"The way you show your secrets,
Makes me wild, lust is last,
I'm in trouble,
I'm afraid we'll just burn"

Burns Like A Star - Stone Fury

/

Joss felt like the kiss between them could have gone on for only seconds or lingering minutes, but she was fully lost, lost in the moment, lost completely in his arms. Everything he did was a well thought out battle plan of seduction, hands skimming bare skin to what little soaked clothing remained. Every water droplet left beaded on her skin was disturbed by his exhaustive exploration as he teased and squeezed his way to that final edge that would send them both over into something else. No longer just friends, and not serious enough to be exclusive, but something more complex and harder to define. A tangle that Joss knew may in the end bind them closer or splinter them apart.

"Hey! You damn kids! What are you doing? The pool's closed!"

Some loud drunken shouting came from the direction of the bar, breaking Joss and Billy apart in surprise and both their heads snapped to the source. Two guys had spied them through the fence and seemed to be taking great joy in bringing attention to their near-explicit romp.

Billy and Joss exchanged a panicked look before they both made for the edge of the pool, hearing the amused shouts continuing behind them. "Hey, go get Fred, he's meant to be the damn security, even though he's already drunk!"

"Shit, shit, shit!" Joss breathed as she pulled her water soaked body out of the pool followed closely by Billy. They scooped up their clothes and shoes and he swerved towards the broken fence where they'd emerged from earlier, but Joss caught him by the elbow, guiding him in the direction she wanted. "No time, he'll catch us!"

"Then where-"

Joss didn't give him time to fully ask his questions and pulled him quickly towards a closed door, turning the handle with an easy click and hauling his body in after her and closing it in one swift movement with a little metallic clang, their rapid breathing the only noise in the complete darkness for a moment.

"So, I'm guessing Fred is bad news?" Billy said in a hushed whisper, still slightly out of breath from their flight and the sudden rush of adrenaline.

"Fred is a drunken asshole, who will give up after five minutes if he can't find us," Joss said.

"So, this isn't your first 'Fred rodeo'?"

"No, but I know how to avoid him. They never lock the changing room doors, I think they're broken. Come on," Joss said, giving him an encouraging tug.

"Wait, is this the women's changing rooms?" Billy asked, his steps slowing, making Joss tug him again, harder.

"Yes, why does that even matter?" Joss snapped, annoyed by the accusatory tone in his voice.

Billy shrugged. "It doesn't, just never been in here before."

Why did it sound like it did actually bother him?

"Well trust me, it smells better than the men's." Joss again pulled him forward and barefooted they made their way silently through the dark cold tiled rooms until they reached a bathroom area with several shower cubicles covered by flimsy opaque plastic curtains.

"It's like a mirror image," Billy said with a laugh, their eyes adjusted to the gloom enough to make out some of the room plan.

Joss pushed her clothing into his arms, which for a brief moment he seemed inclined to drop just to prove a petty point that he wasn't her baggage carrier, but she put her hand to his lips to signal this was no time for macho tantrums. He gave in with a small shrug and accepted his fate.

"So-" he began, about to question all her dubious choices of bringing them in here, a seeming dead end with one way in and out.

"Shush!" Joss hissed as they heard from behind them the same door they'd just come through opening on squeaky metal hinges.

She motioned for him to follow her semi-blindly through the dark, as one hand came to grasp his wrist while her free hand fumbled clumsily forward, feeling various work out equipment on her exploration, the seconds ticking by like the countdown to a bomb. She reached out, searching, hoping, and felt relief wash through her as she brushed against a wooden pole. Without hesitation she plucked the heavy broom from its position propped up against the wall, the exact place she'd left it after her last late night escapade at the community pool. Joss suddenly felt lucky that this whole place was staffed by people her age who had better things to do than even contemplate actually cleaning. She let go of Billy and pulled open the heavy sauna door as silently as she could manage and motioned him frantically inside with her, carefully allowing the door to close gently.

Then with a quick movement she placed the broom through the loop of the door handle, sliding it all the way to the brush head, preventing the door being opened more than a few centimeters. Joss glanced up at Billy and gestured for them both to lean on either side of the door so anyone looking through the square glass window would only see what appeared to be an empty room. Billy made a twirling hand movement telling Joss to turn away, and she just managed to in time before he pulled off his soaked through close fitting briefs, letting them fall to the floor with a wet smack and then fumbled a moment with his jeans. Joss' curiosity got the better of her and she took a sneaky glance towards his momentarily naked backside as he pulled his jeans into place. She tried to hide the smile that wanted to curl at the corners of her lips at his actions. If they were found now, Joss understood his true concern was not the trouble they'd be in, but that'd he'd have been found half naked, as if the jeans added another layer of manly defense.

A flash of a beam of torchlight cut into the room as whoever hunted them swept it to and fro, trying to discover their hiding place in the changing room beyond the door. Joss tapped a finger to her lips and then placed her palms flat against the wall, pressing her body as thinly as she could and Billy mirrored her movements.

"If anyone's in here, you're gonna regret it!" A slurred voice boomed out suddenly, making them both catch their breath. They slowly relaxed and caught each other's eyes in the darkness and Billy's face crumpled into semi-restrained silent laughter. Joss could feel her own lips twitching and looked away, knowing it would only make it worse to look at him. "I'm tellin' ya to come out now, with your hands high!"

Billy let out a little gasp of laughter and quickly smothered it with a hand, his body racked with shivers of humor.

Suddenly the door was rattled hard, making them both jump and become as still as if frozen in place, but the broom held, and to Fred the door appeared locked. The torch beam shone in for a moment, lighting up the shiny tile flooring and wooden benches, and then it receded with one last rattle of the door.

"Damn kids, how many times I gotta tell them to fix those damn changing room doors!" Fred's voice faded away and then came the metal slam of the main door to the changing room.

Joss let out a heavy breath, as Billy finally allowed a deep chuckle of laughter to escape him.

"With your hands high?!" he questioned, with a look that expressed just how hilarious he thought that statement was.

"Fred thinks he's a sheriff in some old cowboy movie, or wishes he was. He's all bluster. He hasn't caught me yet," Joss said with a cool flick of her still sopping wet hair.

Billy let out a few more huffs of laughter before regaining himself. "I don't know why we even hid from him, what could he have honestly done? I could have laid him out flat."

"Yeah, but that wouldn't have been half as much fun," Joss said, now wringing out her hair as best she could.

Billy let out another laugh, but this time he sounded surprised too. "It kinda was. I felt like a kid, playing hide and seek but with way bigger stakes."

"Stealth," Joss said with a grin. "Being sneaky always has its advantages, no police or assault charges for a start."

Billy shook his head as if still not quite sure what to make of all this. "So, how long do we have to wait until old Fred finds his beer glass again?"

"I usually give it, maybe, thirty minutes? Make sure he's nicely soaked so he's not inclined to come looking again." She reached over to the bench Billy had piled her clothing upon and searched in her jacket pocket for a moment, pulling out a few stubby well-used looking candles which she lit with her own box of matches.

"You even brought your own mood lighting?" He was really laughing now.

"Well, you never know when you might be forced to stay in a dark room waiting out some alcoholic janitor." She shrugged, trying her hardest to play it off cool, knowing the real reason was because the first time she'd done this little trick, the darkness and silence of the sauna room had creeped her out so badly that she swore to always carry a few candles on her in future, should her adventures take her anywhere that made her feel uneasy.

"How long have you been coming here exactly?"

Joss shrugged. "Since last summer."

He laughed again, that expression of slight perplexity touching his features once more. "Wild Tanner, who'd have thought it?"

"Only you, I guess, since no one else knows anything about me."

"Only me," he repeated, and looked at her with a sly grin, that coltish head tilt coming back into full play. "I like that." He reached out, his palm skimming across her upper arm before coming to rest his grip upon her forearm, gently pulling her back to him. His hands came to encircle her waist as he bent and pressed a brief kiss against her mouth. He pulled back, top teeth grazing across his bottom lip in heavy anticipation. "So, where were we before that asshole interrupted us?"

"About here," Joss said, going in for another kiss, and he met it with a passionate return, both their breathing hitching.

Joss slowly drew back, allowing their lips to linger in touch before breaking the contact completely, giving him a look that she hoped he'd not only find highly alluring and inviting, but that conveyed all the desire she felt in this one moment. What she saw in his returned look was animalistic and exciting, his pupils dilated, eyes heavily lidded, and a small smile pulling at one side of his mouth that promised to eat her whole if she'd only lean back and expose her throat.

She kept that eye contact locked between then, her breath catching from the way that smoldering look made her feel. She allowed her hands to roam over his body, down naked muscled biceps and chest to the edge of his jeans, her hands playing for a moment with the buckle. A ripple of slight surprise passed through his gaze at her bold actions, and Joss felt a welling of smug superiority along with a thrill of having control over the situation. She had him in a place she was familiar with, but he wasn't, and Joss found she liked that feeling, of surprising him, of winning whatever the game was they were clearly still playing, despite her semi-impassioned speech in the pool.

She leaned into his body, making sure her damp lacy bra covered chest pressed softly and teasingly against his muscular torso, and purposefully laid a trail of fluttering kisses up his jawline. "Well, I guess I owe you for before, so..." She whispered seductively into his ear and felt him shiver at the glance of her touch across his stomach.

Her fingers worked deftly, undoing the buckle and then his fly and she saw him close his eyes briefly in enjoyment of her touch against the naked skin of his hips as she traced the now open waistband with glancing sensual touches before she squeezed his bare backside with a firmer hand, letting out a little laugh of triumph as he gave out a low grunt in mild surprise. Then Joss moved her touch, coming to his neck and tauntingly playing with a few damp coils of hair she found, with that same self satisfied smirk pulling at her mouth. He allowed her lips to push forcefully against his in another kiss that she was in control of, her caress wandering playfully to stroke and tease him through his now even tighter jeans, and this caused him to let out a soft little breath of a moan against her lips that made her blood thrum in her ears in hedonistic pleasure.

She did one last sweep of caresses up his chest, her touch flickering against sensitive skin as her lips lingered and brushed, barely touching his own in teasing temptation, not giving him the passionate meeting he clearly now wanted. He tried to catch her again and again as Joss moved just out of reach, making their kisses frustratingly and deliberately provoking. She gave him a quirk of another cavalier grin as she pulled fully away, her hands then followed her descent down his body, and she came to kneel before him, her fingers gripping the waist band of his jeans.

Suddenly his hands were firmly at her wrists, preventing her going further with any of her grand ideas, and he tugged her up onto her feet, the strength behind the action almost violent.

Joss let out a little yelp of surprise, not understanding his actions at all and her eyes searched his a moment, trying to find an answer as he held her firmly in place. Didn't he want her after all? Had he changed his mind? Had she done something wrong?

In a fleeting ripple of expression that only touched his face briefly, Billy did look affronted and Joss suddenly left like she was on the back foot, unsure what she'd done to cause this sudden change. Her lips parted as a biting question bubbled up with that exact sentiment, but he spoke before she could.

"Ah, ah," he scolded, like she was a little kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Saints never go on their knees." He was mocking her and Joss felt those words sting at her pride and her foolish notion of wanting to please him.

One hundred retorts and unkind slap backs swirled in her mind but once again he moved before she did, tugging her to him in a hard pull that made her collide with his chest, startling her all over again. She looked up, still caught in his vice like grip by both wrists, feeling suddenly like a fly stuck in a glue trap. Her questioning gaze met his eyes, her lips parting again to speak, and then he kissed her so wildly and deeply that Joss felt all the fight rush out of her, her legs suddenly unstable as his mouth look all opportunities to make her feel on fire from his very touch, the uncertainty of the situation leaving as quickly as lust flowed back in.

He pulled back, an unkind grin upon his face. "They get lifted up to be sanctified." Why did it sound like he meant the exact opposite? But still, the deep tone of his voice made flaring heat flow through her as she realized she didn't care anymore, about games, or winning, or anything else but wanting him. The warning that lurked somewhere layered within all of this was willfully ignored as Joss allowed him every inch of control he desired, bending to whatever he wanted, because she wanted him. It felt so very simple to just give in.

He picked her up easily, echoing his recent words as he encouraged her to wrap her legs around his middle and slowly, with a few slow and lingering kisses that made Joss feel impatient, he walked them both over to the wooden bench and laid her carefully back upon it, his eyes never leaving hers, as if he was holding her to him with a spell of demanded compliance. Under that watchful flickering ember of dark blue eyed ignition, she wanted to be the fuel that fed him, the gasoline that would finally, fully, burn them both to dust.

Joss felt a rush of hot want settle in her very core, he'd hardly touched her, yet she felt to go a moment more without him taking her was almost unbearable, but when she hungrily reached for him he pushed her back down with a playful yet warning look, before coming to her in his own time, as if everything that came next was only allowed at his express permission.

In that dark room of flickering candlelight it was a flurry of warm mouths and seeking hands that Joss found she couldn't keep up with, and she encouraged him on top of her, thighs encircling his hips, urging him to do what needed to be done. It suddenly felt like time was running out and if they didn't do this now, this tension, this string between them would ever remain taught and unbroken, and that felt as excruciating as the growing pulse of blood that surged through her veins, setting every sensitive nerve into a rhythm of tender aching need.

She longed not only for the very real physical release her whole body thrummed in anticipation of, but the emotional release too, because once that barrier was gone, once the animal instinct between them was satisfied, maybe that truly would be it for them, and they would return to being just friends in the best case scenario... and the worst? He'd leave her alone to carry on with her life and move forward, out of Hawkins with some actual good memories of this place. It felt strangely like a win win situation for Joss because either way, someone had given a shit about her long enough to make her feel alive again.

Joss struggled out of her bra, the sensation of his warm hands against her water chilled skin like a sudden jolt of thrilling new sensation, sending her tottering towards an edge that made her feel wild with a covetous hunger and she bit down hard on his shoulder, making him release a little grunt of pain. Billy laughed as if smug at having provoked such a primal instinct from her and again he pushed her back with a stern warning look, his own mouth finding her neck in a form of sweet punishment for disobeying, and that now familiar delectable soft painful pressure came, making her squirm under him, wanting more, wanting all he had.

At some point in all the sudden heated passion she hazily realized she was fully naked, as was he, and they were pressed against each other skin to skin. They both stilled for only a few seconds, lost in those sensations of feeling every part of each other against their own bodies, the anticipation almost as heady as what they both knew was about to happen.

Joss lost track of everything that occurred in what order after that moment, how many touches and intimate caresses passed between them. But she did remember that one clear startling moment when he took her, understanding with that ruthless thrust of his hips that he had the same unexplainable need to end this game between them, to finally be the victor, and Joss let him have everything he wanted. The win was his and she was willingly felled, gasping with defeated pleasure as they moved and merged in and out of the shadows of candlelight as one.

/

A/N

Welcome anyone reading.

As so often happens (fanfic curse?) I get back into the swing of wanting to upload regularly and life has other ideas, which is why this chapter is a bit late and so will be the next one, as I'm too busy to have any nice hobbies over the holidays. I will continuing this story after Christmas or in the New Year, depending on how much free time I actually end up having.

This is certainly the honeymoon period for Billy and Joss and I can confirm, this will not last and their personalities are going to crash once again at some point but how it happens and why is a something I'll let you uncover as we go.

As always your support in whatever way you feel comfortable is always appreciated.

Until next time.