RP: Robert has coffee. Who: Emilia & Robert What: Robert said he had coffee, Emilia’s meeting him for said coffee When: Wednesday 4/25/200 (backdated) Where: by the lakefront picnic tables & fire-pits Warnings: N/A Completion Status: Complete
Ever since leaving Elysium’s Shore Nightclub for a walk together that night back in March, going for a walk had become a semi-regular occurrence. Semi because Emilia’s didn’t have regular hours, and regular because even if it wasn’t often, it wasn’t an odd occurrence for either she or Robert to shoot off a text about going for a walk, and would you like to join?
Today had been like that; a simple text with Robert letting her know that he was picking up coffee and that if so, he would bring it to the lakefront by the picnic tables. Emilia had taken a look at the notes that were spread out on her desk. The preparation for the ABOG certification was about as done as it could get. She knew what she needed to know, and was ready to get the whole process over and done with, so a cup of coffee and a walk would be a welcomed treat to take her mind off of work for a bit, and the weather was rather nice today.
Pulling a thin jacket over her shoulders, she set off to the lakefront, spotting Robert showing up from the opposite direction.
With a smile, she raised her hand in greeting, though she didn’t speak until he was close enough to hear her. “Your timing’s pretty good, you know?” Robert lifted her coffee - he'd learned over the weeks how she took it - in greeting and asked with confusion, "It is?" Maybe she'd just gotten off a shift? Robert just... didn't really have a schedule. Or anything to do. Unless it was his father's appointments, though no one knew about that besides Iris, Lysette, and Heather - weirdly his closest friends. He hadn't told Emilia of his dad's medical issues. Lately, though, dad's girlfriend had been doing more and more of that. Robert wasn't sure how he felt about that, but... Someway, at least. His walks with Emilia helped. He enjoyed spending time with her. Wanted to spend more, if he was honest with himself. And sometimes he felt like maybe she felt the same.
As usual, Robert was in his only non-flannel uniform of a tee-shirt and jeans. He ran hot, even if he wasn't a were or anything. In fact, Heather had made fun of him for that since they'd been kids. He stood from the picnic table as she made her way to him and handed over the coffee he'd presented. "Do tell," he asked. “It is.” Her lips drew up into the smile that just naturally seemed to find its way onto her face whenever around Robert. No, their talks weren’t always positive, but she felt a calm settle in her, even if part of her tended to be highly aware of his presence. It felt odd, but it felt right, too.
She thanked him as she took the cup, looking up to meet his eyes and hold the gaze for a moment, before she continued. “Preparing for the ABOG certifying exam,” she stopped herself, already finding herself too caught up in the abbreviations known to herself, though not many others. “I’m taking the certifying exam before I get my state licence, and I’d just reached the point where I knew all the test answers, and if I was to study any more, I’d start forgetting the first things I learned.” Looking up at him, she sent him a warm smile as they set into a walk at a comfortable speed.
“What I’m saying is; I needed a break.” She took a sip of her coffee and looked over the lake. “What’ve you been up to?” Robert nodded along - her drive and compassion wowed him, even as she discussed just... studying. "I don't know how you do it - I may write for a living, but reading science textbooks would drive me to drink... More than I already do." He chuckled at himself and took a sip of his coffee. "Not much on my end, though, working on a new piece, trying to sell the last." The usual for him, his life didn't change much, didn't make much in the way of waves. He preferred it that way, at this point.
He felt a peace around Emilia that he'd attributed to the way he was living his life these days - but there was a warmth that was growing with every casual meet-up that he couldn't ignore. He didn't feel such a warmth around Heather or even Iris. Heather knew him best, and Iris was his most physically intimate relationship ever, that was for sure, but this sort of... comfort and desire wasn't there. Was that weird? He thought it might be, but he was pretty sure he was weird, anyway.
He thought about all that for a moment and was quieter than usual, even for himself. “Four more years, then I’m done,” Emilia summed up, though even she knew that she most likely wouldn’t stop reading up on what was going on in the fields she was interested in. “Well, technically, at least.”
She fell into step with him, at first simply enjoying the quiet calm that had settled between them, enjoying how she could almost feel the heat from his broad arms against her own, despite them not touching. Robert wasn’t the most talkative guy, she had known that from the start, but now, he seemed to have drifted off into his own thoughts, like he was mulling something over.
Slipping her arm through his, she gave him a gentle nudge. “You okay there, Rob?” she asked him, tilting her head so she could get a glimpse of his face, to see if that could give her an idea of what had him going quiet like this. He shook his head as if to physically shake the thoughts off, and gave her a small, rueful smile. "I am, sorry about that," it wasn't a blackout, he knew that, but he didn't know what to do with the feelings. Maybe he should ask the girls? They'd know better, right? But that didn't feel right, either.
"I've been thinking..." He tried to start. How did one ask someone out? That's what he wanted to do, right? He knew he wanted to impress her - which Robert never gave a shit about, but Emilia... He wanted to impress her. Make her feel that same warmth he did. He wanted to know if she wanted him the way he had grown to want her. He hadn't even slept with Iris since that one night at the dance club, almost two months ago, because the thought just... didn't appeal to him as much. Fuck, he sucked at this. "What I mean is." He stopped walking but not so abruptly that her arm left his, he liked the feel of it. Stopping when he did, Emilia looked up at him. This was new. No, he wasn’t one to strike up conversations with anybody - even if that was what he had done with her - and he had a rather direct way of saying things without using too many words. But he tended to be eloquent, and now? Now he was talking in half sentences, and Emilia’s stomach did an odd little flip when she thought she recognized the look in his eyes.
“What you mean is…” she started, thinking back to other times she had been in this situation, and considering how to stop beating around the bush. “...you’ve been thinking about asking me if I wanted to… hmm? Do something else than go for a walk? Maybe… dinner sometime? Or something else?” Robert looked into her eyes as she looked up and finished for him, he smiled lightly. "Does this mean you wouldn't mind the idea?" If she was asking, sort of, that counted, right? "I would very much like to take you out," he finally got out, his deep voice vibrating in his chest as he stood even closer to her and took her free hand in his. “I wouldn’t mind the idea,” Emilia smiled at him, her eyes meeting his and their fingers lacing together. How much time hadn’t they spent together, each and every time she had noticed how dark his eyes were, and that even if there was a haunted sense to them, there was also a kindness. And how many times hadn’t she thrilled in just listening to him talk, his voice like a soothing balm, even if he was talking about changing the world through anarchy and socialism, using harsh words and sometimes mentioning harsher methods. Talking about ideals that at first seemed to clash with Emilia’s own, yet when he was given time and space to share them, weren’t all that different from what she believed in. They just went about things differently. The point was, she had noticed all that before, and yet now was the first time that those dark eyes and that deep voice made her draw in a deeper breath, just because she felt like her stomach had made a pleasurable turn.
“I would very much like to go out with you,” she let him know. “Did you have anything specific in mind?” Robert chuckled at himself, "Not a clue. I don't know how obvious it is, but this isn't exactly my area of expertise. But I'll come up with something. Something... right." He sighed, just being this close to him helped to sooth that warmth in him, that need for the calm that she brought over him. He felt what might be... butterflies? As stupid as that sounded. It didn't feel like they were his own, like he was experiencing them from outside of his own body. It was an odd sensation, one of watching himself from a distance, that he hadn't felt since war, but this time it was pleasant, so incredibly pleasant.
He still stood close to her, holding her hand lightly and on instinct he slipped his arm free of her and used his nimble, long fingers to lightly brush her cheek. He wanted to kiss her, felt it so deeply in his core that it almost hurt. He sighed again, and then leaned down - damn his height - and kissed her lightly where he'd just brushed her skin. All Emilia could do was look and feel. Look at his eyes as they took her in and feel the heat of his body as he came closer to her. She wanted to tell him not to worry about finding a place to take her, that any place he wanted to show her, wanted to share with her, would be perfect, because it was a place he liked to be. But his fingers were brushing against her cheek, and then his lips and her eyes fluttered closed at the light kiss. His lips were so warm, but the heat from his coffee cup, too close to her ear was an unwelcome distraction, that had her put down her own cup and then reach up to put his down as well.
Rather than pull away, though, she ran her hand up his arm to put his hand back on her cheek. Glancing up at him again, she turned her head and pressed a soft kiss to the palm of his hand. “You can kiss me,” she told him softly. “Please?” Oh, fuck, the way she said please all perfectly. He drew in a somewhat ragged breath trying to control himself because damn he didn't know what did things to him but now he knew. Bone-deep. He licked his lips and then gave her a soft, exploratory kiss. He'd dreamt of this moment - and more if he was honest, he was only a man, after all - but damn if the feel of her lips and the ringing of that word in his ears didn't eclipse everything he'd imagined.
He deepened the kiss, his arms coming around her to pull her closer to him still. He sucked lightly at her lower lip, still learning her, taking in every reaction from her body against his, too. Soft, his kiss was so soft. Such a sweet and tender contrast to the sheer size of him and the firmness of his muscular build. But it was warm, it was genuine, and it wasn’t anything like Emilia had ever imagined it would be like. Had she ever imagined kissing him? Sure! She had even been tempted to do so on a couple of occasions, but it hadn’t seemed right. Not at the time. This time, though, it felt right, it felt warmer than she had imagined, softer, and the small voice that had poked at her about him smoking was now blissfully quiet, because everything about it just blended into it being Robert, and Robert was kissing her.
As his arms came around her, she rose up on her toes to meet him, parting her lips in invitation her own arms came around his waist. She could feel her breath hitch in her throat, and when the need for air presented itself, she didn’t pull back. Instead, she smiled into the kiss, letting her hand come up to touch his cheek. “One more?” she whispered against his lips, her nose brushing against his, and her fingers caressing his cheek, right along the edge of his beard. His head moved with her caress, a particularly sensitive spot making him want to purr. Instead, he smiled along with her, a bigger smile than anyone might usually see on him - it lit him up. He nodded in answer to her question and his hands made their way into her hair, delighting in the feel of the silky perfect strands, and he moved her to that perfect angle to kiss her again, deeply this time, pouring his confusion and delight into the kiss. Emilia couldn’t see his smile, but she could sense it against her lips, and see it in the crinkling of his eyes. She liked his smile, she liked the feel of his smile, and as he kissed her again, she found that she very much liked the taste of his smile, too. The feeling of his fingers in her hair drew a small moan from her, and though she felt like she could have easily continued kissing him, she was also aware that they were out in public. When she moaned, Robert softened the kiss and then broke from her lips, though he could have easily drowned in them all evening if she allowed him. He couldn't help but sneak a quick peck on her lips before fully pulling back, though, and he... was grinning? What was that? He let go of her to pick up their coffees again and could almost feel himself blushing - what the hell was that? But he also didn't entirely mind. "Is it too much for me to want us to continue our walk even though I'm going to call you and ask you out the moment we get home after spending time together?"
He handed her back her coffee and took a sip of his before giving her a sarcastic little smile that said when I'm more comfortable, turns out I can pull out some charming lines, after all. It all felt so natural, so easy, that she didn’t even have to think about pursing her lips to meet the quick peck of his lips. The same went for the smile on her face, though she could feel her heart lighten even more when she saw the grin on Robert’s face and the tint of a blush on his cheeks. Big, tough, sometimes socially awkward and burly Robert actually looked adorable with that blush, and Emilia knew that she would never tire of seeing that smile on his face.
She shook her head at his question; no, it wasn’t too much to ask, right now she just couldn’t stop smiling, and as she wet her lips, she felt like she could still feel his kiss. And now she knew for certain, that despite all his claims of not knowing when to say the right things, he was full of it, because that right there? That had been a charming comment if she had. “You’d better call me when you get home,” she smiled up at him as she took the coffee from him. She took a sip and let her fingers once again thread through his - she wasn’t quite ready to stop touching him just yet, but she was ready to walk again.
“You know it doesn’t have to be anything big or fancy, right?” she asked him as they set off at a leisurely pace. “Just… someplace you like or would like to show me.”