[Minor mature warning. Kissing and stuff.]
Her skin wasn’t soft, wasn’t porcelain pale, wasn’t smooth. Even now, he could feel thin keloid scars that crisscrossed her breast pressing into his arm through thin fabric. There was no wild intimacy in the way this had happened, he had simply drawn her close…her arms had fallen limply around his torso, trapping the limb between them. Still, nervousness lingered in the back of his mind. If she realized…
His dark skinned arm retreated from around her, adjusting their position on the old couch to something more chaste. The lean of his head against hers, met by the habitual twitch and jerk of her own. Closeness was new to her. Yet it was she who initiated it, perhaps couldn’t resist the idea of curling together in front of the fire.
Certainly he couldn’t, which is exactly what lead to them laying here for hours now. Tired eyes, too dark for color, stared down at her as his lips curved in some small smile. A slightly crooked one, in thanks to the stinging cut through the left side of his thin upper lip. Silly girl, you didn’t need to kiss so hard...
But he knew she did. Small bruises from the occasional outburst were common enough. Bottling her anger did nothing but intensify it and cause her more harm in the long run. It wasn’t the greatest plan. He didn’t claim it to be, either. But if a human punching bag was what she needed…he would give it for now.
How much damage could a short woman cause a tall man anyway?
Not enough to drive him off.
A sigh gusted from him, stinging the wound further and drawing a reaction-sigh from her. Something he had to internally note, if only because- again- it was something she rarely did. Too tense. Perhaps he could take advantage of that… Dark eyes drifting closed against the brightness of the fire, he took to combing with light strokes through her unkempt hair. Long, stringy. A gold color that, in the right light, gleamed. She never believed him when he told her. Only snapped of her ancestry, and threatened to do the strands harm. Cut them off? What would that solve?
“Ey.”
Her voice, husky and bitter and still the sweetest thing he ever heard, forced his eyes open instantly.
“Eh?”
He could see the smile in her eyes at his abrupt response. It never made it to her lips.
“What time is it?”
Her English was thick with accent, but still appreciated. It was their middle ground. Portuguese and German were worlds apart, and he would struggle with the sharp tongue when this tired. Lazy, that’s what it was. Yet, somehow, she didn’t hassle him for it. Just everything else.
A glance without moving his head was shot toward the clock over the fireplace.
“O’twohundred…”
She ‘hmm’-ed with a crackling throat, narrowed emerald eyes lowering on his chest as she seemed to think. Catlike, he noted. Like a contented ally cat. It was reassuring just to know such a state was possible.
“Klaus has already come.”
The statement honestly surprised him. From her? She didn’t believe in Santa Klaus, much less take part in the uppity Christmas bit. So he had to chuckle when those eyes were opened up to his, questioning why he had started to grin. Ow. The tip of his tongue peeked out to give the wound yet another once over.
“How did he come in? The fire should keep that rascal away.”
Now her frown returned. Not a serious frown, though, for which he was grateful.
“The man is of magic. So fire should keep him out?”
A feeling like thick fog began to fill up his chest. Strength and…protectiveness. He knew what hid behind her seemingly simple question. Men, coming here. Now he did dare to raise an arm from where it had rested limply over her side, drawing her closer with the press of a palm between her shoulders. The other, beneath her head and still slowly combing, rustled the unwashed hair in a playful manner.
“Not the fire, no…I, though, I should keep him out.” An all-too-cocky smirk was what she was given, though it stung terribly. He could practically feel the little nick ripping just that bit more. Her eyes ticked to the cut, disapproval rising in them, though she said nothing, didn’t even fight the toying hand against her head.
Silence reigned. Second by second, his smile faded until gone in its entirety.
“I promise.”
His hold tightened…calculated, to say the least. Any resistance at all, and he would let go. Any.
…There was none. Tension he didn’t realize he had eased from his shoulders, allowing his head to go limp against the cushion, short black hair, just as disheveled as hers, teasing the corner of his eye. An irritant that was remedied by pressing his forehead in against her own.
She leaned into it, another of those elusive contented sighs leaving her nose. And slowly, he felt her relaxing further. Muscles unwinding.
He couldn’t help but smile.
“You put a revolver under the pillow, did you?”
His grin flickered.
“Of course.”
Hand slipping away from her shoulders, it crept beneath the cushion they lay on, feeling and almost immediately finding…warm metal. A light tap with nails, against the weapon’s barrel.
She smiled. A dark, worn smile that only made the circles around her eyes that much more apparent, but…a smile. And more than that. He had no say in the matter when she leaned forward and up, pressing her lips to his. For a moment, he couldn’t even respond, too surprised that this had been initiated by her. A sweet Christmas miracle, certainly.
It would have remained sweet as well, if she hadn’t been so ruthless. Entirely on purpose, her teeth caught at that open bite she caused. He grunted, but followed through, speaking only once they broke apart due to her say.
A chuckle, a wide grin.
“Em…ow…”
His tongue probed the spot, now welling anew with red.
The black tongue swirled around and around the scar and its brother, feeling them over both inside and out, lost in the memory-turned-dream. Wings sprawled at his sides, uneven as if simply thrown, accumulated snow seeping between the feathers. Only his mouth and legs moved, claws occasionally flicking against the gunmetal that was not there.
“…Emilina...that hurts…”
And still, between licks, he was grinning.
Hnnnn~. Beautiful again.
Beautiful again.
hnnnnnnnnnnng ?
My favorite so far. The