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It'd been quiet for at least five minutes, now.
The sound of hammer on stone, cracking deepslate, and digging dirt bouncing around the cold walls of the mine were the only sounds as Drift and AJ silently did their work.
The spell allowed them to hear each other throughout the secret underground paths, yet neither had spoken for… the last while.
AJ got here first, Drift later, and it must’ve been hours going at the stone walls, hollowing out the hallways for seemingly no good reason.
I’ve been here too long, AJ thought as she could no longer tell if she were over or above ground. The cavern walls surrounding the two seemed to all blur together, and AJ found herself accidentally hitting the hammer on her hand a worrying amount, her movements becoming lazy due to the sheer amount of time she’d spent in the mines today.
After hours of bickering, talking, confiding in Drift, neither Mage could find anything real to say.
The fatigue was getting to them, but Osteon had given them a deadline.
They did not want to miss it.
AJ, out of breath, wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and placed her hands on her thighs, breathing heavily. “You almost done?” She asked Drift.
They were both eager to get home.
Away from each other, too.
It was funny how just a couple weeks ago, spending hours with Drift was one of AJ’s favourite pastimes.
“About done with this hallway. You?”
“Same. We should be able to finish the rest tomorrow.”
“Yeah, we did most of the work today.”
“Mm. Good work, Princess.” AJ grinned as she continued hammering, picking up material as she went. “I’m proud.”
“Oh, shut up.” Drift groaned. She was far away, but the spell made it sound as if she was right in her hear. “Okay, I’m done here. Want me to come help you finish?”
“Yeah. You were always good at that.” The Death Mage smiled at her own joke, laughing under her breath.
“Oh, seriously? You really can’t go five minutes without making a dirty joke, gosh.” Drift complained, though AJ could hear the smile in her voice.
“Well, actually, we were just silent for five minutes. So, technically, I can.”
“Wow. How impressive.”
“Thanks. I practiced.”
“Mm. I could tell.” Drift snorted loudly. “Coming now.”
“Great.” AJ sighed, and looked at the hallway. There was a good amount still left to do. Half an hour with just her, but definitely less with Drift helping. “I was always good at making you come.”
She gave herself a proud smile.
“AJ, I swear to God—” Drift snapped at her, but she was interrupted.
“You know, Open Book, everytime you scold me for saying something like that, it means nothing, because I can hear your blush as you speak? You’re not as slick as you think you are.” AJ snorted. It was true — Drift complained about AJ’s slight flirting, her sexual jokes, but it was clear how much she enjoyed them.
“What? Okay, that’s just untrue.”
“I assure you it is not.”
“Please.” Drift sighed. Her voice was slightly louder now, so AJ knew she was getting close to her. “I bet if you kissed me, you’d still blush. Get all flustered like you always did.”
AJ stopped hammering.
Her? Blush? Get all flustered?
Bull-fucking-shit.
“I— excuse me?” The Mage scoffed, laughing in disbelief.
“What? It’s true, isn’t it?”
“It is not!” When have I ever blushed? Gotten flustered? That’s… how ridiculous.
“Oh, it’s so true.” Drift laughed gleefully.
“It— no, it isn’t.” AJ defended herself. “Okay, maybe when we were together, but now’s different. If anything, it would be you getting all flustered.”
“No, it wouldn’t.”
“Oh, yes it would.”
In her periphery, AJ could see Drift with her hammer, now mining the rest of her hallway.
But Drift wasn’t letting the conversation go. “I wouldn’t! Despite your projecting onto me, AJ, I really don’t want to kiss you.”
AJ bit back a smile.
It was hard not to grin when Drift was so freaking obvious about it.
“You don’t?” She raised an eyebrow at the rock.
Drift replied immediately. “Nope. Had a nightmare about it last night, actually.”
AJ almost tripped over a stray rock, but she recovered quickly, turning to face Drift’s back with a teasing expression. “Ah, so I’m in your dreams? Got it, Open Book.”
“Wh— Hey! No! That’s not—” The former Princess stuttered over herself, making AJ giggle and speak before Drift could gather her thoughts together.
“You’ve been denying it all this time, but I mean, you just confessed.” AJ said in a singsong voice, finding great pleasure in how Drift’s voice got higher and faster.
“I didn’t! I said nightmares. That means I don’t want to kiss you.”
She hummed in response. “And yet your subconscious is thinking about it.”
This time, Drift didn’t stutter. “Yeah, and how horrible it would be. How much it would suck. See, that’s the difference between mine and your subconscious. Mine hates it, while yours yearns for it.”
“Right. That’s why I’m the one who won’t stop talking about it.”
“Well, you keep replying. It would be rude for me to ignore you, no?”
“It’s also rude to lie, Drift.” AJ didn’t know why she said it, but she did. Yup. She did. And now it was out there. To be fair, Drift was lying — AJ knew she wanted to kiss her.
“Well, you’d know all about that, AJ.” Drift didn’t miss a beat.
AJ scoffed.
It was true, though.
“And don’t think I can’t see that blush on your face.” Drift added at the end. It made AJ spin around in shock. What the fuck? Blush on her face?
“Blush on my face?” She repeated Drift’s words, laughing at how ridiculous it was
“Mhm. It’s so obvious.” Drift wasn’t even looking at her! She faced the cave wall, hammering away, talking to AJ over her shoulder.
“There’s no blush on my face. You’re not even looking at me!” AJ denied the allegations, frowning at her ex-girlfriend.
“Don’t need to. I mean, I can turn around, since you always want my eyes on you so bad.” Drift did turn around, locking eyes with AJ as she walked across the cavity and leaned close into AJ’s face. Slowly, AJ remaining silent, Drift raked her eyes over AJ’s face, her lips, her eyes, inspecting it. “Yeah, blushing.” She surmised with a cheeky grin.
“Nope.” AJ shook her head once, before tilting it.
“Yup.” Drift shrugged happily.
“I’m not blushing. In fact, I think I see some on your face.” Her eyes squinted before she nodded in agreement with— herself.
“No, I don’t think you do.” Drift sighed.
“But I do! But, I do. And I know it’ll only get worse if I kiss you. Because, Drift, you want me. You want me so bad, and it kills you that I don’t want you back.”
Their eyes stayed on each other, glued to the others. Drift stood so close to AJ the Mage could feel her breathing on her cheeks, and the heat coming off her body. The sweet smell of pinecones and soil after rain drifting off the Princess. AJ would be lying if she said it didn’t make her feel the smallest bit high.
Drift threw her a cocky grin. “I guess we’re learning the word projecting today, huh?”
It made AJ laugh. One of her favourite things about Drift was how she always managed to banter.
The Death Mage didn’t reply in time, and Drift continued. “You know, I bet you a whole hallway that you’ll be blushing hardest if we made out.”
AJ guffawed at it, no longer looking into Drift’s eyes, and instead laughing with her head turned to the wall. “You know you can just say you want to make out with me. Right, Drift?” She cocked her head at the Mage teasingly, asking for more. “All these games and bets… I have no problem kissing you, because I don’t care about you anymore.”
AJ didn’t miss how Drift’s eye twitched at the end.
“No?” Drift asked.
“No.” AJ said calmly.
“Prove it, then.” Drift demanded.
AJ raised an eyebrow at the confidence on Drift’s face. She looked sure of… whatever this was.
A grin slowly grew on AJ’s face, as her eyes dipped from Drift’s eyes, to her nose, to her lips. She was sure Drift’s eyes did the same.
AJ knew exactly what to do. Exactly what would make Drift blush quickest.
She let her voice go lower, staring lustily at her ex’s mouth. Drift’s lips were pink and plushy, as they always were, and AJ found it suddenly difficult to remember when their last kiss was.
“You want me to kiss you, Drift?” She whispered.
“...No.”
Drift tried turning her head away, eyes ripping off AJ’s face, her cheeks turning the same shade of pink as her lips.
I already won.
But…
Well, she got Drift’s hopes up.
AJ couldn’t disappoint her, right?
A deal was a deal.
“No, no, no. Turn your head.” AJ instructed her. Immediately, obediently, Drift listened. Just like last time, Drift’s face turned back to AJ’s, lips slightly parted, ready for a kiss.
Her eyes fluttered shut.
Neither said anything as their lips closed around each other, as AJ’s hand slivered over Drift’s neck, to the base of her hair, and then to her scalp.
AJ expected the kiss to hurt.
To be reminded of every time they had kissed before, made out, joked, laughed, cuddled — for the memories of it to burn through her hair as she kissed Drift.
Yet somehow, there was no pain. The memories were there, the same butterflies in her stomach AJ tried to squash whenever they flirted returned, as did the lightheadedness when they kissed. Except, they weren’t bad.
Unfortunately for AJ, they were—
Ugh.
Comforting.
Drift’s lips opened to let Aj nibble on her bottom lip, taking the plush of it and sucking, before pulling out and kissing wider pulling on the tops of Drift’s lips, and the sides of it. Without even realising, Drift’s arms had wrapped around AJ’s waist — her smaller height made her waist perfect for Drift’s grabby hands — sliding over her skin, moving down to her hips.
AJ didn’t know what home felt like, but a part of her wished this might be it.
Her lips joined Drift’s in familiarity, knowing exactly which part of her tongue to bite, which cheek to graze as they kissed. The hand in Drift’s hair scrunched it up by her scalp, giving AJ more power to manouver the Mage’s head around as she wished. She pulled Drift’s head back just slightly, not pulling on her hair enough for it to hurt, and began kissing right under Drift’s lips, near her chin.
The Mage peppered kisses, sucking occasionally, all over Drift’s mouth, the kisses becoming messier and happier by the second. It allowed Drift to let out a tiny moan, to whisper, “AJ.” as AJ pecked Drift’s lips and the sides of her cheek.
“Mm?” She moaned in reply to Drift’s call of her name.
Drift did not say anything, but instead planted her hands firmly on AJ’s waist, taking a step back, and then slamming the Mage onto the cave wall. In a spin, not even a blink of a second, AJ’s back was pressed against the wall of the hallway, Drift letting her deepen the kiss.
AJ could taste flowers in Drift’s mouth, and hazily recalled that she always tasted that way.
Somehow, the Mage had forgotten.
How could she forget that?
Her thoughts were cut off as Drift pulled off AJ’s lips, stared at her breathless for a moment, and began ferociously to attack AJ’s neck.
Drift’s face was burrowed inbetween AJ’s neck and hair, kissing and sucking on her skin as if she were a starving woman. Lips grazed AJ’s skin, sending shots of tingles throughout her body, as Drift’s wet tongue licked it, no doubt leaving deep hickeys.
The Earth Mage moved from AJ’s jawline to the middle of her neck, down to her collarbone, leaving red-hot love marks and bites for her to find later. All the while, Drift’s hands claimed AJ’s waist as their own, squeezing and kneading them, like she was scared AJ might up and leave.
AJ had to repeatedly bite her own lip to stop small whimpers from escaping, head thrown back on the deepslate around them. The jagged stone hurt, but not more than being alone did.
The question of who blushed first was left forgotten somewhere else in the mine.
All AJ could smell was Drift. All she could taste was Drift. Worse, all she coult think about, was Drift.
The Princess’s lips eventually returned to AJ’s, the snogging continuing as AJ’s hands held Drift’s cheeks, and Drift’s hands had wrapped around her neck. They pulled and pushed together, almost in sync, biting softly and sucking the life out of the other.
Neither was sure of when they last stopped to breathe. Both Mages were too entranced in the joy of being back together, even if in such a fake way, simply wanting to chrish the moment as best they could.
Pregnant moments past, with AJ’s lips becoming so numb and used that she wondered if they were even still connected to her at all, before Drift pulled away fully.
Her lips were red now, no longer pink, as AJ was sure hers were, too. The Earth Mage’s eyes were glossy, eyelids half closed like in a daze as her cheeks flushed just the perfect colour for AJ to want to kiss them again. Wild, frizzy hair was everywhere on Drift’s head, the remnants of AJ’s hand in in clearly visible.
Her chest heaved, oxygen entering AJ’s lungs for the first time in full minutes, as she pressed herself again against the mining wall.
Before AJ could even utter a word, Drift spoke. “I win.” She breathed, voice airy and slightly gone, lusty, even.
“You lost before we even started, Open Book.” AJ laughed in response, admitting the way Drift’s hair moved in the daft breeze. Her heart beat faster than ever before.
“What— what do you call that, then?” She asked, sounding annoyed, yet still blissed out. AJ knew immediately she was referencing their make out session.
She tilted her head and swallowed everything she truly wanted to say. “Just a bit of fun, Drift.”