Merry Christmas everyone! A little something as a Jo/Zane present for y'all!
Jo looked up as her doorbell rang. She was surprised that anyone would be up right now, as it was about midnight and mostly everyone had left Vincent's informal Christmas party early for their warm houses. It had begun to snow earlier as well, encouraging people not to linger outside their toasty homes for too long.
She sighed, as she did not want to leave her warm blanket, hot cup of tea, and mesmerizing fireplace to answer the door. Figuring if it was really important they'd knock again, Jo settled back to wait.
However, she was instantly startled to her feet, as her door magically opened itself and the last person she expected to see on her doorstep knocked on the open door.
"Knock, knock, Jojo." Zane's half-annoyed, half-amused voice brought her out of her shock and she stood up.
Zane let himself in and shut the door behind him, blocking the storm of flurries that had been let in when the door was open, and bringing with him a rush of cold air. He didn't look like he minded the cold much though, as Jo observed him wearing only a medium-weight coat and a scarf. His dark hair stood up at odd angles as snow started to melt in it. He held a cream envelope in one hand as the other ran itself through his hair, a nervous habit he'd also had in the old timeline as well.
Zane took in Jo's dark blue sweatpants and white sweater and observed that she'd been right about on the brink of sleep in front of her fireplace. Wincing as he began to thaw out a little, he realized he was dripping on her front mat, and that he should probably explain himself, as dead silence pervaded the room.
"Um, I just came to give you your present." Zane limply started the conversation by throwing his reason right at her. He held out the envelope he'd been clutching for a while now, as if daring her to open it.
Jo, who up to this point still hadn't said anything, approached him warily and took the envelope almost gingerly from him, as if expecting it to blow up as a joke or something. When it did neither of these things, she opened it somewhat slowly and winced slightly as she gained a papercut as a result.
Glaring silently at it, she didn't notice until too late that Zane had moved to stand right in front of her and gently took her hand, the one with the cut on it. Observing that it didn't appear to be too bad, he continued to hold her hand as she switched to staring at him, unsure if this was really happening. She didn't notice that her hand had started to bleed until Zane spoke up.
"You should be more careful, with all the bugs and experiments running around, you could get an infection," earned him a confused look and something that looked like regret as she started to pull away from him. "C'mon Jojo, stop pushing me out." He'd grabbed her hand again and locking eyes with her, slid his finger over the cut, transferring the blood on her hand to his finger. Then still looking at Jo, who just couldn't look away, he sucked at his finger, clearing away any traces of it with his tongue. Fighting the heat that had suddenly started building as he basically, seductively sucked her blood, she started to pull away again, back into herself. Tightening his grip on her hands, he pulled her back until she was pressed up against his chest, dropping the envelope, and before she realized what he was doing, his lips were on hers.
Like the time before at Carter's office, the kiss was filled with expectations, longing, desperation, and a sense of belonging. Zane felt Jo melt into him, her body molding to his almost as if she belonged there. He could almost hear the "click" her body made once it was close enough to his. The pieces that were him and her came together as if they were made for each other. His arm around her waist, pushing the small of her back into him, his other hand on the back of her neck as he reached down to her mouth, her arms thrown around his neck, one of her hands in his hair, with her petite, perfect lips glued to his soft ones. She tasted of cinnamon and nutmeg, and had just become Zane's latest addiction. She was his drug, and he seriously needed a buzz. She was in almost the exact same situation, as thoughts of her Zane and this Zane became blurred as the heat building between them started to scorch. She had almost despaired of him ever wanting her again, but tonight she didn't want to think of such things. He was here, pressing her into him and her body was on fire everywhere they were touching. Their lips, chests, arms, and hips were glued together and Jo couldn't hold back a gasp as his hand on her ass pressed her hips further into his. She could feel his very real need pushed up against her crotch and that was making her resistance fade by the second. Zane nibbled on her bottom lip, asking for entrance, almost in a trance, so spellbound was he by the woman in his arms. Jo moaned and both their trances were broken by that one sound. Jo instantly came to her senses and Zane saw the cutest blush appear on her face as she tried to regain her bearings. She'd broken away and his arms instantly grew cold from the loss of contact with her body.
Trying to recover from what had happened and also failing to ignore the large and evil part of her brain that wailed at the loss of Zane's heat, Jo wrapped her arms around herself, and tried to make sense of what had become a complicated moment. What came out however, was exactly what she wasn't trying to say.
"So first you pick the lock on my house, technically breaking in and then just stand there staring for like five minutes. As if that wasn't enough you bring me a "present" which gives me a papercut, you like, suck my blood or something creepy," NO, NO it was actually pretty hot and kinda turned me on, not that I'm into sick creepy things, except when you do it, its soooooo hot. "And then you basically molest me after initiating an unwarranted makeout session," That was the most turned on I've been in a while and you were so hot and so deliciously aroused that I wanted you to fuck me, right here, right now. Or couldn't you feel the heat emanating from me too?
However, Zane could not hear Jo's internal monologue and was taking it somewhat the wrong way.
"Well excuse me if the woman who drives me insane and won't let me sleep at all won't take pity on a poor guy for ten seconds and let him share a little of his frustration for a moment. Merry Christmas to you too, Lupo," and with that last sarcastic comment, he was gone, closing her front door gently behind him.
Jo plopped down abruptly in her entry way. She couldn't handle this. All of this. Including him, them, their relationship change. Not right now. Not when she thought she'd just started getting used to the fact that they had no future in this timeline. Now she wasn't sure what to think. How could she tell him she still loved him, when in this timeline, she'd never loved him to begin with? Granted, he already pretty much knew everything except for the how and why, but could she revel her darkest secret to him? Uncertainty clouded her judgement, and against her will, she began crying. Silent tears streamed down her face that turned into muffled sobs that grew louder. Josephina Lupo was having an emotional breakdown. Life wasn't looking up anymore.
Outside, a cold figure leaned silently on her door, hearing the whole thing. Regret and doubt swirled inside the person as at last, making up their mind, they traipsed off through the whirling snow regretfully, peering back every so often.