Lucky

I was very fortunate that he was here.
I could count the scars on his body - dark and rough beneath my fingers as they traced over his warm, bare skin - like they were stars in the sky... Many marked a life-ending injury. Yet somehow... Here he was. In my arms, his own around my neck as we moved together, his breath warm against my throat, his moans soft in my ear, real and solid. I couldn't erase all the pain he'd endured in his past... But I could give him pleasure here in the present. And promise him a future of more.
And I could feel that promise in a physical form, in the subtle chill of the ring I'd put on his finger where it touched my neck.
Ru. Sidra Sevrin Metalia. My love and my future. And I would put down anything that threatened him.
His body trembled beneath mine, nails biting into my shoulders briefly as a loud, shuddering moan and a release of a different kind marked his finishing, beautiful mismatched eyes fluttering open to half mast to look up at me as we came in time.
I could make him mine in more ways than just giving him my last name.
Kissing the hollow of his neck, then those luscious, demanding lips, I smiled and brushed his hair back from his face, tucking it behind an ear that supported his half-askew glasses, as we slowly straightened so that he was sitting on my desk, arms wrapped around my neck.
"I love you." Though I was a man of truth, truer words I had never spoken. This man had a hold on my heart so tight that it ached, touched every place and every need inside of me. This man who wore so many regrets, etched plain to see on his body, who answered to no one, was my soul mate. Me, the man who hid away all his regrets to be judged with his soul, who answered to every call. I couldn't adequately describe the way he made me feel. Sitting side by side with him, whether simply talking or in companionable silence was one of the most comfortable moments I knew. Holding him in bed would be the defining factor of any paradise I could belong to. Our arguments were the most heated, our unity the most steadfast, and the only thing I knew more exhilarating and freeing than fighting at his back was making love to him.
My hands traveled over his warm body, tracing clean lines in the light sheen of sweat that shone on his warm skin, rising to cup his face. As he gave an almost coy smile, my calloused fingers traced along his jaw to cradle him still, resting my forehead against his.
�I love you, too... Sebastian?� Ru's voice was husky, questioning, though his eyes immediately trailed in distraction as my wings extended, smooth and white, curving in a wide arc to encompass the pair of us in our embrace.
I couldn't help but smile at that. So predictable; my love. His hang up for wings would always be a subject of amusement for me. To him, they were beautiful. I saw it as root aspects of his own beauty, his own allure; strength with imperceptible vulnerability, and freedom, reflected back at him in a way that he could actually understand. Actually admire in a way he could never see within himself.
But I did not voice these ruminations. Instead, I let my head drop, kissing his shoulder as I settled there, my arms looping and tightening around him, drawing him close as my own eyes closed. I felt a hand instinctively tangle in my hair, cupping the back of my head, the other, the one of twisting black shadows, resting on the table near where my fingers touched the wood.
�I'll never leave you, Ru.� My voice was little more than a low rumble as I spoke. His breath caught in his throat, but I continued before he could speak. �You've shown me the whole reel of your history. Every battle, every tragedy. I swear to you that I know what I'm promising. All of that, it can all follow you all the way here to my front door, and I still won't abandon you.�
	My arms tightened around his lean body, squeezing him against me hard enough it was as though I were trying to wordlessly show him how pointless it would be to argue or resist.
�What I have with you will be worth every fight. There is no sacrifice I am not willing to make to keep you by my side, and I will fight, shoulder to shoulder with you, to my last breath, to protect our right to be here together.� To protect this small joy against this brutal world.
There was no slack, no insincerity in my voice. A fact that I was well aware he needed. In fact, despite the low volume, my voice was almost as hard as if I were scolding him. I felt the shudder of his chest as he suppressed what I suspected as a laugh at my imagined insanity or a sob, and his hand tightened in my hair, the other rising to loop around my own hips, jerking me fiercely tight against him.
�I don't know... Whether to call you a lovestruck fool and tell you you'll get over it when that actually comes to pass... Or throw myself at you again.�
	At that, I could only smile. �I guess you'll have to cross that bridge when I prove it to you then, won't you?�
�Guess so,� With that, Ru leaned back so that he could look me in the face, a wicked grin curving those lips laden with temptation, though his eyes remained warm with the sincere gratitude and love I saw in him in these quiet moments we shared together. �Don't you let me down, Mister Cassius. I don't wanna miss that chance to throw myself at you.�
	�Well, the faster you believe me, Metalia, the sooner you get the opportunity.� I smirked. �Though there's nothing stopping you from trying now, is there...?�