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 Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 1:38 am
Stormy wasn't sure which was the more powerful feeling: the relieved giddiness of being lifted in his exuberance, or the completely thorough embarassment that for just a moment, one stupidly impulsive moment, a leg almost hitched up to keep her there. "That'll do. I'm sure he'd appreciate knowing, too," she teased, her features finally melting into a little smile. "I'll tell him you said so next time I hang out with him~"
It was enough to satisfy her requirements, though it was all just for show. At least, that's what she figured. Stormy hoped she'd never have to find out. She said a little prayer in her head after each kiss just to be sure, one en el nombre del Padre, two y del Hijo, three y del Espíritu Santo, amén.
Her eyes fell half-closed as Gale sighed against her, gently leaning head head against his as she listened to his murmurs soothe her. She wanted to bring back that enthusiasm he had shown for just one rare, cherished moment--and the actions that had accompanied it more importantly--but as per usual her wants felt contrary to the situation at hand. It was still well into the night, for one, and their sleep had been interrupted; while Stormy easily functioned on a lack thereof for better or for worse (case in point being the past few weeks), he didn't necessarily have the same ability. It would have been inappropriately timed, for another.
Or maybe it was perfect timing, she argued. But it didn't feel like it was enough of an excuse, even with her tendencies towards spontaneity.
Stormy turned her head briefly to kiss his temple and cheek in return. "I know," she whispered with an affectionate tone, toying with a few strands of hair at the nape of his neck. "I know, mi cariño . . . I'm sorry for being pushy." It felt like it fell flat in comparison to the numerous other replies available, though.
Supplementing it with another kiss to his jaw this time (leaving it up to Gale to decide how chaste it was, as she honestly couldn't help herself), she pressed her cheek to his once more and began to hum "Here Comes the Sun". It had been a while since they'd touched up on The Beatles, and it was still a special song to her even if it was for very cheesy reasons. Stormy began to sway them slowly and gently, letting them turn lazily inch by inch so it wasn't taxing like their previous dances. If she translated the background rain and thunder into a blur of white noise, it could have been seen as a slow dance in a high school prom scenario; she never thought she'd miss those.
kuroopu nah that was closer to stormy as a red panda~ but now it's mike : DD
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:52 pm
Gale gave a soft snort of amusement, his fingers curling around Stormy's upper arms. "I'm sure he'll much appreciate my admission that we're best mates in the first place, so maybe he won't even notice that I just made an oath using his life as a catalyst."
He liked just standing here, with Stormy, even if they did nothing but stand. The storm outside was loud and powerful, rain smattering against the small windows of his bedroom and leaving behind long streaks of crystalline drops. Claps of thunder loud enough to almost shake the house cracked above their heads, and there were creaks as it swayed - but standing right there, in the middle of his room with Stormy, there seemed to be a blind spot. An eye of the storm, a quiet center in the midst of chaos.
Even just standing simply with her felt reassuring.
"You're not pushy," Gale told her, his eyes still closed as she kissed his temple. A soft hiss of air escaped from his throat as she moved to his jaw, his hands tightening ever so slightly on her arms as a flush rose on his cheeks. Stormy's voice, low and familiar and beautiful, slipped into his thoughts as she began to sing, and Gale felt some of the tension ease away from his shoulders. His hands slid from Stormy's arms around to her back, and he pulled her against his chest, swaying in sync with her, his feet moving back and forth to accommodate the little dance she was doing.
He'd never made it to school dances. He didn't know if he even really knew what a prom was, because he'd never even gotten the chance to do much, but if it was anything like this, he had missed out on a great deal.
But, then again, Gale thought, as he moved, a soft sigh of pleasure brushing over Stormy's cheek, Stormy hadn't been there with him in England. She wouldn't have been there, and he would have gone to dances with someone else entirely. The thought was a little sobering and a little frightening all at once, but it was also somewhat reassuring that there was still something precious about being here at Deus, even if nothing else was how he thought his life would turn out.
Even if nothing else was right, she was.
Gale pressed a kiss to Stormy's ear, since he could reach it from his position, and lingered there, his lips moving to her temple, skimming over her cheek, her eyes - a gentle peck to her nose before he recaptured her own lips, gentle and soft and adoring. When he pulled away, his eyes were oddly bright in the otherwise dark room, one hand gently caressing the back of Stormy's neck as he just looked at her.
"Why are you so good to me?" he asked softly. "Why me, when you could have anyone? How did I ever get so lucky to have found you?"
They were only half rhetorical, Gale exhaling a long breath.
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:26 pm
Ah, but couldn't she be pushy? She'd asked examples of his humanity out of him once, for instance, wanted him to relive his mistakes to justify how she felt about hers. And wasn't every action she spent in wordless confession of her feelings something of a stretch? Not to mention, by definition, that when things became too cozy Stormy simply felt compelled to find a way to disrupt it somehow, quirky at its best and self-destructive at its worst.
But not this. She wouldn't dare disturb this moment in the eye of the storm, not for the world.
The swaying and repetitive melody lulled her into an almost hypnotic state, the music seeming to come from somewhere other than her. She almost let herself inch a little too close to sleep with Gale's warmth surrounding her, wondering if it was possible to fall into sleepwalking the same way one could simply fall asleep. Would she still dream that they were dancing? Would she finally attain that grace only the imaginary or professional possessed?
A soft note of amusement interrupted her humming as he spoke, half from the questions themselves and half from the stream of kisses, which then quickly died with the final, proper one. Only the fact that she liked answering questions as much as asking them stopped her from pursuing a continuation immediately. "'Anyone'?" Stormy repeated with a slight shake of her head and a warm smile. "That's a generous overestimation. If anything, I should be asking you, Mr. Three Years and Counting With People Who Look Up to You." And then she took her own words to heart and leaned forward, tilting her lips to his ear as she whispered, "¿Por qué yo? Why me? ¿Qué hice para enamorarse de mí?" Rather than translate that, she kissed his ear and darted back to her original place, the action a little mischievous but her smile still quite gentle.
"There's no answer I could tell you that'd be satisfactory," she answered. "It'd be like trying to explain why I like this song or that: you'd get an idea, but it'd only be a sketch in comparison to the real piece of art I hear." She opened her mouth to continue, then closed it indecisively. For the span of a heartbeat there was something vulnerable in her eyes, a small, bright feathered bird in a thick cage--and then in the next beat it was gone, though her softness of character remained.
Leaving the cradle of his hand a second time, Stormy pressed a proper kiss to him. "You ask silly questions," she murmured, lingering. "Maybe I am starting to rub off on you~ But if you really need an answer, then--" --it came in the form of another kiss, deeper than before and with no sign of stopping.
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:53 pm
It was not that he didn't believe that Stormy loved him.
He knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that she did, whether she ever admitted it freely or not. But he also knew that the definition of the word love was flexible, and while it may have meant one thing to Gale, it could mean an entirely different thing to Stormy. He knew how he meant it - in the same sort of passionate, intense romantic sense that stemmed from an overwhelming surge of emotions that essentially made him head over heels for her. And Stormy did love him; she called him hers, and she kissed him and she held him and she stayed by his side even when he was acting a fool.
But a small part of him was greedy for her to say the actual words, even though he'd never have admitted it. Actions spoke louder than words in most cases, but he had always been a person that was all about the facts, all about what he could see right in front of him and what he could analyze and explain using evidence.
Emotions were too fragile and too convoluted to be treated the same way as the information passed through the Death Division department, something Gale was still learning. He could not put Stormy under a microscope and examine every inch of her thoughts, nor would he want to - but sometimes, even when he was absolutely certain of the truth, the reassurance was still necessary, still craved, because he was greedy for the knowledge of it.
A hum of dry amusement escaped Gale's throat, along with a tingling feeling up and down his spine as Stormy kissed his ear. "Admiration is not the same thing as love or affection," he added pointedly, and squeezed her shoulders gently. "You're the first and only person whose ever taken ahold of my heart. The only person who didn't need to teach me how to breathe, just how to keep breathing."
His hand found her face, and tenderly he stroked his fingers alongside her cheek, the rain pattering noisily on the window behind them. He opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was was lost as Stormy moved up to kiss him, and Gale swallowed back his response, a soft hum of pleasure pressing into the kiss, an exhale of a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"You always do have the best answers," he whispered, and his hands tangled briefly in her hair before his arms slid around her waist and then he had lifted her off her feet again, holding her against him, his face flushed with happiness and exhilaration and bemusement and everything all at once. The mix of emotions and feelings twisting in his stomach were confusing and frightening, but Stormy's presence, her mere existence, were warm and reassuring, and he sank greedily into her offered kiss because it was something familiar he could hold onto, that he could understand.
He still hadn't lowered her back onto her feet, but Gale ducked his head, pressing a kiss to Stormy's collarbone and lingering there, his face buried against her neck.
"Mine," he said roughly. "You are mine and I am yours."
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Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:35 am
"Sometimes it's the seed they sprout from," she pointed out with a secret smile, as if speaking from personal experience. And then it dropped in surprise.
"The only person who didn't need to teach me how to breathe, just how to keep breathing."
She was struck by phrase, faltering as she sought to identify all the layers it comprised of. The rain's noise made it into her head, a soft smothering of sound over her own rising heartbeat that made it seem distant, a detail that did not matter beyond initial recognition as Gale continued to speak. What mattered was the fact that for once, for once, someone had listened. For once, she had managed impart the most important lesson anyone could learn: that no matter what happens, you will can and will live through it.
Maybe it hadn't completely gotten through to Nevada. Maybe it just took a little extra coaxing, a ray of hope to rekindle that candle. Or maybe it was easy for Stormy to play the optimism card because she wasn't the one suffering.
(But she was, she was, to a degree she'd never be able to explain. Taking in Nevada's madness, taking in Gale's self-deprecation, all in exchange for hope.)
There were maybe's and maybe not's for everything she did--but for this, for just this moment in a sunshine house, swallowed up in a sorrowful hurricane she'd run like the wind to bear him through without thought, a storm that wailed only for her in her selfish mind, that baptized her but still made her feel heavy with the sin of so many things she kept away to keep smiling, burdened with the awful awful knowledge that keeping it together could only last so long, that one day those smiles wouldn't make it and she would fall face first back into the internal wasteland and forget how to stand because dirt was where she belonged, no more dancing, no more singing, no more pretending, no more niceties left because they had all been given away to others to help them on their way--in spite of all of this and so much more that was left unspoken, she had done something right.
Stormy grew breathless much too quickly but she kissed him for as long as he would hold out, giving and giving and giving because that was what she was best at, because at least he would keep breathing. Her heartbeat was still in the distance, a soft thrum beneath the curtain of rain that reminded her of how very, very real this was without being pressuring about it for once. There were hands in her hair, and then at her waist, and then for a wonderful moment she thought she was floating like they did in Peter Pan, thinking happy thoughts until airborne. But his arms were more than mere tethers, they were lifelines that saved and fish hooks that snagged her without fail, pulling her up and closer than before, and the impulse was back again, lift your legs, latch on, keep him--
And she had yet to understand how she hadn't spontaneously combusted yet. There was so much air here, even though she was having trouble breathing now that she had given almost all of hers to him: too much friction and something would suddenly be set ablaze. For a wild moment Stormy thought it had sparked on her first, but it was just a kiss, just a kiss that was anything but just a kiss, words that were anything but mere words, warm breaths that were anything but mundane. What was it like in his position, she wondered, what did it feel like when she made unsteady breaths, what heat could he physically see coming off of her face in unseen yet blurred waves, what did that thrum in her chest feel like when the echoes were in her throat, in veins that pulsed for attention next, how did he describe the feeling of chaos and magic?
Stormy swallowed, lacing her hands around his neck where they could be watched, and was as still as she could be in the case he decided to investigate any or all. But she had to get ahold of herself. She was asking for too much as a reward when she had only accomplished one of many things on her list, over-romanticising and detailing overdramatically to make things more than they were.
Her legs dangled, but their arms were strong together.
Unable to follow up with a verbal response significant enough to merit attention, she hummed a single note, middle C, as affirmation, hoping--
< < Wrong. > >
The dracolich, who normally was quite removed whenever the couple became absorbed with each other, snapped at her. Stormy let the note die away naturally with her breath.
< < He has no 'claim'. You owe everything to me. > >
The jewel clutched on her ring, along with the runic writing, seemed to glint brighter than usual. Hoping not to disturb Gale by doing so, Stormy allowed her head to tilt against his so that her face could partially hide in his hair, letting her breathe him in as she closed her eyes. Her grip on him tightened.
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Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 9:34 pm
He gave a soft snort of amusement that was half a hum against Stormy's cheek, and he wished he could express himself better, the way Stormy always seemed to be able to do. She was a master wordsmith, a creator of worlds with just a few simple sentences. Sometimes he felt woefully uncreative next to her, but then all he had to do was listen to the sound of her voice, and he was entranced again, lost in whatever it was that she was saying. Her way of speaking, sometimes rambling, sometimes in mysteriously short bursts of words, was a gift that he did not possess, and he treasured her abilities, rather than envied them.
His thoughts were a jumbled confusion of emotions, rather than actual concrete thoughts - Stormy love heat warmth storm warmth forever - and he could hear his own heartbeat in his ears, as loud as a drum beat as he held her in his arms, tightly, possessively without being demanding because he was not him, he was not the kind of man who took greedily without giving anything in return.
(Stormy's hands were warm and strong on his neck and he liked the way she leaned against him.)
Gale could not hear Thane, nor could he sense the dracolich's anger at his claim. Instead he heard the soft musical note rise in Stormy's voice and then slip away, and he felt her hold on him tighten, both metaphorically and physically. Gale's sigh of contentment was breathed out against Stormy's neck and slowly he pressed little kisses alongside her throat until he reached her jaw, his eyes closed, his cheeks flushed.
"Forever and always," he mumbled, only half coherently, and he felt almost silly for repeating what he always did, for just stating the obvious, but it was almost like an avalanche; once one thing had slipped out, the rest came at a tumble, cascading over one another to try and get out.
A soft hum, a kiss to the corner of her mouth. He still hadn't set her down yet, though his arms were growing tired; he had little desire to let go just yet, Gale nuzzling his nose against Stormy's, his kisses growing soft and warm and tender over her jaw and cheek, though still passionate as he finally covered her mouth with his own again, whispering her name against her lips.
"Here comes the sun, little darling," he mumbled, half singing, and he didn't really know the lyrics, just the tune, so the rest of the words were just hmm hmmms instead, a smile curving Gale's lips upwards.
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 2:45 pm
Thane's opposition was nothing new. As far as he was concerned, the relationship would fall into one of two self-destructive categories eventually (driven out or driving out, both caused by her own doing), and that simply getting to that point was tedious when the end was the same. Earlier attempts to dissuade her (the pain, the pain, the pain) had nearly worked, but as always her strength of emotion overrode his logic. It'll be different.
< < It will end the same. You are so very cyclical with your thralls. > > The thought stung more than she wanted to admit, but it was easily soothed by immersing herself in the moment.
A smile made its way back more and more to her face with every climbing kiss, a soft note of delight escaping her as they tingled (Though was the room getting hotter? It must be, she couldn't possibly blush any harder). Stormy coyly tried to tilt her head as if to escape, but it was just an act: she wanted this. In some sense, she needed it. Every little action made her feel a little more alive and made the outside a little less nightmarish, every little action reminded her, I am yours and you are mine no matter what happened--or whatever her partner believed.
Stormy didn't feel the compression of his spines on her mind in response, already getting heady from affection, exhilaration, and their proximity; the closest she'd ever gotten to this state was while drunk, the blur of thoughts, basking in what happiness was in her, impulsiveness rising, warmth everywhere. "For longer than foreeeeever~" she whisper-sang as a counter, bumping his nose again, grinning at her genius thanks to a certain swan princess. It wasn't just obvious: it was important. It was another promise.
Soft laughter bubbled up again as Gale continued his stream of kisses, her fingers sliding up the back of his neck and into his hair, her smile tugged to the side where he lingered at its corner, eager when they met once again. His energy was contagious, her response grows more and more needy for it until she was sure she had swallowed every instance of her name, stolen at least a little of his breath as compensation from before, her eyes briefly stinging from some solidified emotion in the back of her throat.
And Gale sang.
It was only a few words, but that was all she needed anyway. Without missing a beat Stormy filled in the rest and hummed a harmony with him, the irony not wasted on her given the conditions outside. Then again, he was a personal sun, from his house to his hair to his warm words--there was a gravitational pull she couldn't resist.
Her face should have split already with how large her smile was, so thoroughly happy that she could have radiated light herself. Pressing short, heated kisses to his lips and jaw, she nuzzled foreheads with him, bright-eyed and adoring. "I could have danced all night, I could have danced all night~" she continued to sing softly, deciding to express herself through lyrics. "And still have begged for more~"
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:01 pm
It wasn't just Stormy thinking the room was warmer; Gale's face was flushed a dark scarlet, though he had yet to actually stop in his ministrations. Each kiss was given with the utmost adoration and devotion, and as she turned her head away, attempting to act coy, Gale followed the movement and caught her mouth again, his hair falling across his forehead in unruly red-gold slashes.
He liked when she laughed; his breath mingled with hers and he swallowed down the laughter in an effort to keep it alive within himself, warm and happy and pleasant. It felt like sunshine in his stomach, mixed with butterflies and fields of flowers and bees all buzzing joyfully, and Gale could not have asked for anyone better to be with, for anyone else to have fallen for.
She may have thought that he was the sun in the relationship; that he was the bright spot, but Stormy always neglected to see that she was equally as bright, at least to him. Whether or not he would ever convince her of this truth remained to be seen, but Gale at least knew the extent of her warmth and her sunshined nature and her life filled songs that filled him with all sorts of feelings and emotions. The kisses she pressed back to him matched his own in pleasure and neediness, Gale sinking into them.
Without knowing he was, he made the decision for her; his arms slid lower on Stormy's waist until they were low enough that he could pull her gently but firmly up; the only way to keep her steady would be for her to use her legs to maintain her balance, lest they fall over, but even if they did, he wouldn't mind. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was starting to feel as though he should stop this before it made her uncomfortable, before she turned away from him, and he forced himself back to the present, his hands lightly skimming over Stormy's legs before he lowered her carefully back down to the ground. His fingers settled at her waist and he pressed his forehead against hers, in that shared space of theirs, his eyes closed, his breathing uneven.
"Here comes the sun," he whispered, and neither the tune nor the lyrics went along with the song Stormy was singing because he didn't know it, but they mingled together, his voice shy and awkward and rough. "Here comes the sun, and I say...it's all right..."
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 10:16 pm
She did not realize she was being moved at all. In Stormy's mind she was still floating, clutching like curious Wendy did to Peter Pan as she was brought to a new land: every possible motion was not her choice, but she followed gladly and without thought because she was blinded by the wonder of it all. This was--This was . . . something. She didn't have the mind to put words to it, which said something about she who craft worlds with her voices. In fact, her mind seemed to literally bend around feeling like a gamehunter with his first big cat, cautious but curious, nervous but entranced.
Embarrased, thoroughly embarassed. At least he could never read minds, no matter how much they touched heads (no matter how much she wished telepathy was possible).
Stormy only began taking notice of the shift when his hands skimmed her legs, and when her feet touched the ground, a soft whine escaped her rather than music. Her usual reserves had been eroded at with each dance, each song, each blessed spot on her neck, until if she was really frank with herself, her first impulse would have been to jump back up and recommence everything; her fingers, which had slid off his chest during the descent, twitched at her sides at the thought.
Thane snorted at the fleeting images in her head, physically disgusted. < < Neither of you would be prepared, > > he pointed out.
It was enough to give her pause, let her take a breath through her nose and exhale slowly. Gale continued to sing, soothing her. She was grateful his eyes were closed and joined suit, nuzzling their foreheads.
"That was . . . Hah, sorry," she said in an undertone, all apologetic smiles and peaceable glee. "Very sorry. Not a lot of sleep makes you go nutter, y'know . . . Told you I was pushy."
With a small self-deprecating chuckle, Stormy looped her arms around his waist in return, not quite as confining as before. "Thank you," she continued, growing softer. "I love it when you sing. So, thank you for that. Thank you for dancing with me. And thank you for listening and being there." She hesitated, wondering how much more of the list she ought to reveal, as only giving a few barely covered it. After a moment, she gently bumped their noses instead. "Nightmare gone?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 10:51 pm
He was still attempting to catch his breath, which had long escaped him during the heated kisses and the breathless feeling of tenderness and adoration and affection. Like Stormy, embarrassment tinged the edges of his emotions, but Gale did not anything, and he rocked gently from side to side, his breathing slowly, very slowly, beginning to return to normal.
"I'm not," he said, his voice hoarse, and then he added by way of explanation, "Sorry, that is. I'm not sorry about anything, except maybe that I wish I could sing a little better than I do."
A soft sigh escaped his throat and Gale felt as though the weight that had been on his shoulders had eased somewhat. Perhaps it was silly, but maybe just letting himself go every once in a while was what he needed - what they both needed. He was so used to being straight laced about things.
Maybe this right here - a moment (or several) caught in time, in the midst of a storm, was what could help to keep him sane.
Gale's fingers linked together at the small of Stormy's back and he leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Thank you for you, he said, and although he was smiling, there was a certain strange seriousness to his words; a peculiar weight to them, as though he were almost anxious about something.
But in the next moment it was gone, and Gale's gentle smile was back, lifting a hand to smooth back some of Stormy's hair away from her red-cheeked face.
"Nightmare's gone," he said softly. "Will you still stay with me?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 11:47 pm
She laughed a little again and gained back some of her breathlessness with just a simple action. "When I get my hands on a piano, I'll make you do vocal runs," she informed Gale helpfully. "How's that sound?" Though the ivories were not the only things she wanted to--
She squeezed her eyes in a hard blink. Calm down. Honestly.
Opening her eyes, Stormy beamed at his thanks and opened her mouth to say something saccharine and cliche just to tickle his humor--but the weight behind his words gave her pause. Or maybe that was simply Gale's personality, serious and steadfast, shining through again? She still was in no state to analyze anything minute at the moment and brushed it off. "Well, I'll just have to keep on being very much me, then," she proclaimed with a grin. "I will keep my muchness and so should you, or I will wake you up in the middle of the night to dance the Futterwacken with me!"
She broke her arm loop just to poke him in the chest so that he would understand the very real dangers of underestimating Stormy threats.
"And you still have such funny questions~ Of course I'll stay." She tilted her head just a little towards his hand. "I want to watch the sunset at its personal sunrise."
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 10:35 pm
He grinned at her laughter because it made him happy inside to hear that sort of pleasantry, especially coming from Stormy, and especially coming at a time where both of them were in a more vulnerable state. Gale hadn't forgotten about the nightmare, not really, but at least he was calmer now, and could think more rationally about it.
Well. Calmer at least in one state; his cheeks were still flushed and his breathing still hadn't quite gotten back to where it normally was, and the butterflies were still fluttering about in his stomach; but at least his mind was clear and his thoughts had (mostly) settled.
He didn't tell her what he was thinking about, mostly because all it was was more "sappy" romantic notions about never letting go or perhaps saying something about always needing her and always wanting her and how grateful he was for her existence. Those sorts of things he'd already said multiple times before, and Gale had to wonder if she ever disliked it when he kept repeating himself. Had she grown weary of his never-ending proposals of love and affection yet? Had his undying enthusiasm for Stormy and for their relationship off put her from it?
He sincerely hoped not.
Gale smiled, stroking Stormy's face with his thumb. It felt a little (a lot) strange sharing a bed now, after the rather intense kissing that had just gone on, but he had been serious when he'd asked her to stay with him; he wasn't even sure he would have been able to fall asleep without her, and it was becoming a problem. Storm being near him while he slept was an endless source of comfort, but have it too much and he would never be able to sleep well again when she was not in the room.
He had to remember to be careful not to monopolize her and her affections in case he lost them - and to be careful not to force anything from her that she was not ready to give, whether it was her heart or just the mere warmth of her presence next to him.
Gale sighed, exhaling a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Slowly he slipped his arms away from around Stormy's waist, but only so that he could take her hand and lead her back to the bed. He stood beside it, feeling terribly shy all of a sudden, his fingers laced with hers.
"I can sleep on the floor," he suggested, cheeks pink as he looked at her. "Or the couch, or the guest room."
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 11:58 pm
She couldn't help but be struck by how funny his suggestion was. Maybe spending too much energy in trying to make her affections known and not enough on breathing properly was getting to her. Or maybe it was the lack of sleep. But listening to Gale suggest that she take his bed in his room while he slept somewhere else, like her room (her room? her borrowed dorm he gave her?) after a far too serious chat and a high school slow dance and what could probably pass as an extended makeout session punctuated with cheesy, genuine words, was too hilarious for her to let go. Unwittingly she juxtaposed the completely serious gaze of a Gale who swore he would stay alive against the shy, pink-faced Gale who was being gallant as ever, and it was too much.
Her free hand shot up to her mouth to try and contain the first bit of chuckles, but she might as well have tried to stop a river from flowing. The laughter, bubbly and loud, escaped through her fingers. She bent over a little with the effort, clutching his hand to steady herself but feeling herself grow light-headed with how inexplicably funny it had become.
"Nonono," she tried to tell him as she recovered, grinning and snickering still. "It's fine, it's fine, really, m'sorry--" And then another fit overcame her and Stormy ended up half leaning against him, half of her laughs muffled by his pajamas. She felt a little woozy afterwards, her legs seeming light and hollow as her energy went down the drain.
"Sorry, sorry, I wasn't--laughing at you--honest. But you are not sleeping on the floor, Gale," Stormy insisted, still caught in a wide smile. "Or the couch. You haven't given me a reason to make you~"
There were possible reasons he would suggest such things, though, she knew that. Maybe that was her cue to step back before things veered from fun to awkward. She could watch a sunset at sunrise some other time they weren't all flustered.
She straightened up and caught her breath, wiggling her fingers between his. "But . . . I think I'll go back to my room this time. Clearly I am disrupting your sleep~ Plus Mike's probably jealous I'm not spending as much time with him anymore." It was a poor excuse, but she wasn't completely of a lucid mind at the moment. Nevertheless, she lingered.
"D'you need anything, though? Like water or a bedtime story or something?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:54 pm
She was laughing. Why was she laughing so much?
Gale's mouth had fallen open in surprise, and he stared at Stormy with unabashed bemusement as he tried to figure out what on earth he'd said that could have caused her this much amusement. Had he spoken in a silly tone of voice? Had he made a weird face? Why was she still laughing?
She was leaning against him now, and Gale automatically patted her shoulder, though it was more out of habit than reassurance, since right now it wasn't Stormy that needed the reassurance. "What on earth..." he said, in a wondering tone, and looked down at the top of her redbrown head of hair, the way her shoulders shook against his chest.
"I don't...understand," Gale said, a little awkwardly and a little flusteredly; his cheeks were pink with confusion and mild embarrassment at being kept from understanding the apparent joke. "What...why not? I already made a fool of myself earlier, with..." His cheeks grew even redder. "With...suggesting what I did...but I was trying - trying to be a gentleman - why - "
He struggled with the proper words, feeling, in a strange sense, almost as though he was being made fun of somehow, though he knew Stormy's heart was always in the right place. Still, he couldn't help but feel as though somehow he was missing something in all of this.
Gale's cheeks were now a deep scarlet. He curled the fingers of his free hand into his palm and pressed his lips together for a moment, trying to decipher the puzzle in front of him.
"You," he said, and the voice was almost grumpy, almost sullen; a childlike answer that he quickly shifted to sound less like he was a four year old. Embarrassment at his own shameful behavior colored his voice as he added, a little less tensely, "But I always need you, so that's nothing new."
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 2:08 pm
"No," she said with a little grin, "I suppose you wouldn't understand. It's something about all your faces, very serious and yet very shy, gallant and affectionate, schoolboy nerves and apple cheeks~ And I guess...I guess I just really needed to laugh after everything," she added more softly.
Stormy considered belatedly how that must have looked, laughing raucously with such a poor excuse. Maybe it had been too much in hindsight...Gale seemed a little put off in his confusion at least, fighting for words in his fluster, and she felt twinges of guilt. She listened with a sympathetic look before leaning over and giving his red cheek an apologetic kiss.
"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to offend you or anything, it sort of just came out...But you haven't done nearly enough to make me want to send you away, honest." She offered another smile. "You're fine, Gale, word jumbles and gentlementality and all. I think I get what you were driving at."
(Don't blush, don't blush.)
She did anyway.
"Which was why, you know...suggested going back to my room," Stormy mumbled sheepishly, tugging a loose curl away from her face with her other hand. "We're...I'm...not being stupid about this, am I? I should be giving you some space anyway..." It was her turn to have trouble with words, her lips pressing together uncertainly. Maybe she would have saved herself the trouble by just going back to her room.
"Lemme save us some more awkward: d'you want me to stay, then? I'll promise not to cling. If you don't, I'd be just down the hall," she said, not sounding biased for either idea. "Not far at all if you need me to chase off some more nightmares~"
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