A/N - Grim and Mandy are heaps of fun to write because they'd probably like to be considered opposites, but they actually have lots in common. Mandy is also actually pretty hard to write with an emotional life, because she never really had an obvious one in the series. I've taken some liberties with that ;) Let me know what you think, and if you enjoy it :)

A Grim Development

Mandy hung by the nearly empty punch bowl; liquid sedative to dull the pain of spending an evening in the reunited company of her oldest, and saddest, friends. Irwin was already drunk. His glasses were askew and he'd already danced on the tabletops once. Mandy didn't want to find out what he might do next. Mindy had a brat for every year over 20. That, at least, was satisfying justice, but watching this blast-from-the-past was just making Mandy tired. Maybe it was time to let go? A lot had changed.

'MAAAANDEEEE!' Bellowed a too-familiar voice, as it elbowed its way through the crowd muttering; 'Oops, 'scuse me, sorry, my bad!' before it seized her in a convulsive, unwanted bear-hug that made her feel like she was still eight years old.

'Billy,' she wheezed out, trying to sound more excited than she was.

'Wow, look at you!' he crooned, passing his hot, sticky eyes over her curves in a way that made Mandy want to peel off her skin and shove it in the wash for a long, hard spin. 'All grown up.'

'More than I can say for you,' she folded her arms. At twenty five, Billy was already losing his hair, and the only bit of him that bulged more than his biceps was his tub gut. Billy opened his mouth to spew crumbs, spit and probably not-wisdom but a rich, dark voice like cocoa covered in sweet Jamaican spice cut in. Grim stepped into view, darkening the local atmosphere.

'Mandy.'

He was taller than she remembered. Her heart started to flutter. Was that fear? Awe? She'd set him free. Why had she done that? He was holding his scythe. Mandy swallowed nervously.

'Look at you, child,' he took her hand and kissed her knuckles. Mandy shivered like a dog in snow. 'What a vision.'

Grim had always been a charmer, but she realised he'd never turned his charm on her. Of course he hadn't. She'd been a little kid. Much as the young Mandy had wanted to be all grown up and Supreme Overlord of Earth, she just wasn't. She didn't have perspective. Grim must have known that, then and now. Mandy felt her cheeks go hot with embarrassment and she struggled to find something to say.

'Hey, Bonehead.'

Mandy cringed as his face fell. Their dynamic had changed the night she set him free. She managed to muster the same smile she'd used that night, and his hurt expression receded. His bone-face split into a grin. Mandy had a sudden, terrifying feeling that she'd been in control as a kid because he'd let her. She buried her shaking hands in her coat.

'Billy,' Grim said. 'Make yerself useful fer once, boy, and fetch us something stronger ter drink.'

'Why me?' Billy asked.

'Because yer poker face is weaker than a dead cat, and yer owe me from our last game, boy. Big time.'

Mandy managed to suppress a snort as Billy wandered off to queue at the bar sullenly.

'Well,' she said. 'Someone's changed the balance of power.'

'I don't know what yer talkin' about,' Grim folded his arms. Mandy smiled at him, watched his empty sockets grow nervous.

'Has he grown up even a little bit?'

'No,' Grim said. 'And that boy is like finger-bones stuck in me teeth.'

'I bet. Why are you still hanging out with him? I freed you, remember?'

Grim seemed to sag. 'Yer immortal powers ain't that great,' he said, every word dripping with sarcasm. 'You freed me, but Billy didn't.'

Mandy stopped short. Billy had held onto Grim all these years? After she'd swallowed her pride? And he'd never told her?

'I'm going to kick his useless arse.'

Grim caught her by the shoulder with warm, bony fingers. Mandy stared at them, stupefied.

'Don't,' he said. 'The truth is...I like the company. True, the boy is an imbecile, but he's me best friend.'

'What's wrong with you?' Mandy asked. 'You're the Grim Reaper! You don't have friends.'

'Yes, me do,' Grim said, his eye sockets morphing into those cute little half moons that said he was at peace with his answer and couldn't be baited.

'Billy's not a friend,' she smirked. 'He's a pet.'

Mandy caught a whiff of Grim's aftershave. Whatever he was wearing made her knees turn to jelly. She almost leaned into him. What's wrong with me?

'Fine,' Grim smiled at her. 'Whatever yer say. Now, have a drink with me, for old times sakes, yer prickly gir-' he stopped, gazing down at her with a strange light glowing at the back of his sockets. 'Woman,' he finished. Something inside Mandy coiled pleasantly.

'Maaaandy!' Billy bumped her arm as he went by. 'Earth to the Supreme Overlord!' he teased. Mandy realised she'd been staring, and to her utter shame, Grim had already recovered himself. They laughed at her, making her skin prickle with irritation.

'That's not funny, Billy. We were just little kids.'

Billy's eyes went damp. 'Inside every grown-up is a trapped little kid just trying to get out,' he declared.

Mandy made a show of looking down at herself.

'Mine died.'

Grim snorted into his glass.

'What's that you're drinking, buddy?' Billy asked, leaning in to sniff around the glass like a dog.

'Me favourite. Old Jamaican Spiced.'

'Smells like Billy's socks,' Mandy folded her arms.

'Mmm,' Billy nodded. 'Ripe.'

'It's nothing like Billy's socks!' Grim said defensively.

'Does he actually wash them now?'

'Barely,' Grim answered, just as Billy opened his mouth. Billy scowled at Grim.

'You better stow that shit soldier, or our next poker night, we're betting with bones!'

Grim sipped his drink idly while Mandy watched the entire exchange with interest.

'Boy's not content with me soul, now he wants me body. Lot of good it'll do him. He's unluckier than a frog on the highway.'

Mandy shook her head. This was too much like being back in the past, except that now Grim seemed almost...cool. And composed. And debonair. And definitely in charge.

'Oh my gosh! IRWIN'S HERE!' Billy yelled suddenly, taking off across the dance floor as the music cranked up. Mandy winced. She wasn't much of a dancer.

'Did he just say "oh my gosh?"' Mandy arched a brow at Grim, who sighed.

'Some things will never change, Mandy.'

'But some things do,' she agreed. 'I'm going outside, before this sweaty asylum of deranged nerds gets under my skin.'

She leaned on the railings, looking at their old school. She almost missed it. She remembered the day Billy had gotten caterpillars stuck up his nose. And the day Grim had defected to Mindy's camp. She heaved a sudden sigh that betrayed her unexpected feelings of disappointment.

'What's wrong, child?' Grim had followed her outside, but curiously, Mandy didn't mind. 'Yer face is so long, it looks like it gonna slide right off yer bones!'

'That's gross, Grim.'

'Gross?' he looked at her quizzically. 'Since when yer find me flesh puns gross, eh? You've changed,' he wagged a finger at her accusingly, making her feel like she was on trial for being normal.

'Everyone changes, Grim,' she said. 'Even me. I just...wish I'd done things differently. That's all.'

'What yer babbling about, woman?'

Many sighed. 'I wish I'd had actual friends, alright?'

'Yer had me and Billy-'

'You weren't my friends,' she said. His face fell. Mandy felt a bolt of guilt and cursed the fragile, stupid heart that afflicted her. 'Did I ever once treat you like a friend?'

'Well-' he hesitated, apparently he could see her point.

'No,' she finished for him. 'I had noone Grim. It wasn't like noone ever offered. I just pushed you all away.'

'Where's all this coming from, Mandy? I didn't know yer had a heart.'

'Gee. Thanks, Grim.'

'Yer know what me means.'

Mandy nodded.

'It's not too late,' he said suddenly, unexpected tenderness showing around his sockets. His rich voice stroked places deep inside her chest, places she hadn't had touched since Jarvis. She wanted to break. She wanted to tell him that the last five years had been Hell, that she'd needed him. Needed someone, but she was too proud to call. Her soldier husband had stolen her heart, her money, her self respect in that order. After that, Mandy didn't feel powerful any more. She just felt broken.

Grim's bones would probably melt if she let her newly awakened feelings spew out as such naïve garbage. He was standing so close she could smell him, waiting for her answer.

'Yer eyes are full of dark things, child,' he said. 'I should know. I seen the dark. I know it like a brother.'

'You don't want to know.'

'That's what friends are for,' he suggested, the corners of his polished, bony mouth tilting up.

'I don't want to tell you.'

She glanced at his skull. He looked hurt. 'But,' she softened the blow. 'I would like to get out of here. And...not alone...would be great.'

oOo

Six weeks ground by slower than Billy dragging himself to detention. Work sucked away all her energy, leaving her feeling more vacuumed inside than usual. If Mandy had possessed a smile that wasn't possessed, the drudgery would have snatched that away too. Compare to her old visions of world domination, her adult life was shaping up to be the biggest let-down EVER. Grim was right. She had changed. She'd become a maudlin, over-emotional Larry.

Knowing that didn't stop her from curling up on the couch with a hand-made cushion that read 'Hate,' to eat a litre tub of Ben and Jerry's while she threw a pity party that would rival one of Grim's sad, weepy tantrums. With a dense tome sending her knees to sleep and the flickering, muted telly light for company, Mandy kept thinking about the ill-fated night of the reunion when she had – gulp – actually confided her sickly true-heart insecurities to Grim.

Something hit the window. Mandy pulled a stray bit from the window frame. It was a finger bone.

A shadow was haunting the shrubs.

'Grim?' she asked, suddenly feeling brighter.

'Mandy,' his skull appeared in the dark like a demonic moon. He was holding a bottle. 'Can me come in?'

Mandy opened the door.

'That better be something I can drink,' she said threateningly. 'Not that...sock rum.'

'Actually, it is,' he turned the label so she could see. It was a bottle of pricey red.

'Good news, Grim,' she eyed the label appreciatively. 'I've decided not to murder you. This time.'

'Very funny,' he dead-panned nervously.

'So. To what do I owe the dubious pleasure?' she asked.

'Just wanted to see yer, child.'

'Why?' Mandy knew her face had stretched its atrophied muscles into a visage of utter confusion.

'I thought Billy was the dumb one.'

'He is,' Mandy folded her arms. 'Listen. That night at the reunion...I was...drunk,' she lied. 'Drunk and rather pathetic. I'd rather just forget about it.'

He fished two wine glasses out as though he hadn't heard her and poked about in the cutlery drawer. Mandy handed him the corkscrew off the draining board.

'Rough day?' he enquired, putting a glass in her hand with fingers warm enough (for a dead man) to make her go all quivery.

This is ridiculous, she thought testily. I am not attracted to Grim.

'The worst,' she agreed.

'It can't be worse than mine,' he sniffed.

'You wanna bet?'

'Sure. I feel confident,' he said seriously.

'Fine. But only if we use bones.'

'You haven't got any I'd want to take away, woman,' he looked her up and down, a bony Casanova wearing the smirk of a devious ghoul. Mandy went toasty. She couldn't remember ever seeing Grim flirt before. His interest weight heavy on her flesh, a pleasant sensation of compression that lit a little fire in the cradle of her belly.

'But my body is always in high demand,' he added smugly.

'Yeah. By dogs. What little is left of it,' she eyed him, smirking.

'Very funny,' he said, deadpan.

'I try.'

'So what happened today?' he asked.

Mandy wondered if she should boot him out. These Grim adventures were ancient history that part of her just wanted to forget. Some alien desire to talk to someone who wasn't her cat or a co-worker kept her mouth moving and her brain disengaged long enough for her to spew a bellyful of bile about her boss. Biting her tongue, she propped her skill on her hand and sighed into her nearly empty wineglass. It misted. A frosty forest of doomed trees revealed themselves in her breath. A world inside a world. Temporary. And alone. Like her. This time, she couldn't shuck the feeling of desperate separateness that made her feel like she'd failed completely at life.

'S-So,' she managed to stammer around the plug of acid disappointment that had lodged itself in her throat. 'What was so horrible that you had to come over here and get drunk with me?'

'Timothy,' Grim shuddered. 'That boy gets more and more like Billy every day! Yesterday he decided to use me ribcage as a glockenspiel! This morning I come down to read me paper, mindin' me own business, and the cursed child has widdled in me Wheat-O's. He's a menace!'

'Wait,' Mandy sat up suddenly. 'Billy has a kid now? He never mentioned that.'

Grim stared at her as though she started talking with a second mouth.

'Oh, no no, child. Timothy is Billy's nephew! The little cockroach tries to use me for a mop.'

'Oh come on, Grim,' Mandy smirked darkly. 'You know you love him really.'

'That's besides the point!' Grim declared, then pursed his skull-face like a bulldog eating stinging nettles. Mandy realised she'd uncovered a secret. He did care about the kid.

'So that's why you still hang around with Billy,' she needled him mercilessly. 'Wait...you're not the bone mama, are you?'

Grim scowled.

'Of course not. And that's the last time I share me vulnerabilities with you!'

Mandy caught his bony wrist.

'Grim,' her throat felt like it was narrowing. She blew out a deep breath and spat it out; 'I-I'm sorry.'

His sockets softened. The corners of his toothy mouth tilted upwards.

'That's the first time yeh've ever worried about me feelin's!'

'Don't get used to it,' she said, trying to cover up while her heart thumped wildly. Oh how the mighty have fallen, she thought drily. 'When midnight comes I'll turn back into an evil pumpkin. Then you're in trouble.'

'That's my girl!' he crowed like a proud mama-hen, giving her a sudden one-armed squeeze that made her treacherous, sensitive heart clench and her eyes fill up with water. She hid it, staring at the floor, unable to process the enormity of an emotion she couldn't control. Mandy felt like her life was turning inside out quicker than Billy after curry night. She wasn't used to feeling so much. A lifetime's supply of pent-up emotion was welling inside her.

'I-I have to...go-' she stammered, dashing into the bathroom where she sat with her head in her hands, trembling. She wanted to cry, but crying was for weak minded wimps.

'What's wrong, Mandy?' Grim was flicking channels, his bony legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle. When had he gotten so insightful? She couldn't shake the feeling that she was seeing a side to Grim that he'd never had chance to show while she was being a bratty kid.

'I hate myself,' she said, staring into space like a shell-shocked trooper, her brain chewing over the question; why am I telling him this? 'And...most of the world, too,' she added.

'Why?' He sounded genuinely perplexed.

'Because I'm weak. Because every time the doc changes these STUPID pills, I turn into a maudlin crybaby!'

'What pills?'

'I'm psychotic, Grim. Or haven't you figured that out yet?'

'That would explain a lot,' he agreed blandly.

'Aren't you scared? What if I hurt you? What if I killed you?'

He laughed, making Mandy's blood fizz like pop rocks in coke.

'What're you going to do, child? Use me dusty bones for soup?'

'Don't play dumb, Grim!' she plopped down next to him. 'I terrorised you. You used to run away crying like a little girl!'

'And yet here I am with me faculties still in place. I wonder which one of us is most messed up, Mandy?'

She folded her arms. Grim found a channel he liked. Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

'Ooooh!' he exclaimed. 'Mandy! Turn out the lights! I think I feel a fright night coming on.'

'Don't you get it, you dense bag of zombie bones!?' she shook him by his skinny shoulders. 'I'm a raving psycho with a personality disorder! And you want to watch horror movies with me!?'

'Mandy, child, yer overthinkin' things,' he patted the space next to him. 'Sit. The first one ter look away, buys dinner.'

Mandy never could pass up a challenge. She grabbed her 'Hate,' cushion and fixed her eyes on the screen.

'You're on, Bonehead.'

oOo

Mandy snorted herself awake. Her cheek was smooshed into the arm of the couch and she was drooling on her own hand. Grim was shaking her.

'Mandy, child! Wake up!'

Mandy wiped her drool and sat up. Why did he look so self satisfied?

'What time is it?'

'Night time,' Grim smirked.

'Why are you grinning like that, you maniac?'

He leaned in. His scent washed over her again, making her nostalgic for times when she had someone to smell so nice next to her all night. 'You. Lose.'

Then it all came back. The movie. The dare. She gave a huge shudder.

'This isn't right,' she complained. 'The very order of the cosmos hangs in the balance-' she sagged, tired. 'Nevermind. I'm going to bed. Grim?'

'Yeees?' he grinned at her. She handed back his finger bone.

'Don't forget your body parts.'

'There's worse parts me could lose,' he smirked, as he headed for the door. Mandy's cheeks went jalapeño hot. Suddenly she felt sexually frustrated.

oOo

Mandy folded her arms down tightly. She'd just dropped her shoes by the door and seen a dust bunny the size of a hat. Billy's house was just too disgusting to bear, even worse when you got close to the floor, which was what Twister was really all about.

'PLEEEAAASE Mandy? Please, please, please, please!?' Billy bounced on his heels. 'It's for old times sake,' he begged, his eyes going all big and misty. Mandy pinched the bridge of her nose. She had a headache coming on.

'Leave off it, boy,' Grim warned.

'NO,' Billy folded his arms stubbornly. 'You promise we could play TWISTA! Like we used to when we were KIDS!'

'Fine,' Mandy groaned, thinking that for the sake of having those friends she'd wanted since they parted ways, she might have to play the stupid game. But just this once.

Ten minutes later she was balanced like a crab, belly up, her left hand on red and her right foot on yellow.

'Billy, couldn't you have cleaned up?' she complained.

'Stop mooooaning,' Billy said. 'Grim...Left hand green!'

'Oh me various Gods,' Grim grunted, lifting his hand carefully to reach for green. 'Mandy, I, er-' he stammered.

'Get on with it, Grim,' she grunted, as he reached over her torso to put his hand down. Her arms were going dead. She willed them to lock.

'Maaandeee...left foot blue! Aww, that's too easy. I'm gonna spin it again!

'Billy. Don't you DARE,' Mandy felt like an angry dragon. 'Or I'll turn you inside out and wear your skin like a dress!'

'Ewww!' Billy yelled.. 'Grim...right hand red!'

Grim sagged, dropping his skull. His robe brushed Mandy's bare belly, where her top had ridden up.

'Well, this is humiliating,' she stated.

'Yer tellin' me,' Grim said.

This was why she hated Twister. Grim huffed and puffed as he reached for red, until his body covered hers.

'Billy, you have no idea how uncomfortable this is,' Grim groused. Mandy had the feeling Billy didn't understand the cause of Grim's discomfort. This wasn't about the game. It was about how they were chafing together. Then she felt it. A bone unlike any other.

'You'll have to STREEETCH!' Billy laughed at them.

Mandy willed herself not to blush, not to give any indication of Grim's delicate condition. She stared at the ceiling resolutely, feeling the heat in her cheeks spread towards her breasts. She could smell his aftershave again, his bones, like the scent of old books. It made her insides quiver. Grim's left arm began to wobble. As it dallied with the possibility of collapse, his "hip bone" ground against her.

'Billy, this is stupid,' Grim grouched, his voice high and wheezy and desperate. Billy, as usual, seemed utterly oblivious. 'We've got to stop this right now.'

'No,' Mandy ordered.

'What?!' Grim whined. 'WHY!?' His mouth drew into a thin line. His sockets were on fire. Mandy had to bite her tongue to keep from groaning out loud.

'Billy. Finish the game. I never lose.'

'Neither do I,' Grim countered.

'Fine,' she said softly.

'Fine,' Grim said darkly, but he was breathing hard now, his mouth open. Billy giggled like the little kid he still was.

'Mandy...left foot red!'

Mandy stared at red. That would spread-eagle her right under Grim, legs wide open. Panting, she screwed her eyes shut in determination. Grim made a funny little noise. Billy didn't notice. Mandy doubted he'd notice a thermonuclear explosion up his nostril unless a booger was involved. She thumped her foot down on red, her hands nearly numb. She wobbled. 'Oh, I think I'm gonna-'

She managed to wobble back into a position she could only just hold.

'Me too, child,' Grim moaned.

Billy's boisterous yell cut over their complaints.

'Grim! Haha! Right hand blue! Oh, you're so messed up now, buddy!'

Grim gazed at her, heat climbing his cheeks to stain his skull. She knew she looked just as conspicuous. She wondered what it'd be liked to kiss him. His sockets gave off palpable heat. Blue was right under her back. Grim would have to more or less hold her to pull it off.

'Mandy, you look really hot,' Billy said innocently. 'Want me to open a window?'

'Shut up, boy,' Grim groaned, as he wrapped his arm under Mandy to put his hand on blue.

'I'm FINE,' she ground out, as Grim's body settled on top of hers. She knew she was panting, her mouth open, her nipples suddenly hard against the lace of her bra. Grim looked down through heavy, lidded eyes. Suddenly he looked so much taller, he crackled with otherworldly energy.

The kitchen went ding.

'The pizza must be ready!' Billy clambered up.

'Billy!' Mandy warned. He was already gone. She felt her arms go. She squeaked as she crumpled, expecting a bump that never came. Grim had caught her. She floated on a cushion of his magic.

'I'm so sorry child...it's not me fault-'

'Grim. Shut up and stop time. Right NOW.'

Billy's shadow covered the door, preceding him, as Grim summoned his scythe from the netherworlds and stopped time. Mandy collapsed onto her back. Her mouth was dry, her skin on fire with the need to be touched. She climbed on top of him while he was still rubbing his elbow and wincing, her fingertips digging into his ribs. Grim gasped, bucking upwards in surprise, grabbing her waist. Mandy knew it was unconscious, because it didn't match his expression. She gave an involuntary shudder as he pressed that mysterious bone to her flesh.

'Mandy, woman, what are yer doin'!?' he squeaked.

'What you started,' she said.

'Oh,' he said softly. She'd expected more. Then suddenly his smile widened. 'Oh,' he smirked. 'Well...that would be messin' with some bad mojo, child. Are yer sure yer can handle it?'

'I guess there's only one way to find out.'

'In that case,' he surged up underneath her, his face level with hers, one of his bony hands wrapped around her nape.

Grim caught her mouth before she was ready. She'd expected cold. He was as hot as flesh, his skull moulding easily into a shape she could kiss. She'd expected a taste like old steak or rot. He didn't taste of anything. She'd thought he'd be all hard angles but his robe seemed to cushion his bones. He tasted dry and ancient, and smelled like dusty books under whatever aftershave he was wearing. She liked it. The flesh between her legs ignited, spreading wonderful heat into her core. Her panties grew wetter and wetter as he squeezed and rubbed her arse, fingertips sliding under the hem of her skirt to tickle her thighs. She sparked inside, her heart jumping into her throat as he invaded her mouth with his tongue, leaving her with no doubt at all that he'd done this many times before. She'd often wondered.

Then his hands slipped under her shirt. He nipped her throat and made her moan.

'So yer like it a little rough, do yer?'

'Ooooh...y-yes,' she admitted, trembling as his fingers came close to her breasts, but not close enough. Then he dug his fingertips into her flesh just hard enough to make her feel like she'd never get away. Mandy wrapped herself around him. He'd found her weak spot, and she hadn't even needed to tell him.

He tugged on her ear with his teeth. Mandy arched.

'What about Billy?' she gasped.

'Boy's an idiot,' Grim smirked. 'He'll never know. Now,' he ran a fingertip over her lips until she opened her mouth for it. 'Where was I?'

'You were about to make me scream, Grim. Make me scream,' she made it sound like an order.

'I won't just make you scream, woman. I'll make you BEG,' his eyes flushed red like a demon in heat. Mandy groaned as he tore at her clothes. They sloughed away, leaving her naked and shaking, wetness dripping down her thighs.

'I-I never beg,' she stammered, her flesh betraying her utterly as he slid down to nibble her nipples, his bony hands cupping and squeezing and – Oh God – Mandy's eyes rolled back as he pinched them until she moaned out loud.

Mandy's head bumped the couch. She didn't care that she was getting dust bunnies in her hair. Grim curled his fingers inside her, his teeth working at her nipple until she bucked, panting, biting her cheek to keep from begging. Wetness flooded out between her legs. Grim made a noise like an animal, his teeth suddenly clamped over her jugular vein, his spare hand holding her down. Her mouth opened and the noise escaped; a breathy, desperate moan.

'Grim!' she arched, at the edge of an orgasm she sensed was going to be fantastic. He pulled his fingers back before she could come. 'Grim, you bonehead!' she sighed as he chuckled.

'Yeh'd best be nice to me, Mandy. I could keep yeh like this all night.'

'You wouldn't dare.'

'What do we say?' he teased. Mandy shut her lips resolutely, but Grim plunged his fingers back into her body, hitting her sweet spot dead on.

'Aaaaah-' she shuddered again, so close to the edge that she could almost see the light. He pulled his fingers away.

'GRIM!' she yowled desperately.

He pushed his bone against her arse cheek. She could feel the tension thrumming through his body.

'G-Grim!' she almost howled, as he pressed a magical fingertip to the spot inside her, leaving her half blind, sweaty and desperate. Just as she felt the tingle of orgasm, he pulled away.

'Grim-,' she moaned. Her voice didn't have the command she was aiming for. She sounded reedy and desperate.

'That's it, child,' he leaned over her, his body between her legs. 'Say me name.'

Mandy opened her mouth to deliver a cutting insult. He rubbed his bare, bony cock against the supersensitive skin of her soaking lips, failing to give the pressure and friction she wanted inside her.

'Ooooh-' Mandy shuddered, trying to push herself onto him, but he wouldn't let her.

'Ah, ah, ah,' he tormented her, leaning down to lick her bottom lip, then sucked it into his mouth for torturous seconds while she bucked her hips, threading her fingers into his ribs.

'Say it,' he said, his voice shaking the floor, the walls, the room. It felt like his will could pull the foundations of reality apart around her. He pushed his cock half an inch into her body, then pulled back.

'G-G-' she tried, trembling with need.

'You can do it,' he smiled at her, his fingers suddenly gentle on her face, stroking soft lines of hell fire down her throat to circle her nipple. 'Just one teeny, tiny concession for your dear old Grimmie?'

'You want to see me lose it,' she accused.

'No, child,' he teased her again, pushing himself far enough in to make her buck, and pulling out too soon. 'I want ter FEEL yer lose it.'

Mandy closed her eyes, her head thrown back, her body supersensitive. Then he gave a single, deep thrust, catching her right where she needed the sensation most and his name tore up her throat and shook dust from the rafters. Mandy squirmed, grabbing him hard to keep him from pulling out again. One deep, nearly painful thrust wasn't enough. She wanted more, but he was keeping still, his fingers cinched so tight she knew she'd have bruises. Pain mixed with pleasure, making her head swim.

'What do yer say?' he kissed her, refusing to move his hips by even a micron. Mandy broke.

'Please!'

'Please, what?' he demanded.

'Please, Grim!' she glared at him, dragging him down by his ribs. 'PLEASE...I-I need you to fuck me. NOW.'

'It's me lucky day,' he said. Her head bumped the couch as he took her, his pincer fingers holding her legs up high enough that he could nip her trembling calf muscles. His movements blurred in her mind, resolving into a single instant of almost unbearable pleasure. She couldn't even remember how they'd come to this, only that he was doing things to her she'd always wanted, but which no man had ever been enough to give.

She yelled as his bony cock caught that sweet, electric internal spot. Mandy screamed as the world went white. The room disappeared. She was alone in the supernatural glow with Grim's skull, filled inside and out with his disembodied essence. She hadn't realised how much she needed that feeling until now. Then the glow dissipated and she realised she was sweaty, covered in dust, and naked on Billy's living room floor. She could just see the edge of Billy's trainer-toe in the kitchen from her angle. He was still frozen in time. Grim's spectral breath disturbed her tangled hair.

His eyes were reduced to the red glow of night-old embers, his cock still hard inside her. She didn't want to guess how that worked. She'd thought he was just a skeleton, but she'd long known that Grim had magic of his own. She ached like she'd had convulsions on a hard floor. She felt like a wrung-out tea-towel.

'Mandy,' he said, his voice almost tender. 'Are you OK, child?'

'Yeah,' she winced as he released her legs. Her body felt like it was made of wet sponge. She gazed him up and down. 'Fuck, you're good.'

oOo

Mandy glared at the spot of couch that was supposed to be hers. Grim had covered it in magazines. Her strawberry arse cheeks were still singing acapella Hallelujah from the spanking he'd dealt her earlier and now, she was feeling horny and vengeful at the same time.

'Grim, you've only been living here three months and already you're turning my house into a slush pile. If you don't move this, I'm going to move it for you. Right into the trash.'

Grim lounged, his half moon sockets at ease. His attitude had packed on fifty pounds of muscle now that she no longer owned him, and since they'd started fucking like addicted bunnies, Mandy just couldn't make him tow the line.

'GRIM,' she growled her warning.

'Don't get your panties in a knot, woman. I was going to move it.'

She looked down at the magazines in her hand and scowled.

'Are these YOURS?'

'It's me entertainment fer when yer not around,' he informed her casually.

'This is...' Mandy stared at the busty blonde porn star on the front cover. Grim had cut out a picture of Mandy's face and stuck it on the girl's body. Mandy started to tremble. She dropped the magazines in defeat, her heart clenching with a burning, needy DRIVE to get as close to Grim, body, mind and soul as she could. 'Weird,' she finished lamely.

Wordlessly, Grim tugged her, naked, into his lap. His skull spread into a beatific expression of contentment as she wormed her fingers under his open robe to thread them into his ribs, the way she did whenever she didn't want to let go. Her tender heart felt like her arse – bare and sore.

'I think I'm going to punish you,' she whispered, gripping him tight, intent to hold on and never, ever let go. Whenever she looked at him, something inside her went twang, and she couldn't stay mad. It was the best thing she'd ever felt.

Grim's sockets flared like last nights embers exposed to fresh air. His fingers tightened possessively.

'We both know you deserve it,' she dead-panned, knowing he'd understand that this was nothing more than a flimsy pretext to get him into bed, and thus pull him as far under her skin as she could.

'Be careful, Mandy,' he leaned in to play her game, his skull stretching into a predatory smirk that was almost ruined by his tender expression. 'If you play with fire...you'll get burned.'

'I'm counting on it,' she said, claiming his mouth hungrily before he could manage one more second free of her clutches. She always felt more like she was breathing while she kissed him.