manipulative | deerington contact.

I don't know. The only thing I could think of is that it was possibly the person who shot me.

( not necessarily his father but the fact that his father was brought by some supernatural force and that gun was probably the same thing. it had taken his body longer than usual to adjust.

he watches her brush her fingers over his chest, over the spot he'd been shot. )

Maybe my body just needed time to adapt to what happened but I did heal so that's the important part.

[ she murmurs, ] The very important part.

[ once she's confirmed that his skin isn't going to split open again from any pressure, she pulls that bandage all the way off and then drops it onto his floor. the other one can wait.

she wastes little time in lowering herself so that she can kiss where he'd been shot. he may not believe it had been her fault, but giuseppe wouldn't have ever shot him if it wasn't for her. and katherine's feeling uncharacteristically guilty. ]

Katherine.

( he sighs because her lips feel so, so good and his skin warms at the touch but he knows there's something lurking underneath the display of affection. he thinks he knows her well enough to know she's trying to take what happened and make it her fault. )

It's not your fault.

( it's not. it's his father's fault and maybe it's stefan's for not just going along with him to make things easier. he sighs and reaches up to curve a hand around the back of her neck. )

It's not your fault.

[ he keeps alleviating her of any responsibility when she knows that this is her fault. maybe this very instance isn't, with giuseppe returning to try and complete his task of saving his son from a monster… but it had been her fault in 1864. katherine's not ready to fully acknowledge or apologise for that, but she does allow herself this.

keeping her head bowed, she kisses the skin she remembers being torn and incredibly bloodied. she ignores the hand on the back of her neck if it's meant to have her rise. instead, she starts to suck at his skin.

she had promised to make him feel great and she wants to finally give into that intense desire to be close to him. he's here, not in pain, and she feels like being selfish. ]

It's not. It's not your fault.

( maybe she's not going to acknowledge him but he's going to keep saying it and saying it. it wasn't her fault. his father wasn't a good man and he was never going to accept his sons doing something that he didn't agree with.

he sighs, letting his head tip back and his eyes close. her mouth feels so good, soothing any lingering ache and relaxing him. )

It's not your fault.

[ he's really ruining a damn good thing by being himself.

lifting her mouth away from his chest, she stretches out along him so that she can hover over his face. she wants to kiss him quiet, but she doesn't end up doing that. she likes the way he's laid out beneath her, with his neck exposed and his eyes closed. she nuzzles his cheek with her nose before she pulls away, kissing her way down his cheek to his neck and then his chest.

shifting along him, she makes her way down to his abdomen and plants her hands on his hips. nipping at his skin, she wants to turn him to jelly beneath her. she thinks she's very close to achieving that. ]

( if she didn't like how he was, she wouldn't be here with him right now. he sighs and finally stops talking, letting her do what she wants and not trying to convince her of something that she doesn't want to hear right now.

he isn't quite jelly but he's definitely starting to relax, letting tension and fear and anger from earlier bleed away into pleasure and want and desire. )

You feel good.

( she does. and he hopes he doesn't have to convince her of that fact. )

[ now that he's no longer feeling the need to inform her what transpired isn't her fault, she relaxes. she hears him and smiles against his skin, nipping and kissing him a few more times before she folds her arms across his abdomen and rests her chin on top of the back of her clasped hands.

smiling up at him, she enjoys seeing the length of his upper body laid out before her. sounding slightly amused, ] You haven't even touched me yet, Stef.

[ tilting her head to the side, she furrows her brow in thought. ] Does this count as the lingerie you want to take off me or...

[ she has a feeling it very much is. maybe it's too bold to assume so early, but she has a feeling anything she wears is something he wants to take off of her. ]

Why wouldn't it count as lingerie that I want to take off of you?

( over the last few weeks, anything that she wore was something he'd want to take off of her. dresses, blouses, jackets and jeans. he'd see them and just imagine stripping her free of them.

he swallows. )

I want you. ( he's said it before, he'll say it again and he doesn't care if it shakes her. ) So yes, I want to take this off of you.

[ it still makes her heart flutter whenever he says those three words. where it would otherwise scare her, katherine easily attributes that to the fact that she's on top of him wearing lingerie. it's far easier than allowing herself to even entertain the thought that he wants her in the same way she's wanted him for over a century.

pushing herself up so that she's sitting on his upper thighs, she brushes her hands against his hipbones. ] When do you plan on doing that? After I've made you feel infinitely better?

[ she hooks her fingers around the waistband of his soft pants and pulls them down his hips. ]

Whenever you want me to.

( admittedly, he's preoccupied by what she's doing now, by her weight on his hips and the way her hands brush against his skin to hook in the waist of his pants. he lifts his hips, trying to help her get those down so he'll only be left in the shorts she likes so much and the one bandage on his back. )

Besides, I already feel better because you're here. ( again, that was the truth. she made him feel better by being here, by waiting, by giving him something to come back to after he'd left the hospital. )

[ where she had been intent on leaving his pants at his thighs, katherine lifts herself up and off of him so that she can push the blanket all the way down to his feet with his pants following suit. with his legs and cute shorts exposed, she returns to her perch on his thighs and straddles him again.

she hooks her fingers into the waistband of his underwear, but all she does is rub her fingers against his skin and leave her hands where they are. as much as she wants to have him naked, she thinks maybe tonight would be best if she moves a little slower.

looking down at him, she shifts on his thighs before stilling. ] I want you to anytime, Stefan.

Okay.

( he says that but he finds it hard to push himself up onto his hands so he can try and at least get her bra off her. he just...enjoys that touch so much especially after tonight when he'd felt a lot of pain and a lot of fear earlier.

but, he does eventually get himself up and he reaches for the straps of the bra to start sliding them down her shoulders and upper arms, watching her face the entire time. )

[ she's very aware that with most of their encounters, she's stripping herself in impatience of being physically closer to him. now, letting him lean up in his own time and undress her... katherine finds herself feeling particularly patient, despite wanting him. she doesn't feel any desire to shove at his hands and unhook her bra at all. maybe he needs to take his time after that particularly nasty encounter from the past.

she watches him, her breathing turning shallow. she brushes one of her fingers against his hip, keeping them all tucked into the waistband of his shorts. as tempting as it is to pull them down, she doesn't want to break away from his task at hand. ]

So, what do you think? [ she keeps her voice low. considering she had once said she'd show him her lingerie for his friendly opinion, she figures it's only fair to bring that back and break the silence. she wants him to relax and have a little fun. ]

You should know what I think.

( he's told her time and time again that he thinks she's beautiful in her clothes and out of them. she has to know what he thinks now but maybe she wants something a little more detailed.

or maybe this will freak her out. )

I think your skin is so soft and warm that it makes it hard not to want to kiss. ( but he leans closer and kisses her shoulder anyway. ) I think that the thought of these under your clothes would drive me wild and make me loose my control in private or public.

( he tries to drag the straps down a little more. ) I think you saved my life tonight and I'm the one getting the reward for it.

( don't argue, katherine. ) I think I haven't been more comfortable in the last few years of my life than I have been these last few weeks.

[ all she can do is stay still and watch him, with only her gaze moving. any and all of her bravado is gone. he could completely undress her and she'd find herself utterly too distracted to react.

she is so grateful he doesn't call her an angel. if he did, she doesn't quite know what she'd do. his words in 1864 had frightened her, and she finds that she's back there, outside of her bedroom door, listening to stefan pour his heart out without a lick of compulsion.

her heartbeat's picked up, a mix of anxiety and hearing sentiments she's wanted to hear for a very long time. ]

Are you really? [ she says it quietly. her eyes narrow slightly, but it's only in thought. she isn't quite sure how she feels, but she can identify one of the emotions swirling inside of her—it's hope that that's very much true. ] More comfortable than you've been.

I wouldn't say it if it wasn't the truth. Not now, not to you.

( but in comparison to how his life had been right before he'd come here and how it had started out, just spending time with her and her family the past few weeks had been comforting and relaxing. he'd been able to help someone he cared about and he'd been able to get to know her a little deeper than he already had.

he reaches around to try and unclasp the bra but he doesn't pull it down just yet. )

Yes.

[ katherine relaxes her arms so that he can pull her bra off whenever he wants to. she's done it numerous times before that having stefan do it feels like he's peeling away one of her many layers. having him do it feels far more significant.

glancing down, she admits quietly, ] You're not the only one who feels that way.

[ if her losing her cool over him potentially dying is anything to go by… she doesn't do grief anymore. it's one of those fleeting feelings she feels then discards like people. but stefan has this ability to crawl beneath her skin and nest there, and he's done it again. if anything had happened to him, she doesn't know what she would've done... but the entire harren hospital staff would've suffered for it. ]

I'm glad.

( after a moment or so of admiring her, stefan finally reaches to pull the bra off of her, tossing it aside and sitting back to look at her again. it's nothing new, he's seen her naked a lot over the last few weeks but it never gets old for him.

he takes a deep breath and exhales, eyes lifting to meet hers. )

You're beautiful.

[ this feels a lot different to every other time she's been naked. it honestly feels like the first time all over again, where stefan had been completely in awe of her. she does feel the compulsion to cross her arms over her chest, but she simply looks down at him and keeps her arms against her sides.

she doesn't particularly want to hide tonight, not after everything that's transpired. only lowering her gaze for a moment, she keeps her eyes on his, her lips parted as she doesn't say anything. it's probably for the best she doesn't right now. she uncharacteristically finds herself without them.

she does wear faint stains of his blood across the lower half of her face and her neck with a few tiny splatters on her chest.

reaching for one of his hands, she encloses her fingers around his wrist and gently draws it up to her face. kissing a few of his fingertips, she brings his hand to the base of her neck and presses her fingers against the back of his to have him flatten his palm out.

all she wants to do is guide his hand down her chest to her heart that he has to hear is beating a little too quickly. ]

( at her encouragement, stefan splays his hand out against her chest and then moves it down, letting it rest against the thumping of her heart. he watches that area like he can see her heart beating before he looks back at her. )

Are you all right?

( her heart's beating so fast and he's not sure if it's because of his words or that she's half naked in front of him. she hasn't told him not to say what he's said so he's going to take that as a good sign. )

[ she hums, nodding her head. then quietly, ] Yes.

[ if anyone shouldn't be all right, it's him, but stefan seems far more like himself than he had been previously. katherine's heart races in her chest because of his words and simply by having him near. it's a little easier to draw his attention away from how he affects her when she's always pushing and pulling for his attention in other ways. ]

Are you?

[ she imagines she knows the answer to that. she takes his other hand and plants it on her hip and rests her hand on the top of his on her chest. ]

Your heart's racing.

( and yes, he's fine. he's just never felt her heart beat this fast. he smiles at her, fingers scratching lightly at her hip before leaning up towards her. )

Is it because I said you were beautiful? Because you are.

( can he make her heart beat even faster than it is? )

[ seriously, has he purposefully chosen to forget her telling him not to call her that? every time he does, she feels like her guard is being jeopardised. all she wants is to let him in while running far, far away from him. comments like that don't exist in a vacuum, and katherine doesn't want to see where it leads her to.

her heartbeat does pick up just a little. ]

Because I'm practically naked and on top of you? [ she looks at him pointedly, although her expression and tone lack a lot of sharpness.

she moves his hand so he's palming her breast, hoping that the weight of her is far more distracting than her heartbeat (which does pick up with this action, too).

she's going to claim back the reins of this and she'll play as dirty as she has to to do so. ]

Maybe.

( that could very well be part of it but he doesn't think that's all of it. he let's her guide his hand to her breast and he kneads her with his fingers, rolling a thumb over her nipple gently. )

But it could also be because I'm calling you beautiful. Because you are. You are, Katherine.

( and he's not letting her just distract him from this. she deserves to know that he thinks that. )

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