A DIAMOND AND A TETHER

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

The walk home wasn’t so bad. Besides the fact that Denny didn’t know which way to go until he heard the waves crash against the sand and the fact that Annie was out cold the entire walk home, Denny had a fairly easy time. Annie seemed lighter than usual, but since she was asleep Denny didn’t really bother with the thought. He actually appreciated it for the moment; she was light enough so that he knew she was there and where her limbs fell in his arms, but also light enough for him to have less of a struggle to find the city streets again. Once he was on the sidewalk, out of the forestry, Denny felt a bit of weight settle upon his shoulders, but it wasn’t from Annie. That weight was the weight of the world resettling upon him; leaving that little space with Annie was a bit harder than he’d been expecting. He had to look back into the dark vegetation to make sure this was really happening, that he was really walking away from all of it. He wanted to go right back, lay down again, and live there forever; but he had a job and a wife and giving up on everything would…. Denny didn’t have a reason to go home, but he forced his face and feet forward anyway.

Walking was easy now. He could hardly feel his feet but somehow that made it easier to keep moving. His legs started to cramp a bit, but not so much that he had to stop. They’d hurt worse in the morning, no doubt, probably because of overuse. His arms were pretty much the only part of his body that didn’t reach out in pain. They didn’t even protest as he climbed the stairs to their apartment, still not so much as a tinge of pain as he slowly turned the knob in a certain fashion that kept Annie in his arms. Even though it hurt, he pulled the door closed with his foot, then walked almost too slowly to the back of the apartment to the bedroom. Once he had Annie on the bed, he helped her out of the dress, then under the sheets before taking his tie, shirt, and pants off and getting in bed himself. He curled up close to Annie and kissed her cheek before quickly falling asleep. He slept pretty soundly; his legs cramped a few times and woke him up but his exhaustion won and he almost immediately fell back asleep. The night was quiet, dreamless, at least to a point where Denny didn’t remember having a dream. Before he knew it, his phone alarm was going off, but he didn’t register that that was happening at first. For a second, he just heard a noise in his sleep, but it got louder and more annoying as the seconds that felt like minutes passed on.

Finally, he opened his eyes and came to the conclusion that the alarm had woken Annie up, too. He heard her voice above the alarm, and the emotion behind it hurt him like he was getting stabbed a thousand times in the back with a Swiss army knife. Or maybe that was just from the events of the day passed. Either way, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling; Denny sighed, picked up his phone from behind him, and shut the alarm off. “Nope.” He held up one finger and concentrated hard on his phone; his body hurt and felt worn out, making his mind move in eight different directions just to try and stop the inner agony from moving. He found the right number and pressed the call button, then waited for someone to pick up. After a few rings, Desmond picked up. He asked who was calling and what they needed and Denny replied with the information that it was him and that he wasn’t going to be able to make it in today. Desmond asked why and Denny realized he needed a reason. Quickly he just used his elementary, default excuse: he was sick and could hardly get out of bed. Well, at leas the latter half was mostly true. Desmond sounded a bit disappointed, but he agreed with Denny, then wished he’d get better before saying goodbye and hanging up. Denny shut his phone and turned it off, placing it back on his bedside table. He relaxed again and looked at Annie. He held her because she was there and he wasn’t going anywhere; if this was the day after they got married, they were going to spend it together. “I’m not going anywhere.” A small smile formed on his face as his legs moved, causing a huge amount of stiff pain to run up and down his muscles there. Denny figured the less movement, the better, but he found a stark contrast in how much he wanted to move with Annie there. For now, he’d have to deal and lay still. It was too early to care about going anywhere. “I’m all yours today. And forever, but especially today because I’m playing hookie.” He chuckled at himself, partly because this was the first time in a long time he’d broken rules of sorts to be selfish and do as he pleased.

Denny leaned forward just a smidge and kissed Annie, liking this infinitely better than he did getting in the shower to get dressed and leave. Leaving was the hardest part of the morning, that was for sure, but since he didn’t have to do it today, he wasn’t going to think about it. The only thing he was going to let himself worry about was the pain in his body, and even then it held no competition to the amount of attention Annie would hold of his today. She was his wife now, and whatever he gave her she owned. What was his was hers and vice versa, which was easy to divvy up because neither of them had too much to their names. They had the essentials, sure, but more importantly the biggest and most valuable pieces of anything they had were each other. That worth outweighed all others; Annie meant more to Denny than anything else in any imaginable universe. The fact that she was legally his, and just his in every way she could be, it made him feel like the best persona live. He cared, he stuck around, and he tolerated a lot that normal guys wouldn’t have, and in the end it paid off because now he had the love of his life to call his own forever. It seemed surreal on a fairy tale level, but at the same time it was so real and so tangible that Denny could feel it with very fiber of his being, including the ones that were screaming for utter rest from everything.

“It’s the morning after our wedding. Why would I choose work over celebrating?” He thought about saying ‘over you’, but then he would need a reason for every other day for why he didn’t pick her over work. Sure, the money and benefits were a good start for an excuse, but they didn’t really justify saying what he’d thought about saying. It was just safer to say ‘celebrating’, so he went with it and covered up any hint of whatever sort of feeling that might be negative with a smile and another kiss. It calmed him down to a point where he wasn’t thinking about word choice but rather the fact that he had the whole day to spend with Annie, not cooped up in the book store with the smell of new books and coffee. This was so much better.


1286 words -- cora/annie who else bitchezzz? -- ah made it all and lyrics to death cab for cutie -- denny's just wearing some jeans and a t-shirt okay -- eh could be better but not horrible

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

That one word set Annie in this mindset she didn't think she'd leave for the rest of the day. Up in her head she felt better than she had in a long time and it wasn't all because he wasn't going to work. They were married now, and as ludacris it seemed that she could ever be a wife, she was now. And even though it had only been a day, Annie would like to think she was being good at it. All she really wanted was for him to be happy and smile with her. Just the fact alone that he wanted her, that he as happy to marry her, made Annie feel like she should try the lotto today. Chances of leaving seemed infintismal and she liked it. She smiled and tucked her head against him, giggling a little like they were sharing some kind of joke. Annie was suddenly so happy she couldn't comprehend much more than that. She just listened to Denny give off some excuse and she kissed his chest over and over because she wanted to. She just kept smiling like an idiot. All the dread she had felt about him leaving, the worry, the discomfort, it had all evaporated. In it's place was this untouchable feeling, this dizzy and giddy feeling that she made evident through smiles and kisses and generally just feeling good. After he hung up, she quieted and just watched him and smiled. She liked that he wasn't going anywhere. He was here, with her, and Annie couldn't really put words to how she felt about it. Hookie sounded so juvenile and weird the way he was saying it, and so she just kept smiling at him. 

When he kissed her, Annie moved her hands up so they rested half on his neck and half on his jaw. She rubbed her thumb against his skin and could feel the stubble there. It made her smile against his lips. She enjoyed noticing little things like that. Annie liked knowing that she could slow down and record small moments like this. Building up a memory of snap-shots, she kept that feeling of her closed eyes and his rough skin and just kissing him. The idea that she would get so many more moments like this made her extremely happy. Being so close was so good, especially considering that before yesterday he had been avoiding her so successfully that it hurt. Now he was the one with the bruises, he was the one with marks all over. That realization made Annie smile in a mischievous way. He started talking and Annie just smiled some more. Talking was wasting time that could be kissing. Annie still felt so tired, her eyelids felt heavy and difficult to keep open. Being woken by the alarm left her head begging to sleep again. Her natural rhythms were all chaotic and her body felt tired and sore. Not too bad, just kind of achy. Annie didn't want to go back to sleep. Her body did, but she didn't really like the idea of sleeping. She probably hadn't gotten a lot of it, and sleeping in with Denny, getting more time to just sleep with him, would be nice. She always appreciated being curled against him and falling asleep with his breath in her hair and his arms tight behind her. She didn't really want to waste the time, though. She could sleep any day. Sleeping seemed like a huge waste of a precious day off. 

So when he kissed her again, Annie made the most of it. His lips felt so good and she felt so good. Annie felt full of these emotions. It was the kind of full that, if in her stomach, would've made her queasy and unhappy. But it wasn't that kind. It was something in her heart, the way it felt engorged so when it beat her chest felt tight and too small... but in a good way. She tried to push her way closer to him, and tangled her legs with his. She liked being warm from him. His skin was warm against his and underneath she felt like all her heat was swarming. It should have been uncomfortable, but it was a cozy kind of warm that made her feel comfortable and safe. Her body felt tired too, but she just kissed him because she didn't want to sleep. Again though, she did and she didn't. It was so much easier to try to stay awake and kiss him. Annie still wanted to be closer and she felt dizzy. Words bubbled in her throat but Annie didn't really know what to say to him. She didn't need much more than this. Honestly, she didn't even want to be kissing him; she was kind of just using it as an excuse. Well, it wasn't that she didn't want to be because she almost always wanted to, but she didn't have that same drive that she did sometimes. 

She stopped kissing him and moved her hands from her jaw down to his chest because Annie liked doing that. It was a reoccurring theme and she thought about how everything she was touching right now was her's "til death do they part." That thought made her light headed and she giggled like a ditz. He was hot under her hands and it made her chest all tight again. For a second she thought about going lower, just to see how worked up she could get him. Maybe that was kind of cruel, but for Annie it was just playing and she knew he wouldn't get mad, especially if she ended up following through. But she didn't do that. Instead, Annie just nuzzled her head against his neck. She could feel his pulse by her forehead and the room was so quiet and dark that she was aware of nothing but what she could hear and feel: just Denny. She could feel a swollen area that was her fault and it made her smile. She kissed it. "I'm happy," she said plainly, her voice somewhat obstructed by his skin. And then she got bored again, and so she kept her head there and moved her hands much lower, slowly down to his lower stomach where they rested and she smiled devilishy, the shape of her lips molded against her neck. She wondered if the movement trailed all kinds of reactions on his skin like it would have done on her skin, had Denny trailed his hands on Annie. When he'd been worrying about her mood, that was how she distracted him; just push and pull playfully. Annie kissed his neck where she evidently had the day before, and smiled once more against his skin. 

1128 - just a t-shirt and like bikini underwear you know - idk man

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that Annie could just look at him and instantly Denny would react in a certain way that was totally out of the ordinary for him. He wouldn’t be indifferent or uncaring; he’d be hyperaware of her touch, of the way her face portrayed, or tried to portray her feelings. If Annie just accidentally breathed on him, his skin came alive and exploded from the inside. It wasn’t fair that she was able to make him forget about everything when she just gave him one of those looks; it wasn’t fair that she could break his determination with a kiss, and it wasn’t fair that she could get him to call in to work sick just with the sound of her voice. Who was Annie to call the shots in his life? Well, she was his wife. She was the one person that was now legally able to do just that; she could tell him who he could and couldn’t see and he either had to legally divorce himself from her or he had to lie and cheat his way around her. But that wasn’t the case anyway; all of the people that Denny knew where his family and people that he knew through Annie. Even Boss; he was someone he’d met through Annie and now….well, did they even have a band anymore? Not technically, considering Denny couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen Boss, but none of that actually mattered.

What mattered was the fact that Annie could pretty much control Denny’s every move with a simple look, touch, kiss. It almost seemed like manipulation, but Denny knew better than that. Annie wasn’t some CIA agent sent out to rip Denny to shreds in every way possible. She wasn’t out to deceive him; she just wanted his attention and affection, which, when she touched him and looked at him the way she was doing now, he couldn’t deny her of. He couldn’t have gone into work today even if he’d had to, although in a way or two he kind of did have to. He’d get paid for today, hopefully anyway, and if he didn’t then they just had one less day’s worth of pay to live off of. It wouldn’t be too terrible, and Denny knew that much less money would be worth the day he was going to spend doing nothing but everything with Annie. The way he was reacting now, it all just added up to the fact that he was going to do whatever she wanted to, whether or not he wanted to also. Annie just had this way of getting under his skin, reaching up into his body and controlling him without meaning to do that. Obviously she liked the way he reacted though, but Denny’s common sense figured that was because he was reacting that way for her and no one else could do that to him.

Maybe that’s why it seemed unfair. Annie could do all of this to Denny but no one else could do the same. Did Denny do the same for Annie? He could only imagine so; he knew Annie, and he knew if it weren’t him she was married to, she wouldn’t be married at all. It was hard to believe she was married at all, but when Denny came to terms with it, he felt so amazingly happy to be the one she’d fallen for. It was cheesy, yes, but not necessarily cliché. Annie wasn’t some character in a romantic comedy that pretended her life was great without men, and suddenly the perfect guy comes along at the wrong time but they end up loving each other at the end. Annie was her own person with a past like no one else Denny had ever met. She’d been a solitary creature from the start, where Denny would have rather been in a crowd when he was younger. Now they both depended on each other; Denny needed Annie so he wasn’t ever alone and Annie needed Denny because he was the only person she’d ever really let in the way she’d let him in. It made sense that she could do these things to him when he put it that way; he depended on her to need him, so her need to see him act like this just for her was natural considering no one had ever done that for her before, at least not with this emotion behind it. Not with the way Denny felt. Any of those other guys that Denny never cared to know about only did these things to get off; Denny did them because he didn’t have a choice, but in that captivity he gained a sense of belonging.

Her lips against his neck in that spot that was swollen made the rest of his body shiver. He had one hand on her hip now as he kind of just laid there and let Annie have her fun. Her hands ran down to his chest, a place that was like her waist to him. She liked having her hands there, knowing she was the only one with her hands there, knowing the things that she did to his heart when her hands were there. His chest felt like a cramped space when her hands touched his skin because his heart swelled in a way that Denny couldn’t stop. All of these things hurt because of how sore his body was, but they hurt in a way that Denny didn’t notice. It was there, in some part of his mind, but all of his attention and focus was on Annie and how she was having fun playing with his reactions. It was hard to keep his hands where they were when she kissed his neck, but he held himself back to the point where he could have fun and not avoid her just so that nothing would go on and be regretted later. He just wanted to be happy today, and when Annie told him that she was, Denny instantly felt better about everything. He could relax, smile, and be in an easy, light mood. His hand not on her hip ran down the length of her side, hoping to get the same kind of reaction out of her that she was getting out of him. In front of his intention, he smiled and said, “Good.”

His hand stopped just above her other hip. He lifted four fingers and let the last trace a semi-straight line to the middle of her stomach. Denny stopped and moved his hand up to her hair, letting his fingers tangle between the strands. “Because I am, too. I think this might be the happiest I’ve ever been.” Almost to a pathetic level, considering he was almost 23 years old, he was telling the truth. Denny had had plenty of happy moments before Annie and even after meeting Annie, but there had never been a moment quite like this, and in the next moment he knew there would never be a moment like that one too. That was how this was going to work, and Denny was okay with that. As long as Annie kept doing this to him, however fair he found it to be, everything would be just great.


1218 words -- cora/annie who else bitchezzz? -- ah made it all and lyrics to death cab for cutie -- denny's just wearing some jeans and a t-shirt okay -- okay i like this one a bit more regardless of length. bloop.

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

Denny's fingers across her stomach made Annie's breathing hitch. She had been calm and happy resting her head against him as his hand ran down her side. It felt good and made her close her eyes and melt against him. When his fingers grew light and just one was left to trace across her stomach, Annie's lungs forgot how to work and for a second her throat closed up. She couldn't tell if it was pain or pleasure, to be honest. His hushed words made her close her eyes again. Annie had to figure out how to breathe again, though. It took her a little bit to get her lungs back into her ribs, and then she had to teach them what breathing was. His touch made her worry. It was only half worry and half liking it a lot and not really understanding what to do about. And a dash of this clenching feeling that made her feel nearly sick. If anyone else touched her that way they wouldn't get the reaction Denny did. Honestly, she would rip their stomach out. But even a year ago when she and Denny had just been friends, they wouldn't have illicitted this. At most a drunken giggle. With Denny there was this feeling that made her skin hot and made her melt against him. But there was also such worry. Her stomach always made her feel like that. His touch made her worry about what he thought about her and Annie's head suddenly ached in the worst ways. 

She pushed it out of her head though. Those thoughts clung in her head like tar. They were unneeded baggage for a mood like this. His hand moved to her hair and she kept her eyes close and pulled her head from his chest, and rolled it back into her hand. Annie liked the way his hands felt there. Unconsciously, she had virtually stopped wearing her hair up or braided ever; Annie knew he liked it better down because he liked to do things like that, liked to run his fingers through it and brush it back.  She smiled wolfishly before opening her eyes and resting her head on the same pillow as his, so their noses were touching. It tickled and made her smile in a way that crinkled the edges of her eyes. Annie rarely smiled like that. The sun was starting to come up a bit, but it was so cloudy that the room was still so dark even with the huge window over Denny's bed. Annie felt lethargic and peaceful. Softly, there was a rain drop against his window. It splattered and fell. If she had been a wolf, her expression wouldn't have changed, but saucer like ears would have swiveled to catch the sound. Mentally, her senses were always at wolf-level. Soon there were more and then they were harder. Rain was splattering the window and it made her blood cells feel strange. Maybe she was crazy but it seemed like a tangible feeling of rain dripping into her body and cooling her down. She loved the smell of the forest floor after it rained and she wished she could wear it as a perfume. Annie just watched Denny, and her lips pursed. Soon it was storming and Annie hoped it lasted all day. She could see outlines of Denny's features, high bones a murky teal but all dips in his face were swallowed up by shadows. She smiled. "Happy is good," she whispered. 

Annie leaned forward slowly and kissed him. His lips felt nice. One hand snaked under his neck by the pillow, and slid behind his head. She held it up so the crease of her elbow kept him there and her hand just stayed static in the air. It wasn't really one kiss so much as a long stream of kisses. They were all slow, Annie's lips lazy and deliberate. Every time she would pull back that microscopic bit between kisses, she would catch his bottom lip between her's. She felt as if this were almost a game of who could get who the most worked up. Annie kept her eyelids closed and kissed him lightly. Her other hand, which had remained resting on his lower stomach, moved more south. Her thumb grazed the skin above his wasit band and she kept her kisses consistent. Honestly, Annie didn't know what she was doing, but she loved the mindset she was in. 

745 - just a t-shirt and like bikini underwear you know - lol annie's sluttaaah

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

It was obvious that Annie was going to use his involuntary reactions to her advantage. All she had to do was play things by her rules and Denny would follow; Denny was following her rules now. The rain didn’t even bother him too much, probably because it wasn’t getting to him since the window was closed. The sound was nice and calming, but since it wasn’t touching his skin while he was in bed, he didn’t care. All of his attention was on Annie; she was demanding it and eating it from right out of his palm. She had this grip on his world, something that only Annie knew how to get, and when she wanted something from him it was almost impossible to say no. Of course, there were the situations where he had to force himself to do what needed to be done rather than what Annie wanted, like when he had to literally push himself out the door to get to work to make money to be able to support them. But that wasn’t the case today; Denny was doing what Annie wanted him to because that’s what he wanted to be doing. Work came second to Annie on a regular basis, though it was a necessary evil most of the time, except for today. They both needed this closure, but not to get better at or over something, just because they were married and it was a lot to take in.

Things got tense in a very…..not unpleasant manner. Her hand found a place Denny found was sensitive, which meant he was going to have to find the same thing for her. They had to be equal, or one of them had to win. Denny wasn’t going to go down without a fight, but at the moment a fight was the last thing from his mind. Her hand on his skin did things to his mind that made him want to attack her, but not like he was a bird of prey. He meant in the sense that he would roll her over, kiss her hard, and make sure she got the point of what he wanted out of her. Of course, putting things that way made them sound like he was going to just up and leave once everything was done, but that wasn’t what was going to happen. Besides the fact that Denny had nowhere else to go, he wouldn’t want to leave. This was his home in too many different ways for him to want to leave ever. He and Annie lived here; they had a cat together, they inhabited the same space, bed, shower, living room, kitchen, roof (although Annie avoided that spot as much as she could, and Denny understood why). This was a place that Denny couldn’t leave for good, at least not without Annie with him.

Leaving wasn’t that big of a deal right now. More of the situation was staying and figuring out what his next move was. Well to start, his hand on her hip traced her side up and around her shoulder, trailing down her back slowly because, from experience, Denny knew what that would do. His eyes stayed closed, but he knew where these parts of Annie were. It wasn’t hard to find something when you’d studied it so in depth that you could draw it perfectly with your eyes closed, ears plugged and all of the lights shut off around you. Denny wouldn’t say that he could draw Annie in any light, mostly because he wasn’t exactly an artist himself, but he would say that, if asked, he’d be able to describe every part of her body perfectly without even looking at her. It would be awkward for him to do so, but he’d be able to. With that advantage on his side, he was able to run his hand down her back, around her hip again and down to her thigh, pulling it up towards his hip before running his long fingers down the rest of her leg. His hand in her hair pulled her closer in the kiss, which seemed impossible but it was done. The hand on her leg moved back, held her at her knee for a few seconds, then continued back up to the top of her thigh. He was aware of what happened the last time his fingers had gotten too rough on her skin, but then his intentions had been tainted by something dark and something Denny couldn’t think about right now; he just squeezed her skin light enough to get some sort of reaction out of her, then he moved his hand up and around her bum and up her back again. His fingers stopped at her neck, holding it closer to him even though he was now holding two parts of Annie that were almost too close together for his long arms.

The south end of the bed sunk in just enough for Denny to detect another life form. Something furry started rubbing itself against his foot. It turned itself and licked his toe, and Denny jerked from instinct because it tickled. He chuckled a bit, not really breaking the kiss or the mood, just letting his bodily functions take their course. The thing at the end of the bed licked his toe again, then pawed at his skin a few times before meowing quite loudly. It realized no one was going to pay attention to it right now, jumped off the bed and padded out of the room. Denny chuckled again and pulled back from the kisses just enough so that he could speak, but his lips kept running into Annie’s whenever they came together to make a consonant sound. “I love you so much that I’d rather play this little game than entertain the cat.” He was joking, of course, but his words weren’t what was so playful. It was his tone; he was speaking in that way that he only spoke towards Annie, where he wanted to be in a light, playful mood. Within that mood, he took her by surprise and lifted his fingers from her neck to trace them down her spine again, all the way down and back up again. His lips moved up just a few small inches and they were joined with Annie’s again. His hand in her hair tugged – not pulled – just light enough to push her closer to him again. Everything was great, and Denny couldn’t complain. Whether or not he could control his moves, he was happy, and that was what made the difference.


1100 words -- cora/annie who else bitchezzz? -- ah made it all and lyrics to death cab for cutie -- denny's just wearing some jeans and a t-shirt okay -- okay something needs to happen to stimulate denny mentally

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

Truth be told, Annie got caught up. Something about Denny's hands on her made her realize she had overestimated her self control. Suddenly, she couldn't even think. Her whole body was focused on his hand moving down her spine. There was kind of a shiver, just one that moved down her back bone as he passed it like a wave. Her head was spinning and suddenly her leg was locked on his hip and she was perfectly okay with that. She put more into the kiss, making it unreasonably deep for a second. As his hand passed her knee, she calmed down a little bit, but her head was swimming. Annie tried to pull her mind back into her head because she was the one that was supposed to be in control at times like these. That was the reoccurring theme for them, Annie taking leaps and bounds in the bedroom. This was weird... not really in a bad way. She felt like she was ready to stop playing the game and say she lost, and see where that would bring them. Annie giggled against his lips, remembering when she had stumbled through the dark - topless - and sprawled across his long figure. He'd tried so hard to not look at her, kept his hands around her waist and didn't move them. To say the least, he had learned something from her. She had made him sweat, but now it took more effort to get the same reaction out of him. Annie didn't really mind, though; the challenge was half the fun. 

Annie was definitely taken off guard when Denny's hand pressed on her upper thigh. She made some kind of noise that was like a gasp, but decidedly less sharp and very short, but very soft. There was some soft undertone of a yelping dog. Her skin go hot because noises weren't her thing - as evidences on thanksgiving, Denny did more in that department. But it slipped through her lips nonetheless, passing right into his mouth and she felt like they shared it. Her head hurt in a good way.  Her skin got hotter as his hand moved up her back. The rain pounded against the window and for some reason it took a huge chunk of Annie's attention; she liked the rain. It breathed life into the forest and she had a natural inclination to like it. Kissing Denny was so good that Annie forgot about things. Her hands rested on his chest, but curled and pushed so her nails pressed against his skin. She didn't notice because her brain just did not care about small stuff. It was just she and Denny and her heart was about to jump out of her chest. Some part of her was brainstorming her next move and another part wanted Denny to run his hands again; keeping them on her neck was really unoriginal. 

Annie didn't even notice the cat until he chuckled. That was a weird feeling, him laughing while their mouths were touching. If Annie hadn't been feeling the way she was feeling, she would have laughed along with him, but she was really just focusing on trying to keep this kiss going. He pulled away and Annie didn't really do anything but wait for him to talk. She didn't appreciate the interruption. His lips bumped against her's when he spoke and, honestly, it was driving Annie crazy. Her head was in four different directions but all she could focus on was kissing him. Relief came when he stopped talking, and she pulled him close so she could kiss him hard. Honestly, Annie didn't much care for the cat. It kept her poor company and cats and dogs didn't get along that well. She wondered why it had even followed her home all that time ago. 

Annie didn't know what to do that would push him other than nothing. But that was actually an idea in itself. Annie pulled her lips away and laughed. She pulled her leg off him and rolled onto her back so that Denny, if he was kissing her still, would be getting a mouthful of hair. The rain splattered and Annie felt really alive. She was still close, her shoulder practically smashed against his chest. "That was fun," she giggled. She waited to see how he would react because it would probably entertain her a bit more. 

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

Ah, so this was a game of tug-of-war. Denny could play that, but he had to add in the disclaimer that his arms were the strongest part of his entire anatomy, and that was just because he’d been flying practically since day one. It had taken him 22 years to put other parts of him to use, which would justify what he’d said without making him sound totally pathetic. Sadly, most girls wouldn’t stick around to hear his justification, but lucky for him he didn’t need one. He had Annie; any other girl that would just look in the other direction didn’t mean a single thing. Not one. Annie was his wife and that counted for so much more than anyone else could have ever counted. No one could hold a flame of any size to Annie, especially not when there was a certain flame between them. No one had ever sparked that flame in Denny before and he was sure no one else could now – it was all Annie and that was the end of that story.

However, Annie pulling away was not the end of this story. Any time before…..Denny couldn’t even tell you when, he would have just watched her move and talked, but not now. Not when she was getting him worked up like this. Denny wasn’t just going to let her win this game, not this easily. She was going to deal a card and he was going to play it, but then it was his turn to deal is own card in a counteraction of hers. It was his turn, quite obviously, but he had to plan this one out carefully. He couldn’t just simply reach across her shoulders and pull her back onto her side; that wasn’t a plan with enough of a surprise element for Denny. He had to tease her first, make sure she knew he wasn’t just going to let her get away with turning over. Sure, he’d take this as a sort of punishment for talking, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t scared to break the punishment and redeem himself (for once). He was going to take a chance and do what he wanted, which was what he’d told himself to do after the hospital trip a few months back. He couldn’t just sit around and let Annie take the lead every time, especially not when she wasn’t in the mood to – but now she was, and he was taking the chance from her in the name of fun. “Was? That’s the wrong time frame, Annie.” His tone was quiet, but he was serious in a playful, suggestive manner.

One of his long, bony fingers started tracing her side from just under the spot where her elbow met her torso, all the way down until he couldn’t reach anymore of her body without leaning down. He ran horizontally a few centimeters, and then trailed back up again. He wanted her to make that little noise again; he wanted to feel it on his lips again. That was mostly from knowing that he was the cause of the noise, and it affirmed that yes, Denny could do the same things to Annie that she did to him with just a simple touch. All he had to do was find the right place and bam, she was all his. Of course, she was his in any sense of the meaning on any general terms, but the fact that his questions had been answered with a small noise just made him feel like he could do anything. With that, he attached his lips to her shoulder that was pressed up against him, then moved his lips up towards her neck. Maybe it was her turn to be marked with that red bump, since she’d done it to him the night before. That seemed fair, right? While has busy focusing on that, his fingers did as they pleased. They ran up and down her side, her arm, the top of her leg because that was as far as he could reach without moving his mouth.

And then, he thought, that it was his turn to leave her high and dry. Well, he thought it at first, but then Denny realized that she was looking for him to come to her. If he let go, she’d just stare at the ceiling or something. At least, that was what he anticipated. Denny had to be two steps ahead of himself, and so to buy himself some time to think he slowly started pulling back. First his fingers slowed down until they stopped, and by the time he placed one last kiss on her skin, he already knew what he was going to do next. Denver pushed his head forward and started tracing kisses up and down her jaw, using one hand across her body to pull her face towards him so he could kiss around her lips but never on them. He figured that was a good tease, so he smiled a bit mischievously. “See?” he said between kisses. “This,” kiss, “is,” kiss, “still,” kiss, “fun.” One final kiss so closer to her mouth that he could have just taken her lips against his, but he didn’t. He smirked instead and leaned back, laying now so that he had one arm propping his head up so he could see Annie next to him. He was still close enough for her shoulder to be a part of his chest, but he was drawn away enough to let her see just how clever he thought he was.

He thought he was so clever, in fact, that his head was screaming, “Oh the cleverness of me!” The only difference between Denny and the original speaker of that quote was that Denny had a wife; Peter Pan would never grow up and never fall in love the way he had. The intuitive little creature would never have someone to hold the way Denny did, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t pretend to be the imaginary boy from an imaginary place. Just to entertain himself, Denny reached out and grabbed Annie’s hip that was the farthest from him, pulling himself closer even though it had seemed illogical. His hand moved up and down her side a few times, settling at her theoretical equator just because it seemed like the right place to stop. A few heavy rain drops pounded the window above his head and caught his attention. Denny looked backwards in an upright manner and watched the rain that darkened the room despite the time of morning it was now, and realized how calming it was. As long as it wasn’t drenching him and his sheets, Denny didn’t mind the rain; if the wind was calm enough, he could fly right through it and not really care too much. Rain felt nice in most cases, unless it was a full on storm. Then it just annoyed Denny to no end because he had to hide and wait until the storm passed. Thankfully, there was one storm he never wanted to pass, and that was this game they were playing. Who could get more wind: himself or Annie? According to his standards, Denny had won, but he didn’t feel like the game was quite over yet.

Which meant that it was Annie’s turn to throw something on him to get him started all over again.



1235 words -- cora/annie who else bitchezzz? -- ah made it all and lyrics to death cab for cutie -- denny's just wearing some jeans and a t-shirt okay -- oh hello there sexual denny where have you been all of your life oh that's right being crazy l o l

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

She really should have known he would fight back. It was only to be expected, after all. She should have known that he wasn’t done playing yet. There was a bit of triumph in that, though; obviously her little game had worked and now he was worked up, now he was going to see if he could get her just as wound. But he wouldn’t; she’d been vulnerable the last time because she really hadn’t been expecting it. Squeezing her thigh wasn’t really a move that he’d pulled before. She couldn’t think of anything else he could do to top that which would remain in that realm. She just smirked a bit to herself as his heat pressed around her. That had more of an effect on her than his fingers did, although she really did like that. In her head she was thinking of things he could do that would be better; a lighter tracing, just skimming her skin but then pressing in some places, would make her eyelids flutter. Whenever his fingers crossed onto her stomach, it did the trick though. Something about her stomach was just weird like that. It never got any attention because Annie was always trying to hide it. The feeling of his fingers there was some intense point of embarrassment and enjoyment. Annie couldn’t really understand it herself and it made her stomach kick with butterflies.

He kissed her shoulder and Annie smiled some more as his lips moved against her skin. This wasn’t so much working her up as her just really enjoying this. Her indecision had lead to some strung out foreplay that was really working for her. She felt like she was getting more out of this. That whole nebula of sensations was good in it’s own rights, sure, but Annie more liked this comfortable feeling, relaxed and slow. She thought that if it was in a movie they’d probably play some long and soft acoustic piece to keep that mood, like an Elliot Smith ballad. The rain held consistency and, honestly, Annie hopped it never stopped. She hoped the whole town flooded and dunes became reefs and sawgrass became kelp. She wanted seagulls to nest on the highest buildings, and water gnawing at half way up Denny’s building. They’d be isolated, and island unto themselves. They didn’t need anyone or anything else. Just the rain and lips. Sure, it was only wishful thinking because even if my some freak accident it did flood in such a way, the rain would stop Denny from flying and no land would keep Annie from running. But to be honest, that was the last thing on her mind. Why could she possibly need running when she had everything she would ever want in this bed?

His lips teased the skin on her neck, and when his fingers brushed the top of her leg, Annie got goose bumps. Well, obviously that was the spot he had been looking for. But he didn’t notice. His lips had moved from her neck to her jaw as his hand stilled, and Annie tilted her head back, laughing a bit at him. His hand pulled on her chin and Annie complied because she would play along and let Denny play his hand. He kissed everywhere but her lips which made the corners of them turn up in a rueful manner, different than all the smiling. As he started talking between kisses, Annie curled her lip. Too much, she decided. This was that whole peaceful mood, long drawn out things, not these hectic kisses and rushed words. Totally not what she wanted for the moment. It didn’t really get the reaction out of her that she assumed he’d been looking for. When she turned to watch his self-satisfied expression from the corner of her eyes, she nearly burst out laughing. He looked so smug when he had basically played a hollow move. Annie had an idea of what she could do, and this really was starting to get into a sort of game in her mind. That could be potentially dangerous, but it wasn’t at the moment.

His hand reached out to her hip, pulling them closer. It ran down her side a few times and stopped at her midsection. The heel of his palm on the edge of her stomach felt rough to Annie. She looked at Denny from her perspective on him and bit her lip. She didn’t know how to go about this, but she planned on incorporating the slowness she wanted into it. She sighed deeply and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she turned her body onto her side, and ran her fingers through Denny’s hair with her lips pursed before she moved her leg back to where it had been, resting above his hip. Her hand that wasn’t on the side of her touching the bed pushed Denny at his shoulder, moving him onto his back. She moved with him, so she was leaning over him. Annie smiled then, and moved so her knees clamped on the sides of his hips. She leaned over so her hair fell around their faces, creating yet another barrier that kept them from the world. Annie smiled and stayed slow. She liked the silence so she didn’t speak. She forgot to feel self conscious but the forgetfulness was such a relief to her.

Annie had her hands half on his jaw and half on his neck again. They were soft and he could have easily moved out of her grasp. Annie knew exactly what his trump card would be if he just pressed through his memory. For now though, she wasn’t thinking about what he could do to get her in a tizzy. She leaned down and kissed him lightly, not pressing. She hoped the slowness would have some effect on him. She pulled his lip back with her’s without even thinking, it just happened. She kissed him a couple times, her kisses getting deeper each time. She pulled back a little bit and smiled at him. ”Denny,” she said quietly, lifting one hand from his face and tracing it down the middle of his chest down to where her legs were, stopping at the same place her thumb had traced earlier. ”You should get me a puppy.” She bit her lip and laughed through the action, because that was just so random. Her hand slowly drew back up his chest and she began to kiss him again.

1,082 - just a t-shirt and like bikini underwear you know - yup

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

Denny had gotten ahead of himself. It wasn’t that he actually knew that, it was just a simple fact. He’d gone and turned a cute little game of who could get the other to react more to each other into a full on battle, but he was the only one fighting. Annie was gleefully playing a game of monopoly, drunkenly laughing as the banker took property that she couldn’t afford anymore, while Denny was trying to annihilate the Soviet Union in a hearty game of Risk. He hadn’t really thought of it that way, but something in the way that her movements were slower and her reactions were all but nonexistent on his turn all came down to the realization that he shouldn’t have been so benevolent in his actions. He should have had fun for the sake of them together, not for the sake of entertaining himself with knowing that Annie would just automatically melt under his touch and kisses just because he was her husband. That wasn’t how things were going to work, and he should have thought about that before he’d taken the initiative that he had.

That being said, Denny instantly felt how much more fun her turn was. First her leg was back, leaning on his hip. That didn’t really help his little affliction for her legs, but Annie didn’t need to know about that. If she did, she’d react one of two ways: she’d either flaunt them in front of him because she liked the attention that he’d give her, or she’d curl up and wear long pants at all times so he could never touch her legs again, which meant he’d be forced to focus on everything but her legs. Though he preferred the former of the two so much more than the latter, Denny would rather just play it safe than sorry; keeping this little almost-obsession to himself would be easier than trying to explain the ways he loved her legs. Besides, before he had a chance to even think about reaching to trace her leg, Annie pushed him to his back, then moved so her legs were on both sides of him. Well, that gave way to his hands both being occupied; the instant her hands were on his face and she was kissing him, his fingers found the skin of her thigh and rested there. Even with whatever was left there from the burns, Denny loved feeling her skin, regardless of what point on her body he had access to. Annie’s skin was so much softer than his was (her hands being that way because she didn’t have guitar calluses on her fingers), and it was nice to hold and feel and know that it was his to do so with.

He let her kiss him and he enjoyed it. Loosing to Annie wasn’t so bad; she kissed him and teased him and held him like this, it was just the taste of winning that he was after in this game. But now, winning wasn’t so important. He got the point; he’d been a bit too abrasive and not soft, easy, playful enough. His intentions had been better; she just wanted to see if Annie would get as worked up as he got because of her, nothing really more or less, but his actions spoke for themselves. It wasn’t like he regretted what he’d done, he just realized he had to learn when the time was to leave a mark on her neck and when the time was right to just touch, kiss, hold in a nice way, just to get her attention completely back on him. Now that his attention was on her and hers was on getting him to calm down, everything seemed pretty good. Okay, he let one of his hands leave her leg just to hold onto her face, just to make sure she wouldn’t back too far away because now he was more into just kissing than trying to stimulate her physically. The point got across to him, but he wanted to get his point that he wanted to keep kissing her across to her. Every time she pulled away for even a second, his hand pulled her back without increasing in force or tightness of grip. He just wanted his lips to be attached to hers until his lungs threatened to burst open, but Annie wasn’t going to have it that way. She only pulled back twice, but that was enough for Denny to want to kiss her more every time she was detached from him.

His hand left her face on the last kiss and started lightly playing with her hair. A few times his fingers got stuck in a few knots, but instantly he pulled the finger out and started again on a new strand as to keep from pulling her hair. When she pulled back finally and ran a finger down his chest, Denny was all ears. He stayed silent, but nodded to let her know he was focused on her words now rather than her lips. Her words puzzled him at first, but after a few long seconds the image of one of his dreams appeared in his head. He remembered the little boy and girl running around the house and a multitude of tanks and cages for various animals, one of them being a dog he believed. He remembered the end of the dream the most; where he walked up to Annie and knew she was the mother of those children, and that he was the father, and that they were married and happy and everything was great – but that was a dream. This was their life outside of a dream, and Annie was really asking for a puppy. It was like he was facing the dream head on, but it wasn’t a bad thing right now. It was nice knowing that this family was really going to happen. Feeling that was better than trying to win a physical battle because this felt like he was winning something anyway. He smiled, but not smirked like he had been the last few minutes, and looked at Annie through the dark curtain of her hair. The idea of a dog was a bit out of their budget, but they already had a cat and even when Denny hadn’t had a job, Beast was able to fend for himself. He came and went as he pleased until they tried to pass him off to Abby, but after only a few days Denny had wanted the cat back.

Now they were thinking of a dog. It was a simple, cute possibility, but the fact of the matter was that Denny didn’t know what dog he could trust. Obviously he trusted Annie. That was done with no regret or second thoughts. But other dogs…. It was hard to decide who was a shifter and who was actually a dog. It was hard to do the same with any animal, but with a pet like Beast, who was really hardly a pet at all, if he was a shifter he was gone when he was a human. Denny wasn’t missing any clothing which meant that Beast hadn’t stolen any if he needed it. All signs pointed to Beast just being a full time cat, which was good news for them but it helped this situation none. However, just because it would be hard to trust another dog, that didn’t mean they couldn’t look. So Denny just smiled some more and pushed a whole bunch of Annie’s hair behind her ear. He sat up just enough to kiss her quickly before smiling again. “Okay. You name it, I’ll find it.” He kissed her again and put his hand back on her cheek, still smiling because finally he was the right mood to just…..do that, to smile through a kiss.



1313 words -- cora/annie who else bitchezzz? -- ah made it all and lyrics to death cab for cutie -- denny's just wearing some jeans and a t-shirt okay -- finally a word count i'm completely happy with