Five Seconds to Midnight (M)

[Lani Hunter]

Lani giggled, on a completely different trajectory that Molly. This was the ever famous incident of same conversation with two very different ideas. It was rushing the blood in his veins and consequently the alcohol was racing faster and attacking his brain and making one falter and giving the other lower brain all of the reins. “I have a few ideas of how to test it,” Lani suggested cryptically for he really only had one and he wasn’t sure what the confusion was. He was pretty sure they were still on the same page so he brushed it off without another thought. All he was really able to comprehend was that there was a really hot girl with him and she was flirting and they were both heading in the same direction.

Maybe Lani was missing out on something by not having drunken hookups before this, maybe he was too hung up on love and relationship and that was indeed a problem. Considering love was a poisonous thorn and not to be trusted. Lani was determined to keep his heart under lock and key after the abuse it had been through. But that didn’t mean anything for hookups. Really he had been a fool for not seeing this all before. Lani grinned and made to grab the finger that taunted him and missed. His hand adjusted and ran through her hair and let her smooth hair trail through his fingers. “So are you,” he teased.

Despite their mutual misunderstandings Lani was very glad that they were at least on the same page about one thing. Lani couldn’t help but laugh a little at her serious expression, he couldn’t imagine anything being serious at the moment, everything was abruptly hilarious again. It was good for Molly that she had found Lani, a professional sneak for the night. He was a very bad liar at the moment and besides fibbing his first name for his last he hadn’t been able to think of a lie that would need to be said. But breaking into places he wasn’t supposed to be was a little bit of a hobby of Lani’s. It worked out as well. He wished he could focus easier, it would have made this trick all the better but instead it came out in a fumbling way.

Lani laughed, “Shhh,” the sound of the shush oscillated mildly with his laughter as he tried to get her to be sneaky. “C’mon, lez check it out.” He drew her into the shadowed room with him and shut the door behind them. Trying to orient his hazy drunk eyes in the dark was rather difficult. He could feel Molly close by and she was making his blood boil. He didn’t know if there was a light or not but the small closet was offering nothing in the ways of its secrets. Pressing his back against the door Lani’s eyes struggled in the darkness. There had to be a light somewhere.

[Molly Kingsley]

His hand running through Molly's hair definitely added more pink to her cheeks, so she giggled when he pointed it out. Little things like that, that played into the romantic stereotype, she definitely fell for, even if she wasn't falling with deep emotions. It was a shallow emotional connection, and that was plenty for Molly to have in any of her relationships. If she wanted more... Well, she'd figure that out when she wanted it.

Which probably should be soon, she was getting ol- Doesn't matter, man in close proximity.

Hunter's giggling broke her serious look as she gave him a slightly confused half-smile. Because something was obviously funny if he was laughing, she just wasn't yet aware of what it was. But as he hushed her, unable to hold back his laughter, she realized it was her and the blush continued on her cheeks even as she smiled. Oh, drunk Molly: so much less self conscious.

Putting back on her sneaky face (sort of pursed lips and wide eyes - incredibly silly looking and not at all inconspicuous), Molly glanced surreptitiously from side to side and gestured energetically for him to hurry in, following close behind. As promised to herself, as soon as the door was closed she raised her hands up to do a victory dance.

"Ow-" Her hands had smacked into a shelf that must've been lining the back of the closet-y thing, cause she hadn't even managed to get her hands above her shoulders before she'd hit it. She probably should've expected something of the sort, given her bad luck with most things that involved coordination, but she was still surprised. The 'ow' was more out of surprise than actual pain - a preemptive 'ow,' if you will, in expectance of a pain that didn't really deliver. Which was fine with her: no pain, no problem.

Oh wait. Bar:closet. This was an optimized location variable! Oh, perfect! Lights? Who needed lights?

Molly turned, prepare to rock Hunter's face off with amazing makeout skills, and-

Ran into a wall. Good thing she was feelin' no pain, she just giggled.

Who needed a light? That would be Molly.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani was having a terribly hard time holding back laughter and when she made her sneaky face he had to bite his hand to keep from abruptly guffawing while they were trying to be sneaky. It reminded him of the comedies where the character trying to be inconspicuous was actually the most conspicuous of all. He obeyed and rushed inside before she called attention and he broke their cover by laughing. Inside he allowed himself to snicker, he was feeling so sly at the moment he was pretty sure he was on the highest list of the highest criminals. Not for all of the actual crimes he’d committed, oh no, he was the slyest of the bunch because he’d snuck into a door. He was diabolical.

He heard the smack and the residual ‘ow’. He giggled a little trying to regain control of his composure, an act very much in vain. “You okay?” He asked when he finally recovered. He couldn’t see her and for a moment he waited for something to happen. He couldn’t find the light just standing here, nor could he do anything useful. He let his power out and tried to make a map of the area like he could do very well when he was sober. That was a terrible, terrible idea. If Lani’s eyes were bad when he was drunk his power was worse. Yes, his power pointed out four walls and a door, floor and ceiling, along with some shelving, but these images in his head were warped with the walls bowing in and the shelves set at angles that would be detrimental to holding anything that wasn’t glued down. The wall were also moving.

Shutting his power back up in his skull Lani looked dizzily around the blackness and had to work very hard to convince himself that the walls were not moving, which was made harder when the world tipped when he moved his head. Molly, where was Molly? Did the closet eat her? He was suddenly very worried about where Molly was in the enclosed space. He wanted to find her. He realized his hand had been searching in the wrong direction when he heard the dull thump against the opposite wall. “Over here,” he said, “Marco…” He called like he was playing a pool game. He swept his hands around in the darkness afraid to move too far from the door, Lani grabbed what he thought was her shoulder. It took a little bit of poking for Lani to realize that was most definitely not her shoulder.

Because the sneakery had Lani feeling extremely sly and confident he, now knowing where he was with her anatomy wrapped his other arm around her waist from behind. Despite the accidental nature of grabbing Molly’s breast his other hand did not let go of that which was most definitely not a shoulder. Her perfume wafted to his nose and thrilled him. His frontal problem was not going away and the tighter he held her the more the pressure grew. “I can’t see a thing,” he whispered in her ear. There had to be a light around here somewhere. Well, now that they had more or less found each other maybe they didn’t need a light. At least so long as Molly didn’t decide to go off on any more expeditions. He buried his face in her hair and kissed the back of her neck.

[Molly Kingsley]

 "I'm- I'm good," Molly assured him, practically jovially for someone who'd just banged a limb against an invisible obstacle. She was pretty sure there was some sort of tech system in here, thanks to the familiar electric-sounding buzz, and (now that her eyes had adjusted) the faint traffic-colored lights about a foot above her, but her power had specialized in actual computers, and primarily graphics and physics engines at that, so there wasn't much more she could tell. If she could've put together the clues, she may have recognized some sort of sound system setup, but as it was she just knew there was some heavy stuff on some shelves and some lights that weren't enough to see by, and probably some wires taped up along the wall somewhere. She wasn't about to attempt to use her power here, it was pretty useless unless she had an idea of what she was trying to do.

She had to giggle as he called out Marco, and she had the brilliant idea to hide (by standing still, genius that she was) and not say anything (though her stifled giggling kind of gave away her general location - besides, it was a closet: it's not like they could get that far from each other). That was, until a hand hit her. "Oh!" She was surprised, that was sure. Not exactly unpleasantly, just... surprised. Synapses were firing, already prompting more program actions, though the alcohol and darkness were sort of slowing her down in terms of actually completing the actions. She was still getting her drunk brain to figure out where exactly the rest of his body was. Y'know... besides his hand. Cause she knew that one.

She took in a sharp breath of surprise as his arm closed around her, and let it out in a short slightly nervous giggle, that melted into a happy hum. If she'd have been sober, this would be when she would start laughing hysterically (not the good way, the nervous 'I don't know what I'm doing' way) and freeze up, but drunk Molly knew exactly what she was doing as she smiled playfully in the dark, wriggling a little against him as he pulled her tighter. 

His lips against her ear sent off a wave of goosebumps that caused a delighted shiver in her, and she pursed her lips to keep from giggling like a schoolgirl. She couldn't help the slight laughter-like hum that tickled her lips as she spoke up, her tone almost giddy. "Mmmh- Hmhmhm- Me neithe- ooh-!" she had to giggle at the kiss, she couldn't stop herself in time. And then her programming was kicking into full gear, and the giggle became something far more... well, more grown up that any noises she'd made that night, catching in her throat and rumbling out in a sound that sober Molly wasn't even capable of. Then again, sober Molly wasn't really capable of anything one might possibly classify as 'erotic.' 

She couldn't tell if she wanted to bother finding a light switch anymore. As long as Hunter was holding on to her the probability that she would run into something or trip over something was significantly decreased. Then again, Molly was frequently capable of inhuman acts of klutziness, so maybe lights would be better. She wasn't exactly thinking about it, though. Her thoughts were more intent on directing her hands; one covering his over her waist and the other slipping back to trace the hem of his undershirt. Somehow, her programming just caught on to these things, without getting her brain all mixed up with thoughts about right or wrong moves or things to say or do. Maybe this was why she liked drinking: it just simplified things.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani was much too drunk to realize what was in the room with them. He smiled into the darkness, glad she was alright. The only thing he was certain of was that he was not going to use his power again, that had just really messed with his perception of things and he was still a little bit to tilt-y but that could have very well just been alcohol and no direct fault of his power’s drunkenness. Things Lani had learned today: Drunk Lani equals drunk power. Drunk power equals a very strange acid like world. He would have to find Molly the old fashion way of feeling around and fumbling in the darkness. He wondered if this was how it was always before they had lights, because it wasn’t like the sun existed before lights. He wondered how people discerned how other people looked if all they had to go off of was feel. Maybe their eyes adjusted.

It was a true drunk moment when he could go from being extremely one minded about sex to being extremely curious about the existence of the world before lights. Then he reached out and his mind was right back to the first. He could feel the heat in his face and he wondered if that ‘oh’ was proof that she was blushing in the darkness as well. Soberness could take the backseat every once in a while. Any fiber of Lani that was sober had since checked out and was just sitting back to watch and try to figure how much of the night would be remembered after Lani would eventually wake up, hopefully in some form of building. Preferably his bed, but if that wasn’t an option he hoped it was at least not a gutter. He smiled into Molly’s hair and was extremely excited by her close proximity. Half of the excitement was that this was someone he had just met.

The more Molly moved the more it drove Lani and made him want to hold her closer. Then Molly started to giggle and it made Lani want to start giggling as well. Then the sound changed. It sent lightning through Lani and he couldn’t help but smile. He couldn’t control what he was feeling and all he could consciously comprehend was that he wanted to hear that noise again. Which lead to a repeat of the action. He reached up and brushed her hair to the side so that his lips could touch the heated skin at the back of her neck. It was like something primal and feral was rising in Lani and the desire to be intimately connected was strong. It was strange to be feeling this pull so strongly with a stranger, he found he didn’t mind at all. In fact the idea that this stranger might be a friend or that he might be able to live this night in his memories was exciting.

Chills rose on his skin as he felt her hands moving. He felt ignorant and at the same time confident and knowledgeable. Drunk, he was able to let go and let his body do what it knew how to do. He moved one hand over his torso pulling her spine against his belly, his other hand moved against her chest and he unintentionally pushed her closer toward the wall and as he moved his hand he bumped a switch. “Ah-ha!” Lani cried as the dim light flickered on. He started laughing again as he was forced to close his eyes, which had adjusted to the darkness and were not altogether happy about the sudden light. He could see Molly as well as feel her know. “I can see you,” he ended up snickering like a fumbling teenager, well like he was. He couldn’t even handle how clever he was being at the moment. “Molllly,” he said into her ear.

Lani’s accidentally skillful drunken self now that he could see the skin on her neck and see her hair and visually look over her shoulder at what he had in his hands it burned in his groin stronger than ever. Lani’s upstairs brain had turned off and his body and downstairs brain were starting to click to the controls and Lani’s hands moved over the contours of her tank top and the lower hand ventured at the hem of her tank and felt the smooth skin of her abdomen. He wasn’t sure if he was hot or if it was her but it was getting quite warm in this little closet.