Nura was having a good day up until Bouncing Boy announced the silly game the Legion would be playing on their latest Game Night. She wasn't exactly enthusiastic about the idea of kissing some random Legionnaire in a closet for seven minutes. Even among the men who were mature enough for her tastes, she still had no interest in anyone.
Well . . . except for maybe one. Maybe. But hell would have to freeze over three times before she would ever admit she was sort of interested in him. She felt like such an awful cliche––she hated that she loved him (although that was too strong a word), and loved hating her feelings.
She wanted to deny it. She really, really did. Especially with how tainted their past encounters were. Especially with how much of an arrogant jerk he could be. Or used to be, anyway. If asked, she'd have to begrudgingly admit that he'd gotten better over the last year.
When she spun the bottle a second time and then watched as Lightning Lad and Phantom Girl left the cafeteria together, her stomach knotted painfully. She knew, right then and there, that she couldn't lie to herself anymore.
She just couldn't believe she'd ever be even somewhat interested in a man she'd once found so irritating and unfairly judgmental. But ever since she found out the reason behind his unfriendly treatment of her, she couldn't help but look at him differently. And the fact that he had swallowed his pride and apologized to her certainly made her feelings harder to control.
She sighed quietly as she spun the bottle again several minutes after he left with Tinya. As she watched the bottle spin round and round, she tried to convince herself that she didn't care. She had no business wanting him that way. She knew for a fact that he did not reciprocate at all. Just because he had apologized and forgiven her didn't mean he would flip a 180 and develop romantic feelings for her.
As the bottle slowed to a stop in front of Shadow Lass and she wondered off with Star Boy, Nura couldn't help but wonder if her attraction to Garth was more rooted in curiosity than in anything else. The thought certainly made her pause and stare at a wall for several seconds. Was it the fact that he had always been a bit of a mystery to her? No, there were plenty of men in the Legion that she knew little about. What else could it be, then? Was she curious about what it be like to have him when she knew full well she never would? Was she one of those women who always wanted what they could never get? Did she––
"Nura, it's pointing at you," someone said.
She blinked, turning her attention back to game. While she'd stared off into space, someone must have spun the bottle for her. Across the room she saw Colossal Boy and Dawnstar walk into the cafeteria, followed shortly by Lightning Lad and Phantom Girl. Apparently, it had been seven minutes already. She must not have made the connection when she spun the bottle for Shadow Lass half a minute ago.
She then looked down at the bottle and, sure enough, it was pointing at her. She held back a sigh and stood up, turning to see who she got paired up with.
Her eyes widened when she noticed who was staring back at her. He was not one of the men she was expecting. She couldn't even recall noticing him earlier.
Kell-El shifted uncomfortably and tilted his head toward the door. "Come on. Let's get this over with."
The trip to the closet was uneventful and completely silent, which didn't surprise Nura. She didn't know much about Kell-El, but she did know one thing from what other people had said about him: he wasn't very talkative. He was a background type until he was on the battlefield, at which point he became the Legion's fiercest member. But even in both situations, he never wasted words and was always very curt.
When they entered an unoccupied closet and shut the door behind them, the silence persisted. But after about a minute, Nura couldn't take it anymore.
"If we're going to be stuck in here six more minutes," she said, "can we at least talk about something to pass the time?"
She saw his silhouette shift uncomfortably again. "Like what?"
"I don't know. Something. How about . . . what was it like in the 41st century before Imperiex was defeated?"
Kell-El was quiet for a moment. Then: "Difficult."
Nura raised an eyebrow, although she knew he couldn't see it. "How so?"
He shrugged. "People got in the way."
She bristled. "What do you mean?" Was he really that arrogant and apathetic? Did he really just––
"I had to be careful where I aimed my blasts."
The anger seeped out of her when she realized that she had read him wrong. "Oh," was all she could think to say. Guilt gnawed a bit at her stomach.
He leaned back against the opposite wall of the closet and didn't say anything else, turning his head to stare at the door.
After another silent minute, Nura began to fiddle with her hands. She didn't know enough about Kell-El to ask any other decent questions and now she had more time to go in circles with her thoughts. Now she had time to wonder if maybe she wanted Garth because she wanted to know what satisfaction felt like––the satisfaction of having someone despite her past and despite her flaws. And maybe she really was curious––curious to know what it was like to have a man. In all her years as Madame Mysterious and now as Dream Girl, she'd never really devoted any time to pursuing any men. Now that things had slowed down a bit for the Legion, more of her shifts were spent on monitor duty, which entailed a lot of staring into space. She wasn't lonely or desperate. She was just really curious. And maybe it didn't have anything to do with Garth at all.
"Hey, Kell?" she asked after another minute. He only made a small noise of acknowledgement. "Can we try something?"
He turned his head. "What do you mean?"
She shifted awkwardly. "Well . . . since we're stuck in here . . . we could, you know, see if there are any sparks?"
He folded his arms across his chest. "We've never talked before this."
"I know, but I'm bored. I don't know what to ask you about and there's nothing else to do in here." She stepped closer to him, trying to think of any way she could make herself more appealing to him. "Aren't you at all curious?"
"Curious?" he echoed incredulously. Ouch, that hurt. "What is there to be curious about?"
She paused a moment, then took another step toward him. Maybe it was because of the way he was brought up. His whole life before, and even a little bit during, his time with the Legion was centered around combat. Romance had probably never crossed his mind in all those twenty some years. Any lust he may have felt under normal circumstances had likely been buried beneath his sense of duty and purpose for all those years. Perhaps he didn't know how to rekindle his natural desires at this point.
Nura stepped even closer to him, a bit of heat swirling in her stomach. Maybe she could make him remember. Maybe she could reignite a fire that had died inside him so many years ago.
Kell-El noticed how close she was getting and shifted uncomfortably again. "Nura, what do you think you're––"
She wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled his head down to hers. She felt him stiffen when she pressed her lips against his, but she didn't feel him pull away. Steeling her resolve, she pressed her whole body against his, willing him to remember what he had lost, what he had been missing out on for all these years.
When he still didn't relax or reciprocate in any way, Nura felt her stubborness rear its ugly head. Maybe she would make him uncomfortable in the process. If that was what it took, so be it. Dammit, she was curious now, and she wasn't about to give up!
She pulled her lips away and bent her head to kiss the pulse-point at the base of his throat. He stiffened again, but this time his breath hitched. Encouraged by this, she pulled the zipper of his suit down just enough to do it against his skin this time. His arms fell away from his chest, and she was able to press herself closer to him. He still remained rigid, but a small gasp escaped him when she gently sucked at the base of his neck.
"What are you trying to do?" he asked, his voice a bit lower than usual. It wasn't breathless like she'd hoped, but the fact that he was affected by her attention seemed like a small victory.
"I'm curious to see how much it'll take for you to remember."
Kell-El hissed when she lightly bit down on the same spot she was giving so much attention to. "Remember what?"
She looked him in the eye, and, even in the darkness, she could see a hint of a glow in his. She leaned forward to whisper in his ear, trying to make her voice as seductive as possible, "What desire feels like."
"What do you––"
She silenced him once again by claiming his lips with her own, tilting her head to get a better angle. He didn't stiffen this time, but he still wasn't reacting.
Trying not to grin at this intriguing challenge before her, she deviously ran her tongue along his lips, eliciting a startled noise from him that was muffled by the kiss. At the same time, she trailed a hand down his chest, secretly blazing inside from how amazing it felt.
She felt him lean into her and awkwardly place his hands on her waist. Further encouraged by this, she gently tugged his bottom lip between her teeth and sucked. She felt his fingers clench, digging into the base of her spine, sending a wave of pleasure coursing through her. She arched into him and pressed herself even closer, noticing that his body felt much warmer now than it did just a minute ago. Excited by this realization, she released his bottom lip and teased his mouth with her tongue again, this time with a purpose. As she did so, she slid her hands up into his hair, tugging it slightly and clawing gently at his scalp.
Finally, she managed to elicit a small moan from him. He leaned into her further, no longer needing to be shown what to do. He just knew.
He opened his mouth for her and tilted his head. After a few seconds of letting her have what she wanted, he spun them around so that her back was against the wall instead. His hands slid down to her hips.
She moaned softly to let him know much she liked that. She was about to––
Knock! Knock!
"I'm coming in," Bouncing Boy's voice drifted through the door. They quickly broke apart as he turned the knob. His eyebrows shot up when he noticed that they were both red, out of breath, and still standing close to each other. He seemed to be particularly amused by the state Kell-El was in. He chuckled quietly.
Kell-El's expression hardened. "Don't you dare––"
Wiping away a non-existent tear, Chuck asked, "Why are you all red, Tough Guy?"
Kell-El pursed his lips and walked out of the closet, heading toward the dorm rooms' elevator at the end of the hall.
Nura gave Chuck an annoyed look before running to catch up with Kell-El. When she did, she grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop. His expression softened ever so slightly when he saw that it was her. Knowing that she had earned that, she couldn't help herself when she stood on her tip toes and gave him a lingering kiss. He leaned down to make it easier for her and she felt herself melt a little inside at the consideration. He really did have a heart buried in there somewhere.
And maybe it wasn't just curiosity that made her want it.
When she broke the kiss and opened her eyes, staring up into his, she realized this was more than that. She wanted him.
Author's Note: There will be five chapters for the StB/Seven Minutes game, with a different couple each time. After that, there will be other games and maybe some combat action.