I was going for soft-and-sweet here, trying to keep it tasteful but as steamy as I could— hope you like it Alex, because this is seriously the last time I write something you request.

First

He strummed his guitar, looking at her lovingly as she doodled in her notebook. Her hair was in her face, and the blue streak stood out against her tanned skin. Time seemed to pass slowly for them, and he could hardly believe he'd been with her— officially— for a whole year. They had both changed a lot over the course of that year, mostly confidence-wise, but in other ways as well. He no longer thought about the time she used to have a stutter, and she never saw his chair. They were a perfect match, each complementing the other in a way that no one could replicate; their differences brought them together, made them whole.

Tina looked up, meeting his eyes and smiling. They had come to the point in their relationship that they were totally comfortable with each other, so much so that sometimes they could finish each other's sentences, knowing what the other was thinking before they even said it. He could always tell how she was feeling; he could always pick up on the tiny changes in her body language that betrayed her thoughts. She, likewise, could read his eyes, and almost always saw the truth in them.

"I'm done," she declared, pushing her books off his bed so that they tumbled to the floor. He quirked an eyebrow, knowing for a fact that there was no way she could have finished her science homework that quickly. She sighed at his look, giving him a pout. "Can't I at least take a break?"

"Only if you promise to finish it later," was his reply, and she frowned at him, sitting up and crossing her arms.

"But it's not due until Tuesday!"

"I don't care. I'm not letting you procrastinate to the point that I have to do your work for you—" She groaned, poking him in the ribs to get him to stop talking.

"Okay, fine. I'll finish it later." She crawled up beside him, snuggling into where she fit perfectly against his side. He leaned over and put down his guitar, carefully propping it up against the wall before turning to his girlfriend, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She was acting a little weird today, and he wondered what was on her mind; she would tell him when the time was right, he knew, and so he didn't push it.

"Artie," she said after a minute of contented cuddling, her voice low and nervous. He looked at her, frowning slightly.

"Yes, Tina?"

She smiled, propping herself up on one elbow so that their faces were even. "I love you." Artie chuckled.

"What do you want?" he sighed sarcastically, and she made a face at him.

"I have to want something to tell you I love you?"

"Absolutely; it's not as if you go around saying those words for free," he teased, brushing her hair off her forehead so he could look at her properly. "But I love you too. Now, what do you want?" She laughed silently, shaking her head and nuzzling his neck at the same time.

"Well, I was sort of thinking maybe we could..." She paused, biting her bottom lip. Artie quirked an eyebrow at her again, wondering why on earth she was so nervous. She hadn't acted with way around him since the first time he managed to get her shirt off in a particularly heated make-out session, and that had been months ago. She looked at him in a way that suggested she expected him to finish her sentence, but he honestly didn't know where she was going with this. She sighed when he didn't say anything. "I mean, I love you and..." She blushed, looking away from his face to look at his wall, studying it as if it were the most important thing in the world. "I thought maybe you'd want to... have sex."

Artie's eyes widened a fraction, and his glasses slipped down his nose. That hadn't been what he had been expecting her to say. She had turned beat red, and was no looking at him expectantly, holding her breath and waiting for his reaction. His face is blank, and his brain is working over-time, so much so Tina would late swear she could literally see the gears turning.

"Tina," he said after a moment of contemplation, using his arms to hoist himself into a more upright position, his back leaning against his headboard. "You know I love you... are you sure you want to...?" She grinned, leaning in and kissing him soundly.

"I'm sure," she answered as she pulled away, manoeuvring herself over him so that she was sitting on his knees, her already short skirt riding up to expose more of her silky thigh. Artie couldn't help himself from putting his hand on her legs, his fingers cautiously exploring the smooth skin. "I want this, Artie. I love you."

He looked at her, his heart racing. "I love you too."

The kiss that followed was the most passionate either had ever experienced, so full of both love and lust in was overwhelming. Artie's hands tangled themselves in her hair, and her fingers found the buttons of his shirt, undoing them without hesitation. She'd been doing a lot of thinking the last few weeks, and had come to a decision that was life-changing, but wonderful. She was going to give herself to the man she loved, completely and utterly.

She tugged the bottom of his shirt out of his pants, and he shrugged it off his shoulders, letting it fall to the ground. They broke apart for a second so Tina could do the same, pulling her t-shirt over her head and tossing it aside, once again smashing her lips to his. His hands explored her soft stomach and ran over the shivering muscles in her back. His rough fingers traced her shoulder blades, deftly finding the clasp to her bra and flicking it open. She unwrapped her arms from around his neck long enough to pull it off her arms and threw it so that it joined her shirt's place on his carpet, and then looked into his eyes. He always got this cartoon-like expression on his face when she let him see her like this, his jaw going slack and his eyes widening the moment the bra was out of the way. He mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "So beautiful," and reached for her. She loved to just watch his face as his hands found her breasts, his expression one of awe that she would let him touch her like this.

When she back away, he groaned in protest. "No fair," he complained, reaching out for her again. She shimmied away, giggling slightly.

"Hold your horses. We can't do this if we have our shoes on." She turned around and began unlacing his runners, tugging them off his motionless feet and dropping them to the floor. He felt a surge of embarrassment at her doing it for him— he could have taken them off himself— but when she looked back at him and grinned, the blush faded. She took much longer to unlace her boots, which were almost knee-high and laced up to the top. Artie groaned at the delay, and Tina laughed quietly, the sound like music to him.

When she had finally removed the large objects from her feet, as well as her socks, she came back to him, trailing her fingers over his bare chest. His breath caught at the feeling, his hands instinctively moving to his hips as her mouth found his collar bone, gently marking it with her teeth. She made a pleased sound when he gasped, then pressed her body to his and kissed his neck. He sat up straighter, no longer leaning against his headboard, his hands finding her bottom and lifting her more securely into him lap. He put his chin on her should so that he could see her back, running his hands down in until he reached the top of her plaid skirt. She sighed into his shoulder, and he unzipped the back of the skirt, allowing her to shimmy out of it. It joined the rest of her clothes, leaving her wearing only her underwear, which were black lace and extremely alluring.

"No fair," she grumbled as he ran his hands over her ass, pulling away from him and smirking. "You're wearing too much clothing." Her hands found his piano-key belt, her fingers fumbling with it. He reached down to help her with the unfamiliar buckle, and when it was undone she quickly pulled it from the loops of his jeans and added it to their accumulative mess on the floor. Her hands were much more sure as she unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, a smile tugging at her full lips. He used his hands to leverage himself up, and she eased his pants over his hips, and then tugged them off. Her hands trailed up his bare legs, and he reached over to pull her hands away.

"Don't tease me," he said gruffly, and her eyebrows shot up. But the look in his eyes said he was joking; he had long since made peace with his paraplegia, and honestly didn't mind her inquisitive nature, though he did want her hands somewhere where he could feel them. He pulled her to his chest and kissed her long and hard, their tongues battling for dominance in the passionate kiss. Tina ran her hands up his arms, her fingers gently caressing the muscles he had developed out of the necessity to move himself around with him, admiring his strength.

Boldly, he slipped his fingers under the waistband of her panties, moving them ever so slightly south. She grinned and kissed him softly, reassuringly, and he continued the movement, tugging the fabric over her hips and down her thighs, surprised at how natural this felt. They hadn't discussed it, either than the fact that they both wanted children someday, but the spontaneity made it all the more special, the more perfect. She didn't hesitate in removing his boxers, confidently throwing them away once they were off. That confidence was the most attractive thing he could ever have imagined, and it made him harder than he thought possible.

He sat up and leaned over, opening the top drawer of his bedside table and shuffling around in it for a moment before he found what he was looking for. She tilted her head to the side until she saw what he was holding, and once she did she blushed again. "Better safe than sorry?" he asked, pulling a condom from the box in his hand and then setting the box aside. She shook her head, her dark hair going everywhere.

"I hadn't even thought of that," she said apologetically, sitting back on his knees and looking at him, wide-eyed. "When did you...?"

"My dad gave them to me when we started dating," Artie mumbled, his fingers fumbling with the foil package. Tina reached out and covered his hands with her own, taking the condom from him. She smiled shyly and quickly set to work. She opened it without much trouble, and her hands only shook a little when she went to put it on him. He brushed her hair back from her face as she did, and once it was completely on him he pulled her face back to his to kiss her softly, the tenderness surprising both of them. This was how it was supposed to be. No expectations, no hurry, just love.

Tina relaxed and smiled into the kiss. Their lips parted, and he kissed his way over her collar bone, his warm mouth eventually finding her breath and latching onto her nipple while his hand rubbed the other into an erect red point.

He looked into her eyes anxiously, asking for her permission, asking for some kind of acknowledgement that this is what she really wanted. She nodded, using her hands on his shoulders for leverage and positioning herself above him. He guided himself to her, and she buried her face in his shoulder before slowly lowering herself onto him.

He knew she had little pain tolerance, and her little cry as she lowered herself made his chest ache. She bit his shoulder— hard— and stopped moving, her body shaking slightly. He grabbed her hips and gently pressed downward, knowing (not from experience, but from what he'd read in books) that it would become easier once she adjusted. "Shh," he whispered, kissing her exposed neck softly, "Shh, its okay. I know it hurts. I'm sorry. Shh."

He was glad for a moment he couldn't actually feel down there, because he's sure if he did he would probably force her to move. Or, at least, that's what he assumed happened with regular couples; again, from his reading and such. Instead of forcing her to do anything, he wrapped her arms around her and held her still, letting her adjust as he drew circles on his back with his thumbs. He had no idea what she was thinking, because she was hiding her face from him, her mouth still clamped painfully on his shoulder.

After a minute, Tina seemed to realise she was hurting him and released the flesh she had between her teeth and kissed the red mark she left. Slowly, she wrapped her legs around his waist, her stomach doing flip-flops, and her brain urging her to move. She rocked her hips a little and bit her lip; the pain was slowly fading, and the feeling it left it its place was amazing. Her fingers lightly brushed the hair at the nape of Artie's neck, and his were lightly holding onto her hips. She rocked her hips again, letting out a mew of pleasure. Artie laughed lightly, using his hands to pick her up a fraction before letting her slid back down. She made the noise again, and he grinned.

Slowly, she began a rhythm, her hips seeming to move of their own accord. She sighed into his neck, and his hands ran over her soft bottom as she rode him; her gasp made him smile. Tina was the only woman for him, the only one who could make him feel how he felt about her. The absolute connection they felt from one another was breathtaking; not that Tina had all that much breath at the moment, as hers were being stolen from her mouth in low moans and gasps as she moved herself steadily faster.

"Oh, Artie," she moaned, throwing her head back when he hit that spot. Her gasps were becoming more frequent, and he could tell by the way her face was contorting in a look of ecstasy that she was close, her back arching involuntarily. He reached between them, his calloused fingertips finding their joining and pressing into the tiny pearl of her sex that made her absolutely writhe, smirking as she moaned his name again. He brushed it again, in a circular moment, kissing her neck as he circled her clitoris. She squirmed, her rhythm faltering as she came, her inner walls contracting in a way that caused a tightening in the lowest part of his stomach he could feel. She collapsed onto his chest, breathing heavily.

Artie's brain was flooded with the same chemical reactions as hers, the after effects essentially turning them both into a pile of post-orgasmic goo. Once the feeling started to come back to her limbs, she untangled herself from him, moving off of him and cuddling up next to him.

"Artie," she murmured dreamily, her hair mussed and her eyes unfocussed. He looked down at her, brushing the raven coloured hair from her face and pressing his lips to her forehead. "I love you." He smiled into her hair.

"What do you want?"