just ash

chapter 26 ⚠️

When Ash woke up, she knew exactly where she was.

She knew exactly why it was warmer than usual in her blanket burrito, she knew why the mattress dipped next to her.  She knew why the unfamiliar, delicate metallic weight resting at the base of her throat was the only article she was wearing.  She knew why when she shifted, her muscles whined in the best of ways. 

She knew, and the knowledge of everything that had happened the night before had Ash smiling through a gigantic yawn.

After contorting her body through its daily stretch-and-squeal routine, Ash rolled over and caught an eyeful of the unidentifiable lump on the other side of her bed.  The only indication a human was in there was the soft, sleepy sounds it emitted and the poofy tuft of blonde hair poking out its top. 

Ash grinned and scooched closer.  As she did, she realized Namjoon was laying facing away from her, his back to her front.  He had the comforter pulled all the way up to his shoulders, but Ash gently tugged it away so she could curl up behind him.  His skin was as smooth and soft as she remembered, even with the goosebumps that sprouted up the moment his back was exposed to the crisp air of Ash's bedroom.

Namjoon stirred when Ash began pressing kisses to the back of his neck.  Her touch had him sighing and shifting, the muscles of his back moving against Ash's bare chest as he tried to turn over to face her.

Ash grunted a lazy objection.

She wanted to be the big spoon, damnit.

Exhaling a chuckle, Namjoon relaxed again, letting Ash wrap around him from behind.  It was quite the feat, but once Ash's leg was over his hip, his ass pressed to her crotch, her arm resting at his waist – Ash was at home.  The pair's skin was the same color in the light of late morning, roasted hazelnut against cream sheets. 

Not only did it feel beautiful to be with Namjoon; it looked beautiful, too.

Ash listened as Namjoon's breathing evened out again, on the edge of slumber.  Reaching up to run a hand through his bedhead, Ash gently brushed his strands so they lay flat(ish) against his head.  Kissing his neck was much easier now that Ash wouldn't get stabbed in the eye with a stray follicle, so she resumed her lips' path from the hair at his nape to the knob of his spine.

With the hand Ash just ran along his scalp, Ash traced the shell of Namjoon's ear with a fingertip.  At that he shifted again, tilting his neck into the pillows so Ash could follow her finger with her tongue.  Namjoon's ears must be sensitive, because his entire body shivered as she brought his lobe into her mouth, sucking it before letting it drag between her teeth.

While her mouth was busy, Ash's hand trailed from his ear along the line of his neck, then across his broad shoulder.  His muscles twitched and his breath hitched as Ash let her fingernail slightly dig into his flesh as it continued its path down his arm to his wrist.  Ash hummed happily in Namjoon's ear once her fingers finally tangled with his longer ones, and he squeezed back when she moved her mouth's focus to the steadily increasing pulse at Namjoon's neck. 

Ash smiled against his skin when he brought their joined hands up to his own mouth, kissing the tips of Ash's fingers.  One by one.  She could feel him so well – his full lips, his hot breath, his wet tongue.  The nerve endings Namjoon's lips brushed sent fiery signals straight to the ones in Ash's crotch, leaving her gasping in his ear.

She wanted him.

She needed him.

With a high whine, Ash yanked her fingers away from Namjoon's mouth so she could slide it quickly down his chest.  She tweaked a nipple on her way down, making Namjoon moan short and fast and surprised.  The sound deepened when Ash's nails grazed his tummy, continuing determinedly down until –