Arthur Jennings, BLU Pyro

[Arthur and Lola by NovelMiss!

Her work is gorgeous, and she’s such a joy to work with. I absolutely love this! <3]

#arthur 'n lola #gift art

((Oh wow, and my attention was just directed to this...would you please stare a while at this gorgeous work?

That's a good-looking couple of gingers, I tell you what))

Opting Out - BLU

"You ol’ charmer…" Pressed completely up against Arthur now, Lola allowed her eyes to fall shut, drowning slowly in the heat of his lips on her skin. Her arms slipped around his shoulders, and one hand threaded through the short hairs at the nape of his neck, cradling his head to her bosom. "Darlin’, you’re goin’ t’ make this th’ best New Year’s I’ve ever had. There isn’t anybody out there as lucky as me…"

She pulled back then, a coy smile on her lips matching the look in her eyes. Reaching for the hemline of her shirt, the Engineer pulled the white waffle-knit henley slowly over her head and tossed it to one side on the couch, leaving her only in a pale, lacy bra. The slight chill of the room raised the tiniest goosebumps on her, and she pressed herself forward against the Pyro once again. “…Except maybe you. Now, come warm me up, Arthur, sugar…”

Arthur was pretty sure he loved his life right now, as he turned to spill them both over across the couch, pausing only to pull his own shirt off and drop it somewhere on the other side before settling down on one elbow. Lola's cheeks were flushed, her hair tumbled in fire-struck waves, and she was almost too beautiful to be true.

"I won't lie...I've never been all that interested in New Year's Eve. But you're the most gorgeous person I've ever shared a couch with." His hand drifted down Lola's bare side, her warm skin, the soft crease at her waist, and back up again. "...so I think we can one-up the whole kissing at midnight thing, hm?"

Of course, there was no doubting the smile as Arthur kissed the tip of Lola's nose, watching her dark eyes narrow and sparkle. And the warmth of her body against his was very, very real.

It was going to be an extremely enjoyable party.

Opting Out - BLU

"At th’ very least…" Straightening up, Lola twirled out of Arthur’s grasp and padded around the end of the couch to set her drink down on the coffee table. He’d turned around to watch her, re-seating himself on the couch, and she intended to use that to her advantage. With a dirty grin, she straddled his lap facing him and made herself very comfortable there, wriggling into place.

The door shut behind their last teammates, and the whole of the common area was quiet, save for the crackling and popping of the wood in the fireplace. Lola lay her hands on Arthur’s chest and firmly slid them up to his shoulders, kneading the thick muscles on either side of his neck. “Why use th’ coffee table when we’ve got this comfy ol’ couch right here? Besides… Won’t it be amusin’ seein’ everybody sit here an’ not knowin’ what we did?”

Arthur arched his back and grinned, reaching up to twine coppery curls around his fingers and tug them into Lola's eyes, his other hand settling her firmly by the hip into his lap. "Now, I've always been a model roommate. If I'd known about this naughty streak of yours...." He tugged at a fistful of her shirt, sliding his fingers against the bare skin of her back.

"Gosh, now I'm not so sure if it's safe for us to be unchaperoned." Arthur pulled Lola down for a proper kiss, breathing in the scent of her hair, her skin. "At this rate, you just might have your way with me..." He pressed a kiss to her neck, trailing down to her collarbone with a smile as he lifted his knees, propping his feet up on the table edge to rock her into his chest. "Beautiful girl...I don't even stand a chance."

Opting Out - BLU

Lola took a sip of her bourbon then dropped her head down to lightly catch Arthur’s lips with a smile, the taste of his drink mingling pleasantly with that of her own. “We should make plans, like… Where we want to start. Locker room… Showers… Bathtub… Laundry room… Kitchen… Right here on th’ floor in front of th’ fireplace…”

"This coffee table sounds good right about now..." Arthur lifted a suggestive eyebrow, reaching for her wrist and pressing a kiss to the inside of her arm as the amber liquid tilted in her glass. "Probably too cold for the workshop...we haven't tried that yet..."

A final few stragglers passed by, donning jackets and hats and carrying various accoutrements of celebration, and Arthur trailed off to follow them with a chilly stare. "Move along...no turning back. You aren't allowed in again for the next thrrr...four -- four hours." He glanced at Lola. "That's enough time, right?"

Opting Out - BLU

"I don’t exactly approve of it either, Arthur, sugar…" Lola moved over to the back of the couch from the BLU liquor cabinet, drink in hand. When she’d heard about the invitation from RED, she’d balked immediately. Socializing with the enemy? Out of the question. But of course Philippe felt it would be a show of good faith to attend in light of recent events, and while she couldn’t argue with that aside from the fact that they shouldn’t be collaborating with RED in the first place, it didn’t mean she had to spend a holiday with those trigger-happy yahoos.

However, seeing how many of the rest of the team seemed to be interested in attending, it gave her ideas. Ideas she hoped Arthur would support.

Standing between the Pyro and the kitchen, Lola bent down with a devious little smile on her lips, pitching her voice down to something only he could hear. “Havin’ said that, I think we should let them go. All of them. We could have th’ place to ourselves… An’ you know what they say about midnight, don’t you, darlin’? Whatever you’re doin’ then, you’ll be doin’ th’ whole year…”

Arthur sat up a little straighter. "Well, if you mean practicing good dental hygiene and fire safety, then I think that's a given..." He narrowed his eyes, deciding that the drink in the Engineer's hand would probably make pulling her over the back of the couch a little too messy this early in the evening. Instead, he snaked an arm around her waist.

"Okay -- alright, change of plans, you all need to go. Go soon, go quickly, go now. Immediately."

Opting Out - BLU

"I just don't understand the appeal..." Arthur dropped his feet on the common room coffee table. The television was locked onto a grainy feed of Guy Lombardo, the volume blessedly muted. "Out fraternizing with the competition while you could be here, watching...this..." He grimaced, gesturing to the TV. "Who even turned this thing on..."

Rolling over, Arthur crossed his arms over the back of the couch, leaning his chin on them and glaring at the kitchen. "Cooking for RED. Awful..." he droned, fully aware nobody was listening. "Anyone with any sense is more than welcome to stay here and sit quietly all night."

"He might not mean t’, but…" Dell shook his head. "I know it looks like a no-brainer, but this kind a’ thing ain’ easy t’ come back from. If I say somethin’ an’ he’s not on th’ same page, it’ll never be th’ same again. It’ll be awkward, an’… It’s not like th’ feelin’s are jus’ gonna go away even then…"

The words sounded feeble even to Dell’s ears, reminding him why he’d chosen not to seek counsel the last time. His concerns were very real and heavy inside him, but they lost a lot of weight when he said them out loud. “Ya really think it’s as easy as jus’ askin’ him?”

"Do I think -- yeah! Yeah, I do." Arthur shrugged. "Dell, you two have been through just about everything. That doesn't just go away. It's not like there's some kind of vast chasm between friendship and...whatever you want to call the other thing. I mean, you two have sleepovers for god's sake! What territory is too sacred to cross after that?"

He cast the handwraps aside, then stood up to stretch his shoulders. "Look, Dell, lightning's going to strike me for this, but I see how much Philippe cares about you. And I don't think there's anything you could say to him that would change that. And I think you'd feel better if you just laid it bare. It'd be a load off your mind at any rate, right?"

"Well, that’s… what I can’ really figure out… I mean, I ain’ an idiot. I know how it’s… how we’ve got t’ look from an outside perspective." Honestly, if Dell had witnessed any other two people behaving the way he and the Spy did with each other, he knew exactly how he’d interpret their relationship. "But Philippe’s got no sense a’ boundaries. He… Well, you’ve met him. He’s been up in my space since we first met, an’ I hated him then. Th’ closer we got, th’ more he’d do it, an’ now I can’ tell if he’d… be interested in somethin’ diff’rent or if it’s jus’ his idea a’ bein’ friends or if… I don’ know, if it’s jus’ some kind a’ French thing…"

Sighing, Dell slumped more heavily against the crates, still careful not to disturb their balance. “An’ thing is, this is sort a’… th’ second time I’ve had t’ deal with this… Felt th’ same about two years ago, an’ figured I didn’ have a chance, so I jus’ sort a’… ignored it…” He smiled ruefully. “Worked for awhile, but… Well, here we are.”

Arthur gave Dell a long look. "Here we are. Well, look, Dell -- I know Philippe has no boundaries, but he never does pipe down about how much he likes Engineers. And he doesn't make excuses to get nearly as cozy with anybody else as he does with you. Know what I mean?"

He let the weights fall again, then went to straddle the nearest bench, beginning to peel off his hand wraps. "That's just not something people do unless they're really comfortable with somebody. Really. Comfortable. You two are already so close, why don't you just say something? I mean, he can hardly hold it against you."

Arthur considered the question a moment. “Well…it isn’t something you can orchestrate…it’s kind of a two-way operation.” He paused to perform a few more reps in silence, aware of Dell’s anxious scrutiny. “You have to like each other first…have things in common…I speak from experience, it just doesn’t work if you’re not already friends.”

He stopped then, looking at the Engineer with a careful expression. “…Anybody I know?” He was certain he already knew the answer.

Dell knew the question was merely perfunctory. They lived in an isolated base with exactly nine other people, only two of whom were now unattached, and only one of them that Dell spent any time at all with. It still vaguely irritated him that it was so easy for others to pick up on, but he was glad Arthur was letting him be the one to say it.

"Yeah… Yeah, ya do." He laughed shortly, rubbing a hand over his face. "It’s Philippe."

Arthur smiled, nodding. "Of course it is." Even if process of elimination hadn't made the answer obvious, he knew how long Dell and the Spy had been close. "Well, I can't say I blame you. He's a bastard, but..."

In the few years he'd lived with Philippe, Arthur was loathe to admit he'd fallen kicking and screaming for the man's charisma.

"...well, he's a good guy. Hell, you know better than I do." Still, Arthur did know Philippe was intensely private about his personal affairs, and had never explicitly confessed romantic feelings for Dell despite his obvious affection for the man. Still, anyone would have to be a blind idiot not to notice the long looks, the constant pestering, the physical contact. "How do you think he feels?"

"In a… indirect sort a’ way, it does…" Dell gestured vaguely before giving a brief but sincere grin. "Heh. Good for you, though. I’m glad…"

Allowing that to trail off awkwardly, the Engineer rubbed the back of his neck beneath his scarf. “Th’ thing I’m havin’ a bit a’ trouble with is… Well, how d’ya even go about… startin’ somethin’ like that…? I mean, more specifically… how d’ya figure out if someone would be open t’… that kind a’ thin’? It ain’ somethin’ I’ve ever been good at pickin’ up on, an’ it’s been a good ten years since I’ve had t’ worry about it, so I’m kind a’ at a loss now…”

Arthur considered the question a moment. "Well...it isn't something you can orchestrate...it's kind of a two-way operation." He paused to perform a few more reps in silence, aware of Dell's anxious scrutiny. "You have to like each other first...have things in common...I speak from experience, it just doesn't work if you're not already friends."

He stopped then, looking at the Engineer with a careful expression. "...Anybody I know?" He was certain he already knew the answer.

"Yeah… sort a’…"

Coming around to the gym area, Dell sighed quietly at the more comfortable temperature and propped himself carefully against the wall of crates. He offered a faintly apologetic smile as he thought of how to start. “I’ve, uh… got sort of a problem, an’… I’m hopin’ you might be able t’ help me out… Um… But before that… You an’ Lola… I know it ain’ any a’ my business, an’ you can tell me t’ drop it, but… Recently, y’all’ve seemed… Are y’all… y’know, t’gether…?”

Arthur lifted an eyebrow, speechless for a moment before his eyes dropped down to the mats and he let out a faint chuckle. "Well, I don't know what she calls it..." He shook out his hands a little, then reached for the pulley again, grasping a high knot and turning to distract himself with extending his triceps.

"...but yeah..." Another pause, and a grunt as the sandbag lifted. "Yeah, I guess you could say she and I started something." It was surprisingly easy to say, and a wry smile touched the Pyro's lips for a moment. "That have anything to do with your problem, or was it just on the list of questions?"

The cold persisted into the following day, and though Dell would have loved to stay in bed and avoid it and the rest of reality (and to have that much more time to remain snuggled against Philippe), necessity had inevitably forced himself and the Spy to get up. And Dell was left to face the question of what the hell he was going to do.

One thing he knew for certain was that he couldn’t handle this like he had the first time if he didn’t want to end up pushing Philippe away again. He needed a completely different approach this time, and the most obvious, immediate, and reluctant conclusion he came to was that he couldn’t attempt to deal with this on his own. He needed to talk to someone. Last time he had only ever told Hotaru, and as sympathetic and eager to help as she was certain to be, he doubted the practicality of any advice she’d have to offer. Ben had weaseled it out of him last year, but his advice would be similarly irreverent any if Dell could find a way to talk to him. No, the Engineer was going to have to turn to someone else.

Which was why he found himself bundled against the cold and headed for the warehouse, where he’d been informed Arthur had disappeared to, quickly pushing his way through the door and shoving it back against the chill, leaning there for a moment as the warmth inside the building began to seep in and he looked around for the Pyro. “Hey, uh, Arthur…?”

Arthur paused mid-press, grimaced, then carefully released the weight pulley with a staccato breath. "Yeah -- over here, Dell..."

They'd cornered off the gym area with of the warehouse for several reasons. First, grimy tractor attachments weren't the best scenery when doing reps. And second, the makeshift wall of crates and chain link helped isolate the warmth from the shop heaters nicely. It made it just a little earlier to brave a workout during chilly December.

The 50-lb sandbag thudded softly the floor, and Arthur let the knotted rope swing back against the wall. "You need something?"

"Well, I certainly am feelin’ warmer already." Lola pressed in closer, their bodies not quite touching, her head dropping back to gaze up coquettishly at Arthur. One mug-warmed hand reached up to cup the back of his neck, squeezing and massaging it firmly, slowly.

"S’ tell me somethin’ now…" Her voice dropped to match his, smooth as silk, and she closed the distance between them, her lips ghost ghosting over his with heated breaths. "Don’t you think we could get…even warmer someplace a li’l more…private and comfortable, sir?"

The hand at Lola's waist slipped around to hold her more firmly, and on the edge of her final words Arthur caught her lips with his, soft and insistent. Her kiss was every bit as sweet as he'd imagined.

"Yes...I think we could do that. Right now." His own voice sounded a little breathless, and he smiled despite himself, forehead lightly brushing hers as he let himself drift a moment in the Engineer's warm, dark eyes. "Your room or mine...you lead."

"While that may be true, no space heater’s good for keepin’ in a lady’s bed. Besides I don’t mind a li’l kickin’. A li’l snugglin’ wouldn’t be so bad, though, would it?" Lola moves back into the kitchen proper until she’s just inside the Pyro’s personal space. The coy little smile on her face doesn’t falter in the slightest.

"What’s th’ matter, sugar? Afraid you can’t do as good a job keepin’ me warm? I bet you could do better…"

"Oh, I can." Arthur nodded once. "I'm sure I can."

He reached out for Lola's hand, gently coaxing the mug from it and setting it next to his glass on the counter, her fingers still caught loosely in his. His other hand found her waist, resting lightly there. Arthur tilted his head, hazel eyes narrowing a little as they followed the heart-shaped line of Lola's cheek.

"You know, though, Ms. Chase..." He leaned in a little, voice dropping to a murmur. "You don't...seem all that cold..."

"Mm-hmm…" The Engineer nodded and took a small sip from her mug, letting the liquid hit her lips first to test the temperature. It would never do to go to bed with a burnt tongue. "As far as I know, everybody else is in their rooms, although Dell might still be out in his workshop. He must have a space heater out there ‘cause I don’t know how he could stay out there s’ long otherwise. I don’t suppose you saw his light on still, did you?"

She waved a hand through the air before rejoining it to the cup in her hands, warmth seeping through pleasantly. “It doesn’t really matter, I guess. If he doesn’t come in soon, I’m sure our Spy’ll make him come inside t’ warm up. It’s even chilly in here, though. An’ my room. That’s why I made me some tea, t’ warm up.” Her smile widened, and she winked at Arthur. “Of course if I’d known you were still awake, I’d’ve asked you t’ come warm me up in my bed instead.”

Arthur choked faintly, glanced back over his shoulder, then put his glass down with a faint chuckle. "Is that what it's come to? Teamwork to outsmart our failing utilities?" He cleared his throat, then shook his head with a smile. "Are you sure you don't want Dell's space heater instead? It's probably a lot warmer...doesn't kick, either."

Lola glanced over at the dining room entrance when it opened and closed quickly, her hands clutched around the steaming mug in her hands as the tea steeped in it. Her eyes followed Arthur as he headed around the corner, the wall obstructing her view once he’d passed it, so she moved into the kitchen doorway to watch him go through the liquor cabinet. The way his fingers touched the bottles told her he must not have a lot of feeling in them. Which made sense since it was colder than a witch’s tit out there.

A warm smile spread across her face as she leaned against the door jamb. “Care t’ make that a hot toddy, Arthur, sugar? You look like you could use one…”