Author's Notes:
TW:
Sun and Moon references
Gratuitous allusions to solar eclipse
Emotionally Devastating Smut
Blood
The album that Laxus plays is called Moonlight Sinatra by Frank Sinatra. You can find it on YouTube and Spotify if you want to listen while you read lol I don't think its long enough but you could always put it on repeat like I did!
"I dwell upon the days when I gazed in your direction. No longer a stranger but living in your world. Gently pouring out love into each other, we tranced all the realms of our negativity. I can, but don't wish to be happier in any other moments that you're not in. And if the time comes, where the Moon crosses the Sun I hope the eclipse lasts a lifetime for we are the rays and the shadows combined."
― Marsha Warren
Chapter 106:
The show ended, and by the time it was over, Levy was sobbing over how Maria had held her Tony in her arms as he died. Jet held her hand gently, whispering sweet things in an attempt to calm her down. Gajeel hadn't realized the show was a tragedy, and Laxus watched his surprise play across his face as the two lovers were ripped away from each other. His gaze was distant as Maria screamed that now she could kill too.
"You said I'd like Romeo and Juliet?" he'd smirked as the curtain fell and the applause began.
"Only if you enjoy bitter endings," Laxus said, sipping his coffee, "They both die in the end of that one."
It was cooler when they left, but of course, Gajeel didn't seem to notice at all. While Jet was busy attempting to get Levy to wear his coat, Laxus was watching Gajeel as he gazed up at the stars. He pointed out Sagittarius and named a few others as he weaved stories about laying on the massive neck of a dragon. He was in the middle of talking about a time when, as a boy, he'd jumped into cold water on the top of a mountain, and how the world both above and below was an endless horizon of stars, when Levy bounced over to hug them both goodbye. She grabbed Laxus by the lapel and pulled him down to her level. He stumbled a bit into her but she seemed not to notice.
"What did you say to him?" Her breath wreaked of alcohol.
"It can't just be that he finally woke up and noticed all the hints you were dropping?" Laxus asked and she gave him a suspicious look, "I just told him what you said."
She blushed and narrowed her eyes in Jet's direction, "And he listened to you?"
"Gajeel helped. Told him a story about how he'd had issues pleasing women when he was younger. Then he seemed… receptive to constructive criticism."
She made herself dizzy with her exaggerated eyeroll, "I'm starting to think Cana is right about male pride."
"He'll learn," Laxus laughed good-naturedly, "If he wants to keep you around."
She let him go and was in the middle of attempting to pin her winning smile back on her face as if nothing had happened, when he reached out and ruffled her hair. She looked surprised at first, and then swatted at him playfully. A real smile that lit her eyes radiated the night. She whispered a roguish, "I hope you two have a good night,"
Laxus's face felt hot, "I'm sure we will."
She winked at him, and as Jet approached she jumped up into his arms. He stumbled and caught her, and then set her lightly to the ground. She led him away, arms outstretched as she hopped down the sidewalk without a care in the world. Jet, wrapped around her finger as he was, smiled as he followed along behind her, only giving a glance over his shoulder and a small wave to the two dragon slayers in farewell.
"That could have been you," Laxus said, arms crossed as they watched them go.
"You think Jet could catch me like that?" Gajeel quipped back. Laxus laughed.
The walk home was muted. Anticipation reverberated between the two like a note left to hang in the air, or raw cotton caught in the wind. Laxus intertwined his fingers into Gajeel's, occasionally bringing his hand to his lips to plant a chaste kiss. If Gajeel tried to return in kind, he would delicately pull away. A crooked smile weaved its way across Gajeel's face at the blonde's sudden demure disposition but he didn't say anything against it, as if by doing so he would somehow break some spell that his lover was casting.
"Should I carry you across the threshold?" Laxus leaned down to hum in his ear.
"Do ya have to?" Gajeel asked nervously.
"Not if you don't want to," he replied easily, running his fingers down his spine, "Does the idea of it make you uncomfortable?"
"A little," Gajeel confessed.
"Can I ask why?" Laxus asked, staring into him in earnest.
Gajeel paused for a moment, looking at the door warily, "I guess I don't have a reason... just not supposed to."
"Well... there's no one around," Laxus gave him a gentle nudge, "I won't tell if you don't."
Red crept steadily up Gajeel's neck and tinged his cheeks, "Yeah... yeah ok."
In a movement that was far more fluid than even Laxus had expected it to be, he swept Gajeel off his feet. He grinned as the man settled stiffly in his chest, wrapping arms around his neck like his life depended on it. Laxus did a left turn to a three-step rhythm, traveling as if in a waltz up the steps and to the door. Gajeel buried his face into his shoulder, muttering about him doing too much as they glided inside. Laxus only laughed as he let him down, unfettered and terribly daring in that moment.
"I keep forgetting that you know how to dance," Gajeel muttered, his face a brilliant scarlet.
Laxus smiled, and with a quick, snappish motion of his two fingers he created the rune that sailed up the stairs, lighting votives along the way. There were rose petals in a path to the bedroom, and the room was steeped in vespertine glow that flickered and danced across the walls.
"Just enough to make a point."
"More than that, I think." Gajeel replied in a quiet way, as if trying not wake something sleeping.
Laxus was taking his hand and laying a kiss on his bared knuckles, a gloved palm, and then to the soft of his wrist. Gajeel was resisting the urge to reciprocate, to weave fingers into blonde hair, because every time he tried his love would abruptly stop. Laxus placed a kiss on the crook of his arm, where the vein jumped in dastardly betrayal. His eyes glittered as if they held sparks of electricity instead of the wane, shivering light of dozens of candles marching off into their dusk-laden home. Gajeel shivered.
"Lead the way?" Laxus asked.
Gajeel was tugging nervously at his gloves. Somehow, some way, despite everything he'd lived through, doing these things with Laxus always seemed to make him feel like it was his first time all over again. And perhaps it was. He'd certainly never done this before.
He shifted on his feet while Laxus glided to his record player, pulling free the vinyl from its protective covering. Fingers moved delicately, handling edges, using feather-light touches as the record player was made to come alive. A moment of silence and then an arrangement of woodwinds began, swelling gently before being broken by a crooning voice Gajeel recognized but didn't typically indulge in.
With just the two of them here in a little sanctuary, Gajeel allowed himself to melt a little. Strong hands handled his own, drawing him close to the sounds of Moonlight Becomes You. Laxus hummed as they danced through the patient shades of evening that blanketed the room. Moonlight becomes you, it goes with your hair. He looked down at him with a tenderness that could melt snow. They were swaying back and forth, shuffling rose petals across the floor, crushing rouge into the carpet as the blonde again began trailing kisses across shoulder. His head tilted back and he leaned into his love's embrace as Laxus guided him in a slow circle, lips tracing the outline of his neck. The moonlight becomes you, I'm thrilled at the sight, and I could get so romantic tonight.
"I want to try something, if you'll allow it," Laxus's mouth was pressed to his jaw and his breath ghosted across his ear.
"Ah... that's frightening..." Gajeel whispered, finally allowed to entwine his fingers into golden hair only to have the man pull away. He heard the slipping of fabric against itself and looked to find long black ribbons in Laxus's hands. His smile was an anxious one, "Mm... frightening."
"It's up to you," he said, unbuttoning the iron dragon's collar, opening his shirt and baring his skin. He slipped them around his neck, let them hang against him and watched the gooseflesh that prickled where they touched.
Gajeel licked his lips, "What are you wanting from me?"
"Nothing, I want nothing from you," Laxus murmured, his hands pulling Gajeel's shirt free to begin sliding it from his shoulders, "I'm loving you. I just want you to feel me, that's all."
"I can feel you better with my hands, Sparky," Gajeel said, his voice swinging low.
"I wanted to tie your hands together, and then cover your eyes." Laxus dropped his shirt to the floor, his hands now tentative and kind as they continued making short work of his clothes. He himself remained fully in his suit, "The knot is easy to get out of. You'll have to be careful."
"Careful?" Gajeel's voice hitched up, betraying his apprehension.
"I can show you, if you'd like, and you tell me what you think about it."
Laxus watched him, keen and calm. He saw how Gajeel hesitated, how he swallowed harder than he should have. His eyes swam with the candlelight, dithering and fluttering like cinnabar moths caught in a jar and pressed to the light.
"Not at your sides," Laxus said smoothly, taking Gajeel's two hands and cupping them in his palms, side by side, as if making to him an offering. He planted soft kisses on each wrist before looking back up at him, "Like this."
Gajeel half-shrugged as Laxus stepped him forward, leaving his pants behind, "We can give it a shot..."
Laxus took one of the ribbons from around his neck and, using the practiced motions Levy had taught him, he tied silken handcuffs to hold his arms together. He finished it with a bow that left long lengths hanging down, plenty of slack for his lover to get free, and loose enough that a simple pull of Gajeel's wrists would part it and make the whole thing unravel, something that he demonstrated for the raven. The sound of silk sliding against silk made Laxus's skin prickle.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"Seems... fine." Gajeel said, the corner of his lip tugging up in a mix of relief and excitement.
"Then I'll tie it again..." Laxus said, and began doing just that, "The blindfold?"
His smile waned and slowly he shook his head, "I don't... really think I'm ready... for that."
"Alright," Laxus said, planting kisses on his again-tied arms. The other ribbon slipped free and fell to the ground. He lifted Gajeel's tied wrists and ducked beneath them, forcing the raven up on his toes as he tried to keep the ribbon together. He seemed a bit startled at Laxus's sudden closeness. His breath fell over his face for just a moment as he pressed the front of himself to his love. Laxus's voice was low against his lips, shivering the air before him like a growl, "You'll have to hold tight to me, Gajeel."
The chaste kisses were gone. Laxus opened his mouth with his own, lips hungry and hot and passionate. Hands dipped down, pulling the raven's legs to wrap around his waist. Gajeel sucked in an alarmed breath, forced to use his forearms to keep himself from falling as he tried not to pull too hard on the ribbon. Laxus laid him on the bed and cold bloomed wherever rose petals pressed into the flesh of his back. A tongue slipped over his own and Laxus sighed like he'd craved the taste of him all night. Gajeel let loose a moan when the blonde drew back from him, suddenly empty and open as his love slipped out from under his arms.
Laxus was breathless, his voice husky and sure, "I want them over your head... please."
"Please?" Gajeel asked, dubious.
"Please," Laxus said it again, asking nicely but with finality in his tone that said it wasn't really a request. Warmth effervesced through Gajeel's chest as he complied, leaving himself open and almost completely bare underneath the blonde. An affectionate smile played about Laxus's lips, "Good."
Good. Something in Gajeel snapped to attention. He watched, rapt with dread or anticipation or both as Laxus, sitting on the edge of the bed, began to release himself from his suit. It occurred to him that he knew precisely what he was doing as he folded the jacket in half and dropped it onto the floor. With one hand, he smoothed it across Gajeel's ankle, his thumb rubbing a light circle into his skin, and with the other he hooked a finger into his tie.
"You left me alone for a long time, Gajeel..." the way he said his name, like it was delicious on his tongue, made Gajeel's stomach coil, "I've had time to think about this."
"That right?"
He pulled his tie free, a debonair and somehow egregiously provocative gesture. It fell to the floor and Gajeel's stomach rolled.
"I'm going to make you very uncomfortable, baby... I'm sorry."
"Damn..." Gajeel's heart was racing, making his head feel muddled. It wasn't often that Laxus called him that, and he remembered the last time that he had vividly, "I'm starting to get scared."
"You'll tell me if I go too far," he stated, he didn't ask.
Any and all humor fled from the iron dragon, "U-um..."
"I'm not trying to ruin your pride… but I want to be a certain way with you, darling," He smiled indulgently, not meeting his gaze, "Suffer me, if only for tonight… it'll stay between us."
Laxus ran his hand up to the crook of Gajeel's knee, bending his leg just so, and he leaned down to plant a kiss on the inside of his leg. Gajeel sank deeper into the mattress as the kisses trailed down, causing the skin where he touched to prickle in his procession towards his ankle.
"Please don't kiss my feet."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Laxus smirked, moving his ankle so it rested on his shoulder, his still woefully clothedshoulder. He was looking up through his eyelashes at Gajeel, the latter of whom was trying not to squirm under the intensity of that gaze, "You're beautiful."
Bashful heat shocked up his chest.
"Laxus..." he warned.
"I've missed you, you know," his voice was deep and inviting. He was now kissing up his leg, his thigh. The hand that wasn't holding Gajeel in place was slowly making its way down his own chest, masterfully loosing one button after the other, "I've turned this over in my head, now, I don't know how many times... just thinking of you..."
Gajeel's throat was dry, his lips trembled slightly. His voice did too, "You have?"
Laxus was at his waist now, laving his tongue against his hip. Again, golden eyes lifted to make his gaze. He spoke into his skin and static spread across his body.
"You're beautiful, Gajeel."
Suddenly, Gajeel understood what he meant.
"Please don't do this to me again." he whispered.
"Why not?" it was equal part ruthless demand and kind invitation, "Why shouldn't I?"
He was over him now, not unlike he had been earlier that evening. His shirt was still tucked in but unbuttoned and loose. Gajeel could see his tattoo hiding in its shadow. The night had worn some of the gel from his hair and blonde strands of it were beginning to fall forward in an egregious dissent. Those eyes of his were holding him by the throat, daring him to say something he wouldn't like.
"I'm not-"
The thunder dragon nuzzled his forehead into his chest, breathed him in. He kissed his skin, ran a languid lick up, and then met his eyes again. Gajeel concentrated on not moving his wrists, on keeping them still, on not pulling apart the ribbon.
"You are a beautiful creature, Gajeel," he said in a way that was terrifying and divine, "And I'll make you believe it tonight."
"Laxus..." Gajeel deplored, although he didn't know exactly what for.
Laxus pulled himself the rest of the way up, grinding his hips against the man below him. His desire was delicious and ran up the length of his thigh. The blonde kissed him again with the sort of sublime devotion that could tear a hole right through him. He kissed him, he kissed him, he kissed him, and Gajeel felt like he wasn't supposed to be breathing, like it was getting in the way, like it was treasonous. He cursed the fact that he couldn't hold his breath forever, that he had to break away and gasp. When he did, Laxus turned to the side and lay beside him. He pulled Gajeel close, rutted against his hip.
With purpose, he reached over him to the pillow, under it, and pulled out a vial that he had stashed away in that convenient place. Gajeel was confused and intrigued. He was still wearing his underwear and Laxus was nearly fully clothed. He uncorked the vial and poured the oil onto his hand, rubbed it between his fingers as if he was savoring the feel of it and Gajeel was made to watch. Moonlight Serenade began playing through the gramophone.
"Do you know why I wanted you like this?" Laxus asked him, propped up on an elbow to gaze down on him.
"No."
"So you have to look at yourself. No hiding those gorgeous red eyes," he pressed a kiss into Gajeel's temple, "Spread your legs for me, darling."
"Fucks sakes," Gajeel breathed, humiliation clear on his face as he averted his eyes.
"Why so shy? Haven't I seen everything already?" Laxus spoke softly down to him. Gajeel couldn't meet his gaze as he complied, instead watching wetted fingers as they flexed not far from his face. Gajeel's stomach swooped at his love's self-satisfied sigh, "There, look at you..."
He slipped his hand down, down, down, between his legs. Gajeel had to shift his hips up, opening wide so Laxus could slip beneath his underwear and to his opening. He sucked in a hiss at intrusion, closed his eyes, tried to relax, and felt lips pressing against his ear.
"Don't close your eyes, Gajeel..." his voice was just above a whisper, and Gajeel's eyes shot open. Laxus rutted against his hip as he pressed his finger in farther, "I want you to look."
"Laxus... I don't... It's... fucking embarrassing."
"Embarrassing?" he asked roughly, "What is?"
"Just... you..." he shuddered as Laxus curled his finger inside of him and began pulling slowly back out.
"Are you embarrassed when you finger me like this? You don't think I'm beautiful?"
"That's you, Laxus. It's not-… a-um..." he closed his eyes again as Laxus pushed in another finger. He struggled to think, "You're different."
"But look at how open you are, hm? Your legs are spread nicely. Don't they compare this to being open like a flower? Gajeel... what sort of flower do you want to be? A lotus? A rose? Something dark and unconventional, maybe..." Laxus crooned gently, sinking another finger inside his heat and coiling them. Gajeel's spine arched, and he groaned. Crimson blush was making a patchwork across his chest, "Black Baccara are dark maroon that look black, or, I know, a black dahlia. Would you like to be a black dahlia?"
He pressed into him smoothly now, with little resistance, and bent his fingers again. The man beneath him groaned. The voice from the gramophone was singing I stand at your gate, and I sing you a song in the moonlight, a love song, my darling, a moonlight serenade.
"I want to hear more of your voice, Gajeel," his voice lilted towards demand. He made a move with his fingers like come hither and Gajeel's voice struggled free as he threw his head back into the pillow, "Yes, baby, give me more, please."
"Laxus!" his voice cracked, his eyes were far away and unfocussed, fluttering as he became lost in the sensation of Laxus's applications. Laxus was grinding into him harder, trying not to be impatient.
"Fuck Gajeel, look at you..." he purred, "Did you know your eyes water when you get close? The red looks like blood. Will you show them to me? Please?"
Gajeel shuddered and squeezed his eyes shut against his words, trying to stifle his sudden inhibition by being so thoroughly seen. His breathing was haggard. He tried to hold back a keen as streaks of heat made his legs shiver. Pressure at the base of his spine had his head spinning. Laxus moved his hips with his in rhythms divine and rhapsodic. He was teetering on the edge, sucking in gasps and letting out moans through clenched teeth as Laxus curled his fingers again and ahh-
"Gajeel..." Laxus's voice turned hard, uncompromising, "Open your eyes for me."
Gajeel winced and opened them, barely, and was met in kind with glimmering gold that was melting. A smile pulled at pale lips, a sound like a gasp.
"There..." Laxus purred, "Beautiful."
Gajeel surged up, catching his lips in a kiss as he came undone. Laxus indulged him, kissing him deeply as his chest heaved, as he struggled to catch his breath. His arms were shaking because he hadn't realized how tense he'd become just before rapture, and he realized he couldn't bring them down. The ribbon, the ribbon, he was trying so hard not to unravel it...
"Perfect..." Laxus hummed against his parted lips, in time with a new song starting. Steady and slow, he withdrew his hand and Gajeel shivered from the absence, "Tell me, does it smell as good to you as it does to me?"
Scarlet made Gajeel's face hot. He gritted his teeth, "Don't fucking say things like that!"
"It's just a question... I'm not going to tell anyone," Laxus drawled lazily, like this was all just casual conversation, "I've smelled Mirajane, you know. And fuck's sakes, Levy smelled strong enough tonight that I know it shocked you as much as it did me. Smelling arousal on people... it's like static. It raises my hair in the same way as when my coat drags across something in the wintertime. A quick charge outside of my reach... insignificant. Beneath me."
He pulled himself back on top of Gajeel who seemed shocked. His eyes were wide as the blonde began curling the fabric of his underwear down, slipping them down his still shaky hips.
"But you? When I smell it on you..." Laxus's voice dropped deep, rolled like brontide to stoke something in Gajeel's lower belly. Laxus made a show of rolling his eyes before returning them back to him, a dastardly and arrogant smile playing on his lips, "But you already know, don't you?"
Finally, finally, Laxus pulled his shirt free from where it had been tucked. He took his time sliding out of his shirt, his actions measured and controlled. He was a completely different man from the one that had taken him so rapaciously when he was half-dressed and freshly shaven. This man was humming softly the ending of the song playing that must have been named Reaching for the Moon. Hands pulled free the strap of his belt, undid the buckle, but didn't pull it loose. He didn't stand to step out of his slacks. Gajeel gave him a suspicious look.
"It's like being on the edge of a lucid dream. I know what's going on but I can't help what it does to me. On anyone else, its nothing, Gajeel. But you? You drive me insane," Laxus was sliding his hips against him again. He poured more of that licentious oil onto his hand. His hand coaxed his lover's half-hard member back to life. Gajeel sighed to his touch, "It must be even worse for you, hm? Is it difficult, having that much restraint?"
"T's not..." Gajeel was trying to control his voice, to keep from letting out a moan, "T's... not..."
"It's just us, baby," Laxus was kissing his chest, sucking his skin and trying to leave bruises, "You can be yourself. Show me those teeth I love to see..."
Gajeel's heart palpitated nervously in his chest, his back arched, and this time, this time he sighed with an open mouth.
"Yes, baby, just like that..." Laxus mouthed at his exposed throat as he rubbed his thumb over his head. Gajeel cursed, snapping his hips up to search for the friction Laxus's hand could give him. Laxus moved with his rhythm, grinding his trapped erection into his thigh, "Did you notice the candles were unscented? Hm? And do you know how long it took me to find lube with no scent or taste? I know you love the smell of us when it's over. The animal you are, it craves it, doesn't it? Being mixed with someone else? Marking me with your body so much I smell like you?"
Gajeel shuddered as if Laxus had just hit him. His eyes were wide, and his lips parted with an apology ready to tumble out of him.
"No, no, no, Gajeel, no..." Laxus stopped him, cupped his face with his hand, "I love it. I love it."
Gajeel's eyes widened in disbelief. He was gritting his teeth and opened his mouth to speak because he felt like Laxus had just exposed something that couldn't be hidden back away again. He wanted to pull down his arms and hide underneath them, but Laxus was kissing his lips, working lightning back into his blood. He couldn't think straight...
"D'you think I didn't know what you were saying to Jet? About being possessive? You think I don't know that you wanna leave a mark on me so everyone knows who I belong to? That I belong to you?" Laxus spoke into his mouth as he became more and more lost, at this point he was just trying to remember to breathe, "You're so scared to show the feral side of you but, Gajeel, didn't you understand what I said? About how I loved it when you couldn't help but get rough? If you knew, baby, how much I think about that damn safe house... how much I remember those claws of yours... damn, Gajeel, you're right. Knives still scare the hell outta me, but those claws could tear me apart and I'd ask you so, so sweetly to do it again but this time slower..."
Gajeel clenched and unclenched his fists. He felt the need swelling in his chest to do just that, as if Laxus's words alone could summon that piece of himself forward. He arched again, his muscles getting tight. It was blindingly hedonistic, this desire to draw blood, to scent the air with it. The ribbon... the ribbon was nothing and he had to hold himself back or...
"Fuck... I could..." his voice was rough, deep in his throat like a growl, "I want… I want to…"
"Do you want to tear me open, baby? D'you want to smell my blood? Do you wanna taste it?" Laxus was crooning into his mouth, his own grinding become stiffer, more frantic, teetering dangerously towards orgasm, "Eat me alive, Gajeel. Where are those teeth at, baby? Those beautiful teeth..."
Gajeel's eyes rolled back, "Laxus..." he gasped, "Laxus... I'm..."
"Are you close again? I want to see the blood in your eyes this time, baby. Open them for me..."
"You... you haven't-"
It was sweet, really. Laxus's breath was taken away by the sentiment. Reeling against his borders, barely able to stand it any longer, Gajeel was concerned for his pleasure. He hadn't realized yet that tonight, none of this was going to be about Laxus. It was just for the man shaking beneath him that he wanted for, that he was caring so dearly for. Just for tonight.
He chuckled pleasantly, his voice warm and brimming with affection, "Oh, baby, we're only halfway through the album. I have plenty of time."
Again, Laxus watched as glorious frisson tore through the man beneath him. He cried out when he came, spilling over Laxus's hand with an open mouth and eyes that glittered like rubies in the darkness. Laxus forced his own hips to stop their frantic search for a blissful height and it was nearly painful. He bit his lip to contain it, his own eyes screwing shut as he fought for control. He scolded himself, he wanted to go longer... all night if he had to...
Laxus looked down on his hand and the passion that had been spilt over it. He brought it to his lips with purpose. With red eyes shuddering, Gajeel watched as he ran his tongue over his fingers, licking what remained of him off his hand. Gajeel whined, he actually, pathetically whined at watching Laxus lick his cum off his fingers. The blonde, once finished, put hands on either side of his tremulous chest and mantled him like an osprey to its captured prey.
"Do you know what you taste like?" he asked. Gajeel shook his head. Laxus smirked, "What else? Like metal."
Porcelain hands cupped the sides of his face as he leaned down and kissed him deeply, his tongue sweeping the inside of his mouth like maybe he had every intention of just taking his soul back out with him. Laxus hadn't lied. He could taste the tang of iron in his mouth.
"How did that make you feel, hm?" Laxus asked him, running the tip of his nose down his jawline, "Knowing that I enjoy you enough to lick you off my fingers? I want your taste that badly in my mouth?"
"Fuck..." he swore.
"Goddamn, you're gorgeous," he whispered, running his thumb down Gajeel's lips, "You're doing such a good job keeping the ribbon together. It would be nothing for you to tear it apart, hm? You have so much control over your body, Gajeel, it makes me jealous. Do you know how hard it is for me to not ravish you right now? To stay calm just to prove a point? And you make it look effortless, like you could lay here all night and take me over, and over, and I bet there would still be a pretty black bow holding your wrists together..."
As he spoke, Laxus pulled back from him. Finally, finally, his pants were dropped to the floor. Boxers rolled down his hips and out of sight. The arousal that had been kept so well in check was now standing at attention before him. Gajeel licked his lips at the prospect of it, sighed and let his legs fall apart, wide and welcoming, his own dick limp and tired from having achieved his sweet release twice over. He felt dizzy, bringing his eyes up to look at the ceiling as he considered what Laxus was going to do to him next.
It took a moment before Gajeel realized Laxus hadn't moved. The blonde was just looking down on him, a placid smile on his face, staring. When their eyes met, Gajeel gritted his teeth at the aching and barely strapped lust hazing over gold-colored eyes.
"I want to burn you in my memory. Just. Like. This." he confessed in a way that simultaneously made Gajeel's heart break and his whole body come alight with fire, "If I could take a photograph of you this way, I would. Look at yourself, Gajeel, it's not fair. The sexiest thing I've ever seen,"
His smile suddenly broke wider and he looked a bit ashamed, "That wasn't very romantic, was it? Can't help it, I guess. I'm not good with words like you are. Never have been. I could try but it sounds ridiculous from me, as if I would have a damn what I'm talking about."
He climbed back on the bed to the man that awaited him. Gajeel watched out of the corner of his eye as again he uncorked that vial, slicked again his hand.
"You could always give it a try," Gajeel breathed, paying attention to the way his hands moved. They were powerful things, those hands, terrifying things. Sweet and mystifying and exuding control. Those hands, those hands...
"I'd rather you do it," he smiled in a deceitfully dulcet way, like he wasn't slicking his cock in his grasp, like he wasn't getting ready to fuck him senseless.
Gajeel's lips were dry, his voice ragged with captivation as he watched the blonde move over him again. He was devastating to watch, "What do you want to hear?"
Laxus's eyes fluttered shut as he entered him, again biting at his lip in a way that made Gajeel want to bite it too, run his tongue across it. His voice was wrecked and raw when he spoke again, lacking all the restraint he was currently using to open him slowly, to be as painless as possible. His head dropped forward, as if maintaining control took a great effort, and more rogue pieces of blonde hair sprung free from carefully manicured spikes.
"Tell me something beautiful."
Gajeel dug his heels into the bed at being pushed into. It's hard to think lyrically when the word penetrate is echoing in your head and scattering anything close to poetic to the farthest corner of your mind like leaves in a gust of winter wind. He moaned, hands twisting, feeling cool silk slipping over his flesh. He worried he might have just loosened the bow.
"Fuck..." he gasped as Laxus rubbed the spot he so enjoyed. His eyes rolled back, his cheeks flushed with red, and he whispered, "Wanton bitch." because that's how he felt he sounded.
"Gajeel..." Laxus's voice was a dark and dangerous growl that made the air quake. The blonde's arms were on either side of him again. He was a menace and his eyes held violence. Gajeel winced, "I've only heard you call one woman a bitch, and she has no fucking business in my bed."
"Shit..."
"Now, be good for me, baby." he breathed, his voice heavy and torrid and rough, "I asked for something beautiful. Give it to me."
"I don't know what you want," Gajeel whined as Laxus shifted his hips into him. A strong hand lifted his leg, turned his hips to the side so his body lay twisted. This time when Laxus sank further into him, he hit deep.
"Something about you. Write me a song. Tell me how gorgeous you are."
"I'm not..."
"You are," Laxus was holding him by the chin, looking down into his eyes, "What have you thought about me? Hm?"
Scarlet darkened his face like wine.
"You called me a god, once. And the sun. Gajeel, are you the moon?" Laxus hummed against his lips, "Tell me, Gajeel, about the moon."
"What do you want me to say?" he couldn't focus, could hardly think. He began casting his mind to anything he could grasp hold of, that he could concentrate on for more than half a second, a millisecond, "The moon, the moon is... what? Fickle, capricious, silver, and changing. It's not the sun. The sun is constant and bright; people always wait for the sun, look for it on the horizon. But the moon... the moon is..."
"Keep trying," Laxus said gently.
"The witches worshipped the moon, didn't they? What did she say?" he whispered, frantically trying to remember something, anything, "Who hasn't felt the magic of the moon? In the silent stretches of the desert when it hangs like a scimitar in the sky, on a winter night in the north when the passionless earth stares unseeing at the cold moon, in a half-ruined temple in the east. Witches bowed to the influence of the moon because it brought cyclic changes. The tides, disease, the woman's body, insanity that drives men mad; it is one of the oldest of the gods next to the sun..."
"That's what you are," Laxus hummed, "Something to be worshiped. You drag me kicking and screaming out of control every time you get near me. I could believe you were madness... and you've always been so beautiful covered in silver..."
Gajeel's eyes blew wide as Laxus pulled out of him slowly.
"I'll be your sun, Gajeel. Whenever the darkness starts crowding in, you can take my light. I'll give it to you whenever you want, you don't even have to ask me," he fucked back into him with all the slowness he could muster and Gajeel let out a desperate noise, "Mmh... I love that sound. Make more of it."
"Laxus!"
Laxus's mind was growing hazy and he barely hung onto the thought that he needed to be tender, delicate, kind. He chose the rhythm of the song playing. How many had he missed in his daze to please? To push enough love into Gajeel that it finally stuck how obsessed Laxus was with his brilliance? I guess you don't remember, do you? When the moon got in my eyes...
"How much... more?" his voice was chafed and bleeding as a wound, "Laxus... I can't- aah!"
Laxus kissed him and it was long and luxurious. He mouthed at his lover's lip, worried it between his teeth, and all the while he fucked him deep and unhurried. He could take his time, he told himself, sucked in deeper and deeper into his lover's heat. Tears were coming to Gajeel's eyes as he craved something desperately but either couldn't or wouldn't put it to words. He cried out, a strangled sound.
"What can't you do?" he crooned.
Gajeel writhed, tossing his head back. Laxus cupped his face, brushed away a tear that streaked free with his thumb.
"I need... time..." his chest was heaving, "Please, I need a little time... before I can..."
"Before you can, what?" Laxus prompted him gently, all the while continuing his pace. Each time he grinded into the man below him, he'd whine. He leaned down and kissed his temple, "I want to give you want you want, baby, so you'll have to tell me."
"Fuck..." he whispered, "It's too much... I need to stop for a moment..."
"Of course, love. Whatever you need." Laxus sighed oh so kindly before he buried himself to his hilt inside his love. Between gritted teeth, Gajeel nearly screamed. His whole body was taught as a bowstring, his arms were shaking. Sweat slicked his chest and left the taste of salt in Laxus's mouth as he ran his tongue over sweet skin.
"Can get on your knees for me?" Laxus asked him sweetly, lips seeking up towards his throat.
"I can... I can try..."
When Laxus pulled back from him, Gajeel collapsed on the bed, all the tension suddenly fleeing him and he was left distressingly empty. His head swam as Laxus helped him up and to his knees, handled him gently and sure, turning him until his back was leaning against the blonde's strong frame. Arms wrapped around him, carefully pulling the tangled mess his hair had become to the side to drape over his shoulder. He was carding fingers through it, leaving honey-dipped kisses on his jaw, using the flat of his tongue to incite chills across his body. He gasped because those hands were positioning his hips so he was made to sit against him, the man's hard member pressed still moist and hungry beneath his thighs.
Gajeel allowed his head to roll back against Laxus's shoulders, his breath was still labored and uneven, the barrel of his chest expanding in an erratic way as his arms were directed once again up over his head. He threaded his fingers into Laxus's hair, desperate for something to hang onto. He felt even more open and exposed than before, and his whole body shivered.
"I've never wished we had a standing mirror so badly in my life," Laxus muttered into his ear, breathing measured and slow, "Look at how pretty you are."
"I'm not pretty," Gajeel tried to be biting, but he couldn't quite force it into being.
"But you are." he sighed it into Gajeel's skin, and the air felt charged with static. All the hair on his body stood on end and it elicited a subtle sort of shattering that made his body thrill. "Look at your body and tell me it isn't the most beautiful one on the face of Earthland."
"I am covered in scars," he scowled, "No matter where I look, there's one somewhere, even my leg-"
"You've been hurt," Laxus said, "And you've healed, over and over again."
He had one hand at the raven's throat, keeping him trapped against his chest. The other spread fingers wide and slipped down him, running soothing touches across his very outline. The ending of one body, the start to another, close to the point of touching but still somehow intrinsically apart from the other.
"Proof that something happened to you, left its mark, but you lived through it. You got stronger. You fought back," he mouthed at his throat. His tongue laved at one scar in particular, a bite now faded from time, "Even one that I left."
"D-Don't... Laxus..." Gajeel was shaking all over again, but Laxus held him close.
"Do you remember that there was a time I couldn't touch you, when this couldn't be possible?" he murmured into his flesh and Gajeel felt it ricocheting off his bones, felt something swelling in the air, making him feel as if he could suffocate from it. Laxus was concentrating, he wasn't staring at the body pressed against him any longer, but at the coil of energy that zinged up and down his curved spine, incredibly bright like a light in total darkness. It was so much brighter compared to his own. He curled his fingers around Gajeel's throat. Memories burned bright and livid and Gajeel gasped to see what it was that Laxus did.
Gajeel, sitting on the edge of a cliff with tears in his eyes as he said I can't make you happy. I'll just drag you down. Trust me. He remembered the onsen, after Freed had run him out of the public bath with talk of scars. He pictured Gajeel standing in the shower, fists clenched as he confessed he couldn't be intimate because the thought of it made him sick, the idea of being touched again-
"Laxus-!" Gajeel gasped, choking around something that sounded like a sob, as the image of him wrenching free from Laxus's grasp to stand in the middle of the room, clutching at his chest as he tried to keep himself from having a panic attack, came bubbling to the surface.
"Wounds, Gajeel," he replied patiently, "That you healed alone."
Edelweiss. When Gajeel was laying back on the bed, anxiety etched across his face as Laxus took him, consensually, for the first time. You seem to be the exception to a lot of things... for me, anyway. Laxus remembered how his heart had pounded so hard his chest ached. How he'd loved the way his eyes were swimming...
Gajeel groaned, shaking openly now, as Laxus held him by his throat and by his hip. Laxus kissed at his jaw and felt dampness, travelled up his cheek and tasted salt.
"Did you ever imagine it would turn into this?" he whispered, "That the scars would fade enough that I could hold you this way? That even if they did, that your pride would allow it?"
"No..." it was a broken whisper. It was awful.
"The kind of strength that it takes to keep going anyway, even when it hurts so bad... I can't imagine it," Laxus breathed, bringing up from dark memory forced smiles and brave faces, a man that tried so desperately to hide whenever he was at war with himself. He remembered times he'd watched him search for a cigarette, the night when they'd been camping with the Raijinshu and his memory became so vivid over something as simple as running a hand over Laxus's neck, and even tonight, when he snatched up his drink at the thought of being tied up, "You don't have to be strong for me, Gajeel. I'll be strong for you."
"I asked you..." tears streaked down his face, his voice was gone, "...not to do this to me again."
"And I asked you why not?" Laxus said gently.
"Laxus..." he deplored, "...stop trying to fix me."
"You're not broken. There's nothing for me to fix," Laxus kissed his neck, "Your scars might ache, Gajeel, but they're not wounds anymore. But when they ache, I'll be here."
Gajeel couldn't take it anymore, so he twisted his wrists free. The ribbon fell, still circled around one of his arms as he grasped Laxus's hands on him like lifelines, curling fingers into his. He had a fist at his throat and a fist at his hip. Laxus spoke and electricity filtered into the air, snapping bright light like stars coming into being and suddenly being snuffed out.
"Laxus, stop,"
"Stop what?" he insisted, burying his nose into the crook of his shoulder, breathing him in, "Stop showing you how far you've come in a year? Stop showing you how in awe of you I am?"
"How in the hell do you do this to me?" Gajeel was clutching at him so tightly, he was digging his nails in.
"Being strong all the time is awful, isn't it?"
Laxus said it with all of the conviction of someone who knew how dreadful it really was, someone who understood that with magic that shattered mountains there came with it the curse of perfection, of magazine covers and popularity and appearances. Was it a different type of strength? Of course. It wasn't holding everything together with a white-knuckle grip. It wasn't staying awake, refusing to sleep until exhaustion so no one would hear you screaming from nightmares in the middle of the night. It wasn't pretending everything was ok when on the inside you were struggling to find the will to keep going. But he knew how terrible it could be to not be allowed to break, to fall apart, that doing so could kill someone. He recalled sending lightning down into a body until they bent in search of the relief of death. Gajeel could feel all of it through their connection, through fingers that intertwined together, he could feel how dreadful it was to know that your magic could shatter the person you loved if you didn't have supreme and complete control, if you didn't understand your power as intrinsically as you knew how to breathe. But the difference between him and Laxus was that Laxus knew when it was ok to be weak, to fall into oblivion and let chaos take over, because Gajeel had shown him how wonderful it was to get swept away by emotion and carnal magic. He wasn't Gajeel. He didn't have armor to pry through when he couldn't stand it anymore, armor that went up reflexively, armor that he hid behind like a child holding a knife.
"You never have to be strong for me. You fall, Gajeel, and I'll catch you."
Gajeel's body buzzed with the consuming hum of Laxus's magic. He could drown in it. He could drown in it. He felt like he couldn't breathe.
"Like the sun and the moon, hm?" Laxus directed his hips up and slowly, gently, pulled the iron dragon back down to sheath himself inside of him. Gajeel's spine curled and he screamed and the sound was raw, "You know what happens when the sun touches the moon? An eclipse."
"An eclipse," he wept, shaking.
"It turns the whole world red like blood, and passionate, and savage, and wild, and all those things you hate about yourself, Gajeel? People stand in the street and stare until they're blind because it's so beautiful, it's terrifying. They think the world must be ending and its beautiful."
"Who could think the world ending... is beautiful?"
"You don't?"
A memory of charred earth below him, of seeing lightning tear apart the sky. Everyone in the courtyard, including Hellebore, shattered and fallen to the ground because Laxus was finally there, and he brought lightning, and it looked like the world was ending-
"Why is it beautiful on me, but not on you?"
Gajeel's borders fuzzied.
"Lean on me, baby. You've had time to rest, hm? I want to love on you again..."
Heat bunched in the pit of Gajeel's stomach and he let his weight fall back. Laxus thrusted up into him and it hit deep and hard, the curve of him delectable and touching every part inside him that made his veins sing. He felt his legs begin to tremble all over again. Laxus's hand grasped at his lust, stoking it back to life. His body filled with static and he could do nothing but sob out a despicable noise and shake.
"Gods alive, baby... look at you..." Laxus's voice dropped down to a low growl, "Fuck I hate that I've never been good with words. I could learn poetry just to tell you how nice you look on my dick, sobbing from how good you feel... Does it hurt?"
"Even if it did... you know..." Gajeel's breathing was tattered, "...that I like it..."
"I do... I do..." he said, hands holding his waist so he could thrust harder, "Do you feel violent? Hm?"
"Yes..." he was breathless, his eyes rolling back.
"Ohh, please, take it out on me."
Gajeel twisted in Laxus's grasp. Iron scales ripped across his arms, speckled his chest, tipped his fingers in talons. He got one arm around his lover's shoulder, the other sank claws into his side. He kissed Laxus and tendrils of lightning made the atmosphere around them crackle. Laxus groaned into Gajeel's mouth at the feeling of fire digging into his back. Sharp claws sliced through ivory skin as if it were delicate silk ribbons.
"Fuck Gajeel, everything you do is so damn perfect..." the control Laxus had on his magic slipped, the memories he'd been carding through vanished in a flash that made them both reel for a moment. Laxus's hands, his body, didn't miss a beat and through Gajeel's daze he realized he'd let out an unrestrained cry. A hand was cupping the side of his face and Gajeel lolled into it as it held him with strength, power, control. It tipped back his head so Laxus could leave bruises down his neck.
"Do you believe it yet, baby?" Laxus was driving the words into his flesh like teeth, "Do you believe that you're beautiful?"
Gajeel's throat closed, his eyes screwed shut. He nuzzled into Laxus's hand, tears again coming to the corners of his eyes. He leaned forward abruptly, putting an end to Laxus's motion. He was painfully aware that something had just shifted and changed. The man in his arms was suddenly so delicate he needed to be handled with fingertips. Gajeel released his hold of Laxus's back and his fingers were tipped in scarlet, the polished iron of him flashing yellow from the magic that still sang in the room, the dull flickering of candles. He cupped the side of Laxus's face and his thumb smeared scarlet across his chin, his lips, his cheek. Gajeel kissed his lips, sighed, ran his tongue over bloodstained skin, and as he did his other hand razed apart pale skin. He heard Laxus's sharp intake of breath, the way he held it, and then released it in gratified relief at the end. Gajeel dropped his forehead to Laxus's shoulder, buried his face into him. He could smell blood, taste it, and it made him feel heady and powerful and despicable all at once.
"You're not a masochist, Laxus," he whispered, "How could you enjoy this?"
"You're not a sadist, but you do," he responded, as if it were the simplest thing ever. As if he were saying the sky is blue and the grass is green and iron talons aren't knives even though they cut the same, "I don't try to understand why Gajeel. Because you're wild? Because you're full of violence? Because instinct overcomes you or because your brain can't separate your loss of control with the need to bleed? Or maybe, if I'm conceited, because I think you like how my blood smells, that you like how it tastes? I don't know. I don't really care. It's a part of you and I love it."
Gajeel held onto him tighter, as if letting him go would make the rest of the world fall away. His voice was small, "I ruined your ribbon."
"Fuck the ribbon," Laxus muttered into his hair, running his fingers through it, holding him, "It wasn't for me."
The record had long exhausted its music. There was only the sound of snapping and pops now as the needle read something that wasn't there. Gajeel pulled back just enough to look Laxus in the eyes. They were glittering citrine and lemon quartz, patient and warm and understanding. Laxus shrugged.
"Just wanted to prove to you how far you've come." his lip pulled up in the corner and Gajeel's heart was shattering in his chest like dropped glass, "I told you once you had the kind of courage that kills cowards. I meant it."
Gajeel slipped away from him, falling down onto the bed. Black satin was wrapped around an arm covered in iron scales. Laxus waited, as he did, as he always did, for him to break into a million pieces. He did so without judgement, without malice or venom or spite. He waited and he watched and he smoothed hands on his thighs and traced circles in his skin like he wasn't the most powerful wizard Gajeel had ever met in his life, like he didn't have thunder and lightning in his veins and passion that could wield it to split heaven and earth and hell in one fell swoop. Like he wasn't perfection waiting for him to realize he was his own piece of perfect as well. Beautiful. Beautiful. If Laxus believed it, then maybe it was true.
"How do you do this to me?" an open wound, his voice was nothing but an open, bleeding wound, "Never in my fucking life have I thought I was beautiful."
"I just opened your eyes a bit. Lightning is good for that, lighting things up," he rumbled over him, radiant in a way that should have been a sin, "So is the sun."
Gajeel whined, ran his fingers into his hair and balled them into fists. After a moment like that, the tension fell away. It felt like surrender, and it felt like grace. It felt like everything and nothing and Laxus just waited patiently. How many times had he said it? I'll wait. Finally, with a sigh that felt like something good, but he wasn't sure what, Gajeel extended his arms in invitation.
"You said I'd feel you, Laxus Dreyar." He said, gruff and with tears still fighting to streak down his face, "Get down here and let me feel you."
"Of course," he smiled, his eyes brimming with a boundless affection, "Whatever you want."
Laxus collapsed back down on him, covered him in rose petals and Gajeel covered him in crimson streaks. Laxus held him close, as if to give him the barest amount of space would be to lose him forever.
"I'm not coming without you again," Gajeel breathed through open-mouthed kisses. Laxus buried himself into him and he screamed.
"Well, you know I don't last long once I'm inside you," Laxus hissed against his mouth. He wrapped Gajeel's legs around his waist, picking up pace. Gajeel's sharper teeth nicked his lip and it split. Blood, there was blood tinging his lips, and Gajeel was greedily taking everything Laxus gave to him. He felt like he was burning, wild and ardent and brimming with unbridled passion. He was incandescent, turning fiery red at the edges. He was losing sight of the earth around him, fraying at his edges, a vagary of celestial alignment.
"What do you need, baby?" Laxus asked, and it wasn't sweet. It was livid, nearly unhinged, solar flares and ethereal sunsets that blazed the sky red, "Tell me."
Gajeel's eyes rolled back, "Cl-closer... can I...?"
"Whatever you want, baby, just ask." They were chest to chest, Laxus pressing hot kisses against his jaw. The restraint was gone, dashed away with the promise of release.
Gajeel's hand slipped down. He curled his hand around his own ardent need, began chasing his high when Laxus's own hand pulled it away.
"No." he growled, "I want your arms around me."
Gajeel's legs were trembling, ecstasy making it so his head was swimming. He was arching back into the mattress and Laxus's teeth dug into his throat. Tears were spilling down his eyes because he could barely stand it. It was intense, vivid, and he was overwrought in pleasure building, building, cresting...
He screamed. He was dizzy, the room slipped in and out of focus. He felt it when Laxus came. It was hot and it made his stomach bunch. He couldn't catch his breath. The loss of adrenaline had him crashing back into reality, tired but not exhausted. Laxus pulled himself back up on his arms, shaking. His golden eyes were still hazy, lightning crackling in his irises as he fought to focus. Gajeel's taloned fingers brushed crimson onto his jaw as he cupped his face. The blonde pulled himself over him. The light of him cast the rest of the room in steep shadow. His breathing was ragged. A knowing smile pulled across his lips as he watched Gajeel, still shaking beneath him.
"Goddamn, you beautiful, insatiable creature. Do you really want more of me?"
"Yes... please."
Laxus licked his lips, "Anything you want, baby. All night, if you want it."
"You look like... you're going to kill me." Gajeel breathed, bewitched by the voracity still enkindled in amber eyes.
"Ohh... only if you want me to." Laxus leaned up and spoke it into his mouth, "Only if you ask me nicely."
Author's Notes:
Gajeel finally thinks he's beautiful :')
And, unless I can slip one in somewhere, this will probably be the last sweet laxeel chapter until the end. I'll be taking a little bit of a break. I'm in a book club and haven't even touched the book for this month because I've been too busy feverishly writing every free moment of my day.
Thank you all for your kind words, beautiful beans! I'll see you here soon.
-Your Friendly Neighborhood StevMarie