6. A New Love #4
Not to mention all the times Ellor had fucked Aria standing. That was no easy feat—when Aria returned the favor the few times he had, up against a wall, they wound up with Ellor riding him on the floor instead.
Ellor was well strong. And Aria had really liked it.
“Displays of strength? That's the kink?” Noble made a point of scoffing loudly, sitting back in his chair. “Hardly a kink at all.”
Aria laughed, truly amused at how his love life must contrast against Noble’s.
They were different people—beyond Aria being kinsme, even.
Noble’s sexual flexibility had no doubt left him with a colorful history, even though he married young.
“Not everyone is like you, Noble. I shudder to think of all that you’ve done in bed. ”
Noble tried, and failed, to hide a smirk. “I'll try anything once.”
“You say that as if you're owed a medal.”
“I made my lady date spend thrice.”
Hm. Ego warranted, Aria nearly admitted—before he drowned the thought with wine. More wine. Extra wine. He wasn't going to think about Noble's long night, and his dedicated mouth. Wine. More wine, and also Noble's muscular arms, outstanding stamina, and big, soft, hot hands. No. Wine.
Aria was going insane.
He and Noble both reached for the same cashew, and Aria snagged it first. “You say my story has no color, but coming to completion is the whole point of sex. Nothing about that is kinky.” He was saying it more for himself than anything else.
“You speak true.” Noble stroked his bearded chin, square nails combing through the black, wiry hair as he pondered. “The most recent non-standard foray I’ve enjoyed—that I may employ again, as soon as I'm able—involved a mirror.”
Aria breathed out a wry, familiar snort, and he realized his error too late.
Noble gave him an eagle-eyed look, seeking explanation for that all-too-familiar sound.
Aria threw a hand up. “I suppose I've had enough wine to talk about it.
Ellor liked that too. Liked to see himself.
He'd a mirror mounted above the fireplace in his bedroom. Long, narrow. Tilted ever-so. He could see what happened while he did it, in almost any position.”
Noble tsked. “Oh, Aria. No.” Aria blinked a few times, confused, and Noble said, “I don't want to watch me. I'll have placed a mirror in front of her, while I'm behind, or below, holding her there, giving her nowhere else to look. A mirror where she watches herself while I make her come.”
Aria felt the blush rise to his cheeks again. “Right. Makes sense.” That was different.
Noble hummed, looking across the bar curiously, taking in the thinning crowd like they may have answers to his internal thoughts.
“Then again, is that my kink? Where's the line? If she didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't, either. It's like a kink-with-stipulations. I’ll make you look at yourself while I touch you, but only if you’re into that? Surely there’s something else I can name.”
“Indeed,” Aria said, voice catching. He cleared his throat and reached for his near-empty glass of wine. He wanted to move on from all this. His blush would turn to fever if he didn't rid himself of it soon.
“Ah, I know,” said Noble, snapping his fingers. “Libraries!"
Aria choked on the one final sip of wine.
Noble, concerned, leaned over to stroke a hand down his back.
Aria coughed out, “I'm fine. Wrong pipe. Sorry.” When he caught his breath, he placed the wine glass back onto the polished wood bar top, and coughed into a hand.
“I should probably stop drinking for the night.”
Noble nodded in understanding and looked at his watch. “It's late anyway. Shall we?”
He stood up and offered a hand for Aria to take, which he did, masking his trembling with a feigned, drunken grin. But he wasn't drunk.
He also liked fucking in libraries. It was perhaps his most fervent fantasy.
As he and Noble walked back home, the late-night chill wrapping around them both, Aria tried to control his wandering thoughts. Noble smiled down at him, unknowing, and Aria gave him a weak grin in reply.
Times like this, Aria had to wonder about their pairing. Elysium played tricks with the mortals living below, because why would he and Noble have a shared list of sexual wants? A man unattracted to men, a man singularly attracted to them, and together they walked hand-in-hand. As friends.
Only friends.
“What is it?” Noble asked. “You're acting odd. Well, more odd than usual.”
Aria opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. He and Noble were friends. Who else would he share this story with? He finally said, “I've had library sex.”
Noble froze, mid-step, stopped one block from the townhome, on the chilly, damp corner of Fifth and Wilshire. Autumn wind made his short curls bounce around his wide, disbelieving eyes. “You have not.”
Aria laughed and tried to play it off. “I have. I lost my virginity in a library, specifically.”
Noble's mouth dropped. Then he barked a laugh, swept his big, warm hands around Aria's middle, and pulled him into a hug. He said, against Aria's hair, “You scoundrel. And you weren’t going to tell me?” He wasn't laughing, but Aria could feel his smile against his scalp.
“Of course not, you deviant,” Aria mumbled, trying to push himself free of Noble's arms. “Don't get too worked up.”
Noble pressed a kiss to Aria's cheek before he let him go, and resumed their trek back home. They weren't holding hands this time. After a moment, Noble spoke again. “How was it? That first time?”
Aria rolled his eyes and trotted to keep up with Noble's long-legged strides. “Terrible. He wasn't good, and I had never done it before. But.”
“But?”
“We didn't get caught, at least.”
Noble's laughter followed them home.
But the truth was that Aria still thought of that first time, on occasion, especially at night. Nights like this one.
Noble retired to his room up the stairs, and Aria climbed into his own bed on the second floor. As he rested there, smelling vaguely of Noble's cologne and the cigar smoke of the bar, Aria grew warm. He tried to fight it for a minute, but gave in with a sigh.
Aria had not come in weeks. Not since the last time with Ellor. He took himself in hand and thought of it—of that library. His first time wasn’t good, but it was memorable.
Aria, pushed up against the shelves. Muffling his voice with the back of his hand. Spreading his legs despite his mind screaming that it was improper, and dangerous, and that they risked expulsion should they be caught fucking like this. It was frantic. Painful. And hot.
The memory of his first boyfriend—Onyx, the orcish painter—asked, “Can I come in you raw?” But it sounded different.
This voice, in Aria’s mind, was deeper. He was smooth and soft and familiar.
Aria shuddered as he spent. And minutes later, as he washed his hands, he told the reflection in the mirror that he’d thought of Onyx; of his past; of nothing, and no one, else. But his soul kept him awake, staring at the ceiling, knowing Noble slept one floor above.
Romy placed the present in Aria’s lap, and her pretty round face beamed with a proud grin. “You can go ahead and open it. Don’t worry. It's not that embarrassing.”
“Not that embarrassing,” Aria mumbled, now staring at the box like it may split into a monster with a great many teeth and try to swallow him whole. “Romy, you didn’t need to get me a gift.”
“It’s your birthday,” she said. “Of course I did. Go on. No one’s even watching. Don’t be shy.”
The park was bustling in the afternoon, despite the rapid drop in temperature. Autumn was well on its way to Winterend—which meant Aria’s birthday. He tried to forget about it, especially this year. He’d had a hard time with his thirty-first year, and had concerns about going into thirty-two.
Granted, his life had become less challenging recently, as he’d come to settle into Noble’s home.
They had a routine that developed over the last two weeks—Noble read The Bard Bride aloud, and they would either go to an event together, or they would split for the night to date.
And the next day, Noble would talk about the terrible sex he had, and Aria would laugh, and promise that it’d get better one day.
The routine started to feel like home the same way the townhouse did.
But despite all that he and Noble did to get Aria out there, in front of his audience—he’d still yet to book a gig. We’ll get you something soon, I swear it, Noble promised, pulling Aria into a hug that chased away all his fears of moving back to Argosin or turning to work as an adame.
Aria pulled off the wrapping from Romy’s gift and was presented with a pretty pink box made of velvet. “Wow. What is it?” He pulled off the lid and blinked.
“It’s a love potion.” Romy clapped, bouncing in her seat. “I know how sad you’ve been since Duke Prick and—"
“I’m not sad about Ellor,” Aria said, sighing in exasperation. Everyone insisted he was heartbroken despite him saying—and acting—otherwise. “I told you.”
“Right, right,” she said, flagging a hand through the air. “Anyway, with the potion—you put it on like cologne. Spritz it here, here, and here.” She pointed to her neck, between her breasts, and against her wrist. “Nowhere else. Too much and it won’t work.”
Aria lifted the pink crystal-shaped perfume bottle and leaned in to sniff. It smelled good—peonies and bergamot. “What happens after I do that?”
“You do that, and your one true love will find you, no matter where you are, and kiss you the way you deserve.” Romy tilted her head back and forth and giggled.
“Okay, it’s perhaps mostly bogus—but maybe not.
You can never be sure when buying from those vendors near the pier. I got it because it smelled great.”
Aria said, “It does. Thank you so much, Romy. You’re an angel.”
“And hey—maybe it will work. It’s your birthday, and you deserve that midnight kiss.”
Aria rolled his eyes. “That’s a pointless and outdated tradition.”