♬

“You would be using it,” Blue said, voice muffled by the pillow her face was crushed into, “in this hypothetical situation. It’s something to consider.” She rolled onto her back, stretching out like a cat, arching her back almost painfully against his thin, creaky mattress, fingers making fists in his sheets. Blue knew - or hoped - that Dustin was watching her little body in the sheets - his sheets. That he’d think about her warm body here the next time he went to bed alone. That he’d ache then like he was aching now. For good measure, and for the fun of it, she let out a noise somewhere between a groan and a moan, something that could be defined as pleasure and pain.

She was, of course, watching him like he’d been betting on when he showed off the - fruits? - of her efforts. Blue grinned, pleased and not unimpressed, and rolled onto her side, long hair spread out over his bed. “Fuck you,” she laughed, her voice growing less accented as she sobered, but sleepier, hoarser, breathier. “And no.” Blue wondered, though, if her method of manipulation would work. Would he actually go for it like she was betting on? It was something silly, minimal, to test him over, especially when it wasn’t as if she didn’t want him, too. It was something her mother had always done to her father, manipulation for the fun of it, though she hadn’t caught it until just then. She was becoming her mother, warts and all, bit by bit, manipulating where there was no good reason. It made her feel sick, this awful little truth, this realization. She tried to ignore it, to push it to the back of her mind - it was a thought to hire a therapist to discuss with her, not one for pillow talk.

Blue laughed at Dustin’s insistence about his blanket. “Right,” she shook her head in the dark. “I’m shaking my head, in case you can’t see. How often do you use that line? I bet you would have said that no matter which blanket I had.” Despite her teasing, she pushed Dustin onto his back, and curled against his side, one of her legs weaving between his. “I’ll steal them all once we’re sleep, anyway.” And - just to test herself, her self control, really, though she was unfortunately dragging Dustin into her human experiments - Blue scratched at his collarbone with her fingernails, and kissed his jaw, his cheek, until she was at the corner of his mouth. “Gimme kiss. Goodnight one.”

“I use that line all the fucking time. Remember all the women I said I had in my place. Totally use it on them every fucking day.” Dustin joked, although the truth was that he’d never used that line. When was the last time he’d even had a girl over? Definitely before he had moved to this place. Most girls would push to go to their own place, as sort of a ritual of safety against a new, strange man. Of that, Dustin was thankful. Mainly because he only had to hear the insults about not having a bed once, from the girl laying next to him. 

Her nails dragged across his collarbone, extracting a soft hiss from him. Still, she teased him. And still, he let it happen almost masochistically. It was almost as if he liked the pleasurable pain that she caused him. Like he enjoyed being stung by her both  by the physical marks she left on his skin and and from the (hopefully) temporary rejection when it came to relieving the tension in the air and in his briefs. Maybe that was what made him so okay with what was happening between them. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t snapped at her, instead resorting to playful annoyance at her demands. 

Dustin let his hands snake back to the places they were on the balcony. One in her hair, cradling the back of her head, and the other gripping her hip, holding her to him. “You sure you can handle a little Dustin before bed?” he said, cocking an eyebrow though her eyes probably hadn’t adapted to the dark enough to see it. And then he pulled her towards him for a slow, deep kiss. A kiss that said I’m glad you lost your bike. I’m glad your here. I can’t believe I’m going to buy a bed just to be able to fuck you. 

Blue was confused for a moment, eyes moving between Dustin and the couch, and then back again. Was it a bed? Couch-bed? Did he - he slept here? Always? By choice? In the middle of the room. What was wrong with him? It bothered her more than it should have, and she felt unsettled, pulled from the haze of lust she’d been so comfortable in. He obviously was more financially successful than her, had a better job, a nicer apartment, and yet, while Blue had a little, comfortable bed at home, Dustin had this thing that he slept on. Prior to this discovery, she’d been considering changing her mind on the ‘not tonight’ debacle, but this sleeping arrangement had set it in stone.

“I’m never sleeping with you,” she announced, proudly, oozing with dignity, as if he hadn’t just palmed his erection in front of her, “unless you get a bed. Ever. Just so you know.” It was at least mostly true - unless Blue forgot, or unless they were too close to stop, in which case, all bets were likely going to be off the table. For now, at least, the threat was very real. Blue watched him carefully strip off his shirt, and then, blaming it on tiredness, watched him stand there for a second, half-naked. Just him - breathing in and out, wanting her, and breathing again. God - she really wished he’d had an actual bed.

After a moment of this, Blue slipped her dress’ thin straps off her shoulders and pushed the thin fabric down her body, stepping out gingerly once it was pooled at her feet. She bent down, then, and laid it out over the nearest chair so that it wouldn’t crumple or wrinkle. As she turned back toward him, she smiled, looking from her small, underwear-clad body to Dustin’s much taller, more clothed one. Usually showing her body like this instilled insecurities within her - it was a little one, and short of being particularly special, but she was too far gone now to reconsider the decision. Blue moved to kneel on the bed, immediately claiming the larger, fluffier-looking pillow for her own. She pulled up some blankets around her, curling up on her side, and shutting her eyes tight. Without opening either eye, and with a smile on her face, she spoke clearly. “You have to turn the lights off. Called it.”

Dustin stared at Blue, eyelids hanging low from exhaustion, as she curled up in his bed - yes, it was a bed in his mind - and seemed to pull the room together in a way that no piece of furniture or decoration on the wall ever could. He had been about to just crash, one knee already on the edge of the mattress and balancing on his hands which were pulling the rest of the pillows and positioning them just how he liked him, when she had threatened him with the future of their, hopeful, sexual conquests together. “Unless I get a bed?” he said, blinking. “So, to have sex with you, I need to buy a bed that I’m never going to use.” 

He shook his head, amused but letting out an annoyed laugh. It seemed like an extravagant request for an activity that felt just as good in a shower, or against a counter, or over the piano bench. Already, Dustin’s thoughts were being clouded with imaginings of having Blue over the piano, her hands making sharp, off tune but oddly satisfying melodies from where they supported her against the keys. At this rate, he would never be able to sleep comfortably. 

“Yes, of course, Your Highness. Would you like the fucking lease to the place next?” he grumbled, unbuttoning the top button of his jeans as he stiffly made his way over to the lightswitches by the front door. Flipping the lock for the deadbolt, he let his jeans pool at his feet and kicked them off slowly and clumsily as he steadied himself with a hand against the door. His boxer briefs did no such service at helping hide his painfully aroused state and Dustin, feeling a little stubborn and cocky and just a bit more spiteful than anything, turned to the side and stretched his arms around his head as he let out a yawn, hoping that maybe Blue had been watching him. That Blue would be able to see exactly what she’d done to him and what she was putting off. 

But he knew that she would hold strong on her decision and he wasn’t going to push for the No to become a Yes. So Dustin flipped the lights off, the streetlights filtering through the windows softly and casting their light onto the ceiling, and moved back to the bed, crawling in and curling up right beside Blue. “You have my favorite blanket.” he said softly in the dark. “So let’s share.”