|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:03 pm
Mission accomplished. Gale was wearing a triumphant smile as he pulled away, a look of amusement on his face at the split second of fluster that he had caught in Stormy's eyes before she pulled her back together.
"I'm sure I'll figure out how to tip well," he said, and nipped at her finger. The mention of the piano made him pause, however, and he remembered that before - before everything, he had been asking Jerry for music lessons.
He hoped the other hunter was still up for it.
"I think one or two of the buildings do," said Gale, in a noncommittal sort of way. But then his expression softened. "I'd like to hear you play sometime."
Gale's fingers found hers, curling them together. "Tell you what," he said. "I'll go with you to find someone. Heaven knows we could use a little bit of music around here that's not Allan trying to sound encouraging."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 5:01 am
A soft gasp left her at the n**, and she poked his cheek in retaliation. "Cheeky!" And then Stormy noticed the pun in that, grinned, and poked the other one with a laugh. "You wouldn't want to hear me at first. It's been so long...I'll be hen-pecking the keys like my mom on the computer."
Her smile dimmed with the memory, however, and she moved along. Giving Gale's fingers a squeeze, she tilted her head curiously. "Would you?" she asked, looking hopeful. "I don't know where we'd put it, though, since my room's too small, and I don't want to assume your house, and maybe they're all corrupted anyway, and I was thinking maybe a keyboard would solve it even though nothing beats natural sound, but at least I could use headphones and not bother anyone, and anyway they're smaller, also I need to find my sheet music because I don't remember if I brought any--"
Abruptly Stormy stole her hand away only to grasp his face and pull him into a strong but brief kiss. It was clear by the grin she word when she let him go that this was retaliation from earlier. And, well, for personal fun too.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 6:51 pm
He could not hide the laughter that bubbled out of his throat, Gale grinning as Stormy poked at his cheek. "No, really," he said, lifting a hand and pulling hers away, squeezing gently. "I would love to hear you play, I've always wanted to listen to you."
Gale tilted his head slightly. "Well, I don't mind having it in my house, if you wanted," he said with a smile. "That would just give me more excuses, you know, for you to have to come over, which I don't really see a problem wi - "
The rest of his sentence was abruptly cut off as Stormy kissed him, and Gale, slightly taken aback, didn't have time to react until she pulled away, noting the look of amusement on her face.
"Oh, you think you're so clever," he said, and smirked, and dived forward, his fingers digging into Stormy's sides in an attempt at tickling her. "Trying to catch me off guard, are you? Mischievous little storm cloud."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:12 pm
"I am clever!" she pointed out happily. "At least when I want to be!" Stormy was then going to go on and laud him for being so very amazingly kind and holding the piano for her, you know, assuming they actually found one that could be salvaged--only that died in her throat and got reborn as a series of squeals and laughing protests as she was tickled.
Gale would quickly learn she was a natural kicker.
"NonononononoAAHHHGALENONO-O-O-OFFFGFGFG--" She was trying to wriggle to one end of the couch as best she could from under him, convulsing and curling around her midsection in self-defense as she giggled madly. "I'll--have you know--that lightning--sort of catches--everyone--off guard!" Stormy retorted between breaths, trying to pull her feet up under her before he could use those against her as well. "We're--sneak thieves--in the night! In and out in a flash!"
Yes she still had to sneak a pun in there. Yes, she was laughing at her own joke again, which made her struggling all the weaker.
"You're the mischievous one!" And thusly Stormy stuck her tongue out at him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:49 pm
Gale was really quite pleased with himself for catching her off guard - and for the fact that he had now discovered that Stormy was, in fact, ticklish, which just meant that he now had a new weapon against her and this was a very good thing.
"Yes, well, lightning will have to strike you for your terrible puns," said Gale, trying very hard to stifle a laugh and failing miserably. He grabbed one of Stormy's ankles to keep her from kicking him in the stomach during her flailing and bent over her, a wide smile on his face as he touched his forehead against hers.
"Mischievous and in a very definite state of like," he said, and kissed her, smiling against her lips because this was now one of his favorite things to do. "You're really cute, I hope you realize that, and this makes everything you do at a distinct advantage."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:14 pm
Oh no oh no no no no no Gale had her ankle no don't tickle her foot please please please. Okay, keep it cool, Stormy. "If I was struck by lightning, you'd be so mad you'd lecture me in the infirmary!" she scoffed. "You and Nevada and Ms. C and my brothers. Someone would start calling me death prone after all my near misses and make sure I'm always watched. Besides, if lightning can't strike the same place twice, can it even strike someone named Lightning? Maybe I should change my name again to test this . ."
< < You cannot know yourself if you are always changing. > >
Hmm.
Returning his kiss happily, she gave Gale a not-so-innocent grin. "Oh I'm very well aware~ More aware than anyone gives me credit for," Stormy told him. "You're lucky you're handsome--cute?--cutesome??--or else I would be using this power for evil."
Subtly as she could, she tried to pulled her foot from his hold.
"Reigning over you like an evil queen of cuteness! Just a bat of my eyes and I could make you do whatever I wanted~" She tried it then, less to prove her point and more to distract him from her escape.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:20 pm
Gale paused for a moment. "Okay, so no lightning then," he said, with a nod. "Unless it's metaphorical lightning, in which case it's not so bad after all. But I'd rather you not have to go into the Infirmary on my account, I'm pretty sure everyone who cares about you would have my neck..."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm neither cute nor handsome," he said dryly. "Unless you mean cute as in a little kid sort of cute, because that's what people mean when they say I'm cute - people like Candace or even Nevada, they always use that word when they mean cute like a chipmunk or cute like a child."
There was an unexpected bitter tinge to his voice that he hadn't intended to be there. Gale cleared his throat and flashed Stormy a smile. Her attempts at distracting him had not gone unnoticed, and he curled his fingers around her ankle just a bit more tightly.
"Not everything," he said gruffly, and tried to scowl, but failed miserably.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 10:46 pm
Okay, not working. Maybe sweet talking would do better.
"Gale." She gave him a look. "I definitely don't think of you as little kid cute, not when we're like this. I'm pretty sure these," she tapped a corner of his mouth, "told you as much, too. Now, let's be fair: Ms. C thinks we're both her kids practically, for one; you're her little brother, and I'm her . . . uh. Little Mist Sister slash mentee person thing. For another, Nevada calls everyone cute or handsome or beautiful because that's just her thing--she calls me Pet sometimes!" Granted, she had pretty much asked for it by accident during their first conversation. "So don't let it get to you."
Her escape attempts grew less subtle and more energetic.
"Let's be more fair: If you get to call me cute and beautiful and all that other fun stuff, I get to call you handsome, mkay? Let a girl have her fun~ Orrr." Stormy tilted her head a little and smiled brightly. "I'll be forced to think of new petnames for you instead! I'm getting really fond of Galedilocks now--pure genius, that. Sunshine's another personal favorite too. If I'm Lightning, you must be Thunder since you have your boomstick," she mused with a chuckle. "What else, what else . . . Oh! Cariño, my dear, prÃncipe, my prince, luz de mis ojos, light of my eyes . . . I can keep going and get more elaborate if I have to," she said airily with a wink.
And she never stopped wriggling.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 3:08 pm
He gave her a pointed look, but his eyes held the sort of affection that couldn't quite be contained through an attempt at being serious. Truth be told, he disliked being called cute as much as the next guy did, but somehow when Stormy said it, it didn't feel patronizing or like he was being treated as a kid.
Gale moved his hands to grip both of Stormy's wrists, attempting to keep her from wiggling too much, but she was stronger than she looked. "Yes, but cute for a girl is a compliment," he said, drawing her hand towards him and kissing her fingertips to perhaps distract her. Or maybe just because he wanted to. "Cute for a girl means that you're lovely and adorable and beautiful..."
He trailed off, his face flushing a little, trying not to show how stupidly pleased he was by all these nicknames.
"You're not playing fair," Gale complained, and dragged Stormy up to sit in his lap, his hands on either side of her face as he kissed her. "Ugh, what am I going to do with you, hmm? You seem to like causing trouble."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 6:36 pm
She wore an odd look, similar to when she mentally drifted, even though she was still technically looking at Gale. "'Cute' doesn't always sound nice," she said with a tiny shrug. "'Sweetheart' doesn't always mean what it sounds like. A smile doesn't always mean good intent." At least she wasn't wriggling so hard anymore, or at all really, though whether it was by his attempts to keep her still or a memory was hard to say.
One blink and she was back to earth, retaining a little dreamlike quality even as she was kissed and pulled into his lap. Stormy didn't seem to be quite aware until a few seconds after his last response, at which she blinked again and became amused. "Who, little ol' me? Well, what did you expect with a name like mine?" she asked in a softer voice, mouth spreading into a grin. "Peace is nice, but it gets boring after a while. Sometimes I can't help myself~ But most of the trouble I cause is accidental, honest."
She reached a hand out, at first simply placing it on his chest. But for some reason it felt strange to not be doing something, and so she began to smooth his shirt out with small doting sweeps. "I know what you mean, though," Stormy added, "when you say such nice things. Don't get me wrong. There is, however, nothing you can do about me~"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:44 pm
Gale gave her a slightly bemused look. Tilting his head slightly, he said simply, "It does for me. I don't say things that aren't true. What I say, is what it is, so if I say you're cute, it means I think you're cute. I haven't called you sweetheart (I don't think), but when I do, it means I think you're sweet and you have a big heart."
He leaned forward, his forehead against hers, a smile on his face. "And when I smile at you, it means that you make me smile. It means that my head and my heart and my thoughts are entirely full of you and that makes me smile."
Gale settled his arms around her waist. "And I like it when you make trouble for me, it makes things exciting."
His heart gave a little flutter beneath her fingers, Gale's own tightening slightly around her waist. With a soft sigh, he dropped his head to Stormy's shoulder, exhaling against her neck. "Maybe not," he said. "But maybe I can do stuff with you."
There was a slight pause.
"Er. I mean that, er...in the...innocent...way...bloody hell what am I saying anymore."
His face was now a very bright shade of scarlet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 10:01 pm
"I know, I know..." She gave an apologetic smile as she tilted her head against his in return. "You're sincere. And very sweet~ It's almost unreal." She just had to keep her head in the present, that's all. It was easy to slip back into the past as she had demonstrated before...
Blinking as Gale leaned forward, she slid her other arm around him and light pat his back as she supported him, softening with a smile as he dug his own pit. Humming a laugh, she nestled her head above his shoulder and swayed slightly, thrilled to hold him close without feeling pressured to do more. His stumbling, however, was far too endearing to simply let go; she felt like seeing how far she could push it, now that he said he liked trouble.
"I know what you meant," she assured him, turning her head a little to better whisper with an innocent smile. "It's okay. I want to do stuff, too~ With you, to you, on you, for you..." She was still slowly smoothing out his shirt as she spoke.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 10:09 pm
He smiled against her neck, stupidly pleased with the comment, and then sighed again, wondering if he were perhaps dreaming. Six months ago, when Bix had been teasing him about finding a lady, Gale had scoffed, brushed it off as a theory, a joke, something that would never happen.
And now look at where he was. In spite of the missing memories, in spite of everything, there was that strong pull towards Stormy that his life had taken a turn for, and he had no desire to stop it.
Even when he stuck his foot in his mouth.
He was about to apologize again, but Gale clamped his jaw shut abruptly, feeling his face heat to about a thousand degrees. Any proper words that he had been intending to form were now utterly disintegrated, melted into a puddle of bemusement and shock and pleasure and about a thousand other things that currently had his brain on hold.
He cleared his throat, still not looking up at her, but his face was pressed against her neck, his cheeks flaming scarlet, his heart hammering noisily inside of his chest beneath her fingers.
"Is...is that right," he said stupidly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 10:32 pm
"Quite~"
Oh this was just perfect. She probably should feel bad for putting him through this, but Gale was just making it too easy for her. Stormy took a slow breath through her nose to keep herself from laughing, immensely pleased with how hot she felt his face getting.
Besides, Stormy reasoned with herself, this was a good test run.
"Was I too forward?" she asked, flattening her hand against his chest again, feeling the rapid best of his heart and finding it increasingly hard not to just break out into a magnificent grin; like he chose to do, she kept her head turned so she didn't look at him and cave. "I know we've been only dating a short while and all..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 10:38 pm
What was she doing why was she doing it to him was she -
- was she asking -
- but what -
She wasn't -
Was she -
His brain seemed to short circuit. Gale sat there stupidly as he Stormy kept talking, and his heart had gone into overdrive in his chest, clattering so fast against his rib cage that he was surprised it didn't break through right then and there.
He took a deep breath - a deep, steadying breath. One hand lifted, slid gently against the side of her neck as his lips found the underside of her jaw, pressing a light kiss to the pulse that beat beneath her skin.
Then he let go and leaned back, reaching up to grasp Stormy's hands in both of his.
"Dating, yes," he said, and smiled. "But not ready for that."
His face was still scarlet. "Not...that I don't want to," he added, and then coughed, clearing his throat and feeling stupider and more exposed by the second because wait just a second this was all too soon and too sudden for him to handle. "But...just not yet, not while we're both...well, like we are, what with the missing memories and all..."
Gale drew her hands to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles, trying to stop the redness in his cheeks from spreading.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
