Work Text:
Pierce entered the room silently, eyes scanning the room in an instant. He didn't spot anything dangerous. He was light on his feet in his approach, but not in a delicate way; light as a hunter about to pounce on his prey. Much like a hunter might, he heard the way Ava's breath caught when he entered.
She had heard him, he inferred, but had decided to feign sleep. Her breathing was slow, overacted. Pierce decided not to draw attention to it. One may claim it was out of kindness, but truly, he just wanted to know how long she would fake slumber if he stayed in the room without comment.
When he walked past her bed to look out her window, her breath caught again. She only dared to exhale once he had sat down at her little place at the sill. Trusting that the darkness hid it, Pierce smiled to himself at her horrible acting.
Feet planted on the floor—he had to stay ready to stand, always, ready to fight—he twisted his torso to look outside. Even at its dimmest hour, Earth looked nothing like Daemos. The kingdom—the city, he corrected—sprawling before him was bright even then, and humans rode their metal monsters still.
He wondered where a human would have to go so late at night, there on Earth. Pierce realized he couldn't say he knew much of what humans did on Daemos either... besides scream.
The sound of Ava saying his name broke him from his rumination. "...Pierce?"
He turned away from the window to look at her. An unfamiliar warmth filled him as he took her in; propped up on one arm, facing him, wiping at her eye. Her sleepwear draped loosely, exposing her shoulder on one side. In the dark, he could see her perfectly; he wondered what her human eyes saw of him.
"Yes," he confirmed. Ava pouted, and something in his chest... hurt. Had his presence disturbed her so much she saw fit to use her magic against him? He talked around the ache in his chest, hoping to appease her. "Did I wake you?"
She shook her head, her hair rippling delicately with the motion. It looked soft. The ache stopped. "No... but..." Pierce waited for her to continue. She cleared her throat. "I mean, do you need something?"
"No," Pierce answered. Ava stared at him. He guessed she wanted more information. "I wanted to see that you were safe."
"And I am. Sooo..."
Pierce furrowed his brows—which was interesting, in that he hadn't realized his face had relaxed to begin with. Ava had that effect on him. "So?"
"Sooo why are you still here?"
The ache came back to his chest with a vengeance. "Ah. You want me to leave," he realized, standing up and getting halfway across the room in one motion.
"Wait!"
Pierce heeded, stopping instantly. He stood at the base of her bed and turned to look at her. She had lunged forward, one hand supporting her on the bed, and the other halfway to reaching out. Her eyes were wide, giving her a frantic edge. Hair strands tumbled loose, framing her face. Distractingly, one long strand fell in front of her eyes, and Pierce felt compelled to brush it aside for her. He stayed still as a statue despite.
The distracting strand fell in between even more distracting prospects. His eyes followed it to Ava's chest—and with her present position, and the way her sleep clothes loosely fit…
Pierce quickly returned his gaze to her face. The room was dark, but his eyes would still be visible to her with their glow. His face burned, but at least she couldn't see that. "...Yes?"
He could faintly make out the red on her own cheeks as she sat up straighter and tugged her shirt up a bit. So she'd noticed... Pierce scolded himself.
"You, um..." Ava stammered. He'd made her uncomfortable. "You don't have to go." She looked away, picking at her blanket.
"I don't mind," he assured her, so she wouldn't feel forced to let him stay. Pierce did mind, in the privacy of his own thoughts—he liked staying with her while she slept. It gave him purpose to watch over her. Additionally—selfishly—being around Ava brought him an odd feeling of peace he had never known. On many nights he feared he could drown in it; some nights, he even wanted to.
"Oh," Ava frowned, sounding disappointed. Why? She still stared at the blanket, so he still couldn't read her expression. Not that Pierce was an expert in such things.
Pierce felt ridiculous as he asked, "Would you... want me to stay?"
Ava flinched with a small squeak. Pierce watched her curiously, and she exhaled a long breath and lowered her shoulders. She looked up at him, nervousness peeking out behind features she was trying to keep nonchalant. "If... you want to. I can't sleep anyway," she confessed.
Pierce was thankful for the last comment—it gave him something to do. Pink eyes gazing up at him, never straying, she watched him as he stepped to the side of her bed. He kneeled by it, putting him slightly below eye level with Ava while she sat up. Wordlessly, he reached up to pat her head.
He had been right. It was soft.
While she initially leaned into the touch, a few careful pets later she had grabbed his hand. She pulled to move it from her head, and Pierce let her at the lightest tug. It took him more conscious effort to let her move his hand than to keep it where it was. It was an effort he was content to make.
"I thought that helped you sleep," Pierce said, explanation and question wrapped into one. "Why did you stop me?"
She didn't meet his eyes. "I guess I don't want to sleep yet," Ava mumbled, moving Pierce's hand to the side of her head. Her cheek was burning under his touch. Between that and Ava's lack of desire to sleep—when had she EVER not wanted to sleep?—Pierce was quickly concerned.
"Princess Ava, are you unwell?"
"What???" Ava's gaze snapped to him, confused. "What made you say that?"
"You're hot," he said, and her face burned even more, her eyes wider. His concern mounted. "You just got warmer—"
"OH!" She said, moving her head away. Her hand still clung to Pierce's, which he left hovering in the air. He missed her warm skin against his knuckles. "Of course you meant temperature..."
"What else would I have meant?"
"N-nothing," Ava stammered. "I'm not sick, Pierce," she told him, sighing.
Pierce studied her features, just to be sure. Her face was still red, and her eyebrows were scrunched. She delicately gnawed on her lower lip. It looked soft. The room was silent, and it took too long for Pierce to realize it was his turn to speak. He was feeling... distracted.
"...Okay."
The room was quiet again, but Pierce didn't mind it. He just watched her, as she watched her fingers pick at the blanket. And watching the thoughts turn in her head, he had to admit—he was curious. Greatly so. Was she thinking of him? She was still holding his hand. Was she going to let go?
Pierce couldn't remember a time he'd ever wanted to know so badly what someone else was thinking of him. It wasn't normally something he bothered with. What other people thought of him was what they thought of him, and if they thought of him enough for it to matter, he would be told.
But it wasn't like that on Earth. They all danced around what they wanted to say to avoid conflict. On Daemos, one might dance around anything that wouldn't cause conflict.
A finger holding Pierce's hand twitched. "You haven't moved," she said, looking at him again, finally.
"Neither have you," Pierce pointed out.
"Isn't that uncomfortable for you? To hold our hands up for so long?"
"No," Pierce said. "Not very. I am used to staying very still."
"Oh. I see."
"Also, I enjoy touching you," he confessed. Ava squeaked, but before she could form a response, he took a chance to gently move his hand back to her face. Her face was warm again. He pressed, so gently, to feel the way her soft skin squished, then carefully rested his fingers against her cheek and jaw.
She looked at him with awed eyes, and her mouth parted with a near silent gasp. It couldn't have been, but... it felt like invitation.
"...Ava," he began, very seriously.
"U...um...?" She stammered, as if having forgot her own name. "W-what is it?"
Pierce's heart was thrumming in his ears; he could feel heat rushing to them. "May I..." he searched for the right word, the word she would understand. It was different here. So much was different here. He was different here.
Ava was looking at him expectantly. He started again; he wanted to get it right. It might be done more casually on Earth, but that didn't mean he wanted to do a poor job of it.
"Ava... May I kiss you?"
Her eyes widened again. Pierce watched her expression for discomfort, but she only seemed surprised. Then her face settled. She nodded, small and slight.
"...Yes," she said, wistfully.
Pierce smiled at her, warmth blooming in his chest. He moved his hand back to cradle the back of her head as he pushed himself up at the same time, closing the distance so she didn't need to move at all. He had never done this before, but it came naturally; to touch her.
He had been right again. Her lips were soft.
While she hadn't needed to move to reach him, move she did. Pierce's initial contact was careful, delicate—he wasn't sure how humans caressed, how much pressure one should apply—and Ava's was anything but. Once he had made careful contact, she pushed into him, clumsily and with force.
Pierce didn't mind that at all.
His free hand moved to cover her wrist, and he pushed himself further off the floor, moving her back into the bed. She made a sound he couldn't identify, and he pulled away. She was breathing heavier than him—though that wasn't to say he wasn't getting short of breath himself—and he made note of it; to afford her more moments to breathe.
She was under him but tilted upwards, her back against the pillows of her bed. Her hair went around her head like curling, inky clouds.
"Too much?" Pierce asked.
"No," Ava shook her head, still panting.
"Tell me to stop," he suggested, though he hoped she wouldn't.
Ava said exactly what he wanted to hear—"But I don't want you to stop."
Pierce nodded. "Okay," he said, and returned to her soft lips. She made a contented noise in his mouth, and he pressed harder—then he worried it was too much, and pulled away to let her breathe.
She pulled him back in much faster than he was expecting, and in the heat of this moment he forgot to let her navigate him with her meager strength. This resulted in the other half of his robe falling off of his shoulders as she tugged at it, and he didn't move at all.
Once more, he didn't mind.
She seemed a little flustered, though. Pierce quickly moved back in before she could make herself too embarrassed; his lips against hers saying, it's alright.
It seemed to work, her confidence returning as her hands made their way up to his head... and in their journey to embed into his hair, they brushed against his horns. He shivered, and this time, Ava was the one to pull away. She pressed herself back into the pillows while Pierce stayed frozen, giving them barely enough room between their lips to talk. Her hands were both held close to her chest, under her chin.
"I-I'm sorry," she stammered. "I did that on accident."
Pierce collected himself. "It was good," he told her. It was an understatement.
"It was?"
"Yes."
Her eyes were nervous, but intent. "Should I... do it again?"
"I... would like that," Pierce admitted.
Ava reached up, and it only took one experimental brush against his horn to send him crashing back into her lips. He'd never felt anything like this before—so hungry, but a hunger that made him feel full. Heat that burned but didn't hurt.
And softness. So, so much softness. In his hands, in his mouth, against his horns, under him—it was so soft.
If he was drowning, he never wanted to come up for air.
Air.
He pulled up a bit, realizing how deep he had been pushing Ava into the pillows, but she followed him hungrily, one hand tangled in his hair and another exploring his ear. He hadn't considered before how unfamiliar so much of him must be to her; he was far too wrapped up in how unfamiliar she was to him.
He had never heard of humans and Daemos being as intimate as they both were being now, but he had at least seen humans before, and vice versa. It wasn't the same for Ava.
He had never touched a human's ear, though. Still kissing her, though admittedly he had begun to slow down, desperation fading to satisfaction, he adjusted his hand against her head. While he cupped the side of her face with his palm, his finger dragged around the small, rounded shape of her ear. Not even Noi's ears were so small.
It felt so precious to him; so unfamiliar and so soft.
He wondered what else was different between humans and Daemos, in places he had never seen like this before... though he was at a complete loss as to how to remove Ava's human female clothing to see.
He navigated the hand still holding her wrist to the lower end of her shirt—if it was like the clothes he'd been loaned, this was his entry point.
When his hand slid under, she froze up, both of her hands suddenly over his wrist and pushing it away from the area. Obediently, he pulled his hand away, and his face from hers so he could apologize for overstepping.
"ACK! I-I'M NOT READY F—"
Pierce held his thumb over her lips quickly without thinking, eyes wide. She looked utterly appalled until he warned, "You're going to wake the others," panic in his tone. Suddenly, understanding hit her, and she nodded. "Sh," Pierce hushed her once, no longer looking at her, listening carefully for the other Daemos. His body was tense and coiled, ready to be sprung, but not for any reason that might get Misses Oates excited—he was ready to launch himself off the bed if he heard someone approaching.
When he was sure no one was going to come barging in, he looked at Ava again. His thumb was still over her mouth, and with his adrenaline fading, remorse set in. He cursed his poor reaction, even if it had been effective. Pierce promptly removed his thumb and got ready to apologize for several things at once.
"S-sorry," they both stammered, at once. Both blinked.
"You did nothing—" Pierce began.
"I get why you—" Ava began, at the same time. "Oh."
Normally, Pierce would let her go first, but he didn't want her to live under the illusion she had done anything worth apologies long enough for that.
"You did not do anything wrong," he informed her, taking advantage of his commanding presence to win the awkward conversational tie. "I apologize."
"I... it's okay," Ava replied. "I shouldn't have yelled."
"I startled you," Pierce frowned. "Too much," he echoed his previous concern.
"I... yeah," Ava admitted, looking away. "Too much."
"It is different on Daemos," he explained, though it wasn't an excuse. He still hadn't moved away from her—but she still hadn't told him to. He wasn't sure where to go, so he would wait until he directed her. As he should have the entire time; he cursed his eagerness.
Ava reached out to turn on her lamp. Light pooled into the room.
"Different?" She asked, turning to look at him again, once she could see. She showed no discomfort with their current position. His hand no longer rested against her head, but instead above it, holding her headboard for support. The hand that had dared to explore where it should not had also been moved, a decent distance away from her body and propping Pierce up as well. Her arms rested at her sides.
Her pinky reached out to the hand Pierce had deliberately moved away for her comfort, so he shifted just enough that she could wrap her pinky around a finger. Her hand was soft.
"We do not... 'kiss' the way Lorelai explained to us."
"Well, that's Lorelai, who knows how she explained it," Ava pouted. Pierce smiled. She was cute. "...Continue?" She prompted.
"Yes," Pierce agreed, but wasn't entirely sure how to. "On Daemos..." His brows pinched together as he puzzled how to explain it to Ava. "On Daemos, we have a different word. Caress."
"I think that's a word here too?" Ava squinted.
"But it does not mean the same thing."
"What does it mean? On Daemos."
"It is..." Pierce's face burned. Ava's eyebrows raised in response. "Um." He cleared his throat. "It is very intimate."
"Oh," Ava said, leaning back with the word.
"Yes. It is not... 'casual', as Lorelai described. And it does not normally stop at what she called a 'kiss.'"
"...Oh! Oh. Ohh..."
"It is uncommon for Daemos. I have never..." He trailed off, clearing his throat. Before Ava could give her response to that, he rambled on more explanation. "It is very private, and not normally done where others can see—"
"A— well, I hope not, if it's...! I mean, we don't do that in public on Earth either!" Ava balked.
"Do you not have a word for it here?" Pierce asked, confused by her phrasing.
"Um... No, we do, it's just..."
"What is it?"
"...I'm not having the talk with you, Pierce."
"The... talk? Are we not talking now?"
"Nevermind..."
Pierce frowned. He'd irritated her with his questioning.
Gently, her face fell. "So... when you asked to kiss me, what you really meant was—?"
"No!" Pierce said suddenly, interrupting her. Ava looked at him in utter shock. His face flushed in the wake of his outburst. "...No," he repeated, levelly. "I did not ask you for caress. I asked you for a kiss."
"And that's all you wanted? Kissing?"
"Yes," he confirmed.
"But that's not how it is on Daemos," Ava continued, her expression puzzled.
"We are not on Daemos," Pierce said softly. "And... you are not Daemos. I... I wanted to try it. Kissing."
Kissing her. Ava. The name tasted pleasant, even in his thoughts.
"...I think I get it."
Pierce was surprised, because he didn't. "You do?"
"Yeah." She pushed herself up into a sitting position, and Pierce moved back to let her. "Don't get off the bed yet," she told him, and he froze where he was.
"Okay."
"Do... do you want to try something else we do on Earth?"
"Yes," Pierce agreed. He wanted to try many other things on Earth; it was a vague question.
"Then c'mere," she said, patting the space next to her on the bed. Pierce tilted his head curiously, then obeyed. He moved to the other side, near where she had indicated, and rested his feet on the floor again.
"What now?"
"Psh, get your legs in the bed, silly," Ava corrected him.
"Oh," he murmured, bringing the rest of himself over and in. How natural it seemed, under her wishes.
"And... come closer."
He did, but still left space between them. He sat up straight, not touching the headboard for support at all. Ava laughed.
"Geez... hold on," she instructed, reaching behind him to adjust the pillows.
"...To... what?"
Ava snickered. "Just hold still."
"I can do that," he said, the hint of a smile on his face. Ava snickered again, and the smile bloomed.
"Now... lean back."
He did, cautiously. It was soft.
"And now... um..."
She moved closer to him, attempting to lift his arm and set it into a more open position. He allowed her to do as she pleased with it. Once that was done, she scooted into the open space she had made.
He was not displeased, but he was confused.
"...What are you doing?" He asked.
"We're cuddling."
Pierce wrinkled his nose. "Coddling?"
Pierce was a grown man. He did not need coddling.
"Cuddling," Ava huffed, and Pierce had trouble telling the difference between her word and his. "Also known as… snuggling?"
At least that sounded different. "What does it... do?"
She sighed. "It's just... nice. Or it's supposed to be."
Pierce processed that, and then examined how he felt. She rested against her chest, all defenses dropped. Her breathing evened out. Each of his own breaths was constrained against the weight of her body against him, but it was not unwelcome. As they sat there together, their breathing synced. Her hand was resting in the center of his ribs, and he wondered if she could feel his heartbeat. It quickened at the thought.
She was cold against him now when she had been so warm earlier. He considered trying to wrap his robe around her to warm her up. He moved his arms to do so, but realized his sleeve had never been pulled back—both his arms were bare, and his robe sat uselessly at his waist.
His arms could still do something for her, he decided, so he wrapped them around her.
And, admittedly—he enjoyed holding her, and this seemed a good excuse.
She relaxed into the touch, nearly going limp in his arms. His heart skipped a beat uncomfortably, worried for her.
"Ava?" He questioned, just to be sure.
"Mhm?" She squeaked.
He was relieved to hear her respond. "Is this alright?"
"Y-yeah," she replied. "This is good."
"Hm," Pierce thought about that. He leaned his face gently down to her hair, resting against it. It was soft, and tickled his upper lip. "Yes."