Just Breathe

[Azrael Blackburn Rare Rare]

Azrael knew how much hung in the balance on this and that giving in to his base wants was not the answer but that did not make it any easier. He had known this would be difficult and seeing her slink back into her shirt made made him want her more. He did his best to push those feelings deep within him when she turned back. As she leaned over and landed a light kiss on his lips, he felt another arc of desire run through him and had to control his want to drag her back down on top the couch there and then. He leant down to feel around, pulled up his shirt form the floor and took the moment to walk over to his bunk.

He knew he was using this as much to get his own composure over the flood of desire and emotions he was feeling. He could still taste her on his lips and knew that it was more than just sweat that clung to his stubble. He knew he needed to hold his wants in check, feeling the less than subtle signs still straining in his pants. He leant down at his duffle bag, wiping his face with the shirt, then dropped it down and pulled out a fresh shirt, this one dark greys and breathable fabrics. Standing he pulled the tight fabric over his head, stretching it down over his chest and settling it into place.

He stood and looked over at her as she spoke, that lip bite making his thoughts return to deep sensual kisses..  "I could tell that." he said with a smile. "I want you, not just some roll on the couch. Take the time and the pace that works for you." At the suggestion of walk he took a breath and replied "Some fresh air sounds like it might be a good plan right now". He made his way from his bunk over to her at the door and pulling it open. He tried to work out, offer her a hand, an arm, he decided to forego these in favour of pulling an arm around her waist and walking out. Slow but not too slow.

[Lilythe Rayne Rare]

Lilythe blushed as he let her know that he'd noticed her own desire. She couldn't exactly hide it from him. What was surprising to her was just exactly how much she did desire him. They had been friends for most of their lives, and it was like she was seeing him for the first time in some ways while simultaneously realizing that she might have loved him all along. Azrael made her heart race in ways she never realized it could. He was familiar, while at the same time new and exciting. She couldn't explain it. How could she tell someone that she had been completely oblivious of her own feelings until now. But in this moment she knew, the man before her had held her heart long before she had ever realized it.

She let him guide her out the door, wrapping his arm around her. She leaned into him, letting her arm settle around his waist, as they began to stroll. "You know... I've found out something this past week." She said, with a little bit of a smirk. "Apparently I am the only one at Camp Half-Blood that didn't know how you felt about me..." Lilythe wondered if this would be news to him as well, or if he considered his feelings just as obvious as they had. She also wondered if that had been the real cause for the falling out between him and Shadow. Not that they had ever been real close before that, but they were at least civil when it started.

[Azrael Blackburn Rare Rare]

Azrael slowly settled his sea of emotions as he held an arm around her and thought about where to go in the camp. He felt the reassuring closeness as she leaned into him and he felt a contentment and a surge of hope for the future, slow is good, we have plenty to work through. He looked over as a she mentioned about being the only one to know and tried to work out what to say, he had never brought his feelings up while she was already taken, to try to steal her away would have been courting vengeance and retribution but that had been the point where he couldn't stay either.

He paused their strolling for a moment and then began "I have loved you through many wars and trials, but you have always been the most loyal and honorable of everyone I have known here. Sometimes people on the outside see things a bit more easily than those.." he tried to find the right way to phrase it "held in Aphrodite's grasp." He had always only relied on his closest friends over the rest of camp whiel she had been accepted and friends to all the camp. He had never outright said but he know that both James and Vee must have known along with there being enough powers around camp that it would be hard to keep hidden if he had tried.

Looking around the camp he decided to pick their direction, turning the pair towards the strawberry fields of the camp, avoiding the monstrous woods or too many of the campers for now. Plus, as always, the weather of camp made that corner full of exquisite color, vibrancy and scents.

After a few more steps he began to open up "I don't know what I had wanted, what I had hoped four years ago, but in the end I didn't trust myself not to be driven by my emotions with a side of mother's vengeance and you know what they say, 'Love cannot live without trust'" he took a breath realizing that referencing Eros and Psyche might be a bit dangerous in their current predicament. "But one way or another I want to make amends for the past, I hate that I left you thinking this was your fault. You mean too much for me to keep it that way."

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Azrael Blackburn

[Lilythe Rayne Rare]

Lilythe listened as Azrael spoke. She found it both amusing and a little romantic that he spoke so poetically about it. He made it sound far more grand than it really had been, she was sure. "I think I'm probably just oblivious, Az." Lilythe chuckled. "The more I think back to when we were younger, the more I realize the little things that should have tipped me off, you know?" She could remember everything from him sticking up for her when the Apollo children teased her, to the day he shoved Shadow down a hill. She could remember how Azrael would often leave after Shadow would arrive, and how Vee would tease the two of them anytime they were caught alone together. All the little campers who assumed they had been dating, and all the older campers who would give them a knowing look. Suddenly they all made a lot more sense than they had in their past. 

Did he say love? Lilythe's cheeks flushed again. She wasn't sure why this was such a big deal at the moment, but maybe it was simply because of how free he was with saying it while she was still sorting out her own feelings. 

"Azrael, it's fine now. I understand now." She continued to walk with him, trying to keep pace. Her short legs were having to move at just bout twice the speed to make sure she kept up with him as he walked. Lilythe hoped that Azrael would forgive himself. She could already feel the healing starting in her. Lilythe was fairly quick to forgive when she could understand the person's motivations. "You were just protecting yourself, and were trying not to force me to make a choice. The only downside to your plan was that you effectively made the decision for me." She wasn't sure that she wouldn't have ended up with the same decision in the end. After all, she had already been with Shadow, and had loved him. But not being allowed her own choice was definitely something Lilythe was not a fan of. 

[Azrael Blackburn Rare Rare]

Azrael found himself easing up with the sunshine, the smell of freshly ripe strawberries and the comfort of Lilythe's proximity as they walked. He could feel some of the tension lifting off his shoulders that he had been carrying with him for the last week while keeping a low profile around camp. He took the time to let this new state of the world to settle in his mind, they were not quite together but she didn't hate him.

It took him some time to realize he had stepped up to a steady pace that was more of his purposeful travel speed than one suited to walking together, he had to work out how to settle into more than just the right pace, he had to slow down enough to enjoy the moment. He took the time to enjoy the moment, her arm around him and the feeling of contentment as he listened to her.

He stopped long enough to take her hand and look down into her eyes. "You made your choice back then, I gotta appreciate now though a chance at another..." he took the moment to stare into her eyes somehow trying to work out if a kiss now was somehow too much even after their time in the cabin. He took the moment to lean down, a light and gentle kiss as their lips touched.

[Lilythe Rayne Rare]

As Azrael reached for her hand, Lilythe let him take it. The warmth of his hand in hers was comforting. His words, however, she couldn't really agree with. However before she could respond, he sealed her lips with a kiss. She melted into it at first before steeling her resolve and breaking it. "I don't agree, Azrael. I didn't make my choice before."

"You can't tell me I made the choice Azrael. Not really. I didn't know that you were an option. You never told me." As his eyes met hers once more, she fixed him with a serious look. "I mean, sure I had the choice of whether or not I agreed to date Shadow. And I'll own that decision. But you cannot fault me for not choosing you, when you never made yourself an option." Continuing, she tried to put into her voice the seriousness with which she was trying to get her point across. "I won't lie and pretend like things would have been different, because I don't know that they would have been. However, when you left, you decided, not me, that I would pick him over you. We won't ever know what would have happened if you told me. And I don't know that either of us really wants to change anything that brought us here. But... you picked for me Azrael." She got up on her tiptoes and kissed him again. "Don't do that again."

As her lips left his, she smiled softly. "Now... shall we have a more successful picnic than our last attempt?" She gestured towards the mess hall. 

[Azrael Blackburn Rare Rare]

As she advised him to not do so again he took stock of the situation. She had chosen a relationship but he had chosen to hide the feeling that had built within him. He thought of arguments of the blood, being unbalanced, an unjust vengeance.. but it came down to a choice he had taken away from her and he knew it. from his lips a quiet whisper escaped his lips. "I promise". He took the moment to feel the lingering warmth of her kiss.

He looked over at her nod towards the mess hall "Sure. I have worked up an appetite" he smiled at her thinking back to the effort and the thought of that last picnic "Never did get to say thanks for the last picnic, it was appreciated. I think together we can sort another and give it a second go."  He saw the familiar grills active up in the pavilion "I have missed the barbecue from up there. New Rome didn't do a lot like that.." realizing that now was the time to start dwelling on the good, seeing the camp positives and working his mind around to this being home again.

He took her hand, intertwined his fingers in hers and they headed up the hill.
[and fin]

Edited August 21, 2022 by Azrael Blackburn