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"Look a little closer." Leon chimed, grinning slyly as Frey curiously eyed the long, transparent body of the lamp squid wriggling on the end of his fishing line.
"What, and let you carry out whatever mischief you're plotting so easily?" She countered, quirking an eyebrow at him, "I don't think so, bucko." Leon laughed lightly.
"Oh princess, you need to learn to trust people more." He teased in a liquid voice, "Suspicion is unbecoming on a lovely young lady, you know."
"So is squid ink." She said flatly. He laughed again.
"That is a matter of perspective. I think It would be a very appealing picture."
"A very amusing one, you mean."
"Yes, that too." He allowed, retrieving the squid from his hook and depositing it into a small pail of lake water between them. He leaned back on one elbow and lazily cast the line back into the dazzling surface of dragon lake. Frey mirrored his posture beside him, close enough to count her eyelashes. He carefully kept watching the bobber and the lure beneath it, afraid to let his gaze linger on his new girlfriend.
Girlfriend... The word still felt weird, even in his thoughts. Why had he agreed to date her, no... why had she agreed, after he swore to her he'd never even consider marrying her? Was she hoping to change his mind, perhaps? Maybe just playing with him? No... she was too innocent for that. Why was he doing this to her? It could only end poorly... he could only disappoint her, regardless of what she was expecting from him.
Against his will his gaze wandered over to the corner of his eyes where he could see the line of her waist and hip and thigh--Gods damn him for a fool! Why had he suggested they come here in bathing suits?? He swallowed and looked away again, fox tail swishing anxiously in spite of his mental commands for stillness. Frey giggled softly beside him.
"You can look, you know." She said in a half-sly voice not altogether free of her usual vapid innocent air.
"Who says I want to?" He returned airily, determinedly fixing his gaze out over the water again.
'Stupid!' he thought instantly. How long was he going to keep punishing her for his weakness? But, if he managed to put her off enough, maybe she'd give this up? Maybe she'd do what he wasn't strong enough to...
Suddenly Frey's hand came down on his twitching tail. He flinched in surprise, tail trying to flip out of her grasp by reflex.
"This does." She said evenly, a gleam of triumph in her eyes. His ears flattened down and he snatched his tail from her grip pointedly as his tongue ran away with him again.
"Well, It seems you're not at all shy about grabbing a man's appendages." He jeered. She flushed, frowning in embarrassed disapproval.
"Why do you have to be that way? It's not like I forced you to come out here with me." She said quietly, levity suddenly gone from her voice. He sighed, then smiled helplessly at the lakeshore, glancing at her from the corner of his eye again.
"It's a defense mechanism for when I'm thoroughly outmatched, love." He said matter-of-factly. Her cheeks reddened again but this time her eyes were wide with bashful, stunned approval. He felt heat rise in his face and glanced away again, avoiding those dazzling green eyes. Even without looking, though, he felt her move closer. His grip tightened on the handle of his fishing rod, knuckles turning white.
"Leo..." She breathed in his ear, which twitched as his heart fluttered and the bottom dropped out of his stomach. A slender hand reached up to turn his face and before a syllable of protest could form on his tongue her mouth was pressed to his. The once-priest's eyes fluttered closed instantly as he let his mouth soften to the kiss, drowning in the sudden intensity of heat and warmth and her. Oh dragons this woman would be his undoing! She kissed him again, lips plucking at his, hand pulling him in with a gentle caress of his jawline. A soft, high noise of pleasure hummed against his mouth, born of her voice and the white-hot liquid fire she was surely made of inside. What else could explain the electric pulse shooting up his backbone, the tingle at the roots of his hair, the way all the air vanished from his lungs... the way he needed this more than anything.
'No' A resurgence of his will pleaded frantically, even as he leaned into the kiss, fishing pole slipping unheeded from his hand as he wove his fingers into her hair, pulling her more firmly into this downward spiral. She hummed happily, a muffled giggle quivering in her mouth, in his mouth now as she slipped her tongue into it. A low, almost-moan escaped him, head spinning, losing which side of the world was the sky and which the ground. Abruptly his body caught up with his mouth's misadventure and a spasm of panic shot through him as arousal manifested itself very tangibly below. 'No, gods damn you! She doesn't deserve to be lied to like this and you don't deserve HER!"
With a strangled grunt of frustration he broke away, sitting up sharply and plunging his hand into the pail on the sand. The cold slimy lamp squid squished in his fist as he snatched it up, jammed it between his jaws and bit down hard. Frey gasped in surprise and Leon trembled with relief as the venom of the cephalopod's clear blood oozed into his mouth, extinguishing all her errant fire with suffocating numbness. He sighed in relief through his noise and sagged where he sat.
"Leo, what on Earth are you doing?" Frey asked, dumbfounded. He turned to her, face flushed bright red still. Just then the sealing toxin took full hold of his mouth and his jaw slackened. The squid slid out from his bite and plopped wetly into his lap.
'Good... two birds with one squid...' He thought ruefully. The fox-man attempted to shrug nonchalantly despite his suddenly slack-jawed expression, tongue hanging out complete with ropey saliva dripping from it.
"Whah?" He asked as if everything was normal, "Mah thung wuf miffbehathing, tho I puh ih in thime ouh." He managed to say before the silencing effect of the venom completely stole his voice. Frey stared at him in utter, wide-eyed shock for a beat or two, then her smile cracked wide open and she exploded into uncontrollable high-pitched laughter.
Despite the pain of his past, the oath that strangled him and stole his love away from her; despite everything, Leon smiled as much as his numbed mouth would smile as he watched Frey laugh at him, clutching her sides and flopping onto her back in the sand. He couldn't explain why, but despite everything and every reason why it never actually could, somewhere in his heart he felt for the first time this might actually work out...