FIC: Smoke (AB)
WARNING: Pure, unadulterated fluff ahead. You have been warned. ( I needed something to cut the angst machine that is my Anita/Jean-Claude fest)
Smoke
An Anita Blake fanfiction story by mhalachaiswords
Summary: Nathaniel's home from his camping trip with Jason -- How will Anita welcome him back?
Disclaimer: The Anita Blake universe belongs to Laurell K. Hamilton. I'm only borrowing and will return all at the end of the fic.
Characters: Anita, Nathaniel
Rating: R for nakedness and smoochies
Word count: 2,377
Fandom: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (master list here)
fanfic100 Prompt: 83 -- And?
Author's Note and spoilers: This arose from me trying to deal with even more issues from Danse Macabre, the latest Anita Blake book. As such, spoilers from that book.
~~~
I was on the front porch steps when Jason and Nathaniel drove up. It wasn't that I had been waiting for hours for them to get home; that I was grumpy to the point where I had driven Micah out of the house hours before he had to be at work. No, not that at all.
And if you believed any of that, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
It was about five in the afternoon; the early summer sun still high in the sky. Jason turned off the car's engine and slid out of the muddy vehicle. "Miss us?" he asked as he went around to the trunk.
"Of course not," I retorted, a little sullen. I hadn't been getting a lot of sleep, and it made me less than Miss Mary Sunshine.
Jason grinned. "You do a lot of porch-sitting in your time off?"
I considered, then discarded a few responses, in order to take the moral high ground. I ignored his question. "How was your trip?"
"Excellent," Jason said as Nathaniel slowly got out of the car. "But maybe Nathaniel should tell you all about that."
Nathaniel closed the car door, and I finally got a good look at him. I was on my feet and moving towards him before I thought about it. "What happened to your face?" I demanded.
Nathaniel opened his eyes wide. "It's nothing."
I stopped right in front of him and reached my hand up. "I've never seen you with a beard," I breathed, rubbing the back of my hand along the edge of his jaw, feeling the bristles of the beginning beard scratch against my hand.
"It's not really a beard," Nathaniel said, staring intently at a spot on my shirt. "I forgot to take a razor. That's all."
I'll be honest, I had never in my entire life been able to picture Nathaniel with a beard. It was strange, with his long auburn hair tied back in a messy braid, but now that it was right in front of my face, it looked almost normal. "It's kind of cool."
Nathaniel finally glanced up. "Really?"
I rubbed my hand over his beard again. "Yeah."
Jason made kissy noises as he passed us, carrying a large bundle in his arms. "Get a room, you two."
Over Nathaniel's shoulder, I gave Jason the look he deserved. "What are you doing?"
"Leaving the tent here, it needs to be aired out," Jason said as he dumped his armful onto the porch. "No place at the Circus, and Sylvie will kill me if I wreck her stuff."
I shook my head. "How do I know this isn't some save-your-ass scheme because you already wrecked the tent and know Sylvie probably won't kill me?"
"It's not that," Nathaniel said, carefully slipping his arm around my waist. When I leaned against him, he relaxed. "It's fine."
"Good." I leaned harder against Nathaniel to rest my cheek against his shoulder. He smelled faintly like wood smoke and vanilla and leopard and it was all just so him, so familiar, that the tension in my chest eased. "Good."
Jason pulled a duffle out of the car, then slammed the trunk. "That's it, I'm out of here."
"Do you want to stay for a little while?" Nathaniel asked. I fought to keep my face neutral, not to let my feelings cross my face. If Nathaniel wanted to invite his friend... no, our friend to stay for a while, then that was good. A year ago, Nathaniel would never have asked such a thing. He was becoming more dominant in his own ways all the time, and usually I loved and encouraged it. But today, I just wanted Jason gone and Nathaniel all to myself.
Jason smirked at us. "Nah, I'm going to head home, get cleaned up before Jean-Claude wants his evening nibble." He came over and threw his arms around us both in a hug. "Have fun."
I squirmed away when I felt someone's hand on my ass. "Enough, Schuler!"
"Yeah, no groping my girlfriend," Nathaniel added tentatively.
Jason pouted. "Fine," he said melodramatically. "I'll go away to my cold bed--"
I snorted. "Stop whining," but I was smiling as I said it.
"Why don't you come by tomorrow, and we can get the pictures off your camera?" Nathaniel suggested, slipping his arm back around my shoulders.
"You're on," Jason said, climbing back into the car. "Have fun, you two!"
I waited until Jason drove off, then turned in Nathaniel's grasp and hugged him tight. "Hey, you."
"Hey," Nathaniel whispered against my hair. "How was everything while I was gone?"
"Oh, fine," I said quickly. "How about we get your stuff in the house and you can tell me all about your camping trip."
Nathaniel gave me a look. "Okay," he said, "But I think I'd like a shower first."
I nodded, making myself let go of Nathaniel. "Sounds good."
He stopped me with a touch on the hand. "Do you want to join me?"
There was a familiar expression on his face, half shy, half sly. I had no idea why, but every time I saw that expression I melted inside. "Okay." Because I was half a second away from jumping his bones in the front yard, I moved away and went over to grab his duffle bag.
We got into the house without me making a fool of myself. Nathaniel headed straight for the bathroom. I paused long enough to lock the front door before following him.
He was untangling his hair when I closed the bathroom door behind me. I paused for a moment, leaning back against the door, to watch him. He was twenty-one now, and his frame had filled out to match his shoulders. He was muscled and graceful and just so damned amazing that I sighed.
Nathaniel looked at me through a curtain of his hair. "What's up?"
I shrugged and smiled. "Nothing."
He smiled back. "Nothing?" he repeated, brushing his hair out.
"Fine, not nothing," I amended. I undid my belt and pulled it free of the loops on my shoulder holster. "Did you have fun with Jason?"
"Yes," Nathaniel said. He kept brushing. "I've never been camping before."
"What kinds of things did you do?" I asked as I took off my shirt.
"All kinds of things." Nathaniel swept his hair over his shoulder and pulled off his t-shirt in one flowing movement. "We did a lot of hiking and stuff."
I was distracted by the rippling muscles of Nathaniel's stomach. "Swell." I realized what I had just said. "I mean, that sounds swell." Damn it, I was blushing.
Nathaniel undid his shorts and stepped out of them. He was suddenly in front of me, totally naked. All coherent thought deserted me as Nathaniel swept me up in his arms and kissed me. His short beard was prickly against my face, but it felt so damned good that I kept at it.
When we finally separated, breathless and dazed on my part, my remaining clothes were lying on the floor. "Come on," Nathaniel whispered, kissing a line up my cheek. "Shower. Now."
I wanted something witty to say, but all I could force out past the pounding heartbeat in my throat was, "Uh huh."
Nathaniel left me standing in the middle of the floor and went to turn on the shower. Since this gave me a perfect view of his butt as he walked, I didn't complain. After a minute, Nathaniel crooked his finger at me in a 'come-hither' gesture, and I went willingly.
The water was warm and calming and lulled me into a bit of a daze. Nathaniel reached over my shoulder for the shampoo. "Are you okay?" he asked.
I nodded. "Just a little tired." I picked up the soap and began to later up Nathaniel's chest.
"Why are you tired?"
"I didn't get much sleep while you were gone."
"Why not?"
I concentrated on Nathaniel's chest. "I had a little trouble sleeping, that's all."
Nathaniel worked the shampoo into his hair. "Was Micah home?"
"Usually." I used a gentle pressure on Nathaniel's hips to turn him around to face away from me. I rubbed the soap over his shoulders. "It wasn't the same," I mumbled.
Nathaniel must have heard that, with his wereleopard hearing, but he remained silent. He let me wash his back and arms and neck, then he stuck his head under the shower to rinse his hair.
When he finally surfaced, I wordlessly handed him the conditioner. He took it with a smile. My irritation faded away as I smiled back. I had spent the better part of a year falling asleep spooned around Nathaniel, his wereleopard-warm skin keeping me warm on the darkest of nights. I loved sleeping with Micah too, but it wasn't the same.
I hadn't realized how much I would miss Nathaniel when he'd asked me if he could go on the week-long camping trip with Jason. Of course I said yes, that he didn't need to ask my permission... but that first night, when I found it impossible to relax into sleep without him, I'd been tempted to bring him home.
I hadn't, didn't want to ruin his very first camping trip ever. I was ashamed that Micah had borne the brunt of my annoyance and grumpiness, but he hadn't commented. If any man ever deserved sainthood for putting up with me for the past week, it was Micah Callahan.
"So," I said, pushing my thoughts away. "What else did you do, besides hiking?"
"We did a lot of cooking," Nathaniel said. "Jason likes to cook. He was a Boy Scout when he was little."
I tried, and failed, to imagine Jason wearing a Boy Scout uniform.
"And it was nice. I liked sleeping outside."
I made myself put on a bright smile. "Good," I said. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."
"Yeah." Nathaniel ran soap-slicked hands down my arms. "Do you like camping?"
"I do." I looked into his eyes, the dark of his pupil chasing back the violet of his irises, and was stuck again by how much I'd missed him.
"Do..." He took a deep breath. "Do you want to come with us next time?"
"Really?" I asked. He nodded. "I thought the point of the camping trip was for a boys' week, away from the preternatural stuff."
"It was." Nathaniel touched my cheek. "But..."
"But what?" I asked when his voice trailed off.
"But I missed you."
I could see, in his eyes, that there was more that he didn't say. He didn't have to.
I closed the distance between us to show him exactly how much I missed him.
~~~
Languid and content, I sat on the edge of the counter, wrapped in my bathrobe, watching as Nathaniel shaved.
"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you shave before," I said lazily.
Nathaniel rinsed the razor under the stream of water from the tap. "You haven't."
I pulled a strand of drying hair through my fingers. "Why not keep the beard? It's neat."
Nathaniel looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "It doesn't fit my job." He focused back on the mirror. "And I don't know, it's just weird."
I let the hair fall from my fingers. I was aware I was staring at Nathaniel like a love-sick teenager, but I was just so glad he was home. "Do you have to work soon?"
"In a couple of days. Jean-Claude let me have a lot of time off."
"Hmm. Nathaniel and free time.... How are we going to keep you out of trouble?" I teased.
Nathaniel rinsed his face, concentrating hard on his reflection.
"What?" I asked, feeling my good mood deflate a little. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Nathaniel said. He patted his face dry and set the towel down. "I was just.... I mean, I had a lot of time to think about our relationship while I was gone."
Well, that was a mood-killer. I slipped off the counter. "And?" I said warily.
"We have one, right?"
"One what?" I asked, confused.
"A relationship."
I blinked at Nathaniel, wondering what I was missing. "Yes..."
"And you're like okay with that?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Us," he said, finally facing me. "You and me."
"That's traditionally what 'us' means. What--"
"Then we should do stuff," he interrupted. "Real relationship stuff, like people do when they're in a relationship. Like... I don't know, just like stuff."
"Stuff," I repeated. At least my heart was beating again, insane panic about Nathaniel dumping me gone. "What kind of stuff?"
Nathaniel stared at the floor. "I don't know."
I stepped against him, until I could feel the heat from his body through our robes. "Like dinner?" I asked as I cupped his cheek with my hand to make him look at me.
"Like dinner," he said, relieved. He waited until I smiled to say, "I mean, we're going to be together for a long time, right? We have to get used to doing all kinds of stuff."
"A long time?"
"You know, the marks..." His voice trailed off as I stepped away from him. "What? Anita, I'm--"
I held up my hand to stop him talking. "Hold on." I looked off into the distance.
"What are you doing?"
"Waiting."
Nathaniel looked around. "For?" He sounded worried, and frankly I couldn't blame him. I was a hard person to live with sometimes. Hell, sometimes I had a hard time putting up with myself.
"I'm waiting for the panic attack." I wrinkled my nose. "You know, the one I get when I freak out about commitment and all that?"
Bless him, Nathaniel didn't agree with me. "And?"
I dropped my hand and smiled. "No panic." I went back to Nathaniel and hugged him tight, more relieved than I wanted to admit.
"Really?" Nathaniel said against my hair.
"Really." I lightly nipped Nathaniel's neck, felt him shudder as my teeth grazed his skin. "Right now, having you around for a long time feels like the best thing I could ever hope for."
Nathaniel hugged me harder. "I'm glad I'm home," he whispered.
I closed my eyes. "Me too."
the end
Smoke
An Anita Blake fanfiction story by mhalachaiswords
Summary: Nathaniel's home from his camping trip with Jason -- How will Anita welcome him back?
Disclaimer: The Anita Blake universe belongs to Laurell K. Hamilton. I'm only borrowing and will return all at the end of the fic.
Characters: Anita, Nathaniel
Rating: R for nakedness and smoochies
Word count: 2,377
Fandom: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (master list here)
fanfic100 Prompt: 83 -- And?
Author's Note and spoilers: This arose from me trying to deal with even more issues from Danse Macabre, the latest Anita Blake book. As such, spoilers from that book.
~~~
I was on the front porch steps when Jason and Nathaniel drove up. It wasn't that I had been waiting for hours for them to get home; that I was grumpy to the point where I had driven Micah out of the house hours before he had to be at work. No, not that at all.
And if you believed any of that, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
It was about five in the afternoon; the early summer sun still high in the sky. Jason turned off the car's engine and slid out of the muddy vehicle. "Miss us?" he asked as he went around to the trunk.
"Of course not," I retorted, a little sullen. I hadn't been getting a lot of sleep, and it made me less than Miss Mary Sunshine.
Jason grinned. "You do a lot of porch-sitting in your time off?"
I considered, then discarded a few responses, in order to take the moral high ground. I ignored his question. "How was your trip?"
"Excellent," Jason said as Nathaniel slowly got out of the car. "But maybe Nathaniel should tell you all about that."
Nathaniel closed the car door, and I finally got a good look at him. I was on my feet and moving towards him before I thought about it. "What happened to your face?" I demanded.
Nathaniel opened his eyes wide. "It's nothing."
I stopped right in front of him and reached my hand up. "I've never seen you with a beard," I breathed, rubbing the back of my hand along the edge of his jaw, feeling the bristles of the beginning beard scratch against my hand.
"It's not really a beard," Nathaniel said, staring intently at a spot on my shirt. "I forgot to take a razor. That's all."
I'll be honest, I had never in my entire life been able to picture Nathaniel with a beard. It was strange, with his long auburn hair tied back in a messy braid, but now that it was right in front of my face, it looked almost normal. "It's kind of cool."
Nathaniel finally glanced up. "Really?"
I rubbed my hand over his beard again. "Yeah."
Jason made kissy noises as he passed us, carrying a large bundle in his arms. "Get a room, you two."
Over Nathaniel's shoulder, I gave Jason the look he deserved. "What are you doing?"
"Leaving the tent here, it needs to be aired out," Jason said as he dumped his armful onto the porch. "No place at the Circus, and Sylvie will kill me if I wreck her stuff."
I shook my head. "How do I know this isn't some save-your-ass scheme because you already wrecked the tent and know Sylvie probably won't kill me?"
"It's not that," Nathaniel said, carefully slipping his arm around my waist. When I leaned against him, he relaxed. "It's fine."
"Good." I leaned harder against Nathaniel to rest my cheek against his shoulder. He smelled faintly like wood smoke and vanilla and leopard and it was all just so him, so familiar, that the tension in my chest eased. "Good."
Jason pulled a duffle out of the car, then slammed the trunk. "That's it, I'm out of here."
"Do you want to stay for a little while?" Nathaniel asked. I fought to keep my face neutral, not to let my feelings cross my face. If Nathaniel wanted to invite his friend... no, our friend to stay for a while, then that was good. A year ago, Nathaniel would never have asked such a thing. He was becoming more dominant in his own ways all the time, and usually I loved and encouraged it. But today, I just wanted Jason gone and Nathaniel all to myself.
Jason smirked at us. "Nah, I'm going to head home, get cleaned up before Jean-Claude wants his evening nibble." He came over and threw his arms around us both in a hug. "Have fun."
I squirmed away when I felt someone's hand on my ass. "Enough, Schuler!"
"Yeah, no groping my girlfriend," Nathaniel added tentatively.
Jason pouted. "Fine," he said melodramatically. "I'll go away to my cold bed--"
I snorted. "Stop whining," but I was smiling as I said it.
"Why don't you come by tomorrow, and we can get the pictures off your camera?" Nathaniel suggested, slipping his arm back around my shoulders.
"You're on," Jason said, climbing back into the car. "Have fun, you two!"
I waited until Jason drove off, then turned in Nathaniel's grasp and hugged him tight. "Hey, you."
"Hey," Nathaniel whispered against my hair. "How was everything while I was gone?"
"Oh, fine," I said quickly. "How about we get your stuff in the house and you can tell me all about your camping trip."
Nathaniel gave me a look. "Okay," he said, "But I think I'd like a shower first."
I nodded, making myself let go of Nathaniel. "Sounds good."
He stopped me with a touch on the hand. "Do you want to join me?"
There was a familiar expression on his face, half shy, half sly. I had no idea why, but every time I saw that expression I melted inside. "Okay." Because I was half a second away from jumping his bones in the front yard, I moved away and went over to grab his duffle bag.
We got into the house without me making a fool of myself. Nathaniel headed straight for the bathroom. I paused long enough to lock the front door before following him.
He was untangling his hair when I closed the bathroom door behind me. I paused for a moment, leaning back against the door, to watch him. He was twenty-one now, and his frame had filled out to match his shoulders. He was muscled and graceful and just so damned amazing that I sighed.
Nathaniel looked at me through a curtain of his hair. "What's up?"
I shrugged and smiled. "Nothing."
He smiled back. "Nothing?" he repeated, brushing his hair out.
"Fine, not nothing," I amended. I undid my belt and pulled it free of the loops on my shoulder holster. "Did you have fun with Jason?"
"Yes," Nathaniel said. He kept brushing. "I've never been camping before."
"What kinds of things did you do?" I asked as I took off my shirt.
"All kinds of things." Nathaniel swept his hair over his shoulder and pulled off his t-shirt in one flowing movement. "We did a lot of hiking and stuff."
I was distracted by the rippling muscles of Nathaniel's stomach. "Swell." I realized what I had just said. "I mean, that sounds swell." Damn it, I was blushing.
Nathaniel undid his shorts and stepped out of them. He was suddenly in front of me, totally naked. All coherent thought deserted me as Nathaniel swept me up in his arms and kissed me. His short beard was prickly against my face, but it felt so damned good that I kept at it.
When we finally separated, breathless and dazed on my part, my remaining clothes were lying on the floor. "Come on," Nathaniel whispered, kissing a line up my cheek. "Shower. Now."
I wanted something witty to say, but all I could force out past the pounding heartbeat in my throat was, "Uh huh."
Nathaniel left me standing in the middle of the floor and went to turn on the shower. Since this gave me a perfect view of his butt as he walked, I didn't complain. After a minute, Nathaniel crooked his finger at me in a 'come-hither' gesture, and I went willingly.
The water was warm and calming and lulled me into a bit of a daze. Nathaniel reached over my shoulder for the shampoo. "Are you okay?" he asked.
I nodded. "Just a little tired." I picked up the soap and began to later up Nathaniel's chest.
"Why are you tired?"
"I didn't get much sleep while you were gone."
"Why not?"
I concentrated on Nathaniel's chest. "I had a little trouble sleeping, that's all."
Nathaniel worked the shampoo into his hair. "Was Micah home?"
"Usually." I used a gentle pressure on Nathaniel's hips to turn him around to face away from me. I rubbed the soap over his shoulders. "It wasn't the same," I mumbled.
Nathaniel must have heard that, with his wereleopard hearing, but he remained silent. He let me wash his back and arms and neck, then he stuck his head under the shower to rinse his hair.
When he finally surfaced, I wordlessly handed him the conditioner. He took it with a smile. My irritation faded away as I smiled back. I had spent the better part of a year falling asleep spooned around Nathaniel, his wereleopard-warm skin keeping me warm on the darkest of nights. I loved sleeping with Micah too, but it wasn't the same.
I hadn't realized how much I would miss Nathaniel when he'd asked me if he could go on the week-long camping trip with Jason. Of course I said yes, that he didn't need to ask my permission... but that first night, when I found it impossible to relax into sleep without him, I'd been tempted to bring him home.
I hadn't, didn't want to ruin his very first camping trip ever. I was ashamed that Micah had borne the brunt of my annoyance and grumpiness, but he hadn't commented. If any man ever deserved sainthood for putting up with me for the past week, it was Micah Callahan.
"So," I said, pushing my thoughts away. "What else did you do, besides hiking?"
"We did a lot of cooking," Nathaniel said. "Jason likes to cook. He was a Boy Scout when he was little."
I tried, and failed, to imagine Jason wearing a Boy Scout uniform.
"And it was nice. I liked sleeping outside."
I made myself put on a bright smile. "Good," I said. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."
"Yeah." Nathaniel ran soap-slicked hands down my arms. "Do you like camping?"
"I do." I looked into his eyes, the dark of his pupil chasing back the violet of his irises, and was stuck again by how much I'd missed him.
"Do..." He took a deep breath. "Do you want to come with us next time?"
"Really?" I asked. He nodded. "I thought the point of the camping trip was for a boys' week, away from the preternatural stuff."
"It was." Nathaniel touched my cheek. "But..."
"But what?" I asked when his voice trailed off.
"But I missed you."
I could see, in his eyes, that there was more that he didn't say. He didn't have to.
I closed the distance between us to show him exactly how much I missed him.
~~~
Languid and content, I sat on the edge of the counter, wrapped in my bathrobe, watching as Nathaniel shaved.
"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you shave before," I said lazily.
Nathaniel rinsed the razor under the stream of water from the tap. "You haven't."
I pulled a strand of drying hair through my fingers. "Why not keep the beard? It's neat."
Nathaniel looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "It doesn't fit my job." He focused back on the mirror. "And I don't know, it's just weird."
I let the hair fall from my fingers. I was aware I was staring at Nathaniel like a love-sick teenager, but I was just so glad he was home. "Do you have to work soon?"
"In a couple of days. Jean-Claude let me have a lot of time off."
"Hmm. Nathaniel and free time.... How are we going to keep you out of trouble?" I teased.
Nathaniel rinsed his face, concentrating hard on his reflection.
"What?" I asked, feeling my good mood deflate a little. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Nathaniel said. He patted his face dry and set the towel down. "I was just.... I mean, I had a lot of time to think about our relationship while I was gone."
Well, that was a mood-killer. I slipped off the counter. "And?" I said warily.
"We have one, right?"
"One what?" I asked, confused.
"A relationship."
I blinked at Nathaniel, wondering what I was missing. "Yes..."
"And you're like okay with that?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Us," he said, finally facing me. "You and me."
"That's traditionally what 'us' means. What--"
"Then we should do stuff," he interrupted. "Real relationship stuff, like people do when they're in a relationship. Like... I don't know, just like stuff."
"Stuff," I repeated. At least my heart was beating again, insane panic about Nathaniel dumping me gone. "What kind of stuff?"
Nathaniel stared at the floor. "I don't know."
I stepped against him, until I could feel the heat from his body through our robes. "Like dinner?" I asked as I cupped his cheek with my hand to make him look at me.
"Like dinner," he said, relieved. He waited until I smiled to say, "I mean, we're going to be together for a long time, right? We have to get used to doing all kinds of stuff."
"A long time?"
"You know, the marks..." His voice trailed off as I stepped away from him. "What? Anita, I'm--"
I held up my hand to stop him talking. "Hold on." I looked off into the distance.
"What are you doing?"
"Waiting."
Nathaniel looked around. "For?" He sounded worried, and frankly I couldn't blame him. I was a hard person to live with sometimes. Hell, sometimes I had a hard time putting up with myself.
"I'm waiting for the panic attack." I wrinkled my nose. "You know, the one I get when I freak out about commitment and all that?"
Bless him, Nathaniel didn't agree with me. "And?"
I dropped my hand and smiled. "No panic." I went back to Nathaniel and hugged him tight, more relieved than I wanted to admit.
"Really?" Nathaniel said against my hair.
"Really." I lightly nipped Nathaniel's neck, felt him shudder as my teeth grazed his skin. "Right now, having you around for a long time feels like the best thing I could ever hope for."
Nathaniel hugged me harder. "I'm glad I'm home," he whispered.
I closed my eyes. "Me too."
the end