#// ooc. I BESTOW UPON YOU... THIS. ig atahni is the prettiest bridge troll data has EVER seen

[crystalmarred]

caging your lover against a wall with your arms to kiss them . - Datahni

MEME ( accepting! ) ⇢ @diademreigned

It wasn't entirely true to say that he and Data were an item. Not yet, at least. The man had enchanted him from the start, drawn his eye in a way that most men could not.

Where many would catch his eyes solely for the purpose of bedding them—maybe—and stealing them for every penny they were worth, Data had always been different. Something about him caught him by throat, pulled him in, put thoughts in his head that he shouldn't be thinking.

Something about Data made him want. He wanted him, in ways that both thrilled and terrified A'atahni. Perhaps that was why he insisted on trying to embarrass the poor man—or at least surprise him, failing that.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that when A'atahni approached him just now, it was not for the best of intentions.

Data was in the middle of doing some gardening. He'd stated before his intent to get more experience with crossbreeding plants and it was unfortunate that A'atahni had little skill with such things. He'd heard him talk plenty about it, but the information had hardly stuck. Something, something, adjacent planting, something, Thavnairian Onions, so on and so forth...

Plants were Data's expertise, not his own, so it should surprise no one that A'atahni barely understood one whit of what he rambled on about.

He would have paid less attention were Data anyone else.

But it was partway through another of these explanations that A'atahni finally spotted his chance—and he took it, gladly.

Perhaps he was a little rough. Perhaps, but Data was a big boy. He could take being shoved a little roughly against a wall and before he even had a chance to complain, A'atahni's hands were at each side of him.

"My poor, sweet faerie apple, whatever shall you do?"

His smile verged on a smirk, his tone sweet as he leaned in for an almost-kiss. A'atahni doesn't quite take it, wants more time to play and tease and enjoy this man before they're thrust back into the reality of their tumultuous relationship.

"Your path has been gated, however will you pay the toll to pass?"

The jaw that had come unhinged when he acted finally drew back into a familiar, devilish smile that made his heart race. Few times had he seen it, but it did not make his want for it lesser.

"I have a few ideas..."

"Oh, a few? Perhaps one might be... this?"

As easily as he spoke the words did he press his lips tight to Data's. What started for a moment as gentle and sweet grew passionate, caught in a dance where Data's hand cupped his cheek and again Atahni's better judgment, his hand slide from the wall to rest on his hip.

It proved harder than he'd like to pull, to convince himself away from how right it felt to kiss him again. When he did, Data followed him, pecked at his lips once and then twice before he leaned back into the wall and asked, "Does that suffice, I wonder...?"

The question is spoken so soft, yet A'atahni knew better than to think he was fragile, that he was smirking inside.

But A'atahni only had one answer, only had one thought in his mind as the hand on Data's hip pulled him back in for more of the same.

"Not quite yet..."