[ Like watered-down medicine, he'd been about to say. But something about Korra's expression, the gaze bright and unblinking, stops him short. All at once he's aware of that unfamiliar tension at the edges of his mouth, like his face is doing something unrecognizable. Something long-forgotten. He blinks, once, twice, and the easy warmth in his face drops a notch, gaze shuttered as if he is turning inward. ]
[ Except assuming that facade of invulnerable calm, all armor and hard edges, is impossible. Not with how he can feel a movement nearly cracking behind his ribs with how it blooms then contracts, a horrible convulsion. The openness of emotion -- the unexpectedness of it -- leaves him too vulnerable. ]
[ So Hei does what he's best at. Creates a smokescreen, his palms warm as they skate either side of Korra's neck to frame her face. His gaze is half-lidded when he leans in, but there's a dark-eyed bewilderment to the expression, like he's not sure whether to sink in closer, or to snatch away whatever droplets of honestly he's bled out in front of her and run. ]
[ In the end, though, his choice is clear enough. Swooping in to catch her mouth with his, he kisses her, slippery-hot and urgent, want coiling in his belly even as his nerves fizzle like the lit ends of firecrackers. ]
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Date: 2014-11-29 02:22 am (UTC)[ Like watered-down medicine, he'd been about to say. But something about Korra's expression, the gaze bright and unblinking, stops him short. All at once he's aware of that unfamiliar tension at the edges of his mouth, like his face is doing something unrecognizable. Something long-forgotten. He blinks, once, twice, and the easy warmth in his face drops a notch, gaze shuttered as if he is turning inward. ]
[ Except assuming that facade of invulnerable calm, all armor and hard edges, is impossible. Not with how he can feel a movement nearly cracking behind his ribs with how it blooms then contracts, a horrible convulsion. The openness of emotion -- the unexpectedness of it -- leaves him too vulnerable. ]
[ So Hei does what he's best at. Creates a smokescreen, his palms warm as they skate either side of Korra's neck to frame her face. His gaze is half-lidded when he leans in, but there's a dark-eyed bewilderment to the expression, like he's not sure whether to sink in closer, or to snatch away whatever droplets of honestly he's bled out in front of her and run. ]
[ In the end, though, his choice is clear enough. Swooping in to catch her mouth with his, he kisses her, slippery-hot and urgent, want coiling in his belly even as his nerves fizzle like the lit ends of firecrackers. ]