Just So You Know

[brian_campo]

Nimble fingers popped quarters into a payphone. The segmented cord creaked as Maddy propped the receiver against her cheek. She leaned as far into the stall as possible, plugging her open ear. The club was crowded and noisy; she could barely hear the dial tone or the voice on the other end, a distracted ‘hello?’

“Brian! It’s Maddy!” she shouted.

His eardrum vibrated under the sonic assault and he asked, “Yeah, where the fuck are you?”

“The Funhouse.” She touched a piece of chewed gum and recoiled, wiping her palm on her jeans.

Brian frowned. “Really? Why?” It didn’t seem like her kind of place; Maddy was into the kind of punk-rock dump where a girl could take off her top and nobody got arrested. “Is it dollar shots or something?”

“No, I’m meeting Melody. We just got off work. This is probably the only place on the planet where her vocal talents can be appreciated. Listen, I just saw Valerie. I thought you might wanna know. Didn't you say you tanked your phone message?” Maddy craned her neck and saw the blonde was still near the bar. The silence has stretched on too long, so she said, “Brian?”

He was pacing his cramped living room. There was a potato chip on the floor and he crushed it under his shoe by accident. Shit. “Did you talk to her?”

Maddy snorted. “No, she’d probably punch me.”

“What? Why?” Brian had that feeling he often got with Maddy, like there was an inside joke he was too dense to get.

“Nothing, never mind. Just come out, okay?” Maddy turned back into the pay phone, her fingers tracing the buttons. “You know you want to. So sack up.” Maybe it was concern for Brian making her push the issue, or maybe it was guilt: in her opinion, that relationship was a casualty of the domino effect. If she’d handled the conversation with Valerie better, then maybe the blonde wouldn’t have been so upset when she landed on Brian’s doorstep, and maybe Brian would’ve seen the situation more clearly.

“Yeah, okay.” He was already stalking the room in search of a clean shirt.

“Atta boy, little bro.” Maddy hung up. The quarter plunked into the depths and she squeezed into the crowd, hoping to find Melody before she got felt up by a body builder or propositioned by a sleazy investment banker.

Brian frowned and hung up. Little brother, another of those inside jokes he didn’t get. He tore through his apartment looking for keys, his wallet, a folded piece of paper, cursing under his breath when he tripped on an extension cord. He was out the door in three minutes.

[Thread]

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[valerie_vause]

“All good things, I hope.” Valerie offered a crooked smile in return but the nervousness she felt flutter within her stomach could rival the way her heart did the same. Without thought she leaned into his touch. Turned just enough to brush a kiss to his palm yet kept her eyes on him. Brian’s next words sent a shiver straight through the blonde. Oh, now that couldn’t be fair, surely. Green eyes searched his as much as they could in the darkened club, and she leaned in to find his ear. “Tell me which fantasy your mind is stuck on the most right now.”

It wasn’t a question, not quite a demand, but she nipped at his ear lobe as if to punctuate it before pulling back to gaze at him. Valerie wanted to know everything, but she’d settle for being told one tonight. The one that spoke the loudest to him. These things were important, he was important, and she wanted to make that clear. Possibly in a naughty kind of way, depending on what he said. Sex and all it had to offer in between was something she could explore with him, and that? Was rather exciting for her to realise.

Okay, so maybe she’d continued to think about such things involving Brian when they had parted ways but now that they weren’t separate the opportunities became real again. Tangible even. And to know that he had been thinking of her in the same way? Cold showers can’t help me now. “I’ve heard that the best part of fighting is making up after it. We should test that theory. Just not…” Valerie looked around then, frowning at the club as if it were suddenly an inconvenience, “Uhm, well, here.” she said with a bit of a laugh.

Then an idea struck and her eyes widened briefly. “We’re in Vegas.” She announced, as if she only just realised that. “There are hotels everywhere.” And for once, she could walk into any of them and afford whatever room she wanted. “Ooo…” Valerie’s mind went to tangled sheets and strawberries. Room Service.

[brian_campo]

Hotels. Yeah, Vegas was definitely known for those, and it wasn’t the week of a major holiday so they ought to be able to find a room. The Funhouse was within spitting distance of a major resort, which was the appeal of the whole idea. Nearness. He could afford it; he hadn’t spent much cash in the last month. He didn’t exactly have a raucous social life.

“Not here, huh?” He made a tsking sound with his tongue even though he wholeheartedly agreed. But pick one of his fantasies and tell her about it? Brian’s eyebrows shot towards his hairline. He could populate an entire rack of videotapes in an adult film store, just off the greatest hits of his imagination. “How about a preview?” he asked, and he slowly let go of her body to set her down, coaxing her legs off his hips. After doing so, he put his hands on her hips and pivoted them, trading places so that his back was to the dance floor. He moved in closer, crowding her space, his breath spilling down her throat. “See, I learned a new trick... You just have to trust me.”

Trust me, trust me, because I’d never ever hurt you.

There. It was the slightest touch, his palm going to her abdomen and giving it a gentle nudge, and suddenly Valerie was floating, well, suspended to be more accurate, her feet several inches off the floor, her spine, arms, legs, all in solid contact with the wall.

Brian had learned to move humans.

He was looking directly into her eyes, an inch away and no more. His palm barely grazed her shirt.

How long could he hold her there? Not very. Valerie was a slayer; she had genuine power whereas he had parlor tricks. She had authority over her body, which was not to be controlled. A few seconds and she could peel herself away from that wall and have him at her mercy. But all he needed was this one moment, an opportunity to show her the closest thing to bondage as a Slayer could experience, because there weren't any chains that could hold her. “Except if this were the real thing? I’d be on my knees,” he said, and it was the realest confession he could say. “Because it’s not control over you that I want. When it comes to you, I’ve never been in control. You own me.”

He eased his hand away and just thought, please Valerie, don't punch me.

[valerie_vause]

The disapproving noise Brian made actually caused Valerie to laugh. “Oh, well if you want an audience…” She trailed off, hands going to the hem of her tank top that she had no intention of lifting. It reminded her of his little game of chicken in Tracks. When she’d gotten to glimpse his boxers along with his chest. “What kind of preview?” The question was asked lightly, as if she could pretend she wasn’t nearly as curious as she suddenly felt. With his help, she carefully settled her feet back on the ground and tipped her head back to look up at him expectantly.

A soft, startled, noise left her throat when he spun them around and she leaned back against the wall with a bemused expression. “Well you can’t unbutton my shirt, I already beat you to it.” He really did bring out the playful side of her nature. When was the last time she actually bantered like this? It felt like years. She giggled at the touch to her stomach but the sound died in her throat when she gasped. Wide eyed she glanced at the ground and watched as she raised up, the wall behind her smooth as she slid against it, and then she was looking in his eyes, jaw slack. For a moment she didn’t move, wasn’t actually sure she could, and if she were able would it make it harder for him to keep her suspended?

So many questions ran through her head. The fact that she had been rendered useless one of them. Valerie could break doors like toothpicks. She could bend metal like q-tips. Hurl boulders like they were snowballs and here she was, incapable to escape because nothing but his mind held her in place. Fear might nave been a natural reaction yet all she felt was thrilled. So much for making sandwiches. This is amazing! Testing the waters she moved her hands to her hips and flashed him a wicked smirk. “Do any of your fantasies involve me in a cape wearing a mask because between you, me and the wall? I could be into that now.”

Valerie’s mouth went dry when he painted a mental image. Quite honestly she was glad to be floating, because it made her knees weak and saved her the embarrassment of trying to stand. “You… Oh...” It should have been illegal, the way he could say something so raunchy and then something so completely sweet and honest that did funny things to her insides. The next sound the blonde made was positively feral and if they weren’t surrounded by people she might have just lunged at him. Gradually she lowered back to the floor and it took her a few seconds to collect herself, one hand splayed across his chest, fingers flexing against his shirt restlessly.

“There are so many things I want to say to that and later I will but honestly the only one running through my head is…” Valerie gripped his shirt in her fist to use as leverage and went up on her tiptoes to meet his gaze. “If ever there was an incentive to learn control over your power, the endless positions it opens up should be it. Everyone can make love in an airplane bathroom, how many do you think have ever managed it against a ceiling?”

Then she kissed him, a quick, chaste one that ended with a nip to his lower lip. Valerie took his hand and entwined their fingers. “Did I mention I’ve got more money than I can ever spend now? Time to find a hotel.” And with that, she tugged his arm gently and guided them towards the exit.

[brian_campo]

Ceiling sex. That hadn’t occurred to him and now he wondered why the hell not. She was right. It was a good incentive and he wasn’t thinking big enough. And even if his fantasies of her involved short skirts and tall boots rather than a cape and mask, he didn’t hate the mental adjustment. Maybe she’d get into one of those tight, slick-looking cat suits with a zipper down the front. Zippers drove him insane.

The money thing threw him off. Inheritance? Patent on one of her ingenious makeshift weapons? Bewildered, he let her lead him off the dance floor and towards a door. “I’ll take your word for it,” he said.

Outside the air was cooler, drier. A crowd of people waited to gain entrance to the club, and they surged forward when they saw the pair of them leave. A security guy gave Brian a subtle head’s up, as if congratulating him on the quick work of finding a hot girl. Brian mostly ignored it – a mental note of ‘dickhead’ as he kept walking, the sidewalk clearing up as they gained ground on the nearest hotel. Two fast drinks on an empty stomach had loosened him up, made his arms and legs feel lighter, even if he wasn’t drunk. He felt elated and also nervous as shit, which was a strange combination. He put it down to the fact that this was Valerie. Valerie. An hour ago he was racking his brain, trying to figure out when to drop in on her and exactly how sober he’d need to be, and now their fingers were intertwined. His mouth tasted like her. The tip of his nose smelled like her perfume.

As they passed into a lobby, he moved into place behind her, wrapping his possessive palms over her belly button, burrowing his face into the crook of her neck. He nibbled on it. Mumbled in her ear, “I can’t wait to get you alone,” before looking up with more clarity in his eyes as a receptionist approached.

They had to be used to this kind of thing, the 'give me a key and make it fast' sentiment.