It’s days like these that have Reya trembling, heart too big for his chest.  The low crackles of the fire, the dim warm glow that washes the room in light fills him to the brim and overflows.  The days where every touch feels precious and Reya sits utterly bewildered with how life has somehow brought this wonderful, wonderful man into his path.

Hael’s shoulders are strong, corded with muscle and just as scarred and Reya wants to run his fingers over each one, thanking the very stars that each one did not fell the man beside him.  He wants to hold each sliver of a would-be smile and tuck it away in his heart forever.  He wants to burn the memory of Hael’s eyes, both yellow and his dear spectral blue, into his soul.

And in a way, he already has: love, warmth, that contented ease washes over him, blooming in a place so protected from everyone but Haelstein Varun.

How did they manage to find him?  It still stuns Reya from time to time that Hael loves them both and so equally.  It still shocks him every single time Hael bends down to kiss him, to hug him, to hold him.  It still courses in his veins, the very knowledge that they could love another and be loved in return.

The cool touch of steel and the warmth of flesh stirs him from his reverie and Reya melts into the soft kiss, feeling his chest flutter with far too much feeling.  Too much?  No, there would never be too much love inside of him for Hael.

Parting just barely from Hael, Reya leans in, knocking their foreheads together and hands clasping in their laps.  Scarred, callused hands, claws scraping, so much larger than his own and, Light, Reya wants to drown in their touch.

“I love you.” Reya breathes, voice shattered with how much love he feels, both his own and Hael’s, oh Light, he can feel Hael’s love and it’s…he never wants this moment to end.  

As much as Rey griped and complained about Reya’s stylistic choices, Rey couldn’t help but admit that it was…effective.  Reya’s smug sense of victory, though, gets completely and utterly swept away as Haelstein pushes him back, kissing him like he hasn’t in weeks.  It’s all Rey can do but shove the traitorous sound in his throat behind his teeth and pull himself up into the kiss.

The hands on his chest slide to his hips, claws digging in and Rey finds his back pressed up hard against a wall—Yes.  Yes.  He swears, voice strangled, and Hael swallows the sound with another deep kiss.  The next second, he’s weightless, lifted.  He barely registers how Hael shoves the bedroom door open.  But he hears it slam shut and his thoughts scatter with it.

Too close—Too close—It’s all they can do but fall into one another, blood still dripping from their armor.  Injuries barely healed—a low pained noise gets caught in the death knight’s throat—and fresh memories flashing behind their eyes.  Hands clutch too tight at armor and cloth, blood spotted hair and bruised skin.

It’s there, the fear, that so desperate fear of losing one another that has them entangled, half-torn between kissing and just holding.  Not you, please, just not you, they can’t take you away from me.  An gihr.

Rey rises from sleep slowly, consciousness returning like a lazy kitten in a patch of sun.  Except his sunlight is Haelstein Varun and he nuzzles into the other man’s shoulder, mumbling an gihr as he curls into Hael’s side.  He doesn’t need to see Hael to know that the Deathstalker is already awake and instead relishes in the warmth beating in both their chests.

Claws gently card through his hair and Rey sighs, leaning into each loving touch.  It’s easy to pull back and meet Hael’s lips, sweet and cool and everything Rey and Reya have always wanted.  He feels a smile slip onto his face and he kisses Hael again, letting love bubble and bloom in his heart.

Faceplanting onto the bed, Rey groans, flopping over.  He spares Hael a small glare at the amusement he can feel along the bond and rolls over again.  It all felt terribly like Reya and the pout that forms on his lips at the quiet chuckle beside him does nothing to help his case.

The bed dips and Rey mumbles into the sheets, still frustrated and tired but then he feels claws carding through his hair and he can’t help but sigh.  Cheater.  And then Hael says his name and Rey sighs, shifting enough to look up at the Deathstalker.  Saying nothing more, Hael continues the slow scritches, brushing a claw against Rey’s cheek.

It takes a few moments for Rey to fully relax and by the end of it, the tension’s all but bled out of him He leans into Hael’s hand, pressing a soft kiss to the palm.

“Better?” Hael asks and Rey nods, eyes slipping half-closed.  Yeah.  Much better.  Rey glances up just in time to see Hael lean down, a second before their lips meet in a sweet kiss.  Sighing into it, Rey reaches up to hold Hael closer.  He feels the hand in his hair slowly tighten and he meets the next kiss more intently, air hitching in his throat.  And, oh void, he can feel the moment Hael hears it in his bones, that small shift like a predator catching sight of prey.  Teeth find his bottom lip, splitting it, void, he can taste the blood on his tongue.  Blood that Hael chases and Rey willingly gives.

Ah, one of the best things about undeath: not having to breathe between kisses.

“Haelstein!”

“Yes.”

The Deathstalker turns, briefly pausing the buckling of his gauntlets.  Bounding up to the near fully armored Deathstalker, Reya grins and crooks a finger for Hael to bend down.  Impatient, though, he reaches up and tugs at Hael’s scarf.

If amusement could show on such a stoic face, that little twitch of a brow is a dead giveaway as the Deathstalker leans down at Reya’s insistence.  And once closer, Reya rocks up onto his toes to kiss Hael swiftly on the cheek before slowly, softly pressing a kiss to Hael’s lips that the man returns with equal affection.

“Good luck with work.” Reya says, smile quieter now but no less loving and followed by another sweet peck of a kiss.  

Love bubbling up in his chest and along the bond, Reya happily returns the last kiss Hael places on his lips.  Light, if it weren’t for work—for both of them now!—he’d drag Hael back down for another kiss but…professionalism.

And fuck, that look Hael’s giving him is like the Deathstalker can read his mind, that’s not fair.

18. kisses where one person is sitting in the other’s lap

He’s certain this new job is spoiling him silly, Reya’s sure of it.  Free souls?  Murder?  Safety?  It’s fucking great.

But not as great as being able to finish all of Varun’s stacks of paperwork and tug the Deathstalker away from his desk to the couch.  And no, not that kind of tug, though Reya entertains the thought with smile that gets him a slight squint from Hael.

Giggling, Reya kisses Hael on the nose, pulling the Deathstalker closer. “Don’t ya worry ‘bout it.”

Like that isn’t suspicious, Reya.  Shhhhhhh, Rey.  It’s okay.

One brow raising, Hael obliges the death knight, arms embracing Reya as the small man settles on his lap.  Before Hael could possibly ask what Reya was thinking about—not that he really needed to, Hael knows everything—Reya kisses him soundly, looping his arms around Hael’s neck.

Yeah, this was pretty fucking great.  Thanks, Undercity.