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"Here's my offering," Dani says, taking the smallest sip of her tea that Aubrey has ever seen anyone take. She seems to toss the liquid side to side in her mouth before swallowing. "Okay. I used to have a pet rabbit named Professor Poxfeet," she says, holding up a finger to tick off one on it. She holds up a second when she says, "I've never drank soda, and I've never been kissed."
Aubrey snorts. "Professor Poxfeet, huh? Sounds like Dr. Harris Bonkers has some competition!"
"That is, if good ol' Prof Poxfeet wasn't my lie." Aubrey nudges her in the side with her knee. "As if. You could never come up with that on the fly." Aubrey taps her chin and says, "Bullshit on the never been kissed."
"Ah!" Dani sits up to stick her tongue out. "Wrong again. That's three for me, and zero for you." Aubrey rolls her eyes, but quickly realizes what this means. "Which was the lie then?" she asks, sort of beating around the bush, and Dani huffs. "The soda. You watched me shotgun a Dr Pepper literally less than a week ago."
"Like I remember things that happen past five minutes ago," Aubrey shrugs. She shifts a little closer to Dani. "You've really never kissed anyone?" Dani shakes her head. "Nope," she says, popping the 'p' at the end. "Never."
"But you've had girlfriends," Aubrey insists. She can't wrap her head around it. Dani is so beautiful. How could it be that she's never been kissed before?
"Never," Dani repeats. She shrugs. "It's just not something we do in Sylvain. We have lots of other ways of showing our love." Aubrey feels her heat rate tick faster as she scoots a little closer to Dani, testing the waters. "Like what?" she asks, and in response to the look she gets from Dani, she blushes heavily and adds, "For research purposes."
"You're a freak, Aubrey Little," Dani jokes, but she's smiling. "Hold out your hand." Aubrey does so with little to no reluctance, because she trusts Dani with all of herself. Dani takes her hand lightly from underneath, cradling it gently in her own hand and the other pressing a finger into the pocket of Aubrey's palm. "I like this way," she says, her voice much softer than usual. "You could call this a kiss, I guess." She draws several small shapes in Aubrey's palm, much too small to discern, and then blows at the skin. For just a second, a wave of perfect calm crashes down over Aubrey. It feels like everything has just been made right, even if just for a second. And then, just as quickly as it came, the moment is gone and Dani stops holding her hand.
"I'd ask you to return that," Dani says, only sounding halfway serious. "But you don't know how, I don't think. Or if you even can."
"Dani," Aubrey says softly. She can't stop thinking about that moment.
"Did you like it?" Dani asks, sounding somewhat amused, and Aubrey can't help the way that she grabs, desperate, at Dani's hands. "God, Dani. That's so... that's so cool."
"There's other ways," Dani says with a vague gesture that doesn't make much sense to Aubrey- some loops in the air with a finger, a vague eye roll. "None of the others are quite so sophisticated. That's the only one I think is really anything to write home about, but you can't do it in public." She shrugs. "That hand one is kinda what I'm assuming is the equivalent of making out in public. Not wrong, but also not really appreciated." She stops short. "I'm rambling, aren't I?"
"Yes," Aubrey agrees quickly. She bumps Dani a few times with her elbow. "What, is someone all embarrassed?" Dani laughs a little, but the sound is clearly nervous. "Well, yes," she admits. "It's, um. It's been a while. Since I've done that."
"It was nice," Aubrey assures her with a hand on her shoulder. She rubs a little soothingly. "Show me some other ways."
Dani's back is oddly stiff. "You're showing me one right now."
"Oh!" Aubrey draws her hands back. "I'm sorry, I never realized- shoulders, really? that's interesting- I never realized you considered that- oh god Dani I do that so often when we hug-"
"Aubrey." Dani presses a gentle finger to her lips. "I like it when it's you." Her hand slowly migrates to Aubrey's own shoulder. She rubs her fingers in softly, tilting her head. "I like you."
"Oh." Aubrey doesn't take her hand away, but still hasn't gone back to rubbing. "I, uh. I like you too?" Her voice comes out squeaky and odd.
"Then kiss me, stupid," Dani smiles, and she moves her free hand to encourage Aubrey's fingers. It's a very strange sensation, Aubrey thinks, to feel fingers on her skin and call it a kiss, but the more she thinks about it the more she understands. The intimacy is there just as much with lips- the soft and the smooth and the chapped, the push and the pull. She scrapes a gentle nail over Dani's shoulder, and Dani shivers. "Very good intuition," she comments, her voice a little strained. She closes her eyes after that, lets her lips fall away from each other, breathing from her mouth. Aubrey watches with intent, committing to memory the picture of Dani like this, her tongue darting out to wet her unkissed lips.
Dani leans her head against Aubrey's empty shoulder, breathing at her neck. "This is another way," Dani whispers. "Like this." She whispers several words into Aubrey's skin, and Aubrey catches a few- love, trust. The love makes her heart swell, stills her hand where it is. "Dani," she answers her, or maybe she asks for her or maybe Aubrey doesn't know, but Dani sits up and looks her in the eyes.
"I want to show you how I learned," she says. "If you'll let me."
"Be my guest, Aubrey Little," Dani nearly whispers, and Aubrey can't hold back anymore. She kisses Dani like a ship coming back to shore. She kisses Dani like a rain might kiss a desert. Like a frost might kiss a rose.
Dani hums softly behind her lips and Aubrey hums back, appreciation and joy and giddiness impossible to otherwise rid herself of boiling up in her belly. Dani pulls back and says, "I like-" and that's all she gets out because Aubrey is kissing her again.
Dani's not what someone might call a good kisser. Because she's never done it before, and because her lips are dry and it's all peck and go but it's because it's Dani that she like it, because it's Dani and not some random Tinder date or a girl at a bar. Because it's Dani and she's learning, and because when Aubrey whispers, "Like this..." Dani follows along as Aubrey opens her mouth just a little, flashing teeth and tongue like a promise. Dani slides her tongue along Aubrey's lower lip in a show of great bravery and confidence, and Aubrey reacts like a teenager with no experience because she wants to encourage her, and because it's Dani and it feels like she's going to burn away into nothing.
Dani closes a hand around Aubrey's wrist without parting. Dani taps her fingers in patterns like morse code, and Aubrey knows without asking that it's another kiss. She'd kiss Dani in any way they could think of, kiss Dani like the world was ending or forever or never again as long as it meant this wasn't over yet. Chaos rings away in her head and the world could end right now and she might not know for a million more years. Dani's fingers keep tapping. Her lips part, silent invitation, and Aubrey flicks her tongue into Dani's mouth.
They find a simple rhythm somewhere along the line, a press and go that certainly isn't the most mind blowing kiss Aubrey has ever had but is also definitely up there. Dani lets go of her wrist to cup her face, to brush away stray hair and caress her, and Aubrey can find less and less to complain about by the moment. Dani leans chest to chest with Aubrey, smiles against her lips and mumbles into her breath, "This is another..." and she puts one of her hands to the flat of Aubrey's chest. Aubrey doesn't understand but follows suit, setting her own hand in a similar position, the back of her hand to Dani's. It clicks as they kiss again, as their heartbeats pound out opposing drumbeats against their chests. Feeling out each other's heartbeats, they kiss twice at once, the world melting away around them.
Dani breaks away to breathe finally, her chest heaving and her heart starting up a new, faster rhythm. "How do you breathe while doing that?" she puffs, and Aubrey points somewhat sarcastically at her nose. Dani blinks a few times, and says, "Oh." She smiles sheepishly. "Should've thought of that." She leans against Aubrey heavily until they topple over, Dani on top.
"This is the last way," she says. "To kiss. Where I'm from."
"Tackling me?"
"No," Dani says. "Cuddling." She wraps both arms around Aubrey's middle and pulls them close again, laying her head down below Aubrey's chin. "But we don't have to do this one if you don't want. I know it has human implications, too."
"I'd do anything with you, Dani," Aubrey admits. "I'm still reeling from the kiss."
"Which one?" Dani teases, and Aubrey shrugs truthfully. "All of them. Any of them. It's about it being you, not how it happens."
"Oh," Dani says again. The room falls silent but Aubrey's space heater.
"We don't have to do this one," Aubrey agrees finally. "If, uh. You don't want to kiss anymore." Dani leans back enough to look Aubrey in the eyes, a smile crinkling her face. "Quite honestly, Aubrey?" she admits. "I think I'd like to do them all again." She blinks a few times. "If you'd let me."
Aubrey smiles. Her smiles spreads open to a grin, her grin to a beam. She takes Dani's hand in hers, cups it in her palm and places her finger in the center. She draws a heart and the letter U, and then she blows on Dani's palm. Nothing happens, but Dani's smile is wobbly and funny, almost like she's trying not to smile as much as she is.
"No luck," Aubrey says with a sort of mocking snap. She looks up at Dani with a more devilish smile now. "I guess you'll have to teach me."
"It might take a while." Dani's voice wobbles in the middle with what might be a giggle some other time.
"We've got as long as you're willing," Aubrey smiles.
She leans in and kisses Dani's neck with the word, "Time." It seeps into the pores of the room, and then holds still as Dani kisses back.