An Acquired Taste

Who: Lucas and Feo
Where: Lucas’ apartment
When: evening

They’d started earlier than usual, an excuse for Lucas to leave the office early. It was a slow news day in his eyes anyway. Cops shot, serial killers caught? That was easy writing, things he could do in his sleep. His byline would still be visible, but not any ground that he hand’t already covered at some point in his life.

When they’d finished through the first round of enjoying one another’s company, the sun had set, leaving his bedroom dim, lit by a hall light and bathroom off the room, not much else. Lucas was admiring the marks on his wrists from the binds Feo had them in earlier, rubbing at them to test how deep the marks were, how long they’d last.

Without bothering to be too covert about it, Feo watched him stare at the remnants of the evening thus far. Then her attention shifted to the marks themselves, studying them herself. They’d be raw for a while but ultimately they’d be nothing at all. Just some fleeting thing. There was bound to be a metaphor in there somewhere, and Feo smirked to herself.

“Good work should always be appreciated,” she finally commented, leaning back against the head of the bed. She supposed she couldn’t fault Lucas too much when it came to appreciation.

That had Lucas looking up at her, leaning back so he was closer to her, sunk lower though, level with her shoulder. “You’re work’s always appreciated. But I have more concern for how long that marks will last this time around than usual.” They weren’t deep, not yet at least, and while they might still be there faintly the next day, Ally would really need to be looking for them to find them.

In a a bit of a display to show that he had her full attention, that she was going to bite at whatever bait he was dangling, Feo turned around to face him and looked him squarely in the eyes. “And why do you have more concern than usual?” True, she was interested in whatever it was but what interested her more was his apparent desire to tell her.

The full attention was almost off putting but Lucas went with it, fingers grazing her chin, thumb along her jaw line. “I have a date. Normally I try to keep evidence of one woman from the other. Keeps things from getting complicated.” Though lately he hadn’t really bothered with other women, letting Feo and work taking up most of his time. It wasn’t a devotion thing, more that if he wanted something, Feo was better at accommodating exactly what he was craving rather than just part of it.

He had a date. She should have guessed. She also guessed it was meant to be some provocation but, for the moment, it fell under the realm of amusing. Of course, there was the implication that he kept the evidence of scores of women from her. Which would have held more weight if it didn’t hold so much doubt. “Surely no evidence is the least complicated?” Obviously his date wasn’t that much of a concern.

Lucas gave her a bit of a look and shook his head. “I’m supposed to be a one woman man now?” he asked, knowing the question held its own weight. Leaning in he ghosted his lips across her shoulder, then leaned back.

“It’s meant as literally as it can be. If evidence causes complications, leave none. Concept’s hardly complicated.” The only thing Lucas was supposed to be was available, and for once the meaning of her comment had been fairly straightforward. If he was concerned about his dates discovering a sign of his rather unique pleasures then he should consider the scheduling of his activities more carefully. Laying back on the bed, Feo looked up at the ceiling. “So. Do you want me to ask who she is and what you’re doing? Or would you prefer to slowly leak out the details?”

“No, not complicated, but you know me, I act on impulse. If I started planning things properly I wouldn’t be the same man.” He looked down at her, watching her lay there. “Do you want to know? Do you even care?” There was a valid curiosity behind the question, if she did want to know, if she was curious about where he would be and whom he’d be with.”

“Or you’re a man who wants to see what happens when reckless ways catch up with him.” Feo would have put some money on that option. While she could feel him looking at her, she didn’t entertain him with a glance back at him but her expression suggested she was considering the question. “More to the point, why tell me? Discussion of conquests becoming part of proceedings now?” ‘Care’ was a strong way of putting it. She was interested, granted, but wouldn’t go as far to say that she cared.

“Doesn’t have to be, but I’d hardly call her a conquest. Maybe years ago when she was younger, but not now. Now it’s more... a curiosity.” Which it was. Ally seemed to have something in mind when she demanded he take her to the gala, but Lucas wasn’t quite sure what it was. That was what had him showing up, that lingering question.

“A curiosity?” It may have only been two words but it was coupled with her finally moving her eyes to him with a look that wanted some elaboration. Though the fact she may not get anything further purely because she seemed intrigued didn’t escape her. “Not your type, then?” she added airily, a bit of a smirk playing about her lips.

That got a smirk on Lucas’ lips as well, something amusing about her wanting to know more when the angle of things changed. “She could be my type. She has moments of spunk, but yes a curiosity. An old flame found her way out of the woodwork and decided that she wants a second shot.” He looked away, rolling onto his back as well, arms tucked behind his head, just to spite her.

Feo didn’t really feel the need to point out that there was quite a vast difference between moments of spunk and Lucas’ type. “Just like that?” she asked. What captured her attention was not so much the idea of Lucas dallying with someone that wasn’t her but the situation. Feo rarely considered any action to take place without motive, and usually ulterior ones at that, and so wondered what ones may have been at work. “I’m sure it will be very entertaining for you,” she added, ignoring his change in body language.

“Just like that. That’s the interesting part,” he said, looking up at the ceiling. “I think she wants something. So I figure, what’s the harm in finding out what it is was.” He wanted to look over at her, but he didn’t, fighting the urge. “I’m sure it will be just as interesting as any of these other events. Boring people, boring music, boring night. The interesting part will be finding out what she wants.”

“Famous last words,” she said, purposely ambiguous as to whether his misadventures may have consequences of their own or consequences doled out by her. Either was a possibility. Head tilting a little to the side, Feo looked thoughtful for a moment. “Hmm. I wouldn’t describe our event as boring. Though company makes it, doesn’t it?” If not necessarily Lucas’ company. “I hope whatever it is proves to be interesting.”

That earned her a curious look, Lucas giving in and turning his head towards her and watching her for a moment. “I don’t scare easy,” he reminded her, pushing up on one elbow to look down at her again. Lightly he traced her neck, where the choker had been that night. “I wouldn’t have described it as boring either, but if company was all it took I’d be looking forward to this more.” Ally was amusing to be around, especially with the ‘round and ‘round she’d taken him on when they last spoke, trying to convince him she wasn’t still in love with the short order cook she’d run off with.

“No,” she murmured. “But you bruise nicely.” She brushed a thumb over his cheek for a brief moment then ran the hand through the length of her hair. Leaving him to stroke her as he pleased, she still didn’t meet him with a look but took in everything he said. “If it’s going to be so taxing for you, you should find a way to indulge yourself,” she advised, offering no concrete suggestion as to what any indulgences there may be.

He slipped his hand around her neck more, smirking lightly. “Indulge...with her or with you?” he asked, not meeting her eyes as he spoke, watching her mouth instead. She might not be offering a specific suggestion, but he was going to force one out of her.

Cupping his cheek in her hand, she stroked his cheek with her thumb. “I thought more a good scotch and a cigarette,” she answered slowly. Withdrawing her hand from his cheek, it went to his wrist, fingers digging into his flesh a little.

Lucas pouted a little, just for show. He liked the sweet touches that were paired with that spike of pain. He hesitated, not pulling his hand back right away. Not until he’d met her eyes for along moment then pulling it back. “Well that’s a way of doing things I guess. Not as much fun, but it gets the job done.”

Giving him a sideways look, Feo shrugged lightly. “Exhaust yourself on whatever you like, Lucas. Alcohol, cigarettes, old flames. In the end it’s all the same.” And the tone implied that it made little difference to her. As he had said, ways of getting the job done.

He’d expected that. For her to act like it meant nothing to her, but at the same time he was curious if it was a front, if maybe under the surface it irked her some. “Just distractions right?” he asked nonchalantly and leaned back from her more.

“Distractions from what, exactly?” Feo had been thinking more along the lines of filler but distraction might not have been so far away from that. She ghosted her fingertips along the top of his arm, watching him without really seeming like she was doing so.

The touch had Lucas’ attention more than her words. It was strange, with the roughness of their couplings, that something so simple, so light, would kick his heart rate up, but it did. Maybe it was just Feo. “From everything else.” From you. That the thought even crossed his mind clouded his eyes slightly with a frustration. That was not what this was was it? She was his favorite yes, but not something he felt caught up in to the point where he needed to be distracted from her. Or that everything else was just a deviation from her. That wasn’t where he needed to be at all.

“Begs the question where everything else ends and distraction begins.” Her fingers drifted over his shoulder and to the back of his neck, still with the same barely there pressure. “Maybe it’s all nothing more than distraction,” she mused in a low murmur, shifting slightly closer to him.

He could sense trouble was coming from those touches, what she was saying. Still, Lucas leaned into her hand, contentment showing in his features for a moment. “There are things that matter more than the distractions, that’s where the difference lies.” He could feel her moving closer, now certain something bad was going to happen, but whatever it was, he’d likely relish it.

“Ah, I see,” she said, sounding like it was a suitable answer to the question she hadn’t really asked. Feo didn’t try and get him to expand on the matter further. There wasn’t really any point - she’d decided to fill in the blanks herself. In her view, they seemed obvious enough. “Well, distraction does go hand in hand with fixation.” She gave his neck one last caress before taking her hand away, loosely folding her arms.

He hadn’t wanted her to stop touching him, not when it seemed to lead nowhere. As she pulled back he eyed her curiously. “Fixation?”

“We all have things we want. The places our true interest lies. And the rest provides the noise needed when those things are unattainable.” The way she spoke suggested an analysis, the sharing of a thought, but Feo was aware of how the words themselves sounded. Or could sound.

“I am fully aware what the definition is,” Lucas pointed out, scowl forming on his features. “I’m just not sure what it has to do here. What do you think I’m so fixated on?” There was a strong chance he was walking into a trap, but he wanted to know what she was thinking.

One eyebrow went up momentarily at the look on his face. “I didn’t say it had anything to do here. Nor that you were fixated on anything.” Not in those exact words, at least. “You asked a question. I answered it.” Feo gave a shrug, as if that was all there was to it.

“You implied that I was fixated on something,” Lucas corrected, giving her a stern look. “You’ll have to forgive me if I wonder what on earth you could think I’m fixated on. You’ve decided to have your eyes on such a little part of my life.”

Feo addressed neither his glaring or his wonderance. He could interpret whatever he wanted and wind himself up all he wanted. She let a couple of beats pass in silence and angled herself more away from him. “I don’t recall you inviting me into anything but such a little part of your life.” She may have been laying the blame for whatever it was squarely with him but Feo had hardly tried to strong-arm her way into anything else. Didn’t particularly have the desire to, either.

“Because you lacked interest in little else,” Lucas pointed out, watching her move away from him and not enjoying that either. If they were going to argue about this at least they could have argued about her being jealous of his date, not the semantics of their relationship. “I would have considered more if you wanted more.” But she didn’t seem to want more. Which meant she wasn’t allowed to pass judgement on what he was and wasn’t fixated on.

She eyed him from head to toe, and the expression on her face wasn’t one that was overly impressed. “You could grow a spine and demand what you want. You become more and more the lapdog every day.” Though that wasn’t without its pleasures. But she couldn’t resist pushing at him, especially since he’d been trying to goad her by hanging his special little date over her. Turning round to face him, she rested herself close by him once again. “Perhaps your old flame serves as a nice distraction from the possibility of not quite being up to task any more.”

“I think I do well enough to demand what I want,” Lucas countered, ire fading away as an impish grin flickered across his lips. The last comment, had him reaching for her as she moved closer, fingers finding the curve of her hip and pressing hard against the soft flesh. “Are you saying that something isn’t living up to your expectations?” he asked her angling over her and increasing the pressure on her hip. If she really thought that, sleep wouldn’t be allowed tonight until she took that statement back.

“The opposite,” she told him and shunted his grip off of her, slipping away from Lucas and to the edge of the bed. “Anyway. Tell me all about your girl. Get it out of your system.” It sounded like the request was more for his benefit than hers. Though she was curious about the woman who, Feo assumed, was meant to be an annoyance to her.

Lucas made a face when she pulled away, but after a moment followed her, pulling her hair away to press a soft kiss against her bare shoulder. “There isn’t much to tell. She’s older than you, but not by much. Our parents set us up ages ago, thinking it would be a good match. She was miserable through most of the date, caught up in some other boy, someone whom her parents wouldn’t approve of. And now she works at a diner after being shunned by her family.” He trailed more kisses up to Feo’s neck, something sweet, trying to keep her attention on him.

It seemed there was a distinct lack of gloating or just plain old attempts at provocation in the description. “Oh, the plights of your people,” she said, shaking her head a little. For a split second her mind drifted to a few lines in the Echo and she ended up shrugging off Lucas’ affections, rolling her shoulder and swatting him away. “I’m sure you’ll appear to be much more charming second time around. You are a rather acquired taste.”

He pouted slightly again at being swatted back, but wound up giving her space, watching her profile. “Do you find me more charming each time we meet?”

“If you’ve been displaying your charms each time we meet then I find them dubious at best. I don’t know how you manage to coax women into bed.” Not accounting for status and women who themselves were dubious, of course. Or perhaps she missed what alleged scores of others apparently must have succumbed to. Feo glanced over at him, meeting his eyes. “Are you hoping that I will or am I merely the comparison?”

“I got you here didn’t I?” he asked, watching her curiously. He had quite a bit of luck with women, that he couldn’t deny. “It’s not a hope. It’s more me being curious. You said I was an acquired tasted. I was wondering if I was yours as well.”

“Whatever your ego may tell you, it isn’t charm or seduction that got me here.” Feo doubted that he could really be ridiculous enough to think that it was. Not deep down, at least. Otherwise he had even less of a clue than she’d suspected. She paused and looked away from him, thoughtful. “You are as much as anyone could manage to be.” If he wanted to take that as a compliment, he was free to, though it wasn’t really intended to be.

He shifted to the side a little, watching her. He had no doubt that he hadn’t charmed her into his bed. He’d given her something, offered something up, and she took it. That was how she’d gotten here and now the two of them, whatever they had worked for one another. “As much as anyone?” he asked, looking at her. “I doubt you could find this just anywhere Feo.”

“I haven’t been, nor was I, seeking it out. So yes, you are as much as someone who isn’t you could be.” For the most part Feo wasn’t overly interested in bedfellows, and there were aspects of their time together that she would have dismissed had it not been for the context of their continual games. Leaning over to him, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Be content with it, Lucas.”

“It doesn’t seem like much to be content with Feo,” he pointed out, but leaned into her kiss nonetheless. What choice did he really have? If he wasn’t content, she could move on, find someone else and while Lucas was sure his counterparts would be lacking it might not be enough to bring her back.

That had her coming back to him and sitting over his lap to face him, petting his hair lightly. “And how would it be in an ideal world?” she asked, curious instead of baiting. There were rarely any real answers to be had but she asked the questions anyway. One day he was bound to be worn down enough to let something slip.

Lucas ran his hands over her ribcage, holding her there. “Ideally? Ideally I’m the best you’ve ever had.” It wasn’t an admission of needing more, merely wanting to be better, to ruin her for other men. His thumbs brushed her stomach, then down towards her hips. “Ideally you don’t find me so replaceable.”

“Who would have thought your ideals were so attainable?” Feo dipped her head to nip at his neck briefly then met his eyes again. Initially she didn’t say anything, just ran a finger over his lower lip before resting her hands on his chest. “You’ll think about me on your date, won’t you?” More of an order than a question. She thought he would anyway, and she quite liked the idea of it.

He made a happy noise the nip, watching her eyes when she didn’t speak, giving her time to speak. “Is that what you want?” He knew he would, especially after the experience with taking her out. Ally would be in constant comparison. “Are my ideals that attainable? Are they true?”

“I want you to think about what it would have been like if I was there. Every missed opportunity, every lost possibility. How whatever curiosity or intrigue that may lay elsewhere is going to be nothing more than a disappointment.” Possessive it may have been but it wasn’t exactly jealousy. Just holding onto the reins. Feo touched her lips to his, only for a second. “Perhaps able to become true. If you’re fortunate.”

That sense of possession, the way she lectured him on what he should be doing while out of her grasp, earned her a smile. “It would be, as you said, a disappointment.” He kissed her jaw lightly. “Fortunate? What do I need to do to be fortunate?”

Feo’s own expression remained neutral but she did lean in close to his ear, brushing her lips against it. “You’d want me to think about you, wouldn’t you?” Any idea of one-upmanship that was signalled by his smile wasn’t something she would allow him to keep for too long. She pulled back slightly, considering. “As of yet, undecided. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

He laughed a little, nodding as one hand tangled in her hair. “Of course I would,” he answered, voice dropping into a darker register. “Wait and see? Wait for what? Do you need more?”

“I’ll bear that in mind.” Though being coerced into attending something with Lucas was likely to be the closest thing Feo was going to get to a date. Even if it out of a general disinterest in the whole affair rather than any kind of loyalty to Lucas. Giving him a bit of a withering look, she sighed. “Stop asking what you need to do to please me. It’s growing tiresome. Are you really so worried about displeasing me that you’re going to wheedle away at me like the weak creature that you are rather than show some initiative and guts like the man you think you are?”

Lucas growled a little, not an angry noise, but a challenged one. Than hand in her hair tangled more, fingers on her hip pressing hard enough to bruise. “Just as I thought,” he breathed across the skin at the base of her neck before nipping at the skin with enough force to leave the half moon of his teeth indented in her skin. “You do enjoy yourself with me.” He grinned, then continued the bites along her collarbone, dragging her body closer to him. If she was going to reprimand him for not taking an initiative he was determined to overpower her.

“No, I’m sick of listening to you whine,” she countered, though there was a flicker in her eyes that said him taking action was indeed pleasing her. And his willingness to take direction wasn’t exactly hurting in that stake either. Almost as a reward Feo kissed him hard. Before he could really get too much enjoyment out of it, it was cut short by her shoving him back hard into the headboard. She shouldn’t have to spell out for him that if he didn’t want to be replaceable, he should make it so he wasn’t. It might have been an exercise in futility - Feo herself wasn’t convinced either way - but it would certainly be fun to see him try.