Chapter Text
Lévis sat on the edge of the fountain, hands buried in the cold stone, jaw tight. He didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to remember Domina falling, but the memory refused to leave him.
“You’re alive, aren’t you?”
The voice made him freeze. He spun around, eyes scanning the shadows.
“Impossible,” he muttered, but the silhouette stepping from the darkness was undeniably him.
Domina. Very much alive. Smirking. Looking far too calm for someone who had just cheated death.
“You’re… really here,” Lévis said, voice low, rough, half disbelief, half accusation.
Domina tilted his head, one eyebrow raised. “Did you really think I’d die and leave you sulking here all night? That doesn’t suit me.”
“I…” Lévis struggled, chest tightening. “I thought...”
“You thought what?” Domina interrupted, stepping closer, voice sharp, almost teasing. “That I’d disappear and let you mope like some melodramatic fool? That’s adorable, by the way.”
Lévis clenched his fists. “You’re not funny.”
Domina grinned faintly, circling him like a predator. “Funny? Maybe not. But very much alive. And here. Right in front of you. Deal with it.”
“I…” Lévis’s voice faltered. “I thought I lost you.”
“Thought, huh?” Domina’s tone was flat, cold, but there was something behind it, something raw. “Well, congratulations. You didn’t. So stop whining.”
Lévis’s hands twitched. “…You think it’s that simple?”
Domina shrugged, letting the tension linger. “No. It’s never simple with you, is it?” He stepped closer, closing the last few feet between them. “And yet, here we are. Alive. Breathing. You still looking at me like you’re going to argue, and I’m still alive to see it.”
Lévis swallowed. “You really are alive.”
Domina smirked. “Yes. If I weren’t, I wouldn’t be standing here, staring at you like I can read every pathetic thought in your head.”
“I…” Lévis ran a hand through his hair, voice low. “I can’t even…”
Domina leaned slightly closer, their faces just inches apart. “Can’t even what?”
“I can’t even tell you how much I hated thinking you were gone,” Lévis said, teeth gritted. “Hated imagining you… dead. And now you just… show up like nothing happened.”
Domina’s lips curved into the faintest of smirks. “I like to keep things dramatic.”
“Dramatic?” Lévis hissed. “You almost killed me with your disappearance, Domina!”
“I didn’t disappear,” Domina replied calmly. “I survived. And I waited. And you… you sulked. And now we’re here.” He let the words hang, letting Lévis stew.
Lévis’s jaw tightened. “And now what? You expect me to just… smile and welcome you back?”
Domina’s smirk widened. “Not at all. I expect you to stop staring at me like I’m some ghost you can’t touch. I’m right here. You’re alive. Fight me if you want, or admit you missed me.”
Lévis blinked, caught off guard. “Missed you? I...”
“Answer,” Domina interrupted sharply, leaning close enough that Lévis could feel the heat from him. “…Or keep pretending your pride matters more than reality.”
Lévis swallowed, chest tight. “I did,” he admitted, voice low. “…I missed you.”
Domina’s smirk softened, just barely, enough that it almost looked like relief. “Figures. You’d miss me. But you’ll never admit it in front of anyone else, will you?”
“Never,” Lévis said, tone sharp but trembling slightly. “You’re mine. You know that?”
Domina’s gaze hardened, eyes glinting. “And you’re mine. But don’t think I’m going to make this easy for you. Not after leaving me thinking you’d broken.”
“I don’t care,” Lévis snapped, stepping closer until their shoulders brushed. “I’m not letting you go again.”
Domina’s smirk returned, teasing, dangerous. “Then prove it. If you’re brave enough.”
Lévis’s hands curled into fists at his sides, pulse racing. “Oh, I intend to.”
The silence that followed was heavy, tense, filled with words neither dared speak yet, the kind that would come slowly, dangerously, as they circled each other in fire and pride, their reunion a battlefield of emotions, teasing, and heat.
And neither would admit it aloud, but neither could deny it: they had missed this. They had missed each other.
Lévis’s chest was tight. He could feel Domina’s presence, solid, warm, alive, and every instinct screamed at him to reach out, to grab hold and never let go.
“You really enjoy making me suffer, don’t you?” Lévis muttered, voice low, tense.
Domina tilted his head, lips quirking. “Suffer? Oh, please. You enjoy this as much as I do. Don’t pretend otherwise.”
Lévis’s jaw tightened. “I do not enjoy being on edge because of you.”
Domina’s eyes glinted, sharp and teasing. “Right. You’re the epitome of calm, composed, unshakable Lévis Rosequartz. Never rattled by anyone. Especially not me.”
Lévis’s hands itched to grab him, to press him against the nearest wall and make him admit that he, like Lévis, had been haunted by every day he thought Domina was gone. “I said I’m not shaken.”
“Then prove it,” Domina challenged, stepping closer until the space between them was nothing. Their shoulders brushed. His voice dropped to a softer, dangerous murmur: “If you’re so unshakable, why do I feel your heartbeat racing?”
Lévis froze, pulse jumping. “You can feel that?”
Domina’s smirk softened just slightly, sharp eyes locking with his. “Of course. I’ve known you too long.”
For a long, tense moment, they stared at each other. Neither dared make the first move. Pride, fear, longing - they were all tangled together. And then, slowly, deliberately, Lévis’s hands shot out, gripping Domina’s shoulders.
Domina didn’t flinch. Instead, he leaned in, tilting his head ever so slightly. “…Finally,” he whispered.
Lévis’s lips pressed to Domina’s in a kiss that was hard, demanding, testing. Domina responded immediately, matching him, not softening, not yielding, because neither of them could afford to. Not yet.
The kiss was fire and tension, months of grief and longing pressed into a single, burning motion. Domina’s hands slid up Lévis’s arms, gripping firmly, holding him close without surrendering his pride. Lévis’s hands tangled in Domina’s hair, pulling him nearer, forcing closeness that had been denied for far too long.
They broke apart only for air, foreheads touching, breaths ragged.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” Domina muttered, voice low, teasing, and deadly.
“…And you’ve got a lot of appeal,” Lévis shot back, smirk breaking through the tension. “I should hate you. I do hate you. But...”
“You don’t,” Domina interrupted, eyes glinting dangerously. “And you never will. Admit it.”
“I won’t admit anything,” Lévis said, lips brushing Domina’s again, voice rough. “Not yet. But I won’t stop either.”
Domina leaned into the kiss this time, slower, savoring it, letting the tension and unspoken words linger in every press of lips. “Good,” he murmured against Lévis’s mouth. “…Not yet.”
The courtyard around them faded completely. Pride, sarcasm, teasing. They were still themselves, sharp and relentless. But for the first time, both of them allowed something else to thread through: relief, desire, and the undeniable truth that they belonged together, even if they’d never say it aloud.