With both instruction and reassurance in his ears, Aramis releases the breath he's been holding, smiling with a tenderness that is at odds with the firmness in his grip when he bends Athos' leg back further still, making the room that he needs to take him. Shifting forward, Aramis aligns himself and thrusts all the way within Athos in one long stroke, gasping at the tight heat as it swallows him up.

Athos may play at coldness, but there is no denying the warmth in him, heart and body when one is allowed as close as this. "Hot as anything," Aramis sighs in agreement with Porthos.