Author's Note

Lots of AriaSet sexytimes while they honeymoon, and if that surprises you then I'm not sure what to say.

Also Happy Holidays.

Just To Have You Around

Shimmer & Blaze

The scent of warm, tropical water filled my senses as I leaned over the porch railing of the small home we’d rented for the next two weeks. The wind was a soft, aromatic caress that wove through my hair and sent it gently tumbling around my face in a wash of red and gold.

“It’s beautiful,” I breathed quietly, letting my gaze roam over the white sands and whispering beach tides.

I pair of slender arms moved around my waist, and I brought my hand down to meet hers. The rings our fingers clicked together lightly, her band of rarest Solerrum, and my ring forged from an armored heart.

“Not as beautiful as you,” Aria said quietly, and I laughed.

“That’s such an awful cliche,” I leaned my head down to rest against hers, relished the scent of lilacs and cherries that drifted around her. “Besides, we’re already married, you don’t have to keep flirting.”

Aria’s hands lifted to my collar and she exerted the smallest bit of pressure to turn me around til I was facing her. She was as breathtaking as always, with her long, flowing waterfall of purple and aquamarine hair, her glittering amethyst eyes, and that lovely cupid’s bow that was never far from a smirk.

“Say it again,” Aria asked as she pulled herself closer to me.

“What?” I nuzzled her nose with mine and she laughed. “That we’re married?”

“Mm, yeah,” Aria pressed her lips to mine, and I hummed in delight.

I will never grow tired of kissing Aria Blaze. I knew that from the very first time we kissed beneath her blankets while we curled around each other. The night she’d taken me to her bed thinking to make a meal of me in more ways than one, and ended up with a brand new addiction of her own. The night she’d shared her air with a human being for the first time, and I hadn’t even realised what a momentous thing had occurred.

It had taken Aria a week after that night to admit to herself that she’d gotten addicted to me, at least enough to seek me out at the Canterlot University campus. She fed on me again after that, only lightly, but I’d been putting off eating all that day while I worked and ended up collapsing. Aria had carried me home, fed me, clothed me, cared for me, and then slept beside me all night. It was the first time she had demonstrated that there was something more between us than casual sex and a feeding addiction, and that was when we’d become truly inseparable.

A year and a half later of ups and downs, long nights and early mornings, shouting matches and sobbed apologies, we had finally made it.

We were together forever.

“Ten years ago,” Aria began as she pulled back from me with a smirk, “if someone had told me that I’d end up mortal, married, and happy about it, I’d’ve punched them in the mouth.”

“You wouldn’t punch them in the mouth now?” I asked wryly.

“I mean, I would,” Aria shrugged and chuckled, “but like, mostly on principle, not because they were wrong.”

I hugged her close, nuzzling against her neck and getting a happy murr from her in the process. “Mm, I guess that’s fair, principles are important, after all.”

Aria sighed happily, and I felt her relax into me in a way that even I rarely experienced. Aria wasn’t the type of person who relaxed easily and, if I’m being honest, neither am I, which is one of the reasons we work so well. We only really relax when we’re alone with one another, and even that’s only about halfway. The pair of us are pretty high-strung people by nature, and I think part of it is just that we’re too dynamic, we can’t idle or stay still for very long.

But sometimes, rarely, Aria will do this thing where she just melts against me, and it makes me fall in love with her all over again because, when she does, she is just so fucking soft.

“I love you…” Aria breathed quietly, and I could feel her go almost limp in my arms. I was the only thing holding her up in that moment, and I knew it was for one reason and one reason only.

Because she was letting herself be that vulnerable for me.

Just for me.

Another thing I liked about our honeymoon spot was how isolated it was. There was nothing but beach for miles, and the closest town was a half-hour drive away. We had satellite television and internet, and all the amenities, and we could check in if anything happened, but for our honeymoon Aria had wanted it to be us and only us, and I agreed because it let me do things like this…

I pressed forward, lowering Aria to the warm, wooden planks of the porch as I kissed down her neck and collar to her nearly-bare chest.

She was wearing a bikini that was only that by definition alone. It was a handful of strings and fabric that displayed far more than it covered, and it was still annoyingly in the way. I tugged on the strings, pulling her top away and I ran my tongue delicately along her breasts, and she shivered delightfully beneath me as I shed my own top and threw it to the side.

Maybe I’d find it again, maybe I wouldn’t, I didn’t really care.

“Mine…” I muttered, my lips moving against her skin, and I felt her shudder, “all mine…”

Aria gave a vague moan of affirmation as I moved further down, leaving behind a trail of kisses from her chest to her navel, then lower as I pulled at the strings of her bikini’s lower half with my teeth to get at my prize.

She was hot and wet, and I pressed my tongue to her core with a moan of satisfaction, tasting her as I took hold of her long, lovely legs and draped them over my shoulders. Aria shivered and writhed as I tended to her, licking and suckling gently as she kneaded her hands in my hair.

“More!” Aria cried out, locking her thighs around my head. “Red… please!”

I obliged, sliding one finger, then two inside of her, and never letting up as she jerked and twisted in my grip. Aria mewled and moaned in a haze of lust as she came across my lips, drenching me in her pleasure before pulling me against her again silently demanding more attention.

And I loved giving my Siren attention.

My Aria.

My wife.

After more than a year, I knew exactly how to make Aria squirm, I knew precisely where she liked to be touched and exactly how hard she wanted it, and I gave it to her. Aria rocked her hips against my face instinctively, her body trying to get as close to the source of her pleasure as it could.

I let up with my mouth only to nip and kiss at her inner thighs where I knew she was sensitive as I worked my fingers in and out of her. Aria moaned throatily, not bothering to muffle herself despite us being outside, and the thought of it turned me on even more.

By the time she came again my body was practically burning with need, and I pulled away from Aria for just long enough to jerk the bottom of my own bikini down and kick it to the side before moving up her body and positioning my dripping sex over her mouth. She let out a harsh gasp of anticipation, and I didn’t even have the chance to lower myself before her arms went over my thighs and she pulled me down onto her face.

My voice hit a high-pitched cry of relief as her tongue slid into me, and I rolled my hips slowly over her lips, relishing the insistent pressure and the familiar sensations of Aria’s lips touching me.

There’s such an indescribable comfort in the way Aria pleasures me. Her constant need to be in physical contact, to have as much of her touching as much of me as possible and the way she just drinks me in sends fireworks through my heart every single time.

Even now, a year later, it’s just as good if not better than our first time together.

Another cry escaped my lips as I hit my peak and climaxed, and Aria’s fingers stroked across my bare skin sending pure pleasure trickling over me. I can’t even imagine a more perfect lover than Aria, even my imagination isn’t that good, and I once imagined myself as a Goddess.

I relaxed as the afterglow slithered through me, and I slowly dismounted from Aria’s face to slump to the warm surface of the porch, letting out small whimpering noises of satisfaction at the sunny feelings covering my body, and even more so as Aria slipped up beside me to curl up, naked, in my arms.

Holding Aria after we finished making love was probably my favorite activity in the world.

“Say it again.”

I laughed quietly as I hugged Aria to me, burying my face in her hair as I did.

“We’re married,” I repeated for the third time. I’d say it as many times as she wanted. “I’m your wife.”

I felt a wet warmth touch the bare skin of my shoulder where Aria was resting her head, and I looked over to see her smiling. Eyes closed, and tears trickling down her cheeks.

“Damn right,” Aria sobbed, “you’re my wife.”

The way she said those words sounded like she almost couldn’t believe it. If I’m being honest, it was a little hard to believe, myself.

I had changed so much from the bratty little bitch that had come through the portal seeking power. The girl who spent the following five years making everyone around her miserable until six girls finally put boot to ass hard enough to dislodge my head from said orifice.

Once upon a time, I had desired nothing but power. No friends, no romance, no love, just the power to write my will onto the world and prove… Written’s Quill, I didn’t even know what I was trying to prove. Maybe I was just trying to prove that I could do it when everyone told me I couldn’t. Maybe it was just the petty wounded pride of an orphan filly with a chip on her shoulder spitting in the face of everypony who had ever looked down on her.

Now, all I wanted was to spend the rest of my life holding this beautiful, wonderful woman in my arms. Tears leaked from my eyes as I realised my only desire was to make absolutely sure that, when everything was done, when I finally reached the end of my life, that I had loved my wife as much as I could, and as well as she deserved.

Power be damned.

I took in a deep breath, savoring Aria’s scent again, and a strange, melancholic pain flashed through me as it occurred to me that, no matter how long I lived, and no matter how many hours or days or years we spent in each others company, I would never get enough. Yes, that meant that I would never fall out of love with Aria, and that I would never get tired of her presence, but it also meant that on my deathbed I’d still want more.

Maybe that’s just the nature of being mortal.

The gentle agony of love.

Aria tugged at my arms, and I looked down at her. She was frowning up at me, her cupid’s bow turned to a delicate moue of annoyance.

“You’re getting maudlin again,” Aria grumped, “you’re not allowed to get sad on our honeymoon, save it for the flight home.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Right, why did I marry a Siren, again?” I laughed, and Aria rose quickly to peck a kiss under each eye where tears were drying.

“Because you’re a crazy bitch who fell in love with the craziest, bitchiest Siren left alive?” Aria replied with a wry grin, and I nodded my concession of the point.

Aria stood on shaky legs, pulling me to my feet as she did, and together we walked back into the beachhouse. It was a comfortable, low-sitting bungalow with a generous porch that overlooked the glorious Marexican beach we’d chosen to honeymoon at, and although I’m sure it would’ve cost a small fortune to rent this kind of location for an extended stay, we’d ended up paying almost nothing.

Turns out, the Siren sisters owned a number of nice properties like this one around the globe. If the Lounge ever failed their fallback had been to sell off their property assets, but of course they were loathed to do that. Most of these locations had sentimental value to them if nothing else, and I know they’d hoped to keep a number of the properties as locations for retirement given that they were no longer immortal.

I imagined retiring to this little bungalow with Aria in our autumn years and found I didn’t dislike the idea at all. Except maybe that we would be so far from the rest of our family that it would make visiting kind of difficult. The notion of leaving my friends behind wasn’t a pleasant one but, at the same time, having the last years of Aria and my’s lives free to be spent solely in one another’s company was appealing. But what if we did have kids? Would they come all the way out here to-

A finger flicked across my nose in a sharp but mild pain, and I wrinkled my nose before glaring down at Aria.

“Stop. Thinking.” Aria demanded, “Did you forget that I can taste your emotions? You’re getting all melancholy on me again!”

I sighed.

“I know, I’m sorry!” I laughed weakly as I dropped onto the couch, only belatedly remembering I was pretty much naked and definitely a mess. Oh well, it was just Aria and I. “I keep thinking about the future, y’know?” I gestured vaguely at the horizon out the window. “I’m married now! Honestly, I’m not sure I ever believed I’d get this far, and now I can’t stop thinking about ten, twenty, even fifty years down the line!”

“Tch, c’mon, Red,” Aria settled into my lap and wrapped her arms around me, “I’d kinda prefer you not spend our whole honeymoon getting morose about shit that is, frankly, future us’s problem.”

“Neither do I, but I can’t help it!” I groaned, laying back on the couch and pulling Aria along with me until we were sprawled together. “I’m not trying to be a downer, okay? I’m just… scared, I guess.”

“Can you be scared later?” Aria asked sullenly. “I… I never even imagined I’d be on a honeymoon, on my honeymoon, okay? A thousand years plus as a human and the thought literally never crossed my mind until I realised I was definitely gonna fuckin’ wife you, okay?” She curled around me, laying featherlight kisses along my bare neck. “I think I’m allowed to be selfish and want to spend my honeymoon with a happy wife, okay?”

“Happy wife, happy life?” I quipped, and Aria rolled her eyes.

“Don’t make me get all domestic on you, Red,” Aria prodded me in the stomach, and I laughed.

“Pretty sure I just finished getting ‘domestic’ on you.”

Aria gave me a flat glare. “How did I managed to marry the most sarcastic one of our nemeses?”

“Because you have terrible taste in women,” I darted down to kiss her quickly across the lips. “For which I am incredibly thankful.”

“You’re the one who married a supervillain,” Aria pointed out, slipping a hand affectionately over my cheek before impishly licking my nose prompting a squeal of surprise from me.

“Gross!” I laughed.

I tried to pull away but Aria followed me down, pinning me to the couch and licking my face while I swatted at her playfully. I let out a ‘yeep’ as she fixed her teeth over my neck and went rigid, causing us to tumble to the floor which, thankfully, had a relatively soft rug making up the floor. I managed to land atop Aria, my hands pressing her wrists to the ground as I grinned down at her.

“Oh no, whatever shall I do?” Aria drawled.

“I think you forgot that I was a supervillain too,” I chuckled, raising an eyebrow at her, and she smirked up at me. “Now that I have you, I guess I’ll just have to ravish you.”

“That’s probably for the best, really,” Aria agreed solemnly.

Quill, I love this woman.

I lowered myself to start kissing along her neck, and she hummed in satisfaction as I ran my fingers over her svelte form. There were few things I liked more than touching Aria, she was the most pleasant handful of woman I’d ever been with and now, as the jewelry on our hands attested, the only one I ever wanted to handle again.

Thankfully I was still very naked, and I slid one of my legs under one of Aria’s before pressing my wet cunt against hers, drawing a ragged gasp from both us as I began to rock my hips against her. Muffled curses slipped from Aria’s lips as she rolled her hips against mine, her eyes clouding with lust as she struggled against my grip. The feeling of her moving beneath me was driving me insane, and I rocked against her in a mindless motion that sent fireworks of pleasant sensation up from my core and throughout my body.

“F-Fuck me harder, Red,” Aria moaned, and I was happy to oblige.

I ground myself against her in slick, familiar motions that I knew would push her right up against the edge, then eventually over it, and take me with her. We shivered and shook together, our bodies perfectly matched in tempo as the tropical air cooled us deliciously while we worked up a sweat together.

It only took another moment for Aria to finally peak, and she gave a high, musical cry as she came against me. The feeling of her convulsing in pleasure drove me right along with her and I gasped violently stars flashes across my vision while my body locked up, then went pleasantly wobbly, and a moment later we were on the floor curled up again.

“S-So is this what we’re gonna do for the next two weeks?” I asked breathlessly, and Aria laughed as she kissed the hollow of my neck.

“I mean, I wouldn’t complain,” Aria nuzzled against my cheek for a moment before pulling back, “but I wouldn’t say no to spending some time swimming in the ocean.”

“Mm… that actually sounds nice right about now.”

Aria glanced around silently before looking back at me with a wry grin. “Assuming we can find your bikini… I’m pretty sure it’s outside somewhere.”

I looked down at myself, then back up at Aria and shrugged.

“Who the hell needs a bikini?”

Per usual, Aria was game, and twenty minutes later we were both splashing into the warm ocean waters that stopped barely thirty feet from the bungalow. I spun and twirled around underwater for a few seconds, getting used to the feeling of it again. It had been a long time since I’d really gone swimming since Canterlot’s options are usually restricted to going to a chlorine-filled public pool or freezing your tits off in one of the great lakes, neither of which was appealing to me.

Here, though, oh yes.

This was swimming.

Or at least… I thought so until Aria joined me. I hit the water at a sprint, diving in and rolling around it, but Aria just slowly waded in, letting the ocean waters climb her body it was up to her neck, and as I bobbed up beside her, she gave me this enigmatic smile.

“What?”

“You’ve never seen a Siren in the open water, huh?” Aria asked.

I hadn’t, although I had never really given it any thought, but I got the inkling that I was about to witness something special when Aria shot me a wink then rolled back and dove beneath the surface.

Let me give you an impression of what it is to watch a Siren swim. Have you ever watched an Olympic swimmer, like a technically trained gold medalist, swim?

Okay, it’s not like that.

Have you ever watched an Islander swim? Someone born and raised beside the ocean, who skin is kissed by sunlight caught through reflected water, whose whole body is tool for propelling them through the water, and everything they do, from the slight adjustments to the positions of their hands and feet, to the way they flex their muscles under their skin, and how they turn and weave?

That’s close.

Aria swam like nothing I’d ever seen except maybe a native-born creature of the sea. She cut through the water like it wasn’t even there, swimming circles around me and erupting out of the water periodically to arc beautifully through the air, her hair plastered gracefully to her back and the water clinging to her skin catching the sun as it cascaded over her skin.

Through it all, I just floated there in the water, mouth agog, as I watched this gorgeous creature that had somehow decided I was worth spending her life with performed feats of aquatic acrobatics that would have left even a born islander in awe. The way Aria moved beneath the water would make anyone else swimming near her look like an epileptic stroking out in a puddle, and not even doing a good job at that.

I must have watched her for close to an hour, floating around in the warm water as I tried to keep up with her while she swam up and down the beach. Now I understood why she wanted to come out to the ocean, not just because she wanted to be close to the water, but because she wanted me to be here with her. She wanted to share a part of herself with me that she couldn’t communicate in words, something cultural, or native to her that just didn’t exist in this world.

It was so beautiful.

“Ah!”

I yelped as Aria popped up beside me out of nowhere, grinning from ear to ear before lunging at me, wrapping her arms around me, and diving again. I barely had time to take a deep breath before I was dragged down. Now I’m not a weakling or anything and, pound for pound, I am definitely stronger than Aria. In the water, though, I had no traction and for the life of me I could not figure out where she was getting the leverage to just drag me beneath the ocean. It was like a predator of the deeps had just crashed up from the sea to seize hold of me and drag me to my death which, technically, wasn’t far from the truth.

Aria carried me along for a few meters before breaking the surface again and I staggered to my feet, realising we were much closer to the beach than we’d been a moment ago.

I coughed a spluttered as Aria laughed brightly, and I shot her a long-suffering look as she smirked at me while I wiped the saltwater from my mouth.

“Really?” I gestured to the wake she’d left behind, and Aria shrugged.

“I wanted you to know how it felt to swim as fast as a Siren,” Aria rolled her shoulders, then stretched and yawned. “Damn, that took it out of me… it’s been way too long since I swam like that, I’m really out of shape.”

“That was you ‘out of shape’?” I laughed as I made the beach and collapsed to butt. “That was insane.”

“I was born in the water,” Aria said quietly as she trudged out of the ocean to join me and let the slowly setting sun dry us off. “I was born swimming and feeling the currents against my scales, it’s literally my first nature… this whole walking on dry land thing sucks ass by comparison.”

“Yeah, feet kinda suck,” I agreed, chuckling. “I definitely miss being able to run across the plains, all four hooves hitting the ground in stride, feeling the wind in my mane as the whole world flies past me… it’s just not the same when you’re human.”

“Tell me about,” Aria groaned, slouching back against the sand and sighing.

“Would you ever want to go back?” I asked quietly as I laid down beside her, reaching a hand out to trace my fingers up and down her toned abdomen. “Back to Equestria? Back to the oceans of that world?”

“We were banished, so it’s kind of a pointless question,” Aria gestured dismissively. “It’s not like anyone can undo that old goat’s curse on us, and even if they could…?” Aria trailed off for a moment before turning onto her side and looking over at me, then smiled and shook her head. “There’s nothing for me over there but a bunch of ghosts and a whole lot of bad memories.”

“But your real body-!”

“This is my real body,” Aria said firmly, and I clammed up in surprise. Aria sighed and shuffled closer, wrapping her arms around me. “On that side of the portal? In Equestria? I wouldn’t be able to hold you, or kiss you, or… or make love to you, I wouldn’t be able to be with you, so fuck that place, I’ll take this world over that one any day if it means being with you, Red.”

“Aria…” I felt myself close to tears again, earning a grimace from my wife.

“Get it through your skull, babe,” Aria leaned in a pressed a passionate kiss to my lips and I returned the affection with full force, savoring the salty-sweet taste of her mouth mixed with the ocean water. When she pulled back her eyes were blazing like her namesake. “If there’s anything that would keep me away from you? Even one extra inch? I don’t fuckin’ want it, alright?”

I nodded silently, and we spent the rest of the time it took the sun to fully set curled up on the beach, kissing and murmuring softly to one another. This was what a honeymoon was supposed to be about, I realised, and I savored the satisfaction of this time I had with Aria apart from everything else in the world.

If you had asked me, two years ago, if I thought perfect days existed I’d have probably said no. Not that good, or even great, days don’t exist because thanks to my friends I’ve had lots of those.

But capital-P, ‘Perfect’? I’d likely have shaken my head and said no because something always, always goes at least a little bit wrong.

I’ve just spent the day making love to my new wife in the open, tropical air of Cancun, swimming in the warm waters of the Marexican Gulf, and I’m here to admit I’ll have to eat some crow on that because today was perfect.

“Hey, wake up,” I nudged Aria who was snoozing on my shoulder as the sun finally dipped below the horizon. “Babe, c’mon…”

“Mmph… fuck you,” Aria grumbled and cuddle against me.

“Babe, we haven’t got any food in the house,” I laughed quietly, “so if we want dinner we need to go out before the markets close.”

“Fish.”

“What?”

“We’ve got fish.”

I raised an eyebrow, glanced towards the bungalow, then back at Aria. I didn’t recall stopping to buy any fish. I certainly didn’t remember either of us stashing fish away in the freezer or fridge. I was pretty sure the only thing we had in the house was herbs and spices, flour, sugar, and the like, some nonperishable canned stuff that wouldn’t be particularly satisfying, and a metric fuckton of booze courtesy of Adagio’s drinking habit.

Mostly Scotch, natch.

“Pretty sure we don’t have any fish in the house, hon,” I chuckled, and Aria just sat up sleepily, groaned, and shook her head.

Then Aria stood up, did a few limbering stretches to the tune of a couple of pops and cracks from her limbs, and bolted away from me at full chat towards the darkening ocean. I didn’t even have time to call out to her before she hit the waves and dove beneath them, and only the faint ripples on the surface betrayed her motion under the water.

I stared for several minutes with my jaw hanging open, a little knot of worry growing in my chest as I realised I’d completely lost sight of Aria. Fortunately, she was only gone for a few moments before surfacing.

In either hand she was clutching a large fish, Tuna of some kind I thought, and which dangled and jerked in her grasp. The pair of fish were big enough to hang nearly to the sandy beach as Aria stomped up to me and held them up matter-of-factly.

“Fish.”

I stared for a few seconds before falling into paroxysms of laughter as Aria glowered at me. She very kindly waited an entire three minutes of me laughing before snorting and stomping past me to the house.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up horse-girl, I’m gonna make us dinner,” Aria grumbled as she dragged her still-flopping catch towards the bungalow. I managed to scramble to my feet and follow her a moment later, catch up and kissing her on the cheek as she did, turning her scowl a little bit lighter.

Aria really was awfully pretty when she was frowning, which still made zero sense to me.

“Since when can you cook fish?” I managed, as I followed her.

“Since the eleventh century?” Aria replied with a dry smile. “You remember we lived before microwaves were a thing, right? All of us can cook.”

I paused, stunned and feeling just slightly stupid while Aria sashayed away from me.

“Okay, fair,” I said as I caught up again, as we climbed the stairs up to the porch, shook ourselves reasonably free of sand, and went inside. “Do you, uhm… need any help?”

“I’ve got this, Red, just go take a shower and relax, okay?” Aria leaned in a pecked a kiss on my cheek. “I’ll join you once I’ve cleaned the Tuna.”

“Giggity.”

Aria favored my comment with a withering glare, and I laughed as I retreated to the bathroom.

I ran the water as hot as I liked and stepped beneath the rolling spray, a satisfying groan escaping my lips as the water sluiced away the sandy grit and soothe my sore muscles. Swimming really did work absolutely everything, and since the same could be said about the kind of sex that Aria and I have, that meant my limbs were really starting to feel the burn.

The next few moments were spent luxuriating under the stream, letting the steam fill the bathroom, and I lost track of time enough-so that I was caught off guard when Aria brushed the shower curtain aside to gently hip-check her way into the stall, nudging me to the side so she could take the best spot beneath the showerhead.

Of course, the perks of having a shorter girlfriend is that I could immediately position myself over her, hugging her from behind as I lathered up some body wash and started running my hands over her limbs, clearing away the harsh sand brine, and leaving behind smooth, clean skin.

Being that Aria and I aren’t super religious, I still think everyone needs to believe in something, to have little rituals and the like, and this was one of mine.

“I’ll never get enough of that,” Aria murmured as she leaned back against me while I ran soapy hands down her chest to her legs.

“What? Me washing you?” I laughed quietly as I brushed my lips over her bare shoulder.

“Mm… no, I mean the way you taste when you’re doing it,” Aria let out a murr of satisfaction. “I’ve never tasted anything like it from any other human.”

“What is it?” I was genuinely curious, although I didn’t let it distract from my kneeling at her feet and continuing to wash her legs.

Aria made a thoughtful noise as her hand came to rest in my hair, idly playing with the damp locks of red and gold.

“Devotion, I think…” Aria said quietly, “and love, a mixture maybe… love and devotion, and I don’t know for sure but the way you taste when you’re washing me is like how I imagine priest would taste while praying if they were, y’know… praying to me.” I looked up at her in surprise, and she blushed. “You treat me like I’m, I dunno, sacred…”

“Hm,” I considered my reply as I finished washing her legs and feet, then stood and pulled her into my arms.

“Red?”

“I think maybe you are sacred,” I said softly as I buried my face in her hair, “to me, I mean… I feel like without you, my life just falls apart.”

“Feels like?” Aria gave a weak laugh. “With you, I know my life would fall apart, and not just ‘cause I’d starve to death.” She pulled back and ran her fingers over my cheek before holding up the hand with her wedding ring. “See this? This means that I’d survive losing you about as well as I’d live through losing both my legs.”

I nodded as I kicked the lever nozzle closed and shut off the water. We dried each other off, got dressed in soft, comfy pants and shirts, and made our way back into the kitchen where Aria sidled up to the fish where they had been resting and began to filet and prepare them.

Lime, a few light herbs, and some butter, and they were prepped and into the oven. Aria watched them for a few moments before nodding to herself and standing up.

“That shit’s way easier than cooking it in a stone oven,” she noted as she doffed her oven mitt and tossed it onto the counter. “Those things are not as fun and retro as you’d think.”

“Why?”

“Imagine a stove where the whole fucking thing gets ‘burn your flesh off’ levels of hot whenever you cook anything,” Aria replied with that acidic smirk of hers, and I winced. “Yeah, now imagine having to cook that shit in summer.”

“Point taken,” I laughed as she joined me on the couch and curled up beside me. “So what should we do while we eat?”

“Mm… movie?” Aria leaned up and kissed under my jaw idly before burrowing under my arm and nestling against the crook of my shoulder.

“Slashers again?” I asked, and Aria’s smirk widened.

“You know me, Red,” Aria snatched up the remote and flipped it over to one fo the streaming apps she liked, one that seemed to exclusively carry horror movies both mainstream and so obscure I was pretty sure they were just snuff films that no one had caught onto yet.

When the fish came out, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised that it was as good as it ended up being, but it was. I could barely pay attention to the movie as I ate, and finally nudged Aria to get her attention.

“How come you never cook?” I asked through a mouthful of delicious fish, and Aria gave me a raised eyebrow as she took a bite of own meal before replying.

“Because I hate cooking,” Aria gestured at the kitchen. “Look at all the crap it leaves behind, I’ve gotta wash all that, plus its a ton of effort. I have to buy and prep all the ingredients myself… I’d rather just order takeout.”

I grumbled some inchoate noises of irritation as I levered another mouthful of fresh fish into my craw. I am not a graceful woman, not like my wife anyway, and I’m fully aware that I, to quote Rainbow Dash, ‘eat like a gremlin’. That being said, I really, really like good seafood, so I was a little bit miffed that Aria had never revealed this weirdly domestic ability of hers.

“Maybe every once in a while,” Aria finally conceded to my silent pout, and I turned the expression to a smile as I tucked back into my meal.

We finished the movie in comfortable silence, with Aria resting happily in my arms as a psychotic murderer disemboweled his unfortunate victims for her amusement. Horror movies weren’t exactly my favorite, but Aria loved them and I loved Aria.

Seeing her happy made any experience a pretty decent one in my book.

“This was a good first night,” Aria snuggled against me, sighed happily. “I love you like hell, Red.”

“Love you too, babe,” I pressed a kiss to the top of her head before pulling myself free of her, to Aria’s immense dissatisfaction.

“Where are you going?” She asked sullenly as I mantled the couch and made for the hallway behind us.

“Bathroom,” I replied with a smile, and Aria scowled, but shrugged and shifted a little so she was sitting in my warm spot on the couch.

I didn’t lie, I was going to the bathroom, but I was going there to get changed into the surprise I’d brought along with us. I doubted that Aria had forgotten about it because I certainly hadn’t, but even she knew I’d packed it she definitely wasn’t expecting it at this moment. I had a feeling for these sorts of things, it came from long experience in fucking with people.

I ducked into our shared room and swept my target out of the bag, along with a modest hair-tie and the pair of shoes I’d picked up to match, then walked to the bathroom.

My clothes hit the floor a moment later and I took to giving my hair a good, long brushing to get it straight and soft, then pulled on the dress, brushed my hair a few more times, and tied the long, tumbling strands into a high ponytail before slipping into the shoes.

The woman looking back at me from the mirror would’ve gotten my engine revving in an instant, and I was looking forward to the expression on Aria’s face when she saw me.

The heels of my shoes made soft little clicking sounds as I walked out of the hall, and I could see the back of Aria’s head where she was sitting at the couch, idly flipping through channels while she waited for me to get back. I saw the moment she heard my footsteps, and she turned her head with a huff of annoyance.

“About time, what took you so… long…” Aria’s sentence stretched to a crawl before dying unmourned as she stared at me, her jaw slipping open in shock.

I ran my hands down my body, from my breasts to my sides, and down along my hips, showing off how the gingham dress clung to my curves while I gave her my most sultry set of bedroom eyes. I took another few steps forward in the sexy red pumps I’d gotten, they were a comfortable pair that Rarity had designed and I was looking forward to seeing how thoroughly I could break in the padding in the soles.

Strolling past Aria, I gave my ass a shake as I sauntered over to the counter, cocked my hip, and leaned forward at the waist while throwing a glance over my shoulder at her. Aria was still staring in speechless disbelief as her face turned all kinds of adorable shades of red.

“Well?” I gave her a smirk of my own as I wiggled my ass at her again. “Aren’t you going to check if I’m living up to my promise?”

Aria stood up in a daze, her eyes fixed on my hips as she stumbled past the couch, stopped in front of me, swallowed hard, and knelt before pulling my dress up over the curve of my ass.

I promised her I wouldn’t be wearing anything else, and I wasn’t.

“Well? What do you- eep!”

My voice crumpled as Aria was suddenly between my legs, her tongue lashing out and licking as her hands gripped and kneaded at my ass and thighs. My knees knocked together at the sensory overload and I sagged against the countertop, barely holding myself up as Aria took out her lust on my dripping sex.

Now, I find Aria to be mind-blowingly sexy pretty much all the time. All she has to do is look at me the right way and I’m ready to go as in; shoes off, panties on the floor, ready. I also know that she finds me just as attractive, but ‘knowing’ that and having her just jump my bones because I’m that goddamn irresistible is a completely different thing and my ego was loving it.

Pleasure rolled through me as I listened to the soft moans of approval from behind me as Aria drank her fill, and was scratching and scraping at the, thankfully stone, countertops while my wife indulged herself greedily against me.

Then, just as abruptly, the sensation vanished, and I made a quiet noise of annoyance as I glanced over my shoulder to see Aria standing up, wiping at her mouth with one arm before raising her hand bringing across my ass with a ringing slap.

“Mmph!” I practically bit my lip as a shiver of good feelings slithered up my back.

“Don’t move a muscle,” Aria growled, her voice throaty with desire as she gave me another firm squeeze, then turned to stomp off towards our bedroom.

I knew exactly what she was going to grab.

She was back less than a minute later, the mass of buckles making up her favorite strap-on gripped in her right hand while her left worked at her pants.

They hit the floor a moment later, followed by her panties, and she pulled the complex coils of straps of buckles on with the ease of long practice; practice that had entirely been executed on me for the past year and a half.

“Don’t keep your wife waiting, honey,” I cooed playfully, leaning forward a little more and stick my butt out towards her.

“I’m going to destroy that ass,” Aria hissed as she yanked the straps taught, stepped forward, and pressed the long toy against my sopping wet entrance.

I hadn’t even managed to start my response before she took a firm grip on my hips and slid forward, hilting inside of me in a single, smooth motion. A long, low moan was pulled out of me as Aria reached up and grabbed a fistful of hair, right at the back of my head like she knew I liked and started to roll her hips in fast, brutal thrusts.

Every smack of skin on skin was punctuated with a moan from me and deep huff of breath from Aria as she pounded me mercilessly. I laid forward, splayed out on the countertop while she held onto me and gave me the relentless fucking I’d been asking for by coming out here in this dress.

Aria’s tempo only started to flag as she slammed into me and shivered, cumming from a combination of the toy that was inside both of us and the sheer appeal of the tableau I had laid out for her tonight.

As she took a few long, heavy breaths, I looked back at her, my hair still gripped tight in her fist, and smiled.

“Getting… tired of… fucking your wife… already?” I panted, and Aria bristled, her eyes widening.

“Never,” she firmed up her grip on my gingham-clad waist, let go of my hair, and flipped me over until I was laying sprawled on my back on top of the counter with my legs spread.

“Mm… good,” I smirked.

Aria yanked me back towards her and began rolling her hips again, pulling herself closer until she was draped over me, hilting herself in me again and again as she lavished my neck and collar with kisses. I tangled my fingers into her hair while Aria devoted herself fully to satisfying my promise to her, and I was all too happy to give her that satisfaction.

I locked my legs around her waist, pulling her in as her fingers hooked the collar of the dressed and pulled it down, and I hissed delightedly as she fixed her lips over one of my breasts, running her tongue over it and nipping gently.

“F-Fuck, more!” I moaned and could feel Aria tense as she breathed deep, sating her Siren hunger on my lust as she fixed her teeth on my neck and bucked into me, and I jerked and cried out as another orgasm washed across me.

Aria let out a deep sigh of satisfaction, and her eyes were nearly lit from behind by her inhuman nature. “My favorite flavor…” she said huskily as she ran her tongue over my neck, then pressed her lips to mine in a desperate kiss.

I parted my lips for her, and our tongues met as she pressed forward with a passion, and I dug my fingers into her back to pull her closer.

My Siren, my lover, my wife.

I climaxed again and again, my bare legs tightening around Aria’s waist with every shudder as she lavished me with kisses until I finally let out one final, window-rattling moan and went slack, my body finally giving it up as Aria collapsed on top of me, crawling up onto the counter with me for lack of anywhere else to go, kicking the strap-on off and letting it fall to the floor so she could press herself as close to me as possible.

“Did… I keep… my promise… or what?” I panted as Aria curled up in my arms, and she hummed a wordless agreement at me.

I reached down to the hiked-up hem of the gingham dress and tugged at it, finding that it was still surprisingly whole. I had kind of expected it to get torn up but the material was actually kind of sturdy.

“So uh… gingham, am I right?” I said dryly, and Aria laughed quietly as she propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at me lovingly.

“Damn right,” Aria said huskily, her voice raw from her harsh breathing. “We’re keeping this, by the way.” She ran her hands over the dress, and I nodded.

“You’re wearing it next, though,” I gave her a pointed look, and she frowned.

“I already wore a dress at our wedding, alright?” Aria grumbled, and I pulled her to lick her ear playfully, earning a swat.

“You wear it next or I’m never wearing it again,” I said evenly, and Aria met my stare with a glare of her own that lasted about five seconds before she faltered.

“Fine… blackmailer,” Aria groaned and nestled in closer to me.

“Supervillain,” I reminded her, and she chuckled.

“Right… hey, Red?”

“Hm?”

Aria put a hand on my cheek and guided my face down to hers, and she pressed a warm kiss to my lips; soft, featherlight, and sweet as could be.

“I love you so much,” Aria whispered.

“I love you, too,” I laid my hand over hers, feeling the cool metal of the ring on her hand, “now and forever.”

We kissed again and I savored the softness of that perfect cupid’s bow, the only lips I ever wanted to kiss again for the rest of my life, as Aria twined her fingers with mine.

“Know what else?” Aria asked, a smirk growing on her face.

“What?” I raised an eyebrow.

“We should probably wash this counter before making breakfast tomorrow.”

I glanced around us for a moment, then shrugged. “Why? It’s not like there’s anything here we haven’t had in our mouths before.”

Aria gave me a long, flat stare.

“You’re a fucking goblin.”