red bottoms

words: 4,560 // ship: nerys/aglovale // rating: 18+ // modern au

You should meet me at Starbucks around...5. I’ve got something for you.

Nerys had been pondering the text she got from Aglovale earlier that day. There was no good reason for him to have gotten her a gift (like, it wasn’t her birthday or a holiday or anything), but the thought she had next made her purse her lips and roll her eyes.

It’d been two weeks since she had confronted him about the status of their relationship—though non-relationship would be more apt. Messing around had been undeniably fun, but having a relationship like that in your thirties was kind of...well, Nerys didn’t want to say it was sad, but it wasn’t what she was looking for long-term.

And she liked him. She honest-to-god loved him, even. As much as she didn’t want to admit it she’d had feelings for him for entirely too long, so yes: fucking around had been great. But if it wasn’t going to go anywhere, what was the point in continuing on?

He didn’t have an answer for her then. Aglovale said he needed some time to think about it, and she obliged (if only because she did like him so much). But it had been a few weeks and Nerys’s patience had just about run its course.

So maybe the gift was just to persuade her into giving him more time. Or maybe it was his way of letting her down easy. (Or maybe it was just a gift, Nerys, and you don’t have to be suspicious about everything.) (Or maybe, just maybe, it was something he got her to let her know that he did want to be with her for real.)

Her mind was racing but it ultimately didn’t matter, as the bus she’d been taking to the aforementioned Starbucks had reached her destination.

Stepping off the bus she took the few short steps across the sidewalk into the cozy little chain coffee shop that had become somewhat of a meeting ground for Nerys and her friends. It was located on the first floor of Aglovale’s apartment, which was conveniently also the same building Serafina lived (and where Maeve had been spending so much of her spare time lately as she totally wasn’t sleeping with Percival right now, or so she said.)

She didn’t have to look long to find him; Aglovale was almost impossible to not notice. There weren’t many tall men with long blonde hair down to their ass wandering around the city, after all.

“Nerys,” he smiled as she approached, getting up to greet her with a kiss to her cheek. It was hard to not melt into the soft embrace, but she reminded herself that she had to be vigilant. She could out-win her emotions for a little bit. She was going to get an answer out of him whether he liked it or not.

“Sorry I’m just a few minutes late,” she said. “The bus was running behind, as usual.”

She was about to sit at the table he’d just risen from, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back up from her half-sit. Ears pricking forward a bit, she gave him a confused, appraising look.

“No need to sit. I’d rather continue this conversation in my apartment, if you don’t mind.”

She was about to protest when he grabbed a venti cup from the table and pressed it into her hands. The sides of the paper cup were warm, almost uncomfortably hot, and she looked up at him to only get a little smile in return.

“I figure you’d want your usual,” he said. Venti americano, hot. “Even though it’s far too late in the afternoon to be drinking that much caffeine.”

“I work late,” she shrugged, taking a tentative sip of the coffee to test the warmth. The peace offering worked. “Anyway, you said you wanted to go up to your place, so let’s go.”

Even though the apartment Aglovale lived in was incredibly expensive and fancy and well-maintained, it seemed to be a constant that elevators were always slow. It didn’t help that his apartment was literally at the top floor of the building—the twenty-fifth floor penthouse.

For a moment, Nerys got lost in her thoughts. It really was crazy this was the life she was living right now, wasn’t it?

Her childhood was a happy one, but it wasn’t one of luxury. The kindness of her grandfather kept her out of foster care when her parents died shortly after her birth, but it’s not like they grew up with much extra to spare.

But life was a set of unlikely little chances and something amazing could always be right around the corner...you just had to make your way around it. Through and through, Nerys understood she was lucky that fate had dropped the opportunities it had in her lap—but that’s why she knew things could change in an instant.

Sometimes you don't want to leave things to fate. Sometimes you have to make things happen for yourself.

Aglovale’s voice pulled her out of her introspection.

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” he mused, leaning against the back wall of the elevator and glancing down at her. “Is everything alright?”

“You know what I’m going to say,” she said, looking over at him.

“I do.” (Of course he did.) “But I don’t think it’s a conversation for the elevator.”

“Maybe not, but you can’t keep avoiding the subject, Aglovale. I’m gonna need an answer here pretty soon. I—”

Nerys paused. She didn’t hold back her words often, but the sounds caught in her throat. I love you. I only want to be with you. Do you want that too? They were just words, but something held her back. If he felt the same way, wouldn’t he have said it already? He wasn’t one to mince words either.

It’s not like they’d never shared their feelings for one another, though. Gasped confessions of love while they were tangled around each other, swathed in the ridiculously expensive sheets on his bed that were damp with their sweat...but did he mean his words like she meant hers?

Love can truly make a fool of us all, she thought.

“You...?” he repeated after a moment. He said it like he knew what she wanted to say, but he was giving her a chance to say it herself.

“Forget about it,” she sighed, taking another sip of the coffee that she didn’t realize she’d been clenching so hard in her hands. “You said you had something for me?”

She could see his expression falter for just a moment, but knew he wouldn’t press her on it if she didn’t want to be pressed. He knows how I feel and he knows what I asked of him. So he put his characteristically warm yet uncannily icy smile back on and simply nodded.

“I do. I didn’t bring it with me to the cafe because it’s not something I should probably be carrying around, at least not in the box.”

“Oh?” she said, eyebrow raised. Now she was intrigued.

“You’ll see in just a moment.” At that, the elevator let out a gentle ‘ding’ and slowed to a halt, the doors sliding open. “What perfect timing.”

He held his arm in front of the elevator door to keep it from closing on them as they exited, her heels clicking on the marble hallway that extended to the front door of the penthouse. Unlocking the door he once again held it open for her, allowing her to enter first as he followed behind.

Aglovale’s apartment would probably never not be stunning to walk into. Nerys had been here quite a few times at this point, and every time she stopped by she was always amazed at how perfect it all looked. It literally looked like someone had pulled a page from one of those upscale home magazines and made it a reality.

“Nerys,” he called for her from the kitchenette.

Snapping back to Earth, she turned and saw him standing at the bar, a rather unassuming kraft-brown box sitting on the surface in front of him. But when she drew closer and noticed the writing on top of the box, her stomach dropped.

Christian Louboutin.

Nerys wasn’t the kind of girl who had to have designer things. She liked them, of course, and she had her fair share of nice dresses and shoes and accessories for work—but none of them were luxury, and none of them were from Christian Louboutin.

Aglovale!” she gasped, looking up at him with wide eyes, which then narrowed when she remembered her initial misgivings at his text message. “Wait, Aglovale. Do you really think you can just buy me off with nice gifts to avoid deciding if you’re going to commit to a relationship or not?”

The filter she’d had in the elevator was lost now. But Aglovale had always told her he liked her boldness, and now was no different. In fact, he almost looked...invigorated? The ice in his expression had melted, the smile genuine.

“Of course not. Do you really think I’m someone who would do that?”

“Yes.”

That earned her a little chuckle. “Maybe. But not with you. I had simply spotted these in a shop window and immediately thought of you, so I had to get them as a gift. No occasion, no nothing. Just because I wanted to.”

His words snagged in her heart like thorns, and she almost felt bad for accusing him...almost. Her fingertips danced across the lid of the box before prying it open, and she couldn’t hold back the little gasp hiding in her throat when she saw the shoes.

Truthfully, they were beautiful. Tall heels, platforms, with lots of straps and the tell-tale red bottom of a Louboutin. She would almost feel bad putting something this gorgeous on her feet, if she were to be completely honest.

As she admired the shoes, Nerys felt a pair of forearms snake around her waist and a chin settle on her shoulder.

“If they aren’t the right size, they can be exchanged. I did have Tor compare them to other shoes you’d left here, though.”

Ah, there was the odd Aglovale behavior she’d learned to know and love.

“I’m sure they’ll be perfect,” she smiled, leaning her cheek against his. “Thank you.”

At the contact his arms tightened around her and Nerys lost herself in the moment for just a little bit. Just enough to pretend that things like this could go on forever, or for as much of forever as they both had left in them.

“You should wear them tonight,” he murmured, and she could feel the movement of his lips ghosting against her neck. “With that long black dress, the one with only one sleeve and the gold necklace.”

If nothing else, his aesthetics were on point. That dress was one of her favorites (clearly one of his as well) and she knew the shoes would look perfect with it. They’d probably look perfect with anything—or nothing else at all.

“I will,” she said, her palms resting on his forearms as he embraced her. “Speaking of which, I should be getting ready...”

“Let me drive you back home. It’ll be faster than taking the bus, at any rate.”


The drive back to her apartment was uneventful.

A smattering of small talk, but they were mostly quiet while he drove and she scrolled through whatever social media on her phone was most interesting today. The silence wasn’t due to either of them being uncomfortable, but rather the exact opposite. Finding someone you could just exist next to for a bit without feeling self-conscious or weird was a magical thing.

Warmth settled in Nerys’s chest, though she also felt uneasy. She didn’t want to give this up, but if Aglovale wasn’t going to be serious about this, then she wasn’t going to put herself through the pain of trying to change that.

Before she knew it they were parked in front of her apartment (he wasn’t wrong about it being faster than the bus, after all). She made decent enough money at the jazz lounge, but still opted to live in a rather frugal apartment. It was a veritable shack compared to Aglovale’s place, but it was safe and clean and nice enough for her, so that’s all that mattered.

“I’ll see you tonight then?” she asked, looking over at him with her hand on the door handle.

“Nerys...wait just a minute.”

She slowly retracted her hand from the handle, placing it in her lap as she continued to look at him. His tone sounded...different. It was different than anything she’d ever heard from him, and when she realized that he sounded afraid the thought just couldn’t register for her. In all the time she’s known him, she’s never known him to be afraid of anything.

“The question was never if I wanted to be in a relationship with you, Nerys. Of course I do—I would be a fool to not,” he said.

“Then why didn’t you say that when I asked you two weeks ago?” she replied, voice quiet. He wasn’t looking at her at first, but glanced over to lock eyes with her at her words.

“I quite literally can’t remember the last time I was in a ‘real’ relationship,” he continued, choosing his words slowly and carefully. “I work long hours, a completely different schedule than you, even. There are things about my past I’ve never told you, things that could affect a relationship. I don’t want to commit to being your partner and then fail to deliver on my half of the bargain.”

“We can make it work. We make what we have now work, after all. Everyone has stuff wrong with them, everyone has shit that happened in the past.” She almost felt like she was begging but she didn’t care. “And despite what you might think, I don’t really need a lot...I just need you.”

Nerys reached out and placed her hand on his, pulling it off the steering wheel so she could entwine their fingers. She had no doubts that being in a relationship with Aglovale would be hard, but it wouldn’t be because of him. Rather, in spite of the difficulties, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she had never tried.

He allowed her to move his hand, though his fingers wrapped around hers and pulled her closer to him, over the center console of the car. His other hand moved from the wheel to bury into the hair at the nape of her neck, cradling her head as he caught her lips in a kiss.

Aglovale had never kissed her like this before. It wasn’t the open-mouthed embrace of passion they’d share during sex or the quick peck when she’d leave his apartment the next morning—it was the kind of kiss you gave someone you loved. The kind of kiss that drew a hum of satisfaction from his throat and vibrated against her lips; the kind of kiss that left her more breathless after he pulled away than when they were kissing.

“I’m in love with you, Nerys,” he murmured against her lips.

Her heart instantly leapt to her throat, and she couldn’t choke out a reply before he continued speaking, his voice low and soft—only meant for her in this moment.

“And I want to be with you, for real. As your partner...your boyfriend,” he said, the word pulling a little chuckle out of him. “I feel like a teenager saying it like that.”

“It’s fitting since I’ve loved you since I was seventeen,” she replied, finally finding her words and now they were spilling out of her too fast to stem the flow. “Finding you again after all of these years felt like a sign.”

He let out another small laugh, his lips finding hers for another kiss, and another, and another—god, when was the last time Nerys had made out with a guy in a car? But this felt different. Instead of the rush of adrenaline you’d get when you were doing something wrong, she felt warm and elated knowing that this was right.

“You should probably get ready for work,” he reminded her, lips separating from hers.

“I’ll call out sick. I never do, they can be without me for one night.”

“If you’re not there, who will I go watch sing then?” he asked, and she noticed a glint to his eyes that wasn’t there a moment ago. “But you should pack a bag. Wouldn’t want you walking back to your apartment tomorrow morning in those nice new shoes.”

She remembered the Louboutins on the floor between her feet and her promise to wear them to the show tonight. With a smirk she leaned over, giving him one final kiss goodbye (giving his lower lip a little nip before separating for good measure) before opening her door and clambering out, grabbing said shoebox as she did.

“Ah, Nerys?” he said, leaning over to catch her before she shut the door.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

She wasn’t one to blush at stuff like that, but when it was Aglovale she could feel a hot prickle come to her cheeks. Clearly it was enough for him to notice, because she saw the corner of his mouth pull up in the most minute of smirks.

“I love you too,” she said, almost bursting because she could say that now. He was with her now. “Drive safe.”


Nerys thought stumbling into bed with your lover was just a trope from the movies, but to be fair: nothing about today had really felt normal.

As soon as her back hit the bed he was atop her, his lips on her neck and his hands exploring her like they had forgotten what she felt like. They’d slept together plenty of times before this, but everything now felt new—the revelation of the afternoon gave everything a brand new perspective.

“Aglovale,” she breathed, arms and legs wrapped around him like he might disappear at any moment. “It’s kind of like our first time all over again...”

“I suppose so,” he replied, glancing up at her through his mess of blonde bangs. “Do you want me to be gentle?”

“Absolutely not.”

He laughed a little, resting his forehead against her shoulder for a moment before pulling back and sitting up on his knees. He’d changed out of his work suit into a more casual ensemble before meeting her at the lounge, which she was thankful for because it made undressing him all the quicker.

Before he had a chance to remove his own shirt her hands were at the hem, pushing the material up to his chest as she sat up with him. Her fingertips ghosted over his abdomen, inching the turtleneck off him more and more (the one that she knew he wore because she liked it on him so much.)

“I thought we weren’t being gentle?” he asked, and though she couldn’t see his face well in the darkness and from her angle she could hear the smirk in his voice.

“No, I said I don’t want you to be gentle with me,” she replied matter-of-factly. “I get to be gentle with you.”

“Doesn’t seem very equitable.” Nonetheless he lifted his arms so she could remove his shirt and toss it off the side of the bed.

“Life’s not always fair,” she murmured, her lips finding his neck now as her hands slid down his front to the button of his pants. With surprisingly deft movements for someone who could not see what they were doing she unfastened the button and slid the zipper down, her hand following suit to palm his growing erection through the fabric of his underwear.

Aglovale let out a frustrated sound and she smiled against him, leaving soft kisses on his fair skin. As she continued to touch him his arms wrapped around her, fingers finding the zipper on the back of her dress and unzipping it before unfastening her bra hooks for good measure.

“Impressive,” she said, leaning back just enough to shimmy out of the bodice of her dress, her strapless bra coming along with it. “I didn’t know you could do that without looking.”

“If I couldn’t comprehend how three simple hook-and-eye closures worked without looking at them, I’d be pretty disappointed in myself.”

Nerys laughed as she slid the rest of her dress off, letting the silky fabric pool on the floor before depositing her bra on top of it. She leaned down to begin unfastening the straps of the Louboutins she was wearing (as promised), but before she could, Aglovale pulled her hand back.

“Leave them on,” he murmured in her ear.

Her eyes widened, legs turning to jello as she rotated the words he’d just said to her over and over in her head. However turned on she was before that didn’t hold a candle to what she felt now, her core throbbing in time with her heartbeat as she ached for him to be inside of her.

“As you wish,” she breathed, laying back on the bed. A quiver of anticipation grew in her gut as she waited for him to make his next move—she hadn’t felt like this in a long time, and it felt good.

As she laid back he placed one hand on each of her knees, gripping her to keep her legs open as his head settled between her thighs. Maybe he did it to show off or maybe he just wanted to hold her down to keep her from squirming too much, but he pulled her underwear aside with his teeth before his lips were around her clit.

It was a good thing Aglovale was holding her down, because Nerys’s body coiled like a spring as he began to eat her out. He knew exactly how to maneuver his tongue to drive her insane. but all of the sensations were elevated tonight—it was the first time he was giving her oral as her boyfriend.

Nerys knew it wouldn’t take long for her to finish. Orgasms usually came quite easily to her (pun only half-intended), and tonight was certainly not an exception. She could feel the climax building deep within her, a warm tension pooling between her legs that inched closer and closer to snapping with every pass of his tongue.

“A-aglovale, wait,” she gasped, pushing his head back. He obliged, pulling back just enough so he could speak without brushing his lips against her.

“What is it?”

“I’m so close to cumming but I wanna do it with you inside of me.”

“...” he looked at her, speechless for just a moment. “Jesus, Nerys. If I wasn’t hard before, I certainly am now.”

He didn’t even bother to finish undressing. As he sat up from his prone position and shimmied his underwear down enough to free the erection that had been straining against his clothing for a good bit now, she reached into his bedside drawer to fish out a condom.

Handing the little foil packet to him, he ripped the wrapper open with his teeth (which never failed to be sexy as hell) and rolled the condom on. She could see a glisten of something at the head of his cock, and the reminder that she had the ability to work him up that much after barely touching him brought a smug little smirk to her lips.

The grin was wiped from her face in the next moment, however, when Aglovale climbed atop her once more. He fingertips dug into the soft flesh of her thigh as he grabbed one of her legs, pushing it up and back to allow deeper access as his member sunk easily into her.

“Fuck,” she groaned, head tipping back against his pillows. No matter how many times they slept together she could never get over the sensation of his cock buried inside of her, the two of them melded as one as he took her again and again and again.

“Look at me,” he commanded, and she obliged without thinking. Letting go of her leg he grabbed her chin, not allowing her to look away as he maintained eye contact before continuing.

“You’re mine, aren’t you, Nerys?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“I always have been...” Her voice had been reduced to what was essentially a whine, which might have embarrassed her any other time but right now she couldn’t care less.

“And I’m yours,” he murmured, lips ghosting against hers. “And I love you so much.”

She didn’t expect that to be the tipping point for her climax. As soon as the words left his lips, Nerys felt a surge of feeling grow inside of her and explode, the orgasm that had been taught in her core snapping at the same time.

He slowed his thrusts for a moment to allow her to finish, a satisfied—almost smug—look on his features before he kissed her, swallowing the moans she spilled into his mouth as her orgasm petered out until she was left shaking in his arms.

“There’s a good girl,” he said, the satisfied look still on his face. “I didn’t think that’s what would push you over the edge, though.”

“So you’re saying if I told you I loved you, that wouldn’t get you closer?”

“I didn’t say that.”

And so she whispered all of her love for him as he drove into her, the sounds of their coupling growing louder and more intense until he finally reached his own breaking point. His rhythm faltered for a moment before he thrust into her fully one final time, burying himself inside her cunt as he came.

Knowing she could reduce him to this—a groaning, twitching mess—was more satisfying than she had ever expected it to be. And though she’d seen him orgasm countless times by now, it felt like she was seeing it all again for the first time.

“That felt good, huh?” Nerys asked as he finished, his breathing slowing to normal before pulling out of her and rolling back on the bed.

“You’ve no idea.” He sounded exhausted and somehow, that made her feel incredibly gratified.

“You should probably clean up before you get cum all over your bed.”

“Probably,” he sighed sleepily, but sat up nonetheless. She crawled over to him and placed a little kiss on his cheek before murmuring in his ear, an impish little lilt to her voice.

“Next time just finish in my mouth, then you won’t have to worry about it.”

“...If that’s what you want for breakfast, suit yourself.”

Nerys laughed a little, kissing his cheek again and then his neck and then his shoulder until he finally got up to clean up in the bathroom. Peeling off her underwear and finally taking off the heels, exhaustion finally hit her like a truck as she curled up under the covers.

‘I love you, Nerys.’

She wasn’t sure if she was replaying the events of the day in her head or if Aglovale had returned to bed, but either way she mumbled a sleepy ‘love you too, Aggy’ before sleep finally claimed her for the night, a strong pair of arms holding her as she drifted off.