Disclaimer:

Any recognizable characters or story elements are not my own and I do not make any profit off these fics.

Lately it had seemed that the better things seemed to grow the harder they fell backwards.

Building on the aisle was progressing nicely. Farms were growing. Harvests were bountiful. Quite possibly the world's largest pyramid was breaking ground with the island's newest inhabitants.

And then...it all turned to ruin. It started with just a few monsters but they were used to that. But the waves got bigger and threats becoming increasingly more focused on her specifically.

Protect 'the Builder' they said. She wasn't sure at what point the battle to "protect the aisle" turned into "protect Elise" but somewhere in the midst of running from a skeleton to a winged beast Malroth's golden fury turned into a red glare of something else and she knew they were losing the fight.

So they fled. Her, her protector, and their wayward captain. Off to Furrowfield was the plan, and straight into the children of Hargon was a reality.

And that was the last time anyone from the aisle of awakening saw either of them.

Elise returned to the aisle with mixed emotions. It was so good to be back at the aisle. It was lovely to see Lulu again and be welcomed by her...but things had shifted and they couldn't be ignored.

Elise had grown very thin. With little more than two cabbages to sustain her early on, then that quickly being downgraded to one when the guards realized Malroth was sharing his...she'd thinned out considerably. It was odd. Malroth hadn't consumed anything the entire time at Skulkatraz and yet he seemed stronger than he'd ever been.

And then there was what had transpired between her and Malroth. While skulkatraz had been a hell and prison to the builder, it had seemed like home to her destructive companion. Even when they'd been thrown in the hole, Malroth seemed...comfortable with the situation. Yet he'd also grown oddly sympathetic. He'd even let her stay close all night and somewhere within the night she'd woken up curled into him and she wasn't sure how that occurred but it felt kind of nice. Except that she'd been awoken to his violent nightmares and yells and to this day she hadn't figured out what they were about.

Then they'd managed to make it out. And they had to do it that night too for the guards were splitting the pair up the following morning and the idea of returning to Aisle without Malroth sent something heavy and hard into Elise's chest.

So they escaped in what felt like a blur and a buzz and a pass of images and scenes that she couldn't focus on because her thoughts were torn between the horrible fear of getting caught, and Malroth's hand wrapped tightly around hers the entire trec to the ship.

And then...they were home.

Lulu had cocked her head at her first, noting there was something different. Then she's focused on Malroth who...was eerily quiet.

"You seem bothered," she'd told him in her none-too-gentle demeanor. Elise vaguely registered Malroth grunting something back but her memory failed to hold onto useless information after everything she'd endured.

Lulu had "requested" a tea party. Just the three of them. And sure, in theory it was a lovely gesture. Except she'd expected Elise to build it herself and despite her thin frame and bruises she never could refuse a building challenge. And so she had. And they'd had some form of reconnection. But Malroth offered little to the conversation and remained distant from the connection and before long the moon was high above and Elise finally convinced Lulu to return to the pyramid that she would come by to visit in the morning and wanted to go visit the farms first.

Malroth was watching her when she'd come back into the small sand building. He'd never been a man of any restraint so the fact that he was so clearly perturbed but choosing silence was odd.

Elise was halfway through cataloging any missing supplies from her sack when he finally spoke.

"That was fresh of her to put you to work the moment you made it back to the aisle."

Elise starred at him but his dark red eyes seemed much darker than usual.

"She meant no harm, Malroth. Lulu is just-"

"Selfish?" His tongue bit like vinegar on a wound. "Self-centered? Entitled?"

"What exactly's made you so bitter?" This wasn't about Lulu nor was it about their little celebration. He seemed comfortable enough when everyone came back to celebrate. She didn't recall seeing him drinking when they'd brought the cask of diggers jiggers but she'd been occupied herself.

Then again…

Malroth shrugged. "I'm the same I've always been."

It was almost more disturbing to hear him deny the reality than argue it at all.

Something had changed. Something had bothered him and Elise wasn't quite sure what it was but she was certain it was sometime around that night they'd spent in the hole. He'd refused to acknowledge any memory of it at first, but she'd heard his groans and sounds he'd made and felt him moving in his sleep. How he'd even managed to sleep in that pit was beyond her, but somehow he had and his dreams had very clearly disturbed him.

"What happened that night in the hole?"

Malroth stared but offered no response. "I was there with you the whole time and yet-"

"You didn't hear them."

It was Elise's turn to stare. Malroth didn't move or seem to have any plans to do so, so Elise made the decision herself to take three steps forward. "Hear what?"

He was looking at his feet. She wondered if he was trying to remember or to forget. "The voices."

It was as if someone doused her in ice water.

"I had a dream, and these voices in my dream felt so familiar I'm not sure if they're a dream at all...or if they're memories."

He was remembering.

"But I don't need a stupid voice or a pathetic dream to tell me what I am or what I will become. That choice is entirely mine." He said it with emphasis but something was still flat. It was almost as if he was trying to convince himself.

Elise took another step closer but offered no questions. Still, they'd spent enough time together that there was an unspoken language forming between them.

"They were calling me. Beckoning me to reawaken the teachings of Hargon. Calling me a God and the Lord of Destruction."

Elise felt heaviness weighing her down. "It was just a dream…"

"Was it?" Malroth's tone snapped violently. "Can you tell me that with certainty? Because it didn't feel like an ordinary dream."

"Malroth, you're not-"

"But what if I AM?" He was red all at once. Light in his skin beginning to glow, eyes darkening, hair standing tall like horns on his crown. If Elise were anyone else she'd have taken a step back just on instinct because her entire body screamed for her to do so.

"I can be extremely dangerous, you know." He was even closer now, the faint light of the candles glow just barely grazing the sharp tip of his canines when he smiled in annoyance. "And everyone knows I can destroy things faster than you can fix them and everything I touch turns to ruin like I was born with destruction in my veins because I was."

Malroth was so close now Elise could see the tiny glints of black and gold in the fiery red of his eyes. It made it hard to breathe. Not out of fear, but something foreign completely.

"I'd kill without much thought if I had a reason. I've done so much worse to protect you specifically. It's just another form of destruction after all."

Elise felt herself give an involuntary swallow. Malroth noticed and immediately cocked his head. His eyes flashed to her throat then back up to her wide eyes. "Have I finally done it? Have I made you scared of me? Have you realized your 'best friend' is a demon who should be banished into a prison I'm so clearly comfortable in?"

"No."

And then Malroth did something so completely unplanned and out of character Elise squeaked in surprise when he smashed his mouth against hers, nearly sending them both to the ground. On reflex her arms wrapped around his neck and he held her so tight, so close and so unexpectedly her head spun and she forgot how to breathe.

And then it was over all at once and he released all too quickly as if she'd burned him being so close and before Elise could catch her footing and correct her stumble he was out of the room and out of sight.

Elise just stood there. Her head was spinning her legs were numb and her entire body seemed to be sparkling with electrical impulses from his iron-clad grip. She reached a hand up to her lips and felt them tingle.

Attention on her lips was short lived however because a second later loud and angry grunts from outside found their way to her ears. She grimaced. She wasn't sure what unfortunate creature had made its way to the enraged individual outside but she was entirely certain that the creature would receive no mercy by the sound of Malroth's angry yells.

They continued for what felt like ages and Elise felt her heart sink further each time his voice rose higher. And finally...it was quiet. She listened.

No footsteps.

The vague splashing of waves on the beach. Bugs buzzing in the background.

No sounds from the enraged man beyond the tiny room's four walls. She wondered if he'd been knocked out or if he'd simply given up and cooled.

Elise tentatively opened the tiny sand-room's door and peeled around the corner. With no lights to illuminate the coast, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. Off in the shallow distance she could just make out the shape of her friend sitting in the sand, his back to her.

She released the breath she wasn't aware she'd been harboring at all.

Malroth sat legs crossed and feet together starring off into the water. It wasn't an unusual position to find him in — he sat like that at the head of the ship and occasionally at the dinner table. It was the curve of his shoulders and tension in his neck that bothered her more.

Still.

He was her friend. Not just any old friend, her best friend. She'd even stretch to call him a partner.

Elise's steps were quiet as she made her way through the sand towards him. Her bare feet crunched softly in the powdery beach ground but he paid it no notice. Malroth's eyes were transfixed in the black distance and Elise felt some relief in noticing he had in fact calmed down.

She sat beside him but didn't say anything.

It was peaceful. After being locked in that hellish prison for so long and starved of this form of freedom there was something peaceful about just sitting in silence with another and listening to life move on without you.

"I need you to promise me something." Malroth's voice rose unexpectedly but with a pacified calmness to it. Elise glanced at him but again he didn't meet her eye.

"If I…" he licked his lip as he considered the words carefully and Elise found a strange stirring in her stomach at the pointed tip of his tongue darting between his lips. "If I change into something and threaten your safety and desire to build...you'll need to do whatever it takes to stop me."

It was pain. Her stomach burned and dread swelled in her throat.

"I need you to promise me you'll wallop me good and knock some sense into me...or worse."

She wasn't certain if she'd imagined the last few words or if he'd actually spoken them.

"Promise me?" Finally he turned to her. There was something different in his eyes. It was a different emotion unlike anything she'd ever seen him harbor and Elise couldn't quite place what it was.

Sadness?

Despair?

Desperation?

"I'm not playing anymore," he said with newfound urgency. "I need you to promise me you'll do what you have to do to protect yourself and your creations."

His eyes scanned hers and Elise felt her breath catch. She wasn't sure if it was his question and the thought of having to face against him….or the idea of his tongue on her flesh that had the stronger hold on her.

Malroth moved closer and Elise held her breath.

"Promise me."

I can't.

"Builder." It was as if he'd heard her thoughts.

She couldn't. She wanted to say yes and appease his thoughts and know somewhere deep that it wouldn't come to that. But in the back of her mind something told her it wasn't that simple.

But she couldn't. She wouldn't.

"Elise," he was pressing further.

"Yes." She breathed it out like it was a curse. Malroth starred at her, searching her for a faulter. Not one for showing any amount of restraint...he was oddly reserved. It was unsettling.

He turned away after what felt like an eternity to look back out to sea. It was weird sitting there in silence. After everything they'd been through and as close as they'd gotten, Elise could think of a time where silence between them had held such meaning.

"I shouldn't have kissed you." His voice broke out without warning or warm up. Elise nearly checked but felt the tension crack.

"I wouldn't say it was completely uncalled for."

This time his entire body turned. "Really? Because I don't know where it came from or…"

Elise stopped the words right on his tongue by finally crossing the space between them, wrapping one thin arm around his neck and pressing her mouth to his.

He didn't hesitate. With all the force and heat and surprise that the mighty builder threw into the kiss, Malroth tripled it, pulling her onto his lap in one fell tug and her body flush with his. Elise gasped at the abrupt movement and Malroth wasted no opportunity to pull her bottom lip between his teeth elicited a completely foreign sound from somewhere deep in the builder's throat and releasing her lip with an audible 'pop!'

Elise's inhale wavered and she found it difficult to reopen her eyes. Malroth's vision focused on her throat yet he resisted the urge to move closer and gave her a moment instead. When Elise finally fluttered her eyes open, Malroth's gaze was dark red and piercing straight into her soul.

She felt the ripple of goosebumps over her skin and and heart rate quicken. It made then darken another shade.

"This could be dangerous." Malroth cocked his head to the side and licked his lips but his hands remained firm on her waist and against her ribs. Elise was becoming acutely aware of both the physical proximity between them and the ramifications of what was transpiring.

It was exhilarating and terrifying.

"You should be scared…." Malroth's voice trailed off and he turned his attention to her throat. Unable to resist and Elise found it difficult to focus on anything other than the feel of the very tip of his nose grazing the side of her neck.

"You smell good. Does it bother you if I say that?" He took a long inhale and Elise felt a shiver run down her spine. "You've gotten so thin, it's left you weak. I'm so much stronger than you, you wouldn't have much of a chance to fight back."

You wouldn't hurt me, she thought and she wondered not for the first time if this thinking had any sanity left to it.

He wasn't wrong about it. His body was solid and hard and unflinching pressed so tightly to hers, it was like trying to push away a stone wall.

But this stone wall was abnormally warm to the touch and Elise was having visions of hot skin against hers and those teeth leaving marks in other sensitive corners of her body.

"You wouldn't hurt me."

Teeth grazed her flesh but he didn't bite or hurt her and it sent waves of warmth flooding her veins.

"And how would you know what I would and would not do?" He pressed into her harder and Elise became acutely aware of his hands firm on her hip and gripping her with such a force she was certain it was going to bruise.

The thought of him marking her body was exciting.

"How would you know I wouldn't take it that extra step?" He wanted an answer. He wanted to hear her reasoning for trusting him and letting him get so close. She was playing with fire and he needed to know she was fire proof. Malroth bit down on the side of her neck not hard enough to break her skin but just enough to pull a gasp from her throat and leave a mark. He half expected her to pull away, push him back, or maybe even plead for him to pause. Instead she whimpered, let her hands dip under the collar of his open jacket and over the smooth, toned lines of muscle and skin.

But he did have to know. He wasn't one for restraint or to think much about consequences before acting on impulse but this...this was different

Elise's hand dropped from his neck to his waist. She slid them into his jacket, fingers ghosting over the lines of his stomach and ribs and marveling at the glorious expanse of warm-to-the-touch skin she found there. All perfectly toned and perfectly smooth. Feeling emboldened, Elise dipped two fingers into his waistband ready to attempt to remove the buckle he wore when Malroth's hands moved quickly to stop them, securing them in an iron-clad grip against his flesh.

He pulled away never releasing her hands but just enough to look her in the eyes. Elise was perfectly pink. Cheeks reddened, skin flushed, eyes lustful and full of desire. She smelled like a meal begging to be feasted on and oh, he really wanted this dish.

He wanted to groan and just take her now and worry about the dramatics later. But he knew better. He couldn't risk hurting his builder. She was much too important. He had to know.

"How do you know I wouldn't hurt you?" The longer he searched the less he seems to find.

"Because people don't hurt those they love." Elise's voice was barely above a whisper. But her words rang loud and clear in his ears either way. His face changed, nose scrunched and eyes narrowed like he had no idea what she was talking about.

"I don't know what that means." He lied to her as much as to himself. Elise wasn't buying it though. Having finally been given enough faulter to free one had the bold builder finally retracted her fingers and gingerly brought them up to his face. Malroth remained still as stone.

"Yes you do." Elise finally got her hands free from Malroth's grip and pulled them back towards herself. A quick flame showed a hint of pink where he'd gripped her just slightly too tightly but she knew she wasn't made of paper and she was well aware of her companion's strength. "You told me in Khrumbul-Dun that you understood what Goldirox did was love." Malroth refused to catch her eye but he neither pushed her away nor verbalized a desire to separate. So Elise continued.

"You told me that you understood that love was when you give up part of yourself or your own desires to make someone important to you happy. When you would do anything in your power to protect someone important to you." Elise took a single hand and very gently pressed it against his chest. He was warm, as usual and he didn't push her away despite the annoyance in his voice. "And you just told me you'd do anything to protect me. Sounds a lot like love to me."

"That means nothing." Malroth's voice was quiet despite his rebuttal. Elise knew it too, so she gripped his jacket and pulled him close and he came with her willingly until he was so close he could taste her breathe on his tongue and had to close his eyes to focus on her voice.

"It means you love me as much as I love you and we're wasting time we could be using together to come up with reasons to stay apart."

It was enough to appease him. Malroth kissed her finally with the same heat and intensity as before but a softness behind it that had been much more aggressive earlier. Hands found her waist and he pulled her close until her entire body was pressed flush with his and her knees straddling his lap. Elise let herself melt into the kiss and her hands dug into his thick dark hair.

Malroth tightened his grip instinctively and it made Elise pull tighter on his hair which in turn elicited a low growl from the destructive man.

She giggled into his mouth and let herself get dizzy off his scent and taste until she was light headed and felt as if she'd float away on the tip of his tongue.

Malroth was enjoying this development. This was kissing, right? Oh but this was so much more different than the light kisses he'd seen some of the residents around him share before. This was...aggressive in some weird way. Forceful. All consuming. It was him tasting her every thought and word on her mouth and letting his tongue wrestle with hers until it became so tight in his muscles he felt constrained and all the more too clothed.

Hot.

It was hot and Malroth suddenly wanted to rid the both of them of their clothes and taste the rest of her skin and see if every inch and her petite little frame was as sweet as the rest. It was such a weird desire to have but he didn't fight it and didn't question it much.

Malroth let go of Elise swiftly and without warning. It left the redhead sitting backward on haunches with her head spinning and sand piling up in places sand had no business occupying. But it was a short time because Malroth wasted no opportunity jumping to his feet and pulling up his favorite little builder right after him and before she even had a second breathe he lifted her with an arm under her knees and a loud squeak and a laugh from the petite woman as he carried her back to their tiny beach room.

The door kicked open aggressively and with a thunderous boom. Normally Elise would scold him for such aggression and risk of damaging her door but right now she'd gladly let him kick it in a thousand times if it meant they'd get to the bedroom quicker.

It was about this point that it dawned on Malroth that...he really had no idea what he was doing. Was he supposed to ...undress her? Kiss her again? Was it even okay to be kissing her? Was it acceptable to be craving seeing her naked all of a sudden? What was he supposed to do with his hands? Where were they supposed to go? Why did it feel like he was on fire and on the brink of combustion all at once? And oh, he had this ache down somewhere deep within that he just couldn't appease.

Malroth deposited his builder on the first flat surface he could find — a small table beside the door — and then went awkwardly still.

It had never occurred to Elise to explain to her friend about….sex. She hadn't really thought it would be a discussion he'd need. Yet here she was now thinking about what was underneath his pants and those big hands on her body kissing intimate places and all the ways he'd make her feel good and…oh. If looks had actions he'd be turning her dress to dust right on her body. Malroth attempted to kiss her again but this kiss was sloppy and awkward and Elise began to giggle halfway through which just made him grunt and the heat turn back ten notches.

Elise held up a finger to her lips which then turn into a finger to his and Malroth made an odd noise that she wasn't sure was frustration or annoyance or somewhere in between. She gently pushed him back just far enough that she could breathe more freely and think more clearly.

His eyes were burning he was slightly red, his hair was crumbled and there was an obvious bulge in his pants. The builder swallowed thickly but averted her eyes back up.

"Do you…" this was awkward. "Understand what's happening here?" Malroth eyes softened as if she'd thrown him a life line. He didn't look nervous — an emotion she didn't think he even possessed. He simply looked...like a fish out of water.

Oh boy.

Malroth attempted to kiss her again but this time Elise kept her finger up stopping him in his tracks. "Wait," he voice was firmer than earlier and as much as it pained her to stop him now when she was already tasting him inside of her...she wasn't dumb enough to jump in blind. "We need to talk about this."

Malroth grumbled but stayed put. His hands were still on her hips, gripping her dress in his fists and Elise became acutely aware that he'd probably pay much better attention to this conversation if she kept her dress on for the time being.

Elise was barely experienced in this frontier. Sure, she'd been with a man before. Once, anyways. But it had last three seconds and hadn't given her any desire to jump back into bed with that individual again after the first experience. Still, she at least understood the basics of what goes where and how and how to avoid having mini builders running around this time next year.

Could he even get her pregnant? Biologically were they even compatible? He looked human enough, but she wasn't even entirely sure what he was exactly.

"This pause is pissing me off," Malroth so bluntly announced when Elise was still arguing with herself internally about whether or not to get into the discussion of birth control with him tonight. The look he had on his face however...it warmed her with something soft and endearing.

"Do you trust me?" She asked him hesitantly. Malroth smirked.

"Explicitly."

Elise bit her lip but moved her hands to his shoulders. She very light pulled on his jacket letting it make a torturously slow slide down his shoulders revealing inch after inch of pristine, unmarked skin.

Shit.

Maybe she should have kept that jacket on him. He was glorious.

The purple garment fell to the floor with a light ruffle and Elise had to concentrate on the task at hand and not the most perfect male physique she was certain ever walked the earth.

"We're having sex, aren't we?" Malroth asked with the same tone someone would use to describe the weather.

"Do you know what that entails?" At least he'd heard about it before. Although not knowing where he'd heard about sec may not actually have made the information any more useful.

"Well Dougie gave me some information but it was messy."

Messy.

Dougie.

Elise groaned loudly and rested her forehead against his naked chest not even sure she had it in her to get through this conversation.

Way to kill the mood, Builder.

But Malroth wasn't feeling the same embarrassment she was. He didn't understand what was embarrassing or why someone would ever feel that way. He made that evident by the very sly slide of his hand up her thigh and under her dress.

It made her chuckle.

Malroth leaned over and kissed the side of her neck in an uncharacteristically sweet and gentle fashion that seemed to ease a lot of the discomfort all at once.

"Can you just tell me what to do and we can figure it out along the way?"

Elise tried. She tried really, really hard not to laugh. But the look he was giving her and the idea of coaching him through having sex with her was extremely amusing and somehow just very adorable.

She was in love.

The thought came without warrant or warning completely blindsiding her.

"Elise…." Malroth was growing impatient and her dress was already halfway up her hips and he was determined to rid her of it by the look of things.

Love?

She let him take the dress off, scooting just enough to release the fabric from under her and then raising her arms so he could pull it over her head and unceremoniously throw it over his shoulder.

Now she was sitting before him in undergarments and nothing else and very vulnerable under the gaze that seemed to be scanning her body like a predator does it's prey.

Malroth seemed very studious for a second, and then he frowned. It made something cold drop in Elise's chest.

Was she not pretty enough? He was so...pristine and she was very average at best and below the median at worst. It was making her queasy and self conscious and she never felt more naked than she did right then when he reached forward slowly and ran a thumb over an ugly bruise on her side.

"Do these hurt?" His voice was barely over a whisper.

Elise had to blink at him for second computing what he was asking. Malroth continued to scan her skin and touch each marking and scar he found visible on her skin. It was becoming clear that he wasn't disappointed in her but the pain she'd inflicted. His hand ran over a particular sensitive spot and Elise just barely flinched but it was enough for her eyes to narrow and eyebrows to scrunch and she immediately recognized that face of anger and had to react.

Elise took his face in both her hands and brought his eyes from her ribs to her own. He was angered at the thought of anyone hurting her even though he was well aware of where most of those marks had originated.

"Hey," her voice was barely more than a whisper but it was enough to pull him through. She smiled and felt something give way. "Do you still want to do this?"

Malroth chose the less verbal option that ended with a swift and sloppy kiss on her mouth that was so eager and messy that Elise found herself laughing halfway through because he was so evidently trying to get back to the way they'd been just a few minutes earlier. She took one of his hands now on her hips and led it slowly back up her spine until she felt him find the laces holding together her undergarments.

"Take it off," she mouthed into his kiss. He pulled the lace without hesitation and the garment around her chest loosened and pooled around her small chest. Malroth pulled the smaller garment from her body with a newfound gentleness Elise didn't even know he was capable of.

Now she was almost completely naked and he was still dressed and that was hardly fair for her.

Malroth must have read her thoughts because his hands went to his belt buckle and Elise unconsciously held her breathe.

Leather through the loop.

Orange loosened.

His pants pooled at his feet.

Oh my.

Elise had to blink a couple of times and couldn't help but stare a moment. Malroth didn't seem to mind though. If anything he looked mighty proud of himself.

Well that's not fair, she thought thinking about the impressive image before her. But now he was walking towards her and she realized that was for her and no one else had ever experienced it and she suddenly felt very fortunate that her best friend was more than ordinary.

Malroth stepped between her knees and Elise's breath trembled in her throat. He moved in close and she felt her stiff nipples press against his chest and breath catch and something hard and hot against where she desperately wanted some friction and maybe she didn't need to spell out all the details for him after all.

Malroth kissed the side of her neck and Elise's eyes fluttered closed involuntarily.

"Shouldn't you take this off too?" His finger traced the edge of her panties and it sent a flutter across her stomach.

This was so much simpler when she didn't like him.

Malroth seemed to grow bored with simple kisses because now his teeth were nibbling on her earlobe and Elise couldn't suppress the tiny whimper that left her body.

Malroth tensed. "Did I hurt you?" He meant to pull away but Elise quickly pulled him back with one arm and kept his hand on the edge of her panties with the other.

"Goddess, no," she breathed the last word. "That means you're doing it right."

Right? He liked the sound of that so he didn't it again, this time a little harder with the edge of his sharp canines just brushing her skin and Elise barely even noticed his other hand moved until it was in her panties and between her thighs and by god, even his fingers were warm.

She was slick and warm already and Malroth gave an experimental slide of his hand down her front and felt slick moisture coat his fingers and his lovely little builder finally made a whole new sound that sounded an awful lot like a moan of agony but powered by something entirely different.

"You're wet," he observed when Elise pressed his hand even harder towards her heat and gave an involuntary shift of her hips that rewarded her with the most delicious friction she could imagine.

Her breath was hard and she was so desperately past the point of no return all she wanted was to feel more of him and all of him all at once.

"T-that means," she inhaled sharply when his fingers dipped even deeper between her things and stars seemed to sparkle before her eyes. "You're doing really good."

So he did it again. And Elise moaned softly and Malroth felt emboldened by her sounds and the way her fingers were gripping his bicep and then-

Rip!

Elise gasped, feeling the fabric torn right off her body and strangely also very excited by the sudden action.

"Oops," Malroth spoke sheepishly but with a light in his eye that made it so clear that he wasn't actually apologetic about anything that Elise couldn't help but smack his chest lightly and laugh as he pulled her into another kiss.

"Are you ready?" She smothered the question in his kiss but felt him pull her close with strong hands on her backside edging her closer to the edge of the table. He nodded enthusiastically and Elise chuckled once more before separating from his bruising mouth. "I hope you know what your getting yourself into," Elise joked peacefully.

She could feel it. Something hot and hard and positively throbbing where she was slick and warm and so craving a primal part of him. It made her bite her lip.

"Yeah," he answered confidentially. "You."

His fingernails were dark, rough, and faintly pointed no matter how short he kept them. Elise held her hand up to his and watched his fingers stretch longer than hers completely surpassing her hand in spread and girth. She'd seen them bare before, of course. A few times in the pool and once when she'd walked in on him in the shower room and had to explain that no, it was not normal to have a conversation while completely naked with the opposite sex. Or even the same sex for that matter, since Malroth didn't see any difference in one over the other. For a man who claimed to lack humanity, he was more tolerant of human intricacies than most actual humans.

She still wasn't sure how an argument had turned into kissing and how kissing had turned into her explaining sec and the pros and cons of such acts to him, and how that then led to him buried deep into her heat and the feel of his warmth actually overcoming her entire body...but it had. And she didn't regret it. Not even a little.

"You know my hands are the less impressive of my appendages," Malroth's sleepy voice was rough and groggy but still had an unmistakable tone of teasing to it. Elise rolled her eyes but let his hand go anyway which Malroth wasted no time at all using to wrap around her back and pull her close to his radiating body heat.

"I liked that." Malroth stated it as if he were shocked that he'd enjoyed as much as she. It made the builder giggle, lightly reach up to his face and give him a sweet kiss on the lips. He accepted it with appreciation but didn't push any further.

"Ready for a round two?" His words said one thing but his closed eyes and slow breathing told her a different story entirely. It made her giggle.

"You look more like you're ready for a nap rather than another round." Elise reached up and pushed some hair out of his face. Malroth scrunched his face for a moment clearly uncomfortable with the contact but then quickly calmed into a peaceful stillness. He seemed peaceful and that was a rare occurrence lately so she didn't want to ruin it.

The observant builder watched his still face and felt a strange tightness in her chest. He was so handsome, even with the red eyes and demonic ears and ominously pointed canines. She'd always known he was attractive. Multiple women and Serge had commented more than once that Malroth was made of muscle and heat. And yet...she wasn't sure why she'd never actually noticed how absolutely perfect he was physically.

He was rough around the edges and the constant taste for violence and aggression was something they'd need to overcome…but physically he was ideal. It a single blemish or birthmark or wayward hair out of place. Like someone had carved him out of liquid heat and put a raging personality in his handsome head of him and sent him off to wreak havoc on the world. She hadn't even found only old wounds or scars and considering his taste for violence, that said something.

Still. In terms of character there was just something about him that had changed over the course of their adventure and made keeping that promise so much more difficult than she cared to admit. He'd changed over the past year — evolved from an empty shelf to thinking, feeling, world-viewing human.

"Malroth," she whispered his name quietly but he didn't stir and his breath continued low and slow and she was certain he was asleep. Good. It so much easier to admit her faults when he was not awake to rebute them.

"Do you remember when you asked me about love?" She knew he wasn't going to answer but she spoke anyways. Her voice was soft and she wished for the first time since getting to the Aisle that morning wouldn't come. "You told me you finally understood why Goldirox gave everything up to save Babs and when I told you that was love, you asked me if that meant you loved me." The memory replayed in her mind like she was watching it from afar.

"So I must love you," Malroth had said rather confidentially. She remembered her heart skipping a beat and a queasiness in her stomach she hadn't yet understood.

"No," she'd rushed to say that too soon. "You don't love me. You're just my friend."

She breathed. She hadn't known then but come to realize now that Malroth had understood more about humanity and the human heart than even she.

"I love you too." And with that she let herself sleep too.

Author's Note:

Hello Darlings! The name's Diggy and I write a small variety of fanfiction, most notably for the Legend of Zelda. Except I just started playing Dragon Quest Builders 2 about three weeks ago...and I'm hopelessly obsessed. I love the characters and the game design and its just over all fabulous.

Anyways, if you like my writing and would like to read more - tell me so! What was your favorite part? What do you think the future will hold for these two? (in regards to this story. Don't spoil the gritty deets please!.) Please leave a comment and feel free to follow me on twitter via lizzir

Toodles!