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Krouse woke up with a weight cutting off the blood in his arm and a mass of soft and oily hair pressed against his face, and for a second, he couldn’t remember what any of it meant.
It came back to him soon enough, and he tried to calm his heart, to sink back down into the bed and return to sleep, but the girl was already stirring.
Even with eyes closed, he could feel her look at him.
“Krouse?” Noelle asked, sounding tired but not sleepy, “Are you awake?” Did she even get to sleep, he couldn’t help but wonder. This wasn’t an unusual question. He found sleep difficult these days, had since... well, for years now.
But hearing it like this, waking up in her arms, that was new.
“I hope so,” He said, cracking a smile, some part of him trembling at her soft pale face, her fragile, whole body, pressed to him. His voice, too, was shaky. “This does feel like a dream.”
She moved to pull the sheets away from their legs. He looked down at her pyjama-clad, completely human lower half. She wiggled her toes for him. “It isn’t.”
One of his hands moved from her waist to her outer thigh, rubbing it gently. It was real. He could even feel the muscle under her pants shift when she flexed it.
“That’s nice,” she hummed, and he smiled. The fear was fading by now, though his thoughts were still scattered, and he was very awake. Maybe it was the time – blue morning light seeping through the curtains – or the leftover euphoria from finally, finally having a solution. Maybe it was just a reaction, like an animal, to warmth and comfort and holding the woman he loved, but he found his mind wandering to hotter places.
Places Noelle probably wouldn’t appreciate, he reminded himself, and drew his hand away, placing it on his own belly. She put hers over it. A part of him heated up at the contact, right above the waistband of his shorts.
“How long have you been awake?” He asked.
“Most of the night,” she admitted. “I’m not really tired, and – I like being here. It’s – I almost thought I’d never have this. That I’d die without ever being fixed, or – worse, that I couldn’t die at all.”
“But you didn’t,” he offered, helplessly. What use was laying here with her if he couldn’t even take that pain away? She’d been... damaged before, he worried about how she’d cope in the years to come – if they got home, which they could try, now. “You’re safe now.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe I could distract you?” He offered, breath against her ear. She glanced up – melancholy replaced by shock. “We could talk?”
“Talk.” She repeated, thoughtfully.
“Yeah, about. Hmm...” Would Ransack be an inappropriate topic, right now?
“Actually, um... there’s something I have been thinking about...” Her thumb swept under his hand, brushing over his shirt, and shivers raced up his whole body in reaction. He tried to focus on her words, instead. This sounded important, and the last thing he wanted was to drive her into another room.
“I’m all ears.”
Her thumb made another sweep, and he had to keep himself from jumping out of his skin.
“You aren’t quite as perceptive out of fights, huh?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing.” She smiled, mischievous at her own barb. She smiled! “I know you... feel a lot for me...”
“Oh, I love you. Was that not obvious?”
“No, that’s what I meant! Just...” she lifted herself into a half-sitting position, still draped over him. “Can we... kiss, and stuff, right now?”
God. God, he was an idiot! And a damn lucky one!
“Yes! Yes, I-” He tried to sit up too, but Noelle swooped down – like an actual angel, or a pouncing cat – and stole his motion and his breath and his thoughts with her mouth.
He gasped aloud, hands wrapping around her waist, pressing into her belly and her ribs and her hipbones. His breaths were caught and return with her own. Her lips were so very soft, pressing against his mouth and his chin and the bottom of his nose. It was like a pummelling, a gentle one, and it just kept coming, no matter if he thought he was going to wake up and be forced to accept an end. They kissed for what felt like hours.
Noelle settled herself between or on top of his legs – her own were still shaky and weak. His hands slid lower between kisses to hold them steady again, cotton-covered thighs pressing against his palms.
She seemed to hesitate between open-mouthed caresses, and he drew back just to check that he hadn’t crossed a line.
She snickered at him beneath her eyelashes and pulled at his thin moustache. He gasped in indignation, and bit her lightly on the nose. She bit him on the neck, hard, and oh God, oh God, it felt like she was going to eat him alive, and there was fire in his blood, he was sure of it, and his back arched and he pressed against her with abandon.
“Krouse – Krouse!”
“Right,” he gasped, forcing himself back onto his back and stopping himself from just humping her like some animal. There was no room for humiliation in his brain any more, even though his need was plain for her to see. He was hard.
Noelle, for her part, looked diffident, almost wary – no, more like alert. What is she looking for? She wasn’t disgusted – she was breathing heavily too.
“These are Mars’ pants.”
He blinked at the non-sequiteur. (And he didn’t want to think of Mars right now, thanks.) “That matters?”
“Well... I don’t think she want them to get dirty...”
“Oh, she’d be furious.” He couldn’t help the grin.
“So... help me get them off?” The grin slid off.
Noelle seemed as enamoured with the lovely expanse of pale skin as he was, if not more. “Look at that.” She gave a little kick. “Cool, huh?”
He kissed her on the side of her head. “You’re amazing.” She was also lying halfway on top of him, in just her sweater and panties, which was, just, wow. Not something he’d ever thought could happen. “I really don’t deserve you.”
“Let’s... not get into that, okay?” She ran her hand over his lower belly again, teasing the heat that had gathered just a little lower. “Could...” She flicked her eyes over him, “Could you take your shirt off?”
“Oh man, I don’t know, that’s quite the ask.”
He laughed lightly as he pulled it over his head, and harder, in delight, as she kissed him, touched him, and let him touch her, even if over the sweater.
He’d never understood gentleness like this before, a strange intimacy winding its way around them, drawing him even closer to her, until it felt like it was binding him down to his very bones, lungs, and mind. They touched each other almost diffidently sometimes, recklessly other times, eager to please. His other clothes slid off too at some point, under her hands that made him feel like he was melting into a puddle and burning like a live wire all at once. She kissed him over the bite mark, and in all other places, and he watched her for signs of where she wanted him to touch and worshipped those places. Her thighs down to her knees, her hips and clit, the bottom of her breasts, her ears and eyes and hair. He rocked against her, his erection rubbing against her underwear, against the front the made her squirm and tighten her legs around him, as much as she even could.
Admiring her, he saw her press her lips together, rocking in time with him – or maybe it was him moving her. Her eyes were half-closed, her lips pressed together in an expression of such enjoyment, it made his heart melt.
“Noelle?”
She opened her eyes and smiled at what she saw. Her face was flushed, sweaty, happy. He kissed her, feeling himself begin to slip over the edge, wrapping himself in her.
“Oh,” He heard her gasp into his ear, “I – Krouse, I love you.”
“I love you,” He echoed, and it was enough, for once in his pathetic life it was enough.