FIC: Pink Envelope (AB)(Anita/Nathaniel)
Oh look! More fic!
Title: Pink Envelope
fanfic100 Prompt: 076 -- Who?
Word Count: 1,182
Characters: Anita, Nathaniel
Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. Only the story is my own.
Fandom: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (master list here)
Beta: cissasghost
Note: Set after Incubus Dreams, no real spoilers.
Summary: Someone has given Anita a Valentine's Day card... but why? More importantly, who was it?
~~*~~
I found it in the kitchen, lying innocently on my chair. The envelope was a pink color not found at any other time of the year. With Valentine's Day a couple of days away, I knew exactly what I had here. A Valentine's card.
I did not, however, know who had sent it.
Slipping into the chair, I stared at the envelope. My name was written in a nicely anonymous hand. Carefully, I tore the paper open and pulled out the card. It was one of those Hallmark disasters, shiny red hearts amid pink flowers and butterflies. "Will you be my Valentine?" it read. There was no signature.
This was ridiculous, I thought as I dropped the card to the tabletop. I hadn't gotten a Valentine's card since grade school. Underneath my irritation at the card, however, was that I didn't know who would have sent me such a thing. I really don't like mysteries.
The front door opened and closed, and Micah called out, "I'm back!"
"Hi," I said absently. I let out a breath and tried to think about this card rationally. Who, of all my guys, would have done such a thing?
I could probably discount Jean-Claude and Asher. Sure, they could have gotten someone here to put out the card for me, but it didn't seem like their style. If Jean-Claude was going to leave me a Valentine's present, it would probably have included jewelry that I'd have to make him take back.
Richard? No. We'd been having issues recently, and it was probably beneath his Ulfric-y dignity to do something like this. Just as well; I wouldn't' have to tear the card up and leave it scattered on his doorstep.
The air in the room changed a little, and I looked up to see Micah carrying in handfuls of grocery bags. "You went to the store?" I asked, surprised. Nathaniel usually did all the shopping.
Micah lifted the bags effortlessly onto the counter. "Nathaniel wanted to work on his new routine," he said, pulling off his jacket and coming over to give me a kiss. "I had nothing else to do."
His eyes flicked to the card on the table, but his expression gave nothing away. Without a word, he squeezed my shoulder and went back to the groceries. The fact that he didn't say a damned thing meant he either gave me the card, or knew who did.
I glared at Micah's back as he began putting cans into the cupboard. Would Micah have given me this card? I considered what I knew about him. We'd been together for six and half months, and I still got the impression that he was being careful with me. Not physically; I knew he was too controlled to ever hurt me, but emotionally.
Besides, the card was a bit too young for Micah. My thoughts were drifting in a direction I didn't want them to, but I had to accept what I suspected. A card like this was too juvenile for Micah, but not for Nathaniel.
I let out a sigh. After all this time, I still didn't understand Nathaniel. Some days, he acted like an old man, like he'd seen everything, heard it all. Other days, he was like a little kid, so much younger than his twenty-one years.
With another sigh, I stood up, taking the card with me, and headed for the basement. We'd set up a mini-studio for Nathaniel to practice his stripping routines, and from the sound of the thumping music I heard as I descended the steps, I knew he was still at it.
I didn't want to interrupt him, so I settled on the bottom step to watch. Nathaniel was concentrating intently on his reflection in the far mirror, as he repeated the same writhing movement with his arm and shoulders, over and over. I saw Nathaniel every day, slept beside him every night, and still I was completely captivated. He flowed into the movement, muscles sliding beneath his glistening skin. This was beyond the grace of a wereleopard. This was just the beauty of him.
I licked my suddenly dry lips. He'd been a stripper for a couple of years now, and before that he'd been on the streets... it still hurt for me to think of how long he'd been out there, with no one to protect him. He'd been on his own for at least ten years. If it was longer, he didn't talk about it, and I was scared to ask.
The thick paper of the card bit into my palm. When I was little, I'd loved to hand out those little Valentine's cards to all my classmates. I'd gloated over the cards I'd gotten, and cried over the ones I hadn't. In grade four, it had seemed like the end of the world when Cindy Young didn't give me a card when she'd given one to my best friend Marla. When Nathaniel was that age, adult men had taken him into their cars in back alleys and made him do things no sane, civilized person would ever think of doing to a child. Nathaniel hadn't had a childhood to give Valentine's cards in.
The song ended. I blinked hard, angry at the moisture in my eyes, to see Nathaniel still facing away from me, watching me in the mirror's reflection. His hard breathing was loud in the sudden silence.
I swallowed and tried to smile. If Nathaniel wanted to give me a Valentine's card, then he could. I wasn't going to let my first impression of this card trample over what he'd meant to do for me.
Pushing myself to my feet, I crossed the floor to Nathaniel's side. We looked at each other in the mirror for a few seconds, then I said, "Yes."
Nathaniel frowned. "Yes to what?" he asked, turning to me.
I held up the card. "Yes, I'll be your Valentine."
Nathaniel's violet eyes strayed down to the paper. "I... It's okay?"
The disbelief in his voice, as carefully hidden as he could manage, brought a sting back to my eyes. "It is."
He tried to smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I thought you might like it."
I reached up and cupped his cheek with my hand. His skin was hot, from the exercise and from his beast, and I wanted to wrap myself up in that warmth.
The worry in his eyes faded as I touched him, and I found myself stepping against him and going up on my toes, which put my mouth so close to his. "This is going to be our first Valentine's Day together, isn't it?" I whispered.
"Yes," he whispered back, his lips moving against mine. It wasn't a kiss, not yet, but so close that my body tingled.
"I can't wait," I told him softly, then I kissed him.
The card fell from my fingers, but neither Nathaniel nor I minded. As I deepened the kiss, feeling Nathaniel pliant in my arms, I promised myself that I'd keep trying to understand Nathaniel.
I needed him... no, loved him, too much to do anything less.
-fin
Title: Pink Envelope
fanfic100 Prompt: 076 -- Who?
Word Count: 1,182
Characters: Anita, Nathaniel
Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton owns all things Anita Blake. Only the story is my own.
Fandom: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (master list here)
Beta: cissasghost
Note: Set after Incubus Dreams, no real spoilers.
Summary: Someone has given Anita a Valentine's Day card... but why? More importantly, who was it?
~~*~~
I found it in the kitchen, lying innocently on my chair. The envelope was a pink color not found at any other time of the year. With Valentine's Day a couple of days away, I knew exactly what I had here. A Valentine's card.
I did not, however, know who had sent it.
Slipping into the chair, I stared at the envelope. My name was written in a nicely anonymous hand. Carefully, I tore the paper open and pulled out the card. It was one of those Hallmark disasters, shiny red hearts amid pink flowers and butterflies. "Will you be my Valentine?" it read. There was no signature.
This was ridiculous, I thought as I dropped the card to the tabletop. I hadn't gotten a Valentine's card since grade school. Underneath my irritation at the card, however, was that I didn't know who would have sent me such a thing. I really don't like mysteries.
The front door opened and closed, and Micah called out, "I'm back!"
"Hi," I said absently. I let out a breath and tried to think about this card rationally. Who, of all my guys, would have done such a thing?
I could probably discount Jean-Claude and Asher. Sure, they could have gotten someone here to put out the card for me, but it didn't seem like their style. If Jean-Claude was going to leave me a Valentine's present, it would probably have included jewelry that I'd have to make him take back.
Richard? No. We'd been having issues recently, and it was probably beneath his Ulfric-y dignity to do something like this. Just as well; I wouldn't' have to tear the card up and leave it scattered on his doorstep.
The air in the room changed a little, and I looked up to see Micah carrying in handfuls of grocery bags. "You went to the store?" I asked, surprised. Nathaniel usually did all the shopping.
Micah lifted the bags effortlessly onto the counter. "Nathaniel wanted to work on his new routine," he said, pulling off his jacket and coming over to give me a kiss. "I had nothing else to do."
His eyes flicked to the card on the table, but his expression gave nothing away. Without a word, he squeezed my shoulder and went back to the groceries. The fact that he didn't say a damned thing meant he either gave me the card, or knew who did.
I glared at Micah's back as he began putting cans into the cupboard. Would Micah have given me this card? I considered what I knew about him. We'd been together for six and half months, and I still got the impression that he was being careful with me. Not physically; I knew he was too controlled to ever hurt me, but emotionally.
Besides, the card was a bit too young for Micah. My thoughts were drifting in a direction I didn't want them to, but I had to accept what I suspected. A card like this was too juvenile for Micah, but not for Nathaniel.
I let out a sigh. After all this time, I still didn't understand Nathaniel. Some days, he acted like an old man, like he'd seen everything, heard it all. Other days, he was like a little kid, so much younger than his twenty-one years.
With another sigh, I stood up, taking the card with me, and headed for the basement. We'd set up a mini-studio for Nathaniel to practice his stripping routines, and from the sound of the thumping music I heard as I descended the steps, I knew he was still at it.
I didn't want to interrupt him, so I settled on the bottom step to watch. Nathaniel was concentrating intently on his reflection in the far mirror, as he repeated the same writhing movement with his arm and shoulders, over and over. I saw Nathaniel every day, slept beside him every night, and still I was completely captivated. He flowed into the movement, muscles sliding beneath his glistening skin. This was beyond the grace of a wereleopard. This was just the beauty of him.
I licked my suddenly dry lips. He'd been a stripper for a couple of years now, and before that he'd been on the streets... it still hurt for me to think of how long he'd been out there, with no one to protect him. He'd been on his own for at least ten years. If it was longer, he didn't talk about it, and I was scared to ask.
The thick paper of the card bit into my palm. When I was little, I'd loved to hand out those little Valentine's cards to all my classmates. I'd gloated over the cards I'd gotten, and cried over the ones I hadn't. In grade four, it had seemed like the end of the world when Cindy Young didn't give me a card when she'd given one to my best friend Marla. When Nathaniel was that age, adult men had taken him into their cars in back alleys and made him do things no sane, civilized person would ever think of doing to a child. Nathaniel hadn't had a childhood to give Valentine's cards in.
The song ended. I blinked hard, angry at the moisture in my eyes, to see Nathaniel still facing away from me, watching me in the mirror's reflection. His hard breathing was loud in the sudden silence.
I swallowed and tried to smile. If Nathaniel wanted to give me a Valentine's card, then he could. I wasn't going to let my first impression of this card trample over what he'd meant to do for me.
Pushing myself to my feet, I crossed the floor to Nathaniel's side. We looked at each other in the mirror for a few seconds, then I said, "Yes."
Nathaniel frowned. "Yes to what?" he asked, turning to me.
I held up the card. "Yes, I'll be your Valentine."
Nathaniel's violet eyes strayed down to the paper. "I... It's okay?"
The disbelief in his voice, as carefully hidden as he could manage, brought a sting back to my eyes. "It is."
He tried to smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I thought you might like it."
I reached up and cupped his cheek with my hand. His skin was hot, from the exercise and from his beast, and I wanted to wrap myself up in that warmth.
The worry in his eyes faded as I touched him, and I found myself stepping against him and going up on my toes, which put my mouth so close to his. "This is going to be our first Valentine's Day together, isn't it?" I whispered.
"Yes," he whispered back, his lips moving against mine. It wasn't a kiss, not yet, but so close that my body tingled.
"I can't wait," I told him softly, then I kissed him.
The card fell from my fingers, but neither Nathaniel nor I minded. As I deepened the kiss, feeling Nathaniel pliant in my arms, I promised myself that I'd keep trying to understand Nathaniel.
I needed him... no, loved him, too much to do anything less.
-fin