#hbad part 12

[rulesofthebeneath]

how bout a dance: part 12

<AN> Hey guys! Time for the penultimate part of this fic! Wow! One more part to go, I’ll release part 13 on Monday. I hope y’all enjoy this, it’s probably my favorite chapter! Gonna warn (again) for suggestion, and some strong implications. Polite reminder that they’re adults in this fic. That being said, nothing mature/explicit is actually done. Thanks. Tagging: @ajaysbhandari, @pixelburied, @lilmissperfectlyimperfect, @itsbrindleybinch, @witchiegirl, @ravenclawpokegirl25, @catlady0911, @ylevolenahs, @awkwardalbatros, @hufflepvnk, @aidenzhous. </AN>

Ajay wondered where Grace was. By his count the show had ended nearly twenty minutes ago, and at the ten-minute mark his thoughts had started to run dark. What if she stood me up? She realized that she made a mistake? He told himself the worries were unfounded, but the thoughts persisted. 

Now at twenty past curtain call, his spirit was almost crushed. He though she would at least text him to let him know she wasn’t coming. He began to wonder if he’d overstepped by setting himself up in her dressing room. Am I cornering her? Pressuring her? Holding her too closely to something she said so many weeks ago? He thought maybe she’d changed her mind and didn’t want him anymore.

He quickly straightened up, however, when Grace’s dressing room door creaked open. He smoothed his shirt down and tucked his phone into his back pocket, doing a cursory check around the small room to make sure everything he set up was still there. Her favorite flowers, check. Pastries he’d picked up during the show, check. Himself, fully and completely, check. 

He drew in a deep breath and looked up to the doorway.

Grace was standing there, still in full makeup and costume, her eyes as round as saucers.

“Oh,” she said softly, evidently surprised. A cool relief washed over him.

“Hi,” he said back, silently cursing himself for his awkwardness. He smiled, but that was when he saw the red around her eyes. He rushed over to her and pulled her close to him.

“Grace, what’s wrong?”

She buried her head in his shoulder. After a moment, she pulled away from him and he reluctantly let go.

“You’re here,” she said, grinning brightly, the happiness in her eyes radiating through the room.

“Of course I’m here. Where else would I be?”

She laughed and pulled him in, her hands on the sides of his face and her nose only inches from his.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I don’t know.”

Ajay found himself lost in her eyes and was genuinely floored by all the affection and desire that he found there. He almost gave in, but pulled himself back at the last second.

“You should probably get changed,” he explained when she shot him a confused look for backing away. “And take off your stage makeup.”

She rolled her eyes, still smiling. “Killjoy.” But she turned to her vanity and sat, grabbing a package of makeup wipes.

Throwing caution to the wind, he stepped up behind her and set his hands on her shoulders.

“Can I help with the wig?”

She made eye contact with him through the mirror, her face turning just the slightest bit pink.

“Yeah, okay.”

He nodded and got to work, unpinning the wig and lifting it off her head, placing it on the styrofoam head on the counter. Next, he pulled off her wig cap and put it over on the same counter. He carefully and slowly unbraided her hair, keeping the ties on his wrist. Every time his fingers brushed her neck, he felt her shiver and he smiled to himself.

He ran his hands through Grace’s unbraided hair once for good measure (and to make her shiver again), then stepped back. She was peeling the glue from her false eyelashes off, rolling it into little balls and flicking them into the trash can. Once she finally finished, she stood up and turned around, stepping into his space again. She reached for him again, but Ajay held her back, his fingers rubbing the fabric at her waist.

“Costume,” he reminded her with a smile. She jokingly sighed and pulled away, biting her lip in a move so incredibly adorable that he wanted to take it all back and just pull her in right then. She turned around.

“Could you help me with the zipper?” Grace asked, pointing at her collar and turning her head to look back toward him with a smirk.

“Are you trying to kill me?”

“Maybe,” she replied, “but I really would like help with the zipper.”

Carefully, hands shaking just the tiniest bit, he undid the hook and eye at the top of the zipper and pulled it down all the way to the small of her back, torturously slowly. Then he backed away.

“Thanks,” she said, cheeks pink. “Now turn around and I’ll finish changing.”

“Ugh, fine,” Ajay said, turning his back to her and facing the wall. For a second all he heard was rustling, then she spoke again.

“How can you be so awkward and shy when you literally pushed me up against a wall on opening night? I don’t get it, like, choose whether you’re gonna be smooth or shy.”

“I can’t help it,” he said bashfully. “Sometimes you make me so nervous that I can hardly breathe, and other times I just want you so much that I can ignore all that.”

He heard her cough. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, okay,” she said, and he could hear the smile on her face. There were a few more seconds of comfortable silence until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, taking her into his arms at last.

“So what’s all this?” she asked, her arms around his neck and her head angled slightly towards the vase to his left.

“Lilacs. And the pastries are cinnamon apple turnovers,” he said proudly. Her face lit up and she pulled away from him to inspect the flowers closely.

“You remembered,” she murmured, gently rubbing a petal between her fingers. “And did you make the turnovers?”

“No, they would’ve been cold by the time I got them here. I got them from a bakery during Act Two.”

She hummed. “If you can’t make your own cinnamon apple turnovers, store-bought is fine.”

“Quiet, you,” he said softly, pulling her back towards him. Her arms wrapped back around his neck, and this time when she leaned in he moved to meet her.

They’d kissed before, of course, countless times, but this kiss was a sunrise. It filled him with warmth and he drew her in closer until she was completely pressed against him. He felt, rather than heard, her hum right before she pulled away slightly, only to push him backwards into the old armchair in the corner of her dressing room where he’d spent tech week lunches. Before he could catch his breath from the surprise of falling, she climbed into his lap. He felt her breath on his lips for a second before she pressed her lips to his again, her hand warm on his cheek.

Ajay shifted to pull Grace in even closer, grabbing a quick breath before kissing her back even harder. He slid his hand down from her waist to her thigh, and he heard her breath hitch before she nipped at his bottom lip, drawing a quiet groan out of him.

It was hard to keep track of how long they were there. To Ajay, it could’ve been hours just as easily as seconds. Grace, the feel of her weight on his lap, the fabric of her leggings under his fingers, her thumb lazily drawing circles on his cheek, were all that mattered. The room seemed to fade as they kissed again and again, each kiss somehow better than the last.

Eventually they separated, and Ajay took the moment to just revel in Grace’s presence, in her softness and her passion and in the light pink blush that was spreading over more and more of her face the longer he looked at her. She was everything. He meant to tell her, but the words wouldn’t quite come out, so he poured his meaning into his expression and hoped she’d understand.

She leaned in to kiss him again—this time outright teasing—and then climbed off his lap. He immediately missed her presence, but couldn’t help but smile and shake his head as she grabbed one of the pastries off the plate.

“Hey, hand me the other one,” he said, gesturing for the turnover.

“Greedy,” she teased, but handed it over. She sat down on the floor and patted the ground next to her. He sat down.

“So,” she started, “this is amazing.”

“Aren’t they? The bakery really has such a nice flavor. I should take you there sometime, they have all sorts of pastries that I know you’ll love.”

“That’s cool, and we should definitely check that out, but I meant this,” she said through a mouthful of turnover, gesturing around the room. She swallowed. “Being with you, I mean. For real.”

He grinned and laced their fingers together, bringing her hand up to kiss the back.

“So, as much as I hate labels,” she started, but he cut her off.

“Grace, relax. I want to be with you. I want to be yours. I want to be your boyfriend.”

“Oh, cool. Cool, cool,” she said, clearly relieved. “That’s what I want, too.”

“You want to be my boyfriend?”

“Oh my god, shut up!” she said, smacking him lightly. “I meant I want to be yours.”

“I know what you meant, goofball. But I do think I should ask if that’s okay. Just because we both had problematic relationships in the past that got too serious too quickly.”

Grace sighed and sat back. “Can I be honest for a second?”

“I’d prefer you never stop being honest, but go ahead.”

“I think seeing Brooke all those weeks ago gave me the closure I needed to move past how badly things ended between us. You helped me figure out that she was a manipulative, cheating piece of shit and that I deserved better. So I’m in a good place emotionally speaking, but I just want us to always be straightforward with each other.”

Ajay nodded, taking in her words. “I’m glad I was able to help you through that. And I’ll promise you right now that I’ll always be as honest as I can with you. I know communication really makes or breaks a relationship, and I want this to work, Grace. I really do.”

“Me too,” she smiled softly, then leaned in slowly. He met her halfway for a slow, languid kiss. He already felt more comfortable being in her arms than anywhere else, which he could only assume was a sign of good things to come. When he pulled away, he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and stared into her eyes, a warm shade of chocolate brown that pulled him in. He pressed his lips again to her forehead.

“So, I have a proposition for you,” he said carefully, blushing despite himself.

“Oh?”

“Yes. Come home with me? I don’t want to stop this but I also don’t want to stay in the theatre all night.”

“You want to… spend the night with me?” she asked just as awkwardly, her blush intensifying.

“I mean, only if you want,” he asked more than said, becoming less and less confident by the second.

She suddenly pulled him into a searing kiss, a passionate answer that took his breath away and left no room for interpretation. But she still clarified once she sat back.

“I’d love to,” she grinned, a spark of excitement lighting in her eyes.

“Oh, thank god,” he said, burying his head into her neck. “That would’ve been really awkward if you didn’t.”

She laughed and stroked his hair. “If you didn’t ask, I would’ve. But I might politely request that we go to your place because I’m pretty sure Rosa’s with my roommate at my place right now.”

Ajay laughed. “No problem. I do have a roommate, but he’s a heavy sleeper.”

He contemplated sending Jake a text to warn him, but ultimately decided against it. Jake went to bed pretty early as far as Ajay could remember, and he hadn’t lied about him being a heavy sleeper. And on top of all of that, hadn’t Jake brought countless girls home without so much as a warning to Ajay? Revenge may not have been his goal, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still sweet.

He stood up, smoothed out his shirt again, and extended a hand to Grace. Once she stood up she didn’t let go except to pick up her bag, and the two left the theatre and walked toward the subway station hand in hand.

The twenty-minute train ride went by torturously slowly. As soon as they sat down in a nearly empty train car, Ajay found a place to rest his hand on Grace’s knee and was rewarded with a kiss on the cheek. She got her phone out—probably to tell her roommate she wouldn’t be home—and he took advantage of her distraction to just look at her.

Every place they touched felt electric. Her hair, still wavy from the braids, tumbled down onto her shoulders and reached to just below her collarbone like a waterfall, and Ajay was mesmerized. He could still remember the pink streaks she’d sported her freshman year of high school, how he’d loved to wrap those pieces of hair around his fingers. His eyes swept over her soft skin and her gentle eyes, eyelashes still not free of mascara. Her right hand absently moved to his left hand on her knee and she laced their fingers together. Ajay nearly melted from the sensation, softening even though just that small touch was enough to make him feel like his entire body was on fire.

Grace tucked her phone away and turned to face him, and he knew he’d been caught.

“See something you like?” she teased.

“Mmmm, maybe,” he teased back, grinning as her eyes lit up and she scooted in even closer, the entire line of her body pressed against his. He cupped her neck and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

As soon as they crossed the turnstiles to leave the station near Ajay’s apartment, he groaned as he heard rain falling outside.

“Okay, this is the part where you don’t hate me,” he started.

“I could never hate you,” Grace replied. “What is it?”

“It’s raining, and my apartment is kind of a ten minute walk away, and I don’t have an umbrella.”

Grace rolled her eyes at him. “It’s just rain, Ajay. I’m sure we can dry off once we get to your place, anyways.”

“You sure?”

“Yes,” she said with a note of impatience, “Now come on!”

Hands still linked, they set out towards the building. Ajay braced himself for the rain, taking his glasses off and tucking them into an inside pocket for safekeeping.

They walked most of the way in silence, but just around the corner from the apartment complex Grace stopped him, grabbed his shoulders and turned him to face her.

“What?”

“Haven’t you ever wanted to kiss in the rain?” she asked.

“No?”

“Oh.” Her face fell slightly.

“I didn’t say I was against it, though. I just never thought about it,” he reassured her hurriedly, an ache in his heart easing when she smiled again.

“Oh,” she said, then went up on her tiptoes and kissed him gently, just once.

And it was perfect, the beginning of something new and somehow, at the same time, pressing play on something that had been paused for all these years. He tightened his grip on her hand as they separated to continue back to his apartment, subliminally sending the message that he never wanted to let go.