ic Cohabitation

[Electra]

Erin blushed at Travis' perceptions, but she was smiling as she walked to the table, smoothing her tousled hair as she went. "Thank you," she told Travis politely. It seemed like there was more she ought to say, but in present company, she suspected she could get away with leaving things unspoken. Instead, she rummaged through the bags and took out a couple of white cartons and another set of chopsticks. "I picked up some dumplings and fried rice for you, I thought I remembered you liking that. Do you want to join us?" Charlie, ever  the optimist, purred at Trevor's scratches, then went to wind himself around Travis' legs in search of still more attention. 

[Gizmo]

"Thank you, no," Travis declined, accepting the carton and giving Charlie a faint ghost of a smile despite his inability to bend over and give the feline the attention he was seeking. In lieu of that, he deftly tipped a few grains of fried rice onto the floor which quickly disappeared as the cat devoured them. "Want to finish this test while everything is set up. The quiet of the Manor is excellent for concentration. Thoroughly soundproof." On that off-hand comment, the elderly chemist politely took his leave and returned to the equipment in the headquarters under the mansion, Charlie following after the remaining rice.
 
Trevor coughed lightly and adjusted the collar of his shirt as the hidden passageway clicked closed again behind his grandfather. "Subtle, isn't he?"

[Electra]

"Oh yeah," Erin laughed, her blush spreading to cover the rest of her face. "And I think he just stole my cat, too. I guess you talked about this with him ahead of time?" That was a little bit weird and embarrassing, but she figured it was actually less weird this way than having to ask permission at this point. And she wasn't scared of Travis anymore, which helped considerably. "That'll save some time." 

 

Automatically she began closing the boxes of their uneaten food, putting it away for later lest anything go to waste. "My apartment's on a month to month lease right now," she said off-handedly. "I need to give thirty days notice before turning it over, but there's no reason I couldn't move some of my stuff here before that." 

[Gizmo]

Trevor made an approving sound, wrapping his arms around Erin's waist from behind while she faced the table. "Should have friends help move, for discretion." There were very few things that could fit in an apartment that the powerhouse survivalist couldn't lift one handed but their secret identities required certain sacrifices of efficiency. He found that with the tension of broaching the subject and making his case behind them he was eager to put the plan into action, the warmth of heady, unaccostomed optimism like an awakened furnace. Trailing a line of light kisses down Erin's neck he conveyed a suggestion that the specifics of moving could perhaps wait temporarily.

[Electra]

Erin shivered in a pleasant sort of way at the kisses, suddenly less interested in careful preservation of leftovers. She set aside the fortune cookies and soy sauce to turn in his arms, sliding her hands around to the small of his back. "Well, you know me, I'm absolutely the soul of discretion," she informed him with a half-smile. "But it's probably too late to bother anybody for the moving thing tonight. People get home for the day, they want to eat their dinner, relax for awhile, go to bed..." She let her hands slide lower, even as she arched an eyebrow at him. "We've already finished eating dinner and relaxing." 

[Gizmo]

"Suddenly see attraction of normalcy and routine," Trevor rumbled between further kisses across Erin collarbone. While her hands drifted lower he brought one of his upward along her back, slipping under the fabric of her light sweater and running along the curves of defined shoulder muscles. "Did clean and tidy an unoccupied master bedroom recently," he noted, straightening enough to see his partner's face and match her arched eyebrow. "Coincidentally." His reputation might have been built upon having a ready solution for any problem but he liked to plan for the best case scenario as well.

[Electra]

"You never do anything coincidentally," she pointed out with a laugh, nipping his bottom lip lightly in punishment for his prevarication. It was rare to catch Erin in a truly playful mood, but less rare than it used to be. "That's part of your charm." A quick wriggle and slide took her out of her sweater, leaving it draped on his arm and her in nothing but a sleeveless cotton undershirt. Stepping back into his arms, she threaded her fingers into his hair, disordering it in a way she always found pleasing before pulling him down for another kiss. "I suppose we should at least go look at it since you did all that work," she continued, her voice a bit muffled. Her hands found their way into his shirt as well, tugging it free of his pants to let her run her fingertips lightly along his pale skin. "But I'm busy right now." 

[Gizmo]

Returning the kiss with a hunger that had nothing to do with the unfinished takeout that had been swept to one side, Trevor's response was equally muffled. "You do have the run of the place, now." Without warning he shifted his embrace to briefly lift Erin off of her feet and onto the edge of the dining table. Quickly undoing the buttons of his shirt with single smooth movement he let it fall to the floor before taking advantage in the reduced difference in their respective heights to lean forward and retaliate from the nip with a kiss on her ear, softly breathing, "Don't let me interrupt you."

[Electra]

"Oh no, you're essential to the plan," she assured him with a chuckle that was full of promises. Hooking her legs around his, she pulled him close and kissed him again, and that was the end of talking for awhile. As it turned out, the table did not break apart, a credit to sturdy design or some long-ago reinforcement. They did eventually fall off, however, with only the reflexes of combat training letting Erin twist around and cushion the impact with her resilient body. It wasn't enough to spoil the mood. 

 

Sometime later, Erin opened her eyes and was momentarily puzzled when she focused on a large slab of dark wood over her head. Looking around, she realized they'd wound up under the table, with chairs knocked every which way and all the leftovers scattered across the floor. She rolled over and pushed herself up on her arms, then looked down at Trevor. "That was fun," she decided, "but I definitely see the pluses to a bed." 

[Gizmo]

One of Trevor's eyes closed more tightly as if in protest as the other opened a sliver to look up at Erin and the bottom of the dining table, alternating bands of black and red between pale eyelids. He answered her with a rolling sound that began deep in his chest, sounding both immensely pleased and slightly pained. Rolling one shoulder against the hardwood floor he could already feel bruises forming that would no doubt look worse than they were thanks to his light complexion and the inky substance rushing through his veins. Evidently not feeling up to verbalization just yet he instead offered his girlfriend a warm smile.

[Electra]

She leaned down and kissed him, rubbing her cheek against his for a moment, then pushed herself to sit up. Erin's head just barely cleared the table, but Trevor would have to hunch over if he sat up. She solved the problem by shoving the table off to the side with one negligent hand, then took a better look at Trevor in the light from the overhead fixtures. "Oh-oh," she tsked, pursing her lips ruefully. For all he didn't appear to have any complaints, Trevor was definitely looking worse for wear after their little adventure. A twinge of guilt bubbled through the pleasant endorphin haze she was enjoying. "Next time we'll definitely use the bed." 

 

Rising, she let Trevor lay where he was for a minute while she tidied up the worst of the damage to the room and retrieved what she could find of scattered clothing. It would take longer to totally set the room to rights, but she didn't want to bother right now. There were four other kitchens to use, weren't there? With the cleaning done, she made her way back to Trevor and crouched down next to him. "Okay, bedtime for you. Here we go." With one arm under his shoulders and the other under his knees, she effortlessly scooped him up and carried him off to his bedroom. It would've been easier if he weren't so damn tall, but she managed to only bump his feet twice on doorframes and his head not at all. With a slight flourish, she dropped him onto his bed, then stretched out next to him. "Do you think living together is going to be weird?" 

[Gizmo]

Reflecting that it was fortunate that he wasn't easily emasculated, Trevor suffered through the indignity of the trip down the hallway in stoic silence. If anything, the pointed display of strength seemed to restore a measure of energy to the dark haired young man, prompting him to find Erin's wrist as they hit the bed, pulling her across his bare torso so he could kiss her again. Wrapping the other arm around her back and threading nimble fingers into auburn hair he gave her a deadpan look. "Asks the super-strong woman from another dimension?" he asked in a light, level tone before giving in and craning his neck to kiss the tip of her nose through a faint smile. "Think weird can be magnificent."

[Electra]

That drew a laugh from her as well, and settled her enough to let her snuggle up with her head on his unbruised shoulder. "I guess having a normal life would be pretty boring at this point," she allowed. "Maybe we don't need to be saving the world every day, but I don't really know what I'd do with myself if all the weirdness went away." She stretched and comfortably draped an arm over his chest, her hand resting over his heart so that she could feel it beating under her fingertips. "I was thinking the other day about what it would've been like if I'd stayed in my dimension, if none of what happened there ever happened and my life had just gone on. But I can't really imagine what it would've been like anymore. Been too long, or I'm too different, something. It's a good thing that things worked out here." 

[Gizmo]

Resting one hand atop Erin's over his heart, Trevor let a breath slowly escape him as he settled into the mattress after the unyielding hardwood floor. "Personally very, very glad that - of all the worlds we've seen - you came here," he noted soberly, closing his eye for a moment so that he could methodically appreciate every curve and angle of her form against his own.
 
Exposure to the multiverse's many permutations had made the young detective acutely aware that it was only the barest minority of his collective alternate selves who had been fortunate enough to even encounter a respective Erin White let alone achieve the sense of contentment that suffused him in that moment. He had been fortunate on a statistically staggering scale. He knew he could never undo the pain of her past but he was resolved to make her present equally serendipitous.

[Electra]

"Me too," Erin agreed, swallowing a yawn. With her free arm, she tugged a blanket over both of them, then settled in and closed her eyes. It wasn't that late, and she'd probably be up again in a few hours, but this seemed like the exact perfect place to have a nap. Charlie would undoubtedly find his own way in at some point, he was becoming more like his father every day. That would be okay, and even kind of nice, all of them together. The scared and superstitious part of her didn't even want to think the word, but it really was very much like family. And maybe that in itself would be the best part of moving in. "Love you," she murmured into Trevor's shoulder. "Turn off the lights." 

[Gizmo]

"Love you, too," Trevor replied softly, reaching across the bed to the nearby nightstand and the simple tablet computer lying there. A brief gesture across its display signaled its straightforward software to gradually dim the lights in the room before shutting off its own luminance. Inwardly congratulating himself on preparing a system that facilitated the task without requiring him to rise from his current position, he brought the lean arm back to lie comfortably across his stomach and Erin's waist. The dimness of the room made little different to his metahuman eyes but he was more than happy to watch the woman sleeping next to him until a shallow slumber came for him as well.