#it's 2:51 am on christmas morning why have i chosen this exact moment to attempt to push past writers block?

[duskandcobalt]

Time Will Be Frozen for Us

if you're like me and have a massive soft spot for slow and gentle domestic elriel moments, please allow me to present some cozy, elriel fluff for your holiday weekend 💗✨

ENJOY XX

1.1k words

Inspired by Sabrina Claudio’s ‘Frozen’

Read on AO3

Elain eased herself from Azriel’s arms, silently slipping from between the sheets and pulling his shirt over her head and down her body until it covered the gentle swell of her hips and the tops of her thighs. She tiptoed out of their room and into the small living area, carefully avoiding the floorboards she knew would squeak under her weight even if she knew the chances of accidentally waking him were low due to the exhaustion that resulted from the hours they’d spent coaxing pleasure from one another over the course of the night.

She made her way to the window that looked out to the woods. Snow fell heavily outside, blanketing the forest floor in a glistening, unblemished sheet of white.  Hazy beams of early morning light filtered through the shimmering, snow covered trees, illuminating the highpoints of her face as she tilted her chin upwards and chased the warm caress of the sun on her skin in an effort to preserve the heat she’d obtained from being tucked against the muscled chest of an Illyrian warrior for the past few hours.

It was a few days after Winter Solstice and Azriel had wasted no time upon Feyre and Rhys’ departure to their cabin before he whisked Elain away to this secret place of theirs for a singular night together, just the two of them.

Standing here now, Elain couldn’t help but think about how far she’d come since that first Solstice spent in this now-familiar body. Her heart, once splintered by a broken engagement, had slowly started to heal by then with the help of some hobbies and a few new friends - Nuala and Cerridwen… and the brooding male they reported to. A male whose stern features only ever seemed to soften around her. 

Elain had known since that first Solstice, since that night when he’d sat beside her and patiently listened to her explain her plans for the garden, that there was something between them. His unabashed laughter that evening, his sincere appreciation for her gift, had been the initial spark that lit the eternal flame of interest that would go on to burn steadily at the back of her mind, flickering higher and brighter each and every time his eyes met hers, until she could no longer stand to ignore it. 

Elain had come to think of Azriel like a book. She wanted to turn each of his pages, read him cover to cover. She wanted to memorise every word, lock away favourite passages for safe keeping. She was determined to know everything about him, wanted to devour him whole until there wasn’t a single part of him left unknown to her. She craved the time and space to allow herself to tend to what grew slowly and steadily between them.

It was made clear to her that Azriel felt the same - that he’d also realised that the heated glances and restricted touches that passed between them had rapidly outgrown the shadowed alcoves and cramped rooms they often found themselves in - when he’d winnowed her here for the first time six months ago, at the very beginning of summer.

She’d been shocked and delighted when he’d lifted his hands away from her eyes and she caught her first glimpse of the cozy cottage on the outskirts of Velaris, tucked away deep in a small patch of woods that she hadn’t even known existed.  

It was a gift from Azriel to her. A place they could escape to, somewhere far away from the ever looming threat of their secret being exposed. Here, they could pretend that they didn’t have to hide. Here, all the complexities of her mating bond ceased to exist. 

In this quaint cottage, amongst this thicket of trees, it was just them. A male, a female, and the sweet domesticity of a shared life.

It was the passing of a clean dish to be put away after a meal made and enjoyed together. It was his hand on her waist as he spun her around the tiny kitchen, his voice sweet as honey in her ear. Her soft laughter muffled by the skin of his neck. It was nervous confessions of obvious feelings in the middle of the night. Overwhelming emotion written plainly on both their faces, tears of relief shimmering in the light of a candle. 

It was leisurely walks in the woods, their joined hands buried deep in his coat pocket - unwilling to separate but desperate to keep warm. It was a roaring fire and a heavy blanket draped over their bodies, her icy toes pressed against his warm calves. It was a book falling from Elain’s fingertips, landing with a gentle thud on the worn wooden floor when the feeling of Azriel’s lips gliding along her shoulders won the fight for her attention against the words she’d been attempting to read.

Half a year later, neither of them could set their eyes on a single corner of the cottage without memories resurfacing of all the things that these four walls had witnessed. 

This sacred space commemorated the subtle trembling of his fingers as he undid the laces of her corset before he carefully laid her down for the very first time, watching as she fell apart for him. These walls stored her soft sighs and his deep moans. The whispered conversations in bed all the times after that initial night - Elain’s head on Azriel’s chest, his fingers tracing patterns over her sensitive skin as he patiently answered each and every question she had ever dreamt of asking him.

“Still snowing?” She’s pulled out of her thoughts by the rustling of wings and the sound of his voice, gritty with sleep.

“Pretty isn’t it?” She doesn’t turn to look at him but she could just about see his reflection in the glass - his dark hair tousled from the way she’d grasped it, his chest broad and bare.

“Beautiful.” Azriel’s arms slipped around Elain’s waist, pulling her back against his chest until he could rest his chin on the top of her head. She didn’t need to look at him to know that he wasn’t referring to the snow outside.

A soft smile found its way to her lips as she let her body melt into his, her delicate fingers mindlessly tracing over the scars on the large hands that now rested over her stomach as they both gazed out of the arched window and watched the snow fall.

She’d never been so grateful. For this place. For him. For the life they shared together, oblivious to the world around them. Seasons changed and time passed. Flowers bloomed and leaves turned colour. Trees, their branches once bare, were now covered in glittering snow. But whenever they were here, in this little cottage that had come to feel like home, time seemed to freeze solely for them. As if some higher power had paused the turn of Earth’s axis just to grant the Shadowsinger and his Seer the gift of an extra hour, an extra night spent together, lips grazing skin until the morning sun turned the sky the colour of the blush on her cheeks.

#elriel fic #elriel fluff #elain x azriel #my writing #this is so extremely unedited hehe #it's 2:51 am on christmas morning why have i chosen this exact moment to attempt to push past writers block? #who knows