Rated PG-13 for some mild cussing, no more than the movie.
I set this around a year after the movie, if even that. Enough so that Michael and Selene are still adjusting. Enjoy!
For Ariel, who dubbed me Michael, who reminds me of Selene at times, and who was supposed to get this for her birthday but never did. And who was supposed to get this for Valentine's Day... but never did. And who was supposed to get this in time for championships... but never did. I'm sorry it took so long! I still love you, and I hope you know that!
Building Rome
Nothing anyone had ever taught him had readied him for this.
Michael sighed and did another quick look around. Selene may have been slowly but surely training him as a warrior, which included improving his observational skills, but it wasn't helping now. He was utterly lost.
Of course, maybe it would've been smarter if he hadn't decided to come to the mall the day of Valentine's Day.
There were plenty of men in the world who were bemoaning this day at the moment, but he gave himself brownie points for not hating it. He thought it was good to have a day that forced people to show how much they cared.
Of course, when said person was Selene, that was pretty damn hard.
"Scratch books." He grumbled, shoving a paperback onto the shelf it had come from.
He was certain that Selene could read, but he never saw her doing it. Besides, what would he get her? A romance was too forward, and she'd probably use it for kindling, but a thriller or a mystery didn't seem like a good idea to him. There had to come a time when she would tire of killing. Everyone had a breaking point. There was no need to be reading a book about killing when they lived in a war zone.
Passing through the crowds of lovers, he passed a chocolate shop. His hybrid nose tormented him with the rich scent of the treats within, but he forcefully moved on. He didn't have much money and he hadn't brought it to spend on himself. This was for Selene.
Is she even going to appreciate it? A sneaky voice inside, probably in his stomach, taunted him.
I won't know until I find out. He retorted.
Michael stopped in his tracks. Was he talking to himself? He shook his head and kept going. This was what happened when you forced your body, which was already undergoing mind-boggling biological changes, to adapt to sleeping during the day and moving around at night, and then forced it to go back to its old schedule for one day. They were probably still going to be active tonight anyway, Michael realized with a groan. He wasn't going to be a happy camper. Selene never had issues with things like these; she could keep going round the clock without a single hint of pain or fatigue showing up on her porcelain face. He admired that about her. And he admired the face too, the determination in it, the hidden vulnerability, the humanity he knew was there.
Reminding himself why he was there made Michael even more determined. He gained strength from her, he learned from her, even her memory. And that was why she was getting a goddamn present. And if she didn't like it.
Michael froze and realized that his heart just might break if she didn't.
He saw a store with leather jackets and headed in. Maybe he could get her a new one, a shorter one, for spring.
"Excuse me," He hailed a nearby salesperson. "I'm looking for a coat for... a friend. Which one would be best?"
Shit, he was saying inside. God, I really hate dealing with salespeople sometimes... They always made him nervous. Even the knowledge that he could single-handedly pick any given person here up and throw them through the wall didn't calm him.
"Do you know her size?" The person asked. Michael's temper flared a little at the assumption his friend was a girl, then calmed himself with a roll of his tense shoulders.
"I know how big she looks..." He muttered.
"Well, what kind of style would she like?"
"Practical but... stylish." He was tempted to end that one as a question. His skin was crawling with the urge to run far, far away.
The salesgirl headed briskly over to one of the racks, coming back with a coat that would reach to about Selene's upper thighs by the look of it. Michael's sensitive nose prickled at its scent and he almost forgot the chocolates from earlier. It had a positively wonderful scent, like a new car only better, and when he took it from the salesgirl and caressed the leather it was the softest thing he'd ever touched. Soft enough to touch the skin that was somehow forbidden to him except in his dreams.
He almost shouted that he'd take it but then his mind- logic in a time of crisis, that was something Selene had taught him too -insisted he look at the price tag. His stomach dropped and his nose decided it liked the chocolate better after all. His heart might break if Selene didn't like her gift, but the bank would break if he bought this one. He wasn't working anymore and while he had access to all Selene's accounts, using her money was cheating. It wouldn't be a true present if it was bought with her money, unbeknownst to her or not.
"I can't take it." Michael said hesitantly, handing it back. The salesgirl smirked and walked away to put it back without another word to the desolated Hybrid, who promptly walked out.
Outside, he sat on a lonely bench and watched the passersby. A couple here, a couple there. Laughing, kissing... even the occasional brawl as the man said something utterly hilarious to him and utterly infuriating to the woman.
Why was he here, alone? Sure, there were others that were alone. But he'd always be alone. No matter how many Valentine's Days passed, he'd always come here alone. He and Selene would never be the laughing couples or the couples who indulged in copious public displays of affection or even the ones who fought in public. Even if, and a wild if at that, they became a couple it would never be like that. They'd be relegated to the shadows, fugitives. Only in private could they be in love, because in the Underworld love was a luxury payable only with your life.
Michael considered going back to the lair he shared with Selene on the outskirts of the city, then refused. He had come this far. The Rubicon was far behind him. He had made his decision to love and he had made his decision to have in known- in a stolen glance, in watching her back, in memorizing her as she slept -and now he was taking one more step. Little steps, bricks laid one by one, building something grand.
Dammit, Selene was getting a present.
"Nothing feminine, no food, and nothing that could possibly harm me. I'd probably get the wrong weapon anyway..." He muttered to himself.
"Buying for a girlfriend?" Asked a voice next to him. Michael, the first Hybrid, perhaps one of the most dangerous and wanted men in the Underworld, looked like a deer in the headlights at that question. He managed a small nod. "I'm in your boat. I just know mine'd kill me if I didn't get the perfect gift. I'm serious, she'dkill me." He nudged Michael with his shoulder. "Know what I'm saying?"
"You have no idea." He whispered fervently.
"Yea, but..." The man looked away, then smiled. "They're worth it in the end, aren't they?" Slowly, his face brightened.
"Yea. Yea, they are." He smiled back.
The man smiled again, more broadly, and then left Michael behind a great deal more enthused than before.
Alright. Nothing too feminine and nothing too violent. A combination? It was like a trumpet had blared in his mind, signaling that he was on the right track. His pace sped up and he dashed into a stationary store, dove through a small cloud of people, and zipped to the back.
There was a quill with a tip that looked sharp enough to cut, and a letter opener plated in gold that looked just as finely edged, both at a price that made him a bit nervous but didn't devastate him like the coat had. He was reluctant to make a commitment to either, though; something was telling him that there was a better gift waiting out there.
That 'something' turned out to be Something Silver, a jewelry store across the way and down a level in the mall. He recalled that another intern had bought the ring he proposed to his girlfriend with from that store and ran in. His steps weren't little anymore; some risks are worth taking.
"You're early." Was Selene's only comment when Michael came home that night. "You said you'd be home by eight. It's seven thirty." To hear her talk would make it seem like he was in as much trouble for being early as he would've been for being late.
"Well, there were no shootouts to hold up the subway tonight." He snorted. Selene didn't quite smile, but her chocolate eyes warmed slightly in that inexplicable way. Smiles were rare treats, the opposite of an eclipse; a glimpse of deadly sun in their world of moon and stars. "Can I come in?" He asked finally. The vampiress stood aside.
She turned away to shut and lock the door that led to their underground rooms, and Michael used that time to take the box out of his coat pocket. He didn't let her ask any questions; for tonight he was the teacher. He handed her the box with its thick, red parchment wrapping and its gold ribbon.
"Open it." Selene watched him as she did the deed, well aware of the date. The red wrapping fluttered the ground after a swift flick of her wrist and she looked down as she pulled off the top of the box. Her perfect lips parted slightly and suddenly she couldn't meet his eyes again.
"I-it's lovely." She managed. There it was, that vulnerability.
Almost reverently she removed the necklace with its pendant shaped almost like the shuriken she kept about her. This throwing star had a Celtic knot worked across the top, and was about two inches across from one side to the other. It had a good weight to it.
Michael came up behind her and took the necklace from her hands, sweeping her black hair to one side. She let her eyes close as his large, warm hands brushed her neck. Moments later there was the cold weight of the pendant on her breastbone. She turned to meet his eyes.
"You didn't need to get this." She said quietly, one hand straying up to touch the pendant. She was already worried it would become a habit; Michael could see it in her eyes.
He hoped it did. He hoped it reminded her of him every day. He hoped that if he died before she did she would wear that necklace always, like Lucian did for Sonja. He was hoping for love this Valentine's.
"No, I did." He replied with a firm nod. She didn't respond.
He went to light the fire while Selene was checking one of her guns. It was as domestic as it got with them. But after the fire was lit and the door had been checked and the guns were all tucked in snugly next to each other, Michael sat on the loveseat and Selene came to him. She sat next to him, not quite touching, but close. He rested one arm across her shoulders and she leaned against him. Touching, and close.
Of course, her right arm had to be free. So Michael moved his arm so that it was still draped across her but more across her back. The back of his fingers stroked her neck idly, encouraging her to lay her head on his shoulder. Of course, her eyes stayed on the door. Gradually she closed her eyes and he settled back and closed his too.
Of course, she got up later and went to sleep on a couch that was all of two feet away. Of course, she didn't say good night. Michael liked to think that it was because she didn't want to wake him, thinking he was sleeping. Because she memorized his movements when he slept too, right?
Still, Michael was smiling as he curled up alone on the loveseat. Selene hadn't taken the necklace off before she went to sleep. Rome wasn't built in a day.
AN- Hope you enjoyed! For anyone who didn't know, the Rubicon was a river that Julius Caesar crossed with his forces- an act of war that eventually made him the first Caesar. Review and let me know what you thought!