Who: Christian and Darcy What:Character Furniture building Where: 801 When: After this. And before the group plot, we are slow. XD Warnings: Thar be smooching and I'm pretty sure "building a dresser" is a euphemism for foreplay.
Darcy was always a little shy in the asking for help arena, but the forums were there and after three hours of trying to work out the furniture building on her own she was at her wits end. When Christian responded to her cries for help she was deeply appreciative and went to work preparing for company.
She felt badly that her place was in such disarray, normally she liked to invite guests over to a clean house, but since he was coming over to help she was hopeful he would understand the boxes that were still stacked in a corner (her books) and the bits of IKEA furniture parts (and there were tons of them) laid out as neatly as possible in the living room. She wasn't feeling too lovely herself so while the coffee was brewing she freshened up a bit in the bathroom. She was wearing jeans and her NYU tee shirt, and while that wasn't exactly company clothing, it would have to do. She put a bit of lip gloss on and brushed through her hair knowing it was pointless to try and do much else with herself. She only hoped that he didn't judge her right off the bat based on the state of herself and her apartment.
Her apartment was mostly put together, save for the furniture she was going to build, there was a couch, and pictures on the walls. She kept a tidy house, but the furniture parts on the floor made it a bit impossible to go from point A to point B without stepping over something.
It hadn't escaped her that she had invited a strange man into her apartment, but she had pepper spray just in case. While she waited for him to arrive she busied herself arranging some simple snacks (cheese and crackers) on a tray and she hoped that would be sufficient. Everything she learned about entertaining and she had no idea how to entertain someone who was coming over to help her do something. She'd read on the internet that if you were looking for help with moving offering your friends pizza was the way to go, but the moving company she hired hadn't seemed too interested in pizza when she'd offered. And technically this wasn't moving.
She put the tray of snacks on her dining room table (the coffee table was currently in pieces on the floor) and was just going to check on the coffee when she heard the knock at her door. She took a deep breath and walked over calmly giving her apartment the once over one last time, it would have to do, "Who is it?" she asked just in case, but she had already started unlocking the five locks she'd had installed on the door upon her arrival to Bellum.
"It's Christian, from the forums. You asked me to stop by."
Christian's preparation for the event had been much less detailed than Darcy's. All he had done once they had decided on a time was hop in a shower, pull on a casual white button down and pair of jeans, grab a six-pack and head out the door. This was something he was doing for fun, to meet his neighbors, and Darcy had seemed like the type of girl (in the few exchanges that they'd had) who'd be more comfortable in a laid-back situation.
Upon arriving at her door, Christian waited calmly through the sound of the clicking, completely unperturbed. He had walked through the questionable parts of many cities, and knew that as strange as the hyper-vigilance seemed, it was more often than not justified. And given what he heard about the place in just over a week of living here, he had a feeling Darcy was being pretty smart with all of the locks.
The woman who opened the door was young, with startlingly blue eyes. She had the simple beauty that Christian was particularly fond of; that natural sort of glow that too much make up would only impede. She was dressed simply, yet somehow managed to look completely feminine.
Essentially, within two seconds of seeing Darcy, Christian already knew that she was the type of girl he'd want to pursue.
Christian grinned at the girl and held up the bottles he had brought with him. "I didn't know if you had supplies for the grueling work ahead of us, so I brought some just in case."
Oh dear. He's darling. Was the first thought that entered Darcy's mind. She was supposed to be swearing off all sorts of different things, her boy crazy nature was one of them. It just got people into miserable situations. Still it didn't stop her from smiling happily, her cheeks blushing just slightly at the surprise of how handsome he turned out to be. "Of course! Please do," she said stepping aside so he could walk in.
He was dressed casually but smartly, and he looked well groomed and he'd brought beer. There were certain things that Darcy always appreciated and it was that there were still people who knew what politeness was. Even if you were going over to help someone with something, you always brought something. In fact one time in college she'd been so frazzled that all she'd had to bring to a study party was a bag of apples, and even then it was appreciated.
"Thank you so much for coming over," she said still smiling at him, "I'm afraid my place is a little bit messy for obvious reasons, but I did lay out some snacks if you're hungry," she said nodding her head toward the cheese and crackers on the table. "Do you want me to put those in the fridge?" she asked motioning toward the six pack he was holding. "Or I'm happy to pour you one, I've got frosted mugs in the freezer."
Christian entered the main room, his eyes immediately taking stock of the surroundings. Everything about this girl indicated that she was exactly what she seemed to be. Christian hadn't been expecting Darcy to be duplicitous, but one could never be too careful in his line of work. And with the reputation this place had? He was keeping even more of an eye out than usual.
He turned around to face Darcy once she had shut the door. There was still a hint of color in her cheeks, which made her look beyond endearing. A small part of him wanted to see just how many more times he could cause that flattering shade to rise to her face today. A small, highly competitive part.
He smiled when he saw the snacks. Darcy was turning out to be one of the cutest people he had met in a long time. "Frosted mugs? I don't know," he paused, his eyebrows rising up in a teasing manner, "that seems a little too rich for my blood." Darcy would have seen his messages come from Penthouse 5, so she would know he wasn't being serious. "Back where I come from, we just use the bottles." A beat, and his smile turned genuine. "They're still cold, we should be fine."
Christian deposited the six-pack on the dining table, and pulled out two chilled beers. Twisting the top off of one of the bottles, he held it out for Darcy. "So, which one of these boxes holds our entertainment for the day?"
Darcy watched him as he looked around, wondering what opinions he was drawing about her. She stood up just a bit straighter just in case! She wasn't sure what to think about him at all, but she was doing her best to suss something out.
She smiled and looked down a bit with her chuckle when he said bottles were fine, "Where I come from drinking beer isn't good manners period," she said only wishing she weren't serious. It wasn't until college that she'd figured out beer wasn't near as bad as she'd been led to believe.
She took the bottle he offered and took a sip as she headed over to the boxes. "Well, I've got a coffee table in box number one, box numbers two three and four have bookcases with doors, and box number five is my chest of drawers for the bedroom. You're the guest so you go ahead and choose."
Christian's brows narrowed with interest at her comment. "Where would that be?" His expression revealed nothing more than casual curiosity. He refrained from making any guesses, just to be sure he didn't offend her unintentionally.
Darcy should have known better than to make an offer like that. How could he not decide to keep the bedroom furniture until the end? "Well we're in the living room, so let's just start here." Christian stepped over some boxes marked 'books' towards the larger pieces in the middle of the room, and started ripping them open. "Do you have a screwdriver handy? These boxes come with Allen wrenches, but you have to bring your own screwdriver to the party."
He pulled out a folded white sheet of paper, gave it what seemed like a cursory glance, and passed it along to Darcy. "Here. You navigate, I'll drive."
There were plenty of places she was technically from but the easiest explanation was her default answer, "I grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, I left when I was 18 to go to NYU," she explained simply. At least he'd know she actually earned her tee shirt! "Where are you from?" she asked as she nodded at his screw driver question and went into her hall closet to bring out her bright red, never before used, tool box. She had no real idea what half of the things in there did, but she knew that if she was going to be living on her own, she needed the tool box. She set it down on the floor as she plopped down onto her knees to start getting to work.
"That's the first time anyone has suggested I navigate anything. I have a terrible sense of direction, my friends from school used to say I could get lost and find myself wandering around before I actually found where I was supposed to be going," she said smirking a bit as she took the paper from him and started looking it over, it was starting to make more sense to her already, and she knew another person would remedy her confusion. "Alright those two long ones over there make up the sides, these weird little silver things hold the flimsy back part on," she said handing him the strangest looking screws she'd ever seen. IKEA always sent over the strangest looking fasteners.
Christian blinked at the explanation. "I didn't know beer was frowned upon on Long Island!" He had more questions, but kept them to himself. Now was not the time to continue that line of questioning. If he was planning on getting to know this girl better, there'd be time enough for that.
"Baltimore," he said over his shoulder, his voice projecting into the hall where she had disappeared. Christian shook his head slightly when he realized that for the first time in a long time, he was actually giving the real answer to that question. That was still going to take some time to get used to.
"Well, as I said online," he paused, pulling the two longest wooden pieces out of the box, "the most important thing is to only half pay attention to what the drawings say. Use them as guidelines, but then just go by feel." His eyes twinkled as he said the last phrase, a definite mischief back there somewhere.
Christian took a swig of his beer before aligning the wooden boards properly. "The bigger screws are what we'll use the Allen wrench they gave us for." His eyes widened, as he seemed to remember something or someone. "There's probably another one in your toolbox if you want to get a start on the other side." Christian would have been perfectly content assembling the entire thing himself, but whatever it was he was thinking about had made him consider otherwise.
She laughed at his statement, "It is in the crowds I used to run around with, college educated me in more ways than academically." Where and who she grew up with beer was frowned upon, especially for the likes of her.
"I've never been, did you like it there?" she asked curiously. She hadn't heard much about Baltimore and holidays weren't exactly her guardian's favorite thing.
The mischief in his tone wasn't lost on her and she felt her cheeks get pink again and she looked down at the pile of work ahead of them. "Sounds like a good plan," she added happily. Yes. Christian was going to be a problem indeed. Staying on the wagon was already proving to be complicated.
She noticed the look on his face change and she tried not to think too much of it for the time being as she opened the tool box and dug around for the Allen wrench. She found it and held it up, "Tally ho," she said winking at him as she started in on her side of the project.
Christian cocked his head bemusedly. "Well then thank god for college!" He clinked his bottle against Darcy's, before taking a good, long sip. "You know, I've never been," he admitted. "Couldn't have done me much good though." Christian placed a hand to the side of his mouth in a stage whisper. "I was already incorrigible."
He turned the screws into the planks as he considered the question. "Baltimore's well..." He hesitated. There were so many ways to answer this question. "Well, let's just say that I liked it enough while I was growing up, but there's a reason I'm here instead of there right now." Christian hoped he had skirted the question without seeming shady about it.
The base pieces of the coffee table came together quickly thanks to their combined efforts. Christian stepped over to where Darcy was working to check out the instructions. "The next part's where it gets tricky." He leaned over to indicate the part of the drawing they were at, close enough to where he could feel the heat of Darcy's body, but not so much that he was invading her personal space. "The screws that fasten the support rods to the big pieces go in at an angle and are tiny."
Then, without waiting for a response, he moved back to his side of the table. "Seems like we're going to need more beer. Would you like another?"
"I've said that so many times," she said taking a drink as well. "I was home schooled so...College was an experience," she said still a bit on sensory overload from it all. She couldn't even put her finger on the thing that had shocked her the most. "I didn't finish," she said chewing on her bottom lip. "I'm only taking a year off though." She added quickly.
"I hear they have crab cakes? That's Baltimore right?" she asked trying to remember. "New York is amazing though, I mean I technically should have already known that, but just leaving home and coming to school...It's been fantastic, and I'm so excited about living on my own for a while." She stopped talking almost abruptly, worried that she was talking too much about herself, that wasn't polite at all!
She personally wouldn't have minded an invasion of personal space, but she did look up at him with a smile when he leaned over her. "Got it," she said sounding sure of herself, this was much easier with another person here.
She looked at her beer that was only really half gone, but not wanting to seem rude she grinned, "Yes please, best to be prepared."
Most people would tell Darcy she should go back to school, but Christian wasn't most people. College had never been the right place for him, and he had no way of knowing whether Darcy really belonged there. No, it would be better for him to just drink his beer and let the subject rest.
"That would be the one!" Christian grinned at Darcy. Her eyes lit up when she spoke of the city, and for a moment he wondered what it would be like to love one particular place that much. "I'm sure you'll love it," he assured her, "some people think it can get lonely, but not if you make sure to fill up your time." He had his own favorite ways to pass the time, but he'd be keeping them to himself for now.
"What've you got there.. like half a bottle?" He gave her a chastising look. "You're trying to slow play me, aren't you?" Reaching over to the dining table, Christian grabbed another pair of bottles. "Now we just can't have that!"
She was glad she'd gotten it right, it would have been embarrassing otherwise. "So far it seems alright, but I'm coming off of three years of dorm life, the quiet is both eerie and interesting change of pace. Though I can't say this place hasn't been..." she searched her vocabulary for the right word, "Eclectic." She finally settled on.
She smiled at him and shrugged innocently, "Slow play?" she asked curiously never having heard that term before, "I'm always being accused of babysitting my drinks," she said laughing as she picked up her beer and took a good long drink all the while looking over the bottle at him. She pulled the bottle away from her lips and grinned at him, "Happy now?"
"I wonder how much of what they say about this place is true," he mused. "I doubt the entire place would be trying to pull one over on the new people. That would be one hell of an elaborate ruse." And Christian knew all about elaborate ruses.
Plus there was that whole Robin Hood thing that happened; not that he'd be bringing that up anytime soon.
Christian nodded. "Slow play. It's a poker term." He was just about to explain what it meant when he thought better of it. "Have you ever played?" His eyes grew wide as he watched her draw a long sip. "Impressive!" Not to mention sexy. "Anyway, I think that's it for the coffee table. Are those the bookcases?" He pointed to a stack of three long boxes that sat in the corner of the room.
She wanted to blurt out that it was all true. But she didn't think that would make her seem particularly sane. Estella was the last thing she wanted to bring up today. Estella who luckily just locked herself away in the apartment like the stuck up coward she was and called it a day. "I tend to think that people are telling me the truth until I'm proven wrong, my guardian used to tell me that the opposite was true, but I'm working on forming my own opinions." She said not even bothering to hide her pride.
She snapped her fingers, "Yes! We used to play in college, still haven't heard that term, but the boy I was dating for a short time really enjoyed poker, so we played a lot. We weren't together long enough for me to make it a career though," she said smirking slightly when he said her beer drinking was impressive, "College wasn't an entirely wasted experience then."
She nodded when he pointed out the bookcases, "Those would be them, we're making good progress. Two heads and four hands seem to be working much better than me all by myself."
Christian bit his lip and tried to hide his smile. Darcy was positively adorable. She would also make an absurdly easy mark, but thankfully for both of them, Christian had no reason to con her out of anything at the moment. "I left home to do precisely that." Not the whole story by any means, but it was true enough.
"That's a shame," Christian grinned between sips, "I would have loved to meet a professional card player. And as for slow playing," he raised a mischievous brow as he moved the completed coffee table into the center of the room, "that's when you have a good hand and bet passively to trick the other person into raising."
Christian looked straight at Darcy, his smile deepening into dimples. "Well, that's what I'm here for."
She nodded excitedly when it seemed they had something in common, "After my time was up with my guardian I went off to college, it was..." she furrowed her brow for a moment. "Eye opening," was the explanation she finally settled on. She wasn't sure she wanted to elaborate much more than that but there was one thing she learned in college. The one excuse that would explain everything to anyone, it was kind of fascinating how well it worked. So she let that be the next thing out of her mouth, "I was home schooled," she said easily.
She raised an eyebrow at him questioningly when he said he'd have liked to meet a professional card player and she smirked playfully, "Oh? So sorry to have disappointed you," she teased. "I'll have to remember that for next time. I'll slow play the next furniture building volunteer I have over. Maybe they won't be so bothered by the unemployed non-professional card player in 801." She said finishing off her beer and moving to set the empty bottle down on her freshly built coffee table.
She paused in her action and practically leaped into the kitchen excitedly, "I almost forgot!" she said bringing out the wooden coasters that she'd bought and put them in the middle of the table. She smiled widely and grabbed a coaster to set the bottle down on. "I feel like I should take a picture."
“Ah!” Christian had met a variety of home schooled people in his life, and although most of them had been perfectly adequate to interact with, there were times when their social awkwardness shone through. He did not know what effect it had on Darcy's social skills, but he believed her when she said college was a vastly different experience from what she had seen. Especially when there was a particularly harsh sounding guardian involved.
Christian sighed dramatically. "I suppose I'll just have to cope." A beat. "Though you know, it hurt me that you would need other volunteers to build your furniture." His mouth twisted into a comical, exaggerated pout. "Here I thought I was doing an admirable job. That hurts... right here." Christian patted the left side of his chest. "You're a heart-breaker, Miss Darcy."
But the mock-serious look on his face was wiped clean at the sight of Darcy's excitement. The girl's cuteness made it hard for even him to keep from smiling. "Let's save the pictures until we're done with everything. I'm assuming we'll be done with the six-pack by then, and I'm sure it will be much more entertaining then."
She smiled and took a drink off the beer bottle and shrugged as she looked at the ceiling with her eyes, “That’s what they tell me,” she teased a bit when he called her a heart-breaker.
She conceded that they ought to wait until they were done with everything, “It’ll be my first beer bottle garden picture in my new place, and to think I thought college was over.” She could definitely feel the beer taking a small effect, she’d been drinking it rather quickly and her knees were good and tingly, it was her favorite part of being tipsy, having the tingly knees. And the consistent smile, and she knew her cheeks must be starting to tinge with red even when she wasn’t feeling bashful.
Christian narrowed his brows at Darcy before laughing. "College is never over, and I haven't even been to the place!" He believed that one could never be too old to enjoy themselves. Over the past few years, he had met quite a few older, classier gentlemen who could throw a party better than any twenty year-olds Christian had encountered. Taking another sizable gulp of his beer, Christian moved on to the next piece of furniture.
"The bookshelves should be easy. Once we finish the first one, we can probably do the other two simultaneously." Provided Darcy wasn't too tipsy by then. Not that he would have minded, of course; the blush the alcohol was bringing to her cheeks would be well-worth the price of having to build the rest of the furniture alone.
Speaking of tipsy, Darcy was feeling lovely as she stood from where she was and wandered over to where he was working on the other bookshelf. Unfortunately it didn’t go as smoothly as she’d hoped as she tripped over part of the Ikea bookcase and stumbled toward him. She tried to stop herself but she fell right towards him with a little squeak. The falling wasn’t so bad, at least she had a comfortable landing spot, but she felt awful for spilling her beer all over his shirt. “I’m sorry!” She said blushing an even deeper red as she started to disentangle herself, but honestly she wasn’t moving all that fast, and the mischievous grin on her face was saying a whole lot more than her small apology.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. One second, Darcy was walking towards him quite upright from the other side of the room, and the next, she was on top of him and his shirt was soaked. Christian couldn't help but laugh as she tried to extricate herself from the mess, "don't worry about it." He caught sight of her grin and couldn't help but tease her. "Although the next time you don't like my shirt, you can just tell me."
Once Darcy was no longer on his chest, he chanced a glance downwards. The yellow-stained shirt was plastered to his skin, and if he didn't get out of it quit, he'd smell like beer for the rest of the night. "Oh well." Christian shrugged and began to unbutton his shirt, tugging at it where it was stuck to him. He felt no self-consciousness as he pulled it off in front of a girl he barely knew; in all the time Christian had been shirtless around company, he had never heard a single complaint. He did not feel this slight vanity of his was inappropriate, though; Christian worked hard to keep his body in the best of shape, and felt he truly earned all of the appreciative looks he got for it.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she answered glad that he didn’t seem to put out over the whole thing. After all it was just a shirt, and clearly he didn’t seem too worried about just taking it off. She definitely wasn’t complaining.
And she definitely wasn’t shy about watching Christian take his shirt off and she looked at him appreciatively, “My evil plan is working,” she said slyly. “Should I soak that in something for you, Christian?” she asked giving him the once over. “Or would you feel better if I spilled beer all over myself as well?”
Christian chuckled, low and deep, a laugh something more than just mirth. Crumpling the wet formerly-white shirt into a ball, he tossed it over his shoulder without taking his eyes off of Darcy's. A moment passed without either of them speaking, but it was far from silent. An electric charge passed between the two of them, a clear indication of just where this would be heading next.
"That was my favorite shirt," he said with a solemn nod, before his face split into a mischievous grin. "I think it's going to take more than just beer spilling to make up for it."
She noticed it just as much as he did, she was pretty sure there wasn’t going to be much furniture building going on in this apartment for the rest of the night, and truthfully she wasn’t caring all that much. She had a quick fleeting thought that she was supposed to be behaving herself, but it was suddenly occurring to her that was not much fun. At all. This was fun, and really it was just one slip up, back on the wagon tomorrow.
“You’re so demanding,” she said grinning at him as she toyed with the hem of her shirt. “It’s a shame really, I was ready to give you a shirt for a shirt but is that not good enough for you? I suppose I could leave my top on and this whole furniture building can commence once again, at least I’ve got a nice view,” she said making no effort to hide the fact that she was giving him the once over. Again. She was still smirking at him as she moved closer to him, she didn’t bother with even trying to behave anymore. As much as she hated to admit it, she was definitely in her element. Handsome, charming men...Her one vice.
“Now how would that be fair at all?” Christian asked in a low voice, his hand reaching forward to cover Darcy’s hand playing with the shirt hem and pull her closer. “I’m a guest in your new home...” he paused, to pull the glass bottle out of Darcy’s hand and put it next to his own on the coffee table, “the least you can do is treat me with a little fairness....” Christian’s words ended in an undertone, barely audible over the inches that remained between them.
He stood there for a second, looking at her silently, giving her the opportunity to pull away if she wanted. When she didn’t move, he closed the distance between them, covering her lips with his own. The kiss was soft, but confident, with no hesitation whatsoever.
Darcy smiled as he spoke and she moved toward him easily, and certainly didn’t put up any pretense of being shocked or offended by his kiss. She met it eagerly and her hands moved up over his shoulders and around his neck as she deepened the kiss.
She pulled back slightly, “I was trying to hold out until we got to the dresser,” she said teasingly. “But I suppose I can fast forward a bit on behalf of fairness.” She said before she kissed him again.
Moments like these were when good spatial memory came in handy. Placing his hands firmly on Darcy’s hips, Christian moved them towards the open bedroom without ever breaking the kiss. He stopped once they were under the doorframe, pulling back slightly so that they could each catch their breath. “I’m sure you can survive another night without a dresser, right?” He smiled his trademark crooked grin at her once again. There was only one right answer to his question.