InsaneJournal

Contrary to general perception, William Adderson enjoyed bars. He liked the taste of a beer on his lips, and enjoyed the pulsing noise from the speakers as he poured over his anatomy textbook. There was something appropriate, he felt, about studying what kept the human body alive in a place that was all about life in its sticky confusion, its hopes, excesses, and disappointments. The Four Leaf Clover didn't play bad music (karaoke night excepted), and he'd always worked best with noise happening in the background. He wouldn't admit it, of course - such an admission would've had Billy laughing at how necessary he was - but he found time escaped him well enough anyway. He'd come into the Four Leaf Clover a little after 9, and glancing at the clock now, it was nearly 11:00pm.

Not that his studying had been without interruptions. Every few minutes, Alie had sent him a text message. The first time it'd happened, he'd been quick to check his phone - was she working late? But no, it was just the sort of text message that turned his face a dark red from his neck up to his hairline. The dirty look he'd shot her over the bar had only earned him a laugh that he decided to ignore as he returned to his book, but the texts kept coming with an alarming regularity. At least she kept his beer glass full as well. Not to the point where he was actually getting drunk, of course, but he was certainly relaxed and feeling a little warm as he highlighted a passage that struck him as important. Perhaps he’d see it again on the final. Or even in practice, he thought - being a doctor was so nice and vague that the actual thought that one day he’d have patients inspired both pride and abstract terror. Good thing he had a beer, then.

He was completely absorbed in his work when Alie teleported behind him and scared the absolute living shit out of him.

She knew she surprised him. That was what she was going for, even though she’d been picking on him most of the evening. Though, really, who could blame her for picking such a pleasant target? Alie was the picture-perfect spokeswoman for the ‘she picks on you because she likes you’ saying. She couldn’t resist the texts. Not wanting to lose her job by spending all night chatting with him - she had pulled out her phone probably more times than necessary, and with each text, her smirk got more and more devilish. He looked so annoyed each and every time... And that was too tempting to pass up. He did a good job looking like he was studying though, and there had been a few very brief moments where she actually felt a little bad for interrupting his evening.

“You’re the only guy I know that comes to a bar and looks grumpy when staring at pictures of naked people. Though, it probably says something that you aren’t the first I’ve seen in here looking at naked people.” She really paid no mind to him trying to recover from his surprise, while she peeked over at his textbook.

William, meanwhile, had flicked back and forth in a rapid-fire way between Billy and himself as he often did in moments of shock, though it might not have been obvious. When he was at last firmly in control and not about to die of a heart attack, he took a deep breaths and flexed his fingers before looking up to give her a glare.

“I’m not looking at naked people,” he said, then belatedly realized that his text included a diagram of a kidney next to the bare torso and stomach of a woman. “...this doesn’t count; it’s anatomy. If you ever have kidney stones, this page would be very important to you. And thank you, by the way,” he added with a scowl, “for those fascinating and entirely physically impossible text messages. They really added that touch of class to the proceedings.”

“Next time I’m caught looking at porn, I’ll be sure to use that excuse.” She briefly remembered anatomy classes from her... brief stint at college, though if she had retained any knowledge it would have been a miracle. She knew how to sell things, how to make drinks and how to make people happy, but medical crap? She left that to people like Isabelle and William. “But I’ll have you know that the third text? Totally possible.”

She surveyed the table and his drink and slung her bag over her shoulder. “My shift is over. You going to stay here and glare at the bartenders?” Not that any of them had been sending him risque texts to earn his ire.... as far as she knew.

William packed up his books one by one into his bag, shoving the whole thing over his shoulder as he stood. “I think I’m good with glaring at the one,” he answered simply, shrugging on his jacket. It wasn’t cool outside, but the brown plaid duster was a far cry from Billy’s beaten up leather, and they liked to differentiate between the two when it was possible. “You up for a walk?” He glanced at her shoes, but couldn’t determine if they looked “walky” enough. It wasn’t as if Alie did much walking, he’d guessed - if he had her power he’d zap all over the place.

He was doing a lot of looking at the floor, but it wasn’t out of character for him. Talking with women - specifically loud ones - made him freak out just a little. Especially ones whose track record included kissing him and disappearing.

Whenever she was working, her shoes were the sensible sort. No one wanted an eight-hour-shift wearing uncomfortable heels, even if they did give her some much-needed height. But a walk? The thought of that was almost enough to make her laugh, but she kept it contained to avoid offending him. That was, very likely, the first time anyone had ever asked Alie if she wanted to take a walk with them. It was so... innocent. And nice.

“I could take a walk. But you have to promise to not get angry with me if I either fondle you or jump ahead a few feet without warning.” The first part was a joke, but the second was highly likely to happen several times over.

The first part granted her a predictable sort of glare that was barely worth nothing, and the second got her a shrug. “S’okay. Don’t get annoyed having to worry about my slow ass, and we’re fine.”

William did a lot of walking. Running, too. It helped him collect his thoughts, or at least get on the same page as Billy. He wasn’t exactly a nature lover, not purely, but it did tend to calm him down. There was something lovely about leaving the lights of Evolonia behind until there was nothing around him but the intake of his own breath and the rush of the water hitting the beach.

They walked toward the beach now, William keeping his eyes down and his hands in his pockets as the shadows from the streetlight lengthened their silhouettes, made them long and lean. He was always comfortable in silence, but he wasn’t sure what Alie thought of it.

She kept with the silence until they reached the beach. Her shoes were off before she reached the sand and she popped a few feet ahead of him, her feet starting out a few inches above the ground and landing softly. “C’mon, slowpoke. The beach is waiting.” As if he didn’t already know that, considering coming here had been his idea. She never would have taken him for a beach guy, though.

A blink later and she was standing right in front of him, once again without warning. “You know what usually happens at the beach at night, right? Don’t be too shocked if we come across a secret tryst or two.”

“I’ll try to protect my maidenly virtue,” he answered with his usual amount of growl, blinking a little as she popped in and out of his vision before settling right the hell in front of him. He slid his feet out of his shoes and socks, leaving them on top of his bag which he left in the sand as well. His books had certainly seen worse.

William headed toward the water, stopping as the ocean lapped at his toes. It was always shockingly cold, but he didn’t really mind it. “You from this area?” he asked, knowing she hated small talk, but figuring that if she sexted him while he was studying he could engage in war in his own way.

He couldn’t see it, but a cringe flashed across her face when he started in with the small talk. He would want to actually get to know her, wouldn’t he? Or was he just trying to keep her from being a pervert? She knelt down to roll up the legs of her pants, “Grew up around here, I think my parents figured that this was the best town for a family of mutants. And so far it’s worked out - no one stares at me for being a freak! Usually.” If they did stare at her for being a freak, it normally wasn’t because of her powers.

Alie probably should have thought twice before teleporting into a half-foot of ice cold water, and her ”HOLY SHIT” echoed throughout the empty beach when her feet hit the water.

He couldn’t help it, he laughed - at it was definitely at her rather than with her. Served her right, William figured, for jumping in before she’d tested the water a bit. It was temperate during the day, sure, but once the sun was down, that water got cold.

“You wanna make that squealing noise again? That was cute,” he called from a few feet back, smug on the beach as his toes curled into the sand. “Dunno ‘bout this beach,” he said, steering them back onto the small talk she so hated. “I grew up on the Atlantic side. New Jersey. The water always felt a lot warmer to me.”

“I’ll show you cute.” She threatened, and then popped behind him and gave him a small shove toward the water. Though, she wasn’t putting her full effort into it at all, not wanting to either knock him on his face or piss him off. Though a short-stack like herself probably wouldn’t have gotten very far unless she was blessed with something like super strength. Which, she wasn’t.

“New Jersey? And you moved all the way out here to Oregon? Do you miss it at all?” She had to be close to breaking her own small-talk record by now.

He stumbled forward and sloshed water on the bottom of his pants, but he’d rolled them up a little. William was still snickering at her expense as he caught his balance, smirking at her in the dim light. “You can’t hold still for a second, can you?” he asked, but it was mostly to himself; he’d resigned himself to Alie’s ways a while ago. “Um.... not really,” he answered, seeing the downside of small talk: it got on stuff he didn’t really want to bother with. Still, it wasn’t like he was some tortured soul trying to hide the past or whatever. “I ran away from home. I mean... New Jersey was okay, but Oregon’s prettier. Less pollution. That sort of thing. I miss the boardwalk, though. Ever seen one of those?”

That was probably the most amount of words she’d ever gotten out of him at one time, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The ran-away-from-home situation was a common one with mutant kids, and it was one of the things she was most thankful for with her parents. Short distances were nothing, thankfully, otherwise she’d be feeling this in the morning, but she took a break and settled down into the sand.

“I’ve seen a couple. L.A.? I’ve actually never went to Jersey, though. I used to get in trouble for seeing how far I could go when I was a teenager and still trying to figure things out, but it never really stopped me from going to places I saw on billboards. Best way to get around - see a destination on a billboard and show up.... And not always ending up where you meant to be is fun too. Except for China. Not so fun.” She was babbling again, which she would fully blame on him for going with the small talk.

He’d sat down on the sand next to her, listening to her go. She had a way of going on that was alternately amusing and confusing; the side of his mouth quirked up as he listened to her. “You’ve been to China?” he asked, inviting another monologue out of her, never caring that she was the one to speak so much. Less time that he needed to talk, less focus on him as he settled beside her, too close for mere acquaintances, close enough for lovers but not inviting, not ridiculous quite yet, at least he liked to think so - not quite the couples he saw sometimes walking the streets in each other’s pockets, not minding anything but one another. This was still appropriate, he thought.

“Purely on accident, but yes.” She was never one to be uncomfortable with an invasion of personal space, which made since, considering she was usually the one doing the invading. “It’s... uh, crowded. Which is nice if you want to go somewhere and not have anyone pay any attention to you. But a little overwhelming for a seventeen year old.” Not to mention it’d taken her three tries to get home due to stress, and then ending up with a mother that had been fretting most of the day.

Seventeen years old and going to China on her own. He couldn’t fathom that. No wonder she hated getting tied down or trapped. When he was seventeen, he still had curfew at Miss Grace’s because he kept sneaking out all hours - both he and Billy, actually. William watched her with a slight smile on his face - it wasn’t particularly happy; it was more like he wasn’t sure what other expression to make on his face. He’d liked being overwhelmed with anonymity. Sometimes, at least.

“Where’s your favorite place you ever went to?” he asked. “Where you went accidentally?” The water drifted up a little too high again, and he felt his pant legs soak it up.

“China was... my highest level of stress teleporting, I learned to control it a lot after that. Accidents happen rarely, but I think my favorite and most memorable was ending up in Las Vegas when I meant to go to L.A. I had a 20 on me and ended up winning a couple hundred the first hour, stayed the night and then lost the rest of it the next morning and had to go home. But it was fun! I keep meaning to go back for a real vacation.” She dug her toes into the sand and made a few drawings with her big toe. “Craziest place you’ve woken up after Billy had control?”

The side of his mouth quirked. “This random island off the coast of Seattle. He’d apparently swam over there on a dare, and I had to make my way back. It was gorgeous, though - completely away from everything. Billy’s always been more of a hiker than me, for whatever reason.” He paused. “Oh, and one time, I woke up at a Britney Spears concert. Asshole.”

William sighed and leaned back, using his elbows to prop himself up. The stars were bright and scattered above them; without really intending to, he’d taken them to a romantic spot. William didn’t really think much of romance one way or another - he knew that Alie wasn’t really interested in that stuff. He didn’t know how he felt about it. His relationships tended to burn hot and die just as quickly, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. He was pretty sure that Alie’s interest tended to mimic her mutant power - quick, bright, and gone in an instant. But damn if he had no plans to say that out loud.

“Britney Spears concert!” Now it was her turn to get a laugh at him, and oh, she enjoyed this one. The island, not so bad. But a Britney Spears concert? “Well, at least it wasn’t the Backstreet Boys or N’Sync. Upside?” She was still laughing, trying to imagine him waking up in the middle of Toxic or something crazy, surrounded by a million and one teen girls, who were probably all screaming their heads off.

She glanced down at him and tried not to read into the fact that he was looking so comfortable. She had been cursing herself silently since she’d kissed him, given that she had just stated she didn’t want to fuck him up and mess with his head and then- fuck. Not literally, though she wouldn’t have complained about that. She just wasn’t in the habit of being friends with guys she wanted in bed. And wasn’t in a habit of wanting to become friends with someone and sleeping with them. And now she was completely spaced out and probably staring somewhere that was either going to baffle him or make him blush, as unintentional as it was meant.

“Oh, bite me.” He’d tried to look as dignified as possible as she mocked him, but he was more intrigued by the way she’d gone quiet. Alie wasn’t quiet. Even if she was technically silent, she was still texting, or making faces, or updating her online journal or something. She zipped away, just out of reach, but she never stood still long enough for actual quiet to intercede.

But now he could hear the soft lapping of the water and the cry of a gull far down the way. This wasn’t what he’d been expecting. Call him a romantic, or old-fashioned, or any of the adjectives he was pretty sure Alie would profess to hating, but this was much more his speed in terms of getting to know someone. He turned his leg slightly inward and shifted his weight until he faced her in the sand, his hand coming to rest at the side of her hip, each movement deliberate, the antithesis of the kiss she’d planted on him earlier in the week.

Her eyes shot back into reality and her lips moved into a smirk, “That was one of the texts that you ignored tonight, you know. Biting.” She was back, and being “loud” again. But that only lasted a minute and the quietness settled around her again the moment his hand slipped onto her hip. Now would have been the perfect time to teleport away, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not if she actually wanted to keep around him. Once, he obviously forgave, but in a moment like this?

He had already told her not to kiss him again, though, so she didn’t take any initiative, other than her tongue darting out to wet her lower lip without realizing it.

William realized it, certainly, realized it in that slow-moving dreamlike way that meant that it felt almost like someone else was moving his arms, tilting his head down. But no one else was. Of that he was absolutely certain. He was just moving carefully, enjoying the build-up, liking the dark of her eyes, as one of his fingers brushed her cheek, and his lips finally met hers.

Well. Once that was accomplished he had a brief moment of panic of - what happens now. She had disappeared into thin air, but he hadn’t that option, so he simply continued to kiss her, close-lipped but no-less pressing for it, ignoring her references to biting, to silly texts, and to his own concern that at any moment she’d vanish from his arms entirely.

She didn’t disappear, though she did have an exceptionally brief moment of panic. Another unusual thing on a list of unusual things about this situation. Alie was slightly baffled and very likely going out of her mind. She didn’t find herself in these types of situations, being kissed on a romantic beach at midnight... And such a nice kiss. That was another thing she wasn’t used to.

Even completely out of her element she wasn’t the kind of person to blink away from a moment. And a moment it was. When her mouth opened over his, no prompting needed, she didn’t focus on the fact that her toes had never tingled before. She also didn’t figure she should later mention he was already a better kisser than Billy.

Billy was the farthest thing from his mind at the moment; William was entirely focused on her mouth, his own opening as his hand clasped the curve of her hip. She was willing, he felt, to take it deeper, harder, faster, but no, not he - he pulled away when her lips began to taste too sweet, before he thought he might not stop kissing her. He sat up only slightly, eyes half closed, half on her to gauge whether or not she was as affected as he was.

Crap. He’d had half a mind to kiss her so thoroughly to pay her back for all the crap she’d put him through, but he hadn’t thought ahead to how such a venture would effect him - and he should have known it would. He knew how he felt about her, for as much as he blew off people who asked him the very same question.

And this was part where he was absolutely shit at small talk.

Why was her breathing more erratic than normal when they hadn’t even gotten to the good stuff? She had no answer, but she was sitting up and trying to focus on brushing sand off a few moments after he pulled away. He didn’t seem inclined to speak, which wasn’t unusual, but she honestly had no idea what to say at this moment. Which meant she was likely to say something stupid, just to fill the silence.

“I, uh.. should probably go.” That was not exactly what was on her mind at the moment, but it was probably better than the alternative; teleporting them back to her place. Where she figured he was likely to accuse her of just wanting to use his body. So, running away was a good alternative, in her eyes.

William hadn’t expected that, though he should have, he realized in retrospect. Kiss and flee - twice now. Was that a pattern, or did it have to happen three times? He sat up straighter, withdrawing from her, his shoulders raising naturally as tension went right back in them. Color flooded his cheeks but that didn’t matter in the dim light. He cleared his throat. “Of... course. Sure.”

Grow a fucking backbone, said his internal monologue - and for once he wasn’t sure if it was Billy or himself.

“Why?” he asked then, even though he was pretty sure he didn’t want to know the answer.

And here she was patting herself on the back for not just teleporting away. But her bag was on the sand some few feet away and she was trying that polite thing she’d heard so much about. Alie pushed herself onto her knees and sat back slightly, staring directly at the profile of his face.

“Fight or flight instinct?” She asked, trying to use the joke to levitate things a little. But, she knew by now that wasn’t how it worked around William, and usually just made him more grumpy. “I don’t know what you want from me, William. One minute you’re yelling at me about how you don’t want to be a conquest, and the next you’re kissing me in a romantic spot. I already know you aren’t the one-night-stand kind of guy.... So I’m at a loss.”

His face had grown stony at the joke as she had predicted, but he took a breath and cut her a break as she began to explain. William knew she wasn’t big on talking. Neither was he. But...

“There’s a different between being a conquest and romance,” he said, and if there was a stubborn edge to his voice, well, he had a feeling that he was about to get sacked. “Romance” and “Alie Davis” went together about as well as tuna fish and lime jello. And while sweet nothings and overly-exaggerated love affairs weren’t his style, he knew that meaningless one-night-stands and friends-with-benefits were even less so. “I mean, I’m not like... thinking this is... a date or whatever. I just wanted to get to know you better. Without rushing.”

Lame, said his inner voice. He decided that it was definitely coming from Billy.

She couldn’t help but look a tad bit amused when he was finished talking, and sat there for a full minute trying not to smile. Not only did she look like some silly love-sick girl, she was bound to piss him off if he thought she was laughing at him. “Usually when a man and woman walk along the beach on a night like this and end up kissing, it means it’s a date.”

She reached out and tugged on his shirt a little, trying to get his full attention much like a child would. “It’s not that I’m against relationships. I’m just not very good at them. It takes a stubborn man to be able to put up with me, and I’m not even afraid to admit that.”

He held still as she pulled on his shirt, uncertain what exactly she was up to, but her words gave him pause and distracted him. “I’m only here half the time and you’d have to share me with another woman,” he pointed out with a sardonic smirk on his face. “I don’t think I’m like... the poster boy for relationship material either. And look...” he chewed his lower lip. “I know that.... you’ve been very honest about what you’re looking for, and I respect that. Which is why I’ve got to be the same way. I don’t know... well. I know I’m not going to sleep with anyone and be just... totally casual. I can’t do that.”

William decided it was best to ignore her quip about whether or not this was a date. Mostly because she was probably right. Dammit.

“A teenager, even.” Alie couldn’t resist getting that jab in with the other-woman, and she had a feeling that Charlie would be the one more likely to raise issue with a three-person relationship than she would, but Alie was generally open to just about anything. “I never specified what I was looking for, just that I didn’t want to corrupt you with my wicked ways.” To prove her point, she leaned forward on her knees and kissed him quickly.

She didn’t fully move away from him, but did lean her head back to speak without breathing directly into his face. “You’re probably going to have to be more specific than just not casual, though. And at some point you should probably admit you like me.”

“I’m not that old-fashioned,” he answered, licking his lips from where she’d briefly kissed him. Admitting that he liked Alie Davis was opening a can of worms from the set of a horror movie. William racked his brain and tried to figure out what “not casual” meant. “I mean like... dating. I guess. Real dates, where you plan them and look forward to them. Just hang out, under the stars or go to the park or share an ice cream and I know that I sound like all I know about dates is from a 1950s doo-wop song, but... not that much experience with them.”

He was really good at selling this concept to her. Genius, really. “Look, all I’m saying is that... give me a chance,” he said, “and I’ll do the same. It won’t be mushy crap. I can’t even admit I like you, for fuck’s sake.”

“You just did.” It figured that William would do that sort of thing in the most roundabout way possible. But, it made her smile as much as his entire explanation of dating did, which was a considerable amount.

She couldn’t say that she’d ever had a date sharing an ice cream, or going to the park. At least not since she was... Seven? He was a few years younger than her, but at least he had a self-admitted lack of experience when it came to dating. “How about instead of sharing ice cream - because I’ll fess up now, I love my ice cream and I usually don’t share - we try going out for dinner or drinks? Or watching a crappy horror film at one of our places. But please, for the love of god, don’t take me to the park or to a sock-hop.” She gave a brief pause, “And I like sex.”

“I can do dinner and a drinks. Crappy horror movies. Nix the sock-hop.” All those things he knew he could do with no problem. Sex... William liked sex, too. Duh. And contrary to whatever Alie believed, he had had it before, with different partners. Enough to where he got a little defensive about it when it was implied that he hadn’t. But he was also pretty sure that he was setting himself up for a world of attachment-troubles if he jumped into bed with Alie given that he knew he tended to really fall for people he slept with, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to get involved in that, especially when---

--eh, fuck it. She was hot.

“All right. So.” He paused. “You can still... flee, if you need to. I won’t take it personally now.”

He had been so understanding, honest and actually somewhat talkative and forward.... that she couldn’t bring herself to run away. Alie had to give him some credit, he was getting really good at putting up with her bullshit. Most people would’ve thrown their arms up in surrender and escaped long before now, which earned him a bit of extra credit.

“We could stay here for a while longer, if you want? I don’t have to be at work tomorrow until 2, and I’ve always been a night-owl.” She felt slightly accomplished at putting that effort forward and inwardly-beamed at herself for a couple seconds. Fuck. She was probably going to have to ask Rachel or Isabelle on tips, now. And be nice. And not sleep with the hot guys that came into the bar. Liking someone was starting to become a pain in the ass.

As William was not privy to her inner dialogue, which was probably for the best, he only heard the positive - which was that she wasn’t fleeing.

“All right,” he agreed, and smiled a little as he settled back down into the sand. This was probably a terrible idea. He didn’t care. “I don’t sleep much at all. So.... night owl, whatever. It’s fine. Plus I’m going to be gone until Sunday. Portland. So...” A slightly out of character smirk. “Enjoy me while you have me.”

“Portland. Right. I work all weekend and have Monday and Tuesday as my weekend anyway, so while I’ll likely survive...” She leaned over again and gave him another kiss, as brief as the last one. “But if you’re going to put it like that, I can probably do my best to take advantage.” He was probably going to have to get used to her forward comments even more now, and she could already tell it was a good thing she was impervious to glaring. And grumbling. And complaining.

He was definitely in trouble.

Definitely in trouble, William would have agreed, especially as he caught her face to kiss her again of his own volition, but for now, his mind was blissfully silent. All he wanted to do was to stay on the beach and think of nothing more than the moment between them. Surely that wasn’t too much to ask? In a few moments they’d be irritating one another and Billy would be bitching about getting back to Charlie and Alie would be wondering what the hell she had gotten herself into.

But... not now.