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By the fifth attempt to read the same paragraph, Haurchefant had no choice to accept the fact that his mind was too agitated to focus on anything; so, with a loud sigh, he closed his book (one he never had the chance to finish when he was alive) and half-heartedly threw it on his bedside table, leaning back against the bedframe and staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t deny the frustration at his inability to control his restlessness, but at the same time, he asked himself, how many people go through the experience of dying and coming back to life only to be loved back by the person he admired with all his heart. As Mai’s face crossed his mind, Haurchefant felt himself smile - and as if he had somehow called for her telepathically, he heard a shy knock on his door. In a second he was on his feet, completely forgetting that he had taken off his tunic before trying to sleep earlier. It took him nothing but a couple big steps to reach the door, and he opened it wide before even asking who was behind it. He knew he didn’t have to, because his hunch was correct: there was Mai, dressed in a cozy sleep attire, hands behind her back and eyes focused on the floor. Haurchefant’s smile grew bigger and before she could say anything, he grabbed her by her wrist and gently pulled her into a hug, which made Mai freeze for a second before she hugged him back - that is, until she realized he was shirtless and tried to jump back, only to be held even tighter. Once he had his fill, Haurchefant chuckled and let her go, winking smugly at his companion as he stepped behind her to close the door. Mai simply shook her head, unable to be actually mad at him, and when he took her hand in his and walked towards his bed, she followed suit and sat next to him before finally speaking:
“So… I guess you couldn’t sleep either”. She said, holding his hand with both of hers and rubbing her thumbs against his skin. When she looked up at him, she was still blushing, but there was no mistaking the worry in her eyes. Haurchefant sighed and placed a kiss on the top of her head, before replying.
“Indeed, it would seem we are on the same wavelength, my dear. May I ask what is troubling you?” He then brought her hands to his lips and gave each of them a kiss, which made Mai giggle and lean against his shoulder. She sighed and closed her eyes, visibly conflicted about how to word her concerns; so, as a way to take her mind away from the stress, Haurchefant decided to change gears.
“Maybe a better question is why would you come to my room in such an hour… What kind of nefarious plans did you have, hm?”. As he freed his hand from Mai’s, he wrapped his arms around her once again, which made her laugh lightly.
“I was worried about you”. She said in a small voice, hiding her face on his chest; this time she didn’t seem that bothered by his lack of clothing, and it was Haurchefant’s turn to blush when she hugged him back and started running her hands on his back, possibly to soothe herself. “We had a full day today and while I’m glad we were able to do so much, I feared that… I don’t know. That you had depleted all your energy, or that… Gods, I feel silly for thinking like this, but…” before going on, she hugged him tighter. “To be quite honest, I was scared that you would have disappeared in the morning. So I thought I should check on you, just in case.”
Haurchefant stayed in silence, not knowing how to react. First, he was tempted to tease her – ‘So you were thinking about me even at this hour? I am flattered’; but he knew she was being genuine, and the least he could do was to do the same for her. He squeezed her before letting go, pushing her back so he could look at her face.
“I am honored, truly, that you worry about me so much. And I am also glad you decided to come see me, because I was also restless; if anything, I suppose we can be anxious together, and hopefully end up falling asleep” Then he moved his hands to cup Mai’s small face, so she couldn’t look away. “I am not going anywhere, my dear. Not without you by my side.”
After hearing his heartfelt confession, Mai couldn’t help but squeal, which made Haurchefant let out a hearty laughter. Then they laid in his bed, facing each other and recounting the day’s adventures, hoping that sleep would come for them soon. It seemed, however, that the more they waited for it, the farther away it went, and they eventually got tired of speaking; instead, they just looked at each other with love in their eyes, listening to the silence and chuckling every now and then. In the quiet of his dark room, Haurchefant felt at peace; if this moment lasted forever, it would have still ended too soon - and the end came in an unexpected way; without any warning, Mai closed the distance between them and kissed him on the lips. Slightly shocked, Haurchefant needed a couple seconds before he could react; funnily enough, this was the second time since he got back that she kissed him like that, and this time he had no intention of letting it slide. Still, he wasn’t fully sure about her boundaries, so all he did was close his own eyes and rest his hand on her waist, giving her an approving squeeze so she would know he was enjoying her actions. To be quite honest, Haurchefant didn’t expect anything to happen after the kiss - at most, he pondered, Mai would lean away, embarrassed by her own straightforwardness, and he would laugh lovingly and they would snuggle until they eventually fell asleep. So when he still felt Mai’s lips open just enough to suck on his lower lip, Haurchefant was completely caught by surprise; then he felt her teeth gently graze against the supple skin of his lip and he let out a grunt. Unable to hold himself back any longer, he pulled Mai closer by the waist, their bodies now flush against each other. Time stopped as he felt the tip of her tongue probe against his mouth, and he gladly let her in; it was obvious how inexperienced she was and it seemed she suddenly had the same realization, but before she could pull back Haurchefant firmly held her face and kissed her back, instinctively taking the lead. Mai let out a breathy sigh, and seemed content enough to let him guide her.
When he opened that door earlier and saw Mai there, Haurchefant didn’t plan to have his way with her; but as they kissed each other fervently on his bed, his heart pounded against his chest and he felt truly alive. As he moved to get on top of her, a little voice in his head reminded him of how much bigger and heavier than her he was, and he tried to support himself on his forearms - that task was made rather difficult, however, because Mai was stronger than he remembered, and kept pulling his body against hers, seemingly craving for the pressure. Despite her responsiveness, Haurchefant still worried about how much Mai actually wanted to be with him in this sense, and he tried to keep a certain amount of composure, in case she showed any signs of regret. As if she could read his mind, Mai maneuvered her hips so she could straddle one of his thighs and, much to his surprise, grinded against it - any shred of self-control Haurchefant still had flew out of the window at this moment, and it was as if a switch turned in his head. With some effort he pulled back and sat on his calves, looking down at the woman under him: her face was flushed, her lips were puffy and her hair was completely disheveled; but she looked at him with certainty in her eyes and, to get rid of any trace of doubt, she pulled her own shirt up, trying to take it off. Due to her position, however, it proved to be quite the difficult task, and when Haurchefant chuckled at her attempt, her face only got redder.
Now fully convinced that she wanted him as much as he wanted her, he helped her take off her shirt, and once her upper body was completely at his mercy, he leaned back down to kiss her again, feeling her warm skin against his. He could feel her cling for life to his back, and despite being elated with her reactions so far, he still wanted more; so he let his hands wander from her waist to her chest and as her gasps got louder, Haurchefant grew bolder. For every nibble he got a scratch, and they only stopped kissing when the need for air was too strong to ignore. Haurchefant delighted on how big his hands looked when he held her hips, and how pliant Mai was under his touch; every now and then she stopped kissing him back and held his face, looking into his eyes before pulling him back down, and in those little moments he felt so utterly loved that it made him get light-headed. The layers of fabric soon started to feel too restraining and despite it being quite obvious how Mai felt, Haurchefant was still hellsbent on having her consent to every single touch; so before sitting back to take off her remaining clothing, he gave her a look, waiting for her yes. What he got instead was an impatient huff, and he watched with amusement as the woman quickly undressed and made a show of throwing the garments to another corner of the room. Her face was redder than ever before, but her resolve was clear - and what else could he do but follow her lead? Still, he couldn’t help himself and decided to tease his companion a little longer - with a confident smirk, he took Mai’s hand and guided it to his obvious hard-on; she tentatively touched him through the material of his pants and he let out a loud groan on purpose, trying to elicit more reactions from her. While seeing her whimper in embarrassment was quite amusing, Haurchefant himself couldn’t wait any longer and nodded to Mai, who gulped and slowly lowered the waistband of his remaining clothing. Once they were completely off, she once again playfully threw them away from the bed, and at last there were no more obstacles between them; Haurchefant took a good look at Mai’s naked figure below him and with a mischievous smirk, he pounced at her, making her squeal and giggle. Soon enough their laughter was replaced by passionate moans and hoarse grunts, followed by the unrelenting creaking of the bed.
In his past life, Haurchefant had proudly stated that a knight lives to serve; now, as his lover’s trembling voice echoed in the bedroom in response to his devoted ministrations, he swore to himself to abide by that vow, especially when it came to showing his love.