Eclipse was sitting on the couch of their accommodations, reading a bounty hunter guidebook that outlined different ways to subdue a target, lethally or not. It was a newly published work, the latest in a series of bounty hunter books, and he had been waiting until it was translated to Star Jester so he could read it.
As much as he would have preferred they just publish it onweb, no bounty hunter books were made available that way, and so he always had to wait until one was published in his native language before he could read it. After all, these books were a sort of restricted reading kind of deal, and it was hard for non-bounty hunters to get their hands on these texts.
His frills perked, upper pair of eyes looking up from the book to see Cadence walking in. She walked slower than usual, and her lips were set in a frown as the tip of her tongue stuck out of her mouth. As she was passing by him, he got the scent of fresh blood, and he reached forward and grabbed her, setting her on his lap while he moved the book aside.
"Wha- The fuck?" She said in confusion before glaring at Eclipse, "The fuck?"
He leaned closer, his frills flopping forward and gently caressing her face and hair. "You smell like blood," he stated matter-of-factly, "Are you injured? Your facial expression suggests a large amount of pain."
She rolled her eyes, leaning away as she said, "My period hit me three weeks late, it hurts like a motherfucker. I came here to see if any of Sun's confections were in the fridge."
Eclipse thought for a moment, eyes narrowed. "Ah, period. The painful time of the month when a human female sheds the lining of her uterus," Eclipse said at last, situating her so her back was to his front, caging her in by sitting criss-cross.
His lower pair of hands pressed against her lower abdomen, gently kneading as he continued, "I forgot you did that. Most other species of females go through heat. But that is beside the point. You are in pain, and you should rest. Your body needs it."
She rolled her eyes as she replied, "Well, I can't. I need to get a commission done and need to get my workout done as well. Not to mention shower. I literally woke up, ate breakfast, and headed over here so I could eat something Sun made before I brushed my teeth."
"I would recommend against overexerting yourself," he murmured, smiling when she relaxed into his massage, "Your body is going through enough strain as is."
"I've been dealing with this shit since I was 11, I'll be fine," she huffed, leaning back against Eclipse, "I always do my routine no matter what."
"Well, I will help you with that routine now. You shouldn't put too much stress on your body, no matter what. I can carry you instead of you walking so as to lessen the strain on your body," Eclipse replied.
She looked at him confused as she asked, "And why would you do that?"
Eclipse smiled as he replied, "Because I care about you, Cadence. I don't wish for harm to befall you."
She stared at him a moment before turning her head away.
She fell silent, and after a minute, Eclipse leaned forward, looking at her face to see her eyes watering.
"What's wrong?" Eclipse said, moving his hands away from her stomach.
She grabbed his hands and put them back on her stomach. "That was really sweet," she muttered.
Eclipse smiled, resuming rubbing her stomach to try and help with her pain. "Well, don't think that's the last time I'll be sweet," he murmured, kissing the side of her face, "I will always treat you right." He smirked, hands moving lower, pinkies dipping into her waistband.
She merely hummed, but her hum went up in pitch a little when his hands dipped slightly lower.
"Very right~" he purred, smirking as she slumped slightly. "Of course, only if you let me," he added, his hands moving back up, cupping her abdomen and resumed massaging.
She huffed in reply, simply leaning back against him. Eclipse was quiet for a minute, remembering the events of 2 days ago, when he came back and had been under the influence of the Lovebug venom.
Every time he remembered what he did, he internally cringed, a frown marring his features. He felt terrible for laying his hands on her like that, and now that she wasn't avoiding him out of embarrassment, he could properly apologize.
"Cadence..." he said softly, and she hummed curiously, craning her head to look at him. His frills were drooped, looking ashamed as he said softly, "I'm sorry for what I did. I shouldn't have touched you like that without asking. I understand your reluctance to interact with me yesterday. If I ever do that again and make you uncomfortable, you need to slap me. My behavior was unacceptable."
Cadence looked surprised, not having seen this side of him before. He looked so ashamed and remorseful, for once avoiding looking at her.
She almost asked why would she want to slap him, but instead said, "Oh. It's fine, don't worry. Forgiven."
He perked up, looking at her hopefully. "You forgive me?" He asked, before smirking and teasing, "That was rather quick. Am I forgiven so easily because you liked it~?" He nuzzled the side of her head.
She huffed, doing duck lips as she didn't answer.
"You don't have to answer," he said softly, "but there is nothing wrong with you liking it~"
She turned her head away, simply nodding once.
"You can use your words~" he purred, "Using your words makes the chance of misunderstanding much smaller."
She growled softly.
"Aww, gonna growl at me?" He teased, "Come on, use your big girl words."
"I did not mind it," she said through gritted teeth. She didn't know why, but admitting out loud that she enjoyed the attention was near impossible, her throat always trying to close up on her. She direly wanted to say she loved the attention, and would eagerly accept more.
But she couldn't.
"Awww, good girl~" he purred, causing her breathing to stutter as she leaned forward, setting her forehead on her knees.
Eclipse's eyes closed for a moment, his lower pair of hands pulling her closer to him.
"Oh~? Flustered?" He teased, leaning closer as his chest pressed against her back, "Could it be that you..." he gasped softly in mock surprise, "might have a praise kink?"
"Oh, shut UP," she exclaimed, keeping her face hidden, "No speak! You lose speaking privileges!"
His upper right hand gently cupped her chin, bringing up her flustered face so he could lean in closer.
"Oh? How about you make me?" He teased.
She glared at him, her hands grabbing the sides of his face as she aggressively pressed her lips against his.
Eclipse was taken by surprise, not expecting her to suddenly take the initiative. She was always so anxious and nervous, he hadn't expected her to kiss him out of spite.
His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer, smirking as he returned the kiss. He was not complaining about this turn of events.
After a moment, she pulled back, her eyes wide as her eyes could go and her eyebrows seeming to merge with her hairline.
"Awww, my little submissive switch," he teased.
"I RUN NOW," she wheezed, trying to wiggle out of his grip.
"Aw, don't run now! We're just getting started~" he teased, kissing the side of her neck. Of course, he was ready to let go of her immediately if she really wanted to go.
"I go die in hole of EMBARRASSMENT," she said dramatically.
"No need to be dramatic," Eclipse purred, "Did you like it? I know I did~"
She simply made a high-pitched noise, curling up and hiding her face.
"Embarrassed that you kissed me instead of me kissing you?" He purred, looking down at her, inspecting her body language.
She was curled up tight, hands covering her face as her head was tucked in. He could feel the tension in her stomach as his lower set of hands continued to massage it.
He decided to stop the teasing for now, not wanting to push her from embarrassed territory to uncomfortable.
His upper pair of hands grabbed his book, which was open and to the side, and resumed reading, getting to a chapter talking about the main weak spots of most major species, each page containing one or more examples depending on how similar the weak points are on a species.
He smirked as one page listed over a dozen species, humans being on the list due to the similarity they share with more than a handful of other species.
The room fell silent, Cadence curled up tightly into a ball while Eclipse massaged her stomach and read his book.
Around an hour later, Eclipse got to the section about various ways of seducing targets in order to soften them up and lower their guard, making it easier to capture or subdue them.
He quirked a brow when seeing that strippers were a more effective way of lowering a target's guard than prostitutes. That was a surprising revelation, as 30 years ago it was the opposite.
"Whatcha reading?" Cadence asked softly, and he looked down to see her no longer covering her face, looking at the book curiously.
"Bounty Hunter's Guide; Updated Edition #657," Eclipse answered, turning the page to see a page full of different alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage mixers that can easily contain sedatives or poisons.
"What language is it in?" She asked curiously.
"Star Jester," Eclipse answered.
"Cool," Cadence said, silent for a moment before adding, "I can't read it."
Eclipse chuckled, patting her head as he said, "I didn't think you would."
She leaned into his touch, and he smirked as he started stroking her head like one would a dog. His mother had been very correct; she was rather touch-starved indeed.
She stuck her tongue out at him, looking at the pages and only able to marginally understand some of the simplistic diagrams. They both fell silent, Eclipse reading while Cadence pretended to read what he was reading, like a toddler pretending to be an adult and trying to read a book they can't.