#ANYWAY H I FEEL LIKE THE BIGGEST CLOWN IN THE WORLD POSTING THIS BUT WHATEVER I GUESS

[trvelyans-archive]

If anyone else – anyone, even Sally or Nick – asked you to go on a hike with them, it would be an immediate “no”.

With Gray, it’s an immediate “yes”. (Though, to be fair, he could ask you to spray paint the Chicago Bean with him before lighting it on fire, and even then, you’d only hesitate for a split second before Googling what store that sells spray paint is closest to your house). Sure, it helps that this is a walk instead of a hike, and it helps more that he drove you to the lakefront on his motorcycle, but still… Sally would get a ten-minute walk to the closest Burger King to your house and a ten-minute walk back at most, and even then, you’d probably complain a little anyway.

Though maybe you could be convinced on a night like this, considering how nice it is outside. You and Gray stopped to watch the sunset an hour ago, sitting on a bench close to the water and splitting a Diet Coke and a bag of fries (which, unfortunately, you were forced to eat without ketchup after the first half, though it helped that he fed some of them to you). Now that it’s getting dark out, the two of you have started walking back to his motorcycle to head to his place, and you occasional sneak a sideways glance at him when you can, just to admire how pretty he is with his hair all windswept.

Four years ago, on a night like this, you’d sit and watch the sunset through the kitchen window while sitting on the counter and eating a whole sleeve of stale crackers, and now you’re here strolling through a nice lakefront park, holding hands with the man you’ve been in love with for the same amount of time.

… Weird. Life can be really weird sometimes.

Gray glances over at you when he feels you looking, and you watch in real time as he starts to smile. “You look beautiful tonight,” he murmurs eventually, once he’s smiling enough that you can see his adorably perfect dimple. “Did I say that already?”

“Yes,” you say, rolling your eyes. He even had the audacity to say it after he wiped a smear of ketchup off your cheek and then stared at you adoringly for ten seconds like that was something stare-worthy.

“Well, there’s no harm in reminding you.” He tightens his grip on you and tries to pull you a little closer to him on the sidewalk. “Because I love you.”

“You’ve also said that already.”

“I know,” he replies, bringing your hand to his lips and gently kissing your knuckles. “But it never hurts for you to hear it again.”

You bite the inside of your cheek and look away, trying to pretend that he can’t see and also isn’t smirking about how much you’re blushing.

It’s especially nice out because of how quiet the park is, you think. The couple times you’ve been here before with Nick or Sally or another one of your friends that quickly dumped you, it’s been packed bench-to-bench, but it’s practically empty tonight, save for a handful of other couples who are also wandering down the sidewalks or sitting on the grass and who very clearly do not want to leave.

(God, referring to you and Gray as a couple… also very weird.)

Eventually your path starts to curve away from the water and back towards the parking lot where there are much less people – much less light, too, with the trees on either side covering up the sky above you. You’re looking up and admiring the leaves when Gray tugs on your hand again. “Penny for your thoughts?”

You snort. “You don’t have to ask, Gray.”

“I know I don’t have to ask, but I want to.” He smiles. “It’s polite.”

That gets a smile out of you, too, and his grows a little wider when he sees it. “Just thinking,” you say, trying to go for the best enigmatic delivery you can manage.

“Oh?” He raises an eyebrow, clearly willing to play along. Not that that’s a surprise – he’s usually willing to play along when you joke around with him like this, the same way you’d play along and arrange a getaway car in the event that you successfully burned down one of the most famous Chicago landmarks and weren’t immediately picked up by police. “Is there anything in particular you’re thinking about?”

Besides hypothetical arson? You turn around and look over your shoulder at the retreating backs of the elderly couple that just walked by you. They’re probably far enough away that they won’t hear you by now, unless they’re Ments with brain ranges like Nick’s (which is unlikely). “You,” you answer as you turn back around, satisfied that no one else can hear your conversation.

“Me?” Gray touches his free hand to his chest. “I’m honoured.”

“Oh, shush,” you say, shaking your head.

“I mean it,” he replies. He pulls you closer to him until you’re practically hip-to-hip and lowers his head to talk in your ear. “I like knowing you think about me, Mari.”

It’s hard to think when he’s so close to you, but you try not to let it get the best of you. “I’m thinking a lot of things about you right now,” you continue. He does dirty talk a lot better than you, but you’re working on it.

“Good things, I hope?”

He yelps when you elbow him. “Obviously.”

“Mmm. Like what?”

You glance over your shoulder again to double-check that the elderly couple is gone before giving Gray a wicked, albeit slightly self-conscious, smile. “Like how long we can make out in the park before people start yelling at us?” you answer.

He pulls you to a stop on the sidewalk, his eyes flickering to your lips a second before he leans in to kiss you – but not before you lean in to kiss him, first.

Kissing Gray is new, but it’s not weird. It’s the exact opposite of weird. He makes sure of that every time.

You shake his hand out from yours – which makes him grunt in protest, which makes you smile against his lips – and wrap your arms around his neck to pull him closer against you, so close that there’s barely a centimeter between your bodies. He places his hands on your waist as the kiss deepens and holds you tightly as he walks you backwards, off the path and into the trees, and you’re very glad that you came here tonight instead of some other time during the day, because not getting to do this would be a crime (and doing it then might, you know, actually be considered a crime). He grunts again as his back hits the trunk of a tree and you smile, moving your hands to cup his face, pulling him even closer to you until you can literally feel his belt buckle pressing against your stomach, so much that you’ll be shocked if it doesn’t leave an indent.

“You’re so perfect,” he murmurs, moving away from your lips as his kisses start migrating down the line of your jaw and his hands move to the small of your back. “So perfect. So beautiful. Sometimes – you’re so beautiful – it hurts.” He stops kissing you to nip at your neck. “And you smell so good.”

“Okay, weird,” you say, as if you’re not secretly loving the praise.

“Mmm. Don’t think I didn’t see you smelling my pillows this morning.”

God - how many times has he seen you do that? “Only because –“

Whatever protest you were attempting to make dies on your lips when he kisses you again, a little more insistent and a lot more impatient than the last time.

You drag your hands down to the collar of his jacket and start walking backwards, walking until your back bumps up against a tree behind you, and Gray takes advantage of the situation by pressing the length of his body against you. “I love you,” he whispers, this time lining kisses down your other jaw as he slides his hands under your shirt. “I love feeling you against me. I love your body.”

“God, Gray…”

“What?” He pulls back from your neck, his face flushed and eyes sparkling. “Do you want me to stop?”

“Are you crazy?”

He grins and leans back in for another kiss. You don’t protest when he slides one of his hands underneath the band of your bra and thumbs at the hooks, and you especially don’t protest when he drags his other hand over your side and up your chest, cupping one of your tits in his hand and squeezing.

You moan, arching your hips against him, and he grins.

“I love the sounds you make when I touch you,” he whispers.

“I love when you touch me,” you reply, because you do.

He squeezes it again so you moan again, and then brushes his thumb over your nipple. “Good.”

This time, when he pulls away from your mouth, he starts kissing down the column of your throat, and you wind your arms around his neck to keep him steady. As you do, though, you catch sight of something behind him, and after a moment of deliberation, you tap his shoulder to try and get his attention – unfortunately for you, he’s very intensely kissing the line of your collarbone, and it takes you tugging on his hair to get him to look up.

“People are staring,” you mutter. Sure enough, the elderly couple you saw earlier is watching your make out session from the middle of the sidewalk, both of them smiling in amusement. Gray tears himself away from you to follow your eyes and then, once he spots them, goes completely still like a deer in the headlights.

He curses under his breath and then, a little louder, “uh, hello there! Don’t mind us, I’m –“

“He’s giving me CPR!”

“Yes, I’m just – what?” He whips around to look at you and stares until you eventually break down into a fit of giggles, at which point he starts laughing, too, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “Ugh… I’m sorry, Mari,” he says, “I shouldn’t have let myself get so carried away.”

You shake your head, tilting your face to the ground to hide your blush as the elderly couple continues walking again. “It’s okay,” you reply. “Uh – kinda my fault, too.”

Gray sidles up close to you again, distracting himself by adjusting your shirt until it looks like you weren’t just furiously made out with. “I’m glad you stopped me,” he says once they’re out of sight. “I don’t know if I could’ve resisted you otherwise.”

You press your legs together and chew the inside of your cheek. “Uh, my pleasure,” you reply. “I mean, you’re welcome. I mean – thanks?”

He’s supposed to be the awkward one, you think miserably.

Gray laughs and leans in so he can kiss your forehead. “You’re the cutest,” he murmurs. “Also, Mari… I’ve been meaning to say thank you for coming out with me tonight. I know it’s probably not what you want to be doing on a night like this, but…”

“Are you kidding?” you ask, reaching for his hand again and twining your fingers together before you begrudgingly start to head back to the path. “Spending time with you is the only thing I wanted tonight. Well, I mean… I wish I had more ketchup for my fries, but…”

“Next time,” he promises, smiling until there are crinkles at the corner of his eyes.

“Next time,” you repeat.

An easy silence settles over the two of you as you continue back to the parking lot, and you’re back to glancing at him out of the corner of your eye again, just to make sure he’s still smiling. Just to make sure he’s still happy. You could tease him like you do with Sally when you go to Burger King, pretend that he had to drag you out here and that your feet are killing you, but you’d know it’d be about as convincing of a lie as any of his (meaning not at all).

Plus, tonight was an eye-opener. If you could make out like that in a park like this, with elderly couples walking around like they own the place, imagine what would happen if you went on a real, actual hike in the middle of nowhere?

… Your feet might actually kill you, you think, so this is good enough for now.

#HI EVERYONE I USUALLY DON'T WRITE ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP FICS FOR SHIPS THAT AREN'T CANON YET BUT #I HAD BRAIN WORMS AND FINISHED THIS IN LIKE 2 HOURS SO. ENJOY THE ROTTEN FRUITS OF MY POOR LABOUR. #oc: mari #pairing: mari x gray #my writing #my ocs #mind blind #also this is rlly terrible. sorry everyone. gray is probably ooc and like it's all bad also. i say the word 'night' too many times. #enjoy anyway tho. if you want ! no pressure tho. #ANYWAY H I FEEL LIKE THE BIGGEST CLOWN IN THE WORLD POSTING THIS BUT WHATEVER I GUESS #nsft