#nessianweek2023

Alayla wears an expression of worry. Her brows are furrowed, drawn together over the bridge of the nose, her lips are pressed in a thin line and she drags the tip of her booted foot over the ground. Cassian's heart breaks at the sight. 

His tiny daughter, dressed in her teeny-tiny Illyrian leathers stands in the middle of the forest, and looks so very lost in this moment. Her wings are draped on the ground, dragging over the pine needles and pebbles and he can almost feel the pain. 

The general quickly spins around, taking fast steps towards his little girl and folds in his own wings. He lifts his hand to his mate who was about to approach as well, tilting his head, so she understands that he wants to deal with this now. And this is fine for Nesta, she stays at the little rock she is seated on, looking forward to watching her mate teach their daughter how to fly. 

Nesta, just like always when Cassian and Alayla do something together, feels how her heart swells in her chest, thrumming with happy beats. It is a sight for sore eyes, and she knows she couldn't have hoped for a better father for her little baby than Cassian. He is everything a child can hope for.

"What is up, little bat?" Cassian asks in a calm voice as he crouches down in front of his little girl. 

Alayla only barely lifts her gaze, her fingers fidgeting with a lapel on her Illyrian leathers. 

"What if I fall?" she asks in a shaky voice, her whole body shuddering when her biggest fear is finally revealed. 

"Oh, Layly," Cassian breathes and immediately reaches out to pull her into his strong arm. "You won't fall. We practiced so much, so many days. I know you can fly, you a great at it. There is no chance you will fall." Cassian kisses the top of her head when she relaxes against him, sitting down on his thigh. Cassian is still crouching on the ground, letting his daughter sit down and nestle against him. 

The tip of her index finger pokes into his shoulder and she draws patterns onto his shirt. "But what if I suddenly forget how it works? What if my wings suddenly give in?" 

She leans her head against his shoulder with a dramatic sigh. 

Cassian gives her tight squeeze, and hums. "Little bat, you always have to remember that the wings are an extension of your will. They mirror your thoughts and emotions. If you want them to be strong and carry you, they will do so."

Alayla leans back the slightest bit and gazes at her father's face, eyes wide open. Behind her shoulders her wings quiver with anticipation. "You really mean it?" she asks, her voice a little steadier. 

Cassian nods. "I absolutely do." He lifts her back onto the ground again and straightens up a bit. "But, in case, really just in case, they do give in, I am here to catch you. I am always by your side, and I will catch you when you only as much as tumble."

The young Illyrian girl smiles at that and nods. She looks so much like Cassian, it almost always draws tears to his eyes. But, she has his mate's eyes, his mate's nose, she is just perfect. 

"But, we don't have to do this today, Layly. We can postpone flying until you are ready," Cassian then says, reaching his hand out for his daughter to take. "You don't have to fly today." All of a sudden, something like determination fills her eyes, and she stomps her little foot down. "But I want to do it now, daddy." She smiles up at him, eyes shining brightly. "I decided I want to do it today and I want to fly today."

Cassian chuckles at the sudden change in mood of his daughter and mentally reminds himself that she definitely got that from her mother. 

"Then, nothing can stop you anymore." He grins. 

Once they stop at the edge of the slope, Alayla is a mixture of excitement and nervousness, emotions bubbling up inside of her. 

Cassian slowly extends his wings, and the girl mimics his gesture. "Spread your wings, as if embracing the sky, Layly," he instructs, his words like a soft caress. 

Pride starts to bubble inside of him, and he knows it will only increase when she takes the sky. 

With a slow inhale, Alayla steadies herself on the ground, her feet planted in a stance. 

She imagines herself weightless, as the wind wraps around her and carries her over the sky. 

"And don't forget," Cassian says, "I am always by your side. You are never alone."

Her wings unfurl tentatively at first, the leathery skin shining in the sunlight that filters through the trees. 

Cassian stands beside her, his own wings casting a shadow upon half of her body.

"Let go of your doubts, Layly. And then… let go of ground."

With a determined exhale, Alayla pushes up, wings tense and spread wide. She lifts onto her tiptoes, wings starting to flutter behind her shoulders. Her expression is concentrated. Brows drawn together, teeth clenched, hands balled into fists. 

"Remember what uncle Az always said, you were born listening to song of the wind."

Alayla nods eagerly, somehow hanging between the ground and the air for a split second. And then…she takes off, wings flapping and fluttering eagerly. 

She tumbles a little at first, but suddenly darts towards the open sky. Cassian cheers and hollers behind her, following her. 

Nesta, jumping up from the rock, runs forward and cheers as well, shouting loudly, tears flowing down her cheeks. "Yes!" she shouts up into the sky. "Yes, my little baby. Yes! Look at you go!"

An enormous amount of pride fills Cassian, following after his daughter. He brings a hand up, to brush away a single tear that rolls out of his eyes. But more are coming. 

Alayla was truly born for flying. She dips and soars, happily and freely, giggling and cheering herself. "Daddy, look!" she shouts over to Cassian who follows her with the biggest grin on his face. His daughter's laughter fills the sky, dancing on the wind.

Below, Nesta watches, tears shimmering in her eyes. Her heart swells with an overwhelming love for her family, and so very much pride. She marvels at the sight in the sky above her. 

Cassian is carefully flying behind little Alayla while the little girl blazes through the sky. Nesta knows she is always safe with Cassian, she does not have to worry about her little girl falling. 

The two of them stay in the sky for only the Mother knows how long. 

And until, Cassian captures his little girl in his arms. Her excitement has out-ruled her exhaustion and she did not realise that she was growing tired. 

Alayla rests her head on her father's shoulder, arms curled around Cassian's neck, his strong arm around her, as he lowers the two of them to the ground. She sighs, and her eyes flutter shut. 

"Someone's a little tired," he hums and walks up to Nesta after touching down on the ground. 

He places a soft kiss against his mate's lips, marvelling at the feel of having the two most important people in his life here with him. He is so happy, so proud, so filled with love and joyfulness. 

"It was amazing. She was amazing," Nesta says in a soft voice, eyes still glazed with tears.

"I knew she was going to be great at flying." Cassian speaks with pride and utter admiration, his eyes sparkling and he wraps Nesta into his other arm. 

"She also had a great teacher," his mate says and kisses his chest. "I love you two so much."

“There was a huge accident on 395,” Nesta protested. Driving in DC wasn’t for the faint of heart, especially on a Friday night. “Turn on the news right now if you don’t believe me.”

“And even if we were fucking,” Cassian added, “it’s not like we’re the only ones that have run a little late because of it.”

“Respectfully, no,” Azriel replied over the others’ laughter. “You two are the worst.”

“What?” Cassian responded, playfully affronted. “We’re not that bad!”

“As someone who’s lived with you, I have to aggressively disagree,” Azriel answered. “No offense, but you’re the worst.”

“It’s true,” Gwyn chimed in, giggling as she came back into the living room with a fresh bowl of chips. “As someone who’s also lived with you, I can confirm.”

“So much for loyalty,” Nesta responded with a playful roll of her eyes.

“The truth is more important,” Gwyn told her primly, though she made sure to walk in front of Nesta so she could get first dibs on the snacks. 

“Our friends are such assholes,” Cassian muttered.

Nesta snorted. “I’ve been telling you that for years .”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” Elain said with a laugh. “Let’s pick a game now that everyone’s here. Luce, pass me the cards?”

The sex-related teasing died down once they started playing, though that certainly didn’t stop the game-related teasing as the night wore on. They’d assembled enough Uno cards for everyone to play even with a group as large as them, and once they’d sorted through the usual arguing about whether a draw two could go on top of a draw four and if they had to say uno out, Emerie and Lucien ended up winning the most rounds. 

By the time Nesta and Cassian made it back home, Nesta was more than ready to get ready for bed and hunker down with the next chapter of the latest Sellyn Drake release, but it seemed Cassian had other plans.

“Does it bother you?” Cassian asked as they stood next to one another in the bathroom getting ready for bed. He was gently pulling his curls into his usual pineapple while she washed her face, and the sheer domesticity of it all made something warm bloom in her chest.

Nesta finished rinsing and reached for a washcloth to pat her face dry. “Does what bother me?” 

“That our friends think we’re such horndogs,” he told her.

“Not really,” she answered as she swiped toner across her clean skin. If she was being honest, even though she was a private person, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world that everyone knew they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. “Does it bother you?”

“Maybe a little,” he admitted. He reached for the silk scarf he used to protect his curls and leaned his head down so he could wrap it around his head, gently tucking the ends in to protect his hair. “I don’t know. Do they think we’re just fucking all the time and don’t actually talk?”

“That’s idiotic,” Nesta said, reaching for her moisturizer. “We don’t need to have sex all the time to have a solid relationship.”

“Of course not,” Cassian said back. He stood back up and swiped her micellar water with a grin. “Don’t get me wrong, I love having sex with you, but…”

“But we don’t need it,” she finished his sentence. She reached out and grabbed her toothbrush, adding some toothpaste before rinsing it and starting to brush her teeth. “Exactly.”

“I mean, I think you get a little cranky if you’re not getting it on the regular,” he added, smirking, “but you’re dating me, so that’s to be expected.”

“Excuse me?” she replied, pausing her brushing to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “ I get cranky?”

“The evidence doesn’t lie, sweetheart,” he answered cockily. “You get all huffy if it’s been too long. It’s adorable.”

“Says the man who woke me up last night to have sex with me,” she fired back, scoffing. He thought she got cranky if they didn’t have enough sex? If there was one thing men never ran out of, it was audacity. “You’re unbelievable.”

“That was an emergency,” he retorted. He reached for his own toothbrush and quickly began brushing his own teeth, waggling his eyebrows at her via the mirror. “Doesn’t change what I said.”

If her boyfriend had stopped talking approximately thirty seconds sooner, maybe they could’ve gone to bed in peace. But instead, he had to open his big mouth and add, “I’m not the problem here.”

“If you really think I’m the problem,” Nesta began haughtily, briefly pausing to spit and rinse the toothpaste out of her mouth, “then it definitely won’t be a problem if I stop giving it up altogether.”

“You can’t be serious,” Cassian replied after a second of stunned silence, reaching out to try and wrap an arm around her waist. His mouth dropped open a little bit when she deftly avoided him and started walking back to their bedroom so she could put on her pajamas. “Nes. Come on.”

“Don’t ‘Nes’ me,” she tossed over her shoulder. He followed her into their closet and she pointedly ignored the way he leaned against the doorframe to watch her change into a tank and loose shorts. “If I’m the problem, then it won’t be difficult for you. Right?”

“Of course not,” he said, challenge gleaming in his eyes. “And when you come back begging me to fuck you, I promise I won’t be mean about it.”

“That’s adorable.” She tossed her worn clothes in the hamper and walked into their bedroom, not even giving him a spare glance once he started stripping. “I can’t say I’ll do the same for you.”

“Fine,” Cassian answered. He sauntered into their bedroom only wearing boxers, and while normally she would’ve shamelessly ogled him, she wasn’t going down easy. Instead of reaching for him, she loosely braided her hair for sleep and busied herself with making sure all her devices were plugged in. “If that’s how you want to play it, sweetheart.”

“Fine,” Nesta echoed. She pulled down the comforter and got under the sheets, taking an immense amount of satisfaction from the disbelieving look on his face. “Good night, Cassian.”

Cassian turned off the light before sliding under the covers, too. “Good night, Nesta.”

The next morning, Nesta woke up to Cassian plastered across her back as usual. She could tell he was awake from the way he was gently rubbing circles into her stomach, and while on any other morning she would’ve ground back into his morning wood, this wasn’t any other morning. 

“Good morning,” Cassian murmured into her ear, pressing a gentle kiss to the side of her neck. 

“Good morning,” Nesta whispered back. Her body was already responding to his hands and his lips and his voice – Jesus, he wasn’t even trying, she needed to pull herself together – but she wasn’t going down without a fight. “Are you going to shower first?”

“Shower?” he asked, clearly confused. It was a Sunday, so they didn’t have anywhere to be, and they usually spent them lounging around and catching up on chores after a few rounds of morning sex. “What do you mean?”

“To take care of that,” she answered, pushing back into him just enough to be a tease. “Unless you want to take back what you said, of course.”

“I don’t have to take it back when I was right,” he replied with a low chuckle. His morning voice should be illegal, she thought to herself. “But whatever you say, sweetheart.”

“Then I hope your hand feels better than mine,” she fired back. She wiggled out of his grip with a little more body contact than necessary, taking her time to stand up, turn to face him, and stretch in a way she knew emphasized her chest. “I’m going to eat something.”

Nesta made sure Cassian saw her smirk before she turned and made her way to the kitchen, feeling more than confident that she was winning this war as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. Her good mood only got better as she heard her boyfriend grumble all the way to the bathroom, and she was practically whistling by the time she finished eating and took her dishes to the sink so she could wash everything. 

She was washing her bowl out when Cassian finally emerged, dressed in a low-cut green tank top and a pair of black shorts. He’d pulled his curls back into a loose bun, a few strands escaping toward the front, and damn if the sight of him almost made her want to reconsider their competition. “Are you going to the gym?”

“Yup,” Cassian answered. Even though their kitchen had more than enough room, as he passed her he put his hands on her waist and made a show of grinding his front to her back. “Excuse me.”

“The protein powder’s in the other cabinet, idiot,” she told him, thoroughly ignoring how much he’d set her ablaze with just that one touch. 

“Oops,” he said sarcastically. He pressed himself against her again as he went to the right cabinet, taking his time to really make sure she felt every inch of his muscled body against hers before he grabbed the protein powder. “My mistake.”

She just rolled her eyes as she dried her now-clean bowl, moving to put it away on the second shelf of the cabinet where they kept their plates and bowls. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Need some help with that?” he asked from behind her, crowding her between his body and the counter. He reached out and plucked the bowl from her fingers, rocking his hips up as he put it with the rest of the clean dishes, and she had to bite back a moan at how good it felt. 

At this angle, it would be so easy for her to lean her head back on his shoulder and let him have his way with her. To let him hoist one leg up, pull her loose shorts to the side, and fuck her until she couldn’t walk. To let him—

Nesta mentally shook herself before she let her fantasies go any further. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours and she was already losing her cool like this? She needed to get a goddamn grip. 

“Thank you,” Nesta managed to get out without her voice giving her away. It was a relief when he backed away from her with a little chuckle, like he knew exactly what direction her thoughts had traveled in without her saying a word. “Have a good workout.”

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Cassian replied, still amused. He gave her a quick kiss on the temple before he finished shaking up his drink, grabbed a handful of snacks to hold him over, and moved toward the door. “Don’t break your vibrator trying to replace me!”

“Fuck you,” she called out. He laughed before shutting the door behind him, leaving her alone and thankfully distraction-free.

With Cassian out of the apartment for a bit, Nesta found it wasn’t nearly as difficult to keep her focus. She did her usual weekly cleaning, updated their grocery list, and started a load of laundry. By the time he made it back home, she’d done some yoga, showered, gotten dressed, and was in the middle of moving their laundry to the right place.

At the sound of Cassian’s keys opening the door, Nesta yelled her greeting from where she was bent over fishing clothes out of the washing machine so she could throw them into the dryer. “Hey baby!”

“Now that’s a sight for sore ears,” Cassian replied. She turned and rolled her eyes at the sight of him openly ogling her. “Don’t stop on my account, sweetheart.”

“There’s no more clothes to move,” she told him dryly. She tossed some dryer balls in with the wet clothes and started the drying cycle, already moving to fold the dry clothes from the first load that she’d tossed on their bed a few minutes prior. “How was the gym?”

“Good,” he answered, following her into the bedroom. “Sweaty. I’m gonna shower.”

“Have fun without me,” she told him with a smirk.

He winked at her before yanking his shirt over his head. “Oh, I intend to.”

Cassian’s shower didn’t even last ten minutes, so Nesta was still folding clothes when he emerged from the bathroom. She looked up from where she was folding one of his shirts and immediately did a double take when she realized he was completely naked, his usual oversized towel nowhere to be seen, and she swallowed thickly at the sight of him still glistening from his shower. 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Nesta asked, trying and failing to keep her eyes on something appropriate. 

“My favorite towel is in the hamper,” Cassian answered with a smirk. It only grew as he watched her follow a droplet of water trailing down his abs and toward his rapidly hardening cock. “Not my fault, sweetheart.”

Damn. She hated that he wasn’t actually wrong, but she knew there were plenty of clean towels in their linen closet. “There’s still lots of towels in there, baby.”

“And use an inferior towel?” he replied with a heavy, put-upon sigh. “You know I have sensitive skin.”

“Yep,” she responded tightly. She couldn’t tell if she wanted to strangle him or sink to her knees and let the hard length of his cock in her throat strangle her instead, but she had to stay strong. “Which is why all our towels are Turkish cotton.”

“Hmm,” he said with false thoughtfulness. She nearly ripped through the lace underwear she was folding when he leaned against the doorframe and his cock shifted with the motion, leaking arousal and practically begging her to put her mouth on it. “You’re so good to me, Nes.”

That was playing dirty, and he knew it. Her body was practically conditioned to respond to his praise, her breath coming faster as she pressed her thighs together to try and ignore her arousal. It only got stronger as he took himself in hand, the obscene sounds of him stroking his hard cock threatening to break her like nothing had before. 

“Fuck off,” Nesta eventually snapped, forcing herself to break out of her trance. She grabbed as many clothes as she could carry and practically ran into the closet to start putting them away, knowing if she didn’t leave now, Cassian would never stop bragging about how he’d won. Even through the door, she could hear the sound of his laughter. 

But she wasn’t going down that easily. 

✵✵✵✵✵✵

After Nesta got a chance to calm down — and finish putting away their laundry — the rest of their Saturday night went quietly enough. They ordered Indian for dinner and spent the night in front of their TV, catching up on Heartstopper while they munched on naan and butter chicken, and Cassian only tried to get a rise out of her once. He only pouted a little when it didn’t work, but that didn’t stop him from cuddling up to her as usual when it was time for bed. 

In the end, it wasn’t the skimpy clothes or the innuendos or the sudden increase in bending over that did it. In fact, it happened when Nesta wasn’t even putting in any extra effort – which, in hindsight, she supposed was as wholesome as the two of them could get. 

When Sunday morning rolled around, Nesta woke up before Cassian for once, and she quietly slipped out of bed to make herself some tea so she could curl up with her book for a little while. Maybe it was playing with fire to read such filthy material when she couldn’t put all that restless energy to good use, but she’d been so preoccupied with messing with her boyfriend that she was falling behind with her book club.

Once she had a steaming cup of Earl Grey ready, it was easy to get cozy and lose herself in the morning light and the sounds of her pages turning. She was so immersed in her book that she didn’t even notice that she was being watched for a solid couple of minutes, and once that awareness slowly trickled in, she looked up to see Cassian leaning against their bedroom doorframe watching her.

“Good morning,” Nesta said pleasantly, reaching for her cup of tea and taking a large sip. From the way he was looking at her, she had a good feeling about how this morning was going to go, but she had to let him come to that conclusion on his own. “What did you want to do for breakfast?”

Cassian crossed the room in a few long strides, his eyes dark and intent on her. “You.”

“Not on the menu,” she replied. She reached out with her foot and stopped him in his tracks, doing her best to keep her composure as he grabbed her ankle and started rubbing circles into her skin. “Did you need something, baby?”

“Please, Nesta,” Cassian said, his eyes a little wild. “I can’t fucking take it anymore.”

“Is that the best you can do?” Nesta said back, doing her best to seem unimpressed. She knew nothing drove him crazier than when she acted like this, so it was only a matter of time before he completely caved. “Pathetic.”

“Sweetheart, please,” he replied. He gently let go of her foot and sank to his knees in front of her, crawling the last bit of the way until his hands were resting on her thighs. “I am so, so, so, sorry.”

“And?” she prompted. She made sure to slide her bookmark into place before looking down her nose at him, setting her book on the nightstand and out of the way. “What are you sorry for?”

“For acting like you were the problem,” he answered in a rush, his words almost running together he was so eager to get them out. “When it was me who couldn’t handle it.”

She leaned forward and sank a hand into his hair, thoroughly enjoying the way his breath hitched at the movement. “So what does that make you?” 

“…Very sorry?” he guessed hesitantly. God, she loved seeing him this way, all eager to please her and just desperate enough to do whatever she wanted. “Nesta, please . I need you.”

“Wrong answer,” Nesta said, pulling on the curls she had gathered between her fingers. “It makes you a needy little slut.”

Cassian inhaled sharply and tried to nod his agreement as best he could with her hand still pulling at his hair. “Yeah. Yes. Uh huh.”

“Why don’t we try that again, hmm?” she asked, though they both knew it wasn’t really a request. “What does that make you, Cassian?”

“A needy little slut,” he repeated quickly. He was breathing so quickly it was a miracle he was still able to talk. “Your needy little slut.”

“There’s a good boy,” she told him, deeply satisfied at the way his eyes nearly rolled back into his head at the words. “Why don’t you show me how good you are?”

“Anything,” he panted. “Anything you want.”

Nesta spread her legs and fixed him with an expectant look. “Do I have to spell it out for you, or are you smarter than you look?”

Cassian didn’t waste any time, thankfully understanding exactly what she was asking for. He reached for her pajama shorts and helped her wiggle out of them — and her underwear — before diving in with a vengeance. She dug her hands into his hair as he got to work, using the flat of his tongue just the way he knew she liked it and not wasting his time with too much foreplay.

Nesta moaned and leaned back against the couch, more than happy to relax and let him do all the work. She’d been so on edge that it only took a few minutes to push her over it. She came with a loud cry, arching her back and tightening her grip on his hair to get closer to his tongue. It had only been a few days since her last orgasm, but that was seemingly enough to make this one more intense than she was used to. 

More intense than the usual intense, anyway. 

“Bedroom,” she demanded once she’d caught her breath. “Now.”

Cassian nodded and scrambled to his feet, giving her a quick look at the way his hard cock was tenting the front of his pajama pants before practically sprinting to their room. 

Nesta took her time even though her body was screaming for more. She knew the anticipation would drive him even more wild, so what was the rush? She made sure to put her mug in the sink and grab her clothes before she casually walked toward their bedroom.

“Take off your clothes and lay down on the bed,” Nesta ordered after she’d stepped into the room. “Face up.”

“Okay,” Cassian agreed. He whipped off his pajamas and underwear, throwing himself onto the bed so fast it was a miracle nothing broke under him. “I’m ready.”

“Mhmm.” She pulled off her shirt and tossed her clothes toward the hamper, eyeing his hard cock with disdain as she walked toward the bed. “I can see that.”

The meaner she was to him, the more it turned him on. He was hard enough to pound nails, and while she normally might’ve savored the feeling of it in her mouth, she wasn’t feeling particularly generous right now. Instead of lowering her mouth, she got on the bed and straddled him, his hands automatically settling on her hips to keep her steady.

“You’re not coming until I say so,” Nesta said, slowly grinding against Cassian’s hard cock just to tease him. “You understand?”

“Y-yeah,” Cassian said back. They’d played this game before, and they both knew she’d stop if and when he said the word. “I understand.”

“Good,” she replied. She didn’t give him any warning before lifting up, grabbing his cock, and sinking down onto it in one long slide. “Fuck, I missed this.”

The sound of his whimper was like music to her ears. “God, Nesta—”

“You almost got me yesterday,” she admitted as she slowly rocked back and forth on his cock. She couldn’t believe she’d gone days without him stretching her out like this. “Walking around with your dick out like — fuck, yes, that’s it — like a fucking whore.”

“Couldn’t help it,” he panted. He bucked his hips up to meet her thrust for thrust and they both groaned. “Needed you so bad.”

“Then you shouldn’t have been so goddamn stupid,” she retorted, starting to speed up now. “But maybe you just like being stupid.”

“I’m an idiot,” he agreed. He groaned after a particularly well-timed thrust and his grip got that much tighter on her hips. “A needy idiot.”

Their pace sped up even more after that, Nesta leaning all the way forward so Cassian could get his knees under her and thrust upwards in earnest. She couldn’t help but kiss him then, moaning into his mouth as he really let her have it, their headboard slamming into the wall over and over again with every thrust. 

“Jesus, you feel so good,” Cassian moaned, shifting his grip so he could grab her ass and thrust that much harder and faster. “So fucking perfect.”

“You close?” Nesta asked. At his frantic nod, she pulled all the way off his cock so she could reach down and squeeze the base of it tightly. 

He hissed loudly. “ Ah — fuck, Nesta!”

“Just making sure you keep your promise,” she told him. When he’d calmed down enough, she let go and gave him a mean smirk. “Thanks for telling me, baby.”

“You’re trying to kill me,” he groaned. 

“I told you I’d be mean about it,” she replied sweetly, “so I don’t know why you’re surprised about that now.”

“I didn’t think you actually meant it,” he responded, only a little exasperated.  

“If only I cared what you thought,” she fired back. “Fuck toys don’t get to have opinions.”

Sitting as close as they were, Nesta could feel the moment Cassian’s cock twitched at the words. “You like that, hmm?”

“Yeah,” he breathed. “Love it.”

“Maybe next time I’ll gag you,” Nesta mused aloud, shifting to sit next to him so she could take his cock in her hand. “Then you really wouldn’t get to have any opinions.”

“Oh, shit,” Cassian gasped. His gaze flicked back and forth between her face and her hand stroking his cock, like he couldn’t decide what he wanted to look at more. “Nesta, please .”

“Maybe I’ll tie you up, too,” she continued, tightening her grip on him almost to the point of pain. He moaned and thrusted up into her hand, arousal leaking steadily from the tip and showing her just how much he liked this. “Use you like my personal dildo.”

At his full-body shiver, she let go of him completely and laughed at his look of utter betrayal. “What are we, fourteen? You’re not coming in my hand.”

“Of course not,” he answered through gritted teeth. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, only opening them when he could handle looking at her again. “Now what?”

Nesta chose to take pity on him and ignore his mouthiness. “Come here.”

Cassian sat up and let her tug him on top of her, settling between her legs where he belonged. Nesta reached down and guided his cock between her legs, both of them moaning when he thrusted inside her, and it didn’t take long before they were going at it like rabbits. It was all she could do to dig her nails into his back, wrap her legs around his waist, and hold on for dear life.

God. How had she survived going without this for so long? 

“Nesta, I’m so close,” Cassian panted into her ear. He pressed a series of open-mouthed kisses to her jaw and her neck that made her run even hotter than she already was. “Please, please— ”

“You can come whenever you need to,” Nesta finally told him. She figured she’d dangled his orgasm in front of him for long enough. “You earned it.” 

The words had barely left her mouth before Cassian was coming. He slammed into her one last time and stayed deep, his entire body trembling from the force of his orgasm as he moaned her name and rode it out. 

“Fuck, that was good,” he murmured into her hair. “You’re so good to me.” 

After they’d both caught their breath, Nesta found herself lying half on top of Cassian while he gently ran his fingers across her freckled shoulders. Their sheets were a mess and they both needed to shower, but she wasn’t going to move for anything. Now that she wasn’t practically vibrating out of her skin with how badly she wanted him, being in his arms was far more comforting than it had been compared to the last few days.

“So maybe we do need it,” Cassian eventually said.

Nesta just dug her face more aggressively into his chest, intent on enjoying her sleepy afterglow for as long as possible. “If you don’t shut the fuck up, next time it’ll be two weeks.”

“Shutting up now,” he replied, pulling a huff of laughter from her. He’d admitted how wrong he was many, many times already, so she didn’t even bother correcting him; they both knew how right she’d been. “I was an idiot. Let’s never do this again.”

“Best idea you’ve had all day,” she mumbled.

He laughed softly. “I love you, sweetheart.”

“Love you too,” she answered automatically. “But I really do need you to stop talking. That was exhausting and I need to nap.” 

“Okay,” he agreed, leaning down to press a kiss into her hair. “But after we nap, how do you feel about round two?”