Zuko FLEE!

[princeinexile]

There are green woods everywhere, and it makes for easy vanishing for a boy dressed all in green... even in the dim light of the wee-hours-of-the-morning.

Little does he realize how accomplished and steathy the bat clan can be...

Comments

[alwaysroomforhope]

"I know you're a shitty jerk," she snaps, angry again. "And I'm a faithless whore, aren't I. And Billy doesn't deserve someone who'd kiss another man. I'd rather have nothing than betray his trust like that. DEAL WITH IT."

[princeinexile]

"I never called you that!"

Cause what would that make him!

"ARGH. You're making this so DIFFICULT. Fine! Leave your boyfriend. But not because of me!"

[alwaysroomforhope]

"I'm making WHAT difficult?" Steph demands. "You dumped water on me, threw eggs at me, I don't even know why I'm still even OUT here. What did you want?"

[princeinexile]

"I--"

He stops, and glares at the ground.

"I wanted to make it easier... for you to hate me and mean it."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"...oh."

She looks at him.

"I don't hate you. I should, but I don't."

In case he hadn't picked that up yet!

[princeinexile]

"That's what I'm trying to fix." Everybody hates him! It's fine!

[alwaysroomforhope]

"You want me to hate you?"

Steph is CONFUSED. And slightly offended, perhaps.

[princeinexile]

He nods quietly.

"Why shouldn't you? You -- keep everything good you have, and you don't have-- me." He shrugs. "You hate everything about me. I'm arrogant, I'm rude, I'm used to having my way, I do things in my own world that are probably horrible to you, I steal and I lie and I have no honor." He smirks, then, bitterly. "I have no hope."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"I know all that," Steph says, impatiently. "And I still - like you. Do you have to make me say it a hundred times?"

It's not putting her in a good mood!

"I like you, okay? I like your stupid arrogance and I like that you're an asshole and I even like the stupid way your forehead wrinkles when you frown at me. I. Like. You. And you're still a jerk!"

[princeinexile]

"But--"

THIS DOESN't MAKE SENSE. But what DOES at that age.

"... so. Okay. Okay," he says, now, moving away, cutting the air with his hands. "You-- You like me. You leave your boyfriend. Then what? You-- you -- try and-- what, with me? Anything? Nothing? And if there's something? And-- what if-- What's going to happen when you find someone you like more then me?"

[alwaysroomforhope]

"I DON'T KNOW!"

Why is it so hard?

"I'm not asking you for anything." She looks away, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. "I'm just - I won't lie to Billy. Not even for you. Even if you walk away right now, that doesn't change anything. I'm just trying to -"

Trying to not hurt anyone, and not to get hurt. Trying to understand why it's all so strange. Trying to deal.

She looks away.

" - look, you know what? Forget it. Just - forget it. I'm going back inside and I'm going to wash my shirt and I'll never bother you again. Okay? Are you happy now?"

[princeinexile]

No! No he's not happy! He ... he's not happy with whatever that answer is. Now HE looks away.

"... I can't be anything like that. You'd hate me in days. Two years on your earth, and Wells eventually got around to trying to ask me if I liked guys. I don't know what to-- to do-- I--"

He doesn't know what's being asked of him, or even if anything IS.

[alwaysroomforhope]

She isn't walking away - yet. But it's not out of the question yet, either.

" - do you like guys?"

She hadn't even CONSIDERED that. He didn't kiss like he liked guys!

[princeinexile]

"NO!"

Vehement. Shocked. HORRIFIED.

And grabbing her now to show her he does not like guys. He's going to kiss her till her toes curl!

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Well, I was just asking," Steph does not say, because her mouth is currently otherwise occupied. She does, however, work her hands free enough to get hold of his face, and kiss back, hard.

NOT GETTING AWAY THIS TIME, WALKING HEATER-BOY.

[princeinexile]

No desire to GET AWAY, stupid Robin! Hands are in her hair (wet, didn't matter, kind of nice that way, tangled around his fingers) against her back, sliding down, finding her hips.

He was not such a cad that he'd grope her.

Even if the thought did occur to him.

But he had full abuse of her mouth, and took advantage of that. He was not just a little clumsy, having only kissed once before, but-- this was good for practice, wasn't it?

[alwaysroomforhope]

Practice makes perfect, y'know. He's - crude, and fierce, and she isn't sure whether she wants to hit him or jump him, but the second's suddenly a lot more likely.

Why isn't he groping her? He should be groping her. She's not going to grope him unless he gropes her first! - suddenly mutual gropage (gropeage?) is very desirable.

He's ... hot, all over, and the more she presses against him the more heat she gains. And he's possibly bruising her lips, but it's at least as much her own fault if he is, considering how little she's trying to prevent him.

[princeinexile]

Zuko won't be crude with practice. Zuko does not like to do anything that he doesn't do well. But he is also uncertain about experimentation; a cue here and there never hurt anybody, did it?

But he realizes that space has vanished between their bodies; there is a press and it begs to be reciprocated. An arm up around her back, and one hand snaking almost shamefully low on her hip, curling tight.

Zuko leaves bruises with his love; burns are for fighting, but the drawing of blood and the marking of flesh? Good enough for a hot night...

[alwaysroomforhope]

Billy never left bruises. Billy was gentle and sweet and earnest, and Zuko's - going to leave her hurting, and that's good, it's - how it should be.

(She's Robin. She's proud of her scars, she wears pain like a badge of honour. Gentle is - nice, but this... This is - something very new.)

She breaks away, breathless, and murmurs "... so, you're definitely not gay, then?" - hands sliding down his neck and inside his collar, palms flat against hot skin. Cue this, heater-boy.

[princeinexile]

Or is he?

When the rush fades, he is-- flushfaced and moist-lipped and looking for all the world like he might break her or take her or run into the night at the slightest provocation.

"No," he says. "Definitely not." His eyes drop, and he tracks her hand (his skin is hot, but her tone, tanned and weathered, is warm against his pale flesh).

"...definitely not."

His fingers gather in her shirt, but don't yet move.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Either of the first two, plz kthx. She won't let him run - not after it's taken all night to get this far - what is he waiting for?

She looks at him steadily, eyes hot, breath still ragged and fast, and curls her fingers slightly against his skin, and waits for him to move.

Your call, Prince Zuko. Fight or flight?

[princeinexile]

"I--"

He is flushed, dark and upset, and-- he swallows, and then says, "I--"

WHAT DOES HE DO?

...go with what he knows. Duck is his head and find her mouth; something slower, somehting not so mean... If she's here, if they're going to do this...

...why shouldn't he take his time?

[alwaysroomforhope]

Time's a luxury... but not one Steph's lacking in. She'll be sixteen for ever. She can wait.

Eyes closed now. Hands slide out of his shirt and down his sides, coming to rest at his hips; and she's still, then, just being, hands light and mouth heavy and demanding, and there's no space left between them. That's okay, too. More than okay.

[princeinexile]

He's rumpled her clothes, and his hands find ... hips, belly, and--

Scars.

There is no way, really, not to touch them. They are.. everywhere. Every inch of her, he realizes, as he kisses her. He tries to avoid them, really. He does. They are marks of... honor. She died to protect...

He traces one with his thumb and feels guilty for touching her in a way he could not stand to have reciprocated.

The kiss breaks, slowly, but his mouth moves against hers. "... I don't know what you want."

But he's willing to try and provide.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Even I don't know what I want." She opens her eyes and looks into his. "...I don't know much. I'm - if we - This isn't going to be easy."

She's too much of a walking trauma case for anything to be easy, even if it feels like it might. She's learned that. Nothing's easy. You always have to fight.

She doesn't flinch from his touch, though. Getting into fights, having babies, being tortured - that's what's made her who she is. She might have drawn away once, years ago. Not now. Instead, she moves one hand to cover his, just lightly.