Becoming the mask

[depletes]

THE FALSE PRETENSES MEME
a shipping meme


It's only a natural response to want to be shown love and affection, no matter how hard your exterior is. If not in those words - if you truly are that cold - perhaps what you seek is adoration or worship. Regardless of how you slice it, there's something invigorating to the ego in being the object of someone's ardor. And that's what you are now, to put it mildly; the way they look at you, you'd think you hung the moon and stars. In fact, their love for you has lead to a relationship with them. Congratulations! It's all going so well.

Except that it's all based on a lie.

You're not the person they think you are...maybe even literally. They could think you're someone else completely, as such, or it could be more abstract. They don't know what you've really done, do they? The crimes you've committed, the blood on your hands - what if blood they cherished? It's doubtful if they knew what you truly were, they'd look at you with such tenderness. That's not something you can deal with. You've grown used to them and don't want to let them go. Not now.

You love them. They've wormed their way into your heart, and you just can't lose them. You just...can't. Despite what your intentions were at the beginning (you were being purposefully cruel, you were playing along, you didn't want to hurt them, you wanted to give them what they wanted), you've bought into your own hype. Whatever you have to do to keep this ruse up, you'll do.

But, of course, what's done in the dark will be brought to the light. Soon, those eyes that look towards you will be filled with pain and doubt; you can't keep your little secret forever, and it will only gut your lover in the end.

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[magician_king]

"Everything that involves you is okay with me."

He points out.

"But I should warn you. I've got a thing for long chiffon-"

[utselet]

"We'll see," she quips. "I've never worn one. Maybe I'll like after all."

She folds her arms atop his chest and rests her chin on them, settling on top of him. "So now in your fantasy I sit around in my chiffon dress, playing on the Atari."

[magician_king]

"Well, now you do."

He says, eyes going appreciatively wide, before he leans over to give her a pleased, laughing kiss.

[utselet]

"That doesn't sound like a bad life," she purrs, shifting up a little to return it. "Very ritzy. Very decadent."

She brings a hand up to his cheek, tracing her thumb over his cheekbone, drawing back just enough to look at him with unfeigned fondness in her eyes. "You're going to make me very spoiled." She drops down to kiss him again, softer, sweeter.

[magician_king]

"Unless we become penniless booksellers."

He reminds her, but then kisses her again instead of really pressing the point. She feels so nice.

[utselet]

"That's what the magic's for," she murmurs, but then she lets silence fall as she leans down into the kiss, drawing it out slow and languid between them. She rests her slight weight on top of him, her hands splayed across his shoulders, her body soft against his, warm through the thin material of his shirt.

She could see it, she thinks, maybe. She doesn't know what she really wants for herself when this is all said and done. She's not dwelling on it at the moment, but it's just starting to dawn on her that most of her interests are actually other people's, and most of the ones that aren't are things she's trying for the first time because she doesn't have many hobbies of her own.

But he wants her, and she likes him -- more than likes. She could be comfortable, she thinks. She could maybe be happy.

[magician_king]

"Nina-"

Says Quentin, who isn't thinking about this any more, is just caught up in the warm way her skin touches his, the way he can feel her breathing. He runs a gentle hand up her back, asking permission to continue.

[utselet]

She decides not to leave any ambiguity about that. She reaches back behind herself to take his hand, covering it with her own to slide it up beneath the hem of what is currently her shirt.

Tacit, if silent, approval.

lmao oh god

[magician_king]

"Your skin-"

Quentin tells her, eyes closing, as he smooths his hand up along it.

"The way you feel. Nina, I don't think I could possibly be telling you often enough-"

ok with me tbh

[utselet]

"You don't have to," she whispers, sighing with pleasure against his skin as she kisses his jaw. "You don't have to say anything." She shifts against the touch, humming softly. If there's one thing that does it for her, other than the geek-chic, it's his hands, with his long, dexterous fingers. He can say all he wants with those.

...But first, she thinks, starting to kiss her way down slowly, glancing up at him with an arched brow.

[magician_king]

"Nina,"

Says Quentin, nearly reverently. She doesn't have to, of course, but the wild, wide eyed look on him suggests that he'll take it to heart if she does.

"Oh God-"

[utselet]

It makes her laugh -- mostly fondly -- that he still looks at her that way after everything, like every time is the first. "I haven't gone anywhere," she murmurs, gently tsking. "I'm still not."

She kisses his collarbone, pushing her hands up under his shirt, running her nails up and down briefly over his stomach before dropping her hands to his fly. She works it open easily, pushing his pants and boxers down just enough to free his cock so she can trace her fingers over it.

[magician_king]

"Jesus Christ, Nina."

He whispers, and leans back, eyes closing, glasses knocking askew. He reaches up to grab them, and drops them haphazardly over onto the dresser.

Already he's starting to flush.

[utselet]

She shifts down to kneel between his legs, a pretty if currently fuzzy picture on all fours, still wearing his t-shirt. "Relax," she suggests teasingly, "and think about chiffon dresses."

She wraps a hand around the base of his cock and bends down over it, though she stops just before she gets there, glancing back up at him. "Or book shops, if you like," she adds as an afterthought, smirking. Then she takes him into her mouth -- a little bit at a time, just the head at first, tongue circling the tip.

[magician_king]

Quentin relaxes, sinking back bonelessly into the blankets, and reaching to grab onto the headboard with one hand, eyes drifting shut.

"Wow-"

[utselet]

Quentin has been very generous about showing Nina all the ways sex has improved for women in his time, and she has been very, very grateful for that. Sometimes, though, it's nice to keep it old school. For better or worse, she's very good at this, and she knows it -- she knows just how to bring her tongue and her hands into it, where his most sensitive spots are, when to hold him down and when to let him move.

Which isn't to say she's in any rush about it. Lying around in bed as they have been, soaking in a lazy morning, the moment seems to call for something languid and easy. She indulges herself and goes slow at first, savoring his reactions along the way.

[magician_king]

"Oh, Nina."

He says, nearly chanting her name, but how could he possibly help it? As gentlemanly as he's tried to be about this, there is definitely something especially intimate about this, and before long he's shivering, gripping the headboard a little harder, eventually reaching down and sliding a hand through her hair. He doesn't tug, of course.

[utselet]

Someday, she'll gently tell him that he doesn't always have to be such a gentleman, but now isn't really the time. She just hums her pleasure as his fingers comb through her hair, letting the sound vibrate against his cock as she readily, easily, takes him in deep.

She picks up the pace a little when she feels him start to shudder, encouraging, urging him on. She braces herself with her other hand on his thigh, fingers and thumb kneading into the wiry muscle.

[magician_king]

Quentin shivers, and tosses his head back, trying to gasp out a soft warning- but succumbing almost right away anyways, maybe because of the slight edge of her fingertips- and with one small, uncontrolled little jerk of his hand in her hair as his body spasms.

He subsides, breathing deep through his nose, eyes gently shut, with a long, dazed hum.

[utselet]

Nina doesn't always swallow, but for him she does. Afterwards, she lays her head against his thigh for a moment, just looking up at his flushed face, feeling peaceful and pleased. Happy.

She moves back up and comes to lie down next to him, curled on her side. She kisses the curve of his shoulder, smiling. "Hi."

[magician_king]

"Hi."

Quentin answers, reaching out to slide an arm over her, rolling to face her, giving her a wide, unguarded smile.

"You're too nice to me."

[utselet]

She brings a hand up to his cheek, tracing her fingers over it. "You make it easy to be nice to you," she murmurs, looking up into his eyes.

She chuckles softly, wondering suddenly: "Can you see me?"

[magician_king]

"You're in soft focus. Like how movies show candlelight."

He says, and smiles wide enough that you see all his crows feet. He's thirty one now and they're coming thick and fast.

[utselet]

"Oh, I like that." She laughs, cuddling up closer, moving her hand back to brush lightly through his hair. "You should have told me sooner. I could have hidden your glasses and then I wouldn't have to spend any time on makeup."

She's joking, of course; she wears it because she likes to, and she's been around him bare-faced plenty of times now. Time has yet to touch her -- but she doesn't mind at all that it has touched him. She's been with older, uglier, meaner... She only sees Quentin's little wrinkles when he smiles, and these days, it's so often for her.

She loves them, she realizes with a sharp pang. She loves him. When had that happened?

[magician_king]

"You shouldn't underestimate how much I love the way you look, glasses or none."

He murmurs, unconsciously echoing her thoughts, reaching down and stroking her hair gently back, and then puts his arms around her to keep her near.

"You know, if we live in New York, I could get laser eye surgery, and never need them."