Getting Closer

Who: Thom and Leija
When: afternoon on
Where: Leija's room
Warning: work-cautious toward the end. >.>

Thom had canceled his planned day when Leija had called earlier on to say that she was home from the hospital and not to go visit, if that's what he'd been intending to do. Because, well, that was what he'd been intending to do, after all. She'd also told him that she was going to go sleep for a few hours, but if he wanted to come over that afternoon, that'd be fine. And, as Thom was still feeling hideously guilty about everything and probably would have done anything she asked at that point, he agreed and intend spent his morning down in the basement, laid out on one of the couches with his guitar. Once the 'afternoon' wore round, he'd called a cab, decided that he really needed to have that 'car' talk with his mom again, and headed on over to Leija's. Paying the driver, he walked up the driveway and knocked at the door.

As Leija was upstairs, racked out asleep on her bed and breathing even, it was her dad who answered the knock on the door. He was entirely unsurprised to see Thom standing on the front porch. They'd crossed paths in the hospital for the past couple of days, exchanged one brief introduction, but that had been about the extent of it. John had learned years ago that giving Leija her space was the best course of action most of the time -- though that space had never been shared by young men before. It was odd, but his expression was pleasant enough as he gave the boy a nod and stepped back to let him in. "Thom," he greeted.

"Mr Christiensen," Thom said, politely as he entered the house. "Is Leija awake yet? She said she was going to get some sleep, but that I could come over this afternoon." His tone was deferent, respectful, but confident - a habit of Thom's. He'd learnt how to successfully walk that line years ago. He was still a little unsure, almost nervous, around Leija's father, but that didn't show outwardly.

"I'm not sure if she's up and around yet, but you're welcome to go see," John invited, quite aware that the young man in front of him knew where his daughter's room was. Sometime soon he'd have to talk with him, feel him out a little, but now wasn't the time. He wanted to speak with Leija first, and to say she hadn't felt up to it was something of a gross understatement. John nodded toward the kitchen as he shut the door. "Help yourself to anything, I'll be in my study." And he headed off in that direction.

"Thank you, sir," Thom said, maintaining the deferential tone. "If she's not awake yet - I can come back later," he added. Like he hadn't just taken a cab from half way over town or something. But he was quite capable of going for a walk for a couple of hours if necessary.

"Up to you, feel free to hang around," John said, giving him another glance before disappearing through a door in the hallway. At least he was home. He had to trust his daughter's judgement sometime. But he did indeed leave the door open, and would likely have one reason or another to go upstairs periodically.

Thom watched the man go before smiling a little, happy that that box had been ticked. Being on the parent's good side was a Plan, after all. He considered getting a couple of drinks before he headed up, but chickened out of nosing around someone else's kitchen - he'd come back down if she wanted anything - instead, he headed upstairs. He paused for a second outside Leija's door, trying to decide whether to knock or not. He felt as if he should, but that alone might wake her up. He the end, he quietly turned the doorknob and opened the door enough to poke his head into the room.

Leija was sprawled out rather comfortably, propped up on her stomach on a couple of pillows that she was loosely hugging. A thick blanket was twisted around her middle, bare calves and feet poking out and very close to hanging off the bed. The spaghetti strap of her tanktop rested lightly on the white bandages on her right shoulder. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail that flopped limply to one side. The stereo lightly piped in something soft and classical. She didn't stir.

Thom bit his bottom lip slightly as he smiled, his longish brown hair flopping over his cheek as he tilted his head to the side to watch her for a moment. She was asleep, that much was obvious, but for all the injuries, she looked, well, comfortable - in a messy kinda way. He dropped his weight onto his back leg, going to simply close the door and leave her to sleep, but then he decided that he didn't really want to go and instead widened the door just enough to slip inside. He walked almost silently over to the bed before sitting on the floor by her head, resting his elbows on his knees since he couldn't lean back against anything.

Eventually, Leija did finally move. She made a soft 'mmph' sound and shifted. The only thing about being injured was that you tended to go in and out of sleep, depending on how much pain you were in. Her eyes opened and she stretched a little, wincing and totally unaware that she had company. Until she -- very carefully -- rolled over and saw a dark head that didn't belong there sitting at the side of her bed. She smiled faintly, settling onto her side so she could look at him. "Time izzit?" she mumbled sleepily.

"About twenty after two," Thom said, guessing so he didn't have to move to look at his watch. "How're you feeling?" he asked, giving her a sweep up and down as if he hadn't just spent some time watching her sleep - which had given him ample time to consider her injuries, though he'd memorised them all during his first visit to the hospital.

She considered that for a moment. "Better," she answered. Partly because her bed? Far superior to hospital beds, and she was actually getting to sleep. It was great. "Still sore and kinda ... bleh, but better. You?" She reached out a hand to brush the hair on his forward to one side.

His eyes drifted closed for a moment as she stroked back his hair, before he opened them again to look at her. "Feeling a lot better," he admitted. he was - any suggestion of fever was gone and his back had properly scabbed over. It still hurt like hell, but he had painkillers for that. Today was the first day he'd been sans bandages and he actually felt like he could move a little more. He'd been warned about being careful though - the scabs were fragile and it wouldn't take much to break them open again. His cheek was strangely the worst at the moment - mostly because it itched like hell where it was healing and the urge to scratch it drove him to distraction at times.

"Good," she said with a genuine gentle smile. Really, she couldn't think of anything better to wake up to; Thom just quietly keeping watch, or keeping her company, or whatever it was he was keeping. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy and sure that he meant it when he said he'd be there for her when he could be. She paused for a beat, then arched a light-colored eyebrow. "How long have you been here? ... and you totally don't have to sit on the floor."

"A while," he admitted. "Coupla hours, maybe? Your dad let me in." And had walked past her bedroom door at least twice since then. He hadn't come inside, but Thom had heard the footsteps - and the pause as he listened outside the door. Thom had assumed that he'd taken the lack of rampant sex noises to mean that daddy didn't need to come rescue his little girl or anything. He eased himself up off the floor - moving carefully, protective of his injuries - and sat on the edge of the bed. "I didn't want to wake you. And I don't mind the floor..."

"A couple of hours?" she repeated, both eyebrows lifting up at she watched him move. He'd been there that long, just sitting in her room and watching her sleep? The concept just ... made her stare at him for a minute or two. Did she really mean that much to him? "You could've woken me up, sweetie," Leija said softly. She pushed herself up to sitting and hugged him from the side. No way did that not deserve a hug.

He winced a little over her shoulder as she touched his back - something she wouldn't have been able to see, though he couldn't help but tense very slightly. "You needed your sleep - you've been sickly. Rest is good for you," he told her. He hadn't minded waiting - he had a lot to think about at the moment.

"Well yeah, but ... yeah. Wow." She let out a little laugh and let him go. She'd felt the bit of tensing, and didn't want to hurt him or anything. Leija sat back and just smiled at him. She didn't think there was anybody in the world who would just ... do that kind of thing for her. Even in the hospital, her dad had brought papers to look over.

"Wow?" Thom asked her, pushing a strand of hair back from her eyes. "Do I get points for that?" he asked her, cheekily. It was a little strange, because until her reaction, he'd not considered it might be an unusual thing to do at all. Now... Obviously possibly it was.

"Like, a billion points," she confirmed, leaning into his touch just a little bit. It was nice, having him somewhere that felt a lot less ... like somebody was going to walk in on them at any moment. Even though she was sure that her dad was somewhere not far off. She kissed his wrist before he took it back. "Redeemable in any fashion you choose."

He actually blushed a little at that - not totally unaware of where they were, even if they were both injured. At the end of the day, for all his awareness of his position and what was and wasn't a good idea and for everything else, he was just a teenage guy. But, he was also him - which was why no matter where his mind went, his reactions were limited to a slight blush and a longer pause before he could speak again. "I want to hear you play. When you're better." He wondered if she'd thought he'd forgotten about that, since he hadn't mentioned it since... well, since they'd started dating.

Leija had been watching him, and was oddly delighted at making him blush like that, but she didn't rub it in or anything. They were both hurt and everything, and that wasn't ever conducive to fooling around. At least, she wouldn't think so. Not that she knew or anything. She smiled at the avenue he actually chose to go down, however. "Piano or violin?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at him. She hadn't forgotten, definitely not. She just wasn't sure if she looked forward to it or not.

"I get a choice?" he asked her, grinning. "Do I get to choose both? You did say anything, right?" he pointed out, wondering if he was pushing his luck. Though, possibly, pushing his luck would have been to lean in and kiss her and lay her down on the bed and... Injured, pain in your back, she's only just come out of hospital. Mad demonic cat attack. Injured...

She rolled her eyes skyward and feigned taking her time making the decision. "Well," she said expansively. "I can't do both at the same tiiiiime ... but you do have a billion points now ... so maybe that's worth ... one song a piece?" She looked at him, bemused and oblivious to what he was really thinking about.

He couldn't help it as he watched her pretend to think and he leaned in, dropping his head to her neck and kissing along the column, giving himself that much as he tried to drag his mind away from where it seemed to have settled itself. She really, really needed to get well again - all this hanging around her in bed wasn't helping at all. "I can live with one song a piece," he agreed, though his mind was slightly more on kissing her pulse points right about now.

Leija really hadn't expected that at all, but she? Wasn't going to complain. The touch of his mouth on her neck simultaneously snapped all her nerve endings to attention and kicked her thought process' ass. "Oh," she breathed faintly, sounding half surprised and half melty. Her head tilted to the side to give him all the room he wanted.

He should stop. Stop, draw back, talk. All those non-touchy things. Though for the life of him, right now, he couldn't think why he should do that. After all, she was his girlfriend and all he was doing was kissing her, right? And she was so soft. His arms slid carefully round her as he pulled her closer, kissing up the column of her throat and along her jawline to her lips.

Her own arms hooked carefully around his neck and shoulders as he drew her in. Her eyes closed and she kissed him back eagerly as he got to her mouth. It gave her the most tingly-warm feeling in her chest that mixed in nicely with the stomach-butterflies. 'Cause she still got those. Even though she was sleep-gross and still sick, he wanted to kiss her, and that was a marvel. She hoped he wouldn't stop.

He didn't, instead he scooted round without pulling away or breaking off, so that he was in a better position to continue kissing her - ungracefully almost scrambling round, pulling his legs up onto the bed as he properly wrapped his arms around her and he deepened the kiss.

Leija wanted to help out, because being close to Thom was definitely a good thing. Something she wanted to encourage and fully engage in. She shifted around herself, getting her knees under her instead of the cross-legged position she'd been in. Her lips parted and she kissed him back just as enthusiastically.

He drew back only when air became a serious issue - and he was breathing heavily as he did so, his mouth open slightly, his brown eyes darker even than normal as he looked at her. He didn't much care that she'd only just woken up, or that she was still less than 100%. Okay, yes, he cared that she was still unwell, but whilst that meant that he'd treat her carefully, it didn't mean it put him off at all. Especially not when she kissed him like that.

Her teeth scraped over her bottom lip as she looked back at him. There was color high in her cheeks and her own eyes were a darker hazel than normal, edging into green. The thought came unbidden that if he said they should stop, she'd hit him. Leija got a couple of breaths under her belt and pulled him back in for more kissing. Not roughly, but firmly enough that it was apparent she meant it.

They should stop, he knew that. Hell, when she pulled him back in like that, his back told him firmly that they should stop - and if he was hurting, she probably was too. They really should stop and he should tell her that. But, unfortunately, his mouth was somewhat engaged in kissing her right now. And for all the protestations of his back, he didn't much want to stop. And so he said nothing, instead deepening the kiss as his hand slipped under her top at the base of her back, stroking the skin there.

Leija made a soft, encouraging sound in the back of her throat at that. Because it felt wonderful, and she could safely say that she was very much infatuated with his hands. Her own fingers delved into the hair at the back of his head, getting lost in the shaggy softness. She nipped lightly at this bottom lip. This was okay, because nothing necessarily was going to happen and he was her boyfriend and he'd sat on her floor for a couple of hours and didn't wake her up and the scratches all over her didn't hurt that bad.

The sensible, rational part of Thom thought for a fleeting second that those encouraging noises? Were probably a bad thing. the rest of him just thought they were adorable and they were very definitely sounds that she should make more often as he lowered her backwards so that they could lie down, leaving her mouth to kiss along her cheek and down her neck again - because he'd liked the feel of her skin there.

Leija settled back against the pillows without any protest whatsoever. She told him in her head in a very dreamy way that he should be careful and not hurt himself, but none of it quite made it out of her mouth. Because he was at her neck again, and it kind of felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest and she didn't care. Her fingers slipped under the hem of his t-shirt to lightly slide over the side of his waist. He was warm.

He drew a sharp intake of breath as he felt her fingers touch his skin, one that had nothing to do with pain, or anything of the sort and everything to do with the simple feeling of her fingers brushing against his skin that suddenly seemed so very overly sensitive as he ran his hand round from her back to her stomach, all the time under her t-shirt as he lathered kisses at her neck, occasionally biting down ever so slightly as he did so - just a nip, not hard enough to actually leave a mark.

Every little thing he did felt amazing, and it very rapidly drowned out any discomfort or twinges of pain from her leg and shoulders. His hand and mouth left goosebumps in their wake, and the first little nip got a gasp out of her. Her fingers trailed upward toward his ribs. She never would have thought that guy-skin could be so smooth and soft. She wanted to kiss it, make him breathe like that again, but on the other hand she really didn't want to interrupt what he was doing.

He was well and truly lost in this now. He was aware of her skin, of the feel of her fingers against his chest, exploring gently. Of the little noises that she was making. And it all just served to encourage him even more as he kissed along her collarbone, nuzzling the strap of her t-shirt out of the way with his nose as he started in on her shoulder, his hand climbing from the bottom, feeling his way upwards.

She twitched pleasantly as his warm breath washed over her upper chest. God, that felt ... nice. More than nice. She was just tingling all over, all of it pooling down into her lower belly. Leija hadn't ever been aware that a person could want to be touched so badly. She tried to remember to breathe as her short nails dug in just the slightest bit to an unmarred patch of skin at his side.

Oh god, she felt so good and Thom shifted slightly so that he was leaning over her, his hair dropping down to tickle her shoulder as he continued to kiss her skin and his hand finally reached high enough to brush against her breast. He moaned slightly into her skin as she dug her nails in - not an unpleasant sensation in the least, but right now, he couldn't imagine anything she could do that he wouldn't find pleasurable...

Her nipple pulled tight under his light touch, and Leija found that even a second's worth of concern over how small her breasts were had been a giant waste of time. He didn't sound or feel like he cared, and she knew that she didn't. Couldn't, 'cause that would've taken some sort of coherency. Which had fallen by the wayside. She dragged her nails upward a little, chest rising and falling pretty hard under his hand.

He brushed a thumb over her nipple, catching himself as he did so. What was he doing? Exactly? He brushed it off - he knew what he was doing. And it wasn't going to go that far - he wouldn't let it, he had control, he could stop himself at any time. And anyway, she wouldn't let him even if he tried - they were nowhere near there, there was no danger, she wasn't that type of girl. And her father was just downstairs. This was completely fine, he could let himself go for a while. She was enjoying it, he was definitely enjoying it, this was all good as he moved back to kiss her again. He'd stop in a while. He would - just not. quite. yet.

Leija kissed him hungrily, nipping at his full bottom lip. It took some real willpower to resist the urge to try and get him out of his shirt; the only real thing stopping her being the fact she knew his back was five kinds of messed up and she didn't want to hurt him. It was hard not to touch, in her desire to explore every bit of him that she could. Which yes, raised a couple of distant far-off red flags, but she ignored them. It was okay, they were in control.

It was the fact that his jeans were really becoming very uncomfortable and would only become more so without some serious readjustment which he wasn't convinced he could carry out subtly that eventually made him stop and he squirmed a little - attempting to realise at least some of that readjustment without making a show of it, in the guise of just some innocent position-shifting, but he still drew back a little, dropping his hand to her waist, though still under her top, and dropping to lie at her side, his head next to hers on her pillows.

She took a second to even her breathing out, telling herself that she should trust him and it was a good idea to stop and ... yeah, stop. Because she felt way overheated and too much like she wanted his weight on her and that was just bad. Awesomely, spine-tingly bad. Leija's head turned and she looked over at him, trying to read his expression.

"I, er..." Thom said, because words seemed necessary right now to anchor him down to that 'stopping' idea. Because, really, it would be far too easy to go back on that and kiss her again. And the rest. And pushing his luck was an option right now. Especially when she looked at him like that. He focused in on her, running through in his mind all the reasons why he knew that this kind of thing was a bad idea, all the while trying to get that look off his face - the one he knew was screaming that he wanted to go back for more. He felt almost drunk with it as he wrestled with his own self-control. Words. Words would help here - words would help define and cement the mastery of his mind over his body. If only he could find them. "So when do I get to hear you play?" he almost blurted out, internally cringing. He'd wanted words, but they could have been better ones than that. He really was hopeless at times.

You can get anything from me whenever you want, was what she almost said. Luckily part of her brain recognized that as a bad statement and snatched it back before it got into her throat. She just ... he just looked so turned on and like he wanted more and she wasn't that kind of girl -- yet -- but her own desire and curiosity were really working against her here. "When I get better, remember?" she murmured, a wicked little smirk crossing her face. Before she could over think it -- which was probably a bad thing -- Leija rolled on her own side to press against him, face dipping in to nuzzle at his neck.

He audibly moaned at that. She'd hit that part of his neck - and he let her nuzzle for a moment before he gently brought his hands to her shoulders and pushed her back. "Leija, don't," he told her, his voice slightly thick. And damn but it took a lot of willpower to say those two words.

Part of her had suspected that was coming at some point, but that did nothing to stop the jab of disappointment that came along with it. She didn't resist, even if she kind of wanted to. Because that sound out of him worked it's way down into the pit of her stomach and curled there nicely. But he had every right to say no, just like she did. Her eyes opened again to take him in, and she knew she should ... probably say something, but she didn't know what.

He returned the look for a moment, his hands still on her shoulders - mostly for his own benefit, because if he was actively holding her back, he couldn't be drawing her in. He dropped his gaze and took a few long breaths, steadying himself before his brown eyes ticked up to her face once more. "I'm sorry, I just..." He trailed off, because he knew that what he was apologising for wasn't anything he'd done, but because he'd been the one to say stop.

Leija made a soft sound of negation and shook her head a little. She reached and lifted the hand on her upper shoulder, kissing his palm lightly. "Don't be," she murmured. She definitely didn't want him to feel bad, not for that kind of thing, ever. She kissed one of his knuckles. "Please don't be, for anything."

He didn't need to explain anything, he knew. It was far too soon even if he didn't have the whole protector lineage thing confusing everything. And explaining his personal reasons for calling a halt would probably just make everything awkward when there was no need for there to be awkwardness anyway. Because, really - things could have gone a hell of a lot further before he'd really had to even consider stopping and his calling a halt had so much more right now to do with the fact that he wasn't good at rushing things than any other consideration. He still couldn't help but think that he wasn't meant to be the one calling halt here, which pricked his manly pride thing - stupid, he knew, but it was there. It was all backwards - and then there was Em. Who had had a problem with him always calling off. Okay, it had taken her a goodly long while to get to the annoyed point, but she'd been good at being annoyed and she had very definitely expressed that fact. Very vocally.

But he refused to think of the disaster that had been Em while he was with Leija. It would be like some poisonous taint or something. Instead he curled his fingers around her hand and pulled it into his chest. "Thank you," he whispered. "For everything."

The way Leija saw it? Thom was shaping up to be many times more sensible than she was. Which of course scored in his favor. Because now that her heart was slowing down a bit, she knew more easily that it was too soon for her to get as touchy-feely on him as she'd wanted to. It wasn't like she knew what she was doing anyway, and she didn't want to ... do it wrong and hurt him or ... just plain suck at it and ruin everything. Or make him think that she only wanted him for ... that. Fooling around stuff. Because it wasn't like that at all. Her want was just a by-product of his glaring Awesomeness. She smiled a little as he thanked her, though she wasn't sure why he was; she didn't feel like she'd done much. At all, for him, in general. "I don't deserve it," she murmured, eyes dropping down to their hands. "But you're welcome anyway."

Thom couldn't disagree more and it took him a minute, but he realised that perhaps he should be disagreeing vocally. "Yes you do," he told her, reaching to stroke her cheek, hoping she'd look back up. "You trust me with this huge thing about you - and yet you're still totally understanding when I can't reciprocate. You ended up in the hospital because I couldn't be there for you and you forgave me. I... I'm the one that doesn't deserve it, Leija."

She did look back up, though she was silent for a beat or two, attempting to formulate what she wanted to say. Because he did deserve it. "You accepted it," she said, very quietly, eyes ticking between his. "It was so soon and ... and so big and changes so much about everything and you just ... didn't run away from it. Me. I trust that you have a good reason for ... not being able to reciprocate. I trust you, Thom. ... which very well might come and bite me in the ass, but that's how I feel." She offered a small smile. She wanted to get closer to him again, but didn't yet.

"I'm cursed," he told her, holding his breath for a moment or two after he said it. That had been one of the things he'd been thinking about, sitting here, watching her sleep. Whether or not he could tell her - whether or not that piece of information would kill him. He'd been 99.9% sure that it wouldn't before he spoke, but that tiny ounce of doubt made him pause afterwards. But, he lived. And so he went on. "My family is cursed. We have a thing. Which we're not allowed to talk about. Or, well, we can talk about. Only... that would be breaking the curse. And it's a fatal curse. Instantly so." he should have phrased that better. But then again there was no good way of saying 'if I tell you something, I'm going to drop dead' - it was hard to sugarcoat that.

Leija stared at him blankly for a moment or two while that sank in. He was serious. He was cursed, and while she knew for certain that such things existed ... oh god, he'd just said he would die! She had the ridiculous urge to put both hands over his mouth to shut him up, but just gripped his hand harder as her eyes went wide. "Oh my god," she murmured. That? Was big. And what was behind it must be big too. Leija's free hand crept up and she touched her lips. She'd put him mortal danger by asking him questions, hadn't she? How horrifying.

He'd been watching her face, of course, and there was no missing the change in expression. At least she believed him. "I'm still trying to work out where the limits are - what is and isn't safe for me to say. And it's not like I can ask anybody else - the curse runs in the family, so mom has it. But she can't talk about what we're not allowed to talk about either. She knows what it is, but we can't discuss it. But - that's the reason I can't reciprocate." He paused and gave her a wry smile. "Told you it had nothing to do with trust."

"Oh Thom," she said. "How awful." And she felt alone sometimes, just because her mother wasn't around to ask questions of about their nature. Thom did have his mom around, and he couldn't or he'd die. Leija couldn't help herself for another second, she did scoot back in toward him, arms slipping around him as she kissed his uninjured cheek. "I knew you had a good reason," she muttered against the side of his head, as if that defended against something in herself.

"It's okay," he reassured her, but he settled into her embrace anyway - it was nice, comforting. And completely different to the passionate embrace of only minutes before, but equally good in its own way. He couldn't really define that - this was a different type of closeness. "I've never told anyone else before," he added. His mom obviously didn't count and there had been nobody else. He'd known Isaac for too long for it to ever come up - after all, Thom himself had only known for getting on for two years. And he'd never felt the need to tell Em, but... Things were different now. Before it never really affected him. He had no protected, there was really nothing to tell. Now he did, and there was - Kaysen changed everything.

My mother's dead. She killed herself, you should know that. I don't know why you should know that, but you should, because I'm a lot like her and I've had days when thinking about throwing myself off a bridge too is a comfort instead of scary and you should know what you're dealing with since you're telling me what I'm dealing with but I can't tell you because it makes me crazy and you might give me that look that doesn't ever do anybody any good, so -- Leija's arms tightened on him just a teensy little bit before she made herself quit. Injured. Dammit. "I won't ask you about it," she assured him again. And with a better reason than blind trust now. "Ever. ... oh my god, Thom, did you know you could tell me?" She pulled back a little to look at him.

Given the looks that had passed over her face in the last couple of minutes, when she asked him that, Thom felt actually a little bit guilty. Because he hadn't known - he'd figured it was a good bet, but he hadn't actually known. Which meant that she could have ended up in bed with a corpse if he'd gotten it horribly wrong. Which would have been awful for anyone, but suddenly he realised that quite possibly it would have been even more traumatic for her. He wondered, if he had died right then and there, would he have warranted a valkyrie? He would have been dying before his time, so he thought maybe yes. Would she be it? Or would there be another? And, would Leija be able to see her if there was? He looked away, unable to hold her gaze. He'd thought he was making things better by telling her, but the risk he'd taken, even though he was as certain as he could be, with her - he had to wonder if he'd made the wrong choice.

His non-answer was all the answer she really needed. No, he hadn't known. But he'd risked it anyway. She didn't know much about curses, maybe there was some sort of stipulation in there that said talking about the curse was okay, just not what it was about or for or whatever. And she was still getting to know Thom's Looks, but that one looked guilty and 'I don't want to tell you, 'cause you'll be upset'. Which made her want to yell at him and cuddle him some more at the same time. She settled for the middle ground of just looking pained and worried but kind of smiley at the same time. God, that was a weird feeling mix. He had risked his life (maybe not a lot, but enough) to tell her something so she'd understand him better. It made her heart feel strange. She didn't know really what to say, so she just brushed the hair off of his forehead and arched her neck to kiss it. "Thank you," she murmured against his head. "I don't ... I don't even know."

He drew back a little and looked at her at that. "You don't know?" he asked, softly, not understanding what she meant by that. And he wasn't sure that she should be thanking him for anything, but he wasn't going to argue the point. It had been a very mild gamble in his opinion - if it could even be called a 'gamble' at all. Rationally, the curse shouldn't have covered itself. It had been explained to him as covering communication of his status as a protector, the identity of his protected and his role in relation to them. In his mind, that meant he was free to talk about the curse, as long as he didn't say what the terms of the curse actually were.

"What to say," she elaborated, even though she knew that wasn't helpful or effective communication in the least. She settled back a little, shifting her shoulder out from under her with a little wince. "But that's nothing new," she added quietly. Mild gamble or not, it meant a lot to her. Which possibly meant she was overly dramatic, but it was obvious in the way she was looking at him. And to think, she'd just -- quite literally -- ran into him in the street. The world was a weird, weird place. "There's more stuff ... on my end ... that you might want to know," she added in a halting sort of way after a moment.

"You don't have to say anything," Thom reassured her, resting a hand in the small of her back as he lay on his side, his head propped up on a pillow. "I told you because I wanted you to know. Because there are going to be things in the future that aren't going to make any sense and that I'm not going to be able to explain. And because I really like you and I don't want us to have some hideous breakup because I can't tell you things and you think I'm lying to you." He could picture it now - Leija demanding to know why Kaysen always got priority, accusing him of seeing her behind her back, a million and one other scenarios that he still couldn't do anything to stop, but at least he'd laid the groundwork for maybe being able to get her to be understanding. "And if you have things you want to tell me, then I want to hear them - but you don't have to."

How did you tell a guy you'd just starting seeing -- and were really starting to have Feelings for, if you were perfectly honest with yourself -- that suicide was kind of like a family trait? And if you didn't end up caving to it, you'd outlive him probably by a couple hundred years? Oh right, there was no way to say that. Leija just looked at him for a couple long minutes, nibbling lightly on her bottom lip. He'd been telling her so much, it seemed like everything he could, and she'd only sort of scratched the surface for him on her life. "I want to warn you," she said at last, eyes big and earnest on his. "That ... sometimes ... I'll be kind of ... hard to deal with." Which wasn't what she'd been aiming to tell him, but witness her pussying out of 'hey I'm gonna age until I'm about 30 and then stop, cool with you?' For one ... yeah, that was likely Weird And Bad News. For two ... that sounded too much like she was assuming he'd still be around with her then, and wasn't that the kiss of death for relationships? She didn't know that he'd ever need to know. "It gets to me, y'know? And I don't mean to be a bitch or crazy enough to cry all the time, but ... yeah, just ... be prepared for bad days." Understatement.

"I can do bad days," he told her with a half smile. "I'll even tell you where the spare key to my place is hidden, in case you need somewhere to run to in the middle of the night. I'd say I'd leave a window open for you, but once winter arrives..." He chuckled a little. "Just - if it's like 2am or something. Try not to wake mom. She works long hours," he added. Because that was so much better than 'she'd freak to see you in the house, I'm sure'. Hopefully soon he'd get to have the 'putting mom's mind at rest' talk about the fact that Leija wasn't an angel-angel, but he hadn't had the chance yet.

"I can be quiet," she said with her own little smile. Because yes, the idea of sneaking into Thom's house in the middle of the night because she needed someone was unspeakably appealing on a few different levels. Most of which she probably shouldn't be thinking about at the moment. Leija planted a kiss on the side of his jaw and snuggled forward more, tucking her face in the nice dark hollow of his shoulder. It was warm and comfortable and smelled perfectly of him. She could definitely see herself sleeping there. A lot. "I really like you too," she said into his chest, a bit belatedly.

"Well, that's good then," Thom said with a touch of humour in his voice. "I was beginning to get worried that you only wanted me for my rock star status..." he joked, stroking her hair as she cuddled against him. He could get used to this - and he thought that he could even handle bad days if he could curl up with her. The idea of her appearing in his room in the middle of the night didn't faze him in the slightest - he'd prefer that than to think that she was suffering alone.

"Worry no more," she said with a soft muffled laugh. "I don't think you wear enough leather pants for me to just want you for your rock star status. Not that I've ever seen, anyway." It was reasonable, right? She thought so. Leija lay still as he petted her, letting it leech both the good and bad tensions out of her. "If I asked you to sing to me, would you?" she asked eventually, with a touch of shyness.

"You've never seen - you never will see. In fact, nobody will ever see me in leather pants," Thom informed her. Because, just... no. Really, really - no. "But singing to you I can do if you want me to," he agreed, feeling more relaxed now - though he was purposefully currently avoiding kissing her, because it really was very tempting to go back to where they'd been. "Do you have any requests?" he asked.

She giggled for a minute, because she could just picture Thom wearing leather pants under duress and glaring and it was just funny. Hot too, her mind provided, but she'd keep that to herself. "You know you'll have to, at least once, when you get to be a big star. I think it's like, written into MTV's contract or something," she teased, turning her face up again to wrinkle her nose at him cutely. Then considered requests. She wasn't sure what he knew. "Is there anything soft you've written that you love?" she asked.

Kissing-avoidance aside, he could let that slip, and he leaned in to kiss the end of her nose. "Yeah, but you're forgetting - I'm not gonna be a big star, am I?" he reminded her. Maybe she'd believe him now she knew a bit more. Maybe she wouldn't still though - she didn't know all that much, after all. "That I love? Yeah - a few things. I have to warn you, though - I'm better with music than lyrics - and I'm not used to singing unaccompanied..."

Leija had more of an idea that he wasn't going to be a big star. It seemed he was destined for Other Things, just like she was, but still. It was a nice thought. She let that go, though, more interested in hearing his voice. "That's okay," she said quietly, settling her head back a little so she could watch his face. The urge to comfortably hook a leg over his hip was pretty strong, seeing as how they were so close together, but she managed not to. For the moment. "I just like to hear you." She smiled faintly.

He paused for a moment before he started to sing, softly and quietly. It was something he'd written last summer, one that he'd really liked but which they'd never found a way of making up to performance level. It just didn't fit with their usual sound - much more suited to solo accoustic and far too ballad-y. It would have stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of their set, but Thom had always liked it anyhow. He closed his eyes as he sang - somehow he couldn't look at her as he did so. Possibly it was because they were so close, and it was a love song - watching her would have made it far too initmate to allow him to finish it.

That was okay because after a minute Leija's eyes drifted shut as well. He was so close, and even though she knew that laying down wasn't the best position to sing in at all, it still sounded wonderful to her. A little smile found it's way onto her face and stayed there for the duration. When he was done she peeked at him briefly. "Beautiful," she murmured, her hand slipping to his waist again. She wished she could hug him properly; stupid cats.

His eyes flickered open as she spoke and he looked down at her, then smiled slightly. "Thank you," he said, quietly, not wanting to spoil the moment by raising his voice at all. He felt a fuzzy kind of warmth grow inside of him at her compliment. He'd always liked it, but it was different hearing it come from her.

She knew she was risking being pushed away again, but Leija really couldn't help herself. He just looked so sublime and had that quietly-pleased expression that was all his. She wasn't sure she'd ever met anybody that was so subdued and expressive at the same time. Or maybe she hadn't ever paid as much attention to any one else. In any case, she moved the little bit of distance it took to kiss him again, very gently.

He hadn't been expecting that, but he responded with hardly a pause, capturing her lips with his and returning the kiss, turning into her a little more as he did so, his arms shifting to hold her as his head tilted to a better angle. It wasn't hard, but his kiss had a silent intensity, born from the emotions he'd brought forth with his song and everything he'd already been feeling from just being here with her.

Oh good. ... very good. Leija's hand slid up to brace lightly against his ribs as she kissed him right back, matching the slow-burn pace with eagerness that she should really probably put a leash on if he was going to hang around in bed with her for more than another five or ten minutes. But she'd never really been one for thinking ahead too far. It was made all the more difficult by all the tingly-butterflies he re-awoke in her. It was just that easy.

Thom, unfortunately, was one for thinking ahead - something he was currently cursing, because he could see exactly where this was going and he knew that he'd have to call a halt before it got there. Which would mean that he was going to be leaving here utterly frustrated. That didn't stop him from continuing the kiss, though, or from deepening it still further as he leant into her.

There was something unspeakably nice and satisfying about the bit of weight he was putting on her. She wouldn't have been able to explain it at all, even though the backs of her shoulders didn't like it much. Since the one hand that was in a position to touch him didn't have very many places to go that didn't run the risk of being painful, she left it where it was. Her top leg shifted just a bit, knee brushing against his thigh. She tried to start a count in her head, to head him off before he had to stop them again, but it was fuzzy and she kind of lost track.

Stopping now, Thom tried to tell himself as he pulled back just enough to take half a breath, before ignoring himself and lowering his lips to her's again. Stopping now - she's hurt, you're probably hurting her, he added - but it didn't have much impact, since she didn't seem in the slightest bit to be complaining. Quite the opposite, in fact and he ran a hand up her side, under her t-shirt.

God, he could do that all day and she wouldn't complain. Leija's hand moved, tucking under his t-shirt again to do much the same. She made a soft little sound against his mouth, teeth grazing his bottom lip. She was caught in the midst of hazy-thoughts about not moving on him too fast and the near-overwhelming curious-desire to really touch him. And that was bad. Right? Wasn't that bad? Even though maybe it could be good. She couldn't exactly pull back, so she turned her head enough to drag in a breath. "Thom -- I ... we should ... yeah." Her cheeks burned; was it slutty to want to feel up your own boyfriend?

He seemed to be totally incapable of stopping straight away, even though he knew she was right and she was only voicing what he'd been trying to convince himself of anyway. But still, for a moment of two, he carried on kissing her - her cheek and neck once she turned her head away. When he finally stopped, he didn't draw back, instead resting his forehead against her jaw lightly, though he did pull his hand out from under her top, resting it on her waist instead. "Yeah," he agreed, his voice heavy. "Yeah, we really should."

Funny how she'd been the one reassuring him not a couple of days ago that they didn't have to do anything, getting horizontal didn't automatically equal sex. It had been easy to say when she wasn't all flushed and body-aware and he was kissing her neck like that. She lay there silently for a beat or two, getting a bit of breath back. "I mean ... I'm not ... opposed to ... certain things ..." Her hand slipped down on his side just a bit, pinkie finger tucking itself just a little under the waistband of his jeans. That was as much as she dared define 'certain things'. "But ... " I dunno if you want me to. Do anything. Gawd, coherency is good.

Oh God. Oh God. His mind raced and he couldn't breathe for a moment as she said that, and as her finger slid under his waistband. She.. He.. Tha... No, right now he was firmly stuck on 'oh god' and he wasn't sure whether to stop her there, or frantically encourage her. Because at that moment he wasn't opposed - hell, no, not opposed. Not in theory, but... And there was her dad... And they hadn't been dating very long... And he didn't move this fast - but oh god he wanted her to move her hand down further.

And he really needed to be saying something. "I..." Something more than 'I', Thom, that would be peachy. "Uhuh," he agreed. "Not opposed... But..."

If she hadn't been so caught up in it, Leija might've laughed at the both of them. At least his brain didn't seem to be working any better than her's. Which she really couldn't blame him for, taking into account what they were quasi-communicating about. She just ... didn't know how to go about doing any of it, really. She could guess and feel her way through it ... Leija arched her neck a little to nuzzle her cheek against his. "But what?" she whispered toward his ear. Her ring finger joined the pinkie. God, his skin was burning up.

He flexed his hips a little in response to her move, his head starting to spin. This was generally where he pulled back - hell, generally he didn't even get this far in the first place. In the past he'd been all about control, knowing his limits, not letting things get at all out of hand. Slow, steady, extremely conservative. But now he couldn't deny that he wanted her to touch him. And he wanted to touch her. "...Your dad," he whispered, though his tone lacked conviction.

Her eyes cracked open to throw a glance toward the mostly-closed door. She knew her father; he worked in the background. There would be no busting in to throw the evil wicked boy out by his ear before the innocent daughter -- who now had a fifth of her hand in Thom's pants -- was irrevocably corrupted. Besides that, there were tons of blankets around that could be tugged in the right place to hide anything. Just in case. "He won't come in," she whispered back. "Promise. It'll be okay ..." She curled her fingers to tug on the fabric just a little.

He could feel her hand, warm against his skin and there was a whole part of his mind that was given over to screaming: Just a little more, just a little further - please god just a little further. Pulling back and stopping was quickly becoming an impossibility as he leant in and kissed her skin just below her ear, his fingers teasing along the bottom of her t-shirt line. "I don't want to get you into any trouble," he whispered - a total, utter, screaming excuse, giving them a way to back out without either of them having to be the one to stop this. Because Thom knew that he couldn't, not now. He really had no interest or commitment to doing so.

He could say that all day long, but with his lips and fingers working in tandem like that, Leija couldn't even fathom what kind of trouble something that felt so great could get her into. Nor could she possibly care. "You won't," she breathed. Yes, please god, get me in trouble. Get me in so much trouble, if it means you keep doing that. Her eyes rolled closed and her teeth sunk into her bottom lip as she broke out everywhere in pleasant goosebumps. Her fingers slid down, across his lower belly to the button on his jeans. She popped it with deft fingers.

Those two words took away the last of his attempts at resistance - if they could even be called that. And her popping the button at the top of his jeans did as much for the rest of his rational thought processes - which had been suffering under the onslaught of physical sensation since he'd climbed into bed with her. He continued kissing at the skin below her ear, moving his head up to gently take her earlobe between his teeth as his fingers travelled around to the front of her t-shirt and hovered there as he tried to decide where they were going - down or up. And so they circled uncertainly, up across her stomach, then down, dipping under the waistband of her pants, before leaving again to travel upwards as he waited for her response to his touch.

She shivered lightly as he lightly bit her earlobe, and made a soft little sound of pleasant surprise as he touched new territory. She hadn't really even thought about him touching her back, but she sure as hell wasn't going to stop him if he wanted to. Because just that little brush of fingertips was wonderfully electrifying. Her fingers, still intent on their mission of exploring Thom, worked his zipper down. Leija was very aware that she didn't have the first clue on what she was doing, but be damned if she stopped now. There was so much heat, it was amazing. Lip firmly caught in her teeth, she slipped her hand inside his jeans and stroked her palm over him over his boxers.

Thom let out a moan as she touched him and buried his head in her shoulder, his hand on her stomach stopping for a moment as he concentrated on anything but what she was doing right now. Because it felt so good, so very, very good and he really needed his mind not to be focused on that or it'd just be too good far too soon. After a few moments, he started to move his hand again, going back up to slightly more familiar territory for now and cupping her breast.

She felt a surge of absolute glee at that moan. How awesome was that? Incredibly awesome. She grinned stupidly beside his head, but steadfastly kept herself from making any giddy sort of noise. That'd just be too weird to explain. Not the time. It was a delicious reaction, though, and encouraged her quite a bit. Leija shifted just a little so her wrist wasn't twisted so far around and slid her hand under the elastic of his boxers and down again to wrap her fingers around him. She was gentle about it, really not sure what would hurt and what wouldn't; she tried to judge by his breathing. ... it didn't feel anything like she'd suspected.

Thom resisted the sudden urge to bite down on her shoulder, because that would have been weird and probably would cause all sorts of badness, not least her stopping what she was doing right now. And her stopping what she was doing was currently hitting the top of Thom's 'List of Things That Had to Never Happen'. So, instead, he bit down on his lip to stifle the sounds that he wanted to make, still aware of the importance of being quiet, despite her reassurances that her father wasn't going to come in. Somehow he didn't think that would survive a scream of 'oh good fucking god'. Okay, maybe right now that was an overstatement - but if she kept going to way she was, it was a possibility for later. He rolled away from her slightly, onto his back - ignoring the protest from his wounds as he did so. He could deal with that if it meant it gave her better access to his pants - which it did. He could only wonder if she would freak if he pushed them down - would that be too much? He had no idea. He didn't know how this stuff went.

The part of her that was curious about everything wanted to scoot down and get a closer look at what she was touching, see what it was all about, but that would probably either weird him out or break his brain. She of course knew basics from anatomy classes and stuff like that, but as far as in-person experience? She was on brand-new ground. She moved with him, adjusting herself more solidly on her side and hooking one leg over his. Her shoulder didn't like the arm stretched up above her, but she ignored it. Taking her time about it and hoping he wouldn't mind too much, Leija explored some with her fingers, getting more familiar with him. Anatomy class sure as hell didn't cover how soft the heated skin was. She knew enough to know that that probably wouldn't be enough to do much for him, but she honestly wasn't in a huge rush or anything. She craned her neck and kissed the corner of his mouth.

Thom's eyes had drifted closed by this point and her mouth on the corner of his came as a surprise, but as he felt the contact, he turned his head, somewhat clumsily capturing her lips with his and kissing her properly as he took her nipple in between his thumb and forefinger and started to play, hoping that it felt at least approaching as good as what she was doing. Which was just so nice - even if she'd broken off what her initial touches had threatened to start.

It felt very nice, sending sweet electric tingles down into her lower half. She felt a wave of Unsure wash over her; not about whether or not she wanted to do this, more on what exactly to do. One would think it was self-evident, but there was positioning and the lack of lubrication to take into account ... but maybe she was overthinking. Figuring he'd let her know one way or another what felt good, she gave him a testing stroke or two as they kissed.

He groaned softly into the kiss as she stroked him. Oh God, but that felt good and for a moment, he opened his eyes to catch her's, wanting to see her face, the need and pleasure obvious on his, if she drew back from the kiss enough to see it. He wondered - hoped - that she was going to continue but at the moment, he hardly dared move in case... He didn't know what the 'in case' might be, except that it involved her stopping for some reason and that wasn't something he wanted to risk.

Leija's eyes were cracked open already, and she pulled back enough to look back at him, which wasn't very far at all. She cracked a tiny smile as she took in the expression on his face. That alone felt almost better than his hand on her breast. She did continue, as she sensed that stopping now would really really suck for him, and she was enjoying herself. She tightened her grip on him a little. "Tell me if it hurts," she just barely murmured, watching his eyes and sucking her lower lip into her mouth.

He couldn't look away now that he'd locked gazes with her and he tried to read the emotions in her eyes. Uncertainty, maybe. Fascination. Then there was that little smile and then oh god she held him more firmly. Not enough for it to hurt, just enough for it to feel good as she moved. He nodded as she spoke, aware that although it didn't hurt, there was a certain dryness which didn't help and as much as he knew something needed to be done about that, he couldn't think of a way of asking her that he thought he'd actually be able to get out through the mixture of nerves that formed in his stomach at the mere thought. In the end, he let her go, bringing his fingers to his mouth and wetting the tips, before dropping it and adding that into the mix, smiling shyly at her.

Oh! Duh. That made perfect sense, didn't it? She grinned back in a way that looked both wicked and sheepish at the same time. As hot at it was to glance down and see him touching himself, he wasn't supposed to be doing the work here, and she had perfectly good spit to use. Leija let him go long enough to lick her palm and fingers. The action felt nice and dirty for some reason, but she didn't mind. Made it better, even. Then she was back to it, still slow but firm, and discovering that her hand slid much better that way. Her eyes were back on his face, very much interested in how that would feel for him.

Thom had watched in total fascination as she licked her palm, the move almost hypnotising - until she went back to him and then he completely lost focus for a moment as she started to move. He clutched at her then, forgetting for a second her injuries, careless of being careful as he leaned up to kiss her, needing to taste her right now.

It made her wounds sting a little, but Leija didn't pay them an ounce of attention, totally focused on Thom. This was incredible, really, to be able to give him so much obvious pleasure with something so simple. And she found that it turned her on even more, if such a thing was possible. She kissed him back as he went for her, keeping her grip firm as she sped up a bit, just to see.

He deepened the kiss in response, kissing her hard and passionately and his hands began to wander. He needed to touch her, feel her, wanting to make her feel as good as she was making him feel. He needed that. His hand slipped back beneath the waistline of her pants, less tentatively now. The nerves and the 'OMGwhatamIdoing' were still there, but they were being largely drowned out by the sensations of her touch and the need to feel her.

Her stomach curled pleasantly as she felt his hand head south again. Kissing him back just as hard and eagerly, she moved to accommodate him, leg moving from over his and angling back so he could get where she hoped he was going. She managed to keep her rhythm up for the moment, though she wasn't sure if being touched back would totally derail her or not. She wasn't going to mind finding out, though, that was for sure.

He started to slip his hand in between her legs - and then realised that this was never going to work like this and instead retreated - but only long enough to hurriedly push her pants down far enough for him to be able to get better access before her returned, slipping his fingers in between her legs and beginning a tenative explore, working mostly on instinct and a couple of films Isaac had managed to download. He pulled back from the kiss, his turn to watch her now.

Leija cooperated fully with getting her clothes out of the way, any thoughts of the door across the room that wasn't completely closed totally gone from her mind. "Oh god," she gasped, actually surprised by how good it felt as his fingers made contact. Her hand stopped and tightened on him before she caught herself. Color burned in her cheeks and she bit her lip, eyes staying closed even as he pulled back. She fought off total derailment and started to move her hand on him again.

Thom was really quite glad she had her eyes closed - it meant the she missed the silent 'arg!' face he pulled as she momentarily squeezed a little too tightly and he saw stars for a moment until she loosened off again. He swallowed a little, then started his hand moving again, stroking with the tip of a finger softly, marvelling at her warmth, at how wet she was. And there was a flash of pleasure and some pride as he realised that he'd been the cause of that - which was just a total thrill which only added to the thrill from her starting to move again.

This felt like the best idea that anyone had ever had in the history of all mankind. With a soft little whimper, Leija buried her face in his shoulder, breathing him in deeply, if a bit unsteadily. Okay, a lot unsteadily. She'd never been much of one to ... do this kind of thing herself, and already he'd shot way past any height of pleasure she'd ever reached. Which made it impossible to think straight and difficult to keep up what she was doing, but she managed. Her hips twitched a little and she tried to concentrate on keeping her hand steady.

He held her to him with his other arm as his movements gained more confidence. He was remotely aware that their positioning was a little awkward - arms and limbs everywhere, or so it seemed. But he didn't exactly care - it was more than doable. Oh God, especially when she did that. He took in her face once more, before he leaned in to kiss her again as he curled a finger round and slipped inside her. He could feel the knot of tension growing inside him, begging for release.

She gasped against his mouth and meant to bite her own lip to keep herself quiet, but ended up nipping his instead. She ran her tongue over it and kissed him deeply, because that was way better than moaning the way she wanted to. Her back arched a little, pressing her against his hand more firmly by pure instinct. She notched up her pace on him a little, sure that if he kept doing that, she wouldn't be much good to him for much longer.

He needed to warn her, or something, he knew - because this was imminently going to get very messy and he didn't know whether that was okay. Oh god, let it be okay, please, please. pleasepleasepleaseplease... He tried to match the movements of his hand with hers, but at the place he was at the moment, he knew he wasn't being entirely successful with that. He put it off until he couldn't any longer before he pulled back. "Leija, sweet... I'm gonna come if you keep that up," he whispered frantically, hoping more than anything that she just wouldn't care.

She let out a little sound that would've been a laugh if it didn't end in a breathy sort of moan. The statement just kind of surprised her, because that was the point of it all, wasn't it? And god, it was more than okay, she wanted him to. She wanted to watch his face when he did. Sheets could be washed; this was worth washing a metric ton of them. "Good," she whispered back, fascinated with his expression in between brief pleasure-induced-eye-flutters. She didn't relent, twitching again as his fingers hit a particularly sweet spot.

At that very moment, Thom thanked the gods that made him literally run into Leija that day in the street. And the ones that made him call her. And the stupid not-a-date he'd asked her on. And everything else that led them here. At that very moment, he could possibly even have forgiven the demon-cats, cos damn. He stilled in her, unable to maintain any semblance of rhythm as he felt himself peak, turning his head to bury it into one of her pillows to stifle the sounds he couldn't otherwise hold back, his hips flexing up into her hand as his body shuddered.

She realized pretty belatedly that although she seemed to have done okay with the whole stroking thing, orgasm was a whole different animal. Did she just ... keep going? Stop completely? It was impossible to decide through her brain-haze, so she settled on the compromise of just slowing down. The way his body moved with it sent a little thrill of pleasure though her, just by virtue of being something she'd done to him. She slowed to a stop as his twitches and muffled noise ebbed, and tried not to grin like a big dumb idiot. Leija was officially elated.

Eventually, he raised his head, opening his eyes and looking at her with a fuzzily happy grin on his face as his hair flopped into his eyes. He pulled her in to him, kissing her deeply as he took ahold of himself enough to start to move again, wanting to show his thanks by returning the favour.

She'd been about to say something, but kissing was a much better idea. Especially when that delicious friction between her legs started up again and she completely forgot what words she'd intended to use. She groaned softly instead and shifted her body the teensiest bit upward to hopefully give him an even better angle.

He was fairly sure that he'd ripped the wounds in his back open sometime, but he really couldn't give a damn about that - this was totally worth it and he rolled Leija over onto her back, leaning over her and pressing her back down into the bed as he kissed her. He pulled back a little, his eyes heavy as he looked at her, his breathing just starting to even out a little.

Since her part seemed to be over, Leija wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he shifted her back. She knew she should be careful, but the urge to cling to him somehow was utterly overwhelming. She looked back for as long as she could, her own breathing choppy, before gasping a little and tucking her face into his neck. It just felt so inconceivably good.

Okay, so he must be doing something right - and now that he was coming down from his high, he could concentrate more. Now he was definitely acting more on instinct than anything else, alternating between kissing her and watching her - wanting to do both, everything all at once.

It felt like the molten pool of tension in her lower belly had been there for ages, just slowly creeping it's way toward eruption. Everything started to tingle in a way she'd never felt before and her arms tightened on him. She made a soft whimper into his mouth, hips starting to move with his hand purely by instinct. She couldn't have even formed words to warn him, even if she wanted to.

He was completely entranced by the look on her face, the noises she was making and he redoubled his efforts, kissing her hard and deep. His back screamed out as she gripped at him, but he ignored the pain, even though it made his head spin and he just about to manage to hold back a gasp.

Leija pulled back just a little bit to get a breath, which ended up not working so well as it caught harshly in her throat. She shuddered violently, her legs clamping together around his arm as she dropped off the edge. She bit her lip hard to keep herself from crying out, and dug fingernails into the back of his neck. Which she'd feel bad for later, right at the moment she was busy with almost more ecstasy than she could handle.

Okay, pain - pain pain... Thom's eyes widened as she dug her nails into his neck - which normally wasn't a problem, but he definitely felt the top of one of his scabs tear open under them. He wasn't entirely sure what to do here anyway, but her movements stilled him - not that he had that much choice with her legs clamped round his arm like that. But all of it was made up for by the look on her face, watching her just then - it was something else, it was... amazing. there was no other word. Except maybe beautiful. Amazing and beautiful.

After a moment of writhing, she started to breathe again, which was always a plus. Everything was fluttery-wonderful, and she let herself bask in it as her body gradually relaxed back into the bed. Eventually her eyes cracked open to look at him. Her cheeks burned, but in a nice way, and she smiled faintly. It was sublime for a handful of seconds until her nerve endings caught up and she felt wetness under her hand on his neck. Leija frowned reflexively and realized there was something under her nail. "Oh god," she breathed, face moving into horrified. "Did I hurt you?"

He looked at her, still a little cloud-floatingly fuzzy, a stupid smile wandering over the edges of his mouth. "It's all good," he told her. After all, right now, what was a little blood? "You okay?" he asked her, which would have been a stupid question, save for the fact that she'd only just gotten out of the hospital. Which he hadn't thought was particularly conducive to fooling around - but that really went so show what he knew.

He didn't look like he was in terrible pain or anything, but she still wanted to fret about it, because she'd made him bleed. Here he was, dumping a boatload of pleasure on her and she had to go making him bleed. Leija reached over to the nightstand and plucked a couple of tissues out of a box to bring them around, fold them up a couple of times, and gently press it to the broken scab. Then she answered. "I'm ... god, I don't ... even know words for it," she murmured warmly, giving his cheek a nuzzle. "You? How do you feel?"

Thom had eyed the tissues as she took them out, before she pressed them to the back of his neck. Right, bleeding. Of course. "I, er - could I have some of those? Tissues," he asked her, with a touch of bashfulness. He could have just reached across, but that wouldn't have helped matters really. "I feel... yeah," he told her, not having the words for it either - though it was obviously a good no-wordness. "Thank you."

She wondered for a split second what he needed them for, then realized oh yeah, mess. Leija hooked a finger into the box itself, ignoring a flare of protest from her sore shoulders, and brought it between them so he could take as many as he needed. She made a little bemused face at being thanked; he was terribly adorable. "I wanted to," she told him softly. " ... so ... thank you back."

He took a moment to clean himself up, thinking that there really was no way of doing that that was in any way elegant or at all sexy, so he just tried to be quick about it, looking around for somewhere to dispose of the balled tissues. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked her, softly. He was worried about that now, after the event. Before he'd been too carried away in the moment, but now - he could have hurt her.

She couldn't help but glance down as he did so, out of a possibly-embarrassing amount of curiosity, but made herself not stare, looking back to his face instead. Not squeamish about body fluids she'd worked out of him in the first place, she plucked the tissues out of his fingers and set them on the nightstand. She'd get rid of them later. Right then she wanted his hands free, as she gently hugged him. "Pretty much the exact screaming opposite," she said, arms very light on him. "I'm sorry I hurt you."

He chuckled a little at that, shifting his position so he could lie on his side, off his back, slipping an arm round her to rest in the small of her back, lightly stroking the skin. "I'll live," he told her. "I probably just ripped a couple of scabs." He reached down and pulled the covers up over them, happy and content with where he was right now, sleepily warm and fuzzy with his girlfriend curled up against him. He decided that this was possibly the best feeling in the world.

There were all kinds of warm-squishy things to say in her throat, but Leija knew herself well enough to keep a thumb on them. They didn't need to be said. He was solid and warm and comfortable to lay with, she was rapidly coming to care about him a lot, and now everything was glowy and soft and goodness. That was more than good enough. Later she'd need a shower and he'd have to go eventually and everything, but that seemed a wonderful ways off. She gave a happy little sigh and settled in just to bask and maybe doze just a bit.