Chapter 16: 1.16
Chapter Text
You still keep up with your running on Saturday, but you don't bother getting up quite so early. You don't have to be ready for school a little after right, so you can afford to sleep in until seven and take your time getting ready. You still don't drink any coffee- the air outside is cold enough to wake you up anyway- but you do eat a small bowl of some of Dad's weird nut-and-berry cereal and wait half an hour before heading out.
It's only been a few days, so the sight of the same few blocks around your house haven't quite worn out their welcome yet. You try to vary it as much as you can, criss-crossing through up and down the paths, in the hopes that it'll help you stave off the boredom for as long as possible. You're pretty sure that boredom is eventually going to start frustrating you, though. You'll have to consider some way to liven things up... later.
For now, you just return to your house, absently noting that it's already approaching nine. Dad's awake and standing around in the kitchen when you get back inside; he greets you with a "Hello" and a quick hug around your middle, but otherwise doesn't react much to your entrance. You frown a little, at that. You're pretty sure that most fathers are meant to have more of a reaction than that to their daughters going running in unsafe neighbourhoods.
You're not going to complain, but you frown unsettled at his back. You hadn't thought he was that upset by your refusal to talk.
You shake your head, trying to dismiss the sudden worry that rose in the pit of your gut. It's not like there's anything you can do about it, anyway. You're certainly not going to start talking about that kind of stuff. Dad still loves you anyway, even if you ran away from him... after he opened up and tried to talk about something clearly important to him.
You're pretty sure he does, anyway.
... Then again, you'd thought about Emma too, and look where that'd got you.
Shaking your head furiously, you try to dislodge the doubts suddenly swarming you. No, Dad isn't Emma. One conversation isn't enough to kill your relationship with him.
Maybe you should make an effort to try and do stuff with him again, though. Just in case. It can't hurt to be too careful.
You head to the phone, trying to ignore the sudden unpleasant gnawing in your stomach. It's not something you can do anything about right now, so you should focus on things you can do, right?
The phone rings through, dialing for long enough that the answering machine rings through. You're about to hang up when you hear a soft click, and the harried tones of Madison's father echo over the line. "Hello?"
"Er, hello," you say weakly. "It's Taylor. I was just wondering if I could speak to Madison?"
There's a pause, but when Rick finally replies, his voice is much lighter than it was before. "You're seeing her more than we are these days, it feels like," he says cheerily. "That won't be a problem, Taylor. Hold on, I'll just go give the phone to Madison."
He hurries upstairs, the slap of his feet loud enough against the wooden stairs that you can hear them through the phone line. Eventually, you hear three loud knocks on a door and a short murmured conversation before there's the fumbling sounds of a phone changing hands and Madison's happy voice issues from it.
"H-hey, Taylor," she says faux-casually. "It's nice to hear from you." Warmth practically radiates from the phone at her tone.
Your mouth turns up in a grin at her words and the way she says them. "I know the feeling," you reply, grinning wider at the dopey giggle she lets out at that. "I missed you."
"You just saw me yesterday," she teases you. Then her voice becomes a little more serious, and she admits, "But I missed you too. Do you want me to come over today?"
"No," you say quickly. Then, realizing how that sounds, "I was actually wondering if I could come over to your house today. Unless that's not okay, if you have something else on, then I can just stay home-"
Madison reacts very quickly to that. "No! No, um. Well, yes, actually, but no. I do have something else on, but it shouldn't take all day." Her voice goes quieter, as though she's a little ashamed. "Dad invited Emma's dad over for lunch today. I know you probably don't want to see her, so maybe you could come over after that instead?"
Well, that spoiled your mood quickly.
"Yeah," you reply quietly. You're aware that Emma's been trying to get into contact with you again, of course. Emma wouldn't be Emma if she didn't. You've just steadfastly ignored her efforts. "What time is she leaving?" you ask, at least attempting to sound casual. You're not sure if Madison understands, but you hope she appreciates your efforts anyway.
"Um, she should be gone by around one, but maybe you shouldn't come around until two anyway, just to be safe." You've never heard Madison sound so small before. "I'm really sorry about this, Taylor-"
"Don't be," you say, a little more harshly than you intended. "Don't be," you say again more gently. "You haven't done anything. You've been a good girl. Don't ever think I'm mad at you for something outside your control, okay?"
"Okay," she says hesitantly. "I really am sorry, though. I wish she wasn't coming over so you could come here now."
"Mmm." You make a noncommital noise. As much as you appreciate the thought, you wouldn't want Madison's father to be unable to invite his friends over for lunch just so you could fondle Madison without feeling uncomfortable around Emma. That would be awful of you. "It's really fine, Madison," you say gently. "I'll just do some work until I can get Dad to drop me off around two, okay?"
"Okay," she mumbles. "I'll see you at two then."
As you hang up the phone, you tighten your hand around it and let out a long sigh. You wish you weren't paranoid enough to think it, but as soon as Madison had mentioned Emma, you'd wondered if she'd manipulated things to try and get herself in a position to see you. Again. You can't dismiss the thought as ridiculous, because that's exactly the kind of thing she'd try.
Shaking your head in annoyance, you brush past Dad on your way again, almost causing a piece of toast slathered with jelly to fall to the floor. You hastily rebalance the plate on the bench, giving him a perfunctory "Sorry" as you head over to the computer and boot it up. At least doing some research might calm you down, you think to yourself with an annoyed pout.
Indeed, doing some research had born fruit.
In your notebook, you'd written separate sections for each of the capes you'd looked up. Originally, you'd tried to write the information down as you'd found it, but the pages you'd scribbled information down on quickly became an incoherent mess. Instead, you'd clearly delineated where each section began and ended so you could refer back to it quickly.
You'd started with the cape you needed to know the most about: Rune.
Rune
You already knew that Rune is a Brotherhood cape, and that she's one of the primary people responsible for the current state of Winslow, but that's as much as you'd known. Now that you've spent some time researching it- well, you're pretty glad that you did. It would have been nasty to run into Rune without knowing what she's capable of.
Rune is, as far as you can tell, a younger girl. You think this partially because of a short tangent in Rune's thread on PHO, quickly cut short when a moderator stepped in and cut the discussion short, and partially because of the girl's height and stature. She didn't carry herself as an adult did, walking with that cocky arrogance common to so many of the Brotherhood teenagers in Winslow. In fact, if you had to guess, you'd guess that Rune might even be a bit younger than you, although that's pure speculation. You kind of hope so, though.
Rune is, apparently, one of the Brotherhood's biggest pushers- the people who actually go out and interact with people, trying to push them into following the Brotherhood's goals and get embroiled in with them. A lot of the Brotherhood's capes don't have powersets suitable to this, as their powersets are either too combat-focused or won't let them hold out for long enough to make an escape; they mainly rely on a small subset of their overall cape force to do that, and are forced to rely on unpowered members of the gang to a significant extent.
She's also a cruel person. There are several mentions of her having personally assaulted people, both minorities in the Bay and members of the Brotherhood. The minority bashings all seem to have been fairly chaotic- likely done on impulse, a PRT Agent on the board notes, crimes of opportunity- but the assaults on Brotherhood members sound painful. A woman in the thread, someone who claims to have gotten out from under the Brotherhood's thumb thanks to the Protectorate, claims that Rune likes to punish people who fail her. These punishments are often rather... cruel. Sometimes, they're as simple as beatings, usually reserved for when people lose substantial amounts of money or drugs under her watch. Other times, she likes to humiliate people. One person in the thread recounts a memorable instance in which a Brotherhood member was forced to hospitalize himself in order to get not one, but two dildoes removed from his rectum. Those, apparently, are saved for when people really irritate Rune. Physical punishment and humiliation all in one.
So far as the people on PHO can tell, Rune is able to telekinetically move objects. Weight may come into play on it somehow, as she seems to move heavier objects slower. Weight or size, but the general thread consensus is that it's weight, else the city would probably see her carrying around things like metal darts to take advantage of her capabilities. Sometimes, she uses her powers for offensive purposes, but just as often, she uses larger objects as transport, mimicking flight capabilities (something none of the city's Protectorate members had been capable of until Dauntless, a fact Rune takes full advantage of) or providing herself with mobile cover and shields. Not the kind of power you want to have to take on alone.
If you're going to fight Rune, you think, you're probably going to want Victoria along. Not just to help you by drawing fire without risk to herself, but also for her flight capabilities. Without her, you can't follow if Rune just drags a chunk of concrete up and flies away on it. You could try to run after her, but she has a lot more stamina than you do.
You briefly consider getting someone who has some form of ranged attack, as well. Closing in on Rune might prove problematic unless the person doing it is a speedster, as Rune's attacks are effective both at short and medium range. If Glory Girl is around to draw fire, and you have someone who can blast her from afar...
But then again, it might be best if you didn't fight her at all. You're not quite sure how you'd manage that, though. Maybe there's a way you can approach Rune without risking combat? That might not be the greatest idea in itself, though- you're pretty sure that the only ways to do that would be to either find out who she is outside of her cape identity and seduce her non-cape identity, or put yourself in the Brotherhood's eye in order to draw her out. Neither option appeals to you very much.
Iron Rain
Iron Rain is, of course, the Brotherhood's leader. You knew that much before you got into this. That's also the extend of your knowledge on her; you know she exists and leads the Brotherhood, and that's about it. Given the Brotherhood's influence in Brockton Bay, and in Winslow specifically, you need to correct that. You almost wish you didn't when you finally do.
Unlike her brother, Kaiser- someone else you'd tried to look up, but you hadn't had much luck in trying to find information about him; apparently, he likes to avoid the public eye- Iron Rain doesn't seem to care about keeping a low profile. She takes care to avoid killing heroes, with speculation in her thread being that she avoids doing so for fear of drawing in out-of-town reinforcements, but doesn't seem to show much reluctance in fighting off anything short of Brockton Bay's entire Protectorate or Lung himself. There are many, many videos demonstrating her powerset and attitude. She wears a full-bodied... what is essentially a set of plate armour, complete with a helmet that entirely conceals her face from anyone looking. It's vaguely reminiscent of a knight's armour, which weirds you out for a moment until you remember that of course she wouldn't think of herself as evil.
As expected of the Brotherhood's leader, Iron Rain is a very nasty and vindictive woman. Reports flood in constantly throughout the thread of Iron Rain encouraging prejudice against minorities or outright leading attacks on them. She pushes drugs through the city, some of the relatively harmless kind (such as marijuana) and some of the much more harmful kind (starting at crystal meth and working her way up the chain from there). She extorts businesses, and has been linked to several arson cases where businesses failed to pay her. There are sundry crimes on her list. Overall, she seems to be a very... okay, you'll say it; she's a bitch.
But she's a deadly bitch, and that's what has you scared.
Iron Rain's power seems similar to Hookwolf's, inasmuch as she's able to summon and control shifting masses of metal. That's about where the similarities end, though. Where Hookwolf summons metal over his own body and essentially uses it to "shift shape", Iron Rain is able to summon pieces of metal in the air, and even rain those pieces of metal down as she pleases. She's demonstrated some form of magnetic control, as she's shown herself to be able to control the direction and speed of the falling pieces of metal. She does seem to be limited in how fast they can go, and she doesn't seem to be able to make them rise in the air, but that hardly makes her any less deadly.
If you're going to face her in combat- well, you're not. There's no way you're ready for somebody as ridiculous as that. You feel like you'd need half the capes in the city on your team in order to tackle somebody who can, quite literally, rain death from above.
No, you think you'll stay right the hell away from Iron Rain for the time being. If you encounter her, try to stay under cover as much as possible, and just get the hell out of there as soon as possible.
Vista
Vista is somebody you've been a little bit interested in for a few months now. Not because she's a powerful cape, although she is that, and not because she's an experienced one, although she is that, too. No, you're interested in Vista because she's just so pretty. She reminds you of Madison, in that you don't think you'd mind staring at her for hours on end.
You're pretty sure that Vista is the youngest member of the Wards in Brockton Bay, although you can't confirm that. She's definitely the shortest, though, and the most petite. Her costume almost seems designed to obfuscate her age somewhat, but she's been active as a cape for too long for that to really be effective. There are images of her as a cape stretching back for years, which actually vaguely horrifies you a little. She looks to be younger than even Rune did, although you're pretty sure she's at least a teenager now, if not far into her teens. Thirteen or fourteen. If she's thirteen or fourteen now, and she's been in the Wards for literally years, then she must have been as young as nine or ten when she first joined. And her time in there hasn't been entirely inactive, although from everything you can see, the older members of the Wards and the Protectorate members have made every effort to keep her out of combat where they can.
It makes you feel a little perverted to admit it, but Vista really is an attractive girl. Your hands shake a little as you consider her. She actually is really young. The knowledge that you're seriously considering seducing someone who's barely into her teens... turns you on, actually turns you on quite a lot, but makes you feel a little queasy too. At least, when you look at a picture of Vista from two years ago, it doesn't stir the same feelings inside you. You're not sure you could handle being attracted to a prepubescent girl. Even if you'd never act on it either way, at least you can reassure yourself with that thought.
Your feelings on Vista are a little complicated, you have to admit. There's a faint thread of revulsion in your stomach even now, even acknowledging that she's actually in her teens, but it's drowned out by faint feelings of lust- and, more strongly, feelings of protectiveness. What kind of fucked-up person could hurt a child, even if that child is a cape? Then you check yourself. Do you really have any room to talk, considering the thoughts you're having about her?
Either way, you shelve your notes on Vista at that, stomach roiling with nerves. Maybe, maybe that's another thing you can just... push off for future Taylor to deal with. Not dealing with being attracted to Vista sounds like a perfect idea to you right now.
Parian
Parian is somebody you're interested in for an entirely different reason to your interest everyone else. It feels a little weird even to you that you have to make a distinction between people you want to seduce and people you actually have a legitimate interest in you, but it's not a bad kind of weird. Just the same kind of weird you experience when Dad accidentally buys low-fat milk instead of full-cream milk. Like you'd gotten used to something and had it suddenly change on you.
Parian is quickly becoming a famous name in Brockton Bay. The Bay doesn't have a lot of rogues in town; most of them tend to head to the bigger towns like New York, where they have substantially larger client bases and there are a lot more heroes in town to help protect them. Nobody is quite sure why Parian set her business up here, but the mayor was certainly grateful for it when she announced her decision.
Her store's website advertises her as a fashion designer and clothing maker. There's an entire separate page on her prices for costumes for parahumans, but you're not particularly concerned about those at the moment- you don't have anyone you need costumes for, and you're pretty sure any prices that justify making an entire page for themselves are so far beyond your reach that looking at them will depress you. No, you're interested in something rather different.
It's not a use you would have considered, but a part of the rogue's powerset involves the control over thread- at least, as far as anyone on PHO can tell. You'd think this would limit her to just sewing, but there are applications of that that you hadn't considered. For example: lace. The problem with the production of lace has never been the production of the raw materials, just how difficult it is to actually make the lace. Once upon a time, people had used needle and thread to sew lace. Nowadays, it's usually done via machine, but it doesn't usually end up as good as it used to look. Parian's power, however, is perfect for exactly that. And, utilizing exactly the same thought process you immediately leapt to, she moved on to creating the perfect items with her lace production capabilities; that is, lingerie for women.
You don't click on the page to open it, because you happen to know that one of the models Parian utilizes for her catalogue is Emma, after a lengthy negotiation with Alan regarding the legality of minors modeling underwear. Your feelings about Emma are complicated enough- you don't need to feel the urge to masturbate to images of her in lacey lingerie on top of all that.
Her address is listed prominently on the website, though, ostensibly so customers could physically visit her shop and view her wares. You write the address down in your notebook, and make a physical note, letters thick and underlined- Take Madison to visit Parian!
You're forced to close your research hurriedly when you eventually look at the time and see the clock reading twelve past one. Hurriedly rushing to the bathroom, you yank a towel out of the hallway closet as you go, ignoring Dad's bemused expression as you run past him.
One quick shower later, you run out of the bathroom clad in nothing but a towel and skid over to your room, searching madly through your underwear drawer. So much of your underwear is so boring. And by so much of it, you mean all of it. Dad buys your clothes, and you're not going to ask him to buy you sexy lingerie. That's weird. In the end, you throw on just a pair of green panties, then hurriedly get dressed in the first t-shirt and pair of jeans you can find so you can run out to the living room, where Dad just raises an eyebrow at you.
"Dad!" you say urgently. "Can you drive me over to Madison's please?!"
He gives you a slightly alarmed look. "Sure," he says cautiously. "Is there something wrong, Taylor?"
You shake your head wildly, your hair spinning around and throwing little droplets of water everywhere. "No, nothing's wrong, I just told her I'd be over at two and I lost track of time. I'm going to be late, come on, come on!" You run over and try to tug on his wrist to get him to stand up further, but he just grins at you and continues to sit passively, watching your efforts to get him to stand up. "Come on, Dad!" you whine.
He chuckles and stands up. You let go of his wrist and pout at him from behind as he ambles slowly over to the kitchen and retrieves his car keys from the fruit bowl in there, then drags his feet out to the car. "Daaaad," you moan when he's halfway there. He just throws you a cheeky grin and pokes his tongue out at you when he finally gets in the car. You hurry over and climb in the passenger seat beside him, just he turns and raises an eyebrow at you.
"What took you so long, Taylor?" he asks. You just groan and let your head fall against the console of the car.
You arrive at Madison's house a little after two, looking anxiously around to make sure that Alan's car isn't still here. It's not, but you do notice Madison looking down at you through her window in her bedroom on the second floor as you approach. She disappears, and a few moments later, the door swings open, revealing your girl standing behind it.
Throwing out a quick "Thanks Dad!" behind you, you hurry over and pull her inside, closing the door behind you. There, you pull Madison into a tight hug, ignoring Terry standing behind her and making gagging noises as he pretends to vomit over the floor.
"Ew, girl hugs," he says with a shudder, and toddles off towards his bedroom.
Eventually, you pull back from Madison so you can peer down at her and see her shining eyes. "Come on," you say, and you grab her hand and lead her up to her bedroom.
There's a lock on Madison's door that wasn't here last time you were here. When she sees you looking, she blushes and looks down, but you can see she looks a little proud of herself. "I put that on there," she says proudly. "In case, um. Well, so nobody can walk in on us."
You pat her ass gently. "Good girl," you purr, and lock the door before you pull her over to the bed. She follows you over, still blushing heavily, and attempts to pull herself into your side, but you hold her away and look her over critically. She's dressed in a skirt today, which is good, but she's dressed in a t-shirt. Less good.
"Take your shirt off," you instruct her. She immediately obeys your command, folding the t-shirt nicely and placing it gently on the edge of her bed. "Good girl. Now, where do you keep your shirts?" She points silently at a dresser over against the far wall, a mammoth thing easily twice the size of your own. You're a little jealous. "Good girl," you praise her again, and she preens a little. "Now, I'm going to find you a shirt more suited for you today. Is that okay?"
She nods, giving you a happy smile. "Yeah, okay," she agrees readily. "If you want me to wear something I will, that's fine."
You nod sharply. "Good," you say. "Take off your bra and panties while I find you a shirt."
Madison has a lot of shirts, but it's not hard to find one that suits your needs. You only need to find one that buttons up at the front, after all. When you turn back, you find her neatly folding her panties atop her shirt; when she's done with that, she sits straight back up, revealing that she's also taken her bra off. Her nipples are pebbling in the cold air, and you have to resist the urge to go and warm them up for her.
You walk over and reward her with a kiss, which she returns eagerly, then step back and hand her the shirt. She takes it and begins pulling it on, but when she moves to the first button, you grab her hands and pull them to the side. Quickly, you turn and make sure- yes, you'd remembered to lock the door- and kneel in front of her, raising yourself high enough that you can still almost look her in the eyes even from your seated position. She shifts, and you lift her skirt and bend your head to gain visual confirmation that, yes, she has taken her panties off.
"Good girl," you praise her again, and give her another soft kiss. She smiles, and you lean forward and press one swirling lick to each of her nipples before you raise yourself and sit beside her on the bed again, loving the way she shivers as the cold air hits her nipples after you're done with them. "Now, I'm going to tell you to do something. If it's not okay with you, you can tell me no now, and I'll drop it. And if you're ever uncomfortable doing this in future, all you need to do is tell me so and I'll understand, okay?"
She nods hesitantly, licking her lips. "Um, okay," she mumbles. "I probably- okay."
You nod, pressing a kiss to her neck. You're glad she didn't actually say that she probably won't say no to anything you ask of her. You love that she's so submissive towards you, but you don't want her to follow everything you say religiously. Her desires are just as important as your own here. If she would feel uncomfortable doing something, regardless of how much you want her to do it, it's important that she knows that she can tell you no.
"Good," you murmur. "Now, every time you know we're going to be alone like this in future, I want you to take your panties off beforehand, and show me that you've taken them off when we're alone. Is that okay?"
She considers it seriously for a moment. Then she licks her lips. "I don't mind," she says quietly, "but, um, would you mind if I only did that when we're at home? I don't think I'd be comfortable not wearing panties in public. Somebody might see."
You nod. "That's okay. Thank you for agreeing to do that for me, Madison."
Madison nods, then edges towards you, pouting slightly. You recognize the sign for what it is, and slip your arm around her, drawing her in to a hug that she happily settles into.
Before now, you hadn't actually put a lot of thought into what you were going to do at Madison's. Casting your eyes over her room, your eyes fall on two things; she has a small TV in her room, complete with... you're not sure what console that one is, but you think it's one that plays DVD's too; and she also has a narrow bookcase, filled with what you recognize as trashy young adult romance novels. You level a soft glare at the bookcase and turn away before you offend your girl by insulting her taste in books.
"Okay, Madison," you murmur. "What movie do you want to watch?"
She hums quietly. "You can put on anything you want. I don't mind as long as you cuddle me through the whole movie," she bargains.
A soft chuckle escapes from you. "Sure, I'll take that deal," you say, and reluctantly release Madison so you can walk over and browse through the DVD's she has stacked off to the side of the small TV.
She doesn't have much of a variety- some romances, some comedies, some rom-coms, and- you turn to her with a raised eyebrow when you pull out three DVD's, a copy of each of the three Rambo movies. She just shrugs at you in response, causing some interesting movements in her chest that distract you from questioning her further.
More out of morbid curiosity than anything, you put in a copy of the first movie- First Blood- and pull Madison down on the bed so you can spoon her from behind.
In the end, the movie isn't really very exciting. Madison seems to like it more, although at times you have trouble telling whether she's hissing in excitement or hissing because you're playing with her breasts throughout the movie. You make a game of finding out, but you're pretty sure she figures it out, because as soon as you start gently tugging at her nipples through all the action scenes, she stops hissing entirely and just bites her lip. Which is fine. There's something incredibly sexy about Madison biting her lip.
Eventually, you're forced to reluctantly let go of Madison's breasts so you can get up and put the second movie in. You hurry back as quickly as you can once it starts, carrying the remote so you don't have to wait over there and hit play like you did the first time. While you wait for the movie to load and play through the opening segment to get to the title screen, you idly amuse yourself by gently rubbing the remote between Madison's breasts, allowing the buttons of the device to rake over the flesh there.
Finally, you can hit play and put the remote down. Playing with toys is fun and all, but there's something so much more satisfying about being able to actually feel your girl's body with your hands. Especially her breasts, which are almost perfectly sized for you to hold in your hands- when you cup her breasts in your hands, they're sized just right for you to be able to run your thumbs all over her nipples and areola as you like. It's amazing. You're able to content yourself through the entire duration of the movie just playing with them.
When the movie finishes, it's not quite time for you to go home yet- only a little after five thirty, and Dad won't expect you to ring until around six. Which is fine; as soon as you hit stop on the movie, Madison rolls around in your arms and presses a hot kiss to your mouth. Somehow, you're fine with that. You're even fine with raising your shirt as high as it'll go when she nervously tugs at it, seeking permission; she sighs happily at that as she rests her nude chest against your own and waits pliantly for you to kiss her.
You get so embroiled in your make-out session that you almost miss the clock hitting six. Unfortunately, you have to break away for air at one point, and you see the watch on Madison's wrist as you grab her hands and hold them above her head. Not that you move to stop immediately- you go back in again, and then again, spending just a few more minutes exploring Madison's mouth with your tongue.
Worth it, you think smugly when you finally pull away and tug your shirt back down. By the dazed expression on her face, Madison obviously agrees.
Madison is, thankfully, coherent enough to remember to take off the new shirt and put her old bra and shirt back on before the two of you head down; you're pretty sure you would have forgotten that, otherwise, and had her wander down in her new shirt. How embarrassing. You can't hide her mussed hair, though, and Rick gives you a knowing look, causing you to flush and shrink down in embarrassment as you pick up their phone and call Dad.
He doesn't arrive for another half an hour. You amuse yourself by kneeling down at the coffee table in the living room and watching Terry madly colour in what you're fairly sure is meant to be a tyrannosaurus rex, although you're not sure you remember them being quite this shade of hot pink in the documentaries you watched as a kid. Madison kneels down beside you and begins to colour in herself, a practice Terry clearly welcomes by the blinding smile he gives her.
When Dad finally arrives, you see him blinking in surprise at you. Your smile falls off your face. What? You hadn't been doing anything wrong.
Madison gives you one last hug goodbye, unseen by either of your fathers, before you head back home to your quiet house.
The air is still awkward between you and Dad when you wake up the next morning. Neither of you had broached the topic of whatever had caused that look on his face when he picked you up last night. You just chalk it up to one more way you've let him down and move on.
You have other things you need to focus on, anyway. Like Victoria.
Victoria meets you at the entrance to to the bookstore as normal come noon on Sunday, scooping you up happily into a hug. You find yourself instinctively reaching for your power to search through her emotions and find out how she's really feeling about you and your relationship with her now, but you hold yourself back. It'd be nice to know what she feels about you, but... you've already manipulated her this far with your power. You'd like some of your relationship to be based on something real, even if her lust is manufactured. Wow, that sounds way more screwed up when actually said out loud.
You have to actively stop yourself from leaning up and claiming a kiss from the girl, reminding yourself that the two of you are in a public place. You're pretty sure she's in the same predicament, judging by the way her eyes keep flickering down to your lips.
"Come on." You take her hand, attempting to pull her forward. You're stuck for a moment, and you're viscerally reminded that Victoria is just... stronger than you can hope to be, but then she seems to hover off the ground just slightly, and suddenly it's no harder to drag her around than it is to drag Madison around. You do have to ignore the affectionate look she gives you as you drag her up the stairs, though.
The usual ritual unfolds; Victoria takes her heavy jacket off when the clock rings and everyone busies themselves taking items out of their bags, revealing her fetish outfit to you, but not to the rest of the table. Your hand immediately snakes its way down to her leg and up her skirt. You don't tempt fate today by trying to lift the skirt to get a good look at her bare snatch- not in public, not in public, you keep reminding yourself; you'll just have to find a way to get her over to your house without your father being any the wiser soon. You do, however, immediately begin playing with her. She just spreads her legs a little wider, giving you easier access.
For the first time since you've started coming here, you turn to Victoria's book and try to actually pay attention to what everyone is saying. To your surprise, they're reading an entirely different book today- a book called Stardust. You've never heard of it before, which makes it a bit difficult for you to try and follow along with the conversation, but you give it a valiant shot- as best you can when your mind is half-focused on caressing a superhero's bare pussy in front of an unknowing crowd of her adoring fans, anyway. Honestly, you don't think anyone can blame you for being a bit distracted.
Now that you're actually paying attention, it's impressive how composed Victoria manages to appear. You can feel how wet she's growing as you play with her, but the only visible signs of what you're doing to her are a faint red tinge to her cheeks and the occasional soft gasp when you hit a particularly sensitive spot. Even people who look directly at her aren't able to tell what's going on. That's very impressive. Idly, you wonder how well she'd be able to hold on to her composure if you actually stuck your fingers inside her and fucked her in front of her fans. Would they be able to tell what was going on, or would Victoria be able to hold on and prevent herself from moaning or jerking around in the throes of an orgasm? Would she even care, or would the pleasure overcome her so far that she would beg you to continue even as people would inevitably take their phones out to record her?
Sadly, you won't be testing that today. Even if she'd let you, which you're not sure she would yet, the fantasy just isn't worth the problems that would ensue. At the very least, you'd lose the even greater erotic potential of chaining Victoria to you romantically while she's still dating her boyfriend.
If you ever need to break Victoria and her boyfriend up, though- well, there's an idea on how to do it.
You content yourself by just hanging on to Victoria's words, occasionally offering up your own thoughts on the book's technical writing when they talk about a page you can actually read, until the bell chimes two and everyone begins to pack up to head home. Once more, Victoria quickly shrugs her jacket back on and waits for everyone else to head home before gesturing for you to lead the way down, causing you to scowl a little. As though you need to be told to lead the way. She just chuckles a little, causing your scowl to melt into a scolding frown.
She doesn't actually let you lead her down the stairs, though. When you near the top, she pulls you back to her, pulling you close. Almost nose-to-nose.
"Need a lift today?" she asks softly. In response, you kiss her, grinning impishly when you feel her lips move into an annoyed scowl for a moment before she softens and kisses you back. Honestly, what did she expect, putting such tempting lips so close to you?
You part soon without even attempting to stick your tongue down her throat... more than once. You lick your lips, savouring the taste of her watermelon-flavoured lip gloss, before you reply. "If you wouldn't mind," you say, "but I actually need to go to the library before I go home."
"And so begins my life as a taxi," Victora sighs long-sufferingly. You stiffen and open your mouth to reassure her that you don't mean to demean her or her offer, but she just smirks at you when she sees it, and you snap your mouth shut. Well, you suppose you can allow her to verbally tease you this once. You did just spend two hours teasing her, after all.
You lead her down and outside, where she scoops you up in her arms again and flies you off to the library. You're tempted to kiss her again on the way there, but you refrain- there are too many people with cameras around, and while it's unlikely that anyone would be able to see what you're doing with her, let alone take a picture of it, you'd prefer not to gamble on that.
Eventually, she finds her way to an alley just outside of the library, in fact partly curling behind it. You note absently that she seems very familiar with this alley- she doesn't even bother to look where she's going before she descends- but before you can put much thought into it, she pulls you into a hot kiss of her own. When she pulls back, you're left feeling a little dazed until you see the impish smirk on her face; in turn, you dart forwards and press another kiss to her lips, then dance away with a teasing grin. She growls, but you just chuckle and jog out of the alley, knowing that she won't risk chasing you too fast where the public can see it.
She catches up to you, actually landing on the ground, when you make it out of the alley. The two of you walk up to the library, hands occasionally brushing against each other as you go. You're tempted to hold her hand, but- no, no, public issue. Man, this whole cheating thing is way more complicated than you'd thought it would be.
When you get in, you move immediately to the fantasy section. Victoria follows you along, looking a bit confused until you clarify, "I have a school assignment." Then she nods her head knowingly.
"What's it on?" she asks. "Maybe I could help."
"Uh..." You look around briefly, stalling for time. You see her smile out of the corner of your eye. "Uh, it's about how writers write about family!" Yeah, you immediately regret that one.
She hums. "Oh, is that so? Maybe I really can help you, then. I do happen to know a couple of excellent series where the author featured family ties very strongly. Maybe I could show you?"
"Oh, that'd be great!" your traitorous mouth says without your permission.
You and Victoria end up wandering the library for well over two hours, holding hushed discussions about your favourite series and what they're about. Victoria, you learn quickly, does not hold her book clubs just so she can bask in the idolization of her fans; she actually is very cluey about her books. "My sister reads them a lot," she informs you quietly at one point. "We don't have much in common, so I try to at least keep reading so we have something to talk about when she gets depressed."
By the time the library closes at five, you and Victoria are engaged in a lively discussion about the themes of one of the recent series imported from Earth Aleph, the Harry Potter series. You've never read it, but Victoria swears by it. "It has a weak ending," she tells you, "but the author is really good about setting up the book's aesthetic. It's probably the best fantasy world in any book I've read just for how it makes you imagine its world."
You nod along, content to just listen to her rambling on about this series as she casually flies you home. By the time she lands, you're actually a little interested in reading the series. Sadly, there's no way you could afford them- Earth Aleph imports are just way too expensive, and companies here won't receive publishing rights for at least another year or so until negotiations have gone through with the author.
Once she lets you go, you lean up to give her a kiss goodnight. She returns it, and surprises you by being the one to brush her tongue against your lips first, not that you're complaining. You open your mouth and draw her tongue in, eagerly sucking on it for a few moments before she reluctantly disengages.
"Seeya later, Taylor," she grins, and with a wave, she flies off. You wave to her as she moves, then shove your hands in your pockets with a weary sigh.
Well, that was a fun- and productive- day. Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end. You trudge home, mind already filling with plans for the week ahead of you.
In the end, your list of responsibilities just keeps on growing. You've got to tutor Madison, you're pretty sure you have a job now, you've got whatever this thing with Sophia is, you've got to try and keep Madison from worrying about your relationship, and now you've got to worry about your Dad and Emma, too.
There's only so long you can hide from them, though, and you're pretty sure that if you put that off much longer, it's going to bite you in the ass. Gah. Fine.
In the end, you decide to spend the next couple of days...
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