Manuel & Dani - Come a little bit closer

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Dani goes back to Manuel's room to retrieve her comb after she left it there in this log. Bad idea, Dani. Bad. Their lusts get the better of them, but fortunantly for most, reason ends up winning.



Dani headed back to Manuel's room with a mild amount of trepidation to retrieve her comb and hopefully to make an apology in person. Even though he had accepted her apology over the email it was just words on a screen and ultimately meaningless to her. She had no illusions however, that Manuel would want to see her after what had happened a coulple days before. Regardless, she needed her comb back. Quietly, she knocked on his door, surprised that for once she couldn't hear the music blaring inside.

Manuel's voice floated out into the hall from inside his suite. "It's open. Come in." he said quietly.

"Hello," Dani said quietly, opening the door and shutting it behind her. "How're you?" so formal and detatched, but she wasn't sure if she was welcome yet.

Manuel was in a full lotus position in the middle of his floor with his eyes closed. "Stressed." he admitted. "Things have been a little tough lately. You?" he asked politely enough, if still somewhat distant.

Dani shrugged noncommitally, even though he couldn't see her and joined him on the floor in lotus, "I'm alright. Worried about you though."

Manuel snorted elegantly. "I'll get through it." he said, and then opened his eyes. "It gets easier as I learn more about my ability, and about myself." he confessed. "But it will always be a struggle. Charles says that's part of the price to be paid for power like mine."

"Every power has its own consequencese," Dani pointed out, "How you handle them determines how large they are. Your friends and family also help, which is why I'm here. To apologize in person. I shouldn't have accused you."

Manuel Looked at her, and saw only sincerity. And a few other things which he couldn't help but crack a slight smile about. Seems that it had been a while for her, too. "Apology accepted." he said, much more warmly this time. "I reacted badly." he confessed. "And I cracked my head on the wall. It still hurts a little."

"You didn't crack it open, did you?" Dani leaned over to check his head for bruising, clucking like a mother hen. His hair smelled good, freshly wash, "I still don't know what happened, but Dr. Samson thinks maybe I was projecting my own insecurities on you somehow....I ain't good with that sort of stuff."

"I don't think so, no." he said, submitting to her inspection. besides, it put his face practically into her chest, and that was a warm and friendly place to be. It had been a while for him, too. "It's just a little sore." he told her left breast. "And if you want to talk about it ... I'm willing to listen." he told her other breast. Just to keep things fair, after all.

Satisfied that his head was fine, Dani sat back down considering his offer. "No...I don't think so," truth of the matter was what had happened had scared her and she just wanted to put it behind her, "I talked to Dr. Samson earlier."

"Good. Leonard is a good person." he said firmly. "He's helped me significantly." he added. "He can help you, too." He was still in close proximity to Danielle, and she was having the same need he was. Even stronger, if that was even possible. Parts of him were letting him know in No Uncertain Terms that he should indulge immediately, while other parts strongly counseled against it, considering his own precarious situation with a certain British wytch of his acquaintance.

"I've been seeing him on and off since I got here, mostly off recently. He's very wise," she said, distracted. "I should get my comb...where is it?"

Manuel gestured in the direction of his bathroom. "In there." he said. He didn't move, though, as he was actually enjoying her inner struggle - the same one that he was having, actually, but with less complication. She was free, available, and most definitely willing.

Dani uncurled from lotus and headed to the bathroom, not as aware of Manuel's struggle as he was of hers but certainly knew he was interested in her. Her mind said no, a thousand times no. She'd been cheated on before and knew how it felt even as she had pretended to Forge that it hadn't mattered. Her body disagreed.

"Thanks," she emereged comb in hand, already working through the long strands. "I better go."

"Stay a while." he said impulsively. "Sit with me and meditate. You look like you could use it." Other parts of him definitely wanted her to stay, but meditation wasn't precisely on the To-Do list. Although, he'd heard tales told of sexual meditation ... Manuel bitchslapped his wandering mind and dragged himself back to the here-and-now.

Nodding slowly, Dani sat back down, giving her hair one last brush through. She was going to just go back to her room to meditate anyways. "Any particular way you do it?"

"I can do it any way you like." he said, and then had another quick mental bitchslapping session with his libido. This was getting out of hand. "Usually, I focus on a mental representation of my shields. I make them stronger, more attuned to whatever's floating around that's bothering me. Once I reach stillness and quiet, I focus on that. And I breathe. Breathing's very important." he said. "I used to do a thing where I imagined a flame and then I fed all the crap I didn't want to deal with into it, but I've moved beyond that now."

"That's pretty much what I do, keep it simple," she appreciated the symbolism of throwing your problems into the fire to be purified. Closing her eyes, she straightened her spine and sat up, breathing deeply and making a concentrated effort not to notice that they were sitting close enough for their knees to touch.

Manuel could feel that proximity. He was soaking in an ocean of pure need - both his and hers. The sheer desire, the attraction - it was royally screwing with his ability to focus. It didn't help that Worthington was back and hadn't taken his dick out of the Russian's ass since they both shacked up. He took a deep breath and tried again, but as before, the power of his need undercut his shields, left a gaping hole where things could get through and settle into his brain. He desperately thought about Amanda, and what she meant. The good times they'd shared, the passionate nights (and days!), the fundamental tie that they possessed. How she made him feel, and how he could make her feel. But undercutting that effort was the little bitter voice that kept reminding him of her distance, her coldness, and the total and complete lack of anything remotely physical between them in weeks now.

Even though it had only been a minute at best, Danielle could tell that this was Not Working. She was too councious of everything around her...and everyone. Opening her eyes, she leaned forwards slightly, about to interrupt Manuel to leave.

Manuel leaned forward as well, to ask her to go. This wasn't working - he couldn't focus, couldn't concentrate with her there. What she represented, what her presence was tempting him into. It was a bad scene just waiting to happen.

Her lips touched his lightly and instead of pulling away she remained, knowing it was a bad idea but he wasn't pulling away either. He was a gentle kisser, but still firm. It was almsot surprising, but not quite. And he tasted of mint toothpaste.

He knew he shouldn't, knew it was a horrible idea from the get-go, but he did it anyway. He kissed her. She tasted of honey and cinnamon and hot want, and despite himself he couldn't pull himself away.

A part of her brain kept screaming about how bad of an idea this is, but she didn't stop. Logic and reasonableness had flown out the window and all was left was want. She pulled herself closer to Manuel, wrapping long arms around him.

Manuel returned like for like, deepening the kiss. She smelled clean and simple, with a hint of something he couldn't identify under it, and best of all, she was _right there_. In his arms, interesting, willing, and passionate. All things that had been missing from his life of late. The buzzing in the back of his head was worse now, a part of him was screaming about how this was wrong, how this would ruin everything. He ignored it and lowered himself and her flat to the ground.

One hand snaked under his shirt, feeling the muscles on his back and the taunt smoothness of his skin. Dani opened her mouth to him, letting his tongue probe hers. It had been so long and Manuel wasn't fighting it, this close both mentally and physically, she could feel his need in her.

Manuel returned the favor, sliding a hand up under her shirt to feel her skin directly, running his fingers over her bra. He could feel himself sinking into a morass of lust, losing his capability to be rational in favor of a wave of passion that would sweep both of them away. He wanted her in the _worst_ way, but he did retain enough sense and reason to slam a strong block over his link to Amanda.

Finally logic ruled bringing eveyrthing to a crashing halt and Dani pulled back from him flushed, "I know you want this and you know I do," she whispered, her breath on him, "but I don't think we should do this. Ain't right."

Manuel writhed just a little, but her words kicked the balance over so that the shrill responsible part of his brain finally got the upper hand. He withdrew his hand from her chest and nodded, breathing a little heavy. "Probably." he agreed, moving back so that she could reclaim some of her personal space. But damn her, he was hard as a rock and keen to do something with it.

Nodding she picked her comb up, making a mental note to be more careful with it. "You kiss good though," she allowed before slipping out the door and hoped that no one was outside to see her dishevled appearance.

Manuel grinned at her retreating posterior. "You have _no idea_." he said with a wicked grin. But now he had a new set of problems - he could do pushups without using his hands, and no easy way of dealing with it. Sighing, he rearranged himself into a full lotus, closed his eyes, and tried for a long, long time to master the mind-over-matter idea.