Rin's eyes flickered open, and they looked up at Arquis, taking a deep breath. "This is fine." they said, arms resting across Arquis's shoulders and a faint smile tugging at their mouth. "Now come here, I want to kiss you again." they gently pulled Arquis back in for another kiss, eyes sliding shut again.
Arquis let them draw him in again, though he stopped just at his mouth. He grinned against their lips and replied, voice low and teasing, “And if I do not let you? What then?”
He embarked on a very slow quest to kiss everywhere else on their face but his mouth. He started with his forehead and made his way down, dropping feather light kisses on their closed eyelids and cheekbones. He made his way over to their right ear and, experimentally, grazed the rim of it with his teeth.
He actually whined faintly at the denial, though he didn't fight Arquis when the nobleman began to kiss them everywhere but where Rin wanted. "Arquis." he complained, breath hitching at the touch of Arquis's teeth to their skin. "You're awful."
Arquis laughed against their neck, his breath brushing that sensitive spot below their ear. Gradually, he began to make his way across their throat, alternating between nipping and kissing. When he reached the middle of his jaw, he stopped, lifted his head, and brought their lips together. Rather than actually kiss them, however, he gently bit at their lower lip.
“My apologies,” he murmured once he pulled away, resting his forehead against theirs. “Your voice is just so lovely. You make such wonderful sounds.”
He shivered, their head tipping back a little bit at all the nips and kisses that Arquis was scattering across his neck and cheeks. "Darling." he breathed, swallowing faintly. "Darling, Arquis…" they wanted a kiss so very badly now, after all this teasing.
Arquis shifted, pressing them further up against the wall. His hands moved down. He placed one above each hip, then rubbed agonizingly slow circles into the fabric of their robe. The pet name had seemingly had no effect; he’d acquired immunity to it due to repetition. It appeared that he had the upper hand this time, and he was prepared to tease him to his heart’s content. If Rin wanted to return the favor, they’d have to try something new.
“I am confused,” he whispered, smiling coyly. His tongue swiped out over his lower lip as he maintained eye contact. “Is this not enough? Is there something else that you desire, my dear?”
He whined breathily, but didn't resist Arquis. "Arquis, please, you know what I want." he breathed, opening their eyes to look up at their lover. "I want you to kiss me, please." they pressed closer to Arquis, though there wasn't much movement they could accomplish, caught as they were between the wall and Arquis's hands.
“So impatient,” Arquis replied. There was an infuriatingly casual quality to his tone, as if he wasn’t currently pinning his partner to a wall. He dragged his bare foot up their calf—the nail polish had certainly dried by this point—and innocently cocked his head to the side.
“I have been kissing you, have I not?” He nuzzled against their neck again and gave it a peck. Some part of his mind wondered if he should do more. Bite down, leave a real mark. But wouldn’t that hurt? He definitely didn’t want to hurt him.
He certainly did not mind this reversal of how they had been earlier; they enjoyed being pinned and teased, even if they would never have admitted it outloud. "I want you to kiss me on the mouth, Arquis, not this teasing everywhere else." he replied, head angling back a little to give Arquis as much room as he wanted.
“On the mouth?” Arquis feigned shock. It didn’t last long. A second later, he was smirking again. “I am not sure about that, my dear. That sounds rather scandalous.”
Immediately after saying that, he brought his mouth back to their throat. He kissed their pulse point, swallowing hard, and then kissed it again. That messy part of his mind pushed him to drag his lips up to their other ear. He wanted more than anything to follow through and give them a love bite, but he refrained.
He whined again, trembling just a little at the press of Arquis's mouth to his pulse point, his eyes still shut. "Please, love." he whispered. "I just want a kiss, love." he clung to Arquis, breath trembling for just a moment. "Please." he wasn't quite begging, but they almost were.
“Alright, love. Alright.”
The kiss he gave him was barely a kiss at all. It was light, just a brief, soft touch of his lips to theirs. Part of him felt cruel for teasing them so much, but there was something glorious about seeing him come undone. Still, he didn’t want to leave them completely unsatisfied, which was why he’d given in just a little. He resisted the urge to smile and leaned away, even going as far to remove his hands from their waist.
“Was that what you wanted?” He already knew the answer. Of course it wasn’t.
He pouted even more, opening his eyes again to look up at him. "I want a real kiss, love, not something so tiny." he protested, pouting a little bit and reaching to pull him close again. "Come back, please."
Arquis laughed softly as he let them pull him in again. He pretended to contemplate his suggestion, even rubbing his chin in mock confusion. “A real kiss, hm? I am not sure exactly what you mean by that. Have all of the others been fake? False? Pretend?”
His hands, which he’d taken from their hips, were now traveling up his sides. He stopped at their shoulders and brushed his thumbs against the hollows of his collarbones.
He whined again, trembling very faintly. "No, those were real too, I just…please, Arquis, I want it. Very badly." he whispered, pressing closer to Arquis. "Please give me one." they looked up at Arquis with longing and love and a little bit of pleading in his eyes.
Arquis dropped the act. He cupped their chin and tilted his head a touch more so that they could see the affection in his gaze. Then, he swept forward and gave him the real kiss that they’d been craving. It was deep and intimate and messy. When he stopped at one point to catch his breath, he realized his heart was racing. A needy groan left him, and he closed the gap between the two of them again. They still tasted like chocolate. It was the best thing he’d ever tasted.
“Rin,” he panted after a moment. His voice cracked. “Rin, dear, you are killing me.”
Rin's eyes closed again as soon as Arquis's mouth came to theirs, and they tugged him closer. When Arquis pulled back again, they opened their eyes again. "You're the one killing me, darling, with all your teasing."
(going to bed, good night!)
(goodnight!!)
Arquis kissed the tip of their nose and shook his head. He was blushing like he hadn’t just made Rin beg. If someone walked in, they would almost think that he was the innocent one in the whole scenario; he looked downright shy.
“I do not think,” he paused to clear his throat, which made his voice a low rasp, “you understand what you do to me, love. Even when I am the one leading.”
He shivered very faintly, shaking his head again. "Mm. Well. You were teasing me, you awful man." They laughed a little bit, kissing Arquis's cheek softly. "You're absolutely awful, and now you're trying to blame it on me? Absolutely not." He laughed again, holding onto Arquis.
Arquis stole another deep kiss, and when he broke it off, he groaned. “It is absolutely your fault. You walk around looking divine…” His lips parted slightly before he kissed them again. He sighed as he pulled away, looking them over. “So tempting, love…” He moved his hands down until they were at that spot they’d been before. They fit so well in those curves before Rin’s hips. His breath hitched as he kissed his forehead. “Gorgeous. Just gorgeous.”
He remembered what he’d said the other day in the carriage. They were corrupting him in the best possible way. He never wanted to stop.
He took a deep breath, brows knotting very faintly. "I…Arquis, please do not phrase it like that." he breathed. "The…walking." they hated to break this moment but at the same time it was so similar to some of the things Lysander used to say to justify what he had done, telling Rin that it wasn't Lysander's fault that Rin's young body was just so very tempting, it wasn't Lysander's fault that he could not resist them. And he knew, he knew that what Arquis was saying and meaning was not the same, but he still couldn't do it. Couldn't stand hearing those words from his partner's mouth. "I am sorry, I just…I cannot…" he pressed their face to Arquis's throat, taking a deep breath.
Arquis froze for a minute, feeling his chest tighten and his heart plunge into his stomach. He stumbled back a few steps and forced his gaze to a spot in the wall beside them. His eyes were practically burning a hole into the marble, but his face felt hotter.
“Oh, Rin, I apologize. I was not thinking how that would sound, I did not- I did not mean to- but I understand. How it sounded, it was not- I should have phrased it differently.” He shuffled another step away, then another, trying to give him space. His back slammed into the door. “No, I should not have said it at all. It was not a good thing to say. It was meant to be teasing, but it was in poor taste. Very poor taste. Knowing your history- no, that is incorrect. Even if I did not know your history, I should not have said it.”
Rin reached out as soon as Arquis stumbled away. "No– no, Arquis, lovely, you don't need to pull away from me, and you do not need to be sorry." they took a few steps to take Arquis's hands in theirs. "I was only trying to communicate that I cannot…that…I know what you meant, darling, I promise I do."
“You do not have to comfort me, my dear. It is I who should be comforting you. What I said was careless.”
Arquis shivered and pulled his hands from their grip. Logically, he knew that Rin wasn’t going to hurt him, but his mind was still prepared for a physical punishment for his mistake. He worried his hands together to remind himself that his gloves were still on. They couldn’t hurt him through them. Well, he technically could—the material was thin—but it would take a lot of force, and Rin wasn’t holding anything dangerous. He quickly glanced behind them to ensure that the spa cart was out of reach, then scolded himself for it internally. He’d hurt them. It wasn’t the other way around.
“Are you alright?” He forced himself to look at him, scanning their face.
Rin did not try to take Arquis's hands again, letting him have the space he needed. "I'm fine, darling, please, this does not need to be…to be troublesome. I was only telling you that I did not want myself described like that. I know you did not mean it that way." he said quietly.