"Don't-Don't touch me,"
In which Noah Harden despised being touched and is dragged in front of three thrones. Noah took one look at those blinking red eyes and was certain he'd made a mistake in vacationing in Volterra. That is, until he realised th...
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Noah Harden was shamelessly dozing against the numerous cushions when the door slammed open. Blinking in shock and instantly cringing against the bruise blooming on his lip and jaw, the human watched as Caius stalked across the room, looking fit to march a trail in the smoothly polished marble. He was in a bad mood and it amused Noah endlessly.
"Well hello to you too," he spoke calmly, leaning into the arm of the couch as he watched Caius almost throw his bedroom door off its hinges, stamping up the few stairs to it with the fury of a stampede. When he heard his voice, Caius whipped back around with venomous eyes. Noah felt his lips unwillingly twitch in amusement. He looked impossibly humourous when in a bad mood. How did he even know that? He'd never seen Caius in a particularly good mood.
"You don't get to speak," he all but hissed, abandoning his bedroom to stalk back over and hover behind the other half of the couch. It was then that Noah noticed the gloves back in place. Why? Was it a precaution? To stop Caius from growing addicted to his touch as Aro had? Did Caius even know about that particular addiction? Or, less likely, was it for Noah's sake? Because he didn't like being touched? Again, did Caius even know that? Did he care? The thought of being touched by Caius equally excited and nauseated Noah.
"Ever? I am just supposed to sit here and never speak again?" he raised an eyebrow, leaning back into the couch again to sling an arm along the length of the back. Caius watched the motion and Noah did his best to pretend that the scanning gaze didn't affect him. But in truth, the sight of those shimmering ruby eyes were a slice of heaven that had his nerves jumping.
"I don't want you here," Caius attempted again as if saying it over and over would make him disappear.
"As you have made abundantly clear... Countlessly," he gestured to his bruised face and Caius seemed quite proud of his artwork, his lips twitching but failing to commit to a smile. Perhaps if he'd broken a bone, he'd have smiled, maybe if he'd killed him, he'd have laughed. "It doesn't seem that Aro cares where either of us stands on that issue."
"Where do you stand?" Caius leant forward, resting his forearms on the back of the chair and Noah's eyes involuntarily flickered to where his shirt tightened over his chest. What would happen if he touched him? Would Caius suddenly want him around? It wasn't so much an addiction to him so much as an addiction to the euphoria. Noah didn't know what Aro had been like before to adequately test his theory. Would Aro have kept him around if not for that touch? Would he have tolerated his disrespect and moved him to Caius' rooms? There seemed to be no reasonable answer to that last one.
"Do you care?"
"Not particularly," Caius returned, tapping a beat with his hands against the couch. Noah felt his lips twitched again and he forced it away again. Best not to let Caius think that he cared. "But play along, let us pretend for a moment to be something other than savage monsters," he smiled now, the falsest smile Noah had ever seen, it was a twisted smirk and Noah watched as he stalked to a small table in the corner, grabbing a crystal glass and half-filling it with a red substance and an orange substance in equal measure. Liquor and blood, Noah didn't know whether to be disgusted or impressed but he couldn't exactly judge. "Want one?"
