#nonbinary miqo'te

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NSFW Warnings:Lack of Communication,Communication Failure,Somnophilia, Mildly Dubious Consent, Dubious Consent Somnophilia, Size Difference, Size Kink, Top Estinien Wyrmblood, Kaoru Likes Being Overpowered

Kaoru Is INTO the Somnophilia! BUT Estinien did not get Explicit Consent Before Touching Them in Their Sleep (SO! Dubious Consent Somnophila). Oral Sex, Cunnilingus, Penis In Vagina Sex, Biting, Hair-pulling, Possessive Behavior

Domestic Fluff, Soft Estinien Wyrmblood, Vaginal Fingering, Body Worship, Explicit Sexual Content, Explicit Language

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It had been some time since they had averted the end of all the worlds, putting a stop to the final days before despair had consumed them all.

Estinien had no doubt that the next adventure would find Kaoru whether the miqo'te went in search of it or not. For now, Estinien would gladly accept all the time Kaoru could spare to spend together with him. No matter what it was that they were doing. Over the past few days it had been blessedly uneventful aside from the task of helping the people of Radz-at-han and Thavnair as a whole rebuild. Kaoru and Estinien worked together and apart, depending on what Vrtra and his people asked of them. Still, Estinien saw more of his miqo'te lover than he would have, had Kaoru decided to go off in search of their own adventure.

The thing was, Kaoru was acting strange. On more than one occasion Estinien had caught them staring at him with a far away gaze. They seemed distracted, almost dazed. It worried him. Could they be sick? They had been through quite the ordeal as of late, Estinien would not be surprised if it had taken a toll.

Yet when they find a moment to themselves at the end of their work for the day, Kaoru suggests they have a friendly bout before dinner.

Well, if that was what they wanted. He was a little hesitant still in his worry—bloody well fretting like a maid for her sweetheart—but he had never been one to deny Kaoru. Especially not now that they had embraced their feelings for one another and become lovers. It was still somewhat new. Some days Estinien still struggled to wrap his head around the idea that the vaunted champion of the realm, Warrior of Light—caring, confident, playful Kaoru—chose him, Estinien. There were plenty others who would no doubt have gladly vied for their affection, but Kaoru had pushed through the crowd of sparkling, dazzling people—people like Aymeric, who was the most well put together person Estinien knew—who were far more suitable, and instead picked Estinien. Estinien, who had been a man so consumed in his need for vengeance that he had mirrored the very wyrm he wished to destroy. Estinien, who avoided social situations, never attended social events if he could help it, and did not know how to dress in fancy attire that Ishgard so favored to save his life. Estinien who was bad with money—oblivious—and feelings—very much, agonizingly aware.

Him. That Estinien. Kaoru picked him.

Despite Estinien's reservations of possibly overworking his potentially sick sweetheart, it seems Kaoru is feeling well enough as they bounce on their feet and practically dance around the dragoon.

Yes, obviously feeling better, Estinien surmised by the way Kaoru shows off. A mixed fighting style that was mostly their favored ninjutsu with some familiar lance-work mixed in to match Estinien's movements. The reappearance of that reaper scythe throws Estinien off a bit, but that was good. It was good to have a partner who kept him sharp, kept him on his toes.

Verily, Estinien wondered if he were not enough of a challenge to Kaoru, whose accomplishments were so many and on so grand a scale that Estinien wondered how the miqo'te was not already craving the relief of retirement instead of going in search of yet another adventure after what this one had been.

Estinien is not quite sure how it happens. One moment they are sparring, invading one another's space. And then his hair cord he had spent good coin on breaks, his falling hair catching in the wind at his back and flying forward to tickle Kaoru's skin.

And Kaoru… falters?

Estinien thinks he saw it, but it does not seem quite right.

Kaoru never faltered.

But somehow their perfectly matched movements end up falling out of sync, and their feet tangle together, stepping on one another like a couple of graceless fools at one of those balls that Aymeric still persisted on sending Estinien invitations for.

"Kaoru!" Estinien says in concern as his damned long, elezen legs trip his miqo'te lover, sweeping their feet out from under them.

Estinien drops his lance and lunges forward, catching the miqo'te before they hit the ground. They cling to him instinctively, wrapping their arms and legs about him. Estinien's forward momentum has him falling, his hand slapping out to catch himself and Kaoru both. His other hand squeezing snug around the miqo'te's waist, holding his lover firmly against his body.

Estinien's heart pounds from the surprise, his lips close to the miqo'te's ear as his voice came out in a gasp, "Kaoru?" Those feline ears twitch, and Kaoru seems to shiver in his arms.

Oh, no. Was Kaoru actually sick like Estinien had assumed?

They certainly seem flushed, their mismatched eyes of red and yellow-gold wide in surprise. Were the pupils of their eyes dilated?

Estinien dips his head closer to look, resting his forehead against the miqo'te's to check their temperature, the pale strands of his hair mixing with the side swept, black-highlighted red of Kaoru's. Hmm. It was hard to tell through the curtain of their hair, but his miqo'te lover did seem a little warm. That could easily be explained by their exercise, however. He could even blame the flush to their skin on that, if he had not seen Kaoru in a similar state on every instance where they had crossed paths with one another.

Kaoru's hands twitch against him, grasping at his shirt underneath the long, mussed waterfall of his hair. Their eyes clenching shut as he leans towards them, and then blink open as if in bleary confusion as Estinien pulls back, maneuvering them both carefully upright.

Kaoru still clings to the dragoon a moment. Seeming suddenly tired as their tight hold on Estinien loosens, the shaky sigh they let out is only just audible to Estinien's keen elezen ears.

The miqo'te jolted back into focus as Estinien remarks. "You've been strange today, Kaoru. Are you unwell?"

He does not get an answer. The concerned query not even half a question from his lips before Kaoru shoves him back and wriggles out of Estinien's grasp like a feral cat not wanting to be held.

Estinien lets them go, watching them with deeply furrowing brows as they ruffle a hand over their hair and avoid his eyes.

"Kaoru?" Estinien presses, lips thin and blue grey eyes worried.

The loud, rumbling growl of Kaoru's stomach interrupts before he can get an answer. And the miqo'te obviously runs with it. "I'm hungry. Are you hungry? We should eat." And then Kaoru makes their escape.

What in the seven hells was going on with them.

….

Dinner is quiet. Estinien does his best to not ask questions if Kaoru does not wish to answer them. By now, it was obvious the miqo'te was not ill. What was it, then, that was bothering them?

The food Kaoru makes is delicious as always, even if the presentation—also as always—left a little to be desired. Estinien still eats every morsel that the miqo'te serves him, and dutifully offers to do the washing up.

Kaoru insists on helping, stubbornly refusing to go and rest even as Estinien himself insists that they do so.

Estinien can feel their eyes on him as he clears the table and as he fills the basin for washing. He ties his hair back and rolls up his sleeves, and is in the middle of scrubbing the food from a dish when Kaoru presses up against him from behind and wraps their arms around his waist, embracing him from the back with a firm squeeze.

Estinien sets the dish aside with a sigh, leaning on the basin as the miqo'te nuzzled at him, burying their face in his back.

"What is going on, Kaoru?" Estinien asks them quietly, doing his best to be patient but feeling at the end of his tether here.

Kaoru squeezes him tighter a moment, then their hands slide over his front, pulling back as if to retreat. Estinien turns before they can go too far, catching them by the wrist and tugging them close again, their body snug right up against him. Kaoru gazes up at him with wide eyes and flushed cheeks.

"Tell me," Estinien says. "You've been strange all day. Are you angry at me?"

"No!" Their head shook vehemently.

Estinien frowns. "Then what, Kaoru?"

Kaoru's lips part, their jaw working. "I… want…"

Estinien leans into them, grasping their shoulders. "Yes? What do you want?"

Kaoru makes a strangled sound in their throat, their face steadily flushing a ruddy red before his eyes. Estinien gives a grunt of surprise as the miqo'te grabs for him, yanking the elezen in by the collar and crushing their lips to his in a frenzied kiss that leaves the dragoon dazed and dizzy.

"I want you!" Kaoru blurts out, then turns as red as their hair all over before they abruptly turned tail and fled. The door to their room slamming shut not long after.

Estinien stumbles wobbly-kneed to the table and sits down heavily, blue-grey eyes blinking owlishly as he stared blankly at the spot where Kaoru had just stood.

Ah.

Oh.

Ohhh.

It suddenly dawns on the dragoon just why Kaoru had been acting so oddly. Dazed and flushed and awkward. They wanted to…—ahem! Ahehem!—and they were obviously uncertain about how to go about asking. Asking Estinien if he wanted to…

The dragoon blushed. Covering his bashful, pleased expression with a trembling hand. He swallows a happy laugh, but a soft, fond, "Pfft," comes out anyway.

"Kaoru," he sighed, wanting to go to them right this second. He rises from the table to do that, but looks at the mess still left to clean up and sighs. He did not want Kaoru to have to clean it up later.

Say what you would about him, but Estinien was not a sloppy, unhelpful housemate. So all the mess from dinner is cleaned up, the kitchen made spotless for their next meal. If he momentarily flusters himself with the thought that he was almost something like Kaoru's helpful househusband, well, that was between him and the now sparkling clean kitchen.

With that task done to his satisfaction, Estinien puts the cleaning supplies away and goes after Kaoru. Surely they had calmed down somewhat by now?

That is what Estinien is hoping for. He was a man of action, he did not want to leave things unresolved between them.

Yet when he tries Kaoru's door after the time he had spent cleaning up, it is locked.

Ah. That was a message, wasn't it?

Well, bugger.

…..

….

….

Estinien cannot sleep. He had been staring up at the ceiling for too long now, willing his mind to quiet. But he could not stop thinking of Kaoru.

He should have climbed in through their window, locked door or no, and given them what they wanted. Since when did Estinien allow a locked door to stop him? Never, that's when. Windows worked just as well as doors when you could jump like a dragoon. He could have gone to them.

He bloody well still could.

What was stopping him?

With that thought, Estinien throws his covers off and swings his legs over the side of his bed. Shuffling his feet into a pair of slippers, he is off in the direction of Kaoru's quarters. More often than not, they slept together in the same bed, but Vrtra had seen fit to give them their own lodgings. Close enough that it was not so far a distance to travel, but a bit embarrassing in the dead of night when one was plainly wearing their nightclothes and hurriedly power walking through Radz-at-han.

….

Kaoru is asleep when Estinien climbs in through their window.

Estinien frowns, waffling in indecision if he should turn back and let them sleep or go ahead and climb into bed with them.

Kaoru shifts in their sleep, giving a soft sigh. A murmured word that sounds suspiciously close to Estinien's name.

Estinien stares at them, blushing from his cheeks to his pointed ears. He sits gingerly on their bed, gazing helplessly at their sleeping face. "My heart," the dragoon sighs, as much in reference to his aching chest in which he rubbed at, as it was an endearment to the miqo'te who was dozing so peacefully after calling his name in their sleep.

"Kaoru, my love," Estinien grumbles so very quietly, reaching out to brush the miqo'te's hair away from their face. "What are you doing to me?"

Kaoru makes another soft sound in their sleep, their lips smiling as Estinien feathered his knuckles over their cheek.

Well, he was already here. He might as well stay even if it was only to sleep. He could always give Kaoru what they wanted in the morning.

He kicks off his slippers at the bottom of their bed frame and gingerly climbs into their oversized bed to join them. He keeps his movements slow in fear of waking them, scooting in behind them with the intent to gather them up in his arms. A bit of cuddling that Kaoru would have been sad to have slept through.

He has only just arranged himself comfortably behind the miqo'te—his arm slipping slow and careful over Kaoru's waist—when they half roll into him. Their arm and leg swung over him to flop against him. Estinien snorted out another puff of laughter, doing his best to muffle the sound as he rearranged his small lover. Gently moving their leg and arm into a more comfortable position, he tugs them close. His nose nestling into their hair to breathe in the warm, clean scent of them. Their ears twitch in their sleep as Estinien brushes close to them, tickling at his skin. The dragoon gave a deep, rumbling hum of contentment and kissed Kaoru's hair. He loved them more than words could properly express.

Estinien closes his eyes, just breathing them in, cradling them close. His heartbeat began to slow into that of slumber, his hold loosening as rest began to take hold of him, drawing him into the slow descent of sleep.

And then Kaoru began to move.

Snuggling into him with arms around Estinien's waist, their ankle sliding over his as they slipped their knee between his to rest snug between his thighs. Estinien's eyes opened wide, his breath hitching as the miqo'te rocked into him. Motions familiar, grinding as if they were seeking friction.

"Kaoru?" He asks in a shaky breath, but the miqo'te does not respond. Only continuing that slow rocking motion. Still in the grasp of sleep as they teased the dragoon in slow, sexual torture after leaving him in a state of concerned confusion all day.

Estinien lets out a soft sound, blue-grey eyes squeezing shut as he felt himself begin to react. Cheeks blushing and pointed ears burning red as desire warmed him. Kaoru easily made him hard. Even in a situation like this, it was no different. Estinien feels it. The slow stirring of arousal in the comfortable, low-slung thavnairian fabric of his sleep pants. The tightening and tenting of fabric as Kaoru's leg ground into him, shifting with the rocking motion of the miqo'te's hips.

He feels the thrum of their purr, his elezen ears catching every soft sound and hitch of breath. The softest, breathiest hint of a moan. Estinien swallows hard, fingers grasping at the loose, buttery fabric of Kaoru's sleep shirt. "Fury take me," he groans as Kaoru nuzzles into his throat with another soft moan, this time with his name falling from their lips. Was he being tested? If so, Estinien was quite certain he would fail. He desired Kaoru more than anything. There was no way he could put up with this delicious temptation and not react at all. Perhaps he could just hold very still… Let Kaoru do as they wanted, wait until they settled down, and then take care of himself?

By the Fury, this would be an embarrassing topic to bring up on the morrow. Perhaps he need not mention it at all.

His resolve to keep his hands to himself lasts for about two minutes of Kaoru grinding up on him, teasing Estinien to full hardness, before his patience snaps with the miqo'te making the cutest little playful growl and scraping their teeth over his throat. Kaoru bloody well knew that Estinien was weak to biting!

Estinien curses, grasping at Kaoru's wrists and rolling their smaller body underneath his. The miqo'te gives a grumble at being moved, but remains stubbornly asleep even as Estinien calls their name in a hoarse, desperate voice. "Kaoru? …Kaoru? Are you awake?"

No bloody response, of course. Nothing except for an adorable slight snore. They were still asleep, even after all that? For a moment, Estinien had hoped they were pretending just to further drive the point home on what they wanted. What they had been trying to ask him for all day, but Estinien had been too damned thick to notice.

Estinien's head hung low in defeat, turned on beyond belief while his lover— the very cause of the problem—slept on, unawares. His hair slipped over his shoulders in a curtain around his head that tickled at Kaoru's skin, the miqo'te scrunching their nose up a bit at the ticklish feeling of the pale strands slipping over their neck and face.

Estinien frowns, feeling a little irked, and decides to be a bit petty and wake his lover up to deal with the problem they had saddled him with. "Kaoru," Estinien says their name on a grumbling growl, lowering himself down to kiss at their face. Kaoru makes soft little sounds in their throat as Estinien presses kiss after kiss to their face. The dragoon kissing along their brow, their nose, the markings that curved over cheeks, the line of their jaw and over their chin.

He finally brushes his lips firmly over theirs, and catches their bottom lip between his. Nipping along the soft flesh, and tugging it between his teeth. He paused, checking to see if that was enough to wake Kaoru. The miqo'te hummed, lips parted so very invitingly, and did not wake.

Estinien huffed a breath through his nose and dipped his head to kiss them even more passionately. His tongue dragged over the seam of their lips before he licked into their mouth, dipping between the slack part of their lips.

He gives a soft sound of surprise as Kaoru responds, kissing him back lazily, and the dragoon breaks the kiss to gaze hopefully into their face. Only to scrunch up his chin in a grumpy-browed expression as Kaoru proceeded to kiss at the air with eyes still closed, as if Estinien's lips were still pressed up against theirs.

"Tsk. You little," the dragoon growled, trailing off before he finished the sentence. He grunted, kissing down over their chin a little roughly in his disgruntled affection. As he kissed over their throat, his hands rucked up the loose fabric of their sleep shirt, exposing their skin to the air and to his appreciative blue-grey eyes. He lays his hand on the sleep warmed skin of their belly, marveling as he often did about their difference in size. Kaoru was larger than life, but at the same time so very small.

He trails his hand up, fabric bunching as the shirt comes along with the hot, possessive glide of his hand over their soft skin.

His touch gentles as his calloused fingers feathered over the scars on their chest in a careful caress. His head dips, lips following the path of his hands in softer, sweeter kisses than those he had pressed to Kaoru's lips. The scars were a while healed, but still obviously fresh. Not yet faded like all the rest of the scars that came with the heavy mantle that was the title Warrior of Light.

Ahh. That was right, this would be the first time they were intimate after Kaoru's surgery, wouldn't it? Estinien hadn't wanted to chance hurting them after, and so it had been a while since they'd done anything more than kissing or snuggling. Was Kaoru trying to tell him they were ready, that they wanted him just as much? Estinien felt like a particularly dense fool.

"You are something of a saint, are you not," the dragoon remarks, smiling ruefully with lips pressed to Kaoru's warm, soft skin. "How do you put up with me, hmm?"

Kaoru still does not wake to answer him, not even as Estinien's long, pale hair slips over their skin in a waterfall of silk as he mapped out every ilm of their skin in kisses. His hands wander over them, indulging in their softness in a way he could not when Kaoru was awake. His lover flustered so easily when shown affection, especially when Estinien did so.

It was understandable, knowing what he did of Kaoru's life. Estinien's fingers trace the shape of a faded scar on Kaoru's lower abdomen with the thought. The very family who should have loved and cared for Kaoru unconditionally had instead hurt them, made them suffer.

Estinien kisses over that scar, too, with hands gently cradling Kaoru's hips. His lips curving up as the miqo'te squirmed in their sleep with the ticklish feeling of his hair sliding over their bare skin. He chuckles softly, nuzzling his face against his lover's belly, trailing kisses down to the edge of fabric that was the start of their shorts resting low on their hips.

Estinien hums, looking up at Kaoru's sleeping face, and decides that this is as good a way to wake them as any. It was something he had yet to do, much to his regret. Aught he meant to rectify now.

He slips a hand under the small of their back as his fingers hook into the waistband of their loose sleep shorts, lifting them slightly from the bed as he slips the shorts over their hips and down their legs.

No smalls underneath, hm? A smirk tugs at the corner of Estinien's lips as he runs a possessive hand over their soft, bare skin. Tickled at the way Kaoru wiggled their hips and so thoughtfully did the work themselves of spreading their legs open for him.

"Don't mind if I do," Estinien murmurs in a voice gravelly with desire as he laid himself down between their legs. His hands palm at the meat of their thighs, roving over them from their outer hip to their knee, then trailing upward on their inner thigh with a heavy, greedy hand.

He follows the path of his hands with his lips, kneading into the give of their ample flesh with a satisfied grumble in his throat, almost a purr of pleased satisfaction. Another thing he had a weakness for would be Kaoru's thighs. Pleasingly plump for how small the miqo'te was, Estinien laid his hands or head on Kaoru's thighs at every given opportunity. It was why it was such a travesty that he had yet to put his head between them at all. Reasonably, that would be Estinien's favorite place to be.

"Forgive me for neglecting you, my love," Estinien murmurs, peppering kisses along their thigh and then resting his cheek on the pillow of their flesh as his fingers slip forward to tease along the soft curve of their pelvis. Fingers and palm kneading at the soft, plump flesh of their mons. He rubs them with his hand, giving Kaoru something to grind against as their hips twitch and jerk, starting to rock into the pleasurable pressure he gives them, seeking that sweet friction.

"More?" Estinien murmurs teasingly with a flash of teeth to that stubbornly sleeping face, and spreads their outer lips to swipe his fingers over their soft, inner folds. His blue-grey eyes watch all the while with rapt attention as their expression shifts. Serene sleepiness turned to that of needful desire, the stirrings of lust parting their luscious lips and bringing the bloom of blush to their skin. Estinien quite liked it, a pretty blush was well suited to compliment the markings curving Kaoru's cheeks. It never failed to draw him in like a magnet, wanting to kiss all the places he found so charming. To kiss all the places that they blushed and burned for him.

"You are so hot here, too, Kaoru," Estinien whispers in a heated breath as his fingers move. The barest swipe of the pads of his fingers against their petal soft folds had Kaoru's wetness dripping over his fingers and down their thighs.

Estinien gave a growling groan, stroking at them with his slickened fingers until they were wet all over. More of that wetness dripping out as he teased them, fingers gliding easily over them as he massaged their dewy folds between his slick fingers. Seeking more of that wetness as he parted them with one finger, rubbing at them with the pads of his fingers but not yet dipping inside as he drew his fingertip up to tease circles around the hardened, twitching pearl of their clit. Impatient for more of a reaction, Estinien pressed down on that tempting little nub with his thumb and rubbed at it a little more roughly.

Kaoru makes their loudest sound yet, moaning out as their hips jerked under his hand. He could feel them throb and twitch under the press of his fingertips, more of that wetness seeping out to drip down over his fingers and over their thighs.

"Kaoru," Estinien groans, and cannot hold back the desire to taste them any longer. He should have done this ages ago, he thinks, as he lays down between their thighs and breathes in greedy breaths the heady scent of them. Saliva pools in his mouth as he lowers his head, his breath fanning hot over their heated skin. His rumbling moan is a deeper contrast to the whimper Kaoru lets out as he dragged his tongue over their folds, their delectable taste collecting on his tongue. He lapped at them hungrily as he spread them open with both hands. His eyelashes flutter in the bliss of their taste, swallowing everything they give him in greedy gulps.

And when merely licking at them is not enough to satisfy his hunger, he dips his tongue inside of them. Groaning low as he opened his mouth wide to slurp at them, the sounds he made messy and lewd as he supped upon them like a man starved. His hair falls around his ears, tickling at their inner thighs as he cupped at their bottom and drew them in closer, his nose buried against them and granting added friction as his tongue wriggled deep as it could go.

He rubs at their outer lips with his fingers, kneading and grasping, groping at their softness. Sliding his fingers over them, he coats them in their wetness and slips them inside, crooking his fingers like he was beckoning them.

Estinien chuckles to himself.

Beckoning them to an orgasm, perhaps.

He hears a gasp, a choked, muffled cry of his name as Kaoru's thighs abruptly close around his head, pinning his ears flat as they clamped around him and squeezed. His head jerked a bit as Kaoru grasped his hair close to his scalp and pulled as they clenched down on his fingers and tongue, giving a full body shudder. Their hips grind against his face, riding his fingers and tongue as they orgasmed for the first time tonight thanks to his efforts.

Estinien is held there, face quite happily smothered between Kaoru's thighs as the miqo'te trembled and slowly came down from the intense pleasure he had just given them.

Their legs around him loosen, dropping down limply as they gazed at him with wide mismatched eyes, their skin flushed so prettily.

His ears ache a bit from their preternatural strength, but Estinien grins like the cat that got the cream, his mouth and nose and cheeks wet from their arousal.

"Finally awake, are you?" Estinien asks smugly as Kaoru gazes dazedly down at him where he was so very comfy cozy between their plush thighs. "You sleep like the dead, you know," the dragoon comments, crooking his fingers inside of them and delighting in the reaction he gets, Kaoru's hips jerking and their voice crying out again in pleasure.

"Estinien?" Kaoru gasps, clutching at the sheets as the dragoon continues on fingering them, not stopping even though they had already cum.

"Who else? I climbed in through your window," Estinien says before they can ask, and then lowers his head to lick around his thrusting fingers. Delighting in the sound he pulls from Kaoru's lips, he sucks at their folds and drags his tongue over them to flick at the throbbing bead of their clit.

"Nn..gg!" Again Kaoru pulls his hair, but for the force of his grin, Estinien doesn't mind. He lifts his chin to suck at their clit, enjoying the feel of their pulse there, throbbing against his wiggling tongue.

"You…! Ah! Can't just… hahh! Break into my room an—nnnd! Do whatever you want!" Kaoru struggles to scold him, yanking hard at his hair as Estinien ate them out like it was his new profession, azure Dragoon who? Kaoru could barely think with how good it felt.

Estinien's laugh vibrates through them, pulling off of their clit with a loud, lewd pop. "Whatever I want?" He says with amusement. His mouth was so very shiny, gleaming wet with Kaoru's desire. "Kaoru, I came to see you but you were already asleep, so—"

Kaoru yanks at his pointed, elezen ears, growling with flushed cheeks, "So you decided to, what, have a little fun??"

"Ow, Kaoru. Owch!" Estinien grumbles, snatching at Kaoru's wrists and nipping at their fingers in reprimand. "No, just stop. Wait a minute and listen, will you?"

But Kaoru does not stop, slapping out at him and pushing. Estinien huffs, growling as Kaoru shoves at his face with two hands. "I decided to crawl in next to you to sleep, but you had other ideas!" The dragoon grits out in a nasally voice as Kaoru's palm pushes his nose back like the snout of a porxie.

He turns his head and scrapes his teeth over their palm, biting at their hand, tongue flicking out to lick at the salt of their skin.

Then he shoves them back into the bed by his hold on their wrists and uses his body to pin them. Holding them still by using their difference in size, though he knew Kaoru could easily throw him off if they really wanted to.

It was telling that they did not. Indeed, Kaoru looks flushed, breathing heavily from their little bout of play fighting. Because that was what it was. If Kaoru had hated it, or wanted him to stop, they would have muscled him with that hero strength of theirs. They would have kicked him out, tossed him right back out the window.

Estinien grins down at them, bouncing on top of them and chuckling with the way Kaoru huffs. Truly, he knew the miqo'te liked the feeling of being pinned down, of being overpowered. It was one of the things Estinien had been fortunate to discover about them. The elezen was only lucky to be just strong enough to do so for Kaoru, though not for long if they really wanted up. Azure dragoon he may be, but Kaoru was the Warrior of Light. Bloody preternatural strength would win out every time no matter what.

"You were the one who snuggled up to me," Estinien informs them of the truth of the matter. "You were rubbing yourself all over me, and moaning my name besides." Well, it had happened once, at least. Estinien's ears did more than frame his ruggedly handsome face, after all.

Kaoru turns bright red, redder than their hair. Too bloody cute, his Kaoru. Those mismatched eyes of red and yellow-gold widening as they shook their head rapidly in denial.

"You don't believe me? After you got me all hot and bothered?" Estinien grinds down into them. Rutting against them to put proof to his words how affected he was, the shape of his erection rubbing up against his miqo'te lover. "Feel it," he growls, taking their hand and guiding it to touch him. To feel how he ached for them,hot and hard and twitching with their touch. Only the thin barrier of his sleep pants between them, the dragoon forgoing smallclothes the same as Kaoru had. "This is all because of you."

Kaoru groans out, voice pitching high on their cry of his name, "Estinien!"

Estinien only chuckles, and indulges himself in kissing over Kaoru's flushed face. His lips follow the path of their markings curving over their cheeks. Nuzzling his nose against theirs before he brushed their lips together. "Short of shaking you awake or yelling your name like a brute, I did try to wake you. Forgive me if I was weak to your charms, and more than a little overzealous. Honestly, I thought you were awake at first. If you hated it, and if it is your wish, I will not do so again."

Kaoru's hand suddenly squeezes him where their hand was still pressed to his impressive elezen erection, and Estinien groans, "Kaoru?" as the miqo'te looks at him under their eyelashes, their fingers sliding over the butter soft material of his sleep pants as they stroked the hot, firm flesh beneath.

Their tongue darts out to wet their lips, their cheeks flushed and breath shaky as they say so very soft that it was almost inaudible, "I didn't… hate it."

Estinien blinks down at them, stunned and dizzy with the pleasure of their touch as Kaoru fondled him, still so sweet and shy though they had lain together a few times now.

Estinien's throat feels dry as he swallows, his voice still a gravelly rasp as he groans out, "...You didn't?"

Kaoru bites their lips, so adorably flustered. So very lewd as they cupped their fingers over his tip and teased at the underside of his head, making the dragoon shiver and moan as precum dribbled out of his twitching cock to dampen the thin, soft fabric of his sleep pants.

"I liked it," they say so quietly that even the keen elezen ears that Estinien possessed strained to hear. Oh, but he heard it.

"Yeah? Want I should do it again? Touch you while you sleep, wake you with pleasure?" The azure dragoon growled rakishly.

Estinien flushed hot, cock jumping under their fingers as desire swirled in his gut.

Fuck.

Though they had admitted their enjoyment, Kaoru still flustered further with Estinien's lascivious suggestion, turning their cheek and whining his name so very cutely in embarrassment.

By the Fury, Estinien wanted to utterly wreck them for the swell of desire and affection that washes over him so strongly it steals his breath like a sucker punch to the gut. His heart squeezes in his breast. Halone help him, he had never been so weak-hearted, so easily endeared until he had met Kaoru.

"Why then did you put up such a fuss?" Estinien voices his wondering aloud, crowding close to the miqo'te and letting go of their other hand to instead capture their chin. To turn their cheek so they would look him in the eye.

Kaoru peeks at him under their eyelashes, red and yellow-gold eyes glowing so gorgeously in the dim light. Estinien can hear them swallow this close. Their lips parting with their answer as they mumble, "Obviously because you like it. Play fighting, right?"

Estinien barks a startled, delighted laugh. What, that was why? "Kaoru! You almost gave me the wrong impression. I thought you were really mad! You tugged my ears really hard!"

Kaoru smiles bashfully. "Sorry. Did I hurt you? Want me to kiss it better?"

Estinien huffs, a little embarrassed now for complaining. "I am not so delicate as a flower—"

Kaoru interjects, mumbling, "You're as pretty as one."

Estinien blinks with wide-eyed fluster, caught a little off guard by that adorable compliment. He coughs, clearing his throat roughly and does not comment on that, though his ears and cheeks glowed red with the obvious favor of his lover. "—I meant," he says, continuing on as if Kaoru had not interrupted to call him the prettiest of dragoons. "You can treat me a little roughly, Kaoru. I will not break even if you put some of your strength behind it. I would be your equal in all things."

Kaoru tilts their head, mulling over Estinien's words. "Come closer," they say, opening their arms for him. And Estinien obeys, coming gladly into their embrace. Heat floods his cheeks to the tips of his pointed ears then, as Kaoru leaned into him and kissed over his ear, murmuring, "Sorry. I know you're sturdy and can take it, but I never want to hurt you. I love you, Estinien."

Estinien makes a soft, strangled sound in his throat. His heart pounding hard and skin hot as Kaoru kisses over his ear and sucks at the pointed tip, nipping their way back over his earlobe before they turned his head to grant his other ear the same treatment. Estinien shuddered, fingers fisting in the bedclothes at Kaoru's shoulders, all ashiver from their attention. Wholly, entirely seduced if he weren't before. His arousal is apparent against his lover's belly, twitching and throbbing as Kaoru sucked, kissed, and nibbled at his ears. A wet patch spreading on the fabric where his tip rubbed against it, the sensitivity of his ears a weakness that Kaoru had discovered. But the both of them were similar in that sense, and so Estinien grasps Kaoru's upper arms and leans up with heavy, hot breath to return the favor. Kaoru freezes, giving a whole body shudder as Estinien traced the tip of one finely furred feline ear with his tongue, licking into it. His lips closing over the tip as he sucked at it, then nibbled along their sensitive flesh. Kaoru whines out, squirming underneath him and making the elezen groan in pleasured agony as their movements rub his erection against them in much needed friction.

"Kaoru," Estinien whimpers out, unable to help rocking his hips hard against them. He captures their other ear in his mouth, chasing after it a moment for how it twitched and flickered. His tongue dips into the shell, breath hot as he gasped and moaned, just barely stopping himself from biting down, though he did slightly gnaw at them as Kaoru rubbed up against him, whimpering his name needfully.

"Fuck," Estinien cursed with feeling, turned on beyond belief. He could not wait any longer. He was steadily leaking now, precum soaked through the thin fabric of his low slung sleepwear, the shape of his cock rubbing wet over Kaoru's bare skin.

"Touch me," Estinien begs, "Fury, Kaoru, I ache for you."

Mercifully, blessedly, Kaoru does. Slipping between the press of their bodies, they reach down with both hands to touch him. Their palms and fingers cupping the shape of him, fondling and stroking through the dampened fabric. It was not that Estinien was ridiculously large—mayhap a smidgen above average for male elezen, penis size wise—but Kaoru's small hands made him seem huge. They could not wrap around his girth, and needed two hands to stroke along his length.

Estinien moans out unabashedly as Kaoru squeezed him firmly, stroking just right, just how the elezen liked it. So good. Too good, in fact.

"A-ah, Kaoru," the elezen gasps, rocking helplessly into their powerful, capable hands. Knees weak with overwhelming desire. "I will not last if you..—hahh!— squeeze me—nnhg—like that!"

But Kaoru pays him no mind, their pupils narrowed to slits as they push down the waistband of his pants, curling their hot little hands around his cock as it sprang free into their waiting grasp.

Estinien pants heavily, his hair hanging around his face as he rose up shakily on his hands, his knees digging into the bed on either side of Kaoru's hips. The fabric of his sleep pants riding up high on his thighs as he rolled his hips into Kaoru's hands. His cock twitching, drooling precum over the miqo'te's stroking hands, slicking the way for them to slide over him that much more easily.

"Kaoru," he groaned, and then gasped as the miqo'te shoved him back. Sending him wobbling upright to his knees, the miqo'te sitting up and gripping him in their hands as they dipped their head down licked at him hungrily. Their tongue sliding hot and slippery from his base to his tip, lapping up the drippy mess of his precum, and then swirling around the sensitive head, the firm point of their tongue teasing his slit.

Estinien cursed, gripping their shoulders hard with trembling hands as they opened their mouth and sucked him in, swallowing him down with a skill that he certainly had not taught them. It did not matter because Kaoru was with Estinien now, but ever so often the dragoon felt a little wretched for the twinges of jealousy he had felt. That he still felt, on occasion. Kaoru's last love had been Lord Haurchefant, and it had ended tragically. Were it not for that, Estinien very much doubted Kaoru would be here with him now. The man had been someone so very important to Kaoru, someone they had loved. He felt jealous, sometimes, aye, but he did not want to replace Haurchefant. Estinien had respected the lord, too. What had happened to the former lord of Camp Dragonhead had been a shock to all of them.

But such thoughts were not to be lingered upon, too like to distract him and spoil the mood with somber, guilty feelings. And so Estinien puts them from his mind, focusing on Kaoru. On how good the miqo'te made him feel. His pleasure built fast, arousal that had slowly simmered as he touched the miqo'te—as he pleasured them—now reaching the boiling point. The heat turned all the way up to have Kaoru awake and eagerly participating.

Their mouth felt so hot, their tongue so soft. That wet, sucking heat. The swirl of their tongue and the bob of their head. Gods, it was too good. Estinien felt like he was dying trying to stave off his release, lest he reach his peak far too embarrassingly fast.

Estinien's hands had found their way to Kaoru's head at some point, but he does not remember putting them there. He can feel every bob of their head, his keen elezen ears catching every lewd sound made between them. The wet, squelching glug of Kaoru's throat as the miqo'te swallowed him down, the gasp of their breath, the sounds of their combined moans.

Gods, it was all so overwhelming. He couldn't… ah!

"K-Kaoru," Estinien stammers out as he throbs, teetering close to the edge. Trying to warn the miqo'te as he tugs at their hair and tries to pry them off.

But Kaoru shrugs off his hands and redoubles their efforts by grasping two handfuls of the dragoon's muscled bottom and forcefully making him fuck their throat. Estinien feels struck dumb, his eyes rolling back into his head as his whole body quaked and jerked in blessed release. The hot gush of his spend pouring into Kaoru's waiting mouth, so much of it that they could not hold it, or possibly swallow it all without spilling.

Estinien shuddered, leaning over them, his hands sweaty on their bare skin as he rode out the orgasmic high.

Kaoru looks utterly fucked out when he pulls back, his softening cock slipping from their mouth, saliva and cum keeping them connected in wet, shiny strings before distance broke them.

Estinien is stunned speechless as Kaoru opened their mouth and stuck their tongue out. The white, gooey collection of his cum sliding copious from their tongue to land on their waiting hands.

"Kaoru," Estinien grasps out in a voice gravelly with arousal as the miqo'te took that sloppy mess in their cupped hands and proceeded to slick their inner thighs with it. Beckoning to the dragoon with a cum slick finger as they licked up the spend from their other palm, sucking lasciviously on their fingers. It is a sight to see from his Kaoru, who was always so shy and easily flustered by things like this.

But looking close, Estinien could see the obvious. Kaoru was a bundle of nerves, skin flushed and eyes and ears lowered even as they put on a show so seductive for him. Ahh, Halone help him, Kaoru was too much! Too cute beyond words, so sweet that the dragoon wanted to bite them. To leave his mark on every ilm of their skin so that everyone who dared to gaze upon them knew that his adorable miqo'te already had a possessive lover.

Estinien's cock was already plumping up again, his whole body awash with dizzying desire as Kaoru takes his prick in hand and guides him forward to press in between their messy, cum slick thighs.

They squeeze his cock in what feels like agonizing torture and such exquisite bliss as they rub their thighs together, squishing him so delightfully that Estinien felt he would surely burst before long.

"Fuck," Estinien chokes out, more than hard enough now as his hips jerk into the plush give of their thighs. Every thrust of his hips between the squeeze of that softness and muscle had his cock rubbing up against the sloppy wet heat of their folds, sending the miqo'te's wetness dripping down over him and keeping their thighs so perfectly slick for the glide of his skin over theirs.

Estinien presses his hands into their outer thighs, making them squeeze him all the tighter as he adjusted the angle a bit to rub more fully against Kaoru. They both moan together as he rubs right up against them, grinding together in a perfect bit of friction that has Kaoru whimpering and crossing their legs to pull him in even tighter.

Estinien gives a guttural growl, palms kneading at their thighs, then drags them snug against him as he dips his head to kiss them hungry and deep.

Kaoru moans into his mouth, tasting strongly of salt and musk that was all Estinien. Their tongues slid across one another in a playful bit of aggressive kissing, Estinien nipping and sucking at their lips and chasing the taste of himself on their tongue.

"Kaoru," he murmurs against their lips, sharing their breath, "I need you now. Please, say I can have you?"

Kaoru groans with lips pressed to his, tugging at his bottom lip with their teeth and soothing it with a sweet kiss and a swipe of their tongue. "Yes," they gasp, "Have me, take me, I'm yours."

Estinien makes an indescribable sound in his throat, his hands slipping possessive and hot over Kaoru's skin as he pressed closer to them. His hand settles large and hot on the small of their back as he dips them backwards, laying them down on the bed. Their legs spread open for him, warmth and softness and heat for him to settle between. He sits slightly upright, taking himself in hand to press at Kaoru's petal soft folds, the tip of his prick teasing through that slippery wetness.

Kaoru moans, hips wiggling with impatience, the miqo'te groaning at him in aggravation as the dragoon chuckled and pinned their hips with a heavy hand. Estinien had only just pressed forward with the girthy tip of his cock when Kaoru raises their legs up and hooks him under his armpits, yanking him forward into them. The full length of his long, girthy cock—seven generous ilms, not average at all—sinking into the greedy, impatient miqo'te all in one go.

"Fuck," Estinien chokes out, his hands slapped on either side of his overeager lover, having caught himself before he squashed them or banged their heads together. "Kaoru! You… little… shite!"

Kaoru shudders under him, moaning his name. Estinien rested heavily on the backs of their thighs with their bottom snugly in his lap, their ankles still hooked under the elezen's arms as their inner walls pulsed and squeezed around him. A definite shock to be filled so abruptly full by seven ilms of thick, elezen cock.

It was only fortunate that Kaoru was used to such sizes, their former lover being Lord Haurchefant, and now Ser Estinien, Azure Dragoon. Both elezen, both decidedly not average at all. The miqo'te was thankfully wet enough. They were soaked, absolutely sopping from the time Estinien had spent pleasing and teasing them. Aught that undoubtedly spares them any pain or injury, but this was certainly overzealous of them.

"You could have hurt yourself," Estinien scolds them in a strained voice, holding so very still so they could adjust to him even though he felt fit to burst.

"Not hurt," Kaoru gasps out, already rocking into him, their shapely bottom wiggling so wickedly in his lap. "Ahn, Estinien, move!"

Estinien makes a strangled sound, trembling all over with a wave of lust. "Fine," he grunts out, and drops down on them, huffing with satisfaction to hear their gasp as he gives them exactly what they asked for. "Is this what you want?" He growls as he moved, thrusting hard and deep, giving them no quarter as his muscles rippled with the power of an azure dragoon, fucking his lustful lover into the mattress, a truly sturdy bedframe under them that blessedly held steady despite their forceful movements and combined strength.

Having to explain a broken bed to Vrtra was not on Estinien's to-do list.

"Ah, ah, yes, nng… hah! Esti—ni—en!" Kaoru moaned broken and nonsensically into Estinien's ear, their nails scoring red, burning lines down his back as Estinien dipped his head to mark up their skin like he had wanted to. Marks that bloomed plum and rose from him sucking at their skin, the scrape of teeth turned to indents in flesh as the elezen bit down hard enough to bruise but not break skin.

"You're mine," the elezen growled in a guttural surge of possessiveness, his hips snapping forward with a surge of renewed energy as Kaoru mewled and moaned out a, "Yes, yes!" and nearly sobbed his name with pleasure.

The bed rocks under them, screeching across the floor as skin slapped against skin. Kaoru clung to him hard, knees digging in at the dragoon's side, their hands sliding over his sweaty skin, salt stinging at the red scratches they had left from his shoulders to the swell of his muscular backside.

They kiss in a bruising crush of lips; the hot, sloppy slide of slippery tongues. Estinien hungrily swallowing the lewd, pleasured sounds his miqo'te lover made to keep all for his own as he gave them everything he had built up. The frustration and lust and even some irritation, he gave them it all with every powerful thrust of his hips.

Kaoru takes it like the true champion they are, demanding more even, as they moan in plea for him to fuck them harder, faster, deeper. What a greedy lover he had, but Estinien was only too glad to fulfill their demands.

He presses them into the mattress, pinning them, overpowering them just as they liked as he drove his cock into them deep. Hard, fast, unrelenting. Sucking at their tongue and chuckling with dark, lustful satisfaction for the way Kaoru loses the ability to even form words. Only sounds come from those luscious lips, the result of the pleasure and bliss that Estinien gave them. Their voice crying out is music to the elezen's ears as he pushed them to their peak before him, the miqo'te rippling around him and clamping down so tight. Their lustful body unwilling to let them go even as he gave them everything they desired.

"How many times do you think I can make you cum like this, Kaoru?" The dragoon purrs in a rumbling, velvety voice. Hoarse from his own denied pleasure, but oh it was worth it to see Kaoru already so fucked out. He would have them utterly spent by the end of this.

Kaoru whimpers, too dazed with pleasure to answer. Yet they suck at Estinien's tongue as he licks over their mouth, and their knees dig into his side as he moves even an ilm. More, it seemed, was what they wanted. All left up to Estinien for how many orgasms he could wring out of them before he, too, could feel that bliss again.

"Once?" Estinien muses, kissing wet and hot over their open, panting mouth. His tongue flickering out to catch a droplet of sweat as it curved a path over their temple. "Twice more?" He murmurs lustfully into their skin, "Perhaps I could even give you multiples." It had happened before when the both of them were lost in one another like this. Caught them both by surprise, but it had been incredibly good.

Kaoru makes a groan in their throat at that suggestion, clenching down around him with a gush of arousal. Their voice slurring a little as they gasped out his name, "Estinien…!"

Estinien smirks, and remarks in a gravelly voice, "I do not know until I try, do I?" as he swirled his hips against them. The sound between them a lewd plap, plap, plap for how wet Kaoru was with another orgasm slicking the way for Estinien to fuck them into the mattress.

"Hhng, you're so wet, Kaoru," the elezen rasps, his hand slipping down between their sweaty bodies to tease over Kaoru's clit as he thrust and thrust and thrust his cock into them so deep.

Still so sensitive, it is no surprise that Kaoru tightens around himself quickly with a bit of roughened rubbing with his fingers. Their arms squeeze around his shoulders, their cry muffled into his throat as they came again.

Estinien gave a choked, guttural grunt as they bite at his throat, marking him high where armor could not conceivably cover.

Fuck, he thinks, and is lost to a wave of overpowering lust of his own making. His reason flew out the very window he had climbed through as he slid a hand under them and gripped at their shapely rear, yanking them up into him as he snapped his hips with wild abandon. They pulsed and squeezed around him, drenching him in their wetness and burning him up with their heat.

"Kaoru. Kaoru, Kaoru!" Estinien chants their name like a prayer as he drowns in them, raining kisses over their face as he grasps at their hands and draws them up over their head. Fingers clasping tight as he kissed them passionately, full of lust but so much more of love as he gazed down into their flushed, blissed out expression. It is seeing the face that he loved so dearly, so clearly brought to pleasure by his hands, that brings him to the brink and pushes him over the edge.

Estinien groans out, squeezing at Kaoru's hands as the miqo'te milks him for all he was worth in yet another wave of orgasmic bliss for them. It was good, they had reached climax together, and so they could bask together in the afterglow.

Estinien held himself up until he had nothing left to give. His hips jerking and hair sticking to sweaty skin—his and Kaoru's—as the miqo'te milked him for all he was worth. Every last drop of spend poured into them, so much that it dribbled down their thighs. Stuffed so full as they were already, he fills them to the brim with his seed that it spills over to leak out and mess the sheets.

Estinien trembled, panting hard, and then allowed himself to drop. Landing a bit too rough, mayhap, atop his gasping, sweaty lover.

But Kaoru only gives a slight groan before stroking their hand over his sweaty back. Aught that made Estinien hiss as the salt of his sweat again stung what surely were wounds. Kaoru was a bloody hell cat, clawing him up. Biting him, too. But as their lips press to his shoulder—a soft thrum vibrating through them to him as his miqo'te lover indulged in a satisfied, feline purr—Estinien can only feel good. Satisfied and happy to have traces of Kaoru all over him. Of himself all over Kaoru with the hickies and bite marks he himself had left on their skin. He supposed that made them even.

"Kaoru," Estinien breathes, his voice catching a bit in his throat. Ah, he was so thirsty. "Are you… all right?"

Kaoru hums, their tail flickering and feline ears twitching as Estinien raises a shaky hand up to pet over their hair and ears.

Mustering some energy, the dragoon rolls to the side, slipping slowly out of his lover with a dribble of messy cum. "Good?" Estinien asks as Kaoru turns to follow him into their embrace, a soft whimper let out from the elezen pulling out.

Kaoru's satisfied face was answer enough. But they are instantly embarrassed as Estinien looks them over and grins at them in rakish smuggery. They bury their reddened face in their hands, whining in protest as Estinien laughed and tugged at their wrists.

"Come now, give us a kiss," the dragoon teased. "Will you not allow me to see my lover's face after giving them all that they desired?"

Kaoru shook their head, squirming with fervent embarrassment. Only peeking out through their fingers as Estinien gave an exaggerated, put upon sigh.

Their mismatched eyes of red and yellow-gold widening in surprise to see their elezen lover make such a sad, pouty face.

"Please, Kaoru?" Estinien pleads, his large hands circling their wrists as he kisses everywhere he could that they were not hiding away. Their hair, their ears, their shoulders and even over the backs of their hands that shielded their blushing, bashful face. "Pretty please, with crème brûlée and pumpkin cookies on top?"

As if on cue, Kaoru's stomach growls, and they are startled enough by the loud interruption of sound that Estinien seizes the moment to tug their hands away from their face and press a sweet kiss to their lips.

Kaoru makes a soft sound of surprise, then huffs out a breath through their nose as they give in and melt into him.

"There you are, my Kaoru," Estinien says in a voice warm with obvious loving affection as he cradles their face in his palms and rubbed his thumbs over the markings on their ruddy, blushing cheeks.

"I understand your embarrassment," he continues softly, blue-grey eyes gentle and face as soft as it could possibly be, "but you know I would never judge you, my love." He presses his lips to their forehead and says simply, "You are my heart, Kaoru. I love you."

Kaoru turns their cheek to kiss at his wrist, nuzzling into his palm. "I love you too, Estinien."

Estinien smiles, tucking their sweaty hair away from their face. "Should we have ourselves a midnight snack, my hungry little lover? Or would you like to lay here a while yet?"

Kaoru hums, and snuggles close to him, uncaring of the sweatyness still that was drying on their skin. "Just a while more like this," the miqo'te decides, feeling much too lazy yet to get out of bed. They wanted to bask a little more in this warm, glowy feeling. Utterly boneless and entirely, satisfyingly spent.

"Then we can wash up and scrounge up a snack."

Estinien hums, kissing the red of their hair between twitching feline ears. "Speaking of pumpkin cookies, I do believe that Tataru sent some over just yesterday."

Kaoru's stomach makes another loud, hungry gurgle, and the miqo'te hid their face in their elezen lover's chest as he laughed.

"Shall I go fetch you the cookies now, my love?"

"...Yes, please."

…..

The cookies are especially delicious late at night after a round of lovemaking. Estinien had been thoughtful enough to bring a cloth and basin for the both of them to freshen up a little and clean the sticky sweat from their skin.

"Happy?" Estinien asks with amusement as he crawls back into bed with the miqo'te, laying his head in Kaoru's lap with arms snaking around their waist as the miqo'te munched happily on a tin practically bursting with mouth watering cookies.

Kaoru makes a sound of contentment, cheeks stuffed full of pumpkin-y goodness. The words they spoke behind their hand sounding suspicious like, "Thank you, love."

With the elezen laying sprawled across their lap, their hands stroke at Estinien's hair and over his back. Pausing ever so often between snacking to kiss Estinien's face and rub at his ears.

The elezen becomes drowsy before long, humming throatily his contentment. Nuzzling his face against the miqo'te's skin as he breathed in their familiar smell, the sweet, pumpkin-y scent of the cookies made him a little hungry, too.

"Cookie?" Kaoru asks as Estinien opens his eyes and glances with interest at the tin resting on the bed.

Estinien grunts. "Perhaps one?"

Kaoru smiles down at him and hand feeds him a fresh cookie, eyes squinting in feline pleasure as Estinien opens his mouth and bites off of it.

"Good?" The miqo'te asks, ears and tail flicking joyfully.

Estinien licks at the corner of his mouth. "Needs something."

Kaoru blinks, leaning over him. "Oh? What does it need?"

Estinien hums, lips curving in a teasing smirk as he lays a hand on the miqo'te's nape and tugs them down for a fur shivering smooch.

"Mm, sweet," the dragoon says, blue-grey eyes gleaming mischievously under his eyelashes. "Just what I needed."

Kaoru blushes to the tips of their twitching feline ears, covering their mouth in fluster and dropping a cookie on Estinien's forehead in the process.

"Ow."

Kaoru plucks it back up and kisses his brow, saying bashfully, "Sorry."

Estinien chuckles gently. "No harm done. You kissed it better, no? Your affection is the salve to soothe my aches."

Kaoru snorts in humor, still embarrassed, and shoves the rest of Estinien's cookie in the elezen's mouth so he would stop teasing them.

Estinien bites down on it with a grin.

Soon enough, the cookies are put aside with the lid firmly back on to preserve freshness. Kaoru never did want to eat all of them in one go, just to have something sweet later when they wanted it.

They remake the bed, clearing away their messy sheets to Kaoru's glowing red embarrassment, and climb in again to curl close and snuggle.

Kaoru lays across the pillow of Estinien's arm, turned to face him as Estinien strokes heavy handed over their bare back, his hand large and warm as it caresses down and back up at the start of their spine, again and again like petting something incredibly soft. A purr thrumming deep in their chest that comes to a pause as Estinien says, "Your scars are healing well."

Kaoru tenses up. Feeling a little anxious still as their stomach twists in knots with the worry that Estinien might find them less attractive, less appealing after the removal of their breasts.

Kaoru swallows hard and steels their nerves best they could to ask, "Does it bother you?"

Estinien hums, fingertips swirling nonsensical patterns into their skin. "Why would it?"

Kaoru's lips part, their voice feeling stuck in their throat before they force it out, "Because… because I'm not a woman. I like myself like this, I've struggled so long to accept myself, and I don't—..."

Kaoru's voice quiets, softens. "I don't want to go back to… not liking my body."

Estinien leaned back, his eyebrows furrowed over blue-grey eyes as his hand rested on the miqo'te's shoulder. "Kaoru, look at me," he says, touching gentle fingers to their chin.

Kaoru lifts their eyes, lips thin as they bite at the inside of their mouth.

"I knew you were not a woman from the start," the elezen says. "You told me yourself. Let me know how to call you, how to address you. I respected that. I respect who you are. What makes you think that something like this would change that?"

Kaoru closes their eyes, struggling to look into the dragoon's earnest eyes when they were feeling this way. They might cry. "Because my body isn't the same as when we started. What if you're not attracted to me anymore? What if… you leave me?"

"Impossible," Estinien spits out immediately, the word so abrupt and intense with feeling that Kaoru startles into opening their eyes.

Estinien gazes at them steadily, and lays a hand on their flat chest, touching their scars in the same manner he had done before. A careful, gentle caress with calloused fingers featherlight, touching so slowly as he traces along the stretch of their scars.

"Your body is yours, Kaoru," Estinien reminds them, "To change as you see fit. But if you need reassurance, I do not mind giving it to you."

Estinien shifts, slipping downward to face Kaoru's chest, fingers still sliding over their skin as he dips his head to kiss along their scars. "My attraction to you has not changed, Kaoru. I still find you desirable," the dragoon says, pressing kiss after kiss to their skin.

Kaoru trembled, resting a hand on the elezen's head, fingers sinking into the pale strands of Estinien's hair.

"I still love you just as much," the elezen continues, still kissing, still sliding his hand over the flat expanse of their chest in a worshipful caress. "Nay, I love you more every day. Full glad am I that you remain true to yourself, that you continue to embrace and accept yourself as I accept you. You are not a woman. You are Kaoru; and no matter what, I will always love Kaoru."

Kaoru drags Estinien up to kiss him, tears slipping from their eyelashes as they let out a soft, shuddering breath against his lips. Not quite sobbing, but full of emotion.

"I love you, Estinien. So much," they say with an overwhelming amount of feeling, their heart felt fit to burst. Their skin still warm from Estinien's touch and tingling with his kisses.

Estinien gives a sound of contentment, smiling into their kiss as he curls his hand loosely around Kaoru's wrist, thumb dragging over their skin. He draws back, gasping a little from that intense kiss to say, warm and soft, "I love you, Kaoru. No matter what. I hope you understand that."

Kaoru nods their head, smiling so hard with relief and joy that their face aches. They wrap themselves around Estinien, squeezing so hard that the elezen fairly wheezes.

But he did not complain at all, only wrapped his arms around them and held them tight. Kissing their hair and stroking their back as they surrendered emotion. Relaxed and safe in the arms of the man they loved.