#akhleo

While Khleo lay in the fields by herself, enjoying the flowers and the sunshine, Hefe, her great lion familiar, approached with someone new on her back.

“Khlee?” Alec called quietly as she slid down from Hefe’s creamy white spine. The lioness purred and padded off as soon as Alec dismounted.

Alec found Khleo dozing among the wildflowers, shirt unbuttoned down to her navel. Hair spiraling off in a thousand different directions. Hands folded loosely over her abdomen.

The songstress knelt by the barhand and sang softly until Khleo opened their eyes.

“Do you like it here, kitten?” Khleo asked casually.

Alec made herself more comfortable beside the barhand. “Kitten? That’s new.”

Khleo didn’t have a snarky retort. Only a lopsided smile and a blissful heavy-lidded gaze. After a moment, Khleo put forth the effort to arch a dark brow as if to say, Well do you?

Alec chuckled, “Yes, Khlee. I love it here.”

Khleo softened her brow and sighed, “You can come here whenever you like. Just ask Hefe.”

Alec knew that this was a Major Arcana’s gate. She looked about nervously.

Khleo added, “Strength won’t mind. I promise.”

Alec smiled gently as she leaned and brushed her lips against the corner of Khleo’s relaxed mouth in what was meant to be a thank you. Something about the enchanted traces of ale and the soft intensity in Khleo’s eyes made Alec linger.

The songstress stayed and poured her passion and effort into the next few moments, taking the barhand with her on a restless roll through the flowers.

With each rotation, with each deep kiss shared between herself and Alec, Khleo grew more light headed. But no matter how dizzy Khleo’s senses became, she would never know nausea or discomfort.

In that quiet, she watched them, her chin propped her hand, swinging her legs underneath her. She loved to watch them. When they fought, when they worked at the bar, when they slept. She could watch them forever, committing each little change in their expressions to memory, the sound of their voice, of their laugh. She loved it all.

Maybe she just loved Khleo.

No, she knew she loved them. 

A thought popped into her mind, poking at her. Did they? Did they know that? Alec wasn’t one to hold back on her feelings—she felt life was too short to not let people knew how she felt about them, and Khleo, they weren’t just people, they were important to her. So important.

Leaning closer to them, Alec put her hand over theirs, bringing their attention to her.

“Hey, Khleo?”

They looked up at her, a light pink rising to their cheeks when they realized just how close she was. “Yeah?”

Alec smiled, reaching out to run her finger under their jaw, tilting their head just slightly up towards her. With a sigh, she closed the distance between them to press a soft kiss to Khleo’s lips. Before they could press back, she pulled away, just enough to rub the tips of their noses together.

Her blue eyes searched Khleo’s brown, feeling butterflies stir in her stomach as the words she had been thinking all night, well, for a long time really, left her throat.

“I love you.”

She didn’t give them the chance to say anything before she was kissing them again, moving her hand to fully cup their cheek, holding them close. They were both still sweaty and tired from the club’s meeting, but Alec put the last bits of her strength into kissing Khleo with as much passion as she could. She had said she loved them, and she meant it, but she felt like she could show her love better sometimes.

And right now, that meant kissing them like they were the air she needed to breathe, or if they were the blood that ran through her veins.

She could feel Khleo’s pulse racing under her fingertips, and smiled against their lips, pulling away only when she knew she had to. For a moment, they were both quiet, each trying to catch their breath, but the way Khleo was looking at Alec made it hard for her to calm down.

“I love you,” Alec repeated, whispered so softly she wasn’t sure if she had said it aloud.

Khleo nodded, cleared their throat, once, twice, and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, their eyes flickering over her face. When they were ready, Alec felt her heart swell in her chest as they responded. “I love you, too.”

A soft laugh escaped Alec, partly relieved, mostly just happy. She let her eyes close as this time, Khleo kissed her, resting their hands on her hips, fingers pressing into her bare skin.

The dusky light of the fading afternoon made navigating through the forest very tricky. Alec gasped as she tripped over yet another root. Thanks to Khleo’s quick reflexes, she only stumbled a little. 

The musician met the barhand’s dark brown eyes and huffed, “I love the outdoors and everything, but it’s nearly dark, Khlee.”

Khleo grinned. “I know.” Once they got Alec steady on her feet, they pressed on ahead, tucking their hands into the pockets of their trachten shorts. Their golden brown curls bounced as they moved about on light feet, humming a broken, dizzy tune.

Alec couldn’t rely on the daylight, so she used Khleo’s shimmery pink stockings as a beacon. The barhand guided Alec through the thickening undergrowth until they reached an iron-wrought gate. 

It was not something you would expect to find in the heart of the woods. Alec tried to get a read on how far the gate stretched, but the light was nothing but a peachy haze now and the dark fence was all but swallowed up by the thick tree trunks and pale, wandering moss.

“They store all the floats for the masquerades on the other side of this fence,” Khleo explained as she worked a series of keys into the layers of padlocks that chained the entrance together.

Before Alec could ask where Khleo got the keys, they said, “My boss rents some of the space too. We store the stuff we use for beer festivals here.”

Alec acted on an instinct, sidling up to Khleo as they undid the last lock and dipping her face against their neck. “Does your boss know that you borrowed his keys?” The musician followed up the question by gently tugging Khleo’s earlobe between her teeth.

As expected, the barhand purred and leaned into the affection. “Mm. Get inside.” 

They pulled away from Alec and swung the gate inward. Alec stifled a whine and followed Khleo through the gate. She was relieved to see that the tree coverage was finally thinning out. As they walked together, Alec recognized certain floats from past masquerades. Without lanterns to illuminate them, they looked hollow and even a tad... haunted.

“This way,” Khleo whispered, slipping her hand into Alec’s. “We’re almost there.”

The musician decided to pry a little more. “Almost where?” 

“Where they keep all the stuff for the upcoming masquerade.” Khleo squeezed Alec’s hand. “The stuff no one’s seen yet.”

The structure that Khleo led them to was probably the largest in the park. The more Alec studied it, the more she realized that it wasn’t a regular float. In fact, it wasn’t a float at all. It looked heavy and built from bright metals. 

Khleo let go of Alec’s hand and drifted off toward a lever jutting out of the ground at an odd angle. Alec turned her attention back to the attraction. She noticed that it had a grand circular foundation. Most of the paint was red and chipped but interrupted by stretches of creamy white and ribbons of gold.

There were animals too, of all kinds, crowded together on the platform and locked into place by golden poles.

“Does this thing run on magic?” Alec wondered aloud, still trying to take it all in.

“No.” Khleo said as she gripped the lever. “Not magic.” She pulled the lever, causing the air around them to croak and groan as the attraction came to life.

“Something else.”

Alec’s look of confusion transformed into that of wonder as the bejeweled tones of the rising and falling animals reflected in her bright blue eyes. With a little help from Khleo, Alec got onto the moving platform. Khleo placed her hand on the musician’s lower back and gently encouraged her to choose one of the animals to ride.

Alec shot Khleo a playful smirk as she danced toward a roaring lion. 

“Nice choice,” the barhand said, following up and anchoring herself on the seahorse to the left. Alec laughed, leaned her cheek against the golden pole and looked out at the rotating scenery. The couple bobbed with the floating herd as they watched the forest glow with fireflies in the twilight hour.

“This makes me feel like a little kid again,” Alec sighed. When Khleo didn’t respond, she turned her head to find the barhand staring with a serene thoughtfulness that they didn’t usually express.

It wasn’t the first time Alec caught Khleo checking her out, but all the times before hadn’t caused the butterflies in her stomach to flutter like this.

“What is it, Khlee?” Alec asked as she folded a lock of hair behind her ear. 

Khleo angled her head, keeping her expression as it was. “Nothing. I’m just looking.”

Alec rolled her eyes. “At me. Not the view.”

Khleo shifted a little against the seahorse. “I can look at you if I want to.”

Alec blushed and broke eye contact. “And you won’t tell me why if I asked, will you?”

The musician looked up when she heard the barhand move. They were no longer riding the seahorse, but rather scooting up the golden pole towards the ceiling.

“I don’t.”

Khleo spun around the pole once. Twice.

“Need a reason.”

She locked eyes with Alec, grinning broadly through a sea of freckles.

“To look.”

Then Khleo leaped to the right. For a brief time, she was holding onto nothing.

“At you.”

Khleo grunted as she latched herself to the bright rod connected to Alec’s lion. The barhand swiveled dangerously for a few beats, sliding down as she did.

Alec jolted when Khleo landed suddenly in her lap, their strong, shimmering thighs overlapping her skirt.

“And I don’t have to tell you why either,” Khleo whispered, slightly out of breath. She peeked out from behind the pole wedged between the two of them and winked.

Alec didn’t know if she wanted to tease Khleo back or just kiss her. She decided on the latter, but when she leaned in, the barhand withdrew just in time and ducked her head to the other side of the barrier.

“Hey!” Alec whined. She folded her arms and leaned back, but Khleo caught her by the chin before she could get away. 

Khleo had made sure to pack a nice picnic basket before going out into the field with Alec to look at the stars. She packed the tavern’s freshly baked bread that Alec liked so much, a bottle of red wine, one of Khleo’s travel-sized quilts, and, when Alec wasn’t looking, she managed to sneak in the wooden strap-on that Khleo kept hidden under the bar. 

Khleo remembered back the first time Alec came on the wooden shaft, bewitched to stimulate and adjust to her partner’s level of comfort… or discomfort if she wanted to go in that direction. 

So Khleo wasn’t at all surprised when Alec stumbled upon it when they were sitting under the stars and passing back and forth the wine.

“Khlee,” Alec fished the strap out of the basket and held it up in the moonlight, “you didn’t.”

Khleo arched her eyebrow, leaned back a little and innocently tick-tocked her toes.

“Oh shoot. How’d that get in there?”

Alec was already tracing her finger over the curved tip and snaking her tongue up over her teeth, under her lip. “How would I know? You tell me.”

The gentle command in Alec’s voice was enough to spur Khleo up and forward, eliminating the distance between them.

“No. How about you tell me,” she got real close to Alec’s ear, “how you want to incorporate this into our evening under the stars.” Then she nipped the turn of Alec’s jaw, a little rougher than usual.

“Khleo.” Alec was already moaning. “I want you to bend me over and fuck me.”

Khleo freed the wooden strap from Alec’s grasp. “I thought so.”

Soon Alec was bent over a nice sturdy boulder that the two of them found, ass up and gagged with Khleo’s underwear this time. Khleo, knowing that Alec always struggled with keeping her volume down to a minimum, came up with a plan. 

The barhand made excellent use of her suspenders, using one end to wrap around the musician’s head, tying the gag firmly in place so Alec couldn’t spit it out like last time. The other band was taut around Alec’s wrists behind her back. The slack between the suspenders was enough that she could move and squirm a little, but there was still enough tension to draw her head back whenever she tried to strain her wrists.

Alec still groaned and whimpered, but for the most part, Khleo was able to fuck her in peace. Still, that didn’t stop the barhand from bending over her partner, hips still thrusting steadily while she bit the brown, beauty-marked skin along Alec’s back. Any time Alec got too loud, Khleo added pressure to the bite until she tasted blood, until Alec was silent again. Khleo passed her tongue over the raw, broken skin, the metallic flavor caused her pupils to dilate, her mouth watering for more. 

Each one of Alec’s shouts was replaced with tears. One by one, Khleo kissed them away, licking the warm salt just as she had the blood and thinking of what she might do to get more of both.

But Khleo always put Alec’s needs first. The barhand didn’t speak – she wasn’t capable at the moment – so she nuzzled her face against Alec’s cheek and mouthed the question: stop?

Alec’s answer was always the same. A terse shake of her head followed by a muffled negative.

Khleo purred, rolling her face until her forehead was pressed against the center of Alec’s back, granting her the best purchase to concentrate on those relentless, disciplined thrusts. She held onto Alec’s soft, grippable sides, making sure to really dig her nails in so she could properly gauge when her partner was close.

As it turned out, Alec was not very good at hiding her tells. Under Khleo’s chest, the musician’s wrists writhed. She sobbed as loudly as she could, “Eeehh! EEEEH!” Which Khleo naturally assumed was Alec screaming her name.

The barhand pulled out before Alec could get there herself. But the musician was determined, humping and grinding against the mossy boulder. Khleo seized Alec by the hips and yanked her ass off the rock.

“Nuh-uh.” She struggled to hold Alec back. “You’re coming on my tongue tonight.”

Alec’s body eventually calmed down enough for Khleo to lean her back against the rock. She unfastened the harness, tossed everything to the side and climbed over her partner. Once again, Khleo pressed her whole body against Alec’s, grinding gently against the soft warmth of her ass while she left a mixture of rough and slight bites all down her torso.

“Feel that, babe?” Khleo said, her voice raspy and exhausted. “Huh? Feel how wet you’re making me?” She deliberately stroked her vertical lips against the back of Alec’s thigh. 

Alec strained as hard as he could. The feeling of her tired muscles locking and unlocking sent Khleo’s mind into a tailspin. For a moment, she lost herself and surrendered a moan against the base of Alec’s neck. Face full of thick, dark, disheveled waves, Khleo closed her eyes and could almost feel the stars shining down on the two of them.

Alec whimpered something. A question or an offer.

“No,” Khleo ground out. “Whatever it is, no. Quit worrying about me.”

She let gravity claim her, sliding down Alec’s back until she was on her knees. Dropping until her face was warm with Alec’s aching, dripping core. 

She had given some half-assed excuse to the rest of the band for her to stay behind, but thankfully, they hadn’t questioned it. Camia had given her a knowing look before they left, but she just bid her goodnight as the door shut behind them.

A bit later, the rest of Khleo’s co-workers left, and then it was just the two of them, alone.

They wasted no time in chasing each other down the stairs, and hands pulled at clothes impatiently, throwing them haphazardly to the floor.

Alec shivered as her bare skin pressed against the cold wall but didn’t have enough time to exclaim before Khleo was kissing her, one of their hands already ghosting down her side, past her hips, over her thighs. When it pressed just high enough to be teasing, Alec gasped, into their mouth, spreading her legs apart a little more.

“Mm, Khleo—”

They shushed her, grinning against her lips as they lifted one of her legs to wrap around their waist. “Tell me if you want me to stop.”

She shook her head, biting her lip as she felt a finger press inside her, Khleo’s thumb teasing her clit. “Please don’t.”

They didn’t stop, and started to move in her instead. To keep herself from crying out too much, Alec kissed them again, long and deep, drinking in the taste of the alcohol they had sipped at all night. She had watched them at the bar as she performed—watched foam rest on their lips and thought about what it would taste like to lick it off. When their eyes met and they used their own tongue to lick their lips Alec had almost tripped over her lyrics, mind blanking as she remembered the feeling of their tongue between her thighs.

But now she didn’t have to guess at what they tasted like, or felt like, and as another finger joined the first, Alec moaned wantonly, pulling them closer. Every inch of her skin that wasn’t pressed to Khleo’s felt cold, and she wanted to feel warm, to be held, to be spoiled in the way they were so good at. 

And they were so good at knowing how to spoil her, what pace to set that had her stomach clenching. Already, she was so close, and she loved it.

She bit back a cry as Khleo’s fingers crooked inside her, burying her face into their shoulder. But when they slid a third finger inside, speeding up their pace, she couldn’t hold back the way her breath hitched on their name.

“Khlee-ee! I’m close—”

“Come on my fingers, kitten,” they purred into her ear, and she dug her nails into their shoulders, feeling herself pulse and flutter around them. “That's it.”

Alec whimpered, shuddering against their touch as they kept pumping their fingers into her, even as she came, squeezing her eyes shut and biting her lip in a desperate effort to keep from screaming their praises. Khleo pulled their fingers out and she almost collapsed completely against them, her knees shaking.

When Alec felt their wet fingers press against her lips, she parted them immediately, taking them on her tongue, licking and sucking herself off of them. She wanted to show her gratitude, just how amazing they made her feel, and cleaning them of her own orgasm was the least she could do.

“Are you okay?” Khleo’s voice was soft, and as their fingers left her mouth with a pop, Alec nodded.