Suite 138

[alwaysroomforhope]

Even in April, the lake's cold, and so it's a slightly blue-lipped Steph who pushes open the Batflat door and gestures Billy inside. "You wanna go first in the bath, or me?"

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[alwaysroomforhope]

"What is it?" Steph asks, and then shakes her head. "No, I trust you. Okay, show." She smiles up at him.

[withamagicword]

He reaches out and traces a rune on her forehead and then, wihout moving his lips, his voice comes, to her mind.

::Can you hear me?::

A sense of curiosity and love comes with it.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph goes :o!!!

"I hear you! ... Wow. ... Does that mean you can read my mind?"

[withamagicword]

::Only what you allow me to see and I would only look if you asked me, but, even then, every mind, even an untrained one, has barriers. I can show you.::

he reaches and gently touches the natural ones in her mind, 'showing' her what they looked like to his questing thought, large black and formidable, almost like a certain mentor of hers.

he smiles at her and gently stokes her arm.

::I just.. I wanted to to know I would never lie to you and here, I cant. This is truth, the domain of thought.::

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Oh. That's good." She sounds reassured, but still anxious. "I've got - it's not that I've got secrets, it's just - I mean, I've done some awful things. And I guess, uh." She takes a breath. "If you want to - look. I mean. I don't have anything to hide. Not from you. It's just ... don't hate me?"

(Behind the barriers are things like the gang war she started, the nightmares she's never stopped having, the misery and despair that was life with her father. Horror stories, crimes she's failed to prevent, the bloodlust that made her want to kill that Desh-Theire exploited so easily. Stomach-twisting guilt over Tim Hunter and Jason Todd; anger and misery at the world. The things Black Mask did to her before she died. The things her babysitter wanted to do to her when she was eleven. The things she never thinks about because if she did, she'd just want to die. Red-tinged mists.)

"You probably don't wanna see. But I mean. I meant it when I said I'm all yours. You don't - uh. Don't need to ask me for permission."

She clings to his arm, afraid suddenly. There are things in her mind that she's never shown anyone. But she won't be less than honest, and if he wants to know - he deserves the right. And if he walks out on her, turns on her and spits in her face, then it'll be as much as she deserves in her turn.

[withamagicword]

He nods and opens his own barriers a little and reveals a little of his past.

( images of his torment when he was ten at the hands of two older kids, what they did to him for hours that he never told a soul, images of the fight where he killed, images of the losses and the people he couldnt save, just a light showing of what he has known and seen.)

He kisses her gently.

::Whatever you want is important too. I wont look at anything you dont want me to see. I swear it.::

And his love and acceptance of her, of everything about her, no matter how dark it might be, flows out as he holds her tight.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph gasps and hugs him tight, seeing the images he's sending, and feels a sharp stab of protectiveness deep in her gut. Never again. Never letting anyone hurt him again. Never.

"I don't -" she begins, and then tries again, with a smile. ::I don't want you to see any of it. It's not a nice place, my head. But you deserve the right to know. Just - if you want to look - just give me some warning??::

[withamagicword]

He nods to her and kisses her.

::I wont look ever without you want ing me to see. Period. Besides, there is nothing in any universe you could do or be that would turn me away fro you, save a few words from you - 'Go away Billy. Never come back.' Nothing else will drive me from your side.::

he gently touches her hair, stroking it.

[alwaysroomforhope]

She sighs, half relieved and half afraid, and relaxes into his touch, only then realising how tense she'd been.

::Right now I can't imagine ever saying that to you.::

A beat.

::Especially now we can talk and snog at the same time.::

[withamagicword]

He laugh and snogs the heck out of her, his mind sending care and love and images of her at her.

::MM, you mean like this? Wow, did I ever tell you that you taste fantastic?::

[alwaysroomforhope]

Experimentally, she sends the way she feels when they're kissing - heat pooling in her belly, tingling all over, whole mind focused just on his tongue and hers, their lips. If it makes her feel this good, he deserves to know.

[withamagicword]

He shivers from that and returns the favor, letting her feel how kissing her arouses him, the feeling of getting hard for her, and of how his nmerves feel like thjey are on pleasurable fire. He kisses her all the while, letting her see the sensations from his end.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph gasps. This is the sort of vicious circle she could really get to like - feedback multiplying and doubling with every second, until it's just -

She pulls back, mentally and physically. "That's - whoah - that's another one of those things we maybe shouldn't try just yet. Whoaaaaahh."

[withamagicword]

He gently pulls back his sensations.

He grins at ehr and nods.

"Can do, partner."

he shivers a bit himself.

"Look! Movie!"

Then he laughs.

"Slow and steady, eh?"

[alwaysroomforhope]

"I just. Guh. I don't think I'd have the self-control to wait, if we did that for much longer." Pupils still dilated, she relaxes against him. "Slow and steady, wins the race. Movie. Right. I can do that."

[withamagicword]

he snuggles her gently and grabs the remote, starting th movie again.

"Where were we?"

He giggles.

[alwaysroomforhope]

She shares the laugh. "I have a feeling we're gonna be asking that question a lot. Um ... they were flying away from the Death Star, with those little screamy ships chasing them, and Luke shot one, I think."

[withamagicword]

He grins.

"Right! Now I remember."

He flips through the scenes to there and starts it, then hugs her close and watches, munching on some pizza along the way.

He groans as they almost get caught but get away finally, and as they make their way to Yavin and Han gets his money and prepares to leave.

"Aw, man... that sucks."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"He'll be back," Steph says confidently. "Fulfills his mythic journey as well as Luke's. Wanna bet he turns up just in time to save the day?"

[withamagicword]

Billy raises an eyebrow but nods.

"Really? Hmmm. Seems kinda odd, but I bow to your superior knowledge."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph grins. "It's the, the thingo. You don't introduce a character that good and then let him fly away. Besides, I looked at the DVD boxes, he's on the covers of the second and third ones too." She giggles, and leans up to kiss his cheek. "I thought you'd already seen these."

[withamagicword]

He laughs.

"I forgot!"

then he grins at her and pokes her gently. The movie moves on and he grins. Battle scenes and... of course she is right. There he is to save the day and... a really big explosion!

[alwaysroomforhope]

"And the good guys win." She grins. "That? Was an awesome movie."

The awards ceremony, and goodbyes, and the credits roll.

"Hmm, I seem to remember this as being good making-out music," she adds, a gleam in her eyes.

[withamagicword]

he grins and pulls her close.

"C'mere."

And he kisses her, soft, slight, and then harder, but still gentle. he opens his mind just slightly to her.

::You are so cute.::

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph doesn't think in words, often; so what he gets across that slight connection is just warmth and deep affection, and perfect contentment - tinged slightly pink with desire, warded with the determination not to give in. She sighs against his mouth, hands wandering to stroke his neck and back.