Title: The Work of Love
Fandom: Adventure World
Rating: NC-17
Length: 3416
Content notes: Poly marriage, predominantly homosexual character having heterosexual sex, extremely careful oral sex from someone with very sharp teeth
Author notes: Thanks to elanya for reading this over for me!
Summary: Aleyn and Ardith work at furthering their relationship. (But is it really work if they enjoy it this much?)

"How far do you want to take it tonight?"

Ardith was in the midst of undressing, having already removed her robe, leaving her in just her linen shift. Aleyn stood on the other side of the bed in his shirt and drawers, blushing nervously like he always did. But talking about what they wanted before-hand usually made it easier, even if it was sometimes embarrassing.

"I'd like to try to come," he admitted shyly. Vedran was back in Highmark for a week, making the regularly-scheduled Macen exchange with Jacinthe as well as fitting in as many meetings as he could while he was there, and they were both missing him. But it did give them a chance to focus on developing their own relationship, which occasionally wound up being a slightly lower priority when so many other things were going on.

"Me too," Ardith said with a smile. "With one another's help, or under our own power?" They had done it the latter way a few times before, each taking turns to touch themselves, letting the other watch and see how they did it, but hadn't yet managed to bring one another to orgasm.

"Well... how about if we try helping each other," Aleyn suggested, unbuttoning his shirt, "and if it's not working, we can finish ourselves off. How does that sound?"

"It sounds lovely," Ardith replied, and slid her shift off over her head. Naked, she slid into the large bed, covering herself with just a thin sheet. Aleyn quickly divested himself of his underwear as well and joined her there.

"Kiss?" he asked, out of habit. They had agreed ages ago that, while they didn't strictly need to ask one another for permission at every step of the process, the way they usually did with Vedran, they also didn't want to make him feel bad about his need for taking things gradually and checking in along the way. It was easier to keep up those customs even when it was just the two of them than to risk forgetting them at other times and making Vedran feel uncomfortable.

Ardith nodded. "Yes, please." The kiss drew them closer together, scales against skin. Aleyn wrapped his arm around Ardith's waist, while her claw-tipped fingers came up to rest against his chest. This much was comfortable for them now, this degree of closeness and intimacy. Aleyn still felt a little self-conscious that he wasn't hard yet, even though he knew both that it was all right with Ardith if he couldn't get there that quickly, and that, given time and care, he would be able to get an erection. It didn't come as easily to him as it did when he was with Vedran, but it wasn't impossible either.

Ardith's fingers ran teasingly through his chest hair. She was still mildly amused by having partners with hair on their bodies, and Vedran didn't have very much, by comparison. Aleyn was happy to let her play with his as much as she wanted - it was relaxing, even comforting. When her claws dug in a little too deep and he flinched, she apologized and went back to her more tender stroking. She nuzzled into his neck, nipping lightly where it met his shoulder, making him suck in his breath and let it out slowly. He could feel that her heart was beating faster, and his was quickening to match it. "Can I touch a little lower?" she murmured, and he nodded his agreement.

She stroked lightly down his stomach, continuing onwards to trace a path through the trail of dark hair that led to his groin. Their eyes met for a moment of affirmation before she kept going, taking a gentle but firm grip on his cock. It twitched in her hand, beginning to stir. "Like this?" she asked.

"It's good," Aleyn assured her. The feeling was pleasant, although not too intense yet, and he was mostly managing to keep his performance anxieties at bay so far. He closed his eyes and let his mind drift over some of his most pleasurably erotic memories and daydreams, many (but not all) of which were focused on Vedran. He had felt guilty at first for thinking of people other than the woman he was with, but Ardith had comforted him and told him it was fine, that whatever he wanted to imagine was all right with her. He had even told her about those fantasies a little, hesitantly at first, but with more enthusiasm as he realized it was a way he could help turn her on too.

Tonight, maybe because he was more relaxed, maybe with the help of the extra glass of wine after dinner, it didn't take too long for the potent combination of his imagination and Ardith's skilful touch to get him hard. She stroked his increasing length slowly, not rushing him, just keeping up a measured pace, occasionally murmuring a few words of encouragement. "That feels nice," he told her, "can you keep doing that?"

"As long as you want," she promised. "Just like this, or a little harder?"

"Harder," Aleyn said without hesitation, giving a sudden gasp as she obliged. His hips jerked forward involuntarily, pushing him faster through the tight circle of her fingers and thumb, and he couldn't help moaning. Ardith seemed pleased at that, so he tried it again, more deliberately this time. The delicate scales of her hand felt different than his own touch or Vedran's, a little more friction and a slightly rougher texture, but still good. Realizing he was analyzing things too much, Aleyn tried to keep himself from getting wrapped up in thoughts and just concentrate on the sensations.

Ardith kissed his neck again, flicking over the sensitive skin there with her agile tongue. Aleyn clutched her more tightly, fingers digging into the thick scales of her back. He wanted to simply relax and enjoy this, to tell her how good it was for him, but his worries were mounting - would he be able to come, or would something go wrong again? Would it go on for so long that she got tired of it? Or would his erection start to fail before then?

As if she sensed his increasing anxiety, Ardith lifted her head to look at him, still keeping up her smooth, steady strokes. "I like this," she said, smiling encouragingly. "But if you want to stop..."

"No," Aleyn gasped, opening his eyes. "I want to be able to... to show you how amazing you are, and that I love you..."

Ardith slowed a little. "You already do that every day, Aleyn. You don't need to do this to prove it." She brought her free hand up to touch his face, and he turned his flushed cheek against the cool of her palm. "Now, if you want to keep going because it feels good, because it's sexy, because you're all pent up and need to come, I'm all for that."

Aleyn nodded, and kissed her hand. "It is sexy... and I do want to come, I'm just getting nervous about it."

"It'll be okay no matter what happens," she assured him. "But maybe we can get your mind onto something that'll make it more likely, hmm? We could talk about something fun you'd like to try some day, or you could tell me about whatever you were imagining before..." She sounded a little nervous as she suggested it, and when he didn't say anything immediately, she continued. "Or if that's too personal, um, you don't have to..."

"No, it's okay," he replied. "It's nothing too secret - nothing you haven't seen before, even. I was just thinking about how it feels when Vedran sucks me..."

"I love watching that," Ardith agreed eagerly. "It's so sweet and sexy when he takes you in his mouth, the way he looks up at you - I didn't think at first that he'd be able to swallow so much of this," she added, squeezing Aleyn's cock gently for emphasis, making him moan under his breath, "but he's so good at it... or at least, it seems like you really enjoy it, by the sounds and the look on your face when he does it."

Aleyn nodded, blushing. "He's amazing at cocksucking," he confessed, "and it always makes me think of how that was the first thing we did together- I could tell how much he wanted it as he worked up the courage to try it that first time, and then it wound up being so good..."

Ardith listened, smiling shyly. "Well, I don't know if I'm anywhere close to as talented as Vedran, but... I could try it on you, if you wanted."

"Okay," Aleyn said before he could think about it too much and get nervous. "You want to suck my dick, Ardith?" He tried to make the words sound romantic, even casually sexy, but they came off as stilted to his ears. Ardith didn't seem to mind, though.

"Yes, I want that," she breathed, "very much." She inched her way down the bed, pulling the sheets back as she went, until his body was fully exposed. He shivered slightly, not just from the cool air of a winter's evening in Nachtur. "I'd like to lick you and suck you until you come so hard..."

It wasn't just their usual nervousness that made them take this stage slowly and carefully. Ardith's mouth wasn't shaped the same as a human's - larger, yes, but also full of sharp teeth. Aleyn tried very hard not to think about that, or even look too closely at what she was doing, staring mostly at the ceiling. So he was startled when he first felt her tongue lap at the tip of his cock - at how good it felt. "Oh!" he gasped, half-sitting up.

"Sorry!" Ardith pulled back, worried, her fingers still curved around the base of his erection. "Was that bad?"

"No," Aleyn said hastily. "It felt great, just surprising." He lay back down, feeling foolish. Of course a woman's tongue wouldn't feel any different than a man's, he wasn't sure what he had been expecting.

The texture of Ardith's tongue was a bit different than Vedran's, a little firmer maybe, and it seemed to be longer and more flexible too, but then he knew that much from kissing her. Maybe that was the case with all dragonborn, he wasn't sure. Even at the temple, he'd never actually wound up in an intimate situation with another of her race, so Ardith was all he had to go on. But the way she could curl her tongue almost all the way around his cockhead was intriguing, he decided - especially in combination with the friction of her hand, with which she kept stroking him smoothly.

Her first efforts at swallowing more of his length were tentative, as she moved gingerly down his shaft, lips unable to completely obscure the pointed teeth that lay behind them. It didn't hurt, since she was being careful, but it wasn't amazingly relaxing or reassuring either. Most of the pleasurable sensations came from her tongue, not her lips. Aleyn noticed that she didn't have any apparent difficulty with his size, though, and that was a pleasant realization. He thought about what she'd told him before, that she wasn't a delicate little human girl, that she wouldn't have any trouble handling him. His skin flooded with renewed heat as he imagined all of the other ways she might be able to take him inside her... The prospect of actually trying most of those ways was still too much for him, but just imagining them was safe - and surprisingly arousing.

"C-can you... do the thing with your tongue again?" he asked shyly.

"Mmhmm," Ardith murmured, before drawing off him momentarily to catch her breath. Her longest hair-tendrils brushed against his thighs as she adjusted her position. "This thing?" she asked, then wrapped her tongue around his head again. Aleyn's groan was enough to let her know she was right about what he'd been asking for. He squirmed, lifting his hips slightly, encouraging her to rub him faster with a hand now slick with saliva even as she kept on licking the tip of his cock. Aleyn squeezed his eyes tightly shut, images of Vedran rushing through his mind - not of Vedran sucking him instead, but of Vedran watching them together, telling him it was good, that he liked seeing them like this, that it turned him on...

His desperate moan was loud enough to make Ardith look up at him, making sure everything was all right - so the first burst of his come caught her on the lips. She hurried to wrap her mouth around him again and swallow the rest as it spilled forth. Not until he'd finally finished and was slumped back, panting, against the bed, did she finally release him. "Aleyn," she exclaimed, after wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, "you did it, that was so amazing..."

"We did it," he managed to reply, grinning breathlessly. "I love you, Ardith." He held his arms out for her to come closer and cuddle with him, which she did gladly.

"I love you too," she murmured, nuzzling into his neck. "I'm so glad I could finally do that for you - or that you could do that for me, and... I hope it was amazing for you too."

He nodded, still drifting on the residual high of his orgasm. Considering that he had once doubted his own ability to enjoy this kind of relationship with a woman, the whole thing was pretty amazing. "It was great," he assured her. "And once I catch my breath, I'd like to help you come too - if you'd still like to, that is."

Ardith chuckled. "I haven't changed my mind, don't worry. If anything, I'm feeling more excited about it than I was before. Are you sure you feel up to helping? I could take care of things myself if you're too tired..."

"No," Aleyn said, "I want to try. You can tell me exactly what you want me to do, and I'll do the best I can." He rolled over onto his side so that he was facing her, and reached out to touch her breast, only slightly hesitantly. "Do you want some of this first, to warm up?" he asked, gently rolling her dark blue nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

"Mmm, I'm pretty warmed up already, but that feels nice," she told him, smiling. "You might need that hand for other things, though."

"Okay," Aleyn said uncertainly. "Put me where you need me, then."

Ardith took his wrist, running her fingers over the scars there. She led his hand to trail between her breasts, down over the thick-ridged scales that covered her stomach, towards the cleft between her legs. The scales there were more delicate, almost as smooth to the touch as skin. She stopped, letting his hand come to rest on her gently curved mound. "You're sure?"

"Definitely," Aleyn told her, trying to sound more confident than he felt. "I want to get you off, Ardith. I want to hear you cry out my name when you come tonight."

Ardith nodded, biting her lip. "I want it so much, Aleyn... making you come got me so wet... see?" She slid his hand the last few inches down between her thighs, into that slick, warm crevice. Certainly she was wet - even if Aleyn was far from an expert on gauging a woman's level of arousal, he could tell she was well and truly soaking. Besides, her skin was flushed a pale purple, and she was breathing shallowly, almost gasping - and he hadn't even done much of anything yet, as far as he knew.

"How do you want me to, uh..." He tried moving his fingers tentatively, spreading her open slightly, seeing what sort of reactions he could draw from her with his touch.

"Mmm, that's a good start," she murmured. "Try here, just a little higher..." She made a slight adjustment to the position of his hand, the angle of his wrist. He began to rub her slowly, watching the expression on her face change as he pressed his fingers against her a little harder. Nodding her encouragement, she rocked her hips in time with his strokes.

Aleyn tried to remember the things Vedran had told him, but it was all kind of a blur now that he was actually in the heat of the moment. He just concentrated on Ardith's movements, her sounds, and tried to keep doing the things that made her moan or sent a shiver through her entire body. Paying attention to his partner's reactions was pretty basic, he figured, whether that partner was male or female.

"Is this enough," he asked after a little while, "or do you want me to, um, finger you... inside?" Even though he knew by now (from talks with Vedran, discreet observations at the temple, and one incredibly embarrassing conversation with Kallista) that penetration wasn't always the most important thing for women, it still seemed like something he should offer in case Ardith wanted it.

Ardith shook her head vigorously. "This is perfect for now, oh, don't stop!" Her quickened motions, the increasing tension in her thighs, the sudden hitch in her breath, all encouraged him to pick up his pace. Still, he felt like he should be doing more - no, he wanted to do more. Boldly taking the initiative, he stretched up to kiss the corner of her mouth. Responding to his gesture, she turned her face towards him and they kissed more passionately than before, even as he continued to stroke her with both fingers.

When she drew back slightly, Aleyn held her gaze, both of them wide-eyed and breathless and a little surprised. "I want to--" he began, over her "I'm getting close--", and then they both stopped trying to talk at the same time, smiling and nodding and kissing again instead.

Finally she threw her head back, teeth bared, too frantic for more kisses, so he twisted and squirmed his way far enough down to reach her breast, closing his lips around her nipple and sucking hard. "Oh Aleyn, yes!" Ardith moaned, arching up from the bed. Aleyn held on tight through her shudders, and kept fingering her until she finally sank back gasping and pushed his hand away gently. "Enough," she managed to whisper, "too much."

"Sorry," Aleyn mumbled, unsure what to do with his hand now. He settled for wiping it (subtly, he hoped) on the sheets and then bringing it to rest on her stomach.

"Nothing to apologize for," she assured him, still sounding pleasantly dazed. "That was wonderful. I'm just too sensitive at the moment for much more touching."

"Cuddles are still okay, though, right?"

"Definitely," Ardith said with a smile and a peck on the cheek before she reached down to pull up the blankets they'd pushed aside. "I could fall asleep just like this," she said, snuggling close to him under the warm comforter. "If that's all right with you," she added a little warily, allowing him the chance to escape back to his own bedroom if he wanted to.

Aleyn realized that it was more than all right. "That sounds perfect right about now." He curled up with his partner, feeling closer to her than ever before. Even though there were other things about their relationship that mattered far more - their mutual trust and admiration, their affection for one another, and their shared love for Vedran and the children, just to name a few - somehow it still felt like they'd passed a milestone tonight. "We did it," he mumbled sleepily.

"We did," Ardith agreed, stroking his back gently. "Working together, we know we can do this - and anything else we decide we want to try."

"It's not work," Aleyn protested, half-opening his eyes to look at her in the moonlight. "It's love."

Ardith chuckled, sounding drowsy herself. "You know as well as I do that love - making it, building it - can involve work sometimes. But in this case, very rewarding work. And I do love you, Aleyn." She nuzzled up against his shoulder, ready for sleep, her breath warm and soft against his skin.

He wrapped his arm around her comfortably, companionably, completely relaxed. "I love you too, Ardith."