Hey, guys. I know I've been an asshole lately for not updating. Truth be told, in addition to having constant writer's block, I'm really slow at writing. And college stuff doesn't help. So... I can't promise another chapter soon, but I do hope you enjoy this one and leave me feedback. I also updated my profile since it's been as while. Thanks!

Niall's fingers traced marble. Cool and smooth- no, warm. Warm and supple. Like a kindred flame on glass. Yet smooth still, like velvet. Always awaiting his touch. Niall sighed, allowing the feel of Irial's skin to warm him, his cheek pressed the faery's chest. Although darkness swayed behind his lids, but his senses were blazingly alive. His body hummed with a distinct pleasure he hadn't believed it capable and his fingers were stroking the tender skin beside him of their own accord.

Niall could feel Irial's own hands tending to his scalp, smoothing locks of his hair with firm fingers.

After listening to Irial's shuddering heartbeat for a few more moments, Niall lazily opened his eyes. He glanced around the opaque bedroom before meeting Irial's languid gaze. The faery was staring at him with an indescribable expression, his lips parted slightly, his eyes akin to something hard, yet sensual.

It confused Niall greatly. He opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by Irial's low baritone.

"You are so beautiful", the older faery mused, running a thumb along Niall's mouth.

"Is that why you want me?" Niall blurted. As soon as he said it, Niall immediately regretted speaking it aloud. His words sounded accusatory, even to his own ears. But he couldn't contain them, not when they'd been clawing at his mind for hours now, going as far back as Irial's first display of interest in him. It's why he'd been so willingly to hastily flee despite the kindness Irial had shown him. The nagging feeling of distrust refused to leave, despite the evidence of Irial's adoration and honesty.

If Irial was taken aback by his response, his face scarcely showed it. All that changed was the lowering of his brow and the slowed movements of his hands along Niall's skin.

"Yes", he answered slowly. "But there is more to your complexion than beauty, Niall. Beauty is the drink of the indolent. Nothing more."

"I know that", Niall replied in some vain attempt to not seem foolish- Not in front of Irial. Although it was terribly obvious that the older faery knew more than Niall did about most things, Niall would not hope to disappoint him by seeming like a young, insipid child. Instead, he settled in closer to the other faery, resting his chin on just below his the curve of his chest. And then as if to further his resolve, "I understand."

"Do you?" Irial rumbled, his voice seeming closer with Niall's face pressed to his skin. Niall could hear the mocking smirk in his voice.

"Of course", Niall replied, and he made a show of confidence as he did so.

Irial merely chuckled and ran his forefinger along Niall's mouth when the gancanagh glowered at him for it. "You needn't pout, รก ghra. It's unbecoming."

"Then don't give me a reason to pout", Niall countered, a grin playing at his lips. He tilted his chin up, eyes running over Irial's face. He knew the affect he had on the other faery, saw the way Irial's eyes darkened as they traced his lips. Niall had wooed many a mortal, and even some fey, but to see that same lust mirrored in Irial's eyes made him come undone. Irial was bewildering and fascinating and left Niall feeling brand-new, in spite of the brief time he'd known him. Like a tempest. To have so much power over the other man exhilarated him.

So when Irial tipped his head down to nip at Niall's lips, Niall hummed contentedly, matching the kiss with fervor.

Irial ravished his mouth for a few moments before pulling away breathily, his black eyes wild and glittering.

He gazed at Niall the way every boy wanted to be looked at. Niall couldn't suppress his shy smile. With Irial's obsidian eyes focused on him.

"You're going to be the death of me, Gancanagh", Irial whispered, a smile tugging his lips.

"Let us hope not", Niall said, shoving Irial onto his back with both hands. The other faery gasped in surprise as Niall swung his legs over and straddled him. When he rocked into the other faery, Irial let out a strangled moan. "You need your strength", he whispered, capturing Irial's mouth in his.

When they made love this time, Niall tried to imagine a world without knowing Irial, his life before he knew of the pleasure and pain the other faery offered him so freely.

He thought about the mortal girls and their swaying hips, their frayed emotions and too-thin love. The blank stares and breathy moans he dreamt of for nights on end. But as Irial sank sharp teeth into his throat and nails into his unmarred back, Niall lost himself in sensation. The others no longer mattered. If he tried hard enough, he could almost forget they existed.

Irial was like that, it seemed; a vacuum of sensation that left nothing whole in his wake. A tidal wave come to wash clean Niall's imperfections and sin. As Niall cried out against Irial's too-soft lips, light flashed before his eyes, and for a moment, he thought he was soaring.

"Irial", he whispered like a benediction, feeling the dark red roll warmly down his throat.

His heady moan broke the thin air as he gripped the other faery. And even as the remnants of his thoughts bloomed into stars and darkness, pain and pleasure, none of it compared to Irial.

Irial, who was like nothing he he'd once known. Irial, who would save him.