1948, Near Noank, Connecticut

[keptherwaiting]

Following the coastal road extends their time spent driving but Jasper doesn’t mind. He enjoys listening to Alice talking and singing along with the radio, watching out the window as they pass through town after town.

They don’t stop unless absolutely necessary, avoiding human interaction after the almost-slip in the movie theater. It’s stops just for gas and then finally a longer stretch when Alice demands Jasper take the wheel and learn how to drive.

Which he does, with a few stops and starts along the way until he can get the hang of it, and then Alice settles back to read to him aloud from one the new books she’d bought.

Until - “Oh, here!” - and she directs him toward the outskirts of a little coastal town of Connecticut before they reach Rhode Island.

She’s murmuring the directions to him, until he has the car hidden and parked away from any main roads.

“Alice - what - ?” He’s laughing. “Are we about to commit grand larceny?”

Comments

[betagainstme]

“No!” Alice laughs, reaching over to poke him in the side. “You said you wanted to go to the coast, so: here we are.”

She’s turning around to dig through a bag in the backseat, yanking our the bathing suit she’d bought recently—at the time it had just been cute. Now it serves a purpose, though she knows she wouldn’t need to worry about it here.

The beach she’s found is very secluded after all.

“You’re gonna show me what all this ocean is about.”

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper shakes his head with a grin, turning off the car.

And grand larceny had started to sound fun, too. But he’ll take the ocean. He can smell the saltiness on the breeze as soon as he open the door and -

Yeah, okay, a dive in the ocean sounds great.

“What’s that for then?” he asks as he climbs out of the car with a nod to the piece in her hands.

[betagainstme]

“It’s a bathing suit,” Alice chirps, already tugging her shirt off over her head.

“And yes I’m aware I don’t need one and no, I’m not going to change my mind. Now look away, mister.”

She’s giggling as she says it, already unhooking her bra to switch into the strapless bikini top, regardless of if he’s looking or not. Quick as she can, she’s switched into the high waisted bottoms as well, looking rather adorable in the polka dotted ensemble.

Her skirt and shirt, shoes and stockings, garters and underwear are all neatly folded and thrown into the bag the swimsuit once resided in. Turning around, she slips sunglasses she’s produced from who knows where onto her face with a wide grin.

“Ta da! Completely ready for a day at the beach. I do have a suit for you if you want it.” Her grin turns a little lecherous. “Or not.”

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper did not turn away. He leaned against the car, watching as she’d changed and loving every moment of it. And when turns around, he’s grinning at her.

His grin is definitely lecherous.

“I’ll pass, thanks.”

He unbuttons his shirt - not without a little show for her - and he peels it off, tossing it aside unlike the neat folding of her own clothes.

[betagainstme]

Alice perches herself on the hood of her car, leaning back to watch him as he pulls the shirt off.

“Oh,” she purses her lips at him. “Fold that! It’ll get all wrinkly.”

Don’t make her sad face at you!

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper laughs as he scoops up the shirt - he doesn’t want to be on the receiving of a frown, - and dutifully folds it as requested.

“Better?” he asks.

He stalks forward to present her with it and then he’s kissing her, bending her backward to the hood of the car.

[betagainstme]

Her arms automatically wrap around his neck, molding herself against him as he pushes her back against the car’s hood.

And just like that, a new possibility forms in her mind.

“After the water,” Alice whispers against his lips, “or maybe somewhere along our travels...but at some point, you’re gonna fuck me on this hood, okay?”

She says it so nonchalantly.

[keptherwaiting]

“ - Alice.”

God. This woman -

“Now that’ll be all I can think about.“

He nips at her lips, untangling himself from her before she decides right then and there would be perfect.

(Which, maybe? But no - )

He picks her up, tossing her over his shoulder with ease.

“I’m getting you in the water.
Cool you off a little.”

[betagainstme]

She squeals as the world takes a tumble around her, as he tosses her over his shoulder.

Well. There are worse views. She grabs his ass as he walks, giggling to herself.

[keptherwaiting]

“Stop that!”

Jasper laughs as he grabs her own.

He holds her with just the one had on her as he kicks off his shoes, undoes his belt and pants. All to be just left abandoned along the way.

And he’s glad he’d forgone the underwear completely - one less thing to worry about stripping off as he walks into the water and then promptly dumps her into it.

[betagainstme]

She sinks to the bottom immediately, like a stone. Luckily it’s the shore and Alice is immortal so she stands up, sputtering at him.

Her makeup! Granted it would be ruined anyway but still!

“Jasper!” She’s grabbing for him, nearly climbing back into his arms. “Rude!”

(She’s laughing though, so he’s safe. For now.)

[keptherwaiting]

“Such language before, Miss Alice. I’ve never.”

Jasper laughs and he pulls her into his arms again. This time with her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

“First a movie theater, and now on top of a car. Really.”

He tsks at her.

[betagainstme]

“What can I say?” She grins, tilting her head back to look at the sky.

“I need you—all the time, every day.”

Alice looks at him again, pressing a kiss against his cheek.

[keptherwaiting]

“Insatiable.”

But, she’s not the only one.

He presses his lips to her throat.

“I will - make love to you on the hood of that car later. Slow, fast, on top of it, bent over it, whatever you want.”

Because he wants it all.

[betagainstme]

“I want it all,” she murmurs, ducking her head to kiss him properly. “Any way you’ll take me.”

Her hand drops to skim in the water. “You better show me these fish, before I jump you here.”

[keptherwaiting]

“I don’t know if you have the patience for them,” Jasper says with a laugh, even as he walks them further into the water.

“You have to be very, very still.”

He gives her a kiss before they’re submerged by a wave and then they’re under the water altogether.

With the roar of the waves over their heads and the foreign echoes that travel to them from afar.

It’s loud, and the noise is almost chaotic to them.

[betagainstme]

Alice shuts her eyes against the noise and the water, giving herself a moment to acclimate.

Then, after a moment, she opens them again, holding herself still in Jasper's arms, looking up as he takes them further under. The light refracts over the water as it breaks in waves.

Small fish flit around them, even this close to the shore. It takes every rational part of her to not breathe in--she's gotten so used to it, used to pretending to be human--her eyes wide as she takes everything in.

Alice puffs her cheeks out, mimicking her holding her breath, so that when Jasper looks at her, he might smile at her again.

[keptherwaiting]

His gaze had only flicked away for a moment watching the fish that swam nearer to them only to rush away. And then he’s looking back at her, smiling at her puffy cheeks.

He leans forward to brush his lips against her cheek before he holds up his finger and then sinks to the sea floor, sitting with her in his lap.

A few of the more adventurous fish swim closer to inspect them, one eventually comes close enough to nip at Alice’s arm before it darts away again. And much further off, somewhere in the darker waters, a few whistles, high-pitched and bell-like mixed in with the other sounds of a shifting ocean floor, the flap of fins, the scuttle of claws against the sand and the roar of the waves high overhead.

[betagainstme]

Alice watches the fish leave with a frown--she wanted it to stay, longer. But she has a plan.

She pushes away from Jasper to rearrange herself, sitting back in his lap so she's facing the same direction he is, looking out into the dark water, letting her eyes focus past the school of fish flitting back and forth just out of their reach.

Her hair floats, weightless in the water. She leans back, resting her head against Jasper's shoulder, letting her eyes drift closed once more, focusing instead on the sounds around her. The muted crash of waves above, the movement of crustaceans on the ground, whale song far beyond.

It's a different sort of peaceful. Chaotic, but the world undisturbed by humans.

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper presses his face against Alice’s shoulder. He’s seen this all before. What’s new to him is how Alice feels when she experiences.

When the school of fish finally come close enough and swim loops around them. When they inspect Alice and Jasper like the pair of them are two statues lost under the sea. When the fish scatter as a pod of dolphins comes through from the darker depths, skirting along the floor and then up to break the waves.

Her feelings are enough that it makes Jasper feel like he’s seeing it all for the first time again. Even better than the first time, because he’s with Alice now.

[betagainstme]

Alice smiles as the dolphins pass, wonder and contentment filling her to the brim. His body, solid and right, under hers makes it even more so.

One of the dolphins dips back below the waves, close to them, and she squirms a little in excitement, managing to not spook it off immediately.

When it's gone, she turns in Jasper's arms, her smile wide, her eyes bright. She points up--she wants to talk. Pushing up out of his lap, Alice stands on the ocean floor, stepping back just enough to let him do the same.

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper nods and he follows her lead in standing. He takes her hand before starting back toward the surface.

Yet, as soon as they break wave, he drags her into a kiss, pausing the flood of words he knows are coming. Her feelings of awe and pleasure are just too much for him to not kiss her in the moment.

[betagainstme]

She makes a soft noise, drowned out by his kiss. Her hands drag through his wet hair, her lips open under his, kissing him back with everything she's got.

"I love you," Alice whispers when they break apart. "God, Jasper, that was--I can't--"

She stops, laughing at herself. "Jasper. That was amazing. I love you, God, I love you."

[keptherwaiting]

Jasper laughs with her. Her exuberance is infectious. Her smile, her laugh. More than any other’s.

He puts his arms around her, pulling her close as he kisses her again.

“God, I want to experience so much with you,” he says, “Even now, here, with the way you see things, it’s like seeing it all for the first time again. Everything is just - better with you.”

[betagainstme]

She would blush if she could—his words fill her with more joy than any thing she saw on the ocean floor.

“I love you,” Alice whispers again, kissing him once more. “You make me so happy.”