Seeing Double

[Lucy Rogers]

Her gasp brushed against his ear as his head dipped to tease her skin with his lips, spreading the heat of his kisses down the soft curve of her throat. Eyes closed, her head tipped back, her hands stroking restlessly over his shoulder and chest. "I didn't know how," she whispered against his ear, swaying close into the circle of his arms. "I didn't think you liked me that much."

He was dimly aware of the raindrops that were suddenly falling from the sky. Water, his nemesis. The raindrops fell lightly against the canopy of evergreens, partially shielding them from the sudden shower that signaled the coming of spring. "You were wrong," he assured her, pulling her deeper into the dense cluster of trees.

The patter of rain drops onto her head made her jump, a quietly startled laugh escaping as he drew her further into the shelter of the trees. "What about your bike?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder in the direction they had walked from. But she wasn't that invested in the well-being of his bike, to be honest. She was more interested in something else. "Tell me something. Just how wrong was I?"

He wasn't worried about his bike. If it got wet, it would dry eventually. The same went for him. A little bit of water wouldn't hurt, so long as he wasn't drenched and drowning in it. He drew her close again, looking down at her and hesitating a moment before answering her question. He wasn't quite sure what she was asking, exactly, or what kind of answer she expected in return. "Really wrong. Lucy, I know we hardly know eachother, but..."

Her brow furrowed with teasing thoughtfulness as she considered him impishly. "A kiss wrong?" she asked softly, not giving him a chance to finish his quiet sentence. "Or a shag against a tree wrong?" Her eyes glittered sweetly, but the smile wasn't mocking or teasing. It was all invitation, if he wanted to take her up on it.

Both brows lifted at her invitation - both of them. He couldn't deny that he wanted her, but he wasn't sure he wanted her like this. "Maybe an I'd like to get to know you better wrong." He slid his fingers against her cheek in a gentle caress. "I don't want to screw this up, Luce. That's how much I like you."

The truth was, if all he wanted was a quick shag in the woods, he could get that from anyone. And usually, that's exactly what he'd have asked for, but for some reason, it was different with her. He wanted something more from her. He wanted something lasting, something meaningful. He wanted what Clark and Lois had, what MJ and Peter Parker had, what Sue and Reed had.

She wasn't the best at schooling her expression. Her skepticism showed for a split second before she remembered to hide it - not skeptical of his intention or his professed feeling, but of his ability not to flirt with anything in a skirt and follow through if invited to. She bit her lip, her eyes lowering.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it look as though I don't believe you," she apologised hurriedly for her expression, lifting her gaze to his once again. "I like you, Johnny, I really do. But I'm frightened of getting hurt. You're so accomplished at talking to women, at getting their attention and holding it ... what's to stop you meeting some gorgeous woman who takes you up on the unconscious invitation and helps you break my heart?" It wasn't, perhaps, the most hopeful of statements, but it was honest, and honesty was what would make any relationship between them a success.

"The only gorgeous woman I'm interested in right now is you." If she wanted honestly, then he'd give it to her. He hadn't been with anyone since he'd met her. Oh, sure, he'd flirted a little, but that's all it had been. Innocent flirtation. "All I'm asking for is a chance. If you can't give me that, then what's the point of all this?" There was confusion in his eyes, a little hurt at the realization that she didn't really trust him. "You think I've never been hurt? You think all I care about is getting into a pretty woman's panties?"

"No, that's not what I meant ..." Lucy shook her head, stepping away from him. If they were going to have this uncomfortable argument, then she didn't want the distraction of being in his arms to turn her into an incoherent fool. She leaned back against the wide trunk of the tree closest to them, looking over at him with a quiet sigh.

"Johnny, the last so-called relationship I was in was in college," she told him awkwardly. "And what I didn't know at the time was that it was the result of a bet. His friends bet him that he couldn't get me into bed because they assumed that I was backward. Because I hadn't let any of them touch me." She sighed again, looking down at her feet. "I'm not saying I can't give you a chance. God knows I want to, I want to be with you, Johnny. But you can't assume that every time I hesitate, it's because I'm having second thoughts, or that I'm going to leave. You're not the only person who has past mistakes to haunt them."

[Lucy Rogers]

Whatever raindrops were hitting him were turning to steam on contact, but it didn't seem to bother him. What did bother him was the fact that she hardly knew him, but seemed all ready to judge him without giving him a chance. He'd finally met someone who he thought he might be able to build a serious relationship with, and she as scarred by her past mistakes as he was by his. He furrowed his brows when she disclosed a little about her past, anger flaring in him and causing his temperature to rise. Even he had never been that callous toward women. "I'm not him anymore than you're..." He broke off with a sigh, maintaining a small distance. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to have an open mind," she said softly. "Stop making assumptions about me and my motivations, because you keep getting it dead wrong. I know I'm not perfect, and I know I'm an idiot for not trusting myself to you straight away because of some teenaged idiot's hormonal gambling. But Johnny, I really like you. I wouldn't be here if I thought you were anything like him." She looked away, staring out at the rain falling on the grass, not wanting to see his face as he rejected her out of hand.

He watched her quietly, listening while she opened herself to him, taking a chance and being honest about her feelings, afraid he'd hurt her, as much as he was afraid she'd do the same to him. Not to mention his fear that her being with him was dangerous to her heath and welfare. He was trying to wrap his head about what she was telling him. She wasn't rejecting him outright, it seemed. What was it exactly that she wanted from him them? A promise that he'd be faithful? "Lucy..." His voice turned quiet. "Just tell me what you want."

Slowly her eyes turned to him. "For you to want me, and not what I seem to represent to you," she told him quietly. "You can't put me on a pedestal, Johnny, I'll just let you down. And I don't want to do that."

He wasn't sure what he'd done wrong. He'd been nothing but honest to this point. He'd told her he wanted to get to know her better. He thought he was going about it the right way. "I don't understand," he finally blurted out. Everything seemed to be going well, until he'd turned serious. Was that what had gone wrong? "I do want you. I... I know I'm an ass. I know I've done a lot of stupid things in my life, but I..." He wasn't really sure what he was trying to say.

"Oh, Johnny ..." Lucy pushed from the tree to wrap her arms about him, surprised by how deeply she disliked seeing him lost for words. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to confuse you. Forget I said anything, I'm being a pranoid idiot." Her lips brushed his softly. "Forgive me?" A second kiss touched his mouth tenderly. "Please?" A third kiss pressed more firmly to his lips, the tip of her nose stroking along the side of his as she gazed up at him.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, Lucy," he told her as he looked down at her, her kisses temporarily silencing him, his ego knocked off kilter, unsure now what she wanted from him. Not more than a few minutes ago she was talking about shagging and now she was worrying about getting hurt. Maybe she didn't want what he wanted. Maybe she just wanted to have a little fun, and he wanted to give her that, but he was maybe it would grow into something more. "Am I rushing things?" he asked, trying to sort things out. "Do you want to take things slow? I can do slow."

"What I want ..." She rolled her eyes lightly, curling her hands to his back. "What I want is a little complicated. I want the fun, the intimacy ... but I don't want to rush into any deep emotional waters. For one thing, I work hours that are too long and too consuming to expect anything from you, Johnny, and for another, I don't know if I know how to take things slowly."

"Okay, so you want to be friends with benefits, is that it?" He still wasn't quite getting what she wanted from him. She was saying she wanted a relationship but she didn't want it to get serious but she wasn't sure if she could take things slow. To him, it sounded like she was conflicted.

"No ... Oh God, I really suck at explaining myself, don't I?" A soft laugh escaped as she sagged against him, resting her forehead against his chest for a long moment. "Alright, let's see if I can make myself clear. Is there a way to take it slow without postponing the benefits?"

One arm slid around her back as she leaned into him, still a little confused but starting to understand. She still seemed a little conflicted to him. "Well, yeah, but... I thought..." He shook his head. "Why didn't you just say that?"

Her head tipped back as she looked up at him. "Because I'm an idiot who couldn't express herself properly if her life depended on it."

"Okay, so..." He still wasn't quite sure where they stood with each other. "Are we... dating or what?"

"Um ..." She bit her lip, blushing a little as the first answer that came to mind blurted from her lips. "I think if you come home with me tonight, we're dating." It didn't occur to her that he would then meet Liv, the twin sister she hadn't actually mentioned yet whom he had already met under false pretences.

He smiled finally, mostly because of her blush. "Why don't we cross that bridge when we get to it?" And then he was kissing her again, tipping her chin up to meet his lips, not taking no for an answer. If she wanted him, he wasn't going to argue with that. He needed to find out where this was going and there was only one way to do that.

[size=9]((Again, mucho kudos and thanking yous to Johnny's player!))[/size]

[Olivia Storm]

[size=9]That night ...[/size]

Subtle was not the best word for the exaggerated care with which the apartment door opened and closed. Liv looked up from her book, absent-mindedly sliding her marker into the page as she watched her twin attempt to sneak across the living room, shoes dangling from her fingers as she tried for a silent return to her bedroom.

"Nice outing?" the younger twin asked, laughing as Lucy leapt about a foot in the air with a tearing gasp of surprise.

Lucy turned on her twin with a petulant scowl. "Don't do that, Livy!" she snapped, throwing her shoes at her sister, who batted them away before they could do any harm. "Have you been waiting up for me?"

Liv rolled her eyes, rubbing her palms together mildly. "Don't be ridiculous, Luce, since when do I ever wait up for you?" she pointed out in a matter-of-fact tone. "You know as well as I do - if I wasn't up, you'd wake me up to tell me all about what you've been doing to that poor man anyway."

"That poor man thinks he's falling for me," Lucy snorted with a roll of her own eyes, dropping onto the couch beside her sister with a long-suffering sigh. "He's going to get hurt, Liv."

Concern flickered in Olivia's face as she sat up, gazing at her twin's face with a frown. "I wish you hadn't talked me into this," she muttered, shaking her head. "You know I don't like upsetting people. And what if he tries to kiss me?"

"Oh, it's not kisses you need to worry about," Lucy laughed, casting a mischievous grin over to her worried twin. "Give it a few days, and Johnny's going to be the sexiest friend we've ever had."

"Lucy, what did you do?" Liv's frown deepened as she peered over the top of her glasses at her sister. "You can't convince me to help you teach this guy to have respect for women and then deliberately seduce him into trying to screw me when you're not around! I told you, I won't do that; I won't take kisses meant for you, and I'm certainly not going to sleep with Johnny just so you can get your moral kicks!"

"Oh, ease up, Liv, it's not like you're commiting a mortal sin," Lucy sighed, shaking her head at her sister's horrified expression. "It won't last long. Just long enough for him to learn how not to flirt with any other woman when he's in a relationship."

"And what happens when he learns that and you dump him?" Liv asked in a bleak tone, unhappy with the prospect of breaking anyone's heart. She'd only really met the man once, but that had been enough to tell her that she didn't want to be a part of ripping his heart to shreds. Lucy had charm enough to enchant anyone; she also, unfortunately, didn't much care what happened after she was finished with them. "What then?"

Lucy turned her eyes to her sister's, her gaze calm, sincere, and without qualm. "He grows up."