The Gaze and the Glance
Author's Note: Well, here we are again boys and girls. In complete and total honesty, this chapter didn't really come out the way I wanted it to. I wouldn't say I'm disappointed, just that I'm a little...unimpressed. This is what happens when you let something float in your head too long; you forget how you wanted it to go by the time you write it down, and it's never as good. I've had a couple of these scenes in my head since the very beginning. Anyway. As a side note, Julia was at one point going to possess the ability to fly. In the end, I liked the matter displacement idea better, and went with that instead. Plus, I feel like too many people have the ability to fly without any adequate explanation (Like Kole or Shadow Lass from DC. Do either of them have any sort of logic behind their flying?), and since I didn't have one either, I felt like I was being a little hypocritical. Carry on. :)
Chapter 14
Fenris, despite the singular name, was actually two people, the neo-Nazi twins Andrea and Andreas, who formed a single mutant ability. When they were touching they generated energy, and a lot of it. Enough to fly, disintegrate or crush a person, or destroy an entire building which happened to house the embassy of the Black Panther's native country. Naturally then, the best person to pit against them would be Eclipse. She could get close enough to separate them without running the risk of being disintegrated, which was all well and good, but she had to get to the roof of the building first, and the first thing Fenris had hit was the elevators, decommissioning most of them. The stairs would take too long, and her matter displacement was all well and good, but by the time she made enough jumps to cover the forty stories needed to get to Fenris, she would likely be so worn out she couldn't do much of anything, let alone fight them.
Realistically, Ms. Marvel probably would have been a better choice to handle Fenris, seeing as she could fly under her own power, but the Avengers were currently dealing with their own terrorist issue in Tokyo, and rather than divide their forces, they had opted to let the mutants handle their own, which meant the X-Men had been called in.
Rogue and Storm, luckily, were able to fly, but of course this meant Eclipse was going to have to rely on them being able to get close enough to the roof to, essentially, throw her at the building and hope she at least got close enough to displace herself onto the roof if she couldn't land normally. Not that she didn't trust her teammates, but it was a pretty big risk, for all of them. If Fenris hit whoever was carrying Julia, and she was unable to absorb the energy fast enough to nullify the impact, they could both fall to their deaths. While Eclipse's energy absorb did work on kinetic energy or impact, it was the most difficult thing for her own negative energy to metabolize, seeing as it was rarely projected and her powers had little to no effect on physical matter. Bullets were easy to stop, because they were small and and only had a split-second of kinetic impact, but something like falling forty stories would still most likely kill her. She could absorb maybe a second or two of the impact, but she obviously couldn't absorb the ground she would hit after that. She'd break apart just like flesh-and-bone bodies did when she finally collided.
Breaking down and displacing herself might be a life-saver, but it wasn't really something she would like to experiment with, least of all under the current circumstances.
"Ready fer this sugah?" Rogue asked, stepping up behind Eclipse, who had been standing near the police barricade, mentally preparing for an interesting trip. And also wondering how in the world Fenris had managed to get out of jail. Again. Probably some idiot that had let them touch during visiting hours or something. "Storm's gonna whip up some fog ta give us a l'il cover, and maybe throw a lightnin' bolt or two to keep 'em off our backs."
"Sounds good." Eclipse nodded, though she was still unsure. She trusted Rogue and Storm, but there were a whole lot of things that could go wrong with this plan. A crack of thunder was heard overhead, both Rogue and Eclipse looked up to see their compatriot soaring into the sky, the better to guide the weather where she wanted it to go. "That's our cue."
"You betcha." Rogue took a hold of Eclipse around the waist, and rocketed off the ground fast enough that Eclipse thought she might have felt her ears pop. The pair zipped into the sudden cloud of thick fog swirling around the top of the embassy building, and as Eclipse started to feel the buzzing remnants of bio-energy that indicated they were near the twins, shifted into her energy form.
"Better throw me," She called to Rogue over the wind and thunder, "-they're going to start shooting soon!"
On cue, a bright beam of energy whizzed passed the two heroines, almost brighter than the lightning Storm hurled in response, trying to draw their fire and give Rogue and Eclipse more time. Rogue complied with her plan, and dropped Eclipse so that she was holding her by the arms, spun twice to build enough power, and then let her go.
She sailed through the air, the distance between the roof and her own position seeming impossibly far given her current predicament. Her stomach was doing Olympic gymnast status flips, and she wasn't entirely sure her heart was beating. Come to think of it, she wasn't actually certain she had a physical heart or stomach in this form. Ten feet, five feet, and then she hit the roof and rolled slightly from the impact, though it hurt her a lot less than it probably would have hurt someone without her ability.
The fog faded slightly as Storm and Rogue backed off, their work done unless Eclipse called for help, and she met the twins that formed Fenris face to face for the first, and hopefully last, time. They didn't speak, which was pretty none-standard as far as villains went, and instead each half of Fenris raised a hand, firing off slightly different but still similar bursts of energy. She threw herself to the right, displacing a few extra feet. She had always been limited to one energy pattern at a time, so it was better to avoid tandem shots like that one; then again, seeing as they shared their power, their patterns would likely be very similar, if not the same. Again however, it wasn't really something she wanted to experiment with at the drop of a hat without some kind of safety precaution.
"Fast..." She heard one of the twins, Andreas she supposed, comment, though he didn't seem particularly impressed. They were lifting off the ground, and she knew she was going to have a way better shot if they stayed on the ground than if she let them get airborne. Eclipse loosed the claws of one hand, and dissolved her solid form, re-materializing nearer to Andreas in the blink of an eye, solidifying as quickly as she could and driving her elbow into his middle, knocking him away from Andrea before they could fire another blast at her. She pinned him with a knee as he hit the floor, and stabbed out with her clawed hand, the charged points phasing through his forehead.
Most of her teammates still didn't approve of her tactic of going straight for the head, but Eclipse personally thought the faster a fight was over, the better chance there was of keeping casualties to a minimum. Besides, it wasn't like it killed anyone, just so long as she removed her claws before she did any serious damage to the nervous system or brain, they were only ever comatose for a time, never permanently hurt.
She heard Andrea's scream of rage behind her, but before she could turn to deal with the other half of Fenris, the other woman had slammed into her hard enough to knock her forward a few feet. Eclipse stood, prepared to fight, but Andrea seemed more occupied with her twin.
"You killed him!" The blonde woman screamed at her, and legitimately seemed to be in a state of despair. Oddly, Eclipse felt a slight twinge of regret; she had never considered how that would look to other people, who didn't know the limits of her powers. She wasn't a murderer and she found herself uncomfortable with being one, even if only in the eyes of one of the worst villains out there.
She shook her head to Andrea's accusation. "He's alive. Only comatose."
"You're lying!"
"See for yourself!" Eclipse snapped back, quickly frustrated with being yelled at and accused by a terrorist. "Besides, who are you talk, you were going to try and kill everyone in this building for no reason other than the fact they don't have your pretty blonde hair and blue eyes."
Andrea screamed back at her without words and raised her hand, firing off powerful blasts of her disintegrating energy. He may be unconscious, but she was clearly still able to feed off her twin's energy, just as easily as Eclipse could feed off hers. Each bolt of energy Andrea fired dissipated and vanished the moment it came near Eclipse's form, the X-Man striding toward her as though the bolts of power were little more than a pleasant breeze. She charged her claws again and swiped them through Andrea's head the same as she had her brother, holding on just long enough to shut her mind down. Once she was down, Eclipse hooked her hands under the other woman's arms and dragged her far enough away from her twin that there was no risk of them accidentally touching and generating a blast.
Storm landed on the roof at Eclipse's left, Rogue settling on her other side. The trio observed the twins, each with their own thoughts and feelings on the situation.
Eclipse was the first to break the silence. "You know they're totally going to neglect the fact that the X-Men saved the embassy in the news tonight, but everyone will hear about the deadly mutants that attacked it."
"Yeah. Them's the breaks though sugah." Rogue shrugged.
"And as long as the Wakandan King does not think we attacked it, we will not be prosecuted," Storm added.
"Hopefully he's the understanding kind of guy. And hopefully he wasn't too attached to his elevators, because we didn't manage to save those." Eclipse set her hands on her hips, her energy form fizzling out to her normal state. "Can we go home now?"
"Yer sure in a hurry," Rogue observed, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. "What you got waitin' for ya back home?"
"Er...nothing." Eclipse shrugged, but still turned away from Rogue slightly, in case she had a guilty little flush creeping into her cheeks. "I'm just kinda...tired today is all. If you guys had something you wanted to do I don't mind going along, just don't expect me to be much fun." She smiled, though she felt it might be a little thin. Could she help being a little impatient? She had been pulled away at a very inconvenient moment.
"Nah, Cyke'll throw a fit if we ain't back by our "curfew". I swear, sometimes I feel like he's more a Daddy than my own ever was."
"Sounds about right," Eclipse agreed with a snort of laughter. Respect on the battlefield was one thing, but sometimes Cyclops liked to try and take his fearless leader status a little to seriously.
"If we're agreed, perhaps we should return to Salem Center then," Storm interjected.
"Alright." Rogue sighed, though it was evident she had been hoping Storm would let her run around and have some fun while they were out. Eclipse made a mental note to take her out shopping soon to make up for her own selfish reasons for wanting to get home quickly. Rogue took her up around the middle again, and Andreas under the other arm while Storm handled Andrea on their way down. Eclipse felt it might look a little undignified, but she supposed she didn't really have a choice, she hadn't been lucky enough to develop an ability to fly.
Fenris was handed over to the proper authorities, and though they didn't exactly get a thank you, Eclipse was relieved to see that no one was going to try and arrest the small crew of X-Men, like they usually did. Apparently the King of Wakanda, who had witnessed the whole thing, had intervened on the mutant's behalf and essentially told the MRD not to come within two-hundred feet of the embassy. So, their job taken care of, the three ladies returned to the Blackbird and the X-Mansion.
The room was empty.
A single glance around told Julia that much. It appeared Kurt had chickened out on her. Not that she planned to let that stop her of course, she knew where he slept after all. She turned back to her doorway, and suddenly met a completely unfamiliar face, dark brown eyes and black hair that didn't ring any bells.
Her initial reaction, obviously, was to scream. But after the first few seconds of being horridly startled, her body kicked into a fight response to a stranger approaching her bedroom. She decked him as hard as she could, which was pretty damn hard, considering she trained with Wolverine. He went to the floor in seconds, groaning, and Julia froze in place. She recognized the voice, and the instant her fist had made contact with his face, the image had faded long enough that she had caught a flash of blue fur.
"Oh Jesus! Kurt?" She dropped to her knees next to his crumpled form in the doorway. "What the hell...I...what the shit just happened?" Her words tumbled out, only half of them arranging themselves into actual sentences. Kurt reached to an unfamiliar watch on his left wrist and hit a button, the hologram that had scared the hell out of her fading so that he was himself again.
"I dhought it vould be a nice surprise," Kurt managed around a lip already beginning to swell. "I had no idea you hit dhat hard Jyulia."
"A nice surprise? What part of a total stranger showing up in my bedroom seemed like a nice surprise? I thought you were a rapist or something! Oh man...I'm so, so sorry..." She reached out, thinking to wipe the blood away, and realized only after that she didn't have anything to wipe it with, besides her bare hands which wasn't exactly sanitary. Instead, she stood and helf her hand out, offering him help in getting off the floor.
"It's alright. Vhen you say it that vay it really doesn't seem like it vas a good idea." He shrugged, accepting Julia's hand to pull himself to his feet.
"We need to get ice for your lip," She said, taking his jaw in her hand and turning his head slightly. His lower lip was already swollen pretty bad, and had split in the worst of the swelling, a tiny trail of blood running down his chin.
"Ja." He agreed simply, before teleporting them both to the kitchen.
"Sometimes I forget how convenient that is," She observed, releasing him to turn to the freezer and removing the ice tray. "I really am sorry about hitting you, but...well, a warning would have been nice."
"I know. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I vas just really excited." Though his tone indicated the irony of the incident wasn't lost on him. She had been more scared of him looking human than she would have been if he had been blue.
"I can understand that." She wrapped a couple ice-cubes in a paper towel and sat on the table, beckoning Kurt close enough to set the ice against his lip, though she felt her tone may have been a little less than excited. "Alright, well, let's see it. I promise I won't hit you this time." She smiled -she hoped- encouragingly. He smiled back, despite the swollen lip, and nodded, apparently happy that she wasn't entirely freaked out.
Kurt took the ice from her hand and set it aside, then reached to his wrist and hit the button again, the image of the brown-eyed fellow flickering on again. Though Julia was more prepared for it this time, it was still rather stunning to have Kurt suddenly become another person, someone she had never seen before. Generally speaking, he still had the same features, his mouth was still the same shape, he still had the same nose; over-all his face was still more or less the same, but wasn't really...his. He had probably modeled the appearance after one of his movie heroes, as the hologram was quite handsome, and seemed somewhat familiar; besides looking something like Kurt.
"You are staring...?" Kurt observed hesitantly.
"Yeah. It's just...sorry, this is really, really weird." Julia shook her head, raising a hand to brush his cheek, but as her fingers made contact, the image warped, and then vanished entirely, revealing half of his natural face.
"Vhat is vrong?" He questioned, and she supposed her surprise must have shown on her face.
"Uhm...Kurt, I think I may have broken it. It's not working on this half of your face." She pulled her hand away, and the image flickered back again. A second test provided the same results, when she touched him, the image disappeared. "Here, look." She set her hand over the holographic one, and as it had with the face, the false image warped and then disappeared, leaving his real hand in full-view.
Kurt's expression, or at least the expression of the hologram, was aghast. "Dhat did not happen vhen anyvone else touched it...maybe it is broken."
"You think Hank will be able to fix it?"
"I hope so..."
She also hoped, at least for Kurt's sake, that it was just an easy-to-fix bug.
"Well, near as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with the Inducer." Hank hadn't really been too happy about being pulled away from whatever experiment he had been running, but after seeing the state of Kurt's lip, seemed to decide it would be worth his while to sort the problem out.
"But why isn't working? At least, not if I get too close anyway," Julia questioned.
"I'd say that's obvious."
"I don't follow." Kurt shook his head.
"The cause seems to be your powers Julia. You do absorb any and all forms of projected energy after all, and what's a hologram but strongly projected light? Even in your human form you still possess many of the qualities of your pure energy state, and I suspect you are passively absorbing the projection, which is why it can't function when you touch him."
"Hmph. Well, that figures." Julia said, setting her hands on her hips. So much for finally being able to hold Kurt's hand in public, now she wouldn't be able to touch him at all, unless he felt like wearing mittens.
"Is there no vay to alter it?"
"I'd like to say yes, but unfortunately, this is fairly new technology Kurt." Hank shook his head, and Julia thought she may have been able to see Kurt's heart break a little as Hank handed the watch back to him. She could tell how badly Kurt must have wanted this to work. She now knew how much it must have meant to him. "Even if we did, I don't think there's a way to stop Julia's mutation from affecting the projection."
"What about my powers? Is there a way to turn them off or something? Repress them maybe?"
"Nein! Jyulia, vhy vould you vant to do such a thing?"
"I'm afraid it's not possible anyway, my dear. Your body is now very strongly bonded to your powers, repressing them would likely end up hurting you, maybe cause you to become catatonic." Hank shook his head again.
"Oh..." Julia felt her shoulders droop slightly. "Well, it's no big deal anyway. Just wear it Kurt, if I don't touch you, it works just fine right?"
"Yes, but-"
"I...think you two should talk about this," Hank interrupted, signaling his somewhat hasty exit "And I would suggest putting more ice on your lip Kurt." Julia noticed he also locked the door to his lab upon his leaving, obviously implying that their conversation needed to be a long, uninterrupted one.
"He's right," Kurt concurred, fiddling with the watch and looking at her in a somewhat forlorn fashion. "Ve should talk about this. I think ve should have before. Jyulia, if you don't vant me to vear it, just tell me so."
"It's not like that, I promise I'm not doing the absorbing thing on purpose...it just...I can't turn it all the way off. I just can't." Julia stuck her thumbs in the tiny pockets of her uniform pants. Did he think she was intentionally sabotaging it? That's definitely what the tone of the statement had seemed to imply. "This isn't about me though Kurt, if you think it's best, then you should wear it."
He glanced up at her, then away again with a frown, as though noting the hurt in her voice. "I'm sorry Jyulia, I vasn't trying to accuse you...I just vanted to feel normal, I vanted both of us to. I vant to be able to go to a movie vith you und not have to hide, und be able to kiss you vithout everyvone else looking at us like freaks. But now you von't even be able to touch me..."
"Normal is a very, very relative term sweetheart," Julia said. Kurt made a face, though she couldn't decide what emotion it expressed, or what she was supposed to say in response. "Kurt, listen, I meant what I said, this isn't about me. It's not my choice, it's yours. I'm not going to tell you what to do."
"But you von't tell me vhat you vant. You've been avoiding me, und I vant to know vhy. Is it because you don't vant me to use this?"
"No, it's nothing like that." Julia reached over and squeezed his hand lightly. "It's just...this is going to be a big change. It's just going to take me a while to accept the idea and get used to it, especially now that I know I can't get too close when you're using it, which, honestly, makes me feel a little alienated."
"Vell, I don't plan to vear it all the time Jyulia." Kurt shook his head. "But I didn't vant it to come between us eidher..."
"It won't, I promise." Julia gave his hand another little squeeze. "Just...don't ever spring it on me like that again, because I can't promise I won't hit you again. That seriously freaked me out."
They went to bed separately for the first time in several days that night. It wasn't that they slept together every night, but one would usually hang out in the other's room and cuddle until one of them fell asleep. But after the rather eventful evening with the Image Inducer, any sort of cuddling mood had efficiently died, and both felt the worse for it.
Julia sat on the edge of her bed, thinking about what had transpired. It could be worse, she supposed. Kurt could have ended up with a face that looked nothing like him. Hell, all things considered, the hologram was pretty handsome.
But that didn't change the fact that her mutation had come swooping in to screw everything up. Again, she supposed it could be worse. At least she could still walk next to him when he was wearing the Image Inducer, she just couldn't do any of the normal date stuff.
This must be how Rogue feels everyday of her life. Julia thought, propping her chin in her hand, and feeling a whole new empathy for her power-house teammate. Well, I suppose as long as Kurt doesn't plan to wear the stupid thing around the house it doesn't matter. Still, what if he really starts to like looking like a normal person? What then? I couldn't tell him not to, it wouldn't be my place...but...She flopped back, staring up at the ceiling, her mind still wandering. Blue is how I got to know him, I've never known him any other way. I suppose if it gets weird, I could always just get close enough to mess it up again and see him.
Satisfied with this plan, at least, for the time being, Julia rose from the bed and shed her uniform for pajamas, wishing, more than a little, that she and Kurt had finished what they had started earlier in the evening before the Image Inducer had come along and completely spoiled her mood. And until she got comfortable to the idea, she imagined her mood would stay that way too.
They were actually out on a date.
A real one; not the sneaking along rooftops until no one was looking kind that had sort of become the norm for the pair. Kurt had actually taken her out to dinner, and they were actually sitting down and enjoying it.
There weren't exactly any fancy restaurants in Salem Center, but there was a Japanese Bar that served the best sushi and yakisoba in the county. Julia had always loved Japanese food, it was her favorite after Nana Hayle's Mexican, though she didn't know whether she had ever told Kurt or if he had simply guessed. She appreciated it regardless, and it was quite interesting watching him trying to handle chopsticks with three fingers, even though the Image Inducer made it look like he had five.
"You know, it's not actually rude to eat sushi with your fingers," She said after a moment, trying to hide her smile at his awkward motions. He was starting to get the hang of it, but it would still probably be better if she tried to spare him the embarrassment. "I just don't like getting rice stuck to my fingers is all."
"Oh. I've never been a big...fan of raw fish." He replied, but set the chopsticks aside all the same.
"Sushi isn't necessarily raw. That's sashimi."
"Ah. Vhere do you learn all that?"
"Anime." Julia shrugged with a smile. "I loved it when I was growing up. I always wanted to be Sailor Moon someday. Well, actually I always wanted to be Sailor Jupiter, because she was a bad ass."
"Sailor Moon?"
"We'll watch it sometime. The cuteness will legitimately make you sick, all the big blue eyes and cutesy attacks and stuff. It's great." She sat her chopsticks down as well, picking up a piece of tuna sushi delicately so as not to mess up the rice.
"Is it actually about sailors?"
"You know, actually I've never quite figured out why they're called that. They wear little sailor uniforms, but they're not like, sailor sailors, the boat kind. Huh. I might have to look that up." Kurt's holographic face looked utterly confused, but he didn't seem to feel like getting any deeper into the mysteries of Sailor Moon lore. They were silent for a moment at their little corner table, where no one paid them all that much mind. "So, this is really different."
"Is it still de face?" Kurt questioned, clearly concerned.
"No, no, nothing like that. I think I'm kind of used to it finally. It's just strange to not have to creep around like ninjas I guess." She smiled.
"Ja, vell, I'm just glad to be able to take you to dinner."
"Hey, you won't hear me complaining." Julia smiled again. There was another few moments of silence. "I've decided to get a job."
"A vhat?" Kurt's hologram's eyes blinked, clearly taken aback by the sudden subject change.
"A job. In Salem Center."
"Vhy? Isn't being an X-Man enough of a job?" Kurt questioned curiously.
"See, that's the thing. I have nothing but the X-Men in my life. I live at the school, I train with the team every day of the week, I have no friends who aren't X-Men or students, and I'm dating another member of the team. I never get away from the X-Men. Ever. I think I need something kinda...normal, to balance it out. So I think I'm going to get a job bar-tending or something." For a moment, Kurt only continued to look at her. "Besides, the Professor thought it would be a good idea. I think he thinks I'll calm down if I get less...involved."
"Vhat do you think?"
"I dunno. Seems like a good idea honestly. I do think that maybe if I'm not an X-Man 24/7 I might at least have a different perspective, which is never really a bad thing."
"Jyulia, you von't...you von't quit, vill you?"
"Quit? Of course not. I think I'm too young to retire. I just need...something without costumes and mutant powers every once in awhile, that's all. I'm not going to quit the team, I just need some balance I think."
"Have you thought of vhere?"
"There are a couple of places downtown looking for part-timers, I figured I'd try my luck there." Julia shrugged.
"Vell, I know Logan hangs out at vone of the places around here a lot, maybe he could recommend you."
"I'd rather not see Logan when he starts getting plastered."
Kurt smiled slightly. "He can't you know."
"Can't what?"
"Get drunk. His mutation is veird that vay, he could never drink enough to actually get...plastered."
"Really? Huh. I guess that explains why the Professor doesn't care when Logan drinks like a fish on campus. I still don't think that's the greatest example to set for the kids though."
"Setting a good example makes Logan cranky," Kurt laughed.
They stopped by the two bars hiring on their way home, one of which had already filled the spot, but the other seemed to like the idea of hiring her. Or at least, they thought Julia in a low-cut shirt would be a nice enticement to the customers.
Once back on the outskirts of town where they were safe from prying eyes, Kurt turned off the Image Inducer, much to her relief, offering Julia his normal three-fingered hand, and they strolled along home. Julia felt oddly content, not only because she had gotten to spend the evening with him, but also because he had turned the hologram off as soon as there was no immediate threat of being seen. It was reassuring to her to know he would still be his normal self for her.
"That was our first real date."
"I thought ve've been on dates," Kurt commented, appearing somewhat confused.
"But it was our first date that didn't involve running around on rooftops. We actually went out to dinner and everything." Julia grinned. "Maybe that thing won't be so bad after all."
Though he didn't say it, she gathered from Kurt's smile that he was pleased she had enjoyed herself, his tail hooking around her waist, keeping her close. She settled in against him, having missed this kind of closeness. Things had been a little awkward while they sorted through where they would stand on the Image Inducer, but now that they were both comfortable with the arrangement, things felt very nearly normal again. Nearly.
At the edge of campus, rather than deal with all the security, Kurt simply threw an arm around Julia's waist and teleported to her room. He'd recently started aiming for her bedroom rather than the hallway outside, and she supposed it was just another sign of how familiar and normal being together was starting to seem; he didn't feel as shy anymore at least.
His arm slid away from her waist, but she grabbed him before he got too far.
"Wait."
"Vhat is it?"
"You take a girl out on a date, she usually expects a kiss."
"Ah yes, how rude I am. Forgive me." Coyly, Kurt gave a deep bow, before straightening and kissing her on the nose in an entirely innocent fashion. Grinning when she gave him a pout in response. "Not vhat you had in mind?" He questioned, his voice had a flippant tone to it, as though he had nothing better to do than toy with her.
"Not even close," Julia answered, grabbing for the collar of his shirt.
"Perhaps this...?" He kissed her cheek, "Or maybe dhis...?" He tilted her head back gently to kiss her neck.
"Kurt..."
"Ah, liebling, don't pout. I'm flirting vith you."
"Are you now?" Julia smirked, part of her loved the idea, and the other part of her had had enough of being PG-13. All the same, she released her overly-aggressive grip on his shirt, waiting to see what Kurt's next move was going to be.
"Ja." His hands slid through her hair, down her back, settling just above her rear, pulling her hips to his lightly. Julia's arms slid around his neck, and his lips found hers. She giggled against his mouth, feeling giddy, and hoisted herself up to wrap legs around his waist. Rather to her surprise, he caught her weight and stayed on his feet with minimal effort.
"Talented, aren't you?" She remarked, kissing Kurt's ear. She had honestly sort of been hoping to topple him and have an excuse to get on top of Kurt.
"In all de time I vas in the circus, I never vonce dropped my partner." One hand squeezed her butt lightly, and Julia grinned, always finding it amusing when Kurt let himself take liberties, since he so rarely did.
"Take me to bed," She ordered softly, kissing his ear again, her arms winding tightly around his neck. She wanted him so, so bad. She wanted more with him. He had stopped being just a boyfriend, just a crush, a long time ago. "Take me to bed, take off all my clothes, and make love to me."
"Wie Sie es wΓΌnschen." Kurt responded just as softly, his hands holding her securely as he moved toward the other side of the room.
"Sorry?" But when she found herself on her back in bed, she supposed it must have been something along the lines of a yes. "I'm going to start taking German classes," She declared, before Kurt shushed her with another kiss. Her limbs stayed twined around him while Kurt's hands were free to slide under her shirt, pulling it away and gently stroking over her bare skin. She was so terribly glad to be over the little awkward speed bump of the human disguise. She had just been so worried that something would change, that things would somehow become different between them. But the night out, and now, proved that that wasn't the case. Clearly she was still as into him as she ever had been.
"Jyulia, there is something I vant to ask you," Kurt said randomly, while Julia wiggled around, trying to get his hands where she wanted them.
"Like what?" She questioned, untangling her arms so they could slide down his back, grabbing for the hem of his shirt. His tail caught one wrist gently, pausing her actions, yellow, luminous eyes staring into hers.
"Vhy me?"
"Why?"
"Vhy did you pick me? Vhy do you vant me? I'm curious."
Though she wondered why he suddenly wanted to ask such a question, Julia opted to answer anyway. "I guess...just because you're you. I, for one, happen to think you're a very wonderful person. You've always been there for me, and I seriously can't think of a single time where you've deliberately lied to me. That's more than I ever thought I had a right to ask of someone." She shrugged, then smiled. "Plus I still totally think you're pretty."
Kurt made a face somewhere between a pout and a grimace. "I don't vant to be pretty."
"Alright, sexy then. Sexier without the shirt on, if you catch my drift." She gave the fabric a point-making tug, to which Kurt gave another coy grin, lifting his arms enough for her to pull it off him.
"Ja. I think I got your drift," He commented as she threw it. Julia's hands trailed lightly over the fur on his chest, feeling the lean muscle underneath. He was so soft, it was another thing that was new to her, but not something that felt abnormal in the slightest.
"Good." She smiled up at him, wrapping her arms around his neck again and dragging Kurt close.
"Oh, vait. I forgot something." He pulled away again suddenly, Julia sighing dramatically.
"Kurt, where are you going?" He strode over towards the door, and Julia took the opportunity to wriggle her way out of her jeans, kicking them off the end of bed. She heard the lock click on the door in the dark, before catching a 'bamf' and a hint of sulfur, followed by Kurt's weight dropping onto her, the two collapsing in a pile of giggles.
"Sorry, liebling," Kurt apologized, though his grin carried a hint of mischievousness. His hands slid up her legs, and it seemed to take him a moment to realize her pants had gone amiss.
"Er..."
"You were taking too long. And I meant what I said. I want you." She framed his face in her hands, kissing him tenderly. "You don't have to shy with me, really you don't, you know how I feel about you. I want to be together like this, so you better tell me now if that'll be going too far for you."
Kurt's hands settled over hers on his face, and his eyes drifted closed for just the briefest moment. "Jyulia, I..." He paused, blinking as though unsure what words he was looking for. "I just don't vant you to feel veird being vith me."
"I don't feel weird. I think this is right," Julia insisted, "-I feel good, I'm happy with you. That's not weird and you're not weird. This is perfect."
"Perfect hm?" Kurt questioned, though, to her relief, the doubt that had momentarily surfaced seemed to be gone now. His head dipped down, and Julia couldn't restrain a gasp when she felt sharp teeth along her neck pinch just hard enough to shoot awareness straight to lower stomach.
"Definitely." Her voice had suddenly gotten rather quiet. Kurt's hands ventured under her bra, a delicate brush over her aching nipples, before they retreated long enough for him to figure out the clasp. It wasn't that he was lacking in finesse, it was more a matter of his fingers being a little too big to unhook it easily. The bra joined the growing pile of clothes on the floor, Kurt's mouth capturing hers again, his hands stroking over her exposed skin in a way that was almost reverent. The impatience Julia had been feeling earlier was now overwhelmed with sensation.
She had always known being with Kurt was going to be different than the awkward, groping teenage trysts she had experienced in her life. His touch, his voice, the way he kissed her, it was all more than just a physical interaction. It wasn't just sex, it wasn't just erotic, she felt as though they were somehow bonding, deeper than they had already. Like they were getting to know each other on a whole new level.
He hesitated again halfway through his tail taking the initiative sliding her panties down her legs. Shyly, he apologized, but the hesitation lasted only long enough for Julia to get the now-useless piece of fabric off herself, her hands reaching for the button on his pants moments later.
Kurt naked was something Julia wished she could observe more often. Certainly, his uniform left little more to the imagination than hers did, but there was something beautiful about him that didn't seem to shine through while he was in clothes. He had an acrobat's frame, all muscle and long limbs, but still lean, and he had nothing, absolutely nothing, to be modest about. Propped on his arms above her though, Kurt still seemed to feel on the shy side, fidgeting in a nervous way.
"You okay?" She questioned, her voice a little breathy. When she brushed her thumb along his cheek, she could tell he was a little warmer with a flush, though she wasn't entirely sure it was from feeling embarrassed.
"Ja." His lips caught her thumb, and he gave her a mischievous little nip. "I don't know if I've ever been better liebling."
"Good." She smiled, pleased he was sharing her sentiments, giving him an obvious sign of encouragement and wrapping her legs around his waist again, his tail coiling around her thigh tightly enough that she thought she might have a bit of a mark in the morning. Not that she particularly cared at the moment, she was far too busy being on the verge of total bliss. Kurt ducked his head to kiss her again, not the slow, languid kind they so often shared, but the kind that was hot, needy, and she knew it was likely only luck that Kurt's fangs hadn't gotten involved yet. His arm slid under her shoulders, pulling her up and pillowing her breasts against his chest, Julia's arms wrapping around his back, her body begging him to make love to her while her voice was trapped between their lips.
Hesitantly, oh so slowly, Kurt slipped inside her, and Julia felt herself let out a groaning gasp into his mouth.
"Are you alright?" He broke away quickly, as though terrified he had hurt her somehow.
"No, no. Kurt, don't you dare stop." She her hand curled over the back of his neck, preventing him from backing away, and her legs around his middle tightened. "Please..." For a very short moment, he stared at her, something between awe and desire flaring up in his golden eyes, and he obeyed, his hips moving forward again, burying himself in her.
She was gasping his name against Kurt's shoulder, kissing, moaning, probably biting a time or two, and though most of it was in German, Kurt seemed to be saying some rather naughty things in her ear, and she definitely felt another fanged bite land on her neck. That was all it took to finally throw her over the edge, Julia feeling like her entire body suddenly came alive with white hot energy, and somewhere in the back of her orgasm-fogged brain, she heard Kurt letting out her name in a guttural groan, followed by a surprised grunt.
"Do you alvays do that?"
"What happened?" She blinked, trying to clear the fireworks still lingering in her eyes while her body felt weak and useless.
"You transformed."
"What?" Julia's vision cleared, and she raised her hands to her face, seeing he wasn't joking, she had definitely shifted to her mutant-energy form. She glanced at Kurt, who was stretched out half on top of her, his sweat dampened hair sticking to her slightly-sparking chest. "Are you okay?"
"Ja. It kind of felt like getting shocked though. And my- vell, I'm numb now."
"Oh my God..." Julia moaned, thankful being in her energy form didn't allow her to blush, though she still covered her face with her hands and tried her hardest to change back before anything else went wrong. "This's so embarrassing, I'm so sorry Kurt."
"Don't be." He touched her face lightly. "Jyulia, it's alright."
"I had no idea I even did that. It's never happened before," Julia continued, more to herself than him. Kurt shrugged and smirked ever so slightly at her, pulling her hands away from her face.
"Maybe I'm just de best you've ever had."
"Feeling modest there Casanova?" Julia laughed, relieved that Kurt seemed to be taking her little...quirk in stride. Though it still worried her slightly, it couldn't have been a pleasant experience after all. "Does that make things totally awkward?"
"Liebling, you're talking to a guy with a tail." Kurt reminded, waggling the spaded tip at her to make a point. "You spent half de night telling me that I vasn't veird, how could you think I'd turn around and say you are?"
"Sorry, I don't- It's just...it's really weird to me is all."
"I don't think it vas awkward," Kurt promised, "-it vas just a surprise. But you know how I feel about surprises."
"Even if it made you go numb?"
"Vell..." Kurt's gaze shot downward for a moment, "-just so long as de feeling comes back at some point."
She had fallen asleep almost instantly, cuddled up against his chest, and he hadn't been far behind her. But now he was awake, his arms and tail still coiled around Julia, but his mind wandering.
He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this way, or if he ever even had. And Julia...Kurt could honestly say he had never met someone who had been able to feel the way she did about him, at least, not as honestly, not as openly as she did. Relationships had always been a bit awkward for Kurt, considering his general oddness, but with her...with Julia everything felt so...right. It made it impossible for him to ever even contemplate being separated. Sure there had been a few bumps in the road, but they seemed insignificant in hindsight. This was what mattered, being with her.
"Ich glaube, ich liebe dich." He informed the sleeping woman cradled in his arms. Perhaps he would tell her soon, when she was awake to hear it.
Perhaps.
Kurt drifted off to sleep again, wondering when he would regain the feeling in his lower extremities.
Second Author's Note: Sexy times, cha-cha-cha. I loved finally writing them hooking up. I was never totally sure they would.