#and since it was raining hard it was humid and my apt has been so dry

[lesbeet]

sometimes you can't go for a walk but at least there's open window...my beloved

[mrfeenysmustache]

Cold

Written for @sesskag monthly prompts.

January's prompt: cold

Summary: Inspired by a tumblr post theorizing that Sesshomaru may be wearing makeup. I can’t find that post anymore or I would link it.

Can also be read on AO3 and FFN

The air in the cave was dry and warm despite the storm raging outside, but Kagome still felt stiff.

The sky had been dark and heavy all day, threatening at any moment to break open over their heads. A cool wind sliced through the hot summer humidity, whipping their hair into their faces and chilling their skin. They watched with wariness as the clouds churned above them, laced through with lightening and the distant rumbles of thunder.

They’d agreed to continue their journey as they were in a mountainous region with plenty of little caves to shelter in, but they were all on edge thanks to the charged atmosphere.

And then chaos struck.

A band of demons attacked for the shards and their group was quickly split up in the fighting. Kagome was shocked to find herself fighting alone with Sesshomaru when she’d previously been walking with Sango, but he’d long since proven himself a trustworthy ally so she did her best to offer support with her own powers and watched in awe as he took care of their opponents with quick, efficient ease.

And then the rain started.

Thick sheets of freezing rain dumped from the sky and soaked them through to the bone. Kagome panicked for just a moment when she couldn’t see through the downpour, but then a strong arm closed around her waist and she was airborne. She immediately relaxed upon recognizing the aura of her previous battle partner, and he quickly found them a suitable cave for hiding from the rain.

Her relief soon gave way to awkwardness.

She was completely alone... with Sesshomaru. They’d all joined forces some time ago in their seemingly endless search for Naraku, and in that time Sesshomaru had gone from enemy, to reluctant ally, to steady companion. They had what she considered, and hoped he did as well, a tentative friendship. They spoke here and there of things from her time, his life outside of the spider hunt, and even asked each other for advice and clarification on the children they’d adopted from each other’s respective species.

But Kagome was still nervous to be too casual with him, afraid of offending his aristocratic sensibilities by lowering anymore formality than she already had.

She was regretting that right about now as she stood and fidgeted with her hands while he gathered sticks from the dusty cave floor for a fire.

“If you have dry clothing to change into in that pack, you should change into them now. There is a small chamber in the back of the cave you can use for privacy.”

She said a quick prayer of thanks that he wasn’t looking at her to see they way she startled at the sound of his voice. She pressed a hand to her racing heart and looked around, spotting her overly stuffed bag against the cave wall. She snatched it up and scurried into the little stone alcove that was just deep enough to grant her the necessary privacy to change. Once dry and free of her wet clothes she felt much more comfortable, especially at the sight of the crackling fire in the center of the cave. It chased away the rest of the chill and lit the tiny shelter up with warm, golden light.

She sat down near the flames and relaxed further as warmth and comfort suffer her entire being, then she looked up at Sesshomaru sitting on the other side, intent on thanking him for helping her to shelter and building a fire when the words died in a garbled mess in her throat.

“What are you doing?!” She screeched, and he lifted one brow in question, but continued to remove the top half of his clothing.

“Would you rather I sat in my wet clothing?”

“I... I... uh-“ she clapped her hands over her flaming cheeks and looked pointedly away from his bare chest. She hadn’t even thought about the fact that he wouldn’t be as fortunate as she was to have so many extra clothes on hand. It would be really rude to ask him to sit there in wet clothing just because she was embarrassed.

‘Get it together Kagome, you’re an adult now, you can handle sharing a cave with a naked male.’

But when he started on removing his hakama she panicked again.

“WAIT!”

She rummaged through her bag and pulled out the fluffy robe she’d added in sometime in the last two years to wear after bathtimes during the colder months and handed it to him. He sniffed at it and then raised a brow at her in question.

“Its... kind of like a Yukata? People wear them after baths and things.”

He nodded and slipped the robe on, tying the belt around his waist before divesting himself of the rest of his clothes and Kagome breathed a little easier, though he did look a little funny in her fuzzy bathrobe.

He sat down in front of the fire and began ringing his soaking hair out. She felt a pang of guilt that she’d allowed her nerves to keep her from seeing that he was still absolutely dripping in rain water.

‘He killed those Youkai, grabbed my bag, got me to safety, AND built a fire. I’m not being a very good friend right now...’

“Here Sesshomaru-sama, I have a towel you can use. It’ll work better than just ringing it out.”

She met his gaze bravely despite her still pink cheeks as she offered him her towel and he nodded gratefully, pulling it over his head and rubbing it through his hair.

Kagome returned to her place on the other side of the fire and contemplated getting her books out to do some studying, but then Sesshomaru’s hand entered her field of vision holding out her now damp towel.

She took it and smiled up at him, but then his face made her gasp in alarm.

“Sesshomaru-sama! Your stripes!”

He blinked and his hand raised to his cheek.

“My stripes? What about my-“

“No not those, the ones on your eyes.. they’re gone!”

His brow furrowed in confusion for a moment and his head tilted just barely to the side.

“You speak nonsense miko. I do not have stripes on my eyes.”

Her jaw dropped and she gaped at him a moment.

“No eye stripes? How can you say that? They’re the same color as your cheek stripes! They go just across your eyelid!”

“Ah, those. Those are not stripes.”

“Then what are they? Where did they go?”

“They must have come off on the towel. They are much the same as what the slayer has on her eyes.”

Kagome stared blankly at him for several seconds, and then shook out her towel, examining both sides thoroughly until she found what she was looking for.

Two red splotches streaked across the white fabric in a way so familiar she couldn’t deny it no matter how incredible the whole incident seemed.

“Makeup?! Sesshomaru-Sama, you wear eyeliner? This whole time it’s been eyeliner?”

“I have never heard it called thus, but it is an apt enough description.”

“Huh.” She stared at him in disbelief for a moment before simply sinking back to the cave floor.

She eyed him and he looked very strange with nothing on his eyelids. She snorted at that thought.

‘He’s sitting across from me naked in a bathrobe and it’s his lack of eyeshadow that’s making this so weird. Go figure.’

“Do you.... need a mirror to put more on?”

“Thank you miko, but my supply is with Ah-Un.”

“I see. Does it... mean anything? The makeup, I mean.”

She had a hard time looking into his eyes as she spoke to him. It was like a classmate getting contact lenses after wearing glasses their whole life; it looked like him... but wrong.

He shrugged elegantly and spread his clothing a little closer to the fire to dry faster.

“It is not uncommon for those in my station to wear such facial adornments. My father inherited the practice from his father. My mother adopted it when they married. They both passed it on to me.”

“Oh... is it always the same color?”

“It does not have to be, but that’s the color my mother prefers. It is she who supplies it to me.”

“Oh interesting...” Kagome replied, once again eyeing her bag. Somewhere in there was a set of colorful eyeliner pencils she’d bought, intending to gift them to Sango. She’d known the red on her slayer friend's eyes was some sort of makeup, and she was going to ask if the new colors would be something sango would like, but the opportunity presenting itself to her now was too good to pass up.

‘And I can always buy more next time I go through the well.’

“Would Uh... would you be open to trying some new colors tonight then?”

“Come again, Miko?”

Instead of explaining, she dug through her bag until she found the pencils and held them up triumphantly, expecting that to be sufficient explanation. She was rewarded with a flat look of annoyance.

“Am I supposed to know what this is?”

She giggled and then moved around the fire to sit nearer to him, taking out one of the pencils and handing it over for his inspection.

“They’re eyeliner pencils. This is how people in my time would color our eyelids like you do. I have several colors in here if you want to try! I can even do it for you the first time!” She chirped happily, confident he would not take her up on that particular offer.

Her world fell out from under her when he handed the pencil back.

“Very well. I will allow it.”

“S-say What?!”

“I have never used such a device before miko, so I will allow you to demonstrate.”

“Uh.. Okay, that’s fair enough. Any particular color you’d prefer?”

She held out the package and he looked it over carefully before using his claws to gingerly pull one out and hand it to her.

“Green? That’s unexpected. But okay, I can do it. I’ll need you to stay seated and close your eyes, okay Sesshomaru-sama?”

“Hn.” He responded and tilted his face up, and Kagome had to take a deep breath to calm her once again racing heart.

She was struck by the realization that she’d never seen him this close before. She’d always found him beautiful in a very distant sort of way, but this close up he was positively stunning. His face was relaxed and trusting, and she felt touched that she’d made herself someone he could let his guard down around; his lashes were long and dark against his cheeks, and his chiseled jaw and nose were softened by skin that seemed too perfect and unmarred for such a battle hardened warrior.

Her hands fluttered around his face a moment before she found the nerve to force herself to touch him, resting one hand against his cheek to steady his face while she poised the other over his eyes. With as steady a hand as she could manage she pressed the tip of the pencil to his lid and pulled it across. A green line followed behind until she reached the end of his eye.

She switched sides and finished off the other eye, making sure they matched and that one line wasn’t longer or thicker than the other, and then she smiled in accomplishment that this whole thing hadn’t turned out to be a disaster.

“Alright Sesshomaru-Sama, I’m done.”

His eyes opened and her breath caught. The firelight reflected back at her, illuminating the otherworldly gold of them in a way that left her stunned. They looked just like a diamond she’d seen once during a trip to the mall as a child, it was large, clear and yellow, and it reflected a million pinpoints of rainbow light just the way his eyes were doing now. They shimmered and swirled and the only thought they left in her head was that she can’t believe she’d ever thought of these eyes as cold.

She cleared her throat and took a step back to give herself some space to breath, turning away to pull her mirror from her bag.

“H-here you go, you can use this to see. It’s very, very different from usual, but I have to say, the green look really nice with your eyes.”

Her cheeks warmed again but she met his gaze resolutely before he looked into the mirror at his reflection. He turned his head from side to side and examined her work then hummed under his breath in approval.

“This color is pleasing.”

“You can keep the pencil then. You can have all of them if you like.”

He took the package again and looked them over, drawing out another one.

“Your turn.” He said, gesturing for her to sit in front of him.

“Uh, pardon?”

“Sit Kagome, this Sesshomaru will return the favor.”

“Oh, you don’t have-“

“Sit.”

She did as told, swallowing down the explosion of butterflies that threatened to swarm up her throat and choke her.

She’d spent far too long isolated with the inhumanly beautiful Lord of the West, she desperately needed to rain to stop so she could get some fresh air.

He tilted her chin up gently and her eyes fluttered closed. She felt him press the pencil to her forehead, and in just a few moments he bid her open her eyes and look in her mirror.

She gasped again when she found that he’d drawn on her brow a purple moon that matched his own perfectly.

She looked back up at him in confusion, and found him staring back with a small but soft smile.

‘Oh my...’

She had a feeling that there was a meaning she was missing, but she decided she wouldn’t worry too much about that for now, this day had already been too much.

She looked back at the reflection of her new moon and grinned.

“Thank you Sesshomaru-sama.”

They relaxed into comfortable conversation, shared some travel rations from her bag, and then finally the storm broke just after Sesshomaru was able to redress.

Mere moments after the last drop fell from the sky, Inuyasha and the others came racing through the entrance, a million questions about what had happened and if they were safe. “What the hell happened to your face?!” Inuyasha shouted incredulously at his first look at his brother, but when Sesshomaru simply stared at him he huffed and rushed them all outside to hurry on their way.

She hugged her friends in greeting, shouldered her bag, and slipped the package of makeup pencils into Ah-Un’s saddle bag.

They were set to go, a few last rays of sun to spend finding a camping spot, and Kagome was ready to set off with an extra spring in her step.

[loreli1313]

Okay, trying once more....

Notes:    

I wanted to write a Flint/Hamilton mermaid AU (especially since it is mermay) but this came out first, so I guess it will do for now. Historical note: bathing in a tub like the one in this story was not super common in the 1700's, but Thomas is an aristocrat and I feel like he would enjoy a good bath so...liberties? Just try not to think about the poor servents who had to empty the tub.

             Work Text:          

It is three hours past the appointed meeting time when Lieutenant James McGraw, breathless and jittery with haste, is admitted to the home of Lord Thomas Hamilton and directed to wait in the library for his host. He is alone in the room and takes the opportunity to right himself; London is experiencing a hotter and more oppressively humid spell than is customary for the season. James smoothes the hair from his forehead and back into its orderly que and is nervously fiddling with the wide cuffs of his naval jacket when the library door creaks open.

“Apologies, my Lord—“ he begins before the rustle of silk and a soft purr of acknowledgement gives way to the sight of Miranda, lovely in her grass green gown, gliding to meet him. “James!” She embraces him, kissing his cheek which makes him blush redder now than it did a week ago when the only affair was taking place between themselves. It was somehow a more intimate gesture, that casual kiss, after knowing she had witnessed the glorious and dangerous confession of his love for Thomas. James ducks his head to hide the flush,

“Forgive me, Miranda, I was supposed to have met Thomas three hours past, but duties at the Admiralty kept me detained.”

“Not to worry my dear Lieutenant, Thomas only paced the floor inconsolably for a fraction of the time, sighing like a lovelorn—“

“Miranda!”

“Oh James I tease! You know I do! Come along now; my darling husband has instructed me to fetch you up and bring you to him” her eyes twinkled mischievously, “he is enjoying a brief respite from this damnable heat.” She turned and led a bemused James from the room, up the stairs and down a corridor that as yet, James had only traveled in darkness or in thrilling secrecy. Thoughts of Thomas and Miranda’s bed chamber and the pleasures to be found therein were making James’ breath come faster as he followed Miranda’s green gown down the hall and to the door of a room he had not entered before. She opened the heavy wooden door only a quarter of the way, pausing at the scene within, still blocked to James’ eyes. “He is beautiful, isn’t he?” She stood for a moment with fond, distant eyes before turning and ushering a now dry-mouthed and nervous James into the room.

“Have fun!” he felt her breath warm against his ear before his feet carried him forward and the click of the door shutting behind him punctuated his arrival.

The floor of the room was luxuriously tiled in hues of blue and turquoise, bare of ornament except for the dully gleaming silver tub in the center, in which Thomas Hamilton, pale and glistening with water droplets, reclined. The glottal sound of James forcing himself to swallow seemed a louder noise than should have been possible, almost as loud as the pulse beating reedy in his ears. Thomas opened his eyes, bluer in his current surroundings and brightened by the refraction of light and water and silver playing across his form.

“James! I am so glad you are here! I feared that you would not have time for me today at all.”

“Apologies, my Lord,” James was aware that he was being overly formal with the title, but just now, with Thomas unclothed and wet before him, the distance of the formal title seemed a matter of self-preservation. He cast his eyes about the room restlessly, trying to avoid fixing them on the temptation before him, and doubting that his mental focus could be recovered for the day. “I would not have been kept from you—from our appointment, that is—but at the insistence of Admiral Hennessy—um—that is I was required… required to--”Water rippling alerted James to movement—he realized his eyes had been solidly on the tile at his feet as he rambled.

“There is no need to apologize, I am aware that you have other demands on your time. However I should perhaps offer my apologies to you, it appears I have shocked you. I did not mean to cause you discomfort by receiving you in such an – unconventional—manner. I had arranged for a bath to cool me and I had just stepped in when you arrived. I do hate to waste all this lovely water, and in my eagerness to see you I may have been led by impulse more than propriety.”

James was looking at Thomas now, and as he did so he sensed that Thomas knew exactly what kind of “discomfort” James was currently experiencing. They had kissed—yes—kissed and fumbled and spent in one another’s presence, but James had not yet seen Thomas fully naked, and now that he had the opportunity he felt a thousand fantasies rush through his brain.

“Imagine, you not being led by propriety.” James licked his lips as he made his decision. He approached the tub with intent now, like a man compelled. And he was,came the thought as he fell to his knees by the side of the silver basin and reached for Thomas’ mouth with his own. “You are a siren, Thomas, here to tempt me.”

Thomas drew back to laugh delightedly before reaching his arms over the side to begin working at the jacket his lover wore. “A siren? Are all sailors so easily mislead when it comes to spotting mythical creatures? If so it explains a great many reports of sea monsters and maidens”

“Nonsense” James was free of his coat and rolling up his sleeves. “You are the very picture of a mermaid.”

Thomas’ eyebrow arched in question before drawing James’ hand down into the pleasantly cool water to grasp his hard and quite substantial cock.

“Fine, “James conceded with a light squeeze to the contrary evidence, “a merman then.”

Thomas started to breath more forcefully, and undulate softly in the water, seeking friction and sensation with an abandon that left James in awe.

Watching his lover, James noted the aptness of his comparison. Thomas’ body was pearl-pale, almost luminescent in the in the dappled light of the room. His normally golden blond hair was rain dark, disheveled, while his lips and cheeks flushed shell-pink. The water that covered him from the hips down obscured in such a way that his pale legs curled beneath him could almost have been a silvery tail.

Thomas allowed James to continue stroking him until the pleasure began to build too quickly, at which point he stilled the hand upon him and turned in the water, motioning for James to stand. This alteration put Thomas’ face just at the level of James’ waist. He turned and nuzzled at James’ still clothed lower body, pressing cheek and nose and softly parted lips to the fabric stretched taunt over his lover’s arousal, leaving dark, wet patches that felt incredible against sensitized flesh. James waited breathlessly as Thomas freed his straining erection and considered the length with a kind of fevered calculation.

“Thomas, you can’t mean to—“ James began, but stopped short the moment Thomas placed a soft, open mouthed kiss at the tip. James’ hands went immediately to the rim of the tub, gripping as fiercely as he was able. He had been on the receiving end of this act before—a couple of paid companions at the docks and a fellow sailor or two, back in the days when he was certain enough of his anonymity to engage in such—but Thomas—God! James wasn’t sure his soul wouldn’t leave his very body. Another gentle kiss, bestowed with reverence, and then Thomas was opening wide, engulfing as much of his lover’s cock as he could take in a single go. A keening noise rose from James’ throat. Thus encouraged, Thomas drew back and repeated the motion, sinking down a little further.

“Oh God! Thomas! That feels…fuck, so perfect.”

Thomas groaned in response opening his jaw wider and pausing with James’ tip at the back of his throat. He looked up at James, blue eyes shimmering through water-beaded lashes and swallowed slowly and deliberately. James made a noise that sounded almost tortured and only his iron grip on the silver rim kept him from melting to the floor. Thomas withdrew again, drawing in deep breaths and giving James time to master himself before resuming his worship of his lover’s cock. Deep sucking alternating with slower bobs of the head, and all the while his tongue licked and traced and circled James with a skill born of genuine enthusiasm towards the act.

Trying to prolong the pleasure warred with the desire to spend immediately. A part of James wanted nothing more than to fuck into his lover’s mouth and yield to the building desire to lose all control. In the past, James had not been overly careful with his partners; but Thomas, oh how very different everything was with him. The thought of using him roughly was both blasphemous and exhilarating. Would he allow it? Surely Thomas would not have experienced such treatment before.

As if sensing James’ reluctance, Thomas paused in his motions, pulling off, and then reaching to pry James’ tightly clenched fingers from their grip on the tub. He spent a few moments kissing and then sucking down each finger one at a time, watching the effect on both the face above him and the cock that twitched impatiently just inches from his mouth. Once each finger had been seen to, he placed the hand on the back his head and set his mouth in a soft “O” with the head of James’ cock resting against his lips. He locked eyes with James again, his message flawlessly conveyed.

“Fuck, Thomas.” James was having trouble drawing in enough breath to sustain him. He pushed slowly, watching as his cock disappeared past Thomas’ swollen lips, then he repeated the motion faster, and again, fingers clutching in the short damp strands of hair and forcing his lover’s head down to meet his arousal. ‘It’s too much’ was his last coherent thought as his hips began to flex and push helplessly forward, losing rhythm and restraint.

Thomas was groaning around the hot flesh in in his mouth, fingers pawing at the muscled thighs in front of him as James began to climax. Despite having no intention of pulling off, James’ tight grip on the back of Thomas’ head meant that Thomas could do nothing but swallow frantically around the cock shooting its seed down his throat. Unable to keep up with the volume of his lover’s spend, he sputtered and choked just a bit, his eyes watering and jaw protesting as seed spilled from his lips. The hand on Thomas’ head went from gripping to caressing as the last waves of climax dissipated, and Thomas was able to draw a shaky breath.

James watched in a daze as Thomas cleaned him thoroughly and let him slip from the warm heaven of his mouth when it became too much. “Fuck” he said once more as his legs gave out and he fell back to his knees.

Thomas made a small, needy hum in agreement and shifted so that he was once more reclined in the water, looking paradoxically smug and desperate. “Please James” he keened, reaching for his lover again.

“What do you need, love?” James asked, purely for the joy of hearing Thomas say it. The feverishly bright eyes, pupils wide and dark, and the pretty coral cock jutting up from the water proclaimed exactly what his lover needed.

“Touch me James! Oh please, I ache for you!”

“What an enchanting siren-song that is,” James replied as he took Thomas in hand. The slide of flesh on flesh with the cool water around in between was a heady feeling, and soon Thomas was gripping the ledge above his head as he moved in time to James’ stroking. Water was lapping out and over the sides, drenching the knees of James’ pants and his discarded coat, but nothing could shift his focus from the writhing siren before him.

“I can imagine spotting you while out at sea, a merman come to lure and bewitch honest sailors into your embrace. I could not resist you,” he shifted to place a kiss against Thomas’ temple, “How could anyone?” came out in a growl as he worked more intensely at his lover’s cock.

Thomas nearly screamed at the more forceful stimulation and began to thrash his head from side to side. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.” he chanted bucking into James’ calloused hand. Two more sharp strokes and he was spilling, white pearls across the water’s surface and slipping through James’ fingers.

James watched Thomas fall back against the tub, eyes closed and chest heaving before following suit and collapsing to the floor again. He lay prone there, tepid water soaking into him from the puddles on the tile. Neither of them spoke.

Gradually, James’ mind found its focus, and he rose awkwardly to his feet, wincing at the protest from his aching knees. Sodden garments clung to him and James had no doubt that he made for a very pitiful picture. He was prevented from mentioning this by Thomas, who also seemed to have recovered, and rose without a shred of self-consciousness from the tub.

“Hand me that towel, if you will?” he indicated a cupboard in the corner with a towel and dressing gown hanging on it. “And you will have to get out of those wet clothes immediately. I will fetch you some things of my own and lay yours out to dry.” James did as instructed, remaining silent as Thomas dried off and donned the dressing gown. The last hour felt like something that happened in a dream, and James was afraid of shattering that dream with the wrong words. He knew better than to think that Thomas was unaffected by their trysts, but the sudden and fierce longing that welled up in him, even after (especially after) physical release should have banked that fire, left him wrong-footed. Even now, the thought of wearing his lover’s cloths settled hot in his belly, not lust entirely, but an emotion he feared to examine. Thomas anchored him with a shy hand placed on his now bare shoulder.

“You don’t have to say anything, love.”

James turned to meet Thomas’ gaze. There was understanding in his smile, and a bright hope in his eyes. James had to kiss him again.

“ I cannot say anything, I don’t know how to say it, but –“

Thomas nodded into the shared breath of their kisses, “I understand”

And James believed that he did.