To Rachel, on her birthday, I tried.
Yan’s head flopped absently onto her shoulder and she lifted her hand from her work to push it off. He dramatically let it fall almost to the table and remained bent over for another moment. Eve did not look up however, her arm moving back down with grace, her hand making it back to the tablet to turn to the next symbol, absently sketching it in. He waited as such but when she didn’t say anything he flopped back over onto her arm. Prepared for this she easily elbowed him right in the face and he almost fell off the couch.
They had been sitting in her living room for a bit now. Yan had stopped by hoping for a small exchange of materials. She’d ironically stolen a copy of The Misplaced from the old storage many weeks ago and he come to retrieve it. They got to talking about her current work and somehow he managed to get onto her couch to do his work there. This worked well for the dragon for a short while. He was professional enough when engrossed, quiet and peaceful. He would interrupt her occasionally, as she would him, for what was usually an interesting question and so she did not mind it. He was an asset for discussing certain theories that came to her, and certain confusions to his type of being that often arose.
Over all, the way he managed to get on her couch did not surprise her, even if it also didn’t surprise her that after he finished he refused to leave. She had nothing else to ask of him now and his professionalism wore off into impatient attention seeking. She had not seen him more recently so she refrained from ringing the little bell Icarus gave her that would get Shinaki or someone to retrieve him in a quick instant but that patience would only last so long as well.
“Why don’t you just go to your own bed to sleep?” she asks. After being elbowed he’d strewn himself over the arm of the couch and hadn’t moved again. She’d noticed when he’d come in the bags under his eyes and the quieter nature he held to show a certain exhaustion. He was still revved up with fast chatter and usefulness that she often forgot was probably due to some kind of intoxication. It was easy to just think of it as Yan’s natural state and in ways it was.
“That is it’s other use you know,” she adds when he didn’t respond.
“I don’t know,” he says into the couch so the sound was muffled. He pushed himself up and covered his eyes with his palms letting out a groan. “I’ve tried, trust me.”
Eve frowned slightly but then resigned herself to switch her work over to something that required less of her attention. She still refused to give him her all.
Yan dropped his hands and looked to her, a sad expression to his features. It came accidentally but he didn’t expect her to look up and the expression softened to something harder to read as he kept his eyes to her, taking her in once more. It had been a little bit and in his sleepiness he hadn’t fully appreciated that. He’d taken on old files to try and burn out the last of his restlessness but even that was finished now. His normal go to to help him sleep would clash with something else he’d taken recently, his own mistake but it’d qualified as needed. In this case he would normally pester Shin for her bosom to rest in but she was not around.
His gaze was on Eve’s for the moment, sliding down to her soft thighs in tight pants. It wasn’t anything Eve was unused to and she never claimed it bothered her or he might refrain. It was important to him somehow to burn her image in his memory at least long enough he could draw it later. It was of his experience that time with any one person was fleeting. The previous dragon’s butt was only memorized since he’d captured it in one of his old books. Even then he wondered if he got it quite right. He’d likely never know.
“Oh,” he lets out a solution coming to mind his eyes still on her soft thighs.
Eve finally glances up from the tablet, glancing at him with a narrowed gaze, suspicious.
“You still owe me for the catacombs book don’t you?” he asks looking up, happy to meet her gaze finally.
Eve’s expression didn’t change but inside she cringed a little. It was a book she had really wanted at the time and had absently said something to Yan. It was impossible for her to get on her own and Icarus refused to give her a small army for it. She offered a return effort favor at the wrong time as an additional party took interest. Needless to say, three days passed before Yan returned beaten and more than a bit broken but with book in hand. It was quite the addition to her collection and it was worth a lot but she was positively dreading what he might come up with to match it. He had a weird sense of return favors and usually the effort matched very specifically to her distastes. Rather than how hard it was to accomplish it was a matter of how much she really didn’t want to do it. Yan was still very cheap though, gauging poorly and caring more about it getting done then getting a fair price. That’s probably why she asked him more often than someone like Usagi. Somehow it was also more comfortable. He was an idiot and she had an uneasy trust in his antics versus the black hole of motives that was the rabbit.
“If you want me to absorb the rest of your energy I’ll do that just to get you to leave,” she offers absently instead of addressing her woes, turning her gaze back to the tablet as if bored. He didn’t really buy it though, grinning instead at the confirmation and probably the thought of her touch. Pervert.
“Please,” he says smugly, “even this tired it’d probably be too much for you~”
She turns a sharp gaze to him once more, challenging now but he only grins the wider, closing his eyes as he turned his head away. He, more than her, tended to drop his play fighting on this kind of instance knowing she would get bullheaded about it before getting legitly terrified at the prospect of really blowing up. Yan’s energy was a unique thing and she wasn’t sure even now where it ended. What use would he be in a life or death battle now? It didn’t seem much. He was frazzled, she could see it in his body and the energy that flowed haphazardly through him. He didn’t cover it up, too tired to think of it in safe spaces and she analyzed it with ease. Yet, how it looked right now could change. He could change like a snap, revitalized in ways she still didn’t quite understand.
“Do you mind cutting it up a bit?” he asks, returning to her with a warm gaze.
Eve frowned a bit, debate flooding her brain with each bit of statistics and whether that would be more beneficial. She shook her head no, she didn’t mind, then set the tablet in her lap and gave him her full attention for the first time since he’d finished. Business was business after all. She didn’t even try to guess what his sleep depraved mind was remembering to ask her for. She was too often wrong and it frustrated her so she stopped trying.
“Two hours~” he says easily before pointing down to the tablet. She thought for just an instance it was something actually work related. “Let me sleep in your lap~”
Eve let herself snort quietly, a puff of air slipping harshly from her nose as her eyebrows rose. Yan didn’t budge, keeping his content smile as he waited patiently for an agreement. Her eyebrows lowered slowly and she tilted her head slightly. She knew she did not have to question his seriousness but she was still tempted.
“You have at least that much work left so it shouldn’t be that costly. Mostly a pride thing, no?” he asks, tilting his head in turn.
She rolled her eyes but sighed looking down to the tablet, figuring out if that was accurate. She would probably have taken a pause to escort him out and start something else for a time but he was correct. If he did not leave she could easily immerse herself into the contents she had there for another three hours. It was a matter of pride but she was a reasonable woman. “How much are we cutting it?”
“I’ll cut it in half, but only for the first time. It shouldn’t be a precedent. The first cut is the deepest.”
He spoke largely, especially as he already thought of using her lap in the future, but she knew she’d likely be able to overcharge him for the deed again. Even if he was right and after it was allowed once she would be much less phased by it, it wouldn’t mean she wouldn’t want to take him for all he had at any time.
“You may lay in my lap for two hours,” she says calmly. She knew how Yan slept, restless still and light. His two hours could stretch endlessly if he actually had to be fully asleep for all of it. She also wanted the timer in her hands not his, because he would just as easily attempt to take advantage.
“Two and a half,” he counters, lifting his chin hopefully.
Eve looked at him for a long moment then sighed and lifted the tablet and uncrossed her legs. Yan’s face lit up in almost a child’s joy and he waved her to scoot down. She obliged, getting herself more comfortable with the tablet, pulling a pillow to the armrest and setting it down. She wouldn’t be able to move too much henceforth which was unappealing but nothing unworth the price. At least she was wearing pants, she thought, but as Yan’s head plopped in her lap a rush of heat and not unpleasant discomfort spread up. The first cut was indeed the worst.
He got comfortable easily, laying on his back, resting his head on her legs with the ease of someone who’d done so to many others, and leant his cheek against her torso. She held in a sigh, only to realize she was holding her breath entirely. It felt extremely childish and she puffed it out to make it seem on purpose, disdain at this whole childish endeavor. It surprised her a little though. It wasn’t like she was still so young and quickly flustered at new touches. She’d experienced much more intimate things than this but then she supposed this was intimate in a fashion she had never thought of before. Yan’s head gently rested against her was much more intimate than someone pressed in between her thighs and that surprised her in itself. It was perhaps a factor that it was Yan as well, though she was not quick to want to admit that. Her attraction to him was beyond an annoyance at this point, controlled but unfading. There was little she could do however as her thighs tingled against her will and she forced herself to start an internal clock to count down what would be one hundred and fifty long minutes.
If Yan noticed anything he didn’t show it. He was often smarter than calling someone out on discomfort that would hurt him keeping the things he wanted. Well, as long as he wanted the thing more than he wanted to cause discomfort~ He certainly didn’t seem smarter to some people. This time he seeked solace and while he probably knew it settled weirdly on the dragon it brought him a sense of peace very quickly. It wasn’t like he instantly fell asleep or anything, but similarly to being pressed against the snake he felt at ease. It was almost a perfect moment to him. He was sure no matter what could happen just after, if she went as far to taking off his head he’d be fine with it. Eve wasn’t especially warm but squishy in just the right manner, and he could feel her abdomen expand and sink in with her breaths and it was a rhythm that would certainly help him to sleep.
“Thanks,” he murmurs softly without thinking much of it.
Eve glanced down to him once more before turning her attention firmly back to the tablet. She didn’t need his thanks. It was simply a chore, a debt needed reimbursed. It was nothing more than that.
Still, as time ticked on she found her attention drawn back to the weight on her legs repetitively. Somehow she’d grown used to it though she still wasn’t quite comfortable. It made her hyper aware of every little movement, breath and sigh. It was still irksome which made her annoyed at his seemingly comfort. He thought nothing of it. More so, she couldn’t tell if he was asleep which made her pleased she confirmed to just the lay down at least. She could imagine Yan laying as such for the full time only to sit up and be like “Well, that didn’t work.”
Idiot.
Energy sometimes stilled to a certain degree in sleep. To her it appeared to settle over them almost like a blanket, the boisterous movement and life slowed down. Yan’s staticy dimmed out display had calmed a bit but she could never tell if that was him asleep or him focused on trying to sleep. It wasn’t like she’d never caught him dozing before...or perhaps she hadn’t? Each time he responded to her as if he had just had his eyes closed, his energy sparking up like her words had plugged him in again. His breathing had slowed a little more as well and he twitched a little. She found herself glancing down, trying to see if he’d entered a REM sleep yet and if she could get the tell tale from flickering eyelids. She knew he often dreamed despite his light drifting. It was a complaint of his. Somehow though, she could imagine him faking that as well.
It was strange seeing him from such an angle. He kept a hand curled up close to his neck and she wondered if that was defensive or just an odd comfort he’d found. His temple was still pressed against her torso and his mouth remained closed. His eyelids fluttered and his hair fell across his face and ear. She had been looking at him for longer than a minute, she knew, because her clock continued to count down and no distraction would allow her to lose track. It annoyed her that it seemed fine enough to distract her from her work though.
“Was that really all you needed?” she asks, expecting him to have a witty reply in return. He always did times prior. The man didn’t stir however and she frowned as his energy did not make a change. Just how comfortable was he? She moved her arm down and poked his cheek. He didn’t stir to this either and her mind began to analyze the behavior to see if she could spot anything different than times before. It was an absent curiosity that she found herself lost in even as she still suspected he might just be faking. Her finger had brushed just slightly against his hair upon pulling away and somehow that kept her from pulling it away entirely. Somehow she was studying his face a bit more closely than she meant to. His stupid appealing face. If only he didn’t talk. She was not likely to be the only person to have ever thought that and she knew that too.
Her hand moved down again without her thought behind it. Her fingers grazed his skin very gently and she brushed a bit of hair back before she caught herself. She went to yank her hand away and just as she tried, his hand was around her wrist stopping it dead in it’s tracks. Her eyes flashed to it, almost weary of danger in how quick he moved when she was sure he was asleep. In his sleep? His energy had moved only slightly in the movement but it bubbled over a little now like one waking up. Why he responded to her pulling away and not the touch was up to question however.
His hand slid up her wrist and around her hand and he dragged it back down to his collar bone to rest. “I’m keeping this,” he murmurs.
Eve flushed slightly in both embarrassment and annoyance, content to express it since his eyes remained closed. She very much wanted to smack him. She should smack herself really but somehow her annoyance focused in on Yan instead. She went to pull her hand away but his grip tightened again and her eyes narrowed.
“I need it for my work,” she says with a restrained tone.
“Shoulda thought of that before you went about poking me,” he says still in a sleepy tone.
Eve raised an eyebrow once more, confused to what he was exactly asleep for and what he was just guessing at. She scowled silently, though he could feel it in the longer exhale. She knew he had to have, because his lips quirked up slightly.
It wasn’t just his talking one needed to be rid of, she noted and shook her head, fixing the tablet settling to move by itself so she could make do with only the hand she had left. She could have fought him more on it but her shame over pestering him to start caused her to refrain. He might have been the focus of her annoyance but she wasn’t entirely blameless. She refocused on her work, as he moved the hand a bit lower on his chest so that her arm would be able to rest comfortable. Instead of being grateful she absently took the field down a little over her hand to siphon some of his energy so that if he did sleep at all he wouldn’t feel rested when he awoke.
When time ran out and she immediately yanked her hand away. He did not fight it then and turned instead onto his side, as if waking from a drowsy sleep she knew he was not much capable of.
“Time’s up,” she said sternly. Her arm was stiff from having to work oddly positioned and she felt restless after not being allowed to move for so long. Yan however made no efforts to move. She gave him another moment then set the tablet down and gave him a hard shove with both her hands. He let out a gasp but did not defend himself against this either, hitting the coffee table on his way down to the floor by her feet. He didn’t move at first laying still against her feet so that she was about to kick him when he started quietly laughing. She paused, arching a brow curiously.
She could feel him shaking with laughter against her legs and so she gave him a nudge instead of a rough kick, if only to save her coffee table from being damaged. He rolled right off and over, pushing himself up a little but looking up to her from the floor, once more a light with a childish pleasure.
“I fell for you~”
