tricktofalling | (no subject)

Fall comes in with a suddenness that thrills Inej. She throws open the windows in their apartment and busies herself in the kind of deep cleaning she won’t do again until Spring. There’s something good about doing it, something peaceful. If she must be stuck in a birdcage, she is at least stuck in a very good one, and she can at least make the soaces she occupies her own.

When she gets to the bedroom, she clears out their closest, dumping everything on the bed so she can start sorting out her summer thibgs and give Kaz’s clothes a good airing as well. He’s been here for years now. That never really strikes her until she sees the things they’ve amassed.

Once Kaz’s suits are done, she sits surrounded by her array of clothing, sorting diligently from the middle of the bed.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

everymonstrousthing

When he comes home, it only takes him a moment or two to find her. He always knows where she is, even when other people can't even see her. He walks into the bedroom, shedding his jacket as he comes, loosening the knot on his tie. These days, he tends towards softer things when they're at home together.

"Having fun?"

From:

tricktofalling

"I'm living a life of industry," Inej says without looking away from a gauzy, multilayered skirt that she thinks she could still wear if she put it over some leggings. She will allow as Darrow has certainly expanded her wardrobe significantly. Not always to the best, as Nina loved to point out.

She glances at him through her eyelashes, watching him undress methodically.

From:

everymonstrousthing

"Like a good Kerch wife should," says Kaz, and he's smirking when he says it, unbuttoning his crisp, white shirt. "Industriousness is next to godliness. I'll expect you to start scrubbing the floors with vinegar next."

From:

tricktofalling

“I already did the floors,” she says absentmindedly, setting aside one frothy skirt to pick up another. “So don’t walk your filthy shoes across the tiles, or I’ll give you a thump, Kaz Brekker.”

From:

everymonstrousthing

Shrugging his shirt from his shoulders, Kaz tilts his head and smirks.

"Is that a threat or a promise?"

From:

tricktofalling

“A promise to give you a thump if you dare muck up my freshly clean floors. Don’t give me that cheek.” She looks up at him, eyes skating over him with an obviousness she never would have had back in Ketterdam.

Like her, good food and a gentler life has softened him a little, but he’s still a sharp, lean boy. The smirk lightens his whole face.

She pats the edge of the bed, looking back at her things instead of him because she knows he’ll come.

From:

everymonstrousthing

Of course he'll come. Because there's nowhere she could want him that he wouldn't go and they've both known it for a long time, now.

Stripped to the waist, he comes to sit on the bed with her.

"I've never seen you in half of this."

From:

tricktofalling

“You have too, you just weren’t paying attention,” Inej says gently, which is fine. She layers so much of it that it can be hard to tell some of it from the others.

She considers a lovely black skirt made of more fabric than is entirely necessary, and then considers her love, sitting there docilely.

“Put this on,” she says firmly, thrusting the skirt at him.

From:

everymonstrousthing

Kaz laughs at that, taking the shirt from her.

"Think it's more your style than mine, Inej."

From:

tricktofalling

She arches an eyebrow at him, silent in the face of his response. She hadn’t thought her tone begged much response but doing as she’d said.

“Be a good boy,” she says primly, “and do what I tell you, Kaz.”

From:

everymonstrousthing

And he's used to that tone of voice and the shiver it sends through him. It tells him exactly what mood Inej is in.

"Do my trousers come off first?" He asks, but he already knows the answer, his hands going to his belt.

From:

tricktofalling

Inej says nothing to that, because she knows he knows the answer. Instead, she merely keeps that prim, arched-brow look as she watches him for a moment, his fingers on his belt, until she looks away to find something to go with the skirt.

The problem, of course, is that he's much too broad to fit any of her shirts, even the loose and flowing ones. The skirt is easy because Kaz has narrow hips and its got an elastic waist. She supposes he'll just have to go shirtless, though.

She crawls off the bed, leaving her array of clothes scattered everywhere, and ignores him as she wanders to the bathroom to grab a few things and tie her hair up into a tight knot on the top of her head.

From:

everymonstrousthing

He does know the answer, and he's unfastening his belt and slipping out of his trousers as Inej leaves the bedroom, wandering into their bathroom. His cheeks flush as he slides his thumb under the waistband of his underwear, debating for a moment before those join his trousers and he slips into the skirt with nothing underneath.

He feels ridiculous. It does nothing to diminish how hot she makes him.

From:

tricktofalling

She watches him from the bathroom door, the slow consideration of his movements, the points where he hesitates. It thrills her a bit to see him, not just in these softened ways but also in this dutiful following of her command. There's a part of her that wonders if he would have so dutifully followed commands back in Ketterdam, if they had figured themselves out back then.

She returns from the bathroom carrying a small clutch of her makeup. These, she sets on the bed. Without looking at him, she puts a hand on his chest, and pushes him gently onto the bed.

"You must stay where I can reach you," she says. Then, she takes off her shirt, and grabs the one he's only just discarded, though she only does up a button or two. It's much too large for her. She rolls the sleeves up neatly and precisely.

From:

everymonstrousthing

He's pushed down to sitting, which leaves him looking up at her as she slips out of her shirt and into his, buttoning it up, but just barely. He's aware of the stirring of his cock until the flimsy, blousey layers of the skirt.

"Yes, Ma'am," he says. He only has eyes for her.

From:

tricktofalling

She hums a little, nods at that, and then ignores him again to start laying out the makeup she wants to use on him. The thought of it had struck her once, and she isn't entirely sure if this will be absolutely ridiculous or not, but she's in it now.

She starts with a little bit of rouge smeared on his cheeks, accenting his sharp cheekbones. Then she accents his bright, dark eyes with kohl. And then she grabs the lipstick, a thick, deep red, and she grabs his chin to hold him as she smears it on his mouth.

"Aren't you pretty?"

From:

everymonstrousthing

Kaz's cheeks are flushed darkly beneath the make-up that she's brushed onto him, the foreign feeling of the lipstick and kohl. He doesn't move, holding himself still while she works on him. In the momet, he's ot sure if the question is rhetorical or not.

"If you think so," he says, softly. He's so turned on, his head spins a little.

From:

tricktofalling

"I do think so," Inej says, still squeezing his chin slightly. She relishes that blossom of color on his skin, under the makeup, the sign that she gets to him in more than just simple physical way.

She gives him a slap on the cheek, not very hard, but hard enough to see more color flash onto his skin.

From:

everymonstrousthing

Once upon a time, touching him would have been a good way to lose a hand, and even Inej knew that. Slapping him? Nobody would have dared. But here is this small, dangerous girl who could do anything to him, and he'd be putty in her hands. She slaps him, and it isn't hard enough to turn his head, but his pupils do dilate.

From:

tricktofalling

There's something powerful in being able to touch Kaz Brekker, even now. There's something surreal and powerful in not just being able to touch him, but in being able to strike him. In being able to smear him with makeup, to have him dutifully sit as he's been told.

Inej pushes her fingers into his hair. She puts a foot on the edge of the bed, between his knees.

From:

everymonstrousthing

He hasn't been told to move, so he doesn't, but he closes his eyes, just momentarily, at the pull of her fingers in his hair. His cock aches. He draws in a deep, settling breath, and then he opens his eyes and he looks at her again.

From:

tricktofalling

"Tell me what you want," she says, voice heavy and rich. She cups the back of his neck and unbuttons the few buttons she'd done up in the first place, letting a line of soft brown skin go uninterrupted all the way down to the waistline of the comfortable lounge pants she was still wearing, the contrast of Kaz's bright white shirt brilliant against her skin.

"Tell me what you'd like, and I'll let you know what you can have."

From:

everymonstrousthing

"I want..." For a moment, he's so overwhelmed by choices that he's not even sure he knows. "I want to put my mouth on you," he says. "Want to...touch you. Fuck you...I want..." He looks up at her through the dark smudge of his lashes. "You. I want you."

From:

tricktofalling

Inej considers, and then she moves away from him for a moment. She drags her fingers out of his hair, across the line of his jaw, this lingering touch until she's too far away to reach him.

Then she turns, and goes to her drawers, pulling one open and retrieving a strap on.

"I think you can do two of those things," she says. "But I think I'll be the one doing the fucking. You're the one wearing the skirt, after all."

From:

everymonstrousthing

He didn't think it was possible for his face to get any hotter, but there it is. He lets out a soft sound, almost a groan, and ducks his head for a moment. They play these games often -- she knows what he likes, how to get him heated under her touch. There's a comfort in knowing that about each other now.

"I am," he says. "I think you planned this."