Through the Pain


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It didn't take her long to find the same page as him, and when she did, she was lurching forth into his suggestion. If she hadn't of been so overwhelmed by the pressure of his finger inside her, she silently assured herself that she would've slapped his arrogant smirk from his face as it curled the lips pressed to her shoulder.

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"I told you I'm here."

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"Not helping," she demanded in a hoarse shout. She ground her teeth with hopes of stifling her anxious whimper, her whine desperate and shameful. "Hn, why does it hurt? Nobody said anything about it hurting!"

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He knew her gentle complaint was meant to be rhetorical, but the way she bore down on him and locked up around his presence wasn't going to help with her comfort. "Easy…" He raised his free hand to the back of her head and slowly massaged her nape through the thick curtain of hair at her back. "Relax, would you?" He droned his words tenderly, trying his hardest to sound casual as he worked his finger between her thighs. The last thing she needed to know was that he was just as anxious and needy. If for a moment, he wanted to try and make it all about her. "Clenching like that probably isn't helping." His thoughts faded into fantasy as he closed his eyes and increased the pressure of his palm on her nape so to encourage her into the kiss he placed on her temple. "Fuck, at least I hope this isn't just you… I know you're tiny but…"

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Neirah threw her head back with a desperate cry, but aside from release, the gesture also had the dual purpose of hiding her mortification. Her nails sank into the shoulders she clung to until he was groaning with the pain of her resistance. "No, Laxus I can't… It hurts so-" Neirah was whimpering as he withdrew his fingers and took a hold of her, rotating her swiftly in his lap.

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She was adjusted to face away from him, driven to her knees with her back pressed against his chest. He had taken a more comfortable position on the bed behind her. She could feel his hips press tight to her tailbone and moments later one leg was stretching alongside her knee as his other raised against her side. He tipped his lips to her bare shoulder blade and tickled her skin with his speech. "Are you ready to stop all your whining and listen?"

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She quickly swung her head to the side, a weak smile on her lips as she panted and managed to glimpse him out of her strained adjustment in gaze. "When do I ever listen to you?"

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He wasn't missing a beat when he placed a gentle kiss on her shoulder and stared past her into the room around them. "And what happened last time you didn't listen?"

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Neirah's heart sank grimly as she also adjusted her gaze to stare vacantly forward.

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She'd almost lost him forever.

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"What is it…?" She whispered softly in compliance. He had been the better man when he managed to admit that he didn't want to fight any longer, something she should have admitted long before that night. She didn't want to be the cause of them taking two steps back; not when they'd come so far.

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He gave his thumb a lick before smoothing his fingers down her front and rolling it over still-sensitive nerves. "Spread your thighs until it hurts. And before you go gettin' modest, just remember that I've seen you do an aerial split because you weren't patient enough to take two enemy heads one at a time."

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Neirah flinched and looked down at the knees she sat upon, quivering as her clitoris was stimulated carefully beneath his thumb while he waited for her to obey. Her face ignited as he robbed her of the only excuse she might have had to keep from opening up to him. "That's so lewd," she groaned defiantly through trembling breaths.

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"If it makes you feel any better, I'm back here now. I can't see shit," he murmured. He nuzzled her hair from her collar before he rested his chin on her shoulder and placed a gentle kiss on the side of her neck. "Not that something like that should be on your priority list after getting a mouthful of y-"

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"Laxus!"

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"Damn, you're pretty in that shade," he gently taunted. He indulged his fingertips in the feverish heat of her flushed skin, if only for a moment. Next, he curled his second hand around her and took one of her breasts into his palm, kneading the flesh hungrily before giving her nipple a playful tweak. "Nobody else is going to see you," he assured her tenderly. He couldn't help but delight in the breathless moans to fill his ears with his absent fondling. "It's just us for once…"

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Neirah's upper lip stretched thinly over her pouty lower when she silently obeyed his suggestion, slowly spreading the legs she knelt upon until her groin started to burn with the strain of the pressure. What frustrated her was that even that smidgeon of pain felt erotic. It was almost comforting.

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He laid his forearm across both of her breasts, smothering them as he pressed her tighter to his chest. "That's it, just breathe."

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Neirah watched his fingers stroke her from between her breasts when he shifted his forearm away from their mass. "I know you're trying to be comforting, but you're really not," she ascertained while continuing to pant in panicked anticipation. His light scoff of amusement rattled against her neck as he took one of her hands and stretched it back to his nape. The act of rolling her shoulder puffed her chest out as immodestly as she was forced to spread her thighs. She couldn't possibly be any more open for an imaginary viewer. Her brow knotted curiously for the suggestion as her fingertips met the fair hair on the back of his neck. "Is this supposed to help too?"

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Laxus rested his chin on her shoulder, remaining close to her to minimise the strain of his encouragement. He grinned and slowly shook his head in denial. "No, I just like how it feels," he admitted bluntly. The effort he exhausted in speech caused her to shiver as he brushed his fingertips over the sensitive underside of the stretched appendage. When his arm freed, he focused on encasing her defensively beneath him to shelter her dainty figure by his. The euphoric feeling overwhelmed him.

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Her small smile was sad looking as she furrowed her brow and tugged lightly on his roots. Her big brother had hated when she pulled his hair as a child, even if it was to get his attention. It was so strange to hear someone encourage the act, especially when that someone was Laxus. "When I play with your hair? You like it?"

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The intensity of her shiver was visible when he pressed his lips to her ear to boldly rumble his reply. "It turns me on."

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"I'll stay," she swiftly agreed in a mousy tone. She was almost intimidated by the heat of his breath so close to her pulse. She hadn't really noticed how long his hair had grown over the last year or so, not until it was tangled between her fingers. She shifted her attention to where she could watch him work and her heart was racing with anticipation. She knew that at any moment his fingers would try to disappear inside her and the worry made her thighs shudder in recoil.

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Laxus took her second hand and rested it beneath his against her firm stomach just beneath the tail of the shooting star at her navel. "Now," he encouraged gently. "You know I've loved your tight little body since the day I laid eyes on it, but I don't need it any tighter than it is right now."

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"What do you mean?" She whispered unsteadily.

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He slipped his fingers between hers and continued to press them to her soft, relaxed skin. "You'll feel it from here when I'm inside you again, the way you stiffen up." He tipped his chin to one side, letting his nose linger against her gently flushed skin for a moment of indulgence. "Don't."

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She took a deep breath into her puffed chest, her hand flexing around the back of his neck with her anxiety. "And if it hurts?"

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"It won't for long."

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Neirah leant to one side so that she could link their gazes and absorb his confidence. She understood very little about what she was experiencing that night, but she did realise that the snail-steady pace they'd been crawling at was entirely for her benefit. She offered him a small smile as she felt the grind of his uncomfortable adjustment behind her. "Thank you," she whispered appreciatively. And just in case he didn't take her gratitude seriously, she gently fondled a handful of his hair to show him that she really was paying attention.

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She didn't remove her smile as he leaned forward and covered her lips with his. The effort was gentle at first, but the moment she felt his tongue begging for passage in a small prod against her lips, she was more than willing to offer him the sensation he needed. It was then, the same moment his tongue plunged past her teeth, that his finger was thrusting up into her body beneath the heat of his palm. She could immediately feel her abdomen flexing with her resistance to the pain and she quickly adjusted knowing that his hand lingering atop hers was equally as aware.

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She sighed into their kiss, her brow knotting as her chest expanded with the deep, tremoring breaths she sucked inside. It was still uncomfortable, to have him within her, but as he assured her, it was far less than before. She tugged on his hair with the casual strain rather than tightening her lower half, something the passion of his kiss encouraged her to continue. As he stroked her, she could feel the rise of fluid on her thighs. It was noticeable for the chill it brought when the air of the room cooled burning skin. As humiliated as she was, it didn't seem to bother him so she was reassured that it was likely natural. The pain had almost slipped away with the loss of friction.

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She was almost ready to moan again.

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Backing away from her kiss, he allowed her a moment to whine with delight. In response, her head tipped back and her breath formed a steamy cloud with the release of a stifling interior body temperature. "I told you," he murmured triumphantly against her shoulder. "Things go a hell of a lot smoother when you just relax and let me in." He smiled to himself as her cheeks coloured with his words, the tips of her ears rosy with shame. He groaned lightly and gave her ear a gentle nip. "Obviously something's got you hot." He pressed his lips to her shoulder and closed his eyes as he extended his finger almost to the knuckle inside her. "Wet…"

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"Stop it," came her breathy response.

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He narrowed his gaze to mere slits and watched her carefully behind his sinister smirk. "Stop what?" He instigated. "Can't be what's goin' on down there because I can feel your heart beating against my chest through your shoulders." He watched her colour silently deepen, her tight lips silent as her chest swelled instinctively forward. "Don't." His encouragement was rooting her back to him with the hand he'd placed over hers. "Just get used to me."

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He watched her through his weighted gaze as she whimpered and whined, pleasurably squirming against him. Confident that moisture had slickened her entrance comfortably, he started to adjust the intensity of his pace. "Try to keep up, Princess."

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He loved the resulting response to his arrogant quip, the pressure on his skull chasing an appreciative hiss from inside him. Her eager moans encouraged him when he brushed his thumb over her throbbing clit with each stroke, the swollen bud so stimulated that it was hard to avoid. What really made his chest ache by force of his own eager libido, was the gentle rock of her hips against the pump of his finger inside her. "Tiny Dancer," he rumbled huskily. He raked his teeth delicately over her shoulder in hopes of calming his internal hunger for her flesh. "Fuck, you make me crazy… You can bet I'll be testing your limits tonight."

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"Laxus, stop talking," she unintentionally howled.

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"Why?" He didn't mean to respond in such a sinister hiss, but the buck of her hips against his fingers also nursed the steeling erection pressed alertly against her rump as she rocked. "When it's so blatantly obvious that it's driving you crazy."

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He all but growled as she flinched with the sudden jolt of heightened arousal washing over her for the first time, her hand beneath his flexing against her own stomach. The elbow connected, however, was tightening in unison, and rubbing just hard enough against the split in his chest to remind him that he wasn't invincible that night. His breath released him like steam escaping.

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"You're always so quiet. Why now do you decide to get chatty?" Neirah demanded in broken segments. "You're such an instigating brute!"

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He hated the taste of perspiration on her flesh as his nearness encouraged its presence. He had just managed to retrieve his thoughts for himself, but they were barreling away with his mortal sanity all over again.

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Neirah retracted both of her arms and threw them against his thighs at her side, fingers clenched and nails biting the surface with her tension. She was obviously a little too overwhelmed to hear his haggard grunt of pain when her arm crashed back into his wound for a second assault. His delicate flower uttered a startled cry of indignity, completely forgetting his lessons in comfort as she flexed and weaved. All the while, though, she never once stopped rocking against his touch. He may have pushed to strain her snug channel, but she wasn't denying it. She was embracing him.

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With his second hand free, he moved toward guilty indulgence. He continued to stroke her, his breathing uneven as he tried to catch it. Then, with his second clammy palm, he reached past his own waistline and wrapped his hand around the cock eagerly awaiting the kind of stimulation he'd been offering her that night.

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He gave himself a tight squeeze at the base of his shaft, working his way up and out in time with the thrust of his finger against her. He closed his eyes, the furrow in his features intensifying his expression with irritated desperation. He should have known that fueling the fire in his veins was an unwise decision when he was already aiming with a hairpin trigger. He was battling some serious inner conflict on the sedation of her eager moans. A part of him wanted to indulge and force his way into her memory with rough hands, but another part of him encouraged himself to remember that she held his heart and to abuse his position put him at risk of losing its beat.

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He wanted to be better than that.

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For her.

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"Fuck," he muttered discontentedly. He wanted to beg her not to stop, but he was in control. The reaction he wanted to inspire from her was a result of his own touch and realising that he was moments from begging her for something she had no control over made him realise just how desperate he was. The throbbing of his thighs beneath her blazing palms mixed with her frantic cries to the still room around them had him aching, a discomfort not nearly brought to ease with the steady pump of his hand around his own arousal. He drove his forehead between her shoulder blades, her hair surrounding him with her scent.

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The scent of… fucking… flowers.

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"I died today…" His mutter was grim as he clenched his teeth with the build-up of lust burning in his gut. His breath wasn't his own. It came in time with hers and if she stopped, so would he. He was completely at her mercy. "Now I'm just tryin' to figure out if this is heaven or hell."

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He was notably startled when she whirled in his grip with a desperate whimper, throwing her arms around him and knocking him back onto the bed. The impact forced a winded catch in his breath as her weighted torso landed on top of him, the sharp pain of her disturbance tearing through his chest. He threw his head back with an anxious groan, eyes sealed tightly enough to display bright spots against his eyelids.

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He was more than acceptant of the clumsy crash of her lips against his, devouring his mouth with a lust-driven hunger. A low groan rattled in his chest as strong arms came around her tiny figure on top of him, clutching her dearly through the pain. Since he'd had an opportunity to comprehend her gesture, he adjusted a little more comfortably beneath her heat. The temperature of her body was searing even through his pants as she rolled the hips of a dancer over the enthusiastic presence of his cock beneath.

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The feeling of being so close to having her was overwhelming. He didn't regret the wait, but he couldn't remember a situation that he'd ever worked himself so tight with anticipation. He lowered her arms around her sides and wrapped his fingers tightly around her thighs, the weight of her backside soft against his tight, encouraging crawl towards it. His strong grip helped her adjust above him to suit his purpose, thighs splayed wide so that the subtle rocking of his hips beneath her saw her stimulated with his effort. His success moaned into their kiss and tightened his grip on her hips until she was forced to settle firmly against his length by his greed.

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She didn't deny the intimacy, in fact, she was so thrilled with the near embrace that she tore away from the kiss and gave her hips a steady grind as she straightened. He leant his head back with a humid sigh. He lingered on the sentiment of her actions for a moment before returning his sated gaze to where she arched in his lap. "Why do I feel like once you've gotten the hang of this I'm gonna have a fucking freak on my hands?" He was far too intoxicated with their affections to worry about how absolutely crude he must have sounded with his blunt observations.

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She didn't want to confirm or deny his theory, but what was coming for their time together, was a smile; one broad and filled with joy. She couldn't remember a time where she had had so much fun just being close to someone. She straddled his hips, retracting both hands from where they had been resting on his chest so that she could raise them slowly towards the ceiling. Fingers floated through the air in absent waves as she closed her eyes and lengthened her body.

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He groaned dimly, rolling his head to one side in inquisitive observance. "What… are you doing?" His dim mutter was half coherent. As strange as her gesture, it put her on beautiful display to his hungry gaze and her subliminal beckoning had his fingers stretching forth of their own accord to fill his hands with the gorgeous mounds of flesh hanging on full exhibition before him. He had never considered her normal, but even for a virgin, her quirks were incredibly unusual. He wouldn't admit that maybe her efforts that looked like a sacrificial offering to the Gods disturbed him at times. He hoped, at least, that they'd both survive the night.

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She didn't care if he was disturbed that she boldly laughed, however lightly, with his curious comment. "It doesn't feel real," she whispered blissfully. "After all these years…"

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'Should I tell her human sacrifice isn't going to help with that?' He mused vacantly. He released her breasts to settle his fingers against her spine with his thoughts. 'I know she grew up with the freaks, but I didn't think it stuck.' He liked to tease a reaction out of her, the spark of her defiance always excited him. But she was right. Something about their situation didn't seem real. His palms had crawled their way to her thighs as he forced her into the subtly eager grind of his hips beneath her. "But it's about to," he murmured quietly.

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A normal person may have missed his lewd insinuation, but not her. She came down off her high and once she was pressed firmly against his chest once more, she opened glowing eyes to look into his. "Make it real," she whispered tenderly with a blissful shimmer in her loving gaze. "Make us… real…"

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To Laxus, blood and molten rock became synonymous in his next breath. It wasn't that she was begging for him to be inside of her, it was the way she said it.

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Real.

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Make us real.

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It had been real to him for months, but to have her on top of him, staring down at him with devotion glistening in lively azure eyes, he didn't have words. His brow creased with his consideration as he swept back her tangled tresses, securing them behind her ear. She responded with a kind smile and if his body didn't burn so badly for hers, he would have considered staying that way for the entire night.

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The look of discomforting alarm on her face made him think twice, though. It took him a moment to realise that her gaze had wandered and stolen her breath. "Laxus, your injuries."

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And there it was, the nurturing look of devotion that nursed him when he felt broken inside. It was the warmth of a kind of woman who was too pure and delicate to hold in the ways he needed to hold her. A saviour for his sin. He was denying himself the sight as quickly as possible. He'd come too far that night to lose the chance he had to share experiences with her that she'd never share with another.

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"Fuck my injuries." He growled, sinking his fingertips into her hips. He'd go until he couldn't force his body to respond any longer. She whimpered softly as she was rolled over beneath him in an effortless display of strength and fortitude. His lips were ravaging her kiss a moment after, hiding the bitter pain of his actions behind his insatiable hunger for her. He refused to take their night away, their one night. They had sacrificed too much time over the years and he couldn't bear the thought of going back to the vague appreciation that saw them civil but distant. He needed to push them further, straight to the point of no return. He couldn't be without her any longer, not when he'd had a taste of what it was like to be in her arms. He didn't care if it was greed that pushed him beyond his body's limits, he wasn't slowing down.

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His pants weren't long before they were falling to the floor, his now bare hips pressed against hers and sliding the naked skin of his erection between her moist thighs. He jerked on the sagging bandages that were supported by his shoulder. Their amorous activities had obviously loosened the dressing and the free ends had started getting in the way of his advances. He heaved a breathless sigh into their kiss as he knocked the gauze free and felt the refreshing rush of air cooling skin that was hot and damp with perspiration. Moving forward, he thrust one balled fist into the mattress alongside her head to support himself while his other set of fingers slipped up beneath her knee and encouraged her to hook it around his hip. She flushed shyly, at first, but the obvious look of determined arousal on his face likely encouraged her to comply. He wanted her wide, he wanted her all.

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Needed. He was white hot with need.

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She was whining too feverishly against his lips, arms wrapped around his neck and nails biting into already scratched skin that stretched tightly over his determined muscles. She couldn't comprehend the feeling of the first drop of his blood to fall against the swell of her left breast where ebony fairy wings used to flutter. And if there was ever a doubt that he'd bleed for her, it vanished the moment he pressed the head of his cock firmly to her slick entrance and captured her breath with the blooming of her petals beneath him.

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He hated being out of control, it scared him. But it seemed that the freight train of emotions barrelling unmanned down the tracks of forever was the foundation they'd built their entire relationship upon. He was completely lost to a beast that he would enthusiastically deny ever existed inside him.

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The shadows of his past didn't define him, they tormented him and his heart ached to restrain emotions desperately fighting for release. He wanted to hold her so tightly that she cried, knowing that the only person who would benefit from the indulgence of his affections was him. His nightmare deepened when her hands found his body, her soft, pitiful moans filling his senses with primal lust. The pain was excruciating as every muscle beneath his skin flexed with restraint, acting as the leash on something fiercer as it stirred in his belly.

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"I can't-" He closed his eyes to keep the salt of his sweat from beading into them. He wanted to apologise for losing his head, wanted to beg her to stop him. He didn't know if he'd be able to fight the strain of his hunger on his own. "Please, don't stop me…" His plea was contradicting to his feelings, gently uttered but dripping with malice like his soft request was intended as a honeyed threat.

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He knew that she was delicate. Even if she was a well-developed woman, she was inexperienced, untouched.

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She was so… little.

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She hated when he referred to her as such, but he loved it. It fascinated him that such a fragile creature could turn him into such a helplessly pathetic mess. The humility was excruciating and made his temperature rise. "Neirah, I can't-" His mind was reeling out of his control and the sensation left him so distraught that he thought he might fall to the floor with his disorientation. "It's killing me…" He didn't think she'd receive the literal weight of his sentiment when he uttered such an overused colloquialism.

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But she did.

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He was forced to open his eyes just to make sure her fingers hadn't ignited in flame moments before they were laid against the sides of his face. "Please stop," she whispered tenderly. Her nurturing affection filled his tired soul with waves of relief. "Laxus, I can't stand it when you're like this."

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"I can't help it," he admitted bleakly. "The things I feel when I'm with you..."

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Neirah rolled beneath him, adjusting her hips to where the swell of his shallow advance had her in slight discomfort. "Tell me," was her encouraging reply. "What do you feel that scares you so badly when we're together?"

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He looked back at her, an exhausted murkiness weighing his gaze as it grew vacant with admittance. The room became the opposite of silent when she asked for his answer, her kindness so welcoming that he was forced to speak the truth even if it tore him up on the inside to do so. He tried to raise his voice so that it was comprehensible over the alarms sounding in his ringing ears, but he had barely managed to do so. "I want to hurt you."

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He was cynical. His bold admittance might've scared off a less attentive woman, but not her. He didn't want to hurt her, he wanted to hold her; afraid of holding too tightly. It could be said about her small framed body beneath the might of his, it could be said about the hearts they exchanged that night. He didn't want to hurt her, he wanted to love her.

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She wasn't afraid, he was.

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She rose her hips and gave them an encouraging shift, trying not to wince too bad with the increase of pressure between her thighs. "We're going to have to work on your pillow talk," she assured him tenderly. She slid her hands back over his shoulders to beckon him closer. "I know it's going to hurt at first." Her tone was encouraging, using his own words against him as she uttered them softly against his ear. "But it won't for lon-"

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Well, she had tried to exude confidence. That was until she reached between them and barely wrapped her own hand around the shaft positioned to ravage her. Her second hand tightened her grasp on the back of his neck to keep him from pulling back to watch the colour drain from her face with the inherited realisation. She fought everything she had to keep from demanding that their union was physiologically impossible and proceeded to beckon his advance with tender strokes. 'Oh god, please tell me it won't for long.'

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He didn't seem too convinced with her encouragement and she felt like that was partially her fault for fumbling with her assurance. She took a deep breath in preparation knowing that the storm would be upon her moments after she resorted to her second plan of attack. She drew him close and her lips pressed to his ear as she spoke her words in a tender rasp against him. "I'm not a faerie, Laxus. I never was." She swallowed her fears, releasing his shaft to slide her tense fingers over his haunches in beckoning. She took a deep breath, feeling the tension beneath her nails as she pressured him to continue. "I've always been a dragon." She could hear his breath hold, feel the tension between them becoming unbearable as she slid her tongue over the channels of his ear. Her upper lip quirked upwards on one side. She tried to remain confident, strong in the face of the beast she was preparing to unleash, but the thrill remained. She repeated her needy offence, nails nipping his nape as she held him still against her seduction. "I won't be defeated by this."

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He had grown numb to the world around him. His heartbeat was the thunder deafening him, the sparks fizzling on his fingertips only a small example of the static firing off every nerve in his body. She was toxic, and his lips parted for her poison. His jaw ached with the pressure of teeth ground by the force of his internal dispute. He'd been given her permission to lose control like she knew what she was up against. He had so many things he wanted to say, so many emotions washing over him that he needed to articulate, and his excuse for bottling them was that he couldn't talk with his mouth full of hers.

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He pressed his hips towards hers, listening cautiously as she stole her breath back and jerked away from their kiss. His length was a questionable enough accommodation, but the pain that stung her so soon was the absorption of his girth. He took the opportunity to withdraw his hand and lay it on the top of her head, feeling her fever rise for a moment before lacing his fingers in her roots. The retraction of his shallow thrust was the moment she took in a breath to be stolen by his next assault. But before he took it, he lingered a moment against her shoulder. He placed a soft kiss against her tender throat as it was exposed during the tipping of her brow, and after that, he guiltlessly indulged by burying his face in the mess of auburn waves strewn about their lodging. He just needed one last moment to try and articulate all the words and emotions bouncing around the hollow walls of his mind.

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And he did.

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"I love you." He sighed and pressed his forehead to her temple, feeling the pulse of her racing heartbeat against his chest above. He knew that she wasn't particularly fond of the statement, but as trivial as it seemed to her, he wanted her to hear it. It was simple, and something he didn't say in vain. She had his heart, and she needed to hear it before he went any further. It might help her forgive him for the transgressions to come. "Neirah..."

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Have mercy on this love-struck fool.

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Her cries were too sweet for him to handle as the depth of his next thrust saw her innocence forever his memory to cherish. He wished that he'd had more time; days, weeks to hold her, prepare her for the gentle transition. But deep inside he knew that he wouldn't be capable. His feelings for her were too strong to be contained, and so long as she forgave him for the pain, he'd have no regrets.

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He felt her bucking against him, her body too tight to comprehend. The pleasure it gave him alone was enough to draw sweat to his brow. He bit back his bitter curse and retrieved one of his palms, smoothing it firmly over her abdomen to push her hips back down onto the bed. His heart ached when she reached out and laid trembling fingers on the top of his hand, clinging to it in reverse to the way he had earlier.

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They really did rely on each other for strength.

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He leant forward and silenced her guttural cries with a kiss, deep and ungainly between gasping breaths. He took the taste of her tears into consideration as they met their lips. He had to believe that she was strong enough to push through the pain too. Relief filled him as his next push was met with far less friction than the last. He had to at least pretend that the thought of trace amounts of blood easing her pain was unwelcome. The savage reality was that it filled him with a feeling of supremacy and the primordial urge had to be contained.

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Her laboured panting broke their kiss and her head fell back. Her whines were a dangerous combination of about to cry and please don't stop, the sensation of feeling them against his neck had him conflicted. Her moans seemed to be softening, but there was a chance he'd been deafened by her initial claim. Even so, he decided that he was going to try to steal another kiss, desperate to cling to the intimacy that reminded him he was still human.

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She received him gratefully, her trembling fingers climbing his shoulders to clutch his head firmly against hers. He retrieved his hand from her belly and pushed her hair back from where it clung to her face. "Almost there," he whispered between tender kisses.

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'Almost?!' She blared subconsciously. "Is it rude… to ask a man why he's so big?"

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He was too busy concealing hungry growls to emit the laugh that tickled his chest. "Why are your boobs so big? Turn the tables, Princess, and you tell me."

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Neirah threw her head back again, moaning in agonised pleasure through her smile. "God, you're a brute." Nails buried in his skin with her demand as they descended to his broad shoulders once again.

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"Would it kill you to act like you're enjoying it at least a little?" He murmured quietly against her collar. He loved how she moaned in response to his coaxing. She obviously enjoyed having his voice to remind her he was with her. "I feel like I'm the only one who needs this." He gave one last slow push; his hips close to meeting hers. His throat worked dryly as he listened to her strain, the well of his presence causing the back of her throat to itch with the need to articulate the overwhelming insertion.

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'So close,' he thought desperately. He reached down to stimulate the sensitive bundle of nerves he had yet to reach with his pelvis. He groaned as she bucked instinctively with the jolts of electricity firing off inside her, her appreciation for the distraction vocalised. He needed to know his limits, praying that she could accommodate a couple more inches. For his sake, he hoped she could. He didn't know how much more restraint he could take. The slow ride of his hips against hers certainly helped to adjust her to a breadth that originally overwhelmed her, but if she couldn't take the entirety of his length, every stroke would have to be moderated. 'Just give me… a little more…' He needed to be free of those restrictions. She was stifling, embracing him so tightly that he wasn't sure he'd be able to last if his pace was able to grow more aggressive.

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A weight was lifted off his shoulders when the distance between them had closed entirely and left his shaft almost completely accommodated by her. 'Fuck, good girl.' His thoughts were desperate, realising that nothing but fate could have seen him fit so perfectly inside her. He expelled a seriously ragged breath and just held himself tight to her limits, feeling her quiver around him with every breath. "You were made for me," he groaned before stealing another passionate kiss.

.

Neirah's screech was loud and interrupted his kiss before she could fully enjoy it. She recoiled into the mattress, arching her chest on full display as his erection connected with her cervix, pushing its limits as he squeezed inside her. She tried to squirm, but his palm was heavy on her broad hip, pressing her back into the comfort of the sheets. "It'll start getting easier," he assured her as tenderly as a completely satisfied man could. "Fuck, I promise, just stay."

.

Neirah struggled to open her eyes. There was something in his tone that made her tremble and she wanted to look at him as he answered her question. "You enjoy this?"

.

She barely had a chance to finish asking her question before he was spitting out his reply. "Fuck, yes."

.

She moaned. She absolutely loved the hoarse rasp roughening his edges when he was elated. "You know," she whispered inanely. "If another man tried to do these things, I would throw him out the window." She thought her comment held humorous merit with their past. She thought maybe he could take comfort in some playful banter.

.

He didn't seem to see it that way.

.

"I'd kill him," he admitted bleakly. He was unsure of where the sudden swell of jealousy came from. "I swear they wouldn't even find his ashes. The thought of someone else, being here-" He was ushered back into reality as she firmly gripped his face and drew his gaze to hers.

.

"I would kill him. That's what I was suggesting," she assured him bluntly. In her defence, she really didn't know to expect he'd take intercourse so seriously. "I was trying to make you feel special, you bulky beast."

.

"Then tell me you love me," he recommended hungrily. "That's all that matters, that I can walk out of here tomorrow callin' you mine." He could almost feel her growing slick around his length, obviously aroused by his intimacy. Even he had to admit that being so comfortably vulnerable with her was uplifting.

.

"How did I miss that you were so charming?"

.

"If you had any idea how high I got from hearing you say that you give a damn, it would lose a bit of that."

.

She reached out and took his face in her hands, smiling against the tender kiss she offered him. "Fine," she mewled. "I love you."

.

A playful little grin stirred in his lips like he wanted to smile, a defiant growl rattled inside him instead. "Like you mean it," he rumbled against her neck. He took the spirited opportunity to begin working his hips against hers once more.

.

She was interrupted by her gentle whines but responded to his demand in like amusement. "Hahhh, I love you!" She moaned a bit more passionately, nails ripping into the skin on his shoulders as she lurched forwards and clung to her strong lover for stability.

.

When she tipped her head back to moan, he slid his fingers tightly over her pulse. It was difficult for him to contain his own desperation when it felt so good to have her hugging him tightly with every pump of his shaft inside her. "I don't think you mean it…" His instigation graciously received his punishment when she struck his chest in a flustered frenzy. The painful sting, from the claw marks on his back to the bruises on his body; he'd never felt more alive than when he was wrapped up in her. "And what about my name?" He teased a little more genuinely. "Do you think you could manage that?"

.

She smiled back at him, aware that her response to his demands was making his temperature rise. "It seems to have slipped my mind," she pestered upon leaning into his chest. Noticing that she was struggling to lean up against him, if only partially, he facilitated assistance beneath the pressure of his fingers against her spine.

.

"I guess that was a little much to ask of you right now."

.

She winced as the adjustment in her angle seemed to deepen the pressure between her thighs. She didn't expect such a handicap but didn't deny that every stroke had her body igniting in flame beneath his fervour. She had to remind herself of why she raised, and once she had, she slipped one hand back behind his neck to fondle the roots of his hair. She gave them a stern tug, drawing him near enough that she could lay her lips against his ear. "I am the authority on little around here, not you." Her assurance was stern, bearing her pleasure in her twisted grimace so to keep her words from trembling. "And there is nothing little about the affection I hold for a man that responds to the name of Laxus Dreyar."

.

He ached in hazy comprehension. "Why are you so fucking hard on me?"

.

"I could ask you the same question," she teased as she continued to make small adjustments to the way she leant close to him. "I'm ready now…"

.

He thought about her implications for a moment before concluding that she was ready to lengthen his leash. The thought both thrilled and terrified him. It also reminded him just how desperate he was to please her; when he so openly considered himself a dog at her heels. "You're no good for my sanity," he admitted roughly.

.

Neirah smiled her sweet, condescending smile and slowly traced his lips with one of her fingers. "Sweetie, if you were ever sane, you wouldn't be with me in the first place."

.

Provoking the beast was dangerous ground to tread, but she didn't have an ounce of hesitation in her expression; just seamless admiration and pride.

.

He bopped his forehead against hers, the intensity of the pressure forcing her to recede slightly. She leant back on one hand as the other continued to fondle handfuls of hair. "Uh oh, you have that look again…"

.

He adjusted above her to regain his leverage and offered a gentle kiss before responding. "This is all a game to you."

.

She smiled with his wry tease. "Laxus, two things in this world bring me great joy. Stealing my big brother's boots and teasing you," she purred with her sass nuzzling into his neck. She gave his throat a gentle lick, unaware of the metaphorical sparks it shot through his entirety. "Am I being too mean?"

.

"Fuck, you're a bitch…"

.

She tipped her head back and thrust her breasts forward on display, an elated bout of laughter filling the room as he lowered his kisses to her collar. "The mysterious little Infinity Empress, bullying the mighty Laxus Dreyar. Hold this weeks Sorcerer."

.

He groaned, contentedly accepting when she jerked his head just a little lower. The pressure in his loins grew as she all but fed him the hardened nub of one of her nipples, appropriately crying out when he hungrily ravaged her offering with due enthusiasm.

.

The result was Neirah's delighted sighs of ecstasy. "I can see you have the will of a lion," she mocked. She couldn't help but whine lustfully as she pet the man contentedly massaging her heavy breasts. "So easily manipulated by his little Shadow."

.

He could see she was dismayed with his retreat, but there were just some things he couldn't roll over and take. He raised once more and drew their lips together, setting her at ease with a long and passionate kiss before he rejected her comparison. "Not my Shadow," he assured her sternly while stroking the dark tattoos under one of her eyes with his thumb. "My light."

.

Her smile appeared, broadened, withdrew, and broadened once more until her delighted beam was raising the colour of her flushed cheeks. She simply threw her arms around him and kissed him deeply, unsure of how they'd let so much time slip through their fingers. Her grin remained through their kiss and pressed to his lips as she spoke afterwards. "Show me something that will make all the other girls jealous," she mewled sinisterly.

.

He responded with a ravenous growl and laid her out beneath him. His thrusts had remained slow and accommodating for long enough. "Mn… Yes, ma'am…"

.

Neirah threw her head back, her delighted wail of ecstasy cutting the night from behind her elated smile. She clutched his head to the breast he was devouring, her legs firmly wrapped around his hips by his command. It was still a bit uncomfortable when his hips crashed against hers, burying the entirety of his erection inside her, but she was learning to bear for the sake of his indulgence.

.

Her cheeks coloured as she recalled times her friends would mock and tease each other with sexual innuendos. It was hard for her to find the truth in what was encouraged and what was a faux pas. She nibbled on her lip, her body tight and trembling as she rocked back against his effort. "I- it doesn't hurt that much anymore," she half-fibbed. She hoped to rouse even the slightest reaction from him, but he seemed indifferent, if not grateful, but not much else.

.

'I should tell him I like it,' she thought helplessly between continued whines against his steady drive. 'I don't want him to think I'm not enjoying it…' Her thoughts were interrupted as he freed her first breast in order to eagerly lap at the second one, something she was certain he enjoyed just as much as she did. "Hn, Laxus." She mewled her encouraging pleas, stroking his hair yieldingly. A hot breath escaped her as she pressed the firm mound into his needy sucking and she immediately noticed a swell in fervour coming from his enthusiasm.

.

Her face flushed with humility as she watched him through her sedately narrowed gaze. "D-don't… stop?" Her entire body shuddered as he shifted his weighted gaze and watched her lazily out of the corner of his eye. She ground her teeth and looked away, too overcome by the seduction of his nonchalant effort to remain connected. "Yes, don't stop," she corrected. She was growing confident that her pleas were keeping him content.

.

She felt her throat swelling with the presence of every deep penetration and every now and then, it chased out trembling utterings of his name. She had never felt so close to someone, not just because they were vulnerable and naked in each other's arms either. She had been nervous at first when she noticed his sudden change in behaviour, but since, she had revived their playful wiles and seen her confidence restored. She'd never felt like her presence was so deeply cherished before. It was overwhelming.

.

His strokes remained deep, but they had grown swifter since she'd encouraged him to give her more. His breathing was ragged, teeth ground with eager need and fingers tight as he scooped her up by her lower back and tipped her to an appropriate angle to comfortably accommodate his length. Once she'd moulded obediently beneath his direction, he retracted his hand and shifted it between them, his palm against her abdomen as his thumb stroked her hypersensitive clit. With the attention it had received in preparing her for their union, it was already on high alert and wanting. As soon as his thumb connected with it, her thighs trembled and she felt the sudden need to kick out. She didn't, but her leg's grip on his hips did constrict. With a soft sigh, he lowered his lips to where her dark nipple beckoned his call, the skin around it reddened by the intensity of its stimulation.

.

'Ladies first,' he silently promised. He knew that when he finally lost it, there would be no round two in him. He had one chance to do it right that night. He had been withholding so much since they'd arrived that when she finally came undone around him with his name on her lips, he was going to lose all he had. In earnest, the thought thrilled him. He'd never been so completely enthralled with a woman's presence, but he didn't want her to experience the same painful build up he had and not be able to give her the release she needed.

.

The task was growing difficult though. Despite how sensitive she was, there was still a pain that she couldn't ignore and he knew it was keeping her from completely enjoying their intimacies. For the sake of seeing her climax, he held back the severity of his thrusts to help avoid some of the unappealing bite.

.

The results were almost instant and her moans began to elevate blissfully again. He sealed his eyes and denied the sight of the hot mess she'd become. He was only taken higher by such a thought, but the sight of it made him strain to withhold his pleasures to see hers accommodated. His back was itching beneath the pressure of her desperation, skin obviously broken and bloodied beneath her nails. Her thighs quivered and hips bucked every time his thumb stroked her. Her nipples were hot and hard between his teeth and the pressure on his head supported that the harder he teased, the more desperately frantic her whines became.

.

'Come on, I know you're close,' he mused vaguely while wincing with the burn in his own exhausted body. He was falling apart, his heart beating too hard, too fast. He thought it was going to burst from his chest and leave him lifeless in its absence. 'Keep it together.'

.

"That- ahh-h, oh god, Laxus." His ray of hope came in the form of her needy calls and his subtle peek towards her expression assured him that tears of completion were streaking her face. He pressed a little more deeply with his thrusts, careful to fill her as he fondled her buttons. Too rough, and he would lose his progress. Too gentle, and he would fall short of her needs. The complexity of their game was exhausting him; he had never had such a hard time trying to get a girl off.

.

He pulled away from her breast and glared down at her with an impatient hiss. "Fuck, tell me what to do," he demanded haggardly. In her arousal, her core had started to contract around the already tight fit embracing his cock and it was pushing him over the edge. If she didn't see stars soon, she was going to lose her chance.

.

She looked back at him quizzically and that was all it took for him to be metaphorically smacking himself in the face. She didn't even know what he was trying to do. She'd never experienced such an incredible swell of pleasure so she didn't know how to help him help her. "Don't do this to me," he begged. "Something's missing. You've got to tell me what it is…"

.

She looked back at him breathlessly, gently shaking her head. "Laxus, I don't know what you're talking about."

.

He ground his teeth in bearing, the reflex of her pending orgasm subtly milking his cock inside her. It was mesmerising.

.

He wasn't going to make it.

.

He stifled his bitter curse, his mind already surrendering to the uncontainable well of completion pulsing inside him. Maybe he would retain some strength to see her properly satisfied, but he doubted it. She could see just as well as he could that his arms were shaking, his head reeling and lungs weak from drawing in her scent.

.

He wrapped one hand around her firm backside and jerked her close. He buried his cock deep inside her and pressed their chests tight together so that he could finish himself off on the affectionate note of her kiss. His fingers trembled with the strength they used to force himself inside her, and his next couple shudders saw his orgasm rippling through him until his gentle rock against her body was pumping her womb full of his release.

.

His head grew airy and his technique in their kiss lax as his body shuddered his completion, but just when he thought the crippling waves had left him, she was throwing her head back with a deafening howl and following suit.

.

He bore down on his elated hiss to keep from moaning her name like a bitch but the way her core convulsed and milked his cock dry inside her was almost too much to bear. If he thought he'd been dry after the first bout of climax, the sudden and unexpected jerk of his second one upon her encouragement saw him spill the entirety of it inside her.

.

His abdomen ached with the tension causing it to shudder with every eager buck of her hips beneath him clamouring desperately to milk his pleasure. When her body had grown limp with its struggles, leaving nothing but her contracting core quivering around his spent member, he dipped low for a final intimate kiss.

.

Neirah was weak and starry-eyed, mind numb with the race of curiosity trying to determine what on earth she'd just experienced. She wanted to close her eyes never to open them again, like the moment they'd just shared was so perfect that she'd never have to live for another one. At first, she was frightened, wondering if something had gone horribly awry. That was when she felt his fingers in her hair, stroking her gently as his lips fell upon hers.

.

A small tear rolled over her cheek, and after such an intense form of stimulation wracking her body's nerves, it wasn't unexpected. Quivering fingers weakly reached around him, thighs still clinging to his presence inside her. She clasped his haunches and clung to the pressure his hips had offered.

.

Her head pulsed with alarm when his hand found her abdomen, his thumb gently massaging her over-stimulated clit until her shaky body was bucking in pleasurable spasms. With the distracting pressure of his thumb, her weakened demands shed from his hips and allowed him to slide from within her. As soon as he was free, he had replaced his cock with the fingers that had broken her in.

.

She moaned into their kiss, as the slow stroke of his fingers massaged her stretched entrance. The soothing stroke caused her to sigh and arch into a touch far less abrasive than the thrusts of his erection plunging deep within her. She reached out blindly, her eyes struggling to remain open as she searched for his stability. "Laxus?"

.

The helpless act warmed him and put a weak smile on his lips. "Whose fingers do you think are inside you?" He teased, refusing the wayward soul any comfort. Noticing that she was still airy, he leant down and kissed her, allowing her fingers to find his jaw. When he pulled away she opened her eyes and spared him the slightest of grins.

.

"Jerk," she chided.

.

"Since when have you ever known me to be a nice guy?" His body ached with the possibility that her half-conscious and clumsy acts could stir another round of inconceivable pleasure in his loins. But when she reached down and pressed her hand to his to guide his touch inside her, he had to take a deep breath to settle restless nerves. "I didn't think I could get you there," he admitted warmly. He all but collapsed down on his side alongside her and slipped his thumb over her clit intermittently between strokes, delighting in the fact that he still didn't believe she had come back to him. "You sure know how to stress a guy out."

.

She rolled her head absently from side to - sleepy - side. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," she mused softly. She forced her eyes to open over her smile. "And for once I don't-"

.

He watched her eyes widen and jaw gape in terror, the act encouraging him to throw his hand down on top of her lips to keep her silent. "I know," he assured her softly. He allowed her panicked gaze to roam a minute for comprehension before he removed his hand. "It looks worse than it is."

.

Neirah struggled to sit up, squirming towards him worrisomely. "God Laxus, what happened to your bandages? You're a mess!" She whimpered as she held her fingers to the black and blue stab in his chest as it oozed light trails of blood with its exposure.

.

"It was gettin' in the way," he admitted. He was hoping that the flush he was seeing on her skin wasn't for the guilt of all the times she'd struck him. Knowing her, though, it probably was.

.

Since their amorous activities had subsided, he didn't mind the look of sheer devotion in her eyes when it shone back his way, in fact, he might've admitted to himself that he needed it. He watched her observe herself and the smears of his blood across her chest and arm. He felt just as weak and semi-conscious as her in that moment. He wasn't used to exhausting so much effort between the sheets.

.

She puffed out a hard sigh and dropped her head, trying to focus her thoughts and respond appropriately. "Alright," she started tenderly. She threw her legs over the bedside and attempted to stand. "I think what needs to happen now is we-" Laxus was surprised that his body was able to move quickly enough to catch her as she stumbled in front of him, clearly underestimating the power of her climax and the effect it would have on her joints. "Ok, new plan," she surrendered upon toppling back to the bedside in a heap between his legs. "We crawl to the bath."

.

There was that sated smile she loved so much.

.

He nuzzled his way under her arm and took her up on his lap at the bedside. "Well, luckily for you, one of us has done this before."

.

She watched the ground grow distant as he climbed to his feet with her in tote, no matter how the effort made his wounds ache. He turned and looked down at her prying gaze that had caught him in a grit moment of weakness.

.

"I would have laughed so hard if you had of bit it," she sassed.

.

"I could drop you," he assured her sternly. He followed the cold statement with his gentle kiss.

.

She turned and watched past his shoulder as they crossed the room towards the bath, her brow knotted over her desperate smile. "I was worried the neighbours would get mad because of the noise," she started hopefully. "But now I'm more concerned that they will accuse us of murder."

.

He smiled down at her as he fumbled for the light of the bath with his elbow. "I guess you'd better make sure I don't bite it," he teased while meeting her playful grin with one of his own. "Tonight, at least."

.

She shook her head in slow, over-exaggerated sweeps decorated with a broad smile. "No promises, Sparky."

.

"I appreciate that you waited until after sex to call me that." He set her down on the tub ledge and let her crank the dials on the wall, her feet in the tub to test the temperature as it rushed into the tiled bath. The innocence returning to her sweet expression comforted him as she looked back at him with big glossy eyes full of life.

.

"What's a good temperature for you right now?"

.

He closed his eyes over his small smirk as he took a seat next to her and rested his forearms on his knees. His feet remained on the bathroom floor opposing where her toes danced in lazy circles in the rippling water. "Hot enough to forget that I'm a reckless idiot."

.

She giggled like she thought he was teasing and cranked up the heat in the bath. He could have said that the ache in his body was sufficient enough to want a minute of relaxation but, despite her naivety, he'd rather be blunt. He hadn't once stopped to think of the consequences that could have befallen them with their actions. Even if the mere thought of it aroused the beast clamouring inside him for superiority, there was no way for him accept that he had completely ignored precautionary clarification and left her with a belly full of seed.

.

"Hey…"

.

He turned and looked her way when she beckoned him. In response, she smiled and wrapped both her arms around one of his.

.

"Everything's going to be ok."

.

His appreciative smile faded when he was offered a second telepathic scare that night by his passionate lover. Her sentiment could have applied to a hundred different situations in their life, but she had to offer it at that particular moment. "You work in strange ways," he assured her humbly. But despite all her sweet, addictive oddities, nothing felt better than wrapping her up in his arms and holding her protectively to his aching chest.

.

She leant up and gently kissed his chin. "Screwball calls me quirky."

.

He shook his head and let his gaze wander as he smiled and recalled the first time she'd said the same thing to him over a year before. "Quirky is an understatement."

.

She blinked back at him, dark lashes dancing groggily over the gems they sought to tuck in. "But you don't care…"

.

He gently shook his head. "I love every second."