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Tommy and Shen | New Year's Eve
Tommy and Shen kiss at midnight, and the first few hours of 2018 go in some very unexpected directions.
Warning for kissing and some R-rated underage shenanigans.
Shen's buzz was a thing of beauty. She'd managed to maintain it without ever tipping over into properly drunk, so far, and she liked it that way. It made everything a little warmer, a little brighter, and for the first time in a long time, she didn't feel the usual pangs of - heartache, jealousy? - when she saw Shinobi and Tamara together. She wished her former friend the best, instead.
It was weird to feel like a better Buddhist when tipsy, but she'd never been big on that aspect of it anyway.
She was nursing an alcohol-free drink right then, to rehydrate after dancing for a while, wings on display on account of her sequined short dress's racerback, when she spotted Tommy. She'd seen him around, and something had been nagging her about him - and not just that tense-looking moment with Scott she'd almost gone and interrupted earlier, except Tommy had bailed before she could. He didn't seem like the usual Tommy, and that was not on. Everyone was supposed to be happy tonight.
She walked over to him with a smile, then asked, without preamble, "Something's up, what's up?"
What was the worst that could happen? He'd joke it off or tell her to fuck off. Whatever, he'd know she cared.
Tommy'd been halfway through composing a text to Alex - I was nice to ur brother, aren't u proud? - but shoved his phone back in his pocket instead and took a second to admire the short, tight sparkly thing Shen was wearing before replying. "The immediate and obvious answer is gonna get me slapped, so." He tried blowing it off with a joke, a grin and a wink, the manic, edgy feeling that had been sitting on him all evening still making his skin feel too tight.
"Please," Shen rolled her eyes and stopped in front of him. "We're so past that. Punched in the shoulder, at most."
"An upgrade, I'll take it." Tommy let out the breath that was sitting solid in his lungs. Why couldn't he get a grip? All things considered, he'd come out of Limbo pretty damn unscathed. At least compared to some of the others.
The image of Billy-possessed hit him again, the threats the demon made rolling over him in Billy's voice, the feeling when his fist had hit skin and bone. He looked away from Shen's concern-face. She took on too much, everyone's listening ear. Even if he needed to talk about something, it wasn't fair to put more crap on her when she was just trying to party. "I helped Illyana out with a thing," he compromised with himself. He wasn't lying, but she wasn't there to be his therapist either. "It went sideways for a while in there, but everything's back to normal now. Or whatever passes for normal around here," he added, with a shrug and a grin that felt forced. "I gotta stop helping people out, that's my problem. I'm too nice."
Shen snorted at his conclusion; too nice was not the descriptor that came to mind when she thought of Tommy. Not that he wasn't nice, in his own, he just tried so damn hard to hide it. "Yeah, that's gotta be it." Her wings bristled a little, but settled immediately. "Anyway, yeah, Kitty mentioned. It sounded pretty messed up."
Her wings rustled at him and he grinned back at her unabashed. "That's not a bad summary. Maybe a little understated. Fewer corpses than Arizona, a lot more mindfucking."
Shen looked sympathetic, but also skeptical - of her own offer. "And I'm guessing you don't wanna talk about it?" Even if he did - which would be pretty out of character for the Tommy she knew - this was very unlikely to be the time and place when he would choose to.
He arched an eyebrow, shaking his head. "And ruin the party with whining? Not my style. I'd say get me drunk one day and I'll spill, but with my powers that's not gonna work either." He raked his hand through his hair, pushing it back off his face, and tried - again - to shake off the weird, uncomfortable mood. "What're you up to tonight? Breaking hearts, or breaking legs?"
"Definite no to legs, hopeful no to hearts," Shen answered with a shrug. She never wanted to hurt anyone. She hesitated, then decided to embrace the change of subject, and resisted the urge to reach out physically. This was Tommy; it probably wouldn't be welcome, either. "Have you met that new girl, Monica?"
It was part relief and part pang of something else that came with Shen's easy acceptance of the brush-off, but Tommy rolled with it. He'd started it, after all. "No," he replied, shaking his head. He'd look to see if he could see who Shen was talking about, but the room was pretty dark and there were a few faces he didn't recognize. He'd been at Bobby's for Christmas and then in Limbo -- he hadn't had a whole lot of time for meeting the newbies. "She cute?" he asked, faking the wolfish grin she'd expect from him.
"She's hot," Shen replied, seeking her out in the crowd and eventually spotting the taller girl's distinctive hair. "Over there by the drink stand. She made it sound like boys weren't her thing, though, maybe? I don't know." She would never have said so sober, but there she went.
"That figures," Tommy replied easily, tucking his hands in the pockets of his ripped black jeans so that he wouldn't give in to the urge to drum his fingers against his legs. That tended to drive people nuts, and he didn't feel like antagonizing her. For the moment, anyway. "You gonna take one for the team at midnight? Report back with all the details." It wasn't the most subtle way of finding out if Shen was on the prowl, but whatever. No-one looked at Tommy and thought 'subtle' anyway.
"She's had a bit to drink and I have no idea about her tolerance," Shen replied with a shake of her head. "No way I'm gonna be that girl. What time is it, anyway?" Her phone was in her bag across the room, along with what was left of her bottle of tequila. She'd been sharing it with whoever wanted some.
He snuck a quick glance at his phone, hitting [send] on that text while he was at it. "11:49," he reported. How had it gotten so late without him noticing? He was more out of it than he'd thought. "Eleven minutes until a brand spanking new year." And good riddance to 2017. "Are you making any resolutions?"
"Not particularly," Shen shook her head. "Coming out is gonna keep me busy enough, and I don't really believe in New Year resolutions." Whatever you wanted to change about yourself, about your life, your motivation shouldn't be 'It's a new year,' or you were bound to fail.
That caught him off-guard enough to stop brooding about his own problems, and Tommy looked at her with new interest. "Coming out? Are we talking in a sexy way, or guest-starring in one of Tam's 'mutant of the year' video spots?"
"There's a sexy way to come out?" Shen asked, clearly very skeptical. "But no, just -" not touching the Tam question with a ten foot pole, "with Kurt. We're thinking just being inducer-free and wings-out at a protest."
Mutant powers, then, not being into girls. Tommy switched gears smoothly enough, though his smile faded somewhat at the idea. "What, back in Central Park? After what happened to the Brotherhood, you're gonna want to make sure you've got your back covered. At least Kurt can get you out fast if shit goes down." But Pam was a teleporter too, and both Alex and Magneto had still gotten shot.
"We haven't finalized any plans yet," Shen stated. "But yeah, Kurt's mutation's totally welcome." Though she figured they would both try to help others before getting themselves to safety, if anything went down. But his mutation would be awesome for that, too.
He frowned, uncharacteristically serious again. "Just watch yourself, 'k? It'd be exciting to go and pull you out of whatever mutant Gitmo you end up in, but I'm pretty sure that's not how we want to blow a weekend."
Shen smiled at him, and reached out to take his hand and squeeze it. He cared! Well, no, she knew that he cared, but he was showing it. It was sweet. "We'll be careful."
Tommy blinked in surprise at her touch, suddenly very aware of how close they were standing... And how much of a baby he was probably being if Shen was turning all squishy on him. Still... He wasn't going to turn it down. Not the way he'd been feeling lately.
He grinned, one corner of his mouth tugging up into a smile, and he turned his hand to slide his fingers between hers. "Oops, how'd that happen?" He teased, tugging her a little closer. "I'm turning the party into a downer. How about trying to squeeze in one last dance for the year?"
"I'll always be up for one more dance," Shen replied with a grin, and tugged back after coming a little closer, so he'd come the rest of the way. It wasn't the right sort of moment, or music, for anything but a slow, which worked just fine for Shen. Her feathers rustled before her wings settled down as she wrapped her free arm around Tommy's shoulders. "What about you? Any resolutions?" she asked as they started swaying to the music.
The easy way she moved, her confidence, the way she didn't hesitate before putting her arm around him; it was the kind of thing that could give a guy ideas. It was like crushing on Jeanne-Marie would have been, though -- fun but ultimately not going to lead anywhere. She'd find someone who had something to offer, who deserved her, and then she'd be gone. He could enjoy this, at least, as long as he could stop himself from thinking.
"Why mess with perfection?" he joked, his hand settled warm at her waist. But she'd answered him candidly, and he owed her that much in return. "All I wanted last year was to survive it. Next year -- dunno. Get rich," Tommy grinned and shrugged the shoulder under her hand. "Save the world. As long as it's something more than 'survive.'"
"Save the world sounds pretty awesome," Shen agreed, smiling at him before making an amused face. "Apart, you know, from the bit where it needs to be in danger."
He laughed, ducking his head. "There's that. Though from talking to TJ, our reality's gotten off easy so far."
"I'm just fine with that," Shen stated, smiling at his little laugh-and-head-duck. It was cute! "If this is having it easy, let's never have it bad. Or hard. Whichever."
"I'd offer to drink to that, but it'll have to wait until the song's over." Which, honestly, for someone who spent most of his time wishing that everything would hurry and catch up with him -- right now he was pretty happy just letting the universe chug along at its usual snail's pace. "How late are they going to let us keep going in here?"
"They said one, so I figure we can drag it out until one thirty," Shen replied, grinning with a touch of the wicked. "Maybe even two?" They were teenagers having a new year's party; they couldn't expect them to actually stick to that timeline too closely. Who knew, maybe they'd just let them wind down on their own, and no one would try to shut them down. That would be the best.
Tommy nodded, the shimmering sequins on her dress smooth rather than rough-edged beneath his fingers. "Not bad. And even if they do kick us back to the dorms at one, there's always the option of a discreet afterparty."
Shen laughed, happy and free. "Well, I'm not sure I have any tequila left. Not that it'd be much use to you, sorry," she added with a brief grimace.
He grinned back, her laugh infectious. "S'ok. I definitely wanna try doing tequila body shots one day, with the salt and the lemon and everything, even though I can't get any real buzz off it. That's not exactly the point, anyway," he added, waggling his eyebrows.
"It's an added bonus," Shen stated with a grin. But yeah, no. Not the point, really not. "That's a totally awesome new year resolution, by the way. We can even make it happen before the night is over, if I have any tequila left."
Hunh. Of all the people he might have assumed he'd end up doing shots with in the middle of the night, Shen was definitely a stretch. But an awesome one nevertheless. "You're on," Tommy replied cheerfully, already trying to remember if he'd seen any lemons in the kitchen. "And if you do run out, I'm sure I can get my hands on something." He hadn't intended the double entendre, noticing it only after it was out of his mouth, but he wasn't going to walk it back now.
Shen laughed again at that, because, really? It was just funny. "Feeling hopeful, then?" she asked cheekily.
Her smile was impish, open and happy, and part of him felt lighter just looking at it. "Always," he teased her right back. It was a blatant lie, really, but his usual brand of cynicism felt out of place right then. "If you're planning to shoot me down in flames, hold that thought until after midnight."
"Consider it held," she replied, although she wasn't sure that she wanted to hold that thought at all. Best to dismiss it altogether, for now, as irrelevant to the present moment. Right now they were dancing, and it had to be getting very close to midnight, and unless Tommy had someone better to kiss, Shen had every intention of being there for that.
If you'd told her that six months ago, she might have laughed in your face.
The party was getting louder as the song started to draw to a close, people pulling out phones to start figuring out the countdown. Shen wasn't showing any signs that she wanted to bail out to go find someone else, so Tommy didn't let go. If she did, he probably still had time to get his ass to Times Square.
And do what? Watch Pam and Alex necking? Or worse, take Pam away from Alex so that he had to watch them, when by all rights Tommy should have just left them to it? He still had no idea what any of that meant; what his place was in their world, if he even had one long-term. This was easier. This was just Shen, and him, and for a moment he could pretend that she might think he was enough.
"Last chance to run," he joked as the music died away, his voice low and her hand still in his.
"You have to stop thinking I want to run," Shen told him with a smile, using her arm around his shoulders to bring him a little closer, but immediately relaxing it, because... "You could run too."
He could, sure. And whether she had her arm around him or not, she'd never see him go. "I considered it," Tommy replied, the grin on his face muddying the waters as to whether or not he was joking. "But then I figured there's nowhere else I want to be."
"I was wondering where you were going with that line," she acknowledged, lips ticking up into a small smile. She pulled her hand out of his, but only so she could wrap that arm around his shoulders, too, as people started counting down from ten. "Nice save." Save wasn't exactly the right word, but it worked, anyway, with the buzz of alcohol in her veins and her general desire to just enjoy the moment. She wasn't sure what it was about tonight that had finally gotten her out of her Tam-drama-induced funk, but she was glad for it. She felt like herself again.
And he had his arms full of girl, which was not a bad way at all to wind up the year. Tommy slipped his arms around her waist and tugged her in closer. Her feathers tickled the backs of his hands, a gentle brush against his skin. "You're assuming that wasn't what I was going to say all along." He grinned, glancing up only long enough to tune in and hear the count down wrap up. "Three," he added, warm and fizzy inside even though he was sadly sober. "Two."
"One," Shen added, grinning wide, and bright, with the sort of effervescent mood she had been riding for a while. Instead of saying the zero, she bridged the gap between them, a hand coming to the back of his head as she pressed her lips to his, then licked at them hopefully.
Hey, if they were going to share a New Year's kiss, it might as well be a nice, deep one. Something to remember.
This part was easy, the falling into someone and the world outside vanishing, the letting go of all the stress and the drama of the last few days. Tommy parted his lips and let her in, tasting her mouth in return. His hands spread across the small of her back, keeping her in close. He followed her lead, caught the changes in her breathing, grazing his teeth lightly against her bottom lip before reluctantly breaking the kiss.
Her wings bristled at that graze of teeth, and her body shifted with it, pressing closer before easing back down as the kiss broke. She opened her eyes to focus her gaze on his again, and smiled. "Happy new year, Tommy."
Damn -- the way she'd pushed up against him, the hint of tequila on her tongue, even the little curl of her lips-- he was half-stunned for a beat before he caught his breath. He echoed half her smile, one corner of his mouth tugging up. "Back atcha." His hands were still splayed flat against her back, her arms around his neck, but going for another one would be a declaration of more than just what New Year's countdowns could let you get away with. "I hope it's a good one."
He looked so tempting, there, for a second, and Shen saw no reason to resist, giving him a much briefer kiss, sans tongue, as if to punctuate that statement of his. "Let's make it a good one." Reluctantly, she pulled her arms back from around his neck, trailing her hands over his shoulders and down his arms. "I can go check if I've got any tequila left." For him and his mock-resolution more than for her; she'd need more water, and/or time to sober up a bit, before she could drink any more and still trust her decisions.
How 'bout that. He'd leaned in to the second kiss just long enough for it to be over, and the residual warmth from her arms still lingered on his skin. His eyebrow flickered upward, but he got back into the spirit of things quick enough. "That'd be cool, sure." He glanced around the room, not entirely sure where she'd hidden her stash. "If no-one's drained it, I can raid the kitchen for lemons."
"Let's find out," Shen stated, and stepped back before jumping up into the air and spreading her wings. She was wearing her usual black booty shorts in order not to flash people when she flew, and was much faster at getting to the corner where she'd stashed her bag that way. She grabbed it, glanced at the bottle inside, then went back into the air to make it back to Tommy, nodding for him to meet her by the door. She landed easily, and grinned at him. "Definitely enough for a couple of shots," she told him as she tucked her wings close behind her back again.
Tommy's phone had buzzed his butt about the same moment that Shen took off. He'd swiped the screen and found a text from Pam that had nothing in it but an emoji pout, so he tapped out a quick reply -- Happy new year, hot stuff -- then sent a similar one (minus the term of endearment) to Billy. And Wanda, for good measure. Not that he needed plausible deniability for anything, but some ass-covering habits were trickier to break than others. He shoved his phone back in his pocket as Shen landed, and he nodded in appreciation. "Awesome. Should I go grab the other stuff and bring it back here, or did you want to move this party somewhere else?"
Shen had thought that the moving towards the door had been a hint enough, but maybe if he was asking that question, he didn't want to get out of here? "I'm good with either," she answered, consequently, closing her bag and shouldering one strap so it fell on the side of her body without bothering her wing. "It's your resolution, you tell me."
Tommy'd just started to reply when there was the weirdest sensation - a hit of wind, the brush of familiar lips. Except no-one was there. No-one visible, anyway.
He grabbed for the timestream, used his powers to slow things down for himself for a moment, just long enough to spot the slow-motion flash of light from the corner of his eye. No-one would have noticed it if they hadn't been looking for it -- or if, like him, they'd had extra time to react. And that had to be Pam, portalling-out. He let go, let time snap back in to normal speed, a faint and surprised smile playing on his lips.
And he still needed to answer Shen's question. "The reading room? It's more comfortable than the kitchen."
"I'll meet you there," Shen nodded with another smile, oblivious to anything that might have happened. "Can you grab some water, too, while you're at it?"
"You got it." Tommy agreed, turned and sped down the hallway. There was fruit in the fridge and he grabbed a lemon and the random half a lime that was in the drawer. He probably owed Jean-Paul a thanks; if the dude wasn't always cooking strange French things, the kitchen probably wouldn't have half the cool stuff that it currently did. Fruit, salt shaker, knife, bottles of water -- into a canvas shopping bag that had been crammed in one of the cupboards, and he could still beat Shen to the reading room.
The fact that he would beat Shen there was the only reason she hadn't just planned on grabbing one of the bottles of water by the drinks table. But that was one more detour that would take, comparatively, ages longer for her than for Tommy. She got to the reading room in a reasonable amount of time, for a non-speedster - she didn't run there, but she did walk fast, because being kept waiting sucked.
"Hey," she grinned at him, dropping her bag on the couch and bending over to take off her sandals. She'd been wearing shoes for way too long, okay?
"Took you long enough," Tommy bitched cheerfully from where he was draped over one of the armchairs. Aaaaand he watched her legs when she bent over in that itty bitty skirt, because hey. He was only human. He did reach for one of the bottles and twist off the cap for her before holding it out. "I got your water."
"Thanks," she told him with a grin, stepping out of the sandals and taking the bottle, and then a long drink from it. "So, body shots," she said after that, and set down the water to grab the tequila out of her bag. "Salt and lime?"
"Or lemon, whatever's your pleasure -- I grabbed both." Tommy swung his legs down off the arm of the chair and settled to sit on the floor instead, his back against the armchair and his legs crossed under him. Unpacking his bag onto the little coffee table-like-thing only took a second, and - "crap. I didn't grab shot glasses. Not that I actually know if they keep any here," he admitted. "It's probably a bad look for a school."
Shen joined him on the floor, sitting cross-legged without a thought for her dress riding up - that was the entire point of wearing shorts. "They've probably been safely stowed out of the way of students," Shen agreed distractedly, reaching for the half-lime and the knife to cut slices. "It doesn't really matter, anyway." Drinking from the bottle would work just as well. She turned to Tommy, set the bottle down in front of him, and tilted her head to the side to give him a nice stretch of neck to work with. "Lick my neck and salt it?"
It wasn't quite zero-to-sixty, considering the way they'd been kissing a couple of minutes ago, but it was still a better offer than Tommy had expected right off the bat. "Anything you say." He grinned even as he grabbed the salt-shaker. The room was deserted other than them, everyone either still down at the party or off doing their own thing, and the low, warm light from the table lamp turned everything cozy and intimate.
Her short hair made things easier, but he used the tip of his finger to brush across her skin anyway, ostensibly tucking a couple of stray hairs back out of the way. Tommy leaned in and tasted the side of her throat, a hint of salt-sweat already prickling on his tongue. She smelled amazing - whether it was her shampoo or perfume or... or whatever else it was that girls used to make themselves irresistible.
His eagerness made Shen chuckle, and the smile from that remained on her lips as he leaned in closer. She bit her lip in giddy appreciation at the slide of his tongue on such sensitive skin, not having quite expected the wonderful thrill of it. After he'd salted the wet path - she was pretty sure some had got inside her dress, oh well - she grabbed a slice of lime and gave him a cheeky grin before holding it, right side out, between her teeth. She really wasn't the sort to be doing body shots halfway, and she didn't figure he was either.
Tommy sat back on his heels and laughed, equal parts impressed and delighted by the way everything was going, by Shen - in a way - offering up closeness to him... and part nerves, because what if he did something wrong now, and spoiled the energy that was vibing between them right now?
The way he was going to wreck things was if he overthought them. Idiot. "Damn," he said instead, admiring her and moving that nervous energy into something more palpable. "You are something else, you know that?" He unscrewed the cap from the bottle and tossed it toward the table. It bounced across the surface, clinking a couple of times before it settled.
And before she changed her mind, or the pose with the lime got uncomfortable, he leaned forward again. He braced his free hand on the floor by her hip, his chest brushing against her shoulder. He ran his tongue along the damp salt patch on her skin, a million times stronger than the faint prickle from before. Because he was in the neighbourhood, he traced the tip of his tongue up a little higher, to the soft, sensitive spot right behind her jaw and below her ear. He sat back, blood hot and pulse pounding, and held the bottle up in salute. "Bottom's up."
If it hadn't been for the kisses earlier, Shen probably wouldn't have curled her hand on the back of his neck when he came in for the salt. Probably, because, well, she was in that kind of mood tonight, and she was riding it high, after months of doing without. Her hand settled lightly on his nape, but the slide of his tongue had her curl her fingers against his scalp in an unconscious, gentle scratch.
The hardest part as she watched him take a gulp of tequila was not to start smiling wide enough that she would risk losing the lime. Good thing he came for it then, and she let him pluck it from her lips, hand smoothing over to his shoulder. "That something else had better be something awesome," she told him, and waited for him to take the rind out of his mouth to move in for a kiss, wanting a taste of tequila and lime of her own.
Mouth-puckeringly tart, the lime washed most of the tequila taste away, though the rest would last longer than the momentary flash of heat low in his stomach. But there were other ways to get a buzz going, and the light in Shen's eyes and the way she was looking at his lips sent a wave of a different sort of heat in the same general direction. Tommy tossed the lime rind to follow the bottle cap, and licked some of the sour off his lips.
"Now who's being insecure," he teased gently, and flicked some of the sequins on her dress to make them sparkle. "You're the sexiest damn disco ball I've ever seen."
"That's probably offensive to both me and disco balls," she told him as she leaned in, chuckling against his lips before going in for that taste she wanted.
Soft and fierce and strong and sweet all wrapped into one -- it just about summed her up along with the kiss. He parted his lips and his hands came up to slide around her hips, the flicker of her tongue against his making his breath catch. The heady rush burned down along his nerve endings, his skin tingling where she touched it.
"I offend a lot of people on a regular basis," he admitted cheerfully enough once he had his mouth back again (though really, no rush). And, more honestly than he'd intended, "words are hard." He tipped his chin up to catch her in another kiss, searching and needy. "This is easier."
That had been a good kiss, and when it broke Shen licked her lips happily, as if there might be more of that tequila-and-lime flavor on them. She punctuated his last words with another kiss, a hand cradling the back of his head, leaning the other one on the floor. There had been a little more truth in his words than she usually got from him, and she wasn't sure how to respond to that without making him clam up. So here she was, proving his point: this was easier. "It's also way more fun," she told him when that kiss broke, and nipped at his lips. "Want another shot?"
He did, sure, but that was doing things out of order. He tugged gently at her hips to encourage her in closer, and grabbed for the salt shaker again. "It's your turn, if you're interested." He leaned his shoulders back against the chair behind him, leaving his free hand resting on the gentle swell of her hip and upper thigh. Her mouth on him -- yeah, he was very into that idea. He flashed her a cheeky grin. "My body is ready."
Shen laughed at that, and then gave him another kiss for it. "A little more water for me first, I think." She didn't want to wake up tomorrow not remembering even a small moment of this. And she didn't want to doubt her motivation, either. But she didn't doubt it now, so she pushed up to straddle his lap, wings angling back off to make it easier on her back. Her hands stroked up his chest to link behind his neck. "But if your body's ready..." She leaned in for another kiss, fully willing to make the most of this moment before moving on to another body shot.
Tommy had been looking forward to the shot, but this was good too. This was really good, honestly, and he dropped the salt shaker, not caring where it ended up. His hands ended up on her thighs, by the hem of her minidress, and the way she was sitting on him was going to leave no doubt in her mind about his interest in everything she was doing. Skinny jeans were hell in some situations. This kiss was greedy, no hesitation behind it. She knew what she wanted and for the moment that included him, and he didn't hold back.
Shen had absolutely zero issue with feeling just how into this he was as they kissed, as proved by the roll of her hips. Her fingers carded through his hair, and she grazed her teeth on his bottom lip before pulling back. "So. Want another body shot?" She concluded that question with another bright smile, and only just stopped herself from rolling her hips again. Maybe he needed a second to think, and she was all about letting people think about this kind of thing.
The way she was moving against him, her hands in his hair, her teeth -- the rush of sensation pulled a low groan from his throat. Tommy rocked his hips up, chasing the contact, and took a fraction of a second to catch his breath before he answered. "Sure. And I promise to leave some for you when you're up for it." Her throat was a lot closer to him than the first time, and he brushed his lips softly against her skin. "Where do you want me?" he asked and laughed, pretending innocence. "It. Salt. I meant the salt."
Shen laughed without restraint, completely amused by his blurt-out, and completely okay with that. "Where do you want the salt?" she asked, instead, and on a whim, hooked her fingers under the straps of her dress and spread them out, offering the whole of her throat to him. It was so. difficult, not moving her hips again, and after a couple of seconds she gave in and did it anyway, for the sake of feeling him, this close to not letting him answer on account of wanting another kiss.
"How about-" she moved against him again and Tommy's upper brain functions half-derailed. That was okay; he was so very good with not thinking right now. He was grounded in his body instead, the physical rush and the wanting making it impossible to worry about anything. He moved against her in return, laughter catching in his throat. "You're a menace," he all but purred.
"How about... " he trailed a finger down from her collarbone to the space between her breasts, bared by the deep v-neck of her dress. "Here okay?"
That meant letting go of the straps of her dress, so his "here" would have a little more leeway than if she spread them out. "Here totally okay," she told him, her voice a little breathless from the general excitement of the moment. She hooked her fingers under her straps a little lower down, so she could spread them apart without pulling the dress up too much. She caught his gaze, and then told him, a friendly challenge, "My body is ready."
Her neckline dropped further and his eyes went with it, fixing on the spot where the gentle curve of the side of her breast vanished under the sparkling cloth. "I'll say," he said reverently, tracing his fingertip down further until he looped it over the bottom of the V. Given permission, he pressed his mouth to her breastbone, first his lips, closed and exploring, then the tip of his tongue, tracing a line up that perfect expanse of naked skin. That wasn't going to hold any salt, though - totally not the point. "I want to make you feel amazing," he murmured against her body, before licking a wetter stripe along the path he'd already set.
And here he went, going from 'pretty daring body shots' to 'revving her up like nobody's business'. Shen's breath caught in her throat when he said that, and she couldn't not rock against him again, hips shifting as her hands tightened around the straps, then loosened again so her cleavage dropped as low as it would go.
Given the salt about to fall down her cleavage, Shen was very glad that she wasn't wearing a bra. It also happened to make how aroused she was all too obious just then, but given what she could feel underneath her, it was only fair play. She leaned back against her wings, her body angled away not to get away from him - far from it - but to make it easier for the salt to stick.
He was supposed to be finding the salt shaker, but he was getting seriously distracted by everything else going on. When Shen arched her back like that, her dress pulling tight against her chest, Christ, it was a wonder he remembered the rest of the world existed at all. Everything ached, and the more he looked at her, touched her, the better/worse it got. Her reactions sure as hell suggested she liked it so he licked her again, one hand against the small of her back to support her. Salt, right. He fumbled for the shaker, upending it to send the delicate cascade of crystals down between her breasts. Some of it stuck, some of it didn't, tumbling down her body to vanish beneath her dress.
The warm drag of his tongue sent a thrill down her spine, and Shen sighed happily, brushing fingers through Tommy's hair. She was pretty sure it was the first time anyone put their tongue there, and it felt amazing. She laughed when he salted the spot, and grains of salt scattered down her dress, tiny pinpricks of sensation on her skin. "I'm gonna be salty all over," she said, and kissed Tommy again, because she could, and wanted to. It took her a little longer than planned to break the kiss, because it felt so good, but she eventually reached back for another slice of lime.
He dropped the salt shaker again, hands coming back to curl around her hips and hold her snug. They were sitting close enough this time that the smell of the lime hit him full-force as she placed it between her lips. "We could always go for another swim after this," he suggested with a grin, his mind going in an entirely different direction than the perfectly g-rated time they'd been in the pool before. He licked off the salt before she answered, so much bare skin against his lips, his cheek- and swigged another shot from the bottle sitting beside them. The tequila burned on his tongue and he took the lime from her lips, sucking it in over his tongue with a smirk and a laugh. Much better.
Shen laughed as well, because his laugh was communicative, and because the moment was a cheerful one. She straightened up, wings shifting, and both of her hands wound up in his hair. "Off hours swimming pool time. Way to ring in the new year. I like it."
He got rid of the lime rind again though her fingers in his hair kept distracting him, the gentle tugging sending tiny lightning surges of pleasure down his spine. He tipped his head up into her hands, his eyes half-lidded, his pulse racing. "Follow a little underage drinking with some light break-and-enter -- that's my kind of party," he teased. What was the point of having a reputation for being a disaster person if you didn't indulge in it once in a while?
"My only problem with this plan," Shen interrupted herself for a kiss, brief but teasing in all the best ways, the ways that sent warm arousal through her body, "is that it requires moving." And she was, well, not exactly comfortable on top of him, but definitely enjoying it there.
"No rush," Tommy replied immediately, happily letting her taste the lime and tequila on his lips. He brushed his hands up her sides, watching the way the sequins caught the light and the slinky fabric of her dress pulled snug against her body. "Which is doubly ironic coming from me, but hey. The night is still young, and there's no reason to get up early tomorrow."
"I like the way you think," Shen confirmed with a slow smile, and then leaned in against, wrapping her arms more tightly around his shoulders and pressing up against him as she kissed him. Oh, this felt good, and her wings bristled happily behind her.
The evening had started in an unbearably shitty way, full of flashbacks to Limbo and Arizona, his mood bottoming out further than it had gone in a long time. That he was here three hours later, Shen in his arms (and how the hell had he pulled that one off?) and by all appearances super-happy to be there... it was a goddamned miracle, that’s what it was. A groan escaped low in his throat, his tongue sliding between her lips again. Warm, slick, he could get lost in her, never come up for air, and die happy.
Shen was so, so glad that she'd finally gotten over her hang-ups - and she would have been glad to lose herself in the moment and think of nothing else. She did, for a little while, just long enough to get worked up enough that she was this close to asking him to touch her wings. But once he did, she really wouldn't want to potentially kill the mood, and she really had to get her regular disclaimer out at some point - and the sooner the better, just in case. She didn't think Tommy wanted a relationship, but what if she was wrong? She didn't want to hurt anyone for the sake of her libido.
She broke the kiss with a soft gasp and sat back on his lap, and her heels, wings shifting again. "Hey, just so we're on the same page..." She blinked a few times to focus on Tommy's face, and gave him a small, hopeful smile. "Fun, right? No commitment or anything?"
And there it was, the kick in the nuts that the universe seemed to delight in adding on to everything Tommy tried. Why had he expected anything different? It wasn't like anyone was actually likely to catch feelings for his skinny ass. Never mind girls, he couldn't even manage to do right by Billy, who'd been stupid-hung up on the whole brother thing right from the start. Tommy closed his eyes, dragging his fingers through his hair to push it back off his face. "Yeah," he said after a beat. "Of course." What was the point in torpedoing the rest of the night just because he was having a second of feeling sorry for himself?
That... was definitely not the easy agreement she'd been expecting, and much as Shen wanted to be selfish and just go with his words, instead of his body language... yeah, she was nowhere near that drunk. She frowned, and shifted her hands on his chest, then slid one of them to the side of his neck. "Tommy?"
Shit. This was careening awfully close to something that sounded like the beginning of a conversation that he was going to hate. He stole himself some time, just a little, to get his head back under control. The roller-coaster evening he'd been having was messing with him. That and the promise of make-outs, that was all. The urge to say something -- to try and find words that would make her change her mind about him, try to argue that he actually had something more to offer her (such a lie) -- it burned in his throat. But what was the point?
If he had to ask for it, it wasn't real.
That was the thing about Shen - she said what she meant. Which meant that all she wanted from him was fun, and asking her for more would only force her to say no out loud. Or worse, she'd feel guilty or awkward and say yes without meaning it, and everything good about their friendship would get flushed down the toilet in a stew of resentment.
So wall it up, put it away, be the good-time guy that she wanted to ring in the new year. Time snapped back into flow like a rubber band and he turned his head to bite lightly at the inside of her wrist. "Shen," he replied, more mockingly than serious, everything terrible that might be a feeling walled up and boxed away. He dropped his hands back to her hips. "Changing your mind on me already?"
"Fuck no," Shen replied, uncharacteristically cursing. So maybe she was still a little drunk, yes, so what? "Just - giving a shit about you." She brushed her thumb over his cheekbone. "You know I do, right? Give a shit." What was she doing?
Tommy couldn't help the way he turned into the gentleness of her touch, even knowing that it was fake. "One of the few, the proud, the deeply deluded," he cracked, his eyes closing despite himself. What was he doing? He needed to get this back on track somehow -- tequila, makeouts, swimming- skinny dipping? It had had the makings of a perfect night only a few short minutes ago. "Are we having a Moment, here? I'm getting the feeling that we're having a Moment."
"Moments are great, shut up," Shen told him fondly, and kissed his cheek, more affectionately still than just a kiss between friends. Which, well, she was straddling his lap and his tongue had gone between her breasts. Of course it went beyond just 'friendly'. "So, I realize this goes against every one of your principles, or something, but I am way not sober enough to figure out what's wrong. Talk to me?"
Earlier that night he'd been joking (not really joking) with Bobby and Kurt about the kinds of conversations that would send him running and screaming, and this was right up that alley. She was sitting on him, though, sitting on him and kissing him, and his body had zero interest in losing that connection. Or the weight of her across his lap, and the taste of her overriding everything including the tequila. He was so screwed.
The image of Billy's face, distorted from Limbo, rose up behind his eyes -- the cruelty there, the things 'Billy' had said -- and his mind's eye followed up with an image of Shen the same way, hate and poison on her lips.
It didn't help.
"If you're not sober enough for that, you're definitely not sober enough to hear me use the f-word," Tommy joked, an ache underlying everything (the kind that never went away). "Not that I'm saying I have feelings. Because I think it's common knowledge that I don't. But if I did-" Everything hurt and his throat tried to close in on itself, and his fight-or-flight was revving up so high that he was practically vibrating before he could breathe and calm down, get still. "It wouldn't be such a terrible idea. You and me. Hooking up. Going out."
...huh.
No, really, huh.
Shen was completely, utterly surprised that Tommy might possibly want that. She'd bought into the image he tried so hard to give off that much, she supposed. What did that say about her? Way to see people for the complex beings they were, Shen. She kind of wanted to kick herself.
"It isn't a terrible idea," she answered, honestly. It wasn't, really, not if you didn't take into account the fact that she didn't want to limit herself. "I mean, I wouldn't be - on your lap," she said with a small smile, "if I didn't like you." And she liked him a good deal better than some other people she'd done this with, to be honest. A whole lot better. "I just. Don't want a committed thing? I think we're way too young for romantic commitments." Should she be moving off of his lap? Ugh, she should have said something before the shots, now she felt like she'd tricked him somehow.
And there was the reminder that he'd been absolutely right the first time, and should have kept his fucking mouth shut. Tamara'd said the same thing, and what she'd meant was 'until someone not you comes along.' He'd give it three weeks before Shen was wearing Monica's class ring or some dumb shit like that.
"Slow down there, tiger. I wasn't asking you to marry me," he snorted, trying - and failing - to get his equilibrium back. He needed space, and air, even if he could only get one of the two right now without making things worse. He pushed his elbows against the chair and started to pull himself up, offering her a hand so she didn't topple off. "I think I'm done with shots for tonight. Still want that swim?"
She'd fucked everything up, ugh. She was a terrible person, who should make that kind of thing plain way earlier, and now she'd hurt Tommy, and what was she supposed to do? Shen took his hand as she got to her feet with him. "Yeah," she decided after a beat, because turning that down felt like it would make things even worse. She wanted to kiss him again, but he'd moved from under her for a reason, and that reason was not 'continued physical intimacy'. "I gotta stop by my room, though." If things hadn't been weird, she wouldn't have given a thought to going bra-less, but everything felt too uncertain right now.
Was she planning to ditch? No, he'd given her an easy out. What that did to was give him time to get his head on straight, forget the sting and the embarrassment and get himself back to some kind of balance. "No worries." Tommy grabbed the stuff he'd swiped from the kitchen, using that as an excuse not to look her in the eye. "I've got to get this all back before anyone notices something's missing, anyway. Meet you down there in ten?"
"Yeah." Was he not looking at her? Shen watched him for a beat, then just grabbed the tequila, and her bag. "Yeah, I'll see you there." She was tempted to just go, but instead, she shoved the tequila into her bag and reached out with her free hand, laying it on his back.
He didn't expect the touch and he froze for half a second before relaxing into her hand. His brain, heart and body wanted a whole pile of different things all at once, impulses firing off in way too many directions and her touch was warm and stable and still. Tommy turned, making sure a smile was on his face as he did. "S'up?"
Do you have feelings for me? Shen almost asked, but then thought better of it. No matter what his answer was, it would lead to awkwardness at best. "Nothing, just." She smiled, small but real, and shook her head. She wanted to kiss him, but wasn't sure that he would welcome it. "Nothing. I'll see you in ten." Her wings bristled as she turned, and she picked up her shoes on the way out.
He watched her go, standing still for once in his life. When the door had closed behind her and Tommy was alone again, he let his shoulders sag. He was still holding one of the unused lime slices in his hand, and with a burst of energy he squeezed it, sharp and hard, until the pulp burst up between his fingers. Tommy let out a long breath, and hung his head. "Fuck," he said quietly, and he left it at that.
***
Ten minutes later, Shen watched with quiet amusement as Tommy picked the locks on the swimming pool. She'd dropped her wings into the girls' shower and slipped into a bikini, grabbing a towel as she went. She didn't ask where he'd gotten those skills; things still felt weird, and she had no idea where they stood, whether they were still in make-out territory or... anything. But she was hoping to figure it out as they went along.
She felt all the more off balance without her wings, but it went away as she got in the water. They were just horrible to swim with. There was no duck to her X-gene. She swam underwater for a bit, then surfaced with a gasp, looking around for where Tommy was.
The time it had taken Shen to get into swimwear was time Tommy had stretched out for himself, taking another (shorter) breather on the roof and getting his brain back in order. The assumption that he was up for makeouts had been totally fair. That wasn't the problem. The problem was the clenching tight in his chest when she'd reminded him that it was just about that. That maybe without realizing it he'd started to hope for ... what? Dating like a regular human being? It was no wonder she'd shut that idea down.
By the time he headed back down to the pool, still dressed (he hadn't ever bothered to buy a bathing suit; it hadn't seemed worth it to blow part of his Xavier's allowance on something he wouldn't use once he was gone again), Tommy figured he'd gotten the worst of whatever the hell that reaction had been out of his system. The lock opened more easily than he'd thought it would -- at least he wasn't entirely rusty -- and he'd dumped his clothes in the corner and gone into the pool in just his boxer briefs. They were black, so it wasn't like she was going to get that much of an eyeful.
He hauled himself out of the water to sit on the edge, watching Shen cut a smooth line through the pool. Something went tight in his chest again and he ignored it, especially as she came up for air.
Shen smiled at him when she found him sitting on the edge of the pool. The smile lingered a beat too long as awkwardness set in. This was the worst, and Shen was terrible with awkwardness. She never knew what to do with it, so she tended to attack it head on. She swam over to Tommy and sat up beside him on the ledge. "Are we okay? Because this feels all kinds of weird and awkward and I'm terrible at awkward." Not to mention, still not sober.
Ugh. Why couldn't she be like Bobby, and just let shit go with a stupid joke or a deflection? Reason number fifteen why he should never have opened his stupid mouth earlier. He just had to get through this part and by tomorrow everyone would be hung over and embarrassed and never bring any of this up again. Good plan. The best.
"What, breaking in to the school pool after a half hour of illicit drinking and dry-humping in the unlocked reading room?" He cracked wise with a flash of a sharp grin, because it was the only choice he had left. "What could possibly be awkward about any of this?"
"Actually, all of that sounds pretty awesome," Shen pointed out with a half smile, head tilted to the side to watch him as they talked.
"So there we go," he agreed, stretching his arms over his head and feeling his shoulders pop. "We're okay."
"Are we, for real?" Shen asked, watching him move before her gaze settled back on his face. "'Cause I have no idea where we're at. Don't answer the swimming pool."
Tommy groaned, grabbing the side of the pool and dropping back down into the water toes first. "Come on, Shen, what do you want from me?" he asked, bracing his elbows behind him on the pool edge and kicking his feet just so he wasn't still. "I asked you out, you said no, life goes on. I'm a decent person," he added on. "I take no for an answer."
Wow, okay, was that what had happened? Shen curled her fingers on the edge of the ledge, leaning on her hands. "Sorry. That. That was exactly what I wanted from you, I guess?" His rundown of events, since she clearly had had no idea what was going on. This had certainly been illuminating. Although... "But for the sake of... communication, and clarity, I didn't say no. You decided you didn't like my terms. Well, no, more like - my terms didn't work for you." She thought that was what had happened, right?
He frowned at her. "You said 'we're too young for commitment,' which pretty much covers that. You want to play the field. That's cool. You do you." What else did that even mean if it didn't mean 'stuff it'?
"People can still go out without any big time commitments other than 'let's go out'," Shen pointed out, although she didn't really know why she was. She'd never even thought about it before? But then again, she'd never expected Tommy to react as he had. Showed what she understood about, well, anything.
"Yeah, I know. And there's also a difference between 'this is only for fun' and 'let's take a chance and see where this goes,'" Tommy clarified. The conversation was making his head spin and the lump in his throat come back, both feelings he hated. "If you wanna just mess around for shits and giggles - that's cool. But I've got that already. I don't need to be someone else's boredom dick."
"Wow, fuck you," Shen blurted out in response to his last words, before she could think any better of it. Calm, Shen. She huffed out a small, humorless laugh, and aimed to nudge his shoulder with her foot. "I've never even considered going out with anyone before, so, you know, maybe remember that I give a shit. You can stick to 'I'm not interested' instead of, you know, that." She was not at her most eloquent, but damn, she was offended, on both her and his account.
"I'm the one who was interested, remember?" he fired back. All his defenses were gone, ripped down one by one over the course of the evening, and he just wanted... he wanted to sink to the bottom of the pool and stay there, or start running and not stop, and here he was instead, bleeding pain all over the place and helpless to stop it. This was what he got for listening to Kurt. Dammit.
"I'm not going to be someone's jailor and say 'only be with me.' But that doesn't mean I want to be one in a crowd. Or start to get into someone and get dropped on my ass because the next charming bastard who comes along has more money than God. I know that by any sane measure I don't count for anything, but- " he ran out of words, dunking his head below the water to make his face wet on purpose.
Yana had barely been a thing at all. And it wasn't that he'd wanted to be with Tamara long-term; they'd have made each other crazy. But she hadn't ever looked back. And Pam -- he'd always be second. Maybe that was all he'd get, but fuck it. Dumb as it was, he maybe liked himself just enough to think that someday things might be different.
What? Just. What? Shen's wings pushed out of her back before she realized it, and, since they were longer than just her back, pushed her into the water before she could correct her own course.
The splash was momentous, especially given the fact that her wings had half-spread by then. They beat through the water, entirely less efficiently than they did in the air, creating waves of current as Shen barely managed to break the surface again, sputtering.
Tommy got buffeted by the waves as he surfaced, shaking the water out of his hair and eyes just in time to get splashed and wet again. Fuck everything about opening up to people and trying to talk about feelings - he was hopeless at it, and no-one wanted to hear it anyway. Giving up on it entirely felt freeing, weirdly enough, rather than trying to push it aside. Just, fuck everything. "Hey!" he flung up his hand to block the worst of the splash. He grabbed for her without thinking, to keep her from going under again.
Shen clung to him instinctively, her wings beating once, creating another wave, but then she angled them to keep her afloat, rather than drag her down. And she was clinging to Tommy. Fucking perfect. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she tried to blink them away before glaring at him, only marginally successful in the latter, and nearly not at all in the former. "I don't give a shit whether you have money or charm. You're you, you fucking idiot." She was clinging to him, and she really wanted to kiss him, but he didn't want her to, and if she let go of him she'd start sinking again, and she wasn't sure her dignity could take it.
She'd messed everything up so completely.
He laughed, mostly able to kill the bitterness. Not completely, but mostly. "Yeah, that's usually my problem. Can't get away from that one no matter how fast I run." She was tangled around him, hot against his skin where the water was cool, and she might disembowel him with her talons for this one, but fuck it. Just, fuck it. Tommy angled his head and leaned in, salt and chlorine in his nose and mouth, and he kissed her. One last one for the road.
Shen was surprised enough not to respond for a second, but then her clinging became less 'desperate not to sink' and more 'channeling many conflicted feelings into this kiss, and not wanting to come up for air' as she returned it, confusion, anger and genuine feelings fueling it with passion.
One hand on the side of the pool so that they didn't sink left him only one hand around Shen's slim waist and nothing for anything else. That didn't matter so much in the moment, because she kissed him back. (She'd kissed him back before and then said it was just for fun.) But she'd sober up in the morning and regret would kick in so this would probably be the last time ever, and Tommy let himself fall into it. He tasted her lips, traced them with his tongue, the tang of the pool water there over the faintest hints of lime. Please.
Shen's tongue came out to meet his, but she hadn't drunk anywhere near enough to silence the little voice at the back of her head, the one reminding her that nothing had changed, that she had to stop hurting him, even when he'd just been such an asshole. Reluctantly, she broke the kiss, leaning her forehead against his as she caught her breath. "I don't wanna hurt you," she told him, and leaned back, eyes opening to look at him. Her wings felt so heavy behind her, drenched as they were, and she really should be moving away, hoisting herself up on the ledge, instead of saying shit she knew, even as she said it, he wouldn't like to hear.
But you're going to anyway. That wasn't fair -- she had every right to see who she wanted, when she wanted, how she wanted. That was the entire point, wasn't it? She didn't want. Not enough. So Tommy moved back, pulled them closer to the side of the pool. He wasn't going to drop her, not until he knew she wasn't going to sink and drown, but staying longer wasn't such a smart plan either. "We want different things," was all he could think of to say.
"Yeah," Shen confirmed, feeling very small right then. She held his gaze for a beat, then let go of him to grab the ledge instead, and pull herself up. She was going to blame the prickling in her eyes on the chlorine, and not tears, that would be stupid. She stood up and stepped away from the ledge, shaking out as much water from her wings as she could. The year had started out so well, and now she'd hurt her friend, and she didn't even know if he'd still want to be friends.
He waited, milliseconds counting down excruciatingly slowly until she was on her feet and secure, too far away from the pool edge to fall in the minute he turned his back. Tommy boosted himself out of the pool and got to his feet, water sheeting off him and puddling on the pool deck with every step. "You're gonna be alright getting back?" he asked before heading through the guys' locker room door.
Chlorine could totally also make your throat feel tight, pfft. And what even was that question? Shen looked over at him, at his back as he walked away, and she cleared her throat. "Tommy."
He hadn't even made it to the door before she was calling him back. He paused, hand on the door jamb, and glanced back over his shoulder. She looked forlorn and bedraggled, her wings wet and hair plastered to his face, and Tommy hated himself. He should just go back over, say fuck it, he'd do whatever she wanted. Have a night or a couple of hours or whatever, and move on, no harm no foul. Why couldn't he just do that, and fix everything?
"Yeah?" he asked instead, pushing his wet hair back off his forehead.
"You being you - it's a good thing," she blurted out before she could think any better of it. "You're great." She gave him a small smile. "When you're not being an ass."
He wouldn't be able to hear that now, not when he was hurting, but maybe he'd remember it later. Or maybe he wouldn't and this was just about making herself feel better. Shen grabbed her towel and turned to head for the girls' locker room, because it was either that or adding 'I'm sorry', and that wouldn't be helping anyone.
"So, like, two percent of the time," he called back, a grin happening despite himself. No matter how the night started, this was always going to have been the way it was going to end -- them walking away from each other, and the inside of his chest weirdly bruised. "Happy new year," Tommy added, perversity getting the better of him. He pushed through the door and, once it was closing behind him, he zipped away.
Warning for kissing and some R-rated underage shenanigans.
Shen's buzz was a thing of beauty. She'd managed to maintain it without ever tipping over into properly drunk, so far, and she liked it that way. It made everything a little warmer, a little brighter, and for the first time in a long time, she didn't feel the usual pangs of - heartache, jealousy? - when she saw Shinobi and Tamara together. She wished her former friend the best, instead.
It was weird to feel like a better Buddhist when tipsy, but she'd never been big on that aspect of it anyway.
She was nursing an alcohol-free drink right then, to rehydrate after dancing for a while, wings on display on account of her sequined short dress's racerback, when she spotted Tommy. She'd seen him around, and something had been nagging her about him - and not just that tense-looking moment with Scott she'd almost gone and interrupted earlier, except Tommy had bailed before she could. He didn't seem like the usual Tommy, and that was not on. Everyone was supposed to be happy tonight.
She walked over to him with a smile, then asked, without preamble, "Something's up, what's up?"
What was the worst that could happen? He'd joke it off or tell her to fuck off. Whatever, he'd know she cared.
Tommy'd been halfway through composing a text to Alex - I was nice to ur brother, aren't u proud? - but shoved his phone back in his pocket instead and took a second to admire the short, tight sparkly thing Shen was wearing before replying. "The immediate and obvious answer is gonna get me slapped, so." He tried blowing it off with a joke, a grin and a wink, the manic, edgy feeling that had been sitting on him all evening still making his skin feel too tight.
"Please," Shen rolled her eyes and stopped in front of him. "We're so past that. Punched in the shoulder, at most."
"An upgrade, I'll take it." Tommy let out the breath that was sitting solid in his lungs. Why couldn't he get a grip? All things considered, he'd come out of Limbo pretty damn unscathed. At least compared to some of the others.
The image of Billy-possessed hit him again, the threats the demon made rolling over him in Billy's voice, the feeling when his fist had hit skin and bone. He looked away from Shen's concern-face. She took on too much, everyone's listening ear. Even if he needed to talk about something, it wasn't fair to put more crap on her when she was just trying to party. "I helped Illyana out with a thing," he compromised with himself. He wasn't lying, but she wasn't there to be his therapist either. "It went sideways for a while in there, but everything's back to normal now. Or whatever passes for normal around here," he added, with a shrug and a grin that felt forced. "I gotta stop helping people out, that's my problem. I'm too nice."
Shen snorted at his conclusion; too nice was not the descriptor that came to mind when she thought of Tommy. Not that he wasn't nice, in his own, he just tried so damn hard to hide it. "Yeah, that's gotta be it." Her wings bristled a little, but settled immediately. "Anyway, yeah, Kitty mentioned. It sounded pretty messed up."
Her wings rustled at him and he grinned back at her unabashed. "That's not a bad summary. Maybe a little understated. Fewer corpses than Arizona, a lot more mindfucking."
Shen looked sympathetic, but also skeptical - of her own offer. "And I'm guessing you don't wanna talk about it?" Even if he did - which would be pretty out of character for the Tommy she knew - this was very unlikely to be the time and place when he would choose to.
He arched an eyebrow, shaking his head. "And ruin the party with whining? Not my style. I'd say get me drunk one day and I'll spill, but with my powers that's not gonna work either." He raked his hand through his hair, pushing it back off his face, and tried - again - to shake off the weird, uncomfortable mood. "What're you up to tonight? Breaking hearts, or breaking legs?"
"Definite no to legs, hopeful no to hearts," Shen answered with a shrug. She never wanted to hurt anyone. She hesitated, then decided to embrace the change of subject, and resisted the urge to reach out physically. This was Tommy; it probably wouldn't be welcome, either. "Have you met that new girl, Monica?"
It was part relief and part pang of something else that came with Shen's easy acceptance of the brush-off, but Tommy rolled with it. He'd started it, after all. "No," he replied, shaking his head. He'd look to see if he could see who Shen was talking about, but the room was pretty dark and there were a few faces he didn't recognize. He'd been at Bobby's for Christmas and then in Limbo -- he hadn't had a whole lot of time for meeting the newbies. "She cute?" he asked, faking the wolfish grin she'd expect from him.
"She's hot," Shen replied, seeking her out in the crowd and eventually spotting the taller girl's distinctive hair. "Over there by the drink stand. She made it sound like boys weren't her thing, though, maybe? I don't know." She would never have said so sober, but there she went.
"That figures," Tommy replied easily, tucking his hands in the pockets of his ripped black jeans so that he wouldn't give in to the urge to drum his fingers against his legs. That tended to drive people nuts, and he didn't feel like antagonizing her. For the moment, anyway. "You gonna take one for the team at midnight? Report back with all the details." It wasn't the most subtle way of finding out if Shen was on the prowl, but whatever. No-one looked at Tommy and thought 'subtle' anyway.
"She's had a bit to drink and I have no idea about her tolerance," Shen replied with a shake of her head. "No way I'm gonna be that girl. What time is it, anyway?" Her phone was in her bag across the room, along with what was left of her bottle of tequila. She'd been sharing it with whoever wanted some.
He snuck a quick glance at his phone, hitting [send] on that text while he was at it. "11:49," he reported. How had it gotten so late without him noticing? He was more out of it than he'd thought. "Eleven minutes until a brand spanking new year." And good riddance to 2017. "Are you making any resolutions?"
"Not particularly," Shen shook her head. "Coming out is gonna keep me busy enough, and I don't really believe in New Year resolutions." Whatever you wanted to change about yourself, about your life, your motivation shouldn't be 'It's a new year,' or you were bound to fail.
That caught him off-guard enough to stop brooding about his own problems, and Tommy looked at her with new interest. "Coming out? Are we talking in a sexy way, or guest-starring in one of Tam's 'mutant of the year' video spots?"
"There's a sexy way to come out?" Shen asked, clearly very skeptical. "But no, just -" not touching the Tam question with a ten foot pole, "with Kurt. We're thinking just being inducer-free and wings-out at a protest."
Mutant powers, then, not being into girls. Tommy switched gears smoothly enough, though his smile faded somewhat at the idea. "What, back in Central Park? After what happened to the Brotherhood, you're gonna want to make sure you've got your back covered. At least Kurt can get you out fast if shit goes down." But Pam was a teleporter too, and both Alex and Magneto had still gotten shot.
"We haven't finalized any plans yet," Shen stated. "But yeah, Kurt's mutation's totally welcome." Though she figured they would both try to help others before getting themselves to safety, if anything went down. But his mutation would be awesome for that, too.
He frowned, uncharacteristically serious again. "Just watch yourself, 'k? It'd be exciting to go and pull you out of whatever mutant Gitmo you end up in, but I'm pretty sure that's not how we want to blow a weekend."
Shen smiled at him, and reached out to take his hand and squeeze it. He cared! Well, no, she knew that he cared, but he was showing it. It was sweet. "We'll be careful."
Tommy blinked in surprise at her touch, suddenly very aware of how close they were standing... And how much of a baby he was probably being if Shen was turning all squishy on him. Still... He wasn't going to turn it down. Not the way he'd been feeling lately.
He grinned, one corner of his mouth tugging up into a smile, and he turned his hand to slide his fingers between hers. "Oops, how'd that happen?" He teased, tugging her a little closer. "I'm turning the party into a downer. How about trying to squeeze in one last dance for the year?"
"I'll always be up for one more dance," Shen replied with a grin, and tugged back after coming a little closer, so he'd come the rest of the way. It wasn't the right sort of moment, or music, for anything but a slow, which worked just fine for Shen. Her feathers rustled before her wings settled down as she wrapped her free arm around Tommy's shoulders. "What about you? Any resolutions?" she asked as they started swaying to the music.
The easy way she moved, her confidence, the way she didn't hesitate before putting her arm around him; it was the kind of thing that could give a guy ideas. It was like crushing on Jeanne-Marie would have been, though -- fun but ultimately not going to lead anywhere. She'd find someone who had something to offer, who deserved her, and then she'd be gone. He could enjoy this, at least, as long as he could stop himself from thinking.
"Why mess with perfection?" he joked, his hand settled warm at her waist. But she'd answered him candidly, and he owed her that much in return. "All I wanted last year was to survive it. Next year -- dunno. Get rich," Tommy grinned and shrugged the shoulder under her hand. "Save the world. As long as it's something more than 'survive.'"
"Save the world sounds pretty awesome," Shen agreed, smiling at him before making an amused face. "Apart, you know, from the bit where it needs to be in danger."
He laughed, ducking his head. "There's that. Though from talking to TJ, our reality's gotten off easy so far."
"I'm just fine with that," Shen stated, smiling at his little laugh-and-head-duck. It was cute! "If this is having it easy, let's never have it bad. Or hard. Whichever."
"I'd offer to drink to that, but it'll have to wait until the song's over." Which, honestly, for someone who spent most of his time wishing that everything would hurry and catch up with him -- right now he was pretty happy just letting the universe chug along at its usual snail's pace. "How late are they going to let us keep going in here?"
"They said one, so I figure we can drag it out until one thirty," Shen replied, grinning with a touch of the wicked. "Maybe even two?" They were teenagers having a new year's party; they couldn't expect them to actually stick to that timeline too closely. Who knew, maybe they'd just let them wind down on their own, and no one would try to shut them down. That would be the best.
Tommy nodded, the shimmering sequins on her dress smooth rather than rough-edged beneath his fingers. "Not bad. And even if they do kick us back to the dorms at one, there's always the option of a discreet afterparty."
Shen laughed, happy and free. "Well, I'm not sure I have any tequila left. Not that it'd be much use to you, sorry," she added with a brief grimace.
He grinned back, her laugh infectious. "S'ok. I definitely wanna try doing tequila body shots one day, with the salt and the lemon and everything, even though I can't get any real buzz off it. That's not exactly the point, anyway," he added, waggling his eyebrows.
"It's an added bonus," Shen stated with a grin. But yeah, no. Not the point, really not. "That's a totally awesome new year resolution, by the way. We can even make it happen before the night is over, if I have any tequila left."
Hunh. Of all the people he might have assumed he'd end up doing shots with in the middle of the night, Shen was definitely a stretch. But an awesome one nevertheless. "You're on," Tommy replied cheerfully, already trying to remember if he'd seen any lemons in the kitchen. "And if you do run out, I'm sure I can get my hands on something." He hadn't intended the double entendre, noticing it only after it was out of his mouth, but he wasn't going to walk it back now.
Shen laughed again at that, because, really? It was just funny. "Feeling hopeful, then?" she asked cheekily.
Her smile was impish, open and happy, and part of him felt lighter just looking at it. "Always," he teased her right back. It was a blatant lie, really, but his usual brand of cynicism felt out of place right then. "If you're planning to shoot me down in flames, hold that thought until after midnight."
"Consider it held," she replied, although she wasn't sure that she wanted to hold that thought at all. Best to dismiss it altogether, for now, as irrelevant to the present moment. Right now they were dancing, and it had to be getting very close to midnight, and unless Tommy had someone better to kiss, Shen had every intention of being there for that.
If you'd told her that six months ago, she might have laughed in your face.
The party was getting louder as the song started to draw to a close, people pulling out phones to start figuring out the countdown. Shen wasn't showing any signs that she wanted to bail out to go find someone else, so Tommy didn't let go. If she did, he probably still had time to get his ass to Times Square.
And do what? Watch Pam and Alex necking? Or worse, take Pam away from Alex so that he had to watch them, when by all rights Tommy should have just left them to it? He still had no idea what any of that meant; what his place was in their world, if he even had one long-term. This was easier. This was just Shen, and him, and for a moment he could pretend that she might think he was enough.
"Last chance to run," he joked as the music died away, his voice low and her hand still in his.
"You have to stop thinking I want to run," Shen told him with a smile, using her arm around his shoulders to bring him a little closer, but immediately relaxing it, because... "You could run too."
He could, sure. And whether she had her arm around him or not, she'd never see him go. "I considered it," Tommy replied, the grin on his face muddying the waters as to whether or not he was joking. "But then I figured there's nowhere else I want to be."
"I was wondering where you were going with that line," she acknowledged, lips ticking up into a small smile. She pulled her hand out of his, but only so she could wrap that arm around his shoulders, too, as people started counting down from ten. "Nice save." Save wasn't exactly the right word, but it worked, anyway, with the buzz of alcohol in her veins and her general desire to just enjoy the moment. She wasn't sure what it was about tonight that had finally gotten her out of her Tam-drama-induced funk, but she was glad for it. She felt like herself again.
And he had his arms full of girl, which was not a bad way at all to wind up the year. Tommy slipped his arms around her waist and tugged her in closer. Her feathers tickled the backs of his hands, a gentle brush against his skin. "You're assuming that wasn't what I was going to say all along." He grinned, glancing up only long enough to tune in and hear the count down wrap up. "Three," he added, warm and fizzy inside even though he was sadly sober. "Two."
"One," Shen added, grinning wide, and bright, with the sort of effervescent mood she had been riding for a while. Instead of saying the zero, she bridged the gap between them, a hand coming to the back of his head as she pressed her lips to his, then licked at them hopefully.
Hey, if they were going to share a New Year's kiss, it might as well be a nice, deep one. Something to remember.
This part was easy, the falling into someone and the world outside vanishing, the letting go of all the stress and the drama of the last few days. Tommy parted his lips and let her in, tasting her mouth in return. His hands spread across the small of her back, keeping her in close. He followed her lead, caught the changes in her breathing, grazing his teeth lightly against her bottom lip before reluctantly breaking the kiss.
Her wings bristled at that graze of teeth, and her body shifted with it, pressing closer before easing back down as the kiss broke. She opened her eyes to focus her gaze on his again, and smiled. "Happy new year, Tommy."
Damn -- the way she'd pushed up against him, the hint of tequila on her tongue, even the little curl of her lips-- he was half-stunned for a beat before he caught his breath. He echoed half her smile, one corner of his mouth tugging up. "Back atcha." His hands were still splayed flat against her back, her arms around his neck, but going for another one would be a declaration of more than just what New Year's countdowns could let you get away with. "I hope it's a good one."
He looked so tempting, there, for a second, and Shen saw no reason to resist, giving him a much briefer kiss, sans tongue, as if to punctuate that statement of his. "Let's make it a good one." Reluctantly, she pulled her arms back from around his neck, trailing her hands over his shoulders and down his arms. "I can go check if I've got any tequila left." For him and his mock-resolution more than for her; she'd need more water, and/or time to sober up a bit, before she could drink any more and still trust her decisions.
How 'bout that. He'd leaned in to the second kiss just long enough for it to be over, and the residual warmth from her arms still lingered on his skin. His eyebrow flickered upward, but he got back into the spirit of things quick enough. "That'd be cool, sure." He glanced around the room, not entirely sure where she'd hidden her stash. "If no-one's drained it, I can raid the kitchen for lemons."
"Let's find out," Shen stated, and stepped back before jumping up into the air and spreading her wings. She was wearing her usual black booty shorts in order not to flash people when she flew, and was much faster at getting to the corner where she'd stashed her bag that way. She grabbed it, glanced at the bottle inside, then went back into the air to make it back to Tommy, nodding for him to meet her by the door. She landed easily, and grinned at him. "Definitely enough for a couple of shots," she told him as she tucked her wings close behind her back again.
Tommy's phone had buzzed his butt about the same moment that Shen took off. He'd swiped the screen and found a text from Pam that had nothing in it but an emoji pout, so he tapped out a quick reply -- Happy new year, hot stuff -- then sent a similar one (minus the term of endearment) to Billy. And Wanda, for good measure. Not that he needed plausible deniability for anything, but some ass-covering habits were trickier to break than others. He shoved his phone back in his pocket as Shen landed, and he nodded in appreciation. "Awesome. Should I go grab the other stuff and bring it back here, or did you want to move this party somewhere else?"
Shen had thought that the moving towards the door had been a hint enough, but maybe if he was asking that question, he didn't want to get out of here? "I'm good with either," she answered, consequently, closing her bag and shouldering one strap so it fell on the side of her body without bothering her wing. "It's your resolution, you tell me."
Tommy'd just started to reply when there was the weirdest sensation - a hit of wind, the brush of familiar lips. Except no-one was there. No-one visible, anyway.
He grabbed for the timestream, used his powers to slow things down for himself for a moment, just long enough to spot the slow-motion flash of light from the corner of his eye. No-one would have noticed it if they hadn't been looking for it -- or if, like him, they'd had extra time to react. And that had to be Pam, portalling-out. He let go, let time snap back in to normal speed, a faint and surprised smile playing on his lips.
And he still needed to answer Shen's question. "The reading room? It's more comfortable than the kitchen."
"I'll meet you there," Shen nodded with another smile, oblivious to anything that might have happened. "Can you grab some water, too, while you're at it?"
"You got it." Tommy agreed, turned and sped down the hallway. There was fruit in the fridge and he grabbed a lemon and the random half a lime that was in the drawer. He probably owed Jean-Paul a thanks; if the dude wasn't always cooking strange French things, the kitchen probably wouldn't have half the cool stuff that it currently did. Fruit, salt shaker, knife, bottles of water -- into a canvas shopping bag that had been crammed in one of the cupboards, and he could still beat Shen to the reading room.
The fact that he would beat Shen there was the only reason she hadn't just planned on grabbing one of the bottles of water by the drinks table. But that was one more detour that would take, comparatively, ages longer for her than for Tommy. She got to the reading room in a reasonable amount of time, for a non-speedster - she didn't run there, but she did walk fast, because being kept waiting sucked.
"Hey," she grinned at him, dropping her bag on the couch and bending over to take off her sandals. She'd been wearing shoes for way too long, okay?
"Took you long enough," Tommy bitched cheerfully from where he was draped over one of the armchairs. Aaaaand he watched her legs when she bent over in that itty bitty skirt, because hey. He was only human. He did reach for one of the bottles and twist off the cap for her before holding it out. "I got your water."
"Thanks," she told him with a grin, stepping out of the sandals and taking the bottle, and then a long drink from it. "So, body shots," she said after that, and set down the water to grab the tequila out of her bag. "Salt and lime?"
"Or lemon, whatever's your pleasure -- I grabbed both." Tommy swung his legs down off the arm of the chair and settled to sit on the floor instead, his back against the armchair and his legs crossed under him. Unpacking his bag onto the little coffee table-like-thing only took a second, and - "crap. I didn't grab shot glasses. Not that I actually know if they keep any here," he admitted. "It's probably a bad look for a school."
Shen joined him on the floor, sitting cross-legged without a thought for her dress riding up - that was the entire point of wearing shorts. "They've probably been safely stowed out of the way of students," Shen agreed distractedly, reaching for the half-lime and the knife to cut slices. "It doesn't really matter, anyway." Drinking from the bottle would work just as well. She turned to Tommy, set the bottle down in front of him, and tilted her head to the side to give him a nice stretch of neck to work with. "Lick my neck and salt it?"
It wasn't quite zero-to-sixty, considering the way they'd been kissing a couple of minutes ago, but it was still a better offer than Tommy had expected right off the bat. "Anything you say." He grinned even as he grabbed the salt-shaker. The room was deserted other than them, everyone either still down at the party or off doing their own thing, and the low, warm light from the table lamp turned everything cozy and intimate.
Her short hair made things easier, but he used the tip of his finger to brush across her skin anyway, ostensibly tucking a couple of stray hairs back out of the way. Tommy leaned in and tasted the side of her throat, a hint of salt-sweat already prickling on his tongue. She smelled amazing - whether it was her shampoo or perfume or... or whatever else it was that girls used to make themselves irresistible.
His eagerness made Shen chuckle, and the smile from that remained on her lips as he leaned in closer. She bit her lip in giddy appreciation at the slide of his tongue on such sensitive skin, not having quite expected the wonderful thrill of it. After he'd salted the wet path - she was pretty sure some had got inside her dress, oh well - she grabbed a slice of lime and gave him a cheeky grin before holding it, right side out, between her teeth. She really wasn't the sort to be doing body shots halfway, and she didn't figure he was either.
Tommy sat back on his heels and laughed, equal parts impressed and delighted by the way everything was going, by Shen - in a way - offering up closeness to him... and part nerves, because what if he did something wrong now, and spoiled the energy that was vibing between them right now?
The way he was going to wreck things was if he overthought them. Idiot. "Damn," he said instead, admiring her and moving that nervous energy into something more palpable. "You are something else, you know that?" He unscrewed the cap from the bottle and tossed it toward the table. It bounced across the surface, clinking a couple of times before it settled.
And before she changed her mind, or the pose with the lime got uncomfortable, he leaned forward again. He braced his free hand on the floor by her hip, his chest brushing against her shoulder. He ran his tongue along the damp salt patch on her skin, a million times stronger than the faint prickle from before. Because he was in the neighbourhood, he traced the tip of his tongue up a little higher, to the soft, sensitive spot right behind her jaw and below her ear. He sat back, blood hot and pulse pounding, and held the bottle up in salute. "Bottom's up."
If it hadn't been for the kisses earlier, Shen probably wouldn't have curled her hand on the back of his neck when he came in for the salt. Probably, because, well, she was in that kind of mood tonight, and she was riding it high, after months of doing without. Her hand settled lightly on his nape, but the slide of his tongue had her curl her fingers against his scalp in an unconscious, gentle scratch.
The hardest part as she watched him take a gulp of tequila was not to start smiling wide enough that she would risk losing the lime. Good thing he came for it then, and she let him pluck it from her lips, hand smoothing over to his shoulder. "That something else had better be something awesome," she told him, and waited for him to take the rind out of his mouth to move in for a kiss, wanting a taste of tequila and lime of her own.
Mouth-puckeringly tart, the lime washed most of the tequila taste away, though the rest would last longer than the momentary flash of heat low in his stomach. But there were other ways to get a buzz going, and the light in Shen's eyes and the way she was looking at his lips sent a wave of a different sort of heat in the same general direction. Tommy tossed the lime rind to follow the bottle cap, and licked some of the sour off his lips.
"Now who's being insecure," he teased gently, and flicked some of the sequins on her dress to make them sparkle. "You're the sexiest damn disco ball I've ever seen."
"That's probably offensive to both me and disco balls," she told him as she leaned in, chuckling against his lips before going in for that taste she wanted.
Soft and fierce and strong and sweet all wrapped into one -- it just about summed her up along with the kiss. He parted his lips and his hands came up to slide around her hips, the flicker of her tongue against his making his breath catch. The heady rush burned down along his nerve endings, his skin tingling where she touched it.
"I offend a lot of people on a regular basis," he admitted cheerfully enough once he had his mouth back again (though really, no rush). And, more honestly than he'd intended, "words are hard." He tipped his chin up to catch her in another kiss, searching and needy. "This is easier."
That had been a good kiss, and when it broke Shen licked her lips happily, as if there might be more of that tequila-and-lime flavor on them. She punctuated his last words with another kiss, a hand cradling the back of his head, leaning the other one on the floor. There had been a little more truth in his words than she usually got from him, and she wasn't sure how to respond to that without making him clam up. So here she was, proving his point: this was easier. "It's also way more fun," she told him when that kiss broke, and nipped at his lips. "Want another shot?"
He did, sure, but that was doing things out of order. He tugged gently at her hips to encourage her in closer, and grabbed for the salt shaker again. "It's your turn, if you're interested." He leaned his shoulders back against the chair behind him, leaving his free hand resting on the gentle swell of her hip and upper thigh. Her mouth on him -- yeah, he was very into that idea. He flashed her a cheeky grin. "My body is ready."
Shen laughed at that, and then gave him another kiss for it. "A little more water for me first, I think." She didn't want to wake up tomorrow not remembering even a small moment of this. And she didn't want to doubt her motivation, either. But she didn't doubt it now, so she pushed up to straddle his lap, wings angling back off to make it easier on her back. Her hands stroked up his chest to link behind his neck. "But if your body's ready..." She leaned in for another kiss, fully willing to make the most of this moment before moving on to another body shot.
Tommy had been looking forward to the shot, but this was good too. This was really good, honestly, and he dropped the salt shaker, not caring where it ended up. His hands ended up on her thighs, by the hem of her minidress, and the way she was sitting on him was going to leave no doubt in her mind about his interest in everything she was doing. Skinny jeans were hell in some situations. This kiss was greedy, no hesitation behind it. She knew what she wanted and for the moment that included him, and he didn't hold back.
Shen had absolutely zero issue with feeling just how into this he was as they kissed, as proved by the roll of her hips. Her fingers carded through his hair, and she grazed her teeth on his bottom lip before pulling back. "So. Want another body shot?" She concluded that question with another bright smile, and only just stopped herself from rolling her hips again. Maybe he needed a second to think, and she was all about letting people think about this kind of thing.
The way she was moving against him, her hands in his hair, her teeth -- the rush of sensation pulled a low groan from his throat. Tommy rocked his hips up, chasing the contact, and took a fraction of a second to catch his breath before he answered. "Sure. And I promise to leave some for you when you're up for it." Her throat was a lot closer to him than the first time, and he brushed his lips softly against her skin. "Where do you want me?" he asked and laughed, pretending innocence. "It. Salt. I meant the salt."
Shen laughed without restraint, completely amused by his blurt-out, and completely okay with that. "Where do you want the salt?" she asked, instead, and on a whim, hooked her fingers under the straps of her dress and spread them out, offering the whole of her throat to him. It was so. difficult, not moving her hips again, and after a couple of seconds she gave in and did it anyway, for the sake of feeling him, this close to not letting him answer on account of wanting another kiss.
"How about-" she moved against him again and Tommy's upper brain functions half-derailed. That was okay; he was so very good with not thinking right now. He was grounded in his body instead, the physical rush and the wanting making it impossible to worry about anything. He moved against her in return, laughter catching in his throat. "You're a menace," he all but purred.
"How about... " he trailed a finger down from her collarbone to the space between her breasts, bared by the deep v-neck of her dress. "Here okay?"
That meant letting go of the straps of her dress, so his "here" would have a little more leeway than if she spread them out. "Here totally okay," she told him, her voice a little breathless from the general excitement of the moment. She hooked her fingers under her straps a little lower down, so she could spread them apart without pulling the dress up too much. She caught his gaze, and then told him, a friendly challenge, "My body is ready."
Her neckline dropped further and his eyes went with it, fixing on the spot where the gentle curve of the side of her breast vanished under the sparkling cloth. "I'll say," he said reverently, tracing his fingertip down further until he looped it over the bottom of the V. Given permission, he pressed his mouth to her breastbone, first his lips, closed and exploring, then the tip of his tongue, tracing a line up that perfect expanse of naked skin. That wasn't going to hold any salt, though - totally not the point. "I want to make you feel amazing," he murmured against her body, before licking a wetter stripe along the path he'd already set.
And here he went, going from 'pretty daring body shots' to 'revving her up like nobody's business'. Shen's breath caught in her throat when he said that, and she couldn't not rock against him again, hips shifting as her hands tightened around the straps, then loosened again so her cleavage dropped as low as it would go.
Given the salt about to fall down her cleavage, Shen was very glad that she wasn't wearing a bra. It also happened to make how aroused she was all too obious just then, but given what she could feel underneath her, it was only fair play. She leaned back against her wings, her body angled away not to get away from him - far from it - but to make it easier for the salt to stick.
He was supposed to be finding the salt shaker, but he was getting seriously distracted by everything else going on. When Shen arched her back like that, her dress pulling tight against her chest, Christ, it was a wonder he remembered the rest of the world existed at all. Everything ached, and the more he looked at her, touched her, the better/worse it got. Her reactions sure as hell suggested she liked it so he licked her again, one hand against the small of her back to support her. Salt, right. He fumbled for the shaker, upending it to send the delicate cascade of crystals down between her breasts. Some of it stuck, some of it didn't, tumbling down her body to vanish beneath her dress.
The warm drag of his tongue sent a thrill down her spine, and Shen sighed happily, brushing fingers through Tommy's hair. She was pretty sure it was the first time anyone put their tongue there, and it felt amazing. She laughed when he salted the spot, and grains of salt scattered down her dress, tiny pinpricks of sensation on her skin. "I'm gonna be salty all over," she said, and kissed Tommy again, because she could, and wanted to. It took her a little longer than planned to break the kiss, because it felt so good, but she eventually reached back for another slice of lime.
He dropped the salt shaker again, hands coming back to curl around her hips and hold her snug. They were sitting close enough this time that the smell of the lime hit him full-force as she placed it between her lips. "We could always go for another swim after this," he suggested with a grin, his mind going in an entirely different direction than the perfectly g-rated time they'd been in the pool before. He licked off the salt before she answered, so much bare skin against his lips, his cheek- and swigged another shot from the bottle sitting beside them. The tequila burned on his tongue and he took the lime from her lips, sucking it in over his tongue with a smirk and a laugh. Much better.
Shen laughed as well, because his laugh was communicative, and because the moment was a cheerful one. She straightened up, wings shifting, and both of her hands wound up in his hair. "Off hours swimming pool time. Way to ring in the new year. I like it."
He got rid of the lime rind again though her fingers in his hair kept distracting him, the gentle tugging sending tiny lightning surges of pleasure down his spine. He tipped his head up into her hands, his eyes half-lidded, his pulse racing. "Follow a little underage drinking with some light break-and-enter -- that's my kind of party," he teased. What was the point of having a reputation for being a disaster person if you didn't indulge in it once in a while?
"My only problem with this plan," Shen interrupted herself for a kiss, brief but teasing in all the best ways, the ways that sent warm arousal through her body, "is that it requires moving." And she was, well, not exactly comfortable on top of him, but definitely enjoying it there.
"No rush," Tommy replied immediately, happily letting her taste the lime and tequila on his lips. He brushed his hands up her sides, watching the way the sequins caught the light and the slinky fabric of her dress pulled snug against her body. "Which is doubly ironic coming from me, but hey. The night is still young, and there's no reason to get up early tomorrow."
"I like the way you think," Shen confirmed with a slow smile, and then leaned in against, wrapping her arms more tightly around his shoulders and pressing up against him as she kissed him. Oh, this felt good, and her wings bristled happily behind her.
The evening had started in an unbearably shitty way, full of flashbacks to Limbo and Arizona, his mood bottoming out further than it had gone in a long time. That he was here three hours later, Shen in his arms (and how the hell had he pulled that one off?) and by all appearances super-happy to be there... it was a goddamned miracle, that’s what it was. A groan escaped low in his throat, his tongue sliding between her lips again. Warm, slick, he could get lost in her, never come up for air, and die happy.
Shen was so, so glad that she'd finally gotten over her hang-ups - and she would have been glad to lose herself in the moment and think of nothing else. She did, for a little while, just long enough to get worked up enough that she was this close to asking him to touch her wings. But once he did, she really wouldn't want to potentially kill the mood, and she really had to get her regular disclaimer out at some point - and the sooner the better, just in case. She didn't think Tommy wanted a relationship, but what if she was wrong? She didn't want to hurt anyone for the sake of her libido.
She broke the kiss with a soft gasp and sat back on his lap, and her heels, wings shifting again. "Hey, just so we're on the same page..." She blinked a few times to focus on Tommy's face, and gave him a small, hopeful smile. "Fun, right? No commitment or anything?"
And there it was, the kick in the nuts that the universe seemed to delight in adding on to everything Tommy tried. Why had he expected anything different? It wasn't like anyone was actually likely to catch feelings for his skinny ass. Never mind girls, he couldn't even manage to do right by Billy, who'd been stupid-hung up on the whole brother thing right from the start. Tommy closed his eyes, dragging his fingers through his hair to push it back off his face. "Yeah," he said after a beat. "Of course." What was the point in torpedoing the rest of the night just because he was having a second of feeling sorry for himself?
That... was definitely not the easy agreement she'd been expecting, and much as Shen wanted to be selfish and just go with his words, instead of his body language... yeah, she was nowhere near that drunk. She frowned, and shifted her hands on his chest, then slid one of them to the side of his neck. "Tommy?"
Shit. This was careening awfully close to something that sounded like the beginning of a conversation that he was going to hate. He stole himself some time, just a little, to get his head back under control. The roller-coaster evening he'd been having was messing with him. That and the promise of make-outs, that was all. The urge to say something -- to try and find words that would make her change her mind about him, try to argue that he actually had something more to offer her (such a lie) -- it burned in his throat. But what was the point?
If he had to ask for it, it wasn't real.
That was the thing about Shen - she said what she meant. Which meant that all she wanted from him was fun, and asking her for more would only force her to say no out loud. Or worse, she'd feel guilty or awkward and say yes without meaning it, and everything good about their friendship would get flushed down the toilet in a stew of resentment.
So wall it up, put it away, be the good-time guy that she wanted to ring in the new year. Time snapped back into flow like a rubber band and he turned his head to bite lightly at the inside of her wrist. "Shen," he replied, more mockingly than serious, everything terrible that might be a feeling walled up and boxed away. He dropped his hands back to her hips. "Changing your mind on me already?"
"Fuck no," Shen replied, uncharacteristically cursing. So maybe she was still a little drunk, yes, so what? "Just - giving a shit about you." She brushed her thumb over his cheekbone. "You know I do, right? Give a shit." What was she doing?
Tommy couldn't help the way he turned into the gentleness of her touch, even knowing that it was fake. "One of the few, the proud, the deeply deluded," he cracked, his eyes closing despite himself. What was he doing? He needed to get this back on track somehow -- tequila, makeouts, swimming- skinny dipping? It had had the makings of a perfect night only a few short minutes ago. "Are we having a Moment, here? I'm getting the feeling that we're having a Moment."
"Moments are great, shut up," Shen told him fondly, and kissed his cheek, more affectionately still than just a kiss between friends. Which, well, she was straddling his lap and his tongue had gone between her breasts. Of course it went beyond just 'friendly'. "So, I realize this goes against every one of your principles, or something, but I am way not sober enough to figure out what's wrong. Talk to me?"
Earlier that night he'd been joking (not really joking) with Bobby and Kurt about the kinds of conversations that would send him running and screaming, and this was right up that alley. She was sitting on him, though, sitting on him and kissing him, and his body had zero interest in losing that connection. Or the weight of her across his lap, and the taste of her overriding everything including the tequila. He was so screwed.
The image of Billy's face, distorted from Limbo, rose up behind his eyes -- the cruelty there, the things 'Billy' had said -- and his mind's eye followed up with an image of Shen the same way, hate and poison on her lips.
It didn't help.
"If you're not sober enough for that, you're definitely not sober enough to hear me use the f-word," Tommy joked, an ache underlying everything (the kind that never went away). "Not that I'm saying I have feelings. Because I think it's common knowledge that I don't. But if I did-" Everything hurt and his throat tried to close in on itself, and his fight-or-flight was revving up so high that he was practically vibrating before he could breathe and calm down, get still. "It wouldn't be such a terrible idea. You and me. Hooking up. Going out."
...huh.
No, really, huh.
Shen was completely, utterly surprised that Tommy might possibly want that. She'd bought into the image he tried so hard to give off that much, she supposed. What did that say about her? Way to see people for the complex beings they were, Shen. She kind of wanted to kick herself.
"It isn't a terrible idea," she answered, honestly. It wasn't, really, not if you didn't take into account the fact that she didn't want to limit herself. "I mean, I wouldn't be - on your lap," she said with a small smile, "if I didn't like you." And she liked him a good deal better than some other people she'd done this with, to be honest. A whole lot better. "I just. Don't want a committed thing? I think we're way too young for romantic commitments." Should she be moving off of his lap? Ugh, she should have said something before the shots, now she felt like she'd tricked him somehow.
And there was the reminder that he'd been absolutely right the first time, and should have kept his fucking mouth shut. Tamara'd said the same thing, and what she'd meant was 'until someone not you comes along.' He'd give it three weeks before Shen was wearing Monica's class ring or some dumb shit like that.
"Slow down there, tiger. I wasn't asking you to marry me," he snorted, trying - and failing - to get his equilibrium back. He needed space, and air, even if he could only get one of the two right now without making things worse. He pushed his elbows against the chair and started to pull himself up, offering her a hand so she didn't topple off. "I think I'm done with shots for tonight. Still want that swim?"
She'd fucked everything up, ugh. She was a terrible person, who should make that kind of thing plain way earlier, and now she'd hurt Tommy, and what was she supposed to do? Shen took his hand as she got to her feet with him. "Yeah," she decided after a beat, because turning that down felt like it would make things even worse. She wanted to kiss him again, but he'd moved from under her for a reason, and that reason was not 'continued physical intimacy'. "I gotta stop by my room, though." If things hadn't been weird, she wouldn't have given a thought to going bra-less, but everything felt too uncertain right now.
Was she planning to ditch? No, he'd given her an easy out. What that did to was give him time to get his head on straight, forget the sting and the embarrassment and get himself back to some kind of balance. "No worries." Tommy grabbed the stuff he'd swiped from the kitchen, using that as an excuse not to look her in the eye. "I've got to get this all back before anyone notices something's missing, anyway. Meet you down there in ten?"
"Yeah." Was he not looking at her? Shen watched him for a beat, then just grabbed the tequila, and her bag. "Yeah, I'll see you there." She was tempted to just go, but instead, she shoved the tequila into her bag and reached out with her free hand, laying it on his back.
He didn't expect the touch and he froze for half a second before relaxing into her hand. His brain, heart and body wanted a whole pile of different things all at once, impulses firing off in way too many directions and her touch was warm and stable and still. Tommy turned, making sure a smile was on his face as he did. "S'up?"
Do you have feelings for me? Shen almost asked, but then thought better of it. No matter what his answer was, it would lead to awkwardness at best. "Nothing, just." She smiled, small but real, and shook her head. She wanted to kiss him, but wasn't sure that he would welcome it. "Nothing. I'll see you in ten." Her wings bristled as she turned, and she picked up her shoes on the way out.
He watched her go, standing still for once in his life. When the door had closed behind her and Tommy was alone again, he let his shoulders sag. He was still holding one of the unused lime slices in his hand, and with a burst of energy he squeezed it, sharp and hard, until the pulp burst up between his fingers. Tommy let out a long breath, and hung his head. "Fuck," he said quietly, and he left it at that.
***
Ten minutes later, Shen watched with quiet amusement as Tommy picked the locks on the swimming pool. She'd dropped her wings into the girls' shower and slipped into a bikini, grabbing a towel as she went. She didn't ask where he'd gotten those skills; things still felt weird, and she had no idea where they stood, whether they were still in make-out territory or... anything. But she was hoping to figure it out as they went along.
She felt all the more off balance without her wings, but it went away as she got in the water. They were just horrible to swim with. There was no duck to her X-gene. She swam underwater for a bit, then surfaced with a gasp, looking around for where Tommy was.
The time it had taken Shen to get into swimwear was time Tommy had stretched out for himself, taking another (shorter) breather on the roof and getting his brain back in order. The assumption that he was up for makeouts had been totally fair. That wasn't the problem. The problem was the clenching tight in his chest when she'd reminded him that it was just about that. That maybe without realizing it he'd started to hope for ... what? Dating like a regular human being? It was no wonder she'd shut that idea down.
By the time he headed back down to the pool, still dressed (he hadn't ever bothered to buy a bathing suit; it hadn't seemed worth it to blow part of his Xavier's allowance on something he wouldn't use once he was gone again), Tommy figured he'd gotten the worst of whatever the hell that reaction had been out of his system. The lock opened more easily than he'd thought it would -- at least he wasn't entirely rusty -- and he'd dumped his clothes in the corner and gone into the pool in just his boxer briefs. They were black, so it wasn't like she was going to get that much of an eyeful.
He hauled himself out of the water to sit on the edge, watching Shen cut a smooth line through the pool. Something went tight in his chest again and he ignored it, especially as she came up for air.
Shen smiled at him when she found him sitting on the edge of the pool. The smile lingered a beat too long as awkwardness set in. This was the worst, and Shen was terrible with awkwardness. She never knew what to do with it, so she tended to attack it head on. She swam over to Tommy and sat up beside him on the ledge. "Are we okay? Because this feels all kinds of weird and awkward and I'm terrible at awkward." Not to mention, still not sober.
Ugh. Why couldn't she be like Bobby, and just let shit go with a stupid joke or a deflection? Reason number fifteen why he should never have opened his stupid mouth earlier. He just had to get through this part and by tomorrow everyone would be hung over and embarrassed and never bring any of this up again. Good plan. The best.
"What, breaking in to the school pool after a half hour of illicit drinking and dry-humping in the unlocked reading room?" He cracked wise with a flash of a sharp grin, because it was the only choice he had left. "What could possibly be awkward about any of this?"
"Actually, all of that sounds pretty awesome," Shen pointed out with a half smile, head tilted to the side to watch him as they talked.
"So there we go," he agreed, stretching his arms over his head and feeling his shoulders pop. "We're okay."
"Are we, for real?" Shen asked, watching him move before her gaze settled back on his face. "'Cause I have no idea where we're at. Don't answer the swimming pool."
Tommy groaned, grabbing the side of the pool and dropping back down into the water toes first. "Come on, Shen, what do you want from me?" he asked, bracing his elbows behind him on the pool edge and kicking his feet just so he wasn't still. "I asked you out, you said no, life goes on. I'm a decent person," he added on. "I take no for an answer."
Wow, okay, was that what had happened? Shen curled her fingers on the edge of the ledge, leaning on her hands. "Sorry. That. That was exactly what I wanted from you, I guess?" His rundown of events, since she clearly had had no idea what was going on. This had certainly been illuminating. Although... "But for the sake of... communication, and clarity, I didn't say no. You decided you didn't like my terms. Well, no, more like - my terms didn't work for you." She thought that was what had happened, right?
He frowned at her. "You said 'we're too young for commitment,' which pretty much covers that. You want to play the field. That's cool. You do you." What else did that even mean if it didn't mean 'stuff it'?
"People can still go out without any big time commitments other than 'let's go out'," Shen pointed out, although she didn't really know why she was. She'd never even thought about it before? But then again, she'd never expected Tommy to react as he had. Showed what she understood about, well, anything.
"Yeah, I know. And there's also a difference between 'this is only for fun' and 'let's take a chance and see where this goes,'" Tommy clarified. The conversation was making his head spin and the lump in his throat come back, both feelings he hated. "If you wanna just mess around for shits and giggles - that's cool. But I've got that already. I don't need to be someone else's boredom dick."
"Wow, fuck you," Shen blurted out in response to his last words, before she could think any better of it. Calm, Shen. She huffed out a small, humorless laugh, and aimed to nudge his shoulder with her foot. "I've never even considered going out with anyone before, so, you know, maybe remember that I give a shit. You can stick to 'I'm not interested' instead of, you know, that." She was not at her most eloquent, but damn, she was offended, on both her and his account.
"I'm the one who was interested, remember?" he fired back. All his defenses were gone, ripped down one by one over the course of the evening, and he just wanted... he wanted to sink to the bottom of the pool and stay there, or start running and not stop, and here he was instead, bleeding pain all over the place and helpless to stop it. This was what he got for listening to Kurt. Dammit.
"I'm not going to be someone's jailor and say 'only be with me.' But that doesn't mean I want to be one in a crowd. Or start to get into someone and get dropped on my ass because the next charming bastard who comes along has more money than God. I know that by any sane measure I don't count for anything, but- " he ran out of words, dunking his head below the water to make his face wet on purpose.
Yana had barely been a thing at all. And it wasn't that he'd wanted to be with Tamara long-term; they'd have made each other crazy. But she hadn't ever looked back. And Pam -- he'd always be second. Maybe that was all he'd get, but fuck it. Dumb as it was, he maybe liked himself just enough to think that someday things might be different.
What? Just. What? Shen's wings pushed out of her back before she realized it, and, since they were longer than just her back, pushed her into the water before she could correct her own course.
The splash was momentous, especially given the fact that her wings had half-spread by then. They beat through the water, entirely less efficiently than they did in the air, creating waves of current as Shen barely managed to break the surface again, sputtering.
Tommy got buffeted by the waves as he surfaced, shaking the water out of his hair and eyes just in time to get splashed and wet again. Fuck everything about opening up to people and trying to talk about feelings - he was hopeless at it, and no-one wanted to hear it anyway. Giving up on it entirely felt freeing, weirdly enough, rather than trying to push it aside. Just, fuck everything. "Hey!" he flung up his hand to block the worst of the splash. He grabbed for her without thinking, to keep her from going under again.
Shen clung to him instinctively, her wings beating once, creating another wave, but then she angled them to keep her afloat, rather than drag her down. And she was clinging to Tommy. Fucking perfect. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she tried to blink them away before glaring at him, only marginally successful in the latter, and nearly not at all in the former. "I don't give a shit whether you have money or charm. You're you, you fucking idiot." She was clinging to him, and she really wanted to kiss him, but he didn't want her to, and if she let go of him she'd start sinking again, and she wasn't sure her dignity could take it.
She'd messed everything up so completely.
He laughed, mostly able to kill the bitterness. Not completely, but mostly. "Yeah, that's usually my problem. Can't get away from that one no matter how fast I run." She was tangled around him, hot against his skin where the water was cool, and she might disembowel him with her talons for this one, but fuck it. Just, fuck it. Tommy angled his head and leaned in, salt and chlorine in his nose and mouth, and he kissed her. One last one for the road.
Shen was surprised enough not to respond for a second, but then her clinging became less 'desperate not to sink' and more 'channeling many conflicted feelings into this kiss, and not wanting to come up for air' as she returned it, confusion, anger and genuine feelings fueling it with passion.
One hand on the side of the pool so that they didn't sink left him only one hand around Shen's slim waist and nothing for anything else. That didn't matter so much in the moment, because she kissed him back. (She'd kissed him back before and then said it was just for fun.) But she'd sober up in the morning and regret would kick in so this would probably be the last time ever, and Tommy let himself fall into it. He tasted her lips, traced them with his tongue, the tang of the pool water there over the faintest hints of lime. Please.
Shen's tongue came out to meet his, but she hadn't drunk anywhere near enough to silence the little voice at the back of her head, the one reminding her that nothing had changed, that she had to stop hurting him, even when he'd just been such an asshole. Reluctantly, she broke the kiss, leaning her forehead against his as she caught her breath. "I don't wanna hurt you," she told him, and leaned back, eyes opening to look at him. Her wings felt so heavy behind her, drenched as they were, and she really should be moving away, hoisting herself up on the ledge, instead of saying shit she knew, even as she said it, he wouldn't like to hear.
But you're going to anyway. That wasn't fair -- she had every right to see who she wanted, when she wanted, how she wanted. That was the entire point, wasn't it? She didn't want. Not enough. So Tommy moved back, pulled them closer to the side of the pool. He wasn't going to drop her, not until he knew she wasn't going to sink and drown, but staying longer wasn't such a smart plan either. "We want different things," was all he could think of to say.
"Yeah," Shen confirmed, feeling very small right then. She held his gaze for a beat, then let go of him to grab the ledge instead, and pull herself up. She was going to blame the prickling in her eyes on the chlorine, and not tears, that would be stupid. She stood up and stepped away from the ledge, shaking out as much water from her wings as she could. The year had started out so well, and now she'd hurt her friend, and she didn't even know if he'd still want to be friends.
He waited, milliseconds counting down excruciatingly slowly until she was on her feet and secure, too far away from the pool edge to fall in the minute he turned his back. Tommy boosted himself out of the pool and got to his feet, water sheeting off him and puddling on the pool deck with every step. "You're gonna be alright getting back?" he asked before heading through the guys' locker room door.
Chlorine could totally also make your throat feel tight, pfft. And what even was that question? Shen looked over at him, at his back as he walked away, and she cleared her throat. "Tommy."
He hadn't even made it to the door before she was calling him back. He paused, hand on the door jamb, and glanced back over his shoulder. She looked forlorn and bedraggled, her wings wet and hair plastered to his face, and Tommy hated himself. He should just go back over, say fuck it, he'd do whatever she wanted. Have a night or a couple of hours or whatever, and move on, no harm no foul. Why couldn't he just do that, and fix everything?
"Yeah?" he asked instead, pushing his wet hair back off his forehead.
"You being you - it's a good thing," she blurted out before she could think any better of it. "You're great." She gave him a small smile. "When you're not being an ass."
He wouldn't be able to hear that now, not when he was hurting, but maybe he'd remember it later. Or maybe he wouldn't and this was just about making herself feel better. Shen grabbed her towel and turned to head for the girls' locker room, because it was either that or adding 'I'm sorry', and that wouldn't be helping anyone.
"So, like, two percent of the time," he called back, a grin happening despite himself. No matter how the night started, this was always going to have been the way it was going to end -- them walking away from each other, and the inside of his chest weirdly bruised. "Happy new year," Tommy added, perversity getting the better of him. He pushed through the door and, once it was closing behind him, he zipped away.
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PS: JM ships it so hard >.>
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(Tommy will probably end up grousing at Kurt for this (along the lines of 'look what talking about feelings does - nothing good, I tell you!' ;) ), so she might find out the barest outline of what happened that way...)
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