haplesshairpile | [for maeve, early september]

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maeve

[for maeve, early september]

Steve knows that not telling Maeve that he's starting classes at the community college is a calculated risk, but he had his reasons, and he thinks that those reasons were worth it, even if she does end up being mad at him. Maybe she won't, maybe she'll understand. He thinks she will, but he also just assumes that he's gonna screw something up.

He hadn't wanted to overwhelm himself right off the bat, and he still has his job at Phoenix to consider, so he signed up for two classes. Now that he's gone to them both and hasn't decided that he's going to quit in shame, he decides that it's time to tell the girl that he's been keeping it from.

On the way to Maeve's place, he stops to get her favorite cookie from a bakery she likes, and then makes another stop to get her coffee. It's not unusual for Steve to bring her treats, which he usually does just because he wants to make her smile, but this time he definitely wants to butter her up a bit.

Thankfully she's home alone, which Steve knows because her roommate was sucking face on the couch with his roommate when he left. Sometimes he thinks that he should bring up the idea of Steve and Rue just switching, but now it feels a little too soon after the Baby Incident.

Once he's outside her door, he takes a deep breath and tilts his head back for a minute, staring at the ceiling like he's saying a silent prayer, and then rolls his shoulders before reaching out to knock on the door.

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It's not as if Maeve is prone to anger. She's by far the most understanding girlfriend that he's ever had, but it still surprises Steve a little that she doesn't seem to mind at all that he kept something from her.

She throws her arms around him, happy for him, and Steve spends a second looking very confused before he returns the hug. Don't get him wrong, he's grateful that she isn't upset, but it throws him a little. But maybe it shouldn't, he realizes. Maeve just seems to get him and how his dumb brain works.

"It was good! It was really good," Steve says with a smile, shaking off the surprise and finding it replaced with a dopey grin. She looks so proud of him and that makes him so happy, but it also reaffirms his decision to not tell her until he'd gone. "Don't you want to know why I didn't tell you until now?"

Maybe he should have just let it go, but he still wants to explain himself, even if she isn't upset with him.

"Alright," she says, since he seems like he wants to tell her. She had assumed, maybe unfairly, that he'd been worried it might not work out, that he might not like it or change his mind, and that he'd felt embarrassed by that possibility.

She wouldn't have judged him for it, for any of it, but she can understand someone feeling that way and not wanting to share.

But Steve wants to tell her and she's so happy for him now, so proud of him, that she doesn't imagine he'll say anything she won't want to hear.

This is going so much better than expected, and Steve feels kind of stupid. He'd been so stressed about this, tossing and turning and worrying that she would be upset, and he's realizing that it has very little to do with her at all. He still lives in fear of upsetting people, and it isn't hard to imagine why. Growing up, it never really went too well for him when he did.

"I just-- I really wanted to be sure that I was doing it for myself, you know?" Steve tells her, biting his bottom lip as he takes her hands in his, thumbing at her knuckles. "I was worried that if I told you and I didn't end up liking it, I'd keep going for you just to keep that look on your face, because I love it so much when you look at me like this." He lifts one hand to her cheek, cradling it gently and touching the pad of his thumb to the corner of her mouth. "And I know that wouldn't be the right reason to go, so I just wanted to be sure. I didn't want to let anyone down, including me. If that makes sense."

He cringes a little, nose wrinkling, and then looks at her expectantly.

Somehow, that makes Maeve more proud of him. She knows his parents weren't exactly present, for different reasons than her own, but absent is absent, no matter what the reason. Wanting to do something for himself, truly for himself, that's a big step forward, something Maeve had struggled with for years after her mum left.

"It wouldn't be the right reason," she agrees. "And I'm glad you're doing it for yourself. It makes complete sense."

She smiles and lifts her hand to cover his on her cheek. "I'm really proud of you. You're the only one you ever need to do any of this for. I love you no matter what."

All the anxiety that's been festering over this conversations seems to leave him all at once, like air out of a balloon, and Steve feels a little dumb for being so worried. Of course she understands. She gets him.

"I should have given you more credit," he admits, swallowing hard and smiling apologetically. "College was just-- it was a big thing with me and Nancy."

He doesn't talk about Nancy often these days, but he's told Maeve about her, and about most of the reasons why it didn't work out. He's over her by now, was a long time ago, but the insecurities that break up gave him are still there, waiting to be a problem.

But all that shit doesn't matter. What matters is now, him finally in school and Maeve proud of him, and Steve takes a deep, cleansing breath before leaning in to rest their foreheads together. "I love you, too. Thank you for being like, the best girlfriend ever. Sometimes-- I just can't believe how lucky I am."

Maeve doesn't get that, why someone would make another person feel shitty because they didn't want to or couldn't go to university. She'd never expected to have the chances she does in Darrow and different things are right for different people. Not everyone has the same path and while she loves learning and education, she also knows it isn't right for everyone.

"I am a very good girlfriend," she agrees, smiling with her lips pressed together. "But probably just for you. I don't think I'd be a good girlfriend for many others."

"Yeah, well. I'm not a very good boyfriend to anyone else either," Steve admits, shrugging a little as he pulls back to look at her, cradling the side of her face in one hand. "So, I guess it's good that we found each other, huh?"

When he leans in to kiss her, she tastes like coffee and sugar and Steve hums happily as he licks at the seam of her lips until she parts them and Steve can suck the taste from her tongue.

Steve has a long history of being a terrible boyfriend. Even the first time that he actually tried, really gave it his all, he still wound up being bad at it. But Maeve is different. They're different, but she gets him. They understand each other, for the most part. They talk things out like adults and they still fuck like rabbits and he feels absolutely dopey for her all of the time.

"I think we're amazing," he admits when he breaks the kiss, breathing in deep and shifting his hand up into her hair. "I really do."

"Yeah, I think we're pretty great," she agrees. More now than she had before. They've made it through a pretty significant shake up, the sort of thing that would break a lot of relationships and honestly, while she would have been heartbroken, she also would have understood if it had all proved to be too much for Steve.

But it didn't. They're on the other side, both willing to see where life takes them, and she thinks that's really fucking cool.

"And you're going to be great," she says. "Tell me more about your classes."

"Let's reasonably manage expectations," Steve says with a self-conscious chuckle, though it does make him happy to know that Maeve really seems to believe in him. She isn't just playing the part of a supportive girlfriend. She actually thinks he can do it, and that helps Steve to think the same thing. It quiets the voices in his head telling him that he'll never make it.

"Uh, well. I talked to an advisor who said it would be better to get the core classes done at the community college, and then transfer over to Barton to work on a degree in child development," Steve tells her, and it's kind of obvious by his expression that he feels a little out of his depth. "So, I'm just starting with like, the most basic English and science classes to see how it goes. I like both the professors. They seem way more chill than any teacher I had in high school."

"Hey, don't do that," she says, still looking at Steve with care, though her expression has gone lovingly concerned. "You're doing this because you want to, not because you think you have to, and you're bloody smart. You're going to do great."

As he tells her about how it's gone so far, she relaxes into another smile and leans back, head tipped against his shoulder.

"I think that's normal," she says. "College is so different from secondary school. There's nothing to be gained from the teachers being arseholes."

Steve isn't used to people believing in him when he doesn't have a ball in his hand. Maeve's words make him feel so shivery with emotion, and he actually spends a moment feeling guilty for ever thinking that this conversation was going to go any other way. Maeve always believes in him.

"Thank you," he tells her, but the words feel too small for what she gives him, so he wraps his arms around her to pull her into his lap, her back against his chest, ass resting on the insides of his thighs. "God, I love you."

He chuckles softly and ducks his head to press a kiss to the side of her neck, giving her a squeeze before suddenly blowing a raspberry just under her ear.

"Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you?" she asks, squirming and laughing at the same time as he vibrates his lips against her skin. There's nothing at all wrong with him, nothing wrong with them, and she wraps her arms over Steve's where they're around her torso.

"I love you, too, even though you're a bloody weirdo," she says, sinking into his lap, leaning against his chest. She's comfortable here, with him, and that means so much to her. Maybe more than Steve knows.

"Oh, so many things," Steve drawls out, grinning and nosing under her ear as she laughs. Maybe he's biased, but he's pretty sure her laugh is the best sound in the world. "But you're stuck with me. No exchanges or refunds."

He's pretty sure that Maeve is it for him, the mythical One, but he isn't sure what to do about it. She said that she might be open to marriage, but it feels like they're too young for that and after all they've been through recently, he thinks that he'd be too raw from the Baby Talk to ask her, too afraid that she would turn him down.

It would be nice if they lived together, waking up together each morning, but he doesn't know if he should ask for that, either. Maybe he doesn't need to do anything at all. He can just love her as hard as he can, and everything else will work out.

"Not even for one of those muscley superhero types?" she asks, tilting her head back to get a better look at Steve. "I've seen that one with the metal arm around Darrow, he's quite handsome."

And so not her type. He's too big. Too broody. Maeve needs to be the one with the bad attitude in a relationship, she doesn't imagine two people who are perpetually grumpy would do anything but make each other worse off in the long run.

She doesn't want to be with anyone else, though, she's sure of that.

"Oh, please. You definitely prefer my hairy chest over all those muscles," Steve teases, looking down at her as he playfully digs his fingers into her sides, tickling her as he kisses the side of her head.

While she's distracted with squirming, Steve shifts out from under her and then gets on top of her, stretching out over her on the sofa. He laughs and tickles her again, leaning in to press kisses under her jaw.

"You want me to put on spandex? Is that it?" He grins and bites gently at her neck, laughing happily. "Or is it the cape that gets you going?"

"Definitely the spandex," she answers, smiling up at him, her lips pulled between her teeth. "It leaves nothing to the imagination. You can see every edge. Every... bulge."

She wrinkles her nose and laughs.

"The cape is just silly," she informs him. "It's going to get caught in things, you'll end up being pulled into an airplane engine if you're the sort who can fly. No capes."

"No capes, but yes to spandex," Steve says , humming as he drags Maeve's shirt up over her bra and casually faceplants into her cleavage, nuzzling between her tits just because he feels like it, biting at the edge of one cup before lifting his head again. "Maybe that'll be my Halloween costume, huh?"

He reaches back behind his head and pulls his t-shirt off, tossing it aside before leaning in to take her face in his hands and give her a lingering kiss. "The first one that comes to mind is Spider-Man, but he's actually here now, so that's probably out."

When he pulls off his shirt, Maeve drags her fingertips against his chest. Steve was right, she much prefers the hair on his chest to any of those muscle bound hairless superhero sorts. There's something sexy about a man with hair on his chest.

"Spider-Man is in Darrow?" she asks. "Have you met him in or out of his suit?"

And does the poor bloke even know he's from a comic book and a whole slew of movies she's never paid much attention to?

"In the suit. I told him that I knew who he was just because it felt weird not to." Steve admits, nose wrinkling as if he's confused by his trajectory of becoming a better person. "I mean, not how I know who he is, because that's a whole weird thing that you can't just dump on someone. He sounds like he's just a kid."

He's somewhat distracted from the conversation by Maeve's blunt nails gliding up and down his chest in a way that seems to be making all the blood in his body rush south, aided by the dizzying relief that they made it through another Hard Thing, even if it didn't turn out to be nearly as hard as Steve anticipated, so to speak.

Steve's gaze dips to her tits again, and the teasing hint of nipple that he can see through the dark lace. He lifts his hand to trace it with the tip of his finger, feeling it stiffen under his touch. "I feel like wearing spandex around you would just be asking for trouble."

"Maybe you should ask Spider-Man how he hides his inevitable erections in his suit," she teases, poking Steve's chest. "If he's a teenager, it probably happens every time he sees a pretty girl. Maybe there's a cup built into the spandex."

She doesn't imagine he'll actually ever do this, wear a superhero costume, but now if he does, even if just for Halloween, she'll have to do everything in her power to see exactly how one deals with an erection in a spandex suit. Just for fun.

"Or would that be an odd question to ask?" She tilts her head, as if she doesn't know.

“Probably. He seemed weirded out that I knew who he was and kind of peaced out on me,” Steve admits, feeling kind of bummed about it because it’s Spider-Man, and who wouldn’t want to be friends with Spider-Man?

He soothes himself by kissing along the edge of her lacy bra cup, and then makes a delighted sound when he notices that this one has a front clasp. He undoes it and sighs happily as her Maeve’s perfect tits spill free, leaning down to nuzzle between them.

“But who needs to be friends with Spider-Man when I have these spectacular tits to hang out with,” Steve declares, realizing what an odd thing that is to say, but he had such a stressful week and he just wants to play with his girlfriend’s boobs.

Steve smiles up at her and then leans down to press kisses along the swell of her breast, then pulls her nipple into his mouth with a soft hum, sucking at it while covering her other tit with his hand. There’s no urgency to it, no real endgame, just Steve exploring.

"Wouldn't you be a little uncomfortable if you had a secret identity and someone in your new home said they knew who you were because you're in comic books and the like?" she asks, even as Steve opens her bra.

This is nice in ways she'd never known before. They're not in any particular rush, it isn't like the times when they're both frantically horny, trying to get undressed. She'd never really understood how nice it can be to take their time, not until Steve.

"Maybe he just needs time to adjust," she says, smoothing Steve's hair back from his forehead as he kisses her breast.

"I didn't tell him how I knew who he was," Steve assures her, because even he's not that dumb. "He probably thinks that I saw it on the news or something."

It's a dumb conversation to have when Maeve's tits are out, but she does make him feel a little reassured. She's really good at that, or maybe it's just that he can't ever feel that bad when Maeve is around. Even if her tits aren't out.

"Yeah, maybe." He smiles up at her and kisses the point of her chin, her mouth, her jaw, covering one breast with his hand and squeezing lazily as he kisses the side of her neck. "Can we stop talking about Spider-Man now?"

"You started it," she points out, even if she's no longer sure whether or not that's the truth. Honestly, it doesn't matter. One of them started it and now Steve is asking to stop it, so she drags one hand up over his back until she can thread her fingers in his hair.

"But we can talk about whatever you'd like," she promises, then bites her lower lip. "Or not talk at all."

She has a fair idea she knows exactly what Steve will choose.

"Oh, yeah?" Steve asks in a low, interested voice, caging her in between his elbows as he stretches out on top of her, propping his chin up on his palm. She bites her lip all cute and coy and Steve stares up at her, blinking slowly like a cat in love and practically purring at how good it feels to have her nails dragging lightly through his hair.

Right now, he'd do whatever Maeve wanted to do. If she closed her bra and said she wanted to go to the damn farmer's market, he'd carry all her bags. He'd happily just sit here and talk, but of course he's happy to not talk, too.

"We could talk a little," he says with a flirty smirk, rocking over to her side to put all his weight on one elbow, leaning against the back of the sofa as he slides his hand down her stomach. He tugs open the button of her pants and chuckles softly as he tugs playfully at the waistband of her tights. "You always have to make it hard for me, don't you?"

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