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"Lina, hey - pass the bottle?"
Gourry was making grabby fingers at her, a big, relaxed grin across his handsome face. The bottle was indeed in her hands - the glass was warm from her grip, slightly damp. Their hosts had some kind of reservations about liquor, but they had gone to bed hours before sunset, and honestly, after the week she just had to live through, Lina didn't give a damn. She considered sneaking one last tiny gulp out of it, but the tingling in her extremities told her she's had enough for now.
She passed the wine to Gourry, then nestled deeper into the embroidered sofa cushions, seeking a more comfortable position. It was a small room, softly lit, with a low ceiling and lower furniture; the upholstery and the colorful rug on the wall were permeated with ages old hookah smoke.
Gourry was saying something, gesturing widely with his free hand, but her brain had checked out of the conversation for the moment. She instead found herself captivated by the way the sunset had tinted his hair a soft, peach color where he sat by the window, long legs stretched out under the low table. Propped against Gourry's side, with his head almost on the other man's shoulder, was Xelloss - who couldn't get drunk, of course, but whose pale cheeks still looked a bit flushed in the fading light, perhaps out of solidarity with them.
She realized Gourry was looking at her, expecting some kind of input. It didn't seem to matter, however, her not paying attention, because Xelloss picked up the slack, answering in his usual cheerful tone - something about humbly accepting his share to try and save them both from inevitable alcohol poisoning. It made Gourry laugh when handing him the bottle.
Now her focus shifted onto Xelloss' mouth as he drank, and as it often was in such cases, she found herself thinking about that kiss he stole years ago. It had been her only point of reference for the longest time, so she kept coming back to it when she tried to imagine what kissing Gourry would feel like. As it turned out, it was so much more intense than a simple brush of lips - in time, it layered over her old memory so completely that it became lost to her. Strange how these things turn out, Lina thought, watching Xelloss' throat work as he swallowed - as if he really needed to swallow. Or breathe, or drink at all.
Meanwhile, the conversation had gone on without her.
"It really seems Lina-san has your testicles securely in a jar on a shelf," Xelloss was saying - in response to whatever it was that Gourry talked about earlier, she supposed. He had thrown his head back until it actually was on Gourry's shoulder, and there was that smile on his face as he looked up, indicating that he expected a really tasty reaction to his words.
"That's a very antiquated view on relationships between men and women," Gourry responded easily. "You really are an old geezer, aren't you, Xelloss?"
"Isn't Greater Beast a woman, or so I've heard?" Lina leered at him. "How's that heel taste, huh?"
"I walked myself right into that one, haven't I," Xelloss said with a lazy smile, bumping his knee into hers. (Had there been warmth when they touched before? She couldn't remember.) And really, if he had enough cheek to start a shit talking contest, he should also have the consideration to at least act indignant when it backfired on him. "What's on your mind?"
"You had to ask," she said. There had to be a cleverer retort to this somewhere, but she didn't have it. The wine probably had it now.
She was at that stage of intoxication when it seemed that the whole world was her oyster - well, more so than usual. And with what she and Gourry had talked about still fresh in her mind, Lina felt very daring indeed as she clambered out of her cozy cushion pile. Taking the bottle out of Xelloss' hands, she put it on the table with a clang, then climbed over him to straddle his thigh. When she pushed him firmly down until he was reclining on the sofa with his head in Gourry's lap, Xelloss didn't fight it, only said with his usual unreadable smile:
"Well, this is interesting."
Lina hoped it telegraphed her intention clearly enough when she leaned over him, threw her hair over one shoulder to get it out of her face. It hung over them like a heavy curtain, cutting the rest of the world off. She lowered her head, and his lips felt warm where they touched hers; she left it at that for a moment, letting their breath mingle together, until Xelloss angled his head and opened his mouth a bit, inviting more from her, so she gave it to him.
"Lina... san..." Xelloss whispered between kisses, and she congratulated herself on how breathless his voice sounded already.
"Yeah?" she whispered back, nipping at his jaw.
She felt his arms snake around her waist, pulling her closer, before he added, "You... taste like a winery."
Lina's eyes flew open to see the absolute bastard grinning up at her, and she was pretty sure she heard a muffled snicker come from Gourry's direction. Whose side did he think he was on, anyway?
"A beautiful sorcery genius kisses you, and this is your reaction?" she hissed, slapping Xelloss on the chest with an open palm.
Trying to sit up proved impossible with his arms still around her, so she gave it up after a bit of squirming. Her legs probably wouldn't hold her anyway at this point.
"I don't know if it needs saying after all this," said Gourry, brushing his hand through Xelloss' dark hair absent-mindedly (how long has it been there, Lina wondered), "but we have a proposition for you."
"So I see," Xelloss said, looking between the two of them with a calculating expression on his face. A moment passed before he continued, uncharacteristically serious, "I would prefer that you get back to me on this when you are both sober."
Lina realized she was pouting now - cutely, she hoped, and not at all like a child who has been denied a treat before dinner.
"Oh, so we're not going to have filthy drunken sex on the floor?" she demanded, and, okay, perhaps there was a hint of whining to her voice. "After such a hard day, too?"
"No," Xelloss whispered, meeting her eyes again briefly. Their faces were still close, his eyes were fixed on her mouth, and the tips of their noses rubbed together gently with the movement when he slowly shook his head no.
She was getting some seriously mixed messages here.
"Are you absolutely, positively, a hundred percent certain about that?"
"Quite. Although," and Xelloss was back to his familiar silly grin, his grip on her going a bit slack, "the night is still young, and I haven't yet tried everything that's on offer..."