Author's Note: *looks down in shame* I... *breathes deeply, shakes head* How do I even begin to make this disclaimer? How do I? How can one say - how can one even start this chapter by saying...? WARNING: This chapter contains some pretty graphic content between two people who consensually agreed that now is the time to relinquish... I don't know. Relinquish what? I don't own them and they're not real people. Who am I to say that they must relinquish their... livelihood? Whatever. I'm just saying you might need a minute to process this chapter.
"T-t-tonight?" Ava questioned, blushing brightly.
Ira looked down at Ava to nod calmly and removed his mask to show a very gentle look in his eyes. It wasn't hungry or seductive at all. There was a different kind of emotion coming from the man like he was ready to set a bird free from its cage. An odd metaphor the young Foreteller chose to use but the only metaphor that could describe the look in his eyes. There was really no other way to put it. Ava supposed the look in Ira's eyes was a sign that he was accepting her feelings for him despite the fact that he didn't truly know what this all meant for her. This was going to be her first time surrendering herself to another person. She had to make doubly sure that no one would know about this at all. Absolutely NO ONE could know about this. The dreams were one thing, but this... THIS was another beast altogether.
Ava took a deep breath, eased her blush, and whispered, "Okay. C-c-can I make a request?"
Ira remained silent for a moment in response, waiting for her to continue. When she struggled to ask the question, he then said, "What is it?"
"I..." Ava started, fiddling with the bag of soak beads. "Well, in my dream - "
"If we're going to do this, we can't repeat everything that happened in the dreams," Ira said, startling Ava but confusing her as well. "You had those dreams about me as though I were your husband, and that appealed to you because sex is something that is shared in a marriage bond. What you did with that version of me won't be the same in reality because we're not married and my face is visible. You said earlier that you couldn't see the man's face, only his body or mine to be precise. Even the most recent one you had of me will be different. It was a response to a secret I held. The dream I had of you was in response to what you supposedly wanted. However, you thought you wanted to just be friends. Having sex with me exceeds the expectations of a proper friendship. For this to work, you have to eliminate every preconceived vision you had of me."
Ava huffed at him, pulled Ira down to kiss him, and said angrily, "I imagined you as my husband because I liked you, not because that's the only way the sex would work! There isn't a science to it! Ira, I really do like you. I wanted to be your friend to get to know you. To know if you could be someone I'd like to marry some day. The same way I think you could be my first. I'm not a catalogue worth 400 billion of pages of text and 2 pictures! I'm just me! Even if... I'm not pretty or smart enough to really be with you. I already know you're older and probably need an actual woman to please you or satisfy your needs. I'm not asking you to envision me as whatever you saw in your dream. I'm only asking that you consider getting to know me. Being friends was the easiest way to do that."
"I don't mind being your friend," Ira said, standing straight up to his full height. "But being your lover is different. You can satisfy my needs as my lover once you've learned them. We can develop a friendship over lunch whenever we have the time."
Ava yanked Ira down for another kiss again but kept a stern face and argued, "I already tried that!"
"Beg your pardon?" Ira questioned, remaining in place this time with slightly widened eyes.
"Two weeks ago, you jerk!" Ava said, kissing him again. "I asked you to join me at the coffee shop near the market and you said no. Oh, but when Invi asked you an hour later, you were all for it. Before even that, I asked if you wanted to get a sandwich with me and Gula. You said no to that, too. Oh, but Luxu? You ran to the sandwich place then. As a matter of fact, I asked if you wanted to get some ramen with me and the Master. Even then, you changed your mind! When Aced asked you to go for the EXACT, SAME THING later that night, you were all too excited to go then. What is it about me that you can't stand?"
Ira didn't speak after that for what felt like a long time. He was recalling every invitation Ava ever gave to him at the times she mentioned. She was right. She did ask him if he wanted to get some ramen with her. The master offered to go with them also. Why did he say no, though? That's what was bothering him. That was why he froze up. He was activating every part of his brain now. The ramen invitation was about a month and a half ago. He had just finished training with his keyblade, and he was near famished around then because it was lunchtime. Everyone wanted something different for lunch, so they decided to go their separate ways and reunite at the training grounds afterwards. Ava, at the time, wanted ramen and the master wanted some too. Ira then remembered something: he wanted some, too. Yeah, he did want the ramen. In fact, he did go with them but... he stopped. Why did he stop? Suddenly, it clicked. It wasn't the ramen that made him turn around, it was where the shop was located.
Ira then looked into Ava's eyes and remembered everything from that day. He, the master, and little Ava were walking to the ramen shop together. The master was, of course, wearing his black hood, but Ira and Ava were wearing white cloaks. They weren't like the robes they wore now, but they were more similar in design to the master's cloak. No masks at the time. As they were talking about training, Ira noticed that the ramen shop was in the quaint parts of Daybreak Town where a sort of village surrounded it. As Ava and the master walked on, Ira stopped to gasp at the familiar imagery and looked out into the housing district next to the shop. In the distance was the forest where he frequented to study the area, but the forest was also a special place for someone else that he met there. A young girl who taught him something important. That was when he changed his mind and decided to eat something else instead. He ordered a plate of eel and took it into the forest. When he reached his meditation spot, all he thought about was the girl who trained him. He never got her name or ever heard her voice.
Okay, that answers that question. What about the sandwiches? Ira thought about it for a moment and realized that the same problem occurred. The sandwich parlor was in the quaint part of Daybreak Town. Actually, the coffee shop was more of a precaution in case Ava was trying to sucker him near the village part again, but if it was by the market then his suspicions were wrong. He could've gone with her to the coffee shop. The one Invi goes to only serves two flavors of coffee: chocolate and French vanilla. Neither of which he enjoys drinking, so he opted for peppermint tea. Well, that answered the reason why he avoided Ava's invitations somewhat. Wait, somewhat? What else was missing?
When he felt Ava kiss him again, he could only whisper, "I'm sorry, Ava. I thought you were trying to bring me around the village again. That's why I didn't go to the coffee shop. I regret that now. The peppermint tea at the other place was terrible."
"Why don't you like the village?" Ava asked, petting Ira's cheek. She had a sad look in her eyes.
"It's a story I can't get into today," Ira said, kissing Ava sweetly as though he were promising to tell her the story one day.
When he looked into Ava's eyes, though, he saw something that drew him back in again. It was something his mind was trying to suppress, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He only felt himself deepening the kisses he was giving to Ava, and he felt Ava responding to them as though she was trying to remember something herself. For whatever reason, the sexual tension between kept rising the more they kissed. Some arguing from the two of them did come up in between kisses. Ava would bring up another time when Ira denied spending time with her, but Ira argued instead on how Ava could've just did most of the cooking herself. Ava would then ask how Ira knew about her cooking, and Ira would answer that she made everyone lunch quite a few times when no one felt like spending money after spending up so much energy to train with the master. Ava would also argue that Ira was quite the barista himself and could make his own coffee. Of course, Ira would ask how she knew about that and Ava would simply respond that he made iced coffee for her, Gula, and Luxu because the three hated pure coffee. Something about the taste never sat well with them. Amidst the arguing and kissing, Ava and Ira agreed to simply meet at the cliff overlooking Daybreak Town and have a private picnic.
When the kissing became far more passionate after finally agreeing to something, Ava then whimpered a bit, "Ira, I can't anymore."
Not bothering to pay attention, Ira dragged his kisses along Ava's neck and licked his way back up to ask, "You can't what?"
"Ira!" Ava whined, squirming around a bit. She kissed his lips for the final time before saying, "Stop trying to make me say embarrassing things!"
"You wanted me to say fuck earlier," Ira argued, raising an eyebrow. "I want to hear you say what you're feeling."
"But Ira - !" Ava moaned, squirming in place again.
"Say it or I'm going back to my room to let you squirm," Ira threatened, narrowing his eyes just enough to show he was serious.
"Fine!" Ava huffed, frustrated. "I can't wait anymore. I... I... need you..."
"As sexy as that normally would be for me, I'm gonna need something a little more convincing," Ira said with a purr in his voice. He then whispered directly in Ava's ear with a seductive growl, "What are you squirming around for?"
Ava licked her lips, which made Ira follow the motion with a peculiar glint in his eyes, and whispered, "I can't wait anymore. I have to have you. I want you, Ira."
"That's my girl," Ira purred, opening a portal of light to some unknown destination. He walked towards it and then turned to Ava to give a simple command, "Come with me."
Gula looked at the clock in Ava's room, seeing that it was a quarter passed 11, and wondered where his friend was at this hour. He knew she was training her wielders today to get her mind off Ira and focus on her role for the master, but he didn't think she'd need all day and all night. She'd have no energy for tomorrow which was in three-quarters of an hour. Luxu was walking passed the door with a book in his arms and a cup of tea in the other hand when he noticed that his leopard-masked friend was sitting at Ava's desk but Ava was nowhere to be found. He stopped midway in his stride, walked backwards, nodded at Gula's lazy wave, and looked at the clock. He scanned the room for a good couple of seconds, but it looked like Ava never came back after making her bed this morning. There weren't any groceries or restocked items in the kitchen, so she wasn't caught up in her shopping sprees. No light was in the bathroom so she wasn't taking a shower or brushing her hair or brushing her teeth. Where was his missing friend?
"I don't know where she is either," Gula responded, knowing what Luxu was thinking.
"She never came back after lunch?" Luxu asked, walking into the room.
"She barely ate her lunch," Gula answered, shrugging his shoulders. "She took a nap around then, remember? Long morning."
"Oh, that's right," Luxu replied, leaning on Ava's dresser. "She wouldn't still be training at this time of night, would she?"
"Depends on if she had another fuck dream," Gula said, taking off his mask to scratch in his head. "She's been having them more often lately. Don't know why, though."
"Well, all of us have, to be honest," Luxu said, blowing the steam away from his cup to sip on his tea. "It's probably just our biological clock ticking. Didn't you say had one a while back?"
"Yeah, I guess that's tr - oh wait!" Gula said, eyes widening slightly. "Dammit! I was supposed to catch up to Invi today."
"Why? What's up?" Luxu asked.
"We were supposed to take turns following Ira and Ava around," Gula replied, rubbing his temples with the base of his hands. "You know, after we spoke to Aced."
"Oh," Luxu said. "Well, Invi'll have a report soon enough. She's good like that."
"Yeah, I know. Maybe she's talking to Ava. That'd make the job easier," Gula grumbled.
"Aaaahhh..."
It was a good thing she begged Ira to go slow; otherwise, Ava would've been in pain for hours and Ira would be trying to heal her. As she watched Ira take his time exploring her body, Ava took her free hand and caressed Ira's torso until she reached his thickened member and let her fingers feel his patient thrusting. Her other hand was gripping the sheets underneath her. When Ira placed a sweet kiss on her lips and caged her in the length of his arms, she wrapped her legs around his tense thighs and moaned into his mouth as he continued with his slow strokes. She could feel him using his lower back to deliver each thrust and couldn't decide whether to keep her hands on his face or let them travel on their own across his back. Ira noticed that her hands seemed to like touching the dimples in his back and, if he gave into his more primal urges by pumping slightly harder or faster, they would travel directly to his ass to grip him. Of course, he had to control himself A LOT. While Ava expressed multiple times that he had to be gentle because he was her first, his instinct was telling him to go as far as she could handle it. This was mainly due to Ava's body accepting him so gingerly. He had to double think the warnings of her prior virginity because she was taking him like she wasn't a virgin ever.
He, however, ignored his instinct and merely experimented with how far Ava's beautiful body could take him. Unbelievably, she did have a limit but it was close to his primal instinct range. When he released her from his kiss and sped up his thrusts, Ava voiced the way it felt enough to make him lose his mind and speed up more but he kept it under control. As predicted, her hands went to his ass when he took it a little too far and she was starting to feel pain, so he went slow again and planted little kisses on her lips and cheeks. Feeling needy himself, he stopped pumping into her altogether and lifted himself to a pushup position.
He then whispered on Ava's lips, "Turn over for me."
"Um, a-a-are you..." Ava started, licking her lips and parting her legs to unwrap herself from around Ira. "A-are you going to do that mouth thing again?"
Ira's eyes gave off that peculiar glint again before he asked, "Do you want me to?"
She blushed brightly at the response but nodded. Ira kissed the corner of her mouth, whispered an okay, and grabbed her left ankle to spin her around. The motion was gentle but it both startled and excited Ava who moaned and squirmed under Ira's grasp. He kissed her cheek twice while spreading her legs apart a bit more by the thighs, and then traveled his way to her shoulder blades when his hands caressed her ass and then slightly held her hips in place. Ava wanted to watch him kiss her entrance like he did before, but she could only see so much. That was until she noticed Ira looking back at her with a hungry look in his eyes. It was hungrier than her dreams and looked like he was challenging her to something. Before he dragged his kisses lower, he stayed in his position right above the dip in her lower back and moved her hair away from her face. The glint in his eyes for whatever reason had gotten sexier to Ava. Before she knew it, he was poking his warm, wet tongue into her entrance and she was watching him do it. It looked like he wanted her to watch because he kept his eyes trained on her. She wanted to keep their eyes locked on each other because Ira seemed to like that and his thrusting was becoming more intense but she couldn't hold it. Right around then is when Ira lightly pulled his tongue out, bit her thigh twice, and pinched her ass. She moaned at that, finding the punishment more erotic than painful and felt the urge to touch her clit. Ira watched her do it for about three seconds before he pulled the hand she was using to touch herself to his side, used his free hand to position himself at her entrance, and took her free hand away from her body to bring it to his side.
Ava voiced the pleasure from the thrust in this new position louder than before. She could confidently say that Ira hid an entirely different person underneath his noble, reliable persona. His thrusts were different from before, too. It seemed faster but it didn't hurt like earlier. When he decided to experiment with her and hit her nerves a little harder, that's when she tried to squirm out of his hold and run from the pain. When she did that, though, he stopped, kissed her cheek and neck, and returned to a gentler, slower pace. They both seemed to be testing each other. Ava would keep her back arched per Ira's desire but turn to watch him thrust into her if she could. If she so much as dared to try and touch herself, Ira would take that as a reason to punish her and hold her arms at his side to thrust either harder or faster. She found she liked either way but not when he was starting to go overboard. She took it as him trying to hold back the darker Ira. While she wanted to see what that Ira looked like, her body couldn't handle that much of him yet.
"You have a gorgeous voice, you know," Ira complimented in Ava's ear when he slowed pace.
Ava licked her lips, turned to kiss him, and said, "Thank you."
"What, no compliment?" Ira joked.
"You're a gorgeous man. Everything about you is beautiful," Ava said sweetly.
"Thank you," Ira whispered, chuckling a little.
Invi was obviously tired with it being half passed midnight and all, but she at least could tell Gula that Ira and Ava seemed to be taking the time to talk things out. She just missed them when they entered a Corridor of Light to some unknown place. Maybe the two were frustrated enough with the dreams to finally confront each other. Ira was usually reasonable so surely he handled everything well. When she passed by Ava's room, she noticed Luxu and Gula with worried expressions as they looked at the clock one more time.
"I don't know, man. Ava's been gone a while now," Gula said, rising to his feet. "It's almost 1 in the morning."
"What's going on?" Invi asked, walking into Ava's room. She spotted a brown teddy bear with a bright yellow bow around its neck on the floor and picked it up to cuddle it. She then asked, "Ava's still out?"
"You saw her earlier?" Luxu asked, pouring himself another cup of tea. He had time to get the pot, return to Ava's room, and wait with Gula some more before he grew concerned. "Where?"
"She was talking to Ira. Given the circumstances between them, I figured they wanted to talk without having one of us interrupt them," Invi explained. "We have been making their situation slightly worse by all our questioning. They need to sort things out on their own. Keeping a watchful eye won't hurt but it could make them suspicious of each other."
"I guess that makes sense," Gula said. "Did you learn anything new?"
"It seems like Ava has been upset by Ira many times," Invi said, surprising Luxu and Gula. "She told me earlier today after we separated that she tried to befriend Ira before, but he kept refusing to go with her even when one of us was nearby or accompanying her. She even gave me several examples. But... I recalled something Ira said to me a while back. He mentioned that Ava sometimes scared him. I asked why, and he said it was something about a perfume she wore one day. It was familiar to him like something he was trying to forget from his past. I didn't quite understand it at the time, but I think maybe Ava might be linked to someone in his past. Maybe Ava knew his ex-girlfriend and wore her perfume or something."
"Wait, Ira had a girlfriend?" Luxu asked.
"Wait, he didn't tell you that he met Ava before she became the master's apprentice?" Gula questioned, ignoring Luxu's question and shocking Invi. "She taught him magic defense while he taught her magic. Luxu was learning magic spells himself at the time."
"Oh, that's right!" Luxu said, snapping his fingers. "The master was teaching me more advanced spells like Firaja, but I kept messing up at the basics so I had to practice Fira a bunch of times. Ava took to magic like a fish in water and learned stuff like Curaga within a few days, so he kept an eye on her and let her meet Ira. Ira's main attribute might be power but he's devastating with magic. It seemed like a good way to balance the two out. Ira must've forgot about Ava if that's the case. They weren't around each other long."
"I don't think forgot about Ava. I think he was trying to suppress the memories he had of her," Invi reasoned, putting a finger under her chin. "But why? If they weren't around each for that long and he was training with Ava, what would be the purpose in trying to forget about her?"
Everyone grew silent in thought until Luxu realized something and gasped loudly. He then said aloud, "No way!"
Gula hummed in thought until it hit him. He then said, "Wait, wait, wait! No. You're not thinking that right now. NO!"
"What is it?" Invi questioned, not understanding the two boys.
"No way is a grown-ass man attracted to my best friend like THAT!" Gula shouted, running out of the door to check Ira's room to see if he was there.