Her Mysterious Smile

[Zach Kaiser]

"Right. Because if I just told you to put on a bikini for me, you wouldn't punch me or anything," Eld replied with a roll of his eyes. While Sarah liked him to be assertive--especially in certain situations--there was a point where she considered it too much, and that point was usually right around the time it made her feel submissive.

"In any case, it wasn't some great plan of mine to get her in a bikini. She was looking around at clothes, saw something she wanted, she didn't have enough money so I bought it for her, and then Em came up and suggested she go back to your place to try it on. So if you want to credit someone with being sly and manipulative, as usual you can thank your sister."

It sounded alright in his head, to the point that he didn't even notice that he let slip a detail he'd kept to himself thus far.

[Nayt]

Eld getting Akizetsumei into a bikini was one thing. Eld actually buying a bikini for Akizetsumei was another. So maybe he didn't coerce the girl into wearing it-- but he still bought it for her. Considering how long the two had been spending time together, that really said something.

Sarah grinned from ear to ear.

"Suuuuch a hopeless romantic!" Sarah exclaimed as if she were swooning, "Buyin' a girl something she wants and asking nothing in return . . . !"

She set her hand to the center of her chest and leaned up enough for Eld to see her better-- the way she crooned her head back and lifted her other hand as if to touch the heavens.

The ruse was dropped like a bad hat. She dropped her arms to her sides, fell back down upon the bed, and laughed like she'd never laughed before. "Such a pervy, pervy hopeless romantic!"

[Zach Kaiser]

Even despite his embarrassment and need to correct her, Eld couldn't help but be a little amused at Sarah's antics. It wasn't too often she was outright silly. He smiled wryly as she fell back down to the bed, though he was a little less amused by the laughter.

"H-Hey now, just because I bought something for her doesn't make me a romantic. She seemed to really want it, but she didn't have any money, so...I mean, I just wanted to make her happy."

To an extent, it was true that Eld did things like this for any friend--at least when they let him. But he didn't blush when talking about doing something nice for his friends, usually. Though there were exceptions, like with some of the nice things he'd done for Sarah occasionally.

[Nayt]

Sarah's laughter grew more and more quiet by the second, immediately following Eld's defense. She soon curled up to lay on her side, with her elbow upon Eld's pillow and her hand flat upon her cheek. She drew her shins back against her thighs, almost as if she were making room on the bed. When she looked at Eld again, Sarah was smiling-- well, it was her usual smile. That grin-smile. It was Sarah's version of something genuine.

"You're cute," she observed aloud, "Y'know that?"

It was a sincere observation, though. Him wanting to make this girl happy . . . he did that with his friends, too. And just because Sarah didn't want him spending any of his money on her didn't mean she wasn't any less flattered by the notion that he was willing to spend his savings on her.

He just needed that money more than she did was all.

[Zach Kaiser]

This caused Eld to turn even redder, all the more because he could tell she was being sincere, and all the more because Sarah didn't give out compliments very often. But for all that he could give them out himself, he didn't take them very well most of the time.

"Guys aren't supposed to be cute," he mumbled, trying to hide the fact that he was genuinely pleased by her words.

He went over to the bed, sitting down in the space Sarah made. "Does it really seem that much like we're dating? I mean, your mom was probably just teasing but the saleslady thought the same thing."

[Nayt]

"Well, you've been goin' out 'round town with her a lot. You went hikin' with her before, too, right? And she, y'know, sits an' stands awful close to you," Sarah reasoned with a shrug of her shoulders.

Sarah stretched her arms out over her head and pushed her left leg out, stretching the tendons in her muscles and cracking her joints all the same. Rather than recoiling her leg, though, she let it drop in Eld's lap and left it there. She proceeded to return to a relaxed state, with her elbows against the bed to prop herself up.

"Yeah, I'd say it looks like you're dating," Sarah concluded, "But if you ain't exclusive, you ain't exclusive--and if you ain't thinkin' of makin' a move sometime soon, then it ain't somethin' you gotta worry 'bout right now. Now, I'm not sayin' that you are, but say you were interested in this kid-- well, if she likes ya, she's gonna wait for ya. You'd practically have all the time in world, man."

Not that it really mattered to her. She had no personal claims on Eld. That ship sailed long ago.

[Zach Kaiser]

In truth he'd never noticed that Akizetsumei tended to position herself so close to him, and he hadn't realized until Sarah brought up his absence that he'd been spending so much time with her. It just seemed...natural.

"I-I'm not aiming to make a move! I think." He didn't sound terribly convincing; he knew he didn't have of those intentions in mind, but some part of him rebelled against truly denying the possibility.

Idly, he started to rub one of Sarah's feet with his free hand; this was something he knew she liked. On their more competitive days he'd extort a favor of some kind for it, but he was feeling fairly generous at the moment.

"I don't know...she's easy to spend time with, so I haven't really thought about it," he admitted with a shrug of his own. This probably wouldn't come as a surprise; his time being "exclusive" with Sarah had just sort of happened, and then sort of unhappened, and neither of them really planned anything out or thought much about it.

[Nayt]

Sarah let out a small, barely audible moan. If she were raging for some reason or the other, this would have tamed her. Really, Eld was the only person alive it seemed that could do that. He knew exactly what to do when it was absolutely necessary. Now, it wasn't like she needed calming. Now he was just idly keeping his hands busy, except he'd all but mastered how to give Sarah Vaerbond a great foot-rub over the course of several years. Even an idle foot-rub was all kinds of pleasurable--in the relaxing sense, that is.

"Typical Eld," Sarah said with a smile and a sigh of relief.

As much as she was tempted to lay on her back and take in the great feeling of a good foot rub (she'd worked pretty hard today, after all), Sarah kept herself propped up so she could see Eld's face.

"One of these days, you're gonna actually think somethin' through, y'know?" Sarah said-- and as much of a question as it was, it was equally a statement, "And you're gonna have somethin' great from it."

It didn't feel so much like a prophecy as it was common sense. Eld was an intelligent guy. He was a charismatic guy (when he wanted to be). He was tactful and he was tactical. When it came to all these sorts of social matters, he really only had to put his mind to it, convince himself enough that what he was doing was right, and go for it. He just had a really bad habit of stumbling all over himself, if only because he never thought things through-- be they matters of romance or simple friendly interaction.

[Zach Kaiser]

"H-Hey, I think things through," Eld protested. At least he thought he did; truthfully, he sometimes avoided thinking things through too much because it caused him to get incredibly nervous. Sometimes it was easier to just take things as they came.

While Eld was intelligent and quite well-learned for his age, despite how he tried to act he was still a teenager, and this showed the most in his social interactions. Not that he'd admit this to anyone, even himself.

"But, uh, thanks, I think." He got the impression that Sarah was trying to be encouraging her own unique way--which meant she had trouble doing it without teasing him a little.

[Nayt]

Sarah sat up; she no longer propped herself up with her hands, but sat up completely straight, so that her head was mostly level with Eld's-- and just a couple feet away.

"So, is this all you got planned for the night?" Sarah asked, her voice coy as ever.

She let herself smirk, now. Eld was a silly guy. He was so intelligent, yet he could be so naive sometimes. Hell, there was actually some level of innocence in the way he acted around people. He could, in theory, woo a girl into bed with little difficulty if he actually tried to-- but the thing about him was that he didn't. Whether he knew he was capable of it or not, the whole notion breached his concept of right and wrong, and unless dire circumstances called for that sort of thing, he'd just never do it.

It was cute.

"Talk about Akizets all night while a hot girl--" Sarah was partly implying hotter "--waits expectantly in bed?" Her smirk widened, "'Cause I wouldn't put it past ya."

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld was tempted to nod at first, as all he really had planned was sitting around his room studying. He certainly wasn't the type who usually made big plans for an evening.

Of course, when Sarah finished her sentence he reconsidered this, and she'd be treated to seeing his face go through confusion, realization, and a little embarrassment in the space of a few seconds before he settled on a slightly coy smile of his own.

"I could never do that," he said with mock indignation. "That would be...terribly rude."

His face gravitated even closer as he spoke, and when he finished he pressed his lips lightly against hers.

[Nayt]

And there it was. Sometimes, Eld only needed a strong enough hint to get him motivated to act. Sarah rarely ever came to his house with this in mind, though. Normally, she'd just come over to chat and spend some time with Eld, when they otherwise had a hard time getting together during the day or something. So they'd sit here and chat, but they were just teenagers-- teenagers that'd seen each other naked before, that'd run their hands over each other's bodies before and experienced no form of guilt in the slightest.

No, Sarah never came over here just for this. If someone else was here, this would never happen-- but Eld could be endearing sometimes. Attractive, even. And sometimes, she just got the urge to flirt with him. And sometimes he reacted, and Sarah was rarely against it . . .

This was their relationship. This was how it functioned. They'd dated before and it failed. They were not meant to be more than friends--yet somehow, they still remained lovers. For years, even. And truth be told, if there was any girl in Hillcrest Eld could talk into going to bed with him, it was Sarah. She was not a loose girl; she simply liked, trusted, and enjoyed him.

She smiled into his kiss and draped her arms around his shoulders. Eld had nice lips. This went without saying. They were very kissable. She returned his kiss as if there was nothing wrong with it in the world.

And with her arms draped around his shoulders and one leg over across his lap, she gently tugged him down, to invite him to press her down against her back and take all the initiative he wanted.

---

Offtopic: A considerably erotic scene ensues from here. It will remain cut out until I install a spoiler tag into the forum.

---

By morning, the two were fast asleep. Neither had bothered to slip their clothes back on, and simply curled under the covers with each other, relished in the feel of each other's body heat, and calmly slipped into a much needed rest. Eldridge Tsukimono lay flat on his back and Sarah lay upon his chest. She used his shoulder as a pillow, and though it normally wasn't the most comfortable pillow in the world, any degree of bone, rock, or metal would have made a sufficient pillow after all the sleep she'd lost.

This was the first time in a long time that Sarah slept past seven in the morning-- with good reason, of course, but it was still considerably rare. Her usual idea of sleeping in was waking up at seven-thirty and rushing out of the door to catch up on the last hour of missed work.

But she didn't have much to do tomorrow. Sleeping until the early afternoon was doable . . .

The only problem was, Sarah was a bit too tired to wake up when a light knocking arrived upon Eld's bedroom door. Ironically, Eld would probably be the first one to wake and respond to it.

[Zach Kaiser]

Too comfortable and fatigued, Eld was rather delayed in reacting to the noise, but finally he stirred slightly. Normally this kind of situation might have caused him to panic, but though he felt a little nervous, the fact was that the only person terribly likely to barge into his room without permission was already there. Well, he supposed Em would too, but she already knew about how close they were.

"Sorry, Sarah," he murmured as he crawled out from under her. She was out like a light, and while arguably he could wake her up he really didn't have the heart too. He'd never tell her, but she was downright cute when she was asleep.

Making sure the covers were up on her enough that it was impossible to tell she was naked under them, he went over to the door and called softly through, "Just a minute, I need to get dressed."

[Nayt]

"O-oh! Ummmm . . . y-you were asleep?" the voice called back from the other side of the door. There would be no doubt about the source. It was Akizetsumei.

By then, Sarah had already woken up. Eld getting out from underneath of her was all that was needed to stir her from her slumber. Fortunately-- and this was a tried and true fact --Sarah woke up much better than Eld did, always. She didn't sleep nearly as much as he did and she regularly had twice the energy as he at all times. Sarah could wake up pretty easily. All she needed was the sun on her face. She let out a quiet yawn, and even this soon after she'd been roused from her sleep, she was making an effort to be quiet.

Sarah looked up to Eld. She belatedly recognized the voice at the door. It didn't take a genius to realize that Akizetsumei was ignorant to Sarah and Eld's relationship.

Part of Sarah expected him to outright panic.

The other parts kind of hoped he would.

[Zach Kaiser]

A spike of panic shot through Eld upon hearing the voice. He didn't really know why; if he looked at it logically, Akizetsumei was naive and unassuming and probably wouldn't think much of Sarah's presence so long as they were both dressed. Or she'd readily listen to him if he asked her to wait in the living room, or even outside.

Critical thinking, however, was not one of Eld's strong points just after waking up, especially after a night where he'd gotten rather less sleep than usual. "Uh, y-yeah, so I'll be a minute or two!" With the way he acted, it would be rather lucky if someone didn't suspect something.

His mind not working enough to suggest anything to Sarah, he followed his first impulse, which was to hurriedly gather up his clothes and put them on. It was a true mark of how flustered he was that he put on the clothes he'd worn the previous day rather than get clean ones out of his dresser.