Nathan 's eyes shut as she presses once more into the kiss and Nathan finds himself taking a step back to just steady himself. Desire swamps his mind like a crashing wave and he breaks the heated kiss between them, only to lower his lips to her neck. They trace their way down to her collarbone, trailing the outline of it. His mind mimics the earlier thoughts of Leah as he intends to make every moment of their
#Nate'sApartment – January 14, 2020
time together count. After all, knowing their crappy luck, they'll end up in some other wild and dangerous situation that'll take them to insane places. Odd that he considers that the status quo. He banishes that trail of distracting thought as quickly as it came and, instead, he gently nips her skin with his teeth. That's a better line of thought.
Leah draws in a deep breath to steady the beating of her heart as Nathan begins to work his way down her neck. One arm maintains her grip around the back of his neck while the fingers of her other hand work through the back of his hair, urging him onward. A slightly breathless snicker slips out as lips brush across sensitive skin and she lulls her head against the top of his.
Nathan turns his head upwards and returns his way up her neck and to her jaw. A final kiss against her chin before he pauses and mutters quietly, "You, uh, wanna get more comfortable?" His eyes dart toward the doorway of his room, a perk of a brow accompanying the question. "Or, you know, we can just stay here and watch-" he leans into her neck and presses his lips against it. "-the-" again against her jaw.
Leah basks in the attention. The warmth of Nathan's touch. The dizzying intimacy. The final kiss against her chin causes her to lower her head, her unruly bangs serving as a cushion between their foreheads as her lips brush against his. His question is almost lost amidst the haze in her mind and takes her a moment to process as she presses a quick, aimless kiss against his cheek when he turns his head towards the door. Once
her brain catches up, she tilts her head against his to see where he's looking and a bit of that fog in her mind clears and her brain goes into overdrive. Are you really doing this? That wasn't the plan! Crappy movies and crappy food! Crappy sex was not in the plans! You-... The feeling of lips back against her neck does a good job of short circuiting her brain. Okay, screw
the plans! And a flash of that dumb grin is enough to silence her loud thoughts. She draws in a few heavy breaths before giving a nod of her head, ponytail bouncing behind her. Play it cool! Play it cool! "Yeah-... Comfortable sounds-..." she nods again, "I like comfortable."
Nathan hums a deep, rumbling chuckle, the closeness of their bodies making it all that more prominent. "Comfortable it is then," he muses. Twenty percent, twenty percent! The doubt in his mind begins to make a resurface, nagging at him that this might all go tits up and he'll just end up making a fool of himself. Or worse, ruin what they have together. But that's quickly shut down by another part of his mind.
The intimacy they've shared, the relationship they've developed. This is just exploring more of it. And in the end, at least from her reaction, this is something that they're comfortable with. With careful steps, Nate carries her around the coffee table and toward the bedroom door. The only hiccup in the journey is one of their shirts suddenly making a reappearance wrapped up around his foot. Crap, try
and play it cool and just casually shake it off. He distracts her and himself by pressing another kiss to her collarbone, frantically trying to shake the tangle of fabric around his foot as subtly as he can. Eventually, whoever's shirt goes sailing off into some part of his living room and he silently congratulates himself. Eventually, he reaches the door and keeps her hoisted with one arm whilst his
free hand palms the interface. His head swims with a maelstrom of emotions and thoughts that just blend into an almost incoherent mess.
Leah continues to beat back her own doubts and concerns as she's whisked off towards the bedroom. Worry born from a lifetime of having to be wary of who she lets in. Who she trusts. But the continued presence of his lips against her collarbone does a nice job of keeping those thoughts from taking hold for now, and keeping her attention away from her shirt that just went sailing across the room. She presses a few small, aimless
kisses against the top of his head until they reach the door, giving her a chance to catch her breath again. A sound of surprise escapes her as she ducks her head and brings one hand against the doorframe to avoid bumping against it as they enter, another snicker following.
Nathan chuckles, managing to mumble out a, "Sorry," as she ducks underneath the doorframe. The bedroom takes up most of the apartment, with a spacious double bed dominating the center of the room. A large window allows for a commanding view of Freedom Falls and the surrounding countryside during the day. But at night, it is almost like a vast expanse of empty space, with only the lights of the town doing
anything to fill it. The more distant lights of the furthest houses glitter like lone stars, but they are drowned by the sky above them as the Terminus hangs above. The lamps located either side of the bed respond to the sudden presence, basking the room in a warm glow. Nathan takes two steps towards the bed as the door slides shut behind them, where he promptly pivots and falls backwards onto the
duvet, legs dangling over the edge of the bed. He lets out a small laugh, finally releasing the grip he had on Leah as he just takes a moment to look up to her, a dumb grin on his face and a playful (and slightly drunk) glint to his eyes.
Leah gives a surprised squeal as Nathan falls backwards onto the bed, briefly clinging to him. Her knees presses against the bed on each side of Nathan, she props herself up by placing her palms flat against his midsection, big bright smile spread across her face. The eyes on her cause her to lower her gaze briefly, nervous chuckle escaping. She tentatively meets his eyes with her own, tilting her head to the side slightly as
she draws in a small breath. Silence is the enemy that lets nerves and doubts take hold. Thankfully, Leah isn't aquainted with silence. "Comfy bed." she muses softly before playfully bouncing a couple of times in place atop both the bed, and Nathan, as if to put the bed's comfort level to the test.
Nathan lets out a small grunt as she bounces, a small snicker escaping him. "I told you. Comfortable." Silence is indeed the enemy that lets nerves take hold, for Nathan honestly never expected either of them to take it this far alone. Usually one or both of them does something that leads to one of their signature word floods or something intercedes between it. So, he props himself upright and runs his hands
up her sides, before taking a hold of her waist. Before he can really stop himself, the nerves manage to somehow beat the confidence he had been showing and the booze that had layered his mind. "So... right. I'll just, uh... get rid of... this." He nods to the strapless bra on her chest, the more commonly awkward Nate showing through. He unfortunately doesn't share as strong a affinity as Leah does for
Leah snickers along with Nathan, sharing the moment. Her gaze lowers to the hands drifting up her body, her own hands rising to Nathan's shoulders to keep her balance. The awkward, nerve-laced question prompts her green eyes to snap to his face. "Oh!" she hums, sucking in her lips as she gives a few small nods. "Right." she mutters before giving a more stern nod and repeating herself with as much confidence as she can muster,
"Right!" Maybe Nathan's nerves are contagious. Or just having a moment to collect her thoughts has allowed her own nerves to catch back up to her. Perhaps it's simply the fact that he has invoked the wrath of the word vomit by merely thinking of it. Whatever the case may be, as Nathan's hands begin to work towards the back of her bra, she draws in a deep breath, feeling that artificial confidence slip away. "Wait, wait,
Nathan instantly freezes, the glass shattering in his mind to allow all of the worst case scenarios to come pouring out. "Waiting!" His hands drop and instead he props himself up on his elbows, his face scrunching up in one of those self deprecating looks that one adopts when they think they've badly messed up.
Leah winces, green eyes opening with an apologetic tilt of her head. Those worries and doubts that she's managed to keep locked out all night slowly begin to batter down the door. "Okay-... umm-..." she begins, reaching up to swipe a lock of hair that has fallen into her face back behind her ear. Her gaze turns to the window to avoid meeting his gaze. To the little orbs of light around Freedom Falls. "I don't want to ruin the
mood or-... or make things weird-..." With an insincere little snort she cocks her head to one side, eyes now turning towards the wall. "Great job, Leah~" she berates herself in a sing-songy voice. Ruining moods and making things weird seems to be her specialty lately. Like a... weird, mood-ruining superpower. She draws in another deep breath, tugging on her bottom lip with her teeth momentarily before hazarding a look
back to Nathan. "I... don't make a habit of just... getting into bed with people." she explains. As is usually the case, she can't just move on to her point. 'Less is more' is something she was never taught, apparently. "Not that there's anything wrong with-... with that. With this." she corrects, already on a tangent. "I mean-... I mean I want to-... to-.... this." There's a goofy, uncomfortable snicker that
accompanies her admission, the red already creeping back into her cheeks as she rolls her eyes at her own awkwardness, "Of course I do. You're sweet! You're hot-..." Her gaze turns downward, pointedly scanning his bare chest before meeting his eyes again with a number of nods to punctuate her point, "...and~ now~ I~ am~ making~ it~ weird~ again~" she sings, just sliding further and further away from whatever point she was
Nathan just merely listens to her, managing to unscrunch his face to let it transition into a look of sheepishness and a little bit of... guilt? However, her tangent does afford him a moment to recollect his thoughts and start battening down the hatches that are his flood of worries and doubts. He nods and shakes his head where appropriate with her word vomit, sharply exhaling a small breath of air from his
nose. He sucks in his bottom lip at her skirting of the point and a little nod accompanies it. Her compliments, however, manage to draw a more relaxed snicker from him and he takes a moment to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, I... no, you're not making it weird. I'm sorry. I guess I just got-... caught up in it all," he says with a small shrug. "If anything, I'm making it weird!" He nods
firmly and looks up at her, giving her an apologetic smile. "So, uh, just... just tell me if I'm going too fast, or doing something wrong or-... yeah. I warned you! I'm terrible at this!" He gestures frantically, punctuating his words with exaggerated hand motions. "I mean, who... who puts on Furious Volus for a first date?! C'mon, like, everyone knows Blasto is the go to for first dates!" As words
Leah watches Nathan with a perpetual wince etched into her features, as if worried she's already ruined everything. But the more he speaks, the softer her expression becomes. She gives a heavy shake of his head when he tries to take the blame for 'making things weird'. His comment about Blasto illicits a genuine, if brief, laugh, her shoulders bouncing as a hint of that bright smile of hers shines through. She gives another
small shake of her head as she brings a hand up to his face, thumb gently stroking his cheek. "Nate..." she sighs, "It's not-... you're not going too fast. It's perfect. Everything is perfect." she assures. "Annnnnd I happen to have enjoyed Furious Volus, thankyouverymuch!" she adds in a defiant tone, a soft snicker following. But a bit of that brightness fades as quickly as it arrived and she dips her head. "I
just-... I don't want to ruin this." she offers, her tone almost apologetic to accompany the wince that returns, worried that her words might be taken the wrong way. "I-..." she trails off, eyes scanning along his chest as she sorts through her thoughts and there's a bit of distance in her gaze as she chews at her bottom lip. "I feel safe with you, Nate." she says, forcing herself to look him in the eyes as she does. A
sheepish, embarrassed shrug follows. Of course, he's seen her in combat. She's a walking, talking (so much talking), pint-sized tank. It's highly unlikely she means physically safe. The weight behind her words causes her to blink at the sting in her eyes. "I don't want to lose that. So-... so if this is-... if, umm-..." she swallows, "...this is the goal? A few awkward kisses and a night of casual sex? Then-... then
that's fine. I just want you to be honest with me, okay?" She tries to prop up that smile of hers but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. A mix of embarrassment over having laid her own fears and insecurities out so bare and guilt over doubting- worrying about- his intentions after he's reassured her time and time again settles in.
Nathan finds himself leaning into her hand, eyes briefly closing as her thumb caresses his cheek. A smile and small chuckle escapes him at her defiant defense of Furious Volus which still plays quietly in the living room. But as she continues on, his eyes crack open and he meets her gaze when her eyes drift back to his face. Understanding behind his gaze, but when she admits that she feels safe with him...
it's like taking a punch from a krogan to the gut. She feels safe with him. He, who has a repeated history of failing to do just that. Keeping people safe. Jasmine. His fallen comrades. The people he couldn't save on the Collector ship. To have someone admit that they feel safe around him churns out strong, mixed feelings. He finds himself staring through Leah and he quickly blinks himself back to
reality, back to her words. He reaches up to take her hand in his own, ignoring the burning sensation in his supportive arm from the strain of keeping himself sat upright, and turns it over to press a gentle kiss against her skin. "...my goal," he says slowly, carefully, "Is to try and make you as happy as I damn well can. I... really, really care about you." He focuses his eyes on her hand, the slow
admittance making it absurdly difficult to meet her own. Like he said. He's not great at this stuff. "And I don't want to screw it up... I just... I'm scared. Y'know? My track record is pretty crap with... well, everything. But when I get to be with you... I-I-I feel like I can forget all that and just be... me." He swallows, finally mustering the courage to look back to her. "So, no... the goal isn't
casual sex. Plenty of awkward kisses, because, c'mon, awkward is our thing. But I just want to be with you in this fucked up galaxy and enjoy these moments of being a normal, person. With. You." He blinks, a sharp sigh escaping him. "Does that make sense? I feel like I'm jumbling everything up and going around in circles and-...".
Leah studies Nathan's face as he speaks, focusing on each and every word. It causes that fluttering in her stomach to return, brows pinching into an arch as he explains himself, his words seeming to help calm her nerves. His comment about his track record even garners a quiet little snort. But the words that follow- I feel like I can just be me- hit a bit closer to home. That comfort that she doesn't need to
worry about who she is when she's around him. Doesn't need to worry about what she is. She swallows at the lump in her throat, a soft, emotional snicker escaping when he brings up their awkwardness. Does that make sense? She gives a number of wordless nods, briefly sucking in her lips to contain the big, goofy, uncontrollable smile that threatens to escape. "Yeah..." she offers softly. Her nodding continues as
she brings her other hand up to his cheek, her entire body shifting forward as his words fade into distant droning and she cuts him off mid-sentence by pressing her smile against his lips, locking him into a kiss and urging him back against the bed.