"(I Swear I) Caught You (Almost) Laughing"
Title: (I Swear I) Caught You (Almost) Laughing
Author(s): Erin (sistergrimmel) and Neko Kuroban (blueinkedlines).
Rating: PG-13 to T.
Characters/Pairings: Apollo, Thalia, mention of Luke, Apollo/Thalia, implied Thalia/Luke.
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crack, Romance.
Warnings/Spoilers: None, really. Excerpt from the Vegas chapter of Sightless. Possibly an outtake.
Notes: Just go with it. It's universe-contained. Comments appreciated! Rough draft.
Summary: "Love is selfless- and it's reciporcated. Anything less is merely glorified infatuation."
Word Count: More than five hundred, less than a thousand.
“I swear I caught you laughing that time,” Apollo said, grinning broadly and crossing his arms across his chest. He wore a white ribbed tank top and tight, form-fitting blue jeans from some designer she had once known by name. “Come on. You totally chuckled.”
Thalia snorted. “If you want to make me smile, you’re going to have to try harder than winding up a little toy dog in a pawn shop in Vegas.”
“How much harder?” he said lightly, playfully, lower lip pouting artfully.
Thalia shook her head. “Well, I walked right into that one.” She turned away to gaze out the window. There were thousands of people passing by, on their way to gamble, to get married, on business, to sell drugs, to buy booze both cheap and costly-in more ways than one-and all of them had hopeful, eager, smiling faces.
She wondered blankly if she had ever looked like that-foolish and hopeful. The two words were often synonyms in her vocabulary.
“You know,” the oblivious god said, a bit miffed, from her shoulder, “if you weren’t beautiful, that way you take yourself so seriously would be a total buzz kill.”
There was a pause.
She turned back around, an impossibly tiny smirk on her face. “And if you weren’t so pretty, your pouting would look awful pathetic.”
“I prefer the term ‘aesthetically pleasing’, thanks, but the thought is appreciated.” Apollo flashed another one of his effortless trickster grins.
It was lost on Thalia. An aching restlessness, a fighting against control, was filling her. Eighteen months she’d been completely caged by responsibility.
She longed, suddenly, for the freedom to do what she wanted. Eighteen months she’d lived under someone else’s tent, had her life dictated by someone else’s rules.
Thalia took a deep breath.
“Want to catch up to Axel?” Apollo offered. His eyes had a tinge of concern but his posture was bored and anxious, just as hers was.
“Nah. Let’s go somewhere else,” Thalia said, striding out the door.
Apollo was picking up on her energy, and he smiled again. “Does it matter where?”
“Take me someplace where I can do whatever I want,” she told him as she pushed the door open.
His answering grin had a predatory hint to it.
Thalia looked him in the eyes for a moment as they walked out, and then looked away when he caught her looking back. Good thing I’m the prophesied savior of the world, because otherwise I’d be a Level Five clinger playing hard to get.
Apollo caught up to her easily. “I know just the place,” he said mischievously. “Follow me.”
“Nice try,” Thalia replied. “Where are we going?”
“It’s all in the anticipation,” he replied uncooperatively.
“This better be good,” Thalia muttered as he let her down another gaudily lit street.
“Trust me,” said Apollo earnestly. The light caught, and she realized for a fraction of a second exactly how much Luke had looked like that, in a time it hurt to think about. He had had the same expression, the same hair, the same chiseled, deceptively fine-boned features all in that same forgiving desert sunlight.
And the very same words, too.
Thalia shivered for a minute. Apollo looked back in concern. “I could do something about that, if you’re cold,” he offered.
“Like what?” she retorted, playing along. The resemblance had faded to a glimmer in her memory, for now.
He took her hand, and she nearly flinched at the warmth radiating from his body on her cold skin. “What are you--,” Thalia broke off as the heat filled her body.
He withdrew after a moment, but the warmth stayed with her. She half-glared at him.
“Being the god of the sun has a few perks besides the car,” Apollo said, smirking.
“Ask next time,” she told him brusquely.
“Will do,” he said absentmindedly. “So. If you tell anyone about this club, I’ll have to kill you.”