Heaven's Gate Has the Best Punch

[Darth Parox]

Aadya's Penthouse, Coruscant, 0832 local time​

The sun was just barely rising over Coruscant when his eyes opened. Parox didn't stir as he woke. The only change was his breath pattern shifting as he peacefully came out of slumber. His yellow eyes, tainted by the dark side but lively as ever, scanned the room around him, the Sith Lord remaining completely still as he tried to process and figure out where he was. He looked down at his side and found there was someone else there, and his arm was draped around her.

His breath caught in his throat and his heart leaped to his chest, but Parox just kept staring. She looked so lovely like that (not that she didn't look lovely all the time). The constant smug expression on her face (which he'd always found kind of hot, but would never tell her something like that) was gone, replaced by a neutral peacefulness. Parox didn't want to wake her up—not so early, not after all the significant events last night. She needed her rest, so he made a sacrifice and just looked out the window, letting her keep sleeping even though the back of his head itched. He wanted to scratch it, but that would mean shifting his arm from around her and that would be unforgivable.

He'd had a run in with both Eriana and Victress. He'd attended his first social event as a Sith Lord. He'd spoken with the Emperor both in private and in public. Plans had been reported on, schemes had been schemed. It had been eventful, and yet the most significant thing that had happened to him—the one that mattered most—was her simple confession.

"Honestly been wanting to do that for a while now," she'd said. "Me too," he'd replied. And it was true. Both statements, even though he was still surprised that the stars had aligned so perfectly. He'd gotten so lucky.

@Logan

 

[Aadya Drast]

____________

It had been one of those good sleeps. The kind you only got when you weren't just content when you finally drifted off, but actually happy. Aadya was pretty sure that she had fallen asleep last night with a smile creasing her lips, feeling truly safe with Milo's arm around her, snuggled in as closely as two bodies could actually be.

Aadya had been awake for a little while now and despite her bladder screaming constantly that she needed to pee, she had been completely unwilling to move from her spot in the bed. Her bed, where Milo was. The warmth was intoxicating, almost effervescent in the way it made her insides tingle - deep down, down in the pit of your stomach where your true feelings lie. She wanted to will this moment to be the only one in life that wasn't fleeting, but it seemed her need to pee was just too strong.

She shimmied out of from under Milo's arm and padded over to her bathroom, barefoot and still naked from the night before. She turned to look at him as she walked away, wanting to catch the last glimpse of Milo before he woke up. That's when she noticed he was already awake, his golden eyes shining with a daunting beauty in the early morning sun. "Were you just laying there staring at me ya big creep?" She teased before closing the door to the bathroom. She emerged a few minutes later wearing some clothes; a black tank top and a pair of shorts.

"Food?" It was mostly a rhetorical question. Aadya had already pulled out her datapad and was ordering something on SpaceUberEats from a place down the way. She supposed they could stop being lazy and walk there, but that would require putting on shoes. Aadya wasn't really a fan of shoes.

Sitting back down on the bed, she tossed her datapad over to Milo. "Pick what you want, Mi--.. wait. Do I have to call you Master now all the time?" Aadya had just remembered that not only had Milo stayed over last night, but he had told the Emperor himself that she was being taken on as his apprentice. She wondered with a bit of a mix of humor and horror what other things she wasn't remembering right now that might come flooding back as her brain started working right again.

Kriffin' booze, man. Gets ya every time.

@vamp

 

[Darth Parox]

She was the first to move, and Parox hadn't even realized that she was awake until she was halfway to the bathroom. His brain barely functioned so early in the morning with so much alcohol and so many drugs in his system, and by the time he turned to look at her, she'd almost reached it. Parox looked her up and down as she walked away, his eyes snapping up when she turned around as if she felt his eyes on her.

"I was laying here, yes, but I was not staring. I was gazing." He cleared his throat and stretched. The blanket slipped off his shoulder and onto his stomach and he realized he was shirtless. A moment later, he realized he was also still naked. As the door closed behind Aadya, he—quite literally—rolled out of bed, pawing around on the floor for his clothes. His hand felt the soft material of his shirt and he realized yesterday's clothes consisted of his suit, which he was definitely not going to put on again. He looked up and around the room, eyes setting on a bathrobe hanging a few meters away. He rose up and reached for it with the Force, the robe gliding over to him. He finished wrapping it around himself and tying the knot as Aadya opened the door.

"I'm not one for breakfast," he admitted. "Should probably get some food in my system though." And water. He had drank nothing but alcohol yesterday, and that couldn't possibly be healthy.

He grabbed the datapad and sat down at the foot of the bed, rubbing his eyes with one hand and holding the datapad with the other. "I wouldn't complain. You didn't seem to mind doing it last night." That statement had a double meaning that Aadya would no doubt have fun trying to figure out. Parox didn't even look up from the datapad as he spoke, concentrating on finding something to eat. He finally settled on pancakes and then passed it to Aadya, who was right next to him.

@Logan

 

[Aadya Drast]

____________

"Oh shut up!" She replied to his last comment, pushing Milo on the shoulder and laughing when she said it. She took the datapad back and sent off the order. She didn't expect it to take long to arrive, Aadya was known to give big tips - especially if the food got to her really fast.

"So, Master, we should probably find something to do since you're supposed to be teaching me stuff now. Can't just stay around here and lay in bed all day." Aadya swung her legs off the side of the bed so that she could lay the back of her head on Milo's lap. She had a bunch of random ideas floating around in her head but figured that since Milo was the master in this situation, she should probably default to any ideas or things that he might have in mind.

Aadya had never really had a mentor before so she was sort of unsure how it all worked, though she figured that her current situation probably wasn't he norm when it came to master/apprentice. She heavily doubted that most apprentices in the Empire were having sex with their master... though she supposed it wouldn't be that terribly surprising if they were.

"Anything on your radar?" Aadya knew that Darths were always scheming or plotting or planning to do something. It was the nature of the position, always looking for more to control or more to horde so that any fledgling Sith wouldn't get the wise idea of trying to usurp you. Aadya had already led a campaign to pull some neutral worlds into the fold of the Empire, though she knew her accomplishments were beans compared to what Milo had already done. "I've been eyeing Kessel. It may be time to flush those Mandalorian vermin from the sector."

Aadya knew that it might be a little early in her career to be demanding large scale military action against an enemy force but that didn't stop her from thinking about it or planning for it. Her goals were lofty and it would take an eternity to reach them if she only took baby steps. There was a sudden knock on the door then and Aadya got up and went to answer it. The food had arrived and she couldn't have been more enthused.

"I guess we can figure it out after we eat and shower," she said before taking a bite of her food, a playful smirk creasing the corners of her lips. "It's big enough for two."

@vamp

 

[Darth Parox]

He groaned. "Fine. Lesson number 1—" He pulled her up and leaned back so they were now laying on the bed, her head on his chest. "I don't like to be rushed. Now, stare at the ceiling with me." His arms wrapped around her and held her there so that escape would be impossible. For a moment, he just laid there, looking up at the white ceiling and enjoying the physical contact. It felt good.

"Me too. I have the campaign drafted up. Still waiting on military approval, but it can't take too long." He would be lying if he said he didn't really feel like talking war right now. Then again, it was completely understandable. Parox lived and breathed war, and he'd had no refuge for the past few months. Today, he wanted to rest. Still, if Aadya wanted to talk business, he'd be a bad Master to deny her the right.

"Saved by the bell," he remarked, letting Aadya get up to go pick up the food. He raised himself back up but didn't get off the bed, watching her as she came back, bags in hand. Parox grabbed his box and opened it, tearing into the food but not really tasting it. It was too early in the morning for his tastebuds to work, especially after the overload last night.

"Mmm." There it was again. That feeling. Like fire in his chest. Parox finished off the remainder of his food in one excited bite and looked up at Aadya. "Shower time." He practically leaped off the bed. Parox stalked to the bathroom, poking his head out from around the wall to se if she was following. He twisted the tap on using the Force. "I hope you like hot showers."

@Logan

 

[Aadya Drast]

____________

Aadya had already managed to pull her clothes off by the time Milo had ran towards the shower and poked his head back to make sure she was following. She bounced after him, a happy skip in her step, and hopped into the indeed hot-as-it-could-go shower. They took their time, having a repeat of the events of last night - several times over - and when they finally got out Aadya started her normal routine of actually getting herself presentable to be around other people.

She hadn't felt much like putting in her normal contacts, so Aadya had opted to just wear her glasses. Her clothes were normal streetwear, though she did notice that that was something a lot of her sith compatriots seemed to completely lack. They were always wearing cloaks or armor or other weird shit even when they were just kicking it like normal people... though maybe labeling your average Sith as "normal" was a bit of a stretch.

Having taken the liberty of having one of her people go out and buy Milo some clothes - she figured he probably wouldn't want to wear the same thing that he'd been wearing last night - the Darth would find a random assortment of stuff that should all have been about his size waiting for him in Aadya's room when he came out of the shower. Aadya was curious to see the kind of clothes he'd choose to wear since most of it was... not the typical stuff that Milo seemed to like.

Pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge, Aadya sat at her dinner table and waited for Milo to finish up whatever he was doing and come sit with her. She was sort of getting bored of sitting in the house - though she did have to admit, the "extra curricular activities" she and Milo had been engaging in had been incredibly satisfying - there were things that needed to be done.

"We should figure out something to do," She said idly, flipping through various holonet sites on her datapad. "Unless you've got other things to attend to - I'd understand." Despite wanting to be near and around Milo as much as possible, Aadya understood that the life of a Darth was a flighty one and that he might have actual important things to do where she couldn't follow, even if she was his new apprentice.

Getting distracted by one of the celebrity blogs she read - apparently, one of the more renown Jizz singers had been found OD'd in his speeder - Aadya waited for Milo. He was taking longer than her to get ready. What a dork.

@vamp

 

[Darth Parox]

The day was off to a good start already. After a refreshing—and long—shower, Parox stepped out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around him. After looking around like an idiot for a moment, he finally noticed the pile of clothes on her bed and figured they were for him; closer inspection showed that they were, more or less, his size. It took Parox a decent amount of time to figure out what to wear, mostly because he was so unused to streetwear. He'd only wore suits, cloaks, or armor all his life, the most casual being cloaks. He was out of his element, but he still did his best to figure out what would look well.

After much fussing, he stepped out of Aadya's room and walked over to the dinner table feeling more self conscious than he had ever felt. It was strange to be out of his comfort zone fashion-wise, and he was half convinced he looked like an idiot. For that reason, he'd chosen to go casual, and having taken so much time to get ready, decided to leave his hair alone rather than pull it back—he didn't want to spend forever in the room. Sitting, he glanced up at Aadya sheepishly.

"I'm not one for urban wear," he explained. She was scrolling through articles on her datapad as he looked outside the window. It was quiet for a moment, but the quietness felt comfortable. There was no tension, no awkwardness; Parox was unused to it, but it was a nice change. Things felt normal for once.

"I have nothing important to do for the next few days," he replied. "And even if I did, I wouldn't exclude you." He would have been happy to have her tag along for anything he had to do. It would make business much more bearable. Parox noticed a coffee machine sitting on the kitchen counter and strolled over casually, making two cups in case Aadya wanted some. As the machine got to work grinding and mixing, he looked at her—just looked, admiring. The moment she looked up at him, Parox would offer a small and surprisingly shy grin. There was clearly something on his mind, and for once he was at a loss for words. It took him some time to form the sentence.

"I like this." It was stupidly simple and he couldn't help but reprimand himself for being so unarticulated, but he still wasn't wrong. He cringed a bit. Parox was a Sith Lord, and he was struggling to speak to his apprentice. Then again, that wasn't exactly all there was to their relationship...

@Logan

 

[Aadya Drast]

____________

When Milo finally came out of her room, Aadya couldn't help but simply stare at him and smile. She'd never really noticed how cute his hair was before, normally it was pulled back and out of the way. She liked it that way too, but there was something in the way that it fell naturally that just made Milo just look so kriffing good.

"You did a good job," she said encouragingly. Aadya could tell that Milo was by no means used to wearing what she would describe as "normal" clothes. "You look really nice, Milo. Cutest thing I've ever seen." Aadya said the last bit with a coy smile curling the corners of her mouth, knowing that it would probably make the Darth embarrassed.

As Milo went over to the coffee maker, Aadya turned back to her datapad, happening to look up and catch Milo's eye, he flashing her a shy smile. Aadya could tell that there was something going on inside of Milo's head, like he had something to say but maybe didn't know which words to pick. When he finally found them they were short but they were sweet, and honestly summed up the feelings that she had too quite nicely.

"I like this too," she said back, giving him the same shy smile that he'd given her only a few moments before. Aadya didn't think she ever felt like this before, though granted she hadn't been alive that long all things considered. A four letter word suddenly flashed across her mind, but she wasn't quite sure it was the time to use that one yet. That would just be crazy.

Standing up from her seat, Aadya cross over to Milo with a few steps and simply pushed herself into him, wrapping her arms around him and burying her head in his chest. She stayed like this for a minute before pulling away a little bit, leaving her arms still around his waist and looking up at his face and into his eyes with a smile. "You're very important to me." She said finally and abruptly.

Aadya was unsure how Milo would respond, but hopefully she hadn't said anything that would make him feel uncomfortable. Her feelings were strong but she did not want to lay them all on the table, afraid that it might scare him away or otherwise sully the best thing she had going on in her life at the moment.

She sort of felt that he might feel the same way too, Aadya hoping that her feelings were not misplaced.

@vamp

 

[Darth Parox]

No one had ever called him cute before, so Parox really didn't know how to respond. Instead, he looked down, trying to avoid blushing but—for the most part—failing. He generally knew how to take compliments, and was unaffected if anyone else said something of the sort, but with Aadya was an entirely different case. It was like he was a different person with her. Like he was himself. No walls.

She walked over and wrapped him into a hug, her arms around his waist. Parox pulled her in and held her there, his arms covering her tinier frame with ease. His chin rested on her head as they stood there in silence for a moment, just enjoying it. He could feel the subtle thump in his chest and couldn't help but wonder if Aadya could hear it—it definitely felt loud.

Aadya looked up at him and put one hand on her cheek, looking at her face with an expression warmer than he'd shown in a long time. She broke the silence and he just smiled, leaning in and kissing her. It was short but sweet and euphoric—Parox never got tired of this.

"You're very important to me, too," he added after he pulled back, looking right into her eyes. "It's not official or anything—at least, I don't know if it is—but...I'd like it to be." Again, he silently reprimanded himself for speaking like a schoolboy, but Parox quite literally couldn't pick his wording properly at the moment. It was embarrassing, but he hoped Aadya wouldn't think of him less for being an idiot.

She'd know what he was talking about. What he was most nervous for was her response. Would she think they were going too fast? They had been around each other for a month or perhaps a bit more since they'd met, more so recently. In that time, Parox had slowly but surely began feeling more and more the way he does now. Putting a word on it may not be a good idea for now, but he at least wanted her to know he felt that way.

@Logan

 

[Aadya Drast]

____________

Words like official or commitment used to make Aadya scrunch her nose up like she'd just smelled something foul. She remembered back on Vahl this one boy who asked her to be his girlfriend, Aadya literally laughed in his face at the idea. Of all things she could possibly do, why in the name of the Force would she tie herself down to a single person? There were literally trillions of people out there in the galaxy. How could she possibly think that any single one of them was so special?

But today, this moment, she had none of those feelings. The impulse to run as far and as fast as she could was eerily absent. It was quite the opposite, actually. Here, standing with a man she'd known for only a month or so, this is exactly what she wanted. Milo gave her something she'd never felt before with nearly any of the relationships she'd ever had, romantic or otherwise - and that was an actual sense of safety, of calmness and serenity.

It was strange, though. For all she knew of the Darkside emotions like those were not really compatible. But she felt stronger, somehow, when she was with Milo. It became obvious to her then. What they had was real, the feelings white hot. Through passion you gain strength. Go figure.

"It is," she said, leaving his embrace, and holding up her hand. It was formed into a fist but with the pinky sticking straight out. "Do you know what a pinky promise is?" She asked, genuinely curious. Aadya's mom had taught her the pinky promise when she was just a child, and it may have seemed childish to Milo but it was serious business to Aadya. "It's the most binding promise there is. You can never break a pinky promise." She grabbed one of Milo's hands, interlocking his pinky with hers. "I am yours and you are mine, no one else's." She said simply, looking into Milo's eyes and smiling. She raised both of their hands - pinky's still interlocked - and then kissed her thumb before pressing Milo's hand onto his lips so that he did the same. "That's how you seal a pinky promise."

Aadya hugged Milo again before raising herself up on her tiptoes to kiss him again. Sometimes she forgot how much taller he was than her, making a mental note to buy some more heels. As far as Aadya was concerned she could stand her hugging Milo for the rest of time, so it would be up to him to peel her off and maybe get something done today.

@vamp

 

[Darth Parox]

It was rare that Parox wasn't tense. His life had grown increasingly more stressful over the years—things were always high stakes, always life-or-death. He could blink and die with an unfinished legacy. He bore the weight of entire worlds on his shoulders—the weight of an Empire, really. He didn't have anyone to help alleviate the stress, someone to come home to at the end of the day. It was all warships and durasteel—the warmest warm he felt was the heat in the engine room.

But now he had someone. And he had someone he really really liked. It was rare to find someone like that—a person he thought perfect that somehow also thought he was perfect. It was why he was always starstruck when he looked at her; it just seemed too good to be true. There was likely no person in the galaxy he cared for besides Aadya. He didn't know if she knew that, but he would show her.

"I do," he replied. A pinky promise was something even noble kids knew about; it was how the servants got them to behave—pinky promise you won't break any more paintings and tonight for dinner you get ice cream. He had been a rather calm child, but the Vemecs around him hadn't so he'd served as witness to many pinky promises. Parox—no. Milo. Today, he was simply Milo. With her, he was Milo.

He interlocked his finger with hers and looked into her eyes, his expression solemn even though they were swearing an oath like two five year olds. "I am yours and you are mine. No one else's." His voice grew a bit strained at the last part; he had trust issues. Relationships hadn't been kind to him in the past—seeing Aadya betray his trust too might be the breaking point. Milo hoped that it wouldn't happen—he hoped it more than anything.

She got on her tiptoes to kiss him—she was that short, and it was cute—and Milo wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her off the ground. I am yours, and you are mine.

@Logan