After Dark

[valerie_vause]

Things unravelled in the oddest of ways. Everything that had happened since she’d gotten to UNLV had been quite unusual. With so many different things happening Valerie had pulled away, secluded herself and thrown her focus into school and patrolling. Not that it really helped, because Brian was there in her thoughts, just under the surface. Reminding her of the dangers that being with him could lead to. The fact that there was a Watcher where she spent her daylight hours unnerved the blonde and she had to wonder if the woman would be against her seeing anyone. The Council liked their girls to concentrate on the supernatural entities. Then something happened, a change began to take place as she came to the conclusion that since Rhiannon also patrolled, taking a night off wasn’t a crime.

Valerie had felt the anxiety shift to something else, not anger, but a restless energy that she turned into purpose. Her entire life since she’d been called had revolved solely around her duty. Time for a change. Time for her to get a life of her own. Gathering up a few things, gum, wallet, keys, the blonde hesitated and turned to open the mini fridge freezer. Fingers caught the thin metal case she’d kept under the ice cube tray and slid it into her back pocket. All in all it was a bit bigger than a pencil case, half an inch thick, with a little clip to keep it locked.

She strode out of her room and through the dorm before it occurred to her that she hadn’t changed. It doesn’t matter. The voice in the back of her mind said, and Valerie nodded and continued onward into the night. Jeans spattered with paint, torn in places, and streaked with blood from accidents happening in patrol. After a few washes the dried crimson had turned orange, and most people chalked it up as some sort of paint or that she’d wiped pasta sauce down them. Blonde hair was hidden by the hoody, underneath it a clean t-shirt sported the same kind of artistic abuse as her jeans.

Legs might have been short but they carried her at a fast pace, and within half an hour she’d managed to walk straight to Brian’s apartment building. Valerie tilted her head back to take a good look at it, street lights casting it in a pale glow that seemed to emphasize how old it was. Small chips and cracks could be seen, the faintest hints of moss clung in sparse patches further up, and she splayed a palm against the bricks to feel the rough texture. Old, but oddly beautiful. Both hands lifted then to push the hood down as the blonde took in a slow breath and checked her watch. Nine at night wasn’t that late to show up unannounced, was it? Only then did she realise he might not even be in. Why hadn’t she called? Oh, right, fear.

Shaking herself out of it, Valerie gathered herself as best she could and knocked three times on Brian’s door. If he didn’t answer at least she’d followed through on her impulse, and that was better than nothing.

Comments

[brian_campo]

Brian was sitting on the beige shag carpet that stretched across his living room floor. He scooted up to the arm of the couch to give his back a break while he dug through a sheaf of paper dotted with sixteenth notes, sharp signs and time signatures. In places, his eraser had dug holes in the pages.

A record played on a corner table and a ceiling fan turned lazily overhead. It was a feeble attempt to keep his electric bill down. At least it stirred up the air.

“My night was made, with some drinks and shade, out in the vacant place, far from the human race...” As he sang along, Brian kept his voice low so his neighbors didn’t have to suffer and drank rum and coke out of a plastic cup.

Knock, knock, knock…

He looked at the door. “Hang on,” he called. Probably the building supervisor coming to check out the leak under the kitchen sink. He tossed the papers on the coffee table and grabbed an old tee shirt from the armchair. Once upon a time it had been black, but it looked more like charcoal gray these days. He sniffed it. It smelled more like fabric softener than him, so he figured it was clean enough. He tugged it over his head.

“Locks,” he said through the door. “Lots of locks.” When he finished turning the knobs, he opened up and immediately regretted the sweatpants he was wearing, and the very real possibility that they had a hole in the crotch.

[valerie_vause]

Locks gave her time to try and compose herself, a chance to try and and sort out her thoughts before the door finally opened. Valerie didn’t even say hello as she looked up at his face, a rush of words tumbled forth before she could stop them. “You know, girls like me aren’t supposed to have lives, not like normal ones do and I’ve been fine with that. For years I never wavered, I never even considered the possibility that I could have anything beyond my calling and then I met you, and I felt this…”

Valerie’s teeth scraped over her lower lip and she breathed, “Connection… And you... No matter how hard I try to convince myself this will end in flames you’re there, everyday in my thoughts and you saw…” She looked to the sky, emotions bubbling up, and laughed though it wasn’t funny. “I mean this is… Things could target you to get at me, do you know that? I’m a danger to be around, I could die tomorrow, or next week or in a year, and all I keep thinking…”

Rambling had not been part of her plan, but it appeared the blonde couldn’t stop, her expression was perplexed. “I’m twenty-ones years old, I’ve faced things that would turn people into lunatics, and for the first time I actually feel alive in ways that I never… And that’s terrifying but I… You see, I have a destiny to uphold, that’s so important, if I fail they could strip me of my abilities and lock me up and all I want to do is… Is to…”

Pale fingers, normally steady, grabbed the middle of Brian’s shirt as Valerie stepped closer. With her free hand she found his cheek, brushed her palm against it and went up on her tiptoes to capture his lips tentatively. Softly. The kiss only lasted a few seconds before she pulled back, breathless and a little shocked at herself. Valerie had finally ran out of words.

[brian_campo]

He was holding his breath, trying to be patient and not interrupt. He balled his fist on the door frame. He wanted so bad to swear it didn’t matter if she was dangerous, that he would take care of himself, that he could get hit by a city bus and the last thing in his head would be, ‘Fuck, I didn’t kiss Valerie,’ but then she moved in and cut off that thought. All thought except,

‘Finally.’

He slowly reached up to touch her hair. The soft tendrils curled around his index finger.

His eyes were glued shut when she pulled back. Brian sought her forehead with his. “Don’t stop,” he mumbled. “Why’d you stop?” He kissed her again. Longer this time, and he was thinking how her lips were just as soft as he pictured, and that she tasted like spearmint. His heart hammered as wildly as a bird trapped in a cage.

He was afraid, too. He didn’t date girls. He woke up with a hangover next to girls. He made awkward small talk as he zipped up his fly. But he knew that wasn’t the way to be with Valerie. Instead, he entertained fantasies about sleeping with blonde hair spilling across his chest. He wrote songs about her that he didn’t have the guts to play. He lost time staring out of windows.

Brian reached down and twined the fingers of one hand into hers. He squeezed.

[valerie_vause]

Why did she stop? Valerie couldn’t think of a valid reason but it didn’t matter, because he was right there, leaning into her. When lips touched for a second time Valerie parted hers just a little, just enough to draw his lower one into her mouth to suckle warmly on. A second or so before she released it to kiss him back. The sweet taste of what he’d been drinking lingered against her tongue and soft, barely audible sound escaped her small frame. Truth be told the blonde barely realised her hand had found the base of his neck, finger tips stroking across skin, playing through the short hair. Time sped up and slowed down, at least that’s how it felt in that moment. Valerie’s insides a mass of butterflies that consumed everything she thought, everything she feared, everything except him.

Only when lungs screamed for air did Valerie pull back, not far, mere inches really as she squeezed his hand back. Brushed her thumb along the length of his then rubbed the tip of her nose against Brian’s as she smiled coyly. “Well…” She said, sinking back to her feet with no intention of stepping away. “The building is still standing.” She wasn’t trying to ruin the moment, technically she could have added that she felt like she wouldn’t be, if he did that again. “Maybe we should try harder?”

Blonde hair moved with the breeze as she watched him, then looked at what he was wearing. Not the kind of thing to wear out. Some part of her tried to say it was a bad idea but the other part, the part that made her pulse race every time she looked at him, said it was perfect. She didn’t want to be outside battling monsters, she wanted to be in his arms, she wanted to trace his lips and swap stupid stories.

Emboldened by the sudden rush of emotions Valerie tugged lightly at his hand, shy as she cleared her throat, “So, can I come in or are you busy?” The question was causal despite the way her heart thudded. “I should have called first but I didn’t want to lose my nerve.” It wasn’t an excuse, just a statement that made her grin a little crookedly. Then she remembered something and used her free hand to pull the thin metal case out of her back pocket. After brief hesitation she offered it to him. “I made this for you. Something to practice with that will do maximum damage with the least materials.”

Not exactly the most romantic gift, but inside the case she’d carved out twelve little stars, smaller versions of Shuriken but the design of was purely her own. The edges instead of pointed curved to the sides, when thrown they looked like small harmless disks. The middle sections of each had a very small hole so that the top of the case could slot inside once clipped shut. The pattern for the stars had been carved onto it too. They weren’t metal either. Valerie hated wasting the shavings of wood when she made stakes so when she learned about Pykrete in class she seized the opportunity to get creative. Instead of normal water she’d mashed the shavings up with Holy water, poured it into her little case mold, clipped it shut and froze the mixture knowing it would expand to fit the top carvings. Within an hour they’d become solid, and they stayed that way for up to eight hours in the case, it wouldn't shatter like normal ice either. Perfect for walking around with.

Since Valerie had made it with the idea of Brian in mind, she’d added dye to the shavings first. Purple, to go with his favorite Ninja Turtle.

[brian_campo]

Brian blinked. “Yeah, come in,” he said, remembering that she was standing in the hall. He backed up to give her space. As he reached for the little case, he closed the door absentmindedly, his fingers sliding the locks by muscle memory. He gave his apartment a cursory scan and decided it wasn’t a humiliating wreck.

“What’s this?” he asked with a crooked smile. Whenever she gave him things, he felt like a kid standing by the door at Christmas, too shy to believe the presents under the tree were actually for him. Like it was a mean joke and if he got excited, all the nice things would go away.

“You made it?” Now he was intrigued. Having something that Valerie sculpted resonated with him. He backed up to the living room wall and spent a minute admiring the metal case. He was also getting up his nerve. He didn’t know how to react when he received a present. After a moment, he opened the lid. The objects inside were cold and tingled brown. He removed one and held it up to light. There were tiny flecks of purplish wood embedded in the ice, and the edges were sharp enough to tear flesh. It took a second, but it dawned on him, helped along by a healthy appreciation of Batman and the Outsiders.

“Is this what I think it is?” Brian’s eyebrows went up. “Because if so… you are even cooler than I knew.”

[valerie_vause]

Valerie stepped into his apartment with a lingering touch of hand against his hip as she moved towards the couch. Fingers tugged at the zipper of her hoody and she was in the process of shrugging it off when she heard the question. “It’s a mixture of wood and holy water, once frozen it’s called Pykrete. admittedly usually with normal water but…” She lifted a shoulder as if that explained everything and folded her hoody before she tossed it over the back of the couch. Did she feel self conscious in tattered, though clean, clothes? Not one bit, and the realisation made her smile. She could have shown up in heels, wearing make-up and something tight and equally revealing but that would have taken time and she really didn’t want to waste any more of it. Apparently she’d made the right decision.

“I did.” She said softly, watching the way he studied the case and the objects inside. It was silly really that she felt nervous handing it over but she wanted more than anything for him to like it. “Shuriken’s only miniature.” Valerie grinned then, amusement colouring her words as she added, “You think I’m cool?” If she were the type to preen she might have right then, instead she settled herself on his couch. Elbow lifted to rest on the arm of it so she could hold her chin and watch him. “I figured if they were small you might be able to practice with them better, and I can teach you how to make the mixture so you’ll never run out of them.”

Then she looked around, not to snoop but to bask in his environment. The scents that clung to the air were manly, pure Brian, and she indulged in a deep breath to envelope her senses. “What were you doing before I interrupted?”

[brian_campo]

“Oh, I can’t tell you,” he said. “Secret guy stuff.”

The ache in his cheeks told Brian he was smiling like an idiot. He reluctantly went to his refrigerator and opened the door, sneaking another quick look at the weapons before he stored the box in his freezer, right next to the Hot Pockets. Damn, that was awesome. He let the cold air cool off his face, which was overheated from the other awesome thing Valerie gave him. Jesus, he was worse than a kid going through puberty. He flashed back to his first kiss, a girl named Kim who planted one on him at the skating rink while the Bee Gees blasted from the speakers and a disco ball spun overhead. He was so startled that he wiped out.

This better not be like puberty.

He shut the freezer and went back to the living room, where Valerie perched on the couch. He sat down opposite her on the coffee table. The papers crinkled under his thigh.
He slouched and linked his hands together, still stuck on that monologue she gave when he opened the door. Just because she kissed him, didn’t mean she was convinced it was a good idea. Maybe the practice weapon was a way of letting him closer on a trial basis, seeing if he could handle himself.

“Um,” he swallowed, “Could we uh…. Could we go back to that thing where you feel alive for the first time?” Brian asked. “Because I’m crazy about you and I just want you to know I wouldn’t get in the way. I mean… I’d try really hard not to get in the way if you wanted to—”

[valerie_vause]

“Mysterious, I like that.”

The tone was bemused as she watched him go to the fridge, and in those precious seconds when he wasn’t looking Valerie gave into the impulse to brush fingers through her hair, gave it a tussle to make it sit better. Hands then went to her t-shirt, straightening it out so it wasn’t bunched, only to discover a large gash was across the middle, a sliver of skin exposed. Oh god, she looked like some sort of tramp. And not the kind men paid money for. It was too late to put on her hoody because he was already walking over and Valerie tried not to fidget when he sat on the table. Their knees bumped and she smiled mischievously.

“Uh…” The sound left her throat as he continued to talk, the blonde tilted her head and studied his features, her own a mixture of pleased and apprehensive. Brian’s words sent a wave of excitement through Valerie and she tried very hard not to grin like a fool. It was ridiculous how much it all meant to her. “I don’t think you’d be a liability.” She cut in quickly. “I… I’ve just never dared, no, never wanted to date anyone.”

For someone so confident Valerie sure felt timid as she reached out with one hand to trace her fingers against his clasped ones. Eyes found his while she confessed quietly,“Until you.” It felt important to tell him that. She wasn’t one to just run off with strangers, but she couldn’t deny how he made her feel. To know it was mutual only instilled the notion that it was right. How could anyone disagree? The Council be damned. “Whatever consequences, and I seriously hope none, I’d rather face them as your girlfriend than die with regret over never having the experience.”

Valerie blinked, repeated her words in her head, and spat out nervously, “I mean if that’s what you meant! Want." She pressed two fingertips against the bridge of her nose and sighed, "Fraggle…"

[brian_campo]

“Fraggle?” Brian’s eyebrows twitched. He had never heard the word used outside the context of Jim Henson’s muppets. It was cute. ‘Don’t laugh, do not laugh’ He didn’t want to take the chance she’d think he was laughing at the rest of it, too.

“Hey.” He coaxed the hand away from her face, ducking down to get a better look at her. But he wasn’t satisfied that she was close enough, so he got down on his knees and put his hands on her hips. They tugged her to the edge of the couch cushion. “I want it,” he said.

Nerves sputtered and kicked. Stomach lurched. The words came out of his mouth, and they were spoken in his voice, but he had a hard time believing this was his life. How long had it been since his last girlfriend? Six years back, in high school, when girlfriends were more conceptual than real responsibility. Shit, was he any good at being a boyfriend? He was going to find out.

Brian swallowed past the panic and stroked her back. The solid feel of her grounded him. “God, you’re pretty,” he whispered. He smiled and asked, “What are you doing with me? Don’t change your mind but…”

[valerie_vause]

“I spent a few years in England, for…” Why even consider a lie, he knew so much already that she felt like he wouldn’t freak out. “Training, when I was called, that’s what they call it. A chosen one is called into duty to blah blah, anyway they were very stiff upper lippy and didn’t like swearing so I substituted a lot and they sort of stuck.”

Comfort washed over her when he moved her hand away, and she added with a slight grin, “So fraggle is my version of fu-” Valerie faltered as he got onto his knees between hers, lips parting along with her legs as he tugged her to the edge of her seat. “Uhm…” Stunned by those three little words it became evident to the blonde that she felt the same, if the sudden heat that flared through her veins was anything to go by.

Silence lingered as his hand caressed her back, Valerie’s mind conjured up various images all because of how they were in that moment and a small stuttered breath was taken in. Exhaled as hushed, flustered whimper. Should she run her fingers through his hair? Put her feet on the table? Scratch the base of his neck and shoulders? Brian’s question snapped her back to reality and she felt herself turn scarlet, “I wasn’t you were! I mean no! Nothing. I wasn’t thinking anyth-... Wait, what was the question? Oh right, I’m…”

She paused, chewed on her lower lip and attempted to control her body temperature. “Living my life, the way I want. That’s what I’m doing with you.” There, she could be coherent, sort of at least when her mind didn’t wander.

[brian_campo]

He faltered. What the—? Why was she so—?

Oh.

Brian felt his face turning red. Yeah, if he grabbed her by the hips and said ‘I want it’, it would look like that. It would look exactly like that. “No, I…” he laughed and dropped his chin to his chest. His rubbed his eye sockets. “Ahhhh. I want that, too,” he confessed. “I just wasn’t gonna go for it that aggressively.”

Drink, he needed a drink. Brian reached for his cup and chugged, hoping the sweet taste of rum and coke would wash down his failure to be any kind of suave. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he got to the bottom way too fast. A drop rolled off his chin.

He sighed. “Thirsty,” he said.

He tossed the cup.

[valerie_vause]

What was worse, the fact that her mind so effortlessly went down that path, or the way she struggled to keep it from doing it again? Even though Brian seemed to share her enthusiastic anxiety right then, Valerie couldn’t take her eyes off him. The way he chugged back his drink, no dainty sips, it did funny things to her insides. Man she thought, then wondered why arousal turned her into a cave person. She watched the droplet run down from his lip and found her thoughts fixating on the shape of his lips, what they would feel like against…

“Yes.” Valerie sighed, not so much agreeing as stating a fact, her mouth was dry.

“Maybe you should…” She was slowly leaning closer towards him, like a magnetic pull, “Get up off your…” Hands gripped the cushion she sat on while the tip of her tongue followed the barely there trail of moisture from chin to lips. “Knees.” She murmured against them.

It took more willpower than she wanted to admit to sit straight again, but she managed, barely.

[brian_campo]

He held perfectly still while she licked the rum from his chin. Not even his lungs moved. He felt them straining in his chest, trying to draw air, but the muscles wouldn’t give. In the kitchen, a stack of pots and pans that had been balancing in a drying rack rattled and crashed to the floor. Yeah, that was definitely her fault.

The record player skipped into an earlier groove.

He broke out in a sweat.

“Okay,” Brian said. “Just remember you said that.”

He stood up and shelled his t-shirt off. He tossed it over the back of the couch. His torso was long and lean. Bluish-black ink appeared in stark contrast to skin that didn’t see much of the Nevada sun. There were words to his favorite songs, a band around his upper arm, and an intricate depiction of a heart on his chest.

The tight neck of his tee shirt had done a number on his hair. He didn’t care.

Brian grabbed the undersides of Valerie’s knees and spun her lengthwise on the couch. He knelt between her thighs and hovered over her, gripping the cushions alongside her ears for balance. It would be easy to kiss her. He wanted to. He put his mouth so close that he felt her breath fanning across his skin. But he didn’t. Instead, he maneuvered himself lower and went to the rip in her shirt. He wasn’t going to ignore it anymore. The rip was wide enough for him to kiss her stomach and dip his tongue into her navel.

His arms trembled. Just when he started to mentally berate himself for an appalling lack of upper body strength, he realized his legs were shaking, too.

[valerie_vause]

From the kitchen she heard a clatter, noticed perhaps belatedly that the record had gone back to play a tune it already did minutes before, and grinned slightly as she thought of the incident with the chair. Good, at least she wasn’t alone in the inappropriate thoughts department. Why did she have to remember she said that? Confusion threatened to mar Valerie’s features but it never really stood a chance when Brian got to his feet and removed his shirt.

The flash he’d given her at Tracks paled in comparison. Valerie’s eyes roamed from his neck, across his strong shoulders, down his torso, then back up his arms before common sense could stop her. Blood in her veins threatened to boil, the urge to touch his skin too much to resist as the fingertips of her right hand traced the words inches away from her face. She exhaled warmly, tempted to stand up so she could wrap her arms around him and bury her face against his warmth, inhale the scent of his skin.

Valerie blinked and missed her chance, his large hands made easy work of her legs and he positioned her with swift ease, a startled little whimper broke free and she suddenly felt grateful that she wasn’t standing. Brian had the ability to turn her bones to jelly. The fact that he was above her, hovering just inches away from any kind of contact, was maddening. She could hear his heart thumping in his chest, or… Was that hers?

The blonde couldn’t take it, lungs struggled to take in air, and just as she got the courage to lean up for a kiss he moved. Lips pressed together to try and quell the sound of frustration that tried to claw it’s way up her throat. How could doing so little work her up so much?

She felt the warmth of his breath first, a split second before his lips found her skin. Soft, tender, tickling. Valerie tried not to laugh but ended up squirming with a bit of a snort before she slapped a hand over her mouth. Just in time really, because a muffled moan was exhaled against her palm, muted to his ears as she felt his tongue swirl against her navel. Toes curled within her boots and her free hand gripped the side of his sweatpants near his knee. She bit the fleshy pad below her thumb before moving her hand to take in a stuttered breath, allowed it to find his shoulder, smooth against it twice, then very lightly scraped her short nails from his neck to elbow. They’d barely even touched yet the intensity felt like it thickened the air surrounding them.

[brian_campo]

The squirming was a good thing. So were the fingernails. He felt himself steadying, more like his regular self, which he contributed to the alcohol that was hot in his stomach. Brian swooped lower and closed sharp teeth around the buckle of her jeans. He gave them a firm tug and released again, being playful, letting her know what he was picturing doing, even if it was too soon to do it. A slow path was traced by his nose, up the center of her body, belly button to throat.

She smelled sweet and feminine. His hands itched to touch her. He just wasn’t sure he could start it without moving faster than she wanted. To stop himself from reaching up her shirt, he stretched out and he let her take his weight. The sweatpants weren’t much of a barrier. She was soft and warm and he could feel her shape. He figured she could feel him, too.

He buried his face in her neck and closed his eyes. Narrow hips sought and pushed against her. The pressure was both relief and torture. The voice in the back of his head kept spitting out her name on repeat. Valerie. Valerie.

Breath flooded her ear.

“How do I get you to make that sound again?” He looked over his shoulder at her leg, the one nearest the back of the couch. His fingertips drew a slow circle on her kneecap. Brian met her eyes as he looped the crook of his arm under her leg. There had to be advantages to her line of work; he assumed flexibility was one of them. With a quick tug, he pulled it up to meet their shoulders.

[valerie_vause]

There was something undeniably sexy about how teasing his slow dance of intimacy unfolded. No rush, no goal to reach, no pressure, just light barely there touches that had Valerie shivering beneath him. The way he bit and tugged at her belt buckle caused the blonde to bite her own lip, eyes darkening as she breathed deeply. Brian’s scent was wonderful, a sweaty, pheromone laced musk that she couldn’t get enough of. His nose tickled as it brushed a path upwards from belt to throat. Laughter bubbled up richly and Valerie didn’t try to hold it in this time, the sound was rich as he buried his face against her neck and she gave in.

Fingers pushed through the short strands of his hair then worked their way up his scalp to tangle in the longer strands at the front. Not to hurt, but to grip with encouragement, fingertips massaging the skin beneath them in a restless caress as their hips met. Well, that wasn’t a gun in his pocket, because his sweatpants didn’t have any. Valerie let out a deep breath as if that would calm her down, reduce the rate of her heart, quell the heat that threatened to take over. It did nothing except grant an excuse for the blonde to nuzzle into his dark hair as she breathed.


"Trial and error?" She quiped as his fingers teased nerve endings she never knew her knee had. A delicious shiver worked through her small frame when she felt his arm under her leg. Their eyes met just before he did something she hadn't expected and a startled little noise was offered up. When Valerie first got to his door she never once imagined she'd find her ankle near her ear. Surprise shadowed the predatory look of brief hunger that broke only when her hips shifted back against him, eyes closed and a quiet sound of pleasure fell from her parted lips.

"Be honest." She whispered teasingly, lips finding his shoulder to kiss wetly, his skin tasted faintly of salt and she sighed against him with a smile. Teeth and tongue worked in tandem to leave a wet trail up to his ear so she could ask with barely contained amusement, "Are you thinking about those cheerleader tryouts?" She nipped at his earlobe then soothed it with a soft exhale of cool air. Valerie couldn’t help it, he brought out her mischievous side.

[brian_campo]

Goosebumps broke out on his neck. He writhed helplessly as they traveled the length of his spine. His ears were an erogenous zone and her breath twisted him into knots. Yeah, he was definitely at her mercy now, and she knew it. There wasn’t any hiding it. Brian licked his lips. “I don’t know. Are you thinking about keyboardists?” His fingers traced up and down the top of her thigh, as far as they could reach with his arm hooked in her leg. If wishes came true, the denim under his hand would have evaporated into thin area.

He liked the foreplay. The way they might be leading each other on. He didn’t know what was going to happen. What Brian knew was that it felt good and that Valerie was his girl. He could take it as far as she wanted or stop and force his hormones back into submission. Painful but doable. He pulled on the neck of her t-shirt. Then he bent his head to the task of biting the juncture of her neck and shoulder. He sucked on the skin and checked to make sure he hadn’t left a mark. It was still so automatic to think of her as delicate.

Which was a message his lower half didn’t receive. He wasn’t rough, but he used a steady pressure when his hips turned that tight circle, intentionally grinding where he knew it counted.

[valerie_vause]

Fingers against her thigh made it tremble, her foot twitched and she turned to see her toes curling. Valerie closed her eyes, let herself imagine for a moment what Brian’s fingers would feel like against her skin instead of over the material, and shuddered. Laughter stuck in her throat and she forced herself to look at him, “Now that you mention, there is one on my mind. Well, that’s not all he’s on.” The verbal teasing back and forth appeared to keep the blonde at ease, proved in a sense, that she’d been right to show up unannounced. Despite her position there was nothing awkward about the situation, that had to be a good sign.

Fabric stretched then strained as Brian’s fingers moved it aside, the bite surprising yet Valerie found herself tipping her head back to expose her neck for him. Trust. The blonde, whether she realised it before or not, actually trusted him. Not just with information but with her life; nobody had gotten that close to her neck before, and there she was wriggling under his large frame as she felt the suction of his mouth against her flesh. Every controlled press of hips against her evoked a quiet hitch of breath. As she pushed up against him Valerie had to wonder if she was following his lead, or if he was following hers. The way her pulse raced and her hands found his shoulder blades to grasp it was clear the blonde didn’t care.

The urge to explore his skin took hold. Valerie’s left hand traced lazy patterns down his spine, across his hip, then up along his side, stopping just short of his armpit. Fingers hesitated there before daring to brush across his collarbone, down over his chest until she could flick her thumb across his nipple, her nail scraping ghostly over it in its retreat.

[brian_campo]

He groaned. Turned so that his temple touched hers. He remembered how the simplest stroke of her finger got him going the first time they met; that was nothing compared to lying on top of Valerie and having her drag her nails on bare skin. Tiny electric sparks shot along the nerve pathways. His back arched and stretched. What he really wanted was to take her hand and guide it to his stomach, but that was pushing it.

Hips rose and fell under him. She’s so fluid, he thought. All that twisting and straining had a graceful tension to it, like an animal in coiled control of her body, or a dancer. “They teach you how to move like that in England?” he asked, laughing quietly.

Brian retreated to look at her. Flushed cheeks and dilated pupils. Valerie’s lips were parted and he could see her straight, white teeth and the tip of her tongue. He stared. He pictured putting his thumb on her bottom lip and gently tugging it down. He eased closer and flicked his tongue across the soft, wet entrance to her mouth.

Alright, fuck it.

He let go of her leg and raised himself up a few inches. Brian took one of her palms and flattened it on his abdomen. “Here,” he said.

[valerie_vause]

Muscles moved under her hands, tensing and relaxing beneath Brian’s skin as he moved with her. Valerie was caught between admiring the strength it took to hold himself up and wanting to feel him crush her in an embrace against his chest. The question hit belatedly, a wicked grin blossomed to life as she gazed up at him. “Oh, I can do better.” She teased back breathlessly. Dark hair tickled her forehead as he leaned down, Valerie brought one hand up to brush it back with her fingers, let them delve into the thick softness then down to clasp the base of his neck. The blonde exhaled a moan when his tongue teased at her mouth, her own seeking Brian’s to flick against, then he was hovering above her again. All dark hair and eyes so deep she could swim in.

Valerie cocked her head when he took her hand and said only one word. Now released her leg hooked over the back of the couch. It took her a moment to focus, did he mean here as in that particular spot or here you can touch me more? Perhaps a mixture of both, she certainly wasn’t complaining as palm glided across skin, feeling taught muscles, a slight patch of whispery hairs that tempted her fingers to follow it south. She splayed her hand against his abdomen, stilling herself as her other hand moved from his neck to trace the band of ink on his arm, then over to the heart so intricately designed on his chest.

“What do they represent for you?” The question was soft as the blonde met his eyes. Then the hand on his torso flexed, fingers began to creep through the small slender trail of hair until they met the waistband of his pants. “Do they have stories to tell?” Valerie’s voice was hushed despite how loud her heart beat, and though she didn’t dare push her fingers under the material, she did slide them over it and down the side of his inner thigh.

[brian_campo]

Brian sucked in air between clenched teeth. The muscles in his jaw twitched and locked. Eyelids shuttered out light and the sight of her so he could think about the questions she was asking, which was likely a hopeless cause, since he forgot his own birthday the minute Valerie put her hand between his legs. Blood flow down below. He maneuvered a hand inside her shirt and rubbed his thumb between the bones of her ribcage.

“Stories I couldn’t tell, myself,” he said. Did she really want to know the origins of those marks, the details of the times he sat on a bench and let a needle do the talking? Brian swallowed. He could say them to her. He wondered if Valerie’s body communicated in the same way, only instead of tattoos, with scars.

Under the cotton fabric of her shirt, Brian’s fingertips wandered up between the soft flesh of her breasts to the place where her heart thumped. A certainty struck him. He knew, one-hundred percent swearing to god knew, he was going to fall in love with her the minute he was inside of her, whenever it happened. Being with her would flip him inside out. Later, if she dumped him, he’d hurt so bad that he climbed the walls.

[valerie_vause]

Valerie’s hand gave an involuntary squeeze to his thigh the moment his hand ventured under her shirt. Lungs took in several shallow breaths as his thumb played along her ribs. A subtle arch of back granted more contact, though not nearly enough. The blonde felt restless, writhing under Brian as if needing to shed skin. Needing to shed something, at least. Wherever this was taking them she knew the path wouldn’t lead there tonight. They were discovering each other, finding ways to be intimate without the added pressure of expectations.

“Tell me the one about the heart?” It seemed fitting to ask considering he could feel the erratic beating of her own. Brian’s hand was soft, warm and dry. Such a stark contrast to when they’d been in the planetarium. She shifted then, pressed hands against his shoulders and pushed lightly so she could sit up. “Sorry…” Valerie murmured as her hands went to the hem of her shirt, “But this has to go.” She tugged it off and tossed it onto the table just to wrap her arms around him and lower back to the couch. Several scars interrupted the otherwise pale skin, some faint and barely noticeable, others vivid, red and angry.

Much like the one on her left shoulder which resembled a vicious animal bite, too pointy for a vampire. “So I can feel your skin against mine.” The blonde stated coyly, she wasn’t exposed but it was enough to feel the tickle of his hair against her stomach. Like she could breathe again. Hips raised, then shifted as she hooked an ankle around his leg and let her hand wander between them to find its place against his thigh.

[brian_campo]

‘No complaints here’. He tried not to gawk as the shirt became a thing of the past. Tried and failed miserably, because she had a knockout figure, the extent of which she often hid beneath t-shirts and sweaters and hoodies. But it was there, now, staring him in the face.

Brian shifted onto his hip and lay alongside her. He cradled Valerie’s head in his arm and tangled his fingers in the long, silky strands of her hair. He kept on exploring her chest and stomach, drawing shapes on velvety skin that rose and fell as she breathed, and while there wasn’t anything overtly sexual about the way he touched her, it was impossible to subtract sex from the equation when Valerie stripped down to a bra.

He mapped the topography of ropy, pink scars.

“It’s for my dad,” he said. “It’s kind of stupid. When he died, it felt like… like my heart wasn’t in my chest anymore. Maybe I didn’t want it to be.” He rested his head next to hers. “Later on, I guess I tried to give myself a new one.” He let his fingers roam over the sharp lines of her hipbones.

[valerie_vause]

No amount of willpower could stop the nuzzle she administered to his shoulder when he changed position, her ear rested against his bicep and for a moment she forgot what she was. In his arms she felt normal. A little weak, mostly in the knees, but that was merely the attraction talking. Every now and then the gentle brush of Brian’s fingertips caused a stuttered exhale of breath, a barely restrained giggle, as her skin responded. Valerie returned the favour, walked feather light fingers down his neck, across his chest, swirling patterns of nothingness.

As the story behind the ink was told Valerie searched his features. She brushed some of his hair off his forehead then caressed his cheek. It was gentle fingers that guided his chin up so she could look him in the eye as she whispered, “That is not stupid. It’s profoundly sweet, and tragic, and came from love.” She dropped her hand to trace the ink but kept her gaze on Brian. “Don’t ever cheapen it by thinking it’s anything less than beautiful.”

Was it luck or was it fate that this tall, gentle souled, musician was now her boyfriend? Valerie couldn’t decide, but she did know without the shadow of a doubt, that she’d been waiting to meet him her entire life. The thought was quickly followed by a much darker one. If anything, or anyone, ever tried to hurt him… No power on earth would stop the blonde from destroying them.

[brian_campo]

He nodded. He wasn’t sure what to think. He couldn’t square his emotions for his dad with his mom’s harsh criticisms of the man, whom he idealized for the same reasons she divorced him: a daydreamer with more ideas than finished projects, a cosmic view of life that didn’t lend itself to the practical needs of a family. But a good heart. A better heart than hers.

He took her hand and led it to a smaller tattoo of an umbrella inside his elbow. “This is for my sister,” he said. “She’s my half-sister. Her name’s Angela. She’s seven. She’s back home with my mom.” The umbrella was a symbol of what he wanted to be for her. He didn’t bother explaining the arm band because he couldn’t remember why he got it. It was one of those impulse decisions when he was drinking and the tattoo artist didn’t care as long as he got paid.

“How’d you get this one?” he asked, indicating a fading slash of pink near the underside of her breast. Brian wondered if the nerve endings were numb. He ran his thumb up and down the mark. Then, because he couldn’t help himself, he lowered his mouth and softly kissed the swell of her breast above the cloth.

The backs of his fingers slipped slow and easy from Valerie's ribs to the curve of her hip, where he clutched her through the jeans. His fingers squeezed her belt to expend energy without subjecting her to it.

[valerie_vause]

Gentle pressure was used to trace the umbrella as Brian shared more of himself. Valerie’s gaze flicked between the tattoo and his face as she listened, unable to stop the small smile. She got the symbolism instantly, he wanted to protect his little sister, for some reason that made her heart swell. Lifting her hand away from his elbow the blonde traced his lower lip with a feather light touch as he asked a question of his own. “Hm?” The noise was curious as she gazed at the scar he meant and she sighed. The sound wasn’t sad, or upset, or even heavy. Simply an exhale of breath as she remembered the night she got it.

“Sword fight with a demon.” The blonde cast her eyes up at the ceiling, every stroke of his thumb against the scar could be felt, the muscles underneath twitched in response. “You’d be surprised how many like to use weapons. If I hadn’t twisted when I leaned back… Agility helps.” She shrugged then, why state the obvious, he’d have stabbed her and the chances of her walking away would have been a heck of alot slimmer.

Valerie, though not normally self-conscious, felt a twinge of it because of the marks that remained. She wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed, she just wasn’t entirely sure she wore them nearly as well as he did the ink on his skin. Admittedly, that twinge faded when his lips pressed against her warm flesh and she tensed and relaxed restlessly under his wandering fingers. Brian’s hand on her hip felt strong, confident, the exact opposite of how it rendered her and yet how wonderful it was to be held like that.

Dark strands of hair found themselves twined through Valerie’s fingers as she watched him. The lightest of tugs given before questing fingers sought out the shell of his ear, traced it between index finger and thumb, then stroked the lobe tenderly. “Anything else you want to know?”

[brian_campo]

Swords. News of what she did got heavier all the time. This time, not just a crude weapon and a fanged monster, but a thinking creature, out to destroy and not simply kill for food. He couldn’t change any of it and Valerie wouldn’t want him to try, so he made up his mind to try and make any minute of her life that was in his span of control sweeter. Safer. He didn’t know what he would do if she disappeared for a while, stopped calling back. Go out of his mind worrying, he guessed.

“Yeah,” he said, looking up with heavy-lidded eyes. “Lots of things.” His hand migrated past her hip and into her back pocket. He hooked his thumb over it and left it to rest there, comfortable but possessive, too. “What’s your middle name? When’s your birthday? Do you hate nicknames?” He kissed the soft flesh behind her earlobe. Her hair smelled like shampoo and perfume. By now his hormones had calmed down, but the floral scent still did things to his stomach.

[valerie_vause]

The blonde braced herself for what she expected to be tough questions only to laugh when she heard them. Alright, they weren’t bad at all, funny really. Valerie shifted to get comfortable and rolled them around in her mind. “I don’t have one.” She said with a crooked grin, “But my last name is Vause. What’s yours?” Maybe that information should have been swapped before saliva but she couldn’t find it within herself to care. At least they were swapping it now.

“The twenty-eighth of November, Sagittarius if you were curious about zodiac signs.” Valerie attempted a shrug then smiled bemused. “I’ve never had a nickname so I can’t hate them. You know, of all the questions you could have asked, these were not what I thought you’d pick.” The blonde wasn’t complaining, either, she was just amused enough to let him know what was on her mind.

[brian_campo]

Brian had met a few people without middle names before. He always wondered if the required middle initial box on forms ticked them off. He’d never heard the name Vause before and immediately wanted to look up what it meant.

“Well I’m not gonna ask how much you weigh,” he joked back. He reached up and took a throw pillow from the line of them on the back of his couch. He dropped it on Valerie’s head and attempted to take advantage of the visual obstruction by stuffing his fingers into the front pocket of her jeans, where there was a ticklish spot in the juncture of leg and hip. The bonus was that he got his hand pretty well lodged in there. Even people who weren’t that ticklish often kicked like crazy for that one.

His fingers dug in.

“My last name’s Campo, my middle name’s David, my favorite color is blue, my favorite food is spaghetti… Want me to keep going?”

[valerie_vause]

“You better not, or I’ll bench press you like you weighed nothing. You might even like it.” She wouldn’t, well, probably wouldn’t. Who was she kidding? Where was the fun in super strength if you couldn’t swing someone around or lift them like they were a feather? Valerie didn’t mean it in any kind of emasculating way and would have said so had the small pillow not landed on her face. An indignant, albeit muffled, cheeky sputter of, “I hope you know this means war.” Was stated as the blonde grabbed the pillow and raised it up with the intent to whack him with it, only for fingers to loosen their grip as his hand slipped into her pocket and gripped.

Valerie dissolved into a fit of giggles as the pillow bounced off her head and landed on the floor. Legs thrashed as her upper half strained to put distance between them, as if she could go anywhere once her shoulders hit the back of the couch. “Bri-” Words were difficult when you couldn’t breathe,high pitched too, her face actually ached from laughing but she didn’t want to push him in case he ended up on the other side of the room. Instead she wriggled, snake like, as if slithering up towards the arm of the couch would grant an escape.

It was torture, ridiculous, delicious, sweet horrific torture, and Valerie wasn’t sure if she could take it. Worse, he was actually telling her things she wanted to know, and instead of saying something interesting back all she had to offer was a snort of laughter before her hand clamped across her mouth.

[brian_campo]

‘Bri--!’

“Yes, Valerie? I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.” He wiggled his fingers and tried to use his body weight as leverage so that it was more awkward for the blonde to slither out from under him. Somewhere in the carnage of limbs and pillows and couch cushions, Valerie’s knee became wedged in Brian’s diaphragm. One tiny, flailing nudge and the keyboardist was airborne. “Whuu—!” He flipped and landed in the cramped space between the upholstered piece of furniture and the coffee table. The latter tipped backwards. Papers full of music notes sailed into the air.

He coughed hoarsely and started laughing.

“Okay, okay!” Brian put up his palms in surrender, shielding his face from an imaginary onslaught. “Please don’t beat me up.”

[valerie_vause]

One second he was there and the next he was gone. Valerie’s laughter halted with short, sharp intakes of breath. Had she just…

The blonde scooted to the edge of the couch and swung her legs over to sit up. “Are you alright?” She asked, pressing her lips together after as she watched him make a joke about it. Okay, he could roll with it, but that didn’t make it any less embarrassing. There was nothing sexy about suggesting a couple of knee pads and a crash helmet for the rare occasions a rogue limb might strike. Pale fingers scooped up her shirt and she tugged it on sheepishly. “Told you I’m a danger to be with.”

Valerie clasped his hand and stood up, pulling him onto his feet so she could correct the table and pick up the papers that had fluttered to the floor like lazy butterflies.

[brian_campo]

“Hey… hey…”

Brian tugged the papers out of her hand. He sought eye contact with the slayer and tossed them into the air again. Under the breeze of his ceiling fan, the pages scattered far and wide. One fluttered gently onto the record player, which continued to spin as though nothing had changed. “It’s okay, I don’t care,” he said. He stood behind Valerie and wrapped his arms around her, chin resting on the curved mound of her shoulder. He slowly rocked from left foot to right.

“How many things have you seen me knock over?” He kissed her through the cotton shirt.

This was his girlfriend. His girlfriend. No doubt he would do many dumb things in her presence in the future, and he’d remind himself each time that he was lucky that Valerie was around him to see them.

[valerie_vause]

Golden eyebrows arched as Valerie met his gaze, then watched as he threw the papers into the air, they swirled and floated off in different directions. Physical representation of how she felt right then. The feel of his arms relaxed the tension in her back and she leaned against him with a sigh. Brian’s words were comforting but it was the kiss that made her feel safe. Accepted. She tipped her chin up to brush her lips against his jaw, a soft murmur of, “None tonight but earlier I did hear something in the kitchen.” Valerie was grinning despite herself and she twirled to face him but ended up staring at his chest, her lips were tasting his skin before she could stop herself, and with a light scrape of teeth she placed her hands on his hips and pulled back with a groan.

“You are like a magnet, do you know that?” Fingers squeezed the flesh beneath them, released it, just to scratch across his chest and down his arms. “The closer you are the more I want to touch you.”

Valerie drew in a slow breath, let her eyes meet his, “Half of me wants to run out the door because of it, the other half…” The blonde went up on tiptoes to find his ear, she breathed against it warmly for a second before finishing in sultry purr, “Wants me to do things to you until you ache in ways you never knew you could.”

[brian_campo]

Brian raised his hands helplessly.

“Okay…Wow.”

He rested his forehead on her shoulder and took a deep breath to calm down. He didn’t know what to do about the shot of heat in his groin, though. It wasn’t listening to reason. The telekinetic knew he’d be hearing that whisper in his dreams for weeks, if he ever got to sleep. It wouldn’t be on his stomach tonight; that was one thing he knew.

That was the thing about Valerie, who was sweet and vulnerable and shy, but every once in a while, she’d get up the nerve to say or do something really salty and it exploded his brain, just by sheer contrast. With effort, he shook the fog from his brain. “If you do that again, I’m stealing your pants and throwing them out the window. Then you can’t leave and it’s just me and you and your lack of pants, and you know where that’s going.”

[valerie_vause]

Mischief flashed in her eyes as Valerie grinned wickedly. Gaze darted to the window and she gave a soft, “Hmm.” of contemplation. It wasn’t that she had the urge to test boundaries, it was the fact that Brian brought out sides of her she’d kept under lock and key, and it was easy to be playful. “If I had no pants I could never leave, unless I slipped out in the dead of night to find them, in a bed sheet, toga style since I refuse to flash my legs for your neighbours.” Valerie took a step forward, let her fingers tickle along the small trail of hair below his navel, then pushed him back so that he landed on the couch. “Or I could wait until you’re exhausted and raid your wardrobe even though I’m tiny compared to you.”

Two small steps brought the blonde over to Brian, she leaned down as if to kiss him but stopped mere millimeters away from his mouth so she could breathe in a cheeky tone, “Then again I could wait, and next time I show up I’ll have the sense to wear a pair of shorts under my pants so when I say something like, you’re the only one that’s ever touched me like that, I’ll be prepared or you know, I’ll just make sure to run.”

Was it fair to say that, like that, right in that moment? No, but it sure was satisfying to Valerie, who gave a gentle pat to his knee and stood up. “I need a glass of water, what about you?”

[brian_campo]

"The question is… why?” Brian asked, hands near his face as if it hurt to contemplate this idea of more clothes. She had on plenty of clothes. A veritable fortress of clothes. “Pft-ahhhh, forget it. If you do that, I’ll kill myself, but forget it.” He sat forward on the couch, collecting himself for five or ten seconds, and then pushed to his feet.

“I’ll get your water. And some ice. But you can’t have any of that, it’s for my… yeah.” He pointed haphazardly at the kitchen and went in search of clean glasses and the pitcher of refrigerated water.

One of these days, he thought. Revenge.