MHA #6, Valentine's Day Evening

[arboreal_priestess]

It was Valentine's Day and while it wasn't their first Valentine's Day together, the last one had still been early enough on that neither of them had really known what they were doing. As a couple. This time, however, 'I love you's' had been exchanged and so had keys, he'd met her family, he hadn't run screaming from her family, and he'd even rescued her from a snake cult. Those were a lot of relationship milestones right there, even if some were Price-exclusive.

So tonight she'd sent the mice off to gorge on cake and cheese in their closet in the spare room, turned the lights to dim, turned some slow music on, and started cooking dinner. The one flaw in her holiday plans so far was that she'd naively assumed that 'an ability to cook basic food' meant that she was fully qualified to cook elaborate romantic meals.

She was vastly learning that this was in error.

"What? Emulsify? I've got a spatula and a slotted spoon, how the hell am I supposed to do that?!"

[For the boyfriend!]

Comments

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity lit up, glad that she'd chosen correctly. "Why don't I get this situated," she said, leaning in to kiss him as she removed the toy from its box. "And then we can see just what happens, huh?"

[firstofitskind]

It took some experimentation, mostly because Verity’s narrative was right, they hadn’t discussed this before, but the end result was that it was overall a fantastic success. And so now it was Liam’s turn to sprawl, boneless and satisfied, as he waited for his breathing to return to normal.

“Good god, I love you,” he managed finally.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Hmmm, I know," Verity said smugly, setting everything aside to be cleaned later in favor of curling up on his chest. "You were very fervent and vocal about it earlier."

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, cleanup could wait for a bit. Liam wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “Had to be sure you knew how I felt, is all.”

[arboreal_priestess]

"So, just in case I'm not entiiiiirely clear," Verity teased, "...I did good?"

[firstofitskind]

“I didn’t reallt know what to expect,” Liam admitted. “But I’d say you knocked it out of the park.” Ooh, sports metaphors,

[arboreal_priestess]

The girl at the store had offered a lot of suggestions, too; apparently Verity would have to go back and thank her for them.

"Then I'll add it to the repertoire?" she asked, holding her face up for another kiss.

[firstofitskind]

"Yes," Liam murmured against her lips. "As long as you had fun too."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Oh, I had fun," Verity assured him. "Watching your every reaction was gold. You're very responsive, you know." She nipped his bottom lip. "I like that."

[firstofitskind]

"You make me feel things I never knew I could," Liam replied honestly. And he wasn't just talking about their sex life, now. "I like that."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity knew that he was talking about the grander scheme - hell, she felt the same way - but she couldn't resist waggling her eyebrows at him anyway. "Damn right I did," she declared.

[firstofitskind]

"Yeah," Liam said, with a deeply satisfied sigh. His expression then turned thoughtful. "You know, if there's ever anything else you'd want to try, I'm game." A pause, and then he amended: "Well. Almost anything."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Almost anything?" Verity asked. "Where's the line for you?"

Seemed important to know.

[firstofitskind]

"Not crazy about anything that involves being held down," he admitted.

Pinned up against the wall? Totally fine, and actually pretty damn hot. But being pinned down was another matter entirely.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity nodded. "What if I wanted to be?" she asked, head tilted.

Not that that was really her thing, but it seemed prudent to ask.

[firstofitskind]

"If it's something you wanted..." Liam started, fingers of one hand idly tracing random patterns across her skin. "Yeah?" Making your answer sound like a question was hardly definitive, Liam.

[arboreal_priestess]

"You don't sound very sure," Verity said softly, bringing her hand up to cup his cheek.

[firstofitskind]

"I don't see the appeal," he admitted, leaning in to that touch. The very idea made his stomach churn, honestly. He remembered the way he'd reacted the time Street had tackled him, just as a joke, and it was not an experience he wanted to repeat. "But I'm not oblivious to the fact that it's a turn-on for others." Despite a relative lack of personal sexual experience. He'd done research, you see.

[arboreal_priestess]

You could just call it 'watching porn,' Liam. It was okay.

"Doesn't matter how much of a turn-on it is if it makes you look like that," Verity noted.

[firstofitskind]

There had been watching porn, yes. Also reading porn. And asking extremely blunt questions. Though that last had tapered off once he'd figured out the concept of a brain-to-mouth filter.

"Yeah, but," he frowned, unsure of how to articulate it. "I don't want you to feel like you're... missing out? On anything? Because of me."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Would you make me do something that obviously made me uncomfortable?" Verity asked softly. "Just cause you liked it?"

[firstofitskind]

"No!" Liam said firmly. "Of course not."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity just looked at him and waited for all the pieces to fall together.

[firstofitskind]

Which they did, after a few moments. For all that Liam was physically, emotionally, mentally an adult, there were still some areas in which he lacked relative life experience. ‘Negotiating personal boundaries’ was one such area, apparently.

“Oh,” he said softly.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Yeah," Verity said, reaching for his hand. "Exactly."