Disclaimer: Pokémon and all related characters and materials are property of Game Freak and Nintendo.
Notes: 49. "Gasping confession" for 500themes. This time, I've finally got all the correct English names! "Cilan" is Dent, for those who may not have heard yet. The two of them are depicted as being... slightly older in this.
Simmer
By: Nanaki BH
"T-this is a little..."
Although his sentence cuts off, Cilan can still tell where it was meant to go.
"You haven't done this before?" He's intentionally vague. If he gets any more obvious, he'll risk feeling crass and might make Ash feel more uncomfortable than he probably already is. After all, what he is asking is whether he, at sixteen, still doesn't have any experience.
'No' is a perfectly good answer, the preferred one even, and when he mutters "No" so softly that Cilan can barely hear it, a smile erupts across his face.
Ash buries his face against his bare chest to hide the reddening of his cheeks and pinches him sharply in the side.
"Knock it off," he mutters. "I just didn't wanna do it with anybody else..."
Words like that feel reassuring and make his heart feel warm for all kinds of reasons that are probably still very wrong, especially since he's been an adult for a while now and he knows the kind of trouble he can get into with the boy in his bed. The one with his naked legs tangled with his is more to him than just some boy, though. For years, he is all he's thought about and this is an important moment for him.
He knows how to read people so well now. It isn't just their pokémon now. Cilan really knows. He can see down into a person's core and understand just from a glance the kind of things they have locked inside of them. This timidness, this hesitance to grow up and leave behind a part of him is what holds him back now, keeps his hands from touching back, but is also what makes Cilan's heart pound harder in his chest.
He loves his innocence and just hopes that he can touch him without breaking him.
It might be shameful at this point to admit that he isn't experienced in this way at all either, but he decides that he'll share that fact with him later. Right now, he wants him to be as far away from nervous as he can be so that he can show him that it doesn't have to be frightening or difficult. It takes all the knowledge and tact and grace he's gained from working as a host for years to be able to know what to say and how to hold him to ease the quiver in his shoulders.
"I love you," he says quietly and kisses his forehead. When Ash looks up at him again with widened, glistening eyes, he moves lower to kiss his lips. Relief floods his senses when he feels him kissing back.
Nothing goes above medium. He questions him delicately about how far he wants to take things and realizes quickly that less is better for a first time. He nearly forgets that it's also his own. He feels strangely in control and yet also like he's spinning wildly out of control the closer he gets to him. It would be foolish to say that he hasn't wanted this all along, but he feels ashamed for thinking so forwardly. In their years traveling, he kept his affections to himself until he was sure that Ash felt the same for him.
Now, years later, with him laying willingly at his side, he knows that rushing at the finish line would be a mistake. He needs to take his time with him now more than ever.
For someone normally so vivacious, Ash falls surprisingly quiet and he keeps his chin tucked to his chest as Cilan's hand wanders carefully down along his side. His breath stutters, barely noticeable, when he smooths a hand down over his backside and massages gently. The covers are still drawn up around them to afford him some sense of modesty, but Cilan can feel the way his arousal twitches against his thigh as he moves his hand lower to stroke the soft skin of his inner thighs.
He hears his name murmured again softly against his shoulder and he turns his head to kiss his lips again. He loves him. So he repeats the words to him and wraps his arms around him.
There isn't anywhere left for him to go. Their hips press together and Ash's eyes flicker up at him with that hesitance again, but there's a fire there now. It's what makes his cheeks look flushed and makes his heart beat quicken in a way that Cilan can feel against his own chest.
He repeats the words to him and takes them both into one of his hands, moves slowly yet firmly and begins a rhythm. It's enough to make them both gasp, their breaths mingling in the space between them. Soon, there's no space at all. Hard to deny his own desire, he takes Ash's mouth with a little more force than he would have liked if he had the presence of mind to hold back. The raw stimulation draws Ash closer and pushes his inhibitions further away, makes him move against him and whimper softly and encouragingly when Cilan tightens his hold and moves his hand faster.
"I love you, too," he gasps with his arms around Cilan's waist. Any more words he tries to articulate fall in broken moans from his lips.
They finish, panting against each other's lips, hands roaming over skin with more confidence than before. When they both open their eyes they realize that the sheets had somehow gotten kicked down some ways and left them bare at their waists.
Something about it makes them both blush suddenly and look away from each other, laughing awkwardly as they collect the blankets back up around them. But once they're back in place, they lay there next to each other and smile. Under the sheets, their hands meet and their fingers thread together.
The look on Ash's face is so happy and unreserved and innocent that Cilan can't help but feel anything but pleased by it.