Chapter Text
Part I: Bad Idea, Right?
Estinien should have turned to leave, but found himself following Nara into her room, leaning back against the door to shut it behind him with a definitive click. He watched her silently as she removed her earrings and necklace, tossing them onto her nightstand as she crossed the room.
"It's late," Nara said, perching herself at the edge of her bed before turning her attention to her boots, her small, delicate fingers working the laces undone. "I thought you said you were turning in."
He watched quietly as she kicked off her boots, overwhelmed by the way he had given in to looking at her that night, a mixture of the ale they'd drunk and the thick, unspoken tension between giving way to what he used to think were unspeakable thoughts. Private, intrusive thoughts that could spell the end of the near-perfect connection they shared as companions, purely physical in nature, but that existed nonetheless, driving him utterly insane. The more he'd striven to quiet them, the louder they'd become.
"I have a bad idea," he sighed in a low voice, eyes fluttering shut as his words cut themselves into the air. When he reopened them, her head was tilted toward him, eyes narrowed in confusion as she puzzled out his meaning. He chose not to say anything else, praying to all twelve of the gods that she'd figure out what he was saying without him having to.
Finally, Estinien noted the warm rush to her cheeks, that thing in his chest beating maniacally percussive against his ribcage. The air in the room was thick, suffocating him as he waited for her response.
"Oh," Nara breathed, eyes widening just slightly, molten amber catching the light from her bedside lamp as her lips parted. To her credit, she didn't look away from him. "Oh, that is a bad idea, Estinien."
"Well, I said as much."
She nodded slowly in understanding, glancing down at the carpet for just a moment before looking back up at him. "Why?"
The wry smile that tugged at the corners of Estinien's mouth was involuntary and he bit his lower lip to stifle it. He tilted his head back to rest against the door behind him, watching her through hooded, gray eyes glazed over with every unspeakable thought he'd ever had about her - and shrugged.
"Gods," Nara swore, and he was sure he saw a brief shiver of thrill run its way up her spine.
A tense silence fell between them, the same one that had existed since the day they met, now fully contained within this room, sucking the air out of both of them, begging to be broken. In some ways, he was her most trusted friend; there was so much of her he understood without her ever having to confide in him. Her honor guard, silent and strong, now fully prepared to make the most dishonorable of claims upon her.
Part of him knew he should feel guilty for putting this kind of pressure on her after all she'd been through, but he'd seen the way she looked at him, how she'd hold his gaze or touch his arm for just a moment too long. They'd come so close so many times, and Estinien wasn't sure what made tonight any different from all the other nights he'd simply walked her to her door, closed it, and left, but he knew damn well he wouldn't be leaving this room until she commanded it.
"We should set some ground rules," Nara finally said, breaking the silence as she finished kicking off her boots, nudging them to the side and revealing the smooth skin of her legs. Estinien swallowed hard, taking a deep breath and letting it out shakily.
"We don't have to talk about it at all," he suggested, pushing himself away from the door and taking a few careful steps in her direction.
She rose to her feet as he approached, tilting her head up to look him in the eye as he towered over her. "Just this once?"
"I don't know," he admitted truthfully, closing the distance between their bodies and lifting a hand to brush stray strands of hair from her face. The look in her eyes was intoxicatingly dark, and he let his fingertips rest just behind her ear as he took it in, the skin beneath his shirt hot where it brushed against her chest. "I don't— I don't know."
Estinien let out a low hiss at the feel of her hands resting delicately at the waistband of his pants. He swore the anticipation might kill him, even now knowing she still had the power to snatch all this away, and how eternally grateful he'd be for letting him have her. Every atom in his body ignited at Nara's touch as she slowly traced a finger up the hard lines of his stomach, her eyes flicking upwards to meet his.
"Take off your shirt."