we kept our hearts from view, this time we're problem solving

[more_magic]

To say they get back to normal wouldn't be true. There's enough that's changed, that's needed to change, that whatever they'd been before isn't a place they can return to now. Darlington moves his things out of the Bramford and back to their apartment in Dimera, paying the exorbitant repair costs the landlord quoted him for the bedroom door just so he won't have to look at the splintered frame and all it represents. He and Alex talk, sometimes more deeply than he thinks they ever had before, other times about absolutely nothing at all. He still takes Kirby for a run in the morning, and he's still over there for dinner almost every night.

Day by day, over the next few weeks, it starts to feel like something's building out of the ashes.

When they'd first begun, Alex had said it could be like dating, starting fresh in a way they hadn't really taken the chance to do before. So far, it's felt like that; slow, and careful, and a little cautious as they feel out the edges of these new boundaries. Almost normal, when so little in their life--here or at home--had been that way for years.

Darlington brings up the idea, dinner out instead of in, one day when they're just sitting on the couch with Kirby. An actual date, maybe, to mark another step forward in the thing growing between them. He picks one of their favorites, a place downtown that's upscale and intimate, making the reservation for an evening Alex has off of work. That night, he showers and dresses, calling a cab and asking the driver to wait outside the Bramford while he goes to the second floor and knocks on Alex's door.

He still has a key, just as she has one to Dimera, but tonight he wants to do everything right.

Comments

[more_magic]

She squirms beneath him, against him, the press of her hips reminding him how hard he's gotten in only the last few minutes. "Fuck," he breathes, kissing along her jaw and down her neck when she pulls him close. His hands ruck up her shirt further, and further still, until there's no excuse not to pull it off entirely.

[takecourage]

Alex lifts her arms, half sitting so that he can drag her shirt over her head. Once she's free of her shirt, she wraps her fingers in the hem of his.

"You too."

[more_magic]

She lets him take her out of her shirt, then demands the same of him, and there's no question what his answer will be. "Go ahead," he says, letting her tug it up and off, over his head.

[takecourage]

She pulls his shirt over his head and then drops it to one side. When she presses herself back against him, her tits press against his bare chest and it's perfect.

[more_magic]

He hasn't been skin to skin with her like this in weeks; hasn't been a lot of things in weeks that he is right now. He doesn't want to go back. He kisses her again, keeping her pressed flush to him, groaning when the twist of their hips turns into a grind, slow and intentional.

[takecourage]

"Still green?" Asks Alex, grinding her hips up against him, her legs wrapped around his thighs to keep him close.

[more_magic]

She keeps him there, pressed against her, legs wrapped around him and her arm around his neck. His head spins, but his voice is steady. "Still green, Alex."

[takecourage]

"Good," she says, her hips still squirming. "Don't stop, okay? I'm good. It's so good."

[more_magic]

"Wouldn't dream of it," he says, the words smudged against her skin, her mouth, every bit of her he can reach as they go back to kissing. He unwinds himself from her arm around his neck only so he can move lower, trailing kisses down her chest, along the curve of her tits.

He pauses, his mouth close to the flushed peak of her nipple, looking up at her for confirmation before he goes any further.

[takecourage]

Alex watches him with ink-dark eyes. When he pauses, with his mouth against the curve of her tit, she nods, her teeth touching her lip. A shiver goes through her.

[more_magic]

He can feel her tremble, and as small as her nod is, it seems ten times more momentous right now. He takes a slow, shivering breath, then starts to suck gently at her nipple, his hand moving to fondle her other tit. He can hear the shudder of her breath, feel the squirm of her underneath him, and it's all so perfect.

[takecourage]

Everything they're doing feels like the first time that they're doing it, and Alex wouldn't want it any other way right now. She squirms her hips, arching her back to press her tits against his mouth, his hand as he touches her.

[more_magic]

He kisses her, touches her, sinks further into everything they're doing with every moment. His cock is hard, aching in his sweats, but the thought of it is distant for now; nearly unimportant.

"How much further, Alex?" he hears himself say, as he mouths along the slim line of her ribs. "How far do you want me to go?" They know the ultimate boundary, how important it is not to cross it tonight--but there's still plenty of distance between here and there.

[takecourage]

"Can you...Do you want to..." She covers her face with both hands, suddenly shy in a way that she's never felt before, especially not with him. "Would you get me off?"

[more_magic]

"Hey," he says gently, as surprised as she is by the sudden novelty of her shyness. Everything else has felt new tonight, but this, in many ways, actually is. He doesn't pull her hands away, just runs soothing fingers down her arm and gives her a smile once she's looking at him again.

"Getting you off is another green light tonight," he says, moving back up to kiss her properly, his fingers tracing the waistband of her shorts. "Absolutely." As he kisses her again, his hand slips beneath her shorts, beneath the lace of her underwear, finding her slick and hot and perfect under his fingers.

[takecourage]

His fingers press against her, perfect, and Alex makes a soft, breathy sound, spreading her legs for him, her arm curling around his neck again as they kiss.

[more_magic]

To anyone else, those soft sounds might have seemed incongruous; unlike or unsuited to someone as flinty and guarded and strong as Alex. Darlington knows better, has learned better now. It's another sign of the girl behind all those walls, all the things she'd done to protect herself. That she can still let him through to the vulnerable core of her, like this, is the kind of gift he wants to keep working hard to earn.

He sinks a finger into her cunt, then another, fingering her slowly as he presses the heel of his hand against her clit.

[takecourage]

It feels like he's always known how to touch her, since the first time that they were together like this, and Alex just gives herself over to it completely, stops worrying and lets herself enjoy it. She rocks her hips, fucking herhself on his fingers, pulling him down for another kiss.

"I love you," she mumbles. "Fuck, I love you so much."

[more_magic]

"I love you too," he says, and means it now just as strongly as he has every single time. "More than I ever thought possible."

He works with the rock of her hips, the way she fucks herself on his fingers and grinds into his touch, gives her everything he can as they kiss and tangle together in their bed.

[takecourage]

She's been thinking about this for what feels like a long time, and she keeps squirming against him, rocking, breathing harder and harder until she tips over the edge and starts coming, clinging to his shoulders, sobbing his name against his lips.

"Oh, fuck."

[more_magic]

Alex comes on his fingers, against his hand, and it feels almost like the very first time. He doesn't let up until she's through, kissing her again as he slips his hand from between her legs. He's aching hard, still rigid in his sweats, but his focus is utterly on her.

"You're beautiful, Alex."

[takecourage]

"You're biased," she says, but she's smiling when she says it. She presses a kiss against his mouth, her fingers trailing against his belly. "Should I...do you want me to..?"

She's so aware that all of the boundaries here are his, and they're to be respected.

[more_magic]

"Biased, maybe," he says, warmth settling in his chest at the sight of her smile. "But not incorrect."

He shifts a little at the soft downward brush of her fingers, noticing the way she pauses just at the waist of his sweats, a hesitancy and question in the dark of her eyes before she even gives it voice. They've been so careful with each other, slow to rebuild because that's what they've needed, and Darlington's just as aware as Alex of the importance in keeping it that way. He has to think, and it's ridiculous he has to think--as though he's sixteen again, snuck off upstairs with someone and utterly out of his depth--but he takes the time anyway.

"Want you to, yes," he says, and it's soft and regretful. He kisses her again. "But I don't think I can tonight. I think I need more time."

[takecourage]

There's a little flicker of something that feels a bit like disappointment and a bit like shame, but Alex does her best to keep it off her face and just nods, leaning in to press a kiss to his collarbone. "I get it," she says. "Are you...Do you want to sleep in here?"

She pulls away from him so that she can reach for her t-shirt and pull it on over her head.

[more_magic]

He holds back the apology, that bit of politeness and regret that he knows Alex already understands without him needing to say anything.

"Of course," he says, watching her turn away and pull her shirt back on, wishing for a moment he'd been just a little less cautious and controlled. More Danny than Darlington, maybe. "I'll sleep in here. I want to."