A/N: I have messages in my inbox telling me I need to update SteamVerse and ConVerse instead of the fluff stories. I have messages telling me I need to update the fluff stories, this one in particular. So I guess I have to just update everything because DANCE MONKEY DANCE ! I'm teasing, I'm not actually upset. It's genuinely nice that people enjoy my stories enough to send messages and ask about them or check up on how I'm doing. I appreciate it so much! So here you are. Another "Dive" chapter, while I toil away at the more serious, action-y fics. Also, keep your eyes on my thecharleses account because I'll be trying to update that one soon, as well. I've got my brain in literally all of my fics right now. All of them. It's a sickness. Ask David about it; he has it, too.
Hope you enjoy this chapter! Things are moving right along.
Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck in any way, shape, or form. It just owns me.
Sarah unlocked her front door and opened it as Chuck stayed down at the bottom of the steps that led to the miniature porch, smacking his flip flops together to get the extra sand off of them. "Comin' in?" she teased, as she propped the door open with her shoulder and let the frisbee drop to the wood porch next to the door.
"Oh. Yeah, I just…Do you have a towel or something so I can get some sand off my feet before I go in your house?"
She smiled. "Don't worry about it, Chuck. I walk through my house like this all the time."
When she pointed down at her feet, he saw hers were about the same level of sandy as his. It wasn't like he'd be emptying a sandbox in her house, as most of the stuff had come off of his feet as they'd walked back up the street from the beach. But he still felt rude tracking it in.
Apparently she didn't care, though, as she kicked her flip flops off just inside the door and patiently gestured him inside after her.
He huffed and smirked at her as he jogged up the steps and joined her inside, dropping his own flip flops next to hers. "Hey, thanks for teaching me how to throw a frisbee."
"Sure." She grinned over her shoulder as she led him through the living room into the kitchen. "Another one of those skills that won't help you in real life situations. But it is fun."
"Au contraire. This, I can actually use." He stopped just inside of her kitchen and leaned against the nearby counter, watching as she went into her fridge and began to rummage around.
"For what?" she asked, smiling at him with a furrowed brow. She went back to digging through the fridge.
"Impressing girls on beaches."
"Or at the park," she added without missing a beat. There was an almost devilish smile on her face as he gawked a little.
God, he liked her a whole lot.
A smirk grew on his face and he tried hard not to give her too dreamy of a look as she pulled a silver pie tin out of the fridge and shut the door, going to a drawer and pulling a fork out. She took the cellophane off and dug into what looked like a cherry pie. "Probably also works for dogs," she said around the pie in her mouth.
"Yessssss! Score. I love dogs."
"Really?"
"Mhm."
"Do you have any?"
"Dogs?"
Sarah nodded, taking another bite out of the pie.
"No, no. That's responsibility I can't handle at the moment. I spend too much time at work, you know? I work all sorts of crazy hours. The poor thing would never get fed on time and it wouldn't get enough walks or attention and it just…Nah."
She smirked. "Too attached to the bachelor lifestyle, huh? Keeping late hours, sleeping in, doing whatever you want without responsibility?" Chuck winced and crossed his arms but she just giggled, shaking her head. "It's okay. Me, too." She shrugged. "It's nice not having to answer to anybody, including pets."
"Yeah, it is."
"I thought about getting a cat when I started renting this place. Landlady told me I could, but eh." She wrinkled her nose adorably. "Same thing you said. Anyway, I never know what's gonna happen, you know? Maybe I might move to…I dunno," she shrugged, digging her fork into the pie again, "Monaco or something. And somehow I'm gonna have to take a cat with me? Sounds selfish, I know, but…" Then a stricken look came over her face. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry! I'm such a terrible host. I'm just digging into this in front of you. Do you want some?"
She spun around and stuck her fork in her mouth to hold it, going back into the drawer to get a fork for him.
"You're fine," he chuckled. "I wasn't fussed." But he took the fork she thrust out at him with a smirk and a, "Thanks."
"I'm really sorry," she said again, looking legitimately apologetic, wincing. "I'm probably not a great host, to be honest, because I've never really done this before. I mean, having a person in my home. You know?"
He followed her and the pie out of the kitchen, then sat beside her as she plopped into a seat at her bar counter. She set the pie between them and he took a forkful of it, stuffing it in his mouth. "Really? Not anyone? I mean, what about the Scuba Shack crew?"
She shrugged. "Mm. Not really. I mean, they've come here for carpools or something like that before. Or if we're hanging out, going out somewhere… But this? Sitting around, having someone here, making them food…That's not really something I've done. N-Not that I don't want to or anything, I'm just…I dunno. It's not something that comes naturally to me. Hosting…people. That's probably weird, huh?"
"It isn't," he said, taking another bite of the pie. "Not at all."
Sarah giggled and took her own bite. "I think you're just being nice and you actually think I'm selfish or a big ol' antisocial weirdo."
He laughed at that, rocking forward. "Stop it. That's not true. I wouldn't be here now if it was true and you were an antisocial person who doesn't like inviting people into your space."
"I dunno. Maybe it's true and you're just the exception."
The way she stuck the fork in her mouth, slowly pulling it back out again, her eye sparkling as she chewed, smiling a little bit, he felt his cheeks flush. He couldn't stop the smile.
"Am I?"
"You might be. I mean, like I said, not a lot of people get invited into my space." She took another bite of the pie. "Technically, no one does."
Chuck smirked. "Are you trying to make my head so big I can never walk out of this place again? Because I'll have you know, that's a form of kidnapping."
Sarah laughed and then licked her fork. It was kind of hot and he looked away from it quickly, down at the pie, digging into it with his own fork.
"If I was going to kidnap you, I would've already done it. I've got boats at my disposal. And plenty of rope."
"Okay, Scuba Creep!"
They laughed together, Chuck giving her a wide-eyed, nervous look that made her laugh harder.
When they eventually sobered up, Sarah pushed the tin closer to him. "You finish it. Want some coffee?"
"You sure?" he asked, pointing to the last chunk of pie in the tin.
"Yeah! Finish it. I ate the rest of it, after all." She smirked, getting up from her chair to head into the kitchen in spite of not getting an actual confirmation from Chuck about the coffee, he noticed. "That's another thing you should know about me. Sometimes I'll just buy a pie and I eat it all myself." She snorted. "Not in one sitting of course, but…"
Chuck grinned. "Hey, I don't judge. Sometimes you just want some pie."
"Exactly!" she said, thrusting a hand out towards him as she prepped her coffee maker. "Oh, sorry, I never actually waited for you to tell me if you wanted…"
"Oh, sure. That sounds nice. Goes well with pie." He finished the cherry pie and even scraped at the tin with his fork to get as much of it as he could. He realized as he put the last bit of it in his mouth that Sarah was staring at him, a quietly amused look on her face. He froze. "Um…it's really good pie."
She giggled and crossed the kitchen to lean over the stove and take the empty tin, as well as both of their forks. "You're seriously so cute it almost hurts."
"Thank you?" He gave her a dubious look, making her laugh again.
By the time she poured their coffee, it had been fully dark outside for almost half an hour and Chuck was trying really hard not to think about when he should call it a night, let her have her own space again. He didn't want to give any kind of indication that he was thinking about it, in case she spotted it and called it a night herself.
But Sarah didn't seem like she was there yet as she gestured out onto the patio with a flick of her thumb over her shoulder. "Wanna head out there and sit on the patio again? I've got blankets we can use if it gets kinda cold. Sometimes it's a little damp out there."
"That sounds kind of nice, actually."
"It's pretty dark, it looks like. Maybe I'll just…" She handed him her mug of coffee. "Would you hold that for me?"
"Of course."
He blinked and watched as Sarah went to a cabinet in the corner and yanked it open, rifling through it and coming out with a large candle and a large glass cylinder. As she winked at him and walked to the patio door, he gave her a questioning look, following closely behind.
"The breeze has picked up enough that if I light a candle, it'll be blown out in a hot second, no pun intended."
He chuckled and walked out with her, setting their mugs on the small table between the chairs as she lit a match and held it to the wick of the candle, slipping the glass cylinder over it so that the breeze couldn't blow it out. The candlelight made the patio so that he could actually see where he was going, she was right. And he plopped down in the lounge chair he'd taken earlier on in the day, grabbing his coffee and sipping it, lying back and sighing happily.
"Comfy?" she giggled, and then he heard a high-pitched squeak. He looked over at her wide-eyed as she leapt up from her chair. "Oh, come on! The sprinklers must have caught this one. I always forget to scoot it over. Shit."
"Is it super wet?"
"Enough that not even a towel would save me, unfortunately," she sighed.
Without thinking about it too much, Chuck slid his legs open and dropped his feet down to the ground on either side of his chair, patting the seat between his thighs. He didn't say a word, instead just smiling invitingly.
Sarah smirked slowly, and then gave one short nod, raising an eyebrow and taking the few steps required to stand over him. He tilted his head back to peer up at her, then grinned as she crawled down onto the chair, snuggling her back up against his chest, scooting so that she was pressed tightly up against him.
He tensed a little when she dropped her hand on his thigh and squeezed. "There's room up here for these legs of yours. I don't need the whole thing." So he lifted his legs up and wedged her between his thighs, hearing her sigh of comfort as she finally lay back against him, letting her head fall onto his shoulder.
He never thought sprinklers could make a good wingman, but here they were. Thank you, sprinklers…
"Okay, this is even nicer than the chair cushion."
Chuck let out a short chuckle. "I'm surprised. I have to be honest with you. I'm mostly skin and bone."
"I disagree. I've been the grateful recipient of what your muscles can do on a handful of occasions." She squeezed his thigh again, her hand still resting there from before.
"Really? You're gonna say something like that while we're sitting like this?"
"What do you mean? This is the perfect time to say something like that."
He snorted and turned his face so that his lips were pressed against her forehead. Was that too intimate, he wondered then? A kiss on the forehead? Snuggling and sex was one thing, but…He stressed for about ten seconds, but Sarah didn't seem the least bit bothered, or tense, or uncomfortable, so he eased up a bit. He silently told himself to chill the hell out.
When Chuck felt Sarah shiver a bit he set his coffee down and wrapped his arms around her midsection, pulling her closer and squeezing her tighter between his legs. "Better?"
"Mmmhm." Her arms landed on top of his. "Actually, as good as this feels, I do kind of want to go grab a blanket."
"Want me to get it?"
"No, no. I'm in a better position…" She winked over her shoulder. "…so to speak."
"Oh, cut it out," he groused, laughing.
He heard her giggling all the way back inside, and he grinned like an idiot out at the ocean. It was dark enough out here, with barely no moon to speak of, that he could only see the slightly darker outline of the Pacific against the sky. He took a deep, calming breath. He needed to be chill. Chill.
It was a mantra in his head as he leaned back and looked up at the sky. There were so many more stars that were visible here. Los Angeles had too much light pollution, and while it wasn't like Kauai was uninhabited, there were far fewer buildings, high-rises, bright signs, and lights…
He let his eyes drift shut then, his mind wandering for a bit, and he heard the shuffle of the door sliding open and shut again. Chill chill chill chill chill…
Chuck's eyes stayed shut, even as he felt her crawl back onto the lounge chair with him, snuggling back between his legs and draping a blanket over them both. He finally opened his eyes and reached around her to help fan the blanket out to cover both of them.
And then she melted back against him and sighed. "That's so much nicer…"
"It is. Though I was good with my scuba instructor blanket before."
Her giggle made him grin, it was so youthful and…happifying. "This has been a really good day," she drawled, her head lolling back onto his shoulder again.
"So good. Almost too good. Like, the kind of good that makes me feel like maybe I should pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming."
"Wow, Chuck. That was so…cheesy."
He burst into laughter, giving her a teasing pinch on her arm as she cackled.
"Don't you pinch me!"
"Too late! Already done!"
She turned around in his arms to face him and tried to pinch him back, but he caught her hand in a tight fist and pulled it away. Still laughing, she reached around with her other hand instead, but he just barely managed to catch that one too. When she began to squirm too much as they wrestled, he closed his legs around her and held her put.
"Ha HAAA! Get out of this!" he said in triumph.
There was a look in her eye then, a stillness in her body, the one that indicated she was about to pounce, or do… something. He didn't know what, though, so he was still surprised when she lunged forward and pecked him on the nose.
"Awww, that was—yeeoowww!" He'd let go of her, surprised and charmed by the fact that she'd just essentially booped him on the nose with her lips, and she used him letting his guard down to pinch him in the shoulder.
She let out a cute giggle, though, shaking her head. "I really didn't think that would work and it's so insanely endearing that it did. How are you real?"
Chuck blushed and rubbed his shoulder where she'd pinched him, trying not to show his amusement. "Oh, trust me. I'm real. I have a shit ton of bills stacked on the entryway table in my apartment, yet to be paid, and at least five empty In'N'Out bags on the floor of the back of my car back home because I'm too busy to just take them out and put them in the trash. So my car has old fry smell."
"Eww!" She cracked up. "That's such a specific detail of your everyday life, I honestly don't even know how you came up with that on the spot."
"I was just thinking about it while you were getting the blanket. Like, oh shit, I should really take those out when I get back home in a few weeks."
"That's so random."
"The human mind is a fathomless pit of fathomlessness. I dunno. Ignore me," he chuckled as she gave him a look that said 'what the hell'?
She smirked and then bit her lip, looking at him for a moment, before she melted into him again, their chests together, all of her weight against him. She curled her arms up at his sides and just let him hold her.
It felt…overwhelmingly intimate. Private. Something for just the two of them. And yet, it felt increasingly clear that a lot of things that happened between them felt that way. The only difference was that he'd had a few girlfriends, women he'd dated for a long amount of time, more than a few months at least, and he'd never had a moment like this with any of them.
Six days.
Six. Damn. Days.
And she was already in his arms like this, silence settled between them, and the look she gave him before she laid down just now.
He had to chill out.
Or…
There was always getting lost in the physical part of what they had going on between them. That drowned out the voice in his head that was reminding him of how good and real and intense this…thing…with Sarah felt. And he knew for sure that he wasn't alone when it came to the physical part of this…thing.
And God, he really had to stop calling their connection a "thing".
Actually, he needed to just stop thinking altogether.
He had the perfect solution.
Chuck slid his hand up from the small of her back to gently tuck some hair that had fallen over her face behind her ear. That made her pull back a bit and look at him, her eyes soft, the candlelight dancing in them. Her only warning was his small smile before he leaned forward to kiss her.
Sarah let out a satisfied little hum and melted into him yet again as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close to him. They stayed like that for a while, hands wandering under the blanket, lips wandering here and there, until she slipped an arm around his neck and pulled him to sit forward a little bit.
He figured she just wanted him closer, so he just tugged on her in return and kissed her harder. But then there was a click and the back of the lounge chair whooshed down at least three or four pegs before stopping, making him let out a high-pitched squeak as he fell back.
A peel of laughter came from Sarah as she fell onto his chest, burying her face against his collarbone, her body shaking as she practically guffawed at him.
He gave the sky above him his flattest look, then peeked down at the gorgeous woman draped over him. "Yes, I agree, this is much, much more comfortable. Thanks ever so for the warning."
She just kept laughing, gasping out an, "I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't think it'd be that…pppphahahahaha!"
All he could do was chuckle, shaking his head. This was a lot more comfortable, actually, now that the terror and tingles in all of his extremities were starting to wear off. And when her laughter finally began to die down, Chuck shifted a little bit on the lounge chair so that he was half on his back, half on his side, with Sarah's weight still pressed tight against him.
She kissed him, letting out a two note giggle as their lips met, and they continued things where they left off for quite some time, making out under the stars, the air damp but the blanket draped over their bodies protecting them from the worst of it.
Until finally, after who even knew how long, Chuck had to pull back from her kiss to yawn. He pressed his nose to the underside of her jaw as he let it out.
"Oh, thanks," she teased.
"It's not you, it's me."
She snorted.
"Nah, I'm sorry," he murmured, nestling his head under her chin and wrapping himself around her. "I'm not getting as much sleep as I thought I would on this vacation." Hint, hint…
"S'that so? Well, neither am I. Wonder why we're both not getting much sleep."
He chuckled. "I'm sorry about that, sincerely. You actually have a job you have to do, like, an important one you have to be awake for. I'm on vacation so I can sleep whenever I want to."
"Way to rub it in there, Curls."
Chuck winced, but pulled back and smiled. "Sorry."
"You're forgiven because you're so freaking good at making out." He blushed. "And it's way too easy to make you blush. You were there for us making out for, like…" She pulled up her wrist with the watch she was wearing. "…Damn! Almost an hour. Right? And you blush when I say 'making out'?"
"Kay, I think that's enough of that, thank you," he said, chuckling at the way she wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out. He sighed then. "You look sleepy. I feel sleepy. Maybe I should call a Lyft."
Oh, the sweet, sweet disappointment that came over her face before she could cover it up with a smile. This was something. Whatever was happening here was something, and he really had to just chill.
"Yeah, maybe…if you're ready to go."
"Oh, I'm not. I'm really not. But…I'll get outta your hair."
She pecked him on the lips one more time and they slowly helped one another out of the lounge chair. Chuck blew out the candle and carried it, the blanket, and the glass case, back inside while Sarah took their coffee mugs. Once they straightened up inside a bit, Chuck ruffled his hair and grabbed his phone from the counter where he'd left it hours ago. He ignored the notifications, none of them seeming all that important, and he went to pull up his Lyft app.
"This says someone can be here in five minutes, wow."
"That's quick."
"Yeah. Lucky."
He turned to face her then. She stood off to the side, disheveled from them making out, her zip-up sweatshirt a little crooked with one shoulder falling down a bit. And she suddenly looked so young. Then she got a look on her face that looked less young. Significantly less young. "Thanks for hanging out with me, Chuck. And making out with me."
He chuckled. "Hey, my pleasure. Literally." As she reached out to fix the collar on his button-up, he added his own, "Thank you. For all the food, the company, letting me into your home, et cetera."
"Anytime," she said, beaming. And then her eyes dropped to his phone and she nibbled her lip thoughtfully. "Hey, do you…I mean…"
He gave her a questioning look.
"What if you don't call that Lyft and instead you stay here with me?" she asked quietly. She then reached over and plucked his phone from his hand, clutching it in both of hers and giving him a hopeful look.
She was so charming, he thought maybe his insides were dying.
"Oh! Uh…Wait, really? You want me to stay?"
"Yeah. I do." She shrugged one shoulder and pursed her lips shyly.
"Oh. Um. O-Okay."
"Yeah?"
"Sure, yeah. Thank you."
"I mean, this saves you the money for a Lyft."
"Yeah, yeah it does."
"And it's late, you know?"
"It is. It is late. Totally."
"And I just want you to stay. Which is the biggest reason, honestly."
Chuck felt how hard he grinned at that, and how sudden it was, like someone had zoomed past him and just smacked it right onto his face. A drive-by grinning. Or something.
And without really knowing what he was doing, he brought both hands up to cover his mouth. That made her chuckle, and she handed him his phone back.
"You want to use my shower?"
"Oh. I don't wanna—"
"What? Shower?" She raised an eyebrow.
"I…shower."
"So go use mine. C'mon, I'll get you towels and stuff. You have clothes, yeah?"
"I do, but…"
The look she threw him made him feel like maybe he should just shut up.
And that's exactly what he did, deciding to just follow orders instead.
}o{
He had to admit, the angle and power of Sarah's shower made him quite nearly melt into a puddle and disappear down the drain.
It hit him at just the right spot between his shoulders if he hunched forward a bit and it felt like a massage. He had to remind himself that this wasn't his shower, and that he wasn't the one paying the water bill, else he'd stay in it until it was time for him to hop back onto a plane in a few weeks.
Something about showering after being at the beach had always been so relaxing to him. It made his limbs loose, free. And maybe it was just his imagination but he always felt like his skin was so much smoother.
Either way, he finally emerged out of the shower, dried off, and reached for his clothes, only to find they weren't there. "Oh. Oh, crap."
"You forget your clothes?" he heard on the other side of the door.
"Um…they're in the…" He tied his towel around his waist and opened the door. "I'll just grab 'em," he said, looking at her standing a few feet away in her own sleeping clothes. He'd forced her to shower first.
"No, I'll get them. Just tell me where. Or else you'll be coming out here like that and we'll both be like a horrible romance novel trope." He furrowed his brow. "Come on. You know. He forgot to bring his clothes to put on after his shower so he has to walk out, all dewy and masculine, in nothing but a towel…"
"Oh," he laughed. "It is a bit trope-ish, isn't it? Well, you're already seeing me in the towel, all dewy…and…masculine—"
"Mmmhm." Sarah raised a flirty eyebrow, giggling at the emphasis he put on masculine. "And I have to say, I like what I see." Chuck went pink immediately and she laughed at him. "Just let me get 'em for you," she said, shaking her head and still chuckling.
Chuck ducked his head and grinned, leaning against the doorway. "I left the bag…uh…wait, where'd I leave it?"
"I got it, don't worry," she said smirked, and she dashed out of the bedroom altogether, reappearing with his sports bag in hand. "Figured this is less weird than me, um, rifling through your undies."
"My…?" He laughed, taking the bag as she bit her lip and smirked. "I wear boxers. Or briefs if the situation calls for it. Not…undies." He laughed again.
"They're under your clothes, so they're undies." She put her tongue between her teeth and grinned, then took the bag back from him and held it so that he could unzip it and take his boxers and a T-shirt out. He zipped it back up again, thanked her, and watched as she went to put the bag on the chair at the corner of her bedroom.
When her eyes started to wander down his chest, he cleared his throat and backed into the bathroom again, shutting the door mostly and putting on his boxers and T-shirt.
He took a little longer than might've been necessary, using his towel to try to get his hair as dry as possible, then pushing his fingers through his curls to try to get them at least somewhat orderly.
As he opened the door, he found Sarah wasn't in her bedroom anymore. He frowned a bit, went over to grab his bag, and carried it and his dirty clothes back out through the hallway and into the living room.
"Oh, hey…" she said from where she was turning off the kitchen light. She padded across the room towards him, looking adorably comfortable and…at home. He was seeing her in her natural environment and it felt…important. This was what she looked like when she was preparing to go to bed in her own home, away from everything and everyone. "I was getting ready to go in there and help you out, you took so long."
He narrowed his eyes and shook his head, eventually giving her a crooked smile because he couldn't resist the amused mischief in her face. "I handled it okay, thanks."
She stopped at the couch and leaned to the side against the back of it, crossing her arms. "I was just locking everything up, turning out the lights. Like I always do when I'm ready for bed."
"Ah." Licking his lips, he looked around the room. The only light left was the standing lamp to his left, illuminating the couch and TV area. He cleared his throat and gestured to the couch. "Well, I'll, um…I'll take the couch."
"Where you taking it?"
He blinked and she laughed. "No, I m-meant that I can—"
"Chuck. Go put your stuff back in my bedroom." She gave him a flat look and unfolded her arms, using one to point back towards the hallway behind him. "Unless…you don't want to."
His eyes widened. "Oh, I do. I—I so do. I didn't wanna just…assume."
He felt awkward suddenly, and out of place, and just…weird. She walked up to him and put a hand on his chest, her eyes slowly dragging up until they met his gaze. "Assume away, Curls."
And then she lifted herself up to her tiptoes and kissed him, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and pushing herself into his chest. She kissed him so long, it was almost excruciating. It was incredible, heated, verging on intense…even for how slow it was. And he thought she must've used her other hand to reach over and turn off the lamp next to him because the room went dark. He didn't care enough to open his eyes, just kissing her back as both of her arms curled about his neck and pulled him even closer.
Somehow over the next few minutes, they found their way back into her bedroom, still kissing, his bag and clothes dropped somewhere in the middle of the room, and they ended up wrapped together under the sheets of her bed.
It had taken a good amount of skill from both of them to get to this point, all of the lights off in the room, darkness surrounding them.
Chuck slid his hand down her back, over her backside, and grabbed her thigh, pulling her with him as he turned onto his side and positioning her leg around his hip so that she was half on top of him. It was just about as close as he could get her and he cradled her as she let out a deep, exciting giggle into his mouth. His lips drifted down her jaw and he heard her sigh as he dotted kisses against her neck. He laid a much slower kiss to the juncture of her neck and shoulder, and she gasped, her grip tightening on him. He felt her nails through his shirt.
And when she thrusted her hips into his, he knew what she wanted.
His lips wandered lower, then, because he knew what he wanted, too. He knew what she deserved. And he slowly moved lower…lower…pushing her shirt up so that he could taste her abdomen, and her skin just above the waistband of her pajama shorts.
Chuck turned so that she was flat on her back and he throw the covers over his head, not able to see her face anyway, not knowing if there would be surprise, desire, excitement, or even shock there, and a little glad he wouldn't know which it ended up being as he tucked his fingers in the waistband and began removing the barrier between him and what he wanted.
His name rang out through the room in a startled, breathy whimper once he began, and he found he didn't want to stop for what ended up being quite some time.
}o{
He let himself drowsily listen to the shower in the bathroom, his eyes still shut. He didn't know what time it was, but it felt early, maybe because he'd again been up way too late again. It seemed like sleep just wasn't in the cards at night with this trip and he was more than okay with that development. It usually had to do with video games or work.
This time it was a woman.
Some kind of woman, too.
Chuck grinned hard, keeping his eyes shut and sinking even further into Sarah Walker's bed. It was nice and warm and the air coming in through the screen covering the window she'd left open was crisp and cool. It was the perfect feeling, the cool air on his face, the warmth under the covers.
The other side of the bed was still warm from her even though she wasn't in it anymore. Or maybe it was just him pretending that was the case. He didn't know when she'd gotten out of bed because he'd slept through it.
And now he could hear soft humming drifting out of the bathroom. He couldn't place the song. It didn't matter. It was a beautiful sound, comforting, relaxing. And he thought he'd never felt this contented in all his life. This was easily the best vacation ever.
When the shower turned off, he still heard a distant water-like sound, dripping or something, but he ignored it because her quiet humming was singing now. Something about a Kentucky bluebird…
He opened his eyes and pushed himself to sit up, rustling his hair with one hand as he leaned forward to grab his watch from where he'd put it after taking it off halfway through the night. It was a little after eight in the morning. He had no idea when he'd actually fallen asleep, but he knew it was after she had, because he'd felt her become heavy in his arms, her breathing evening out, and he'd just held her like that for a while, his lips pressed against her bare shoulder.
Granted, for what little sleep he must've gotten, he didn't feel at all tired or groggy. Her bed had been comfortable, or maybe it was Sarah who was comfortable. He didn't know, but he would take it.
Suddenly, he heard a ding dong echo through the house and he froze. "Um…Sarah?"
"Shit," he heard her say from behind the door. She opened it and poked her head out, her hair wet and dripping. "Hey, are you awake?"
"Uh…Oh. Yeah."
"I'm so sorry. I'm kinda…" she gestured to herself, still mostly hiding behind the door.
"Oh, yeah. I can…I can get it."
"Could you?"
"Sure! Yeah!" He scrambled out of bed and realized belatedly that he was wearing absolutely nothing.
"Maybe…not like that?"
"Oh. Shit. Yeah. Heh." He grabbed his boxers from the end of the bed and stepped into them as the doorbell sounded again.
"COMING!" she yelled. "It's probably the newspaper people. They didn't deliver it the last two days so I'm sure they're trying to make up for it with a check or something like they told me they would when I called to complain."
"Right," he said, grabbing his Killdroid T-shirt a fan of his game had made for him and given him at a con last year, slipping it on over his torso. "I'll go ahead and…" The doorbell rang again, this time much more insistently.
"I SAID I'M COMING!" Sarah belted. "Jesus!"
Chuck didn't say anything else, instead just dashing through her house and not stopping until he reached the door. He unlocked it and pulled it open, ready to take the envelope or whatever the newspaper people had come to give her, but he was pretty sure Sarah's coworker Gina didn't work for the local newspaper. Unless she had two jobs.
"Wow," she said, not doing a very good job hiding her shock, or the grin threatening to explode onto her face. "Hi."
"H-Uh." He cleared his throat and smoothed a hand down his front. "Hi. Good morning. G-Uh…"
"Gina," she provided, biting the inside of her cheek. Her eyes were bright with…something.
"Gina, yes. I remember. Um. Hi, there."
"And it's Chuck, right?"
"Yes. I am…I am Chuck. Good, uh, good memory."
"Hard to forget, you made quite the impression." She paused. "Obviously."
"O-Oh." And then he looked past her. "Oh, wow! Rain. It's raining."
"Yep. That's what that is," she said, looking over her shoulder at it. Then she looked back at him expectantly. "Can I, uh…? I mean, I know I'm technically dry on this porch, but…"
"Oh, shit yeah! Come in. Come in outta that. Sure." He stepped back and opened the door wider as she thanked him, coming inside but lingering by the door still as he shut it. "I mean, it isn't my…house, so…but I'm sure she…you're friends. So. Um, she's in the shower, though. Well, just got out, really. And she asked me to—So it's raining! Wow! Crazy."
"Not really," she chirped with a shrug. And she smirked now. A full-blown smirk.
"Oh, heh. Tropical. Right. That, uh, sorta happens here, huh? Tropical raaaains. Outside."
"Usually not inside."
He pointed at her. "Hah. Good one. True. Touché." Then he cleared his throat because she was still watching him, just barely holding in…whatever it was lingering just beneath the surface. Was she trying not to laugh? He wished she'd just let it out.
Chuck snuck over to the sidelight window next to the door and peeked through the blinds. "That is certainly rain. Wow. Really comin' down out there."
"Gina!"
Oh, thank God.
He spun on his heel to see Sarah hurrying through the room towards them. Her hair was still damp but it was pulled back into a bun on her head, and she was fully dressed in jeans and a tank top.
"Hey, girl."
Chuck was careful not to look at Gina, unsure of what sort of a look she'd be giving her coworker and friend, and not really wanting to know. Sarah flared her nostrils a bit uncomfortably and widened her eyes at her, though. And he wished he hadn't seen that. Crap.
"What, um, what's going on? Everything okay?"
"Oh. Yeah. We're shutting down the Shack today, because well…weather. And I just wanted to pick up all that paperwork Kai made you take home for renewing the boat license and everything. I'm in charge of it today." This time Chuck did look at her and she rolled her eyes for both of their benefits.
"Oh, shit, yeah. Sorry you had to come out here in the rain to get it."
"Well, I was, too, but I'm sure as hell not anymore."
Chuck winced. The meaning was not lost on him. Nor was it lost on Sarah because she was giving her friend a completely unsubtle 'shut up' look, jaw clenched and eyes narrowed.
And since nobody was even trying to pretend like this wasn't happening, like Gina hadn't just shown up early in the morning to see him here in his boxers, Sarah just out of the shower, like it wasn't obvious he'd slept over, Chuck decided to just be blunt.
"I'm going to let you two conduct your business and remove myself from this situation post-haste before I turn into a tomato from these looks you two are shooting at each other, 'kay? Uh, Sarah, I'll put coffee on, if that's okay?"
"Yep." Her face was stuck in what looked like a permanent wince.
"Great!"
He pushed past them with a muttered 'scuse me and went into the kitchen, hearing their voices fade as Sarah's friend grabbed her arm and yanked her into the hallway, and probably into another room completely.
Good. He really didn't need to hear that conversation. Instead, he made the coffee as loudly as he possibly could, still hearing the dulcet rumble of their voices. He had to look around for things, but he figured Sarah wouldn't mind. She didn't seem like the type who'd hide top secret info in kitchen cupboards or drawers.
He snorted at himself for that thought. Served him right for watching Get Smart on TV Land the other night.
He whistled an old jazz tune that had been on in a café a few days earlier, something that just popped back into his head at that particular moment, and pressed brew, having prepared enough for if Gina was staying and wanted some.
After all, she'd driven across town in the rain for documents and now she'd have to drive back to the Scuba Shack and spend her day dealing with a lot of crappy bureaucracy. That was the worst part of having his own company. All he wanted to do all day was to sit around with his employees and work out the kinks in the graphics, writing, programming, write codes with his friends, test the demos. But a good chunk of what he did involved paperwork, talking to people on the phone, sitting with his people in the promotions and marketing department to figure out how much they need to and could spend getting the word out, which cons they could attend, who to send, how much money they'd have to cough up…
He oversaw everything because he wasn't yet at a point where he could afford to hire someone else to oversee the different moving parts of the business. Ah, BarTech, how I don't miss you…
Chuck sniffed in amusement at himself and turned around, leaning back against the counter and waiting for it to finish. He heard Sarah and Gina coming back out of the hallway again, and this time they were talking about the paperwork, thank God. Sarah was pointing something out on one of the pages as Gina looked at it over her shoulder, walking behind her and nodding.
"Well, we've had the boat for years now. Why can't they just renew this shit automatically instead of making us go through the same rigmarole every time?"
"Because bureaucracy reigns supreme, my friend," Sarah replied, clipping the large stack of papers back together and handing it to Gina.
Chuck came out of the kitchen but stayed a bit away from them as they finished up, smiling a bit lamely as Gina finally turned back to him. "So…it's raining, as we established," she teased, and he rolled his eyes, mostly at himself. It made her laugh. "What are you going to do with all this rain busting your vacay, my guy?"
"I, uh…I dunno. I didn't plan for rain. Stay indoors, I guess. As much as I can. I mean, it's tropical so it probably won't last long, huh?"
"At least until tomorrow."
He widened his eyes. "Really? Damn."
"Didn't you check the weather reports? You gotta do that when you're on vacation, don't ya think?" She giggled, then interrupted him before he could answer. "Then again, I'm sure my girl over here kept you pretty busy."
Sarah groaned and then hissed out a frustrated, "Stop it."
Chuck had to laugh. But as he opened his mouth to respond, the coffee maker beeped. "Saved by the beep! I put coffee on and there's enough for three. Want some, Gina?"
"Wow, Chuck. Making yourself at home."
"I told him to make the coffee, Gina. Would you cool it, please?" Sarah asked, pressing her hand against her mouth and looking pretty pink.
"Oh…" Chuck blushed, too. "No, I-I only made it because she—"
"Both of you need to take some deep breaths. I'm just teasing you," she laughed, flipping her braids over her shoulder. "And yeah, Sar, you got any to-go cups or anything?"
"Not really, but you can take one of my thermoses and leave it on my desk at the Shack or something. No big deal."
Sarah led her through to the kitchen and went into the cupboard to grab one of the thermoses.
"That's really sweet of you to think of me, Chuck," Gina said, patting his shoulder as Sarah filled the thermos with coffee for her coworker.
"He is sweet," the blonde answered, turning to give Gina a look he couldn't decipher.
All he could do was blush. "Well, I mean, s'the least I can do. It's not even my coffee; it's Sarah's. And you've gotta go back out into the rain," he said, watching as she took the thermos and started filling it with the cream and sugar that he'd set out on the butcher block before. "I don't have to."
Gina got a look in her eye and Sarah rolled her head back to wince at the ceiling. "Oh, is that so? Planning on staying in this sweet little bungalow all day long, Chuck?"
"Okay, you're leaving." Sarah grabbed her by her shoulders and started walking her out of the kitchen. "She's leaving," she said to him.
He was too busy blushing again to respond, kicking himself for opening the door for her to tease the hell out of him again. He slowly followed them out to the front door as Gina cackled.
"It was nice to see ya again, Chuck. And thanks for making enough coffee for me, brother. Even after I've been teasin' you." Gina winked. "That was genuinely nice."
"Don't mention it. And please, tease me anytime you like. I might blush a lot but I can take it." He grinned crookedly and shrugged one shoulder.
"Hm. I think you can."
He didn't know what that long look she gave him was for, but he was especially interested in the way Sarah put her hands on her friend's shoulders and fixed her with a serious stare. "Thanks for coming all the way over here for these instead of making me get in the car and drive over there on my day off."
"Oh, hey, I wouldn't have missed this experience for the world." Gina snorted, grinning hard.
Sarah rolled her eyes and Chuck thought she pointedly did not look over at him. "And um…please, just…don't…? I mean, if you could…?"
"I know, I know. I'm not gonna tell the crew what I witnessed here today. Secret's safe with me, you crazy kids." She winked again and Sarah blushed again. Chuck didn't blame her, he'd been permanently blushing practically from the moment he opened the door and found Gina standing there. "Have a, um…good rest of your day off, Blondie."
"I mean to."
"Don't leave this boy out in the rain, either. He's from California. He might wash away."
"Trust me, I won't," Sarah said.
Gina snorted again. "You can always count on that good ol' Hawaiian hospitality, Chuck." She wrapped an arm around Sarah to give her a side hug, then went to the door and waved. "Catch ya later, kids."
She was gone then and Chuck didn't quite know what to say. But then Sarah laughed, still facing the door, dragging her hands up her face and framing her head. As she turned to him, he laughed as well, shaking his head.
"God, I'm so sorry, Chuck. I had no idea. I genuinely thought it was the newspaper guy."
"No, no. It's okay."
"No, it isn't. That was so embarrassing."
"I mean, yes it was. But life is full of those moments and you just have to take 'em and laugh about it."
"True." She smirked a little. "She didn't have to rub it in, though."
He chuckled. "Uh…probably not. But I survived."
"I barely did. God. She better not go to the Shack and blab to everyone. I'll never hear the end of it." She put a hand to her forehead. And then she must have thought that sounded a certain way, because her eyes widened and she rushed to close the distance between them, putting a hand on his bicep. "Oh. I don't want you to think that I'm, like, ashamed or something. It isn't that. They're just sort of—I mean, they have this idea of what I am, who I am, and if I stray away from it even in the slightest, I get the whole, 'Oooohhh Saraaaahhhhh ho ho ho' thing," she mocked, widening her eyes and wiggling her fingers. She huffed and twisted her lips to the side, looking embarrassed.
"No, I get it. Like super embarrassing siblings. If Ellie were here and knew about—What I mean is, she'd probably be insufferable. As it is, talking on the phone to her is annoying enough. Sooo how's that scuba instructor you're—You know what? Let's drop that line of convo." The look on Sarah's face was getting more and more intrigued, and she snorted a bit when he stopped. "What, um, what sort of ideas do they have about you?" He winced. "You don't have to—"
"Very private," she said, ignoring his attempt to backtrack. "Which is kind of true. I am private about some things, but they think it permeates through, like, my entire existence. Like I keep everything a secret. And I get it, because I don't typically connect with people as easily as they do, but I'm not some ice queen." She rolled her eyes. "I'm just different. And I know they'll be weird about it if Gina tells them you slept over last night. That would blow their minds. She's probably the most reasonable one out of all of them and look how she acted."
Chuck nodded. "I understand."
"It's hard being an introvert surrounded by a bunch of extroverts." Then she winced. "This is making me sound like I don't love them all, but I do, I swear."
"No, no, no," he rushed out, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing reassuringly. "It doesn't sound like that," he said. "I get it. You can still have to vent about certain people even if you love 'em." He shrugged. "Listen, I love my sister more than I can say, but sometimes she drives me to the point where I need an afternoon gaming session with Morgan to just get it all out."
She let out a nasally giggle through her nose and ducked her head a bit bashfully. "I guess that's a sibling thing, huh?"
"Yeeeeaaah, and our situation lends itself to things being a bit different from your typical sibling relationship." He chuckled.
"How's that?"
"Hm? Oh." He cleared his throat. "You know. What I told you about my parents. It was just me and Ellie for a while so we had to take care of ourselves—er, each other—and there are times she forgets herself a little and mothers me like she had to when we were kids slash teenagers. She means well. I don't even know that she realizes she's doing it. But sometimes I have to vent about it."
Sarah raised her eyebrows and nodded, and he found himself grateful that she didn't tell him she was sorry or fix him with a sympathetic gaze, or pressure him into clarifying. He knew he'd been incredibly vague, and she'd probably noticed it and decided not to push for more info.
"My point is that it's okay and I totally get it. I can see how that'd be frustrating."
"Yeah. Like your sister, they mean well. I just don't want to get a bunch of eyebrow wiggles and have them make assumptions about me. I mean, with you. I mean…us. God, this is so awkward now and I'm making it worse."
He laughed and stepped in, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly. "This was an uncomfortable and embarrassing experience. Let's hope she doesn't tell the rest of your coworkers about my sleeping here last night so that you don't have to worry about getting shit from them. And trust me, I'm not offended or anything. I don't scare that easy."
She pulled back. "That's good because you really don't have anywhere you can go. I drove you here so if you did run, you'd be running back to your hotel in the rain."
He laughed. And then he groaned and dropped his forehead to her shoulder. "I swear to God, I was so awkward with Gina before you swept in to save the day. I kept talking about tropical rain, oh my God. She probably thinks I'm insane."
Sarah cracked up and put a cool, comforting hand on the back of his neck, threading her fingers in his curls just above it. A pleasant shiver went through him. "Just like I would've if I'd witnessed it, she probably thought it was endearing."
"Or idiotic."
"Or cute as fuck."
"You're cute as fuck," he mumbled.
Sarah let out a quiet giggle, and then her hand dragged down his back, rubbing it, before she oh-so-gently stroked her nails back up to his shoulder. He shivered again, and this time it was more than just pleasant. Her actions had a specific feel to them, and as she pressed her lips to his temple and then to his ear, he was already quite sure where her head was at.
"It's raining out. Got any big plans today, Curls?"
"Mm mm." He shook his head a bit, then lifted it from her shoulder and pressed his forehead to hers, their noses nuzzling. "Whyyy?" he drawled in a sing-songy voice.
Instead of answering with her words, Sarah pulled him to her couch, pushed him to sit, grabbed her remote and turned on some random movie channel, then swung a leg over him, pinned him down to the cushions and began kissing him.
It was an incredible answer, he thought.
A/N: Let's hear it for sprinklers! Wingmanning like champs. I'd love you to leave a review. That'd be great. And things are going to start swinging towards some interesting developments. I've had this on my mind from the beginning so we'll see how it goes. ;) Thanks for reading!
-SC