ax_main | Tommy and Tamara, later Saturday night

Tommy and Tamara flirt, then make themselves slightly scarce.

Delivery made, Tommy's official shit-stirring tasks were over for the night -- time to start some less-sanctioned trouble. He looked around, but nothing on the dance floor caught his attention enough to make him want to head that way. He sped himself over to the booze cooler instead, retrieving a drink before the entire stash disappeared.

Tamara was heading in the same direction, though not for drink (she still had her current). She was still feeling just a faint pain in her hand, and was thinking some ice might just help. She had just picked up a piece of ice when Tommy appeared beside her.

...she was almost used to that.

"Hey," she said, smiling and bumping his arm with her elbow as a greeting.

Ooh, just the perfect person for this kind of night. Tommy bumped her back. "Hey yourself, hot stuff." He feigned a real double-take and whistled low, as though it was the first time he'd actually noticed her outfit. "Looking good. What's a hot girl like you doing with a bunch of losers like this?" he gestured vaguely at the crowd, his grin teasing and his eyes shining with amusement.

Completely amenable to flattery, Tamara grinned back, more than ready to flirt. "You know me, always looking for trouble." She traced the ice cube over the top of her right hand, which was conspicuously missing nail polish and looking a little pink. "And finding it, as usual," she added, shrugging like 'what can you do?' even as she smirked. "You?"

"About the same, but things are still too tame around here for my taste-" Tommy watched her treat something that looked like a burn on her hand, a frown furrowing his brow. "What happened?" He reached for her hand to take a better look. "Did you get too close to the fire?"

The touch caused the tiniest wince, not enough to pull back her hand or anything. It wasn't a bad burn at all, the damage had been kind of like her entire hand was sunburned. The only uncomfortable part, actually, was how it went between her fingers too. "Not exactly. Met the party crasher. Learned that I'm not totally fireproof. Just another day in the mutant life, right?"

She'd pinned her drink to her body while applying the ice, but rolled it into her hand again easily enough so she could take another sip. She was being careful not to overdo it (sans wings she didn't even weigh 100 lbs, making her a very literal lightweight), but well, tasty booze.

It took less than a heartbeat regular time, and Tommy was gone and back -- with a small bottle of green goop half stuffed in the pocket of his snug black jeans. He popped the lid open with his thumb and gestured for her hand again. "Aloe for burns, right? Here. The infirmary won't miss it. And you should have set him on fire right back," he suggested, grinning. "I'd totally have cheered."

Tamara's surprise passed quickly, and she rolled her eyes even as she grinned and gave him her hand. She briefly wondered if Simon would be please that she was treating it or angry at the theft...

"Technically I asked him for this one," she admitted, but her smirk didn't move. "Testing my flammability. But don't worry - when he turned out to be a dick, I gave him a zap he won't forget any time soon."

"Good call." Tommy nodded approvingly. He squirted a little of the aloe into his hand and took hers, surprised (again) at how petite she actually was. Maybe it was the wingspan, or maybe her force of personality, but she always felt like she took up more space near him than she actually did. That wasn't a bad thing. "Maybe not so much on the 'please set fire to me' thing, but hey - you do you." He smoothed the gel over her skin as he was talking, as lightly as he could, brushing his fingertips across her knuckles and down between her fingers.

"Hey, it was a legit question!" she protested playfully, enjoying his touch. Slight burn, cooling aloe, soft touch... if it weren't for the actual goop, it would be pretty damn nice. "My own flames don't hurt at all, he just cranked them up - which, side note, I don't think he can actually start fires." She wasn't sure why that seemed important for Tommy to know, but... well, super speed could beat a zippo if needed, right? Couldn't hurt. "And the fire was almost white hot before I got this, thank you very much. Burned my nail polish clean off. Not bad, right?"

The information was useful, but Pyro's powers were so not something he was interested in talking about at that exact moment. Not with Tamara right there and flirting back up at him, her hand in his. For medical treatment, granted, but whatever. "Not bad at all," he replied smoothly instead, grinning back at her. "I retract my previous statement. There's a 'hot stuff' joke in there somewhere but I used that one up already tonight."

Tamara ever-so-innocently traced her fingertips over Tommy's palm. "I'd let you get away with another," she promised. "Since it's a party and all."

Oh really now. Tommy's smile spread slowly, his fingers curling up to catch hers as they teased by. "Only because of that?"

"It's got me in a good mood," she replied, leaning in just a little on the pretext of helping him hear better. Tommy had never flirted with Tamara quite like this, but she quickly decided she liked it, and didn't really care if that was her drink's fault or not. Tommy was definitely her kind of guy - he'd backed her without question that day at the protest, and had just busted into the infirmary to get aloe for a stupid little burn, both of which went a long way with her. Still feigning innocence (poorly, by design), she added, "And the fun's just getting started, right?"

He hadn't been a hundred percent sure of her intent before she spoke again, but he was pretty sure he had it figured out now. She leaned in closer even though the music wasn't that loud where they were standing and she smelled good, a little bit like campfire, a whole lot like perfume and girl. "Hell yeah," he replied, and damn if his heart rate wasn't kicking up a bit. "We've got the whole night ahead of us, and there's a whole lot of trouble we can cause."

"You know I love trouble," Tamara said, wings adjusting against her back. He'd finished applying the aloe, but she left her hand on his. "Got something in mind...?"

The rustle of her wings caught his eye and he glanced up at them, then back down at her smile. "At least half a dozen at any given moment," he promised with a wicked grin. "Starting with 'seeing if we can get Bobby drunk enough to try and freeze the lake,'" yeah, fun but not something he figured she was going to jump on right at that moment- he made a play, traced the tip of his fingers across the inside of her wrist. "And ending up on 'staying out in the woods way past curfew.'"

"Dunno about that first one" - she was pretty sure she could get Bobby to freeze the lake when totally sober, tbh - "but I like the sound of the second."

Tommy glanced at the drinks, one in her free hand and one in his. "Sounds like we've got a plan. Have you had enough of the dancing for now?"

Tamara glanced pointedly at the dance floor. "If you can even call that dancing." Nerds. At least it was a largely affectionate thought. There was mischief in her eyes as she continued, fingers still teasing over his skin. "But I think they'll manage without us, if that's what you mean."

He shotgunned the drink in his hand and nodded. "Yeah, I think we get each other." On a few levels, at least. It wasn't romance - feelings came into his life as little as he could help it - but he could trust her, at least as much as he could trust anyone. And the light in her eyes as she looked at him made him feel centered, seen. Wanted. It sent a buzz through him stronger than the drink ever would. "Let's ditch this snooze-fest." He tugged gently on her hand, no particular destination in mind other than 'further away from here.'

"Hell yes," Tamara said, hand tightening in his as she followed his lead, a secretive little smile playing at her lips.

Now this was more like it. After all that flirting and waiting with Warren, god, she'd started wondering if there was something wrong with her. She took a long drink off her 'juice', then dropped it on a picnic table as they passed it. She'd definitely want her hands free, after all, and she was pretty happy with her current level of buzz - it mixed well with the little thrills of excitement running through her.

Tommy got rid of his cup before they hit the treeline, he didn't particularly care or remember where it had ended up. The light from the party turned the trees into dark shadows cast long across the ground. He wanted to run, tug her with him into the darkness, but that wouldn't exactly help the image of easy confidence he kept wrapped around himself like a shield.

Still, once the voices and music were quieter, once the distance and night offered at least some semblance of privacy, he stopped walking and gave her hand a tug to bring her closer.

Tamara wasn't shy, leaning into him and snaking her other hand up his chest and around his neck. "Mm, much better," she said, face turned up to his, inviting as she found his eyes in the dark, admiring the effect of the shadows.

"Much," He agreed, and leaned down to kiss her. There was a major benefit of short girls, even if she was in heels -- he could actually lean down. Could pick her up, too, at least probably, but for now- he slid his hand into her hair and held her steady, pressed his mouth against hers.

Any lingering doubts from those uninspiring kisses with Simon were wiped from Tamara's mind as she kissed him back eagerly, fingers teasing at the back of his neck. First kisses always gave her butterflies in her stomach, but not the nervous kind - more like delight and excitement. Anticipation. (If Simon could touch right her now, oh how he'd blush...) She opened her mouth to his, wasting no time in introducing some tongue, playfully tapping at his lips.

That was a go-signal that left no room for doubt, and Tommy parted his lips to let her in. He sank into the kiss, into the taste of her mouth, her warmth against him, her hair like silk between his fingers. He wanted- yeah, he wanted lots of things, heat coiling low in his gut. He cupped his free hand around her hip and tugged her close, his fingers curling into the hem of her slinky top.

Tamara kissed him back hungrily, moving her hand from his neck up into his hair, raking her fingers through it, tugging on it just a bit when he pulled her closer.

Then she closed off the kiss, smirking against his lips as she placed both her hands on his chest.

And pushed him up against a tree, pressing her lips to his again when they got there, fingers tight in the fabric of his shirt.

Tommy laughed in surprise, going where she sent him. He banged up against the tree, the bark rough against his back, his scalp tingling where she'd tugged on his hair. That was something new to add to his list of 'more please'; who knew? Both hands dropped to her hips, the cris-cross laces on the sides of her skirt crying out to be tugged on. "You go right for what you want, don't you?" He said breathlessly, his voice full of admiration. "I like that."

It was like he'd said the magic words, though Tamara wasn't entirely sure why. Didn't care to think about it right now, either. She pressed her body to his again, rocking her hips, wings flaring just enough to reach around her shoulders, sort of around them both. "Good," she practically purred, leaning in to bite (gently... for now...) at his lower lip.

She came for him and he surrendered, the noises of the party behind them fading away and inconsequential.

***********

"Okay, how do I look?" Tamara had been using her phone camera to tuck her hair carefully back into place and make sure her makeup was perfect (aside from the lip gloss, which was long gone). She couldn't really do anything about her slightly swollen lips, and didn't really want to do anything about the small hickey on the left side of her neck.

She peered up at him in the light of her phone, turning her face to one side and then the other so he could look for anything out of place. And if she was smirking just a little, also admiring her work (the marks on his neck, the way his hair stuck up in the back), well, nothing wrong with that.

"Gorgeous," Tommy answered automatically, both because that was the only safe answer when a girl asked that, and because they'd just spent what felt like forever with her tongue in his mouth, so... yeah. He was feeling the truth of that all over the place. He was half-sure he had bark in his hair; he for sure had at least a couple of hickeys.

He did step in and carefully use the pad of his thumb to wipe a faint smudge of something away from the corner of her lip. "But you knew that," he added, his self-satisfied smirk an echo of hers.

That pulled a playful grin from Tamara. "Smart boy."

"Smart enough to listen to your great ideas." Tommy took a second to ruffle his hands through his hair and shake out any leaves or bits of tree that might have gotten stuck in there, but he gave up on getting it back to what it had been before they'd gotten rowdy. "How do you want to play this? Do you want me to hang back for a while and throw the gossip hounds off the scent, or say fuck 'em?" The idea that she might be ashamed of being seen with him was annoying, but he had to at least give her the courtesy of the option.

She raised an eyebrow at him, not really following. "Do you care if people know?" It hadn't occurred to her that he would. "I don't."

"No," he shook his head, and now he was annoyed with himself for feeling even a little bit relieved, because why did it matter? "I definitely don't. But I'm not gonna presume to know what's going on with everyone, so better to ask than have you punch me in the face later."

Tamara tried and failed to hold back a grin at that. "Okay, that's totally fair. So thanks, I guess? But I'd never punch you!" Tiny little thing like her? He probably wouldn't notice if she did. "...I'd just electrocute you a little."

That got a laugh out of him, and he shook his head. "Even more reason to stay on your good side. I get enough of that shit from Billy." And because he liked to live dangerously, he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers again. Not like she had any more lipstick to lose, right?

Humming a little laugh against his lips, Tamara leaned into it so he couldn't get away too quickly. When she did pull back, tongue darting over her lips as if to savor the taste, she murmured, "We might have to do this again sometime..."

"Promises, promises." He smiled in the dark. "Come on. Those assholes back there will have emptied the cooler without us."