Chapter Text
Topaz leaned against the secretary’s counter, deep in a staring contest with her enemy. A bowl of sweets sat in front of her, taunting her – daring her to reach in for some sugary relief. After some serious debate, she did just that, but instead of grabbing one on the top, she pushed the candy around, searching for one flavor in particular. Aha! Butterscotch. Yum. She popped it in her mouth, sucking on it happily. She peered into the bowl again. Hmm…
“Er, Director Topaz,” she looked up to find the old secretary looking at her with amusement and holding out a small jar full of only butterscotch candies.
Topaz gasped in delight. “Madame Jade had me order these for you…provided that you eat them in moderation,” the secretary told her.
Oh. Topaz laughed sheepishly and humbly grabbed two more pieces – one for herself and Numby later. “Thank you.”
The secretary nodded and put the jar back in its hiding spot.
Topaz started wandering back to the couch. Jade was, unfortunately, preoccupied with a meeting at the moment, and there were only so many pieces of candy she could eat…should eat. “Topaz!”
She turned at the sound of her name and waved at a young man with dark brown hair. He was a newly hired employee, not of the Strategic Investment Department, but he and Topaz had hit it off quite well at one of the many engagement parties the IPC held. She enjoyed his casual demeanor. Spending so much time around stuffy business suits wore a girl down. “Kyle! Good to see you! What are you doing around here?”
He shrugged as he approached, cocking his hip and loosely folding his arms. “I was just dropping something off. Hey, did you try the new expansion of Aetherium Wars yet?”
Topaz shook her head. “Sadly, I’ve been pretty busy lately. But I think I’ll have some downtime soon. You catch any rare spirits?”
Kyle had turned out to be an avid fan of the online game, and after hearing him talk about entering the annual championship, Topaz was impressed to find that he was pretty damn good. She fiddled with the wrapper of one of the butterscotch candies as they chatted. Ah, fuck it. She popped it in her mouth. “I’m sticking with my warp trotter team. Triple Numby’s are too cute for me to pass up.”
Kyle laughed. “There’s actually a meta team using them! Hey uh,” he scratched the back of his head, cheeks tinging red, “You free tonight? I could totally show you.”
“Oh, I-“ Topaz started, but a smooth feminine voice interrupted her.
“Topaz is booked for the remainder of the evening.”
A warm hand pressed possessively into the small of her back. Kyle’s eyes widened in surprise and he took a small step away, eyes darting between the new arrival and Topaz as comprehension dawned on him. “M-Madame Jade!” he bowed, “my apologies. I-I was not aware that you, uh-“
“P25’s are occasionally allowed temporary access to this wing to perform their duties and nothing more. They are not to wander unsolicited into other areas,” Jade cut in, “Perhaps you are not fit for such a rank if you continue to overstep your boundaries.”
Topaz sucked on her butterscotch candy in silence, struggling to keep a straight face. She hadn’t explicitly told Kyle anything about Jade, but upon seeing his deer-in-the-headlights expression, perhaps she should have, she thought sympathetically. She dared a glance up at the woman, who was standing very, very close.
Jade’s lips were pressed into a thin line of displeasure, chin angled arrogantly upwards. Cold stormy blue eyes stared Kyle down with a gaze sharp enough to cut diamonds, and Topaz was distinctly reminded of Jade’s persona in meeting rooms – a venomous viper lying coiled and yearning to strike, quick as lightning, and sink its fangs deep into a poor unfortunate soul.
Maybe the sugar was getting to her, but Topaz found it incredibly hot. She completely missed what Kyle said next, but before she knew it, he was scurrying back down the hallway, metaphorical tail tucked between his legs. “Bye! See you later!” she called, waving at his back.
The hand around her gave her a nudge and guided her towards Jade’s office. Topaz pushed her piece of candy to the side of her mouth, “That might have been a little too harsh,” she glanced apologetically back to where the young man had disappeared.
Jade hummed in response as she opened the door for Topaz, “I needed to make it very clear that…”
The door clicked shut and Topaz was abruptly slammed against it, Jade pressed flush against her, “Topaz is taken.”
Jade’s lips were suddenly upon hers, taking advantage of the fact that Topaz was still gaping in surprise at the movement. Her tongue pressed into her mouth, and Topaz shared the sweet flavor of butterscotch with her lover as she snapped out of her daze to return the kiss. But then, the candy was gone.
Topaz’s eyes flew open to find that Jade had stolen it and was backing up towards her desk with the piece between her teeth. “Hey!” Topaz protested, “That’s mine!”
Jade’s grin widened, “Is it?” she said around the candy, “Come get it then.”
She leaned against her desk, palms pressed against the cool wooden surface. Topaz followed her determinedly. Jade held her head high, forcing Topaz to put her hands on her shoulders and stand on her tip-toes to reach her mouth. She attempted to close her teeth around the candy, but due to the way her lover was holding it, all it did was fall back into Jade’s mouth. Jade repositioned it between her teeth again, eyes twinkling with mischief. The next couple of attempts ended the same way. Jade chuckled every time she failed. Topaz growled. “Eve!”
An arm circled her waist, tugging her close. “Say ‘please’,” Jade purred.
Topaz felt a blush rise to her cheeks at the low, husky tone. She glared at Jade in discontented silence. Jade grasped the side of her jaw with her free hand, thumb rubbing her cheek soothingly. “Quickly, darling. It’s melting.”
Topaz looked away shyly. “Please,” she mumbled.
“Good girl.”
Two fingers raised her chin, and Jade pressed her mouth to hers, pushing the piece of candy back into Topaz’s mouth with her tongue. She attempted to continue the kiss, but Topaz pulled away with a disgruntled ‘harrumph’, turning her head away from her lover. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get away due to Jade’s arm wrapped around her, so she settled for glumly sucking on the remaining candy, dismayed to find that it was only half the size it had previously been. She felt Jade’s throat vibrate as she chortled. Fingers carded comfortingly through her locks, and Topaz begrudgingly admitted that it felt kind of nice.
“I told you that boy was into you,” Jade said after a few moments of silence.
Topaz sighed into her shoulder, “I was just trying to be nice because he was new. Now, things are just going to be awkward.”
“I could scare him again if you’d like.”
Topaz lifted her head to look at her incredulously, “Eve, no!”
Jade laughed. “Fine, I’ll fire him.”
“He’s in another department!” Topaz couldn’t keep a straight face and lightly smacked the other woman, laughter bubbling out of her.
“So?”
Topaz rolled her eyes and pressed her forehead to Jade’s. “You’re being silly.”
Jade only hummed in return, gazing fondly at her. Topaz’s smile slowly faded as she was mesmerized by the warm silver depths that sparkled like the sun watching the sea. This side of Jade was so beautiful, and only Topaz was allowed to see it. It made her feel special, like she was privy to a secret just between the two of them.
“What are you thinking about?” Topaz asked.
A pale hand leisurely trailed up her side, leaving a pleasurable tingle in its wake. Topaz felt fingers wrap loosely around the delicate skin of her throat. A thumb traced the creases of her neck. “Maybe, I should collar you,” Jade whispered.
Topaz tilted her head slightly, frowning in confusion, “What like a pet?”
Jade exhaled in amusement, “Not quite…” she trailed off, waiting for another guess.
It dawned on Topaz. “Oh.”
She flushed all at once and swallowed thickly, feeling her throat press against Jade’s palm.
Before the Strategic Investment Department, Topaz had her fair share of trysts. She wouldn’t call herself inexperienced by any means, but then she met Jade. Nothing she had done previously compared to her unique experiences with Jade. The woman was significantly more adventurous than she, and Topaz would be lying if she said she didn’t find it exhilarating. Whips, handcuffs…Jade had extensive knowledge of tying knots and – Topaz had to blink twice to focus on her answer.
“But um,” she started hesitantly, still mildly puzzled, “don’t we already….like you know – when you use rope…” She struggled to find the proper words, gnawing her lip nervously.
Jade began to play with a lock of silver hair, twirling it idly between her fingers. “This one you would wear at all times,” she replied calmly.
“Ah…why?”
Jade closed her eyes, humming in thought, “Think of it as a physical representation of our relationship. The collar signifies that you are under my protection, and no one can harm you. It is my promise that I will care for you. In return, you answer to me,” her argent gaze refocused on Topaz, pinning her down with its intensity, “No one else is to touch you, and you are mine and mine only.”
The flare of possessiveness in her last statement made Topaz shudder involuntarily, helpless to resist her words. She fought back a whimper of arousal. Jade was rarely, if ever, so direct with her emotions. Topaz learned that her love came from her actions – her touch, her gaze, her praises. Jade never said the three words most people wanted to hear, but it wasn’t something Topaz needed to hear.
She swallowed twice before speaking, feeling Jade’s fingers twitch around her throat, “So…you want me to wear something like that permanently?”
“I would like if you did,” Jade’s gaze softened, and she removed the hand around her neck, “but the choice is ultimately yours.”
“It sounds tempting but,” Topaz looked down shyly, “I’m unsure if I want everyone to…”
Jade read her mind easily. “Many designs are very subtle and indistinguishable from regular forms of jewelry,” she responded smoothly.
“Oh.”
Topaz nodded hesitantly, still deep in thought. She placed her head down, leaning her cheek against Jade’s collarbone. The other woman turned and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. “You do not have to give me an answer now, Jelena,” Jade murmured.
Topaz pursed her lips. “Could I maybe, see the collar first?” she asked timidly.
“Of course. I can easily arrange that.”
“Okay…” Topaz buried her face in Jade’s neck, cheeks still red from the thoughts that had wormed their way into her head.
Her lips pressed against a pulse point, and she was mildly surprised to feel Jade’s heart beating rather rapidly, betraying her outward calm. Topaz smiled to herself, and she hugged her lover tighter.
Topaz lay on her bed, faceplanted very firmly into the sheets. Her tablet was propped up in front of her, the white screen illuminating her silver hair. She let out a muffled groan.
Numby floated over to her curiously and snuffled at her neck. Upon receiving no response, they flopped down on her back with a soft squeak. Topaz finally lifted her head, deciding that she should probably breathe. Her cheeks burned and she dared to look at the screen again before promptly burying her face in her hands. “Maybe I shouldn’t have looked this up…” she said to Numby.
After Jade’s proposal, she returned to her starship to do a few searches on “collaring”. What it meant and why it was done. What she found left her a stuttering, flushed mess. Some of the answers she saw were rather…explicit, and now Topaz was lying here coming to terms with the fact that she wasn’t turned off by the things she read. Maybe even the opposite. “What is wrong with me?” she drew out the last word, putting her head back down and kicking her feet.
Maybe it was just the fact that new experiences with Jade, sexual or not, tended to be extremely enjoyable. Also, it made her happy to see Jade happy. Yup.
Topaz took a deep breath. She needed a distraction.
She whipped out her phone, scrolling through her contacts and picking out the one she wanted. The call rang twice before a male voice picked up, “Director Topaz! To what do I owe the pleasure?”
She rolled her eyes at the use of the formal title, “Aventurine, where are you? I need a beer.”
“Whoah! Rough day at work, huh?” his haughty voice played into her ear.
“Something like that. Meet you at Celestial Spirits?” Topaz sat up, causing Numby to fall off and land with a quiet thump on her bed. The warp trotter snorted in offense, and Topaz chuckled, pulling them into her lap to scratch them behind the ears as a form of apology.
“I just got back from Punklorde. But sure, I’ll come as long as you have a good story.”
Topaz clicked her phone off. “Let’s go, Numby!”
She slid off the bed, giggling as her trotter did a barrel roll in the air before zooming after her.
Celestial Spirits was a dimly lit classy restaurant with a grand sky roof that matched its enormous central stage. A mezzanine lined with glass panels allowed onlookers a perfect view of the scenes below. Various shows throughout the system year provided entertainment for hungry guests as they pondered over which ridiculously overpriced menu item to order. Overhead was a pleasant view of the cosmos, the brilliant sparkling red and teal tinge of the galaxy providing a beautiful backdrop to the upbeat music. It was the closest thing you could get to a club at Pier Point.
Topaz stretched out in a private booth, beer in hand. Numby lay next to her, gnawing on a bakery sweet. Pets were generally not allowed in any of the IPC amenities, but of course, her warp trotter was always the exception. She knocked her drink back. “Slow down, I haven’t even started yet,” a voice drawled.
Aventurine crashed into the booth opposite hers, holding a drink of his own. Vodka, from the looks of it. Mixed with something. Topaz didn’t care enough to ask. His outfit was rather crumpled and the buttons on his sleeves undone. He flicked his hair back, giving her a sharp grin.
“You kind of look like shit, Aventurine,” she stated.
He had the decency to appear offended. “Careful, your jealousy is leaking.”
“Tsk,” she placed an order for another bottle of beer into the tablet menu, “What were you doing in Punklorde?”
“Eh, there’s been a spike in interest for some new form of aether editing. A large portion of the public isn’t privy to it yet, but better get our hands on it early and rake in the credits once business booms.”
“Sound risky.”
“And right up my alley,” he answered haughtily. He took a swig of his drink and placed it on the table. “So, what’s the trouble in paradise?”
“I’m only here to ensure that I wake up with a hangover tomorrow and nothing else,” Topaz quipped, not meeting his gaze. “Hey, does Punklorde have any interesting creatures? I have some extra space, and I’m not sure what to do with it.”
A waiter brought her drink over, but Aventurine reached out quickly and snatched it away from her grasp. “Oh, come on!” Topaz protested.
He waved the bottle at her, smirking like a cat that got the cream. “You’re not allowed to change the subject. I’m doing you a favor by coming out so incredibly late even though all I want to do is crash in bed. So, the very least you could do is make it worth my time.”
Topaz folded her arms, unamused. “That new kid asked me out,” she stated bluntly.
Aventurine eyed her suspiciously for a moment. “Yeah, we both know that sort of thing doesn’t faze you. And besides, you have-“ He paused mid-sentence, ”Ah…I see.”
Topaz didn’t like the way his colorful eyes suddenly sparked with intensity. She scowled at him. Aventurine slid her beer back across the table. “Alright, I guess you’re going to need this.”
Topaz scoffed in offense.
Aventurine reached into his pocket. “Fancy a game of poker?”
“Oh aeons, not this again.”
He pulled out a deck of cards and spread it across the table in a neat arc. “I’ll make a bet with you.”
“Why the hell would I want to do that?”
His grin widened. “Well, I suppose I am ridiculously talented at this game. You wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Topaz’s eyes narrowed. Aventurine sighed, “Such is the price of skill, I suppose.”
Her amethyst eyes rolled up. “Fine. I’ll kick your ass.”
Aventurine brightened. “Well, then now that that’s settled,” he snickered while Topaz regarded him in an unamused fashion. She popped open the beer and took a swig. “If I win,” Aventurine continued, “you tell me what’s plaguing your mind.”
He steepled his fingers, waiting for her response. Topaz drummed her digits against the table. “If I win, you get to pick up the whole tab. And the next one.”
Aventurine raised an eyebrow at her. Then, he laughed and swiped through the menu. Topaz watched as he ordered the most expensive thing on the appetizer list – a plate of stuffed lobster tail. “Alright, then. One hundred thousand credits to start? Minimum bet five thousand.”
“Suit yourself.”
Playing poker with Aventurine was the true game of minds. Topaz considered herself decent, but breaking through his smirking façade to see the thoughts running through his head was the true challenge. Several times she folded against her better judgment, but she was proud that she managed to bait him into doing the same for a few rounds. She’d be interested in watching him and Jade play someday. Perhaps when they weren’t so prickly around one another.
“All in!” Aventurine announced cheekily.
The application they were using to keep track of credits dinged as the pot shot to seventy thousand. Topaz raised an eyebrow at him. He grabbed his fork and reached out to spear the last of a second dish of lobster tail they had ordered. He looked at her innocently as he chewed, his face betraying nothing about his hand. Topaz looked at hers. An Ace of Hearts and an Ace of Diamonds. The Ace of Spades and King of Hearts were face up on the table. The chances of her winning were pretty damn high. Aventurine must have had a King or Ace, but he would need more than that to beat her.
“Call,” she decided.
The next two cards revealed were a King of Spades and a Seven of Hearts. Topaz held her breath as Aventurine reached for the deck and flipped the last card face up.
King of Diamonds.
Aventurine slapped down his hand. A King of Clubs. “Four of a Kind!”
Topaz tsked and tossed her hand on the table. “No way. That was so lucky.”
“Gambler’s sense, Topaz. Works every time.” Aventurine snickered and began to gather up the cards, “Now spill.”
Topaz released a groan, downing the remains of another bottle of beer. She could feel the light buzz in the back of her head. Numby stuck their snout into her other hand, and she automatically scratched them under their chin. “Say someone asked you for a favor but it’s sort of an odd request. It’s not bad or anything, but it…does kind of affect you in a way and you don’t know what to do,” she explained awkwardly.
Aventurine rested his head on his hands and gave her an unimpressed stare. “Instead of being vaguer than that memokeeper in Penacony, perhaps you could say something along the lines of ‘Madame Jade asked me to do something, and I’m not sure what to do about it’,” he pitched his voice in a mocking imitation of her own.
Topaz looked up hastily, “I didn’t say anything about Jade!”
“I mean, who else could it be?” he deadpanned.
“I-“ she gaped like a fish, racking her brain for a viable answer. The only other possible person – maybe – would be the one sitting in front of her, so she opted for deflating and sitting back. “Fine, Jade asked me for a favor. And I’m having trouble deciding if I should do it.”
A beat of silence. Then Aventurine opened his mouth, “Are you expecting me to play twenty questions to figure out what this ‘favor’ is?”
Topaz crossed her arms and looked away. At least she could blame her blush on being slightly drunk. “I’m not telling you what it is.”
However, judging by the smirk that appeared on his face, he already had an inkling of what it was. “If she asked for you to strip and take pictures, I would just do it.”
Topaz sputtered, “Th-that’s not what she asked!”
“Hell, if Veritas asked me to do that, I absolutely would, but I don’t think that will ever happen,” Aventurine sighed wistfully.
“I did not need to know that.”
His colorful eyes refocused on her. “So, what’s stopping you from doing this favor?”
Topaz scratched her head, “Uh…”
He was talking again before she could think of a proper answer, “Actually, I’d wager that Jade would ask for something kinkier, like-“
“Aventurine, dear aeons, please do not finish that sentence.” Topaz had her face in her palm, attempting to find a way to properly word her issue without dying of embarrassment along the way.
He snickered, easily picking up on the source of her flushed cheeks, “If I were a betting man, I’d say I’m getting pretty close. So again,” he sat up straighter from where he had been leaning into the cushioned seat, “is there anything in particular stopping you?”
Topaz was silent for a long moment before she answered, “No….not really,” she acquiesced.
“Does it make you uncomfortable?”
“Not in that sense…”
“Do you want to do it?” he asked.
“Sort of,” she admitted.
“Yes or no?” Aventurine queried again.
“…Y-yes.”
“Well, there you go,” he made to get up, “and with that, I’m going to get some beauty sleep.” He readjusted his crumpled outfit.
Topaz threw her hands up, “I-“
“-am happy to be of service,” Aventurine finished for her.
“You-“
“No need to thank me. Have a good night, Topaz.” With a small cheerful wave behind him, he casually strode away, hands in his pockets, leaving her mouth open and gaping after him.
She closed her jaw with a click. Topaz sat there with Numby in her lap, mildly stunned, both at the young man’s abrupt departure and her recent revelation. When Aventurine put it like that, this wasn’t a difficult problem at all. Her lips twitched upwards at the thought, and she looked at Numby, who was dozing off against her. “Let’s go home buddy.”
It was then that she realized Aventurine had left her with the entire tab. “Fuck.”