A quarter of a cycle after Nerri left, Chiana created a rule. It was one of the only rules she followed and that was mainly because she'd made it herself. She called it the "I Love You" rule and the name basically summed it up. She could frell around with whoever she wanted for all as long as she wanted, but the microt Chiana heard her lover muttered those three words (or some variant), that was it. They were through. No exceptions. It didn't matter how good he was or how wealthy or how exciting, she'd pack up the nothing she had and skip town. It was safer for everyone that way, she figured.
Cycles passed, but her rule kept strong. It followed her across the Uncharted Territories. Chiana tried to need it as little as possible, leaving before it was necessary. But, as she would one day tell a young Luxan-Sebacean kid, she always stayed too long. And of all the places she stayed too long, she stayed on Moya the longest.
They were in his room, the white fur blanket long ago tossed off of D'Argo's bed as a different kind of heat negated it. Flesh against flesh, sweaty, fast, and hungry. Chiana's favorite. She was close, too. She could feel the familiar tingling pleasure begin to boil over. Breathy "Yeah"s escaping her in scattered moans. The only problem was that D'Argo was closer. She felt him tremble underneath her, trying hard to hold off a little longer, his pants getting shorter, closer together. Chiana picked up the pace, urging herself to catch up to him. It was working, too. Her hands dropped to his chest for support as the surges of pleasure became more intense. "Yes..." D'Argo's hands were gripping her waist, fingers pressing her harder and harder against him.
They were together, teetering on the edge. Chiana could read his body almost as well as her own at this point. D'Argo's panting had turned to nasal yelps and she was beginning to see stars. It wouldn't take much to set them off. She moved her hips up, positioning herself for the perfect strike. In that microt the world was spinning, pleasure and heat and joy pounding against their glistening bodies. But it was time, no more dragging this out. Ruthlessly, Chiana bucked down, releasing all the tension their connecting bodies with a euphoric scream, her head tilted back. D'Argo's breath caught and right before he erupted in a deafening yell, four words tumbled from his open, gasping mouth. "Chiana- I love you."
There was a fraction of a microt after she heard him, brain and body still occupied by a pulsating override of sensation. But eventually it registered. He'd said it. He couldn't- He couldn't say it. Head back, eyes closed, D'Argo still inside her, Chiana made a very fast decision. She'd pretend. Pretend she hadn't heard those frelling words, pretend he'd never said them. She felt D'Ago still underneath her, his breathing heavy, but... quieter. She could also feel his anticipation. He knew what he had said, but Chiana didn't. At least that's what she'd make it out to seem, what she'd pretend and pretend and pretend until hopefully she would even convince herself that she hadn't heard D'Argo say them. Those words. Because if she didn't hear it, the rule wouldn't be broken.
And if the rule wasn't broken, then Chiana could stay there, lying back down beside him, tucked away in a place she had stayed too long. With a guy, she actually wanted to stay longer with./p