Pistachio # 25, "The Morning After"

Aug 13, 2008 08:13

Title: Unexpected happenings
Word Count: 1, 836
Toppings: Whipped Cream
Ratings: PG-13 for some swearing and sexual reference.
Summary: Michael tries to sort out what happened as a result of yet another heated argument in the early morning.
Author's notes I'm thinking this is Butterscotch because the story occurs when Michael and Rhiannon, the parents of the three Irring children, finally get together. In this particular story, Rhiannon is fourteen and Michael is sixteen so there is some reference to underage sex (Michael's legal, Rhiannon is not). Several months before this Rhiannon was appointed the General of Cairdeas' army.


All Michael could ascertain about his current situation was that it all had started with an argument.

That was about as far as he had gotten as he laid silently in bed, listening to the quiet breathing of the soft, warm form nestling against him. Soft, warm, and very, very naked form. This was, in every way, very distracting.

That form was also the object of his confusion, a key part of what had happened last night.

Sighing, Michael felt Rhiannon shift and tighten her embrace around his waist in such a possessive manner that it made him think that some part of her subconscious was afraid that he would disappear as she slept. As if. He was as clumsy as an ox and likely to fall into another pothole in the road before he could vanish. And even if he could, he wouldn't. Or couldn't. By this point he wasn't sure which, and even though his brain was trying to tell him to run before Rhiannon woke up, something deep inside of him couldn't do that to her. Ever since their accidental kiss by the pool two weeks before, strange feelings in him had emerged, all of them relating to Rhiannon's presence. These feelings, and the kiss, had made him uncomfortable and he could only assume that Rhiannon was going through something similar by the way the two of them had been avoiding one another like the plague since the kiss. Michael knew that his parents had sensed their distress, but they thought that he and Rhiannon were just fighting worse then usual. Nothing out of the ordinary for them at all.

But good gods, this was so far off the "What's ordinary" scale that it might as well be in fucking space.

Last night Rhiannon had come charging into his room after his parents had left to go to a grand opening of something or other. Rhiannon didn't like avoiding people, and she especially didn't like the feelings, the confusion, even the panic and embarrassment that came hand-in-hand with avoiding Michael in particular. They lived in the same house, making the whole situation even more awkward. So she had come, fed up with their silence, yelling at him. He noted that Rhiannon never shrieked. She yelled, bellowed, roared, but never shrieked. That was his first thought when she'd come last night.

When she began to put all the blame on him for what happened at the pool and for the silence that followed, he couldn't help being pissed off. It wasn't like he planned for things to happen like that. It wasn't like he had intentionally pulled her down when he fell, causing them to kiss. Besides, she was the one who started it by shoving him so hard. Who the hell pushed a blind person? Michael's lips twitched briefly into a smile. Never mind that last thought. Rhiannon obviously did, and she always had treated him like a normal person instead of a fragile object. If he recalled correctly, she had broken his nose and blacked his eye when he was eight and she six. But that was irrelevant to the current situation. Or maybe it was more relevant than he thought to the strange feelings he now had.

Whatever the case, some time during their heated argument they had moved closer together. That wasn't unusual for them, seeing as during a fight they usually gravitated towards one another until they were only a couple of steps apart. What was unusual was how clearly he had felt the heat radiating from her body, how it had made his heartbeat quicken. And then suddenly they had come together, hands groping one another's body mid-argument, kissing with such ferocity that he had thought his lips would bruise. They had stumbled awkwardly back onto the bed, where they...

Where they...

Swallowing thickly, Michael quickly banished the very vivid memory from his mind as he felt the hot tendrils of arousal beginning in his abdomen. Now was not the time.

How the hell did two people who fought violently all the time end up like this? Didn't he and Rhiannon hate one another with a passion? Hadn't Rhiannon betrayed him that morning seven years ago when she had just left without even saying goodbye to at least him? And then she had just casually walked back into his family's life, his life without so much as an apology seven years later. Without an explanation about why she had left beyond, "I needed to go," or about where she had been the time she was gone. A part of him never forgave her for that. So why didn't he hate her? All he could figure out was that fighting had never been so sexy before.

Beside him he felt Rhiannon begin to stir, hearing her sigh as she slowly began to wake. Had Michael not been blind, he would have seen the sleepy smile she gave him before her expression changed to one of confusion, then to horror. But he didn't very well need eyes to hear the quickening of her breathing as she began to panic to know how she felt about waking up naked next to him. Continuing to lay there, face looking up at the ceiling as Rhiannon flung herself up into a sitting position violently enough to make him bounce a little on the mattress, the blind teenager sighed.

Rhiannon was busy staring at the rumpled remains of their clothes, which had been thrown all about the airy room, hands hovering around her face as she began to remember. Looking down at her exposed chest, the younger teenager made a muffled noise that vaguely resembled a girlish squeal as she snatched the blanket to her chest, never minding the fact that Michael was blind and couldn't very well see her exposed body.

"Oh my god. Oh my god, oh my god!" Rhiannon babbled. "We didn't. We didn't. Did we?"

Something about her pure panic made him want to smile and soothe her at the same time. "We did."

"Oh crap. Oh god, oh crap. How can you just lay there!?"

"I've had marginally more time to think through what happened and get through the panic stage then you."

Rhiannon just moaned in response, putting her red face in her hands. The fourteen-year-old teenager fidgeted as she sat in the bed, mumbling incoherently to herself. Having never "seen" Rhiannon like this, Michael frowned and carefully sat up as he carefully took in the presence of his new lover.

"Rhia... can it be that you're flustered?" he guessed, feeling odd. Never in his life had the strong woman been flustered before. She was always the cool one, the collected one. And if not that, she was furious, or cheerful or anything but flustered. Rhiannon didn't get flustered. Period.

Knowing this fact made his chest grow oddly warm. It made him feel so protective over her. Something about her right now made him want to take her into his arms, kiss away her panic and just snuggle her. Right now, she was just so... so...

Cute.

While Rhiannon was distracted as she mumbled vows of "Never again," and "I'm going to fucking rip you to shreds for this," Michael shifted closer to her. Pulling her tightly against him, he muffled her surprised protest with his lips, their foreheads colliding painfully as he did so. Yes, they were awkward, but that was nothing that spending a little time together couldn't fix.

When he heard Rhiannon finally moan softly into the kiss and relax, he pulled away, slowly running his fingers up her arm and neck until they gently cupped her cheek.

"We can do this. I know you don't think so, but we can. And we will do this again. I want to understand why we um... you know." Michael grinned sheepishly, feeling his cheeks grow warm. "I want to understand what I feel about you. And knowing you, you want to understand too. We can't do that if we start avoiding each other again."

"But your parents... Mikhail and Anika... They're set on adopting me. They've been taking care of us, raising us practically like siblings." Rhiannon's voice sounded confused, and dangerously close to tears. Yet another new thing for her. "And I don't know the first thing about being in a relationship or... or... that. I don't have time to be in a relationship. I have meetings, I have war councils, I have... I have..." Floundering, Rhiannon trailed off unsure what to say.

Listening silently, Michael nodded. "You're right about my parents. They have been treating us like we were siblings. But you've been gone for seven years." he said softly, a bitter tone entering his voice for a moment. "Maybe we shouldn't tell them about us for now. But you shouldn't be afraid of them Rhiannon. Or rather, don't be afraid of hurting them. Ultimately, they love us and want us to be happy. As for your work, you can be in a relationship and have a career you know. Lots of people do it. And I don't really think anyone knows about being in relationships. It's kind of like being friends, but more."

"Friends, but more. Thank you Captain Obvious. That really helps." Rhiannon muttered sarcastically, making Michael chuckle. If she was being sarcastic, then she was feeling a little better.

"We'll figure it out together. And c'mon! Just imagine the look on Dad's face when we finally do tell him about us. You know he thinks he sees everything coming when it comes to his kids. The puppy-dog pout that he'll have when he finds out. The sweet confusion in his voice. Wearing that pink shirt that Mum hates so much." Michael said, grinning teasingly. He'd never seen the pout himself, but he had felt it when he was a child when he had put his hand on his father's lips. From the shape of them then, he figured it must look as funny as it had felt. And from what he had heard, the rumoured hot-pink shirt that his 6'1", bear of a father wore was pretty horrid. Feeling Rhiannon stiffen for a moment, he worried that he might have ignited her worry of hurting his parents further when he suddenly heard a strange sound escape her lips. Was that a girlish giggle? And another one! Michael found himself chuckling, and within mere moments the two of them were roaring with laughter. The tension that previously had filled the air dissipated like mist. He wasn't sure what did it for Rhiannon; the image of the giant man pouting, or the pink shirt.

Considerably eased, the two of them grinned. Michael shyly pulled Rhiannon into his arms, and kissed the juncture where her neck met her shoulder before resting his chin there. He didn't know how this had happened. Nor did he understand why. But as far as he was concerned, all that mattered right then was having Rhiannon in his arms, cuddling.

I do feel that this could have been written better, but I had such fun with it. x3 I've never gotten to write a flustered Rhiannon. I didn't even know she could be flustered until I wrote this. Angry, yes. Overbearing, yes. Flustered, no. XD

Oh! And if there any questions regarding how Rhiannon could be the head of an army at the tender age of fourteen, she's a genius and has a talent for tactics. On top of that she's a strong fighter and a ruthless teacher. For that reason the King decided that she was perfect for the job. He is... a touch eccentric too though, which may or may not of been a contributing factor to how she got her position. And he's very good at nagging people into doing what they don't want to do.

You can read the prelude to this story here: http://kage-ankoku.livejournal.com/33062.html#cutid1

[topping] whipped cream, [challenge] pistachio

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