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Rayla hadn’t appreciated how much work it was to be a Crownguard. She used to think it was mostly standing around with an occasional bit of sparring thrown in. Turns out there was also training, scheduling, diplomatic security planning… lots of stuff she’d never even considered.
She’d only been an official Crownguard for a short while, but already her expertise as an assassin was in demand at the security discussions. Which was why she was late getting back to their room this evening. It had been dark for hours and Callum would probably be ready for bed by now. She was tired and looking forward to a quick snuggle before hitting the sack.
She saluted the Crownguards at their door as she entered, immediately noticing something was off. Instead of sitting on his bed and drawing like he did every other night, Callum was in his pyjamas, collapsed in the bed on his back, arms and legs sprawling.
“You okay,” she asked, starting to remove her armor.
“Other than hurting all over, I’m fine,” he replied without moving or opening his eyes.
She’d been teaching him how to defend himself with a sword the last few days. She held multiple sessions a day, just like when Runaan trained her to be an assassin, and she hadn’t been easy on him. Maybe he was just looking for pity so she’d ease up a little.
“You’re not drawing,” she said, continuing to undress, the implied question in her voice.
“Drawing requires sitting,” he replied, still not moving or opening his eyes. “And moving. Both of those hurt too much.” He spoke each word slowly and carefully, like he barely had enough strength to speak.
Usually, he sat in his bed drawing, trying to hide his glances at her while she got ready for bed. She pretended she didn’t notice and sometimes wiggled her hips a bit more than necessary when taking off the trousers. But she was down to her underclothes and he still wasn’t looking. He must really be tired.
Maybe she was pushing him too hard. After all, he hadn’t grown up training every day like she had.
“I’m gonna go wash up,” she said.
“Okay,” he replied. “I’m going to lie here and ponder how this is ‘for my own good’ although it doesn’t feel good.”
Now he was looking for pity. But maybe he deserved some pity.
She quickly washed, changed into her pyjamas and returned to his bed side to find him unmoved.
“Take off your top and roll over,” she commanded, hands on her hips.
That got him to open his eyes. “You want me to do what?” he asked, sounding confused.
“Take off your pyjama top and roll over,” she repeated.
“Ummmm…. Right now?”
“Yes.”
“With you here?”
“What’s the problem? You don’t have boobs. And you’ll be face down anyway.”
He seemed reluctant but sat up and started taking off his shirt. “Can I ask why?” he enquired.
“As the Crownguard assigned to look out for you, I’m going to give you a massage so you don’t hurt so much. You need to be able to sleep.”
He finished taking off his shirt, tossing onto a nearby chair, before flopping onto his stomach.
Rayla climbed onto his bed and straddled him, sitting on his butt. His back was leaner and more muscular than she expected. And his butt was pretty firm too. Must be the trek across Xadia and the flying he’d been doing. She kind of liked it.
“Any place in particular that hurts the most?” she asked.
“Nope. It all hurts,” he mumbled.
She decided to start with the top of the shoulders. The muscles there were probably tight from the drills requiring him to raise and lower the sword. She placed her hands there and squeezed.
“Ahhhhh!” he cried, his body tensing.
Rayla jerked her hands back. Apparently, he wasn’t just looking for pity. “Sorry,” she said. “Was that too hard.”
“Yes.” He paused to catch his breath. “Way too hard. Your grip is very strong and I’m just a mashed potato.”
“You’re not a mashed potato,” she said chuckling. She put her hands back on his shoulder and squeezed much more gently. “How’s that?”
“Ohhhhhh…” He groaned. “That’s gooooood.”
She continued down his back and shoulders, gently kneading the tight spots she found as he moaned in appreciation. His skin was warm and soft under her hands.
It was curious how much she enjoyed touching him. Sure, they touched each other a lot with all their cuddles, hugs and kisses. But touching so much of his bare skin was somehow different.
As she continued the massage, her mind wandered and she imagined slowly, gently running her hands over his back, then leaning down to plant soft kisses. She’d start at his very kissable neck just under his hairline, then work her way down –”
“Ahhhh!” Callum cried, interrupting her thoughts. “That spot really hurts.”
“Sorry,” she said quickly. Lost in her daydream, she didn’t realize how hard she was pressing. She also hadn’t noticed the rising flush in her face and neck. Must be the exertions from the massage making her warmer. That must be it. Still, she was glad his face was smashed into the bed so he couldn’t see it.
She continued the massage trying to concentrate on working out the knots in his back instead of thinking how kissable he was, with only limited success.
Eventually, she finished the last spot on his back.
“How does that feel,” she asked sitting back on his legs.
“Fabulous,” he sighed. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Whoa, flying boy,” she exclaimed. “We’re not done yet. That was just the back. We still have the front to do.”
“That’s okay. I don’t hurt anymore. I’m ready to sleep.”
“Callum, I need to do the front too so we don’t leave you unbalanced with the back relaxed and the front tight.”
“The front’s relaxed. And it’s late. We need to sleep.” He sounded like he was making excuses.
“Callum, you’re bein’ silly,” she said, using her stern voice. “It doesn’t take as long to do the front, so we’re almost done. Just roll over so we can finish.”
“No. I’m fine just like this.”
Rayla wasn’t sure what was going on. Was Callum embarrassed to show his bare chest to her? The thought of maybe I should take my top off too briefly crossed her mind but was quickly squashed. Instead of showing bare-chested solidarity, it would just make him more embarrassed. She also reluctantly admitted she wasn’t confident that Callum would like her chest.
But she couldn’t let him be unbalanced. The tightness in the front could pull his posture into bad positions and cause injury during training. She wasn’t going to let Callum get hurt because he was being shy. She was his Crownguard now and she took it seriously.
Rayla climbed off of Callum and stood next to the bed.
“So… it’s alright if we skip the front?” He asked, sounding hopeful.
“Nope,” she said, darting her hands under the side of his body, flipping him onto his back in single smooth motion as Callum gave a startled cry.
Callum immediately raised his hands to cover his red face.
“Callum,” Rayla said sitting next to him. “I don’t understand what’s embarrassin’ about your chest. It’s nice. The flyin’ is developin’ your pecs.” She glanced down at his stomach. “Need to work on your abs and core though. You need a strong foundation to connect your arms and –”
She stopped as her eyes wandered lower. “Is this bulge in your pyjama bottoms the reason you didn’t want to roll over?” she asked.
Callum nodded in reply, hands still covering his face.
“Well, I’ve seen it now, so you might as well put your arms down so I can finish the massage.”
Callum slowly, reluctantly moved his arms to his sides, while avoiding looking at her.
She continued the massage, starting along his collar bone. “So, you can’t control it in the daytime either,” she asked nonchalantly.
“Not around you,” he answered, his face still flushed.
Rayla suppressed a laugh, but it snuck out as a snort. “I’m flattered that your willie likes me so much.”
He turned his head to look at her. “It’s still embarrassing. It would be nice to enjoy your touch without it being so obviously… you know… out there.”
“Callum… don’t worry about it now. Close your eyes and relax while I finish.”
He did as instructed. He grimaced and groaned a few times but she also found some ticklish spots which brought suppressed giggles from him. She tried not to look but she noticed his bulge was gone by the time she finished the massage.
“All done!” she said, pulling her hands back and sitting up straight.
“Thank you,” he sighed. “I feel a lot better.”
Maybe physically he felt better. But she didn’t want him to always be embarrassed about his reaction to them touching.
“Callum,” she started, feeling the color rise in her face. “You touching me. Me touching you. I enjoy it too. A lot. It might not be so obviously… out there. But it’s there.”
Callum looked confused at first, then his eyes widened. “You mean you…”
“Yep,” she cut him off to avoid going into more embarrassing detail. She could tell her face was already flushed. “So don’t be embarrassed. I feel the same about you as you do about me.”
Callum didn’t seem anxious to discuss this further either, so they sat quietly for a moment, smiling at each other. She hoped her confession had helped Callum lose some of his embarrassment but his face was still as red as hers probably was.
Finally, he glanced down and she followed his eyes to see that the bulge was back.
“Up. Down. Up. Down,” she joked, breaking the tension. “Your willie gets quite a workout when I’m around.”
Callum chuckled and rolled his eyes. “You have no idea.”
“Well, you and your willie need rest now,” she declared standing up. She grabbed his covers and pulled them up over him, then tucked in the edges like he’d done for her.
“Thank you for taking care of me,” Callum murmured contentedly.
She leaned down, took his face in her hands and gave him a lingering kiss.
“You’re welcome,” she breathed as she pulled away. “Goodnight,”
“Goodnight,” he smiled back before closing his eyes and humming appreciatively as he wiggled deeper into the covers.
She stood for a moment watching him, sneaking a glance at his unruly willie, which still hadn’t completely gone down.
He was sooooo cute!
She extinguished the lights and crawled into her bed, thinking how weird it would be to have a willie you couldn’t control. She was glad her arousal was better hidden because she was pretty sure she’d be embarrassed more often than Callum.
Enough thinking about willies, she told herself. She needed sleep.
Instead, she imagined snuggling against Callum’s back, feeling his warmth… breathing in his scent as she buried her face in his hair… listening to his steady breaths…
She was asleep before she could finish the thought.