modern hearts

☁ your eyes have seen our emotion; they're changing here in the dark. soon we'll be in the open, and the day will start. ☁

[kotapaul]

adriennerixen:

Glancing back at Kota for a moment, she sighed softly. “This is like that scene in Jurassic Park where they’re looking for the raptors.”

“Raptors, says the girl who hasn’t bothered getting a manicure in the last year.” Callie rounded the corner from the living room sharply, not looking either of them in the face. Her eyes were pink-ish, her cheeks splotchy, but other than that she showed no outward signs of being anything other than just angry.

“Move,” she greeted Adri, stepping past her as she skittered back out of her way. Making her way to the foyer, she kicked two different pairs of shoes together and tried to decide. Wedges, sneakers. Wedges, sneakers, Wedges - 

“And I need the car. Keys?” She held a hand out, glancing up at Adri for a moment who simply narrowed her eyes while Callie decided on wedges and stepped into them.

“You can’t take my c - ” but it was too late, as her eyes had already darted up to the rack of keys hanging under the kitschy Homegoods sign that had been up for years. Home is where the wine is!

Callie got to them first, even in the wedges, and the added height just made her tower over her older sister more than she already did naturally. Holding them juvenilely just out of Adri’s reach, she quirked an eyebrow and shook her head. 

“I’ll be back before dinner. And my cheer meet is tonight so if you had plans you don’t anymore. Everyone is going. Bye, mom!” she called, and with that, she was gone.

Adri cleared her throat, a hot blush covering her cheeks and neck as she turned around to face her boyfriend. “That wasn’t so bad.” she tried to downplay both the situation as a whole and the embarrassment at the fact that her sister, four years her junior, could still terrorize her.

It was entirely his fault that he even thought the encounter with the youngest Rixen would go in any sensible direction, but he’d always been a wishful thinker in that way. “Callie–” he’d start, then stop as he’d be cut off by another fleeting thought from either of them. “Hey, can we–” once again, cut off.

Before he knew it, the front door slammed shut and he was simply standing there, his mouth slightly agape at the brevity of the conversation – if it could even be called that.

“That wasn’t so bad.”

His eyes narrowed at her. “How was that – you just let her – how was that not bad?” It never shocked him every time Callie almost literally walked right over Adri, but considering the situation he was a bit taken back . Kota let out a quiet groan, shaking his head as he pinched the bride of his nose gently. “That was ridiculous.”

[adriennerixen]

“NO!” They both exclaimed in unison, immediately wearing identical looks of horror and panic.

“Kota,” Adri sighed, leaning back on her haunches and gently pulling his arm to get him to sit up. “Fine. Let’s go.” She turned to Godfrey, “All of us.” 

The older of the two siblings shook his head very quickly. “Nope. I’m staying up here. Call me when dinner’s ready.” With that, he flopped down onto the bed next to them with enough force to bounce both of them. Groaning in defeat, the younger Rixen stood up, holding a hand out to Kota.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

[kotapaul]

He couldn’t help but smile at the pair’s collective fear of their younger sister, though their adamant rejection of any kind of interaction with her had some kind of mass hysteria type effect on him. He suddenly found himself pulling away just slightly when she tugged at his arm.

“Dude... really?” He cut his eyes at Godfrey, then shook his head as he turned his attention to Adri. “Yeah, let’s just... get it over with.”

[adriennerixen]

“W- no.” He laughed, albeit a little tiredly, rubbing his face slowly. “Callie’s down there… crying or whatever.”

Adri groaned quietly, turning to Kota slowly.

“Still wanna go down there?” 

[kotapaul]

“Crying?”

He looked between the two for a moment, then sighed. “Look, if we - if I don’t go down there, it’s almost guaranteed she’ll come up here. Is that what you want?”

[adriennerixen]

“Yes, effective immediately.” she quirked an eyebrow, reaching up and stroking his cheek softly with her thumb before patting the same spot less-than-gently. 

She moved to crawl off of him, but no sooner had she started to move, her door burst open and Godfrey practically spilled into the room, slamming the door behind him. 

[kotapaul]

“Ow,” he groaned, a bit more than the situation or the blow called for admittedly.

It’s not something they aren’t used to, but when the door swings open while they’re still in a somewhat compromising position he almost panics.

“Uh... this - she’s... um, s-should we come down for dinner?”

[kotapaul]

   adriennerixen:

She shoved him down hard as she sat up, though no real damage could be done in a pile of pillows.

“Don’t worry, on the plus side, without my parents around we can start experimenting. I’d love to have you in a gag. Maybe even during sex.” she quirked an eyebrow down at him, her ‘shut up’ very clear in both her words and the way she looked at him.

She pinned his wrists down harmlessly, but any hope of getting him to stay was already gone, and they both knew it. Sighing softly, she used her best disappointed voice and looked down at him. “What’s it going to be? A dollar in the ‘inappropriately mentioning my dad jar’ or being banned from seeing me naked for the rest of the week? You can pick, this time.”

“Would you even know how to use a gag? You're the type to burst into a fit of giggles and blush simultaneously at the idea.”

He took a moment to weigh the options she gave him heavily, then shrugged a little as an unmistakable smirk crept across his face. “Well, if I get to pick, then I have a question. Does that mean the ban starts right now? Because then you need to let me go.”

[adriennerixen]

“You know I’m not scared of spiders,” she reminded him, though, by now her point was moot. 

She whined quietly when he pulled away from her, practically launching herself on top of him instead. 

“Ten minutes,” she agreed, clearly a lie. “Fine.”

She nestled down on top of him, deciding to skip sweet and go for sultry. One of the two usually worked with him. 

“Just… ten minutes.” 

She leaned in to kiss him, much less playfully or casually than earlier, her lips working a slow trail down to his neck as she spoke next, “You’re not her dad, babe, maybe she should work this out herself.”

[kotapaul]

It clicked in his head almost immediately when she repeated again the amount of time he’d said he was spending hiding out with her. “Adri,” he warned, knowing that no amount of disappointment in her choices that he put out through his tone would get her to change her mind.

Not for nothing, but he always had a back up plan in place to get out of whatever bind she put him in. “Oh, man, speaking of your gorgeous dad, I won’t be able to see him every day anymore.”

[adriennerixen]

She wanted to correct him - she wasn’t sad, it was just that her kid sister had always been able to, and still could, quite easily beat her up if she felt like it. And from the sound of her still arguing downstairs, it seemed like it wouldn’t be too far off. That didn’t seem much more dignified of a reason to be curled up in his arms locked in her room, though, so she let it slide. Sure. She was sensitive. She felt bad for Callie. That was it.

She leaned into his hand and let her eyes flutter closed for a moment, humming quietly, contently. “Yeah,” she mumbled in agreement, barely even listening to what he’d said. It hit her a second later, and her eyes snapped open. “No,” she turned her head to look up at him over her shoulder. “We should stay up here. She can cool down until dinner and we can talk to her after.

"Besides, you’ve been out all day. And it’s hot. You should relax.” she climbed up off of his lap and swiftly pulled his legs up onto the bed, forcing him to flop back harmlessly against the freshly washed duvet. Sinking down at the end of the bed, she scooted closer and started massaging from his feet up to his calves in what she hoped was a persuasive manner, speaking again: “As soon as we go back down there it’s going to be chaos. Even on a good day. Let me have you to myself for just a few more minutes, please?” The words were almost suggestive but her tone and expression were innocent - even though she was a little scared of the reign of terror Callie had started downstairs, she clearly had missed him while he was out - she usually did.

[kotapaul]

He snorted at the way his words jolted her out of her trance, giving her a less than impressed look at the notion of hiding out in her room from the impending doom of her younger sister. “Is this what living with you is gonna be like? You hiding in the bathroom until the spider on the bedroom ceiling just decides to take off?”

His back landed against the mattress with an unceremonious flop and he propped himself up on his elbows to look at her. He’d consider her desperate attempt at keeping him from coming in contact with Callie laughable on another occasion, but the included foot rub almost incapacitated him. “What are you – it’s not that hot and I’m not – hey – I’m not tired.” With a gentle force he pulled his legs away, then sat up. “Babe,” he started, his voice almost mimicking the same persuasive tone she’d used prior, “it’ll be okay. Alright? I mean, we can stay here for another... ten, but then we’re going downstairs. Or, I am at least. I’m not gonna let her act like a brat about this.”

[adriennerixen]

She immediately stepped closer to collapse into him, his comment about Callie being in love with him inspiring her to throw her weight into him a little harder than the situation called for. She almost knocked them both back but caught herself in time, giving him a sharp little glare before huffily turning her back to his chest and pulling his arms around her, tangling them into the extra bulk from the baggy sweater.

“No, if you talk to her, she’s going to bat her dumb eyes and you’re going to end up promising to let her stay over whenever she wants. Because you’re a sucker.” She informed him, as if he were really the softer out of the two of them. “Maybe she’ll calm down by dinner. That’s an hour. We can survive up here for an hour, right?” She looked around, wondering if she had any snacks still lying around to sustain them in their Callie-proof panic shelter. Not seeing anything immediately close, she wiggled to get more comfortable in his lap and sighed. She already felt a little better, that was all him.

“It’s… okay that we didn’t tell her, right?” She pulled one of his hands up in both of hers, holding it in front of her face and inspecting his cuticles. “I mean. We were going to. It just wasn’t the right time, yet. She’s not like… entitled to be the first to know, anyway. We didn’t do anything wrong.” She rambled a little, working her own solution out herself despite thinking aloud, and dropped his hand unceremoniously into her lap.

[kotapaul]

“Don’t make me sound like such a pushover.” He only pouted for a moment though, refusing to indulge her clearly biased perspective. “If anyone’s a sucker it’s you. Just the thought of your baby sister being upset with you has you curled up in my arms like a sad toddler.”

“We’re not staying up here for another hour ~ at least I’m not. Especially since I’m not scared of your sister,” he scoffed. Her adjusting herself in his lap led to his pressing a soft kiss to her temple, then resting his head on her shoulder. He opened his mouth to interject, to offer up some kind of helpful suggestion or mention of concurrence when she started up again, but her conversation with herself was over in almost the same breath.

“You need to relax,” he reiterated, carding the fingers of his free hand through her hair gently. “You’re right, we’re not obligated to tell her anything. But we’re not shitty people, so we tell her things because she’s important to us. This is a big thing. She’s allowed to be upset. The tantrum... is kinda overkill, but she can be upset. And whether we like it or not, we have to talk to her. Sooner, probably. Not later.”

[adriennerixen]

She looked horrified that he didn’t seem to have an immediate plan already formulated. 

“What do you mean what do we do?” she stepped away from the door to pace back and forth across the floor. 

“We need to - we should - ” she stopped moving and sighed, closing her eyes and running her hands down her face slowly, trying weakly to think of something. “I don’t know. Do you think we should - " 

She stopped speaking abruptly and looked at the balcony door near the bed, her eyes taking on a crazed, sort of desperate look as if she was truly considering they escape via the roof. After just a moment, the idea seemed to pass, and she continued her pacing once more. 

"She’s so mad. I don’t know what she even expects, she’s going to be at school, anyway, and we’re still going to see her at Christmas, and - we are going to still see her at Christmas, right?” There had been enough confusion, excitement, and nervousness already surrounding the move they were getting ready to make, but every new thought Adri had was just adding stress to the growing pile - none of which she was quick to share with Kota, worried about overloading him with problems and freaking him out before they left. 

“Just… help.” she practically whined, finally stopping in front of him and letting her whole posture slump forward slightly in defeat.

[kotapaul]

He followed her movements with his eyes, her frantic state bringing him more pleasure than he’d have liked to express. The flustered starting and stopping when she spoke only made it more difficult for him to hide the grin forming on his face. When she stopped, he did too. Then his brow furrowed at the length of her pause. “What ever ridiculous thought you’re thinking that involves that door should stop now,” he teased, with his smile falling just a bit when it took her a moment longer to turn back to him.

“Why wouldn’t we see her at Christmas?”

His question came out laced with more sarcasm than he meant for it to, but really... no part of their move indicated they’d be severing all ties with the people they both consider family. “You need to calm down, babe.” The words were spoken a bit slower than his usual, making sure he was able to emphasize being calm about this. He looked up at her when she came to a halt in front of him, then opened his arms for her to fall into the way he knew she wanted to.

“Take a deep breath first.” Simple enough ~ get their heads a little more clearer so they’d be able to think about a proper solution... one preferably not involving her balcony. “We could just... talk to her. Or I could. Since she’s in love with me and everything.”

[adriennerixen]

“Hey, hey, wait, don’t - just come here.” 

Kota had barely been in the house for a second, his shoes barely off in the front foyer before Adri came hurtling out of the office and grabbed him, pulling him towards the stairs. The sound of footsteps rounding the corner from the kitchen made her speed up, practically falling up the last few steps and shoving him through the door of her bedroom.

Wiping her forehead with the sleeve of her (his?) sweater, she sighed in relief and leaned back against the closed door to look at him. Downstairs, the echoing, muffled sounds of Callie arguing with Madison could be heard - the words were incoherent from where they were hidden but the tone was unmistakably angry, and hurt.

“My dad told Callie. She’s been out for blood since you left after lunch. She was pacing around from the living room to the front hall like Jason Voorhes for like an hour, I couldn’t even leave the office. All my dad has on his computer is Apple Chess and my phone died. I thought I was going to die in there.”

[kotapaul]

Kota had just managed to breathe out a greeting when he laid his eyes on Adri before she was half-dragging him across the hardwood floors. He could hear Callie’s voice echoing shrilly from an undisclosed room down on the main floor, but he wasn’t entirely able to decipher the words. Plus, that tone meant she was upset which could’ve been caused by any number of things that’d happen between the time he was last present in the Rixen household (earlier that day) and right then.

She actually began to fully drag him up the last few steps when someone rounded the corner, and he was more bewildered than anything by the time Adri had shut the door behind her. “Uh...” What sentence could he possibly formulate right now? Callie’s voice grew louder downstairs but was met with Madison’s attempt at a soothing, calming tone this go around. Whatever it is must be big.

Luckily for him, Adri immediately took hold of the conversation’s reins, leaving him to make himself comfortable on her bed wit ha sigh. “Oh,” he remarked once she’d revealed the clear cause of the situation. “So... shit.” They’d been planning to tell Callie together, closer to the day they were meant to move across the country, so Kota wasn’t entirely prepared to do this. He hadn’t expected Callie to react so intensely either. “Well, you’re not dead. But what... do we do?”

[adriennerixen]

Halloween

[adriennerixen]

She went to protest, then, as if his logic was sound, she sighed in defeat and dropped the bag to the floor, and turned around to start changing.

Flinging her makeshift pajamas across the floor, she ducked down to grab the first half, followed defeatedly by the second, the thigh-highs and accessories coming last. The shoes were tucked under the side of the bed but just the sight of them gave her a headache - the overly-shiny patent-black pumps just screamed ‘Celebrate Halloween by breaking your ankes!’ and the little white hearts in the center of the bow on each one just tied the whole thing together with a ridiculous sort of flare that she wasn’t at all prepared for. 

She stalled, for a moment, fiddling with the clasp of the garter belt as she shakily attached it to the appropriate stocking. “Okay… there are some ground rules.” she informed him, glancing up and realizing he wasn’t looking. “I’m not staying in this, I’m not leaving this room, and … no pictures. And you can’t laugh. I’m serious, if you laugh, I’m kicking you out and I’m not seeing you for the rest of the week.”

She caught sight of herself in her peripheral vision in the mirror by the door and winced. The shirt itself barely covered her upper ribs - she had sports bras with more coverage than the top offered, and the ‘apron’ part of the bottoms fell longer than the skirt itself - which she kept tugging at to adjust. It all tied in with the black sheers and garter belt sticking out of the bottom, the band around her leg keeping the obnoxious faux-feather duster and fake set of skeleton keys strapped to her costume. The black and white theme was almost cute - and if she’d been going for lingerie, which, she never was, it would have been an alright set - but she felt less naked when she was actually naked, and had no interest in being stuck in the monstrosity for the rest of the night.

Perhaps the joke, being forced to take the slutty maid costume, had been a prod at the fact that she’d let her room turn into a dumpster for those last couple of weeks - but whatever the reasoning, she was convinced she hated her sisters, at least for the night.

“You can open your eyes.” she huffed quietly, wrapping her arm around herself self-consciously. 

[kotapaul]

He made good on his promise, keeping his eyes shut behind his hand until the majority of the rustling around the room had subsided. He could hear the deep clack of what he assumed were heels against the wood floor, and it only intrigued him more. Heels were always a rarity with her - for good reason, he found out post-prom when he tried to walk in hers - so any comfortable costume he’d come up with was instantly put out of his mind.

It had to be something with the word slutty in front of it. That was the only explanation he found for the heels. But, he realized, that once again opened it up for a world of possibilities, and he shook his head a bit. He was almost distracted by the sound of her voice before he remembered that it was her he was waiting on. He first opened his eyes, then spread his fingers wide enough to see through. 

“Holy -”

He pulled his hand away completely, his jaw falling open a bit as he eyed her slowly. “Holy shit,” he muttered as he got to his feet. “I see why you hate it but... holy shit.” He half-lunged forward to grab the arm she was covering herself with and pull her towards him to kiss her, pulling her down on top of him as he fell back onto the bed in the process. “You look amazing.” He kissed her again, more patiently this time, and smiled up at her. “Really.”

[adriennerixen]

Halloween

[adriennerixen]

“No!” she gasped, jerking the bag back a little. She clutched it in both hands, turning away from him protectively before her look of panic turned into a pout. 

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d ever actually been embarrassed in front of him. Even now, though, it was like her whole being just knew there was no real threat to it. Her skin was absolutely crawling, she felt jumpy, and skittish, but she had to fight to keep the stupid grin off of her face.

[kotapaul]

He could feel her wanting to smile - as if the hairs on the back of his neck and on his arms all stood on end and a shiver ran down his spine... it was like he just knew she was about to crack. 

“How about I promise not to peek while you change?” he asked, pulling his legs up on the bed. “Look - I’m already doing it. You can’t say no now,” he said as he covered his eyes with his hand.

[adriennerixen]

Halloween

[adriennerixen]

She blushed, suddenly, squirming a tiny bit. It was a tiny bit unfair, she was literally sitting on top of him and still couldn’t get the upper hand. “I don’t really care this year.”

“Of course I don’t, it’s obnoxious. It’s like.. a solid third of an actual costume, if I’m being generous. I’m not going to put it on just to hang out with you that’s dumb and it’s ugly, and they only got it so I’d match the theme with the rest of them. The theme was getting laid on a pile of Halloween candy, by the way, in case you were curious, so no, I don’t really feel like wearing it.”

She slipped off of him and stood up, striding over to the desk and tugging the drawer open, grabbing the awkwardly shaped plastic bag out of it and pausing, opening it a tiny bit and inhaling.

“It smells like fucking latex and synthetic wig and neither of those things is actually a part of it.”

[kotapaul]

Her adamant disdain for this costume piqued his interest even further. Usually, when something was upsetting her she’d let it simmer for days until it just dissipated, but this was... strange. He watched as she went over to her desk again, trying to see into the bag she held. “You’re making a way bigger deal out of this than you need to be, babe,” he chuckled. “S’just a costume.”

“Put it on - I wanna see what you’re so worked up about.”

[adriennerixen]

Halloween

[adriennerixen]

“I didn’t realize you were in a hurry.” she pouted, watching him intently for a moment. 

“Give it a rest.” Her voice was slightly more impatient, now, the earlier suggestiveness melting away as she pulled her hand free and sat upright, looking down at him. “I’m not going out tonight, I’m not wearing it, I’m not acting like it exists. Alright?”

[kotapaul]

“That’s not what I meant,” he frowned slightly, meeting her gaze with his brow furrowed. “You know that.”

He draped his arm behind his head and sighed. “You have it though. It’s Halloween. I don’t even like Halloween and I’m wearing a costume. You love Halloween. This doesn’t make sense.” He narrowed his eyes at her and clenched his jaw just a bit, trying his best to figure out why she so aggressively wanted him to drop the subject. “D’you not like it? Is that it?”

[adriennerixen]

Halloween

[adriennerixen]

“Later, you can wait.” She informed him, very gently grabbing his hand and pinning it softly to the bed next to his head. “And that’s Philosophy you’re thinking of.” 

“What is real and what isn’t, if we can’t process it with our own senses?” she picked his arm back up as she sat back, her knees draping over either side of his torso. “Not my jurisdiction. If you want to talk about how you’re feeling, though, about how your classic youngest child syndrome makes you impatient…” she kissed her way up the inside of his arm as she spoke, moving her lips from his wrist to almost the inside crook of his elbow before stopping. “That, I can help you with. Or you can just relax.” Her free hand rubbed at his chest soothingly and she looked at him expectantly. She only had a few ways of getting the ball back into her court once he was set on something, and she needed to make them count.

[kotapaul]

 All he could think to do was stare up at her in a sort of disbelieving awed state. “I don’t really wanna talk about that, no,” he said, mostly distracted by the feeling of her lips moving up his arm. It was hard to relax with her making good use of how tightly he was wrapped around her finger, his muscles even tensing momentarily when she looked at him. “You could just... tell me what your costume is.” He eyed her once and plucked her hand up from his chest, kissing her knuckles softly. “This would go much more quickly if you just showed it to me, you know.” 

[adriennerixen]

Halloween

[adriennerixen]

Adri glanced up and raised an eyebrow in an almost irritated, expectant gesture at the girl who had so rudely interrupted. She and Kota had been walked on in far more compromising situations in much more public areas of the house, before - by this point, nothing really embarrassed her with her sisters, anymore.

She slid down from the counter, then snorted, following his lead out of the kitchen. “Mhm. Extremely important.” 

She followed him up the stairs, only switching to lead when they neared her bedroom door. She’d cleaned up a little - mostly due to Tatum’s disgust at her living situation when she’d come by almost a week earlier - and the whole room looked much more like it truly belonged to it’s owner. She scooped up the balled up costume that was tossed in a plastic bag on the corner of her bed, clutching it in both hands as she turned to him, trying to decide where to put it so he wouldn’t be tempted to grab it. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Opening her desk drawer, she shoved it inside, and then all but pushed him down onto the bed. Using herself as both a distraction and an anchor to keep him away from the desk, she crawled on top of him. She hovered over him, chewing her lip and looking down at him for a moment. The last time he’d been laying on her bed, they’d had a fight, and she was determined to make the whole space return back to it’s comfortable vibe. 

“Happy Halloween.” she sighed, tired but content, lowering her head to kiss him once before pulling back and gently smoothing his hair back from his face with one hand.

[kotapaul]

He watched as she stuffed the plastic bag into a drawer, his mouth open just slightly to speak but instead simply making a quiet noise when she pushed him onto her bed. His hands almost instantly came to rest on her hips and he smiled up at her lazily before she kissed him. “Happy Halloween to you, too,” he mumbled when she pulled away. He began to draw small circles on her thigh, the gears in his head turning in the same clockwise direction that his finger moved. “I still need to see your costume,” he said with a shrug. “Just because you threw it somewhere doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. You should know that from all that psychology stuff you do.”

[adriennerixen]

Halloween

[adriennerixen]

Her impatient expression softened a little when he turned it to her, taking in the details quickly and sliding it aside gently.

“It’s beautiful.” She pulled him in gently by the wrists, to stand between her legs. “Now can we please go upstairs?” She wrapped her hands around the straps of his muscle shirt, running her fingers over the material before pulling him a little closer to kiss him.

“Ahem.” The freshman from earlier had returned from the compost, beaming brightly at the pair of them. It wasn’t that it was so unusual for PDA to be spotted on every surface of the Theta house, but she still had a job to do.

[kotapaul]

He was pleasantly surprised when she pulled him towards her and dropped his hands to her thighs, grinning while she kissed him. “Is that what you’ve been rushing me for?” he asked quietly, teasing her with light pecks down her neck and jaw. He figured it’d only be a matter of time before someone walked into the kitchen, and when the freshman loudly cleared her throat, he peeked up at Adri with a grin.

“Maybe we should go upstairs,” he chuckled, pressing a kiss to her forehead and grabbing her hand. “I heard there’s some really important thing up there, and I wouldn’t wanna miss it or something.”