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Alhaitham has never been known for being particularly attuned to human emotions.
He finds them tedious, taxing even, preferring logic and reason to feelings, and everyone (who's anyone) knows this.
He is, after all, one of the foremost scholars to come out of the Akademiya, a scribe and a sage.
And yet he’s been distracted as of late, not as efficient as usual.
Not that anyone has said anything, he just knows his performance hasn’t been up to snuff, and he taps his pen methodically on his desk as he sorts through yet another application, taking another sip of tepid coffee that makes him scowl in dismay.
It’s not early by any means, it’s nearly lunchtime, and yet the day feels like it’s been dragging on forever, and Alhaitham sighs as he scans through another essay about Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, rolling his eyes at the predictability of modern scholars that think waxing poetic about a long dead archon is a one-way ticket to her wisdom.
He’s tired of the old gods, exhausted by those who claim that Lesser Lord Kusanali is a fraud, because it makes perfect sense to him that they start to put their faith in her, because she is here and alive and has Sumeru’s best interest at heart.
And yet the former grand sages had turned the people against her, spat on Greater Lord Rukkhadevata’s grave, even though she chose Nahida to lead them.
Ridiculous.
Alhaitham scratches through the applicant name and sets it on top of the rejected pile, and it’s then that he realizes he’s bored and wishes the day would move faster, so he stands up and stretches in an effort to wake himself up, and he hears the telltale sound of an argument starting in the hall outside his office door.
His curiosity piqued, Alhaitham leans up against his door and listens, only to find that one voice definitely belongs to Kaveh, which is odd considering he’s supposed to be out in the desert.
But he never passes up an opportunity to watch his roommate get his ass handed to him, and so he cracks the door open quietly and slips out.
An innocent bystander, for all they know, not a restless and nosy acting grand sage and scribe.
“You cannot just traipse off wherever you’d like and hope to the archons someone finds you! Do you have any idea how much trouble you could have gotten into?! ”
“You are being so dramatic! Everything was fine!”
“Only after I found you and saved your ass!”
Alhaitham snorts and sighs fondly as Kaveh’s debate partner comes into view, and Lumine’s face is flushed and twisted into a scowl as the man continues to lay into her.
Her voice is hoarse, and he leans up against a pillar and makes himself comfortable as they go for another round.
They’ve been off on an expedition for the last week, one that took them to Aaru Village and then a couple of places beyond that, and Lumine’s hair is windblown, tousled every which way as she starts in on Kaveh and calls him an ass.
“You think you’re Kusanali’s great gift to the world, that you’re some kind of hero and better than everyone else!”
“Do you have any idea how many people would have had my head if I’d let something happen to you out there?! Cyno, Tighnari, Nahida, Dehya, Al-Haitham. Speaking of which —”
Kaveh gestures wildly in his general direction but doesn’t look away, and he finds it funny that they’ve not yet noticed his lingering presence.
But his roommate can be single-minded, and so can the traveler, and they are locked into what he can only describe as a battle of wills as Kaveh finds the words he wants to say and Lumine smirks.
“—I wonder how our beloved scribe would feel about you going rogue in the field! He is the beacon of self-control, after all, and you seem to listen to him better than you do me!”
“Maybe that’s because he doesn’t fly off the handle every time something doesn’t go his way!”
Alhaitham nods quietly to himself, because she’s not wrong, and he watches her face as Kaveh starts to scramble.
“What are you insinuating?”
“That you’re overreacting!”
“You snuck up on a consecrated red vulture, and a scorpion, and a serpent.”
“You’re just mad that you didn’t land the killing blow!”
“I am not some bloodthirsty desert warmonger, Lumine, they could have eaten you for breakfast!”
“Well they didn’t, and here I am; safe, sound, and sane.”
“Debatable.”
“Is there some sort of problem out here?”
Both blondes nearly jump out of their skin as he steps out of the shadows, and Kaveh groans and hisses a curse as his gaze darts between Alhaitham and Lumine.
“The traveler has a death wish, which is a pretty significant problem.”
“The architect can’t leave well enough alone, something to which I’m sure you can relate.”
Alhaitham nods and his roommate curses again, though his temper is starting to level out, but he shoots Lumine another warning glance as he takes a step back and recalibrates.
“I do not tolerate blatant stupidity, something of which you are well aware.”
“I am, but in the middle of the hallway is not exactly the best place to hash this out.”
“We wouldn’t be hashing anything out had she not wandered off by herself!”
“I am perfectly capable of defending myself, Kaveh!”
Alhaitham holds a hand up to stop them before they can go off on a tangent again, and he feels the tension in the room start to diffuse as he takes a step back and sucks in a breath. “I know that, and so does Kaveh, but since you were on official Akademiya business, I’ll need to file an incident report.”
“An incident report?! For what?”
Crimson eyes widen as Kaveh processes his next steps, constantly wary of such things given his history.
“Well, you’ve returned two days earlier than what was scheduled, and the higher ups will want to know why. Namely Cyno, since this trip originated with him.”
“We only came back because Kaveh’s pride got wounded by a woman!”
“My pride is hardly wounded, though you might be if you don’t stop!”
Despite their bickering, they are very good friends, and Alhaitham has to mask a chuckle as he watches them watch each other.
They fight like siblings, and Alhaitham can appreciate the way Kaveh gets under her skin, mostly because she’s incredibly attractive when she’s irritated.
“I’m afraid I have to insist.”
“I don’t have time to sit through a reporting session with you today, I have too many other things to do around here,” Kaveh protests, offering the traveler a pointed look as she rolls her eyes and waves him off.
“Of course you do, where would the Akademiya be if it weren’t for all your hot air keeping it from careening into the ground?”
“The Akademiya is held up by a tree, Lumine. Hot air has nothing to do with it!”
“Why don’t we keep the conversation relevant to the task at hand, hmm?” He offers, motioning vaguely to the space between them as his senior takes another step back.
“I can write up a quick account tonight and have it on your desk tomorrow morning.”
“Excellent, and I’ll just grab an account from Lumine this afternoon. If you’re not busy, that is.”
She shakes her head and looks at Kaveh, her expression a touch fond. “My schedule is clear for the next two days since I was supposed to be in the desert.”
Alhaitham nods again, pleased with how they've seemingly called a truce, even if Kaveh scoffs in response. “Alright then, shall I take her off your hands?”
“Before I strangle her. Yes, please.”
“Very well.” He replies, turning away from them and motioning for Lumine to follow, “Shall we?”
“Explain.”
Alhaitham’s voice is dangerously neutral as she follows him into his office and closes the door behind her, and his expression is cross as he struts over to the edge of his desk and turns around, leaning against it before pushing the chair back with his foot and motioning for her to sit down.
“You want me to explain something you overheard?”
He nods curtly. “In your own words.”
“You already heard my words.”
“Lumine.”
He leaves no room for counterargument, and Lumine begrudgingly acquiesces in favor of getting out of his office and away from his discerning gaze.
He has the innate ability to see right through her, and he uses it regularly to his advantage, so she sucks in a breath and sighs before launching into a more detailed explanation.
“They were closing in on the edge of Old Vanarana, and I was worried they’d end up in the forest, and with all those rangers and the kids, I was worried about casualties, plus the Jadeplume Terrorshroom has been growing steadily more unstable and the last thing we needed was for them to find it.”
“And you really left Kaveh behind and went after them yourself?”
“I would say I left him behind —”
“Lumine.”
She crosses one leg over the other and shifts in her seat, trying to ignore the way his scolding makes her feel hot under the collar, but the tension in the air starts to thin out as she ducks her head and follows up.
“Yes, I left Kaveh behind.”
“Did you get hurt?”
She shifts again and meets his eye to find the embers in them alight with fury, and it may not be totally directed at her, but is intimidating all the same as she runs a hand up her bicep and shakes her head.
“A couple of bumps and bruises, but nothing that won’t heal in the next couple of days.”
“Kaveh has every right to be upset.”
“I know.”
“But you are not some weakling that can’t hold her own.”
“I know, but he —”
“Ah ah, I’m not done.”
Lumine pouts despite the fact that she can feel heat pooling in her core, and she’s not quite sure if they’re acting or not as he scans her form and cocks his head to one side.
“Where are you bruised?”
“My back, one of my hips, top of one thigh—is this even relevant to the report?”
“I’m the one asking questions, Traveler. Not you.”
Lumine rolls her eyes and arches her brows before nodding at him to continue, and she can feel the heat coming off of him as he steps toward her and braces on either side of the chair.
“You cannot throw yourself into whatever fray you’d like, anymore. Not as long as you are in Sumeru.”
“What about when I leave? That is the very nature of my quest, is it not?”
Alhaitham bends down so that his lips are mere centimeters from her own, and she can smell hot coffee and spiced cologne as he invades her space. “I cannot control what you do outside of this region, but I would hope you’d take better care to not get yourself killed, all things considered.”
She tips her chin up to meet him, though she does not make first contact. “You cannot control me now. Though it’s cute that you think you can.”
He smirks and snorts as one hand finds its way to her knee, and his touch is soft and slow and deliberate as he slides his hand up her thigh and squeezes, inching closer and closer to where she’s starting to ache for him before promptly withdrawing his hand.
“Back to the report.”
She has to suppress a whine as her blood starts rushing to all the right places, and if he’s aware of the effect he’s having on her, he’s not making it obvious as he stretches up to his full height and peers down at her.
“How many beasts were in the nest?”
“Three, plus babies.” She hisses as he steps back and over to snatch a notepad off of his desk, the quiet scratch of the pen like nails on a chalkboard because she’s wildly distracted and it’s annoying.
“Kaveh said it was a flying serpent, a vulture, and a scorpion?” He replies, his voice steady and even.
“Yes.”
“And which element did you use to eliminate them?”
“Anemo and Electro. Dendro too, once he joined me.”
“Did you encounter any other consecrated beasts while you were out there? Do their numbers merit further investigation?”
“Possibly.”
“How overwhelmingly vague,” Alhaitham levels her with a glare, though she hardly feels like he’s really upset.
“Maybe try and ask me again?”
Lumine sits up straight and crosses her legs again before resting her hands on her knee, and he rises to the bait as she worries her bottom lip between her teeth and cocks her head to one side.
“You would like that, wouldn’t you?” He croons as he leans back over her again, his hand going back to her knee and making its way up her thigh to tease at the sensitive skin there.
“I hardly feel that you deserve it, all things considered, but as you well know, I’m not totally above bribery.”
He slides his hand between her thighs and prompts her to uncross her legs, humming to himself as he comes up on the front of her underwear and feels how wet she is already.
She is not a hard woman to rile up, though she’s been known to hold out, and she rolls her hips at the contact and sighs.
“I don’t know that you’re taking this seriously enough, Traveler. Ending an expedition early is quite the offense.”
“On the contrary, scribe. I’m taking this very seriously. Why else would I be in here with you?”
“I can venture a couple of guesses,” he whispers, dipping down to ghost his lips across her mouth, but he doesn’t kiss her, and her nerves are alight as he pulls back again and smirks, “But the sooner you give me the information I want, the sooner we can leave this tedium behind us,” she stifles another moan as he finds her clit underneath the fabric and drags a gentle finger across it, “Can you do that for me?”
Lumine’s underwear is soaked, and he’s starting to strain against his trousers as she looks up at him, utterly appalled.
This involvement of theirs is not particularly new, but they’ve done well to keep it under wraps, and they both get off on the secrecy, which is an added bonus when they are alone together like this, and the fact that anyone could walk in at any point in time to drop off applications or notes or check in only adds to that urgency.
They won’t, but they could, and so she needs to give him the information he wants.
For the sake of time, of course. Not because he’s not sure how long he’ll hold out.
His affection for the traveler had sort of snuck up on him, exacerbated by several collaborations with regards to the former sages, and as one who has spent a good chunk of his adulthood narrowly avoiding human emotion, he’d done quite a bit of soul searching once he realized his feelings for her weren’t going away.
They’d started out strictly platonic; he’d respected her opinion and her independence and her prowess during a fight, but over the span of months it had morphed into something wholly unfamiliar to him.
Not that she’d helped in the least bit, but she’d been understanding once the realization had come to light, and they’d quickly settled after hashing a few details out that gave him a lot of the power.
He is, after all, a master of self-control, though the thread holding him back grows more and more precarious with every push of his buttons, and Lumine flashes him that smirk as he prompts her with another drag across her core and waits for her to answer.
“Yes sir, I can.”
“Very good.”
Alhaitham takes a step back as that boundary re-asserts itself, and Lumine is back to sitting like a prim and proper lady as he turns back toward his desk and schools his expression.
“How did the rest of your expedition fare? Did you find the information The General Mahamatra wanted with regards to King Deshret?”
“Mmhmm,” she replies, and his cock twitches against his thigh, “More than he wanted, I believe.”
“Is that so?”
He turns back toward her to find her thoroughly flushed from head to toe, and the light crimson on her cheeks is so fucking pretty he’s this close to hanging all formalities.
But he’s almost done with his “official” business, and then he can do whatever he pleases.
“Would you care to elaborate?”
“Not until after I talk to Cyno. That is the rule, is it not?”
“It is,” he concedes, his voice dropping lower than he intended, though neither one of them mind, “And I can’t finalize anything until after I address the issue with him, so thus concludes the report, for now.”
“Is there anything else you want to ask me?”
The question comes out innocent enough, though he knows her well enough to realize it’s far from it, and Lumine shifts in her seat once more and arches a brow in curiosity as he approaches her again and traps her between his body and the chair.
“Possibly, but such inquiries will need to be—” she shudders as he leans down and nuzzles against the column of her throat, “—off the record.”
Lumine nearly reaches out to touch him, but stops herself, and she smells like salt and sand as he drags his tongue up the length of her throat and latches onto her pulse.
“Naturally,” she whispers, tipping her head to one side to give him better access.
Alhaitham rewards her with another soft kiss as he slides a hand up her dress again, and he kneads the flesh of her thigh and gives it a squeeze as he cradles her face with the other.
“Did you miss me?”
“Mmhmm,” she replies, her eyes fluttering closed as he runs his hand up and down her thigh, finally hooking it behind her knee so he can move it onto the armrest to allow himself more freedom of movement.
“How much?”
He pauses his ministrations while he waits for an answer, one she’s all too ready to give.
“Enough.”
“Don’t be coy,” he replies, prompting her with another soft kiss on her neck, his hand sliding back to cradle her hip, “Give me some details.”
“What sort of details would you like?”
He digs his fingernails into the soft flesh at the back of her thigh before reaching up to toy with the hem of her underwear, and he snaps the band in a non-verbal request for all the horny details before asking for them himself.
“Did you touch yourself?”
“Maybe.”
“How many times?”
Alhaitham’s breathing has grown ragged as he’s started dragging out the foreplay, though Lumine is hardly complaining as her sex pulses with undeniable need.
He’s always been methodical about these things, slow to start as he builds up the pleasure and pressure of release, and this time is no different, save for the fact that she’s been away, and she nearly purrs as he starts toward the apex between her thighs.
“Just once,” she sighs as he finds her clit underneath the fabric and strokes, “It’s not as if I was gone particularly long.”
She punctuates the last word with a deliberate brush of a hand across his growing erection, eliciting a low growl that he doesn’t have any real control over, and he pulls the fabric of her underwear to one side and dips into her core as she slides her hips forward to assist.
As it is, she’s spread wide for him, one of her legs dangling off the armrest, and Alhaitham sucks a mark to her pulse point before moving to take her mouth in a long and languid kiss that leaves her breathless.
“Show me.”
She replaces his hand with her own as he takes her mouth again, moaning into it as he peels the fabric half down her legs, and Alhaitham finally takes a knee to better get on her level as she tips her head back and gets to work.
Her core is glistening with arousal as he sits back to admire his handiwork, fully aware of the still unlocked door staring him right in the face.
He could move, he supposes, walk over and engage the lock just in case, and she probably wouldn’t even notice.
Her head is tipped back and her eyes are closed as she circles her clit with a finger, the pearl hard and flushed because she’s wound up and it won’t take her long to find release, and he waffles between wanting to watch her come undone and wanting to ensure they aren’t interrupted.
Lumine bites her bottom lip and arches her back even more as that first wave of tension washes over her, and her body is coiled tight, anticipating that release as waves two and three follow swiftly.
The nails of her free hand are digging into the fabric of the armrest as her mouth drops open and she moans loud, a sure sign that she’s about to finish, and she gets louder and louder as that tension curls in on itself and her hips start to snap.
Alhaitham takes her mouth just as she comes around her own hand, swallowing the sweet noises she’s making as he twists a hand in her hair and pulls so she’ll bare her neck to him, and he sinks his teeth into the delicate skin just above her collarbone as she rides the rest of it out and (sort of) settles.
“I hope you were less disruptive in the desert,” he teases, smiling against her as he fidgets with the neckline of her bodice, tracing delicate patterns across the soft skin there as she comes down, “Let’s hope nobody overheard anything.”
“Didn’t you lock the door?”
Alhaitham smirks and shakes his head gently as she peers up at him, eyes wide, and she stifles another moan as he drags his pointer finger across her clit again, biting down hard enough to draw blood as she absorbs the new information.
“W-what if somebody walks in?”
“For all they know, you’re still fully clothed,” he replies casually, pointedly dragging her underwear down the rest of her legs, “The picture of poise and composure. ”
“Alhaitham.”
“They won’t know what you’ve done for me, what sort of things we've gotten up to so far.”
He tosses the garment off to one side of his desk, outside of the field of vision for any visitors, and it’s then that he pulls her up and wraps his arms around her waist, holding tight as she tips her chin up to kiss him again.
His hands are everywhere, roaming about as he seeks entry into her mouth with his tongue and kisses her slowly, and she gasps when she feels one of his hands slide up to cup her breast, fidgeting with the fabric of the neckline before darting his fingers underneath it and brushing across her nipple.
He rolls the tightened peak between his thumb and forefinger, and he wants to take it into his mouth and make her squirm.
But their options are limited, and their time relatively short compared to the amount they have outside of work.
“What I wouldn’t give to undress you, take my time pulling you apart.”
“If you can just lock the door—”
Alhaitham shakes his head gently and cradles her face between his hands.“It still won’t give us enough time, and these walls are not as soundproof as I’d like.”
“I can be quiet.”
“I’m not so sure. Not with what I want to do to you right now.”
“How about you—” Lumine’s eyelashes flutter as she fidgets with his belt and pulls it loose, “—tell me what you want to do—” he feels some of the pressure against his cock start to release as she undoes the button of his pants and goes to work on the zipper, “—and I’ll decide if I can keep quiet or not.”
Alhaitham groans into her mouth as she palms the front of his boxers, noting the patch of slick that’s already started gathering there because he’s just as wound up as she is.
“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”
His face is flushed a delicate shade of pink as he tips his head back and moans, ever the vocal lover despite his natural inclination to clam up, and he twitches in her hand as she envelopes his length in a loose grip and starts to stroke, his cock still clothed, for all intents and purposes.
“Have you been having trouble multitasking this week, my love?”
He shakes his head curtly and moans again as she frees him from the fabric of his boxers, and his cock is red and leaking at the tip as she swipes her thumb across the head and tightens her grip.
“I think you might be lying,” she whispers, enjoying the way his expression twists in protest, and she walks him back so that he’s able to brace against the desk, just in case.
“I know how much you miss me when I’m gone,” she sighs into the skin she can reach, pumping him slowly so he doesn’t tip over the edge too soon, “Though you’re far too dignified to take care of this sort of problem yourself.”
Alhaitham tries to chuckle, but it comes out as more of a whine, and it’s then that she takes a knee, relishing in the way he looks down at her, utterly bewitched, as she licks her lips and takes the tip into her mouth.
He should have locked the fucking door.
Alhaitham’s not sure if she’s trying to torture him or punish him or simply grate on his very last nerve, but her mouth is soft and warm and the noises she’s making so sweet that it’s likely this won’t take particularly long.
She’s not wrong, he does miss her when she’s away, but he’s not so buttoned up that he doesn’t manage his desire on his own, and his hips buck as she laps at the precum gathered at the tip before swallowing him down a couple more inches.
It’s euphoric, that release, even more so when it comes from her, and Alhaitham tangles a hand in her hair as pleasure starts to coil in his gut and guides her to a more appropriate pace.
He likes it when she’s emboldened, and her teasing never fails to make him want, but the fact of the matter is, he should have locked the fucking door, knowing what he knows of her tendencies.
It’s too late now, with her kneeling before him, starlight locks bunched up in a trembling fist as she drags her tongue down the vein on the bottom of his shaft and starts to choke, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes as he offers a couple of shallow thrusts and starts to curse.
“Fuck, it’s so good. You’re so good, Lumine.”
She taps him on the thigh to request him to ease off, and he pulls back just enough to release her from the pressure of his cock hitting the back of her throat.
She swirls her tongue around him in response and hums before hollowing her cheeks, and he nearly goes blind from the pleasure as she slides back down his length and settles, the tip of her nose barely grazing the curls that sit at the base of his cock.
Lumine gags as his release washes over him swiftly, takes a deep breath in through her nose to steady herself as she sucks him dry, and she’s pulling off him about the same time the door to his office starts to jiggle, up and back several feet by the time it swings open.
“Grand Sage, we’ve just been advised of an issue amongst a few scholars of Haravatat that may require your attention, the term ‘plagiarism’ is being thrown out left and right.”
Alhaitham glares and rights himself before the intruder has time to notice, and Lumine flashes him a wicked grin as she wipes her mouth daintily with the back of her hand before turning to address the newcomer.
“Your timing is perfect, we’ve just finished.”
He runs a hand over his face and turns away to inventory his state of mind, and he smooths the front of his shirt down and checks his belt before reaching for his notebook so he can jot down any notes.
He supposes he asked for it, riling her up in such a manner, and yet he can hardly find it inside himself to be annoyed, because the traveler just sucked him off in his office in the middle of the workday.
And she enjoyed herself.
“I can request a delay in discussion if you need some more time, the traveler supersedes such things.”
“No need,” Lumine replies, her voice sickly sweet, “The last thing we need around here is the scholars staging some sort of coup.”
“It’s hardly a coup, Miss Lumine, but time is of the essence.”
“I suppose I should stop wasting yours, then, Grand Sage,” she says, turning her head to offer him a polite smile and a nod, “We can continue this discussion another time. It’s not so urgent that it can't wait.”
Alhaitham nods curtly and she starts gliding toward the door, the sway of her hips positively distracting, and he has to school his expression before the younger scholar picks up on what she’s inadvertently walked in on.
“If you need any more information from me, please don’t hesitate to stop by. I’ll be recouping from my trip for at least the next day or two.”
“I’ll be sure to do that, Traveler, though you should get some rest.”
Lumine smiles at that and offers him a quick wink before she slinks back out through the door, and he’s sufficiently recalibrated by the time he looks back at the scholar and motions for her to lead the way.
“Your behavior today…positively inexcusable.”
“I don’t know, I thought it was kinda fun,” Lumine cards a hand through ashen locks as Alhaitham maps out the skin of her neck, soft and slow because they’re behind closed doors and far away from the Akademiya, for now.
He’d jumped her as soon as she’d come through the front door, picked her up by the back of her legs and perched her on his kitchen counter, and as it is, she’s half-dressed and riled all the way up again as he toys with the fabric of her bra and peels it down.
“And if I recall correctly, you were the one to seduce me, or shall we go over the particulars?”
Alhaitham chuckles and dips down to take her nipple into his mouth, the image of her spread out on his chair and fucking herself with her fingers still engrained in his psyche, and he’s certain it will remain that way for as long as that same piece of furniture sits in his office.
No less than seven people had sat on that chair over the course of the afternoon, completely oblivious to its history, and that thought alone had been enough to stir the embers sitting low in his belly once more, so he’d rushed home fifteen minutes early to ensure he’d beat her there, and she’d ended up being thirty minutes late because she’d gotten caught up with Cyno and had needed to submit to his questioning as well.
A different kind of questioning, he assumes, all things considered, and Lumine moans and keens as he flicks the bud with his tongue, savoring the taste of her like his favorite wine as he runs his hand down the curve of her spine.
Her dress is bunched up at the hips, her upper body exposed, save for the lace bra (that’s askew) she’s wearing, and he releases her with a pop before sliding her hips forward a few inches.
“No need, I remember them perfectly,” he croons as he takes her other nipple between his teeth, rolling it from side to side before swirling his tongue around it.
“I hope you intend to greet me properly, this time.”
He pauses and looks up at her. “And how do you reckon I should go about that?”
He punctuates the question by spreading her legs apart and taking a knee to kiss the inside of her thigh, and she’s trembling with want as he makes his way up her thigh and pauses again to reiterate the question.
“What shall you have me do, traveler? To atone for my sins and my oversight?”
She drapes a leg over his shoulder and slides forward some more until it’s apparent what she is asking, and her heel digs into his shoulder as he drags his tongue tentatively through her core, lapping at her slick before latching on to her clit and gently rolling it between his teeth.
She loves it when he goes down on her, and it’s something he enjoys, so the least he can do is return the favor, and her hand twists in his hair and gives a hard tug as he works her open gently with his tongue and slides two fingers inside.
“Not yet, sweetheart,” he whispers into her skin as he feels her start to flutter and clamp down around his hand, and he feels her doing her best to do as he says while he backs off to give her space to relax and slowly pumps in and out.
He withdraws from underneath her dress but leaves his hand where it is to find her bracing against the counter with her head tipped back, and her chest and face are flushed a delicate shade of crimson as she lets him slow her down and moans his name.
“Alhaitham, please. Darling—”
He silences her with a kiss and curls his fingers against that spot, and she bites down hard on his bottom lip in an effort to stave off the pressure when he slips his fingers out to circle her clit.
“Do you want to come like this, or around my cock?” He asks, his voice brusque as he ruts against the counter, and Lumine moans again when he takes her earlobe between his teeth, “Hmm?”
“However you want me to, I’ll do it however you want—”
“I want you to tell me, Lumine. Use your words.”
He punctuates the request by tangling a hand in her hair and tugging hard enough to expose her neck to him, and he bites down on the column of her throat in an effort to get her to comply.
“You can’t finish unless you tell me; do you want me to fill you up, make you scream?”
She keens when he dips down and takes a nipple into his mouth once more, hoping that it will entice her to give him the answers that he seeks.
“Or do you want me to fuck you with my fingers, my tongue?”
“Archons.”
“Lumine.”
She opens her eyes then to look up at him, and they are so dark it’s almost unfamiliar, and she scrabbles against the front of his trousers until she gets ahold of his belts and starts to undo it.
“W-wanna feel you, please—” is all she says, and her insides flutter around his length as he complies and pushes into her slowly, taking his time to bottom out because he loves the sounds she makes when he stretches her.
“Hah—,” she pants, swiftly accommodating him, and he rolls his hips slowly as she lays back on the counter and starts skating her hands across her body.
She starts at her stomach and quickly makes her way up to her breasts, kneading and groping, pinching and squeezing them herself as he keeps a steady pace and watches her.
She rolls her nipples between her fingers and arches her back to force him deep, and he snakes an arm around her waist to help support her as he ups his tempo.
He doesn’t think he’ll ever tire of watching her come undone, and she bites her bottom lip and opens her eyes to look at him as she snakes a hand between them and finds her clit.
She clamps down around him almost immediately, and he can feel his release starting to build up, and it’s with a couple of well-timed thrusts that she starts coming apart around him, leaning up to take his mouth with more force than he expected as she moans into it and he feels her start to settle.
Lumine grabs a hold of his ass and forces him deeper still, and it’s not long before he’s spending himself inside of her, white-hot bliss shooting through his veins as he rests his forehead on her shoulder and rides it out.
He’s not sure how long they bask in the afterglow of their tryst before Lumine starts carding a hand through his hair again, and her expression is one of undeniable fondness when he looks up at her and kisses her slowly.
“Better?”
“Better,” he agrees, carefully helping her down, and there are kitchen rags and coasters scattered every which way, things he hadn’t noticed in the midst of their lovemaking because in those moments, all that matters is her.
They right themselves and take a few moments to seal all their promises with kisses, and they’re in the middle of one such kiss when Alhaitham hears the front door open, swiftly followed by the familiar slamming down of a briefcase that indicates his roommate has returned.
“I’m mostly done with your stupid report and I need to have a couple of driii—oh?”
Lumine breaks away from him then, but the effort comes too late, and crimson eyes watch them with equal parts surprise and amusement as Kaveh twirls his keys around a finger and hums.
“Well, this explains a lot.”
Lumine freezes, and he can tell that she’s starting to panic. “I was…just leaving. Needed to touch bases on a couple of things we discus—”
“Oh, don’t leave on my account, especially if you’re going to try and lie.”
Alhaitham rolls his eyes, but it’s more of a default response at this point, because of all the reactions Kaveh could have to walking in on them, this is not the worst one.
“I probably should…go. Let you two clear any confusion up,” Lumine offers, garnering a pointed look from his roommate.
“No confusion to be found here, I can assure you.”
Kaveh walks over to the wine cabinet, a sly smirk on his face, and reaches for Alhaitham’s favorite white.
“Make yourself more comfortable. Can I get you a drink?”
“I probably shouldn’t…not when I have to walk back to my place.”
“Oh please. As if you two weren’t about to hole up in his room for the night.”
He tips his head in Alhaitham’s general direction and smirks.
He’s not wrong, though Alhaitham won’t be the first to admit it, and he scoffs and sighs as Kaveh pours him a glass and holds it out for him to fetch.
“We hadn't yet decided where we were going to stay,” he says as he walks over to accept the (assumed) peace offering.
“This place is certainly nicer than that ruddy old shack you’re renting, traveler, and the neighbors are better too,” he replies with a wink, taking a sip of his own wine before filling a glass up for Lumine.
“I wouldn’t want to impose,” she says carefully, shaking her head again to try and drive the point home.
Kaveh, unfortunately, does not back off. “I caught you two making out in the middle of our kitchen. Who knows what sort of debauchery I’d have witnessed had I been ten minutes later?”
Alhaitham hides a smirk behind his hand as Lumine looks over at him, silently pleading for his interference, and although his default reaction would generally be to extricate them both from the situation as soon as possible, he finds comfort in knowing that at least one person knows about them now.
“I’ll be sure to clean all this up tonight.”
“You’re offering? But wh—nevermind, I don’t need to be made privy to your reasoning.”
Kaveh sets Lumine’s wine glass down and turns his back to return the alcohol to its place in the cabinet, and he casually plops down at the table and motions for them to join him as Lumine steps forward to snatch up her glass.
“Should we go out to eat? Celebrate this union?”
Alhaitham holds up a hand to stop him. “A spectacle is not necessary, Kaveh.”
“I got paid for my part of our expedition today, so it’s my treat,” he shrugs, casually tossing a bag of mora onto the table.
Both Lumine and Alhaitham raise their eyebrows in disbelief, but Kaveh ignores the slight. “The Akademiya owes you too, Lumine. Don’t let them hold out.”
“I’ll go talk to someone tomorrow.”
“So, where are we going? What do we want?”
He takes another sip of his wine and prompts them both to do the same, for once Kaveh has an idea in his head, he won’t let it go.
“Lambad’s Tavern is fine.”
Kaveh shakes his head. “They’re running a card tournament tonight, there will be a lot of people there. And if you two are trying to keep this —” he motions vaguely to the space between them, “—under wraps, that may not be the best idea.”
Alhaitham looks to Lumine for any sign of hesitation, and she tips her chin up defiantly and offers him a sidelong glance. “Not necessarily, but I’ll defer to you on this.”
Alhaitham nods in agreement and takes another sip of his wine, “They’re bound to find out eventually, and I’d rather us be the ones to make it known.”
“Okay.”
Warmth blooms in his chest as Lumine steps into his space and leans up to kiss him on the cheek, and he reaches up with his free hand to run his thumb across her cheek before leaning down to plant a gentle kiss on her mouth.
“You’re both disgustingly in love, I can’t believe I haven’t noticed until now,” Kaveh wrinkles his nose and shakes his head, half-kidding, but not entirely wrong.
“I’ve always been more clever than you, Kaveh.”
“On that note, you’re paying for your own food. I only buy meals for people who are nice to me.”
“You look super handsome tonight, Kaveh. You’ll be beating people off with a stick.”
“See? That’s how you get free food,” Kaveh points to Lumine and smiles, “Take note, scribe. ”
Alhaitham chuckles before downing what’s left of his wine, and the others follow suit before heading toward the front door, and he steps out into the night with Lumine at his side, their fingers intertwined with one another’s.