Empty Bottle

AURELIA

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

Their lips touched in a moment that unleashed her contained desire. The sigh that breathed out from him, the tangles unfurled by his wandering touch, softened the tensed muscles along her tough body. His hand smoothed across her hot, flushed skin. Her own breath was hot and soon heavy against his cheek.

His searching fingers would find ridges and marks of her own, remnants of old battles won and lost. A prominent scar arced out from her soft sleeve and swiveled down her shoulder, inflicted with a cruelty quite opposite to his gentle, craving touch.

His hand and his body would both feel a heavy shudder that radiated from her as she let his hand pass down her back. Her core muscles tightened against his stomach in reflex, that instinct to push back spiking stubbornly. She didn't give it much ground to stand on, though. Without needing to be guided, she eagerly pushed up against his center. Her hips beckoned him not once but, twice. Still, Aurelia didn't want to waste this moment, either, and she steadied herself.

Their shared heat radiated from her body, her eyes fluttering closed. Her teeth fumbled along his lip without thinking, probing. When they finally found the perfect grip, she gently bit against his soft, puckered bottom lip.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

MILO

this is for the snakes and the people they bite
for the friends i've made, for the sleepless nights

She softens under his touch, his hands roaming a long her skin, snagging on scars that are hidden beneath clothes, ones that he’s sure have amazing stories. He doesn’t have much on his end in regards to her large smattering of them, but like he said he wasn’t a fighter. Just a skirmisher, if anything, perhaps a few scars from being stabbed that are slightly ridged along his abdomen. For the most part though, his scars are run of the mill, nothing outstanding, nothing like the way hers are.

He doesn’t mind though, his hand continuing to roam until it reaches her hip, as she shudders against him and he has to break the kiss if only so they breathe, for one split second before he’s diving in again. His other hand remains underneath her hand, shifting so he might interlace her fingers with his, his other hand at her hip has his fingers digging in just a bit. And when she bites, lightly, against his lower lip there’s a shudder that trails down his spine, a low hum that leaves him in both surprise and a craving need.

And he grows needier, head tilting up a bit, breaking the kiss to trail his own along her jaw, to her neck where he might be able to playfully nip at the soft space beneath her ear, the hand at her hip moving to spread along her lower back and keep her close, his hips shifting against her, knowing that she has to see what she’s doing to him. She’s winding him up, he hopes he’s doing the same to her.

for the warning signs i've completely ignored
there's an amount to take, reasons to take more

AURELIA

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

Oh, she knew. She was no stranger to this, herself. A lot of time had spread between him and the last person she'd gave into, of course, and everything made all the difference. But as she leaned into his deeper kiss, she let go of the things holding her back, of the history that plagued her mind and her body. She hardly noticed as his fingers traced, lingered on her scars; they were just another extension of her, at that point.

His clinging lips moved over her jawline. She sighed into his own ear as his mouth graced the soft skin near hers. Her fingers, as his folded between them, dug into the back of his hand with an intensity that she was barely able to hold back. Her breasts pushed further into him and she let her chin gently press against the side of his cheek.

She sneaked a kiss of her own there. Her free hand, absent until that moment, tucked beneath his head to support it. Her hungry fingers massaged into his red locks and the curve of her back arched deeper against him with his prompting touch.

The shudder that runs through him has her breathing a deep sigh of her own, revealing her weakness as she trembled, as she appreciated the full extent of his grip on her. Her voice, as it threatens to rise against the quiet, is stilled into a tender moan. It's soft and quiet but, all the same it desires, and her warm breath clouded the air around them. Her fingers, twined with his, sought release as they wandered down, down to the bottom of his shirt. She could feel his hot, hot skin beneath.

Suddenly, she pulled her head back so that her green gaze could envelope him again. "Hey," she murmured, resting her weight back on him, "what if someone sees us?" Her brows raised. But then her chin lowered and she planted a wet, warm kiss against his unveiled collarbone. Maybe she didn't care, maybe she just wanted to hear his voice in the midnight air.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

MILO

this is for the snakes and the people they bite
for the friends i've made, for the sleepless nights

It’s a tangle of limbs and body to body, radiating heat with only the clothes separating them, a blanket half thrown behind them and one that is half hanging from one of them, though Milo pays it little mind. Not when she’s pressing a kiss against his cheek, as she’s responding so beautifully to his touches and his trembles, as her fingers curl into red hair and he hums his appreciation for it against her neck.

He’s spurred on more with the sound that leaves her, breath hitching momentarily as her hand wanders as well, finds the hem of his shirt, and his own hand at the small of her back lowers enough to slip under her shirt, to run along those scars and marks and pale skin with rough, calloused fingers in exploration.

But she pulls away suddenly and Milo’s head drops lightly, still held by her hand, to let simmering ochre eyes peer back at her as the question leaves her lips. He can’t help the smirk that crosses his face with it, chin lifting up as she goes to plant a kiss against his collarbone. “Mm, let ‘em.” He rumbles with a voice that’s throaty with desire, hips shifting again as his hand continues its exploration, up and up along her side until his thumb can graze the edge of one of her breasts. “It ain’t like they’ve nev’r seen it ‘fore.” He murmurs, unable to keep the smirk from wiping from his face, not as he’s focused so intently on her.

But his hand pulls away from her side now, moving to fumble around the sand for one of the discarded blankets anyway, half tossing it over the both of them. “There. ‘N still a view’a the stars, if yer really worried.”

for the warning signs i've completely ignored
there's an amount to take, reasons to take more

AURELIA

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

He'll find some of those if he so seeks; marks and scars, that is. He'll also find goosebumps rising in his wake, in spite of their shared warmth, in spite of the fact that she feels anything but cold. His thumb rooted its way up to her chest and she parted the lips pressed against his skin, sucking in a deeper breath.

Releasing it, she let a giggle ripple against the place beneath his neck. "Mhmm, sure," she entertained his sentiment for a moment. Only for a moment. She lost herself into a deep nuzzle against his bronzed skin, unblemished by betrayal or hatred. What a relief that was.

She could feel the rise and fall of his breath, the beating of his tender heart. For that moment, she felt as though she could really see him. For all his hard work and simultaneous inexperience, she could understand him still. She didn't care if he could relate to the scars carved into her skin, she only cared that they didn't frighten him.

And what a waste it would be if no one recognized his complexity, the thought struck through her as she pressed her face into him. Even in these moments of passionate intimacy, her mind still managed to bring forth those deeper realizations. Only, now, they didn't tell her to panic and run. In her peripheral, she could see his expression, plastered across his handsome jaw.

Aurelia parted her mouth from him as he was suddenly shifting, twisting to pull a blanket around them. Her gaze regarded him again and she pressed back up so that their faces were level. Simultaneously, her own hand wound beneath his shirt. The material was soft against the back of her hand but his flesh was firm and steady as she pushed the garment aside. It draped over his upper chest, revealing him.

Her lips craved his skin again and she ducked down to plant them along the muscles that formed and bridged along his torso. Thoughtfully, thoughtlessly, a moment of raw, unbridled honesty; she murmured, "Maybe I'm the runner..." It was stated with such a bluntness that it must've been haunting her for a while, not just because their meeting and the words they'd shared had brought it up in her mind.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

MILO

this is for the snakes and the people they bite
for the friends i've made, for the sleepless nights

The vibration of her laugh against his throat only has that smirk growing slightly, a brief nudge of his head before she’s nuzzling in and he relaxes, letting another shudder shake its way through him. Her scars don’t frighten him, if anything they intrigue him more, a story listed out on her skin so completely different from his own, one that has him captivated even more by her and what she’s been through.

But he’s also still kind of a bit of a shit, shifting to grab the blanket with a briefly cocky smirk formed onto his face, clearly amused with himself even as her head nears his and looks back into his eyes. But her hands roam, his own diving under the draped blanket to her sides again, her hands pulling up the shirt he wears to reveal bronzed skin. She’d see the two pink lines of where he’d been stabbed, but nothing compared to hers. A few smattering of little scars are speckled along his skin, nothing with a story aside from ‘growing up’.

And he’s thin, built and kept completely for agility and keeping his muscles up for the heavier packages. But that’s mostly it. He isn’t built like a train, but he is completely set for the work he does.

Her lips find his torso, however, and it brings goosebumps in the blazing trail she brings, his hands shifting to her shoulders now, to tangle in her hair, to brush her jaw with his thumb, until the words leave her and Milo’s suddenly quite confused. A huff of air leaves him, red brows furrowing, one elbow slipping back to use as a brace in the sand to sit up and look at her a bit more fully through the lust driven haze. “Whattya mean?” He asks, to clarify the confusion clearly spiraling in his mind so suddenly.

for the warning signs i've completely ignored
there's an amount to take, reasons to take more

AURELIA

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

She pulled back, too, realizing she'd broke some of their impulsive connection, realizing the confusion that brought him out of it. Fuck. Even as the words pushed through, they left her in such a stir that she knew the timing was off. The hollow feeling that followed was sobering and the laughter was gone from both of their eyes.

"I'm sorry," she responded, the apology reflexive.. "I didn't mean..." but what did she mean? Damn, if it wasn't all so complicated. A short, easy answer was what she wanted to give him, so she tried. She settled so that she was more beside him than on top of him, swallowing down her guarded nature. "I fight everything so hard but, it always feels like I'm running away instead. You just.. made me realize it, I guess."

In that moment of honesty, an expression graced her face that wasn't quite unhappy. It wasn't quite anything but, a feeling that the distance was crawling back between her and... everything else.

Well, fuck that. She lifted her chin and pressed her fingers through his hair, her gaze searching his face. "I don't want to run away from this, though."

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

MILO

this is for the snakes and the people they bite
for the friends i've made, for the sleepless nights

He still simmers beneath the confusion, honeyed eyes focusing on her face as she pulls back too and apologizes, which only adds more confusion to the smuggler. But he reaches out, that hand still at her shoulder, fingers twitching as he considers it before following through with flattening out, to run along her arm, a silent understanding, as much as he tries to.

But she continues, and it resonates – really resonates, and the confusion melds away to understanding, even m ore so as she lifts her chin and runs her fingers through his fiery hair, Milo simply along for the ride of whatever she decided to do. It seems she’s made up her mind, however, as she searches his face and would likely find nothing but the glimmering bit of understanding, confusion that melds away, and the darkened lust that lingers within. “I don’t wanna run either.” He responds, gruffly, that hand that had been at her shoulder and arm lifting to her neck while the other one props him up on an elbow.

He uses it to lean in and kiss her again, pulling her back with him so that the blanket drapes more over them, that his skin touches the sand from where she’d lifted his shirt. His own hands roaming now to her own, to run his fingertips along her skin again, to lift her shirt up too so that they might be skin to skin, a burning warmth beneath the threadbare blanket and the cool night overhead.

for the warning signs i've completely ignored
there's an amount to take, reasons to take more

AURELIA

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

Aurelia found the understanding in his dark, honey-colored eyes and settled on them. And she had no idea how much she needed it; to see that look of empathy, the relation he could find in her internal struggle. Her shoulders pressed forward, her head leaned in. The other emotion that lingered in his eyes, the craving lust, corresponded with the look on her own face. At his words, she smiled softly until he was reeling her in with that clever hand of his. She met him halfway for the kiss.

When he brought her back down against him, she smirked against his lips and pulled back just enough to let out the flirtatious rumble, "I know." She hugged herself to him again, letting loose the burning, churning delight that made her skin itch with desire. Their lips meshed together in a rush and her eyes slid almost-shut. She tangled herself around him, her legs possessing his hips between them once more. One of her arms wound its way around the back of his nape, supporting his head. In doing so, she pulled him deeper into their kiss.

Giving in to herself this time, her tongue smoothed across his lips to - at first, gently - explore his mouth. It was warm and inviting and she wouldn't stop just because she couldn't breathe, not again anyway. Her nostrils flared against him as she let out a shaky, trembling sigh - and so did her mind.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

MILO

this is for the snakes and the people they bite
for the friends i've made, for the sleepless nights

“Then good.” He rumbles back, amusement clear in his tones, even as accented as they were. He’s sure she can feel the smile in his kiss as she hugs herself to him, as her skin presses against his, at the way her legs shift and move to straddle him again. And she pulls his head up, just enough, to deepen the kiss – a low hum leaving him in appreciation for her gesture while his hands shift again, smoothing along her sides to her hips.

It’s almost tentative at first, the way Aurelia’s testing him, a tongue swept across his lips. But he doesn’t shy away from it, giving into her whichever way she wants him, deepening the kiss and letting their tongues tangle, letting his mind smooth out from the burning alcohol and the tired exhaustion from earlier, riled up entirely by her now.

He can’t help the shift of his hips again, the way they roll and press against her, his fingertips dipping into the waistband of her pants, his calloused fingers rough and warm against her smooth skin. And much like her deepened kiss, Milo is gentle and slow, giving her all the chances in the world to change how he does things to better suit it for her.

for the warning signs i've completely ignored
there's an amount to take, reasons to take more

AURELIA

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

His laughter gratified her, took her to that place in between. Where she didn't have to worry about the shit going on in her head, or the waning of the sea as the night sky ebbed against the beach, or the dying of the fire beside them. Its embers still crackled and bit. But, the flames were little else than licks of heat in the cold that smothered them into their blanket cocoon. Yet she was still there, with him, dying to become apart of him - to not ebb and flow like everything else; to remain.

Aurelia felt everything come to a sliding stop around her. The stars, brighter now that the fire was down, blinked down at them. Still, in spite of that beauty, she couldn't quite tear her eyes away from Milo. Her tongue wrestled with his slowly and, then, all at once. She could feel his hips as they coiled against her, could feel the callouses on his fingers as they mingled beneath her waistband. It coaxed a hot breath from her lips, punctuating their abysmal kiss. She pulled up from him, settling fully against his hips as she sat up.

Her green gaze poured over him, her breath forming into heavy clouds against the night air. The blankets billowed down around her thighs, cloaking them. She reached down for the item secured to her belt; the knife. She always kept it close to her. Now, however, it was sliding and jostling with each movement; a rare hindrance. Untying her hunting knife, she set it - still in its sheath - down in the sand beside them.

Then, without hesitance, she leaned over him and her fingers wrapped around the hem of his shirt. She aimed to pull it off of him with as much vigor as he'd allow, for it was yet another hindrance.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

MILO

this is for the snakes and the people they bite
for the friends i've made, for the sleepless nights

Her warm breath is a pinpoint that Milo orients himself to, to give into her completely as she does for him. They can become one in this moment and even if he doesn’t know much about her, he doesn’t let it cloud the thoughts and the person he’s imagined her as. He gives in, burning beneath her touch until he’s almost whining when she pulls away to sit up, a low hum of sound slipping from him with the movement.

She fiddles with the knife at her side to remove it and he tries to stay out of the way as much as possible, knowing that if he were to try and help he’d likely never get the thing off. But she’s soon hovering over him, lifting his shirt, and he obliges her.

He pushes up against her, fingers stilling against her skin and removing when the shirt comes off, his core muscles tensing as he shifts so that she’s settled completely on his lap and his torso is free of the sand below them. And when his skin is free of the shirt and it’s dumped into a pile at their side, his hands return to her, to do the same to her, unable to stop himself from lifting it and leaning in to press kisses along her jaw and neck, pulling away only for the moment the shirt passes, before diving in again against her skin, hands spreading over her sides and back.

for the warning signs i've completely ignored
there's an amount to take, reasons to take more

AURELIA

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

He gave, pushing up against her, and she took. She swept his shirt off of him in one swift motion, a lop-sided smile playing at her lips. She shifted with him as he moved and began to shed her of her own garment. Milo would find, beneath her thick shirt, that she was bare. Her skin ignited against his wandering hands, sensual shivers trailing along the length of her torso. She ushered a soft, sweet, "Mm," of her own as his mouth delved back in, and her head leaned back to suck in a breath of the cold, crisp air.

It wasn't long before she was back, though, squeezing her groin against him so that she might feel more of him. Containing her burning passion, she forced one of her hands between them to push him back, to part his mouth from her body so that she might get a better look at him. As much as she savored in making him smolder and crave, she was getting incredibly heated. She wasn't sure how much more she could take before she'd be tearing his pants off next.

Her fingers hooked around his chin and brought him back up to her mouth, where she hovered back. She wouldn't kiss him there, much as she was dying to now that his delicious lips were in front of her. Her mirthy gaze wandered over his face before she leaned against him, her breasts meshing with his skin. Her lips turned away from his mouth, though, and to his ear. Teeth, gentle, edged around the soft part of his earlobe.

Her breath was heavy and mischievous against his skin, remnants of a warm laugh in it. "You're going to let me call all the shots?" She whispered, an enticing dare in her soft, burning tones.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

MILO

this is for the snakes and the people they bite
for the friends i've made, for the sleepless nights

Her skin is so warm against his, a melding mix of two flames meeting between them when he finally gets her shirt off, too, and dives back in again, lips pressed and wandering against her neck and collarbone now. That is, until she parts them, and Milo’s hands roam and shift along her sides, up toward her breasts, humming a quiet growl as she presses further against him, his hips reacting in response.

But she grips him by his jaw, his eyes focused on hers as they smolder, a crooked smirk crossing his face as his hands continue their roaming, ghosting along the curve of her breasts. But she presses herself against his chest, her teeth playing at his ear, a playful whisper edged in there that has him offering a quiet and low laugh. “Mm, well, I’d planned on it.” He murmurs, shifting his head a bit, one hand departing its caress above to slide along her skin back to her waist and hips, to fiddle with the belt found there to remove it. “But I can make some’a them, if that’s what yer wantin’.” Comes the gravelly continuation of his sentence, the amusement practically felt through his voice.

But he dives into what he wants now, shifting both hands down to remove her belt, to unbutton her pants, to dive his fingertips below toward where he might truly get lost in her. All the while he keeps a small amount of space there, though he’s sure she can feel how hard he is in anticipation, pressed up against her as they are. He angles his head to press another kiss to her neck, down where her shoulder meets it, nipping at it just enough that the skin might grow a bit pink in response to it.

for the warning signs i've completely ignored
there's an amount to take, reasons to take more