a.h

@micahz (February 15th, 2019)

Claire gently opened her eyes and saw nothing but bright light shining in her face that peaked in from the edges of the curtain that covered the window to the outside world. Underneath the white sheets of Aaron’s bed was her pale body entangled with his as she could feel his heart beating against her back, his steady breath brushing warmly and gently against her shoulder. He felt so warm holding her like this. The thin strap of her short, white nightgown had fallen gently off her shoulder so she purely felt him against her skin. She felt relaxed and so full of sweetness (not just from consuming as much chocolate as she did the day before) as she took a deep breath in to happily remind herself what day it was. She turned in Aaron’s arms, absolutely trying to stir him awake as she did, and she faced his sleeping face, hands rubbing on his side and back as she started to pepper sweet, momentary kisses on his nose and cheeks, all over his face. She barely had any words, just a beaming smile on her face while she wanted to leap for joy yet stay in bed all day long.

the day had been long, and that fact presented itself vividly across rigel’s features. first, work at the hospital had kept him from finishing his breakfast, studying for an exam had stopped him from eating his lunch and obligations as a medic had stopped him from eating his dinner. as a result, his mind is fairly foggy; visions of food dancing about his head like in the christmas poem he’d read countless times as a child. in his state of hunger and exhaustion, he fails to notice as he turns a corner, that someone’s turning the opposite direction. before he knows it, a crash has occurred and his day has gone from bad, to worse. eyes widen; trying his best to force them to remain open. “oh shit, i’m sorry- i…” he starts, and his eyes widen once more when he catches sight of the unusually familiar male. it takes him a moment, or two ( or three, due to his sleepiness ) to place him, but once he does a gentle smile forms. his hope that he hasn’t given the worst impression in the world quickly taking over. “hi, you’re – uh, you’re aaron right? claire - claire’s aaron?” // @micahz

Claire sunk her face into Aaron’s shoulder, and she had known since the meteor shower that a conversation between the two of them; a long, deep, meaningful conversation between boyfriend and girlfriend, between life partners, was important to have. A time to just voice all of their worries and anxieties and find some way to move on from there. They both declared proudly they would fix this, make it work, come to a place that, maybe, wasn’t the same as before, but new and different, and maybe even exciting. But the work had to come in first. It’s not like it was difficult to share the darkest parts of her heart with Aaron, but it was hard to pull that out of herself, to reach really deep within herself and show him everything. She curled up closer to him, because the stupidest thing she could do in this moment would be to back away when she wanted to do this to love him m o r e. “When you were gone…” she began, quietly, practically speaking the words into his shoulder, “I talked about you a lot… and everyone knew how much I still loved you… how you were my muse for everything I ever did…” she sucked in a deep breath, rubbing her nose against him, “I thought, when we got back together… that people would actually be happy for me… and for us. But now it’s like… they’re all disappointed in me. You know, at first, they all seem so happy…. like, Claire finally has her soulmate back… she’s finally got the one thing she’s ever really truly begged for…” she shook her head as her eyes began to water, “And then they realize what you are… You should see how they look at me… like I’ve made a horrible mistake… like they know we’re inevitably gonna be separated again… like I’ve already betrayed everyone… like I might as well have stabbed Niko in the heart… because you’re a Savage…” the word left her mouth in a whisper as she closed her eyes to keep the tears from falling, “and I just desperately wish you weren’t… because it’s tearing me apart from everyone I’ve come to love over the last two years…. it’s so hard…” one tear falls down her face as her throat feels like it’s clenching around the words, “It’s so hard and I hate it so much and it hurts so bad to see them looking at me like that…”

they really did need to have a sit down talk about everything. does that mean aaron wanted to? no, because he really didn’t want to talk about how he was feeling. he was so good at just pushing off feelings, letting them just settle around in him instead of letting them go. sometimes it was easier to just ignore things, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen here. he just wanted to be happy with claire, to not have any problems to deal with. they could just get their place together and everything could be perfect. no fighting or issues. just happiness. he’d even put up those stupid paintings that had joy. laughter. happiness. in their home if that’s what brought them all of those things. he kept holding her as she spoke, fingers running slowly up and down her back. they needed to be doing something, or else he was sure he would crawl out of his skin. 

a  a  r  o  n    h  a  r  l  a  n

“Jackets, badges, bulletproof vests, a booth at the gate, the whole nine,” Claire mused as her lips trailed from his to his cheek, planting kisses all over his face. Yet her stomach settled in a weird place, making her feel uneasy but not entirely unwell. It was like her body was tossed into this limbo as everything outside of this little apartment settled in. Yes, they were happy and they were moving in together and her job was a lot safer than before, but outside, there was still a funeral to hold, people to shake hands with, people that broke her heart. “I’m… happier,” she sighed before falling to his side, arms wrapped around his torso as she leaned against his shoulder, staring off where her gaze naturally wandered. Being a security guard didn’t fix everything. It didn’t fix that two Cobra soldiers hated her, didn’t trust her. It didn’t fix that the woman she called her aunt had a bad taste in her mouth about Claire and Aaron. It didn’t fix the incoming threats. “I’d be happy if…” she shakes her head slowly as the ends of that sentence come together in her mind; if the war was over, if everyone just got over themselves, if the Savages were gone…. if he weren’t one of them. But she knew he wasn’t ready. He’d said it before. But it was getting harder and harder to defend him to her so-called friends when no one was really listening. She was feeling more and more like a hypocrite each time she walked into the Estate, each time she looked at the tattoo on her front, and it weighed on her, but Aaron didn’t want to hear any of that. He wanted to be happy with her, from what she could tell. He didn’t want to hear her doubts and worries, not after what happened with Mason. “Never mind…” 

Claire gasped with delight just at Aaron’s arms wrapping tighter around her, but the fleeting feeling in her chest of being able to love him continued when her stomach dropped as he pulled her down on top of him, causing an intense rush of energy and adrenaline to overcome her. It caused her to removed the black leather jacket she had been wearing, gently letting it drop from her fingers down onto the floor. “Yes,” she teased, rubbing her nose against his, “and you are going to hate them.” She shook her head before giving one big long kiss to his lips, wanting both of their to be swollen once they were done. She let her loose gray shirt fall up her back as she leaned down, exposing her lower back, a cool feeling coming over her skin was it was exposed to the air of the room. She looked down at him with stars in her eyes, brushing the front of his, now short, hair with her fingers just for the hell of it, because it was fun, because she could, because she hadn’t taken a moment to admire how beautiful he looked with his new haircut since it happened… and she’d be damned if anyone would stop her from getting what she initially wanted instead of going to that stupid party, “Well… after the incident… Niko needs a few of his best to keep him, his family, and the Estate safe, adding more security… and you’re about to kiss one of the new guards,” she said lowly before she pressed her lips against his again.

a polite smile touches the corners of his lips as he hears the young man’s joke. “i think we all are, it’s been quite a busy year already hasn’t it?” there’s no one set scenario that he suspects to remind him of with his chosen remark. it’s just one that he believes to be the same for the majority of those in valdez now. whilst he’d missed the majority of the drama the night of the meteor shower, it wasn’t as though he wasn’t somewhat disturbed by the occurrence, even if not completely shocked by it. “that’s very true. i think the majority of us are, but sometimes talking about it can be of some use.” stan admits, arms crossing against his chest. 

“What do you mean?” Evelina furrowed her brows. Her heart had begun to speed up, anxiety building in her stomach. She was usually pretty good at lying, but the shakiness in her voice just about gave her away. Slowly, she began to close the door, watching him through the small crack she had left open. Her eyes darted all over. “Okay, well, uh, thank you,” she said nervously, biting her lip. “I guess.”

❝ what’s not fucked about life ? ❞ leonardo asked, raising an eyebrow at the young man. he notices the startled look on his face, and it makes leo’s day. he makes a show out of pouring the gasoline onto the papers, taking a step back before taking a box of matches from his pocket. ❝ he owed me money, and didn’t have the means to pay for it, so. ❞  he shrugged, lighting a match and throwing it nonchalantly onto the wet box. it catches fire violently, and leo needs to take another step back. ❝ where else would i do it ? ❞ 

Wrinkling her nose at the box, she considered kicking it for a moment before she thought better of it. “I doubt it. Not like anyone to send me something breakable,” she sighed, reaching down to inspect the package. “But…Why me? I mean, don’t you know what’s in here?” She asked, her brow crinkling in confusion. “I wasn’t expecting anything, to be honest. I’m not sure about this…I don’t usually trust random shit.”

“of course not.” the blonde muses, crystalline blue hues momentarily flitting to manicured fingers as she toys with her cuticle. “there’s always something happening, something to do.” optics return to the male. there’s a pause to watch him sift through the envelopes before she reacts. “aaron!” each syllable of the name is exaggerated and dragged out as she gently pushes his shoulder. “of course you missed me. don’t try to lie now.”

“ you know what ? now that I think about it everybody does love to get broken packages. ” he retorted “ alright, butterfingers, there’s no need to look like that. luckily for you i can fix pretty much anything. however, i don’t do anything for free so you’re gonna have to help me. ”

His lips always consumed hers, like he was kissing more of her than she was able to give back. Along with her recent acquired insatiable desire, it felt almost unreal that Aaron could give back what she gave him, and more. Inside her chest, she felt like her heart was giggling with joy, feeling his hands on her hips, his lips on her mouth, the softness and sweetness between them. It finally caused her to giggle as she pushed out words between kisses, “Baby… I have some good news,” she prepared, bracing herself while keeping her hands on his shoulders. She wanted to talk, but she didn’t want to stop kissing him, tasting him, feeling him. “I went into work… and I inquired about a new position.”