Calm Before the Storm

## Content Information

*“Alright, my creatures of the night... it’s 2 a.m., and you know what that means - closing time at the bars and time for all you self-proclaimed “honorary Irish” to stagger home and pour yourself into bed. I’ve been Zenni, and this has been the St. Patrick’s Day Irish music marathon on WKDN, Radio Echidna.*

*Good night, be safe, and to our Irish friends… slán leat.”*

After a night of shenanigans, Xander slept peacefully on the futon couch in the corner of a room that wasn’t his own.  He hadn’t anticipated staying the night, but with Arsling out cold and Tamzen having yet to return, he thought it wise to keep watch over the cursed human.  He was a light sleeper anyways, so if any intruders were to attack her, he’d be there to hopefully do something about it.  Also, it might be a nice surprise for Tamzen to come home after a long night, and find her partner there to greet her… in a sense.

Tamzen slipped down the hallway towards the suite she shared with Linny, pausing momentarily in surprise as she saw light flooding out from under the door. She smiled, scolding herself for her paranoia - judging by her Twitly feed, Linny had partied hard, and had probably just forgotten to turn off the light before passing out in bed. She entered the suite, taking care to shut the door quietly behind her, so as not to wake Linny.

As she headed towards her room, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Someone was sprawled out on their futon, sleeping soundly. She caught a glimpse of green hair, and smiled. Xander had clearly decided to stick around and keep an eye on Linny - a fitting choice for a knight of King Botato, as Linny had declared him.

She set her backpack on the floor just inside her bedroom door, and fetched a spare fleece blanket out of the cedar chest at the end of her bed. She returned to the futon and carefully spread it over Xander, doing her best not to disturb him.

Xander, ever the light sleeper, stirred a bit as his eyes slowly opened.  He reached a hand up to hold Tamzen’s as he gave her a warm smile.  He whispered softly, still being conscious of Arsling nestled in her bed.  “Well hey there Zenni, you have a good night?”

Being on the air always gave Tamzen a bit of a buzz, a shot of confidence and energy that stuck with her for a few hours until she got home and wound down for sleep. “Oh, not bad…” She squeezed his hand gently, then bent over and left a light kiss on his forehead. “But if you wanted to join me… I’m sure we can have a better one.” She loosed her hand from his grip and disappeared into her room, leaving the door open behind her in a clear invitation.

Xander rises from the futon, a look of intrigue on his face.  “Oh?  Well I don’t suppose I could turn that down?  No, don’t think I will...”  He quietly shuffled into her room, shutting the door behind him with a soft click.  He turns to her, a grin with a mixture of confidence and curiosity stretched across his lips.  “Well now, I’m here, what kind of ‘better’ night did you have in mind?”

She pushed him gently backwards until his back was against the door, her eyes alight with a hunger he had never quite seen from her before, as she leaned up to kiss him. Then she reached out, and flipped off the light switch, and whatever further answer she had for him, only the night knows for sure.

~~Later that Night~~

Xander held Tamzen close to him, an arm wrapped tightly around her torso, as the two lay underneath the covers of her bed.  His bare chest against her side, his breaths slow and his body relaxed.  He kissed the top of her head lightly as he nuzzled into her hair.  “I haven’t said it yet, but I love your hair.  It’s nice, soft, and it matches you perfectly.”

She smiled, her face resting against his chest where she was curled up beside him, one arm draped across his chest, absentmindedly tracing circles and figure-eights with the tip of one finger along his collarbone. “Mmm… don’t you mean it matches all of my freckles?”

Xander softly laughed, “Actually I meant because you’re really fiery and passionate on the inside.”  He glanced at her tangled mess of hair, far removed from the usual straight well kept look she wore.  Then he looked her up and down, freckles running up her arms, to her shoulders, down to her… down the rest of her torso.  “Though yeah,” he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, “I do suppose it matches your freckles too, cutie.”

Tamzen blushed. She wasn’t used to being referred to as “fiery and passionate”, and honestly, she wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that. She smiled and reached up to run her fingers through his hair. “I suppose I should be glad it isn’t any redder, or we’d be in Christmas colors all year ‘round,” she teased.

“Guess that’s true, we’re already both pale enough to be mistaken for creatures of winter.  Best not to add more fuel to that fire,” he teased in return.  Xander rubbed his head into her hand, sighing happily in her embrace.  He was warm, and safe, and so happy, it wasn’t exactly something he was used to.  He didn’t even notice as what was supposed to be another nice sigh of content turned into a light satisfied hiss.

Tamzen, however, *did* notice. She had heard of people ‘purring’ in pleasure, but she was pretty sure she’d never heard of people *hissing*. She froze for a moment, then forced herself to take a breath and relax against him. She traced her finger lightly across his chest, then tapped it twice against his sternum. “Ssssooooo… um… you’ve clearly got a *thing* going on. We going to talk about that?” she asked, calmly and just loud enough that he couldn’t pretend that he hadn’t heard her.

Xander quickly realized what he’d just done and his face turned a dark shade of red.  “Damn, I need to get a handle on that…”  Xander sheepishly rubs the back of his neck.  “I had hoped to tell you about it on our first like, real actual date.  But I suppose cat’s out of the bag… or should I say Serpent...”  He sharply inhaled, and his body tensed.  “Look I get it if it’s not ok that I’m like this, and I understand if now you hate me or-”

She reached up and poked the tip of his nose with her index finger, before letting it trail down to press against his lips. “Shhhhhh…” she said, eyes sparkling with amusement. “Hey! *Heeey…* panicking about what people think of me is *my* thing.” She shifted position until she was laying on her stomach next to him, watching his face carefully as she continued. “Look… I’m a *local* girl, and I literally grew up on this campus. I get ‘weird’ - I can *deal* with ‘weird’. ‘Weird’ is A-OK with me.” She smiled. “I’d just kinda like to be sure that I’m not dealing with the ‘plays with its food’ sort of weird, if you catch my drift…”

Xander’s tension faded and he smiled wide, taking a large breath of relief.  “Ok… cool… good.  Yeah no I’m not planning on eating you, I don’t think we do that anyways…”  His eyes trailed off for a second finding a random spot on the wall.  “Oh shit, I hope other Serpentines don’t do that…  Anyways,” he shifted his attention back to Tamzen, “no, no eating, only loving.”  His face became very flushed again, “I mean dating, but like that doesn’t mean I don’t love you, I do, I’m really really in love with you, but like maybe that’s too early and too forward.  I mean you haven’t even seen serpent me yet, and like there’s so much more stuff going on around me and-”

Tamzen groaned as she stretched and shifted position yet again, pushing up from the mattress and bringing her legs underneath her, until she was sitting criss-crossed, her hands resting on her thighs. “Okay...so, *lots* to cover there. Let’s start at the top…” she reached out and tapped one finger on his chest. “First… I’ve enjoyed this week a lot and, yes, I would very much like to date you a little more seriously, so I think we’re on the same page there.” Two fingers tap. “Secondly, any talk about your ice bitch grandmother, or your fucked up family, or my getting lost in other dimensions or *anything* that doesn’t matter right *here*…” a quick wave of the hand to encompass the bedroom and their current state of undress. “Can wait - *will* wait - until we have clothes on again.” Three fingers tap, then lightly trace down his skin. “Third? Well… you’ll show me ‘serpent you’ when you feel ready to do so. There’s no rush.” She gave him a thoughtful look. “Does that just about cover everything?”

Xander, who’d been intently listening and nodding along after every point, gave one big nod.  “Yup, I think that covers all of it.”  He proceeded to count out three fingers mumbling under his breath, “Serpent… Granny… Love…”  He returned his eyes to hers and gave a final happy nod.  “That’d be all of my anxiety covered, and now it’ll be tucked away for an appropriate time.”  He tried to laugh, but it came out forced and awkward, so he just let his face settle into genuine relief.  “Thanks Tamzen… I uh… I really do love you, and I’m really looking forward to being in a relationship with you…”  Xander reached out a hand to hold one of hers, and with the other began tracing in the bed.  His eyes looked down to where he was tracing, “Sorry for uh… y’know… panicking.”

She chuckled softly, and lifted his hand up to her face, leaving a trail of light kisses across the back of his hand. “Nothing to apologize for. I have to admit, it’s strange being on the *other* side of that experience for once.”

Xander, gaining new confidence, laughed a little bit as he leaned up and kissed her.  As their lips parted he gave her a sly grin, “Don’t get too used to it now, I may be a little frazzled sometimes…” He planted another slightly harder kiss on her lips this time, “But I’m not one to stay that way for too long.”  With a wink, and newfound hunger in his eyes, he began kissing her.  Starting with the cheek he worked his way down to her neck, and everything after that was once more consumed by the night.

~~Later that Morning~~

Xander slowly opened his eyes slowly, his first breaths shallow as he slowly tried to rise.  Then he felt a weight on his right side, and turned to see Tamzen cuddled up to him sound asleep.  Remembering what had happened last night Xander smiled warmly and laid himself back down.  He didn’t want to wake her, and he was happy to just hold her until she decided to stir on her own.

A while later, he felt the subtle change in her breathing as she roused towards consciousness, heard a soft, confused “hmm?” as some part of her recognized that she wasn’t in bed alone, followed by an equally soft “mmm…” of satisfaction as she remembered *why* she wasn’t alone, and relaxed against him. He stroked her hair and leaned forward to kiss the top of her head. “Hey… good morning,” he murmured.

Her brows furrowed, and her grumpy “It better *not* be…” was muffled as she buried her face against his chest. After a moment, she sighed and propped herself up far enough to be able to gaze bleary-eyed at the alarm clock as it ticked over from 12:00 to 12:01. She exhaled and laid back down. “Ladies and gentlemen… Crossman lives to fight another day…” she teased as she turned to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Funnily enough, Arsling and I were joking about you killing one or both of us last night, so I suppose I’ve successfully managed to dodge that fate.”  He gave a small smile to her, and stretched out a bit in her embrace.  “So Ms. Shaw, anything exciting on the agenda for today?”

She gives him a Look. “When you say it like *that*, I feel like I’m your secretary or something…” she muttered, reaching out towards the headboard to retrieve her nightshirt from it’s usual place. She sat up, shrugging the top over her head and attempting to locate the arm holes. Then she smiled over at him. “Well, since we’ve clearly decided to do this backwards, I was wondering if you’d like to join me for dinner somewhere tonight?”

“I’d love to,” he says holding her hand to his mouth and giving it a light kiss.  Then he realized what time it was and tried to grab his clothes in a hurry.  “I’ve got a report due in like an hour… shit!”

Tamzen watched Xander rush out of her room, then flopped back on her bed with a happy smile, humming as she grabbed her phone and started scrolling through her Twitly feed...