Chapter Text
They laid together in a lazy tangle of legs and sheets, the only sound in the room was their soft breathing and the nighttime lull of Radz-at-Han. Thancred was still wide awake, however, mesmerized by his lover’s sprawled out form beside him, watching his sides rise and fall with sleep and eyebrows twitch with dreams.
His beautiful, loyal Elezen, once again drawn to the deepest depths of slumber after indulging him in another night of passion. Bruises were freshly painted on his skin from the Hyur’s possessive bites, mottling the flesh from hip to neck…
And, surprisingly, one of the pointed ears so close to his gaze as they were spooned together in his bed. Thancred raised an eyebrow at his own handiwork, removing his nose that was buried in Urianger’s hair as he got a clearer view of something he pointedly did not remember doing. His expression turned to a soft smile, ever wishing to provide the gentlest of ministrations to his partner after marking him so.
He wrested one of his arms from its place wrapped firmly around Urianger’s waist to place a hand on the Elezen’s temple, dragging his knuckle lightly along the skin before rubbing silken strands of hair through his fingers. Slow and tender, as he was always wont to do, unable to resist treating Urianger with the most decadent of attention.
His freed hand then reached its intended target, softly grasping the sharp ear between the pads of his fingers, beginning a slow massage on its now discolored and nearly mangled edges. Mere seconds later, his soothing caresses were followed by a slight stir from the sleeping man before him, no doubtedly roused by the sensations on sensitive flesh.
“Mm….Thancred?” Urianger’s voice said softly, still slurred from his slumber. He slowly attempted to face the Hyur but was stopped by Thancred’s free hand remaining firm around his waist to keep the Elezen pressed against his chest. Urianger relented, nuzzling his nose deeper into the pillow with a sigh.
Thancred hummed behind his grin, continuing his work across the afflicted ear. “Hush, darling. Rest. I am merely attempting to atone for my, it would seem, voracious behavior.”
Thancred resumed his tracing of slow circles from the tip of the ear towards the base, keeping his touch just a soft ghost over the bites and bruises. Ever so gentle in comparison to his earlier behavior, but he was nothing if not generous in his aftercare. Urianger deserved that much right now, at least.
He could tell the Elezen was still awake, the way he would sigh or slightly twitch his fingers. How he furrowed his brow near imperceptibly while keeping his eyes closed when Thancred would pass over a particularly sensitive or tender spot. Thancred grinned when the pads of his fingers rubbed over one particular bite mark that made Urianger’s breath catch in his throat. Eliciting even a subtle response when revising such a sensitive spot rekindled Thancred’s mischievous desires, pushing him to take his task past just innocent aftercare.
“Ah, it would seem that I was much more ardent with you than I thought,” he murmured darkly, with a smirk in his voice as he leaned closer. “Allow me to remedy it, hm?”
There was still no response out of the Elezen, other than another nearly imperceptible sniff. Gods, Urianger was holding out on him, whether privy to the Hyur’s latest game or not. Thancred was nothing if not persistent, so he increased the pressure of his rubbing and pinching, moving from one mark to another, pressing knuckles into the intricate angles of the Elezen’s ear.
Finally, Thancred’s latest press into a particularly worked over spot drew a reaction from the man still pressed against him. Urianger flinched at the touch, his breath catching once more, a low rumble of pleasure escaping from somewhere deep within his throat.
Urianger buried his face further into the pillow to hide from the onslaught on his ear, but Thancred could feel the reaction he was evoking from him, and bit back a devilish smirk.
Ignoring the Elezen's attempts at using the bedding to muffle and the sounds he caused, Thancred pressed once more and drew out the sound again, almost vibrating out from Urianger’s chest.
“Gods, Urianger, are you purring?”
Urianger made a soft indignant sound, which Thancred could not help but think was incredibly cute. “Ah-absurd,” he finally spoke, his voice barely more than a rough whisper. “I am no coeurl kit–”
Thancred smirked as his partner’s protestations were immediately interrupted by another low exhale, once again reminiscent of a purr as he pressed a knuckle to where ear met skull. Fascinated by his discovery, he moved to pinch the earlobe, slid his fingers to the pointed tip with a squeeze between blunt fingernails, and Urianger all but whined at the touch.
“How intriguing,” he nearly purred himself into the long ear, still keeping a hold onto it with merciless fingers. “And to think you are usually the one so enraptured by study.”
Urianger once again wriggled against Thancred’s other arm around his waist, this time able to turn enough to give him a mock glare from the corner of his eye. “Cease thine torment,” he grumbled, finally able to wrest his afflicted ear from his lover’s fingers and turn onto his other side. “And I was not purring,” he whispered, a pout evident in his voice, avoiding eye contact as Thancred smiled and gently tapped the tip of his nose. His golden eyes, still bleary from sleep, then looked up and pleaded at him with hooded lids before forcibly tucking his head under Thancred’s chin.
“Yes, yes,” Thancred chuckled, placing a teasing kiss on the still-blushing ear now presented to him, finally relenting and letting the Elezen further cuddle into his bare chest. “Good night, kitty,” he murmured one more time into the ashen hair, earning one more resentful huff and press of Urianger’s brow further into his chest.
He then allowed himself to relax once more into the pillows, wrapping his arms around Urianger, letting his most patient Elezen finally rest for the night, tucked comfortably beneath him. He too let his eyes flutter close as he focused on his partner’s lengthening breaths, but not before taking a mental note of the most enchanting discovery on Elezen secrets he had made tonight.