Author's Note:

Here's your warning ahead of time, a lot of explicit sexual content... also gratuitous amounts of moon references. Also it's 2:30 am and I'm so tired lol Sorry for any spelling/grammar errors.

Chapter 79:

Laxus watched Davian go until his lines were blurry and barely discernible, until he faded completely into darkness, and then he kept staring. He stared where the man had been until his eyes wandered to the closest house hundreds of meters away. He didn't pay attention to it when he walked up because he'd been too busy talking and now he couldn't tell of the roof was made from textured tin or if it was the silver from the moon that made it glint white. Every time he breathed, he felt like the world did also with cool damp and lithium. He wondered how cool it really was, if he'd warm up at just a sudden lack of wind or if maybe he'd just stay chilly. A little break would be nice, just so the gooseflesh could ease in its prickling of his skin, so his hair wasn't so disheveled and tangled.

He ran his fingers through the thin fibers of it, electroplated gold coarse from ocean air. Now that he was alone and without anyone standing near him, he felt hopelessly thin and coppery. The overhang above him and the porch below the jowls of a beast resting and waiting for him to walk into its throat. There was no rush here on the doorstep but there would be as soon as that door opened. He turned with the same sort of trepidation one might have before being swallowed and thought about the ridiculousness of it all. He was being a kid, a teenager, a punk, some insignificant manifestation of human youth that dreads something they do not yet know is innately simple and unharmful. It wasn't even like this was his first time. Wasn't experience supposed to abate these things?

Good experience, he supposed. Had he ever had a good experience with heat then maybe he wouldn't be stalling on the front porch by contemplating the ocean wind and the roofs of houses and how chilly a late spring evening could be. His gut wrenched but he put his hand on that simple knob anyway. It was unlocked and so easy to open, all it took was a twist. The hinges didn't even creak. There was no terrible noise like a haunted house yawning its dreaded portal open in preparation for locking a victim in. No shadows moved just out of his sight in the corners or mysterious creeks of floorboards. Laxus was greeted by the smell of oceanside hominess: fabricated cotton florals and something probably labelled pina collada or passionfruit. Safe house. Safe house. The last unsafe person to live here must have been an interior decorator or a realtor...

His eyes drifted to the bend in the living room, the dark shadow on the far wall that disappeared into the rest of the house. The wind blew sand around his feet. He tracked it in just like he thought he would. He let go of the door handle and it glided behind him until he heard the latch catch on the doorframe. He pushed it shut, his eyes never leaving that darkened hall, and immediately the crashing waves of the sea were muted.

Now that he was alone in this vacuum, he could feel gravity pulling gently at him. His breath caught in his throat as the fine dust he'd disturbed at walking in swirled and faded the remnants of old stars shifting down to the floorboards covered in sand. There it was, intermingled in the stale domesticity, fighting for its place amidst the sharp spice of lavender and catnip and patchouli and beeswax, salt and gaudy candles and dust, the smell of iron tapped long and cautious legs up the back of Laxus's neck. His spine was shivering and his skin began to vibrate.

He was as hopeless to fight it as the sea and his hands just as white and frantic for purchase against shifting sand. It was darkness in that hall, it was eclipse. His heart ran like a fugitive in that humid night to the door that was just slightly ajar. His mind was turning to vapor between his fingers, his fingers running down the wall, and the door was before him and gone, swinging on not-as-silent hinges into a bedroom Laxus knew already held a body. Gajeel was sitting there, hands poised at the edge of the quilt because he was ready to spring. He was covered in iron scales and panting, looking like a nightmare waiting with deathly purpose for his victim to unwittingly come inside, welcome him, and allow him into their bed. Long black rivulets tangled and cascaded down his back and his eyes were as large as an owl's and howling with blood. A bare foot pressed against the floor and suddenly he was gripping Laxus by the collar. The world slanted and he was at the mercy of those hands, those talons . Laxus's teeth knocked together as he hit the wall.

"Laxus..."

Gajeel breathed his name like it was a sin, like it was some unspeakable thing, a defamation, a curse, and Laxus felt lightheaded at being summoned. He clung to his arms, dug the tips of his fingers into unrelenting iron and it was as deceptively soft as the hands so close to this throat, hands that could hold him down, hands that were about to.

"You don't have to do this."

Laxus gasped. Had he stopped breathing? His heart was in his ears and he wanted to collapse. His hands were shaking when Gajeel's hips pressed to his. He arched his back and looked down at the raven. The man was beautiful and annihilating. There was chaos here at his fingertips, dipping between tendrils of midnight hair and oxidized eyes. The eclipse was fading before him, red waning and turning to white and the blood was funneling straight into his throat.

"You look like you're going to kill me," Laxus whispered.

His knifetip talons were playing at his throat. Gajeel's eyes sloped down his neck, lingering there where the claws on his thumbs rested just below his Adam's apple, "Do... do you want me to?"

Laxus hesitated despite everything in his body screaming at him to dive headfirst into the man in front of him, to fall into that unyielding pull, to crash and drown. At the farthest corner of his mind he realized he could say no. He could look at the man in front of him, the man he'd fought so hard to get out of prison, the man he'd sacrificed for, he'd longed for all this time, and tell him no. Despite the madness raging in him, around him, filling the air with frisson and leaving them both breathless, Gajeel was still there, watching, ardent, knowing Laxus in his light and dark, changing just like him. He'd been here before, weak and wan, fighting through thick clouds to light the darkness. And now, strong and full of light, he understood. He could see Laxus beneath him, uncertain and cratered by imperfections. When he didn't have to, when Laxus wouldn't have blamed him, he paused and allowed him his time to decide whether he was going to light in brilliant fire or fall back into space and vacuum and stillness.

He could have said no.

"Yes."

The world and everything in it ended when they collided. There was fire and thunder and earthquake, teeth and claws and desperate pleas. Gajeel pulled him in and Laxus tasted iron in his mouth, breathed it in, let himself be destroyed and shaped and remade. It was maddening and impassioned and frantic. Gajeel was gripping him as if to let go meant falling away forever.

"I missed you."

Gajeel pressed his hips into him and he curled his spine, looking for that same friction. He had to sink into his heels so Gajeel could keep hold of him, so they could press together. He couldn't catch his breath, he was dizzy, and Gajeel was there attempting to pour raw oxygen right into his chest. He was crashing over him like a tidal wave, hands making him a mess and dragging him under. Laxus was overwhelmed by a tongue in his mouth, a nagging edge at his neck, the friction. Gajeel shuttered and gasped, pressed his forehead into Laxus's chest. Laxus nearly collapsed to the sounds and smells of Gajeel coming unhinged against his thigh and in a strange fit of roguish daring he growled into a studded ear, "Is that all it takes?"

His crimson eyes were still shuddering when Laxus heard clothing rip. Those hands that held him pinned against the wall tore down the front of his shirt and pulled the offensive thing from his chest. The raging Iron Dragon had been too hasty and the sting of it made Laxus grimace as two fine tracks of red seared down his chest. Ah, he'd never liked sharp pains. But Gajeel's tongue was there, running up the fresh cuts and making Laxus shiver. He worked down Laxus's chest, hands now holding his hips still as he kissed his way down his sternum and again Laxus arched back, pelvis trying to push up and search for a feeling to chase only to be forced down. There was blood on Gajeel's lips and his kisses smudged it across porcelain-white skin.

"You trying to find me?" he could barely breathe.

Gajeel's eyes flickered upward as he loosed the button on Laxus's jeans, "I'd find you anywhere."

"You know me that well?"

"Better than I know myself," he murmured, pressing his nose to the blonde's jaw, just below his ear, and drawing in an agonizingly slow breath, "Your smell..." nipped down his tender skin, "...your taste..." Laxus sucked in a breath when his tongue pressed against his jugular, "...the feel of you..."

"Shit..." he was ragged, his chest shuddering. His stomach folded over itself, "...Gajeel..."

"I want you," Laxus's body was swelling beyond its limits as Gajeel tugged at him, hands fumbling to get the blonde from his clothes, "I need you."

"You need me..."

" Yes ," Gajeel's hot breath was against his throat. Laxus's hands were shaking, "You have no idea what it's like... I couldn't even dream of you in peace..."

Teeth were at his skin and Laxus's eyes were shut tightly. He'd gotten here, to this room, he'd said yes, but the tempest in his lungs hadn't dropped its edge. The rush that had pulled him through the house revealed itself as dread. Gravity was pushing him into Gajeel's atmosphere and he desperately didn't want to shatter him. He didn't realize he was digging his nails in so harshly until teeth were gone and it was just closed lips against his throat.

Gajeel pushed back from him, a snarl on his face where blind yearning had been just seconds before. He balled his hands and turned his back to him, pacing across the room. There was magic filling the room, the raw and powerful manifestation of his anger, his lust, his violent passions. Laxus felt like hot wax had been poured on his skin and once allowed to cool and dry was suddenly ripped away. He was painful and naked and coloring red.

"Gajeel...!"

"You're afraid of me."

"What? No... I..."

"I can smell it! Goddammit! " Gajeel ran his hands through his hair, his breath hissed through his teeth. His claws screeched against his scales as his hands travelled down his throat, his bare chest. He was distressing, the anger twisting to despair and back to fury, "I didn't want this. It wouldn't be like this if I had a fucking choice!"

"No... Gaj-…"

"Just fucking go ! Why are you even here? It's not like I couldn't smell it in the prison."

"I'm not leaving," he stated it as firmly as he could manage but being near Gajeel like this was like wading into tonight's crystal tide. Keeping his eyes fixed to the moon would cause him to drown, but he couldn't move. Gajeel's wildness had his heart pounding, the drive of basic need making his feet stick in the sand. To his horror, he saw himself in the shadow of those damned hills outside of Camellia, lost in blackened pine forests, searching for the Iron Dragon. Those hills where he'd left the raven alone, "I left last time... it's not happening again."

Gajeel shivered and venom stuck to his words, "I don't want you here if you're just fucking guilty."

How was Laxus supposed to speak with reason when silvered with lust? He'd never been good with words. He couldn't string them together in poems or songs, didn't retain witty retorts or have logical explanations for each part of himself. He wanted to cut himself open and spill it out of him, maybe he could dig his nails deep enough to expose the ribs and let his heart spell it all out. There was guilt here but that wasn't why he wanted to stay. He wanted to stay because this, this was the man he loved and would do anything for. He'd kill himself each day if it meant Gajeel could shine. He'd bury his pride and ford the raging water. He'd do it even if he wasn't asked, even if he was told to just leave, even if he was afraid. He'd do it if it meant surrendering himself to something he couldn't quite understand or fathom, turn facing the sea as it rose to meet him and be washed into the gyre, participate in Magic ancient, wild, and hedonistic that pried anxiously at his deeper fears.

Laxus had never been good with words, but he was good with Magic. Terrifyingly so. He knew how to split the sky open with nae a snap to his finger. He could rend the ground apart and make the world tremor with the same utter terror he felt in this tiny room. Magic comes from the soul, the heart, from feelings, that was why passionate Mages were always the strongest. It was why an indecisive and volatile Mage was dangerous, and why Laxus had bargained away all the wild half of himself so he no longer cared for the taste of wicked wind, the unpredictability of nature, why he didn't let himself get lost and swept away. A Wizard like him was a force to be reckoned with because he was confident and pulled his resolve from every inch of himself. He made a habit of holding back, of grounding himself, of being his own balance.

And that was why this was so terrifying. Because whenever Laxus was close to Gajeel, very suddenly he felt like he had everything wrong. All of his fear and worry, his anxieties and reservations, all paled and died in Gajeel's wake. Maybe it was true that Laxus was the sun and Gajeel the moon. Gravity and fate had shorn them up together, entangled them in its crimson strings until they recognized each other, learned and loved the other for what they were, the other's opposite and compliment. But Laxus had never truly loved Gajeel for everything that he was, had he? There still sat in his body and soul the provenance to the fear of chaos only Gajeel could wield and it diminished his worth.

He'd driven a wedge between them; he'd driven a wedge between human beings and the beast and the sea, because beasts and seas were only loyal to the moon, not the sun. He'd made to drive a wedge between thought and feeling, maintained that this should only be a controlled longing that undermines unrestrained lust. He'd had no music or poetry, no dances in sacred moonlight. He'd forgotten that religion had once been made for this discord, that this was something to be adored. This was the rhythm to life and light and darkness. The bright moon can only exist alongisde its dark side.

Laxus took in a shivering breath.

He had never been good with words, but he was good with Magic. So, he did something he never thought he'd be so desperately reckless enough to do, and released it. He didn't just pry slowly back his white-knuckle grip on it, revealing his open and bleeding wounds one by one for Gajeel to see and process each at a time. He dropped it, everything . All of the emotion he'd kept pent up, the anger, the grief, the hurt, the confusion, the guilt, all of it. It tumbled out in so much static that zinged through the air and up and down his arms. His aura, his presence, it all rushed from him and swept the door open, this near-living thing. For the first time since he was a kid, he let his Magic just be and it was a fierce and dominating storm. He heard thunder but he couldn't tell if it was just in his own ears or the skies above them.

Gajeel's spine jolted straight where he stood and his eyes became impossibly wide and wild. Laxus knew he could feel it, the self-loathing, the fear of his own incompetence, the encapsulating horror of losing control. And just as before and so too now, he understood it all. His eyes were swimming rubies and he turned his head to gaze at Laxus, the man nearly naked and stripped down to his barest and most rudimentary. There was just a moment, a flicker of hesitation, and suddenly Laxus was breathlessly washed in Gajeel's response. He was suddenly and completely robbed of his self-possession. Gajeel's magic was his own's equal and opposite to an impossible degree, soft where he was jagged and quick to fill in his gaps. It was intimidating to be so known by another being, to have one's back to the floor and belly exposed, open and vulnerable. It was so easy to be hurt this way, to be blindsided, and an attack from this angle would be nearly impossible to heal from fully.

But this was Laxus and this was Gajeel. They saw what the other thought was ugly and could cry with how wrong they were. Don't you know how beautiful you are? How I couldn't exist without you? You are my sun; you are my moon. Without you I lose my balance and crumble. Without you I am insane and can no longer make sense. Don't you know the stars aren't enough to light my way and when you are gone there is only darkness? Of course, you know. You always know. Somehow you always see the best in me.

Laxus had only just reached forward and suddenly he was on the bed. I know what you want. You know what I can give you.

Gajeel was over him. His hair was trickling over his shoulder, blocking out the world. I'm sorry. This won't be kind.

Laxus could scent his lust and he wasn't fighting anymore. He dug his hands into the embodiment of sacred hunger and its expression that pierced him all the way to his core. This wasn't going to be pretty, no rose petals or slow music to soothe the savage pace. They only had the frantic drums of their hearts and touch that burned its way into marrow. Gajeel was all animal and base passion. His desire sandpapered across Laxus's skin. Claws drew blood from his hips as he held him too desperately. Mouths fought each other, Gajeel forcing his dominance in bruises fierce and flawless down his throat. Laxus sighed and arched his back, baring the long column of his neck as Gajeel ran his tongue along his clavicle.

"I love you," Gajeel spoke straight into his flesh.

Laxus forced an eye open and swallowed, "I love you, too."

Teeth glided gently at first until the canines caught. There was an instant of glorious pain before the sensation made his body incandescent. Warmth flushed through his veins and he gasped as what used to be bite flowered into ecstasy. If their souls were made to resonate, suddenly they were in harmony. Magic and madness and basic instinct drove Laxus's hands into Gajeel's hair to grip tightly as he was suddenly lost. Gajeel was messy and violent. Oh, it was familiar and unfamiliar, terrifying and amatory all at once. Gajeel's hands were on either side of his head, blood tipping his nails, smearing his teeth, stirring in his eyes. His lips pressed into Laxus's, stealing whatever was left of his breath and a growl shattered the blonde to pieces.

"You're mine."

Laxus sighed and his body felt alive, "Yes."

There was blood in Laxus's mouth when Gajeel was through with him, slipping down his chest and stealing the last piece of clothing keeping him contained. Those claws rested like a threat at his thighs and he parted his legs for him, licking the copper from his lips in anticipation. There was nothing sacred about Gajeel's tongue flattening against the underside of his shaft but Laxus still had the gods on his lips. He would have covered his mouth but the way those iron talons pricked into him said they were waiting for even his slightest defiance to tear him apart. He dug his nails into the sheet as Gajeel set about greedily devouring him, his tongue licking desolating trails up his dick. Again. Again. Again, until Laxus was ready to beg him to just take him.

Finally, Gajeel hollowed his cheeks. Those teeth ran down his length, stopping halfway before drawing slowly up again. Laxus bucked his hips upward, searching for the hot mouth that had left him. Gajeel didn't leave him wanting long. The second time he made his way down further and Laxus couldn't stay silent when he hit the soft of Gajeel's throat. When his mouth swallowed him down again Laxus was reeling, his pelvis finishing the motion Gajeel started until he felt him swallow. He was nearly seeing stars at the fourth stroke, the suction setting his nerves on fire with pleasure that electrified his spine. His hands were in his hair, pushing him down again, once more, and he was undone, white light bursting into his vision as he reached his height.

Gajeel didn't pull back from him as he came. He swallowed around him and Laxus gasped and shivered. The flat of his tongue ran up his length again and he could hardly stand it. Gajeel pulled back while sucking him, using his teeth to drive him wild, lingering on the head with his tongue, and Laxus could have been screaming his name except he was too lightheaded to tell. His entire body collapsed into the mattress when he was released, gasping and writhing, nearly overstimulated. But Gajeel didn't look like he was done. If anything, he looked hungrier than before. Laxus cursed because he could feel his licentious thirst edging into the air, tainting the iron in the air.

"I want more."

The way he licked his lips completely indecent.

"More?" Laxus breathed dumbly as Gajeel kissed down his thigh, licked a path back up. His eyes were shimmering as he opened his mouth wide, never breaking his hold on the blonde's eyes, "Ah... fuck ..."

Laxus barely felt the pain this time, still reeling with venom from before. He shuddered and his dick twitched, life already trying to spring back up in it, but that didn't seem to be what his lover was after. He had a commanding grip on his thighs and with just a look Laxus knew what he wanted. His heart leapt up to his throat as he was made to roll over onto his stomach and up onto his knees. He pressed his face into the mattress as Gajeel spread him apart with hands knowing exactly what he was looking for.

He wasted no time. Laxus felt a shock run through him when the tongue pressed to his opening. Gajeel's other hand slipped down to palm his balls, two fingers holding the base of his shaft deftly, not allowing him to move. He ran his tongue around his balls, sucked one into his mouth. The thrill of it made Laxus's head swim, his legs shiver. Gajeel worked his way back up, nipping at his ass, driving his teeth to his skin, and settled himself back between his cheeks. Laxus thought he might tease him, run his tongue tip from his balls up to his tailbone, but in fact it was the opposite: Gajeel ate like he was starving. He pressed his tongue flat against him, rough and hot, lapping at his entrance while hums and growls slipped from his lips. When Laxus would try to find rhythm and move into him, a gentle squeeze warned him to stay still. Gajeel kept him high enough to not want to stop but never gave him enough to crumble. It was maddening .

Laxus was panting and barely hinged with Gajeel finally drew back from him. Laxus could practically hear him licking his lips greedily as he did nothing to stop Laxus's detrimental crash. A frustrated whine tore up his throat. His arms were burning from holding himself up and the Iron Dragon didn't show any signs that he cared. He was about to attempt to look back at him when he felt something dangerous pressing against him, warm and long and sharp. He gripped at the sheets and gritted his teeth, a pitiful noise making it out of him and causing Gajeel to ease in his single-minded procession. A hand appeared by his face; a metal body surrounded him. Laxus could only see his midnight hair but he could feel hot breath at his neck. Gajeel nuzzled into him, face damp and warm, quietly asking why he would make such a sound.

Laxus gritted his teeth, "It's sharp,"

" Mmnh ," Gajeel sighed against his neck, "Try not to scream."

He sank in slowly, gently, and didn't stop until he was in up to his knuckle. Laxus groaned at the feeling of being stretched for the first time in so long, at the way Gajeel twisted his digit inside of him in search for the spot he knew would have him melting in seconds. He pulled back out lazily, his claw menacing Laxus's walls until it was just at his rim before slipping in another into his crowded heat. When Gajeel sheathed himself again, he grazed that delicate space and every muscle in Laxus's body snapped to life.

"There you are," Gajeel growled, pushing his full weight onto Laxus's back so he could reach up in search of the blonde's nipple, "I want you to come dry for me."

Laxus gasped, "Do... what?"

Gajeel plunged back into him and Laxus cried out, forced to take another finger before the Iron Dragon was satisfied. Gajeel hummed into the side of his throat as he fingered him and the air charged with his enjoyment as Laxus was bullied back to his edge. Fingers found his nipple and rubbed at it roughly, the velvet pad of a thumb rolling over it and pressing it down just as Gajeel thrusted deep into him. Laxus swore as his arms began to shake, finding it harder and harder to keep holding up both of their weight as his legs turned to quaking jelly.

Laxus groaned when Gajeel's magic rushed across skin, beneath it. He could feel every bit of satisfaction he got from doing this to him, hearing him swear and moan and fight to breathe. Gajeel growled and pushed into him harder. Laxus cried out at his entire body coming undone in frisson and fire. Gajeel caught himself when Laxus collapsed. His lips were at the nape of his neck.

"You're a freak... ya know that?"

"You have no idea..." Gajeel kissed his shoulder and used his teeth. Laxus swore when he broke the skin and those shivers wracked his body yet again. The noise that fell from his mouth was pathetic, and he felt Gajeel's tongue laving at the bite. His whole body was pulsing, "Goddamn, I've wanted this... you ..."

Gajeel's fingers moved inside of him, curled into his live nerves, and Laxus nearly screamed a curse into the sheets.

"Gajeel...!" he was over him, his body, breath, aura rolling over him oppressively as he fucked him slowly. Laxus was trapped down with a knee between his thighs and a glittering, iron hand digging into the mattress just inches from his face. He was possessed, unable to do much more than full-body shiver as Gajeel worked him into a daze.

"I need you," his tongue was hot against the shell of his ear, his voice thick and discordant as it was overwhelmed by a growl Laxus could feel against his back, "Laxus, I need you... like... gods alive..."

"Ah! Fuck!" Laxus was overwrought with each stoke, the hooked fingers that glided against his overly stimulated nerves. He was teetering between pain and pleasure to the point he couldn't open his eyes, could do little more than press his forehead into the mattress and grit his teeth. He was swimming in that agony and Gajeel continued to whisper into his ear, mouth pressed right where his jaw met his skull, there at the soft skin beneath his earlobe. Laxus could hear every breath he made, the quiet way it caught as he rutted against Laxus's hip.

"Your smell... I can taste it... your softness..." the edge his voice took was profane. It made his hair stand up, his dick twitch, and his hips bucked into the mattress, "All of it... give me more..."

"Gajeel!"

"Gods alive, Laxus..." Gajeel pressed his pelvis into him and Laxus's could feel the full length of him running up his hip, his side. His mind scattered as the pleasure raced up his spine at another savage curl of Gajeel's fingers. He could feel teeth against his skin. Gajeel snarled, "Scream my name again."

"I..." he wanted to say he couldn't, but it was lost when the heat pooling in the base of his spine flared. It seared up his back and through his hips and thighs, intense and painful and effusively rapturous. He was so blinded by it he didn't realize he'd slipped, that lightning was searing across his skin and flashing into both of them. He didn't register the thunder until the little house was quivering with it.

His chest was heaving and when Gajeel pulled himself from him he didn't know if it was worse than the prolonged torture or better. He was empty and cold and shivering until taloned hands were pulling him onto his back. Gajeel's eyes were wide and blood filled, pupils concentrated slits, and brimming abhorrent depravity; licking his lips like a cat that just realized its prey still had life left in it. He was over him in an instant, just the feel of him made Laxus's skin buzz.

"I want to make you do that again."

His lips were hardly working, "I'll hurt you."

"Hurt me,"

Laxus's eyes pricked with tears as Gajeel pushed into him with no warning, the movement once long and fluid and rocking him to his very core once he was fully sheathed inside. The texture was foreign and galvanic, each thrust searing him in ecstasy nearly too ferocious to stand, igniting what was left of his sensitive nerves until he could do nothing but whimper. At the corners of his mind he could feel Gajeel's hands slipping around his shoulders, the sharp of his claw digging into his skin. Something in him shivered to know he was bleeding, that Gajeel couldn't contain himself not to shred into him. Those exquisite lips were pressing to his throat, a growl shivering the air, and Laxus surrendered to the devastating rapacity of the man above him. Lightning surged through their circuits, the brilliance of it consuming skin. For the first time, Gajeel was shaking and his excitement bled into the taste of iron in Laxus's mouth.

"Gajeel..."

"Don't... don't ..." his voice wasn't measured anymore, it was frantic, overcome with ravenous desire, avarice, and he lost himself. Laxus dug his nails into the perfect scales of his back, pulling him down until Gajeel was pressing his forehead into the delectable divot where his shoulder turned to his neck. Laxus surged at teeth and this time he knew he screamed, because his throat was ragged. Through the cracking of thunder overhead and the earthquake that followed, Gajeel was seizing into his skin as he was lost in euphoric frisson and his own final, desperate release.

Tendrils of Laxus's magic was still razing his skin as he released his hold the blonde's pale flesh. Quaking and strangely numb, Gajeel pushed himself up onto his hands, eyes bleary as he gazed down. He was a horror, fingers stained with blood and smudges of it still on his face and mouth, but Laxus was looking up at him like he was the only thing in the universe. Skin was starting to bruise and the air still stirred with static and heat and the smell of desperation, but Gajeel's hand was cupping Laxus's face, brushing rose across his cheekbone. Hair like the night sky blocked out his vision.

Gajeel kissed him the way he should have done in the beginning, leaning in gently with breath that fell warm and sweet across his face. A mouth over his, brimming with dulcet passion, and soft like a first snowfall.

"Goddamit, Laxus, I love you," he breathed it right into his soul, "I love you. I love you..."