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She didn’t know why she climbed into Mutt’s drivers seat, with the driver still in it, but she did, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her no matter how hard he tried.
“Uh, Jules-” He started, only to be cut off by her mouth on his, for a second his eyes go wide but it doesn’t last long. They drift shut, mirroring her motions and it’s so much better than she thought it’d be as she slides her tongue over his lower lip, his hands graze her back, until one of them settles around her waist, while the over cups her face. Her skins so smooth and so are her lips for that matter. When she pulls away her cheeks are slightly flushed and she glances up to avoid his gaze.
“Jules.” He starts and his hands under her chin, his thumb stroking the side of her jaw. She looks down for a second, only slightly embarrassed by the impulsiveness of the moment. She can tell by his tone he wants to know what this was all about.
“Jules.” He says again, a hint of impatience in his voice and he’s not playing around, she can tell; there’s a deepness to his voice she’s not used to.
“Mikey, uh,” She retorted, she’s a bit lost for words because she doesn’t even know exactly how to explain this. And the last thing they both need is her gushing out a whole I like you speech.
“Julie.” He practically whines at her, pulling her closer, and the motion catches her off guard. This is Mike, who just so happens to be pretty cool about just about anything, and yet here he is with a look in his eyes she’s never seen before. They’re half lidded and gods his pupils are blown. “Why.” He asks with a husk in his voice and as if she wasn’t aware of him before, she can’t stop her breathing increasing from the hand that’s pressed against her back and his eyes that just won’t look away from hers.
“Because I like you.” She practically hisses. Apparently that’s all he needed to hear because his lips crash onto hers and he hears the clunk as he slams on the handbrake. She’s surprised by his ferocity at first, but it’s not unwelcome, and she kisses him back fiercely. She nips at his lower lip and when she opens her eyes for a split second he cocks open an eye and smirks at her. His hands follow the curve of her body and before she knows it he’s whipped off the jacket she always wears. The shock on her face is a picture that leaves him grinning as he presses his lips to hers again.
She lets him take control - just for a bit, because she hates losing control - and it’s so nice to be kissed. Softly followed by coarsely and even a bit sloppily because by the looks of things he’s more frustrated than she is.
“Jules.” His voice is husky when he speaks again, the words in her ear as he kissed up her jaw, her head tilted to the side as he starts to kiss down her neck. Gently at first, before nipping lightly around the base. She swats him on the arm gently.
“No.” She says, her eyes meeting his and he simply smirks at her and tilts the chair back a bit, increasing the space between them. A space which she immediately closes, pressing her body up against his, he’s mostly muscle and she loves the feel of his chest against hers. She kisses him, again, pressing her lips against his softly, and when he lets out a soft moan she smirks to herself. Her hands press onto his shoulders, whilst his roam her back, and they can’t hear the door click because the next thing they hear is a shrill scream whilst she’s working his jacket off of his shoulders. They stop immediately, her hands dropping his jacket and both of them turning to where Chuck is staring at them, he’s lifted his fringe up, as if he might have been seeing things.
“Hey Chuckles,” Mike starts, slightly nervous because he’s not sure what this is, only what they were doing. “What’s up?” He’s lighthearted as he speaks but even as Chuck drops his fringe, he still looks horrified.
“Y-You two. What are you doing?” He shakes his head. “Actually, more like why are you doing that in the car.” He puts emphasis on that and Julie sucks in her lips. There’s no cover up for the lipstick that’s smudged and the kiss marks on Mike’s face. He looks freaked out as he lifts his hair up again, blinking at them, making sure he really has seen what he thinks he has. He’s reassured as Julie sits back on Mikes lap, smiling sheepishly, dropping his fringe with a sense of urgency.
Mike looks at Julie, searching for an explanation, neither of them have one. “Just having some fun?” He speaks with confidence but she’s got an eyebrow raised at him, not that he can see it through her fringe.
“Really.” Comes the reply as Chuck crosses his arms and slams back into the seat. He doesn’t believe them for a second and he’s just a bit jittery that he’s walked in on it.
“Yeah!” Julie perks up, opening the driver's door, Mike pouts at her but she ignores it as she slips back out into the garage. “Well I guess I’ll see you guys later.” She waves, leaving them.
Mike sinks back into his seat, pulling his jacket back up and picking Julie’s up off the back seat. “Chuck.” He grumbles.
“What!” He retaliates, he knows what he did wrong but he honestly did think they were going for a drive.
“Oh forget it.” He grumbles, he’s lighthearted about it, but it’s embarrassing. He adjusts his seat and flicks Julies jacket at Chuck. “You are seriously lucky we were only missing jackets.” He laughs lightheartedly as he starts the engine. Chuck flails at the jacket before catching it and folding it, settling it in his lap.
“Y-Yeah I guess.” He chuckles half-heartedly. He’s not really sure what to say, but he’s well aware by now that he should have just snuck back out of the car and left them alone. He didn’t out of shock. Mike never seemed to show interest in anyone that went further than friendship.
“You okay?” He asked after Chuck hadn’t spoken for the majority of the ride; which was unheard of as he was driving at well over five hundred miles per hour.
“Yeah.” Came the feeble reply.
“Hey I’m really sorry - but I kind of don’t want to apologise.” He laughed.
“It’s okay - I should have left.” He rubbed his left arm and looked away. “I was just looking for you - I didn’t know you and Julie were together.”
“We’re not.” He replied. “She kind of caught me off guard.” He chuckled.
“What? What was all that then?” Chuck turned, looking confused.
“Adrenaline Junkie?” He laughed.
“Mike stop it.” Chuck chastised, surprising him. “Even if she did catch you off guard, I know you, you’d never touch her unless you liked her.” He’s rubbing the back of his neck now, because he doesn’t like talking to Mike like this, and he’s shrinking in his seat. “How long have you liked her?” He asks, head poking up.
“Oh boy.” Mike said, taking a long breath, “I didn’t know you had it in you Chuckles.” He laughs.
“What?”
“That kind of observation.” Now It’s Mike's turn to look embarrassed as he rubs the back of his neck, slowing down slightly.
“Well? How long?” He asks. “‘Cos you know about my massive crush on Claire and you’re always trying to help me out with that. Why not - well until today - do anything with Julie?” He asks nervously.
“Are you actually counselling me on my love life?” He asks, his expression somewhat bemused.
“Yes.” Mike breathes out for a long time.
“It’s a long while Chuck but I can’t say exactly when.” He’s even blushing, which is admittedly adorable, because he’s never seen Mike undone by anything. “Heh, damn, this is embarrassing. Oh Crap, I kind of let her slink out of the car without saying anything.” He looks worried at that. “Hey Chuck can you promise me something?”
“Sure.” He shrugs his shoulders, eyes focused on the road ahead, because Mike’s not particularly focused right now. Not that he can do anything.
“Please don’t tell anyone, okay?”
“I never would.” He reassures him with a hand on his shoulder. “Why in the car though?”
“I have no idea, but it’s kind of hot.” He laughs full-heartedly at that, and chuck cracks a smile.
“So long as it’s not in my seat, I agree.” He laughs.
***
“I actually cannot believe I just did that.” She grumbled to herself, head pressed face down into Claire’s couch. The owner of said couch hasn’t stopped laughing since she walked in, missing her jacket and awfully flush of face.
“Aw, it’s not that bad.” She laughs, patting her on the shoulder in what she means to be comfort, but there’s a bit of condescension there too. “I mean, you only kind of jumped on him in his car, and then Chuck saw you, what’s to be embarrassed about?” She can hardly hold in her laughter as she speaks, and rolls onto her back afterwards, clutching her stomach as she rumbles with laughter.
“Claire.” Julie says, her voice stern, “Help me!” She asks. “This is your area, right?”
“Guys? Nu-uh, complicated.” She says, shaking her head. “It’s not like you need to complicate your life anymore, is it?” She says, rolling onto her front.
“Can you help me?” She asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Nope, I think I’m just gonna let you go about this how you want - mostly for my own amusement.” She grins, leaving Julie to roll her eyes and jam her face back into the cushions. “Hey it’s not that bad. He kissed you right?” She laughs, drawing herself up onto her elbows and smiling at her friend, somewhat more comfortingly, now that she’s gotten over the initial amusement. “I tell you what, I’d have loved to have seen Chucks face.” She grins.
“I still can’t get it out of my head - he looked positively horrified.” She snorts with amusement at the recollection. “He’s lucky it wasn’t a few minutes later.” She grins with a giggle.
“Wow, I never thought even Mike had it in him.” Claire laughs.
“Really?”
“I don’t know - he seems a bit too much of a good guy for car sex.” She shrugged. Julie just grinned.
“Guess that was a bit forward of me?”
“A bit?” She snorts as Julie pulls herself up onto the couch, slouching back on the cushions.
“Okay, very.” She laughs. “I can’t even explain it - I just saw him get in the car by himself and I followed. Oh Crap.” She borrows her head in her hands again. “I am so embarrassed.”
“Mike is an adrenaline junkie though.” Claire shrugs. “I’m not surprised he got turned on by it.” She laughs.
“Why are we even talking about this?” She cocks an eyebrow at Claire through her fingers.
“I Don’t know about you, but it might have something to do with you turning up at my pod red faced and disheveled?” Julie sighs.
“Yeah, it might do, might’n it?” She laughs.
“Julie, are you in there?” Comes the call from the door. “Daddy would like a word.” She immediately goes stiff and Claire has to shove a pillow in her face to stop from giggling.
“Yeah- Coming Dad!” She calls, jumping up off the couch and smoothing down her hair in the mirror. “You, not a word.” She hisses back at Claire as she opens the door and slips out quietly.
***
She sits with her arms folded on the table, her shoulders are slightly hunched and she’s pouting ever so slightly. She can’t help but feel awkward. It’s not been the most exciting day so far, and Nine Lives is fixed up and raring to go should the alarm sound, so she’s left with little to do. Dutch is off trying to fix Texas’ car. She’s yet to see Mike today and the only time she saw Chuck he smiled at her awkwardly before running off. She can’t really blame him.
After a while of sitting with her head on the table, drifting in and out of sleep, there’s a tap on her shoulder. She wakes up with a start, bolting upright and turning to the source of the tap - her left.
“You okay?” He asks with a surprisingly shy smile. She blinks, maybe she was more asleep than she thought.
“Y- Yeah fine.” She smiles. “What’s up?” She asks.
“Can I talk to you in private somewhere?” He smiles sheepishly and only meets her eyes for a split second before looking away. He’s actually embarrassed, rubbing his arm nervously, and she can hardly believe it.
“I guess.” She shrugs and follows him down to the storeroom near where he usually parks Mutt. “What's up?” She asks as he lowers the garage door till it’s almost at the floor. He’s practically swaggers across the room, until he’s got her pinned up against the back wall. She gulps as his lips come crashing down on hers, he’s pressed up against her, her back against the wall. “M-Mike.” She stammers as he pulls away to catch his breath.
“Yeah?” He asks, smiling at her.
“What is this, exactly?” She asks, pinching her fingers together and squinting her eyes.
“You tell me.” He shrugged, leaning back. “You kind of came on to me yesterday.” He said, brushing back his fringe with a smile. She looked away, rubbing her arms.
“Sorry about that.” She said, shrugging her shoulders and looking away from him. “Is this you mocking me?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You know as well as I that I would never do that.” He said, leaning forward, hands pressed against the wall to either side of her face. “I kind of thought you might want your jacket back.” He grinned, pulling it off the shelf and handing it to her, she took it hesitantly. “And I kind of wanted to know why you, uh, did what you did yesterday?” His bravado was shrinking, because he didn’t have a great deal of experience in this. Too busy trying to protect motor city to get caught up in romance. Till now. He could back off now and everything would go back to more or less normal. The problem was, he didn’t want to.
“Uh, I kind of thought it would be easier.” She said, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly and avoiding his gaze. “I mean, you’re the nicest guy I’ve ever met,” She looks up for a second and she can’t help but notice how soft his expression looks as he gazes at her, she doesn’t quite feel worth it, and shrinks away a little bit more, crossing her arms over her chest. “Aaaand, I didn’t think the whole hey Mike, i really kind of like you, but it’s kind of awkward, but d’you wanna go on a date sometime? Would work as well as insinuating we could, I don’t know, just take care of each others needs?” She’s a shade of pink he didn’t know existed by the time she finished, and he knows he’s grinning like a fool as he leans forward and presses his forehead to hers, eyes closed as he smiles gently. He doesn’t reply, which worried her even more and she’s a bit afraid to move because she really can’t tell where this is going. Then he starts laughing and she shrinks even more, sinking down away from the pressure on her forehead.
“Hey, Jules, Jules I’m not laughing at you.” He sinks down next to her and his smiles so wide it’s stupid. Claire was totally right; she didn’t need her life getting any more complicated. She didn’t need to feel worse than she already did. She glares at him when he sinks down in front of her, his hands on her shoulders only make her feel like more of an idiot. “That’s just, some seriously intense thinking.” He laughed. “You actually thought sleeping with me would be easier than asking me out on a date?” His smiles almost splitting his face, she doesn’t stop glaring.
“Oh come on Mike!” She says, arms outstretched, “You don’t exactly show it when you like someone and I really didn’t need the added embarrassment.” She’s blushing again and he can’t help but think it’s a little bit adorable, a little bit out of character, because this is Julie and no word can describe her better than awesome.
“So you’d rather I reject you on the basis of not because it’s you but because I don’t want to sleep with you?” His lips are barely an inch from hers as he speaks and it’s really hard to concentrate on what he’s saying because all she wants to do is kiss them. “You know, basically I’d be rejecting you because it’s you right?” He’s practically giggling now, even as she swats him on the arm.
“Okay, fine, it’s because I really, really want you.” She huffed, quirking her eyebrow.
“Heh, that’s good, because I totally feel the same.” He leaned in again but was stopped by her finger on his lips.
“W-what?” She asked, eyes wide and surprised while her eyebrows pinched together.
“I want you.” He whispered in her ear.
“Seriously,” she grinned as she spoke, tilting her head back against the wall while tilting her body towards him. She could feel him chuckle, his chin on her shoulder.
“Seriously.” She turned to face him, grinning at her.
“Enough talking.” She hissed, pressing her lips to his firmly, he smirked into her, arms wrapping around her waist.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.” He said, smiling down at her as he broke the kiss.
“I said enough talking.” She said, smiling as she pressed her lips up to meet his.
***
Warmth always lay next to him when he awoke these days. It had taken a lot of persuasion, My internship, but eventually she’d caved in one night, curled up in his arms. “Shouldn’t you head off?” He’d asked. “Too tired.” Had come the reply as she snuggled up closer to his chest. He grinned at the thought. Though the rest of the guys still didn’t know, Chuck did, and he seemed fully supportive. It also seemed that Claire knew too; and for some reason that gave them something to whisper about. They’d roll their eyes at them when they noticed but otherwise say nothing. They weren’t particularly fond of their respective best friends discussing their love life, but they knew it wouldn’t stay a hot topic for too long.
“Mmmm, Mike,” Julie moaned next to him, pressing herself against his side, he never used to sleep in his room much, and was glad he went to bed later than the others. With the exception of Chuck, but he knew, so it didn’t matter.
“Mmmmm, Jules.” He said, rubbing circles on her back with his thumb and tilting his head down to face her. Her eyes were closed and he could see a little contented smile on her face. “I told you this was a good idea.” He says as she rolls onto his chest, arms sprawled across him, eyes still closed. She opens them blearily, lifting herself up on her arms and smiles at him warmly.
“You mean the whole me staying here because it’s not like we can sneak you into deluxe?”
“Yeah that thing.” He smiles lazily at her.
“Hmmm, I guess I agree with that.” She says, laying her head back down onto his toned chest. “Mmmm, I totally agree with that.” She murmurs as his hands slip over her waist and one slides down to her backside.
“Me too.” He replies smiling. “We should probably get up, before the guys come to find me.” He says, stretching, she whines as his hands leave her, forcing him to quickly replace them lest she move away, something he doesn’t want. Not yet, anyway.