"Wasn''t so hard, was it?" Ares smirked as he looked down at Bellona. Her face was still flushed but she wasn''t so shy anymore.
"It was... I bet you didn''t even say it to Enyo first!"
"Actually I did, so bleh." Ares stuck his tongue out at Bellona who turned her cheek to him and pouted to the side. "Haha, you can be really cute sometimes." Bellona bit her lip and tried turning further away. Hearing compliments made her overjoyed but also embarrassed and she wasn''t sure how to respond... Actually, a thought ran through her head and she went with it.
Thwack
As if harkening back to the good old days, Ares was laid flat out on the kitchen floor as Bellona huffed and puffed while storming out and into the living room. Ares pulled himself up with a sigh and shook his head. It would seem he was going to have to help Bellona overcome her own brand of shyness. Enyo had trouble being seen but liked compliments, Bellona had no issue being seen but couldn''t handle compliments. These two were eerily similar sometimes. As for the issue itself, Bellona''s was definitely easier to deal with but Ares could tell it was going to be painful for him getting decked over and over again. Still, it wasn''t a deep rooted issue or anything so once the hail of blows ceased he would be good to go. As for how to go about getting closer to Bellona... He had an idea! Later on that night he would execute operation ''bait and switch''. For now though it was hotpot time... And ''fend of Rhea and Enyo who were greedily looking for leftover cookies to steal'' time... The household was always eventful whenever the Legion women were on the prowl, that''s for sure.
Time passed and everyone did their own thing. Aejaz and Allie had come into the living room and waited for dinner while chatting with Rhea and Enyo, properly introducing themselves to the former. Rhea was interested in both their unique aspects because she just generally liked seeing new magic. After a few demonstrations she was content and the conversation shifted to more personal details like Aejaz'' ''family''. Rhea had heard of the Fleeting Glimpse clan and all the pieces of the puzzle fit into place upon learning Aejaz was a member of the main branch. It explained a lot about him and proved her guess about him being an assassin type correct. She felt sympathetic for him after learning about his abandonment and also finally learnt how he came across Ares and vice versa. After that it was Allie''s turn and so the conversation went on. As dinner time came around, so too did Appa and Leo who had been playing hide and seek... It seemed someone else had been playing the game unintentionally too as they weren''t present at the dinner table after Ares had set it all up. That damnable drunkard Sadie had probably gone and taken a nap in someone''s room when no one was looking! Ares just started eating without fetching her. You snooze you lose, you loser boozer! She did show up halfway through the meal, though, as her sense of smell had come in clutch and informed her there was food to be devoured. She whipped a can of beer out of her spatial ring and went to town. During the meal Ares gave Rhea some Snappas to give to Appa which left them both content. Fate bickered back and forth with Enyo leaving Ares to playfully tease Bellona. For the most part she just flat out ignored him and ate the food... Although she did acquiesce to Ares'' badgering once when he offered to spoon feed her, the embarrassment she felt afterwards drove her to punch him again. Rhea chimed in with a threat after asserting that there was ''no place for violence at the dinner table''. Both Legion sisters were familiar with this turn of phrase thanks primarily to their other sister Pele being quite hot blooded. Ares served up dessert, apple crumble and custard, as he discussed with Rhea the intricacies of his pillar and its aspects as well as the existence of Dominus inside him. After that lengthy topic he mentioned the banquet he was going to host for her family due to the bet he lost. They finalised the details before Ares turned to Fate and discussed something similar for his own family. And thus two different days had been booked out for chef Ares to do his thing. They would be interesting days for sure considering the fact that there were a bunch of people he hadn''t met before that were going to be present. They weren''t just anyone either, they were all going to be family going forward so he was going to have to try and make a good impression. The only major person that would be missing was his father, Aster, as he usually stayed behind to make sure everyone was safe in case Major tried anything funny at this time of year when Calla was away. If what Ares had heard of the man was accurate then that was probably for the best lest Ares receive a smackdown at the hands of his own father. Cowardly though it may be, Ares had zero confidence meeting the man without his over-protective mother around. Supposedly she was the shield which all the children hid behind to escape Aster''s sparring sessions. She took their place to spare them and had beaten Aster senseless more times than Fate could count.
Night rolled around and everyone stayed over. Rhea and Fate were given the two remaining spare rooms, at which point Sadie realised she''d been duped! Last time she slept here she had assumed there were no spare rooms and she''d dozed off on the couch! Ares had specifically not informed her there was a bed for her if she wanted it. When she put him in the hot seat and demanded answers he retorted that it was punishment for throwing up in his garden and that he also didn''t want her puking in any of the beds. Yes the vomit incident had been a one off but, on the off chance it happened again, the last thing Ares wanted was for it to be in a bedroom. Sadie couldn''t refute his refutation and was thus left stranded in the living room again. Granted there was no extra rooms left anyway but she had been hoping Rhea would spare her some pity and share the room. Unfortunately for Sadie, when Rhea learnt of the vomit incident she opted to not have the bile... Ahem... Vile woman in close proximity to her during the night. As far as room allocation went, there was also one more interesting thing happening today that had never happened on any other day prior. Enyo was not sharing a room with anyone! She was a tad irked about this but there was nothing else for it. Appa was cuddling Rhea. Fate was someone she would rather not be near. Sadie was a big no for all sorts of reasons. Aejaz and Allie would probably be going at it like animals. And then there was Bellona. Bellona would not be on her own today. Of course she wouldn''t ever let Ares in intentionally and yet Ares wasn''t in the room with Enyo either which could only mean one thing. He was going to sneak into the room when Bellona let her guard down. Normally this would be difficult but, thanks to Ares'' diverse skillset, he had the means to make it happen.
In Bellona''s room the woman herself had just hopped into bed and gotten comfortable under the covers. Before she switched off the light she looked at the door one last time to triple check it was fully closed. Rubbing her hands together like a racoon, Bellona took the body pillow out of her space ring and placed it carefully next to her. She took off the ring and placed it on the bedside table before switching off the lights and assaulting the pillow. Her smile was so radiant it practically shone in the dark as she bear hugged the pillow and quietly squealed in happiness. She clearly felt good having gotten the weight of her chest and getting the answer she''d been longing to hear. She was fully aware things weren''t going to progress far between her and Ares for a good while, because she was still reluctant to an extent, but this sort of measured distance was still better than nothing at all. It was awkward realising how long he''d known about her feelings, and she''d certainly been played like a fiddle, but none of that stopped her from enjoying the pillow at least. Maybe it was because of everything that had happened today but the pillow felt oddly real. Perhaps the memory of earlier was so vivid she was simulating the sense of touch. Briefly, she was particularly pleased with her brain''s impressive ability to recreate the sensation of touching Ares but, when she realised it went beyond that, she started to get wary. She hadn''t felt his chest this clearly nor did she remember clearly his manly scent; at least not to this extent, and yet it all felt oddly real. She panicked and thought Ares had snuck into the room so her hand darted to the light switch and she flicked it back on... But there was nothing? She scoured the room but it was completely empty. Not a single Ares in sight... Other than the one on the body pillow, anyway. She placed her hand on the pillow and it still felt strangely realistic. The scent was gone but the confirmation of the feeling of Ares'' chest made her think she was imagining the smell and that her senses were just really on point today. She looked around the room again and still nothing was out of the ordinary so she cautiously flicked off the light switch and leant back on the pillow. She pretended to fall asleep to try and catch pesky Ares in the act of messing with her but nothing came of it so she simply assumed she was being driven crazy by love and went to sleep. As she sunk into the land of dreams, the pillow felt realer and realer, becoming more and more sturdy. The line between reality and dream blurred and Bellona could feel arms wrapping around her and pulling her in; almost like the pillow was fighting back. The dream took a weird turn and now she had become the pillow and was being hugged by Ares. She was too far gone to wake up and so she drifted off into slumber only partially aware that she was clinging onto the real Ares just as he was holding onto her.
Ares felt somewhat guilty tricking her and making her doubt her sanity but it was a necessary step. She would have just shooed him out otherwise and Ares was a goal oriented man if ever there was one. The ends justified the means and this was a trick he would struggle to pull off again. He''d even borrowed Aejaz'' concealed serpent for this, combining it with the prowler to remain invisible in the room while using nothingness to overlap his chest with the pillow whilst out of sight. When Bellona dozed off he swapped places with the pillow via a Shift and Bob''s your uncle. Whether or not he would need to pull this stunt off again or not was dependant on how Bellona reacted to it. Still, that was a problem for future Ares to deal with. Specifically the Ares of tomorrow. An Ares that would either be kicked off the bed in his sleep and wake up on the cold, hard floor, or an Ares that was still on the bed, basking in the warmth of his wife-to-be''s loving arms with a slither of drool on his chest... Actually, the drool was already there. Bellona''s habit of drooling was rather consistent. Ares just ignored it though and kissed Bellona on the forehead while wishing her a ''goodnight''. She didn''t mumble back but she did squirm closer to him. Ares closed his eyes and dozed off shortly after, leaving his fate in the hands of Bellona. Even if he woke up before her he would just go back to sleep. Whatever happened from here on out was up to her. It had to be. She had to be mature and make decisions herself on how far and how fast she wanted things to go.
The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Next morning.
The rays of light from the morning sun came creeping in around the edges of the curtain, banishing the darkness and revealing Ares'' form to a stunned Bellona who thought her mind was playing tricks on her. Before falling asleep she''d convinced herself it was just a body pillow and nothing more. Now that the real Ares was here she was genuinely wondering if her eyes were malfunctioning. She could hear his light breathing as she inched closer towards his sleeping face. He looked peaceful and the urge to throw him off the bed dwindled the more she looked at him. her hand slowly drifted back onto his topless chest and she carefully, in a bid to not wake him up, stroked his body. Just like the body pillow, he was warm to the touch... But what about the lower half? No, she already knew it wasn''t true. Touching him there wouldn''t make her colder. She knew it all too well... And yet she had to use that idea as an excuse to justify feeling him. She was envious of all the stories Enyo had told her and wanted to just get a sneak peak. It would be atrocious if Ares woke up but the curiosity was overwhelming and she couldn''t stop her hand from inching downwards with every stroke. Eventually she couldn''t even see her hand anymore as it ventured further south and below the covers. It roamed over his stomach, across his waist, and finally drifted next to his pelvic region.
??
She debated whether to have her hand slither into his pyjama shorts or rest atop them. Nervous about making a mistake and waking him, she took the safer route to start with and felt his bump with a layer of fabric between them. She felt the contours of his penis and was momentarily startled when the shape changed. She thought Ares woke up and was shifting his position on the bed, thus affecting his crotch''s position too. She realised shortly after it was something else entirely. He was hardening at her touch and his penis was growing. His shorts were stretched and she could run her hands along part of the fabric that had pitched a tent but feeling his bulge had gotten a little more tricky. The head of his cock was right there but Bellona worried that pleasuring the tip would disturb Ares'' slumber. Although cowardly, Bellona decided to leave things here lest they escalate in an unfavourable direction. She retracted her hand and sighed but was taken aback when Ares started breathing roughly and lightly thrusting his hips; the movement of which made the tip of his dick tap against Bellona''s leg. He looked tense and agitated as he repeated the thrusts and Bellona gaslit herself into believing she needed to fix things. She''d caused the morning wood, certainly, but this train of thought was entirely self-serving. Really, she just wanted to put her hand on his cock and aid his ejaculation.
She couldn''t be honest with herself mentally but physically she was determined. She dribbled onto her palm and went all the way this time, invading Ares'' shorts with her wet hand. One of her knuckles brushed against his shaft and she bit her lip in excitement. Slowly, ever so slowly, she put her palm on his fully erect and warm shaft. Her spit-lubed hand stayed in place as Ares'' cock rubbed past it again and again, causing him to let out groans of pleasure. Bellona moved closer to his mouth to hear his ragged breaths and feel them on her cheek.
"Mm."
Wanting to gratify Ares further and drag his deep voice out even more, Bellona wrapped her fingers around his shaft one by one, forming a kind of tunnel for Ares dick to scrape against with every thrust. The callouses on her rough hands drove him to thrust harder and lean in towards Bellona. His hand fumbled around before landing on her ass cheek. Though her chest was relatively flat her ass was shapely and soft so the sleeping Ares instinctively grabbed it firmly between his fingers. As he rocked his hips he fondled Bellona who had to bite her lips even harder not to moan out loud. Small cries snuck out from her lips on occasion and she could feel her nipples harden as she got excited by the though of Ares enjoying her body. She used her free hand to reach down towards her light pink, protruding nipples that were poking her shirt. They were long and hard, sticking out of her chest like a sore thumb. She tweaked one, lightly pinching it and eventually inadvertently causing her to yelp as she had a light orgasm. She wanted more so she greedily lifted her shirt and rubbed her chest against Ares'' to stimulate both nipples at the same time. She had to cover her mouth with her free hand to prevent herself from squealing in Ares'' face. Ares'' was close to orgasm as Bellona''s nipples were dragged across his chest and her bumpy hand wet his dick. "Bellona..." He mumbled her name between gasps for air and Bellona rewarded him for thinking about her by stroking her hand along his dick and kissing him lightly on the lips, fully pushing him over the edge and causing him to throb and cum in her grip. "Mm, mm, m..." Ares'' lips quivered underneath Bellona''s as he orgasmed. His pleasured grunts tickled Bellona''s lips while she moved her hand to catch Ares'' cum by cupping her palm over the tip of his penis. She separated from him and tasted his cum before quietly escaping the room and running towards the bathroom to pleasure herself.
??
Meanwhile Ares opened one eye and glanced at the door. He chuckled before closing his eyes and going back to sleep. He hadn''t quite planned on this but he wasn''t complaining. A hand job to start the morning was as good an option as any. Plus he''d learnt a bit about Bellona''s body. Her rear was decently curvy, just as much as her sister''s if not a teensy bit bigger. Her chest was flat but pressing up directly against it felt heavenly. Her nipples were large when at full mast, undoubtedly bigger than most. And last but not least her rough hands were spectacular. He was curious about the rest of her body too but that was for a later date. Based on how busy he was going to be going forward, and how much time he would be spending with Enyo, Ares probably wouldn''t lay a hand on her any more than this until leaving Sheryashka at least. There was simply too much to do and too many places to visit. Plus Bellona would struggle to come to terms with going further because she wasn''t entirely over the whole ''sister''s husband'' thing yet. In other words, it would be slow sailing... Although maybe he could get a handy every now and then.
Ares was only pretending to be asleep to help Bellona feel comfortable being daring, now that the matter was over and done with he was going to come clean about the fact that he''d been very much awake and that he''d very much enjoyed himself. Right now, though, he was somewhat tired. He had, in fact, woken up before Bellona but he was so interested in seeing how she would react that he stayed up for hours until the lazy bones herself opened her eyes. He could thank her after he caught some shut eye as he had a gut feeling she wasn''t going to run away from him and hide. Although he was asleep he wound up being correct as Bellona anxiously peeked her head into her own room and crept back into the bed. She convinced herself, falsely, that Ares was none-the-wiser and that if she just went to sleep she could get away with pretending nothing had happened. She was dead wrong, obviously, but it gave her the courage to cuddle up to Ares with a silly smile and rest her head on his chest. Thus they both went back to sleep again... And once more, Bellona dribbled on Ares. If Enyo saw Bellona ''marking her territory'' like this there would have been a devastating war that ensued afterwards, sister or not.
Two hours later Ares woke up with a yawn at the same time as Bellona. She tried to pull away from him but he hugged her tight and kissed her neck. After gently nibbling on her ear he whispered into it in a soothing voice. "Earlier was great. Your hands are lovely. Let''s do it again sometime." All fell silent and Ares let Bellona nestle on his chest while he ran his fingers through her hair. He could feel her flushed cheek on his pec and it took him his all to keep his laughter buried in the pit of his stomach. He was really trying hard here! "Did you enjoy yourself as much as I did?" Directing the question at her flustered Bellona a bit but she nodded her head up and down to silently respond. Ares leant down and whispered into her ear again, this time more aggressively for the sake of an experiment he was conducting. "Good girl." Bellona shivered and curled up, even going as far as to hide her head in her hands. Ares had uncovered the key to both the Legion sister''s hearts and filed away that useful information for a later date. "This side of you is cute, and I really do like it, but I hope one day you can go back to your normal self around me too. Your playful retorts and tomboyish aggression are something I''ll miss if I don''t get to see them you know?"
…
…
…
"Fuck you." Bellona banged a fist against Ares'' chest and defiantly smacked him.
"Hmph, I guess love has made you weak. I remember the good old days when you actually packed a real punch. Now you just hit like a little girl."
"FUCK YOU!"
Thwack
Bellona uppercut Ares jaw and the two started wrestling again like they used to. There was a bit of extra laughter thrown into the mix which was new but it cemented the changes that occurred between them. Bellona came out the victor, pinning Ares beneath her and holding his hands together above his head. She looked down with a cocky grin at Ares and kissed him confidently before sticking her tongue out at him and hopping off the bed. As she left the room she threw a middle finger in his direction and said "The pillow was better in bed."
Ares snorted but didn''t bother responding as Bellona had already scampered away, probably to go find her sister and gush about how amazing he was! Or that was his head cannon at least, believing it made him feel better about not getting a retort in before she fled the room. In reality she was likely just going to gossip before sitting down at the table and demanding breakfast from him just like everybody else in this house. That was the way Ares liked it, though, so he couldn''t complain. Instead, he got up on his feet, put his shirt on, and braced himself for the day ahead. Today would be a day on the town. Aejaz had been completing contracts for Hans in his spare time so it was time for him to check in personally and Enyo, Rhea, and presumably Bellona were going to pay My Fair Lady a visit. Ares himself didn''t have anything specific to do but fresh air was fresh air so he figured he would tag along and scour the streets for anything interesting. The contenders for the international should all have arrived by now so maybe he could sneak a cheeky peek at the competition if he got lucky enough. Heh, who knows, maybe he''d even fight them prematurely.