flamebrand | overflow.

[ She leans, and Clive's heart does ten different things in his chest that he knows it shouldn't; flips, backflips, twists. ]

As many times as you want.

[ If she wants affection from him, it's affection she'll get. He thumbs along the crest of her cheekbone, reverent and indulgent, and only leans in when he's sure he can get away with it. ]

Are you ready?

[ Teasing, blown against her ear. Low, and with purpose. ]

[No, she is not ready. She feels like she might swoon with how dizzy he makes her. His voice makes her shiver, and she smiles at him, at ease only because if she does happen to pass the fuck out she's already in his arms.]

Clive. You're a tease.

[And by the sound of her voice, she loves it.]

[ "And you're the love of my life", he would have said, if he'd found the right time to say I love you before this. There needs to be a better place for that, he thinks. Maybe the snow daisies are still in bloom somewhere― he'll have to ask Gav.

(Thinking about Gav tends to manifest him, though, so. With apologies to Gav, he's exiled from Clive's thoughts for the rest of the night.)

One more gentle nuzzle against Jill's ear, and Clive dips his head. He, too, has never done anything like this before, so he's careful about it: a light press of his lips against the sliver of space where jaw meets neck, followed by an open-mouthed kiss to smooth skin. He lingers in that moment there, savoring the taste of her against his tongue before he starts to suck slowly, kneading a gentle bruise with his teeth.

A brief pullback to check the lovebite, then another lean in to lave his tongue over it. ]

[Whoever dares knock on the door, be it Gav, Otto, or the Founder himself, is going to be frozen on the spot. They can thaw while they think about what they've interuppted.

Luckily, Jill's thoughts are far from them. All she can think about is Clive, how warm he is, firm and solid muscle wherever she rests her palms, and how his kiss tickles before it stings.

She's never been more aroused in her life.

As her eyes flutter closed, she wishes she were able to keep her breathing even at all, or maybe stifle the moan that escapes her, but she's powerless under his mouth.]

Clive...

[She's not sure what she planned on saying, but she should be applauded for remembering how to speak at all.]

[ Something flares in the pit of his stomach; reciprocal arousal, hot and immediate. For a brief moment, he considers flipping positions and bearing down on Jill, her back to the bedsheets with all that lovely hair pooling around her. He wants to dip lower, to put his mouth between her chest, down to her navel, between her legs. He wants to make her call his name over and over with his face buried in her.

The moment comes and goes, but the heat doesn't. He scours his teeth one last time over the bite he'd left, then peels back slowly, blue eyes softened by affection and wanting. ]

Jill. [ Their noses rub together briefly. Clive sighs, his breath a rasp in the back of his throat. ] ...Now we match.

[They've always matched. A moon to a sun. Jill feels drunk on him, the wine long forgotten by her blood. After such a miserable and harsh life he has so much sweetness and kindness to him that it breaks Jill's heart just as much as it fills it. She could spend the rest of her days giving him tue love and softness that he deserves and it would never be enough and she'd never tire of it.]

We do. It's a pleasure. [Literally. She smiles at her own quip--he's a bad influence--and steals a quick kiss from his lips, playful.] Do have any other requests? I'd like to hear them.

[ It's a pleasure, she says, then follows it up by asking Clive if he has any other requests, as if he hasn't been fantasizing about putting his mouth on her in that very moment. He can't help but flush― is she reading my mind?, is an absurd line of thinking he doesn't care to follow― and clear his throat, as if he's been found stealing leftovers from the kitchen. ]

None of them are... [ He trails off. It occurs to him that he could have just lied and said no, but he's a terrible liar, so. RIP. ] ...polite, so to speak.

[ "I want to make you come multiple times" is kind of much, he thinks. They haven't even defined this fragile, precious thing they have between them yet. ]

[Inviting herself into his lap wasn't exactly polite. Jill watches the color rise to his cheeks and bites her lip, trying to stifle the bubble of laughter that wants to escape.]

I imagine not, no. We're...

[She can't read his mind, but they are of a similar mind. They've gone years without talking about what they are, and now...

Jill's impressed that they're keeping up the tradition.]

...Bound to each other. [ Is how he tries to finish that sentence. ] Body and soul.

[ It's as Jill said: no matter how the Fates have conspired to separate them, they've always found their way back to each other. They're tied, inexorably― or, at least, Clive wants to think so.

Still a little flushed, he traces Jill's lower lip with his thumb. ] Jill. The words I wanted to say... I thought there would be a better time for it. But I'm not afraid to speak them now, if you want them.

[What he says instead is almost better than those three little words. Jill looks at him, eyes full of adoration. He's everything she could ever want or ask for.]

I already know them. And I hope you know I feel the same.

[She finds one of his hands to hold in her own, bring to her chest, over her heart. She wouldn't be surprised if he could feel how quickly it beats. It's not fear or anxiety but the rush and thrill of being so intimate with the person she holds dearest.]

I have for a very long time.

[He can say them or keep them for a rainy day. What matters is that they feel them, and Jill is fairly certain they both do.]

[ A relief, that they both know what the words they haven't spoken are. Palm pressed to Jill's chest, he feels her pulse rabbiting against his hand; his own heart matches it, which he hopes she can feel from where her fingers are coiled around the thin skin of his wrist. ]

I know. But I've made you wait too long to hear those words, nevertheless.

[ Unfair of him, always. Depending on Jill to know, leaning on her and taking advantage of her kindness, too afraid of what he is and what he might become to burden Jill with it. Excuses, all of it. ]

...And I would have you wait just a little longer for them. [ He wants to say it properly, and not just because he's sex-brained; she deserves better than that, gods above and below. ] Not because I fear I wouldn't be believed, but because...

[ A light smile. ] ...I think it requires a bit more decorum than this.

[ His dad would be so disappointed if he knew his son made a love proposal after drinking wine and getting horny in bed, probably. Noble upbringing tells him to have some sense of propriety. ]

You're worth the wait.

[And despite all the years and all they've been through together, this thing between them feels delicate. Not that it could break, or be lost, but in the sense that it's something they both wish to protect with all their hearts. It deserves to be treated with reverence. And it shall.

(No small part of her is giddy at thought of him thinking of the right time to say it, either!)

Jill presses their foreheads together, smiling, and she thinks her face will be sore from it tomorrow.]

You needn't try to impress me too much, Clive.

[ Local outlaw spends sleepless nights thinking about how to say "I love you" to a woman who he's been in love with for his entire life. Not the proudest moment of Clive's life, but Jill is worth pining over― he wants her memories of "I love you" to mean something.

A hike of his brow, amused, and he shoots back with a gentle: ] I'm only a man. And you're worth every effort.

[ She should never feel like she isn't worth trying to impress. ]

You're not only a man. You're my heart.

[She must have lived all those miserable years with the Ironblood so that he could find her. So that they could be together.]

But... I only mean there's no way to disappoint me.

[ A blink, and then－

－a bemused laugh. Warm and genuine, unburdened by fear of judgment. ]

Come on, Jill. [ As if they're still children. ] There must be a way.

[ Surely she respects herself enough to refuse him if he's being an idiot (or so he prays). ]

[That laugh makes her laugh, and she bumps her nose against Clive's before pulling back to look at him. She looks rather skeptical.]

Surely there is, but none that you would ever manage.

[He'd have to harm Torgal or a child or an innocent--and she knows he'd never. He'd sooner run himself through.]

I could run naked across the length of the Hideaway, yelling sonnets dedicated to you at the top of my lungs.

[ He could. Would he? No. But he could, and he hopes that Jill will react appropriately to the matter, which is with mortification.

Obviously, this is a joke; he just wants to make her laugh some more. ]

[Ha! There's the laughter Clive hoped for, more incredulous than mortified.]

Shame and embarrassment would take you before I could express any disappointment.

[ There it is, the kind of laugh that he could bottle and keep with him forever. He leans in to press a kiss against the corner of Jill's mouth, playful, then thumbs along the mark that he'd left again. ]

I would prefer the shame and embarrassment to your disappointment.

[Charmed, she breathes out another laugh, most of it lost in the kiss she tries to take when his lips touch the corner of her mouth.]

All these years and you've never disappointed me, Clive. It's nothing I ever consider.

[He's too good, too noble.]

[ Never. She's so convinced of that, in a way that he isn't convinced of it, himself: there are so many mistakes he's made to be where he is right now, so many people who have died and suffered for the choices that he's made. Once upon a time, he'd believed Joshua to be one of them― the memory of Phoenix's Gate still startles him awake some nights, soaked in cold sweat.

No need to make it maudlin, though. He pulls back, stroking soft hair and tucking a stray piece of it behind her ear. A little misty-eyed, truth be told. ]

Thank you, Jill. [ Born as a disappointment, but affirmed by the one woman he loves more than anything. ] Truly. You've always been the one guiding me towards the right path.

[Oh, she can see it in his eyes. Jill feels her affection for him grow. There's no ceiling for how much she adores him. There's infinite love in her heart for him.

She'll never understand how Anabella could look upon him, her own son, and not cherish him.

I love you, she nearly says, but bites her tongue with a wry smile. She won't steal the moment from Clive.

Instead, she puts her hands on his shoulders and gives him a pointed push. Nothing that will move him unless he allows it, but a clear indicator she wants him on her back.]

[ He's wiping the corner of his eye with a thumb when he feels hands on his shoulders― the implicit request is heard, but only after he blinks a little moisture out of blue eyes. He loves her so much, he really could cry about it.

A moment later, when he recovers from that moment of overwhelming emotion, he shifts under Jill's knees and slowly tips himself backwards. Careful not to jostle or make Jill lose her balance in the process, one hand remains settled at her waist to brace her as he leans back, and slowly relinquishes his balance to flop onto clean bedsheets. ]

Jill?

[Her sweet Clive. She plants a hand on either side of his head, leaning over him, her hair a soft gray curtain. She smiles down at him for a moment, taking in the sight of him. The feeling of him beneath her.

And then she drops down to pepper his face with kisses. They're soft and gentle despite how quick they are.]

[ A moment to register what's going on later― the onslaught of affection is a bit overwhelming― he laughs, surprised but pleased, and tips his head to meet an incoming peck. ]

Jill, [ he whispers again, because the only coherent thought in his head is Jill's name. She's the only thing that exists right now, in this safe, comforting space, and he lifts his hands to sandwich her pretty face between his palms to stop her―

―just so he can give her a more proper kiss, mind. He parts her lips with his, and licks into the welcoming warmth of her mouth. I love you, too. ]

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