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I love me some gen threads, especially funny or drama-filled ones, but I am also shamelessly here for shipping AUs. The general Liem-shipping vibe is "I want more than this, but I shouldn't & they can't possibly want me back," so if you're into that, I've got what you need. His default setting is very D&D-like high fantasy, but I'm comfortable playing him in modern fantasy settings as well. Pretty much any prompt can also accommodate Liem being a full vampire instead of a dhampir, if that's your thing.

Prompts for inspiration:
• Arranged Marriage: Liem's shady vampire family has arranged his marriage to you, but he seems a rather reluctant fiance.
• Bodyguard Shipping: It's Liem's duty to keep you safe and out of trouble, possibly despite your best efforts.
• Companion to Royalty: Reclusive vampire king Liem and YOU! Are you a gift from a local power? Sacrifice from the townsfolk? Or did you just stumble up the road to his castle during a storm?
• Enemies to Lovers: Maybe Liem is a foreign agent trying to sabotage your country or organization. Or maybe you're rebelling against the current regime and he's trying to take you in.
• Fake Dating/Fake Married: A relationship is your cover story while you're travelling for some secret reason. Gotta keep up appearances.
• Hunter & Hunted: Are you a hunter trying to track Liem down? Or a snack that proved more than he bargained for?
• Hurt (Comfort Optional): Whether he's hurt, sick, drugged, or just upset, two things remain constant: Liem needs help, and he doesn't want to accept it. But maybe you don't want to fix him anyway; maybe you want to make him worse.
• Living a Lie: Whether you're undercover on a mission, or you lied to cover something up and now you have to commit, you're stuck playing a role until you accomplish some secret objective — or until you can shake off your nosy company.
• Loss of Control: For whatever reason, one of you is struggling not to go berserk — or perhaps has already failed. If it's Liem, can you help him come back to himself, or are you the one pushing him over the edge?
• Out of the Frying Pan: The classic "tried to help someone in trouble, ended up with a new and possibly worse problem" situation. But at least you're in it together!
• Priest/Celibacy: Default here is that Liem is the priest, but it could go the other way. Smutty, or just laden with UST? You decide.
• Texting: Stupid TFLN-style text threads, my beloved...
• Random Scenario: For if none of the above tickle your fancy.

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[ Cardan is ever greedy for the tight clutch of Liem's body; when his fingers press inside him, there is no helping the avid hunger that sparks through him, breathless and heady. His teeth slide against the elegant line of Liem's neck, a graze rather than a bite, caging the pant of his heavy breaths.

Then Cardan does bite him: in the crook of his neck, careful and deliberate, though he knows he will draw no blood. Still: he will busy himself with the valiant effort of sucking marks onto Liem's skin, for the hour or so that they might stay.

But then, fleeting pleasures are all the more precious for it. ]

Why did you? [ he will ask, between ardent kisses.

He can't help it. He wants to know. Once seems like such a long time ago, an eternity and a half, when things were so different they might as well have been different people entirely. And still-- ]

You'd half convinced me you were either shy or celibate.

[Liem cannot quite stop himself from moving against his husband when those hot, slick fingers press inside him, or when Cardan's teeth skim over and then bite the sensitive skin of his neck. His wrists move restlessly beneath Cardan's grip, wanting to encircle him, to roam his body and clutch him near. Already he misses the luxury of having Cardan at the mercy of his hands and his mouth, brief though it was.

But there is a kind of pleasure, too, in having his husband frustrate his desires. Hunger simmers just beneath his skin, flaring hot with each ardent kiss Cardan sucks against his throat and with each silken slide of his fingers. A stifled groan, wanting and impatient, becomes a breathless chuckle at the words breathed against his skin.]

Because I mistrusted your intentions.

[And he was not inclined to make Cardan's task easier by giving into his whims in service of whatever mischief he might have had planned. Which, as it turned out, was a reasonable suspicion to have. In the end he had tripped right before the finish line, so to speak, but nonetheless…]

And because I didn't want to let myself touch you until we'd resolved our disagreement.

[ Cardan's eyebrows twitch upward; the first answer makes sense, but the second is thoroughly puzzling. Their disagreement, as Liem calls it, had been about rejection in the first place; he does not see how Liem could have solved it by denying him his touch.

How lucky that they are past that unfortunate stage in their acquaintance. He chases that delicious little groan with the curl and spread of his fingers, insistent on being exactingly thorough. He wants them again, those desperate breaths -- wants the taut strain of Liem's desire, wants the triumph of being the one who teased it out of him. For some moments, that is all that occupies his focus.

Still, eventually he will lift his head, careful not to put undue pressure on the deceptively delicate bones of Liem's wrists. Cardan wants to look at him; when his eyes search Liem's face, his frown is caught somewhere between desire and bewilderment. ]

And which one of us were you punishing?

Ah—

[Liem's breath slides out of him again, caught a little off-guard, as Cardan continues to make a determined pursuit of his want and his pleasure. If his husband must get the better of him, this is the game he prefers to play; the difference between those first weeks of their marriage and the ones that came after is that he is happy to give Cardan his desire and even his desperation, when his husband's victory doesn't come at his own expense.

Though even on occasions when his desperation has been paired with frustration and denial, ultimately he must admit to liking that, too. At this point, he doubts that there is anything he wouldn't happily suffer at Cardan's hands, so long as his husband's lips were still warm and wanting on his skin.]

You ask this now?

[Liem can't summon much proper incredulity when he is kept so rapt by Cardan's touch, but he manages at least a little frown of his own, for the fact that Cardan has leant back up to ask a question like that in the midst of sex.]

It wasn't meant to be a punishment.

[Perhaps this is one of those areas where Liem's idea of courtesy is simply bewildering and annoying to his husband, but he doesn't see why they should need to revisit it while they're so distinctly occupied.]

You told me this puzzling thing now.

[ Nevermind that Cardan had asked the initial question. Though he has to concede Liem's point -- there are better things to occupy his thoughts with. It's difficult to cast his mind to that first, drawn-out month of dancing around each other with coy touches when he has Liem right here, gloriously bare, his in almost every way that counts.

He sighs and presses his mouth to the slant of Liem's collarbone, his jaw. It's a conciliatory gesture -- or would be, were he not to grin his sharp little grin and murmur forebodingly, ]

But you are welcome to keep your riddles, husband. So long as you stay.

[ There is an emphasis on the last word -- a gentle tightening of Cardan's hand on Liem's wrists before it disappears altogether. He means, instead, to touch them both, and the shiver that rocks through him when his fingers wrap around both their cocks is that of a man who has gone slightly too long without touch. His teeth press into his lip before he catches his composure on a ragged breath, tail trembling behind him.

So long as Liem stays. So long as he offers Cardan his wrists, the tight clutch of his body, and a myriad of other things Cardan has no right to demand of him. ]

[Liem cannot be cross with Cardan when his touch remains so impossible to ignore, and especially when his lips dip down again to press against his skin. He does not see how he has told any riddles for his husband to puzzle over, but by the way his head tips against the plush fur under the attention of his mouth, he is content to forget it until another time, when his mind isn't so immediately occupied.]

Mm. I'm yours to command.

[The murmur is meant to be a little flip, but it comes out too soft and too breathless to seem anything but sincere. And even when Cardan's hand slides between their bodies to wrap around them both, even as Liem's fingers clench and clutch at nothing and his breath catches in his chest, he keeps his arms just where they are, wrists resting just above the tousle of his hair.

This, finally, is just what he'd wanted when he'd brought him here, to this house, to this study. This is what he's wanted almost every time he's had more than a fleeting moment alone with his husband: that sharp, covetous look, that unhesitating demand for more of him — his obedience, his body, whatever he has to give. Cardan had promised to let him worry about restraint, and that is just fine, because Liem doesn't want his husband to be restrained when it comes to him. He wants his demanding touch and his hungry mouth and his intent, unwavering regard.

No matter how much of Cardan's desire he has, he ever remains starved for more.]

I know.

[ He says it with the solemnity of an oath. He can't even be arrogant about it -- not when he's like this, strung taut with need, every sense full of his husband. The conversation recedes into irrelevance; what does it matter that they didn't fuck for a full month when he's about to have Liem all to himself?

He's not patient about it. He'd wanted to be -- wanted to tease, to fuck Liem open and spread him with his fingers until he was pliant and sweet and desperate for Cardan's cock -- and yet. Liem's soft acquiescence has pressed on some wanting, ardent part of him, responsive as a bruise. He permits himself one more luxurious stroke, another-- and then his hand pulls away, clutches at his husband's hip instead. ]

Liem, [ he says, as he withdraws his fingers from inside him. It's not quite warning and not quite question; he only wants Liem to look at him.

But then, he always wants Liem to look at him.

How greedy they both have become. He dips down to bring his face close, arm braced just above Liem's shoulder as his other scrabbles for the vial of oil again, finding it in the plush fur of the rug. ]

[Of course Cardan knows: that Liem is his, that he can ask whatever he likes of him. It should be obvious from the way Liem arches into his stroking, the way he melts against the rug as Cardan works him open, the way his lashes dip heavily and his breath slides unsteadily from his throat. His husband could demand anything he pleased, and he would gladly give it to him, just for a smile or a word of praise.

That should be no secret, while they're like this. But he doesn't stop being Cardan's when they're both properly clothed and busy with other matters, and perhaps Cardan knows that too.

A soft, bereft gasp slips from him, a little surprised, when Cardan pulls free already — and he feels simultaneously like his husband has only just started touching him and like he cannot possibly go another moment without Cardan inside him again. Liem's heavy-lidded gaze lights on him as soon as he hears his name, glittering with fire-light and a hungry excitement as Cardan leans down again to where Liem is stretched obediently against the rug. Despite every temptation to act to the contrary, he leaves his wrists where they are, and simply tips his face up to ghost his lips against the corner of Cardan's mouth.

A little impatiently, he breathes,] I want to touch you.

[ He looks-- Cardan sucks in a breath, caught a little off guard by him. Liem is so lovely like this, with his usually neat hair tousled and the flickering light warm on his skin, but it's the look he gives Cardan -- that hungry, wanting stare -- that makes need flare hot inside him. It makes his heart pound with his impatience all over again; it makes him want to tell Liem all the soft, fragile things he shouldn't speak out loud.

And still, a smile flickers on his face, impossible to contain. ]

You are touching me.

[ After all, are they not chest-to-chest, but a breath apart from each other? Are Liem's lips not whispering over his skin? For just another moment, Cardan stays there, watching him, drawing out the tease just one moment longer.

Then he shifts, oil-slick hand sliding up Liem's leg so he can position himself between his thighs, his cock slick with the oil, pressed against him -- but not in, not yet. His eyes search Liem's face; he doesn't move. ]

Be specific, Liem.

[ And if affection curls around the words, if it ruins a little of his stern taskmaster tone, so be it. ]

[Amusement and frustration war in Liem as Cardan smiles down at him, poised on the very edge of giving him what they both want. He can feel the heat of the body stretched over his, tempting him to arch up from the rug, to slide his arms about his husband and fit himself against him more fully. The oil-slick slide of the hand up his thigh sends a shiver of want racing down his spine, spiking low in his belly as Cardan presses against his entrance.

He wants more of his husband — wants his cock inside him, wants the press of his body and the slide of his hands and the hungry heat of his mouth. When Cardan makes him wait, impatience twitches his brows together — but the absence aching through him is shadowed by a helpless affection, softening his groan into a sigh.]

I want to touch more of you, you pedant.

[Despite himself, he's caught by the intent look that Cardan drags over him. It makes answering him with any sophistication challenging, occupied as he is with the temptation to take Cardan's face in his hands and kiss him until he's left gasping. Even that wouldn't unsteady him as much as having to weather that regard, which makes him feel like his chest has been cracked open and laid bare for his perusal.

His wrists shift against the soft fur beneath him, restless, almost desperate.]

I want to touch you with my hands. I want to hold onto you. I want to have you.

[ He laughs again, unreservedly delighted at the ire he's coaxed out of his oh-so-patient spouse. He likes Liem like this -- likes that, even though he's cross with Cardan, he has not moved, hasn't relinquished his adherence to the rules of the game. Never would he have expected his stiffly formal groom to be so permissive of Cardan's mischief.

It looks dazzlingly good on him, that frustrated self-discipline. ]

More of me than you already command?

[ He doesn't wait for an answer. The hand on Liem's thigh tightens; Cardan's hips shift as he finally, finally presses inside him. For a few breaths, all thoughts flee his head entirely, drowned out by tightness, by friction, by the pleasure of having all of Liem. Suddenly he, too, is hungry to have those cool hands on him, soothing his overheated skin. He swallows hard, his breathing ragged against Liem's jaw; his eyes cannot help but slip shut.

When he can look at his husband again, the smile is gone. In its place is a desire he feels is too obvious, too earnest and naked, and yet-- ]

Touch me, then.

[ It's not permission so much as demand. ]

And you may have whatever you wish of me.

[There is likely no degree of vexation that could make Liem fail to appreciate the laugh he coaxes from his husband, even if it is a little bit at his own expense. Delight just looks so good on him, like moonlight breaking through cloud cover — especially because, of late, he has had so little time to delight Cardan as he would like. And in their day to day, which has proven so fatiguing to his spouse, there is little to be delighted by.

And still, even in the midst of this moment they have stolen for themselves, he is greedy for more. Of course the answer to his husband's question could only ever be yes.

But even that is driven from his thoughts by Cardan finally pressing into him, the hard heat of him making Liem's eyes flicker wide and his breath catch in his throat. The instruction keeping his wrists above his head suddenly seems beyond intolerable; it is not enough to simply have Cardan atop him as he fucks him open. The need to hold him claws its way out of him like an animal.

Liem's hands find their way to him before he has even finished speaking: running over his shoulders, curling in his hair. He finds his breath again, brushes it in unsteady murmurs against Cardan's skin, in between kisses to his mouth, to the line of his jaw. It is all he can do, drowned as he is in him.]

This, Cardan. Just this.

[ Liem is right: it is just this. It's the touch of familiar hands in his hair; it's Liem's mouth, gentle and restless against his; it's the way he looks when Cardan slides inside him, as if he'd done something astonishing. When Cardan moves in Liem, it's less choice and more compulsion, a pull so inexorable he could not have stopped it any more than he could have stopped breathing.

It's a good thing Liem's hands are in his hair; if they hadn't been, if they had still been crossed above his head, Cardan would have wanted to twine his fingers through Liem's. Instead, they curl in the soft fur of the rug, restless.

He doesn't hurry. He doesn't want to hurry -- he intends to press Liem into the soft rug and feel the entire gorgeous landscape of his body beneath his own, and he wants to fuck him into said rug so achingly slow and deliberate as to drive both of them a little insane. He wants to stretch this moment out-- as if making it last will forestall the forward march of time and the relentless rise of the sun in the sky. For the first time in what feels like ever, Cardan feels something akin to lucky. To be here, warm and safe and luxuriant, to have every nerve in his body singing with pleasure, to have Liem look like that, feel like that-- it is more luck than his cruddy deeds have earned him, certainly.

But he'll take it anyway. He'll take it fiercely, and he'll hold on for as long as he can, selfishly and without remorse. ]

[The heat of Cardan's body fitted against his is ever a balm to Liem's frayed, taut nerves. He yields to him with a sigh, submitting to the caress of his mouth and the slow, luxurious friction of Cardan moving inside him. Like a summer storm, warm and vibrant and capricious, he saturates his senses — and Liem steeps himself in him readily, letting Cardan press him into the rug and have him one deliberate, unhurried stroke at a time.

It is sweet torture to draw this out slowly for once. He cannot entirely restrain the restlessness of his hips moving against him, or the soft, aching murmurs of his want, pressed against the elegant column of Cardan's throat. Cool fingers caress the nape of his neck; a gentle hand smooths covetously over his back. But Liem does not beg him to hurry, because as much as he craves the feverish heat of Cardan's desire, he does not want their intimacy to end, and be claimed again by the necessities that rule the rest of their waking hours.

He is not done holding his husband, or pressing those lingering kisses against his skin. He is not ready to relinquish the only sweet thing he has found time to indulge with Cardan in weeks of living with him. Because his husband so clearly wants for tenderness, and he so wishes to give it to him.]

[ For once, Cardan does not flinch from Liem's gentle touch; for once, the strange, awkward tension doesn't coil in his belly or shiver up his spine at the slide of those careful hands, at the soft mouth on his throat. He only sighs into it, quiet and wanting, and rolls his hips to meet Liem's impatience. Desire sings through him, builds until he feels full of it, like he's breathing it out with each stroke. He has to turn his face, to lean down and kiss Liem properly, thoroughly-- and it is difficult to be patient, just then, with his husband pressed so close against and around him, the silken clutch of his body teasing at Cardan's resolve. ]

Liem, [ he says again, just to say it, voice a little breathless and rough from wanting. And if his hand slides between their bodies, if slick fingers wrap around Liem again, it is only because his husband looks so pretty when he arches back against the plush fur. It's only because Cardan feels compelled to chase Liem's pleasure far more ardently than he ever chased his own. It fascinates him each time his so-collected spouse comes undone, so easy and pliant against Cardan's hands. He's jealous of every lover who has seen Liem thus; as ever, Cardan wants all of his things to be only his own. As always, he is greedy in his desire.

But Liem doesn't have to know these things about him. He doesn't have to know how desperate Cardan has become for his attention, how difficult it would be to give it up again. If they're very lucky, perhaps he'll never find out. ]

[Something about the soft breath that sighs from Cardan at the touch of Liem's hands quickens a quiet ache in his chest. It recalls him to the feel of raven-black hair beneath his fingers, and Cardan leaning into his idle stroking as they gazed together at early-autumn stars. It feels seductively like ease — like trust. For all that he wouldn't know what to do with Cardan's trust if he had it, the feeling sinks roots of want into him nonetheless.

What he does do is meet Cardan's kiss with barely leashed impatience, the demanding edge of his hunger tempered with sweetness. The sound of his name on Cardan's lips sends a pang of longing down his spine, makes his arm tighten around him, keeping him close as he kisses him again, and then again. He shudders against him, want escaping his throat on the soft edge of a whine, when slick fingers find him to slide along his cock. With each twinned stroke need for his husband fills him up, until he's wire-taut and gasping with it, until he can't think of anything else.]

Cardan—

[It slips out, breathlessly, as he tips his head back against the plush fur, low-lidded eyes caught by Cardan's black ones. The heat stoked in him feels enough to set him ablaze, enough to melt him into the rug spread out beneath them. He doesn't quite know how it hasn't driven him mad.]

I know, [ he breathes, and it feels like he does. Like there is something about Liem that he can parse only like this, only when they're both poised on this keen, impossibly sharp edge of need and aching tenderness. Like a secret language he forgets every time they're not bare and moving against each other in desperate cohort, when he's not soaked in pleasure so intense, he forgets to be remote. ]

I know, [ he says again, because the look in Liem's pale eyes shivers through him, leaves him breathless and stupid with wanting. He wants so many things at once: wants to pin him down under the assault of his mouth and his hands and the heavy, indulgent press of his cock; wants to bury himself in Liem and simply stay, nestled close, feeling the flutter of his irregular breaths, keeping them both teetering on the blade's edge of their desire. He wants, and he wants, and he wants, with no end in sight for his terrible longing. ]

You turn me into such an unreasonable creature, [ he tells Liem with the solemnity of a sacred confession, before kissing him again. And his hands stay gentle; and the rhythm of his hips stays slow, steady, torturously tender, because it is about time that Liem knows the taste of what he so often inflicts on Cardan. ]

[Liem doesn't know how he's meant to weather Cardan when he's like this. He doesn't know how he's meant to withstand the solemn, breathless voice, or the gentle hands, or the slow and measured slide of Cardan's body against his, and still remember that their marriage is only one of convenience. His senses are so full of him, and his thoughts so empty of anything else. He needs him with a desperation made more all-consuming by Cardan's absolute refusal to give in to haste.]

Cardan, [he murmurs again, helplessly urgent. Pleasure makes his every nerve sing as he moves beneath his husband, back bowing against the rug in answer to slow, indulgent strokes. His clutching fingers leave stark lines against Cardan's back and shoulders as he tries not to simply crumble entirely.

Never in his life has he wanted anyone's touch so much, or been so tormented by receiving precisely what he desired.]

Oh—

[He breathes it between achingly soft kisses that belie the feral need in his grip. No thought remains in him for being clever, or wise, or even coherent. He simply wants, with an intensity that leaves no room for anything else.]

Oh, I can't. Cardan, please—

[ The searing stroke of Liem’s fingers rolls through him like thunder; he doesn’t expect it, isn’t prepared for it, and the assault of sharp pleasure nearly undoes him entirely. Cardan’s knuckles go white where his hand is braced against the rug; his breath stutters, as does his rhythm. For an aching moment, he stills entirely.

His mouth finds Liem’s throat, slides along the pale column of it, pressing heated kisses to cool skin. ]

Demanding, [ he’ll accuse, with a fondness that belies his teasing, ] and impatient.

[ The demanding, impatient man will find Cardan’s hand sliding down his thigh, fingers curling close to his knee so Cardan can urge him to bend it up, shifting the angle of his hips in a way that makes Cardan shiver and take in a desperate breath, his forehead pressing against Liem’s. ]

…and mine, [ he breathes, shamelessly greedy, before his hips pull back to thrust inside his husband with driven, hard force. If this is what Liem wants, if this is what he’s asking for, then he can have it — Cardan having him, claiming him with all of his savage longing and selfish possessiveness. ]

[A low, needy sound slips from Liem as Cardan pauses his rhythm entirely to trail a line of kisses along his throat, each one a bloom of heated pleasure on oversensitized skin. His husband has a talent for dredging need up from the very depths of him, making him wild with it, until he's beside himself with want for Cardan's hands and Cardan's body, Cardan's mouth, Cardan's cock — but he has not often had the patience to torment Liem with it, and never so sweetly and so gently. Liem's hands on his husband are restless as they roam his back, slide up to plunge again into his hair. His breaths, as he tips his head to accommodate Cardan's mouth, drag heavily in his throat.

He cannot deny a single one of Cardan's accusations — not when he wants so fiercely, and feels so incapable of even pretending otherwise. Liem moves pliantly under his direction, shifting his hips against him with a soft, eager breath. And when his spouse fucks into him again, hard and unrepentantly greedy, the force of Liem's pleasure and his desperate relief makes his fingers tighten urgently in Cardan's hair.]

Yes, [he gasps, clutching Cardan close as he rolls his hips to meet his thrust. He has to dig his teeth into his lip, not just to muffle the moan that threatens to spill from him, but to keep the soft, foolish things that want to spill out with it to himself. Because he has never felt so soft and foolish as he does now, wrapped around Cardan as a warm and tender bliss fills him up stroke by stroke, claiming every inch of him and pushing him ruthlessly closer to his climax.]

[ He doesn't know what Liem is assenting to -- probably the newly voracious tempo of Cardan's fucking, and not the things he said. It doesn't matter. It's not like he needs Liem to confirm what he knows: Cardan's husband is his, for better or for worse, no matter how pragmatic their marriage nor how bloodless their vows. Even if it is selfish for Cardan to claim him -- he has, he does, each time he moves in him, pressing into the tight grip of his body, chasing the pleasure that clutches at them both. Cardan claims him with his hands and with his mouth and with his cock, relentlessly, breathless with avarice.

He doesn't question why he should want this. Even if he were interested in that kind of introspection, he's too caught up in Liem's touch and in his taste, in the way the firelight paints softness over his features. The restless fingers winding in his hair make him shiver, hard, and it's all he can do to watch Liem as they rock closer to the edge of absolute need, breathlessly entwined.

Something in his chest clutches jealously at the press of sharp teeth against Liem's lip, and he doesn't question that, either. And soon enough, it doesn't matter-- soon enough, all he knows is the relentless, overwhelming pleasure that builds and builds and builds until he can only let it crash over him, and hope he takes Liem with him. ]

[Left gasping by the change in Cardan's rhythm, Liem is thrust headlong into the relentlessly overfilled well of his own pleasure, drowned in the slide of their bodies and the brush of hot breath against his skin. He lacks room for all the tender, aching wants that Cardan has stirred up inside him; they build up atop each other until he feels frantic with them, until the pressure of his pleasure and his desire eclipses everything else, and he can only arch back against the rug as his climax overtakes him, his husband's name spilling thoughtlessly, fervently from his lips.

For one long, bright moment, the world narrows to just the heat and friction of Cardan's body, and himself wrapped covetously around him. He cares only for warm, damp skin and dark curls and the bewitching face that is already stamped into his mind's eye, to haunt him even when Cardan is elsewhere. His palm slides from his husband's hair to cup his cheek instead, as he tips his face to steal another breathless kiss.

It takes a while more for him to recall trivial things like their location on his study floor, or the encroaching presence of dawn, or how to construct complex sentences. But fortunately they are in no hurry, and he has the pleasure of Cardan draped over him while he regains his faculties, one by one. He is content in the glow of the fire and the warm, comfortable feeling that settles heavily over him in the wake of their lovemaking, overlaid with that tender affection that remains stubbornly rooted in his chest no matter how soundly his body's wants are satisfied.

It is bewildering and exasperating all at once — or will be, once he locates the part of him that recalls how to be vexed with things. But still.]

Never have I enjoyed such sweet torment, [he murmurs, tracing his thumb idly over Cardan's cheekbone,] as at your merry hands.

[ He recalls the heat of it, later; heat, and the sound of his name, and the graceful arch of Liem's body into his, and his own savage need-- and then he is lost, wild and unfettered for a glorious moment as cool lips quench the heat rising off of his skin. It surprises him each time, just how much he's capable of wanting; he's frightened that one day he'll tell Liem all about it, give himself up willingly to whatever whims his husband might have for his desire.

But not so today.

In the after, while catching his breath, Cardan performs his usual trick of melting in place against Liem's chest, sprawled luxuriously over him before the fire. He feels like a lizard sunning himself against the heat, and the occasional shiver that overtakes him is but a testament to the aftermath of his pleasure.

He is close to slipping into slumber when the quiet rumble of Liem's voice pulls him back. Cardan turns his face from where he'd tucked it against Liem's shoulder, eyes opening to black slivers. He observes him, framed by soft shadows and post-coital glow, and has to fight a sudden urge to say something embarrassing about Liem's beauty (which he is surely not unaware of) or the strange fascination he provokes in Cardan's hitherto shrivelled-up heart.

Instead, his eyebrow quirks. ]

Only my hands, Liem? There is so much of me that delights in tormenting you.

[ An absolutely normal thing to admit to. He tilts his face to nuzzle into Liem's hand like a sleepy cat demanding to be petted. ]

Though I am pleased to be the wickedest of your lovers.

[ That's not what Liem said, but Cardan assumes it is true, anyway. ]

[Liem doesn't quite understand how his husband, who in motion is so breathtaking with poise and mischief and menace, evokes from him such endearment whenever he is at rest. The contentment he gleans from simply lying with him in the fire's glow, wrapped around him while Cardan melts against his chest, unsettles him with its immediate, drugging intensity. Of late, doing so has invited fragile little wants to take up residence next to his heart, and he's afraid that one day they'll grow to consume every part of him.

And still, when his husband turns to nuzzle into his touch, he can only surrender to the ache in his chest as his fingers wander Cardan's skin to caress the shell of his ear. Fond amusement lifts the corners of his mouth as he regards him.]

I can tell.

[Enigma though Cardan can sometimes be, the delight he takes in menacing his husband has ever been plain. But Liem is hardly alone in receiving this dubious honour; it's not like Cardan refrains from menacing the other vampires he crosses paths with. Liem just happens to be the one he's married to.

Which is just everyone else's loss, really, as Liem isn't inclined to share.]

You wear everything well, including your villainy.

[ Somehow, despite feeling thoroughly boneless, Cardan manages to prop himself up on an elbow so that he can look at Liem more fully. His gaze sweeps his husband’s profile, noting the way the firelight caresses the elegant line of his cheekbone, his throat. He raises his hand to run light fingertips over the curve of Liem’s mouth. He looks alarmingly attractive like this, with his hair a little wild, framed by the luxuriant rug.

Cardan thinks his husband could stand to be nude and draped in opulence more often.

His grin is warm, unencumbered by worry or the need for his usual sharp edges. He’s going to echo a question Liem had posed earlier in the night. ]

Is that what you find most alluring about me?

[ Well, he still has one forfeit left to demand from Liem, if they play by the rules of the previous game. And even if they didn’t, Cardan is curious. Out of all the people who might celebrate his wickedness, his husband always seems the most unexpected. ]

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