astor; AISLING (aastor) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-03-20 23:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, character: xavier ansari, location: hogsmeade, retired character: aisling astor |
who ? xavier ansari and aisling astor
when ? sunday evening
where ? panquake house
what ? music?
warning ? mentions sex but has no sex so totes ok?
status ? complete
It would be rather hard to describe Aisling as a nervous person. Sure, before big auditions or concerts she had felt nervous but that was about it. There were never any sense of nervousness in Aisling when it came to people and interacting with them, but maybe getting nervous over music made more sense since Aisling cared for music a lot more than she cared for people. She hadn’t really ever even thought about writing music before joining Quake. That was another one of those things that Aisling had began considering as something she could do only after changing careers.
Which, perhaps, accounted for why she felt so nervous about sharing her own writing. Aisling practiced obsessively, that was just a thing she did. Always had done. But Aisling was now old enough to recognise that practicing for seven hours a day wasn’t healthy. Especially not when the thing she was practicing was a piece of music she had written. It hadn’t been easy to convince herself to step away from it, to ask someone else for their thoughts on it. Not because Aisling didn’t do well with criticism but because she just didn’t think her music was very good. But then the annoyance at being self-conscious won over and Aisling had written to her bandmates.
It was a relief to have Xavier reply so quickly because Aisling knew that if he hadn’t she would have carried on practicing despite the fact that her fingers were starting to feel sore. Instead, she had thrown on some shorts, since it would be inappropriate to walk around the house in just her underwear, and gone down to meet Xavier in the living room, her violin in hand. Playing in the living room meant that if any of the other Quake members wanted to join them, they could.
“Hey,” she greeted Xavier upon entering the living room, offering him a small smile. “Thanks,” Aisling said before biting her lip slightly. “I’m really not sure if it’s worth your time,” she admitted, almost automatically feel a frustration with herself for not just getting on with it, not just faking a confidence even if there wasn’t one.
--
Xavier had brought one of his guitars down with him, in case she wanted to work on anything, see how it fit with a counterpoint, anything. He was always glad to lend an ear to whoever was working on something, knowing they would do the same for him if he asked. That was what Quake did, after all. They were good at working together, taking what someone did and working on it to make it the best possible version. Having multiple sets of ears involved was rarely not helpful.
He looked up when she came into the room, giving her a smile and sitting with his legs criss-cross on the couch. His brow furrowed at what she said, and he shook his head. “Hey, of course it is. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?” He ran his hand back through his hair, shrugging a shoulder. “And like I said, if it needs work, we’ll work on it.”
-
“Okay, yeah,” Aisling nodded because apart from attempting to argue how perhaps this was a bad idea and they shouldn’t bother, she didn’t have much else to say and quite frankly, Aisling wasn’t going to say that. As much as she might think the piece wasn’t finished and as much as she might feel nervous at playing something she had written, Aisling knew that it wasn’t like this would be the worst thing Xavier had ever heard. She wasn’t fishing for compliments, which meant that she really needed to get on with it, because Aisling didn’t need someone to encourage her. Or rather, she didn’t want to need that.
Picking her violin up, Aisling shook her head slightly, taking a deep breath in. The music came naturally to her, resounding in the room. It wasn’t exactly the best place for acoustics but it did actually sound better than it had when Aisling had played it in her room. She closed her eyes as she played, letting the bow lead her through the by-now well practiced notes. It still sounded too sharp to her in places, too unpolished elsewhere, but at least it was no longer hidden just in her head and in her room.
Once the song finished, Aisling let out a breath before opening her eyes, focusing on Xavier. “I might rewrite the end,” she told him, opting not to mention just how many times she had rewritten it already. He probably didn’t need to know how her fingers felt sore from playing and there was a small muscle spasm slowly settling into her shoulder.
--
There wasn’t much for Xavier to do than sit and listen. He could tell from the way she’d been so dismissive of it, and watching her before she started playing, that she seemed nervous about it, or at the very least unsure. Listening he could do, and he did his best to listen without thinking too much at the same time. When it came to writing music with his bandmates, his focus was usually split - half on what they were doing and half on what might work well along with it. Aisling hadn’t asked for that, though.
Xavier watched her as she played, and then let the last notes linger in the room without saying anything to cut them off. He offered her a smile when she looked at him, tilting his head in consideration of the ending. “I liked it,” he said, bringing his hand up to rub his jaw for a moment before dropping down to his lap. “Not just the end, all of it. The chorus part sounds powerful, lots of contrast from the other stuff. I think it could work well for something.”
-
The way it felt like a knot untying in her stomach at Xavier’s words really quite annoyed Aisling. She shouldn’t need someone else to confirm that her music worked, shouldn’t need to seek approval before believing it. Yet she had and it did feel nice to hear him say that he liked it. “Yeah?” She said asked with a soft smile, thankful that the words had been complimentary, even though Aisling would have accepted criticism just as easily. She knew no one in the band would ever outright say that whatever she had written was awful, especially since logically Aisling knew that she wouldn’t write awful music, but it still was rewarding to have acknowledgment from someone whose opinion she valued highly.
Letting her hands drop to her sides rather than hold the violin so rigidly, Aisling joined Xavier on the sofa. “Did you want to try to play along with it?” She asked glancing at his guitar. “I can slow down so you can pick up the notes,” she added. “Or I do have the sheet music,” Aisling offered because of course she had the sheet music. When Aisling wrote music she really wrote music.
--
“Yeah,” Xavier replied with a nod, grinning a little. Of course he would have been supportive even if he hadn’t liked it that much, but he had. He couldn’t think of a time anyone in the band had come up with something that had been complete garbage, and if someone did he doubted it would be Aisling. He shifted a little when she sat down, letting one of his legs dangle to the floor while the other stayed with his ankle hooked behind the opposite knee.
“Sheet music works.” He pulled his guitar from where it was sitting beside him and settled it on his leg, quickly making sure it was in tune with her violin. There was no need for her to slow it down as long as he had something in front of him telling him where the note were headed.
-
Aisling grinned when Xavier picked sheet music from the options she had offered. Quake was a fantastic band and everyone in it loved music but there weren’t actually that many of them who could read sheet music. Aisling, obviously, had plenty of education in music to both read and write it well, she always tried her best to educate the rest of them, too. Both about writing music and playing it but Aisling never wanted to come across as undermining their abilities, so she tried to be very careful with how she went about it. Pulling a sheet out of her pocket, Aisling unfolded it to hand it over to Xavier. The notes weren’t terribly complex so she was sure he wouldn’t find it a challenge to follow.
Giving him a small nod, Aisling picked up the violin, starting to play the song again, pausing only ever so slightly before the chorus to allow Xavier to join in. She smiled lightly as the guitar joined her violin, it definitely was an improvement, allowed some of the notes to be highlighted more so than she could manage with just the violin. It was becoming easier to imagine what it might sound like with the rest of the band contributing, too. Aisling was pleased she had asked for a second opinion.
When the song finished again, Aisling lowered the violin, stretching her fingers, before reaching up to give her shoulder a small rub. She really had practiced for too long. “I think it makes a great difference when you join in,” she told Xavier honestly. “You cover some of the notes that the violin is too high for,” Aisling added. “I should see what Andrew can do with the drums,” she concluded thoughtfully. Strings worked well together, but it made her wonder whether the drums would, too. And then perhaps she could have someone start on words, since Aisling’s lyric writing was non-existent.
--
Xavier gratefully took the sheet music and rest it on his leg so he could easily see it to play along. It would have been easier to have the tabs written out, but for what they were doing he could manage going off the notes alone. He liked how the melody sounded with the guitar joined in alongside her violin, and maybe that was him being biased but he thought there was more depth and interest when it wasn’t simply one line of notes holding down the entire song. The second time through the chorus he tried a few things different, messing around with options to add behind the violin as she played.
Glancing over at her once they were done, he watched her rub at her shoulder before his gaze flickered back to her face when she spoke. “And that’s why we have a whole band,” he said teasingly, nudging her knee with his. “I’m sure Andrew would come up with something good. See? This works great, just have to start from one spot and get the rest put together along the way to the next.” He paused, absently strumming chords for a moment. “How long have you been working on that today?”
-
“Ha ha,” Aisling replied, sticking her tongue out at Xavier when he told her this was why they had a whole band. She knew that once the others got hold of the melody, they could work with it, expand it to become things Aisling hadn’t even imagined. That wasn’t a problem. There now wasn’t actually a problem at all, because Aisling had made herself play it to someone else, get it out of her system and stop feeling like the music wasn’t worth the other’s time. She did feel better about the whole affair and only marginally told herself off for not asking for an opinion earlier.
Which brought her to Xavier’s question. “Oh, um,” Aisling paused biting her lip softly. Her bandmates knew she practiced a lot, it was hardly a secret since Aisling often didn’t bother with silencing spells. But perhaps it was only really Axel who had any idea how much Aisling could practice and even then it would have been based on sharing a space in Hogwarts for seven years. Aisling’s practicing had become much more obsessive after she had left school and tried out for the Orchestra. “A few hours?” She offered as a response before standing up.
“Do you want tea?” Aisling asked heading towards the kitchen so she could put on the kettle instead of telling Xavier how many hours were considered ‘a few’.
--
‘A few hours’ didn’t seem like it was wholly the truth, but Xavier didn’t have much time to question it since Aisling was walking away to go to the kitchen instead. He set his guitar down and got up from the couch, stretching out his legs a moment before trailing after her and leaning against the counter. He wasn’t one to ever say no to tea, but he also wasn’t sure her offering it wasn’t entirely an attempt to distract him from the question he’d asked.
“I really do like it,” he said, slipping his hands in his pockets. “Even without any lyrics or anything, that’s a nice melody.”
-
Aisling pottered around, getting all the bits and pieces needed to make tea. She was waiting for the kettle to boil when Xavier assured her that he did like the piece. Glancing over her shoulder at him, Aisling smiled. “Thank you,” she said softly before giving a small sigh, turning around to lean against the counter next to the kettle. “I don’t know why I assume it’s bad,” Aisling admitted with a small frown. “Now that I’ve played it to you, I feel better about it,” she added before turning back to the tea, pouring the water in the mugs.
Picking both of the mugs up, Aisling walked over to Xavier, holding one of them out for him to take. “Sometimes I have to remind myself that I need to play music to other people,” Aisling told him with a small tilt of her head. It was true, the way she had to push herself to stop practicing, to show someone else what she had done. “It’s easy to get stuck in my own head,” she concluded. It really was and Aisling was rather glad it only happened to her when it came to music. Still, her fingers ached and her muscles were sore, so perhaps it wasn’t good enough.
--
All of what she was saying made sense to Xavier. He had a tendency to get stuck in his own head, and not just where music was concerned. But when it came to music, there was something both scary and reassuring about playing it for someone else - though the reassuring bit depended on how they reacted. Music was so personal, but it was also something they all shared and understood on a deeper level, so that was why he really did enjoy having his bandmates around like they were.
"I'm glad you feel better," he replied, murmuring a thank you when she held out a mug for him. He watched her for a moment before nodding. "I get that. I get stuck in my head sometimes, too." Pausing, he raised an eyebrow. "So what say we take this tea back out there where we can sit and you let me give you a shoulder rub?"
-
Aisling gave Xavier a surprised look at his offer. She really did want a shoulder rub, rather desperately, actually, but Aisling wouldn’t have thought to ask. “If you don’t mind,” she told him honestly, leading them back into the livingroom. Putting her mug down on the coffee table, Aisling sat back down on the sofa, giving Xavier another look. “The right one hurts more than the left one,” Aisling informed him giving a small shrug with her left shoulder since the right one really did feel sore.
“I might have practiced for slightly more than a few hours,” she admitted, sucking her lower lip between her teeth as she glanced at the mug of tea instead, reaching out to take a sip from it before looking back at Xavier. “I sometimes lose track of time,” Aisling added because it was true. Not that it meant she wasn’t aware after how much time she spent practicing.
--
Xavier followed her back to the living room, taking a sip of his tea before setting the mug down on the table. He settled on the sofa, giving a little nod when she mentioned the right one hurting more. "Yeah, I kind of figured," he replied, when she said she'd practiced more than just a few hours. "Can you sit facing that way?"
He would have asked her to sit on the floor to make it easier, but the sofa was more comfortable, and as long as she turned so he could be sitting behind her, it really didn't matter. "It's easy to lose track of time when you're focused on something."
-
Aisling moved how he told her to, rolling her head to one side, stretching the muscles in her neck. She waited for his hands on her shoulders, relaxing into the touch almost instantly. “It is easy, you’re right,” she agreed, stopping herself from nodding since it probably wouldn’t be very productive whilst having her muscles massaged. “Sometimes I concentrate on the notes so much it feels like they have a life of their own,” Aisling commented almost dreamily. There was a lot to be said about the way she experience music.
Of course, as much as to her notes tended to acquire life, Aisling’s insistence on bending and moving that life was what made her hands and shoulders sore. “Have you been sleeping better lately?” Aisling asked, genuinely interested in the answer, the question nothing if not heartfelt.
--
Xavier shifted to sit behind her, his hands automatically moving to her shoulders and starting to work, thumbs pressing in against knotted muscle. He knew how easy it was for him to get sore from practicing, and he didn't have to hold himself in anywhere near as awkward a way as Aisling did when she played. So he let his hands move over her shoulders and neck, slowly working against the tightness they found as they went.
"A bit," he replied quietly, carefully brushing her hair out of the way so he wouldn't accidentally catch it under his fingers. "Comes and goes. A lot more nights of sleep now than before, but some nights... I guess I'm just glad for what I'm getting."
-
There was a soft hum that escaped Aisling but whether it was in response to Xavier’s hands or his words wasn’t all that clear even to Aisling. She certainly appreciated the way her muscles eased under his touch, smiling to herself as the tightness receded. “I’m glad you’re getting at least some sleep,” Aisling told him, eyes closed as she leaned into the touch. “Have you tried the baths and the white noise?” She asked curiously. It wasn’t like they had established what caused Xavier sleeping problems, only temporary fixes.
“Or, I guess,” Aisling smirked slightly, opening her eyes to glance at Xavier over her shoulder. “You could always run a marathon,” she told him teasingly. It had, after all, been one of the suggestions for fixing his sleep pattern. Albeit, they had found a reasonable alternative to marathon running, too, she thought.
--
"Me too," Xavier replied quietly, because he really had been nearing the end of his rope with not being able to sleep. He was grateful for the night he had where he did, more so than ever. His thumbs pressed in against the back of her neck, on either side of her spine as they moved up into the hair at the nape of her neck before trailing down again.
"I'm not running a marathon," he said, huffing out a laugh and shaking his head. "Baths and white noise, I've given those a go. Maybe I should try running - not a marathon, but enough to get the job done."
-
The way Xavier’s thumbs pressed into her skin, against the muscles that sought the release, made Aisling give a small moan. “That’s nice,” she muttered, biting her lips slightly. It was nice. Aisling wasn’t actually sure when the last time someone had given her a massage was but the way her muscles felt tense, the way her body leaned into Xavier’s touch automatically, that indicated that it probably had been too long.
Aisling nodded when Xavier told her he had given white noise and baths a go. She wasn’t all too sure what else to suggest. Perhaps running would be helpful, suppose all he could really do was try. “You know, I’m happy to help,” Aisling offered before giving a small laugh. “In a platonic friend way,” she added before letting a grin settle on her lips. “And probably also not,” she concluded. The offer was for both, she’d be a liar if she said it wasn’t.
--
Xavier paid attention to her reactions as well as the tension he felt beneath his hands, working more on spots that clearly needed it. There were a lot of those so he took his time, heels of his palms pressing in against the bigger places of tension and his fingertips brushing over her skin as they moved from place to place.
"Oh, you'll go running with me?" Xavier asked innocently, the corners of his mouth quirking up in a little grin in response as his thumbs worked at a particularly tight spot of her shoulder. "What a nice platonic friend thing to do."
-
Aisling knew Xavier understood what she had meant, but nonetheless, she did still slightly, bringing her hand up to put over his as it massaged her shoulder. She glanced over, offering him a smile. “You know I would, right?” She asked gently. “If you wanted me to go running with you, I would,” Aisling assured him, giving Xavier’s hand a little squeeze. She didn’t exactly want to go running but it was hardly as if she was incapable of it. Albeit, Aisling might have first suggested trying Andrew, since he actually did run every day, but if Xavier had asked her, she wouldn’t have said no.
Turning around even more, so Aisling could see Xavier better, she gave him another smile. “Whatever you need,” she said with a determined nod before leaning closer and pressing a kiss against his cheek. “In a nice platonic friend way,” Aisling added now with a bit of a laugh in her voice. She was a pretty good friend, Aisling thought so herself, platonic or otherwise.
--
Xavier had been joking, but it was still nice to hear that Aisling would go running with him if he really did want her to. He smiled at the squeeze to his hand, letting the press of his thumbs pause as she turned a little more to look at him, and he closed his eyes briefly when she pressed the kiss to his cheek. It wasn't as though he was opposed to her helping him sleep, as it were, but he didn't want her to feel like he was using her as a means to an end.
Still, he let his hands move down from her shoulders and instead circle around her, one around her waist and the other in front of her shoulders, pulling her in against him in an enveloping hug. He pressed a kiss to her cheek before letting go, resting his forehead against her temple a moment. "Thanks."
-
Letting Xavier hug her was easy, Aisling’s body adapting almost instantly as she leaned in. Briefly, very briefly, Aisling considered how bad would it really be if she just attempted to make out with him on the living room sofa. From one to ten, Aisling settled on about a seven, which was probably higher than was appropriate, so she didn’t. So instead she assured him that he was always welcome and pulled back a bit. Literally not even enough to make his hand move from where it was on her waist, but plenty enough to reach for her tea.
After taking a sip, Aisling sighed happily into the mug, letting its warmth seep into her skin. “So running,” she said after a while, moving enough to lean against the sofa but probably staying closer to Xavier than was necessarily required. “I must admit, it’s not my favourite way to be a good platonic friend, though,” Aisling added somewhat teasingly. “I’d rather run you a bath,” she told him and it wasn’t even a lie. Running was not the first of Aisling’s choices. It wasn’t even in the top five, probably.
--
Once Aisling was settled slightly away from him, Xavier leaned over to get his own tea, cupping the mug in both his hands as he took a sip. A little grin quirked at the corners of his mouth at what she said, and he looked down into his tea for a long moment before looking up at her again.
"If I didn't know any better," he started slowly, tilting his head, "I'd say you're trying to get me naked. Again." He quirked an eyebrow and took a long drink of his tea, hiding his grin behind the mug.
-
How that was even a ‘if’, Aisling wasn’t too sure, so she gave a snort at his words that in no way aimed to be attractive or enticing. “I’m always trying to get you naked,” Aisling informed him truthfully. It really had, at no point, been a secret. Aisling rather openly told anyone who cared to listen how she found Xavier attractive and was rather keen on watching him do most things. It couldn’t be helped, she had decided years ago, he was too attractive. Besides, what would be the point in pretending that he wasn’t? Her words were yet to appear like they made him uncomfortable, so Aisling never tried to mask them.
Aisling did let one of her hands run over Xavier’s arm, whilst the other clutched onto the mug. “I’m just sometimes more successful than other times,” she informed him before taking a sip, mostly so she could grin into her own mug. It was true, after all, sometimes Aisling really was more successful at getting Xavier naked. It hardly inspired her to try less.
--
Xavier laughed, biting his lip as his grin grew a little and he let his mug rest in his lap, looking down at it. His gaze flickered over to her hand on his arm when it moved over it, his grin turning into a little more of a smile at her touch. He couldn't deny that was true, certainly so the other night when he'd had particular need for sleep and she graciously let him stay with her, and more.
"You are," he replied, looking over at her. "Though I'm glad I've stopped getting ambushed in the shower. You waited until I got out, at least. Quite appreciated, at the time."
-
Aisling scrunched her nose up a little when Xavier said that at least she had waited for him to get out of the shower. “I can’t believe Ken got in the shower with you,” she said rather honestly, giving a small shake with her head. “And to think I thought I was bad,” Aisling added managing to sound at least marginally scandalised before she burst into a giggle. It was hardly as if she had planned to molest Xavier during the Kissing Olympics but she had definitely stopped herself from crawling in the shower with him. Damn Ken. Mostly because now Aisling kind of wanted to crawl in the shower with Xavier. Also, maybe watch Ken do so.
“Would I be able to get in a shower with you if I asked real nice first?” Aisling asked instead, almost casually, like they were talking about what was good from the local takeaway or something. She even took a sip of her tea, waiting rather patiently for the answer.
--
Honestly, Xavier couldn't believe that had happened, either. To him it had been logical, because his arm had been tired and they hadn't been done kissing - of course Ken got in the shower with him. That story wouldn't hold water anywhere, but in his head it worked, which was the important part he supposed. He snorted when she said she thought she was bad, because while Ken had gotten in the shower with him, it wasn't like anything had escalated... as opposed to when Aisling ambushed him.
"If you ask really nice..." he repeated as though he was taking a moment to consider it, fingers tapping against his mug absently. "I think maybe, or - maybe after you go on a run with me." He grinned and brought up his tea to take a sip.
-
“Ugh,” Aisling roller her eyes with a dramatic sigh. “Making me work for it, Ansari, not cool, not cool,” she informed him with a shake of her head. Aisling wasn’t even too sure whether at this point running was referring to actual running or sex or perhaps both, but she still felt like just having a shower would be easier. It probably also hardly excluded the sex. Which, you know, she wouldn’t object to if it happened. Because that would be ridiculous of her to do.
Watching Xavier for a moment, Aisling licked her lips absentmindedly, before wetting them with the tea still left in her mug. “Is running a must in this scenario?” She asked finally. “Or can I replace it with other helpful activities? Like knitting.” Or sex.
--
Xavier wasn't often called by his last name alone, so it made him laugh when she did it. He'd mostly been joking anyway, because Aisling was fun to tease. Conversations between them often verged between teasing and real and the line between the two was not always easy to see. So far it hadn't caused any problems, and he didn't anticipate it doing so in the future.
"I don't know how to knit," he replied simply, draining what was left of his tea and sliding the mug onto the coffee table. "And I don't think I need anything knitted for me. I think we might be able to work something out, though."
-
“I don’t know how to knit either,” Aisling admitted. Well, it was mostly true, she knew the principle of knitting, had seen her nanny do it when she was little, but there was no way Aisling possessed enough skill to knit something substantial. Or even non-substantial, really. “But I could purchase knitted goods,” she added with more of a humour in her voice. Aisling was pretty good at buying things.
Finishing her own tea, Aisling let her mug join Xavier’s on the coffee table, before she moved to pull herself more onto the sofa, head resting on the back of it as her hand run up and down Xavier’s without Aisling giving it much of a thought. “What kind of something?” She asked thoughtfully. “Because I don’t think I’m very good at crochet either,” she informed him smiling softly. “Probably alright with cross stitching, though,” Aisling added.
--
Xavier was fairly aware of her fingers running along his skin, leaving little trails of tingles in their wake. He grinned a little when she mentioned buying knitted goods, because suddenly being overrun by sweaters or scarves or hats seemed like it would be silly. Especially since he didn't wear any of those things usually anyway. He tilted his head against the couch to look at her, biting his lip.
"I could do with an embroidered pillow," he teased, bringing up a hand to run through his hair, stopping on the way back down to rub over his jaw a moment. "That'd look nice on my new bed, I'd bet."
-
“I only volunteered to show you how,” Aisling pointed out, because she was pretty sure that’s what she had done. If not, then that’s what she had intended to do since there was no way she was embroidering a pillow. “Nothing I would embroider would look nice on your bed,” she added rather honestly. Aisling was the furthest from a good homemaker nor did she particularly felt like it was a skill she needed to work on. There were plenty of things Aisling could do, she thought, that made up for her lack of domestic skills.
Her eyes followed his actions carefully and Aisling licked her lips when Xavier run his hand over his jaw. The temptation to mimic the movement with her tongue was pretty great. “I do have some suggestions for what might improve your new bed, though,” Aisling assured him instead, because she could certainly think of something.
--
"Oh, right," Xavier said, grinning and giving a shake of his head. Him learning how to embroider was even less realistic than him learning how to knit. And while he knew he'd been teasing, he would have put whatever Aisling embroidered, good or bad, on his bed with pride. "I'm sure it would look better than anything I could manage, but that's alright."
His grin only grew more at what she said, and he shifted how he was sitting to be facing her a little better. "Oh yes?" he asked innocently, raising an eyebrow. "More pillows? Because those ones you recommended me are pretty great."
-
Aisling wasn’t actually too sure which one of them would produce more appalling embroidery but she also didn’t feel like this was something they needed to find out. Neither Xavier nor Aisling, to her at least, seemed like the sort of people who were into bad kitsch stuff. She would leave all of that to Axel and Ken, quite honestly.
It wasn’t easy to stop the grin that appeared on her lips almost automatically when Xavier grinned at her, so Aisling didn’t actually bother. “Oh yes,” she agreed with a nod, sounding just as innocent as he had managed with his question. “More pillows and maybe some high thread count sheets?” Aisling offered. “They’re very nice to sleep on naked,” she informed him in a serious tone but the grin on her lips was definitely more playful than anything else.
--
Xavier had taken Aisling's advice on a lot of the new things he'd gotten for his bed, all of which was much nicer - expensive - than what he'd had before. He didn't see the need for fancy sheets when sheets were sheets, but he couldn't deny that the sheets he'd gotten on her advice were soft and smooth in a way his old ones weren't.
"High thread count sheets," he repeated with a nod, bringing his hand up to rub the heel of his palm against his chest. "That's good to know. I'm not really that big a fan of pajamas, anyway." Which was teasing, but true. The only reason he'd been as clothed as he was when he'd gone to her room that one night was to be a respectful bed-sharer - which hadn't mattered in the end. "If you're jealous of my new bed, you can just say so."
-
“Jealous is a strong word,” Aisling commented thoughtfully. She wasn’t exactly the sort of person who got jealous, of beds or people, really. But his comment did make her pause slightly. Not at the idea that she could be jealous of a bed, but just at the prospect that she could be jealous at all. “Maybe,” Aisling said instead, a smile playing on her lips. “I’m just rather keen to share with your bed,” she told him. That was probably closer to the truth anyway, because Aisling was willing to share.
“But if I was jealous of your bed,” Aisling carried on, shifting slightly how she was sat, but not removing her hand from where it still was on Xavier’s arm. “Would there be an easy fix to that?” She asked him curiously. The question, and the scenario, was, of course, absurd, but it didn’t really make it any less interesting to question for her.
--
Xavier hummed in consideration, reaching over to tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear. Her bed was quite comfortable, and far from something that would make her jealous of anyone else's, which he well knew even if he had been reading. He brought his hand down to rest over where hers was on his arm, fingers splayed over the back of it.
"I'm very good at sharing," he replied sincerely, offering her a smile. That was true about most things, but more specifically what she was talking about. "If you were actually jealous, I would definitely let you share it with me. But I'd do that, jealousy or no."
-
“I’m not jealous in a way where I’d like to have your bed,” Aisling informed him, feeling that perhaps they were identifying the issue here differently. Albeit, she had no doubt that his bed was, in fact, worth all sorts of jealousy. Perhaps not in comparison to hers, though, because Aisling had spent a small fortune on her bed so she was rather sure it was pretty good. “So it’s not really you I’m interested in sharing with,” she told him, the tone of seriousness only slightly undermined by the smile accompanying it.
Looking down at where his hand had come to rest upon hers, Aisling shook her head slightly before moving so she could lean in closer to Xavier, pressing easily against him as she brought her lips closer to his ear in order to whisper better. “I much rather share with your bed than you,” she told him softly. “I can even aim to be your high thread count sheets,” Aisling added before pulling back with a laugh. “I don’t think that sounded anywhere near as sexy as I was going for,” she informed him unable to not laugh. It didn’t make it any less true, though, even if it was a terrible, terrible chat-up line.
--
Xavier tilted his head when she came in closer to whisper in his ear, his fingertips pressing lightly into her hand as she spoke. He laughed with her when she pulled back, giving a shake of his head. "You really don't have to try, you know," he said, biting his lip as he looked over at her. "And I'm rubbish at any kind of thing like that, so you're doing pretty well in my opinion."
He leaned over and pressed a kiss against her cheek, lingering there for a moment before moving back to speak against her ear like she'd done to him. "If by all that you meant you'd like to get in my bed, I think that'd be okay."
-
“Where’s the fun in not trying,” Aisling responded with another laugh. She liked the trying and the flirting, even if sometimes it was pretty rubbish. Mostly, at least with Xavier, the flirting was never rubbish, though. That was part of the reason why Aisling enjoyed it so much. Did she have to try? No, probably not. Or at least if she did, then Aisling was rather sure she could try less. But half the fun was the trying.
When Xavier kissed her cheek, Aisling realised just how close they were but also did literally nothing to move away. If one of their bandmates walked in now? Well, she didn’t particularly care because they probably wouldn't either? “In the most roundabout way,” Aisling started once she had moved enough to look at Xavier. “I’m pretty sure I’m just asking you if I can have more sex with you,” she told him rather bluntly because they had been at this for ages and as fun as it was, Aisling cared very little for sharing his bed. The bed was not the main thing in this conversation.
--
Flirting with Aisling was fun, which is why Xavier did it. Of course he’d known what she was actually saying the whole time, but they’d been having too much fun for him to let it stop. He lifted his head and tilted back enough to look at her when she moved, raising an eyebrow. “Oh is that what you were asking?” He asked innocently, biting his lip as he fought back a grin. “I thought you were just really curious about the state of my bed.”
He hooked a finger into one of the belt loops of her shorts, giving it a little tug, his gaze dropping down to it a moment before he looked back up to her. “But yeah, you can.”
-
“I mean the clues were there,” Aisling teased, knowing full well he had known exactly where she had been going with the things she had said. “I was, however, also curious about the state of your bed,” Aisling added quite honestly, really. As much as most of what she had said had been intended to be flirtatious, Aisling did genuinely care for Xavier’s well being. Finding out whether he was happy with his new bed, whether it allowed him to sleep better, those were things actually more important to her than any of the flirting or innuendos.
At his confirmation and the way Xavier’s fingers hooked into a loop on her shorts made Aisling smile. “Good,” she confirmed with a nod. “It would be awful to now be told I couldn’t,” she added. “What with all the hard work I’ve put into this and all,” Aisling concluded teasingly.
--
“I never claimed to be a detective,” Xavier replied with a grin, tugging her belt loop again almost absently. “The state of my bed is pretty good, but I’ll gladly let you determine that for yourself.” He had no reason to tell her no, so it only made sense he told her yes - which is kind of how they’d ended up in a lot of places he’d not quite imagined before. He wasn’t about to complain about any of it. “You have worked pretty hard. You deserve a break.”
He got up from the couch, tugging her up to the edge of it and leaning down to get her over his shoulder as he straightened up, his arm tight around the backs of her legs to keep her from slipping or tipping over his back, heading over the stairs to carry her up to his room. His foot nudged the door shut behind them and he moved across to his bed, dropping her down onto it and the soft, nice sheets and blankets it was covered in.
-
Aisling let out a sharp giggle when Xavier picked her up but she also didn’t do anything to protest the treatment. It was probably a good thing that none of their bandmates were around to witness it but quite frankly, even if they had been it was rather amusing. Aisling was also somewhat impressed that Xavier could carry her all the way to his room. Not because she thought he was weak or she was particularly heavy, but mostly because it was somewhat of a distance. It was fun though, Aisling couldn’t recall the last time anyone had carried her anywhere.
When her back hit the bed, Aisling gave an umpf of a sound before running her hand over the bedding beneath her. “I mean, it does feel pretty good,” she assured Xavier as if there hadn’t been an interruption in their conversation. But she did also push herself up on her elbows a little in order to look at him better, smirk at him better. “Obviously, I might have to test the theory of it feeling better against bare skin,” she added.
--
Xavier watched as she propped herself up, raising an eyebrow at her judgement of his bedding. He huffed out a soft laugh and easily tugged his shirt up and over his head, letting it drop to the floor as he moved to kneel on the bed, hovering over her and dipping his head down to capture her mouth with his, one of his hands lifting up to run along the bottom of her shirt, raking it up her side as his fingers traced against her skin. He broke away from the kiss just long enough to murmur against her lips, “I think we can manage that,” before licking his way into her mouth, pressing her back down against the bed.
Despite all the teasing and nonsense they sent back and forth, they’d both known all along where they were headed, and Xavier was far from disappointed to have Aisling in his bed - in whatever state of dress she may be. And if they were both naked and seeing how well the sheets felt against their skin? Well, that was perfectly fine.