Content Note: This chapter has been edited for adult language and sexual content. If you would like to read the full chapter, you can find it under the same title on Archive of Our Own (the address for my works is in my profile).

A big thank you to dragon of winter nights for the beta read on this.

Chapter 4
In which Clef has Opinions about romance novels

Clef planned to put some space between them that evening, or so he was trying to convince himself when he walked into his study, hair still damp from his bath. There was so much work he needed to get ahead on or at the very least caught up with before the ball the next day. He'd just gotten himself settled at his desk when there was a soft knock on the door.

"Yes?" he called.

"Um… Clef?"

He looked up to see Umi peering at him from around the partially open door with a sheepish smile on her face. "Yes?"

She stepped into the room slowly, a book clutched tightly in her hand. "Have I gotten you in trouble?"

He blinked at her, confused. "How would you have got me in trouble?"

"Brisa's a judge!" Umi's voice squeaked slightly.

"Yes? And?"

"Doesn't that mean she's all about upholding the laws of Cephiro and all that? I mean…"

What she meant clicked then. "You needn't worry about Brisa." Clef folded his arms across his papers and smiled at Umi. Of all the moments to start actually listening to him... He shook his head when Umi opened her mouth to protest. "No one in my household will say anything unless they believe it will endanger Mazda or Cephiro. Or possibly me." The lot of them might torment him mercilessly for the next few months over this, but none of them would see any reason the Council should know about it.

"Household…?" Umi looked at him with a strange expression on her face. "Clef... did you bring me home to meet your family?"

The confusion returned. "What?"

"It's just, the way you said that…" She tilted her head, the corners of her lips turning up. "And how they tease you…"

He blinked, and couldn't work out how to contradict her. Technically, Aveo was related to him, though she was his niece down enough generations neither of them bothered to track it—which meant Kalos and Elysion were technically relations as well. And, as Brisa and Kalos were in a declared relationship, Brisa could probably claim him as her great-something-ridiculous-uncle too. Then Getz had adopted the lot of them so firmly he refused to move out, though they'd built him a perfectly nice house just down the road.

Umi meant something rather more than he'd ever considered them, but he couldn't say she was wrong, either. He knew without a doubt that any of the people downstairs would do anything they could to help him, without hesitation. He'd just never sat down and thought of it like that, not even in the two years since he'd chosen them to come and form the backbone of his ward Circle, and moved them out here with him.

He sat there in silence for a good minute, and he must have had a Look on his face as he did so, because Umi slowly dissolved into giggles. "If you're going to laugh at me, you can leave," he told her, in a pointless attempt at preserving his dignity. "I have work to do!"

"I'm sorry! Your face— I'll be good! Quiet, even! I have a book." She brandished it at him like a shield. "I could just- read over here on this settee. Not disturbing you. If that's okay?"

The answer should have been 'no'. Considering what had happened earlier that afternoon, it should have been a resounding 'no', but instead, it was his heart that spoke. "Of course."

Her smile was practically incandescent as she bounded further into the room, and he couldn't help but be cheered by it. He told her to make herself comfortable, before settling himself even more securely behind the ramparts of paper on his desk. It wasn't as if this wasn't familiar, in its own way; Umi had spent a lot of time in his office the last few months, studying or reading while he worked. Plus he was still trying to sort out the mess of things she'd made that morning, which was going to take a fair amount of attention.

Make herself comfortable is exactly what Umi did. By the time he'd actually looked up, she'd piled all the small cushions into a mound on one arm of the settee and was leaning back against it with her feet casually propped on the other arm, opening her book.

He had grown accustomed to her company over the years. No, being honest, it was more than that. He liked spending the evening with Umi. He might be loathe to admit it, but the time they'd spent together over the past six, almost seven, months—since she first kissed him and started creeping further and further into his life—had become rather the highlight of his weeks.

Lately, though, her presence was more often a distraction than a comfort, and he'd been trying to discourage her for both their sakes.

Clef focused on sorting out the tea stained paper. He'd got through most of the first stack of papers, trying to find the second half of various reports and documents in the next, then Umi stifled a giggle, and he looked up. She'd gone from leaning back gracefully to sunk down the settee, her head barely even on her pile of cushions and her left ankle hooked up over the back of it rather than the arm. He dragged his attention away from her and back to his task.

Ten minutes later she laughed again, and when he looked she was upside down, with both her feet thrown over the back of the settee, her book held precariously over her head. The short skirt of her dress was pooled around her hips, giving him a complete view of her legs from ankle to thigh.

Reports and trade agreements were not nearly distracting enough to keep his attention on his work.

"What are you reading?" he asked, hoping to catch her attention long enough she'd notice what she was doing.

Umi nearly fell off the settee in her rush to sit back upright. She yanked her clothes back into place, blushing furiously as she turned back to him. "Um…" Her hand flailed slightly.

"You kept laughing," he prompted, gently. It wasn't wholly a ploy, he was actually intrigued by what could hold her attention so well.

"Oh!" Umi looked at her book and then back up at him. "It's snowing and cold, and all their clothes are wet." She giggled again. "There's also no heating in their cabin, and they've only found one blanket."

Ah, one of those books. "So they're going to have to cuddle for warmth?" Clef was smiling now. He must have read a thousand versions of that story over the years, but it was still far more interesting than the missing end of the current economic report.

"Uh... Yeah…" Umi answered, looking a bit startled when he pushed his chair back from his desk so he could see her properly.

He leaned back in the chair and grinned. "Or do you think they're going to end up sleeping together?"

"Well, they might, but that would make things complicated." She blushed again, biting her lip.

"I imagine there must be some sort of circumstance dictating they can't be together yet." He waved a hand at the book, she was only a little over half the way through.

Umi smiled and shrugged. "He still has to find out if she's guilty of killing her father or not."

He snorted. "She didn't do it, of course."

"But he doesn't know that," she agreed.

"He'll have to find the murderer then?"

"Yeah." Umi nodded, and flipped back a few pages thoughtfully. "It's probably her estranged brother. He seems pretty sketchy."

"I don't know why I'm surprised Tokyo has the same sorts of ridiculous stories."

Umi looked down at the book in her hand for a moment, and a mischievous smile curled at the edge of her lips as she lifted her head again. "What sort of terrible plots do Cephiran stories have?" She scooted over and patted the cushion beside her. "You have to tell me."

He knew he was probably making a mistake, but he went to her anyway.

.*.*.*.

Umi didn't mean to stare, but she wasn't sure anyone else could have helped it either. When Clef walked around his desk, it was the first time she'd gotten a proper look at him that evening. She'd already been trying to ignore the way his hair curled around his face when damp. It was cute the way the ends turned up every which way, clinging to his skin as he moved. But what really got her was his clothing.

Clef was dressed in only a thin grey shirt—one of the high necked ones with the fastenings down the front that he wore under some of his robes lately—and loose dark trousers. Both looked soft and well worn, the sort of comfortable clothing one might keep but only wear at home. Somehow the combination of that with his bare feet felt incredibly intimate.

Umi blushed again when he sat down beside her, squashing the urge to reach out and check if those clothes were as soft as they looked.

"I can tell you some of the old Cephiran stories sometime, if you like? There isn't much new being written right now, so I've been getting most of mine from elsewhere lately," he said, shifting a stray cushion from behind himself. "Some are fine, but there are so many that are just… wrong."

"How do you mean?" she asked, amused by the frown he was pulling at thin air and the memory of those 'wrong' books.

"I don't know if you realise how much Cephiro faded into a myth in the last few centuries. We were so closed off from everything else that most of the other lands forgot we're actually real." He waved one hand in a circle—the one furthest away from her, so she didn't have to dodge it. "Which means many writers decided that accurate details are merely suggestions, and they can just start making up their own magic systems."

Umi tilted her head, lips twitching. "There's nothing wrong with that. I mean, fantasy is a popular genre on Earth."

"Do you know how jarring it is to read a story supposedly set in Cephiro, but they have our magic completely wrong?" He shook his head at her. "I understand that other countries have different magic systems, but if you're going to set a story in another land, you should at least have some idea how things work there! If I have to read one more story about someone who is gravely ill or injured being magically healed with vigorous and acrobatic sex, I swear I am going to go hunt the author down and give them a lecture on how that's both magically and physically impossible!" Both his hands were in the air by now.

"But Cephiro is the land of will. Anything you believe in…" she teased.

"There are specific healing spells. You need a properly trained healer to perform most of them."

"I don't know. Fuu basically made her spells up, and they heal pretty comprehensively."

"No, her magic gave her the words; it's not the same thing." Clef insisted. "It only worked without real training because you three have so much power you didn't need to be accurate and none of your injuries were subtle either. Plus, your schooling seems to have given you a lot more biological knowledge than ours does before you specialise. Either way, you don't just have sex with someone to fix a fatal head wound or a nicked artery!" Umi could almost see the imaginary author he seemed to be trying to shake some sense into. "If they're that badly injured, sex would probably kill them! And don't even get me started on all the master and apprentice stories."

"Some people like the student-teacher type stuff."

"You don't sleep with your apprentices, Umi! You're in a position of authority over them, and any relationship would be exploiting that authority." The gesticulating was getting worse, and Umi leant back slightly, laughing. Clef didn't notice her dodging, too caught up in his rant. "Even if someone was the nasty kind of person who would try something anyway, it's against the oath! You would be expelled from your guild!"

"But what if the attraction is mutual?"

"Then you have them assigned to a different master," Clef moved his hands like he was picking up something from Umi's lap and setting it on the cushions the other side of him—presumably the apprentice that was being moved. "Then you should take a break from each other before trying to pursue anything. You don't just leap into bed with someone because you think they're attractive and you've been living with each other for a few years. You wait, and approach any relationship later on equal footing."

Leaning into the cushions further, Umi grinned at him. "Would someone think you're exploiting me?"

"Umi, you aren't my apprentice." He pulled a face at her. "Strictly speaking, as a Magic Knight, I don't even know where that would put you in the hierarchy, but you are definitely not and never will be my apprentice."

"Wait…" she said, slowly. "Clef… is that why you've been refusing to teach me magic this year?" He was suspiciously quiet. "But I asked you months ago! All this time, I thought you just didn't want me bothering you! I don't want to be your apprentice; I just want you to teach me how to shield, you idiot!"

"It didn't seem like a good idea," he said, primly. Which was as good as a plain admission.

They sat for a minute or two in the slightly awkward silence before Umi poked him in the shoulder and asked, "Any other terrible tropes you hate?"

It was fun listening to him rant. He not only had opinions but was obviously very well read to have formed them. And he leapt at the offered topic.

"Bonding with the enemy," Clef groaned, grimacing in disgust.

"Bonding?"

"Tangling your magic together with another mage." He waved his hands between them. "I don't care how popular the idea has become, you cannot have a bond with someone and hate them at the same time."

"But how do you tangle your magic with someone?"

"It's—oh, you know—something like joint spell casting, and—er—an emotional connection, and it—it sticks?" He flailed his hands wildly as if trying to grasp the answers from the air, or bat away the question entirely, Umi wasn't sure. "It's complicated!"

Umi smirked at him. "If you don't know how it's done, then how do you know they're wrong?"

"Because—" He grabbed her hand and held it up between them. The sparks flickered softly between their fingers and his magic pulsed through her palm as he tangled their fingers together, sending a shiver up her spine, and back down it. The deliberate flood of magic was as strong as it had been in the library; her breath caught, her chest feeling too tight. "This doesn't happen with someone you hate, Umi. Far from it."

"Clef…" Umi swallowed, looking at their hands then back up at him.

The next moment their lips met, and then the rest of them as she reached for him.

.*.*.*.

Somehow they went from looking at their hands to kissing, and Clef was quite sure he'd missed a step or two in between. But he most certainly wasn't complaining when he fell back into the pile of cushions, nor was he protesting when she pressed her body against his and tangled her fingers in his hair. The moaning he was doing had nothing to do with displeasure. Which was probably why his hand had slid up the cool skin of Umi outer thigh, just under the hem of her dress as he guided her legs up and over his lap until she was straddling his hips before he realised that was his goal.

He just wanted to be closer.

Umi immediately began fumbling with the clasps on the front of his shirt. He half-heartedly brushed her hands away before giving in to his own desire to touch her, instead, wrapping his arms about her.

The first touches of her fingers down his chest were so soft they would have been ticklish, if it weren't for the shiver of her magic against his skin, pulling a response from his own, making him shudder. She seemed pleased with that, biting his lip and doing it again.

Umi traced a line of feather-light strokes down the swath of his skin she'd managed to expose. Her lips travelled from his mouth and across his jaw, as she continued her exploration of his skin, and he groaned, shuddering again, hips rocking against hers. Her hands crept under the edges of his shirt, pushing it further off when her kisses reached his neck.

With each touch more magic flooded between them, heightening every touch and every sensation.

Clef ran his hands up and over her shoulders, circling behind her head to pull her down closer. His fingertips skimmed back over her shoulder blades, the top edge of her dress sliding further out of the way as he moved around. Clef thought nothing of the amount of skin he was tracing until his hands returned to Umi's chest. She let out a breathy moan and rocked against him as his thumbs briefly teased her nipples, not through fabric but against bare skin, the static building beneath his palms with every second of skin to skin contact.

He opened his eyes then swore, unable to look away. There was no possibility he was ever going to forget the sight of Umi on top of him, her skin flushed, eyes closed, and dress pooled around her hips.

In one swift and clumsy movement, he tore his hands from Umi's chest and tried to shove himself away from her, only succeeding in tumbling both of them completely off the settee. The fact that he landed half on top of her didn't help matters any.

Umi blinked up at him, only slightly startled, pupils blown wide. She reached out and tried to pull him down to her.

For the briefest moment, he almost gave in, but straightened his shoulders and sat up trying to steady his breath before saying in a harsh but trembling whisper, "You should go to your room."

A dark flicker of something flashed across Umi's eyes as she leaned up, grasping the front of his shirt and yanking him along as she rolled them over, pinning him solidly to the floor.

"I don't want to."

The position combined with the demand in her voice lit him up like a spring lightning storm. He swayed up toward her, lips almost brushing hers, before he came back to his senses. He ripped himself back out of her grasp, and tried to scoot out and away from her. They could not be doing this. It wasn't legal.

"Either you go, or I do," he growled.

.*.*.*.

Umi seethed with anger. She burned for his touch. She wanted him desperately, and she had been pretty sure he wanted her too (There had been no denying the effect she'd had on him.) but here he was just shoving her away.

"No." She tightened her grip on his shirt and yanked him forward. "I want you to finish what you started."

He hissed in a breath and wrapped his fingers around her wrists, pushing her away from him. "We can't do this."

"I don't care about the stupid law!" She declared, defiantly leaning into his space. For a moment there, she had been pretty sure he wasn't giving it a thought either.

"I do!" he all but shouted, pulling away from her and refastening his shirt, staring fixedly at his hands.

Indignation mingled with embarrassment as she sat there, eyes burning, becoming very aware of her missing dress and of Clef's refusal to even look at her when a minute ago he'd had his hands all over her.

Hauling the fabric of her dress up to cover her chest, she threw herself off the floor and away from him. She wanted to tell him just what he could do with himself, but she didn't trust herself not to cry if she did. She stormed out of Clef's study and back to her room, slamming both doors behind her for good measure.

Tears prickled at her eyes as she flung herself down onto the bed. Yes, she shouldn't be pushing him or trying to take things too far, but what was he doing kissing her like that? What did he think would happen when he had pulled her onto his lap and started touching her?

How many times was he going to get her heart racing and then push her away?

It was beyond infuriating. Taking a few deep breaths, she tried to calm herself down, but every time she thought she was cooling off, she remembered the feeling of his fingers in her hair and on her thigh, the sharp sting of magic against her chest. Which led to her thinking even more about what his fingers, and that magic, would feel like on not-her-thigh. With a growl, she twisted onto her back, staring at the painted ceiling, swirls of pale grey with little blue flowers tucked here and there.

He'd shoved her away, but he was still all she wanted.

Closing her eyes against the heat of tears, she bit her lip. How long was this going to take? Clef was tied up in so many knots. If he could only let go. Just once. Once, and then she could be patient…

That was a lie, and she knew it.

No matter how she tried to push him out of her thoughts, it was no good.

She could still feel the touch of his hands on her back, sliding over her neck, fingers holding onto her waist. Magic pulsing through his touch with every beat of his heart, shuddering through her. It was ridiculous how badly she wanted him.

Either she could just lay there for the next few hours stewing in her own furious arousal, or she could take matters into her own hands.

.*.*.*.

Clef sat in his study, face in his hands. How could he have let that happen? First the library and then this—a hairs breath from breaking the laws he claimed he was clinging to. All because of what? He threw too much power into the touch and overwhelmed any ability to reason?

There was no chance of getting any work done now, not if it required he be able to think. So he might as well just go to bed. He was certainly worn out.

He waited at for a few moments after Umi's bedroom door slammed. He didn't want to meet her in the corridor and transporting to his room was a dangerous proposition with his mind so utterly tied up in the past half hour; he wanted to be with her so badly, he'd probably end up in her bedroom rather than his own. If she forgave him for being such a complete arse, he was absolutely sure he wouldn't be leaving that room until morning.

Even knowing all that, when he did slip cautiously out of the room and down the corridor, Clef still found himself hesitating by her door. He just wanted to apologise. If he called through the door, instead of opening it, that should be safe, right? He brought his knuckles up to rap against the wood and froze.

Umi was using magic, not just using it, she was…

Clef stumbled back, turned on his heel and shot across to his own room. The door shut louder than he meant it to as he slumped against it, instead of pushing it shut, heart racing.

What he needed was a very, very cold shower.

He shed his clothing as he crossed the room, tossing things toward the wall where hopefully he wouldn't trip on them. He would pick them up later. Walking into the bathroom, he yanked the controls on the shower to the coldest setting and threw himself beneath the stream.

Unfortunately, the chill did absolutely nothing to cool the heat pooling inside him. The rivulets running down his back felt like fingers trailing down his spine and over his shoulder blades. Her mouth on his neck, her magic pulling against his—

A shower was probably the absolute worst way to try pushing the Magic Knight of Water out of his head.

He leaned forward against the tiles and let out a broken laugh, because of course nothing could make this better.

Clef stood there for ten long minutes until he was nearly trembling with the cold, but it was still doing nothing to quell his desire. Forehead still resting against his arm on the wall, he finally gave in to defeat and reached down.

All questions, comments, and happy thoughts are welcome and very appreciated!

(If you reviewed the previous chapter 4 of this story back in 2012, you will still be unable to comment on this chapter. You are welcome to send me a PM, an email, or wander over to AO3 to leave a comment there.)