Chapter 0 - a different man

Things begin to gradually change between Corrin and her older brother, after it’s revealed to her that there are no blood ties between them. She still cares for him as much as she always did, and he still treats her with love, but the air feels more clear between them. Some might never trust him again after a secret like that came out, but she understands why he kept it, and knowing that he cares for her regardless of their blood means that she only feels that she can trust him more.

But there is more to the shift in their feelings, or at least, she knows there is more to her. Always, there has been something nagging at the back of her mind, but she refused to acknowledge it before, but now…now she knows that he isn't truly her brother, so is it really so wrong that she's attracted to him? She isn't sure if it's ever something she can admit to him, but the more time she spends with him, the more she notices the love she feels for him changing into something more romantic.

Regardless of whether she tells him or not, she enjoys the time they spend together, and when they are not battling, it's rare to see the two of them apart. Even when they are at battle, they can often be found fighting side by side. She and Xander are closer than ever before, and it’s obvious to everyone that they have a strong bond.

Which leads to some rather peculiar conversations as people ask her about him.

“How do you stand spending so much time with him? He’s so stern, I don’t know if I could take it.”

“Is Prince Xander as intimidating as he seems?”

“Have you ever seen him smile before, or does his face always look like that?”

Over time, the people around her paint a very different picture of the man she’s steadily falling for, a picture that she never considered. Xander is serious , yes, but she’s never thought of him as particularly intimidating, and when he’s with her, he’s always very kind, and smiles often. She can’t imagine him as the terrifying prince that everyone seems to think he is, or at least, she can’t imagine it at first.

But the more she tries to understand why they see him in that light, the more she tries to envision him as a more intimidating man. She isn’t sure when, exactly, she begins fantasizing about it; she doesn’t know why she begins fantasizing about it, or about Xander in the first place. Her feelings keep escalating without her wanting them to, and now she catches herself consumed with desire, and she’s unsure what she’s supposed to do about that.

Her fantasies certainly help matters, and pleasuring herself helps keep the worst of it at bay, but the subject of her fantasies still confuses her. It’s Xander, always Xander, but he’s the Xander that the others see, the cold and stern prince, the intimidating heir to the throne. She starts to imagine him handling her a bit more roughly, slowly building a fantasy in which he has little regard for her pleasure, in which he is distant and strict, and somehow, this is what drives her absolutely wild.

When she is with Xander, he is nothing like the man in her fantasies, and it is a bit easier to bear being around him after indulging in such thoughts about him, but her attraction to him doesn’t fade in the slightest. She still flushes when he stands too close to her, and she still wonders if it will ever be appropriate to share her feelings with him, but he is never the man she imagines when he is with her.

However, she starts to pay more attention to the way he is with others, searching for signs of the Xander she fantasizes about, and this fuels her many nights spent alone. She gets a clearer and clearer picture of this new Xander, and for a while, it’s enough. For a while, she’s able to keep her feelings for him, and her desires, under control.

~X~

Xander comes to her one evening, showing up uninvited. She doesn’t expect to find him standing in her doorway, but he offers her a kind smile and says, “Do you mind if I come in and talk to you for a little bit?”

“No, not at all!” she replies, flushing a bit. It’s getting close to that time of night when she gives in to her fantasies, and it’s hard not remember those things while she’s alone with him. “Please, come in.”

He follows her, and when she sits down on her bed, he gives her a questioning look. She nods, patting the area next to her, and Xander sits beside her. If she moves, she brushes her arm against his and she feels her face growing warmer. What on earth could he be coming to talk to her about?

“Things have been...difficult lately, haven’t they?” he asks her.

She’s thrown by his question, and she shakes her head before nodding. “It’s kind of hard to say, actually. There have been a lot of changes, and they haven’t all been easy to deal with, but...I’ve had a lot of support, including from you.”

“I don’t ever want to make things more complicated for you.” Is it just her, or does he have a troubled expression? “Little princess...this may seem like an odd question, but...do you still regard me as your older brother?”

Now that is something she really doesn’t know how to answer. She doesn’t, of course, but she doesn’t want to tell him that and risk hurting his feelings, or, worse, creeping him out. But if she lies to him, she knows she’s going to feel guilty, and she’ll never really know his reaction until she goes for it. It’s a tough choice for her, no matter how she looks at it, and she hesitates for a while.

Perhaps too long, because Xander clears his throat and speaks. “I don’t want to assume anything here, but judging by the way you hesitated...is it safe to say that you don’t?”

“I’m sorry,” she mumbles. “Are you sad?” She almost asks him if he’s mad, but she doesn’t even want to think about that, lest she risk remembering one of her fantasies. Sitting this close to him...that could be dangerous.

“Not at all. The truth is, I’ve felt guilty for quite some time. Even before you knew the truth, I had a hard time seeing you as a sister, especially as you grew...that is…well, I’d like to know exactly how you see me, if not as a brother.”

She doesn’t want to get her hopes up, but from the way he’s talking, it really sounds like he’s the one confessing to his feelings. And if that’s the case, then it means that her love isn’t completely unrequited! In her excitement at that possibility, she decides that it is entirely worth the risk to find out.

“I think I might love you,” she says. “As something entirely different than family.” She studies his face for a reaction, but when a smile breaks out over his face, she knows that she was right on the mark.

“Little princes…” he breathes. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that. I’ve fallen in love with you as well. It was hard to figure out how to tell you, but I knew that I had to find a way to. I was a bit afraid you might still think of me as a brother, and that my feelings for you were wrong, but...I’m glad to see that that isn’t the case.”

Corrin allows her arm to brush against him a bit more obviously this time, hoping that now she doesn’t have anything to feel guilty about, when it comes to craving a little more contact with him. He seems to notice, as he turns to her and clears his throat before speaking.

“If it’s alright, I…could you close your eyes for me, little princess?”

She does as told, her heart pounding as he reaches a finger under her chin, tilting her face up to meet his as he moves in closer, catching her lips in a quick, gentle kiss. Except being so close to him is too much for her, and she isn’t sure exactly what comes over her, but even when he starts to pull out of the kiss, she isn’t ready. Instead, she wraps her arms around the back of his head and holds him in the kiss, not letting him go until he relaxes into it, kissing her with a bit more passion than before.

After spending so much time desiring him like this, she’s overwhelmed by all of this, and she knows better than to push things, but somehow, she can’t seem to help herself. She whimpers into their kiss, pressing as close to him as she can while sitting. When she feels him run a hand through her hair, she has mixed feelings. On the one hand, the gentle and loving gestures from him are nice and remind her of the fact that he does love her, and in the way she wanted him to.

On the other hand, she can’t stop thinking about the way she’s fantasized about him, and the stern man the rest of the world sees her brother as. She tries to push thought of her mind, especially when Xander pulls back, flushed and breathless and clearly as aroused by all of this as she is.

“I’m not sure if I trust myself around you right now,” he confesses softly, not meeting her eye.

“That makes two of us, then,” she replies. “I mean, me, I don’t trust myself, not…”

“I know what you mean, little princess.”

In an instant, he’s on top of her, kissing her with more ferocity than before, and she tilts her hips up to meet his without even thinking about it, allowing her to feel just how badly he wants her. That alone is enough to leave her moaning pathetically into his mouth, and the way he’s holding her down like this...it’s so close to what she’s imagined in the past that she can’t help losing herself in fantasy once more.

When the kiss is broken, they have to get back up for the clothes to come off, and he fumbles with hers as well as his own, more nervous than she would have expected. Then again, after all the times she's imagined this, she's gotten used to thinking of him as more sure of himself. It's easy to forget that he's actually just as inexperienced as she is.

“Are you absolutely sure about this, little princess?” he asks. “I won't ask you to do anything you don't want to, or anything you're not ready for.”

“No, I…this is what I want.”

He spends a lot of time teasing her at first, though she's sure he doesn't see it as teasing. All he's doing is trying to get her ready, fingering her while she squirms and writhes under his touch, but she wants him so badly, and she wants him to…

She tries to stop thinking along those lines, knowing that that isn't what he's going to be like with her. He's never been like that with her before, and he wouldn't start now, not when he's doing all he can to make this easy for her. She knows that he's going to be slow and gentle, and that that's supposed to be a good thing, but for whatever reason, she's so hung up on the image of him she's created in her mind.

“Is something bothering you? Should I stop?”

“No, no, that’s good,” she replies softly. “I...I like it.”

“If there’s something I could do to make it better...or do you not want to do this?”

“That’s not…”

“Please, whatever it is. Don’t worry about it, just say whatever’s on your mind.” The way he smiles reassuringly at her, like the older brother she could always count on, makes it hard for her to keep secrets from him.

“Could you maybe...be a little more...firm?” However, as soon as the words are out of her mouth, she regrets them, especially when she sees how confused he looks.

“Firm?”

“You know, like...stern?”

“I’m not sure I get what you mean.”

“Just forget I said anything?”

“But, if it’s something you want, then I want to try. Can you just explain it?”

Slowly, she launches into her story, but she gets so nervous along the way that she begins rambling, telling more than she intended to, forgetting to leave out the bits about the long nights spent thinking about him. He chuckles and says, “I’m flattered to hear that I was on your mind.”

At that, she’s nearly so flustered that she can’t go on, but she manages to finish it, mumbling, “And that’s what I meant. I’m sorry, that’s weird, right?”

“There’s nothing to apologize for. If that’s what you want from me, I can certainly try, but it’s not going to be easy, being like that with you. There’s a reason I treat you a bit more...softly than I do others, and it’s because I care so much about you. But if you want me to try to be firm, at least like this, then I can manage.”

When his face shifts, she feels a chill go down her spine. He looks at her with cold eyes and without a hint of a smile on his face, and he asks her, “Now, are you going to let me do what I want with you? Do you think you can follow basic orders?”

“Yes!” she says, nodding, feeling her face grow warm. Xander gets on top of her again, holding her wrists above her head this time. There’s such an intense look in his eyes, and she’s helpless beneath him.

“Then my orders for you are to lay there and take what I have to give you.” HIs face softens and he says, “I’m sorry, was that too much?”

The change is so abrupt that she nearly bursts out laughing despite herself, but instead, she frowns. “I’m sorry, do you not like that?”

At that, Xander actually does laugh. “We aren’t going to get anywhere if we’re both apologizing. I guess that means you like it?”

“I...I do.”

“Alright, then I’ll try again.”

When his face hardens again, he seems more determined this time, and his grip on her wrists tightens so much that it nearly hurts. “Make sure you do as you’re told,” he reminds her, before he finally presses himself against her, and then, slowly, begins to press inside of her.

Naturally, it’s painful for her, even with how much they prepared, because it’s hard for her to relax like this. She tries to avoid showing this on her face, however, because she doesn’t want Xander to think it’s bad. Even if it hurts, she wants him to continue like this, but as soon as he fits himself completely inside of her, she winces, and he gives her a look of concern.

“If you want me to-”

“Please,” she says, “don’t.”

“At least wait a moment,” he replies. “Take some time to get used to it, and then we can continue, alright?”

Nodding, she does as she’s told, not minding that he takes the tone of an older brother in that moment. She takes a few deep breaths and does what she can to relax, to adjust to the strange and complete fullness . He still watches her with concern, until she smiles at him and breathlessly tells him that she’s good, that she can handle more.

After his first thrust, he’s resumed his role, and he finds a steady rhythm that isn’t too rough for her to handle, but certainly isn’t gentle or easy. His eyes are cold and his lips are pressed tight together as he methodically fucks her, while she goes to absolute pieces beneath him. Just by looking at his face, anyone would assume that he isn’t enjoying this, but then, slowly, she notices the facade beginning to crack, until his lips are slightly parted and his cheeks are tinted pink. He pants softly and he can’t help his eyes softening, until he’s looking at her with more love than she’s ever known.

And despite her fantasies and their somewhat lackluster attempts at roleplaying bringing her here, she’s not turned off by the affection at all. At the end of the day, she loves Xander, and to know that he loves her in return is more than enough for her, no matter how cliche she’s sure that that sounds. She comes first, harder, better , than anything she’s ever done on her own, and she loses herself for a moment, not noticing that he’s right there with her until she feels something warm inside of her.

When she opens her eyes, she sees a look of pure bliss on Xander’s face, and gone are any traces of the stern prince who took her to begin with. That man is fun, she decides, but she’s happy with this one, too; with the Xander who has loved her for as long as they’ve known each other, both as family and as a lover, and who she knows she can always count on to look after her.

She isn’t quite sure how their relationship is going to be taken, once it’s announced, but she knows that she can count on him to take care of that as well. He isn’t the sort to back down, she knows, and he’s always been one of her staunchest defenders. Perhaps, she thinks, she likes his stern face best when it’s being used in defense of her, and she can’t help looking forward to their future, knowing that he will always defend her, as his lover and, hopefully soon, his bride. 

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