[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]The sound of Jack's voice was enough to send goosebumps rippling over Aurelie's skin, and she could feel herself melting at the touch of his lips against her shoulder and neck. The familiar, solid warmth of his body and the steady beat of his heart in his chest, pressed against hers, was enough to make her wonder how she'd survived all those months without regular date nights with this man.

Probably because you—and he—were both preoccupied with surviving different apocalypses at the time, she reminded herself. It was a sobering thought. Especially considering there always seemed to be another cataclysmic, world-ending disaster around the corner every day in Hoenn.

The only thing that mere mortals like her could do in response, perhaps, was to enjoy to the fullest the sweetness of every precious moment they had. Aurelie reached out and laced her fingers through his, before pressing a kiss to his knuckles. "You noticed my perfume," she cooed, flashing a surprised, pleased smile at Jack. "I'm glad you like it."

She followed up the words with a soft kiss on Jack's lips, before drawing back and pulling him after her on the stairs. "Come on up for dinner, then," she said invitingly. "And after that, maybe some dessert." She winked flirtatiously at him.

Only when they reached her upstairs apartment did she let go of his hand to busy herself with bringing out food. Savory smells drifted throughout the apartment. Aurelie hummed tunelessly and contentedly to herself as she laid out plates of crusty bread, ham, and cheese.

"Drinks are in the fridge, as usual," she told him as she breezed past, on her way to serve the rice and ladle the chicken fricassee over it. She brought out the plates and waved him toward the dinner table. "Sit down. Eat. Relax."

Steepling her fingers together, Aurelie leaned forward toward him, her single uncovered eye sparkling in the candlelight. She took a deep breath, as if to savor the utter normality of the moment, before asking, "So...how was your day? Anything interesting on your mind?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Leaning forward on her elbows and cradling her chin in her hands, Aurelie watched contentedly as Jack began devouring the dinner she'd made with flattering enthusiasm, evincing every sign of enjoyment. She ate as well, while he recounted his day. Without even thinking of it, she draped one leg across his lap and curled the other around one of his under the table, entangling them comfortably together.

Listening to him talk, the red-haired smith had to fight to repress a shudder when Jack mentioned Zev. She kept forgetting that the two were friends, for some reason. Well, no, Aurelie mentally revised her thought. I know the reason: because the face Zev shows in public is so friendly, charming, likable, and utterly different from the face he wears when he's on Rocket business.

Pushing past the unwelcome thoughts of Zev, Aurelie tried to focus on enjoying the moment she and Jack were sharing without interruptions or distractions. Even in the polo shirt, his shoulders, neck, and arms were on full display, making it difficult to look at anything but him. She was considering sliding her chair closer to his, when Jack suddenly brought up the topic of the carnival.

Perking up immediately, Aurelie sat up straight in her chair and broke into a startled, delighted laugh. "Jack! You…" she pronounced, her single eye sparkling merrily in the candlelight, "...are an absolute treasure." She slid her hand over his across the table.

"I'd been thinking of how to bring up the carnival in some subtle, indirect, delicate way," she admitted by way of explanation for her outburst. "But you know that's never really been my style! So, I love that you just came out and asked."

Putting down her fork, Aurelie tilted her head toward him thoughtfully. "Yeah, we've never been exclusive, right? We've always been free to see other people if we wanted to. Both of us," she agreed innocently, guilelessly.

"With our busy schedules and separate lives, we're just...friends, right? Friends who bump into each other when we can. Naked. In bed." She smirked at him playfully.

Not that Aurelie had really been with anyone in the meantime. She'd flirted with many others, of course, but never really pursued anything—or anyone—seriously. Jack's next comment nearly made her spit her mouthful of chicken fricassee across the table.

"Xiura? Oh, Arceus! Oh, no, no, that's not what was happening at all!" she exclaimed, her face going red with chagrin and embarrassment. "I...I mean, I do think Xiura is really lovely, but I don't think she's into women. I was...I was actually..."

Aurelie paused for a moment, pursing her lips in thought. How to say what she wanted to say without betraying Xiura's confidence? "I'd actually kind of heard she was attracted to you, Jack," she said at last. "So, I wanted to get you to notice her and see if you liked her too, during that trip to the carnival. I, uh...I guess I didn't do a very good job of that, though, huh?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]The only change that came over Jack's face when he responded calmly and evenly to her words was a slight flicker in his dark eyes, the only sign of the pain of disappointment and rejection that he felt. That tiny flicker went completely unnoticed by Aurelie.

Yet, as she listened to him, Aurelie flushed deepened even further, to the point where her face went almost as red as her hair. She hadn't thought about how the words "just friends" would sound like, especially with no context, especially given their history. Every time Jack repeated the phrase, though, or brought up "friendship", she felt her heart sinking with the mixed message she'd inadvertently just sent.

"No! No, wait," she exclaimed remorsefully, holding out her hand to him as soon as he was done. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. That came out all wrong. I didn't mean...well, I mean, what I should've said was..."

She ran her hands through her hair, making it stand up in several different directions, and let out a sigh. "I'm doing this all wrong, aren't I? All right, what I was trying to say was...you and I, Jack, we were just friends. When we started out. That was true at first.

"But..." Aurelie paused and let out a helpless laugh. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this. I've almost never had this conversation before, because I've really never been in many relationships. Not many at all. Some. Just one or two. I've mostly just had casual, fun flings with people in the past, and that's fine with me."

Taking a long, pensive breath, she tried to smile as she met Jack's gaze across the candlelit table. "But this thing with you... It's lasted longer than anything I've ever had in the past. We're much more than just friends now. The effect you have on me... With most people, it's enough as long as I had fun. I never used to think further than that. With you..."

She bit her lip. "With you, I want to be near you again. I want more: another date, another romp in bed, whatever. And when you're gone, I miss you. And I worry that you don't feel the same. I'm not sure why. But that certainly sounds like far more than 'just friends' now."

With that, Aurelie reached for her glass and took a huge gulp of whatever Jack had poured for her. The long speech had actually made her thirsty, but it also served as a convenient excuse to lower her gaze and look away from him, so her face could cool down after all that...honesty. Deep in her heart, she knew that everything she'd said had been true—a thought that could confuse and appall her if she let it.

But for now, she didn't. Setting her glass down with a bang on the table, she cleared her throat. "So...anyway...this thing with Xiura. The thing is, I've never been the jealous type. Maybe because either my partner or I never stayed around long enough. But even with you, that's true.

"And, well, I adore both of you," she stated with genuine feeling and a tremulous but equally genuine smile. "So yeah, you're attractive, she's attractive, and she's attracted to you. I wanted to see—and you both to see too—if there was something else there. Honestly, that would make me happy if there were."

The corner of her lips curled upward in a tiny, wicked smirk, making Aurelie look more like her usual self again. "And well, if it ended up looking like I was attracted to her too...well, I am. Even if she doesn't seem to like girls. But I honestly didn't think she'd choose to sit on my lap instead of yours, Jack.

But..." With a graceful movement, Aurelie rose from her chair and came over to stand beside his chair, her smirk deepening and growing even more mischievous. "If a woman you liked asked to sit in your lap, how would you respond?" She arched her eyebrows and tilted her head toward him, hoping her unspoken question was clear enough.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]As Jack started to respond to her heartfelt speech, Aurelie held her breath and crossed her arms in an instinctively protective gesture, aghast at the uncomfortably vulnerable feeling that came from baring her heart—at least some of it—just now. Thankfully, while his reply was somewhat subdued, it was also straightforward and comforting. She couldn't help relaxing and returning his smile as Jack dug happily yet gracefully back into the food, his appetite seemingly restored by her revelations.

And Aurelie was more than happy to let his lips do the talking for him when pressed against hers as he pulled her onto his lap for a deep, intense kiss, igniting an overwhelming blaze of heat in her veins. She only pulled away when the need for air became critical, drawing in a shuddering breath.

A soft laugh escaped her when Jack teased her about dessert. She slid her arms around his neck and rested her cheek lightly against his. "Normally, I'd take that question as my cue to drag you off to the bedroom," she murmured in his ear, taking the opportunity to trail a line of feather-light kisses along his jaw.

"But as it happens," Aurelie went on, extricating herself from his lap and ignoring the yearning ache of her own body as it felt the sudden absence of his. "I actually did make dessert. Come here."

Her hand slid slowly down Jack's shoulder and arm until it clasped onto his hand. Then she pulled him to his feet to follow after her into the kitchen, her bare feet padding quietly over the immaculately swept wooden floors. There on the kitchen counter, next to the sink full of pots and pans, were the two little ramekins of dark chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream that she'd prepared earlier.

Disregarding the need for spoons, Aurelie picked up a ramekin and slowly swiped her finger across the top of the mousse and whipped cream. Smirking flirtatiously, she then lifted her fingertip toward Jack's mouth and raised her eyebrows. "Want a taste?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT