fandomtownies | Caritas

"More than your love of colorful little marshmallows?" she wondered innocently.

Oh, Nathan glared at her for that one. Glared and contemplated accidentally dumping some vodka on her leg. Actually, that might have been a good idea because he could have licked it off her.

"Insulting the bartender is a sure way to not a drink or a shag or anything tonight," Nathan warned, waving a finger back and forth. "I'm sensitive and if you're gonna be calling me a leprechaun, I'm gonna need payment."

"I can pay you in means other than money," she suggested, shifting her leg. Even if it was raining, she was in a skirt and tall boots, and that whole licking it off her idea might have occurred to her, too. "I like calling you a leprechaun. It's affectionate!"

"Affectionate?" Nathan repeated though his eyes hadn't missed that shifting of her leg. Hopefully that meant good things and not that she was uncomfortable or something. "If you're gonna call me a leprechaun, I'm gonna call you a Teddy Bear because you're all soft and cuddly and...romantic."

Nathan kept a hold of the vodka but uncapped it before taking a long sniff. It'd been awhile since he'd had vodka but it didn't smell too bad.

"I'm more romantic than you, but that's like, nothing. And don't call me Teddy Bear. I punched you last week. Teddies don't do that," she noted, eyeing him. "Does it totally smell like rubbing alcohol, or is that the good stuff?"

"I don't mess with the fucking cheap shit, Teddy Bear," Nathan said, smirking smugly at her. Yeah, she'd punched him but if she tried that here, she'd end up in the lake. Nathan was confident his face wouldn't end up bruised tonight.

"You wanna taste it for yourself?" Nathan asked, holding up the bottle but not passing it to her. No one said she'd get to taste it via the bottle.

"Natch," she said with a simple nod, ignoring the nickname and holding out her hand for him to pass it to her. So unassuming. Sigh.

Hey, Nathan was the bartender which meant he got to decide how drinks were tried and consumed. Glasses weren't always needed. Like right now, Nathan was just going to tip the bottle towards the inside of his wrist and let the vodka splash there and drip down onto the counter.

"Give it a taste, then," he said and grinned at his wrist.

Ramona glanced from his face down to his wrist and back again, considering. Then she just quirked a slight smile, reached for his wrist to bring it to her mouth, and flicked her tongue out to taste the liquid, light at first, teasing.

But just doing that would be a waste of vodka, and she couldn't have that, so she closed her lips down over his pulse point, sucking lightly, before releasing and moving to press a kiss to his nearby tattoo.

There. That was probably about what he wanted. "It's fine."

That was what he wanted and more. He wasn't some virginal teenager who'd get all hot and bothered and hard at some wrist sucking but the smile he'd been sporting got a little wider and smug.

"Yeah, it is good," he agreed, giving the vodka a look before passing the bottle to her. His arm was wet and the cool air in the bar was making it almost tingly. He liked that feeling. "Think I should get myself a taste?"

"That or try something new," she said, taking a sip from the bottle because she was classy. "But this stuff is good, and I happen to be holding it, so I'm biased."

And ~~as though she was psychic earlier~~ with that, she tipped just a little bit of vodka over her bare thigh, happy she was still sitting up on the bar so that could be possible. "Oops."

Nathan had never been more grateful for faked clumsiness. For a second, he even feigned shock by gasping and covering his mouth with his hand.

"Oh no, good vodka wasted," he lamented, wincing. "Whatever shall I do? I could get you a napkin but by then the vodka might be on the counter. So, I want you know that what I do now, I do for the vodka."

No, that was a lie. The vodka was the catalyst but if he got to lick her, that was the reason. Nathan bent down, managing to keep his eyes on her for as long as he could before putting his attention on her thigh and carefully licking up all the alcohol she'd spilled. If he kept licking after the vodka was cleaned up, well, he didn't think she'd mind.

"The sacrifices you make to save good booze," she sighed, shifting her leg a little so he could make sure to get all the spilled vodka. And because she just plain liked his mouth anywhere on her, and now her thoughts were a little less out here on the bartending and a little more on the back room he'd mentioned. "You're so altruistic."

"I know I am," Nathan replied, settling a hand on the bar beside her so he could lean closer to her. "Yesterday I shared my weed with Kate and today I'm sharing my alcohol with you. I am just all about the giving since I got out of my coffin. I think it's because so many people missed me."

That didn't make a lot of sense but Nathan liked bringing up the fact that people missed him. It didn't happen often. Not for him.

"You had weed and you didn't share with me?" she asked, pouting a bit and leaning in a touch, too. "You'd best still have more or I won't share my own stash when I replenish."

She wasn't going to touch the whole 'missing him' thing. She just wasn't.

And Nathan figured she wouldn't touch it. She was like that. He wouldn't have touched it either if the roles had been reversed.

Smiling smugly, Nathan leaned in and threw caution to the fucking wind because he was getting his lips on her neck. He didn't give a fuck if Tino or the zombies or another random customer saw them. He didn't have his dick out or anything.

Not yet, at least.

"I've got weed from England," he murmured, lips near her ear before smiling. "It's good shit. I didn't know if you were around or I would have given you a ring. I've got plenty left."

Ramona also sort of forgot where she was, or at least didn't care, and found herself winding her hand in the front of his shirt to pull him closer to her. It was an impulse brought on entirely by the beautiful things he was doing to her neck, and she would have been embarrassed by the fact that she sighed but she didn't actually care that much. She didn't.

"You'll have to share sometime, then," she replied softly, keeping her breath even because that would be embarrassing. "I haven't had sex while high in a good long while. Something to revisit, if you're interested."

"And why wouldn't I be interested?" Nathan asked after giving her neck some concentrated attention with the tip of his tongue. She had such nice skin and sliding his tongue up and down the column of her neck was just so easy. It was a temptation he didn't resist.

"Kate and I didn't have sex while high, in case you were wondering." Nathan figured Ramona knew Kate was taken but what the fuck ever. "I wouldn't want you to get jealous or anything."

Was Ramona capable of jealousy? Nathan wasn't sure.

"She has that British guy," she reminded him, shivering a little as goosebumps prickled up her arms in response. "And I wouldn't care, anyway."

So not true. So, so not true. She would care a lot. She was, despite everything, the jealous type.

"As long as she wasn't better than me, anyway."

And that was as much of an admission as she'd make.

"You wouldn't care?" Nathan sort of doubted that but he didn't know if he wanted to push her into admitting. She could be a little prickly when her squishy underside was exposed.

"Something for me to remember the next time someone comes around and wants to share my weed with me, then," Nathan continued, keeping his lips on her neck even as he alluded to getting with other girls. Hey, she started it with that lack of caring bullshit. "I am altruistic about many things."

Damn it. Damn his ability to be so like her, because that's exactly how she would have responded to that. And he was just as much in denial about his own squishiness.

And it was difficult to argue with stuff when his mouth was on her neck. "Bullshit. And I'd...care as much as you'd care if I slept with someone else."

That could have been smoother but see exhibit A, featuring his mouth and her neck.

Nathan bit her neck this time and maybe it was a little sharper that necessary but she was making assumptions and he didn't like that. Sure, they were pretty valid assumptions but whatever.

"That really sounds like you..." He bit her neck a little harder, maybe going for a hickey there. He'd be amused if it lasted for a few days. "...don't give a shit about me. Hmm. That's good to know. You don't give a shit about anyone."

"You have a really bad memory," she said, some of the fogginess lifting as she frowned and pushed against his chest a little. "If that's what you think."

She went quiet, closing her eyes a moment. "You matter. Remember?"

She could admit that much. He'd already heard it.

Nathan pulled his mouth away from her neck when she pushed against his chest and met her eyes. He remembered hearing that before but it was kind of a weird dichotomy, hearing that she didn't care and hearing that he mattered.

"I remember," he remarked because he did. He still didn't really know what it meant but he remembered. "What's that even mean coming from you? You gonna share with the class because the class is fucking confused."

She shrugged, looking down uncomfortably. "I just...I cried at your funeral, Nathan. Don't try telling me I don't care."

She still couldn't put it into words like a normal person. 'I like you' were apparently the three hardest words to say ever.

As it was, admitting tears was a huge, unfathomable deal and she would swear him to secrecy later or something. But it was the only thing she could think of that would actually have the impact she needed.

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