MHA #8, Sunday Morning

[stykera]

Last night had been a good night. Perhaps a little too good. Stark had certainly overindulged while visiting 21 bars (not that he could remember there had been 21, at some point it had become a blur) but he'd had fun, he'd gotten nothing more than a few odd looks directed at his mask, and he'd spent the majority of one stop with his date perched in his lap kissing him to keep him from talking too much. Maybe he ought to attend more birthdays.

They had managed to stumble home eventually (thanks, Liam!) after Faye had gifted Summer some of her spoils from the evening. Getting in to the apartment had proved more difficult than expected but they'd managed. Eventually. Locks were difficult sometimes. Stark might not be entirely corporeal but that mean he couldn't get drunk. And he had been.

In fact, Stark was still not sobered up. If he had been sober he might have remembered that he'd been thrown out of his own bed the last time he tried to cuddle his current companion and he might have gone to the kitchen to fix something for breakfast.

Instead, when he awoke to find Faye still in his bed he'd rolled on to his side to see her better. Having only one eye was inconvenient at times, like right now when she was on his right side and he couldn't see her without moving. And as long as he was already moving he might as well throw his arm over her. That only made sense. She was right there. He should hold her. Why else was she right there?


[For last night's daaaaate who claims she doesn't like cuddles, the liar.]

Comments

[flourish_or_perish]

Faye was also not really sobered up -- there had really been a lot of drinking -- and nor was she really awake. Both of these were good things, since Faye secretly quite liked being cuddled and would actually embrace that fact while either still drunk, asleep, or a bit of both.

And in fact, she was comfortable and dozy enough right now to not even consider kicking anyone out of bed, instead opting to actually snuggle a little closer to Stark with a sleepy mumble.

[stykera]

Stark let out a small contented sigh at that. He very much enjoyed cuddling. He just almost never had the opportunity. There hadn't been anyone to cuddle in a long time.

"Morning," he said softly before gently (he had to be gentle, half his face was a metal mask) nuzzling his face into her hair.

[flourish_or_perish]

"Morning," Faye murmured, not opening her eyes just yet. Opening her eyes meant potentially ruining this, and Faye was way too into having her hair nuzzled (she had not really expected she'd love that?) and being cuddled to ruin much of anything right now.

Instead, she gave a happy little sigh, lightly trailing a hand out along Stark's side, lazy and soft.

[stykera]

If she did open her eyes Faye might catch a glimpse of the dopey smile on Stark's face when he lifted his head. He was very content to be in this position right now.

"This is good," he said softly. "I like this. Let's stay here."

Nothing needed to be ruined. They could stay here all day.

[flourish_or_perish]

"Mmkay. Won't go anywhere," Faye agreed, gracelessly throwing one leg over Stark's so as to burrow in a little closer.

She did finally crack an eye to look at him, smiling very slightly. She felt pretty good, but that was because she was still kind of drunk. Eventually, though, there would come a headache that no amount of cuddling would fix. (Though it might help.)

"Last night was fun," she noted softly. Kind of still was fun.

[stykera]

Stark could certainly try to cuddle a headache away. He'd give it his best effort, even if he might have one of his own in the not-too-distant future. He wasn't going to escape last night unscathed.

"Good," he said, still smiling a little goofily himself. "It was fun. Very fun. I liked California."

California had stood out for some reason.

"California was good. This is good." He'd already said that. He didn't care.

Kisses were also good. He was going to try for some more of those now.

[flourish_or_perish]

Kisses were good. At some point, Faye was going to be mad at herself (and really, when you got down to it, kind of embarrassed) about spending pretty much an entire stop on the bar crawl in Stark's lap making out with him.

But not right now. Not when there were kisses, and she was all snuggly and tangled up with him, and it was nice.

"I also liked California." Again, if anyone else mentioned California to her, she would probably freak out. God help us all if they had any kind of a knowing look.

[stykera]

Stark would also be embarrassed if anyone brought it up. If only he hadn't drunkenly told Liam last night that California had been the most memorable stop. Oops? At least he hadn't given any details. And most everyone else probably hadn't noticed, right? Not when there had been karaoke and so much drinking already done.

"Oh, I noticed." The goofy grin was more of a smirk now.

"This might be better. This is...nice." He'd be very happy with more lazy morning cuddles. "But that was very good. It's all been good."

[flourish_or_perish]

Oh, sure. No one would ever say anything.

"It kinda has, hasn't it?" Faye said, like she didn't quite trust that. But she wasn't bolting (or kicking him out of bed) or even pulling away. It was more like she didn't quite know what to do with the idea that all of this might be actually nice, and not have any catches, and that might be okay. "Even the part where I borrowed your pockets?"

Please note that no one had been caught!

[stykera]

"You could have asked," Stark said after a very slight pause. "But yes. It was fine. It's fine."

Another pause while he started idly playing with a lock of her hair. He liked her hair.

"Most of my favorite people are criminals."

[flourish_or_perish]

And it turned out Faye liked having him play with her hair, since she leaned into that touch.

"Good news for me," she decided with a little sigh, her smile widening a bit. "Mine too."

Hearing about that bank robbery might have kind of been what solidified her weird little crush here into something she actually wanted to act on, instead of just ignoring.

[stykera]

He did enjoy her hair and was going to keep his hand in it since that seemed acceptable. If he were being perfectly honest, which he might if asked, he enjoyed pretty much everything.

"Works out well. For everyone. I think."

[flourish_or_perish]

"I think so, too," Faye agreed, and you know what, that deserved more kisses, too. Especially since Faye kind of had to observe, at this point, "Think I might still be kind of drunk?"

Not actually an objection, mind, since she was feeling pretty great all around, really.

[stykera]

"Yes," Stark agreed. "I am too. I think." He definitely was. "I think... I've never had that many drinks. That might have been too many drinks. It was so many."

It was going to feel like too many in a while. It was worth it though, if it ended like this.

"I like you drunk." And cuddly! "And not drunk. All the time."

[flourish_or_perish]

It was really so many drinks. There would be regrets. But not yet.

"You probably shouldn't," Faye warned reflexively, crooking a soft little smile at him all the same. "But I'm glad that you do."

She was vaguely remembering that she'd told Stark she liked him earlier in the evening, too, in the midst of all that kissing, and -- you know what, this was all probably a really bad idea.

But it had also been awhile since Faye had done something that was a really bad idea. So maybe she was due.

[stykera]

Regrets were for later! Perhaps along with resolutions to never, ever do anything like that again.

"I do," Stark said, with another gentle kiss to prove the point.

He didn't think this was a bad idea. He didn't know why it was happening but maybe, maybe he was allowed to just enjoy it.

"Why shouldn't I? I think I should. I do. You said."

The last two words were added almost shyly. California was standing out in his memory but there had been so many drinks and maybe he remembered wrong or she hadn't meant it.

"Didn't you?"

[flourish_or_perish]

Ugh, that almost-shyness was unfairly cute, and Faye's heart did a weird little thing in her chest.

"I did say, didn't I?" Faye agreed, and she was just going to stretch out long against him before leaning up for another kiss, maybe a little reassuring about it. "I'm just...kind of a mess, that's all."

The kind of volatile, day-drinking, chain-smoking, amnesiac mess that would fill his pockets with stolen cell phones on a good day.

[stykera]

Stark let out a tiny relieved sigh at the confirmation which turned into a much happier, if muffled, noise at the kiss and full body contact. He was just going to hold her right there now, if she'd let him, because all of this felt good.

"You can be a mess. I'm a mess." If he weren't he wouldn't be nearly so jumpy. Or unsure. Or scream quite so loud when gorgeous women suddenly appeared in his apartment.

"Better than I used to be. Still a mess."

[flourish_or_perish]

"I like it, though," Faye assured him quietly. It was harder to say here in the light of day, but still true, and now it was Faye's turn to look almost shy. "I like your messiness." (Mostly. The screaming she could have done without, but mostly because if Liam hadn't come running, she probably could have gotten rid of that towel and cleared things up much sooner.)

She was fairly happy to let herself be held against him, even going so far as to slip an arm around him and lightly run a hand along Stark's back as she moved to kiss him again.

She might have even gone along with this without being residually drunk, at this point.

[stykera]

"You don't know," Stark said, not quite protesting. He didn't want to make any of this stop. "There's a lot. A lot of mess."

It was amazing what some safety and security could do for you. And this current situation was definitely helping in some areas.

He might have pressed for more of an explanation, or offered one of his own, about how messy they were, anther time. Right now this felt good and he would rather pull her closer still. If that was even possible. If nothing else he could offer another long, slow kiss. T

"This," he said, pulling his head back only enough to speak, "doesn't feel messy. But you can be messy if you need."

[flourish_or_perish]

"It just will be," Faye sighed, though it wasn't an argument at all. Just sort of an inevitability. "And you don't know. I don't even know."

That was dangerously close to actual information about herself, so she was just going to try and distract him with kisses.

Despite how that had, so far, consistently not worked.

Maybe Faye also just liked kissing him.

[stykera]

It wasn't that the distracting kisses didn't work. It was just that there were occasional pauses in the kissing that allowed for talking breaks.

"If you don't know then how do you know it would be a problem?" Stark asked quietly, moving a hand up to gently stroke her hair. "Not a problem now."

It was very much not a problem now. There were no problems right now other than impending hangovers and those were for later.

[flourish_or_perish]

"No problems now," Faye agreed, because ignoring things was always the best course of action, if possible. Particularly when he was touching her hair again and she could concentrate on that. "But you're right that it doesn't feel messy."

It felt sort of nice, actually.

[stykera]

The hangovers were going to be big problems later though. So many life choices would be regretted.

"Not messy," Stark agreed, still stroking her hair. "Right now feels good. Very good." Better than he'd felt in a long time. "You. This. All of it."

[flourish_or_perish]

But they would suffer together. Or at least very probably begin the suffering together. It was like Date Part II.

"It's --" Hmm. How to phrase this. "It's been a long time for me."

Not the being-in-bed-with-a-guy part. The part where she was lightly trailing her fingernails along his spine affectionately. The part where she wanted to stay and wasn't even going to look around to see what she could slip into her pockets before she left.

"And I am bad at this." Again, he probably knew what she meant. She was demonstrably good at a lot of...this.

[stykera]

What a terrible way to continue a date. At least Stark would be able to assure her that nobody was dying of their hangovers no matter how much it might feel like it.

He closed his eye, focusing on the sensation of her nails on his back because that was easier than thinking too much about what he was saying. "I've been alone for a very long time." Which might explain all some of his confusion about her behavior. "And...I...don't know that I was good at being together." She'd left, after all, the Zhaan that was here. Without a word.

And Faye didn't even have any pockets to fill today when she left! She might have to steal the hoodie from last night.

[flourish_or_perish]

Obviously she'd have to steal the pockets themselves, yes.

"Me neither," Faye admitted, which was easier to say now that he'd said it first. "Really good at being on my own."

But she was here, all tangled up and not going anywhere, and she wasn't even that panicky about it anymore. At least, not at the moment.

Not when she could tilt her head to press a soft kiss to the underside of Stark's jaw. "You're good at this part, right now, though." Just to be reassuring, while she was -- well, not quite putting her cards on the table, but at least allowing him something of a peek at them, to stretch the metaphor.

[stykera]

Stark would let her steal the pockets.

"This part is easy," he said, tilting his head back slightly. He'd missed this. Missed gentle touches and missed feeling wanted. "You," he added, opening his eye again and offering a small smile, "seem good at this part too."

And absolutely good at other things. There would be no complaints from this Banik on that front. But he would be happy for this part to last all d

[flourish_or_perish]

"Out of practice," Faye replied, burying her answer in his neck. "So that's good to hear."

And she, at least, was well caught onto the fact that they probably had a limited window of enjoying being drunk instead of hungover, which meant that she was probably going to feel a lot more conflicted about all of this tomorrow, and right now she was kind of willing herself to just trust that it'd be okay.

Because being this close and not even wanting to run away was all really, really nice. And even if she didn't deserve anything this nice, Stark did.

[stykera]

"You can practice on me." That goofy smile was definitely back on his face again. Too bad she couldn't see it.

"With me? We can practice." Being used for cuddling practice was a sacrifice Stark was willing to make, Faye.

[flourish_or_perish]

It was too bad she couldn't see the goofy smile. Especially since she was now smiling against his neck, not exactly lacking in goofiness herself.

"You'll tell me if I mess up?" she asked lightly, kissing a soft path up to his ear.

[stykera]

That was very distracting.

"You haven't so far."

But she probably needed to keep practicing, didn't she?

[flourish_or_perish]

Maybe for the rest of the day. At least until the both of them sort of thought and/or hoped they were dying of hangovers.

"Okay. Be sure to say something if I do." Or if she didn't, because she was planning to keep distracting him,

Look, the cuddles were nice, but they were totally a gateway drug, too. Note how that gentle kissing had turned into something much more likely to maybe leave a mark.

[stykera]

Stark wanted to say something in response to that. He did. But words were, somehow, a little difficult at the moment.

"'kay," was all he managed. He did very helpfully tilt his head to offer up more neck, just in case it was needed.