The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1210: Meeting Halfway

One would think it was the timing, and not the request itself, that was the problem.

"And why do you think I’d give you a kiss?" Killian asked slowly, sounding as though he himself was trying to understand how they’d somehow arrived at this point.

"Because earlier... I didn’t really get to process it when you kissed me," Jax admitted, sounding genuinely dejected. "Not that I’m blaming you. Me not being prepared was on me. But I really think I missed out on something important."

He hesitated for just a moment.

"So... I was wondering if it’d be okay to ask for a retry."

The redhead looked pitiful beyond reproach.

Killian, who still carried a fair amount of guilt over that impulsive kiss earlier, found himself unable to argue.

In fact, part of him thought this might actually be the perfect opportunity to even things out.

Surely, he could at least do this much, right? It was only fair, wasn’t it? Especially when Jax had done the decent thing and actually waited and asked instead of simply taking matters into his own hands, despite being the one who’d been wronged.

"Fine," Killian relented. "I’ll give you one."

Thankfully, he wasn’t the type whose face betrayed him first.

Unfortunately, his neck and ears had apparently volunteered to make up for it twice over.

At least, he told himself,

That comforting thought lasted exactly one second.

Just as Killian leaned in, fully prepared to give the redhead a simple goodnight kiss, the hand cradling his face tightened ever so slightly.

His lips parted in surprise.

At the same time, Jax shifted closer until part of his body hovered over the cabin owner, closing what little distance remained between them.

It took the eldest heir of House Nox only an instant to realize one glaring fact.

That mouth...

And that look...

Definitely weren’t aiming for an innocent goodnight peck.

"...!"

His eyes widened.

The next moment, Jax’s lips met his with unmistakable certainty.

Killian’s head remained gently but firmly supported by the hand cupping his jaw, leaving him facing the redhead directly as the warmth of Jax’s solid chest pressed flush against him.

__

The hulking mass on top of him didn’t even give him a heartbeat to recover.

The moment their lips met for the second time that day, the initially settled Nox immediately threw away the idea that this was any sort of retry.

This wasn’t even close to what they did earlier.

Compared to this, that had actually been extremely tame.

Those lips found Killian’s with an eagerness that caught him off guard.

Jax slanted his head, pressing in with an unnerving, deliberate pressure that coaxed the surprised official’s lips further apart and stole the breath straight from his lungs. The earnest, terrifyingly sincere hunger in Jax’s touch was undeniable, evident in the way he crowded in, trapping Killian beneath his unnecessarily solid body.

Whatever fragile composure the eldest Nox had painstakingly pieced together over the last several minutes completely splintered.

A strangled, breathless sound caught in the back of Killian’s throat as his spine arched involuntarily into the contact. His muscles unspooled, and he melted helplessly deep into the mattress, thoroughly drowned in the slick, desperate friction of their kiss.

And just when he thought Jax had finally had enough coaxing him, that same mouth shifted ever so slightly, drawing a startled breath from him and leaving his toes curling before he could stop them.

Clearly, this was what he imagined was going to happen. But now that he was in the middle of it, he couldn’t even imagine a different version.

When Jax finally, reluctantly broke the seal of their lips, the separation was agonizingly slow—a wet, reluctant drag of mouths parting that left the short distance between them thick with ragged, shared breaths.

"Haaah... Hah..."

The hand that had been firmly cradling the side of Killian’s face slowly slid down his neck in a lingering caress before coming to rest against the rumpled sheets beside his ear.

With one arm planted beside Killian’s head, Jax remained suspended above him, his broad frame leaving the official feeling thoroughly caged beneath him as that steady, intent gaze chased away whatever coherent thoughts he had left.

The cabin owner couldn’t even see the extremely familiar ceiling anymore.

Instead, all he could see was the redhead above him.

That ridiculously recognizable hair he could somehow locate in the middle of a crowd... and those lips.

Yes, those lips.

They were only inches apart, and yet, for some reason, that tiny distance suddenly felt impossibly far when only moments ago he’d been lamenting how ridiculously small the cabin felt for the two of them.

That realization alone made Killian question his own sanity.

He had only been kissed.

His breathing refused to steady.

His heartbeat stubbornly refused to slow.

He really needed to think about what he was supposed to do.

Unfortunately for him, his body had already reached its own conclusion long before his mind caught up.

The signals it was giving were obvious enough that Jax would’ve had to be completely blind to miss them.

Killian had that familiar expression he always wore whenever he wanted something but would rather die than admit it aloud.

His eyes had gone noticeably unfocused, while those stubborn brows did absolutely nothing to hide his growing frustration.

His breathing had long since fallen out of rhythm.

And, as though all of that weren’t already incriminating enough, he unconsciously caught his lower lip between his teeth while shifting restlessly beneath the blanket, clearly unhappy that whatever had been happening had suddenly stopped.

Just like so many times before, Jax quietly found himself wishing Killian could see himself.

Maybe then he’d understand why the redhead had never really needed many words to know what he wanted.

Even when Killian stubbornly refused to voice what was on his mind, his face always betrayed him in the smallest of ways. While that was probably true for most people, it somehow felt all the more precious coming from someone who’d spent years teaching himself not to reveal anything at all.

Jax smiled to himself.

Of course, he had no intention of asking Killian to change.

That was part of who he had been from the very beginning.

Killian had always been careful.

Reserved.

Hopelessly stubborn when it came to certain things.

Jax, on the other hand, tended to trust his instincts first and think about the rest later. They were almost complete opposites in that regard.

Even so, the surprisingly insightful Taylor didn’t think that was a problem.

If anything, the fact that they were so different only made understanding each other that much more interesting.

Still, different didn’t mean they couldn’t meet each other halfway.

Especially over something as harmless as this.

So rather than expecting Killian to suddenly become someone who wore his heart on his sleeve, Jax decided he’d simply adjust a little instead. Not by abandoning the way he naturally expressed himself, but by meeting the official as close as he possibly could.

Leaning down just a little, the redhead embarked on what most people would’ve considered a suicidal mission.

He smiled softly at the infamous official.

"Another one, please."

His voice was quiet enough that it almost disappeared into the silence between them.

"Please tell me you want another one too."

Killian Nox, with his two functioning ears, actually heard every word.

But he could only marvel at how naturally Jax asked for exactly what he wanted the moment he wanted it.

If anyone ever needed living proof of the saying, "You miss every shot you don’t take," they could simply point to this rascal.

With that kind of honesty, refusing somehow felt far more difficult than agreeing.

More importantly...

Jax had unknowingly done him a favor.

Instead of forcing Killian to somehow summon all the audacity he apparently didn’t possess, the redhead had simply asked him to answer.

Now that...

He could manage.

So, after gathering what little courage he had left, the Chief of Staff finally gave a small nod.

"Yes."

His ears burned.

"...Another one."