teehee xD

i'm not sure what this is...angst with a happy ending? is angst even allowed to have a happy ending? either way, if i owned Tin Man, this would've been the last episode

It was wild and wrong and reckless.

It was also dark, and there was no one listening.

Therefore, it didn't matter if they got a bit carried away.

He was her lifeline, and she his soul, their heartbeats pounding to the same rhythm, ragged and labored gasps and furious mouths, each laying claim to the other.

It was exonerating.

"DG, any more of this and I'll fall off the planet entirely," Glitch choked out, as she nibbled a trail of kisses down his throat. Laughing, fingertips tickling his side until he writhed, DG pulled him closer.

"They'll manage without us." Nuzzling his shoulder, she shuddered as Glitch's cold fingers slipped lithely beneath the hem of her shirt to trace swirling motifs on bare flesh. In retaliation she whispered in his ear, tongue swirling enticingly in the vortex of it as breathy adjectives caressed wet skin. DG smiled wryly as Glitch shivered violently under her, gave a gasp of her own as he slid his knee between her thighs and brought a hand to her face, slender fingers turning her head and forcing her to meet his gaze.

Determined to hold out, she slanted her lips over his in a vicious kiss, surprised when he complied. She took more, then, scraping his tongue with her teeth and clutching his shoulders in a vice like grip to keep from falling, because just then Glitch was the gravity that held her down and the only thing left in the world she was aware of. Her fingers left crescent moon marks on his skin, digging in with sharp pricks of pain, but Glitch didn't try to remove them. He wasn't fool enough to think DG was kissing him with this amount of passion because she wanted him in the way he needed her. Hell, Glitch wasn't sure DG even knew who he was right now. Something had to have happened that day, because DG's eyes weren't the hard and bright, icy blue they were now unless she was angrier than she'd ever been before. Anger drives people to great lengths, and when the fury fades there's often regret that takes up residence, lamentations chasing the heels of passion on the morning after.

Murmuring something indistinct, DG pressed herself against him in the most terrifyingly audacious way, and realization hit Glitch with the brutal jolt of cold water. If they continued down this path there was nothing but pain waiting up ahead, circling like a vulture, waiting for its carrion. As involuntary tremors rippled across Glitch's skin, he pulled back before he threw it all away, because it was never too late, it couldn't be.

He wasn't going to let himself be something DG regretted.

Yet DG played him like a fiddle, insistent and capable fingers grazing enticingly over all the right spots, drawing her teeth down his neck and soothing the bites with administrations from her lips and tongue. Lips glancing off his jaw and settling with a sigh of satisfaction on the curve of his neck, she pressed every boundary, broke every limit and decided that if she was going to hell she might as well be thorough about it.

Glitch wrapped an arm around her waist to steady himself when he meant to push her away, and for the life of him didn't know why.

Deftly maneuvering until she had him quaking and pinned against the wall, DG tried to think through the haze but finally stopped, mind derelict of reason and devoured by desire. She never considered the possibility that there might be something else; she was doing everything she shouldn't be so she could hate herself, as she deserved to. So why wasn't this working? Why did his touch send shockwaves to her bones, and why didn't he realize that this wasn't about love and push her away before she went too far? Did he not care whether or not she got hurt? The thought made DG sick with a fear she didn't understand…her convoluted thoughts traveled circuitous paths that led nowhere.

Why wasn't he leaving her, abandoning her in revulsion, so she could wallow and abhor herself? Of course, she should've known he would care; this was Glitch, after all--one of that rare breed possessing true selflessness, compassion and surprising bravery. Hurting him would be all the more appalling, make her all the more awful. Because he cared about her, trusted her, and she was about to take advantage of that trust, betray it.

Pulled into her hurricane, Glitch felt his fortitude crumbling slowly. He'd imagined this, dreamt of it—and knew it was wrong. Now she was kissing him, tantalizing him in ways he hadn't thought possible—but if it was for all the wrong reasons, did it mean anything?

Before Glitch could ready himself to pull out of her fevered embrace, DG hitched a leg around his waist; with her calf pressing into his back, Glitch found it impossible to extricate his limbs, which had inexplicably entwined themselves with hers.

Desperately trying to reassure herself, DG snaked an arm around his waist and dragged her nails up along his spine to the base of his neck, ravaging his mouth as she went. He'd hate her; she was sure of it, deserved it, for acting like the worst type of whore. This was wrong and it was terrible and it was a filthy goddamn sin.

Frantically, Glitch tried to pull away from DG, who clung like a succubus. He fisted his hands in her hair and yanked, hoping it would stop her long enough for him to break them apart. There was no reason at all for this to feel so right, none at all—he was sick, absolutely sick.

Instead of anger, DG imagined passion. By the time Glitch realized his mistake, it was already too late. If she had considered it capitulation, a victory, Glitch could have forced her off him and turned away…but her uncontrolled joy he had never expected. Her happiness cracked open his defenses, rendered him powerless to resist.

And why, why, why was he kissing her back?

Glitch closed his eyes, unable to look in that tormented gaze any longer. He could feel the confusion and pain and fear that was written on her face plain as day for him to read, tasted the terror and self loathing in her kiss. She was far beyond the point of no return; any words he spoke would fall on deaf ears, and almost nothing could save her now that she was hell bent on self destruction. A soundless scream fighting to work its way from his chest, Glitch took the only route remaining, the only option he had left. Determined to save her from herself, he kissed her back until they lost sense of who they were, until they were dizzy and delirious and regret was nowhere to be found.

The only sounds were made by their heaving chests, pushing air in and out like a bellows, pulses thudding in their ears, insanity rounding the corner.

Oh my god, she screamed silently, what kid of monster am I?

Head pounding, heart throbbing, little tendrils of darkness stealing through her and leaving DG cold and alone, she turned her head so he wouldn't see the tears.

Glitch saw, and he knew she knew it, but neither dared breathe let alone give voice to their thoughts. He brushed a kiss to the top of her head, cradling DG in his arms and wondering what had just taken place. Did it even matter, now? Recalling the glittering sheen of rage in her eyes sent shivers cascading down his spine, but all he could feel was a gut wrenching need to comfort her, to steal her pain away. He felt wretched at the sight of her, falling apart at the seams with nobody who understood to hold her together.

"Do you ever think your life might be easier if you weren't in love with me?" DG pressed he face against his chest, wishing he was more to her than a best friend, knowing it hurt him to know she didn't reciprocate and hating the fact that she had the power—that he gave her the power--to cause him pain.

The query surprised Glitch, and he paused before answering, wondering what she wasn't saying. "Do you?" he finally asked, holding his breath.

"Do I what?"

"Think your life might be easier if you weren't in love with me?"

"Glitch," she laughed, "I'm not in love with you."

He curled his fingers under he chin, tilting her face up to meet his gaze. "Say that again, but look me in the eye this time," Glitch whispered, not forceful, not begging, simply asking. DG stared at his face, studied the expressive brown eyes and sensuous curve of his mouth, thought about the quirky dimple when he smiled. Wasn't love some breathtaking affair that swept you off your feet, a dazzling flash of vivid conviction that you'd found a soul mate, your other half? Weren't all the missing pieces supposed to click into place? Wasn't it supposed to be smooth sailing from then on, and didn't all your troubles become insignificant?

She shivered, but it was only from the chilling cold, not the timbre of his voice.

Being with Glitch was like having he own personal sun; he put her at ease, made her feel light, made her laugh; he was the comfortable warmth of a fire on a cold, drizzly day--but wasn't being in love an addiction? This…whatever it was between them, it wasn't love, couldn't be. Could it?

"I'm damaged goods as much as Az; the freak from the Other Side who deserted her sister, coincidentally no more popular considering she was recently dispossessed of a maniacal evil spirit after desolating the OZ, slaughtering its people and such. This whole situation is a mess, we're all wrecks. Look at you! Look at me! You don't love me, Glitch, and I don't love you."

"You're right, DG, we're all wrecks. But being normal—if there even is such a thing? Ugh. I can't imagine how awful that must feel. Can you?"

"I used to be normal. Before all this," she lied unconvincingly. In Kansas, she'd never fit in, never been able to think of the white clapboard house as home. Even before then, in dimly remembered recollections of her childhood as a princess, she'd always felt like an outsider--rambunctious, bold, tomboyish and utterly ill conformed to royal life. Ambrose, too, has been a recluse, found it hard to associate with the people around him. In the few memories she had, they'd been friends.

"Maybe you were, DG. I don't know. But whatever myth you believe that says you know when you're in love…is just that. A myth, a fallacy. It's very rare that people understand themselves, or know how they feel and why."

Glitch smiled at her, electricity fizzing down DG's spine from the mere look. She fell for it, fingertips reaching for his shoulder, hooking around the base of his skull and drawing him down to her.

He ignited something in her, some flurry of emotions that drove away the melancholy and tart, bitter aftertaste…he sent her body thrumming, played her easily as a fiddle as she writhed, her movements like paper curling as it charred.

This moment was enough to last her forever.

DG's lips curved in a smirk as she pressed her face into his chest, Glitch firmly holding her by the hips and lifting her up, spinning the woman in his arms until her feet no longer touched the floor. Their delirious laughter echoed down the hall, alto and soprano ringing out in discord although there was no one awake to hear it.

Finally Glitch set her down, and DG swore there were stars exploding on the edges of her vision, sparkling stardust and brilliant supernovas driving her temporarily blind. There was no awkwardness this time, no uncertain pause with silent doubt hovering between them. They knew exactly who they were and where they stood, though they'd never said the words aloud. There was no need.

Dizzy and each holding on to the other like the shipwrecked cling to splintered planks, somehow in the inevitable collision his lips found themselves hovering over hers again. Glitch inhaled as she breathed out, and it felt as though he'd stolen her breath before their bodies crashed together in a fevered frenzy. DG was aware of a frisson of desire spiraling upward from the pit of her stomach, and she tunneled all ten fingers into his wild hair. Glitch bent abruptly towards her then, dipping her back and taking full advantage of his position to drown himself in DG's eyes, fierce and affectionate and scintillating with emotions he couldn't decipher.

They paused in perfect unison, an instant of movement frozen as precisely as a film stopped at a frame. Releasing a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, Glitch pressed his lips softly to hers, tongue slipping in to tease and taste.

For a moment DG was quiescent. Then she kissed him back, pulling him to a deeper, darker well of intensity than he'd even been aware of possessing. DG, still tipped back nearly horizontal to the floor, curled her arms around his neck and could've sworn Glitch wasn't the only one with misfiring synapses.

What's this?

They straightened up, blazing with a scorching need that seemed to come from their very bones. DG pulled away, tracing his lips with her forefinger, overwhelmed by the depth of her feelings for the man before her. If only she could understand the way he made her feel. It was the most amazing type of euphoria, a dazzling giddy pleasure which sparked and fizzed every time their fingers brushed, pushing her towards the brink of insanity even as she craved more.

Adrenaline was streaming pure into her veins, electric currents radiating from every place their bodies met. DG could feel the restraint Glitch exercised to remain still for her kiss. It made her dare more. Fingertips teasing the hair at the nape of his neck, she kissed the edges of his mouth and lingered to nip his lower lip with her teeth, eliciting a strangled groan from the back of Glitch's throat. DG found herself answering with a kittenish purr of satisfaction.

Glitch ran his thumb reverently along the edge of her jaw and nuzzled her temple, supporting DG's weight as her knees weakened. She'd done things much worse than kissing in Kansas, but no drunken midnight escapade had ever made DG feel like this. Heart skidding to a screeching halt as Glitch pressed his palm to the small of DG's back, splaying his fingers, her mouth dropped open slightly for more air.

DG's felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her, the aching tightness in her chest fed by the avid look in Glitch's eyes. She had no clue what expression her face wore, but from the way Glitch's breath hitched it must've been something. Through some momentary miracle he was hers and she was his. Glitch could think of nothing but DG's blue and brilliant eyes searing his soul, unaware that he as well was wearing his heart on his sleeve, love struck idiot that he was. The strength of that affection was plain to DG, and even if Glitch had known his face was an open book he couldn't have concealed it if he'd tried. Lured closer, their bodies fit together, curves to angles, Glitch's hand playing rhythmically up and down DG's spine.

Her head went light, her blood hot, and her body seemed balanced on the brink of some high and thin precipice. She brought her hands to his shoulders, clung there while she let herself teeter on that delicious edge. A muscle worked in Glitch's jaw, and DG swallowed as their eyes met. There was something alive between them, something more than the physical thrill. Mesmerized by the rise and fall of Glitch's chest against her, DG quivered.

The way Glitch murmured her name made the sound a caress, and it was intoxicating, inebriating. He fastened his elegant fingers around her wrist, shocked at the feel of her galloping pulse. Under the influence of his presence, DG reflexively availed herself of the pretenses which had suddenly become unbearable, surprised at the vigor of her need to say those three words. She suddenly realized how unbearable the thought of grey skies once more really was; Glitch was like the sun to her, a warmth and friendship she couldn't do without.

I love you.

They'd each felt the pull towards the other, subtle touches and simple gestures enough to say what the words they did not use expressed. No questions, no answers, but he'd pass by just close enough to touch and that was all she needed,, though she hadn't known it. This time a different game was being played, a game where their hearts were balanced on high wires and every sensation was magnified, the world they uncovered together fresh and stark and new. Several syllables, a few sounds, weren't much. But these three words were everything.

When they kissed again it was more than a simple meeting of lips. There was nothing she had that was not his. The offer was complete and unconditional. He took it.

Neither had a single regret.

"Is it wrong?"

"Yes. We're right, but it's wrong."

"Don't agree with me, Glitch. You make me feel like such a sinner."

"Then this is a wonderful crime. Why don't we commit it again?"

"Because we need to get some sleep?"

"I know you think I have some sort of perfect, unyielding self control, but that's not actually the case. Sleep is overrated."

"Oh? And you have a better idea?"

She should have kept her mouth shut.

In one fluid movement, he swept her off her feet, bridal-style, and grinned wickedly. "Of course!"