Participants:
| Scene Title | Dinner for two, followed by dessert |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Magnes and Laina share a home cooked meal on Laina's first night in Magnes' apartment. And after that the fun begins. |
| Date | February 27, 2011 |
It's about an hour before curfew, and since Laina's been back, Magnes has been slaving away in the kitchen. He's since changed his clothes a bit, shoeless with a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt with Kirby wearing a chef's hat. The entire apartment smells like some sort of Italian restaurant right now, and when he comes out he sits two plates on to the coffee table.
It's some sort of pasta with a vaguely orange spaghetti sauce, likely mixed with cheese. There's bits of stir fried chicken mixed into it, with a dash of oregano sprinkled on top, and a side of garlic bread with fresh garlic smeared over and mixed with oil to give it a bit of a buttery taste. "Hope you like Italian, it's my specialty."
Laina's eyes go wide. "This looks wonderful!" She inhales. "And smells wonderful!" She takes a fork and samples a small bite, blowing on it before putting it in her mouth. "Oh, my God, this is amazing! Do you really cook like this every night?" Laina has shed her coat, and swapped her boots for bright pink slippers, but she still sports the auburn hair, blue jeans, and navy shirt from earlier that day. "Put a gym membership on my list of things to buy," she says, grinning.
"I try to cook healthy occasionally, but I more or less cook like this every night. Tomorrow I'll make some pizza from scratch." Magnes starts twirling some pasta around his fork, watching her with a slight smile. "You know, my friend Sable has yellow eyes. Are yours because you're Evolved too?"
"Yeah," Laina nods. "I can't seem to change them back, but," she shrugs, "I like them this way. They used to be blue."
"Blue eyes, blonde. Sable thinks blondes are bad for me and that I should stick to red heads. Admittedly, my history with blondes is a bit shaky at best, but I'm a man of science, I don't believe in curses." Magnes explains with a firm nod, taking a fork full of his pasta. "Your eye color probably has something to do with the fact that color is mostly a product of the way humans and some animals see. If something evolved completely differently from a human, like, say, an alien, our concept of color would more than likely be completely foreign to them. I mean, unless Gene Roddenberry's 'almost every race is similar to humans' theory is true, which it very likely isn't."
"How do you know I'm blonde? Maybe this is my natural hair color." Laina's smile turns mischievous. "Or this." Her hair turns carrot-top red, the color coming from the roots and reaching the ends in a matter of seconds.
"I saw a picture, I just assumed, sorry." Magnes reaches for his garlic bread to take a bite, staring at her the whole time. "If you can keep this a secret?" he asks, turning to her after sitting his fork and bread down. Then he lifts his shirt, showing his abdomen, which, for a geek like him, is pretty toned. But what he's pointing to is the dragon tattoo circling his belly button, which seems to be placed over a black handprint scar of some sort. "The handprint under my tattoo is from someone healing me. The reason it's under the tattoo is because someone manipulated the color of my skin a few years ago, so no matter what scar I get there, it'll always be under."
Laina puts down her own fork and leans forward to look more closely. "Huh … That's just cool … " She looks back up. "I can't do anything like that. Anything I do to someone's skin goes away in about a week." She peers at the tattoo again. "I wonder if I messed with it, if it'd cover up the tattoo for a week, or if whatever I did would show up underneath … " She doesn't look like she's going to touch his stomach without his consent … but she looks like she wants to.
"Well… I mean not that I don't want to help you explore your ability, it's just that this came from a very important friend I haven't seen in a long time, so it's something that I kind of value." Magnes turns to the side, his cheeks going a bit red as he lightly pats the side of his ribs. "I, uh, you could try to change my skin over here if you want, just not the tattoo… I mean if you need to touch and all."
Laina smiles and shakes her head. "Nah, don't worry about it. If it's just normal skin, I know what'll happen." She returns to eating her delicious pasta.
"Sorry if I'm awkward sometimes." Magnes says quite seriously, hunched over his plate and eating again. "I've never done well around beautiful women, and I used to be much worse than I am now. I just had my first girlfriend in 2009, it was mostly innocent, mostly. Then my second last year."
"Thank you for the compliment, and you're not that bad." Laina gives him a gentle smile. "I dated in high school and college, but nothing really serious. And then two years after I graduated, I met a man who I thought was the love of my life. A year later, on the anniversary of our first date, he proposed." She sounds a little sad, considering the nature of the statement she just made.
"It's not so much a compliment as just having two eyes…" Magnes bashfully retorts, his pasta mostly eaten now. But when she starts talking about the love of her life, he looks up with apparent interest. "But… what happened?"
Laina shakes her head. "Everything happened. My powers, the Bomb, the Linderman Act … He wanted me to hide what I can do, who I am, and I just can't. I came home with a Registration Card, we screamed, I left, and I haven't talked to him since." She looks down at her plate. "I just can't bear to. It's been three and a half years, but … I just can't." She looks back up at Magnes. "My parents tell me he's doing well," she finishes lamely.
"I wish I could tell you what to do, I really do. I know what it's like to hurt, to have someone worry so much for your safety that they can't take it anymore and it just turns into anger…" Magnes shakes his head, moving a hand to place it reassuringly on to her shoulder. "In the end, all you can really do is either change for them, or be yourself and move on, as hard as that is. I know that… very well."
Laina manages a small smile. "I have. I have moved on. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your delicious dinner." She has a sneaking suspicion, however, that moving away is not the same as moving on.
"You didn't ruin anything, I know what it's like not to have anyone to confide in, to have to hold your feelings in. If now was a good time for you to let it out, then you did the right thing." Magnes removes his hand from her shoulder, then grabs his garlic bread to slide it around his plate a bit, clearly almost done himself. "You can tell me anything, I like to listen if it's helpful."
This time, Laina's smile is more convincing. "No, that's all there is to the sob story that is me. I've actually had a pretty good life. I just thought you should know." She goes back to eating her dinner.
"My sob story is pretty long and involves saving the world, but I'll wait until you know me a little better for that." Magnes finally finishes his bread, then takes his plate into the kitchen and walks back out with the six pack of Guinness bottles, sitting them on the table. "I haven't been drunk in a while, I think we've both earned it by this point."
"I wholeheartedly agree!" Laina grabs a bottle, opens it, and holds it up for a toast. "To new friends, and old stories."
"New friends and old stories." Magnes screws his open, lightly clinking the glass with her's. "My life has been so crazy and serious lately, you're like a breath of fresh air." He takes a long drink of his bottle, then leans back into the couch, sighing in relaxation.
She takes a drink from her own bottle. "I always love moving to a new city, full of infinite possibilities. Never knowing what I'll find." She scrapes up the last of her pasta onto a piece of garlic bread.
"I'm glad I went back to the club, it'll be nice actually cooking for someone again." Magnes raises a hand to his forehead, sinking into the couch a bit. "My head feels warm already. After this bottle I won't have to worry about suddenly exploding if you move the wrong way."
Laina is surprised into a laugh. She raises her eyebrows. "Meaning we're currently still in danger?"
"Yeah, probably." Magnes says without quite realizing his poor choice of words, still as relaxed as he can be with his bottle of Guinness. "A few more sips and I'm sure any crisis will be averted."
Laina suddenly has the impulse to do something Magnes might regret. Such as scooting closer on the couch and then stretching. She could say it was an accident. Or something. "Do you know how hard it is to resist teasing you right now?" Her eyes are sparkling. "Or perhaps I should say 'difficult'," she chuckles. Impulse control has never been Laina's strong suit.
"I, uh, um…" Magnes stares at her, then upturns his bottle until he's downed the last of his Guinness. Sitting the empty bottle down on the table, he looks back to her, cheeks still just as flushed. "I don't think the Guinness is making me less nervous." He swallows, hand going to the back of his neck. "It's not, I mean, I'm not, or, uh…"
"I'm sorry, I'll stop. I'm being mean." But Laina can't help the look of amusement on her face. She's trying very hard not to laugh. "I'll do my best to behave, if you want me to. You're just so cute when you stammer like that." She takes another swig from her bottle.
"It's, um, it's alright, it's not like it affects me or anything." Magnes hunches over, eyes averting away from her. "It's probably better if you don't tease, I don't exactly have a lot of willpower when it comes to thinking I'm seduced."
"Ok, note to self, don't pretend to seduce Magnes," Laina repeats. "What else? What else can I do to be a better roommate? Would it help if I was purple? Or bright green?" Laina's skin suddenly turns a vibrant shade of green, which looks very strange with her purple eyes and red hair.
"Probably let me go to sleep before my Guinness-induced confidence gets me slapped." Magnes suggests, beginning to stand as he watches her change colors. "Especially if you're gonna be a green alien woman on top of all the other appealing factors."
"Really? That's a turn-on?" Laina shrugs and changes back to her original skin tone.
"You've got a lot to learn about geeks." Magnes shakes his head, smiling down at her. "So uh, yeah… bed might be good about now. Sorry for all the awkward, most guys probably just shrug you right off, but to me you're like if Supergirl crawled right off the page."
"C'mon, sit down." Laina pats the couch beside her, where he had been sitting a moment ago. "I'm not gonna slap you. I'm more a politely disentangle kinda girl. You're the one who wanted to get drunk; don't make me sit here drinking alone. I thought we we'd both earned our night of drunkenness."
"Yeah, you're right, guess I'm mostly just used to getting drunk with lesbians." Magnes takes his seat again, reaching for a second bottle. "I miss having a girlfriend, or, hell, Delilah."
"You can't be that unaccustomed to women. I bet your ex-girlfriends were hot," Laina says, still working on her first Guinness.
"They were very hot. Claire and Elaine, and then there's my friend Delilah. She was never my girlfriend, but she was, uh, my first." Magnes crosses his legs on the couch, sipping his new bottle. "I never slept with Claire, I mean, things happened, just not that. And it's not as if I'm not more confident, it's just… when I'm intimate with someone, it's completely different, I'm suddenly a lot more confident and comfortable around them. I mean when you've made out with or completely rocked a girl's world, what more is there to be afraid of?"
"I see," Laina says, not really seeing. "So, you're afraid of me because we haven't been intimate." Laina finishes her first bottle and opens her second.
"I-I, wait, I mean, that's not what I mean. Well, it is what I mean, but it's not…" Magnes can't seem to decide, rubbing the back of his neck. "There are girls I'm comfortable with who I haven't been intimate with, I just mean that um… crap, I can't figure out what I mean."
"But you're afraid of me," Laina says, a little uncertain. "What exactly are you afraid that I'm gonna do? I don't bite." Unless you want me to … No, Laina, stop. You promised you wouldn't tease.
"It's not so much that I'm afraid of you, as I'm just afraid of screwing up. I always do well when I first meet someone, but then we're here, sitting on the couch, and I'm just thinking…" Magnes holds up the bottle after another sip, finishing his statement, "I hope I don't do, say, or think anything stupid."
"Well," Laina suggests, "why don't you do, say, and think the stupidest things you can come up with, right now, and I'll promise not to hold it against you. And then you'll never have to worry about it again." She smiles at her idea. This idea might have some Guinness behind it, but who's asking? She takes another swig.
"Uhh…" Magnes is possibly thinking the stupidest thing possible at this point, then he's leaving his drink floating in the air to lean in, hand on her thigh, saying, "Even though it's probably wrong and makes me a jerk, and we've only known each other for about a day, I'd like to have incredibly stringless sex with you." Then he leans in to press his lips to her's.
Laina returns the kiss in kind. Her hands coming up behind Magnes' back and head. She does, however, manage to keep hold of her Guinness bottle.
One of Magnes' hands slides up to her cheek, the other on her thigh as he carefully parts her lips to go a bit deeper into the kiss. A few things run through his mind, but nothing seems to register into actual action as he just continues on his apparently chosen course.
Thus far, there is no objection from Laina, as the hand not holding the beer tangles it's fingers into Magnes' hair.
Magnes' hand starts to slide up her shirt, just closing his eyes until his hand reaches her bra and he reaches around for the strap. The hand on her face slides down to her neck, then her shoulder, letting out a long sigh.
Laina, not quite as drunk as Magnes, but coming close, goes with it. What's the harm? Not wanting to spill her beer, and thus displaying some remaining sense, her hands are not as adventurous.
Once Magnes pops her bra, he finally stops, breaking the kiss to look down at her. "I can't begin to express how much I'm dying to actually do this, but, I mean, you don't have to." he says as a few thoughts finally rush to the front of his mind. "I don't think I can, I feel like I'm taking advantage of this situation, like, you might feel obligated, and I'm just lonely."
Laina smiles and takes a drink. "Magnes, I meant it when I said I wouldn't hold anything you did tonight against you. But I'm not gonna let you do anything I'm not comfortable with. Now, I think sleeping together would be a spectacularly bad idea." She grins. "But I'm all for a healthy second base. What's it gonna hurt?" She punctuates her question with another swig from her mostly empty bottle.
"I forget which base is second exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's a really good one…" Magnes stares down over at her, then shakes his head and sits up, sighing in frustration. "I need to confess something. I feel guilty, very guilty. Even if we were both perfectly sober I'd feel guilty. Every time I'm going to do something with a woman, I feel like I'm cheating. Isn't that silly? I mean, I was totally all ready to go, then, bam, guilt hits and I can't do it."
Laina shrugs and finishes off her second bottle. "Up to you. You're single, right? I'm single. What we do is up to us." Putting the bottle on the table, she refastens her bra. "And, for the record, second base is under the shirt, above the pants."
"I thought second base was something else entirely." Magnes leans over and pecks her on the cheek. "I'm attracted to you, but I think if I feel guilty, I'm probably feeling guilty for a reason. I mean if it wasn't wrong, it wouldn't feel like cheating, right?"
"Maybe." Laina gives a gentle smile. "It didn't feel like cheating to me. And, for the record, you're not a jerk. You were gonna stop, before I said anything and before the guilt ever set in. Some guys wouldn't've done that. You were being a gentleman." She chuckles. "Horny, but a gentleman."
"I don't feel nervous anymore." Magnes says in sudden realization, looking over at her. "I think making out broke the ice. You know, if it wasn't for diseases, I'd say everyone should just make out when they meet."
"And I'd say that is the Guinness talking," Laina says with a laugh.
"Maybe. When I'm less drunk I'm gonna feel like a total tool, but I still had fun tonight." Magnes is suddenly slumping over with his head into her lap, closing his eyes. "I think I learned something tonight. I want sex, but I don't want sex."
"I had fun tonight, too." Laina strokes Magnes' hair. "C'mon, let's get you to bed before I decide to doodle on your face. My finger works better than a sharpie."