Genetics 6/8
Title: Genetics 6/8
Author: Claire
Fandom: Dark Angel
Rating: PG-13/R
Summary: Max/Alec, set post transgenic conflict - Manticore left one last little present.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
“I don’t get it!” Max grumbled, as she and Cindy slouched at a table in Crash. “He said he wanted me to be nicer to him, and I’m being nicer to him! Now he says he’d prefer it if I just didn’t bother!”
“Personally, I can’t blame the boy for bein’ confused,” Cindy drawled. “I know I am.”
“Look at him,” Max grumbled, glaring at Alec who was flirting easily with the petite redhead standing at the bar next to him. “Already scoping out his next lay. He doesn’t even have the decency to wait until all this is over with.”
“Boo,” Cindy said dryly. “Green don’t go wit’ that outfit.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Max asked irritably.
“That you so jealous you startin’ to clash with that red shirt.”
“I am not jealous!” Max sat upright , looking outraged.
“So jealous,” Cindy said, waving off Max’s anger. “So jealous it ain’t even funny any more.”
“I’m not!” Max hissed.
“You been glarin’ daggers at that Boo yo’ boy is talkin’ to, an’ I can tell you now, you ain’t got nothin’ to worry ‘bout from her.”
“Like I was worried anyway,” Max huffed. She glanced back at Cindy. “Why not?”
“Because that fine piece of ass is all mine,” Cindy said smugly. “And yo’ boy is so hooked on you he ain’t goin’ anywhere in a hurry.”
“…He is?”
“Hell yeah!” Cindy shot Max a grin. “Man must be a glutton fo’ punishment.”
Max frowned and glanced across at Alec, who was grinning at the girl beside him.
“If he’s so ‘hooked on me’, how come he’s busy flirting her?”
“Boo,” Cindy said with patience. “Flirtin’ don’t mean you gotta drop down an’ propose right out. It’s just fun.”
“And if she’s with you, how come she’s flirting back? She doesn’t swing that way.”
“Are you blind?” Cindy asked. “Yo’ boy is fine. If I ever went crazy and decided I wanted a man, it would be him. I’m still waitin’ to see if they made a version o’ him wit all the right bits, aiight?”
“Aiight,” Max echoed absently, frowning slightly at Alec.
-----
Alec left Crash later feeling somewhat cheerier. He couldn’t even feel too disappointed that the girl he’d been flirting with hadn’t swung his way, since he’d seen her and Original Cindy getting to know each other rather enthusiastically shortly afterwards.
Hands in the pockets of his jacket, he whistled happily to himself as he sauntered down the road. When he saw Max watching him as she stood on the corner though, he stopped.
“I should’ve known this evening was going too well,” he drawled as he walked over to her, knowing trying to avoid her would just cause him more grief.
“Oh please,” Max shot back. “I saw your little girlfriend gettin’ her kicks with Original Cindy, how does that qualify as ‘going well’?”
Alec just grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows. Max grimaced.
“Oh, God, you men are such perverts.”
“…Yeah, that’s true.” His grin dropped from his face. “What do you want, Max?”
“I want you to kiss me,” Max said.
Alec frowned.
“What? Can’t you wait another week and a half for sex?”
“I don’t want sex,” Max snapped. “I just…I want you to kiss me. Like you mean it.”
Alec studied her for a moment. She met his gaze squarely, her expression not giving anything away.
“Kiss me like you would’ve done the other night,” she said. “If you hadn’t gagged me.”
Alec swallowed and glanced up and down the dark, deserted street. He passed his hand over his mouth.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked quietly.
“I need to find something out, is all,” she told him.
“This is all just some game to you, isn’t it?” he hissed. “You think you can just waltz into my life whenever you please - ”
“Hold on, you waltzed into my life first!”
“Yeah, but I didn’t start fucking with your emotions like you were some toy,” he snapped. “You can’t treat me like shit and then expect me to come running whenever you want something!”
“I tried to be nice!” Max snapped back. “I tried asking about what you liked - ”
“You were trying to ask me about personal stuff, private stuff and for what? So I could get you to be nice to me? To respect me? Why should I have to work to get the time of day from you Max? Nothing I do is ever good enough for you anyway, so tell me why I should even bother.”
“I need to find something out,” Max repeated quietly. “I need…I need to be sure.”
Alec looked at her carefully, frowning. She looked sincere enough, although he’d be the first to point out he wasn’t the only one from Manticore with ‘sincere eyes’. There was something there, though. An edge of uncertainty, even fear.
“Alright,” he said finally. “How do you want me to do this?”
Suddenly she looked unsure.
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
“Close your eyes,” Alec told her. “Trust me.”
Max obliged after a sceptical pause, then jumped when she felt his hand on her waist.
“Just relax,” he said quietly. He pulled her gently against him, his hand coming up to her face. She flinched at the first brush of his skin against hers, then relaxed into the touch as his fingers caressed her cheek and slid into her hair.
His lips barely touched hers at first, a feather light brush, followed moments later by a slightly firmer one. Slowly he increased the pressure of the kiss, coaxing her to respond as a lazy heat began to curl through her. He pulled her more tightly against him and she moved with the pressure, bringing her hands up to curl one around his neck the other in his hair.
He opened his mouth slightly and Max responded obediently. The heat rose, suddenly, burning desperately from the inside, and she wanted more, she wanted it faster, but Alec kept it slow, languid. Teasing, tasting, coaxing.
And then he pulled back.
“How was that?” he asked, with a small grin.
“Um…” Max said. “I think I need a little more to go on.”
And she pulled him down for another kiss.
-----
“I don’t see what the problem is,” Logan told her.
“The problem is, he’s not you!”
Logan let out a little huff of laughter, tinged with regret.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I noticed that too.”
“Logan…”
“Look,” Logan said reasonably. “Maybe it’s best he’s not like me. That way you won’t keep comparing the two of us. Maybe that’s what you need.”
“Shouldn’t you be telling me you don’t want me to go?” Max asked dryly, curled up on the sofa by the window, looking out into the night.
“Much as I’d like to,” Logan replied. “It wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”
Max blew onto the window, then wrote her name in the steam.
“I just…I always thought we’d make it, y’know? Somehow I just always pictured us getting there in the end.”
“The best laid plans of mice and men…” Logan quoted, although his tone of voice indicated that he agreed.
“He does kiss pretty well though,” Max mused lightly.
“Okay, I’ll support you, but I’m not gonna be that supportive. I still don’t like the guy that much.”
Max grinned wickedly.
“And he does know his way around the bedroom - ”
“Okay, hanging up now.”
-----
“So you like him,” Cindy said lightly. “Big deal. The only crime is that you’re deprivin’ the light sight o’ the force of some fine ass, but I ain’t gonna judge you for the way you swing.”
“Thanks so much,” Max drawled. “I feel so much better about all this now.”
-----
Alec opened his locker and blinked when he saw a piece of paper folded up on top of his stuff. He glanced around, then picked it up and unfolded it. On it, in Max’s handwriting, were the words,
My favourite song is ‘Tank’. I heard it at Logan’s.
-----
“Why does it not surprise me that you like a song called ‘Tank’?” Alec drawled, as he sauntered down to sit beside her on the space needle. Max glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. “I had a look on the internet for it. You know it was the theme tune to a cartoon, right? Cowboy Bebop. About bounty hunters, actually. Strangely apt…”
“You’re talking, but all I’m hearing is ‘blahblahblah, I’m an ass’.”
“I just didn’t realise you embraced your inner child quite so much.” He placed one hand on his chest, the other on her shoulder and sniffed melodramatically. “You’re growing up. I’m so proud.”
She batted his hand away, but shot him a grin as she did so.
“Jerk.”
“Bitch.”
Alec leaned back on his elbows while Max sat with her arms wrapped around her knees.
“So,” Max said eventually. “I think I like you.”
“You think?”
“Yeah.”
Alec stared consideringly out across the Seattle skyline.
“Well, I know I like you,” he said.
“I guess you’re just special then.”
“I guess I am.” He paused. “I like you better when you’re not being a bitch.”
“I like you better when you’re not talking.”
“Guess we’ll just have to get used to sort-of liking each other then.”
“Guess so.”
-----
Author: Claire
Fandom: Dark Angel
Rating: PG-13/R
Summary: Max/Alec, set post transgenic conflict - Manticore left one last little present.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
“I don’t get it!” Max grumbled, as she and Cindy slouched at a table in Crash. “He said he wanted me to be nicer to him, and I’m being nicer to him! Now he says he’d prefer it if I just didn’t bother!”
“Personally, I can’t blame the boy for bein’ confused,” Cindy drawled. “I know I am.”
“Look at him,” Max grumbled, glaring at Alec who was flirting easily with the petite redhead standing at the bar next to him. “Already scoping out his next lay. He doesn’t even have the decency to wait until all this is over with.”
“Boo,” Cindy said dryly. “Green don’t go wit’ that outfit.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Max asked irritably.
“That you so jealous you startin’ to clash with that red shirt.”
“I am not jealous!” Max sat upright , looking outraged.
“So jealous,” Cindy said, waving off Max’s anger. “So jealous it ain’t even funny any more.”
“I’m not!” Max hissed.
“You been glarin’ daggers at that Boo yo’ boy is talkin’ to, an’ I can tell you now, you ain’t got nothin’ to worry ‘bout from her.”
“Like I was worried anyway,” Max huffed. She glanced back at Cindy. “Why not?”
“Because that fine piece of ass is all mine,” Cindy said smugly. “And yo’ boy is so hooked on you he ain’t goin’ anywhere in a hurry.”
“…He is?”
“Hell yeah!” Cindy shot Max a grin. “Man must be a glutton fo’ punishment.”
Max frowned and glanced across at Alec, who was grinning at the girl beside him.
“If he’s so ‘hooked on me’, how come he’s busy flirting her?”
“Boo,” Cindy said with patience. “Flirtin’ don’t mean you gotta drop down an’ propose right out. It’s just fun.”
“And if she’s with you, how come she’s flirting back? She doesn’t swing that way.”
“Are you blind?” Cindy asked. “Yo’ boy is fine. If I ever went crazy and decided I wanted a man, it would be him. I’m still waitin’ to see if they made a version o’ him wit all the right bits, aiight?”
“Aiight,” Max echoed absently, frowning slightly at Alec.
-----
Alec left Crash later feeling somewhat cheerier. He couldn’t even feel too disappointed that the girl he’d been flirting with hadn’t swung his way, since he’d seen her and Original Cindy getting to know each other rather enthusiastically shortly afterwards.
Hands in the pockets of his jacket, he whistled happily to himself as he sauntered down the road. When he saw Max watching him as she stood on the corner though, he stopped.
“I should’ve known this evening was going too well,” he drawled as he walked over to her, knowing trying to avoid her would just cause him more grief.
“Oh please,” Max shot back. “I saw your little girlfriend gettin’ her kicks with Original Cindy, how does that qualify as ‘going well’?”
Alec just grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows. Max grimaced.
“Oh, God, you men are such perverts.”
“…Yeah, that’s true.” His grin dropped from his face. “What do you want, Max?”
“I want you to kiss me,” Max said.
Alec frowned.
“What? Can’t you wait another week and a half for sex?”
“I don’t want sex,” Max snapped. “I just…I want you to kiss me. Like you mean it.”
Alec studied her for a moment. She met his gaze squarely, her expression not giving anything away.
“Kiss me like you would’ve done the other night,” she said. “If you hadn’t gagged me.”
Alec swallowed and glanced up and down the dark, deserted street. He passed his hand over his mouth.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked quietly.
“I need to find something out, is all,” she told him.
“This is all just some game to you, isn’t it?” he hissed. “You think you can just waltz into my life whenever you please - ”
“Hold on, you waltzed into my life first!”
“Yeah, but I didn’t start fucking with your emotions like you were some toy,” he snapped. “You can’t treat me like shit and then expect me to come running whenever you want something!”
“I tried to be nice!” Max snapped back. “I tried asking about what you liked - ”
“You were trying to ask me about personal stuff, private stuff and for what? So I could get you to be nice to me? To respect me? Why should I have to work to get the time of day from you Max? Nothing I do is ever good enough for you anyway, so tell me why I should even bother.”
“I need to find something out,” Max repeated quietly. “I need…I need to be sure.”
Alec looked at her carefully, frowning. She looked sincere enough, although he’d be the first to point out he wasn’t the only one from Manticore with ‘sincere eyes’. There was something there, though. An edge of uncertainty, even fear.
“Alright,” he said finally. “How do you want me to do this?”
Suddenly she looked unsure.
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
“Close your eyes,” Alec told her. “Trust me.”
Max obliged after a sceptical pause, then jumped when she felt his hand on her waist.
“Just relax,” he said quietly. He pulled her gently against him, his hand coming up to her face. She flinched at the first brush of his skin against hers, then relaxed into the touch as his fingers caressed her cheek and slid into her hair.
His lips barely touched hers at first, a feather light brush, followed moments later by a slightly firmer one. Slowly he increased the pressure of the kiss, coaxing her to respond as a lazy heat began to curl through her. He pulled her more tightly against him and she moved with the pressure, bringing her hands up to curl one around his neck the other in his hair.
He opened his mouth slightly and Max responded obediently. The heat rose, suddenly, burning desperately from the inside, and she wanted more, she wanted it faster, but Alec kept it slow, languid. Teasing, tasting, coaxing.
And then he pulled back.
“How was that?” he asked, with a small grin.
“Um…” Max said. “I think I need a little more to go on.”
And she pulled him down for another kiss.
-----
“I don’t see what the problem is,” Logan told her.
“The problem is, he’s not you!”
Logan let out a little huff of laughter, tinged with regret.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I noticed that too.”
“Logan…”
“Look,” Logan said reasonably. “Maybe it’s best he’s not like me. That way you won’t keep comparing the two of us. Maybe that’s what you need.”
“Shouldn’t you be telling me you don’t want me to go?” Max asked dryly, curled up on the sofa by the window, looking out into the night.
“Much as I’d like to,” Logan replied. “It wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”
Max blew onto the window, then wrote her name in the steam.
“I just…I always thought we’d make it, y’know? Somehow I just always pictured us getting there in the end.”
“The best laid plans of mice and men…” Logan quoted, although his tone of voice indicated that he agreed.
“He does kiss pretty well though,” Max mused lightly.
“Okay, I’ll support you, but I’m not gonna be that supportive. I still don’t like the guy that much.”
Max grinned wickedly.
“And he does know his way around the bedroom - ”
“Okay, hanging up now.”
-----
“So you like him,” Cindy said lightly. “Big deal. The only crime is that you’re deprivin’ the light sight o’ the force of some fine ass, but I ain’t gonna judge you for the way you swing.”
“Thanks so much,” Max drawled. “I feel so much better about all this now.”
-----
Alec opened his locker and blinked when he saw a piece of paper folded up on top of his stuff. He glanced around, then picked it up and unfolded it. On it, in Max’s handwriting, were the words,
My favourite song is ‘Tank’. I heard it at Logan’s.
-----
“Why does it not surprise me that you like a song called ‘Tank’?” Alec drawled, as he sauntered down to sit beside her on the space needle. Max glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. “I had a look on the internet for it. You know it was the theme tune to a cartoon, right? Cowboy Bebop. About bounty hunters, actually. Strangely apt…”
“You’re talking, but all I’m hearing is ‘blahblahblah, I’m an ass’.”
“I just didn’t realise you embraced your inner child quite so much.” He placed one hand on his chest, the other on her shoulder and sniffed melodramatically. “You’re growing up. I’m so proud.”
She batted his hand away, but shot him a grin as she did so.
“Jerk.”
“Bitch.”
Alec leaned back on his elbows while Max sat with her arms wrapped around her knees.
“So,” Max said eventually. “I think I like you.”
“You think?”
“Yeah.”
Alec stared consideringly out across the Seattle skyline.
“Well, I know I like you,” he said.
“I guess you’re just special then.”
“I guess I am.” He paused. “I like you better when you’re not being a bitch.”
“I like you better when you’re not talking.”
“Guess we’ll just have to get used to sort-of liking each other then.”
“Guess so.”
-----