Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Mine. ❯ Satisfied. ( Chapter 10 )

Warnings: L-E-M-O-N! Thou art thoroughly warned!

 

Pairings: Duh.

 

Disclaimer: Don't own `em, do play with `em.

 

Author's Notes: Here it is, as promised. You should all bow down and worship Eoko, because if it wasn't for her, this fic would be a write-off. Literally. My sister re-formatted my computer, which was all well and good - it runs like a dream now, my little CowBob… Anyway! I moved everything I wanted kept to one folder, and zipped it, then sent it over to my sister's computer, so it was safe. My re-format finished, so my sis could take the disk and do hers, which she did… without moving my files back to my comp first, or burning them to DVD. This fic was among them. Bear in mind the current length of the entire fic is 140-odd pages. I would have had to re-write everything after the last chapter I uploaded, if it wasn't for the fact that Eoko asks for updates every day, and therefore gets the fic about every two pages. -grins- She had all my fanfiction! Yay!

 

Anyway! On with the ficcage!

Mine.- KittyMeowMaxwell.

Chapter Ten - Satisfied.

When Irvine got back to the cave, the fire was barely more than hot coals, and it took him a little time to get it burning again. It was made more difficult by the longing ache between his legs, and the tingle beneath his skin. His eyes slid frequently to the entrance as he dried himself on a fur, then sat on the rest of them.

Prepare yourself, Zell had said, but he didn't know how. His heart hammered in his chest and he didn't know if he desperately wanted to flee, or desperately wanted to stay. Both thoughts conjured the same images, anyway, except that the former included a chase and a capture. Not that the idea didn't hold great appeal…

 

Irvine sighed throatily and curled up around his need, picturing Zell gaining, gaining, and finally catching him, bearing him down in the dark and taking him. Hard muscles and straining bodies, claiming, marking, owning.

 

Hyne, he needed Zell so badly, and he didn't care anymore how wrong it might be. He couldn't pretend he didn't want the native, not anymore.

 

“Zell…” he whispered.

 

“/I'm here./”

 

Irvine turned and sat up a little, supporting his weight with one hand. He couldn't even hope to resist tracing the lines of Zell's form with his eyes, catching the way firelight sparkled off droplets of water. The native gave a toss of his head to flick his wet bangs out of his eyes and the cowboy reached out unconsciously for him.

 

“/Please…/”

 

The smile Zell gave him was pure arrogance and dominance. He came to the cowboy, and neither of them cared that he was dripping wet. Irvine shifted to lay on his back, heart pounding with fear and excitement, and Zell settled over him like he belonged there. He did belong there - Irvine knew it.

 

Zell's mouth came to his throat and he bared it to the native, loving the utter surrender it represented. It made him vulnerable, his life in Zell's hands, and he wanted that. Wanted it with a passion that frightened him in its intensity, adding an edge to the pleasure of the hot tongue against his skin and the way strong teeth nipped and teased. It all felt so right.

 

He arched when that hot mouth licked a path from his throat to a nipple and wrapped around it, suckling with a skill that made him moan. Zell growled his approval back, so Irvine made the sound again, hands fluttering, then resting against the native's spine.

 

“/Feel me…/” he demanded softly, but Irvine didn't know how he couldn't.

 

Zell was all there was, all there ever could be, surely, and he could feel nothing else. He was drowning in Zell, and happy to let it be that way. His nervousness and fear had fled - he knew he didn't have to be afraid of the native.

 

- - - - - - -

 

Zell felt the moment Irvine stopped being afraid and responded with a hunger to match his own. His cowboy's hands came to his spine and held him there, as though afraid he might leave if he wasn't held. There was no chance of that. He meant to savour this.

 

He licked and suckled at Irvine's nipple until he squirmed, then kissed a path across to the other and paid it the same attention. He came to the conclusion that he liked them, and that Irvine was going to get them pierced when he took the cowboy back to the Camp. Yes. That would be perfect.

 

Not that anything could really make his taken anymore perfect than he already was.

 

A tiny sound broke from the back of Irvine's throat, barely making it past his lips, when Zell stroked a hand up the inside of his thigh. It was needy, wanting, and the cowboy spread his legs just a little, accepting.

 

Zell could hardly believe how much Irvine excited him. Just the taste of the cowboy's skin sent wriggles of pleasure down between his legs, and he needed again already. It would take every well-practiced scrap of restraint he possessed to make this last. Especially with the way Irvine squirmed and begged with his body. He was made to be a taken.

 

My taken…

 

Yes. And he always would be. He always had been. A smile curved Zell's lips and he leaned up to lick and suckle at Irvine's neck, then sank his teeth in, pressing his body down to hold Irvine still when the cowboy thrashed. Long fingers tangled in his hair and his taken gave a gasping moan, arching his neck in a primitively submissive movement. Zell suckled harder.

 

When he was done, he lifted his weight slightly to observe his handiwork, and he gave a pleased growl, then leaned down to lick at a whimpering Irvine's ear.

 

“/Want me…/” he said, smoothing a hand down Irvine's side.

 

- - - - - - -

 

“/I do…/” Irvine replied shakily, lightning sparking under his skin.

 

And he really did. Hyne, he did. The throb at his neck was a pleasure all its own, a pleasure of being claimed, owned… taken. That was the word Zell used for him, and it was what he wanted. To be taken.

 

He was a little embarrassed at the way he was reacting to Zell, the spread of his legs, and the throaty, unrestrained moans that clawed free of him. He sounded like something a man would pay for, that walked the streets in scandalous shoes and even more scandalous dress. The kind of thing his mother would curl her lip at and call “whore”.

 

“Zell…” he said as that thought flickered across his consciousness. “/I can't… we… N-no…/”

 

Zell sat up a little, ceasing the pleasurable lapping at his ear and cocked a brow at him, the feathers in his hair rattling softly.

 

“/Mine,/” was all he said, and everything was in the word.

 

You can't say no. You won't say no. I won't let you. We have come too far and you want me. You want me. You can't fight it. You can't fight me. You don't want to.

 

“/It's… wrong./”

 

Zell smiled, then, a gentle, understanding smile that brought unexpected tears to Irvine's eyes. The native kissed his forehead, his eyelids, his nose and then his lips fluttered close to the cowboy's.

 

“/I thought that. I believed that, once, but how can it be wrong? How, when it feels so good? So right?/”

 

On the last word, he curled his hand around Irvine's arousal and stroked and twisted in one long, teasing motion. Despite his best intentions, his back arched and his lips parted for a low, throaty moan.

 

“/You see?/” Zell whispered. “/It's so perfect. You're so perfect…/”

 

Irvine turned his head aside and nuzzled the furs beneath his face, but Zell was right. He was right, Hyne damn him. And the way the native flattered him made him warm all over. He gave in to what he really wanted, snaking his arms around Zell's neck. The native's attentions returned to his throat, now, that warm, knowing tongue licking and teasing. On impulse, he lifted his knees and parted his legs further, cradling his new lover between them.

 

“/That's better,/” he murmured against his taker's hair and would swear he could feel a smile against his throat. Then Zell rolled his hips and another moan broke free of Irvine's throat, his own hips lifting in response.

 

“/Better still,/” the native said, and Irvine couldn't help but laugh at the cockiness in his voice.

 

He whimpered when Zell tugged free of his arms, then arched just a little and twisted against the furs when teeth, tongue and lips made a hot, wet path down the center of his body. He lingered at the cowboy's navel, lapping and dipping his tongue in, and Irvine barely registered the tiny little whine he made from the back of his throat.

 

A hand splayed across his hip and Zell went lower still, hovering, teasing.

 

“/Please…/ Zell…” he begged softly and he didn't imagine the throaty chuckle the native gave.

 

“/Alright,/” he purred and ran his tongue slowly up the side of Irvine's arousal.

 

“Hyne…” came the breathless whisper and he lifted his hips into the touch, silently begging for more.

 

- - - - - - -

 

Zell was inclined to give it to him, but the little begging sounds he made in the very back of his throat were just glorious. He was so unbelievably sensual and responsive. Zell had always known he would be.

 

“Zell, please!” Irvine cried eventually, lapsing into his own language after at least five minutes of nuzzling and licking and teasing. “I can't… I'm goin' crazy!”

 

The native smiled and closed his eyes, taking the cowboy into his mouth and rolling his tongue against the tip. He gained a soft sigh which graduated into a moan, then a desperate cry of his name when he raked his teeth lightly along the length.

 

He felt his own need rising higher, stoked just by the sounds his cowboy was making. Ah, he was everything. He was so gorgeous, so long and slender and all smooth lines and long hair. Ai! His hair… Zell reached up and twisted his fingers in the trailing locks, listening to his taken's panting breathing.

 

Irvine's fingers came suddenly to his hair, holding him where he was and his hips bucked against Zell's hold, failing, of course, to break it. He writhed on the furs, whimpering and trembling, and the native was delighted when he released with a whispered “Oh, Zell…” and a clenching of his fingers in the golden hair.

 

Zell sat up, proud of himself, and tossed his damp hair out of his face, drinking the sight of Irvine in. His cheeks were pinked, his limbs loose and relaxed, his eyes closed and his lips slightly parted. The native determined to paint him like this one day, back in the safety of the camp, on the best piece of Blue Dragon hide he could trade for.

 

After a few moments of soft panting and slow shifting, sky-blue eyes slitted open to peer at him between red-gold lashes, and the sweetest smile curved that elegant mouth.

 

“/There's more,/” Zell said softly, settling back over him and giving him a grin when his arms came languidly about the native's shoulders.

 

“Mmm…” Irvine murmured, licking at Zell's ear, a motion which made the native shiver.

 

- - - - - - -

 

His release had made him bolder and he wanted to know everything about Zell's body. He wanted to get reactions from the native like the native had got from him. Zell's hands, though, were already roaming, and he knew he had to do something before he started to lose his mind again.

 

“Zell…” he whispered.

 

His taker made a non-committal noise, now nuzzling at his nipples again, and he whined, then pushed against Zell's shoulders.

 

“Zell,” he said more firmly, and this time the blonde head lifted and Zell looked at him.

 

“/Yes?/”

 

“/My turn… Please… Can I touch?/”

 

Zell cocked his head in a manner not unlike Whipcrack and arched his brow slightly before slowly shifting off and away and turning onto his back. Irvine closed his eyes and swallowed, then sat up and moved onto his side.

 

“/Make yourself comfortable,/” Zell said lowly, eyes lidded and - Irvine was sure - darker than usual.

 

He swung his leg over the native's hips and settled there, straddling him, his hands splayed out across the broad chest. He could feel the steady thud-thud of Zell's heartbeat, and the heat of his need against a thigh. His taker's chest rose and fell to deep, controlled breaths that Irvine envied - his own breathing was close to a pant. Zell didn't push him, and for that he was glad. He spent a long few moments just watching that rhythmic up-down and stroking the tips of his fingers absently against tanned, taught skin.

 

But he knew how pleasure worked. He knew how to satisfy a woman, and surely some things would be the same. He bent, hair slipping over a shoulder, and licked a long path up the center of Zell's body to his throat from where he licked and kissed up to an ear. He paid the ear some close attention, suckling and nipping and licking, and it didn't take him long to realise the native really liked that. A low moan sighed past his lips and one hand came to Irvine's hair, holding him there. He dipped his tongue inside the ear and the native actually squirmed.

 

- - - - - - -

 

That his ears were so sensitive, Zell had always known, but it surprised him that Irvine had discovered this so quickly. The press and swipe of his taken's tongue within his ear made him light-headed and needy and his hands came to Irvine's hips despite how much he'd told himself he had to lay still and let the cowboy take his time. He ran one hand over the curve of that altogether perfect arse and dipped to fingers to stroke at his entrance, making his hips buck and his mouth break away from the ear with a stifled yelp of surprised pleasure.

 

“Zell…” he whispered. Then; “/Stop… Stop that. It's my turn./”

 

Zell chuckled throatily but did as he was told, pressing one hand low against Irvine's spine and the other curling about the back of his neck as he licked down to nuzzle at a nipple. The native gave him a sigh in response to the nuzzle, then groaned when that slick, wet, hot tongue lapped at the nipple. He suddenly knew why women flocked so readily to Irvine. He was unbelievably good with his tongue. Which gave him mental pictures he'd rather not have, so he focused his attention entirely upon enjoying himself to dispel them. Not that it was a chore.

 

Irvine licked across to the other nipple and grazed gently with his teeth before closing his lips around it to suckle and tease. Zell's lips parted in a low, throaty moan and he felt Irvine's fingers tighten in the fur beside his shoulder.

 

“/Ai, my cowboy… So good…/” Zell told him, and felt the caress intensify at the encouragement.

 

When a questing hand found and wrapped around his arousal, some of Zell's iron control failed him and he cried out, arching his back and lifting his hips into the touch. He barely registered the mouth leaving his nipple, but he did register it when that stunning tongue came against the tip, rolling there before Irvine closed his lips around the head. His actions were a little stilted, testing and learning what Zell liked best, but it didn't take his cowboy long to figure out what Zell liked and he settled into a maddening rhythm of alternating between licking and sucking - and only the tip too! His hand still worked up and down the native's length until Zell found himself thrashing on the furs, totally lost to any semblance of control.

 

When he managed to slit his eyes open and look down his body to meet Irvine's eyes, he looked far too self-satisfied for Zell's liking. The taken was not in charge here and the taker started to sit up with intent to pin him down and remind him of that. But the cowboy must have realised what he intended, because he gave a swipe of his tongue from base to tip that made Zell fall back on the furs and moan reflexively, grasping at the furs.

 

“/S-stop…/” he demanded - or tried to demand. It came out almost pleading.

 

“/No,/” Irvine purred.

 

- - - - - - -

 

He was in his element. He knew what it was to drive someone mad with want, to keep them under his control. And keeping this man under control was too delicious for words. Keeping that strength, that power, that utter and complete arrogance pinned down by pleasure was altogether too enjoyable to be let go.

 

He ran a hand up to Zell's chest, fingertips running across a nipple and realised too late it was a mistake. The native's own fingers came around the wrist, his other hand to Irvine's shoulder and he pulled him bodily upward, forcing him to release the treat in his mouth or risk injuring it - which he had no wish to do. Once he was stretched out along his taker's body, it was no difficult task for Zell to simply roll them, hand still holding the wrist and pinning it above his head.

 

“/I win,/” Zell said with a cocky toss of his head and Irvine couldn't help but chuckle softly, arching against the native's grip only because the knowledge that he couldn't break it thrilled him.

 

“/You always will,/” he replied, and liked the grin that spread across his taker's lips at the compliment.

 

“/Yes. You realise my power,/” he said in a satisfied voice, giving Irvine reason to chuckle again. He was so like some sort of arrogant animal, at ease with his strength and just knowing he was better than everyone else.

 

“/I realise your power,/” Irvine agreed, stroking the native's bicep with obvious admiration.

 

“/I like this very much./”

 

“/I know you do./”

 

“/You are becoming the perfect taken I knew you would be./”

 

Irvine smiled. It was unbelievably easy to stroke the man's ego, and he had to admit he loved doing it. The way Zell postured and preened was amusing at the same time as sexy, and it was who he was. Irvine loved it.

 

“/And you are the perfect taker,/” was the instant reply, and he could see the pride and self-satisfaction in the sapphire eyes.

 

“/I know this./”

 

Irvine laughed, then, and Zell laughed with him, then bent to capture his lips for a deep, hungry kiss. The cowboy gladly opened his mouth to it and responded with equal hunger, tongue moving against Zell's in the pattern which had become familiar. Zell's hands were all over him, lighting tiny fires in their wake, and when one wrapped around his arousal, he spread his legs and bent his knees instinctively, lifting his hips in silent pleading for something he only half-knew.

 

Zell smirked at him, and for some reason a blush pinked his cheeks.

 

“/Eager?/” the native purred and the blush deepened. “/There's nothing wrong with this, my taken. This eagerness is natural, good. It's no different than the eagerness to take a woman you know so well, no different than the eagerness she has for you to take her.”

 

Irvine nodded and gave a shaky smile, not so certain about that, but willing to trust Zell. Nothing the native had done so far had been anything but good, and he had been promised there was better to come. He watched with both curiosity and trepidation as the native drew a fluted bottle closer to him and poured a little oil into the palm of his hand. The smell of wildflowers and cinnamon caressed his nose as Zell wrapped the palm around two fingers of his opposite hand and coated them thoroughly.

 

“/Need me,/” the native demanded softly, echoing his previous demands to be felt and wanted.

 

Irvine opened his mouth to reply, but all that came from his parted lips was a soft cry as Zell slipped the oiled palm beneath him to lift his hips slightly and ran one slick finger across his entrance before dipping it carefully inside. The native's eyes were lidded, tender, and the finger made Irvine take snatched, hurried breaths. There was a mild sting, then a new, strange, glorious pleasure.

 

“Z-Zell…” he whispered.

 

“/I know,/” came the answering whisper and Irvine couldn't halt the slow arch of his body and the gasping cry he gave as the finger worked deeper.

 

- - - - - - -

 

If there was anything more beautiful on the entire face of the planet, Zell didn't know what it was. Irvine unconsciously ran a hand from his navel to a nipple, hissing softly when the palm ran over it and the native moved his finger in perfect timing with the touch. The fingers went into his hair, then, and the other hand twisted in the furs. His cheeks were delightfully pinked, his lips red and kiss-swollen, his sky-blue eyes showing as mere slits through red-gold lashes and his hair spread around him in wanton disarray.

 

Zell breathed out slowly, feeling, wanting, needing, just as he'd asked Irvine to. His cowboy twitched and - Ai! - he spread his legs a little further and arched his hips into the touch, seeking more, a deeper touch. There was only one thing that could give him that, and he wasn't ready yet. The native added a second finger, working them gently, massaging, preparing.

 

Irvine nearly sobbed, every exhale a needy “ah” or “oh” or “hn”, and he squirmed, turning his face aside and nuzzling at the furs beneath him.

 

“/Look at me,/” Zell whispered, breath catching when Irvine opened his eyes and turned his head to look up at him. He was so beautiful. So perfect. His eyes were two blue pools of naked, unadulterated desire.

 

“/Do you feel me?/” he asked, removing his fingers in such a way that the brush of them made Irvine twitch and moan.

 

“/Yes…/” he panted. “/Please…/”

 

“/Do you want me?/” Zell persisted, guiding one leg carefully up over a shoulder and the other around his waist and pressing carefully against his taken's entrance.

 

“/So much… Yes…/” came the desperate whimper.

 

“/Do you need me?/”

 

“/Yes, yes, yes! Please! Now!/”

 

If Zell were not already determined to take this glorious man beneath him, that cry would have made him so and he entered Irvine carefully, slowly, so that his cowboy thrashed and begged, apparently feeling nothing of the pain Zell had expected him to respond to. Ai, ai, ai! He was made to be a taken!

 

- - - - - - -

 

Irvine didn't understand why his taker went still when he was finally, finally within him, and he whimpered, a pleading sound from the back of his throat.

 

“/Your body… must… be given time to… adjust…/” Zell explained, breath hitching.

 

Some part of Irvine was gratified he could cause this loss of composure in his taker, but it was a minority as the rest of him was screaming that he make Zell move. He wound his arms around neck and shoulders, pulling the native down to press against him and instinctively lifted his hips, tensing so that he tightened around the blonde.

 

The uncontrolled groan that sounded in his ear at the movement made his belly flutter and other parts of him ache with need and he was so relieved when the native began a steady, deep-reaching roll of his hips. The movement was elegant, sinuous, and caused their entire bodies to rub together with every one, so that Irvine thought he might just die of sensation. And he would be happy to do so. If he died in this moment, he would die happy.

 

Nothing he had ever felt with a woman could compare. The knowledge of being claimed was a pleasure all its own, removed from the shockwave that rolled through his body with every thrust, but adding to it, making it something new and sharp and glorious. He tried to explain to Zell, but could only sigh and gasp and moan. Nevertheless, the native seemed to know.

 

Being so utterly vulnerable was more delightful than he'd ever thought it could be, too. He was at Zell's mercy, with his legs one around Zell's waist and the other over his shoulder, pinned beneath him, filled by him. He knew without a doubt he would crave this feeling for the rest of his life.

 

- - - - - - -

 

Zell had never felt so right, so completely in tune with a taken. Their bodies fit together like they were made to be that way, and every sound Irvine made was like music to him. The way his cowboy moaned his name made him tingle and he found his control failing further. He panicked for a brief moment, terrified of hurting his taken, but then a soft plea came to his ears, no more than a breathless “please…”, and he knew he need not hold back.

 

- - - - - - -

 

Zell's pace quickened strengthened, burning, burning, burning, and Irvine was perfectly willing to be consumed by him. The power and the dominance that sat upon his taker's shoulders like a cloak all the time wrapped around Irvine now, an he reveled in it, let it take him, guide him. He was powerless to resist the contribution the strong body begged of him and his hips lifted to meet Zell's thrusts, making both of them moan.

 

- - - - - - -

 

Irvine's body sang to him, responding and arching and letting him have everything he wanted. His taker didn't fight it, didn't flee, didn't deny either of them anything. He didn't only take the pleasure Zell's movement gave him, but gave it back in return, meeting his thrusts, tightening and flexing in all the right places at all the right times. Virgin to men or not, he seemed to know how to drive Zell wild.

 

- - - - - - -

 

When Zell's hand wrapped around his arousal and stroked in time with the rhythm of their bodies, Irvine wailed, and couldn't find it in himself to care what he sounded like. He tightened his legs around the native, hands clutching at hair and spine, digging, clinging on for dear life. He wallowed in the sensations, in the flex of muscle beneath his hands and the strength and power that filled him. Always, the two words came to mind, always they were barely adequate to describe everything Zell was.

 

- - - - - - -

 

That desperate, unrestrained cry broke the last threads of control Zell possessed and he strove harder, faster, stronger, burying himself, losing himself in the perfect, gorgeous man beneath him. And Irvine rode it (1) easily, taking it all and loving it all. There was no response of fear or pain, only steadily more pleading, frantic cries, and Zell knew they were both very close.

 

- - - - - - -

 

When his release came, Irvine would swear he almost blacked out. His back arched, head thrown back, and he felt Zell's mouth come against his exposed throat as his hips bucked and his body thrashed with the release. The natives hot tongue and lips roved against his skin there with a hurried, rapid movement and he was bare seconds behind his taken.

 

Another soft cry broke free of Irvine's throat as he felt the heat of his taker's release deep within him, then his leg slipped free of the broad shoulder and the native dropped his head by the cowboy's ear, his pants stirring auburn hair. Irvine was panting too and his skin twitched and sparked at the barest touch of furs, hair, fingertips, skin. His eyes flickered shut and he shifted his thigh against Zell's side, sending a delightful shiver under his skin.

 

Zell groaned and shifted, pushing himself laboriously upward. Irvine cried out and wrapped his leg and his arms tighter around his taker, not wanting him to go anywhere.

 

“/Needy,/” Zell accused, but it was soft, affectionate. “/Just this./” He slid carefully free of Irvine, intensifying the tingle, and reached for a soft, damp woven cloth, with which he carefully washed away the evidence of their pleasure, then tossed aside, flopping onto his back.

 

Irvine turned his head to look at his new lover, eyes tracing the solid lines of his body. Touching him was like nothing the cowboy had ever known, and he couldn't resist smoothing a hand over chest, abdomen, and curving it over a thigh and down, knuckles brushing against warm, sated length. Zell made a low sound, and Irvine's own length stirred tiredly in response. But it was barely a reaction and he smiled and shimmied down to press against Zell's side.

 

“/I… it…/” he was lost for words and Zell gave a low chuckle.

 

- - - - - - -

 

“/So good… you can't… describe it, hmm?/” he teased cockily, running a hand down Irvine's elegant spine and along the underside of his thigh to draw the leg up and across his hips. Once he was satisfied with its placement, he stroked it gently.

 

“/Mmm… I suppose… so,/” Irvine agreed with a chuckle. Both of them were still a bit out of breath.

 

“/Always now, we will sleep together like this. Whether after pleasure or not, I won't allow you to sleep clothed with me./”

 

He expected some sort of protest at being so blatantly commanded, but a cat-like smile curved his taken's lips instead and he sighed, tracing the lines of all Zell's perfectly refined muscles. He understood the pause in favour of perusing his body. It was, after all, a particularly well-maintained and gorgeous body.

 

“/Yes. I like the sound of that./”

 

“/You don't argue with me. You have learned your place./”

 

Irvine chuckled and the sound of it vibrated against Zell's side. He liked it, so he wrapped his arm under and around Irvine's shoulders and drew him closer. His taken didn't protest, instead slinging one arm across his chest and tucking the other between them.

 

“/Why should I argue when I, like, want something the same?/”

 

Zell considered that.

 

“/Then, does that mean you'll argue if it's something you don't want the same?/”

 

“/Oh, yes,/” came the sly reply, and Zell had a suspicion he was only half-joking. He grumbled, which made Irvine laugh and the cowboy kissed his shoulder to soothe him. He allowed himself to be placated, but only - yes, truly, because he didn't bow to the whims of his taken! - only because he was tired and looking forward to sleeping the night through with his Irvine held naked in his arms.

 

“/Sleep, now. Dream,/” he whispered in the cowboy's ear and Irvine smiled gently.

 

“Mmm… /Kiss me first… please?/”

 

Zell smiled tenderly and was only to glad to give into that particular whim, taking that mouth which was so rightfully his in a slow, lingering kiss. When he broke it, Irvine tucked his head down against Zell's chest and Zell tangled his fingers in a wave of hair, showing his claim.

 

Irvine's breathing soon evened out into that of sleep, and Jirrah, who had instinctively known to steer clear, wafted into the cave. Zell ordered him to their feet - he would no longer allow the Gayla to share the bed which was only his and Irvine's - and pulled the big Snow-Lion pelt over himself and his sleeping taken, kissing his temple fleetingly before he, too, closed his eyes and drifted off into a happy, sated sleep.

 

- - - - - - -

 

(1) …rode it like the cowboy he was. Sentence really didn't fit the mood I wanted but I've used that one so many times in our RPs. *giggles*

 

Author's Notes: There you go! Sorry, no Squall or Seifer this chapter, but come on! It's already four pages longer than usual! Hope you liked it!