Damon and Alice - Backdated

[om_malice]

Damon and Alice catch up. As they tend to, without clothes.


Damon had told Alice she didn't have to hurry up finishing her drink and getting out of there as everybody else did, so she'd taken him at his word and was still working on the end of her cosmo by the time the closing-up was just about done, and the employee who'd closed up with him (and who thankfully hadn't been Lil, but that blue-haired electric girl) had zipped out of there to get back to school.

She liked the bar - whether Lil was on shift or not, as Alice actually got a perverse sort of joy out of having the other girl serve her anything - and had been spending as much time as she could here, which sadly hadn't been that much in the past few weeks. Between classes and her Oscorp internship, never mind fitting in time with Harry and a little extra work for X-StatiX, mostly on the weekends, her life was a lot busier than it used to be.

But it was a Friday night, and she had felt like treating herself to a little down time, so it was her third cocktail she was finishing as Damon came back from locking up after the Japanese kid. As he came back, she turned to him on her stool, somehow managing not to show any more skin than was proper in her tiny green casual dress and heeled boots.

"Bar seems to be doing good," she stated, eyebrows raised, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Good enough," he agreed as he returned, reaching past her for his bourbon...which put him right in her personal space, enough for her to feel his breath ghost along her cheek as he pulled back. "Could be better. Sure you don't want to work for me?"

"Despite the suddenly awesome fucking-my-boss fantasy, very, yeah," Alice replied, amused. "If for no other reason than I would not have the time." Never mind that there were other reasons.

He took a sip, eyes flickering in promise. "Well, I could drag you down into the taproom anyway if you want, but my apartment is a hell of a lot more comfortable."

Alice laughed, eyes bright. "You know, I don't doubt that. Please tell me you've got another amazing tub." She had very fond memories of this tub, okay.

"Not nearly as nice," he growled under his breath as he sat back on the stool next to her. He missed that damn bathroom. New York was great for a lot of things. Luxury apartments at a reasonable price was not one of them. He could afford a nicer place, but he'd been playing things conservative lately, in case he might need the money to run. "If things go well with the bar, maybe I'll do some remodeling."

Alice rested one heeled foot on the bar of his stool, calf against his. "Well, my place doesn't even have a tub," she remarked. "Even a less amazing one is better than that. And the bar's a total step-up on the bookshop," she added, smile stretching.

"Oh, you like the bar, hmm?" Damon smiled slow, reaching out with his foot to hook her stool and drag it closer to his.

"Oh, I love the bar," Alice replied, smile bright as she was pulled closer. She did nothing to fight it, keeping an elbow on the counter and resting her other hand on Damon's thigh once she was close enough. "And I love the staff dress code, by the way." She liked it less trashy than Lil took it, but that wasn't new; one of the many, many things she didn't like about Lil was how she reminded Alice of where she came from.

"Well, I figured that tank tops and short skirts were on their way out," Damon drawled, leaning in to brush his lips over her ear. "I try to be fashionable."

"Is that what you try to be?" Alice asked, smiling and pulling back just enough to be able to look into his eyes. "Teach me how to make a cosmo?" What? She was all out of anything to drink, and her love for building up anticipation was nothing new. But it was very clear, from the look in her eyes and the fact that their faces were still so close together, that she wasn't turning him down at all.

Damon rolled his eyes, but pulled back enough to toss back the last of his bourbon. "Regular or special?"

"Start with regular," Alice answered, and stood from her stool.

He stood a second later, one arm wrapping around her waist as he found his feet, then released her a second later as he moved around the bar to flip a cocktail glass into his hand. "Step one. Pick the right glass."

Alice joined him behind the bar, having been there enough times to know, from observation, where to put her empty, dirty glass. She then turned to him, ready to learn. "Yes. Cocktail glass."

Damon set the single glass in the middle of the counter, then added a bottle beside it. "Cointreau." And another. "Vodka Citron." Then a curved container. "Cranberry Juice." And finally a whole lime. "Fresh lime juice. You can use any kind of high quality vodka you want, honestly, and you can swap out triple sec for the cointreau."

"Right. Shake all of that?" Alice asked, reaching for the shaker. She'd ordered enough cosmos in her life to know that a shaker was definitely involved. "How much of each?"

Damon took the shaker out of her hand and handed her a knife first. "Cut the lime up like you would an apple, core in the middle - just slice off one side next to the core."

"Alright," Alice stated, and did as she was told. "Why like that?" It wasn't like it had a proper core, like an apple.

Damon took the slice from her, then squeezed it into the shaker. "That way, the juice flows down...instead of spraying all over the bar."

"I'm remembering that tip," Alice stated with a half smile. "How many slices?"

"One more," Damon told her, licking lime juice from his fingers with a smile.

Alice's smile turned into a smirk as her gaze dropped to his lips, and she chuckled before she turned to cut another slice, and squeeze it into the shaker herself.

He leaned over her shoulder to lick the lime off of her fingers too. "Hmm. Half an ounce of cointreau. One ounce cranberry. One and a half of the vodka."

Alice let him have her fingers, smiling at the sensations, and at his proximity, right behind her. "Yeah, you got a spoon or something?" she asked, tilting her head back over her shoulder to look at him. She wasn't going to pour that by sight and hope for the best, not when she intended to drink the result.

Damon turned and grabbed a tablespoon ladle from under the bar, then passed it to her. "One, two, and three," he translated.

"Thanks." One spoon of - cointreau, he'd said, two of cranberry, and three of vodka. She liked those doses, and it explained why cosmos did pack a small punch.

Opening the icebox, Damon scooped some ice into the shaker, then closed it up, offering it to her. "All yours. Mix, then strain into the glass while I grab an orange."

"So there's no, like, special, more efficient shaking motion to it?" Alice asked, grabbing the top of the shaker to close it up.

Damon's lips quirked in a small smirk and he looked her over. "Well, you can shake your ass and see if it helps?"

Alice pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. "Ha ha." And, instead of making any other sort of comeback to that, proceeded to shake the cocktail - without shaking her ass, or at least, no more than naturally happened when vigorously shaking something you held. She focused a little as she set the shaker just right to strain the drink into the glass, without dropping the remaining ice cubes in, then grinned at the result, with the slight foam on top. It looked pretty good!

"Here," Damon peeled off a tiny curl of orange rind from the fruit in his hand, laying it across the top of the cocktail, a citrusy little garnish. "Voila."

Alice chuckled, moving to put the shaker in the next load of dishes, after throwing the remaining ice cubes into the sink. "Thanks. I'm not sure how likely I am to remember the doses tomorrow, but I should be okay with the rest." Which was all that mattered; she figured the doses she could easily find on the internet. She picked up her glass, eyes bright. "Cheers."

Damon poured another finger of bourbon into his glass, then clinked it against hers with a smirk. "What you said."

Alice smiled up until she took a sip - and then she smiled again. "Good teacher."

"Ooh," he breathed, eyes twinkling. "Let's run with that metaphor."

Alice's smile widened into a grin as she stepped closer, cocktail in one hand, the other sliding to Damon's waist. "I make a mean Catholic schoolgirl."

Better in her real form, Damon thought, but he liked 'Jenna' too. And she did have that kind of small town sweet look going on. He hummed, rolling a step closer until their hips matched up, the thin fabric of her dress sliding sideways as he did. He hooked an arm over her shoulder with a slow smile. "I can even see you in the stockings."

"The stockings are key," Alice agreed, mock-seriously, and was very glad for the heels she was wearing, since they meant she was of a height to kiss Damon. A hello-there sort of kiss, with just enough tongue to taste a hint of bourbon.

Damon smiled into the kiss, licking the cranberry and vodka from her mouth with a low hum. When the kiss drew apart, he met her gaze, smirking. "So can I close up yet?"

"I've got a drink, I'm happy," she answered with a grin, and moved out from behind the bar with said drink, trailing her hand over his stomach as she went. Yes, she had a thing for his abs, what was new.

"About time," he hummed, then walked her toward the door. They would have to swing around to the other entrance to get up to the apartments upstairs.

Alice grabbed her leather jacket, scarf and purse, all in one hand, so she could keep her drink in her other hand. If he minded her bringing the glass upstairs, he should've said something. She smiled at him on her way past him, and out the door. "Come on, anticipation is fun."

"Mostly only with you," he hummed, throwing his own jacket over his shoulder as he swung out, then locked the doors up, glass of bourbon still in hand. "Somehow, you make it bearable."

"Wow, that almost sounded like totally outrageous flattery," Alice stated, waiting for him to lock up to follow him. Hello, cold, but they'd be inside again soon enough. "Please, keep it coming."

By the time they made it upstairs to Damon's apartment, he had his arm slipped around her, lips to her ear, and had flattered her to the point of crude obscenities. He was right. The apartment wasn't as nice as the last one, but it wasn't any smaller than the loft, and his furniture fit comfortably, if a bit snugly, inside the layout. The kitchen was updated, at least, with stainless steel appliances and dark gray granite countertops. And, this time at least, he had an actual bedroom, rather than having to share with the entire living space. It opened from two dark-wood, glass-panel french doors, with no fantastic view, but a massive flat-screen tv hung opposite the bed.

Alice was sure that the apartment was great, honestly, but she barely gave it a glance as they finally made it inside. Flattery to the point of crude obscenities, especially when it was whispered right against her ear, was probably the best kind of anticipation-building there was. She turned into his arms as soon they were inside, lips catching his in a promising kiss. "I love the place," she added, warmly-wryly, for how little she cared about it right then. The only thing she cared about beside kissing Damon, right now, was not spilling her drink.

"You certainly add to it," Damon murmured between kisses, then threaded his fingers into her hair and leaned back in to catch her mouth again, this time deeper, warmer, promising and wicked, a low hum rumbling in his chest.

Oh, God. This might have started back in dreams, where she could be herself, and mostly because of that, but Alice was glad that it hadn't ended when Damon's ability to dreamwalk had. She tilted her head up into that kiss, opening up to it fully and giving back as good as she got, her free hand sneaking to his waist to press him closer.

He pressed in, but only to back her further into the room, one hand on her hip to guide her toward the sofa. They'd be lucky if they made it to the bed before the clothes started coming off, so this was the second best thing.

Alice trusted him to know his place, and divided her focus between kissing him and not spilling her drink as she let him guide her backwards. She smiled when the back of her legs hit something, and broke the kiss long enough to situate herself - and put her glass down on the coffee table, so she could now slide both her hands under the bottom of Damon's shirt, finding warm skin and making a happy sound into the renewed kiss as she drew him down to the couch.

"Have I ever told you," Damon said as he was tugged and maneuvered, and went with it happily, "that I love these little get-togethers of ours?"

Alice wound up straddling him, and smiled at him at that, as her fingers worked on undoing her belt so she could open her dress. "We tend to let our bodies do the talking," she replied, hips shifting to grind down on him. "And in case it wasn't clear," she added against his lips, and kissed him again, brief but heated, "so do I."

"Your body says the best things," he breathed, planting his hands on her hips to encourage that she keep it up. "It really can't go wrong."

Alice could've kept the image going - we've got a great line of communication going, something along those lines - but after smiling at his words, and rolling her hips down again, she figured that show was better than tell, especially given the subject matter, and kissed him again instead, heated and hungry for more as her fingers moved to his buttons.

* * *

They had, at some point, made it to the bed, a fact Alice was thankful for given how much more room to maneuver that had provided them. She stretched languidly, now, happy for the high thread count in the sheet that covered them both, and turned into Damon, resting a hand on his chest.

"And I suddenly wish I had TK," she said, sated and happy. "I mean, our drinks are all the way over there in the other room."

Damon hummed low and satisfied in his chest as he curled an arm around her, "What does it say about our lives that that's an actual possibility?"

"That they're awesome, I'm pretty sure," Alice replied with a smirk, and kissed the closest skin to her mouth.

"Clearly," he drawled, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "How's life with you, anyway?"

"Fan-fucking-tastic," she answered with a lazy smile. "I mean, I'm not used to having so little free time, but whatever, it's worth it." She missed dancing, but she'd get back to it as soon as she could afford to. Maybe finally get those pole-dancing lessons Steve and she had talked about getting for so long.

Damon snorted softly. Yeah, he knew who was running Alice ragged, but he knew better than to get onto the topic of Peaches while he was in bed with another woman. Even if it was just fucking between friends. "Glad the working girl thing is working out for ya."

"Yeah, so am I," she answered honestly. She never would have believed that, just two years ago. "What about you? I mean, we've talked about how the bar's doing, but how're you?"

"Devastating and single," Damon smirked. "So pretty great."

Alice laughed, then settled down. "Devastating and single oughta be better than 'pretty' great." He could still take her words as a gentle tease if he wanted, but she meant it.

He shot a look at her, eyebrows arching upward. "Ooh, Miss Society's gotten a little judgy since she started going down to work her way to the top."

"Oh, I only ever go down because I want to," Alice assured him with a smirk, then flicked her fingers at his chest. "Devastating and single should make for freaking amazing, is all I'm saying."

He rolled his eyes a little. "Fine. I'm freaking amazing," he repeated, though without the passion to really back it up.

Alice looked like she was about to say something, but then she just sighed - at herself, mostly, for ruining the basking-in-the-afterglow moment. "Sorry."

Silence for a moment, then a huff of a sigh. "Things are pretty shitty, the bar aside. Hell, I don't even really care about the bar that much except for the fact that it brings in good food."

"Good..." Alice's frown cleared as she realized what he meant. "Psi-food, right, got it."

"I'm sipping," he told her, relaxing back into the pillows. "Not enough for anyone to notice."

"Good strategy," she commented, then paused. Should she address the whole 'pretty shitty' thing, and if yes, how? She was crap at this, and it wasn't like Damon usually opened up. When in doubt, stay simple and direct? "So how are things shitty?" she asked, reaching out to rest a hand on his chest.

"Hey, hey, save some conversation for the next booty-call," he teased.

"You're right," Alice nodded, looking thoroughly convinced. "I wouldn't want you to think I give a shit." She pinched his side and smiled at him, dropping the act for a very fond, "Asshole."

"Witch," he countered, stretching out beneath her with a smile. "Ready for another round?"

"Ready, willing, enthusiastic," Alice confirmed, and leaned in for a kiss, a hand snaking its way under the sheet.