Happy New Year [Will; TR]

[notsocommon]

The new year was always a cause for celebration and while Helen would have preferred for it to be held within the walls of her sanctuary and surrounded by family and friends, she couldn't entirely be upset with dancing with Will while wearing a gorgeous gown and being kissed at midnight to ring in the new year. She hadn't entirely expected it to be such a kiss and Will had surprised her there, but perhaps it was a prelude of things to come.

Helen had drunk a little more than she would have liked but she had always managed to sober quickly, especially when she was drinking because of a festive occasion and not because she was trying to numb her emotions. Her heels had pinched her feet at the party and she and Will had snuck down to the clothes box to get a softer pair for the trip back to her hut (atrocious little boots, but very warm and soft). They didn't normally stay at her hut, opting instead for the relative convenience of the compound and its kitchens and showers, to the point where Austen usually just walked up with Helen when she went to the compound to settle for the night.

But tonight Austen was curled in a corner in Helen's hut and they were staying there. Helen thought it prudent, given she was a little tipsy and less inclined to reserve herself the way she had to when they were sharing Will's bed in the compound. She tossed off the comfortable, yet completely unfashionable boots she was wearing and sprawled back onto her bed with a laugh.

"I shouldn't have put so many damn pins in my hair. It's going to take ages to take down, isn't it?"

Comments

[inabmovie]

Will laughed a little at the way Magnus just flopped down on the bed--so unlike her--and he pulled his own boots and coat off, laying down beside her. "Well, you know, the things you do to look beautiful." That dress, for example. It had probably looked like nothing special, piled in the clothes box, but on Magnus... wow.

[notsocommon]

"Don't I know it? Although, it's a little disturbing to be getting wrinkles after almost a hundred years of not aging at all," Helen said, frowning a bit. "I guess you'll just have to live with the fact that your girlfriend is getting to look a bit...Mrs. Robinson."

[inabmovie]

"Pfft." Will repeated that dismissive noise as he nuzzled against her neck. "I don't even notice." What did he care about wrinkles here and there? Not a damn thing. Other than being immortal, the only way to not get older was just not to be alive at all, and getting older was a hell of a lot preferable to that.

[notsocommon]

"You didn't notice the frown lines and the crow's feet?" Helen teased, threading her hands in his hair as he nuzzled her. "A little hard to miss, I would think."

[inabmovie]

"Nope." Will kissed his way up her neck, along her jaw, and then along her face, especially at the corners of her mouth and eyes were these purported 'lines' were supposed to be. "Haven't seen a damn thing."

[notsocommon]

"And flattery gets you everywhere," Helen said, laughing a little before letting it trail off into a sigh. "That feels nice, by the way. What you're doing. I'm inclined to let it continue along its natural course without anything in the way of interruption."

[inabmovie]

"Sounds good to me." Will kept up his little trail of kisses, all the way up to her hairline, then asked, "Want me to help you with all those pins?" He was hoping she'd say yes and let him brush her hair out for her; his fascination with her hair was probably a little on the ridiculous side, but he couldn't help it.

[notsocommon]

"Mm, please?" Helen asked, letting her eyes drift shut as she just basked in the sensation of having all the time in the world to spend with Will. She suspected, had they pursued a relationship back home, their trysts would be few and far between and only when things were relatively calmed down.

"My brush is around here somewhere. No idea at the moment and I'm not really looking to move just yet."

[inabmovie]

"I'll find it." Magnus was a lot neater than he was, so he figured he could find it pretty quickly. It wasn't in the first couple places he looked, and then he looked behind a towel hanging up to dry. "New furniture?" he asked, still hairbrush-less. And there it was, right by the bed, where he should have looked first.

[notsocommon]

"Ah, sort of. Take the covering off," Helen said, opening her eyes and smirking a little. "It's your Christmas present, of all things."

[inabmovie]

"Seriously?" He pulled the towel down, and there were a set of bookshelves underneath it that hadn't been there last time Will came to her hut. "Did you build these?" He wouldn't be surprised if she had; he'd learned a long time ago that Magnus could pretty much do whatever she wanted, except sing.

[notsocommon]

Helen nodded, blushing a little in spite of the fact that the light was low and he probably couldn't see her.

"I did. In case you ever found something you liked at the compound and wanted to...leave it here? It seems a little silly, I guess."

[inabmovie]

"Not silly." He came back and sat on the bed beside her, hand lightly stroking her thigh. "It's a great present," he said genuinely. "Thank you."

Will wondered then, if the gift was meant as an invitation to move back in with her. He wasn't sure, and didn't want to flat out ask; he wasn't quite ready for that step yet. He didn't know if they were quite ready for that yet, and he didn't want to rush things. But he did appreciate the gift, and what it might mean.

[notsocommon]

"I'm glad," Helen said, sighing a little in relief. "We could always move it up to your room in the compound, if you think that'd be more acceptable. I just can't move it alone, is all."

[inabmovie]

"Well," Will said thoughtfully. "It's not like I don't need a place to put things when I visit. Besides," he added a little more carefully, "there's no point in going to all that trouble to move it, if one day we just have to move it back again. You know... later on."

[notsocommon]

"Later on?" Helen asked hopefully, feeling a bit like an idiot that she was so damnably excited about such small things. Really, they'd been together for less than a month. She shouldn't be so excited about the prospect of living with him again.

"It would make certain things more convenient. Later on, that is."

[inabmovie]

"Yeah, it would." He slid his arm around her, helping her sit up, and started gently working the pins from her hair. "But things are good, and I don't want to rush them. Still want to be careful with you."

[notsocommon]

Helen made a pleased little noise at the feel of his hands in her hair and tipped her head a little to facilitate him removing her pins.

"I'm not fragile, Will. Not as much as you might think, anyway."

[inabmovie]

He carefully worked the pins loose, and that sometimes was hard because she had her hair in this fancy twist thing and sometimes the pins were really hiding in there. "Well, yeah, I know you're not. I didn't just mean for your sake, though." He hadn't quite wanted to admit that, because it made him sound a little like a wuss, but it was true. Part of his being careful with them was for her sake, and part of it was for his.

[notsocommon]

"I imagined that was the case," Helen said softly, tone light in spite of the heavy subject. "I'm happy where we are, Will. I don't feel pressured for more or less than what we have right now. I love you, you love me and we, I think, make a good couple."

[inabmovie]

"Good," he said softly. "I'm happy with us, too." Will thought he had all the pins out now, so he started brushing it, careful not to be too rough. It was something he'd recently started doing, brushing her hair, and she seemed to like letting him. It seemed to relax her, which was mostly what he wanted to do, though it was a kind of selfish pleasure for him, too.

[notsocommon]

"I'm glad we've settled some," Helen admitted. "It was a little...hectic, before. I'd much rather be relaxed, like this, than worry about how you feel or if I feel too much."

[inabmovie]

"Me too." He'd brushed out most of the tangles, and now was just brushing her hair just to be brushing it, with long, smooth strokes all the way down her hair. He liked the way it fell down her back, especially with the way her dress showed a lot of her back.

[notsocommon]

"I think you got all the tangles from it," Helen said softly, letting out a long sigh at the feel of the brush running through her hair. "It feels so nice, though, when you spoil me like this."

[inabmovie]

"I'm glad you let me spoil you." At first he'd thought maybe she wouldn't, that she didn't like being spoiled, but Will liked doing it and he was glad she let him. He brushed her hair a little more, then pushed it over her shoulder and kissed her neck.

[notsocommon]

"Mmm. Like that a bit better," Helen murmured, warmth running through her at the touch of his mouth. Will was excessively good at making a woman feel wanted and cherished and it was something that she'd had very little of in her long life.

"You can do that any time you like."

[inabmovie]

"Yeah?" He set the hairbrush aside and continued kissing her neck, and after a little of that he moved lower, kissing his way down her spine. "That, too?"

[notsocommon]

"Oh yes, certainly that," Helen teased, stretching a little. "In fact, I think I want you to make a habit of that, if you would?"