Chasing Fire : an Istredd x f!reader oneshot
Summary: Having known your family since you were a child, Istredd has witnessed you grow, seen all your phases, as he himself has hardly changed at all. But when he returns to the home you share with your parents and you are one and twenty years old, he realises he’s missed this last phase and doesn’t want to miss what’s next. He doesn’t want to miss you.
Word count: 5.4k
Rating: 18+
The flower covered cottage looked to be deserted as Istredd approached it, but as he drew nearer, the door opened and a middle aged woman emerged, wiping damp hands on a thin towel. She saw him and smiled.
“Istredd! It has been too long this time. My sunflower girl will be thrilled to see you again.”
He gestured to the cottage, flowers crawling all over its walls. He had helped with that, when you were just a child, and had watched him magic the blooms into early growth. He had looked over his shoulder at you, hiding a grin at the wide eyed awe on your face.
“She isn’t here?” he asked your mother.
She shook her head.
“No, she went for a walk. She still loves those woods.”
A rueful smile tugged at her mouth as she no doubt remembered countless hours calling for you, demanding you return home for supper or chores.
“Smart as a whip, that girl, but no more wise, Istredd. She will be pleased to see you, though.”
She pointed in the direction he should take before retreating to the cottage, the door closing quietly at her back. Istredd looked out at the woods, the wall of green and floral beckoning him to it.
The trees seemed to close in around him as he wandered, leaves rustling high and green above his head. This was your home, your comfortable place, not his. He was more at home in the dark, with books, than out in the sunlight. But you mattered, so here he was, in your element.
Almost half an hour passed before he found you. The trees opened up onto a small clearing ringed with flowers. This was obviously your place. Sunflowers bowed toward him as he stepped out of the shade, blue eyes finding you with ease and first widening, then narrowing.
You stood in front of a tree, pressed up against it, really. A young man stood toe to toe with you, pressing you into the bark, his face buried in your neck and one hand vanished up within the folds of your skirt. Your eyes were half lidded, teeth digging into your lower lip.
Istredd stood feet planted wide and arms folded across his broad chest and waited. Something must have snatched your attention, for you looked up, caught his eye, and beamed. Looking at your face was like staring into the sun. He wondered if the boy with his hand between your legs knew that. You pushed the boy away and ran for him, his name on a shout of joy.
“Istredd!”
He caught you against his chest, one hand on the back of your head and the other arm around you, one large palm resting just above the curve of your backside. Istredd raised his eyebrows at the goggling youth, and he scarpered.
“Hello, sunflower girl” Istredd murmured. “It’s been a while.”
You pulled away a bit so you could see his face, a considerable distance above yours. You reached up to twist your fingers into his hair, now almost to his shoulders. His eyes flickered a little at the easy touching.
“This is new” you said, head cocked curiously. “It suits you, mage. I like it.”
“Thank you” he rumbled, fingers flexing against your back.
Then he moved the hand on your head to lightly grasp your chin instead, tilting your face up further. You shifted against him, unaccustomed to his heavy scrutiny. Your belly brushed the front of his coat.
“Do I tell your mother about what I just saw?” he asked, one eyebrow arching.
Your nostrils flared and eyes narrowed at him, heat rising in your cheeks.
“Do so, and you are dead to me, Istredd.”
He smiled, his eyes warming.
“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” he murmured. “Come. I believe your mother sent me to find you so that she wouldn’t have to.”
You snorted and rolled your eyes, fell into step next to him as his hands returned to his sides, returned to not touching you at all. But as you walked back to the cottage, you felt your smallest finger brush his and a spike of pleasure run you through, too many times for it to be an accident.
Your father greeted Istredd as he would any old friend, taking him by the arm immediately and guiding him away to show him his latest book acquisition. You smiled ruefully as he was led away from you, crossing your arms over your chest.
“How was your walk, love?” your mother asked, startling you slightly.
You looked around at her.
“It was fine” you said absently, your gaze inexorably drawn back to Istredd.
He had heard the question and was looking over at you, listening to your father with just one ear. His lips pulled into a faint smirk as the answer left you.
“Anything interesting happen out there in your woods?” your mother continued, pressing for more.
You shook your head, your eyes fixed on Istredd’s, his a cool, calm blue that had the potential to turn hot and commanding. His smirk deepened.
“No, Mama” you mumbled. “Nothing interesting at all.”
She shrugged and gave up and you retreated to your tiny neat bedroom to sit on the end of your low bed and stare at your shaking hands, wondering why Istredd had this effect on you when none of the other young men in the nearby village ever did, including the one in the woods with you earlier. Just a distraction, to keep you from wondering, again, where Istredd was and what he was doing.
There was a quiet knock on your open door and you glanced up to see that very man filling the doorway, having to duck his head to fit beneath the upper threshold. His gaze on you was quiet now, almost wary.
“Are you all right?” he asked you quietly, his voice low so as to not reach the other occupants.
You bounced up, smoothing your hands down the front of your bodice. You nodded, completely missing the way his eyes lowered to the neckline of your dress before rising to meet your darting gaze again.
“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, I -”
He stopped speaking as you tried to fit past him through the doorway, ending up wedged in between his body and the wooden frame. He looked down at you, pressed up against him from chest to hips, one of his legs almost slotted between your thighs. You could feel the strength of him holding you in place, feel the heat of him radiating through his clothes. At the same time, you wanted to grab onto him and also scrape against the wood frame just to get away.
“Sunflower, what are you doing?”
He was still quiet, but you jumped a little and glanced down to see that, of their own accord, your hands were fisted tightly in the front of his shirt, his coat having already been discarded upon his entry to the cottage. The nickname burned in your ears, shame faced, reminding you of the child you were, the child you didn’t want him to see you as any longer.
You let go of him and inched out of his way.
“Don’t call me that, please” you said shortly.
“But it’s your -”
“It’s not my name!”
He paused and stared at you, the fire in your eyes, the heat in your cheeks.
“Istredd?”
“Hmm?”
He leaned in your bedroom doorway, watching you and waiting.
“I am not ten summers anymore. I am grown. I love and I want and I bleed. I am not a child.”
He gazed at you deeply, read the frustration and the truth in your face. You expected him to say something, to argue, rebuke, or even laugh. Instead, he stepped away from your bedroom and leaned down to kiss your forehead, his lips brushing lightly over your warm skin.
“No” he said gently. “You are grown, dear heart. But what is it that you want?”
Istredd passed you by and returned to the cosy living area and to your father and his books, leaving you standing still and stunned in his wake.
Dear heart.
You skirted around one another as afternoon faded into evening and you helped your mother make and serve dinner, always too aware of your gaze on him and his on you. There was a moment when you thought you’d been made, found out, noticed by your parents. You lost your carefully crafted balance cornering the table and stumbled, falling bodily onto Istredd’s lap.
You heart thumped too hard as you felt him solid and warm beneath you, and your bones became liquid as Istredd wrapped his hands around your ribcage to steady you, his thumbs brushing the underside of your breasts. Heat sliding south, you climbed back onto your feet and adjusted your skirt, praying he didn’t discern the tremble of your thighs underneath it.
You managed to get around the table and half fell onto the last empty chair, letting your hair fall forward into your eyes as you reached for a fork.
His cool blue eyes fixed on you sitting opposite him, Istredd thought of nothing but your warm weight in his lap and the hard thudding of your heart loud in his ears. The breathy syllables of a silencing spell echoed in his head, but he brushed them aside, shaking his head slightly as if to clear it out.
He wanted only to lay you down and seduce the truth out of you, but with your parents both awake, it was not an option. Perhaps it wasn’t an option at all anyway, regardless. He knew all about sex magic, but he didn’t want falsity, he wanted the truth from you.
You could feel his eyes on you, their intensity searing through you like fire. You shifted in your chair, trying to ease the ache building in your lower belly and between your thighs. You ate little and excused yourself quickly, hastily scrubbing your plate and fork clean and disappearing back into your bedroom, this time closing the door behind you.
Istredd watched you go, eyes narrowing a little, only half listening to what your mother and father were talking to him about. Eventually, he, too, excused himself and retired to sit outside until the sky darkened and he heard your parents move into their own bedroom and shut their door. Then he reentered the cottage and sat on the low couch in front of the newly stoked fire.
He waited for sleep to take him under, but the thought of you lying alone in your bed pushed weariness away.
You lay awake but sleepy, desperately trying to ignore the growling in your stomach and the hunger even lower down, but eventually, your hunger for food grew too much to ignore. So you crept out of your bedroom and out into the living area, making a beeline for the cramped kitchen. Instead, your plans evaporated cleanly away when you glimpsed Istredd sitting up on the couch, still wide awake.
Almost in a daze, you stepped around the couch and sat beside him, tucking your head against his shoulder and sighing softly, bare legs curled beneath you. Istredd looked at you and swallowed carefully, taking in the sight of you wearing a soft pink nightgown, the straps worn thin and the hem steadily turning threadbare.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he murmured, glancing out at the darkness beyond the cottage walls. “Not dark enough for you?”
“Hungry” you yawned.
He shouldn’t say it, he knew he shouldn’t, but the question burned his tongue until it was spoken aloud.
“Hungry for what, dear heart?”
You didn’t say anything for a time and he wished he could take it back, until you raised your head from his shoulder and looked up at him, your eyes wide and pupils like twin eclipses.
“What do you see, Istredd? When you look at me?” you asked him, sleep torn away like a cloak.
He lifted a hand to touch your jaw, the flutter of your lashes, the sweet curve of your bottom lip, all before speaking to answer.
“A woman” he admitted, voice deep as the seas.
You stared at him, desire churning inside you. You moved slowly, giving him time to stop you, yourself time to be a coward and flee. But neither of those things happened, so you settled in his lap again, this time on purpose, your back to his chest, legs open over his.
Istredd watched the hem of your nightgown drag up your legs as you shifted onto him, stopping several inches above your knees. He felt your heartbeat through your back, the trip and race of it. He ran the tips of his fingers lightly down your bare arms until he reached your hands and threaded his strong fingers with yours. At his touch, your pressed further into him, your rear rubbing over him.
“What do you want?” he murmured into your ear, words dripping honey.
“Who” you said, barely a breath.
He hooked his chin over your shoulder and your eyes closed. You felt small and encircled and safe and very, very warm. Even more so when Istredd angled his head slightly and pressed a gentle kiss to your cheek.
“Who do you want, dear heart?” he whispered.
You shivered and his body responded, kept in check by his fierce will.
“You.”
The word was swallowed as he kissed you, grasping your jaw to turn your face towards him. You whimpered quietly and a hot flush spread through him, originating in his chest and travelling swiftly south. His other hand gripped at your waist, holding you down as you squirmed over him, chasing the fire.
“How long?” he mumbled against your lips.
Your mind spun, whirling to grasp at comprehension. You reached down to grab at his thighs, anchoring yourself to the earth.
“I was seventeen” you whispered breathlessly.
“At seventeen you should have been chasing boys your own age, not pining after a stuffy researcher” he told you.
You groaned when he sucked your lower lip into his mouth and bit down, teasing the sting away with his tongue. The air around you was warm and low, clinging to your arms and legs, pressing lightly against your throat. You opened your eyes and stared at Istredd; his were already open as he pulled his mouth away, blue eyes almost all pupil.
“What?” he asked, but there was a hint of a smirk to his tone.
You faced away from him again, glancing around curiously at the faint blueish aura around the two of you, pulsing as Istredd spoke.
“What have you done?” you asked softly, watching it pulse again.
“Silencing spell” he answered, leaning up a bit to press himself to your back. “So you can be as loud as you need.”
Softly worn fabric creased as he slid his hands over your hips, clutching gently at the warm flesh still hidden from his eyes, and up your stomach. He could feel your heart beating into his palm as he stroked over your ribs and up, up, listening to your hitched breaths when he eventually covered your breasts with his hands. He squeezed carefully and your already hardening nipples pushed against his palms.
One hand still digging into his leg, you lifted the other to sink into his hair, your fingers finding the skinny tie he kept some of it pulled back with and tugging it free, before pushing your hand back into the curls. You heard a sharp intake of breath from him and felt him rock against you from below, his own strong fingers still teasing your breasts through the thin fabric of your nightgown.
Your legs fell further open as you tugged experimentally on Istredd’s grown out hair and felt a growl rumble from his chest. He tweaked hard at your nipples and you cried out, bowing forward over his hands and feeling him hard under you. You wriggled and he hauled you back, soothing you by stroking the pads of his thumbs over the sore peaks until a warm glow started up between your legs.
“And what if I had chased boys my age? What would you have done to Eris today if he hadn’t run?” you panted, leaning back into Istredd’s broad chest and watching his hands work you, transfixed.
He huffed a laugh against your shoulder just as his hands left you and rose to your shoulders, pausing to drag the slender straps down your arms. You held your breath as the fabric fell away from your chest, baring your breasts fully to his eager hands. As his hands returned, skin to skin, you sighed shakily and he finally spoke.
“I would have sent him through a portal to Aretuza and let the ladies there deal with him” he said huskily, peering over your shoulder as he molded you with his hands.
You snorted derisively, but the sound was shaky.
“You wouldn’t.”
Istredd kissed your shoulder and then the tender place just below your ear, receiving your shiver with a smile.
“I would. And then I would have shown you what I can do with my hands.”
“Sorcery” you whispered, arching into his burning palms.
He shook his head, dragging his lips over the top of your shoulder.
“Chaos.”
As if to prove his point, he sank his teeth in and you gasped out a moan of surprise as the sharpness was again soothed away by his tongue and his hands slid back down from your chest, left aching and exposed, and ended up on your knees. He squeezed and somehow, you managed to spread even further for him, all but laying over him, braced by his chest.
“Good girl” he practically purred, and your eyes melted closed as you relaxed into him.
His hands were warm and flames flickered behind your eyelids as they smoothed up the softness of your thighs, slowly rising higher and higher, your hem rising with them in silence. His steady breaths fell soft onto your hair as your pulse ratcheted up and up.
“How are you so calm?” you demanded, on edge as his thumbs moved gradually closer and closer to the slick desire between your thighs.
He laughed quietly and the sound sent more heat through you.
“Oh, I’m not, dear heart” he assured you. “But I am not a hapless boy needing only to rut and give no pleasure in return. Trust me.”
Your eyes rolled at his words and it was at that moment that your nightgown was finally useless, rucked up into a rumpled heap around your waist. You heard the hiss of air through clenched teeth as Istredd’s fingers came into contact with the damp scrap of fabric clinging against your most private place.
“Istredd?” you whimpered.
“Hmm?” he hummed, pressing the pads of his fingers against the damp patch and rubbing gently.
You squirmed over his fingers.
“Please.”
He grabbed at the useless nightgown and pulled it over your head, leaving your hair loose and wild around your face and neck, leaving you almost utterly bare on top of him. Then he pressed one hand down on your left thigh, fingers spread and branding your skin, holding you in place. His right hand slid beneath the cotton that covered you and you moaned aloud, both your hands flying to grip onto his hair.
“You’re playing with me” you groaned, twisting your hips.
Istredd nuzzled the side of your neck.
“What pleasure would it be to go straight to the finale?” he spoke into your heated skin as he teased his palm against you, setting nerves alight.
You whined a little and continued trying to shift your hips to help yourself, rewarded with a tight groan as you ground over Istredd’s erection.
“But I want -” you started, but did not get to finish.
Istredd had found the tiny taut nub none of the village boys had been able to locate, and you arched on a soft scream that ricocheted off the silencing spell and dissipated into the air. He cooed gently in your ear, stroking and flicking with the tip of one finger.
“Shh, love, you will get what you want. I swear it.”
His fingers slipped down to your entrance and circled gently before one pressed slowly inside. Your hips twitched and you bit down on your lip and Istredd laid siege, sucking a bruise into the skin between your neck and shoulder that would be visible for days. You keened and he eased in a second finger, the edge of one ring pressing coolly against your hot, damp flesh.
He felt impossibly hard underneath you, pressing into your still covered backside. You wanted more than anything to feel him inside you, but there weren’t any words that could get past the sensations of his fingers pumping in and out of your heat, his thumb striking at your clit with every push and pull.
With Istredd’s fingers three knuckles deep inside you, he leaned forward to whisper into your ear, your dazed mind fighting to understand his question.
“What were you doing with that boy?” he growled, holding you open with his free hand on your thigh as your hips bucked and struggled.
“He was a distraction” you panted, barely holding yourself together, rocking down onto his hand. “I was thinking of you.”
Heat crawled up your spine and you knew he was going to turn you inside out and shatter you, and you were going to let him. You were out of control now, loud and desperate, your body sucking hungrily at his fingers.
“Do you still want to be distracted, dear heart?” he demanded, feeling your muscles tighten around his fingers.
You moaned at him, yanked on his hair and turned your head to kiss him hard, no finesse, too highly strung to give him anything but unbridled passion. He licked into your mouth, searing fire, and sucked on your tongue as his fingers twisted and you came apart, relieved sobs swallowed by Istredd’s consuming kiss.
He eased his fingers out slowly once you had ceased convulsing around them and were once again resting still in his lap, your fingers tangled loosely in his hair, chest rising and falling slower and slower.
Istredd softly said your name, the first time he had spoken it since arriving at your home earlier in the day.
“Mmm” you mumbled, opening your eyes and blinking up at him.
“You are nearly naked and I am still fully clothed, love.”
A surge of energy struck like lightning and you pushed up off his lap, turning on unsteady feet to watch him stand to his full height, towering over you. You felt a hot flush all over as he gazed over your body, lingering on your breasts, nipples swollen from his attention. You watched with a bitten lip as Istredd began to undress, pulling at the cord that tied his shirt closed. He drew it up and over his head, biting back a smirk upon hearing your sigh of pleasure at the sight of his chest, strong and covered with soft looking dark hair.
“You can touch me” he said quietly, not wishing to startle you out of your reverie.
You stepped toward him and reached out, your hands making contact with his chest at the same time your breasts brushed the sensitive skin of his upper stomach, making you both shudder. You dragged your fingernails through his chest hair, gently scratching the skin beneath. Istredd bent to press his mouth to yours, his heartbeat quickening under your curious fingers.
You felt him press hard and sure against your lower belly, his desire for you perfectly evident. Fresh heat bloomed inside you and you shifted on your feet to rub your thighs together, struggling for any friction to stave it off. Only moments ago, you had been prone and sated, and now you wanted the rest of him. As soon as possible.
Your hands fell to the button clasps on his trousers, your fingertips brushing against stiffness beneath, and Istredd jolted a little, his hips bucking slightly into your touch, silently questing for more. You slowly undid each silver button, your eyes fixed on his blue pair, as you reached inside and took hold of him. He breathed out through his nose as you touched him slowly, gently, your gaze never once leaving his.
You stroked him until you felt a solid twitch and he carefully took your hand away, blue eyes rueful.
“Another time, perhaps” he murmured.
You took a step back and eyed him as he shoved the trousers down his thighs and onto the floor. He kicked them away and reeled you in, his hands gliding across your shoulders and down your bare back. He hesitated when he reached your underwear and you nodded against his chest, your nose tickled by the soft hair there. You shivered when his hands slipped down onto your rear end, dragging the underwear down with them. You stepped out of the material and Istredd’s blue gaze traced down the lines of you as he held you at arm’s length.
“Beautiful” he said softly, dropping his hands to your hips and palming them strongly.
You felt your skin heat beneath his touch and his gaze, his eyes hot and almost electric now. Then he started slowly sinking to his knees, and you watched him with wide eyes, locking your knees to stop them shaking so hard. He reached behind you for the hair tie you had dropped on the couch and used it to secure his hair away from his face. He looked up at you, eyes flickering in the light from the fire.
“Hold onto the couch” he instructed. “Do it now.”
The authority he spoke with had you moving to do what he said immediately, reaching both hands behind you, fingers digging hard into the back of the couch. Confident you were secure, Istredd wrapped the fingers of his right hand around your left calf and propped it over his shoulder, opening you up to him. You gasped in shock and stared down at him as the edge of his beard brushed the sensitive skin of your inner thigh right before his mouth touched where his fingers had recently been.
“Istredd...”
His name was a breath, an airy exhalation of surprised pleasure. His beard was soft as it touched you, his mouth warm and persistent as his hands once again grasped your hips, holding you still even as he was pushing you backward and up, your right foot almost all the way off the floor, your toes barely touching, your left leg still out of your own control, draped over his strong shoulder.
Istredd kissed and lapped at you until your legs both started to tremble again and then he stood back up, gently releasing your leg back down to the floor.
You stared up at him, eyes blown and confused. He grinned and you thought you would have shuddered into pieces again right there if his grin was coupled with his previous attentions. He started to pull blankets off of the open shelves that stood floor to ceiling and draped them onto the floor, creating a soft space for you to lay down.
Istredd walked you backward and eased you down onto your back, your legs falling apart to accommodate him, skin glowing in the firelight. Looking just over his left shoulder, you glimpsed the silencing charm still glimmering in the air, muffling all sound from within it.
“Are you ready?” Istredd asked quietly, his hands pressing heavily into the blankets either side of your head.
You reached up and pulled the tie free of his hair again, shaking it out around his face. You dug your fingers through it.
“I am now” you said softly.
Istredd shook his head, smiling to himself.
“You like my hair” he murmured. “Go on then. Do as you wish.”
You tugged gently and at the same moment, he pushed inside you, body to body, his hips flushed hotly with yours. You cried out, tightening your grip in his hair as you lifted your legs to vine around his hips. You pulled him to you by his hair and moaned his name into his mouth as you kissed him, his upper lip trapped between yours. He groaned at the pleasant sting in his scalp as you lost yourself in the heat of him and held on too tight.
You moved under him, chasing his hips every time he pulled away, aching to feel full again, and then he would return to you, welcomed home by your clutching hands and hidden warmth.
Istredd shifted slightly and snagged your earlobe between his teeth.
“Any of those boys make you feel like this, dear heart?” he demanded.
You shook your head and finally moved your hands from his hair to grab hold of his shoulders, digging your fingers in for dear life. His muscles twitched and strained under your nails and he pushed you along the blanketed floor with one particularly sharp thrust, knocking against something deep inside you that had your eyes rolling back in your head.
Istredd pulled his head back to stare at you, the slack lines of your jaw and half open mouth, fluttering eyelids. He glanced down and saw the faint sheet of mixed sweat on your breasts and belly, and further down, he saw the place where he joined to you, felt the throbbing heat surrounding him and your heels pressing into his lower back.
He felt the imminent chaos ready to break out.
He picked up the pace and heard you giggle as you were again shunted across the blankets; he wanted to hear that sound again, so he repeated the motion and listened to your giggles turn into moans, felt your ankles cross tighter at the middle of his back.
Istredd once again touched that spot inside you and the room whirled, you clenched viselike around him and he gaped at you, panting, straining.
“Gorgeous” he managed, before he came with a shout.
You relaxed your arched back and settled underneath him, head turned to one side, breathing heavily. Istredd was bracing himself on his forearms above you, his blue eyes closed, his hips pressed hard against you. You tapped on his wrists and he eased down on top of you, nuzzling lightly at your jaw before mouthing lazily at your pulse.
You wrapped your arms around his neck and hugged him close, feeling his chest rise and fall against yours.
“So” he murmured sleepily, pressing a sweetly searing kiss to your breastbone. “Are you still hungry?”
You tossed your head back and laughed.
In the morning, Istredd gathered together his coat and boots, readying to leave. He said his goodbyes to your parents and waited for you outside the cottage. You stepped out after him, your parents watching curiously from the windows. You reached him and held out something small in your palm; he took it and held it up to his eyes, gave you a wry smile.
“My hair tie” he said, arching an eyebrow.
You nodded.
“Will you come back?” you asked, suddenly nervous after the heat of the night.
Standing in broad daylight, it seemed like a dream, too good to be true. However, before you could worry too deeply, Istredd strode forward and crushed you in his arms, your cheek to his chest, breathing in his clean scent. He released you just enough to lift you off your toes to kiss you, a kiss that spun your senses and flooded you with more warmth you didn’t know what to do with now that he was leaving.
When the kiss and the embrace ended, he gazed tenderly down at you, your hands now clasped loosely in his. He raised them to his lips and kissed each one, feather light across your knuckles.
“I will come back” he promised. “On my life, dear heart. Just promise something for me?”
You nodded.
“Yes. Anything.”
A fleeting smile crossed his mouth before he pretended to be serious.
“Promise me you won’t let Eris under your skirt again.”
You grinned.
“On my life, Istredd” you vowed. “Only you will ever have that honour.”
He grinned back and leaned down to kiss your forehead before stepping away. He murmured a few words and a swirling portal of white came to existence behind him. He blew you a kiss, wandered into it and vanished.
Until next time, dear heart.
Tagging: @writingmysanity @elizabeth-karenina
