Felipe De Matteo
May 23, 2020 12:58 AM
What is a date? [Zara] by Felipe De Matteo
Leonor and Mara had gone swimming and it was apparently pleasant enough for her to insist on going over the summer. Always happy to please, Felipe and Leonor's parents had obliged, and bought them each swimsuits. As Felipe had now seen exactly two bathing suits in his life - his own and Leonor's - he couldn't exactly say how stylish they were. Leonor's one piece pointedly was not red, although she liked the color well enough, and Felipe's trunks were . . . bright. He would have been perfectly happy with black or tan or something, but these were blue and yellow and green, and Felipe was pretty sure he looked like a dork.Also, boy swimsuits didn't have tops. Why didn't they have tops? Leonor got to wear a top, albeit for more obvious reasons, and he supposed her swimsuit didn't have much in the bottoms department, but Felipe thought it was altogether ridiculous that his options were to just go shirtless, or to wear a regular shirt. His wardrobe did not consist of many shirts that would be reasonable to swim in and even fewer that were well suited to do so. So Felipe was going to go shirtless. On the bright side, he was pretty confident that he was probably in better shape than most of his classmates, should the need suddenly arise for everyone to go topless (dear Merlin, never let that happen); years of manual labor and careful eating habits had cut him a decent figure, he thought.
For now, he was going to cover it up, though. He'd invited Zara to go swimming with him since he now had a new skill and thought it would be fun and relaxing and also because it was really hard to come up with stuff. Just hanging out in the Gardens or in the Library was nice, and that's what they always did, but also he sort of wanted to kiss her face off and that was less appropriate in the Library, and still pretty public in the Gardens. He wasn't sure what Sonora's official stance was on kissing people's faces, but they didn't seem to have any particularly strict rules against being alone together so the only real difference was that there wouldn't be the risk of prying eyes this way. The MARS rooms were significantly more private. Also, swimming meant there was something to do and when Felipe found himself at a loss for words, he could distract himself with something physical that was not Zara, or he could go underwater (which was really scary but that was okay) or whatever else.
He was undeniably a bit nervous about the nature of swimsuits. Between him not having a top and her ostensibly not having a bottom, that was a lot of skin. Which was great. But also it was a lot of skin. Over the summer, they had become acquainted with more of each other's skin than Felipe had ever dreamed of, but it had mostly remained covered up. There was no way to hug someone whilst not wearing a shirt without putting his skin on them and he wasn't completely convinced of the ability of his swim trunks to not completely embarrass him.
Felipe donned his robe over a short-sleeved button-up - severely regretting the fact that he hadn't purchased a T-shirt at some point - and his swim trunks, and then put on his socks and shoes like a dork because why hadn't he ever bought sandals? He arrived to the MARS room first and thought of the beaches he'd seen. His experience with pools was limited to having seen Jessica's from inside her house, and he didn't want the exact beach he and Leonor had used, but one similar. Also, he thought of towels, because he'd forgotten one and a nice rock with some towels sitting out in the sun would be great. Warm beach water, warm towels . . . it would be perfect. Probably. Hopefully.
Taking a big breath and preparing himself as best he could, Felipe stepped inside and grinned at the room's handiwork. This part, at least, absolutely was perfect. He wasn't sure whether it was weirder of him to sit there with his shirt off in just trunks while he waited for Zara or to sit there buttoned up like he had gotten dressed for the worst beach parade in history, so he began with his shoes and socks since they were ridiculous. Then he moved to his robe, hoping beyond hope to stall for time. Luckily, he'd done well, and Zara arrived as he was folding his robe up to place on a rock near his shoes.
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Felipe De Matteo
What is a date? [Zara]
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Felipe De Matteo
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Zara Jackson
May 23, 2020 1:41 AM
April 25th is a great one by Zara Jackson
Zara wasn’t sure whether Felipe had chosen a swimming date because he hadn’t thought through exactly what he was getting himself into there, or because he had. Swimming was basically the licensed and appropriate way of letting them take off more clothes around each other. It felt nice when Felipe’s fingers touched her skin. She hadn’t exactly stopped him from sliding them under her clothes when she had visited (in fact she may have grabbed his hands and instigated one or two times). Nowhere intimate - that still felt weird - but feeling his hands on her back or on her legs felt good. Now they were going to make that way easier, and get the visuals to go along with it.She made her way to MARS, a light wrap dress over the top of her swimming costume. Between the mid-rib halter neck top, and the relatively high waisted, modest shorts, there was not a lot of stomach on show, but it was still technically a two piece. The bottoms were a bright vibrant orange, and the top had tropical flowers on. Zara liked the bright colours and patterns. Usually, she felt pretty happy and confident wearing it. She was just aware that the person she was wearing it in front of today was going to be specifically checking out how she looked in it. Not that she expected him to be critical or not like what he saw but… But it was a slightly odd feeling, feeling like they were deliberately going to stare at each other in fewer clothes, even if this did cover a lot more of her than regular underwear did. Even if it did sound like fun, and she was broadly down for that. She just couldn’t quite imagine stripping off right in front of him and it not being slightly weird.
She entered MARS, finding that he’d got as far as shoes, socks and robe (why?) off. She kicked her sandals off, grabbing them and carrying them over to wear he was standing, her toes digging into the sun-soaked sand as she went. She was pleased to find it was a beach. She’d vaguely been picturing a pool, as that was her default, but this was much more fun.
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” she grinned, kissing him on the cheek, though hanging out in his personal space in case he wanted to make it more than that.
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Zara Jackson
April 25th is a great one
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Felipe De Matteo
May 23, 2020 2:00 AM
*takes note* by Felipe De Matteo
See? Zara didn't look like a dork. Why on earth was he such an awkward dork of a human? She had normal clothes for this normal occasion and she was already so pretty and he was such a dork."Thank you," he smiled, blushing when she kissed him on the cheek. He wanted to wrap her up and make out in the sand, but he was acutely aware of what a nub he was being in his mostly regular outfit. At least now that his robe was off, his trunks were on display, like a beacon reminding the world that he at least owned a swimsuit now. Still, he felt way too awkward to be quite ready for that. Also . . . how was he meant to take his shirt off? That felt so weird to do in front of her, but if he didn't and she tried to then he really wasn't sure what he'd do. Probably just melt into a heap in the sand. Pushing those thoughts aside, he settled on what felt right, and wrapped an arm around her waist, kissing her on the mouth before looking around the room(?) with her. "I thought it might be a good place. You know I've only gone swimming like . . . twice? And it was this summer?"
He kissed her temple and released her, not wanting to make her feel like a squished bug. Running his fingers through his hair, which was getting surprisingly long, he smiled nervously. Why was everything so difficult? Even the nice things? "I'd like to go swimming," he said, working hard on that whole new policy of expressing himself and his feelings. "And I feel really awkward taking my shirt off. Is that . . . is it okay? If I take my shirt off? So we can go swimming?"
Following her lead, he took his shirt off over his head, not trusting himself with the buttons, and resisted the urge to fold his arms over his chest. Instead, he took a deep breath, and relaxed some. Zara had made it clear that she was into him, and she probably didn't think he was as much of a potato as he thought he was; he knew he shouldn't worry too much. "I can absolutely keep my shirt on if this is weird."
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Felipe De Matteo
*takes note*
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Zara Jackson
May 23, 2020 2:14 AM
It's also a small fruit, usually served dried by Zara Jackson
“Wait what?” Zara asked, when Felipe pointed out that he’d only ever swum twice before. He’d mentioned it in his letters and the fact that he had new swim stuff and had been excited but she had not extrapolated that from it. She had just figured he’d grown. In retrospect, just how much he’d flipped out over it all made more sense now.“Okay. So… don’t drown,” she advised, eyeing the sea. It was, thankfully, pretty calm. When she swum in the sea her parents usually got her to stay in her depth anyway, so they could probably do the same. The sea wasn’t for real swimming, it was for splashing about it. Having fun in.
“Makes sense to me,” she nodded, when he asked about taking his shirt off. The permission thing was generally pretty cute but she wasn’t sure she needed it to extend to him doing things to himself. Though actually it could be kind of fun to have that power over him, just for an afternoon or something… “It does feel kind of awkward,” she agreed, finding she was inclined to turn her back slightly as they both removed clothes.
She turned back, smiling sort of shyly, although this was already feeling more normal. Now they were two people standing in swimwear. Which made sense. Cos they were going swimming. It had only been weird when they were two people taking their clothes off in front of each other, cos they were fourteen and - much as Zara kind of wanted to be grown up and liked that she had a boyfriend and wasn’t one of the little kids any more - it wasn’t like everything was on the cards right now.
“It’s not weird,” she assured him, “Unless you feel weird and you want to put it back on,” she added, realising that might be what he was after really. “For what it’s worth, you look good like that,” she smiled.
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Zara Jackson
It's also a small fruit, usually served dried
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Felipe De Matteo
May 23, 2020 2:29 AM
*scribbles frantically* by Felipe De Matteo
Felipe grinned, feeling playful. "Deal," he promised. "No drowning."He was glad that they could get relatively undressed in relative privacy and he was also glad that he was sort of adapting to the fact that he was dating a really attractive person, because otherwise he might've momentarily lost all use of English. Or Spanish. Or anything else. As it turned out, lady swimsuits did not all look like Leonor's. Zara didn't remind him of Leonor for a number of other reasons, but also just . . . she looked really good. His blushed darkened when she said he looked good, but he also smirked, feeling better. "You also look good like that," he said quietly, slowly putting his hands up to her shoulders and moving down her arms to lace his fingers together behind her back.
It was these little things that were absolutely the hardest for Felipe. He could see where he was and he could see where he wanted to get, but he didn't know what to do about the in-between. He'd known he was dressed and wanted not to be, but how to actually do the shirt-removing was the hard part. Now he knew he was on the land with Zara and wanted to be in the water with her, but he wasn't sure exactly how to go about that.
He was pretty sure that they had some level of standing understanding that he was going to ask for consent explicitly for some things, and for other things, he was going to trust that she'd tell him if she wasn't down. He almost wished he hadn't gone to Cleo and Parker's booth last year because now that it was in his head, it was really in his head. Still, Zara was almost characterized by her playfulness, and he thought that it might be alright to lean into that. He could be playful sometimes when he wasn't busy worrying about whether he was breathing and blinking in a satisfactory manner.
Lowering his mouth to her ear, he dropped his voice into a whisper, despite the grin that was spreading across his face. "Are you ready to go swimming?" he asked before ducking and scooping her up under the legs. Running on sand was a thousand times harder than running on more firm ground would've been, but it wasn't as if he wasn't used to that, and Zara was much lighter than some of the things he was expected to be able to lift at home. The effort required to run on sand also served to keep him from thinking too much or looking down at her too much.
Sprinting from where they stood to the edge of the water, he went as far in as he could without tripping and then let them both fall forward together, soaking them both in water that was only about two feet deep. Popping out of the water, he couldn't help grinning as exhilaration-fueled adrenaline pumped through his body, but he also tried to wait to see what Zara was doing, ready to match her expression instead.
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Felipe De Matteo
*scribbles frantically*
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Zara Jackson
May 23, 2020 6:57 AM
And this is by Zara Jackson
“Thanks,” Zara smiled, striking what she hoped was a cute pose as Felipe said she looked good. Now they had got passed how to get undressed without it being weird, it felt back to being exciting. Especially when Felipe traced his hands over her arms and locked them in behind her back. Right on the bare part.Felipe leaned in, and Zara already found herself smiling in anticipation, wondering whether they were actually going to get around to going swimming, as this felt awfully familiar and-
“Eee!” she squealed as he picked her up, his intent very very obvious from what he’d said. And darn him for his trickery! However, she bit her lip to hold back the string of usual protests - hey! Stop it! Put me down! Unlike her cousins, Felipe would probably obey. She had time for a brief mental image to flash through her mind of Felipe setting her down gently on the sand, staring wide eyed and asking if he had offended her. It made her giggle. As did the situation. However, she only had a brief moment to entertain that before she recognised the feeling of arms that were preparing to throw her and held her breath, just in case.
Her butt hit the sand well before her head went under, though there was enough water sloshing around that she was glad of the precaution. There was about to be even more.
“You swim weird,” she informed him, nodding in general indication of the fact he was currently more sprawling than swimming. “And you’ll pay for that,” she added, sweeping her arm through the shallow water to splash him playfully.
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Zara Jackson
And this is
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Felipe De Matteo
May 23, 2020 7:47 AM
*quill scratch* Oh. Good. by Felipe De Matteo
Zara was smiling, which made Felipe smile. The sound of her laughing was his favorite and his nervously pounding heart seemed to have changed into something more like bursting, full as it felt. He opened his mouth in mock offense when Zara told him he swam weird - also he had a lot of limb going on and in water this shallow she probably wasn't kidding - and regretted it when a splash of water found his face. He reached out as it came his way and caught Zara's wrist, pulling her towards him as he edged deeper into the water, his movement sending smaller waves back her direction as well."Better?" he asked playfully when they were in deep enough water that they could both still stand up but at least he could also look a little floaty instead of ball-y. Still holding onto her arm, he pulled her a bit more gently into him, where he could wrap his arms around her and hopefully not drip on her too much. Stinkin' longish hair. She looked very cute all wet, so he kissed her again and found that wet kisses were weird and nice. It was harder to tell what his hands were on underwater, but the seams of her swimsuit made it clear that the part in the middle, the smooth, warm part, was just Zara, and the idea made Felipe blush and his stomach feel warm.
He suddenly wished that he were a very good swimmer and he could show off some, but he was pretty sure the train to being cool had left without Felipe even getting so much as a ticket a rather long time ago. His best bet in almost every case was to sit back some and let Zara be the conductor on this ride instead, so he did just that and let her decide how much she'd like him to kiss her and how and where and all the things.
After a moment of that, Felipe pulled away some to breathe, although he wasn't about to let go until Zara wanted him to. "Hey, I like you," he beamed playfully. "Thanks for coming swimming with me."
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Felipe De Matteo
*quill scratch* Oh. Good.
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Zara Jackson
May 23, 2020 9:38 PM
The thrill is in the chase by Zara Jackson
At the ball, Felipe had tasted like cheap fruit punch. Now his kisses were lightly salted. They were also soggy. Kissing, by nature, was sort of soggy, but this time it was everywhere. His mouth was all wet on the outside too. She could feel little droplets of water running all down her arms, in addition to the touch of his hand. It was all very damp, but in a pretty nice, tickly way.She leaned in returning his kiss. Being under water made he body feel somehow more anonymous, and it definitely didn't feel weird to have Felipe's hands on her back. Maybe it was just the privacy. She reached out under water, her own hand mirroring his in that it came to rest on the join between swimwear and body, in his case settling just above his hip.
"I like you too," she assured him, nuzzling playfully, spreading water droplets from her wet hair to his already wet cheek. "Thanks for inviting me swimming," she gave the final word slightly raised eyebrows to indicate a certain degree of air quotes around that word because they hadn't done much of that so far. Perhaps it was time to change that...
She pushed off firmly from the bottom, sideways and away from Felipe.
"Catch me if you can," she grinned. She suspected she had more skill but that he had more overall strength and it would be interesting to see which of them came out on top. Though she wasn't adverse to slowing down enough to let him catch her if need be - though she would probably make it obvious that was what was happening. She wanted to be caught but that didn't mean she wanted to be bested, especially if she was actually better...
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Zara Jackson
The thrill is in the chase
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Felipe De Matteo
May 23, 2020 10:00 PM
That I can give you. by Felipe De Matteo
I like you too. Felipe doubted he'd ever tire of hearing that, and he beamed at Zara, happier than a clam in this imaginary beach setting.He was getting better at detecting Zara's moods or intentions, and the way she thanked him sounded playful. He wasn't sure exactly what, but something was about to happen. It was one of Felipe's favorite things about her because she had, in many ways, saved his life for it. He was playful at heart, but rarely had the opportunity to indulge in that before Zara. It was a bit odd, just playing, but it was nice. It was especially nice when it was physical; few things were as satisfying as getting out, moving around, and just feeling the blood pump through his body. He felt alive and free and so so happy with Zara, and even more so when there was both Zara and physical activity. Not like . . . It wasn't a euphemism. But it could be.
Zara dove away from him and Felipe cocked an eyebrow, smirking. He had no doubt that he was not as good a swimmer as she was because he wasn't really much of a swimmer at all, and he knew for sure that he wouldn't be able to swim and catch Zara at the same time. It wasn't like he and Leonor had spent the summer wrestling in the water; they kept their distance from each other, Felipe swam laps and floated around a bit, and that was that. Zara was tiny, which gave him an advantage in terms of reach and strength, but her the advantage in terms of mobility. Considering how much extra slippy the water made them, she would have an easier time getting away than he would catching her.
Those things were not particularly important though, because Zara wanted him to catch her, and that was motivation enough to try. His face flushed with excitement and exertion, Felipe did his best to push himself after her, trying to copy her movements. He was pretty aerodynamic (waterdynamic? aquadynamic?) and cut through the saltwater without much trouble, but that was also because he could reach the bottom easily enough that he didn't actually have to swim. He had promised her that he wouldn't drown, so this seemed like an okay approach. Except he for sure would never catch her this way.
He tried first to reach for her hand, but gave up on that right away, instead groping around for a foot or an ankle, something she was using to propel herself and that would thus be closer to him than the rest of her. Shock and a great amount of saltwater came over his face as he jumped forward and found that the water was deep enough here that he would indeed need to swim, although not so deep as to be terribly worrisome. He wondered whether the room actually would let him drown at all and decided not to find out. Wiping his face with one hand, which didn't really do a lot of good since his hand was also wet, he took a deep breath and dove beneath the water, pushing himself forward as hard as he could until . . . there! He surfaced, Zara's slender fingers in his hand, and grinned at her. He was happy to find that they'd managed to get back into slightly shallower waters and he could stand up properly.
"Tag," he smirked, pulling her in and kissing her once quickly. He turned to attempt the same move back the other way, although he hated to let go of that little hand he'd tried so hard to find.
It was sort of odd dating his best friend, because he was always a bit torn trying to figure out what he wanted most. It was usually about even between wanting to play around and just have fun, and wanting to play around and have fun. With that in mind, he turned back to her and kissed her once more, his hands on her face and his body against hers, kissing her firmly and determinedly. "Okay," he murmured. "Now tag." He grinned at her and then did as he'd planned and pushed himself off the bottom, cutting through the water away from her, hoping desperately that she'd catch him and wondering what she'd do when she did.
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Felipe De Matteo
That I can give you.
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Felipe De Matteo
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Zara Jackson
May 26, 2020 7:07 AM
Though the catch is pretty fun too by Zara Jackson
He sort of… lolloped after her. Zara wasn’t even convinced at first he was picking both feet up off the bottom. She pressed that advantage, putting in a good few hard pushes away from him whilst he got his limbs to co-ordinate. He was pushing as hard as he could though, and it made the adrenaline pump as her competitive spirit kicked in and-Huh? She’d watched him flollop down and take a face full of water, which amused and concerned her in almost equal measure when she remembered that he wasn’t a strong swimmer, and shifted in balance towards the latter when he vanished entirely. She paused to touch down, finding that she couldn’t. Not that that meant they were out of Felipe’s depth but…. But she slowed and- ARGH.
He’d got her. And he was still standing, or was able to do so again. He tagged her back but then didn’t really go anywhere. She grabbed his hand, holding it firmly.
“You’re the easiest catch,” she teased him, placing the other hand on his hip to hold him a moment more and to enjoy some more kisses. But then he wriggled away, and she set off in pursuit.
Having the headstart and the stronger limbs probably helped him. It wasn’t like she was on him straight away. She also wasn’t sure how you grabbed something that was kicking and splashing in your face. She pursued, throwing her hands up to shield as a big splash came back at her. That had the effect of righting her body, and she found her toes against the sand. She pushed off from that, using the extra lunge to snag a handful of Felipe’s swimsuit. She wasn’t sure whether he stopped because he recognised it as a fair catch, because he wanted to be caught, or because he didn’t want to have his shorts ripped off.
“Gotcha,” she smiled, leaning in. To the victor, after all, went kisses. She experimented with treading water, pulling in as close as she could, but it was too tempting to put her hands on his shoulders and that made them drift back to standing. She had imagined chasing after him again, telling him he couldn’t fake drowning again to lull her into a false sense of pity. And she still would, if he wanted to play some more. But equally, she was happy if he wanted to… play some more, and she pressed her lips a little more firmly against his.
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Zara Jackson
Though the catch is pretty fun too
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Felipe De Matteo
May 26, 2020 11:28 AM
You're absolutely a catch. by Felipe De Matteo
Felipe wasn't quite sure how to feel about hearing he was an easy catch, but he supposed Zara wasn't wrong either. At least, not if she was the one doing the catching. Probably, if anyone else was trying to catch him, he'd be evasive at best. But he really did want Zara to catch him, so he thought maybe it wasn't all bad.As it turned out, pushing himself away from Zara was much harder than pushing himself after her. He wasn't sure whether that was because he had much less motivation to get away or because of the nerves that made him feel like he was sort of more flailing away from her rather than anything else.
He stopped abruptly when Zara's hand found his trunks, though. It wasn't any sort of grip that made him especially nervous, but trunks weren't the most snugly fitted garment he'd ever worn and he idea of accidentally ripping his shorts off in front of her just didn't appeal. It worked out well though because he was rewarded with more kisses and he thought that he could probably be conditioned this way.
Floating/swimming/standing in the water while kissing was a bit more difficult than Felipe really wanted it to be, and he had the sudden urge to pick Zara up and just have her wrap around his waist or something, but that seemed a bit forward. He couldn't think too much about that anyway with her mouth on his. He did sort of wonder what she'd like best. Laying in the water or the sand would certainly be easier than trying to hold her up and kiss her at the same time but also there was that risk of being creepy or inappropriate again. His arms wrapped around her and he stooped to kiss her as firmly as she kissed him before risking a bolder move. Gauging her reaction as best he could, his eyes searching her face, he stooped a little lower and kissed the side of her neck. Both were very wet and salty as he half-knelt in the shallow water, partly on his side. He thought that it might be his favorite taste after today.
"Yes," he murmured playfully. "You did get me." He kissed her again. "You'll tell me if you don't like something, right?" he confirmed, gently kissing her neck one more time. "I don't think you could do anything I wouldn't like probably," he added blushing, although a number of things she could do that he wouldn't like did come to mind. They were fairly unlikely, so he wasn't worried about clarifying that. "So I'm mostly following your lead."
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Felipe De Matteo
You're absolutely a catch.
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Zara Jackson
June 04, 2020 8:15 AM
In the good way, right? by Zara Jackson
“I will but you didn’t,” Zara confirmed, as Felipe started kissing her neck. It was one of those things that, on paper, sounded gross. Who wanted someone slobbering all over their neck? Like… having a wet neck did not sound sexy or fun. Also vampires. Not that they slobbered, they bit. But they were a thing. This was not like either of those things though. Not that Zara had been bitten by a whole load of vampires, or even one at all ever (luckily). And, sure, it was wet cos they were in the sea, but it was also soft and tickley and just nice.Zara had to admit a swim date was a pretty neat idea. There was, obviously, the option of making out, and that got plenty of look ins, but it wasn’t like it was the only thing on the cards. They could splash and chase, and she could get Felipe to show off his mad skillz at swimming and laugh uproariously at him. She could also try to teach him to do better. Once you added the buoyancy of the water, she was strong enough to help, and she could put her hands underneath to help him try lying on his back. He got a couple of facefuls of water but he got the hang of it (and she got ‘thank you’ kisses). And then they could float and chill and that was nice too. It was fun (very fun) to do the making out thing, but it was nice when it didn’t eclipse the friend thing totally.
They were totally turning into salted prunes though, so it was time to get out and enjoy fluffy towelled beachy goodness for a bit. Zara grinned spreading one of the towels out and lying on it, enjoying the squidge of the sand underneath the soft fibre - she wondered, as it was magic and an illusion bound to this room, did that mean it wouldn’t be absolutely everywhere later? That would be the best…
“This was a great idea,” she grinned at Felipe, leaning over to kiss him quickly on the lips.
OOC - permission to time hop from Felipe’s author
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Zara Jackson
In the good way, right?
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Felipe De Matteo
June 04, 2020 8:47 AM
The very best way. by Felipe De Matteo
Floating was weird. Having a small person who definitely probably couldn't normally hold him up do so now because that's how water worked was even weirder. But it was nice. All of this was nice.When they left the water behind in favor of the beach, Felipe followed Zara's lead in getting a towel and laying down on that instead of directly on the sand. It seemed like an odd thing to do, but since he was pretty sure they'd be dry and not sandy upon leaving the room, he didn't mind. Plus the effect was a sun-warmed smushy bed thing and Felipe felt like he could probably layout and take a nap like this. If he got a dark tan in here, would that last outside the room? In any case, he stretched out on his towel, soaking up as much of the sun as possible, his eyes closed in quiet contentment until Zara leaned over and kissed him. He jumped a little, surprised, but kissed her back when he realised what was happening.
"Thank you," he grinned, peeking one eye open at her when she leaned away from him. "Thank you for helping me swim better."
It was quiet for a moment then, and Felipe let the sun warm him up as they listened to the waves lapping at the sand. Between himself and Zara, Felipe reached out and took her hand. It was a lovely few minutes and Felipe was a bit irritated that his memory ruined it for him.
"I forgot!" He sat up when he realised. "I brought you something." Picking up Zara's hand to leave a kiss on the back of it, he let go and pushed hi self to his feet, running back to his robes to find the gift he'd brought for Zara.
Mexico was one of the world's top silver exporters and the folk in Ciudad de Matteo who wrought silver products were proud of their work. As they should be; the pendant of this necklace featured delicate twisting petals of a silver rose, thin and lightweight but intricately designed to wrap around a thin, round turquoise. The effect was something like a gleaming rose garden reaching up and around to kiss a green moon. It was beautiful, and one of the reasons Felipe would eventually need to tell his family about his relationship with Zara. They were perfectly happy to let him draw the sum needed to purchase such an item, especially for the sake of courtship, but they would want to know how it went. It felt good to know he was supporting a local craftsman though.
Today, the necklace was bundled within a small leather pouch with a snap, more roses pressed and burned into the face of the bag, and Felipe resisted the urge to open the pouch and check on the necklace again before giving it to Zara. He knew it was fine, and he would see it soon enough. One fear that did nag at him was the possibility that Zara would think he was showing off. He wasn't trying to; he had the means to shower her with anything she wanted, so that's what he wanted to do.
"For you," he said as he returned, smiling sheepishly and running his free hand through his hair. "I hope you don't mind? I like giving you things." He grinned outright then, thinking of the stash of chocolate and candy he'd brought from home to either eat or give Zara throughout the year. He pressed his lips to her cheek for a soft, warm moment, taking in a deep breath of the slightly saltier wetter version of his favorite smells, before passing her the leather pouch and returning to his towel, trying not to watch her too eagerly.
OOC - I can't find a picture of what I was describing, but research tells me that both silver and turquoises are quite special and quite expensive in Mexico ("pound for pound, turquoises are more valuable than diamonds") and that roses are of the same romantic connotations as they are in the US at least. It would be of obviously good quality, whether or not Zara could tell it would be expensive.
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Felipe De Matteo
The very best way.
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Felipe De Matteo
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Zara Jackson
June 08, 2020 7:10 AM
You too by Zara Jackson
“You’re welcome,” Zara smiled, glad to have helped Felipe with his swimming. “We should do it again sometime,” she added. There was still plenty left undone, after all.She was getting ready to just slip into the lazy lull of soaking in the fake sun, when Felipe surprised her. He’d got her something. And given that he was getting up to get it… Well, she supposed it could still be more kisses, or something physical, and he was just teasing… She wasn’t about to rule out being jumped on, given that she’d been thrown in the sea.
However, he returned with a tangible present. Zara blinked at the little velvet pouch. It screamed jewellery. But it wasn't a little velvet box and he wasn't down on one knee, so she didn't think anything untoward was happening.
“I don’t mind presents,” she confirmed with a laugh, “Though… you know you don’t have to, right?” she checked. It seemed polite to, even though this was easily gonna be the most fun part of having a boyfriend. Well.. maybe second most. She was probably more about experiences than stuff, and she and Felipe seemed to be in line for a fair few of those based on what had happened so far. Stuff was nice too though. She snapped open the little pouch, reaching in to pull out the little silver rose.
“This is beautiful,” she commented, honest and earnest, as she looked at it. She had no skill in appraising its value, beyond the sentimental fact that it was from Felipe and he was a cutie for giving it to her. She was aware that a wealth gap could be a heck of a thing. That billionaires got compared to stupid amounts of time and needed abolishing or whatever. Dimly, she was aware that there were prices that jewellery could cost that were beyond what she would deem sane. But she didn’t grasp that Felipe might be distant enough and mad enough to give her any such thing. She was pretty sure this was the fanciest thing she owned but that was more based off most of her jewellery having come from Claire’s Accessories than any idea of just how fancy this was.
“This is lovely, and so are you,” she said, looking up from the necklace to offer him a happy smile, “You gonna come here and put it on me?” she invited. She was probably pretty capable of doing the clasp herself, but it was nicer to reel him back in and have him do it for her. He could get thank you kisses whilst he was there too.
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Zara Jackson
You too
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Felipe De Matteo
June 13, 2020 11:07 AM
You think so? by Felipe De Matteo
Felipe grinned, happy to see Zara happy. She seemed to really like the necklace and that made him stupid happy."Yes, ma'am," he said, taking the necklace back from her obediently. He thought about going up behind her to work the clasp, as that made the most sense to him, but it was really nice to see her face instead, and he got to lean in close this way. Except that they were sitting now, and he didn't want to squish her trying to get close enough to reach behind her neck. Instead, he knelt in front of her and tugged on her knees to scoot her as close as possible. It would be easiest to just sit cross-legged and put her on his lap but that seemed a bit close, especially whilst wearing swimsuits. He couldn't promise that that wouldn't become rather uncomfortable for her in particular. In any case, he could reach around her plenty well from here. Her neck was all smooth skin and warmth and nice smells and and he sort of felt rude for putting the necklace there. It was a beautiful piece but it absolutely couldn't compare with the beauty of the person wearing it. Her comment took a moment to settle in his mind though, and his face of concentration as he worked the clasp changed into one of pleasant surprise as he looked up at her eyes. "You think I'm lovely?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
He was generally responsible, but he could understand why folks didn't behave responsibly when they were dating people. Still, he was well-behaved and he'd be good. Leaning forward on to his hands and knees, he kissed her and pushed her back so she could sprawl out on her towel again and he could lay right there next to her, giving her as many kisses as she'd let him.
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Felipe De Matteo
You think so?
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