The sound of scales brushing softly over marble echoed through the cavern. You didn’t need to see her—you could feel her presence the moment the air thickened with her warmth, the rustle of serpents lazily curling and shifting with her mood.

She was behind you now.

“You’re sitting all alone again,” Medusa’s voice cooed, velvet and sly. “Are you pretending not to miss me? Or do you just like making me chase you?”

You smiled faintly, head tilting at the sound of her approaching coils. There was a slow slither before she coiled herself gently around you, her tail tightening like a warm blanket, muscle and scale pressing comfortingly close.

“I can’t tell if you’re being sweet or stubborn,” she murmured, her voice right by your ear now. “Either way, I’m taking my cuddles.”

Her arms wrapped around your chest, her chin resting on your shoulder, the snakes in her hair brushing curiously against your cheek and neck—some of them hissing affectionately, others playfully flicking their tongues.

“You know,” she whispered, fingers tracing your jawline, “it’s almost unfair how easy it is to fluster you. You can’t see the way I look at you—but you feel it, don’t you?”

She chuckled as you froze under her touch.

“I bet you do. You feel every inch of me. Every coil. Every grin. Every heartbeat.”

One of her snakes gently wrapped around your wrist, guiding your hand to her cheek. She leaned into it like a cat—warm, smug, aching for your touch.

“…You don’t need eyes, darling,” she murmured, guiding your fingers down her face, to her lips, “to know how much I love you.”

She pulled you close then, your head resting against the softest part of her chest, her strong arms cradling you.

“You’re mine,” she whispered against your hair. “Forever. And I’ll never stop wrapping around you. Teasing you. Loving you.”

Then, with a wicked smile you couldn’t see but could definitely feel, she added:

“…Unless you keep ignoring me. Then I might have to punish you.”

Another flick of a tongue. Another mischievous hiss.

And all you could do was smile, sinking into her coils, into her warmth, where everything was soft, and playful, and hers.