Closed RP: Stephen, Susan, and Smexing

[usethepoker]

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[estebanmd]

By and large, Stephen was incapable of dressing for a formal occasion without being hounded. Had Preserved Killick ever arrived at Hogwarts, the doctor's wardrobe would have seen a sudden and drastic improvement. What Stephen would not do of his own accord, however, he would do readily enough if given sufficient external cause. In this instance, he had been called upon to escort a lady to a wedding. Therefore he was uncommonly clean-shaven and soberly suited, and arrived at Susan's door more punctually than was his wont, a long narrow box under his arm (a bottle of rather nice wine; he did not know the newlyweds very well, and did not want to remind Ed of Homsar's failure to requite the TA's love by giving them a gift related to Arithmancy

[usethepoker]

Stephen wasn't the only one whose mouth had gone dry. Susan didn't think she'd ever seen Stephen in anything formal; she'd thought his presence had an unfortunate effect before, but now...

Somehow she managed to kick-start her brain. Stepping aside to let him in, she turned to her assorted packages. "These really are a little absurd," she said, nodding to the fireplace set. "But I'm afraid I'm somewhat unoriginal when it comes to picking out presents." Quite suddenly her shoulders felt very, very bare, which was ridiculous--she went about in sleeveless shirts all the time in warm weather.

She looked at the presents, but made no move to pick any of them up--they sat on her plain dark bedspread and seemed to stare back at her. Oh, hell...even if she hadn't discarded her earlier plan, she couldn't possibly have gone through with it now--not with him so close. Thinking became almost impossible with him so close.

[estebanmd]

He felt he ought to say something.

"It may be a useful gift if the couple finds itself in possession of a fireplace," he said.

He thought he ought to look away, if he could.

[usethepoker]

Susan ought to stay looking away, but something made her turn to face him again. She hadn't, when she'd thought about today, counted on the effect he'd have on her, though if she'd had half a brain she would have. His presence was disconcerting enough in his normal (read: somewhat ratty) attire; now it was enough to draw her eyes back to him whether she wanted to or not.

"It...might," she said inanely. She wasn't even aware of the fact that her carefully neutral expression had deserted her; for once in her life, her face was readable as a book. "If not...it's, uh, it's got a broom." Once again, she had no real idea just what the hell she was saying, nor did she care. She was too busy trying to concentrate on, you know, breathing.

[usethepoker]

Something small and strangled, something that might have been a whimper, escaped her throat. A shiver ran through her, her fingers digging for a moment into his back. She was off the edge of the map now; the two boyfriends she'd had before had never gotten this far. Oddly, though, that thought did not distress her in the slightest. Of course, it was difficult to be even remotely distressed with Stephen kissing her neck, with his hands doing whatever complicated thing they were doing against her back. For a moment she almost forgot to breathe, but when she remembered she managed a faint gasp of a laugh.

"I think," she said, the words half a whisper, "I can live with with that." Her fingers were trailing down his back, tracing along his spine, exploring each scar she found. Though she'd inhabited his body, she'd never realized how many scars he had, and she memorized them by feel.

[estebanmd]

The straps undone, Stephen let the top half of the dress fall, smooth fabric tumbling about Susan's waist like the petals of a night-blooming flower that had opened all at once. There was no time for awkwardness or modesty, though it left her bare from the waist up, because then he had drawn her close again, skin to skin, and he was kissing her, more slowly than he had thought he would be able to do, trying deliberately not to rush.

[usethepoker]

The sudden intimate contact made her shiver again, her hands momentarily stilling. Her hair had up until now tried to hold its style, but it now gave up and tumbled down her back, tickling her shoulders as it fell. She'd never imagined how warm Stephen's skin would be against hers, how even just kissing him would fill her with a kind of sweet ache. She was quite glad, now, that she'd never done this before--that she'd never made it this far with anyone else. Her hands found his shoulders again as she kissed him, her fingers the faintest pressure.

[estebanmd]

He had no fear of her hair, after everything, one hand stealing up to tangle in it. When it fell, her whole demeanor changed, it seemed to him, just as it had seemed at the shooting range. She was pretty with it done up, proper and demure, but when it fell about her shoulders, she was something altogether divine, in a sense so literal as almost to be unnerving -- inhumanly beautiful: delicate white hair against delicate white skin, and that lock of pure black hair throwing it all into stark contrast. He had to draw back for a moment, just to look at her, to drink it in.

He could not say a word. His eyes said it all.