Hey guys sorry for the delay in updating... but we have some chocobros, and some Lunoct at the end. I hope you enjoy!
Lunafreya was kneeling on the ground next to Noctis who who was busy showing her how to clean the fish they had caugh, the advisor himself was at work cutting vegetables. He had altered his mind about what to prepare with the fish, deciding to make a simple stew to feed the group as opposed to grilling it. His cast iron pot had been set over the fire to start heating up, filled with water and dried herbs, as well as some of the vegetables that took longer to cook.
"Not gonna lie, never really pictured the Oracle kneeling in the dirt cutting up fish." Crowe remarked.
"The empire liked to present a certain version of me to the public." Lunafreya replied, her eyes trained on the fish, scraping her blade against the grain of the scales after trimming off the fins as Ignis had described to them.
"There's a lot more to you than meets the eye, huh?" Lunafreya turned to offer her a shrug and a half-smile before turning her attention back to her work. She had one clean fish beside her, Noctis already working on his third. Ignis reached over to Noctis's pile of cleaned fish and began to dice it into pieces suitable for his stew. Noctis helped Lunafreya with the last of the fish, and dinner was cooking on their fire as night settled onto their camp.
"You think we'll be safe tonight?" Prompto inquired when they could hear faint rumbling and hissing, though it was difficulty to discern where the sounds were coming from.
"Havens have always been safer than the small outposts." Ignis explained. "And in addition, we have the Oracle."
"My presence didn't stop that daemon that attacked Hammerhead." Lunafreya interjected quietly.
"I don't think that was an ordinary daemon. The bombs couldn't come into the light." Ignis rebuked.
"You definitely saved my ass. And Noct's" Prompto added and stuck both his thumbs in the air. "So why don't people make havens in towns to keep them safe?" Ignis had no answer for this, and wondered if a way to help protect Hammerhead in the future would be to make it a haven as well.
"I can hear lots of rustling… are we sure the daemons can't step on havens? That thing bust into Hammerhead like those lights weren't even there." Gladiolus added. The group sat in silence for a moment. Noctis and Lunafreya focused their eyes on their fish, Ignis stirred his stew longer than necessary while Prompto started flicking through the pictures on his camera. He wondered if there was an accessory he could buy for the camera to wear on his body during battles to capture images, wondering if they would have more answers if he had pictures of that daemon for Ignis to study.
"I gotta pee while I have a good chance." Noctis remarked, standing up and stretching his limbs, feeling a few pops in his lower back, the old scar aching slightly at the edges of the tight skin. "I promise to scream like a little girl if I get ambushed." He waved at his friends as he turned to walk towards the nearest tree.
"So your normal scream then?" Gladiolus remarked, Noctis holding up his middle finger as he walked away and vanished behind some nearby foliage, surprised his shield didn't insist in following him.
"Hey, Luna." Prompto called, pausing from flicking through his camera's memory. He took the few steps away form his camp chair to kneel next to her, holding out his camera. She looked up with a curious quirk of her brow, and felt her cheeks flush as she looked at the photo of her sitting on the dock next to Noctis, head tilted as she shared a kiss with him. She shifted in place, feeling her heart begin to race in her chest and her palms began to sweat. "You two are just adorable…." He gushed with a smile, and Lunafreya knit her brows, looking up to his eyes that were still looking down at the photo.
"I…" she faltered, swallowing to regain control over her tone. "Thank you…" she shifted her remark, and looked back down at the photo, feeling the heat in her cheeks spread to her ears. She had never imagined she would feel comfortable sharing a kiss with Noctis outside the safety of a locked door and covered windows. She looked so different than any other picture of herself she had ever seen. She wasn't in a pure white dress, her hair pulled up in a series of braids and a bun, with a forced smile on her face as she stood chaste and demure for the camera. Quiet rustling and growling a short distance away filled the brief silence as they stared at the camera.
"You both look all relaxed and happy… I couldn't resist taking a picture! I mean, Gladio would barf all over my camera if I showed him."Prompto gushed, and she was taken aback by the genuine smile on his face as he looked at the picture. She relaxed her shoulders, sat back on her heels and wondered how different a visit would have been should she have been allowed to Insomnia. I wouldn't have had to hide.
"A picture of Sparkles with her guard down? I gotta see this." Crowe remarked, looking at the still blushing Lunafreya who shrugged and nodded, her shield quickly stepping up behind Prompto to look over his shoulder at the picture. "Heh, you guys are pretty adorable." She grinned at Lunafreya and stuck her tongue out at her, getting a shy smile in return.
"Thank you for showing me Prompto…" He flashed a smile at her before returning to his camp chair, flicking through the camera once more as he reclined back, resting a leg on his knee and bouncing his foot. She wondered what else was on that camera and what was turning those cogs in his mind as he looked at them.
"Survive your trek into the wilds?" Gladiolus called over as Noctis returned to camp.
"Yeah. Though there's a lot of noise out there…" he admitted. "Are there really that many nocturnal animals in this area?" he asked Ignis, who let out a sigh, chopping at his vegetables a little harder.
"I had brought a book with me on the flora and fauna of Lucis, but it's back in Altissa." He admitted, wishing he had left it with their camping gear in the car where it belonged. But he had wanted something to read at night and brought the book, amongst others, with him to the flood-city.
"Maybe we can get a new one next time we're near a bookstore." Noctis offered. Ignis paused for a moment, and nodded, and found himself unreasonably excited at the prospect of going to a bookstore. He agreed with his friend, dumping his now finished vegetables into the pot.
"Prompto… show Noctis the photograph you showed me." Lunafreya requested, exchanging a glance with Noctis who was looking at her with a knit brow and slight tilt to his head.
"Yeah!" he leapt up knocking backwards the sudden crash echoed by a series of hisses and chitters. He walked up to Noctis, thumbing at his camera as he knelt next to his friend and held out the picture, Nocits blushing instantly.
"You were spying on us?!" he admonished, but Lunafreya placed a hand on his shoulder, and offered a smile to show she was not angry at the photo.
"I wasn't-" Prompto suddenly recalled how livid Noctis had been when Gladiolus had followed the pair in Altissia, and began to nervously shift on his knees. "I just happened to notice how adorable you guys looked when getting firewood with Gladio."
"It's all right." Lunafreya interjected, looking up at Noctis who knit his brows at her. "I… I like the picture. I've never seen one of us together." She gave him a small smile that broadened when his shoulders slacked, and he sat back.
"Sorry man, shouldn't've jumped down your throat like that." He apologized, and gestured to see the picture again. He looked at it, his smile matching Lunafreya's as he studied it, and wished at some point he had thought of snapping a photo of him and her together on his phone. She was always too apprehensive to let me do that. "It's a really nice picture." Prompto grinned, and moved back to his camp chair, placing his camera carefully in his bag. "Anyone else hear that?" he inquired, looking around.
"Yeah this area is kinda noisy. Probably little rodents or somethin'" Crowe answered, waving a dismissive hand.
"Animals run around at night with all those daemons? Sounds like a good way to get eaten." Prompto remarked,
"Eh, the rodents 'n stuff never seemed to bother the daemons." Crowe answered. Prompto scrunched his nose, and wiggled in his chair as he tried to ease the discomfort of sitting in the camp chair.
"Never really liked rats."
"Or snakes?" Crowe wiggled her fingers at Prompto who made a rude hand gesture in response. "Hey specs whats the E-T-A on dinner?"
"I just added the fish, but it should be ready soon." Ignis explained, giving said stew a stir, wafting the steam towards his nose and taking a sip of the broth with a spoon before reaching into his bag to add more salt.
With full stomachs the group settled around the fire with darkness fully settled around them. They had exchanged stories, Crowe regaling everyone with tales of her adventures outside Insomnia and how much Lucis had changed in the last five years.
"Okay so Nyx has promised there was this place he wanted to take me, that I'd love it. I guess it was some bar he loved and would sneak into with a fake ID as a teenager, best beer in Lucis! So we get there and walk in, and tits. Tits everywhere. Turns out, the place wasn't makin' much money on beer alone. Damn place became a strip club. Gave Nyx a black eye for that one. Idiot hadn't told me a thing about the place so I thought it was on purpose!" The others laughted, Gladiolus giving her a punch on the arm,
"Seems like he's had a big collection of shiners!"
"Oh you have no idea. I mean, I did feel like an asshole after he told me the place was only a bar the last time he was there."
"Was this just as friends getting a drink, or…?"
"First date." She answered back, shaking hear head and suddenly in want for a drink.
"Ha! Classy…" Gladiolus laughed, punching her on the arm. "Bet that's a first date you'll never forget."
"Or let him forget" Crowe scoffed. She settled back in her chair, tilting her head back to look up at the sky. She let out an annoyed groan and turned her head to look towards where she heart a groan, and jumped to her feet. A half-dozen bombs were hovering and pacing just beyond the borders, flanked with flans, an Iron Giant letting out a second pained groan that matched the first sound several paces away as it attempted to step within the bounds of the haven. "Guys… take a look around." Everyone looked up and looked around, getting to their feet.
"Shit! Can they get to us?!" Gladiolus asked, summoning his great sword, the others leaning away from him, but quickly refocused their gaze on the edges of the haven where more bombs and flans were gathering and pacing.
"How… how are there flans? I thought those things only appeared underground?"
"I don't fuckin' know! Ask the brain!" Crowe snapped, and gestured at Ignis.
"Even the giant can't step onto the grounds… I do gamble the assumption that we will remain safe as… unsettling as this is." He had read about daemons at night across Lucis, and wondered how much of it was fantasy. It hadn't taken long for that assumption to turn into fact, but he had never seen such a cluster. He had heard of a gathering of five bombs at most. He paused, and turned to Lunafreya,
"Didn't you once say you saw a whole town that had been destroyed by a pack of daemons?" he asked. It took her a moment to realize that he was speaking to her and nodded as the bitter memories came back to mind. She had come to the town after the attack, the bombs long gone. There weren't enough survivors to tell her if the bombs simply went away, were destroyed, or if another fate held them. Not here too.
"I don't know if I can sleep now…" Prompto mumbled, looking around and flexing his fingers, bouncing his weight between his legs as he debated pulling out his guns. The others in the party were not faring much better. Lunafreya was debating an attempt to put a shield over the group, but had never attempted one so large and when she reached for her magic realized she was still exhausted from the attack on Hammerhead. Noctis had his back nearly touching Gladiolus's, his Engine Blade in his hand summoned moments after he had stood, and Ignis was assessing their situation trying to find any sign of weakness in the runes that protected the haven.
"While I do not believe these things can pass into our haven, I find it prudent we take shifts standing guard." Ignis offered. He adjusted his shirt, his ears burning as he adjusted his collar and pushed his glasses back up his nose. He cleared his throat, wanting to eliminate the hesitation in his voice before continuing. "We can each take one-hour shifts until dawn rises so the others can sleep."
"I don't think it matters. That many daemons get into here we're toast." Crowe offered.
"Really helping dude!" Prompto shouted, giving her a thumbs up and a forced grin. "You should be the groups morale beacon!"
"Isn't that Sparklefingers' job?"
"No she's our white mage, I'm the ranger, Gladio is the tank, Noct is just a vanilla DPS, Ignis is the bard."
"Bard?! I do believe I would be better suited at the group's tactician."
"You play too many video games." Crowe rolled her eyes.
"Huh, what are those things?" Prompto asked, looking past the collection of daemons to the moving shadows beyond. "More daemons?... Shit! They're snakes!" he quickly pulled out his guns, "I hate snakes! Are there really daemon snakes? Luna! Kill 'em with fire!"
"Umm…" She hesitated, not sure which part of his exclamation to tackle first.
"I do believe large serpentine creatures are native to Lucis. But contrary to popular belief they are not snakes. Eos lacks the oxygen density in its atmosphere, and has a too-cool a climate to sustain largescale reptiles like in days of old."
"Okay specs, enough science lessons." Gladiolus interjected before the advisor could carry on. "So are they a threat or no? Haven won't stop a snake from gobbling us up-"
"I just said they are not-"
"It looks like a snake, walks like a snake, I'm calling it a snake." Ignis sighed at Gladiolus's interruption, pinching the bridge of his nose as he assessed their surroundings.
"I don't think those things will bother us…" Crowe started, noticing how the Iron Giant and several of the bombs had started wandering in the direction of the nocturnal creatures. The litany of hissing and growling grew. The bombs inflated, basking the surrounding area in light, allowing the group to note the variety of colors in the snake-like animals who drew back and stood tall, now resembling cobras causing Gladiolus to comment again how he had trouble believing these things weren't just giant snakes.
"What the… ugh!" Crowe covered her mouth when the first bomb detonated leaving a cloud of pink with red chunks being thrown through the air. The surviving creatures hissed and drew closer together, one of them striking out at a bomb and drew back, the resulting sound unmistakable as a wail of agony. The Iron Giant had lumbered up to the group at this point and raised its cleaver, bringing it down hard slashing through both a bomb and one of the snakes. The grass ignited from the previous explosion, the flames beginning to lick to life casting a bright orange glow, allowing Crowe and Lunafreya to remark on the black banding around the animals who were now frantically backing away from the daemons, one of them daring a strike at the Iron Giant and being cleaved in two for its efforts.
"This is… horrible." Lunafreya managed to keep her voice level, having swallowed to loosen the knot in her throat she was sure would have made her voice a high-pitched whine. The daemons around the haven were agitated, spinning in place, some of the bombs inflating and deflating as the cacophony of noise grew louder. But it only lasted a minute more as two more bombs detonated, the Iron Giant cutting the last surviving snake into three pieces and began to hack at the twitching lifeless remains until all movement ceased. It lifted up its cleaver, bellowing at the sky, the one remaining bomb inflating and deflating rapidly in cadence to the victorious cry.
"Shit." Noctis whispered. "We . are so screwed."
"I do think we will be safe should we remain here at the haven." Ignis added, turning away from the site of the massacre.
"There was probably a hunt for those things anyway. Hey maybe we can show up at the nearest hunter's spot and collect the bounty on those things!" Gladiolus suggested, getting a hot look from Ignis, but words of agreement from Crowe and the other two men in the group.
"They're returning." Lunafreya stated, her eyes locked on the Giant and its one bomb tailing it, lumbering up the hill towards them, arm swinging the cleaver around in the air, continuing to bellow, feet hitting the ground with far more effort than before.
"That thing was stopped before, right? 'Cause it looks pretty pissed off." Prompto remarked. "Though I do kinda want to give it a hug for getting rid of those snakes for me. I'll sleep peacefully tonight!"
"Who said anything about sleep? I feel like I'm an animal in a zoo…" Noctis stated, side-stepping closer to Lunafreya as he noticed there seemed to be a dozen more flans and bombs than before. He could make out the shadow of another Iron Giant in the distance, backlit by a distant street light, and he wondered if it was repelled by the light or not. Lunafreya yelping from beside him drew his attention and he quickly turned to her, sliding an arm around her waist, "you okay?!"
"Yeah just… that caught me off guard," she looked up at the place where the Iron Giant had attempted to bring down its cleaver over the haven, the blade knocked back in a flash of light, a spiderweb of pentagons erupting across the haven's barrier, the daemons's victorious shouts shifting into a deep angry growl everyone could feel in their throats. "It feels the same as when… those MTs were attacking my shields back in Altissia, or the daemon in Hammerhead." She explained.
"But… you don't have a shield up, do you?" Noctis asked her, fingers gripping the fabric of her shirt. He had noticed the distinct pattern of light when the haven was struck.
"No. I just… detect the magic of this haven… and it feels the same as if I had put up my own shield." She looked around them, trying to sense the dome of magic around them, but only able to detect it with the discomfort of the protective barrier around this haven deflecting the daemon's attacks.
"Is it making you tired?"
"No. It's hard to describe." Lunafreya replied, exhaling sharply out her nose as her eyes tracked the cleaver as it bore down on the shield.
"I don't think your sleeping in shifts idea will be necessary… I sure as hell have no intention of sleeping until daylight." Gladiolus murmured, wondering if this shield would eventually shatter like one of the Oracle's. Had these things ever been tested like this? "Crowe, you've gone running around everywhere. This normal?" he asked, an open palm swinging around him.
"Never seen this many of the fuckers. Usually one Iron Giant on a bad night, a few bombs aren't abnormal but I've never seen them do this…" she answered, eyes flicking rapidly around her, fingers twitching, the air in her palm warm.
"Well I do not find it very wise for all of us to stay up all the night. I myself will get some sleep, come wake me if you decide to sleep and my turn to watch over camp arises." Ignis answered, his words more annunciated than usual as he walked up to his tent, reminding Prompto he was sharing a tent with Gladiolus.
"I think I'll take advantage of his fear of pissing the bed and sleep sprawled out while I can." He answered and crawled into the other tent.
"You go to bed Sparkles, I'll stay up with Gladio, Shields should be the ones to take first watch, right?" she offered her charge, but Lunafreya shook her head,
"I know I will not be able to sleep knowing we are surrounded by these things. Just think of it as having your… white mage… on stand-by." She offered with a shrug and a small smile, getting a nod and thumbs up from Crowe, who dropped into a camp chair.
"And the sleeping wonder?" Gladiolus asked.
"I'll stay up too." He dragged his chair closer to the one Lunafreya was standing in front of after vanishing his Engine Blade and sat down, and she mirrored him after an enthusiastic hand gesture. Gladiolus pulled out his phone after another angry bellow from the Iron Giant, wanting to drown out the anxiety-inducing series of growls, hisses, and screams from the daemons. He knew Ignis would probably prefer the music to the daemons, and Prompto slept with music next to him anyway, so he didn't feel very guilty setting the phone's volume to maximum before shoving it in the chair's cupholder.
"Well. What do you say we break out the cards? I have a deck in my bag. I have a feelin it's gonna be a long-ass night." The others couldn't disagree with Crowe, and with cards in hand she asked "so who's dealing?"
Halfway through the third card game Noctis's hibernating nature got the best of him, and after offering to take a guard rotation that was refused by the pair of shields, Noctis crawled into his tent, Lunafreya happy to follow. Once inside she allowed herself to drop her guard and began to rub at her temples, squinting her eyes trying to will the tension away. The Iron Giant had periodically swung at the haven for several minutes at a time, and the constant throbbing had developed into a headache.
"You okay?" She turned towards Noctis's voice and decided that there was no point in pretending. She sighed and admitted to her headache. "I wonder if we'll have this trouble at every haven or if this one just hates us." He mused, laying back on his sleeping bag and gesturing for her to come curl up next to him.
"I think it may only be this place… if it were everywhere there would have been more than just the two bombs stalking the edge of Hammerhead." Lunafreya answered him. "How are you feeling?" she inquired when her mind wandered to that battle.
"Pretty good actually. What about you?"
"Back to normal." She answered with a slight shrug.
"So wild about me and thinking about how much better I'd look if I took these clothes off? 'Cause I was thinking the same thing."
"How much better you would look without your clothes?" Lunafreya asked, turning her head and cocking a brow at him, tapping at his chest a bit with her palm.
"I-! No! I meant you." He stammered, feeling his cheeks heat up.
"I tease, my scruffy Prince." she smiled, sitting up slightly. Noctis groaned when her weight shifted against him and when she leaned over him he couldn't help allow his gaze to drift to the view afforded him by her shift in position. The heat in his cheeks spread down his stomach as he thought about how two nights with her had not been enough to fill the longing left by their six-month separation.
"Well, now you gotta make it up to me," he offered, jutting his bottom lip and quivering it as he knit his brows together.
"How can I refuse that face? It's just too adorable to slap so I suppose I best give in. How ever shall I make it up to you?"
"You could remove those clothes. I mean… it is pretty warm in here."
"I'm simply exhausted, you ask too much of me. Perhaps help an exhausted Princess?" She tilted her head and mirrored his pout, slouching her shoulder a bit in an unsuccessful attempt to appear seductive, but her shirt disagreed with offering Noctis a better view.
"Hmm what kind of Prince would I be otherwise?" he asked, "and don't you actually answer that!" He pointed, giving her an accusatory side-eye.
"I shant dream of it." She promised, sitting up on her knees to free her arms so she could place her palms over her heart. He whined in returned and reached for her, tugging at the bottom of her shirt whispering a quiet come here. She flushed at the growl in his voice and leaned forward, her lips clashing with his, heat erupting low in her belly in answer when he whispered her name in that same tone. Her lips clashed with his, the pair wincing for a moment when she fell against him faster than she intended, but they quickly recovered and tongues danced as the kiss deepened, Lunafreya answering Noctis's low rumble with a throaty purr of her own.
Noctis released Lunafreya's shirt, the fabric rumpled from the grip he had on the garment before his hands slid over her waist, biting back a comment about how cold her skin felt and instead focused on warming her by stroking his hands across her waist, pausing now and then for his thumbs to roll circles into her skin. She sighed against his mouth, and a nasal exhale from Noctis tickled her cheek which only enticed her more, her tongue demanding more, hands seeking more as she slid her own hands under his shirt, returning his touches, a thumb rolling over his nipple which elicited a whine from Noctis to clash with his previous gravely tones.
"Hmm… that's a new reaction." She whispered, and flushed at her own words.
"That touch was a little new." He whispered back, letting her kiss him silent again.
"Well I quite enjoy it when you do that… I figured it was about time I returned the favor…" her voice was low with a trace hoarseness to it,
"Guess… I should…" his voice was muffled when her lips refused to part with his, his sentence cut off when her teeth bore down on his bottom lip and pulled back. The action caused him to moan, to which she quickly pulled back, using her thumb to wipe the saliva from her lip.
"We should stop… your friends are right there…" she whispered, throwing a glance in the direction where the low fire cast a faint glow on the tent.
"Mmm… You got me a little worked up…" he complained, and they both looked where his sleep pants were tented. "Besides… Gladio is blasting his music and you're pretty quiet." He offere.d
"I-"
"I don't mean that as a bad thing." He cut her off. She dodged his gaze and worried her bottom lip, trying to ignore the faint tingling as her lips longed to reconnect with his. "I just mean… I don't think they'd hear anything." Lunafreya flushed as she thought about the things she longed to do with him, and for him to do with her. Like him, two nights was not enough to slake her lust after six months apart. Her knees began to ache and she shifted so she was sitting and leaning over him,
"I do wish to take advantage of this time together…" she dropped the volume of her whispers further, Noctis straining to hear her over the distorted music that managed to filter into the tent. It was punctuated by the occasional laugh and he turned his full attention back to her,
"I don't think they're paying any attention to us anyway." He offered, also dropping the volume of his voice farther, hoping it would assuage her fears. He was a bit surprised himself he was willing to cross boundaries with the limited privacy of their tent, but gods damn did he want her. The look in her eyes, the welling in her lips, the way her breasts moved with her breaths as her thumbs continued their attention to his chest.
"The question is, can we keep it that way?"
"Hmm one way to find out." He reached under his shirt to grip her wrists, sitting up and pushing his hips against hers to push her onto her back and pinned her wrists next to her ears. The pressure of his hips against hers made him groan, and he couldn't resist pushing against her trying to ease the rising tension in his groin and gave her a victorious grin when he felt her roll her hips in answer to his movements.
His eyes were drawn again to the rise and fall of her breasts with her now rapid breaths, and longed to see them freed from their cloth prison. He tugged at the bottom of her shirt, his palms sliding up her sides. She arched her back and then lifted her shoulders a moment later to assist him in removing her shirt, and he was pleasantly surprised to find she had not worn anything beneath the shirt. He opened his mouth to whisper her name, but instead brought his mouth to her breast, earing a sharp gasp that caused Lunafreya to roll her hips against him again when his tongue brushed over her already erect nipple.
Lunafreya's hands reached up, fingers of one hand tangling in his hair, the other scratching lines down his back, forcing herself to curl her fingers to restrain herself to avoid leaving marks.
"I love it when you do that…" he mumbled against her when she stopped. "I don't plan to be shirtless in front of the guys…" he added. She hesitated for a moment, but his tongue returned to teasing her before moving to the other breast, nipping her gently forcing her to bite down on her bottom lip to hold back a startled cry, and unfurled her fingers to resume tracing novels into his back. She could feel his silent laugh against her chest and removed her fingers from his hair to slap his arm, which only brought on another series of snickers against her, "I think you liked that?" he asked, and bit her again, pushing his groin against her when her knees pressed against his waist and cursed the cloth barriers between them.
Lunafreya was shamelessly rolling her hips to grind against him, working herself up for a few moments before she too could no longer tolerate the offense of having anything keeping her from feeling Noctis's skin on her skin. She wanted to joke about Noctis's earlier suggestion of her enjoying the sight of him naked, but found her voice stuck in her throat as his tongue worked wonders against her breast and she fantasied about the other things he did with his tongue, goosebumps rolling down her arms with the new wave of heat that pulsed through her. She wondered if Noctis could read her mind, for a hand carefully slid down her stomach, a thumb teasing the waist of her pants, his tongue making specific motions to further push her mind to certain thoughts.
She returned the gesture, reaching between him using her hips to nudge him back so she could slip her hands to untie his sleep pants before hooking her thumbs on the waistband, teasing them lower incrementally as she brushed along his waist, hooking a knee around one of his legs. He eventually let out a small whine against her chest, bringing his head up to start kissing below her earlobe and mumbled quietly against her neck,
"You're killing me…" She smiled at his words and finally pushed his pants down, happy to find he lacked any boxers beneath. He reached down to her own waistband and began to push them past her buttocks, hands cupping her and giving them a squeeze, Lunafreya biting down on her lip to keep from yelping and glared at him, which only made him squeeze her again, digging his fingertips deeper into her flesh. He only teased her for another moment before the pair separated to finish shedding their clothing.
He dragged his nails over her waist, teasing her with rolls of his thumb just above where he knew she wanted him, but she arched her back and shifted her hips to change that, and he smiled at her reaction to the touch against the sensitive bundle of nerves before bringing his lips back to hers once more. She exhaled sharply through her nose, breath tickling his cheek, tongue seeking his in a manic dance. He pulled back to kiss her cheek, then her neck, rolling his thumb harder and faster, and she lolled her head back, mouth slack in an expression he wanted to memorize every detail of. She closed her mouth, biting her lip, breath hitching as she languished in the bliss Noctis was giving her, a twist of his wrist allowing him to slip his fingers inside her, driving her even more wild. She could feel him pressing himself against her thigh, rocking his hips and she couldn't bear the injustice. She strained to reach for him through the awkward angle, eventually needing to whisper let me touch you to get him to move higher over her so she could reach him, and he muffled his groan by burying his face in the crook of her neck.
Nocits wanted to join with her, slide inside her and rock against her until they both reached an oblivion that would guarantee they would sleep throughout the night. Her breath was rising, chest rising and falling, the hand curled around him threatening to end things before he wanted to, and he gripped her wrist to pin it next to her head to cease her motions. He tried to remember where he would have a condom, and drew back suddenly. Fuck! He thought when he remembered they were back in Altissia and he had never bought any in Lestallum.
"Noct?" She strained to control her tone, trying to control her breathing. She had been on the verge of climax when he drew back away from her so suddenly, and cursed herself for being so quiet as Noctis has reminded her earlier. "I was…" she trailed off, cheeks flushing. She realized she had never told him before when she had been close, and felt suddenly embrassed, biting down on her lip.
"Oh shit… sorry…" he whispered back, catching her meaning. "I guess I need to make it up to you." He paused, nibbling on his bottom lip, "I… I don't have any protection…" he admitted. The pair hesitated for a moment, both feeling that lips and hands would not satisfy their needs.
"Can you pull out on time?" she asked bluntly, and after a brief pause he nodded.
"Can we risk it?"
"It's a safe week." She explained, not wanting to provide more detail and risk dampening the mood any further. He nodded, cupping her cheek to draw her in for a kiss. Simple at first, but the fire returned quickly, and he pushed her down, laying over her. His hand went back between her legs, feeling his effects on her and she was quick to bring a hand between them, sliding her fingers around him and guided him into her. He buried his face against her neck to muffle the groan of feeling her with no barrier between them, pausing to keep from climaxing at the mere intimacy. After a few moments he began to rock his hips, keeping a slow languid pace.
Lunafreya's nails dug into his back, her deep sigh almost a moan. Were their friends not so close hey may have risked a plea to let him hear her voice, but focused on her breathing and the way she writhed beneath him. Her hips moved with him, making the most of every thrust, toes curled and fingers digging deeper into his back. He knew he would have marks in the morning but loved the blissful sting as she scratched her passions into his back.
"I love you…" he whispered against her, and she whimpered in reply, placing a clumsy kiss on his ear with an awkward tilt of her head, feeling his lips immediately move to her neck.
"Love you…" she replied, and arched her back when his pace changed. Her mouth fell slack, breath hitching and Noctis knew he had her back to the edge he had pulled her away from earlier. Not wanting to disappoint his beloved he lifted himself slightly to fit a hand between them, fingers finding her sensitive center and working her with his fingers as he began to madly thrust into her. The new action did the trick after several moments he felt her tense around him, a series of sighs and and stuttered breaths tell him had had chased her to her peak. She clung to him, even as she grew slack around him. He resisted the urge to bite her neck, wondering how hot she would look with a lovely red mark left by him as a reminder of this night, and withdrew from her, not wanting to risk anything. She reached for him, helping him find his release. He strained not to let out a vocal grunt, face scrunched because gods damn did she feel amazing, and he wondered if it was worth the gamble to take her like this every night, without a latex barrier.
"That… that was amazing." She smiled up at him. Noctis leaned down and kissed her before rolling away to dig through his bag to find something to use for aftercare. Lunafreya redressed as he tended to himself, and he slid his sleep pants back on and decided to remain shirtless before crawling up next to her, deciding it was too warm to climb into his sleeping bag. Lunafreya curled up to him, a thumb idly brushing against his chest.
"You… you mentioned how quiet I am. When we're together." She started after several moments of silence, her voice low. "That doesn't mean I'm not enjoying every moment of being with you." She continued, and felt her cheeks heating up. Her heart that was still trying to slow down, started back up again, and she could feel the throbbing in her ears.
"I didn't mean it in a bad way." He quickly countered, "I just mean… you were worried about being heard. I can tell when you, y'know, when I umm… help you get there." He didn't know why he felt so embarrassed talking about this with her. They had shared intimate thoughts and words through their notebooks and on their far-too infrequent nights together.
"I don't make you doubt yourself? Because you're quite the adept lover." She smiled now, feeling reassured and letting her eyes close, feeling the patterns Noctis was slowly tracing on her side where his hand was resting under her shirt.
"You have a lot of basis for comparison?" he teased, "I kid I kid!" he quickly defended at the look she was giving him. "No, you don't make me doubt myself." He chuckled lightly and tugged her into an awkward half-half.
"Hmm good… because that would be quite the shame. You're far too good at that…"
"Heh… love you." He smiled.
"Love you too."
They closed their eyes listening to the muffled sound of Gladiolus's music, his deep baritone exchanging stories with Crowe's, punctuated by the occasional laughter. They focused on these sounds rather than the hissing that surrounded them, and drifted into a fragile sleep.
