Chapter Text
Jax barely stops moving, only slowing down to a torturous pace as he looks towards…Caine, who is currently floating about 4 feet above us. I hope he can't see the tears flowing through my eyes. It's a little embarrassing to be walked (or…floated?) in on like this, But Jax doesn't even seem to care…he's still going, albeit very, very slowly—WHY IS HE STILL GOING?!
“Oh, heya Caine.” Jax smirks up at Caine as his grip tightens on my wrists. “What are you doing here?”
Caine tilts his head at us. “I just wanted to check up on you both! I was scared you were getting violent with the princess and rushed to prevent you from going off script, but by the looks of it, you're…not. Mind explaining this course of action to me, please? I don't think I'm aware of it.”
“I-it's—!”
“It's a totally normal thing that knights who are loyal to their beautiful princesses do, of course. A natural expression of love. Nothing violent here.” I can see (and feel) him holding back…some kind of noise. I can't tell if it's laughter or something else.
“It's normal? Well, did you have to rip your costume for it? I spent a lot of time on that thing…”
“Mmm, yeah…totally my bad. Besides that, it’s entirely in character for the both of us. A little improv won’t hurt, will it?.” His voice is a little breathless, looking up at Caine with the dumbest smirk I've ever seen on him as he's STILL punctuating every other sentence with chaste thrusts. “You might wanna consider not interrupting us. It's seen as a little rude where I'm from. Wouldn't wanna speak on behalf of her majesty, but I can only assume it's the same for her, right?”
His thumb lovingly rubs the inside of my palm, and I can feel myself shiver a bit. God, pull yourself together…
I nervously speak up with a soft whisper, hoping my voice doesn't sound too weird in the wake of what we're doing right in front of Caine. “Y-yeah, it’s…normal…”
…That's really all I can muster out of myself without going insane.
Caine puts on his ringmaster act again, whimsically grabbing his floating cane. “Well then, I'll leave you two lovebirds to your roles! Great performances, by the way, I am LOVING this interpretation!” He exits through another one of his portals, leaving me and Jax to our own.
After a bit of breathy silence, Jax wraps his arms tightly around me, bringing his lips to mine as he slowly begins to quicken his pace, still trying and failing to hide his obvious nervousness.
He brings one of his hands to my thigh, and his lips detach from mine as he laughs lightly at the condition I’m in. I try to say anything to him, but I still can't make anything audible over my moaning. I don't even know what I'd want to convey to him anyway.
“Having a good time, princess?”
He's trying so hard to be tough while I can feel his trembles and his tail wagging. His ears slowly droop down as he keeps going and his voice has gotten progressively shakier. My hands claw at the metal armor on his back as he bends my body in half, keeping us in a mating press as he keeps going deeper…
“Oh my god, I…Jax, I can’t—!”
“Didn’t I t-tell you to…to shut up already?!” Despite him telling me very loudly to shut up, he kisses my neck and continues to tell me to “keep going” under his breath. My hand trails up his back and goes to the back of his head, gently petting him. He flinches, but doesn’t stop me.
He almost…whines at the feeling. He moves to look down at me, his arms still holding me tight. “Could ya STOP tryna…g-get all affectionate? This…this doesn’t mean anything, you know that, r-right?” His voice is desperate, but not because he’s begging me to stop being…nice, or whatever the hell he’s talking about. He’s close.
My voice comes out as a whisper, and I look him in the eyes.
“If it doesn’t mean anything, prove it. Pull out right now and I’ll believe you.”
His expression darkens a bit, and in his contemplative and still silence, he starts pounding into me as hard as he can, pinning me to the bed again.
“I don’t have to prove ANYTHING to you, alright, your majesty?!”
I’m practically seeing stars at this point. I feel weaker than I ever have before, but god if it isn’t addictively good. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt this way. I can’t remember anything in this moment, and I hate how much he’s taken my mind, how much he’s taken me—!
Before I know it, I’m actually begging for more, and I’m so out of it that I don’t even say anything about how much he’s actually praising me (and not trying to hide it).
“You…you feel too perfect for this to…!”
“Don’t—! S…shit, don’t ever stop—!!”
I squirm underneath him as I feel myself finish at the sensation. It's indescribable. I’m not sure if it’s euphoric or beyond sobering.
He wraps his arms around me desperately as he chases his own climax, groaning as he finally shoots thick ropes into my body. He pulls out, just resting. He doesn’t fall asleep, but he’s clearly exhausted as he buries his face into my neck. I don’t move, my arms staying wrapped around him as post-nut clarity hits me faster than I’d like. Not that I wasn’t expecting after…this.
“...You’re really…REALLY annoying, you know that?” He breaths out, his hand moving gently rub my hip.
I sigh. I don’t really know what to say.
…why did we even DO this?
I sit up on the bed, making sure he can actually stand as I do so. “Do you…need anything? You look kinda tired.”
He snaps out of whatever daze he was in and gives me his usual smirk. “Are you actually worried about your humble knight, princess?” I grab my discarded gown and start slipping it on again, looking towards him.
“I mean, I guess I can’t give you proper aftercare, but…”
…
He tilts his head at me, giving me a confused look I don't see on him often. “Sorry, what?”
I blink. “...well, you know. Considering I can't, like…get you a glass of water or anything like that. Because we’re in a cage.”
“What is—” He looks around at our surroundings as I remind him that we're inside a cage. “Oh, right. We're in a cage. I forgot, hah.”
He stretches his arms and back a bit before somehow fixing his ripped bodysuit and making himself decent.
“Well, that's the end of that. Now we have to sit here and wallow in the aftermath. Ain’t that fun?”
He sits next to me as I’m lying down. I can see his tail wagging. “And wasn’t that better than some boring heart-to-heart?”
“...Jax, if there’s something you want to talk about, you CAN tell me about it. You know that, right?” I’m a little scared that he’ll get real pissy if I try to actually get him to talk since he seems ever so allergic to proper conversations. As long as I keep it simple and gentle, he’ll come around, right?
He scoffs at my words, almost laughing. “I meant it when I said that it didn’t mean anything. You don’t have to immediately get all sappy with me just because you had a good time, princess.”
“Jax, this isn’t about any hypothetical feelings I have towards you. Not everything I do has some ulterior motive for my own personal gain; I'm just making sure you understand that you can actually be genuine with me without fear.”
I’m not sure if any of that was simple or gentle. Either way, he doesn’t respond, but he lies down next to me soon after.
After a bout of awkward silence, I rest my head on his shoulder. He flinches, but he isn’t immediately pushing me off, which is nice. The armor pokes at my neck a bit, but I don’t really care. It’s not like it’s uncomfortable, anyway…
Just as he’s about to do something, two thick packets are dropped right onto us without warning. I take the paper off my face and look at the front.
“SURPRISE!!!!!! The script has been changed!!!!!!!! Check the thing for new info!!!!! You’ll be sent to your spots in the story soon!!!!! Bye bye!!!!!!!! Have FUN!!!!! From your favorite ringmaster CAINE(that's me!)!!!”
I check my page. It’s practically gibberish, but the gist is that there’s going to be some royal ball we’ll be going to instead of some dark force keeping us in here, and the goal is to make sure the NPCs are entertained. If they aren’t happy with the celebration, they’ll leave and we lose, but if we win, we get an “ULTRA MEGA PRIZE!!!!” (no other details provided). Why did he write the first script if we weren’t going to actually follow through with it’s plot? We just got dropped in this cage for nothing??
“Oh boy, he took out Zooble being hit with a rock. This sequel sucks.” Jax smirks as he sits up, poking my side. “You excited for a fancy party, your highness?”
I don't respond, attempting to stand up and failing almost instantly. My legs are still so shaky from…well, Jax.
He raises an eyebrow. “You nervous or something? It's just a fancy party with a bunch of NPCs. Don't sweat it, princess.”
“I'm not nervous, my legs are just shaky from…you know.” I still sound a little out of breath.
He tilts his head at me, sounding more curious about it than concerned. “Is that, uh, bad?”
“Not…particularly? I mean, I've been in worse condition after sleeping with someone. Having trouble walking after being that rough is—”
His eyes are wide. “You've slept with other guys?”
“...I mean, I've slept with a decent amount of people. I was a little…insane during high school. I was just trying to figure myself out, you know.”
“Huh.”
He's uncharacteristically quiet, his pupils growing slightly as he looks down at me. He soon snaps out of it, putting a smirk back on again. “Psshhh, you? Being ‘insane in high school?’ I find that hard to believe. Kinda figured you were the type to save yourself for the right person instead of being such a horndog.”
I'm almost offended at that. “Why? Because I'm not like that now?”
He pokes my forehead. “No, because you're a huge dork.”
“Well, that's… actually pretty fair. Also kind of what I said in the first place.” He just smirks, throwing the script in his hands to the side and standing up, grabbing his sword.
“I wonder if I'll even be able to use this dumb sword. You think I'll be able to protect you from evil using this piece of scrap metal, princess?”
I snicker a bit. Cartoon logic can only get someone so far. “I doubt it.”
He gasps in mock offense. “You're seriously doubting your loyal knight? Gosh, I don't even think I know who you are anymore. This isn't the princess I swore to protect all those years ago…” He sheds a fake tear, turning away.
I stand up, legs still shaking, and kiss his cheek. “There. You feel any better, Sir Jax?”
He immediately stops, and I see a faint blush come across his face. He immediately shakes it off and looks away, hiding any trace of a smile and waving me off. “Not at all, your highness.”
We’re then spontaneously teleported to the ball. It’s in this big, gaudy, stereotypical ballroom, decorated much like my bedroom. I’m sitting on some weird, regal throne with Jax by my side as guests arrive, waiting for whoever the king is to come and actually announce the beginning of the ball. Curious, there’s no chair for a queen.
But I was able to see everyone else’s roles in this little adventure. Gangle, who doesn’t seem to be attending, is a baroque painter (at least, that’s what every NPC describes her to be—all of the art of hers that’s on display doesn’t seem to be any different from her typical artstyle). Zooble is the royal blacksmith, Ragatha is a noblewoman, and Kinger is, surprise surprise, the king. He’s dragged onto the throne by a few NPCs. Unlike everyone else, he’s just wearing his normal clothes. An NPC tells him something, and he nods solemnly, as if it was something serious.
Jax pokes my shoulder, leaning to the side a bit. “You look really prissy sitting up here, ya know. You think these guys are gonna revolt against the monarchy or something?”
I shrug. “Considering how this adventure is far from medieval and more of a French Revolution kind of deal, I actually wouldn’t rule that out.”
He raises an eyebrow at that, seemingly actually thinking about it. “Huh. If they put you into the guillotine, am I gonna have to be executed too?”
“Yeah, because I’ll tell them to.”
“Hah, like they’re gonna listen to an overthrown princess.”
Suddenly, Kinger stands up. He clears his throat to gain the attention of the party-goers. Once everyone has their eyes on him, he screams.
“BALL!!!!!!”
Everyone cheers and applauds loudly. Seems like the ball has begun…? Idle chatter fills the room, and I feel Jax poke my side again. He leans down in front of me to meet my eye level.
“You really just gonna sit at your throne the whole time, princess? C’mon!” He drags me off of the throne without warning.
“H-hey, it’s not like I wanted to be on that thing anyways! Where are we going—!?” He smirks, still dragging me to the exit.
“Look, there’s gotta be something more interesting to do here. You don’t mind being my little accomplice, do ya?”
We’re roaming the halls of the mostly empty castle, the sounds of the ball in the background slowly fading out the further we walk from it. The only light in the hall is the soft light from the moon shining through the windows.
“You never told me where we were going.” I cross my arms as I continue following him, even if I’m a little worried as to what the point of this is.
He stops in front of me, getting more smug by the minute.
“WEEEELLLLLL, for your information, I happened to notice a building labelled ‘SCARY DUNGEON FULL OF MONSTERS’ while we were being taken by that giant hand. You didn’t see it? It was actually pretty noticeable."
I happen to recall being unable to see ANYTHING when we were taken from the castle because of…uh…I don’t really wanna think about it right now, actually. “I wasn’t, uh…whatever. You’re seriously just gonna let whatever’s in there loose into the ball or something?”
“I would never.” He laughs, continuing to walk forward. “I’ve got something else planned for a dungeon full of monsters, thank you very much.”
“Really? What’s your plan, then?”
“...I lied, my plan was just going to be releasing the scary dungeon monsters into the ball.”
I roll my eyes, moving to walk with him again. “You seriously think Caine has actual scary monsters here? Who’s to say the scary dungeon full of monsters is even scary at all?”
He looks back towards me, smirk widening. “C’mooooon, you know how Caine is. Even if this is clearly Ragatha’s suggestion that he’s trying to say is his own little adventure concept, there’s no way we’d be going on an adventure where we’re just partying and having a good time. If it wasn’t me, it’d probably be him. It’s not like he’d put dungeon monsters here for nothing.”
It takes me a moment to fully understand what he means. It does make sense…I guess?
After aimlessly walking around, we eventually find the dungeon entrance. He opens the door to the dungeon for me, bowing all politely. “You first, m'lady."