undergrounds | there's a chance that we may fall apart before too long

Finnick's late. Which means that Annie is wide awake, sitting at his kitchen table with a cup of tea. She'd tried to read, do something to distract herself, but there was no such luck for her. The harp, now disenchanted, felt wrong in the empty house, and books didn't hold her attention. To keep herself grounded, she'd started knitting, working on a large, soft blanket, as it gave her something to do with her hands, but she could hardly get a row done.

When she hears someone start to walk up the stairs, however, the tea and knitting are completely forgotten as she stands and runs to the door, peering through the peep-hole. "Finnick," she says breathlessly, opening the door for him. One she sees him, smells the blood, sees it...

No, she's going to stay here tonight. She won't go away. Finnick needs her.

"Finnick- what happened?"

He's exhausted. His run in with Childermass followed by the meeting with Eames where he found out about the plan to get rid of Norrell once and for all... It's all a little much for him and all he needs right now is the peace and quiet of his apartment and the comfort of Annie close by.

"I'm..."

He's torn between telling her everything and wanting to just let it be for now.

"I don't want to worry you. I'm sorry."

"No," she says gently, reaching for him. She wants to hold him close, but first she's got to take care of him. "I'm already worried. Sit." Annie guides him towards the couch, and is already looking for the large fluffy blanket to wrap him in.

"D'you want tea? Something... Something stronger?" She wasn't a big drinker, but there was alcohol in the flat. He looked like shit, and she was going to be damned if she didn't take care of him tonight. After all, how many times had he made her tell him what was wrong, sat with her all night?

He's already been offered tea once, and he can't imagine it helping to curb the pain, so after a moment's hesitation he weakly says, "the wine." Fae wine will help take some of the sharpness away, though it won't drown it completely.

He slouches in his seat, leaning his head back on the couch and staring up at the ceiling pathetically, trying to figure out how he can talk about this, how he can share this without scaring her. Maybe he shouldn't at all - maybe he should go back to Faery and leave her so she won't have to carry his burden - but the thought of not being here is even more terrifying than the thought of talking to her about this, so he stays put.

Wine. Alright. She nods, and picks up aforementioned blanket. Unfolding it, she wraps it around his shoulders and kisses his cheek. "I'll get you the wine."

In a few minutes, she's back with a glass for him, and slides on to the couch next to him. Finnick is handed the glass, and she reaches for his other hand. "What's going on, love?" She asks him softly, pulling him near her. She can be something solid for him right now, as he so often was for her.

The idea of him leaving, just disappearing and leaving her on her own hasn't even crossed her mind yet tonight.

There's no point trying to get around it.

"I hurt someone," he says, hollow sounding. "He was trying to hurt me. I had to, but I..."

He leans into her before he really starts to break, looking down at the wine in his hand and taking a slow sip.

Oh. Oh no. She holds him closer, tucking him under her chin.

"You had to," she reminds him, closing her sea-green eyes. "What happened?" Was the man okay? It didn't matter- if he was trying to hurt Finnick, he likely deserved the pointy end of his trident.

"He came to ask questions about the fae, about the election. He said the vote was rigged. I couldn't let him go in and talk to them," he explains, his voice almost vacant save for a slight tremble.

Her lower lip juts forward at the admittance, her arms tightening around him slightly. "No, no, you couldn't," Annie agrees, and lets go of him with one hand. The other hand she uses to gently run through his hair, a calming motion.

She wants to ask if the vote was rigged. But that's not the important part right now. Finnick and his pain is the important part.

It was rare, Nancy bringing anyone back to her apartment. But one of her clients had sent her a text- he was hungry and horny, and Nancy was a rare treat. Something tugged at the back of her mind as she sent him her address. Wasn't there something she had planned today? But when the vampire texted back, and told her he was on his way, her forgotten plans were the last thing on her mind.

Keeping her actual bedroom closed, they started on the couch, and it wasn't long until their clothes hit the floor. The work wasn't bad per-say. Nancy got something out of it, too, through pawing hands and sticky flesh. The vampire wasn't that old, but he knew what he was doing, and it wasn't long before he had Nancy making all the noises she knew he loved to hear, little moans and screams. A little overplayed, sure, but there was always a bit of acting in her role.

From her position on the cushions, over their noises, she couldn't see or hear Cooper approaching.

So that's what she was forgetting.

Logically, Cooper had always known what Nancy did for a living. After all, he was one of her best paying customers. Even if that line had currently become blurred and crossed. What he hadn't taken into account was the way his own feelings were. Cooper wasn't the most perceptive when it came to understanding the insides of his own head.

When he walked in through the door, at first, all he could hear was Nancy moaning. Then he saw the naked back of the strange vamp on top of her. Immediately, he saw red. Before he could even understand what he was doing, he had crossed the room and was throwing the other vampire across the room. He hit the wall with a solid thunk.

Cooper loomed over him, fangs out and completely furious. "Get out!" When the man tried to throw a punch, Cooper easily caught his hand. With very little effort, he shattered the bones. "Try again. I'll take off your head. Now get out!"

The vampire, realizing that he was dealing with a madman, took off, not even bothering to collect his clothes. Cooper turned to Nancy, still in a towering rage. "What the hell was all that about?"

It all happens so fast Nancy barely has time to register what's happened until there's a dent in her wall and Cooper is standing over her. She reaches for the nearest throw blanket, covering herself.

She'd never seen him this way before. He got snarly when he'd been coming down from the fae blood, but this was something else.

Blood trickled down her neck from where the vampire had bitten her, but she hardly seemed to notice it as she stared at Cooper, pushing back against the couch, away from him. He'd just barged in here, and was now demanding things of her- she was going to have an angry customer to deal with, one who had access to her home, and Cooper was intent on killing him. And furthermore- what the fuck?

"What was that about-! I could ask you the same thing- that was work, Cooper!" She put her free hand to her neck as the blood trickled down on to her blanket, pushing away from the couch and back towards him, until she's on her knees on the couch.

A very small part of Cooper's own mind was questioning his motives as well. Where had this sudden burst of fury come from? Nancy was allowed to do as she pleased. She was (well, grown woman was the proper term, but it was hard to think of her in those terms considering he was old enough to be her great times-six grandfather) her own person and could do as she saw fit.

The greater part of his was just mad and planned to stay mad for a good long time. It was just work to her, but to him, it felt almost like a betrayal, seeing her there with another man. The image was still there in his mind's eye, her moaning and letting herself be fed upon. Seeing her there, naked save for the blanket, with her blood still trickling down from the puncture wounds, she looked debauched and used.

He could barely form a coherent sentence. "Work or not, you can't--I mean--doing that is--just don't let me see it again." He punctuated his words by pointing a finger at Nancy.

He was pointing and yelling. He was pointing and yelling at her after barging into her apartment and interrupting her in the middle of a transaction. "You're kidding me- oh my god. You're not kidding, are you?" She frowned at him, brow furrowed.

"Cooper! You're the one what barged in! You don't have the right to yell at me about how I conduct my business!" She'd forgotten about him and she felt awful about it, awful he had to see that- no one should have to, she firmly believed it. But that didn't mean he had a right to be acting like this.

"It's my business if I have to sit here 'n watch it!" Cooper yelled at her. He felt an irrational sort of possessiveness come over him. More than just being close or being friends, he felt as if Nancy belonged to him in a way that she didn't for other people. They shared a bond beyond that of someone he just fed off of from time to time.

He paced back and forth in front of her, agitated and still upset. "You can do whatever you like on your own time. Have five of 'em in here at once if that's what pays your rent." His eyes flashed dangerously and it was very apparent that Nancy was alone in her home with a predator who could do exactly what he wanted. There was fury across his face like he'd never shown her. "But don't ever let me catch you with another one again. Or I swear I'll kill him right in front of you."

Edited 2016-06-16 09:58 (UTC)

A bond. Of course they did. She cared deeply about Cooper, like it or not, missed him when he was gone, loved when he was near her. But she'd forgotten him tonight, and taken her business home. Now here he was, yelling at her. She'd never seen him like this- not even when he was hungry, or on fae blood. This was something completely different.

She looked down, five of 'em in here at once- and she could swear she felt her stomach turn to ice. He- he thought that of her? He thought that of her. But any protests died in her mouth at the way he looked at her. The way he paced, so there was no way she could move from near the couch. This, a small voice in the back of her head warned, was what Kyle was talking about.

But this was Cooper. He was her friend. He wouldn't hurt her. No matter how thick and hot the air was. She pulled her blanket closer to her, her back straight, shivering. She should back down, but Nancy was never the sort to do that. Even when she should.

"You'll do no such thing!" she told him, holding her ground. "And I'll have who I want in my home. You don't have to watch anything you don't want to, what business is it of yours who- or how many- I take to my bed?"

"It matters because I care about you!" He was still yelling, but now there was a different look on his face, something sad and full of hurt. The little fool, didn't she understand how seeing her with another man had torn him up inside? He knelt down in front of her, hands coming to rest on her blanket-covered knees. He was still angry and furious, but part of him knew that he had to impart upon Nancy just what he was feeling. "You matter t'me, sweet-pea, more than you'll ever know."

There it was, out in the open. He'd never said his feelings in so many before, always just assuming that she had to just automatically know how he felt. The vampire may have been older than her by a good two centuries, yet part of him was still mentally seventeen. He wasn't the most introspective sort, dwelling for too long on how he was feeling and what they all meant. Now, he was forced to face the facts. He cared about Nancy quite a bit, enough to get more than just jealous at seeing her with another man.

When he knelt, Nancy pressed further back against the couch, even as the words he said were kind, the manner in which he spoke, the way he looked at her-

Her mouth was dry as she tried to swallow, unable to move from her spot. Even if she could have, Nancy doubted she'd be able to remember how to move. Because Cooper cared about her. He cared about her. He cared about her, and he'd walked in on her and another man- good lord no wonder he was furious. She was an awful person, wasn't she? She should have remembered- No sooner had the thoughts occurred to her then she looked down, the weight of his words sinking in.

"No- no- don't. Don't be." Don't be in love with her. Not with her. Anyone, for the love of god, but not her.

A look of pure hurt crossed Cooper's face. So, that was it. She didn't feel the same way about him the way he felt about her. Of course. The vampire had the worst luck when it came to romantic relationships. Besides the fact that he could never grow up and grow old with anyone he felt affection for, there was the simple fact that he'd just never been very good with his emotions to begin with. It was far better to remain quiet rather than risk putting himself out there in the open. Because, as Nancy had just proven, there was far too much of a chance of him getting rejected.

"Do you want me to go?" His voice is quiet, the anger completely fizzled out in the wake of Nancy's words.

"Go?" Nancy blinked her tearful eyes at him. "no- no." don't leave her here, not now with a dent in her wall.

Gingerly, she reached for his hands. She could circumvent anything bad, she was almost sure. "Stay." The night.

her free hand reached for his cheek, gently touching it. "It's- you can't love me, Cooper." Slowly and steadilly, she tried to explain. "you deserve so much more than me. More than some- some fucking broken whore. You deserve so much more."

Don't leave her.

He laced his fingers with her hand, rubbing his thumb across the soft skin of her palm. At least now he didn't feel completely and utterly rejected. She had her reasons, even if he didn't agree with them at all.

Cooper leaned into her hand, savoring every second of her touch. "Don't tell me what I deserve, Nancy. I deserved t'die on the gallows. I deserved a chance to grow old. I deserved not to be a monster. None of that ever happened. So if you're not what I deserve, then at least you're what I choose."

His touch was cold, but it hardly took her by surprise anymore. Gently, she squeezed his hand, leaning in towards him.

"You can't. You wouldn't be able to deal with it, what I do. You've just proven it, to both of us. Gods- I wish it were so easy." He'd go mad with rage any time she saw him, if he knew she'd been working.

"I want to. I want to, and it terrifies me, but I can't, Cooper."

He wanted to offer to support her. Lord only knew, he had enough money saved up from years of saving. But he knew Nancy had her pride. Cooper didn't want to offend her by making it seem like he thought of her like a charity case or that this would somehow give him power over her. He looked crushed as he felt her rejection once again. Still, he persisted.

"I could try. Just give this, what we have between us. give it a chance to be something. Don't let me keep thinking about what could have been," he pleaded with her.

Her heart gave a deep twist, her stomach following suit as he looked up at her. He'd come in here, nearly killed someone, and now here he was kneeling in front of her. He wanted to be with her. Not just for an hour or two, but for some time. A man she cared deeply for, cared deeply about her. And wanted to be with her.

She'd be stupid if she let that go.

"We're bloody idiots."

Without another word, she leaned forward, pressing her lips against his.

Cooper's blue eyes were wide with surprise as Nancy kissed him. That had been the last thing he was expecting. But it was the best kind of surprise for the vampire. He leaned into her lips, kissing her back with a feverish desire.

He was acutely aware of the fact that Nancy was naked beneath the blanket she had covering her form. One hand went up around her shoulders and around the back of her neck. The other was pressing into the couch, helping to propel him upwards as he continued to kiss her, filled with a hunger that only she could fulfill him with.

Naked, wearing a blanket, with drying blood on her neck. But cooper didn't care and therefore, neither did Nancy. It was rare that she kissed anyone- she didn't while working, and while kisses on the cheek were one thing, making out like the teenager she was was a far cry from her usual fair.

But she kisses him back, parting her lips against his as she wraps an arm around him, leaning back against the couch. Her tears were dry, one hand still caressing his cheek. They were stupid. so stupid.

But that was exactly how she wanted it.

The hand braced on the couch came up, pulling at the jacket and T-shirt Cooper was wearing. Both dropped to the floor, revealing a skinny, pale torso, the awkward kind of teenage body that Cooper was never going to grow out of. Normally, he would have been more self-conscious in front of a prospective partner. But this was Nancy.

He got up from his knees, hovering over Nancy's form there on the couch. One hand slipped down past the concealing blanket and over her breasts. Cooper thought for two seconds about moving to the bedroom, then immediately dismissed the idea. The couch was good enough for him.

Nancy didn't care what he looked like. She'd been with men far less attractive than Cooper in his perpetually-teenaged body. Nothing she'd bring up, not right now, when he'd just nearly killed the customer he'd walked in on her with. But he didn't need to be worried about how he looked. If anything, Nancy was more worried about how she looked.

Granted, she usually cheated with magic and makeup, but the inevitable moment when she let him see her without all that.

But her mind wasn't on that, it wasn't on how Cooper looked, it was how he felt. She placed a hand on his cool torso, feeling him as he cupped her breasts. She sighed out-loud, urging him to continue, to get closer to her, as the blanket pooled around her waist.

Cooper was now hovering over Nancy's body. It was no matter to him that she had just been with another man. She was his now and nobody else's. He began to trail a line of kisses down her neck and the rest of her body, studiously avoiding looking at the marks that had been left by the other vampire. His teeth scrape gently against her skin, light enough not to leave marks.

He trails his lips down between her breasts and her stomach, stopping before he can go any further. He takes off his belt and pants, slow and with deliberation, locking eyes with her all the while. Then it is just the two of them, their bodies becoming one in something that is as intimate as drinking her blood and just as pleasurable for the two of them.

there's a chance that we may fall apart before too long

Finnick- after he stabs a guy with a trident

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Cooper- mid June. cw: nudity, prostitution

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