`I can live inside my head ! - Paul/Brass

[AURELIA RAMONA OCTAVIAN]

The day had seemed to drag on forever, when finally Aurelia was free to have the stage to herself to practice for her audition for the next musical that was coming up. Although she was standing alone with the spotlight on her, she kept wandering to other thoughts as she sang and recited her lines to herself, closing her eyes to help memorize, by visualizing the words in front of her, and picking the points to emphasize and push forward her voice. However, her minds eye pushed forth thoughts that were provoked when one thought about things like romance and ordeals. Specifically, it brought forth the image of Paul, something she had the priviledge of seeing shirtless a few nights ago, after a silly rugby initiation. Now she couldn’t get the image out of her head, no matter how hard she tried. Not even looking at pictures of celebrities in her favourite movies could get the specific way his muscles worked as they moved under his skin while he tried to get his door unlocked. He had thrown his keys down, clearly frustrated, and Aurelia had wandered quickly into her room, grabbed her fleece blanket she had made in grade 11, and threw it over his shoulders, retrieving his keys from the ground. He looked freezing, like he had just had a bucket of ice water dumped over him... Which, as he had explained later, he had. Aurelia felt bad and told him to keep the blanket, wandering back to her room, haunted by the dreams of the previous moments.

With a soft sigh, she opened her eyes and looked up at the light that was on her, running her fingers through her hair.
"So much more complicated..." She sighed a bit more loudly and looked around the stage, before sitting down on the edge of the stage, swinging her legs as she practiced singing. This years musical was Les Miserables, and she was going for one of the leads, though it didn’t really matter to her which one she got. It wasn’t like anyone was going to come to support her. She shrugged and flicked some hair over her shoulder, before flipping the page of her script, looking the song over, before clearing her throat. She licked her lips slowly as she formed the words with her mouth at first, before actually starting to sing.

"Sometimes I walk alone at night
When everybody else is sleeping
I think of him and then I'm happy
With the company I'm keeping
The city goes to bed
And I can live inside my head..." She took a deep breath and pushed herself up to stand on the stage again, holding her script out, then to her chest once she got what she needed to sing. With another deep breath, she began singing again, biting her lip when she needed to look at the script again.

"On my own
Pretending he's beside me
All alone
I walk with him ‘til morning
Without him
I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes
And he has found me..." She glanced up at the spotlight before closing her eyes, making a sharp turn away from the light as she tried to collect herself and look over the script. This was harder to sing than she had thought. Paul had a girlfriend! They were just friends! ... Or were they? She bit her lip and groaned, leaning her head back. Stupid men.

[PAUL MICHAEL BRASS]

One of the hardest parts of school here had to be the time off. Those long stretches between classes in the middle of the week, that left just enough time to feel like he was wasting away, and not enough to afford him the opportunity to have some fun. So Paul was stuck- stuck in his dorm, lying upside down on the bed, a textbook open beside him. He tried to get through the assigned chapters, but it was just so dead boring, and his thoughts kept drifting to what he could be doing right now if there wasn't a deadline.

He was sinking off the end of the bed, just thinking of how weird the tingling in his head felt with all the blood rushing to it, when the covers slipped and he crumpled to the ground like some sort of stupid pretzel. Well, if that wasn't a hint to stop studying, he didn't know what was. After some time lying on the floor, he got up, dusted himself off and left the room after pushing all of the crap that had fallen off his bed back onto the mattress.

He grabbed his keys and a dark blue hoodie from the wreckage on his way out. A few steps across the narrow hall brought him to Aurelia's room, but she didn't answer when he knocked. Pathetic as it sounded, he had a good idea of her schedule, right down to the extracurriculars- but she was essentially the first person he had met on campus, his direct line to other students, and he spent a fair bit of time hanging out with her- it just sort of made sense to know when she would be around or not. He didn't deny that he still found her attractive, but at least he had backed off a fair bit. He didn't want to do something to piss her off, and risk losing what could be considered the closest friend he had out in Seattle.

Still, it took him long enough to track her down to the theater, mostly because when he eventually encountered someone who knew just where she was, they told him that there were no rehearsals happening in the theater. It was worth a look though, so after crossing the campus in a bitter wind, and finally opening the doors to the seats furthest from the stage, he almost turned and left again because it was so dark. But there was a spotlight on, if he opened the door fully, that stopped him in his tracks. He squinted at the stage, and there was no mistaking that wild red hair. He opened his mouth to call out to her, but her voice reached him first, and he bit back his greeting.

Slowly Paul inched into the theater, carefully closing the door behind himself. Aurelia kept looking down at the papers in her hands, then closing her eyes- at least when she had them open he could see the intense concentration that stopped him even now from saying anything.

"On my own
Pretending he's beside me
All alone
I walk with him ‘til morning
Without him
I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes
And he has found me..."

His brows rose slightly. He'd had no idea she had such a voice- it was kind of staggering. All at once however she jerked her head away, turning her back on the light as he approached the stage.

"Hey..." He leaned his arms against the rim, hoping that now he wasn't interrupting her. She had stopped singing anyway, but the greeting still came out hesitant. He was still getting over the surprise of finding out she even sang- the fact that she was just that talented kind of came with the Aurelia territory. So many of her qualities left him acting a lot like a little lost puppy, who thought she could do no wrong. Of course he hadn't completely lost his head like that scenario, but sometimes it felt that way.

Paul tilted his head slightly with a smile, hoping he hadn't surprised her. His face was pink from being out in the cold, blond hair sticking up on the top every which way, though he had managed to push it away from his forehead. Feeling that he should explain himself, he pointed to the door over his shoulder.
"I was just back at the dorms and was wondering if you wanted to hang out. I could use a break from studying, but you seem busy..." He didn't sound disappointed, more just awed than anything else, looking up at her on stage. The spotlight made her hair look like it was on fire- the brilliance of it just above her made it hard to look, so he had to squint slightly, or risk the wrath of random splotches of colour exploding in his vision.

Pushing himself away from the stage, he took a few steps back, suddenly sounding unsure. "Do you want me to leave? Because I can if you want more privacy- I won't be offended or anything-" Paul spoke rather quickly, meaning every word. He didn't want to intrude on something personal. Maybe singing alone on stage was her thing, and him just standing here babbling like an idiot was making it worse.

"You know what? I'm-uh-just gonna go," He grinned, though his brows pulled down in slight confusion, as he walked slowly backwards toward the exit. "Maybe some other time. I get it, totally..." Why was he the embarrassed one? He had thought for quite awhile now that he knew all he needed to about his friend, but this had taken him by surprise, and he felt the need to apologize or something, or at least get the hell out of there and wait for her back at the dorms.

[/color]

[AURELIA RAMONA OCTAVIAN]

Aurelia jumped at the sound of the man she had not expected to set foot in the theatre in a million years, spinning around quickly, clearly surprised at the fact that Paul Brass was standing right in front of her. He looked even more flustered than she felt, and the blush she felt rising in her face could not be escaped. With a bit of a nervous laugh, she tucked her script behind her back and rocked back and forth from heel-to-toe in her new ankle-top boots she had gotten the week before, about to ask him what he was doing here, when he started to explain himself, stammering and trying to make it seem like he hadn't heard anything at all, when clearly he had at least heard a little, because he was acting like he had just walked in to find her naked on the stage in a bed of roses or something. Blushing more when he offered to leave, she opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by his abrupt decision to leave anything. How could he just assume that she didn't want him around like that? Did he really not see how hard she was trying to not have him cheat on his girlfriend? Biting her lip nervously, she hopped off the 3-foot stage and landed with a thud, nearly tripping over herself as she stumbled forward and grabbed his arm.
"Paul, don't go." She pulled him back a bit and stared up at him. Yes, he had walked in her practising, but it wasn't like it was a private event. It was a public theatre, after all. She was just surprised to see him.

Looking down at her hand on his arm, she blinked and let go quickly, smoothing her fingers over her shirt.
"You can stay if you want. Or we can both leave. I can practise later. It's not really a big deal to save the practise for my dorm..." Aurelia shrugged and rubbed her arm with her free hand, holding all her scripts in the other. It really wasn't a big deal, she had just took the free open period that the theatre wasn't being used to see how well she could project her voice. Of course, if he had heard her upon coming in, that meant her vocal projection was pretty spot-on.
"Did it sound okay?" She moved back slightly, grabbing her bag from the side of the stage. "The volume, I mean. I've been trying to project louder, because the school might not be able to get the wireless microphones this year..." Pausing, she frowned slightly at the sudden thought that popped into her head. "But the band will be playing as well... Crap..." Groaning, she rubbed her cheek and then looked up at him, smiling weakly.

The way his hair stood up every which way and the flush in his cheeks-either from being outside, or from the embarrassment of walking in on her doing something he perceived as a private affair, was rather adorable on him. It made her think of the fact that when his first rugby game sprouted up on her calendar, his face would be flushed from the flow of adrenaline pumping through his veins and how he'd probably need a shower afterwa-No. She needed to stop that. Shaking her head free of the thoughts, she hoisted her backpack over her shoulder and smiled up at him with the same smirk she always gave her companion.
"So, sorry. I didn't catch what you wanted to do or where you wanted to go, if you already announced that..."

[PAUL MICHAEL BRASS]

Paul didn't make it very far before Aurelia whirled around. She looked so startled he almost felt bad for interrupting her, embarrassment washing over him all over again. As she started off the stage, he paused, still facing her instead of the exit. In a flash she was hopping off the stage, grabbing his arm when even words would have sufficed.

"Paul, don't go."

He didn't understand her urgency, but he didn't resist as she pulled him back toward the stage slightly. As usual, even with the slightest pressure from her fingertips on his arm, she quickly released him- just one of the peculiarities of the redhead. She never seemed too keen on much physical contact- not with him anyway. But his feelings were never dampened by that sort of thing; he thought he could read her signals as well as anyone else, and out of respect he didn't try to force anything more than friendship, as the ground rules had been when they first met, though it was still one of his favourite ways to tease her, trying to get a rise out of the girl.

Still, at times like this...it was like her words said one thing and her actions said something completely different, and frankly he was feeling more inclined to listen to her actions at the moment.
Aurelia invited him to stay, then offered to leave with him. Either way she apparently had no problem with being in his company. Paul slid his hands into his pockets, forehead still furrowed slightly as he tried to decipher her, though his grin had subsided into a pleased sort of smile. She was backing up slightly, asking about how well her voice projected into the theater. He supposed he was meant to stay put- she looked like she was trying to get some distance after grabbing him- but he stepped slowly toward her, nodding.
"Oh, sure- I thought it sounded great." He was still nodding as she snatched her bag off the stage, though all of a sudden she was fretting about the volume of the band. He leaned back against the stage again so that they were side by side. "You sounded fine to me. Well, pretty great actually. You'll drown out the band for sure." He didn't know why he felt the need to lower his voice, but even his chuckle that followed was hushed slightly- maybe it was the fact that he was hyper aware of the silence in the huge theater whenever one of them stopped talking. So very alone.

"So, sorry. I didn't catch what you wanted to do or where you wanted to go, if you already announced that..."

He was a little disappointed when Aurelia seemed to regain some of her usual composure, promptly getting back to the issue of staying or leaving. Paul didn't answer at first, eyes on the darkened doorways leading off from the theater, though he still smiled, albeit a little absently. Seeming to understand that she wasn't going to wait forever for an answer, he turned only his head, briefly wondering if she knew just how she looked, only certain planes of her face illuminated in the ray of the spotlight that just reached them.
"I don't know, I kinda like it here, we could stay for awhile..." He was still speaking in those same inexplicably hushed tones, not yet at a whisper, as he shrugged and pushed off the stage once more, reaching over to take her bag from the shoulder she had slung it over. "If you want." He offered as a courtesy, although she had said he could stay if he wanted. And right now he wanted that very very much.

Maybe it was the near-total darkness on the fringes of their vision, or the way the spotlight continued to make Aurelia's hair shine like live flames, even the pressing silence, but the atmosphere felt charged. Paul didn't know what he was thinking- the short answer was that he was very much aware that he was not abiding by Aurelia's generally unspoken rules, but most other thoughts had shriveled to next to nothing due to their insignificance in this situation. He still held the bag in one hand, but as he was now standing in front of her again, he leaned around her to place it back on the stage. He could have stepped to either side, or casually tossed it, but this brought him close to her, close enough for his arm to brush her shoulder. It felt only natural to follow the path of that extended arm, slowly and deliberately until his face was hovering near her neck. He let the bag drop onto the stage with a soft thump, drawing only far enough away so that they were face to face but still inches apart, pulling his arm back. He hesitated there, but the pause wasn't a mark of him deciding whether this was a good idea or not- he was only testing her, trying to be sensitive to whatever reaction he was bound to get soon enough. He lay his hand against her shoulder, letting it slowly drift down toward her collarbone, then up to her neck beneath her hair. His fingers still felt cold from being outside, but even the tiniest contact with her bare skin felt as if it warmed him. It was that touch that really prompted him to close the gap between them, though he didn't seem to be in a rush. At first he leaned in an kissed her almost questioningly, but it felt foolish to just give up after that and back up- he wasn't expecting the usual verbal rejection, not when he thought he was catering to what went unsaid between them.

His other hand fastened around her waist, but he didn't pull her toward him right away, instead maneuvering her back against the stage, pressing his lips to her's once again, this time not drawing back. As if the taste of her wasn't enough, he could feel that low current of static, almost like a weird, very noticeable adrenaline rush through his body. So weird, but so good.

[/color]

[AURELIA RAMONA OCTAVIAN]

The words he spoke were quiet, and Aurelia found herself smirking at his apprehension to talk loudly in the theatre. She had been keeping her voice level, ignoring the fact that they were completely alone in the theatre. It hadn’t even dawned on her until his tone became slightly more suggestive. And as his fingers touched her shoulder and collarbone, she blushed and stared at him quietly, as his hand slipped into her hair, and she felt herself lean into his touch, letting her eyes close slightly. When he finally leaned in, she met him almost instantly with the same hesitant, questioning touch, letting him guide her against the stage and press up against her. There was a small current she had trouble controlling that flowed from every part of her skin that touched his, and when he pressed her against the stage, a tiny moan escaped from her lips, parting her mouth slightly as she kissed him back. Her scripts dropped to the floor, and she felt them flow to the floor gently.

Slowly, her hands raised to his chest and pressed against his pectorals gently, and for a moment, she thought she had the strength to push him away, however she found her fingers crawling their way up his chest, past his shoulderblades, and leading her arms around his neck. Her bare skin pressed against his neck, and she felt more of the same current run through her skin and into his own, and before long, she had both hands on either side of his face, practically drawing the adrenaline out of his system as she pulled his face closer, shifting so she could slide up onto the stage, she sat firmly on the edge and wrapped her legs around him, tugging him closer to her, feeling her way up and into his hair, knotting her fingers into the mess that the wind outside had made. Electricity followed her fingertips where ever her hands went and she groaned into his mouth quietly whenever he found a way to get closer to her. This was pretty intense for a first kiss... She remembered it being like this with Dixon, and a few other men. But not nearly as powerful. It was probably from building up for so long... Thoughts started running through her head of if she should tell him who she really was; and that she had known his brother, and his brothers girlfriend, because she was, in fact, a demigod... But he could probably piece that together by now. The way their skin reacted, the more-than-powerful electric shocks... How did he feel about demigods and unnaturals? What if he hated her with a burning passion, or resented her for the fact that she had powers that he didn’t? She went to bit her lip, but sunk her teeth into his instead, before realizing that she was biting him instead of herself, she lightened the pressure and kissed him harder, unable to really stop herself.

"Oh god." Her brain started screaming loudly as it suddenly dawned on her that... Paul had a girlfriend. He had a fucking girlfriend, and he was standing here with his tongue in her mouth and letting her nearly rip his hair out with satisfaction. She let another moan out and pulled away reluctantly, resting her forehead against his, breathing heavily against his cheek, keeping her eyes closed. She didn’t want to look at him, because she could tell he was looking at her. When she opened her eyes, she stared right at him quietly, as if suddenly she understood everything he wanted to say to her. Her teeth caught up her lip and she looked at him like she was about to cry or run away, or at least try to explain herself. Her heart sunk slightly when he continued to stare at her. Aurelia scratched her eyebrow gently and looked away from him, staring awkwardly at the stage, before letting her eyes, but not face rise to look at him.
"I'm sorry..." She unwrapped her legs from him and ran her fingers through her hair. "I didn't mean to... Uhm..." She motioned. "You know..."

[PAUL MICHAEL BRASS]

Perhaps things would have been much more clear to Paul had he taken an interest in his sibling's life- his imagination could only stretch so far, leaving him with a very small and skewed concept of what was really happening here. But none of that occurred to him, because he was kissing her, and she was kissing him back. And biting him. And tangling her hands in his hair. And pushing back against him. And it was a rush, complete bliss, and he was completely losing his head.

The static was quickly overwhelming most of what he had been aware of only a moment ago. Her soft groan and the feeling of her legs wrapping around him as if he couldn't be close enough. Poised as she was on the edge of the stage, he had both hands resting on her hips, touching bare skin whenever she leaned close and her shirt pulled up just enough, a pleasant tingle in his fingertips. All too soon however she leaned back from him with one final moan, until they were resting forehead to forehead. He was breathing just as hard as she was, but stared ahead at her tightly shut eyes, trying to gather his thoughts that had sprung away in a million different directions. The high was dwindling, but he had more important things to think of as her eyes opened to stare back at him, and she started to gnaw on her lip. Apprehension set in; what did he do wrong? Because if he wasn't mistaken, she'd been giving him some pretty strong body language that said she liked it just as much as he had.

She looked away at the stage, and he rested against his outstretched arms on either side of where she sat, shoulders hunching up around his ears, waiting. And then...

She was apologizing? His brow furrowed, mouth gaping slightly. He had no idea how she had come to the conclusion- oh. OH. He blinked, straightening a little. Chelsea. What...what the fuck was he even thinking...
His expression turned brooding, but there was still a sliver of that same thrill in his eyes, a keenness to understand what was happening.
"For what? You didn't want that?" He tried to sound teasing, but he was clearly looking for an actual answer. As blunt as ever, after a moment of hesitation, he hooked one finger into one of her belt-loops, approaching her until he was right up against the stage again. "C'mon, I know you felt it too. We're good together, eh? And that's with clothes on." He half-hoped that she understood that the last part was a joke, while another part of him wanted to keep pushing the limits and see what was going to happen. Somewhere along the line he had shut out that little voice of reason that kept shouting in vain that he ought to be feeling guilty, but after that display he wasn't in any shape to sort his priorities properly.

[/color]

[AURELIA RAMONA OCTAVIAN]

Paul’s hands were on her, around her, and anywhere they shouldn’t have been at that particular moment of time, but Aurelia made no attempt to move, or even shift from her spot. He looked just as confused as she felt about the situation. The vague thought of if she looked the same way, mirroring his emotions crossed her mind, but she pushed it away and opened her mouth to answer his confused face at why she was apologizing. When she saw it dawn in his eyes that he realized what he had done, and felt him pull her closer by the beltloop of her pants, she blushed and stared at him, looking a bit conflicted, infuriated, but mostly upset.

"You have a girlfriend, Paul. This wasn't supposed to happen..." She paused and looked down, running her fingers through her hair. The thought of the electricity that would be produced naked sparked a second round of lust, but she pushed it back from her needs and took his face in her hands, staring straight at him. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this..." She slipped her hands down and sighed, resting her fingers just inside his own belt loops, closing her eyes. She felt bile rise in her throat and she sighed softly, trying to keep down her lunch from earlier. Why was she so nervous?

Finally, she looked him square in the eyes and blinked.
"Yes. We're good together. I can tell, because our chemical reactions draw out more intense electricity than anyone I've ever been... with..." She paused then frowned slightly, pulling her fingers out of his belt loops.
"I'm not regular, Paul. I went to school with your brother, and his girlfriend. Don't ask me why I didn't tell you, because I didn't know until a few days ago that you were Jon's brother." She looked down and sighed softly. "My dad is Zeus." Aurelia shrugged and twirled her hair nervously, before looking squarely into his eyes. "I'm a demigod."

[PAUL MICHAEL BRASS]

There is was again- no resistance on her part to the way he pulled himself closer, and yet he could see the distaste in her face.

"You have a girlfriend, Paul. This wasn't supposed to happen..."

But it did happen.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this..."

That was still an admittance that she had felt the same way, that she had been anticipating the day when the two of them might collide this way. It was encouraging and discouraging at the same time, mostly because she was obviously deeply upset by what had transpired. Oh yes, he'd feel the guilt later, but that was, well...later.

Her hands moved from his face, to his own belt-loops and he grinned, though it fell away as Aurelia shut her eyes, apparently unwilling- or possibly unable- to look at him. That hurt a little, but he just tipped his head to the side, voice a little less joking.
"Hey, it's not like we did anything that bad..." He tried to lift the mood, but when she eyes snapped open and held his attention, he took it as the cue to shut his mouth.
He knew what was coming- a lecture on how to behave. Maybe a suggestion to sort things out with Chelsea first, or a rejection for his own good. He steeled himself for the coming bad news that would probably put any romantic or sexual notions he had on hold, at least for awhile.

"Yes. We're good together. I can tell, because our chemical reactions draw out more intense electricity than anyone I've ever been... with..."

Wait, what? He was completely bemused, corners of his mouth pulling up into a little smile, a small laugh escaping him. What was she talking about, electricity? It put him in mind of their first day together- but of course she was only speaking metaphorically, right?

He had to hurry to catch the rest of her words, but it felt like so few of them registered at first. He had this blank look, but slowly the gears began to work- slowly only because this was the last thing he was expecting.

She knew Jon.

She wasn't normal.

She was a demigod.

She was looking him square in the eyes, but it felt like he didn't see her at all, too preoccupied with how it felt as though his stomach had dropped out of him or something. His hands slipped off of her hips and he took a step back, frowning, looking as if she might bite or start spitting venom.
"What..."He could think of nothing to say as he stepped back a little further, lifting a hand as though he was about to wipe it across his mouth. Of all the people at the university, all the girls, he'd gotten a dorm next to this one. She was the first person he'd met- was it all coincidence that she had been so quick to offer him friendship and help? For one crazy second he wondered if this was all some sort of fucked up plan. His first friend in Seattle, and it just happened, quite by chance that she was one of those Thaedeus kids. A million things rushed though his head; Was she dangerous? Why would a demigod pay any attention to him? His dealings with Scarlet and Jon had given him the impression that they tended to not always fit in with regular humans- that there was some kind of superiority theory at work. He wondered if Jon or Scarlet knew about this. Was there some sort of underground freak network? His eyes widened slightly, horror taking hold. And wasn't Zeus one of the prominent gods? The one that hurled lightning bolts in the myths they studied in school? He was staggered by what he had gotten himself into and all he could think was to run- and run fast.

But of course he didn't do that. He just continued to back up slowly, stony faced, blue eyes searching her face like he might suddenly be able to pick out subtle things that marked her appearance and made her look like the child of a god. He felt an accusation rising within him- she had never lied to him about this, but the omission of the truth was hard enough. Paul didn't know where he wanted to go, but anywhere but this theater seemed like a good idea.

[/color]