Post by Rosie on Aug 19, 2017 5:44:51 GMT 10
Series: Feeling is First
Title: Ignite
Rating: PG-13
Event: Cross-Country Run
Words: 2110
Summary: Thayet isn't keen on Buri's party, or the fact that Jon is there, but then, Thayet's been wrong before.
Notes: Many thanks to Lisa!!
--
"You're cooking."
Thayet had never seen Buri look so bashful. "I'm having a small party of friends over, and there will be some food."
"You're having a dinner party. With our three chairs."
"We're having an informal get-together." Cythera yawned widely, stretching out her arms. "It's going to be wonderful. Let me see who's around."
Thayet waited until Cythera had left the room, and then fixed Buri with an unimpressed look. "Buri, are you trying to steal Cythera's date?"
She was forced to follow Buri through to the kitchen, and found the fridge door blocking her view.
"No. Cythera likes Alex now. Something about his fencing stick, or the way he uses it, or something." Buri closed the door, and met Thayet's accusing gaze. "Oh, come on. It's the truth. I stuck it out last night to make sure she was okay, and Alex charmed her pants off. Not literally. Maybe literally."
"And… you're seeing if the way to a man's heart is through his stomach? Buri, I don't know if poisoning Raoul is the way to go."
"Struck a deal with Pat," Buri said smugly, filching one of Cythera's apples from the fruit bowl. "He's cooking. He wants to introduce his boyfriend to me, and I've promised to limit myself to three offensive things all evening. If tonight goes well, I'll even smile."
Thayet had to hand it to Buri. She had a way of getting what she wanted.
--
The party was in full swing when Thayet ventured out of her bedroom. The Limpets, as Buri had dubbed Gary and Delia, were taking up most of the sofa, and the Smirker was engaged in conversation with a blonde. It didn't take Thayet long to locate actual friends. Alanna and George stood in the doorway to the garden, apparently oblivious that they might be blocking anybody else's escape route.
"Thayet!" Alanna's face lit up, and Thayet remembered, as ever, why she liked the other girl. "Ah, shame you couldn't do anything about that natural beauty for tonight, eh? Hey, let me introduce you to a friend of mine - Johnny, come over here!"
'Johnny' was, of course, the Smirker. Thayet stared at her socked feet as Jon made his way over, wishing she at least had a glass of something in her hand for the ensuing awkwardness.
"Johnny and I know each other from uni. He - say, George, could you grab us some drinks from the kitchen? Thanks, love - really took me under his wing. He's awesome, I think you'd-"
"We've met," Thayet interrupted, trying to bring an end to the conversation with her flat tone.
"All right. Well, even if you don't like him, maybe you can hold his hand for a bit and get him away from his bitch of an ex-girlfriend. Both ex-girlfriends - Johnny, you really have terrible taste - before they claw his eyes out or worse. Look, he's only a feeble little thing."
"Alanna." Jon buried his face in his hands. It was sort of unfair how good embarrassment looked on him.
Alanna spread hers wide, shrugging. "What? I talked you up, she's not taking it, and honestly, Thayet - oh, thanks, love - you'd be doing us all a favour if you got Josiane to leave early. Genuinely saving lives."
Thayet snorted, taking her own drink from George. "Saving lives? She doesn't exactly look like the axe-murdering type."
"You mustn't be so prejudiced," Jon said seriously, and Thayet almost smiled. Almost - it wouldn't do to encourage him too much.
"Oh, Thayet, there you are!" Cythera appeared, always Thayet's knight-in-shining-armour. "Come on, love, I'm dying for you to meet Alex properly. And you're welcome," she added, once they were out of Jon's earshot.
Thayet turned, finding Jon watching her from the doorway.
--
The party was still going after Thayet had retired to her room, having grown frustrated with Cythera's 'Alex says', and Buri's - well, neither Buri nor Raoul had been seen for at least an hour. Everybody bearable appeared to have coupled off, leaving her feeling like a spare part.
She'd barely pulled her pyjamas on when there was a knock at her door. Expecting it to be Cythera, Thayet flung it open. Instead of Cythera's sweet, penitent face, the Smirker's arch brows loomed. Thayet was flummoxed, barely able to comprehend the steaming cup on offer.
"It's not poison. You look like you think I would vacate a perfectly good party just to poison you in your bedroom."
Dazed, Thayet stared down at the mug in her hands, the blue china proclaiming it to be one of Cythera's set.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay, that's all."
It snapped Thayet back into the real world. "You can't expect me to believe that."
He frowned at her, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm sorry?"
She winced, eyeing his defensive posture. Clearly, she'd come across sterner than intended. "You've got one, if not two ex-girlfriends lurking around outside. You're looking for a hide-out."
Jonathan grinned, and she backed up involuntarily, turning to find a place for the mug. "You've got me. Sanctuary, dear sweet lady, pray give me sanctuary."
The inappropriateness of his being in her bedroom seemed to strike them both at the same time, but swells of chatter and laughter were bursting into the room. Thayet thought it unlikely that she would manage to sleep through the party as it was.
"If you pass me my dressing gown, I will allow you to seek sanctuary here."
He flashed a smile at her, closing the door and lifting her dressing gown off the hook. "I wish I'd known how fluffy this was before we agreed terms."
Thayet plucked it from his hands before he could try to negotiate further. "We don't renege in this household, Conte." It was a little warm to be wearing it, but she was grateful of the added coverage. She wriggled so that she was upright in bed, back against the headboard. "All right. Entertain me."
Jon - who, now she thought about it, seemed to have an easy grace about him - relaxed into her computer chair. "I feel like your court jester, Majesty." He gave the chair an experimental spin. "What would you like to start with - guillotining the poor for non-payment of taxes? Or would you rather bathe in the blood of virgins?"
Laughter bubbled to her lips, impossible to quell, and Thayet set her cup back down for fear of spilling tea over her bedsheets. "It worries me that's what you thought of first. Perhaps it's best that nobody has crowned you."
"So you didn't crown me King of All Evil?" Jon asked, swinging around to face her desk, and fiddling with her array of highlighters. "That's interesting."
To give her a second to collect herself, Thayet took a sip of the tea, and nearly spat it out again. "Ugh - how much sugar is in that?"
"Thought you might need sweetening."
"Don't think I won't go find Josiane."
He looped his arms around the arms of the chair. "Nah, I reckon I'm pretty safe here. You wouldn't want the blood bath spoiling your decor."
"It is a nightmare to get out of the rug," she agreed, feeling her veins fizz to life as he grinned at her. This was a mistake - this was all leading somewhere, and she was sitting there in her sheep pyjamas, letting it happen.
Presumably, Jon's mind was running along a similar track; he voiced the thought that she was considerably less intimidating as a wolf in sheep's clothing.
"I would think that, having dated a potential axe-murderer, you wouldn't find little old me intimidating at all." Emboldened by his snort, she continued, feigning an air of nonchalance by fiddling with her dressing gown's tie. "How did you end up dating her? Did Tinder lead you astray?"
The tension in the room crept up as she realised he was watching her play with the knot; suddenly her mouth was dry. Jon shook his head, tucking his hands behind his head, and choosing to stare at the ceiling instead. "My dear old mum worries about me getting lonely, and tries to set me up. And I, well, I found out Alanna and George got engaged. Josiane was a casualty of that, I'm afraid, though perhaps too intent on bloodlust to be a-" He stopped, correctly reading her expression. "Oh, you didn't know."
She felt her view flip; there was such a vulnerable expression on his face that she had to keep her fingers laced in her lap to keep from reaching out for him. This Jon was a world away from the one she had met at the social.
"It was just a uni thing." Jon swung around in the chair, presumably regretting his candour. "I knew about George, but I thought - well, whatever. I thought wrong."
Did Thayet purposefully go around collecting Alanna's exes? "I dated Liam," she blurted out, feeling she needed to redress the balance in some way. "I was going to ask him to move in with me, and then..."
It stopped Jon; he cocked his head, obviously knowing enough of the story to fill in the blanks. "Well, my learned friend, it seems you and I are roadkill on love's motorway."
Thayet threw one of her pillows at him. "I bet you say that to all the girls."
"I save it for the pitiful specimens." He stuck the pillow behind his head, apparently intending to stay for a while. Thayet's insides squirmed at the thought. "God, I'm sorry. I meant to give you your tea, check you were okay, and apologise for being a jerk the other night, and now I've gone and unloaded everything."
"That's all right. I lied about Dain being a good listener."
Jon chuckled, leaning his head back and exposing the line of his throat.
"Can I ask why Josiane seems to think you're still dating?"
He exhaled, closing his eyes. "Who knows. I think someone's in her ear, but I can't work out who. She's formed an unholy alliance with Delia, who's got her claws into Gary. You might have noticed that part."
"I think they're more intimately acquainted with my sofa than I am."
"I'll buy you a new one. I still have Gary's card details."
It was difficult not to bristle at the offer, but she relaxed herself with a small effort. It was probably made in jest, and in any event, it was natural he'd be more casual about money than she. "Just give me my pillow back, and we'll call it even."
Jon frowned at her. "What, this pillow? You're mistaken; this is my pillow. You gave it to me, and I don't return gifts. It's rude."
"I threw it at you," she pointed out.
"Well, then, it's a hostage. My prisoner of war."
There was only one thing for it. Thayet climbed off the bed, and tugged hard at the pillow. The motion propelled the chair around, catching her off-guard and she tumbled into Jon's lap.
"Look at that," Jon murmured, sounding delighted. "I swept you off your feet."
The moment that had catapulted into Thayet's top five most embarrassing moments of all time took a drastic turn for the better as he cupped her jaw with his cool fingers. Any sounds from the party had long since faded from Thayet's awareness as the world narrowed to her computer chair.
"I don't suppose you'd mind if I kissed you?"
"I don't suppose so," she managed, and then - of course - someone rapped on the door.
"Thayet? Thayet, are you awake?"
Thayet closed her eyes, and rested her forehead against Jon's. "Cythera," she murmured. "I have to go; she'll come in."
She opened the door carefully, shielding Jon from Cythera's view, and assumed her grumpiest expression. It wasn't hard.
"Oh, Thayet, did I wake you? Sorry, it's just Alex is looking for Jonathan."
"Why is Alex looking for Jonathan in my bedroom?" Thayet asked, raising an eyebrow at Alex, who had come to join Cythera.
"Sorry, Thayet. He's been missing for a while, and we've checked everywhere else. It's poor Josiane I'm really concerned about. He barely spoke to her all evening."
Thayet resisted the urge to glance back into her room. "Maybe she should have gone home. Maybe you should take her home, Alex. Be a good Samaritan, and let me get some rest."
Alex gave Thayet a long, considering look, and then was gone, Cythera trailing in his wake.
Thayet exhaled, and closed the door, to find Jon right behind her. "That was-"
"I don't care," he answered, and kissed her.
Title: Ignite
Rating: PG-13
Event: Cross-Country Run
Words: 2110
Summary: Thayet isn't keen on Buri's party, or the fact that Jon is there, but then, Thayet's been wrong before.
Notes: Many thanks to Lisa!!
--
"You're cooking."
Thayet had never seen Buri look so bashful. "I'm having a small party of friends over, and there will be some food."
"You're having a dinner party. With our three chairs."
"We're having an informal get-together." Cythera yawned widely, stretching out her arms. "It's going to be wonderful. Let me see who's around."
Thayet waited until Cythera had left the room, and then fixed Buri with an unimpressed look. "Buri, are you trying to steal Cythera's date?"
She was forced to follow Buri through to the kitchen, and found the fridge door blocking her view.
"No. Cythera likes Alex now. Something about his fencing stick, or the way he uses it, or something." Buri closed the door, and met Thayet's accusing gaze. "Oh, come on. It's the truth. I stuck it out last night to make sure she was okay, and Alex charmed her pants off. Not literally. Maybe literally."
"And… you're seeing if the way to a man's heart is through his stomach? Buri, I don't know if poisoning Raoul is the way to go."
"Struck a deal with Pat," Buri said smugly, filching one of Cythera's apples from the fruit bowl. "He's cooking. He wants to introduce his boyfriend to me, and I've promised to limit myself to three offensive things all evening. If tonight goes well, I'll even smile."
Thayet had to hand it to Buri. She had a way of getting what she wanted.
--
The party was in full swing when Thayet ventured out of her bedroom. The Limpets, as Buri had dubbed Gary and Delia, were taking up most of the sofa, and the Smirker was engaged in conversation with a blonde. It didn't take Thayet long to locate actual friends. Alanna and George stood in the doorway to the garden, apparently oblivious that they might be blocking anybody else's escape route.
"Thayet!" Alanna's face lit up, and Thayet remembered, as ever, why she liked the other girl. "Ah, shame you couldn't do anything about that natural beauty for tonight, eh? Hey, let me introduce you to a friend of mine - Johnny, come over here!"
'Johnny' was, of course, the Smirker. Thayet stared at her socked feet as Jon made his way over, wishing she at least had a glass of something in her hand for the ensuing awkwardness.
"Johnny and I know each other from uni. He - say, George, could you grab us some drinks from the kitchen? Thanks, love - really took me under his wing. He's awesome, I think you'd-"
"We've met," Thayet interrupted, trying to bring an end to the conversation with her flat tone.
"All right. Well, even if you don't like him, maybe you can hold his hand for a bit and get him away from his bitch of an ex-girlfriend. Both ex-girlfriends - Johnny, you really have terrible taste - before they claw his eyes out or worse. Look, he's only a feeble little thing."
"Alanna." Jon buried his face in his hands. It was sort of unfair how good embarrassment looked on him.
Alanna spread hers wide, shrugging. "What? I talked you up, she's not taking it, and honestly, Thayet - oh, thanks, love - you'd be doing us all a favour if you got Josiane to leave early. Genuinely saving lives."
Thayet snorted, taking her own drink from George. "Saving lives? She doesn't exactly look like the axe-murdering type."
"You mustn't be so prejudiced," Jon said seriously, and Thayet almost smiled. Almost - it wouldn't do to encourage him too much.
"Oh, Thayet, there you are!" Cythera appeared, always Thayet's knight-in-shining-armour. "Come on, love, I'm dying for you to meet Alex properly. And you're welcome," she added, once they were out of Jon's earshot.
Thayet turned, finding Jon watching her from the doorway.
--
The party was still going after Thayet had retired to her room, having grown frustrated with Cythera's 'Alex says', and Buri's - well, neither Buri nor Raoul had been seen for at least an hour. Everybody bearable appeared to have coupled off, leaving her feeling like a spare part.
She'd barely pulled her pyjamas on when there was a knock at her door. Expecting it to be Cythera, Thayet flung it open. Instead of Cythera's sweet, penitent face, the Smirker's arch brows loomed. Thayet was flummoxed, barely able to comprehend the steaming cup on offer.
"It's not poison. You look like you think I would vacate a perfectly good party just to poison you in your bedroom."
Dazed, Thayet stared down at the mug in her hands, the blue china proclaiming it to be one of Cythera's set.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay, that's all."
It snapped Thayet back into the real world. "You can't expect me to believe that."
He frowned at her, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm sorry?"
She winced, eyeing his defensive posture. Clearly, she'd come across sterner than intended. "You've got one, if not two ex-girlfriends lurking around outside. You're looking for a hide-out."
Jonathan grinned, and she backed up involuntarily, turning to find a place for the mug. "You've got me. Sanctuary, dear sweet lady, pray give me sanctuary."
The inappropriateness of his being in her bedroom seemed to strike them both at the same time, but swells of chatter and laughter were bursting into the room. Thayet thought it unlikely that she would manage to sleep through the party as it was.
"If you pass me my dressing gown, I will allow you to seek sanctuary here."
He flashed a smile at her, closing the door and lifting her dressing gown off the hook. "I wish I'd known how fluffy this was before we agreed terms."
Thayet plucked it from his hands before he could try to negotiate further. "We don't renege in this household, Conte." It was a little warm to be wearing it, but she was grateful of the added coverage. She wriggled so that she was upright in bed, back against the headboard. "All right. Entertain me."
Jon - who, now she thought about it, seemed to have an easy grace about him - relaxed into her computer chair. "I feel like your court jester, Majesty." He gave the chair an experimental spin. "What would you like to start with - guillotining the poor for non-payment of taxes? Or would you rather bathe in the blood of virgins?"
Laughter bubbled to her lips, impossible to quell, and Thayet set her cup back down for fear of spilling tea over her bedsheets. "It worries me that's what you thought of first. Perhaps it's best that nobody has crowned you."
"So you didn't crown me King of All Evil?" Jon asked, swinging around to face her desk, and fiddling with her array of highlighters. "That's interesting."
To give her a second to collect herself, Thayet took a sip of the tea, and nearly spat it out again. "Ugh - how much sugar is in that?"
"Thought you might need sweetening."
"Don't think I won't go find Josiane."
He looped his arms around the arms of the chair. "Nah, I reckon I'm pretty safe here. You wouldn't want the blood bath spoiling your decor."
"It is a nightmare to get out of the rug," she agreed, feeling her veins fizz to life as he grinned at her. This was a mistake - this was all leading somewhere, and she was sitting there in her sheep pyjamas, letting it happen.
Presumably, Jon's mind was running along a similar track; he voiced the thought that she was considerably less intimidating as a wolf in sheep's clothing.
"I would think that, having dated a potential axe-murderer, you wouldn't find little old me intimidating at all." Emboldened by his snort, she continued, feigning an air of nonchalance by fiddling with her dressing gown's tie. "How did you end up dating her? Did Tinder lead you astray?"
The tension in the room crept up as she realised he was watching her play with the knot; suddenly her mouth was dry. Jon shook his head, tucking his hands behind his head, and choosing to stare at the ceiling instead. "My dear old mum worries about me getting lonely, and tries to set me up. And I, well, I found out Alanna and George got engaged. Josiane was a casualty of that, I'm afraid, though perhaps too intent on bloodlust to be a-" He stopped, correctly reading her expression. "Oh, you didn't know."
She felt her view flip; there was such a vulnerable expression on his face that she had to keep her fingers laced in her lap to keep from reaching out for him. This Jon was a world away from the one she had met at the social.
"It was just a uni thing." Jon swung around in the chair, presumably regretting his candour. "I knew about George, but I thought - well, whatever. I thought wrong."
Did Thayet purposefully go around collecting Alanna's exes? "I dated Liam," she blurted out, feeling she needed to redress the balance in some way. "I was going to ask him to move in with me, and then..."
It stopped Jon; he cocked his head, obviously knowing enough of the story to fill in the blanks. "Well, my learned friend, it seems you and I are roadkill on love's motorway."
Thayet threw one of her pillows at him. "I bet you say that to all the girls."
"I save it for the pitiful specimens." He stuck the pillow behind his head, apparently intending to stay for a while. Thayet's insides squirmed at the thought. "God, I'm sorry. I meant to give you your tea, check you were okay, and apologise for being a jerk the other night, and now I've gone and unloaded everything."
"That's all right. I lied about Dain being a good listener."
Jon chuckled, leaning his head back and exposing the line of his throat.
"Can I ask why Josiane seems to think you're still dating?"
He exhaled, closing his eyes. "Who knows. I think someone's in her ear, but I can't work out who. She's formed an unholy alliance with Delia, who's got her claws into Gary. You might have noticed that part."
"I think they're more intimately acquainted with my sofa than I am."
"I'll buy you a new one. I still have Gary's card details."
It was difficult not to bristle at the offer, but she relaxed herself with a small effort. It was probably made in jest, and in any event, it was natural he'd be more casual about money than she. "Just give me my pillow back, and we'll call it even."
Jon frowned at her. "What, this pillow? You're mistaken; this is my pillow. You gave it to me, and I don't return gifts. It's rude."
"I threw it at you," she pointed out.
"Well, then, it's a hostage. My prisoner of war."
There was only one thing for it. Thayet climbed off the bed, and tugged hard at the pillow. The motion propelled the chair around, catching her off-guard and she tumbled into Jon's lap.
"Look at that," Jon murmured, sounding delighted. "I swept you off your feet."
The moment that had catapulted into Thayet's top five most embarrassing moments of all time took a drastic turn for the better as he cupped her jaw with his cool fingers. Any sounds from the party had long since faded from Thayet's awareness as the world narrowed to her computer chair.
"I don't suppose you'd mind if I kissed you?"
"I don't suppose so," she managed, and then - of course - someone rapped on the door.
"Thayet? Thayet, are you awake?"
Thayet closed her eyes, and rested her forehead against Jon's. "Cythera," she murmured. "I have to go; she'll come in."
She opened the door carefully, shielding Jon from Cythera's view, and assumed her grumpiest expression. It wasn't hard.
"Oh, Thayet, did I wake you? Sorry, it's just Alex is looking for Jonathan."
"Why is Alex looking for Jonathan in my bedroom?" Thayet asked, raising an eyebrow at Alex, who had come to join Cythera.
"Sorry, Thayet. He's been missing for a while, and we've checked everywhere else. It's poor Josiane I'm really concerned about. He barely spoke to her all evening."
Thayet resisted the urge to glance back into her room. "Maybe she should have gone home. Maybe you should take her home, Alex. Be a good Samaritan, and let me get some rest."
Alex gave Thayet a long, considering look, and then was gone, Cythera trailing in his wake.
Thayet exhaled, and closed the door, to find Jon right behind her. "That was-"
"I don't care," he answered, and kissed her.
So glad you enjoyed it. You will be unsurprised to hear that my googledoc was headed 'Josiane = axe-murderer' for a good while... 
Maybe once we'd have seen it during Smackdown!