The laundry room was down the hall, past the lobby, and in a room next to the ice machine. He never understood the necessity of getting ice…he supposed it had to do with some sort of obsessive-compulsive behavior that humans had. There's an ice bucket, it had to be filled with ice whether it'd just melt there over night or not. Seated on the washer, he waited with arms crossed over his chest. And what was the deal with people coming out of their rooms in movies and on television with hair rumpled and wearing as little clothing as was decent, obviously having just finished fucking, to go get ice? Thirsty maybe? Or were they going to use it during the second round of bunny love. John shook his head and glanced behind him, the dial told him he still had twenty minutes to go. Sighing he hopped off the washer, having decided to go find a magazine or watch CNN in the lobby. He nearly knocked Swan over at the door and froze. She jumped, startled, and looked at him. He realized for the first time that she was his height exactly. It was…thrilling. He couldn't find another word for it, "Sorry."
"No, I was coming to do laundry."
"Really? Where are your clothes." He said the last as a statement not a question and she looked away, her cheeks turning red. "What were you really doing here Swan?"
"I…well…"
He decided to save her
the discomfort and lashed out briefly with his own mind, he read her
surface thoughts despite the hard fought and hard won control he had
over his face, he couldn't stop his eyes from widening, "You hate
my kind, you know what physical touch…why?"
"You're so
much…more, than what we'd been scared with as children about ones
like you. And Rogue." She added his female opposite number almost
as an after thought, like she was trying to make it less personal.
He didn't read her mind again though to find out.
"That doesn't matter, Swan…"
"Chloe. Please?"
"Please what?"
"When it's just the two of us, I prefer Chloe."
"Oh." John glanced away, focusing on the washer dial. It told him only a couple minutes had passed. "Look, Chloe, I'm flattered. Really, but it would never work."
"Even if you wore a condom?"
If he had been eating, or drinking, he would have choked and spent a while trying to cough as a cover to regain a measure of composure. She was still talking, "You rescued us, saved us from that…life Hassan was forcing us to live. I…I'm not a kid, I'm not a virgin its been a while, and it's the least I…"
John pressed a gloved finger over her lips, "Its not that Chloe, I'm flattered." A door opened nearby and he pulled her into the laundry room and shut the door. The only sound was their breathing and the washer as he hunted for the words, avoiding her eyes while he did. He decided to just ramble until something came out, "Conceivably, yes, wearing a condom would keep me from…touching…you. But there are a handful of other places that our skin would touch, and rub. It wouldn't be worth the effort because you wouldn't get anything out of it." He briefly wondered why she thought sex was a good way to repay him, "I'd have to be fully clothed, there is no fun in that. It would feel…weird, besides you don't owe me anything Chloe. I did what I did because you and Frankie didn't deserve that life. No one did, even the ones that kept the world outside Hassan's mansion safe shouldn't have been caged and suppressed like that." Something about what he'd just said triggered a line of thought but he filed it away for future reference, "Believe me Chloe, I wouldn't say no if there weren't so many complications."
She looked hurt when he turned to finally look at her and he felt something in his chest crack a little. She turned away from his gaze and took a half-step back. He felt uncomfortable around her hurt but he went against his instincts and cupped her left cheek in his hand, turning her face gently to look at his. Tears were glimmering on the lower lids of her eyes and if he could, he would have kissed them away. "I can't control the…for lack of better word, incubus in me. It takes without my want. I don't think it can be stopped, ever. It's why I avoid people. I've hurt too many people because of this curse and I don't want to hurt Frankie and especially you." He said the words as comfort, not meant to carry any real meaning, but something in him told him there was a weight to those words. Was he falling for her? Oh God…no. He couldn't, he had to get away.
"It's more than just sex, John. I've watched you this last week, watched how you are, seen the man beneath all the bluff," she reached up with hands hesitating just over the skin of his face. "I…"
He reached up, taking her wrists in his hands, "Swan…" The buzzer on the washer went off and they both jumped nearly out of their skins. Something else happened then. Another kind of buzzing started in John's head. He winced and judging by the look on Swan's face, there was more pain indicators riding there than he was aware of. The buzzing got louder, it became voices, a scream ripped its way out of his throat, and he lashed out in an act of protection. Swan was sent flying, taking the laundry room door off its hinges as she went as he screamed at her to run! He had a moment to think that Swan was made of stronger stuff than she looked and his mind was consumed.
