Then I will have to be persistent about it.

( u can run trahearne but u can't hide...

It's cozy, letting Trahearne guide him like this, atm at his waist. While he normally values his own physical independence more as a point of pride, right now he doesn't feel the need to make a point of it when he gets to get indulged like this. )

Would you like to return to mine? I don't imagine my remaining date will be there, given his apparent nature. The suites are quite comfortable.

( He will lazily take some lead to get them there, if Trahearne agrees. )

( this really is just regular homie talk... )

Hmm. If he tried to take me back, would you fight to keep me?

( Mishka doesn't pull away; if anything, he leans into it, his arm slipping around Trahearne's shoulder, face particularly close to his. )

( Their faces close, he holds that distance there, for a moment. )

Well, I can certainly say I prefer your company to his.

( And without elaboration he pulls away, just enough to slip the key card from his fuzzy pocket and open the door. He'll tug them to take a seat on the bed if Trahearne will indulge him, though Mishka will slip from him and flop back. Trahearne is free to explore, if he'd like.

He gestures vaguely about the room, like, "tada," )

Does it live up to your expectations?

( Mishka considers warning him about the basket, but he can see that Trahearne has found the note first, and so he leaves him to it. He remains flopped, perfectly confident Trahearne is handling himself just fine.

Fool that Mishka was, )

...?

( He, like, cranes his neck to look at Trahearne and then the truffle box from where he's flopped, and sees that, indeed, a few truffles are missing.

? ? ? )

If I was aware you were hoping for an engagement, I would have locked the door.

( We salute you Mr. President... )

... Yes?

( Mishka is somewhere between bemused and amused with Trahearne's flippant reasoning. He can't really judge, given he tested his poison resistance once he felt it return by just putting poison in his mouth, But Also, )

( Ah...

Well, it's not that he's incapable of getting bummed, but his mood doesn't somber anywhere near as much as it might usually. He rolls onto his side, facing Trahearne, and rests his cheek on his palm. )

... Can you keep a secret?

( Very specifically, from Adelis. He doesn't really care if Trahearne tells other people, but he doesn't want to get into that too much. )

( He glances down at his far shoulder, and studies for a moment how the tendrils wind there. )

... I don't recall exactly how much I've told you, but I think I recall saying something about how I've also held a destructive thing back. Not to your extent; not so much that it would affect the fate of any world, but... it would affect me.

( He looks back up at Trahearne, expression, as usual, an ambiguous smile. )

I allowed it to complete its course just prior to my coming here. Once I'd arrived, it had reset to a degree and gone into hibernation for a time... But, some weeks ago, it began to move again. I have taken measures to reduce its progress, though, so I would not worry yet.

( Yet. He's still undecided about how to fix this, but he's running through a few ideas and he owes the Goddess (question mark) a visit, so... perhaps that will slim his options into a plan concrete. )

( Trahearne's touch is cool against his skin. He feels how his muscles jerk, though, with the intent to pull from him, and he already misses it;

Trahearne does not, however, pull away.

His gaze flicks up to take in Trahearne's face, and it does not take him more than a few moments to understand. He— laughs, sorry Trahearne, but it's not a malicious thing. It's a friend laughing with a friend. )

Found you answer, then?

( Still, the way Trahearne's gaze catches his does something to him, knotting his stomach.

He lightly lays a hand over the one that touches him. )

... Would you like help?

( That bad, huh. Clearly, a person wasn't meant to take more than one.

Amused as he is, Mishka hesitates, the reality of the situation sinking in. Not because he has any particular qualms, but because of how Trahearne might take it, later. Though he does not always seem sincere, he has been sincere about the fact that he enjoys Trahearne's company, and he would not like to lose it.

It would not be right to engage without the scales fairly balanced, he decides.

Mishka leans in— past him, and takes a few truffles himself, and drops them into his mouth. Time to find out if aphrodisiacs work on him or not. )

Now it's fair.

( He reaches around, palm at the back of Trahearne's neck as he'd done before, and pulls him in for a kiss (this is not to satisfy Trahearne's need, but his own, though Mishka won't acknowledge it), and he takes Trahearne's hand at his chest and drags it lower across his skin, pulling loose the tie at his robe. If Trahearne isn't taking words well, then, hopefully, he understands actions. )

( He's still himself for a moment yet, so he has an unfortunate moment of clarity where he's conscious of the fact that he enjoys kissing Trahearne, though he's just tipsy enough that he can elect to ignore it successfully.

He's quiet as before, but kisses just as deep; still, a soft exhale, an unvoiced Ah escapes his lips, feeling Trahearne against him. Trahearne's arousal turns him on, a little; it's hard not to be into someone who's into you (well... in this case, it's just the truffles, but the body responds independent of the mind).

He breaks the kiss just enough to murmur: )

... Do you want it like last time?

( Last time being, you know, their last encounter, in Trahearne's home. He doesn't know if Trahearne's in a state to answer, but Mishka feels a distant heat building in him, wearing against his body's resistance; he presumes he may not be in much state to ask in a moment, if he catches it as bad as Trahearne. )

( Heat sparks and gutters, scraping against his natural resistance. The embers light, and smoulder; seek purchase, and struggle;

He knows that Trahearne doesn't feel for him any particular way that might be unusual. He knows, probably, like last time, Trahearne is imagining Syrlya, and that talking too much will ruin the effect. He knows that what he has in Crescent View is unusual, the depth of his curse muffled, and the people here don't know how thin his layers of skin are, and how close the rot is underneath.

He knows that, once this passes, he will console Trahearne and tell him not to think much of it, because there really is nothing here between them.

The heat sparks and catches and, as it does to creatures like him, burns through. )

... Don't say that.

( His cheek turns into Trahearne's hand.

His palms settled on each side of Trahearne's neck, where it meets the shoulders, where it slopes into a gentle curve, and his blotted-hot mind, slowly losing the coherency of thought, bleeds into vivid sensations of twisting his neck in two.

Don't go back to Syrlya after this. )

I will want you for myself.

( Later, he will be glad he will have the chocolates and mimosas to blame.

He completes the kiss where Trahearne lingers, pushing forward, more aggressively wanting. The sensations are amplified enough that this time his breath does shudder audible, and he nearly loses himself in a sense of dizzy, but what keeps him steady is his mirrored need, a violent writhing beneath his skin that feels at once an endless, sweltering well.

He reaches around to stroke the underside of Trahearne's length against him, thumbing the sticky tip, as he lifts his hips to grant him better access, grinding back. )

( Is he?

Mishka feels dizzy in a way he hasn't yet before. He feels blurred and unsteady, and only gripping Trahearne keeps him stable. Like Trahearne, he had underestimated the effects of the chocolates; like Trahearne, he finds it hard to think.

Is Trahearne here? He presses deeper, greedily, hungrily, into the kiss, pressing into his chest with his own, the hand at his neck caressing now the jaw, tender. Where they touch, it burns; he feels unsatisfied, wanting. He feels feverish. He steadies his weight onto his knees on either side of Trahearne's lap, and he strokes him a little more firmly, precum slicking his fingers with every greedy touch.

Would that he could swallow Trahearne's voice and keep it.

He holds the question in his mind, but he finds it harder to manage a proper answer than he did moments earlier, and moments before that. He just... )

... Then stay here, with me.

( He breaks the kiss, for just a moment, lips brushing against Trahearne's. He's trying to dig deeper, but his thoughts buoy back to the surface, distracted by the heat of their bodies touching. Even now, he neglects himself and his arousal, wanting Trahearne to satisfy him more than he wants to satisfy himself, alone. He wants to touch Trahearne more than he wants to feel himself.

He licks Trahearne's lips, guiding the head of his length against his entrance. )

I'll love you.

( He kisses him again, but this time not so deep— he presses down, a sharp, breathy gasp escaping his lips with the faintest evidence of his voice the more he takes him in— only for Trahearne. )