Her chest was heaving as she wrapped her fingers around the rope keeping her hands tied to one of the bars of the headboard. She felt him everywhere, felt the heavy drag of his cock as he pulled out almost all the way before rocking back into her with a hard roll of his hips. She felt his hands on her, his shadows, his gaze.

She felt everything, but she couldn’t see.

“You’re beautiful like this,” Azriel spoke in a low voice, though there was a breathless note to his words. His hands tightened on her hips. “Always taking me so well.”

She loved when he talked through it—when it got so good that even the quiet shadowsinger couldn’t hold his tongue.

The corners of her mouth curled, teeth finding her bottom lip to keep from grinning all to widely, but suddenly, Azriel leaned forward from where he knelt between her thighs, and her grin slipped at the change in his angle. A choked sound left her, but it didn’t travel far, as Azriel caught it with his mouth.

His lips claimed hers in a deep kiss, one of his hands travelling up her body to curl loosely around her throat, and when he pulled back far enough for his tongue to travel along the edge of her jaw, she couldn’t suppress a shiver.

A soft moan left her when his lips found the shell of her ear, hot puffs of breath forcing goosebumps to arise on her skin.

“I wish you could see what it’s like to fuck you, my love,” he whispered, teeth finding her earlobe. “It’s indescribable.”

She smiled at that. “Is that an invitation?”

Azriel gave another long roll of his hips, and she failed to suppress a moan at the depth of him.

This time, when he spoke, she could hear the smile in his voice. “With you, it’s always an invitation.”

She concentrated on his mind then, and as she reached out across their bond to run her lips along the solid mental shields he kept in place, she felt him shudder against her.

His shields opened just wide enough for her to slip through, and she felt a moan pass her lips as she wrapped her mind around his, weaving through his thoughts, tasting his emotions.

He kissed her hard, their tongues slipping against each other, and his groan vibrated though her.

It was when he retreated back to his knees that he shared with her the sight of what lay before him.

She breathed a moan at the sight, and she felt his desire burning through her like fire, mixing with hers, amplifying when he moved his hands back to her hips to hold her in place as he withdrew from deep inside her.

Her legs lay draped over his thighs, her arms stretched over her head to bare her body to him, wrists tied to the headboard. He wanted to run his hands over her body, wanted to bite the soft flesh of her breasts, and run his tongue down her front until it would find the sweetness between her thighs.

She tasted herself on her tongue as Azriel recalled the memory of what had happened earlier that evening, of her moans as he’d sucked on her, as he’d licked her and held her thighs open for pleasure to overwhelm her.

He’d loved every second of it, and she could feel his desire to repeat it after this. She always tasted a bit different after he’d fucked her.

He ran his palms up her body, and she marvelled at the contrast of scarred palms on smooth skin, of wide, rough fingers cupping the supple flesh of her breasts. She felt a wave of pleasure at the sight, at the way he held her, kneaded her—the way his fingers rolled her nipples. She couldn’t keep track if it was her own pleasure she felt, but she arched her back to push her chest deeper into his palms, and she saw the result through his eyes—her head tilted back to reveal the delicate curve of her throat, her lips parted in a moan he could feel in his loins.

You’re a work of art, my love, she heard him purr in his mind, the words wrapping around her like a blanket.Watch.

Her cheeks heated at the sight of his length gliding back inside, gliding deeper and deeper until their hips were flush. She thought she heard herself moan with the intrusion, but above all, she sensed Azriel’s desire to take her harder. He wanted to fuck into her over and over again, wanted to hear her skin slap against his, wanted to see her writhe in pleasure before him.

She watched her own hands pull harder on her restraints, the muscles of her thighs flexing at the images she found flickering through Azriel’s mind.

Do it, Az, she whispered into his mind like the voice of temptation. Take me.

At once, Azriel’s palms slipped down the length of her body to settle on her hips once again, and at the first harsh snap of his hips, his fingers dug into her flesh to pull her into his thrust.

Her back arched off the mattress, a guttural groan breaking from her throat as he set a hard rhythm that had her hands move to wrap around the bars of the headboard for more leverage.

Azriel’s mind began to grow hazy with pleasure, and as she watched through his eyes as he fucked her body, she fucked his mind in return.

She poured all her desire into him, set the bond aglow with her want, and laced herself into each of his thoughts until she couldn’t tell where she stopped and Azriel began.

When he closed his eyes to tilt his head back for a choked groan to break from his throat, Azriel cut off her sight for just a moment.

“Fuck, I love it when you do that,” he panted, his voice only a breath mixed in with the orchestra of their bodies, and she loved the note of desperation it held—like she alone had the power to drag him to the very edge of control.

When he looked back down at her, she watched the way her body fought to meet his thrusts, though her quivering muscles made it harder and harder the longer it went on.

The sounds were falling from her lips freely now, and she felt the little shocks they sent down his spine each time. He liked her whimpers most of all, liked when her back curled off the mattress and her hips began to twitch between his palms.

She watched through his eyes as Azriel moved his hand to the soft flesh of her lower belly, and when he pressed down just hard enough for her to feel the pressure of him deep inside of her, she came with a moan that bordered on a sob.

She clung to his mind as she writhed beneath him, and when Azriel followed her with a tight grip on her hips and a desperate groan, she could feel his own pleasure mix with hers until every last inch of her mind was glowing with it.

He leaned forward then, once again changing the angle as his hips urged closer to hers, and when his lips met hers, she gasped at the sudden contact.

He pressed her deep into the pillows, and she felt the way her body twitched against him, waves of aftershock rolling through her as he brushed against her most sensitive parts.

My love, Azriel’s voice rang through her mind as he trailed his nose along her cheekbone, brushing against the fabric of her blindfold as he did so.

She didn’t know how long they’d lain like that, but her breathing had calmed a bit, her muscles no longer shaking but rather deliciously sore. She felt his fingers move to untie the rope that held her, and when she was free, she lifted her hands to his cheeks and pulled him back into a deep kiss.

Bit by bit, she untangled herself from his thoughts, from his emotions, his innermost being, and as she retreated from his mind, she felt the last waves of love he sent after her before his mental shields closed and only the bond was left to thrum with what they’d shared.

Neither one of them wanted to break the kiss, but when Azriel gently tugged the blindfold from her face, she couldn’t help but pull back and meet his gaze. She’d longed to see his eyes. They were always the best part—the windows to his mind whenever she wasn’t wrapped up in him.

“You’re amazing,” Azriel said quietly, big hands framing her face as he breathed a sweet kiss to her lips. “To feel what you feel, it’s … breath-taking. No one’s ever fucked me like that,” he added with a teasing grin.

She couldn’t help the giggle that passed her lips when she wrapped sluggish arms around his neck.

“Glad to hear I can be of service,” she spoke softly, twirling one of the longer strands of his hair around her finger. “But I’m sure my brother would have done you a solid if you’d asked.”

Azriel growled deep in his chest, a pained expression entering his face. “Maybe don’t talk about your brother right after some of the best sex we’ve ever had.”

“i don’t think i understand,” he answers as he tears his eyes away from you. his fingers reach for their pairs on his other hand, and he tries to play it off as just stretching them out. but you know better.

perhaps it’s normal that he doesn’t understand. after all, the two of you are just roommates, have been for a few years. you’re friends, closer than most you’d like to think.

you know how he likes his tea and he knows how you arrange your dresser. you’re an expert in the differentiation of sighs that fall past his lips and he’s fluent in all your various little grumbles under your breath. you drag him to his bed when he needs to be asleep for work and he drags you out of yours because if you’re late one more time your boss will kill you.

you just—you know each other. so well, through and through. all the little things that no one else sees, you and keiji do. so maybe that’s why you feel comfortable enough to even ask such a bizarre question in the middle of the afternoon.

“it’s just, i mean,” you fumble over your words a little, sitting up on the floor and waving your hands around. “we’ve been living together for like forever already. and i love being around you and you make me happy, you know? marriage really wouldn’t be any different than what we’re doing now.”

“we aren’t even dating,” he says.

“well, no.”

“we don’t even go on dates.”

“yes we—“

“grocery shopping every sunday does not count.”

you pout up at him as he stares down at his papers. he clearly isn’t reading them, he’s just trying to avoid eye contact with you. for some reason, that makes you even huffier.

“it could if you think about it,” you retort, crossing your arms over your chest. you probably look like a little kid right now, pouting on the floor like this, but you don’t care. “you know i’m right.”

for a moment, the room is a little static. papers are rustling again, but it’s obvious that’s just akaashi’s way of semi-avoiding this topic. which is fair, probably, and you’re hit with the realization that you could possibly be making him uncomfortable. but then again surely he would tell you if that were the ca—

“marriage is for people who are in love.”

it’s your turn to swallow your tongue as the words leave akaashi’s mouth, your turn to rip your gaze away. because he’s right, that most definitely is what marriage is for. it’s for people who are so incredibly infatuated with each other that love doesn’t even begin to cover it.

your cheeks are hot as you mumble, “yeah, that’s kinda why i suggested it.”

the heartbeat in your ears is deafening and you suddenly feel weirdly exposed sitting in the middle of your roommate’s bedroom floor. with each passing beat of silence, each tick of the clock on his nightstand, you just want to curl in on yourself more and more.

you’re stupid, truly, because you should’ve realized it before. akaashi and you were really poor at acting like normal roommates, and there was always a line the two of you pretended that you didn’t cross.

like when he’d pick you up off the couch and carry you to your bed when you’d fallen asleep in the middle of a movie, daring to trace his fingers over your cheek before he walked out.

or when you’d find him crying over manga edits he couldn’t quite be comfortable on and you’d wrap your arms around him and kiss his hairline and coo so softly until he calmed down.

or when the two of you would “accidentally” grab each other’s hand while reaching for the salt, but found your palms pressed to each other for the rest of the meal.

and of course keiji is right—you aren’t dating and you don’t go on dates and yeah you really shouldn’t count grocery shopping as such—but at the same time there’s everything else, all the little moments that build up, and they lead you to this.

with a bleeding heart and a loose tongue in the middle of your roommate’s floor as you fight off the fever in your cheeks, because you’re completely and utterly stupid.

“okay.”

your head snaps up as keiji’s voice breaks through your thoughts, brows knitting together ever so slightly.

“what?” you whisper, as if you’re scared anything louder might frighten off any chance of akaashi’s explanation.

“i said okay,” he repeats. and he finally breaks his gaze away from his papers to look at you as he swings his legs off the edge of the bed. “it’s true, what you said. marriage wouldn’t be so much different than what we’re doing now. plus, it’s good for taxes.”

“you—i don’t want your reasoning to be for taxes!” you exclaim, completely baffled.

keiji laughs.

“i want to marry you,” he states, like it’s a fact he’s been sure of for a while. like he’s just always known. “but starting now we’re going to do this the right way.”

you raise a brow at him, narrowing your eyes in just a tad bit of suspicion. “okay, what do you have in mind then?”

“a proper date. tomorrow. we can go to that restaurant i took you to for your birthday.” he slides off the bed and onto the floor in front of you. “you’ll take forever to order even though you’ll eat off my plate anyways and then you’ll tell a joke that will make me choke on my drink.”

“you sound like you’ve thought this out,” you grin. your fingers slide across the floor, inching towards akaashi’s hand until they brush against it. he turns his palm and laces your fingers together.

“maybe,” he hums, rubbing a circle into your knuckles with his thumb. “you’ll order dessert but only eat half of it so you can save some as a happy surprise later and i’ll open your car door for you to get inside.”

“a gentleman, aren’t you?” you lean in closer to him, scooting across the floor to get rid of some of the inches between you.

“i try,” he smirks, one of those rare cants of his lips making your stomach feel mushy and your brain fuzzy. “i’ll let you play your horrible music all the way home and take the long way so you can finish singing your favorite song. then i’ll pull into our parking lot..”

“and?” you’re so close now you can feel the warmth radiating off of him, your thighs only half a centimeter from pressing together. he’s looking right at you through thin lenses. his grip on your hand tightens.

“i’ll tell you i had a really good time. you’ll laugh and say something like ‘of course you did, you were with me’ and then,” he pauses a moment, his eyes flicker down to your lips then back up. he licks his own, and you’re sure it’s merely subconsciously but it has your head spinning regardless.

“then, if i’m lucky, you’ll kiss me. and i’ll finally know what it feels like instead of just having to dream about it all these years.”

“well if you want the date to be as perfect as you’re making it sound, maybe we should practice.” you don’t mean to whisper it, but you don’t think you could speak any louder if you tried.

which is fine, because you don’t get the chance to speak at all a millisecond later when lips are pressing to yours and a hand is cupping your cheek to keep you close.

you lick your lips as you pull away, the trace of mint chapstick that keiji left behind leaving a slight tingle on the tip of your tongue. your heart is hammering so loud you wonder if he can hear it, but then again maybe his is beating just the same.

“i really want to marry you right now,” you breathe out, and keiji laughs against your lips, pressing your foreheads together.

“be patient,” he says, sliding his hand to the back of your neck. “we should practice first.”

Chapter 3 - Yellow Eyes

Chapter 4 - A Yellow Drink

Chapter 5 - A Yellow Shirt

Chapter 6 - A Yellow Fruit

Chapter 7 - A Yellow Gift Bag

Chapter 8 - A Yellow Umbrella

Chapter 9 - A Yellow Scrunchie

Chapter 10 - Yellow Paper

Chapter 11 - A Yellow Aura

Chapter 12