Gourry ran his finger along the line of buttons down the front of her shirt, savoring the moment, and the knowledge that he was about to undress Lina Inverse, and that she was a willing partner in this act. He wanted to release his tight control and rip her clothes off. But he also wanted to make the moment last longer, stretch it out. He wanted to tease her and drive her beyond the edge of control. And those desires made it even harder to restrain himself. He was afraid that if he didn't go slowly enough, he would scare her, or even worse, hurt her with his need. So he forced himself to go slow.
He crooked his finger underneath the yellow band she wore around her chest and tugged lightly on it. "Why do you wear this, Lina?" He had always wondered.
Lina blushed and avoided his eyes. "It keeps me in place," she mumbled half under her breath.
Gourry tried to figure out what she meant, but unfortunately, large supplies of blood were being diverted to other parts of his anatomy, which made cohesive thought rather difficult. His puzzled expression must have shown on his face because Lina suddenly heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Look, I know I'm small, but I'm pretty active, and they do bounce, and it can be pretty painful." Her words were defensive and came out in a rush. "This band helps."
Gourry ran his fingers along the edge, around to the back. "It looks uncomfortable," he announced, as he found the knot that held the band together. Quickly, his dexterous fingers untied the knot and dropped the band over the edge of the tub. "And, it makes you look a lot smaller than you really are."
A great deal of tension eased out of her body at his words. "Do you really think so?"
There was something in her tone that made him drag his gaze away from her chest area and look her in the eyes. He was a bit shocked at how vulnerable she looked, like a scared little girl. "Hmm." He brushed his hand against her cheek, wiping away a bit of moisture. "Definitely."
An amazing thing happened then. The vulnerable and scared expression melted away, along with all her barriers. Suddenly Lina let down all of her defenses, exposing her true inner-self to him. Gourry could see in her eyes no pretense, no shields, just trust and something that went quite a bit deeper; something that peeled his own barriers aside and reached deep within his own soul. It was too much. It was too raw. Neither of them could sustain the link. Lina broke it off first, smiling at him as her eyes drifted shut.
Still reeling with the intimacy of the look they had exchanged, Gourry almost felt that no physical touch would come even close to matching it. Almost, but not quite. He turned his attention back to her tunic, and starting at her neckline, he made his way down, unfastening each button he came across. With that task completed, he pushed it off of her shoulders, only to find that she was wearing something else ‑ a yellow tank-top ‑ underneath. "How many layers do you have on, anyways?" he asked in exasperation.
While he plucked at the wet yellow top that clung to her like a second skin, and tried to figure out how to get it off of her, Lina opened her eyes. "You'll have to take them all off to find out," she challenged with an arch look.
Gourry realized pretty fast that he wouldn't be able to get the top over her head, because it was more in the nature of a bathing suit than a shirt. He had never realized that the yellow part of her pants that looked suspiciously like underwear was actually part of a top. He had limited success bringing the shoulder straps down over her arms. Getting her arms out of the straps proved to be a major challenge, however. The soaked fabric seemed determined to stick to her skin wherever possible. Gourry finally growled in disgust, and with one deft twist of his hands, he ripped the shirt right down the middle. Lina had nothing underneath, and Gourry greedily lowered his face to her collarbone, while one hand palmed her breast and the other ran down her spine and pulled her close.
"Gourry!" Lina half-screeched under his assault. "That was my last good undershirt!"
"Mmm," Gourry mumbled as his mouth worked across her skin, leaving wet kisses and little nips in its path. "I'll buy you a new shirt."
He heard her intake of breath, but before she had a chance to respond, his mouth found her other breast, and his tongue found her nipple. Whatever she was going to say came out as a gasp. She arched her back, which had the side effect of pushing her hips closer to him so that his erection was wedged up against her body. Gourry teetered for a brief moment as brain and body fought for dominance. Body won, and all thoughts of gentle and slow seduction were banished from his brain as her leggings and panties met the same fate as her yellow top. At last she was naked before him, sooner than he had imagined possible. He pressed her body against his, reveling in the electric feel of her skin against his, while he ravaged her neck and shoulders with his lips and tongue. Her hands were tangled in his hair, holding his head to her. In between moans, she urged him on in a low throaty voice, "Don't stop . . . oh gods, don't stop . . ."
Stop? He wasn't capable of stopping. He was barely capable of thought. His senses were consumed by the tiny woman he held and the overwhelming force of his need. Without pausing to consider the logistics of the situation, he stood up, dragging her up with him. Lina clenched her legs around him, and he moved his hands under her rear while he somehow stepped out of the tub. He stopped kissing her long enough to maneuver them across the slippery wet floor to the huge bed that dominated the room.
With the one tiny part of his attention that was not consumed with Lina, Gourry thought that he managed the treacherous journey from tub to bed quite well. Unfortunately, he thought this too soon. Two steps away from the bed, Gourry's foot encountered the sodden remains of her leggings. At that precise moment, Lina, who had taken advantage of her position to nuzzle at his shoulder and neck, whispered huskily in his ear, "You've made me crazy for you."
Gourry probably could have recovered from one event or the other. The two in combination meant that he couldn't decide whether to keep his balance or listen to her words echo repeatedly through his brain. The result was that both of them ended up landing very hard on the bed.
"Ooof," Lina grunted from the impact. "Well, that's one way to get us here." She struggled to free one of her arms that was pinned underneath Gourry's shoulder.
Gourry tried to find a place to put his hand so he could lever his body up. No matter where he reached, though, he only seemed to encounter Lina's flesh, which was writhing against him in all sorts of interesting patterns.
"Get up, Gourry, your elbow is jamming into my gut," she muttered, no longer sounding amused.
"I'm . . . trying . . ." Gourry managed to reply, "Stop . . . stop moving around so much."
"Oh, for the love of . . ." Lina stopped moving. "Levitation!"
"Wha . . ." Gourry didn't get a chance to finish before he found himself floating gently up into the air. It was a distinctly unpleasant feeling, and he started flailing wildly, trying to get a solid grip on something . . . anything . . . "Lina!" He couldn't quite keep the edge of panic out of his voice.
Lina rolled over to her side, sweeping aside a pile of pillows with her arm as she went, and with a wicked grin that gave him a split second of warning, she released the spell. Gourry thumped abruptly down onto the bed for the second time in as many minutes.
While he attempted to recover the shreds of his dignity, not to mention his breath, Lina collapsed into a gale of giggles. "If . . . only . . . if only . . ." she gasped out between laughs, "your . . . face . . ." Then she gave up on trying to speak and curled over to her side, holding her stomach while she continued to chortle away.
Gourry rolled to his side and propped his head up on his hand, torn between indignation that she was laughing at his expense, and enjoying the sound of her laughter, as well as the sight of her naked body contorting with each fresh onslaught. At least, it was mostly naked. Now that they were actually out of the tub he noticed that in his rush to rip off her leggings, he had left a piece clinging around the bottom half of her left leg. Somehow, seeing just that one scrap of cloth left on her made his desire return in full force.
Finally, she calmed down and turned to face him, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Please, don't ever do that to me again," he said plaintively as he reached out and brushed a stray strand of hair from her face.
"Which 'that' do you mean?" Her eyes were dancing with barely suppressed mirth. "You mean offer to wash your back again?" She moved in closer to him and started to explore his chest with her tongue. "Whisper in your ear again?" She asked softly, but throatily, in between kisses. Then she lightly placed the tips of her fingers on his hip and slowly dragged her hand up his side. "Or was it something else?"
Gourry didn't respond because he was busy holding his breath. Lina was slowly and deliberately kissing a trail across his chest, a trail that led to his nipple. The hand that she had so slowly dragged up his side was making lazy circles that moved her fingers closer to the other one. The teasingly light touch of her fingers, the warm wetness of her kisses, and the anticipation of where she was heading had all of his nerve endings dancing. He gasped when her finger just barely brushed against the side, the feeling like a shock, but much more pleasurable. Then he moaned when her mouth covered his other nipple, and he felt her stroking it with her tongue.
If she kept this up, he was going to loose it again. He was going to roll her onto her back and take her right then and there, and he knew, he knew that she wasn't nearly as ready as he was. He wanted her to be ready. He wanted her to burn the way he was burning. With a deep groan, he gently pushed her away.
"What?" Lina looked up at him, her eyes bright with confusion. And concern. "Did I do it wrong?"
"Wrong?" The word burst out from him. There was no "wrong" in the feel of her hands on his bare skin. There was no "wrong" in the warm satin touch of her mouth. Gourry took a deep breath. "Wrong?" He repeated, "no, it wasn't wrong."
"Then what is it?" She asked quietly.
He felt his heart clench. How did he tell her? How could he explain it? "Do you have any idea," he asked, "how long I've wanted this? How long I've wanted you?" He didn't wait for a reply. "I don't even know. I can't remember a time when you weren't everything I think about. I go to sleep seeing you in my mind. I wake up and all I want is you." The words came gushing out of him, and nothing could stop them, not even Lina's sudden intake of breath. "Do you remember when we were in that crazy mansion, and Zel and Amelia got trussed up and thrown into a pool? You threw yourself into my arms because there were slugs in the water. I wanted you before that. Do you remember when you took a hit for Sylphiel? I wanted you before that, too. When your hair turned white and we split up from Zel to go to Atlass City, I think I even wanted you then. I would have followed you anywhere. And when you said you were going to follow me until I gave you the Sword of Light, I knew I would never give it to you, as long as it kept you with me." He closed his eyes and bit his lip to stop the flood of words. It was too much, too raw.
"I . . . I didn't know," she said faintly, hesitantly. "I mean . . . I thought . . . well, I knew . . . that you cared . . ."
"Cared?" Gourry interrupted forcefully, his eyes flying open. "Cared? That's like saying the Sword of Light was a neat tool! You think I swore to go on protecting you for the rest of my life because I cared? I'm in love with you, Lina!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Gourry mentally kicked himself. That was not, definitely not, the way he wanted to tell her.
"Well, you sure have a funny way of showing it sometimes," she returned with heat. Then the force of her temper drained out of her and her eyes went wide. "What did you just say?"
At least she wasn't rejecting him. She seemed like she was surprised, and maybe a little . . . hopeful?
Gourry repeated himself, putting all the emotion that he could summon into the words. "I said that I'm in love with you, Lina."
******************
"I said that I'm in love with you, Lina."
The words reverberated through her mind and brought chills to her spine. She felt her eyes tear up as she realized that she had been waiting and hoping to hear him say them. There was no way she could doubt the intensity of his feelings. It was almost frightening how deeply he felt, and how deeply it touched her. How had she gone this long without acknowledging the truth?
It was true that she had known that he cared. He had proclaimed himself her protector, after all, promised to follow her for the rest of her life. When Hellmaster had taken him, she had realized then that she cared for him as well, in a different way than she cared for the others. But when had she fallen in love with him? It certainly didn't just suddenly happen yesterday. No, that was when she had recognized the feeling. She wasn't sure how she would have reacted to this knowledge a year ago, or even a day ago, but today, his declaration seemed to fill a missing spot within her. Somehow, now, knowing the truth of his feelings made her feel complete.
She smiled at him and aimed a mock-punch at his shoulder. "Took you long enough, Jellyfish!"
Gourry easily blocked her with an open palm then wrapped his fingers gently around her fist. "Now I'm sure that you're really Lina," he said with a smile that answered hers.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She pulled her fist away with a huff.
Gourry shrugged one shoulder. "Well, it's strange enough that you would offer to wash my back. But everything else . . . I was beginning to wonder."
Lina knew he was teasing her. And she couldn't resist teasing back. "You're right, it isn't like me at all." She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "I guess I shouldn't do too many unexpected things in one day," she sighed theatrically as she leaned forward to stand up.
Before she could even get her feet on the floor, he had pulled her back down and loomed over her. "Oh, no you don't! You think I'm going to let you get away now that I've finally caught you?"
Lina let out a happy little sigh. "I love you, Gourry."
He didn't answer, but he didn't need to. She could see it in his eyes. The happiness she saw there mirrored what she felt in her heart. It wasn't just the knowledge of their feelings for each other. It was also the fact that they could still joke around, that they still felt comfortable together, and that nothing had really changed. Well, almost nothing.
"Now, where were we?" Lina asked, placing her hand on his chest and slowly dragging it down, past his ribs and over his abdomen.
He caught her hand in his before she could progress any further. "About here, I think." He lightly stroked her side, starting at her breast and moving down over her hip.
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Author's notes: There is more to this chapter, but it is not suitable for ff.net's guidelines, as it involves a fairly frank description of sexual situations. If you're interested, you can email me, get the rest off my website, or off Switchboard (http:// switchboard . museshaven . com/), remove the spaces. Although my original premise was getting Lina and Gourry together, there's still more of this story waiting to be told.
Thanks again to Pogo for Beta reading!
