Room 408, Sunday evening

[trigons_child]

Raven had run into George earlier in the day and asked her if she could make use of the room George had shared with Jono twenty years ago, since everyone seemed to be staying in those same old arrangements now. George had agreed, particularly when Raven had offered the bribe of the fanciest hotel suite still available at the hotel.

The room was oddly much tidier than she remembered it. But she didn't put too much thought into that before stripping off her clothes (and folding them neatly on a chair to keep from messing up the room again) and slipping into Jono's bed, draping the sheet over half her body. And then she waited, trying to keep her anxiety in check. Sure, there were probably other -- and possibly better -- ways of getting his attention, including, oh, simply finding him and asking to talk, but she was going for sheer emotional impact here.


[For the blue ex-boyfriend what's made her blue. Posted early since I'll be tromping around DC again today.

ETA: Aaaaaaaaaaaand here comes the NSFWness. ;) ]

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[furnaceface]

Today... Hadn't been a bad day, overall. It was his last full day on the island before he'd be heading back to whatever hole in the wall he could find for himself, and so he'd decided to take it easy in the library. And now, admittedly, he was looking forward to just holing himself away in his old room with what appeared to be his new kitten.

Time-tossed, indeed. Thank you for that, Fandom.

He'd been expecting possibly George to be in the room when he'd arrived back. Certainly not Raven. And, for that matter, certainly not Raven, with her clothes sitting off to the side, in his bed.

It took him about a full minute to manage words. This was not exactly a situation that he was terribly used to, anymore.

"I'd ask if you were here to throw my boots at me again, but I seem to be wearing them." He paused and chewed his lip before continuing. "Whereas you don't seem to be wearing much of anything."

So very observant, that Jon.

[trigons_child]

"I...."

For a moment, words failed her. What was she hoping to accomplish here, especially after 15 years of bitterness capped with their encounter yesterday?

To heal, both herself and him.

"I wished to talk to you," she said, pushing herself up a little, enough so the sheet slid off her shoulder but still kept her chest covered. "I thought perhaps this would get your attention."

[furnaceface]

"Well, you've certainly accomplished that."

Jonothon blinked again, just to be absolutely certain that she was really right there, and this wasn't some weird lingering side effect of all of the whisky that he'd been drinking last night.

He leaned back against the door with a sigh, and then shrugged out of his coat, stepping forward and draping it over the back of the same chair that her own clothes were on.

"Well, then. You've got my attention. Talk."

While he straightened out the wrinkles on his coat, now that it was draped over the chair. And managed to blush, which mostly meant that blue-grey skin was now taking on a slight purplish cast.

[trigons_child]

That sigh almost made her want to flee, but she fought against her fear and pride.

"Come over here?" she said instead. "Please?"

[furnaceface]

There was another moment of hesitation. This really was too good to be true, wasn't it? Jon would make his way over to her, sit on the edge of the bed, and she'd slap him again, or say something scathing, and this was all going to be some terrible repeat of yesterday, while she still had the chance to get it out of her system.

Because sneaking into his room and climbing naked into his bed was absolutely conducive to that sort of thing. Right.

Maybe a gremlin bite, then? But she didn't seem to be insane, either. Just... unpredictable. Confusing, at best.

He eyed her for a second more before deciding, to hell with it, he'd felt worse in his life than a slap to the face and a boot to the head, and making his way over, taking a seat on the edge of the bed and trying like hell to keep from looking away.

[trigons_child]

Raven took a brief moment to gather her courage, trusting herself, trusting her gifts and what she felt from him.

Then she was pushing herself all the way, heedless of where the sheet went, and flinging her arms around his neck, her lips coming down on his with a kiss of fifteen years of lost passion.

[furnaceface]

That had been unexpected.

Not bad, by any means. Just unexpected. It caught him off-guard enough that he managed a muffled sort of yelp against her mouth before he realized what was actually going on, and it took him another couple of heartbeats still before he could get his thoughts in order enough to settle into the kiss in turn.

His heart was pounding in his ears, and breathing was going to be a concern at some point, but for the time being...

Lord, she was kissing him. Her lips were softer and warmer than he'd ever imagined they'd be, and the taste of her mouth was enough on its own to drive him half mad.

Before he knew it, he was kissing her back, arms curling around her and hands running through her hair while everything else in the world seemed to just slip away.

[trigons_child]

"I am sorry, I am sorry," Raven whispered between kisses.

He wasn't trying to break free, but that didn't stop her from holding on to him tightly. The tears she wouldn't let herself shed yesterday were now flowing freely down her cheeks.

Pride didn't matter anymore. Just Jono.

[furnaceface]

She was sorry. She was sorry? He'd spent fifteen years running, burying his head in the sand, making himself impossible to find, and here she was, apologizing to him?

For every apology she gave, he murmured a "No," in turn. And every kiss meant that breathing was getting more and more difficult, as fifteen years of guilt welled up in his throat until finally, he pulled away, just long enough to look her in the eye, just far enough so that he could reach up with one hand to wipe the tears from her face.

"What in th'world have you got to be sorry for?"

Really, as he saw it, he'd kind of had to boot to the head coming to him yesterday.

[trigons_child]

She drew back to speak, catching his face in her hands. "You were hurting, and I should have come after you," she said. "You needed me, and I did not come. I should have been there for you."

She'd let pride and pain rule her actions instead of love, and she wasn't sure she could ever forgive herself for that.

[furnaceface]

"You only did exactly what I'd asked you t'do," he protested, and then bit his lip as he looked into her eyes.

Christ, he'd missed those eyes.

"Raven, I don't blame you for that. How could I possibly blame you for it? It was my own bloody fault."

It always was.

[trigons_child]

Raven shook her head slightly, moving one hand to let her fingers caress his cheek. His cheek. His face. She didn't care about his coloring now, any more than she had when half his face had been missing. He was still Jono. Her Jono.

"I was hurt by what you said to me, yes, but that does not matter," she said. "Something was wrong. And I should have ignored that pain and my pride and come to you to help you. And I am so, so sorry that I did not...that I failed you."

[furnaceface]

Sorry that she'd failed him. Raven was sorry that she'd failed him. If that on its own wasn't enough to make him choke back a sob, nothing could. His hand raised to his mouth, and he squeezed his eyes shut. He was too damn old for that. He hadn't cried in ages. Now would be a bloody rotten time to start.

He pulled in a deep breath, and held it. There he was, pulling himself together again. It was the least he could do before he opened his mouth to speak again. And when he did, he was dismayed to find that he was at an absolute loss for words.

So he moved his hand from his mouth to the back of her head, fingers lacing through her hair, and he kissed her again.

"We're both still here," he whispered against her lips as he took a moment's pause. "I don't think I really have much say in the matter, but I think... that ought to be what counts."

[trigons_child]

"We are both still here," Raven agreed, pressing her forehead against his as she traced his lips with the tip of one finger. "And we have much time to make up for."

She took a deep breath of her own, then finally gave voice to what she'd felt the moment she'd realized it had been him in her bed yesterday morning. She'd said it to Karla, but that didn't count. She had to say it to him.

"I love you," she said. "I never stopped loving you."

[furnaceface]

He was smiling. Smiling, and pursing his lips to kiss her finger, and forgetting to breathe.

He'd spent a long time, missing those words. Missing the sound of her saying them. Missing her.

"I love you too," he replied, more breath than voice, an awed exhale that was given some measure of shape. "I've loved you all along."

[trigons_child]

"How could we allow this to happen to us?" Raven said, fresh tears spilling from her eyes. "Fifteen years we have lost...."

She shuddered, but not with cold. "Bobby -- he told me about Weapon X," she said. Thoughts of that weren't going to help the tears. "I am so sorry. I wish I had been there to help you. I should have been there."

[furnaceface]

Weapon X. Fifteen years free of them, now, and he still couldn't help but curl his lip in distaste for the whole program. For Jackson and his scheming. For Neverland, and for what they'd done to the Paths, what they'd done to him.

"You couldn't have known," he said, with a shake of his head. "I was a stupid kid who thought that I could change th'world. There's nobody to blame for how I wound up but me."

[trigons_child]

"Afterward," Raven said gently. "To help you heal from what you had seen and done. So you would not have been alone."

Her fingers skimmed over his cheeks and jaw, marveling over what had been restored to him. "But this...this was after that? Was it as Elizabeth said? Apocalypse?"

[furnaceface]

He lifted his hand to cup over hers, holding it against his face. Marvelling, himself, in the feel of her hand against his skin.

"Apocalypse," he confirmed. If Weapon X made his lip curl, mention of Apocalypse made his insides twist. "M-Day cost me my powers, cost me... nearly everything. Akkaba swept in and stole me away, and this is what I got out of it."

Still wasn't terribly thrilled about the creepy Apocalypse Jr. look. But he couldn't complain about the breathing, and the speaking, and the tasting, and, of course, the kissing.

[trigons_child]

"But that is in the past now," Raven said, projecting a warm wave of comfort. "I will not let any of those people touch you again, I promise you."

She'd kept her demon side under control for the past decade, but she could feel it stirring within her, fed by her anger. She wanted them to pay for what they'd done to Jono. But even more important than that right now was just being here with him.

"And if you think that this frightens or bothers me in any way," she said, tracing the lines on his face, "I will be happy to prove how wrong you are."

[furnaceface]

"Will you, now?" His voice was a little wry. His hand, meanwhile, pulled hers away from those lines, those weird trails of raised skin, so that he could press his lips against the back of her fingers. "You never were one to be afraid of me. I suppose now would be an odd time to start."

[trigons_child]

"Your appearance has changed, but you are still Jono," Raven said, feeling a little shuddering thrill go through her body at the touch of his lips.

"My Jono," she added fiercely.

[furnaceface]

Jon couldn't help but chuckle at that. Her Jono. So much better than Emma Frost's student, a member of Xavier's X-Men, Jackson's Agent Chamber, or Akkaba's pawn.

... His time with the New Warriors hadn't been so bad, overall. Except for how people kept getting killed.

"Your Jono," he echoed, not quite able to bite back a smile that bordered on downright silly, and not just because of the bloody lips. "I think I could get used to being your Jono, luv."

[trigons_child]

"Good," Raven said. "Because I have no intention of ever letting you go again."

She brought her face to his again, putting fifteen years of missing him into her kiss. She'd turned cold fifteen years ago, but now she was on fire.

[furnaceface]

And, for the first time in a long while, so was he. Fortunately, in a far less literal sense than he had been the last time they'd been this close.

His hands let go of hers so that his arms could wrap around her again, pulling her close, savouring the feel of her warmth against his chest. He could pull her closer, didn't have to worry about what might be knocked askew, what might get burned, what might go wrong. That on its own was intoxicating. A little self-consciousness because of the appearance of his body now had nothing on the fear he'd carried with him constantly, when he was still that scarecrow-faced fireball from his X-days.

It was real teeth that bit teasingly at her lower lip, and a real tongue that ran against it as his hands ran over her shoulders, as his fingers pressed into her skin, silently telling her that he didn't intend to do any letting go, either.