taxonomites | [location: John Everton's House]

Entry tags:

[location: John Everton's House]

[Note, this is closed and might get all adult and stuff. You have been warned! Also? I blame it on Cordy.]

Charlotte turned off her tablet and put her head down on the table in front of her. Between all those lovely questions at the party and Cordy repeatedly saying 'your guy,' Charlotte needed a drink. Or a nap. Or a drink and then a nap. And then another drink.

Instead, she made herself get up and go looking for John. There was so much from the last few days they hadn't talked about at all. Somehow they seemed to have fallen into a routine where they didn't talk about life outside the house much. It was as if they both worked high stress jobs they didn't want to bring home. It made for a pleasant life, but eventually those things they set aside needed discussing.

Not that she said a word to him when she found him. Her arms went around his waist, her head on his shoulder, and she sighed softly. Her guy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He couldn't help smirking as he leaned in to kiss her again. "Is that something you'd like to see me in?"

She couldn't help it--she blushed so red she thought she'd catch fire. "It was more the idea of you coming out of it that I liked. That moment when the tie is loose and the shoes have been kicked off..." The moment when he was no longer part of the public event but was hers again.

"You're creative, sweetheart. I'm sure you can come up with something that will get me into it, then out of it." He kissed the tip of her nose with a grin.

She wrinkled her nose at him before using invisible fingers to tug at his ear. "Then you'd dress up for me and let me drag you out to some unnamed gathering in the future?" She unbuttoned one of his shirt buttons. "I was told I'd look excellent in red."

"Of course I would. Why wouldn't I? I thought that's what couples did."

"Is it?" She asked the question weakly, trying not to meet his eyes. "You do realize you have roughly the same amount of relationship experience I do, right?" He'd had a girlfriend once, back in the Dark Ages, which was really one up on her. She'd just had more sex then he had.

"I think so. That's how it happens in books and on TV." He nuzzled her cheek, then smiled. "I think, anyway."

She groaned at him. "Oh goody! Now we are relying on romance movies for how we're supposed to act?" She found his neck and started nibbling. "We're doomed."

"I didn't say anything about romance movies." He groaned and tilted his head, giving her more skin. "Or romance novels."

"Didn't you?" She nipped at him, surrendering to the taste of him for the moment. "Either way, this is so far out of my experience I don't have words for it." She nipped again. "People keep calling you things and I get twitchy."

"Calling me things? You mean more than them thinking we're married?"

She bit him again, much harder than before. "Yes, you beast, besides that. You will never let me forget that, will you?" Not that she could, of course. "Cordelia kept calling you my guy. Like it was nothing."

"I'm sure there are worse people I could belong to." He grinned, then went quiet.

"Would you marry me, if I asked?" That question was whispered, as he had no idea what her answer would be.

He could, for instance, belong to Cordelia who would eat him alive. She was so busy thinking about that highly amusing image that it took her a moment to understand his question. When she did, she went as quiet as he had.

"Oh, John." She exhaled slowly. What an impossible question in a place where it wasn't even possible so far as she knew. "If I thought you were sure you wanted me and not just the comfort of living with someone?" That sounded awful. "Would you really want to?" And that sounded no better. He was going to hate her.

He sighed softly and looked away. "Was just a question." He didn't let go of her or anything, but her reaction was all he needed to know he was a fool.

This was why she hated coming to him when she was in a mood. They were both so mercurial and fed off each other in the worst ways sometimes. "It was a question I wasn't expecting, which is stupid because I should have. I know how much you hate that what we do is a sin, by your reckoning." She licked her lips. "And I know you say-"

She stopped cold and shook her head. She wouldn't dismiss him that way. "And I know you love me."

He nodded again. But he knew what she'd meant to say and it was just another little reminder that they approached these things completely differently. He knew she thought his belief unfounded, but it was who he was and that was not going to change. It was a sin what they were doing and he could only be jovial about it, or at least accepting, some days.

She sat back a little so she could look at him properly. "Baby, you have to understand, I never imagined the issue would ever come up for me. And you-- You assumed that if you found someone you wanted, that it was the next logical step, right?"

She touched his face for a moment. "Don't you understand? I feel like the worst kind of harlot who is trapping you somehow. Even when I know that's not giving you enough credit, even when I know how much I care about you."

Her shoulders hunched and she looked down. "Would you have even come back to see me again after that night in New York?"

"That's not even a fair question. We are not in New York and neither of us knows what would have happened if we were." He was not all that interested in giving her his eyes, though. He just didn't think she would react well to all the doubt he was having at the moment.

He had a point there, one she hadn't really let herself consider because then she had to deal with what they were really doing. They weren't passing time or playing house, they were living together. They hadn't had to, not even those first nights after he arrived. And she'd never considered not trusting him after being hurt. It was herself she hadn't trusted. "No, I guess that's not fair."

She dropped her hand. "The truth is, I have no idea what I'd say because the whole idea doesn't seem real. It's like you're asking me to climb Everest. There's no civil authority, no church, no way to be married." She shrugged. "I wouldn't know what I was saying yes to."

She didn't really understand that she'd just answered him.

He nodded. She, too, had a point. Which, really, made it that much more of just a question. A question that could have no answer. So, in the end, it didn't matter and it certainly wasn't worth thinking about any more.

She could see him filing things away, putting something he cared about in a box he wouldn't look at anymore. She already felt a little bad every time she jumped him the way she had. Watching him give that up made her stomach turn a bit.

She tucked in close to his neck, worming her arms around his body so she could be as close as possible. "What color should I wear?"

He tightened his arm around her and kissed her hair. "Something in blue, I think."

She'd had a dress once, steel blue with no back and long sleeves. Wearing that while he wore a tux would make for an impressive pair. And he'd probably keep his hand on the small of her back, the bare small of her back, most of the night. She nodded against his neck. "I have something. You'll like it."

She nuzzled at him a little. "Would you mind if I walked with you sometimes. When you go exploring?" She knew he looked for churches. Now that there were people, maybe he'd have better luck.

He shifted a little so he could look down at her, then nodded. "I would like that. Probably wouldn't give up so easily if I had company."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject