Heroes & Thieves || Sydri
River watched the smile form on thin pink lips, and her own lips pulled up in response. The kiss was unexpected, and she barely believed it was happening fast enough to return it, before it was gone. Everything was suddenly so good, too good, and the swell of emotion in her chest for the dancer in her arms surprised her. As slender arms pulled her down, she went easily, laying beside her, her own arms automatically reaching out to wrap around and pull her close, to hold her, intimately, in a way she didn’t remember knowing how. She wanted to make a remark about doing it anytime, in response to Sydney’s thanks, but what actually fell from her lips was unexpected, “Don’t thank me… you were perfect…” Her voice was a low husk, her ice blue eyes studied the top of a chocolate brown head as a slim body nestled into her side. All this was strange to her, holding someone like this, wanting to be close to them, to feel the tickle of soft breaths on her neck, not the bite of cool night air as she slipped out the door, the window, the lobby. Tracing Sydney’s spine, River felt the perspiration cooling on her skin, and reached down to pull the comforter up, wrapping it around their entangled bodies, pressing a soft kiss to a sweat cooled temple before she could think about what the action meant. “You are perfect…” The words were never meant to be said aloud, but none of it was ever meant to happen, and with Sydney’s head tucked under her chin, and no eyes on her, judging her, River’s lips were suddenly loose, “Not because you dance, or any of that shit… You’re just…” She struggled to find a word, a noun to pin down the reason why she had been drawn to Sydney in the first place, the thing that had prompted her to steal her away, the extra element beside the drug that made her still impossible to let go. “You’re enchanting…” Her tone was scratchy, and surprised but not embarrassed by her own words, she gave a soft breathy laugh, shifting a little to lay comfortably against the pillows. Her lips brushed against soft dark hair and River looked out into the semi darkness as she thought; for the first time in so long she was still, motionless, content just to lay there. For the first time in so many years, she had stopped running.
River's warmed her, from the inside, all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes. Other people had told her such things, that she was perfect, but in the world of dance, there was no such thing. There were a couple more pounds to be shed, a little tighter on the turns, another hair out of place. She felt content for once, curled up beside someone who truly seemed to care about her, however misguided her mind may be, but her heart was true, and for Sydney, in this moment, that was enough. It was refreshing for someone to see her as not only just the dancer, the prima ballerina that was going to take the stage by storm, but just as Sydney Klein. It didn't happen often, especially not anymore when people rarely looked twice at her because of her leg. "Enchanting," she whispered softly, tasting the word on her tongue. No one had ever called her that before, and she found that she liked it, especially when it came from River. With all the struggles they'd been fighting over the last couple days, Sydney found that giving in didn't mean she was tossing away her dignity or anything like that. She hoped that River would keep her promise in letting her go back to her home tomorrow. She had no idea how this changed their relationship, whether it would have any bearing, but for now, the dancer was content to fall asleep in the arms of someone who cared about her. "Even if I'm... enchanting, still, thank you. You gave me something.... really important. I'm glad it was you," she said, a huge yawn interrupting her words before she pressed closer against River, eyes closing.
