Chapter 2

Even though the sun had sunk behind the mountains an hour ago, the night air settled into their tents, heavy with dank heat. The hum of cicadas reverberated all around them and more than several Shepards tossed and turned in their beds. The looming next morning where they would win or die fighting on a landscape akin to the pits of hell hung over all of their heads.

Haura was late.

Lon'qu was not surprised. He did not have to walk over to the war tent to know how she paced around the table and musty maps, throwing rapid fire ideas out to Chrom and, just as quickly, killing them in the air with a flick of her hand. Or perhaps she sat this time, fingers folded together, silent but eyes darting around the grid, bright in the lamplight. Her hands would forget and run through her bangs, dig into her bundled hair, and fly to the map again, spreading, pointing, orchestrating movement.

They would not be smiling. Haura did not smile as a tactician, said it was not proper to derive such glee from the deaths of hundreds. But he had seen her snarling grin as a soldier when she ripped through their enemies. He would not deny he had worn a smirk of satisfaction himself over a fight well won. They were only human after all. Inappropriate, imperfect soldiers with their propriety-damning, ill-timed desires.

This was, Lon'qu realized as he finished folding their clothes, the first time they had declared so far in advance their...intentions. The hazy anticipation mixed with old anxiety made him nearly freeze up even as he sat in their tent alone, surrounded not by unfamiliar women, but by piles of laundry.

He did not want to think of their first, or second, or even third tries. Perhaps some day in the far future, he could look back to those moments with a smile and a chuckle at his naivety. But with only two months into their marriage, the memories only churned his stomach. Thank the gods Haura had been as inept as him and as willing to forgive mistakes. If she had worn that same triumphant smirk she had when she stood over her fallen enemies, his mind would have clouded over completely.

When he looked down, his hands had finished folding everything. Careful not to knock the mosquito net down onto his head, he stood up and stretched, spine cracking and shoulders popping into place. The air, like lukewarm soup, made him lethargic and Lon'qu stifled a yawn. He could already tell night watch would be a struggle tonight, especially since the sleep he had been getting since coming to Valm had been less than restful. For a...variety of reasons.

Nightmares came more frequently and he would wake with Haura's hands on his back and shoulder. Do you want to talk- she would begin, before he clung onto her, breathing hard in her hair, feeling her heartbeat, her chest expanding, a reassurance that she was alive and real and here.

Most nights, that had been that, Haura falling asleep sitting up and Lon'qu, calm but too unbalanced to return to sleep, had lain by her side until dawn. And then that one night, she had asked in a sheepish whisper, Can I distract you? Lon'qu had exhaled a ragged breath, yes-

They fell back down to the bed, unsure of whose hands held what, of where their legs began and ended.

You should go to sleep. He had murmured, as her lips trailed down his chest. It had been a considerate suggestion, but in truth, all he wanted was utter darkness and Haura engulfing him, swallowing his heart, burning through his remaining senses. She had snorted and shoved him, a little too hard, but Lon'qu did not mind and he had grabbed her back. They wrestled upon the bedsheets, reminding him that this was, despite his incredulity, his life now, with Haura laughing and gasping because of his hands on her skin.

She had struggled to pin him down, throwing her legs around his torso to pull him over, but Lon'qu had grabbed her arms and wrestled her down. It was tactile, it was sloppy, and Haura would hiss, low and wanton, making blood pound his ears. Her hands that night were not a maiden's hands, just hers, sinuous and taunting, and his teeth found his way to her scars. Lon'qu twisted against her, mostly quiet, until he touched her there; then his breath would catch and he would forget anything other than sweat and heat-

Lon'qu snapped himself out of the recollection. Since when had he become so lecherous that he could cause his own neck to burn and his insides to clench with nothing more than memory? Lon'qu took a deep breath, hoping to mediate away desires he did not intend to satisfy tonight, when Haura crashed through the tent flap.

"Sorry, sorry. The maps we had were utterly useless. Say'ri wasn't kidding when she said the villagers avoid it like the plague." Haura came in with her usual chatter. Lon'qu noticed her hair had indeed been mussed from all the times she must have run her fingers through it and he allowed himself a small secretive smile.

Unconcerned by Lon'qu's eyes, Haura began shucking off all her clothing immediately, boots thrown haphazardly in a pile near the front, armor clattering to the ground. Her fingers had already lifted the hem of her shirt when Lon'qu stood up from the bed hastily.

"Wait."

Haura looked at him from between her elbows. His mouth was slack and his brow furrowed. Slowly, she let her shirt fall back into place. The mosquito netting was a soft haze between them, washing over his features.

"Come on in." Lon'qu voice had turned hoarse as he bent down and pulled up the weighted ends of the mesh. Haura nodded in slow comprehension and she ducked to slip underneath the rippled edge. Her head caught the off-white gauze for a sliver of a second and, as she shook it off, Lon'qu watched it slip off her shoulders and pool on the ground, like a fallen veil. Almost like a new blushing bride coming to the marriage bed for the first time. But, as she raised her head to face him, her face full of naked desire, the only one blushing was him.

"You have half an hour." she asked- no, stated as if it were a challenge. As she stepped forward, the back of his knees hit the edge of the cot and he fell onto the bed. It took a moment for him to realize she was talking about his night watch. "I'll make you come quickly then. That is, if you would like?"

Heat shot through his stomach and choked his breath and oh gods, her words alone had made him ache. He reached up for her waist before his fingers stilled and he paused.

"Do you still want to-?" he asked, looking up to her lithe form outlined in the dim lamplight, because he had to check, he always had to make sure.

"Do you?" And Haura leaned down, her hands planting on either side of him so all he could see was Haura stretching and spreading over him. She whispered as if telling an embarrassing secret, "I couldn't stop thinking about this the entire day. So yes. I still want to. But only if you-"

"Yes." he breathed, no longer caring how shameless his want for her was. He propped himself up on his elbows as Haura leaned down, stray strands of her hair tickling his cheeks. Her lips pressed down on his, the curve of his throat exquisite as he strained up to meet her. Gently she pried open his warm, pliant mouth with her lips and Lon'qu shifted his weight onto one forearm so he could reach up and run his fingers through her hair. The feeling of his fingers digging through her tightly bound hair and lightly scratching her scalp, causing Haura to arc slightly back with a breathy sigh.

"Can I-?"

"It'll get in the way. But I know you like it that way." she murmured and, although he turned pink, Lon'qu wasted no time pulling out the pins. He tugged a little too roughly and Haura hissed in pain as her hair tumbled free, down her back and around her face, long swirls of copper red raining upon his face.

"Sorry-" he began but she shut him up with a chaste kiss to the bridge of his nose. He let his eyes flutter close. His long black eyelashes flitted across her cheekbones as she worked her way down to the tip of his nose. She paused to stare at the way his eyes crinkled shut, his nostrils flared slightly for air, and his pale trembling lips parted with a smear of their saliva in the corner of his mouth.

Then she slumped down onto his chest with a huff. The sudden weight sent them falling bodily back onto the bed and Lon'qu opened his eyes in surprise with a grunt. Her entire body was flush to him now and she had face planted into the bed with her chin hooked over his shoulder. Her groan shuddered through both of their bodies and Lon'qu resisted the sudden desire to grind up between her legs. "What's wrong?" he murmured into her ear, enjoying the way she bent into him as his hands sought her waist.

"Nothing, just, gods, I'm going to sound like an imbecile, but your expression, your eyes, your lips, was just...beautiful- nrgh!" she whined into his messy hair as his hands went lower and gripped her ass. It was warm and curved into his hands. Haura whispered urgently, "...my face is all red. And you're wearing too much. We won't finish in time."

"Stop thinking about the time-" he demanded lowly and squeezed on her ass. With a groan, she bucked down. Lon'qu felt his own arousal coil in the pit of his stomach as he ghosted his fingers down the side of her thighs and was rewarded with a sigh as the tension flowed out of her shoulders. His hands continued to wander and Haura's breaths started coming in short and staggered. The only part he agreed with on her was that he was wearing too much. The layers of clothing starting to feel damp and restrictive as he moved underneath his squirming wife.

"But-" she managed to squeeze out when his hands had paused on her hips.

"...I bribed Gaius to take my watch." Lon'qu admitted and Haura slumped forward again to laugh into his hair.

"And you call me the trickster. Couldn't wait, huh?" she pushed herself back up and he reached up to brush her hair behind her ears.

"Hmph. And who snuck into my tent before we were even engaged? You lusted after me first."

"All I did was throw figs at you-"

"Sounds naughty." Lon'qu said with a grin even as his face flushed deeper and whatever was left of his rational mind writhed in pain somewhere in the back of his head.

"...I suppose you win this one." she laughed lightheartedly, but Lon'qu could see the way her eyes narrowed and her gaze trailed down the man lying splayed out and prone to her. Some devious plan was forming in that brain of hers.

"But let me tell you, while you might be an expert with the blade, I think I have a distinct, ah, vantage, here." And her mouth and hands trailed down, parting the folds of his shirt, an elegant contrast of warm brown against the paleness of his torso. Lon'qu forgot how to breathe as she traced down the line of a scar, her eyes looking up through her lashes every once in a while to gauge his reactions. He swallowed audibly and nodded, before letting his head fall back with a stifled gasp as she took one of his nipples into her mouth and swirled it with her tongue. His hands found their way to her hair again, as it trailed down his flushed skin, leaving little whispers and kisses wherever it fell.

There was a pause as Haura undid his belt and he pulled himself up to slip off his shirt. He tossed both articles of clothing aside and it hit the mosquito net. The tent creaked and they froze in place. Luckily, the net stayed in place and did not fall from its hook. "Let's, uh, not bring our tent down." Haura muttered with a nervous laugh.

"...I agree." Lon'qu did not fancy getting stuck underneath all that mesh and canvas while half naked with his wife between his legs. He twitched as Haura went onto her knees and rested one hand on the curve of his thigh. "Are you-? You don't have to-" he asked breathlessly.

"I want to. We have time, don't we? And you said you could handle a little...exertion." She said in a low voice and Lon'qu was pretty sure all the blood left in his brain drained southward. She presented her hands to him and he obliged, leaning forward to lick her salty fingers, drawing circles against her joints with his tongue, and letting his saliva drip down into her palms. When he pulled away, a sticky strand connected his lips to her fingers. Haura was trying to look cool and unaffected, but he could see the staccato rise and fall of her chest through his lidded eyes. "Utterly beautiful." she replied and Lon'qu would chuckle at her sense of aesthetics if he had not suddenly become very aware of the tightness of his pants.

A/N: I hope you enjoy my first forays into this weird, wondrous world of smut.