poison ivy - the boys

ten

Jane panted in exhaustion as she put her hands on knees to breathe. She was jogging on a trail in the woods and had run four miles with Maeve.

                 She heard chuckling ahead of her and glanced up, seeing an amused Maeve who had hardly broken a sweat, "Don't tell me you're going to die back there."

                 Jane huffed, "I wanted to go a mile, Maeve; not four."

               Maeve took a swig of water from the bottle she had in her hand, "A mile is too easy."

                Jane leaned back up tiredly as she gave Maeve a look, "Too easy?"

               "How much do you even jog?" Maeve asked.

                Jane was silent for a moment, "Not...much."

                Really, Vought wouldn't allow her to jog too much. They didn't want her to become too lean or too muscular or too fat. They just wanted her to maintain her perfect hourglass figure.

               Maeve shook her head as she walked past her back the way they came, "Come on. Now we need to head back."

               "Back?" Jane asked tiredly.

                "Well, the full trail is sixteen so..." Maeve said before giving her a teasing smile. "We'll just do half that."

                 "Maeve!" she shouted as she angrily ran after the woman.

               _____

               Eight miles.

              Her legs ached as she dipped them in the hot tub at night. She was on the floor of Vought Tower where the pool was and someone joined her.

              John had just taken a dive across the pool before he came back to sit next to her on the edge of the hot tub. He ran his fingers through his wet hair before he sat down.

              He wore black swim shorts that ran very low on his waist and had her biting her lip. When he had first arrived, she had asked him about the color.

                "Why do you keep wearing black?" she asked.

               "You said you liked it."

              She paused for a moment as she realized she did in fact say that. But then she realized he had not forgotten and kept wearing black, just for her. 

             A blush coated her cheeks, "Oh."

             "Maeve was trying to kill me," Jane groaned as she reached for her calf, massaging it.

             John chuckled before he stood up in the hot tub, "Here. Let me."

                 She stopped massaging her calf as he stood in front of her before he slowly grabbed her lower leg. His eyes never left hers as his fingers trailed up her shin before moving around to massage her calf.

                 His fingers worked wonders on her sore muscles as she sighed in relief. But his touch made goosebumps to form and caused electric sensations everywhere his fingers moved. His eyes dropped from hers as he focused on her leg (lost in his own thoughts).

               She analyzed his face and the water droplets that stuck to his skin. She noticed how one drop fell from his lips and for the first time she got the urge to kiss him.

                 Badly.

                She wanted to kiss him and then kiss every single drop of water on his body. She swallowed as she leaned towards him with anxiety bubbling in her chest.

                 "What if I asked you to join The Seven?" John asked as he looked back up at her, not knowing how lucky he was just about to be.

              His question scrambled her thoughts and her disastrous desire took a nosedive as she blinked in confusion, "What?"

                "You should've already been in The Seven. But with Translucent dead and The Deep out, I want you to join The Seven," he said before smiling wonderfully. "You can be by my side, Jane."

                  "I....I don't even think I'm qualified for The Seven, John," she said nervously.

                "Of course you are," he said reassuringly. "You're perfect."

                She smiled with a blush, "You think I'm perfect?"

               "Why wouldn't I?" he said as his eyes gazed into hers like he saw all the stars in them.

              "Okay," she said quietly.

              "Okay?" he said as he started to smile again.

                 She hummed in agreement before she leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug as she uttered, "And I'm always by your side."

                  "I love you, Jane," he blurted out as he wrapped his arms around her. She froze for a moment before she pulled away from him.

                "Jane, wait, don't....don't be mad at me again," he pleaded; he couldn't handle her pushing him away again. "Please don't."

She analyzed him as she thought about Seb. But in this moment, he wasn't enough to keep her sad nor would he have wanted her to be. She wanted to kiss John and she realized she had wanted to for a very, very long time (even while she was with Seb and if that made her bad, she didn't care).

She leaned towards him slowly and torturously but he didn't dare move a muscle. Her nose brushed against his before her lips hovered so dangerously close to his for the longest moment that felt like forever. She stayed there as desire filled her mind and she pressed her lips to his, ever so gently, as they shared a short, sweet kiss.

She was breathing heavily after it and she wanted more. She crashed her lips to his and their kisses were deeper, raw, more primal as his mouth devoured hers. He grabbed her and pulled her towards him, making her legs wrap around his waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through the ends of his hair.

His own hands ran up her thighs before traveling up her back, creating a trail of electric sensations that made her gasp slightly as he kissed her. She wanted to keep kissing him; it wouldn't have satisfied her to stop. And perhaps that's why they didn't.