i'd do anything to hold your hand

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

i don't care if you're
CONTAGIOUS, I WOULD KISS YOU EVEN IF YOU WERE DEAD.

Annie's body was recuperating. It meant that they had to take things slow, but that time was coming to an end. After the hospital she had been weak and her body almost looked frail to the touch, tan skin swallowed. It meant no fires because miscarriages just ravaged your insides, left you wanting to cry when you just thought about that. Kissing and being close was much, much different than Annie teasing Denny like she had a habit of doing. There was also more of Annie to hold; she was filling out the way she should have looked, instead of wasting away in the manner that she wanted. It was depressing for her, honestly, because everything that she had done was hard work, and now she was being lazy and it all went away. Sometimes when she saw herself in a mirror or something, she just wanted to break down and cry. She wanted to hold her sides and dig her nails into them, like she could claw all the food and fat away. 

Through this whole thing, though, Annie was kind of realizing how much she loved food. During thanksgiving it had literally felt like torture to have it all sitting in front of her. The wonderful, home cooked meal has been as appealing to Annie as the vomit she almost turned it into. But she hadn't, had she? No, loyalty to Denny had stopped her, and that was what compelled her now. After the first couple of weeks that she got back from the hospital food had changed. Annie still wanted to be careful because she was afraid of crossing some line and ending up binging. But hey, she hadn't gotten to that point yet. As of now, she was just kind of enjoying everything that was coming with food. She wasn't really sure, but she was just kind of loving food. It helped that Denver reinforced that; she knew that her bulimia had scared him a lot. It had been dangerous for her, physically and mentally. It left her weak, too. Her sides had wasted away and she could count her ribs and his arms could wrap around her twice. But now it was different.  Her ribs were almost hiding, and her clothes fit better. Whenever she ended up buying something new she would get it a size bigger, daring herself to make it fit. 

For Annie, valentine's day was something new to her. She hadn't ever gotten those roses, or the chocolates, or anything when she had been in school. She wasn't the type of girl to admire like that; if you were attracted from Annie, you either admired her in your dreams or from far, far away. It was just inconceivable to even fantasize that you could have a chance with her. She was a wild animal, she was crazed and untameable. Some people thought she was diseased, or mental, or a junkie but it had never bothered Annie, when those rumors came back to her. She always had a far off look in her eye, she had always been a trapped animal, glassy eyes imagining something different, something no one else could see. The only time that had ever left her eyes was when Denny first told her he loved her. She had been unreachable to him, too. It seemed like it had taken so long into their relationship for him to actually get a hold of her. Even when her secrets were out there was still.... something, something splitting everything up, like a wall. If you asked her, the first show after that night was the one where she finally took her eyes of that invisible horizon and brought them back to him, when he spoke. She sat at the counter in her apartment, tracing the wood in front of her. She could hear his voice crystal clear, as if her lips were still pressed into his neck. Annie, I will never, ever leave you. I’ve never lied to you before, and I wasn’t lying when I told you I’d stick around. I’m not the kind of guy you’ll find a note from in the morning, not the kind of guy that would get bored of you or so irritated that I’ll just walk away. You’re going to have to try really, extremely hard to scare me away. it had been a long phrase, but that's where Annie remembered her feelings truly changing. He had said those words quietly, just for her. He hadn't been trying to impress anyone, or prove anything. He was just being honest; the one thing Denny did best. 

So of course it only made sense for her to spend valentine's day with him. Right now, though, she wasn't with him. He was out (shifting, she assumed, but she wasn't sure) doing his thing, and Annie had gone out to buy pie. Because she had a fun plan. There were two pies, and right now she was eating one, although she was barely putting a dent unto it.   She was sitting quietly at the counter, reminiscing. The cat that she had long ago acquired sat on the counter next to her. They didn't see much of each other these days, as Annie was always at Denny's and the cat was always doing cat-things, but they kept each other nice company when needed. Annie was waiting patiently, her thoughts bashing together wildly. She sighed. She had her hair brushed, for once, not a tangle in view, and had make up done nicely like she sometimes did when she just wanted to feel pretty. She just wore denim shorts and a long sleeve shirt that hung low, the kind that were meant for you to swim in. They exposed her shoulders and came up kind of high at the bottom, exposing the lower half of her stomach. Annie had never been confident enough to wear it; the shirt had kept it's tags on until today. 

Eating small parts of the pie and thinking were starting to get boring to Annie, and so she stood up and walked out to her balcony. It was god-awful windy out, like if she had been smaller she would blow away. The temperature was frigid, too, and Annie immediately got goose bumps on her legs, but she didn't really notice.  The wind whipped her hair wildly, reducing it to like it had been when she came home from the moose incident. Annie couldn't bring herself to care in the least, though. She was distracted by just her want for Denny to walk into her house, her want to just shift, and run. She could smell the sale from the ocean carried further inland from the gusts of air, she knew where all the little animals would be hiding from that wind. She knew the forest would be shelter, and she knew that those breathtaking biker's trails, with over hanging foxtails, and azalea, enroached upon by hydrangea bushes, would be empty, perfect for her wolf form to stroll along, unnoticed. She was starting to prefer her wolf form to kalak, mainly because she felt cramped. And she liked the extra muscles provided by a timber wolf, it left her feeling powerful. 

She was changing, these days. She was changing for the better. 






1,205. welp.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

the whole world told me i should disappear
'CAUSE I'M FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU

Denny was beginning to wonder when this winter would end. Though he wouldn’t deny that this had been the best winter of his entire life, this was also the coldest, most difficult season to fly in. Even as a large bird, the gusts of win mixed with the smells and fronts from the water around the city made it hard for him to really get anywhere. Every now and again he’d have to shift, but he couldn’t really go anywhere if the weather was that bad. So he just perched and sat on his roof or on a tree nearby, not really leaving for much unless it was necessary. January passed too quickly almost, as it was filled with events that Denny just wanted to forget about. He didn’t want to keep thinking about all of these negative things that seemed to happen between him and Annie because he’d rather just be with her, happy and alive. He just wanted the cold to go away, the warmth to come back, and a new year ahead of him and Annie. Well, technically it was a new year, but Denny didn’t feel any newer. He felt like he was just progressing, which he guessed was natural, especially since he was still only twenty-two.

In any case, he couldn’t fly. Valentine’s Day wasn’t the type of day he’d want to fly, no matter how much he’d need it though. You’d think he’d be nervous considering he had only asked Annie out on a real date just a few days ago it seemed. It had been a bit longer than that by Valentine’s Day, but that didn’t change the fact that one would consider it normal for Denny to be nervous on his first Valentine’s Day with a Valentine. But….miraculously, he wasn’t. He’d walked out of his apartment that morning with his head held high. He’d put on a black and white striped v-neck and a pair of black skinny jeans on, matching the ensemble with a little pin he’d made in like…second grade, but one he wore every year. It was a little felt heart with googly eyes hot glued to the front, a smile drawn on over and over again when it started to wear out over the years. Over that, he’d found a dark gray cardigan that he’d just slipped on, not really caring who’s it was or where it had come from, only before he’d slipped on his low-top black Vans – and with that he was ready for the day. Due to his choice of colors, the little heart stood out over everything else, but he was okay with that. It wasn’t like he really had anything to hide anymore, not that he really had much to hide in the first place.

So after leaving his apartment, Denny felt that little itch under his arm that suddenly had become so familiar due to the fact that the itches all over his body usually meant that he wanted to shift, that his body needed it physically. The itch was dismissed as he walked into a little shop just down the road from his building. The floral smell of the place gave away just what he was there for, but at the same time it gave him a sense of comfort, pulling him further and further into the little space until he was in the center, looking around at the dozens of guys standing around, looking at the flowers with women and men alike in aprons helping them pick out which one was perfect. He didn’t need them; he just had to walk over to the place where he’d find the perfect bouquet of red flowers, pick them out, buy them, and head down the street to the market. Since this was his first Valentine’s Day, Denny was going all out, regardless of whatever Annie had asked of him or would ask of him later. He was going to be as cheesy as he could be today, and he was going to do all he knew good boyfriends did for their girlfriends on this most romantic of holidays.

So Denny got to it. He quickly picked out all of the red flowers he could afford to buy, and made sure they were all beautiful and healthy, just so that Annie would feel special because she got the best of the best that Denny could possibly find. Once he was done there, he headed just down the block to the market, heading straight for the card aisle. The instant he had his favorite one in his hand, probably the cheesiest on any of the shelves, and then he headed to find some chocolate. As soon as he’d picked out some in a heart-shaped box just for the occasion, Denny was in the fast-checkout lane, and eventually back on the road. It didn’t take him long to find Annie’s apartment, which was good because the cardigan he’d chosen to wear instead of one of his hoodies really wasn’t keeping the wind out. But he didn’t think about that as he just opened the door and let himself in, almost as if he’d been living there with Annie instead of the other way around. They’d spent so much time at his apartment that it literally felt overused and just from the outside of her apartment Denny felt like it had been abandoned and forgotten unjustly. But now she was there, and at that moment so was he, so the feelings disappeared the instant Denny was inside. Those feelings went along with the feelings of being cold, which put Denny right in the exact mood he wanted to be in for the day. Nothing seemed to be able to bother him – not even that itch that started up again when he thought about it. He just pushed those thoughts back easily and moved on, almost at a pace that seemed impossible.

Looking around- or at least around the flowers that he was balancing quite easily in his arms - Denny found one important element missing from the room: Annie. It’d be a little hard for him to celebrate this holiday without her, especially at her own apartment. “Annie!” he called, feeling a smile creep across his face with the thought of her seeing him with all of these gifts for her in his arms. He slowly made his way across the apartment, trying not to drop the card, candies, or flowers on his way. He successfully made it into the kitchen where Beast, or so he remembered having been told its name was, was sitting on the counter near a couple of pies, one of which had already been partially eaten. But he wasn’t focused on the pies. Denny was focused on staring straight at the cat, which was looking right back at him until it turned its head towards Annie’s balcony. Well, even if he really felt indifferent about the pet Annie was keeping and….well rather neglecting along with her apartment, though it was obvious he could provide for himself if need be, he had to admit it was smart. Then again, it didn’t take a genius to be able to tell what Denny – or rather who Denny was looking for.

So he followed the cat’s instructions and walked out to the balcony, smiling when he saw Annie out there, looking a lot healthier (physically) than she had a few weeks ago. It made him feel good that she was eating, that she wasn’t destroying herself from the inside out just to feel something but self hatred towards herself anymore – and he had to credit himself at least a little bit for that. But he didn’t use that to his advantage beyond the point of being proud, so Denny moved closer to Annie and gathered all of the stuff into one arm with agility he hardly recognized. When he was close enough, Denver leaned in and kissed Annie’s cheek, just a hello peck for now. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” he said, holding out the things he’d brought her. He realized he hadn’t signed the card yet, so quickly he retracted just that. “Forgot something; hold on,” he said, that smile still on his face as he left the chocolates and flowers with Annie to find a pen. Fortunately, he found one in the kitchen (probably again with the cat’s help, but Denny didn’t really notice) and quickly wrote a little note that went along the lines of the famous ‘roses are red, violets are blue’ poem, just with a special twist that every boyfriend thinks they’re original for writing. Once he had the card in the envelope and the envelope closed, Denny hurried back out to the balcony and handed Annie the card.

“Hope you like it all,” he told her before leaning in and really kissing her this time. It felt, again, like it had been too long since he’d done that, when reality was that they’d practically seen each other every day. There had been a chance (actually, more than one) for Denny to have kissed Annie every day since…..well, since they’d figured out where to go after the beach scene he was trying to forget. It was more that he wanted to forget the pain and the tension, not the things they’d agreed on or the things they’d settled. But now he wasn’t thinking of that – rather he was occupied by just having Annie that close to him again, and the fact that he was kissing her on Valentine’s Day. When he pulled back slowly, that smile was still there. “Love you,” was all he said through the expression plastered to his skin.



1610 -- lyrics to there for tomorrow, words to me duh, image from me. -- denny's outfit is described i'm too lazy for polyvore -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- obscenely cute valentine's denny oh lookie here

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

i don't care if you're
CONTAGIOUS, I WOULD KISS YOU EVEN IF YOU WERE DEAD.

It was easy for Annie to get caught up in nature. It was easy for her to get distracted by the sheer brilliance. Sometimes she felt like being outside was just going to overtake her whole being. She would dissolve away, roots soaking up her skin, the wind taking her voice to whistle between the leaves, who's trees took the color of her eyes. Annie was entirely composed of nature, so she didn't think it would be anything but expected for her to return to it, eventually. Mortality wasn't usually a big thought to her, but Denny's words in the hospital suddenly made some sense, when he spoke about not getting her back. She hadn't really imagined herself getting caught up from losing the baby, but hospitals seemed like the agents of death itself. They practically reeked of sickness and mortality. Annie didn't want to be another number. His words meant a little more then, because it wouldn't be Annie dying, it would be death taking her from Denny. She didn't like the sound of that at all. For some reason the thought of suicide became bold to her then. It was weird because Annie had never considered suicide before, even when things got low. She never felt like taking herself out of the game, even though sometimes she felt sure that she was losing. She couldn't, because nature wouldn't let her. Annie wouldn't let herself not see any of this until she was forced, kicking and screaming. She loved the wind and the dirt and the ocean and the trees and the sky and the horizon and Denny too much to do that. That was a lot of and's, but it was a valid, long, and meaningful list. 

The wind blew again and she realized how off track she was getting. Nature had started that debate, and now it was ending it. She tucked some hair behind her ear; the side she had shaved was growing out. She was caught up again, stuck in some sort of trance by everything around her. Denny's voice broke it, but not in a bad way. She turned around from her balcony, and looked into her living room and watched him walk out. "Jesus..." she muttered under her breath. Okay, he had too much, way too much. Annie didn't need flowers or chocolates or cards, and even if she did she didn't need that many. She knew no matter what she would say he would still have gotten them though; Denver was raised with society's traditions, and would follow them out of habit, even if Annie didn't see a point. She got Valentine's day, sure, but she didn't see the need for him to buy her all those things. It would have been enough for him to just kiss her and say those things. He didn't need to punctuate them with useless items Annie didn't see a real need for. 

He kissed her cheek Happy Valentine’s Day! Denny's enthusiasm was infectious, and it left Annie smiling and giggly as he walked away, also leaving her with the chocolates and flowers. She really didn't see a need for them. Flowers were pretty, but had she not just been admiring the flora that naturally sprung up under her balcony? She didn't need these carefully grown and pruned roses; sure, she appreciated them, but she didn't need them. And chocolate was always good, but Annie didn't see herself eating them all. It wasn't that she was starving herself or something, but she just thought eating a whole box of chocolate was pushing the fact that she was eating. 

When Denver came back though, she kept her smile on and took what he gave her. Hoped she would like it. Then kissed her, and she liked that. If she had free hands she would be tightly wrapped around him because it was cold, and he was her valentine. He was her everything, honestly. There wasn't anything that he couldn't give her, Denver was just... everything. Annie was sure she had thought and reminisced about that before, but it still held true. And kissing him just kind of punctuated that thought, made it obvious that he really did mean immeasurable amounts to her. She felt like she hadn't kissed him in weeks, but maybe that's just because she hadn't seen him in hours. So she made that kiss last, and got really close and drew it out. It was like she was laying down hot coals and dead leaves with her lips, laying down the materials that would kindle the fire, when it sparked. 

"I do like it, but you know I don't need this." she said, once she had pulled away and caught her breath. Her lungs were aching in a good way. "You love me. That's all I need, okay?" She smiled. She sounded like a Disney romance, so she just leaned forward again and kissed him in a very non-Disney way. 




826. welp.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

the whole world told me i should disappear
'CAUSE I'M FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU

To be honest, Annie’s words were disheartening. Not so much that Denny felt like he’d gone too far, but enough for him realize the truth behind them. As stated before, he wasn’t letting anything get to him, and so knowing that Denny easily just ignored the fact that he’d gone into excess, remembering that today was a day to give gifts to his girlfriend whether she needed them or not. He just shrugged with that smile still on his face, this never ending happiness nearly creeping him out with its extents. That too didn’t get to Denny; he pushed away the creep feeling and focused on Valentine’s Day, on making this the best day they’ve had in a while. “I know,” he said, just letting the shrug fall right off his shoulders as easily as it had found its way there. “But it’s Valentine’s Day, so you were getting this stuff one way or another!” He said it in that matter of fact way that just……emphasized his cheesy and pretty much unoriginal ways of going about Holidays. No one seemed to care too much, and though Annie said she didn’t need them didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate the things he’d brought her. She could afford to appreciate them since they were from Denny, which really just meant that she didn’t need to feel like not accepting them would just make him turn away or something. That might have happened a year ago had Denny tried to pull what he was pulling right now, but last Valentine’s Day the two of them were technically single – which was hard to believe.

“Plus, these are all just a bonus. I’m here!” Denny hadn’t tried to pull that sort of joke in a really long time, and honestly it felt nice to be able to at least try. But he just laughed at himself because of it, stepping closer to Annie just because he could. “Just kidding,” he said before kissing her again. The only reason he remembered to pull back this time was because he’d kind of just shoved everyone into Annie’s arms, and he’d had a hard enough time trying to get it all here in one trip himself. So he did pull back and just held his arms out until Annie handed at least a part of what he’d handed her back. “I’ll go put the flowers in a vase.” With that, Denny headed off in the direction of the kitchen and started searching for a vase-type bowl that would function to keep the flowers in line, regardless of their lifespan. The day would outlast the flowers, but Denny didn’t consider them a waste of money. In any case, he found a vase-like structure, filled it with water, cut the ends of the flowers and set them into the water, leaving them in a place where the sun would be able to directly hit them during the day. Maybe they’d live longer than he expected there, but in any case now that he was done filling them to their happiness, Denny was focused on Annie again. It wasn’t hard to find her considering it was just them and the cat, and when he did he smiled.

“So you already started digging into the pies?” Denny wasn’t even sure if he was supposed to have seen them, but he had. It didn’t matter really, he was just teasing. To compensate for what he’d said, since he knew about the eating issues at hand, Denny just stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Annie. “Good thing there’s plenty left for me too,” he said, still smiling just because he could, just because he didn’t have to fight anything to be happy today. And now that he was talking about pie, he was actually realizing he hadn’t eaten anything so far, which led to the discovery that he was in fact hungry. So he sat at the counter and picked up the fork that had been left at the pie, pretty much just digging in like a greedy little pig. He wasn’t thinking that way, but after the second bite he realized he hadn’t brought Annie over with him. What was wrong with him? He stood up quickly and grabbed her hand, smiling as he sat her down next to where he’d been sitting.

“My stomach took over there for a few seconds. Sorry,” he said shrugging again. He didn’t pick up the fork, but Annie’s face suddenly betrayed some sort of sinister demise of Denny’s, probably for acting so odd today. Denny wasn’t necessarily worried, because this face didn’t seem like anything was going to go wrong in particular, but he knew he was going to have to be paying the price for something, even if that payment was covered in pie. And that was just the outcome of what was heading right for him; Annie picked up the pie each of them had eaten from already and gave Denny a second to run, but unknowing to what exactly she was going to do with the pie, Denny just sat there with his smile sort of just faltering in a very deer in headlights manner. So since he didn’t take the opportunity to run and hide from this, Annie extended her arm with the pie with such a force that the entire pie was flung across whatever space was between them. It collided with a pretty loud splat! against Denny’s face, at which time he squinted and was forced back a bit by the inertia exerted by the pie.

For a second, Denny wasn’t sure what to do. He just sat there and let the pie slowly start to fall from his features, leaving a trail of whipped cream and pie crust as well as whatever was inside that he’d pretty much inhaled. Because of his hesitance not only to get up seconds ago but also now, the pie fell right into his lap, staining his pants just the way it had his face. His mouth hung open like a door that just swung open and no one was bothered to close. He could tell the pie was hanging from the tips of his hair, but through it all Denny didn’t feel an ounce of anger. The monster was hundreds of miles away, vacationing in Cancun or something, and Denny was actually rather surprised above everything else. He just smirked and picked up what was left of the pie from his lap. “You think you’re cute, don’t you?” he asked playfully, every bit as devious as Annie had been when she’d picked up the pie to throw at him. Now it was her turn to back up a bit, but the look on her face didn’t give Denny incentive to stop. He was playing just as much as she was, and he could tell that she was able to understand that even with whatever was on his face. “I’ll give you cute,” he said, chuckling at himself before he flung the pie back, hitting her square in the face like she had with him. The pie didn’t make nearly as much noise this time as it had against Denny, but when it fell whatever was left in the pan was pretty much tangled in Annie’s hair, around her eyes, surrounding her nose and lips, and for once she really did literally look delicious.

When the pan was out of her face, Denny didn’t give Annie time to really retaliate. He stood up and leaned over, making it seem like he was going for her lips. When he was close enough to fool her without actually giving away his intentions, Denny smirked and ended up licking her cheek, taking whatever was there right off. He just smiled and stood up and said, “Mmm. You taste yummy!”



1302 -- lyrics to there for tomorrow, words to me duh, image from me. -- denny's outfit is described i'm too lazy for polyvore -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- oh goodness look at this mess! XD

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

i don't care if you're
CONTAGIOUS, I WOULD KISS YOU EVEN IF YOU WERE DEAD.

Annie didn't really know how she had pulled off the pie thing as smoothly as she had. But she didn't much care. All the pie on his face made him seem just extra adorable or something and Annie started laughing. It felt good, just to giggle like that. You think you’re cute, don’t you? His voice was playful, but with that slight irritated tone because, really, who enjoyed getting pie thrown at them? Annie laughed again, enjoying this. "Mm, yes I do." It was weird for Annie to feel so good. But Denny just did that to her. All the bad stuff that they'd been through just melted away lightly; they blissfully ignored it all, along with what they usually ignored. That's how they didn't go crazy, they ignored little bits and pieces of things, and even if they did acknowledge those things, they were portrayed in a good light, like Annie's affliction with being touched just meant that she just really loved Denny. But now wasn't a time to deal with any of that. Now was a time to just feel really great. And Annie did. She felt like nothing could touch her, and it hadn't taken some blow up that required a lot of convincing from Denny to put her into this mindset. Actually, it was kind of the opposite: just little things and a little light conversation was putting Annie in this mood that made her feel untouchable. 

I’ll give you cute. She was going to smile and add something like "yeah, you better" but she saw what Denny was doing, and she took one small step back. Her eyes held this look like "boy, watch yourself" but her expression didn't stop him from tossing the pie at her. She caught the pan before it hit the ground, but she made a squealing noise, and her mouth hung open. She put the pie down, and licked her lips. "Oh my god, you dick," but her smile took every ounce of seriousness out of her words. Denver leaned towards her like he was going to kiss her, and Annie felt a little self-obsessed in that moment, like he should have to apologize for that. She had just closed her eyes when his plans changed, apparently, and he licked her lip. Annie's eyes shot open, and he told her she was yummy. Annie could react two different ways: one, she could continue this playful mood, two, she could react the way that she had been wanting to act for weeks. And so she did that. 

"I was going to eat that, you know..." she smiled slightly, not retaining much dignity from the pie on her face, but at least keeping more of it than Denver, seeing as he had taken most of the whipped cream and shit for her. "But, you know, I guess I still could." She dragged her finger down the side of his face, picking up all sorts of pie, and then licking it off her finger. Annie smiled, and then wiped her hands over her face, getting off most of the creme and then she leaned forward more, running her fingers through his hair, getting creme all in his hair and then her hands came down around his neck, still trailing pieces of pie. She kept her hands there and pulled herself closer and kissed him. It didn't really matter that his face was still mostly covered in pie. Annie sure as fuck didn't care; she was too busy kissing Denny and just feeling really good. She kissed him slowly, but not softly, kind of dragging it out. Turning tricks had taught her to make some of her own. 

Everything just seemed to make sense when she was kissing him, and it felt good to kiss him this way, playing with the fire. As far as she could remember they hadn't since christmas, and that was just too long for Annie, frankly. She missed the feel of just being close to him, because it sucked when she couldn't. She would never admit it, but she thought that was the worst part of a miscarriage, the waiting. She would never admit that because, honestly, it would probably make her sound like a terrible person. But it was really what she thought... although right now she wasn't thinking much more than just how much she wanted to be close and how she wanted the fire to come back. She wanted to kiss him until that was all she could think about, and it seemed like it was starting to turn that way. Annie missed feeling on fire, and she missed Denny making her that way. 

For some reason she felt guilty for feeling that way and missing those things. She wasn't  really sure as to why. but it was a strong enough feeling to convince her to pull back, although very hesitantly, making it almost painfully obvious how much she wanted to keep kissing him. She smiled softly, trying to catch her breath. When she did, she smiled a little bit wider, and looked at his hair. "You should probably do something about your hair."


858. welp.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

the whole world told me i should disappear
'CAUSE I'M FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU

Denny, in his good mood and all, shrugged and smiled. Annie could have called him something more original or something more hurtful, but Denny would not have cared. This was too much fun, regardless of how dirty they were getting. In fact, this was probably the most fun Denny had had in a long while, and the feelings were actually quite new even in their familiarity they held. Being like this with anyone just hadn’t been a part of his life for twenty-two years, which only made him sound more pathetic than being convicted for running over someone his sister had run over. But because of those feelings, because of the thoughts in his head, Denny didn’t have room or attention to dwell on his life or the events within his life. He was just focused on today, on the now instead of the past which was new for him. Usually Denny was always considering what had happened, in order to keep it from happening again. But today everything was just about what was happening – no ‘had’ or ‘was going to’ were involved. And for once, he was actually okay with thinking that way – things weren’t creeping up in his mind, hiding in shadows that didn’t even exist on such a sunny day (even thought he sun was really only out and about in his head).

Through watching Annie, Denny just found himself chuckling. He moved back a bit when she ran her crème-covered fingers through his hair, but he didn’t really care anymore. He was already covered in pie and so what was a bit more? Just something to have fun getting out, he guessed. Plus, when Annie kissed him the pie didn’t actually mean anything anymore. It was just that thing stuck to his skin. With his mind focused on Annie’s lips against his, Denny didn’t really notice anything else. His eyes closed in that way that they always did when their kisses got this deep, and his arms found their way around her waist like he was so used to doing. Not used to in the sense that it was boring and unoriginal or repetitive, but familiar in that comfortable way – like going home to his mom’s cooking every once in a while where he really didn’t have to do anything and Donna went all out anyway. The same feel to holding Annie held true; Denny didn’t really have to do anything. He just had to wrap his arms around the one girl that he felt deserved them and hold her there and everything seemed to be okay, at least for that moment or span of moments. Plus, keeping Annie this close to him just reminded Denver that he had her, that she had him, that the both of them just had to rely on each other for whatever they needed. It reminded him of why he was doing what he was doing today, of how he’d ended up not being alone on Valentine’s Day, revolting the Hallmark Holiday on his own by sitting at the beach with his hood up and his heart closed.

Just to add to all of that, that fire was back. The familiar sparking was starting between them, Denny felt, which meant things were either going to go really well or things were going to go really well. Of course, tomorrow might hold a different light on the subject at hand, but tomorrow was a day away, and Denny had faith in Annie more so than anyone else. That being said, he knew he could trust her to put boundaries between them if she needed them; he wasn’t sure he’d want to stop if they started, but he would if she asked. He’d force himself to, and he knew he could today. Today, when his mind was as clear as a crystal that you could see straight through, Denny had more confidence in himself than any other day he’d ever lived. That sounded dramatic, but he felt the truth of the words; every day before this had been an endless struggle for control of a problematic mind. But he knew he’d be able to hold on to the things he felt he needed, reign them in if Annie just asked him to, throw them away at her request and forget about them for their time together that remained. But when he thought about it, the fire didn’t usually lead to things that were calm – in fact, one could really refer to the fire as the calm before the storm. That was a oxymoron, but Denny understood what he meant. The fire was what built up everything the storm was based on, and really in a way the fire was both the calm before itself. A little fire built up to a bigger fire, and each time the flames burned the both of them in different, extremely amazing ways.

When Annie pulled back, Denny almost let himself slip. He almost let a very disappointed face fall upon his features, but quickly he understood what she was saying and with the fire still grabbing onto his lips, Denny formed somewhat of a plan. It’d be fun, something the two of them hadn’t ever done with each other before – something Denny had never done before, to be perfectly honest – and maybe it would wash away whatever had urged Annie to take her lips away from his. So he smiled, still holding onto Annie like she’d float away if he let go. “I should, shouldn’t I?” That deviousness in a very cute (for lack of a better term) manner was back in his features, and suddenly Denny knew his eyes were betraying his plan to some extent. If his mouth didn’t speak complete honesty, his eyes did, which ultimately could be a fault in certain situations. For now, it worked perfectly fine because the point to Denny was to execute the plan, not to care that it was given away without surprise. “Oh, but you have plenty to take care of right here,” he said, pocking her cheek with one finger playfully. “Looks like we both have some work to do.” With that, and without much else after, Denny just kissed Annie again with that smile still on his lips. It faded gracefully into a shape that matched Annie’s lips, and quickly he was practically picking her up and moving her across the room back to her bedroom. The fire was fueling these feelings, and the feelings were fueling the fire, and the vicious cycle continued until they were situated in her bathroom, the door to the bedroom closed with Annie pressed against it.

Denny pulled back nearly in a frenzy, startled by how much he actually missed the fire there between them but not so surprised by how much he was loving the way it made every nerve in his body ignite. He felt light and light headed, a lot like he did when he was flying, which really just prevented any sort of negativity to enter his conscious thought process. “Tell me now if you’re okay with this,” he said, though he had no intentions of making his intentions verbal. It seemed sinister to keep things from Annie, but it wasn’t like he was keeping a secret. He just didn’t feel not-awkward enough to talk about what he had planned; he’d rather have said it the way he had than the way he could have. Shower sex just weren’t two words that ever came out of Denny’s mouth in the same sentence – in fact, he rarely ever said the word sex, and with good reason. Sure he was cheesy and very…….societal compared to Annie, but that only attributed to his awkwardness. So he kept the rest of his plans in his head, even though they were really hanging themselves on the walls around the fire, as if they knew the fire would be dangerous to touch. “Because if you are, this is definitely going to be the best Valentine’s Day ever. By far.” He smiled and kissed her again, only shortly to give her room to answer. However between the time he pulled back and the time she’d answered his question, Denny slipped in a quick, “I love you,” just so that she’d know.




1380 -- lyrics to there for tomorrow, words to me duh, image from me. -- denny's outfit is described i'm too lazy for polyvore -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- wow denny just wow where did this come from?

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

i don't care if you're
CONTAGIOUS, I WOULD KISS YOU EVEN IF YOU WERE DEAD.

In a wave of movements and moments that Annie didn't catch very well, Denny had started playing the devious one and suddenly he was kissing her deeper. Her lungs felt on fire in an extremely amazing way, and her head felt a million miles away as they moved to her bedroom. Annie's mind was so cluttered that she didn't even realize it was her bedroom until they were in the bathroom (you couldn't blame her when they'd been spending so much time at Denny's apartment). The fire tended to do that with her, totally steal her focus and leave her frazzled and absent minded. It was impossible for her to focus on anything when she felt these uneven tendrils of fire up her legs and lapping at her stomach. Maybe that was an exaggeration because she didn't feel like she was being burned alive, but more like this comfortable feeling, like being the perfect temperature but without the cozy part. Just raw and biting feels. It was like claws digging into her muscles, burning claws that ripped through her skin really easily, but hinged deep into her muscles, like injecting liquid mercury into them. The fire was like that, and it throbbed within her body when her heart beat. 

Honestly, Annie didn't mind being pressed against the door. As long as Denny was the one pressing her there, she really could care less. Actually, she kind of liked it. That was a weird thought when she was so adverse to touching, but she really just liked Denny touching her. He kissed her deeper and she felt the claws in her thighs and she wanted to make these noises that bubbled in her throat, but more than anything she was just a little confused and a lot of content. Tell me now if you’re okay with this, because if you are, this is definitely going to be the best Valentine’s Day ever. By far. Annie's smile threatened to break her face in half. Before she could answer he kissed her quickly and threw in an I love you. For her answer, she nodded slightly and whispered "You look rabid," and he did. His eyes looked crazy and she knew why; her. He'd told her enough times. And she loved that, she loved that she was the one that could hangs his emotions with just one touch... or lack of. He still had pie sort of on his chin. Annie leaned forward and kissed his bottom lip, pulling it into her mouth and then moving her lips down to get the rest of the pie remains. She pulled back and somehow her smile had grown even though that seemed physically impossible. "Fixed it..." she whispered, her voice so quiet that there was barely any sound to her words, just air against his lips. 

So her answer was pretty much summed up there, and then she started kissing him again and once more she lost her mind. There was a flurry of hands and some moments where their lips were touching. Annie's loose shirt and short shorts came off much easier than Denver's cardigan and shirt, and so she was practically naked while she was still wrestling off his shirt. She found the pin comical, but that thought only passed through her mind in less than a second. She couldn't even care. The only thing was Annie didn't have clothes. That subconsciously worried her; subconsciously because she couldn't possibly worry when she felt so good. But Annie still wasn't confident about her body at all. Nothing has changed; she was gaining weight and not hurting herself, but she still wasn't happy with herself. All of this was really just one big show for Denny. All of the weight and playing nice was just to make him happy, convince him that she was okay. Convince was a bad word, it sounded like she was lying to him, but she pretty much was. She lied and said she was okay, that she felt better about herself... but that was a lie, a blatant lie. Annie still hated herself, but she distracted herself with how much she loved Denny, and that's what convinced her to act this way, to pretend that things were good. It convinced her to keep herself healthy in an effort to keep him happy. 

And then Denny was shirtless and Annie did her usual thing, sliding her hands from his neck to his shoulders down to his chest and across his stomach. The heat from being so close and just that feeling of him being so alive under her fingers (she was always just amazed at how beautiful he was to just be alive; his heart beat, the vibrations of his skin, his pulse, his breathing) and she got these weird chills down her core muscles tightened in her stomach. She moved her hands back up to his neck and pulled herself closer, pushing her lips harder against him, pulling herself close so hit chest was touching her's. She loved the heat between them, she felt dizzy from the fire there, too. But she loved the way the fire just made her body just ignite and make everything feel so far away but so close at the same time. She felt far away because her thoughts were coming as feelings, like they just couldn't be shoved into the space of a word. But it was so close because of those feelings; they were intense, they were alive, and they made Annie feel better than she ever had in her entire life, but it was only that way because Denny was the one that made her feel that way. 

She pulled her lips away a little, her eyes still closed. She couldn't catch her breath, even if she had all the time in the world. She felt urgent; the fire was burning her away and she couldn't feel her lungs because they were on fire. Annie's eyes were closed, and her lips were still so close that when she spoke they brushed against his. "I love you too."



1,015. finally broke a grand~ lolz back to baby erotica.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

the whole world told me i should disappear
'CAUSE I'M FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU

On a grand scale, Denver would eventually draw out the cycle that he and Annie were slowly becoming. They started out mellow and cute and progressed into this bonfire concocted by limbs and body heat. Things would cool down and after the huge party, everything was just as it had been, and repeat of course. But on a more detailed scale, the scale that Denny’s mind was thinking on right now, none of that mattered. It didn’t matter that he’d told himself this wouldn’t be available to him for a long while, that part of the healing process was being patient. What mattered was that Annie wasn’t telling him to stop, that she was pushing off the god damn cardigan he’d chosen to wear and the shirt with the pin. Thinking that this sort of situation had ended them in the hospital just two weeks or so ago didn’t even phase Denny; he was too focused on no, on holding and touching and feeling and getting out of these clothes that were making things too restricted (and not in the totally perverted way). He literally felt claustrophobic in these pieces of cloth people called clothing, like he’d shifted and was just sitting in a pile of clothing that was now all distorted and would never fit his body the right way again. Thankfully, before he knew it his cardigan and his shirt were particles of the floor, at a level in the room that Denny wasn’t looking at.

The flames were so familiar but they ripped at his skin in a different way than ever before. Denny couldn’t really describe it; it was like he’d stepped into the center of the fire intentionally, like he was testing the flames, daring them to burn his skin so badly that he wouldn’t be able to move for weeks. His body and his mind were working at two paces; his mind was moving and filming every one of his moves, making notes here and there as to what got good feedback and what didn’t. His body was all instinct, all action, moving around and with Annie’s, getting closer, feeling around, holding her to him or to the door just because it was the only way to get some of this energy off. All of the happy-go-lucky energy he’d had before – the very energy that had literally pushed him out of bed, into clothing, down the road, and up to Annie’s apartment – had turned into this heated passion, and with the way that his mind was working in contrast to his body, Denny just had this seemingly undying need to get it all off. At the moment, Annie was a perfect vessel for doing just that, though he wouldn’t say that. Again, not so much keeping secrets, but rather just sparing her feeling whatever making his thoughts verbal would make her feel. This was too good to be true as it was; he didn’t need to be feeding destruction into something they both wanted so obviously.

With her words, despite the time it had taken him to register them, Denny just smirked. “I bet I do, he said, mostly because he felt quite rabid. He felt like a bird in some way – free and doing as he pleased – but at the same time he felt like he had some mental disease that made him wild with this passion. So, thinking about it that way made that disease sound not nearly half as bad as it would have otherwise. The only logical way to describe this feeling was to say that he just felt frenzied. His mind was searching for ways to act as surveillance, but his body was finding ways to get closer to Annie, to touch places he felt like he hadn’t touched in a period of time that was much too long for his liking. It was so weird to feel this way especially since he’d spent pretty much every day since that beach scene with Annie, holding her and being with her and being content with just that. The difference now was that he was still content, that he could go back to being like that without this fire and be content – but right now he was caught up and he wasn’t feeling any remorse or regret for being that way. The way he felt made sense to him actually, which gave Denny this sense of confidence he’d lacked with the fire before. Even with as crazy as he probably looked, he felt just as hot (literally), and he really only knew one (or two, rather) ways to quench the thirst his body was yearning for.

Having her lips so close to his but still so separated was just not working for Denny. If anything, he needed those where they belonged, right up against his with no hesitation and no space. It didn’t feel right to have her not kissing him, and with the way the human and bird parts of his mind were mashing, he just completely forgot that breathing was necessary. After she’d told him she loved him, Denny just smirked and nearly just became a wolf himself. Needing that connection drove him to driving his teeth softly but urgently into her bottom lip, just enough to keep her there but not nearly far enough or hard enough to draw blood or even break the skin. Something in his throat started to irritate him, and quickly a rough and wild sound escaped his vocal chords, making him sound more and more like a rabid dog with every move his body was making. Everything just boiled down to one thing; he needed Annie desperately. His body took over and suddenly his thoughts were all turned off and that camera that had been filming was static in his mind. His hands moved and released body parts quicker than he thought he could manage, but before he knew it somehow they were in the shower with the water on, occupying each other with a precision that only belonged to two people that knew the other better than themselves.

Lips and arms moved at speeds that Denny couldn’t keep track of. His mind was gone and his body was completely instinct driven. Whatever happened next, Denny didn’t really know, but he did know that his hair wasn’t covered in crème anymore. He wasn’t really focused on being clean though; his focus was still on Annie, on just having her there with him feeling these things that he was feeling. Never in his life had a connection like this been made; never before Annie had he ever really felt the need to share his body with like this. Every horny little teenaged boy wanted it, but none of them really needed it to this extent that Denny felt when he was so close to Annie. None of them got to feel this way because they absolutely needed to, and none of them got to be so in love that they would literally put everything else aside for that one girl that changed their entire life. That still rang true even as the water pouring down Denny’s back became an extinguisher, slowly pouring out the dwindling fire with every second passing. His breath was heavy and his head was still spinning but Denny just felt so at peace with himself. It was an odd feeling to have since half the time he either hated himself for not being a good enough person or something, or the other half of the time he was almost too confident in himself which led to letting himself down which led to disappointing himself, and again a vicious cycle was formed. But not now. Not when he was in such a state that his head wasn’t working right but his body was more alive and aware than most of the time so that it could think for his entire being – now Denny just felt so good, for lack of a more intelligent term.

“I was right,” he said, smiling at himself with his eyes closed. He just didn’t have the energy to open them anymore. “Best Valentine’s Day ever.” One of his arms was around Annie still, holding her as close as he could without either of them being too uncomfortable. His other hand found its way to her face, that usual place it always found for comfort. His lips, still quite lonely, kissed Annie’s quickly before smiling. He opened his eyes before speaking, forcing his lids up so he could see what he was speaking about. “Annie, every time I see you, I fall more in love with you.” Denny figured that was perfect speech for such a day, when love was everywhere instead of just the air. “So thank you for letting me.” And that was all he had to be thankful for. Everything else just…..either had to do with what he thanked her for on some level or it held no such importance to him. Denny was a simple guy mostly, with simple interests except for Annie, and for that he would never be the same person he was the day before he’d met her. He was rightfully thankful of that.




1534 -- lyrics to there for tomorrow, words to me duh, image from me. -- denny's outfit is described i'm too lazy for polyvore -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- oh oh oh! XD

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

i don't care if you're
CONTAGIOUS, I WOULD KISS YOU EVEN IF YOU WERE DEAD.

For Annie, sex had never been just something she did for sex. That statement still held true; for the longest time she didn't do it for the pleasure or because she was backed into it, and then she did it... for money. Honestly, it hurt Annie to think that, so she didn't pay attention to it. Now she still didn't do it for the pleasure or anything (but that was part of it) but it was more for Denny. It wasn't for him like that sounded. It was more that she just always wanted to be as close as she could get to him, and she liked the way he made her feel. Some people (and Annie had used to be one of them) thought those kind of feelings only existed in busty romance novels, the kind that you bought in gift shops and always had pirates or vagabonds in them. But here Annie was, writing her own book about her love. This was different than anything that had been before because there had never been someone like Annie, and there had never been anyone like Denny. Together it was like everything was weird and Annie could never accurately describe the things Denny did to her and for her, be it with what they were doing now or when they just laid together in bed and stayed very quiet and didn't do anything but just kind of be close and breathe. 

Everything moved at varied speeds, but Annie didn't know how fast that speed was, exactly. Her head wasn't keeping up but that wasn't bad at all. This wasn't a mind kind of thing at all, it was purely about her body - their bodies - and, as totally cheesy as it sounded, her heart. That was the thing with him being there with her, it wasn't just a simple physical thing, it was like a physical accumulation of their feelings for each other. Annie knew how unrealistic that sounded, but she couldn't care less. All that there was to focus on was having Denny there with her and just feeling really good and how she had always taken having a big shower for granted. She wasn't anymore, taking note of how the spacious shower of her apartment fit their tangled bodies quite comfortable. Her mind felt far away and the water sounded like rain. That made sense to her and that's what it felt like. It was weird that she liked the ocean as much as she did, because Denver had a natural aversion and Annie wasn't really a beach kind of creature. But she could admire it, right? Right now there were lots of things to admire and she got distracted by it all. 

He was right. Annie just couldn't deny that this was the best valentine's day ever, it not one of the best days of her life. Just because it was so light hearted. There wasn't much seriousness to it, but somehow that made it more serious. It was something she would remember for a very long time, she was sure of it. His arm around her waist made her feel good. Without Denny she would never feel okay about herself. Not only did he make her act like she was okay; therefore no longer hurting herself, but it was subconscious little things like that that just made her feel intensely amazing. She remembered when they had nearly overused amazing. Maybe she was creating a habit with that but she wasn't a thesaurus. She liked the word amazing, and so she would use it whenever she wanted, whenever it fit. His hand on her cheek directed her lips to his, and Annie smiled into that kiss. She just felt kind of perfect, like her body was all in order, and so were her emotions and this moment was just kind of perfect and she didn't know if it could get better. 

Maybe the world had taken that thought as some kind of dare, because the moment went on, and it just got better. When Denny spoke again, Annie felt all her feelings get caught up in her throat, like choking, but in a good way. It was another one of those things that made Annie constantly wonder how she had gotten with him. She looked at him, and he smiled. Annie smiled shakily, about to cry. She didn't know what to say because her mind just didn't work in such a fantastic way, like his did. To Annie, Denny was just perfect. He always knew the right things to say to keep her balanced, and even if she did not stay that way it normally wasn't his fault. He knew when her words were wrong, he knew when to hold her and how to hold her and knew how to live with her, he knew how to live about her. He knew everything. His body was perfect for Annie's, all his muscles moved in the right ways and they knew how to hold her just right, in accordance with the way his mind knew how to hold her. It was just more proof that Annie would never be with anyone else, she would never love anyone else. There was no one else for her, there never would be. Denny was the only one. 

Maybe this was one of those situations where honesty was the best policy. "I... I don't know what to say." maybe he was expecting her to answer that with some brilliant speech, like she was playing humble. But she didn't have some brilliant speech, and she suddenly felt very small. That was a contradiction because he made her feel so important with his words. They built her up and tore her down at the same time. She liked the way their bodies were still close, the water making their skin stick together. Annie's hair was probably kind of weird looking, the way that your hair could wrap itself into almost dreddy locks in the shower when it wasn't directly under the water. And there had been a lot of moving, so of course it would be a little tangled. She hadn't really been expecting shower sex either, so some accidental water proof mascara had been a bit of a good thing. She didn't want to move, and she didn't really plan on it, even if the hot water ran out and it got cold. She wouldn't mind, and it might be kind of weird in an interesting way to feel Denny shake from something other than her. She suddenly grinned deviously. "But I do know I'll never look at pie the same way again."



1,111. lucky post.

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

the whole world told me i should disappear
'CAUSE I'M FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU

More and more it seemed like Denny was just saying things without really needing any sort of reply to his words. He felt like maybe that was a sign that his words held meaning for once, like he wasn’t just talking to be able to talk. He was actually speaking because he had something to say, some message to get across that he couldn’t through physical touch. To be honest, being able to have that much to say, having the feelings that came with meaningful words just made Denny feel important. It made him feel wanted because Annie was listening. He didn’t care if she had anything to say back because at least she reacted in some way to his words. Anyone that had listened to him before hadn’t done so to the extent that Annie did. Very early on Denny realized how serious he had to be with her – he couldn’t just say things he didn’t mean because Annie would take them to heart. She seemed like the type of girl that wouldn’t have cared, but quicker than anyone else (as he’d learned), she wasn’t that girl. That old saying that you can’t judge a book by its cover didn’t even come close to explaining that situation; Denny only knew that he had to say what he meant with Annie and to have that urgency, to feel that need gave his words more meaning than he’d ever thought anything he could say would mean.

On that level, it didn’t matter what their relationship was. Even if they had never found this eternal flame between the two of them and they grew old together but never really advanced in any romantic or sexual manner, as long as Annie listened to Denny he would stick by her side, hold her hand, speak, and just be there. It wasn’t just the sex that put the meaning there; it was Annie herself. She’d straightened things out for Denny without really doing anything, by just listening to him, and she’d turned him into this person that didn’t know when to stop talking because he was so full of meaningful words by just opening her ears and her heart to his words. He didn’t take either of those for granted, either. It wasn’t like he’d realized Annie would listen so he’d say anything; Denny was honest with his feelings now. He wasn’t sitting in a room trying to tell himself that he was okay on his own when he really was anything but. Just by being that girl, by being around Denny and letting him talk, Annie had taken something broken and twisted into shapes he couldn’t make and turned it into something that would fix her, help her untwist those parts of her that equaled the parts of him that had been twisted. In a way they were like a lock to a door; one fit in right to the other and changed the inner workings, though Denny was convinced that their change was more permanent than a key in a door. What Annie had done to him would never be undone as long as she was still a part of who he was.

He was going to say something about how Annie didn’t have to reply, but she brought up the pie instead. Which, oddly enough, made Denny just chuckle. He had to shrug because at this point, he was agreeing with her. “Me either,” he said, still smiling with his face so close to Annie’s that his lips pretty much just fell against hers even in their up-turned manner. “But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, is it?” To be honest, Denny didn’t really think it was. They’d be out at some diner and pie would come walking into sight (probably on the arm of a waiter or something, you know) and the both of them would give each other a look and just burst out laughing. The moment seemed normal in Denny’s mind, and he kept the images from it tucked in the part of his mind that had been watching every move of his just a little while ago. He wanted to be able to remember that mental image later, when he wasn’t with Annie – whenever that would be. He wanted to be able to remember the connotations to pie from now on, and he wanted it to stay between the two of them so they could maintain this little inside joke, something Denny had only had on a perverted teenaged boy basis in high school. He just wanted things to be completely 360 degrees flipped from high school, when he didn’t have a meaning and the only way he’d given himself a higher meaning in his life was to take the blame for his sister’s mistake. Denny wanted this part of his life and the rest of his being to just be about him and Annie; to have these moments where they did these spontaneous things in the shower; to have those moments where they’d remember them in a diner and burst out laughing while everyone watched and mentally asked questions that would never be answered.

“But one day this’ll be a great story,” he said. Denny just smiled, though he didn’t really have any intentions of retelling this to anyone considering the only people he really shared anything with happened to revolve around Annie. Still, Denny just shrugged and pushed some of Annie’s damp hair behind one of her ears, holding her cheek again once that was done. He chuckled to himself again, thinking before speaking, and realizing he’d done so in time to speak. “Your shower’s a bit more equipped for this sort of situation than mine is.” It was just an observation, but it was true. Denny’s shower wasn’t exactly cramped, but it was a good few feet smaller width wise than Annie’s. It did make up in some of the features, but none of them were ever used. To be honest, Denny hardly knew how to work his own shower besides turning the water to a comfortable temperature and turning it off. “It’s a good thing to keep in mind,” and by the look on his face, anyone would be able to tell how much Denny was just kidding. He was just pulling strings that he felt he could pull, trying to make Annie laugh because he loved hearing her laugh. He loved seeing Annie smile, though he could just barely see her mouth from his vantage point. But when she laughed, Annie smiled with her eyes, and that was something Denny would always remember. It would always be a goal of his to get her to smile, so he could see that look in her eyes and know that it was him that had caused it.



1132 -- lyrics to there for tomorrow, words to me duh, image from me. -- denny's outfit is described i'm too lazy for polyvore -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- oh look denny thinks he's funny!

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

i don't care if you're
CONTAGIOUS, I WOULD KISS YOU EVEN IF YOU WERE DEAD.

His words were far away, like she was under water, and it kind of was like that, with the shower there. She just felt tired and it wasn’t too far into the day. She leaned some of her weight against Denny, and he gave to it until he was leaning against the wall and so was she and they were mostly out of the water, the edges of it hitting the backs of her calves, and that was basically it. He tucked Annie’s hair behind her ear, and smiled, cupping her face again. But Annie just couldn’t smile back. Denny’s fingers had brushed over one of her scars, and suddenly she didn’t feel like this was so much fun anymore. She could tell by his voice that he wanted to see her smile, but she couldn’t after he had unconsciously drawn attention to her burns. She closed her eyes, and bent her head down, biting her lip. She couldn’t look at him, because she felt guilty. It wasn’t her fault that the burns were still there, but it was her fault that they had gotten there in the first place. Her arms were propped against his chest, and she turned her head away, her cheekbones pushing his hand from her face, making it slide down to the crook of her neck.

Annie felt so aware of all of them on her body, all the scars and burns. She felt them crawling on her skin like ants, marching in place with an infuriating kind of repentance. She felt like they were crawling along the knobs of her ankles, making her want to stamp her feet in frustration. She felt them behind her knees, irritating and itchy on the thin skin there. She felt the one scar on her thigh that wouldn’t go away even after all the other ones had, because she had dug and dug her nails into the flesh there just out of boredom. That’s how out of hand things had gotten. She felt them on the half moon under her stomach, hiding in between the expanse of her hip bones, little reminded of how badly Annie had wanted all of that space gone. She felt them on her collar bones, imbedded into the flesh there and discoloring. Those would be the easiest for Denny to see, with his vantage point. Little red and brown marks that were darker than her skin, sitting on her chest like her bones where a shelf. And then her hands on his chest, and all the space in between her and her hands; her arms. She couldn’t even look at them, she didn’t know how she had forgotten about everything there. It was like her skin was a minefield, ravaged terribly, and if Annie had been looking at the expanse of skin there she would have started to tear up. She flexed her fingers against his skin, almost feeling the burned skin stretch between her knuckles.

She felt so repulsed by herself.

Honestly, Annie didn’t know how he could stand to touch her sometimes. She had gotten past the point of questioning him, though; she was starting to really understand his feelings about her. It was still difficult for her to fully grasp, because although their feelings lived in the same realm, his seemed much more logical, even though they were almost irrational, just because she was the object of them. Annie’s emotions had no words or shapes; they were like shadows that loomed over you at night, growing and shrinking with light, unable to be controlled by anything but timing. But, honestly, she just didn’t get him. She felt like he would look down at her now, and see what she was seeing. His face would twist in some odd way, but he would try to hide it, if only for her sake. And then he’d pull his hand from around her and brace it on her shoulder, tightening the hand that was already there, propelling her out of his way, where he would leave the bathroom, and get dressed. Then he’d go watch TV or even leave, and Annie would just sink to the bottom of the shower and wish that she could escape through the drain.

She wasn’t afraid of him leaving her anymore; it was impossible. But she did worry about him even leaving momentarily. She honestly didn’t know if she could trust herself to be alone anymore, even for the smallest amount of time. Annie felt like if she had that time to just sit on the floor, alone, she didn’t know what would happen, and that scared her more than anyone could really measure. She hated that she had gotten to this point, but she didn’t necessarily hate what had pushed her to this point. Because Denny had, and she couldn’t possibly ever regret that.

The worse thing about his hand behind her head was that she was so aware. Her skin felt so alive, and she knew exactly where everything was and she suddenly felt very naked, but not in the way that she literally was. It was just that she felt so wrong in her skin again, and she was torn with this burning desire to rip from his arms and run, and this need to just bury her head against his chest, and see if Denny would hold her tight enough to where she couldn’t feel her body anymore. She knew he could, but he wouldn’t. What she wanted would hurt her, this wild desire to just kind of disappear would never happen with him around. Denny wouldn’t let her, and Annie realize this now, after months of arguing with him over her worth. She knew that it would be useless if she were to bring it up now but Annie just felt… distant. She didn’t look at Denny, and she pursed her lips. She felt like she was a million miles away when, in reality, she hadn’t moved at all; if anything, she was closer.

Annie wished she could go back in time. She wished she could go back to when he bit her lip, to when the fire was totally alive, and not starved off by satisfaction. The way flames could be lazy, reaching up to burn something but only lapping quietly until they caught onto something. And then with hissing and spitting they burned up so fast, but Annie liked to draw that feeling out. Now she wished she could go back through it all again, and then realize what was coming, and push it away. She wished that she could have just kissed him as soon as he started to move his hand, instead of sit there as he pushed her hair back. Annie should have found nothing but what she wanted from that gesture; it should have driven her crazy with a smile, because it was the kind of little thing that she liked. But that’s not what happened, because Annie messed things up. She never changed them for the right reasons, she always just messed things up, even when they were so perfect.

If Annie could have gone back in time, though, she would go back and never buy that pack of cigarettes. She would have walked to Denny’s house, instead.

"Sometimes I don't know how you can even touch me," she said, and laughed lightly, like it was a light hearted thing. But he knew her better than that, and he would find the hidden seriousness there that other people might have overlooked. When it came to Annie, there was no such thing as too much worrying.


1,213. eh.

[/quote]

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

the whole world told me i should disappear
'CAUSE I'M FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU

Through the flames, through the fire, through the aftermath Denny’s feelings remained the same. This was odd, and it brought about this realization of extremities within him. He was extremely angry, or really confused, or really happy, with really only one happy medium called neutral between the three of them. On a day like Valentine’s Day, today, Denny had come here happy and he was more than just determined to leave the same way – if he ever left, that was. Denny was not going to let this mood, this undeniably happy mindset go to waste because Annie had changed so quickly on a mental level. He wasn’t going to be the only one that was happy there either; his determination and perseverance pushed him to want to make Annie happy. He’d even pulled a joke to try and get her to that state, which he really only did when he was in a mood quite like this. To add to the side effects of this mood, though this one was more logical than most of the others, Denny didn’t blame himself for this sudden mood change. He didn’t blame Annie, but he wasn’t sitting there trying to find ways to apologize like he usually would have. But maybe that wasn’t a side effect of this mood; maybe that was a side effect, rather, of his new ‘taking charge and taking chances’ policy. When he thought about it, both made just as much sense either way.

For the moment, all Denver could manage to do was watch her face move out of his grasp, and for a second that confident hold on her cheek felt like ice under his hand. This frozen state wasn’t like the recent others; this one was just brought on by shock in the same manner but it didn’t last nearly as long. Denny was able to fight it, and before the second was over his hand was falling from her face to her neck. Of course he saw the burns, but he thought nothing of them. They were in the past, something he wasn’t thinking about today. They were something Annie had done, regretted, and Denny had forgiven her for putting herself through that, though at the time that he’d found out he hadn’t really blamed her. He’d blamed himself then, mostly because he was just used to taking the blame. Seventeen years of no-blame life came to an ending abruptly one night when he was too drunk to really function mentally, but he remembered that night and hr remember the way blame had just been put on him for almost no reason (or the most illogical reasons) ever since. But now, right now in the shower with her turning her face away, Denny saw them staring right at him. The burns were practically mocking him, like he had to believe that it was his fault that she’d remembered they were there, so she was turning away from him and rejecting him.

But Denny didn’t believe that. He didn’t sit there and honestly believe that Annie all of the sudden hated him for exposing some burn that set her attention to them. He wouldn’t believe it even if she looked him in the eye and said so. His determination (a word that was becoming too heavily relied on) kept his mind straight for today. He saw through the deception that the burns were his fault and that the burns looking at him right now was his fault. He had to push through it in order to hold Annie back, to keep her close to him and keep her in this great mood that he was in. Today it was a lot like he was a carriage driver, and Annie was the horse pulling the buggy. When Annie started to get out of control or started to go too fast on a dirt road that was too bumpy for the passenger to handle, Denny just pulled on the reins and kept them close to him. Though, that thought just didn’t feel completely right as an explanation. It wasn’t like Denny was keeping a leash on Annie, because that went against all that animals went against. It was more like he was just trying to keep her emotions and mood swings in check, which he really didn’t have any business doing since he sort of knew it was inevitable to keep her happy all the time. He couldn’t even keep himself happy all the time; what made him think that on this green planet he could keep Annie happy all the time?

He didn’t have an answer, but Denny just knew that he could try without penalty. He listened to her words and digested them, trying to think of some logical reason that he wasn’t repulsed by her. He had a good few reasons actually; love is blind, it doesn’t see what it feels; he didn’t judge her because she didn’t judge him; but none of them really meant much to him. Sure, love was totally blind, but Denny couldn’t blame that blindness for his acceptance of Annie. It wasn’t just love that made him want to hold her anymore; now it was muscle memory and the need to have her close. Sure those could be tied to love, but the fact remained that there was never really a moment where Denny wanted to be away from Annie. The necessity to touch her was a lot like that itch that found his body when he needed to shift. It was always there, always looming in his head, and always welcomed into his life even if he ignored it sometimes (though he ignored holding Annie much less than he did shifting). But through all that he’d let knock around in his head, words were hard to find to exactly depict how he felt. Instead, Denny just sighed and embraced the scars in a way he’d never really expected himself to. The instant his perspective changed on them, he started to love them. They were a part of Annie, and like he’d promised, he loved every part of her, no matter what, forever.

With that, he just moved his lips to each and every scar that he could reach from the way he was standing. He kissed each and every one of them, nearly crying with the emotion that was overflowing in his head from the sheer weight of his acceptance of them. Just under a month ago Denny had hated these scars as much as he’d hated that dude that had started shit with him on Christmas Eve. But now that he’d taken the burns in as something that belonged to Annie, something that he should love justly and wholly, he did. Everything about them was different, and nothing about them scared or belittled Denny anymore. And hen he’d reached all the ones that he could find, all of the burns that he could gain access to with the way that Annie was twisted before him, Denny stood up, reached out and pulled Annie’s face back to his. His lips against hers felt a million times better than the burns, but that didn’t mean anything anymore. He held just as much emotion against her lips as he did against her burns. On some level within Denny, they were all on the same level with him now because they were both a part of Annie. “You don’t know how anyone would want to touch you, Annie.” It was the truth, which was something that Denny was beyond good at. He sighed with his face so close to hers that he could feel his own breath just bounce back at him.

“But I want it more than anyone else will ever want to touch you. You make yourself out to be this wretched thing, but you’re not to me. I keep telling you that you’re all I have because you are, and you mean more to me than anything else ever has.” He opened his eyes, not having noticed they’d been closed until then. His hand that had pulled her face back to him held on to her cheek again, tighter in the sense that she’d be able to understand that he needed her attention. “I can touch you because you let me. I want to touch you and hold you because I love you. Do I really need another reason?” His honest question might have offended Annie, but Denny was just that – honest to a fault. He couldn’t help that he was honestly worried, that he just wanted Annie to be happy and to see that he was happy if she was happy.



1443 -- lyrics to there for tomorrow, words to me duh, image from me. -- denny's outfit is described i'm too lazy for polyvore -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- :D it's late so i have no clue where that came from

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

i don't care if you're 
CONTAGIOUS, I WOULD KISS YOU EVEN IF YOU WERE DEAD.

Annie could remember exactly what it had looked like when he had almost gotten sick from her burns. She remembered the repulsion, and the way his lips looked like they were just going to part and he would be sick everywhere. Those same lips were kissing her now, the sides of her face, and her collarbones and hands. Annie couldn't breathe. It was physically impossible to make her body work, because she was in shock from it. Her skin was rough, but it didn't feel like that under his lips. Annie closed her eyes, and tipped her head back slightly, her lips trembling. She felt like she was going to cry, or scream, or just moan like a ghost or a cat left outside. No one could ever fathom the way that Annie felt at that moment, and she could never describe it. Literally everything was gone and it was just her and Denny. It wasn't even as if the scars were a separate embodiment of her; now that Denny approved of them, Annie would stake a claim to them. It was like she had cast them away as if they were orphans, children that would get no respect - but suddenly the king had taken a shine to them, so she was ready to bring them back and take ownership. 

She kept her eyes closed as he kissed her, pulling her face back to a level with his. She shook under his touch because there were too many emotions in her body; half of them she didn't even have names for. Her lips trembled too, and she could feel what he was feeling when he kissed her, like he intended. It only made these feelings in Annie more intense, and suddenly a light hearted valentine's day had morphed into something serious that would leave an irrevocable change where it's fingertips dragged across her skin. It was like that exactly, deep trenches dug into her. He spoke and Annie nodded slightly, because it was true. She didn't want anyone to touch her, and she didn't think they'd want to anyway. Annie found herself on a completely different level than everyone else, her head was stuck above them, but her body below. Her head held too much - too confusing for people, constantly changing too fast for even herself to understand, let alone others - and her body held too little - it was a burned, mangy mess that she didn't want to say belonged to her because she was ashamed of it. She didn't understand how anyone could want a part of that, and she isolated herself because understanding was unattainable: no one wanted it, and she didn't want to give it, anyway. 

Denny was the first one to break through the mold. Annie had approached him lazily, lonely and not expecting him to be the person he was. She slid into the spot he prepared for her, and she relaxed steadily. It was literally like he had tamed a wild animal, and then snapped the trap and she was stuck because she didn't want to leave. With those words, spoken so long ago, I love you, Annie had found herself under a net that she didn't quite want to leave. He made it comfortable, so it wasn't like she had a motive to leave. The first person to want more from her than she was used to giving. At first she had mentally retaliated; more than she was comfortable giving. But that turned out to be a lie as she lost every secret in a matter of hours. That was all she had to her name, because secrets were like barbaric currency. Her mind held no worth and her body held no worth other than the literal kind, which she had gotten for it. 

Denny changed that all, though. He touched her lightly, respecting what she felt about contact. He held her tightly, afraid to lose her. He told her time and time again how much she meant to him. I keep telling you that you’re all I have because you are, and you mean more to me than anything else ever has. Annie started crying silently, her eyes still closed. She pressed herself closer against him because all the hot water was gone and they had kind of forgotten that the shower was still on, and even though they were away from the water it still gave the area a cold atmosphere. His hand tightened on her cheek, and she opened her eyes. They glistened because they were wet because she was crying. I can touch you because you let me. I want to touch you and hold you because I love you. Do I really need another reason? She was shaking like a leaf, but she didn't know if it was because of the water or his words. 

Annie felt two steps away from just breaking down. She reached out slightly and turned the shower off, and then looked back at Denver, watching him carefully. Her hands were still on his chest, and they fisted kind of, tight against his skin. She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly, tilting her head down. She picked up one hand off his chest and rubbed it under her eyes, and then sniffled. She looked back up at him, opening her eyes and smiling lightly. "No," she whispered lightly. He didn't need another reason, she didn't think. Those reasons were good enough for her, right now. It was weird because love held different measures to her at different times. Sometimes she didn't believe him at all, sometimes she felt like love didn't mean too much. Sometimes it cut out every problem and was just a one-size-fits-all solution. 

Their lips were already close, so Annie just closed her eyes and pressed her lips against his. Could he taste the way she felt? Her emotions bubbled under her skin and added intensity to her next words. "Thank you." her words burned with their honesty. Her voice was quiet when she had spoke, but it held this little comment. It was a side note, but an important one. It wasn't a discussion, it was her telling him something important. She had needed his voice and his lips on her scars. It put Annie's head into this untouchable cloud. She closed her eyes, and her skin burned where his skin touched her. She picked up her hand from his chest, and placed her fingertips in the dip of her collarbone. She remembered his lips there, and she liked the memory. She didn't know why it seemed to appealing; it wasn't a sexual feel. It was just... the accepting feel. It made Annie feel okay, like everything was okay. The kisses made her feel less damaged, and she liked that. 


1,136. sorry this took so long.  

[DENVER CARLOS HURLEY]

i wish i could feel it all for you
I WISH I COULD BE IT ALL FOR YOU

That was all he needed to see to know that things weren’t going to end on a note that he wouldn’t let them end on anyway. Valentine’s Day just pushed everything he felt into this level that he hadn’t ever really felt before, but Denny wasn’t complaining. Circumstances just made him more confident, more determined, and more centered all at once, if that was even possible. But Denny never knew anymore; what was impossible? Maybe that was easier to answer. Like it was impossible for him to find meaning in anything that didn’t have to do with Annie, and if the case ever came up where he head to, he’d trace whatever it was without meaning back to Annie in some way. Being that it was Valentine’s Day just brought all of that to the center of his mind, in one way or another. He had the notion in his head that nothing was going to ruin this, and as long as that notion stayed put, Denny wouldn’t let anything get between him and Annie. The word ‘determined’ underestimated this level of intensity Denny couldn’t deny he felt. ‘Convinced’ did no justice either; to be honest, there really wasn’t a word except the L word that could even begin to describe this mindset. Thankfully, Denny wasn’t one of those guys that was afraid of saying ‘love’. His honesty prevented that fear.

In place of fear, there was this extreme happiness, which he sort of hoped was seeping off of his body and finding its way onto Annie. He didn’t want to be the only happy one today; he wanted Annie to be happy, so much that she might as well just be happier than he was. He wanted her to smile so much that she’d never be able to stop. He wanted all of these irrational, illogical things that made no sense whatsoever, but Denny didn’t care how nonsensical anything he wanted was. He just wanted to see Annie in a state that would satisfy his natural worry for her. But then again, maybe seeing wasn’t all that much of believing. Maybe feeling was just as much a part as seeing in believing, and if that were the case then Denny felt it all. He felt extremely lucky (because blessed was too religious for him) to feel as much as he did, even if it all threatened to just ruin his sanity the minute these feelings left him. Today was great, yes, but it would take a toll on Denny as soon as it was over and a low came between him and Annie. That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t work to fight the low, it just meant that being this high would make it harder for him to get over the low.

But lows weren’t things that Denny would let himself think about. His mind was so wrapped around the holiday at hand that his thoughts just followed the same trail. It was Valentine’s Day. National Buy Your Girlfriend/Fiancé/Wife/Ect. Presents To Show That You Love Them Even Though You Should Just Say It Anyway day. It was just a day that Denny had used to have just seen as something that card stores, florists, and candy factories used as a way to make millions of dollars in one day. Now, everything was different. Now Denny had a reason for today to be more than that, and above that he had a reason to feel the way he did today. As far as he could tell, it was perfectly valid for him to be so lucidly happy, even if that didn’t make sense considering his consciousness. Maybe none of that sentence made any sense at all either, in which case just meant that acting and feeling this way really was deteriorating his mental composure, if he had any at all. But honestly, this censor in his mind was keeping those thoughts from reaching a standpoint in which they could speak up and be heard. The only things Denny could think were that he loved Annie, that he wanted to hear Annie say that she loved him, to have her be happy with him because he was so exuberantly happy with her.

Still, her words caught him a bit off guard. Denny didn’t denounce the thanks she was giving him, but he was curious as to why she was thanking him. What had he done besides what any good, committed boyfriend should do? He made her feel things that other guys couldn’t; he treated her like she was the only other person in existence because to him, she was; Denny practically worshiped Annie, as if she were a goddess in some ancient tale of tragedy or something. But he’d told her the truth, and it was the reason for why he put her on such a high pedestal. He loved her. He had nothing but Annie, and without her he had nothing. He had a dark apartment, no hope, no reason, and a life that was void of interaction. Without Annie, Denny didn’t have faith. He didn’t have confidence. He didn’t have the need to push and pull himself through things that he wouldn’t have if she’d ignored him that day they’d met. So why was she thanking him? He’d thanked her in so many ways for being his, for always having been his without actually being with him, and for giving him this life he couldn’t picture without her. What did she have to thank him for? Well, it seemed that everyone besides Denny could see the answer to that; he was just so stuck on the fact that she’d given him so much without giving him much at all that he couldn’t see past it.

“You’re welcome,” he said, sort of with that joking air that wasn’t so much joking as it was comical. He just wanted to keep conversation light, now that his voice was bouncing off the walls since Annie had turned the water off. He had to admit the fact that it was cold had started to annoy him, but the sound of the water had distorted the volume of his voice, so he could speak loudly and the walls would hardly hear him. Now that the water was no longer on, could no longer be used as a distraction, Denny was stuck hearing his voice reverberate to his ears, which made his mind hypersensitive. Quickly he censored all that he was thinking, pushing things that didn’t fit right in his mental state out of the reaches of his head. He just couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that Annie was thanking him when she’d given him so much. It made no sense to him. He’d been the one receiving and trying to give back all that he’d gotten – or at least he’d felt that way – and Annie had just been the one giving things to him that she probably had never given to anyone else. All Denny had to do was work on making this last, and Annie was just there, giving and giving and giving. So obviously, Denny was the only one that didn’t understand why Annie was thanking him. So he asked, “For what?” even though he should have known the answer already. In any case, his mind was just stuck on the fact that Annie had given him the chance to be as close as they were, and he would never take that for granted.



1244 -- lyrics to ellie goulding, words to me duh, image from me. -- denny's outfit is described i'm too lazy for polyvore -- seren/annie and that's it :) -- :I MADE YOU WAIT WHAT IS MY LIFE OKAY HERE IT IS.

[ANNABELLE MARIE HURLEY]

i don't care if you're 
CONTAGIOUS, I WOULD KISS YOU EVEN IF YOU WERE DEAD.

Annie didn't understand what Denny didn't see when he asked for what. She pulled her head away from him and smiled slightly, disbelief evident on her face. "Denny, you've got to be kidding me." It was difficult for her mind to comprehend that he didn't understand, because for Annie it was the only thing that she could ever think, how thankful she was for everything he gave her. He gave her that second look, he gave her somewhere to stay, whether it be his arms or his bed. Denny treated Annie like she was something - more than just something. Sometimes she felt like everything, and it was a feeling she never would have imagined going through, but here was was, going through it. And why? Because of him, because Denny made it that way. He made everything bad into something okay, and everything that was okay became beautiful, and things that were amazing on their own became so blindly fantastic that they made Annie feel dizzy and tired. It was the before and after, that dizzy feeling that came with the fire that Denny threw in, because she just couldn't do that without him. And it was the after, the eyes-closed, comfort feeling because he just held her close and reassured her that everything was okay. Annie said thank you because he fought when she started conflicts. He didn't fight with screaming and insults; he fought with kisses and words and agreeing to the light things and disagreeing with the dark things. He worked so hard to balance Annie out; how did he not see that?

Before she spoke, she touched her hands to her collarbones slightly, looking at him from under her eyelashes. She tried to be subtle, but that was a huge part of why she was thanking him; he made the bad into okay, he made her burns seem acceptable. And she couldn't leave that unnoticed, but it seemed and odd thing to say. She took a breath and moved closer to him, kissing him lightly. His arm was warm on her lower back and his fingertips felt like home on her cheek. "Thank you for being Denver. That's all; is it so hard to understand?" She smiled at him, and she was so close that he could probably taste her words on his lips. "Because that guy - Denny - well, he does the most amazing things for me. He doesn't let me ruin good moments or let me hurt myself." she was surprised on how easily she could say that because sometimes she could hardly think it. "He is... you're... you are everything to me, Denny." She closed her eyes because now the lighthearted was getting serious, but it was still cheesy to some extent. Annie thought that was acceptable though. It was valentine's day, after all. 

Annie wasn't sure how to word things, and she was finding it difficult to continue. She licked her lips in her indecision, searching her mind for the right words. Not convincing words, or the perfect way to say this, but the right way. It didn't have to be perfect and he didn't have to believe it. As long as it was right to Annie, as long as Annie believed herself, then there would be no issues. "Absolutely everything about is what I'm thanking you for. I love you and I understand you love me too. I'm thanking you because you're who I fell in love with; you made sure of it. Thank you for not letting me fall in love with anyone but you, and thanks for not taking that for granted." Those words were good but, honestly, they were just not the words Annie was looking for. She was struggling under the weight of her emotions, finding it impossible to line her head up with her heart. She could throw out that she didn't need any other reasons, as he had, but Annie felt the need to try and accurately depict her emotions, something she had never tried to do to the extent that she wanted to now. It was a hard task for her because - as she had observed before - her emotions were as slippery as snakes and difficult to catch, let alone name. 

To cover for her pause she leaned forward and kissed Denny, longer than the last kiss, but just as light and soft, if not more so. She wondered if she could find the words on his lips, but she knew she wouldn't; these were her words, this was her story to tell but his lips just tasted so good that she couldn't bare to pull back for some time. When she did, she kept her eyes closed for a few long moments. Annie felt so conflicted between the need to find these words (because it felt like a raw panic) and just the overwhelming silence and comfort that seeped through her entire being, forcing her to calm down and just think about Denny's skin under her and how to seemed to come from all sides and she just didn't need more than that. That could normally be a good thing, but for right now it was a little frustrating because it prevented her from getting much done. Today had, overall, seemed a lazy day, with little progress and just lots of sticking in one spot, one lovesick spot that put them both in an untouchable spot. But within the last minute, so much had happened, just from Denver. His lips and the words coming from them had pushed Annie all this way, patching up parts of her that she has forgotten were broken. And now she felt like it was her turn, her turn to try and convey the things she meant, her turn to say something profound. But the overall mood of the day was suffocating that need, and Annie just felt very frustrated with herself. 

She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Thank you for making everything okay." she said lightly.  And that's what she had originally thanked him for, although she had gotten carries away in explaining. Because that's what he did, he made things okay, and as soon as they were okay they weren't so scary and Annie could overcome them easily. Frightening things like her past and eating disorders were easily overlooked and Annie could dismiss them. Containing his potential disappointment or anger about losing their baby made Annie stop her tears and realize that he was thankful she was okay, and she should be thankful for that. Kissing her burns made them suddenly okay instead of the constant bothering, itchy feeling that they had been the past month. Denny just... made everything okay. 


1,112. like this one.