Paige, Shinobi, and Sam, Backdated 02/08/13

[om_upstart]

Paige and Shinobi vacation in Kentucky for the mid-term break. There is much culture shock and effort to remember names of tiny Guthries. But this takes place after that.

With all of the excitement that had surrounded Paige and Shinobi's arrival, it was late before the younger Guthrie children had been ushered off to bed and the two could get even a few moments to themselves. They had arrived at the airport after three in the afternoon, spent over an hour in the car getting back (with Lucinda and Joshua and Melody), and arrived at the small Kentucky farmhouse to be greeted with a homemade supper and the sort of ruckus that only eight children under the age of sixteen can make. It had been hectic but it had gone well and now, sitting in the top level of the old, unused barn with the loft doors opened wide and the clear stars shining, Paige couldn't feel anything but content. She looked over at the boy sitting beside her and, putting her hand over his, joked quietly, "So. Are you tired or at a loss for words or just not speakin' to me after all I've put you through?"

"Honestly," Shinobi replied, turning his palm up and threading his fingers through hers, "I haven't quite decided yet. Part of me would like to just collapse atop the nearest convenient horizontal surface and sleep for a few weeks. The other part assures me that attempting to get any rest at all in a house full of inquisitive Guthrie youths with a new toy would be an exercise in folly." He grinned over at Paige, and shifted to get more comfortable on the aged wood, seemingly oblivious to the small splinters and bits of hay he'd managed to pick up with his expensive trousers. "But, really, I suppose I'm mostly just amazed that people really live all the way out here amidst all this ... " he waved a hand vaguely to encompass the farm and the sprawl of fields and pastures surrounding it. He couldn't quite bring himself to call it "nothing".

"... lack of urbanity," he decided, finally. "It makes something in me crave concrete and sirens and overturned dumpsters. But it's still ... nice."

Nice. The word should have seemed inadequate to Paige, but with Shinobi's fingers twined through hers and the warm expression on his face it felt perfect. She moved a bit closer to him and put her head on his shoulder and looked out across the dark fields and the dark expanses of trees visible from the loft. "Lots of people do it. Livin' the 'quiet life' out in the middle of nowhere," she said somewhat wistfully, then smiled to herself, "I used to want to get away from it so badly. But, comin' back now...it is nice." Because her family was here and her memories were here and the stars just weren't quite that bright in Westchester.

She was quiet for a moment, then interrupted her own reflective tone with a playful, "I think they like their new toy, at any rate."

Shinobi hummed, resettling himself so that Paige would be more comfortable where she leaned against him. Honestly, the notion was entirely beyond his fathoming, that people actually lived their entire lives in such rustic surroundings. If he were being honest, he was fairly certain he wouldn't even be able vacation in such an environment, were it not for his girlfriend's company. The lack of stimulation, of the endless distraction, would certainly drive him to distraction--and no doubt quite a lot of highly disruptive mischief.

As an interlude, though, and with Paige and her ... really very odd, gigantic family, he supposed it wouldn't be so bad. Not bad at all.

And. "Of course they like me. What, I ask you, is not to like? Charming, fashionable, and dashing creature that I am. I think Jeb might try to follow us back to New York. Stow away in my luggage, possibly."

This earned a delighted laugh from Paige, who lifted her head to look up at him and grin, "Well. I won't tell him you're without a roommate just now if you don't." She kissed his shoulder through his shirt before leaning against him again. It made her feel warm talking about her family like this with him, now that he knew them and they knew him and the two parts of her life no longer seemed quite so separated.

"Far be it from me to discourage the lad!" Shinobi protested, then kissed to top of Paige's head. Perhaps they were at the uttermost fringe of civilization, but this--this easy, happy closeness--would have made privation a thousand times worse seem bearable, even welcome. He couldn't quite put names to everything he was feeling, as some of them were simply too alien to his experience for that. But it was all pleasant enough. Comfortable, he supposed. "I'll citify him properly--teach him all the useless things we denizens of the metropolis devise to impress each other."

He paused, then, "I am not sure your mother knows quite what to make of me. Or, rather, quite what to make of the fact that the two of us are dating. I don't expect I am what she imagined your type to be?"

"You haven't even taught me those things yet," Paige protested, feigning her displeasure poorly because it was the farthest thing from what she was actually feeling, "Finish corruptin' one Guthrie before you move on to another." She squeezed his hand with obvious affection, then fell momentarily quiet at the subject of her mother. While Lucinda had been kind enough to Shinobi, she had always been a firm, no-frills, pragmatic sort of woman and she hadn't known entirely what to make of him. Even without the fact that he was dating her daughter.

She swung her feet in the empty space below the loft and finally, thoughtfully, said, "Probably not. But I'm not sure we saw it comin' either, did we? I know mama can be...overbearin'. Just give her some time, okay?"

"Oh, she's a charming woman, simply charming," he reassured Paige quickly, giving her hand a return squeeze. "And I do know a thing or two about overbearing parents. She can have all the time she needs--I'm in no particular hurry."

Dark eyes swept out over the nighted landscape once again. "But no, I don't suppose we could have foreseen any of this," he nodded to encompass the farmhouse, and perhaps all of Kentucky, "coming after that first encounter in the library. I probably still wouldn't have seen it, if you hadn't mustered up the gumption--that is the word, yes? 'gumption'?--to bring it to my attention. Not that I wouldn't have thought of it, a great deal." Shinobi pressed his mouth to the top of her head again, "I just never would have seen it as a realistic possibility."

Charming. Paige was almost positive nobody had ever called her mother charming and she produced a soft, abbreviated laugh in response but said nothing else. As long as Shinobi thought so, she wasn't going to argue. Instead, she looked up at him without lifting her head, still comfortable against his shoulder and happy to stay there. The look on his face made her think he was happy too.

"Honestly? About half of that 'gumption' was on loan from Lydia and Pietro," she admitted, blushing and smiling and remembering how incredibly uncertain she'd been. And how her friends had helped her find the nerve to talk to him whether they'd intended to or not. "I've never done anything like that before and part of me was pretty sure you'd just...roll your eyes or somethin'."

"I can't tell you how much it pleases me to have been your first," Shinobi replied, with a substantial dose of teasing innuendo. But then he frowned slightly. "Though I am a little less enthusiastic about being indebted to Lydia. She's the sort that usually collects on that kind of thing, you know. Like an evil accountant with impeccable fashion sense."

The comment struck its intended target, causing Paige to blush even if she didn't say a word. Her first. The change in his tone and his expression, though, distracted her from any further contemplation of that possibility and she gave him an inquiring look. She'd never gotten that impression from Lydia. "What makes you think that? I mean, apart from the 'impeccable fashion sense' part..." Because that was more or less a fact.

"Mm, I know the type. A web of favors granted and debts owed," Shinobi said, his face screwing up like he'd bitten into something sour. "Don't get me wrong--it's a very pragmatic way to approach life. But it lacks ... something. Anyway, I've never quite been able to shake my distaste for it, or the people who live it in action. It's a bit too mercenary for my liking, perhaps."

Paige frowned, torn between her displeasure at hearing Shinobi talk about her friend like that and the fact that, as much as she liked Lydia, she didn't know her well enough to actually argue. She squeezed his hand and answered, instead of protesting, " Well. Fortunately, I'm the indebted one anyway. And I reckon she'll let me off the hook."

He kissed her again. "The fact that you sincerely believe that is one of the many reasons I adore you, Paige Guthrie," Shinobi said. "But I must disagree. Anyone can see that I am the one reaping the benefits of far greater good fortune than he deserves. Lydia will certainly know it. But I don't really mind. Some things are more important than trifles like who is down a favor to whom."

"Well, Shinobi Shaw," Paige responded playfully, lifting his hand with hers and kissing it lightly, "I reckon we could argue all night about which of us is the more fortunate one. But I'd rather we didn't, so I'm goin' to let that one slide and just tell you you're sweet for thinkin' as much."

"Ugh, yes," he agreed, leaning into her affectionately. "Let's please not become one of those couples that's constantly having the 'No-I-love-you-more' argument. That level of syrupy is likely to send my system into shock, and make us both completely unbearable to our friends. Not that I'm entirely bearable now, but you know. There are degrees."

Paige laughed outright at that, conceding, "You have a point." The word 'love', though, stuck in her head for longer than it had any right to and she felt a little warm and a little embarrassed as she squeezed his hand.

"Of course I do!" he agreed, bending around slightly to look at her. Fingertips brushing against the soft skin of her palm, Shinobi added, "I do, though. Love you, I mean." And there it was. The l-word. One he tended to toss around fairly casually, but never in the sense he just had. Never when anything serious was at stake.

There it was. The confession left Paige momentarily silenced by surprise and suddenly acutely aware of his nearness and his touch and the rising heat in her face. The summer night which surrounded them made everything else feel far away and she looked at Shinobi like he was the only person in the world. It felt like much longer, but it only took her a few seconds to answer. "I...love you too."

Shinobi slowly exhaled, only realizing as he did that he'd been holding his breath. The whole situation was so surreal it was almost unthinkable--and it would have been, just a year ago. But when Paige looked at him that way, with that singular intensity, it was difficult to remember just how he'd gotten along before. Certainly, he couldn't imagine he'd been better off. He leaned forward, tilting his head to more comfortably press his lips to hers in a warm, lingering kiss.

At that moment, Sam was just getting home. However, before he was going to eat something, he needed to stop off in the barn and do a few chores before he was completely done for the day. When he came inside, he instantly noticed Paige and her...new friend lip locked. Sam folded his arms, and narrowed his eyes. Well, that fella sure had a lot of guts to be making out with her all over the place out here.

"Ahem," he spoke, wanting to show that he was here. "Nice to see ya home again, Paige."

That deep kiss kept Paige enthralled enough that she didn't hear Sam's approach or even that small, throat-clearing sound he made in an attempt to earn her attention...but then he spoke and she jerked back from Shinobi, turning to look at her brother with large blue eyes and flushed cheeks. She smiled, the expression too wide to look completely genuine or to soften the flustered look that had overcome his younger sister. "Sam! I didn't--" Hear you coming soon enough to get my tongue out of my boyfriend's mouth? No.

She stopped herself abruptly and climbed to her feet to greet her brother. "I didn't know you were home..." Gesturing toward the dark-haired boy with one hand, she added, "This is Shinobi. I told you about him comin' with me?"

Though swearing violently within the confines of his own mind, outwardly, Shinobi was all smiles as Paige's brother chose the worst possible moment to discover them. He rose alongside his girlfriend, not so much clambering as snaking his way into an upright position, and regarded the eldest Guthrie with glittering black eyes. "Konbonwa, Guthrie-kun. A pleasure to meet you, I'm sure."

As he spoke, Shinobi deftly threaded his fingers through Paige's. "Your sister has spoken of you a great deal. But I don't intend to hold any of it against you, never fear."

"Yeah, it's nice to meet ya, too. I'm glad y'all got here safely," Sam greeted with a nod. Well, the guy seemed polite and nice enough, but he'd still been necking with his sister out here. Sam's big brother shields were up pretty high, and he couldn't help it. He worried about Paige being at that yankee school, and hoped she wasn't running into a lot of trouble. Though he'd been told of Shinobi, Sam liked to meet a person himself before deciding anything solid about them.

So far, minus the first few seconds, so good. No real red flags were going off in his head--however, if this boy ever hurt her, he was getting thrown into the swimming hole by both Sam and Jay.

He then looked to Paige, and managed a smile at her. No matter his concerns, it was so good to see her again. It was hard being far away from her like they were now. "I'd give you a hug, girl, but I'm real gross with soot and ash right now."

The civility between the two boys -- even if it was at least partially manufactured on both sides -- allowed Paige to relax and smile back at her brother with the full measure of warmth she felt at seeing him. Even if he had caught her off guard. "It's real nice to see you too, Sam," she said in a soft, sincere voice which then rose both in volume and playful vibrancy as she added, "So go and get showered so I can get that hug. I can get together some supper for you in the meantime."

Knowing that this made the chance of picking up where they'd left off even more narrow than it already was, she gave Shinobi's hand a silently apologetic squeeze. Maybe he'd forgive her if she got something together for him too.

"Gotta do some chores first, but I'll see ya inside in a bit," Sam replied. He was a little bit wary of leaving this grabby guy alone with his sister, but Paige was a smart girl. Sam trusted her with all his heart to keep being smart, too.

After he spoke, he went over to the barn wall, and grabbed a belt full of tools, and did it up around his waist. "But dontcha be makin' mama wait on you; I reckon you really don't want her comin' out to getcha."

He smiled, and gave them both a wave as he headed out, purposely leaving the barn doors open as he did so.

"I reckon that's something we'd prefer to avoid, as well," Shinobi mused, planting an impudent kiss at the base of Paige's throat. "I suppose we should head back, then. I will just have to take advantage of you some other time--when your brothers are less watchful and more ... asleep." He waggled his eyebrows playfully as he began tugging her toward the doors.

"But Sam you just..." Paige protested, but not quickly enough, "...got home." She watched her brother depart with a frown and a swelling of guilt that made her draw back from the kiss and ignore the flirtatious suggestion that normally would've made her blush. Had she been gone so long that she'd forgotten everything that needed to be done here? Had everyone spending the evening with her and with Shinobi left Sam with an even heavier burden to shoulder? She couldn't stand thinking that.

She forced an apologetic smile for her boyfriend and touched his cheek briefly. "You go on ahead. Okay? I'm goin' to see if I can give him a hand."

Tilting his head, Shinobi did a quick mental calculus, not immediately certain what he ought to do. A part of him wanted to offer to help, since that seemed like the thing to do. Counterbalancing that notion was the near-certainty that his participation in any farmhouse chores would increase the time required to complete said chores tenfold, since it wasn't as though he knew the first thing about any sort of honest work. And there was also the possibility that this was some sort of Guthrie bonding ... thing, and that his presence would be considered an intrusion. Plus ... he really didn't think he wanted to end his first night in Kentucky surrounded by Guthrielings and smelling of hay and diesel and sweat and Heaven-alone-knew what else. There was only so much culture shock he could absorb in one day.

Smiling, he rested a hand gently on her shoulder as he passed on his way back toward the house. "Hai, hai. Of course. I will see you later."

Paige watched Shinobi go, listening to him descend the steps and leave the barn before she moved. She needed that moment to breathe and to let her mind catch up with all that had just happened. To get that wistful, romantic smile out of her system before she went to meet her brother. Shinobi loved her. And she loved him.

When had that happened?

She shook her head and trotted toward the stairs, hurrying after Sam and hoping that the darkness would hide her glowing cheeks.

Comments

[om_quicksilver]

Normally you would be right, Shinobi, but Lydia actually does consider Paige her friend. Therefore, no debt is owed ;)

Oh god, Sam. <3