Gaining Momentum

[Existentially Odd]

James shivered involuntarily again and didn't waste any time following Ichabod's lead.  "That sounds like a great idea," he laughed as they stepped back into the apartment and the door to the cold night was closed behind them.  He watched as Ichabod attended to the drapes and sought his opportunity to snatch his companion's hands up in his own and pull him close as soon as he could.  "I'm sure you could help me warm up," he said boldly, tingles of excitement and from the sudden change in temperature coursing across his skin.  He smiled at Ichabod (going for wanton but knowing it probably wasn't as sensual as he hoped) and shimmied close to him again, unaware that it wasn't really possible for vampires to warm people up.  He also hadn't given a great deal of thought to the fact that they were standing in Ichabod's bedroom.

[pinkroses]

“Oh, uh,” he wanted to be smooth, and make some witty comeback, maybe scoop James up and whisk him over to the bed like it sounded like James wanted him to. His dark eyes flickered towards the bed involuntarily, before returning to fix on James’ face.

Hadn’t he just been thinking that he was enjoying how relaxed and slow things were going? James could barely cope with thinking about Ichabod being a vampire at the moment, if they rushed things and something happened that made James freak out it would ruin everything.

“I’m not so good with the whole, ‘warming you up,’ thing,” Ichabod said quietly, lifting a hand from James’ grasp to stroke his cool fingers down the human’s warm cheek as he lightly squeezed James’ fingers with his other hand.

“It generally works the other way around,” he added with a small smile before giving a shrug. “That doesn’t matter though.”

Yes, he wanted to drink from James again, Ichabod was young enough that he could always still feel that craving, but it had been lessened by what he’d already drunk tonight and even though James had liked it before, anything about vampires seemed to make him jumpy. Ichabod lowered his eyes as he chewed gently on his lower lip. He’d already said more than he meant to about vampires tonight, but it just seemed to come out without thinking. Maybe he should just go ahead with what James wanted to do just to distract him.

“Let’s go back in the living room,” he said, looking up at James through his lashes. Getting away from the temptation of the bed would be a good start to stopping himself from going down that route.

[Existentially Odd]

When Ichabod looked towards the bed, James realised how he'd sounded and blushed profusely, the vampire's words only contributing to his embarrassment.  Yes, he should have realised that, he was an idiot at times!  Still, those fingers touching his cheek were lovely and he felt like he was some sort of pathetic blushing dog as he stared at Ichabod with huge, whimpering eyes.  It was startling to realise how smitten and compliant he truly was, evidenced by his next words.

"Yes, that's a lovely idea, wonderful!" he babbled, unable to ignore the pull of lust he felt when he met Ichabod's lash-shadowed gaze.  He was a puppet.  It was pitiful and thrilling at the same time, because he'd previously been the one dictating how his relationships - such as they were, 'interludes' was probably a better description - would go (or not, as the cases actually ended up being).  This time, he'd let himself get caught up in something that he was completely out of his depth with and a tiny, rebellious part of him buried deep down inside was glad of it.

He walked out to the living room compliantly, aware of every place his body contacted Ichabod's (and every place he wanted it to contact it) and when they got near the couch he suddenly found the courage to speak.  "I'd like to kiss you some more," he declared breathlessly, facing Ichabod hopefully and not daring to move until he got a response one way or the other.  He'd agree to any course of action from here on out, he now realised, but he was also proud of himself for coming right out and saying what he wanted.  Well, if asking permission and requesting Ichabod's co-operation was pro-active, anyway.

[pinkroses]

Ichabod wasn’t sure if James’ embarrassment was because his words had been misunderstood or because Ichabod was hesitating and then rejecting the suggestion. Either way, Ichabod was relieved that James agreed on the suggestion of going back to the living room because he didn’t know what he would have done if James had tried to push towards some bedroom action.

The way in which James was agreeing made Ichabod a little uncomfortable though. It felt for a second like James might agree to do anything he suggested and Ichabod wasn’t used to having someone so compliant. It was a heady feeling, a little overwhelming for the young vampire, who kept a hand around James’ waist as they moved back through to the living room. He didn’t think he’d done anything to mentally push James into agreeing, but for a few moments Ichabod wasn’t sure. Maybe he’d done it by accident? Or perhaps James was simply leaping on an excuse to get out of an awkward situation.

He was still trying to work out if he’d accidentally pushed James when the declaration came spewing from James’ lips that he wanted to kiss Ichabod more. Ichabod couldn’t help the look of surprise which crossed his face, one eyebrow cocking slightly. He couldn’t remember anyone saying that so bluntly, and it was obviously a compliment, just a slightly awkward one. James had seemed so together just ten minutes earlier and now he was… well… acting as awkwardly as Ichabod felt he acted usually when he was with someone he liked. He could remember plenty of times when he’d behaved like an idiot around Kerr, and others before him.

“Ok….” He said slowly, a smile spreading over his lips as he tried to figure out how best to deal with the situation he found himself in, which felt like a complete role reversal for him. Maybe that wasn’t so bad though. So far the way he’d been behaving in his life hadn’t got him too far. A difference could be good.

“So what you going to do about that?” he added with a slightly cheeky grin as he took a step back from James and sat down on the sofa, spreading one arm out along the back of it in what he hoped was a relaxed looking pose. It was peculiar, but definitely a good feeling, having someone look at you like that, like you were the only thing that mattered at that moment.