- Numbers -

"Really? You're twenty-six?"

He nodded.

"And how old is she?"

He swallowed and looked down, concentrating on sliding his hand into his pocket. "Fourteen."

"Ah." She nodded, eyes suddenly becoming unreadable. "I see."

- Fears -

It took a long moment for his defenses to fail. For all of his little qualms and worries to be clicked back into place to form the shape of a normal mind; one unafraid of the tiniest details.

But details now meant nothing. This was more than a tiny side-fact.

This was huge.

And as his erect ears drooped, his wide eyes closed, and a little moan of sheer and utter relief rose in his throat, he knew that no phobia could make him fear Piper's warm lips.

- Claws -

She stared into his dusky gold eyes. He towered above her, huge and muscular and threatening and wicked.

Claws slid down her tiny waist, digging into her curved hips. She forced herself to breathe steadily. To keep her outer appearance as collected as possible.

His tongue flickered over the sensitive skin behind her ear and her stomach coiled tightly. Her hands looked tiny against the dark skin of his chest.

She hated herself for it. For being with the murderer of her entire squadron. Hated herself like she hated nothing else.

But she loved him more.

- Colors -

Green and purple. Colors that should never mix. Not in this case, never.

Yet they burned into each other with a passion so fiery the earth trembled beneath them.

He reveled in the bittersweet ache of his betrayal. Of this contradiction to all he fought to protect.

And she reveled in how little this deviated from her course, if at all.

- Factors -

Just a tiny glance. Just one.

It could have been anything. The factors were innumerable and therefore not worth even going into.

Yet somehow, a girl rooted in facts and logic was buying into her intuition so fiercely that it constantly lurked in the depths of her mind, surfacing at the worst of moments.

She smiled sweetly at Aerrow as he bid her good morning, glancing up from her map and responding cheerily.

But all she could think of was how similar his eyes were to the Dark Ace's.

- Whispers -

He refused to do anything she asked.

Not just to vex her - because he was more timid than she'd ever expected.

He never answered her hushed pleas. Never indulged in the tiny, one-worded whispers she'd melt into his ear. He had more physical restraint than she'd ever imagined.

"I don't want to hurt you," he'd reply, breathing it out as almost one word. And he never did. She was a beautiful, delicate thing he didn't want to break.

The only time Finn showed any sense was when he was with Piper.