"What do you mean 'she just walked passed you'?" A certain tall, handsome, blue-eyed man hisses into the phone he has clutched between his shoulder and his ear. He's fresh out of the shower, only wearing his boxer briefs and currently rushing to dry his hair with a towel as he is scrambling across the room to get dressed. "Dammit Jeremy! And what is Kai doing right now?" He quickly grabs his pants off a chair, and throws his towel over it to dry. He struggles to put the pants on properly as he is clumsily hopping towards his still half-unpacked suitcase to get his shirt and tie. Right at this point he regrets not listening to his girlfriend when she told him to unpack. "What?! Get her back! I just need 5 more min-" He freezes in place when he hears the creaking sound of their hotel room door opening.
"…Mal?" He whips around, to see his beautiful girlfriend standing in the doorframe. She needs a second to recover from what she just saw, but then quickly slips inside and closes the door behind her. "What- what are you doing..?" She asks, trying as hard as she can to hide her surprise. She can't help but smile though, and quickly covers her mouth in an attempt to hide it.
"Oh! Hey, Nat!" Thousands of things are rushing through his mind all at once. He doesn't know what to say, or how to act. However, despite the chaos going on in his mind, he at least puts his pants on correctly and ends the phone call. "Why, I mean, what are y-" He notices that she's looking past him, so he follows her gaze and spots the mixed bouquet of red roses and lilies, a handful of candles and a bundle of clothes that were hastily thrown on the bed. He scrapes his throat to catch her attention, and takes a few steps to the side in a desperate attempt to block her view. "Uhmm.. I was just -" He looks back to the bed, and deep down knows that it is a lost cause. Because he is not able to come up with a fake, slightly reasonable-sounding explanation, he runs a hand through his hair and sighs in defeat. He meets her gaze, notices her smile, and sheepishly smiles back. "…Surprise?" He asks as he gestures to the mess on the bed.
She lets her hand drop as her face softens. "Mal…. Did you do all of this because it is Valentines Day?" she asks, deeply touched by this gesture, while she walks towards him.
He gladly welcomes her in his arms, and enjoys the touch of her small, soft hands on the back of his neck and his chest. "Well, this isn't exactly how I envisioned it…" He lovingly strokes some hair out of her face. "But yeah, Happy Valentines Day babe."
Whenever he uses one of his pet names for her, she still gets an extra flutter of butterflies in her stomach. She looks down to hide the involuntary smile, but he notices nevertheless and it makes him smirk. "I didn't know you were so corny" She teases in an attempt to distract him, making him softly laugh. Then she looks up to those beautiful blue eyes again, and gets right into kissing distance. "Happy Valentines Day to you as well, handsome." She says softly before closing the gap for a sweet, soft, loving kiss.
One kiss turns into more, and sparks an undeniable desire, causing her to force him to walk backwards in the direction of the bed. Her hands wander down his body, with as final destination; his damn pants. She starts to unbutton his pants when he, surprisingly, backs away to stop her. "Nah-ah.. I didn't go through all that fuss to put my pants on, just to have you take them off a few minutes later. Besides.." He smirks before teasingly stealing one more kiss off her lips. "I have a couple of things planned." Then he takes her hand and walks her to the bed.
She can't help but laugh when she notices where they're heading. "Plans that involve the bed, yet you don't want me to take your pants off…?" she teases back.
"Exactly! Well, not yet at least.." He winks at her as he softly squeezes her hand. "It's not about the bed itself, but about what is on it. I actually want you to, believe it or not, put some different clothes on." He explains when they stop in front of the bed.
She let's her finger run freely over his chest. "I'm still not seeing a scenario where your pants don't come off…" she softly says into his ear.
He grins at her lack of self-control. "Easy there.. That may come in time... But for now.." He let's go of her hand and throws his jacket to the side to reveal a stunning, beautiful black dress lying on the bed. "I'd like you to get into this." He says as he shows it off to her.
"Oh wow, Mal.. Where'd you get this?" She asks as she takes the dress from him, walks to the nearest mirror, and holds it in front of herself.
"Not gonna tell." He says as he walks up behind her and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "So.. I take it you like it?"
"Like it?" She turns around and gives him a long-lasting, full-on-the-lips kiss. "I love it. Thank you!" she answers truthfully.
He chuckles happily. "Great, go and put it on then! We have a reservation in about 40 minutes."
"A reservation? Really? Where…?"
He simply shrugs and walks over to his suitcase to get the rest of his clothes. "I'm not telling. Now get changed!" he calls over his shoulder.
She huffs. "You just want me to get out of these clothes.." she jokes, nevertheless she listens to him and starts to undress."
He looks up from buttoning his shirt and laughs at her. "Well, to be fair, you've already seen me half-naked…"
She teasingly throws the shirt she just took off towards his head. "I've seen you more than half-naked." She retorts, followed by her sticking her tongue out to him.
Choosing not to respond to that, he continues to button his shirt and retrieves his tie. He sneaks a peak at his girlfriend, watching her putting on her new dress. Seeing it on her makes it look so much better. She somehow manages to make that piece of fabric enormously sexy. He unwillingly gets a dreamy look on his face, and can't help but stare at her while she's putting on some jewellery. After a while he realises he's almost drooling over her, and shakes himself out of his trance. "Babe, are you ready to go?" he asks as he fixes his tie.
"Almost!" she calls back while she is putting earrings in as a final touch.
Meanwhile he straps on a dashing, fancy watch she gave him as a present for Christmas. Then he walks over to the bed, to get his jacket. He notices the bouquet of flowers and inwardly cusses at himself because he forgot to give them to her. After putting his jacket on, he takes the bouquet and hides it behind his back before approaching her. "Hey gorgeous." He says smoothly.
She turns around to face him, looking beautiful as always. He smiles and presents the flowers to her. "These are for you. I was going to put them in a vase and put it on the nightstand but..."
"But I interrupted your preparations?" she asks carefully, clearly feeling some regret.
He grins and nods. "Yeah, pretty much."
Her attention shifts back to the bouquet, which she then accepts. "It is truly beautiful.." she states before deeply inhaling it's scent.
With that dreamy look on his face he observes the enjoyment on her face. "Just like you…" The words suddenly slip out, before he even realises he's speaking.
The sudden statement makes her look back up to him, and as she does, she studies him closely. Then she looks back down to the bouquet, picks the prettiest rose, which she then breaks off its stem. She places the rest of the bouquet on the dresser next to her, and puts the rose in the breast pocket of his jacket. "There, now you're all dressed to impress!"
He smirks at her. "Honey… If I wanted to impress you, I'd undress."
"Oh, really?" She bites her lip, as she looks him up and down, knowing damn well what he's hiding underneath those clothes. She takes hold of his jacket and pulls him towards her until he is in kissing distance. "..Why don't you show me?" she breathes.
Fighting the urge to discard the plans he made, he quickly pecks her on the lips and, surprisingly, manages to leave it at that. "Because we have a reservation to get to." He simply answers with an adorable smile you just can't get mad at, no matter how much you try.
She sighs. "You're a tease, do you know that?" she asks with a smile as she releases his tie.
"I do know that.. And I also happen to know you secretly love it." He answers with a wink. He puts his arm around her and kisses her on the cheek while they walk to the other side of the room to get their coats. He helps her to get into hers, and gallantly hands her her scarf as well, before he puts on his own coat. As soon as his coat is all buttoned up, she heads for the door.
"Wait, no!" He grabs her by the hand to stop her. "We can't go through that door…" he warns her.
She questioningly raises her eyebrows at him. "… Why not?"
"Because I overheard Kai saying something about following us in an attempt to find inspiration for a new fanfic and, quite frankly, it worries me."
"Okay.. I suppose that does sound quite creepy." she agrees, not even second-guessing if he'd really do that or not. "But how else do you want to get to that restaurant..?"
"Well…" He gestures over his shoulder towards the doors that leads to the balcony. "It's just one story?"
Her eyes narrow, as if she's trying to study his face closely to find out if he's joking or not. "...You expect me to jump off a balcony?" she asks, just to be sure.
"When you say it like that it sounds kinda strange.." he admits. "But no, we can climb down the gutter, I've tested it and it's safe."
She shoots him a weird look. "You've tested it? When?"
He smirks slyly. "How do you think I got into the room without you guys noticing me walking by..? I almost got caught though! Some dude walked by, and if he'd looked up he would've spotted me for sure." He says seriously.
"Really..?" she asks while trying to keep a straight face. But the thought of Mal getting caught sneaking into their hotel room makes her laugh, causing him to laugh about it as well. "..So you're actually serious about climbing down?"
He simply shrugs. "We'll have to, to avoid getting stalked by Kalaba. It is the only option I can think of." He explains himself. One look at her, and he realises she's still doubting. "Come on, Nat. It'll be worth it. You'll love the restaurant, I'm sure of it. Trust me."
Those last words seem to have done the trick. "..Fine. I'll climb down. But you're really testing me, Fallon."
"Don't worry, I wouldn't have asked if I didn't think you couldn't do it." He teases while he opens the door to the balcony for her. "Matter of fact, if you want, I'll go first, so that I can catch you if necessary." He offers.
As she walks past him, she softly smacks his upper arm. "I'd like to believe I am able to climb down just fine, thank you very much."
"Even in heels?" he asks, honestly concerned as he closes the door behind her. "It seems kind of dangerous.."
"… Just climb down already, will you. If you haven't noticed yet, I'm a big girl now. I can take care of myself." She says as she playfully pushes him towards the side of the balcony.
He climbs on the balcony railing as he flashes her a smile. "Fine, fine. I'm going already." He grabs hold of the gutter pipe, finds some grip and descends fast and skilfully. "Ya know, climbing down on this thing is giving me flashbacks of my teenage years.." he calls up. When he's almost down to the ground, he let's go of his grip and lets himself fall, only to land flawlessly into the now deserted garden of the hotel. "Yup, just like old times!" he recalls.
"I am speechless.. Really, really speechless. How many times have you done that?" She calls down as she gets on the balcony railing as well.
He thinks it through for a second, and then shrugs. "I honestly don't know. Must have been countless of times. I'd say I've changed since then, but…"
"But yet you have me climbing down this damn thing.." she finishes his sentence.
He shrugs, again. "It's for a good reason. Unless you want to spend tonight with Kai joining us..?" he asks grinning, because he already knows the answer.
"…. No comment.. Just keep an eye out for people while I climb down, okay?" She asks as she reaches out to the gutter pipe the same way he did. "And don't peek under my dress!"
"Yes, honey." He turns around and looks left and right, looking out for people who might stroll past, while she descends. "Not like I have never seen what's underneath there though.." he mumbles to himself.
A handful of seconds later her heels touch the solid ground as she lands, though not as flawlessly as he did. She straightens out her dress while walking up to him. "I cannot believe you actually made me do that…"
He turns around to face her, smiling charmingly. "And I cannot believe how amazing you make that dress look." No matter how much she tries now, she can't possibly stay mad at him when he says things that make her smile from ear to ear. Happy with her reaction, he offers her his arm, which she gladly takes.
"So… Where are we heading now?" she asks, curiously.
"… You'll see in time." He continuous to tease her while he leads the way.
A little while later they are standing in front of a tiny, adorable Sushi restaurant that's located in some side street near a place where they've interrogated suspects not too long ago. It has a pleasant, authentic vibe to it, and the smell that's coming from it is just downright delightful.
They enter without any hesitation, and are greeted by quite a tiny, old, very friendly man, who appears to be the owner and the waiter of the place. He gets even more delighted when he finds out that they are tourists. Despite his lack of understanding the English language, he happily escorts the couple to a table and struggles to take their order. There is a lot of attempts at Japanese and English involved, as well as pointing to the menu card several times, but eventually they work it out.
As soon as the owner leaves, they get a chance to look around the place properly. It is a small place; it looks like a typical family restaurant that you see in movies a lot. The thing that really stands out is that the other people in the restaurant are about the same age as the owner, judging by their greying hair. They all have a friendly vibe to them, along with a certain calmness that has a relaxing effect on the couple, who can only hope that they'll be as adorable as those elderly people when they grow old.
Natara is the first one to speak after briefly scanning the place. "This is absolutely lovely, Mal.." she says as she reaches out to take hold of his hand.
He looks down at their touching hands, and smiles. "Everything is lovely when you are near me.." He says truthfully, while he plays around with her hand before intertwining their fingers.
A faint blush accentuates her cheeks. There's a brief silence because she tries to think of something to counter that adorable comment. Eventually she chooses for the only thing that comes to mind. "I don't know what to say to that.." she admits, while averting her gaze downwards.
"You don't have to say anything, babe. When you're just sitting there, looking beautiful as ever…" He reaches out and gently lifts her chin up to make her look him into the eyes again. "It's the best thing I could have ever wished for."
Now she just knows she must look ridiculous, because it feels like a flaming redness is spreading across her face. Meanwhile she practically melts away by his adorableness. She is smiling uncontrollably and doesn't seem to know what to do with herself.
And honestly, he enjoys these kind of special moments where he tries his best to make her feel like the most special woman walking this world, because in his eyes she is just that. He loves seeing the soft, vulnerable side of her, a side not many people get to see in the first place. And he's determined to see that side of her a couple more times tonight.
Everything goes smoothly, and both of them are thoroughly enjoying themselves. However, halfway through their dinner, two of men step into the restaurant. They're rudely leaving the door open, as if they own the place. They directly march up to the owner, and corner him. The smaller one of the duo rapidly spews out a string of Japanese words, which neither Mal nor Natara even slightly understand. However, the tone in which the stranger is talking alarms them. It's loud, and aggressive, and despite the language barrier, they get the idea that he is threatening the owner.
Apparently it's so loud that it could be heard all the way in the kitchen, because a guy, who seems to be the chef of the restaurant judging by his attire, walks in with a huge kitchen knife.
The lovebirds tense up at the sight of him, and exchange looks with each other to establish that they'll jump in if this situation escalates any further. The other, mostly elderly people know that they're no match for the thugs, and seem to be scared out of their minds.
The owner quickly waves the man with the knife away, who then slightly backs up but doesn't leave the room. And even though he seems scared, the owner tries to hide it as he politely bows for the thugs, while rambling something back in Japanese. Whatever he said doesn't exactly seem to please the strangers, because the smaller one suddenly pulls out a small handgun while the big guy roughly pushes the owner against the wall.
The sight of the gun is enough for both the man with the knife and the SCT members to jump up and step in. Since they are closer to the thugs, Natara's able to kick the hand of the small guy, sending the gun flying through the air. Barely a second later Mal decks the big guy with an uppercut, making him stumble backwards. The punch is so hard that it leaves the guy dizzy long enough for them to deal with the small guy before the chef with the knife even has time to react.
When the small guy sees what happens to his security detail, he loses all focus and shrieks like a little girl while the colour completely drains from his face. While he is distracted, the chef manages to close the distance and whips him with the back of his knife, causing him to stumble backwards in pain, only to trip over a chair and clumsily fall down next to the big guy.
The thugs look at each other with wide eyes as they both scramble to their feet. Startled because of what just happened, they quickly back away towards the door. The small one frantically shouts several things to the owner, who laughs in response. Then the thugs leave as quickly as they came in, and everyone visibly relaxes.
Mal closes the door behind the fleeing men, and when he turns around he sees the owner bowing for Natara. He walks over, and hears the happiness in the mans voice. "Thank you, thank you!" The owner bows yet again, this time in Mal's direction. When he comes up, he's smiling widely. "My name.." He puts a hand on his chest. "Han." Then he points to them. "What your name?"
"My name is Mal, and this beautiful lady," he says as he proudly wraps an arm around her waist. "is Natara."
Han repeats their names a couple of time, trying to get the pronunciation right. Meanwhile all the other guests in the restaurant walk up to them to thank them as well. They humbly accept all the thank-you's, knowing that the language barrier makes it impossible to tell them that it was nothing.
The last one to thank them is the chef. He takes off his hat and bows for them as well. "Hello, my name is Sun. I am the son of Han. I would like to thank you as well for what you have just done for us." He speaks with a thick Japanese accent, but it is understandable nevertheless. Both Mal and Natara open their mouths, to point out that he himself helped as well, but before they get any word out, Sun continuous. "If you will excuse me, I have to get back to the kitchen. Sushi does not make itself."
"Wait! What did those guys want from your father?" Natara asks quickly.
"They are…" Sun frowns as he searches for the right words. Then all of a sudden his face lights up. "Bullies. They want money. If we give them money, they leave us alone. If we don't give them money, they visit us like you just witnessed." Apparently he thought that was enough explanation, because he promptly turns around and walks back to the kitchen.
Mal and Natara barely get the chance to ask another question, because Han gestures for them to sit back down at their table. "Eat, eat!" he says while pointing at the Sushi. They obey, and once they've sat down to satisfy Han, he abruptly walks off like his son did earlier.
They look at each other, and Mal shrugs before he takes his chopsticks. "Might as well dig in… Being a hero does make me quite hungry." he grins.
She sweetly flashes him a smile back. "That may be, but there's no need to feed that ego of yours any more.." She responds while she follows his example. Then she leans over and takes a piece of Sushi from his plate and eats it.
He simply watches in disbelief. He looks at Natara, then to his plate, and back to her. "Ohh, two can play that game. You are playing with fire!" He says as he reaches out to her plate with chopsticks.
"I could say the same about you!" she points out as she slaps his chopsticks away with hers. "Unlike you, I don't have an ego the size of a little planet." She jokes.
He is about to retort, when Han returns to their table with what seems to be Sake. He pours two shots for them, leaving them confused.
"Han, this is not for us. We didn't order this." Natara tells him.
He doesn't seem to care about that, because he slides the drinks towards them. "You drink!" he says happily, only confusing them more. When he sees the look on their faces he gestures for them to wait for a second, after which he disappears into the kitchen. Once Han returns, he is enthusiastically speaking Japanese to Sun while gesturing towards Mal and Natara.
When they reach the table, Sun functions as a translator. "My father has just informed me that he would love to show his gratitude by offering you drinks, along with the meal, free of charge."
"That is very generous, but unnecessary. We'll be happy to pay like anyone else." Natara politely declines, knowing the family needs the money for the next time the thugs come around.
Sun translates her answer for his father, who then frowns as he talks back in Japanese. "We insist." Sun translates in such a tone, that it seems like a waste of time to argue about it. Then he goes back to the kitchen, again, not even giving them a chance to argue about it.
They both look back at Han, who's just standing there with such a big smile that it works infectious, causing them to smile as well. "Thank you so much." Is all Mal says, because he knows that Han wouldn't understand anything else anyway.
After Natara repeats those same words, Han points at the Sake one more time, says something in Japanese, and then leaves to cater to his other guests. She takes the Sake in her hand, as Mal does the same.
He quickly inhales its scent, only to frown. "Well.." He looks her in the eyes as he raises his glass to propose a toast. "Here's to us!"
Eventually, a lot of sushi and several shots of Sake later, the couple says goodbye to everyone in the restaurant. They secretly leave some money on the table anyway, not wanting to profit of Han's goodness. Before they get the chance to leave, a paper bag, which holds a bottle of fine wine, gets pushed into their hands as another sign of pure generosity and thankfulness. Protesting, again, doesn't seem to make Han change his mind, so they eventually accept it after showing their gratitude.
Once they finally make it outside, now packed with some alcohol while they're already on a buzz, Natara takes Mal's arm as they walk down the street. "Where are we heading now, handsome?" she asks as she snuggles up to him to profit of his warmth.
"Well, the night is young.. And there is a beautiful, amazing city out there, that's to the utmost extent undiscovered by us. Plus the company isn't so bad either…" he grins when he feels how she softly squeezes in his upper arm. "I say we go where the night brings us, and see what happens." He continuous as he changes the position his arm is in, and wraps it around her shoulder in an attempt to keep her warm.
Then he aimlessly guides her through the streets of Tokyo. Along the way they talk about this and that, teasing each other, making each other laugh, simply enjoying each other's company.
After a while, she changes the subject. "So, after that fight from earlier, this night has been an evening filled with teenage Bad Boy Fallon's favourite activities, don't you think?"
He chuckles. "It has indeed. But these were merely a couple of things that I used to do on a daily bases back then though." He jokes, gaining him some laughter from Natara.
The joke gets him to think about other things he used to do back in the days. Deep in thoughts he looks at the paper bag in his hand, and grins. "Would you like to complete that experience by getting drunk off this bottle of wine in that park," he asks while nodding towards a lovely looking park right in front of them. "with your favourite bad boy?" he asks charmingly.
Still slightly faded by the Sake, and kind of intrigued by his proposal, she decides to agree. "I don't see why not.." she smiles.
There are several other couples strolling through the park, most likely for their romantic Valentines Date as well. But other than that it is pretty quiet. Most of them keep to the main path that crosses through the park, which is very well lit. The rest of the park doesn't have lights everywhere, but the lights of the city in general make sure that the park's not all too dark anyway.
Wanting a little privacy, the couple chooses to walk over a side path in search of a nice place to sit. He chooses a huge, old-looking tree, in the middle of a field of grass, to which he guides her. They walk around it, and settle down together, slumped against its trunk, facing away from the path, and completely out of sight behind the tree. He takes the bottle out of the bag and uncorks it carefully. Then he hands it to his sky-gazing girlfriend.
She takes a couple of sips, only to hand the bottle back. "So.. This is what the young Mal Fallon used to do in his free time?"
The question makes him think back to when he was a rebelling teenager. "Heh, yeah.. I suppose so..." Still somewhat deep in thought, he takes a swig as well, savoring the taste. "Although I'd sometimes bring my guitar. Ya know, because it worked well with the chicks." He can't help grinning when he thinks about what a fool he made out of himself.
Her curiosity level peaks, causing her to sit up straight. "Would you just show it off, or would you play songs for them..?" she asks, truly intrigued by stories from his youth.
"I would usually play something, sometimes I'd even sing.." He admits, awaiting another 'Choirboy' comment from her.
Surprisingly, the comment stays out. Instead, she does something he didn't expect. "Will you sing for me? Please?" she asks sweetly.
He actually thinks it through, and would've done it for her in a heartbeat, except there's an important thing missing. "You want me to sing without a guitar..?"
"Yes. Pleeeease?" she asks cutely, making his heart melt. There's something about that tone of hers that makes it impossible to say no. "Just pretend you have one with you." She quickly suggests, even though he has already made up his mind.
He leans towards her and kisses her softly. "I'll do it. But I'm only doing this just for you.." He scrapes his throat while he pretends he is holding an air guitar. "Here goes nothing..." He mumbles, before he mimics the first recognizable notes of George Michaels 'Faith'. Soon after, he starts to sing in a sexy deep voice. "Well I guess it would be nice if I could touch your body. I know not everybody has got a body like you…" He gets so into the song that he unconsciously starts to move to the rhythm while he's singing. That, combined with the alcohol in his system, soon causes him to stand up to vibe to the song, as he's playing his air guitar with full devotion, because sitting down restricted his movements.
Natara watches him in awe, too intrigued by his movements to even think about filming this with her phone. She softly shrieks when he slides towards her on his knees, probably staining his pants, but at this point neither of them cares. "..And when that love comes down without devotion.." He continues serenading her while his face as close as possible to hers, causing her to giggle uncontrollably. "…'cause I gotta have faaaaith…" He ends with his eyes closed, completely grinning while he lowers his air guitar.
She takes his face in her hands and pulls him closer to kiss him as a sign of gratitude. "That was gr-" her sentence is cut short when his lips capture hers again. And again. While he's kissing her, he re-positions his body until he is on top of her, resulting in a full, hot, steamy make-out session right then and there. Hands are going places they shouldn't go in public. Things that are usually restricted to the bedroom are being said and done now. And it soon becomes almost impossible to keep from ripping each others' clothes off. Hence why Natara puts her hands on his chest to gently push him away.
After one last kiss he rolls off of her onto the grass. Both of them are panting heavily. "Well…" Natara starts, smiling from ear to ear while she's trying to catch her breath.
"..Damn." Mal finishes her sentence. He turns his head towards her, and simply observes her.
She feels his gaze, so she turns her to meet it. And just like that he feels the huge urge to continue what he was doing a few seconds ago. So he props himself on his elbow and leans over.. Getting right into kissing distance. He can feel the warmth of her breath, and he sees her eyes flashing towards his lips. Yet he reaches for that bottle of wine behind her, which had been accidentally knocked over, thus spilling half of its content. He grabs it nevertheless before falling back into the grass.
He then sits up straight, and takes a few sips of whatever is left, while he watches how Natara rolls her eyes and lets out a deep breath. "Such a damn tease.." she mumbles as she sits up straight as well. She then basically yanks the bottle out of his hands. "Sorry, but if you're gonna keep teasing me like that I'll need this.." she says with an apologetic smile before she quickly takes a few sips.
He watches how she takes one.. Two.. Three sips, and counting. "Hey, don't drink it all! Save some for me.." he says in an attempt to stop her.
It works, because she lowers the bottle for a second. She looks at it, and her eyes go wide when she sees that it's content is almost gone. "Oopsie.. I'm sorry sweetie, I didn't mean to drink it all." She says truthfully. "Here, you may have the last bit." She says as she holds the bottle to his mouth, attempting to make it up to him. "Say ahh!"
He gladly obeys, and she starts pouring the wine in, but the irony of how the roles are reversed makes her laugh, thus accidentally spilling it all over his pants.
"Oh God, Mal. I am so sorry!" she says as she frantically takes her scarf off and uses it to rub the stain away, trying her best not to laugh.
He can't help but laugh at the situation either. "Uh.. Nat? Not that I don't appreciate this, but, uh, what are you exactly trying to do?"
His question makes her realise what she's doing, and causes her to slowly stop what she's doing while she looks up at him. "Why do you ask? ..Is it doing something for you?" she asks with a naughty smile.
"Your presence is always doing something for me. Especially when that presence is…" he looks at the hand holding the scarf and grins. "..Down there."
Neither of them seems to know what to do next. Both are struggling between choosing to just go at it right here, right now. Or be civil and take this to a less public place. "..Hotel?" She suggests, fighting her urges once again.
He nods. "Hotel." They quickly help each other up, and discard the bottle in the nearest trashcan before they rush out of the park.
He puts an arm around her and pulls her close, teasingly whispering all kinds of things he is going to do to her in her ear. She's just as bad, giggling at what he's saying, randomly kissing him anywhere she can and whispering things back.
Neither of them is really paying attention to the way they're heading, since they're too busy with each other, which turns out to be a big mistake when they end up at an unknown intersection.
She softly tugs on his arm. "Are we supposed to go left here.. Or right? It doesn't look familiar to me at all."
"I…" He looks around confusedly. "Don't have a clue.. I actually have no idea where we are." he confesses. He looks back, and realises he doesn't even recognize this street they were walking in.
"You have no idea? ..Were you even paying attention to where we were going?" she asks, slightly aggravated, her emotions enhanced by the alcohol.
Taken aback by her strong reaction, he fumbles to respond properly. "Yeah well, I.. Uh… I was, but th-"
"So you weren't?" she cuts him short, now clearly pissed.
"…No. I'm sorry. But in my defence, you can be very, very distracting.." He says charmingly, adding a smile to go with it.
She sighs. "Never mind, it's not entirely your fault. I should have been paying attention as well." She admits while she slips her hand in the pocket of his pants, to take his phone out. The longer she looks at him, smiling at her, the faster her frown disappears. "Plus I can't stay mad at that face, now can I?" she asks, now smiling as well.
Together with the navigation on his phone, they finally find their way back to the hotel. Turns out they weren't even that far from it all along. Not thinking very straight, they drunkenly walk up to the garden and try to find their hotel room from there.
Once they found it, he then helps her up the gutter, and watches how she climbs up. Yet somehow she slips, and loses her balance. Before she has time to react, she feels herself freefalling through the air. Her heart starts beating like crazy, pumping the adrenaline through her body like a mad man. Her eyes widen as she continues to drop, and a scream begins to form on her lips.
And then, it suddenly stops, and she's safe and sound in the strong arms of her boyfriend, like a newlywed groom carrying his bride. She looks up to him, only to find him grinning down at her. "Aren't you glad I was there to catch you, hmm?" he teases, thinking back to the conversation they had earlier.
At this point she's too relieved to even respond to his banter, and tightly wraps her arms around his neck. She breathes out deeply, and struggles to find the words that describe how grateful she is for him. "Thank you." That is all she can think of. "Thank you so, so, so much." She continues as she wraps her arms even tighter around him.
"Nat, I can't breathe." He jokes, but nevertheless he smiles as he enjoys the embrace. She slightly loosens her grip on him, only to overloads him with kisses all over his face, making him laugh as he tries to escape the kiss-attack. "Babe, stop. Please. It's okay, really."
After two more kisses, she stops to lovingly look him in the eyes. "This is why I love you, you know." She says truthfully.
He lovingly kisses her on the forehead. "Because I am devilishly handsome, especially when I'm being a hero?" he asks half-jokingly.
Despite what happened a few seconds ago, she can't help but laugh. "… Yes, that.. And because you always have my back, no matter what."
He grins at her. "And because I 'have a pretty nice ass that makes you want to squeeze it', right?" He asks, resulting in her softly slapping his chest. "Hey! Those were your words, not mine."
"..You're right. You do have a pretty ass. Sorry I slapped you." She says softly while she rests her head against his chest, searching for his heartbeat, only to find out that, despite his cool façade, his heart was racing as much as hers.
"Don't worry about it. My pretty ass and I forgive you." He starts to walk towards the entrance of the hotel, still holding her bridal style. "By the way, do you know what I've just realised?"
She closes her eyes, mainly focussing on the soothing rhythm of his heart beating. "What..?"
"That you falling down from that gutter was completely unnecessary, because we can simply walk in through the hotels main entrance now. It doesn't really matter whether Kai sees us or not."
"… Oh.. Right.." is all she can say when it dawns on her as well. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"I don't know… Alcohol?" He suggests, knowing it was the reason it slipped his mind. "But it was funny nevertheless." He says, laughing when he thinks back to the big mouth she had earlier. Meanwhile he walks into the hotel lobby, not giving a damn about what others might think.
"For you maybe." She mumbles. Even though people are looking at them weirdly, she's not even questioning why he hasn't put her down yet, because she quite likes being in his arms. And in the end, that's all that matters, right?
He walks straight to the staircase, not wanting to wait for an elevator, and heads straight to their room, because what happened in the park earlier is still very much present in his mind.
Coincidentally, Amy happens to stroll out of her room, that's on the same floor as theirs, just as they walk past it. "Woah guys, what happened to you two?" she asks, eying the grass and wine stains.
Before either of them gets the chance to answer, they hear Kai in the background screeching and scrambling to rush to the door. He throws the door open, and dramatically gasps for air. "Oh, dear lord. Do not tell me you finally got married?!" he asks enthusiastically.
Following that question, Mal carefully puts Natara down, but keeps his right arm comfortably resting around her waist. They quickly exchange looks with each other. "..No, Kalaba. We did not get married, I'm afraid." He holds his free hand up in front of Kai. "See? No ring."
"… I see." He pouts, but not for too long. "Where were you guys even? I never heard you leave. All this time I thought you were in your room getting your.." Kai wiggles his eyebrows up and down. "..freak on."
"Alriiight. Sounds like that's enough for the day!" Amy announces as she takes Kai by the shoulders, turns him around, and pushes him back into the room. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him the rest of the evening." She calls out before closing and locking the door.
"… I'm really believing we did right by climbing down that gutter.." Natara says softly, still astounded by Kai's bluntness.
Mal simply smirks at her. "Told ya so." He teases as he leads her towards their hotel room.
Once they round the corner and approach the room, he quickly looks over his shoulder to make sure Amy's keeping her word. Then he lets his hand slide down Natara's back, to one of his favourite curves of her. "I can't wait until we're in that room." He whispers in her ear, making her giggle. He places her body in between their door and his own body, softly pressing up against her. "Because there's something I've been wanting to do to you all day long.."
She smiles up at him, hoping that he's saying what she thinks he's saying, and is finally done teasing. She takes him by the tie and pulls him closer, until he's in kissing distance. "That makes two of us." She says softly.
He takes their room key card out of his pocket and inserts it blindly, hearing a bleep indicating that the door's open. "Good. Because it's been kind of.. hard.. putting it off.." he whispers while he opens the door, not daring to break their eye contact. As soon as that door is closed behind them, they let lust take over.
Saturday 15th February, late in the morning.
A soft groan comes from behind the kitchen counter when Mal sleepily stretches his already aching muscles. He feels the presence of Natara resting her head on his chest, so he reaches down to absentmindedly stroke her hair. With his free hand he rubs the sleep out of his eyes, after which he looks around him. And the longer he looks, the more confused he gets. He notices they're in the kitchen part of the room, which is an absolute mess, yet they're covered with a blanket. Not that the rest of the room is better off. The floor is completely covered with their discarded clothes, another bottle of wine and… Are those her handcuffs? He decides he'll deal with that mess later, and turns back to the gorgeous woman in his arms. He gently turns her on her back, making sure she's lying on top of the blanket and her skin doesn't touch any of the cold kitchen tiles. "Nat?" he kisses her gently on her soft lips, very different from how he kissed her a couple of hours ago, but just as satisfying. "Babe? Wake up, sleepyhead.." he says softly, wanting her to wake up gradually.
She smiles at the sound of his voice. "Morning.." she slowly opens her eyes, only to be greeted by his beautiful blue eyes. She takes his face in her hands and pulls him into a long, loving kiss.
He eventually pulls back, and strokes some hair out of her face. He scans the face of the woman he loves, and only one thing goes through his mind. "Damn, you're so beautiful.." The urge to kiss her becomes too big, and he gives in to it before she has time to respond.
"You're not so bad looking either, you know." She retorts eventually. He laughs shyly, and that's when she finally notices that the ceiling is not what the ceiling above the bed looks like. She quickly glances around, notices the complete mess the room is in, and laughs softly. "…How the hell did this shit happen?"
He looks over his shoulder, and can't help but laugh with her. "I don't really know, but from what I remember it was mind-freakin'-blowing." He says, grinning down at her.