You and Me Against the World: A Gru (Graves/Dru) One-Shot
"Shit," I whispered, hiding my giggle behind my hand. "We're fucked, dude."
"Viciously fucked," Graves agreed, catching my other free hand in the darkness. He gripped it tightly and squeezed, and I didn't even try to hide my smile. "This is fun. We should do this more often."
"We should. How come we never thought of this before?" I asked, crawling along and feeling my way by touch. It was completely blacked out in here - we were blind as bats.
"We were preoccupied," he suggested, and I grinned even though he couldn't see it.
"Tell me about it."
Suddenly, footsteps came from outside the closet door. I hid my mouth behind my hand and hoped Graves would keep his senses and be quiet. We couldn't afford to be caught.
To be honest, I had no fucking clue what we were doing in this lady's closet in the first place, but somehow we'd ended up here. I'm not sure whose idea it was - mine or Graves's - but we'd been bored as hell, and we wanted to go out and have a little fun. So sue us.
"Shh," I whispered. Graves was giggling like a little girl, and his giggling resulted in my giggling. To hear a sound like that come out of Graves's mouth was hilarious. In fact, it might've been one of the best things I'd ever heard in my life.
The footsteps passed the closet door and walked over to the bed. Jesus, I hoped she wouldn't hear us. We were done for if she did. We were pretty much done for already, since I think she suspected.
Graves and I leaned back, melding into the clothes. Our backs were up against the wall, we were holding hands, and I was having the time of my life. The tiny part of my brain that was actually functioning normally right now was wondering if this was a date.
And if it was, I kind of liked it. A lot.
Like, a lot a lot.
"Think she hears us?" Graves whispered, holding back a laugh.
"If you keep talking she will!" I whispered back. "Shut up!"
I trained my ears so I could hear the woman inside the room. She took off her shoes, sighed, and then went into the bathroom. A moment later I heard the shower turn on.
"Now's our chance to get out of here," I said.
"Why?" Graves asked. "I'm having a fucking blast."
We tiptoed out of the closet, making sure nothing was out place, before hightailing it out of the room. When we were outside and a safe distance away from the house, we both burst out laughing. I bent over and clutched my knees, laughing my goddamn ass off. I laughed so hard it hurt. Graves was actually rolling on the ground, shaking with silent fits of hysterical giggles.
"That . . . " he laughed. "Was . . . awesome!"
"I know!" I replied, grinning wildly. "She had no idea we were even there!"
I fell onto the grass beside him, and we lay for a while until our laughter died out. The night sky was filled from edge to edge with twinkling stars and a bright, brilliant moon. It was cold out, but I was snuggled up against Graves so I was pretty warm.
"This is nice," he said.
"Yeah," I said. "I like it." All was quiet for a moment, and I realized that I was still holding Graves's hand. And I didn't want to let go.
"Dru?" he asked.
"Yeah?"
"Do you like me?"
Well, jeez. That got right down to the heart of the matter, didn't it? How the fuck was I supposed to respond to that?
"Of course I like you. You're my best friend." I decided that was a good way to go. But I knew that wasn't what he was really asking.
"No, I mean like do you like me like me. It's been a month since I told you I loved you, and it's been hell waiting for an answer. I need to know, Dru. Please."
I turned my head towards him, but he was staring at the stars. The brightness of them lit up his brilliant green eyes and outlined his handsome face in shadowy white light. He looked really good like that.
Is it bad that I really had to think about my answer?
I mean, Graves was my best friend. He'd been there for me since the beginning. But technically that was my fault, since I'm the one who'd gotten him bitten. But still. He'd refused to leave my side even for a second. He was always there, always waiting for direction, always supporting me, always helping me. He was the one person I sincerely trusted with my life, the one person whom I could always rely on. I felt safe and protected when he was here. I felt like I was home. Like I actually belonged somewhere.
When I really put it all into perspective like that, how could I not love him?
But the question was: in what way did I love him?
I wanted to say brotherly. But all signs pointed to romantically. Like, for example, the way I got goosebumps when he touched me or when his kiss on my cheek sent a rush of heat through my body. The way I always blushed when I found him looking at me, the way I always blushed when he caught me looking at him. And the way I thought about him, how he'd changed.
"Dru?" he asked again.
"Yeah," I said softly, squeezing his hand. "I'm here. And . . . I love you."
I turned my head so I could see his reaction. But again, he wasn't looking at me. He was grinning up at the stars.
"Oh," he said. "That's good to know. I love you, too."
"I know that, dumbass," I said, shoving his shoulder. He rolled away from me laughing, and I followed. Somehow I ended up on top of him. My curls hung down over my face, and we stared into each other's eyes for what felt like ages. Then he reached up to slowly trace his finger down the side of my face. I closed my eyes underneath his touch, reveling in the little quiver he gave me. He cupped my face in his hands and pulled me down towards him, and then we were kissing.
And sweet mother of God, was it amazing.
It was better than the first time I'd kissed him - so much better. It just felt so . . . right, you know? I felt complete. Like I was sure of my choice. Really, there was no choosing between him and Christophe, because Graves had always been the one. He'd always been there, waiting for me to get my shit together. And I loved him for that. He never gave up on me, even for a second. Never doubted me, not once.
We were full on making out now, tongue-in-mouth and going at it like we wouldn't live to see tomorrow. And who knows? With my luck, we might not.
I was so wrapped up in kissing Graves that I didn't even think about the bloodhunger. I didn't even notice it.
We rolled around in the grass again until it was him who was on top of me. He moved his lips from my mouth to my neck, and I gasped out with pleasure, clutching the back of his t-shirt.
I didn't know when we would ever stop - and to be honest, I didn't really want to - but eventually, somehow, we did. I curled myself up nice and tight next to him, though, and he kept his arms wrapped securely around my waist.
"Do you remember when I got bitten?" he asked, slightly breathless from our heated make-out session. God, my body heated up even thinking about it.
"Do you even have to ask that?" I retorted. "It was my goddamn fault."
"Well, do you remember what I said to you? I'm not sure if it was that day exactly, but it was sometime after that. I made you a promise."
"Yeah," I said with a smile, and memories rushed into my head. It was so long ago! A lot of shit had happened since we'd first met. Jesus. How many years had it been? One? Two? "You told me it was me and you against the world." I remembered him saying that so clearly.
"Right," he said with an affirmative nod. "I want you to know that I was serious, Dru. I'm not going back on that promise. It's you and me against the world. Just you and me. No one else matters."
"I like the sound of that, Goth Boy," I said.
"So do I." He grinned. He stroked my hair, and it sent tingles from the crown of my head all the way to the tips of my toes.
I rolled over so that I was on top of him again.
"Fuck everyone else," I said. "It's just you and me, okay? That's it."
"Fuck everyone," he repeated. "Just you and me."
I leaned down to kiss him again, a smile on my face.