Chocoborider92

A Kiss

Briar woke up to the feeling of feather soft kisses on the curve of their narrow shoulder. 

They still weren’t used to this reality; one in which Halsin took every moment he could to indulge in them. But it was always a pleasant thing to wake up to. 

A large, rough-hewn hand took the place of those kisses, smoothing a path down their arm. They felt pleasantly dwarfed by Halsin’s touch, their skin warming in a low intensity flush–as if Halsin carried the very essence of the sun in his fingertips. 

A low burn in Briar’s belly joined that warmth as Halsin tangled his fingers with theirs and kissed up the curve of their neck. 

His voice was a low rumble in Briars ear, hot breath making the back of their neck prickle. 

“Are you awake, my heart?” he asked. 

“Reluctantly…” Briar admitted, their lashes fluttering as they turned onto their back to look up at their lover. 

He was there, propped up on his elbow and looking down at them. His hair was unbound and hanging around his face in gentle, undulating waves. Briar loved it when Halsin’s hair was down and wild. Loved it in a way they could scarcely admit until recently…until Halsin had finally told them that he’d wanted for them in the very same way they had wanted for him. Until that balmy afternoon when they’d kissed under the dappled shade of an oak tree. Until that kiss became deeper and more and…

“Perhaps there’s some way I could help you embrace the rising sun with a bit more enthusiasm?” He offered playfully. 

“I will remind you that foxes are nocturnal creatures,” they responded. 

“Mmn–as you remind me most mornings,” he teased. “I’m beginning to sense a theme.”

“I don’t like what you’re implying,” Briar said, feigning that it was a great affront to their honor.

Halsin’s smile took on a sharper, hungrier quality. He released Briar’s hand and smoothed it over their bare belly before scooping them into his arms and adjusting them onto their back. He leaned in closer until Briar could smell the gentle aromas of tobacco and pinewood coming off of his skin. “And just what am I implying, little fox?” he said. 

That low burn intensified into something warmer than sunlight–something more akin to the hot smolder of a campfire. 

“That I am misrepresenting my sleepiness in order to get something out of you…” Briar said, their voice dropping down nearly a full octave. 

“And what do you have to get out of me, little fox?” he asked. 

Briar shrank into the bedroll beneath them, feeling their face warm as they pressed their lips together. 

Halsin tilted his head and let out a warm, mirthful laugh. “My heart,” he said. “After the many times we’ve indulged in each other’s bodies…you would think you would be more comfortable with telling me what you want. We don’t even sleep fully clothed most nights.”

Briar looked askance before lifting their thumbnail to their teeth and gnawing at it. Halsin lifted his hand to catch their wrist and pull their hand away. “You don’t need to avoid me, my love.”

Briar looked back up at Halsin and let out an exhale. “I know I don’t…” they said. “I suppose that I…I just…”

Halsin looked at them intently, ever patient as they worked out the finer points of what they were feeling. While he waited, he smoothed his hand through Briar’s wild tangle of hair, knowing how it soothed them. 

As Briar closed their eyes and allowed themselves to calm, the thoughts started to come together a little easier; a little more clearly. 

“It still doesn’t feel right…” they finally said. “To want things with you…to tell you that I want you. It still feels like you’ll wake up tomorrow and realize how ill suited I am for you.”

“Ill suited?” he asked. “You needn’t suit me. You’re not a tunic, or a piece of armor. You’re an individual–you’re entirely your own being and beautifully crafted by nature. If anything, I am lucky that you’ve taken such an interest in me.”

“I’m sure there are people at the grove who would disagree,” Briar said. 

“And those people are not ones I wish to interact with–moreover, they aren’t me,” he insisted. “I’m here because I love you–not someone’s opinion of you. I’m not doing you a favor by choosing you as the one I share my bed and my life with–so long as you’ll have me.”

“I can’t even imagine a day where I wouldn’t have you,” Briar said. 

“Well, then, we’re in agreement, aren’t we?” Halsin said, his smile gentle. “So, dear heart…what do you wish to get out of me? Tell me your desire. Whatever could you be leveraging these lazy mornings to get out of me?”

Briar’s chest started to rise and fall with a newly stoked want. They lifted a hand and brushed it gently over the strong line of Halsin’s jaw, smoothing their lithe fingers into his loose hair. 

“I want you,” they said. 

Halsin’s eyes went faintly hooded. “Tell me more,” he said. “Tell me how you want me. Tell me where.”

They let out a shuddering breath willing themselves to find the words inside of them. They were so used to going at whatever pace was set by their lovers. They were usually happy to simply be participating–to have even gotten an invitation to enjoy someone’s body in the most intimate way. 

It was not something Halsin was willing to abide, however. 

Despite little more than a tenday passing since Halsin and Briar had left the grove, they had enjoyed each other plenty of times in varying degrees of intensity, at various points of the day. They’d lovingly explored each other. Halsin was happy to take the lead at first, at least that was how it seemed to Briar. But for the past few days, he had encouraged them to be more vocal–more clear. 

It was not at all what they were used to with a partner. And it was proving to be one of the more challenging things about their seedling union. 

“I can’t…” they said, feeling sheepish as they always did. 

“You can, my heart,” Halsin said tenderly. “And you will be rewarded for doing so. Tell me how I’m to enjoy your body today and I will happily oblige you.”

Briar swallowed dryly, feeling their flush spread to their pointed ears as they nodded. 

Halsin wound one of Briar’s curls around his index finger as he waited patiently for their answer. Briar did their best not to collapse into themselves as they worked up the nerve to speak. 

“I want to be…” they said, their voice quiet. “T-tasted by you…again.”

Halsin nodded, as if discussing what they should have for breakfast once they stumbled out of their tent together. “And what shall I taste, dear heart?” he asked. 

“My chest,” they said breathlessly. 

“I do so love to kiss you there,” Halsin agreed as he adjusted himself to lean over Briar, bracketing them between his large, strong arms. 

Briar found themself distracted by the feeling of something stiff against the curve of their inner thigh. “Where else?” Halsin asked. 

“M-my stomach,” they whispered–not because they were shy–but because they were  losing command of the parts of their mind that enabled them to speak. Something far more primal–far more wild–was taking over. 

“You spoil me,” Halsin cooed. “Is that where you wish for me to stop?”

Briar shook their head, almost panting now. “Lower,” they said. “I want you to taste me.”

Halsin let out an aroused breath of his own, the exhale pulling a low growl along with it. “You are providing me with a veritable feast,” he rumbled. “How lucky for me that it shall leave us both sated.”

Halsin closed the distance that still remained between the two of them and pressed a soft kiss to Briar’s parted lips. It was a gentle one–they always started gentle, Briar had learned. Their lower lip was captured between halsin’s. Briar brushed the tip of their tong against the edge of Halsin’s upper lip, and Halsin renewed the kiss again, rolling his insistent tongue into their mouth. 

Briar’s voice sounded–trilling and reedy. They set their hands on Halsin’s shoulders and smoothed them over the curving musculature of his arms. Their thumb brushed over the prominent vein on the inside of his bicep–a little detail they’d often fixated on back before they’d known Halsin desired them in the same way.

Briar seized his lower lip between their teeth and suckled on the supple curve of it, drawing a delightful growl from the archdruid. Halsin’s hands smoothed pleasantly heavy paths over Briar’s sides, his palms digging into the softer planes of their body, his thumbs gently pressing against the crests of their hip bones. 

Briar let out a soft, melodic sound as they exhaled through their nose, long lashes fluttering as they surrendered once again to the intoxicating feeling of being touched by Halsin. Each time they made love it was like being touched for the first time for Brair. Each time was just as thrilling as the first time. 

Halsin parted from the kiss and brushed the tip of his nose against Briar’s, smiling contentedly before continuing. He kissed the gentle curve of Briars cheek, the point where their neck met the elegant column of their neck, the hollow of their collar bone, the sloping curve of their chest. 

Briar let out a soft breath, the heat in their stomach starting to spread in a tingling ripple through their body. That heat traveled to the tips of their toes, the ends of their fingers, the shell of their ears. Their freckled skin donned a rosy, bronze flush across their shoulders; their cheeks. That same heat caused their slackened lips to swell and made the soft mounds of their nipples blissfully sensitive as Halsin captured one of them between his lips. 

Briar inhaled sharply as that gentle sensation came to a sharpened crescendo when Halsin gently caught the hardening bud between his teeth. 

They combed their fingers through Halsin’s loose hair, gathering some of it in their hand as they looked at him with hooded eyes. Halsin met that gaze, his own eyes full of tantalizing promise as he parted from Briar’s chest. 

“You set my skin ablaze when you look at me like that, my heart,” he said as he moved to the so-far-neglected nipple and kissed it noisily. “It makes me want to devour you.”

Briar let out a soft breath, watching intently as Halsin did a slow, lazy roll of his tongue over their nipple. “Perhaps I want to be devoured,” they said breathlessly. 

Halsin only smiled and planted another noisy kiss at the tip of their sternum. To the soft slope of their belly…the mound of their pelvis… the sensitive skin of their inner thigh. Each one bringing him further and further down Briar’s body and closest to the most sacred of places. 

“My own private altar of worship,” Halsin said, his voice the powerful rumble of a rockslide; the suffocating thrill of an avalanche. “How blessed I am to be allowed here, to look upon you in all of the beauty you are.”

Briar felt the gust of Halsin’s warm breath against their swollen arousal. The anticipation of what would come next was enough to make their lithe body arch and squirm; the heat in their stomach becoming the rush of a leap from atop a great summit. 

Halsin’s large hands smoothed from their backside to the back of each of Briar’s knees. His touch was gentle, yet insistent as he hooked each knee over his broad shoulders. 

A little sound escaped Briar’s lips involuntarily; something somewhere between a moan and a whimper–a sound of distress and a sound of need. 

“Patience, lover,” Halsin said, his tongue sounding wet in the well of his mouth. “I wish to savor you as only I might.”

But Briar didn’t have patience–they didn’t want to wait any longer. They wanted to feel Halsin’s mouth upon them–feel what it was to be devoured by him. It was a little death they wanted to experience again and again. 

Briar smoothed both of their hands back into Halsin’s hair, balling their slender fingers just above his pointed ears. They looked down to see Halsin staring up at them–the look in his eyes equal parts warning and indulgence. 

“Please,” Briar whispered, soft as a prayer. 

Halsin gave a gravelly chuckle as he lowered his mouth to them and closed his mouth around the center of Briar’s focus. 

Briar let out a sweet sound of relief as they rolled their hips against Halsin’s soft lips. Their thighs squeezed tighter around Halsin’s head, already feeling overstimulated as Halsin’s tongue stroked them in slow, practiced paths. Halsin let out a satiated noise, the sound vibrating through their center. 

It was easy to enjoy Halsin’s attention–after all, he was more than practiced after three centuries of life. Still, Briar was eager–perhaps too much so–too ready to reach a climax as soon as the experience started. As they rolled their hips into Halsin’s mouth again, the druid placed one firm hand on the flat plane of their pelvis and pressed down with gentle strength, grounding the smaller elf and enforcing the leisurely pace he so enjoyed. 

He tasted them deeply; slowly, from base to agonizingly sensitive tip, lingering to suckle as his eyes closed in his own ecstasy. 

Briar tried to buck like a wild horse, but Halsin’s hand remained an ever-present anchor. 

“Halsin,” Briar begged. “Please, I want more…”

With his free hand, he reached up to dip the tip of his middle finger into Briar’s mouth, collecting moisture from the pool of saliva gathered beneath their tongue. Briar closed their lips around the digit, suckling at it once, twice. Then they grasped his wrist and pulled the hand far enough away to kiss the fingertip. 

“Not that,” they said, knowing full well how he planned to use that prepped finger. Halsin always prioritized their pleasure when they shared these intimate moments together. There were times Briar allowed it–and there were times Briar found their own pleasure in giving Halsin his. “I want to taste you too,” they clarified. 

Halsin freed his preoccupied tongue to look up at them, his eyes dark with primal hunger. “Are you sure, my heart?” he asked. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to control myself–it’s already overwhelming enough to taste the promise of your pleasure on my tongue.”

“I’m sure,” they said. 

His brows dipped slightly. “I may become rougher with you than I intend to.”

Briar’s heart raced and they swallowed as their mouth became dry at the thought of it. 

As much as Briar loved that Halsin was such a gentle giant, they couldn’t help but thrill at the idea of the chase–at the idea of such primal, carnal enjoyment. The idea of Halsin losing his control because of them….well it was almost enough to render them into a puddle. 

“I think I’ll like that,” Briar admitted in a timid whisper. 

Halsin’s brow lifted and his head cocked back in surprise. “Is that right?” he said with a sharpened smile. 

Halsin scooped his arms under Briar, supporting their back and lifting them up with ease. Briar yelped, fingers tangling even tighter into Halsin’s hair as he unceremoniously rearranged their bodies to a more comfortable position–a position more conducive to…mutual feasting. 

Halsin chuckled before pressing a wet kiss to Briar’s aching arousal. It was everything they could do to stop themselves from crumbling in Halsin’s arms. 

“I would never drop you, my heart,” he said, lips still brushing distractingly against the tender skin. 

He continued to cradle them as he laid himself down, letting his back hit the grassy ground in a soft thud as he helped Briar recalibrate themselves. 

Halsin was so tall that it took some adjusting. For a moment, Briar wasn’t sure they would be able to taste the swollen length of Halsin’s erection–even with its more than generous size. But once again, Halsin’s many years of experience came into play. He adjusted the height and placement of Briar’s hips in such a way that, when they pressed together, belly-to-belly, Briar had perfect access to Halsin’s magnificent cock. 

They salivated as they grasped his girth in their hand. His cock twitched faintly and Halsin let out a startled sound against Briar. Briar felt the faint mischievous curl of their own lips, pleased to hear him react to them.

There was a brief moment where they relished the thought of rendering Halsin into a whimpering mess–a moment where the idea of conquering a man like Halsin in mind, body and spirit felt like the tantalizing promise of a good hunt; a good chase. 

But all thoughts, all ideas of scrappy dominance, eddied out of their mind when Halsin swirled his tongue against the sensitive opening of their backside. Briar’s hand tightened around Halsin as their whole body when feverish and alert, their thighs tense where they bracketed Halsin against the ground. 

It took them a moment to find the will to think and move again. Halsin was devouring them like it was the first meal he’d had in days. But finally, Briar’s own hunger took over the buoyant sensation in their body. They hummed as they took Halsin into their mouth, tasting the sweet nectar that had already started to collect at the tip. 

Briar’s long lashes fluttered as they started to slowly take more and more of Halsin within their mouth. At the same time, Halsin started to gently stroke between Briar’s legs, adding a new wave of pleasure to the already pleasant heat; the feeling of being filled by the one they loved. 

Briar intensified the suction around Halsin, eagerly fitting as much of him in their mouth as they could. 

It was when the tip of Halsin’s cock brushed against the tender opening at the back of their throat that things changed. 

A hungry growl came from Halsin’s mouth. He sounded more beast than man in that moment–then he put his free hand on the back of Briar’s head and thrusted the whole of his length into the poor fox’s mouth, curving into the opening of their throat as they choked around it. 

As Halsin retreated, tears gathered at the corners of Briar’s eyes as they gasped in through their nose. They were not tears of distress, though; no, a pleasant lightness took over them as Halsin’s hand roughly curled into their hair, holding them still as he did another unrelenting thrust into their throat. 

Gods, this was heaven–to have Halsin lose control–to feel the wild nature of him in such a visceral, connected way. It was pure bliss. 

Briar forgot about their own stimulation, settling their body fully down on Halsin’s as he tangled his other hand in their hair. 

The pace quickened; Halsin making love to Briar’s mouth the same way he made love to the rest of them every time they indulged in each other’s body: with tender devotion and enraptured abandon. 

“Your mouth–My heart–gods it feels as if it were made for me,” Halsin grunted with some effort. “And seeing you get your pleasure from giving me mine–to feel you hot and wet against my skin…it’s maddening…”

Briar heaved out a dreamy sigh as Halsin inserted himself into their mouth again, all the way to the hilt. And despite the fact that Halsin had stopped his direct stimulation of Briar’s body, they felt the impending crash of their climax heading for them like a storm about to make landfall. 

That spring coiled tighter and tighter every time Briar felt the intoxicating sensation of Halsin’s cock in their throat. 

Halsin’s breaths started to come out as shudders. 

“My heart…” he said in a tremulous voice. “Gods, Briar–you’re a wonder–I’m–”

Halsin snarled and turned his head, biting onto Briar’s inner thigh as he did two thrusts in quick succession. The pain mixed with the pleasure of Halsin’s generous words and the way he so adoringly made love to their mouth was enough to send Briar over the edge. 

They whimpered as they came even as they remained untouched by Halsin, their pleasure dripping out of them as Halsin did one final press up and into their mouth, spilling his own seed into the back of their throat as he gasped and panted. 

He thrust twice more, wringing the last bits of pleasure out of himself before retreating fully out of Briar’s mouth. 

As soon as he did, he gathered the smaller elf into his arms, cradling them close and nuzzling into the hollow of their neck; kissing the soft part of their throat like it was an ache he could heal that way. Those same hands that had just been tangled in Briar’s hair, now smoothed that hair away from their face before cupping their cheek in his hand. 

“Forgive me, dear one–I fear I neglected you in my own distraction,” he cooed, his voice thick and sweet as honey. “Are you alright?”

“I’m perfect,” Briar sighed, smiling dreamily. 

Halsin chuckled and nuzzled his nose against theirs. “You’re right,” he said sweetly. “You are. In every way.”

Briar felt the warmth of love fill their heart to the brim, as they always did after a roll in the grass with Halsin. He was such a giving lover and it was so easy to get as lost in his body as he got lost in Briar’s own. It was impossible not to feel the glow of love. 

“We should get a bath,” Halsin said. “And perhaps some breakfast.”

“I’m already quite full, thank you,” Briar said sleepily. “And I like being a mess because of you.”

Halsin gave Briar a cheeky smile and gently pinched their nose between his thumb and forefinger. “I feel the same, my heart,” he said. “But as we near the coast, it’s getting more and more likely that we will encounter others on the path, and I don’t want to share this vision of you with anyone else…unless you have a desire to, of course.”

Briar sighed and nodded. “I suppose I dont,” they said. “I think there was a lake not far from here. A bit north of the old castle–the one with those stuffy librarians.”

“The Scribe’s Perch, it’s called,” Halsin said helpfully. “And I believe you’re right–a hot spring is over there.”

“Ah–it’s been too long since I’ve soaked in a hot spring,” Briar said. “Let’s go right now.”

Halsin chuckled and nodded. “Alright.”

The two druids got themselves up and did themselves the courtesy of at least wiping down with a bit of water from their waterskins before dressing in their leathers. Briar helped Halsin fasten the leather straps around his biceps and Halsin saw to re-lacing Briar’s hastily removed boots. 

They packed up their tent and their supplies and started making their way south, the promise of a warm soak enough to keep Briar’s mood fairly light and buoyant. 

At least, that was until they got a few minutes into their travels and heard the cry of a worried, panicked man somewhere ahead on the rocky paths of the forests. 

“Elinna?!” The voice called, sounding very clearly distressed. “Elinna! Where are you?”

Briar looked up at Halsin and found a familiar expression there. It was one of worry on behalf of another. Briar knew Halsin well enough at this point that he was never one to look the other way when someone was in distress–unless it was a goblin, of course.

Eyes jam shut. Don’t think about that.

Someone will have to tell his mother. Does he have a mother? Stupid question—everyone does.

Not everyone—hers is dead. Perhaps they’ll meet. Mother and Gale.

Stop.

His mother. Yes. He mentioned her once. Also his cat. Oh, Gods… someone will have to tell his cat. What would you even say to a cat?

Fire pops. Wood collapses in on itself. Sparks crawl away like beetles. She feels the same. Hollowed. Falling in.

Don’t look at his face. Whatever you do—

She looks.

—don't.

His eyes are open. Staring. Not at her. Not at anything. Not anymore.

Withers.

Please.

There was so much blood. Hot. Sticky between her fingers. The thud-thud-thud of his heart pumping it out of him; her palms pressing down, trying to keep it in. She wanted to scream—

STOP.

And then it did.

She can still feel it. Still smell it—iron and salt. Under her nails. In the heartlines. Splashed across his mouth.

Stop. Looking.

So tired. She could lie down beside him and not move again. Not until she’s a scatter of bones, collapsing into a scurry of beetles.

Someone will have to tell his cat.

His cat.

His cat.

The air shifts.

Gasps.

The body jerks upright. Arms flail. Chest heaves. She can’t see inside it anymore. Good. That’s good. Isn’t it?

His eyes find her. See her.

She runs.

Not to him. Away.

Runs until her legs give out. Until earth becomes water. The stream. She falls. Cold bites in.

Sobs tear loose without warning. Rip out of her chest like a volley of arrows. Like the one that killed him. Rib-shattering, heart-rending, soul-tearing sobs. She folds in on herself, arms locked around her ribs, trying to hold it all in. She can’t—no more than she could hold back the blood.

Hurt.

Footsteps. Then the crash of a body. His body.

No—not a body.

Weight and warmth. Breath and beat. Alive.

Arms.

Her arms around him. His arms around her.

Here.

Safe.