The Date That Escalates Who: Nora and Peter When: Monday evening Where: Peter's house Warnings: NSFW
They didn’t have a proper plan really, which meant that Peter was waiting for her when her shift ended, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket, waiting for her to leave the bar. It wasn’t the best plan he had, but what else did he have to work with? Part of him was worried she’d back out of this all together.
She had her hair braided when she started the evening but after an evening at the bar, she'd thrown the braid up into a bun so it was off her neck. She still had her gloves on, long elbow-length leather gloves that made everything hotter so she left the bar with her jacket in her hand as opposed to on her shoulders. She was looking down at it when she bumped into Peter, literally, and took a step back as soon as she could. "...You...how long have you been out here?"
Peter caught her with one hand, catching her arm at the top of the glove. “Half an hour,” he said with a smile, not letting go of her arm just yet. “I thought we could go on our date.”
"You've been out here for thirty minutes? Why didn't you just come inside?" She asked, very aware of his hand and how close it was to actual skin. It unnerved her but she couldn't pull away, not when he was talking about dates. So the time had come... "Did you leave a roast on in the oven and that's why you're so eager to get to this date?
He shrugged. “I figured you’d be upset if I threw off your delicate balance you’ve got going on in there.” He didn’t let go of her arm, but did slide it towards her wrist. “No, but I did want to avoid you trying to get out of it.”
Well he was probably right about that. She wasn't exactly planning on coming to his place anyway. She'd had a long, internal debate about it with herself and she still hadn't really come up with the answer. "What are you cooking?" Because she was curious and honestly, no one really cooked for her. No boy ever had before.
“Pasta, I figured it was safe in case you were a vegetarian.” Peter started them walking, letting his hand slip to her hand. “I’d hate to serve you something you won’t eat.”
That was...oddly considerate of him. Maybe not oddly, maybe he was just actually considerate and she had no idea what to do with it. She felt his hand in hers and stared at it for a long moment. "I eat meat," She finally answered. "But I like pasta. Love pasta, actually. It was...a pretty big staple at home. But I'm guessing you've had way fancier pasta than I have, Mafia Prince."
Peter just chuckled and nodded. “Next time I’ll make the roast then.” He squeezed her hand while they walked. “Possibly, but in the end it’s all the same isn’t it?” That probably wasn’t true at all, but he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.
"I don't know if it's all the same. Is it the same if someone's willing to pay a hundred dollars a plate for it as opposed to the four bucks it takes me to make an entire meal of it for me and my sister?" Nora asked, looking back his way as they walked. Why now was she so jealous that he might have had that to begin with? She already knew he was rich, she already knew he was important, and just now she was starting to feel jealous when she'd never done it with anyone else before. "So I guess you really like to cook, huh? If you're offering to make me a roast and we haven't even had this meal yet..."
“I’m not quite paying a hundred dollars for pasta. That better be a porterhouse steak.” He smiled at her, not seemingly bothered by where she came from. Yes, he’d grown up rich, but he’d had the fact that it could all be taken away at any moment bashed into his head. It was one thing to legally make all your money, it was something else to possibly be brought down by the feds at any moment. “I enjoy it. I’m not bad at it and sometimes it’s nice to make something on your own instead of having someone else do it. Gavin’s a terrible cook though.”
Nora hadn't thought that he might like to cook, just that there really wasn't meant places to take someone out on the island. But hearing that he enjoyed it changes her view a little because she understood the happiness she felt when she got to cook for Marie. It wasn't often and it wasn't good, but it felt nice to do something for someone. "Do you miss it, New York?"
He glanced back at her then nodded. "Of course I do. How could I not? This was just supposed to be a short vacation. Something to get out of system and maybe get some of it out of Gavin's system and then we got stuck." He shrugged a little trying to hold back the worst of what he was feeling. He desperately missed his home. It was increasingly difficult to be confined to one tiny space that wasn't his city.
Nora could feel the difference in him when he said that. She wondered if he, like her, often held things back for the benefit of his sibling. "I miss home too. Seattle...Not nearly as big as New York, but I definitely feel trapped here. Seattle's pretty close so...when we get out of here, I can show you around before you hop back over to the East Coast." Why was she inviting this? Maybe because she couldn't stop herself from doing it.
Peter was surprised to hear the invite. He was pretty sure she didn't want to be around him, but there she was, inviting him. "I'd like that. Anything to prolong going back to the real world." He smiled a little and squeezed her hand again. "Maybe you could come with me to New York."
And he was inviting her to New York? It wasn't such a bad idea, really. If she could bring Marie with her, maybe somewhere new, somewhere fresh, would be good. And she couldn't believe herself but she nodded. "When we're out of here, after we visit Seattle, maybe I'll go. If Marie goes too." Looking up, she realized they were almost at the porch of his house. "But you should be warned that I don't do...hundred dollar plates of pasta-New York."
He might have blamed her for wanting to bring Marie as well, but he got it. He didn't go places without taking Gavin with him. "So I can't get you dressed up for a fancy dinner?" Peter led the way up the steps and opened the door, holding it for her.
"You would want to?" She asked, watching him hold the door for her and just not feeling used to it at all. The guys she typically went for did not have these kinds of manners. "See...I think you're expecting me to know which fork is a salad fork and I have no idea. I use the same fork for everything..."
"You think I'd throw you to the wolves without some sort of crash course? Plus there's a good trick, always start from the outside first." He smiled at her then started towards the kitchen. The table there was already set, not with the finery he'd prefer, but as nice as it got. The wine was already open and poured into a decanter, just waiting on her. He headed that way first to take the glass from one side and pour her some, then pouring one for himself before bringing them both over to her. "I would want to. Probably try and take you to everything."
At the sight of the table, all set, and the wine already there and waiting, Nora really felt like she wished she'd been able to shower. She tried to be stealthy about it and snag a quick whiff of herself, to see if she smelled as awful as she was sure she did, and then stepped into the kitchen to follow him. The smells in there were heavenly enough. She didn't want to overpower them with bar-smell. But as she was about to protest, he was speaking again and she ended up just staring at him. He'd want to take her to everything? That felt...a lot like a fantasy, like a fairy tale. And she lived very much in the real world. But she did take the wine, thinking she needed it. "How many fancy dinners do you usually go to? Because I'm gonna want a burger in there somewhere..."
Peter laughed and headed to take care of putting their meal together. "More than someone should, but there's always time for a burger in there." He could use that sort of break from time to time. "And dinners at home like this."
"Maybe I'll make you some burgers here then. I make good burgers," She said, smiling a little as she moved further into the kitchen to stand near him and watch. She was fascinated by the fact that he was cooking for her, so much that she didn't have time to let herself get freaked out by the prospect of multiple dinners at home, as if the two of them were already together in one place all the time. "So if you have all of these fancy dinners forced on you, what do actually you miss about New York then?" Peter smiled as he tossed the last of the ingridients in to the sauce and set the pasta to boil. "I miss the lights," he told her glancing at her. "And that you're never alone. No matter when it is there's someone else awake and wandering like you are." He took a sip of his wine and stirred their food. "No one said I didn't like the fancy dinners. They just usually lack appealing company."
Nora found a spot on the counter that wasn't covered with ingredients and hoisted herself up onto it, wine glass in between gloved hands. "At least I look more in place with big gloves on at fancy dinners than I do at burger restaurants..." She said before taking a sip of the wine. It made her sad to think that he was mostly concerned about not being alone. He'd said it, hadn't he? And how often did she feel alone? Pretty often. Aside from Marie, she didn't have anyone really. "What else would we do in New York? If I were to go with you?"
"Probably. You don't need those here you know. If you don't want to wear them." Peter smiled at her, shrugging his shoulders. "Anything you want. The touristy spots, parks, theater, museums. Maybe even a carriage ride in Time Square as cheesy as that sounds."
The gloves she could get back to. She wasn't sure she was ready to take them off just yet. She did put her wine glass down beside her and twine her fingers together, watching the leather for a moment. "How many carriage rides have you been on?" How many girls had he done this for? The cooking and the 'come back to New York with me' bit? Was it even really a bit? This whole thing was throwing her for a loop.
"Me?" he asked, smiling a little and shook his head. "One. I was trying to impress a girl when I was much younger and it went terribly. Turns out it's cold out on Valentine's Day and that was after we waited fory-five minutes. She wasn't really pleased." He dated plenty of women, but none of them stuck. And sure, he'd tried to impress plenty of them, but he wasn't the relationship type. Not with his family and everything else compiling on top of it.
"She sounds like a ton of fun," Nora said, a grin on her lips. "The cold and I get along just fine. And isn't the whole point to be close to the other person anyway?" She asked, sipping at her wine and deciding she needed to try and step out of her comfort zone here. She was already on a date and she'd already had his cut on her face for a few days so...maybe the gloves could go. Carefully, she slipped them off and let her skin feel the fresh air in the kitchen, for the first time all day.
"That's what I thought," he said looking at her. "I wouldn't have expected you to agree." He took the pot of pasta off the stove to strain it, keeping an eye on her as she took off the gloves. "So it's for all your skin, not just your hands.?"
Nora rubbed her hand up her arm and then shrugged a little. "I guess. As soon as I found out I had it, I stopped touching people. So...I don't really know where it stops and where it starts." She watched him drain the pasta and then reached for her wine again, the feel of the glass against her skin stranger than she remembered it to be.
"Well if you ever want to experiment, you let me know." He went back to the table to get their pasta bowls and fill them. "I wouldn't be against touching more of you."
She watched him and burst into a grin, a laugh following it. "It's very polite of you to ask," She said, reaching to tuck a strand of loose hair back behind her ear. "The guys I used to date didn't really have any kind of manners. Certainly no one ever asked..."
"My mother would kill me if I didn't have manners," he told her taking the full plates to the table and out of habit reaching out a hand to help her down. "I'm not like other guys."
Yeah, apparently not if he was helping her down off the counter. She hesitated, watching him, studying him. "Do you have any cuts?" She asked, looking him up and down and not seeing anything but that didn't mean he wasn't injured somehow.
"Nothing that I've noticed," Peter said, knowing she'd be worried about her ability coming into play. "You don't have to."
It was hard to think about touching someone without her having to wonder if she'd start bleeding or bruising at any moment after. But he looked ok and she already had her gloves off. Carefully she slipped her hand into his and let him pull her off the counter, noticing no big changes after she'd stood there for a moment so she figured he must be fine. And then she was very focused on his hand on hers, on the contact of his skin. How long had it been since she'd actually held hands with someone? "...So you're not hurt. That's good..."
Her fingers were warmer than he expected. He should have guessed that with the gloves but it surprised him still. "Very good. Maybe it means you'll let me kiss you goodnight." She'd been so scared that she might just...get hurt without meaning to that she'd basically forgotten that people didn't always have to be injured. She continued to stare at him, the words not really clicking right away. "Uhm...maybe," She said, starting toward the chair because she wasn't ready to just stand here and focus on how nice his hand felt. It was just his hand. She needed to get it together. "How did you learn to control your power?"
Peter followed after her, holding out her chair for her as she got to it. "Practiced on Gavin. Which was just fun."
"What did..." Make him do wasn't the right phrasing. It felt wrong to say it, like it was an insult. "What happened?" She settled on, watching him before sitting in the chair and telling herself it wasn't weird that he was doing all of this. Because it wasn't, it was sweet. She just wasn't used to it yet. Nor would she probably ever be.
"Just playing with his emotions a little. But I got the hang of it quickly. I guess I was just good at manipulating people. Then I tried others. Gav's mostly happy so he's hard to change otherwise, but other people are a variety of things." Peter waited until she was settled and then went to sit himself. "Dig in."
It smelled incredible and she couldn't deny that having someone cook a meal like this for her was really sweet. She took a minute to breathe in the smell of the tomatoes, the cheese, everything, and smiled again as she reached for her fork to begin twirling the pasta around it. "So..if you did it to me," She left out the 'again', "What would you pick?"
"Emotion? I wouldn't do it to you again. That was just to prove a point." He smiled a little. "I'd go with relaxed though. Something to ease the pressure you put on yourself."
Nora took a bite of the pasta and it was perfect, but she hadn't expected it to turn out any other way. He was perfect and so the pasta, of course, would be too. "You should be careful with that. People might get addicted to you."
"Are you worried you might get addicted?" He asked. "I don't use it on a lot of people that know I'm doing it. Just sometimes to get what I want."
"Well now it seems a little like cheating." Not that her own ability wasn't the same as essentially helping someone cheat death, but she got the short end of the stick there. "I don't know, it just...seems nice to have a way to help people feel better when they can't do it for themselves."
He smiled at her and nodded. "Sometimes it backlashes and i get what their feeling, especially if it's strong. That's hard." He found himself reaching across the table for her hand to touch it. "But if you wanted me to I could. I just wouldn't use it on you again because it is cheating."
Nora watched him, watched their hands together and couldn't help but smile at the contact. "You have no idea how long it's been since I let someone hold my hand. Even before all of this," She said, gesturing to herself. "I don't hate the relaxing. You did it before. I disnt hate that."
"I'd rather make you relax without the ability." Peter squeezed her fingers lightly. "Hopefully it's a good thing, having your hand held." He liked hold her hand. He liked being with her, which was rare. He liked being with women, but rarely with someone that he wanted to be with for as long as he wanted to be with her.
She watched their hands together again, turning them over and exploring them in the light, and then smiled at him. "It is nice. I forgot that it was nice. Forgot about a lot of things that were nice about touch...I don't know, maybe to put them out of my mind because I thought I couldn't have them again."
"You could have them now if you would like," Peter said. "I know I wouldn't mind." He'd said that already, but maybe he needed to drive the point home. "There's nothing to be afraid of."
He was right. Right now, there was nothing for her to be afraid of. But what if she got sloppy and just...touched someone with cancer and ended up absorbing that? She sighed before looking back up at him. "I think I have to work up to it." It was a miracle she was even considering it at all, but he was so hard to resist and she hadn't felt this way for a long time. She didn't want to lose it now.
Peter let go of her hand for a moment before getting up and pulling a chair closer to her, sitting right next to her. "Then we work up to it." He touched her cheek lightly, pulling her in closer to kiss her.
Nora should really have been expecting this, but she just...wasn't. She still didn't think she'd ever get used to it, but he was there close to her, touching her cheek and kissing her and it was incredible in a way she didn't usually let herself realize. So she leaned into him and kept it up, missing this something fierce.
Peter pulled her closer, giving her more into the kiss, not wanting her miss any of it. If it had been a while, she deserved to be kissed properly, to be shown that it wasn't worth being alone. He let his fingers slip into her hair deepening the kiss.
Nora hadn't realized how big the ache inside of her was until he kissed her. She'd missed this, missed the feeling of someone close, missed having someone to kiss. She shifted closer to him subconsciously, hands going for his hair to keep him close because it just felt right.
He let her pull him closer, gave her more where she seemed to ask for it. He hadn't kissed anyone like this in a while. There had been plenty of women, but none like this, where he wanted to make her happy, give her something and not take as much.
When she pulled back, it was only because she needed air. She didn't go far and instead just watched him, just stared at her hand on his neck, at her fingers near his cheek. And it was perfect in a way she hadn't let herself feel. "Kind of don't hate this island as much right now as I did before..."
Peter laughed just lightly and kissed her lightly. "I know the feeling." He watched her for a moment before getting up, grabbing their plates and heading into the kitchen to turn everything off and cover it up. Then he was headed back to her, reaching for her hand. "Come on, let's get out of here."
This time she didn't hesitate to take his hand. It was easier now than she expected it to be, but after that she couldn't not take his hand. "Where are we going?" She asked, standing up and thinking about taking her gloves, but only if they were going to head out of this house. Which she was really hoping they weren't.
"Upstairs," Peter said, already starting that way. Food could wait. They'd get to dinner when they got to it. For right now, she deserved so much more than dinner and Peter was aching to give it to her.
Upstairs. Upstairs, yes. Upstairs sounded great. She followed him, hand firmly in his as she continued to memorize the feeling of his skin. Pasta was good left over. Warmed up. Whatever. Right now, she didn't want to think about anything but upstairs. "Your brother isn't here, is he?"
Peter shook his head. "He knows when to get lost. We've lived together before." He pulled her down the hall towards his room, closing the door behind them. "He might be back later but I wouldn't worry about him." He leaned into her, pulling her in for another kiss, focusing on that instead.
Well, it was hard to argue with that kiss. It had been since he started. She leaned back into him, wanting to feel that, wanting to feel close to him again. The last thing she really wanted to think about was his brother. She reached for his neck again, loving the feeling of his skin and his hair in a way she couldn't explain.
Peter's hands sought out the hem of her tank top, working it up to expose the bare skin around her middle, fingers trailing along it eagerly. He started them backwards towards the bed, going until he hit the back of his knees on it, and fell back, pulling her with him so she was over him.
She followed him, too engrossed in him to pull away. It sent a shiver up her back to feel his hands there, something that hadn’t been present in her for such a long time. It made her smile against his lips, feeling comforted and happy enough that she reached for the buttons on his shirt to unbutton them.
He let her undo the buttons but once he had a spare moment he was lifting her shirt up and off, hands gliding over her skin. She needed the contact, he knew that much, and he didn’t want her to not have it. Not for a second.
She exhaled softly when his hands touched her, exploring parts of her that she’d hidden for quite some time. Everything felt like it was already on fire, already electric just from the sheer time it had been since she’d felt this. Under the shirt was a simple black bra, but Nora didn’t really care about what she had on right now. She pulled his shirt open and let her fingers trail down inside of it, over his chest and to his ribs, feeling the perfection of his skin and sighing again.
Peter’s hands drifted lower, along her waistband, relishing in her body, her skin. Then he was rolling them, moving her under him so that he could trail his kisses down her neck lavishing in the taste of her skin.
Nora loved this. She'd not been here for so long and she loved having him here, feeling his lips on her skin. It made her let out a soft sound much sooner than she expected to as she reached to trail her fingers through his hair.
Peter kissed along her collarbone, dipping lower and working at the straps on her bra. He wanted to give her as much as he could. And he wanted her. Desperately wanted her.
Nora was far too eager. She was itching to have herself free of her clothes and have him closer. She pushed at her jeans, trying to kick them off and bring him that much closer because the wait was killing her.
Peter pulled back enough to help her with her jeans, then did the same with his pants, kicking them off and leaving them on the floor somewhere. His hands trailed newly exposed skin, knees, thighs, hips and finally slipped under her underwear along the joint between her hips and thighs, teasing at it but not doing anything else just yet.
He was killing her. She needed much, much more than this and it was slowly driving her mad. She reached for his arm to try and push it lower, position him closer to her and see if he’d take the bait. She was far too proud to try and voice what she wanted right now, but she could try and make him see, couldn’t she?
Peter got what she was going for, letting his hand draw across her, teasing her gently. She wanted this, he could tell that and really he was surprised by that. That made it better. Plus it was fun to see just how much more she’d demand with only teasing her.
It had been a long, long time and Nora was already aching...and tired of him teasing her. Sure, if it hadn’t been so long, maybe she’d be down for that but right now it was hard to focus on that. She grabbed his neck and pulled him closer, deepening her kiss instantly in hopes that it would get him to go further, go faster.
Just as she deepened her kiss, Peter let his fingers slip inside her, no longer teasing, but seeing what she was going for before she did it. Maybe he’d been with too many women in the past. What he knew now was that he wanted to be with this one.
Just the contact had Nora letting out a soft sound against his lips. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed this, how much she wanted this, and especially how much she wanted it with him. So much that she was letting go of his neck to reach down and try to pull off her underwear, to get the final remaining parts gone.
Peter got it, pulling at her underwear to take them off and toss them aside. Then he was reaching for his own, pulling them down and guiding her back. He didn’t do anything, not yet, wanting her to push it to that next level, but he wanted it something awful right now.
God. She needed him to stop waiting. She reached for him again, pulling him back down into another kiss as she shifted below him and opened her legs. She wrapped one leg around his waist, filing away how glorious it felt to have his skin against hers into a safe place in her mind. She arched too, needing to feel as much of him as she possibly could.
She practically pulled him into her, which meant when he did slip in it wasn’t entirely graceful, but he went with it, catching her hip to better guide himself in and not able to help the soft moan he let out against her lips. She felt incredible, like something he’d been craving, but finally managed to get a proper taste of.
She matched his sound with one of her own, having to break off of the kiss to gather air back into her lungs. He felt perfect and Nora couldn’t even think straight anymore. She tried to move her hips instantly, needing to feel him, needing even more.
Peter caught her hips fast, still guiding her himself. He started moving, trying to keep a proper pace and not rush things. He knew she wanted it, but he wanted to take his time, wanted her to really get what she bargained for.
Nora was aching for more. She wanted it all and she wanted it now, no waiting, but he was resisting her. Hopefully not for long. She tried her hips again, hoping to entice him into joining her and feeling increasingly desperate as she did.
He sped up, not too much, but enough to give her more of what she wanted. He wanted her desperate and maybe even begging. That was the goal wasn’t it? Just to get her completely riled up and needy.
She was already needy. She couldn’t help the desperate sound she made or the way her hips tried to move faster against him, but Nora needed this. Begging for it had crossed her mind, but words were so far beyond her at this point that she just reached for his hips and tried again to get him to move faster.
Peter gave her more, but he was metered about it, slowly increasing the speed, giving her more to get her there, but still to draw it out. There was no point in rushing it. That took the fun out of it if she never let him do it again.
Nora was so beyond thought right now. She’d tried to get him to go faster but it wasn’t taking so maybe she just needed to calm down and go with his actions. Rolling her hips in time with him now, she let out another sound, hopefully needy enough to prove what she needed.
Peter didn’t stop, just still slowly upping the pace to get here there. “Come on,” he growled finally, guiding her hips with his, needing to feel her with him, moving with him and not fighting him.
She moved with him, a shiver passing up her spine as she heard his voice like that. It was perfect and adding it to his actions was enough to kick her own up to meet his. She worked her hips harder, feeling the surge in her sooner than she expected and punctuating it with a loud, low groan as she gripped his shoulders and hit her edge.
That was it. That was what Peter was waiting for. He worked her through her edge and then let his pull him down, swallowing him up as he groaned loudly into her shoulder. Then his arms were around her, holding her close to him, skin on skin, drinking in the contact.
Nora was breathless and feeling pretty damn euphoric. She pressed her head against his, shaky arms reaching up to wrap around him and gather in more contact with him. She wanted to feel every inch of him, commit it to memory, and then feel it again. But mostly she just didn’t want to let him go, didn’t want to be let go. Giving a sigh, she smiled and let herself commit this moment to memory instead.
Peter eventually rolled, resituating them so she could curl up on his chest comfortably, and they could rest. “Feel more relaxed?” he asked after a moment, running his fingers through her hair.
Yup. Affirmed. She could stay right here forever, with his hand in her hand and her head on his chest. It was perfect, as perfect as perfect could be. “...You’re right, that power of yours is cheating,” She said, looking back up at him with a soft, relaxed smile. “You’re better at this anyway.”
He laughed a little and nodded. “I am better at this,” he said with a smile. “But I’m glad you’re relaxed. That was the goal.” And he was trying not to think about what this meant or what it brought with it. It wasn’t like he could get away from her. Though at the moment he didn’t want to get away from her. He liked being right here with her.
Nora shifted a little and indulgently ran her fingers through his hair. “And I still get pasta after this...Starting to seem like a pretty perfect night,” She said, sounding much less on edge than she had before. This was far more open than she’d been with him but she liked it. A lot, actually. “We should do this again sometime.”
“You mean that?” Peter asked, surprise in his voice. “I thought you hated me.” It was a gentle bit of sarcasm, smiling at her attention.
“I would have done that with you if I hated you,” She said, watching him and reaching up to touch his throat gently at the surprise in his voice. “Though maybe next time you make me a steak or a roast or something, if you’re gonna take away my energy like that.”
He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “I didn’t think you would have done that with someone you hate, but it’s nice that you’re not just using me.” Peter grinned and nodded. “Something heartier for next time.” There’d be a next time. He should be more worried about that, but he liked this enough.