Who: Nic and Lem Where: Lem’s House When: Evening, Wednesday, Nov 8 Warning: NSFW Status: Complete
The beginning of the week passed so quickly that Wednesday crept up on Nic and suddenly he realized it had been four freaking days since Lem and Vex had caught themselves a werewolf and they hadn’t heard a peep from them. Not a word. It had been eerily quiet, in fact, to the point that Nic was starting to worry. He knew Zania had put spells on the room with the cage, including one to soundproof it, but that didn’t include the whole damn house. While he didn’t want to be clingy, he felt like he and Lem were at least good enough friends that she’d have told him by now if something was wrong. Or he hoped so. They didn’t really talk about things like that, which he was normally fine with, but not hearing from her now… it concerned him.
Enough so that he finally just walked next door and knocked. No cookies, no cake, no bottle of vodka. Just him with his thumbs hooked into the pockets of his jeans, waiting for someone to answer the door. He thought someone was home, but it was hard to tell. They’d been coming and going so quietly lately that they might as well be ghosts.
Sunday had been ... busy. Even though Vex had done most of the hard work, Lem had helped and she hadn’t been able to resist taking a peek in one of the barrels as she was cleaning up all the blood on the floor. Those round blue coffins held a sick sort of fascination for her, and what she’d seen inside had been lingering in the back of her mind ever since. Luckily it hadn’t been the one with the head inside. Vex said all of it would eventually dissolve away, and then they could get rid of the goop that was left somehow. It was just a waiting game now. Life carried on in the meantime.
Lem had been keeping to herself mostly, staying in and trying to keep her mind off of the tomb in the basement. She and Vex hadn’t really come up with a plan on what to tell the Castell twins -- they both wanted to protect them from being caught up in what would be seen as a murder, and all the cover-up after the fact. For someone who was used to being socially isolated, it was strange for her to feel the pull to go next door and see Nic, to get some support from someone who wasn’t Vex. Lem was bad at dealing with strange feelings, so she’d just been avoiding the whole thing.
Until he showed up at the door, that was. Lem was in the living room when the knock came, and she froze for a moment, her heart pounding hard. Moving silently, she got up and walked on her toes to peek through the peephole and confirm it wasn’t somehow the cops. No, just Nic. Was that worse? No, no it was better, but she knew he would be harder to lie to. After another moment of debate, Lem unlocked the door and opened it enough to look out, nibbling on her bottom lip as she peered up at him. “Hi.”
While Nic didn’t expect anyone to come running, the wait between knocking and someone answering left him shuffling uncomfortably, not sure what to do with himself. He didn’t just show up at people’s houses uninvited, but Lem lived next door. And he didn’t have her phone number. This just made sense. He sighed in relief when she answered, in part because it was good to see she was okay and also because he had no idea what he was going to say if it was Vex who answered. “Hey,” he said, now realizing why people brought things like cookies and cake. It was so much easier to start off with than just dropping the real reason he was there. “I was worried about you. Is everything okay?”
She felt kind of stuck already, like she wanted to rush out and hug him and drag him inside for snuggles and talks, but she wasn’t sure if that was a good idea or not. Was everything okay? Not really. Vex had gotten hurt and might become one of those monsters, she’d Done What She Had To Do and killed the werewolf, which had turned into a human body that needed to be cut up and dissolved in acid so none of them went to jail. But she wasn’t supposed to say any of that. Lem took a few extra beats to answer, then shrugged a shoulder. “It’s ... okay, yeah,” she said, aware of just how unconvincing that was. “We’re okay.”
Nic wasn’t convinced. Not at all. In fact, he was now pretty sure he had a reason to worry. He just didn’t know why, which was so much worse. He shuffled his feet, not sure what to do about it, not with Lem. They weren’t really a point where he felt like he could demand an explanation. But anything would be better than so much silence. “Do you… need anything? Like… medicine or…?” He wasn’t even sure where he was going with that, except that he thought if someone was hurt, then maybe she would tell him. He ran a hand through his hair, more frustrated with himself and his inability to land on what to say. “We hadn’t heard from you. Either of you. I wasn’t sure if-- You know you can talk to me, right?” Not here on the doorstep, but in general. She could trust him.
Lem’s brows furrowed as guilt tugged at her. He was worried. She wasn’t used to people worrying about her. Non-Vex people, anyway. Nic looked so fretful and concerned and he was offering medicine and ugh, it was so much. The cruel part of her wanted to just shut the door on him and break that tenuous connection that was trying to grow between them. That part insisted she didn’t need anybody but Vex, that Nic would only end up hurting her or being hurt by her. She’d never had any sort of relationship that didn’t end in one or the other, romantic or otherwise. She sighed, glanced behind herself, then thunked the side of her head against the edge of the door she was still holding. “Are you sure you wanna know?” she asked Nic, her face and tone serious. “Be sure. It’s not good.”
Wanting to know and needing to know were now totally different things and Nic needed to know. The alternative was so much worse. He took a step forward, leaning his head against the wood of the door frame to look down at her. “Yeah,” he said softly. “I can handle it.” Whatever she had to tell him couldn’t be worse than being shut out, which he realized said something that he didn’t want to look at too closely. The number of people that made that kind of impact on him was… small, to say the least. Tiny. Definitely in the single digits, maybe less than five. And yet in the span of their few times together, Lem had weaseled her way in. It was a concern for another time. “Can I come in?”
Lem didn’t think that Vex would be angry with her for this. His main reason for not telling the Castells what had actually happened was to spare them from being complicit. They obviously didn’t want to kill every werewolf ever, since they’d helped build the cage in the basement and plan the whole capture that had almost worked, so he probably wasn’t in any danger from them. She was ordinarily a good liar, because she ordinarily didn’t give two shits about anyone, but ... Nic was different. Somehow, he’d managed to become different. Lem nodded and moved back, finally opening the door all the way so Nic could come inside. “Let’s go to the kitchen,” she murmured as she shut it again behind him. Lem tossed a glance toward the stairs, then led the way through toward the kitchen so they could sit.
Nic wasn’t really relieved, since she had to be holding back for a reason, but being let in was better than being left to wonder. He stepped in out of the cold and headed in the direction he thought might be the kitchen. Though he’d never been in the house before, it looked like it was still decorated in the fashion Vex’s aunt had left it in. Which made sense, he supposed. Lem and Vex hadn’t exactly showed up with a moving van. In the kitchen, he took a seat at the table, though his eyes kept roaming the room until he focused back on Lem. “Is Vex okay?” he asked, realizing how lame a word that was. ‘Okay’ was all relative. But Lem didn’t appear to be hurt, she was walking fine, and he knew that if something had happened to Vex it would rattle her, maybe more than if she’d been hurt herself.
Lem realized belatedly that this was the first time Nic had been over to the house -- at least since they’d been living there. She wasn’t sure if he’d ever even talked to Aunt Sarah. It still looked like a messier version of an old lady’s house, but she and Vex didn’t really care. They would wreck it down to their own style eventually. Lem sat with him at the table and pulled her legs up to hug to her chest. She didn’t get nervous very easily, but she found herself anxious that this would drive him away, make him not like her anymore. Dead birds and dead people were very different. Lem nibbled at the corner of one fingernail as she stared at Nic. “I hope so,” she murmured, then sighed. “It all worked, and we caught it. We got it down to the basement and in the cage, but then it started to wake up, and it got Vex’s leg. So ... I shot it. A bunch of times. In the head. It just ... happened.”
Though it might not seem like it, Nic knew a lot about how a moment of extreme emotion could drive you to do things you might not normally even consider. He could easily imagine how fear and panic could drive her to shoot the creature if it was attacking her-- or Vex. It wasn’t the desired outcome for obvious reasons, but he was never going to fault her for acting on her own survival instincts. If she hadn’t shot the werewolf, it might not be the only one dead. “It bit Vex’s leg?” he asked after a second, trying to prioritize his concerns. He was more worried about Lem’s mental state, to be honest, but he had a feeling a big part of that might be based on what happened to Vex. “You did what you had to,” he said softly. “If you hadn’t, Vex might’ve died. You might’ve died. There was always a chance it might not survive.”
That was exactly what Vex had said, she’d done what she had to do. She knew that, but it was still a bit of a relief to hear Nic say it too. If Vex was okay with it and Nic was okay with it, then she could be okay with it. Or at least she thought she could. It was just a little hard to feel like a hero when the beast had turned into a man who had to be chopped up and melted. The sudden humanity was the thing that was really throwing her off. Lem had hurt people in her past, yes, but those had been people who’d directly hurt her, or would have. “It wasn’t a bite, it was a scratch,” she clarified, shrugging one small shoulder. “We took him to get stitches. And I dunno if that ... counts? If he’ll be one of them now? I dunno. But at least we’ve got the cage,” she ended in a murmur.
“I dunno,” Nic said, biting his lip. “I know a bite does for sure, but… If it does, then at least you’re prepared.” It would suck, but he thought Vex could maybe handle it better than most people. He knew what he was in for. The mental connection he had to Lem might be an issue, but they would cross that bridge when they came to it. Nic took a deep breath, coming around to the next real concern. “What did you do with the body?” It was probably better if he didn’t know, but he also couldn’t help if they needed it. And if they had a body rotting in their basement, then they definitely needed it. He knew he should be more freaked out, but really… he was just oddly accepting of it all. A dead body was a hell of a lot easier to handle than a live werewolf.
While it didn’t come as a surprise, exactly, something in Lem sank a little as Nic admitted that he didn’t know either. It was going to be a long-ass month, waiting to see if her Vex was going to become a monster or not. Their corpse problem was actually easier to think about than all that, so Lem focused on that question instead. Maybe this would be the part Nic would find sick. Or maybe just smart. Lem didn’t know. She chewed a bit more on her thumbnail and averted her eyes. “We got some barrels. Lots of plastic, gloves. Some chemicals. Vex cut him up and put him in the stuff. He said there won’t be anything left after a while, then we can get rid of the barrels.” She sounded calm about it; it was the best thing to do and it was already done. “He used to be a cop,” she added, glancing back to Nic’s face.
Nic couldn’t help but cringe a little at the thought of bodies in barrels and what they’d had to do to get them there. He knew it was probably practical, but that was a level of gore that he wasn’t sure he could have handled himself. Then again, he wasn’t the one with a body in his basement. A human body. Why were dead things easier to handle when they weren’t human? He gave a little nod of understanding, thinking that if Vex was a cop, then he probably knew the best way to go about it. “That’s probably a good plan. You might… you might want to bury the bones and dispose of the barrels elsewhere.” Barrels might be traceable. There was a higher chance they might have a fingerprint on them. Bones, not so much, especially if they ended up buried in the woods. They probably already thought of this. Nic took a deep breath, then reached out for her hand. “What about you?” He wasn’t going to ask if she was okay, but she was making it, which was good.
Lem thought that the acid Vex was soaking the body parts in would dissolve the bones too, but she couldn’t remember for sure, so she didn’t say. All of that was really up to Vex to have figured out, and he seemed confident in what they were doing, so Lem wasn’t going to ask too many questions. She knew she would feel better once those barrels were out of the house, though. She’d never lingered with a crime so long, and it kind of felt like the police were going to kick down the door at any second and find them out. She looked at Nic’s hand for an extra beat before she slipped her own into it, her fingers cold. Lem shrugged a shoulder, idly looking at how long Nic’s fingers looked compared to hers. “It was what I had to do,” she said. “I just ... wish it had stayed a werewolf. I couldn’t even really see his face, it was so messed up. Nobody deserves to die with no face.” If that guy had had a family? They would never know what really happened to him.
Now was probably not the time to point out that the guy didn’t have any features at this point, face included. Nic thought he probably could have glamoured him back together if he’d been whole, but he was halfway towards human soup now, so that was really a lost cause. “I know, but… if this guy’s been running around for months, try to think of the lives that you’ve saved. Not just yours and Vex’s, but all the people in this town that don’t know how dangerous it is to be out on the full moon.” He gave her a little smile and squeezed her hand, doing his best to comfort her. He knew it had to suck, that it would have been easier to bury a monster than a human, so maybe she needed to remember the human was the monster.
Even if he didn’t have a face anymore, he’d at least deserved for somebody to see it at his death, to know who he’d been even if they didn’t know him. But it had just been a bloody, broken mess by the time he’d changed back. Lem had been aiming for the monster’s face, and Vex had taught her to be a good aim. “I know,” Lem told Nic with a tiny faint smile. She understood and agreed with all that. But she’d still taken a life, and she didn’t really want to shrug that off. Even if she didn’t give a shit about the guy himself, it felt like a turning point to respect within herself. A shift. She squeezed Nic’s fingers back, studying his eyes. “You were worried about me,” she murmured, almost more to herself than Nic.
Nic didn’t expect her to forget it or blow it off, but he did hope it wouldn’t eat her up inside. Guilt could be a heavy burden if you let it grow uncontrollably. If he’d been in her position, he knew he would have struggled with the what ifs, but as someone now quite as close to it, he hoped she wouldn’t let it bring her down too far. “Yeah,” he said softly, eyes on hers and a little unnerved by his own feelings there. “I didn’t… I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” He wasn’t sure he could protect her, or if she’d even want him to, but he would have tried if he could. Not knowing what had happened to the werewolf left a myriad of possibilities open, and it had been too much to leave it to his imagination when he sensed something was wrong.
There was that impulse to push him away again somehow. Tell him there was nothing here for him and he should leave. But Lem didn’t really want to do that. It was just a defense mechanism that she didn’t want to give into. She didn’t want anything bad to happen to Nic either, and that was a strange thing for her. With most people, she was neutral on the subject. But she didn’t want to get him in trouble with the cops, or for Vex the werewolf to eat him, or anything like that. Lem wasn’t quite sure what to make of that, but it was kind of nice at the moment, like she had more support than she thought. She let go of Nic’s hand and lowered her feet out of the chair. The rest of her body followed suit, slipping underneath the table so she could crawl over to Nic’s lap. Lem climbed up into it, sitting sideways and slipping her arms around his neck. She gave his cheek a gentle headbutt. “Same,” she murmured.
He wasn’t sure what she was doing at first, or where she was going, but when she climbed up in his lap he wrapped his arms around her and smiled back at her fondly. She was so small and fragile in his arms, yet he had the feeling she was so much stronger than she looked. He wanted to tell her that he was bad at this, that every relationship he’d ever been in had failed, sometimes spectacularly. But that felt like putting a label on things and he really didn’t want to go there. As weird as it was, this felt above that, like if he ignored the past and all the rules he knew, even the ones that made sense, then maybe things would keep going as they were. And so far, things were going pretty good. He gave her a little nudge with his cheek in return, then took it one step farther and stole a little kiss before returning the smile.
Lem had never really had relationships herself. There had been people she’d called boyfriends, but it hadn’t really meant anything. She’d been fucked up so young, and then pushed everybody as far away from her as possible. Easy to do when one was in and out of the psych ward. And then along came Vex and he’d blotted out the sun. But even as close as they were, they didn’t claim each other in that way. Lem fucked and discarded who she wanted, Vex didn’t like people -- or fucking -- enough to bother with any of it except to make her happy. It felt weird to care about anyone but him, she was rusty, but the care was there anyway. She kissed Nic back, then offered up a tiny smile of her own. “You should stay tonight,” she murmured after what felt like a long silence. Lem didn’t mind, too many people just liked to hear themselves talk.
“I’d like that,” Nic said, glad that she had suggested it. He wasn’t sure he would have asked, but he wanted to be close to her at the moment. The events she’d been through were heavy, they weighed on him, which meant they most certainly weighed on her. He knew they could have died, knew that was a risk going in, but understanding how close Lem and Vex had come made it reality. Reluctant as he was to admit it, holding her would calm him. It would provide a reminder that she was fine, that the worst had passed. They had a body to get rid of and there was a chance Vex would shift at the full moon, but they could handle both of those, of that he was certain.
If anybody could handle being a werewolf, it was Vex. Lem knew that. He had insight, he was smart, he knew they would have to take all the precautions, and he would never let anything happen to her, if he could help it. Vex would make sure he was safe and Lem was safe and therefore the rest of the town was safe. So if anybody had to do it, he was the best man for the job ... but still. Lem hated the idea of it. What if somebody ended up trying to hunt him like they’d been hunting the other one? All of those worries had a whole month to fester though, so Lem tried to push them aside for now. Having Nic’s warmth against her and his arms around her helped. It made everything seem quieter, easier to deal with. Easier to ignore, whatever. “Are you hungry? I can make something,” she offered. It was too early to go to bed, even if that was all she wanted to do now.
Nic wasn’t exactly starving, but if he didn’t eat something, then he would be later. And he didn’t know their house well enough to start rummaging around in the middle of the night. So food was probably a good idea. “I could eat,” he said with a little smile. “Just don’t go way out of your way for me.” A bowl of cereal would do, which was probably evidence of how much a bum he could be when he didn’t feel like cooking himself. He usually liked to cook though. And sometimes he felt better about him making dinner than seeing what Zania cooked up. She could be incredible when she wanted to, but she also had a tendency to experiment. He didn’t like feeling like he was on cooking shows where the chef had to make a dinner with bizarre ingredients. “Do you like to cook?”
Lem was no gourmet chef, but she did like to experiment sometimes. It took a certain mindset, sometimes she did just throw some hot pockets in the microwave and plunk them in front of Vex, but occasionally she liked to just buy a bunch of stuff and see what she could come up with. Some of it had been inedible, but there had been a few things she liked enough to make again. Cooking something would at least keep her hands busy. Lem gave a little huff and slipped out of Nic’s lap. “Only sometimes,” she said. “But I do it a bunch anyway. Vex forgets to eat unless I remind him.” She padded over to the fridge and opened it up to see what they still had in there. “Do you?” she asked Nic, glancing back at him.
“Yeah,” Nic answered, rising from his seat to join her, curious about what she might pull out. “It’s like… it’s like a spell with no magic. Or, really, science magic. Chemistry and all that. Sometimes magic is easier,” he smiled. That was probably because he’d started learning magic before he could even do it, whereas he hadn’t learned to cook until he was in college and was forced to. While he’d learned he could live off ramen, he had no desire to do so. “Sometimes it’s relaxing, if I make something I’m familiar with.”
There were a few containers of leftovers -- one of the few household chores that Lem remembered to do -- but those wouldn’t be very satisfying, just needing to be heated up. There was some ground beef in there that needed to be used, so Lem grabbed that and a few other things out and put them on the counter. “Now I’m thinking about like ... magical cooking shows. Spell competitions? Some Gordon Ramsay witch yelling at people,” she mused, moving to rummage around in the lower cabinet to pull out the pan she wanted. At least Aunt Sarah’s kitchen had been pretty stocked. “What’s your favorite thing to cook?”
“That would be such a bad idea,” Nic chuckled. “Someone would likely get set on fire and it would all go down hill from there.” Not that all fire witches went that direction, but it was such an easy threat to throw around. “Could be interesting though, from the creative aspect, seeing what other people come up with.” He imagined an earth witch growing fresh tomatoes out of their hands while he froze ice cream with a touch. It would be chaos, he was sure, but he’d watch it if it existed. “Probably spaghetti. It’s easy, kind of a comfort food.”
A show ending in fire and chaos was a show that Lem wanted to watch, so that bit made her grin, but she didn’t say how entertaining that would be. Most people weren’t into destruction and mayhem like she was. She nodded at his answer. “I make spaghetti a lot. Vex helps me season the sauce, he’s better at that part. I always put too much of whatever when I’m experimenting.” Lem shrugged. “But he can’t listen for a timer to save his life, so I do most of it.” She put a pan on the stove and sprayed it with some stuff before turning the eye on and moving to open up the ground beef. “My mom used to make this,” she said to Nic, glancing over. “So. More comfort food.”
“Yeah, timers can be important,” Nic said with a quiet laugh. It was the first time Lem had mentioned her mother and it made Nic mildly curious about her family, realizing for the first time that she didn’t mention them often. Not that he did either and his own lived there in Point Pleasant. It was interesting how food his mother had made was still comforting even when memories of his mother weren’t always so. “What is it?” he asked, moving close to peer over her shoulder, his hand light on her waist. He didn’t want to crowd her, but he also liked being close, at least at the moment. He’d back off in a second. “Anything I can do to help.”
Lem tried to avoid mentioning her family. She didn’t like talking about them, and she hadn’t talked to them since she’d run off with Vex, and that had been ... months. A year? Two? She couldn’t even tell anymore. It felt like she had shed that old life like an old skin. They probably hated her now. She didn’t like to think about them either. Nic’s tall warm body close behind hers was nicely distracting, and she smiled a bit as she broke the beef up into a pan to put on the stove. “Kinda taco salad? But not. I dunno, we just always called it ‘taco stuff.’ You’ll see.” She gave him a playful little nudge with her ass as she shifted over to the stovetop. “Just keep me company, it’s not like, hard to make.”
“I can do that,” Nic smiled and moved out of her way, leaning against the counter as he watched her cook. “How’d you meet Vex?” he asked, thinking the question was innocent enough. She’d said he used to be a cop, which was probably its own story, since he didn’t seem like one now. And for some reason Nic couldn’t imagine Lem meeting him when he was one, though he had no way to know. They were just super close in a way most people wouldn’t understand and he wondered how that had come about. His and Zania’s connection was so much more simple. They’d just been born like that, a matched pair, opposites from the start.
She was poking at the meat with a spatula as it started to sizzle, breaking it up further. Nic’s question made the more pleasant expression fade off of her face, innocent or not. Lem didn’t answer for a long moment ... she was more than well aware of the stigma of being institutionalized. Sure, she’d just told this guy that she’d killed someone -- something, at the time -- and there was a dissolving body in the basement, but it somehow felt harder to admit she’d met Vex in the psych ward. People didn’t like crazy people, and nobody believed that they weren’t crazy. Even if Nic Knew Things, he didn’t know everything. But he was asking, and she couldn’t think of plausible lie quick enough. Lem pushed the beef around a bit more. “We were in the hospital together,” she murmured finally. “We were meant to meet, and the cosmos put us on the same ward at the same time.”
If the shift in her expression wasn’t enough, the pause before answering definitely was. Nic knew how to read people well enough to know she wasn’t comfortable answering, though he couldn’t have guessed why until she actually spoke. There were two ways that could go in his mind— either she’d been hurt badly, or physically ill, and they’d met in the hospital hospital, or she was talking about a different kind of hospital. Neither were especially pleasant. But as someone who’d spent some time behind bars, he wasn’t going to judge. “Sometimes things happen for a reason. And bad circumstances bring about positive outcomes. I don’t usually understand, but… I like finding the silver lining. Like meeting Vex.”
Shooting the werewolf had been self defense, both Nic and Vex said she’d only done what she had to do. Vex knew what else she’d done, but would Nic pass off what she’d done to those disgusting pigs too? She’d very nearly castrated one of them, injuring him for life and almost killing him, had that been what she had to do too? Lem knew it had been. Most people would disagree. “Everything has a purpose,” she said, just enough to be heard over the sizzling meat. “There’s no good and bad. Everything just is.” Meeting Vex had been more like a monsoon than a silver lining, he’d changed her whole landscape, blown the old away, but Lem knew nobody could understand that but them. She moved to open a cabinet and pulled down a can of baked beans, then went hunting for a can opener. “He saved me when nobody else could even see me,” she added. “I never went back home. They just wanted to keep me drugged up.”
Mental hospital then, Nic decided. They wouldn’t have wanted to keep her drugged if she’d been physically hurt. He didn’t ask what had put her there, knowing enough about her to know it could be anything. She was special. She could feel things. Just that alone could’ve been enough, if she’d insisted on telling people. The world didn’t like people who were different. “It’s hard to go back home when they don’t understand. Or can’t understand.” In Nic’s case, he could have made explained, but he knew it wouldn’t have been good enough. He’d crossed a line and there was no un-crossing it. He’d more than overreacted; he’d almost killed someone. “I’m glad he saved you,” he said, offering her a little smile. “And that you made it here.”
That made some of the tension leak out of Lem’s shoulders and she glanced over at him with a tiny smile in return. “Thanks,” she murmured, feeling awkward for a second for how much that meant to her. Her family couldn’t understand, and maybe that shouldn’t make her so angry, but it did. Lem felt like they hadn’t even tried, and they were ashamed of her. Their bizarre, violent, wayward daughter. But she had a new family now, the one she’d chosen, and Nic and his sister were swiftly becoming part of it. They just kept accepting her. “I’m glad we made it here too,” she admitted. “Too bad Sarah had to die to do it, but ... everything has purpose.” Lem dumped the beans into a pot to start warming them up.
It was sometimes hard for Nic to accept that everything had a purpose, even the worst moments in life, but he knew he wouldn’t be who he was without them. He wouldn’t be where he was either, and neither would Lem, and he didn’t want that to change. He just wished they hadn’t had to go through so much shit to get there. “That’s a good way of looking at it,” he said thoughtfully. “I just can’t always tell what the purpose is.” Like with the dreams. Where was that going? What did it want from him? The purpose evaded him, though maybe it would eventually reveal itself.
“You’re not meant to,” Lem answered easily, glancing over at him. “There’s a reason humans can’t see all the spectrums of light and our perspective is so limited. We drive ourselves crazy looking for meaning, when it’s written in a language we can’t even begin to understand. You just have to trust the current and go with it.” It was a hard truth to accept, but Lem felt like she’d mostly done it. Given herself over to the process, whatever it was. She started spicing up the beans with various things, then stirred up the ground beef a little bit more. There would be enough food left for Vex, if he didn’t get lured downstairs by the smell of her cooking. She dipped her finger into the beans and then held it up toward Nic’s face. “Here, taste.”
“Yeah, it’s the trusting the current part that’s hard for me,” Nic admitted with a quiet laugh. He didn’t trust people easily. They almost always had to earn that trust. He felt the same way about the universe, except it most certainly had not shown itself to be trustworthy. The cosmos liked to rip the rug out from under people when they were least expecting it, leaving them struggling to keep up as the current pulled them down. He’d been lost in it before and, while he didn’t consider himself to be scared, he was definitely weary of the unknown. He preferred to have answers, or at least a head’s up as to what might be coming. Nic leaned in, his hand light on her wrist as he sucked the taste off her fingers, taking maybe a little longer than necessary. “That’s good,” he smiled. “What makes it a little bit sweet?”
That was the part that was hard for everybody. In Lem’s observation, humans had this compulsion toward control, and could only actually achieve the illusion of it. In a chaotic universe like theirs, it was a mistake to put a rug down anywhere and stand on it. Sometimes you could surf the current for a little while, but you always ended up back in the water. All that was too deep to talk about at the moment though, and Nic’s lips and tongue were nicely distracting. She’d been in a darkly existential mood for too long today, she needed to ground herself in the present again. “A bit of the beans themselves, a bit of the catalina dressing,” she answered with a little grin. He liked it. “Putting salad dressing in sounds crazy, but it’s good.” She turned back to finish browning the beef so she could put it all together.
Nic didn’t mind dropping the heavier conversation. He wasn’t always in the mood to be introspective and he kind of wanted something light and easy. Things were fucked up, but she was okay and that was what mattered. “It is,” he smiled. “I like it. I wouldn’t have thought to do that.” The beans made sense, but Nic wasn’t expecting the dressing. He wasn’t as creative a cook, but he did think he was decent enough. When she stepped over to work on the beef, Nic moved in to stir the beans. “What’s Vex up to tonight?” He got the feeling that he wasn’t home, but maybe he was and he was just quiet. Maybe he was in the basement, where Zania had put up spells to keep it quiet. It didn’t really matter, but he wasn’t sure if it was just the two of them or if Vex would be joining them.
Since he was close to her and she was compelled, Lem leaned briefly against Nic’s side when he stepped up to help. “I dunno, he’s been running around all day,” she answered, shrugging a shoulder. “I think I heard him come in a while ago though, he might be down in the basement.” On days like this, when Vex couldn’t slow down and Lem couldn’t get up to speed, she lost track of him. She usually didn’t have any other company on those days, so it was interesting to have Nic there. “He’ll eat later,” she added, picking up on why Nic might’ve asked. She grabbed a strainer from a lower cabinet and went to the sink to drain the beef. That done, Lem moved to playfully nudge Nic out of the way so she could do the last of it all. “He won’t care if you’re here though, for the night. Just ... for the record.”
Nic nudged her back, enjoying the little bit of closeness and playfulness between them. It continued to surprise him how easily it came, and he decided that it must be because of Lem. She was rubbing off on him. In a good way. It took some of the weight off the day off his shoulders. “You sure?” he asked. Vex had seemed cool, but maybe a little stand-offish, at least to Nic, though he thought that might be a bit of protectiveness he was sensing. Which was fine. Nic found himself being protective of Lem, too. But he didn’t know the ins and outs of their relationship and didn’t want to cross a line that would make things awkward. But at the same time, he really wanted to stay.
The return nudge made Lem grin -- she liked that he was a bit feisty back at her. It was fun, and it made Lem think he would be fun to wrestle with. Vex hadn’t had her beat on him in a while, and she was feeling that deep-muscle urge to push and struggle against someone. But that would be for some other time, she felt like she had to introduce Nic to her particular brand of crazy in small doses. “Absolutely positive,” she said as she stirred the food together in a pot. Lem turned the stove off and then went to pull a couple of bowls down to dole it out. And a bag of tortilla chips. “He never cares who I fuck, as long as I’m safe. Just means he doesn’t have to do it. And he likes you,” she told him. “There’s cheese and sour cream in the fridge if you want some.”
That earned a laugh from Nic, then he nodded, accepting that well enough. It should probably be weird, but he’d gone into this thinking that Lem and Vex probably slept together, so it wasn’t really a shocker. It was just the way she said it, like it was a chore. He couldn’t imagine fucking Lem ever being a chore. “Well good then,” he said as he went to refrigerator and procured the cheese and sour cream. “I just didn’t want things to be awkward. Or for him to feel like I was, I dunno, infringing on his turf or something. People can be weird sometimes, you know?” And possessive. Nic knew he could be, but he also knew that Vex and Lem were inseparable in a different kind of way. He had no intention of getting between that.
Lem honestly couldn’t picture Vex getting awkward about something as mundane and unimportant as who was sleeping with who. He was above all that, a Prophet. It was difficult to explain to someone who didn’t know him well -- how pesky human bodily functions were just a pain in the ass to him, how he didn’t ever really get horny. He just gave Lem what she needed to make her happy sometimes, and she did the same for him. But Nic wasn’t questioning her, so she didn’t feel like she needed to explain. He understood well enough. “We’re weird in plenty of other ways,” she said with a chuckle. “But not like that. We’re not turf, and we’re both free. So it’s okay.” It was better than being seen as property, that was for damn sure. Lem doctored up the bowls -- shredded cheese, sour cream, crunched up tortilla chips -- then stuck spoons in each and offered one out to Nic with a bright smile. It felt good to feed him.
“I like your weird,” Nic grinned back at her. She definitely wasn’t turf and turning it around like that made him dislike the phrase. He’d always gotten the sense that Lem was her own person, free to do what she wanted, when she wanted. There was something incredible about that kind of freedom. Nic usually felt some obligation towards responsibility, though he supposed he was just as free as well. There was certainly no one telling him who he could or couldn’t be with and if someone started, he’d put up a fight. The important part was that they were all on the same page. “This looks good,” he said, accepting the bowl with a smile. “Thank you for feeding me.”
Lem was maybe a little too free for some people’s tastes. A flaky, floaty sort of free. But Vex took care of the bills and kept food in their kitchen with his pension, so there wasn’t a lot she had to be grounded about. She preferred it that way. “You’re welcome.” Lem was more glad to hear that Nic liked her Weird than she would've thought, and she was practically glowing by the time she plunked down in a kitchen chair to start eating. It had started out a bad day, full of stress and worry, and Nic had just breezed in and accepted it all and made her feel ten times better. It made her want to snuggle him to bits and make him come a few dozen times later that night. At least twice. She had no idea what this thing between them would turn out to be, but she was enjoying the journey so far.
Dinner was good, definitely better than anything he would have made for himself if he’d been home alone, and Nic enjoyed Lem’s company. When they were done, he helped her with the dishes, then followed her back to her room, curiously looking around in the process. They hadn’t been there long enough to really make it their own, but he could see bits and pieces here and there. He stopped thinking about it when he fell onto the bed with Lem, pulling her down with him for the fun of it. His hold loosened when they hit the bed, but his arms still stayed wrapped around her, snuggling close for the moment. He’d been so worried about her the past few days and now it all seemed lighter, manageable even if there were plenty of difficulties ahead.
A lot of the house was still in Old Aunt Style, but Lem had been clearing a lot of stuff out of the bedrooms at least, so they weren’t quite so floral printed and mothball-smelling. She and Vex slept together a lot of the time, but Lem still had her own bedroom. Which was where she was more than happy to lead Nic. She gave a delighted little squeal as he tugged her down onto the bed with him, and giggled a bit as they shuffled around and got comfortable together. She ended up facing him, her leg draped over his hip and her nose nuzzling his a bit. Lem stroked her hand through Nic’s hair, letting herself completely relax for the moment. His eyes were really pretty so up close. “What’s your favorite smell?” she asked in a whisper, smiling reflexively.
Nic’s eyes shut for a moment as she began to play with his hair, his thumb rubbing little circles on her hip. It was comfortable just to lay there with her, tangled together, and Nic nuzzled her back as he opened his eyes to answer her question. “That scent right after it rains. And apple cobbler,” he grinned, pressing a light kiss to her lips. The first one felt too obvious to him, possibly cliche, but the second was random, something he’d always loved. Another one of those comfort things. It reminded him off the fall, turning leaves and crisp weather before it turned too cold. “Apple cider works too. What’s yours?”
Both of those were good answers, in Lem’s opinion. They’d already established that they both liked storms, and who didn’t love delicious apple things? She tittered and tugged at his hair a tiny bit. “So wholesome,” she murmured affectionately. “I love ... walking out of a crowded club, where it stinks like beer and sweat, and into a snowy night? Like ... it’s the most clean smell in the world.” She looked a little dreamy for a moment, then grinned again. “Gasoline is a close second. And bandaids.” She knew they were weird choices, but all of them had a certain comfort to her. Lem had just been randomly curious, and now that that was settled, she tilted her head a bit to kiss him softly.
It was the first time in a long time that anyone had considered anything about him to be wholesome and Nic found himself grinning back at her. He completely agreed with her on the first scent she listed, thinking of the way the cold air stung his lungs, like they were cleaning them out of the pollution he’d just left behind. Gasoline and bandaids earned a little laugh though. “Why bandaids?” he asked, not sure there would be a reason, but curious if there was. It made him think of the little scents he liked, things that hadn’t even come to mind until now. Post sex sweat. Dying fires. Clean laundry. They were hard to explain, and maybe they didn’t need one. Nic kissed her back, not entirely expecting an answer, willing to leave that behind and get lost in her kiss.
Lem just liked that plastic-y, medical smell. It reminded her of being little and coming into the house with scraped knees and little accidents. How her mom would always take care of them -- peroxide, neosporin, and a bandaid. Until Lem got old enough to start doing it herself, that was. Which she’d done pretty young. She had something better than bandaids now though; she had this. Lem was fine with not answering out loud, the idea floating through her head that Nic knew the answer anyway. That was why he was there in the first place, knowing things. She closed her eyes and let everything drift away except how his lips felt and how his tongue tasted when she teased hers against it.
He hadn’t come over with the intention of sex, in fact it had been the very last thing on his mind, but once things settled out and he knew she wasn’t in immediate danger, it was hard to resist falling into bed with her. There was security in it, a comfort in knowing she was safe, that didn’t require anything but curling around her and drifting off to sleep. But as his tongue slid into her mouth and his hands found her ass, he knew he wanted more than that. He pressed his body against hers, drawing her hips closer to him, and tugged at her bottom lip with his teeth. Nothing was better after a brush with death than sex and, even if it was a few days late, he thought it would be just as good.
Sometimes being so small was annoying, but other times she was with someone who’s hand covered so much of her body at once and Lem loved it. She liked the way Nic pulled her in, and she made a soft sound to ensure that he knew it. Her hand slid up to cup the side of Nic’s neck as she slowly rolled her hips against his. There was just something delicious about another firm human body pushing against her own. She hadn’t been sure if she would feel like doing this or not when he’d first shown up, but the better everything went, the more Lem wanted him, so none of it was a surprise to her. She kissed him harder, nibbling him back while her hand slid down to fist in the collar of Nic’s shirt.
Nic really liked how responsive Lem was, how she wasn’t shy about what she wanted, how she was vocal enough that he could tell he was doing something she liked. Some things probably had to be said aloud, but Nic appreciated not having to guess. His hips rolled back against hers as his hand slid up under her shirt, seeking out her nipple and brushing over the piercing. He was eager to get his mouth on them, but wasn’t ready to tear his lips away from her own, the growing intensity of tongue and teeth making his cock swell in anticipation, sure at this point that they were both headed the same direction.
Lem always felt safer making her wants and needs known ... if they were followed, it was concrete proof that whoever she was with wasn’t going to hurt her or force her to do anything. People could turn in the other direction in the moment, of course, but if they did? Lem was good at fighting back now. But she didn’t think she would ever have to with Nic. He seemed to genuinely care about how she felt about things, what she wanted, if she was enjoying herself. It was why she kept getting back into bed with him. Eager to get some of the clothes out from between them, Lem rolled and pushed against him until he was on his back and she was straddling his hips without breaking the kiss much. She lingered there for a moment, then sat up to strip her t-shirt off, grinding a bit against the bulge she could feel growing in his jeans.
One thing Nic loved about Lem was that she was not at all passive in bed. She was an active participant, making her wants and needs known, as well as taking the initiative when it suited her. He liked the way she pushed at him, urging him onto his back, one hand behind her neck to keep from breaking the kiss until he felt the resistance that she wanted to pull back. He released her, watching with hooded eyes as she stripped her top off, and ground his hips up against her as his arousal grew harder. He watched her for a moment, licking his lips, then lifted enough to pull his own shirt off, tossing it onto the floor. Then his hands were back on her, sliding up her stomach to her chest, a little smirk on his lips as he teased her nipples between his fingers.
She liked the way he looked at her -- small as she was all over, Lem knew plenty of men found her hot. A lot of the time it squicked her out, but when she found one she liked ... she felt like a goddess riding them. Lem gave a low moan at how the combination of hard dick under her and rolling fingers on her nipples felt, little sparks of electricity shooting through her body. She rolled her hips a bit, letting her head fall back for a moment and enjoying the roughness of jeans through the soft fabric she was wearing. Lem ran her hands over Nic’s torso and arms before she fell forward to kiss him again, bracing herself against his chest. It was times like this that Lem wished she could just teleport clothes away. They needed to be naked now, but she didn’t want to give up her position quite yet.
The sooner they cold get the rest of their clothes off, the better, Nic thought. As much as he liked the friction of her grinding against him, it would be so much better to feel her wet pussy there instead, just begging him to slip inside her. Nic continued to kiss her a moment longer, then took hold of her hips and rolled them over. “Thought we might get rid of these,” he murmured against her lips as he gave her pants a little tug. He knelt up a second later and shimmied her pants down her hips, then off completely, dropping them off the side of the bed. Then he smiled down at her, running his hand slowly up her leg. She looked incredible like that, laid out naked on the bed, waiting for him to fuck her.
Something animalistic in Lem’s chest jumped to attention when Nic moved them, making her heart beat harder and quicker. It didn’t quite turn into fear, and Lem kind of liked the little pop of adrenaline, if she was being honest. Nic was safe, and she was glad that her body was learning that. Smirking, she wiggled to help him get her pants off, then settled back again with her legs spread. He seemed to like looking, so Lem lifted her knees a bit and arched her back. She ran her hands down to her breasts to give them a squeeze and tug on the piercings for a second before letting one slide further down her body to lightly rub at her pussy. Lem moved one foot to nudge against the erection in Nic’s pants, shooting him a little grin. “You too,” she said.
Nic did like to look, because she was there and she wanted him and she looked so fucking good. It wasn’t a position he found himself in often and he felt like he should commit it to memory somehow, especially if she was going to put on a little show for him. Nic cursed softly, then bit his lip and groaned as she pressed her foot against his cock, hard and ready for more. That was enough watching for now. “Yeah,” he agreed softly, shifting enough to push his pants and boxers down, then kick them off. Not the most graceful movement, but it got him where he wanted to be, pressing back down to kiss her, this time with nothing between them.
Lem liked the way he looked at her, so it worked out nicely for both of them. She giggled and grinned as she watched Nic get rid of the rest of his clothes, then wrapped all her limbs around him once he was close enough. She arched her neck up to kiss him again, her mouth hungry on his, the amusement short-lived. Lem was feeling hot and tight and throbby all over now, and she wanted to be as close to Nic as she could get. She just kissed hm for a moment, then slipped one hand between them to grab hold of his cock. She gave him a squeeze and guided the tip of him to her slick pussy, pulling forward on his hips with strong legs.
Nic grinned as she pulled him in, enjoying the way her legs wrapped around him. He ground against her as they kissed, the slick heat of her rubbing against him making him groan. Then her hand was wrapped around him and Nic could barely think, moving as she guided him to slide in with one thrust. “Fuck,” he gasped, rocking into her eagerly, lost in how good it felt to be deep inside her, Lem wrapped around him in almost all ways. His eyes opened a touch as he started to move faster, just a little harder, wanting to fall into that space where feeling was everything, but only if she could get there too.
She gave a little cry as he pushed into her, the way her body stretched for him riding that pleasure-pain line. It felt incredible. Lem pulled her arm free to wrap it around him again, her short nails digging into the muscle in Nic’s back. She was glad that he wasn’t taking it too slow and easy -- she wanted to fuck. Nic was still close, and she pressed her lips against his as often as possible with all the heavy breathing, using her legs for leverage to rock her hips with his. Everything felt deep and hungry and perfect, and the way her clit rubbed against Nic’s pubic bone with every thrust was going to send her reeling before too long.
It always made Nic the slightest bit nervous when he thought he might be hurting her, but the way Lem clung to him and thrust back was enough to keep him from stopping. It felt like they were on the same page, like she wanted this as much as he did, the bite of her nails in his back urging him on with every thrust. He kissed her back here and there, sometimes a brush of the lips, other times a nip of his teeth. She felt so good that he picked up the pace, fucking into her a little bit harder, enough that the bedsprings began to squeak with each rock of his hips. Not that that was going to stop them. He doubted Lem gave a shit who heard them. Nic knew he didn’t.
The initial sting had faded quickly, and for someone who was used to rough sex anyway, Lem was definitely not in pain. The impact of his body felt good against hers, solid and grounding, and his cock filled her up perfectly. He was hitting a good spot with the deeper thrusts, and Lem wasn’t quiet about it, grunting and panting with every breath. The rest of the world had ceased to exist, even Vex just a shadow of a thought in her mind. All that mattered was that building pleasure in her lower belly, the way Nic felt inside and against her, the intensity humming between them. ‘Fuck’ and ‘yes’ were the only two coherent words that seemed to want to form as she inched higher and higher.
Lem was vocal enough that there was no room for Nic to doubt that she was enjoying herself. Every thrust seemed to take them both closer to the edge and Nic finally hit that point where all he could do was feel and push for more. His hips snapped harder, the hand on her hip tightening to keep the increasing rhythm, racing towards a climax that he could already feel bubbling up inside him. He was so close, so fucking close, and closer still every time he filled her, to the point where he knew he was lost at any second. He cursed along with her until suddenly he was there, gasping as he came, his hips jerking as he tried to ride it out, to keep going as long as Lem needed him to, even though he knew it would be a losing battle sometime soon.
She could tell Nic was close by how he was moving and breathing, and Lem just moved more frantically with him. She didn’t start to come until he did, for reasons she couldn’t begin to explain. Lem didn’t usually let anybody come inside of her, but knowing he was doing it and feeling his cock pulse sent her right over the edge. The why didn’t matter, just that Nic kept moving while Lem’s body squeezed and throbbed around him, her cries reaching a crescendo. She dragged her nails across his skin and grit her teeth, her hips bucking to wring every last drop of pleasure out of herself. And every drop out of Nic. She wasn’t supposed to want that, she knew, they should’ve used a condom, blah blah ... but she did, and it was too late now.
It hadn’t even occurred to Nic that they hadn’t used a condom. It would later, when his mind was fully functioning again, but in the moment everything just felt so good that he’d missed the part where they’d skipped that step. Most of the girls he’d been with before had been on the pill, making it easy to forget. Now all he cared about was the way she pulsed around him, milking him till he was completely spent. His hips eventually slowed and Nic was left panting softly, his hands loosening on her skin. The little lines she’d left on his neck left a pleasant sting, the rest of his body starting to feel like jelly. All the tension that he’d walked in with was gone now, finally giving him the chance to relax.
Birth control wasn’t something Lem had gotten around to doing yet. She kept thinking of it at random times, but she loathed doctors, especially the process of getting a new one, and it just didn’t seem too important. It was a risk, but life itself was a risk, right? Letting out a breathless little laugh, Lem stroked her hands over Nic’s skin, letting her legs slip down to a more comfortable position. That had been intense and hard and perfect, and she felt cleansed and purged and like everything in her was loosening up. Lem pressed a few kisses to Nic’s face, then gave a little grunt and nudged him to get off of her. She could take it while they were fucking, but she didn’t like being pinned otherwise.
“Sorry,” Nic chuckled softly and rolled to the side, taking the majority of his weight off of her, but staying close enough to cuddle. He should probably clean up a little, but he decided to wait and see what she did. His fingers ran lightly over her skin as they lay there together, a lazy, sleepy haze laying over him like a blanket. This was nice. And easy. It seemed so weird that it was easy. Things like this never were, and yet so far that was the case. Yes, there were complications, but they weren’t with them. They were with werewolves and dead bodies and it was almost shocking how that was easier to deal with than a relationship. Whatever this was, it made him happy and that was all that mattered.
Lem was all in to snuggle, and she kept as much of her body pressed against Nic as she could, on her back with her legs tangled with Nic’s. She was in no hurry to get up and do anything yet, content to just lie there with him for a while. He was warm and cozy and had that faint sex-smell that she liked. It was so human. She could feel his breath and his heartbeat, and it was easy to just relax and be quiet and meditate on those things for a while. It brought a kind of contentment that Lem wasn’t used to having. She liked it. She just hoped she didn’t ruin it somehow. She wasn’t the easiest person ever, and people tended to run when things got difficult. Lem knew she could deal, if that happened, but that didn’t mean she wanted it to. After a long while she stirred, nuzzling her nose against his. “Wanna shower with me?” she murmured.
“Yeah,” Nic grinned lazily, nuzzling her back. “I never turn down a shower.” And definitely not one where he had company like Lem. As nice as it was to lay around right now, he knew he’d like it better if he was all clean. He waited just a moment more, then leaned in and kissed her one more time before rolling to his feet. “Come on. I’ll wash your hair for you,” he offered. It might not be long, but he knew it felt good to have someone else do it, no matter what the length was. Mostly, he thought it was nice that she’d invite him in. That was a bit more personal for reasons he couldn’t explain.
She happened to like company in the shower ... not that she’d had much of that except Vex in a long time, but Lem didn’t doubt she would enjoy having Nic there too. They could wash each other. Maybe play with each other a little more, too. And then come back to bed clean and fresh and snuggle until they fell asleep. It was maybe cliche and oh-so normal, but Lem didn’t care. Sometimes normal things were nice things, and she deserved to have nice things, right? Right. Grinning happily, she got up with him and gave a catlike stretch before she padded toward the door to lead the way to the bathroom and the rest of their comfortable evening.