Warnings: Het Pairing (Trent Seven/Asuka), Terrible Nicknames, Semi-Public Sex.
They always get to the mall early, which was fine when Asuka worked in the other salon three blocks down. She'd walk to work, and only be slightly too early, but her salon, well her's and three other people's but she is a part owner so it's her's, is on the third floor of the mall, which means getting in for seven is early-early. Unlike her man's deli, the salon doesn't open until eight-thirty, and even then, it's not usually until nine that she has her first appointment. Naomi is generally busy from the word go, Marty's a nine-a.m. start because the man likes his sleep, and Brandi and her nail appointments are so unpredictable that it's hilarious, then there's Asuka's clients who are generally late morning, or early evening people, but she'll be there early in case of walk-ins.
"You remember my nephew's coming tonight, right?" The hand holding her's tightens slightly, drawing her mind from remembering her first client of the day. It'll be in the appointment book, so it doesn't matter that she can't remember the name.
"I remember…did you make the bed in the guest room?" She bumps his shoulder, and laughs as an uncomfortable look flashes in his eyes for a moment. It passes quickly, and his usual cool returns quickly.
"It'll give him something to do while I'm making dinner." He smiles at her, and Asuka shakes her head at him. "You're working late?"
"No. Last appointment is at seven, so I'll be home about eight." They take escalators to the second floor, where the deli is tucked away in the far corner. It's not a prime location, but word of mouth is a powerful thing, and the little deli is thriving.
"Oh? Good. Tyler's flight gets in about seven. We can grab take-out, and come by to pick you up." Trent opens the door, and holds it for her, letting Asuka enter first. By the smell of things, Kassius and Toni have been here for a while, working hard to prep for the day.
"Hmm…no pizza. No matter how much he wants it, I do not." Asuka looks at him blankly. Trent holds her blank stare for far longer than anyone else she's ever met could. He breaks it with a chuckle, and a wink. "I'm serious." She calls as he heads towards the back to hang up his coat.
"Duly noted, my peony." He waves her over, and she follows him into the back, where Toni and Kassius are prepping some kind of olive salad that looks amazing.
"Morning." Toni greets her with a brilliant smile, and Kassius with a jerk of his chin.
"I think peony is a new one." Kassius chuckles, to which Asuka nods. She likes Kassius. He's quiet, sweet, charming, and has a lovely beard. She'll fully admit to her fondness for squishy, bearded white boys. Although, unlike her squishy, beardy white boy, Kassius doesn't have impeccable style. There's something she adores about the contrast the two of them make. Trent with his neatly trimmed hair, well-groomed moustache, suits, and occasional thick, cable-knit sweaters, and her hair with all the colours she can think of, and her clothes mismatched and chaotically beautiful. They make the most wonderfully inappropriate pair on the surface at least, because just under the surface they're wonderfully the same and perfectly matched.
"It is." Trent's shucked his coat, and is donning his deli branded apron. "She made me a dried flower advent calendar this year." He offers her a fond smile, and an olive he'd just spiked on a cocktail stick. Asuka takes both happily. The other thing she loves about Trent is the fact he is perfectly comfortable being part of that couple with her. No matter how well you know them, they both can make people slightly uncomfortable. They possibly shouldn't treat that as a fun game to play, but it keeps them both happy and both parties being happy is the key to a long-term relationship. That and agreeing that thick, cable-knit sweaters are communal property, and are to be shared.
"Come up for lunch, about two." Asuka presses a kiss to Trent's cheek, and gives Toni and Kassius a quick goodbye.
The new salon is beside the nice coffee shop owned by the red-headed Irish girl. It looks incredibly festive now, but they'd taken their time to get it looking so jaunty, it wasn't until Friday that the Brewed Awakening got in the Christmas spirit. Live and let Dye by comparison looks dowdy, but when she gets there, the situation has changed. Marty and Brandi are covered in tinsel, as is the front of the store. It's a glorious mess of a million different colours, and dancing lights. Naomi pokes her head out of the store's door.
"Damn. We did good work." Naomi comes out of the store, and takes a couple of strands of tinsel from both Brandi and Marty. She wraps the ends around her neck, and flings an arm around each of their shoulders. Clearly she'd been inside plugging the lights in, and is out to celebrate the glorious transformation too.
"Well, I think we're done here. Who's getting the coffees in then?" Marty ducks out from under Naomi with a laugh, and spots Asuka. "Morning! We decorated, so you wanna get the coffee?"
"Peppermint all around?" Asuka grins at her colleagues as they chorus with yes. Becky's coffeeshop has an unstated, but well-known lock-in for mall employees, so getting a round of lattes for the salon is easy. When she finally enters the salon, someone has set a playlist of chip-tune Christmas carols, and the whole place is festively stylish. Morning becomes lunchtime, which comes and goes. Salons, she's worked in, are always busy at traditional lunch times. Women coming in for a trim, or a touch-up, or to get their nails done before they go back to the office. So, it was all hands-on deck, and now with the office workers cleared out, only Marty and Naomi are working.
"Afternoon, ladies." The little bell above the door chimes, giving away Trent's arrival before he speaks. "And Marty, I didn't see you there in the corner." Trent nods to Marty, and the English stylist shakes his head with a smile. "We going for lunch, my dearest?" Trent offers Asuka a hand, and presses a kiss to the back of hand when she takes his.
"I'll be back in an hour." Asuka assures her colleagues, and lets Trent lead her out. "Where do you wanna go?" He shrugs, and pulls her a little closer.
"Honestly? Home." He chuckles, and she smirks at him. "What? My nephew is gonna be here soon, and I'm not going to be comfortable being intimate with him in the house." At that Asuka laughs, and Trent pulls an indignant face.
"We can find a cheap motel like when we visited my family." The first time she'd taken Trent to meet her parents had been interesting. He and her father had hit it off alarmingly well, even her mother, who has never liked her boyfriends, liked Trent enough to call him by his name.
"I've been pricing motels already." He looks at her deathly serious, and she keeps the death stare up as long as she can, but this round is his, and she cracks into giggles first. "So, sustenance or intercourse?"
"You pose such a difficult question, Seven." He presses a kiss to her hair, and lets go of her hand, to draw her closer to him.
"You know, seven eight nine." He murmurs in her ear before kissing her with far more passion than should be allowed in the middle of the mall. "So, I ask again, food or a shag, Nine?" It's a tempting offer, a damn tempting offer, but she should eat, but perhaps greater than that he was right when he said they wouldn't be able to have sex with his nephew in the house. She winds her arms around his neck, and pecks the end of his nose with a light kiss, then slips away from him.
"Quickly." She grabs his hands, and heads with purpose to the elevators.
"Quickly to what? I need to know what activity we're engaging in." Trent follows her, and raises an eyebrow at her floor selection. "Lunch it is…why are we eating quickly?"
"We're having sushi because I'm feeling nostalgic, and then we're going to fuck on the roof." Asuka tells him plainly, and Trent barks a laugh.
"Isn't the roof where all the smokers congregate?" Trent follows her along to the sushi place, and takes a seat opposite her. He picks some of the vegan options off the belt, and sets his debit card on the table. She's in the mood to let him be gentlemanly, so she doesn't bother setting her own card on the table in direct challenge. Their who's paying death stare matches can be intense, and they don't have time for one of those today.
"Didn't you tell me that you used to finger pretty girls behind the smokers' shed in high school?" The couple at the table behind Trent look over as she says that, but any offence they feel really is their own fault for listening in to a private conversation.
"That was a good twenty years ago…and I highly doubt you'd be satisfied with just being fingered." The couple look even more uncomfortable. Trent's staring over Asuka's shoulder, so she supposes there's another set of uncomfortable people sitting behind her.
"The principle remains the same…although, I doubt there is a shed." She shrugs, and snags a tray of salmon nigiri. "But I'm sure there is a wall."
"With significantly more of a drop." Trent meets her eyes with a smile. He's scared off the people behind her, winning this unspoken game. "Do you want me to take home the left-over tapenade tonight?" He changes the subject abruptly, bored of the crude conversation now that the game is won.
"Hmm…yes. Does Tyler like that kind of stuff?" Asuka's not met Trent's nephew yet. They've spoken on FaceTime, but that's not the same as meeting. In person she'll be able to see how much of his uncle there is there, which will determine how much she likes the boy.
"I think so…he's come full-blown vegan now, which is nice." At that Asuka takes another sushi from her tray, and lets her eyes fall closed, an exaggerated moan escaping her. "Of all the things to tease me with, dead fish is the least effective."
"If only there was a Gregg's. I could use sausage roll, it's super effective." Asuka laughs, and Trent smothers his guffaw in his cup of water.
Once they eat, they hop back in the elevator, and ride it as far up as it goes, then climb the stairs to the roof. Up there, there's a small shelter that as soon as they're inside, Asuka pounces on Trent, pulling him into a fierce kiss. He responds with as much fire as she has, and backs her up to one of the walls.
"This is hardly romantic." Trent mutters, and slips a finger into her. He thrusts it in and out a few times, then adds another. "You're wet." He says it matter-of-factly, like he was commenting on the weather, and as ever the blandness of his voice resonates within her.
"Soaked. Fuck me." Asuka pushes her knickers down a little, and hikes her skirt up some more. He offers her a look that many people would see as condescending, but she knows it's riddled with lust. She skims her hands down the front of his body, to grope at his stiffening cock, pressing against his flies. "Let him out, and fuck me." She teases freeing Trent's cock, but doesn't, instead she lets her head fall back, and gazes at him with hooded eyes.
"Condom. Honestly, woman…you'd think you'd know the routine by now." Trent's two fingers are still working inside of her, and his thumb is caressing her clit with lazy swipes. Asuka whines softly, and rocks her hips against his fingers. "So desperate, aren't you?"
"Hurry up. I have a client at three, and I will leave you with blue balls." She looks at him. A look she's perfected over the years, but it is still the look she'd levelled him with the first time they'd met in London. He'd come into the salon she was working in, demanding a haircut without an appointment. His tone, his look, his stance, they'd all made it clear that he usually gets what he wants when he wants it, but she'd looked at him, and he'd sat down. For three hours he'd watched her work, not leering, not glaring, just watching. She'd felt then that for the first time in her life she'd met an equal, and that feeling was echoed by Trent. From that moment on, they'd been together. Love at first sight, like something from a fairy tale, although any fairy tale with them in it wasn't for children. He pulls his fingers from her, and tugs on a condom. Before she can voice a complaint, he's pressing her back against the wall, and filling her in one slow, firm stroke.
"Better?" His breath is warm, and tingling in her ear, and she feels so much better. She always feels so much better when she can feel him inside her, can feel him pressed along her body, his soft warmth pressed against her firmer, colder skin. He withdraws a little, and then presses back in, groaning as she tightens around him.
"Quickly." Her hands tangle in his hair, pulling him into a kiss, and earning her a groan from deep in his chest. His hands slip beneath her shoulder blades, pulling her closer. Asuka curses not taking off her panties, as she can't hook her legs about him, instead she can only bow her legs and pulls him as close as possible. It's hurried, frantic, desperate, and entirely what she'd expected. The feeling of Trent's cock inside of her, the way his breath makes the skin of her neck damp, the scratch and itch of his beard, the tickle of his moustache, it's perfect. Asuka keens in his ear, and slips a hand between them, her finger teasing her clit, bringing her orgasm closer than just his cock alone could.
"Are you close? You're so quiet in public…it's so hard to tell." Trent's words draw the softest little keening sound from Asuka. The idea that they've not had public sex so often that he knows damn well when her body is on a hair-trigger. He knows she's close, he knows that all it'll take is a few thrusts, a few heavy words in her ear, or better yet one of his thick, elegant fingers to pass over her clit. She tightens around him, shuddering, and shivering almost the moment his finger rubs over her clit. One rub would have been enough, but he is either cruel or kind, because he keeps rubbing until she can feel his orgasm surging through him. When it's passed, he stayed with his face against her shoulder, making soft contented noises as she messes up and smooths down his hair. Once he's recovered enough, Trent withdraws from her, and pulls the used condom off. The next thing she's aware of is him gently wiping her wet thighs with a Kleenex. He purposefully swipes over her clit, making her moan and shudder.
"Tease." She groans, and steps away from him to right her clothes. "We should go. Someone's going to want have a cigarette."
"I'm not sure I don't want one." Trent mutters, hiding the tissues wrapped condom in the small trash can in the smokers' shelter. "C'mon, piggyback down the stairs." He squats down, and lets her clamber on his back, carrying her down the few stairs as her legs aren't quite working properly.
Asuka manfully resists the urge to whine once they get into the elevator, the last thing she wants to do is go back to work, and by the reluctance Trent showed about pressing the right floor buttons, he's in no hurry either.
"Toni's been taking about a staff night out, by the way." Trent takes her lipstick from her, and fixes her messed up lips with practiced efficiency. Asuka raises an eyebrow, and Trent takes the hint to continue with Toni's staff party. "He thinks it'd be nice if all the shop staff got together, you know. Solidarity and all that. Kassius warned him that European sense of community might be mistaken for communism here." Asuka snorts a laugh at that, and is sorely tempted to stop the elevator so she can snuggle. After sex she always wants to snuggle, but she does have a client in five minutes, and Marty and Brandi will need to have some manner of a lunch break.
"Sounds fun…I'll mention it to the others." She kisses him goodbye with little more than a gentle brush of her lips against his, and heads towards the salon. She can see this staff party going one of two ways, one it'll be awesome, or two it'll be terrible. Either way they'll be there see what happens.
Marty takes his break when she gets back into the salon, but is seems to be cut very short, as he hurries back into the salon after only thirty minutes.
"You're violently red." Asuka smiles over at him. He genuinely is awfully red, like a teenager who's just bumped into their crush. She chances a quick look out the window, and offers the bewildered looking Kenny a wave. "Did something happen?"
"Something to make the great seducer, Marty, call me daddy, Scurll turn crimson? No." Brandi smirks at him as she pulls her coat on, heading for the door. "I'll be back in an hour. I'm gonna grab the groceries, so I'll be bringing back cookies."
"See you, Brandi" Marty mumbles, and flops in the nearest chair. Brandi pats him on the head, and leaves with a cheerful wink. They've maybe five minutes before the next client arrives. She's always a little late, and always incredibly apologetic.
"So…" Asuka sits in the chair beside Marty's, and gives him her sweetest smile. "I know his name, if you want it." That gets Marty's attention, and he sits up a little straighter. Asuka leans over and pats him on the knee. He's a sweet boy, and she thinks he'll be good for Kenny. If nothing else with Marty's help she might actually persuade Kenny to not cut his hair himself after he's had her dye it for him. "He's my client…has been for years." Asuka shrugs, and tries to hide the smile that wants to form on her lips at how interested Marty looks. She knows that Marty is debating pumping her for information about the man that he's clearly very interested in. "The colours are always more important than the style to him, so maybe you can do something about that." He blushes slightly, and nods lightly. "So, Trent says we should have a staff night out some time. You up for it?" She grins over at Marty, hoping he's going to agree, and not be too concerned with who is going to be coming to this staff party, because she's in the mood to play at matchmaker, and she knows Trent will be up for it too.
"Yeah, yeah, sounds good." Marty mutters as he gets to his feet to welcome the client they'd been waiting on, not paying any attention to Asuka as she sends a text off to Kenny to tell him he's coming out later in the month.
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