07-16-2017, 10:59 PM
Polaris
He does not understand her breathlessness, does not understand when her eyes fall like amber stars from a face she suddenly cannot look at. But maybe she does not understand either, cannot name the reason her heart is suddenly heading for her throat and beating so fast. A million butterflies trapped in her chest. He nuzzles her gently and lifts her chin higher, guides her eyes back to his face where they settle warm and shy and soft against a color like damp steel. Not his eyes though, not yet. A breath and she steadies a little, lifts her eyes a little higher until they are lost in a blue the sky should be so envious of.
Oh.
She is glad when their foreheads press together, when he stops watching the truths swimming like fish back and forth between eyes the color of crushed gold. It gives her a chance to steady herself, to let that nervous hum in her chest quiet so that he will not notice when she moves closer again to tuck herself against his chest. She does and he pulls her close in that reflexive way, tucks his chin across such delicate teal withers in an embrace she has memorized. Her skin fogs beneath his breath, the teal fading with every exhalation into something softer, something less translucent and strange.
She touches his shoulder, nuzzles close and needing because all this uncertainty makes her feel so fragile. Makes her wonder and doubt and fight a quiet in her chest that she does not want to submit to. She finds his neck next, traces the long hollowed line of muscle beneath the pale and purple. When the muscle tenses beneath her touch she is uncertain at first, pauses just above his skin so only the tepid heat of her sweet breath gathers there. Her weight shifts and she turns her face to find his, to find those eyes she loves - but they are staring straight ahead and focused, they don’t drop to her at all. She winces inwardly, traces the tension in his clenched jaw with eyes that are soft and uncertain. Had she done something wrong? He’d never minded her closeness before.
So she steps back and away, a hint of apology in the delicate hollows of that twinkling teal face. Instead she takes a lock of his mane between her lips, tugs softly and backs away, but she cannot seem to pry her eyes from him. He follows so easily, so willingly, silent despite the way the water slaps and splashes against her strange, glowing skin. They continue to wade deeper, her stepping backward into the watery unknown, him following in a prowl, and she cannot help the way her eyes submit softly to the intensity of his gaze locked on hers. It feels electric, all goosebumps and shivers and she is glad he only seems focused on her face right now.
Teach me.
He nods without breaking eye contact, has no idea how the weight of his gravity is crushing her, turning glass to dust until the teal spills from her and into the water. She steps close again (it’s his fault, his doing) and touches a smile to his neck, coaxes him closer even as she pulls away into deeper water. But he reaches out, too, buries his nose in her mane, teases the pale purple strands until he is at her neck beneath it. He kisses her.
He’s kissed her a hundred times, it’s nothing new, nothing different. Except maybe her heart disagrees because it’s thrumming and wild and suddenly she’s heaving and staring up at him from beneath a shining, furrowed brow. Do it again, those amber eyes say, touch me again.
No - wait. She takes a step back, still heaving, still watching him so closely, but the motion pulls him out to her and he glides past easily, his legs churning beneath him. As he passes and before he can get too far, she reaches out to press teeth to his hip, a nudge to the skin just behind it with eyes that flash like wet gold. Not too far, not without me. Those eyes say, belying her worry just a little. He turns and nods at her, coaxes her further and she hesitates for only a heartbeat before paddling forward. It feels strange to be so weightless, and that delicate, glistening body seems to sigh at her in relief. It takes her a second to find a rhythm, to keep her legs from snapping together and her chin from dipping below the surface. She bobs haphazardly a few times, but Ruan won’t let her sink too far, doesn’t let her exhaust herself.
She paddles for him now, kicking her legs until she is next to him and sliding up from his hip to his shoulder, nosing at his back and his neck and the familiar curve of his cheek with eyes that are lit with pleasure and maybe just a little adrenaline. Just enough to make her foolish. She swims around to his head, coughs when she bobs again and water splashes in through her mouth and down a throat that isn’t ready. Reaching for him, she touches her nose to the corner of his mouth, traces a line along his jaw and then turns away with a splash, swimming for deeper water. When she turns in a half-circle, bobbing so that the water splashes up over her gleaming face again, there is a new wild in her expression, a playfulness revealed now that her earlier melancholy had been chased away.
Come and get me. Those eyes say when they settle against his face, trap that impossible blue in the warm amber of her own.
Oh.
She is glad when their foreheads press together, when he stops watching the truths swimming like fish back and forth between eyes the color of crushed gold. It gives her a chance to steady herself, to let that nervous hum in her chest quiet so that he will not notice when she moves closer again to tuck herself against his chest. She does and he pulls her close in that reflexive way, tucks his chin across such delicate teal withers in an embrace she has memorized. Her skin fogs beneath his breath, the teal fading with every exhalation into something softer, something less translucent and strange.
She touches his shoulder, nuzzles close and needing because all this uncertainty makes her feel so fragile. Makes her wonder and doubt and fight a quiet in her chest that she does not want to submit to. She finds his neck next, traces the long hollowed line of muscle beneath the pale and purple. When the muscle tenses beneath her touch she is uncertain at first, pauses just above his skin so only the tepid heat of her sweet breath gathers there. Her weight shifts and she turns her face to find his, to find those eyes she loves - but they are staring straight ahead and focused, they don’t drop to her at all. She winces inwardly, traces the tension in his clenched jaw with eyes that are soft and uncertain. Had she done something wrong? He’d never minded her closeness before.
So she steps back and away, a hint of apology in the delicate hollows of that twinkling teal face. Instead she takes a lock of his mane between her lips, tugs softly and backs away, but she cannot seem to pry her eyes from him. He follows so easily, so willingly, silent despite the way the water slaps and splashes against her strange, glowing skin. They continue to wade deeper, her stepping backward into the watery unknown, him following in a prowl, and she cannot help the way her eyes submit softly to the intensity of his gaze locked on hers. It feels electric, all goosebumps and shivers and she is glad he only seems focused on her face right now.
Teach me.
He nods without breaking eye contact, has no idea how the weight of his gravity is crushing her, turning glass to dust until the teal spills from her and into the water. She steps close again (it’s his fault, his doing) and touches a smile to his neck, coaxes him closer even as she pulls away into deeper water. But he reaches out, too, buries his nose in her mane, teases the pale purple strands until he is at her neck beneath it. He kisses her.
He’s kissed her a hundred times, it’s nothing new, nothing different. Except maybe her heart disagrees because it’s thrumming and wild and suddenly she’s heaving and staring up at him from beneath a shining, furrowed brow. Do it again, those amber eyes say, touch me again.
No - wait. She takes a step back, still heaving, still watching him so closely, but the motion pulls him out to her and he glides past easily, his legs churning beneath him. As he passes and before he can get too far, she reaches out to press teeth to his hip, a nudge to the skin just behind it with eyes that flash like wet gold. Not too far, not without me. Those eyes say, belying her worry just a little. He turns and nods at her, coaxes her further and she hesitates for only a heartbeat before paddling forward. It feels strange to be so weightless, and that delicate, glistening body seems to sigh at her in relief. It takes her a second to find a rhythm, to keep her legs from snapping together and her chin from dipping below the surface. She bobs haphazardly a few times, but Ruan won’t let her sink too far, doesn’t let her exhaust herself.
She paddles for him now, kicking her legs until she is next to him and sliding up from his hip to his shoulder, nosing at his back and his neck and the familiar curve of his cheek with eyes that are lit with pleasure and maybe just a little adrenaline. Just enough to make her foolish. She swims around to his head, coughs when she bobs again and water splashes in through her mouth and down a throat that isn’t ready. Reaching for him, she touches her nose to the corner of his mouth, traces a line along his jaw and then turns away with a splash, swimming for deeper water. When she turns in a half-circle, bobbing so that the water splashes up over her gleaming face again, there is a new wild in her expression, a playfulness revealed now that her earlier melancholy had been chased away.
Come and get me. Those eyes say when they settle against his face, trap that impossible blue in the warm amber of her own.
though i never needed any proof to trust the heart that beats inside of you