metamorphotic | you've got to carry your heart like a torch in the night.

[it’s closer to afternoon than morning when nick wakes, but that’s not unusual. a years-long career in tending bars means she’s night owl, comfortable living in the dark, staying out of the light. what isn’t usual - not anymore, at least - is waking up with the warmth of another body tangled up with her own. a pleased smile curls across her face before her eyes even open, because duke is still here with her, and that’s a giddying thought to grasp.

she likes him. he’s funny and smart and kind, he kisses with an intensity that feels like must come from his whole heart, and he makes nick feel something she hasn’t often felt in her life - safe. so yeah, she likes him a lot, and there’s no sense in pretending otherwise. life is too goddamn short, even for a nightbane.

nick takes care to avoid jostling him as she slips out of bed and silently makes her way to the bathroom at the other end of the walk-through closet joining it to the bedroom. on her way back she stops only long enough to pull on a tank top and a new pair of underwear - both black, of course - before carefully tucking herself back into bed next to duke, turned on her side to face him. she’s content to silently watch him sleep until he’s ready to join her in the realm of consciousness again.]

Edited 2020-01-10 04:13 (UTC)

[Duke stirs when Nick moves but doesn't wake up, deep into his own practiced midday slumber. He's been lucky enough to get the afternoon/closing shift, which means he can enjoy the situation he's now in. He spreads out in Nick's bed while she's gone, one arm stretched wide. When she climbs back into bed he sleepily draps the arm over her instead, drawing her close.

After a moment he nuzzles her face and his eyes flutter open.] Hi.

[He pulls his free arm underneath him and props himself up, kissing her briefly to cut down on the morning-breath thing he might have going on.] How're you doing? Good morning.

[duke doesn’t need to work hard to get nick to come closer. now that he’s awake and clearly into the idea of staying curled up together, nick slips her arm around his waist, an answering gesture of reciprocation - yes, she likes this too. stay. duke’s company is very much wanted.]

Hey ... mornin’. [she meets his kiss and then leans in to take another, slower and lingering, morning breath be damned.] Mm ... I’d say I’m doin’ pretty damn great, actually. [deliciously sore in all the right places, warm and content, enjoying the simple pleasure of touch. lazing in bed with a gorgeous man who has treated her extremely well since the start of last night’s date and doesn’t seem to have any designs on stopping, now that the sun is up again. there’s no spell broken here, no chill of disappointment in the morning after - just pure bliss. more than nick dared hope for.] What about you?

[Nope, this is easy. Easy and comfortable and warm and cozy, and Duke is more than happy to stay like this. He gives Nick that kiss willingly, languid and serene, and settles onto the pillow with a smile.] I think I'm good.

[It's not very often he gets to wake up with someone. Most of the time his date wants him out of her apartment pretty quickly, so this is another pleasant surprise. Again, just being with Nick makes sense, it's not just how well their bodies fit together or how good the sex had been. It's her.]

You wake up pretty.

[she laughs quietly, a cover for the sudden spark of self-consciousness that comes to life in a corner of her mind. she’s never thought of herself as pretty. she knows she isn’t bad-looking, but she’s no knockout either. especially not with unruly bedhead and smudged eyeliner left over from the night before.]

Y’say that now, but you haven’t seen Coffee Monster Nick yet. She’s the exact opposite of pretty.

[her eyes close, and she shifts slightly to move herself a tiny bit closer to him. she’s content to stay like that for a moment, savoring the way he smells and the gentle rhythm of both of them breathing. her fingertips idly trace soft abstract shapes along his back. it’s almost easy to forget that there’s an entire world outside of this apartment’s walls, a world that wants to kill them, a world she has been fighting to keep at bay for more than a year. right now, this bedroom, this bed, wrapped up in duke’s arms, is all the world nick wants to know.]

Anyway, you’re pretty all the time.

Yeah? What does Coffee Monster Nick entail? [Saying she wasn't pretty because of smudged makeup or bedhead was like saying he smelled bad because they'd been sweating last night. Maybe it wasn't picture-perfect, but who cared? It was real. They were both real, and it was easy to forget that this wasn't all there was to reality. If only it was.]

I think you beat me at that. [He watches her relax, trailing his fingertips up her neck and half-stroking half-winding into her hair.] Do you have anywhere to be for the next couple hours?

Well, she looks like this ... [nick looks up at duke, expression set in an exaggerated scowl.] And she doesn't know how to talk 'cept in these weird growly noises. But the good thing is, she's pretty easy to get rid of. Just give her a couple cups of really good coffee as tribute and she'll be on her way.

[it's not her currently disheveled state that makes nick feel like she isn't pretty - it's a lifetime of critically low self-esteem, built and encouraged mainly by her mother. nick still has to fight the impulse to protest to duke that she isn't pretty, that he hasn't seen the real nick yet, the real monster she is on the inside ...

she doesn't want to have this debate again. for once, she doesn't want to chase off someone she's allowed to come in close.]

Nah, not 'til tonight. Gotta work at six, but that's a ways off, and I don't got far to go. Do you?

Scary. [He chuckles, pressing a kiss to her forehead.] And now I know the Coffee Monster's weakness, thank you.

[Not that he anticipates monstrosity from Nick. Moodiness, maybe. Some loud arguments at the worst, unpleasant but hardly notable. Monsters are real, he's met them, and Nick doesn't seem at all like a monster. He wouldn't still be here if she did.]

I don't have to be anywhere till three. Are you hungry at all?

Yeah, well, I wouldn’t want you to get sneak attacked or anything.

[she laughs quietly and leans up to gently kiss the front of his shoulder, then rolls back flat onto the pillow, unable to take her eyes off him. this all feels so good, she’s hesitant to break it off so soon.]

If you’re ready to get up ... yeah, I guess I could eat. There’s a Spenny’s that’s usually a few blocks away.

I appreciate the concern.

[He doesn't want to break it off either. He'd rather stay close to her, and the trek to a teleporting Spenny's, whatever that was, didn't seem like a good way to achieve that.]

Would you rather stay here? I could order something. What do you like?

I like you.

[oops, there she goes getting feelings all over the place. she's not typically been this free with voicing her feelings when it wasn't hate or anger, but with duke, it feels right to do so. safe, like everything else about being with him. she laughs at herself, grin wide, only a little embarrassed as she rubs her hand over her face.]

Not that I'm a cannibal or anything. That's how y'get wendigos, and trust me, I've hit my lifetime limit on dealing with them. [yes, that's right, she's fought wendigos before. long story.] It's OK, y'don't have to do that. I ain't picky, I think I've still got stuff for eggs and toast in the kitchen. Kinda boring, I know, but the coffee makes up for it.

I thought you might when you let me take you out. Wanna know something?[He smiles and leans in to whisper in her ear.] I like you too. [He finishes that up with a hair-ruffle and a laugh, because dammit, she's cute, and she's easy to relax around. So easy even the next topic's weirdness doesn't faze him.]

That's how they say you get wendigos, at least. But thank you for not eating me, and noted. No human meat today. [He pauses. That sounded creepier than he meant it to.] I swear I don't eat people either. I'm thinking breakfast burritos?

[this might the first time nick's ever had her hair ruffled, wow. luckily, she's cool with it, laughing loudly and pushing herself up from the bed to chase after duke with a pair of fond kisses, one along his cheekbone, the other placed at his mouth.]

Breakfast burritos sound perfect. But, uh - no human meat ever. 'Cause seriously, that's how you get wendigos. We had an outbreak of 'em back in Hadriel - some dumb asshole put human meat in the food supply. I was vegetarian for a while after that. [she shakes her head.] Not fun.

[Well, she looks cute with her hair ruffled. If she protests, Duke will playfully counter her point. He chuckles too, kissing back when her lips are near his.]

Breakfast burritos it is. And no, no human meat. Sorry, dumb joke. Human meat's not really something you figure you'll ever have to deal with.

...I can't blame you for going vegetarian.

Edited 2020-01-14 11:53 (UTC)

It’s OK. I survived. [she shrugs.] I think everyone quit eating meat after that, just to be safe. It was one of the first things people told the newbies, too.

[she sits up fully, blindly finger-combing her hair so it’s not sticking up as much.]

Is it weird that wendigos ain’t even the scariest thing I’ve seen?

Edited 2020-01-15 18:33 (UTC)

You did. And, by the way? Cool of you to tell the newbies. That doesn't happen where I'm from.

[He reaches for his phone and starts looking for delivery, answering her question casually.] Nah. Wendigos aren't that bad. [Not the one he'd met, at least. She'd been better than the human she wanted to eat.] Sounds like Hadriel had a lot worse.

What are your feelings on bacon?

[that earns duke a raised eyebrow.]

You got packs of wendigos runnin’ around up in Maine that newcomers need to warned about?

[sounds kinda silly, but duke also doesn’t sound like he’s joking.]

Hadriel had a so-called god named Fear who got powered up by scaring people. He was the one behind the wendigos, obviously, but he’d also do shit like bury people alive for a few days. Creep.

[she sighs and flops backward onto the bed, hands folded neatly over her stomach, head turned toward duke.]

My feelings on bacon are it’s delicious and more is better. I ain’t a vegetarian anymore, y’know. [she grins.]

I don't know about packs. There's just one, I think, and she hasn't bothered people in awhile. [He didn't know what had happened to Amelia after the Rev tried to kill her. Audrey and Nathan must have brought her somewhere safe, and at the time, they did not trust him.]

Yeah, a god of fear would do it. I'd say the wendigos aren't standing up to being buried alive. [Had that happened to her? He's curious but possible trauma wasn't pillow talk.]

Bacon it is, then. [He adds it to the order and places it, checking the delivery time before tossing the phone away and turning back to her.] It'll be here in about an hour. We're not getting up yet, are we?

[nick shifts onto her side, head propped up in her open hand, elbow resting in the pillow. she gives duke a deeply appraising look-over, checking for any telltale signs that he's joking with her about the wendigo. results? inconclusive.]

Wasn't planning on it. So it looks like we got ourselves an hour to kill. [she grins cheekily at him, then flips right back to the previous topic:] Are you shittin' me about the wendigo?

[Duke turns on his side to face Nick, and there's nothing but sincerity on his face. She'd been forthcoming about her past, weird as it was. While he wasn't going to spill everything about his, he could at least let her know why it wasn't that weird to him.]

No. I don't know if she stuck around, honestly. She got a serial killer for takeout and then disappeared. Stuff like that happens a lot where I'm from.

Huh.

[her face scrunches up as she tries to reconcile the idea of a wendigo being anything other than completely terrifying with her own experiences.]

Well, note to self, if I ever get back, stay the hell outta Maine, I guess.

[she chuckles quietly, content to switch focus away from cannibal creatures. after all, there are no wendigos here at the moment.]

So ... y’got any ideas ‘bout what we should do for the next hour?

Definitely stay out of Maine. [Not because of the wendigos, but if believing the woods around Haven were overrun with them would keep Nick away on the chance she got home, everything will have worked out. Nick doesn't need to get mixed up in Haven stuff.

Not worth thinking about right now, though. Now there's a more interesting subject at hand and he raises an eyebrow, the playful flirt from their date again.]

Good question. What do you want to do?

[ah yes, this is much more fun than talking about wendigos. nick grins slyly and slowly leans in toward duke.]

I’m pretty open to suggestions. But I guess we could always start with ...

[she leans in the rest of the way to meet his mouth with her own in a slow, lingering kiss, palm resting gently at the side of his neck.]

[Yeah, he lucked out. Duke smiles into the kiss for a second before returning it, taking it slowly and sliding his hand to her waist.]

I think that's a pretty good plan. You sure we can get this done in an hour?

I dunno. Do you?

[she smiles, plants a shorter kiss at his mouth, then rolls flat onto her back while gently tugging duke to follow her direction.]

Wasn’t runnin’ a stopwatch last time, so I can’t really judge. And this is way too good to rush through.

[slowly, almost teasingly, she traces fingertips down his neck and across his collarbone.]

Don’tcha think?

duke } finally made it past the end to finally begin.

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