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The cast is thrown into yet another horror-based adventure. Caine seems to be doing a lot of those recently, but Jax can’t be bothered to worry about it. Right now, he and Pomni, hand in hand, are racing down a flickering hall as the monster of the week chases after them—some psychotic robot wearing a human as its skin. The maniacal grin is present on its face as it targets Pomni and keeps pace with them, much to Pomni’s verbal chagrin.
Soon that thing will be on top of them and capture Pomni. Jax seen what that thing does to others, with NPCs and an unfortunate ragdoll, and does not want the same to happen to his girl. Hesitating for just a second he scoops her up in his arms and books it, turning sharply around a corner. Since his legs are longer he’s able to run faster, putting some much needed distance between them. He grabs a one use pistol he sees waiting as an option and takes out the light.
It plunges the hallway in darkness. But thanks to his night vision (or as much as it as he has, one of the perks of being a rabbit) he knows there’s a side room the two can hide in. he quickly and as quietly as he can so as not to reveal their location, throws the two of them in it. he lands kind of hard, biting back a hiss. He sees a wall that’ll give them enough of a blind spot and shoves the two of them against it.
“Jax.” Pomni’s voice squeaks out in a tiny whisper. He can feel more than see her clutching hard onto him, one hand on his arm and the other on the straps of his overalls.
He doesn’t get to respond as the walls start to rattle. There are some boards up on the wall where there used to be a window, the eerie yellow-green light from the monster peeking through. There’s some scratching on the wall and light giggling from it as it tries to locate them, but thankfully, it doesn’t go into the obvious entryway to the room they’re hiding in.
Eventually the light fades, and the walls stop vibrating. It’s still a few minutes of tense silence before either one of them speaks. “You’re shaking.” Jax breathes out.
Pomni’s small form trembles against him. Her grip shakes or opens and closes, her breathing ragged and shallow. “Yeah,” she manages to breathe out. “I-I know th-this isn’t real… but-t I’m still-”
“Yeah.” He wiggles beneath her, trying to get more comfortable. “Caine’s been real savage with these recently.”
“He has!” Pomni whisper shouts. She pushes herself up, just enough to look him in the eye. “You think he has something against us.”
“Doubt it; he’s probably going through a phase.”
She gives a little pout like she doesn’t believe him. Then it turns contemplative as she asks, “You… won’t throw me to it or any other monster will you?” she asks softly.
He makes a face like he’s thinking about it. “Depending on how much you slow me down, maybe.”
She scoffs and hits him lightly in his shoulder, rolling her eyes. She pushes herself up fully and sits on the back of her legs, allowing Jax to prop himself up as well. “Should we try… to escape?”
He shrugs. “Maybe, it depends how far down that thing went.” He adjusts his position to try and peek out between the slivers of the barricade. “I don’t see anything.” He moves his ear closer to it as well. “Or hear anything.”
“Maybe if we go now…” her words die as the yellow-green light appears again. She slaps her hands on her mouth and Jax yanks her closer to him and further from the entryway. They’re pressed up together and up against the wall, Jax flattening his ears against his head so they don’t stick up in sight of the barricade.
The light is blazing through the cracks and slivers of an opening into the room. It illuminates the sparse rotting furniture in the room, but thankfully not them. the two think it’s going to be another pass by with a slam at the wall to intimidate them. what they don’t expect is several rams against the wall, causing it to shake and even rattle against them.
They’re gripping onto each other tightly, so much so Jax can almost hear Pomni’s non-existent heart pounding in her chest. She clamps her hands tighter around her mouth and he had to bite hard on his lip to stop a gasp escaping as a hand rams through the boards.
The thing has these god-awful, way too realistic looking hands attached to it with some wiring, and now those hands were pushing and breaking through the boards in an effort to get to them. he hears garbled static like giggling and it muttering something in between the scratching and creaking of the wood.
Yeah, ok. This is creepy, even for him.
And vaguely reminds him of another life….
Pomni became absolutely rigid in his arms, eyes becoming scribbles and breathing shallow and fast. He holds her closer, both for her comfort and his own. More boards get splintered allowing more light o pour in. Jax can hear nothing but the static of his own growing panic as two hands reach through the boards and crawl down to them-
Distantly down the hall there’s a gasp and something like porcelain breaking. The hands still, and the couple holds their breath. In the blink of an eye the hands and light retreat and there’s high pitched screeching and scrambling as it skitters down the hall and preys upon its next victims.
Neither one moved for several minutes, too rigid and scared to do so. After a while, they did move out of the barely workable hiding spot and went further down the hall. They found a room with a door and went in there to hide for the time being.
“You good, Pom?” Jax asks as he carefully lets her go. Her breathing is still shallow and frantic, eyes darting around.
“It-” her hand flutters to her head. “It was in my head. I could… hear it calling me.” Her pupils turn to scribbles again. “How could it be in my head? It shouldn’t have been in my head. Why? How? How can it-”
Jax grabs her by the shoulders and gives a light shake. “Hey, breath. Calm down. Remember,” he gives a light tap to her forehead. “None of this is real. It’s all a simulation, and we can’t actually die here or anywhere in the circus.” He reminds her, saying it just for her benefit, and not his.
It’s enough to get the scribble eyes to become solid again, though she still tries to get her breathing under control. “R-Right.” She pants, wrapping her arms around herself. “I-It doesn’t m-make it any l-less terrifying.”
Jax gives a slight shrug. “Eh, you’re not wrong.” He gives a glance around the room. There’s some furniture that can be pushed up against the door to give them a better barricade, and a large air vent grate towards the ground on the wall.
“Here, sit,” he gently pushes her down to sit on the ground, Pomni collapsing on the suspiciously stained concrete floor. He quickly moves the furniture and boxes in front of the door, sealing them from the outside. Once done, he goes to the grate to check it out. It’s big enough that the two of them could crawl through it, though it might make some noise outside of it. But, crawling through this to hopefully get outside the building is better than being stuck here waiting to get ambushed and torn apart.
“Let’s see…” he mutters as he begins fiddling with the screws. He can hear Pomni muttering behind him, her breathing less erratic but still a little frantic.
“It’s… not real. It’s- eugh.” There’s slight rustling. “I-I need something to calm me down.”
“Counting?” Jax throws out, trying to work the screws out of the grate.
“No, something else. Something that’ll take my mind-” she gives a small gasp.
“What?” he pauses in his task, taking a glance at her. There’s no sign of the monster so it’s not that, and he saw enough to register Pomni is fine, likely just thinking of something. He hears shuffling as she gets closer, Jax finally getting the top two screws loose to pull out-
Pomni grabs his arm. “You should kiss me.”
Jax pauses, his brain actually taking a second too long for his liking to process what crazy thing she just said. “Wha?” he turns to her.
She’s nodding rather vigorously, the pompoms of her hat bouncing with the action. “Just for a minute, just to calm me down.” She says, voice still shaky and strained but laced with determination.
He considers it for a moment. He’s not going to lie; he would like to kiss her. He had been mentally preparing for the moment when it struck and the mood was right. Not because he’s nervous or overthinking it, that’s lame. Just… wants it to be decent.
But in the middle of an adventure, where they’re running for their lives, is not the ‘ideal moment’ he had in mind. He was hoping for something a little romantic, sue him! And, considering she’s bringing it up now, saying this is the solution to calm her down and being oddly excited about it, he can’t let the opportunity pass.
“Didn’t think you got off from being scared.” He teased, smiling widely.
She instantly scoffs at that. “No! I just- I don’t really have a lot of options to self-soothe right now. Unless you’re ok with me possibly breaking your arm using it as a stress toy.”
“Ooh, fear and pain. Kinky.” He wiggles his brows at her.
“Jax!” she nearly shouts. She quickly clamps her hands around her mouth, eyes wide at the barricade door. No sound or light is coming through, so she lowers her hands. She sighs. “Humor me, please? Unless,” her shoulders hunch up, “You don’t want to kiss me at all…”
“I didn’t say that.” He rolls his eyes and let’s go of the grate. “Fine, but you got to indulge me on any crazy request on another adventure.” He says, turning to face her better.
“Fair.” The tiniest crack of a smile appears on her lips, which he is definitely not hyper-fixated on now that they’re doing this. Though now that they’re getting closer to kiss for the first time, it suddenly occurs to Jax that this will be the first first time for him.
There’s a new surge of panic that goes through him at the thought. What if he completely messes it up and makes a fool of himself? But then again, kissing can’t be that hard, right? It’s just mashing your lips together. But it also can’t be that simple. There has to be more to it that he doesn’t know.
Ah, screw it. he’s was going to do it as some point, or he wasn’t going to die at all. He breathes in, closes his eyes, and puckers his lips, leaning in.
There’s the faintest snicker from the girl in front of him. Loud enough that it takes this from awkward to downright embarrassing and weird.
“Forget this!” he cries, snapping his head away and shoving a hand out to push her away- wait, was her mouth open? Oh god, was she expecting tongue? He is really out of his depth.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She quickly apologizes, lowering his hand from her face. “You just looked so cute.”
If he could blush, he’d likely be red by now. “I’m not- ugh, you’re lucky I like you.”
Pomni giggles again only for it to turn to a strangled gasp as a loud metal bang is heard off in the distance. Both go rigid and turn to the barricade door, half expecting the monster to come through. A tense minute goes by and nothing happens.
Pomni giggles again only for it to turn to a strangled gasp as a loud metal bang is heard off in the distance. Both go rigid and turn to the barricade door, half expecting the monster to come through. A tense minute goes by and nothing happens.
Pomni moves her hands from her mouth, having covered it to stop any noise from escaping. She sighs. “F-Forget it, it’s stupid anyhow.” she starts to move away from him, turning to the air vent grate.
He watches her for a second, noting the tense posture and darting eyes at every little shadow in the room. He glances back to the barricade door, ears upright as he tries to pick up any sound. The whole proposition she gave was weird, but also knowing her being tense and scared slows them down and makes it hard to escape…
He internally winces. This is going to be lame regardless of what he does, isn’t it?
“If… it’s quick…” he begins, fighting the urge to bite his lip. “I don’t mind…”
“You sure?” she asks hesitantly, glancing at him. Always worried about others and what they’re comfortable with. But she's not disingenuous or trying to get something out of people. It’s one of the main reasons he likes her so much.
“Yeah, it’s fine.” He glances at her before looking away, suddenly a little shy (get it together, dude!). “You… might have to start it…” he grumbles.
Another small smile as she scoots closer to him again. “Ok, just, um…” she lifts her hand and cups his face. He tried to hold back a flinch as he wasn’t expecting something like that. She leans in, he closes his eyes, and tries to stay cool and collected as she lightly presses her lips to his.
He’s not sure what he expected, but his first kiss is nicer and calmer than he expected. It’s not passionate or heated, but soft and considerate. Gentle, a little warm.
She begins to pull back, breaking contact to end it. He grips onto her, stopping her, their breath brushing up against each other. Hesitantly, a little unsure, he leans in and meets her lips, sharing another kiss.
And another.
And another.
He leans into her, his head tilting enough that their lips overlap, getting a little brush of teeth in the process. Her hand moves to the back of his head and holds it while his hand snakes around her and pulls her close. A logical part of his brain tells him this isn’t the best time to get into a make-out moment, as who knows how long until that monster comes and finds them. It’s gooey and mushy, making him feel warm and tingly in a really gross, sappy way. But he likes it, indulging the feeling like he can’t get enough of her.
Her hand moves down from his head and to his shoulder, pushing against him gently but firmly to break away. He loosens his grip on her, and they break away for the first time. He’s surprised they’re both panting a little, as he didn’t think it was that intense. But then again, they haven’t really breathed much in the middle, Pomni’s usually pale face looking a little purple.
“That, heh,” Pomni huffs, “That helped more than I expected.”
“Yeah?” Jax asks, resting his hands on the small of her back, loose on his side. He can taste the faintest hint of something sweet on his lips, like honey. He didn’t think his first kiss would leave a taste like that, or be in such a predicament. But with her still clinging tightly onto him and her straddling him, he’s not complaining.
He just hopes that monster won’t be coming back any time soon.
“I’m getting… a little lightheaded.” Pomni admits, putting a hand to her temple as she continues to catch her breath, her face starting to go back to its pale white color.
“Not like… we have to worry about it here.” He reminds her. He puts a hand to the small of her back and pulls her closer. He got a taste of her kisses and wants more. But he also doesn’t want to push it, in case either one gets overstimulated by touch.
“Oh.” She looks down at him, her eyes narrowing in a way he hadn’t seen before. “In that case,” she lifts her hands to his face, her hand cupping it and thumb brushing close to his lips. He leans into the touch, surprisingly liking it until she jams her thumb into his mouth and ruins the nice feeling. His model, by default, has his teeth clamped shut, and they only separate into sharp spikes for comedic effect or due to high emotions. Pomni manages to pry them apart without much trouble. Before he can ask what she’s doing, she puts her mouth to his again.
Oh, now this is better. The mushy gushy feeling just intensifies as soon as their tongues meet and brush up against each other. And as corny as it sounds to say it, he is absolutely melting into her hold. He pulls her close until they’re flush against each other, barely breaking away. Why they haven’t done this sooner, he doesn’t know. It’s freaking amazing.
Her hands go to his face and hold him still as she practically devours his tongue. He’s nothing but putty in her hands as their make-out gets more and more intense. He thinks he might pass out from sheer bliss until she pulls away, both of them panting heavily.
They stare at each other for a minute as they catch their breath. A part of him wants to resume, kiss her more until she’s putty in his hands, and tease her while biting on her lips. But a distance clank and a pained cry draw both of them back to the present. They glance at the door and back at the air vent grate.
“Better?” Jax manages to huff out as he (begrudgingly) pushes Pomni off of him. As much as he wants to stay right where they are, they're still in the middle of an adventure. And he'll be damned if he gets killed in the middle of one. He can't end his streak of no deaths per adventure, even if his girl's kisses are intoxicating.
Pomni nods as she wipes her mouth. "Yeah, enough to get out." she nods to the grate. "You think tha'll get us out?"
He grabs the top of it and yanks it down, the screws clattering to the floor between them. "Only one way to find out. Ladies first."
"Oh," Pomni begins as she climbs into the grate. "You're not going to have me in the back so if the monster finds us, it gets me first?"
Jax chuckles as he shimmies his way in and follows after her. "I was thinking if the monster finds us at wherever this leads out, it's better if you're up front."
"Jerk."