Room 407, Thursday afternoon
Jude had a very important phone call to make. He should have made it a couple days ago, but it was the kind of phone call that had to be done right. Also, it was the kind of phone call that could result in bodily harm from his girlfriend. But the facts remained that Jonesy was still Jude's best friend and would share news of this importance with him. So after work, Jude tossed his suit jacket onto his desk chair and flopped down on the bed to dial.
Somewhere in the Galleria Mall, a cellphone broke into 'Mellow Yellow'.
"Jude!"
"Dude!"
"What's up, bro? You like totally blew me off last week! I called like six times."
"I was, uh, busy." Being a cat, most of the time.
The smirk was almost tangible down the phone. "Busy? With that chick, Rikku?"
"Well, yeah."
Silence. Then - "Oh. My. God."
"Uh, Jonesy?"
"You got some. You totally got some. Dude, tell me you got some."
"I touched a boob," Jude blurted.
"Dude!"
"Dude!"
"Top on or off?"
"Off."
"Dude!" Pause. "What was it like?"
"It was awesome. She was all shivery and soft and totally into it and I think I made her moan." He could still hear it.
"Dude." Jonesy's voice was tinged with envy. "I never made Nikki moan."
"Wait - you never -"
"I touched it once, it was over t-shirt, next time I tried it she nailed me in the nuts with her elbow."
Jude felt rather betrayed. Jonesy was supposed to be his guru. "Dude," he said accusingly.
"It's not like I haven't tried!" Jonesy protested. "But dude, you are the man. I am so proud of you, little buddy."
"Really?" Jude perked up. Guru or no, Jonesy was still Jonesy.
"Totally, man. I gotta admit, I was a little scared for you. You're not the go-for-it guy. But you totally pulled through for me, dude."
"Thanks, bro."
"So, do you think you guys are gonna, you know . . ."
Jude didn't blush as badly as he would have if anyone else had asked the question. "I - I dunno, bro. She's never . . . you know, either. I mean, I want to, but I don't wanna, like, ruin it for her or anything 'cause I don't know what I'm doing."
"Porn."
"What?"
"Watch porn. It's like a how-to manual."
"Dude!"
"What?"
"Dude, I am not watching porn."
"Fine. You seem to be doin' pretty good without it, anyway."
"Totally Rikku, dude. She's just . . . awesome. She just starts kissing me and everything else just . . . goes away, y'know? And she's like way braver than I am. If she was naked, I woulda totally been like hiding under the bed, but she -"
"Wait. You were naked?"
"Uh . . . yeah?"
"Are we talking boxers naked, or streaking-through-Grind-Me naked?"
"Streaking-through-Grind-Me naked."
"Dude. Was she -"
"Nah, she had her pyjama bottoms on. We were in Denmark -"
"You went to Denmark?"
"- for Hamlet's funeral -"
"Oh, dude, that sucks."
"- and I was a cat, and then I stopped being a cat -"
"Dude, you gotta update your slang."
"- and then I was naked, and she was upset, so we started hugging and then . . . stuff happened."
"Why were you naked?"
"Cats don't wear clothes."
"Dude, tell me you are talking, like, Sammy Davis Jr here."
"Dude, I was a cat. A kitten."
"Dude, your school is weird."
"Dude, I know. But I touched a boob." Let's not forget the pertinent facts here.
"Dude!"
"Duuuude."
"Can I tell the gang?"
Jude hesitated. "Uh . . . y-y'know what, bro? Could you, uh, not? I mean, I love 'em and all, but you know Nikki's gonna get all rip-out-her-kidney, and Jen's gonna lecture . . . I don't wanna ruin anything with Rikku by, like, bragging."
"Totally understandable, dude."
"Thanks."
"I mean it, Jude, you're the man. You're totally my personal hero right now. But I totally gotta go, I'm starting a new job today."
"Alright, dude. Catch ya later. Give the girls a hug for me."
"I will. See ya."
Jude was beaming as he close his phone and dropped it to his desk. He felt on top of the world. Jonesy's words of praise had vaulted him there and the little refrain in the back of his head that crowed 'She loves me, I touched a boob, she loves me!' didn't hurt neither. He felt like running laps to 'Eye of the Tiger' or something. Or maybe napping. Yeah, napping sounded good.
How was it so late? Oh, right, 'cause she hadn't gone to bed until ... well, she didn't know what time it was, but the movies got weirder and weirder and the caffeine had kept her twitching and then it was almost back around to morning again and she'd only managed a nap before her Flight and Flying class. Which was awesome. But she'd gone back to her room afterwards just to grab something or other and ended up falling asleep again and why did she feel so sluggish!?
Rikku: totally new to caffeine/sugar crashes. Alas.
She'd also totally missed Jude at work, which sucked, and meant no Jude-shakes for her. Oh well. At least she could still drop in and get snuggles, right?
Knock knock knock!
Jude wasn't practicing his 'Saturday Night Fever' strut across the bedroom floor, no. But he was at the door a second later and opening it with a grin as soon as he saw her. "Hey, bra."
"Hi, you," Rikku grinned, wrapping her arms around Jude for a how-you-been? kiss. Okay, she may be sleepy and bounce-deprived, but that didn't mean she couldn't say hello properly.
Knowing that she could still give proper hellos was very comforting to Jude, who wrapped his arms around her in turn and added the 'fine-thank-you-and-you' bit.
Rikku leaned up to nudge his nose with hers and smiled. "Hey. Sorry I missed you at work. Having a good day?"
"Just got a whole lot better." Jude kissed the tip of her nose. "I, uh, I gotta talk to you about my class, though . . ." Jude occasionally had a clue.
Rikku nuzzled in to the side of his neck, with a frown. "Mkay. That doesn't sound good." And sighed. "So sleepy. Thought caffeine was a wake-up-kinda-thing?"
Jude paused. ". . . you had caffeine?"
"Las' night," she mumbled. "'N candy and I was in the common room with pajamas and bad movies and some stuff that I didn't know was caffeine, I thought it was just a fizzy drink-thing like you guys have? Jolt. It was goooooood."
Jolt Cola and candy. "Bra, you're crashing," he told her with a faint chuckle. "Remember like I did after I had all that Kaf-Pow?"
"You were all crazy," Rikku said informatively, giggling. "And you were chanting stuff about yellow being mellow and waving your hand in people's faces and besides I already slept, like, a little before class and then some after so I should be good, right?"
If not she'd just set her head here on his shoulder for a bit. Mmmmmm. Jude.
"After that stuff," Jude rolled his eyes, tugging her back into the room so he could close the door. If she really needed to crash, there was a very manly duvet with her name on it. "You're wiped."
"After that stuff you were snuggling with Kinto and it was seriously cute," she grinned, plopping down on the Brawny, Burly Duvet of Manliness. "Is this why caffeine's bad? For other people, I mean, it's bad for you 'cause you get all crazy-weird. Oh, wow, I wonder if caffeine's, like, the anti-mellow. The complete scientific opposite of whatever that was in class!"
Jude blushed a little. And extracted Kinto from the Rugged and Masculine Duvet so he wouldn't get crushed. "Totally the anti-mellow. What class?"
Rikku reached out and snagged Kinto for cuddlings. "Hi, you!" He got a kiss right on the top of the head, and then Jude got a quick peck as well. "Gotta play fair, yeah?"
"Uh, it was ... the one Monday that we had to come back for?" She wasn't blushing at the word Monday. Really. "Something about being superheroes in books and last week it was Deadpool teaching but this week it was those two guys, uh, one of 'em swears a lot and the other never talks and they're not usually teachers. They had weapon-things of ultimate enlightenment and Bob was teaching me how to use them. I got all Zen."
Awww! Jude just had to cuddle up to them after that. And totally wasn't blushing over Monday. Nope. No blushing here.
Trust Rikku to get all Zen over weapons.
Jude chuckled a little nervously, his arm slipping around her waist. "I, uh, got an assignment in the workshop today."
Rikku snuggled in, tucking Kinto into her arm and wriggling close. "The Awesome one? Oh! I remembered to tell you the suit-thing, right? 'Cause he was all 'wear it or get detention grr' or something. And he didn't believe me about you being a cat and he thought I was a lesbian or something? He seemed kinda ... weird."
Which was really a relative term, at Fandom.
"Yeah, I wore a suit," Jude chuckled. "Well, kinda." Tuxedo t-shirt and tweed blazer totally counted as a suit, right? Why Jude seemed to own only one t-shirt but several different fancy dress jackets was one of those mysteries of life. "I, uh . . . we have to ask a girl out."
"Oooooh," Rikku purred, sitting up a little. "Hang on."
She pulled the ponytail out of its holder and shook her hair free, and then gave him her best flirty smile. "Ask away. Just to let you know, I think you've got a good chance here."
Oh, geez. Because Rikku looked pretty anyway, but when she did the hair-shaking-thing and the smile and her eyes and Jude steeled himself for pain. Lots of pain.
"Uh . . . i-it has to be someone we're not dating."
It took Rikku a few seconds just to process that. "You ... wait, y-you ..."
Her jaw dropped. "You're gonna go out with someone else!?? For a CLASS!?!"
If this was a joke, it wasn't very funny.
Jude quickly leaned back, holding up a hand defensively. "I'm not gonna go out with anyone! I was gonna ask someone who would say no! I just have to ask!" He wondered if that punch to the solar plexus hurt as much the second time around, or if he'd even have time to compare before he passed out.
She stared for a few more seconds, and then shut her mouth quickly, turning away as she scooted off the bed. "Yeah. I get it. It's for class. Really." She yanked her hair back into its ponytail. "Good luck. Hey, have fun on your date."
Jude gulped and scrambled after her. "Really, bra, it's for class. And if you don't want me to do it, I won't. It's just a stupid assignment, it doesn't matter. I don't want to date anyone else."
"You were naked!" Rikku said, and whoa, that sounded louder than she thought it would. "And I was kinda naked and there was touching and that means you so don't get to go on dates, even ones for class!" She flailed. "I mean, what if she's all 'ooooh, Jude, I'd love to' and then you're all, 'gosh, I can't just NOT take her, I asked her and I gotta be nice' and next thing you know ..."
"I - no! No dates!" He tried to catch the flailing hands. "I love you, bra, I don't wanna date . . . anyone . . . else." His eyes widened. "I know who I'm gonna ask out."
Rikku blinked. "You're ... not gonna date anyone, no dates, you love me, no dates, and oh, hey, you know who you wanna ask out, yay?"
Jude took her hand, shoulders hunching sheepishly. "I'm not dating Gabriella von Santos de . . . whatever the last bit was. So it totally counts if I ask her out, right?"
Rikku laughed, faintly, and then considered for a few seconds before snuggling in, face against his chest. "Being stupid, yeah?"
Jude slumped in relief and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her temple. "Nah, bra. I shouldn't've even thought about it."
"No, no, it's ..." She straightened up a little, reaching up to play with his hair. "It's just a, hey, ask someone, yeah? You don't have to go on the date, right? I'm ..."
She shook her head. "Sorry. Just, uh, kinda ..." And here we were again with the blushing.
Jude nuzzled against her fingers and kissed the tip of her nose again. "Totally. Never even thought about goin' on the date. I was gonna ask someone like, Phoebe or something." He bumped his nose against hers. "Kinda what?"
"Oh," she said, and then shook her head. "Like, somebody that's already got a boyfriend? Oh. I'm, uh, that's ... wow. I'm being dumb."
Rikku leaned forward for a quick kiss. "I, uh, just kinda ... you know. With the ... n-naked, and ... and you're way awesome and if you go asking other girls for dates then they're so gonna be all 'yay, Jude!' and ... they're not allowed 'cause you're mine. Yeah?"
Jude chuckled softly. "Yeah," he agreed, blushing more than a little. "I don't want to date anyone else. And I definitely don't want to do . . . that other stuff with anyone else." He kissed her again. "It was . . . you're the awesome one."
"Y-yeah?" she giggled, turning bright red. "That was ... that was so awesome, yeah? And hey, if anybody else knew about your magic fingers, I'd totally need a new bimbo stick."
This time his nervous 'heh, heh, heh' was entirely out of embarrassment, his blush as bright as hers as he glanced down and scuffed his toe in the mess.
Rikku grinned and kissed the tip of his nose again. "Dawn and I, uh, were discussing ... not things but, uh, just ... she says Sam's got awesome hands and I was all 'magic fingers!' and we were all 'BOYS ROCK' and then we had more Jolt."
Still blushing furiously, she rested her forehead against his. "Y-you know, it's funny, 'cause ... 'cause whenever, uh, th-things happen, I'm really ... n-nervous? And I worry, like, before, what if this or that, and would it be okay, and ... and then later it's all, whoa, that was awesome, you know? Like there's ... I don't know." She rolled her eyes. "I suck at words again."
"'Sokay," Jude mumbled. "I think I get it. I-I-I was worried you'd, y'know, n-not want to . . . do it again or something, I mean if you're . . . if it's . . ." Oh, yay, mutual verbal failing.
"Y-you ..." Rikku blushed and looked up at him with a nervous smile. "Y-you think I don't w-want to?"
Jude smiled back. "I dunno. I-if we're goin' too fast . . ."
Rikku shivered. "D-do you think we are? I, uh, I ... l-liked it. I m-mean. Is that awful?"
Jude shook his head. "I - I think it's, like a personal th-thing? S-so if I love you, and you love me, and we both w-want to do . . . stuff . . ." Blush, stammer, rinse, repeat.
"Do you?" asked Rikku with a mischevious grin. She slid her arms around his waist, slipping her hands under his shirt to trace the skin on his lower back. "Want to do stuff?"
Gulp. "D-duh." He was trying for nonchalant and failed miserably.
Rikku bit her lip and blushed harder, wriggling in closer. "You, uh, you know when M-Mikey's coming back?"
Damn. "Nuh uh." His eyes darted down to her bitten lip and he just had to kiss it, possible ninja turtle invasion be damned.
Rikku shivered and let him pull her lips into the kiss. "Y-you, uh, think we could ... l-leave a note on the door?"
And that was why Rikku was the brains of the operation. "O-okay." Jude kissed her again, deeper. "I should, uh, go do that." And again.
Rikku slid her hands up further, tugging on his shirt. "Y-yeah. In a minute." Another kiss.
"Yeah," Jude sighed in agreement, arching into her hands as he started to loosen his arms, unwilling to let go even to pull his shirt off. But skin . . . so much skin.
Rikku peeled his shirt off and wrapped her arms around him, hands all over that skin and all she could think of was his hands on her skin. She kissed him harder, feeling like her veins were on fire, and --
She broke the kiss abruptly and laughed, bright red. "N-note. Or w-we won't."
Because in another minute or two she wasn't going to care.
"Huh?" Jude really hoped, in a vague, disconnected kind of way, that she didn't mind his abrupt drop in intelligence when she was around. Because really, it was kind of embarrassing. He eventually caught up, though. "Oh. Note. Y-yeah." Note meant not kissing her first, right? Ooops, too late.
[[First bit written by me, second bit preplayed with the lovely and talented the_merriest while I am trapped in cubicle hell, to be continued in comments.]]
Somewhere in the Galleria Mall, a cellphone broke into 'Mellow Yellow'.
"Jude!"
"Dude!"
"What's up, bro? You like totally blew me off last week! I called like six times."
"I was, uh, busy." Being a cat, most of the time.
The smirk was almost tangible down the phone. "Busy? With that chick, Rikku?"
"Well, yeah."
Silence. Then - "Oh. My. God."
"Uh, Jonesy?"
"You got some. You totally got some. Dude, tell me you got some."
"I touched a boob," Jude blurted.
"Dude!"
"Dude!"
"Top on or off?"
"Off."
"Dude!" Pause. "What was it like?"
"It was awesome. She was all shivery and soft and totally into it and I think I made her moan." He could still hear it.
"Dude." Jonesy's voice was tinged with envy. "I never made Nikki moan."
"Wait - you never -"
"I touched it once, it was over t-shirt, next time I tried it she nailed me in the nuts with her elbow."
Jude felt rather betrayed. Jonesy was supposed to be his guru. "Dude," he said accusingly.
"It's not like I haven't tried!" Jonesy protested. "But dude, you are the man. I am so proud of you, little buddy."
"Really?" Jude perked up. Guru or no, Jonesy was still Jonesy.
"Totally, man. I gotta admit, I was a little scared for you. You're not the go-for-it guy. But you totally pulled through for me, dude."
"Thanks, bro."
"So, do you think you guys are gonna, you know . . ."
Jude didn't blush as badly as he would have if anyone else had asked the question. "I - I dunno, bro. She's never . . . you know, either. I mean, I want to, but I don't wanna, like, ruin it for her or anything 'cause I don't know what I'm doing."
"Porn."
"What?"
"Watch porn. It's like a how-to manual."
"Dude!"
"What?"
"Dude, I am not watching porn."
"Fine. You seem to be doin' pretty good without it, anyway."
"Totally Rikku, dude. She's just . . . awesome. She just starts kissing me and everything else just . . . goes away, y'know? And she's like way braver than I am. If she was naked, I woulda totally been like hiding under the bed, but she -"
"Wait. You were naked?"
"Uh . . . yeah?"
"Are we talking boxers naked, or streaking-through-Grind-Me naked?"
"Streaking-through-Grind-Me naked."
"Dude. Was she -"
"Nah, she had her pyjama bottoms on. We were in Denmark -"
"You went to Denmark?"
"- for Hamlet's funeral -"
"Oh, dude, that sucks."
"- and I was a cat, and then I stopped being a cat -"
"Dude, you gotta update your slang."
"- and then I was naked, and she was upset, so we started hugging and then . . . stuff happened."
"Why were you naked?"
"Cats don't wear clothes."
"Dude, tell me you are talking, like, Sammy Davis Jr here."
"Dude, I was a cat. A kitten."
"Dude, your school is weird."
"Dude, I know. But I touched a boob." Let's not forget the pertinent facts here.
"Dude!"
"Duuuude."
"Can I tell the gang?"
Jude hesitated. "Uh . . . y-y'know what, bro? Could you, uh, not? I mean, I love 'em and all, but you know Nikki's gonna get all rip-out-her-kidney, and Jen's gonna lecture . . . I don't wanna ruin anything with Rikku by, like, bragging."
"Totally understandable, dude."
"Thanks."
"I mean it, Jude, you're the man. You're totally my personal hero right now. But I totally gotta go, I'm starting a new job today."
"Alright, dude. Catch ya later. Give the girls a hug for me."
"I will. See ya."
Jude was beaming as he close his phone and dropped it to his desk. He felt on top of the world. Jonesy's words of praise had vaulted him there and the little refrain in the back of his head that crowed 'She loves me, I touched a boob, she loves me!' didn't hurt neither. He felt like running laps to 'Eye of the Tiger' or something. Or maybe napping. Yeah, napping sounded good.
How was it so late? Oh, right, 'cause she hadn't gone to bed until ... well, she didn't know what time it was, but the movies got weirder and weirder and the caffeine had kept her twitching and then it was almost back around to morning again and she'd only managed a nap before her Flight and Flying class. Which was awesome. But she'd gone back to her room afterwards just to grab something or other and ended up falling asleep again and why did she feel so sluggish!?
Rikku: totally new to caffeine/sugar crashes. Alas.
She'd also totally missed Jude at work, which sucked, and meant no Jude-shakes for her. Oh well. At least she could still drop in and get snuggles, right?
Knock knock knock!
Jude wasn't practicing his 'Saturday Night Fever' strut across the bedroom floor, no. But he was at the door a second later and opening it with a grin as soon as he saw her. "Hey, bra."
"Hi, you," Rikku grinned, wrapping her arms around Jude for a how-you-been? kiss. Okay, she may be sleepy and bounce-deprived, but that didn't mean she couldn't say hello properly.
Knowing that she could still give proper hellos was very comforting to Jude, who wrapped his arms around her in turn and added the 'fine-thank-you-and-you' bit.
Rikku leaned up to nudge his nose with hers and smiled. "Hey. Sorry I missed you at work. Having a good day?"
"Just got a whole lot better." Jude kissed the tip of her nose. "I, uh, I gotta talk to you about my class, though . . ." Jude occasionally had a clue.
Rikku nuzzled in to the side of his neck, with a frown. "Mkay. That doesn't sound good." And sighed. "So sleepy. Thought caffeine was a wake-up-kinda-thing?"
Jude paused. ". . . you had caffeine?"
"Las' night," she mumbled. "'N candy and I was in the common room with pajamas and bad movies and some stuff that I didn't know was caffeine, I thought it was just a fizzy drink-thing like you guys have? Jolt. It was goooooood."
Jolt Cola and candy. "Bra, you're crashing," he told her with a faint chuckle. "Remember like I did after I had all that Kaf-Pow?"
"You were all crazy," Rikku said informatively, giggling. "And you were chanting stuff about yellow being mellow and waving your hand in people's faces and besides I already slept, like, a little before class and then some after so I should be good, right?"
If not she'd just set her head here on his shoulder for a bit. Mmmmmm. Jude.
"After that stuff," Jude rolled his eyes, tugging her back into the room so he could close the door. If she really needed to crash, there was a very manly duvet with her name on it. "You're wiped."
"After that stuff you were snuggling with Kinto and it was seriously cute," she grinned, plopping down on the Brawny, Burly Duvet of Manliness. "Is this why caffeine's bad? For other people, I mean, it's bad for you 'cause you get all crazy-weird. Oh, wow, I wonder if caffeine's, like, the anti-mellow. The complete scientific opposite of whatever that was in class!"
Jude blushed a little. And extracted Kinto from the Rugged and Masculine Duvet so he wouldn't get crushed. "Totally the anti-mellow. What class?"
Rikku reached out and snagged Kinto for cuddlings. "Hi, you!" He got a kiss right on the top of the head, and then Jude got a quick peck as well. "Gotta play fair, yeah?"
"Uh, it was ... the one Monday that we had to come back for?" She wasn't blushing at the word Monday. Really. "Something about being superheroes in books and last week it was Deadpool teaching but this week it was those two guys, uh, one of 'em swears a lot and the other never talks and they're not usually teachers. They had weapon-things of ultimate enlightenment and Bob was teaching me how to use them. I got all Zen."
Awww! Jude just had to cuddle up to them after that. And totally wasn't blushing over Monday. Nope. No blushing here.
Trust Rikku to get all Zen over weapons.
Jude chuckled a little nervously, his arm slipping around her waist. "I, uh, got an assignment in the workshop today."
Rikku snuggled in, tucking Kinto into her arm and wriggling close. "The Awesome one? Oh! I remembered to tell you the suit-thing, right? 'Cause he was all 'wear it or get detention grr' or something. And he didn't believe me about you being a cat and he thought I was a lesbian or something? He seemed kinda ... weird."
Which was really a relative term, at Fandom.
"Yeah, I wore a suit," Jude chuckled. "Well, kinda." Tuxedo t-shirt and tweed blazer totally counted as a suit, right? Why Jude seemed to own only one t-shirt but several different fancy dress jackets was one of those mysteries of life. "I, uh . . . we have to ask a girl out."
"Oooooh," Rikku purred, sitting up a little. "Hang on."
She pulled the ponytail out of its holder and shook her hair free, and then gave him her best flirty smile. "Ask away. Just to let you know, I think you've got a good chance here."
Oh, geez. Because Rikku looked pretty anyway, but when she did the hair-shaking-thing and the smile and her eyes and Jude steeled himself for pain. Lots of pain.
"Uh . . . i-it has to be someone we're not dating."
It took Rikku a few seconds just to process that. "You ... wait, y-you ..."
Her jaw dropped. "You're gonna go out with someone else!?? For a CLASS!?!"
If this was a joke, it wasn't very funny.
Jude quickly leaned back, holding up a hand defensively. "I'm not gonna go out with anyone! I was gonna ask someone who would say no! I just have to ask!" He wondered if that punch to the solar plexus hurt as much the second time around, or if he'd even have time to compare before he passed out.
She stared for a few more seconds, and then shut her mouth quickly, turning away as she scooted off the bed. "Yeah. I get it. It's for class. Really." She yanked her hair back into its ponytail. "Good luck. Hey, have fun on your date."
Jude gulped and scrambled after her. "Really, bra, it's for class. And if you don't want me to do it, I won't. It's just a stupid assignment, it doesn't matter. I don't want to date anyone else."
"You were naked!" Rikku said, and whoa, that sounded louder than she thought it would. "And I was kinda naked and there was touching and that means you so don't get to go on dates, even ones for class!" She flailed. "I mean, what if she's all 'ooooh, Jude, I'd love to' and then you're all, 'gosh, I can't just NOT take her, I asked her and I gotta be nice' and next thing you know ..."
"I - no! No dates!" He tried to catch the flailing hands. "I love you, bra, I don't wanna date . . . anyone . . . else." His eyes widened. "I know who I'm gonna ask out."
Rikku blinked. "You're ... not gonna date anyone, no dates, you love me, no dates, and oh, hey, you know who you wanna ask out, yay?"
Jude took her hand, shoulders hunching sheepishly. "I'm not dating Gabriella von Santos de . . . whatever the last bit was. So it totally counts if I ask her out, right?"
Rikku laughed, faintly, and then considered for a few seconds before snuggling in, face against his chest. "Being stupid, yeah?"
Jude slumped in relief and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her temple. "Nah, bra. I shouldn't've even thought about it."
"No, no, it's ..." She straightened up a little, reaching up to play with his hair. "It's just a, hey, ask someone, yeah? You don't have to go on the date, right? I'm ..."
She shook her head. "Sorry. Just, uh, kinda ..." And here we were again with the blushing.
Jude nuzzled against her fingers and kissed the tip of her nose again. "Totally. Never even thought about goin' on the date. I was gonna ask someone like, Phoebe or something." He bumped his nose against hers. "Kinda what?"
"Oh," she said, and then shook her head. "Like, somebody that's already got a boyfriend? Oh. I'm, uh, that's ... wow. I'm being dumb."
Rikku leaned forward for a quick kiss. "I, uh, just kinda ... you know. With the ... n-naked, and ... and you're way awesome and if you go asking other girls for dates then they're so gonna be all 'yay, Jude!' and ... they're not allowed 'cause you're mine. Yeah?"
Jude chuckled softly. "Yeah," he agreed, blushing more than a little. "I don't want to date anyone else. And I definitely don't want to do . . . that other stuff with anyone else." He kissed her again. "It was . . . you're the awesome one."
"Y-yeah?" she giggled, turning bright red. "That was ... that was so awesome, yeah? And hey, if anybody else knew about your magic fingers, I'd totally need a new bimbo stick."
This time his nervous 'heh, heh, heh' was entirely out of embarrassment, his blush as bright as hers as he glanced down and scuffed his toe in the mess.
Rikku grinned and kissed the tip of his nose again. "Dawn and I, uh, were discussing ... not things but, uh, just ... she says Sam's got awesome hands and I was all 'magic fingers!' and we were all 'BOYS ROCK' and then we had more Jolt."
Still blushing furiously, she rested her forehead against his. "Y-you know, it's funny, 'cause ... 'cause whenever, uh, th-things happen, I'm really ... n-nervous? And I worry, like, before, what if this or that, and would it be okay, and ... and then later it's all, whoa, that was awesome, you know? Like there's ... I don't know." She rolled her eyes. "I suck at words again."
"'Sokay," Jude mumbled. "I think I get it. I-I-I was worried you'd, y'know, n-not want to . . . do it again or something, I mean if you're . . . if it's . . ." Oh, yay, mutual verbal failing.
"Y-you ..." Rikku blushed and looked up at him with a nervous smile. "Y-you think I don't w-want to?"
Jude smiled back. "I dunno. I-if we're goin' too fast . . ."
Rikku shivered. "D-do you think we are? I, uh, I ... l-liked it. I m-mean. Is that awful?"
Jude shook his head. "I - I think it's, like a personal th-thing? S-so if I love you, and you love me, and we both w-want to do . . . stuff . . ." Blush, stammer, rinse, repeat.
"Do you?" asked Rikku with a mischevious grin. She slid her arms around his waist, slipping her hands under his shirt to trace the skin on his lower back. "Want to do stuff?"
Gulp. "D-duh." He was trying for nonchalant and failed miserably.
Rikku bit her lip and blushed harder, wriggling in closer. "You, uh, you know when M-Mikey's coming back?"
Damn. "Nuh uh." His eyes darted down to her bitten lip and he just had to kiss it, possible ninja turtle invasion be damned.
Rikku shivered and let him pull her lips into the kiss. "Y-you, uh, think we could ... l-leave a note on the door?"
And that was why Rikku was the brains of the operation. "O-okay." Jude kissed her again, deeper. "I should, uh, go do that." And again.
Rikku slid her hands up further, tugging on his shirt. "Y-yeah. In a minute." Another kiss.
"Yeah," Jude sighed in agreement, arching into her hands as he started to loosen his arms, unwilling to let go even to pull his shirt off. But skin . . . so much skin.
Rikku peeled his shirt off and wrapped her arms around him, hands all over that skin and all she could think of was his hands on her skin. She kissed him harder, feeling like her veins were on fire, and --
She broke the kiss abruptly and laughed, bright red. "N-note. Or w-we won't."
Because in another minute or two she wasn't going to care.
"Huh?" Jude really hoped, in a vague, disconnected kind of way, that she didn't mind his abrupt drop in intelligence when she was around. Because really, it was kind of embarrassing. He eventually caught up, though. "Oh. Note. Y-yeah." Note meant not kissing her first, right? Ooops, too late.
[[First bit written by me, second bit preplayed with the lovely and talented the_merriest while I am trapped in cubicle hell, to be continued in comments.]]