Welcome to Gaia! ::

Finn was lying in bed, eye closed, but wide awake. His brow was furrowed against a gentle, throbbing headache that had formed from spending too much time straining his eye reading, and he was now giving it a bit of a rest. He was fully clothed, though his boots were off and sat neatly by the door, and his jacket was hanging on the back of a chair, pink belts included.

The knock on the door was unexpected, and it made his brow furrow more, a hand reaching up to rub at his temple gently. He hadn't been expecting anybody, and most of the people he knew would have either texted first or just barged right in, had the door been unlocked (which it currently was).

"Who is it?" He called out, though there may have been a hint of exasperation in his voice.

Finn heard the voice, but he wasn't sure he heard it correctly. It sounded like Ripley, but that should have been impossible since he had told the other man that he would talk to him in a few days. While Finn actually had no idea how much time had passed since then, barely sleeping, spending every waking moment training or working, he most definitely had not tried to contact Ripley, unless he had done so in a sleep deprived stupor.

Thus, it was confusing. Finn's eye opened, his head turned towards the door, and he loudly muttered "Just a second." Hopefully with just enough volume for Ripley to hear him.

Than, the Death intermediate might have heard a thud, as Finn rolled out of his bed, landing on his feet on the floor. He might have heard soft footsteps crossing the short expanse of floor, before the door knob turned and the door came open. Suspicious, Finn peeked out at the man on the other side, one hand on the doors edge, the other still on the handle.

A lot of thoughts went through his head at that moment. Things he could say, things he should do. Instead, he just gazed at Ripley silently, taking the sight of him in, feeling a tension in his stomach that he hadn't even noticed was there begin to ease. The look in his eye was as hard and cold as ever, and his face gave away nothing either.

"Something wrong?" He finally decided to say, because he couldn't fathom why Ripley would be there, otherwise.

Of all the things Finn had possibly expected Ripley to say, that particular question had not been on the list. The only surprise on his face was in the blink of his eye and just the the most minute raising of his eyebrows. He had almost forgotten that Ripley had apologized to him once before, because it had been so ridiculously silly that it had barely been worth remembering.

But now that he was actually posed with this question, now that he was actually being forced to face it, while looking right at the man he'd been hoping to avoid just a while longer while he thought some things through, he realized something.

He had been angry at Ripley for letting go. He had summoned his weapon in hopes of it given him enough light to see by, so that he could find the other man, stay with him, protect him like a moon hunter was meant to do. It was, frankly, embarrassing that all he'd succeeded in doing was getting himself bitten and infected in the process, and that Ripley had landed himself in trouble as well. Finn told himself he didn't blame anybody for what had happened in those few brief moments when everything had gone to s**t, but that had been a lie.

And what was worse, when he had come to, his first instinct had still been to protect him. Like an idiot.

That had marked embarrassing moment number two.

Knowing this now, coming to grips with it right at the very moment that Ripley came to his door, meant that the question had just become too difficult to answer right on the spot, so he didn't, at least, not initially. Instead, he let the door open wider, revealing him in full. Instead, he reached for the front of Ripley's shirt, and tugging him forward, bent his face down so that their lips could meet, while standing there on the threshold, not quite in the hallway, but not yet completely within the private safety of Finn's room.

When he pulled away, it was to say, or rather, respond with a third question.

"What if I said no?"

It was such a small thing to notice, and such an odd thing to take pleasure in, but the fact that Ripley hadn't tried to dodge away, or push himself further into Finn's room to completely hide what they were doing? Finn liked it. It made him feel like maybe Ripley was becoming more comfortable with the idea of them, (not that he had been very indicative of opposite feelings in the past, but still), it made him feel like maybe there really was something between them, and he hadn't been wrong.

But even as he thought it, there were parts of him that were repulsed by it. These were the parts of him that he'd been trying to reason with the last few days or however long it had been. Though, perhaps repulsed was too strong of a word. It wasn't as if the thought of what they might possibly have sickened him. In fact, it was actually mostly intriguing. But there would always be that doubt, that inability to fully relent to what may be.

Or at least, it seemed that way now. But he refused to think about what the future might hold.

His hands had found their way to the sides of Ripley's shoulders, holding him in place. The faintest of smirks began to tug at the corners of his lips as the other man spoke, "It was actually a no that was more of a maybe." His voice had become low, almost hushed, "But now that you mention it...."

He took a step back, one hand dropping while the other moved to hook a finger into the front of Ripley's shirt once more, a gentle tug, pulling him further into the room.

"Shut the door." He said, leaning in for another quick kiss before releasing him. "I'm pretty sure our neighbors hear enough of our discussions. I don't think the entire hallway needs to."

He then took a step back, and began stripping off his clothes, which started with unbuttoning the cuffs and front of his own shirt, and ended in his socks.

Obviously "discussions" were meant to be executed while naked.

It felt good. No, not just good, it felt fantastic. Comfortable, familiar, but somehow still just as exciting as it had been the first time. There was no part of Ripley that he didn't want to touch, caress, kiss or tease. It reminded him of a dream he'd once had, though in that dream, he had been happy, and this wasn't happiness, not quite.

This was simply how it felt to be completely and utterly sated.

But there was a smile on his lips when it was all said and done, an arm dug in beneath and around Ripley, pulling him in close, fingers dragging lazily along his shoulder. It was that quiet moment where everything just seemed peaceful, his mind having gone blank, though within a few moments, the cogs would start turning again, his thoughts would be abuzz, and the peace would end.

Ripley's words were the first that broke the silence once breathing had resumed from fast paced back to normal and heartbeats had slowed. In the heat of the moment, and in the afterglow of it all, he had actually forgotten what this had all been about.

Finn let out a light chuckle, and rolled over onto his side so that he was facing the other man. "I don't know. I mean, that was a good start towards getting there, I guess." His smirk widened, and he leaned in for a more proper kiss, before pulling away and sighing.

"I need a smoke." A rather lengthy pause, and then. "I don't want to get up."

Just a few more moments. That's all he really wanted before reality came crashing back down again, before he remembered why he had needed some time away from Ripley (however a moot of a point that was now). A few more seconds of that oh so addictive, blissful quiet. A craving for nicotine could really wait, the more he thought about it, and he was about to protest Ripley getting up to find the cigarettes, ready to pull him back down into the bed, ready to tell him that yes, he did in fact, forgive him.

And then they could kiss some more, and of course, eventually, when they were both ready again, other things could follow.

But he wasn't quick enough. Ripley had noticed something, and now a finger was tracing along the vibrant red skin where his wound had once been, and instantly the area burned with a horrible itch that he wanted so much to reach over and scratch, but he fought against doing so, letting the other man have a good look at it.

"Not long ago." He said, voice only just very slightly strained. "It's where I was bitten."

And like that, reality descended upon him like a crashing wave, battering him against a rocky shore. He pulled away from Ripley's touch, sitting up, reaching over with his right hand to scratch at it. A feeling of dread had settled into his stomach, a feeling that hadn't really left him since they'd gotten back from that mission.

He avoided looking at Ripley for a moment, and then glanced over at him. "You know, maybe it should actually be me who should apologizes."

Perhaps this had not been his best choice, but in Finn's defence, he'd had a lot on his mind, and not all of it had really been given a chance to be completely worked out. He could tell right away that his own guarded action of looking away, along with his impromptu words, instantly had Ripley on guard, which instantly had Finn smirking and shaking his head.

"Oh come on, Ripples! You look like I'm about to profess my unrelenting love and affection towards you." The cold look that with with the smirk showed no sign of that possibly being the case right now. "Don't be an idiot."

Finn frowned then, and rolled over to get out of bed himself, buck naked as he crossed the floor to his dresser, opened it, and took out a pack of smokes. They were as of yet unopened, so he silently took the time to unravel the red plastic string before pulling off the rest and popping it open, the foil next to be plucked off with a light tinny crinkle in his hand.

He pulled out two, and got his lighter from off of the dresser top as well. Going back to the bed, he held out one of the cigarettes towards Ripley.

"I'm sorry I didn't stick around until you woke up. I should have at least made sure you were okay before I took off. I might not act like it, but I do have a capacity to care for some, very few, others well being."