Nic Castell (bleedingheart) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-11-28 17:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | #november 2017, lem, lem x nic, nic |
Who: Nic and Lem
When: Morning, Sunday, Nov 19th
Where: Lem’s House
Warning: NSFW
Status: Complete
Nic had gotten used to waking with a thought in his head, a dream from the night before or an idea that he just couldn’t shake. Like waking with a song on repeat. Only this morning it was Lem. Lem on his mind, curled up with him and kissing him, staring at the ceiling with him as they let their minds wander aloud, or even just sleeping in his arms. He’d never known a girl to be perfect for him, but suddenly he knew it was her, like he’d been looking at a picture out of focus and suddenly it adjusted to reveal the love of his life. It was early so he started daydreaming, painting his gray walls with pictures of their future, and then flowers. Girls liked flowers. It was something he knew, even though he couldn’t recall the last time he’d ever gone so far as to give them.
He was going to make up for it now. He would give Lem all the flowers he could conjure, as many as his imagination could hold at one time. What started in his room spread down the stairs and into the living room, covering every surface with greenery and converting the furniture into topiaries. It wasn’t real, but the detail was exquisite, and only a skilled witch would be able to push through the illusion. Pleased with his work so far, Nic moved on to the kitchen and that was when his sister woke up.
They had never quite understood each other’s love lives, struggling in such different ways, but close enough not to be too critical of each other’s choices. Which was why it caught Nic so off guard when Zania began insisted that he didn’t love Lem, despite him actually telling her that was the case. They argued all the time, as many siblings did, but rarely over anything serious. Today, though, Nic wouldn’t have it, and the harder Zania pressed, the more he cut her off. She had no idea what he was feeling. Not a clue. And he wasn’t in the mood to put up with her bullshit.
She continued to yell after him as he walked out the door, deciding now would be a good time to go tell Lem herself. Or show her. He had always been better at showing than telling. The flowers at his house had been easy enough, so if he couldn’t bring her to them, he’d just have to re-create them there instead. It was an idea anyways, one that was still brewing when he knocked on the door, a single red rose in his hand. It was always easier to start with something instead of nothing.
Lem was still sleeping when the knock came from downstairs, blissfully oblivious to what was going on next door. She’d flopped into bed with Vex late the night before, always sleeping more soundly with another body in bed with her. The knock was loud enough to wake her up, but only barely. Lem lifted her head and squinted toward the bedroom door, half-expecting someone to be there. There was nobody though, and she slowly realized the sound had come from farther away. She looked at Vex, but he was still down for the count, so she supposed it was up to her.
With a sigh, she climbed out of bed and padded out of the bedroom and down the hall. It was cold in the house, but Lem didn’t even think to put on anything more than the panties and rumpled tank top she’d been sleeping in. Goosebumps were invigorating, right? She opened the door, one hand scratching lightly in her short, messy hair, and squinted sleepily at Nic. Nic with ... a rose? “What time issit?” she mumbled fuzzily.
Nic hadn’t considered the time when he’d decided to come over, but he knew it couldn’t be too early if his sister was up. Maybe it was nine? Maybe it was ten? He immediately felt bad for waking Lem up, as he was sure he had upon seeing her. She looked so cute and sleepy, it made him want to crawl in bed with her and cuddle. “I dunno,” he answered with an embarrassed smile. “I just… I made something for you, and I wanted you to have it.” He wanted her to have a lot more than just the one in his hand and as he held it out to her it split in half, one bloom becoming two. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Lem’s eyes widened a bit as the rose in Nic’s hand doubled in blooms. That was ... unexpected, even though she knew in theory he could do stuff like that. “It’s okay, um ... wow, thank you?” she said, giving him an uncertain little smile. Lem didn’t think any guy had ever gotten her flowers before. Especially not magic, mutating flowers. She moved backward to make room in the door and gestured for Nic to follow her. “C’mon in. Did you just wake up and want to make me magic roses or something?” Her tone was slightly amused, but not derisive. It was just sweet, and Lem wasn’t used to that.
“Yeah, something like that,” Nic smiled, running his hand through the back of his hair. It was hard to explain his feelings and how they’d evolved, but he knew they hadn’t come from nothing. He knew magic, could feel magic, and there was no way this was magic. It was real. “I made more for you at the house, but Zan’s kind of in a mood,” he said as he followed her in, shutting the door behind her. “I could make more here, but I wasn’t sure what you like.” How did he not know these things? He felt like he should! Then again, their conversations didn’t usually evolve around flower types and he was okay with that. He liked their odd conversations. They’d always felt more genuine than anything put on when he actually tried to date.
“You made more for me at the house?” Lem echoed with some amazement as she looked back at Nic. Since he hadn’t carried them over to her, she had to wonder just how many Nic had ‘made.’ Whatever that meant exactly. Lem took his hand to lead him toward the stairs. It was warmer up in her room, and there was a bed to lounge on and blankets to cuddle under. Lem wasn’t ready to be in the waking world yet. “How are you making them?” she asked, glancing back at him again. “I thought like, water was more your thing.” She knew he could do other types of magic, but she wouldn’t have thought about a water witch doing stuff with flowers.
“Yeah,” Nic smiled. “It might have been a little much, but…” He shrugged, not sure it mattered if she couldn’t see them. How much was too much? He’d never liked a girl enough to get to the too much part, but he felt that way with Lem, like he would give her whatever she wanted and it would never, ever be too much unless she said so. He followed her up to her room, idly noticing that it was warmer, though his brain wasn’t really on the cold. He knew he noticed it less that most people. “Water’s my element. It’s what comes naturally. But my focus leans more towards illusion. It’s hard to create something from nothing, but once I get started, it’s like a… transformation.” It wasn’t real, but if he knew what he was doing, then it could be close.
Now Lem wanted to go over and see it, since he’d done stuff for her, but first she wanted to just be in bed for a while. Nic seemed game for that, so she could maybe see what bouquets and shit he’d made for her next door later. Lem led him into her room and shut the door behind him, then herded Nic toward her bed. “So it feels real and everything?” she asked, not reaching to find out herself yet. Touching something that didn’t actually exist would be even more disorienting than seeing it and smelling it, Lem thought. If something that wasn’t strictly real could completely mimic a real thing, then what good was reality anyway? She climbed onto the bed and tugged Nic to join her, pulling the blankets up so they could snuggle in.
Nic followed Lem, toeing off his shoes and climbing onto the bed with her without a second thought. That was one of the things he loved about her, how comfortable they were together. How easy everything felt. It had never been easy before and he wasn’t sure what the difference was. “It depends on what it is,” Nic explained. “I can’t do food. I mean, I can, but it all tastes like paper. And the texture is wrong in your mouth. Scent is usually hard too, but I’ve spent enough time around flowers that I pretty much know what I’m doing there. A lot of it depends on the caster.” He reached out, running his finger around the edge of the rose, causing it to open. “When my magic finally came in, I wasn’t… I wasn’t in a place where I could learn like Zan did. Detailed rituals that take supplies and setup. This is more organic. It pulls from nature, and from your mind.”
Normal people might’ve thought they probably ought to spend some more time together that wasn’t in bed, but Lem wasn’t normal, and it felt too early to be conscious to her. She wanted to be in bed with her quasi-boyfriend, so that was what she was going to do. She listened to him as they settled in, sitting upright and propped up against pillows against the headboard. Lem leaned over to snuggle closer, head on Nic’s shoulder and her arm slipped around his ribs. He felt cold from outside, and she liked the idea of warming him up. She watched the rose open up further, a little smile crossing her face. What other girl in the world got magical flowers for no reason? There had to be some out there, but Lem still felt kinda special. “I like your mind,” she murmured. With a bit of hesitance, Lem reached out to stroke her finger against one of the petals. It definitely felt real. “And that I was on it. I think I’d be better at this kinda magic. I suck at supplies and setup. Why didn’t you two learn the same?”
Nic pressed his lips together as he watched her stroke one of the petals, purposefully letting the color change in that one spot from red to a bright pink. This wasn’t the sort of conversation he’d envisioned having when he’d wandered over, but now that the topic had been brought up he had to figure out how to address it. Most people knew the skeleton of the story and so they didn’t ask. He’d always been fine with that. But with Lem he worried that it might scare her off. “Most witches’ abilities start to come in around the age of thirteen. I don’t know what triggers it. Maybe puberty. Zan’s came in like normal. I finally triggered mine when I was sixteen, but then I spent some time in juvie immediately after.” He sat very still, waiting for her to pull away and take the warmth with her. It was a long time ago, but what he’d done stuck with him, especially in a town this small.
The color change made Lem smile a bit, and she touched the rose again. She was listening to Nic, but her visual attention didn’t move to him until he said the word ‘juvie.’ Lem looked at him, her expression only mildly surprised. If he’d gone to juvie after his magic had started up, he must’ve done something violent. That wasn’t a turn off to her in the slightest, naturally. Violence had been a part of Lem’s life for so long, she couldn’t remember how it felt to not want to hurt certain people. Nic seemed so sweet though, she had to wonder what had set him off, but she wasn’t going to ask. Not yet. She dropped her head against his shoulder again, aware that it was uncomfortable to be stared at during a confession, and idly walked her fingers up his chest. “Juvie fuckin’ sucks,” Lem said casually, like they were talking about a bad restaurant they’d both been to. “I got shuffled in and out while they figured out what to do with me. I can’t imagine trying to learn magic in there, that must’ve blown donkey dicks.”
Nic didn’t know what to expect. It wasn’t something he talked openly about and, when he was away at college, he’d not mentioned it to anyone at all. But then he’d not been open about his magic then either, and no one he’d dated back then really got to know him. It was different with Lem. He’d never felt the need to hide who or what he was when it came to her, but it still worried him. He wanted her to see him at his best and this was definitely his worst. When she looked at him, he could see the surprise in his eyes, but that was it. No disgust or discomfort or judgement. Instead of withdrawing, she leaned back against him and he slowly began to relax. Learning she’d been there too made him smile softly, even if he’d never wish that on her. They were kindred spirits, the two of them. “Yeah,” he said with a quiet laugh that shook his chest. “It’s not really conducive to learning anything. But I had a lot of blank walls to stare at, and sometimes at night, when everyone else was asleep, I’d paint them.” It was just a start, but once he realized he was working outside his imagination, and in reality, he really began to push himself.
Lem’s stints in juvie hadn’t lasted long, the longest only a week or so while her parents got bail money together after she’d gotten revenge on those boys. The others had been for much more petty things. She’d seen the inside of many more mental institutions, and those hadn’t been much better. She tried to picture Nic there, younger and probably even more lanky and scared, creating things out of nothing on his walls at night. It was kind of tragically beautiful, but weren’t so many things? She hadn’t had any creative outlets while she was institutionalized -- besides creating havoc where she could -- until Vex came along. He’d opened up a whole new world to her. Nic was obviously a free man now, and Lem wouldn’t ever presume to think she was on Vex’s level, but maybe she could be that kind of rescue-friend for him too. “I’m glad you got out with your sanity intact,” she murmured, fiddling lightly with the front of his shirt. “I don’t think I did. But it’s pretty easy to go crazy in a psych ward. They say that shit’s not contagious, but it kinda is.” She didn’t much want to get into the details of her own bullshit either, but Lem wanted to let Nic know somehow that he wasn’t alone.
“I think anyone would go a little crazy,” Nic said, fingers reaching out to stroke her arm. “You’ve always seemed pretty sane to me though. Sane enough,” he added with a little quirk of his lips. Maybe she was a little bit wild, but he liked that about her and he wouldn’t change it. He did wonder how it had all come about, what she’d said or done that had made them determine that’s where she needed to be. But there were so many dark things in this world that he didn’t have trouble believing it. Maybe she’d seen something she wasn’t ready for. Or lived through something she couldn’t handle. Or maybe her parents just couldn’t handle her. Whatever it was, she didn’t deserve it and he wished he could do something to take it all away. Instead, all he had were flowers. It didn’t seem sufficient, so he added a third to the bunch, even if that was nowhere close to making up for it.
Lem gave a little laugh at that assessment, though she appreciated what he meant by it. It was sweet. Plenty of psychological professionals in her past disagreed, but Lem didn’t care. They didn’t know the truth about anything, they couldn’t know who and what she really was. Nic knew, though. Or at least had some idea. Vex knew. Those were the only people who really mattered in her life anyway. “Those words don’t really mean anything anyway, that’s what Vex says,” she murmured, watching another bloom come into being in Nic’s hand. It was beautiful and strange, just the way she liked things. “Our eyes are more open than most, and that’s why we all get along.” She lifted her head to press a kiss against Nic’s shoulder, then nuzzled one to his neck. “Your flowers are pretty, thank you.”
Nic nodded, agreeing with her assessment. He was sure there were people in the medical community that knew more than he did, but he also knew that he knew a lot of things that they didn’t. Maybe they didn’t relate; maybe they did. “It’s easier to relate to someone who sees the world similarly,” he smiled, nuzzling back into her, kissing her forehead. “I can make you more of them, if you’d like. Or anything, really. I just thought you might like flowers.” Girls were supposed to like flowers? He wasn’t sure why, though they were pretty. It always seemed like a weird gift to him, to give something that would only last a week and then wither and die.
“Nobody’s ever given me flowers before,” Lem murmured. That might’ve been a lie, her dad might’ve given some to her when she’d been little or something, but no boy had ever given her flowers in a romantic sense. And Nic wasn’t even giving them to her, really, he was just making them in front of her. Magic flowers were obviously way better than real flowers that were going to die. She rubbed the tip of her nose against his neck and breathed him in deep and slow, then smiled a bit and pulled back to look at his eyes. “What about feathers? Like ... a big bouquet of feathers?” She liked those even more than flowers, and Nic had said anything, so why not, right?
He’d been worried that it wasn’t enough, especially compared to the garden in his living room, but hearing that she’d never gotten flowers before made Nic smile. It was a good choice then, even if there were far fewer than he’d originally intended. “I think I can do feathers,” he smiled, then tugged on one of the stems, producing a new long white feather from the bunch. He plucked it and held it between his fingers, then gave it a little spin. “I don’t know what they smell like, so… They might smell like laundry detergent,” he laughed, pulling at the feather to produce more, each a different color than the last. They felt right to him, and looked right, though he wasn’t sure they were quite as accurate. They were bright and beautiful, though, which was what he’d been aiming for. Spinning his finger around the bottom, he tied them up with a bow, chuckling to himself as he handed them to her. “How’s that?”
Lem watched Nic create the feathers out of nothing with an openly awed expression on her face. Maybe it seemed backward, but if she didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought it was just sleight of hand. But she knew he had real magic, and there was no way in hell all of those were up a sleeve or something, and they turned out so gorgeous, she didn’t even care if they were accurate replicas from real birds or anything. She took the bunch of feathers when he offered them, immediately rubbing them against her cheek. Lem let out a delighted giggle. “They kinda do! Smell like laundry,” she declared. “Which is probably better than bird-stink, so ... good job.” She tittered again and leaned over to kiss him. “How long will they last?”
“Yeah, that might be more realistic, but I don’t really know the smell and for some reason fresh laundry was what stuck in my brain,” Nic grinned, enjoying the way it made her smile and laugh. He’d do just about anything to make her happy right now, but feathers were easy enough. “Something small like this will usually last as long as I want it to. If it was bigger, like the greenhouse, I’d have to actually put a spell in place to hold it. That’s too much for me to maintain every day,” he explained. It all tied back to him and something that big would drain him, both magically and physically, but something as small as a bouquet of flowers or a feather duster could sit around for years, most likely. So long as he didn’t forget about them.
“The greenhouse isn’t real?” Lem asked, her brows lifting in surprise. She’d never been in there, but she’d seen it in the Castell’s back yard, of course. It looked as solid and mundane and boring as an out building could get, but if Nic had created it from magical scratch, that was pretty amazing. Lem had been expecting that the flowers and feathers would dissipate as soon as he left or something, but if she got to keep them for a long time, she definitely wanted to. “Wow ... reality is so subjective,” she murmured, almost to herself. She kind of couldn’t wait to tell Vex about it, he would appreciate the weirdness. Lem idly stroked the feathers against her face for another second, then moved to do the same to Nic’s. “How are you?” she asked as if it had just occurred to her. “Any more monster dreams?”
“Oh, no, the greenhouse is real,” Nic smiled. “It’s just… I dunno, password protected? Like, most people will see a run down greenhouse with a few have dead plants, but anyone with Castell blood can convert it to its actual state inside, which is where we grow a lot of the ingredients we sell in the shop.” Plus a few other, less legal things that Nic couldn’t be caught with. Neither could Zania, but it wouldn’t affect her quite as much. The glamour prevented people from snooping and stealing, both by cops, curious kids, or other witches. “Reality’s still there, beneath it all. I can hide it, or add to it, but I can’t remove things. I can’t add a functional door in the middle of a wall without breaking the wall.” That was the best way he knew to explain it. He laughed softly when she tickled his face, then leaned his head against hers for a moment. “I’m okay. Things have been kinda weird. Did I tell you about the dream walker yet? The one that witnessed the group dream?”
Lem nodded slowly as what he said made sense to her. It was like painting layers on top of reality with magic. How cool was that? Lem wished she had that ability, to bring the things in her brain out and give them form and color so others could see too. She couldn’t even draw well. Only Vex could really see what she saw, and that was because he was seeing it first. And better. He ought to be the one with the magic, really, but that didn’t mean Lem couldn’t want it too. She twirled her feathers idly between her fingers and simply shook her head at his question. He hadn’t told her anything else, but they hadn’t been doing a lot of talking, either.
“One of the guys in the group, Neil, knew a dream walker. They’re like a psychic type person who can manipulate dreams. She tapped into our dreams and managed to trigger another group nightmare,” Nic said. That was a better word for it. They were never just dreams. They were always frightening, even more so than they would be in reality because he felt so damn helpless there. “It was like last time, where we all showed up at the same place, but couldn’t talk. But because she wasn’t one of us, she could see it. The thing. Some kind of… creature, with red eyes, long claws, and sharp teeth. I don’t know what it is or what it wants, but it can’t be good. And since then, it’s like my brain’s been tuned into another frequency or something.” He couldn’t explain what he was hearing, but there were voices sometimes, not his own or anyone nearby. It was like hearing a conversation over a broken line that decided to come and go as it pleased.
It was the kind of thing that horror movies and (literal) nightmares were made of, but it didn’t scare Lem. Not in the way it probably would have to someone normal. She just listened, fascinated, her big dark eyes solemn as she studied his face. If he’d slipped into one of those dreams on a night they were sleeping together and Lem had managed to get into it too, was that what she would’ve seen? The last part especially made her raise her eyebrows at him. “How do you mean?” she asked, slowly stroking the tips of the feathers against her own cheek. She wasn’t even aware anymore she was doing it, it just felt neat. “Like you’re seeing stuff you didn’t before?” Had the monster turned Nic into a Prophet too?
“No, not seeing. Just hearing? Like I’ve got a radio in my head that keeps going in and out of range. Except it’s only one side of a conversation, I think. It comes and goes and is never super clear,” Nic said, rubbing his fingers together to create his own feather, separate from the ones she was brushing against her face. He spun it between his fingers, feeling the resistance of the air, then lightly ran the tip down her arm. “I haven’t talked to the others about it yet. It doesn’t seem like it should be related, but I never really know. The mirrors didn’t seem connected to the dreams until I found out we were all experiencing them both.” For him, weird things happened all the time, but he knew that wasn’t the case for the rest of them.
Maybe he would just be a Prophet with his mental ears. Or maybe it was something else entirely. Lem had no idea, obviously. The tip of the feather felt nice, but it was a distant sensation while the gears turned in her head. Kind of uselessly, since there wasn’t anything she could do to help him, but still, it was interesting. Lem had the idle thought that she couldn’t imagine getting close to anybody ‘normal’ like this, and she was very glad they’d ended up neighbors. “Weird,” she murmured. “I wonder if they’re hearing the same thing. What if it’s like ... trying to set up a conference call between you all or something? It doesn’t hurt, does it?”
“Like it might be the other people with nightmares I’m hearing? The dreamers?” Nic asked, thinking of them that way for the first time, their little group. It simplified things, though it did make it sound like something positive, rather than something mildly horrific and weird. “It could be them. It’s more guys than girls, which would be accurate. I just never get a good enough signal to really make out what I’m hearing.” He could try, though. Thus far, he’d been trying to shut it off, annoyed with the interference in his daily life. “It doesn’t hurt, but it’s a little creepy to think that someone might be hearing me like I’m hearing them.”
Lem nodded a little, understanding that. The only person she wanted to have access to her brain, or to be able to overhear her conversations, was Vex. From what Nic had said, he barely even knew the other people. She gave him a faint smirk, moving her feathers to brush lightly against his chest. “Well if you ever need a distraction, you know where I am,” she offered, slipping easily into flirtation. It was easy when they were cuddled up in bed. She might not be able to help with dream monsters and rogue radio signals or whatever, but she could take Nic’s mind off of them pretty easily. She grinned a bit more wickedly. “Give them something fun to listen to if they can hear you.”
A slow smile curled on Nic’s lips at the tease, unable to resist her on a normal day, and today he was able to slip into that frame of mind without a second thought. He twirled his single feather around, then lightly ran it down her leg as he drew closer to her. “They could be eating breakfast. Out with friends. Working at the library,” he snickered, not at all as put off by the idea as he probably should have been. Now that she mentioned it, he’d definitely overheard at least one person having sex, and if it was another dreamer, then it had to be Jules. Which he wasn’t going to think about now because, A, she was a high schooler, and B, he was in bed with Lem. And Lem was far more his type than any girl he’d ever been with. “Makes me want to be more vocal,” he smirked. “That’s horrible, isn’t it?”
Lem’s grin should have told him that she didn’t think it was horrible at all, but she shook her head for him anyway. In fact, the idea was kind of delightful -- broadcasting sexy thoughts to unsuspecting brain-partners. She’d never really been with anybody long enough to have the experience of turning them on in public, but the prospect really appealed to her. So did turning on complete strangers. Maybe that was mean, but Lem had never claimed to be anything else. “Working at the library?” she asked in a murmur, still grinning. “That’s real specific.” Now she kind of wanted to go to the library to scope out who worked there. She shifted to get her knees under her and then climbed onto Nic, straddling his lap and leaning in close to nuzzle at his jaw. “I say be as vocal as you want. Give them a thrill.”
“One of the guys with the dreams works at the library,” Nic smirked. “I’d wager he hasn’t gotten laid in years.” Or ever. Nic had never given a thought to it before, but the thought of Neil squirming as he listened to them amused Nic. And with Lem climbing up in his lap, he didn’t care how cruel it might be. He wanted to please her in any way he could and, since she didn’t seem turned off by the prospect of other people possibly hearing them, maybe she’d be turned on. His hands moved up the outside of her thighs, pulling her closer, the tips of his fingers slipping under her panties. “Just as long as it’s not just me,” he snickered.
The prospect of making some celibate guy squirm with unwanted arousal did actually turn Lem on a bit. She didn’t know him, he was just some faceless Man, so she felt kind of gleeful about potentially forcing those feelings on him. Men forced so much on women all the time, why not? She tittered as she settled further onto Nic’s lap and he slid his hands to more intimate skin, slipping her arms loosely around his shoulders. “How ‘bout we make them jealous now, huh?” she murmured with a smirk, using the little bunch of feathers still in her hand to stroke the side of Nic’s face. Lem leaned in to give him a few teasing-soft kisses.
“Love to,” Nic grinned into the kisses, the soft feathers on the side of his face making his skin tingle with excitement. Or maybe that was just Lem. He’d never had a girl turn him on quite the way she could and he thought it must be her playfulness and the fact that she didn’t seem to care what anyone else might think. He loved that about her, among other things. At the moment he loved everything, which was hard for him to believe, but also undeniable. His hands gave her ass a squeeze as he deepened the kiss, then started to move up her sides, dragging her tank top with them. A little less clothes would be preferable, and hers was easier to start with.
Enamoured as they had become with one another, Lem didn’t notice any difference in how Nic was acting toward her. The flowers had been a nice surprise and it was fun to watch him make things out of nothing, but everything seemed normal otherwise. Of course, she hadn’t seen what he’d done to his own house yet. For now she was more than happy just to get some morning nookie from her boy-interest from next door and hear all about his weird dreams and blossoming psychicness or whatever the hell was going on. Lem gave a hum against Nic’s lips, then sat up just enough to pull her shirt off and let it drop. Naked was best, and she grabbed onto Nic’s shirt next to start tugging it upward.
If Nic had been the sort to say what he was feeling, it would have been much more obvious that something else was at play. The only reason he’d said anything to his sister was because she’d pushed him into it, arguing that the floral takeover of their living room was too much. Nic still wanted Lem to see it, but the drive to give her the world was also there, and at the moment she clearly wanted to be in bed with him, which he was more than fine with. The flowers could wait; they weren’t going anywhere. His shirt, however, followed hers to the floor, and his hands slipped up to cup her breasts, thumbs brushing over her nipples. “Does that feel good?” he asked against her lips, giving one of the piercings a tug. “I never know what’s too much.”
Lem’s hands were drawn to Nic’s chest as well, running over the flat muscle and down to his upper abs. He was built just how she liked men to be -- lithe and compact -- and Lem had yet to get tired of touching him, which really said something. She let out a soft sound as he tugged on her nipple ring, then moved one of her hands to cover his. Lem pushed on his fingers and then pulled to make him pinch and tug harder. Heat shot down her core and pooled between her legs, and she rocked against him. “If I’m not bleeding, it’s not too much,” she breathed in answer before she kissed him hungrily again. Really, she wasn’t even sure that blood would be too much, but it was a good enough rule of thumb to give on the fly. Nic had never struck her as an aggressive guy, but if he was asking, Lem was going to make it clear that she could take -- and enjoyed taking! -- some sexy roughness.
“Got it,” Nic gasped softly as Lem manipulated his hands to be rougher, his cock stirring unexpectedly. “So long as it turns you on.” It wasn’t in his nature to be too rough, and couldn’t imagine ever getting to the point where he drew blood, but he knew now that letting himself go wouldn’t be an issue. She might even like it. What mattered most to him was that she liked what he was doing, that she was finding as much pleasure as he was, or more if possible. He kissed her back hungrily, giving her nipple another twist as his teeth scraped across her bottom lip. Even with his jeans on he could grind against her and it felt good, though it’d feel even better with less between them. Smiling against her hips, he rolled them over, putting her beneath him. “We’re still wearing too much,” he grinned.
Whether it turned Lem on couldn’t be called too much into question, she thought. She made her feelings pretty obvious all the time, but especially in the bedroom. She was definitely turned on, and she made it audible when Nic twisted her nipple and grazed her lip with his teeth. She rolled easily with him, her legs wrapping around his waist by instinct, then grinned upward at what he said. “Fix it then,” she said, a playful challenge in her tone. Lem loosened her thigh grip on him to reach between them and grab for the front of his jeans.
“Bossy,” Nic snickered, giving her other nipple a twist before dropping his hands to tug at her panties. While he enjoyed having her legs wrapped around him, she did have to loosen them to get them off, then casually ran his hands up the outside of her thighs as she worked at his jeans. He could help her, but her touches turned him on more than his own did and it gave him the chance to look her over. “Need some help?” He teased as his fingers drifted inward along soft skin, unable to reach her center without tangling their arms together.
Lem’s cheeks dimpled in a grin at the playful accusation -- she was bossy and she enjoyed the fuck out of it. After having her autonomy taken away from her in various ways through the years, occasionally violent and traumatic, she liked controlling anything she could. Including the guys she slept with. She happened to like Nic more than most. They were too pressed together to make stripping easy, so Lem squirmed and moved her legs so Nic could pull her panties off, then got her hands back on his jeans. “Yes,” she finally muttered when she got to the point of needing his cooperation to get him naked too.
Nic actually enjoyed Lem being a little bit bossy. It let him know she was into it, and it helped him give her exactly what she wanted. It wasn’t necessarily his thing to completely relinquish control, but it never felt over the top with her, so he was happy to comply. And today he might’ve given her just about anything to make her happy. Giving her a little grin, he pushed back onto his knees, putting enough space between them to push his jeans and boxers down over his hips. “Better?” he asked, pressing back against her, his cock hard against her mound. She felt so good that he was tempted just to slip inside her, but that might be rushing things and he wanted to tease her just a little more first.
It was better, so much better, and Lem didn’t hesitate to rock her hips up against him, angling herself to rub her clit against his cock. She’d always liked that feeling, all that hot smooth skin against hers. “Mmhmm,” she hummed, slipping her arms around Nic’s shoulders again. He hadn’t gotten his clothes all the way off, so she started pushing at them with her feet to inch them further down his legs. Lem wanted him all the way naked, since she had a feeling this wasn’t going to be just a quick fuck. She lifted her head enough to kiss him, quickly turning it deep as the warmth in her lower belly radiated out further. She wanted him to be filling her up already, but she was enjoying the tease as well. “Did you wake up thinking about this?” she whispered between kisses.
When they were far enough down his legs, Nic kicked his jeans the rest of the way off. He hadn’t come over intending to get her into bed, but it had definitely been on his mind when he’d woken up that morning. She’d been all he could think about, like she’d infiltrated his dreams and filled up his brain. He knew he would come see her, but he’d wanted to make something for her and once he started on the flowers he’d gotten a little carried away. Thinking about that now, he let them fade back at his house, knowing he could always re-create them for Lem there if she wanted them. This was far better though, and he rocked against her slowly as he kissed her, muttering back against her lips. “Thinking about you. How incredible you are. And this. I mean, I always love fucking you.” He was tempted to tell her that it was more than that, that he loved her, but even if he knew it he wasn’t ready to say it. He could show her, though.
Lem let out an involuntary little groan and rocked against him harder. Maybe it was fucked up of her -- so many things were -- but she loved hearing all of that. How incredible she was, how much he wanted her. Men in general had a tendency to be gross and tell women disgusting things they didn’t care to know, but there was such a big difference between some strange asshole saying he dreamed about fucking her, and hearing similar from the man she was into. Nic was slowly worming his way deep into her brain. She currently wanted him deep into other parts of her, however, and Lem shifted her hips until the tip of his cock caught against her opening. She was more than ready for him. “I think about you too,” she breathed, tightening her legs around him to draw him in.
At some point Nic would realize that they really needed to start using protection, but not today, definitely not when he was slipping inside her. She was so warm and wet that he just couldn’t help himself, the way she was pulling him in making it impossible to resist. “Fuck,” he muttered, giving his hips a slow grind, wanting to feel himself fully inside her. He was in no rush though, and it took a second for her words to catch up to him. “You do?” he asked, giving a slow thrust of his hips. “Do you touch yourself?” He wasn’t sure what caused him to ask, since he normally wouldn’t, but he’d always felt that kind of freedom with Lem. Like, she wouldn’t judge him on what he said or did, at least not as harshly as other people might. They’d developed a trust that was so rare in his life, something beyond a casual fuck, even if that’s how things had started.
Nic of course wasn’t some pollyanna innocent, but he was a sweet guy, and there was something about hearing him curse like that that sent a shiver of pleasure down Lem’s spine. Maybe it was just that breathless, beside-himself edge to his voice. She moved her hips with his, lifting them off the bed to draw his cock into herself deeper while she enjoyed that delicious drag inside of her. Protection definitely wasn’t on her mind, instead she wanted to feel every bit of his naked flesh against and inside hers. “Uh huh,” she whimpered more than said, her eyes closing briefly. Lem ran her hands down the sides of Nic’s back, short nails digging into the top of his ass for a moment. “Always wish it was you, though,” she added breathily. “You feel so damn good.”
The bite of her nails into his skin brought a pleased groan from him and he nipped at her lips, his words turning breathless. “You should call,” he teased. “I’d come over. Anytime.” It was so easy to picture her, lounging in bed with her hand down between her legs, rubbing at her clit as she thought of him and what they did together. Since he’d met her, Lem had been the only one on Nic’s mind when he’d fantasized, but he hadn’t really expected the same from her. Hearing that it was him on her mind did things to him that he couldn’t explain—his hips thrust a little harder, his hands held her tighter, and his kiss turned just a touch desperate. He wanted her to feel good more than anything in the world, but he also wanted her to be his, at least for that moment, because she had him so completely that he couldn’t even imagine wanting anyone else ever again.
Lem had a lot of dark fantasies. The guys in those -- if there were guys at all -- were usually faceless, nameless, just stand-ins in her imagination to hurt and torture and control. It didn’t seem right to put Nic in the middle of all that. But he had definitely crossed her mind when she was feeling less vindictive, more warm and fuzzy, more normal. She hadn’t had a guy around for a long time who she wanted to think about that way, but it had been working for her lately. She wanted to tell him that she would take him up on that calling thing -- having a boy on call was more than slightly appealing -- but he was fucking her too good for any real words to come out. Just little whimpers and soft cries as her pleasure started to build more rapidly. Lem held onto Nic as tight as she could without restricting his movement, letting herself go into that happy, brain-quiet place where she could just enjoy herself.
While the idea had been to be vocal, just to tease whomever might be listening in telepathically, Nic had hit the point where he couldn’t think of anything but Lem and getting them both off. There was no room for anyone else between them, no thoughts to spare for anything but how incredible she felt beneath him. He gave up on trying to kiss her and lost himself in the spiral towards ecstasy, his hips grinding into hers as he held her tight. Most girls wanted romance to go with their flowers, but he loved that he could truly fuck Lem, that she enjoyed it hard and fast more than slow and sweet and gentle. He could’ve made it happen, if that's what she wanted, but this was a far better fit for him— for the both of them, it seemed.
She had also completely forgotten about anybody else who might be listening in on them, whether through psychic means or just through the walls. Vex might have been up already, or he might still be sleeping through all of the whines and whimpers that were coming steadily out of her now. Lem didn’t care; he knew what she got up to, and it wouldn’t bother him. The only person filling up Lem’s mind was the same one filling her senses at the moment. Panting and moaning, Lem rocked her small body under Nic’s, drawing his cock in deep with every thrust and angling it where she liked it the best. Her orgasm came up on her fast and she got louder, her nails digging into Nic’s back for a moment before she crashed into shuddering cries, her body throbbing around him.
Nic had been close before she came, only holding himself back just enough that he didn’t come before she did and leave her wanting. When she reached her peak, he let himself go, fucking her hard and fast as she shuddered and clenched around him, until he was crying out as well, emptying himself into her with a jerk and a gasp. Nothing could compete with that feeling, no drug could replicate that high, and the best part was sharing it with her, knowing that he could give it to her as much as she could give it to him. Though he was panting, Nic kissed her hard, holding himself above her until his body finally began to calm. The he rolled them to the side and pulled her closer, wanting something just a little bit more gentle, a kiss to capture the feelings he couldn’t quite say.
It was funny how giving a shit about a person could change things. Lem loved listening to and feeling him come, the way his breath got all ragged and shaky and all the tight muscles pressed against hers. She didn’t usually give a shit about a man’s pleasure, but somehow Nic’s made her own feel even better. She kissed him back with a muffled moan, hands sliding over his back, then moved with him to the side, one leg staying hitched up around his hip. Lem’s lips clung to his, though she eased off the pressure when he did, her body starting to feel warmer and heavier as everything in her relaxed. It was a nice feeling. She didn’t have a lot of steady sources of those, and Lem felt a weird sort of gratitude she couldn’t have described to him. It was just there, and it didn’t feel bad, so Lem just let it be.
Nic’s plans for the day didn’t really extend beyond this, hanging out with Lem as long as she’d let him and making her happy in any way he could. Lazing around in bed was something of a guilty pleasure that he didn’t take advantage of often, but today he was totally on board. His fingers glided lightly over her skin, stroking up her sides as he closed his eyes for a minute. He’d never imagined another person could make him feel like this and he wanted the moment to last for as long as possible.