Archive of Our Own ^beta

Greater than the sum of happiness

It was easy, for Jinx, to lose herself in a project, after weeks of not being able to push out anything. She would hyperfocus on a single cog, screw, or piece of scrap metal she needed to hone so that her work could be perfect, until even basic needs such as drinking anything that wasn’t a mango flavoured Monster and pissing it out became secondary. That until Vi would come in, head peeking in through the door, reminding her that it was time to eat. Sometimes, her sister would even forget when it was Jinx’s turn to cook, and thus the magic spell was broken by the delicious smell of dinner. Vi would bring a plate to her desk, filling her room with the fragrant aroma of spices and rich sauces, made even more enticing for Jinx by the fact that she hadn’t eaten anything in hours, sometimes all day.

After she had realized Jinx wouldn’t shoo her away if she did, Vi would also lay her own head down on the desk, watching her as she worked, fiddling with screwdrivers and teeny tiny wrenches, or needles and paintbrushes and beads, if it was a more artsy day, smiling softly as she rubbed a hand up and down her back, doing her best to coax her to eat, never getting too close to her too-skinny spine, where she could actually cause her discomfort. The more they had lived together, the closer they got, and Vi sometimes went as far as nuzzling her head against her arm or cupping her face with her hands like she did when they were still little girls, if she really needed her attention.

“Wanna have a bite with me?”

But today, as interesting as her last attempt at modifying an automatic air freshener to shoot fire at mosquitoes thanks to its motion detector was, Jinx couldn’t find herself to stay still. She would fidget, shuffling around in her chair, crossing her legs and putting them down and then up against her chest, only to then look at the clock one more time, again and again, and groan loudly when she found out barely minutes had passed. Again.

Her sister was out on a lovely afternoon date with fucking Robocop and then she’d go straight to work her shift at the bar, leaving out the option for Jinx to annoy her with her antics or, more peacefully, whine, beg and pester her to rewatch Fleabag for what was probably the tenth time, or a new episode of anything else after smoking one mean, big, fat blunt on their balcony. And while Jinx wasn’t a stranger to naps and being softly, sweetly woken up from one in the late evening, that day it just didn’t hit right.

The house was as spotless as it needed to be to welcome someone she knew for almost more than twenty years (which is… not much), and after picking up around the living room and vacuuming the crumbs from that day’s lunch, she just opted to shut herself in her room to avoid making any more messes she’d need to clean.

Jinx was counting down the minutes, calculating the time it took to drive to her house, again and again and again, at the same time as her brain processed the perfect ratio of deodorant to lighter fluid, always getting the same result on the clock — as it should be.
When her phone showed 17:20 and no new messages, Jinx couldn’t do it anymore. She jumped from her desk, phone and project forgotten, house slippers left behind, and rushed to the small kitchen’s door, throwing it open and tippy toeing on the balcony’s damp tiles in only her pink, strawberry embroidered grippy socks.

In just a couple of steps she was leaning on the balcony’s railing, overlooking the street stretching in front of her apartment complex. She was a smack of colour under Zaun’s usual drab grey sky, wearing magenta pajama shorts that almost disappeared under a striped mauve jumper that was too large, falling off to reveal her shoulder and the blue clouds on her skin. Above her head other clouds, thick and white, diffused the sunlight like a photographer’s filter, washing out any saturation, softening shadows until everything it hit flattened out, like faded cut outs glued on cheap cardstock.

Jinx’s eyes travelled downward, carefully studying the cars passing through the street, unfazed every time drivers would honk or swear loudly at each other. As she leaned with her forearms pressed on the railing, she raised her head up and down, up and down, fidgeting with her hands, grinning and following the vehicles. She turned her head towards the end of the street to steal glances as soon as they entered the horizon, biting her lips when she thought a familiar car was approaching, only to slump her shoulders back down when it didn’t stop.

Then, after a while, she finally saw it. Well, saw and heard it.

Ekko’s beat down Fiat Panda making its way down her street, with its rusted blue-green hood and the familiar whining and rumbling of the engine as it slowed down and… didn’t stop. Cars lined both sides of the road, leaving no gap where he could park and forcing him to go and make rounds around the block until he found a spot. Jinx swore loudly, clutching her fist around the metal banister and inadvertently taking away crumbling, tiny pieces of paint. She then swore again, rubbing her hands together until all the flakes stuck to her skin fell off: she would have to repaint it soon.

She went back to staring at the asphalt and at the blurs of colours moving way past the speed limit, filtering out any car that wasn’t that exact shade of green, or that didn’t make enough noise as it approached her house. Just as she was about to grow even more irritated, her eyes caught on a short figure walking out of the narrow alley hidden between the two buildings in front of her, a figure with a heavy walk and slightly curved shoulders, wrapped in a moss green jacket and carrying a duffle bag.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she probably wasn’t as silent as she thought she was, or the road wasn’t as noisy, because he looked up and smiled at her, his gait evening out as he quickened his pace at once.

Jinx’s grin grew wider with laughter bubbling in her stomach. She launched herself back inside the house and run to the buzzer between the couch and the kitchenette, slamming her thumb on the button multiple times to unlock the door from the lobby and be sure it actually would. Then, without slowing down, she ran out of her apartment, stopping at the top of the stairwell to look down once again, listening to the rhythm of the steps as they climbed higher and higher.

Ekko looked up again, holding onto the handrail so as to not lose his footing as he made his way to her. Jinx could swear that, despite the depth of his skin and the distance between their flights of stairs, she could already spot his dark circles and eyebags, almost as purple and puffy as hers. Her smile dropped, but she was quick in hiding it from him, managing to pull her lips back halfway up as Ekko got closer.

He was about to walk the last steps when Jinx threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he dropped his bag on the landing and caught her just in time, hands securing around her waist as his mouth found hers. He lowered her down on the floor and she swayed on the spot, adhering her body to the rough fabric of his jacket and nipping at his bottom lip as he softly tugged away. Ekko’s hands slipped down, settling to warm the aching vertebrae at the small of her back. As she kissed him a second time, Jinx felt a tinge of relief growing alongside the concern, laugh stirring anew when he leaned down to hide a smile in the muslin-thin skin of her neck

“So? No hello for me?” he teased, as if her literally running towards him hadn’t been a sufficient greeting.

“Mine.” She answered, pulling him away from the stairs. If usually Jinx would have let him carry her in his arms for the three metres expanse of the landing separating the stairs from her door, that day she chose to walk at his side, reaching out to pull at one of the bag’s straps as he wordlessly grabbed the other, the pair carrying his duffel like they would a particularly heavy grocery bag.

Jinx closed the door behind them as he took off his jacket, hanging it on the coat rack hidden in a nook of the narrow passageway.

Without half of his overnight bag filled with clothes and tools weighing her down, Jinx felt like skipping all around the house, giggling as she danced in circles around her boyfriend, jumping from one foot to the other.

“Why so giddy? I’m here every day.” Ekko smiled, turning around and around to face her as she changed direction. He took off his filthy shoes out of respect for the girls’ struggles in keeping even that small space clean, wearing his own pair of house slippers before taking another step in.

“I know”, she stopped, dragging out the o, but didn’t drop her own smile as her eyebrows shot up. “But it’s been ages since the last time you stayed the night. And what the hell, sometimes I get so happy for the smallest thing and I can feel it burst through my skin, it’s payback for all the time I spend crying or thinking that I want to throw myself off the bridge.”

She let herself fall forward on Ekko’s chest and he caught her again, looking down at her big blue eyes, half swallowed by her cheeks because of the joy morphing and sculpting her face. She herself kept staring up at him, their small height difference made more pronounced by the way she was leaning on him rather than standing side by side.

Does she know she’s greater than the sum of all the sparkles and fireworks under her skin?
Ekko, now stripped to just his work clothes, made his best effort to wrap her in his arms without rubbing dust and dirt on her.

“I’m happy if you’re happy, Sugar bomb.” he said, captivated by the sight of her melting under his touch.

“I’m thinking that I can’t wait to have you all for myself until tomorrow morning.”  she confessed, not giving a shit about how soiled his overalls were as she rubbed her cheek against the dip of his collarbones, a breath away from his fluttering pulse.

“I’m here and you have me, bunny. But I’ll have to take a shower, I’m gross as fuck.” he pressed his lips to her forehead.

“Do you want to go now?” she inquired, “I can go grab you a fresh towel.”

“We have just one little thing to do first.” Ekko said, walking to the kitchenette and stopping in front of the two counters near the window, rummaging through an old, repurposed makeup bag, fishing out little, thin cardboard boxes and dark glass bottles, so tiny they disappeared in his hands.

Jinx hissed. “Yeah, right.”

“You’ve been doing so good lately, Jinx. You haven’t missed a single day or forgot a pill.”

“It’s only because you’re here every day.” Jinx crossed her arms in front of her chest, turning her head the opposite way, as if the stove had something more interesting to show her.

“Baby, I’m not the one swallowing your meds. And you know if I didn’t want to see your face for at least five minutes every day, this thing would be a phone call.”

Seeing that she wasn’t moving, Ekko stepped back to her with his hands full. Carefully, he put the meds on the table and stepped between Jinx and the stove.

“I’m not the psych nurse that’s paid to encourage you in a singsong, optimistic tone.”

“No, you’re my boyfriend and you do this shit for free.” This shit being taking her meds with her. Jinx pouted. But… she wanted him to relax after another hellish day at work, and the longer she kept at it, the longer he’d have to wait to take a shower and change into clean clothes. So, she grabbed the filter jug and two glasses.

“I forgot to be a good host and ask if you want water or something to munch on,” said Jinx.

“Water is fine for now, thanks. And no need to play host.” Ekko took the glass from her, downing it gladly. She refilled it immediately and he thanked her again, this time drinking more slowly.

“Right, you know you can open the cupboard and take whatever.”

Jinx opened the first cardboard box, then another, taking out her pills to fidget with the shiny blister packs, drumming her fingertips on the empty plastic bubbles and twisting the foil between her knuckles.

“You wanna do it on your own?” Ekko asked between sips.

Jinx nodded. “You’re going to get poisoned if you keep pill-kissing me to make me take them.”

He lifted his shoulders, putting down his own glass to fill hers with what looked like less than two inches of water.

“Nah, I won’t.” He acted so smug about it, effortlessly opening the childproof cap of her antidepressant and counting the drops as they fell and dissolved in the water.

Jinx leaned back on the counter, staring at the Seroquel in the palm of her hand before closing her eyes and shoving it into her mouth. Ekko passed her the other glass, the one he drank from, filled with just water, waiting for her to swallow before presenting her with the drops. 

“It’s going to be long term poisoning, slow and painful.” she winced at the flavour. “I should know, I studied the effects of all this shit before mixing it all up that one time. You know even ibuprofen kills you slowly and painfully?”

“Worth every risk. Pow, the day all this shit stops working and they switch you to injectable meds, I’m giving you the shots.”

Jinx swallowed the rest of Ekko’s plain water, washing down the bitterness. She stared at the bottom of the cup, listening to the sound of another bottle opening and plastic package crinkling.

“It’s not that hard to do it myself.” She shifted on the counter, suddenly extremely aware of how the fake marble pressed uncomfortably against her every bone, clutching the glass as she struggled to breathe.

“It’s one thing to do it yourself, but I don’t want you to do it on your own.” Careful to not make her drop the glass, Ekko’s thumb came to stroke lightly on her wrist.  Jinx nodded, if anything because making him wait because she was feeling guilty for something that wasn’t even sure it would happen (in addition to what was already happening) seemed downright unfair to him.

Her grip loosened, the same way the muscles of her forearm relaxed and softened under his warm skin. She returned the glass to the table, swapping it for the other one with her anxiety medication dissolved inside. Just the process took so long, her stomach tied itself in a knot at the mere thought of it, all energy disappearing under her feet. Had it been just one, or even two drugs that she had to take, it wouldn’t have been half as bad. Maybe, she thought, she could have tricked herself into not feeling like a failure for both needing meds and letting days turn into weeks before reaching for the pouch in the kitchen.

But four… five? …she lost count every single time she had to fill out forms, or when one doctor asked what the other prescribed her. It made her want to crawl under the covers and never enter the kitchen again. She also knew it wasn’t true, and that she would act no better even if they invented one single, Jinx-bespoke pill to fix her once and for all, because she was a piece of shit.

The rotting, flower-y flavour lingering in the back of her throat punched her back to reality.

“This one’s so ass.” she coughed, rushing her hand in front of her mouth and squeezing her eyes shut. “Ew.”

“You okay?” Ekko asked, his arm circling back to pat down between her shoulder blades.

“Yeah, kind of.” she stuck out her tongue. “Today it tastes worse.”

“You say that at least once a week.”

“Damned shrink says it’s not a good reason to switch me to something else, and I hate that he’s right ‘cause those anxiety pills I took before made me shit my guts out and I couldn’t work for five minutes without getting distracted or starting to cry.” Jinx complained, pursing her lips.

“They also made you an irritable bitch.”

“I’m afraid to inform you that's basic package Jinx for you.” She thought he was also quite late to the realization, but didn’t want to risk it by critiquing his taste in women that much.

“Uh-uh,” Jinx watched as Ekko slowly brought a hand to his mouth. “Not for me, at least.”

Then, his other hand wrapped around her waist, so large it almost reached the small of her back, and Jinx felt liquid heat drip from where he touched, pooling lower and lower as he pulled her back in, peeling her away from the counter to clutch her to his chest as he leaned in to kiss her. As soon his lips were on hers, Jinx opened her mouth slightly, allowing his tongue to take its sweet time as it made its way in, rolling over hers until she was desperate for more.

That’s when she felt it. The smallest pill of the bunch, falling from his tongue as he angled his head to get deeper. Jinx barely registered its imperceptible weight when she swallowed it without a sip of water, her thirst growing by the second. She tried nibbling on his bottom lip but Ekko bit back, his much sharper canines prickling the smallest cuts before he soothed them with the same mouth that wounded her, as they took turns sucking on each other’s lips. His fingers brushed her hair out of its way, coasting the hairline as they stroked her face, and Jinx almost wanted to cry, the rush of him against her and the taste of her blood hitting harder than any drug. The low, satisfied grunts vibrating in his throat let her know he was losing it too, and so she pulled their kiss out of their mouths for a second, leaving just their weight and pressure on one another. Just before it became unbearable, Jinx dived back in, teeth clanking, tongue swirling until it reached the roof of his mouth.

Oh! How she adored how plush, soft and plump his lips were, how they contrasted with his sharp cheekbones and how they felt cradled in her palms as she kissed him silly, dancing on her tiptoes.

“I wanted to give you just a quick peck,” he chuckled between breaths, his smile lighting up the small, closed space between their faces.

“You started it, but you can’t keep up.” Jinx cooed, so dizzy that her kiss ended up landing on the corner of his mouth, “Told you I was going to take them all by myself today.”

“I wanted to give you a prize for being so good, I couldn’t help myself.” he held her tighter and spun around halfway, so that he was the one with his back to the counter. She giggled, her fingers gripping the sleeves of his work suit for dear life.

“But then, if you couldn’t help yourself, who was the prize really for?” she questioned, then cocked her head to the side. “I think we both deserve it, though.” she smiled coyly, tapping on his arm. “Did you hear me on the balcony?” she didn’t give him time to answer her previous statement, suddenly changing subject.

“Hm?” He took a second to answer, like he needed some time to get back to earth and remember what she was referring to. “Nope. I just felt like looking up– and there she was...” He peppered her face with as many kisses as she had freckles, saying goodbye to all that coming back to earth bit, starting with one on the tip of her nose. “...my beautiful girl, waiting for me.”

“You really did?”

“Hmmm”, he hummed, too preoccupied with fulfilling the freckles:kiss ratio. She abruptly stopped him, capturing his mouth in another kiss, but leaving him almost immediately to reply.

“See, these things don’t just happen. We must be soulmates, Boy Saviour.” she joked, as if that one moment he flexed the muscles of his neck in the middle of the street was the true cosmic, irrefutable proof of such a connection.

“You’re right. There’s no other way it could be.” He squeezed her hips, more reassuring than anything else.

Jinx grinned, stepping back. “I’m glad you think I’m right so we don’t lose time arguing over that and you can finally relax.”

“Wait, I thought you liked arguing.” Ekko retorted.

Jinx stared at him, taking a deep breath. “Look, I’m trying to be a good girlfriend! Don’t make it harder than it has to be! Now I want to throw you a slipper.”

She stomped her way back to where they left his bag, hitting the tiles just a little too hard to be believable.

“You won’t, because you love me…” Ekko crossed his arms, eyes following her around the apartment as she brought his bag in her bedroom. “...and you’re the best girlfriend ever!” He didn’t even need to raise his voice on the last part, the house being as small as it was: that meant he also got a full Dolby surround of Jinx’s aggravated, irritated grunting.

“You’re testing me! Go take a shower so I can keep that title and empty your bag!”

Ekko rolled his eyes. “Okay, but you don’t need to worry about the last part.”

“Ekko, stop being a pain in the ass and let me do what I have to do.”

He must have finally got the message and left her alone, because after that she heard only the door of the bathroom, a mere two steps from her room, closing behind him.

Jinx sat on the bed, hurriedly unzipping the bag to begin putting her boyfriend’s clothes away.

She did this for him every time he spent the night at her place, unpacking Ekko’s things into the one drawer in her closet that, even amidst all the chaos and the lack of space in the room, stayed empty, waiting for him. She did so even before their first kiss, when they were totally just friends, but fell asleep side by side, or back to back, waking up in a tangle of limbs the morning after. She could not bear the thought of him “living out of a bag”, and thus Jinx did her best to take out his clothes without wrinkling or unfolding them, clearing a small space on her desk to line up his art supplies on one side and his charger, his wallet, his lighter, and anything else he brought with him on the other. That left only his heavier tools laying on the bottom of the bag, bag which had its own designated spot under her bed. And even if some corners of his clothes still came out crooked, and some items would inevitably travel around the house and get misplaced, Ekko was always grateful, kissing her hands or her forehead to thank her.

Sometimes, when things got bad and he refused to leave her side, it was the only thing she was able to do for him. But it was a start.

She had planned a lot more for him that day. All his favourite snacks were waiting for him in the pantry, and she had downloaded all seasons of his favourite show over the course of the week so that they could watch it uninterrupted by the usual connection problems that plagued her wi-fi. On the last grocery trip, she splurged a bit on the good coffee he liked, and his beloved blanket – the messy, patchwork one she made herself from fabric scraps joined together with uneven, misshapen stitches — had been freshly washed and hanged to dry that morning and now was ready for them.

And she had so, so much to chat with him about.

Videoclub breaking up had shattered Ekko’s heart, but Vintage Violence’s new album had just come out and they had only listened to a couple songs in his car, the other day.
Jinx wanted to talk to him about that engine on the other side of the city she worked on that same Monday and ask him what artists would play at the Hideout for Worker’s Day. She wanted to listen to him ramble about the projects and workshops they would be hosting and hear him plan out the extra effort they would put into their grocery runs for the elderly. She had a new project of her own she wanted to ask his opinion for, drawing and setting aside a first rough sketch to work on together. Jinx wanted to see the glow in his eyes cancel out the dark circles, and his mouth curl up in something more than a tired smile…

Jinx tried her best to make the excitement match the boulder that weighed down on her stomach, focusing all her concern on keeping his pants and tops straight as she lowered them in the drawer. She at least managed to avoid picking at her cuticles until she wasn’t handling his things anymore, sparing them from bloodstains.

In some ways, Jinx always felt somewhat worried — and guilty — about how much Ekko and her sister worked, while she, because of her mental health or other reasons, couldn’t really hold down a job and made her money with what most would call side gigs, going where clients called her or bringing junk to fix and repair at home, managing to scrap enough to chip in with her and Vi’s expenses. But while at least she could live with the guilt if it meant the job misfortunes interested her only, it really took a toll on her when it was Vi or Ekko’s turn to get shit.

When they first came back into each other’s lives, Ekko had been working a shitty entry level job doing deliveries, but filled out his free time as a repairman so that, when his first job fired him unexpectedly after just a couple of months, he was able to take more hours at his second. He liked it, loved his coworkers too, especially the older ones who reminded him of Benzo, but they were the ones who got to stay when the higher ups decided they needed to weed out the workforce. His older colleagues however put out a good word, many good words for him, and thanks to his previous experience he got to help around at one of their friend’s hardware store, until the man had a stroke that paralyzed him and none of his relatives wanted the shop. Ekko, green as grass but with his finances in the red, was in absolutely no position to buy and take over the business, and so he was out.

They joked he was going back to his roots when he was able to find a part-time job as a driver for a delivery company in the industrial park, rounding it up with as many gigs as he could — just like she did. But then the company closed, eaten up by a bigger one that had branches in just about every Piltie borough and every town in the continent, and Jinx didn’t tell him when she begun to pass out on gigs she found so that he could take them on for himself while he looked for another job.

And then he found another job, full-time even. She remembered how relieved Ekko looked when he received the phone call saying he’d been hired, his features relaxing like someone took off the anvil that smashed his face for months. He didn’t fill her in on all the details, so she had come to know them as time went. And then, as time went, the situation suddenly got worse, his coworkers turning sour and she fucking infuriated.

Nine hours. Nine bloody hours every day, adding a shitty half-hour lunchbreak, while the fucking law said eight hours (and the damned pilties were fighting to get down to four days a week sitting on their asses in their comfy desks), when he didn’t have overtime. Of course, working six days a week instead of five didn’t count as overtime! And it rarely came with a warning, so many times at around 17:00 Ekko would have to sneakily text her to say he’d be late.

The first couple times it happened, they both didn’t think much of it: what was a workers’ rights violation topside was the norm in the fissures, as unfair as it was in principle. But when it started happening more and more, Jinx found herself crying one evening while holding her phone, big, fat tears falling on the screen and warping the letters. She wasn’t crying for herself.

But that was all he could find. It had to be enough, for now. And yet, while still organizing marches and protests opposing everything his employer stood for, while reading any book and political essay he managed to cram in his spare time, he gritted his teeth and said he was grateful. And really, he was, because he knew deep down a job was a privilege, and that two truths can exist at once. He was lucky to have a job that paid his bills, and they were lucky that it was just the two of them, with no sickly pets, no elderly parents that relied on their help, no loans to repay, no child that depended on them. 

But being grateful, to Jinx, made her feel the same despair and anxiety she first felt that time in front of her phone. She tried to do her best to help him out, fixing his appliances, his car and anything that needed it now that he had less time for tinkering, keeping an eye and ear open for any career changes that could interest him, and Vi told him to just pass them the money and they would do his grocery shopping too when they went to the store, pushing two carts so that he wouldn't have to worry about needing milk after breaking his back all day long, and their friends at the center were happy to see Jinx more as she designed posters and was given the password to their accounts to post on his behalf.

She tried her best to not be “too much”, whatever that meant. She bit her tongue, losing on some jokes if she thought he wasn't in the mood for it or was too exhausted. She tried to text him less… but also more, because she didn't want to make it seem she was abandoning him. She took more initiative in planning their dates. She complained less, even if most of the time Jinx's complaints to her boyfriend were stupid jokes. But did he have enough energy for her antics? She tried her best to not be “too much”, or so she thought, because sometimes Jinx found herself slipping, snapping back or being a brat for no good reason, and every time it made her feel like she wasn't putting any true effort at all, but also everything she had, all at the same time.

It wasn’t about being even. Deep in her heart, Jinx knew that if it came down to that, they’d never be. Ekko would surpass her with everything he did and was still doing for her, even if they both lived to one hundred years old and she spent every second of this long life trying. And she was! But were that her only motive, it would make it no different than a transaction, a favour between kingpins that needed to keep one another in check.

Jinx’s eyes travelled down the neat row of Ekko’s belongings on her desk, lingering on their names and initials, E + J, scribbled in multiple colours on his sketchbook, her handwriting appearing all over the black cardboard cover.

Being in Ekko’s life made her wish she could protect him. When he’d first given her permission to hurt him again, she wanted to protect him from herself. She wondered what else she could give him, but he made her appreciate all the small things in life she thought would never belong to her. While Jinx could not fix the world for him, Ekko made all those things feel achievable even for someone as broken as she was.

And now that they had so little time, so little happiness to spare, when his days turned to shit she wanted him to fall asleep at night knowing he wasn’t alone. Jinx cried with him, held him, brought him junk to smash with his bat when all the anger in his body needed an out, took everything she could off his plate if it meant Ekko had one less worry adding up in the back of his mind. She missed him, and being able to make his life easier had made hers easier too, action giving her control, a real fighting chance against the fear of him slipping away from her, turning back into a ghost.

Jinx had never doubted she’d do all of this for him without expecting anything back in return… and yet now more than anything, she wanted to touch him. She wanted to finally have him close to her, be sure against any shadow of a doubt that he was real, feel his skin flush against her whole body, let herself drown in his scent and take all of him in as he made her feel good.

Janna, she was so selfish.

Jinx kept her bobby pins inside a novelty tea tin. She slowly and carefully coiled her braids around her head, pinning her hair in place until it was all up. Then she made her way out her bedroom, stopping only to fetch a large, soft towel from the basket of clean laundry perched atop a wobbly chair in the living room.

The bathroom had already fogged up when she stepped inside, steam rising from the shower and collecting on the mirror and the brown tile walls. Ekko’s clothes had already disappeared inside the hamper, and only then Jinx realized she forgot his clean pajamas in her room. Too bad.

“It’s me– brought you something to dry you off.”

“Thanks, princess.”

Ekko had her back to her, from what she could see behind the frosted plastic walls of the shower.

He couldn’t see her as Jinx threw her sweater over her head, dropped down her shorts and underwear in one single motion, and leaned on the sink to take off her pink strawberry socks, the kind that usually would make most people not want to fuck you from how ugly they were and from the grippy implication of a wonderful stay at the mental hospital. But her boyfriend wasn’t most people.

Naked as the day she was born – with one finger fewer –, Jinx shivered, teeth clattering despite the humid heat of the room and the lingering warmth from their kiss spreading back to her body. Skinny and pale, she stood on top of her clothes with her arms wrapped around her chest, hastily stepping over sweater and panties and shorts without bothering to pick them up.

Ekko’s only warning was the sound of the shower’s door opening behind him as she entered the small space.

“Jin–” Ekko turned around, managing only one syllable out of her name before she was all over him, dry skin pressed against his chest and quickly soaking water.

Jinx’s mouth crashed on his, chasing the echoes of their previous kiss, the simmering embers in her belly lighting up anew as he matched her every move, met her in the middle, every press of her lips, every bite, every nip and every swipe of her tongue reciprocated until she wasn’t the one attacking anymore. Jinx surged forward, her nails already scratching his shoulder blades to pull him lower, closer to her. Ekko moved from where he had instinctively grabbed her hips at first, slowly exploring the contours of her body, mapping out the dramatic curves of her waist and thighs, climbing up her ribs to caress the side of her breasts with just the ghost of his fingertips before dipping down again. Jinx gasped in his mouth, as her effort in hiking one leg up and over his hips was met by one of his hands grabbing behind her knee and keeping it flush on him, as the other palmed and kneaded the flesh of her buttocks, following the shapes of the clouds on her back and side by pure instinct, eyes closed, tasting every millimetre of her lips, biting, licking, grazing his tongue on hers and moaning inside her mouth.

She kept chasing the sweet pressure of his body against her groin, undulating in search of the relief their friction would give them, until their teeth clashed in one last sloppy kiss as they both pulled the other in. A kiss that Jinx thought didn’t last enough, because just as she was making her move, chasing him away just to recapture his lips the next moment, Ekko put her leg down, spinning her around so that she was now facing the wall, carefully guiding her to stand where the overhead shower wouldn’t spray water right on her nose. His naked erection burned where it touched, searing hot against the skin of her ass, and yet she shifted slightly, rubbing against it just to hear his pleased, breathless grunts in her ears, goosebumps travelling up and down her spine, from between her eardrums to where his shaft pressed and nudged.

He leaned in, nose scraping past the coils in her hair, warm breath brushing the wet skin of her nape, kissing the bony tip of her first vertebrae and then, barely lifting his lips, the tense junction between her neck and shoulder.

Her hunger dissolved into the water, dripping between their bodies and staining his skin too, until it completely melted and disappeared deep under, until the only thing left to do was feel it and satiate it.

“Ekko…” her voice trembled, yet he heard it perfectly over the sound of the water, high pitched and whiney. Ekko’s arms snaked around her torso, big hands opening to press all over, touch everywhere before they met with her breast, fingers catching on the hardened peaks before retreating at the last moment, leaving her all hot and bothered to chase his touch with an unsatisfied huff. Jinx raised her own arm to touch behind her, reaching for his head and pulling him even closer, and she struggled to not lose herself in all the sensations of their bodies pressed together, this time his broad, defined chest pressed on her back, fighting back a whimper to let out words instead.

“No, wait… I was supposed to take care of you–” she gasped, throwing her head back as he fondled her tits, tracing circles with his thumb on the underside of one and squeezing the other, his fingers always finding their way back to her nipples to tug at the two metal bars and rub the sensitive, pink skin between and around them, until she couldn’t speak without catching her breath between gritted teeth. “–you didn’t even let me start…”

He continued playing with her chest, taking advantage of her exposed neck to suck on her blue veins, barely covered in a sheen of almost transparent skin. He nipped on her jawbone and brought one hand back to her hip, finding with her the best angle to grind against each other.

“I know love, I know,” Jinx had the impression he was almost comforting her, not so different from the way he eased her worries about mundane, everyday matters. All things that now felt far away and futile as his mouth hovered behind her ear and her breath hitched in anticipation “you want to make me feel good, but…” he trailed down, past her mess of blue, wet curls and between her legs, index and thumb pinching hard around her nipple at the same time as he almost-touched her clit, sneaking between her legs to almost-run through her folds, teasing but not giving in until he delivered his message. Ekko dragged his words, spelled them out clearly, enunciated every consonant and let the water sing through every pause, let Jinx’s struggling breaths be the sole accompanying instrument.

“... I feel even better when I take care of you.”

His hand split the white flesh of her thighs, finally giving in to their agonizing desire and Jinx’s need for pressure. His fingers slowly circled her clit through the hood, just strong enough to give her what she wanted as he kept riling her up. Jinx let out a squeak, louder than all the other noises she made, and her hips flew behind in one sudden movement, pressing harder on Ekko’s dick until it was held tight between their bodies.

“G’dammit, Jinx.” he exhaled, his previous nips on her shoulder morphing in one strong bite, from where his tongue darted out and started slowly rising up in one smooth motion, until it came to rest just behind her ear, ready to melt this new sensitive spot with languid kisses that went straight to her senses, wet noises coming directly in contact with her hearing and goosebumps rising at every swipe of his lips.

The hand between her legs dipped deeper, finally making contact with her drenched core and smearing arousal on the inner side of her thighs as he gathered as much as he could on two fingers, his slide on her cunt now smoother with every passage, stopping only to stimulate the engorged nerves on top. He experimentally increased his speed, shifting to kiss and whisper in her other ear when he got another series of choked whimpers in response to his ministrations.

“Good girl, such a good girl for me.” he repeated, making sure she heard it before the pads of his fingers slid down and came to rest at her hole, massaging in time with her clenching before moving further.

Her first instinct was to bear down, her cunt empty and pulsating around nothing, to lower herself onto his hand and make him take what he wanted. She couldn’t think of anything else as she turned her head to the side, reddened, swollen lips opened in what was half a moan, half a shameless invitation. Ekko’s image barely graced her eyes before she shut her lids, welcoming his kiss with just as much fervour. At last, she surrendered, taking deep breaths through her nose as the smell of her body wash, by now the ever-present fragrance in the bathroom, mixed with his own shampoo and permeated the humid air, straight to her lungs: addicting, inebriating, the only sharp note breaking that haze the arousal now seeping between them.

At first, Jinx’s fingers yanked his hair, urging him forward, but slowly her grip loosened and her touch turned to leisurely, soft scratches at his scalp, with a couple of his dreadlocks loosely twisted around her index and middle finger.

He moved just as lovingly behind her back, the husky sound of air getting in and out of his mouth letting her know he was enjoying it too — as if the slow, steady rocks of his member on her backside weren’t proof enough —, prompting her to continue stroking his hair, their hands matching each other’s rhythm until Ekko’s turned from teasingly dipping in and brushing her sex with his knuckles, to his digits fully sheathing inside, whole palm pressing hard on the outside of her pussy.

The surprise of having two fingers already inside her body was soon overrun by the absolute delight of his slow, steady pumping. She adjusted immediately, her body shuddering with every drag of Ekko’s knuckles against her walls as she bit her lips in a low, satisfied hum intensifying every time he pressed on the front on his way in and out.

That satisfaction was fleeting, her body immediately demanding more as he growled in her ear, taking his attention away from the pretty painting of red love marks and blue and purple bruises forming on her shoulders and neck, warm and pink from the hot shower.

“You're soaked already.”  He took his fingers out for one moment longer to stare down at her wetness gleaming on his dark skin, immediately going back to plunging them deep inside so that it wouldn't wash away.

Jinx nodded eagerly. “For you, only for you.”

The heel of his hand pressed harder on her clitoris as he worked to scissor her her open instead of merely going in and out, finding all the perfect spots that made her melt on top of him. Jinx let out another cry, trying to fuck herself back on his hand with her legs awkwardly bent and her knees turned to jelly, so much that Ekko was already supporting almost all her weight as he thrusted up her back. Jinx tried to move her arm between them, her hips bucking to follow his touch. She had no chance of escape because where she moved, he did too, pressing his flesh against hers and keeping her nice and safe in his arms: one rested along her iliac crest to let his hand inside her pussy, and the other wrapped around her thin rib cage, seizing her breasts, gripping one or the other, pinching and flicking her pierced nipple.

Overwhelmed, Jinx gasped for any amount of oxygen, immediately spitting it out to yelp and cry with the same intensity of her walls fluttered against him. Just like this, Ekko was a man on a mission, the tip of his fingers mapping, exploring her cunt, dragging out until they were delicately splitting her folds open, knuckles pressing against her clit and brushing the hair surrounding it. The entire bottom half of Jinx’s body was jerking out of control when Ekko went back in, changing the angle of his thrusts, letting flames rise higher, past her belly button, past her chest, until everything caught on fire: outside and inside.

With a deliberate flick of his wrist, he sent her flying forward, bowing down as he curled his fingers inside her until all Jinx could do was cry and sob against the wet tiles, her own voice ringing in her ears.

“We're off to a good start. You're giving me one now and later you'll come on my tongue too… then we're gonna see where it brings us. What do you think, princess?”

Up until that moment, his mouth had been too occupied for him to say anything else. Sucking, kissing, biting: teeth scraping at her skin, tongue catching the water drops dripping down her neck and falling from her shoulder every time she shivered. By the time he did speak, it looked like her tattoo cloud began anew with the love marks spreading from her collarbone and up.

His fingers left her sore, red nipple and the hand groping her tit squeezed the supple curve one last time, like bidding goodbye for the moment. Now, his index finger pointed at her nape, barely scraping the skin as it trailed down her spine. He followed the sloping line until his palm rested on the small of her back and stood still, unleashing his eyes down the same path before encircling her ribs again, caressing her torso and stopping at the dip of her waist, steadying her struggling stance. His breath was heavy, and Jinx didn’t need to turn around to know what he looked like. She could see him perfectly in her mind: his mouth hanging open, the hard line of his jaw, the droplets of sweat and water tracing the line of his lips, the profile of the nose and his cheekbones before falling over the edges with inaudible plic plics, his nostrils flaring with every laboured inhale and exhale, his throat bobbing up and down when he groaned, eyebrows furrowing in concentration as he worked to please her, or maybe hide more noises…

“Ekko–” I want to hear you, she wanted to say, but he cut her off.

“I’m starving though, can't wait to have a taste.” as he said so, his fingers slipped out again. Jinx winced at the slight discomfort, feeling her heartbeat speed up when, disappointed, she realized he wasn’t not going back in, soon overwhelmed by the sudden emptiness he left behind. She didn’t have time to miss it, though, because the slightest sound caught her attention.

Had she been just an inch further away, Jinx wouldn’t have heard it. The unmistakable sound of saliva swirling, of a mouth making contact with skin and sucking. The warm water continued splashing their bodies as she turned her head, slowly, just to be presented with the sight of Ekko wrapping his lips, full and luscious, around his own fingers. He made a show of it, eyes half closed and fixed on hers as he hollowed his cheeks and obnoxiously moved his tongue, the vacuum creating a smacking chu noise just before his moans filled the air.

He looked exactly as she pictured it, and Jinx couldn’t even bear to look away from his face to look at the treasures of his beauty awaiting her below his thick, muscular neck.

Jinx rubbed her legs together, frustrated at how it did nothing to relieve her of the tension. She itched to turn around, face him and spin the script again to either go back to her own original plan, going at her own pace, taking joy in playing the role of the tease and treat him right; or beg him to just take her now, throw her like a ragdoll against the wall of the shower and make her scream with his hands clawing at her hips. Anything, anything to keep her body from imploding on itself, or her mind from spinning aimlessly like a scratched record on a turntable.

Ekko kept her still, the hand on his waist turning into a vice and the other cupping her jaw, too close to her neck to give her any chance of moving without getting caught. Half of her wanted to keep fighting, win the argument and finally have the last word, just as he struggled to whimper his. The other half wanted nothing more than to lean against his palm and abandon herself on his hand, lulled by the even sound of his breath, the constant stream of water, the faint music playing from another apartment on the opposite side of the wall.

Most of all, Jinx didn’t want to have to choose between the two.

“So rude of me to not share with my girl too… here, try it.” Ekko’s thumb landed on her chin, gentle but unwavering as it pushed down, and she complied, opening her mouth. Soon the rough skin of his thumbpad on the cleft of her chin was replaced by those two thick fingers breaching in, coated in the enticing mixture of her own fluids and his saliva, moistening her lips as he traced the contours of her pout, slicking her whole mouth and chin, making a mess before she could even get a taste. He pushed on her tongue, humming contentedly, and Jinx took him in further, upper teeth grazing against his knuckles, tongue flattening. She closed her mouth around his fingers, increasing the suction to fight back at his squirming.

Jinx pointed her tongue on the line where the two fingers were tightly connected, running up and down. Ekko twisted and curled his fingers like he would somewhere else, giving only the slightest, feather-light touch on her palate and swirling around until there wasn’t any millimetre of skin she had not licked. She sure had already sucked him clean, but Jinx wasn’t letting go, chasing him with enthusiastic bobs of her head as she kept sucking, purposefully whimpering louder and jokingly biting down on his knuckles.

“I bet you're just as impatient as I am, bet you can't wait ‘till I eat you out–” he muttered, thrusting up inside her mouth, tilting her head up so they could look at each other again. She, her face bright pink, makeup smudged at the corners of her eyes and melting down her cheekbones, and him, with his eyes darkening from brown to pitch black in a dangerous mix of lust and devotion.

She didn’t forget that he still hadn’t done anything about himself, his cock still standing between them, angry, hard and neglected, with only the friction from their bodies meeting in a frenzy to soothe it, because Ekko wouldn’t let her even look at it, leaving everything to her imagination — again.

Ekko slid his fingers out of her mouth with a loud pop, bowing down to place a kiss right where her hair met the clammy skin of her forehead, chest swelling as he took in her sweet, sugary scent: cotton candy and raspberry, the powdery smell of makeup and her favourite lipstick she always wore.

“Eyes on me, Pow-pow.” he caught her as her eyes fluttered close, his voice becoming her only tether to the world, thin like spider silk. She obeyed, if only because his fingers fell on her body again, and she was back to the blistering reality of the shower, of her name rolling effortlessly off his tongue and hanging between them.

He let go of the grip on her jawbone keeping her still, and soon he was resting on her waist again, this time helping her take the smallest steps towards the shower head.

“Whatcha doin’?” Jinx asked, one step down from her high, just enough to be aware of her surroundings, and just enough to ache for him to fill her again.

He didn’t answer in the first four milliseconds of her talking, and she got impatient.

“c’monnn!” she whined, but it stopped there: there was no real fight left in her, and it was so easy to let her head loll against his arm, cheek squished on his bicep as he adjusted her.

He chuckled, the sound reverberating in his chest, shaking her up and down now that they were flush against one another again.

“Where do you want my hands?”

What a stupid, infuriating question.

“Gods, everywhere.” she huffed and writhed in his arms, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Hm, ‘need you to be more clear, babe.” he withdrew his pelvis, taking away that source of contact even if it hurt him the most, just to see her squirm again and stomp her foot on the porcelain.

“ ‘want you all over,” she heaved, her chest moving frantically up and down with every breath, “squeezing my neck and– and on my tits, I– I– oooh, on my hips and down… spreading my legs.” her words kept getting tangled and lost any sense the more she kept listing, edged on by the tip of his nose bumping in all the love marks he left her, still stinging with pain.

“What next? I stop there? You gotta be a little more specific.” Down on her abdomen, he inched closer by the second, grazing the thatch of blue hair on top of her sex, pulling the skin underneath to slightly reveal her clit but never daring to go forward, just ghosting up and around.

“Shit, fuck, Ekko! You open my legs and– my pussy. There. Need you there–” she corrected herself in a gulp when he nudged on the engorged bud and retreated immediately, a slap on the wrist showing her what she was missing for not using her words. “–inside. Fucking me.”

He rewarded both of them, canting his hips so that he was rutting on her again, his weeping cockhead nesting in the cleft of her ass. A lick on her pulse, a nip higher up on her jugular, his unintelligible mumbling becoming clearer to her ears as Ekko kept repeating the same words over and over again.

Good girl, good girl, good girl- 

“Ah… my good girl. See, was it this hard?” he panted, failing to hide a moan.

“Please–” she cried, too far gone already from just his fingers.

He thrusted higher, pressing his lips to her ear.

“You’re so perfect for me, sweet girl, just like this…”

His hand went back down, spreading her with urgency, no time left for teasing as he kept good on his promise. Jinx keened, meeting him halfway with a slow roll of her hips and fucking herself shallowly on his middle and pointer finger, every movement drawing cute, little noises from her parted lips as her body quickly responded to his touch.

“How’s the water? Want it hotter?” Ekko asked, his low voice reaching anywhere his devious fingers didn’t, 

“jussst… jus’ a bit, d’wanna scald you” she hissed, eating her words through pursed lips and stifling back a whimper, only for it to leave space to another, higher, fuller, wildly ricocheting on the shower walls. Ekko’s turned the water dial slightly to the left, fiddling with it until he found the temperature she liked.

“There, there, warm and cozy.”

He hadn’t stopped fingering her, gaining momentum as he kept the same rhythm as before: one hand pushing fast into her scorching wet heat, the other tenderly stroking her cheek, wiping away the mix of tears, her own fluids and shower water on her skin.

“There– fuck, more!” she commanded, and Ekko wasn’t going to ask for details. This time he was quicker in his exploration, keeping his expert touch as he parted her center, fingertips striking the same, soft spot, the alternating pressure of the bony end of his palm giving her just what she needed to approach the edge. Her knees buckled when Ekko added a third finger with an effortless slide, one that met no resistance and that she welcomed with a startled squeak.

“So big…” she whispered, choking in her own delight.

Hot water kept streaming down between them, sliding over lean, trembling muscle and shivering bones. Ekko buried his nose on the side of her neck, his free hand now completely lost in the choice of where to grasp, moving continuously between the stiff peaks of Jinx’s breast, where warm metal now adorned bright crimson skin, or her hipbone, where he gripped and pushed her back in his best effort to rut against her and get some relief for his throbbing dick. On instinct, Ekko closed his eyes, lids screwed shut to cope with the overwhelming choices and sensations shaking his body. All of Jinx demanded his utmost attention, and yet he was but a mere man, couldn’t be everywhere all at once and couldn’t decide what he wanted more: to delicately circle her long, white neck in his hand, or to draw her tattoos until she came dripping on his wrist, to keep palming at her tits or grip her leg so tight it bruised.

“Jinx–” he inched forward, trapping her between the wall and himself, resting his forehead on the tile and focusing on the painful spot in his temple to keep going.

“I’m close, gods, don’t stop again.” Jinx pleaded, her voice muffled between his arms.

She turned her head, flattening her cheek on the wall: an attempt to look back, sear his face on the back of her lids as she came undone. Her entire being sang a familiar song as he mapped out her walls with devotion even as violent goosebumps shook him up and down, from his legs to the back of his neck. Jinx tried clawing on the flat, slippery surface, and then decided it was no use and fought back with Ekko to crawl her arms to her back, to try and grasp and scratch his sides.

He wanted to say something, and he almost opened his mouth to do so when she cut him off, thrusting down one last time as absolute pleasure bloomed from her belly, coursing through her limbs with sharp shudders and a howl that only barely reminded him of his name.

Jinx inhaled and exhaled wildly, each breath ending in a pathetic wheeze escaping from her lungs. She trembled with the aftershocks, back arching further with every shiver, sinking so close to him, so deep into Ekko’s body, for a moment Jinx thought she — somehow — might have ended up beneath his skin. It surely felt like it: floating in a cloud of white-hot air, his heartbeat hammered furiously on her shoulder blade, damp locks prickled at her jaw and hurried, low whimpers thrummed from a single point through her neck, struggling to keep the tempo of the hand still working on her.

“Ekko?” she called out to him, baby blues looking out for dark, dilated pupils behind a haze only partly made of water droplets. Too lost in their bliss and already fucked-out, they were like two flickering lights staring at each other through a thick bank of mist, trying to communicate with one another in Morse code and only understanding half of it, yet fighting for that connection.

He didn’t answer, so she reluctantly peeled herself away from his chest, focusing what little clarity she had regained to coordinate her movements, her own arms and legs so heavy it felt like they were made of stone. She winced at the overstimulation as she shimmied out of his grasp, fully turning around to face him.

“Hey, Little Man?” she finally caught her breath, calling him for a second (third?) time, cupping his face with one hand and lovingly rubbing a cheekbone with her thumb.

Her eyes caught sight of the lump rippling under his throat when he swallowed, mouth agape as he gulped and her gaze darted down, quickly shadowed by her hand tracing a steady, vertical line. Time dilated and contracted in the space of one breath, where her eyes moved faster than her touch, leading the way down the same narrow space shaped by the nook and crannies of their profiles barely, not quite-meeting in a kiss, when her fingers came into contact with something wet and sticky.

Jinx had a glint in her eye as she pushed back to get a better look, batting her eyelids until the image of thick ropes of seed came into focus, glistening in contrast with his skin and almost disappearing on the trail of white hair pointing down towards his cock, now weeping at half-mast and leaning to the side.

“You did this to me, princess…” he was panting, half hidden by the hair plastered on his face.

Jinx pressed her palm to his pierced belly button, biting down her bottom lip and taking in his reaction with her eyes blown wide, out of proportion.

Ekko welcomed her attention, the sweet relief he had denied himself, abs clenching while hot puffs of air escaped from him in an exhilarated, feverish smile from the deepest part of his chest. “You made me come so hard…”

Jinx’s featherlight touch solidified with every pass up and down the hard planes of his abdomen, the same two fingers he used on her now hooking in a tantalizing curl to scoop his cum, tracing through the lines that defined his muscle until it was overflowing, running down her knuckles and falling down the drain. He was already twitching, but when she reached his cock to gather the precious pearls pooling at the base Ekko recoiled away from her hand like a mishandled gun, the sensation too intense to hide.

It only made her want it more, unable to resist the mouthwatering sight of his poor, thick member laying there all alone. Jinx couldn’t help herself, a small chuckle escaping from her lips and quickly growing in volume until her laugh overpowered his pitiful whimpers.

“What’s the matter, Little Man?” she teased, like she wasn’t the one begging for him less than five minutes prior.

Ekko took advantage of her distraction to try and regain his composure, hand lurching forward in an effort to grab her wrist. He succeeded, clasping her arm and earning a gasp from her as he tugged, hard.

“Eat.”

She did not need him telling her what to do, especially if she was just about to do the exact same thing.

“And you kiss me.” she retorted, smug like she was inflicting him the worst punishment ever conceived in the history of humankind.

“Greedy little thing wants it all for herself…” he grinned. He smacked her ass, watching her pretty face twist and cupping where he had just struck. “Come on, beautiful, open wide.”

He guided her fingers into her own waiting mouth, keeping them in place until her pink little tongue slurped them clean.

“Hmmm,” she hummed, obnoxious and exaggerated like a little kid who wanted to make sure her snotty classmates knew her treat was way, way better than theirs. She swirled his load around her mouth a couple of times before swallowing it, knowing that instead of being repulsed it would do nothing but make Ekko even more aroused, quickly working him up again.

“More–” she fought with the vice-like grip on her wrist to reach down and fill her hand again, this time daring to grasp his cock, pumping and twisting her fist when she reached the tip.

“Fuck!” he swore, backing away and then desperately rutting in her palm like his other head changed mind last minute.

“Please baby, give it to me, please, I want it all.” Jinx purred, “You said I could have it all for me.”

“I never said that, blue, you know that.” he corrected her, shutting up her protests with a tap of his index down on her lips. “You’re so selfish and greedy, but if you promise to play nice for me again…” he played like he needed to think about it, while Jinx was already shaking her head up and down, the end of her braids unravelling from where she pinned them.

“Yes! I’ll be so good for you, my Boy Saviour, please...”

“Will you let me take care of you one more time?” Ekko inquired, and she nodded again. He didn’t think it was enough, though, so he pinched at Jinx’s nipples, tugging on the jewels and making her cry out in protest.

“Answer me.” he growled.

“Yes.” her chin wobbled, but she didn’t dare take it back on him. Instead, Jinx’s cum-filled hand kept pumping effortlessly on his length, keeping up with the unhurried pace he set with his fingers completely wrapped around her.

“Good then,” he pushed down the center of her wrist with just his thumb, reminding Jinx of how strong he was — and how she could make him stop the moment she uttered a single word —, “you can have more.”

At his words, Jinx flattened her tongue on the palm, deliberately dragging it around, making a show of how it filled the tight, semicircle hollows that separated her fingers and deftly cleaning every crevice. She twirled her hand around, never lifting her tongue and reaching the back to run it on the knuckles and the flashing tendons underneath the skin. Ever the temptress, Jinx intentionally left behind a single drop of his spent, smearing it on her lips in silent invitation to fulfil her previous request. Well, not so silent, because she chuckled again, shaking her head between the tender constrain of his palms after he leaned in.

“Crazy, I’m so crazy about you–” he blabbered, squishing her to the point her cheek fat peeked through the empty spaces between his thumb and the rest of his fingers. This kiss was even messier than previous ones, open mouths meeting after what felt like an interminable fast before Janna’s altar. Ekko tasted himself in the overwhelming, syrupy sweetness of her, matching Jinx’s urge in the way she bit, licked and spit back, finally able to enjoy the banquet together.

“I’m crazier than you, remember?”

“Not in this. I can’t have enough of you, ever–” he squished harder on her cheeks, ignoring the insistent, playful smacks on his forearms. “sometimes I can’t believe I get to kiss you at the end of the day, that you’re all mine.”

Jinx stopped smacking, and Ekko was close enough to the stray end of one a braid that he could play with it, or card his hand on the coiled parts, admiring her handiwork. Admiring her.

“I just told you I am completely mental, I’m afraid you’re the real catch.” she felt her own eyes prickle, but he didn’t give her the time to dwell on it more. Not now.

“Shut up, you demon. Kiss me again.” He made it a game to kiss her in the wrong spot, only to apologize and peck her properly on her lips for just a couple seconds at a time, making her giddy and irritated at the same time.

“Oops, can I get another?” he smirked, threatening to tickle under her ribs.

Jinx stood on her tiptoes, delivering one last kiss on his mouth with sniper-like precision, spoiling his game.

“Mwah, gorgeous, handsome– Lemme wash you up?” he didn’t say anything, so she analysed even the thin wrinkles at the center of his furrowed brows. “Pretty please?”

“You promised you’d let me pamper you–” Ekko stopped mid-sentence, as soon as his girlfriend’s pink, perfect, kissable lips pursed in an adorable pout. “but that’s why I can trust you, right?” He flicked her chin up and she responded with that wicked smile of hers, front teeth and canines sinking into her lips.

Her body wash bottle was on the corner shelf on the left, lid still open from when Ekko first used it that day. He handed it to her, ever so chivalrous, but first he poured a sufficient amount of soap on his hand too, rubbing his palms together to make a good lather.

“You… uh, you should probably clean up too. On your back, you know?”

“Wanna do the honours?” Jinx cooed, repeating the same process with the bodywash for him.

“If you so insist.”

They angled back towards the showerhead, moving quickly to wipe away the remaining traces of semen and drool from his abs and his cock, now looking more alive than ever as it stood up higher against his stomach, darker than the rest of his body, tip already flushed and threatening to start spilling precum again, very soon. All their efforts were useless, after all: they clearly had no intention to stop and would need to shower again after. Jinx’s keen hands worked in big, soapy circles on his skin, moving away for seconds at a time to tease his throbbing length, or to puncture the skin of his thin, sculpted waist with her nails, causing arousal and pain to mingle in his voice.

Jinx thought she could be good by helping him reach her back more comfortably, so, on her tiptoes again, she latched and sucked on his neck, earning a satisfied moan just above her ear and giving him better access at her backside, where he had his fun grabbing and pinching when he was done cleaning any remaining spurt from her butt cheeks and the small of her back.

It was just another game.

“Hey, there isn’t anything to clean off there.” Jinx tilted her chin to look down at her chest, where her tits were hidden in two perfect handfuls, swallowed entirely by his palms coating her in bubbles. He gave her a squeeze, calluses gliding smoothly over the pebbled nipples when he pulled back. He cupped the sudsy underside of her tattooed breast, letting his other hand rest on her sternum with his fingertips in the dip of her collarbones, just shy of her throat: so close to her pulse, there was no way he didn’t feel the blood rush in her veins.

“Can you blame me? All this beauty in front of my eyes, all mine to watch,” he stared as the water washed down the foam, uncovering the uninterrupted sight of her flushed breasts moving up and down to chase her next breath. “to touch…” he gripped her tit, pressed down on the sides of her neck to feel the heartbeat drumming underneath, “to taste.” he licked his lips and dove in. Her neck and shoulders were already stained purple and blue, but the whole front of her body laid in front of him like a blank canvas, waiting for Ekko to paint her in all his favourite colours.

His mouth took the place of his fingers, wrapping around her pert nipple and starting to suck without wasting a second. Jinx’s reaction was just as immediate, a series of mewls and the softest of grunts intensifying with every roll of his tongue around her piercing.

She told him everything, didn’t hide in her silence and wasn’t afraid to let her neighbours know when she was drowning in pleasure. Something that deeply embarrassed him, so much it had been a struggle to admit that it turned him on like nothing else.

Jinx’s grip fastened around his locks, and he rewarded her with a particularly strong suckle on her other tit, where he’d already moved, scraping his teeth on the path.

“Keep ‘em there. I’ll be quick, doll, I’m hungry.”

“What?”

Jinx blinked, barely registering what he said as Ekko came down on his knees, spreading his legs in a way they both fit in the shower, with her standing right in the middle of the wall where she rested her back.

“Don’t act so dumb, Jinx, you know you’re a smart girl.” He closed his eyes, kissing the small blue swirl just above her navel. She, too, had gotten a piercing: a cheeky, dangly butterfly that matched with his firelight shaped jewel.

“I just want a snack, a small treat. I work so hard every day, I come home absolutely starving.” he whined, tone rising in a pitiful complaint. “I’m starving, baby, please. I’m so hungry.” he looked up at her with such puppy eyes, the growling consonants from hungry sending vibrations straight at the center of her thighs, where he had no reason to make her so wet again, not like this. His voice then turned serious, and his pupils dilated in awe, a sudden revelation.

“But here I could have a meal… I don’t care that I spoil my appetite for dinner, see– I’m selfish too.”

Just his voice, begging, first like he’d never eaten a crumb in his whole life, and then low again, growling too close for her own good, hitching and struggling to form words, and she was gone. Her worries began to melt down like elaborate sugar sculptures left under warm summer rain, one by one, just…

“But–” she hiccupped, “but I’m not too much, right?”

“Blue, if you say this thing another time…” Ekko hoisted her leg up on his shoulder, flattening his hand on her belly and splaying it open. He lost it at the sight of the wonderful contrast of their skin tones, whimpering at how he spanned almost all the way from one side to the other, at how small she was in his grasp. “You’re exactly how much I need. See, I might need more, even.”

Jinx screwed her eyes shut, and his hand moved to secure her hip, his nose dragging a line down from the shiny butterfly charm at her belly button, slowing as he passed over her mound, stopping only when it reached the aching apex of her thighs. There, he nuzzled against the sopping curls that framed her pussy, partially hiding that spectacle from his famished eyes. He landed the first kiss on top of her cunt, just shy of her clit, before nudging her legs further apart to get better access, teeth etching at the pale flesh on the inner side of her thighs where her hair grew sparser.

“You said you wanted to take care of me, right?”

“Yes.” Jinx kept her eyes closed, lest she caught sight of him burying his nose in her pubes and came on the spot.

“Then feed your man, Powder. He’s starving.”

Jinx threw her head back on the shower wall when his tongue first delved in her folds, spreading her open for him to take all the pleasure he wanted to give her.

Maybe she would have to ask him again later, then. When they weren’t distracted and the whole question would not be so easily swayed by their incurable want. It was important, after all.

I’m not too much, right?

She could not let it go, stress him out and ruin everything in such a delicate time, no? Those were her last coherent thoughts. Ekko’s mouth turning from delicate tasting to ravenous feasting was important too, and it knocked the breath out of her lungs with the combined action of his tongue and the shower head dripping warm water over her face.
They must have inadvertently moved in that direction: foul tasting water found its way into her gaping mouth, and curse the city’s shit waterworks, she could not give a single fuck. Jinx didn’t care anymore about her hair getting wet, she didn’t– no, she couldn’t care about anything that wasn’t him and the way his eyes locked on hers when she turned her head down to look at him kneeling on the shower plate. He gave a slow, long lick with the flat of his tongue when he saw she was watching, gathering her slick from hole her to drag it up to her clit, pressing on the length of her slit in his ascent. After a few passes, his tongue was thoroughly coated in her taste, the sugar and spice he had already sucked off from her skin and her natural, tangy signature, all poured out for him in liquid form, quenching his thirst.

On the canvas, the colours painted for him the prettiest of pictures: ivory white skin, opalescent with the ghosts of green and purple veins underneath; all shades of pink from rose to bright cherry where he had already gripped, kissed and nibbled. Mauve marks would soon come too, he would make sure of that, but there, at the center of it all, pink turned ruby, beckoning him forward, through thick, luscious thatches of azure hair crowning the prettiest, tastiest pussy he’d ever had. Peeking underneath the blue, it was begging him to add more colour, to layer brushstrokes on the already perfect masterpiece.

Long stripes turned into stronger, quicker licks painting the same shape over and over her clitoris, flicking with just the right amount of pressure to make her squirm and groan and babble incoherently.

“Ah– gh, Ek–Ekko, the– please– ple–, feel– ah,” half her words died in her throat, low guttural groans settling as Ekko smoothed his lips over her folds, blending kisses into her heat.

His nose made up for the lost sensation on her clit as he teased her entrance with just the tip of his tongue. Starting with the same shape he drew above, then tracing slow circles that made her heart beat faster in anticipation for his broad tongue delving inside, curling upwards and gently fucking her in and out. He moaned at her taste, relishing the slide of her trembling walls upon him and struggling to get deeper when Jinx yanked him forward.

She gazed down a second time, and her heart filled with love at the sight of the man lost between her legs. She fought with waves of ecstasy to keep her eyes open, marvelling at his features, as stunning as she had imagined them with her back turned, if not more. How could she capture such perfection in a mind as shattered as hers? White hair sticking to his forehead, black eyelashes fanning under his eyes, mouth busy with desire and his sharp, defined jaw falling slack just below her sight. Ekko was put together to be her undoing, she knew that. 

“You’re beautiful,” Jinx dragged out the syllables until she knew they were getting out exactly how she wanted them. Slow, and clear. She said that again, one more time as he lavished her.

“You're beautiful, down there… Ekko.” Another gasp, and she was arching her back off the shower walls — offered herself to him.

“I love you.” she kept herself from shouting, quiet words merging into harsher cries that shook her to the core. It was private, softer. The world knew, but in that moment, it was just for the two of them.

“I love you too,” he replied, eyes still closed, head cradled between her thighs. He was just as tender when his mouth returned to her, lips wrapped tight around her clit, and sucked.

Jinx struggled to stay still, steadied only by the unforgiving grip of both of her hands on his hair as he moved her up and down on his tongue, alternating from giving all the attention to the puffy bundle of nerves and fully enveloping her cunt with his mouth wide open, devouring her whole.

Ekko had to angle his head to see her fully, craning his neck in such a way it became increasingly painful with every passing minute. She helped him without meaning to, only chasing her own pleasure when she bucked her hips wildly into his face, and he hit all the perfect spots. Every centimetre of his face was pressed against her, with no room left for air: he didn’t need it. Ekko didn’t pull away for one second, afraid that if water seeped in between it might ruin her, dilute her flavour, waste it, take Jinx away from him and make him go mad. He was not sure it worked like this and he didn't want to know, addicted to the purest taste of her pussy: that warm, sweet liquid gushing on his tongue and pooling inside him at full strength.

Jinx begged, begged and begged, twisting and turning on the tiles. She almost slipped away from him, almost, and Ekko only clutched her harder, the tendons in his hand ready to snap with the force needed to keep her still as her legs wobbled and her inner thigh twitched against his cheek.

Close, she was so close.

Ekko had to keep her up, helping her stand when her muscles went rigid and she threatened to collapse, this new orgasm faster approaching, but more intense than the previous. The leg on his shoulder clamped down, weighing on Ekko’s neck until the muscle started tingling and he couldn’t feel pain on that side anymore. 

A gasp on the way in, a whimper on the way out. Jinx’s breath came out in yelps. Jarred, sharp exhales that only spurred him on. When he thought she was settled enough on his shoulder he slapped her ass again, once, twice, feeling her quivering on his face as he kept sucking even harder on her clitoris, tongue pressed to create the perfect vacuum that stimulated her with almost imperceptible bobs of his head. His free hand travelled upwards, cupping the curve of her breast just enough that her whole heart felt enveloped in its warmth, fingertips circling the areola and rubbing the peak again until it re-hardened and the combined sensation sent her down the well.

Her chest stilled, the grinding on his face suddenly came to a halt and panic coursed through his veins before Jinx lit up anew.

Like a stash of gunpowder.

Wrecked and trembling, she cried out, sharp screams descending into uncoordinated sobs when Ekko stayed right where he was, kept the same movement going on and on and on, rode her climax with her to the point of overstimulation when he couldn’t let her go. Not when she had just what he needed hiding in there, the thing he craved the most in the world cumming so beautifully on his face. Greed overwrote any other function of his brain as he kept lapping, sucking and licking away at her release, messy and delirious, ignoring the strain on his muscles when Jinx gave out.

“I got you, I got you,” he murmured, unsure if she had even heard him, bracing her in his arms to spare her a disastrous fall.

Jinx all but collapsed, the blooming ache between her legs consuming her, leaving her clenching, agonizingly empty, desperate and needy.

“Ekko, fill me up,” she pleaded.

He looked up. Jinx was all spread out to him, wet and gleaming, strands of hair escaping from her braids plastered on her face and neck, where a shin of sweat and water and arousal polished her skin until it had the shine of mother of pearl. She could barely keep her eyes open, two glossy cabochons shining on him as Ekko gingerly set her down, kissing her inner thigh one last time when she dismounted from his shoulder.

Jinx would have guessed he’d turn her around a second time and take her this way. He was tired and aching, and it was easier for him, less of a hassle for his tense limbs. In fact, she was fully expecting Ekko to do that, waiting with her longing pulsating deep inside her loins, when at the end of a tortuous ascent on her body, he stopped his backward trail of kisses in the small divot at the center of her chest, one last peck tickling her sternum, and engulfed her completely.

His arms, his mouth, his chest.

He kissed her, sweet and perfect, taking leave only to whisper praises inside her mouth. He wasn’t rushing it, but there was a certain urgency in the way his lips looked out for hers, in the way he hooked one leg in the crook of his elbow, then the other, hoisting her up to meet her pelvis at just the right angle.

“Don’t let me fall, big boy.” she half-joked. Jinx had lost count of how many times that day he held her entirely in his grasp, airborne, one slip away from the ground.

“Never, never.”

Jinx wrapped her legs around his waist, coaxing him forward with just a press of her heels on his backside. His shaft glided effortlessly on her plush lips, pushing them apart with his glans catching on her clit. They were pressed so close, so tight, Ekko had to rely on memory and feel to find her opening and line himself up. He gave Jinx the tiniest roll of his hips, just barely pushing the tip in. He gloated when she immediately keened and he continued feeding his cock inside her inch by inch, feeling her stretch to what felt like her absolute limit.

His whole being collapsed into the hottest point of the room, scorching, pulsing and wet, so fucking wet.

“Hmm~ ah, Ekko.”

He was fully sheathed now, as deep as he could get in that position, grinding on her front to keep her adorable mewls going. His thrusts focused on that one spot, hitting it just right until her pussy stopped fighting against him and she was shuddering around his cock, throwing her head back.

“Look at me, don’t– stay here please Jinx, please.” his was a desperate plea, reaching to hold and caress her face. He didn’t kiss her again, because if he did, he wouldn’t be able to see her features scrunching: brows furrowed, bunny teeth biting down on her lower lip, and those lovely blue eyes lost in bliss as he kept fucking her on the shower wall.

“I’m here.” she cried. Her arms tightened around Ekko’s neck, caging him. “I’m here.”

“Let me see you.”

It took everything in him to not come again so soon. His grunts punctuated every movement as he set his rhythm against Jinx’s body, justling her up. This time they were so near, he got every detail of her face contorting, mouth hanging open in a soundless moan as she struggled for air.

“More.” he slipped his fingers between them. “Harder.”

She clamped down, impossibly snug on his cock, and a waterfall of moans rained down his spine: his, Jinx’s, he couldn’t have known, not with the way the blended within each other, so loud it was impossible to know where her voice left off and Ekko’s began. Raw, unfiltered harmony.

He could take her there, Ekko was sure, and continued rubbing circles on her clit, tuning in with the clues from her body when she couldn’t make out any more words to instruct him.

“C’mon, told you were givin’ me three.” He praised, and Jinx clawed at his shoulder, leaving scratches that burned like open wounds in the heat of passion. “Can’t deny me anythin’? My sweet girl, Pow– FUCK!”

She yelped too when freezing cold water hit both at full pressure, with no warning, and Ekko instinctively tried to get away from the shower head, crushing her against the wall and covering her with his torso. Jinx felt like falling, but it barely left an impression as Ekko recovered what little brains he needed to keep her up.

She, however, was still half out of it when he blindly reached for the faucet’s handle, blinking away at the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes and grinding down on him.

“Noo, I jinxed it–” she whined, mourning the loss of Ekko’s half hard cock slipping out of her as he stumbled out of the shower, carrying her.

“You didn’t jinx anything, the water heater failed us and we didn’t notice because we were enjoying ourselves a little too much.” he said, coy in the way he explained it to her.

“Hmm.” she buried her face in the crook of his neck, unwilling to hear any reason. Or to get off him. Ekko was warm, the shocks from the icy water were coursing through her body in uncontrollable shivers, and the bathroom was cold, too. And he was hers.

He struggled to set her down on her feet, at the same time reaching for the large towel Jinx had laid out for him and forgetting to take hers off the rack on the wall. He kept her close, that way he could wrap both in the rough cotton fabric.

“I still want it from my blue, if she’ll have me.” he leaned down, massaging her limbs through the towel. She, too, was getting handsy, rubbing down on his back and legs, grabbing anything she could and nuzzling just under his jaw, playful chuckles escaping her when he groped back. Ekko grabbed her arm, placing one lingering, moist kiss at the center of her wrist.

“I’ll get you all dried off and then I’ll plow you through the mattress of that tiny little bed you have in your room.”

“Is that so?” she was purring all over him, counting down the seconds until he was inside her again. “What if I have something else planned out for you, boss?”

“Hmm, either way that pussy’s gonna be the only wet thing left on you, I promise.”

She wondered whose sin was greater. His, for the loving profanities he showered her with, or hers, for all the ways she worshipped him in return.

“Aw, what’s taking you so much then?” she bit back, pulling on the last strings of patience he had left. A tease, that’s what she was, playing it up and provoking him so that his impatience matched her own. She took advantage of the hand circling her wrist to guide him down, past their squeezed bodies and into the junction of her thighs. There was no need for further invitation. He cupped all of her in his palm, nails grazing the contours of her folds and stopping to make leave for one single fingertip around her entrance. Just brushing, not quite breaching, moving in tandem with her lips when Jinx kissed him again, shoving him towards the door.

“You shouldn’t make me wait.” She used the towel like reins to direct him where she wanted, keeping both wrapped in it. Their image floated like coloured mist on the fogged-up mirror above the sink.

“Don’t you want me to be nice?”

They did their best at avoiding the puddles their heated elopement from the shower and the ensuing fondling splashed around, moving with mismatched stomps on the slippery tiled trap. Huddling together under one towel, they made their way out of the bathroom, walking sideways like shrimps with only spare glances at the steps ahead of them. Jinx’s index and the stump of her middle finger barely brushed his skin, drawing curls and abstract pattern on his pectorals.

“But you’re always so loving even when you’re ramming inside me…” Scratch marks, light and feathery, appeared on his chest. “My love makes me feel it every time he thrusts so hard he breaks me, when he pulls my hair, when he puts his hand around my neck and he uses me like a whore.”

Blessed Janna, if Ekko had any blood left above his waistline, it was surely gone now, every single ounce of fluid in his body dropping to make him harder than ever before, even his mouth was dry.

Jinx’s eyes had turned the color of deep ocean, pupils blown out almost to the edges of blue irises catching and reflecting the overcast grey coming from the window. They were crossing out of the bathroom into the center room of the house, behind the couch and left to her room, leaving a trail of water droplets behind them.

“So much for giving me shit ‘bout parading naked in front of the neighbours— “

Ekko turned them around, prying Jinx away from any curious glances coming vis-à-vis from the fourth floor of the other building and booking it inside the bedroom, hiding them both from view in the cutest, dumbest jealousy fit. The door stayed open, an afterthought in the midst of their tryst as the couple treaded the familiar path back to Jinx’s bed, stepping over the tools and clothes scattered on the floor.

Ekko loved her room. That tiny space crammed to the ceiling with her presence, an endless pile of Jinx, Jinx, Jinx, Jinx everywhere he looked. Even at times where she wasn’t there, he could sit out hours studying the traces she left behind, from the layered graffiti on the walls, to be painted over one very far off day when they would leave that apartment behind, to her lingering perfume and the faintest indent of her weight on the blankets.

“No, no one can see you like this,” she grinned, stopping to stroke his face, “you’re all mine.” Escaped in a whisper, her words bearing sweetness and possessiveness in equal measures. The towel dropped to reveal their bare bodies and Ekko picked her up again only to place her on the mattress, where she kneeled in front of him, leaving him puzzled as she shifted into place, finding the right height.

“wait, wait- lemme- let me, Ekko.” She bowed her head, carefully holding up to the back of his thighs with both hands, inviting him forward where her mouth awaited. Her tongue darted out, dragging on the tip and underside of his cock, already twitching in response to her hot breath around him. 

They moaned in unison, each lost in their own sensation. Jinx only hummed louder, knowing Ekko would feel every. Single. Soundwave and vibration. Shooting up from his cock into his guts as she happily sampled herself on him, giving it the same treatment she gave his fingers before. She was high on the flavour of their combined fluids: it made her head spin, until all she could do to brace herself was hiding her enlarged pupils from the dizzy world around her behind the screen of half-closed lids.

“Fuck, baby, you taste so good.” She opened her jaw to greedily take all of him, engulfing the head in her heat, making a quick work of him with only her mouth. Her tongue traced the veins pulsing down his shaft, toyed with the sensitive slit of the glans and took pride in knowing exactly where and how much to push, as Ekko fought the need to blindly follow her hands spurring him to thrust forward in her wanting mouth, ultimately staying still, bathing his breath as Jinx made her way down on his whole erection, rosy lips stretched thin around his girth and glistening in a mix of spit and precum.

Sucking, licking, swirling him in her mouth with clever games of her tongue, each bob of her head dug into his self-control. Jinx was in no rush, finding the perfect, slow rhythm that would allow her to enjoy his flavour as her small, upturned nose squished into his stomach, tickling the neat trail of white hair with her every exhilarated breath.

Ekko lost it when she didn’t reciprocate his gaze, too busy increasing the suction, hollowing her cheeks in time with her downstrokes.

“Keep going, just like that–“ his hand reached blindly behind her nape, grasping for braids that weren’t there and fumbling to find purchase on the back of her head. She just couldn’t stop tasting and playing with him, alternating tender kisses on the leaking tip to feather-light passes of her moist lips on his shaft, mixing it up when she wanted, resting him on her flattened tongue to keep him on edge. Ekko’s palms pushed down and his cock breached Jinx’s throat once again, a wet, soft spring tightening around his member with no mercy.

The grunts escaping him grew wilder, less controlled.

“Bet you want my cock all over you, you’d take it so well, you’d want this cock ramming in that tight little ass while another one of me cums in your throat, would you?” A long, high-pitched whine escaped her lips, muffled against his abs when he bottomed out. Ekko felt the sting of half-crescent shapes on his hamstrings, where Jinx’s grasp turned feral, sharp claws carving their shared pleasure on his skin. She still wasn’t looking at him, eyes screwed shut as she paused for what felt like the longest second on earth with his cock still lodged deep in her mouth and drool dripping copiously down her chin. Jinx was still whimpering when she resumed her ministrations, lavishing him with redoubled enthusiasm, sliding up and down and torturing him with her tongue at the same time, always stopping at the end when his head hit the back of her throat, leaving him breathless. Just for a moment, savouring him, until Ekko’s undulating hips and heavy hand on her head gave her more.

He stopped her when she swallowed around his length, leisurely sliding it out and staying with only the faintest press of his thumb in the corner of her mouth, almost like consolation for leaving her: offering a small comfort when even he couldn’t bear being too far.

“I need you so bad.” He gasped, lovingly caressing her cheek and tilting her head upwards.  Twin trails of mascara and eyeshadow ran down the sides of her reddened face, melting with the contour of tears. She batted her eyelashes, revealing teary, glossy baby blues. She could not stop looking at his expression, his body, his perfect cock standing in front of her face, mouth agape and tiny and flushed like a rosebud. Ekko could almost hear the faintest, breathiest ahs in time with her chest heaving.

“Sit down.” It was barely above a whisper, but Ekko understood, and Jinx watched intently as he lowered down, getting closer just as she scooted backwards to make space for him until they were both sitting on the mattress.

“Let me show how much I need you, how good you make me feel.” Ekko leaned in, moving his hand to rest on her love-bitten shoulder at the end of a fast descent down her neck.

“Shhhh,” Jinx shushed him with a playful tap of her finger at the center of his lips. She looked otherworldly, still unsure on her footing and too, too lightheaded, and yet something more emboldened her smile.

“I want to ride you so good you forget your own name, but you’ll never be able to forget mine.”

Jinx whispered into his ear, tugging on the earring with her teeth. Poor Ekko all but melted under her words, which Jinx understood as permission to nib and lick at his lobe, using her tongue to play around the steel hoop to earn more choked whimpers and shortened breaths from him.

“Yes, please, fuck yes.” Ekko was so eager she couldn’t help but smile.

He was acting good now, but it was clear he was doing his best to hold back for the sake of her promise. His finger gripped the pale globes of her backside, straining to keep still: they wouldn’t, couldn’t dare to knead.

Waiting. Sweet and torturous waiting.

Ekko watched hypnotized as she turned around beside him, staring at the mesmerising work of her body, of her arms hoisting her up as she threw one leg on the other side of his lap and straddled him. Her tattoos and scars hid fireworks, vibrating in time with the life under her skin.

He tried to help, of course, but his hands wrapped around her too late, realization coming when she was already offering him the curves and planes of her back, the tease of the weak point of her nape and the tantalizing view of her ass edging closer on his lap. He briefly thought about undoing that elaborate crown of hair and letting her braids cascade down, but it didn’t last long. It didn’t last enough to be a proper thought, even, just a longing for the image of Jinx flicking her hair off her shoulders, fingers curling behind her neck, braids disappearing like blue silk curtains uncovering a stage. A wish.

He held her waist, then her hips, awkward and fumbling like a virgin, accommodating her as she shifted to test her mount. Ekko slotted his fingertips in the divots they had already left, manoeuvring her and him both until he was sitting on the edge of the bed and she was perched on him, with her legs splayed on his own, snowy thighs splotched red and purple resting atop strong, dark columns of muscles. Jinx’s arm tensed with effort, and she could feel his hardness sliding up and down as Ekko finally got to knead her ass, palming greedily and pulling her back to grind on his lap.

His sigh of relief blew on the stray hair pieces behind her ear.

“Just lemme put it back in already.” Jinx pleaded. It was a pitiful whine, so unlike the minx that promised him a doomed fate.

“Now you’re the one back to begging? I’m just enjoying you, baby… all of you.” He was taking his sweet damn time, dragging it out like he had the power to stop the sun rising the next day and stay in her bed forever.

Jinx closed her eyes at the sensation of the blunt head, still slick with her spit, rubbing too close and too far at the same time. She leaned forward, a secure fall in Ekko’s arms moving to support her weight. She had one hand on his thigh for balance and the other curled back around to find his cock and line it up. They both gasped when making contact, Jinx grinding her entrance on his tip one last time before she finally pushed back.

“Fucking finally.” he let out, and it made her dizzy because it was the most raw and needy that she heard him today — so needy he couldn’t bother to put it nicely, dirtier even than when he called for another one of him to wreck her — and because she almost had said the same thing.

Fucking finally.

At first, Jinx’s movements were experimental, still testing how far he’d hold her when overwhelmed. Exploring new angles, varying speed and intensity with her hips falling differently every time, yet keeping a steady, impatient rhythm.

It was all heavenly chills running down her spine, tingling every bone like instruments to play.

She was already so sensitive, it wasn’t going to be long before she came again. Jinx arched her back, all wound up and taut as a bow string, before leaning forward again on the way up. She was dangerously low, but the way Ekko hit that spot on her front wall, and the way her clit would brush on his balls when she fell back against him at just the right angle, teasing the overworked bundle of nerves with scorching heat and just not enough pressure… oh, it was all well worth the risk, with how Ekko grunted at the effort of holding her up, driving her mad with every wet squelch of their bodies slowly colliding with each other as she pressed down and he thrust up.

“You wanna give it to me so, so bad, hmmm?” he asked, indulging her in this game of push-and-pull she made, gripping on her outstretched arms to gain leverage when he needed it.

Her braids, her braids…

Soon, Ekko was ramming into her from below, challenging her to match his merciless thrusts and spearing her on his cock with ruthless precision, somehow always finding where she missed him the most. Like there was this deep ache inside her, and it went away with every coordinated roll of their hips, when he pushed through and kissed her womb.

From there, it was like her body had a mind of her own, ignoring all distress signals to keep going, keep chasing, while all that occupied her mind was the tentation of surrendering herself to the feeling of Ekko’s cock igniting her from the inside, her lower lips clinging on his length when he left. Letting herself crumble down in small pieces, stuffed so full she couldn’t think straight anymore.

“aah– wanna feel you for days, wanna feel you every time I’mmmh– issing you.” Jinx choked out, whining with her heart sinking to her stomach.

It was like in the bathroom again, air getting thicker with the smell of sex and their scents mingling. Sugar and raspberry tangled with musk and hazelnut and their voices rose high and clear, this time without running water cutting through sharp cries and the indecent slaps of sweaty skin on skin.

“Jinx– ah, ‘mh here, I’m all yours.” His hips snapped, and he reached even deeper, stretched her to the absolute limit, “Yours, yours.”

Jinx was failing at holding herself back, and spectacularly so, all kind of noises slipping from her bitten lips in time with the bottom of her thighs meeting Ekko’s, leaving her no time to breathe, but plenty to tease.

“And don’t you want to hear me scream?” she played dirty, insatiable and devilish as she was, as if she didn’t know what would come of it.

Drawing from his last reserves of stamina, Ekko took command without the need to change positions. He kept her there, squirming and arching on his dick with an iron grip on her waist, strong arms and legs overpowering her until her piercing screams made his name known to every single person in the building, told them she was his.

“Just like that, trouble. Now I can hear you better.” he snarled. Ekko closed the distance in between them in favour of draping himself on her back, nuzzling sweet kisses on her shoulder, tender and unhurried. It was caste, almost, in complete contrast with their loins accelerating, desperate to find a faster tempo with the bed creaking continuously under their combined weight.

He gathered her on his lap, held her so tight not a whisp of air could slip between his chest and her spine, keeping their joint hands on the bulge on her lower stomach. And if he stretched her back, guided her just right, there, it would stand out more, press on their interlocked fingers and make the most delicious friction on her palm…

“Good girl, singing so loud for me.”

“E– ekko!” Jinx fluttered deliriously at his praise, legs shaking and arms going rigid as he mouthed her neck and moved to mumble sweet nothings against her cheek. Ekko clawed at her nape, fingers carding through her hair and turning her to face him before capturing her lips in a searing kiss, unable to fully silence from mewling and wailing into his mouth. His other hand busied itself in frantic circles on top of her clit and all lights in Jinx’s head went out.

“So deep- I– I– “

“You’re taking it so so so well– you’re so perfect, you’re all mine– “ Ekko’s voice was raspy, jumping and hiccupping like a scratched CD, sending soundwaves straight to her cunt. Her walls clamped down at that string of incoherent praises, wet and pulsing in time with her heartbeat: he knew how to get her body to always give the perfect response, the one he wanted, coaxing the sweetest sounds out of her throat.

“Let go, doll, it’s just us. Just us…” He cooed, breathing in her ear. And she just gave in.

Jinx gave in to his worship, sickeningly sweet, devoted and, what pushed her over the edge, sincere. Falling on Ekko’s chest, head thrown back and draped over his shoulder, felt like coming back to the safest place in all of Runeterra, even as the waves of orgasm tore her body apart, ricocheting from every corner like lone voices in a cave. For the third time that day Ekko caught her, spasming and convulsing, holding her through as she fell from her heights. Her own voice wasn’t a lone one, but her deafening shout in Ekko’s ear subdued his low, guttural growls. Then, all sound stopped, and she couldn’t feel her body anymore: all she could do was suck air through gritted teeth.

Ekko was so close, too, that familiar hunger from before roaring back at the way Jinx’s pussy clenched around his cock, like she wanted to milk him dry. He didn't want it to end (gods, he never did), but his muscles ached and his guts were lit in an all-burning blue fire as he kept fucking her through it, pin-point focused on giving her everything and spilling his release inside her, where it belonged.

“’mhh turning ‘round, baby.”

She nodded, welcoming the vertigo as Ekko flipped them over easily, manoeuvring her limp body so that she laid on her back with her thighs apart, where he could plunge back in without wasting a second. She hardly registered the soft fall on the mattress, her mind lost in Ekko’s continued movements as he rutted into her, a creature of pure, unfiltered instinct. He thrust once, twice, thrice more before snapping. He came with one last strangled grunt, face hidden in the crook of her neck and hips flush to the back of her thighs as he shot spurt after spurt of cum at the entrance of her womb, painting her walls in thick coats of white and pushing it back into her in an unpredictable, faltering rhythm. Just when he thought he didn’t have anything left to offer.

“Powder…gods, Powder, I love you so much.” He pressed his lips to her earlobe, inhaling the salty scent of sweat with slow, uneven breaths.

Jinx felt heavier than ever, and yet she was floating high up the ceiling, touching the fluorescent stars there with the tip of her finger.

“Love you too,” she managed to rasp back, when a sudden stream of breathless giggles escaped from her lips as she kissed him, exhilarated, touching her forehead to his. “Love you.”

Ekko kissed her back, grinding lazily atop of her until he softened while still inside, pubic bone giving the last overstimulating jolts to her clit and cutting her laughs with half-strangled whimpers. He barely moved to pull out, leaving his tired cock to lay and twitch pathetically in the space between their legs, the poor, worn out thing ending up soaked in the spent that leaked out of her hole, warm and gooey. Jinx, too, just laid there, with both pair of lips red and swollen, thoroughly used and tingling as fluids pooled and soaked through the comforter.

Fuck.

She didn’t mean for this to happen. Not so soon, at least. Of course, no regrets, but there was no towel — fucking shit, they could have used the one from the shower — laid down to soak up the mess they made, nor did they have enough presence of mind to get under the covers and mess the easily washable bedsheets instead.

Jinx would like that, though, cosying up with him with no other care in the world. Ekko, guilty as he was, would have usually acted very responsible by now and, after some minutes of basking in their shared afterglow, gotten up and convinced her to clean up herself and her bed.

[That was unless he occupied himself with eating her out and lapping their cum straight from the source, which had been one of the major reasons she chose to get an IUD.]

But shit, they had just come out of the shower and they were already all sticky again, and she had no self-discipline to stop herself from diving back in when Ekko just kept kissing her, looking out for her lips in a desperate bid for comfort with the pads of his fingers tracing the scars, bruises – not all caused by his passionate lovemaking  –, hickeys and bitemarks on her soft, creamy skin. The combined action of his tongue on the roof of her mouth and his digits pressing on the sore spots was electrifying, pain and pleasure and tenderness overflowing every gesture.

In the dim light of the approaching twilight, sun rays barely filtering sideways inside the room, Ekko looked everything like a sculpted bronze, an angel staring at her with liquid, deep brown eyes from the spot he claimed to crawl and hide against her much thinner, much lighter body. His limbs draped on her like fabric of heavy, precious brocades, warm and soft as velvet. Jinx welcomed the weight and his scorching heat once again, her own arms slithering around Ekko to hold him tight as he lulled his forehead against her collarbone. Their skin shifted and peeled away with every breath, damp with sweat and slick between their legs.

Ekko turned around in her arms with a hiss, like pain and exertion had caught up with him at last, lightning shooting all around from the points where he pressed and weighted on the mattress. He didn’t move, not even to further readjust, and just stayed silent, suspended on the surface of that drowsiness that sat just above her chest.

Minutes passed with no other sound other than the occasional sigh from Ekko. Jinx’s dainty fingers brushed his dreads away from his face and her breasts, where the hair prickled at her sensitive skin.

“I still haven’t taken a nap today,” she informed him, noticing how he barely responded to her, listening with his eyelids only halfway open. “and I slept only four hours tonight, so… we could sleep now.”

He didn’t answer immediately, and it prompted her to try again.

“Hey, Runeterra to Space Boy?”

Something snapped. Ekko blinked, motioning like he wanted to get up, but Jinx’s hand on his bicep stopped him before he could grimace from the sudden effort.

“Fuck– wait, I should clean you up–”

“Shhh,” Jinx silenced him much the same way as before, with a tap of her manicured index on his lips, “don’t worry about that now. I don’t mind being all crusty with you.”

He chuckled, still barely keeping his eyes open. “You’re so gross.”

“And you’re so in love with me, that’s gross. Don’t act like it’s not your cum drying up on my leg hairs.“

“Ew, babe– “ he hid his face in the pillow. A second chuckle, louder, shook his tense shoulders. He didn’t see it when Jinx blew him a raspberry, but felt her struggle under him and lifted his torso slightly to let her crawl on all fours to the other end of the mattress.

Ekko didn’t have it in himself to argue about dinner, the time spent cooking and cleaning that would inevitably be pushed out later in the evening, nor the fact that going back to sleep early that same night would become impossible. And what about work the next morning? They weren’t a couple of little kids with no other care in the world, and they could never be, no matter how much they played house and pretended otherwise.

“I’m getting a blanket.” She pinched his butt and he weakly slapped her hand away, all bark no bite, chest rising in an amused huff.

“Hm, just, don’t take too long.” Ekko muttered, like he couldn’t, for the love of Janna, not have the last word even when she was the one pampering him, intruding into his “perfect caring boyfriend” territory. “My girl needs to stay close to me.”

There, at the foot of the bed, Jinx caught sight of the poor patchwork blanket, once carefully folded in a neat rectangle, laying crumpled on the floor where it must have fallen with the jumping and rustling of the bed during their… activities. She ignored the soreness when she stretched, bending all weird to pick the blanket up without actually getting down from the bed, and scooted back up with her prize.

Probably, Jinx thought to herself, with some effort she could manage to lift Ekko and roll him around to stuff him under the bed covers. But at that moment it felt like a mortifying ritual she didn’t want to subject him to. It wasn’t like she was tucking a rioting drunk into bed, and he looked so peaceful, slumped over like this, bare and defenceless, she couldn’t bring herself to bother him with getting up for just a moment so they could crawl inside.

In a flash, Jinx remembered about her hair and quickly unpinned her braids from her head. She was finally free from the torture of wearing a handful of prickly bobby pins, now that she had no distraction keeping her from experiencing the full discomfort of metal poking her scalp at odd angles. With no better place to put them (on the floor? maybe?) she tucked them under her side of the pillow, making a mental note of taking them out before washing.

Jinx stretched her arms and with a flap draped the blanket on Ekko and herself, watching as it billowed like a gaudy parachute in mid-air. She took extra care in tucking the thick fabric snuggly around Ekko, checking all corners and drafts before worming her way back in his arms. She laid with her head above his on the pillow, that way he could rest against her neck again, an invitation Ekko gladly accepted, rolling over and hiding his profile on her pulse point.

It took some more time before they fully settled, tangling their legs in a way that made the most of the little space they had, encasing each other in an embrace not too dissimilar from the way a life jacket clung to the body. Ekko adjusted his hold on her, wrapping two loose loops of a braid around his wrist and letting out a low, throaty hum when his fingers closed around the soft strands. His breath could have condensed on Jinx’s skin, with how close he was, and soon it fell into a slower rhythm, with heavier, dragged-out inhales as the tell-tale signs he was falling asleep.

Jinx tried her best to fall asleep. She really, really did: her eyes felt impossibly heavy, her lids hurt. And yet she couldn’t find a way to turn off her head, to chuck away the boulder in the pit of her stomach or make her heart go slower. Had Ekko chosen to fall asleep on her chest, he wouldn’t been able to, not with the poor piece of flesh thumping like a trapped animal.

“Ekko?” she called cautiously, maybe too much, because he barely stirred when she tapped on his shoulder.

“Are you awake?” she bit her lips, ignoring the pangs of her guilty conscience.

He seemed to pick up on her tone, or maybe he just knew, because he lifted his head, and he didn’t even have the time to open his eyes before his mouth formed around the question.

“Something wrong?”

“No– I– I’m just… I’m sorry Ekko, you’re tired and I’m stupid but– “ Jinx was ranting now, and she was the first to hold him tighter. “Ekko, you make me so happy. You can’t even imagine. And I know it’s not the mania I get in exchange for feeling like shit. Because you make me happy always, even when I wante– when I want to die.” she couldn’t make herself lie, couldn’t say it in the present tense without that creepy presence cruising through her spine even in her happiest moments.

Dark had fallen so quickly, like another blanket over them, a literal cover of darkness. Ekko struggled to put her in focus. He looked at her, not worried, but confused for a moment.

“I don’t want to bother you– “

“No, no, ssh.”

Ekko kissed her, this time on her forehead. He had to shuffle and pull himself up to do that, and Jinx had to crane her neck all weird to help him. He settled one hand on her cheek, thumb ghosting the underside of her damp eyelashes. His other hand curled away at the base of her spine, just where she needed to dispel the frost, to remind her of the heat, of the life they had just shared.

He fought through the haze of sleep, where her teary faced looked so close to the one in his nightmares, and cradled her through the frantic, last moments of wakefulness, like holding vigil where he knew no spoken words could reach her faster than his own heart, bleeding towards her.

Jinx leaned in and closed her eyes to the stars on the ceilings just as the sun set, fluttering like real lights in time with the air leaving her lungs.

It was nice and silent in her head, not empty, but peaceful, the way the city was on the dawn after a snowstorm: the entire world coming to a standstill. She hoped that, for a couple of hours at least, she could give this to him, too.