She frowned and forced herself to open her eyes. The night sky was slowly giving way to dawn, and she had to leave before the sun started peeking over the horizon. She turned away from the window, and saw that Lor'themar was still asleep. Her expression softened a little as she watched the gentle rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, and saw how his loose, pale blonde locks spilled over the pillows and mingled with her own golden hair. She recalled how it felt to have those locks tickling her skin as he lay on top of her, and how it felt to run her fingers through them as he started to…
Sylvanas closed her eyes briefly and shook her head gently, trying to put the vivid memory from her mind. It wasn't even the first time she bedded him, but every morning after always started with her wrestling with the desire to stay and the need to get up and pretend nothing happened.
She began untangling herself from the blankets, being as quick and quiet about it as possible. She slowly swung her feet over her side of the bed and was about to bend down to find her clothes when she felt his fingers tracing her spine up from the small of her back. The sensation made her arch and let out a soft gasp, which he answered with a chuckle. "Leaving so soon, Syl?"
He knew her body and its reactions all too well. She smothered an amused smile before turning to frown at him. "This is a bit late as it is, Lor," she said, flatly.
He was reclining on his side, propping himself up with an elbow to smirk at her. "I'm not the one who kept us up all night by crying out for more," he quipped, reaching out to caress her waist.
She swatted his hand away. "At least I was demanding more, not begging for it." She raised an eyebrow at him pointedly. He pulled his hand away from her and covered his face with it, muttering a string of curses. She had to laugh.
He peered at her from beneath his hand with a smile on his face. "You haven't laughed like that in a while," he mused.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, quickly regaining her composure and resuming the search for her clothes. "I've laughed a few times the past week, haven't I?"
"Yes," he said, reaching beneath the pillow she had been lying on to pull out her undergarments from beneath it. "But I think I know you well enough to tell when you're faking it." He sat up and draped the two pieces of fabric over her shoulder. She snatched them away, but his hand lingered on her bare skin. He leaned closer to her, his hand running up and down her arm and shoulder idly. She could feel his breath on her ear as he spoke. "Syl, if anything's bothering you and you want to—"
She shrugged his hand off, and whipped her face around to give him a hard glare. "I already got what I wanted, Lor'themar."
Sylvanas thought she saw a hint of pain in his eyes before he drew his lips into a tight line. "Of course," he said, his tone unreadable. He moved away from her, standing up to retrieve pieces of clothing scattered about the floor.
She found it odd that she couldn't look him in the eye, even as he handed her the rest of her clothes. He knew what he was getting into with me, she thought to herself, pulling on her garments a little too roughly. We've been over it a thousand times. We both needed that rather harsh reminder. Why did that…
She peered over her shoulder. Lor'themar had his back to her while he pulled on his own pants. He didn't notice her looking at him, as he ran a hand through his hair in a seemingly frustrated gesture.
…why did that make me feel guilty?
Part of her wanted to reach out and hold him, to nestle her cheek against his soft, cornsilk hair and whisper a gentle apology. Would it be so hard, that part of her wondered, to show him a bit of tenderness? Would it be so wrong to seek happiness in his arms?
Would it kill you to love him?
She turned away, willing the expression on her face to harden."We've been over this," she said, trying to keep her tone neutral. She walked over to the mirror across the room to look herself over. She was missing something, but couldn't quite place what it was. "We agreed not to make things complicated."
"I wasn't trying to," he replied, plucking something off the nightstand beside his bed. It was the necklace her sister gave her. Sylvanas cursed herself inwardly for forgetting it. He undid the necklace's clasp, holding it up by both ends of the chain as he walked up behind her. She gave a brief nod and slid one hand over her nape and the back of her head, holding her hair up as he gently looped the chain around her neck.
He was looking at her reflection in the mirror while he fastened the clasp. "You don't have to chastise me for every friendly gesture that doesn't involve sex, Sylvanas." Her eyebrow twitched upon hearing him purposefully avoid the nickname he often used in private, but he smiled down at her as she shook out her hair and turned to face him. "We're both adults now," he said, the playful tones easing their way back into his voice. "I'm sure we know what we're doing. And you've made what you want perfectly clear. Repeatedly." He cleared his throat.
Sylvanas almost winced at that, and the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them. "What about what you want?"
She thought the question would startle him, but he simply tilted his head at her curiously. Before he could answer her, a ray of sunlight found it appropriate to grace Sylvanas' face.
"Great," she muttered, squinting at the sunrise before turning back to him. "I knew I should have left earli—"
The rest of her complaint was silenced when he crushed his lips against hers, kissing her with the same urgency and fervor he did the night before. She could feel her knees buckling even as she ran her hands over his bare chest and returned the kiss, but he held her steady. One of her hands slid to the back of his head, fingers tangling in his hair as she pulled him closer, forcing him to kiss her even deeper.
He pulled back after what seemed like enough time for the sun to rise halfway across the sky. Her ragged breathing and her tight - almost painful - grip on his hair told him she was feeling rather frustrated with him at the moment. He grinned. "I think I just got what I wanted."
"You are going to pay for that," she growled, tugging on his hair before letting go and rushing to the window.
"Tonight?" He called after her, his mischievous smile never faltering.
"Don't push your luck," she snapped, darting off the windowsill and out into the woods.
Author's Note: This little Lor'themar x Sylvanas fanfic started out as smut, but then it (d)evolved into a morning-after-smut thing when I had a hard time uh… "choreographing" certain parts of the original. In any case, I thought it would be interesting to play with their banter in this sort of setting and show how I figured their dynamic would be like when they were off-duty.