Formal Cheese [closed]

It didn't take too long for Richard and Lynn to get back to his place. It was still freezing and the whole time back, Richard ultimately regretted not taking his tux jacket apologized on more than one occasion about it, but it was already too late. Thankfully, as he walked in the front door, it was surprisingly warm... and hopefully to Lynn's surprise, clean. It was weird to see it so sparkly until he remembered that he had put in a good amount of effort to make sure that the place was spotless before he left. He didn't want to come back to bugs or rats, which, thinking back on it, was funny due to the fact that, at the time, that was what he was most concerned about. Now, Richard was just glad to be home-- to be with Lynn for a good night in, getting comfortable and probably going to sleep within the hour. Maybe...

"Hey, would you look at this?" He asked her teasingly. "It's clean! Probably still not up to your standards, but I tried, at least." Closing the door behind her, he looked around for a moment before taking a deep, contented breath. "Well, make yourself comfortable. Sit where you like; any food in the kitchen is yours... but you might want to check it first. I haven't been back here in a while." He told her with a bit of a sheepish laugh. "And while you're doing that, I'll be right back." He could finally get some medicine in his system. He was thankful that the school had someone deliver what little things he had back to his apartment and had gone in search of them to pull out the pain medication. The longer that they had walked back to his place, the more his head began throb, first being a dull ache then turning into a splitting migraine. Where had they put his one and only tiny bag?

She kicked her shoes off at the door, welcoming the warmth of the small apartment and shivering the last of the cold off her bare shoulders. Lynn wasn't sure how she made it to the dance alive, much less find her way back without freezing to death. Maybe he had just kept her too distracted. Her hazel eyes followed him as he wandered around the room, acting as if he had only been gone a few days instead of a few months. He tried to hide it. She still saw the violent wince cross him with every stel.

Lynn couldn't help but give out a tired smile all the same. If nothing else, it just reminded her of how she missed having him around.

Even if she'd had her fill of food for the evening, she found herself wandering to his kitchen all the same, seeing nothing stand out at a mere glance - aside from a small, stray bag on the counter. Curious, she slipped it up into her fingers, pulling out a small plastic bottle and reading over the logo. Her eyes widened. It was strong, strong stuff. Her brother had used it once after he went and practically shattered a good part of his body.

She pulled the medication up close to her chest, backtracking and steering herself towards the bathroom, quiet until she found herself in the doorframe. "Hey," Brailynn put on a smile best as she could, wandering in and setting the bottle at the edge of the sink with a small click. "Looking for this?" While she tried to stay cheery, she could feel an uncomfortable warmth building up in her eyes, brushing her hand up his back and glancing at him through the mirror.

At the point of Lynn entering the bathroom, Richard had practically ransacked the place, looking in the cabinets and all of the drawers, tossing random items onto the counter as he tried to clear them out for a better view. However, he stopped suddenly as her voice echoed in the small room, bouncing off of the porcelain and sounding almost how velvet feels as he turned to look her way for only a moment as his eyes were drawn to the small orange bottle in her hands. "Oh, thank you," he told her, picking up the bottle, popping out a couple of pills before downing them with some water from the faucet. He knew it wouldn't kick in for a little bit, but just the fact that he took something for the pain was already making him feel better. It also helped that Brailynn's gentle touch on his back quickly soothed him and nearly made him forget about his troubles.

With a big grin and a contented sigh, Richard turned to Lynn, pulling her close and wrapping her in a big hug, holding her tight before leaning down and planting a kiss on the top of her head. "I'm so glad that you're here," he told her softly, simply taking in the feeling of her so close to him. It felt different now than it did at the dance. They felt closer, and he certainly felt more secure. "I hate that I didn't bother to ask you earlier-- how have you been since..." he paused, trying to figure out how to word his thought with a little bit of a euphemistic tone. "Since I've been gone?" It was all he could think of.

He was so warm.

After what seemed like endless nights of quiet rooms and cold sheets, it was a blessing to he wrapped in his arms again. She took in a deep breath, burying her face into his chest as she felt a tender kiss atop her head. It sent the butterflies in her stomach into a frenzy, just like it always did when he was so sweet to her. She locked her arms around him, thinking carefully on his words. "How have I been?" He asked it so casually, like he'd only asked how her day had been. She had been clinging onto hope for so long, on constant guard for apologies or bad news, now that it was finally over; she wasn't sure how well she had been after all.

A slight frown crossed her. She pulled away just enough to stare up at him. "Richard Lee Sanford," She scorned, "I swear, if you weren't already hurt, I'd - I'd..." Her voice cracked. Tried as she might to keep her harsh look, it was all-too easy to see her hazel eyes watering. The girl crumbled.

"I was so worried about you all the time," She brushed a shaky hand up his shoulder. "It was hard to sleep, hard to think. All I could ever do was wonder what happened to you." Not knowing, being constantly left in the dark, was the absolute worst part. Lynn took in another deep breath, holding it in and trying to calm herself, if it were even possible at that point.

Immediately, Richard's entire disposition shifted. Worry cross all of his features as well as a hint of guilt as he listened to her words, trying to think of what else to say to that. There really wasn't much, really. While he'd had no choice to stay, she had every right to be mad and upset with him over it. Tightening his grip around her, all he could do was try his best to hold her closer, as if to tell her that he was never letting go. As he hugged her, he found himself rubbing her back with one hand as the other (the good one) tangled itself into strands of her beautiful blonde hair.

It was so hard to see her cry, even harder than anything he remembered having to endure, especially since this time, it was real. It was so real, and it broke his heart, shattering it in a million pieces as she tried as hard as she could not to break down. "It's okay..." he whispered, trying to keep himself composed as well. "I'm not going anywhere like that again, you got that? Never..." As the words rolled off of his tongue, he knew that he meant it. If he could help it, missions like that were out of the question. In fact, he desperately wanted to take that issue to the headmaster himself and share a few choice words with him about places like that. However, he felt like he was going to get nowhere with it.

Shaking the thoughts out of his mind, he took a deep breath before looking down at Lynn once more. "How about we sit on the couch and... and I'll explain what happened okay? You deserve that much. I can try to answer any questions you have. How does that sound?" He knew it would never amount to him leaving her and disappearing for a good six months, but it was a start and hopefully she would accept it as a consolation and forgive him for it eventually.

The blonde let lose a shaky breath as she felt herself wrap into her more tightly, the feeling of his fingers through her hair sending blissful shivers down her spine. Was it really okay? "Not without me, you're not." The words fire back at him, whispers of her own. If she had the slightest clue of where he'd disappeared to, the tiniest idea of how to save him, Brailynn would have left town in a heartbeat; no hesitation. But she didn't, nobody knew, and then he just...

Another shaky breath, fighting back a few more tears. "That sounds good to me," she guessed. Answers, after so long, she should have felt as eager to know about what happened as relieved as she was to be with him again, but there was only a pit of unease in her stomach. There was no ignoring the scars, the bruises, the broken arm, the heavy medicine on the counter. She couldn't begin to imagine what he'd been through.

After a moment, Lynn took a step back, letting her hand fall down his arm and grab at his hand, not wanting to let go for a single moment, and led them both to the living room. A rather short journey, to say the least. She took a soft seat unto the cushion, watching him expectantly.

"Yes, not ever without you," He said with a weak smile that dissolved quickly into a troubled look as she turned around and led him to the couch. It wasn't difficult to see that she was struggling with this, and even as he said that he would tell her everything, he had no idea how to go about it. There was so much to say but there were so many details he wanted to leave out. He truly didn't want to worry her, but he felt like it would be worse if she found out other details later on.

Nervously, he sat down next to her, his face almost immediately to the floor as he crossed his hands in his lap simply trying to figure out where to begin. After a moment, he opened his mouth to speak but quickly closed it again with a sheepish laugh. "Uh... sorry, I'm just trying to think about where to start all of this..." Closing his eyes, he tried to focus on what to say first. "So, the mission... It was in Germany. It was a completely last minute thing, so I barely had any time to react. They wanted me to go as a chaperone to oversee its success, but..." his voice trailed off as he inadvertently tried to justify his past decisions. "We got there and-- Well, the point of the mission was to rescue a group of people from this lab who were being used as test subjects. There was this thing about unethical procedures, it was an underground organization/project thing, if that tells you anything." Richard paused again, his gaze never leaving the ground as he tried to keep his mind on track.

"Well... We got there. It was me and three students set on infiltrating, retrieving and getting out of there. Instead, things turned south as soon as we got in the door. It was... It was like they were expecting us." He finally turned to Lynn with disbelief in his eyes mixed with a pain that was clearly written into his features as he seemed to be stuck in his own little world while he spoke. "We were surrounded and captured almost immediately. I... I never would have guessed that we would fail so terribly, but with what happened afterwards, that was the least of my concerns." Reaching up, his good hand rubbed hard against his face as he if tried to wipe the emotions out of it. To try to help himself, he partially turned away from her, doing his best to keep a straight face. Lynn didn't need this right now.

She could feel his body tremble beside her as he spoke on. Every fear, every agony, was etched onto his face, leaving him looking bloom and wears, years older than she knew he was. It left Brailynn absolutely broken hearted. She didn't know what to say. How could those people them coming? What happened to the others that were with them. Despite her questions, the young woman bit her tongue back, that lump in her throat growing sour as he turned away from her; hiding away.

But she wasn't going to hurt him. She'd never do that. Not really, anyways. "Hey, it's alright." The blonde murmured softly. She reached her hand over, cupping his cheek and pulling him tenderly back towards her. He had no reason to feel so ashamed around her. She was just happy he was home. She was there for him. "Take your time." She let her grasp fall down to his waost, embracing him in a tender hug and resting her head against his shoulder. He wasn't alone.

There was a calmness that fell over him as Lynn pulled his face back around to her, but even as she spoke, he couldn't help but laugh with a shameful embarrassment. For some reason, it was hard for him to grasp how terrible these past six months had been and that he had a reason for feeling the way that he did. He was supposed to be the tough guardian, but he had run away like a coward the instant he had the chance. He left the others...

Brailynn's hug was more than welcomed, though. As she wrapped her arms around him and rested against him, he quickly reciprocated, grabbing her and not letting go. Even now after being with her for a decent amount of time since they met up, he still couldn't get over actually feeling her-- the real her-- in his grasp. However, even as he held her, he knew that he had to finish his little story. With a big breath, he pushed his emotions back for the time being to try to keep a straight face.

"They knocked all of us out as soon as we walked in the door. I don't even know how long I was out but when I woke up, they had me in this sterile room. There were all these machines everywhere. It was... weird, to say the least," He began again. "It was a bunch of stuff that I never thought existed. It all looked so new and high tech. This doctor walked in and started asking a bunch of questions. He somehow already knew about Beata and all of our gifts. One of the machines could even figure out the specific power. I... I didn't even have to say anything. I guess it had been the thing they were working on? But..." He paused, trying to figure out how to word it. He didn't want to have to explain everything. They'd be here all night.

"It was funny, though. None of that really bothered me. At the time, I could have easily gotten out. I'm not sure why I didn't try as soon as I woke up, but..." Richard stopped again, taking a moment to finally let go of Lynn and shove his hair out of his face. "But somehow, they had you there. I-I mean, not you, really... but like, a hallucination. Of course, I didn't know that. It was so real. You were there. I could see you and I could hear you. They were going to hurt you if I tried to leave or didn't do as they say, and with me not knowing if that was actually you or not, I didn't want to risk it. So I stayed..." At this point, he just wanted to finish up this story. He didn't even really want to see how she was reacting to this so far.

"They ran a bunch of tests trying to figure how my power worked once they figured out what it was. At first, it wasn't that hard. They just made me go through a bunch of different materials but as it continued, it actually became more difficult to pass through things but they wouldn't let me stop. They did... some terrible things to you to keep me going." Immediately, he had to stop, trying to hold back what emotions were boiling inside of him. His gaze shot back to the ground before giving an unamused laugh. "But on the bright side, I learned exactly what my limitations are, right? I mean, at least I got that going for me..." he muttered, trying his hardest to keep it together. "There were some other tests that they did too. I may have fainted a couple of times, cracking my head open on the ground. At least, that's what they told me after finally letting me know that you weren't real. Problem was that you had been there for so long and... I had been there for so long that it was hard to tell the difference between what was real at that point and what wasn't. But even after all of that, they were still trying to push my limits. The finally time that I knocked myself out, I must have been out for quite some time. They built this machine that they stuck me in to try to force me to use my ability. I'm not sure what their goal was with it, but it basically acted like a giant microwave. It was actually with that thing that I was able to get out but it left me with quite a few scars..." He paused again, readjusting in his seat to try to find some possible position that was comfortable, but everything at this point was terrible.

"I did find out that I can actually pass my power to objects for a short time. Which make sense in retrospect since thankfully my clothes always come with me. I managed to take half the machine with me as I fell through the floor and got out. I broke my arm doing it, though. But I got out... somehow. I got to the ground floor before they found me and got some help from some nice and clueless Germans. I don't even know how they didn't take me back but next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital." When he was done, Richard finally glanced over to Lynn, waiting not-so-eagerly to see how she was handling this.

The young woman took in a shaky breath, nuzzling herself deeper away into him, comfortable as she could be in her arms as she listened on with her cheek amused against his chest. The way he described everything, it sounded like a cold, calculated Hell. It was hard to believe that people really existed in the world, and yet she couldn't deny it no matter how much she'd wanted to. She'd heard many times over the kind of person her parents had served, back when they were her age, and knowing now that they'd gotten their hands on someone else, someone she loved and knew didn't deserve it... and the others that were left behind, oh God...

Brailynn bit down on her teeth, bunching up his shirt in his hands. "You stayed for me?" She murmured under her breath. Or the her he thought she was. It was so cruel, almost laughably so. The blonde shool her head, imagining all those experiments he descibed... she couldn't even wrap her thoughts around it. It was all so awful! "Richard, I'm sorry."

She couldn't hold back a sniffle, fighting back a few tears and holding him closer. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, I can't imagine..." Lynn shook her head. She could have gone after him or something instead of sitting at home. She could have went out and helped him. She should have done something. "I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay..." he said, although it barely came out as a whisper as he wrapped his arms around her once again, trying hard to keep it together. He didn't want her to see him weak, but with what happened, it was nearly impossible. Even though he hated it, it actually felt good to tell someone what happened while he was there. Heck, she was really the only one that knew. Sure, he had to explain some of it to administration of Beata but he hardly said anything when he was asked about it. Now it was out there-- all of it. It was weird, but he was glad that it was.

After giving her a big hug, he finally pulled away for just a moment to look down at Lynn, tears stinging his eyes as he gave her a smile. "But it's all over now. I'm back home with the real you who I can see, hear, and touch," he told her weakly. "You just... might have to be a little patient with me for a while. I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to readjust to normal life again... If you can call this normal." he chuckled for a moment as he looked at her calmly, reaching up with his thumb to catch the stray tears she was trying to hold back.

Seeing the smile grow on his face made her feel less guilty when she quietly did the same, her small grin only growing as he brushed the warm tears off the edge of her eyes. Brailynn nuzzled into the cup of his hand, brushing her fingers across his back, over his shoulders, up the curve of his neck. "But you're right, you're home now. That's what matters." She said, her voice a low, but firm whisper. Despite everything that had happened to him, and how sick it all made her feel, there was no erasing that feeling no matter what. She opened her eyes, gazing up at Richard. "I missed you so much..."

Her touch was so comforting. The gentle feeling of her fingers tracing the curves of his body up his back and to his neck felt familiar but also exhilarating as he gazed into her stare, their eyes locking for a moment. "I missed you too," he told her quietly, his voice inadvertently dropping to her volume as his hand moved slowly and carefully around her face and tangled itself in her hair so that he gently cradled her head for just a moment. It was funny, really, how in that moment everything just seemed to disappear. It was as if everything he had just described never happened. The only reminder was the fact that his other hand was stuck in a large cast, preventing him from doing much with it, but it didn't stop him. After only a second of looking at the gorgeous face in front of him, he pulled Lynn towards him, their lips meeting quickly and hungrily as he tried all that he could to bring her ever closer to him. He hadn't even realized how badly he missed her touch until now when she listened to him spill everything that had happened in the past six months-- listening to him become so vulnerable and broken inside-- and she accepted it. It was amazing, truly outstanding that someone like him was able to be with someone like her, and after only a moment, he suddenly broke the kiss long enough to gain his breath back and...

"I love you..." he blurted without thinking and suddenly freezing up as he did so. That was a first. Had they ever said that to each other before? He didn't think so, and now it was out there, hanging tense in the air. Why did he have to say that now of all times? Things were just settling down again (for the most part) and he had to rile it back up. What would she say?

His kiss was warm and welcoming and sweet, and Brailynn couldn't get enough of it. She sunk into his embrace, tightening her arms grip around him and letting her nails dig into his shirt and run through his hair. It had grown so tiring being cold and lonely all of the time. Being able to be in his arms again was a happiness alone that felt like it would never burn away. In the brief moment they'd broken apart to catch her breath, head in the clouds, nuzzling against him when he'd still somehow had managed to completely catch her off her guard.

The young woman swung back a bit, surprise etched clear on her face. It hadn't lingered long. She hadn't been sure how long she'd waited to hear him say that, how many times she dreamed of it, and she'd learn better then try to rush anything, but to hear those threw words, when she was starting to be certain she'd never even hear his voice again... she wasn't quite sure how to take it. Lynn grinned, a stupid, sappy, wide grin, shaking her head and pushing her lips back against his, fiercer than ever. "Richard," She whispered when she could finally bring herself to catch her breath. "I love you too."

Richard had never felt his heart freeze so fast as he could only watch the swirl of emotions overcome the former spring before it finally ended in another kiss, this one which he welcomed with a newfound energy. It was as if all of his worries instantly melted as soon as their lips met. He didn't even need an answer from her as he pulled her close, already knowing what her response was to his blabbering. However, it wasn't until she pulled away for just a moment to actually say what was on her mind did he smile back, stifling a giggle that wanted oh-so-badly to escape his lips. "Good. I was getting a little worried for a second," he told her through a wide, toothy grin as he pressed his forehead to hers, his fingers brushing gently through her hair as he just took in the moment. It was almost impossible for him to believe that all of this was real, yet here they were and he couldn't have been happier.

Forgetting all about his pain, Richard pulled her in for another kiss, his arms feverishly wrapping around her waist as his lips planted firmly onto Lynn's. After so long, it was almost heavenly being in her grasp again, knowing that now there was nothing that could separate them, and they didn't have to go anywhere tonight. It was just them, and he was going to make sure that he enjoyed and appreciated every moment of it. In fact, it didn't take long for his hands to start exploring every inch of her body, taking in every detail and every fiber of her being, constantly reminding himself that this was most definitely real as his movements grew more passionate with every passing second. It was almost mind blowing how foreign but familiar this experience was, but no matter how it felt, he only knew that he wanted her. He could only hope that she felt the same way.