Out of the Dark

The sound of her careful footsteps rattled through the air, as Ninette walked around the garden. She had left, for a while. It hadn't been long, quite possibly not long enough at all. But they had said she needed a break. It had done her some good, she supposed.

She had gotten tired of pink, at the very least. Her long locks were back to their usual blonde, grown out once more to cascade down her back. Her green gaze had not softened at all in her time away, perhaps it had even hardened slightly. Reflection had not gotten Ninette anywhere, not anywhere useful.

It had only taught her one thing - one thing that she had always known but ignored.

Ninette Fontaine did not like herself.

But she didn't know any other way to be. Vulnerable, in anyway, was not something that she could be. Vulnerability merely made one weak. And Ninette would be anything before she was week.

So, back to the land she ruled - underlings still feared her, and in a part of her brain, she still enjoyed the fear, as much as she begged for the envy - Ninette continued to roam, away from everyone, hidden in the gardens and wondering just what her next move would be.

His eyes were closed, even as he lounged backward against the trunk of the tree Ondrea had climbed all that time ago. The animals warned him of her approach, but other than that left him alone. All but Princess, the kitten diligently ignoring his craving for solitude and pawing at him every so often. The black and white kitten had eventually settled herself in his hair, huffing and curling into a tight little ball there.

Hands shoved in his pockets, face devoid of any emotion, it was almost like he was someone completely different than he had been before he had attempted dating. The tribal design of his tattoo traced its way down his right arm, distracting against his pale skin. He didn't know why he let the tattoo parlor men talk him into it. Though, he supposed it fit his disposition. People looked at him as dangerous now, since his height had already made them uncomfortable, that tattoos made them antsy. They didn't want anything to do with him.

Which was good, since he didn't want anything to do with anyone either.

He wasn't looking of her, nor was she looking for him. They had both gone to the same place to hide away from the rest of the world. Ninette was oblivious to anything, especially when it involved gossip. She knew exactly what the boy was trying to hide from.

Ninette knew everything there was to know about not wanting anything to do with anyone. Including how eventually, one day, for even one hour, you'd change your mind.

"Dating's a bitch, ain't it?" Ninette quipped, not expecting an answer back as she flopped beside the boy, hair bouncing as she did so. "Nice tat by the way. Didn't really take you for a tribal tattoo sort of guy." She flicked her gaze over it, admiring his bared chest as well as the marking, "Kind of hot really. Always did like a guy with a tattoo or two."

After laying her comment, the slight smirk on her face the only sort of emotion she had put into it, Ninette shrugged her bared shoulders, and went back to staring at the garden around her with cold uninterested eyes.

Zander glanced over at her out of the corner of his eye, watching her warily. He gave a slight rise and fall of his shoulders, looking over at her fully this time, brown eyes unreadable as she took it in.

"Is that a common sentiment?" He asked, glancing down at the tattoo. He flexed slightly, watching the slight movement of the ink over his skin. "Perhaps I should just start walking about shirtless. That might make the girls focus more on my availability than the break up itself." He shrugged a shoulder again. "Who am I to claim I recognize the female mind?"

Leaning closer slightly, he brushed a kiss to her cheek, before leaning back against the wall once more. "Hello Ninette."

Glancing over again, she gave a crooked little smirk. The mask itself was her usual attitude but her eyes were a slightly different story. They weren't as cold and empty as usual; though they couldn't seem to make up their mind on what expression they wanted to show instead.

"Its a Ninette Sentiment, and really does any other matter?" A quick raise of her eyebrow and then she was back to looking forward, her lips moulding into something akin to a genuine smile as his lips brushed against her cheek. It was a sweet action. Something the people she generally spent time with would never do.

Really, she couldn't spend time with people that sweet. Ninette knew she'd just ruin them. "No, don't. You'll just advertise to someone worse than Lisette, like me." Letting out a hollow laugh she shrugged her shoulders. "Find someone better than all us and our petty problems. You're better."

"Its gossip Zander; they'll move onto the next big thing eventually. If you want to move it along, I could probably always help. I just seem to have to look at someone the wrong way to be the next big thing."

"Help?" He asked, turning toward her. The look on his face was a bit too eager, as if he was convincing himself. "Professor Skydancer did say something about me needing to be seen with other girls. He wants me to look like a proper ladies man, to counter the emasculating feeling he gets from being married to your grandmother." He bit his lip slightly, frowning. "I am not sure it is fair, but yes, I would be most grateful if you would help me."

"I would rather have you." He said honestly. He shrugged his shoulders. "I would have wanted someone like you, or perhaps someone worse. Much worse, that's what I really deserve." He grinned. "Besides, you don't pretend to feel things you don't. Except Happiness. But that doesn't really count does it, everyone does that."

He tilted his head to the side slightly, watching her expression change. "Why do you do that?" He asked, leaning forward a bit to keep her face in view. "Keep your emotions all locked up? If you let them shine, you would be much prettier." He flushed slightly. "Not that you aren't pretty."

"We should be the next big thing."

Ninette gave a snort, which after a moment's pause turned into a full out laugh, "Good old Gramps huh? No one can quite make up for my Grandmama," a soft smile came onto her face. Talk of her grandmother was one of the only things that passed Ninette's guard, shone passed her walls no matter how many she had up at the moment. "No one is quite like my Grandmama; she's always been my own ideal."

"Why do you insist you're worthless? Why did Julian throw up his food? Why did Ondrea use to stutter?" she shrugged hers shoulders, laughing one more time, though this time the sound was empty of mirth, devoid of emotion, completely hollow and bleak, "Why does anyone do anything, Zander?"

Her shoulders sank with a heavy sigh, leaning her head against the wall behind her, eyes faraway as she thought. She thought about her Grandmother, her grandfather, Basil, the twins - Simon. "Emotions are messy; the weaken you - just make it easier to be hurt." If no one could see what she was feeling, then at the very least they couldn't know she was hurt.

Her sharp eyes picked up movement beyond them, a person that she judged was heading their way. Glancing over at the boy, his suggestion and her offer both playing in her head, before moving quickly flipping her left leg over his own so she was neatly placed in his lap, nose pressed against his just as the footsteps of the wandering seventh year into both hearing and viewing range.

Her lips pulled into a little smirk as her eyes danced between the other boys lips, gaze and then back again.

"You think I'm pretty?"

"No one really knows." He said with a shrug. "Perhaps we sho-" His voice disappeared as he found himself beneath her, eyes sparkling as he followed her glance to the figure approaching, a smirk playing over his lips. Suddenly he was pulling from every book he'd ever read, every character he'd ever wished he could be. Sodapop, Dallas, Captain Harkness, John Bender, Jack Sparrow, Sam Winchester, Damon Salvatore, Adrian Ivashkov, and Ren MacCormick.

It was the easiest thing to do, placing his hands on her hips, a daring grin growing over his lips. "What if I did?" He asked, moving his hips against hers. "What do I get then?" He tilted his head back, his tongue slowly tracing its way across his lips. His body language had changed, more relaxed, even as his fingers brushed at her skin beneath her shirt.

His hips moved again, leaning forward just the slightest bit, so their lips were almost touching. "Do I get a dance?"

Raising an eyebrow, the girl smirked, leaning closer as her eyes followed the flick of his tongue. The change was sudden, impressive even, though not quite a surprise. After all, she had met this Zander before - in fact she had met this sort of Zander long before she had known the sweet yet unsure one.

This was the one that had insisted there was something behind the angsty wall she had presented her self as.

And this one, where ever he had drawn it from, seemed to have some idea what he was doing.

"I don't know," she murmured softly, pressing a kiss to the top of his jaw, lingering against the skin slightly before she pulled away to move lower, to repeat the action. "I think, to get a dance, you need to do a lot more than think I'm pretty." She moved lower still, enjoying herself greatly even as some part of her brain knew this was as fake as every other interaction she had ever made.

Even more so.

In the heat of the moment she couldn't bring herself to care. It was some connection, wasn't it? That had to be better than none.

"I mean after all," her breath was hot on his skin, her tongue, which reached out as she paused to moisten her lips, just barely grazed him, "A lot of people think I'm pretty, Pumpkin. I think you need to come up with something a little better than that. Don't you?"

There was a small hitch in his breath that no amount of acting could over come, even as he tilted his head slightly to give her mouth more access. To his credit, his voice was smooth, though it had dropped, was much huskier. He was aware of whoever was watching sliding closer, trying to seem as if they weren't being watched. "Demanding." He observed, a smirk playing over his lips that nearly disappeared at the flick of her tongue. "How much more, hun? Talk is not as cheap as they say, you know."

Moving his hips beneath hers, his hold on her tightened slightly before a palm found its way under the fabric at her back, pressing her more firmly against him. A slight groan slipped from his lips, and a dark laugh rumbled from his chest. "Come now, Ninette, you of all people should know I give as good as I get." His accent thickened as he moved his hips upward suddenly, tilting his head back to ensure she had all the access she wanted. He wasn't going to stop her, not anytime soon. Steadfastedly ignoring his heart's irratic pace, he gave a rakish grin, fingers trailing up her spine.

A slight russle in the bushes made him sure that their little spy was listening, and this was the time for the kicker. The one that would really get them talking. He licked his lips slowly again, his voice dropping just to ensure that the listener would imagine him whispering.

"Just don't tell my ex, yeah? I'm supposed to be in mourning."

Rolling her hips as she sat, pushing down with more force as she came closer to him than at any other point in her circuit, she greedily moved on to the more skin she was offered. Never let it be said that Ninette looked a gift horse in the mouth. After all, all opportunities were ones that were meant to be taken, right?

"Demanding," she mewed softly, giving a slight response to his movements returning his groan with a sound of her own. Pushing forward, and down hard against him, her teeth brushed the soft skin below her in a light nip, "Is how they like it; don't try and tell me you don't."

Allowing a more obvious sound to escape her lips, she leaned back into his touch, closer her eyes for a moment as an enticing little grin began to grow across her face, "I just love that accent of yours," she was being purposely obnoxious knowing full well their soon to be gossiper was close. It may have been an image that Ninette abhorred to strengthen but it was an image she had none the less. Even if she were fighting Zander off with a stick, she was sure the gossip would have found a way to turn it around. In the end it was best to go with the age old motto,'if you can't beat them, join them', "It just makes me so-" she cut off with another moan, opening her eyes once more, and pressing her nose closely to his. Her finger began to trace the lines of the tattoo she had complimented further, stilling only as her palm pressed flatly against his wildly beating heart. "Well you know." She pressed down again to illustrate her point and mouth began to trail up to his ear. Tugging on the earlobe softly with her teeth, she hovered there long enough to appear from a distance as if she were imparting a great secret, but all the boy could hear was the smooth silence of her breath.

"Ex's are for being forgotten," Ninette responded, not even bothering to sound as if she hid her voice. After all Ninette Fontaine never attempted to hide anything, did she? Except perhaps herself, but she was so practised at that, that hardly anyone noticed. "But, if you really wish for me to keep my mouth shut... anything for you Pumpkin."

His breath caught in his throat, a pleased sound shuttering up his throat before he could stop it. He tensed, then relaxed, a shiver strumming through his body. Brown eyes darkened as his pupils dilated, lips parting as his control started to slip.

Eyes widening slightly as he found their gazes locked, he found it increasingly harder to breathe. "Ti piace quando lo parlo così perché è sessuale, non è vero?" He rasped, voice deepening as it grew rougher. "Gemito per me, beniamino" Fingers sliding, exploring and tempting, he bit his bottom lip, a smirk playing despite the fact that he was unraveling at the seams. He jolted as she pressed down, unable to stop it, even with all of John Bender's expertise.

Moving hips against hers - a stark contrast to create maximum friction - he took a deep breath through his nose, her scent hazing over his brain in a way almost as distracting as her ministrations. He breathed, hands caressing even as his eyes closed in bliss as her lips traced up his jawline. Pausing, he froze at her proximity, listening but hearing nothing. He growled slightly, as if against whatever it was but submitting to it, letting her win this time.

"Consider it already forgotten." Without any more preamble, he slammed his lips to hers, devouring her with lip and tongue.

Spoiler:

The reactions she caused were almost more enjoyable than the reactions other caused within her. More power, more control over the situation. If they were under her power, than they had to do what she said. And over the years Ninette had come to find that desire held just as much power as fear - perhaps even more.

Her smirk grew at the words flowing out of the boys mouth, a chuckle that ended in a satisfied groan followed although she had no idea that it was being asked for. Her hand snaked back down his chest, fingers nails grazing lightly across the skin, leaving faint lines in their wake as she began to push down again, slightly unprepared for his oral attack.

Unprepared, however did not mean unwilling to accept. Smirking against the lips it took only a moment for her to respond, moving against him even as she opened her mouth to allow him access. Hands flat against his abdomen she pushed back plastering them both against the wall before her thumbs curled to hook into his belt loops, yanking the boy sharply upwards, even as her legs bent and curled to move herself closer down.

A small smirk played on his lips, but it was hard to keep up, hard to focus, really. The act that he wasn't under her complete control was slipping, making it almost painstakingly obvious that he'd been under her power the whole time.

He shivered at her nails, confused to why the usually painful action was pleasurable. Somewhere he knew that Jack Harkness would never be surprised by such a small thing, but this was different. This was- was-

He was sure none of his favorite characters had ever met anyone as tempting as Ninette Fontaine.

Throwing his focus into the kiss, he plundered her mouth, wild and rough, demanding the control he needed to keep this act up. The best actors could be acting no matter what, but he doubted they ever did anything like this off screen and-

A sharp growl - was that his?! - came from nowhere as she pulled his hips up, the friction both delicious and completely panic inducing. He didn't know what he was doing. He had no idea what-

But appearantly his body did.

His hands had found their way to her hips, thumbs rubbing against the skin just beneath her shirt. A small smirk played against her lips. Some part of him was shocked at his own daring, the smoothness of his voice.

"Eager, are we?"

Ninette was never one to not relinquish control now and again, if the person thought they could handle it. More for show than actual amusement anyway, Ninette had no trouble at all, holding back on the kiss for the moment, allowing Zander to define the pace, the intensity.

Besides, distracting him with her hands, running across skin, pushing and pulling him towards or away from her as she wished was far more entertaining. Every little slip of his act was as thrilling as the return of it.

Finding her lips free, Ninette began to trail away from his mouth following the line of his jaw up to his ear, were she paused a moment to tease, "Now, now Zander dear, you know there is only so much time in the day; can't be wasting it now can I?" Tugging at his earlobe with her teeth, she paused a moment, sucking gently before relinquishing the body part and following the line of his neck down right to his chest, where she continued kissing, smirking as she went.