Ian Kingsley (kingofhiscastle) wrote in horror_story, @ 2013-02-22 23:11:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | complete, cycle002, ian, nona |
WHO: Ian and Nona
WHEN: December 30th [6:17pm]
WHERE: Ian's Apartment
WHAT: Actually talking (for once) about "them".
WARNING: None as of right now
Nona had no idea what time it was. All she knew was that it was dark and cold outside, obvious by the frosted state of the window above Ian’s bed. Under the covers it was unbelievably warm; perfect with the mild sore-stiffness that came with a long nap after a hard fuck.
A veil of blond swooped heavily across her face as she sniffed away the sleep and looked across Ian’s chest to the clock on the bedstand. Six-seventeen. They’d been asleep for an hour.
Usually this was the time she picked herself up, gathered the scattered clothes on his floor and headed out - he had to be up for his shift at the Key in a half hour and she had rounds at the hospital starting at eight. Easy-peasy. No big deal. But Nona didn’t get up - she rolled to her back, adjusting for the lump of his arm under her back and fingering the weight of the pretty necklace he’d sent for Christmas. Half-frowning to herself in the dark, thinking about how Dad had reacted to the ‘secret admirer’ gift.
He was getting weird lately. It was unnerving, and she really wasn’t in any mood to go back to it anytime soon.
He had actually gotten used to waking up in an empty bed with barely enough time to get himself into a shower and get dressed before he had to go to work, nothing left of Nona except for the sweet scents of her shampoo and body wash that lingered on his pillowcase and sheets. He had never expected her to wake him up to say goodbye, since every time he woke up while she was trying to sneak away, he found a way to keep her for just a little while longer, usually causing one or both of them to be late for whatever it was they were supposed to be doing.
He stirred a little when she adjusted herself on the bed, though he didn’t wake up right away. His hours were all fucked up lately, whether it be because he was working a double or because he had forgotten to turn his phone to silent and was woken up by someone calling him at the ass-crack of dawn for one reason or another. He relied on the cat-naps he was able to get between shifts, but it wasn’t until he realized that she wasn’t actually going anywhere that his lashes finally parted, still bleary eyed as he blinked in an attempt to regain some focus. He watched the blonde for a moment as she fiddled with the necklace she was wearing – the necklace he had gotten her for Christmas.
Then he caught sight of the expression she was wearing, and his brows furrowed together a bit, adjusting himself so that he could carefully pull his arm out from underneath her, propping himself up on his elbow, his other hand reaching out to push some of her hair from her face.
“I was expectin’ to wake up alone. Sure as fuck wouldn’t be the first time.”
With that he gave her a tired smirk, still just barely awake. Still, it was obvious that he was glad that she wasn’t gone. He just didn’t know how to tell her that without making it seem like he was too invested in whatever it was they had for the last couple of months.
He hadn’t been able to admit it to himself just yet.
Nona shot him an automatic, but quite benevolent smirk. A few months ago, when this whole thing started, she would’ve found his act of pining for her in an empty bed borderline hilarious - what with everything that went around about him. Any chick in town that got lucky enough to bed with Ian Kingsley would likely have to be kicked out of bed so he could get shit done. Now that they’d gotten to know each other beyond the rumors in town, she just dismissed it.
Up until the last couple weeks, that is.
“Don’t feel like leavin’ yet,” she said tiredly, dropping the silver sparrow to her collarbone and curling back up against his side. Her chin made a divet two inches below his shoulder.
“Maybe I should just stay here until I gotta go to the hospital.”
When she moved closer to him, he continued raking his fingers through her hair, looking over at her as she explained her reasons for still being there. He didn’t really need any more of an explanation than that, though there were definitely thoughts that came up about why she didn’t feel like leaving just yet. He figured that maybe she didn’t want to get out of bed to face the cold, that maybe she was just too comfortable where she was to want to move. It seemed like the most logical explanation, since she never had any trouble leaving his bed before, from what he could tell.
When she made mention of staying there until she had to go, Ian let out a hum of amusement, not really able to take her seriously. She always had to leave so she could go home and check in with her ‘Daddy’ so he didn’t have to worry about where his little girl was.
“It’s more likely you’d be stayin’ just until the search party that would be sent out lookin’ for you breaks down my damn door.”
He joked lightly about the fact that she wasn’t one of those people who could just be out and have no one care or notice, still slipping his fingers through her hair. He didn’t care if she stayed in his bed for the rest of the night, but again, telling her that would just make it seem like he cared either way. Every time Ian found himself having feelings for someone, he wound up fucking it up one way or another. He didn’t do relationships well, which was why their little arrangement worked so perfectly. She got to be a rebel by being with the ‘bad boy’ her Dad would never approve of, and in return he got to have something with no strings attached – something he couldn’t fuck up, since it wasn’t anything to begin with.
Nona didn’t say anything for a little while. Though a half-smile crossed her lips at Ian’s attempt at low-grade humor, her heart wasn’t in it, and that much was clear in her eyes. Not because of what he’d said - not at all. It just felt like the spiced mirth that came with joking about the ever-looming consequences to this affair had been sapped out of her over the last week or so.
And with that line of thinking, before long, that necklace was on her mind again.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything for Christmas,” she finally said, all seriousness and mostly breath. Her eyes slid up to Ian’s face, her own imploring forgiveness for something she didn’t understand the guilt for. She’d wanted to get him something, and that realization didn’t really hit her until these last few days. Gift exchanges were for couples.
Were they a couple?
Though his eyes were still half-lidded and barely focused, he could tell something was off about the way she had reacted to his words. This would normally be the point where she would look up at him with one of those mischievous little grins of hers, and remind him how much he loved that there was a risk of there actually being a search party involved at some point. There had always been that thrill of getting away with what they were doing, something that had driven both of them for so long, but now the sneaking around just seemed…inconvenient. He definitely enjoyed having something that was his without having to worry about what other people would say though – because people would talk. People always talked in that fucking town. There’d probably be some rumor started about how he had seduced her before she had even turned 18 or some shit, earning him the title of ‘cradle robber’.
In Crow’s Landing, once you earned yourself a reputation, there was little to no chance of redeeming yourself.
When she finally spoke, his brows furrowed together again, his hand no longer moving through her hair as she apologized to him. It had never officially been put into words that he was the one who had gotten her the necklace she had been wearing pretty much every time he saw her around town. It was something he hadn’t wanted to make a big deal about, since he had spent so much time debating whether or not he should get it for her…because getting her a gift was something that a boyfriend would have done.
She wasn’t the only one who was confused about where it was they stood in terms of titles, but he wasn’t necessarily ready to go into that with her. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be ready to have that talk, so instead he used his hand to tilt her chin upwards so her head was tilted back, allowing him to bring his face closer to hers.
“Pretty sure you did…” He said, his lips twitching into another smirk as he recalled the ‘early Christmas gift’ she had presented to him, leaning in to press a kiss to her lips. She had been his gift, and it was all he really wanted.
A half-chuckle disappeared somewhere between their lips, Nona’s twisted somewhere between a kiss and a smile. Something about the way he said it - maybe it was the low-gravel quality of his voice when tired, or satisfied; maybe it was the warmth that surrounded them - whatever it was, it reached down deep and did funny things to her insides. Things that couldn’t help but leave her grinning - sometimes stupidly enough to garner attention.
“Maybe,” she purred in close, letting her hand on his chest drift aimlessly under the covers. “But you still didn’t have to do the necklace. I love it - don’t get me wrong. You should’ve seen Dad’s face, though...” But the giggle in her voice said how unconcerned she was with her father’s surprise. The interrogation was light, probably to be continued before too long. But as things were right then, she was fine with it.
Maybe fine enough for more than just Hunter to know.
There was no way for her to know what sort of internal conflict he had been facing while he had been in the antique store, trying to decide whether or not he should buy her the jewelry she had been wearing since it had arrived on her doorstep, anonymously. Or at the very least, she had been wearing it every time they had been together since Christmas. Still, he knew that him getting her a gift would push the boundaries of their arrangement, and yet he got it for her anyway. It could have gone completely different – she could have laughed in his face for doing something that could have been considered sappy, seeing how they weren’t even dating, but instead she was laying there telling him how guilty that he had gotten her a material possession.
“I wouldn’t have done it just because I thought I had to.”
He explained, hoping that maybe it would make her feel better if he hadn’t gotten her something because he felt obligated. He turned his head, trying to get a better look at her as he continued on.
“You think the look on his face would’ve been any better if I had handed it to you in person on Christmas, seein’ how I had an open invitation to join you guys for coffee and pie?”
He awaited her reaction to the bit of information he had kept from her until then, trying to bite back that devilish grin that was pushing its way to the surface.
Nona couldn’t stop the snort in the back of her nose.
“God, I can only imagine.”
And now she was imagining, actually trying to filter her father’s facial expressions in her head. He had obviously tried to keep a pleasant tone and optimistic look in his eyes as he questioned her about prospective secret admirers, but there was an edge to his tone that was hard to pinpoint, and it got sharper the longer she insisted she didn’t know. Almost alarmingly so.
“You know, I don’t think we’ve talked about it before,” she continued, laying her cheek on his shoulder, running her fingers down the distinct edge of hip bone and muscle beneath the blanket. “I’m leavin’ in the fall...”
He couldn’t tell if she understood that he had actually been invited over for pie, or if she thought he was just being a smartass like he usually was. Either way, he let out a snort of his own at her rhetorical question, lifting his free hand in order to slide it down his face, rubbing at his eyes.
“I sure as fuck can’t.”
Imagine, that is. His other arm was still wrapped around her, having slipped beneath her again when she had rolled over to curl up against his side when he noticed she was awake. His finger tips drew idle shapes against her skin as her own hand continued to drift across his chest, rising and falling with each steady breath he was taking. All the tension that had been in his back just a few hours ago was now gone, as it always was every time she managed to sneak away to come see him, or when he was able to get to wherever she was, which was less often. He was completely relaxed, though part of him tensed when she spoke again. He didn’t know where she was going with this – there was so much they hadn’t talked about, seeing how they didn’t ever really…talk.
I’m leavin’ in the fall…
He knew this to be the truth. He thought about it more than he wanted to, but he wouldn’t let her know that. He wasn’t even ready to admit it to himself just yet that she was pretty much all he ever thought about, as much as he tried for that not to be the case.
“…what’s there to say?”
The words came after a few beats of hesitation, unsure of where she was going with this. He had always known she would be leaving, but to talk about it? He had always just thought she’d go, he’d stay, and that would be that. But then again he also never thought he’d be wanting her to stay so badly.