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Pav is being especially mean to Karin tonight.
He's pressed on top of her, dick as far as it can go, but he makes no movements. Stays completely still. He even slows his breath.
Karin can't stand it, the brat that she is, as she balls her fists and beats his naked shoulders.
"Move!" she demands once again, but Pav just smirks.
"You know the word to use to get what you want~" Pav sings.
"Dammit, Pavel, every time? Are you serious?"
"Most people consider manners a virtue."
"Those people are probably abusers! Now fucking! Move!" She beats him one, two, three more times, but Pav holds strong. More likely she's injuring her own fists on his muscle.
He leans in close to her, mouth to her ear.
"Come on, honey~ Just one more time? Just for me?"
Karin shudders and he knows he has her now. Her fists open to palms and she grips his shoulders.
"Please…" she says, and he releases a chuckle. He has her right where he wants her now and he can't help wanting to push a little further. He has yet to use the phrase with her, knowing it would annoy her, but now he nothing more than wants to use his favorite weapon. He breathes on her ear and pulls the trigger.
"Good girl…"
Karin's breath hitches and her fists ball up once again.
"Pull out."
What?
Surely, Pav heard wrong. He jerks his head back, hoping Karin's face would be one of mocking, teasing desire. But no. She looks horrified and…
…hurt.
"Pull out!" She says again, louder this time. She starts beating on him once more, but it's nowhere near as fun as the first time. "Pull out pull out pull out now now now now now!!!!"
"Okay okay okay!" Pav pulls out, quickly, though confused. He doesn't know what he did wrong. He's called her a good girl before, back when he still hated her guts, and she always retaliated with annoyance, not…this.
"Get off me!" Karin bites and Pav complies, crawling off of her, allowing her to sit up and curl into the corner of their bed, cowering, almost like a child.
"Don't you ever," she starts, "call me that again. Never!"
"A-all right," Pav chokes out. "I don't understand though, love. I always tease you and you're fine with it—"
"Well, I'm not this time, okay?!" Karin yells at him and Pav winces. Karin must have noticed, because a flash of guilt appears on her face. She takes a moment to breathe, then looks away from him.
"I hate that phrase," she says, her voice warbled, like she might cry. "I've always hated it. And I don't wanna hear it from you. Not when…not when I like you."
Pav watches her carefully, trying to understand, trying to think how he can best make her feel better, trying to ignore the giddiness he feels when she says she likes him. He wants to reach out to her, hold her hand, but he knows her too well. When she's like this, she's more likely to run away.
"Okay," Pav says. "I won't call you that again."
Karin looks at him. "You promise?"
"I promise."
"You're not mad?"
Mad?
Pav blinks at the question. Why would he be the mad one? If anything, she should be pissed at him for going too far.
"No," he assures her. "I'm not mad."
Karin watches him, like a deer watches a wolf, looking for any sign of falsehoods or trickery. Pav risks putting his hand out. She takes it.
He pulls her into him, holding her close, resting his lips on her hair.
"Dalia used to call me that," Karin says, and Pav's heart drops. Shit.
"And my teachers," she continues. "And the authorities. And my rapist."
Each addition hits Pav hard. Shit. Shit. Shit.
"They used to use it to get me to do whatever they wanted me to do. To be quiet. Be obedient. Let other people be abused. Don't make waves. Don't make a sound. Take what's given to you. Be a good girl." Pav's chest is wet and he knows she's crying now. "They used any chance they could get to belittle me. To make me seem I was wicked because I actually cared about others and myself. Maybe I am…"
Pav holds her tighter. "No, you're not. You were a child, Karin."
Karin shakes her head. "I don't care anymore. I don't care if I'm wicked, or a vulture, or a bitch, or whatever people call me these days. If being 'bad' is the only way to get things done, then so be it. But…" Karin shifts and her face lifts so that Pav can see her, her cheeks stained with tears. "I can't stand hearing it from you. I like you too much; I don't want to associate you with them anymore. It was different before, but now…"
She trails off, looking down, losing the words, but Pav gets it. He brushes a thumb on her cheek.
"I won't call you that again, okay?" he says.
"You sure you're not mad?"
"Why would I be mad?" And more importantly, why does she care?
"Most people got mad when I told them that. Or any other time I rejected a 'compliment'." She brings her hand up to where Pav rests his on her cheek, squeezes his wrist. "And I kind of freaked out on you, too. I know I can be a lot sometimes…all the time. And—and obviously, you like the phrase. So, I guess…" The grip she has on his wrist tightens. "If—if you wanted to…to leave me because of it…I get it. It's happened before. I under—"
"Whoa, hey!" Pav shakes her wrist off and puts a finger under her chin, forcing her to look at him. "Who the hell said anything about leaving you?"
"Most people—"
"I'm not most people," Pav tells her. "I'm Pav, and I fucking love you. You are my everything. Do I like the phrase? Sure. The habit's probably worse than my trigger finger. But if you don't like it, I won't say it, won't even think about it. I will break that trigger finger if it means you feel safe with me."
Karin's face scrunches. "Please don't break any of your fingers."
"Do you get what I'm saying, though?"
Karin's face darkens with blush, but she shrugs. "I—I mean, I guess."
This woman. One of these days, she'll get it. She doesn't have to worry about him leaving or being pushed away. He loves her, actually loves her, in all her meanness and high maintenance needs.
One day, she'll learn that she doesn't need to run from him anymore.
Pav smiles, leaning into her. "You know what I think you need?"
Karin already knows what's coming. She gasps and looks up in horror—not the bad kind, but the fun one. The one Pav loves to draw out.
"Don't you dare," she tells him, which just makes his grin widen.
"I think you need a compliment~" he sings.
"No, Pav!" Karin whines, but he just pulls her close, leans into her ear.
"You are the most amazing woman~ The apple of my eye~"
"Nooooooo!"
"And has anyone told you how striking your voice is? Like a siren. No one can do anything but listen to you."
"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" Karin beats on his shoulders again, and he laughs in relief. There we go. Back to normal.
A few more rounds of compliment torture, and then he releases her, loving how she sticks her tongue out at him as soon as she broke free.
"You're a menace!" she bites at him.
"I'm your menace~" he purrs at her.
"And you're corny and lame, too."
Pav laughs as he lays down, holding an arm out for Karin to fit herself in. She joins him, snuggling into his chest.
"I assume you want to stop for tonight?" Pav asks, having no issue if she does. They've been going at it like rabbits already; they can have one night without finishing.
"…Please?"
Oh?
Pav glances down at her. That's new. She doesn't usually say please without him forcing her to.
Actually…on that note…
"Of course," he says, then adds. "Hey, does it bother you? When I make you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Say please and shit."
It's silent for a while, Karin's tanned hand circling his ab.
"…No. I don't mind it," she says, and he doesn't catch any hesitation. If anything, it almost sounds as if she's saying, "I like it." "Just don't call me that phrase again. That's the only thing. Everything else you do is fine."
"Even the forced compliments?"
"I mean, you could stop those."
"I'm tryin' to get a lay of the law here, love. Do you want me to stop them, or do you like them?"
More silence. More circling.
Then, quiet: "I don't like that I like them."
Ah-ha, a confession. Pav chuckles as he pulls her closer.
"Don't laugh!" Karin scolds.
"Who's laughing?"
"You are! I heard you!"
Pav laughs again.
"Stop it!" Karin yells, but he doesn't. He can't. He loves her too much to stop. And every time she yells at him, he wants to grin at her more, if only to say, "You can't scare me away. I'm not like the others. I'm yours for life, whether you like it or not."
And she likes it. Oh, Alll-mer, does she like it.
That phrase, good girl? Fuck it. He doesn't need it. He takes his mental trigger finger and breaks it in a million pieces. He regrets ever saying it in the first place. The phrase got a lot of annoyed fun out of others, even out of Karin in the past, but no more. Karin's more important. He'll swear it off like he swore off guns.
Although…if he ever met anyone in Karin's past, anyone who had hurt her before, he might have to break his gun dry spell. Would put a bullet in every single one of their brains. Doesn't matter who they are. Man, woman, he'll blast that damn nanny of hers fifty times over. He doesn't care if she's sixty, eighty, or even pushing ninety-nine. Anyone who made Karin, so tough and independent, act like that over a couple of words doesn't deserve to live in his book.
But for now…Crack! Done. Throw both habits over the bridge and let them drown. The person he was before didn't work out so good. But the person he is now? The life he has now?
He looks down at Karin, her eyes closed, breaths even.
He likes this one quite a bit.