Title: One Night

Pairing: Corrin/Jakob

Rating: M (Semi-explicit sexual situations?)

Author's Notes: Well, it's been over a year since I've started writing about these two, and I still love them. Have I gotten better at writing them? Um…that's another matter, haha!

Enjoy guys!

-START-

Everything was always a dream of sultry moans and soft caresses until the need for release eventually overcame them. Sometimes the desire only consumed one, but many times, both parties were usually panting and begging for each other by the end of their frequent sessions together.

One. A sensation of instant breathlessness clenched her. First, she felt only fullness, but the pair were intensely familiar with each other's bodies. The thrust jabbed upward and against her engorged flesh within. A pulse of pleasure throbbed there, but it threatened to leave quickly until…

Two. Her hips began to move on their own, guided by lustful instinct. Her mind was too busy to directly react. Instead, her thoughts swam with desperate pleas and wishes for the next thrusts to hit the perfect spots that would allow her to come and soak the massive cock that throbbed within her.

Her mind cried out, Oh please, oh please, oh please.

Three. Her head rolled back, and her hands lifted from the wrinkled bedsheets to seek stronger support. One grabbed the headboard behind her. Her other hand was taken into the grasp of another.

As voice whispered lowly into her ear, "It's okay. I've got you."

By the time the fourth thrust hit, she knew she was close.

He moaned her name as the rhythm he drove into her quickened alongside his breath.

Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen—oh gods—eighteen nineteen—!

Her hips jerked forward, and she sucked breath between her teeth to let out a wet cry of satisfaction. The second heartbeat between her legs soared and she arched her back into the fullness. When she pushed, a stronger surge of pleasure claimed her, and she cried his name. She ground her hips against his desperately as the waves shuddered through her.

Feeling the twitches and convulsions, it doesn't take him long to finish after her. She felt a guttural cry against her shoulder and the sensation of teeth biting her skin. She knew he was trying to muffle his cry. Instead, rolled her shoulder to prompt him to turn his head and covered his mouth with her lips instead. The man went down willingly as they finished their orgasm together.

A few small thrusts later, and the pleasure ebbed. Corrin moaned in relief and pulled away from the kiss for air. Jakob swayed atop her and gently pushed some strands of hair back from her face. She licked her lips that had become suddenly dry following her gasps of bliss.

"Hey," Corrin said, propping herself up on the pillows as Jakob went to move away from her. After sex, he always left her momentarily to grab items he thought she would desire following intercourse. Usually a washcloth or, on the most humorous occasions, a glass of water.

Instead, she looked up at him and sank her manicured nails back into his shoulder.

"Don't get up," she requested. "Please?"

In the darkness, she could barely make out the scratches her nails had left down his back earlier in the evening. They were barely visible, just like the reddish lovebites she knew she'd also left behind in the pale column of his neck and across his tightly-wound shoulders.

In response to her inquiry, he smiled softly, kissed her hand and promised he would return. She puffed out a check in disappointment and flopped back onto the bed. She wondered why he'd left until she felt the spray of wetness across her abdomen. Ah, so that was why.

When he came back, he offered her a clean cloth. With the additional context at hand, she accepted it gratefully. After cleaning her belly as well as some of the more slicker spots on her body, she reclined back on the bed. Once the laundry was disposed of in a hamper, only then did he return to bed.

This time, she didn't let him leave so easily.

"We have to leave tomorrow," she said, sighing deeply as she took him into her arms. He went without objection into her embrace.

"Don't remind me," he sighed, his accent deepening.

She smiled sadly and reached up to cup his face. "I know it's selfish, but I don't want too."

"Our troops need their leader," Jakob said with a chuckle. Although he spoke with obvious pride, she could hear the mournfulness in his tone beneath the veneer of forced formality. She clutched him tightly and pulled him close until they were under the covers again. Corrin knew that, despite his cool façade, he was also genuinely disappointed that they would have to re-enter the world of war again.

At least, this time, they could enter it together.

"I'm happy," she said, fighting against the cracking in her voice. "I'm happy we had tonight."

The future was so uncertain. As much as her heart longed to ignore it, her mind could not.

He pulled back from her with a frown on his face. "You mustn't say things like that. We'll have more nights together."

"You'll see to our safety?" she asked, a coquettish smile upon her lips. It was such a devilish sight that Jakob couldn't help but smirk and cover her lips again.

"Your safety is my priority," he said honestly. "Though, if I may be honest…"

"Always," she said keenly.

"If I may be honest, you're much better in that department than I," he said, his expression reverential as his gaze moved over the slopes and planes of her face and body. While her wit and kindness had enamored him since childhood, he'd come to admire her physical and mental strength just as much. Even more so after realizing his own shortcomings.

His lavender eyes returned to her face to find a deep frown awaiting him.

"What about your safety?" she asked him with a trace of agitation.

"My well-being is of no consequence," he said matter-of-factly.

The lines of her eyes became rigid as she sat up and took Jakob's face into her hands and squeezing lightly.

"Owch," he said, cheeks squished slightly.

"Jakob, we are wed!" she admonished, not releasing him until he has caused his cheeks to flush. "You are no longer only my retainer. You are my husband and your safety matters to me. I will never forgive you if you fall in battle."

He opened his mouth to speak and she shushed him once more. "That is not a command from your liege. It is a very strong request from your wife. Who loves you dearly, by the way."

Jakob's eyes softened, but his smirk didn't fade. "So, I suppose it's still a command?"

She grabbed the pillow and tossed it at his head. "You are a conniving…sycophant!"

Despite her words, she laughed joyfully as the cushion soared to hit him between the eyes.

"Sycophant?" he asked, laughing loudly as he attempted to dodge whacks from more pillows that Corrin was tossing his way. He managed to catch one and throw it back at her. The material made a soft thump as if hit her face. "My love, I think you have your words mixed up."

"Correct me, then," she said with brazen playfulness as she jumped from the bed, still nude as she evaded another pillow and circle the bed to tackle him and pin the culprit to the mattress. The rest was a tangle of limbs and laughter, with Corrin even planting a kiss on his abdomen in the process. Even after their full evening in each other's very close company, a mauve lipstick print was still left behind a few inches above his navel.

The spot was a ticklish one for him, and he continued to laugh as Corrin kissed him up and down until finally arriving at his lips again. Instead of immediately moving, he let her mouth linger over his. As was expected, Jakob lifted his mouth to meet her. With his hands slipping to her hips and eventually over her thighs, Corrin leaned down and held her husband for a long, sensual kiss.

When they broke apart, Jakob looked up at her with an expression she couldn't pinpoint. He reached up to take a lock of her hair into his hand.

"I love you, Corrin," he admitted softly. The words were followed by a sigh.

"I know," she said gleefully, beaming down at him. "You tell me every day, just like you said you would."

"I told you I meant it," he retorted, brows furrowing at her. "Did you doubt me?"

She shook her head and fell to his side, wrapping her arms around his waist instead. If she continued to straddle him, the result would no doubt would carry them into the rest of the night and long past dawn. Not that she would personally mind that, but time wasn't on their side. Perhaps next time.

"I didn't doubt you for a second," she said, nuzzling his neck as she molded her body to his.

He made a 'hmph' sound and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. The man sounded playfully unconvinced.

Corrin distracted him with a fake pout while her opposite hand reached down and gave his bum a light squeeze. He twitched and gave her another look that caused her to break out laughing.

"I never doubted you," she clarified sincerely, despite the lack of seriousness that had been in his tone. Even if he'd only been joking, it was beyond important to her that he understood how much he meant to her. Especially now that nothing in their future was guaranteed.

She said more quietly, "I just can't believe you love me sometimes."

He looked at her in disbelief.

"I mean, after all those years we spent together in the Northern Fortress, I guess it feels surreal that we're still together," she said, lowering her eyes away from his to stare at her hand, which was currently splayed across his chest. Her gaze flickered in and out of focus as exhaustion sank into her bones from the long day and evening. "We went through a lot. You went through a lot."

Jakob thought a moment, pressing her tight against him. The gesture was as desperate as it was protective.

"Well, I suppose the war would have been a perfect time for either of us to run away and never look back," he admitted. "I could have started anew somewhere. You could have escaped both your families. We both could have used the chaos to get away."

"But you didn't," Corrin muttered, her fingertips curling possessively against his skin.

Jakob kissed his wife's forehead. "Neither did you."

Instead, their first thoughts had been getting back to each other. Even after being pulled apart by the battlefield, fate had brought them back together. Only them.

It had to mean something.

In the shroud of quiet that surrounded them, it was Jakob who spoke up again.

"Corrin?"

"Hm?" she asked, her face tucked in the crook of his neck.

"I love you," he repeated.

She laughed. "You already said that.

"Because I really mean it," he said, laughing dryly. "Corrin, I must admit, I'm still convinced that I'm going to awake from some long dream and realize this was all just an illusion."

"What would be an illusion?" she asked, her tone inquisitive although the answer already lingered in the back of her mind.

"All of you, all of us," he said, rolling over so he was atop her. His hand sought hers and guided it over his heart. The beat was strong and sturdy between her fingertips. His untied locks fell past his shoulders and tickled to tops of her cheekbones. "Everything."

Corrin shook her head furiously at his words. She lifted her hands to either side of his face. This time, instead of squishing his cheeks, she threaded her fingers upwards and through his silvery hair. Her hands balled into loose fists, giving his scalp a tug that tugged his head back just enough for her to place a kiss on his jaw. She laughed against his ear and whispered, "I'm really here, Jakob."

"I know," he gasped in reply. Every word and sound was that of a lovesick man.

"And I love you too," she confessed, her tone changing from flirtatious to tender in one sweep. She poked the tip of his nose and added an obligatory. "So, if all this is a dream or illusion, you've got me for company in the meantime."

The look he gave her was one filled with awe. "I suppose there are worse things."

"Like tomorrow," she said, tucking him close. Visions of their trials so far seemed to flash before her eyes and she fought to squint past them. "Like fighting in a war. Reality."

"I know," he replied, clutching his hand before lifting it to his lips. A featherlight kiss graced her bruised knuckles, sending a tiny but pleasurable ache through her palm. He crooned softly, "Sleep, my love. You need rest. As much as I'd love to, I can't keep you all night."

"I wish you could," she admitted, giving him a wink. It was an attempt to dissolve the sudden air of seriousness around them. "I'd stay all night and all day too."

"No amount of time would ever be long enough," he said softly. A rosy blush dusted his face.

His words were like daggers through her fearless charade. Instead of doing what her heart longed and bursting into tears and holding him for the rest of time to guarantee he never had to return to the bloody battlefields, she opted to remain quiet. There was nothing more to say. There was nothing to object to or add.

There was only silent, reluctant acceptance.

The shuffle of covers was strident compared to the midnight stillness of the bedchamber. Corrin made an attempt to close her eyes and curl against her husband and sleep. Moments later, she opened her eyes and nudged him again.

She'd been incorrect. There was something else she wanted to add.

She bit her lip and raised her voice to a gentle whisper. "Jakob, I know I just gave you a lecture about issuing commands, but can I request something of you tomorrow morning?

He cracked an eye open and said, "Anything."

The quickness of his reply made her heart fill with joy. Gods, he hadn't even missed a beat.

"When you wake up this morning, wake me up too," she said as insistently as she could. "I know you hate mornings, but since we can't sleep in, I want to enjoy every second with you before we ride out tomorrow. I'd also like to help you with chores, maybe?"

She anticipated the confused gaze and quickly elaborated by adding, "I mean, I'm sure Flora or Felicia would be better, and that Gunter would be better for helping prepare the troops and vedettes, but…"

He chuckled deeply. The sound was deep and made his chest reverberate beneath her.

"Certainly," he agreed after a few moments of semi-serious consideration. "That sounds nice. I'll try to remember, although it may be difficult to awaken you."

When she tilted her head at him in an obvious sign of confusion, he ruffled her hair and kissed her cheek. "Sorry, sorry. It's just leftover instinct from being your butler. I shall…push past it."

Corrin nodded quickly in response to his hesitant reply. The hope was to instill faith in his willingness to become closer to her after he'd been beaten down and forbade emotion his whole life. She supposed that, on her end, it was a similar story. Where he was still hesitant, she was exuberant and overenthusiastic.

"Yes, please!" she said. "That would be so lovely."

"Then consider it done," he replied, a renewed confidence in his tone that she couldn't help but notice.

She wanted to help him as much as possible. For every time she defended him on the battlefield, he would sew up her clothes to make them safe and presentable again. Whenever he deflected a deadly attack or was wounded in protecting her, she would clean the castle halls and fumble her way through chores.

No longer were they a warrior and a servant. They were two halves of a whole unit moving toward one goal. They were one couple amidst a sea of armies and warring families. One set of childhood friends turned allies, then lovers and finally into lifelong partners fighting for the opportunity to see a future together.

Fate may have been uncertain, but their love was anything but. Whether they succeeded or became lost along the way, they would be together.

They had each other.

-END-

I wrote the last part of this fic with help from "Astonishing" by Sutton Foster.

"Even now, I feel his heat upon my skin/A life of passion I know is about to begin."
"I will blaze until I find my time and place/I will be fearless/Surrendering modesty and grace."

Also…um…I've been abstaining from using the Oxford Comma this whole time because that's what I do for work and didn't notice. It's technically grammatically incorrect…but the idea of going back and changing everyone makes me nauseous. I'm just going to remain stylistically consistent. I'm so sorry. At least these pieces are correct in AP style.

Well, I'm going to pregame for the 2018 Tony Awards this weekend. Thanks for reading!