[Relationship] The Rosenhof Residence

[Basil Benson]

Basil frumped onto the bed next to her, smooshing his face into the outer side of her thigh. This was of course one of his favourite places to be, but the weary expression on his face indicated that he was resting here not to hope to initiate something, but for psychological comfort.

"I spent months planning my escape, dreaming of regaining what every fantastical life I must have locked away from myself. Only to find out I'm a financially competent, nouveau riche bookworm with basic parental issues.

How dreadful."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette reached down to stroke her fingers through the young man's hair, the cut still feeling strange to her but with enough of the familiar curls that she had missed so much.

"Well, zis bookworm is ze one who won my heart." The girl pointed out, stepping around the financial part. "But, now you have an opportunity. You may never be able to be ze man you once were... so you have ze ultimate excuse to become ze man you wish to be."

The pink thigh against the man's face subtly plumped to give him a bigger pillow to rest against. "So, tell me... what type of man to you want Basil to be?"

[Basil Benson]

Basil brought his hands up to hold her by the sides of her thighs and looked up at her. "One who lives.

I can't go back into a cage Madame Rosenhof. Not even if it's one that I created for myself. I can't just... sit behind a desk and read about other people's adventures.

I need to have my own."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette smiled down at him as she might a kitten sleeping on her lap... well, without the delightful squeals anyway. Those came later.

"Well, you have ze time, and you have ze strengz, and you have ze means. So it is not a question of if you can go on adventures, ze question is... what kind of adventures? Zose of travel? Discovery? Daunting tasks? Battle? Oh I hope zat Everest is not on your list, so many people perish on zat one...."

[Basil Benson]

"Not battle." he replied almost immediately. " I will likely keep up the training Alice started, but I don't want to hurt anyone unless necessary. I hate fighting.

And travel is fine, especially if you would enjoy it, but I'm not interested in prepackaged 'extreme encounters', especially where natives are effectively murdered for the entertainment of the rich."

He weighed her statements further. "Discovery, I suppose.... Experiences."

[Colette Rosenhof]

"So... swimming wiz jellyfish, hiking zrough redwood forests, camping in Arfica, visiting temples in Thailand... zose sorts of zings? ... is zere room for two on zis journey, or will it be one of self-discovery?"

[Basil Benson]

"Of course there is.

How could I possibly leave you behind?"

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette did her best not to tear up from happiness, as she was often want to do.

"Zen I will keep a bag packed, so zat we may leave on a whim."

[Basil Benson]

Basil grinned, and pulled himself up onto the bed, taking Colette by the waist and rolling to pull her ontop of him.

"If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?"

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette let out a delighted little "eep" as she was pulled down on top of Basil, situating herself on top of him as she looked back into his eyes.

"You are asking ze girl who spent most of her life in a one-bedroom flat where she would like to go? Zis girl is spoilt for choice." She said softly, her hand creeping up to coil one of the young man's curls around her finger. "Ze Taj Mahal, a proper visit to Japan, camping in ze African savannah, Rio de Janeiro, Las Vegas and ze Grand Canyon, ze Cumberland pencil museum... how is a girl to choose? Will we get a map and zrow darts? Spin ze globe, close our eyes, and wherever a finger lands, zere we go?

"You... have had a very, very rough year. So perhaps we should start wiz somezing simple, and relaxing, and a little indulgent? Like... somezing tropical. Wiz a little beach house, on ze sand. Fresh fruit and seafood, afternoons spent in ze surf or reading on ze beach.

"Or, if you want adventure, we could always go and visit my parents." Colette grinned at her own joke.

[Basil Benson]

Basil actually seemed to be considering it, with a little smirk on his face. "I've read trips to the Moselle department are best in the summer, but I suppose I've an expert on my hands... and other various body parts..."

Basil reached up to caress his hand across her cheek. " What do you say love? Do you want to go and visit your parents?"

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette rested her head in Basil's hand with her eyes half-lidded. "I would like zat very much. Consider it a trial run for our future jet-setting adventures. If we can get zrough a weekend in France and meeting my parents... zen we can move on to bigger and better zings." Taking her boyfriend to meet her parents did show how serious she was about their relationship; no more doubts, smooth sailing from here.

[Basil Benson]

"We'll go during fall break then. As to not to interrupt your studies."

He replied. He was smiling, but his mind was elsewhere, as it often was.

[Colette Rosenhof]

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Colette leaned in to give Basil's forehead a little peck - she could have stretched her lips, but she was keeping herself reigned in. Though she had been with Basil long enough to notice that his eyes didn't match his smile.

"... is something the matter?"

[Basil Benson]

"... Just thinking about my family.

Conceptually, not as individuals.

Yours will probably be a dream, comparatively."

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Well, that awaits to be seen. No family is perfect, after all." Colette smiled softly. "But I am certain that they will adore you. You are such a charmer."

[Basil Benson]

"Am I?" He asked, a wide grin slowly painting across his face.

"In what ways? Be specific."

Perhaps he'd grown a taste for praise while he was gone. Or accidentally killed the thing that made him so adverse.

Either way.....

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette wasn't so much falling for his ploy as she was indulging herself in something that she couldn't do as often with the old Basil; compliment him. Oh, she could do a little, but more than that and he'd be overwhelmed, become far too modest, having to turn things on her. She was going to savour this.

"Well, you are handsome, for one. Tall, excellent fashion sense, full head of dark hair, beautiful eyes... and an adorable smile. And then you open your mouth, and what comes out of it? Intelligent, well-spoken, modest, and that British accent. You are charming in ways that you do not realize, simply because you do things out of kindness.

"And, perhaps most importantly to them... you make me happy. Truly happy, without caveats."

[Basil Benson]

Basil folded his arms behind his head and listened intently. At first he looked the cat that ate the canary, because he knew the things she was saying were true. He was a very pretty boy, and indeed had a good aesthetic sense. Tall? Not the tallest, but probably true by most people's standards. And who wants to be too tall anyways? If he was much bigger, shoes were going to become a problem. Even the hair thing passed the bullshit test.

It was just past the comment about his eyes that things started rolling down hill considerably. And while he did start to become obviously bothered by things, the response started roughly inline with the same sort of reaction she got the last time she said something flattering about his nature and less about his looks. But what started as a slight flush in his cheeks eventually developed into his face turning about as red as the left over radishes in their fridge. One of his hands had slowly migrated from behind his head, and came to play percussion on his clavicle, as he was wont to do when he was nervous and thinking about something.

But he hadn't told her to stop.

"..I-I... uhmm..." He cleared his throat a bit and looked away from Colette, trying to forcibly hide a nervous smile by biting his own lip, and therefore failing to do so.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette gave Basil's cheek a poke.

"Hey. I do not adore you just because you are pretty. You had better get used to this, yes? Because I have meant every word I have said."

[Basil Benson]

"it's not-

It's-"

Basil stammered to find the words, but he couldn't. He could never truly find the words to explain himself on this. Maybe his last mistress just knew instinctively. She'd been around him for so long, maybe for her, it was just written on him, plain as day.

For Colette, it clearly wasn't obvious. And when the topic came up, he could only find himself one of two ways: tongue tied, or avoidant as to prevent himself from being exposed. What if she left? As it was now, she'd have next to nothing to confess to other girls beyond the fact he was occasionally moody and liked thick women: Nothing particularly salicious or reputation ending. She could claim more, but without details she couldn't really pin him with any life ending label. And she'd been fulfilling his needs well enough without him having to expose the thoughts swimming around in the dark parts of his mind.

But was it right to make her continue to question herself about whether or not she was adequate? Was it the lack of affirmation on his own part that caused her to doubt that she was suitable? These were questions he had pondered frequently when he knew his thoughts weren't being actively monitored by outside influences over the last several months.

Basil reached up to take Colette's wrist and gently splay her hand into his chest. His heart was pounding as if he'd been exerting himself in some way, though he clearly hadn't.

"Keep going.... please." He pleaded of her. He couldn't find the courage to say it out loud, because some part of him still told him it was wrong. But another reasoned that if he didn't take his chance and try to communicate somehow while he had the chance, he'd lose his opening.

"If I cry mercy, stop."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Seeing Basil deep in thought and conflicted was nothing new for Colette, he was often in one state or the other, and both at the same time was not uncommon. It was one of the many qualities he possessed that made him so endearing to her. But having her hand brought to his chest, feeling the young man's excitement, and his request... it was like a lightbulb had gone off inside her head, an absolute eureka moment. It was all so obvious now, how could she not have known it before?

The look on her face shifted from the surprise of understanding to one of energetic glee. Her legs moved to press down on Basil's thighs, a hand taking his other forearm and holding it to the bed as she stared down at him. "You finally give in, and then ask me to go easy on you? If only you knew how difficult it has been for me to keep these words contained for so long. I am tempted to DROWN you in them." She pulled herself closer, her chest resting against his as her face drew in to stare deep into his eyes, those subtle blasts of her simulated breath across his cheeks. "Lucky for us both that I have such a strong will, and that such temptations pale in comparison to how much your trust and consent mean to me." Her lips brushed his skin, his voice quieter as she whispered into his ear.

"So, instead of letting open the sluice gates and letting it all out at once, I'm going to show a little more tact... but only just. I still fully intend to thoroughly marinate you, my sweet, sweet boy." Was she still talking about words? Probably, from the little tokens of praise she whispered in his ear between nibbles.

[Basil Benson]

Too elated to notice his hand pinned between their torsos, Basil quickly became lost to his own euphoria.

And for his part, he didn't tap out.

((FTB))

Several hours later, Basil laid quietly as if in drunken stupor. His relaxed eyes were still open, but focusing on nothing and occasionally would flutter as if he were fighting rest for some reason. He was wearing a faint smile on his lips despite his drowsiness, as if he were waking up from a particularly pleasant dream.

Colette had seen Basil post coital plenty of times at this point, but not quite like this.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette was nestled in nice and close, nestled in the crook of Basil's arm, soaking up his bodyhead like a lizard basking on a rock while she lazily observed him with eyes half-lidded.

"I cannot believe I read you so wrong, for so long."

[Basil Benson]

Basil mustered a small smirk through his sleepy disposition.

"I have realized something too.

Or perhaps... remembered."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette tilted her head slightly.

"Oh? And what is it?"

[Basil Benson]

He did not hesitate to reply, though he did so in a half murmur. Not out of embarrassment, but exhaustion.

"That I'm in love with you... And... I think you might be in love with me.

We've never done anything like this before.

I am not a toy you're going to discard when you're done.

This relationship isn't a game we're playing. This is real.

And that frightens me. Because if I'm just a play thing, it's natural for you to tire of me eventually, no matter how fond of you I might be.

But if you love me, then that means I have something to lose. "

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette slowly tightened her grip on Basil as she listened, not speaking until a moment or two had passed after he was finished.

"I... and terrified as well. This is all so new and intense and it is so scary to entrust your heart to someone else.

"But... the fear of losing you far outweighs the fear of being hurt. I am scared, but..."

Colette sought out Basil's hand and intertwined her fingers with his.

"... I think it is the same fear one feels when skydiving, or a rollercoaster, or... something like that. I have never been so happy to be so scared. And part of me hopes I never stop feeling this way. Because I love you too, Basil."

[Basil Benson]

Basil's thumb could be felt brushing against the side of her own in a soothing pattern, and he rolled his head to lean into her own.

"So long as you want it, you will never lose my affection."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette softly smiled and closed her eyes.

"Nor you, mine. Forever, and ever."