✿ Pairing → Piers•Claire

✿ Word Count → 600

✿ Summary → She pushes him against the wall and into another heated kiss. He moans out in surprise, the delicious vibration of his voice tickling her lips.

【Hide Your Heart】

His quiet breathing resonates throughout the room-a steady rhythm. She glances over at his sleeping silhouette. His hair appears dusky black in this low light and his bare chest still reflects a cool sheen of sweat. Her eyes follow the dim highlights of his form.

Such a damn cutie.

He's still so young-a kid, really. She shakes her head and looks away. Memories flood her thoughts, ancient history. A distant and sad smile tugs at her lips. She remembers 25, an age when the world didn't seem as broken as it is, yet hope was a bittersweet taste, an optimism fouled by reality.

Her eyes drift back to him. His lips twitch and he rolls over toward her, his arm curling around her. She wants to shy away, but another part of her delights in his touch-a selfish and reckless side.

You're too optimistic, kid. Bound and determined to set the world right.

She smiles despite herself. Naive, but still so lovely. Denying that a part of her has grown fond of his boy scout personality would be futile. He's dogged, decisive, and sometimes rash. Though, by the same token, he's intelligent as hell. He's overly polite and way too much of a gentleman. She finds her hands aching to touch him, to skim her fingers along his sun-kissed skin.

I shouldn't be here... I shouldn't have been here to two other times, either. She glowers at the darkness, silently berating herself for having let go this way, allowing her emotions and physical desires to blind her. You're a damn pretty mirage, Piers Nivans.

She should go... right now.

Carefully, she untangles herself from his embrace and slips from his bed, her naked flesh chilling instantly from the night air. Her clothes are strewn across the floor, adding to her already thin patience. Get dressed already.

The quiet makes his breathing even louder, a smooth caress of sound that causes her to hate herself all the more. Selfish. Most of her life, she's been chasing after others, wiping their asses and saving them from themselves. Now, when it's her turn to quench that needy part of herself, it feels so wrong.

Life just isn't simple, anymore. Has it ever been, really? She buttons her shirt. Rhetorical question, Redfield. Piers never said anything about her leaving him in the middle of the night, but she's sure that it hurts him. Her heart sinks into her stomach. The fact that he never brings it up at all is a blessing... and a curse. Combing her fingers through her tangled hair, she fashions it into a messy ponytail. Who am I kidding, it's not like I can lead a normal life, anyway. Not since Raccoon... No one in their right mind could ever get over something like that.

Outside, a distant siren screams at the night.

Claire's eyes fall shut momentarily, her hands trembling as she ties her shoes. When she should be worrying about her brother, here she is satisfying her own trivial wants. He's missing and she's tangled herself into a problem that she created on her own. Way to go, Claire. Chris is God knows where, and here you are playing sleepover.

Gritting her teeth, she leaves his bedroom, grabs her purse, and cautiously exits his apartment. Unknown to her, Piers' eyes linger at his bedroom doorway, a deepening frown ravaging any light in his eyes. She'd ran again.