break down these walls that we've built around ourselves

[with_diamonds]

It had been a long night. A better night, in fact, than usual, which really should have been Lucy's first indication that something had to give. Usually, good was something relative here, just meaning that anything awful had been kept to a minimum, but this, it was something different, something to be acted on. Out on the boardwalk, her bony

Comments

[defected]

Having spent the better part of an hour - possibly longer - cleaning himself up, Bryce was bone-tired by the time he finally changed into a pair of light, drawstring sweatpants. (Shirts were never bothered with; he lived alone and rarely entertained guests.) His intent was to climb into bed and collapse for the next four to six hours, a plan which went awry the moment his head grazed the pillow. If the knock at his door was unexpected, hearing Lucy's voice muffled behind it was downright startling. He was out of bed instantly, tearing through the expanse of his hut in record time (modest as said hut was, he was no more breathless when he reached the door than he had been only moments ago).

"What's wrong?" he asked, eyes automatically taking in the terrain behind her, though in search of what, he wasn't yet certain. He knew only that Lucy both sounded and looked troubled, and that whatever the problem, he was determined to solve it. "Are you okay?"

[with_diamonds]

Seeing him there, for a moment, Lucy couldn't help her breath catching in her throat, lips parting in the absence of a response. It just figured, of course, that he would answer the door shirtless; that he was such a good-looking guy wasn't what had brought her here, but it served now to make her exponentially more nervous. For a split second, she even considered making something up, a different reason why she might have shown up to his door in the middle of the night. The idea, though, was one she dismissed quickly. If she didn't say something now, she never would, and she couldn't keep carrying this around on her own. Not even for Ryan's sake was there any sense in putting it off. He was gone now, and the way she felt looking at Bruce was proof enough that she was acting on a certainty

[defected]

No.

It was a bad idea, a terrible idea, and his immediate answer should have been no. He should have sent her on her way as soon as he was sure she was okay - hell, even walking her back home would be a better alternative to letting her come in. He had, up until now, relied more heavily environmental circumstances than even he realized. Wherever they were, it was usually in the open; even when they were isolated, total solitude was never a guarantee. There was no risk, in short, of either of them losing control in areas where they most certainly should have been retaining control

[with_diamonds]

"I know," Lucy replied, not bothering to try to hide a wince. She wasn't going to say she was sorry - at least, not yet; that was being saved for if this crashed and burned - but she couldn't help feeling a little guilty. It was the middle of the night, she didn't want to worry him; basically, she was being a first-class idiot in every way possible. Even sitting here now, looking up at him, she was entirely aware of it. That was all the more reason, though, to get it over with. "It was a little unexpected for me, too. Everything's fine, I swear. But

[defected]

There was, at first, relief. It was minimal, but it was relief, nonetheless. She was fine, everything was fine - and then it wasn't. Then it was complicated.

Bryce was aware (painfully so) that he was staring. Frozen in place, standing at the center of what passed for his living room, he could do little more than watch Lucy, replaying her words in his mind like a record in hope, that the next verse might suddenly come to him. Even once she was silent, her words filled his ears, reverberating off the wooden walls and urging him to speak, to say anythingHe didn't

[with_diamonds]

If trying not to act on the way she'd felt for some time had been excruciating, waiting for a response was even more so. Lucy found herself unable to move, looking up from the floor at him both nervous and expectant, trying to hold on to what last shred of hope, of dignity, she could. There was a reason she didn't usually do things like this, putting herself on the line, so much more vulnerable than she liked to let herself seem. It wouldn't have taken so much thought if he was going to return the sentiment; that much, the logical part of her knew, was obvious. Any last second, though, that she could delay the inevitable, was worthwhile.

And then it came. Try though she might, she couldn't help wincing slightly, then smiled mirthlessly, eyes closing as she ran her hands back through her hair. "I'm an idiot," she sighed, though it wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that he found it unexpected. Apparently, she was even better at hiding her feelings than she'd thought. After those Halloween costumes, after he'd asked her to

[defected]

There was no easy way to go about this, but as soon as Lucy assumed it, Bryce knew that turning her down had not been his intention. He knew it, clearer than anything else at the moment, because he felt an instant and barely controllable urge to rush to her, to comfort and reassure her. To prove her - and, on some deeper level, himself - wrong. He just wasn't sure that he could.

But letting Lucy assume that she had somehow misinterpreted whatever this was between them wasn't an option, either. With both Chuck and Sarah gone, she was the closest thing he had to... well, anything. He had no family and only precious few others he could call friends; even then, it was Lucy whom he trusted above all the rest. Whom he trusted at all. That had to count for something

[with_diamonds]

Standing there in front of him, it was almost like preparing for the other shoe to drop, Lucy just managing not to hold her breath as she waited to see how he would choose to let her down easy. It was, or should have been, a simple conversation; that it wasn't was all it took to show that she'd made a mistake, misread some signs, acted on an impulse she should have tried harder to ignore. Besides, she'd been ready for this, not so optimistic as to think that there would be some big, romantic moment wherein she professed her feelings and he returned them. Things were never that simple. This, then, shouldn't have been so difficult

[defected]

"I'm saying..." He didn't know what he was saying, really, and wound up opening his mouth only to trail off once more. Typically smooth though he was, Bryce was finding eloquence an elusive concept this evening, his having aced seduction school doing fuck-all to help him through the current situation. The difference was that nothing in the field mattered on a personal level. Even when he and Sarah had become involved, it had started off as a cover, only to ease into something less clean and clear as the time passed. It had been too long since Bryce had been in a position where he was calling the shots; where the choice was his and the decision wasn't life and death. (Never had he expected to be even more difficult that the infamous blue-wire-red-wire dilemma

[with_diamonds]

It seemed to take an eternity for him to reply, words hanging heavy in the air between them after he trailed off. For Lucy's part, it wasn't like she could cut in, either, able to do little more but wait. The position wasn't one she liked, and for a split second, it nearly made her regret having come out here at all. Helplessness wasn't a feeling that sat well with her, serving now as a reminder of why she didn't do this, why she kept herself so carefully guarded. That was how she managed, at least in theory, to keep from getting hurt. She would recover from this, she knew, but whatever hope he had given her, whatever he had said about his being the one who was an idiot, she still felt like a fool

[defected]

For a split second, Bryce worried that he might have overstepped, that her advance (for painful lack of a better term) may have been time-sensitive, and he had waited too long. It was a foolish, ridiculous thought to entertain, but then, so was he, with his uninvited hands pawing at her and his lips violating the unwritten laws of of personal space considerably.

And then she kissed him back.

The hand at her neck edged further along behind her ear, fingers digging (softly) into her hair, while the one on her hip made its way around her back and pushed her even closer. His lips parted, kissed the middle of her bottom lip, the very corner, the skin just above. It was sloppy and hurried and not at all his best work, but he wasn't thinking and he didn't care. For the first time in what felt like - what very well may have been - years, he didn't want to think about anything but her.

And so he didn't.

[with_diamonds]

If Lucy had any lingering doubts - about her feelings for him, or whether or not this was a good idea, or if the kiss was meant to convey that those feelings were reciprocated - they were gone as soon as he drew her closer. What he'd said, she still couldn't wholly make sense of, but it didn't matter. Even if it had, she wasn't sure she'd have been able to think about anything but his mouth against hers, the way his hand pushed into her hair, the warm skin under her palm as she slid her hand down his side, settling at his waist. This sort of contact wasn't especially unusual for her, but for it to extend beyond the physical was, when it had been almost a full year since she'd last been in a relationship. She had almost forgotten what it was like; she wasn't about to jump to conclusions and assume they were dating or whatever, but this was different, more about intent than anything else

[defected]

Somewhere between the taste of her lips and the light yet almost electric depression of her fingertips on his back, a small part of Bryce mustered the sense to realize this was precisely what had worried him when he first opened his door to Lucy. That things would get out of control, and when they did, that he wouldn't have the presence of mind to pull back.

Fortunately, it turned out he also didn't have the presence of mind to care very much.

His mouth continued to savor as much of her lips and skin as it could, traveling now down her chin and to the edge of her jawline, along her neck and collarbone. He moved his hands lower, thumbs pushing up and through the thin fabric of her tank top to press against her hips. It had been too long since he had been this close to another person, both physically and emotionally, and he wasn't about to bring it to a swift and (he thought) premature end.

[with_diamonds]

Shivering pleasantly under his touch, each brush of skin seeming far more consequential than it probably ought to have, Lucy drew just that much closer, her head tipping back as his mouth moved lower. Like this, there wasn't much she could do but encourage; one hand stayed at his back while the other carded through his hair, and a soft exhale of a sound escaped from her throat before she could so much as realize it, though she didn't have it in her to be self-conscious. It wasn't as if she was the only interested party, here.

Distantly, she wondered whether or not this was going to progress any further, if they were going to talk or if this was going to speak for itself, but a moment was all it took for her to realize that she simply didn't care. It said enough, her own intentions having been made clear enough beforehand. There was no sense in getting too wrapped up in her own thoughts when she had something so much better to focus on, his mouth on her skin leaving her dizzy in the best way possible.

[defected]

Eleven months, one island, and several gunshot wounds ago, Bryce Larkin would have put an end to this - whatever this was, exactly - before it ever had a chance to begin; long before his hands had any chance to work down her shirt and his tongue neared her neck. Long before he allowed himself to get close enough, attached enough, that it almost hurt to separate. That he had no desire to control himself. But although time and loss and any number of other experiences had worn him down along the edges, there was a part of him that would never really change. Something inside of him that could never die

[with_diamonds]

Practically gasping for air when he pulled away, Lucy could do nothing but blink for a moment, dazed and breathless and not sure if she was even seeing straight. She'd wanted, of course, little more than for him to keep going, but she supposed that this made more sense, gave her a moment to regain composure, no longer able to stay lost in his touch. It left her nearly trembling, silent for what felt like an eternity but was probably only seconds. Any words she put on it were likely to only cheapen what had just happened, a kiss that had her reeling in a way that none had in a hell of a long time