Bleed To Death

"I'd pinky promise, but that'd be a lie."

☕︎ ——— There was a noticeable deflate in her expression as he leaned away, her already parted lips ready to goad him on further when he spoke - and there was heat in more than just her face as he descended upon her after. Her arms wrapped around his neck, moving herself into his lap as her lips moved against his almost desperately. She needed this, needed him to keep touching her; she'd played hard to get enough. There would be plenty of time to give him a hard time later.

As her fingers busied themselves tangling into his hair, she began grinding her hips against him, biting softly at his bottom lip. It'd been a long time since she'd been so attracted to someone, and maybe just as long since she'd found anyone who she felt could really keep up with her. It was a shame he usually annoyed her so bad, but really, even she had to admit that it drew her in further.

Someone as difficult as she was. And he seemed to know just what to say to get her going...

☕︎ ——— There hadn't been enough time for her to process the smirk on his face before it was nearly upon her, cheeks darkening as they had every time he made a move on her. She hated how predictable she was becoming with him, already, but she knew she'd always been this way - it was hard to be a smooth as she wanted to be when he kept giving her butterflies.

Releasing a shaky breath, she set the rag down and leaned in ever so slightly further, making sure her lips brushed against his as she spoke, "I think it'd be more fun if you took one from me - you're capable enough."

If he could tease her, she could tease him right back. She was kind of hoping to get him to snap a little, poking and prodding at his patience - wouldn't want him to think she wanted him to be gentle with her. Her hands fell to his thighs, massaging little circles into them on her way up, coming close to her prize but never touching it.

A sharp-toothed grin spread across his lips and his thumb slipped up to her bottom lip, gently running along it as he looked down at them. Then, with the same grin, he leaned back as if he was deciding against making a move.

"I'll happily eat you up then.~"

☕︎ ——— Returning after washing her hands with one of her large first aid kits and a bowl of hot water in tow, Nova sat herself beside him as she thought about his reaction to the home she'd built. Yes, she'd clearly been putting a lot of work into it, but that was only because she knew what it was like not to have one. "Maybe some action, if you play your cards right," she hummed, using his earlier words more as a distraction while she tried to think of the right way to tell him about the apartment. She didn't want to put in all that work giving him a hard time just to be too genuine. That certainly wouldn't do.

Her hands fell on either side of his jaw, gently angling his face so that she could clean and get a better look at the wounds on it. "Stay," she ordered, only moving her hands to pull out her supplies and re-apply some sanitizer to her hands. When she got to work with the rag that'd been in the bowl of water, she finally had an answer for him.

"Hell's full of people who couldn't build anything for themselves, and I refuse to be one of them," she'd settled on, gently cleaning the blood from his cheeks, "I've been tempted before, sure, like everyone else, but I still own my soul, and I'm still sort of alive. Feels like a waste to do anything but make something better."

And if all it took was a little hard work? She could do that - she'd worked harder for dumber reasons before. At least now she was putting effort in because she cared about it, rather than working herself to death for people that had wanted to kill her themselves. "This place is only a punishment if you let it be."

"Mm, that's certainly a feat to be proud of, extended hands from every direction it's hard to keep something so valuable especially when everyone offers what you desire in exchange."

He didn't get much choice himself, actually, he got no choice at all, when Geno awoke it was in front of his Lady and she told him it was either accept the contract or face erasure. He knew now the reason why things were done in such a rush, and maybe there could've been a chance of freedom if he rebelled, but that'd just mean an afterlife of fighting up hill.

"I'm certainly trying to live a bit more fully the second time around, as much as I can with the leash on, but I also enjoy what I do so it's not too big a deal. Much more plush gig than when I was alive, didn't have to claw my way up from the trash. Much better views too."

His eyes had been on her the entire time she was working on him, she was gentle, yet capable of violence beneath, and that intrigued him greatly. An idea popped into his head and he smirked, reaching up to gently grab her chin and move his face only an inch from hers.

Geno crossed his arms, a displeased expression across his face, never did he think the day would come where he'd make a contract with an Angel.

☕︎ ——— Before he could actually walk inside the door he'd unlocked, Nova tugged on him, stopping them where they stood and shook her head. "We are not tracking any of this blood into my coffee shop. Come on," she ordered as the door closed and locked itself again, leading him to a side door that opened to a set of stairs. She didn't mind if she got anything in her actual apartment dirty - it was something she was still steadily trying to improve, anyway, after she'd finished most of the rest of the building.

"Trust me, I didn't expect an actual gentleman - we're in Hell," she reminded him with a chuckle as she got up the first flight of steps and took him left down a tight hallway with deep brown carpet and a sage green walls, the surfaces dotted here and there with picture frames containing little doodles she'd done. Some of the night sky as she remembered it from when she was alive, and some the best portrayals of animals she could get down on paper. She wasn't a skilled artist, but she'd clearly tried on each of them. Originally, she planned on starting a collection from artists across Hell, but it hadn't been something she'd put aside time for quite yet... "I'm pretty against pretending to be something you're not. Stuff like that never really works, anyways. You be you, and I'll be me. We can figure it out along the way."

As much as she did still wear her masks sometimes, she was a lot more honest about what she was now than she'd ever been before. It was agonizing, constantly playing pretend, and if Geno wanted to keep coming around, she didn't want that burden on either of their shoulders. When she led him into her apartment, it was clean but pretty barren yet, with a couch and a TV set up in the middle of the living space. Any work that had been done on the space seemed to be just in color alone, the same soft brown carpet beneath their feet while the walls were vertically striped in pink and a matching shade to the floor. The furniture didn't match, yet, but that was another one of her works in progress.

"Sit down and I'll go get a first aid kit," she said, releasing him a moment later to allow him to do so, though the contact had actually been nicer than she'd wanted it to be. She missed it more than she should have pretty immediately. "I don't mind if anything happens to the couch, it's more of a placeholder than anything else. Make yourself comfortable before I ruin it," she called teasingly as she got further away from him and into her kitchen to get one of her many first aid kits she kept hidden around. With his response to her earlier question, she really did doubt he'd stay comfortable for long.

"Oh, so is this where the actions gonna happen?~"

Geno called back, smirking as he leaned forward and looked toward where she went before reaching down to the ground. His fingers made contact with his shadow and it seemed to ripple for a moment, then vanished completely and he let out another pained noise.

"You certainly have a wide collection of memories from Earth, and here the only thing on my walls is a shitty calendar. Maybe some dried blood.. actually not quite sure what it is."