never caught a fever like you

There were nights he still woke with the voices in his head but since he’d met the siren in the alleyway and had barely stumbled away with his life and sanity intact they’d been quiet, indistinct. A sense of warning about them but each time something in his reaction had stirred Freyja and he’d open his eyes, his pulse a slowing drumming in his neck to her turned into him. He’d greedily taken the comfort of the slow thud of her heart against his palm, against his lips would give. Dipping his head to bury his face in the cradle of her throat, his fingers in the tousled blonde locks until he settled again. His warrior princess standing guard even in sleep.

Last night had been uninterrupted though, his sleep sound from the moment he drifted off, curled around Freyja in his bed. The volcanic events of a week ago had rapidly cooled when the truth about his meeting with Charlie had been revealed but there were still moments when he watched her with concern, those moments when he was the one to wake early without those voices leaving him more in need of comfort than contemplation. His fingers trailing light lines on her face, his brow furrowed faintly. It had been like her. Wasn’t like her but Theo knew none of it had happened out of maliciousness, there wasn’t an ounce of that in her.

Just that fierce love. Every emotion Freyja felt underscored by that passion and he’d happily simmer in it. Especially when he woke up moments before his alarm on his birthday with kisses trailing over his face, then the brush of them against his own that had him letting out a low sound of contentment that was just a vibration in his own head as his eyes slipped sleepily open. He trailed his hand up beneath the covers, fingertips tracing the length of her spine as she started to sign a Happy Birthday to him. Bringing his other hand up, he signed slowly, touching his fingers to his chin and drawing them away, his lips curled as he watched her. ”Thank you.” His grin grew his hand cupping the back of his neck as his other continued to work. ”I love you too, baby.” If his hearing aids were in he would’ve whispered it against her lips, his voice hoarse from sleep. He whispered it anyway, the sound trailing as his birthday was officially kicked off in style.


How he managed to get himself upright afterwards for a shower and coffee, to get the feeling back in his fingers enough to shove some toast into the toaster, Theo still wasn’t sure. He’d definitely still been semi-boneless when Freyja had kissed him goodbye and slipped out the door to work. Frank had ripped on him about the grin on his face when he’d staggered out of his office halfway through the day for his birthday lunch with his ugly mug of a brother, a joint celebration. He hadn’t wanted to ask what Frank was planning later, with Kit or the student, Niko, he was pretty sure his brother had started seeing in more than an ‘let me make you yell at me to shut up description of yet another wild weekend with a mere stranger way’. Gifts had been exchanged, snorted about until they’d parted with a back clapping hug and a promise to exchange birthday stories with another lunch tomorrow.

Knowing Freyja and Kit wild would be the description of both of them by the time the night was out. Trailing out of his office with Nixon yammering on about something behind him, Theo raised the hand clutching his phone in a half warding off, a half goodbye. His lips curled into that perennial goofy grin as he headed for his car. The requisite warning that he was on his way, anticipation the good sort of shiver beneath his skin as he got into the car and punched up playlist version of one of the mix tapes he’d made Freyja for the drive over. There was another put together for the flight. Just about four weeks’ time and they were gonna be out of town to celebrate their first valentine’s day together, tumbling in that pool in the sky, drying off in front of a roaring fire afterwards, fingertips brushing steaming skin.

He swallowed hard, heat rolling up in his throat as he thought about it. A year ago this hadn’t even been on his mind. Happily single, encouraging Frank to be the one to hang up his partying spurs and settle down, like he’d been the one who’d done it first. He had now, so many pieces locking together over the last six or so months. Theo grinned slowly, fingertips tapping the wheel as he coasted to a stop in the parking lot of Freyja’s building. There was no hesitation in slipping out of his car now, a familiar path trod to the elevator, heat tracing his cheeks as he leaned against the elevator wall, picturing with absolute clarity the way he’d pushed her back into it that night. Fingers tugging, kisses hot, devouring, everything a shiver beneath his skin until he’d come back from getting her a glass of water and she’d fallen asleep on him. That bitch.

Snorting, Theo let his head hang as he slipped his keys from his pocket, opened up her apartment door. They were barely shoved back when she was there, pushing him up against the wall next to it as he nudged the door shut with his elbow. He held on for dear life, arms wrapping around her hips as Freyja peppered him with fierce kisses to his cheek. He squirmed, snorting as he wriggled his head, turning into the kisses that finally caught his mouth. ”Thank you, thank you, thank you.” He murmured the words back between kisses, letting out a throaty little groan as he let his hips slump back against the wall tilting her into him. ”I love you too and I can tell.” A huff of amusement that curled into another of those sounds of contentment as he tipped his head down to smack another kiss to her lips. ”Boozy and bitchy, in less than equal measures,” he admitted slowly. ”I got a birthday Haggis from Nixon. Apparently it’s some family thing to give sheep’s bits for birthdays. Luckily I washed the taste of it down with about half a dozen drinks with Frank over lunch. You think any of the students mighta noticed I singed my eyebrows a little with that last experiment?” He hadn’t of course, although undoubtedly he’d been just the wrong side of goofy until the couple of beers he’d actually drunk had worn off. Humming in consideration he crossed his eyes, rolled them up like he could see himself.

Tagged: FREYJA DAMASCA * Word Count: 1191

There hadn’t been much of a dam there to start with. Hell, he was pretty sure that how he felt about her had been written all over his face from the moment she’d walked into Di Marco’s and he’d felt that punch to the chest. Stunning then, even with her hair pasted to her skin and that golden dress wet enough that he’d peeled his way out of his jacket to wrap it around her. On Christmas what there had been had broken through though, words stoppered out pouring out, not stopping. Theo knew he’d loved her for weeks before that, maybe even longer but the words had somehow concreted it all. Slipping out against her skin morning and night, spoken hoarsely down the phone with every call, typed by clumsy thumbs at the end of every text conversation.

Said with a grin on his face and the feel of those three words sliding warm through his heart as she’d jumped him at the door. Theo kept his head against the wall as Freyja jerked her head back. He knew better than to get himself any further into the danger zone now, didn’t know enough to smother the grin and stop his hands from sliding down to curl over the curve of her derriere. ”Hey, I didn’t say it was a bad thing,” he managed innocently enough. Wide hazel eyes, guilt working its way through them as he lowered his head to smack a kiss on pouting lips. He could tell and he loved it.

Everything he’d done today had been geared towards making sure that his evening was for her alone. He didn’t have a clue whether Freyja had come up with some complex plan, wrapping it all up in metaphorical plum wrapping paper and a dozen rolls of scotch tape, but tonight had been about celebrating together. Pushing aside a day full of Frank’s bad jokes, enough beer to leave him haggis-indigestion free and slightly woozy afternoon classes that could’ve led to something dangerous if he hadn’t anticipated it. Theo pretended to squint up at his eyebrows, his mouth pursing with the attempt until Freyja traced her thumbs over them. Butterfly soft, sensing that warmth spreading beneath his skin again.

Content, he tightened his hold around her waist, smiling softly as he drew her in against his chest. Her palms pressed to his temples as she continued to brush her thumbs over his brows. He would’ve kissed her, sunk into that warmth until he was well in over his head again but she was teasing, leaving his mouth falling open. ”Caterpillars? They’re not that bad yet. I’ve still got at least a decade before they start looking like my dad’s.” The gripe culminated in a pout, one that sharpened as she began to pull away from him.

Theo watched, his hands slipping back up to her hips as she quirked a brow at him. That should’ve been warning enough right there but he didn’t pay close enough attention until her question had him murmuring. ”Shit.” He groaned out a laugh, scrunching up his face as he wondered what punishment was coming his way now. ”I could…” he broached slowly, his voice low. ”Hey!” He pulled away from the wall, trying to keep his hands on her, his thumb tracing the curve of Freyja’s waist as she stepped away. ”I didn’t say that either,” he corrected. ”The minute you leave here in the morning I miss you. I can feel you here though, all day.” He let her slip away as he raised a hand to press it over his heart. An imprint of her heartbeat overlaying his, the way his lay around her throat now.

Tucking his lower lip between his teeth, Theo followed her trail to the table where food was already set up. Hazel eyes ticked from it to her. Did her open his mouth and push it, trolling even today or did a wise man learn to shut his mouth when it was more than obvious it was gonna serve him better. ”I’m not going anywhere,” he told her, his voice a low rumble. Brows hitching slightly, he approached, reeled her in again with a hand on her waist. ”This is amazing and I swear I’m gonna spend my birthday crying like a baby if this goes anywhere else but in our stomachs. Thank you, this is incredible. You’re incredible and every second I was forcing down haggis and putting up with Frank’s bad jokes I was thinking about being back here with you. I love you baby.” Nope, he was never going to get tired of it. Or her. Or feeling like somehow he was the luckiest man in the damn universe because in all of this world he’d found her and she’d fallen just as in love with him.

Tagged: FREYJA DAMASCA * Word Count: 806

No matter how changeable the weather Theo knew he could always get the sun to peek back around those stormy grey clouds that Freyja could drag over her face in an instant. Black as thunder, those green eyes flashing like lightning warning of the power of that deluge if that threatening sky split. He cut off her hurt, the dullest of sharp edges to his voice as he spoke innocently. Hazel eyes narrowed, his own mouth twitching as he watched that smile flicker onto her face for just a moment. Gotcha.

Theo hummed in his as he eased in, warming that cold front. Fingers curling around her waist, pinning her as he went to work on getting that smile back on her face. His lips curled further as she allowed herself to be drawn in. Her arms still between them, a barrier between them that he was taking down one rail at a time. It became a smirk as he spoke, knowing that he was getting to her, even if she was still refusing to look at him. Theo raised those caterpillar brows as she finally looked up at him. ”Never,” he promised in a rumble. ”We both know you adore my mouth.” He used it, pinning those words he could never get tired of hearing to her lips, knowing his own had wormed their way through the thin eggshell of her mood.

Swaying slightly on his feet he trailed his lips from hers to the stubborn jut of her jaw, her cheek, the high line of a cheekbone he’d traced with lips and fingers a thousand times over, that spot between her brows that furrowed when she scowled up at him, then back to her mouth again. More languorous than her peppering but with no less feeling behind it. A thank you for all of this behind it, love pooling golden at the edges of it, warming his chest, making him feel like the luckiest man on earth as he drew back.

His brows furrowed at the sudden orders. Theo shook his head slightly, looking over her shoulder before she inched in, pressing her nose to his, staring into his eyes as he looked back. Hazel on green, the backs of his own already starting to burn in a way that should’ve had him embarrassed but with her he never had been. He could show her almost any part of him without judgment, knowing she wouldn’t put pressure on those cracks to watch him crumble, she’d shield them, love him in spite of them, love him for them. ”That good huh?” he asked hoarsely. ”You better have a box of Kleenex on hand and prepare for some real ugly crying.” Sap that he was it wouldn’t be that far off of the truth.

He made a little sound of protest as she drew back. Hands slipping away from her hips, hazel eyes narrowing to slits behind long lashes as he watched her heading for the couch. ”Not in Damasca family tradition. You put anything all wrapped up in front of me and Frank and it was like watching jackals pounce. Paper everywhere, just carnage.” Theo went with her, that hand on his chest the tether that could pull him anywhere. He slipped his hands back to her hips, skimming them absently as she lifted something huge off of the couch. ”You bought me a desk?” he asked, harking back to the theme of half of his Christmas presents. He took it carefully, peering over the top of it as she settled herself back against the sofa. Lifting a knee, he braced it, went to start peeling the tape off before her comment about Kit had him pausing. ”You got Kit in on this? Am I gonna want to open it now?” Frowning, he peered at it like it was gonna explode. ”Am I gonna have to break his fingers for taking liberties with my girl too? I’m pretty sure he could take me but I’d give it a go…” Frank had told him enough about the guy to make it clear he was a man ho of the highest order but not a complete asshole.

Theo let out a low whistle, shaking his head as he started to peel the top of it open again. It like a frame beneath, the edges sharp under his fingertips as he worked them through the scant scraps of tape. Not enough, the amateuress. ”He didn’t breathe a word, I promise. Neither did Frank, although obviously he’s been indulging in a little pillow talk with Kit. Did you send him pictures of Grim instead? Maybe that stellar photo you took of me in my birthday suit last week? Both would’ve been a killer exchange for this…” Fuck. He was gonna have to thank the guy instead of breaking his face.

The paper fell away with a rustle. Carefully he turned the painting, revealing the scene. One of the barbecues their parents had always had when his dad’s team was back on base. The yard had been full but this had just been the four of them, piling on in the game of touch football, his dad laughing as he’d scooped him and Frank up like they’d weighed nothing, trying to snatch the ball away, their mom throwing herself in, playing dirty pool as she’d smacked a kiss on their dad’s ear, her fingers wrapped around the ball. None of the sadness that would slip into their expressions two days later when he’d been called back. Just unadulterated joy that brought tears to his eyes as he looked over the top of it at Freyja. ”I didn’t know he had this…” he managed hoarsely. Fingers tight on the edge of it, he held it carefully as he went to her, the tears spilling as he laid his lips on hers. ”I love it. Even if it’s got Frank’s ugly mug on it, it’s going up over the mantle. Damn …” He laughed, curling his fingers around the side of her throat, his thumb skimming beneath her lower lip. ”I really can’t kill Kit now.” He’d be thanking the guy, that hoarse note in his throat. This was … more than he could ever ask for. She was more than he could ever ask for. The blessing he’d never expected nor deserved.

Tagged: FREYJA DAMASCA * Word Count: 1057

Wow. Mouthing the word, Theo stared down at the box. He took it slowly from her, bracing it on his knee as she settled back to watch him. Hazel eyes studied it, flicked back up to her as he gave it a careful shake and grinned. He wouldn’t have put it past her if he hadn’t thought she’d have been jealous enough to tear the thing’s eyes out the minute he gave it a fond look. ”You went to all the trouble of getting me a gift I have to blow up myself before you punch it into next week? Wow, stellar buying skills Bentley.” He was chuckling lightly though, his gaze meeting hers again to let him know he got the joke, that he could joke over it now. He’d already looked into getting Charlie a new phone, had apologised to her profusely as the situation in the Coffee Bean had gone from volcanic to a slow, embarrassed simmer. That hadn’t been Freyja that day, the woman he loved disappearing beneath the glare of those jealousy tinted eyes.

Not like the woman in front of him now, aiming that grin that got him right in the heart at him as he frowned at him, wondering how many bones he was gonna have to break in Kit’s face to pay him back for the payment he’d asked for in return for whatever this was gonna be. Theo licked his lips, his eyes narrowing further as that grin just broadened. ”More than fingers then…” he drawled, like he could be half as threatening as a guy who’d been in the Green Berets with his brother. Maybe he needed a few pointers from Frank first and a promise extracted to at least drop the guy at the ER afterwards. Cause he had helped somehow, pulled together tonight with Freyja the same way he’d come through for them on Frank’s birthday.

Damn. Nope. He wasn’t gonna be able to do jack shit after all of that. There was gonna have to be thanks instead. Theo sighed at the thought, fingers working at the tape Freyja had layered on in a total amateur move. He winged one dark brow at her as he made short work of it. The smirk tugged at his lips, pride there for a moment as he joked about what to send out in that thank you. Grim, him, the ugliest things in her life. Nowhere near enough.

This … this was his right kidney, maybe a first born sort of thing. Absolutely enough to have him ugly crying the way he’d threatened to as he stared at his childhood on canvas. The scent of the barbecue, the feel of his parents’ arms around the two of them right there. Choking him up, leaving his words hoarse in his throat as he stepped into her, kissing her hard. He tried to sniff it back, letting out a sigh as he rested his brow against hers for a moment. ”Time with Kit for this? That’s …that’s cheap. I guess for once I could make an exception ...” He was already shaking his head though, touching his lips to hers again. Never anybody but her. It was a promise he’d made in the coffee shop when she’d believed he’d even look at another woman. ”Love it,” he corrected hoarsely, kissing her again. ”Love you.” She’d pulled so much together for this. Reaching down into his heart to find something that meant so damn much he could barely breathe.

Frank was gonna shit a brick over it. Maybe he’d have to put a motion alarm on it, stop his pretend-hard hearted brother from stealing it. The tears continued to spill over it, unashamedly rolling down to dampen his beard. His lips curved as she reached up between them to brush his tears away. ”Hey, I’m not the one who got sentimental first. I’m allowed a sob or two over that.” He sniffed though, a watery chuckle breaking through as she kissed him one, twice, a third peck before she drew back. Theo bent, setting the painting carefully on the couch, making sure it couldn’t fall. He wrapped his arms around her, lifting her upright with him as she pushed at his chest. ”They’re gonna be your wild animal traditions one day, you know, to go with all those farmy ones like whistling once for Grim, twice for our kids. Come up, dry it all up and we’re gonna eat whatever Gianni made special. Thank you got all of this … it’s the best birthday I’ve ever had.” His first with her. With love wrapped up warm around him, waiting in the non-distant future to sink up to his neck like the warm water of those pools in the mountain, on the table in everything she’d ordered for the two of them, in the past and present and his future she’d had framed to put on his wall. Smiling like the damn sap he was he twirled the two of them towards the table.

Tagged: FREYJA DAMASCA * Word Count: 859

That ever living threat in those jade green eyes, tempered by the grin that always broke through eventually. He’d fallen in love with every damn moment of it, every flicker of emotion, each smile, curse, tear and kiss. Fallen so hard for her. You didn’t expect it when you got talking with someone for the first time, not unless you had some Romeo and Juliet, he hadn’t at least. Messages fired back and forth, that first dinner invite extended and then before he’d known what was going on it had been like the first plunge into an ice-cold pool. All breathless and startling, a heat rushing in as realisation dawned, never easing up, especially not when her hands were on him and her mouth was putty soft under his own. Forget Romeo and Juliet, Theo and Freyja were gonna be the road map of what relationships should’ve been for Mystic Falls in the 21st century. A good example for his wayward brother, proof to her brothers that they’d found a good one, even if he was the sort who ravished her in haylofts.

A softer version of that heat in him now, warm in the base of his throat as he murmured hoarsely to her, standing there brow to brow, Freyja’s arm around him to lock him there. Theo made a low sound, something affectionate, filling with amusement as she clenched her teeth, that cute little grumble rumbling out. He looked guilelessly innocent for a moment, hazel eyes going wide, lashes fluttering before he touched his lips to hers. The grin was back as he eased back from it though, broad, laughter threatened in it. ”You forgot the Roosevelt,” he admitted. The full thing had always been the sort of threat that had hi and Frank running for the door. ”With your skill in the kitchen you’d miss, probably gut me instead.” They both knew she wouldn’t anyway. They were attached, not just to those physical parts but to one another, hearts entwined, love a binding neither wanted to escape. ”Good,” he rasped hoarsely. His hand on her jaw, his thumb skimming her cheek as she did the same for him.

Her fingers moving, wiping away the evidence of what she’d done to him. That heat stoking in his throat until it wanted to spill out in some way that was so much more than just a thank you or an I love you, both falling short now. A grumble of his own echoing hers of earlier, his lips smacking that pout to pin it down. He’d likely cry again tonight, unashamed to crack that way with her, his warrior princess never condemning him for that softness. A sap and happy to be, looking forward to a future that echoed his past – Freyja, a family of their own, a dog, a farm, decades of happiness. They all swirled in his head as she rose to her feet, up on tiptoes as she slid her arms around his neck. His arms wrapped far enough around her slender waist for his hands to settle on the opposite sides of her hips, rubbing slowly, coaxing her back towards the table that was set with what she’d got from Di Marco’s.

Theo shook his head slowly, his nose nuzzling Freyja’s as she pressed herself up against him. It wasn’t what he’d done for her birthday but for him it was so much more, the chuckle at her words carrying that watery edge again, warning that if she didn’t stop he’d be blubbering through dinner. ”Stick with me padawan and you’ll learn all the ways” he promised, his eyes fluttering shut for just a moment on that last kiss, his heart aching in his throat. ”That painting, dinner from Di Marco’s, terrible’s definitely not a word anywhere near my mind right now,” he promised. He drew in a breath, clucking his tongue as she stepped back from him, a fond pat on the rump putting an end to the cuteness.

Mouthing a wow at her he settled at the table. It wasn’t Frank’s place, wasn’t gonna be tears all night, he hoped, but it was amazing. In seconds he picked up his cutlery, started tucking in like he hadn’t eaten for a week and given what Nixon had tried to feed him earlier, his system probably thought it hadn’t. Theo swallowed down his first mouthful, his tongue slicking his lower lip as he made a low sound. ”We might have to try and beg him. That … that was a travesty.” He aimed his fork at her, all seriousness for a moment before he grinned, tilting his head. ”I think nonna would have a heart attack if we tried to do it without her. She’d probably smack Gianni over the head repeatedly until he dropped the price low enough.” Their wedding. The words probably should’ve left nerves twitching hard enough in his stomach to have him feeling sick but there was just that same warmth and comfort in knowing he was gonna have a lifetime of this.

Brows furrowing, he watched her sip at her wine, frown and set it aside. Usually between the two of them they could clear a bottle over dinner, retreating to the couch with the dregs of it, stretching out together, on the edge of mellow. Hazel eyes flicked between the glass and her face before she put the next forkful away, letting him know there was nothing to worry about. Theo dipped his chin as she spoke, looking at her and then at the fridge. ”I get the painting, all of this, tiramisu, chocolate-covered strawberries and cannoli?” That low sound rumbled out of him and he slumped slightly into his chair as Freyja leaned in. This time his eyes narrowed. Theo craned forward, the date right there. ”For that I’m gonna have you up all night now. Sleep is for the weak Bentley.” And she was the least weak person he knew. Laughing he dipped his fork into his own food as he reached for the hand holding the fork she’d aimed at him with the other and used it to tow her in just a little more. It was seriously the best birthday he could remember and it was all because of her. He lifted his fork, offering it up to her. His warrior princess.

Tagged: FREYJA DAMASCA * Word Count: 1057