Kings Among Runaways - Chapter Fourteen (R)
Title: Kings Among Runaways
Author: Tina
Word Count: 5,500 for this chapter
Rating: PG-13 to R
Characters: Logan / Veronica
Summary: Pre-series. Even if Lilly had lived, things still would’ve been screwy.
Spoilers / Warnings: Set pre-season, but references to first season are fair game.
AN: Split for length. Again. (I don't think I'm writing longer chapters, so I blame LJ.)
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Chapter Fourteen
Logan blinked himself awake to the credits of whatever movie Veronica had put on as soon as they had gotten back to her house. She hadn’t wanted to talk, had barely met his eyes as she brought him a plate of reheated Chinese food and picked at her egg roll. Her half-eaten plate and his cleared one had gone to the sink before she had even been willing to curl herself into his arms. She had been asleep before he had had the chance to figure out how to ask her what was wrong.
Because that was just about the stupidest question he could think of, and he could picture the dead stare she would have given him for asking it. But he wanted to know what he had done, how he had screwed and made her pull away like this.
He didn’t like her quiet. Over the last few months, he had learned that Veronica was anything but quiet. She may have been before, hidden behind Lilly, but she was someone different now. She could stand up for herself, had stood up to him a time or two even, and he was starting to like that she could just come out and tell him he was an asshole sometimes.
It was better than the way Lilly had handled him.
Quiet Veronica meant she was thinking too much. And he couldn’t imagine that she would think herself to anywhere good for him. When she thought about it, he couldn’t imagine her coming up with anything except the obvious fact that she could do better.
But before he could confront Veronica, she had been passed out on his shoulder, her breath tickling his neck.
He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep, but the soft tingle in his arm told him it had probably been a while since he’d moved it. Slowly he slid his arm out from under Veronica’s head, smiling at the soft mew she released as he pulled away. He grabbed the remote from the back of the couch, clicking off the television as Veronica slowly stretched out her stiff muscles. She yawned, turned her face further into his shirt, then blinked up at him slowly.
“I missed the movie,” she muttered.
“You’ve seen them all a dozen times.” Veronica smiled softly, her eyes still slightly unfocused from sleep. “You ready for bed?” They sharpened at that, as though it had brought back a memory, and she was quiet for a moment, pensive. Logan opened his mouth to ask again when she seemed to reach some conclusion, nodding softly.
“Yeah.” She took his hand as she stood, pulling him up from the couch. “Yeah, I think I am.”
Logan narrowed his eyes, but followed a half step behind her as she climbed the stairs. When they reached the guest bedroom he stopped, trying to draw her to him for a goodnight kiss.
She didn’t drop his hand, and she didn’t stop walking. Instead, her arm stretched out, and she tugged, then turned back confused, like a dog reaching the end of the leash.
“Veronica?” Logan looked down at their hands, then toward the guest room slowly, trying his hardest to not make an assumption that was going to get him into trouble. Or into another cold shower.
She smiled, her face somehow blending in a genuine combination of shy and coy, and her eyes wouldn’t meet his. “Come to bed with me,” she told him, her voice barely above a whisper.
“You mean…?” Logan’s words hung between them, his mouth dry and his brain fumbling. “You’re ready?”
Veronica took two steps toward him, crossing nearly all the space between them, and rose onto her toes. Her breath ran slowly along his earlobe, sending all the blood in his head rushing down. “I want you. I only want you.”
Her hands hung in the air between them, a hairsbreadth from his chest, as though she were perched on the tension between them. For a moment, Logan couldn’t process her words, couldn’t believe she was saying them, and then the moment was gone, and his hands were everywhere, crushing her to him as tried to breathe her in. He walked her to the wall, one hand in her hair as the other grasped at her hip, pulling her closer.
“Too… short,” he breathed, his lips skimming her cheek and nibbling down to her neck. He heard her head fall back into the wall, the shallow gasps of air as clung to him.
“No short jokes,” she managed, pinching his side mercilessly. His flinch nearly lifted her off the ground, bringing her mouth to a much better height. Suddenly, his arms slid beneath both her knees, lifting her up as he legs locked around his waist. Logan groaned at the sudden pressure, burying his face in her shoulder. She lifted his head up, peppering his face with kisses before her lips trailed down his neck.
A low growl pulled them apart, and Veronica’s legs hit the ground suddenly. The grip she kept on Logan’s arms was the only thing that kept her from melting to the floor.
“No!” she said sternly, chastising Backup with a harsh flick of her finger. Logan laughed softly as the dog whimpered. “Go to your room!” She turned to Logan as Backup tucked his tail and turned down the hall. “And what’s so funny?” she asked him, cocking her eyebrow.
“I was thinking that it was a good thing he turned up,” Logan told her, his eyes on her making all the blood rush to her cheeks. “Because I’ll be damned if I’m going to let your first time be up against a wall in the hallway. But God, you know how to make me crazy, Veronica.” His hand wrapped around hers, tugging her down the last steps into her room. After firmly closing the door behind him, he took Veronica’s face in his hands, kissing her slowly, his tongue running over the seam of her lips until she parted them with a soft moan.
When he pulled away, Veronica was flushed, her lips parted and her eyes unfocused.
The next thought hit Logan like a bucket of ice water. “Veronica… I didn’t bring anything.”
She blinked, still dazed from the kiss. “Anything? What?”
“Protection,” he clarified. “I don’t have any.” Logan silently cursed himself, already pulling away as he prepared for another long, long night and another very cold shower.
But Veronica just shook her head, dropping his hand as she crossed the room to her dresser. “Logan the playboy who has carried a condom in his wallet since we were twelve doesn’t have anything on him?” Veronica shook her head. “I’ve got to tell you, Logan, I’m not sure how to take that.”
“I didn’t…” Logan shook his head. “I didn’t want to push you. If it wasn’t here, I had a reason not to try.” Because fuck if he hadn’t thought of a thousand reasons to come down to her bedroom every single night he had slept over.
Veronica laughed softly as she kneeled beside her dresser, her hand skimming under the bottom. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t know about this.” Pulling her hand free, Veronica produced a neon blue condom.
“Veronica Mars,” Logan said appreciatively. “I would never have thought!”
“Well,” Veronica deadpanned, “don’t say Lilly never did anything for us. Though I’m sure she never imagined I’d actually use any of them.”
“Them?”
Veronica shook her head. “They’re hidden all over the place. I left her in here while I showered once, and they started turning up after that. I’ve had to remove a few of them that I thought my dad might find, but… Well, Lilly was always good at hiding things.”
“And I really never thought I would be glad for that.”
Veronica smiled, dropping the condom on her bedside table as she crossed back to Logan. “So… where were we?”
Logan’s hands slid around her waist, fingers sliding beneath her tee shirt to find bare skin as he pulled her closer. “I think I was just about to rid you of this.” Logan slowly tugged the shirt over her head, expecting a reprimand that never came. When he dropped her shirt to the floor, she wrapped her arms around his waist, her lips coming up to his as his hands roamed her sides and back. When he found and unsnapped the clasp of her bra, she gasped, and he felt her hold tighten for a moment before she relaxed, letting it fall off her shoulders.
Logan guided her back to the bed, and her hand tangled in his shirt pulled him down over him. Perched on an elbow, he looked down at her, his hand lightly tracing her side.
“You blush all the way down,” Logan commented, his fingers running teasingly over her flushed abdomen.
“I don’t think you’ve gotten quite far enough to make that observation just yet,” Veronica said, startling him with her frankness. His mouth dropped and his fingers paused. “But you will.” She reached for Logan’s shirt, tugging it off as he shifted slightly to help her.
“Itching to see me naked, Mars?” She gave him a dry look.
“You shirtless is hardly something I haven’t seen,” she told him. “Hell, when we were younger, you ran around in that little Speedo for a month because Lilly told you that her nanny liked the ‘European’ look.”
Logan gave her a dark look. “Well, I believe there’s a bit more to see now than there was then.” He shifted his hips against her, and she laughed, tracing her finger down the line of his chest.
“Yeah,” she murmured. “It’s a little different.” Logan’s finger drew up to circle her nipple, and Veronica arched toward him.
“Don’t make me stop after this, Veronica,” Logan said, his eyes dark as he watched her. “Tell me that you’re absolutely sure you want this.”
Her eyes opened, fixed on him as her hand took his, encouraging him to continue. “I don’t want you to stop, Logan.”
“Your dad’s not coming home?”
“He never makes it in on the last night of evaluations. Sleeps on his office couch.” Her eyes drifted shut as Logan lowered his mouth to her breast, his tongue flicking her nipple while his free hand worked at the button of her jeans.
“Fuck, Veronica,” Logan muttered, his hand sliding beneath her panties.
“That is the idea.” He paused, meeting her eyes as a slow smile curved her lips. It was the last intelligible thing either of them managed to say.
. . .
Veronica shifted in her sleep, startled by the arm that tightened around her. And then more startled by warmth of his skin pressed against hers, everywhere. It hadn’t been a dream then.
Veronica smiled slowly, stretching gently against Logan’s taut form. He shifted as she moved, his hand sliding up to cup her breast as his face turned into her hair, breathing her in with a soft snore. Veronica slowly replayed the evening in her mind. It had been his reaction to her hair, at least a little, that had made her realize that she was ready. Finally, the little voice in the back of her head that had still wondered, just a little, if she was his replacement for Lilly, had gone silent. There had been no disappointment on his face when she had surprised him with her new look, and something inside of her had finally gone quiet. He wanted her.
And she very much wanted him too. Loved him, even, though she wasn’t sure she was ready to say those words.
A glance at her window told her that the sun was just starting to rise, and despite great reluctance, she shifted herself to face Logan and gently poked him in the ribs. He jerked slightly, releasing her as he rolled onto his back. She went for his shoulder next, shoving him.
“Logan,” she whispered. He groaned, rolling back toward her. “Logan.”
Slowly his eyes opened, his hand coming up to rest on her hip as he registered his surroundings. “Hmm, I was a little worried I had just had the most incredibly vivid dream,” he told her, his fingers sliding up her side. “But you are very definitely still naked.” He stretched languidly, then playfully pulled her on top of him. “I can probably accept this disgustingly early wakeup if it’s because you desperately want to be with me again.”
Veronica smiled, offering him a chaste, closed mouth kiss, then moved her lips to his ear. “And again, and again,” she promised him. Logan’s eyes perked at her words, but then she was climbing off of him, taking the comforter for cover as she did. “But right now, you need to take your clothes and get to the guest room. My dad could be home any time.”
“Hmm,” Logan said, propping himself up on his elbows. “That empty pool house of mine is looking better and better right now, isn’t it?”
Veronica smiled. “It always looked pretty good to me.”
Logan threw his legs off the bed, tsking. “Now you tell me.” He grabbed his boxers and pulled them on as he stood, then startled Veronica by snaking a hand under the comforter and pulling her to him, kissing her hard and running his tongue over hers as she gasped.
“Logan!” Veronica gasped when he pulled away, already snagging his clothes off the floor. “I wanted to brush my teeth first.”
“I didn’t mind.” Logan grinned. He threw his clothes over his shoulder and gently pulled her to him by the comforter, his hands sliding beneath it again. His face grew serious, and he leaned close. “Last night was amazing.” Veronica flushed, but her lips parted into a slight smile. “You’re alright, right? You… liked it?”
Veronica flushed deeper, but opened her arms enough to wrap the blanket around Logan too. “Yeah,” she said softly. “I’m glad it was you.”
He kissed her softly, grinning. “Me too.” He pulled back, turning to the door. “And now you’ll have all kinds of new ideas to incorporate into those naughty dreams of yours.” The comforter fell open as Veronica landed a solid blow to Logan’s shoulder.
He laughed, opening the door. “And you do blush all the way.”
Continued...
Author: Tina
Word Count: 5,500 for this chapter
Rating: PG-13 to R
Characters: Logan / Veronica
Summary: Pre-series. Even if Lilly had lived, things still would’ve been screwy.
Spoilers / Warnings: Set pre-season, but references to first season are fair game.
AN: Split for length. Again. (I don't think I'm writing longer chapters, so I blame LJ.)
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Chapter Fourteen
Logan blinked himself awake to the credits of whatever movie Veronica had put on as soon as they had gotten back to her house. She hadn’t wanted to talk, had barely met his eyes as she brought him a plate of reheated Chinese food and picked at her egg roll. Her half-eaten plate and his cleared one had gone to the sink before she had even been willing to curl herself into his arms. She had been asleep before he had had the chance to figure out how to ask her what was wrong.
Because that was just about the stupidest question he could think of, and he could picture the dead stare she would have given him for asking it. But he wanted to know what he had done, how he had screwed and made her pull away like this.
He didn’t like her quiet. Over the last few months, he had learned that Veronica was anything but quiet. She may have been before, hidden behind Lilly, but she was someone different now. She could stand up for herself, had stood up to him a time or two even, and he was starting to like that she could just come out and tell him he was an asshole sometimes.
It was better than the way Lilly had handled him.
Quiet Veronica meant she was thinking too much. And he couldn’t imagine that she would think herself to anywhere good for him. When she thought about it, he couldn’t imagine her coming up with anything except the obvious fact that she could do better.
But before he could confront Veronica, she had been passed out on his shoulder, her breath tickling his neck.
He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep, but the soft tingle in his arm told him it had probably been a while since he’d moved it. Slowly he slid his arm out from under Veronica’s head, smiling at the soft mew she released as he pulled away. He grabbed the remote from the back of the couch, clicking off the television as Veronica slowly stretched out her stiff muscles. She yawned, turned her face further into his shirt, then blinked up at him slowly.
“I missed the movie,” she muttered.
“You’ve seen them all a dozen times.” Veronica smiled softly, her eyes still slightly unfocused from sleep. “You ready for bed?” They sharpened at that, as though it had brought back a memory, and she was quiet for a moment, pensive. Logan opened his mouth to ask again when she seemed to reach some conclusion, nodding softly.
“Yeah.” She took his hand as she stood, pulling him up from the couch. “Yeah, I think I am.”
Logan narrowed his eyes, but followed a half step behind her as she climbed the stairs. When they reached the guest bedroom he stopped, trying to draw her to him for a goodnight kiss.
She didn’t drop his hand, and she didn’t stop walking. Instead, her arm stretched out, and she tugged, then turned back confused, like a dog reaching the end of the leash.
“Veronica?” Logan looked down at their hands, then toward the guest room slowly, trying his hardest to not make an assumption that was going to get him into trouble. Or into another cold shower.
She smiled, her face somehow blending in a genuine combination of shy and coy, and her eyes wouldn’t meet his. “Come to bed with me,” she told him, her voice barely above a whisper.
“You mean…?” Logan’s words hung between them, his mouth dry and his brain fumbling. “You’re ready?”
Veronica took two steps toward him, crossing nearly all the space between them, and rose onto her toes. Her breath ran slowly along his earlobe, sending all the blood in his head rushing down. “I want you. I only want you.”
Her hands hung in the air between them, a hairsbreadth from his chest, as though she were perched on the tension between them. For a moment, Logan couldn’t process her words, couldn’t believe she was saying them, and then the moment was gone, and his hands were everywhere, crushing her to him as tried to breathe her in. He walked her to the wall, one hand in her hair as the other grasped at her hip, pulling her closer.
“Too… short,” he breathed, his lips skimming her cheek and nibbling down to her neck. He heard her head fall back into the wall, the shallow gasps of air as clung to him.
“No short jokes,” she managed, pinching his side mercilessly. His flinch nearly lifted her off the ground, bringing her mouth to a much better height. Suddenly, his arms slid beneath both her knees, lifting her up as he legs locked around his waist. Logan groaned at the sudden pressure, burying his face in her shoulder. She lifted his head up, peppering his face with kisses before her lips trailed down his neck.
A low growl pulled them apart, and Veronica’s legs hit the ground suddenly. The grip she kept on Logan’s arms was the only thing that kept her from melting to the floor.
“No!” she said sternly, chastising Backup with a harsh flick of her finger. Logan laughed softly as the dog whimpered. “Go to your room!” She turned to Logan as Backup tucked his tail and turned down the hall. “And what’s so funny?” she asked him, cocking her eyebrow.
“I was thinking that it was a good thing he turned up,” Logan told her, his eyes on her making all the blood rush to her cheeks. “Because I’ll be damned if I’m going to let your first time be up against a wall in the hallway. But God, you know how to make me crazy, Veronica.” His hand wrapped around hers, tugging her down the last steps into her room. After firmly closing the door behind him, he took Veronica’s face in his hands, kissing her slowly, his tongue running over the seam of her lips until she parted them with a soft moan.
When he pulled away, Veronica was flushed, her lips parted and her eyes unfocused.
The next thought hit Logan like a bucket of ice water. “Veronica… I didn’t bring anything.”
She blinked, still dazed from the kiss. “Anything? What?”
“Protection,” he clarified. “I don’t have any.” Logan silently cursed himself, already pulling away as he prepared for another long, long night and another very cold shower.
But Veronica just shook her head, dropping his hand as she crossed the room to her dresser. “Logan the playboy who has carried a condom in his wallet since we were twelve doesn’t have anything on him?” Veronica shook her head. “I’ve got to tell you, Logan, I’m not sure how to take that.”
“I didn’t…” Logan shook his head. “I didn’t want to push you. If it wasn’t here, I had a reason not to try.” Because fuck if he hadn’t thought of a thousand reasons to come down to her bedroom every single night he had slept over.
Veronica laughed softly as she kneeled beside her dresser, her hand skimming under the bottom. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t know about this.” Pulling her hand free, Veronica produced a neon blue condom.
“Veronica Mars,” Logan said appreciatively. “I would never have thought!”
“Well,” Veronica deadpanned, “don’t say Lilly never did anything for us. Though I’m sure she never imagined I’d actually use any of them.”
“Them?”
Veronica shook her head. “They’re hidden all over the place. I left her in here while I showered once, and they started turning up after that. I’ve had to remove a few of them that I thought my dad might find, but… Well, Lilly was always good at hiding things.”
“And I really never thought I would be glad for that.”
Veronica smiled, dropping the condom on her bedside table as she crossed back to Logan. “So… where were we?”
Logan’s hands slid around her waist, fingers sliding beneath her tee shirt to find bare skin as he pulled her closer. “I think I was just about to rid you of this.” Logan slowly tugged the shirt over her head, expecting a reprimand that never came. When he dropped her shirt to the floor, she wrapped her arms around his waist, her lips coming up to his as his hands roamed her sides and back. When he found and unsnapped the clasp of her bra, she gasped, and he felt her hold tighten for a moment before she relaxed, letting it fall off her shoulders.
Logan guided her back to the bed, and her hand tangled in his shirt pulled him down over him. Perched on an elbow, he looked down at her, his hand lightly tracing her side.
“You blush all the way down,” Logan commented, his fingers running teasingly over her flushed abdomen.
“I don’t think you’ve gotten quite far enough to make that observation just yet,” Veronica said, startling him with her frankness. His mouth dropped and his fingers paused. “But you will.” She reached for Logan’s shirt, tugging it off as he shifted slightly to help her.
“Itching to see me naked, Mars?” She gave him a dry look.
“You shirtless is hardly something I haven’t seen,” she told him. “Hell, when we were younger, you ran around in that little Speedo for a month because Lilly told you that her nanny liked the ‘European’ look.”
Logan gave her a dark look. “Well, I believe there’s a bit more to see now than there was then.” He shifted his hips against her, and she laughed, tracing her finger down the line of his chest.
“Yeah,” she murmured. “It’s a little different.” Logan’s finger drew up to circle her nipple, and Veronica arched toward him.
“Don’t make me stop after this, Veronica,” Logan said, his eyes dark as he watched her. “Tell me that you’re absolutely sure you want this.”
Her eyes opened, fixed on him as her hand took his, encouraging him to continue. “I don’t want you to stop, Logan.”
“Your dad’s not coming home?”
“He never makes it in on the last night of evaluations. Sleeps on his office couch.” Her eyes drifted shut as Logan lowered his mouth to her breast, his tongue flicking her nipple while his free hand worked at the button of her jeans.
“Fuck, Veronica,” Logan muttered, his hand sliding beneath her panties.
“That is the idea.” He paused, meeting her eyes as a slow smile curved her lips. It was the last intelligible thing either of them managed to say.
. . .
Veronica shifted in her sleep, startled by the arm that tightened around her. And then more startled by warmth of his skin pressed against hers, everywhere. It hadn’t been a dream then.
Veronica smiled slowly, stretching gently against Logan’s taut form. He shifted as she moved, his hand sliding up to cup her breast as his face turned into her hair, breathing her in with a soft snore. Veronica slowly replayed the evening in her mind. It had been his reaction to her hair, at least a little, that had made her realize that she was ready. Finally, the little voice in the back of her head that had still wondered, just a little, if she was his replacement for Lilly, had gone silent. There had been no disappointment on his face when she had surprised him with her new look, and something inside of her had finally gone quiet. He wanted her.
And she very much wanted him too. Loved him, even, though she wasn’t sure she was ready to say those words.
A glance at her window told her that the sun was just starting to rise, and despite great reluctance, she shifted herself to face Logan and gently poked him in the ribs. He jerked slightly, releasing her as he rolled onto his back. She went for his shoulder next, shoving him.
“Logan,” she whispered. He groaned, rolling back toward her. “Logan.”
Slowly his eyes opened, his hand coming up to rest on her hip as he registered his surroundings. “Hmm, I was a little worried I had just had the most incredibly vivid dream,” he told her, his fingers sliding up her side. “But you are very definitely still naked.” He stretched languidly, then playfully pulled her on top of him. “I can probably accept this disgustingly early wakeup if it’s because you desperately want to be with me again.”
Veronica smiled, offering him a chaste, closed mouth kiss, then moved her lips to his ear. “And again, and again,” she promised him. Logan’s eyes perked at her words, but then she was climbing off of him, taking the comforter for cover as she did. “But right now, you need to take your clothes and get to the guest room. My dad could be home any time.”
“Hmm,” Logan said, propping himself up on his elbows. “That empty pool house of mine is looking better and better right now, isn’t it?”
Veronica smiled. “It always looked pretty good to me.”
Logan threw his legs off the bed, tsking. “Now you tell me.” He grabbed his boxers and pulled them on as he stood, then startled Veronica by snaking a hand under the comforter and pulling her to him, kissing her hard and running his tongue over hers as she gasped.
“Logan!” Veronica gasped when he pulled away, already snagging his clothes off the floor. “I wanted to brush my teeth first.”
“I didn’t mind.” Logan grinned. He threw his clothes over his shoulder and gently pulled her to him by the comforter, his hands sliding beneath it again. His face grew serious, and he leaned close. “Last night was amazing.” Veronica flushed, but her lips parted into a slight smile. “You’re alright, right? You… liked it?”
Veronica flushed deeper, but opened her arms enough to wrap the blanket around Logan too. “Yeah,” she said softly. “I’m glad it was you.”
He kissed her softly, grinning. “Me too.” He pulled back, turning to the door. “And now you’ll have all kinds of new ideas to incorporate into those naughty dreams of yours.” The comforter fell open as Veronica landed a solid blow to Logan’s shoulder.
He laughed, opening the door. “And you do blush all the way.”
Continued...