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Jay’s weight was comfortable on top of Gillion, there was a familiarity in the way that she tucked her knees or touched his face to brush back his hair whilst she sat straddled his waist.
In one hand she held a makeup pallet with various colours and in the other she held a thin flat brush, her elbow next to Gillion’s head as she carefully applied a sparkly purple colour to his eyelids.
She was deep in concentration; she was absolutely ecstatic when Gillion asked her to try some makeup on him. He wasn’t sure what drove his curiosity, but he’s seen his sister and Jay both apply makeup before and he was curious as to what the appeal was. Jay looked beautiful to him anyday, but he was perceptive and always noticed when she’d dab some brown or red eyeshadow on her eyelids or try out a new eyeliner shape.
Jay wasn’t particularly feminine, but she seemed to enjoy the entire process of putting on makeup more then she enjoyed being perceived with it on.
Because of this curiosity, the triton found himself lying flat on his back on Jay’s bed with pillows supporting his head, Jay on top of him completing his makeup look.
It has been fairly silent so far, Gillion laid there and enjoyed the texture and the touch of everything that surrounded him. Two years ago it would’ve been a hard boundary that he would never lay flat on his back in front of anyone, but he trusted Jay more then anything and time had begun to heal those sour memories.
His eyes were closed for this specific part of the process so he focused on what he could feel; Jay’s soft thighs squeezing around his hip bones, the dip of the bed where Jay’s elbow sat right next to his face, the fact that they were so close that he could feel Jay’s breath every time she breathed out.
He considered reaching his hands out experimentally, perhaps settling one on the small of her back or cupping her cheek but he didn’t want to distract her from her intricate process.
She blew on his eyes and then told him to open them. He did, his eyelids felt a bit heavier but he didn’t mind. He tilted his head slightly and was met with Jay’s excited face above him, her orange hair framing her freckled face like a fiery halo in the light that came in from the porthole. She wore a smile and some light makeup on her own face, eyeliner and maroon lips.
“Your eyeshadows done, you look beautiful.” She breathed out, it almost felt a little wrong to break the peaceful silence they’d maintained while she worked.
His cheeks felt warm at the compliment, he’d never fully understand quite what Jay saw in him. “Thank you, I liked the-uh-feeling.” He cringed slightly, embarrassed at himself for finding comfort in such an odd, tiny thing.
She giggled, setting down her brush to cup his face, pulling it up to look at her whilst she examined his face. He hoped his blush wasn’t visible as her eyes traced the purple gradient surrounding his eyes, tracing the hook in his crooked nose and the orange stripes that sat under his eyes on his cheeks and finally down to his lips. He reveled in the safety, in the fact that Jay could examine his face with such emotion and he wouldn’t feel utterly rejected, no disgust evident in her eyes.
The hand on his cheek moved up and threaded into his dense curly hair, lightly gripping it. Jay moved closer, also setting down the makeup pallette in her other hand to lay somewhere on the bed. She was inexplicably close, almost forehead to forehead with him, smiling and admiring.
“Sorry, I can’t help myself, you’re gorgeous,” she said, a feeling of joy spreading through her chest as Gillion made a noise of surprise and his eyes widened. “Can I kiss you?”
Gillion was absolutely lovestruck, anxiety and love swirling together and beating in his ribcage. It was overwhelming, but wanted. He wanted Jay to stare at him, he wanted Jay to know and to feel him like he hadn’t let anyone else do before. He feared if he opened his mouth he’d say something dumb so he just nodded thoroughly.
Jay lightly pulled his head up using the hand in his hair, guiding him up to meet her lips. They were so warm, warmth he yearned for. He carefully maneuvered with his mouth full of sharp teeth, he didn’t want to accidentally cut Jay’s lip. She seemed fearless though, kissing back gently but with need and reckless love for him. He nervously moved his hand to her waist, hovering it there for a couple moments before deciding to go through with it and pull her closer.
He was so monstrous, so scary, yet she kissed him like none of that mattered to her whatsoever. The claws at the end of his hands could easily dig into her and hurt her, his teeth sharp enough to easily crunch through muscle and bone yet she kissed him so tenderly. He opened his mouth a little bit to breathe in, and she took that opportunity to catch him off guard and swipe her tongue against his lower lip and he squeezed her waist in surprise.
They soon both seperated for air, panting lightly. Gillion shifted onto one elbow, extending the arm on top of her to her back and gently pulling her down so her forearms were on either side of Gillion’s head. He quickly buried his face in the crook of her neck, trilling lightly with a tone of anxiety.
She picked up on it, shifting her weight to lay more on her side so both of her arms could enclose Gill in the safety of her shoulder. “Was that too much? Talk to me, moonlight.”
The petname ‘moonlight’ was a special one between only Gillion and Jay; he was Caspian’s ‘darling’ and Chip’s ‘monsoon’ but he was only ever Jay’s moonlight.
He trilled lightly again, trying not to rub his face against Jay’s shoulder to not smear the makeup she’d done. “I’m….” He took a long moment to ponder wether he should deflect, dig the unfamiliar emotions down in his chest and deal with them another day so Jay didn’t have too—but he knew that’s not what Jay would want from him, she’d worked so hard to teach him it was okay to feel upset. “I’m nervous.” He whispered.
Fingers entered his hair and carded through it, gently ruffling the curls. “Can you tell me why?”
She spoke with nothing but care and consideration for him, Gill reminded himself of that as he took a deep breath in. “I’m nervous I’m going to mess up the whole……physical affection thing. I wonder if I’m going to mess up one of your customs or make you uncomfortable. I want to take your breath away in the same way you steal mine.”
His face was hidden in her shoulder but he felt the gentle pull indicating she wanted to look at him. He nervously met her eyes, scanning for any hint of annoyance or condescendance.
“First of all, you make me speechless every day. Everytime you pick up Chip like he weighs nothing my stomach feels like it’s doing a backflip, you’re so strong and you’re smart too-“ While she spoke she used the hand that wasn’t in his hair to motion towards him, talking passionately. “-besides, you’re only the third person I’ve ever kissed, I’ve got no idea what I’m doing half the time too. That’s the fun of a relationship, we get to figure this out together.”
When she said that she pecked his temple, causing him to scrunch his face and giggle at her lips on his scales. “If you make me uncomfortable I’ll tell you to stop and there's nothing more and nothing less. Fuck whatever anyone else has said to you, love shouldn’t be a guessing game.”
He thought about it for a moment, and knew she was right. He still felt nervous, but her encouraging words quelled the anxious sting of his thoughts a little bit.
“Figuring it out together sounds lovely. We typically don’t engage in any forms of kissing in the undersea and at first I thought it was a bit of a silly concept to smush your mouth against someone elses’ but I think you’ve made me grown to like it.” It was true, his first kiss with Chip on the Desire Island had simply been him parroting the ‘acts of love’ he’d seen displayed in the oversea and he hadn’t thought much of it besides the odd physical sensation on his lips, but the more Jay pulled him in to shower him in kisses he felt the electricity that others described from them. Her affection made him feel a special kind of safe.
Their makeup completely forgotten and with a new feeling of confidence from Jay’s reassurance he moved his hand down to hook under her thigh and close to her knee, using the momentum of him rolling back onto his back to pull her from laying on her side with her legs tangled in his back to legs positioned on either side of him. She let out a Woah! at being moved, balancing her hands on his shoulders so that she didn’t topple forward on top of him.
He used his elbows to lift himself up, now in a sitting position. Jay’s cheeks were pink when she realized that she sat facing him in his lap.
“I see that look in your eyes, what evil plans do you have Tidestrider?” She teased.
He trilled and giggled, he was determined to return the favour of kisses to Jay.
“Oh, nothing, just-” halfway through his sentence he moved forward, peppering kisses all over Jay’s exposed collarbone. She immediately laughed and wiggled around, not expecting that.
“Gill! I’m ticklish!” She shrieked, gently swatting at his arms that held her close at the odd but pleasant sensation.
After a moment of giggling and laughter passed he slowed down his peppering of kisses, working his way up to Jay’s neck. His kisses were soft, gently repeating the motions he knew and absorbing the warmth her body provided against his.
He gently nipped and sucked at her neck, her skin soft and smooth against his mouth. She hummed pleasantly, an affirmation that the action was being enjoyed. He was very careful with his teeth, not even allowing them to graze her neck in fear of possibly hurting her on accident.
He knew Jay had no gills but the action of her tilting her neck to allow him more access still made his heart burst with emotion. Due to their sensitive gills that was only something tritons only did when they trusted each other very deeply.
She melted under his touch, more of her weight leaning into him as he took his time to appreciate the softness of her vulnerable skin and the pulse that he could feel beating faintly under his lips as he held her.
She hummed again just a bit sharper, getting Gill’s attention for a moment. “Can I touch you?” Those words from anyone else that wasn’t from her, Chip, Caspian, or his sister made his heart seize and his gut twist uncomfortably. He liked to be in total control of the way he was touched because unpredictability often meant that they wanted something from him, something that for one reason or another thought that they could just take from him.
He was willing to step out of his comfort zone for her though, he had full trust that she’d take her hands off of him if he said so. “Yes,” he removed his lips from her collar, sheepishly looking at her. “But preferably keep it above the waist?”
She nodded, giving him an enthusiastic smile. He had scars on his thighs that he didn’t want touched, not quite ready to acknowledge them quite yet.
He moved back to comfortably nuzzle her neck, his cool skin pleasant on the blush that spread down her jaw. She moved her hands, sliding them from his shoulders to his back.
Her hands immediately found strong muscles and defined shoulder blades, feeling the stiffness they held in them from hours of wearing heavy armour. She knew that under his shirt were beautiful orange tiger stripes that paralleled down his back, accentuating the fine muscles that flexed under them. She pressed down on a particularly tense spot and she heard Gillion suck in a small breath before sighing as if he’d experienced just a little relief from his often sore muscles. From his back she moved to trace the soft curve of his pectoral muscle, leading her to his sternum.
She enjoyed his unflexed, authentic body. Gillion did his best to stay tense, on guard, all the time. That meant keeping his muscles stiff and braced, ready at any small movement to receive the impact of a blow. But now he was fully relaxed under her, his usually immovable wall of muscle was soft and squishy to her touch. His chest was particularly soft, one of her favourite places to curl up after a long day of working on her tinkering projects.
At one point he let out a throaty trill against her neck, a low and vibrato noise that made sound spread from his chest to her shoulders. She dropped her hands down his chest, finding his sides and tickling them lightly.
He trilled higher, half-squeaking and half-laughing at the sensation. They were pressed close enough for her to feel the muscles in his stomach tense as he laughed, squirming and trying to pry her fingers from his sensitive spots. After a moment she stopped, giggling at how defensive he was when he was tickled.
He still held her close but leaned back a bit, settling himself more against the headboard but keeping his hand on Jay’s shoulder to rub her arm. He worried, he knew it was irrational, that if he let go of her form she’d slip through his fingers when he wasn’t looking.
Jay however was looking at the orange swirls on his stomach, his shirt having ridden up a little bit while he was wiggling. They were beautiful, curving and flowing across his skin and convening to create a starburst pattern. In the last couple months his body had changed a bit, his hips filling out a little and his tummy gaining a warm layer of fat that gave him a little pouch.
“You’re amazing, Gillion,” She breathed out softly, overcome with how he was putting so much trust in her and she held it in her hands like it was the most valuable thing she’d ever encountered. “I don’t think you’ve been told that enough in your life.”
He covered his flushed cheeks with his forearm, huffing. “I feel as if you may be a bit biased.” He joked with her.
“So what if I am? I’m so proud of you. Seriously, when I first met you if I touched your shoulder you would’ve gouged my eye out and now,” she motioned at their comfortably close position, Gillion leaning against the wood headboard of the bed and Jay seated comfortably in his lap. “-you’ve come a long way.”
“When I was young I believed that I’d never be physically close to anyone. To be close to someone was to be hurt by them, to be under their control,” he spoke, letting emotions from the depth of his chest flow out in shaky words. “But I’ve been proven wrong—you’ve truly taught me what it’s like to be close but not trapped.”
He chose his words carefully, an incredibly raw emotion for the triton that was still healing. When he looked up at her he could’ve sworn that she had sparkling tears in the corners of her eyes, but she must’ve blinked them away before Gillion could notice.
Jay opened her arms and flopped into a hug around Gillion’s broad shoulders, squeezing him in close. He was surprised for a moment by the quick action before he wrapped his arms around her right back, his head fitting nicely into the crook of her head and shoulder.
“I hope you never feel trapped again.” She said, her muffled voice audible from her own place buried in his shoulder.
“Thank you,” he whispered, his own tears pricking at his eyes as the small action of Jay’s hug felt as if it was physically eliviating him of a small portion of the gargantuan emotional weight he carried with him everywhere. “Would you be mad if I cried off the makeup you did?”
Tears of his own had begun to form in the corners of his eyes, threatening to spill over and smudge Jay’s hard work. He brought his hand to his eye and attempted to precariously rub them from his eye but all he got was dusty eyeshadow on his finger when he pulled it back.
“You’d still last longer then Chip, he had his makeup on for a whopping 10 minutes before he sneezed, ran into the mast, and left an imprint of his face on the pole,” She giggled, finally pulling out of the hug. “Don’t worry about it though, soon I’ll teach you the art of crying as hard as you want without your makeup budging.”
Gillion was sure he looked a bit ridiculous with his eyes watery from emotion and eyeshadow smeared on his face, but he still smiled with anticipation. “I’ll look forward to it greatly.”