The Talk

Army looked surprised by that question for all of one second, then it faded away when he realized he shouldn't have been. "This one's been coming for a little while, hasn't it?"

It really had. Army hadn't known Amy all that long, just a couple of months, but they'd been extremely close that entire time. He hadn't been with other girls, hadn't even occurred to him to go looking. Amy was satisfying in just about every way he needed. Fun to be around, crazy as hell, great for sparring, great in bed, willing to play things cool, never taking him too seriously. They worked. He liked the way they worked. He wanted to keep it up. It wouldn't be the first time he'd started a relationship with a girl, but it would be the first time he actually believed it would pan out.

But still...

"I..." He sighed and reached over to her dangling legs, pulling one of her feet towards him and giving her a little massage around the toes. It helped to keep his hands busy. "I don't know. I mean...okay. I like you. Seriously. A lot." He ran a hand up her calf and smiled back up at her. "I want to be with you. But, aside from the title, what's the difference between what we are now and what we'll be if we make it official?"

Amy returned the smile. She leaned back on her arms and cocked her head, enjoying Army’s touch while she pondered his question. This was comfortable.

“Hmm… You’re right. I can’t think of a whole lot that’s gonna be different. I guess we’d hang out more, watch movies on the couch, maybe, and other couple stuff like date night and brunch. I’d stop messing around with other dudes- not that I have been, but you could stop wondering. We’re still gonna do a whole lot of fighting and fucking; maybe a little more of both. I’d feel a little better about eating the leftovers in your fridge, and I’ll invite you along on my sightseeing tours of Japan. I can’t really see the sex getting any better, but I can tell you...” Her voice fell to a conspiratorial stage whisper. “...I’ll dress up for a boyfriend.”

Then her voice returned to normal. “I guess I don’t really know of anything that would be too different. But here’s what I do know: I’ve never fit better with anyone than I fit with you, Army. Just... everything about you; the things you like, the way you the way you see things, how you won't back down from calling me out on my shit. I like the way we joke around. I like that you’ll fight me. I like that we can be all-out brawling in one minute, then fucking each other’s brains out in the next, like it’s the most normal thing in the world... And I like that I trust you. You’re everything that I'd ever care to look for in a guy. So I don’t know what’d be different- maybe nothing- but I want to be with you when I find out.”

Army raise da playful eyerow her way. "Who said I wondered?" The thought did cross his mind a few times. How couldn't it? He and Amy had sex about ten minutes after the first time they met, it wasn't the large of a leap to think she'd be fairly loose on that sort of thing. It was nice to know for sure, though. And more than a little flattering, if he was being 100% honest.

"I won't lie," He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her thigh. "I don't have a good track record with this sort of thing. Never worked out with a girl before, but, well...I never met a girl like you,  before. So, maybe that'll be the difference. I want it to be. Going out with you is fun." He mimicked her own conspiratorial tone. "Staying in with you is pretty fun, too."

Army gave her foot one last healthy squeeze, then hopped up and sat on the bed next to her, making the whole thing bounce around. "So, yeah" He scooted close enough to rub shoulders with her. "If you can stand hanging out with a dumbass like me, yeah. I'll be your boyfriend. I'm good with that."

The light in the room seemed to soften, and, though she would never have admitted to something so cliché, she thought she could hear the tinkle of soft music.

She couldn’t deny though the warm sensation that was growing out from the center her chest and spreading like hot lava across the rest of her body. When it had crawled up past her neck and reached her lips, her lips parted. “Come here.” She reached out with an arm and pulled him close by the back of his head so that she could press herself into him in a deep kiss.

It was a long one. When she finally disengaged, she glanced quickly in turn at the open door and the chair. If they jammed the chair under the doorknob, they might have the time to… but no. Amy wasn’t done; the hard part was yet to come. Amy closed her eyes regretfully and, in a tremendous act of will, sat up straight again.

“There’s… one more thing.” Amy took a deep breath. She was nervous.

“My visa keeps me here for a year. When it expires, I was going to renew it for another year. After that, though, the plan was to leave Japan.”

“I’ve lived my whole life playing it by ear, so I can’t say for sure what’ll happen two years from now, but the endgame was always to move back to the States and ride out my adult life there. I want to make this relationship work- I've never met a guy like you, before, either. But I… if this changes your answer…" Amy swallowed. "If this is a dealbreaker for you, Army, I understand. We can keep things where they are, no hard feelings. But I’m going to be honest with you: I hope it doesn’t, because I really, really like you.” Amy maintained eye contact for as long as she could, but she ended up averting her eyes to stare down at her knees. Amy knew she was doing the right thing; it would have been dishonest to carry on with the relationship without letting him know of her plans. Of course, that didn't make the stretch of time between her revelation and his answer any less nerve-wracking. Amy balled her hands into fists on the edge of the table and waited. The seconds seemed to crawl by.

Amy gave a small, sad smile when Army pulled her head level. She had forgotten what it was like to be this into somebody, butterflies and the whole bit. But the truth was that she didn't think that there wasn't going to be any guy that would get her to stop moving forward with her plans and goals, and just knowing that was painful.

But when Army started to talk, relief slowly relaxed her hands and unhunched her shoulders. Her smile grew until it was full on twinkling, and, by the time he was telling her not to worry, all worry had already escaped her body. She studied Army's eyes for a moment after he finished, then she leaned forward and gave him a gentle peck on the lips. Then, with a mischievous grin, she swung her far leg over and around so that she was straddling Army's lap and pulled his head in for something a little more serious. When she pulled away, she kept her forehead pressed against his.

"It's never worked out for you before? You must have dated some dumb bitches, because you're killing it at this boyfriend thing right now."

He'd been wondering how much of a mood Amy was in to play after their match. He thought that, maybe, being knocked out for a little while would have made Amy cool down all the way from their little pre-game show. As she straddled his lap and pressed their lips together, he let out a gentle - as gentle as he could - moan into her mouth and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close. Army was extremely glad he didn't bother to put on a shirt.

"Well, be fair, you're pretty unique. I punched you in the face and knocked you out - most relationships would end, right about there." His tongue came out and licked around the edge of her mouth, leaving a thin trail. "But thanks, I'm trying. It's all about knowing what  to say, when to say it, when to lock a door from the inside..."

He glanced at the door, specifically at the lock which he'd had the foresight to put into a horizontal position. Just in case Amy wanted to use the hospital bed for something it definitely was not designed for.

"Ohhh, smooth." That was some impressive foresight. Amy showed her appreciation by wrapping her legs around his lower back and using them to pull them even closer together.

She was in the mood; the mood had been growing steadily since Army's light kiss on her inner thigh, then it had rocketed up exponentially in the past several seconds. If there was any doubt left in Army's mind, her next kiss did its best to erase it- it was rushed, deep, hungry; her tongue fought aggressively in Army's mouth, riding waves of subtle moans and tiny desirous whimpers behind it.

But even with all that working for her, a single jarring thought kept interrupting her rhythm. They'd had sex on bare concrete in a back alley, in a boxing ring in the middle of a gym, on a sleazy-looking couch in the back room of a professional wrestling arena, but the 'AFW trauma ward place' would take the title for "Dirtiest place that they'd done it in." Handily. Her mind was assaulted with intrusive thoughts. Daisuke probably spent some time on this table. King probably got his sweat all over it. Amy winced inwardly.

Amy's panties were staying on as long as they were here, end of story. That didn't mean that they couldn't keep kissing,- she liked the kissing- but it did mean that they would have to think up an acceptable alternative. And fast. Amy didn't want to be denied release a second time.

When Amy next came up for air, she asked breathily. "On second thought, is Carmen home tonight?" Kiss. "Do her rules apply to girlfriends, too?"

Amy was postponing sex. Maybe Army had hit her a little harder than he thought, because that was about the last thing he ever expected from her, and she was a very unpredictable woman.

He supposed it made some sense, though. He was fine going at here, but home would be better. More space. Better air conditioning. More private time. Videogames to play between and afterwards. On top of that, he had this idea for ice cubes that he'd been eager to try out, and this struck him as a good opportunity for it.

"Not sure." Army ran his hand over her smooth thighs as they wrapped around his body, keeping them nice and tight together. "I'm thinking there's a loophople, there. Pretty sure Carmen never figured I'd actually go and get me a girlfriend." Kiss. Kiss. And a little love bite on her bottom lip. "But she's out for the night, yeah.So anything you want? Tonight, it's on."

And it just occurred to Army that he'd actually managed to get a solid girlfriend before Carmen did, despite the age difference. Life was funny, sometimes.

Amy weighed the pros and cons. She didn't live too far; they could agree to meet in an hour at his place, and she could use that time to whip home, clean up, grab a few things for the night, then hurry on to Army's. But, as turned on as she was now, she couldn't be sure that she wouldn't fall into her futon 'just for a second' and end up knocked out for the night.

Plus, it still hurt a little to breath. She didn't want to risk that going away before she got to see what that was like during sex.

Amy pushed into him for one last especially sloppy kiss before backing off and moving to stand up, wiping saliva off of the sides of her mouth. "Great. Let's grab our stuff from the locker rooms and get going." They couldn't move fast enough. Was there anything else they could do to save time? She thought about it. "Don't shower here. We'll do that together at your place."