Neve was no stranger to stress. You didn’t become a detective in Dock Town if you weren’t stress resistant, and it wasn’t like she’d expected this job to be an easy meal ticket, considering what they were facing. It was just that her usual methods for stress relief—skipping stones, copious amounts of coffee, and a healthy dose of compartmentalisation—had started not quite cutting it anymore. There were about half a dozen other things she could try, of course, depending on how much she was willing to risk, but the simple truth was that she needed something to clear her head.
In the end, after three nights of feeling like her heart was going to beat out of her chest, she’d asked for advice. Emmrich had given her coffee mug a pointed look, and Harding had suggested chamomile tea. Taash had taken a long breath, their nostrils flaring. “Have you tried getting laid?” They’d shrugged, before Neve could open her mouth. “Not me, sorry.” Their grin when they looked in the direction of Harding, trying to get involved with the cooking, told Neve all she needed to know about that.
She ended up in Bellara’s room, watching Bellara flit from one project to the next as she talked to herself as much as to her projects. It was hard to keep sulking like this, in the filtered light, reflected over and over by the mirrors all over the walls, Bel’s voice filling the space like birdsong. Being here, out of her office, seemed to smooth the edges a little bit. There was something to be said for a change of scenery, and the company of a friend, as a way to deal with stress. Bellara’s company alone was enough to make her feel just that little more at ease.
“Oh!” Bellara looked over a precariously stacked tower of items in her arms at Neve. “I forgot to tell you! Look!” She pursed her lips, shifting the weight of the stack in her arms, and despite the teetering tower, without issue jabbed at a switch with one elbow. The ladder was almost soundless as it came down, and Neve’s eyebrows rose. “After you showed me your loft…”
Neve followed the ladder, first to mezzanine, then even higher, all the way to a new hole in what she’d figured for a ceiling. “You figured you’d ask the Caretaker for an upgrade.” She put her hands in her sides, and smiled. “So what is the plan here?” She’d been watching Bel with half an eye while she was working, and the fruits of her labour were a net on the floor, and a small stack of metal parts on top of it.
“Right! Exactly! I mean, it’s so I’ve got some more storage space for all the things we pick up, you know.” She wobbled for a moment, unsteadily, and Neve put one hand up protectively. It wasn’t needed as Bellara smoothly sank to a squat, juggling her treasures until she was able to stack her latest armful onto the net. When she stepped away, it was with a length of rope in her hands. “So I’m putting some stuff I might need for later up there.” Bellara was halfway the ladder, rope slung over one shoulder, when she called back down to Neve. “Oh! Right, so, I’m going to throw this rope down.”
After a moment, Bel’s voice came from the hole high in the ceiling, the rope following soon after. Neve shook her head with a laugh, and reached for the dangling end of the rope, obviously thrown over a wheel somewhere. “And I’m the one bringing everything up. Smart job, Bel.” She spoke over Bellara’s apologies, and instead tested the weight of the bundle, hoisting it up to shoulder height with ease.
“Thank you so much Neve. I promise it’s just this, and I figured, you know, while I’m showing you this anyway…” Bellara’s voice trailed off as she pulled the bundle out of sight. She kept talking, though judging by the way her volume had dropped, it was more to herself than to Neve.
Enough incentive for her to climb the ladder, past the mezzanine, until she finally hoisted herself through a smaller hole in the ceiling, careful not to knock her head on the actual ceiling. The light coming in through the window was dim and dusty, the small space already full of things Neve was sure Bellara had names for. On the other end of the cramped space was Bellara, lined in golden Fade light, crouched by the bundle they had brought up.
Bellara turned to look at her from over her shoulder, all bright smile. “Thank you again, Neve. I really appreciate it.” Her hands worked fast sorting parts into stacks as Neve picked her way across the garret, the floor thankfully more sturdy than it looked.
“Of course. That’s what friends are for, right? You ask them to move heavy things, and you thank them in cheap wine and food.”
“Oh.” The droop of Bel’s ears was noticeable, a sudden damper on her energy. “I mean, not the friends thing! I just hadn’t thought of wine and food, and…” She turned suddenly, mouth drawn. Neve waited for her to continue her thought, and after a moment, Bel spoke up in a small voice. “I was thinking, you know, and it’s totally okay if you don’t want to, it’s just I was thinking, and,” she took a deep breath, before launching back into her words, Neve unable to stop her in her tracks. “I know you’ve been stressed and I know what helps me when I’m stressed and maybe it could also work for you. If you…” She puttered out, hands falling still, colour high on her cheeks.
Neve raised an eyebrow. “If I what, Bel?”
Bellara fidgeted with a corner of her shirt, not really looking at her. She was still blushing, her ears twitchy. Her eyes were wide when she looked at Neve, her chin still tucked, hands moving restlessly. “You could use me. As stress relief I mean.”
Neve swallowed hard. Neither of them had talked about what had happened in her room, and she’d written it off as one time only. “Is that so?” She could feel the temperature in the room rising as Bellara nodded mutely. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about it, trying to get to sleep on her cot, hand slick on her clit. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t thinking about it now. There was no confusing Bel’s offer nor the reaction it’d had on her.
She slipped into Bellara’s personal space, crowding her until they were nose to nose. There was a smudge on one of Bel’s cheeks, and Neve reached for it, her thumb caressing the skin. The way Bellara leaned closer, pressed her cheek into Neve’s hand made her want to pull, push. Closer still, and Bel was getting up on her knees, yielding space to Neve until they were pressed together, chest to chest.
Neve wasn’t gentle when she pressed her lips to Bellara’s, the hand on her cheek weaving into her hair to keep her there. She could feel Bellara gasp, but Neve offered no respite, instead putting her free hand on Bellara’s hip. She’d long since shed her usual layering, only in leggings and a miraculously clean white shirt, and Neve wasted no time slipping the hand on Bellara’s hip higher, until it met bare skin, hot underneath her hand.
Bellara’s whines sent heat coursing through her body, making her ache. She pulled herself away from Bel’s mouth, and then pushed. The way Bel looked sprawled on the dusty floor made her want to do terrible things to her, see her fall apart in the most beautiful way. But before she was going to do that, she needed her own satisfaction. “You’re so pretty like this, Bel.”
A sigh escaped her as Bel blushed, her hands coming up to hide her face. “Don’t.” She crept closer, pressing herself against Bellara’s body, one leg pressing between Bellara’s legs. When she pressed their pelvises together, she could feel Bellara hard against her.
“Don’t you want your big sister to see you blushing?” Neve bent down over Bellara, her hair forming a curtain around them, face hovering over Bellara’s.
Bellara made an unintelligible sound that ended in a whine. Slowly she lowered her hands, eyes wide and dark. The colour was high on her cheeks, ears twitching unpredictably. She was beautiful, laid out on the floor like this. She swallowed hard, plush bottom lip caught between her lips as Bel gave a small nod.
Neve couldn’t help but grind against Bellara at the sight of her. Her clit throbbed, pelvis tight as Bel squirmed, her hips coming up to meet Neve’s. The golden light of the attic made everything feel hushed, and Neve found she couldn’t speak over a hush, even if she’d wanted to. “You’re so good to your big sis.” Another twitch of Bellara’s hips turned into a shiver up her spine, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end in delight.
Bel was breathing rabbit fast, lips parted, chin tilted up, and Neve pushed away her instinct to deny herself, instead swooping down, pressing her lips to Bellara’s. Bellara made a choked off sound against Neve’s lips, and Neve swallowed it eagerly, tongue licking into her mouth. She could feel Bel’s hands reach for her, trying to pull her closer by her shirt.
The sound Bel made as Neve grabbed her wrists, pinned them to the floor, would have been enough to cause sleepless nights, and Neve’s hips moved of their own accord. When she finally broke their kiss, Bellara’s taste lingered on her lips, sweet like the heavily honeyed tea she preferred. They were almost nose to nose, and she could feel Bellara strain against the grip on her wrists. Neve had no illusion that if Bellara truly wanted to get free, she could, shoulders and arms strong from the bow she wielded for her magic.
“Please.” The word a whine, Neve couldn’t help but smile.
She didn’t release her grip, even as Bellara strained up towards her, keeping the distance between them just large enough that Bel couldn’t reach her. “What do you want, sweetheart?” She tilted her head, as if she might take pity on the woman under her. She pursed her lips as Bellara whined again, the sound going straight to her clit. “Use your words.”
Bellara’s face screwed up, the bucking of her hips as Neve kept grinding against her pressing them hard together, lending an edge of desperation to her expression. “Please, Neve… ” She opened her eyes, and Neve would be lying if she said she wasn’t affected. “Please, I want to touch you.”
Neve sat up at that and laughed once, the sound breaking the reverent silence around them. She tilted her head, looking Bellara over, the way her shirt had ridden up to expose pale golden skin, the colour in her cheeks as she begged.
She hummed, lips pursed. “Don’t move.” Neve let go of Bellara’s wrists, watching as she almost vibrated with the urge to move, to reach up and touch. When she was sure Bellara wouldn’t slip away from her grasp, she sat up entirely, taking her time to stretch. She could feel Bellara’s eyes following her every move, her breath halting whenever Neve pressed herself closer between Bel’s legs, letting her feel just how she affected her.
Finally, she pulled at the buttons of her shirt with less grace than she would usually, the unsteadiness of her hands betraying just how much she needed this too. For a moment she pretended at coyness, holding both sides of her shirt to her chest, covering herself demurely. “Is this what you want, ocella?” She didn’t wait for an answer as she let her shirt fall open.
In a motion that was smoother than she’d imagined it, Neve slipped one hand behind Bellara’s neck, pulling her to to her breast. Bel’s eyes shone with eagerness, and Neve couldn’t help the smile on her face, even as she pressed one nipple against Bellara’s full lips.
She’d thought about this, late at night, imagining what Bellara’s mouth might feel like, how soft, how wet. Reality for once didn’t disappoint, as Bel locked her lips around her nipple, the tip of her tongue darting to trace the hard bud.
“Fuck, Bel.” She was in Bellara’s lap, held in place with an arm around her back as she cradled Bel’s head against her. She could feel the press of Bellara’s shaft against her own, friction with each desperate pump of their hips carrying her higher.
It was intoxicating, taking her pleasure like this, Bellara’s mouth hot on her breasts, shivers shooting down her spine with each rhythmic suckle. The way she could feel her clit rub against Bellara’s stomach, soft enough to provide padding, rigid enough for the pressure she was searching for. Even with the layer of cloth between them, Neve lost track of everything for a moment, her mind finally finding that moment of calm as she could feel wave after wave pulling through her groin, and she couldn’t help but dig painted nails into Bellara’s shoulder.
When she could think again, Bellara was grinding against her frantically, her moans muffled by Neve’s breasts. She ground her hips forward, catching Bellara’s shaft against her own softening clit. “Let me see your pretty face as you come, ocella.”
The effect was instantaneous as Bellara stiffened against her, arm behind Neve’s back pressing them close together as Bel whined her release. She was beautiful when she came, mouth a perfect o of pleasure, ears flat against her skull as every part of her tensed, twitching hard enough for Neve to feel it, working an aftershock of her own loose.
In the golden light of the attic, they held one another, and if asked, Neve would swear up and down she never fell asleep after she came. And she could trust Bellara to keep her secret.