(no subject)
For [info]mellowcandle's request that she was going to make.
Title: Three Shots
Series: Tales of the Abyss
Length: 440 words
Request: Guy/Natalia
Genre: Romance
Summary: It's all in the title.
****
"After all these years, what do you view Luke as? Friend? Master? Someone you have to protect?"
"It's complicated." She watched Guy work from across the smooth bar counter as he unrinded a lime in a long, neat strip. "I'd say he was like a little brother."
She leaned forward on her elbows; she was wearing a different evening dress tonight. "How about me?"
Friend, comrade, Princess, a beautiful woman...
He dropped the green coil into a martini glass and pushed the drink to his best regular and smiled as warmly as always. "You're like my little sister."
Natalia didn't like that answer at all.
****
One night in the dead of night she appeared at his door without knocking, shoulders sagged and facestreaked with tears. She staggered--ran into him, the momentum carrying both off balance and landing them on his bed with her on top. Guy panicked, pinned beneath a woman's familiar weight. His hands went clammy and his mind went blank as the traumatic memory rushed back. He grabbbed her shoulders and was about to push her off...
"Please."
A broken whisper.
"I don't want to be alone."
He swallowed. Felt the trembling through his fingers. Little by little he forced the images from his mind and focused on the here and now. On the sobbing, shaking form in his arms. Not the same woman. Not Mary, just a girl who put up a strong front after Asch was gone and Luke and Tear... It'd been eating away at her for months and there was no one else.
He couldn't push her away.
His hands moved to the small of her back; he'd be her shoulder for as long as she needed.
****
"What do you love most about me?"
It was a silly question, frivolous, self-centered, something one never would expect from the lips of the no nonsense princess. But there was no one else around, no wagging tongues, and she felt that with him she should be allowed to indulge in what normal girls do; he was her indulgence.
Guy wound his finger around one of her shoulder-length strands. "The color of your hair."
"So vain!"
She felt his chuckle through his chest and smiled.
"Do you know what I love most about you?"
He raised his eyebrows. She could see that he had some charming reply in mind but decided to let her; he shook his head. "It's how you're still afraid of women. Everyone except me."
"And what does that say about your qualities as a woman?"
"I don't care." She pulled herself up to kiss him on the chin. "As long as it means you'll only be mine."
Title: Three Shots
Series: Tales of the Abyss
Length: 440 words
Request: Guy/Natalia
Genre: Romance
Summary: It's all in the title.
****
"After all these years, what do you view Luke as? Friend? Master? Someone you have to protect?"
"It's complicated." She watched Guy work from across the smooth bar counter as he unrinded a lime in a long, neat strip. "I'd say he was like a little brother."
She leaned forward on her elbows; she was wearing a different evening dress tonight. "How about me?"
Friend, comrade, Princess, a beautiful woman...
He dropped the green coil into a martini glass and pushed the drink to his best regular and smiled as warmly as always. "You're like my little sister."
Natalia didn't like that answer at all.
****
One night in the dead of night she appeared at his door without knocking, shoulders sagged and facestreaked with tears. She staggered--ran into him, the momentum carrying both off balance and landing them on his bed with her on top. Guy panicked, pinned beneath a woman's familiar weight. His hands went clammy and his mind went blank as the traumatic memory rushed back. He grabbbed her shoulders and was about to push her off...
"Please."
A broken whisper.
"I don't want to be alone."
He swallowed. Felt the trembling through his fingers. Little by little he forced the images from his mind and focused on the here and now. On the sobbing, shaking form in his arms. Not the same woman. Not Mary, just a girl who put up a strong front after Asch was gone and Luke and Tear... It'd been eating away at her for months and there was no one else.
He couldn't push her away.
His hands moved to the small of her back; he'd be her shoulder for as long as she needed.
****
"What do you love most about me?"
It was a silly question, frivolous, self-centered, something one never would expect from the lips of the no nonsense princess. But there was no one else around, no wagging tongues, and she felt that with him she should be allowed to indulge in what normal girls do; he was her indulgence.
Guy wound his finger around one of her shoulder-length strands. "The color of your hair."
"So vain!"
She felt his chuckle through his chest and smiled.
"Do you know what I love most about you?"
He raised his eyebrows. She could see that he had some charming reply in mind but decided to let her; he shook his head. "It's how you're still afraid of women. Everyone except me."
"And what does that say about your qualities as a woman?"
"I don't care." She pulled herself up to kiss him on the chin. "As long as it means you'll only be mine."