#almost nothing

In the utter darkness of Ori’s holier-than-thou purity

He gasped.

“Good night, Ori,” I sighed, breathing in his warm, clean smell one last time before sinking back onto my corner of the pillow and staring into the darkness. At least I was safe; there was no risk of rape and robbery in this bed.

A long silence fell, but – somehow – neither he nor I seemed to be able to fall asleep.

“Jia? Are you okay?” His hand felt along the blanket until it came to rest on my upper arm once more. “I am fine, you?” I asked back and blinked when he turned on a tiny flashlight, he – for some reason – had tucked away along the wall.

“Can’t sleep?” For a moment, his hand twitched as if he was going to caress me, but – again – nothing happened.

“No, I’m thinking about that fall in the library,” I admitted in a low voice, waiting for the apology that bubbled to his lips. “Stop! I liked it! You’ve never been that close to me. I did really enjoy it.” My voice was hard.

“You enjoyed me falling on top of you? Bruising your thigh?” He muttered, incredulous.

The glaring light, dancing wildly in his elegant hand, revealed the fact that he had indeed shed the T-shirt and I got to learn that the freckles dusting his cheeks extended to his shoulders as well. With his face only inches away from mine, I could hardly suppress the urge to plunge forward and kiss him breathless, but I was not sure I’d be welcome.

“What keeps you awake?” I evaded his question – not very skilfully – and I could watch the blooming of heat spread out over his features as he shifted awkwardly, turning sideways, and curling in on himself somewhat.

“Hmmm, there’s stuff I usually do before going to bed and you being here makes that stuff more urgent but also all kinds of impossible,” he admitted with a sigh then.

“Like taking a dump?” I grinned, waving at the closet across the room, “Don’t mind me!”

“No…” By now, he was the colour of a fire truck and my finger skimmed along his cheek of its own accord before I could stop myself.

“God, you’re gorgeous when you blush,” I whispered, more to myself than to him, feeling the heat prickle under my skin and rush along my nerves right into my own core.

Remembering how he had pushed back a strand of my hair, I let my hand glide into his, finding it much softer than I had expected. He smiled under the unexpected caress and his dense lashes fluttered against his cheeks as his eyes closed.

“Did you mean it? That you liked it having me a bit closer?” He sounded so hopeful, braver with his eyes closed apparently, and I could not help mirroring the soft smile he would not see.

“Oh yes,” I breathed, “I’ve enjoyed that thoroughly, but you’re so prim and proper…”

His eyes reopened suddenly, his gaze sharp and clear; it felt like falling into an endless abyss of warmth with a hint of danger lurking at the unfathomable bottom. “I am not,” he protested contrarily.

“I am mindful of your feelings, your safety, your wishes,” he went on, his hands clenched between us as if to assure that we kept a respectful distance to one another.

“I feel perfectly fine here, I feel safe…as for my wishes…” I grinned, raking my fingers through the short beard covering his jaw and half-expecting him to purr by the way his eyes rolled back in silent delight.

“But…Thranduil…” Ori sighed, and I thought that this man thought way too much about people and things that had no bearing in this situation. It was such a laughable distance to breach really, so, by merely shifting my weight, I managed – easily – to press my lips onto his.

His entwined hands twitched against my chest, crushing them as I leaned forward, and a strangled whine escaped him as I increased the pressure to illicit some kind of reaction from him. It took another moment before he let go of his own hands, fanning out those long delicate fingers on the small of my back to pull me in closer, and I didn’t need to be prompted twice about that.

Scrambling sideways, scooting towards him, I pulled and prodded until I was nestled half-buried under him, him still lying on his side – propped up on one elbow – while I crawled into the hollow thus created, pressing fervent kisses into the side of his neck, and running my hand through his hair to keep him within reach.

His free hand rested on my hip – perfectly appropriate – and I took it and shoved it up between his T-shirt and my skin in a desperate bid for his skin on mine. “Jia…” He sighed, half a warning, half a prayer.

“I have never…This has never happened before.”

Oh, it had been universally accepted as gospel that he was a virgin, but I had not thought that he would have lacked any kind of intimate knowledge about women. “I have two brothers; they’re very protective,” he tried to explain while his hand inched up my abdomen torturously slowly.

My skin was on fire, and I yearned for the cool soothing of his touch, knowing full well that it would only exacerbate the longing and the heat once he got to the spot where I needed him.

Lifting my head to catch his lips again, I gave in to my own impatience and pulled him down – off the perch of his elbow – and onto me. His hand slid up jerkily, closing tenderly around my breast which made me arch up into him.

Another soft, pleading sound fell from his lips onto mine, and I drank it up eagerly.

“Can…Would you take it off?” He asked politely and never before and never again did I discard a piece of clothing with such urgent haste as that T-shirt that was – surprisingly – not in the least singed by the roaring blaze of my body.

“Oh!” His eyes grew impossible big and round as he discovered his own hand, still closed around my breast, kneading it softly as if it was the most precious fabric in the world.

I could feel his erection digging into my thigh and, suddenly, his previous remark made a lot more sense to me.

“Will you let me help you sleep?” I grinned up at him and, this time, I was almost certain that he would agree.

In a room that had to be thoroughly disinfected the next day

Thorin groaned as Tova grabbed the elastic waistband of his boxers from the inside and slowly pulled them down, inch by inch, the backs of her hands grazing over his thighs and his hipbones teasingly.

She sat back on her haunches as soon as the garment had fallen to the floor and let her gaze brush over him. “Perfection,” she sighed, content with herself and the world, digging her fingers into that newly discovered tuft of dense, rougher hair and raking streaks into it playfully.

With another throaty moan, Thorin lifted his hips in a silent plea to be touched more, his eyes an impossible midnight blue in the oblique light falling from the old light fixture.

For a second, Tova allowed herself, allowed both of them, to let her fingers brush lightly along his impressive length.

“Dinner and then, that? Oh, you spoil me!” She exclaimed croakily, caressing his thighs as she settled between them, spreading them just a tiny bit wider with a wicked smile.

Her hair was spilling messily around her shoulders, the hairband having slipped long ago, and her eyes were twinkling with a secret pleasure that drove the man underneath her half-insane with desire.

“This is already new,” he admitted breathlessly when she didn’t stop devouring him with her eyes; Tova knew of course that he had a pleasant enough face – this much most girls conceded – but he was indeed bulky without being anywhere near fat and his brooding airs turned off most women who were used to being courted relentlessly.

Thorin didn’t like being looked at – it seemed – and so, most people averted their gaze, afraid that he might want to fight them and aware that they would not be winning that confrontation; especially because Dwalin was always close at hand, and nobody really cared to take on both of them. Not even Thranduil.

“Are you comfortable? Are you okay?” Tova needed to make sure she did not take more than he was willing to give.

Harassment and assault were the bane and the pestilence of university campuses, and she well knew that it was, at times, a fine line to walk.

Thorin’s gaze softened as he assured her that he was perfectly fine. “I am looking forward to that dinner.”

After a second, he added: “I also have recent clean bill of health.”

Tova nodded slowly, surprised that he’d bring that up on his own; not long ago, there had been a campus-wide campaign and both her and Jia had gotten the free check-up as well. Good to know that he was as responsible as her.

“Me too! You are absolutely beautiful,” she sighed, “and astonishingly kind.”

“You took me for a brute? Why would you go into a room with someone you don’t trust to treat you well, Tova? Please, be more careful!” He sat up, his fingers curling into her hair tenderly, and peppered tiny kisses along her cheek.

“One never knows.” Tova was not sure that he’d appreciate being told that his looks were worth the risk.

“So…I am sorry to disappoint then,” Thorin whispered against her skin, “because I want to take you to dinner before I take you to bed. I guess I am old-fashioned like that.”

Tova couldn’t help feeling a sense of dread and slight discomfort bubble up within her; she had not thought that far ahead and Thorin sounded mortally serious about this; she would have to confer with Jia.

“I don’t have that kind of qualms,” she grinned, trailing her mouth down his chest until she could lap at the weeping head of his cock teasingly.