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"Hold still..."
Zuka tenderly cupped Darkheart's chin with a calloused hand, eyes locked on their lips with gentle intensity. His touch was soft as he brought the tube of lipstick to their mouth.
Silence hung in the air between them, tense but not uncomfortable. The quiet of held breaths and still bodies. The world outside felt distant and unimportant compared to the moment happening inside the intimate bubble they'd created and sat in. Every slight bit of contact burned pleasantly.
Soft wax dragged along the smooth skin of Darkheart's lips, leaving behind a trail of crimson. Zuka moved with precision. He wasn't going to mess this up. Not on them. The other stayed frozen for him, lips parted a little, making no attempts to refuse the cosmetic or throw a snarky comment about the slight tremble of his hand. They weren't their usual loud and chaotic self currently, which the ambassador found rather uncharacteristic for them. He liked it though.
Both were knelt down on the couch, knees almost touching one another's. Darkheart's fingers curled in their lap, claws digging into the thin, silky fabric of their long skirt. The atmosphere was so brittle and delicate that they could feel the tiny shifts of the cushions every time Zuka repositioned himself. They would notice him squinting as he struggled to make out the edges of their mouth in the shadow of their hat, then tilt their head back to make it easier for him.
Zuka pulled back when he finished applying the lipstick to get a look at their face. He brushed his thumb across their cheek, over the black spikes marked there. His gaze followed where his finger moved before averting back to their lips. A small, shaky exhale left him.
"You're beautiful..." he murmured.
Darkheart smiled, the sharp edges they often had softened. A quiet chuckle followed. One of their hands came up to grab Zuka's wrist, then moved to feel his palm. Their fingers slowly intertwined with his as silence returned, heavy with unspoken words about the situation.
Zuka suddenly processed what the two of them were doing, feeling a subtle blush creep up his face from the abrupt awkwardness. Another hushed laugh from the deity broke through his mild embarrassment before they leaned forward and released his hand to bring theirs to his jaw.
They spoke softly as if they were trying to preserve the tranquility. "And what about you...?"
Zuka's eyes widened a bit.
"Me? As in... the lipstick?" He glanced down at the small tube in his hand, brows furrowed in uncertainty. "I dunno... red doesn't really look good on me..."
Darkheart hummed in consideration. They held up their other hand, the runes around their arm starting to shine brighter and casting a lime glow onto its surroundings. Zuka watched in fascination and awe when a second tube appeared in their grasp out of thin air.
They took off the cap, revealing a lovely, muted shade of indigo. Before Zuka could retreat, they pressed the end of the stick onto his lips. His body locked up while they continued their work at his mouth. He too, though rather reluctantly, didn't resist.
When they moved away and closed the lipstick with a small click, Zuka subconsciously brought his fingertips to graze past where the warmth of Darkheart's hand had been. They admired how the blue looked against his grey skin, their smile widening slightly.
"Suits you..." they purred.
The ambassador grumbled as the blush on his face became more noticeable, failing to meet Darkheart's obscured eyes and instead looking down at his knees in fluster.
"C'mon... it's like your horns...!" They got closer to him with an amused but affectionate look.
Zuka backed away instinctively from the proximity. He glanced up at them for a split second before immediately regretting it when he saw that annoyingly endearing expression they wore. A huff came from him, a sound of surrender.
"Fine, fine, I won't wipe it off," he sighed. "It's... not bad, I guess. You chose a good colour..."
Darkheart tilted their head to the side, their voice dropping to a low register.
"And oh, how we wish to make it purple..." they whispered, barely audible.
Going rigid, Zuka's breath hitched. "You- WHAT!?"
"Relax, don't implode on us... but the offer's there~"
The deity snickered, leaning back. The absence of their body heat near him felt a little too cold. He fell backwards with a sigh to lay down and stared up at the ceiling, his mind wandering into a haze to try to calm down his racing heart. Darkheart observed his quiet state. Their smile softened into something mellow before they carefully slid their arms under his waist and rested on top of him. Zuka let out a tiny sound that acknowledged them, then brought a hand to their back.
He patted them, a leisurely steady pace, the rhythmic taps being the loudest noise in the silence of the room. Darkheart nuzzled into him, content. Their hat was shifted askew. They could feel the slow rise and fall of Zuka's chest with their face pressed right against it.
There was notably some tension now from Zuka, with concealed desires and longing that stung being faintly emitted from him. His internal conflict was visible from the way he held himself. Darkheart picked up on it but decided not to interfere, feeling that this was for him to sort himself.
Eventually, they began to fall in and out of sleep, their breathing evening out, until they felt a gentle, deliberate nudge on their shoulder. "Mm...?"
Zuka sat up a little, though he kept his arms firmly around Darkheart. "Could we... your suggestion earlier..." His words trailed off into unintelligible mumbles.
"Ah... really...?"
"... Yeah..."
The deity pushed themself up to get closer to his face. They eyed his lips that were so gorgeously painted blue once again. With slowness that almost felt painful for Zuka, they approached. Their own lips stopped short of his, letting their breaths mingle for a second before they finally closed the gap.
It was a tentative kiss, uncertain and apprehensive, but the pair found themselves leaning into it. The ambassador's hand moved up Darkheart's back and to their head while the other one cupped their jaw, holding them gently while deepening the kiss. It was like how he had held them minutes ago, except this time his touch was rather desperate. He hummed against their lips, voice wavering, and savoured the warmth of them.
Darkheart felt the faint tremor of his hand on them and offered a small, encouraging murmur in response. They tightened their hold on him, arms wrapping firmly around his waist. Everything had narrowed down to the point where their lips met. Nothing else mattered at this moment.
When they finally parted, both of them inhaled sharply, catching their breaths. Zuka blinked rapidly, then noticed that Darkheart's lipstick had been tinged purple at their lower lip. They gazed back at the shift in hue of his.
"My, my, what a wonderful shade~..." they cooed, a smile reappearing on their face.
Zuka's face flushed a dark grey tinted with scarlet, whining quietly and unable to hide away with Darkheart laying on top of him. The other pushed forward into another delicate kiss, further smearing his and their own lipstick.
Zuka lost himself in the sensation of their lips once again, a low moan escaping his throat. It was odd, how their touch felt warm yet icy at the same time, along with how lightly they were handling him. He found himself wanting — needing — more. With fervor, he intensified the kiss by a little.
They broke apart again to gasp for air, chests heaving. A crooked but genuine smile was tugging at the corner of Zuka's mouth. The blue pigment, now mostly purple, on his skin was smudged slightly off his lips like a newspawn had accidentally coloured outside the lines of a drawing. He could feel Darkheart's hidden eyes lingering on it.
The warmth of their breath returned and he braced himself for another kiss, only for them to plant it at the edge of his mouth.
"Mph- dude, think y' missed..." he mumbled, scrutinising them for a reason or an explanation.
The deity laughed breathily, giving a bit of a giddy smile. They lifted a hand, their fingers brushing by where they'd left a purple and red lipstick mark on Zuka. They pulled away quickly, not wanting to ruin the stain, then lowered their head onto his shoulder. Their claws hooked onto his shirt collar, tugging at the light blue fabric to expose the skin of his neck.
Zuka let out a weak whimper before Darkheart buried their face into the crook of his neck and purred happily. Their tail gave a lazy swish behind them, which thumped onto the cushions softly. They rubbed their cheek against his shoulder as they tried to erase all the space between them.
Their legs kicked slowly as they continued snuggling with the ambassador. Cute idiot. Zuka bit back the comment. He sighed, sliding his hand under their hat and running his fingers through Darkheart's long, black hair. It felt weirdly smooth. He was discovering a lot of things about them today from all the physical contact. Then, a choked cry came out when he felt the sudden, sharp sting of teeth nipping the sensitive skin of his neck, his grasp on the other's hair tightening and accidentally pulling out of reflex.
"Haah- sh-shit, sorry..." he rasped, letting go of their hair and sitting up in worry.
Darkheart simply kissed where they'd bitten, leaving another mark there and seeming unfazed by the slight pain in their scalp. They trailed more kisses along his neck and shoulder, drawing out keening sounds from him that he desperately tried to stifle. He didn't even notice when they undid the first two buttons of his shirt until he felt their lips on the upper area of his chest, which earned them a whimper.
More bites were given, followed by gentle licks from their tongue. They travelled to his face, kissed his lips, cheek, then went back to his neck, whispering sweet nothings to his ears. By the time they were satisfied with the amount of marks they'd put onto him, he was covered purple all over. Zuka's fond groans of complaint were answered with affectionate snickers from Darkheart.
"You're- you're not getting away with that-!" Zuka pushed himself up, hands firmly gripping Darkheart's shoulders and shoving them down.
They let out a yelp of surprise as they were forced onto their back. Before they knew it, they were pinned. A smug grin appeared on Zuka's face. Darkheart rolled their eyes, which the other didn't catch with their hat in the way. They could just toss him off with their abilities if they wanted, but they were curious to see where this would go. Theatrically, they went limp and accepted 'defeat', though they shot him a challenging smirk.
Zuka leaned forward, capturing Darkheart's lips into a kiss and resuming the heated tension. He worked his way down their neck, the marks he left a little less visible than Darkheart's on their near black skin but still noticeable. His teeth grazed them, making them shiver involuntarily, then bit down. They huffed shallowly as their claws dug into his back.
He held onto them then pulled them to sit upright. A palm slid down one of Darkheart's thighs. He gently caressed the thin fabric of their skirt, the small gasps they gave that he quickly drowned out with kisses only fueling his determination to get back at and claim them. His bites were harsher than theirs had been, his lips painting their skin purple with more passion than before, his hands exploring how their body felt with each and every curve.
His tail wagged erratically, matching the frantic flicks the end of Darkheart's tail gave while trapped between their body and the cushions. They then attempted to strike back, intentionally jerking their head forward when he tried to kiss them again and ramming their foreheads together. The collision was a quick twinge, more shock than actual pain that startled Zuka. He grumbled something in irritation, though the way a smile tried to break past his mock pout told them he was enjoying this.
Darkheart grinned, then taunted, "gonna fight back like a soldier~?"
Zuka scoffed, "oh, you're on!"
He locked them back onto the couch, using his broad frame to keep them down as he went for a rough kiss. Darkheart writhed beneath him for a moment, their shouts muffled by his lips, before managing to flip them over. Zuka broke the kiss when he was suddenly turned onto his back. He grunted as the other had their full weight pinning him down.
The initial feistiness he'd started with to retaliate had faltered into something playful. Both of them were laughing between kisses now, jabbing each other with snappy jokes and teasing relentlessly. It had become a bit of a game.
When Zuka tried to switch positions again, Darkheart vanished into a shadow, leaving the ambassador to tumble onto his stomach and bump his head onto the armrest of the couch.
He immediately sat up, rubbing his head with a hand and shooting glares around the room in search for the deity. "Hey! That's cheating! You can't just-"
Arms rested over his shoulders from behind as they reappeared, shoving him back down.
"OKAY! Okay! I surrender! Now get off me you-" Zuka struggled to push Darkheart off.
They giggled, lowering their arms to wrap around his waist and keeping him in their embrace. Gently, they brushed his disheveled hair aside and gave one last kiss, one last mark, onto his forehead, then settled back down onto his chest. Zuka hummed, gazing at the patches of purple along Darkheart's face and neck. They admired their own work as well.
"Love you..." Darkheart mumbled.
"Love ya too," Zuka replied.