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Her challenge was meritless in the face of the Ranger's mischief. All he had to do was grin that exact grin and her guts went to water. Noel had doubts. Noel had hella doubts. She would have found an escape had he not trapped her hand down first.

Oh sure, she had one of his hands, but that was to keep it in one place where she could keep an eye on it. Now he had her hand. She looked down at it and back up in time for a questioning nose tap. Was she in?

Oh hell. It wasn't like it hurt or anything...

His lips were soft, but his stubble just starting to make itself known. And lips too quickly moved into more lips, Noel abandoned his hand in favor of finding something of him to hold on to as her body moved on its own and her mind entered the vaults of the Ranger's mind.

She usually tried to go in with a plan. Without a plan, it was a strange transition. One moment getting warm, hot, and hotter; the next moment she was waking up... the sunlight made her squint and roll over. In bed next to her was a man. That scared her straight out of bed. Stiffly, she moved and she stopped at a mirror. Blonde. Short. She was beyond surprised at this point so the nudity wasn't even that upsetting.

What was most upsetting to realize was that this was a memory. Thus far her actions were so in tune with what Michael's had been, she'd thought it was really and truly happening to her.

Which meant her mind had wandered into a memory where Michael found himself inside someone else's body. Her own body would continue, guided not by her conscious mind but by whatever was left to it... which meant Noel should hurry.

She cranked the speed of the memory to fast forward, too curious to just abandon the storyline she'd wandered into. She zoomed through a car ride and a self-confrontation. That was a new one. And then...

And Noel booted herself forcefully out of the memory and did her best to go backwards or away. There wasn't a hell of a lot that was backwards except for not-Michael. She hadn't really thought that through, but she wasn't thinking very well anyway. She'd just accidentally experienced what it was like to have Michael as a woman... which meant Michael, as a woman, had had himself.

There were not enough colors in the rainbow for all the shades of embarrassment she had on display.

"I- I did not mean- I mean- oh my god."

He was getting there alright. A touch. A lean in. A bubble of panicked excitement made the corners of Noel's mouth twitch up into a smile that she was desperately trying to not let him see. But he was right there with his eyes on hers pinning her to the point of no escape.

Maybe she could help. She tried her best with timid lips touching his and hands that didn't know where to be. His shirt? His face? What was she supposed to do with her hands!?

Noel breathed an embarrassed laugh against his mouth, touching her nose briefly to his made her realize that she probably had salmon breath. Her hands now had a place. She brought them up to guard her lips just beneath wide and scandalized eyes. That jerk was making her self-conscious all over again.

So long as it wasn't a deep kiss— a tasting kiss— her power wouldn't kick in. She might die of embarrassment, but she wouldn't get trapped in his memories. Had he known? Maybe he knew. Or maybe she'd just been too scared to linger because she'd been the one to yank herself away.

"D-did it work?" She had to open her hands a bit to let the words out. For herself, she was certainly feeling warmer.

Pantsless for the entire trip? Hers would dry some day. They would have to go out eventually, so eventually the man needed pants. Eventually.

He was… laugh-shivering? Maybe more of a guffaw. Guffawvering? Noel snorted, not even sure why she was so amused. Even the smoking remains of her own pants couldn’t derail the moment. She watched him settle in front of the fire, eyes closed as he soaked in the warmth. He just… was… and Noel ran up against the block again.

It was her nature to leave those alone. Usually they were on purpose. Usually they were important. She was pretty sure this one was not. It was new and she was falling into the bad habit of not leaving herself hints. It seemed like an accident. She gave it a half-hearted poke, but that was just mental imagery. It didn’t tell her anything.

He caught her looking and Noel looked away because… because…

The barrier in her head snapped and a rush of information dropped all at once that made Noel blush from her knees up to her hairline.

Oh. Because she liked him.

She bumped her shoulder against his, distracted by the fresh drumming in her chest. That was why she’d wiped it haphazardly and while he was gone. It had been her only chance to pretend she didn’t.

”All warmed up?”

Glancing up, Noel noticed her own reflection was clearly cast back in the window above the sink. Barring disembowelment by Bloody Mary, which hadn’t worked out yet, now that Noel could clearly see herself, her usual method of handling her feelings was now an option.

Forget why you’re so flustered

Her vision was still expanding out from a pinpoint when she heard the Ranger comment. Crap. She’d probably caught her own eye accidentally. She shut off the water and processed what he’d said.

> ”That's a sight I could get used t'.”

Her temper flared like a flash in a pan. She pulled the pan back as if she’d throw it at him. ”What? Doing dishes?” A drip of water fell on her shoulder, on his shirt that was covering her shoulder, and her temper sizzled off just as fast. The Ranger was knife-proof.

”Ugh. Probably pan-proof.” It’d just bounce off him, and they’d done more that enough damage to the cabin already.

She fished around for a towel, dried, and put the pan away instead.

Aside from making an absolute bumbling mess of things, this was actually looking like a nice little vacation. The dark was cozy, the music was… still playing, and the company wasn’t half bad. Noel stepped out from a puddle of blanket, unsure of why it was there. The Ranger looked a bit chilly, though, so she threw that at him instead of the pan.

”Looks like you got the fire going.”

He gave her a blanket and didn't even make fun of her once for the long and growing list of stupidities that had been her fault tonight. The smell didn't bother her. At this point, there was just too much else going on in her senses. She did her best to look just above his eyes. It really wouldn't do to set them back another ten years.

"Thanks. A shower seems like the best idea. Er- are you needing one? I can go quick." It was more of a token gesture than an actual offer, but she'd abide by it if he wanted one. In the meantime, though, there was a promise of fire and her shower to take.

She was a bit afraid of the mirror and her slipping control so she didn't bother with a candle when she wandered into the bedroom. Noel was taking no risks with her blanket, besides, she'd done plenty of things blindfolded in her life for the sake of safety. What was a little darkness? Certainly not scary. If it weren't for the shivering she could have called it cozy.

She grabbed her bag and shut and locked the door. If there was an emergency, he'd just bust through the wall kool-aid man style or something. Anyone who would be stopped by a lock was someone she wanted stopped by the lock.

Groping around in her bag, her hand brushed against a wad of scratchy material. Probably lace? And aaaaaaabsolutely not gonna happen. Noel threw that in the trash, satisfied to hear it sink into the plastic bin next to the toilet. She would just turn her current undies inside out. Or wear the jeans. They were basically underwear and small enough that they'd dry out next to the fire quick enough.

Noel dropped the entire bag and her current set of clothes (or what was left of them) on the floor and felt around for the shower door.

The shower door was nowhere to be found.

There was no shower door.

There was no tub.

Had she bothered to look when they first walked in? Noel felt around and definitely found a shower head and a temperature lever thingy. She twisted it. Water came out. She twisted it more, the water went warm.

Did people not use shower doors or shower curtains any more? The future was freakin' weird. No flying cars. No shower doors.

She warmed up almost immediately. She soaped up and washed it all down and took a sloshing step to shut off the water.

A sloshy step? She stomped and splashed herself. DID THEY NOT HAVE DRAINS IN THE FUTURE EITHER!? Noel shut off the water and went for her bag, but it squished when she grabbed it. She picked it up and it was tough going, making a sucking sound as the suction the wet bag had created in covering what had to be a stupidly placed drain.

If there'd been a door none of this would have happened.

She dug around inside, but everything had at least some part of it soaked. She could maybe swing one of the shirts...? Or just walk out in a towel? Or summon bloody mary from the mirror and have her death be clean and quick.

"Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary." She waited a beat for her death, but even with low expectations, she was let down. Her foot tapped the trash can. The trash can with clean, dry and so not her style underoos.

... which was worse? Going commando? Or wearing Sideshow approved underwear?

She put on the darn undies and wrapped up in a protective layer of terry cloth. She dried her hair as best as she could and then peeked out into the dimly lit bedroom. Oh! And there was the blanket she'd left on the bed! Noel added that second layer and felt that much better about her life.

"There's no shower door." Just an offhand comment and not at all pretending like she was not terribly and completely not wearing only fancy underpants. "Might need to... borrow a shirt."

She felt hot. And cold. And had goosebumps. Was the floor still smoking? Noel stomped over on wobbly legs to give the rug a little kick, but the fire seemed well and truly dead.

He was sorry, but not sorry enough that they were without pants.

"I am so, so incredibly sorry. I don't... that's not a thing... that I do often?" Sitting seemed like a nice option, but she'd only just wobbled her way over to the rug. The front door was looking more and more like a viable option.

Bail. Just get out. She wasn't scared of him exactly, but that was definitely not something that had ever happened before in the history of ever. And she was growing more and more embarrassed by the second. She didn't run away from things, but... this wasn't running away. It was tactical retreat.

"I am- I'm just-" She pointed ineffectually toward the door and then just gave up and walked over, unlocked everything, and walked out into the rain.

It was winter but with almost no wind, the chill in the air was just about the perfect wake up call to snap her out of whatever nonsense was happening in there. Noel walked out into the front lawn and rubbed her forehead. Thunder rumbled reminding her that it wasn't the best idea to just stand in the middle of a field, but she just needed a minute.