Would it be too cliche to quote Bad Romance here?

[requiresssacrifice]

Who: Rex and Odessa
What: A DATE
Where: Rex's lab
When: One evening
Notes: Witness two people who really shouldn't be together.
Warnings: None yet; will update if need be.

Rex has never been on a conventional date before. Well, that's not strictly true. He and Iago had certainly gone out many times while in Baedal-- when they had the money-- but that was already an established relationship, so he hardly counted it. They had a... routine. Rex often knew where things were going to go, because they had time on their side.

With Odessa, things are different. New and unexplored. Open, even, what with the entire city at their fingertips. No longer does Rex have to improvise like he did with Wichita, constrained by the limitations of prison.

And yet, old habits are hard to break. Rather than go out to one of the many restaurants the city has to offer, Rex works with what he has: his lab. Bunsen burners are lit for ambiance, a bottle of wine and two glasses are set out on one of the tables and, to top things off, his briefcase sits next to the setup. It's a simple setup on the surface, but as far as Rex is concerned, there's nothing simplistic about his decision to let Odessa in on his most precious project.

Nanomites, the fast track to romance.

Comments

[whattigerscanchange]

Odessa winces and puts her head down. "I didn't mean that, what I said about men. I just... I was really scared that you didn't like me." You see? Completely rational. Right?

She looks up then without tilting her chin upward again. "But you do like me, don't you?" Never mind who else was there. That is absolutely irrelevant and possibly incriminating. She bats her mascara-laden lashes, hoping he'll forget all about it.

[requiresssacrifice]

Rex laughs, shrugging his shoulders loosely. "I didn't mind it. My gender can be a pain." And that's all Rex is going to say about that. He doesn't really want to call attention to the fact that this is coming from the experience of having argued with his one and only boyfriend all the time.

He moves forward again, hands planting on either side of Odessa. He leans in close, lowers his head, his lips grazing against hers lightly. "What do you think?"

[whattigerscanchange]

"So can mine," Odessa acquiesces. She's had more than her fair share of arguments with her girlfriend back where she comes from. "Humans," she scoffs with amusement. "So problematic."

She watches him close in almost as if she finds that amusing as well. There's also that instinct to try to read his face for any sign that there's something more to his movements than it appears to be on the surface. There will never be a part of her that doesn't expect the bite of a syringe or knife, or the blunt digging of a gun's barrel between her ribs to punctuate the moment.

Not that it would even manage to kill the mood.

All the same, he can claim the victory of making the first move. In a motion that's vaguely like a lunge, Odessa reaches up to plant her hands on either side of his face as she presses her lips to his. Hard. After all, she's been waiting for this for a while.

[requiresssacrifice]

There's something deeply, profoundly fucked up about kissing Wichita's twin like this, and that does nothing to stop Rex from doing it anyway. He shifts his hands, moving them to her hips. His teeth scrape against her lower lip in a light bite, both eager and aggressive. It's been entirely too long since he's done this. There's something familiar about this, and it feels right, calls him back to a time when things were so much worse-- hopeless, even. All except for one bright spot. Kissing Odessa feels like coming home.

And yet it doesn't. Once he closes his eyes, everything changes. This is somebody else. For all her superficial similarities to Wichita, Odessa is unique. He's never met anybody like her before-- the closest person he can point to, in fact, is himself. Perhaps he's bringing his narcissism to a whole new level.

Whatever this is-- narcissism, projection, simple attraction-- Rex enjoys it. He follows that hard kiss up with another, slightly gentler one, pushing all thoughts from his mind.

[whattigerscanchange]

If she'd been smart, or maybe nicer, Odessa would have backed off the moment Rex confessed to her that Wichita wasn't just someone he used to know, but his ex. It is definitely profoundly fucked up, and she can't bring herself to care about that, either.

If anything, she's capitalising on it. Consciously.

There could be any number of insecurities brought to mind in this moment, from the thought that he's kissed her double, and more. Odessa pushes them down in favour of enjoying this moment. Her hands slide down to rest against his chest and a sigh escapes her lips when they finally part from his. "We should probably... get your project packed up and set aside before something truly tragic happens."

Science before sex.

[requiresssacrifice]

"Oh."

Oh. And just like that, Rex remembers why he didn't lose his virginity until the Barge. Science. His first priority. Sex may be enjoyable, but it's ultimately a distraction, one that leads people to make sloppy mistakes.

"Priorities."

He quickly disengages, moving over to snap his briefcase shut and move it onto a table at the far end of the room.

There.

Much better.

[whattigerscanchange]

Odessa takes that opportunity to move the wine bottle and glasses and make sure she isn't likely to knock over any of the Bunsen burners while Rex secures his precious nanomites. "Priorities," she agrees." She wasn't much younger than him when she turned in her v-card, either.

She's smiling almost devilishly when he makes his way back to her, having reclaimed her seat on the table again. "Now... Where were we?" Her index fingers hook through the loops of his belt, tugging him toward her gently.