thisavrou_log | I don't have a choice but I'd still choose you

Who: Nathan Drake (

sketchycharacter) and Elena Fisher (

tearsinajar)
When: One fine evening on Vacation Planet
Where: A fancy establishment
What: Mr. and Mrs. Drake try to take the "strange" out of "estrangement" by having a first date ~~2.0~~ 3.0
Warnings: Hideous romantic grossness. Bring a toothbrush. Also references to married adult activities and maybe some angst.

[It's been a long, long time since Nate's gone on a first date, and he doesn't remember the experience of preparing for it making him so nervous. Granted, he hasn't gone on a lot of first dates that actually mattered, but still—he's a grown adult, not a clueless teenager, and he shouldn't have sweaty palms, jitters or the need to check his suit for stray lint every few minutes. But check, check and check, he's got every one of them.

It doesn't actually help that he's married to the woman he's taking out on this particular first date. Considering the circumstances of what led to it being a first date and how much he has to lose if this goes badly, it actually makes things worse. And it's not like he can look back to their original first date, which was running around on cursed zombie island or marathon sex in a Panamanian hotel, depending which one he decides to count, for inspiration. The first option would be very hard to replicate and the second wouldn't do much to fix their problems.

So all right, he's doing this without a net. What else is new? At least the unlimited credits allowed him to buy a (pretty sharp, if he says so himself) new suit so he doesn't look like a complete schmuck unworthy of the gorgeous woman he's taking out, even if he is. Nate checks his watch, takes one last look at himself and heads over to Elena's room. It's time.

At least next door isn't very far to walk. He steadies himself and raps on the door.]

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Yeah? And what would that be?

[ As they move out onto the beach, the sand cool under her bare feet, she takes him by the hand to tug him along, heels hooked on her fingers. Her smile is big, happy. They haven't had a moment like this in...a really long time.

God does it feel good to just let go, to allow herself this happiness. ]

Why? I guess you don't remember how my legs look wearing just these things.

[He laces his fingers through hers and gives her a sidelong grin. She's always been beautiful, but careful and free in the moonlight like she is now, she's rarely looked this amazing.]

That's different. When you're wearing just those, they don't tend to stay on very long.

[He turns his gaze ahead of them, looking for any other people who might be out here and the right spot for a private dance floor.]

As long as you don't got any hidden kinks I don't know about yet where sucking on toes is a thing, we should be good.

[ Only one time does she remember wearing a pair of heels and thigh high stockings. Just once. He'd peeled the heels off first before using his teeth on only one stocking, fucking her with the other slipping down. What a night that'd been.

Present time, Elena's uncaring of privacy or not right now. She continues to lead, no real direction planned. Just walking under the moonlight on another planet on the beach no less, this is perfect. ]

Too bad there aren't any stockings under this dress this time.

[He laughs, and squeezes her hand.]

Well, you can get some for the next fancy date we go on.

[Whenever that is. Maybe by then they'll have put things back together enough that he can enjoy them the way he remembers enjoying stockings on her legs another time. Nylons up to her thighs had just done things to him.]

That looks like a nice spot.

[He nudges her and nods ahead at a place ahead of them where the beach curves, moonlight shining down on it like it was meant for them.]

So there's going to be a next time.

[ Kind of hard not to have that when they're married and stuck on a ship. But when he points out the slightly secluded area peeking out, she smiles. It looks like a damn nice spot.

Time to keep leading, guiding him to the edge of the shore so she can walk through waves gently washing up onto the beach. ]

It looks perfect.

It is perfect.

[He's looking at her, not the scenery. Nate swivels around to step in front of her, facing her with his other arm offered.]

Another dance?

[Who cares if the hems of their clothes get ruined by the water? They're here to dance to the tune of the moonlight.]

[ Without her heels, her skirt drags in the wet sand. Elena couldn't care less. It's such a beautiful night and she's sharing in a perfect moment with her husband. ]

Why...I thought you'd never ask.

[ She smiles up at him, reaching for his arm and brushing some hair that catches at her cheek in the warm breeze. Looking up at him, this moment with him outweighs every wrong thing that had happened.

It's romantic, it's something they've never gotten to do.

Maybe that's why she leans up suddenly onto her tiptoes to kiss him, murmuring those three words and eight letters. ]

[After so much time spent alternatively pushing away and ignoring his problems, Nate will readily take responsibility for what went wrong between them. But even though he has no right to ask for more, it doesn't change the fact that he has missed hearing those words, and it doesn't stop his heart from filling up his whole chest when she says them again.

He wants to say them back, but her mouth is on his and words are forgotten, entirely, because he can kiss her and keep kissing her and not have to worry about things like propriety or who might be watching. All that matters is that they're here and they're together and this feels so right that it hurts.

The dancing, too, is forgotten, but then this is its own kind of dance.]

[ Is there anyone watching? Elena doesn't care. It's been too long since they've been able to go off on their own after a perfect date night. She's spent so many months in hot winds and blowing sand, a coarse and sweltering environment, alone, wearing a band on her finger and pretending.

Tonight, there's no pretenses. There's only the need for more, the need for him, lost time made up for as her hands frame his jaw and pull him down a little more to her height, sinking down off tiptoes so her feet are flat against the sand.

It's when she's breathless, panting and head spinning that she has to break the embrace but she keeps their faces close, eyes closed.

Dancing wasn't the only thing that'd been forgotten— remembering to breathe had been another. ]

[Making out with a woman on a moonlit beach that he'd specifically scouted out ahead of time is the sort of thing a man does when he's first falling in love and eager to do anything that'll bring her into his arms. And Nate's far past that point, he's here because he wants to make things up to her, not win her over for the first time, but he is in love—crazy in love, like there's no other woman that exists anywhere, because for him there isn't.

He can't not be touching her, attracted like they're magnets, so even when she pulls back enough to remain breathing and balance, his hands are on her, fingers tracing her body like gentle brands.]

I love you too.

[ An arm moves slowly over his shoulder, hand curling over his nape. That pulls her closer against him, her body fitted to his, every bit of her sinking into place like a piece to the puzzle that finally works for them. If only he wasn't wearing the jacket of his suit then she could feel more; it's going to go that way, eventually. Maybe not tonight but... ]

How much?

[ The words are breathed close to his lips where hers hover over, back arching forward under the fingers tracing along the exposed skin. Elena shivers and presses closer, the trails left in the wake of his touch like hot lines that make her want more.

This isn't about that, it's about something else, something deeper between them. ]

[What a question. Simple, but deceptively so, like how the ocean is simply a bunch of water. He could give her a lengthy answer, but it would be incredibly, absolutely inadequate, and he can't think of that many words when she's touching him like this.

His hands press harder against her, directly on her skin, and he holds her closer to him like he might never let her go.]

Completely.

[ She hopes he doesn't. Never let her go. This needs to work this time. She can't keep losing him. ]

Truly, madly, deeply?

[ Elena closes her eyes and smiles, nose brushing his. Savage Garden, can't go wrong with that in the moment. The press of his hands on her skin has her pulse quickening and her breath catching softly. She won't give him a moment to answer, tipping her chin forward to cover his mouth with hers, tongue sliding inside. ]

[He doesn't have to answer her. And he doesn't, not out loud, but she gets a reply all the same. It's in the way he touches her like she's something precious, the way he holds her in a way that's nearly reverent. It's in the way he kisses her like a man more in love than he's ever been.

Because he is. He knows what he has in her now, understands her worth and value. And he'll never let go of it again.

The rest of their lives could be spent kissing on this beach, and Nathan Drake would die a happy man.]

I don't have a choice but I'd still choose you

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