“Ever since I was small, I’ve used powerful potions so frequently, it changed the very makeup of my body. Perhaps it’s a bit like the scars you bear.”
✦ ✦ ✦
She’d always been fond of the scent, but that revelation made it all the more acute. She longed to bask in it forever, and smelling it alone was hardly enough.
Nanao increased the strength of her embrace, and sensing that mute request, Oliver asked, “…Do you want to, Nanao? Here, now?”
His fingers played with her hair, the nape of her neck. He already knew the answer to his question. Nanao peeled her face from his abdomen, looking up through her lashes.
“Desperately. Do you even realize it has been an entire week since we last indulged?”
“With Guy’s mess in the middle—”
His excuses were silenced with a kiss. The astonishing heat of her lips momentarily eased all concerns occupying his mind. She’d been waiting for that, he realized, so he kissed her back with love and gratitude. Every last nerve focused on their lips alone, the world around them melting away.
For a long moment, they remained like that, locked in an embrace, then his fingertips tapped Nanao’s back. She blinked and peeled away. They were reflected in each other’s eyes, awash with ardor and exaltation, a mere confirmation that the prelude was done.
But before they got down to business, a reminder—one Oliver barely managed to get out.
“…They’ll be joining us in two hours. We can’t exactly take our time.”
“Then let us make up for it with vigor. Any requests?”
“Any number of them, but first—let’s get you sated.”
No further confirmations required—Oliver got to work. Time was limited, but some things could not be rushed. Mages paid no heed to wrinkled clothes, so Oliver didn’t need to undress Nanao right away to hide the evidence. He applied stimulus in stages, an extension of standard healing: from her back to her sides, from her sides to her breasts—then a jump to her ears. No surprises there—this was a process they’d discovered together in their endeavors.
“…Mmff…”
As he nibbled on her earlobe, Nanao writhed, as ticklish as it was pleasurable. Not about to go down without a fight, she wrapped her lips around the side of his neck. Oliver’s shoulder quivered, and a breath escaped him.
He could not let his guard down for a second. Nanao was never one to let him keep the lead. There were signs she viewed this as a contest to see which of them could get the other off first. Accepting her offensive, Oliver was obligated to maintain his own technical performance. This was easier said than done, but always fun. An extension of their usual play, the pleasure and safety of it always a comfort.
“!”
But then some static interfered. Nanao’s shirt unbuttoned, he parted the cloth, revealing a bra that Katie had likely chosen for her. His hands were around her back to unfasten it, but as her well-shaped breasts came into view, something flicked across his mind.
The events in his dorm, Pete waiting for him in girls’ clothes, everything he’d said, the two options presented to Oliver, and, helpless to resist, their bodies mingling after. That had not been an isolated incident, and they still lay together.
Oliver’s skin was not thick enough, nor was his mind nimble enough to put that all away and drown himself in Nanao alone.
“You are keeping secrets from me…?” Nanao whispered, surmising as much.
Oliver ceased all motion, freezing up. For a moment, he looked ready to cry. Anguished at his inability to share, his heart splitting with the urge to spill everything. He had to respond somehow. She’d asked, and he had to answer, but not a single word came to mind. He could not tell her, but his heart could not bear to paint it over with a coat of lies, even though he had done as much countless times before.
As he found himself trapped in a desperate corner, Nanao’s finger pressed to Oliver’s lips. He blinked, and she smiled pleasantly, like a calm ocean beneath a clear blue sky.
“Say not a word. I will not inquire. Since the moment we first met, your depths have been obscured—this is merely one more mystery they conceal.”
With that, she put her arms around Oliver’s head, not hesitating to pull him to her bare breasts. Wrapped in her soft flesh and warmth, comforted unconditionally, Oliver felt tears welling up in his eyes, and he could not stave off the sobs. Nanao accepted all of it, hugging him ever tighter.
“Whatever it is, I do not mind,” she murmured. “That is but a piece of the man I love. Just…when you are ready, share it with me. Spare no thought to delicacy or fear.”
He did not need to tell her, but he had permission to do so at any time. That was the one way she could offer him salvation. Arms shaking, he managed to return the embrace. He longed to thank her, but that was beyond him now. He simply spoke her name, as if that said everything.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
“…Nanao…”
“Mm, I am here. I am here for you, Oliver.”
Her arms tightened around him again. Not poking his wounds, not even trying to locate them. Simply aligning herself with his pain—quietly, gently devoting herself to the boy she loved.