#christ it's Meriadoc Brandybuck all over again with this kid

[vegalocity]

71/74 spicynoodles plis

Prompt meme || @herecomesmonkiekid

71. A Gentle “I Love You” Whispered After A Soft Kiss, Followed Immediately By A Stronger Kiss //74. Kisses Where One Person Is Sitting In The Other’s Lap

A bit of Bodice Ripper DNA in this one because what am i NOT supposed to experiment with style after being asked to write for the same ship a bunch of times? just wait till i lemony snicket a prompt fill

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Red Son had always thought the phrase 'a car crash in slow motion' was overly trite and fancy to describe someone being so incapable of controlling themselves they could only use the phrase to describe their poor decisions as a way to excuse themselves from fault. That there was no way to stop it from happening, despite ample time to put a stop to whatever 'it' in question was. He'd always thought that there were a million ways to pull out of a million things and a person is only guaranteed a certain outcome when they push for it time and again.

Well as it seemed, emotions had made a hypocrite out of him because he could not have taken any of the opportunities to pull away from this—away from Xiaotian—if he'd tried. It was like everything had snowballed and by the time he'd realized what it was building to he was already in too deep to pull away.

Why on Earth it had felt so natural at the time those few months ago, when the two of them were brawling over some scheme he honestly couldn't remember, for the fighting and shouting to turn into... something else, he couldn't say. Just that it was. It felt like the proper next step in the heat of the moment, the quickest way to get that clueless quipping fool to stop talking and ruining his monologue with his inane commentary.

And it certainly had shut Xiaotian up, but from there it spiralled. That one lapse in judgement creating a torrential downpour of one foolish action after another, sensations that were so few and far between over Red Son's life they may as well have been entirely new, and loathe as he'd been to admit to it when they were forming, emotions that were unable to be reasoned away.

And all of that lead to where he was now, surprisingly comfortable sitting in a mound of stiff cheap pillows, Xiaotian perched atop of him and kissing down the length of his neck to give Red Son a few bruises to match the ones that he'd put on him earlier. For such a defnitionally passionate action it was.. comfortable... Almost routine. They had to be careful of course, couldn't be too loud or someone would hear, couldn't leave a mark anywhere that wasn't easy to cover, Couldn't stay the night no matter how much either of them would want to stay with the other.

It was all they had right now. Red Son didn't have the strength to break from his parents yet, no matter how much less he was willing to be part of their schemes, and Xiaotian could never and would never be persuaded to quit being the Monkie Kid. These stolen moments were all they were gonna have until he could-...

Until he could what? Betray his flesh and blood because he'd fallen in love with their enemy like a character from one of the bodice rippers he used to steal from his mother's secret drawer?

“There, now we match.” Xiaotian spoke softly, breath against Red Son's sensitive neck sending shivers up his spine. He was practically glowing in the dim light smiling down at Red Son with that soft look and pressing a feather light kiss against his lips, it was so stupidly simple, so blasé, so perfectly Xiaotian...

Oh.. it seemed he had fallen in love, hadn't he?

Xiaotian stiffened above him, before descending on him again, this time determiend to kiss the daylights right out of him. Red Son hummed against Xiaotian's mouth and kept a reasonable pace, but couldn't for the life of him understand what had turned the gentle tone of Xiaotian's kisses to charged and weighty?

“Say it again.” Xiaotian breathed against his mouth when he pulled away—though 'pulling away' was a strong term, his lips were still only centimeters away from Red Son's, he'd pulled far enough away to talk but other than that was as close as ever—and Red Son realized all at once that he must have spoken a rather important part of his internal monologue out loud.

Another foolish action he'd been unable to stop. Xiaotian pulled away a little further and cupped Red Son's cheek in his hand. “Red?” He wasn't trying to make eye contact with Red Son, thankfully, allowing Red Son to focus on the furrow in Xiaotian's brow instead of agonizing over how fucking uncomfortable meeting people's eyes was.

“I love you.” His heart was beating so hard he felt as though he might pass out, But he did say it again as asked.

Xiaotian's entire face lit up, if he was glowing before he was positively radiant now. Then they were kissing again.

“I love you too.” Xiaotian's voice was no higher than a whisper but it hit him like a truck. A car crash in slow motion indeed. It was too late now, maybe it was too late during that first time in the caves when it was just the two of them. Maybe even earlier than that. But here they were. It was too late, they were in love.

And sometimes there's just no walking away from a car crash.

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