1st May, 2013

It finally seemed as though spring had won the battle against winter and arrived on Rhy'Din, bringing with it sunshine and brighter days. Liv was always happiest in the sunny months, preferring heat over cold. It was just luck that she'd fallen in love with a man who could heat an entire city's water supply just by taking a bath in a reservoir. Spring meant her heavy winter coats were stuffed to the back of the wardrobe, even if it wasn't quite warm enough yet, and the always popular dresses were back. But it was still a relief to get in out of the cool wind when she reached Luks after work, leaving Jon and Vicki to coo over their baby girl in privacy as she made her way home. The keys jangled in the lock as she stepped into the condo, her nose buried in a sheaf of paper that might have been Jon's mail. "Honey, I'm home!"

Johnny was in the kitchen cooking dinner as evidenced from the smell of food cooking - spaghetti sauce and garlic bread from the smell of things. Hopefully, he was not literally burning the kitchen down. "In here!" he called, though if Liv followed her nose, she'd have found him soon enough on her own. Cooking was just one skill Johnny was in the process of mastering since his arrival in Rhy'Din and his eventual marriage to Liv.

Dropping her heavy satchel on the floor by the door and kicking out of her shoes, Liv dragged her eyes from the paper in her hand with a wide smile for what she'd walked into. Johnny was a whizz when it came to searing steaks, but the more complex side of cooking had been a work in progress for a while now. She padded barefoot into the kitchen, hanging her keys on the mug tree, and leaned around his arm to kiss his cheek. "Spoiling me tonight, hmm?"

She found him standing in front of the stove, stirring spaghetti sauce, a smile sent her way as she smooched his cheek. "Why should tonight be any different?" he remarked, enjoying spoiling her as much as she'd let him. "Here..." he started, scooping up a bit of sauce onto a spoon and turning to offer it to her. "Taste this. Tell me what you think."

She hadn't let go of the paper in her hand, leaning on it to rise onto her toes and taste the sauce on the spoon. It was good - a little more tomatoey than she was used to, but really not a bad effort for someone who'd had to be taught how to slice vegetables not so very long ago. She smiled again, nodding. "It's good," she assured him. "Maybe a bit more oregano' But not too much." She patted him fondly on the behind as she twisted to lean back against the counter, watching him thoughtfully. "Sweetheart, are you on shift this Friday night?"

He frowned thoughtfully, a little disappointed, having hoped the sauce was perfect as it was. He reached for the jar of oregano and sprinkled a little into the sauce as he stirred the mixture. "Friday?" he asked, furrowing his brows. "Friday's the bonfire. I'm on call, I think. Why?" But being on call wasn't a big deal. If he was needed, they'd, well, call him, and with it being the night of the bonfire, who better to have on call but The Human Torch'

It was just his luck to have married someone who had a keener sense of taste than he did, at least when it came to cooking, but he was going to end up being a better cook because of it. Eventually. Liv bit her lip, shrugging one shoulder up and down, looking as thoughtful as him for a moment. "I, um, I got a copy of the Beltane King and Queen nominations through this morning," she said, waving the piece of paper in his direction. But she chickened out of actually offering the pertinent point. "Rhi and Eregor are on there. Maybe we should go along and support them."

He stirred the oregano into the sauce and took another taste, not really sure if it was too much or too little. It tasted good to him, but then so did spaghetti straight out of a can. "Oh, yeah?" he asked, not having paid too much attention to the Beltane nominations this year - or last year either. "What about Jon and Vicki?"

"They're not on the list this year," she told him with a faint smile, eyeing him for a moment before taking the plunge. What was the worst he could do, right' She had practice at clearing up after momentary fireworks these days, after all. "Um ....we are, though."

"Oh, well, they probably won't have time to go anyway with the new..." Pause. Blink. Did she say they were on the list' No, he had to have misheard her. He chuckled. "You know, for a second there, I thought you said we're on the list."

If she'd been joking, or if he really had misheard her, she would have chuckled with him. As it was, Liv's smile was only just short of a grimace, her shoulder rising and falling once again as she showed him the list. She had no idea who could have nominated her, at least, and frankly, the thought of being included on such a list of eminently beautiful and intelligent women was more than a little terrifying to her. "I did say it," she admitted awkwardly, showing him the list itself. "Right there. Johnny Storm. Olivia Storm."

He didn't believe it either. "What?" he asked as he set the spoon down and leaned over her to find both their names clearly listed in the nominations. "That can't be right. Why would anyone nominate me?" He considered quietly a moment, before the patented Johnny Storm smirk formed on his face. "You did, didn't you?" He chuckled.

"Believe it or not, you're a popular guy," she laughed at his disbelief, shaking her head. "I don't know, maybe one of your former conquests decided they'd like to see you in the running, or maybe you're just the subject of more private fantasies around here than you thought." His smirking accusation made her giggle softly. "Sadly, no. If I'd thought you might like it, I would have nominated you, but you never mentioned it."

"What former conquests?" he asked, furrowing his brows. "My only former conquest is....Lucy!" he declared, snapping his fingers as he realized it must have been Lucy who'd nominated them, but then he realized almost as quickly that Steve and Lucy were back in New York, so it couldn't have been them. He took a lean against the cupboard, looking puzzled. "I never said I'd like it, and I'm not really that popular, Liv."

"You're more popular than me," she pointed out, hugging her arms about herself as she shrugged yet again. "Not that it's hard to be more popular than me, seeing as I don't really have any friends beyond the Grangers and Rhi and Eregor ....but that's not the point." She shook her head, laughing a little at how she'd distracted herself. "I just thought you'd like to know you'd been nominated, and since you're on call, we could go along. In case the magic dryads or whatever they are choose you."

He frowned, feeling bad that Liv thought she had so few friends. He didn't really have many friends in Rhy'Din either. Most of them were just acquaintances. "I don't have that many friends either, Liv." Other than Liv, the people he felt closest to were back home in New York. Yes, they had a few friends here, and the Grangers had sort of adopted them, but he didn't really think he was much more popular than her. Except maybe for being known as a superhero, but that wasn't the same thing.

Her head tilted as she looked up at him, the soft smile on her face counteracting his frown. "Don't you start feeling bad again just because I'm shy," she warned him in a gently amused tone. "I'm always going to be shy, I can deal. So no brooding, sparky." Her hand rose, one finger booping the end of his nose.

"I'm not brooding!" he insisted, turning toward the fridge, but thinking better of it. Food tended to go bad if he went in and out of the fridge too often. "Can you get out the lettuce and tomatoes" I want to make a salad," he asked, thinking better of foraging in the refrigerator. He opened a drawer and pulled out a knife and cutting board, mulling over this latest development. "Okay, so if it wasn't you or me or Steve or Lucy and assuming it wasn't Jon or Vicki, who was it?"

"In which case, dinner will burn!" he called over his shoulder as she headed for the bathroom, a smirk at the swat. He felt a little nervous at the evening ahead, though Liv had always been pretty easy to please. He didn't think there was any way he could top her last birthday, and felt like he was just about out of surprises. He mulled all this over while he stirred the sauce and considered cheating at making garlic bread. Who needed an oven when Johnny Storm was around"

Her giggles filtered back to him as she wandered back and forth from bedroom to bathroom, stripping out of her clothes and turning the shower on. She wasn't going to be long; just long enough to wash the chill off her skin and feel fresh again after walking through the city. Leaving the door open, she flicked the radio on and began to sing along, thankfully a good deal more in tune than her whistling ever was.

He couldn't help but take a peek out of the kitchen to see if he could make out what she was doing. He had a surprise hidden somewhere and he didn't want her to find it yet. Once he heard the shower in the tub, he stopped worrying, going back to debating over the best method of making garlic bread, deciding finally to use the oven, which was probably safer anyway. He smiled as he listened to the sound of her singing. It was a happy sound that filled him with that same happiness. So far, marriage was working out well for them.

Liv was as quick as she'd promised she'd be. Two songs later, the water had stopped, and she was sliding into the clothing she only ever wore at home with him - shorts and a tank - too shy to bare quite so much outside the privacy of their own space. Shaking her hair out over her shoulders, she padded back into sight on bare feet, offering up a relaxed smile. "See" Am I, or am I not, a woman of my word?"

In the meantime, he was puzzling over the oven settings for the garlic bread. "All better now?" he asked, as he closed the cookbook he'd been looking at and shoved it back into a drawer, hopefully before she could catch him. He leaned over to pull open the oven and slide the garlic bread inside, before setting the temperature. "So, how was work?" he asked, just as he did every day when she arrived home.

If she saw the cookbook, she didn't give any hint of it, leaning against the doorframe with an easy sigh. She always relaxed when she got home if Johnny was there, and relaxed Liv was often easier on the eyes than alert Liv, who radiated tension from every pore. "Mmm, mostly all better," she smirked faintly, looking him over with a familiar expression in her eyes. "Work was work, you know" Arranging accommodation for Jon and Vicki while they're on Earth in a month or so. I'm double and triple checking everything I do this time around." Because the last time she'd booked accommodation for her boss, he and his wife had ended up going head to head with a ghoul.

"On Earth?" He repeated, forgetting her boss still had two more parts of a trilogy to film before he completed his contract. "They'll be fine, Liv. The Grangers have more security than the President." That was not quite true, but it sounded good anyway. He'd go along to watch over them if she asked him to, but he didn't really think it was necessary. "He hasn't gotten any more threatening letters, has he?" He finished stirring the sauce yet again and set the spoon down, scooting around her to set the table.

"Yeah, he's still filming the Fifty Shades... stuff," she explained with a faint yawn. "Two more films, but it's the PR campaigns that are the big nightmare. And I have to keep Emily safe too, this time." She sighed again, shaking her head. "I'll work something out. No more threats, no. Doesn't mean I'm not going to be paranoid about it, though."

"Does that mean we're going along?" he asked, as he set two plates on the table, along with cutlery and glasses. He'd bought a bottle of wine that he'd been told goes well with pasta, but he wasn't sure if she wanted it. "You know, I'm something of a celebrity, too. Maybe you should be my P.A," he suggested with a smirk.

His smirking suggestion brought the smile back onto her face, and she turned, wrapping her arms about him and pressing her face into his back as she squeezed. "Oh, I love you," she moaned happily. "And yes, we can go along if you'd like. Jon's not really likely to need me, and he can always get hold of me by phone if necessary, but maybe a few weeks out of Rhy'Din would be good. I don't know. You decide."

He wasn't quite sure how he felt about the prospect of going along. This trip and the PR campaign that went along with it weren't about him, but he didn't care about that so much. As much as he hated to admit it, he'd become fond of the Granger couple and would feel better knowing he was along to keep a watchful eye on them, even if he couldn't watch over them 24-7. "Are they filming in Seattle again?"

"Mostly. There's a week where they'll be outside San Francisco for additional location shots, but they're mostly in Seattle again." Reluctantly, she let go of him, leaning back against the wall again. "Is there anything I can help with' I feel lazy just watching you do all the work here."

"You can do dishes," he said with a teasing smirk, though he wasn't going to hold her to that, especially not on her birthday. "So, have you spoken to Lucy today?" he asked, wondering what Liv's twin was doing for her birthday. All they were waiting for now was for the garlic bread to get done. Johnny set the salad on the table, along with a bottle of dressing.

"Yeah, she rang me at work," Liv admitted, blushing faintly as she realized she wasn't being quite as obtuse about what day it was as she had hoped. "Steve's taking her out to dinner tonight, something about a posh place that does real pizza." She chuckled. "She wanted me to tell her what kind of lingerie looks best on a woman seven months pregnant. Like I'd know."

He chuckled, actually a little relieved that Steve wasn't doing anything too fancy. Though it wasn't a competition, Johnny still sometimes felt like he wasn't good enough when compared to his idol. "I'm sure Steve wouldn't care if she wore a potato sack to bed!" The oven beeped, letting him know the garlic bread was done. "Dinner's ready!" he announced with a grin, hoping she like the first of several surprises. Though he could have opted to take her out for a nice dinner, he had a feeling the effort he had put into cooking for her would mean more to her.

He'd guessed absolutely right. As much as she liked the romance of an evening out, Liv much preferred their nights in. To realize that he must have spent much of the afternoon cooking this single meal for her was enough to make her day, god alone knew how touched she would be if there were any more surprises. "Where do you want me, sparky?"

He knew where he wanted her, but that would have to wait until later. For now, he pulled out a chair and waited for her to take a seat before serving them both dinner. In the end, he decided on breaking open the bottle of wine. It was a special occasion, after all. Dinner consisted of spaghetti and meatballs, a garden salad, and garlic bread, all of which hadn't turned out too bad for his first attempt at cooking. Thankfully, he'd followed the cookbook to the letter. This cooking thing wasn't all that hard, after all.

Being waited on was as much a treat as being cooked for, and Liv was practically glowing with quiet delight as they ate, sharing mild small talk back and forth across the table. The food was delicious - better than she had come to expect from Johnny, to be honest, but she was never going to admit that - and the wine a pleasant surprise. She was careful not to ask what the occasion was, knowing exactly what he was up to. "That was gorgeous, Johnny," she complimented him, tucking her bare feet into his lap as she set her cutlery down. "You should cook more often."

She even folded the discarded wrapping, setting it to one side before lifting the lid of the box that now lay on her knees. Tissue paper crackled under her fingertips, and her mouth fell open as she lifted out her present. It was satin and lace, deep blue and ivory, a delicate slip that was as sweet as it was sexy. Something she would never have bought for herself. "Oh, Johnny, this is ....it's beautiful," she beamed, her smile impossibly soft as she looked over at him, pushing the box aside to crawl close and kiss him tenderly. "Thank you."

It wasn't a fluffy kitten or an expensive diamond, but it was something he knew Liv would never have bought for herself and something he thought she'd look lovely in. He wasn't about to tell her that the sales girls had modeled several items of lingerie in the store - many of them skimpier than the one he'd bought - before he'd settled on this one, knowing her favorite color was blue and thinking it would look lovely on her. "I know it's not much..." He bemoaned with a frown.

"It's from you," she cut him off, the lovely slip in her lap as she straddled his, brushing her lips over his frowning mouth with a loving smile. "I don't need presents, expensive or otherwise, love. But everything you give me is wonderful. Starting with you." She nipped the end of his nose, soft eyes sparkling happily.

He slid his arms around her waist as she climbed across his lap, a soft smile on his face, feeling a little relieved. "You, um....want to try it on?" he asked, curious to see what she'd look like in it. "Or do you want to wait until after dessert?" He knew what he wanted - he wanted her for dessert, but it was her birthday, not his.

"Hmm ..." It was a teasing delay, evidenced by the grin on her face as she looped her arms around his neck, plying his lips with soft, brief kisses. "I think dessert just got relegated to midnight snack," she murmured, drawing back with that familiarly shy cast to her smile that was swiftly burning away under the influence of her more minx-like side. "Be back in a minute." One last kiss nipped to his lips, and she scooted off his lap, giggling her way across the hall and into the bathroom, the slip in hand.

He still had his Kiss the Cook apron on, but not for long. He smiled into her kiss, moving to his feet as she slipped away from him to get changed. He fumbled with the apron, tugging on the sash only to find it had knotted in the back, muttering profanities under his breath. He could have easily ripped the thing off, or even more easily burned it off, but he had grown attached to that apron and didn't want to ruin it. Besides, he was wearing his favorite Captain America t-shirt underneath it, and he didn't want to ruin that, either.

In the bathroom, Liv hesitated, looking at herself in the mirror. The dark silk and pale lace were stark against her luminous skin, startling her with quite how feminine she looked, even to herself. Biting her lip, she considered her next move. Out came that scent, just to make absolutely sure Johnny knew what was coming, and off went her panties. After all, he'd only given her the slip, hadn't he" Meeting her gaze in the mirror, Liv almost didn't recognize her own smirk, realizing that this was as close to seducing her own husband on purpose as she was ever going to get. But it was going to take another couple of minutes to work up the guts to come out of the bathroom.

"Livvie!" Johnny called, getting frustrated with the apron and his inability to get it off. Though she might want to seduce him, and he totally had that in mind when he'd gone shopping for lingerie, his frustration at being unable to get out of the apron was quickly dampening his mood for the inevitable.

So much for attempting an entrance. "What's happened?" she called back, slipping into view with a curious look on her face. It wasn't like Johnny to skip from amorous to annoyed without good reason. Seeing him struggling with his apron, she bit her lip, utterly failing to stifle her smile. "Oh ....turn around."

He turned suddenly serious at the sight of her in satin and lace. What a lovely sight to behold, his frustration almost immediately forgotten. Almost. "Oh, my god," he muttered as he took one very appreciative look at her. "You look....amazing."

She blushed, seemingly fluctuating between his shy Liv and the more confident Kitten as she looked down at herself, not really seeing what he saw. But he obviously liked the view, and she wasn't going to argue with anything Johnny liked. "You look frustrated," she countered with a teasing lilt to her voice, twirling her finger in the air in a silent command for him to turn around.

"In more ways than one," he replied, turning his back to her so she could help him out of the apron. It wasn't just the apron that was frustrating him, but the sudden flare of desire at seeing her dressed - or barely dressed - in Victoria's Secret. She looked even more lovely than he'd imagined, like a present waiting to be unwrapped. The blue set off her pale skin and dark eyes, the fall of her hair brushing her shoulders. Victoria's Secret models might be known as Angels, but Liv was his angel, and no one else even came close.

If it had been a simple case of just untying knots, she would have added kisses to the back of his neck. As it was, his attempts to pull the apron off had tightened the knots in the cord, forcing his wife to focus all her attention on getting him out of it without tearing or burning the thing. She laughed as the material slowly started to give. "What were you doing to make it so tight?"

"I was trying to get it off!" he exclaimed, a little exasperated. He'd been tugging and tugging on the sash, and instead of loosening the knot, he'd tugged it tighter. He tried to look over his shoulder to check her progress, but couldn't quite manage it. Unlike Reed, he lacked the ability to stretch his body like an elastic band - and thankfully so. That would have just been too weird, in his estimation.

"Don't get pouty, or I'll leave you in it," she threatened, and just from the husky tone of her voice, he could be fairly sure she would do just that. Liv wasn't above teasing him beyond the point where it should have been dangerous to tease the Human Torch, knowing that he would never hurt her. There was a creaking sound as the fabric came loose under her fingers, the sash falling open as she stepped back. "Freedom!"

"I thought I was going to have to burn it off!" he exclaimed further, sounding relieved. Of course, it would have been simpler just to cut it off, but when had anything involving Johnny Storm been simple" He just about tore the apron off and tossed it aside, turning to face her and capturing her around the waist to toss her onto the bed with him.

She let out a low shriek of laughter, utterly unprepared to be hoisted off her feet and tossed bodily onto the bed, scrambling to somehow protect her modesty from a man who had seen it all anyway. Blushing once again, Liv pressed a hand over her mouth as she giggled, her soft eyes trailing over her husband with covetous heat of her own.

He slid a hand up her thigh, grinning when he realized she had no panties on underneath the slip. "You know what I like best about your present?" he asked, fingers sliding against smooth, warm flesh. "You don't even have to take it off." He covered her body with his, leaving a trail of too-warm kisses against the lovely line of her neck.

He earned himself another giggle with his lascivious comment, her body arching into his already as he covered her, aching at just the briefest touch of his hand against her skin. "Anyone would think you've been planning this, Mr Storm," she teased in a low murmur against his ear, drawing her fingertips through the shorter length of hair at the back of his head as her own fell back, thrilling to how much he wanted her.

"Maybe I have, Mrs. Storm," he returned, halting his kisses to smile down at her. "Happy birthday, Livvie," he told her softly, all the love he felt for her shining in his eyes of blue. "I love you."

She lay back, sweetly still blushing a little under his tender gaze as she smiled up at him, drawing her fingers softly over his jaw, down his chest. "I love you back," she promised, each word and look an echo of the adoration he bathed her in so often. Then, with a little hitch of her body, she rolled to bring him underneath her, leaning down to kiss him deep before she sat back once again. "So ....can I unwrap my best present now?"

He smiled up at her as she rolled him onto his back, unable to resist teasing her, even as she teased him. "What present would that be?" he asked, though he knew she was talking about unwrapping him, which, in a way, she sort of had, freeing him from the clutches of his apron. "Should I tie a bow around my neck?"

She leaned over him, drawing her fingertip from the dip in his chin, down his throat, and over his chest, her smile rising with inviting wickedness. "Oh, I like the wrapping just as it is," she murmured playfully, sitting back on his thighs to pull him up against her, hands smoothing down his chest to tuck beneath his shirt and draw it slowly upward. "And I love what?s inside."

He followed her lead, helping her to get rid of his shirt, tossing it aside carelessly, even if it was his favorite shirt. He slid warm hands beneath the hem of her slip, up against her thighs, and around to her hips, not wanting to relieve her of the pretty wrapping just yet. She looked too lovely, and he wanted to savor the moment.

As his hands slid beneath the delicate hem of the gorgeous slip he'd bought for her, Liv almost purred with delight. She'd never made a secret of how much she loved it when he let his hands wander over her skin, drawing her own arms about his neck as she teased his lips with her own, nipping tenderly with a smile. "Thank you for my birthday dinner," she murmured to him lovingly between those kisses. "And for my present." Kiss. "Love you."

He lost himself to her kisses, savoring the warmth and softness of her lips and her body against his. He still had his jeans on, but even so, his desire for her was obvious. He slid his arms around her waist to roll her onto her back, moving off her so that he could finish what she'd started and unwrap himself for her, before her eyes. "Not as much as I love you," he murmured, kissing her in return. He had one last present to give her and this one wasn't anything he could buy in a store. It was the gift of his love.

((Something tells me that May Queen and King or not, these two are going to enjoy celebrating Beltane like hot-blooded pagans! Loads of love and thanks to Johnny's player, and to whichever one of you cheeky folks nominated us!))