Archive of Our Own ^beta

Soft music plays in the house, and much like the baking of a cake would do to a house, it fills the empty air in radiating warmth, a sweet smell to an addicted sweet tooth.

There’s small movement to be heard, soft tapping and the faint sound of two voices speaking if one were to listen quietly.

“Come on, you gotta put some soul into it.” Fez’s voice says a little louder but there’s a tenderness in it.

“What does that even mean?” Her voice sounds softer than his.

“Like feel the music.”

She twirls reluctantly, a smile so shy that he almost doesn’t recognize her. He had forgotten what it looked like when she’s shy around him.

Her phone is set on the table, soft and slow music playing on a low volume.

“Like this?” She asks with hesitation, unsure of how close to be until he benevolently pulls her closer, his hand falling back down to her waist. His thumb digs lightly into her waist, somewhat purposefully.

“Kinda,” He snickers, leaning to kiss her forehead. He watches her for a moment, feeling her hands shake against his neck. His eyes trail down her face, examining the dodge of her eye contact, “Why you bein shy, Lex?”

They sway softly, her hair bouncing along with her misplaced steps. She leans her head against his chest, as if to hide from him but he doesn’t mind it as much, he wraps his arms around her before he hears her utter, “I’m not.”

He hums doubtfully, making her crack a smile as she lets her eyes flutter close.

A movie plays in the background, an old one that had them playfully watching. The leads danced at some point in the film, once it really got their attention, and Lexi revealed she didn’t know how to dance.

When fez asked if she wanted a lesson, more joking than he actually meant to sound, she was pretty eager to learn from him.

It doesn’t look pretty, but her arms wrap around his neck, her body pressed against his made him think it was the prettiest thing in the world. He feels her squeeze him lightly, like she wants to remember how warm his touch is.

They swayed again, making her feel like she was secured in a rocking chair. She can smell a small bit of smoke on him, of cedar and a small, but very faint, smell of her.

“I like this.” She mumbles out eventually.

“Yeah, I can tell.”

She raises her brow, “how?”

“Cause you slacking hard as fuck right now.” He comments playfully into her hair. His voice is lower than usual and she thinks it sounds vulnerable. “Imma make you pay for it though.”

She giggles, pulling herself away from his chest to look at him. Her cheeks are flushed in a soft sunset pink, “what price?”

“I mean, I dunno.” He chuckles when she laughs, pressing her forehead on his chest as if to muffle the sound , “Whatever you tryna give me.”

“Well, I don’t know if you’ve earned it yet.” She sighs humorously, eyes looking through his as she readjusts her arms around his neck.

“You gonna make me work for it?” There’s something suggestive under his words, his eyes flicker to her lips and Lexi’s heart takes a small jolt when she catches it. Her steps are clumsy, bumping against his for a brief moment, he laughs, “guess you right.”

She gives that shy smile, the one that’s rare for him to see, she tends to hide with her hair even though it’s one of those smiles that makes Fez’s heart rate pick up.

It’s the only feeling of adrenaline he enjoyed.

“How’d you learn?”

He smirks, “I’m not that great, Lex.”

“You’re great to me.”

He ignored the feeling of water in his chest, “You writing a memoir about me then?”

She smirks, “I kinda want to.”

He flushes and it makes her insides burn when she catches it. He looks down, a nervous smile on his lips before he mumbles, more to himself than lexi, “chill.”

She thinks to be brave, to press a small kiss on his cheek or his hand, but she doesn’t always follow her heart. Sometimes she’s too much into her head.

“When I was a kid, I used to watch dirty dancing a lot.” He says suddenly, he presses his lips together like he already knows what her reaction is going to be.

She raises her brows, her open smile contagious and almost startled. “You know that movie?”

“I mean, yeah?” His voice trails, not fully understanding how he’d go this long with not knowing about it.

“I just,” she lets a short laugh come out, her eyes squinting “I don’t see you watching it for some reason.”

He gives a lazy smile, “I mean it’s a good movie.”

“Who was your first dance partner? Ash?”

“Shit,” Fez shakes his head while her laugh echoes in the room. The smile is still plastered on his face when he focuses his gaze at the hallway. “Kinda, but he was always wigglin around and actin corny about it.”

She stumbles again, Fez’s hands grip for a second to keep her from falling, pulling her closer to his chest for that moment. He mutters near her ear, mostly mindless about the closeness, “he was still better than you though, I guess.”

She didn’t know if it was the feeling of his breath against her shoulder or the way he gripped her waist, the thought of his roughness or his jaded touch, but when he pulled away from her ear, she turns her head at the right moment to press a small kiss on his cheek.

It takes him by surprise, his fingers twitch on her heated skin. Her shirt was slightly cropped so he was able to actually feel the softness of her skin, and something pulled on him when he realized he could feel her peck on his skin too.

He’s put to silence, his body rigid under her arms, his eyes examining her face and he thinks about dropping it all and kissing her.

“Why are you being shy, fez?” Her tone is cocky, she never used it much but it always made him go crazy when he heard it.

His eyes stray away from the glint in hers, his chest feeling full and her skin feeling warmer than before.

“I’m not.” He mutters, only smiling when he hears a hiccup of her laugh. “You’re mad annoyin.”

“Now you know how it feels.” She clasps both her hands together, bringing him a bit closer. He can smell himself on her hair and it makes him giggly inside. Her voice is low, merely a whisper only made for him, “Am I doing okay?”

He looks back down and realizes they’re still softly rocking, forgotten music played in the background. He chuckles at it since it does feel very middle school, but he likes that he can rewrite his younger years.

“You trying to make me shy?” He can’t help but ask, his eyes finding hers, they swelter her skin and sensibilities. He smiles when she doesn’t answer. “You talk a lotta shit for someone who can’t answer a question.”

“I like it when you’re shy.” He hears her say it like a ghost, so soft that he doesn’t think she means to say it.

His eyes flare in hers, and when he leans in slowly, she becomes stiff under his touch.

He places a gentle kiss against her cheek, his lips touching the corner of hers and she thinks it’s purposeful when he pulls away and his hand catches her chin like he wants her to look at him.

She does, instinctively leaning closer to his lips.

“Stop distractin me.” He teases when he realizes she’s leaning into him. He drops his hand and her eyelids flutter, it brings her back into the space between him and her, she leans into his chest with her face feeling warm and fuzzy.

The sound of their footsteps kind of remind her of the chirping of birds, the echo of it and the feeling of morning.

Cassie’s text message pops up on her phone and her eyes dart to it, catching the time. It wasn’t late but even the thought of only having a few hours with him made her stomach hurt.

“Can I stay over?” She asks and he furrows his brows confused. He lets his fingers linger around her back when he pulls his arms around her in a hug, resting his cheek on her head.

“Course you can, don’t even ask.”

He can tell she’s trying to think of an excuse.

“I think you’re going to need more than a day to teach me.” She lies and, lovingly, he knows she’s lying.

“I don’t care, stay.” He doesn’t lie.

He starts to pull away from the hug and her arms drip down from his neck, slow and unwilling. Something makes him pause in the middle of pulling away- at the space between their lips, her breath fanning his face.

His eyes flicker to hers for a second and her mouth drops slightly agape, her skin is humming like a bird too. He can feel it.

So He leans in an achingly slow manner, trying to be kind and let her move away if she wanted to. She doesn’t, his lips barely scrape hers but she can faintly taste him, and Lexi is losing her mind over it. So she pushes herself closer, catching the skin of his lips completely.

They kiss softly, slowly before he pulls away. He gives her a look that reminds her of when he’s high, his eyes half lidded and his nose slightly pink.

She thinks he’s shy until he presses another one on her lips, a kiss that was still slow but it wasn’t unsure, and then another and another. His fingers trial up her shirt when he presses a rougher one that lasts longer than the ones before, her hand burning on his jaw.

Her fingers wrap around the crook of his neck, allowing his tongue to slip inside her mouth and slipping hers into his right after.

She sighs into his touch, her hand running through the short hairs of his beard.

“Lexi.” He mumbles against her kiss, reluctant to break from it.

She asks between his touch, “What?”

His hands sting her waist but it felt so natural for her. He doesn’t answer right away, his lips fall off hers and she’s disappointed until his kisses trail down her jaw and to her neck, kissing her sensitive skin.

He can feel her unravel in his hands.

“Tell me to stop if you ain’t comfortable, okay?” He pulls his attention to her: his eyes skim her swollen lips and his hand cradles the other side of her jaw.

“Then don’t.” She sounds breathless and doesn’t hesitate to press a hard kiss on his lips. He lightly pushes her, trying to guide her into the hallway and she understands the intention before he could even tell her.

Their kisses are less controlled, proven to be sloppy and unplanned when they’re bumping into the wall, giggling through it, their teeth clink and noses crush into each other.

Fez figures that the middle school version of himself would piss his pants over this.

Fez tries to reach for his room, wanting to rip it open when her hand reaches under his shirt. He knows her well enough, more than just enough, to know that she doesn’t necessarily mean anything sexual about it. It was her way of feeling close to him and that was better than any sex he had before.

His hand fumbles against his doorknob, her back against his door and her mouth on his neck, kissing lightly.

She laughs over the noise, “Fez, just open it.”

“Shit.” He says under his breath, laughing over it too. “You’re fuckin distracting me.”

Her teeth graze over his neck and she hears a soft moan slip out of him. Before she can say anything about it, the door opens and she stumbles before he grabs her waist, his head ducking to heatedly kiss her.

She hears the door close.

He pulls away momentarily, “We don’t have to do anythin, I don’t want you to be thinkin-“

“I know.” She smiles shyly, he wishes to take a mental snapshot of it, “but I still want you to kiss me.”

He carefully pushes her onto his bed, kissing her when she pulls her legs up. She scoots, letting him come on, his back is pressed against the bed frame before she’s crushing her lips on him.

It didn’t take long for her to be on top of him, his hands on her waist as her legs straddle him.

His hands trail up her shirt, not wanting to cross a barrier with the skin under her skirt. She doesn’t think much about it, besides the pulsing of her heart when his finger reaches the wire of her bra.

She grinds lightly on him, his moan is caught in her throat this time. He breaks away momentarily, his fingers dropped to her waistband.

“Lex, don’t tease me.” He almost whimpers.

He doesn’t realize that he’s teasing her too.

“You taste good.” She looks down at him to see him blushing.

“So do you.” His hand pulls her chin to lean into him before pressing the same slow and soft kiss that they had moments ago.

He gives her a peck and decides it isn’t enough, kissing her again, “you’re gonna kill me. Like actually.”

“Don’t say that.” Her eyebrows furrow in contrast with her smile.

“Nah like in a good way” he smiles when she giggles.

“Yeah but I don't want to kill you.”

“You doin it right now.” She looks confused as he lets his finger trace her jaw, stopping just under her chin. His voice is low, almost tired sounding “you look pretty.”

She melts in his touch before saying “Hey, I love you.”

His lips curl up before she pecks him, “I know. I love you.”