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

[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."

[takecourage]

"Good," says Alex, wriggling down in the bed and curling on her side on her side of the mattress, reaching up to touch the side of his face. "I'm...really glad that you're here, okay?"

[more_magic]

"So am I," he says, smiling as her fingers brush the side of his face. "And...thank you for earlier. For telling me everything I should have asked about before tonight." He doesn't want to reawaken their conversation from before, reinvoke the memory of Hellie, dead and tragic and full of rage, but it's important to him that he says that much, at least.

He gets comfortable on his side of the bed, leaning in to kiss her once more before he turns to snap off the light.

[takecourage]

"You're welcome," she says, stifling a yawn against the pillow as she closes her eyes, curled on her side, curtained by her hair. Without thinking, she reaches out, her curled fingers barely touching his arm as she starts to drift.

[more_magic]

They both settle in for the night, getting comfortable, sharing the same bed after so many nights apart. Not everything is fixed between them yet, but they're closer than they've been. He watches the dim shape of her in the dark, the way she turns and adjusts, and when her fingers come to rest on his arm, he doesn't pull away.

They move closer in their sleep, in the night, and by morning the two of them are curled up with each other, tangled up and content.

[takecourage]

Alex stirs but doesn't wake, not entirely. She rubs her cheek against the pillow and shifts back into the warm curve of his body behind her, making a soft, contented noise.

[more_magic]

His arm had found its way to her waist in the night, his hand splayed against her belly, over her t-shirt. She moves, pressing back, and he stirs a little, his nose brushing the nape of her neck.

He's not awake enough, or maybe just too content, to fully acknowledge the fact he's hard again, her ass pressed snugly to the firm ridge of him.

[takecourage]

Her fingers thread through his and she shifts his hand, tugging it up to cover one tit over her T-shirt. She can feel how hard he is. She doesn't make any effort to pull away. She doesn't think this is crossing any lines they didn't cross last night.

[more_magic]

He wakes up a little further when Alex moves his hand, his fingers threaded with hers and the curve of her tit beneath his palm. He doesn't think about moving away, just shifts enough to brush a kiss to the side of her neck.

"Morning."

[takecourage]

"Morning," she says, shifting her hips back again when he kisses the side of her neck. She squeezes his hand. "Okay?"