nightmares by late twilight

"Allow for me to braid your hair again today, Aina~"

I looked up to Seir from where my head lay on his lap, chuckling softly at the idea. We’d come to find ourselves in this situation quite a lot recently. I would return to his apartment after surviving a far, far too tall mountain of paperwork, and Seir would have come home mere moments prior to be able to open the door for me. No matter how many times this repeated, I could never find the heart to refuse his offer to relax for a ‘little while’, which was always closer to five hours as the artificial sun set outside the windows.

“….Very well.” I grinned as I began to sit up. “But just this once~” A familiar joy graced my face to match my angel’s, my smile pressing against his lips in a quick, chaste kiss. My angel deserved such simple affection…and so very much more.

“Oh!” Seir’s soft exclamation was always the same as if I had kissed him for the very first time all over again. I certainly didn’t mind the theatrics, especially as it brought that cute flush across his cheeks again.

“Ah, that does remind me~!” For once his eyes actually widened a bit further. “Say, Miss Aina…” as quickly as they had opened, those pretty golden eyes averted all the same. How unlike him.

“Hm?” I tilted my head. “I told you that you don’t have to regard me so formally, Seir, please.” I finished sitting up to take one of his hands in mine. “You were saying something. What was it…?”

Seir was so neutral around friends that it was hard to believe he could fluster this easily in private. “Well, I…” he couldn’t seem to meet my attentive gaze, though his fingers intertwined themselves with mine rather easily. “I was hoping you…might possibly want to try your hair in new styles~!” His uncertainty seemed to come together in a quiet excitement that belied his sincerity. “Not that your daily routine is not perfect already of course, but I have been practicing for your sake~” He smiled softly, looking down at our entwined hands as he’d rub the back of mine. “I simply wish to provide you with more than what you’ve had in this new life before. But…only if that is something you would like.”

My angel had always been considerate, patient, and kind with me, but…going out of his way for this? There was a part of me that was proud; for him to suggest so little as tucking my hair behind my ears would’ve been an outrageous concept only weeks ago. I truly did adore the thought of him identifying things he wished to change or meld in our life together rather than blanket it all up as the perfection he always insisted upon. Needless to say I shan’t be blamed for indulging a doting angel either. I’m only h—I used to only be human, after all.

*What…did Reapers indulge in?*

After a moment of silence caused Seir to tilt his head, I snapped out of my awe to properly speak. “I—well, I think that would be lovely, Seir.” For some reason, I couldn’t help but think Orias would scold me for encouraging Seir to slack off work to research braiding techniques. It only made me want to encourage him more~

“Excellent~!” Seir lit up, shifting a bit to guide my hands with his. “I might request if we could arrange ourselves differently this time. While I do love to gaze at your beauty while I attend to you, I’m afraid it would not permit these particular efforts.”

My poor, sweet angel. Did he have any idea how he sounded? Likely not, which made it even cuter. The pink flush he once had now spread to me like an affectionate plague, my hands slowly letting go of his to accommodate his wishes. “Of course, of course. Whatever you think is best, I am wholly in your holy hands~” I thought I was very clever, and Seir always would too. Xaph also might, but then he’d end up making a better joke than me. Unfortunately for everyone, my competitive streak did not die with me.

“Alright then.” That ever-gentle smile blessed my sights again, but to my surprise it was not my hands by which he led me. “I believe we would be best situated like this…” my angel had gotten rather bold, placing his hands on either side of my waist to guide me…into his lap??

“S—Seir?” I turned my head halfway back before the soft combing through my hair stopped me. “Surely this was not what you had in mind…is it?”

Sure, we had cuddled on the couch for plenty of movie nights, we’ve even lied together in bed to fall asleep in the comfort of the other’s arms. But this? Maybe I was just overthinking it and I was the weird one, but how could I not be? Like this, I could feel the warmth of his breath against my nape whenever he lifted my hair to gather it. Warmth, not heat; it was just regular warmth. Not that I was mentally noting the difference or anything.

“Oh! I—“ his hands quickly came off of me, “I do not mean to bring you discomfort if that is what this stirs in you.” That sweet champagne gaze looked over my shoulder with worry, incidentally only bringing his face closer to mine.

As much as I felt it a sin to think of my angel in such a way, discomfort wasn’t exactly what was stirring in my core.

“No, nono,” my hands came to his to put them back to my hips (why I was putting them there when he now needed them to braid my hair, I had no idea), shaking my head to fluff my hair in front of him. “This is fine, Seir! This is just fine.” This was fine. I was just overreacting, and this was fine.

“Only if you are sure, Aina.” Seir’s voice was softer that time, as if worried some unspoken thread left loose would unfurl the intricate tapestry he was weaving.

’Weaving’? Why was I thinking of him as some sort of plotting schemer now?? He’s just Seir…my sweet, sweet Seir, and here I was butchering his holy image. Maybe I’d been spending too much time with Caym. Not everything had ulterior motives. Not to say I would have minded if it did but—-NO! He was just braiding my hair, nothing more. This. Was. Fine.

While I was so busy listening to anything but the angel at my shoulder, Seir took my lack of further objection as permission. “In that case,” one hand came to comb through my hair again while the other snaked around my waist. “Please allow me to try something new.”

New was certainly one way to put it. For as cuddly as Seir was, it was never like this. The gentle hand encircling my torso wasn’t just steadying me, it was actively pulling me against his chest…and deeper into his lap. I felt bad—no, sinful at the manner by which I wished to move. To shift against him, to stir something in him the same way he did me. Mayyyybe it wasn’t too late for that Hell visit just yet.

“It’s okay, Aina.” As light as the feathers once upon his back did Seir whisper against my ear. He leaned so close, as much as I leaned right back into him, where his lips were teasing my skin more than they were lacking touch. “I’ve been studying this, you know.”

’This’….right, yes, the hair! My erratic thoughts barely pieced themselves together in light of Heaven. But how…how was he going to braid with one hand?

“S-Seir…” I didn’t mean to shudder as I breathed his name. I hadn’t realized I barely was breathing. “What did you mean by—mmph!”

The elegant hand once combing through my hair swiftly moved to cradle my head and pull me into him. All that critical thinking of mine went out the window as Seir’s lips enveloped mine in a dizzying passion, the feeling bringing me far higher than any fated promise of flying. For how much aching wanting it held, it was still so helplessly gentle.

…He was nervous, evidently.

Is this what he’d wanted all along? Was I blinded by his innocence to think he could never want to begin with? Was the mess of curls I’d have by the end of this the new style he mentioned?

There went that deliberating brain again. All this questioning and doubt, meanwhile my angel was made to doubt himself as his touch grew tepid.

“Seir—” Champagne eyes opened wide when I gasped his name before breathing second life into our kiss. How quickly they closed again as I sank into him to give every last reassurance I could. If this is how he wanted us to change, I was more than happy to oblige.

Of all the things I’d forgotten, of all the feelings that grew fuzzy with time, I was swiftly reminded of those most important. The warmth- the heat, I knew it most definitely as heat now- of his lips against mine. The subtle scratching of brocade bunching at my hips the more I shifted against him. The somehow cool yet inflaming touch of my angel’s hand slipping down to run over my thigh. His touch was not as demanding as what might be expected of someone once withholding themselves, but this was Seir. He’d never been bold before. Surely he’d only grow more confident in time…and oh how eagerly I awaited it.

My fingers threaded through silky white hair, slowly coaxing him to relax and take what he wanted. What he needed. One kiss, then another. Breaths gasped in a desperate attempt to never part for too long. Every ounce of my weight upon his lap rather crudely begging for him to accept me as I am. As if he could ever consider me anything but perfect to begin with.

“Mm—Ai-nha...” The way those golden eyes struggled to keep themselves open long enough to focus was adorable. That look he gave me too…he was practically begging like a puppy. “Please, I…” In the moment he actually found the strength to break our kiss, his fingers nervously twitched around my thigh.

“’Please’?” I repeated before chuckling softly, only temporarily allowing that look of worry to flash across his eyes. “You’re finally asking things of me, Seir~” It was a proud statement, albeit one accompanied by the smug smirk he so often fawned over. I couldn’t help but tease him just a little bit.

Pale skin that was already colored by his darling flush exploded to scarlet red. “I—I—-“ every breath came out more like a pant as he averted his eyes, “I suppose I am…”

“Mmm…~” My fingertips traced his jawline until a delicate hold on his chin could guide his gaze back to mine. Something stirred in sparkling champagne as they met the utterly stupid grin awaiting below my daring ruby. “I certainly can’t deny a plea from Heaven, now can I~?”