[PRP] Feel the Heat (Leeroi x Hemera)

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi's breathing hitched and he made a strange noise, as if he started to laugh mid-breath, but it got cut off. His pumpbiscuit threatened to beat out of his chest, and his thinkpan only screamed at him. Closer, closer, it begged. Hemera fulfilled that wish before his body could react. His face reacted accordingly, blush heating up to rival Hemera's.

He half expected an icy chill to run up his neck, but she spared him. Perhaps she was threatening him? In this proximity, Leeroi wasn't sure if he cared. Then again, he wasn't sure how to think straight anymore, either.

"Hot... Anxious..." The answers to Hemera's question fell out of his mouth slowly, between breaths. "Smitten..." he continued, pulling her closer, even if just by a fraction. "Black..." he admitted, sighing like a weight had been lifted off of him. He held his next breath, biting his lip as he waited for Hemera's response.  

[Gl!tch~]

"That's...a lot of feelings," Hemera observed, trying to act as straight-laced as ever, even though her voice was starting to crack as she spoke. He said he was smitten. God, she could just explode on the spot. How could she keep up her distanced banter in light of such sincerity? She let her wall down further. After all... What was there to be afraid of?

“I feel very spades for you, too." Mera chuckled, averting her half-lidded eyes. Like it was embarrissingly obvious to say out loud. "It is...pretty hard to have red feelings after all your awful teasing. You're the absolute worst," she punctuated with a whine before falling into a brief pause. "But...you are rather charming when you want to be. It's an infuriating combination, you know."

She let her head rest on his shoulder. Partially out of trust, but also to hide her face. "Though I did very well botch my attempts to express the sentiment before…” Mera let out a huffy sigh at herself. The tealblood clearly had the worst time dealing with embarrassing memories. "I don't know what I could have possibly done that was consistently attractive, considering...so many things."  

[zeflamigo]

The crack in Hemera’s voice affected Leeroi more than those initial words. It was the hint that he had broken through her shell. It felt like success, despite her words being initially cold.

With her confession— the reciprocation— Leeroi’s chest was a fluttering mess, and with her avoiding his eyes he had no idea where to look. Frantically, his eyes darted around for something, anything to focus on. He settled on the fire in the fireplace, looking just over Hemera’s shoulder.

He knew her feelings, after sharing so much affection. What, five kisses? Still then, having it spelled out to him, having it confirmed meant so much. Hearing her agree with him, just on this one thing. Those words meant everything. Leeroi sighed. In this moment, all was right and all was good.

When she started putting herself down, Leeroi faltered. They really were different, weren’t they? Maybe that’s why it worked. Still, Leeroi couldn’t stand the pitifulness of it.

“Hmm...” Leeroi thought about the sentiment, and paused to gain some composure. “Disarming bombs, kicking monster a**, kicking my a**...” Leeroi laughed like a low rumble. “The nagging is cute, too,” He added, smiling to himself.

“But I think you’re at least a little right. If you were as good at flirting as I am, we probably would have gotten to this point a lot sooner,” Leeroi teased, and nudged Hemera’s head with his horn.

"Then again, I think the wait was half the fun,” The chase, the tug of war of emotions, Leeroi kind of liked it. It made the endgame that much more worthwhile.  

[Gl!tch~]

"It's not nagging!" She stood back up, eyes turning on his immediately. "I'm just accounting for your complete lack of self-preservation." He had nearly imbibed poison before, after all. Actually, the fact that he didn't think things through, in a way that almost seemed like he took pride in living so dangerously, was part of what frustrated her so badly about him. She could only huff then rest her head on his shoulder again.

"And defusing a bomb and fighting daywalkers..." Hemera's voice lowered considerably, thoughtful and a little somber, too. "I just did what I had to do," she stated. That's all it was. Statement of fact. Even losing her legs... Just seemed a part of the necessary sacrifices, now. You give everything for what you want to protect.

But the one other item on Leeroi's list... Mera couldn't help but smirk a little about that. Kicking his a**, huh? "And maybe I had to knock you down a peg, too."

Clearly a joke; she hadn't expected to win their grappling match, especially as a rookie, and generally chalked it up to beginner's luck. Awkward attempts at flirting notwithstanding.

Feeling unusually impish for the moment, she added, amusement still in her voice, "You talk a big game, Furore, but from where I'm standing I'm the one who always has to initiate the actual kissing..."  

[zeflamigo]

"I'm not nagging," Leeroi mocked, laughing softly through his teeth. Gently, he pulled his arms around Hemera, hugging her close. Leeroi hadn't forgotten to keep dancing either, but it did just end up crawling to a slow sway.

He grinned at Hemera's little joke, giving her a light squeeze. "Oh, I'm holding back," He explained, voice low and taunting. Hemera wasn't wrong, but Leeroi had his reasons. The first being that for the longest stretch of time, she seemed completely uninterested in him. Now she was living in his hive and relying on him. It was unfair to pressure her under those conditions.

But if she was asking...

Leeroi pressed his hands into Hemera's back, one hand resting high, the other pressing into the small of her back. He pulled sideways to scoop her off her feet, dipping her low to the ground and kissing her hard. When he pulled away, he did it to taunt Hemera more.

"You can't handle me at that level yet," he joked, face still hovering inches above hers. Smirking, he moved to pull the tealblood back to her feet.  

[Gl!tch~]

Mera squeaked as she was suddenly lifted off the ground. If she didn't already have a good grip, she would have clenched his shirt tightly out of reflex.

Leeroi wasn't kidding. The tealblood knew he was the overzealous sort, but even this caught her off-guard. She was still breathless when he slipped her back to a standing position.

Still, she snorted and started to laugh softly. "You're definitely a piece of work."

Whether she could handle him or not didn't matter at the moment; they needed to actually date first before any of that. Though as a preliminary run, tonight had been very promising.

"And it appears that this close-proximity test of yours was a success..."  

[zeflamigo]

That laugh. That laugh. That was the sound of winning. Leeroi beamed, filled with pride. Gog, he was in deep if Hemera doing so little could affect him this much.

He waved off her comment about test results. "I knew you'd be fine. I'm pretty good at my job." He closed his eyes and shrugged. That wasn't wholly true, tests were an important part of the process after all. But it sure did sound good.

"We can take 'em to town later this week, huh? Maybe a hike?" He suggested, tilting his head in an attempt to look coy.  

[Gl!tch~]

Hm... It appeared that Leeroi had missed her intentions with that comment. He was acting too blase and oddly to the point, when he absolutely seemed the type to milk the results of what the test led to. She'd have to work on not sending things over his head.

She decided not to dwell on it. There were better things to talk about. Hemera opted to brush some hair out of Leeroi's eyes, smiling a little still as she did. "A hike would be good to test how they do in alpine conditions... And maybe we could stop at the Nightly Grind..." Though, perhaps Leeroi on caffeine would be an absolute disaster.

But there were other considerations now that she was becoming autonomous again. "I do need to report to Lieutenant Diazzi in Four Fronds as soon as possible..." she thought aloud. "Maybe you could come with me." Her first time back in the crux of civilization after she lost her legs. It felt fitting to come back strong.  

[zeflamigo]

Leeroi made a happy sigh, nuzzling into Hemera's shoulder. "That sounds perfect..." Leeroi said, surprisingly complacent. Coffee sounded great. He needed an excuse to go to that little coffee shop more often.

The plan to see the Lieutenant worked fine for him too. "It'd be good to check on her..." He said, thinking it over. "I do like her quite a lot more than the Captain, you're lucky." He admitted.

"And I'd look forward to having another train ride with you." He added, nuzzling his head closer to Hemera's neck.  

[Gl!tch~]

"Hmm." Hemera wasn't sure if she would call it luck, working directly under someone who broke in and fought her for fun, like it was nothing, a representative of the queen herself, who also now expected Mera to trust her. Eostre was...an opportunity. But maybe that was lucky compared to how the Captain seemed to be for most trolls who weren't Elidae.

She chuckled again at Leeroi's last comment. "From Busthind to Four Fronds... That's such a long train ride." Six hours one-way if she remembered correctly. That would extend a night trip to two, and she wasn't really ready for something like that yet. "Once I have conventional feet, we can bike there." Hopefully Leeroi didn't mind riding passenger on her motorcycle. Not as comfortable as a train, but a fraction of the time.

Maybe he'd get that train ride some other night; there were plenty more trips for them both to make for their careers.

For now, though... She was ready to retire to the couch whenever Leeroi was.