Exchange

[Skye LeCroix]

She obliged, turning the TV over to a rerun of Seinfield and tossing it back onto the coffee table, which, when she tried to reach across Nick, was just too far for her to manage to get to without having to actually sit up. That wasn't happening, either, so, in an arc it flew, landing with a loud noise. At least the batteries didn't fly out this time. Probably because she'd taped it shut.

She tilted her head as she looked at him, still halfway ontop of his chest from having tried to release the remote back into the wild. "Okay, done. Now what?" she asked, a hint of mischief in her voice. Skye was like a cat in some respects after all. For no reason sometimes she would just tear around the house like something hellaciously amusing was going on in her own little head. Or she would wrestle with Nick, and then once he pinned her, get up and walk away like nothing had happened.

This was starting to shape up like the latter of the two as she jammed a finger in his side between his ribs, where she knew was the one ticklish spot on his entire body.  

[Nick LeCroix]

Seinfeld wasn't exactly what he'd consider 'better', but he could deal with it instead of that news report, so he didn't complain.  His eyes flicked to watch the remote sailing through the air, though.  How the batteries stayed inside was beyond him, but he hadn't taken notice of whether or not Skye had taped the little battery cover in place, so that seemed to be the only explanation.  He'd take it, and not worry about the little contraption breaking from his wife's abuse.  It was a tough remote.

"Weeeeeeell, we could always be lazy and just stay where we are for awhile," he offered, though he twitched at the poke to the one little ticklish spot he possessed and nearly yelped.  He covered it up with about as much dignity as he was able to muster quickly, and gave her a stern look.  "Or that, of course."

Naturally, he was going to have to retaliate if she wanted to play that way, which he was betting she would.  That was why he took hold of her at her waist to prevent her escape and leaned in suddenly to quickly lick at her neck, but that wasn't the trick.  An instant later, he blew on it, just to tease her.

He had to wonder if she'd let it slip to Ebere and Stella that he was ticklish there, though.  That could be bad for him.  

[Skye LeCroix]

Skye tried to move back before he could respond in kind, but she just wasn't fast enough. Even in their animal form, Nick was damn reflexive for a large animal. She could run faster, but still. Pouncing was all him. Which explained her situation now, while she struggled like mad to get away from him. One hand would have been enough to hold her down, but he'd layed an entire arm across her waist, effectively pinning her to the couch helplessly.

She wiggled, kicked, and shrieked, all while laughing and trying to take swipes at him. "STOOOP!" she howled, crying she was laughing so hard. "That is NOT fair!" She leaned in quickly and tried to bite him, but he was too fast, and she snapped at air.  

[Nick LeCroix]

He laughed at her struggles, finding it to be almost...cute.  It wasn't like she was going to get away unless she whined and he actually believed her.  Or, he chose to just let her go.  He wasn't likely to do that just yet.  "Not fair?  How is it not fair?  You're just making up new rules now," he said with an evil sort of grin, ignoring her kicking and shrieking as he avoided a bite.  

"That's not nice, Skye," he told her, leaning in again to kiss the spot he'd licked a moment ago.  He was expecting another bite attempt from her, but he could take it, and he'd nibble at his current point of interest if she tried that.  

"You're going to make that nosy neighbor of ours think I'm murdering you or something.  She'd probably help me clean up the evidence if I asked her out to dinner, you know," he commented, all teasing.  In reality, that lady actually creeped him out.  Not in the 'wow, dangerous, get away from me way', but in that 'you're seriously weird' way.  Like those people that just STARED at a lion at the zoo, being all creepy and talking about how absolutely beautiful the animal was.  There was a line between admiration and downright weirdness, and that neighbor had crossed it somewhere along the line.  He didn't mind teasing Skye about her, though.

[Skye LeCroix]

If Nick nibbled on her neck, she would have to call this playful stuff quits and drag him upstairs. Although, it really wouldn't be dragging, since dragging usually indicated that you were forcing someone to go somewhere, and she couldn't think of a time she had ever had to try and bargain with Nick to get him into bed.

She squirmed more, but she didn't bite at him again, instead tolerating the attention with a large pout on her face, like it was the end of her world. Quite the opposite, actually. She felt youthful and giddy every time he indulged some of her more playful moods; Nick was so serious sometimes. So was she, though, so she couldn't rightly fault him.

"Ebere has offered to go over there and bite her," she said casually, as though it would be the most normal thing in the world for a hyena to trot into someone's yard and maul them.  

[Nick LeCroix]

He didn't nibble on her neck, at least not yet, but he caught the way she pouted and let him do what he wanted.  That was why he left her neck alone, instead shifting to kiss her gently on her lips.  It had to be interesting for such a large, powerful shapeshifter especially to be so gentle, but Skye was special.  He'd gotten himself accustomed to delicate tasks during his military career, so he wasn't incapable of it, but it still came as a surprise to some people.

It shouldn't have to Skye, though.

"Don't look so unhappy, or I might think I'm doing something wrong and stop.  Unless you want me to leave you alone?" he asked, though the way his eyebrow rose made it obvious that he didn't think so.  "I'm sure that lady needs to see that we have a weird dog, on top of everything else she already thinks."

He assumed the woman would think a hyena was a dog if she saw it in this setting, anyway.  How many humans recognized a hyena in person if it wasn't in its proper place?  Some might, but he doubted that all did.

[Skye LeCroix]

She made a strange squawking noise in protest to referring to any Pakana as a 'weird dog', but before she could protest he was kissing her again. Anything rude she was going to say melted away as she relaxed into his arms.

"Hm, you know, I wonder how it is we got this lucky?" she asked, playing with one of his hands with her own. She put her palm down on it, like she did every time, staring in wonder at how much bigger his hands were. Lightly, she ran her nails across it, from his wrist to his fingertips.

"I mean, most people in the Guilds never see their homes, or enjoy their money, or... anything. I somehow landed a normal life," she mused. "Oh! That reminds me. I'm buying some strawberries and whipped cream tomorrow. Is there anything else you need from the grocery store?"

She looked up at him expectantly.

[Nick LeCroix]

Nick was personally glad he'd halted her in complaining about his mention of a 'weird dog', since that was definitely the only thing he'd said that he could see her not liking, and her relaxation was exactly what he'd wanted.  Amazing that a little kiss could do that.

"I don't know, but I'm not about to argue it," he told her, rather unwilling to dissect it, lest they jinx themselves.

Yes, jinx.  Nick had spent his entire childhood in Louisiana, and he'd picked up his fair share of superstitions.  He'd killed off a good chunk of the accent in his military career and work as a mercenary, but it still slipped, and it could still be heard.  The superstitions were less obvious, but still there.

"Strawberries and whipped cream?" he asked, perking up.  That was the end of superstitious thoughts.  He guttered it.  Instantly.  A million other 'fun' things came to mind, but he squashed most of them down.  "Chocolate syrup."

He was entirely innocent.  Really!

[Skye LeCroix]

Skye was immensly satisfied with his reaction, although her poor husband hadn't realized she was taunting him. She smiled brightly. "Okay, great. Actually, you ate all the ice cream, so I need to get more anyways. Perfect, when I make that strawberry shortcake we can have that with it."

She beamed, and oh, she was deliciously evil sometimes. She knew Nick would catch on eventually, and so she tensed, waiting for him to do something despicably cute and annoying to her in retaliation.

Now she was going to have to make a cake, though. Oh well, she could probably try to pawn some off on Jaime. She planned to invite him over later for Sunday dinner or something. She hadn't seen him in a while, but now she knew she owed him a small gratitude. Plus, she really liked seeing how much those two could eat.

[Nick LeCroix]

She could think she was evil and that she'd been taunting him all she'd like, but he had an image in his head that involved chocolate syrup and her belly button -- her entire stomach, to be more precise -- and he wasn't about ti just drop that from his mind.  She didn't know it yet, but that chocolate syrup was likely to see more than just ice cream.  

So was the whipped cream, actually.  If he had anything to say about it, anyway.

"You know, you don't need to bother making a cake or anything.  All we need is the strawberries and whipped cream," he told her, and the slight smirk that crossed his lips as he leaned up for a less chaste kiss than he'd been giving her lately should have told her exactly where his mind was.  

It was her own fault, too.

[Skye LeCroix]

She laughed as he kissed her, a silly thing to be sure, and pulled away, slapping him in the face lightly. "Oh, you're so dirty!" she exclaimed. Skye had only recently learned about some of this from Stella. She hated to admit she wasn't very explorative, although from the sounds of it, Nick was more than willing to help her along. She almost blushed right then and there thinking about it, and made a mental note to throttle Stella the next time she saw her.

At least now her ego was slightly inflated. Nick wasn't the only one who took something out of being desired. Skye was just slightly different about it. She sat up, and climbed slowly over him to get off of the couch, and then stared pointedly.

"I'm going to bed." She bent down and gave him a little kiss, and then escaped for the stairs as she heard him make a noise of protest. She paused at the center before she ascended past the lower level completely.

"You coming?" she asked.

She bet he was.

[Nick LeCroix]

That was a bet she wasn't losing, though he just sort of STARED after her when she got up and ignored his protesting.  He'd been just fine with the couch, and now she had to get up and go to bed?

Wait.  Nevermind, he wasn't complaining.

Usually, they slept when they went upstairs, unless one of them pressed the issue and things got interesting.  This would be one of those nights, between the looks she was giving him and the thoughts flashing through his brain currently.  Even without the chocolate syrup and whipped cream, this would be quite enough to satisfy.

He was up those stairs in record time, and half-carried, half-kissed her to the bed.