
"So this is what you two do without me, huh?" Emerald said, only half joking. Mercury had been holding onto Cinder's thighs, stroking whatever he could reach, but at the sound of her voice he flinched, as if suddenly remembering she was there. Then he sat up, grabbing Cinder by the waist and squeezing tight when she complained.
"Well," he said, "If you're gonna be sour about it you can leave, you know— owowowowowow!" He squinted his eyes shut when Cinder took a fist full of his hair, tugging on it.
"Did I say you could stop?" she demanded.
"No ma'am."
"Then put your mouth back where I need it. And touch yourself."
"Yes ma'am." Sitting back, he fumbled his pants down just past his hips, pulling and stroking himself off while Cinder rode his face again, taking more obvious pleasure from telling him what to do than the act itself. Struck with a sudden idea, and feeling devious, Emerald scooted between his feet, reaching out to help him.
He paused again when her fist wrapped around his head, groaning helplessly. The sound was muffled, but unmistakable. His hand covered hers, showing her the speed and the force he liked before flopping flat on the mattress, limp with pleasure.
"You're distracting him," Cinder said, and then just sighed in defeat when Mercury cried out again; Emerald had taken him into her mouth, sucking hard. Emerald thought that was pretty cute, even more cute how his hands didn't seem to know what to do next. Torn between clutching onto Cinder's thighs, or caressing Emerald's head, or pulling up where his shirt rode high on his chest to touch himself.
"C-can I—?" he choked.
Cinder thrust down harder. "Ask Emerald if you can come in her mouth."
She hummed in agreement, swallowing out of curiosity more than desire. Mercury didn't get the time to relax in his own afterglow, however, immediately sitting up again to squirm out from underneath Cinder and onto the floor, looking abject. "Sorry, Cin, but you were suffocating me."
"It's fine," she assured him, stroking through his hair. "I wanted to try it. Thank you for indulging me, sweet."
So that was something they hadn't done before. Damn. Still, Emerald found she preferred watching from this angle better anyway; rather than her slender back, she could study Cinder's face, watch her eyes close, lips parting in a gasp as Mercury happily finished her off on his knees. Cinder found her hand, squeezed it. Heart pounding in her ears, Emerald kissed her, sitting as close as she could, listening to Cinder's breathing spike.
"What does that feel like?"
Silence responded to her, for another fifteen minutes Cinder just bit her lip and said her name, her release less dramatic than Mercury's had been. One shudder rippled her whole frame, a pained moan cut off by another kiss. When she could speak again, she did with a short, exhausted laugh.
"Want to find out?"
Funny, she didn't think she'd ever enjoy anything more than a finger inside her. And yet now...
"You're kind of a freak for preferring glass even for that, you know."
Kneeling in front of her suitcase, Cinder gave her a sidelong glance before spitting the condom wrapper out of her mouth. "Yet I'm not the one who begs for it every night."
Emerald stuck out her tongue, parting her knees to flash Cinder with wide open legs. That prompted her to smirk, returning with the small bottle of lube in one hand, toys in the other, both of them wrapped up. "We should leave something in here for Roman to find," Emerald said, flexing her arms once to test the bonds. She was rewarded by a series of sharp needlepoints all over her back. Good. "Make him wonder if the Fang are using his office for quickies." She let out a small squeak when Cinder knelt in front of her, setting the lube down to yank one of Emerald's legs over her shoulder.
"Which one first?" Cinder asked, taking advantage of her position to get a taste, a few careless strokes of her tongue along Emerald's slit.
She let out a low note of satisfaction. "Mmmm."
"Well?"
Emerald shrugged.
Cinder rolled her eyes. Even covered up, Emerald could feel the chill of the glass head through the latex when Cinder teased it on her clit. "You are the worst bottom."
Bucking her hips, Emerald tried to do it herself, wanting to feel it, needing to be stretched to her limit. "I'm the best bottom, now give it to me." Both the toys had a flared base, could safely fit inside her ass without risking getting swallowed up. Thinking about it, Cinder slid the toy along the crease of her thigh instead, humming thoughtfully.
"Oh my god," Emerald said, gritting her teeth. "Okay, cunt first please? Feels like you're gonna make me beg for each thrust at this point."
"I do like how talkative you're being tonight." Cinder tapped her thigh with the head of the toy. "But I don't like that word, it's vulgar."
Vulgar? That was rich, coming from the one who was happily coating her with sewing pins. "So? It's mine, I can call it whatever I want."
Heat seeped into her, flaring in through her skin wherever it made contact against Cinder. Emerald gasped. Eyes aglow, Cinder sunk the toy in to the hilt. One slow, even motion. "No it's not," Cinder told her, and though she had let the toy go it pushed and receded with every flex of her wrist. It was huge, ridged and covered in bumps, stimulating with each idle movement. "It's mine. This, too," she added as an afterthought, inching in the lube-coated tip of the second toy into her asshole. Waiting for Emerald to relax, she withdrew it to put a few more drops of lube onto the shaft. The next thrust went in deeper, pulled out less, edging closer and closer to having her up to the base.
"Merging auras is cheating," Emerald said, but her whole body was quaking now from the pure fire coursing through her veins. She still wasn't sure how Cinder did it, wasn't even sure it was safe, but it was so good. The first toy thrusted lazily on its own while Cinder lapped at her clit, waiting patiently before pushing the dildo any further up her ass. "G-god. Yeah. It's yours." The fire spread from their points of contact to coat every inch of her skin, both toys now quivering with the force of Cinder's semblance, working in tandem, alternating, one thrusting in as the other pulled out.
Cinder sat back on her heels, her grin sharp and toothy. "Glad to hear it." One palm open, Cinder pushed it forward against empty air, eyebrows furrowing. The glass toys responded to the motion, moving forcefully now. She was full to bursting, the tension unbearable but delicious. She knew if Cinder bent her head to go down on her one more time she'd break.
But she got up, hands on the cushions as she leaned over and kissed Emerald full on the mouth. "Okay, pillow princess," she said, "You decide when you get off, now." Did she really expect her to be able to talk now? Anything other than ragged panting was beyond her. Her hands coaxed along Emerald's thighs, squeezing and stroking her bare skin.
On instinct, she tried to move to rub herself off, only to have the needles warning her that too much of that would be a bad idea. So she sat still, breathless with need and too overwhelmed to speak. "I c-can't," she managed to say around grit teeth. "I can't."
"Are you sure?" At the word, both dildos pushed in at the same time, filling her completely. She gasped, wordless. "Are you telling me I wasted my time here?"
"Cinder—!"
Her partner, lover, best friend, kissed her full on the lips, a kiss full of teeth and tongue. "Ask me for what you want, Emerald," she said, for the last time.
There was only one answer to that. On the edge of release, knowing it was just outside her grasp, made her desperate. Her thoughts were broken, fragmented. "You," Emerald said, head bowed, sweat beginning to bead up and trickle. When had the room gotten this warm? "You, Cinder, it's always been you! You're the only thing—the only one—" Her hands hovered right over where she needed her. "—Please. Please."
She touched her, firmly, stroking her off at last. Emerald was fairly sure the whole warehouse heard her scream, but that was always Cinder's pleasure, to silence her when no one could hear, and burn the ears off anyone in range when they could.
When Cinder pulled the toys free, tossing aside the condoms into the wrapper, Emerald felt like she might drip straight onto the floor. She was soaked through, drenched in sweat, slick with enough lube and her own arousal that she wasn't sure one shower would be enough. Cinder returned soon, untying her and putting all her belongings back into the suitcase where they belonged. For her part, Emerald flopped over onto her side, flexing her freed arms and making small noises of pleasure.
"You next?" she wondered, still aching from the aftershocks. Cinder squished herself onto the couch as well, tucking Emerald into her arms and kissing her softly.
"No," she said, "Not tonight. But you…" a hand went lower, only to stop when Emerald moaned in protest.
"Cindderrrr," she whined. "You know it's hard for me to come more than once, that's why I gotta make the one count."
"All that fuss for just one orgasm feels wrong…"
Emerald just grumbled more.
Shaking her head slightly, Cinder just pulled her closer. "Fine, fine. Come here." They lay like that for a while, waiting for Emerald's heart to stop beating quite so hard. "I do love you, Em," she said, more than once. "I do."
When Emerald knew she needed to move soon or they'd spend the whole night there, she stretched out, lifting her arms high above her head. "Who knew asking permission got you everything you wanted," she said. "Does this apply to breakfast, too?"
"Possibly."
Emerald caught her in another kiss, the languorous movement after so much frenetic activity like a bittersweet chocolate for dessert. Being a master thief and a stubborn, selfish asshole meant asking for the things she wanted was not her first impulse, but if it meant more days like this, she might have to make a habit of it. "Then I want you to come back to bed. Mercury misses you."
Cinder's eyes glittered like a gold coin. "Just him?"
"The bed misses you, too."
She loved the way Cinder's laugh sounded. Tugging on her clothes, she languished momentarily in the feeling of pure bliss that came after a rough round with Cinder before a tug on her hand brought her back to the waking world. Cinder led her over to the room they shared with Mercury; she'd have to take a quick trip to the bathroom when she could will herself to let go of that warm hand.
Before they slept, Cinder asked if she could take the center, to be between the pair of them. Emerald agreed, falling in behind her with a huge sigh. "There's something else, too," Cinder said, one arm around her waist and the other around her neck, hand deep in her hair.
"Anything," Emerald murmured, reaching around her to reassure herself that Mercury was still there too.
"It's time you learn about the next phase. Tomorrow," she added when Emerald's eyes shot open. "Tonight you sleep. I'll need you to steal some transcripts for Beacon, get them forged with our ID's."
Thinking hard on it, Emerald slowly nodded. "Yeah, babe. Sure. That'll be easy as pie."
"Easy as Mercury."
He made a deep, offended noise, letting them both know he was still listening.
Sleep found her; and the searing hot touch of Cinder's aura slowly faded away into darkness.