Raised in the Shadows

That lucky feeling wound itself around the worry, morphing and expanding until you were frozen in place and nearly breathless. 

"Hey, come on, no need for any of that," Leon paused in his recounting of the weeks of quarantine and medical tests he and Ashley had to endure once they were back in the states, and you were alarmed when he leaned forward to gently wipe a stray tear off your cheek. “I promise you, I’m fine now.”

You hadn't even realized you'd been crying.

"Why is it that out of everything you just told me tonight, I find that the most unbelievable?" 

His answering laugh had an acidic tinge, like the tart lemon you could still smell on your fingers from making the drinks. "Well, it’s the truth. I have to be fine. If I wasn’t I’d…” he trailed off, his eyes darting away and his hand reaching for Max only to find the dog had long since fallen asleep and was snoring at his feet. He shrugged instead, taking a swig of whiskey and stretching to place the empty mug on your coffee table. “I don’t know. I just know that I am. I always am. I’m fine.” 

You weren't sure why you did it, there sure as hell wasn’t a conscious thought behind the action in the moment, but you found yourself responding by rising up on your knees and stretching across the couch to pull Leon into your arms, hugging him tightly to your chest. He was stiff for a long moment and you could feel the heat of his palms hovering just above your back, not quite returning the gesture, until he finally let out a tremulous breath and let himself give in. He sank into your embrace, burying his face into the curve of your neck and bringing his arms up to wrap around you, dragging you even closer until you were practically in his lap. 

Leon was so warm, his body so sturdy and solid against yours that you could feel his heartbeat throbbing in time with your own. It was comforting, reassuring. You wanted so desperately to believe him right then, but something about the way he held you, clinging to you like a drowning man would a life preserver, it made you realize that he wasn’t anywhere close to fine. 

But you weren’t about to poke holes in the lie, not when it seemed like he crafted it for his own self comfort to begin with, so instead you gently tilted his head so you could bring your lips down near his ear and whisper. “I'm so glad you're safe and here now. I want to help you. Please, even if it's just to help take your mind off things."

An unrestrained groan was all the warning you got before Leon moved, his hands snapping up to cradle your face, bringing you down as he surged forward to crash his lips against yours. It was graceless at first, his desperation leaving no room for finesse, but you didn’t mind. You weren't drunk, but the alcohol in your bloodstream warmed it, making it easier to let him use you, to open your mouth and legs to welcome him in closer. 

"Is this okay?" Spoken between kisses, his lips never leaving your skin. But Leon seemed unsatisfied with your hummed confirmation and pulled back to meet your eyes. 

You felt your face grow warm under his scrutiny, squirming a little until he finally elaborated, spitting out the words like he had suddenly lost control and couldn't hold them back any longer. "I didn't come here for this. I didn't really come here for anything. I just… I swear, I don't want to take advantage of you or put you on the spot or-"

You cut him off with what you hoped was a reassuring smile and a quick peck to his uncharacteristically flustered cheek. "Leon, sweetheart, it's okay. I know you. I trust you. You’re not taking anything that I’m not freely offering.”

“Yeah?” 

“Of course. And, well uh…” you took a deep breath, figuring that him openly sharing his situation earlier with you deserved a reciprocal moment of vulnerability, no matter how hot you could feel your face get. “I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be getting anything out of it either. I like you, like a lot.” 

He kissed you again, humming against your lips. “I really like you too.” 

He tasted like your favorite whiskey and smelled like your lavender laundry detergent. Both sensations triggered a possessive need deep behind your ribcage. It didn't matter what the parameters of your relationship were in the outside world. There and then, he was yours. Kissing your lips on your couch, breathing in your breath straight from your lungs. Consuming you. 

With each kiss, each press of his tongue against yours, he got bolder, more demanding. Hands snaking under clothes, his skin scorching yours as he kneaded and gripped your flesh. Hips meeting yours, forcing a gasp from your lungs when you felt his arousal hot against the exact place you were yearning for him most. 

“God, I just want to get lost in you,” he groaned. Leon's body was practically thrumming, wild with kinetic energy and want. His breathing just shy of erratic as he deepened the kiss, either ignoring or relishing in the scrape of teeth and uncomfortable smash of your noses together as he desperately tried to press even closer. 

It was too much too fast, like a car heading full speed towards a brick wall. He seemed intent on crashing and burning, of blurring the lines of punishment and pleasure. A worry confirmed for you when he pushed you suddenly onto your back, knocking the air out of your lungs and crowding you into the couch cushions with his body, lips not leaving your skin until he pulled back with a wince and shifted his weight awkwardly to the side.

“Shit,” he swore, arms shaking as he braced himself above you and scowled down at his left knee. He hissed as he distributed his weight back on it, trying to cover the sound against your neck. 

“Leon-” you started, but he cut you off, sinking his teeth into the skin on your collarbone, just hard enough to draw a whimper from you. Your hands flew up to tangle in his hair.

“I’m fine,” he lied again around placing soothing kisses on the mark he left. "It’s just bruised.” 

"It’s okay,” you soothed, dragging your nails across his scalp and taking a moment to enjoy the way the action made him melt against you. “Let me take you to bed. Let me take care of you.” 

Your bedroom door was just a few feet from the living room, but you still took Leon’s hand and guided him up from the couch. The bedside light was still on, your sheets still rumpled from your interrupted sleep, but you’re not sure Leon even noticed. He let you lead him as far as the room’s threshold before he spun you back around and pressed you hard into the heavy wooden door, taking the opportunity your surprised gasp gave him to slip his tongue into your mouth. 

You let the kiss distract you for a moment until you felt his hands fist the hem of your pajama shirt and tug, his intention clear. You pulled away, sucking on his bottom lip and releasing it with a gentle pop as you met his eyes and nodded your permission. 

The shirt was gone in a flash, quickly followed by your pajama pants and underwear. You barely had a second for any doubt or insecurities at suddenly being so exposed before Leon scooped you up and deposited you into your bed. Something dark and almost predatory flashed in his eyes as he loomed over you, but it was gone the moment you opened your thighs for him, hoping to tempt his warmth back to your rapidly cooling body. 

“Need you,” he growled, his hand moving to grip your thighs and spreading them further. He tried to step forward into the cradle of your hips but you stopped him, halting his progress with the press of your bare foot against his chest. Blue eyes narrowed in confusion. 

“Your clothes,” you reminded him and he huffed out a laugh. 

Before stepping back to strip, Leon gripped your ankle and pressed a kiss to your instep, the sensation tickling all the way up your spine. “Knew I was forgetting something.” His smile was loose and boyish for the first time that night, contrasted charmingly with the broad, muscular body he revealed with each article of clothing that soon joined yours in a pile on the floor. 

As you watched him, a rush of warmth started in your chest and flowed deliciously down your body, settling pleasantly behind your belly button. A smattering of healing bruises marred his otherwise flawless skin - a large, purple mottled one on his flank looked particularly nasty and you couldn’t help but wonder which of the horrible things he had described to you left it on him. 

As if reading your thoughts he responded. “I promise, it looks worse than it feels.” 

“Come here.” You didn’t wait for him to respond, sitting up and grabbing his hands to pull him in close until his knees hit the edge of the bed. 

Starting at his chest, you leaned forward and pressed your lips to each bruise, paying rapt attention to the way you could feel his breath hitch and his hands flex against yours as you worked. It felt like worship, something reverent and sacred. Too serious for a simple hookup, but that didn’t stop you from pressing forward. You took your time, pausing to give the bigger marks extra attention with your tongue. He moaned when you reached the last one on his hip bone, his hips jutting forward to brush his now fully erect cock against your face. 

You gave into the urge to give it a kiss too, the head bitter and burning hot against your tongue. 

“Fuck!” Another moan ripped from his chest and shot straight between your legs. The wet throbbing there was getting impossible to ignore. 

Feeling bold and impatient, you tugged Leon down to join you on the bed. He wasted no time sealing his mouth back on yours, lifting and pushing you back towards the headboard, his strength making it easy for him to mold your body to his desires. His bare skin against yours felt like low voltage electricity dancing across its surface, tingling and warming you from the outside in. And it was your turn to moan, broken and ragged, when he rocked his hips against yours, his erection heavy and pulsing. 

You somehow had the presence of mind to get him to trade places with you, mindful of any healing injuries as you straddled him. He was panting now, unable to keep his hands still or gentle, roughly squeezing your hips until you were flush against him again. 

As you reached behind and guided his cock inside you, Leon shuddered and threw his head back into a pillow, a call of your name lost as lightning crashed outside, close enough to flash through the gap in your bedroom curtains. The rumble so deep and loud you could feel it resonate in your chest. 

“Oh god.” The stretch burned when you first started to move, it had been a while since you’d last been with anyone, but it gradually subsided and was replaced by a pleasant ache, like an itch you’d suffered through for days finally being scratched. 

“That’s it, fuck, ride me baby.” A mixture of praise and curses flowed freely from Leon’s lips, getting more jumbled and less coherent when you sped up, dropping your hips down hard now with each thrust so he hit deeper inside you. 

Suddenly he surged up, bracing himself with one hand on the bed, the other seizing your hair to pull you roughly back into a kiss. Panting into each other's mouths, swallowing each other's moans, you both adjusted to each other's rhythms. The change of angle allowed him to roll his hips into you, reaching that spot inside you that made you clench and tremble around him. 

The rain and wind picked up outside, the storm rattling the windows as the movement of your bodies shook the bed. What had started as a quiet night alone was now so alive and loud and charged that you could barely focus. 

“Fuck, gonna cum,” Leon warned from behind clenched teeth, tearing his mouth from yours to arch backwards, his eyes squeezing shut. 

“Yes, inside, please. Come inside me,” you encouraged, your own orgasm a little too far out of reach, but the desire to make him lose himself was so much more powerful. You picked up the pace, tightening as much as you could. 

Your name escaped his lips like a punch to the chest and Leon came so hard his whole body shook, his legs quaking and his arm giving out. You followed him down when he collapsed, laying on his chest as he bucked and emptied inside you. You could feel the pounding of his heartbeat throb in time with the pulsing of his cock, relishing the wet warmth as you helped him ride it out. 

What you hadn't expected was for him to keep going, staying hard and fucking his cum deeper into you as he whined high in throat. “Please, don’t stop,” he begged, even as the overstimulation was making his teeth chatter and his body convulse. 

And who were you to deny him, a man praying at your altar, finding both solace and penance in the movement of your body as you accepted him inside. 

You sat back up, bracing your hands on his shoulders for balance as you continued to fuck him. The orgasm you had been prepared to deny yourself reignited, an exquisite pressure building in your belly, spurred on by man under you. Every whimper, every breathless moan torn from his chest brought you closer. His movements were unpredictable, wild and chasing his own high one second only to be more deliberate and focused on you the next. Once he was able to bring a trembling hand down to stroke you, giving attention to your most sensitive spot, it didn’t take long for the dam to burst. 

You cried out, your entire body tensed and impossibly tight as your climax ripped through you, the release making your hips stutter and toes curl.

Leon followed you over the edge and when he came again he shouted, full throated and raw, his voice thick with unshed tears. Every feeling, every emotion, every truth he’d been denying himself spilling out and into you along with his cum. His every muscle clenched and spasmed as he came down with a sob, fingers quick to dig into the bruises he had already left on the plush of your hips, stilling your instinctive attempt to lift up and let him slip from your body. 

“Stay. Stay,” he repeated, raspy and ruined. Like your connection was the only thing anchoring him to reality. 

You let yourself sag bonelessly, settling into the warm circle of his waiting arms as you both caught your breath. Leon drew you in for another kiss. This one gentle and sweet, completely lacking the fire and urgency from before, instead replaced with a lazy, relaxed appreciation. 

“Thank you.” 

Taglist: @xxacademy @weeb4equality @mayorofzillyhoo @skydisneylover

The quilt thuds behind your heels as you descend the stairs with it lazily thrown over your left shoulder, dragging behind you like a cape in a game of pretend. Today had been a very weary day, you woke up rather late and it was already mid afternoon by the time you got out of bed. And even then you left it unmade before stealing the covers off of it to haul downstairs.

There was no strict reason for why today had been so slow, sometimes you just deserve a long morning in bed and an even longer afternoon on the sofa which you were already on your way to.

It had been your husband's idea to finally crawl out of the comfort of the sheets after hours spent in a tired haze of tangled limbs and the occasional kiss when you each snapped out of your sleepiness. Partly because the back of his throat had run dry and he kept complaining about needing a drink, and partly because his legs were going that tingly kind of numb from disuse. Knowing it was probably best to at least move the location of your laziness you followed him and got to your feet, having watched him hover in the doorway before smiling.

“How about you go sit on the couch and pick a movie? I’ll grab us something to drink and meet you there, hon.” Leon said, his voice mused by fatigue. You nodded a quick ‘sure’ and listened as the padpadpad of his footfalls grew quiet when he disappeared downstairs. In your reluctance to leave the safe haven of your shared bed you first threw a couple of your pillows down the stairs unceremoniously. They toppled head over heels before crashing together in a pile waiting just past the last step that you now approach.

Socked feet finally meet the rug of the hallway and you clamber to gather the pillows in your arms that are already cluttered by the tail end of the quilt. It’s a bit of a cumbersome arrangement and you can’t see your feet past the bulk of bedding but with careful steps you make it to the couch and immediately drop everything in a pile on the cushions. Then drop yourself front first onto the pile right after.

An amused chuckle from the doorway beckons your attention and when you look over your shoulder Leon is standing with two mugs in his hand. One is an off white colour with daisies decorating the outside and a dark green rim, and the other is a light blue with faded text that once read ‘What’s hotter? Me or my coffee?’ and a chipped handle.

“Don’t tell me you’re just going to leave it like that.” He scoffs playfully, striding in and setting both mugs onto the low table beside the sofa; on coasters of course, he’s not barbaric. “What do you mean?” You quip, sluggishly rolling over and barely avoiding a fall. “I think it’s perfect like this.” Your head lolls back onto a pillow with a muted puff and Leon raises his brows, giving you that unbelieving look as he crosses his lean arms over his chest handsomely.

“There’s no room for me, sweetheart. Are you trying to tell me something?” The look on his face softened then, with his bottom lip pushed out in a pout and his gaze losing the sharp edges to become something honeyed and lovesick. You mimic his frown and grumble in complaint of his teasing. Throwing your legs over the edge of the couch you surge forward and wrap your arms around his waist, pulling Leon forward so he has to catch himself with a hand on the arm of the lounge while the other rises to cradle the back of his head.

“Mm, no.” You mumble into his t-shirt, your nose pressed flat to his midriff. “You can sit with me if you put the movie in.” His laugh bounces through your ears like the sweetest melody and shakes your body with the force of his happiness, making something giddy bloom in your chest. You tip your head back and lean your chin against him instead, overjoyed to find that he’s already looking down at you, the apples of his cheeks pushed plump with his smile.

“Oh really?” Leon cards a hand through your hair before cupping your jaw, his thumb tracing your bottom lip. You lean into the warmth of his large palm and nod. “So we’re finally watching one of your dvds instead of letting them gather dust?” He remarks and his smugness isn’t lost on you. You roll your eyes and draw back, letting your hands run down his sides and around his hips, then toying with the drawstring on his pyjama pants.

“They’re not dusty.” You shrug idly with a click of your tongue. “You’re just never home enough to watch them with me.” Leon grabs your wrists as you say that, thumbs running carefully along the skin as he crouches in front of you. His knees click and you both wince. “Well I’m sorry, honey. But I’m making up for it now.” He retorts ever so earnestly. “What do you want to watch?”

You smile bashfully and lace your fingers with his, squeezing his hands. “I was only teasing, love. I know you’re home as much as you can be.” And you mean it. It’s no secret that Leon is a busy man, that these walls often feel empty in the weeks without him. But that’s what makes today so precious. You have him all to yourself, all day, and you don’t get that nearly as often as you’d like. Your husband simpers and lifts your hands, peppering doting kisses over your knuckles.

“I know, I know.” He hums. The two of you share a glance that means to say that there’s no need to dwell on that today, that the words are better left unsaid. Rather it’s one of those things that has always been a mutual understanding that doesn’t require any long conversation or worse, tears. “But you didn’t answer my question, sweetheart. What do you want to watch?”

“Casper, please.”

Leon stands tall and again kisses the backs of your hands before letting go to search the shelf. “Your wish is my command.” He winks and you can't help the unsurprised sigh that escapes you. You get to your feet with a groan and reorganise the mess you’d made on the couch, propping the pillows from your bed up against the back of it with Leon’s on the leftmost side so that he can reach the mugs without stretching too far.

Within the minute he has the movie up and ready to go, idling on that familiar title screen that floods you with nostalgia. He grins and hands you the remote before sitting beside you. With his back against the couch you tuck under his arm and throw your legs to sprawl over his lap, his hand resting on your waist. Leon’s fingertips encourage the edge of your shirt up and you shudder when the pads of his fingers meet your skin, though his touch is never unwelcome. Your head falls onto his chest and he drags the quilt over your legs, turning to kiss your temple softly.

“Ready to go?” Leon asks, reaching with his other arm to pass you your mug. You swap it for the remote and he simpers. “Mhm.” You beam, cradling the warm mug in both hands. A quick peek over the rim reveals the sweet promise of rich hot chocolate inside and you light up with an even more endearing smile that melts your husband down to putty.

“Why’d you pick this, anyway?” He asks unthinkingly, hitting play in the same breath. You titter and steal a glance at him. “There’s a character towards the end that looks like you.” You comment, taking a sip that makes your lips tingle. Leon seems glad to hear that, smirking proudly.

“Oh really? An important character I presume?”

“Mhm, the main one.”

“I thought the main character was the ghost?”

“Just wait, honey. Just wait…”

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